There was a recent You Tube video from a popular preacher mocking the Jehovah’s Witness’s for their insistance on coming to his door, even though he has a “no soliciting” sign.  He laughs about their way of evangelism and announces that he is not “works based”, so he can hang out on Saturdays in instead of doing what they are doing.  And he insists that he will not even talk to these guys because he does not know them, and doesn’t know if it “works in their life”.  It was so sad to see this preacher with no sense of grief over the lostness of these folks and basically just made fun out of them.

I could not help but comment on this, and found much opposition to what I had to say.  Most of the comments were from people saying that no one will belive what you have to say unless they trust you.  And this trust needs to be built up over a period of time as they see your life.  To this I have to respond, as I did in an earlier post, that the trust needed is not in you BUT IN JESUS! YOU ARE NOT THE GOSPEL!  Biblical accounts of Jesus and the disciples did not follow the pattern of “friendship evangelism”, and we should strive to be biblical.  The gospel is the power to salvation, not your life. 

Now to those who think door to door, or handing out tracts, or event open air preaching is deceitful because it seems that you are “selling something”.  Well, if you are establishing a relationship to be able to share the gospel, isn’t that the same thing?  And how much harder will it be to explain the gospel to someone who you have invested your life in when you know it could destroy the relationship.  Most of the time, I believe it is an excuse for not sharing the gospel, but just making friends.

Back in our old church days in Illinois, we went to houses of people that filled out comment cards at church.  Even though our evangelism message was weak at that time, the visits were very powerful, and I’m sure God saved a few of these people on our visit.  We had no relationship with these people we visited, but the Word of God was preached, and God Word ”accomplished the purposes for which He sent it”(Isa 55:11).

I also just got a link from a friend of a You Tube video of Paul Washer open air preaching in Lima Peru.  In this video, Paul describes his testimony.  And how someone knocked on his door and shared the gospel with him, and God saved Him though this.  The link to this powerful testimony and an example of open air preaching is HERE.

I encourage you to trust in God, and not your “good life”.  He will use His Word and the “foolishness of preaching to save those who believe”.  Hand out a tract or share the gospel with someone whether you know them or not.  As Jesus did, you can establish a relationship with someone in a few minutes.  And do not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation(Rom 1:16).

Thank you Jesus for the cross.  Thank you for saving me, the one that would be the most unlikely for you to die for.  Your love is amazing, that even while I was a terrible sinner, that you would die for me. 

I was reading Pyromaniacs, and they occasionally post different “dodges” that are used when you attempt to share the gospel with folks.  One of the most frequent ones that I encounter is the dodge, “there is no such thing as absolute truth”.  And my response to this would be, “are you ABSOLUTELY sure”? 

The one posted in Pyromaniacs goes like this.  “I belive that Jesus was a moral example and a great sage and teacher”.  To which the response would be, “ who taught that He was God incarnate, the only sufficient sacrifice for man’s sins, and the only mediator between God and man; who make worship of Him as God a moral imperative and taught that anyone who doesn’t believe in all those things about Him, is going to hell?  Me too”!

On another note, I wanted to post a couple of pictures that are related to the earlier post on the upcoming Ambassadors Alliance.  Wifey and I went to an “evangelism boot camp” a few years ago in New York.  The first picture is of us and Ray taking a break, and the second one is of Connie open air preaching in the park across from NY University.

Way of the Master has a great “field training” program, called Ambassadors Alliance.  I went out to LA last spring, and it was fantastic.  We had a day of instruction and encouragement from Ray, Scotty, Spence, Kirk and others, and then 2 days of preaching on the streets of Hollywood, to the beaches of LA.  Please consider doing one of these, if God is leading you to. 

One of our local seed sowers, Maritza, is attending the next one in LA this month.  Please pray for her.

The following video is from the latest Academy.  Tony Miano leads the Alliance and is seen in this video “firing up the troops”!   You can also access the Alliance site HERE.

This video is a good hermeneutical explaination of the bible verse 2 Peter 3:9.  Lexicons and context is a good thing!  This  is helpful when getting a question like, “isn’t it God’s will that no one should perish”?   

Another way of looking at his is the fact that God, “does as He pleases”(Psalm 115:3).  He is sovereign, and will accomplish what He wills. And if the verse was really refering to universal salvation for all, then no one would end up in hell, and that is not biblical.   So it is clear that those who will be saved are God’s “elect”.