Sewing The Good Seed at The Roller Derby

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the message I shared:

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

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

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

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

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

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

God bless...

My Conviction For Open-Air Preaching

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

Objections Stated:

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

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

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

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

Answers:

Not relevant to today’s culture?

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

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

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

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

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

The answer here is multifaceted:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks and God bless...

My Neighborhood

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

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

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

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

We have very nice drunken neighbors on the other side.

We have some more drunken neighbors across the way.

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

Sounds like my neighborhood is a mission field.

And so it is!

God bless...

My Shortest, Coldest Open Air

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

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

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

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

Praise God for His Grace and His Warmth!

God bless

Just To Do A Little Preaching

What would you expect from seven high school aged guys?   Guys who purportedly have been influenced by Christianity, who go to church and went to Christian school.

You would hope they had some understanding of the Bible... Some of them did.
You would hope they would be respectful... They were.   (there were a few eye rolls)
You would hope they would be born-again...  They were not.

My own 'backyard' so-to-speak, provides my fishing hole very often, and it did again tonight as a group of high school aged guys parked on our hill and were hanging out talking out in the street.

Lord, please reach the hearts of those young men.   Help them to be excited about you.  Help them to come to know you.   Help them to be excited about your Word.   Dear God, please grant them repentance and faith.

Dear God, please reach Alex's heart, and help him to put his faith in you.

God bless...

Please Pray for These

I just want to mention the names and stories of a few witnessing encounters I've had over the past couple of weeks, with the intent of soliciting prayer for these dear souls.

Malachi was at the Everett Gospel Mission last weekend.   He was a very bright-eyed young man, who was open to the Gospel message.   He had a 'Christian' upbringing, but was presently a Taoist.

Carlos (and his girlfriend) were at the Everett Train Station today.  They were very open to the Gospel.

Brian, at the Everett Train Station today.   Brian had a VERY HARSH hypocritical father who claimed to be a Christian.  Brian professed to be a Christian, and he had gone through several years in deep darkness addicted to heroin, but was sober now.  He had a job(s) working with at-risk youth at ?Lambert House?   He admitted to us that he was gay, but he was celibate.   He understood that was a problem with God, and he allowed us to pray for deliverance for him.

Jorge, is a 37 year old Catholic priest, who I had the privilege of witnessing to on the bus ride home from Seattle last weekend.   He was definitely 'catholic', as far as his doctrine, but I had the chance to speak the truth to him in love.

Nicole, was somewhat of a homeless youth we encountered and her friend, Dakota.   She was very open to the Gospel, as you will see in the video:

I have to say, in all honesty, the Lord had provided great compassion for those we have encountered.   As well, the Lord has provided wonderful, marvelous opportunities for sharing the message of the Gospel.   I pray for these dear people, that they would fall on the mercy of God, and trust Jesus Christ as their savior.   God is so gracious, and he loves these people, and the many others who have escaped my memory.

God bless...

Seahawks Final Regular Season Game 2012

It was all about Jesus today!

He so motivated me to proclaim His goodness, and His greatness, and His mercy.   Videos to come.

We were dropped off about 9:45 am at CenturyLink field.   We handed out bunches of tracts, and we proclaimed the good news of reconciliation to the Seahawk fanatics.

Then got to witness to a Catholic priest on the bus ride back to the Lynnwood transit center.

Here's the text of what I intended to preach.

Good morning), my name is Keith and I’m a Christian I’m here to bring the Gospel message to you as you enter the stadium. The Gospel is the good news of the salvation that God has provided. It's the good news of reconciliation with God; though you may be alienated from God; estranged from God, you can be made right with God. We’re here to lift up and proclaim the Name of the only true God and our Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ. We’re here to tell you about the Name of our Great God and Redeemer, The LORD Jesus Christ.   I’d like you to think about something as you enter the stadium today.  Contrary to what many might say, Christianity requires you to THINK about some things in order to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  God would have you engage your mind.  Oh, that God would reveal the truth to your mind.  The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is that you love God with all your heart, soul, MIND and strength.  So put your mind towards this concept.   Life is but a vapor. We’re here today and gone tomorrow.   Life is short, you may live 60, 70, 80 or even 90 years, but you aren't guaranteed even your next breath.  You’re heart could give out before I finish speaking. What will you do when you breathe your last breath, when you stand before your Maker to give an account of your life?   Will you try to bribe God and offer Him your good works?  Will you stand before your Creator in your own goodness?  Would you consider yourself to be a good person?  Let's see if you are.  Have you ever told a lie?   If so, that would make you a liar.   Have you ever taken anything that didn’t belong to you? If so, that would make you a thief.   But it goes so much deeper than that, have you always put God first in your life? The first commandment is you shall have no other gods before Me.   Has God always been top priority in your life, or does football and entertainment come before God?  If so, you’d be guilty of breaking the first commandment.   The second commandment is don’t create an idol for yourself. Don’t bow down and worship an idol.   If you believe in a god that’s ok with drunkenness then you’ve made an idol.   If you’re guilty of breaking any of these commandments, then you’re deserving of punishment.  Even if you think you’ve kept all the commandments, and yet offended in one point, you would be GUILTY.  The punishment for crimes against a Holy and Righteous, Eternal God 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.   But God gives us time, he gives us grace so that we would come to him in repentance.  God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance.   It is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance.  You need to change your thinking about God and His Holiness and His Goodness.   He must punish sin because of His goodness and justice.  The guilty will by no means go unpunished. But listen, here’s the good news (the Gospel) of what God did for us guilty sinners so that we could avoid the punishment that we deserve.
The Gospel goes here...
The Seahawks may be good... This year, but they will let you down; it’s only a matter of time.  Do you let the outcome of a football game determine your emotional well being.   Do you get pumped when they win, and depressed when they lose.  All this is temporary.   All this is fleeting, but God is faithful and true, He will never let you down, and if you put your trust in Him you’ll never be ashamed.  God is 100% trustworthy.   Don’t place your Love and affection on the world, or the things that are in the world  Place your affection on God himself.

You might say, “I believe in God”, and you think that’s good enough to make you right with God.  If you think that you’re deceived, because even the devil believes in God, and trembles.   It’s more than just believing in God, but it is repenting (changing your mind about sin and turning away from it, and turning to God for mercy.)
You might think you are safe from God’s condemnation because you’ve never murdered anyone.   You might think that guy who killed 20 little kids and 6 adults in Newtown Connecticut is a murderer, but you aren’t.   But Jesus says Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and no murderer has eternal life.”  In fact, if you have ever even called someone an idiot or moron, you are in danger of judgement, according to Jesus, because you’d be guilty of ‘character assassination.   I’m here to warn you to flee the wrath to come.  Flee to the refuge of Jesus Christ.

What would God have you do? How does God want you to come to Him?   The Bible says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, God, will not despise.    It says, Humble yourself before God.   God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Check out what I’m saying; don’t just take what I’m saying at face value.   Test it by opening the Bible for yourself, to see if these things be so.  Dust off your Bible.   You probably have to find it first in the back of your closet, or under your bed, but find it, dust it off and read it for yourself.  It will change your life.  Start with the Gospel of Matthew or Mark or Luke or John.  The Bible is God’s love letter to you.  The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.   The Bible is God’s Word; It is inspired directly by God himself. Yes, men wrote it down, but the Bible is literally God breathed.   Every Word of God is pure.

God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved, because with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

You must be born again by the power of God.  Jesus said, unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God.  How are you born again, you ask? When you repent and trust in Christ as your savior, God will give you a new nature with new desires.  In fact, God Himself will take up residence in your heart and life in the person of the Holy Spirit. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Don’t wait, don’t put it off.  There’s nothing more important than your eternal salvation.   Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die;

Jim and Mo Mo

Then I walked around the block, via the greenbelt trail.   I saw two youths ahead of me and went up and handed them Gospel tracts.

Jim explained he was an Atheist because the Bible was too hard to understand and he couldn't accept the thought of living, then dying and going to heaven or hell.  He was disgusted with religion. I agreed, religion has caused more wars, more pedophile priests and Jesus was harder on the religious folks than anyone else.   I explained that Christianity was not meant to be a religion, but a relationship with the eternal, infinite God.

I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with them after running them through the Law.   Mo Mo had a Christian background, so she understood where I was leading them.

Then I explained the cross, and sin, righteousness and the judgement to come.   I gave Jim the 21 day challenge (dust off your Bible and read a chapter of the Gospel of John per day, and see who Jesus really is).

I pray for Jim, and Mo Mo, that they will turn to you, Lord Jesus.

God bless...

Fully Prepared for the Munchies

Tonight, I heard the sound of a car door closing, down the hill from my house, at the trail head.     I grabbed my jacket, my flashlight and my tracts and went down to meet them.  I went out to find two cars parked there. One empty, the other with four guys and one girl.   The girl was sitting in the middle of the back seat between two guys with a couple of pizzas on their laps, while the front passenger was in the middle of rolling some form of a medical cigarette or something.

The driver was reluctant to roll down his window... so I shined the flashlight in his face, which probably didn't help any, but he rolled down the window.   I gave him a Gospel tract, he asked what it was, and I asked them what they were doing, and if it was illegal.  They responded "no".  I offered the back seat passengers a tract and they refused, so I dropped it in their lap.   At that time the driver began to roll up his window and turn the key to start the car.   I said, you don't have to leave, and he said, "I think we do".   And they left.

May the Lord reach these kids that are so disillusioned by life and godless purposelessness.

hmmm....

God bless...

The Proud and the Mockers at the Leavenworth Christmas Festival

Thomas, Wayne and myself had a wonderful time handing out Gospel tracts and preaching the Gospel to hundreds of people at the Leavenworth Christmas festival yesterday.

We received great encouragement by several who listened to our Gospel preaching.   There was at least one couple though, who thought it funny to mock the Gospel presentation.

I had a long conversation with Lucas, who "doesn't not believe" in God.  I explained he was only a breath away from eternity, and he needed to get right with God.  He justified himself, and was unwilling to humble himself, and call out to God for mercy.

I'll let the video's do the speaking this time...

God bless...

The LORD's Favor on Black Friday

As anyone can tell you, "timing is everything", and "location, location location", well, the LORD has impeccable timing and places us where he wills, like pieces of a Chess set.

We started at the target in Smokey Point, but were shutdown before we started.

Then we traveled to Walmart on the Tulalip Indian reservation, where God showed us favor.   We handed out a around thousand Gospel tracts.  We got into several interesting conversations.  One with a single mother, Jesse, whom I got to witness to and pray for.   Another with Joseph, the Persian. Joseph told me I was a pagan Christian, because I celebrated Christmas, but he rejected the Bible and Jesus Christ.  I had to shut the conversation down because he was speaking against Jesus.    While we were there, the store manager came out a couple times, and police were hovering around us, but they just left us alone as we handed out candy canes and Gospel tracts.

Then we drove over to Kohls, where we made a quick pass through the line and handed out 75 Gospel tracts

Finally, we went to the Outlet Mall.  We had to park way out by the Casino, and as we walked to the mall, we engaged a store employee, Julie, who was very nice. Although she had been to Sunday school as a kid, she had no understanding of the Gospel message.   She was so gracious to converse with us during the entire walk into the mall.  Thomas had the opportunity to share the Gospel with her, and she was very receptive. She said she would consider these things and we encouraged her to read her Bible.   Inside the mall, we handed Gospel tracts out amongst a sea of humanity. We went to the food court area and stood on the bench and proclaimed the Gospel in the open Air in front of Coach, and then over by Starbucks.   It was very nerve wracking because we were addressing so many people.  As we completed our second message, the security guard came up and informed us that he appreciate the message, but we couldn't do this and had to leave. We complied.

Here is the text of my message:

Good evening.  Merry Christmas to you!  My name is Keith and I'm a Christian and I'd like to share a message with you of the true meaning of Christmas. So to do that, I'd like to read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke.  Before I do that though, let me say, I really enjoy getting and giving Christmas presents. I love family get-togethers and all that good food.  I appreciate having a Christmas tree and decorations and Christmas lights; although I'm not such a big fan of climbing up on a ladder and putting lights on the house.   Don't get me wrong, all those things are very cool, but that's not the true meaning of Christmas. So let me read the Christmas story from the book of Luke.  One more thing though, I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but most assuredly Christ was not born on December 25th.  From history and clues in the text we can say that most certainly, Jesus was not born on December 25th.  That date was chosen many years later to coincide with the pagan celebration with the Winter Solstice.  So although the choice of that date makes me very uncomfortable, I am glad we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Luke 2: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That little excerpt from Luke chapter cut right to the chase of why there is a Christmas story.  We skipped over the angel announcing that although Mary was a virgin, she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We skipped over the fact that Mary was betrothed or engaged to Joseph, and that Rome had ordered everyone to return to their hometown to register for a census, so they could be taxed.   We didn't hear about the fact that when Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the census, there was no room for them in the inn, so they stayed in a stable, where Jesus was born, and they laid him in a manger or a feed trough as a cradle. We just learned that Jesus was to be a savior which is Christ the Lord.   What is Jesus a savior from though? Well, simply sin and death, because the Bible says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”, and it says, “the wages of sin is death”. Elsewhere it says, “it is appointed unto man, once to die and after this, the Judgement.”   Lastly, it says, “God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in Righteousness.”   So we’ve all sinned, and we’re all headed for death. And after we die, we will stand before God our Maker, and give an account of our life.  And the standard by which he will judge us is Righteousness, that’s the standard Righteousness, which means God is going to judge the heart.   We can know how we’ll do on that day by looking at ourselves in the mirror (so to speak) of God’s law, the Ten Commandments, and we can see how we compare to that standard of Righteousness.  So let me ask you a few questions based on the Ten Commandments. Answer to yourself, you don’t have to answer to me, but listen to your conscience.
The Law goes here...
The Gospel goes next...

God bless...

Merry Christmas... It is Christmas, Isn't It?

I hope you had fun tonight, on this day that goes by so many names; Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Reformation Day.

Reformation Day??? You ask, well yes, it was on this day in 1517, that Martin Luther (albeit he had his theological problems), nailed his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg, which began the Christian reformation.

Today, October 31st also goes by the name National Evangelism Day, because kids (and adults) come to your door for candy and you can give them candy and a Gospel tract.

All the kids were very nice tonight.   We had quite a few more than I anticipated.   I ended up giving Fiber One bars to the last several kids (we care about their colon health here.)

Just to put a humorous spin on things, I donned a Santa Clause hat to answer the door tonight.   And as I would open the door I would exclaimed "Merry Christmas" to the kids.   Some were kind of confused, other just laughed and thought I was silly (which I am), other said, "it's Halloween, not Christmas."   By the time they were walking away though, almost all of the kids said Merry Christmas.

I handed out Creepy Cash Gospel tracts tonight, from www.customtractsource.com.   One large group of late teenagers came up.  They were dressed ghoulishly, as so many were tonight.   I handed each one of them a Gospel tract and a piece of candy.   When I explained they were Gospel tracts, about the Bible, one kid say, "but what if I'm an Atheist?", and I said, "Well, you need it all the more then."   He accepted the tract and said thanks.   Praise the Lord!



Here is the text of the tract,

"Are you ready to be scared? Its funny how at Halloween we delight in being frightened. Many people think its fun to be scared to death! But death itself is a very scary thought. What do you think will happen after you die? The Bible says, It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. Take this quick test to see how you'll do on Judgment Day.

Ever lied? Ever stolen? Ever used Gods name in vain? Ever looked with lust? (God considers lust the same as adultery.) If you're guilty of these, you've broken Gods moral Law, the Ten Commandments. God sees you as a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer at heart. The punishment for breaking His Law is death, and eternity in hell. What will you say in your defense? 

The good news is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took our punishment for us. He died on the cross to pay our penalty, then rose from the dead. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus said, "Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Repentance involves agreeing that what God says is true; He won't overlook the guilty, we are all sinners, and Christ has died for our sins.  This will lead to genuine sorrow, shame and even hatred for what we have done. It will also result in a lifestyle of turning away from sin, and trusting in Jesus alone for salvation.  Repent and believe the good news today; you may not have tomorrow. Please visit www.TheGoodPersonTest.net"

God Bless...

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...

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...

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...

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!"




God bless...

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...

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...

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...