Friday, October 05, 2012

God Is Glorified At WWE Raw

The Comcast Arena in Everett hosted the WWE Raw event tonight.   We parked several blocks away from the arena, next to Clark Park, and immediately noticed a group of young people hanging out in the park.   Thomas and Dennis engaged the youths, and I was particularly impressed with how Dennis led the young man Jayland through the Biblical proofs of God and then told the young man how Christ died on the cross for him.   Jayland didn't quite understand how one man's death could provide forgiveness for the entire human race.   Dennis deferred to me, and I explained how God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.  Jayland seemed to appreciate the answer.

Then we walked the several blocks to the Comcast arena. We were privileged to hand out hundreds of Gospel tracts and engage several people one-to-one.  I was so pleased to see the number of children with parents attending the event.  It gave me great comfort to think that this was more of a family event, than a rowdy adult event.

We quickly let compassion swallow our fears and stepped up on the 'box', and began to proclaim the Gospel and glorified God in Jesus Christ.   We explained the sin problem and the need for a Savior.  Then we described the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and pleaded for people to respond in repentance and faith.

It was very encouraging that we got a few 'Amens' while we were speaking, and I even had a guy come up after I finished, and shake my hand and tell me the name of the church he attended.




Praise the Lord for His faithfulness even when I am faithless.


God bless...

Why Are You Running Away?

I saw three young men hop out of a silver Honda, and head onto the greenbelt trail, yesterday afternoon.

I went and opened a new pack of Trillion Dollar Bill Gospel tracts, and headed around the block, to enter the trail from the other entrance.    As I walked up to the pot-pit, and headed into the thicket, the three young men tried to run away.   I said to them, 'Hey you dropped something!".   They all three got hung up in the blackberry bramble and literally turned around and came back with their tails between their legs (so to speak).   I said, "Why are you running away?   I'm not mad at you and I'm not here to get you in trouble, I just wanted to talk to you.   What are you guys doing?"

Alex, who I've spoken to before, responded, "I'm not gonna lie, you know... we were, uh..."

I could smell the smoke, and I said, "is whatever you're smoking illegal?", and he just kinda shrugged.

I cautioned them that what they were doing was shortening their life, and I had the privilege and honor of sharing the Gospel with these three young men; I only remember one other name, it was Joey.


Please reach these young men Lord.

God bless...

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Never a Dull Moment

Yesterday afternoon, we met at church and we were so grateful for the prayerful sendoff by pastor Billy.   We didn't have a set plan, but one quickly came together.   We had discussed the possibility of going to the Redmond Mall and proclaiming the Gospel in a public area, where the street runs right through the mall.   So we drove the Redmond mall and found a parking spot, and spent some more time in prayer.   After a quick stop at Starbucks, we wandered through the mall and handed out Gospel tracts and engaged in several interesting and effective conversations with people from young to old.

We saw people from many other countries (Asian, Indian, Middle-Eastern, etc.), and were turned down by several as we offered them tracts.   This prompted me to begin to try to reach the people en masse.   The mall cop pulled up on his Segway and asked me to cease and desist several minutes into my presentation of the Gospel.   So we obliged him (after offering a quick conclusion to my message.)

It turned out, we found favor with the mall cop.  He followed us to the parking lot and apologized for having to eject us from the mall because he was a believer and supported what we were doing.  He was able to tell us a couple of other places where we could go and proclaim the Gospel in a public setting; Bellevue Square and Kirkland Town Center.   So we headed out to the Bellevue Square.   The first person that caught my eye as I walked up to the Bellevue Square area (near Red Robin), was a girl with the brightest pink hair I've ever seen and she and several others were wearing ping vests, and soliciting donations from passers-by.   I offered her and he companions Gospel tracts and came to understand later why none of them accepted a Gospel tract.   The words on the back of their vests read "I am a girl", and they were both males and females wearing the vests.   I inquired as to their cause, and they said, "gender equality."   I didn't delve into what that meant, but figured it out later.   Anyways they were atheists and supported their beliefs on Evolution and Science.   We had a very good conversation, and I expressed my care for them, and concern for their souls, and urged them to get right with God.   After quite a long discussion, they had to leave, which prompted our next action.

Thomas stood on the stool and made a very compelling, well thought out presentation of the Gospel.

Then I got up and read the Gospel of John chapter 3, up to verse 16, and then went through a short Gospel message.

Then we went up to the bus station and handed out Gospel tracts and engaged several very sweet Chinese girls who were Christian.   As well, we spoke with a girl from one of the Islamic Russian states, who accepted a Gospel of John as well.  Then Thomas preached a couple of times to various groups of people.

On the way back to our car, we went back by Bellevue square, and Thomas handed a Gospel tract to a prostitute who was hooking up with some guys.

Thank you Lord for your grace in my life.

God bless...

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Church Kids Hanging Out

The green-belt trail was abounding with teenagers this afternoon.  James and Caleb were leaving as I got there (they had left their ford ranger running.)  When I got to the pot-pit and handed out Gospel tracts, a number of kids (six guys and one girl, all around 17 years old) quickly affirmed themselves as church goers, or God believers, but there was one agnostic among them; his name was Ian.

Another young man Dexter quickly engaged me.  As I spoke with him, I began to feel him to be somewhat self righteous.   He touted his church going and his living a good life was going to get him to heaven.   He had a little bit of an attitude.   He wasn't overly snarky though.   I spoke to the group about the Gospel and pleaded with them to humble themselves and get right with God, and to trust in Jesus as their savior.

I spent quite a while 'preaching' to the group.   The agnostic was the only one really engaged, and kept coming up with objections and questions, but I appreciated the dialog.    Ian was really ready for me to leave, and shook my hand; basically saying, 'you can leave now'.   I spent some more time speaking with them, back and forth between Dexter, Ian and Shelby the girl.   Finally, I said all that I could say and I parted with a handshake to Ian and to Dexter.

Dear Lord, please speak to these kids, who need you, and are so valuable in your sight.

God bless...

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Beautiful Feet

This afternoon I had the pleasure of ministering the Gospel to tens of young people out at the Evergreen State Fair, from within the God Mobile trailer.

It was a wonderful time not only ministering, but being ministered to, as Christians would come by and encourage us.

I have to just continue to give props to Randi Ms. Evangelist and her brother Todd, who spend countless hours out at the fairs and festivals of western Washington.

I really felt we were fulfilling Romans 10:15 "...How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"


Photo

God bless...

Friday, August 17, 2012

Ash Way Park And Ride 2.1

This morning, we ventured to the Ash Way Park and Ride for the second time.   We had an absolutely wonderful experience handing out Gospel tracts and proclaiming the Gospel out loud (so to speak.)

Thomas and I had the opportunity to present the Gospel open-air, three or four times each.

We had one heckler, who told us to leave, but Thomas held his ground (The battle belongs to the Lord).

Praise God for His awesome goodness and grace to give a sinner like me the opportunity to present His Gospel to about twenty people at a time.

God bless...

Here's the text of my presentation...

Good morning, my name is Keith and I'm a Christian and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you.   Day in and day out, we get up, we get ready, we eat breakfast, and we head out the door for work. You're here this morning to catch a bus into the city to go to work.  I’ll be heading to work myself.   When you arrive at your destination, normally you’d be thinking about the day ahead of you, what tasks you need to accomplish today. But I want to plant this thought in your head, today when step off the bus, think of this.  Think about how someday you'll step off of planet earth and into eternity.  I'm talking about the ultimate statistic here.   Ten out of ten people die. Our lives are so precious to us. I urge you to consider your will to live, yet the jaws of death will swallow each of us someday. The Bible says that its appointed unto man once to die, and then comes the judgement and it says that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. So we all have an appointment with death, and after that we’ll stand before our Maker to give an account of our lives.  And the standard by which we’ll be judged is Righteousness.  That’s the standard, Righteousness, which means God is going to judge the heart.  So how can we know how we’ll measure up to that standard of Righteousness.  Well we can look at ourselves in the mirror (so to speak) of God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, and we can compare ourselves against that standard, and we will know how we will fare on the day of judgement.

The Law was presented here...

The Gospel was presented here...

I closed by pleading with each audience to repent and trust Christ and praying for them out loud...

Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Busy Weekend at a Taste of Edmonds

The city of Edmonds is indeed a quiet, quaint little town, with a ferry dock, churches and lots of local pubs and eateries.   So the "Taste of Edmonds" festival fits in well with the mindset and mentality of citizens of Edmonds.   Also, Edmonds participates in Sister-City relationship with Hekinan Japan, so there were a number of Japanese high school students running around the streets.

Last evening and today became a battle to overcome fear, to step up on the box and proclaim the Gospel. Thankfully God spurred us on to the challenge.  Stepping up on the box felt like climbing mount Everest.  But it forced me to some intense prayer and reliance upon God for his strength and courage.

We handed Gospel tracts to a couple of girls and it turned out they were Christians, and we asked them to pray for us.  We open air preached two times last evening at the roundabout at the main intersection in Edmonds.   We had a couple of drive-by hecklers, but all in all it was a wonderful experience.

Then this morning, we open air preached once at the roundabout, at the main intersection in Edmonds.  We had one man come up and oppose our preaching the Gospel (saying he agreed with the message, but asked us to stop because we were too loud).   He asked that we stop so people could drink their coffee in peace and quite at the sidewalk cafe.   We told him that we were almost finished, but we weren't going to stop preaching the Gospel.   He left in a minor huff.

Then we capped it off with an open air message to the festival goers entering the front gate of the festival.   See my message here...


I feel very humbled to have the opportunity and privilege from God to proclaim the Gospel.   I have a long way to grow in my Gospel presentation, so hopefully the message will reach peoples hearts, even though the messenger is very weak.

We were very encouraged by multiple one-2-one conversations.   After we open-aired, we were approached by a couple of girls who attended Westgate Chapel.  One of the girls said she was a YWAM missionary to China.   They were very interested in what we were doing and how we were  preaching the Gospel in the open air.

God bless...

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Disappointed with 'Churchianity'

Thursday evening movies at Willis Tucker park provided a prime opportunity to preach the Gospel this evening.   I was glad and overjoyed to be privileged to share the Gospel with over 15 teens this evening, before the movie started.   I handed out Seven Dollar Bill Gospel tracts, and I was very encouraged to be able to proclaim the message of everlasting life to the teens.   I was disappointed though, in one serious aspect of these encounters.   Knowing that I was among church-going youths, I handed them a Gospel tract and then tried to elicit the Gospel from them.   No one; not one single young person I spoke with could explain what I needed to do to receive eternal life from God.   Don't get me wrong, these were very nice young people.   During each encounter, when I could see them searching for words to explain the Gospel, and coming up blank, I would ask if I could explain it to them and they all graciously listened to the story of salvation.   I also explained how to be "Born Again", through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance toward God.   And I would finally thank them for listening and move on.

Tonight started even before I headed down to Willis Tucker park though.   I saw a black Ford Explorer parked down by the trail head, so I grabbed tracts and went down there.   I got to share the Law and the Gospel with Colin and Blake.   Colin was very engaged.  Blake said he went to Cedar Park Church, but he couldn't tell me what I need to do to be saved.   Here again, I pleaded with these young men, who were just getting ready to toke some legal non-marijuana stuff, to get right with God.  Colin kept saying something like I respect what you're saying, but I'm not religious.  I told him I wasn't religious either, and I wasn't trying to get him religious.   I was trying to urge him to consider his own mortality and his fate before a holy and righteous, eternal God.

Finally, this evening I saw a car parked down by the trail head, so I grabbed a Gospel tract, and had a nice conversation with Jeff who had spent ten years in Catholic school, but didn't know if there was a God.  He felt he didn't have enough experience in life yet to make that decision.  I encouraged him to believe in the Creator to whom we all have to give an account.  Jeff shook my hand when I left.

So the consistent theme from this evening is that the 'church', is not fulfilling its duty to preach the Gospel and to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the LORD.

God bless...


Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I Finally Feel Like I Connected With Someone

This evening, I went outside to wash my filthy car.   I looked down the hill, and saw two cars parked by the trail head.   I grabbed a handful of Seven (7) Dollar Bill Gospel tracts, and headed down to the trail, praying for protection.  I felt like I was headed into a Lion's Den, and I prayed for the same protection that Daniel had when he was actually inside the Lion's Den.

As I headed in the green-belt trail, the group of young men were headed out from the 'Pot-Pit' as I call it.  I handed them each a Seven Dollar Bill Gospel tract as they walked by, and when I gave the last young man a Gospel tract, he asked what it was.   I told him it was a Gospel tract, about what happens after you die.  He said, "I go to church".   Even though he said those words, that so often indicate arrogance, and pride, I sensed humility in this young man, so as we walked toward the street, I told him that I smelled smoke and asked if he'd been smoking.   He said "no".   I asked him if He wanted to get right with God, and although he was mostly silent at this point, he seemed to respond in the affirmative.  I asked him if he was in High School or College, he said High School.  I just began to quietly, and even tenderly, plead with him to get right with God.   I asked him his name, and told him mine (I told him he could give me just his first name, since he hesitated.) He said his name was Alex. I told him, no one knows the day of their death, and even though he was young, there are a lot of young people that end up dead.  I said "did you drive here... they put seat belts in cars for a reason, because their are accidents", and he responded, "yeah people drive stupid."

I asked him if he had a Bible, he said he did.  I encouraged him to read the Gospel of John, and by this time his friends had started the car, and were waiting for him.  I told him I cared about He looked at me and said, "Thanks for being different, and not judging".  We shook hands, and he went and got in the car with his friends and left.

It isn't very often I feel like I really connect with someone.

Please pray for Alex.

God bless...

Aqua Fest, Crowds and Trivia

Every year, some 30,000 people attend Aqua Fest.   There's a parade down Main street, and lots of booths with various wares and foods.   Fun and entertainment for young and old alike.

All that makes for a truly fantastic opportunity for the Gospel.  Thomas and I handed out over 1500 Gospel tracts, and had numerous one-2-one/one-2-many conversations.   We were also blessed to be able to gather a crowd six separate times for Trivia questions and a Gospel presentation.

There were so many stand-out conversations and encounters, that I can't even begin to recount them.   I did have the opportunity to hand Hans Dunshee a Round TUIT tract though.  Very encouraging!

Round TUIT     You have pacified your conscience by saying that you would find peace with God one day . . . when you get a round Tuit. Well, now you have one. This is why you shouldn't wait any longer: If you have told one lie, you are a liar. If you have stolen anything (irrespective of value), you are a thief. If you have looked with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. If you hate someone, you've committed murder in your heart. Your sin has angered God. The Bible teaches that you are His enemy. On Judgment Day, you will end up in Hell. But there's good news: "God commended His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Jesus Christ took your punishment, then He rose from the dead and defeated the grave. If you repent and trust Him, God will grant you everlasting life. Read your Bible daily and obey it. God will never let you down.








God bless...

Monday, July 23, 2012

A Fantastic Afternoon

What a fantastic afternoon, spent with Thomas and Whitney Sapp and their kids Conner, Chloe and Jacob.

Whitney is a tract distributing machine.   It was tough keeping up with her.   Everyone loved receiving Celebrity Million Dollar bills from her and Thomas.


Then, it was absolutely fabulous to be able to see Randi and Todd again, at the God Mobile.   Those are faithful servants of God!

And, we did an on-camera interview with Mary about her beliefs regarding the after-life, while her two friends watched off-camera.


Then, I had the privilege of being able to share the Law and the Gospel with Vicki, a young pagan woman.   She explained how she was raised in a Seventh Day Adventist church, and how she had been baptized in a Baptist church, but now she liked the Medieval festival stuff.   She was turned off from Christianity by the hypocrites that her parents were. She was very gracious and kind to allow me the chance to have a conversation with her.

Then I met up with Thomas as he spoke with Sierra and Casey.   Sierra was a "Christian", turned Satanist, turned Atheist.   Well, needless to say, it was a very interesting conversation.

And we open aired (not to a huge crowd), but we overcame our fear and stood up and proclaimed the Gospel. Here's Thomas on a street corner, preaching across the street to the beer garden attendees.


God bless...

Friday, July 13, 2012

Tens of Billions

We handed out tens of Billion dollar bill Gospel tracts this morning.


Only one was dropped (I picked it back up and handed it to someone else.)

Ash Way Park And Ride was a little too scary to open-air this morning.   The people line up inside of a plexaglass tunnel, but it was tough to work up enough courage to stand outside the tunnel and preach to those standing inside.   The commuters were sleepy, grumpy and the tunnel seemed like it was hot and muggy inside of it, so we thought better of open-airing this morning.   Maybe at noon.

God bless...

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Just Getting Ready To Start

Tonight, silver dodge Durango stopped by the trail head.    I heard the doors slam, and I knew, it was time to grab some tracts and go.   I arrived at the pot pit to four guys just getting ready to get started.

I handed them million dollar bill Gospel tracts and witnessed to them.   The listened as I shared the Law and the Gospel (the long version) and were polite.  I spent a long time with them, finally I said, you can go ahead and pack up whatever it is you have.  I'm not going to look, or say anything, but its time to leave.   And you probably won't come back to this spot, will you?   No they responded.

I urged them to choose life.

God bless...

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Bree and Sean

There were a steady stream of cars pulling up to the trail-head this evening.   When a little silver sedan pulled up and the driver turned off the engine, I had an opportunity to grab some million dollar bills and walk down to engage the occupants.   I could tell that Sean was definitely loaded, by the way he kept drifting off, but Bree seemed to be completely sober.

Bree hadn't ever received a million dollar bill before, but Sean had.   They graciously allowed me to 'preach' the Law and the Gospel to them.   I asked them to consider the availability of eternal salvation and they said they would.   They seemed to at least grasp the gravity of their situation before a Holy and Righteous and Eternal God.

God bless...

Friday, July 06, 2012

Kids, Fireworks and Marijuana Talk

Last night, I heard a group of seven kids (4 boys and three girls) outside lighting off fireworks and goofing around so I went out to see what was going on.   I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't see much, but thankfully, I can still hear pretty well.   And I heard them talking something about, "... the first time I smoked marijuana...".

So I went and grabbed a handful of million dollar bill Gospel tracts.   As I walked toward the group, I said "Hi", and I fanned out the bills so they could see them, and they all gasped, "woe...what the...".

I handed them out, and while I did I told them "it isn't real money, you can't spend it".  They were a little disappointed, but they all still accepted them, and I told them, "They are Gospel tracts, they explain how to go to heaven when you die.".

Then I asked them as a group, "Who here doesn't believe in God?"    A couple guys raised their hands, Dante and August.  August said, "I don't believe in God, but I go to Archbishop Murphy High School."   I asked August if he played football, since he had a 'Butch" haircut, he said he did indeed.

Then I ask the two who didn't believe in God, what brought them to that conclusion, and I said, "Okay, let me prove to you that God exists in about 30 seconds", and I gave them the "Building - Builder" and "Painting - Painter" analogies.   They weren't buying it, so I proposed to them, that it wasn't because there wasn't proof of God, that they didn't believe in Him, it was because they loved their sin.

I stepped through reminding them of their own mortality, gave them the "Good Person Test", and was able to explain the Gospel.   At that point Dante became pretty agitated, and I said I had to go, and asked him if I could shake his hand; he refused.   I shook August's hand and walked away.   Dante continued to rant, "I don't believe in God", and he threw down the Gospel tracts and began to stamp on them.

I went to my front porch, and Dante was still ranting, "I don't believe in God", although he did pick up the tracts.   As the group walked down the hill, one of them said "Bye" or "See you later" or something, I said "God bless you guys".   One of the young men turned back and motioned to me, "I pray and believe in God".

That was encouraging.

God bless...

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Mayor Ray Stephanson Accepts a Round TUIT

Today Thomas and I handed out about six hundred Gospel tracts between the two of us.   We had several good conversations with young and old.

We handed out tracts to people as they finished the 5/10K run.

I had a good (albeit difficult to get a word in edgewise) conversation with Mordecai, an Israeli man who believed in the Bible, insomuch as it described aliens and space technology.  I think I got the Gospel in edgewise.

I love it when you hand a Gospel tract to someone (in this case, a woman), and she begins to read it out loud.

I ran out and handed Mayor Ray Stephanson a Round TUIT as he came by in the parade.   Very encouraging.

God bless

Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Gospel Presented at Lynnwood Transit Center (with Challenges)

The Lynnwood Transit Center presented challenges this morning, as you'll see from the following video clips.



God bless...

Saturday, June 23, 2012

God's Presence at the Lynnwood Transit Center

Yesterday morning, Thomas and I ventured to the Lynnwood Transit Center, to share the message of the Gospel with commuters as they waited for their buses.

We had a great time and I was able to capture a few video snippets and a couple of pictures.

The Gospel went out, although there was some resistance.  One man groused, "keep it in church". The message of the Gospel can be offensive, although it isn't our aim to offend.






Lastly, here's a picture of a lady sitting on the bench reading a tract


God bless...

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Thoughts for Today: (From Pocket Testament League)


Day 561: Aware of the Law -- Do You Know What it Says?

Romans 3:19-20
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

Yesterday my older daughter Krissy and her husband Ariel brought a new dog they are considering adopting over to our house to get our opinion. "Biscuit" is a very cute French Bulldog who is around 2 years old, loving, yet completely untrained. He doesn't know how to walk on a leash or any other basic commands including sit, stay, down, etc. Perhaps worst of all he is not potty trained. The former housekeeper said this of Biscuit: "He is a very bad doggy. He makes lot's of work for me -- he goes potty everywhere."


At this point most of you are probably thinking: "Send him back," but then you don't know my daughter -- she loves animals -- especially those in need. She asked me to see if I could get him to obey some commands. I put him on a leash and within a very short time I realized he couldn't hear -- he was deaf. I started giving him visual commands. Within minutes he was walking obediently under the leash and sitting upon request. It wasn't that Biscuit was a "bad doggy", he just didn't understand the rules -- once he knew what was expected of him, he was more than happy to comply.

If only mankind was as compliant to God's law. In our passage today Paul explains, the Law was given "so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God." In other words, if we (like Biscuit) were unaware of the Law, then how could we be considered Law breakers? However, we have been given the Law and choose to break it regardless. Therefore we have no excuse and are held responsible for our transgressions by God.

All the more, this tells me, we ought to use the Law in evangelism, otherwise how will people know they need to be saved.   The world tells people, either they are a good person, or they have the power within themselves to change.   The law is a mirror to show us the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and our utter helplessness to change ourselves.

God bless...

Friday, June 01, 2012

Great Encouragement

This morning, the Lord provided opportunity once again, for us to lift up our voices like a trumpet.   But as wonderful as that was, there was some resistance to the Gospel being proclaimed.   Resistance came not in the form of heckling, but in the form of people telling us that we shouldn't be doing what we're doing, and complaining while we were preaching.   But again, we also had encouraging thumbs ups from several people.

We had a very touching, even heart rending moment as we witnessed to Adrian and Kia, who told us they were being hindered from being with their children because of their addiction.   They both had a Christian upbringing, and were very open to our sharing compassionately with them.  They accepted prayer from us, and broke down crying as we prayed for them.   Please keep them in your prayers.

Here is some video of Thomas, on the box:


Here is the message I presented...
Hi Folks, I’m usually the kind of guy that flies under the radar.  It isn’t my goal in life to be noticed.   But I have something to say that is so important, I'm willing to stand up here and look like a fool.  I would so appreciate your patience and attention for a brief moment.  Now what I have to say starts off with a some bad news, so this might be a little uncomfortable, but track with me because it only gets better.  The sad fact is that we’re all going to die someday.  It is a proven statistic, that 10 out of 10 people die. The Bible says, it is appointed unto man, once to die and then comes the judgement. The Bible also says, God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness;  that's the standard, 'righteousness' means he's going judge the heart.   We can see how we’re doing compared to that standard, by looking at ourselves in the mirror of God’s law the Ten Commandments.  If you would, for a moment, listen to your conscience.   Think of your conscience like the smoke detector in your house.  You want it to ring out if there is smoke or fire.   So here goes...   Have you lied?   Have you stolen?   Have you used God’s name in vain?  Have you always honored your parents?   Have you always put God first in your life?   Have you ever hated?  Did the fire alarm go off in your mind? It should have.  This should greatly concern you, it's so serious and it leaves us ALL in big trouble on judgement day.   We want to avoid hell, so trust in the Savior.   The Good News is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day.   He commands everyone to repent and trust in Him as savior. That’s the Good News, Jesus took the punishment we deserved. If you will repent and trust Him today God will give you the gift of eternal life.


God bless...

Friday, May 25, 2012

Gospel Proclamation at the Everett Train Station

This morning, God gave us the opportunity to enjoy about an hour and a half of beautiful, sunny weather at the Everett Train Station.    I'm surprised that I haven't spent more 'fishing' time there, because as I recall now, the Everett Train Station has been a consistently favorable place to share the Gospel with people.

Three of us (Dennis, Thomas and myself) met at 6:00am in front of the Everett Station, and spent some time in prayer and the Lord was very good to us.   After that we spent a little time in watchfulness to figure out a good location to 'lift up our voices', as it says in Isaiah 58.

We walked out to the island where buses drop off and pick up commuters.   While people wait for their buses, they queue up, in quite an orderly fashion.   We waited for the line to accumulate eight or ten commuters, and we prayerfully stepped up on the box and 'broke the sound barrier'.

Each turn we had on the box, we really only had enough time for one Gospel message to be spoken, before the next bus arrived and the commuters boarded.   It was kind of humorous, that I was interrupted a couple of times by the sound of train bells and buses arriving.   I was blessed though by how gracious the commuters were and how intently they listened.   There were no hecklers, but there was one man who threw down the Gospel tract he was given and grunted loudly as the Gospel was being proclaimed.

It turned out to be an ideal morning and as well as open air preach, we got to talk one-to-one with several people.   I was blessed by a commuter giving me the thumbs up as I explained what it meant to be 'born again', and at another time by a commuter filming me and then giving me the thumbs up as he boarded the bus.   Here's what I had planned to say this morning.   It was tough to say it all because as I got to the Good News portion of my message the bus had arrived and the people were boarding the bus...

As I'm sure, many of you know, on Saturday, May 12th, Everett City Council Member Drew Nielsen died in a rafting accident on the Green River. This past Sunday hundreds of people gathered right here at the Everett Station to honor his life.   I would just pray for comfort and healing for the family and loved ones left behind by his tragic, untimely passing.

This ought to serve to remind us all of our own mortality and that we need to make sure we're ready to meet our Maker at any time.   We all have an appointment with death and after that, comes the judgement.    The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”, and it says “the wages of sin is death.”  That’s probably offensive to you and I understand that, so let me rephrase it and put it another way and see what you think.   God created you in His image.  You are a special and valuable creation of God.  As such, since He created you in His image, in some small way you represent Him.   And if you’ve ever lied, you misrepresent Him as a liar.    If you’ve ever stolen anything, you misrepresent Him as a thief.   But it goes even deeper than that, If you’ve used God’s name in vain, you would be a blasphemer, because when you say OMG or GD or use Jesus name to express disgust, you’ve made the name of God who gave you your life and everything that’s good, worthless by dragging His name through the mud... .  Finally, Jesus said you’ve heard it said of old that you shall not commit adultery.  We know adultery is when you cheat on your spouse, and as bad as that is, Jesus said, if you even look at another person, to lust after them, that you have committed adultery already with that person in your heart.   You probably picked up on it, but these were four of the Ten Commandments, and if you admitted to breaking any of them, when you stand before the Judge of the Universe, you’d be guilty, just like the rest of us.  And because you’d be guilty of crimes against a holy and righteous, eternal God, the punishment is an awful and horrible, eternal punishment.   And that’s called Hell and I don’t want that for you, and God certainly doesn’t want that for anyone.

That was the “Bad News”, now I want to sum up the the Gospel, or the Good News of what God did for us guilty sinners, so we wouldn’t have to suffer the punishment for our sins.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4: Jesus Christ died for our sins fulfilling what had been written about Him in the Scriptures.   He was buried in a tomb, but he was raised from the dead on the third day fulfilling what had been written beforehand.

Romans 6:23b  "...But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans 5:8,  "God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"

Romans 10:13  "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!"

Romans 10:9,10  "...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart one believes, unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever would believe (trust, rely upon) on Him, will not perish, but have everlasting life.



God bless...

Friday, May 18, 2012

A Bunch of Round TUITs

This morning, we went, really early to Snohomish High School and handed out tracts.    It was a really wonderful time of being able to encourage, joke with and hand tracts to the high school students.

They were all very nice and respectful.   Too bad they grow out of that.

God bless...

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

164th Street Artesian Well Open Air

The water from this well is brought to you courtesy of the Alderwood Water District.  This well goes by a couple of different names; it is called Well No. 5 or the 164th Street Artesian Well.   The well itself reaches to a depth 400 feet and is encased to approximately 120 feet.  The water flows out of the pipe at a rate of about 10 gallons per minute, and its source is an underground aquifer, which is a water-bearing layer of permeable rock, sand and gravel, which filters and purifies the water.

By way of trivia, we humans can survive only around three (maybe a max of five) days without water (and that’s in the best of conditions).    The Mayo Clinic says you need about 10 cups of water a day, but if you were marooned on a desert island or stranded in the blistering heat of a desert without water, within a day or two you’d become delirious, extremely ill, and within another day you’d fall into a coma and die.

I’d like to draw a parallel between our vital need for water to live, and our need of forgiveness from God to have eternal life.  It is true, we’re all going to die someday.  On that day, we’ll stand before our Maker and give an account of our lives.  And if you’ve ever lied, or stolen or used God’s name in vain, or broken any of the Ten Commandments, you would stand before the Judge of the Universe guilty.   And because you’d be guilty of crimes against a holy and righteous, eternal God, the punishment is an awful and horrible, eternal punishment, and that’s called Hell and I don’t want that for anyone, and God certainly doesn’t want that for you.  But some would say, if my good deeds outweigh my bad, then I’ll make it to heaven.  Or, I’ve heard others say, “I ask God for forgiveness”.   Try either of those in a court of law, say “judge, it is true I’m guilty as charged, but I’ve done a lot of good deeds, and I’m really sorry”.   Will you drop all the charges against me?  The judge, if he’s an honest and good judge will say, “I’m glad you’re sorry, you should be and it is a noble thing that you’ve done those good deeds, but that doesn’t influence me or have any bearing on the verdict.   He would be bound by the law to execute justice.   The same goes with God, (in fact to a higher degree).    But God, the Judge Himself, has satisfied justice for us, so that we won’t have to suffer the punishment for our sins...

The Gospel goes here...

I’d like to just leave you with the words of Jesus. He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a well of water springing up to eternal life."

Friday, May 11, 2012

Fellowship with a Fellow Evangelist

This afternoon, Thomas and I were blessed to have the opportunity to spend some time with pastor Andrew of Faith Baptist Church Everett.   We sat out on the sidewalk cafe of Starbucks in Everett, and had a wonderful time encouraging each other and sharing stories.   Then we prayed for each other and Thomas and I went over to the Everett Train Station.

We had a wonderful time handing out 'Round TUIT' tracts and sharing the Gospel message with people.

Please remember Smiley in your prayers... He is a homeless guy, who is getting married tomorrow.

We actually had a number of wonderful conversations.   I spoke with 19 year old Brad.   He is a very athletic, tall young man.  He is a product of the world today, believing anything and nothing at the same time.   We had a good conversation and I had the privilege of sharing the Law and the Gospel with him.   He wouldn't accept a Gospel of John though, which was a little disappointing.   We parted with a handshake and warm 'good by and thanks for talking with me.'

I have much gratitude toward God who not only has saved me (suffice it to say, God reached way down to lift me up.), but He has also used me to share the Gospel message with those who would hear it.

God bless...

Sunday, May 06, 2012

An Evangelistic Miracle

Yesterday, the LORD provided many opportunities to share the Gospel.   From 1:00pm till about 3:00, I headed out with the Calvary Everett Street Team.   Normally, we have church fliers (kinda like invitations) that we hand out door-to-door, in a local neighborhood.   Yesterday, we didn't have any fliers, but we did have our  Gospel tracts, so we decided to go to a neighborhood almost directly east of the church, toward the river. We also decided, to use the following approach as we went door to door; "Hello, may we share the Gospel message with you?", as residents opened their door to us.   We did get the opportunity to hand out quite a few tracts that way, but for the most part, people said, "no thanks" or "not interested".   We were encouraged by a Christian gal who opened her door, while restraining a very large Doberman Pincer, by the neck.

Then we transitioned from a very new tract of attached homes, to an older neighborhood, and we saw some women saying good bye to some other women getting into their car.   Thomas, having his 'go for it' attitude, approached them and started giving the women in the group Gospel tracts.   Well, come to find out the women had just had a bridal shower, and one lady (who was an Assembly of God ministerette) asked us to pray for the soon-to-be grandson-in-law, and for several members of her family who were straying from the LORD.   It was very encouraging to pray for this lady out in the middle of the street.

Then, we talked to Chip who was out mowing his front lawn.   As Thomas approached the man, and the conversation started, a little deceivingly, I thought were talking to someone who was interested in hearing the Gospel message.   It turned out, Chip was atheist/agnostic, but supposedly had believed in God earlier in life (he was 54 now), but he had asked the 'hard questions' and had done some thinking and investigation on this issue and now he wasn't convinced there was a God, and he certainly didn't accept the Bible as true.   Encouragingly, though, we had a very good, extended conversation with Chip, and Thomas had the opportunity to present things for Chip to consider.   We parted warmly, with a hand shake and continued on.

Then we went to a multi-level apartment complex, and again, went door-to-door handing out Gospel tracts and talking with people.  We even met a pagan, guy who was helping another guy move into the apartment complex.   I got to give him a Gospel of John, and encourage him to come to know the one true God.

I haven't even gotten to the miracle yet...

Later in the evening, after going in to the prison with our prison ministry team...

We went to downtown Everett, to the Comcast arena, hoping to catch the crowd exiting after the Roller Derby event.   But our timing was off, so we did some street witnessing to people coming out of a high school prom that was being held at the arena.   Then we walked up the street, hesitantly, toward the area where all the bars and clubs are located.   We changed our minds about delving into a mass of Cinco De Mayo drunks, so we crossed the street and made a U turn, and encountered quite a few people walking down the sidewalk or waiting, or just hanging out.   We got to pray for Ruth and Peto (James), and pray for their freedom from alcohol addiction.

We spoke to three early twenties girls who were dressed very nicely, while they were apparently waiting outside for a club to open.   They had some knowledge of the Gospel but were gearing up for what looked to be a night of partying.   That made me sad.

Then, as we continued on, I got into a very long conversation with Miranda, who was a young woman. She also had some knowledge of the Bible from her youth and upbringing, but she like so many others in our world today, had questioned and come to the point of rejecting God, and dis-believing in Him.   I had the opportunity to give her some things to think about, and challenge her worldview.   I was able to speak to her conscience using the Ten Commandments, and then was able to convey the good news of forgiveness in Christ.   Finally, I just expressed how valuable she was to God, that he became a man in Jesus and died on the cross for her.   She said, she appreciated us doing what we were doing, and she hoped that someone else turned to God and believed, but she didn't.   We parted warmly, with a handshake and went our respective ways.

Here's the miracle...

Then we went for a late night (about 9:30 or 10:00 pm) meal at Denny's in Everett.   While we were eating, we saw masses of people streaming from the Holiday Inn, across the street, into the Denny's, and also to a Chinese restaurant across the street.    There happened to be a convention of Zumiez store managers (all of the people were young and had the 'skater' look about them.)   We handed out many tracts and Thomas had a great conversation with Tony, who had read much from many different religions, and although he was not accepting what Thomas was saying to him, was willing to dialog, for quite a while.   We were encouraged by the conversation, and we hope and pray that Tony will come to the knowledge of the truth.   [But my conclusion/opinion is that Biblical Christianity is too 'restrictive' for Tony's lifestyle.]   It is too bad that people don't see the freedom that comes in Christ.

God bless...

Friday, April 20, 2012

More Than We Could Ask or Think

God was very gracious to us tonight.   Not only did we get to see the beauty of His creation in the sunset from Mukilteo beach, but we also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with a number of people.

We walked the path from the parking lot to the end of the beach, and handed tracts to people as we walked.   The curved illusions were well received by some kids.  We had nice brief conversations with a few people along the way.   One thing that Thomas does to get people to accept tracts is to make a complementary comment about what someone is wearing.  We crossed paths with a couple of young men, and Thomas commented on the tee shirt one of them was wearing, which read something about 'Tennis'.   The young man accepted a tract and said something about "yes", he does play tennis for some high school team.

It was so encouraging as we stood near the Mukilteo Lighthouse, to watch as Thomas shared the Gospel with four early twenties people (1 guy and 3 girls). It was so interesting to watch the countenance of the young man change after he admitted to having lied.

As we made a full circuit and were heading back into the park we encountered the two young men (one of them with the 'Tennis' shirt).   I said, "we've already given them a tract.", and Thomas said, "I like to ask people if they've read the tract".   So we did, and got into a conversation with them.   This turned out to be the standout conversation for the evening.   The one vocal young man was a well researched, 15 year old atheist Jansen and his friend's name was Anton.   There was great opportunity to express God's care and concern for them and the solution to their sin problem.

There were many, many others who heard the Gospel message tonight.  It was so wonderful to be able to have such a warm reception to the Gospel as it was tonight.

God bless...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Terrified and Shaking

This evening, while my wife and sons and I were downstairs in our den watching TV, I hear a kinda loud car pull up beside our house (we live on a corner).   I got up and went out the back doors and looked over the fence to see three young men get out of a Jeep and head onto the greenbelt trail.

I went and grabbed my wallet, cell phone, put on my shoes and grabbed some million dollar bill Gospel tracts.

I went down and had a very congenial conversation with Steven, Kip and Tyler.   I had the privilege of sharing the Law and the Gospel with the young men.

I had my brother Thomas on the cell phone listening to the whole conversation.

The whole time I was shaking in my boots.

God bless...

Saturday, April 14, 2012

God is a God of Order

Yesterday morning, we arrived at the Burger Master parking lot early, around 6:00am, to wait for Cascade High School students to arrive at school.  We chatted, then prayed, and by 6:30, we were anxiously waiting but no students.  In fact, we were ready to leave and go try the Everett Train Station, when, off in the distance would could see a faint trickle of backpack wearing students.

We got out of the car and strolled over toward the gate of the High School.   There's a big concrete platform, right off the sidewalk, inside the path that leads to the gate.   Before any students began to approach, I carefully laid 5 Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts in a line, on the concrete platform, to use as teaching aid.

Then, when the first young man, Drew, hesitantly walked up, I said, "Hi, have you gotten one of these, and I handed him a Gospel tract."   And I asked him, see those bills there on the ground?   He said yes.  I asked him, do you think the wind blew those there, like that; Do you think those bills were arranged like that by accident, or do you think someone put them there on purpose?   He said, 'someone did it on purpose.'   Then I asked, "How do you know that?"   He said, 'well, because their in order and in a row'.   Then I said, "with that thought in mind, what about you, do you think you came about by accident through evolution or do you think you were purposefully, intentionally created by design?"    He thought for a moment, and said 'evolution.'   Then I said, "think about your eye for a moment, your eye has millions of light sensitive cells 'arranged' in the back of your eye, connected to nerves, that transmit information to your brain for you to see.   Do you think that came about by accident, or do you thing God created you by design."   He said, "God created me."   Then I began to ask Drew what he knew about God, if he had a Christian background and where he thought he would go when he died.   He was a very thoughtful, young man, and he had lots of questions, one that was very touching, "if God is good, why did he let my brother die?"   I said, "tell me a little more, how did your brother die?"   He said, "he died just after childbirth."   I said, "I'm so sorry."  I said, "ultimately, God is in control of when we die, and I'm very sorry that your brother died, but he's in heaven now with God."   Then Drew said, "He can't be if we're born in sin."   I said "there is biblical president, that babies who die, go to heaven.   When King David's son died shortly after birth, he said, "I will see him again."  I said, "we are all saved by grace through faith, but God's grace extends to children who never had the chance to live life."   I said, "I just want to encourage you, you will see your brother again, if you go to heaven."  Then I had the opportunity to confirm the Gospel message, and explain how to receive the gift salvation by repenting and placing his faith in Christ.   I asked him when he was going to do that, 'He said he already had by going to church and confessing his sins and being baptized.'    So I took a little more time to explain that church, baptism and confessing sins are all good things, but according to Jesus, salvation is a free gift, we can't earn by doing anything, we can only receive it by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.    It was time for him to get to class, so we parted with a handshake.

Then I got to talk to a few other people, who seemed in a hurry to get to class, but they graciously listened to the briefest of Gospel messages.

Next, Conner came up and I talked to him about the arranged bills on the ground and evolution and just as was telling him about salvation, all of a sudden I heard someone screaming at us, you cannot be here on school property.  We've had parents complaining about this, you must cease and leave right now.  I said, "this public sidewalk that I'm standing on is school property?"   He said, "yes, you must be 1000 feet away from the school."   He started to call the cops, and we left.  While we were leaving we handed out our 'illegal' Gospel tracts [my term], to the rest of the students as they were heading toward the gate.

Finally, I got to speak with Shila about the Gospel message.   She warmly received it and I encouraged her to get right with God, before another day goes by.

Please pray for Drew, Conner and Shila.

God bless...

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Really Interesting Appointments

We met some really interesting characters today as we went through Everett, inviting people to the special Resurrection Sunday service at the PUD theater.

First, there was Clarence who showed us his Dept. of Defense Armed Forces ID, and told us about his days in the Viet Nam war, and all the medals he had won.   We told him about the God who gave His life to save us from our sins.

Right next door to Clarence was Wendy, who was a friend of Thomas and Whitney's.   She invited us into her home, as she was holding little baby Aspen (no older that a week or two.)  Thomas inquired how Kevin (Wendy's husband) was doing; she said 'not so well'.   We also got to meet her son Alex who was over sitting at the kitchen table eating something.   When we decided it was time to leave, I asked if we could pray for Wendy, she gladly accepted.   So we just knelt there in her living room and asked God to bless her life and her children and her relationship with her husband.

Mo (short for Morris) and his friend answered the door completely intoxicated.   We invited them to church and gave them Gospel tract (Million Dollar Bills) and Mo said, "I have a real million dollar bill."   Which he went and brought to show us.   Yes, he had already been given a Million Dollar bill Gospel tract.   Which led us into sharing the Gospel with Him.   He said he had received Jesus into his heart.  I asked Mo if it had made any difference in his life.   He acknowledged, no, it hadn't.   I asking him if he understood what was the missing information, that would help him to receive eternal life and a changed life from God. He wanted to know, so I told him that he needed to repent and turn to Christ for forgiveness of sins, and he said, yes, that was what he needed.   We shook hands and parted after encouraging him to really repent, and commit his life to Jesus.

God bless...

Friday, March 16, 2012

You Don't Have To Go Oversees for International Missions

...just go to the Comcast Arena on a night when they are having an international gymnastics competition.

We had a wonderful evening handing out lots of tracts, to people from as far away as Texas, China, Russia and Bulgaria.
Thomas and a Chinese Contingent


We even had a very encouraging chat with an Everett Police officer who was on bicycle patrol.  He gave us pointers on what we could and couldn't do, and he encouraged us for what we were doing.

We even got a 'Lutheran' gal to sing Amazing Grace, after she finally accepted a couple curved illusion tracts.   She sang the first two verses, I'm not kidding.

Praise God for the opportunity to hand out hundreds of tracts to young and old alike.   Please pray that the Lord will bring the harvest from the seeds that were planted.

We capped it off with a very nice witnessing encounter with elder Holz and elder Ogilvie of the Mormon Church.   We got to share the Law and the Gospel with them and encouraged them that they should put their trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior and that the Bible was completely trustworthy.

God bless...

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Kids, Don't Try This At Home or Not A Scratch

Last night, after a wonderful evening with the prison ministry team, I got a text from my evangelism partner, Thomas, asking if I wanted to go out street witnessing.   He had seen tons of people at the Alderwood mall and he had also noticed there was a large crowd at the Comcast Arena for a Silver Tips game.   We decided to go to the Comcast area and see if we could hand out some tracts and engage some conversations as people left the game.   Little did we know that we were in for quite an adventure.

First, while at the Comcast Arena, there was Gage, a very interesting, street smart, if not slightly out of touch with reality person.   It was amazing though how the God's Spirit pierced through it all and touched this man's heart.  We had the privilege of sharing the Law and the Gospel with him, and he was actually very receptive.  We even invited him to church, and who knows, we might see him there.

Next there was Brandon. He was part of an Own Your Own Business convention happening concurrently with the Silver Tips game, in a convention hall in the upper level of the Comcast Arena.   It was as if Brandon was drunk with greed.  He too though, was either a little out of touch with reality, or just so much more quick witted than me that we had a little bit of a hard time connecting on the most important issue in life; 'where we'll spend our eternity'.   At the end of our conversation, Thomas quoted a very apropos scripture verse with him; "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul."  We encouraged Brandon to find and crack open his Bible, which he admitted, it would take him some time to find.

Then we headed west on Hewitt because we saw a lot of people outside of the local bars, smoking.   Boy did things get interesting from there on.    Most people welcomed the Million Dollar tract (with the Million Dollar Question on the back: "Where will you go when you die?).   We handed out tracts to groups of people, and kept walking past a couple of bars.  We spoke with a gal named Charmaine  who said she was a Christian and that she went to church (she named some nearby church), while at the same time she was pretty buzzed, and puffing up a storm.

Did I mention the Satanic Heavy Metal music coming out of the bar we had just passed by.

Next, we stopped and talked to people directly outside of a bar and began talking to a guy with two gals.  The one gal who really engaged the conversation was named Candice. She was catholic, and she said she was Christian, while at the same time admitting to being drunk.   She even showed me a tattoo on her wrist of First Peter 3:8.   I went through the Law with her when I heard someone from behind me tell me to leave their patrons alone, I couldn't talk to them and had to leave. I protested mildly, but thought better of it and left.   As we were leaving though we gave Gospel tracts to as many people as would accept them.   All total for the evening, we handed out about 200 tracts between the two of us.

Also, there were several street people (men), I can't remember their names, but we stopped, witnessed, encouraged and prayed for them.   One had a bloody and bruised face from literally being 'falling down drunk', the night before.

I know this post is way longer than normal, but there are two more incidents I'd like to share.   First, we crossed the street and headed back toward our starting point.   We encountered a group of black men outside a bar, and we started talking to a young man and shared the Gospel with him.   He was pretty mellow but at the same time, pretty intense (I know that doesn't really make sense, but that was my perception of this young man.) He was pretty open to dialog and we had the chance to share the Gospel with him, but when Thomas pulled out the Curved Illusion tracts, and showed the guy, he became very irritated and said, "get that magic away from me."  He said, "drop the magic stuff", I can deal with the Gospel but not the magic. Thomas tried to explain it was only an optical illusion, but to no avail.   We moved on.

As we continued to hand out tracts all along the way, we came to another bar, and Thomas engaged the bouncer who was Jewish. When the bouncer had to attend to something a couple of guys came up and we gave them Million Dollar tracts.  The one guy, tall, thin, late twenties was really drunk. Bear in mind, I realize it is mostly unfruitful to engage a drunk, but this guy asked what it was I gave him.   I told him it was a Gospel tract.  When he didn't know what that was, he asked me to explain.  When I told him that Gospel meant 'Good News about how to go to Heaven when you die.', he started saying over and over again, "Have you been there?", as he kept jabbing his finger into my chest.  We actually tried our best to extricate ourselves from the situation, but he kept going on and on.   Finally after we got his name out of him, I said, "Jason, I love you and care about you." He quieted down and turned and went into the club.

So, the message from last night was, 'Kids, don't try this at home'.   Finally, through it all, God kept us safe and we were able to witness to people who were literally inside the gates of hell.   To be quite honest, at this point in my life I'm quite sheltered and I didn't realize how spiritually dark it becomes after dark in downtown Everett.  But we each got home safely and 'Without a scratch.'

Friday, February 24, 2012

Everyone Needs a Morning Like This

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

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

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

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

All in all, this morning was a huge blessing.

God bless...

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Friday the 13th, Open Air at Dick's Hamburgers


It was kind of interesting to note the various spiritual battles that took place last night as we proclaimed the Gospel, "Open-Air" at Dick's Hamburger's last night.

First was fear. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. I prayed. It took everything in me to step up on that box. Then once I got started, some guy intentionally kept triggering his car alarm while I was preaching.

Finally, the battle against apathy of our onlookers.

Encouragement came in the form of applause when we finished.

Praise God. What follows is what I had planned to say. I don't know how many points I hit, I was so nervous I couldn't think. When I was done, I didn't even remember what I had said, but here's what I had planned on saying in my ultra-brief open-air 'message':




Woohoo, I got my Dick’s hamburger.  
You know that old saying, “eat right, exercise and you still die”.
Hi, I'm a Christian and I want to tell you about something.   
I love life and value it highly, and I’m sure you do too.
But the sad fact is that we’re all going to die someday.
God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness;
that's the standard, 'righteousness' means he's going judge the heart.   
Lying is evil in God's eyes (if you’ve lied that would make you a liar)
and stealing is wrong (if you taken anything that isn’t yours that’d make you a thief)
but it goes even deeper than that, Jesus equated lusting after someone who isn’t your husband or wife with adultery.   
He equated hate with murder and if you’ve used God’s name in vain, that’s blasphemy.   
This is very serious and it leaves us all in big trouble on judgement day.   
We want to avoid hell, so trust in the Savior.   
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day.
He commands everyone to repent and trust in Him as savior.
That’s the Good News, Jesus took the punishment we deserved.
Repent and trust Him today God will grant you the gift of eternal life.

Sunday, January 08, 2012

A Triple Shot of Encouragement

Three times, in three different ways, I was encouraged yesterday. In the afternoon, going out with the Calvary Everett street team, I got to chat with a gal, who said she would come 'try out' church on Sunday.
Thomas and Dennis across from a small church in Everett

 In the evening, with the MSU prison team, we had a great evening of worship and prayer with the inmates. Finally, when I got home (we live on a corner lot), a couple guys were parked beside our house in a Ford Ranger; which usually means they're waiting for a drug dealer. I grabbed a couple Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts, and walked over to the truck. I said Hi, how's it going, what's up, what's your guys names, etc.   The responded, a little hesitantly, I'm sure they were thinking who is this guy?.   I told them my name, and then they asked what I was doing. I told them I lived right here, so they seemed maybe a little re-assured.  Then I gave Sean and Kip each a tract, and their eyes lit up and they chuckled as I said to them "Don't spend it all in one place".   They asked what is this, and I told them it's a Gospel tract, which led right into me sharing the Law with them. They admitted if they died in their sins they would be guilty, and if they got what they deserved, it would be hell. But it was a little disappointing when I asked if that concerned them, they just kinda shrugged.   I asked them how old they were; they said 17.  I said you can go into any cemetery and find lots of head-stones of 17 year old's. I said you guys are wearing seat belts for a reason; because accidents happen. I said none of us know the day of our death, and this is very serious.  I said this is so important, there's nothing more important than your eternal salvation.  Then I explained the Gospel to them of how Jesus died on the cross for their sins and how he rose from the dead on the third day.  And that God commands everyone to simply repent and trust in Jesus as their savior (and I explained the Bible term Repentance as turning away from sins and turning to God for mercy.) I gave the example of putting on a life preserver when you're on a sinking ship as trust. Finally, I said, will you consider what I've told you.  They said yes. I said okay, have a nice evening, God bless you guys, and I left.


God bless..

Spreading the truth of Jesus Christ and the Good News that Salvation is available through Him.

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