Hello to all who are wondering what Jesus has been doing recently to add to His Church. If your wondering why there wasn't a post last week, it's because the entire labor team was out a Ashland Woods for a corporate week with Bro Titus. Let me just say I praise the Lord for allowing Titus to be with us during the situation he is going through. I will not expound upon this online and if you really must know, ask a full-time brother in your local church.
This last week I had the privilege of going out preaching the gospel with the skies threatening rain. My sister and I were only out for 15 minutes when the rain started to come. Luckily, Lakewood is such an out going community that the streets didn't completely clear out. The first few people we tried to talk to were all in a hurry (most likely to get out of the rain), but eventually we broke ground and found some hardcore people willing to talk to us.
The first was an Arabic girl who said she was Muslim. Surprisingly, she was willing to talk to us about Jesus. We preached to her using the William Fay method (if you don't know what that is, pick up his book "Share Jesus Without Fear." It's an amazing book and is worth reading). Just by talking to her I could tell she wasn't a strong Muslim. We asked her if she was willing to pray with us to receive Jesus and Praise the Lord she was! After she accepted Jesus, we gave her an invitation and my sister's cell number. Hopefully she will call us (she wasn't willing to give us her number).
Almost immediately after, we met an older woman waiting for the bus. We again went with the William Fay method and this lady was not interested...at first. She wouldn't believe in God because a lot of bad things have happened to her. We asked her why she claimed God was behind those things...she didn't know. Then we asked her if she believed in heaven and hell. She did and believed she was going to hell because of all the bad things SHE had done. We told her there was a way to be saved from hell and asked her if she would like to know how. Drum roll please...............she also said YES! Once she accepted the Lord, we got her number and already have a follow up time for tomorrow. Jesus is awesome.
Two things I'd also like to mention are that I've been sharing the gospel with some friends I've been praying for awhile now and they are still far from Jesus. Yet there is one who is very open and I am greatly encouraged. Also, get this. The very first person I talked to after the labor started showed up on Lord's Day looking for a bible. I can tell people have been praying for us and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I pray that all of you who are not partaking in the labor would remain strong in the Christian faith and continue to pray for the Lord's moving this year.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
God Bless You
Let me just open this blog by saying "Thank You Jesus for this Indian summer!" (Which is summer like weather in Autumn). Delaying the evident wrath of Old Man Winter allows for perfect gospel preaching weather, but also for all sorts of people from different walks of life.
The first person I met in this week's adventure was quite the surprise. His name is Dave and apparently, he visited the Church in Cleveland back in the 80s. I found this morsel out when he asked what church I went to. He then told me exactly what we stand for and what our foundation is...he was dead on target. I then discovered he is catholic and before we parted ways he said he appreciated that their are people like me out sharing the gospel and then he said "God bless." What I didn't yet know was that I was about to be blessed more times in one day than I probably have been in a month.
Out of the last for people I talked to for the day, three of them were also catholic. The most interesting of the last three catholics was the second. When I asked this guy what his spiritual beliefs were, he showed me his arm and tattooed on it was the ever popular saying "Only God can judge." You will find when you preach the gospel that there are a lot of people, believers or not, that have this saying tattooed on their body. This man wasn't in a hurry, but he also answered every one of my questions with a simple yes or no. After I thanked him, he, like the first two catholics, told me "God bless." Even though I didn't have much luck with someone who needed Jesus, the day was very encouraging.
Later in the week, me and some of the bros returned to the old stomping grounds of Lakewood Park. Because of the beautiful weather God had graced us with, there was a throng of people. Jeremiah and I headed down to the lake front to see what kind of people needed some Jesus. Little did we know that the first person we'd talk to would be our last.
The guy looked to be in his late thirties, was on the chunky side, and was wearing a Cleveland Browns cap. The guy was super friendly, but this conversation was about to go on a windy road with no end for miles around. This dude used to be in a part of the government, was a very knowledgeable, and was a very charismatic speaker. He knew how to change the subject very quickly and what he stood upon was that God is love and so is nature and everything else. He liked to talk about world issues and many other "interesting" things. Some of his memorable quotes were "I'm still on the fence", "the playing field is not level"(Communism?...I think so) "the president is a puppet controlled by very rich and power people", and my favorite "For all we know, Hitler could be in heaven." Jer and I spent over an hour talking to this guy and managed to preach the whole gospel, but ended up having a practically fruitless conversation. Hopefully a seed was planted in him that will break up through the ground of intellect in his heart.
To all of you who are reading this blog; I ask you to please pray for our going on in the gospel, for the contacts we are obtaining that are becoming stale, for everyone involved with the labor, and for anyone you might know who is unsaved. Jesus is our Shepherd. Because He endlessly takes care of us, we should be willing to shepherd those who do not have the glorious presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first person I met in this week's adventure was quite the surprise. His name is Dave and apparently, he visited the Church in Cleveland back in the 80s. I found this morsel out when he asked what church I went to. He then told me exactly what we stand for and what our foundation is...he was dead on target. I then discovered he is catholic and before we parted ways he said he appreciated that their are people like me out sharing the gospel and then he said "God bless." What I didn't yet know was that I was about to be blessed more times in one day than I probably have been in a month.
Out of the last for people I talked to for the day, three of them were also catholic. The most interesting of the last three catholics was the second. When I asked this guy what his spiritual beliefs were, he showed me his arm and tattooed on it was the ever popular saying "Only God can judge." You will find when you preach the gospel that there are a lot of people, believers or not, that have this saying tattooed on their body. This man wasn't in a hurry, but he also answered every one of my questions with a simple yes or no. After I thanked him, he, like the first two catholics, told me "God bless." Even though I didn't have much luck with someone who needed Jesus, the day was very encouraging.
Later in the week, me and some of the bros returned to the old stomping grounds of Lakewood Park. Because of the beautiful weather God had graced us with, there was a throng of people. Jeremiah and I headed down to the lake front to see what kind of people needed some Jesus. Little did we know that the first person we'd talk to would be our last.
The guy looked to be in his late thirties, was on the chunky side, and was wearing a Cleveland Browns cap. The guy was super friendly, but this conversation was about to go on a windy road with no end for miles around. This dude used to be in a part of the government, was a very knowledgeable, and was a very charismatic speaker. He knew how to change the subject very quickly and what he stood upon was that God is love and so is nature and everything else. He liked to talk about world issues and many other "interesting" things. Some of his memorable quotes were "I'm still on the fence", "the playing field is not level"(Communism?...I think so) "the president is a puppet controlled by very rich and power people", and my favorite "For all we know, Hitler could be in heaven." Jer and I spent over an hour talking to this guy and managed to preach the whole gospel, but ended up having a practically fruitless conversation. Hopefully a seed was planted in him that will break up through the ground of intellect in his heart.
To all of you who are reading this blog; I ask you to please pray for our going on in the gospel, for the contacts we are obtaining that are becoming stale, for everyone involved with the labor, and for anyone you might know who is unsaved. Jesus is our Shepherd. Because He endlessly takes care of us, we should be willing to shepherd those who do not have the glorious presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Calm After the Storm
Rain, rain, rain. That sums up the last week...for the most part. Don't get me wrong, I love a summer thunderstorm or a soft, summer rain, but when you are trying to share Jesus with the world, rain can really dampen the situation.
This last week wasn't a total loss, however. In between showers on Saturday evening, me, Timothy, Jer, and Jesse had a chance to tackle the usual place: Detroit Rd. Surprisingly, there were more people out than we expected. We had about an hour because the Jr. High/High School meeting was that night. We split into pairs; Jer and I headed West, Tim and Jesse took the East. Within a few minutes a hooded guy smoking a cigarette came strolling our way. We asked him if he had a few minutes and he stopped to talk to us.
At first, he came off as a guy who looked like he wasn't even going to give us two seconds, but it turns out that he was a really nice guy who was a believer. The guy started out as a Methodist, but after his father passed away when he was six, he went off on a spiritual quest. He wanted to find a way to end his pain, so he tried Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, Lutheran, and many others. Eventually, he found his way back to the Lord and returned to his Methodist church.
It didn't take long to find another person willing to let us share Jesus with them. The person looked to be 15-16 years old, but I could be completely wrong. He had a deep voice for his assumed age and answered "yes" to almost every question we asked him. He also said he goes to a church nearby. Just in case he was interested, we gave him an invite to our church and before we went along our way, he told us his brother would like the invite a lot.
I checked my phone and we had enough time to talk to one last person before we had to leave. This last guy we came upon was a guy in his mid-20s. He, like the first guy, had a half-smoked cigarette dangling of the out of the left corner of his mouth. He was also wearing a Raiders cap backwards and had on a white T-shirt in 48 degree weather. We began to talk to the guy and he was a pretty friendly dude. I believe he was agnostic because he said he believed in a higher being, but not God. He claimed heaven and hell do not exist and when asked if he was a good person, he said no but he has no regrets (he mentioned he felt guilty about some things, therefore he contradicted himself in a way). I didn't even bother to check my phone because when you share the gospel with an unbeliever, time doesn't matter when their eternal destination is at stake.
The guy seemed like he had somewhere else to be (which turned out to be the bar he worked at right next to us) so we asked him the 5th "Share Jesus" question which was "If what you are believing isn't true, would you want to know the truth?" The guy answered us with a question (I hate it when they do that). "It's all perspective or your opinion right?" he said. Then he told us he had to go back to work. I made a last ditch effort and told him that if he was ever interested in seeking God or had a change of heart, he would be welcome to attend church on Lord's Day. I also gave him an invitation. Hopefully that seed Jer and I planted grows.
Not everyone who you talk to will listen. Not everyone will even give you two seconds of the day. Yet, as long as the Word of God and the and the Truth gets shared, the Kingdom will continue to grow.
This last week wasn't a total loss, however. In between showers on Saturday evening, me, Timothy, Jer, and Jesse had a chance to tackle the usual place: Detroit Rd. Surprisingly, there were more people out than we expected. We had about an hour because the Jr. High/High School meeting was that night. We split into pairs; Jer and I headed West, Tim and Jesse took the East. Within a few minutes a hooded guy smoking a cigarette came strolling our way. We asked him if he had a few minutes and he stopped to talk to us.
At first, he came off as a guy who looked like he wasn't even going to give us two seconds, but it turns out that he was a really nice guy who was a believer. The guy started out as a Methodist, but after his father passed away when he was six, he went off on a spiritual quest. He wanted to find a way to end his pain, so he tried Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, Lutheran, and many others. Eventually, he found his way back to the Lord and returned to his Methodist church.
It didn't take long to find another person willing to let us share Jesus with them. The person looked to be 15-16 years old, but I could be completely wrong. He had a deep voice for his assumed age and answered "yes" to almost every question we asked him. He also said he goes to a church nearby. Just in case he was interested, we gave him an invite to our church and before we went along our way, he told us his brother would like the invite a lot.
I checked my phone and we had enough time to talk to one last person before we had to leave. This last guy we came upon was a guy in his mid-20s. He, like the first guy, had a half-smoked cigarette dangling of the out of the left corner of his mouth. He was also wearing a Raiders cap backwards and had on a white T-shirt in 48 degree weather. We began to talk to the guy and he was a pretty friendly dude. I believe he was agnostic because he said he believed in a higher being, but not God. He claimed heaven and hell do not exist and when asked if he was a good person, he said no but he has no regrets (he mentioned he felt guilty about some things, therefore he contradicted himself in a way). I didn't even bother to check my phone because when you share the gospel with an unbeliever, time doesn't matter when their eternal destination is at stake.
The guy seemed like he had somewhere else to be (which turned out to be the bar he worked at right next to us) so we asked him the 5th "Share Jesus" question which was "If what you are believing isn't true, would you want to know the truth?" The guy answered us with a question (I hate it when they do that). "It's all perspective or your opinion right?" he said. Then he told us he had to go back to work. I made a last ditch effort and told him that if he was ever interested in seeking God or had a change of heart, he would be welcome to attend church on Lord's Day. I also gave him an invitation. Hopefully that seed Jer and I planted grows.
Not everyone who you talk to will listen. Not everyone will even give you two seconds of the day. Yet, as long as the Word of God and the and the Truth gets shared, the Kingdom will continue to grow.
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