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...

There's a First Time For Everything

Saturday afternoon, Breanne and I went door-to-door in Ron's neighborhood. I can say that it was a very encouraging excursion. It wasn't a huge investment in time or stress, but it hopefully it will bear eternal fruit and the LORD was blessed.

We approached the mission from a "We're out sharing the true meaning of Christmas" perspective. We were handing out Million Dollar Bills and saying, "It's not about money, but there is a Million Dollar Question on the back, about what happens when we die. Most people were gracious and accepted the tract, but didn't have time to converse. I think only one door got slammed in our face.

One interesting encounter was, when I walked up to a guy on a ladder, putting up Christmas lights. I said, "We're giving out novelty Million Dollar Bills." He said, "What is it?" I said, "It's a Gospel tract." He said, "You're republican?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "no thanks."

What does republican have to do with anything???

Anyways, it was a very chilly afternoon weatherwise, but the sun was out, and the Son was shining His love into our hearts and out through our lives.

God bless...

Finishing Up The WOTM Basic Training Class

Well, it has been a real big encouragement to go through the WOTM Basic Training course.

Hearing other's stories and seeing other's growth has been so uplifting.

Too bad we didn't get more people involved but maybe we'll do the WOTM Intermediate Training course.

This is the first "Home Group" of any kind that I've been consistently involved with and as with any Home Group, the fellowship and accountability has been such a blessing.

God bless...

High School Football and The Everett Train Station

Ron and I were handing out Tracts from 6:45 to 7:45 at Everett Memorial stadium. It was sprinkling but not cold. Since we really got there a little too late, we didn't hand out as many as possible, but it was a big blessing to hand out the tracts to fans as they entered the stadium.

Then, we went to Starbucks and got a coffee. While chatting I suggested we go to the Everett Train station.

We went inside to go to the restroom, and saw someone sleeping in the stall. When we came out, we were verbally acosted by the older Asian lady who was severely stooped over [I'll leave the editorializing to you]. Then we went to the outdoor bus-stop waiting area and handed out several tracts. I got into a one-2-one with Kamal, a Muslim guy from Jamaica. Kept hammering home the ten commandments. He said he had lied, lusted, dishonored his parents by taking drugs and hadn't put God as number one in his life. He admitted after some time, that he would be guilty when he stands before God. I asked him if he knew what God did for him so that he didn't have to go to hell. He said no. I shared the Gospel with him. I encouraged him to get a Bible.

As we were leaving, we were handing out more tracts, and I loaned my cell phone to a girl. A dischevelled guy came up and saw us and said "church". I said Yes, we're from church and I handed him a tract. He handed it back and said God hated him because he had tried to commit suicide the night before. We said, "No, God loves you." And we prayed for him right there. Ron gave him some money and got his phone number, so someone from Ron's church could contact him.


God bless...

Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival

Last weekend, there was a festival at the Mukilteo Lighthouse. I didn't make it to the festival, but I did meander down the beach and hand out tracts, and there were a couple of interesting incidents.

First there was an older woman and man seated on a park bench. I handed the woman a tract. She said what is it? I told her it was a gospel tract. She said, I won't be able to read this, I said, I know, you need really strong glasses to read it. I noticed she had glasses around her neck. She began to read the tract out loud (and I mean loud.) I walked down the beach, and handed out several more tracts. As I came back and passed the man and the woman again, she was just finishing reading the tract and she was reading John 3:16. [The LORD uses unexpected means to get His message out.]

Next, there were three late teens or early twenties girls scavanging on the beach. When I tried to offer one of them a 101 of the Funniest One Liners tract, she asked what it was, when I said "Its a Gospel tract", she declined. When I tried to offer her a Million Dollar Bill, she declined. I said, your going to miss out on your first million. As I began to walk away, she said, "I didn't earn it." And I responded, "you can't earn salvation either."

As I was going home, I thought I'd go by the water well, and hand out some more tracts, but as I passed the well it was very dark and I didn't feel comfortable, so I kept driving. As I got near to Bothell Everett Hwy, I thought, maybe I should go by the Mill Creek skate park. I was nervous, but I felt like the LORD was saying, "You may be the only light those kids see in that place tonight." So I went there and witnessed to Christian, Luke and Devin and about 15 kids gathered around as I handed out Round Tuits and Million Dollar bills. They had to leave after only briefly speaking with me because the girls in the group had to get home for curfew. I told them to scoot, that I didn't want them to get in trouble. After they left though, Luke said, "Hey, talk to me some more, I'm open..." I witnessed to him and he prayed a simple prayer of repentence on his own. LORD bless him and keep him.

God bless...

Please respond if you want to join in!

Just so you know, I'd love to have additional seed sowers come along with me on my witnessing excusions, but right now, I don't have a real structured "team" per se. I've been contacted by a couple of others from MyFishingHole.com, but so far, nothing has materialized. I've been going out to my personal fishing holes (sometimes with a brother from our Prison Ministry Group "Forgiven Choices) about every other week this summer.

I will be co-teaching an 8 week home-group based version of The Way of the Master on Friday evenings, starting on Sept 14, with a brother who attends a different church.

Tenatively, here are some ideas for upcoming outreaches
1. Evergreen State Fair - Monroe Fairgrounds - Aug 23 through Sept 3.
2. Feed Homeless in Seattle and/or Everett
3 Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival - Sept 1-2
4. Weekday early-morning or lunchtime outing to Snohomish County Court (witness to Jurors or others transacting business.)

God bless...

Edmonds Tasted Sweet

I went to the "Taste of Edmonds" festival a couple of weeks ago, and it was really nice. I handed out a hundred or so tracts, and got into a long one-on-one with a Buddhist man (I think he was originally from Russia.)

It was a real blessing to watch people giggle as they read the "101 of the World's Funniest One Liners" tract.

Several people had their spirits lifted by the "One Million Dollar Bill" tract.

God bless...

The Worlds Greatest Optical iLLusion

I went to Mukilteo beach and handed out about 50 of the "Worlds Greatest Optical Illusion" tracts (from http://www.livingwaters.com) last night. The LORD is reaching out to people from all kinds of backgrounds. There were some muslims that accepted tracts, some native Americans, and some Asians. God loves all people.

Two interesting things: 1) a nerdy guy said, "hey, this is the blah, blah, blah spiral, when he saw the front of the tract."

2) after walking down the beach, and handing tracts to most people, as I walked back the other way, I noticed several people reading the tracts. That is just a wonderful blessing.

God bless...

International Fight League

Ron and I handed out about 250 tracts. Again, a warm smile and a hearty "Have a great time at the fights tonight" made the tracts easy to give away. At one point a guy slapped a couple of tracts out of my hand as I tried to hand them to him. It was my fault, I didn't realize he was serious when he said he didn't want the Million Dollar Bill and I tried to hand him a Zero.

At one point, the Will-Call line backed up, and I felt led by the Spirit to begin preaching. What I began with immediately drew in hecklers and one gal began to blaspheme heavily as the topic turned to eternal matters.

Here's what I said...

Since 1979, there have been approximately 30 deaths, due to professional boxing.

There are conflicting numbers regarding Ultimate Fighting. Some reports say there have been no (zero) deaths due to Ultimate Fighting, others say that two to four deaths can be attributed to ultimate fighting.

More people die from car crashes and drinking, and other things. My point is that everyone has to die someday. Death is the only 100% statistic. Ten out of ten people die. So the million dollar question you want to be asking yourself is, "Where will you go when you die?" Are you good enough to go to heaven?

Would you consider yourself to be a good person?

Have you ever lied? That would make you a liar. Have you ever stolen anything? That would make you a thief. Have you ever used God's name in vain? That's called blashpemy. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? That would make you an adulterer of the heart. If you've admitted to breaking these four of the ten commandments, then by your own admission you'd be a lying, thief and a blasphemous, adulterer at heart. When you stand before God on judgment day, you'd be guilty, just like the rest of us. Because you'd be guilty of crimes against God, you'd deserve hell. But God doesn't want that for you. Neither do I, that's why I'm here, because I care about you.

But God did something so that we can avoid hell. 2000 years ago, God became a man in Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for your sins. When he died, they buried him in a tomb, but he didn't stay dead. He rose from the dead and defeated death; he conquered death once and for all.

Now, if you will repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ, God will give you the gift of salvation and eternal life. Please don't wait, don't put it off, there's nothing more important than your eternal salvation, and none of us knows the day of our death, so get right with God today.

Thanks for listening and God bless you guys...

God bless...

24 Hours of Praise was Glorious

God bless Rob for initiating the 24 Hours of Praise at our church this Friday and Saturday.

God bless those weary souls that were still singing and praying at 4:00am when I came on duty. All went well, except for the last song, in which I played, "Ancient of Days". Boy do I need more practice with that one.

Thank God for Pastor Kelly and Pastor Jerry and their faithfulness.

God bless...

Making Plans Concrete

I'm looking to solidify what was tentative.

Anyone want to meet at Everett Train Station from 5-6pm on Friday afternoon?

Let me know.

God bless...

Tentative Calendar of Upcoming Events

Tracting Snoho County Court

There were a number of jurors wandering around, as well as many others scurrying to transact business. The Seven Dollar bills went out well. One late middle-aged juror, handed the tract back to me and said, "no I don't want the Gospel." Very sad...

All in all, it was a beautiful way to spend the lunch time. It was sunny, but still brisk.

God bless...

LinuxFest Northwest

Seven Dollar Bills go over well with geeks.

It was neat talking with various rock stars of the Linux world.

Tim Maher - Consultix (SPUG fame)
ActiveState - Perl
etc.

And it was a nice time spent with my son.

btw, here's what I might have said, if I'd have gotten the chance:

Hello, if I could have your attention for just a moment. My name is Keith and I'm a software engineer for medical company in Bothell. Just a thought for you while you enter the expo. One axiom of software quality is "The earlier in your SDLC that you discover defects in your software, the easier and cheaper it is to fix them.
That same principle is at work in our daily lives. Example, what is one of the first things you do in the morning when you get up? You probably go look in the mirror to see what damage was done the night before, so you can take corrective action.
You can even extend this principle to life in general. Think of it like this, when you die, and we're all going to die; death is the only 100% statistic, we're all going to have to face a final-inspection. I know this isn't something we typically talk about or even think about too much. Our tendency is to wait until its too late to think about these things.
But, the million dollar questions are, "Where will you go when you die?" Are you good enough to go to heaven? Would you consider yourself to be a good person?
We can do early testing, and examine ourselves in the mirror of the Ten Commandments and know how we'll do on judgement day. So here goes. 9th, 8th, 3rd, 7th.
When God reviews the syslog of your life, will you be innocent or guilty? If you've admitted to violating any of these four of the Ten Commandments, (and there are six more where those came from), then you'd be a lying thief and a blasphemous adulterer at heart. You'd be guilty like the rest of us. Because you'd be guilty of crimes against a Holy and Righteous Eternal God, the punishment is an awful and terrible eternal punishment, and that's called Hell. But God doesn't want that for you, so God solved that problem...for us.
Two thousand years ago, God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. God entered the human race in Jesus. He was born of a virgin and he lived a sinless perfect life. But they crucified Him. They nailed him to a cross where he bled and died a horrible death... not for anything he had done. He died to take your and my punishment upon himself on that cross. Its like this, you and I did the crime, and Jesus paid our fine. After He died, they buried him in a tomb, and three days later he rose from the dead. He defeated death once and for all of us.
Now, we can go to heaven not because we're good enough or could ever deserve it, but because we can be forgiven because our fine has been paid. The Bible says there are two steps you must take to receive that forgiveness. First is repent. That's just Bible talk for change your mind. Change your mind about sin, and turn away from it and turn to God for mercy. Step two is Trust. Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection as sufficient payment for your crimes.
When you do that God will give you the gift of eternal life. You'll pass from death to life, from darkness to light. God himself will take up residence in your life. That's what it means to be Born Again.
This is the true Open Source. Salvation is open to anyone and Jesus is the Source of life. Please don't wait, don't put it off. There's nothing more important than your eternal salvation, and none of us know's the day of our death. So get right with God today.

God bless...

The Blue Man Group Concert

On Friday evening, Ron and I went to the Blue Man Group concert at the Everett Events Center. We handed out over 400 tracts. We were blessed by the responses. Interestingly, as we warmly greeted the concert-goers, they were eager to receive the tracts. In fact, the tracts almost gave themselves away. Praise the LORD.

God bless...

Time Warp

Halloween 2006 -- I love to hand out tracts to trick-or-treaters. I handed out 25 tracts from http://www.customtractsource.com. Whew, the young ones loved them. They reached for them over the bowl of candy.

God bless...

Sunny Saturday Afternoon -- HS Football Playoff

My cheeks were stinging after being out in the sun all afternoon, two Saturdays ago. We haven't had many sunny days, but the LORD gave a great day for passing out tracts at the Archbishop vs. Hoquaim playoff game at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Responses were great among the 250 spectators who received Million or Billion Dollar Bills and Round-TUIT tracts. It is encouraging to see those who have received tracts, actually read them.

God bless...

Keith

A Weekend the LORD Filled

This past weekend was a total blessing from beginning to end.

Friday at lunch I went down to the Everett Train station and passed out tracts, and engaged several people in one-on-ones. Then I stopped by the Artesian Well on 164th and passed out a few tracts, and talked with a couple of people.

Saturday was restful (I was a little bummed about missing the mens Bible study), but sleeping in felt good. Saturday evening was our regularly scheduled Prison Ministry (Forgiven Choices) meeting. Wonderful worship, excellent Bible study by Bill and a great time of communion and after-glow.

Sunday morning church at Calvary Lake Stevens was a blessing, I was saddened to hear that Pastor Jerry was in pain. I've been praying for him.

Sunday afternoon was so nice to spend with my youngest son Daniel. We went to ToysRUs and bought him an RC "Drift Racing" Nissan 350ZX car.

Then, Sunday evening visiting Calvary Chapel South Everett at the Willis Tucker Park Activity Center was sweet. I am so praying that the LORD will do a work in our community. You know it needs it if you read any of the previous posts. God bless Calvary Chapel South Everett. The young pastor there (Joel) really preached it up good! God bless the pastor and his family and all those attending. May they reach out for the LORD.

God bless...

I Met Ray Comfort

This was supposed to be a weekend of watching football, and street witnessing. Well, the streetwitnessing came to pass, in Huntington Beach California and I did watch some Pop Warner football, but I missed my nephew's high school football game.

I did end up meeting Ray Comfort, after he finished preaching the Gospel in the open air, at the street vendor fair that meets at the Huntington Beach pier on Saturdays. I handed out dozens of tracts, and had several interesting one-2-one encounters.

It was a great weekend with my mom and dad and sister and nephew. I also got to see my old Pop Warner football coach and his family.

On Sunday we attended E.V. Free church in Fullerton.

God bless...

Summer Recap

The LORD has provided several opportunities this summer to pass out tracts and witness for Him:

1. The Evergreen State Fair in Monroe (the coworker from Philips)
2. The Taste of Edmonds festival (the Jewish young man, and the beauty queens who liked the curved illusion tracts.)
3. [Multiple] The water well on 164th in Lynwood (met pastor Byungwoo Choi, and Mike who needed prayer for bladder and colon cancer)
4. [Multiple] The Snohomish County Courthouse (the lady who talked my ear off about history and the labor movement.)
5. [Multiple] The greenbelt trailhead (the latest was three guys in the little SUV who tried to shew me away, and I got the chance to speak with them anyways.)
6. Mukilteo beach passing out tracts (the Round Tuit)
7. [Multiple] Passing out tracts at fast food drive through windows.

My comfort factor was really stretched, and I didn't have quite as many one2one encounters this summer because of the "chaos on the hill" as mentioned in an earlier blog entry, but I believe God wants me to get the message out, even if I haven't completely overcome my fears and hang-ups. So I heavily used the written word to get the message out this summer.

As this summer comes to an end, I pray that next week, the LORD will send me on a few more witnessing missions, maybe to the Everett train station. I have been feeling his tug on my heart to get back out in the thick of things, in terms of giving out food to the poor.

God bless...

Tough Communicating

We've had a Japanese exchange student staying with us for the past week and a half. He is from a city called Hekinan. He's a nice kid, but kinda quiet. Some things he's done seem a little rude, but our two cultures are certainly different.

I had the opportunity to (in a VERY brief way) share the Gospel with him this afternoon as I was driving him and his friend Masaru home. I asked him if he had told a lie, and he admitted to doing that. I asked him if he had ever taken anything that didn't belong to him. He said no. I said, "what about the music you were asking my son to burn to CD for you?" I asked him if he had ever dishonored or disobeyed his parents. I said, "have your parents ever had to say No, No to you?" No he said.

I told him about Jesus, and how he had died and come back to life for him to pay the fine for his crimes.

They didn't seem to totally understand, but I was blessed to have the opportunity.

God bless...

As of 6/22/2006 - School's Out

Now that school is out, and the neighborhood kids (high school aged kids, that is) are out of school, they have been congregating at a green-belt trail that is right behind my house. Yesterday evening, I spent a total of over an hour, during two separate one2one and group witnessing/Bible sessions with approximately 16 different kids. I don't appreciate the activities the kids partake of down on the green-belt, but I'm glad for the opportunity that the LORD gives me to witness and share my faith. Please do pray for boldness and compassion for me, and peace for my wife. She's kind of uncomfortable with me going down into the "pot and beer pit".

God bless...

Chaos On The Hill

I got home late from work. While we were relaxing in the big room, after having eaten pizza, we heard a ruckus outside, so I went toward the front door to investigate. Immediately, my son said, "no dad, don't go out there." "I'm only going to see what's going on", I said. But there was something going on; a large group of teens, many of whom I had spoken with before were walking around the corner, and down the hill, on our street. As I watched, one young man began to pee on the neighbor's lawn. Again, my son said, "don't go down there dad." He was insistent, but I said, "I have to." He said, "just call the police." I said, "Okay, I'll call the police, bring me the phone." I called 911, and reported drunk and disorderly to my address, and they said they would send someone right out.

I grabbed a stack of tracks, and the mp3 player and a camera, so I could record what took place. As I walked down toward the group of teens, one whom I had witnessed to last week, was pushing Quincy around. Some other teens split them up, and I said hi to Quincy, and told him he ought to go home. Kyle said something to me, and I began to relate to him how I was so sad the other day, seeing him so high that he couldn't talk. He went ballistic. I don't quite understand why. I asked him if he remembered me praying for him, he didn't even remember. At some point, he said something about the police, and I responded, "They've already been called."

The extremely drunk one, who was belligerent to everyone came up to me and said "preacher man, go away, no one wants to listen to you." This drunk guy was a tall young man, who earlier in the week when I witnessed to him, although he was quiet, was resistant to the Gospel. Now was downright antagonistic; even threatening. "The cops have been called", I said.

I went around to each of the kids, who I hadn't witnessed to before, and handed them tracts. I tried to witness to Ashley, but the tall antagonistic kid, pulled her away, and said, "don't listen to him."

There was a girl sitting on a guy's lap in the car that was parked there, and they were making out in a very lewd and lascivious manner. I handed him a tract, and then said "Here young lady, have you gotten one of these yet?" She took it. I believe they separated at that point, I didn't want to hang around and find out what was really taking place in the front seat of that car.

Then I began to speak with a girl named "Angie?" and handed her a tract. I asked her if I could share the Gospel with her, and if she had a Christian background. She proceeded to tell me how she believed in God and had a relationship with God and had asked Jesus Christ into her heart. I asked her if she was going to heaven when she died. She said yes, and I asked how she new that. On what basis will you go to heaven, I asked, but she didn't get what I was asking. I said, "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?". She said yes. I went through lying, and although she admitted to having lied, she wouldn't call herself a liar. I asked about stealing, and she admitted she had, but wouldn't call herself a thief; I helped her out. I asked her if she had lusted, she came unglued and called me a child abuser, and pervert. I said, well you've admitted to being a liar and a thief, and she was ready to tear me apart. I said, "Have you ever hated? because Jesus, the one you said you believed in, said hate was the same as murder. " She said, "I'm going to kill you." Someone, I think Quincy grabbed her and pulled her away.

Kyle and the tall angry kid, were totally blaspheming and denegrating our LORD. At this point, Kyle saw that I was carrying the mp3 player, and he said "Oh no, no you don't, no way..." He grabbed it out of my hand and pulled the battery out of it. Too bad for him, that didn't delete what was already recorded.

Then the tall angry kid, started in on me, and told me how he was going to break my glasses. I told him I wouldn't fight back, no matter what he did. He just ranted and raved at me. All the while, un-beknownst to me, my wife and boys were standing in my yard with baseball bats in their hands. Anyways, the LORD protected me, and "Perfect love casts out all fear", in my wife and boy's case.

I started to read John chapter 3 aloud, and after a few verses, the police showed up.

No one was arrested, but parents were called. Sadly though, some of the parents either couldn't be reached, or others were indeed at parties -- probably drunk themselves, so several of the kids had to be taken home by the police.

VERY DISCONCERTING... Especially, when the kids were trying to blame the whole thing on me preaching at them, and the cops said, "you were probably part of the problem. Please leave."

God bless...

Giving a Ride Home -- Telling About the Way Home

Last week, I had a couple of opportunities to give my son's friends rides home. During both rides, I told Steven and later Cody about the "Way" home. How to have eternal life. They both listened and seemed only slightly put out in talking with me.

God give us opportunities... We need to take them.

Pray up, Step Up, Speak Up.

God bless...

The Green-Belt Trailhead is an Attractive Parking Spot

Travis and Tim were sitting in their Honda which was parked next to the green-belt trailhead. I offered them Million Dollar bills and started a conversation with them. I told them that the bills were Gospel tracts, and asked if they knew what that was. They said no, so I explained the Gospel to them. They listened and were very interactive. Tim wasn't concerned enough to say he was planning on getting right with God. Travis seemed to take it all in, but I didn't perceive he was going to make any commitments either.

Therhan and his girlfriend were sitting in their Impala which was parked next to the green-belt trail head. I gave them each Million Dollar bills and was ableto share the Bad and Good News with them.

May the LORD continue to bring people literally to my backyard so that I can share the Bad News that we have all broken God's Law, and the Good News of the "fine being paid".

God bless...

OA At the Well

Good morning folks. May I have your attention; I'd like to speak to you for a few moments. Bearing in mind that at last count almost 2500 American soldiers, our own men and women have given their lives in Iraq to protect our freedom of speech, what I have to say may offend some of you. That isn't my intention, but this message is so important I’m willing to risk your objection.

Imaging this scenario; you are driving across the desert and your car breaks down. You’re stranded in the middle of the desert; Death Valley, California. The temperature is a blistering 118 degrees. You have one sip of water left in your canteen. You’re so thirsty, you’re beginning to hallucinate and see mirages of water on the horizon. Water is essential for the proper functioning of body and mind. The adverse effects of even mild dehydration, as little as 5 to 10% are insidious and extremely dangerous in a survival situation. You could survive weeks without food, but only days without water.

Now, come back to reality. You are here to fill your drinking water bottles. Water is vital to life. We all want to take care of ourselves, and live a long and healthy life, but the truth is, we all have to die someday. Its true, ten out of ten people die. It’s the ultimate statistic. The Bible says we all have an appointment with death, and after that comes the judgment. So after we die, we will stand before God and give an account for everything we’ve done during this lifetime. The Bible says, “Everything is laid open and bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have to do.” Not only does He know what you’ve done, but every word you’ve said, even every though that has crossed your mind.

If you would, take the time to examine yourself in light of the Ten Commandments, and see how you’ll do on Judgment Day. Would you consider yourself to be a good person? The Bible says that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. Let’s look at ourselves in the mirror of the Ten Commandments, and with a tender conscience, see where we’ll stand on that day. The ninth commandment says, “You shall not lie.” Have you ever told a lie, a fib, a half truth or ever been intentionally deceitful to anyone? That would make you a liar. The eighth commandment is “You shall not steal.” Have you ever taken anything that didn’t belong to you? If I took a dollar or a hundred dollars, I’d still be a thief. The third commandment is “You shall not use the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Have you ever said God or used the name Jesus Christ to punctuate a sentence? If you have that’s called blasphemy and it is a very serious offense in God’s eyes. You’ve taken then name of God, who is holy, and made that name worthless. And the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery. By definition, adultery is when you cheat on your husband or wife, but Jesus said if you even so much as look at another person to lust after them sexually, that you have committed adultery already with that person in your heart.

So if you will listen to your conscience and you’ve admitted to breaking these four of the Ten Commandments, then by your own admission, you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. When you stand before God on Judgment Day, you will be guilty. Remember, God sees your secret sins, everything you thought was hidden, God saw as though it was done in the light of day. And if you are honest with yourself, and you’ve admitted guilt, do you think you would deserve heaven or hell? Don’t be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves will inherit the kingdom of God. The Bible says all liars will have their place in the lake of fire.

You may say, well, I am sorry for my sins, but being sorry won’t help you on Judgment Day. You should be sorry, you have a conscience. Even if you confess your sins to God, and promise never to do those things again, that still doesn’t take away the fact that you did commit those sins. The Bible says that God is a Just Judge, and a just or honest or good judge won’t release a confessed criminal, because the law demands a penalty for the convicted criminal. There is a punishment that fits the crime, and our law-breaking was against an eternal God, so the sentence is an eternal sentence. It’s called hell, and I don’t want that for you and God certainly doesn’t want that for you. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish.

If you were in a courtroom, and you were found guilty of four serious crimes; all the evidence was in, you even admitted your guilt. The judge set your sentence at One Million dollars, but you didn’t have two nickels to rub together. They were about to put you away for a long time, when someone you don’t even know came into the courtroom, and said, “Judge, I’ve sold everything I own, this person is my friend, I love him or her, I’ll pay the fine for them.” How would you feel toward that person who paid your fine for you? You’d be extremely grateful wouldn’t you? Well, 2000 years ago, God Himself entered the courtroom of heaven and paid the fine for your sins. God became a man in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin, made of a woman. Jesus is the only one who has ever lived a perfect, sinless life. He never once violated any of God’s laws. But they crucified him. They nailed him to a cross where He bled and died a horrible death. He didn’t deserve to be killed. Even Pilate, who sentenced Him to death, said Jesus was guilty of no crime. After Jesus died, they took his body down off the cross and buried Him in a tomb. They rolled a huge stone over the entrance to the tomb, but three days later Jesus rose from the dead, and came back to life, and defeated death.

This is where forgiveness is found, and where God’s mercy is displayed, because Jesus died on the cross to pay our fine. We did the crime, and Jesus paid our fine. You can choose to accept that payment on your behalf. To do so requires you to respond by taking two steps. First, the Bible says, unless you repent, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. Repent is just Bible talk for change your mind. It is the idea of making a 180 degree turn away from your sins, and turn to God for mercy. Don’t just confess your sins, confess and forsake them. The Bible says, “Godly sorry works repentance to salvation.” Step two is to trust in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins. Don’t just believe in Jesus; the Bible says even the demons believe and tremble. Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you. Don’t trust in your own goodness, remember the Ten Commandments. You’re not a good person; you’re like the rest of us. The Bible says that “only God is good.” The Bible also says, “All of our righteousness is like filthy rags in God’s sight.” So simply repent and trust in Jesus Christ.

Let me leave you with this story. If medical science was able to develop and perfect the capability to perform eye transplants; and if the laws were changed so that you could sell your eyes; would you sell your eyes for even a million dollars? What if you could get a billion dollars for your eyes? I doubt that any sane person would sell their eyes, even for all the money in the world. You say, “With all that money I could see the world.” Ah, ah, no you couldn’t, you’d be blind. You wouldn’t sell your eyes because they are precious to you; how much more precious is your soul that looks out through those eyes. The Bible puts it this way, “If your eye causes you to sin, it would be better for you to pluck it out and throw it away, for it is better for you to enter into eternal life missing an eye, than for the your whole body to be cast into hell.”

This topic is so important. Don’t let another day pass by without getting right with God. None of us know the day of our death. We aren’t guaranteed anything more than the air that is in our lungs right now. Please take the time to get alone with God, before you go to bed tonight, and cry out to Him for mercy and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that Jesus gives will never thirst; the water that Jesus gives will be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Back to the AM/PM

Not as many kids had gathered before school, on Friday, 3/31/2006. I handed out a few curved illusion tracts, and began to speak to the kids on evolution, hoping a crowd would gather.
I held up a can of Coke, and said, "millions of years ago, there was an explosion in space. The explosion produced a rock. After a few more million years, a brown, syrupy liquid formed on the rock. Eventually, alumninum formed itself into a can around the liquid. A lid with a tab, fashioned itself on top of the can. Much more time passed, and red and white paint fell onto the can, and lettering which read 'Coke'.

I said, you would have to say, we have entered the "Intellectual Free Zone", by me telling you that story.

Now, let me show you a marvel of evolution. The Bananana. I held up a banana, and said, look at this, a banana has a slip proof outer wrapper. The banana is shaped just perfectly to fit in the human hand, see the number of facets (or sides) of the banana. There's a handy tab to open the wrapper. The wrapper gives an outward indicator of the inward contents. Green - not ready, Yellow - just right, Black - too late. The wrapper is perforated for easy opening. The wrapper is even biodegradable. Once you open the banana, the contents are sized just right for the human mouth, and pointed toward the face for ease of entry. Finally, the contents are sweet and appealing for a delicious eating experience.

Do you think the banana happened by chance?

---

Then I OAed, and finally I passed out some of the "101 Funniest One Liners", tracts.

I got to share the Gospel and the love of God with a couple of young ladies. I spoke with one gal, who I hope I connected with. She said that she really didn't have a loving mom and dad who cared for her. I told her about our Heavenly Father and what He did to save her.

God bless...