Church signs run amuck?

Modern ‘Christianity’ is baffling. While I’ve been here in Florida, I’ve noticed that churches commonly feature goofy sayings on their road-side signs. Some of these sayings are cute, occasionally (very) a saying is almost biblical but often they are quite irreverent & unbefitting an assembly of believers meeting to honour the name of Jesus Christ. I’ve taken pictures of a few, but this one takes the cake. This church, in the Buckingham neighbourhood, have resorted to what is (in my estimation) blasphemy. Their sign reads, “FOR ALL YOU DO HIS BLOOD IS FOR YOU”, a play on words and copying a Budweiser beer slogan “For all you do, this bud’s for you”.

Let us guard ourselves & make sure each of us does not fall into the trap of trying to be cool, to attract people to Jesus Christ. People will only truly be drawn to Him if God does the drawing, “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him:” (John 6:44). Remember that WE are NOT the attraction to Him; our job is to “...Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15). It reminds me of a sermon by the ‘Prince of Preachers’ Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled “Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?” (read this online at: http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/amusement.htm).

May we faithfully serve Him & glorify His name, operating according to His Word!

Glenn.

A Meeting With Darwin

Bob & Linda were the only other ones to join us in preaching the Gospel at Fort Myers Beach today. It was threatening to rain all around, but was sunny and pretty hot most of the time we were there (‘till rain drove us out around 7pm). I must admit that it was disappointing to have four or six others plan to join us, but not make it...but I’m learning to leave this with the Lord. Today was an interesting day; seems that each time out at the beach, our Lord has something else up – specific appointments with people.

I met quite a few Christians today & was able to encourage them to be active in reaching out to the Lost with the message of the Gospel. Please pray that God will but a burning fire in their hearts for the preaching of the Gospel. One couple’s hearts were breaking for their granddaughter, mired in homosexuality. Another man from Tennessee came back to talk to me after I’d given him a tract; he is a Christian & was really willing to talk about his personal responsibility to share the Gospel.

How about you? Do you regularly look for opportunities to reach lost souls with the message of salvation from sin, by the Blood of Jesus Christ? Many of us have a tendency to sit in Holy Huddles...hanging out only with other Christians. Yes, we do need Christian fellowship for sure, but one of the primary purposes of the church on this earth is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so souls can be saved & His name be lifted up and glorified. The Apostle Paul wrote of the qualifications of an evangelist:

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” I Corithians 2:1-5

So...if you’re a real Christian & if the thought of sharing the Gospel with strangers leaves you weak, fearful & trembling; you’re qualified – you’ve got the job!

Handing out a ton of tracts today, I met Kevin, a young Hispanic man. Kevin thought he’d go to Heaven when he dies & figured he’s a pretty good person – figured he’d do fine if judged by God’s Moral Law (the Ten Commandments). As we talked further, he began to see his guilt & that he’d be in trouble on Judgment Day. At this point another man walked up saying something to him like, “See, this is what we’ve been telling you”...turns out to be Kevin’s uncle. Kevin’s uncle and family have been taking Kevin to church for a long time; but Kevin didn’t seem to have any understanding of the Gospel & in fact saw himself as good before God. Our discussion deepened as I was able to exhort Kevin to Repent (confess & forsake his sin) & put his Faith in Jesus Christ & the blood he shed as payment of sin. We went through explanations of substitutionary atonement, Repentance & saving faith. Please pray for Kevin.

Sue & Jacquie setup their “Free Glitter ‘Tattoos’” booth at the beach again this afternoon. These ‘tattoos’ are something Sue learned while in New Jersey last fall at a Face Painting convention. They use a system of stencils and special glue to create a very bright and attractive ‘tattoo’, typically on children. They visit with the kids and parents while they are working, then leave them with a children’s Gospel Tract.

Tonight as I write this, I can’t recall how I met this next gentleman, but it must have been handing him a tract. We began to talk about the Gospel & he began to unfold his story to me. He is from Columbia & for years has played piano in churches; growing up in a Christian family. His world is falling apart, as his wife has just left for another man; leaving three very young (& adorable) children with Darwin. Darwin is not sure of his salvation, but does believe in God, the Bible & sees his personal guilt before a Holy & Just God. During our talk, we went through the fundamentals of Repentance & Faith; confirmed by a changed heart & life. It turns out that Darwin lives quite near us, so I invited him to come with us to church. Please pray for Darwin, he’s very broken hearted.

We talked to lots and lots of folks today & handed out quite a few tracts. It was a great day...like many days, preaching the Gospel is exhausting but I always go home with a skip in my step.

Glenn.

P.S. Please leave me a comment or email me to let me know your thoughts on this blog.

JOY IN HEAVEN!

“...I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:10

As I drive from our house here in Florida, to where we are renovating our boat, my habit has been to spend the 15 or 18 minutes listening to preaching or my audio-Bible. One particular morning, a couple weeks back, I felt a prompting to spend the time in prayer. As I drove, I began to plead with my Lord for strength to live in holiness, to run from all sin, for Him to use me in reaching the lost with the message of salvation through the Blood of Jesus Christ & to send more labourers. I was asking my Lord specifically to send believers to me here in Fort Myers who are passionate about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the streets.

I was shocked (sorry to say) when 90 minutes later, handing a tract to a ‘sandwich artist’ in a Subway store, a waiting customer interrupted. The waiting customer was a student at a local Christian school and asked me if I knew “Mr. Gallagher”. It turns out that Mr. Gallagher is a passionate evangelist who’s been teaching pupils how to share the Gospel as well as an evangelism class at his home church. I was able to meet with him a few days later; a warm Christian brother on fire for the Gospel. We are planning to go to the streets together. What an amazing, fast answer to prayer

Later in the day, I was heading to The Home Depot, but ended up stopping in at Lowe’s instead. I was looking for countertop for my boat; the young man in the kitchen department was very helpful in referring me to the supplier who could better help me with such a small installation. I thanked him, handed him a tract and asked him where he would go when he died. This started an extended conversation on the Gospel. His co-worker turns around, and says something like, ‘see, this is what I’ve been trying to tell you’; he’d been witnessing to him for months. We talked for a long-time; he seemed to be convicted of his sin & see impending judgment. I left, hoping he would be brought to repentance.

Today, I was back in Lowe’s & stopped into the department and visited with his co-worker (a Godly Christian man); he told me that our visit had a major impact. The weekend following the young-man went to the beach, struck up a conversation with a young woman, who shared the Gospel with him. She ended up praying with him, amid the jeers of a friend who was accompanying him. The following weekend he attended church with his co-worker and came forward at an alter call to pray in repentance to God, putting his faith in Jesus Christ. We know that simply a prayer doesn’t save anyone, but repentance before God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture basically tells us to be fruit inspectors, good fruit is evidence of salvation. I’m hearing that this young-man is changed in his demeanour, cleaned up his language & walking away from drinking and partying. It seems that there is joy in Heaven, over this soul coming to repentance. Please pray for him.

Glenn.

FORT MYERS BEACH PREACHING

Saturday night I came home absolutely exhausted.

This Saturday afternoon (as has become our habit) we spent the afternoon at Fort Myers Beach sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One-by-one more folks are coming out to participate in sharing the Gospel in this place; an answer to real prayer for sure.

I talked to far fewer people than usual today, but the conversations were long and very deep. First, I talked with Simone (sp?) and Sasha; both from Germany. Sasha was the one that talked with me, while her male companion Simone stood by, even video-taping me briefly. Sasha had some knowledge of the Bible, but little & know nothing of the message of the Gospel. After a conversation of God’s Law & judgment, she could see her guilt before God; her face became very grave & concerned. I felt for her, but it warmed my heart to see a soul experiencing conviction, seeing herself in truth before God. She was very receptive to the message of the Cross, Repentance & Faith. She agreed that she’d a lot to think about. She’s another week in Florida on vacation before she returns to Germany; please pray that she’ll read her Bible & that God will show her the truth & bring her to Repentance & Faith in Him.

Next, I struck up a conversation with Allen. Allen is a young Hispanic boy from a Catholic background. He felt he was a good guy & that going to church was going to get him into heaven. Seeing his guilt before God though the Ten Commandments, it didn’t concern him much as he felt that God would forgive his sin, if he said he was guilty and really, really meant it. I asked him if someone raped & murdered his sister & dumped the body; then told the judge he was guilty & was really, really sorry....would the judge let him go; and if he did, would that be justice. Allen quickly agreed that a good judge could not let a criminal go, just because he admitted his guilt & claimed to be sorry, but felt God was different. The light seemed to go on when I asked Allen if God’s standard of justice was higher or lower than man’s; MUCH higher he responded. Pray for Allen, as he seemed to walk away to meet his friends with a real concern in his face. He agreed to read a copy of the “Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven” tract (available at www.livingwaters.com) I offered him.



My friend Sam was talking with a couple girls & called me over for help. It turns out that one was unsure of her salvation, while another knew nothing of God; Sam had to exegete each verse he read to her, making talking to both really difficult. Sam called me over for help; I ended up talking with Chelsey for almost two hours. We had lots of crumby doctrine and weird beliefs to unwind. She claimed to have been saved years before, but was now concerned. Asking her questions of her supposed conversion, we found that she had tried Jesus, found she felt better, felt His presence but had no knowledge at all of repentance & faith. We talked further & found that what was bothering her now, was her sin; good! So many folks have tried contemporary Christianity to fill a perceived need in their lives (love, stress, happiness, money, health) but this is false; a false draw to Christ, creating false-converts who never repent of their sin, never put their faith in Christ & are never actually saved; no wonder there is an epidemic of folks ‘falling-away’ & walking away from the church (note I John 2:19 & Luke 9:62). Interesting what I learned as we talked; the issue is she is fearful of her family, what will they say. She’s put up lots of Bible plaques and things from her grandmother, to the ridicule of her family. She’s scared of what they will say and do if she should become a Christian. We talked of the fear of man; “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mathew 10:28. I am amazed how the conversation went; not sure I can recall it now; but was talked of God His power, glory & majesty; He alone is worthy to be served! We talked of counting the cost; was she willing to be rejected and persecuted of man for His name sake, willing to suffer affliction with the people of God & be rewarded in Heaven.



Some weird beliefs came out of Chelsea. She suddenly came out saying she believed in reincarnation; that folks get a second chance to live right before God. Funny how people are, but asking what she based her belief on, it was just a feeling. We depraved human beings invent a God in our own image to fit our sin & guilt. We went back to Hebrews 9:27 where scripture specifies death ONCE, then judgment...was she right, or God; that hopefully made her think. She was also struggling with the thought that many people believe strongly in their other religions so strongly, how could they all be wrong (i.e. where there many roads to God)? It seemed that Chelsea is feeling the heat of conviction and trying to cool her conscience, by finding away in her mind that she will avoid judgment. Tears flowed a bit during the time we talked. Hopefully this is a sign of conviction, I just don’t know.



My friend Bobby open air preached once and I was able to preach three different times during the afternoon. Bobby preaches with such compassiona and a pleading in his voice; I need to learn from him (He is such an encouraging man of God). It was kind of weird, but as I was preaching, at least four groups or individuals waved, called encouragement or came and shook my hand. It had me wondering if I was preaching a soft message, that I was getting accolades, rather than persecution. You may laugh, but I asked the folks with me; guess it was just God sending some encouragement. One gentleman, Scott, came back with his family later and insisted in giving us money to help pay for tracts. I was able to visit with Scott, his wife and family; encouraging them to learn to share their faith & reach out to the lost with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, using God’s moral Law to bring knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). I was able to pray with them before they left. They are here on vacation from Missouri. Pray for this family, that God will gift them with a yearning desire to live in holiness and a passion welling up within them to seek & save that which is lost.

Today, several more people from church expressed an interest in joining us in preaching the Gospel on the beach, Saturday afternoons. I pray this is the Lord moving, to raise up His people, to preach for His glory & that souls be saved.

How about YOU? Are you sharing your faith? Do you go outside your church and look for lost people to share the Gospel with? I encourage you to consider Christ's commands to the church to preach the Gospel. Is not the primary job of the church (those redeemed by His blood) to seek and save that which is lost?


Glenn.

Gospel to Drug Dealer, Publix, Tracts & More

Driving down the street this morning, near our boat, I can across a few hip-hop looking guys standing on the side of the road, in front of a house. My window was open, so I stopped and offered Million-Dollar-Bill tracts; which they gladly took. I began talk to them about the ‘Million Dollar Question’, would they go to heaven when they die. In the next minute, most of the group scattered (like cockroaches do when the light is turned on) but one young man was left behind.
The young man, who stayed, said he went to church & considered himself a good person. We talked of death, judgment and God’s high and holy standard, as revealed in Scripture. After being called away by one of the group & a cell-phone call, he returned to the conversation. He finally said something like, ‘if what you’re sayin’ is the way it’ll be, I’ll go to hell’. I assured him that the scriptures say exactly that & shared with him the amazing work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary; that God commands him to Repent and but his Faith in Jesus Christ, the risen Savior. A side note; the man with me is more street-wise & told me the fellow I'd share the Gospel with was a drug-dealer & the others he customers.

For the past two or three weeks, a young man has been working with me to help me re-do the interior of our sailing vessel Seawing, to get her ready for the voyage south. This young-man, made a profession of faith as a teen, but has since been walking FAR from God. We’ve talked a lot over this past few weeks, of the scriptures clear warning that not all those that name the name of Christ are Christians (Mathew 7, I John + many more). The scriptures are so full, friends, of this truth; we never read in God’s Word that someone is a Christian because they prayed a prayer, or walked an isle...in fact the concept of leading a sinner in a ‘sinner’s prayer’ is something like fifty-years old. II Timothy 2:19 reads “...let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” This young-man has been attending church with us, and discussing the scriptures with me; he’s making a profession of faith. Sue and I’ve given him a MacArthur Study Bible to read and learn with; he’s been reading it voraciously & talking with me the next day of what he’s read.

Today I dropped him at the bus station for the four-hour trip north to see his girlfriend this weekend. He had me sit with him before his bus & help him mark verses to explain the Gospel from before he went north, so he could talk to whom ever sat beside him on the bus (& so he could explain the Gospel). I looked for an church in the town he’s going to on http://www.9marks.org/ (a good church search site) & found a good potential church a few miles from his destination. He’s hoping to take his girlfriend to church.

Please pray for him; that God will clearly reveal to him whether his is truly saved or not; that he will see himself in truth & either stand strong, or repent of his sin & put his trust in the Saviour. Please pray that our Lord will provide a way for him to run from sin this weekend, as the potential pitfalls there are many.

Tonight, I was standing in line at the Publix supermarket, buying roast chicken & cheese. The man behind me sat his fried chicken behind my roasted one on the checkout stand. I made a comment that his fried chicken looked good & maybe I should have gotten friend, instead of roasted; that fried stuff tasted SO good, even though it was so bad for you. I was (momentarily) stunned by his response; he said that no matter how healthy you eat, or how much exercise you get, we will all die anyway. Have you had a sinner setup a presentation of the Gospel like that before? I quickly recovered & asked him what he thought was out there when we left this world. He thought there was something out there, but not sure he believed in Heaven & Hell. I commented that God tells us in His Word, that he has appointed the day we will die & then we are to be judged & that by His standard of right & wrong (Hebrews 9:27 & Acts 17:31). We talked briefly about the Law of God & then I had to pay for my groceries. As I left the cashier with a Million Dollar tract, I gave one to him also. Maybe I stopped at this store (where I seldom do) just to bring thoughts of Judgment Day to this man. May God bring him to Repentance & Faith.

Today I was able to go through dozens of tracts, and it wasn’t a special day. Please understand, I’m nobody special (those of you who know me can attest). I mention this only to encourage all of you to carry and use tracts. You can hand them to people, leave them tucked in then crack behind the hand-dryer in the store bathroom, in the pockets of clothes at Wal-Mart, even hand them to people. One of my favorites here in Florida, is to go into the beer isle at the grocery store and drop foled gospel tracts into the slots on the top of each beer case. Try http://www.livingwaters.com/, http://www.customtractsource.com/ or http://www.onemilliontracts.com/ to find tracts....if you need to email me for help. There are so MANY good, creative tracts out there, get some you like & hand them out. Just make sure they use the Law to bring knowledge of sin & warn of judgment & exhort the sinner to repentance & faith. Remember, a written Gospel is MUCH better than no Gospel at all.

Comments please! Hey, if you read this blog, please click on the bottom of submissions and enter your comments. It’d be great to hear some feedback!

Until His Nets are Full,

Glenn.

A New Evangelism Warrior!

Today was a very interesting day at Fort Myers Beach, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ; seems it was more eventful than usual. Sam came with us, from Gunnery Road Baptist Church; he was a blessing and encouragement for sure! Sam got right to work and energetically handed out tracts, started conversations and worked to show many people the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We handed out a ton of Million Dollar Bill Tracts (available at www.livingwaters.com), some Tickets to Heaven and a few other tracts. The conversations were pretty interesting and stimulating today; makes one want to run home and sharpen one’s ‘sword’ to be better ready for battle the next time. I’m tired tonight, but will try and remember some of the conversations to recount here.

I gave a couple girls Million Dollar Bills & asked the Million Dollar Question; Will you go to heaven when you die? Asking them what happens when one dies, they said ‘heaven’. Questioned further, on who goes to heaven, they responded that if one where pretty or smart they would go to heaven (maybe a little arrogant?). I asked if they knew what the Bible said; one of the girls responded that she was Jewish; like this somehow made the truth of the Bible null and void or something. I’ve just been reading through Isaiah, so responded that the prophet Isaiah wrote of the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, Judgement Day, just as the New Testament says. Asking further of the standard of judgment, I told her that because she was Jewish she would know God’s standard of righteousness....nope; she didn’t come up with the Ten Commandments. They pretty much split after that.

I looked over and saw Sam embroiled in what looked like a rather animated conversation with a young couple. I wandered over & met Ben and his girlfriend. Ben was asking what Christians say would happen to Muslims on the Day of Judgment. I began to show him, how people don’t specifically go to Hell because they’re not Christians, but because they’ve broken God’s Law; like someone jumping without a parachute dies not specifically because they’ve not a chute, but because they’ve broken the law of gravity. Ben (I discovered) doesn’t listen well & doesn’t really want answers to anything, but loved to argue and be vulgar.

As it turned out, I was talking to Ben (read ‘kept Ben occupied’) while Sam was able to explain the Gospel to Ben’s girlfriend (she was close to tears when I looked over Ben’s shoulder to their conversation). Ben when round-and-round with his argumentative talk; finally I asked Ben why every time we began to talk of his conscience and guilt before God, he changed the subject. He told me to go ahead, so I began to lead him through the Law. He paused (promising to continue) to go on a tirade on how I shouldn’t show people their guilt before God when preaching the Gospel. Ben claims to have spent ten years as a Pentecostal missionary, sharing the Gospel. He began to roll-play, showing me a classic make-a-friend, seeker-sensitive, non-threatening, marketing style (his word) ‘gospel’. He said the goal should be to get folks to church so the professionals could preach to them. I asked of the verse (Mark 16:15) should have read ‘Go ye into all the world, bring folks to church so the pastor can preach to them’? I eventually reminded him that THAT ‘gospel’ didn’t work on him, as he was flirting with atheism &/or universalism, is an active & continual blasphemer, fornicator, foul mouthed and angry. Ben didn’t like me very much, maybe it was his booze talking. Heartbreaking to meet another false convert; a product of the modern ‘gospel’ that so many churches embrace. Pray for Ben, that God will dissolve any peace in his life and give him the gift of a sorrowful repentance before God.
Later, I met a couple Spanish boys, who had a history as gang-bangers. They are going to church somewhere now, but didn’t know the Gospel. The one who spoke the most English was Orlando. Orlando figured that he’d done so many bad things, even though he was going to church, it was too late for him. I explained the amazing work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary as payment for sin, and the call to Repentance and Faith. Pray for Orlando, that he will see the truth as truth.

I approached a rough looking man with a Million Dollar Bill tract; said he already had one. I asked if he’d read the back, he hadn’t. Mike had come to SW Florida from Wyoming for work and to escape winter. He’d been unable to find work and was apparently mugged on the beach, losing his money. Interestingly, he didn’t ask for money & when I asked if he was hungry, didn’t indicate that he needed food. I softened my tone and was talked for quite a while, about the Law & Gospel; what an incredibly kind offer it was from God, to ‘pay our fine’ by the Blood of Christ through Repentance & Faith. Pray for Mike, his heart seemed to be softened (& he admitted that he’d lied to me, he hadn’t gotten on the tracts before).
I met a Christian couple from Puerto Rico here on vacation. He was wearing a fish symbol necklace and he t-shirt with a huge “Jesus” on it. Language was a barrier, but I asked him to explain the Gospel to me. He did not show the bad news, before the good news. He’d used Romans 3:23, so I opened up my Bible and showed him that if we backed up the previous verses spell out a more detailed description of man from God’s eyes & then showing the Law as the standard that shows sin (& other verses). Pray for these folks, as they seem to be serious believers.

I was able to preach for longer, using a springboard story to start the message. As I was finishing, I introduced Bobby to speak next. Bobby wasn’t expecting this (please forgive me Bobby!) but rose to the occasion and preached on Nicodemus. The concern, love and pleading in his voice made me really take notice. I got back up after him and preached, giving my own testimony and talked of Romans 3 as I’d talked to the Puerto Rican folks & touched on the false seeker-sensitive ‘gospel’.

Sam got into a VERY long conversation with a Catholic couple at a nearby sidewalk cafe. Sam got his Bible and began showing him the scriptures to show the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The angry couple from the next table moved over to join the conversation, bit Sam seemed to do well. Praise the Lord for Sam!

It was a blessed day, as the name of our Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up!

Glenn.