He has been Saved Twice.

This is part of the Ambassadors Alliance blog of my witnessing encounters.

Before I talk what happen at the mall, here is a quote that my friend George, who taught me to witness, posted on his Facebook page.

To Chicago: The snow that is falling teaches you a valuable lesson. You see, snow is white and covers the ground underneath it when the temperature is right. However, when the sun comes out, or when the temperature rises, it melts away revealing once again the trash and dirt underneath. It is the same with many of you.... You go about covering your sin (or pretending it is not there) by supposing that the snow of your good deeds will cover up all the guilt. The problem is that this is only temporary. On the day of Judgement, God will turn up the temperature and reveal all the dirt and trash of your sin, all your good deeds will melt away, and you will stand exposed for who you really are. Thankfully, Jesus Christ died to give us a permanent covering for our sin by His blood. If you trust in Jesus to save you from your sin and turn away from your life of sin, the blood spilled by Jesus will be like an eternal blizzard that forever removes sin out of sight. He will do this for you sinnner, if you would just stop sinning and trust Him now! This is what God says in the bible to you: "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18”

Some of us in the Mid-Atlantic coast region can understand this a little bit. That is actually relevant to the fact that they where projecting 1-3inches of snow here in Lynchburg, VA on Tuesday. I told the Grad. Assistant that I would be going witnessing on Tuesday but he thought I would cancel because of weather so no announcement was made for an invite to witness. I was allowed to e-mail the class and one gentleman responded but because of a last minute homework thing he had to decline.

So it was Ed, aka the other wretch, and I passing out some tracts and share how God can to save sinners because of his goodness. I talked to one gentleman that has been saved twice. I guess he must be receiving a double portion when he gets to heaven. He said that one must go to church and do good works to get to heaven but he has not been doing good works. I witness to him and showed him that good works and going to church helps no one and that one must repent and trust in Christ to be saved and good works would flow from the person because they love God and want to obey him. I also asked him if he read his Bible and he does not read that often. I express that we need to read the Bible to know God and also because he has been doing bad, that God would corrected it through His word. He did catch me off guard when I asked him about what he thought of the encounter. He said that he should be witnessing more because as I was witnessing to him, he saw that are people going to heaven and they need the Gospel.

I would also witness to two fellow Liberty University students; I only know this because I saw them today at school, and they told me that I all have to do is Romans 10:9. They said the verse but I informed them that the word confess only means to say that Jesus is Lord and not confess your sins. I would go through the Gospel and urge them to start witness.

I would also meet another group of Liberty students, I would hand a ticket to Heaven tract to one guy to have him tear it. He did not but I asked them it convert me to Christianity. They said I needed to confess my sins and ask Jesus into my heart. I explained that I was offended that they would call me a sinner since I have never sinned. He would then explain that I was a sinner because I have lied and that was against God’s law. I asked if showing someone that they are a sinner before telling them would be better. They agreed that it would be better since then they would know that they sinned against God and since “through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20). It was a shorter time to witness but God was ever faithful by providing people to witness to. I might have talked to Christians and my hope is that they start to witness in the community. I pray that I will be able to teach some of my evangelism class to share their faith with this lost word.

It is Febuary and I'm stressed out.

I have successfully stressed myself out once again. I have a speech due in 22 days, a 300 page book due in 25 days, plus all of the other home work I have.

But today is a special day for you because I am going to post a article I posted on Ambassador Alliance. It is a site for street witnessers to get together to share witnessing encounters and also ask questions to get advice on dealing with different groups. It is also for people you have attended the Ambassador Training in LA with Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, and other members of Living Waters. It is a weekend in which you street witnessness, open-air preach, stop light preach, and other ways to share the gospel. This article is about my trip to the mall here in Lynchburg, VA. Enjoy.

Today, I went again to the mall. I was to meet one of my classmates. She did not show up but it was my fault for getting info. I might just have to make cards to hand out. Ed, the guy who normally goes with me, could not come because his street is icy and it started to snow again here in Lynchburg, VA after dumping a foot of snow this past weekend. As I was waiting for my classmate and watching for the security, I had get a couple of opportunity to witness to some guys. I figured the best way to have someone found me was to witnesses with some people since that is why I was there. The first person I talked to was Kevin. He did not know at first if he would go to heaven or hell but after asking the question again, he decided he was good enough to go to Heaven. He was joking around a little and laughing so I asked what he knew about hell. He realized that I was serious about him and did not want him to die and go to hell. He had to get to work so I let him go. The next person was Zack, I think, I am bad with names. He accepted Jesus when he was 4 but, what seems like lot Christians I witness to, he could not tell me the Gospel. I went through the good person test and shared the good news that Christ took our punishment so he did do not have to. I asked if he had every repent and trust. His answered surprise me a little, because he said no. I urge him to repent and trust in Christ because you do not know when you will die. After Zack, I saw a group of guys, there was 4 of them. I handed them million dollars and one a ticket to heaven. One actually tore it but it took him a lot of strength. All 4 were going to heaven because they accepted Jesus; I asked them to tell me the Gospel with 3 mins to live. They jokingly said that it is too late to be asking that. I went through the Gospel with them and express that they need to share the law to show the person they are sinners. I ended this conversation telling them that they to repent and trust in Christ. As I was talking these young men, I noticed the security guard walking with a sheriff, so I kinda left so I was not thrown out. I wanted to witness more but without getting in trouble. It was good day to preach the Gospel and I just pray that these people turn to Christ.

Sir, You are not allow to solicit here.

Going to the mall to witness to some people has been a highlight because you just do not know who you run into. When street witnessing in England, you knew they were not Christian, for the most part. I had 2 good conversations today while at the mall. The first was to 3 young men. I used the curve illusion with the ticket to heaven, and some MDB. There were 2 ladies but the left. Two out of the three guys said that will go to Heaven and the other said to Hell because he has been bad. I would take them through the good person test and would watch them seem pretty convicted. They would probably never guess that on a field trip for DECA that they would have been witness to. It was a nice conversation since 2 of they had cross necklaces on. Please pray for them. I do not remember their names but God knows.

The next conversation would get kick out of the mall for soliciting. This man is name Isa, Jesus in Arabic, who was Muslim. He was sure that he would be going to heaven because he has done enough work. I used the law once and now realize that I should have used it again. It might not have mattered since he would never apply the law to himself without having other people involve. His friend was not that great of help even if he claimed to be a Christian. His friend would say that he has a faith so he is good and who am I to judge Isa. I told me that I was not judging but if the Bible is correct, his friend would go to hell because he does not understand Jesus rightly and that he has sinned against God. Isa would also never admit that every deserved Hell because he had sin against a holy God. I did tell him that lying lip are an abomination to the Lord and that all lairs will be thrown into the lake of fire. One mistake that I took away was that I was trying to convince him with knowledge and not always with God’s word. I need to remember that I do not save people, it if God and that God’s word will convict him. Even though it was not a great witness encounter, I learned a little about my tactic. One thing that I thought was interesting was that he would never admit that he was working to Heaven with work-righteousness. He could never say that but that is all that he said.

So reason for the title. I was told this by a security guard from the mall to end the conversation.

Waiting for a download so I am writing a blog.

I do not know what I want to say so this is true randomness. I have been thinking, after listening to Paul Washer, that the American Church reduction of the Gospel to this say this prayer is changing the focus from God to man. Paul Washer said something that I never realized but know that there was something wrong with getting people to say the sinners prayer. To clearify, I believe that people need to pray to God because they see that they have offended the true God but I am against having people repeat a prayer and then pronounce them saved. Paul Washer said what I have found in witnessing at the mall, people stake their eternity on a prayer that THEY said and not on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. This is work righteousness and the more I think about it, the more I think that those people are not saved because they trust is wrongly placed. I did not say the "Sinner's Prayer" so does that mean I am not saved because I said a prayer. What Christ did on the cross will be fathomed but us humans and the fact that we degrade to a point that we have to say this prayer and no mattered what, we are saved. I am all for assurance of salvation but my assurance is in the Christ alone because of the atoning work on the cross. I took some advice from C.J. Mahaney's book A Cross-Centered Life, it is that we should preach the Gospel to ourselves everyday. What is more assuring that a wretched sinner has be saved by God to do God's work here on earth. The more and more I think about my life and how self-centered my life is, the more and more I see my need for Christ and a cross-centered life.

I have also been thinking about how can I celebrate Christmas rightly. When I figure it out, I will post.

A more meaningful post.

I have been wanting to post something that kinda deals with what I am learning in school but for now here is something that I think we can never stop thinking about.

All I need is Christ. When everything else fails, Christ is the one that is faithful. Not only that, God also provides me the necessary material things that will keep me alive even if I can not afford them. This seem strange than he would do such a nice thing to a person that will never honor him with every waking breath and constantly dishonoring his name. The question is why has God, who hates evil, allow me a evil person to live? He does it so we can see his grace and ultimately glorify his name. So I deserve his wrath but he allows me to live so he can be glorified. He desires all to be saved because he personal set humans apart to praise his name.

I want to explore an anthropological argument on why God desires all to be saved. I think that it will help us to understand why we need to preach the gospel to lost people.

God of this City

Here is a song we sang in convo today. It is by Chris Tomlin called God of this City.

[Verse 1]
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

[Verse 2]
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
-------------------------------------------------------
I want to use this song to encourage us that God is never done with a city. There is always hope to change a community and it starts with out choose to reach the lost. Let us not forget that our God wants all people to be saved because he create people to glorify his name. Let us fight for the glory of God. Not all have been called to preach on the streets day after day but we all are called to share our faith. One person at a time. I feel that we have been praying for a revival but we fail to get out to start it. Let us start to be faithful in sharing our faith so God can start the revival.

First Witness Encounter Every!

This beautiful, yet cloudy rainy, English Saturday, I went with other Christians to Cambridge, England. This has been the first time I was able to go out with the group since I have been back from my deployment. This Saturday, I wanted to step out beyond handing out tracts but do a 1-on-1. I got my 1-on-3. I handed a 1 million pound sterling gospel tract and these young men asked what they were. I told them that it was a gospel tract. I started to talk to them for a little bit. I used the law, they questions side track me a little, but once I got back on topic I presented to good news. It was a tough first encounter but I learned a little, like stop following rabbit trails. This encounter was different from my encounters on Facebook with false converts. Since they got see my facial expressions, they knew that I was not there to discriminate against them. Although at time for me, I might have seemed a little holier-than-thou. That is a problem that I will need to work on. Anyways, it was a comfortable first time; it was not a scary as handing out tracts for the first time.