Friday Night Evangelism: That's your interpretation

After praying through the Word and arriving around 5:00 I was comforted by the verse I had wrote down and placed in my back pocket (1 Pet. 4:12-14). Peter is writing to persecuted Christians and encouraging them to embrace and persevere through their various hardships. His encouragement is not to pray that God would take away discomfort and pain because we're Christians but rather to expect persecution, trails & hardships. Peter assures all believers who are faithful to the gospel will have many tough times but God's Spirit will rest upon us and pull us through for His glory & our eternal joy!
So for me, I could say to myself, "If tonight someone spit on me, slapped me, cursed me out or even tried to kill me because I was proclaiming the gospel I could rejoice...Why? because tonight Jesus could break through the clouds and vindicate me or because I had the honor to partake in His sufferings my reward to come is unspeakably great." Its a win/win baby.

So with all this said, lets go back to the streets [the scene]- sunny day, bars are open, the weekend begins and sinners come out to sin.......
[Enter gospel preaching]
I got to speak with many people tonight and no one really stood out but I got many different responses and opinions. The quote of the night was, "That's your interpretation" refering to the reality of hell or the gospel. One couple I witnessed to believed in heaven and that all go there after death and hell is not real. I explained that hell made perfect sense, we've rebelled and sinned against God and His law (10 commandments) therefore we deserve the punishment (hell) for offending our creator and breaking his law. The guy seem to agree but the girl pulled out the ol' "that's your intrepretation." She said she believed in what the bible said but her authority on the issue was of course herself, not the Bible, so I explained God's justice in punishing sinners and righteousness in condemning His Son on the cross for sin. I let her know that she had just broken the 2nd commandment by creating a god(idol) in her mind that allowed her to live in sin without punishing sin in hell. Off to the bars they went proving what it says in Romans 1:18 , that men suppress the truth with their life of sin & wickedness.

Evangelism in the sunny south

My wife and I celebrated our one year anniversary at Pensacola Beach, FL! We enjoyed each other, God's beautiful creation and even got to share the gospel. Here are a few events where God was so gracious to us:

Tracts in the Highlands, Highlands in Pensacola?

I go out with the Jude 23 Network every Friday to pass out tracts and share the gospel in the Highlands. Its a small world because our waiter at a restaurant told us he lived behind the Wick's Pizza in the Highlands and had just moved to Pensacola a month ago. It was busy but we were able to tip him well and give him a gospel tract in hopes that God will bless His Word. I guess you can take the tracts away from the Highlands but you can't take the Highlands away from the tracts!? or something like that.



WHATAGOSPEL AT WHATABURGER
My wife and I were enjoying awesome burgers at WHATABURGER when we noticed a homeless man digging in the parking lot garbage for something to eat. I thought of Luke 12:13-14 "But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." As we finished up my wife asked him if he wanted something to eat and he replied "yes!" he was very hungry. As my wife bought his burger and coke I started to get to know him, his name was Al and he was originally from Oklahoma. Al said he reads the bible and most people today (including religious) look down at hime and have got it all wrong, "God is love" he exclaimed. I agreed and told Al that God's love providentially brought me to him, so that I could feed him and share the gospel with him (all the way from Kentucky!). In my opinion, I explained, he was in a better position then most rich people in the surrounding beach homes.....Al then looked at me puzzled.....this is because he has no treasures on this earth to keep him from treasuring the most valuable treasure in the universe, CHRIST! Most the people around us are so busy storing up treasures on earth that will one day perish with them but Al has no one/anything in this life, so I pleaded with him to cling to Christ. I thanked Al for allowing us to feed him and encouraged him to look to Christ alone and to read the gospel tract we gave Him. What a privilege it is to dine with the down cast and rejected of this world... its like following in the footsteps of our humble King.

My FATHER'S providence on father's day
I thank God for the father He gave me on this earth, I love him and pray for him always. On our way home from Pensacola we got a flat tire in the middle of Alabama late at night. I was able to make it to a gas station where I had the opportunity to impress my wife and earn a "manly notch" in my belt by changing the tire all by myself. Well I was having a little trouble and a nice man named Allen ask me if he could help. I humbly replied "I think I can get it" not knowing God had sent this man to me. Allen pulled his truck up next to me and said "Man I do this for a living" as he quickly took over and jacked my car up and did his best "one man NASCAR pit crew" impression. He changed my tire in a jiffy and I was so thankful to God for this nice gentleman. I talked to him for a little bit and then gave him a few dollars and a gospel tract. I don't know exactly why everything happens but I truly believe I got that flat to give that tract to Allen.

Sharing the gospel at Canaan Christian Chuch

Today the Lord allowed me to share the gospel and encourage evangelism to about 15 people who gathered behind Canaan Christian Church. I was invited by a gentlemen named Cory who started saturday morning football games at the church to bring in the lost. Cory told me the Lord's been dealing with his heart about evangelizing and it was God's providence that he came across the Jude 23 Network on bardstown road a couple of weeks ago. Cory talked to John (Jude 23 Network leader) and received the book "The Way of the Master". One thing led to another and I was given the opportunity after the football game to share the gospel and encourage believer's to evangelize.

As I was driving to the church, I didn't know what to expect but I prayed and thought of the verse "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." -(Eph 2:10) What peace I have to know I'm not the source of anything and all God ask of me is to be faithful in the good works He has already prepared for me to walk in. I was redeemed to know Christ and treasure Him and to be salty this very morning to a group of individuals I've never met and may never meet again. I showed up as they were finishing the last game and we all circled up for prayer and Cory introduced me to everyone.

I began telling them about the Jude 23 Network and the Way of the Master evangelism ministry and encouraged them to look into it and pray for a burden to share the gospel. Most of the people here went to church but I promised God that I would never look at individuals with labels because I 'grew up in church' and I was as lost and enslaved to sin as anyone. It went great, I started with showing the existences of God through creation and our consciences. I shared a little of my testimony to show that we must examine our hearts to see where our treasure is. To look at the fruits of our lives to see what kind of tree we are. I've found that nearly every nominal Christian or lost churchman isn't trusting in Christ alone but rather their own good works and the fact that they have a Christian backround. They're content with giving God a few hours a week of lip service while their hearts treasure and desire the things of the world (like football, food, TV, clothes, etc.) far greater then Christ. It seems everyone wants a Savior from hell but not a Lord.....only a true Christian will desire a Savior to Lord over their lives and free them from sin and love for the things of the world.

I then took them through the law (10 commandments) to expose the conscience to God's righteousness and open eyes to our state of sinfulness and depravity as rebels in the hands of an angry and just God. When laying this foundation the gospel is good news and Christ is the most glorious treasure in the universe! "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." -(1 Pet 2:24) What joy I have to exposit the glories of propitiation! That Christ absorbed every bit of God's wrath that the believer deserves and He swallowed down every drop in that cup the Father prepared for Him! I finished with a plea to repent because lost churchmen are the same as the devil (they both go to church, they know scripture and they believe in Jesus but they'll all end up in hell because they won't repent). Repent of sins, repent of trusting in self, repent of all hope except Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected!