When I first heard that one of the 19 firefighters killed in the Yarnell tragedy was originally from MT (my home state), I found it interesting. Not a lot of people come from MT to live in AZ. But then a prayer request came through my church’s prayer chain that mentioned this guy, too. His family doesn’t live in Phoenix, or go to church at Shiloh, but somehow, there was a connection through another person, and through another and it ended up in our daily prayer request. I asked if I could share it, and was given the ok, so here it is:
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This note is from Steve DeFord. Read how the Lord works in all ways in all times.
"Many of you may already be aware that the entire Granite Hotshot crew perished in the fire near Prescott. Our son Dustin was a member of that crew. Our hearts are filled with sorrow, but not without hope.
About a week ago Dustin had a rather unusual opportunity to share the gospel with most of the crew for about two hours during some down time. We believe that Dustin was there for this time. In Eternity we will get to meet any who may have called on the name of the Lord in those last moments. "
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This intrigued me, so I looked up more information on Dustin DeFord, and found that his father, Steve, is the missionary pastor of the First Baptist Church of Ekalaka in MT and a long time member of IFCA International (Independent Fundamental Churches of America), which I hadn’t heard of before.
The Billings Gazette wrote about his family and mentioned a Facebook post that he had made, regarding how he found himself in AZ, when he would rather to have worked in Western MT: “My life is proof that God wants to use me — starting now.”
Despite enjoying his work as a firefighter (with his father and four of his brothers also being firefighters), his sister Becky said that he was interested in going into full time Christian service.
He had studied at Cornerstone Bible Institute in SD and had worked as a missionary, and frequently talked about his religious beliefs.
Regardless of what those 18 other firefighters may have thought, or what worldview they may have held to, they had time to contemplate the words that Dustin had given them a week earlier, prior to their tragic deaths.
In church this morning, one of the application questions was, “What legacy will you leave? What do you want on your epitaph?”
(in reference to the differences in King Ahaz [2 Kings 16:2-4], and his son Hezekiah in their leadership and the legacy each left behind). I had already begun writing this blog article, and that question fell right in with it. This is how I want to be remembered - doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
I feel that our country is under God’s judgment right now, as it draws closer to legalizing same sex marriage in all the states, calling it “equality and tolerance”, as our nation continues to kill unborn children, attempting to rationalize it as a “choice”, while our president says, “God bless Planned Parenthood” – the leading abortion provider in America (Isaiah 5:20). This is where we are as a country that has continued to reject God, His Laws, and even any mention of Him in public. We are under judgment and drawing ever closer to the time we will suffer the wrath of God.
Amidst all of this, Dustin DeFord was faithful, having witnessed to the people on his team just a week prior to this tragedy.
This is more difficult than it sounds. Only 2% of professed Christians in America share their faith.
Too many professed Christians today don’t know how to share their faith, they are too afraid, or simply don’t think it’s their responsibility, or maybe they are too worried about what others might think. Still others may not be true believers at all, but false converts, with fear or the worries of this world taking precedence over the Gospel (see the Parable of the Sower, Mark 4:1-19).
Also in our outline from church this morning:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” - James 1:22-25
Many in this country hear the Word, but few actually act on it, very few are doers of the Word that they hear. This reminds me of another verse, about a wide and narrow path (Matt 7:13-14).
We have a small team that goes out to Mill Ave every Saturday night to witness to the lost, per the Great Commission (Acts 10:42, Matt 28:19-20, Mark 16:15). We also host free training courses in evangelism (the next one will be the last Saturday in August), for those who want to become equipped to be able to share their faith with others.
Be an obedient doer of the Word, not a hearer only. Don’t be like a man who looks in the mirror, turns around and forgets what he looks like.
How will you be remembered? How does God see you? Men like Dustin DeFord inspire me to continue doing what is right in the eyes of God, for every one of us will face Him one day and be held accountable for the thoughts, words and deeds that we have done on this earth. Be ready.
Soli Deo Gloria
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Free Evangelism Crash Course
Jesus said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)
Wouldn't it be true then, that if you're not fishing, you're not really following? (Luke 6:46) Have you ever felt that you should share your faith with others but didn't really know how to get started?
Learn to share your faith simply, effectively and Biblically. If you will be in the Phoenix area, join us in this free DVD based crash course in evangelism. Become equipped to do what we are commanded to do in the Great Commission.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
12:30pm until 5:30pm
Redemption Church
4141 E Thomas Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Please RSVP by replying to this post by Thursday, May 23rd to reserve a spot in this life changing class on Saturday May 25th!
Afterwards, there will be the option of going out on the streets to see this principle in action.
Wouldn't it be true then, that if you're not fishing, you're not really following? (Luke 6:46) Have you ever felt that you should share your faith with others but didn't really know how to get started?
Learn to share your faith simply, effectively and Biblically. If you will be in the Phoenix area, join us in this free DVD based crash course in evangelism. Become equipped to do what we are commanded to do in the Great Commission.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
12:30pm until 5:30pm
Redemption Church
4141 E Thomas Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Please RSVP by replying to this post by Thursday, May 23rd to reserve a spot in this life changing class on Saturday May 25th!
Afterwards, there will be the option of going out on the streets to see this principle in action.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Do You Share?
According to Bill Bright, only 2% of Christians share their faith. One of the reasons for this is that they don't feel equipped.
Most people are afraid to share their faith anyway, with a few obnoxious atheists mocking Christianity as "un-scientific" and "crutch for weak minded people". I find it quite the opposite, with the theory of evolution being un-scientific (life coming from non-life and violations of various scientific laws) and more of a crutch for those who want to think that they will not be held accountable for their actions. But that doesn't even matter and is an entirely separate topic for anyone interested in such things.
We don't even need to go there. Instead, we can go directly to the conscience, (con means ;with', and science is 'knowledge'), and when someone sins against God, they do it 'with knowledge'. The conscience itself is an ally in witnessing.
There is a simple Biblical principle that has been largely forgotten in the modern Church in the last couple of hundred years. Rather than a man-made "sinners prayer" or some sort of "altar call", made famous by Charles Finney in the 1800's, we should go back to the Bible, the authority of God's Word and witness the way that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ did it.
Check out His example in speaking with the woman at the well (John 4:4-29). First, He spoke to her about natural things, getting a drink of water in this instance. Then he moved to the spiritual realm, telling her of the living water. Being convicted of her sins, she went back into town to tell others about Him.
When the rich young ruler came up and called Him good, he was right. But Jesus reproved the man, for he did not understand what 'good' truly meant. Only God is good. And when Jesus went through some of the Ten Commandments, the young ruler claimed that he had kept them (1 John 1:8). Then He asked the man to give up his riches and put God first in his life (the First Commandment) and the young ruler walked away. Jesus did not run after him, telling him of a wonderful plan for his life and how God loved him so much, He let him go (Luke 18:18-27).
The Bible tells us that the proclamation of the Gospel is always Law to the proud, Grace to the humble (Prov 3:34, 1 Pet 5:5, James 4:6), and Jesus did not deviate from this. I would challenge you to show me a passage where He did not follow it, keeping in mind that when He didn't go through the Law first, it was because the person was already humbled and knew of his need.
How would we know if someone is humble, knowing their need? It's simple, just ask them. "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" Prov 20:6 tells you what they will say, "Most men, everyone will proclaim his own goodness...." yet the Bible tells us over and over again that there are none found good, not one (Psalm 53:3, Rom 3:23, Is 64:6).
Ask someone how they think one gets into heaven and you'll find the most common answer is by "being good." If that is true, then we earn our way into heaven, there was no need for Jesus Christ to die on the cross and the Gospel makes no sense. This would leave us with nothing but blind faith and no understanding. We wonder why "prosperity preaching" is so popular, and universalism is gaining ground in the modern churches, and terms like "carnal Christianity" abound. And then we wonder why atheists mock it.
What the Bible actually teaches is that there are none found good when we're held to God's moral standard, that every one of us deserves to spend eternity in hell for breaking His commandments, but that He actually created a plan of redemption for us. The fine had to be paid, and God came down in Jesus Christ, lived a perfect, sinless life, then laid down that life as a sacrifice to pay the penalty that we deserve, for the wages of sin is death. But death couldn't hold Him, and on the third day, He rose again, defeating death forever.
Now, all that we must do is put our faith and trust in Him, and when we do that, we will also repent of our sins, turning away from them, hating those sins that we once loved because we can see what it cost, and that God so graciously and lovingly paid that fine for us. We couldn't possibly continue to willfully live in a lifestyle of sin if we even begin to comprehend that (Heb 10:26-29).
If we will simply repent and trust in Him alone, we will be saved apart from works, yet we will do good works out of gratitude for the new life we have been given, released from condemnation and slavery to our own sinful nature.
To God be the glory, proclaim His name!
Most people are afraid to share their faith anyway, with a few obnoxious atheists mocking Christianity as "un-scientific" and "crutch for weak minded people". I find it quite the opposite, with the theory of evolution being un-scientific (life coming from non-life and violations of various scientific laws) and more of a crutch for those who want to think that they will not be held accountable for their actions. But that doesn't even matter and is an entirely separate topic for anyone interested in such things.
We don't even need to go there. Instead, we can go directly to the conscience, (con means ;with', and science is 'knowledge'), and when someone sins against God, they do it 'with knowledge'. The conscience itself is an ally in witnessing.
There is a simple Biblical principle that has been largely forgotten in the modern Church in the last couple of hundred years. Rather than a man-made "sinners prayer" or some sort of "altar call", made famous by Charles Finney in the 1800's, we should go back to the Bible, the authority of God's Word and witness the way that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ did it.
Check out His example in speaking with the woman at the well (John 4:4-29). First, He spoke to her about natural things, getting a drink of water in this instance. Then he moved to the spiritual realm, telling her of the living water. Being convicted of her sins, she went back into town to tell others about Him.
When the rich young ruler came up and called Him good, he was right. But Jesus reproved the man, for he did not understand what 'good' truly meant. Only God is good. And when Jesus went through some of the Ten Commandments, the young ruler claimed that he had kept them (1 John 1:8). Then He asked the man to give up his riches and put God first in his life (the First Commandment) and the young ruler walked away. Jesus did not run after him, telling him of a wonderful plan for his life and how God loved him so much, He let him go (Luke 18:18-27).
The Bible tells us that the proclamation of the Gospel is always Law to the proud, Grace to the humble (Prov 3:34, 1 Pet 5:5, James 4:6), and Jesus did not deviate from this. I would challenge you to show me a passage where He did not follow it, keeping in mind that when He didn't go through the Law first, it was because the person was already humbled and knew of his need.
How would we know if someone is humble, knowing their need? It's simple, just ask them. "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" Prov 20:6 tells you what they will say, "Most men, everyone will proclaim his own goodness...." yet the Bible tells us over and over again that there are none found good, not one (Psalm 53:3, Rom 3:23, Is 64:6).
Ask someone how they think one gets into heaven and you'll find the most common answer is by "being good." If that is true, then we earn our way into heaven, there was no need for Jesus Christ to die on the cross and the Gospel makes no sense. This would leave us with nothing but blind faith and no understanding. We wonder why "prosperity preaching" is so popular, and universalism is gaining ground in the modern churches, and terms like "carnal Christianity" abound. And then we wonder why atheists mock it.
What the Bible actually teaches is that there are none found good when we're held to God's moral standard, that every one of us deserves to spend eternity in hell for breaking His commandments, but that He actually created a plan of redemption for us. The fine had to be paid, and God came down in Jesus Christ, lived a perfect, sinless life, then laid down that life as a sacrifice to pay the penalty that we deserve, for the wages of sin is death. But death couldn't hold Him, and on the third day, He rose again, defeating death forever.
Now, all that we must do is put our faith and trust in Him, and when we do that, we will also repent of our sins, turning away from them, hating those sins that we once loved because we can see what it cost, and that God so graciously and lovingly paid that fine for us. We couldn't possibly continue to willfully live in a lifestyle of sin if we even begin to comprehend that (Heb 10:26-29).
If we will simply repent and trust in Him alone, we will be saved apart from works, yet we will do good works out of gratitude for the new life we have been given, released from condemnation and slavery to our own sinful nature.
To God be the glory, proclaim His name!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Saturday 10/06/12
A couple of people dressed like some sort of superheroes were hanging out near the corner, having a smoke break, cursing and talking about whatever issues they had been involved in earlier in the night. You never know what you'll see out on Mill Ave.
A guy named Bobby and a couple of his friends were talking with Rachel. He was saying that he didn't have to read his Bible, that he had read it once and that's enough. He claimed that God speaks to him but couldn't really explain to me how that worked. Do you hear voices? Doe He leave you a note? I tried to explain that God speaks to people through His Word these days, and that it is important to continually read the Bible. They seemed to have a buzz going, I'm not sure if was drugs or alcohol. He kept claiming that the Bible was subjective, which to me is simply saying that he feels that he can twist Scripture in a vain attempt to justify himself. I quoted him Hebrews 10:26-27, but it didn't really seem to penetrate the haze he was in. After a while, they decided to take off and continue whatever it was they were doing that night.
Kevin stopped to check out the Illusion board, so I talked to him about the questions on it. He kept smiling and laughing as we went through the Good Person Test (GPT), but it seemed to be a more nervous laughter. I thought I could see some conviction in him behind the mask of apathy, so I took him through the grace as well. He said he wasn't real "religious", but he took a tract with him when he left. I think some seeds were planted with that guy.
Dana and Steve were a couple of Christians that stopped to check out the illusion board. As we went through the GPT, they didn't like the part about hell and punishment and, like a lot of people, tried to jump forward to the grace and repentance before understanding the need for it.
So I explained this to them and they seemed to understand. They took tracts with them when they left, and I think they understood the idea, but still didn't really like the approach to get there. However, it is a Biblical approach, and although God can use any method He chooses to reach people, it is no excuse to use unbiblical or heretical ideas to reach them. The Bible shows us clearly - Law to the proud, Grace to the humble (James 4:6, 1 Pet 5:5).
The Law is perfect, converting the soul (Psalm 19:7). The Law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Gal 3:24). Paul said he didn't even know what sin was, until the Law explained it (Rom 7:7).
People must understand their NEED for a Savior, otherwise the Gospel doesn't make sense. If you ask the average person how to get into heaven, they will usually claim it is by being a good person (Prov 20:6). If that were true, if there were any other way to get in, then Jesus Christ died in vain. If there were any other way, He did not have to suffer and die to pay our penalty that we could never pay. If there were any other way, then we could boast of how we earned our way in (Eph 2:8-9) by good works. But as it is, in the Biblical sense, no one can boast, no one deserves it and no one can earn their way into God's good graces. It is a gift of God and our good works are merely evidence of our salvation, that we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and desire to please the Master.
Later on, there was a guy named Eric walking by. As we handed him a tract, he told us that he didn't believe in God. Then he stopped and asked Marcus and I if we believe in Satan. We told him, yes, of course, you'd have to, because he's mentioned in the Bible. Then he said that he believed in God, just not an afterlife. He had a Catholic background, and seemed to be having a rough time lately. I explained some of the problems with the Catholic church and that the Bible never teaches that we'll have an easy time in this world. I told him to make sure he was right on what he believes about the afterlife and to dig into it to find the truth.
We were able to talk to him for a little while and gave him some tracts to read through later. Please keep Eric in prayer, he seemed to have deep down belief, but it has been corrupted through the Catholic church and some hard times. I believe the Lord is beginning to work in him, to draw him closer.
Soli Deo Gloria
Monday, October 1, 2012
Saturday 09/29/12
It seemed that things were going to be kind of slow on Mill Ave this past Saturday night. But it definitely livened up a bit after a while.
We had a group of "flying spaghetti monster" followers (Wiki), as well as a Native American who was arguing with Tom and a group of Muslims who talked with him for a few hours.
A couple named Natalie and Chris stopped to look over the Illusion board and I took them through the 4 "genius" questions at the top, then went into the Good Person Test (GPT). They are Christians from TX, but Natalie would not admit that she would end up in hell if held to the standard of the Ten Commandments, always referring to God's grace. But I explained to them more fully the reason that we need a Savior is because we cannot be saved without Him. I explained the Gospel and the way that we do it, and gave them each a tract to look over later. They understood and seemed to agree with our Gospel proclamation as they headed out.
Next I spoke with a guy named Raul, who said that he was not a good person, but we went through the test anyway He said he'd been to church and he did have some knowledge. I explained it to him that there are none found good in God's eyes, we do not deserve to go to heaven and there is nothing we can do to earn our way. Salvation is a gift of God, and we simply must repent of our sins and trust in Him alone. I gave him a prize of a glow stick, even though he didn't earn it and didn't deserve it, as a demonstration of God's grace. In the same way, we don't deserve to be let into heaven and we cannot earn our way there.
Later, Dan took a few of Raul's friends through the GPT as well.
A man named Bill was looking at our board, so we talked with him and took him through the GPT. He stated that he was a Christian as well, and trying to raise is son right. I gave him the curved illusion tract to show his son (kids like the illusions) and a tract to read through for himself later on. He was agreeable and said that the way we explained it made sense to him.
Later, a taxi stopped behind our board and 5 or 6 people got out. Two of them came around to the front of our illusion board to see what it was. I took them through the first questions, but the guy would not even answer the one about how many of each animal was on the ark, claiming, "It's all fictional anyway." But the girl answered and we went through all four. They had been drinking and looked like they were going to head out, so I gave them each a Smart Card tract to take with them. Then the entire group, having gone nowhere since exiting the last cab, all got into a different cab and went somewhere else.
It was a pretty productive night, proclaiming the Gospel to the lost on the dark streets of Mill Ave in downtown Tempe, AZ.
Soli Deo Gloria
We had a group of "flying spaghetti monster" followers (Wiki), as well as a Native American who was arguing with Tom and a group of Muslims who talked with him for a few hours.
A couple named Natalie and Chris stopped to look over the Illusion board and I took them through the 4 "genius" questions at the top, then went into the Good Person Test (GPT). They are Christians from TX, but Natalie would not admit that she would end up in hell if held to the standard of the Ten Commandments, always referring to God's grace. But I explained to them more fully the reason that we need a Savior is because we cannot be saved without Him. I explained the Gospel and the way that we do it, and gave them each a tract to look over later. They understood and seemed to agree with our Gospel proclamation as they headed out.
Next I spoke with a guy named Raul, who said that he was not a good person, but we went through the test anyway He said he'd been to church and he did have some knowledge. I explained it to him that there are none found good in God's eyes, we do not deserve to go to heaven and there is nothing we can do to earn our way. Salvation is a gift of God, and we simply must repent of our sins and trust in Him alone. I gave him a prize of a glow stick, even though he didn't earn it and didn't deserve it, as a demonstration of God's grace. In the same way, we don't deserve to be let into heaven and we cannot earn our way there.
Later, Dan took a few of Raul's friends through the GPT as well.
A man named Bill was looking at our board, so we talked with him and took him through the GPT. He stated that he was a Christian as well, and trying to raise is son right. I gave him the curved illusion tract to show his son (kids like the illusions) and a tract to read through for himself later on. He was agreeable and said that the way we explained it made sense to him.
Later, a taxi stopped behind our board and 5 or 6 people got out. Two of them came around to the front of our illusion board to see what it was. I took them through the first questions, but the guy would not even answer the one about how many of each animal was on the ark, claiming, "It's all fictional anyway." But the girl answered and we went through all four. They had been drinking and looked like they were going to head out, so I gave them each a Smart Card tract to take with them. Then the entire group, having gone nowhere since exiting the last cab, all got into a different cab and went somewhere else.
It was a pretty productive night, proclaiming the Gospel to the lost on the dark streets of Mill Ave in downtown Tempe, AZ.
Soli Deo Gloria
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Saturday 08-25-12
We had a WOTM class with a total of 13 people, but no new people were able to come out on the streets afterward. Maybe another time.
Tempe has banned amplification on Mill Ave, except for the businesses there, so there are no more loud musicians or street preachers with loud amps. There was a couple nearby, playing accoustic guitars and we set up our Illusion board.
We met Courtney out there, and his friend Elvis, who brought another friend named Mark. Courtney got on the box and did a little Open Air even without the mic and amp, and that went ok. It wasn't really all that bad without amps. I miss being able to play some music through ours, but it was nice not to listen to all of the really loud ones out there. We were able to have better one 2 one conversations with people.
Asha and Mariah stopped to check out the Illusion board. I took them through the GPT, and they said they were believers and that God loves all of His children... Wait a minute! That's not what the Bible says. I had to explain that we are not "all God's children", but start out as children of wrath (Eph 2:3, Col 1:21), and are given the right to be God's children through Jesus Christ (John 1:12).
They didn't really like that, but when I questioned them further, I found that they were NOT universalists who think that everyone ends up in heaven. They did understand that we need Jesus Christ to get there, so I think we got back on track. I gave them each an "Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven" tract to take with them and read later.
Dan brought his friend Mike and his son Miles out. They hadn't been to a class, but have been watching WOTM on TV for the last year or two, and were excited to come and check it out in real life.
Some people stopped by to look at the Illusion board, and Mike took them through the first four ice breaker questions on the board. I hung around in case he wanted to pass it off to someone else for the Good Person Test (GPT), but he went ahead and jumped right into it. So, his first experience was with some argumentative atheists, but he held up very well and kept them on track when they tried to change the subject. I think he did an awesome job of it and hope that he joins us more often out there.
Keep praying for more workers (Luke 10:2).
Soli Deo Gloria
Tempe has banned amplification on Mill Ave, except for the businesses there, so there are no more loud musicians or street preachers with loud amps. There was a couple nearby, playing accoustic guitars and we set up our Illusion board.
We met Courtney out there, and his friend Elvis, who brought another friend named Mark. Courtney got on the box and did a little Open Air even without the mic and amp, and that went ok. It wasn't really all that bad without amps. I miss being able to play some music through ours, but it was nice not to listen to all of the really loud ones out there. We were able to have better one 2 one conversations with people.
Asha and Mariah stopped to check out the Illusion board. I took them through the GPT, and they said they were believers and that God loves all of His children... Wait a minute! That's not what the Bible says. I had to explain that we are not "all God's children", but start out as children of wrath (Eph 2:3, Col 1:21), and are given the right to be God's children through Jesus Christ (John 1:12).
They didn't really like that, but when I questioned them further, I found that they were NOT universalists who think that everyone ends up in heaven. They did understand that we need Jesus Christ to get there, so I think we got back on track. I gave them each an "Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven" tract to take with them and read later.
Dan brought his friend Mike and his son Miles out. They hadn't been to a class, but have been watching WOTM on TV for the last year or two, and were excited to come and check it out in real life.
Some people stopped by to look at the Illusion board, and Mike took them through the first four ice breaker questions on the board. I hung around in case he wanted to pass it off to someone else for the Good Person Test (GPT), but he went ahead and jumped right into it. So, his first experience was with some argumentative atheists, but he held up very well and kept them on track when they tried to change the subject. I think he did an awesome job of it and hope that he joins us more often out there.
Keep praying for more workers (Luke 10:2).
Soli Deo Gloria
Monday, August 20, 2012
Saturday 08-18-12
It was a busy night on Mill, people started coming up right away, as soon as we had the illusion board set up. Tom was talking to a man and his wife who had stopped, taking them through the Good Person Test (GPT). While he was doing that, another guy stopped to look at our board, so I talked with him, taking him through the questions and the GPT. His name is William, and he said that he is a believer and liked the fact that we were out sharing the Gospel. I gave him a "Save Yourself Some Pain" booklet that contains some good information for Christians and new believers.
A guy named Richie stopped to question some of our beliefs and Robert stopped by a short time later. They seemed to know each other, but not real well and they were not traveling together. They both held to some mystical type of beliefs and seemed to have a Catholic background. Robert stated that he would hold the Bible to his heart and pray, then flip through to find an answer to his prayer. Both of them recounted experiences with a dead relative communicating with them from the grave. I told them that I don't know what happened with their experiences, but the Bible should be our final authority on what God says to us today. If it contradicts the Bible, then it is not of God.
Two guys and a girl were walking past the back of our illusion board, recognizing Albert Einstein on it, so I called them around to the front so they could see the illusion. Then I took them through the "Genius Test" which are just some fun questions to test your thinking.
They were in a hurry and a little drunk, so I gave them each an "Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven?" tract and they went on their way.
A drunk girl stopped to go through the "Genius Test" and got half of them right. Her friends were calling her away, so I gave her a tract and told her to read through it later.
Then another drunk guy came up and said he wanted to go through the GPT. We started, but he gave some crazy answers and comments that didn't make any sense at all. Then he said he had to leave, and I thought that was probably a good thing, so I let him go. Apparently, he was angry with me, though, because Marcus said that he was cursing at me as he left.
A homeless man in a wheelchair was looking at our illusion board, and I was able to talk with him a little bit. His name was Bruce, and he claimed to base his beliefs on the Bible, but had a very strange interpretation of things. For example, he said that a third of God's children left to follow "a loser" and believed that we are reincarnated. The verse he was referring to is speaking of angels (and people are not, nor ever will be, angels. The Bible actually teaches quite the opposite of reincarnation, "..it is appointed a man once to die and then the judgment..."). I gave him a couple of tracts and he went on his way.
Dan was talking to a couple of people named Josh and Alissa, who were Christians that go to Central, so we exchanged cards and invited them to Tom's upcoming class. They seemed agreeable to our evangelism methods, so hopefully, we'll see them there.
Later, someone walking by asked Dan if the tract he was handing out was "offensive, because THAT is offensive", pointing at Tom, on the box. Then they gave him a one finger salute, they must have been telling him that he was number one. Maybe not, wrong finger. Ah well, you can't please everyone. God is the only One that matters.
I talked with a woman named Shay, who went through the GPT. She said that she was a Christian, raised by a deacon, so she felt that she was good. I explained the Gospel to her and gave her a couple of tracts to take with her.
We met a guy named Roger, who stopped by to check out our illusion board. When he had the opportunity, he spoke with us, telling us that he liked what we were doing. He hung out with us the rest of the night, even passing out some tracts. He went with us for some fellowship afterward, even buying our late night dinner. It was refreshing to meet a like-minded believer out there, which doesn't happen too often. We hope to keep in touch with him, as he does a lot of traveling.
Over all, it was a very busy night on Mill, with a lot of productive conversations. We have a class coming up next weekend, so hopefully we'll get more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2), keep praying.
Soli Deo Gloria
Two guys and a girl were walking past the back of our illusion board, recognizing Albert Einstein on it, so I called them around to the front so they could see the illusion. Then I took them through the "Genius Test" which are just some fun questions to test your thinking.
They were in a hurry and a little drunk, so I gave them each an "Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven?" tract and they went on their way.
A drunk girl stopped to go through the "Genius Test" and got half of them right. Her friends were calling her away, so I gave her a tract and told her to read through it later.
Then another drunk guy came up and said he wanted to go through the GPT. We started, but he gave some crazy answers and comments that didn't make any sense at all. Then he said he had to leave, and I thought that was probably a good thing, so I let him go. Apparently, he was angry with me, though, because Marcus said that he was cursing at me as he left.
A homeless man in a wheelchair was looking at our illusion board, and I was able to talk with him a little bit. His name was Bruce, and he claimed to base his beliefs on the Bible, but had a very strange interpretation of things. For example, he said that a third of God's children left to follow "a loser" and believed that we are reincarnated. The verse he was referring to is speaking of angels (and people are not, nor ever will be, angels. The Bible actually teaches quite the opposite of reincarnation, "..it is appointed a man once to die and then the judgment..."). I gave him a couple of tracts and he went on his way.
Dan was talking to a couple of people named Josh and Alissa, who were Christians that go to Central, so we exchanged cards and invited them to Tom's upcoming class. They seemed agreeable to our evangelism methods, so hopefully, we'll see them there.
Later, someone walking by asked Dan if the tract he was handing out was "offensive, because THAT is offensive", pointing at Tom, on the box. Then they gave him a one finger salute, they must have been telling him that he was number one. Maybe not, wrong finger. Ah well, you can't please everyone. God is the only One that matters.
I talked with a woman named Shay, who went through the GPT. She said that she was a Christian, raised by a deacon, so she felt that she was good. I explained the Gospel to her and gave her a couple of tracts to take with her.
We met a guy named Roger, who stopped by to check out our illusion board. When he had the opportunity, he spoke with us, telling us that he liked what we were doing. He hung out with us the rest of the night, even passing out some tracts. He went with us for some fellowship afterward, even buying our late night dinner. It was refreshing to meet a like-minded believer out there, which doesn't happen too often. We hope to keep in touch with him, as he does a lot of traveling.
Over all, it was a very busy night on Mill, with a lot of productive conversations. We have a class coming up next weekend, so hopefully we'll get more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2), keep praying.
Soli Deo Gloria
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Saturday 08-11-12
It was a strange night on Mill Ave this week, with a lot of what could only be described as spiritual warfare. I guess that’s good, because then we know that we’re making a difference on the front lines in the darkness.
There were some people holding signs in our regular spot, so Tom, Keith, Rachel and Matthew decided to move across the street to set up, while Dan, Marcus, Alan and I remained there. At one point, we looked over and saw a big guy, standing face to face with Tom (even though Tom was on a step stool), and he looked angry. Dan and Marcus went over to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. It turns out, he was quite drunk and angry, but he eventually went away without too much trouble.
A woman told one of us to get away from her because he had “crazy eyes” whatever that is supposed to mean. Another guy started yelling at us when someone handed a tract to a man wearing a turban, saying, “How dare you give that to a Muslim!” calling it blasphemy and that he wouldn’t allow that in his presence. I told him that we do not discriminate and that everyone can have a tract. He didn’t listen. I saw him around later, but he was quiet the rest of the night.
Another guy threatened to shoot Tom, and of course, Tom told him that he didn’t care. He said, “Then I’ll be with the Lord and you will be in jail.” The man threatened him a bit more, then angrily turned and walked away. We didn’t see him the rest of the night.
Heidi, with her husband Rick and her daughter Hannah, stopped and went through Good Person Test (GPT). This was a great encounter and I was able to present the Gospel and give them each an “Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven” tract to take with them.
I did some more Open Air (OA) and a drunk guy came over to go through the GPT. There was no one else around, so I thought I’d go ahead and take him through it. Things went ok for a while, but he claimed that he could not repent. Would not is more like it. After a little while, he started cursing at me as he walked away. I went over to him to give him a tract that includes money inside, but he took it and flung it into the street and cursed at me some more.
As sad as it is that this man is lost, I always find just a little humor in it when someone will throw money away, simply because they were unwilling to look inside. Someone else will find it, maybe that will be the intended recipient in God’s sovereign plan.
A woman named Cora stopped by for a glow stick necklace, since she already had glow stick earrings. She was in a hurry, so we went through the GPT quickly, as she chewed on a very inappropriate shaped straw (she must have been at some bachelorette party or something). By some of her answers it seemed that she might have had a Catholic background. She didn’t seem real convicted, but the Gospel was shared, seeds planted.
Tom, Keith, Dan, Matthew and I went to Denny’s afterwards for some food and fellowship.
Pray for more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2)
Soli Deo Gloria
There were some people holding signs in our regular spot, so Tom, Keith, Rachel and Matthew decided to move across the street to set up, while Dan, Marcus, Alan and I remained there. At one point, we looked over and saw a big guy, standing face to face with Tom (even though Tom was on a step stool), and he looked angry. Dan and Marcus went over to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. It turns out, he was quite drunk and angry, but he eventually went away without too much trouble.
A woman told one of us to get away from her because he had “crazy eyes” whatever that is supposed to mean. Another guy started yelling at us when someone handed a tract to a man wearing a turban, saying, “How dare you give that to a Muslim!” calling it blasphemy and that he wouldn’t allow that in his presence. I told him that we do not discriminate and that everyone can have a tract. He didn’t listen. I saw him around later, but he was quiet the rest of the night.
Another guy threatened to shoot Tom, and of course, Tom told him that he didn’t care. He said, “Then I’ll be with the Lord and you will be in jail.” The man threatened him a bit more, then angrily turned and walked away. We didn’t see him the rest of the night.
Heidi, with her husband Rick and her daughter Hannah, stopped and went through Good Person Test (GPT). This was a great encounter and I was able to present the Gospel and give them each an “Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven” tract to take with them.
I did some more Open Air (OA) and a drunk guy came over to go through the GPT. There was no one else around, so I thought I’d go ahead and take him through it. Things went ok for a while, but he claimed that he could not repent. Would not is more like it. After a little while, he started cursing at me as he walked away. I went over to him to give him a tract that includes money inside, but he took it and flung it into the street and cursed at me some more.
As sad as it is that this man is lost, I always find just a little humor in it when someone will throw money away, simply because they were unwilling to look inside. Someone else will find it, maybe that will be the intended recipient in God’s sovereign plan.
A woman named Cora stopped by for a glow stick necklace, since she already had glow stick earrings. She was in a hurry, so we went through the GPT quickly, as she chewed on a very inappropriate shaped straw (she must have been at some bachelorette party or something). By some of her answers it seemed that she might have had a Catholic background. She didn’t seem real convicted, but the Gospel was shared, seeds planted.
Tom, Keith, Dan, Matthew and I went to Denny’s afterwards for some food and fellowship.
Pray for more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2)
Soli Deo Gloria
Monday, August 6, 2012
First Friday 08-03-12
Last Friday, we went to Chick Fil A to check out the protesters, and found a few supporters as well. We met a nice lady named Joy, and Tom asked her if she was a good person.
She answered, “No, but she knows Who is.” We talked with her for a while. She had been there for breakfast, lunch and dinner, talking with anyone who was interested.
We also saw a couple of families that Tom knew from a church he used to go to. We gave them invitations to the upcoming Way Of The Master crash course.
After that, we headed out to Roosevelt and 3rd for First Friday.
I spoke with three girls went through the Good Person Test (GPT), but they just didn’t seem to care, too busy with the things of the world to worry about the future. I pray that changes before it is too late for them.
I did some Open Air, and Kaley and Lindsey stopped to go through the test. They were attentive and listened, then we got a pancake mix guy. Ha, I hadn’t seen one of these guys in a while, they come up to interrupt by yelling, “You ain’t got no pancake mix!” over and over again. I told him I didn’t like pancakes, and someone else told him there was a Safeway down the street. I continued with Kaley and Lindsey, explaining the Gospel and their need for a Savior.
Another couple came by, they wanted a glow stick but were unwilling to go through the GPT because they just wanted it for their kid. They were not willing to do what they had to in order to get it, so they left.
Marcus was doing some OA, and there was a kid with a skateboard and a couple of girls hanging around. They were giving him a hard time, saying that they thought a lying thief would still be a good person. Tom was standing to the side, and said, “Well, I want this, so I’m just going to take it.” He grabbed the kids skateboard and started walking off. Shock gave way to anger across the kids face as he ran after Tom, who had stopped a few steps away. He explained that he was simply making a point that a thief would not be considered to be a good person, and I think he really got the point across.
Pray for the lost, that the Lord works in their hearts, convicting them of their sins and drawing them to Himself for their salvation and for His glory alone. And pray for more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2).
Soli Deo Gloria
We also saw a couple of families that Tom knew from a church he used to go to. We gave them invitations to the upcoming Way Of The Master crash course.
After that, we headed out to Roosevelt and 3rd for First Friday.
I spoke with three girls went through the Good Person Test (GPT), but they just didn’t seem to care, too busy with the things of the world to worry about the future. I pray that changes before it is too late for them.
I did some Open Air, and Kaley and Lindsey stopped to go through the test. They were attentive and listened, then we got a pancake mix guy. Ha, I hadn’t seen one of these guys in a while, they come up to interrupt by yelling, “You ain’t got no pancake mix!” over and over again. I told him I didn’t like pancakes, and someone else told him there was a Safeway down the street. I continued with Kaley and Lindsey, explaining the Gospel and their need for a Savior.
Another couple came by, they wanted a glow stick but were unwilling to go through the GPT because they just wanted it for their kid. They were not willing to do what they had to in order to get it, so they left.
Marcus was doing some OA, and there was a kid with a skateboard and a couple of girls hanging around. They were giving him a hard time, saying that they thought a lying thief would still be a good person. Tom was standing to the side, and said, “Well, I want this, so I’m just going to take it.” He grabbed the kids skateboard and started walking off. Shock gave way to anger across the kids face as he ran after Tom, who had stopped a few steps away. He explained that he was simply making a point that a thief would not be considered to be a good person, and I think he really got the point across.
Pray for the lost, that the Lord works in their hearts, convicting them of their sins and drawing them to Himself for their salvation and for His glory alone. And pray for more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2).
Soli Deo Gloria
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Saturday 07-07-12
Out on Mill Ave again to share the Gospel with the lost. If you consider yourself to be a Christian, you need to be taking steps to get yourself equipped to carry out the Great Commission as we are commanded by our Lord and Savior.
As Charles Spurgeon said, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!"
I pray for more compassion for the lost, for more opportunities to witness to people and that the Lord would use me to draw people to Himself for their salvation and to God's glory alone. And I pray for more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2).
A young man named Dillon was looking at our illusion board, so I asked him what he thought. He seemed to have some Christian knowledge, so I asked him what he thought and explained the Good Person Test (GPT) to him.
He seemed to take the idea of "once saved always saved" to the carnal Christian level. I quoted Heb 10:26-27, explaining that there must be a change in our lives if we are truly saved in the first place. He claimed that verse contradicted the one in Ephesians that says we are saved by grace, not by works, lest anyone should boast. While I agreed completely that works cannot save us, they are evidence of salvation. I explained 2 Cor 5:17 that says we'll be a new creation, we will be different.
I told him about Matt 7:21-23, where there are many who will come before Jesus Christ at the end of time, fully believing that they are getting into heaven. Only to be told that He never knew them and sent away as workers of iniquity.
He didn't like to hear it, and would not agree with me, but I could see that he was considering what was said. I pray that he will go home and read his Bible and learn what the Lord requires from him.
A guy named Joshua stopped to check out the illusion, and I took him through the GPT. He had some knowledge of the Bible and seemed convicted by the message. I gave him a tract and a prize, even though he didn’t pass the GPT, we like to give them out as a demonstration of God’s grace in giving us eternal life that we do not deserve and cannot earn. It is a tiny example, but gives them something to consider.
The police stopped by to tell us we had to move off of the post office property. They were very nice and friendly about it, and we just moved to the other side of the sidewalk near the street. However, I have looked into some of the post office guidelines and I believe they are incorrect. I'll have to see how that goes.
Dane was a young man who didn't look very happy as he walked by. I handed him a “What If” card and he took a couple of steps further and stopped to read the entire thing right there. Dan noticed that he had a huge knife on his belt, but I couldn't see it from where I was standing. After reading the tract, he approached me and shook my hand, and simply said, "Thanks."
We went to Denny's afterward and Marty was our waiter again. We had talked with him before, and prayed that he would be able to meet his grown children, which he hadn't seen in a long time. Well, now he had a praise, saying that he had not only spoken with his daughter, but that she is moving out here soon, so we praised God and asked for a safe trip for her.
"Lord, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a mile post on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another in facing Christ in me." - Jim Elliot
Soli Deo Gloria
As Charles Spurgeon said, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!"
I pray for more compassion for the lost, for more opportunities to witness to people and that the Lord would use me to draw people to Himself for their salvation and to God's glory alone. And I pray for more workers in the harvest field (Luke 10:2).
A young man named Dillon was looking at our illusion board, so I asked him what he thought. He seemed to have some Christian knowledge, so I asked him what he thought and explained the Good Person Test (GPT) to him.
He seemed to take the idea of "once saved always saved" to the carnal Christian level. I quoted Heb 10:26-27, explaining that there must be a change in our lives if we are truly saved in the first place. He claimed that verse contradicted the one in Ephesians that says we are saved by grace, not by works, lest anyone should boast. While I agreed completely that works cannot save us, they are evidence of salvation. I explained 2 Cor 5:17 that says we'll be a new creation, we will be different.
I told him about Matt 7:21-23, where there are many who will come before Jesus Christ at the end of time, fully believing that they are getting into heaven. Only to be told that He never knew them and sent away as workers of iniquity.
He didn't like to hear it, and would not agree with me, but I could see that he was considering what was said. I pray that he will go home and read his Bible and learn what the Lord requires from him.
A guy named Joshua stopped to check out the illusion, and I took him through the GPT. He had some knowledge of the Bible and seemed convicted by the message. I gave him a tract and a prize, even though he didn’t pass the GPT, we like to give them out as a demonstration of God’s grace in giving us eternal life that we do not deserve and cannot earn. It is a tiny example, but gives them something to consider.
The police stopped by to tell us we had to move off of the post office property. They were very nice and friendly about it, and we just moved to the other side of the sidewalk near the street. However, I have looked into some of the post office guidelines and I believe they are incorrect. I'll have to see how that goes.
Dane was a young man who didn't look very happy as he walked by. I handed him a “What If” card and he took a couple of steps further and stopped to read the entire thing right there. Dan noticed that he had a huge knife on his belt, but I couldn't see it from where I was standing. After reading the tract, he approached me and shook my hand, and simply said, "Thanks."
We went to Denny's afterward and Marty was our waiter again. We had talked with him before, and prayed that he would be able to meet his grown children, which he hadn't seen in a long time. Well, now he had a praise, saying that he had not only spoken with his daughter, but that she is moving out here soon, so we praised God and asked for a safe trip for her.
"Lord, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a mile post on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another in facing Christ in me." - Jim Elliot
Soli Deo Gloria
Monday, July 9, 2012
Consider Today
My dad was a bit older than my mother, and thus I have a few half-brothers. My sister called me a few days ago to let me know that Richard had died.
They said that he was up in the middle of the night and someone went to check on him, and that he looked more scared than they'd ever seen him. Now, my half-brothers are tough guys from Montana, they don't scare easily. They called an ambulance, but he died of a heart attack on the way to the hospital.
This gives us time to consider the fact that every one of us will face death one day. We will face it alone, no matter who may be physically around us at the time. We will all kneel before the Lord one day and give an account for our life. How will you do when that time comes for you? Keep in mind that 150,000 people die every single day. We never know if we will have another day or not. What will you say to the Lord on the day that you face Him?
I'm not certain of Richard’s fate, but he has passed over to the other side where the judgment is final. The all-powerful God of the universe will judge every single person by His Holy standard which was given to us in the Ten Commandments. How will you hold up to His standard when your time comes?
If you've ever told a lie (9th Commandment), stolen anything, regardless of value (8th Commandment), or used the Lord's name in vain (3rd Commandment), you've broken His Law (Ex 20:1-17). If you've ever hated someone without just cause, He sees it as murder in your heart (Matt 5:21-22), because the heart is where the sinful action begins. If you've looked at someone with lust, Jesus says that you've committed adultery with that person in your heart (Matt 5:28). You don't have to break all of God's Laws, just one will condemn you. And the simple fact of it is, we have all broken God's Law, and in doing so, every one of us actually deserves to go to hell. If we stand before Him on our own merit, that is exactly where we will go, and rightfully so.
However, in addition to being a holy and just God, He is also a loving God and has provided us one way to keep us from the eternal punishment that we all deserve. He came down Himself as a Man in Jesus Christ, as a hand fits into a glove, fully man and yet fully God at the same time. And He lived a perfect life, keeping all of those laws that we couldn't keep. Then He suffered and died, crucified on a cross, taking on the punishment that you and I deserve. But death couldn't hold Him, and on the third day, He rose again, defeating death forever, as a sacrifice for all our sins. We committed the crimes, with no hope of ever being able to atone for them, but He paid the fine in full for us. Now, all we must do is repent of our sins, turning away from them, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.
If we do that, we will not be judged for what we have done in this life, but will be forgiven through Jesus Christ. Our lives will be different as evidence of this change in us (2 Cor 5:17). If your life is not changed, then you must consider that maybe you've never truly received salvation (Heb 10:26-27). And if that is true, then you will face the wrath of God as He judges you against His Moral Law (Rom 2:5), which we've already shown that none of us have kept.
I do not know if my half-brother was saved or not. But I do know that people had spoken to him about eternal things, and if he called upon the name of the Lord, even at the last minute like the thief on the cross, then he was saved.
But you never know when your time will come, two people die every second, many without the opportunity to consider such things. Don't put it off until tomorrow, TODAY is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2). You're not guaranteed another day, repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today.
And if you are a born-again Christian, fully assured of your salvation, then go forth in obedience to the Great Commission to proclaim the Word to every creature. There are those who are sure within themselves that they are saved, but will one day stand before the Lord, only to be told, "Away from Me, I never knew you." Check it out in Matthew 7:21-23. Look at the context of this verse, read before and after it for a full understanding. Jesus says that many will profess His name but not enter heaven. Only those who do the will of the Father will actually get into heaven. He's given us His will in the Bible, and has given the mandate to all Christians, commonly known as the Great Commission. It is not God's will that any perish (Eze 18:32), shouldn't we have the same mindset? He's told us what to do, and told us we'll be held accountable (Eze 33:8-9, Acts 20:26-27).
Are you doing that?
Or will you be one of those who hears those fearful words at the end of time, "Away from Me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you!"
This gives us time to consider the fact that every one of us will face death one day. We will face it alone, no matter who may be physically around us at the time. We will all kneel before the Lord one day and give an account for our life. How will you do when that time comes for you? Keep in mind that 150,000 people die every single day. We never know if we will have another day or not. What will you say to the Lord on the day that you face Him?
I'm not certain of Richard’s fate, but he has passed over to the other side where the judgment is final. The all-powerful God of the universe will judge every single person by His Holy standard which was given to us in the Ten Commandments. How will you hold up to His standard when your time comes?
If you've ever told a lie (9th Commandment), stolen anything, regardless of value (8th Commandment), or used the Lord's name in vain (3rd Commandment), you've broken His Law (Ex 20:1-17). If you've ever hated someone without just cause, He sees it as murder in your heart (Matt 5:21-22), because the heart is where the sinful action begins. If you've looked at someone with lust, Jesus says that you've committed adultery with that person in your heart (Matt 5:28). You don't have to break all of God's Laws, just one will condemn you. And the simple fact of it is, we have all broken God's Law, and in doing so, every one of us actually deserves to go to hell. If we stand before Him on our own merit, that is exactly where we will go, and rightfully so.
However, in addition to being a holy and just God, He is also a loving God and has provided us one way to keep us from the eternal punishment that we all deserve. He came down Himself as a Man in Jesus Christ, as a hand fits into a glove, fully man and yet fully God at the same time. And He lived a perfect life, keeping all of those laws that we couldn't keep. Then He suffered and died, crucified on a cross, taking on the punishment that you and I deserve. But death couldn't hold Him, and on the third day, He rose again, defeating death forever, as a sacrifice for all our sins. We committed the crimes, with no hope of ever being able to atone for them, but He paid the fine in full for us. Now, all we must do is repent of our sins, turning away from them, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.
If we do that, we will not be judged for what we have done in this life, but will be forgiven through Jesus Christ. Our lives will be different as evidence of this change in us (2 Cor 5:17). If your life is not changed, then you must consider that maybe you've never truly received salvation (Heb 10:26-27). And if that is true, then you will face the wrath of God as He judges you against His Moral Law (Rom 2:5), which we've already shown that none of us have kept.
I do not know if my half-brother was saved or not. But I do know that people had spoken to him about eternal things, and if he called upon the name of the Lord, even at the last minute like the thief on the cross, then he was saved.
But you never know when your time will come, two people die every second, many without the opportunity to consider such things. Don't put it off until tomorrow, TODAY is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2). You're not guaranteed another day, repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today.
And if you are a born-again Christian, fully assured of your salvation, then go forth in obedience to the Great Commission to proclaim the Word to every creature. There are those who are sure within themselves that they are saved, but will one day stand before the Lord, only to be told, "Away from Me, I never knew you." Check it out in Matthew 7:21-23. Look at the context of this verse, read before and after it for a full understanding. Jesus says that many will profess His name but not enter heaven. Only those who do the will of the Father will actually get into heaven. He's given us His will in the Bible, and has given the mandate to all Christians, commonly known as the Great Commission. It is not God's will that any perish (Eze 18:32), shouldn't we have the same mindset? He's told us what to do, and told us we'll be held accountable (Eze 33:8-9, Acts 20:26-27).
Are you doing that?
Or will you be one of those who hears those fearful words at the end of time, "Away from Me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you!"
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Saturday 06-23-12
A guy stopped by wearing a back pack. He said he was a Christian, and started asking about what we were doing. Dan explained briefly how we evangelize and tried to show him our illusion board. But the guy wouldn't budge from his place to even look at it. He claimed that he didn't need any "gimmick", just the Holy Spirit.
Ok, then.
He said he was a musician, walking around on Mill "discerning" people or something like that. That was about all the information we could get from him.
We could see that he was going to be disagreeable and Dan wandered off, not wanting to waste time on this guy. I was intrigued, however, and wanted to see what he believed. I asked him if he'd heard of WOTM. He wasn't familiar with the teaching, and had nothing to argue on that point, but said he didn't like how they "compromised" themselves by being on TBN. I had to agree that TBN is not a good source of solid Christian teaching, but if you want to get on TV to reach people with your message, you've gotta take what you can get. Besides, don't the people watching Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn need to see some real Christian teaching, too? He didn't seem to care.
I was playing some music over the PA, and about this time the Ozzy parody by Apologetix came on. Apologetix takes popular secular music and changes the lyrics to Christian ones. They do an awesome job of sounding like the original band, but the lyrics are Christian based and often funny as well. Anyway, he didn't like that, either, claiming that the origins of the song were somehow bad. I said, "Listen to the lyrics, that's what matters", but he would not. Finally, I gave up talking with this guy as well. He left, but walked by again later. He wouldn't even look at us.
Dan and I went for a walk around Mill to see what was going on out on the streets. We distributed a few tracts and talked to some people. Dan had a good conversation with John, who was trying to get petitions signed.
A lady stopped by to look at the illusion board. I took her through the questions on the board to catch her interest and then we went through the Good Person Test (GPT). As usual, she tried to jump ahead to repentance instead of admitting guilt. She said that she had actually stolen a car when she was younger, I explained that if we really look at God's standard, we realize that we've all broken His law and deserve punishment. Then I explained the Gospel and gave her a tract to read later. She had to catch a bus, so she headed out before I could get her name.
Soli Deo Gloria
Ok, then.
He said he was a musician, walking around on Mill "discerning" people or something like that. That was about all the information we could get from him.
We could see that he was going to be disagreeable and Dan wandered off, not wanting to waste time on this guy. I was intrigued, however, and wanted to see what he believed. I asked him if he'd heard of WOTM. He wasn't familiar with the teaching, and had nothing to argue on that point, but said he didn't like how they "compromised" themselves by being on TBN. I had to agree that TBN is not a good source of solid Christian teaching, but if you want to get on TV to reach people with your message, you've gotta take what you can get. Besides, don't the people watching Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn need to see some real Christian teaching, too? He didn't seem to care.
I was playing some music over the PA, and about this time the Ozzy parody by Apologetix came on. Apologetix takes popular secular music and changes the lyrics to Christian ones. They do an awesome job of sounding like the original band, but the lyrics are Christian based and often funny as well. Anyway, he didn't like that, either, claiming that the origins of the song were somehow bad. I said, "Listen to the lyrics, that's what matters", but he would not. Finally, I gave up talking with this guy as well. He left, but walked by again later. He wouldn't even look at us.
Dan and I went for a walk around Mill to see what was going on out on the streets. We distributed a few tracts and talked to some people. Dan had a good conversation with John, who was trying to get petitions signed.
A lady stopped by to look at the illusion board. I took her through the questions on the board to catch her interest and then we went through the Good Person Test (GPT). As usual, she tried to jump ahead to repentance instead of admitting guilt. She said that she had actually stolen a car when she was younger, I explained that if we really look at God's standard, we realize that we've all broken His law and deserve punishment. Then I explained the Gospel and gave her a tract to read later. She had to catch a bus, so she headed out before I could get her name.
Soli Deo Gloria
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Saturday 06-16-12
It's been busy around my house and at work, but I'll try to get a quick recap of last Saturday night, witnessing on Mill Ave. A few of us met out there to proclaim the Gospel to the lost.
A homeless guy in a wheelchair named James stopped by. I talked to both him and a woman with him for a while, and took them both through the Good Person Test (GPT). They seemed to understand, but afterward he just wanted to argue. He wanted us to leave so he could “work” on that corner. I gave them a couple of bucks and some tracts, and talked with him for a while. He eventually left, after spitting at a couple of us.
Another group of people stopped by after that. Paul, April and Lisa said they were all Christians, but I took them through the GPT anyway. They wanted to jump to being saved before fully going through the fact that we each deserve hell, but I kept them on track. They understood the message and liked what we were doing.
We handed out a few tracts, and talked with a few others before leaving Mill Ave and stopping at Denny’s for some food and fellowship afterwards.
Please keep the lost in your prayers, and better yet, get out there and talk to them! We are all commanded through the Great Commission to preach the Word to all creatures. We should start where we are, and spread out from there.
"You really have no right to go to another country and share your faith in Jesus Christ if you're not sharing your faith in Jesus Christ [here] ... in America." - Mark Cahill
Acts 1:8 (NASB) "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Jerusalem means locally. Judea and Samaria are next - a little further away, maybe a weekend trip. And the remotest part is taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, until all hear.
Go!
Soli Deo Gloria
A homeless guy in a wheelchair named James stopped by. I talked to both him and a woman with him for a while, and took them both through the Good Person Test (GPT). They seemed to understand, but afterward he just wanted to argue. He wanted us to leave so he could “work” on that corner. I gave them a couple of bucks and some tracts, and talked with him for a while. He eventually left, after spitting at a couple of us.
Another group of people stopped by after that. Paul, April and Lisa said they were all Christians, but I took them through the GPT anyway. They wanted to jump to being saved before fully going through the fact that we each deserve hell, but I kept them on track. They understood the message and liked what we were doing.
We handed out a few tracts, and talked with a few others before leaving Mill Ave and stopping at Denny’s for some food and fellowship afterwards.
Please keep the lost in your prayers, and better yet, get out there and talk to them! We are all commanded through the Great Commission to preach the Word to all creatures. We should start where we are, and spread out from there.
"You really have no right to go to another country and share your faith in Jesus Christ if you're not sharing your faith in Jesus Christ [here] ... in America." - Mark Cahill
Acts 1:8 (NASB) "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Jerusalem means locally. Judea and Samaria are next - a little further away, maybe a weekend trip. And the remotest part is taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth, until all hear.
Go!
Soli Deo Gloria
Thursday, May 17, 2012
What's Love Got To Do With It?
What is truth? That is what Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ, having no idea that Truth was standing right before him. So, here's another question: What is love? Definitions are important. Without knowing how one defines something, we may think that we're in agreement when actually, we couldn't be farther from it. For example, take Joel Osteen and his "loving" message of encouragment, and contrast that to Paul Washer, who offends people with his convicting preaching. Who is more loving? Be like the Bereans, search Scripture to see which of these two men is preaching the truth.
Is it ever loving to tell a lie?
Some might use the old analogy of your wife coming up and asking if this particular dress makes her look fat. Oh, that's a favorite one by atheists and so called Christians alike, as an attempt to justify a "little white lie", but let's really look into this shall we? You don't have to be brutal about it, saying something like, "It's not the dress that does it, Honey!" But neither do you have to lie.
You could say, "I don't like the way that looks on you, something else might be better." Now it's up to her if she wants to take your opinion or not.
But to tell her, "No, it looks great on you." when that is not the case, thinking that you're sparing her feelings is really only making matters worse. She now thinks that this dress looks good on her when it doesn't, and she goes out in public, while people are looking at her and laughing behind her back, ridiculing her and commenting, "Why would she wear something like that?" And it's your fault that she is publically humiliated because of your "little white lie" to spare her feelings. Who's going to spare them now that she was made to look foolish in public? And after she asked you the question in order to help determine what she was going to wear. The devil works in subtle ways, doesn't he?
What's even worse is to deceive someone into thinking that they're saved, not wanting to hurt their feelings, or anger them, or offend them, so you never confront them. And they fool themselves right up until they stand before the Lord and learn the truth (Matt 7:21-23) - can you call that loving? Real love would put others ahead of themselves, even allowing them to be angry, maybe to the point that they no longer want to be your friend! But you love them so much that you will take that loss if there is even a possibility that it will help them to be saved from eternal damnation. Lay down your pride!
So, what's the Biblical definition of love? That's the definition we really need to use, if we call ourselves Christians.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV1984) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Does it say that no one will ever get angry with you? No, they were so angry with Jesus that He was crucified. Does it say that love will not confront? No, nothing of the sort. Are we not to confront sin, or do we just leave it alone, lest someone accuse us of being judgmental?
Love must include truth, for if it does not, can it really be love, tainted by even the slightest lie? Who is the father of lies (John 8:44)? It doesn't matter if you label them differently, "little white lies", "stretching the truth", "tall tales" or whatever, they all come from the same place, don't they? Where does the Bible teach that any one type of lie is ok? Rather, it teaches that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire (Rev 21:8).
The Gospel is truth, so even if the Gospel is preached with contention, we should rejoice (Phil 1:18). God's Word will not return void (Is 55:11). So the question is not so much, "Am I loving enough?", it's more complete in asking, "Am I Biblical enough?"
If you find another believer that you feel is unloving, check what they are saying. If it is contradictory to Scripture, you've found a wolf among the flock. However, if it is doctrinally sound, and you cannot argue against it with Scripture, then maybe it's not unloving at all. Then you must face the possibility that it is a tough love that God is using in order to get your attention. Rather than unloving, it might just be the Lord convicting your conscience, and you are responding in anger and rebellion instead of repenting and acknowledging His truth from the sources that He chooses.
Soli Deo Gloria
Is it ever loving to tell a lie?
Some might use the old analogy of your wife coming up and asking if this particular dress makes her look fat. Oh, that's a favorite one by atheists and so called Christians alike, as an attempt to justify a "little white lie", but let's really look into this shall we? You don't have to be brutal about it, saying something like, "It's not the dress that does it, Honey!" But neither do you have to lie.
You could say, "I don't like the way that looks on you, something else might be better." Now it's up to her if she wants to take your opinion or not.
But to tell her, "No, it looks great on you." when that is not the case, thinking that you're sparing her feelings is really only making matters worse. She now thinks that this dress looks good on her when it doesn't, and she goes out in public, while people are looking at her and laughing behind her back, ridiculing her and commenting, "Why would she wear something like that?" And it's your fault that she is publically humiliated because of your "little white lie" to spare her feelings. Who's going to spare them now that she was made to look foolish in public? And after she asked you the question in order to help determine what she was going to wear. The devil works in subtle ways, doesn't he?
What's even worse is to deceive someone into thinking that they're saved, not wanting to hurt their feelings, or anger them, or offend them, so you never confront them. And they fool themselves right up until they stand before the Lord and learn the truth (Matt 7:21-23) - can you call that loving? Real love would put others ahead of themselves, even allowing them to be angry, maybe to the point that they no longer want to be your friend! But you love them so much that you will take that loss if there is even a possibility that it will help them to be saved from eternal damnation. Lay down your pride!
So, what's the Biblical definition of love? That's the definition we really need to use, if we call ourselves Christians.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV1984) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Does it say that no one will ever get angry with you? No, they were so angry with Jesus that He was crucified. Does it say that love will not confront? No, nothing of the sort. Are we not to confront sin, or do we just leave it alone, lest someone accuse us of being judgmental?
Love must include truth, for if it does not, can it really be love, tainted by even the slightest lie? Who is the father of lies (John 8:44)? It doesn't matter if you label them differently, "little white lies", "stretching the truth", "tall tales" or whatever, they all come from the same place, don't they? Where does the Bible teach that any one type of lie is ok? Rather, it teaches that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire (Rev 21:8).
The Gospel is truth, so even if the Gospel is preached with contention, we should rejoice (Phil 1:18). God's Word will not return void (Is 55:11). So the question is not so much, "Am I loving enough?", it's more complete in asking, "Am I Biblical enough?"
If you find another believer that you feel is unloving, check what they are saying. If it is contradictory to Scripture, you've found a wolf among the flock. However, if it is doctrinally sound, and you cannot argue against it with Scripture, then maybe it's not unloving at all. Then you must face the possibility that it is a tough love that God is using in order to get your attention. Rather than unloving, it might just be the Lord convicting your conscience, and you are responding in anger and rebellion instead of repenting and acknowledging His truth from the sources that He chooses.
Soli Deo Gloria
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Saturday 05-12-12
Dan, Alan, Joe, Tom and I went out to Mill Ave to reach out to the lost with the Gospel.
A guy named Royal stopped to get a glow stick by going through the Good Person Test (GPT). However, he wouldn't cooperate, saying he was some sort of universalist, just going by his feelings. He couldn't answer any questions, as those stuck in relativism are unable to make any sense at all and only like to hear themselves talk.
Then another guy who was playing the drums nearby, came over. He said his name was John Connor - Dan asked him about Skynet (a reference to the Terminator movies, since this is the name of the main character), and he said this really is his name. He gave me a bucket drum and stick to play while he sang a Christian rap song that he wrote. Tom filmed him, so you can probably find this on his blog soon. Link to Tom's Blog
Fernando, Amy and Jasmine stopped by with some younger kids to go through the GPT with Tom. Tom explained some of the error in the Catholic church once he realized they were Catholic. They stayed and listened, got glow sticks for all the kids and I handed Fernando an "Are You Good Enough to Get into Heaven?" tract. He replied that they were still Catholic, but I insisted, telling him that it went through the Ten Commandments, which are found in the Catholic Bible, so he took it. Pray that he reads it and God convicts him and draws his entire family out of the Roman Catholic church to be truly saved.
Ella and Shannon were a couple of young ladies that stopped by to check out our illusion board. They did pretty well on the initial questions, but were tricked by the last one. Then I took them through the GPT, and gave them some tracts to take with them. They thanked me and took their glow sticks and continued on their way.
A group of young Muslim men stopped by to talk with Dan. They debated for a while, and we split into smaller groups to speak with them. It was a very interesting conversation, and I think we've talked with some of these guys before. I mentioned that the Qur'an says to obey the Bible, but the guy didn't think so, and I couldn't remember the reference. I'll have to make a reference sheet for this sort of thing.
After that, we went to Denny's, and asked if we could pray for our waitress, Meeka again. She remembered us from before and requested that we pray for her friend Deante, who is currently in jail, unsaved and has even considered suicide. Please pray for Deante, that God would get hold of him, convict him and save him before it is too late. Also pray for encouragement and peace for Meeka, as she has not been able to speak with him and has no way to be able to reach him for a few days.
Soli Deo Gloria,
A guy named Royal stopped to get a glow stick by going through the Good Person Test (GPT). However, he wouldn't cooperate, saying he was some sort of universalist, just going by his feelings. He couldn't answer any questions, as those stuck in relativism are unable to make any sense at all and only like to hear themselves talk.
Then another guy who was playing the drums nearby, came over. He said his name was John Connor - Dan asked him about Skynet (a reference to the Terminator movies, since this is the name of the main character), and he said this really is his name. He gave me a bucket drum and stick to play while he sang a Christian rap song that he wrote. Tom filmed him, so you can probably find this on his blog soon. Link to Tom's Blog
Fernando, Amy and Jasmine stopped by with some younger kids to go through the GPT with Tom. Tom explained some of the error in the Catholic church once he realized they were Catholic. They stayed and listened, got glow sticks for all the kids and I handed Fernando an "Are You Good Enough to Get into Heaven?" tract. He replied that they were still Catholic, but I insisted, telling him that it went through the Ten Commandments, which are found in the Catholic Bible, so he took it. Pray that he reads it and God convicts him and draws his entire family out of the Roman Catholic church to be truly saved.
Ella and Shannon were a couple of young ladies that stopped by to check out our illusion board. They did pretty well on the initial questions, but were tricked by the last one. Then I took them through the GPT, and gave them some tracts to take with them. They thanked me and took their glow sticks and continued on their way.
A group of young Muslim men stopped by to talk with Dan. They debated for a while, and we split into smaller groups to speak with them. It was a very interesting conversation, and I think we've talked with some of these guys before. I mentioned that the Qur'an says to obey the Bible, but the guy didn't think so, and I couldn't remember the reference. I'll have to make a reference sheet for this sort of thing.
After that, we went to Denny's, and asked if we could pray for our waitress, Meeka again. She remembered us from before and requested that we pray for her friend Deante, who is currently in jail, unsaved and has even considered suicide. Please pray for Deante, that God would get hold of him, convict him and save him before it is too late. Also pray for encouragement and peace for Meeka, as she has not been able to speak with him and has no way to be able to reach him for a few days.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Saturday 04-28/12
Tom had a class on Saturday, and Reuben came out on the streets with us afterward. Dan showed up a little later and tested him. Reuben did pretty good, he brought Dan over for Tom to help him out, but Tom played along and let Reuben give it a try. He did real well, explaining the Gospel and the need for a Savior.
Tom talked with Becki, who had stopped for a glow stick. Her friend wanted her to leave, but she stayed and went through the Good Person Test (GPT). She had some knowledge of Christianity, and called herself a believer. She said she was married, and her husband was home with the two kids. She was out with a friend and they had met some new friends at a bar. Tom explained the Gospel to her and gave her more to consider as she left with a glow stick.
Dan and I wandered around to other areas, since Sean and Edwin were out, too. We stopped and talked with a lady handing out tracts, who didn't recognize us, so we talked with her for a while. She was surprised that we knew the Ten Commandments until we told her that we were out doing the same thing.
Then we went across the street and talked to a young man named Kyle, who was passing out some tracts. We stopped and questioned him some. He told us that Jesus loved us, and that not believing in Him was sin. Then he told us that we're all sinners (a bit judgmental, don't ya think?). We asked him some hard questions to get him to think about what he was saying, and he stumbled a bit. Then we told him that we were Christians out evangelizing as well, and he said, "Are you shh.... are you serious?" We told him to watch his language and he tried to play it off, but we know what he almost said. We took him a bit by surprise. We asked if he was familiar with WOTM, and he'd heard of it, but obviously wasn't using it. So we gave him an "Are You Good Enough to Get Into Heaven" tract to show him how to use the Law to explain the need for a Savior. Then we headed back over to our own corner.
Another guy that stopped by to talk to us about the importance of speaking in tongues. I asked if this was a requirement for salvation and he said no, but went on to tell us how we should seek this gift. He was wasting our time in reaching out to others, so I told him that I agree with John MacArthur as a cessationist, believing the sign gifts had ceased.
The guy that likes to heckle us after he's done singing was on the corner, and when he got done there, he claimed that it was "garbage hour" and that he was done. Apparently, he was talking about us, but he went on to keep repeating himself about someone having more kids with their daughter than their wife. He seemed to think he was funny, but just sounded like a broken record. Garbage hour indeed. Eventually he left.
After that, a drunk Hopi Indian, who said he was not a Navajo, which seemed to be important for us to know, came over and talked with me. He wasn't making much sense, and said something in his native tongue that I couldn't understand. Where was the guy with the tongues lecture now? Anyway, this guy wanted a couple of tracts, so I gave him some and he passed them on to others who actually took them. He said his sister was a Christian, but he followed his native beliefs, whatever those were.
Over all, it was a pretty average night witnessing on Mill Ave.
Soli Deo Gloria
Tom talked with Becki, who had stopped for a glow stick. Her friend wanted her to leave, but she stayed and went through the Good Person Test (GPT). She had some knowledge of Christianity, and called herself a believer. She said she was married, and her husband was home with the two kids. She was out with a friend and they had met some new friends at a bar. Tom explained the Gospel to her and gave her more to consider as she left with a glow stick.
Dan and I wandered around to other areas, since Sean and Edwin were out, too. We stopped and talked with a lady handing out tracts, who didn't recognize us, so we talked with her for a while. She was surprised that we knew the Ten Commandments until we told her that we were out doing the same thing.
Then we went across the street and talked to a young man named Kyle, who was passing out some tracts. We stopped and questioned him some. He told us that Jesus loved us, and that not believing in Him was sin. Then he told us that we're all sinners (a bit judgmental, don't ya think?). We asked him some hard questions to get him to think about what he was saying, and he stumbled a bit. Then we told him that we were Christians out evangelizing as well, and he said, "Are you shh.... are you serious?" We told him to watch his language and he tried to play it off, but we know what he almost said. We took him a bit by surprise. We asked if he was familiar with WOTM, and he'd heard of it, but obviously wasn't using it. So we gave him an "Are You Good Enough to Get Into Heaven" tract to show him how to use the Law to explain the need for a Savior. Then we headed back over to our own corner.
Another guy that stopped by to talk to us about the importance of speaking in tongues. I asked if this was a requirement for salvation and he said no, but went on to tell us how we should seek this gift. He was wasting our time in reaching out to others, so I told him that I agree with John MacArthur as a cessationist, believing the sign gifts had ceased.
The guy that likes to heckle us after he's done singing was on the corner, and when he got done there, he claimed that it was "garbage hour" and that he was done. Apparently, he was talking about us, but he went on to keep repeating himself about someone having more kids with their daughter than their wife. He seemed to think he was funny, but just sounded like a broken record. Garbage hour indeed. Eventually he left.
After that, a drunk Hopi Indian, who said he was not a Navajo, which seemed to be important for us to know, came over and talked with me. He wasn't making much sense, and said something in his native tongue that I couldn't understand. Where was the guy with the tongues lecture now? Anyway, this guy wanted a couple of tracts, so I gave him some and he passed them on to others who actually took them. He said his sister was a Christian, but he followed his native beliefs, whatever those were.
Over all, it was a pretty average night witnessing on Mill Ave.
Soli Deo Gloria
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Witnessing
I was recently listening to "You Can Be an Effective Witness for Christ" by John MacArthur. Here's what he said regarding witnessing, using the story of the rich young ruler:
Now then, using the WOTM, I have found this is not so hard to do at all. In fact, Ray Comfort uses this same verse to explain how to witness - I mean, this is Jesus Christ Himself, in an encounter with a man who comes right up and asks how to get into heaven, we should be paying attention if we call Him Lord.
The first thing Jesus does is ask the ruler, why do you call Me good? Only God is good. People really need to understand God's definition of good, as contrasted to man's ever changing definition. We compare ourselves to people like Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein, to murderers and rapists, and then we claim that we are pretty good compared to those people. But that's not the way God does it. He has given us a moral standard and He demands perfection. We will not be graded on a curve or compared to other people. We will stand alone, compared to His holy standard, which is based on His nature and revealed to us in the Ten Commandments.
We can open a conversation fairly easily by giving a person an interesting Gospel tract - a million dollar bill, a smart card or a coin with the Commandments on it (interesting tracts can be found at Living Waters or Custom Tract Source, as well as other websites).
Follow up with, "The million dollar question is, do you think you're good enough to get into heaven?" Or, "That coin has the Ten Commandments on it, do you think you've kept them?" Or, "What do you think happens to a person after they die? Do you believe in heaven and hell?" Any number of inquiries can transition from the Gospel tract you've just given them to "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?"
Most people do, just as Prov 20:6 says they will. Then, just like Jesus did, we can bring out some of the Commandments to see if this person can hold up to God's standard.
It may sound harsh, but it's really not taken that way as long as you ask these questions with a tone of concern and not in an accusing way. We want to do this out of love, so the person can judge themselves by God's standard, not out of self-righteousness, or arrogance because we want to prove ourselves right (if that is the sort of attitude you have, stop witnessing immediately and examine your own life - check out the Book of 1 John, and test yourself by Scripture).
If you ask these questions with loving concern and the person still gets angry, simply apologize and move on to someone else who God has prepared to hear the Gospel. We're not going to convince anyone, only God will make a convert, so don't feel like you have to get some sort of confession, or feel bad because someone rejects it. We are only called to be witnesses, in obedience to the Lord. He will bring the increase.
Soli Deo Gloria
"What do I have to do to obtain eternal life?" That was a felt need, wasn't it? But the Lord didn't say, "Hey, sign on the dotted line, guy and you're in!" "Hey, believe!", ya know? The Lord hit him with something that was absolutely unbelievable. He said, "Keep all the Commandments." Keep all the Commandments? Which Commandments? God's Commandments, remember He listed some of them there in Matthew.End of MacArthur quote.
"What was the Lord doing? The Lord was taking him to the next step in evangelism. It's got to be beyond a felt need, they have to realize that they're living in sin and rebellion against God. And sometimes that is the hardest thing to tell someone.
"You can find a person searching for purpose and they can get all excited about that. "Oh man, meaning and purpose and value and life and fullfillment and potential..." And then you say, "But wait. You see, the real issue with you is, the reason you don't know those things, is because you're living in rebellion to the God who gives those things. And you'll never know them until you come to grips with that rebellion. You're living in violation of God's Law, you're a sinner. You have broken God's Commandments. And then you can name those Commandments, and you need to bring them to the point where they admit it.
"Now, Jesus gave all those Commandments to the rich young ruler and what did he say? "All those things have I kept, what am I lacking?" Impossible to bring that guy to conversion because he didn't admit that he was, what? A sinner. I mean he wouldn't admit that he was out of sync with God. Therefore, all he was looking for was a placebo, all he was looking for was a panacea, a temporary relief from the symptoms and he wouldn't admit that there was a deeper problem. And so you have to take people to the point where they really affirm the fact that they are sinful. And that sometimes is hard to do."
Now then, using the WOTM, I have found this is not so hard to do at all. In fact, Ray Comfort uses this same verse to explain how to witness - I mean, this is Jesus Christ Himself, in an encounter with a man who comes right up and asks how to get into heaven, we should be paying attention if we call Him Lord.
The first thing Jesus does is ask the ruler, why do you call Me good? Only God is good. People really need to understand God's definition of good, as contrasted to man's ever changing definition. We compare ourselves to people like Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein, to murderers and rapists, and then we claim that we are pretty good compared to those people. But that's not the way God does it. He has given us a moral standard and He demands perfection. We will not be graded on a curve or compared to other people. We will stand alone, compared to His holy standard, which is based on His nature and revealed to us in the Ten Commandments.
We can open a conversation fairly easily by giving a person an interesting Gospel tract - a million dollar bill, a smart card or a coin with the Commandments on it (interesting tracts can be found at Living Waters or Custom Tract Source, as well as other websites).
Follow up with, "The million dollar question is, do you think you're good enough to get into heaven?" Or, "That coin has the Ten Commandments on it, do you think you've kept them?" Or, "What do you think happens to a person after they die? Do you believe in heaven and hell?" Any number of inquiries can transition from the Gospel tract you've just given them to "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?"
Most people do, just as Prov 20:6 says they will. Then, just like Jesus did, we can bring out some of the Commandments to see if this person can hold up to God's standard.
It may sound harsh, but it's really not taken that way as long as you ask these questions with a tone of concern and not in an accusing way. We want to do this out of love, so the person can judge themselves by God's standard, not out of self-righteousness, or arrogance because we want to prove ourselves right (if that is the sort of attitude you have, stop witnessing immediately and examine your own life - check out the Book of 1 John, and test yourself by Scripture).
If you ask these questions with loving concern and the person still gets angry, simply apologize and move on to someone else who God has prepared to hear the Gospel. We're not going to convince anyone, only God will make a convert, so don't feel like you have to get some sort of confession, or feel bad because someone rejects it. We are only called to be witnesses, in obedience to the Lord. He will bring the increase.
Soli Deo Gloria
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Saturday 04-21-12
It was a typical night in Tempe this past Saturday. Police, zombies, belly dancers and fireworks - you never know what you'll see out on Mill Ave.
The police had a DUI center set up just around the corner, and a couple of them came over to make us take down our sign that we hang up on the post office. He said we could be there because it's closed, but could not hang anything on the building itself.
A group of belly dancers were making their way around Mill Ave, and stopped nearby for a while, which helped generate a crowd.
For some reason, there was a fireworks display for a few minutes, but we had no idea why.
It was a pretty busy night, zombies were riding bikes tonight - I had heard of the "zombie walk", but wasn't really sure what tit was all about, so I looked it up. You can find some info here: Zombie Walk
Although it is an annual thing in most places, it seems to be every weekend at Mill lately.
Tom kept different crowds with his Open Air for glow sticks, and a group of Christians from Gilbert were interested in coming to his class this Saturday at Redemption Church.
There was an older couple named Don and Carol, who were from Oklahoma City, and they spoke with Alan for a while. I'm not sure how all that went, but they came back again later and talked with me. They wanted to discuss justification and that you cannot live for yourself after you've accepted Christ. I agreed with that point, but wasn't really sure where he was going with all of his stories. He told me different ones of going to places and "knowing that God was going to shut these businesses down" and how they were later replaced (a bar was replaced with a blood bank in one of the stories). I'm not exactly sure of what his point was, since it did not seem that he actually spoke to people to explain the Gospel to them.
Keith came out to Mill for the first time tonight. He had been out to First Friday earlier this month, and has just completed the Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith class. When Dan showed up a little later, Keith, as any good evangelist, handed him a tract, not knowing who he was. So, Dan decided to test him a bit, asking questions to see how he would do with witnessing to him. Keith did an awesome job at taking him through the Gospel and answering any questions that Dan asked him.
I talked with a couple of girls, one of them was named Mariah, and she agreed to go through the Good Person Test (GPT). She started out with a bit of a self-righteous attitude, claiming that I called her a liar. I explained that I had done no such thing. I asked her questions and she answered them, admitting herself that she had lied in the past and would refer to such people as liars. She also admitted to blaspheming and adultery in the heart, but claimed she had never stolen anything. As we continued, she seemed to be more convicted and have less of an attitude against what I was saying. She seemed to understand that we all deserve hell for breaking God's law, and to comprehend the sacrifice He made on our behalf to keep us from that punishment.
Even though she did not pass the GPT, didn't deserve and couldn’t earn the cash that I had offered in the beginning if she could pass it, I still gave it to her as a demonstration of God's grace. Just as we don't deserve salvation and cannot earn it by anything that we do, He still offers it to us. In the same way, I gave her the cash, which seemed to confuse her. She later asked if she was supposed to give it back, and I explained that she could keep it and use it anyway that she chose to. I also gave her a "Are You Good Enough to Get Into Heaven?" tract to read later.
Meanwhile, Tom was talking to a young guy who had been drinking and was quite self-righteous. He said he didn't care, and that he had much more life experience that Tom (even though he looked less than half of Tom's age). That conversation didn't go far, since the guy was not really open to hearing anything from us.
Mariah was waiting for this guy, and I told her that he would not be a good influence on her and her friend. Please pray for Mariah, that she would stay away from the bad influences on Mill Ave, be convicted of her sins and turn to Jesus Christ for her salvation. I pray that she would read through the tract I left her with and that the Lord would give her understanding and draw her to Himself.
After we packed up, we went out for some food and fellowship. We asked our waiter if there was anything we could pray with him for, and he asked that we pray for his relationship with his adult children. Marty had been separated from them for some time, and is trying to get reconnected (hopefully sometime in July). Please keep him is prayer for this.
Soli Deo Gloria
Monday, April 9, 2012
First Friday 04-06-12 Good Friday
My wife and I took the kids with us out to First Friday in downtown Phoenix to hand out some tracts and evangelize. There were a lot of people out there, and the kids handed out tons of tracts. One person dropped one of the tracts our six year old had handed him. She wasn’t about to let that go, she went over and said, “Excuse me, you dropped this.”
Here's a couple of pics when there was a little break in the crowd. Many times you couldn't even see the people on the other side of the sidewalk - it gets very crowded out there.
McKayla recited the Ten Commandments on the speaker system a couple of times, and Tom stayed busy taking people through the Good Person Test for glow sticks. Keith (from my current class) came out to see how things go on First Fridays, and we saw a lot of other believers out proclaiming the Gospel as well.
Please pray for the lost, that God would convict them of their sin and draw them to Himself for their salvation and His glory. And if you are a believer, make some time to be obedient to the Great Commission. God doesn’t need us, but what a privilege to be used for His holy purpose in saving people. There is no greater honor.
Luke 10:2
><(((‘>
Here's a couple of pics when there was a little break in the crowd. Many times you couldn't even see the people on the other side of the sidewalk - it gets very crowded out there.
McKayla recited the Ten Commandments on the speaker system a couple of times, and Tom stayed busy taking people through the Good Person Test for glow sticks. Keith (from my current class) came out to see how things go on First Fridays, and we saw a lot of other believers out proclaiming the Gospel as well.
Please pray for the lost, that God would convict them of their sin and draw them to Himself for their salvation and His glory. And if you are a believer, make some time to be obedient to the Great Commission. God doesn’t need us, but what a privilege to be used for His holy purpose in saving people. There is no greater honor.
Luke 10:2
><(((‘>
Saturday 03-31-12
So, Tom gave the security guards some glow sticks and we continued without amps and didn't have any trouble the rest of the night.
We decided to set up in the middle of the street at Mill and 5th, since it’s not often that we can be right in the middle of the intersection.
A couple of guys stopped by, Skunk and Joseph, one with a spiked mohawk. Someone had been handing out the 180 movie, and so they had seen some of the GPT before, so I skipped forward to the end. Skunk's mother is a "religious fanatic" (kinda like us), so they had some idea of what we were talking about. They listened and said that it did make sense to them. I gave them a couple of "Are You Good Enough to Get Into Heaven" tracts before they left.
You can check out a couple of videos below. Don't forget to press the pause button on the music player to the right first:
Steve, one of our newer people, has become pretty bold in sharing his faith. He was talking to some kids, with their parents listening nearby, so I gave them a couple of the Ten Commandments coins. Dan got up on the box and gave the Ten Commandments for the first time, while I was talking with Jordan, who is not a believer, but likes to stop by and talk with us from time to time.
Soli Deo Gloria
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