Please Listen

This video is about 11 minutes long, please...take the time to listen to it.

I got this video from a site I recently found called I'll Be Honest (http://www.illbehonest.com/index.php). I recommend checking this site out. It has a lot of encouraging, convicting, and challenging material on it.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

New Sign In Action

As I wrote in my last post, I made a sign for my girls to hold when we go out on the streets. We want our children to love and serve the Lord. One way to do this is to have them participate in sharing the Love of God reveled through Jesus Christ at a young age. As parents, we will never have this opportunity again - they are only 3 and 2 once! I do not want to regret not taking them out even though they are so young. We are hoping and praying they not only come to know the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way, but also they would find great joy in being a spoken witness for Him among this wicked world. If my children never play sports, if my children never play a musical instrument, if my children never become a top CEO or even have a 401K...I don't care. I want them to Love and Serve the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength - even if it costs them their life! Jesus is worth it! I want them to be, from an early age, what I wasn't for 28 years - a light among a dark and dying world, i.e. soldier for the Lord. We will continue to pray for them and teach them the commandments of the Lord. As a parent, it is a wonderful blessing to see some of your "arrows" preach the Gospel, knowing the Lord is being magnified!

We were able to pass out about 200 tracts. There were a lot of students out, it was a gorgeous day, the girls shared in holding their sign, and I even had one great conversation with a student (though I did not get it on tape). The girls never complained once, they listened to me, and were more than willing to go the extra "step" to pass out tracts. I was blessed indeed. I hope the video encourages you to step out in faith.

Colossians 3:21

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

The Heavenly Man

I was recently given a book titled The Heavenly Man (2003). This book is about a Chinese man, Brother Yun, who was born in 1958 and became a christian around the age of 10. The book is basically an autobiography of his life as a christian in communist China. One nice thing about the book is the dates of the accounts are not a thousand years old. Many, if not most, are within my life-time, therefore making the book appealing to me because I can place myself during these times (does that make sense?).

The stories in this book are INCREDIBLE! Absolutely incredible. They will challenge your way of thinking. It will bring doubts at times, conviction, tears, joy, and absolute amazement at the faithfulness of God.

Much controversy has surrounded this book, the stories within, and Brother Yun himself. I do not care to debate if these stories are true or not. One thing I will say, all the stories (the context of them) are within the bounds of Holy Writ. The little research I have done seems to indicate this Brother is telling the truth.

I found this book to be HIGHLY refreshing, convicting, encouraging, just an over-all blessing. I recommend this book - but be prepared to be blown-away!

I rarely read other "christian" books. In fact, this is the first book I've read in over a year. I try not to deviate to far from the Word of God because of the deception that can abound in many "christian" circles. BUT, this book caught my attention immediately - I am glad I read it.! I encourage you to find a copy, pray, and see what God may be speaking to you through Brother Yun.

Steve


2Peter 3:15-16
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Where's our sign, Daddy?

We went out to the UMD campus today to pass out tracts and share the Gospel using banners. I decided to take my two daughters with me, ages 3 and 2 (almost 2). It was a great day with them as they were able to pass out many tracts and watch us share the Gospel with people. Upon leaving, my oldest daughter Amariah asked when I was going to make them a sign? They said they wanted to "hold a sign just like Daddy". Well, that's all I needed to hear...a few hours later they were on our deck holding their sign (see pictures below - click the pictures for a larger view).

Your children will do what you do. They watch you. They see you. They hear what you say. Serve the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart and teach your children the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 20:5

We will rejoice in your salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!

Great Story Part 2

Praise to our Great God and Savior, we don't deserve it but sometimes God shows us the fruit of our labor...for that I am thankful! Please read...

I mentioned in a few blogs about a young man named "Tim". When I first met him on the streets a year ago he was a self-proclaimed satanist. When I first approached him he was very adamant that he wanted nothing to do with my "religious message". He even said "we have nothing in common". A few hours later he approached me and we talked for almost 2 hours about my faith in God.

A year later I ran into him again, this time things were much different. He approached me and talked about how our first conversation really had an effect on him. He had many more questions, and again we talked for almost 2 hours. He was very thankful both for our willingness to share our message out on the streets and for our willingness to talk with him for so long. Before he left, I gave him my bible and we exchanged emails/phone numbers. I sent him an email several weeks ago and I have not received a response until this morning. Below is the email he sent me:

Hey Steve,
Sorry this took so long to get back to you....I've been busy trying to find a job. So yeah, I'm o.k. just trying to straighten out my life.....and make things better for myself. As for getting together to talk about things.....i might have to take a rain check for at least a couple of weeks...

I'd just like to say thanks again for talking to me again, and even more for inviting me out to lunch, and also for the Bible you gave me. I've read only two pages.....but I am more than just reading them....I am trying to decipher them and find the meanings behind the words.
So thanks again, and drop me a line sometime and we can talk or hang out or whatever.

Please pray for "Tim's" soul...God wishes no man to perish (2 Peter 3:9)

Preach the Gospel in season and out of season...
Steve

Great Story

If you were to go back to my April 18th post you would read about a satanist I encountered on the streets. To make a long story short, on the above date I approached a young man, asked Him if I could talk to him but was declined. He said he and I had nothing in common, stating he was a self-proclaimed "satan worshiper". I left him alone only to be approached by him an hour later with this question, "Why do you believe there is a God?". WOW - great question. He and I talked for almost 2 hours going from Genesis through Revelation. He had a lot of great questions and thanked me for talking wit him. We exchanged emails, I contacted him but never heard back from him.

Fast-forward to March 16, 2009. We set up our banner at the bus-station. This was the first really nice day this year, so we took advantage of it knowing that many people would be waiting outside to catch their bus. We were only set up for about 5 mins. when I noticed a young guy walking toward me. We made eye contact and I knew immediately this was the self-proclaimed satan worshiper from a year ago. I was on the phone and was not able to talk to him, but we gave each other a head-nod. About 5 minutes later to approached me and we simultaneously said "Remember me?"...we both acknowledged. He even remembered my name!! We ended up talking for almost 2 hours again, and he was so thankful for my willingness to talk to him last year. He still has a lot of questions, but stated he has thought about me and our conversation many times. He even agreed that there is a high-power ("god") that is Just, Righteous, and Holy. His attitude, demeanor, and seriousness was totally different from what I remember a year ago. It seems God is really revealing Himself to this young man hopefully bringing him to repentance. We again exchanged phone numbers/emails, I gave him my bible, and then gave each other a "ghetto hug" before departing. He was very appreciated and said he would read the bible. Please pray for this man's soul.

The rest of the day, though great in itself, was nothing compared to this first conversation. We had Lisa and Chris out with us - Lisa actually held the banner, helped with conversations, and really enjoyed her time on the streets. Her and I talked to a self-professed wicken who had a lot of great questions about our faith. We were able to talk to him about God the creator, the judge, His justice, sin, righteousness, and the coming judgment. He was very attentive and listened as we gave him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

More to come....Steve

2 Timothy 2:24-26
And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Neither him who plants nor him who waters...but God!

1 Corinthians 3:5-8
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase

Recently this scripture has been brought to my mind over and over again. We as believers are nothing, only vessels our great God and Savior uses to bring forth His fruit. We are simply unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10).

I've been in many discussions over the last year or so about the "method" we use out on the streets. In all honesty, I don't really know what are "method" is considered. Some call it "cold-calling". Some call it "confrontational". Some call it "open-air preaching. Some call it "holding signs". Some call it "relational". I guess I would call it all of the above, but more importantly I would call it biblical. Just like Jesus and His apostles, they received all kind of reactions to their message. Some loved them, others hated them. Some asked questions, others ignored them. Some became followers, others became traitors.

We as christians should expect the same reactions when we go out and share the Gospel. I boldly proclaim if we are not receiving these same reactions, then there is probably something severly wrong with our message. If everyone is hating you and what you are saying, then maybe you need to recheck your message and/or delivery. If everyone is accepting you and loving you, then maybe you need to recheck your message and/or delivery. If no one is asking questions, again recheck your message. If no one is receiving answers to their questions, recheck! We are to be followers of Jesus, therefore we would suspect that if our message is inline with Jesus' message, the reactions to follow would be similar.

I would even go further to say if most people are accepting your message...meaning they "believe" what you are saying and accept it as truth, then there is probably something wrong with your message. The bible is clear - the cross is foolishness to the world. Jesus himself said there will be more people in hell than heaven (Matthew 7:13-27). There are many churches in the world today that preach a very watered-down Gospel that the masses are flocking too. This Gospel talks very little, if any, about sin, righteousness, or the judgment to come. Why? Because most people think if they offend someone, or get to personal with them, and if the person walks away not believing them (or even "hating" them) then the messenger must have messed up. So instead of talking about sin, righteousness, and the coming judgment, many people are out to tell people the gospel without trying to be offensive. The fact is, the cross of Jesus Christ is the most offensive thing in the world! How much does God hate sin - look to the cross. Look what God did to His only Son...and it pleased Him (Isaiah 53:10).

So, my point is that we must be faithful to preach the bloody cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must be faithful to preach about and against sin. We must be faithful to preach about the coming judgment. We must be faithful to preach this message, no matter what, no matter the outcomes. Leave the outcome up to God! Praise be to His name!

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 1 Corinthians 3:7