Close Call, Gospel Call

Recently I had a close call that really shook me and my wife up. I hit a deer and it totaled my car. I was very thankful that God spared my wife, the two passengers and myself. It was amazing that no one was hurt (except the deer) when that kind of accident could have been fatal. Prior to the accident I was driving and thinking about my game I had just played and some school work I needed to finish (all temporal things). Then out of nowhere... Boom! It happened. I could of entered eternity.

That really hit home when I was thinking about all the events that night before I fell asleep. What is so amazing about all this is that I was scheduled to speak to a middle school team the next morning. I had been praying through Scripture and seeking God's help that week but was feeling really dry. But after the accident it was like a jolt of reality. I felt how fragile life is, how close eternity is and as my friend Mark Cahill always says, "we are one heart beat away." The next morning I awoke with a passion to share the gospel and a strong sense that death is closer than we think. Our only hope is Christ. The only reality is Christ.

My brothers in Christ (Mike Lee & Tyler Woods) prayed with me and we all shared some truth with this team. I closed with the gospel and I looked these young guys in the eyes and spoke into their souls. Seed sown. I'm praying for that group but also that God gives me grace to have an eternal mindset. I know this is my purpose... on a mission.

Preaching Christ crucified at a Tent Revival & the Abortion Clinic

"So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." -Hebrews 13:12-14

My pastor, Brian Croft, preached these verses this past Sunday & it was such an encouragement to me. God has called me & all Christians to take the gospel 'outside the camp' of our church walls to a dying & lost world where Jesus wants us to go. Why? Jesus is outside the camp waiting on us to follow him & bear the reproach he endured joyfully as he is with us. We do this because we live for God's glory & we know that we have no lasting city here, but we seek the city of God to come in heaven. God gave me the opportunity to fulfill this call by preaching the gospel at a tent revival & at the abortion clinic this past weekend.

TENT REVIVAL: You must be Born Again
I've found that if you make yourself available to preach God's Word wherever & whenever God will open doors you can't imagine. One Thursday night I couldn't of imagined that just 3 nights later I'd be preaching at a tent revival on Cane Run Road. But in God's providence I was given the opportunity by a fellow street preacher (Jessie) to preach God's Word at this tent meeting that has been going on for 3 weeks. Jessie was a drug addict that God set free & now he joyfully preaches freedom in Christ in the same areas that he once was in bondage & lost. I like this brother's zeal & willingness to go outside the camp & box to seek & save the lost. I appreciated when he said that he doesn't aspire to do anything but street preach & clean toilets if that's what God would have him do. The harvest is great but faithful laborers are few.

I preached from John 3:1-8 & Ezekiel 36:25-27 about the absolute need of being "Born Again." Without this spiritual new birth we cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. I emphasized that being born again is a work God does in us not something we can control. Jesus compares the Spirit of God to the wind that blows where it wishes & we cannot control it but it accomplishes the transformation of hard hearts into soft hearts. It makes those who are dead in their sins become alive in Jesus Christ. I preached the gospel & pleaded that all cry out to God to do this work in them. Evidence of the new birth is seen in Ezk. 36 where we see this work take place in believers hating the sin they once loved & loving the God they once suppressed & ignored. God was lifted up & with us in this service & he is doing a work in his people through the proclamation of his Word.

Hostility at the Abortion Clinic
Emotions are always running high & the atmosphere is always electric at the death mill on 2nd & Market St. I was out with my team the Jude 23 Network open air preaching, praying, & opening our mouths for the unborn who cannot speak for themselves. The Clinic Escorts (Pro-Abortion) were particularly in a sobering mood as they wore flowers in memory of their fellow friend & clinic escort who passed away this past week. This man had been an Abortion clinic escort for over 10 years & was opposed to the gospel but now he must give an account to God. Wow that hit me hard thinking that just last week I & others preached the gospel to him and now he is in eternity.... you better believe the gospel message is urgent, sinners are dying every second! On this morning me & Jerry took turns preaching & it was my first real taste of anger & hostility toward the gospel.

As I began to preach the sober reality of death & mentioned that we are all going to follow in their friends footsteps (who recently died) the clinic escorts became furious & one cussed me out. As I preached God's justice against sin & God's law the clinic escorts were very hostile & opposed. But I know seeds were planted in them as I expounded the grace & love of God seen in Christ crucified to save sinners. Throughout the morning around 23 women came to have abortions & I pleaded with them that God has wonderfully made the child in their wombs & please don't murder their child. Just across the street is a Christian clinic that will help & give other options to these mothers. As we preach we often see these women & their accompanying family look through the blinds in the waiting room at us because they can hear everything as they sit there. God empowered me to be a bold witness for him, I felt the presence of God as I went outside the camp to herald the good news. God comforted & strengthened me with Proverbs 24:11, "Rescue those who are being taken away to death."

Preaching at the Death Factory

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously,defend the rights of the poor and needy." -Prov. 31:8-9

One thing that really upsets & deeply hurts me is the thought that around 115,000 unborn children are murdered everyday (that's around 5,000 every hour!). At one point my wife was an unborn child & I thank God everyday for her life.... at one point every human being was in the womb. David says in Psalms 139, "For you(God) formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." God wonderfully made each beautiful child in the womb (we can't imagine the love God has for each child) & how do you think He feels about the daily genocide of unborn babies? The Bible is clear that He is angry with the wicked everyday & his wrath abides upon those who participate in this (and all sinful acts). But there is hope....

Hope is found in Jesus Christ that is why many come out to the Abortion Clinic every Saturday to pray, preach, and offer other options to the woman considering abortion. God commands Christians to open their mouth for those who cannot speak for themselves and are destitute. Our country is systematically & barbarically murdering unborn children daily by tearing them limb from limb (seriously watch an abortion video). I can't see how you can possibly suppress the truth of this wickedness & sin that is considered okay in this country. But not me, no sir I will pray & preach the gospel in hopes that those who participate in this evil turn from their sins & come to God who is ready to forgive. I will preach the gospel to those who volunteer to be "Clinic Escorts" they support abortion & escort women into the clinic but they will hear my voice & the men of the Jude 23 Network pleading for them to turn to God.

Love isn't Hate
When John was preaching to the women going into the clinic one of the escorts came at John and said, "why so much hate!?" Isn't it amazing that we as Christians who love God, love people, & love the unborn are considered hateful because we're taking a stand against the systematic murder of children. John replied, "Sir, we are telling the mother not to hate their child by killing them." As Christians we are to boldly stand for truth, justice, love, & God even when the world reviles or hates us. One day when we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ everything we've said & done will be brought into the light. Those who said we 'hate' will realize how much love we really have for them. Jesus is our example, he lived a perfectly good & sinless life but still the world hated him & nailed him to a cross. As his servants how can we expect any better treatment?

My first Open Air preaching experience
After Jerry had preached he prompted me to open air preach as well. I'm glad he did because God has put that desire in my heart and all I needed was that nudge. So Jerry lined me up by preaching the law & sin to bring me up to share the gospel. This was my first official open air so I must admit I was very nervous but once I opened my mouth God's grace was sufficient. I was encouraged to see many of the Catholics and clinic escorts listened. It was a joy to point sinners to the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If God can save a sinful, selfish, rebel like myself & raise him up to preach the gospel in front of an abortion clinic... then God can do anything believe me (better yet believe in God). While preaching I noted that some of these woman made an appointment for an abortion but we all have an appointed with death & we'll stand before God in judgment. We must be righteous- absolutely perfect and free from sin (Mt. 5:48). No amount of good deeds will cover our sins, our sins must be punished to be forgiven. Only the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ will suffice. He died as the punishment for your sins paying the sinful debt we owe God & by repentance & faith we receive the benefits of this sacrifice on our behalf. When we turn from sin & trust in Christ God will forgive us of all sins, grant us eternal life, & give us the Holy Spirit & a new heart to live for Him. May God open hearts & draw them into eternal joy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!

Abortion Clinic & Art in the Arbor Festival

The day before Mother's Day is a charged atmosphere On 2nd & Market St. in downtown Louisville because life & death are at hand. This Saturday morning I joined the guys of Jude 23 to pray & preach the gospel in front of the Abortion Clinic. There were pro-choice(death) supporters with nearly 40-50 Clinic escorts for the women coming there to have abortions. But there were many Pro-Life supporters gathered to pray, some had the red tape over their mouths (LIFE), but we open air preached. The crowd was hostile especially some of the clinic escorts (you can see it in the video posted from WHAS 11). It breaks my heart think that right here in my own city hundreds of babies are being murdered by their own mothers every month. God help us, God help me to fervently pray against this & for the mothers to turn to you.

Later that afternoon I headed to the Art in the Arbor festival held at Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church. I must mention that the Unitarian Church is associated with Liberal Christianity but it is NOT Christian. There are a variety of non-biblical beliefs between different Unitarian branches but they all deny the Trinity (One God revealed in 3 persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit). I'm not really concerned with that I came to 'seek & save the lost' at this festival. So with a pocket full of gospel tracts I prayerfully went in & began passing them out & talking with people about the gospel. Lets just say that I wasn't received with open arms.

"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." -2 Tim. 3:12-13

These verses were real at this festival. I encountered a lot of rejection toward the gospel and a blatant false teacher. Paul says to Timothy that you can bank on this: living boldly & godly for Christ will make you a target for persecution in a sinful world that is hostile toward God. Making matters worse there are 'impostors'-- evil & false teachers who further deceive the masses & themselves toward destruction.

Hostile toward God
I don't know what it is with the 'older crowd' but they often don't want to engage in any conversation about God. Many took my gospel tracts then wanted to give them back & some people flat out told me they didn't care & didn't want to hear anyone's opinion about what it takes to get to heaven. Another man said, "Heaven is a place were you can drink all the beer you want & realize you don't have any money." It never surprises me that most of these people look outwardly gentle & compassionate but they are all the same inwardly as the Bible proclaims (sinful, hostile to God, rebels, & blind). I'm sure I could have talked with them about anything but God & they would have smiled & liked me but the moment I discussed spiritual matters that concern their sinful state before a holy God 'the monster sticks its head out.' And let me be clear, I'm always respectful, gentle, never judging or condemning but when you began exposing that men are not nearly as good as they think they are & that Christ is the only way to have their sins removed & forgiven- the offense of the gospel becomes evident.

Wrong way to Heaven Mr. Preacher
I gave a tract to a couple of men & asked them, "what do you think happens to you after you take your last breathe?" One of the men responded, "Well I'm going to see the Father's face in heaven & be with him." I said, "Amen, that's what I will be doing, but how do you get to heaven." He responded again, "Well brother you have to live a good life." I asked him, "so you have lived a good enough life to get to heaven? Do you mind going through some of the 10 commandments to see?" Then this man began walking away & said, "I don't need this, I'm a preacher myself!" Wow, this man is exactly what Paul described when he spoke of "evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

This man claimed to be a minister of God but had deceived himself into believing that he has lived a good enough life to earn heaven's reward. The Bible is clear that there are none that are righteous, holy, or good enough in themselves to earn heaven because 'all have sinned.' Jesus is clear that we must 'be perfect as the Father is perfect' to enter into heaven (Jesus said perfect not simply good). So what have we earned by living 'good lives' as sinners? The wages of our sin, which is death (eternal death in hell). This is why Jesus Christ came to live a perfect & sinless life (because we haven't & can't stand before God innocent). Then he expressed the highest degree of love & grace by laying down his life on rugged cross as a sacrifice for sins he had not committed. The one innocent lamb of God took the place of us guilty sinners! The punishment we deserve fell upon him as he bore the wrath of God for our sins so that God remains just when forgiving sinners. That is why salvation comes by faith alone apart from works. At best our 'good deeds & life' are stained & filthy with our sins. We need the blood of Jesus to wash us white as snow. We can never live a good enough life to save ourselves, God is clear that sin is what will send us to hell because it must be punished & good deeds don't remove our sins... only trusting in the person & work of Christ will remove our sins. So don't listen to any false teacher or preacher who says just live a good life. So "no Mr. Preacher that's the wrong way to heaven... it leads to hell."

Making Today Count for Eternity

I've been trying to make an effort lately to make each day count for eternity. I recently read a great quote, "If something is not worth dying for than its definitely not worth living for." As a Christian I have to really examine my life & look at what fills it up. Does it show that I value Christ or things of the world? That's convicting but we have "One life to live that soon will pass, only what's done for Christ will last." With all this said, I'm going to try to give a gospel tract or share the gospel with someone everyday. That is a cause worth living for: sacrificially loving others & serving Christ on my way into eternity.

Since I've made this resolve God has brought many people my way to share the gospel with and many have been very receptive. I pulled up to a gas station the other night & gave a million dollar bill gospel tract to the man pumping gas next to me. His name was Aaron, we got into a great conversation about what happens after death. He told me that he hoped he had lived a good enough life for God to let him into heaven. We may try to live a good life but we can never live up to the standard Jesus set when he said, "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Mt. 5:48). So I took him through some of the 10 commandments & Aaron began to see his sinfulness before a God of holiness & justice. From there I took Aaron to the cross of Christ & showed him where love, forgiveness, truth, and grace was demonstrated for him.

Aaron had a soft heart, I could tell God has been working on him. He told me that his girlfriend is taking him to church & wants him to get right with God. He also has another Christian friend who has been encouraging him & I was the third person God sent. Wow, what an honor to be part of God's work to a soul when I was just pulling up to get some gas. But God works every detail out for his glory & this is what I was created to do. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10).

Please Pray for:
-Aaron (Gas station/ He was very receptive to the Gospel & it seemed God may be drawing him)
-Chris & Shane (Chris was an old childhood friend & Shane was a high school senior.. they were both very open to the truth)
-Jeff (Jeff had a Christian background but appreciated hearing the Gospel explained)
-3 teen girls (ages 13-15, they listened intently & I pray God uses that seed I sowed)

Evangelizing on Derby Eve

Louisville is hopping at this time every year with Thoroughbred racing, Derby hats, celebrities, and parties. Bardstown Road is no exception and I had the honor of going 'outside the camp' to reach the lost with the gospel on Derby Eve. I was very encouraged to link up with some faithful brothers in Christ who are just as zealous about preaching the gospel as I am. The weather was great and there was a buzz in the air as soon as I arrived.

Over a four hour period I passed out hundreds of gospel tracts and shared the gospel with more people than I can remember. This was a special night because I had one great conversation about God & the gospel after another. I encountered a mixture of some very hard hearts and some very soft hearts that God seem to prick as I was speaking to them.

Hard Hearts
I hadn't been out on Bardstown Rd. in a while so I kind of forgot how dark it was spiritually. While one of our guys was open air preaching multiple people were cursing at him & blaspheming God's name. The police showed up & tried to shut us down but we weren't on private property so we were able to continue preaching. When my friend Jerry was preaching a kid came up and mooned him! We were in front of Ear-x-tacy so lets just say we were doing our part to 'keep Louisville weird.' I even talked with a young man who claimed to be a Wiccan & he had died 3 times already. He was very obstinate & claimed he didn't care about God & was going to live the way he wanted to live & sin all he wants. I was able to give him a tract so I pray that will be a gospel seed planted for another to water soon.

Convicted Hearts
There were so many great conversations I had but I will highlight one specifically. As the night went on me, John, Danny, & Jerry decided to walk to a cafe a little further down the road to open air preach and continue witnessing. But when we arrived there was a band playing outdoors. It didn't matter because God was taking us to another spot that was a harvest field. By a dark bus stop next to a McDonald's we begin to have great conversations with people & they were very receptive to the gospel.

I witnessed to a group of 5 teens (first to the 3 guys & then to the two girls). I asked them, "If you died tonight & stood before God & He asked you 'why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say." They all told me about how good they have tried to be in life & that should get them in heaven. So I took them through some of the 10 Commandments to see if they were good in God's eyes since that is who they must answer to. As I was doing this they admitted they had lied, stolen, lusted, etc. you could literally see the conviction on their face. A couple of them looked as if they were about to cry! Once I explained that our holy God will punish all sin by sending the guilty to hell & that would be the fair & right thing for God to do they were stunned. They were ready for the good news that God doesn't leave us in our sins but provides 'the way, the truth, & the life' to heaven(Jesus Christ).

I explained that Jesus didn't die on the cross for his sins because he was perfect. I looked in the eyes of these kids and ask them, "Whose sins did Jesus die for if he wasn't dying for his sins?" They nodded their heads and said, "For our sins." After I finished speaking with them they said, "I want to get right with God right now!" This was amazing because I've never had someone say this to me so I asked them if they wanted to pray. I explained that praying doesn't guarantee they are saved because Jesus said 'the one who does the will of my Father' & 'the one who preserves until the end will be saved.' But right there on the street corner we prayed and they asked Christ to cleanse them of their sins. They said that they attended a church so I told them to tell their pastor what had happened & I encouraged them to begin reading the book of John in their Bible & praying for God to make them more like Christ.

Meeting Mark Cahill

It is amazing how God connects people, answers prayers, & works things out for his glory. Well known evangelist, Mark Cahill, spoke at a conference yesterday (Friday) but I wasn't able to make it. I have read his books and been inspired by his fiery drive to reach the lost wherever & whenever for Christ. Today (Saturday) I pulled up to a gas station & began pumping gas when I look over to my left and a tall guy is walking at me with a hand full of gospel tracts. It was Mark Cahill & as he began to hand me a tract and start up a conversation I just simply hugged him. Hahaha you should of seen Mark's face he just said, "I'm sorry do I know you?" I replied back with a smile, "No but I know you." I told Mark that I've read his books, heard some of his messages, & they have been a real inspiration to me to be a witness for Christ.

Before you know it Mark handed me some tracts and we were handing them out to those at this gas station. After a little conversation together Mark graciously prayed for me & my wife Amanda & gave me his book, "One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven." Of course the one thing you can't do in Heaven is tell the lost about Christ so that should be our top priority in life's journey. As Amanda & I jumped into our car to pull off we saw Mark hit up everyone else at that gas station & began witnessing to a lady taking a smoke break. I'm praying for zeal, boldness, & determination from the Holy Spirit to reach the lost like Mark Cahill. I believe in divine encounters & I learned more about being a light for Christ in those few minutes talking & watching Mark in action than I ever could of at a conference. It was a wake up call from God & I was glad to pass out gospel tracts at the mall later that evening. I want to lay my life down for Christ & not waste it.

Reflecting on T4G

I was privileged to attend the Together for the Gospel (T4G) 2010 Conference this week in Louisville. The speaker lineup was stellar: Mark Dever, Thabiti Anyabwile, Al Mohler, RC Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, Ligon Duncan, Matt Chandler, & CJ Mahaney. I can't write about every little detail but here are some highlights:

-Mark Dever preached a wonderful message & it really made me think about how the local church should operate in a God glorifying way. Christians are regular people but something is noticeably different. Instead of being church goers who act like we are perfect & have it all together we humbly admit our faults & seek forgiveness from each other & Christ. We must break the trends & legalistic stereotypes.

-John Piper's message argued that Paul & Christ preached the gospel of justification by faith & charged us to do the same. His opening text was Luke 18:9-14, which was encouraging because that was the text I preached from in my last sermon. I was particularly moved with his point about the rich young ruler who loved his money too much to follow Christ. What he lacked was that he wouldn't let go of money & grab hold of Christ.... he lacked Christ!

-I was thankful that I got to meet Shai Linne from Lamp Mode Records. He is a very gifted & anointed rapper for the gospel of Christ. I included a pic I took with him above. Shai killed it when he rapped a song on stage about the Trinity, I think alot of people were blown away.

-Perhaps the most moving and emotional part of the conference followed Matt Chandler's testimony of how he has been trying to glorify God as he suffers publicly with brain cancer. John Piper led a prayer for Matt & his wife & others laid hands on brothers in the crowd as we joined prayerfully.

-Ending the conference was CJ Mahaney & the message was a charge for the ordinary pastor to preach the word faithfully. He discussed DA Carson's father, who was an ordinary pastor of a small church. He didn't get much recognition & suffered a lot of pain but he received a great reward when he entered glory. May we all follow faithfully after Christ & look to the reward as a good & faithful unworthy servant.


That's the highlights from T4G 10' & Lord willingly I will attend T4G 12' unless the Lord has greater plans for me & Amanda. I was praying that God would speak to me through His Word, through the preaching of His Word during this conference & I feel like he has cause some unrest in my soul. I will follow that & wrestle with God's call on my life. I desire to be like Christ & fulfill the call he may have for me. What that is I don't know. But I read about a call to ministry from CH Spurgeon and he said if you can prevent going into ministry than avoid it. But if you cannot but preach or die then enter the ministry. So this is me signing off.... faithfully being a witness for Christ but avoiding the ministry unless I must die or enter.

Am I really making an impact on anyone?

There is no joy like truly servicing God from the heart and seeing your efforts impact those around you. For me there is no satisfaction greater than overcoming my own fears and weaknesses to love someone enough to get out of my comfort zone and share the gospel. I've had to the opportunity by God's grace to share the gospel to over a thousand people through street witnessing, one on one encounters, and preaching engagements at various places. But sometimes I wonder "am I really impacting any one's life eternally?" I understand that no matter what when the gospel is shared a person can accept or reject Christ (which is an eternal decision). Paul said in 2 Cor. 2:15-16, "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" Paul's point is that Christian's witness and sacrifice for Christ will bring death or life to those who hear the message. By God's grace we can carry out this commission because no one is sufficient for this task in their own ability, we need the Holy Spirit to empower us. I've always prayed that God would bless his gospel & give me the power to be a witness for him & God has always shown unlimited grace to me.

I've been encouraged by the amazing story of a little man named Mr. Genor who faithfully passed out gospel tracts for over 40 years but never knew if he ever impacted anyone. Just before Mr. Genor died he received news that through his faithful witness many have come to Christ and are now in the ministry. So I wonder what has God done with the seeds I've sown in the lives of those I've witnessed too. I'm content because I know God awards faithfulness not fruit. Faithfulness is my job and fruit is God's job because he 'brings the increase.' Recently a friend of mine gave me a letter that brought me so much joy and encouragement. It basically said that over the last year he has been impacted by watching me live out my life for Christ and through our talks it was difference in him coming to Christ. This young man has a similar background to mine and I think he was just encouraged to see that God could really change someone from the heart and it be legit. I was speechless because their are no words to describe the encouragement, joy, and thankfulness to God for allowing me, a sinner, to be a witness for his glory. To God be the glory who raises dead men and sends them out to call others from their sinful graves to walk in the light of God's glory.

Preaching Justification @ Auburndale Baptist

Well my pastor gave me another opportunity to preach the Sunday evening service at Auburndale Baptist. Last summer I preached Psalm 51 "True Repentance" as part of the Psalms series and it went great. It was the first time my family, friends, and church had ever heard me preach. I was truly honored to have that platform to share the gospel. Fast foward to March 21, 2010 & I'm back again preaching Luke 18:9-14 "Justification for the Humble & Broken." This time many more of my family & friends showed up and I was excited about the message God had given me.

In Luke 18 Jesus tells the parable of the tax collector & the pharisee. It is a story of the wicked vs. religious, the shameful vs. the proud yet the twist in the story is that the unrighteous tax collector was justified rather than the praying Pharisee. But why? Well the Pharisee trusted in his own flawed righteousness rather than the perfect righteous of Christ. But the tax collector was repentant and looked totally away from himself to God for mercy & jusitification. He made right with God by faith alone in Christ alone apart from any works. The tax collector may have had a sin filled past but by faith he was counted righteous (Rm 4:5) & his sinful record was nailed to the cross when Christ died for him. No matter how guilty or unworthy we may feel God promises justification to the Humble & broken. God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.

IN SEASON & OUT OF SEASON

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season..." -2 Tim. 4:2

Paul said this to a young man named Timothy. Paul's instruction was clear, always preach the true gospel at all times as God gives you grace because "the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine." My pastor recently encouraged me with this verse as I prepare to preach this Sunday night at Auburndale Baptist Church. I'm praying for grace to be a consistent light for Christ wherever I go. I must have God's word in my heart to not only kill sin in my life but also to share the gospel wherever I may be. For someone to be ready in season & out of season it takes determination, faith, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit. To stay hot you better be close to the fire.

This morning I was reading over my sermon notes & a Jehovah's Witness knocked at my door. It was like God didn't want me to wait until tomorrow night to preach, it was time to go to work right now. I could hear Paul's words in 2 Timothy 4:2 in the back of my mind as I opened the door. I have talked to many Jehovah's witnesses & done a lot of research about this religion. To list a few major differences they have with historic biblical Christianity: Jesus was Michael the archangel who became a man, Jesus did not rise from the dead in his physical body, The soul ceases to exist after death & there is no hell, and Salvation is by faith and what you do. Now as I talked with this nice man my goal wasn't to debate but to share the true gospel from the Bible. It went well, I made him think about some serious issues that concern his own soul's condition. He even said, "I will have to do my research."

I believe God is clear in Scripture that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The criminal who died on a cross next to Jesus had no time to 'do good works & be a good person.' In his dying breaths he expressed faith in Christ & Jesus said to him, 'today you will be with me in paradise.' That criminal lived a life of sin but through faith alone apart from any works he was saved because he trusted in Christ who had done all the work on his behalf. Jesus died for our sins like they were his sins (even though he had never sinned) & Jesus gives us his perfect righteousness through simple faith. "By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, that no one may boast" (Eph. 2:8-9) "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God" (Rom. 5:1).