What have we done with the gospel message?

Open Air Preaching

Mike "The Beast" Stockwell open air preaching -

Hymn of the Week

There Is No Sin That I Have Done

There is no sin that I have done
That has such height and breadth
It can’t be washed in Jesus’ blood
Or covered by His death.
There is no spot that still remains,
No cause to hide my face,
For He has stooped to wash me clean
And covered me with grace.

There is no wrath that I will know,
No wormwood and no gall;
For though such wounds and grief I earned
My Savior bore them all.
There is no work that I must add
To stand before His throne.
I only plead His life and death
Sufficient on their own.

There is no love that I desire
But Jesus’ warm embrace.
While now I know His love by faith
I long to see His face.
There is no song that I will sing,
No melody but this,
That my Beloved, He is mine,
For He has made me His.


Eric Schumacher & David L. Ward


From Reformed Praise

Angry confrontation while out with cross today -

This afternoon I headed down to south Canton to hold the cross in a high traffic area on day 2 of my week long cross outing.

God had other plans.

On the way to Canton on Interstate 575, the traffic came to a dead stop about a mile north of my exit. It took me almost an hour to get to the exit and even then it was stop and go off the exit as the police re-routed traffic from 575 through Canton due to a tractor-trailer accident in which the truck lost it's load of telephone poles.

I decided to go up hwy 140 and see if there was a good place to stand in the city of Walseka.

There was!

I found a nice stretch of road that had a public sidewalk and that's where I stood for the next 30 minutes while sporadic traffic cruised on by me. The weather was very overcast, drizzling rain, and started getting dark, but no worries, at least I could be out for a while.

Well, about 30 minutes or so of standing there and getting many waves, honks and thumbs up, a truck pulled quickly into the parking lot behind the sidewalk and a man jumped hurriedly out of the vehicle and was approaching me fast.

As he got up next to me he loudly asked me what I thought I was doing.

"I'm just standing on the sidewalk holding a cross", I said.

"What do you think you're trying to prove?", he asked.

"I'm not trying to prove anything. Are you law enforcement?", I said.

"No, I'm the owner of this store and I don't know why you're standing in front of it." he said.

"What do you think holding this cross right here is going to do?", he asked.

"Well, I hope it brings about conviction to people through the question, "Are you ready?"", I said.

"Listen", he said, "This is a close nit community and we don't need any of this around here." He went on, "Why don't you go down to the 4-way stop and stand in front of the church where there will be more traffic?"

"I like it here", I said, "The long straight gives people more time to see the cross."

He told me that I didn't have a right to be there and that I was tying to push religion down peoples throat. I told him that I have not said a word to anyone other than him, so how was I pushing religion down peoples throat?

I told him that the cross is simply asking a question; if people were ready for eternity.

That's when he really lost it and told me that I thought I was better than everybody else. I almost laughed out loud on that one but held it inside.

He repeated that I didn't have a right to be where I was and I reminded him that men and women have died fighting for my right to be exactly where I was...doing what I was doing.

He went on to tell me that he believed in the first Amendment and that he was a Christian but he didn't want me in front of his business.

He also told me that people were having a hard time "negotiating" turning into his driveway because of where I was standing. I turned and looked behind me to see how much distance was between me and his business driveway and it was at least 20 feet.

So I told him I would move up another 15 feet or so and split the difference between his business and the pharmacy. He then told me to move up to the telephone pole but I told him that was too far and close to the turn of the road.

The whole time he was there he was pacing back and forth and acting like he had ants in his pants. He would wave his arms, walk away and then come walking back.

I just stood there and answered with yes sirs and no sirs with a calm demeanor while he angrily questioned and argued with me. The whole thing lasted about five minutes and there was a lot more said that I can't remember (Wished I had my voice recorder with me!).

Finally he left in a huff and went inside his store. He was in there for a few minutes before he came out and marched over to the pharmacy adjacent to his store. He and another person came to the window inside the pharmacy to look at me a couple times but that was it. The man marched out of the pharmacy, got back into his truck and left.

Before I got out to hold the cross I emailed a few people to be praying for me and for the cross to bring about conviction.

God answered that prayer!

The most ironic thing about the whole incident is that before the man came over to me, while I was standing there, I was thinking that because of the low volume of traffic in this small town I would probably not go out of my way to that spot again.....

But now........hmmmm.

What do you all think?

Should I go back to that spot again? I don't want to go there out of spite, but at the same time I don't want to be intimidated by one guy who thinks he can run out of town anyone who he doesn't agree with (First Amendment notwithstanding).

Chad Williams - Should we use the Law in Evangelism?

Should We Use the Law in Evangelism?

Countless times I have encountered self-proclaimed Christians conducting opposition to the use God’s Law in evangelism. The objection typically comes in the form of:

“I appreciate what you are doing but I don’t like the way you are doing it. That’s not how Jesus would have done it, Jesus was all about love!”

After I do a little probing, without fail I find that the objector raises such a disapproval against the use of the Law while standing on the sinking grounds of ignorance. What they do is take ignorant conjecture and put it in the place of honest research. They lend an ear to what they hear verbally flipped around “Jesus is all about love, hugs, and kisses” rather than going the Berean route by examining the Scriptures to see if this is so (Acts 17:11). They assert such a unlearned expression rather than test it’s truthfulness (1 Thess. 5:21).

So today lets remove all speculation in asking What Would Jesus Do? And look at What Did Jesus Do?

In the Gospel of Mark is recorded an encounter that Jesus had as He was going out on the road. “One came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’”

Reflecting on this for a moment...Talk about a potential convert! This guy is eagerly running towards Jesus and he seems to have some genuine humility as he bows his knee before the Creator of all things (John 1:3, Col. 1:16) and asks Him what he shall do? Does Jesus talk about love, joy, or a wonderful plan for the man's life? No, instead Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter and points out the man’s personal sins so that he could see his personal need for the Savior! Jesus' weapon of choice (2 Cor. 10:4): God's Law!

Jesus replies, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

I have so much I want to share about what we have covered in the previous passage but lets keep focused and strike ahead to where Jesus gets precise and zeros in on this man’s particular obstacle that separates him from everlasting life.

“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’ But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

As it turns out this man was a transgressor of the first and greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-38). The man was sad and sorrowful at this word as he seemed to have counted the cost (Lk. 14:27-28,33) and decided to walk away from Jesus.

Early in the picture it seemed this man was a highly potential convert. Jesus turns on the light of the Law (Prov. 6:23) which reveals the true condition of this man’s heart (Rom. 3:20). God's Word discerned the man’s true thoughts and intentions of his heart (Heb. 4:12). Had Jesus never prepared the way by using the Law we would have never known! (Ps. 119:105)

Why use the Law in evangelism? BECAUSE JESUS DID! (Eph 5:1)

By Chad Williams at Street Apologetics

I Have Many In This City Who Are My People. Acts 18:10 - Charles Spurgeon

This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since God has among the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, the most debauched and drunken, an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs.

They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are Christ's property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of the ale-house, and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them he will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price which his Son has paid. He will not suffer his substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word of God.

Nay, more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before the throne. "Neither pray I for these alone," saith the great Intercessor, "but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." Poor, ignorant souls, they know nothing about prayer for themselves, but Jesus prays for them. Their names are on his breastplate, and ere long they must bow their stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh before the throne of grace. "The time of figs is not yet."

The predestinated moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they shall obey, for God will have his own; they must, for the Spirit is not to be withstood when he cometh forth with fulness of power-they must become the willing servants of the living God. "My people shall be willing in the day of my power." "He shall justify many." "He shall see of the travail of his soul." "I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong."


Hat Tip to Proclaiming the Truth

Cross in Canton this week -

This week I plan to take the "Are You Ready" cross to different spots in and around Canton Georgia.

My goal is to be out every day leading up to Christmas at different high traffic spots around town; possibly at mutiple locations in the same day.

Please pray that many will be convicted by the question on the cross and also pray that many will just walk up to me and ask, "Ready for what?"

All for Him,

Wayne Dawg

Preach the gospel!

Jesus said, “Preach the gospel to every creature.” But men are getting tired of the divine plan; they are going to be saved by the priest, going to be saved by the music, going to be saved by theatricals, and nobody knows what! Well, they may try these things as long as ever they like; but nothing can ever come of the whole thing but utter disappointment and confusion, God dishonored, the gospel travestied, hypocrites manufactured by thousands, and the church dragged down to the level of the world. Stand to your guns, brethren, and go on preaching and teaching nothing but the Word of God, for it pleases God still, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe; and this text still stands true, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

- C. H. Spurgeon
1834 – 1892


Hat Tip to DefendingContending

Free gospel tracts!

I have come across a ministry called Bezeugen Tract Club that gives away free gospel tracts. After you enroll in the club (for free) you will receive a 30 day supply of tracts once a month. I just got my first shipment today.

Bezeugen is a German word meaning, "To bear witness to; affirm as a fact or truth; attest"

Here is the link to their homepage where you can check out their great website and all the cool evangelism ideas they have.

Here is the link to enroll and get your free tracts started on their way to your mailbox - Bezeugen

Why don't you lead people in the sinner's prayer?

I have been asked a few times over the last year or so why His Feet on the Street does not end witnessing encounters (or, more recently, open air opportunities) with what is generally known as the “sinner’s prayer”.

The sinner’s prayer is commonly employed at the end of most evangelical church services as an opportunity for an individual to receive Christ through either a prepared or spontaneous prayer from the pastor after (hopefully) sharing the gospel.

After sometimes appealing to lost people with, “Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking and wants to come in”, the guided prayer usually goes something like this…

“With every head bowed and every eye closed, please repeat this prayer after me: Dear God, I know that my sin separates me from You. Please forgive me of my sins. I thank you for dying for me. Come and live in my heart and help me be the person you want me to be. Amen.”

The pastor sometimes goes on to say, “If that prayer was the intent of your heart (and you really meant it), God heard you and saved you. Congratulations, you are now a child of God.”

So what’s wrong with that? Why doesn’t His Feet on the Street (HFOTS) use the sinner’s prayer and invite people to come to Christ after they present the gospel?

Let me be very clear on this; HFOTS absolutely invites lost people to come to Christ. If we didn’t invite, appeal, urge and plead with lost people to come to Christ, then we failed to convey the biblical gospel message. As a matter of fact, the moment we begin our witnessing encounters or open air opportunities, we have already started the invitation.

Pastor Jeff Noblit (Grace Life Church of the Shoals) say’s that, “If you do not give an invitation, then you have not preached the gospel. If there is no inviting of men to Christ, there is no gospel being preached... period.”

After a person has heard a biblical gospel invitation to come to Christ that invitation does not, and never will, end, (because God’s Word does not return void) until that person comes to faith in Christ or dies and stands before Christ in Judgment.

Praise God for that!!

Pastor Noblit also says, “God forbid we insinuate to people that the only real time you can get saved is when we sing three verses at the end of service. The invitation begins when we start preaching and may not end for years.”

HFOTS urges and appeals for the lost to come to Christ! We exist as a ministry because of the Great Commission and because of our compassion to reach the lost. What an utter failure we would be if we did not invite the lost to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

But what about the sinner’s prayer?

The reason HFOTS does not lead people in the sinner’s prayer is because we proclaim what the Bible commands; repentance and faith in Christ.

The Bible explicitly commands sinners to repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ for salvation. No where in the Scriptures will you find one person leading another person in a sinner’s prayer for salvation.

Why would they need to?

Ray Comfort of Way of the Master explains it like this, “If a man committed adultery, and his wife is willing to take him back, should you have to write out an apology for him to read to her? No.”

In other words, you shouldn’t have to tell the man, “Now say, Dear wife” and he say’s “Dear wife.” And you say, “I’m sorry I slept with that woman” and he say’s, “I’m sorry I slept with that woman.”

Ray goes on to say, “Sorrow for his betrayal of her trust should spill from his lips. She doesn’t want eloquent words, but simply sorrow of heart. The same applies to a prayer of repentance. The words aren’t as important as the presence of "godly sorrow." The sinner should be told to repent—to confess and forsake his sins. He could do this as a whispered prayer, and then you could pray for him.”

If God is drawing an individual to Himself, and working repentance in that person’s heart, then that last thing we should do is interfere with the supernatural working of God.

When a person is truly repentant and has a godly sorrow for their sins, you will never have to lead them in a prayer; repentance will flow from their lips.

Remember, its faith alone in Christ alone that is needed for salvation; not a sinner’s prayer. If a person is trusting in a “prayer” for their salvation and not Christ alone, then that person is still lost in their sins.

His Feet prefers to follow the biblical mandate of preaching the full gospel and calling sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. We would rather let the Holy Spirit do His task of convicting the lost of their sins and bringing about a godly sorrow that leads to repentance instead of us possibly giving someone a false sense of salvation because, instead of looking unto Christ and Him alone, they are now trusting in a prayer they mimicked.

All for Him,

WayneDawg

"Street Preacher...a day in the life."

The folks at Go, Stand and Speak will soon release a new DVD called, "Street Preacher...a day in the life.".

From the website:

"If you’re a Street Preacher, Evangelist, Pastor -or any Christian for that matter- that wants to get encouraged to preach publicly on the streets (or prayerfully support those that do), you won’t want to miss this…"

The release date is scheduled for Feb 1st, 2011 and is available for pre-order right now for only $13.99.

I've seen a clip for the video and my brother in Christ and street preacher, Mike "The Beast", is shown faithfully preaching the Word of God.

100% of the proceeds go towards the furtherance of the gospel!

What evangelism isn't

Imposition

Probably the most common objection to evangelism today is, "Isn't it wrong to impose our beliefs on others?"

Some people don't practice evangelism because they feel they are imposing on others. And the way evangelism is often done, I can understand the confusion! But when you understand what the Bible presents as evangelism, it's really not a matter of imposing your beliefs.

It's important to understand that the message you are sharing is not merely an opinion but a fact. That's why sharing the gospel can't be called an imposition, any more than a pilot can impose his belief on all his passengers that the runway is here and not there.

Additionally, the truths of the gospel are not yours, in the sense that they uniquely pertain to you or your perspective or experience, or in the sense that you came up with them. When you evangelize, you are not merely saying, "This is how I like to think of God," or "This is how I see it." You're presenting the Christian gospel. You didn't invent it, and you have no authority to alter it.

Personal Testimony

One of the classic testimonies was given by a blind man Jesus healed. When he was questioned after Jesus healed him, he responded, "Whether he [Jesus] is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25). The man disregarded the menacing threats of those more honored and respected than he in order to give this verbal witness to the power of God. It's a wonderful, powerful testimony, but it's not evangelism. There is no gospel in it. The man didn't even know who Jesus was.

An account of a changed life is wonderful and inspiring thing, but it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that explains what it's all about and how it happened.

Social Action and Public Involvement

Being involved in mercy ministries may help to commend the gospel, which is why Jesus taught, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). Displaying God's compassion and kindness by our actions is a good and appropriate thing for Christians to do. But such actions are not evangelism. They commend the gospel, but they share it with no one. To be evangelism, the gospel must be clearly communicated, whether in written or oral form.

When our eyes fall from God to humanity, social ills replace sin, horizontal problems replace the fundamental vertical problem between us and God, winning elections eclipses winning souls.

Apologetics

Other people mistake apologetics for evangelism. Like the activities we've considered above, apologetics itself is a good thing. We are instructed by Peter to be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have (1 Pet. 3:15). And apologetics is doing exactly that. Apologetics is answering questions and objections people may have about God or Christ, or about the Bible or the message of the gospel.

Answering questions and defending parts of the good news may often be a part of conversations Christians have with non-Christians, and while that may have been a part of our own reading or thinking or talking as we came to Christ, such activity is not evangelism.

Apologetics can present wonderful opportunities for evangelism. Being willing to engage in conversations about where we came from or what's wrong with this world can be a significant way to introduce honest discussions about the gospel.

By far the greatest danger in apologetics is being distracted from the main message. Evangelism is not defending the virgin birth or defending the historicity of the resurrection. Apologetics is defending the faith, answering the questions others have about Christianity. It is responding to the agenda that others set. Evangelism, however, is following Christ's agenda, the news about him. Evangelism is the positive act of telling the good news about Jesus Christ and the way of salvation through him.

The Results of Evangelism

Finally, one of the most common and dangerous mistakes in evangelism is to misinterpret the results of evangelism—the conversion of unbelievers—for evangelism itself, which is the simple telling of the gospel message. Who can deny that much modern evangelism has become emotionally manipulative, seeking simply to cause a momentary decision of the sinner's will, yet neglecting the biblical idea that conversion is the result of the supernatural, gracious act of God toward the sinner?

When we are involved in a program in which converts are quickly counted, decisions are more likely pressed, and evangelism is gauged by its immediately obvious effect, we are involved in undermining real evangelism and real churches.

The Christian call to evangelism is a call not simply to persuade people to make decisions but rather to proclaim to them the good news of salvation in Christ, to call them to repentance, and to give God the glory for regeneration and conversion. We don't fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not converted; we fail only if we don't faithfully tell the gospel at all. Evangelism itself isn't converting people; it's telling them that they need to be converted and telling them how they can be.

Mark Dever (From Christianity Today)

Evangelism quote of the week -

Our business is to present the Christian faith clothed in modern terms, not to propagate modern thought clothed in Christian terms. Confusion here is fatal.

J. I. Packer

How Great is our God?

Scientists Find 200 Sextillion More Stars in the Sky

From Fox News

The night sky may be a lot starrier than we thought.

A study suggests the universe could have triple the number of stars scientists previously calculated. For those of you counting at home, the new estimate is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's 300 sextillion.

The study questions a key assumption that astronomers often use: that most galaxies have the same properties as our Milky Way. And that's creating a bit of a stink among astronomers who want a more orderly cosmos.

It's one of two studies being published online Wednesday in the journal Nature that focus on red dwarf stars, the most common stars in the universe. The study that offers the new estimate on stars is led by a Yale University astronomer. He calculates that there are far more red dwarfs than previously thought, and that inflates the total star count.

Rest of story here

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This story instantly reminded me of a great praise song.......


How Great is Our God

The splendor of a King,
clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
all the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
and darkness tries to hide
it trembles at his voice,
trembles at his voice

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great
How great is our God

And age to age He stands
and time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
the Lion and the Lamb,
the Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great,
How great is our God

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
how great is our God
Name above all names
you are worthy of all praise
and my heart will sing
how great is our God

How great is our God,
Sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great,
How great is our God

Chris Tomlin