Pastor Peter Simpson was preaching the message of Jesus Christ being born into this world to accomplish the salvation of mankind in Beaconsfield New Town on December 23rd. He was any helped by two members of the congregation at Penn, Pablo Sharma and Nathan Newman-Smith.
As soon as the Scripture posters had been erected at the location of the witness, a lady came up and complained about the display of one Timothy 1:15, which reads, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinner”. She said that the love of God can only be comprehended in the context of His reaching out to those who are full of sin. One cannot begin to understand the Lord’s mission to this earth, unless it is as a Saviour from sin. Sadly, the lady was not really interested in the minister’s endeavour to explain why the text was being displayed, insisting that nothing but the message of love was appropriate. This was very sad, and the preacher tried to explain to the lady that if we simply tell people that God loves them without speaking of the urgency of repentance from all sin, then we do them no favours at all. The Minister hoped that he was courteous to the lady, but he was rather frustrated by her apparent unwillingness to take seriously his endeavours to respond to her point.
Pastor Simpson was preaching using a very modest battery-operated form of amplification because of the nearby traffic noise. However, a man walked by intimating that he had no wish to hear the message and that it was an unwelcome intrusion. Pastor Simpson responded that nothing was more appropriate for him to do than to proclaim in public the message of Jesus Christ appearing on the earth in human form to effect the redemption of sinful mankind. Nothing is more suitable than to make the reason for the incarnation of Jesus Christ a matter of public proclamation.
There was much hardness and indifference to the preaching, but some leaflets were taken one or two passing Christians expressed appreciation of the witness. May many who heard or read a word of gospel truth this day start thinking seriously about their souls and come in repentance and faith to the only Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, and may they do so without any further delay.