Black Friday

This past Friday was Black Friday. I think I have gone shopping on Black Friday once about 5 years ago but have never been one who gets up before dawn to take part in the "early bird" sales each year. This past  Friday was a bit different in that it was the first time I got up before dawn to go to the stores on Black Friday. A few months back I realized for the first time what an awesome opportunity Black Friday presented to reaching a lot of people in a short period of time with the Gospel. This year, myself and a few others decided to get up early to go share the gospel with the people waiting in line.
Our schedule was as follows:
1. Kohl's (South Bay Galleria) - Doors open at 3am so we got there at 230 am.
2. Target (across the street from Kohl's) - Doors open at 4am so we would go there after Kohl's.
3. Best Buy (Hawthorne) - Doors open at 5am so we got there at 415 am.
4. Best Buy (El Segundo) - Doors open at 5am so we got there right before they opened.

It was quite a morning. Personally, I was expecting to see less than 50 people or so waiting outside of these stores so I was blown away by what I saw when I drove up to Kohl's at 230 am. First, when I passed by Target, which didn't open until 4am, there must have been 500 people outside with blankets and chairs waiting to go in when they opened. Kohl's probably had 400 people outside and cars were steadily streaming into the parking lot. I immediately got nervous and excited at the shear number of people outside of these stores knowing that in a few minutes we would be sharing the gospel with them. Our plan was to start from the back of the line handing out Million Dollar Bill gospel tracts to the people in line and then preach the gospel to them as they stood in line after they had a chance to read the message on the gospel tracts. Up until about 6 months ago I would have never pictured myself as someone who would address a group of strangers by publicly declaring the gospel to them. Since then, God has been changing my heart in that area and giving me a burden to share the gospel with all creation. A lot of the change has to do with the way I see the early church living out their faith which I wrote about in an earlier blog post.

When we got to Kohl's we passed out a lot of tracts and then Tony and I shared a message with the people in line. Tony started off showing people that God exists by pointing to creation as well as fulfilled prophecies in the Bible. I followed that up with God's Law, using the Ten Commandments to show people their sin before God and that they are in desperate need of a Savior, and then sharing the grace of God shown to us through Christ's death and resurrection. Tony then came back up and shared why so many people reject the gift (John 3:16-22) and encouraged them to repent and trust Christ today for salvation.

By the time we were done, there were probably an additional 200 people in line and we passed tracts out to them before we left. At Target, we distributed tracts to everybody in line and then one of the workers told us that we were not aloud to be there handing out literature. Rather than arguing with them, we decided to go to Best Buy since we had already had the opportunity to give tracts to everybody in line. At Best Buy, there were another 500-600 people in line and we spent about half an hour going through the line, talking to people and sharing the gospel with them. Our friend Carlos Ramos shared a short gospel message with the crowd and by then it was about 445. With 15 minutes left we went to the Best Buy in El Segundo and passed out tracts to the people standing in line right before they started letting people inside.

Overall, we probably distributed 2000 tracts with people on Black Friday. Most everybody took tracts and some even asked for extra to give to their family. We received some negative comments from a handful of people and also some very encouraging comments from other believers in line who thanked us for being out there sharing the gospel with people. At the end of the morning, we rejoiced that we were able to reach that many people and prayed for the seeds that were sown and for the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgment. I thank God for Black Friday and how Christians can take advantage of worldly gatherings to share the gospel with multitudes of people, especially ones who might not ever step foot into a gospel preaching church.

Below is an audio player and link to some of the audio from the message we shared with the people standing in line at Kohl's. I pray that it might be used to encourage you in your walk with Christ.



Link to Audio

Connected Testimonies

Last night we had our regular outing at the RB Pier and were able to engage people in meaningful conversations about Christ. While we were out there I ran into a Brother named Frank who started a ministry called Connected Testimonies. I encourage you to check out there website and ministry and spread the word. It's based on Revelation 12:11:

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Their goal is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost world and share the power of God to transform lives through the testimonies of people who have been born again and saved by Jesus Christ. It's always a blessing to see how God connects people and he connected us last night down at the Redondo Beach Pier. It's so encouraging to see how God gives people creative ideas to use things of this world to reach the lost for Jesus Christ!

Tithing...The Final Frontier

Today’s devotional reading took us through Mark 12:41-44 and other parallel passages in the New Testament. Below, we read of the poor widow’s offering:

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44

Not only was this lady poor but she was a widow. This fact makes this story all the more amazing to me. In those days, being a widow meant your income supply was gone. As a widow, the source she had depended on to provide food, clothing and shelter was dead. She wasn’t bringing a tithe knowing that her husband would get paid again in two weeks, she brought all that she had to live on without having the security of a husband who would be providing for her needs in the days to follow.

This is one of the places in the Bible where I wish the story continued so we could see the amazing way that God provided for her. There's no question that God provided each and every need this widow had according to His glorious riches. And the same is true for us who trust in Him. God is faithful to His promises and "with the measure you give, the same will be measured back to you." Scripture's testimony is that she "put more into the treasury than all the others." God's perspective is different than ours. When I tithe, I think I know the value of what I'm giving, but what does God see? Is it more, is it less....only God knows. All I know is that my tithing should not be a "comfortable" act of obedience.

The Evidence Bible Commentary puts it this way:

It has been said that the wallet is the “final frontier.” It is the final area to be conquered—the last thing that comes to God in surrender. Jesus spoke much about money. He said that we cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). “Mammon” was the common Aramaic word for riches, which is related to a Hebrew word signifying “that which is to be trusted.” In other words, we cannot trust God and money. Either money is our source of joy, our great love, our sense of security, the supplier of our needs—or God is.

When you open your purse or wallet, give generously and regularly to your local church. A guide of how much you should give can be found in the “tithe” of the Old Testament: 10 percent of your income. Whatever amount you give, make sure you give something to the work of God (see Malachi 3:8–11). Give because you want to, not because you have to. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6,7), so learn to hold your money with a loose hand.

Lessons from Luke

I was recently reading an update from the director at Heart Cry Missionary Society and was confronted with personal conviction in regards to the excuses in my life regarding the Great Commission. God has made it so very clear in His Word that we are to preach the Gospel to EVERY CREATURE. We are to GO into our neighborhoods, our jobs, our cities, our nation, and our world so that we might reach the lost for Jesus Christ!

Recently, our daily devotional readings brought us through Luke 14:18-20 and although I have read this passage many times before, it came alive to me this morning in a new and convicting way. Listen to the responses of these men:

“I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused… I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused…. I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come” (Luke 14:18-20).

These excuses are no different then what you would hear from three people today. What I thought of when I read these excuses was how similar they were to thoughts that have been in my mind at one time or another in my life. Similar excuses today might sound like: 1) I have a mortgage, debts to pay, and possessions I am not willing to let go of. 2) I am trying to start a business and “make it happen”, I need to invest my time here. 3) I am married, I have children, and I can’t go because of them. 4) I’ve invested too much time and energy into building a career to throw it all away and follow You.

These men weren’t even being called to go to a distant land but simply to come to a banquet, analogous to the Wedding supper, where men shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God. God is calling us to the same thing today. God is calling us to Follow Him, to go into the harvest field and labor for souls, to preach the good news to all creation and to give away all that we have for the sake of Christ. He is calling us to the greatest banquet of all time and we cling to what would amount to nothing in comparison. In Luke 18 we read about the rich young ruler and Jesus reminds us of an important truth.

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18:29-30.

God will give us more than we ever had before if we leave it behind for His sake. I have been reminded this morning that my excuses, what I consider sacrifices, are nothing in comparison to what God desires to give to those who leave it all behind for the sake of His Kingdom. I pray that God would help me to trust Him with my time, talent and resources and that I wouldn’t cling to possessions like the rich young ruler did.

Sharing the Bread of Life

Matthew 14:15-21, 2 Kings 4:42-44

This morning’s devotional readings included Matthew 14:15-21, Mark 6:30-56, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-71 which tell the story of how Jesus fed the five thousand people in a deserted place with 5 loaves of bread. A similar story takes place in 2 Kings 4:42-44 in which God feeds a hundred men of God with twenty loaves of barley. In 2 Kings we read: “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he (Elisha) repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.”

In all the accounts, not only was there enough to feed the multitudes, but there was some left over. And there was enough leftover to fill 12 baskets…for 12 disciples. An important truth from these stories is that God doesn’t want us to take our fill of the Bread of Life and be satisfied. He has given us more than enough for ourselves and for those around us. Once we have partaken of the Bread of Life, we are to then take that Bread of life to our own starving multitudes. And Jesus leads the way by first showing his disciples how to feed the multitudes then giving them full baskets of their own to go and do the same.

The Unsinkable Ship

"Inspired by The Evidence Bible"

I am sure that many, if not all of you are familiar with the story of the Titanic. The Titanic was ordered in July 1908 and completed in March 1912. It could hold 3547 people and was designed to include enough lifeboats to carry 4000 people if necessary. Unfortunately, on her maiden voyage from England to New York they only took enough lifeboats for 1178 people while there were 2227 people on board. Since the ship was designed to be “unsinkable” I guess the captain thought this potential risk was reasonable. Four days into the voyage, the Titanic struck an iceberg and 2 hours and 40 minutes later, she sank to the bottom of the ocean, taking the lives of over 1500 people.

The reason I share this story with you today is because there are many lessons to be learned and parallels that can be drawn between the story of the Titanic and our own lives. Just like the Titanic, all of us are slowly sinking into the cold grip of death. The Bible says that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) On that Day, all of us will be called to give an account of our lives and everything we have done will be judged in light of God’s perfect Law, the Ten Commandments. Like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, God’s Moral Law, the Ten Commandments are like Ten Huge Icebergs that will take the entire world down to an icy grave.

To see evidence that we are sinking, all we have to do is look at a few of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said that if you look with lust at another person, you commit adultery with them in your heart and have violated the 7th Commandment. If you’ve ever told a lie, you have violated the 9th Commandment. If you have ever stolen anything, you have violated the 8th Commandment. If you have ever used God’s name in vain to express disgust or excitement, you have blasphemed and violated the 3rd Commandment. If you have ever hated someone, Jesus says you are a murderer at heart and violated the 6th Commandment. If you’ve failed to always put God first in your life you’ve broken the 1st Commandment.

Just like with the Titanic, it only takes one iceberg to bring down the ship. If you've violated one commandment, the Bible says you are guilty of violating all of them. If you stay on the “ship” all of your sins will come out as evidence of your guilt and you will be found guilty on Judgment Day. The punishment God has prescribed for violating His commandments is eternity in hell. God, however, is rich in mercy and does not want anyone to go to hell. Because of His great love, He has provided a way for us to be saved through Jesus Christ, the one the Bible calls the “Captain of our salvation” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus Christ took our punishment upon himself through suffering and dying on the cross so that we can have a place in the Lifeboat of God's salvation. We violated God’s Law and Jesus paid our fine. Then he rose from the dead, forever defeating sin and death. The moment you repent and trust in Him alone for your salvation, God will forgive you of your sins and grant you the gift of eternal life.

One of the saddest parts of the Titanic story is that even after hitting the iceberg, many people never got into the lifeboats because of the “apparent safety” of the ship. According to eyewitness accounts, some of the lifeboats were less than half full as they left the Titanic. The first lifeboat that left had 28 people in it out of a capacity of 65. The Bible urges us to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Don’t be like the people on the Titanic that refused to believe the ship was sinking and failed to enter into the lifeboats provided. Those people perished because of their misguided faith in the “unsinkable” ship. Don’t be like them. Believe the Gospel today. Repent and trust Jesus Christ today and God will never let you down.

If you have any questions about what you read, the Bible, salvation, Jesus Christ, or anything else, please leave a message.

Righteousness and Wisdom

"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise."

Proverbs 11:30

As a new parent, when I read this proverb about a tree of life, my mind is initially drawn to the idea of a family tree. How precious is the promise that the fruit of a righteous person is a tree of life, especially when it comes to raising our children. As a Christian parent, the number one desire I have for my daughter is for her to be born again and to be granted eternal life through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Eternal Life that I am hoping for my child by God's grace. If God blesses me with more children in the future, the hope for them will be the same. The same goes for grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc. In the end, my prayer is that the life my wife and I are leading will be a righteous life in God's sight and that the fruit of our life will lead to a tree of life for our entire family.

This proverb has application beyond our family as well.  In addition to our family it applies to the friends, neighbors, coworkers, and the strangers we come into contact with on a daily basis. Not only do I desire to see my family saved for eternity, but I desire for the strangers around me to also know Jesus Christ and the gift of eternal life He offers to us. Living a righteous life is something that can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. The proverb then goes on to say that he that wins souls is wise. Every soul is of infinite worth to God whether it be our children, our friends, co-workers, neighbors or strangers. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you.

Here are some practical tips to help cultivate a lifestyle of evangelism:  

1) Pray that God uses you to reach the lost.

2) Ask for wisdom to use the time you have effectively for evangelism. Treat every day as though it were your last opportunity to share Christ. One day you will be right.

3) Study how to answer every man who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15; see Proverbs 16:23).

4) Find a “fishing hole” and go there regularly. Don’t wait for sinners to approach

you; go to them (Mark 16:15).

5) Use any anxiety as a catalyst to drive you to prayer and trust in God. Don’t let the fear of man paralyze you (Philippians 1:28). You will realize the spiritual nature of fear after you conquer it. Confront it with the Word of God—“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” 
(Adapted from http://www.evidencebible.com/.)