Sewing The Good Seed at The Roller Derby

We spent this afternoon planting the seed of the Gospel into peoples hearts as they were going to the Comcast Arena in Everett to be spectators at Roller Derby.

We had a team of eight guys who assembled to take the Gospel to the people of Everett.

It was such a pleasure seeing Dennis and Nick break the sound barrier for the first time.

We handed out tons of tracts and many one-on-one conversations were spawned from the open-air proclamation of the Gospel.

It was a very cold day, and crowd size was a little less than expected, but it was a powerful day in the Holy Spirit.   God gave us the privilege of sharing the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ to probably a couple hundred people.   One young man got in my face as I was preaching, and started saying some vile things, so I preached around him.  Pastor Billy stepped up and engaged the man, and when the smoke-screen came down, the man listened to what Pastor Bill had to say.   I had one woman come up and thank me for preaching the Gospel.

May the Lord cause His seed to sprout in the hearts of those who heard the Gospel message this afternoon.

Here is the message I shared:

Good afternoon, my name is Keith and I’m a born-again christian, and I’d like to share a few thoughts with you, so if I could have your attention for a few moments.
Here are a few things to think about...
You could fill every night with good entertainment. And attend professional sporting events every weekend. You could go on fun vacations every summer. And have the most rewarding career and make tons of money. You could have a lovely family and spend quality time with them. All these things are really good, enjoyable, fun, rewarding, lovely things. And all these things were given to you.   They were all gifts to you from God. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect Gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of changing.”

But sadly, someday, everything you have will be taken from you.   Everything we have or do is temporary.   Everything was given to us with a limited time offer. Death will separate us from these things. The heart stops, the lungs quit, the brain ceases to function, And the hands will release whatever they’re holding onto. So what is more important to you, The gift, that is temporary, Or the Giver who is eternal?

At some point we all need to face our own mortality.   We’re all going to die.  
We don’t like to think about death, but as painful as the thought of it is, we must. The split second after we die we will be immediately in the presence of God. We all have an appointment with death, and after that comes the judgement. We’re all going stand before God and give an account of our lives. Everything will be laid open and bare before Him with whom we have to give an account. God knows everything we have ever done, said or even thought.

The reason we die is because of sin. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death...”, and “The soul that sins shall surely die”. It is our sin that separates us from God. And we’re all in the same boat together. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. So, if you would admit you’ve ever lied, you would be guilty as a liar. If you’ve stolen, you’d be guilty as a thief. If you’ve used God’s Name in vain, you’d be guilty as a blasphemer. And if you’ve even so much as looked lustfully at someone who isn’t your husband or wife, you’d be guilty as an adulterer at heart, according to Jesus. So when you die and stand before your Maker, you’d be guilty, just like the rest of us. If you die in your sin, it won't be good, you will suffer eternal death. You would get what you deserve, and it wouldn’t be heaven.

The Bible says, “The guilty will by no means go unpunished.” And that punishment is Hell, and I don’t want that for you and God certainly doesn’t want that for anyone. Here is the message of God’s GOODNESS! It is because of God’s goodness that he will require justice for every last sin. And, its also because of God’s goodness He bore the justice for our sins on the cross. God himself became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin, and  lived 33 innocent years here on planet earth. He suffered the death of the cross, where He bled and died for your sins. It’s because of God’s goodness that three days later Jesus rose from the dead. And, it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance.   Did you know that God commands everyone, everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in Righteousness? Repent means to let go of your sins! If you hold onto your sins, they will be the death of you.
You will receive the judgement of God. Confess and forsake your sins.   
Agree with God about your sins; they are wrong, wicked, evil, sinful, dirty, stinky, nasty.   

Your sin problem is a serious problem. Even what we would consider the least, little sin, will result in Hell, “the lake of fire”, if you don’t repent.    So repent of going your own way. Repent of your unbelief. Repent of our selfishness, your pride, your arrogance, your gossip. Turn to Jesus as your Savior. Trust in Jesus as your Savior.   Put your faith in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. Rely and depend upon Jesus as your Savior.

God bless...

My Conviction For Open-Air Preaching

Is open-air preaching a valid method for proclaiming the Gospel?

Objections Stated:

1. Open-air preaching is not relevant to today’s culture.

2. Open-air preaching associates the Gospel message with homeless people who put ‘God Bless’ on their signs.

3. Open-air preaching is not Biblically justified (i.e. not a New Testament practice).

4. Open-air preaching is offensive to those standing in a line (i.e. not fair to a captive audience).

Answers:

Not relevant to today’s culture?

The objection being asserted is that the mechanism of open-air preaching is out-of-date or even offensive to 21st century Americans, and therefore, open-air preaching is not a valid method of reaching the people of this culture with the Gospel message.   The following statement was made; "a better way to reach people with the Gospel message would be to ask them if they needed prayer." Then, offer to pray for them and use that as an opening for the Gospel. Or another suggestion was; "use tracts as a way to get the Gospel message out."  
My response would be; it should not be a case of either/or, but rather of both/and.   We should use all available mediums, modes and mechanisms for disseminating the Gospel message. 

At the outset, I would agree that preaching the Gospel outside the walls of the ‘church’ building, to more than one person at a time is definitely not ‘the norm’ in the culture of the 21st century United States of America.   So, although I understand the concern, I don't see the objection as holding weight, so as to invalidate open-air preaching.

• It is a scriptural truth that not all Christians are gifted or called to perform the same tasks and functions within the body of Christ (Romans 12:4).  
• In terms of relevance, (1 Corinthians 9:20-22) would seem to imply that the burden is on the preacher to make the message of the Gospel relevant to his hearers.  
• The outcome is to be left to the Lord, but the responsibility of obeying the Lord’s call is our’s: God commanded Ezekiel to “speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.” (Ezekiel 2:7)
• Preaching may not be the preferred method (culturally speaking) of proclaiming the Gospel, but it is indeed the scriptural method.  

Proclaiming the Gospel message in the open-air associates it with homeless people who put ‘God Bless’ on their signs?

You could say the same thing about the tel-evangelists on TV. Just because there may be corrupt people who would associate themselves with God, the Bible and the Gospel, should that deter us from proclaiming the truth in love?

The answer here is multifaceted:

• We, as open-air preachers must make a point of communicating to our audience that we desire nothing from them.   As it is spoken of in 2 Corinthians 11:7, we must communicate only that we only desire something for them: (eternal life and a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.)
• We as open-air preachers must proclaim Gospel message in as lucid and coherent way as possible.  1 Peter 3:15-16 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.”
• We must set ourselves apart from any appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

Not Biblically justified (i.e. not a New Testament practice)

The word 'preach' or 'preaching' occurs 141 times in 134 verses in 'The New Testament' of the King James Version of the Bible.   We can cite many examples here:

• John The Baptist (Luke 3:1-20)
• Jesus “The Sermon On The Mount” (Matthew 5-7)
• Peter (Acts 2)
• Paul (Acts 7, 17)

Offensive to those standing in a line (i.e. not fair to a captive audience)

This is a valid concern.   I can only speak for myself; when I preach to an audience I make an effort to be considerate and appreciative of their time and attention.   I do not continue my message indefinitely and as best as possible, I try to keep to the topic at hand (the Gospel).   It has never been my intention to incite or provoke my audience.   I avoid berating, belittling or browbeating my audience.  I always preach on public property and if I am informed (as I have been) that I am indeed on private property, I am quick to apologize and leave.   That being said, I feel, that opportunities to preach to a captive audience are well within my prerogative as a Christian, Biblically, socially and legally.

I would solicit your comments, questions and suggestions regarding this response to objections to open-air preaching.

Thanks and God bless...

My Neighborhood

There are some very disappointing things about my neighborhood.  I'm sure my neighborhood is like many across the state, even the nation.

People drive way too fast on my street, and use it as a cut-through.  That is very sad and scary.

All too often, kids hang out way past any decent hour.

The house behind us is empty, due to the fact that the old man that had lived there passed away almost two years ago.   Cops showed up there tonight.   This time, I wasn't the neighborhood commando who called the cops.

We have very nice drunken neighbors on the other side.

We have some more drunken neighbors across the way.

We have some pro-homosexual marriage neighbors directly across from us.

Sounds like my neighborhood is a mission field.

And so it is!

God bless...

My Shortest, Coldest Open Air

I was in Chicago for business, but I had all of Saturday to walk around the city and enjoy the sites.   It was snowing though, and 15 degrees Farenheit.

I walked past Millennium Park toward the Art Institute of Chicago and I saw a line of people waiting to get into the Art institute.   I though, Oh Lord, you have provided an audience... My heart started pounding, and my respiration sped up, and I thought to myself, I can't do this.   But I walked up near the line, that had formed from the doors of the building, down the steps and onto the sidewalk.  I stopped, and prayed, "Lord, give me something to say..."

I started out by saying, "Good morning, my name is Keith, and I'm a Christian, and I have a brief message I'd like to share with you.  That is, if I can get my mouth warmed up..."

It was so cold, and my face was so frozen, I could barely talk, but the Lord graciously helped my infirmity, and the Gospel went forth.   The people smiled at me and listened to my very brief Gospel message, based on the Mirror Analogy.

Praise God for His Grace and His Warmth!

God bless