God was very gracious to us tonight. Not only did we get to see the beauty of His creation in the sunset from Mukilteo beach, but we also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with a number of people.
We walked the path from the parking lot to the end of the beach, and handed tracts to people as we walked. The curved illusions were well received by some kids. We had nice brief conversations with a few people along the way. One thing that Thomas does to get people to accept tracts is to make a complementary comment about what someone is wearing. We crossed paths with a couple of young men, and Thomas commented on the tee shirt one of them was wearing, which read something about 'Tennis'. The young man accepted a tract and said something about "yes", he does play tennis for some high school team.
It was so encouraging as we stood near the Mukilteo Lighthouse, to watch as Thomas shared the Gospel with four early twenties people (1 guy and 3 girls). It was so interesting to watch the countenance of the young man change after he admitted to having lied.
As we made a full circuit and were heading back into the park we encountered the two young men (one of them with the 'Tennis' shirt). I said, "we've already given them a tract.", and Thomas said, "I like to ask people if they've read the tract". So we did, and got into a conversation with them. This turned out to be the standout conversation for the evening. The one vocal young man was a well researched, 15 year old atheist Jansen and his friend's name was Anton. There was great opportunity to express God's care and concern for them and the solution to their sin problem.
There were many, many others who heard the Gospel message tonight. It was so wonderful to be able to have such a warm reception to the Gospel as it was tonight.
God bless...
Friday, April 20, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Terrified and Shaking
This evening, while my wife and sons and I were downstairs in our den watching TV, I hear a kinda loud car pull up beside our house (we live on a corner). I got up and went out the back doors and looked over the fence to see three young men get out of a Jeep and head onto the greenbelt trail.
I went and grabbed my wallet, cell phone, put on my shoes and grabbed some million dollar bill Gospel tracts.
I went down and had a very congenial conversation with Steven, Kip and Tyler. I had the privilege of sharing the Law and the Gospel with the young men.
I had my brother Thomas on the cell phone listening to the whole conversation.
The whole time I was shaking in my boots.
God bless...
I went and grabbed my wallet, cell phone, put on my shoes and grabbed some million dollar bill Gospel tracts.
I went down and had a very congenial conversation with Steven, Kip and Tyler. I had the privilege of sharing the Law and the Gospel with the young men.
I had my brother Thomas on the cell phone listening to the whole conversation.
The whole time I was shaking in my boots.
God bless...
Saturday, April 14, 2012
God is a God of Order
Yesterday morning, we arrived at the Burger Master parking lot early, around 6:00am, to wait for Cascade High School students to arrive at school. We chatted, then prayed, and by 6:30, we were anxiously waiting but no students. In fact, we were ready to leave and go try the Everett Train Station, when, off in the distance would could see a faint trickle of backpack wearing students.
We got out of the car and strolled over toward the gate of the High School. There's a big concrete platform, right off the sidewalk, inside the path that leads to the gate. Before any students began to approach, I carefully laid 5 Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts in a line, on the concrete platform, to use as teaching aid.
Then, when the first young man, Drew, hesitantly walked up, I said, "Hi, have you gotten one of these, and I handed him a Gospel tract." And I asked him, see those bills there on the ground? He said yes. I asked him, do you think the wind blew those there, like that; Do you think those bills were arranged like that by accident, or do you think someone put them there on purpose? He said, 'someone did it on purpose.' Then I asked, "How do you know that?" He said, 'well, because their in order and in a row'. Then I said, "with that thought in mind, what about you, do you think you came about by accident through evolution or do you think you were purposefully, intentionally created by design?" He thought for a moment, and said 'evolution.' Then I said, "think about your eye for a moment, your eye has millions of light sensitive cells 'arranged' in the back of your eye, connected to nerves, that transmit information to your brain for you to see. Do you think that came about by accident, or do you thing God created you by design." He said, "God created me." Then I began to ask Drew what he knew about God, if he had a Christian background and where he thought he would go when he died. He was a very thoughtful, young man, and he had lots of questions, one that was very touching, "if God is good, why did he let my brother die?" I said, "tell me a little more, how did your brother die?" He said, "he died just after childbirth." I said, "I'm so sorry." I said, "ultimately, God is in control of when we die, and I'm very sorry that your brother died, but he's in heaven now with God." Then Drew said, "He can't be if we're born in sin." I said "there is biblical president, that babies who die, go to heaven. When King David's son died shortly after birth, he said, "I will see him again." I said, "we are all saved by grace through faith, but God's grace extends to children who never had the chance to live life." I said, "I just want to encourage you, you will see your brother again, if you go to heaven." Then I had the opportunity to confirm the Gospel message, and explain how to receive the gift salvation by repenting and placing his faith in Christ. I asked him when he was going to do that, 'He said he already had by going to church and confessing his sins and being baptized.' So I took a little more time to explain that church, baptism and confessing sins are all good things, but according to Jesus, salvation is a free gift, we can't earn by doing anything, we can only receive it by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It was time for him to get to class, so we parted with a handshake.
Then I got to talk to a few other people, who seemed in a hurry to get to class, but they graciously listened to the briefest of Gospel messages.
Next, Conner came up and I talked to him about the arranged bills on the ground and evolution and just as was telling him about salvation, all of a sudden I heard someone screaming at us, you cannot be here on school property. We've had parents complaining about this, you must cease and leave right now. I said, "this public sidewalk that I'm standing on is school property?" He said, "yes, you must be 1000 feet away from the school." He started to call the cops, and we left. While we were leaving we handed out our 'illegal' Gospel tracts [my term], to the rest of the students as they were heading toward the gate.
Finally, I got to speak with Shila about the Gospel message. She warmly received it and I encouraged her to get right with God, before another day goes by.
Please pray for Drew, Conner and Shila.
God bless...
We got out of the car and strolled over toward the gate of the High School. There's a big concrete platform, right off the sidewalk, inside the path that leads to the gate. Before any students began to approach, I carefully laid 5 Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts in a line, on the concrete platform, to use as teaching aid.
Then, when the first young man, Drew, hesitantly walked up, I said, "Hi, have you gotten one of these, and I handed him a Gospel tract." And I asked him, see those bills there on the ground? He said yes. I asked him, do you think the wind blew those there, like that; Do you think those bills were arranged like that by accident, or do you think someone put them there on purpose? He said, 'someone did it on purpose.' Then I asked, "How do you know that?" He said, 'well, because their in order and in a row'. Then I said, "with that thought in mind, what about you, do you think you came about by accident through evolution or do you think you were purposefully, intentionally created by design?" He thought for a moment, and said 'evolution.' Then I said, "think about your eye for a moment, your eye has millions of light sensitive cells 'arranged' in the back of your eye, connected to nerves, that transmit information to your brain for you to see. Do you think that came about by accident, or do you thing God created you by design." He said, "God created me." Then I began to ask Drew what he knew about God, if he had a Christian background and where he thought he would go when he died. He was a very thoughtful, young man, and he had lots of questions, one that was very touching, "if God is good, why did he let my brother die?" I said, "tell me a little more, how did your brother die?" He said, "he died just after childbirth." I said, "I'm so sorry." I said, "ultimately, God is in control of when we die, and I'm very sorry that your brother died, but he's in heaven now with God." Then Drew said, "He can't be if we're born in sin." I said "there is biblical president, that babies who die, go to heaven. When King David's son died shortly after birth, he said, "I will see him again." I said, "we are all saved by grace through faith, but God's grace extends to children who never had the chance to live life." I said, "I just want to encourage you, you will see your brother again, if you go to heaven." Then I had the opportunity to confirm the Gospel message, and explain how to receive the gift salvation by repenting and placing his faith in Christ. I asked him when he was going to do that, 'He said he already had by going to church and confessing his sins and being baptized.' So I took a little more time to explain that church, baptism and confessing sins are all good things, but according to Jesus, salvation is a free gift, we can't earn by doing anything, we can only receive it by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It was time for him to get to class, so we parted with a handshake.
Then I got to talk to a few other people, who seemed in a hurry to get to class, but they graciously listened to the briefest of Gospel messages.
Next, Conner came up and I talked to him about the arranged bills on the ground and evolution and just as was telling him about salvation, all of a sudden I heard someone screaming at us, you cannot be here on school property. We've had parents complaining about this, you must cease and leave right now. I said, "this public sidewalk that I'm standing on is school property?" He said, "yes, you must be 1000 feet away from the school." He started to call the cops, and we left. While we were leaving we handed out our 'illegal' Gospel tracts [my term], to the rest of the students as they were heading toward the gate.
Finally, I got to speak with Shila about the Gospel message. She warmly received it and I encouraged her to get right with God, before another day goes by.
Please pray for Drew, Conner and Shila.
God bless...
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