Friday the 13th, Open Air at Dick's Hamburgers

It was kind of interesting to note the various spiritual battles that took place last night as we proclaimed the Gospel, "Open-Air" at Dick's Hamburger's last night.

First was fear. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. I prayed. It took everything in me to step up on that box. Then once I got started, some guy intentionally kept triggering his car alarm while I was preaching.

Finally, the battle against apathy of our onlookers.

Encouragement came in the form of applause when we finished.

Praise God. What follows is what I had planned to say. I don't know how many points I hit, I was so nervous I couldn't think. When I was done, I didn't even remember what I had said, but here's what I had planned on saying in my ultra-brief open-air 'message':

Woohoo, I got my Dick’s hamburger.  
You know that old saying, “eat right, exercise and you still die”.
Hi, I'm a Christian and I want to tell you about something.   
I love life and value it highly, and I’m sure you do too.
But the sad fact is that we’re all going to die someday.
God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness;
that's the standard, 'righteousness' means he's going judge the heart.   
Lying is evil in God's eyes (if you’ve lied that would make you a liar)
and stealing is wrong (if you taken anything that isn’t yours that’d make you a thief)
but it goes even deeper than that, Jesus equated lusting after someone who isn’t your husband or wife with adultery.   
He equated hate with murder and if you’ve used God’s name in vain, that’s blasphemy.   
This is very serious and it leaves us all in big trouble on judgement day.   
We want to avoid hell, so trust in the Savior.   
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day.
He commands everyone to repent and trust in Him as savior.
That’s the Good News, Jesus took the punishment we deserved.
Repent and trust Him today God will grant you the gift of eternal life.

A Triple Shot of Encouragement

Three times, in three different ways, I was encouraged yesterday. In the afternoon, going out with the Calvary Everett street team, I got to chat with a gal, who said she would come 'try out' church on Sunday.

Thomas and Dennis across from a small church in Everett

 In the evening, with the MSU prison team, we had a great evening of worship and prayer with the inmates. Finally, when I got home (we live on a corner lot), a couple guys were parked beside our house in a Ford Ranger; which usually means they're waiting for a drug dealer. I grabbed a couple Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts, and walked over to the truck. I said Hi, how's it going, what's up, what's your guys names, etc.   The responded, a little hesitantly, I'm sure they were thinking who is this guy?.   I told them my name, and then they asked what I was doing. I told them I lived right here, so they seemed maybe a little re-assured.  Then I gave Sean and Kip each a tract, and their eyes lit up and they chuckled as I said to them "Don't spend it all in one place".   They asked what is this, and I told them it's a Gospel tract, which led right into me sharing the Law with them. They admitted if they died in their sins they would be guilty, and if they got what they deserved, it would be hell. But it was a little disappointing when I asked if that concerned them, they just kinda shrugged.   I asked them how old they were; they said 17.  I said you can go into any cemetery and find lots of head-stones of 17 year old's. I said you guys are wearing seat belts for a reason; because accidents happen. I said none of us know the day of our death, and this is very serious.  I said this is so important, there's nothing more important than your eternal salvation.  Then I explained the Gospel to them of how Jesus died on the cross for their sins and how he rose from the dead on the third day.  And that God commands everyone to simply repent and trust in Jesus as their savior (and I explained the Bible term Repentance as turning away from sins and turning to God for mercy.) I gave the example of putting on a life preserver when you're on a sinking ship as trust. Finally, I said, will you consider what I've told you.  They said yes. I said okay, have a nice evening, God bless you guys, and I left.


God bless..