Taxi

We are well known by the taxis in our area (we live in a small city), since we have shared the gospel or at least gave a tract to most of them. But this time wasn’t one of them.

My wife took a cab and she told our son to sit well to prevent an accident. The driver nodded and reached to touch a small cross glued in his dashboard. “So you are a believer?” my wife asked.

The conversation started. He was raised catholic and goes to church like once a month, which is very comendable in this culture. My wife asked what do they teach him or what have he learned. He replied that when he was younger he learned the cathequism and went thru the gospels.

“From all of that, what does it mean for you?” she asked. The driver thought for a few seconds and said that he had no clue.

At this point, God had already provided traffic due to some work being done in the street. What normally would be a 5 minute ride, was already like 15. My wife said, “would you mind if I explain you?” To what the driver replied with openness, “go ahead please.”

“If you die today, you will be judged by God’s standards, the 10 Commandments.” Then she took him thru and explained each of the commandments. He agreed to have broken all of then and saw the beauty of God’s provision for salvation in Jesus Christ.

It all made sense to him. My wife explained repentanceas he listened attentively. In the end of the conversation, she touched on the worship of Mary and the Saints without the need of going in depths or Catholicism. She simply exposed him to his sin (using the Law) and his need of a Savior.

Please keep this man in prayer and be attentive, you can share the gospel in every and any situation.

Thanks for reading.

Own merits

I met Jose at a children’s playground, as we watched our kids run around.

Started the conversation with the natural: her daughters, his job, etc; and then handed out an Obama Million.

Suddenly his daughters came to him and said trey wanted to leave because they were hungry. Timing?

So I quickly swang to the spiritual… “This is the million dollar question,” I said, “what will happen after we die?”

The question was interesting for him, he stopped grabbing the jackets and preparing to leave to answer back. He said there is a Heaven and that he was a Christian. He had been going to an evangelical church for a while.

He then explained that he hoped to go to Heaven, since he was doing merits. But his wife was better, he said, she is much more into church things.

I took the time to calmly explain the message of the gospel, that apparently hasn’t been preached from his church’s pulpit. He listened as I explained that no merits can purchase our salvation, that we stand condemned as guilty criminals unless Someone intervenes with the Judge. I encouraged him to reflect in our conversation and share it with his wife (who was working at that moment).

“By grace you have been saved through faith… “I was saying when he interrupted me by quoting the rest of the verse. “So that is what it means!”

He knew the verse but didn’t know grace.

His eyes brightened.

Amazing how many church goers don’t fully understand God’s grace in Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection. How many sit and fill up churches without knowing the true gospel message. How many have the hope of gaining Heaven… (Mat 7:22)

Please pray for Jose, as well as for many other church goers, that they will be soon exposed to the real gospel.

Thanks for reading.

Amsterdam-Dallas

She slept probably for 5 hours straight. But I had prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel.

After 5 hours the opportunity came. We started with a general conversation, she is from Nigeria but lives in Dallas. I told her that when I lived in Canada, I had a friend from Nigeria that had to leave his country because he was a Christian Pastor and his life was in danger. She said that now there are many big Christian churches in Nigeria.

“And what about you,” I asked, “do you have any belief?” She replied, “Yes, I am a Christian, there is a heaven and a hell.”

At this moment, I thought for a split second: Ok, conversation is finished, she is a believer. But I threw other couple of probing questions, “Do you go to church in Dallas?” She responded, “Yes, I go to XYZ church, it is a Pentecostal church.”

I don’t have anything shandy any denomination, but I know from experience that in some circles the gospel message is diluded with prosperity, motivation and emotions.

So I asked, “Let me ask you, if I am not a Christian and I ask you what must I do to go to Heaven, you answer…?” She said, “Well you pray to God, try not to sin, ask for forgiveness and read your Bible.”

That was it. That was her gospel presentation.

I asked if she thinks she is a good person and kept the commandments. “I try,” she said. I took her thru the ninth (lying), sixth (murder) and seventh (adultery). I told her that of all we have to do is ask for forgiveness, then a criminal guilty of 3 crimes could leave the courtroom just because he/she said ‘sorry’.

So forgiveness is just a small part but justice has to be served and if a judge only forgives, there wouldn’t be any justice. And, above all, Jesus’ sacrifice would be necessary.

“Jesus took your punishment, he paid your fine,” I explained, “Justice can and must still be served but now you aren’t condemned but justified because the death and resurrection of Jesus.”

“Saying sorry is a small part,” I continued, “but you have to actually turn from your sins. That is repentance.”

She was listening carefully and I could tell that it was making sense.

I told her the example of she being guilty but Jesus standing between her and the Judge, paying her fine; justifying her.

“I am telling you this so you can share with your Chrisian friends because if you care about them,” I said, “You wanna make sure they understand the gospel.”

She smiled and thanked me. I then gave her a Gospel of John I had prepared for the occasion and two Celebrity Tracts.

Please pray for her, that the seeds planted today will be watered and will grow. That she will explain the gospel to her close ones.

Thanks for reading.

He qualifies (does he?)

I had to rent a car today. I gave the gentleman a Michael Jackson Bill Tract, that he appreciated very much.

“What do you think happens after someone dies?”, I asked. He replied, “I am from Poland and our Catholic tradition says we go to Paradise.”

He said that not everybody will go there but only good people; and he is one of them. He hasn’t done anything terrible and always tries to be a good person. So, in his own eyes, he qualifies.

I exposed him to the 9th Commandment but he had a hard time in accepting that one lie makes you a liar. He hasn’t killed (6th Commandment) anyone but hated people, thus he is a murderer at heart. He then said that lust (adultery in the heart, 7th Commandment) is natural, same as lying. He justified himself all the time and hid himself behind the fact that ‘everybody’ has broken the Law, he said.

Exactly! We then have a problem! I told him that we all have broken His Law and if we die in our sins, we wouldn’t measure up to the perfect holiness that God demands. At that moment, a patrol parked right in front of us and I said, if this policeman starts shooting at a criminal and by mistake he shoots you right now, you would face God and He will find you guilty of breaking His Law, therefore you will spend eternity in Hell!

He was carefully listening now.

I asked him for a couple of minutes so I can explain what the Bible says and then his comments. He listened carefully as I explained that we have all sinned and there isn’t anything we can do to earn Paradise. If there was something, Jesus wouldn’t have come to suffer and die. But God in His mercy provided the sacrifice to atone for our sins, the Judge can set us free because Someone in between us has paid the fine for the Law we daily break. Free gift from God, out of ourselves, by grace thru faith alone. I explained repentance (turn 180 degrees) and to trust in the Savior and in Him only.

“Please transfer the trust you have in your own goodness to Jesus,” I said.

The conversation finished and we shook hands. He thanked me because what I had just shared was very important. “There is nothing more important than your eternal destination,” I said.

He took me to my rental car, we shook hands again and he left.

Please pray for this gentleman, that his self-righteousness will be converted into imputed-righteousness.

From business to gospel

My wife had a business meeting with a lady, so I stayed at home with our son.

After 3 hours of business discussion, my wife told her: “Now I would like to share with you something much more important.” She started by saying that Christmas was approaching (the natural) but that many people don’t know its real meaning (the spiritual).

The lady listened carefully and agreed when my wife took her thru the Commandments and then God’s grace. The lady is Catholic and said that she will definitely reflect and consider the message.

She took a few tracts and left happy after the conversation. My wife was very happy and honored to be a herald of good news.

Please pray for the lady.

He stopped us

All this started with a seed (tract) planted a few days ago…

Last Monday, I gave a Million Bill tract to a gentleman painting a fence in our son’s music school. I put the tract in his hand, we both smiled and I left.

Today, while leaving school, he stopped us and pulling the folded bill from his wallet, asked: “What exactly is this?”, “The million dollar question: will u go to heaven.”

The conversation started, he is a Muslim and said he knew he was going to heaven because he was good and makes his prayers.

A second gentleman joined the conversation. “D” said he had also kept the commandments.

A woman joined and said basically the same thing.

I took them thru 3 Commandments and they realized that they had broken them and that they wouldn’t pass on judgement day.

The Muslim started to debate the divinity of Jesus, that he had been replaced before the crucifiction, etc.

But D wasn’t interested on that, he wanted to know if there was an escape from the Judge’s just condemnation.

The woman was just listening.

Then I shared with them God’s mercy and the fact that Jesus’ sacrifice was the perfect payment (fine) for the Law that we had broken.

“Makes sense” said D, “I understand.”

A third gentleman joined and his role was just to break the group in sub-groups. He began talking with the woman, the Muslim turned around but D stayed with me.

I carefully explained repentance and faith to D. “Before you put your pillow on your bed tonight, please consider these things and make peace with God.”

“I will.” D replied.

Meanwhile, the Muslim had turned around only to face my wife that continued the conversation with him. She spoke with him a bit and then said that he him that he has a choice: He is good enough to stand judgement, or he accepts a Savior.

We shook hands with D and the Muslim and left.

The woman and the other gentleman just beside stayed reading the Million tract… Maybe someday this seed will lead to fruit too.

Please pray with me for D, the Muslim, the woman and the other gentleman.

Thanks for reading.

The Guard, the Woman and the Mongolian

It is amazing what happens when you pray for clear opportunities to witness:

1) While looking for an electrical adaptor, I hear the shop’s security guard having a conversation with a woman about “religion”. I decided to look longer for my adaptor and try to pick up what they were exactly talking about. The guard said he is tired of religion, the woman said she doesn’t like churches but that God is real. She mentioned the 10 Commandments… I jumped out from the shadow with two tracts and was able to witness to both of them. The guard said he had kept the Commandments and was a good person, that changed pretty fast after I took him thru 3 of them. He understood he was standing guilty before God and Jesus made sense to him. The guard listened carefully and promised to give a thought to the conversation. The woman hardly listened, but had formed in her mind a god (idol) convenient for her.

2) Looking for books on homeschooling in a local book store, I noticed a guy seating on the floor and reading a biography on Dalai Lama. He asked me for the time and we started to talk. He is a tourist from Mongolia. I said: “So you are into spiritual things? What attracts you to Dalai Lama?” The conversation started. He politely refused to take my tract and to continue the conversation once I mentioned Jesus… but he asked for our telephone numbers so he could stay with us next time he was in town. Funny.

Please pray for the Guard, the Woman and the Mongolian.

WDJD

What did Jesus Do?

If we want to follow in the steps of Jesus, we should consider this model from his encounter with the woman at the well. Jesus started a normal conversation to shortly take it to spiritual things. Then, Jesus exposed the woman to her sin (broken the 7th commandment) to humble her and show her need of a Savior.

We should share God’s grace only when the person’s heart is humble, to take him there, we must use God’s Law.

Law to the proud and Grace to the humble.

Consider the following model and please watch the clip in the end…

(From the “Way of the Master” Basic Training Course, available at LivingWaters.com)

• •Start in the natural.

Start a conversation with everyday things. “Hi, how are you?” “Nice weather we’re having.”

• •Swing to the Spiritual.

Move the conversation from the natural to the spiritual. Mention the things of God. You can do this by using tracts and saying, “Did you get one of these? It’s a gospel tract.” Then you can ask if they have a Christian upbringing.

• •Then move into WDJD.

  W	Would you consider yourself to be a good person? Most people think they are good and will usually say yes (Proverbs 20:6). They often think that compared with others they are good.
  D	Do you think you have kept the Ten Commandments? Again most people would say yes. Many people don’t even know what the ten commandments are. You can then ask them if they mind if you ask them a few questions to find out whether they have or not.
  J	If God were to judge you by the Ten Commandments do you think you would be innocent or guilty? As the person begins to measure themselves up against the Ten Commandments their conscience soon begins to convict them of their sin. The law becomes a school master opening their eyes to their sin. Many will say that they are guilty. They are at a point of humility and ready for grace and the gospel. Others will continue to say that they are innocent. They are still proud in their heart and you may need to continue with the law until they recognise their transgression of the law.
  D	Do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell? (Destiny) Most people, who recognise their sin, will think that they would go to Hell if judged today. Others will think that God is a forgiving God so will let them into Heaven. Then you may have to show them an example from the civil courts to help them understand how a good judge cannot let a criminal off even if he does ask for forgiveness. The punishment has to be paid by someone.

  Only when they have accepted their need can you then bring them the Gospel. If they are still protesting their righteousness before God they still need to hear the Law.

  The Gospel can be shared simply by remembering.

  • •Their need (sin – transgression of the Law).

    •Jesus (The real Jesus – God and man Eternal and holy).

    •The Cross (Jesus dying in their place taking their punishment).

    •The justice of God forgiving you now that the sin has been paid for in Jesus.

    •There need to repent and put faith in Jesus.

Judgement

“… And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Many today do not want to think about eternity, specially when they are young because eternity seems so far away. These verses in Revelation chapter 20 tell us very clearly that there is looming across the horizon of time a final judgement. It is know as the Great White Throne of Judgement.

That this world is currently spinning through space and it is on a collision course with God’s final judgement. The book of Romans calls it the Day of Wrath, the book of Jude calls it the Judgement of the Great Day. The book of Romans also calls it the Day of Judgement and Paul speaking in Acts 17 says: “God has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.” That day is fast approaching, There is coming a final judgement day in which God will hold court and all the world will be on trial before God. In this final judgement God will open the books and God will present his case and every lost sinner will be judged. And God will announce his verdict and God will execute perfect justice and he will condemn every unbeliever to Hell.

Is the final courtroom scene. This is the highest court in Heaven and Earth. This is the Supreme Court of the Universe. It is the court of no appeal. Every lost sinner will be individually summoned to take their stand behind this judgement bar and every lost sinner will have their day in court before the Lord Jesus Christ. The evidence will be presented and it will be irrefutable. There will be no rebuttal offered, there will be no defense rendered, there will be no sympathetic judge, there will be not one drop of mercy, there will be no grace, there will be no advocate to defend the sinner, there will be no mistrial of justice, there will only be perfect judgement. There will be no successful appeal by the guilty, no parole in prison from which any sinner will ever escape.

Don’t kid yourself, this day is coming and is necessary that the holiness and the righteousness and perfect justice be vindicated in the last day. And will you know the Judge in verse 11: “And I saw a Great White Throne and him who sats upon it.” Stop right there. This one who sits upon this throne is non other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

I cannot think of a more terrifying scene than to appear at this Great White Throne and to have your day in court with the great Judge of Heaven and Earth and to stand and receive perfect and inflexible justice.

Who is it who will stand at the Great White Throne when this summon is issued and I want to set before you five groups of people, perhaps represented even here tonight who will be summoned to appear before this Great White Throne.

First of all the out and out sinner will be there. Those who have sinned violently against God. Those who have broken God’s Law with a high hand. Those who have all but spit onto the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and who hate God, who hate the church, who hate the Bible and who hate any form of morality. First Corinthians 6 in verse 9 says: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.” Those who have lived lives of open shameless sin will be brought to stand before the Great White Throne of Judgement and have their day in court.

There is a second group that will appear here, not only the out and out sinner but second the self-righteous. Those who prided themselves in being so good and so moral. This is the one who thinks the gospel is for the thief, the gospel is for the prostitute, the gospel is for the out and out sinner but not me. This person has never been born again but they think that they are good enough in and of themselves and their own morality and in their own good works to commend themselves to God. They are assuming that God will grade on the curve, they are assuming that they are better than others; therefore God will surely accept them. But the fact is that they have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and they will be brought to stand in this last day.

There is a third group that will appear at the Great White Throne Judgement among the great and the small. Not only the out and out sinners and not only the self-righteous, but the religious cult members will be here. Those who have followed after other religious leaders. Those who have followed Mohammed, those who have followed Buddha, those who have followed Joseph Smith, those who have followed Reverend Sun Moon, those who have followed the Virgin Mary, those who have followed every other religious leader except Jesus Christ, they will be summoned and they will stand before the Lord because Jesus said I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except thru me. There are not many roads that are leading up to Heaven and Christianity is but one of those roads, you just have to be sincere and get on one of these religious roads that will take you to the top – no! There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all the testimony born at the proper time. Peter said there is salvation in no other name for there is no other name under Heaven given among man whereby we must be saved. Know every follower of false religions will be summoned to stand before this Great White Throne of Judgement.

There is a fourth group that will be there in that day and that is the procrastinator. Those who know that they are sinners. Those who know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the Savior. Those who intend to be saved one day but they keep putting it off and they keep putting it off and they say one day when I get out of college, one day when I get married, one day when we have children, one day once my career gets going, one day when I get a little further down life’s path then I will finally give my life to Christ but that day never comes. Proverbs 27 verse 1 says “Boast not yourself of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth”. The Bible says behold now is the accepted time, behold today is the day of salvation. Procrastinators who die without Christ will be summoned to stand before this Great White Throne.

And there is a fifth and final group that will be there that day. Lost church members will be summoned to appear before the Great White Throne. They have their name on a church role but their names have never been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. They profess to know Christ but they do not in reality posses Christ. They are attached to a church but have never become attached to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a form of religion but they deny the power thereof. These are those who will say Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, did we not cast out demons in your name, did we not perform many wondrous works in your name; and Jesus said “I will say unto them in that day: depart from me you who work iniquity for I never knew you”. Unconverted church members, lost church members will be summoned to appear before this Great White Throne of Judgement because they have never been born again. Jesus said: “Except you be born again, you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven”.

So there it will be in this last day, there it will be at the Great White Throne of Judgement, the Judge sitting upon his Throne, the sea giving up the death, Hades and Death giving up their death, every lost sinner standing before the Lord Jesus Christ call open the books, and everyone’s life will be measured against the perfect Holiness of Almighty God. Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” God will not grade on the curve on that day. Every sinner will be measured against the absolute, infinite, moral perfection of Almighty God. “You shall be holy for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16.

Now, God’s justice demands payment for every sin of every unbeliever, so much sin so much justice, so much justice so much punishment. Ezequiel 18 verse 4 “The souls who sins will die”. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.” “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked for whatsoever a man sows this he will reap” Galatians 6:7. I told you this morning, every sin in the history of the world will be judged by God. No sin will be overlooked by Christ on the final day, from the sin of Adam all the way down thru the end of the thousand year reign of Christ, every single sin will meet God’s perfect judgement. Every sin will either be punished in Christ and pardoned in Christ or will be punished in Hell throughout all of the ages to come. But every sin will receive a just recompense.

Having examined the evidence and having documented the guilt of every lost sinner the defendants now await the verdict of the Judge. It is now time for the judgement to be rendered and for the verdict to be issued.

“And if anyone’s name was not find written in the Book of Life he was thrown into the lake of fire”. This fiery hell is forever, it will never come to an end and throughout all of the ages to come, those who are cast down into this bottomless pit, this lake of fire and brimstone that burns forever and ever there will never be any relief, there will never be any escape but throughout all of the ages to come they will be the object of God’s fury and God’s vengeance and God’s wrath and God’s judgement.

So what should this say to us, what should this require of us.

Number one, humility. The only thing that makes a difference between me and the one that stands here is the unconditional love and the unmerited favor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone of us here tonight deserves to stand in this Great White Throne of Judgement. Everyone of us here tonight deserves to be cast down into the lake of fire because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The fact that we are in Christ tonight, that Christ has taken our sins and placed them behind his back, that Christ has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west, that Christ has washed our sins away, that Christ has imputed his perfect righteousness to us, that we are covered with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that our sins will never be brought into account before God. Now humbly we should walk before our God, what thanksgiving we should offer to the Lord that there is now therefore no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. That nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God. Neither life nor death, nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come; nothing will ever separate us from the love of God, his mercy, his forgiveness for us who are in Christ. How this should cause us to treasure our eternal salvation in Christ. Consider the great sin that has been forgiven you. Consider the great sacrifice that has been offered to take away your sin. How we should say with Paul “I am what I am by the grace of God”. Everyone of us should walk out of this grand meeting room walking lowly before our God in great humility.

Second, evangelism. As we read this text, for each and everyone of us there are people all around us who have yet to come to Christ who are outside of the Kingdom of God and being outside of the Kingdom of God they are already under the wrath of God. God’s love is restricted exclusively for those who are inside the Lord Jesus Christ. And for those who are outside of Christ, they are in a fearful place. Go into the highways and into the byways and to compel them to come to the banquet that has already been prepared by the Lord Jesus Christ. What responsibility we have that we go to our family, to our friends, to our classmates, to those who we work with, to those who are around us and with a sense of urgency to share with them the love of God in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation. You might be the very one that one God has placed in their lives to tell them about Christ. You might be the only gospel witness to that person. Go into all the world and preach to every creature repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And finally, for those of you who do not know Jesus Christ, God has brought you here tonight for this divine appointment. For you to hear of what your future holds if you continue to go down this path. God has brought you here to speak the truth to you… enter thru the narrow gates that leads to life. I call upon you to come to faith in Jesus Christ, to repent of your sins, to turn away from the world, to forsake your pursue of sin, to come to Christ, humble yourself, receive his mercy, throw yourself upon him and say God be merciful to me the sinner. I call you to leave the broad path, turn away from the easy road of sin. Come to the narrow gate who is Christ. That gate is open right now, his arms of forgiveness and mercy are extended to you right now in this gospel message. Come to Christ. Believe upon him this moment. Receive his mercy. And if you do not believe upon Jesus Christ, the infallible record of the Word of God says there is coming a final judgement, boast not yourself of tomorrow for you not now what a day might bring forth. Come to Christ. Come to the water of life and drink freely. Come to Christ and believe upon him or in that final day you will stand before him.

[Teaching entitled “The Great White Throne”, by Dr. Steve Lawson, Pastor of the “Christ Fellowship Bible Church” in Alabama www.cfbcmobile.org. Teaching delivered at the “Resolved Conference” in 2008. This transcript is taken from an edited audio version that can be found at www.dikayo.com . The original, unedited audio can be downloaded for free at www.resolved.org]

Good news?

“I have a very good news for you: take this medicine as the cure for your disease and you will be healed!”

Would that be good news? It just doesn’t make sense: What medicine? What disease? Healed of what?

Let’s try it a different way…

“You have a very strange and terminal disease. The disease is the collapse of your organs. Take a look at this 10 signs that clearly indicate that your condition is critical. You have all ten signs in your body. The consequence is death. You are going to die. BUT I have good news for you: take this medicine as the cure for your disease and you will be healed!”

Wow, that is good news indeed. It makes perfect sense! There was a disease, there was death BUT there is a cure and therefore life!

————————————————————–

“I have very good news for you: accept Jesus Christ as atonement for your sin and you will be saved!”

Would that be good news? It just doesn’t make sense: Why would I accept Him? what sin? saved from what?

Let’s try it a different way…

“You have a terminal ‘disease’ that is called sin. Sin is the transgression of the Law. Take a look at this 10 Commandments that clearly indicate that your condition is critical. You have broken all of them. The consequence is death. God is going to judge you. BUT I have good news for you: accept Jesus Christ as atonement for your sin and you will be saved!”

Wow, that is good news indeed. It makes perfect sense! There was a disease, there was death BUT there is a cure and therefore life!

————————————————————–

We broke God’s law but Jesus paid our fine. REPENT (turn and despise your sin) and put your TRUST in Jesus Christ as the only one that can JUSTIFY you before God. He will grant you everlasting life, according to the Bible.