Saturday 01/28/12

Tom and I headed out to evangelize on the streets of Tempe, where we met Alan, who was already handing out tracts. Jean was there, and had brought a friend named Jason from her church to witness on Mill. We hadn't seen her out there for a while, so it was nice to see her even bringing someone else with. They distributed tracts and talked with people for a while before heading out.

I spoke with Ryan, a young guy with lots of skeptical questions, who's obviously been checking out some atheist sites. He had lots of good (hard) questions that I didn't have answers to. He even mentioned strengthening my faith through some of these questions, which was a little strange. It does strengthen my faith, as I go back home and comtemplate some of them and look for answers, I had just never heard an unbeliever state that fact before. I was able to give him an "Are You Good Enough to Get into Heaven?" tract that he said he'd read.

Tom was talking with a couple of guys, one of them was cursing, and stated that he didn't believe. He argued for a while, as Tom took him through the Good Person Test (GPT), and when he was done, the guy wanted a tract. He wasn't interested in the glow stick that Tom tried to give him, he said he wanted one of the pamphlets, which were in Tom's pocket and not even in sight. Tom asked how he knew that he had one, and the guy said he'd heard us out there before and that we give them to everyone and he wanted one. Another strange encounter. Tom gave him the tract he wanted, the guy shook his hand and thanked him for the conversation, then headed down the street.

A country singer named Joshua and his friend Ezekiel were out walking his dog. They said they were Christians, but didn't have a Bible. Joshua stated that he didn't really trust the Bible, citing the argument from the children's game of whispering a secret into each others ear, and by the time it gets all the way around the circle, the secret barely resembles the original. So, I explained that the Bible was different, because it was written down, and that the Dead Sea Scrolls show that it has not been changed over the years. Besides this, I trust that God will protect His Word over time and through different translations.

People have bled and died in order for us to be able to have this Book in our hands. I asked him if he'd read it if I gave him one and he said he would. Then Ezekiel came over and and asked for one, too, so I gave him one as well. Joshua said that he didn't have much and remained homeless on purpose, because he feels that God called him to that. He said that he talks to people that others may not be able to reach.

As always, please keep the lost in your prayers, as we continue to reach out to them with the Truth of the Gospel.

Soli Deo Gloria

Saturday 03-12-11

I had this all written up to post early this week, but sent it through email and it disappeared!  I hate it when that happens!  So, here’s take 2.

I met Alan and Ronnie on the street, and Stan, Marcus, Catherine and Tom showed up a little later.  It was a busy night on Mill Ave, and we distributed a lot of tracts. 
We spoke with a guy named Chad for a while.  He said he was agnostic and was waiting around for the atheists to show up.  He said he wanted to look into both sides of the issue and make up his own mind, but didn’t want to take any of our tracts.  I explained to him that he couldn’t really look into our side of it without taking any of the info that we had to offer.  He agreed and took a couple of tracts to look over later.  Her ended up leaving before our atheists got there.  In the end, he said he respected what we were doing, but still wasn’t sure of his beliefs at this point.  Please keep him in prayer, that the Lord would open his eyes to understand the truth. 

Marcus and I talked to three people that stopped by to check out the Celebrity Board.  They seemed to be Catholic, speaking of Lent and confession.  They didn’t really like talking about the Law so much, seeming to be almost universalist in their beliefs.  We were able to give them some “Are You Good Enough To Get Into Heaven?” tracts, before being interrupted by the arrival of some of their friends.  They seemed happy to get away.  I didn’t see any conviction as they headed out, thinking themselves secure even in their sins due to hearing too much of an errant Gospel, not understanding their need to turn from sin and submit to the Savior.  It’s sad that there are so many misled in this way today.

A lady stopped by to give me a couple of websites on pieces of paper.  I think we’ve met her before and I don’t think she likes us much, but I’ll look at her websites to see what she has to say.

Hyla (sp?), Jess and Kevin stopped to check out our “transitional species” that I made.  Hyla and Jess seemed to have a pretty good understanding of the Gospel, but Kevin believed that he had his own morals somehow.

A guy named Jacob joined in and had some good questions that we answered as best we could. 

I gave them some tracts, a CD of “Hells Best Kept Secret” and “True and False Conversion” and a couple of business cards that include my testimony and the blog site on it.  (Leave me a comment if one of you is reading this)

Near the end of the night, a guy came up to Marcus and I to see what we had to say.  He was from ND, out here on spring break and had been drinking a bit.  He didn’t like the idea that God sees lust as adultery and will hold us all accountable to His Moral Law.  He said he was a “hard-core Catholic” and that he would never change. 

He liked to argue some, and stated that there was no evidence of God, so I pointed to the building that we were standing next to and asked him who built it.  He said, “God didn’t build that, man did, just like all the cars and other buildings and these bricks…” he kind of went on a bit of a rant with this, but I agreed with him.  I explained that we know there was a builder for all these things because we have the building as proof, just as a painting is proof that there was a painter, none of this stuff can just happen on its own.  Then I told him that we have creation which proves there is a Creator.  I pointed him to a tree in front of us and how that was more complex, as a living thing than a building was, and that there had to be a Creator. 

He admitted that he just wanted to debate a bit, and knew that there was a God, so I thought I’d point out our atheists to him, explaining that we already had people who came out to argue against the existence of God with us.  He couldn’t believe that people would actually do that, even though that’s pretty much what he was just doing himself. 

So he felt that he had to go to talk to them.  A few minutes later I saw him bring Shawn over to the tree and was pointing at it, apparently using the same example I had just given when I was talking to him.

Soli Deo Gloria

Saturday 02-26-11

Tom and I met Jennifer, Marcus and Stan at 5th St and Mill Ave. We set up Tom's new sign to give away more free glow sticks for anyone who was willing to take the Good Person Test.  We had a few people stop by.  I talked to a couple calling themselves Giggles and the Jolly Green Giant.  Interesting street names.  Anyway, they went through the Good Person Test for a couple of glow sticks.  They didn’t seem real convicted, but they did hear the Gospel, so pray that the Lord would work in their hearts.  

It was a pretty typical night on Mill, it didn’t start raining on us until around 11:30, and we packed up around 12:30 to go for some food and fellowship afterwards.  There was a guy named James hanging around and he seemed a little off in his theology.  Stan brought him with for a sandwich, and talked with him more there.

If you’re in the Phoenix area, come join us some Saturday night for witnessing and fellowship.

Soli Deo Gloria

Remember

Remember as you walk by that person on the sidewalk and your eyes meet, you smile and say, "How are you?" without really meaning it.

When you walk by that person on the street, or step into the elevator with a coworker.

When you are standing in line at the grocery store with people in front of you and behind you, and when you step up to the cashier to pay.

Remember when you go through the drive thru to pick up your lunch, when you wave to your neighbor as you pull into your driveway.

As you wait in line at the DMV or sit in a restaurant waiting for your dinner, on the bus, on a plane, or anywhere else you come into contact with other human beings.

Remember that the gate is small and the way is narrow for those who find eternal life (Matt 7:13-15 ). That most people you will come in contact with throughout the day are likely on the wide road to destruction.

So, just remember these three little words. Say them out loud, whisper them under your breath or say them silently in your mind as you glance into the eyes of other people. These words aren't really meant for them anyway, they're meant as a reminder for you, to convict, to remember and remind yourself to say something else, rather than what is said by your silence or your meaningless small talk or greetings that you don't really mean.

Quietly say to them, "go to hell" if you're not going to share the words of eternal life with them as you are commanded by the Lord. And be ready to explain to God one day, why you called Him Lord but refused to follow His commands (Luke 6:46, Rom 14:12 ).

It's been said that there are sins of commission and sins of omission. We're pretty familiar with the sins of commission - the things you do which you shouldn't, but the sins of omission are the things that you don't do which you should, such as obediently sharing the Gospel as every Christian is commanded (Matt 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 10:42 ).

If you consider yourself to be a Christian, you need to learn to share your faith. At least carry around a few Gospel tracts, learn to quickly share the hope within you (1 Peter 3:15 ). Get yourself equipped to share the Good News with others, Biblically.

Go to Way of the Master.com and learn what you need to do. If what you find there is unbiblical, then walk away from it. But if you find it backed up by Scripture, then you need to get into the battle.

If you are afraid to witness to others because they might be offended, try this. See if it is less offensive to go ahead and say to them, "go to hell" because that's what you're saying by keeping the knowledge of eternal life from them.