Be Faithful...God is at work!

Friday night while I was trying to pass out tracts in the rain a man hurried past me who looked very familiar. I yelled, "Hey, I know you!" and he yelled back, "I know you, too!" and smiled. When he was out of sight I remembered who he was...the very first person who ever came to our booth! hmmm....I had wondered many times what happened to him!

The night went on and I had some great conversations. It was a difficult night for everyone. I think about every one of the group came and independently said something to the effect of, "..I had a really bad day and I found myself wanting to stay home-but I knew I should be here!" I readily agreed with each statement as I truly felt the same way that day!

There was a booth located across the street from us. It was sponsored by a church group. The group was made up of very nice people but very loud. They spoke from a huge sound system, and in between these times they blasted Christian music. Honestly, it was so loud we could not hear to have a conversation! I found myself a bit discouraged! It was a living picture of the world today. With their music and mime show they were able to draw a decent crowd of people, many of whom were clapping and dancing to the music. At the same time, we found it difficult to hear for the blaring music and 'feel-good' message. The female pastor kept saying things like, "In 20 minutes we will have a presentation of the 'sweet Gospel' ". The Gospel never was proclaimed there, just music and mimes. Oh yeah, and a loud prayer for healing anyone within earshot. As I stood up the street from the scene, I looked back to see smiling and clapping and dancing from their listeners. Across the street at our booth I saw faithful servants, willing to come out on this night, having trouble getting anyone to even take a tract. I kept praying, 'we must be faithful!'

Time went on and I went back to the booth and up walked Troy! I hadn't readily recognized him because of his new beard. I could not hear him but he pointed to a stack of Million Dollar Bills and was asking if he could have them. I handed them to him and yelled, "Your name is Troy, isn't it?" He said, "Yeah, sorry but I forgot your name!" I told him it was Jennifer. He came around into the booth and gave me a hug and smiled broadly. Away he walked into the night...

I dont' know Troy's heart, only God does. But I knew that God was showing me to set my face like a flint and be faithful. No matter what message the world has to offer, we are called to proclaim the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Dennis told me later that 19 of us were out that night! I am so thankful for each of you.

2Ti 4:2-5 ...preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For a time will be when they will not endure sound doctrine, but they will heap up teachers to themselves according to their own lusts, tickling the ear. And they will turn away their ears from the truth and will be turned to myths. But you watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fully carry out your ministry.

Tiki Carver

Thanks to all who came out Friday night.
There were at least 19 evangelists who came out to proclaim the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Amazing? Not really as your hearts are with Him and His command. It was great to see many of the current WOTM class there and sharing their faith albeit with a little fear – yet the Holy Spirit was there with them! We hope to hear more great stories so please share and we will post here.

Mine is about the “All paths lead to a higher place” person (Mike) in the next space to us selling tiki carvings. He is an advocate of Gandhi, reincarnation and Shirley Maclain. The sad part is how he said religion was “shoved at him” in his youth at a Methodist church and that was when he started on his own journey. He was all bent out of shape at the Catholic church, Crusades, Constantine, Nicene Council…..

As I spoke to him about the irrelevance of this 1600 year old stuff and that he needs to be concerned about HIS eternal destiny, the more he zigzagged back to how we are all reincarnated and we all go back to when God formed man and we are all like Him therefore we are god. I explained that what he was saying not only is wrong but blasphemous, her shrugged it off and said that Christianity is narrow minded. This I did agree with and let him know that Jesus is the Narrow Gate and not everyone will enter. The discussion went on for another few minutes and we departed on good terms. I then prayed for Mike.
Unfortunately he is traveling on a well-traversed road and it will lead to Hell. The Good News is that there is the Good News – so for a little while there is time for Mike to realize he is wrong. Pray for Mike.
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Of course, God knows what we need to hear and through a devotional I received this morning from Greg Laurie:

So why do it? Because I am a man under orders. I have a Commander-in-Chief called Jesus. He has commanded me to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

As I have often said, it is not the Great Suggestion; it is the Great Commission. And I am not the only one who is called to do this. You are called to do this as well.

It isn't really an option for me to say, "I won't share my faith. I won't preach the gospel. I won't tell others about Jesus." For me not to do this, for me not to make an effort to reach others with the gospel can be sin, because there are sins of commission and omission.

The sin of commission is doing what you should not do, while the sin of omission is not doing what you ought to do. The Bible tells us, "To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (Jams 4:17 NKJV).

Let's say that somehow I had discovered the cure for cancer. Would it be wrong for me to keep that secret to myself and never tell anyone? Of course it would.

How much more wrong would it be to keep it a secret if we have the cure, if you will, for eternal damnation?

We have the solution to humanity's problems. We have the way for people to know God. If we only apply that in our own lives and keep it to ourselves and never tell others, then certainly that is falling short of what God would want.

Yet most Christians do not engage in evangelism. I read a survey that said that 95 percent of Christians have never led another person to Christ. I don't know what percentage you fall into, and I don't want to lay a guilt trip on you. In fact, it just may be that you have been involved in more people coming to the Lord than you realize.

A little fish with my salmon...

We love Thai food and we have a great little place to go. Yesterday I noticed a new waitress. Now Dennis has issued a warning to me to wait until after we get our food to speak with the wait person. sigh...

I don't know about you all but I feel like the dog locked in the laundry room all day when I see an opportunity to fish! So I waited...and waited... Finally she came with the food. We were out with our pastor and right in middle of a discussion on HELL when she brought my salmon. I asked her name, to which she answered Veronica. I asked what she thought would happen when we died. She told me that she believed in reincarnation since she was Thai and Buddhist along with her Mom. I told her what scripture says about our lives (Hebrews 9:27)and asked her if she'd ever read the Bible. She told us that she never had but her Dad was a Baptist and when she saw him he was always trying to get her to listen (go Dad!). She told us that when she was little she would go to the Temple with her Mom and when she was with her Dad she would go to the Baptist church. She explained that she believed in doing good.



I asked Veronica if she thought she was good. She said she tried to be. After going thru a couple of the 10 Commandments I noticed a change in her attitude. A young couple had walked in the door and even though someone else could have helped them, Veronica exited the discussion. She never came back to the table. When we were finished we left a great tip and a Good Person booklet. I hope and pray that she will take the time to read it and realize our good is not good enough.

Wouldn't it be something to stand before the Lord and say with all honesty, "I told everyone you put in my path!" ?

Everyday people.

When I am out and about I like to talk to people about eternity. A boy named Christopher helped me to the truck with my groceries a couple of days ago. I took the opportunity to ask him where he would go when he died...

"uh...I don't know"

"Do you ever think about it, Chris?"

"Sometimes"

"How do we get there?"

"Being good people"

"Are you good?"

You can see where this discussion was headed. But to my surprise, I found a young boy of 16 or 17 who was already a proud liar. Chris told me he had never lied or stolen anything. Nor had he ever committed blasphemy. I gave Christopher a Good Person booklet and told him to go home and get honest with himself, because I didn't believe a word he said.

Even in the last few months I have noticed that younger people are becoming more calloused.

Jesus is coming soon...ready or not!

Please watch our friend Tony Preaching the Gospel

Part 1:


Part 2: