Saturday 12/16/17

Matt, Chris, Aaron and I met together for prayer and fellowship before heading out to Mill Ave for evangelism. It turned out to be a crazy night. It started out kind of dead, not a lot of people around as the weather gets cooler in AZ, but it did get busier as the night went on. We talked with a few people, handed out some tracts and did some Open Air preaching.

I didn’t know that the Black Hebrew Israelites were KJOnly. Did you know that King James was black? Yes, the King of England, that is what they believe! And if you’re a white person, you’re going to hell, there is no hope for you, whatsoever. Quite the racist group, and they usually won’t even talk to me. There is no reasoning with them, either. So, this guy, carrying a fifth of vodka on the street was telling Matt how his HCSB was “changed” and “wrong”, and how all the tribes of Israel can be traced to specific races today. He usually stood a few inches from his face and yelled very loudly. Still, he was more friendly than most of these guys that I’ve come across.
 

A couple of guys almost got into a fight in front of us while Aaron was preaching. The first I was aware of was when one man smashed the other guys soda container and started yelling at him. Apparently, they knew each other a little bit, but were having some sort of disagreement that got out of hand. I managed to get between them and calmed the aggressor down. I was also able to leave a tract with him as he went about his night.

Aaron took a homeless guy to get a burger and went over some verses, having a little Bible study in the restaurant with him for a while. The guy had a lot of questions and seemed to really want to understand what the Bible says. He stopped by and asked more questions to the rest of us later on.

Chris bought a meal for another homeless guy, and we talked with him for a little while in the restaurant. He had a Roman Catholic background and seems to have moved on to some sort of new age idolatry now. We didn’t have a real productive discussion with him, but perhaps God will use this as a starting point to get him turned around and on the right track.

  Please pray that God would work in all of those that we talked with or gave tracts to, and any that heard the Open Air preaching, that He would convict them of their sins, show them their need of a Savior and turn to Him for salvation.
May we glorify God in all that we do.

Soli Deo Gloria

Saturday 12/09/17

Nick, Chris, McKayla and I met Matt, David, Marcus and Brandt in Tempe for evangelism. 

Sometimes you can just feel the darkness out on Mill Ave when witnessing.  This was one of those nights. 

It’s not really something you can explain, but more like something you can just feel.  I was trying to explain this to McKayla, and she said, “You feel it, too?”

When you feel the spiritual warfare around you, it’s important to stay strong, pray and trust in God.  His Words will not return void, but will accomplish the purpose He has sent them out for.  It makes me wonder who we might reach that the enemy does not want reached. 

There was a group of drunk men, one of whom really seemed interested to hear and discuss spiritual things, while his friends wandered around attempting to be a distraction to him and to us.  Then another guy, a self-proclaimed drug dealer joined in to mock us. 

Meanwhile, we did distribute a few tracts to those walking by. 

A guy stopped to drop off some clothes for homeless people, telling David that they might be more helped by those than just us preaching to them.  David started to explain what we were doing and the importance of eternal salvation, but the guy said that he knew what we were doing.  He seemed kind of neutral towards us, it was just a little weird. 

I talked with another guy, who seemed a bit crazy.  McKayla walked away, because the guy had barked at her earlier.  No, that’s not an idiom, he actually, literally barked at her, “Arf!” 

He calmed down a little bit while I was speaking with him, but then ran off with another friend and was messing with other people along the way.  Still, he took a tract with him.  Pray that he reads it when he is sober and repents of his sins, trusting in Christ alone for his salvation. 

Soli Deo Gloria

Saturday 12-02-17

So, this past Saturday night in Tempe was nice.  The Arts Festival is going on during the day and at night they close it down.  But the tents remain in the streets for the next day’s activities, so, there is no traffic or exhaust, less noise, and a lot of security walking around when we go out to evangelize.

I brought the Einstein illusion, and met Aaron, David, Nick, Rachel and Matt on Mill Ave to reach out to the lost.  We had some good conversations, did a little bit of Open Air preaching, and distributed a lot of tracts. 

Nick filmed a quick demonstration and advertisement for the upcoming evangelism class this weekend, and Rachel posted it online.  You can check it out here: 

Link

Much thanks to both of them for that! 

Hopefully, we’ll reach more people and generate more interest to get equipped to carry out the Great Commission and reach out to the lost. 

A couple of people were attracted to the Einstein illusion, and I was able to take them through the fun “genius” questions at the top of the board as an icebreaker, and then get into the more serious questions of the Good Person Test after that. 

One woman actually got all of the “genius” questions correct.  I don’t think that’s ever happened before, because they are designed to show that your mind can fool you into answering incorrectly. 

But, when going through the Good Person Test, she did not do so well.  This follows what the Bible says, in that there are none found good, not even one (Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 14:1-3, Ecclesiastes 7:20).  So often, we compare ourselves to others around us, normally the worst that we can find, and then call ourselves good in comparison.  But God will not judge us compared to other people.  When we bow before Him on the day of judgment to give account for our life, we will stand alone, compared only to His holy standard, which is revealed to us in outline form with the Ten Commandments. 

How do you think you would do?  Have you kept them?  Do you even know them?  It’s interesting that most people claim that they’ve kept them, but when pressed, cannot even name half of them (see Exodus 20:1-17).

Now, keep in mind that no one is saved by keeping the Law (Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16).  That was never the intent (Galatians 3:24, Romans 7:7). 

The Ten Commandments simply show how we’ve failed to uphold God’s holy standard, and our NEED for a Savior ( 1 Timothy 1:9-11, John 14:6, Acts 4:12).  These are the greatest tool in evangelism, yet so often overlooked. 

So, we use the Law as it was intended, to show our own sinfulness and the need of a Savior, then explain the Gospel, that we must each repent, turning away from our sins, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.  He is the only way.

Soli Deo Gloria