Carrying On 4/19/2013

As the nation carried on, in the wake of the capture of the second of two Boston Marathon bombers, our team, including David, Mark, Dr. Jack, Steve M., Steve V., and elder Bob, responded by obeying the great commission. The gospel was proclaimed with passion and conviction.

Our friend, Tony Miano, had an excellent response to the "interfaith service" which was held in Boston in the aftermath of the tragic Boston Marathon bombing. Here is an article which points out the problems with ecumenism.

Meanwhile, back in Burbank, many passionate calls to repentance were offered from the box. Some quotes:

"The problem is not evidence. You know that there is a God. The problem is the will. It is moral. The problem is you love sin. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil."

"There is a story that Jesus told about a poor beggar and a rich man. The poor beggar had nothing. But when he died, because he trusted in God, he went to be in paradise. The rich man, when he died, because he rejected God, he became the beggar for all eternity. He was begging for one drop of cool water. He also became evangelistic. He had denied God, but the moment he went to hell he wanted to go tell all of his loved ones about hell so that they would not go there. Friends we are sinners saved by a God of grace!"

"You have the wrath of almighty God upon you when you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior. You may not think it, but one step out of this life, without Christ, and you are standing before a holy God, and He opens the books and you have to give an account.  And do you know what the big sin is going to be? The big sin is your denial of Jesus Christ. You've heard the gospel, the gospel was brought to you, and what did you do with it?"

Join with us!

"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Kairos On Board 4/12/2013

The CBC Evangelism Team was blessed with help from several members of the Kairos group of CBC singles: Ruth [yes, "<')))><"], Brian, Forest, and Lana. Regulars Mark, Paul, Dean C., Sai, Dr. Jack, Barbara, Steve M., Steven V., answered the call, under the leadership of David.

Since we were blessed with a large group we split into two teams, one in our usual location on the outdoor mall, at Palm Ave., and the second at the corner of Magnolia and San Fernando, across from the Town Center Mall.

One to one witnessing,

tract distribution,

and open air preaching are among the tried and true methods of proclaiming the gospel. Each of these methods is effective in its own way, and each provides an opportunity for a person to work within their "comfort zone" as they gain the confidence and conviction to branch out into the other methods.

Dave's bold declaration of the gospel elicited responses from these two young men, as well as a young woman who was with them. Their sombre countenance in this photo belies the mocking and supercilious attitude that characterized their behavior. Yet, it is the Holy Spirit, working on hearts such as these, that prompts them to stop and contend with the preacher, even if only to find sport in wielding the "weapons" of a post-modern worldview.

Frequently the questions posed assume that all truth is relative and that no one can claim to have a knowledge of absolute truth. This self-refuting and absurd worldview has been embraced and passed along by the public education system, producing generations of young minds, lacking critical thinking skills, who question everything without seeking answers. They begin with the presupposition that there is no God, only a purposeless, pitiless, material universe (i.e. naturalism). They have no rational basis upon which to discern answers. They assume that all truth claims are meaningless and life itself is absurd and pointless. Why wouldn't they be cynical?

Heard from the box: "When you try to live apart from God it leads to death. Believing in God leads to life. Jesus is called the Prince of Life. He said: 'I am the bread of life, the living water.' He said: 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' The scriptures teach that God made you, and He made you for Him. The Bible says that those who hate God, love death. We, in America, have a culture of death. We are obsessed with it. We teach children that we evolved. And then we wonder why they go and shoot up other children in schools. Why? Because they think that they are an evolved monkey. They think that there is no God. They think that if there is no God, and I am just an animal, then what does it matter what I do? And they love death. And they act on the hatred that is in their heart. And they murder, and that is sin."

"For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:3-7)

Write a letter!

You can write a letter to encourage Pastor Saeed. Please do this. SAVESAEED.org

'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' - Mat 25:36 NKJV

The Key to Strength is Vision

"The proof of vision is strength. You tell me these are dark days and so they are, but let us look not only at the things seen but also at the things unseen. See the unseen. The secret of strength is vision but the poof of vision is strength! If men declare that they see these things and believe these things and still do nothing I cannot believe what they declare. Their sight is borrowed sight they are looking at a picture and not at the living fact. But the man who sees the unseen is the man who grips the seen and masters it. The man who is conscious through all the appalling defeat if the hour of the immediate pervasive presence and power of God is the man who gets hold of the peace of desolation nearest to him and wrestles with it until it blossoms like a rose.

The demonstration of vision is the strength which men take hold of the difficulty of the present hour."

- G. Campbell Morgan

Contending is Our Calling 4/5/2013

A hardy group of evangelists, including Mark, Dean S. with his son Kyle, Dr. Jack with his wife Barbara, Dave, Dean C., and Steven V. headed out into the chilly night air to heed the call. Here the good doctor has the rapt attention of a group of young teens as he explains the gospel. Later, Dr. Jack shared, with the team, a graphic description of the clinical implications of Jesus' description of the horror of hell: "Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:44) Ask him about it sometime. Here is an article on the subject.

It was Steve's turn for an evening of heckling, as the tag-team of Albert, Victor, Enrique, and Ryan all presented questions or monologues intended to cast doubt upon God's Holy Word. Here are some sample questions with links to related articles:

-Where did Cain get his wife?   Article 1, Article 2

-How could the earth have become so populated from only two people?

-How did the animals on the ark have enough to eat? How did the animals get along without killing each other?

-What about gay marriage? Don't you think that people should be free to marry who they want?
 

-Do other religions allow same-sex marriage?

-Aren't all the major religions worshiping the same God?  Article 1, Article 2

-Didn't God set us up for failure by creating us with the capacity to sin, and then punishing us for it?

-Why should I ignore logic and critical thinking by believing something from a 2,000 year old text that could have been revised countless times?


-The bible says there were talking snakes.

-Doesn't science prove that the universe is older than the Bible claims?  Article 1, Article 2

Many other questions and comments were exchanged. 

David shared the following from the box:

We're here tonight because we care about your soul. The Bible teaches that there is appointed a day for man to die once and then the judgement. We are all going to stand before God. The scripture says that God made you and He made you for His glory. He did not make you to live for yourself. He did not make you to have "fun" and to be "happy" all the time. No, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted," those who mourn over sin. When we turn away from Him that is the worst sin. What happens when we do this is it opens up the Pandora's box to all the other sins. You were wired to give God glory. If you don't live for Him you will not stop worshiping, you'll just worship yourself. You were not made for you, you were made for God.

"And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth, for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me," says the Lord.  (Jeremiah 9:3)

Infanticide

Our nation has now moved from saying, "Its not a baby in the womb." to "We know its a baby... it just doesn't have any rights." This is a scary place to be. What will you say to someone that says, "I know its a baby and I don't care I want to kill it."

The Gospel is the only thing that will change their heart. Christ is their only hope.

The Emergent Church