Breaching the Stronghold
On a typical day of evangelism, I hit the streets to preach and chat with those who approach me. Most often my day looks like this: I set up, I start preaching, people stop to chat. Sometimes I’ll preach for a stretch of 20-30 mins. Other times, I’ll barely get started before I’m approached. I don’t mind. To fully engage the mind of a few is better than little snippets that the multitude may get while passing by. Often our conversations are long and deep, hitting issues that would not be answered simply by listening to a sermon. It has also been very eye-opening for me. I get to hear all the different opinions and objections that come from a variety of different people. This greatly helps my preaching. I’m continually learning what they are thinking, the issues they are dealing with, and the words that they need to hear to overcome the mental strongholds that hold them back from believing the gospel. I’m understanding more of what Paul was talking about when he spoke of the mighty weapons of the gospel to pull down strongholds. What were these strongholds? “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (1 Cor 10:5). The strongholds were the empty philosophies of this world that were in opposition to the message of Christ. These philosophies ‘exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.’ Paul was a master of tearing this arguments down and laying the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what I seek to do on the college campus. There are so many empty philosophies that are destroying the souls of men. The more I hear from them, the more I learn how to tear them down—with grace, of course. The goal is not to win the argument but to save the soul. However, the heart is often holed up in the keep of worldly philosophies. Only when we breach the stronghold can we reach the heart. Pray for me as I seek to do just that. (more below)
In the Newspaper
A few weeks ago, I was approached by a student who wanted to interview me for the student newspaper at the University of Delaware. Of course, I would never turn down such a thing! After he interviewed me, I was sure to talk to him about his soul.
I didn’t expect to much that the article would even be written, and if it was, I expected that he might make me look bad. However, his article was refreshingly fair! It was not all positive, and that’s a good thing. If the world speaks 100% positive about us, we should fear. Jesus said that the world would hate us, and ‘woe to us, if all men speak well of us, for so they did of the false prophets.’ The gospel is the fragrance of life to some but the fragrance of death to others. Some smell its beauty, others find it repugnant. When the gospel is diffused in a public place, both reactions will be inevitable.
The newspaper article has served to introduce me to more students in a more personal way. I suspect that will lead to greater fruitfulness. Any exposure is good exposure! If you wish to read the article, Click HERE.
Running the Race
In the summer of 2018, I was in the best shape of my life–then I injured myself. Due to my injury, I couldn’t run. I got out of the habit of running and slunk back out of shape. About a year passed before I hit the road again. By then, I had lost my endurance and gained a bunch of weight. In April 2019, I put finally put my running shoes back on, but I could barely run a mile! I was doing five miles before! It was quite frustrating that I had to start all again. However, it became a blessing in disguise: This year, my daughter started to run with me. My slow speed and mileage was perfect for us to run together. Together we went from out-of-shape to running our first 5K! I was so proud when she beat me by seven seconds in our first race. Running with her has become one of my favorite things to do. My let down turned out to be a set up. Praise the LORD!
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Hal Chaffee 