Everyone Needs a Morning Like This

We went and did some early morning witnessing today outside Cascade High.

When we first arrived, we were wondering whether or not today was a normal school-day, but about 6:40am, high school students started walking toward the school gate.

We got to speak directly, one-2-one with at least a dozen kids and we (and the Gospel) were really well received. I had several opportunities to extol the greatness of our God, by explaining how the infinite God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ.   After sharing the Gospel with a really likable young man named Jacob, he said he was going to put his faith in Christ as soon as possible. Please pray for Kayla, Emily, Sage and there were others that heard the message of salvation.

I also got to encourage several Christian young men in their faith and walk and spur them to share their faith with their friends at school.

All in all, this morning was a huge blessing.

God bless...

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..

Black Friday is a Wonderful Time of Year

The Lord cleared the skies for us this morning.   It was pouring, until we got out of the car, which kept our Gospel tracts from being a soggy mess.   We handed out over 300 tracts, and talked one-2-one to dozens of people.   It was a great time of sharing the Gospel with people, and it really lightened the mood when I offered them candy canes or smarties.   We were also encouraged by several Christians when they saw what we were doing.

Praise God!

A Time of Refreshing

It was so refreshing to talk with a gal today, who was receptive to the Gospel. She had a cursory understanding of the Gospel. She tracked with everything we told her about the grace of God that was offered to her by way of Christ on the cross. She admitted not only that she would be guilty if she stood before God, and that if she got what she deserved, it wouldn't be heaven, but she made a commitment to read the Gospel of John.

 I think we had a couple of other refreshing conversations, as we meandered through downtown Everett, this afternoon. We even spent some time at the "Occupy Everett" encampment at the Snohomish County seat, where we got to spend a long time with Don, the athiest.

 God is so good, to have honored us with the task of sharing the Gospel with people. "There is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we are saved."

 God bless...

 P.S. we definitely weren't fair-weather evangelists today... brrrr!

Out With The Calvary Everett Street Team

Saturday before last, going door to door with the Calvary Everett Street Team, was a truly wonderful experience. No doors slammed in our face.

We had the opportunity to speak at-length with Liz. Her first remark, when we invited here to church, was no thank you, she would never go to church. You almost wonder if someone is joking when they say something like that. Anyways, I got to share the Gospel with her in testimonial form.

Then Denise, Thomas and I went to downtown Everett, and handed out tracts and spoke to several people. We even went into a small art shop, and gave the proprietor a tract and tried to witness, but she would have none of it. The reason we went into this art shop, was that they had a piece of 'art' in the window, depicting a bunny rabbit, all bloodied and battered on a cross. It was very blasphemous and offensive.

I'm looking forward to more outings with the Calvary Everett Street Team.

God bless...

Where's the Shrimp?

A few weeks ago, I got a text from our prison ministry band leader, asking me if I would be interested in performing with the band at 'Shrimpfest' over Memorial Day weekend. At first, I thought it was a joke. But I thought, how could this be a joke... Sure enough, there is such a thing as Shrimpfest. Likewise, the prison band had been invited to perform for two hours.

I put my tongue in my cheek, when I told people, we got our first paid gig. I thought the pay was going to be free admittance to Shrimpfest. Well, in fact we did get a check to split amongst the six of us, but we decided to return the money and earn some heavenly dividends.

The gig turned out beautifully in every way. We were afraid that the possibility of rain might dampen the situation, but the LORD rolled back the clouds and gave us warm, sunshine the whole time.

The music was VERY well received. I saw lots of people bee-bopping to the music. We played a bunch of worship songs as well as a bunch of Christian songs you'd hear on the radio. The cutest thing was a man who wheeled his son (or grandson) in a stroller guy up in front of the stage and the little tot was bouncing around in his seat, just enjoying the music.

Also, my heart was touched when a gal came up with her son, between songs, and complimented our music (in a strong southern drawl), and asked if we had any CD's out. That was very sweet of her.

It was a real blessing and a privilege to stand on stage with a bunch of real musicians. As always, Bill carried us... He is extremely gifted!

God bless...

Winning Evangelization at Comcast Arena

Tonight, Charlie Sheen is in town doing his stand-up routine at the Comcast Arena. This provided a great opportunity to hand out Billion and Trillion dollar bills to the event-goers.

We were met with mostly warm, receptive responses. Dan was able to share the full gospel with several people and we prayed for one drunk guy to overcome his addiction.

There were lots of TV cameras and radio stations represented at the event. I even had the privilege of handing a gospel tract to Sabra Gertsch of KOMO 4 news.

Praise God. All glory goes to Him. By His goodness and mercy he blessed us and protected us tonight as we went to the streets to proclaim the Gospel.

God bless...

Last Night Was Just Wow!

Ron, Wayne and I went to Mukilteo beach last night to hand out gospel tracts and do some evangelizing. We had intended on going to the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds, roller derby at Comcast Arena in Everett, to do the same, only, my bad, I got my schedule wrong, and we missed that by a couple of hours.

[The night before, Julie and I had driven by the mukilteo lighthouse and beach, and noticed how packed it was and we thought, boy what an opportunity for evangelizing.]

The LORD went before us in every way last night. The parking lot was full, but we got a spot right up in the front. We got out of the car, gathered our tracts and Gospel's of John (which we get for free from http://www.pocketpower.org).

We handed out at least three hundred tracts among the three of us and at least a couple dozen Gospels of John. As well, we had the privilege to have in depth conversations with around twenty different young people. We were totally blessed!
All the conversations were really amazing, to have people basically let us preach the gospel to them, but one stands out in my mind.

We were on the sand, talking with an early twenties couple. They were a really nice couple (very handsome and polite). After sharing with them for a while, Mark tried to justify himself by saying something to the effect, "won't God let someone into heaven, although they sinned, if they do a lot more good things." I was able to share with him how that was an attempt to bribe the Judge, and there would still be justice to serve. He seemed to understand what I said. I asked him to consider what we had talked about and encouraged him to read the Gospel of John. He said he was going to read it.

All in all it was very encouraging. We even saw Daniel Lefotu and Chris McAuliffe. Daniel was stoke about the possibility of doing a Rap outreach there.

God bless...

Keith

Xtreme Evangelizing at the Comcast Arena

God bless my evangelism partner Ron. He is moving out with the LORD. He and I went street evangelizing tonight at the Comcast Arena, where they were having motorcycle racing on the ice rink. There were lots of people going in... maybe not as many as I expected, but it was a pretty good sized crowd. We handed out about four hundred tracts total, between the two of us. The Round TUIT and the Billion Dollar bills went well. We had several opportunities to speak with people. One teenager who was smoking was especially open, and believed. He said he still had questions though, so I told him go ahead and ask. He said, what about evolution. The simple answer I gave that seemed to satisfy was that evolution in no way discredits the Bible, evolution is just about variation. Then he said, what about UFOs and Aliens. I said, I believe there is a whole supernatural realm out there, with angels and demons, that pose as UFOs and Aliens. Again, he seemed satisfied.

Ron got a couple of great opportunities to share the whole gospel. He was stoked.

Praise the LORD! It was an honor to share and hand out tracts tonight. All Glory Goes To God.

God bless...

Flying Under The Radar - Black Friday Evangelizing

This day started really, really early; I got up at 1:15am to be precise. I dressed warmly and grabbed my tract-pack and went pickup Ron, my evangelism partner.

We went to the Kohls in Snohomish, but by the time we pulled into the parking lot, it was pouring down rain and there were less than thirty people in line. We waited for a few minutes, but we became discouraged and left. I was ready to give up and took Ron home, but by the time we got to his house, the rain had stopped and we had second thoughts about giving up. So we drove to the Target and Best Buy stores in Arlington.

Since Target opened at 4am and Best Buy opened at 5am, we started with Target, at the end of the line (which was all the way across the front of the building).

We handed out tracts and had several good conversations with both Christians and nominal Christians. When we got to the front of the line, the security guard asked us what we were doing, and we told him we were handing out Gospel tracts. He said they didn't allow solicitation and we'd have to leave. I told him that we weren't soliciting, but that we had already handed everyone in the line a tract, and we left.

We went over to Best Buy and handed out another couple hundred tracts and several nice conversations; as well as seeing several people from each of our churches. All the while, Best Buy employees were buzzing around us, never did the tell us to leave.

All in all, this was a very encouraging morning.

God bless...

Seattle Harvest At The Key Arena

Cold, dreary and wet outside, with the light of the glorious Gospel shining inside the Key Arena; Last night, the Seattle Harvest was a blast.

We checked in, and they assigned me a position to occupy on the floor, when the 'altar call' was given. And they gave me a Bible.

The Music was outstanding with the Katinas, Crystal Lewis and Jeremy Camp.

Coach Lorenzo Romar gave a great testimony that fit right in with Greg Laurie's testimony.

Finally, when the call was given for people to make a public commitment to Jesus Christ, the floor of the arena was full, to the edges.

When it was time for me (as a decision follow-up worker) to speak with someone and encourage them in their new walk with Jesus, I couldn't find anyone to talk to. Either they were already a Christian or they were already paired up with another follow-up worker. So I started to wander around the floor, looking for someone to talk to and a follow-up supervisor came up and asked for my Bible to give to someone else. So here I am, without a Bible, still looking for someone to talk to. I began to become discouraged, and thought, 'well, I guess I'll just head for the exit... I'm done'.

Right as I got to the edge of the floor, I saw a follow-up supervisor with three Asian young people and he motioned for me to come over. So I got to welcome these young people into the God's family. We started with introductions, so I met Jessica, Ivan and Ida. I found out that they do attend church, so this was not their first time to make a commitment to Christ, but I was glad for them all the same. I told them that the Bible says that the angels in heaven were having a party tonight, rejoicing at their profession of faith in Jesus. I encouraged them to read their Bibles and pray every day, and they would "grow, grow, grow" and the children's song says. Then I encouraged them to get really connected at the church they attend.

Then, as I went to pray with them, I felt led to get down on one knee, because Jessica was kind of short of stature, and I didn't want them to feel like I was hovering over them. As I began to kneel, they did too. I was probably wrong, but I told them "oh no, you don't have to get down like this." It was a real privilege to to pray with them and for them.

Looking forward to tonight and tomorrow night, being down at the Key arena and witnessing God's incredible work at the Seattle Harvest.

God bless...

Sharing With a Telemarketer

We got several phone calls the other evening, from political 'telemarketers'.

The last call was from a gal asking me to take a political survey. It went quite a few minutes and after I finished answering all her questions, she said thank you and was about to hang up and I said, "May I ask you a question?".

She said sure, so asked her if she had a Christian background and she said she was Catholic. I was so pleased, now I'm talking with someone with a foundation that I could build on, so I went ahead and used the Ten Commandments to show her that she was a sinner, although, she wasn't admitting much in the way of sin. I'll let God deal with her conscience.

I was a little surprised, but she allowed me to share the Gospel with her. A couple times I thought she was going to hang up on me. Praise God!

God bless...

All Worn Out

I don't have any energy left to argue any more. Or at least that was the way I felt yesterday after a couple of hours of defending the Gospel in the God Mobile at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. To the question, "Do you believe you will go to heaven when you die?", athiest after athiest would come up and respond "No". I would ask, "why do you say that?", and they would answer "because I don't believe in Heaven."

Well, at one point when a late teen/early twenties couple came up, and responded that way, I looked down at my flip chart, and looked back up at them and said, "Well, I guess we don't have anything to talk about then do we?" They chuckled and departed.

Thank God for the unexpected blessings of people young and old who were willing to be receptive to the Gospel message. They make it worth all the effort (and it really isn't that much effort anyways.)

Also, praise God for young Sebastian, who kept running up and pointing to the flip-chart and saying yes. He also asked about when Jesus was coming again and he heard us talking about the rapture and wanted to know about that and heaven.

Finally, it was a blessing to be able to give out a few New Testaments, to some who had made professions of faith. I got the strong impression that those Bibles would indeed be read.

God bless...

Trey

This evening, a guy parked his red ford ranger pickup on the side of our house. I was painting the back door to the laundry room, and I was busy, and I have been very hesitant to go witnessing to people as they have still been buying drugs next to our house. I waited and watched, to see if he lit up... I couldn't see anything being sparked, so I finally decided to go grab a million dollar bill and go give it to him and see what would happen.

I said Hi, have you gotten one of these? as I handed him the bill. He said what is this, I said, it's a Gospel tract, do you have much exposure to the Gospel? He said, yes, my father is a pastor of Calvary Chapel ??? [somewhere south].

I said, oh, well then, I wonder if you were to die today, would you go to heaven? He said yes. I said, what makes you sure of that? He said, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I asked him if he considered himself to be a good person, and you know the rest. He ranked # one on the human predictability chart.

I explained the Gospel to him and I said, thanks for listening to me. God bless...

Upcoming Opportunities

I am looking forward to the possibility of going to

1. Stanwood/Camano Fair - Aug 6-8


2. Clark Park Outreach (Everett) - Aug 21


3. Evergreen State Fair (Monroe) - Aug 26 - Sep 6


4. Puyallup Fair - Sep 10 - 26

God bless...

AquaFest 2010

I spent last Saturday afternoon at AquaFest in Lake Stevens, handing out Gospel tracts at the parade, then sitting in the GodMobile sharing the Gospel with young people and one Jewish couple. The Jewish man said, very abruptly, "Your God is my God's Son". Well said!

God bless...

Ironing Things Out

John and I at our practice session before going into the prison. Using an ironing board as a music stand.

Reflecting Upon Ananda Mela

Four and a half hours went by yesterday with such a whir that I'm having a difficult time putting together some cohesive thoughts and impressions from our outing to the Ananda Mela Hindu Indian festival at the Redmond WA city hall campus.

We started slowly, trying to hand tracts to people as they sat in the little court yard, listening to the music that was being played. We were all but rebuffed by several people who either wouldn't accept a tract or didn't want to have a conversation after accepting a tract.

At this point, the adventure became very encouraging. We spoke to a couple of sisters, who were dressed in beautiful Indian garb. They were very interactive and seemed to listen to everything we said and seemed like they understood what we were talking about. The one gal said she probably wouldn't deserve to go to heaven because she admitted to lying, stealing and breaking several other commandments. But, she said she hoped she could do enough good works to out-weight her sins. I was able to give her an analogy that helped her realize God is just and she could never bribe God with good works, or do enough to pay for her sins. I then had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with her and we left her with a Pocket Gospel of John.

We had so many one-to-one (or one-to-many) conversations and all the people we talked with were very respectful and humble and (seemingly) appreciative to allow us to "preach" to them.

There were a couple of conversations that were much more difficult though. Many Hindus claimed to be respectful of other religious perspectives, and even 'believe' in Jesus, but when I explained that Jesus is the only way to heaven, they came a little unglued. Nothing aggressive, but one lady got up and walked away, she got so upset.

We were very encouraged to meet a Christian Indian who actually had a booth at this festival. We went and visited his booth late in the afternoon, and he had a very scriptural exhibit. Interestingly though, he was instructed not to have any Bibles or Gospel tracts displayed. So, he had them hidden in a box and if anyone was interested, he would give them a Bible or a tract.

We also spent quite a bit of time in the 'Vedic' center area, speaking with their 'priests'. Here again, we were met with resistance, even attacks against the deity of Christ and the veracity of our Bible.

All-in-all, it was such a time of worship to God and being filled with His Spirit as we shared with person after person about the 'Gospel' message and explaining the need for God and his solution to our sin problem. We ended up giving away about four hundred and fifty tracts and a dozen Gospels of John. And we had some great one-to-one conversations with at least four dozen people.

The Indian people and culture is really in many ways very loving and kind and gentle and joyful. May God reach many of them with the Good News of how to receive salvation and have eternal life.

God bless...

Handing Out Origin of the Species at the UW

We handed out 100 Origin books today (April 12, 2010) at the University of Washington.

Of all the books handed out, we had a couple of encouraging conversations with believers who were confused at first by us handing out the Darwin books. When they found out there was a 50 page forward, they were very encouraging.

Also, had a great, at-length conversation with a Jewish young man who peppered me with many, many questions. He didn't agree with many of my answers, but I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel after leading him through 4 of the Ten Commandments.

Praise the LORD, and thank God for my brother and evangelism partner Ron.

God bless...

Preventing Backsliding (or Making For Sure Conversion)

There are many who I meet, that claim that they are 'back slidden'. After a few questions though, I soon come to believe that (to quote Ray Comfort) they never slid forward in the first place. They claim to have tried Christianity. But for one reason or another, they no longer hold to that faith.

The real question is, whether or not they ever truly had a conversion experience. Jesus said, "Except you be born-again, you will in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.". So being born-again, isn't some flavor of Christianity or a label one places on themselves, but an experience that one has with the Savior. When someone repents of their sin and turns to God for mercy, and that person then places their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I have no way of knowing if someone truly repents and trusts in Christ, but their lifestyle betrays their position with God.

There are many who claim to be Christian, who regularly attend church, but have no love for God and His word.

[stepping off of soapbox]

Be encouraged to share your faith in Jesus Christ, if you've truly been born-again and love God and His word. Otherwise, it might be better to be quiet about your faith. But even more, make your salvation sure, not by good works or words, but by repenting of your sins and turning to God for mercy and placing your faith in the Jesus Christ; that His life and death was a suitable sacrifice for your sins.
God bless...

Thinking Back To Freedom Fest

I was poking around and found this picture of a poster I made for Freedom Fest a couple of years ago.

Here's a funny story, about how God never gives you more than you can handle. I was asked to lead the Bible study at the midpoint of the set for our prison ministry (Forgiven Choices band) in the Freedom Fest Worship Tent. I was all ready to go and psyched up, until that is, I got there. I got so nervous, I thought there is no way I can do this. The band got a late start, so we had lots of time to mill around, (and for me to 'think about it.') We that 'time to think about it', did me no favor, I just got more nervous. As the band got started, there were, I don't know, quite a few young people in the worship tent to listen and worship. But as time went on, I'm not sure if it wasn't their style or they were unimpressed, one-by-one, people left the tent, until it was time for me to step up and lead the Bible study.

All the while I was thinking, where is there a rock I can hide under (I should have been thinking about the Rock Himself.) I thought to myself, if I leave, no one will miss me.

As I walked into the tent I was met by a crowd of one (excluding the wives and friends of the band members who were there.) But that one person, happened to be someone God wanted to get the message of the Gospel to.

In the end, I had no reason to be nervous of a large crowd, because I wouldn't be speaking to large crowd anyways.

Here's a picture of several members of Forgiven Choices:

God Bless...

Using Music to Preach The Gospel

We did Christmas caroling at work last week.





Have you ever read the words to 'Angels We Have Heard On High' or 'Joy To The World' or 'Silent Night'... Wow are they powerful.


We also did a new Chris Tomlin song called, 'Immanuel [Hallowed Manger Ground]'.

God Bless...

Something to Learn on Black Friday

We embarked on an early morning evangelism adventure, on Friday, November 27, 2009. We left for Kohl's at 3:30am so that we could pass out tracts and witness to the deal-seekers by the 4:00am opening time.

I dropped off Steve near the front door, and went and parked the car. By the time I parked the car and walked back to the head of the queue it was just a minute or two before 4:00. I was a little disappointed, we had arrived so late, the actual conversations were few, but amazingly, as the doors opened, and people streamed past me, I handed out all 200 tracts I was carrying.

After I handed out all my tracts, I went and found Steve, talking with a couple of gals. He was showing them the Law, but they weren't really engaging in the conversation. It seemed though, that the Holy Spirit was convicting them, because like so many, all these gals could do was respond with a 'guilty chuckle' as Steve went through the Ten Commandments with them.

After that, we went over to Best Buy. There were (I'm guessing) five or six hundred people in line, maybe more. We started at the end of the line and handed out tracts and engaged people. Here's where I have something to learn. I need to learn to how to wait, rather than moving on, right away to hand out another tract. I need to press people to find out, if they know what a Gospel tract is and if they are open to me sharing the Gospel with them.

The first discussion I remember was with Andrew. He was a really nice college aged guy, who had indeed (seemingly sincerely) been seeking God and inquiring of Christians about God and faith. He did cling though to a form of self-righteousness. We had a very good discussion with him though.

Then we spoke with Tim, who also seemed like he was seeking God. He was separated from his wife, but he was trying to get back with her and they were supposedly going to go to church together next Sunday. We shared the Law and Grace with him too. We tried to be encouraging to him, and we prayed for him and for his marriage to be restored.

Then we spoke with Arba and Franklin and their friend. They were Catholics, so we had no problem engaging them on the subject of God and faith.

We probably spoke with several others, but the last encounter was kind of humorous. As we began to witness to a Hindu couple, the doors were opened and the line began to move ahead of them. The guy was hustling the gal to move ahead. I went into speed-witnessing mode and presented the Gospel in less than 60 seconds.

All-in-all, it was a very encouraging morning, and we had some very good encounters. Praise the LORD for guiding us to people, whom He had prepared and softened their hearts ahead of time. It was a joy and an honor to stand with a brother so gifted in sharing the Gospel and to share the Gospel myself, during the early morning of Black Friday, 2009.

God bless...

The God Mobile

Here's a picture from the Evergreen State Fair at the Monroe fairgrounds.

God bless...

An Opportunity To Preach The Gospel At Lunch

I got the opportunity to literally preach the Gospel yesterday at lunch, in the cafeteria, here at work. It is often strange how the topic of 'religion' will morph into the topic of eternity, salvation, judgement and hell.

Charlie was talking about how he was camping with some people in Utah, at Lake Powell one summer when it was 110 degrees in the daytime. How all the other people were partying and drinking all night, but when the sun came up, it was too hot to stay in the tent, so you had to get up. He couldn't understand how people kept going when they were staying up so late and getting up so early. He hadn't been drinking though, and people were asking him if he was Mormon, and he said, 'No, I just didn't drink' and shrugged his shoulders.

When the topic of Mormonism was raised, my boss, Rahul (a Hindu), said, 'Keith, what's the deal with Mormonism, they don't drink, they don't drink coffee, etc.' I said, "I really don't know about the coffee thing." Then Rahul said, 'is Mormonism Christianity, or an offshoot of Christianity, or a derivative of Christianity?'. I said, "Its a derivative of Christianity."

Then Rahul asked, 'What about all these other churches that I see, like Methodist, and Presbyterian, what are they?" I said, "those are Chistian churches, they just vary in form of worship and church government, and things like infant baptism and such. But the core beliefs. about Salvation (how to go to Heaven) are all pretty much in agreement."

Then Charlie piped in and said, "some of those churches believe in pre-destination, others don't. With pre-destination, they believe you don't have to do anything to go to heaven". I said, "I don't think they would say that."...

[Since that I found myself talking about salvation, I thought to myself, okay, here you go, and I went into explaining salvation and how God became a man in Jesus Christ, and what He did on the cross to die for our sins. I got to explain Judgement, Heaven, Hell, sin and the Law. Boy was I nervous. I don't know why, but that sure did get the adreneline going.]

Anyways, no one was believing what I was saying, but I was blessed to have the opportunity to share the Gospel. They were peppering me with questions, about Hell and Judgement.

Praise the LORD for the opportunity. Pray that their hearts will be softened. I hope I said the right things. I do care for their souls and pray for their salvation.

God bless...

Whew, Did We Get Soaked

last Friday evening, Ron and I went to Everett Memorial Stadium, to hand out tracts before the high school football game. We got there early enough, but the entrance where we are allowed to stand at is not heavily trafficked. We did hand out maybe a couple of dozen tracts between us, during the 45 minutes or hour that we stood there. The LORD did give us some boldness, or maybe He used to rain to embolden us, either way, it felt good to hand out tracts and talk to the few people we did.

Then we decided to go over to the Comcast Event center, because we had driven past it earlier, and noticed there was a Silver Tips game that evening. The rain became even more intense. Ron didn't bring a hat, and although I had a hat on, I was wearing a UW hoodie, that grew longer and longer throughout the evening as it became more soaked with water. Here too, the rain just solidified our commitment to hand out tracts to as many event-goers as possible, even if the tracts were of the soggy variety. It was quite an encouraging evening, I pray that the LORD will send us on more adventures like that one.

God bless...

Drug Deal (A Wad of Money on a Stump)

By way of update, I encountered the friendly neighborhood drug dealer on the 'green-belt' trail, that was mentioned during our meeting. He was actually mid deal with money sitting on a stump and a bag of marijuana in plain sight. I took a picture of the car that had pulled up and the license number (244 SVW) and even told the gal, who was still occupying the car, that a lot of drug activity goes on right here, please don't come back.

I called the police, but they didn't come. I did receive a phone call, an hour later and explained what happened, the kid's name, and address where he lives and the license number of the car.

Then sometime later, another car pulled up to his house, with the loud boom-boom music going so I went out to take a picture of the car and (if possible) the license plate, and I was acosted by the drug dealer's step-father. I told him the police had been called, because I had encountered his son doing a deal on the trail earlier, and he didn't believe me. He said his son had just returned from the doctor with his mother. Well, almost two hours had passed since the initial encounter, but because I had been out doing yard-work, I had mistakenly thought that only half an hour had passed. So the step-father disregarded what I said and walked away.

When I did receive a phone call from a police office, regarding my report, the officer said he would go have a talk with the resident and step up patrols in the area.

This is very disconcerting.

One Person is Worth It

Yestday morning, from 10am to 2pm, I was back out at the Evergreen State Fair, witnessing from within the GodMobile.

What a bunch of 'Hard-ground hearers'.

Except... one gal, Chelsae, came up, dressed kind of in a hip-hop style (not if that is a correct characterization of her style, but anyways.)

She was kind of hesitant to answer the questionaire, and seemed like maybe she was just testing me to to see what I was going to say. Anyways, I went though the flip chart with her. She asked one question, when I told her it wasn't enough to believe in Jesus mentally, it needed to be a belief in her heart. After I explained that kind of faith and trust, using the 'parachute analogy', she said she understoold.

I got to the invitation part of the presentation, expecting her to say she wasn't ready or no or something else, but she said, yes, she would like to receive Jesus Christ as her savior. I prayed with her, and encouraged her to get into a good Bible believing church, off she went.

Praise the LORD!

God bless...

Evergreen State Fair

I spent 6 hours preaching the Gospel from within the GodMobile at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, last Saturday evening.

The standout encounters were three in number.

First, Kurt and Andrew came up to take the test. First Question, "Do you believe you will go to heaven when you die?" Kurt answered, "No". I asked why, he said because I don't believe in heaven. When I die, they will bury me in the ground and that will be it." he said. That began what was a pretty tense discussion, from Kurt's side. He got pretty hot with me a couple of times, and Andrew had to tell him to calm down. All of this while, Kurt and Andrew hugged and held onto each other, like a boy and a girl would do. I took Kurt through the Ten Commandments, and showed him that he was a liar, thief, blasphemer, and adulterer at heart; without having to draw upon his by this time open gay lifestyle. As he continued to try to incite me to anger by asking me if I had seen the movie "Religulous", I said, "no". Andrew had begun to talk to Randie. As I continued to engage Kurt, I just tried to express how valuable he was to God. That God in Christ had demonstrated his love for him; that even though he was an admitted sinner, that Christ died for his sins. While this discussion was going on, lo and behold Andrew had been given the Gospel by Randie and he received Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Wow! Pray that Andrew will walk away from that lifestyle.

Another time, an early twenties gal came up, put her hands on her hips and said, (not confrontationally, but matter of factly) I don't believe in heaven and nothing you can say would persuade me. Well we spent quite a while engaging her, again, expressing the Gospel in love, but at some point I felt led by the Holy Spirit to say, "What in your life experiences has brought you to this belief?" She said, "I've experienced deaths", as she teared up a little. We talked a little longer, and she said, "My partner died." I said, "I am so sorry." She teared up and walked away.

Lastly, the Catholic teenage gal named Sarah. What a sweetheart. I spent time explaining the Gospel to her. Mostly confirming what she already knew. At some point I asked her if she believed what I was telling her, and she answered, "yeah, every word." Wow, what a blessing.

Other than that there were lots of atheists, agnostics, JDubs, etc.

God bless...

Keith

Cage Fighting Inside, Spiritual Battle Outside

Jerry and I went to the Comcast Events Center on Saturday evening, August 15th.

Jerry's approach was to carry a clipboard, and invite people to take a survey that would then feed into a documentary he will make. The survey asked if people believed in God, the Bible and the Devil. After the each person (or group) finished the survey, he asked for an e-mail address so he could follow up and invite them to participate in the documentary eventually. The documentary format will be to put people with like beliefs into a room with (some additional information related to God and the Bible) and film the people's dialog and see if they came out of the room with any different perspective than what they started with.

I, on the other hand, began handing out Million Dollar Bills. It went really well. Except, within about 15 or 20 minutes, a security person from the Events Center came up and asked what I was handing out. I told him Gospel tracts, and he told me I had to go across the street to hand them out. I complied, but thank God, prior to that I had a GREAT one-on-one encounter with a young guy. I handed the young guy a Gospel tract and he asked, "what is this?" I told him, "It's a Gospel tract." He asked, "What is a Gospel tract?" I said, "it tells you how to go to heaven when you die. Can I tell you about it?" He said, "sure". I went through the Law and then after a little persuasion, he admitted he'd not only be guilty, but that if he got what he deserved, it wouldn't be heaven. I used the our legal system as an example and that seemed to make sense to him. Anyways, you know it went well when we were all finished talking, and we parted with a handshake and a smile and he said thanks for talking with me.

I ended up handing out about 200 Million Dollar Bills. Now that's a 'Stimulus Package'.

Praise the LORD.

Wow, Two Weeks in a Row

Lake Stevens Aqua Fest and then Clark Park Outreach.

It was wonderful to have the privilege of sharing the Gospel message with so many (mostly young) people. One standout was the discussion with the 'Agnostic', who I hope went away with something to think about.

The Clark Park Outreach looks like a great model for a future event a Willis Tucker Park Amphitheater.

The future is also bright with UFC cage fighting at the Comcast Events Center on August 15th and then the Monroe Fair later in August.

God bless...

Keith

Impressions From An Outting

Ron and I went out Saturday evening, July 11, 2009.

We started at the artesian well on 164th. We stayed there only about a half an hour, or so,. There were very few people (suprisingly, given the temperatures that day). The standout people from the time there were a couple who were originally from Romania. The man was wearing a mechanics uniform from a local BMW dealership. When he realized we were handing out Gospel tracts, he kept saying things like, "I believe God", and "God good!" and "God make everything... garden grow vegetables, water, plants, everything." He was a real blessing to us.

Then we went over to the skate park in Mill Creek and witnessed to Taylor, Justin and Cody. They engaged us. Taylor said he had a Christian up-bringing. Cody said he had absolutely no Christian background at all. Cody wasn't sure he would go to heaven when he died, but he didn't want to know beforehand. So we asked him to listen in, while we went through the "Good Person Test" with Taylor. It went really well. We explained the Gospel; the good news that Jesus was the way to get to heaven. At the end, we were sure to emphasize to Cody that he needed to Repent and Trust Jesus. We lightly pressed them, and asked when they thought they were going to make sure about their eternity and follow Jesus. They weren't sure, so we explained they shouldn't wait, because no one knows when they will die. We parted with a handshake, and we thanked them for talking to us.

Then we went into the skating area and witnessed to three other young men. One of them was involved in church. We focused our attention on Chad who was a nice guy, once we started to talk with him. (I was a little apprehensive before we started talking to him, because he was dropping the F-bomb to his friends.) Anyways, Chad was very engaged and gladly listened to everything we had to say. Although he admitted to being a Liar and a Blasphemer and an Adulterer at Heart, he thought he'd be innocent when he stands before God on Judgement Day. We explained guilty versus innocent and he seemed to understand. Then we explained the Gospel to him and he listened intently. Again, we pressed him, and asked when he thought he would Repent and Trust Jesus, but he didn't know when he was going to receive Christ as his savior.

So, the main impression from the evening was it was great to talk to people, and the young men at the skate park, and I hope the the LORD will water the seeds we planted and bring forth the fruit of salvation in their lives.

God bless...

Bringing Compassion to the Mean Streets

Ron, Matt and I went to the Everett train station on Friday evening. The LORD lead us to several people that needed all kinds of help. Next time, we ought to take sandwiches along with us.

Many youth, living on the streets are so willing to talk and spend some time with you. Its a real blessing! We got to witness to several youth... they just love the million dollar bills.

Pray for Justin, as we were witnessing to him, he was eating a Rice Crispy bar. After he finished eating, he started coughing and coughed up some blood. We quickly concluded our witnessing efforts and went right into laying on of hands and prayer.

What a really rewarding evening, capped off with dinner at an Indian Curry Bistro cafe.

Praise the LORD!

Lighting Up Black Friday

My wife works for a Kohl's store, and she was scheduled to start work at 3:30am, so I just got up with her this morning. I arrived at the Kohl's in Lynwood, at about 3:30am and there were about a couple of hundred people in line. There were two radio stations and one TV station reporters set up outside the store interviewing the customers as they waited in line.

I grabbed four hundred Million dollar "Christmas" bills, and started at the end of the line and handed out tracts, all the way up to the front of the line. Then I went back to where I started, and went back towards the end of the line.

The most interesting thing this morning was when I handed the four Hindu Indian gals tracts, they asked "what is this?", and I said "Gospel tracts." They said, "What's that?" I said, "They tell you how to go to heaven, when you die." One gal resonded, "Oh, I already know I'm going to heaven."

I was past them, as they responded with their last retort, so I quipped back, "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" The one gal said, "Yes", so I felt led to turn back, and spend a little time with them.

I asked the gal if she had ever lied, she said "No". I asked, "Ever taken anything that didn't belong to you?", she said "No", I said "one of the commandments is about adultery, Do you know what that is?", "Yes", she responded. Then I told her, "Jesus said, if you even look at another person, to lust after them, that you'd be guilty of adultery of the heart." "Have you ever done that?", I asked. She contested, "Just by looking, you wouldn't be guilty of adultery." I said, "The Bible says, ", she interrupted, "But I don't accept the Bible." I said, "The Bible says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." I also said, "God's requirements are for us to be perfect in thought, word and deed. So when you stand before God on judgment day, would you be innocent" One of the other gals, chimed in, "Well then, no one would make it to heaven." "Exactly, I said, and God made a way for you to be innocent. Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins. I'm just here to try to make sure that people are ready to face God." "Thanks for talking with me, God bless..."

God bless...

Killing Time, Saving Lives

I was waiting for my son while he was in his driver's training course last night, so I went over to the artesian well on 164th street and handed out several tracts. Note to self, get some Spanish language tracts (other languages such as Russian, Japanese, Viet Namese and Chinese would also be useful.)

Then I went over to the Alderwood mall, hopefully to witness to people as the waited at the bus stop. I wasn't disappointed. I talked to three Hispanic people, one of them very thugged out, and got to witness the full Gospel to the young man named Levi. He didn't come to faith, but we did have a very engaging discussion.

Then I showed a couple of young Afro-American men the curved illusion and they busted up. I got to lead them through the Law and they both admitted that if they got what they deserved on Judgement Day, that they'd end up in hell. Then I got to share the good news of how God loved them so much He became a man in the person of Jesus Christ and died on the cross for their sins (they already knew the story). They were very receptive and I encouraged them to get right with God and read the Gospel of John.

After that I went back and picked up my son at the driver's training school.

This is but one example of how the LORD can use us to share the good news of eternal life through Jesus Christ, even when we're just killing some time.

God bless...

A Great Blessing (Twice)

Two times in August, I found myself at the Monroe fairgrounds sitting in the "Godmobile" witnessing, evangelizing, ministering and sharing. This "Godmobile" approach has got to be one of the best approaches for engaging people of all ages that I have ever seen. The Godmobile has a question painted on the side and a big sign on top that say, "Are you going to heaven when you die? Take the two question test to find out."

Not only was it rewarding to have the opportunity to witness and evangelize people of all ages and conditions, but it was a great blessing to be seated next to fellow Christians with a heart for the lost.

Some incidents from those events that stand out in my mind, are ones like the tatoo covered man coming up and saying "No, I'm not going to heaven. I'm going to hell and that's where I want to go because that's where all the prostitutes and liquor will be."

Another was when the drunk couple came up and the gal said in a pleading voice, "I just want to know that I will go to heaven when I die, I love the Lord..." and then having a ten minute debate with the drunk man about why he needed to get right with God.

Others were the goth teen who listened to the Gospel and then proceeded to tell me that there was no heaven, that life ended at death and God was in everything.

Likewise the Muslim young man who listened to the Gospel and then proceeded to tell me that the Muslim way to heaven was the right way.

All in all, the Godmobile, which is sponsored by the Full Gospel Businessman's Association is doing a great thing in reaching out to the lost in Washington state.

God bless...

Four Faces -- The Person and Nature of Jesus Christ

The following was presented on Saturday evening at the Monroe Prison...

When I became a Christian, in my early twenties, I still lived at home, and I got heavily involved in prayer, and Bible study and going to church, you know, stuff like that, and my mom was concerned for me. She said to me, "Keith, don't be so heavenly minded, that you're no earthly good."

So I don't want you guys to accuse me of not being practical, so I'm going to start off with some practical, down-to-earth things you can do to save yourself some pain. Here's some sound advice, some "tried and true" words of wisdom that you can follow to improve your life. Okay?

Alright, here goes, you ready, don't wash your face with Clorox, no-no, that would be bad. Don't shave with a Ginsu knife... doesn't work very well. Don't stop a chainsaw with your face... that'll leave a mark. Don't try to cool off a hot iron with your tongue... Ouch. All of these are bad, bad ideas.

Now for some good ideas, brush your teeth, don't forget to floss. Eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, pay your taxes... you can't outrun the IRS. So it took me all of, what, ten seconds to give you this practical down-to-earth advice. Now, that we got the earthly things out of the way, lets take some time and talk about heavenly things.

Originally, I wanted to talk to you guys about Hebrews 10:23-25. It was my intention to "provoke you to love and good works." I wanted to exhort you guys to serve God and serve others. You know what another word for exhort is, don't you, "NAG". Beside the fact that I'm not a very good Nag, I became convinced that it wasn't my responsibility or job to do that. I believe the LORD re-directed me to a different topic. I really feel we all need grow in our love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We need more of Him in our lives, so let's to talk about Him. We'll talk about who he is, what he's done for us. It's my intent to encourage you guys to draw nearer to Him since he's the source of life and love and righteousness. I need this too, so I'll be preaching to myself as well.

Very early in my Christian life, I worked with a Catholic Christian lady. As we were driving in her truck one day, we were talking about Jesus. I asked her, if someone were to ask you who is Jesus to you, what would you tell them? She said, I would say he is my best friend.

So, I want to tell you about my best friend. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 1. This may seem like a strange part of the Bible to look at to find out about Jesus, but I hope you'll find this very appropriate and relevant to knowing Jesus Christ. Ezekiel 1 shows us a picturesque scene of Living Creatures and the Glory of the LORD. Ezekiel has a vision into heaven.

Ezekiel 1:4-14, says, I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

This almost sounds like it could be the scene out of some fantasy movie. Like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings or something. This guy is for real though. This is an actual scene out of heaven. I want to focus in on this creature, because he exists for a specific purpose. We also see this same guy show up in Revelation 4:6-7.

I love picturesque scenes with brilliant colors and sounds. Music and art reach deep within us and cause an emotional response. You can look at a picture with bright colors and it screams out at you. Take for instance a bright red Ferrari going down the street, it screams, GIVE ME A TICKET!

This creature, I guess you could call him an angel of some sort, has two purposes in life. First, he is meant to give glory to God. Secondly, his four faces graphically illustrate four aspects Christ's nature. I want to spend a moment on each of these aspects of Christ's person and nature. I'm going to take a scene out of the scripture for each of these four aspects of the nature and person of Jesus Christ.

THE FACE OF A MAN
First, there is the face of a man. Jesus was a man. I doubt anyone here would dispute that. Let's look at Luke chapter 4 for a scene that shows Jesus in all of his humanity.

Luke 4:1-13 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

How does this story do anything for us? How can it help you and me? Well, it shows our Jesus being tempted, that's a good start. So he was tempted. He was tempted just like you and me. Jesus was and is a man. He is completely human, through and through. And because of that, the way he handled it, is the way we should handle it. Don't let it handle us. He's showing us, how we can deal with temptation. He resists it and he depends on Scripture. How often, when you or I are tempted do we resist and depend on scripture? It seems like it should be easy. We may not have a treasury of scripture memorized for any given situation, but at the very least we can rely on scriptural principles and pray. You remember the LORD's prayer, "Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil."

The humanity of Jesus is actually a very important teaching. He was just like you and me, except without sin. He never had sin, he didn't side-step sin with some tap-dance, he was from all eternity the completely holy Son of God. He became flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. He had red blood running through his veins. He has emotions, thoughts, feelings all human. I thought it would be interesting to lookup the words "Human Being" and see what they meant.

Human, being
Human means "lowly, of the earth". Here is the God of the universe, the heavenly LORD, who took on the estate of a lowly, earth-bound man.

"Being" means "conscious or aware of ones existence". You know, you and I are different from the animals; They don't go look in a mirror to check themselves out to see how they look. They don't check their breath, or anything like that, but we care about ourselves. But that isn't the highest plane on which to live our life. Rather than "Self consiousness", the highest goal of living is to constantly live with "God Consciousness". Where we live for God, and put Him first, you know "Thy will be done..." and in so doing, we even put others ahead of ourselves. You won't be able to put others first in your own fleshly nature. We're born with a selfish nature. You don't have to teach babies to be selfish. They go wah, wah, wah, and scream at the slightest hint of hunger or any discomfort. We don't have to learn to be selfish, it comes natural. So, you won't be able to change that tendency by yourself. It'll have to be a cooperative effort. All you can do is allow God to change you on the inside. All you can do is let yourself be ruled and conquered by God the Holy Spirit. Jesus, himself did the same thing. Christ Jesus only succeeded because He depended on the Holy Spirit moment by moment.

When we get to heaven, we're going to see a man; the Man Christ Jesus on the throne of God. He's going to display the scars of his crucifixion for all of eternity. In Revelation, John says he saw "the Lamb as it had been slain, in the midst of the throne."

THE FACE OF A LION
The lion is the "King of the Cats". We're not talking the Cowardly Lion here, this is Jesus who is called the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah" in Revelation 5:5. You may have seen that bumper sticker, "Jesus is coming again, and He's mad this time." You don't want to mess around with a lion. This designation of a Lion coming from the tribe of Judah goes all the way back to the book of Genesis where Jacob (A.K.A. Israel) was giving his blessing to his sons, he called his third son Judah a "lion's whelp."

Jesus came to earth to assume the title of "King of the Jews", and partially, it was for that claim that he was crucified. Let's look at Matthew 21 for the scene where Jesus presented Himself as King of the Jews.

Mathew 21:1-9 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

So, Jesus is a gentle king to those who call out to him "Hosanna" or Save Me, and I mean RIGHT NOW! That's what Hosanna means, is Save Now. If you haven't already, call out to him in the quietness of your own heart and ask Him to save you now, because Today is the day of salvation. He won't push his way into your life. You have to ask him to come in.

THE FACE OF AN OX
An Ox is a beast of burden. They can be yoked up, two of them together and they can be used to plow a field, or rip out stumps. Then afterward, in the evening you can butcher them and barbque them and have them for dinner. I say that jokingly, but its true. They can do real work, and at the end of the day, they can be sustenance; you know... food. So, an Ox is a servant animal. They may not be the most glamorous animal around, but when you have a heavy-duty job that needs to be done, they can "Git'r Done" for you.

The primary work that Jesus, "The Servant" did for us was to stand-in for us, and take the punishment that we deserved. On the cross he died in our place, so that we wouldn't have to.

Mark chapter 15:34 says, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?", which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? To me, these words of Christ on the cross show the great lenght that He went for us. He was forsaken by God, so that we wouldn't have to be.

How about you guys... Have you ever felt forsaken? Maybe you feel forsaken right now. If you feel forsaken, if you feel left out, if you feel like you're missing something because you're locked up in here. Please realize that you aren't alone. God loves and cares about you and He wants to be closer to you than any other person. Please know that God wants to be bonded with you, right beside you, watching over you, moving in you, hovering over you, protecting you, guiding you, I mean what else can I say? He loves you guys, and so do I. He cares about you, and so do I. Avail yourself of His presence. You surely can't bother him by coming to him through prayer. He want's you to be a son, a favorite son.

Let me illustrate about prayer, really quickly, we're almost done. I was at work the other day, and it was about 4:45 in the afternoon. I got a call from my son who was at home. On the surface, that isn't really a big deal. I have a decent relationship with my kids and I talk to them all the time, but I don't normally get a call from them at work. What was unique about this particular day from any other, was that my wife, who would normally have been at home, taking care of my sons, was at work. After 20 years of our marriage, and staying home, and being a homemaker, she's gone back to work. So, she was at work, and my son, my 15 year old son, was hungry and was wondering when I was coming home to fix dinner for him. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to hear from him, it was just a little out of the ordinary.

How about you and God? Would it be out of the ordinary for God to hear from you? Are you spiritually hungry? Are there needs in your life? Don't let any time go by before you call on God in prayer, and seek Him for all your needs. Don't just call on Him asking him for things. He doesn't mind you asking Him for things, but go deeper. We can share everything with him; all of our experiences and our plans, our joys, and our sorrows, our victories and our failures. He wants to hear anything and everything from us.

THE FACE OF AN EAGLE
Eagles are amazing birds. They're huge. The fly higher and can see further than any other bird. They are predators. They're called "raptors" because they can swoop down on their prey, maybe its a fish or something, and snatch it right out of the river. I happened to see a documentary on raptors recently, and it is amazing at how high they can fly and spot their prey; and the tremendous speed that they can dive down and grab their prey.

For all these reasons, the eagle has always been a symbol for deity, or divinity; you know God.

So Jesus was and is a Man. He's also King of the Universe. At the very same time, he was and is a Servant to all mankind. And lastly, Jesus Christ is God. He's the God-Man. He is 100% man, and at the very same time, he's 100% God. I know, that adds up to 200%. Therein lies the mystery. A lot of people and other religions don't accept this. But this is what the Bible teaches.

I like to go to John chapter 8 to show the deity of Jesus Christ.
John 8:56-58 Jesus was telling the Pharisees who he was and where he came from. The Pharisees were basically being very disrespectful to him and telling him that they rejected His claim to being the Messiah from heaven.
Jesus responds and says, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." The Pharisees come back was, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!", Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

They knew what he was saying. He was claiming to be the eternal. They wanted to stone him because he was making himself out to be God. The reference that Jesus is making relates back to Exodus, where God told Moses to go set his people free from Egypt. Moses said, if the people ask me, what is the name of this God who sent you?, what shall I tell them your name is? God said, tell them, "I AM THAT I AM" has sent you.

Jesus has all the qualities and characteristics of God. Our God is all knowing. Jesus demonstrated knowing things of which he didn't have direct knowlege. The Bible say's he knew what was in the heart of men. He knew everything about you before he chose you. He loves you in spite of what you've done and there's nothing you could do to make him not love you. So just glory and revel in the love of God and that will change your life.
Our God is all powerful. Jesus demonstrated power over diseases, storms, people, demons, even death. There's nothing to hard for him. Whatever you're going through, he is strong enough to be able to help you. He may not change your situation, but he can and will help you through it.

Our God is omni-present (everywhere at the same time.) The Bible says the heaven of heavens can't contain God, but somehow he localized himself in the Man Jesus Christ. There's nowhere you can go to get away from him. You can't hide from him, so you may as well be open and honest and transparent with him. You will find freedom when you are completely open and honest with him.

Our God is completely Holy and Righteous and awesome. He's completely separate from sin. That's why He has the power to be able to cleanse us from our sin. That cleansing power should lead us to a life of holiness; where we wholly devote ourselves to following Him.

So that's our LORD and my friend, Jesus Christ... Man, King, Servant and God. I hope something I've said will help you in some way. It's all about Jesus guys.

God bless you guys and thanks for listening.

Lunch With The Boss

On Friday, we had a team lunch at an Indian restaurant in Bellevue. It was interesting food, but what was more interesting is how the LORD gave me an opportunity to witness to my boss.

We were driving back to the office after having lunch, and the boss was talking about a family who had been driving a van (a vehicle that the driver wasn't used to), and they had swerved and rolled the van over. Serveral family members were killed. His main point was that if you are driving a vehicle that you aren't used to, you need to be very careful, and understand the forces at work when you are driving a taller vehicle.

Since he had brought up the subject of death, and I had been praying for an opportunity to share the Gospel with him, I asked God to see where He would take this conversation, and I asked my boss, what he thought happened to someone after they died. At first, he just shugged his shoulders, and put his palms up, as if to say, I don't know, your guess is as good as mine. Subsequently, he being an (assumed) Hindu, told me about how he believed that you would be graded at the end of this life, and you would come back as another life form based on how well you did.

After he finished, I had the opportunity, in a testimonial fashion to explain the fact that we'd all have to stand before our Creator, and give an account of everything we'd done, said or even thought during this lifetime. Then I shared how I found myself to be a liar, thief, blasphemer and parent dishonorer, and I'd be in big trouble on Judgement Day. But the Good News was that God became a man in Jesus Christ, not only to live a perfectly innocent life in my place, but also to pay the penalty for my sins by dying on the cross.

My boss wasn't buying it, but I did get the honor of sharing the Gospel with him.

God bless...

Overwhelmed and Overjoyed

Saturday, April 12, 2008 was a day to remember. Actually, there was a sense of Deja vu. Ron and I went to Quest (Seattle Seahawk) Stadium to the "Seeds of Compassion" event featuring the Dali Lama. The Deja vu part was that this event seemed to be right out of any number of "End Times", type of Christian movies, where throngs of people go to see and worship the Anti-Christ. Not that the Dali Lama is the Anti-Christ, but he and his religion is certainly anti-christian.

As we arrived in the (I believe) the North parking lot, we saw literally thousands of people lined up, walking toward the entrance. I was kind of overwhelmed at the number of people going into this event. I wish I had enough boldness to open-air to the people in line.

We handed out, oh about five or six hundred tracts, and enjoyed the whole time. We got into a couple of one-on-one conversations and we were very encouraged. We also met a few other WayOfTheMaster evangelists handing out tracts and street preaching.

We handed tracts to people ranging from Buddists, to Hindus, to "so-called Christians", to Witches, to hippies, and many other types of people in between.

God bless...

A Little Too Late

Last Friday morning, (Good Friday) I had the day off from work. I had to take my sons to school though; therein was the problem. They had agreed to get up and out the door early, but that didn't go as well as planned.

I got to the AM/PM near Cascade High School at around 7:20am. There was a group of about six kids cloistered between two shipping containers, smoking and talking, so I approached them and started handing out Million Dollar Bills. They were all excited and I heard them say wow, can I spend this. I said, no, don't spend it.

The LORD opened an opportunity to begin talking with them, I asked, what do you guys thing happens after we die. They said, you go to heaven and hell. I said where do you think you'll go when you die. Heaven, they answered. I asked, does everyone go to heaven. Yes, they answered. Even murderers and rapists, I asked. Yes, they answered.

Then I turned the conversion toward them, and made it more personal. I focused in on one guy, and asked him if he considered himself to be a good person, good enough to go to heaven. Sure he answered. I asked him if he had ever lied. He admitted yes. I asked him if he had ever stolen anything. He denied ever having stolen anything. I said, should I believe you, you just admitted you're a liar. He emphatically said, no, I've never taken anything. I asked him if he's ever downloaded music he didn't pay for. His head dropped, and he said yeah. So he admitted to being a thief. Lastly, I asked him if he'd ever used the LORD's name in vain. He admitted to that. I expained that was called blasphemy, and that the LORD would not hold him guiltless, whoever uses His name in vain.

I asked him if he thought he would be innocent or guilty, when he died and stood before God on judgement day. He admitted guilt. I asked him if he thought he'd go to heaven or hell. He said heaven. I asked why. Some girl in the background said, what if you ask God for forgiveness. Right then, another girl in the group looked at the clock on her cell phone and said, we have four minutes. I asked if they had to go, she said yes. I said, get going then, I don't want you guys to be late for school. As they left, I said don't forget to read the message.

That was a blessing to be able to witness of the law and conviction to them. I pray that they will be convicted to the point to where they reach out to God for mercy, and come to know the LORD Jesus Christ.

God bless...

Directly From KHouse dot Org

This is so important, I'm copying and pasting it out of the KHouse Newsletter from 2/6/2008

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
The Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of our King and the platform of the Prince of Peace. And it's the Law! It goes vastly beyond the Law of Moses. It is the Ten Commandments amplified and expanded. It raises the Law to the nth degree. As the Law of the Kingdom, it is the highest ethical teaching in the Bible. It will be the Law of this world during the Millennium, and then it will find full fruition. Christ will reign on earth in person and will enforce every word of it. The Sermon on the Mount will finally prevail when He whose right it is to rule shall come.

The Sermon on the Mount is the longest discourse recorded in Scripture and it was addressed to believers! (This would be a source of condemnation to the unsaved.) Don't let the familiarity of this passage lure you into thinking that you have mastered it; it is tough ground and one of the most misunderstood portions of Scripture.

The Beatitudes

The word beatitude is not found in your Bible. It simply means "blessing" and comes from the Latin word for "blessed." Note that these verses deal with attitudes - what we think in our hearts, and our outlook on life. "Beatitudes" are the attitudes that ought to be in our lives if we are true Christians. These first 16 verses of Matthew 5 describe the true Christian and deal with character. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) deals with the conduct that grows out of character. Character always comes before conduct, because what we are determines what we do. There is a definite progression in these verses. They show how the person begins with his or her own sense of sin and finally becomes a child of God and the results that then follow:

"Poor in spirit" (v. 3): This is our attitude toward ourselves, in which we feel our need and admit it.
"Mourn" (v. 4): This is our attitude toward sin, a true sorrow for sin.
"Meek" (v. 5): This is our attitude toward others; we are teachable; we do not defend ourselves when we are wrong.
"Hunger and thirst" (v. 6): Here, our attitude toward God is expressed; we receive His righteousness by faith because we ask for it.
"Merciful" (v. 7): We have a forgiving spirit and love others.
"Pure in heart" (v. 8): We keep our lives and motives clean. Holiness is happiness to us - there are no substitutes.
"Peacemakers" (v. 9): We should bring peace, between people and God, and between those who are at odds with each other.
"Persecuted" (v. 10): All who live godly lives will suffer persecution.

It's interesting that there are eight beatitudes listed; the number eight in Scripture usually represents a new beginning. (The unwritten 9th Beatitude: "Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be broken.") The rest of the Sermon on the Mount shows the results of the new life in the believer:

Salt of the Earth

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. - Matthew 5:13

Salt was used as a preservative; it preserves materials from corruption. Salt also creates thirst and introduces flavor. Salt speaks of inward character that influences a decaying world. Our task is to keep our lives pure that we might ''salt'' this earth and hold back corruption so that the Gospel can get out.

Light of the World

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid...Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. - Matthew 5:14, 16

Light speaks of the outward testimony of good works that points to God. Our good works must accompany our dedicated lives as we let our lights shine.

The Higher Righteousness

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven... For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:19a, 20

What a blow to the Jew! He knew the extremes that the professional Law-keepers resorted to! What was to become of them? This is the key point of the passage. You cannot break the commandments and get away with it. But you cannot keep them in your own strength either. The only way you can keep them is to come to Jesus Christ for salvation, power, and strength. The commandments are not a way of salvation but a means to show you the way to salvation - through the acceptance of the work of Jesus Christ.

Pharisaical Error

The scribes and Pharisees were not insincere: they tried to adhere to the keeping of the Law. Although misguided, they were zealous and sincere. Anyone that tries to reconcile himself to God by his works, his rules, or his legalism is pharisaical. Is there any other way to heaven other than by Jesus Christ? If there is, Jesus' own prayers were not answered - in Gethsemane, Jesus pleaded with the Father three times for an alternative.

Which "Commandments"?

What are "these commandments" being referred to in Matthew 5:19? The ones we find in the remainder of Matthew 5 and continuing in Chapters 6 and 7. Jesus will emphasize "my words" (Cf. Mt 7:24-27). His call was to obedience (Jn 14:15, 21, 23; 1 Jn 5:3). Does the Christian need to "keep the Law"? The fact of the matter is that the Law is still a standard: it reveals to me that I cannot measure up to God's standard. This drives me to the cross of Christ. The only way I can fulfill the Law is by accepting the only One who could fulfill it - Jesus Christ.

Jesus Fulfilled the Law

Jesus became our sacrifice and shed His own sinless blood on our behalf. He offered Himself once for all for the sins of all mankind (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 26, 28, 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18). Everything was fulfilled just before Jesus’ death on the cross when He uttered His last words: "It is finished!" (John 19:30) tetelestai = "paid in full." The second way He fulfilled the Law is that He taught and commanded what God’s will is under the New Covenant for those who would enter the Kingdom of God. He gave us a new set of rules. Paul called those rules Christ’s Law. Some of those were the same as God gave in the Old Testament Law. Many were changed, but most of Old Testament Law was not included at all in Christ’s Law. "For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Rom 10:4)." New Testament believers are not under the Law; Jesus abolished the Law through His sacrifice on the cross.

The Purpose of the Law

"Through the Law we become conscious of sin." (Rom 3:20)
"The Law was added so that the trespass might increase." (Rom 5:20)
"It was added because of transgressions until the Seed [the Lord Jesus Christ] to whom the promise referred had come." (Gal 3:19)
"So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." (Gal 3:24)
"Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the Law." (Gal 3:25)

Paul was the writer who most discussed the question of the Old Testament Law and its applicability to the New Testament Christian. He was in a unique position to do so, having been a Pharisee who had been taught by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), an esteemed teacher of the Law. The Law said, ''You shalt not kill [murder]'' (Ex 20:13); but Jesus said, ''Don’t be angry with others.'' Anger is like murder in the heart and it can lead to evil words and actual murder. And while actual adultery is far worse than inward lustful fantasies, the inner desires can quickly lead to this forbidden sin (Ex 20:14). We must deal ruthlessly with ourselves and not encourage the imagination to ''feed on'' these sins. The eyes and the hands (seeing and touching) must be kept under control.

Religious Practice

In Matthew Chapter 5, the King speaks of the righteousness His subjects must possess. It must be a righteousness to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and that comes only through trust in Christ. Matthew Chapter 6 deals with the external part of religion: the righteousness that the subjects of the kingdom are to practice. The internal motive, of course, is the important thing in what you do for God. Chapter 7 deals with judging others, prayer, and the "Golden Rule."

The Law of Christ

Jesus did not set aside the Law of Moses, He fulfilled it! He takes the Law of Moses, interprets it in the extreme, and in an absolute sense. And then He absolutely fulfills it! Remember that your salvation does not accrue because of your ability to fulfill Matthew 5, 6, and 7, but because Jesus did - and you can appropriate His achievement to your benefit. Do it now, in the privacy of your own will.

Five Guys in the Car

As noted before, we live on a corner lot, at the top of a hill. The street that goes down the hill has a green-belt trailhead where people love to congregate and sit in their cars and do all sorts of things, like socialize, eat, drink, and smoke. This past Saturday afternoon was one of those times where a group of guys were sitting in their car on this street, smoking and talking. I had to really work on my nerve to get myself to go out there to speak with them. I put on my jacket, grabbed a stack of Million Dollar Bills and prayed a quick prayer as I walked down toward the car. There were five guys in the car, and they were early high school aged and they were smoking cigarettes.

The guys gladly accepted the million dollar bills and without hesitation entered into a conversation with me. They asked, what the million dollar bills were, I told them they were Gospel tracts. I asked if they had heard the Gospel, they said they hadn't. I explained that "Gospel" was just Bible talk for "Good News." But before I could give them the Good News, I'd have to give them the Bad News first. They said okay. I said the Bad News is that we all have to die someday. And I asked them what they thought happened to someone when they died. There were a variety of answers, but one guy said, "I guess the whole heaven and hell things play a part." I said, do you guys think you'll go to heaven when you die, what do you think someone has to do to go to heaven? Do you guys consider yourselves to be good people. Then the driver had an interesting response, he said something like, "I'm probably not what you (or the Bible) would consider a good person."

As I began to go through a few of the Ten Commandments with them, one of the guys in the back seat got a phone call, but I went through them as quickly as possible. They agreed they had lied, (they denied ever stealing anything), and contested that looking with lust was equal with adultery. The driver asked something like, "how can you be guilty just by thinking something, its not the same as doing it." And I told him that our own judicial system had the same idea, where a person can be convicted of "Conspiricy to commit murder" without having done the actual crime.

They admitted that when they stand before God on Judgement Day that they'd be guilty and that they would probably deserve Hell. I tried to explain to them that Hell was a reasonable punishment for committing sins against a Holy and Righteous, Eternal God. At that point, the guy in the back starts complaining that he had to go so I very quickly gave them the Gospel, that even though they deserved Hell, God did something for them so they wouldn't have to go there. God became a man in Jesus Christ and died on the cross to take the punishment that they deserved. In other words Jesus paid their fine. At that they said they had to leave and drove off.

I did say to Dillon, "Talk to me again sometime." and he shook his head and said yes, he would.

God bless...