One Lost Sheep

Matthew 18:11-12 says, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?"

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According to one of the Police officers that regularly work Bourbon Street, there are approximately 40,000 people on the streets during a typical Friday or Saturday night!

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That means that over the course of an evening of preaching and ministering during RAVEN STREET CHURCH: BOURBON ST CHAPEL that our team will preach to what would be the equivalent of preaching to the whole population of Cleveland, Tennesee or Hackensack, New Jersey all in one night!

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The things is though, is that the people hearing the open-air preaching of the Word of God during Raven Street Church are not just from one or two US cities - or from one or two countries for that matter! We talk to people each week from all across the USA, Canada and this past week I personally had conversations with people from England, Nigeria, Brazil, Australia, and Honduras to name a few.

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With all of the tens of thousands of people that potentially hear the Word preached each week (120,000 + in a weekend of ministry), it is still that "one lost sheep" that we are on the look out for.

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Saturday night as I stood next to the "Bourbo Box" towards the close of the evening, a young man in a group of 5-6 twenty-somethings stopped and pointed at my black leather Bible sitting in front of me on the speaker. "What's this all about?" he said to me. "That is my Bible and we are here preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost and dying that have come to be a part of Raven Street Church."

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Recognzing that this was not just another mocker making a quick statement and dashing down the street, I asked him, "So what about your relationship with Jesus?" "Oh, I am good. I go to an Assembly of God Church and I am strong in the faith...", tapering off somewhat and sounding more as though he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me.

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"That's interesting," I said. "You are a Spirit-filled, Jesus-loving young man of God, but here you are partying on Bourbon Street and walking around with a beer in your hand? Something is wrong with this picture?"

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Over the better part of the next hour me and this young man talked about the Word of God and he shared with me how that just a few years earlier he had been mixed up with drugs and alcohol and felt as though life was no longer worth living. He shared how the Lord Jesus came to him and how he had repented and given himself to Christ. . . then the slow fade.

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"I'll be honest with you," he said as his friends would come back periodically to prod him to join them at their next stop, "I just lost the fire and I need to get it back." I took him to the Word of God and showed him how people start "adjusting to the darkness" [1 john 1:6] and that God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we will repent [1 John 1:9]

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With a defeated sound in his voice he would say, "I know, but everyone is going to fall sometime." Stopping him, I took him to the Word of God and showed him that we have been set free from sin and not set free to sin [Romans Chapter 6} and that even though we are all tempted - Jesus always provides a way to escape any and all temptations [1 Corinthians 10:13]

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The Spirit of God truly orchestrated the conversation that night and this young man [22 years old] genuinely could be seen desring to return to a sincere and intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. We were able to pray together and encourage him further in the faith - and we invited him to come back to the City and spend some time with us. Please keep him in your prayers - heaven is still seeking those "lost sheep" that have wandered out of the way.