That Empty Spot

Before the Silver Tips game today, I preached for an hour and a half.

Here's what I said...

Hi friends, my name is Keith, and I’d like to share a few thoughts with you.  The message is good news; it will only take a few minutes of your time, but I hope the impact will be eternal.   I’m going to ask your patience with me because I need to raise my voice to be heard.   I’m not mad, I’m not angry, I’m not upset, but the message is so important, I have to lift my voice so I can be heard by as many as possible.

I’d like to draw your attention to that empty space directly across the street.   The address there is 1814 Hewitt Ave, Everett.  On the evening of Thursday, November 8, 2012, a three-alarm fire broke out there, in what used to be an historic apartment building.    One person was killed in the fire.   A 68 year old man perished; he lost his life in that fire and nearly 40 residents of the building were displaced.   It’s very sad to think that a man lost his life right there, both for the man himself and for his family.   I'm sure the residents who escaped were relieved.   But, it got me thinking; how would I feel if I were caught in a burning building. I’d want a smoke detector to sound off and warn me. I’d want fire sprinklers to trigger and douse the flames. I’d want the fire department to respond as quickly as possible and put out the fire.  Then I thought, what would I have done if I had been walking down this very street that fateful night. At the very least I would have pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911. But if it were in my power, I’m convinced I would have tried to do more, like maybe I would have shouted from outside the building and tried to alert people who were asleep in their apartments.  Or I’d like to think I'd have even gone inside the building and pounded on people’s doors, to try to warn them to get out while they could.   

With that in mind, I'm going to ask your patience with me, because although none of you are in any danger of being burned alive this very moment, the sad fact is, we will all die someday. The statistic is that the death toll on humanity is 100%.  The Bible says, it is appointed unto man, once to die and then comes the judgement.  None of us knows the day of our death. You may say to yourself I'm OK, I'm going to heaven when I die. I'm a pretty good person. The Bible says examine yourself to see if you be in the faith.   So, I'm going to push the test button on your built-in smoke detector, your conscience. Its not my intention to push any other buttons, but that's why I do ask your patience with me.  This might be a little uncomfortable, but track with me because it only gets better.    The Bible says, God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness; that's the standard, 'righteousness' means God will judge the heart.  He sees the secret things. The things we thought were hidden, the things done in darkness; God sees as though they were done in the light of day.  I’m going to use God’s law, the Ten Commandments like a yardstick, to reach that test button.  If you would, for a moment, listen to your conscience.  You want it to sound off if there’s smoke, because where there’s smoke, there’s fire. So here goes...   The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me”; My question to you is, Have you always put God first in your life?   The second commandment is; “You shall not make for yourself a graven image or bow down to it”; I know most of you don’t have a little statue that you bow down and worship, but have you ever even made an idol for yourself in your mind; in other words, have you ever made a god for yourself conceptually, one to suit your own standards?  If you have you'd be guilty of idolatry.   The third commandment is “don’t use God’s name in vain”; Have you used God’s name in vain?   Ever said OMG, or GD or used the name of my Lord Jesus Christ irreverently or disrespectfully?   If so, you'd be guilty of blasphemy.  The fifth commandment is “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land the the Lord gives you.”   This is the first commandment with a promise.   So, have you always honored and obeyed your parents?   The sixth commandment is “Don’t murder”. I’m sure very few of you; hopefully none of you have intentionally, willfully, with malice of forethought murdered anyone.  But Jesus equated hate with murder.   Have you ever hated anyone?   The seventh commandment is “Don’t commit adultery”, but Jesus equated lust with adultery in your heart.  So, have you ever, even so much as looked with lust at someone who wasn’t your husband or wife?  The eighth commandment is “Don’t steal”   Have you ever stolen? If you have you'd be guilty as a thief.  The ninth commandment is don’t lie (don’t bear false witness against your neighbor).   Have you ever lied?   If so, you'd be guilty as a liar.  The Bible says that “God requires truth in the inward parts.”  And all liars will have their part in the lake of fire.   Did the alarm go off in your mind? It should have.  Those were eight of the Ten Commandments.  This should greatly concern you, it's so serious and it leaves us ALL in big trouble on judgement day.    That was all pretty bad news, but here is the good news (the Gospel) of what God did for us so that we can avoid hell.

The Gospel

The Good News is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead on the third day.   When Jesus was on the cross, he experienced the full force of God's anger, wrath and judgement in our place. Jesus was the stand-in for us. He got what we deserved so we can get what we don't deserve. The debt that you and I owed to sin was paid by Jesus, in his life's blood. That’s the Good News, Jesus took the punishment we deserved, so that we could receive forgiveness, cleansing, a pardon for our sins. You and I had been kidnapped by sin and Jesus paid our ransom.  Jesus died on the cross, but three days later He rose from the dead. He walked out of that tomb alive. He died for our offenses and He rose for our justification.

RSVP (Your Response Requested)

God simply commands all men everywhere to repent and trust Him as savior. If you will repent and trust Jesus Christ today God will give you the gift of eternal life. Acknowledge Jesus as Lord and master over your life, you will inherit the kingdom of heaven.   Maybe you're someone who'd say to yourself, I'd never set foot inside a church, they're full of hypocrites, self-righteous, prudes. They're nothing but money-grabbing, pompus, gossiping, haters. First I would say I understand, you're probably right to some degree. But I'd also say the church doesnt need another hypocrite added to its numbers. Thats why I implore you to repent, and be converted by God, that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord.

Matthew 5:20  Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the most righteous person you could ever conceive of, there's no way you'll enter into the kingdom of heaven.   The only way that will happen is for you to receive the gift of righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.

Matthew 18:3-4 Jesus said, unless you are truly converted, and become as a little child, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. [4] Whoever would humble themself as a little child, will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 13:3 Jesus said, unless you repent, you will perish.

Jesus said you must be born again. He said unless you're born again you cannot see the kingdom of God.  That's good news. It's good news because Jesus didn't say unless you're a good person you can't see the kingdom of God, because if he'd have said that we would have all been disqualified.

New Life

Questions/Objections

After Work Gospel

Wednesday and Thursday after work Thomas and I went out evangelizing.

Wednesday it was with the Holy Bible banner gals.

Thursday it was at the Everett Transit station.

God bless...

Music To My Ears

Today, Julie, Ina and I went to the Everett Gospel Mission with soup, sandwiches and cookies.   The food was well received, and it was nice to speak to multiple homeless men.   I was handing out Gospel tracts to those men as they received their food.   Some men declined, but there was one guy when he accepted a tract, I said, "I'll read it while I'm on the bus".   That was music to my ears.

Then later on I went to the Comcast Arena, to herald the Gospel at the season opener of the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds roller derby, as the snow was falling.   The standout moment there was speaking with the Goth kids, and a couple of them accepted the Gospel of John.

Here's what I said, a couple of times...

I’d like to raise some important issues for you to consider. These are some very serious things I’d like you to think about.   So I'm going to ask you some of life’s BIG QUESTIONS. I’m not here to tell you what to think, and you certainly don't want to get your answers from me, the street preacher, that's why I'm only going to share with you what THE Bible says about these BIG QUESTIONS.

#1 What's the meaning of life? What's the purpose? What's the point of it all?

Is it to earn as much money as possible, so you can buy all the things that you want?   You've probably heard it said, "money is the root of all evil", NOT SO, that's a misquote of the Bible;

1 Timothy 6:10 says, For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So, there’s nothing wrong with money, it’s useful for buying things you need, like food, clothes… coffee... But instead of loving money...Jesus said in Deuteronomy 6:5, that the greatest commandment is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.. 1 Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Mark 8:36-37 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Proverbs 16:16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding than silver!James 3:17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and open to reason , full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and without hypocrisy. Proverbs 11:4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death. Proverbs 1:7 says The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So if you say you don’t believe in God, you’re lying to yourself, or you may say you believe in God, but your life doesn’t show it (you’re a functional atheist), Psalm 14:1 says The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.
But some people live like the purpose of life is to have fun, to be entertained, to have enjoyment, to seek out the next thrill? But Psalm 37:4, says, Delight yourself in the LORD; and he will give you the desires of your heart. Matthew 6:33 says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. This is really important, because you can accumulate all the money in the world, and have all the excitement, fun and entertainment you could ever want, but its all temporary. James 4:14 says, For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but God’s Word will never pass away.

#2 Why do we die?

Did you know that initially, when God created man and woman, there was no death?  That’s right, Adam and Eve were created directly by God, and they would have lived forever, but they decided to disobey God, that's what sin is; disobedience.  

Romans 5:12,19,21 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ... For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin has reigned unto death, even so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Ezekiel 18:20 says, The soul that sins shall surely die. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So death is not your friend and it was never your intended destiny. Isaiah 59:1-2 Look, the Lord's hand is not short that He cannot save; neither his ear deaf, that He cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. So its our sin that separates us from God, and therefore from eternal life, because: John 1:4-5 In him is life; and the life is the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it.

#3 What happens after death?

These are BIG questions. Again the Bible comes to the rescue with THE answer.    

Hebrews 9:6 says, It is appointed unto man once to die and after that comes the judgement. The instant you die you will immediately go to be in the presence of God. And you will be made to give an account of your life. Hebrews 4:13 says there nothing hidden from his sight: but all things are laid opened and bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to give an account. Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Ecclesiastes 12:4 For God shall bring every work into judgment, even every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 2 Timothy 4:1... the Lord Jesus Christ, shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Revelation 20:13 says the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Romans 2:6 God will render to every man according to his deeds: Psalm 9:8 says, And he shall judge the world in righteousness. Acts 17:31 God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man Christ Jesus, whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

#4 How can we know where we stand with God?

The Ten Commandments...

#5 How can we be made right with God?

The Gospel...

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Ephesians 2:8-9 For by Grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest any man boast.

#6 How can you know you have eternal life?

John 20:31 says, But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you might have life through his name. Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; Matthew 7:13 Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 16:24 If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I say to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you worker of iniquity (lawlessness). Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

So if you rejoice in God’s Word, then its a pretty sure thing you are heaven bound.

God bless...

His Blood is Worth Bottling

I got some good responses, and some minor heckling tonight at the Comcast Arena.  I was so glad that the Holy Bible banner gals could be there.   It was a pleasure hearing them preach.

Here's the message I gave to the motorcycle race fans at Comcast Arena:

Hi Friends... My name is Keith and I'm a born-again Christian, and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you while you wait. 

You know, more than once, I've had people tell me, “GET A JOB” when I've stood up to speak like this.  That’s fair, I understand, but I actually do have a job.   I’m a software engineer for an international company.   As a software engineer, one of my responsibilities is to provide customer support for the software applications I and my team have developed.  A while back, I was online helping an Australian engineer who uses our software, with some issues he’d been struggling with.  I probably spent an hour getting him back on track.  When I was all done, he was extremely grateful, and he thanked me profusely.  Then he said something I’d never heard before.   He said "Your Blood's Worth Bottling".   "What does that mean? I thought to myself"  Well, he explained that’s a major compliment.   If an Australian says, "mate your blood's worth bottling", he’s saying you've been of great assistance to him.   In other words you've done something of great value for him.  I want to tell you about someone whose blood literally is worth bottling, but first, Think about just how valuable this stuff that’s coursing through our veins really is.   The Bible says, “The life is in the blood.”, and it is literally life to us.   If we were to lose but 40% of our blood volume, we’d be dead.  

So I say all this to reminder us all that we will all die someday, whether it be from blood loss, or old age.   We all have an expiration date.   And yet, we all have the will to live, and we cling to life for good reason; Because we know that while there’s still breath in our lungs, and our heart's beating, and there's blood flowing through our veins, we know life is good and death is bad.    I mean think about it, if you hear of someone who wants to die, or someone who is obsessed with death, I'll bet you think that person has some emotional problems or psychological issues.  Let me just tell you, you were created for life.   You were designed and built to live.   Death is not your friend and it was never your intended destiny.  The grave is not the goal line and the funeral is not the finish line.  The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made.   You were created by God, in His image and likeness (and no God is not a 6’ tall bald man, God is Spirit).   You are not the product of evolution.   You were created by God, in his image and you were purpose-built.  Just as these motorcycles that you're going in here to watch tonight are built specifically to go on the ice, you were built for a specific purpose too.  Yes, part of that purpose is to live life and enjoy it (which could include going to the motorcycle ice races), but more importantly, you were created to live in relationship with God; in close contact with Him, in intimate, loving union with your Maker.   Or to put it another way, you were created to be friends with God.   

But the Bible says, we are separated from God because of our sin, and because we're separated from God, we're separated from eternal life, because in Him is life…   The soul that sins shall die, it says, and the wages of sin is death…   In fact the Bible goes so far as saying that we are enemies with God, in our minds through wicked works.  So we all have an appointment with death, and after that, we have an appointment with God, to give an account of our lives.   The standard by which we will be judged is righteousness.  And everything will be laid open and bare before Him with whom we have to give an account.  It says God will render to every man according to his deeds, so lets do a quick review of our deeds and see how we'll do on that day. 

 
The Law…
The Gospel…
The New Life…
The Conclusion of the matter is this... 
Ecclesiastes 12:13 ... Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.   For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
What does God command? Acts 17:30 says, God commands all men everywhere to repent.  And 1 John 3:23 says And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another...
Psalm 103:11-14 For as high as heaven is above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 

 

Chicago Board of Trade - Gospel Thunder

I had a light dinner this evening.   I had some unexpected free time, so I grabbed my tablet and went out to look for a spot to preach in downtown Chicago.  Well I found a wonderful spot that was specially made, acoustically, for sound projection.  There were very few people on the street as I took up my position, but I prayed and then I thought to myself I don't need a crowd as motivation to speak, I just want to lift my voice to The Lord.

I began reading out loud from the book of Hebrews, where it describes Jesus as "the Author of our salvation to them that obey".  And I described what it means to obey the Gospel.  I read tons of scriptures verses and gave the sense of each verse after I read it.

I ended up drawing a bit of a crowd, which I am not really used to. I spent a some time trying to reason with Reese the atheist, but he turned out to be unreasonable, so I went back to preaching.  Anyways, there were several other interactions with people, so it was very encouraging.

God bless...

The Saints Outside the Seahawks Game

I met up with Brother Ronnie today and the Gospel was proclaimed loudly.   Also were the two older women and one young lady holding the yellow and black banners.   Ronnie let me preach with his bullhorn, that thing is loud!  
                           

Here's the message I preached today.

You were created in God's image. You are not the product of evolution. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, the Bible says. And you were built to live. I know that may sound obvious, even silly, but you were designed for life. And your body has built-in self-repairing, self-healing mechanisms.   If I get a broken arm, it can mend.   If I get a cut, it can heal.   If I get a virus, my immune system will attack and rid my body of that virus and my liver and kidneys remove toxins from my blood.   Under current conditions and circumstances though, those self-healing, self-repairing facilities are limited; they only go so far.   But think of this, what if (and I know this is a big if), but what if those self-healing, self-repairing capabilities always just worked.   Think about it, what if,  hypothetically, our body was able to continually heal and repair itself and heal itself over and over again, and your immune system always just worked and worked perfectly,.  Oh, you might get sick but you’d get well, you might get injured, but it would be repaired. If you extrapolate that thought out to its logical conclusion, you could, theoretically at least, live forever.  But, that’s not the way things are... And I'm not implying that it will ever be that way; not in these bodies at least.  There is nothing we can do to stop the aging process.   We all have an expiration date. But I tell you, you were not created for death; you were created for life, your very body itself shows that you were designed for life.   Death is not your friend and it was never your intended destiny.  "The grave is not the goal and the funeral is not the finish line."   Death will come for each of us someday, and I know some people live like there is no tomorrow, but for all of us, someday there will be no tomorrow. We will all die. Ten out of ten people die, but death is not a natural process! Death is a supernatural process.

The Law goes here...

The Gospel goes here...

New Life goes here

Repent and Believe the Gospel goes here...

God bless...

Snowflake Lane Bellevue

Tonight the Lord directed Thomas and I to the Snowflake Lane in Bellevue.   We handed out hundreds of Gospel tracts.   We preached the Gospel using our P.A.s   We had an extraordinary conversation with a couple of Muslim foreign exchange students.  On the way back to the car, we spoke with Cassie who was waiting for a bus and she considered our words, but she wouldn't accept a Gospel tract.

God bless...

Jingle Bells Concert - Comcast Arena 12/8/2013

I didn't know how well attended the Comcast arena would be for the Jingle Bells concert, but I soon found out what a draw Selena Gomez is.   The line was stretched around the entire Comcast arena this evening.   I began at the head of the line and preached the true meaning of Christmas to the concert goers.   Thomas met me later on and he preached too.

We received amazing favor from God . Hundreds heard the Gospel without amplification. Many young people listened intently and came up afterwards and thanked us. Only a few minor heckles but sadly much indifference.   One supposed Christian girl tried to hinder the Gospel proclamation, telling me that this wasn't the way to do it.   I rebuked her and told her she wasn't a Christian, but a hypocrite.

It was a phenomenal evening, albeit cold, to proclaim the Good News, that "Unto us is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the LORD.".

God bless...

Bitter Cold at the Everett Gospel Mission

We spent a couple of hours this afternoon down at the Everett Gospel mission, handing out sandwiches and cups of homemade chicken soup to the men and women who were there.   We also gave out a number of other food and some personal toiletry items.

It was a very successful mini-mission trip.

The team was Julie, and I, Emily, Denise, Becky and her husband Blaine.

I handed out Santa Million Dollar bill Gospel tracts, and had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to those waiting in line to get into the mission.

Here's what I said...
Caterpillars don’t Sky Dive

You may have a religious background.   You may have grown up in a religious family, with a religious heritage.   Maybe you would say to yourself I've tried to live the religious life, but I just can't.   I've tried reading my Bible, and praying, and going to church, but it bores me to tears, and puts me to sleep.   There's a reason for that and you shouldn't be surprised.   Let me illustrate why that is with a little story;

Imagine, you were to find a little caterpillar crawling on a leaf of a tree, and you took that caterpillar, and dressed him up in little blue tights with little red underwear with a little yellow S on the chest and a red cape hanging off his little caterpillar shoulders.   And you take the caterpillar up to the top of the empire state building.   Then you dangle that little caterpillar in its blue tights and red cape over the edge.   At that point, you let go of him and he falls down, down, down.   Hurriedly, you take the elevator back down to the ground floor, and get off and go out to the street and you will find a little splat on the sidewalk.

BUT, if you take a caterpillar after it has transformed into a butterfly and now take it up to the top of the Empire State building and let it go, it will have a totally different experience.   And that is why Jesus said, "You must be born again." Going to church and praying and engaging in religious activity will not save anyone from hell or get anyone to heaven.   You will find no pleasure in the things of God.   You must be transformed from within.   But when that happens, you will love God.   You will love the things God loves.   You will delight in the law of God.   It will not be a burden to

serve God.

Jesus said, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.   Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart, and I will give you rest for your soul.   For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Testimony goes here…

Mission inn festival of lights

After a day of driving around southern California on a nostalgia trek to see all the houses I lived in, I thought I would stop at the mission inn in Riverside. I didn't realize there would be a huge festival going on.  So I picked a corner and commenced reading Luke 1 and 2 and preaching the gospel for 2.5 hours. I was encouraged by so many people and even prayed for by several. A few other street evangelists stopped and chatted and prayed. One guy introduced me to his wife and then called his mom over and introduced us.    By the end of the night I even shared the corner with another gospel preacher.

It was a huge festival and a huge blessing to preach the coming of King Jesus.

P.S. A tablet is the bomb for nighttime scripture reading outdoors.

God bless...

Four Guys on a Dark Trail

I know I'm not supposed to fear men.   I know, God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.   But, I was a bit fearful, going down to the trail after dark, and not knowing who I might encounter.   But tonight's encounter proved a couple of things to me.  1) God is good and very gracious, and 2) Every individual (even every group dynamic) is different.

Four early twenties men went on the trail for the second time this evening, so I grabbed my flashlight and went down to the greenbelt trail.

These four men (one of them French), were very cordial and patient with me as we bantered back and forth about life, and forgiveness and the Good News.   They listened as I explained what it meant to be 'born-again', and why that was Good News.   One of them even shined the spotlight of his phone on me while we spoke.

May God grant a desire for Himself in these men.

God bless..

I’m Not Here To Cast stones -Bellevue

Last night I spent about an hour and a half on the corner of 4th and Bellevue Way in Bellevue Washington, preaching to the upscale, jet setters, and Microsofties.   Anyways, for street corner preaching, it was good experience.   I had a few good responses, mostly from kids... bless their hearts.    I did have a few people just break out laughing (I think it was at me.)

Video to come...

The main value of the video is the audio, sorry about the camera angle, but I'm uncomfortable setting the camera up too far away from me, and I also don't feel comfortable pointing the camera at my audience.

Here's the message I had planned on delivering, but the LORD had something else in mind...

I’m not about to cast stones in your direction, I’m here to throw out a life-line.   I have a burden on my heart to share a few thoughts with you.    It’s with your best interest in mind, that I'd like to give you some good news.    You are highly valued by God, you are of immense worth to Him.   I care about you and I’m greatly concerned for you, for your eternal soul, so I'd like to express God's great love for you that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ on the cross, when He died for us even while we were yet sinners.

Let me start with a little story that illustrates my point.   Imagine you’re on a cruise ship.  You’re cruising through the beautiful waters of the Caribbean.   It’s a beautiful day.   The sun’s shining.  A gentle breeze is blowing, keeping the temperature at a very pleasant 84 degrees.  Earlier, you ate a delicious meal.   You’re thinking about going for a walk on deck and that, you hope to hit a few golf balls off the deck into the ocean, then in the evening you plan on doing a little gambling in the ship’s casino.   The water is calm and blue.    All you can see is ocean and blue sky except for a few puffy white clouds.  Without warning though, a fire starts in the electrical room.  Almost instantly, the fire spreads to the engine room, and reaches the fuel tank and causes an explosion that blows a hole in the hull.  Quickly, the ship begins to sink.   Hurriedly you run to the evacuation area, where there are porters directing people into lifeboats.   But you think to yourself, I can swim.   The water is warm, and calm.   And you decide “I’ll jump in and save myself.”   As you dive off the deck and do a perfect swan dive, you hear the porter yell, no, the waters are shark infested.  The instant you hit the water, you’re gobbled up by the man-eating sharks.

I’m here to direct you into the life-boat of Jesus Christ.   Don’t try to save yourself, receive salvation, get into the life-boat of Jesus Christ.   I’m here to warn you, avoid the shark infested waters of God’s wrath and anger and judgement.” The Bible does describe a fiery hell, eternal condemnation for those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.   The Bible warns in the book of Jude, that Lord will come with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in ungodliness.   But you may not want to hear about all that, I understand.   If I tell you it’s wrong to lie, its wrong to steal, its wrong to commit sexual immorality, look at porn, it’s evil to use God’s Name in vain, and you feel condemned by anything I say, I understand, believe me.   If you feel judged by anything I say, I understand.  If you feel guilty for lying, stealing, fornicating, lusting, lewdness, drunkenness, gossip, dishonoring or disrespecting your parents, I understand.   If you would accuse me judging, and your conscience feels guilty, I understand.  

The true and living God of the Bible actually says its a good thing to have a guilty conscience and NOT IGNORE IT.   The Bible says godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.”   If you have a guilty conscience, that’s a good thing, because it means you haven’t gone so deep into sin and your heart is not so hardened that you no longer feel bad when you think about the wrongs you’ve committed.  2 Timothy 4:2 says there are those who have had their conscience seared [as] with a hot iron;”   There are those who are self-deluded, who can tell a lie and believe their own lie.   There are those who can steal, and it doesn’t bother them.   There are some who can hate others, without regard to the value and dignity of another human being.  There are those who can gaze upon the opposite sex with a lustful eye and not feel bad afterwards. If that’s not you though, keep listening.

A Personal Story - My Uncle Steve

Tonight, I had the privilege of speaking to hundreds of race fans who were waiting for the doors to open at the Comcast Arena Everett.   The Endurocross is in town.   I arrived at 6 and the doors opened at 6:30, so I had quite a while of undivided attention.   The crowd was very gracious and listened quite intently.

May God sink His Word, deep into peoples hearts.

Hello friends.   My name is Keith, and I’m a born-again Christian, and I’d like to share a few thoughts with you while you wait for the doors to open.

I personally know someone who was a professional motorcycle racer.   In fact, this person, who I know, who was a professional motorcycle racer is my uncle.   His name is Steve Hurd.  He was #1 in the AMA Desert/Enduro category way back in 1967 and 1968.   I idolized that guy as a kid.  I remember cutting pictures of him out of Cycle World magazine and making a scrapbook of them. 
  

I grew up around motorcycles, and rode motorcycles when I was young.   I understand the adrenaline mindset.   I’m familiar with the X-Games culture.   I get with the “Go for it” attitude.   Oh, but there was one thing I omitted about my uncle Steve; he passed away not long ago.   And I only say that to remind us all that our time here on earth is finite.   We will all come to the end of our life at some point.

Hebrews 9:27 It is appointed unto man, once to die, then comes the judgement.    So we all have an appointment with death, and after that we have an appointment with our Maker to give an account of our lives.

Acts 4:12, … God has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness.   So the standard by which we will be judged is righteousness, which means God will judge the heart.   He sees the things you thought were hidden, the things done in darkness, God sees as though they were done in the light.

The Law is a tutor that leads us to Christ

The Gospel is the Good News that Jesus died, was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures.

The New Birth is when the Spirit of God takes up residence in your heart and life. Jesus said, "You must be born again."

You were created for life not death.  You were designed for life.  Death is not your friend, and it was not your intended destiny.   The grave is not the goal, and the funeral is not the finish line.

The Bible compares the Christian faith to a race, in a couple of places… 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Hebrews 12:1,

So if you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, you aren’t even in the race…    If you are a Christian, and you aren’t walking in holiness, then get in the race.

Jesus said, in Matthew 11:28-30  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.   Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.   For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

Videos to come...

God bless...

PETA Folks Hear The Gospel at the Barnum & Bailey Circus

Saturday evening was an amazing time of preaching the Gospel. The Barnum & Bailey Circus was at the Comcast Arena in Everett. I thought it would be great to preach the Gospel to the circus goers. We had a team of four (one is the pastor of Faith Baptist in Everett.) It turned out to be an outstanding time and place for the Gospel to go out. God had prepared His message, and He had prepared the hearts and lives of the hearers.

The circus show started at 7:30pm, so I arrived at about 5:45, and as I drove up, I noticed the PETA people were there protesting the mistreatment of animals at the circus. I thought to myself, "oh, at least I will have the PETA folks to preach the Gospel to." I walked up to the entrance area, where the protesters were assembled, and there were at least 50 to 80 people lined up, waiting for the doors to open. I prayed really intensely before I stepped up on my stool. I had prepared a message entitled, "The Greatest Show (of Love) on Earth", as a take-off on the circus calling itself, "The Greatest Show on Earth".

About half-way into my message, (and by the way, I was connecting with several circus goers, included a ~21 year old young man), the PETA camera man came and stood right in front of me and started calling me every name in the book, and telling me I was an idiot, etc, etc, etc. I told him, "Is that all you have? An ad hominem attack. He walked away. Then a couple of ladies with signs, walked right in front of me, trying to obstruct my preaching. Then some ladies called out, "Doesn't God love animals?", I responded, "Yes, absolutely". Then they shouted, "don't you care about animals?", "Yes", I responded. Then they said, "Well, do you eat them?", and I said, "Yes, and they're very yummy too!" The women groaned, as if they had been kicked in the stomach, while the people in the crowd laughed.

Then there was a mom and a grandma who had brought their kids to the circus, who were in line almost right in front of me while I was preaching. They kept asking me to stop. Finally they started singing songs to try to drown out the Gospel message. Very sad.   Then there was the guitar thrashing, harmonica blowing guy, trying to drown out the Gospel, the whole time we were preaching.

After I finished preaching, the rest of my team arrived, and they took up the preaching duties. At that time, the 21 year old young man (Josh) came up to me crying and confessing sin. He told me he had made some bad decisions and had been in jail the night before. His x-girlfriend came to his apartment, with her new boyfriend, and Josh had gotten into an altercation with the boyfriend, and had gotten taken to jail. I was able to pray with Josh, and just encourage him to repent and trust Jesus and he would come out of this alright.

Here's what I said, at least one time...

Hi folks. My name is Keith and I'm a born-again Christian, and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you while you wait for the doors to open to the show tonight. This circus was started by a man named P.T. Barnum in the mid 1800's. He merged circuses with James Bailey. Then in the early 1900's the Barnum and Bailey circus merged with the Ringling Brothers, and it came to be known as "The Greatest Show on Earth". But I'm here to talk to you about The Greatest Show (of Love) on Earth.

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Romans 5:8 God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.   Here I am talking about the love of God toward mankind, but does thinking or hearing about God make you anxiousness; nervous?  Just talking about God makes a lot of people  irritated and annoyed.  If you’re not comfortable when you think or hear about God; it’s actually a good thing, because deep down the thought of meeting your Maker, The Creator of the Universe who is holy and righteous and infinite ought to make you uncomfortable.   Let’s be honest, we all have a guilty conscience, we feel shame and embarrassment over the wrongs we have committed.   It is tough to bring up our sin, to face own failures, but we must look at ourselves squarely in the mirror, so to speak.   Think about this though, it’s our pride keeps us from facing up to our sins; we all want to save face; to keep our dignity.   1 John 1:7 says, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."   As painful as it is, we must admit our offenses to God, and bring them out into the light.   Jesus said, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will abide in the light of life.   Don’t confess your sins to a priest, you can go straight to God because He’s the one that you’ve sinned against.  King David said in Psalm 51, "Against you [God] and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight."   Proverbs 28:13 says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."   God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble.

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One approach many take to try to appease their conscience is to do good, to try to outweigh their bad.   Its kind of like trying to pay for your sins by doing what is right.   The thought goes, if I just give enough, if I am kind enough, if I am honest enough, and work hard enough, God is obligated to let me into heaven.   Not so, the Bible says, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy has He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”   Every religion says you must 'do', 'do', 'do' to be right with God, but true Biblical Christianity, says "it is finished."   The work of salvation was completed by Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.   Trying to earn your way to heaven is like trying to bribe the Judge of the universe to turn a blind eye to your sin.

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Many try to silence and drown out their conscience by drinking, or taking drugs.   Continually going from one party to the next.   They numb the pain, the shame and the insecurity of a guilty conscience by self medicating, rather than addressing the root of the problem.   It doesn’t have to be drinking or drugs that you use to suppress and ignore your conscience.  It could be anything that distracts you from the seriousness of sin.   It’s called Idolatry, and we make idols out of things like professional athletes, musicians, or movie stars.   But it could even be good things like family, friends, career or education, that can become the focus of our lives rather than putting God first.   God doesn't want just to be on the top of the list, He wants to be number one on a list of one; nothing else should even compare to the love and devotion we have for God.   The first commandment is You shall have no other gods before Me.  The second commandment is You shall not make for yourself idols.  And Jesus said, “The greatest commandment is you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."   If you live for yourself, your desires, your wants, your self-gratification, you will lose your life.   If you live for God, to bring honor to Him, to glorify Him, to put Him first, you will not only gain eternal life, but you will receive new life here and now.   Luke 9:23-26 Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Pray for Josh who came up to me crying over some sin he had committed and poor decisions he had made.

Here are some vids...

God bless...

UW Husky Stadium - Time is Short, Eternity is Forever

I brought a reminder of eternity to the UW Husky fans as they streamed into the recently renovated stadium.   I said football is a great game, I love the game of football, but the game is short.   Maybe two and a half or three hours and you'll be out of here.  But remember, eternity is forever and you will stand before your Maker to give an account of your life.

God displayed His grace in a couple of ways today.  First, He kept the weather nice for me (Thank you Lord.).   Second, he stationed a Christian policeman five yards from me.   I found out the policeman was a Christian after I had been preaching about an hour, and I took a break.   The officer came up and told me he agreed with every word I said, and it was the truth.   He told me there was a bottled water sitting over on the hood of the police car, for me.   He said he had been praying for me.   I was extremely grateful, for the prayer and the water.  God just shined a huge ray of sunshine into my life right there today.

I continued preaching for about another hour.

When the game had started, and I was wrapping it up, and getting ready to leave, a guy came to me and gave me a ticket, and asked if I would find someone to give the ticket to.  So I did.   I stood back up on my stool and offered a free ticket to anyone.   And sure enough, after about 5 minutes I found a taker.   He was a little confused as to the free ticket, but I said no its for real, and I gave him a Bible too.

Then as I headed back toward the University, I walked through the parking lot where all the tailgater parties had been taking place, handing out Gospel tracts to the drunk fans.   I gave Gospel tracts to three or four girls, and they asked what these were and I told them Gospel tracts.   They said, oh, we're Christians, (as they were sucking on beers.)   I said, oh, no you're not, not drinking that beer you're not.   They said Jesus got drunk.   I said, nope, Jesus never got drunk.   They said "well, he made and drank wine."   I said, yes, but he never got drunk.   Being a drunkard, means you're not a Christian.   She said, well, let's just say I'm buzzed.   I said, "Buzzed driving is drunk driving."   Then some guy walked up out of nowhere and said he was going to smack me.  I said why would you say a thing like that?   He said, because you're being mean.   All I said was being a drunkard means you're not a Christian.   He said that Bible is written by men. I said yes, but it was inspired by God.   Then the girls said, we're Catholic, and I said, that's not Christian.  Then the guy got really serious; He said, well I love having sex.   I said, there you go you love your sin.   And I walked away.

God bless...