Do You Cry For People?

     I was thinking of some of the ways I see people, especially evangelists, interact with people during times of evangelism. One trait I have noticed frequently is one of talking down to, or talking in a way that is condescending. I have seen this done by parents when disciplining their children (and have been guilty of doing so myself, sadly). The thinking goes something like this: 'If I am nice and loving to my child who has just disobeyed, then they will think that their activity is ok. It is like condoning sin.'. I have done that and been there, so I know why parents do that. You want to make sure your child wants to repent and not repeat the evil activity! This is natural and understandable thinking, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work in evangelism either.
   Put yourself in the recipient's place. If you were walking down the street, would you listen to someone yelling at you to repent? Would that cause you to want to get down on your knees and repent? Would you even know what it means to repent? Would you trust the person who is telling you to repent enough to stay and listen to the rest of what he has to say?*
   Two reasons come to my mind when it comes to the motive behind preaching or sharing the Gospel message. The first is humility. If we are humble, we welcome other people into our lives. The other is love. God is love. God made people who rebelled against Him and are in darkness now, and He sent His Son to redeem them. He loves people and pursues them. He wants people to be cleansed from sin, but He also wants people to be free from the snares of sin and the Evil One.
   My concern is that I sense people doing evangelism do not tend to give the proper credit to God for working in the lost person's heart. Much like the parent who wants to get the point across that he or she is angry at the child for disobeying, and showing it by anger, humiliation, and yelling, which we think makes our message more powerful, we are really distancing ourselves from the child or the lost person.
God is the One who works in their hearts. Even if we give a faulty presentation of the Gospel message, God will take the words of truth and will use them to minister to the lost person's heart.
   Finally, one more thing that is effective in evangelism or ministry. We actually do read about Jesus weeping for things. It is easy to overlook those things as insignificant, but, we can learn from them and embrace them too. We can weep for the lost person. The Gospel is not a bed of roses for the lost person. He or she needs to know what God's heart is for their souls. I remember reading something written by one of my favorite pastors, C.J. Mahaney and his trip to Starbucks one morning. He was standing in a long line of people who were ordering coffee. There were the usual complaints from people who live in America today and have to wait for any period of time. As he was waiting in line to order his coffee, he was thinking of the Gospel and how precious it was to him. He was thinking about how unworthy he was to be a recipient of the Gospel and how God had been so merciful to him. He was crying. Someone asked him why he was crying and he explained the reason. That should be our response to the Gospel. Instead though, we act like we own the Gospel and can do with it whatever we want. We really should be grateful for God's mercy to us and want others to experience this as well.
   Do we cry for lost people? Do we really love them like we should?

*Note: I am not saying that we should not be telling people to repent. It's just the way it is done that is the key. Is it done with love and humility, or is it done with our nose in the air?

Are They Really Offended Because of the Gospel, Or Are They Offended At Us Because of The Way We Treat Them?

  Sometimes, those we would want to share the Gospel with are afraid of the check-mate factor. What I mean by this is simple. It doesn't apply to everyone we talk to, but some would think of it this way.
  The Gospel is offensive, and there are those who will not humble themselves and receive salvation because they want to do their own salvation. It is a matter of pride. But some people haven't even gotten to the Gospel, and yet are offended. We mistake their being offended for being offended at the Gospel when they really are offended at us! Then we write them off as having a hardened heart.
   But here's the thing about the check-mate factor that we need to consider. Sometimes, people are struggling with sin and really would like to not be struggling with sin. Yes, we all love to sin and we all try to hide from God. Some people are afraid of us, because they simply think that we are going to judge them and pronounce their judgment if they admit their sin to us. Instead of receiving an answer for their sin, they receive a pronouncement of judgment for their sin from us.
   Some of the people we would talk to have had bad experiences with professing Christians. Some professing Christians are not clear on how to articulate the Gospel message, nor are they clear on the subject of grace and forgiveness, let alone the whole issue of sin.
   Let's say a woman had an abortion and now feels guilty. She hears the voice of someone who is telling her about God's judgment to come. What will she hear next? Will the person tell her she is going to hell because she had an abortion? Will that make her open up to the person who is sharing the Gospel?
   "I'm damned if I talk to you and I'm damned if I don't". Some of these people put on masks to defend themselves against the evangelist. But really, if we could get them to open up to us, we could have a good conversation with them and perhaps they would be at the place where they would be ready to repent.
   I have to give credit to one man who does evangelism very well, and people end up feeling comfortable talking to him. This man will spend whatever time he needs to in order to reach people with the Gospel message. I watched a video where he was at a Gay Pride parade, and one of the conversations lasted about an hour and a half! You could actually see the people involved in that conversation begin to open up toward the end of the conversation. This man is Mark Cahill, and he is in no hurry to try to give out as many tracts as possible, or talk to as many people as possible. He is an excellent example of how evangelism should be done. He spends one to one quality time with people and makes them feel respectable. He takes the time needed to listen and show compassion.
   I will close with another one of his examples. He was at the beach and talking to people about the Gospel, when one guy was really angry. Mark took the time to draw him out about why he was angry with the church. While they were talking, the man opened up and said that his sister went to a church in a particular area and after an evening service, she was raped by someone who was part of that church. The man had a hard time working through it. Mark was able to help.
   Many of us would just tell the man to repent. We would tell him he needs to stop sinning and trust in Jesus. We would write him off when we see his anger toward the church. But really, shouldn't we take the time to draw people out and ask them questions that will help them look at their own hearts? Do we think we are in a different category than other people, and that it is ok for us to look down on unsaved people because they are sinning? How would we feel if someone were talking down to us? Shouldn't we try to give them a rope instead, so that they could be rescued from the hold of sin on their lives?

Jesus came to set the prisoner free, not to remind 

the prisoner that he is in prison and keep him there.

Two True Stories- Eternity will Reveal Many More

 You might be a nobody. God uses people who are nobodies. If you have become a new creature in Christ, and know the Lord Jesus Christ personally, then you are qualified to do the work of evangelism.

    I know that there are more than the two stories that I am going to comment on, but these two stories have impacted the world and advanced God's kingdom in an amazing way.
   The first one I want to talk about is the man on George Street in Sydney, Australia. I know there are two different videos on Youtube showing this man's story, but only one of them is correct. The man's name was Frank Jenner (you can do a search on the internet and find the page on his story, written by family members). Frank Jenner lived near George Street and he would go out on a continual basis giving out tracts and asking people if they knew for sure if they were to die tonight, would they go to heaven or hell. I have the book also, from those who wrote the story. Frank Jenner faithfully passed out tracts for many years, but didn't see much fruit from what he did. But the results were amazing. Many, even those who were offended by him, came to Christ. These people lived all over the world, and came to Australia as tourists. A pastor in England heard recurring stories of how people came to Christ because of a man on George Street who gave out tracts and asked them the questions. The pastor made a trip to Australia to find this man on George Street and was able to locate him and went to his house to inform him of those who were reached with the Gospel because of his evangelism. Here is the accurate page on Frank Jenner: http://www.wordsoflife.co.uk/the-frank-jenner-story/
   The second story is about a man who was a country preacher in PA during the 1950's, who made a decision to spend 12am-2am praying, instead of watching television. During this time, he picked up a Life magazine which had an article about 7 boys who murdered a 15 year old handicapped boy in NYC. He was in tears while reading this and God made a way for him to visit NYC to try to find these 7 boys so he could give them the message of hope through the Gospel.
    David Wilkerson did indeed travel to NYC with the hopes of finding these boys, but instead of finding them, he preached on street corners and auditoriums where gangsters lived. Some of the gang leaders and warlords were on their knees repenting. A few of them had radical conversions (and I mean radical) and in turn started ministries of their own. One of the converts was Nicky Cruz, who was a gang leader steeped in darkness and bondage. His intent was to bring harm to David Wilkerson, but God prevented that from happening. All in an evening, he had a complete change of mind and was repenting and calling upon God for mercy by the end of the meeting. He went on to Bible college in CA. to study to be a pastor. Others came to Christ in NYC and now boys and girls who were seemingly destined for destruction, now became instruments of righteousness. Two churches were started in New York City from David Wilkerson's ministry, along with Teen Challenge, which has branches now in many inner cities throughout the U.S. (Read about his story in 'The Cross and the Switchblade').
    The stories of these men are just two examples of ordinary people who were filled with God's love and wanted to share it with others. Both men are deceased but their works will continue on, because the works are eternal, with  results that we will only see in heaven.
    I am a nobody, and I'm ok with that. My name will never go down in History, nor will anyone remember me 4 generations from now. But I can do the work of evangelism and the impact of that will go on for eternity. Those who I reach with the Gospel will, in turn, reach others. Ministries could be started from those conversions. Only God knows the far reaching affects of what will come out of our faithfulness in sharing the Gospel with people.
   The Bible says that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. God saves people. We don't. It is not our job to rescue people from their sins, but it is our responsibility to reach people with the Gospel message. God will work in the hearts of people when they hear His word.
   I don't know if the statistics are the same today, but a couple of years ago, only 2% of the church was involved in evangelism. Not sure of all the reasons for this. It could be from lack of discipleship in the church. It could be from fear of man. It might be from lack of training or experience. The church is to equip the flock to do the work of evangelism. It should be in each of our hearts to want to do evangelism. If evangelism is like pulling teeth, then we need to look at our hearts and see if we really have met the true and living God, for if we have, we should have no problem wanting our neighbors to meet the God who saved and rescued us from hell, destruction, and ourselves.
   

The Heart and Motive of Evangelism

     Maybe if I went through a little bit of my background you will understand the title of my blog better. When I first came to Christ and was Spirit filled, I wanted to share the Gospel with everyone I met. I had very little discipleship and I was just starting to grow in my knowledge of the Scriptures. My heart seemed to want to see people get saved. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.
   As time went on, I listened to many sermons, read a lot of books, learned much of the Bible, and became acquainted with other believers. Looking back, I have some observations on things I did, or others did, especially in evangelism circles.
   There used to be an emphasis on having people respond to the Gospel. In watching others present the Gospel, there was always that pressure to get the person to respond. It seemed like if you really were successful at evangelism, you would have had many people make a decision for Christ after you shared the Gospel with them.
  There are some reasons people do evangelism, that aren't exactly right on. I have had people who I was sharing the Gospel with, think that I was doing evangelism in order to earn Brownie points with God. I think some people actually do that. Some go out and share the Gospel because they feel guilty about having not shared the Gospel with people. Others tell the Gospel because they don't want their family or friends to go to hell. This is not totally wrong though. We are to warn people about hell. But there is a bigger reason for doing evangelism.
   Some wrong motives for doing evangelism are: guilt, pride, striving to please God, fear of failing God.
   Some right reasons for doing evangelism: love for God, love for people, making God's name known in truth, warning people about the Judgment to come.
   I think evangelism has gotten such a bad rap, not because people are offended by the Gospel, but because 'evangelists' are pretty hateful sometimes. We are commanded to love God. We are commanded to love people. But even more, if we are truly in Christ, the Bible says that we are constrained by the love of God.
   I think many people have no idea of the love of God. Christians don't seem to know either. That's probably one reason why there is such a battle over how evangelism should be done. Some people think that you should always serve people food if you are sharing the Gospel with them. They are afraid that if you just preach the Gospel, let's say, on the streets, then you really don't love them. It's like evangelism is something you have to tack onto your schedule, rather than it being an outworking of the overflow of the heart.
   Love starts before we go out and evangelize. If love isn't the motivation of our hearts, then we need to ask God to fill us with His love and give us new hearts. Evangelism without love doesn't work. And if we truly, really do love, we will want to share the Gospel with people. We will want to let others know of God's greatness and what He has done for us. We will die to ourselves and to our selfish desires that would interfere with evangelism.
  One example of this in my life was, when I was younger, I didn't know how to talk well. It was very hard for me to talk and communicate. As I got older, it never got better. I always wanted to do evangelism, but since I couldn't talk, the best I would ever be able to do is to give out tracts, so I thought. But then the desire to proclaim the Gospel became stronger. I had to pray for many years that God would help me learn how to communicate. After wrestling in prayer for a long time, I was now able to talk. God has helped me learn how to communicate the Gospel with people and to have good conversations about the things of God. I didn't just think to myself that I wouldn't be able to talk, so, I'll just pass out tracts the rest of my life. Thank God all that changed. I had to desire that kind of change. I had to be desperate for it. May God help us all to love one another, and to love the lost people who need to come to know Him.
  One question to ask ourselves: Are we evangelizing to be seen by men, or are we evangelizing to be seen by God?

Ways To Show Appreciation Open Doors To Communicate the Gospel

  A couple of years ago, a UPS man delivered a package. I thanked him and gave him a tract. My husband thought that was tacky. So, I redid the idea and came up with something that worked. It wasn't the best idea, but it was better than not doing anything at all.
  One thing I have learned in the past couple of years, is the importance of showing respect to people. People in America have lost their dignity and they feel like, well, you get the picture. The devil would like people to think that they are worthless. The other extreme, of course, is that people overrate themselves. Many believe they are God's gift to this earth!
  Another thing that is important is to be grateful. People appreciate being appreciated. It took me a long time to learn this lesson. I used to think that if I hired a person for something, he or she should be grateful that I hired them. That was it. I am at the point now, when we have someone working on the house or doing something we hired them for, that I make sure I offer them a bottle (or more) of water. This might seem like a small thing, but some of our workers really appreciate the water.
   The idea I came up with was this: When I knew someone was going to come over and provide a service for us, I would have ready a batch of cookies. It was good for a while, but some people can't eat cookies. Also, the chocolate melts in their trucks and probably became messy to eat. I would also give them a tract and hope for opportunities to talk with them about the Gospel. But, now I even have a better idea! Instead of making something to eat (which they might not be able to do) I will make soap for them. I will give them a bar of homemade soap, and, a tract. But maybe I could even give them a Bible. Or, I could give them a DVD with a Bible scene (I ordered some from VOM called, 'He Lived Among Us'). Wow, as I sit here and write, I am coming up with more ideas. But keep in mind, we want to serve them and show our appreciation for them. Otherwise, it could look like we are trying to butter them up for something. It could appear manipulative to them.
   Maybe I could come up with an illustration about soap and how it cleanses us. Maybe I could relate it to the Gospel message of how the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sins. Whatever I end up doing, I need to be intentional. I can't think about it an hour before the worker arrives. I have to have it ready to go so that I can give it to him or her (or them). I also need to take time to talk with them if possible. I want to be an approachable person, so that, if they did ever have questions about the Gospel, or wanted to talk about the things of God, they would feel comfortable coming to me, even though they really don't know me. I want them to sense that I truly care for them, and that they are not just another number.
   Hmmm. Who is the next person we are going to hire?

The Winter Park Christmas Parade - From Disaster to Success

I don't want to spend a whole lot of time writing about this, but today was the annual Christmas parade in downtown Winter Park and I was in charge of the evangelism part of it for those in this group who like to go to parades and evangelize. In a parade though, it is a little different. It is fast paced and there are tons of people and tons of printed up tracts to give out, with the hope that some will read them and God will make His word alive and convict them of sin and they will repent and come to Christ. It is harder to talk to someone individually about the Gospel because the goal is to pass out as many tracts as possible. I have been doing this for about the past 6 years or so, and, to be honest, I am not as envisioned to do this as before. I would rather take my time and talk to people about the Gospel as well as give out tracts. But, I am the person to head this event up right now. For starters, only a handful were going to come. I received a call from one person saying they weren't going to be able to come, but we would still have about 5 or 6 if everyone who said they would be there came. Well, only 1 person besides me and my son were there. It was the three of us, but finding a parking place was impossible. I don't know if it was because they closed down some of the parking or if more people are coming to the parade. We finally, after sitting in stopped traffic for a long time, found a place, several blocks away, to park. Since the only guy that was there was my son, it limited the amount of tracts we could actually carry with us, and we wouldn't be able to go back to the car because it was too far away, so we bagged up as many tracts as we could take. My bag was extremely heavy. I also had beach balls in it and as I got out of the car, they kept falling out. One fell under the car and I couldn't get it out. After our long haul to the bench by the bandstand, I needed to use the restroom which was a few blocks away. When I got there, it was locked and you had to go into one of the stores to get the key. I said, 'forget it' and as I was leaving the area, the parade was starting. I saw one of our friends who also was looking for a parking space, and when I got back to the bench, I called her. She showed up immediately and found us. I could tell already by the amount of difficulty that either I was going to never do this again, or, that I would remember and take into consideration the fact that we are in a spiritual battle and that anything that is of value will be attacked. Could this be an attack from the Enemy or was it just God's way of saying, 'Why are you doing this? Did I tell you to do this?'. I believe in faith that God does want us to promote His word and share it with others, and that this difficulty was an attack from the Devil himself. I never found a restroom. I never saw the others who were with me on this event. There were the usual mockers of course. We even had one woman who sounded like she was from Westboro. I gave her a tract and as I was talking with another group, she came up and told me that we were all going to hell. She was mocking so I thought it was interesting. But then I heard some of her other conversation in which she talked about God's hatred for people. As the parade went on, and I gave out a lot of tracts, most people were friendly. I also gave out all the beach balls and coloring books, as well as a couple of decks of cards and mood cups. All have Scripture on them and most have web sites people can go to if they are interested or have questions. I would have also given out balloons, but I couldn't find them in the garage as I was leaving the house in the morning. It got really hot and I needed to sit in the shade for a while. Then I got up and gave out more tracts and then the parade ended. I was on another street when I gave a tract to a young man. I started talking to him and before long we were in a conversation, that led to the Gospel. He seemed unfamiliar with it, to a point, but I think he had some correct information but didn't know how to put it together. Please pray for this young man if you think of it. I will be in touch with him and continue to help him understand the Gospel more. If all the trouble we went through in this parade led up to this conversation with this young man, and if he comes to know Christ, then all that trouble will have been worth it. Also, God is helping me to look at my own heart. I was angry because things were going opposite my way. Everything about this parade was hard, but if God is in it, it will be worth it, and the results are His. One day in eternity, we will see the fruit of our labors. Someone might be there because they found a beach ball in the road with a Gospel message on it. Another one could be there because they received a cute tract that serves as a post card, that has the Gospel message on it. Still, some could be there because someone actually explained the Gospel to them. We will only know what really happens in the spiritual realm when we are there. But for now, we live in faith, and we trust in the True and Living God to do whatever He wants to do in our lives. Merry Christmas!

It's Exciting To See God At Work

    I think so many times, we take God working in our situations for granted. But when we see things happen that we know could only be from Him, it is exciting to see.
   I loved listening to 'The Cross and the Switchblade' because it involves a man who heard from God and acted upon what God spoke to his heart about (yes, I am aware that some Christians do not believe that God speaks to our hearts today, but, He obviously does and this is very evident).
   God is a supernatural being who does things human beings cannot do. He also knows the future and enables people to carry out His works of service, whatever He has called people to do.
   In 'The Cross and the Switchblade', God directed David Wilkerson to talk to certain people in New York City. God arranged for David to meet these people and work with them, and eventually a ministry was born out of his obedience to God. God also put a love in David Wilkerson's heart for the lost boys in New York City. God is not limited though to David Wilkerson's ministry. God wants to work in all of our ministries, if we are serving Him.
   Tonight, on my way to The Conversation ( a 7 week class exploring the Gospel with interested people), I went to Lowe's to pick up some Jiffy Pots. I planned to go to Lowe's this afternoon when I was in another section of town, but ran out of time, so, I went to the Lowe's I go to on the way to the church building instead.
  A few years ago, I was in this particular Lowe's, and I was able to talk about the Gospel with a young man who was a cashier. He seemed to have some understanding of the Gospel, but was off in some of the key areas, and had his own opinions which he seemed to want to stick with. Tonight I went into Lowe's with my tracts, and a couple of the cashiers, who were also young men, saw the tracts and wanted them. I gave them the tracts and explained what they were. I went to get the Jiffy Pots and came back to pay, when I got the same cashier I had a couple of years ago, only this time, he was asking me questions about repentance, eternal security, and related questions. So, I talked with him for a couple of minutes (good thing no customers were waiting behind me). He seemed to want answers to his questions. At the end of the conversation, he actually told me something that he said was just his opinion, but what he didn't know was that it was right out of the Bible. He said that if a person was really saved, that person would be willing to give up everything because of the value of salvation. Those were not his exact words, but that was the point he was trying to make. So I thought that was pretty cool that he still remembered about the conversation we had a couple of years ago, and now was asking some pretty good questions.
   Then at the Conversation, we have one young man who has attended the church for a couple of years, and even went to the Conversation before, but has admitted that he doesn't get it yet. He keeps trying to understand, but nothing happens. Each week we try to explain it again to him. He is honest and really wants to learn the Gospel, but we felt stuck for a while. He feels like he is in the dark, and yet, we feel like God has placed him in the exact place that he is now in, in order for him to see his own need for a Savior. But I am happy to report that he is showing some signs of understanding God now. He is asking good questions and we are there to try to answer them in such a way that will help him understand the Gospel. We are grateful for all of the guests that attended The Conversation this time. Like I already mentioned in one of my blogs, three of the people who formerly attended The Conversation, are no longer with us. Two of them went to be with the Lord, and the other lady was an Atheist. I pray that she had considered what she had heard while in the classes. Perhaps this was the only way she would have been reached. We never heard though, that she came to know the Lord. But we hope that in her final days she would have repented and turned to God.
   I have been trying to come up with a place or find some places where we can effectively share the Gospel with people, and haven't been real successful at this idea. We used to go to Park Avenue, but the people there were very resistant to the Gospel. It got to the point where very few people would take tracts when I went out there. That doesn't mean that it was a total loss though. One woman thanked me for doing that, and I have had some really good conversations with people there. But, I have a real burden for the down and outers, which could be homeless people, foreign people, or just people who don't have a college degree or high paying, high status job. I realized that these people walk up and down the sidewalks not too far away from my house. So, I might try to walk the sidewalks and give out tracts and talk with people there, as I meet them. I can see some good conversations coming up if I do that.