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Jesus Never Said That

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Jesus Never Said That

Jesus Never Said That

Ministry Update July 3, 2022

Friday night was such a blessing. Praise God, there were 11 of us out witnessing Friday night. Trevor, Elly, their two girls, Joshua, Tyail, Chase and his wife Myeisha (and their baby), Reed, Matthew and myself. There was open-air preaching, conversations and tracts handed out as well as great fellowship. But the thing that stood out the most to me were the things that were said, including the woman who yelled, “Jesus never said that.”

Trevor, Joshua, Reed and I were standing on one corner when the pedal pub (trolley) peddled past us. Trevor spoke up to the people at the pedal bar, “Repent of your sins, turn to Christ and you will be saved.” As they peddled around the corner a woman yelled back, “Jesus never said that.” So I yelled back, “Yes He did. Jesus said unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That’s Luke 13:3.” I encouraged her to read the Bible for herself so she’ll know what it really says. They were moving away from us or I would have also added the very first message Jesus preached was repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15).

Guy That Says Jesus Will Never Find Him

I Will Never Find Jesus

Before this, I tried to hand a tract to a guy and he shook his head no and said, “I will never find Jesus.” It was a very sad comment. But he kept walking, so I couldn’t really talk to him. I just replied that unfortunately that means that Hell awaits him. He just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. If people really understood how horrible Hell really is, they would not be so nonchalant about it. Then later a man and woman refused a tract and he just shook his head no. When they walked back by, Joshua tried to hand a tract to him, but he shook his head no again and put his fingers in the shape of an X and held his fingers near the tracts Joshua was holding.

Chase In A Conversation With An Atheist As His Wife Watches

Guy Flipped Me Off And Yelled At Me

Matthew In Long Conversation With The Guy That Flipped Me Off. Trevor’s Youngest Daughter Handing Out Tracts While Trevor And Joshua Stand Nearby Matthew. Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign.

Before all of us got to the witnessing spot, Chase got into a conversation with an atheist. She took a tract and they talked for quite a while. I think he got her to understand that she really doesn’t know right from wrong without taking it from a Christian world view. While I was bringing a message, a guy stopped across the street, flipped me off and yelled something. I just kept on with the message. But Matthew was nearby and he got into a conversation with the guy and they talked for 20 or 30 minutes. Reed also got into a long conversation with a different guy. Trevor and Chase also brought messages. One driver slowed down and encouraged Elly as she was handing out tracts. All in all, it was a good night and may God bless the conversations, the messages and the tracts that were handed out.

Trevor and Matthew And Trevors Youngest Daughter Handing Out Tracts and Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign

Reed and Joshua Handing Out Tracts

Elly And Her Oldest Daughter Handing Out Tracts While Chase Open-air Preaches

Trevor Open-air Preaching

Driver Slowed Down To Encourage Elly And Her Daughter While We Were Out Witnessing

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith in our Lord Jesus with this lost and dying world)

Surrounded By Encouragers

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Surrounded By Encouragers

Ministry Update June 19, 2022

Brad, Keven and I started out witnessing Friday night. Keven handed out tracts, Brad held his large banner sign that says Trust Jesus and Jesus Saves From Hell on the other side and I brought a message. We think it was a combination of Brad’s banner and my message, but we had several encouragers as well as several mockers. But at the end of the night, Brad was surrounded by encouragers.

Pro Abortion Woman Cussing As She Drove By.

I started off with a message about no neutrality. The central theme of the message was about how people cannot be neutral when it comes to Jesus. But before that, I used abortion as an example. You cannot be neutral about killing a baby in the womb. You are either for life or pro-death, but you cannot be neutral. One woman drove by and cussed as she passed when I was discussing abortion. But a lady crossed the street after taking a tract from Keven and she agreed when I said abortion is murder. I further said that being pro-life included from conception to death and she agreed with that too. Then a woman drove by and yelled “Jesus is a punk”. Brad had several other mockers as well as encouragers while he held his sign.

Woman Yelled Jesus Is A Punk As She Drove By Us.

Pro-life Lady Encourages Us As She Crosses The Street.

Can I Hold My Jesus Sign Next To You?

While bringing the message, a young lady named Tyail walked up and asked if she could hold her Jesus sign next to us. I told her she could. My thought was that if her sign wasn’t a good one, I’d have to explain why she couldn’t hold it near us, but it turned out that the sign read Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).So it  was a great sign. She ended up holding the sign near Keven across the street from us. After my message, I walked over and asked her where she got the sign from and she said from Joshua. I told her we know Joshua. Well, it turns out that while I’ve had health issues off and on the past two years, she was coming out witnessing with Keven and Joshua. I had no idea, but I was glad  to hear it.

Keven Handing Out Tracts, Tyail Holding Her Jesus Sign and Brad Holding His Banner.

Then I went back across the street and Brad said something about bringing a message, but he didn’t have one prepared. I told him that he should give the good person test. Instead, he got up and talked about several Way of the Master (Ray Comfort) examples such as jumping out an airplane with no parachute and the court room example of how Jesus paid our sin debt. Thank God that Brad did so, he ended up having five people come over and encourage him. Five people! At the end, four of them were there at the same time and he was surrounded by encourgers. Praise God! You expect to have some mockers when you share the truth, but you don’t always get encouragers and to be completely surrounded by them is really unusual.

Great Time Of Fellowship

Not only did we have a great time evangelizing, but we also had a great time of fellowship together. Joshua ended up joining us about half way through, so we had a great time visiting with each other as well as handing out tracts and New Testaments. One of Brad’s encouragers came over and asked me what we expected to accomplish while out witnessing. I was holding Brad’s banner sign while Brad was open-air preaching. I told the gentleman that our goal is to share the Gospel through open-air preaching, holding signs, handing out Gospel tracts and Bibles. Then he said, “so you are planting seeds.” Yes, we are planting seeds. May God send someone else to water and May God give the increase, all for His honor and glory.

Joshua Ready To Hand Out Tracts.

 

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others)

Do You Know Jesus?

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Do You Know Jesus?

Do you know Jesus? Have you repented and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? The question isn’t do you go church or were you raised in church? The question isn’t do you know about Jesus? Do you know how He fed the 5,000, walked on water, calmed the storm or healed the sick or raised the dead? No the question isn’t do you know about Jesus or know about the things that He has done, but do you know Jesus? Is He Lord of your life?

John 1:1-10 states: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. [Read more…]

Praise God For The Conversations

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Elly Talking To Two Young Men

Praise God For The Conversations!

Ministry Update June 5, 2022

We were blessed to have Trevor, Elly, their two girls, Keven, Joshua and I all out witnessing Friday night. I started out with a short message and had a drive by mocker or two. But before Trevor could bring his message, Elly was nearby having a discussion with a couple of guys. So he respectfully held off so he didn’t interfere with their conversation. While that was going on Joshua spoke to a young lady that’s a college student and said that she’s a believer. Also before Trevor could preach, a young man approached him and they had a long conversation. So we praise God for the conversations! [Read more…]

Heaven or Hell?

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Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash               Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash

Heaven or Hell?

Recently Keven, Joshua and I were out witnessing. We were handing out tracts and a lot of times Joshua would say, “Are you going to Heaven or Hell?” Most people replied that they were going to Heaven. This reminded me of Frank Jenner in Sydney Australia who for 28 years would hand people a tract and ask them if they died today, would they go to Heaven or Hell? Many people were saved by the grace of God by this one man asking this question. It made some people think of their eternity who never really thought about it before. Yes, it really is that simple: Heaven or Hell? [Read more…]

From Mocking To Listening to Questioning

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From Mocking To Listening To Questioning
Ministry Update May 29, 2022

It was a real privilege Friday night to meet some Facebook friends in real life and witness together. I met Trevor, Elly and their girls and we shared the Gospel in downtown Springfield, MO. I noticed that people took tracts from the girls and sometimes the people would walk a little ways away and stop and read the tracts. Their youngest daughter was very brave. She held a sign that said judge with righteous judgment and a couple walked by walking a dog. All of a sudden the dog started barking at her, but she never flinched. But the highlight of the night was when two boys went from mocking to listening to questioning. [Read more…]

Who Is Lord Of Your Life?

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Who Is Lord Of Your Life?

Bob Dylan had a song years ago called “Gotta Serve Somebody” and it starts off like this:

“You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody…” [Read more…]

I’m Going To Hell

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I’m Going To Hell

Ministry Update May 22, 2022

Keven, Joshua and I walked around downtown handing out tracts Friday night. Seemed like several people took tracts and we also had a lot of rejections. But a lot of times Joshua would reach out his arm to hand out a tract and say, “Are you going to Heaven or going to Hell?” The overwhelming majority said they were going to Heaven. Of course we don’t know what they are counting on to get there, so we want people to take tracts so they can read the Gospel. But Friday night Joshua had two different men say, “I’m going to Hell” and they were both proud of that fact.

Another thing Joshua said while handing out tracts is “Here’s good news for you.” Sometimes people would take the tract but other times they refused. I joked with Keven and Joshua that we need to come up with a tract that says Bad News on it and say if you don’t want the good news, here’s bad news for you. We could literally tell people the bad news that they have sinned against our Holy, Righteous God and that death and Hell await them. We could also just leave it with the bad news and then give them a phone number to call in case they change their minds and want to hear the good news after all.

Drive By Encourager

I brought a short message earlier in the night on how we all serve someone. As I was sharing the Gospel a woman drove by and said “You bet’ and followed that up with “Amen”. Sometimes we have drive by mockers, but it was nice having a drive by encourager. One young man stood near the building at the end of the parking lot listening to part of the message. Keven and Joshua handed out tracts during this time too. The three of us had a great time of fellowship Friday night. I enjoy the fellowship as much as the street witnessing.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel with this lost and dying world. Christian, you may not go out street witnessing, but you can hand someone a Gospel tract. You can share your testimony with others. If you haven’t done so already, please start today.)

You Are The Man!

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You Are The Man!

Have you ever had someone tell you, “You are the man!” Or “You’re the man?” Obviously, people mean this is in a good way. Maybe you’ve done a really good job at work or your department has performed really well and people at work will tell you, “You are the man!” Or maybe you were really good at sports in high school and people called you “the man or the woman”. Again, we typically hear this as being a good thing. But did you know the Bible talks about a person being the man and it’s not in a good way?

The Bible tells us that at the time when kings typically went out to war, King David stayed in his palace. One day he was walking on the roof top, looking around and he saw a beautiful woman taking a bath. He told one of his servants to fetch her and they did. Then David committed adultery with the woman. The woman’s name was Bathsheba and she was married to Uriah the Hittite. Well, Bathsheba became pregnant from their sexual encounter, so David thought no problem, he’d just have her husband brought back home from the war. Uriah would sleep with his wife and the problem would be solved. [Read more…]

Great To Back Out Witnessing Again

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Great To Be Back Out Witnessing Again
Ministry Update For May 13, 2022

Due to health issues, I missed witnessing for the last nine months. So it was great to back out witnessing again Friday night. I brought a message about You Are The Man while Brad and Keven handed out tracts. We had a few silent mockers drive by, but none of them yelled anything. But one girl was walking toward us until she turned the corner. She yelled, “Shut up. Go home. No one’s listening”. Then as she started to walk into a building she turned around and flipped us off. Brad waved to her and I just ignored her.

After I brought the message, Brad and I crossed the street and handed out tracts while Keven and Carl played music and Carl sang hymns. Carl’s friend Rachelle also joined us. After we had handed out tracts for a while Brad came over and said, “Have you noticed that more women are taking tracts tonight than men?” I had noticed the same thing. Every night street witnessing is different.

Brad not only handed out tracts, but he also offered to pray with people. Two young men asked him to pray for them and another young man asked for prayer for guidance. Not only was it great to be back out witnessing again, but I had also missed fellowshipping with other evangelists. We had a great time visiting with each other and I appreciated Carl’s love for the Lord. In between songs, a lot of times he’d praise the Lord and also exhort people with the fact that Jesus is the only Savior while quoting John 14:6. I’m looking forward to witnessing with these fellow evangelists and hopefully more friends will join us too.

These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith in Jesus with others.