Persecution?

Worldwide, the persecution of Christians is terrible.  Many Christians are horribly mistreated, beaten, tortured and killed simply because they believe Jesus is Lord and choose to follow Him in the way they live.  If, however, you are a Christian who lives in the USA, fear not!

My brother in Christ from Calvary Chapel Wichita and I were very mildly mistreated Saturday night during our evangelism adventure in Old Town.  To say we were persecuted would cheapen the word.

It was a particularly chaotic evening with lots of noisy, bumper-to-bumper traffic cruising up and down the streets.  My partner was handing out million dollar bill tracts and I was distributing Ten Commandment coins to initiate conversations.  A million was offered to a young guy who was walking from one bar to another.  He asked if it was "religious" and said disdainfully, "I have my morals in order."  I gently asked him if he had ever lied.  He responded by cursing both of us and giving us the single finger salute as he walked away.  All we did was offer him a cool looking million dollar bill with a gospel message on the back.  All we want is for him to admit his sinfulness, repent and trust Jesus Christ for salvation so he can escape God's wrath and eternal punishment in hell.  This was the worst treatment I've ever experienced during any sort of evangelism effort in the U.S. or Mexico and it didn't hurt a bit.  We shrugged our shoulders and continued the work.

If a person is not humbled and repentant, I will gladly take an angry response to the gospel.  It is never my intent to make anyone angry.  We are not to strive, but to lovingly and patiently teach God's law and the gospel (2 Timothy 2:24-26).  If people sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit, let them get mad at the Ten Commandments and the gospel.  Let them get angry because their conscience is bothering them.  The Holy Spirit can use that to break a person and draw them to repentance and salvation.

Aside from a good conversation with a couple of young men, last weekend's gi-normous Automobilia car show didn't go too well.  The temperature was about 105 degrees with high humidity and threatening thunderstorms.  This is typical for Kansas in the summer, but not conducive to evangelism.  People understandably don't like to receive sweaty tracts as the lightning approaches.

Thank you for reading and remember the words of Jesus in Luke 12:4-5.... "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear; fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!  Let your love for and fear of God overcome any fear of man and propel you out to obey His command to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  God bless you as you go!

Breaking the Sound Barrier Again!

There is a big development to report from last night.... Wichita has a new person "breaking the sound barrier" (open air preaching).  Around midnight, my brother in Christ from Calvary Chapel Wichita stood up and preached that the people wandering from bar to bar in Old Town must repent and trust Jesus Christ or perish.  He preached for several minutes.  Maybe this doesn't sound like such a big deal, but open air preaching requires a huge battle against our flesh that seeks comfort, wobbly knees, noise from passing traffic, and whatever spiritual forces that may come against the preacher.  It ain't easy!  It is one giant, sinner-loving, self-denying step up from handing out gospel tracts which, in itself, is a battle.  My hope is that the Lord will orchestrate so we can tag team preach and be more effective at reaching Wichita with His gospel.

In other news... the Lord has let me do a little open air preaching and have one-2-one law & gospel conversations with 10+ people in the past few weeks.  He has let me take them through a few of the Ten Commandments to show them their sinfulness and spoon-feed them the Good News of His taking our punishment.  Although I clearly and specifically warn them about eternal punishment in hell, not one of the people was offended.  Most thanked me and shook my hand afterwards.  It's amazing what can be said to people when it is shared with love and concern.  I'm hoping for a few more opportunities during this Independence Day weekend we're celebrating here in the U.S.

Next weekend is the enormous, annual car show called Automobilia in downtown Wichita.  There will be hundreds and hundreds of cars lining the streets over around 12 city blocks.  If the Lord tarries and the weather cooperates, thousands of people will be shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets during this show.  Please join me in asking the Lord to give us boldness and lots of opportunities to distribute tracts, have one-2-one conversations, and open air preach.

Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers!  God bless you!