Fourth of July Evangelism

Many from the Gunnery Road Baptist Church met Friday to go hand out tracts and share the Gospel at Veteran’s Park here in Lehigh Acres, this 4th of July. I mentioned it to the Pastor last week, he made an announcement encouraging people to come out & many did. Each person went out armed with 100 tracts and a 2-hour commitment. Very cool!

When I had first arrived, I met a woman pushing a baby carriage. I gave her a tract & she introduced herself as a Christian. As usual, I told a story; a story that I was on the ground at her feet, knife in my chest, bleeding out with 2-minutes to live, scared of Hell….How do I get to Heaven? She couldn’t explain the Gospel & said something like “I’m born again & you’re being too pushy….she was mad”. I’m sorry I made her mad, but expect it’s most likely a result of being bothered that she couldn’t explain the Gospel after professing to be a Christian.

I began handing out tracts to people sitting around tables under a sunshade (sunshades are popular during the summer in Florida. At the first table, I met Joe. Joe is from New York, where he was involved in evangelism with folks from his church. We visited for a short time, encouraging him to preach the Gospel & inviting him to come to church with me.

I moved on & began to hand out tracts to everyone sitting along the tables; at the far end of the tables, I met Debbie & Richard. A young girl was sitting at their table, but left as we began a serious conversation. Debbie showed a very strong conviction of sin. She and Richard both claimed to be Christians, but talking to them, I’m not sure. She’s said she’d not been born again – had not truly repented of her sin & put her faith in Jesus Christ and the Blood he shed for sin on the Cross of Calvary. We talked for quite a long time, thoroughly explaining the Gospel & the exhortation of scripture to “examine yourself, whether you be in the faith” (I Cor. 13). Sue joined the conversation and we invited them to join us at church in Sunday. Sue stayed to chat with them while I eventually moved on to talk with others. She hugged Sue when they left.

It turns out they did come to church today & sat with us. Pastor Vance preached on I Corinthians 13:5 as we’d been discussing a couple days earlier & he preached a strong, clear message. Pastor knew they where there…he and I were talking later & both had noticed the songs we sang about being freed from the bondage of sin…hoping they’d touch her. They had to leave right after church but said they were glad they’d come & would be back. Please pray for Debbie & Richard; very nice people, be so good to see them come to true repentance & faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Later, I moved back along the tables & found that all the people had moved…all new people…cool! I began to hand out tracts and talk to people. I met a couple women, seems that everyone from the church had also talked to them. One said she was new to the area and looking for a church. I was able to chat with them & a bit light-heartedly use my standard knife-in-the-chest story to ask her to explain the Gospel. I got a squishy response, so we chatted about what the scriptures say about the Judgment of God, substitutionary atonement, repentance and faith. It is sad to see professing Christians so unclear on the Gospel.

Further down the tables, I met a couple girls, older-teens or early twenties. They thought they were good people & good enough to get into Heaven. We discussed the Law to show them their sin & what the scriptures say about God’s righteous judgment (Hebrews 9:27, Acts 17:30-31, Revelation 21:8, I Corinthians 6:9-10). They showed concern & took an “Are You Good Enough to Get Into Heaven?” tract.

The man who was operating the kid’s inflatable water-slides talked to me for a while. I can’t recall his name now, but he admitted he’d sinned before God, but felt that everyone else had too (very typical) & thus God would overlook sin. He felt that God knew that he’d done his best & was ‘comfortable’ that this was good enough. It took some chatting for him to seemingly hear that God’s standard was absolute moral perfection….that “he will be no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7). Is this pretty common feeling simply the depravity of man, or is the modern church partly responsible, with it’s preaching of ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life’…preaching of the Love of God, but forgetting entirely of His Righteous Judgment. I eventually was able to explain to him of God’s standard. Often, a story works well. I say something like, ‘Imagine that someone murdered your daughter, slit her throat and dumped the body. The police caught the perpetrator; he stood before the judge and admitted his guilt, but asked the judge to forgive him, to let him go. If the judge let him go, would that be justice? What would you feel about the judge?’ I ask if God’s standard of justice is higher or lower than man's….higher! This often begins to open their eyes….though in this case, he was not very open…but seeds are planted. People often feel they are only successful when sharing the Gospel, when someone falls on their knees and repents. We are really successful when we are obedient to His command to share the Gospel; when we lift up His name and preach His Word, for His Glory….let our Lord create the increase.

My family was trying to get me to finally leave. Walking for the parking lot, a group at a table off to the side, asked me for some of the Million Dollar Bill tracts I was handing out. I was able to talk to them for a bit….one showed conviction of sin…I talked to him for a bit & invited him to the church here in Lehigh.

Pray for those who heard the Gospel, may the name of Jesus Christ be glorified and praised.

Bobby Backslider?

A couple nights back, heading home at the end of the day, I passed a car. I’d just turned off the main-road and was beginning the 8-mile run up Sunshine Blvd home, when I passed a cross-street; on the corner of the cross-street sat a small car; hood up and driver pacing back and forth, calling on his cell-phone...I drove by. I felt a tug inside; turned around and drove back.

As it turns out, Bob had just installed a new battery in his little Hyundai the night before and had failed to properly tighten-down the positive battery terminal, thus his alternator was not properly charging his battery – in short...’he be stuck’. Bob was a little agitated, as he was rushing to pick up his dear wife at work. “You need a boost”, I asked Bob....yep, he did....but I could sense hope drop in him when I asked if he had cables...he didn’t. I cheerfully turned around with a smile & lined my van up with the front of his car anyway, figuring I’d find cables from someone. Half a minute later, a lady in the house right beside us began backing out of her driveway....she had cabled & loaned them to us....I boosted Bob’s car.

As I was disconnecting Bob’s car, I asked what would happen to him when he died...Bob was polite, but assured me he’d take the time to talk another time, but was late picking up his wife....what do you know; his car engine quite before he could drive off. I now had time to talk to Bob while I figured out why it quit (found the loose battery terminal & fixed it) then re-boosting the car.

It turns out that Bob is a sinner and a lawbreaker, guilty before God and deserving of punishment. Bob told me that he loves the Lord, but is a backslider. I told Bob that we don’t see that in scripture (i.e. a man who falls away from the faith, but is still on his way to Heaven)....I pointed out that I John 2:19 says “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” That seemed to bother Bob; I trust he was convicted.

Pray for Bobby the ‘backslider’.

Glenn.

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.