Nehushtan

The other day while I was reading a Spurgeon sermon called "The Essence of the Gospel" I had a strange thought come to mind.

Spurgeon said, "Let me point out to you the way to escape. The only way of escape for any man or woman here is to believe in Jesus Christ. “I am praying about it,” says one. My text says nothing of the sort. “I will think of it.” Think of it? You will think yourself into Hell before long! Immediate faith is what I, as God’s ambassador, demand of you in the name of the Christ of God—immediate, instantaneous faith in Jesus! Behold the emblem of the Gospel minister and of his message! Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness upon the great central standard in the very midst of the camp where men were dying all around him. They are bitten with the serpent, and what has Moses to declare to them as a remedy? He bids them look and live! Some of them will think of it, some of them will consider it, others of them will pray about it. But he has no commission to console any of these—his one command is an immediate look—he has no promise to those who will not look. Even thus is Jesus lifted up among you. There is life in a look, life now, life at this moment. I cannot guarantee you that the serpent’s bite shall not be your eternal ruin if you linger for a single hour. The Prophet’s one word is, “Look now.” Today, God in mercy sends to everyone in this house this message—“The times of your ignorance God winked at,” but now commands all men everywhere to repent. He sends His Gospel message, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” That message I cannot be certain will ever come to you again. “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Every moment you do not believe, you are sinning against God by that unbelief. I cannot, therefore, tolerate that you should wait a moment. Jesus is God! He became Man! He died! He lives and bids you trust Him—promising that you shall live. Trust Him now, then! He is worthy of your confidence. Sin not against Him. Sin not against your own souls by rejecting Him. Remember what it was which Moses lifted up—it was a serpent—the image of that same serpent which bit them. Were they healed by looking to that which poisoned them? Assuredly they were. What is that which has poisoned you, Sinner? It is the curse of sin. What is that which I hold up today in the Gospel? It is Christ made a curse for us! He takes upon Himself our sin! Though in Him was no sin, yet He was made sin for us—and if you trust Him to be the sin-offering for you, to suffer for you, to bleed for you—and so trust in Him as to take Him from now on as your standard, resolving to follow the uplifted Crucified One throughout life, even until He brings you to God Himself in Heaven, you are NOT condemned!"

After I read that quote for some reason the Medical Symbol I see at the Pharmacist came to mind. I did a Wikisearch of the origin of that symbol "The Rod of Asclepius" and it has its origin with the Greek god Asclepius. However they also mentioned this...

"A similar symbol, Nehushtan, is mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 21:6-9). Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."

THAT is probably the origin of this symbol as it perfectly matches with the biblical text which says "And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."... if so that's cool.

So if you are reading this post and are not a Christian the Lord Jesus Christ is commanding you today, "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. - Isa 45:22

SNAP OUT OF IT!!

I just listened to this sermon that Pastor Jack preached at a "New Years Family Fellowship Pancake Breakfast".

All I have to say is that our church got a side of BAMM with their hot cakes!

You have to listen to this.

Spurgeon quote for the day! 2-23-11

The Lord has power at this or any moment to fulfill His sentence. What power have you to resist it? Who is there that can help you to withstand Him? You are utterly in His hands, you cannot escape from His prison. If you climbed up to Heaven He is there. If you dove to Hell He is there. The whole universe is but one great prison for an enemy of God. You cannot escape Him—neither can you resist Him. If your bones were granite and your heart were steel, His fires would melt down your spirit. Against Him you can no more stand than the chaff against the fire or the dust against the whirlwind. O that you would feel this and desist from your insane rebellion! Remember, there is no promise given to you that He will not execute the sentence of His wrath this very day. You have no warrant either from His Word or from His angels to assure you that God has suspended the sentence even for the next hour. You are living by His forbearance, spared by the Divine Sovereignty. Some rave against Sovereignty, but in this case it is not Justice that spares you, it is the mere will of God that for awhile keeps you out of Hell. You tell me that nothing endangers your life at this moment—how do you know that? The arrows of death often fly imperceptibly. I have stood in congregations preaching on two occasions when the unseen darts of death struck one of my hearers, so that one died on each occasion while listening to the Word of the Gospel. God needs no miracle to put His sentence into execution at this moment. He need not disturb the natural order of affairs for you to die instantly. And if He so willed it, your soul’s destruction would, without the slightest effort on His part, take place at this very moment, even where you are. Remember with deep concern that God is angry with you right now. This statement is no invention of mine—it is written by the pen of Inspiration that, “God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turns not He will whet His sword. He has bent His bow, and made it ready.” God is more angry with some of you than He is with some in Hell. Are you startled by the assertion? “It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for you.” The sins you have already committed are greater than those of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the anger is in proportion to the guilt. An angry God holds you over the gulf of Hell. Justice demands that you fall into it—and it is nothing but His merciful will that keeps you out of it. He has but to will it and you who are condemned already would be forever where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched, before next time the clock shall tick. Up to this time, let me remind you, you have done nothing to appease the Divine wrath. You have gone on sinning. Or if you tell me you have reformed, that you have thought of these things, that you have prayed—do you think that such things will remove the Divine wrath? The Lord has told you that the only way of salvation is to believe in Jesus, but you try to find another. Do you think that such conduct will please Him, that such a procedure will make Him less angry with you? You insult His Son when you suppose that you can save yourself by your tears and prayers—will this turn away the Lord’s anger? When you imagine that your Church attendance and Chapel attendance will save you, you set a low estimate upon what Jesus did. You do despite to the Cross as long as you remain Unbelievers. You say, “We are doing what we can.” You are doing nothing, I tell you, that can appease the anger of God! You are rather, by these very actions of yours, which you think to be good, setting up in opposition to Him an Antichrist upon which He will look with abhorrence. He says He will save by Christ, and no way else.

And so long as you seek another way, you, as it were, spit into the very face of the Only Begotten by the insolence of your self-righteousness. Meanwhile, let me remind you that God’s wrath, though it comes not on you yet, is like a stream that is dammed up. Every moment it gathers force—if it bursts not the dyke—yet every hour is swelling. Each day and each moment of each day in which you remain an Unbeliever, you are treasuring up wrath against the Day of Wrath when the measure of your iniquity is full. How earnestly would I persuade you to escape from condemnation! If you dream that to be condemned of God is a trifle, undeceive your souls, for those who have passed where the sentence is executed, could they come back to you, need not tell the tale of woe, the very sight of them would convince you that to be lost is an awful thing! On their heads must fall the wrath of God, who, by softening down the punishment, become the means of hardening sinners in their sins. It is not within the power of thought to conceive what God’s wrath is. No language, even though it should make both ears tingle, can ever fully express it. I am not one of those who would so delude your poor souls, O Unbelievers, as to make you think it a light thing to fall into the hands of the living God. O turn, turn, turn! Why will you die? Why will you reject Him whom you have such reasons to receive? Concerning whom His very Person is the best argument for love? The Christ of God must be worthy of our hearts’ affections—His very errand on earth, as it seems to me, would, if we were not mad, ensure our confidence. For He came to SAVE, to PARDON, to pass by the sin of the past! Oh, why do you stand out against Him, and in this way pull down upon your heads the wrath of an angry God?

C.H. Spurgeon- "The Essence of the Gospel"

TEAMS 1 & 2

Starting MARCH 12th we're going to split our evangelism team into TWO teams. I think this will be good for all of us to grow, help us to depend more on the Lord and also spread out the Gospel to have more of an impact in advancing His Kingdom.

I'll lead TEAM 1 and Mike will lead TEAM 2.

Here's how it will work: I'll post TWO locations & times where the teams will meet on Saturday nights. (I'll also be sending the ususal "reminder text") This will give you the option as to where the Lord my be leading you that night. Some may prefer to witness at a particular place or some people may just want to stay closer to home. Whatever it may be you will have the option to chose.

There may be nights where its 2 guys in one place and 8 in the other... that is fine. Paul Washer said; "The Church has the authority to send her preachers to every and any nation upon the earth without limitation, jurisdiction or restriction of number." The Lord will direct as many evangelists as He wants at that night to a particular place.

This will also help Mike and myself if we cannot be there every night that there will be at least one team going out on any given Saturday.

Tony the Lawman taught me that it is important for us to REPLICATE ourselves. For this ministry to stay alive I beleive it is best for new leaders, open air preachers and evangelists to grow and multiply! I beleive this is a way we can do that.

Burbank Media Center Follow-up 2-19-11

This picture summed up last night... RAIN.

But three faithful brothers braved it with me to hand out tracts and even preach! Mike, Nathan, Mark & myself were still blessed to hand out a surprising number of tracts inspite of the rain and witness to a few people 1-on-1. Even a couple bibles went out.

Truly, truly "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." - Mat 5:45 NKJV

Jesus Died for Me!

Spurgeon quote for the day! 2-17-11

“When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

"Lastly, Brothers and Sisters, this text ought to encourage all of you who love Jesus to go on talking about Him to others and bearing your testimony for His name. You see how the Apostle Paul has inserted a few words by way of parenthesis? Draw the words out of the brackets and take them home, “Because our testimony among you was believed.” Do you see those crowds of idolatrous heathens and do you see those hosts of saved ones before the Throne of God? What is the medium which linked the two characters? By what visible means did the sinners become saints? Do you see that insignificant looking man with weak eyes? That man whose bodily presence is weak and whose speech is contemptible? Do you not see his bodkin and needle case? He has been making and mending tents, for he is only a tent-maker.

Now, those bright spirits which shine like suns, flashing forth Christ’s Glory, were made thus bright through the addresses and prayers of that tent-maker! The Thessalonians were heathens plunged in sin and this poor tent-maker came in among them and told them of Jesus Christ and His Gospel! His testimony was believed, by God’s Grace, and that belief changed the lives of his hearers and made them holy—and they, being renewed, came at last to be perfectly holy and there they are—and Jesus Christ is glorified in them! Beloved, will it not be a delightful thing throughout eternity to contemplate that you went into your Sunday school class this afternoon and you were afraid you could not say much, but you talked about Jesus Christ with a tear in your eyes and you brought a dear girl to believe in His saving name through your testimony? In years to come that girl will be among those that shine out to the Glory of Christ forever! Or you will get away this evening, perhaps, to talk in a lodging house to some of those poor, despised tramps. You will go and tell one of those poor vagrants, or one of the fallen women, the story of your Lord’s love and blood—and the poor broken heart will catch at the gracious Words of God and come to Jesus—and then a heavenly character will be begun and another jewel secured for the Redeemer’s diadem! I think you will admire His crown all the more because, as you see certain stones sparkling in it, you will say, “Blessed be His name forever! He helped me to dive into the sea and find that pearl for Him and now it adorns His sacred brow!” Now, get at it, all of you! You that are doing nothing for Jesus, be ashamed of yourselves and ask Him to work in you that you may begin to work for Him! And unto God shall be the Glory, forever and ever. Amen and amen!

C.H. Spurgeon-"JESUS ADMIRED IN THEM THAT BELIEVE"

Depraved Indifference

Ouch!! This stings...

Idol Worship

So true...

Spurgeon quote for the day! 2-10-11

"What did the world do with Christ as soon as they saw Him? Set Him in the chair of State and fall down and worship His absolute perfection? No, not they—“He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Outside of the camp was His place! Cross-bearing was for Him His occupation, not of one day, but of every day. Did the world yield Him solace and rest? Foxes, you have your holes! Birds of the air, you have your nests! But the Son of Man had no where to lay His head! Earth could afford Him no bed, no house, no shelter! At last it cast Him out for death and crucified Him and then would have denied Him a tomb if one of His disciples had not begged His body! Such you must expect to be the lot of the part of your spiritual life which men can see. As soon as they see it to be spiritual life, they will treat it as they treated the Savior. They will despise it. “Sure!” they say, “pretty fancies, fine airs, nice ideas.” You expect them to give you comfort, do you? Worldlings to give you comfort? Do you think that Christ will have anywhere to lay His head in this world today any more than He had 1800 years ago? You go about to find what God gives the foxes and the birds—but what He never meant to give to you in this world—a place to lay your head. Your place to lay your head is up yonder on your Savior’s bosom, but not here. You dream that men will admire you, that the more holy you are and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceable people will be towards you. My dear Friends, you do not know what you are thinking!“It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?” I believe if we were more like Christ we should be much more loved by His friends and much more hated by His enemies. I do not believe the world would be half so lenient to the Church, today, if it were not that the Church has grown complacent to the world.

When any of us speak up boldly, mercenary motives are imputed to us! Our language is turned upside down and we are abhorred of men. We get smooth things, Brethren, because I am afraid we are too much like the false prophets who prophesied peace, peace, where there was no peace. Let us be true to our Master! Stand out and come out and be like He, and we must expect the same treatment which He had. And if we receive it we can only say, “This is what I expected.”—

‘Tis, no surprising thing

That we should be unknown.

The Jewish world knew not their king,

God’s everlasting Son.”

C.H. Spurgeon- "Christ Our Life"

Q&A-John Lennox-"Suffering and Evil"

Come Ye Sinners

I love this hymn!

Q&A-John Lennox

I'll try to find some good answers to questions you'll hear often on the street. By the way besides being brilliant doesn't John Lennox look like a kind, grandpa, hobbit?

This was asked to me recently: Who Created the Creator?

Burbank Media Center Follow-up 2-6-11

We had two teams out last night. Mike took the "Veterans" out to Hollywood Blvd. and I went out to Burbank with some of the High schoolers. Two Pastors from our church brought their family also, which is such an encouragment.

It blessed my soul to see Brie handing out tracts... on the Great Day of the Lord I believe we'll all be surprised at those who receive the greatest reward.

I have no pictures or audio to prove it... but last night in Burbank I had THE largest crown I've even seen for open air preaching. No seriously, IN BURBANK! And there was no money involved. I simply asked if anyone was an evolutionist or Atheist and God sent a guy named Ross who began to respectfully engage me. Long story short... for about 2 hours I preached "a-la-Whitfield" to a crowd of what felt like 50-100 people with the most heckling I've ever had. It was intense and exhausting! I actually got a COLD from it. God was faithful and gave great grace to me.

Please pray for: Zach, Ross the Atheist, Nathan the ex-Jehovah's witness (still does not know the Lord), Kevin (thought he could do more good than bad to get into heaven), Troy (who had a hard time with Jesus being greater than everything and everyone), Charles (a VERY antagonistic "repeat heckler" who I've shared the gospel with about 4 times now) all those who heckled me...and ME. With that much antagonism and opposition I KNOW I reacted in the flesh at points. Pray for me to be more humble, gentle, kind and patient!

Unequaled Greatness of the Son of God

A Mighty Fortress is Our God!

Sing it brother!

Zeitgeist

If your not familiar with the film "Zeitgeist" you will be if you do any street evangelism. I just spoke with a Security Guard up at Burbank Media Center who had refereed to several things from this film. For some reason, people deny all the evidence for the bible and accept this dopey film at face value. You will eventually run into someone that regurgitates these "claims" so be ready to answer. Don't forget to share the GOSPEL! That is ultimately what cuts through all the smoke screens.

Stand Fast

Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us neither be dogs that do not bark or silent onlookers, nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead, where the battle rages, let us find ourselves. Run towards the roar of the lion! Run towards the roar of battle! That is where Christ's most glorious victories shall be won.

-St. Boniface

Deepak Gets Owned

The moment people say "You shouldn't be forcing what you believe on people"... they are guilty of their own accusation.