8 Reason I don't Share my Faith.

I saw this a while ago and it is SO funny and TRUE!! I thought I would share it will you all and I'm sure (like myself) many of you have used some of these excuses for not being obedient.

Poll Question Results - Motives

Is it better to evangelize with bad motives but Christ is preached, or wait until you have good motives to share the gospel?

Out of the 8 votes (mine included):

7 were for - Bad Motives but Christ is preached

1 was for - Wait until you have good motives, then share Christ.

This is why I voted for "Bad Motives":

"Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice." Phil.1:15-18

God's word doesn't return void, and even if someone shares the gospel with bad motives it doesn't negate the power of the gospel. What I do know is that no one is saved apart from the gospel, so don't wait to long to have the right motives... you may be waiting a LONG time. I'm not sure my motives will ever be fully right and honestly I'm not sure I could trust my own estimation of myself. I would rather obey the great commission now and God will work it all out at the Bema Seat.

An Ugly Black Friday

Last year I was at this Best Buy alone. This year I was blessed and thankful to have three bold brothers join me!

The Heart of the Gospel

Black Friday Anyone?

Would anyone be interested in joining me to hand out tracts at the Burbank Best Buy... 4:30 AM?!

Doors open at 5:00 AM. I just planned on blanketing the line with tracts, no open-air. My throat is kind of hurting.

Post reply in comments if you want to go, or send me a text.

Something to be thankful for!

"For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!" Job 19:25-27

We have so much to be thankful for, but most of all for JESUS CHRIST. I know you may already know this but does your heart; like Job YEARN within you? (the NASB translation is "FAINTS within me.") Are you longing to see HIM?

Jesus LIVES and REIGNS! One day He will return and set foot on the Mount of Olives and rule from the New Jerusalem. And the wonder of wonders is that IN MY FLESH shall I see GOD!! We will be raised from the dead to a perfected body fit for the glories of heaven and the joys of His presence.

Imagine today when you sit down to your big turkey dinner with all the trimmings. When you look down the table at all your friends and family, for a moment realize that as REAL as they are... you will one day sit at the feast of the Lamb and you will look down the table past the saints of the ages...and see Him. THAT is truly something to be thankful for!

Noho tonight was GREAT!

There are just those times when it was a great night and tonight was one of them. I went to Noho at about 3:00 and was joined by Mike and Joanne and their whole CLAN! Also Jorge. We gave out a bunch of tracts (about 1000) and Scott and myself open-aired. I was blessed to do that about 4 times, and the crowds were consistent. Mike and I gave out several bibles and about 6 copies of Why Christianity. Lots of good heckling! It just felt like a fruitful time.

Please pray for James, who heard the preaching and stayed to listen. He is homeless and admitted his sins have ruined his life. He is going to join me at the local coffee shop at 7:00 am on Friday for a bible study!! Praise the Lord!

* Just a quick note: James called me this morning to tell me he had been thinking all night about what we talked about yesterday. He agreed with me that he is not a "back slider" but someone who has never "slid forward" in the first place. James knows he needs to give his life to the Lord and wants to have that bible study tomorrow morning. PLEASE PRAY IT IS GENUINE AND THE LORD SAVES HIM!! Good news is he is off the street and not going to be alone on Thanksgiving Day!!

Cut to the Chase! Grace or Works?

The other night when I was open-airing in Burbank, a guy came up and wanted to "wrangle" with me that you must be baptized in order to be saved.

Okay, when you speak with someone like this...Cut to the chase: Are you saved by what Jesus has done or by what you do? And I would tack on ALONE. Is it by Jesus ALONE?

Works based religions that try to cling to the idea that its Jesus PLUS something they do (ie-baptism, confession, etc...) aren't trusting Christ, they're trusting themselves. I would even add that they have a false Christ, one that needs their participation in order to accomplish what apparently He didn't finish on the cross. What exactly did Jesus mean when He said, "IT IS FINISHED!"?

"knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."(Gal. 2:16)

It really boggles the mind how anyone can read the bible and walk away with the idea that you are saved by any works you do (no matter how many scriptures someone tries to twist to feed their own self-righteousness) you have to deal with verses that CLEARLY say:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."(eph. 2:8&9)

"being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," (rom 3:24)

"that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."(titus 3:7)

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."(rom. 6:23)

The bible clearly sets a standard no one can keep perfectly, thus magnifying Gods gracious work to save us through Christ's death on the cross and resurrection. If you meet one of these folks just share the gospel and trust GOD'S GRACE to save them!

Spurgeon preaching on "The Blood" of Christ said:

"This blood is not simply the only thing that can save, but it must save alone. Put anything with the blood of Christ, and you are lost; trust to anything else with this and you perish. "It is true," says one, that the Sacrament cannot save me, but I will trust in that, and in Christ too." You are a lost man, then. So jealous is Christ of his honour, that anything you put with him, however good it is, becomes, from the fact of your putting it with him, an accursed thing. And what is it that thou wouldst put with Christ? Thy good works? What! wilt thou yoke a reptile with an angel—yoke thyself to the chariot of salvation with Christ? What are thy good works? Thy righteousnesses are "as filthy rags;" and shall filthy rags be joined to the spotless celestial righteousness of Christ? It must not, and it shall not be. Rely on Jesus only, and thou canst not perish; but rely on anything with him, and thou art as surely damned as if thou shouldst rely upon thy sins. Jesus only—Jesus only—Jesus only—this is the rock of our salvation.
And here let me stop, and combat a few forms and shapes which our self-righteousness always takes. "Oh," says one, "I could trust in Christ if I felt my sins more." Sir, that is a damning error. Is thy repentance, thy sense of sin, to be a part-Saviour? Sinner! the blood is to save thee, not thy tears, Christ's death, not thy repentance. Thou art bidden this day to trust in Christ; not in thy feelings, not in thy pangs on account of sin. Many a man has been brought into great soul distress, because he has looked more at his repentance than at the obedience of Christ—

"Could thy tears for ever flow,
Could thy zeal no respite know;
All for sin could not atone,
Christ must save and Christ alone."
"Nay," says another, "but I feel that I do not value the blood of Christ as I ought, and therefore I am afraid to believe." My friend, that is another insiduous form of the same error. God does not say, "When I see your estimate of the blood of Christ, I will pass over you; no, but when I see the blood." It is not your estimate of that blood, it is the blood that saves you. As I said before, that magnificent, solitary blood, must be alone.
"Nay," says another, "but if I had more faith then I should have hope." That, too, is a very deadly shape of the same evil. You are not to be saved by the efficacy of your faith, but by the efficacy of the blood of Christ. It is not your believing, it is Christ's dying. I bid you believe, but I bid you not to look to your believing as the ground of your salvation. No man will go to heaven if he trusts to his own faith; you may as well trust to your own good works as trust to your faith. Your faith must deal with Christ not with itself. The world hangs on nothing; but faith cannot hang upon itself, it must hang on Christ. Sometimes, when my faith is vigorous, I catch myself doing this. There is joy flowing into my heart, and after awhile I begin to find that my joy suddenly departs. I ask the causes, and I find that the joy came because I was thinking of Christ; but when I begin to think about my joy, then my joy fled. You must not think of your faith but of Christ. Faith comes from meditation upon Christ. Turn, then, your eye, not upon faith but upon Jesus. It is not your hold of Christ that saves you; it is his hold of you. It is not the efficacy of your believing in him; it is the efficacy of his blood applied to you through the Spirit."

EVANGELISM CRASH COURSE! - Follow-Up

(Correction there were 27 people total... I hope we didn't leave a couple in Hollywood.;)

Thank you to all the teens who came. You had such a great spirit about the whole thing and were a total joy to serve with! I hope you will all join us again. Many thanks to all the team leaders you were generous with your time and talents. It could not have happened without you all!

Sharon asks: Please pray for Stephen, Julio, Noah, Andre and Jose. Please pray for Diane to get plugged into a good church in Inglewood.

David asks prayer for: Kai, a heckler in Hollywood. Said he was a Christian but wanted to argue translations. He heard the Gospel and took a DVD.

Magnolia Holiday in the Park

FOLLOW-UP: Faithful Faith and Jeremiah handed out tracks for a while she said they distributed 400!! Praise the Lord! Please pray for those tracts.

I was convicted about spending time with my family so I just made it a night of enjoying time with them. Kyle had a great time; sat in a Fire truck, ate a cupcake, popcorn, lots of balloons and glow-sticks... Violet was scared of everything. I did hand out a few tracts, a police officer and "McGruff the Crime Dog" got one.

I don't know how this slipped by me but TOMORROW NIGHT is Holiday in the Park! This is a great opportunity to hand out tracts. Last year Sharon, Faith and I handed out about 1200. I may go for an hour or so.

Origin

Today we were blessed to be a part of the Origin project through Living Waters. We handed out 2000 copies of the book "The Origin of Species" with a Introductory by Ray Comfort refuting evolution and sharing the Law & Gospel. We went to CSUN and handed them out in about 2 hours.

Dru lead 15 of us and I was especially blessed to see Dean, Mike, Aaron Jorge & Bee all who I regularly serve with on the streets. Glory to God!

HERE is CNN's report of the Origin Project.

Spurgeon Quote of the Day! 11-18-09 "Preach,Preach, Preach Everywhere"

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice."—Philippians 4:4.

"There is a marvelous medicinal power in joy. Most medicines are distasteful; but this, which is the best of all medicines, is sweet to the taste, and comforting to the heart. We noticed, in our reading, that there had been a little tiff between two sisters in the church at Philippi;—I am glad that we do not know what the quarrel was about; I am usually thankful for ignorance on such subjects;—but, as a cure for disagreements, the apostle says, "Rejoice in the Lord alway.s" People who are very happy, especially those who are very happy in the Lord, are not apt either to give offence or to take offence. Their minds are so sweetly occupied with higher things, that they are not easily distracted by the little troubles which naturally arise among such imperfect creatures as we are. Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord. Should it not be so? What is this joy but the concord of the soul, the accord of the heart, with the joy of heaven? Joy in the Lord, then, drives away the discords of earth.
Further, brethren, notice that the apostle, after he had said, "Rejoice in the Lord always," commanded the Philippians to be careful for nothing, thus implying that joy in the Lord is one of the best preparations for the trials of this life. The cure for care is joy in the Lord. No, my brother, you will not be able to keep on with your fretfulness; no, my sister, you will not be able to weary yourself any longer with your anxieties, if the Lord will but fill you with his joy. Then, being satisfied with your God, yea, more than satisfied, overflowing with delight in him, you will say to yourself, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." What is there on earth that is worth fretting for even for five minutes? If one could gain an imperial crown by a day of care, it would be too great an expense for a thing which would bring more care with it. Therefore, let us be thankful, let us be joyful in the Lord. I count it one of the wisest things that, by rejoicing in the Lord, we commence our heaven here below. It is possible so to do, it is profitable so to do, and we are commanded so to do."

C.H. Spurgeon - "Joy, a Duty"

Nooks and Crannies

DISCLAIMER: If you're not sure about the laws on some of these ideas, feel free to find out yourself. I tend to "GO" and learn by trial and error.

Richard Wurmbrand

Shame on me for being afraid to share the gospel... for being afraid to hand out a tract!

Spurgeon Quote of the Day! 11-16-09 "Preach,Preach, Preach Everywhere"

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” — Mark 16:15, 16.

"Before our Lord gave his disciples this commission, he addressed them in tones of serious rebuke. You will observe that, appearing unto the eleven as they saint meat, “he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardiness of heart because, they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.” So honorable an estimation did he set upon testimony; so marked a censure did he pronounce upon those who neglected it. The reprimand they received on such an occasion may well serve as a caution to us for unbelief unfits the Christian for service. It is in proportion to our personal faith in the gospel that we become competent witnesses for the teaching of it to others. Each one of us who would get credit for sincerity, must say with David, “I believed, therefore have I spoken,” or else a want of faith of ourselves will effectually deprive our speech of all its power over our fellow men. There can be little doubt that one reason why Christianity is not so aggressive now as it once was, and exerts not everywhere the influence it had in apostolic times, is the feebleness of our faith in Christ as compared with the full assurance of faith exercised by the men of those days. In vain ye hide a timid heart behind a modest face, when the attitude we should show, and the living force that should constrain us is a bold reliance upon the power of the Holy Ghost, and a deep conviction of the might of the truth which we are taught to deliver. Brethren, if there is to be a revival of religion it must begin at home. Our own souls must first of all be filled with holy faith and burning enthusiasm, and then shall we be strong to do exploits and to win provinces for the scepter of King Jesus. Having thus made a note upon the context, I want you to refer to a parallel passage in Matthew. There we learn that in delivering this commision our Lord assigned a remarkable reason for it, and one that intimately concerned himself. “All power,” he said, “is given unto ME in heaven and in earth, go YE therefore and teach all nations.” These words were adapted to strengthen the faith of his disciples, of whom it had been just observed that “some doubted.” Do you not see the point of this announcement? Jesus of Nazareth, being raised from the dead, tells his apostles that he is now invested with universal supremacy as the Son of man. Therefore he issues a decree of grace, calling on all people of every clime and kindred, to believe the gospel with a promise of personal salvation to each and every one that believes. With such authority is this mandate clothed, and so’ imperative the duty of all men everywhere to repent, that they who do not believe are threatened with a certain penalty of damnation. This royal ordinance he will have published throughout the whole world; but he enjoins it on all the messengers that those who bear the tidings should be thoroughly impressed with the sovereignty of him that sends them. Let the words then ring in your ears, “Go ye therefore.” They sound like the music of that glad acclaim which hails the Redeemer installed with power, holding the insignia of power in his possession, exercising the full rights of legitimate power, and entrusting his disciples with a commission founded on that power, “Go ye into all the world.”

C.H.Spurgeon- "Preach,Preach, Preach Everywhere"

Shafia's Story

REPENTANCE & FAITH

This was a sermon preached by our Pastor and is EXTREMELY helpful for us to understand the biblical command to "Repent and believe in the gospel".

You may be an Evangelist if...

You may be an evangelist if you have more Million Dollar bills in your wallet than real bills.

Noho Follow Up 11-7-09

David asks prayer for: Victor (Gang-banger who took a DVD and Gospel of John, Luis (14 yr old "Christian" who heard the Gospel and took a Gospel of John), Dan (Evolutionist/Strange art guy), Eric (Ex-Mormon who took a Gospel and asked for my cell number to talk)

Sharon asks prayer for: Alissa & John

Fort Hood

Please pray that the gospel is preached to the victims families at Fort Hood and at the funerals of the soldiers. He is the only light in a dark world.

"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

Trying to reason with Ozzy.

This was from an open air at Noho where a man after heckling me came and stood in front of me and the open air turned into a 1-on-1. Sadly this man loved his sin more than the Savior. Please pray for him.

You may be an Evangelist if...

You may be an Evangelist if when you say "Man, I have like NO tracts!" You actually mean you ONLY have 100.

Spurgeon quote for the day! 11/4 "The Blood"

"When I see the blood, I will pass over you."—Exodus 12:13

"The lesson of the text is to the Christian this. Christian, take care that thou dost always remember, that nothing but the blood of Christ can save thee. I preach to myself to-day what I preach to you. I often find myself like this:—I have been praying that the Holy Spirit might rest in my heart and cleanse out an evil passion, and presently I find myself full of doubts and fears, and when I ask the reason, I find it is this:—I have been looking to the Spirit's work until I put the Spirit's work where Christ's work ought to be. Now, it is a sin to put your own works where Christ's should be; but it is just as much a sin to put the Holy Spirit's work there. You must never make the Spirit of God an anti-Christ, and you virtually do that when you put the Spirit's work as the groundwork of your faith. Do you not often hear Christian men say, "I cannot believe in Christ to-day as I could yesterday, for yesterday I felt such sweet and blessed enjoyments." Now, what is that but putting your frames and feelings where Christ ought to be. Remember, Christ's blood is no more able to save you in a good frame than in a bad frame. Christ's blood must be your trust, as much when you are full of joy as when you are full of doubt. And here it is that your happiness will be in danger, by beginning to put your good frames and good feelings in the room of the blood of Christ. O, brethren, if we could always live with a single eye fixed on the Cross, we should always be happy; but when we get a little peace, and a little joy, we begin to prize the joy and peace so much, that we forget the source whence they come. As Mr. Brooks says, "A husband that loves his wife will, perhaps, often give her jewels and rings; but suppose she should sit down and begin to think of her jewels and rings so much that she should forget her husband, it would be a kind husband's business to take them away from her so that she might fix her affections entirely on him." And it is so with us. Jesus gives us jewels of faith and love, and we get trusting to them, and he takes them away in order that we may come again as guilty, helpless sinners, and put our trust in Christ. To quote a verse I often repeat—I believe the spirit of a Christian should be, from his first hour to his last, the spirit of these two lines:—

"Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling."
That is the lesson to the saint.

But another minute; there is a lesson here to the sinner. Poor, trembling, guilty self-condemned sinner, I have a word from the Lord for thee. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us," that is you and me, "cleanseth us from all sin." That "us" includes you, if now you are feeling your need of a Saviour. Now that blood is able to save you, and you are bidden simply to trust that blood, and you shall be saved. But I hear you say, "Sir," you said, "If I feel my need. Now I feel that I do not feel, I only wish I did feel my need enough." Well do not bring your feelings then, but trust only in the blood. If you can rely simply on the blood of Christ, whatever your feelings may be, or may not be, that blood is able to save. But you are saying, "How am I to be saved? What mush I do?" Well there is nothing that you can do. You must leave off doing altogether, in order to be saved. There must be a denial of all your doings. You must get Christ first, and then you may do as much as you like. But you must not trust in your doings. Your business is now to lift up your heart in prayer like this:—"Lord, thou hast shown me something of myself, show me something of my Saviour." See the Saviour hanging on the cross, turn your eye to him, and say, "Lord, I trust thee I have nothing else to trust to, but I rely on thee; sink or swim, my Saviour, I trust thee." And as surely sinner, as thou canst put thy trust in Christ, thou art as safe as an apostle or prophet. Not death nor hell can slay that man whose firm reliance is at the foot of the cross. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned." He that believeth shall be saved, be his sins never so many; he that believeth not shall be damned, be his sins never so few, and be his virtues never so many. Trust in Jesus now! Sinner, trust in Jesus only."

C.H.Spurgeon - "The Blood"

This encouraged me so much to keep my eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

EVANGELISM CRASH COURSE!

This is the audio lesson from our Evangelism Crash Course for the CBC High Schoolers. Please be generous with your grace as you listen. Clint, Mike and I are all pretty new at trying to teach evangelism. We hope this still blesses you.

Here is the outline for Open-Air Preaching.

HOLLYWOOD HALLOWEEN FOLLOW-UP

PRAISE THE LORD: 4500 TRACTS WENT OUT!!

Mike asks prayer for:

A guy named Fernando. Joanne shared the whole gospel with him and he wanted to know how to pray to receive christ but then it got interupted by you know who and he had to go he did have a track but I don't know about bible.

David asks prayer for:

Tim (he was a bit of a strange fellow), Ellen who I was blessed to interview. She took a DVD,Gospel and CD of Pastor Jacks "The Agonies of Hell", Mike who took a DVD and Gospel of John after hearing some open air preaching. John (a guy who was drunk, believed he was a Christian, going through a lot of hard stuff in life) took a DVD and Gospel.