Everyday Evangelism-"I Thank God For You Telling Me.."

We had a great time at a jazz festival in Crane's Roost last Saturday evening. When we got there, it was nice and hot, and although we got to pass out a lot of tracts, it didn't seem like there were people there to talk to, or at least hold a conversation with. We had a table out, with tracts on it, and there were also toys, like the imprinted beach ball, which reads on one side, "What Can Wash Away My Sin?", and on the other side it reads, "Nothing But The Blood of Jesus" with the web site www.thegoodtest.net included. Out of the three toys offered (maracas, beach balls, and flying discs) the beach balls always win. The maracas have the Bible verse, 1 Timothy 2:5 imprinted on them, and the flying discs have John 14:6 on them. Both very important verses for this time in our culture. As the night went on, the music was loud, as expected, but we did have more conversations with people. Toward the end of the evening, I talked with a group of three young men who were full of energy. They looked to be college age, maybe, but one indicated that he was married. I was able to take them through the whole Gospel, Old Testament and all, and when I explained what the bad news was, one of the young men seemed really concerned about wanting to hear what the good news was. So I continued to explain, in detail, the Gospel to them. One of the young men had lots of questions about things, good questions, of course, but we had to stay on the Gospel. When I finally got done telling them the whole story, the one young man said out loud, something to this effect, "When I go home, I am going to thank God out loud for you telling me this". He seemed affected by the Gospel, and hopefully, the words will stay with him the rest of his life. I pray that he will never be the same, and that salvation will take root in his heart. I would request for you to pray for him, that God would grant him repentance and faith, and that he will bring much glory to God through his life. His name is Jaquan.

Everyday Evangelism- "Which Gospel?"

I was at the grocery store the other day, and while I was by my car, I offered a tract to a woman. I did the usual explaining that there was a fun quiz on it, and if she gets stuck, the answers are on it. She took it, almost reluctantly, looking at it with suspicion. I knew I had nothing to lose, so I told her that the Gospel message was on it. Then she asked a most interesting question. She said, "Which Gospel?". I was taken by surprise, and said that it was the Gospel that was in the Bible. But I told her that her question was a very good one. There are many Gospels going around, and it is good to find out which one we are talking about. Her demeanor changed, and she took the tract more readily. What I learned from that experience was that first of all, there are many 'gospels' out there, and we need to be clear on a few basic facts when we do get to present the Gospel (deity of Christ, atonement on the Cross, judgment, etc.). Some of the gospels that are going around have some similarities to the real thing, but there is always a glitch. Most of the people I talk to believe that Jesus really is God, and that He really did die for our sins, but they see God as an 'all-loving' and 'all-forgiving' type of being. They can't imagine a loving God allowing people to go to hell, so they assume that they are going to heaven to be with this 'all-loving' and 'all-forgiving' god that they have made up in their minds. Now, is God all loving? The Bible says that 'God is love'. God loved the world so much that He gave His Son to die for our sins. So, what is wrong with the picture of this all-loving God? It is in the assumption that because Jesus died for our sins, it means that we are ok with God, even staying in our sins. It doesn't require faith or repentance or any responsibility on the part of the human. In the eyes of the person, it doesn't require a response from him or her to the Gospel. This teaching is prevalent in our churches unfortunately. It leaves people with a false sense of their eternal welfare.

Secondly, there are so called Christian teachings that would actually teach that Jesus is not God in the flesh. The people who embrace this type of thinking would emphatically believe (and will want you to know they believe this) that Jesus is the Son of God. They just don't believe that He is God incarnate. Trying to reason with these people is like talking to a brick. There are even mainstream denominations that would have this kind of understanding theologically. Some groups really struggle with the concept of the Trinity. They understand it to conflict with the concept of God being One God, or Three in One. God can do the work in their hearts that is necessary for them to understand. With God all things are possible, even helping people to understand the concept of the Trinity.

Thirdly, this ties in with the all-loving God way of thinking, but, in my opinion, I think some professing Christians are reacting to legalism in the church, or, the fact that so many churches are dead and ritualized, and they see through this, by going in the opposite direction. They might have a focus on the freedom we have in Christ, and the good news that we are not saved by works, that they might even shy away from the concept of sanctification, because it seems like a work that we have to do to earn our salvation. They misunderstand that although salvation is free, (we don't or can't earn anything for our salvation. Someone else completely paid for it), they are careful to not embrace anything structured (like Bible study, evangelism, disciplines of grace) because they assume people do those things out of legalism. There was actually a time when I thought like this. I wanted to be careful not to do good works because I didn't want to communicate to people, the false idea, that I was saved by my good works. Of course, I wasn't openly talking about the things of God or telling people the Gospel. I was hoping they would look at my life and see it. But would they see it if I weren't doing good works? I doubt it. Like someone said, "You may be the only Bible that people will read". But if I were doing good works, wouldn't that communicate the wrong gospel? It goes back to the heart. What is my motive? Am I trying to impress people with my 'spirituality', or am I just a recipient of God's grace and mercy, and showing forth the goodness of God, because I am in need of His grace?

And fourthly, on a similar note, there is a movement in the 'church' called the 'emergent' church. It is not a denomination, but it is something we need to be aware of. Not everything in the emergent church movement is necessarily bad, but there are a few things that are like rotten apples in it. The foremost leaders of this movement seem to think that the church is all wrong in the way it does things. It is trying to redo church and make it relevant to the culture. It has a higher opinion of the culture than it does of the Scriptures. If you want a taste of what the emergent church is about, look into the book by Rob Bell called, Velvet Elvis. You will see how he views God, the Bible, evangelism, and the culture. As you read this sad book, you will note that the many things that are done wrong in the church today, are discarded and not even considered valid. His idea of evangelism includes befriending a person and waiting until the right moment before you would share the Gospel. God forbid that you would give someone a tract, or do open air evangelism. He says that Jesus isn't happy with open air preachers. When you give tracts out, you are doing it to get a notch in your belt. There could be some truth in those statements. A person could be giving tracts out to get a notch in their belt. Some open air preachers are really nasty and judgmental. But should we disobey Jesus' command to preach the Gospel to all creation because some people have wrong motives when they do evangelism? I think not! But that is what the emergents are thinking. When Scripture and the culture conflict, Scripture must bow to the culture. How sad.

Let's study God's word and be prepared to help people understand what God is like, and why we need a Savior. Let's pray that God will work in people's hearts. Salvation is of the Lord, and He will bring the results of the Gospel in people's lives.

Ray Comfort's Weekly Wild and Wonderful World--chalk-talked by Kirk Cameron

Everday Evangelism-New Tract Idea!

Look on the right side and see the picture on the top of the page. It is somebody else's work but would serve as a Gospel tract. I would like to make one similar to that and have spent countless mental hours trying to plan this out in my mind. You need to have Red/cyan or Red/Blue glasses to read the tract (You can get a free pair from rainbowsymphony.com). We need to get the word out in any way we can. Any creative ideas you have, please send them to me. I am especially interested in making illusion type of tracts. Anyone into crossword puzzle making? I would like to do that as well. If you have a piece of red cellophane paper, you can cover the picture of the tract and the words and picture should come through. Happy evangelizing!

Everyday Evangelism-Good People Who Believe In Jesus

Dealing With All Kinds of People-Good People Who Believe In Jesus

Tuesday, April 20th 2010, 4:17 PM 5 1

It seems to go in spells. For a while, I met a few Jewish people that I tried to share the Gospel with. Most of them didn't get it, at least while I was talking with them. Then for a while, I ran into quite a few Catholics, who were trusting in their Catholicism for their salvation. They didn't really want to talk either. Now I do talk to a lot of Catholics still, and some of them seem to understand the Gospel after talking with them. Catholics seem to be the predominant group of people I end up talking to. Then, for a while, I would run into people who were resistant because they believed that the Bible was written by men. So we worked through that time period (and I learned a lot, because of the study it required). But now I am running into people who, for the most part, think they are good people, and will listen to the Gospel. By the time I get finished, they already know the Gospel and claim to be believers already. On Saturday, I talked with a man named Eric. He was familiar with the 10 Commandments and claimed to do his best. I asked him if he were a 'good' person and he said he definitely was. So I took him through some of the Commandments. He readily admitted to breaking them. He understood that he was a sinner, and when I asked him what he thought God did so that he could be forgiven of his sins, he knew exactly what to say. He claimed to be a believer in the Lord. But how can that happen? He just told me he was a good person, even good enough for heaven. Before this conversation, I talked with a woman who came from the Caribbean. She was very kind to talk to. Another person who was evangelizing with us, was talking to the husband at the same time. We both got the same story. They were extremely nice people, but they were 'good' people. The woman had a religious upbringing (Catholic) and she did trust in God. But there again, something was missing. I didn't sense that she really understood the Gospel. She knew that Jesus had died for her, and said she trusted in Him. I don't remember who I asked, but I asked someone who was thinking like this if they were born again, and they said that they were. I feel like I am on tricky ground here. It's hard to figure out the next step when conversing with these people. It seems like if I encourage them to grow in the Lord, then I am assuming that they are truly saved, when they might not be. If I keep questioning them to probe so that they will see that they really aren't saved, it appears like I am judging them. They have all the right answers (not just 'yes' or 'no') but there doesn't seem to be the connection between their breaking the Commandments, and their seeing themselves as sinful. Anyone else notice this trend?

Everyday Evangelism- Tracts Again

Today was a good tracting day. Although I didn't get into any deep conversations with anyone, people were very receptive to the tracts I was giving out to them. The first man reminded me of Bill Cosby. I gave him a tract at Walmart this morning, and he told me that he got one about a month ago. He gave it to his grandson and has it hanging up and wanted another one for himself. When I was at the dry cleaners later on in the day, I gave one to a lady who was sitting in her car. She was so thankful for the tract. When I came back to my car, she wanted to have another one for someone else. At another store, I was looking for some make up and there were 2 workers at the counter trying to help me find what I was looking for. When we were finished I asked them if they had ever received the tract. They both had one from me, and the man told me that his is hanging on the wall at home. Then he took another one to bring home. He also thanked me for doing what I was doing and felt that it was very important thing to be doing. I explained to them that eternity doesn't end and that people need to know the Gospel. I also learned that the time has finally come when I give someone a tract, that they may have already received one, probably from me, but could have been from someone else. Maybe it is time to look into using a new tract. For the past 5 years, I've been giving this tract away, and rarely do I have someone tell me that they already got one. But it is happening now. That is good. I would love to saturate the town with tracts, but what is better is if the tracts provide an ice breaker to preach the Gospel to someone who has already received one. Or, if they haven't, then I can explain to them what it is, and then lead up to the Gospel. God is faithful and His word will not come back empty! Let's pray for creative ways to get the Gospel out in print, and that God would give us opportunities to speak the words of life to a lost and dying world.

Everyday Evangelism- Winter Park Art Festival-03-20-10

"My job is to put a pebble in your shoe." says Greg Koukl. Today a group of us went to the Winter Park Art Festival on Park Avenue, and there were a lot of people there. The weather was great and I managed to put label stickers on 125 tracts this week, so I was ready. We prayed before we left to find a parking place somewhere out there. Well, it was interesting because for all the people we saw out there, there were only a few people who were interested in talking to us about the things of God. A couple of times, while I was talking with someone (and I could tell they really weren't into the conversation), they would just walk away. Just when I was getting to the good part about the 10 Commandments! And it happened more than once. I am guilty of prejudging people that I think would take the tract, as well as those who I would have thought would reject the tract. Only the opposite happened today. Many older men and women took the tracts gladly, and the ones I thought would take them didn't want them. I was able to share the Gospel with 2 men, but I could tell there wasn't a deep desire to stay in the conversation. And, of course, there is always one who will be nasty. I got her too. I offered her the tract and she asked what it was, so I told her. Then she told me to leave her alone, with which I left her the following; you need to think about eternity! I believe that today was ordained by God and we did not fail because there were no fish to catch out of all of those people, but, I can see that we sowed a lot of seeds. We were able to talk a little about eternity to people who, at this moment, were dull of hearing. Tomorrow or next week they might not be. Many took the tracts home and trustingly, someone in the home will read the tract and it will spark a thought about eternity, God, heaven and hell in their minds. So, even if no one was interested today, we trust that we were able to "put a pebble in each shoe" of the person we encountered, even the nasty lady.