Tonight the Lord directed Thomas and I to the Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. We handed out hundreds of Gospel tracts. We preached the Gospel using our P.A.s We had an extraordinary conversation with a couple of Muslim foreign exchange students. On the way back to the car, we spoke with Cassie who was waiting for a bus and she considered our words, but she wouldn't accept a Gospel tract.
I didn't know how well attended the Comcast arena would be for the Jingle Bells concert, but I soon found out what a draw Selena Gomez is. The line was stretched around the entire Comcast arena this evening. I began at the head of the line and preached the true meaning of Christmas to the concert goers. Thomas met me later on and he preached too.
We received amazing favor from God . Hundreds heard the Gospel without amplification. Many young people listened intently and came up afterwards and thanked us. Only a few minor heckles but sadly much indifference. One supposed Christian girl tried to hinder the Gospel proclamation, telling me that this wasn't the way to do it. I rebuked her and told her she wasn't a Christian, but a hypocrite.
It was a phenomenal evening, albeit cold, to proclaim the Good News, that "Unto us is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the LORD.".
We spent a couple of hours this afternoon down at the Everett Gospel mission, handing out sandwiches and cups of homemade chicken soup to the men and women who were there. We also gave out a number of other food and some personal toiletry items.
It was a very successful mini-mission trip.
The team was Julie, and I, Emily, Denise, Becky and her husband Blaine.
I handed out Santa Million Dollar bill Gospel tracts, and had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to those waiting in line to get into the mission.
Here's what I said... Caterpillars don’t Sky Dive
You may have a religious background. You may have grown up in a religious family, with a religious heritage. Maybe you would say to yourself I've tried to live the religious life, but I just can't. I've tried reading my Bible, and praying, and going to church, but it bores me to tears, and puts me to sleep. There's a reason for that and you shouldn't be surprised. Let me illustrate why that is with a little story;
Imagine, you were to find a little caterpillar crawling on a leaf of a tree, and you took that caterpillar, and dressed him up in little blue tights with little red underwear with a little yellow S on the chest and a red cape hanging off his little caterpillar shoulders. And you take the caterpillar up to the top of the empire state building. Then you dangle that little caterpillar in its blue tights and red cape over the edge. At that point, you let go of him and he falls down, down, down. Hurriedly, you take the elevator back down to the ground floor, and get off and go out to the street and you will find a little splat on the sidewalk.
BUT, if you take a caterpillar after it has transformed into a butterfly and now take it up to the top of the Empire State building and let it go, it will have a totally different experience. And that is why Jesus said, "You must be born again." Going to church and praying and engaging in religious activity will not save anyone from hell or get anyone to heaven. You will find no pleasure in the things of God. You must be transformed from within. But when that happens, you will love God. You will love the things God loves. You will delight in the law of God. It will not be a burden to
serve God.
Jesus said, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart, and I will give you rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
After a day of driving around southern California on a nostalgia trek to see all the houses I lived in, I thought I would stop at the mission inn in Riverside. I didn't realize there would be a huge festival going on. So I picked a corner and commenced reading Luke 1 and 2 and preaching the gospel for 2.5 hours. I was encouraged by so many people and even prayed for by several. A few other street evangelists stopped and chatted and prayed. One guy introduced me to his wife and then called his mom over and introduced us. By the end of the night I even shared the corner with another gospel preacher.
It was a huge festival and a huge blessing to preach the coming of King Jesus.
P.S. A tablet is the bomb for nighttime scripture reading outdoors.
I know I'm not supposed to fear men. I know, God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. But, I was a bit fearful, going down to the trail after dark, and not knowing who I might encounter. But tonight's encounter proved a couple of things to me. 1) God is good and very gracious, and 2) Every individual (even every group dynamic) is different.
Four early twenties men went on the trail for the second time this evening, so I grabbed my flashlight and went down to the greenbelt trail.
These four men (one of them French), were very cordial and patient with me as we bantered back and forth about life, and forgiveness and the Good News. They listened as I explained what it meant to be 'born-again', and why that was Good News. One of them even shined the spotlight of his phone on me while we spoke.
Last night I spent about an hour and a half on the corner of 4th and Bellevue Way in Bellevue Washington, preaching to the upscale, jet setters, and Microsofties. Anyways, for street corner preaching, it was good experience. I had a few good responses, mostly from kids... bless their hearts. I did have a few people just break out laughing (I think it was at me.)
Video to come...
The main value of the video is the audio, sorry about the camera angle, but I'm uncomfortable setting the camera up too far away from me, and I also don't feel comfortable pointing the camera at my audience.
Here's the message I had planned on delivering, but the LORD had something else in mind...
I’m not about to cast stones in your direction, I’m here to throw out a life-line. I have a burden on my heart to share a few thoughts with you. It’s with your best interest in mind, that I'd like to give you some good news. You are highly valued by God, you are of immense worth to Him. I care about you and I’m greatly concerned for you, for your eternal soul, so I'd like to express God's great love for you that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ on the cross, when He died for us even while we were yet sinners.
Let me start with a little story that illustrates my point. Imagine you’re on a cruise ship. You’re cruising through the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. It’s a beautiful day. The sun’s shining. A gentle breeze is blowing, keeping the temperature at a very pleasant 84 degrees. Earlier, you ate a delicious meal. You’re thinking about going for a walk on deck and that, you hope to hit a few golf balls off the deck into the ocean, then in the evening you plan on doing a little gambling in the ship’s casino. The water is calm and blue. All you can see is ocean and blue sky except for a few puffy white clouds. Without warning though, a fire starts in the electrical room. Almost instantly, the fire spreads to the engine room, and reaches the fuel tank and causes an explosion that blows a hole in the hull. Quickly, the ship begins to sink. Hurriedly you run to the evacuation area, where there are porters directing people into lifeboats. But you think to yourself, I can swim. The water is warm, and calm. And you decide “I’ll jump in and save myself.” As you dive off the deck and do a perfect swan dive, you hear the porter yell, no, the waters are shark infested. The instant you hit the water, you’re gobbled up by the man-eating sharks.
I’m here to direct you into the life-boat of Jesus Christ. Don’t try to save yourself, receive salvation, get into the life-boat of Jesus Christ. I’m here to warn you, avoid the shark infested waters of God’s wrath and anger and judgement.” The Bible does describe a fiery hell, eternal condemnation for those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible warns in the book of Jude, that Lord will come with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in ungodliness. But you may not want to hear about all that, I understand. If I tell you it’s wrong to lie, its wrong to steal, its wrong to commit sexual immorality, look at porn, it’s evil to use God’s Name in vain, and you feel condemned by anything I say, I understand, believe me. If you feel judged by anything I say, I understand. If you feel guilty for lying, stealing, fornicating, lusting, lewdness, drunkenness, gossip, dishonoring or disrespecting your parents, I understand. If you would accuse me judging, and your conscience feels guilty, I understand.
The true and living God of the Bible actually says its a good thing to have a guilty conscience and NOT IGNORE IT. The Bible says godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.” If you have a guilty conscience, that’s a good thing, because it means you haven’t gone so deep into sin and your heart is not so hardened that you no longer feel bad when you think about the wrongs you’ve committed. 2 Timothy 4:2 says there are those who have had their conscience seared [as] with a hot iron;” There are those who are self-deluded, who can tell a lie and believe their own lie. There are those who can steal, and it doesn’t bother them. There are some who can hate others, without regard to the value and dignity of another human being. There are those who can gaze upon the opposite sex with a lustful eye and not feel bad afterwards. If that’s not you though, keep listening.
Tonight, I had the privilege of speaking to hundreds of race fans who were waiting for the doors to open at the Comcast Arena Everett. The Endurocross is in town. I arrived at 6 and the doors opened at 6:30, so I had quite a while of undivided attention. The crowd was very gracious and listened quite intently.
May God sink His Word, deep into peoples hearts.
Hello friends. My name is Keith, and I’m a born-again Christian, and I’d like to share a few thoughts with you while you wait for the doors to open.
I personally know someone who was a professional motorcycle racer. In fact, this person, who I know, who was a professional motorcycle racer is my uncle. His name is Steve Hurd. He was #1 in the AMA Desert/Enduro category way back in 1967 and 1968. I idolized that guy as a kid. I remember cutting pictures of him out of Cycle World magazine and making a scrapbook of them.
I grew up around motorcycles, and rode motorcycles when I was young. I understand the adrenaline mindset. I’m familiar with the X-Games culture. I get with the “Go for it” attitude. Oh, but there was one thing I omitted about my uncle Steve; he passed away not long ago. And I only say that to remind us all that our time here on earth is finite. We will all come to the end of our life at some point.
Hebrews 9:27 It is appointed unto man, once to die, then comes the judgement. So we all have an appointment with death, and after that we have an appointment with our Maker to give an account of our lives.
Acts 4:12, … God has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness. So the standard by which we will be judged is righteousness, which means God will judge the heart. He sees the things you thought were hidden, the things done in darkness, God sees as though they were done in the light.
The Law is a tutor that leads us to Christ
The Gospel is the Good News that Jesus died, was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures.
The New Birth is when the Spirit of God takes up residence in your heart and life. Jesus said, "You must be born again."
You were created for life not death. You were designed for life. Death is not your friend, and it was not your intended destiny. The grave is not the goal, and the funeral is not the finish line.
The Bible compares the Christian faith to a race, in a couple of places… 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Hebrews 12:1,
So if you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you aren’t even in the race… If you are a Christian, and you aren’t walking in holiness, then get in the race.
Jesus said, in Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light
Saturday evening was an amazing time of preaching the Gospel. The Barnum & Bailey Circus was at the Comcast Arena in Everett. I thought it would be great to preach the Gospel to the circus goers. We had a team of four (one is the pastor of Faith Baptist in Everett.) It turned out to be an outstanding time and place for the Gospel to go out. God had prepared His message, and He had prepared the hearts and lives of the hearers.
The circus show started at 7:30pm, so I arrived at about 5:45, and as I drove up, I noticed the PETA people were there protesting the mistreatment of animals at the circus. I thought to myself, "oh, at least I will have the PETA folks to preach the Gospel to." I walked up to the entrance area, where the protesters were assembled, and there were at least 50 to 80 people lined up, waiting for the doors to open. I prayed really intensely before I stepped up on my stool. I had prepared a message entitled, "The Greatest Show (of Love) on Earth", as a take-off on the circus calling itself, "The Greatest Show on Earth".
About half-way into my message, (and by the way, I was connecting with several circus goers, included a ~21 year old young man), the PETA camera man came and stood right in front of me and started calling me every name in the book, and telling me I was an idiot, etc, etc, etc. I told him, "Is that all you have? An ad hominem attack. He walked away. Then a couple of ladies with signs, walked right in front of me, trying to obstruct my preaching. Then some ladies called out, "Doesn't God love animals?", I responded, "Yes, absolutely". Then they shouted, "don't you care about animals?", "Yes", I responded. Then they said, "Well, do you eat them?", and I said, "Yes, and they're very yummy too!" The women groaned, as if they had been kicked in the stomach, while the people in the crowd laughed.
Then there was a mom and a grandma who had brought their kids to the circus, who were in line almost right in front of me while I was preaching. They kept asking me to stop. Finally they started singing songs to try to drown out the Gospel message. Very sad. Then there was the guitar thrashing, harmonica blowing guy, trying to drown out the Gospel, the whole time we were preaching. After I finished preaching, the rest of my team arrived, and they took up the preaching duties. At that time, the 21 year old young man (Josh) came up to me crying and confessing sin. He told me he had made some bad decisions and had been in jail the night before. His x-girlfriend came to his apartment, with her new boyfriend, and Josh had gotten into an altercation with the boyfriend, and had gotten taken to jail. I was able to pray with Josh, and just encourage him to repent and trust Jesus and he would come out of this alright.
Here's what I said, at least one time...
Hi folks. My name is Keith and I'm a born-again Christian, and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you while you wait for the doors to open to the show tonight. This circus was started by a man named P.T. Barnum in the mid 1800's. He merged circuses with James Bailey. Then in the early 1900's the Barnum and Bailey circus merged with the Ringling Brothers, and it came to be known as "The Greatest Show on Earth". But I'm here to talk to you about The Greatest Show (of Love) on Earth.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Romans 5:8 God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Here I am talking about the love of God toward mankind, but does thinking or hearing about God make you anxiousness; nervous? Just talking about God makes a lot of people irritated and annoyed. If you’re not comfortable when you think or hear about God; it’s actually a good thing, because deep down the thought of meeting your Maker, The Creator of the Universe who is holy and righteous and infinite ought to make you uncomfortable. Let’s be honest, we all have a guilty conscience, we feel shame and embarrassment over the wrongs we have committed. It is tough to bring up our sin, to face own failures, but we must look at ourselves squarely in the mirror, so to speak. Think about this though, it’s our pride keeps us from facing up to our sins; we all want to save face; to keep our dignity. 1 John 1:7 says, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." As painful as it is, we must admit our offenses to God, and bring them out into the light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will abide in the light of life. Don’t confess your sins to a priest, you can go straight to God because He’s the one that you’ve sinned against. King David said in Psalm 51, "Against you [God] and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight." Proverbs 28:13 says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble.
One approach many take to try to appease their conscience is to do good, to try to outweigh their bad. Its kind of like trying to pay for your sins by doing what is right. The thought goes, if I just give enough, if I am kind enough, if I am honest enough, and work hard enough, God is obligated to let me into heaven. Not so, the Bible says, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy has He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Every religion says you must 'do', 'do', 'do' to be right with God, but true Biblical Christianity, says "it is finished." The work of salvation was completed by Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. Trying to earn your way to heaven is like trying to bribe the Judge of the universe to turn a blind eye to your sin.
Many try to silence and drown out their conscience by drinking, or taking drugs. Continually going from one party to the next. They numb the pain, the shame and the insecurity of a guilty conscience by self medicating, rather than addressing the root of the problem. It doesn’t have to be drinking or drugs that you use to suppress and ignore your conscience. It could be anything that distracts you from the seriousness of sin. It’s called Idolatry, and we make idols out of things like professional athletes, musicians, or movie stars. But it could even be good things like family, friends, career or education, that can become the focus of our lives rather than putting God first. God doesn't want just to be on the top of the list, He wants to be number one on a list of one; nothing else should even compare to the love and devotion we have for God. The first commandment is You shall have no other gods before Me. The second commandment is You shall not make for yourself idols. And Jesus said, “The greatest commandment is you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." If you live for yourself, your desires, your wants, your self-gratification, you will lose your life. If you live for God, to bring honor to Him, to glorify Him, to put Him first, you will not only gain eternal life, but you will receive new life here and now. Luke 9:23-26 Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Pray for Josh who came up to me crying over some sin he had committed and poor decisions he had made. Here are some vids...
I brought a reminder of eternity to the UW Husky fans as they streamed into the recently renovated stadium. I said football is a great game, I love the game of football, but the game is short. Maybe two and a half or three hours and you'll be out of here. But remember, eternity is forever and you will stand before your Maker to give an account of your life.
God displayed His grace in a couple of ways today. First, He kept the weather nice for me (Thank you Lord.). Second, he stationed a Christian policeman five yards from me. I found out the policeman was a Christian after I had been preaching about an hour, and I took a break. The officer came up and told me he agreed with every word I said, and it was the truth. He told me there was a bottled water sitting over on the hood of the police car, for me. He said he had been praying for me. I was extremely grateful, for the prayer and the water. God just shined a huge ray of sunshine into my life right there today.
I continued preaching for about another hour.
When the game had started, and I was wrapping it up, and getting ready to leave, a guy came to me and gave me a ticket, and asked if I would find someone to give the ticket to. So I did. I stood back up on my stool and offered a free ticket to anyone. And sure enough, after about 5 minutes I found a taker. He was a little confused as to the free ticket, but I said no its for real, and I gave him a Bible too.
Then as I headed back toward the University, I walked through the parking lot where all the tailgater parties had been taking place, handing out Gospel tracts to the drunk fans. I gave Gospel tracts to three or four girls, and they asked what these were and I told them Gospel tracts. They said, oh, we're Christians, (as they were sucking on beers.) I said, oh, no you're not, not drinking that beer you're not. They said Jesus got drunk. I said, nope, Jesus never got drunk. They said "well, he made and drank wine." I said, yes, but he never got drunk. Being a drunkard, means you're not a Christian. She said, well, let's just say I'm buzzed. I said, "Buzzed driving is drunk driving." Then some guy walked up out of nowhere and said he was going to smack me. I said why would you say a thing like that? He said, because you're being mean. All I said was being a drunkard means you're not a Christian. He said that Bible is written by men. I said yes, but it was inspired by God. Then the girls said, we're Catholic, and I said, that's not Christian. Then the guy got really serious; He said, well I love having sex. I said, there you go you love your sin. And I walked away.
I spent all week gearing up, preparing, praying and reading the Word, so that I could bring the Word to the Everett Silver Tips fans. I must admit, I am weak when it comes to quoting God's Word. I also need to learn to stream a message more seamlessly.
I had one good encounter with a non-believing, idolatrous, scientist.
I preached for about an hour. I got 41 minutes of audio.
I was encouraged by several people, even one who called himself 'not religious', but commended me for my conviction.
Three high school aged young men were a little stunned when I walked down to their 'pot pit'. Sam was a little 'undone', so he quickly left, but not before I got a Lincoln Million Dollar Bill Gospel tract in his hand. I handed all three Gospel tracts and explained what they were for, and encouraged them to read them.
I was pleased that Tyler and Taylor stayed and talked with me. Even as Tyler held a bong with the bowl filled and a lighter in his hand.
Taylor said he went to church, but he didn't think smoking marijuana was wrong. I gave him a few things to go look up in the Bible. The word is 'sorcery', which is 'pharmakia' in the Greek, which means drugs.
I had the pleasure of sharing the Gospel with these young men, and they seemed willing to listen and consider life, mortality, judgement, righteousness and forgiveness through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.
[addendum: I told the young men, I did much worse things than this. I was no better than them, but that doesn't give them excuse to rebel against the Lord.]
I am praying that God will reveal Himself in His righteousness to Tyler, Taylor and Sam.
I went to the Comcast Arena this evening and spent about an hour preaching the Gospel this evening.
I took my Bible and my stool and my PA and went about an hour before the game was to begin. I prayed extra hard before I began, since being alone is extra scary. The instant I began to preach I could see the arena ushers begin calling someone. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, a manager came out and told me city ordinances forbade amplification.
So I began almost an hour's worth of lifting my voice like a trumpet. God was very gracious. There were a couple times I thought I was losing my voice, but God kept me going.
Once the game began, I took a walk around downtown Everett and handed out Gospel tracts.
Oh, by the way, I was very scared to open up. There were so many of them, and only one of me. The cops were between me and them, but it was still scary.
The HempFesters were overall a pretty good group of people to preach to. They were interactive. They were negative. But I strove to keep a positive tone, and preach the Gospel. I didn't shy away from sin one bit. I publicly read a bunch of scripture. Spoke one-to-one to very many people. And generally, received a pretty good response. By 'good', I mean they weren't agreeing with what I was saying, and they told me so; in so many ways. I preached to the folks as they were lining up to go in. It was a prime time and location for the Gospel of Jesus to be presented.
God is very good though. He has prepared me for this time.
Even with a PA system, I still lost my voice after about 3 hours of preaching.
There was a group of open air evangelists from Los Angeles there.
Videos to come...
Here is what I had planned to say, by way of an intro: When I found out that the Seattle Police Department was going to be handing out bags of chips today, I was reminded about this week. I bought a bag of chips in the breakroom at work. I started eating, and they were stale. Although they hadn't reached the expiration date printed on the bag, they were stale. And I threw them away. Think about this; we all have an expiration date. Death is a sure thing. Ten out of ten die. Death is the only 100% statistic. Some avoid taxes, but no one avoids death. The Bible says, "Life is but a vapor... here today and gone tomorrow". We don't know how or when, but we will die. We don't plan on it. No one puts it on their daily planner, but someday, death will come for each and every one of us. You were not created to die though. Death is not your friend, and it was never your intended destiny. The funeral is not the finish and the grave is not the goal. You have two choices; two paths you could take. If this is all there is and there is nothing after life, then go for the gusto. Live life to the fullest. Party hard. Or, you could seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. If this is all you get, then "eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." But this isn't all there is. It is appointed unto man once to die and then comes the judgement. God had appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.... The Law goes here... The Gospel goes here... The New Birth goes here...
Thomas and I rode together from my house over to Edmonds, where the "Taste of Edmonds" festival was going on.
The Lord did place a sense of urgency on us as we prayed. We walked down to the traffic circle in Edmonds and began preaching and handing out Gospel tracts.
Then we walked over to the entrance to the festival, across from the Edmonds city hall. Thomas was preaching, and Loyd-the-Buddhist came up and engaged me in a conversation. I urged him to understand the good news of what God had done for him in Jesus Christ, but he was a typical relativist. The Bible was just words, he said. At that same time, a couple of cops came up with a festival official. There had been complaints, but the cop rather addressed our doctrinal/theological perspective. The cop was way off base. Anyways, they reprimanded Thomas, and instructed us to turn off the personal amplifier if we wanted to preach. We complied, and actually moved on.
I went back to the traffic circle and read Isaiah 53, and preached the Gospel. Then I saw my friends Tim and Dorothy. They came by after I finished preaching, and we had a good time of fellowship and encouragement. At that same time, a lady parked her car, and came up to encourage us and thank us for speaking the name of Jesus.
Later on, we went to another entrance and preached the Gospel, and had several good conversations with people. The main one that stands out was when a man named Andrew stopped. He was probably in his mid-twenties, and he stopped right in front of me while I was preaching. I stopped and greeted him, and he said he was a believer in Jesus Christ and he was saved. We talked for a while and I asked him if he was living for God every day and following the Lord. He was very honest and replied, "no, that it was hard to do." Thomas and I had a chance to encourage him to trust whole-heartedly in the Lord, and rest in Jesus. We encouraged him to read his Bible every day and find a Bible-teaching church where he could fellowship. We asked him if we could pray for him and he said he would gladly receive prayer. We prayed for him to be strengthened in his walk with the Lord, by the Holy Spirit. After we prayed he was very thankful and expressed that he had gotten very emotional while I was praying for him. I pray Lord that you would make this a turning point for Andrew, that he would get on fire for you Lord.
I had a cold this week, and so I almost canceled. But I thought, even if I just pass out tracts, it would be worthwhile.
It turned out to be a great time of preaching Jesus to the people attending the festival. Many one-to-one conversations were had. Many hundreds of Gospel tracts were handed out.
It is a very good thing for personal amplifiers.
I even got to read from Isaiah 43:10 and Galatians chapter 1 to the Mormon missionaries.
Some video to follow...
A sweet picture of pastor Andrew gathering a crowd of kids.
Thomas, pastor Andrew and I met up at the Kla Ha Ya days festival at 2 o'clock this afternoon. Wow, was that place buzzing with people.
We decided to walk toward the center of activity toward the beer garden and the music. As we were walking, we noticed there was wooden stage set up with no one on it, so we commandeered it and I began to preach the Gospel. I felt like I was getting good responses from people. Most people were just walking by and just ignored the preaching, but some were listening. I got a few minor heckles, but nothing dramatic. When all of a sudden, a gal with a clipboard and an official festival shirt came huffing up and ordered me off the stage. Initially, I said I would be done in 5 minutes, but she was undeterred. So I complied, and stepped down off of the stage. I asked her where we could go and preach, and she said we were not allowed to anywhere in the festival. I again, asked where we were allowed to preach, she said no where, you need to leave. We pointed out that this was public property and she said, all these other vendors had paid money to come here. I again pointed out that where we were standing was public property, and she said, "well then, I will have to call the police." I said, "yes please." She walked away, and we never saw her again.
We set up at a corner and pastor Andrew preached his heart out.
Then it was Thomas's turn and he proclaimed the Gospel with great intensity, urgency and compassion.
After that we walked over to the God Mobile and preached a couple times, but the vendors in that area started yelling at us.
So we went back to 1st street and began preaching and walking and it was a very good experience. Again, we received very good, encouraging responses from many people. There was the occasional heckler, saying, "blah, blah blah, etc."
I believe God was glorified in our preaching and handing out hundreds of tracts today. Certainly the good seed was sown.
It was a beautiful sunny day today at the Mill Creek Festival.
Pastor Andrew (Faith Baptist Church Everett) and his son Andrew and I met at Jackson High School and rode the shuttle bus to the festival. There were quite a few people crowded into the festival. We set up shop across from some booths, and began preaching, but were first asked to quite down, and then later we were asked to leave. So we did, we went down to an entrance to the festival, where the Fire Trucks were parked and set up there. Some people who were fundraising for some 'Christian' cause, gave us each a bottled water which we really appreciated, and which came in really handy later on, when something got caught in my throat.
It was a wonderful afternoon, preaching, handing out tracts and speaking one-to-one with people. God was at work in a big way. We saw Dean N. from Calvary Everett. He stopped and encouraged us and prayed for us. Then we saw my friend Myrna from work and her husband. They encouraged us and prayed for us. It was a huge blessing.
The capper was toward the end when I got to witness to 3 junior high girls. They listened and took Gospel tracts. Pray the Lord will speak to their tender hearts. Finally, we got into a conversation with about six young men, one of whom was a Hindu. Pastor Andrew got to succinctly share the Gospel with them, although they ended up scoffing and leaving.
I was also blessed by a young man who said he appreciated what we were doing, even though he didn't believe in God or agree with what we were saying. He was actually very encouraging and shook my hand as we parted.
We had a wonderful afternoon preaching the Gospel at the Westlake Center in Seattle. The street preachers were out in force... See here for other blogs...
I was passing out Coexist Gospel tracts.
Lots of good conversations, lots of good preaching, lots of lost people.
Here's what I had planned on saying...
Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. It is not my intent to shove my religion down your throats. Although I am aiming for your ears. I don’t want to offend you. I care about you. I love my neighbor. I’m seriously concerned for you. That's why I’m compelled to come here and proclaim, to preach, to tell you the message, the story, the Good News. As awkward as this might seem, this message is so important, I’m willing to stand here and share this good news with you. I’m not here to tell you how to live your life, I have enough trouble living my own, but I am here to point you to the One who will give you eternal life and new life for here and now. Jesus Christ said, “I am the Way, the truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
If you take what I say as promoting religion, you are sadly mistaken. Man made religion produces pedophilic priests, wars, terrorists, (even in the form of abortion clinic bombers). Man made religion produces hypocritical, self-righteous, pompous money-grabbers. Religion just covers up hate, violence, thefts, fraud, rape, murder, assault, drug addiction... Literally, all these things are the symptoms of a deeper problem.
It was an evening for great one-to-one conversations, but it turned out not to be a good venue for preaching (too loud). There were too many to recount here, but in general, the Gospel was well received.
Although I did read 1 Corinthians 6:9 as loud as I could to the 'Beer Garden'. Shame on you Kiwanis.
By the end of the evening though, I was somewhat discouraged by all the lewdness and drunkenness at the carnival.
As it grew later in the evening, and darkness fell, the mood also became darker.
We had a great time speaking to commuters at the Ash Way Park And Ride this morning. It was very encouraging to see heads nodding, smiles on faces and people saying thank you after we stopped speaking.
Here is what I intended on saying...
Greeting...
I’d like to share a few thoughts with you on this Friday-before-Father’s Day. First, happy Fathers Day to all you dads. I’m so thankful for dads that take their responsibility seriously and enjoy the privilege of being a father.
You know, in the Bible, in the book of Exodus chapter 20, (one of the Ten Commandments) says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord gives you. Sadly, I haven’t always lived up to that commandment. I’ve disobeyed my dad directly, and I’ve committed sins that brought shame on his head. I’ve failed that one, how ‘bout you? Some of the other commandments are “you shall not lie”, I’ve failed that one too, how ‘bout you? The ninth commandment is “you shall not steal”. I’ve broken that one too, how ‘bout you? And the seventh commandment is “don’t commit adultery”, we know adultery is when you cheat on your spouse, but Jesus said, “whoever looks at a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already with her in his heart.”, check mark!
If you’re like me, and you listen to your conscience, you’d have to admit to having dishonored your parents, and been a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. On that day that when you die, you’d stand guilty before the Holy, Righteous, Eternal God, you’d deserve an awful, horrible, eternal punishment, and that’s called Hell. And I don’t want that for you, and God certainly doesn’t want that for you. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. It is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance.
The Gospel...
Repentance and Faith...
New Life...
Salvation is by God’s grace, through faith, that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, so no one may boast.
in Matthew chapter 10 we have the words of Jesus recorded for us; from verse 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. .... 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
About 5 years ago, I was outside one afternoon, doing some yard work. I had some Gospel tracts in my pocket. I saw a couple walking right in front of my house, so I thought to myself, "I'd like to get a Gospel tract into their hands." So I jumped out of the bushes, and said "you're rich" as I held out a Million Dollar Bill Gospel tract. The man took the tract, looked at it and handed it back to me, and said, "no thanks." It turns out, the couple lived 2 doors away from me.
Fast forward to yesterday. That same neighbor has let his front yard become a jungle. The grass was over three feet tall. I decided I would ask the man if I could mow his lawn for him for $20. I went up to his door and rang the door bell. When he answered, I asked him if I could mow his lawn for $20, and he looked at me sideways, smirking, as if thinking, "do you know what your getting yourself into?" Finally, he said okay, I don't know if I have $20 though. I said, that's okay, you can pay me later.
Two hours later, having finished mowing and filling up 2 green waste trash cans, I went up and rang the door bell. He came out with $20 in hand. He gave it to me and thanked me profusely. Then I said, "here's your change, in the form of a million dollar bill. I said, "Its a Gospel tract for you to read when you get a chance." He took it, looked at it and thanked me and I left.
Sometimes it can take a little persistence to get a Gospel tract into someone's hand.
I was very fearful, going to the Willis Tucker Park to hand out Gospel tracts, yesterday evening. Even though I had my evangelism partner and his wife and kids with me, I was afraid of the response I would get from my very neighbors if I tried to hand them a Gospel tract or preach the Gospel open-air.
My fears were unfounded. We handed out dozens of tracts, and got into a few conversations with people. I saw some familiar faces, but I don't think they recognized me. It didn't turn out to be a conducive place to preach the Gospel out loud, but the tracts were well received.
Then afterward, we had a great evening of fellowship with Thomas and Whitney and Conner, Chloe, and Jacob. [it was hilarious to see the kids on the treadmill, and to be able to get out some old toys that we had and watch the kids play with them.]
At lunchtime, I drove over to the 164th Street Artesian well, and handed out "Thirsty" Gospel tracts. I would help people put their water bottles into their car, and then give them a tract.
I was so encouraged. I handed a tract to one lady and she asked me about where could she find a good church, so I recommended ours. No refusals today. That is vary rare.
Got into a conversation with a very nice middle-aged lady with long brown hair that was in dreadlocks. She was driving a yellow '67 Volkswagen bug, that was in really good condition. So we spent some time talking about bugs. Then we talked about the trivia regarding the artesian well. She said, the well site has been much improved, since she went there 30 years ago. It has a little enclosure that looks like a small bus depot.
Then on my way out, handed a tract to a man named Joel, and he asked about where he could find a good church, so again I recommended ours. Then he asked for prayer because he needed a place to stay, so we bowed our heads and I prayed for him on the spot. He asked if I was a pastor, and I said "no, I'm an evangelist", and he said, I'm an evangelist too.
It was a beautiful evening in Mukilteo last evening. We walked from downtown, to the waterfront, and passed out many tracts and got in many conversations.
Spoke to Andy and Avery, who were two non-believing young men, who only had minimum wage jobs, so they didn't want to spend the 3 bucks to get into the festival. Since they really didn't have much to do, they were ok with having a conversation with us. Andy told me he was an atheist. I told him, I didn't believe that he didn't believe in God. I told him he had all the evidence he needed to believe in God; the trees, the beautiful sky, the flock of geese flying over and his conscience.
Spoke to lots of people as we walked back to town including Ganja dude.
Got to preach a little bit on the beach. That was neat.
Went back to town and picked a corner and read the entire book of First John. What a huge blessing.
Then went back to the middle of town and preached the Gospel for quite a while. Got several Amen's, and God bless you's. Then, toward the end, a couple of Mars Hill middle age women, came from across the street and "lovingly rebuked" (quoted because that's what Thomas said) us because we weren't doing it the right way. After a brief discussion, and telling us how they witnessed by their lifestyle, I asked, "Yeah, but do you use words?" That ticked her off. She went on a little while with some further castigation, and it was time for me to get back to preaching. I invited her to preach, she wouldn't, so I said, "I have to get back to it, and started off with John 3:16.
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