Running from God and his wife

We were waiting for the bus to come, and noticed a guy walking down the sidewalk coming towards me. As he got close, I reached out and handed him a “Born of the Spirit” card. He stopped and looked at it. He said that he no longer believed in God. This is all to common. Then we asked him, “What happened?”. He basically said that it was because of everything that has happened it his life. Again, we hear this all the time.

He was not your average guy who was walking down the sidewalk. He was dressed nice, good looking, strong and fit. He had a certain desperateness about him though. He was on edge. He said he was running from his wife, and that she was supposed to be in the area looking for him. However, I am certain that there was more to the story. He also said that he hadn’t slept much in the last week. If I were to guess, I would say that drugs were also a problem in this guys life, even though he had not confessed to it. Yet, he didn’t look like your typical addict.

We asked him if he had been born again. That led to him saying that he was raised a Christian, and that he went through the steps of giving his life to God when he was a kid. He said that he now believed that he was a god. Yep, “that he was a god”. And he also said that we all have many gods inside of us. This is where we had to step in and correct him.  We told him that if he had been truly born again, he received the Holy Spirit at that time, and that God was in him and that was all he needed. He then went into some off the wall stuff about gods. This of course, let us know more of what we were dealing with and where he was at.

In the course of our conversation which lasted some 45 minutes, we told him that God loved him, and that it was no happen chance that we were there talking to him. We shared what town it was that we were from, which was a few miles away, and that he was the first guy in this area that we had any real conversation with. This caught his attention a little more. He had that look in his eye.

In closing,  he understood that God was after him. Oh, another thing that he was struggling with was forgiveness. He didn’t believe that God could forgive him. I assured him that that was the reason that Christ died for him. He was not ready to take that in, and I’m sure that that had a lot to do with his running.

As he walked away,  he turned back and heard me saying,  “Remember Eddie,  God loves you”. He smiled and said, “I sure hope so”. I said,  “why do you think we met? “. And off he went……

Pray for Eddie!

“Well, what about you?”

Today we were at one of our local transit centers passing out cards. We approached a young guy sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. We handed him the “The Wall and the Wrecking Ball” card. He briefly looked at it, and said, “I know who I’m going to give this to”. He then put it in his pocket.

I said to him, “Well, what about you? Where are you with Jesus?”. He said that half of his family was Catholic, and the other was Christian. He said that he was in the middle. That’s when i sat down next to him :). I then told him that i was raised Catholic as well. He sat up to listen.

We then told him what we have told many Catholics that we have met before. “At least you have been taught the basics. You know about the Virgin Birth, His Death on the cross, and His resurrection”. He agreed. This is where we shared with him his need to believe personally. He needed to believe that Jesus died for his sins and that God raised Him up to conquer death, the wages of sin.

This is where he said, “Lately, I have been really feeling the weight of a few sins in my life”. I then told him that that was a good thing, and that Jesus died for those sins. We then asked him if he wanted that weight to come off. He looked surprised. We also told him that he didn’t need to go to a “priest” to have his sins forgiven. He could have them forgiven right here on the bench.

I then said, “does that sound to simple and easy?”. He kind of agreed. We then began to ask him if he for sure knew that he has offended God. He said that he had offended some people. I reminded him that that is the same as offending God. I said, “Do you remember what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments?”. He didn’t remember. We told him that the second one was, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. His head dropped.

I then said that we all have sinned and fall short. We all have especially broken the first two. Have we always loved God with all our heart, soul, and mind? And of course our neighbor as we love ourself? He agreed that he had not. This is where i asked him if he would like to be forgiven right now. At that second, the bus drove up and he stood up. I said that he could pray on the bus and receive forgiveness of sins if he wanted. He said thanks, and off he went to the bus.

I believe that he did. Do i know for a fact? No. If he didn’t, he surely is a big step closer today. Bless the Lord! The God who loves him! To send a nobody to him today :).

“Slice and Dice”

Yesterday we believed God to go out and share God’s word. However, this time it was to only read His word out loud so that all those He brings by would hear. That is of course, to only those that He opens their ears to hear. That morning, the wife and i had talked about the word being “powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, cutting through the joints and marrow”. I had told her that a current day application would be “slice and dice” :-).

Later we headed out the door to the place we believed the Lord to go. When we arrived, after prayer, we shared several  Holy scriptures (when was the last time you heard that?) on one of our regular corners for about an hour. Afterwards, we believed to go across the street to share. After about thirty minutes, i had noticed out of the corner of my eye, a guy standing to my right about 10 feet away listening to the Word. When i looked over at him while still reading the scriptures, my spirit bore witness that i had seen this guy pass by me as i was reading on the other side of the street, maybe a couple of times, not sure.

After another ten, twenty minutes, i stopped and looked at him and said, “hey, how’s it going?”. Then he immediately went into spilling out tons of “unbelief”. It has been a while since God has brought to us a guy by like him in such condition. I remember many of times in the past where they would come up and spill out their unbelief in many different forms. Here was a young guy, 23-26, who said when i asked him when he had believed in the Lord Jesus, said that he believed when he was 7 years old. He also said that he believed until he was 23.

After we continued to listen, we had to finally interrupt him from his continuing unbelief. We asked him, “What happened?”. He said that he was over in Iraq. I said, “Ah, so that is what happened”. No, he said. Then he said that he still believed, still prayed, and still read his bible. Then, he went into saying how his superiors, government officials, etc. had showed him that the bible was not true historically, and that there is many other manuscripts, etc. that prove this or that. He was packed with information. Some of it may have been true, but at the core of his being there was unbelief.

We went back and forth for just a little bit. From experience, i have learned that the worst thing one can do in a public environment is to get into an argument over anything pertaining to God, the bible, etc. Unbelievers passing by have no clue what’s going on. All they hear is “God”, “Jesus”, “Bible”, etc, and immediately think within themselves, “Oh no, here we go again. More arguing about religion”. “Glad I am not apart of that”.

We finished shortly thereafter. Unbelief had manifested itself. The word had did its “slice and dice”. It’s hard stuff for sure. No one likes to have the Word of God prick their heart to the core, for sure.

This had gripped my heart to hear testimony once again about someone who had walked with God at one time, but now had taken up with unbelief. There is always a story from each one as to what had happened to bring about their unbelief. In some cases, it is a “divorce”, or maybe a “death”. Maybe it was when they left home and went off to college. Yet, in every case, their faith was shaken, tried, and tested. It would take deeps roots to be able to stand. This is why we have such needful words of warning in the book of Hebrews. These words are written to “believers”, not to those who have yet to believe.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but encourage one another daily, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if  we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Heb.3:12-15)

Yes, i know, it’s hard to swallow the fact that we as believers, can allow an “evil heart of unbelief” to come upon us. This is just what happened to this guy. And we must never think that it could not come to us. This is why the writer of this book said that we as believers need to “hold fast our confidence”, “hold fast our hope”, “hold fast our profession” to the end. (Read Hebrews chapter 3 and 4).

We will continue to pray for this man, that his heart may be turned from the sin of unbelief, and back to God. Amen.

Awesome week!

Experiencing God while you’re living. There is nothing quite like it. And, if you have been born of the Spirit, i.e. the Spirit of the living God is inside you, you have a testimony of what God is doing currently in your life. So….. share it! Give God some credit, some glory!

The most awesome thing that took place this week (Tuesday) was the salvation of “Jose”. God chose to save him. We saw him down the sidewalk waiting for the bus. The Spirit said to go over to him, so we did. We handed him a “Born of the Spirit” card, like we usually do, and God took it from there. Before long he was praying to the Father, asking for forgiveness and confessing upon the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. We (the Holy Spirit and i) prayed with him just after he prayed. It was a beautiful experience to see how God moved at just the right time. What a God! A God who saves!

Later that same day, we met a fellow believer on the bus. Awesome time of fellowship. We sensed that he had a personal struggle going on in which he didn’t disclose. God, being all knowing, knew just exactly what it was. We continue to pray for him.

On Wednesday, we believed God to head out on the train towards Santa Monica. We we got off the bus and got to the train platform, He had a guy waiting there. We approached him and handed him a card. He read it as we stood off at a distance. Afterward, i asked him what he thought of it. He said that he hadn’t heard of the message of being born again like this before. It was straight from John chapter 3. So, it asked the question, “what has he heard regarding the gospel?”. We encouraged him to seek God and be born of the Spirit. And as we have said on many occasions, “It’s like walking into a dark room and flipping the light switch on. Boom! Now i can see!”

On Thursday, we believed God to head up north on the bus. He had a guy sitting in his car right next to where we were waiting for the bus. Come to find out, he was a believer, who was on his lunch from work. We had a good time “fellowship” (two fellows in the same ship :-). We believed for him to be encouraged to step out in faith and share Jesus more often. Yes! Glory to God!                                                                                                            Later that day, we met a young guy on the train who was encouraged by what the Holy Spirit spoke to Him. He believed, but needed a spiritual boost that he was certainly not going to receive from the world. He couldn’t wait to share it with his girlfriend who he was headed to see. It is always a blessing to know that there is no “happen chances” with God.

On Friday, we believed God to go to downtown and preach the gospel. The Spirit gave us liberty and many heard what they would probably of not heard that day. And what was that? That they are separated from God because of sin. But, that God did indeed made a way for them through the cross of Christ.                                                                                After finishing, we were drained physically. We took a break and texted my wife to pray. Soon, we arrived at another corner, and was led to share there. It wasn’t but a few minutes into sharing the gospel, i noticed a guy off in the distance listening. He changed positions every so often. For the rest of the time, probably like an hour, he was there. When we finished, he came over and shook our hand. He was a believer, bless the Lord! He was encouraged at hearing the gospel. He had been praying the whole time. Many times over the years, i have seen this. God sends people to stand off in the distance and pray. That’s the God we serve! Always He has our best interest! He alone knows what is needed so His gospel, mixed with His Spirit, can do what He declares it to do…. speak to people, draw them to Himself.

Hallelujah! It’s good to be back at it on a more regular basis. He is good!

 

 

We are back!

I’m blessed to be able to revisit my blog and hopefully do some sharing of what God is doing currently out on the streets. Finally, after 11 1/2 years of getting out on the streets part-time, sharing the gospel, I’m blessed to say that we are finally back to full-time status. God is good and worthy to be praised! He makes a way even it it takes years :-).

As i sit here today, I’m not quite sure where this blog will go. I know that time is of the essence and extremely valuable. My heart is for sharing what God is doing out on the streets, in hopes that readers will be encouraged to get out of their four walls and use their gifts and calling for God and His kingdom.

When it’s all said and done, i want God to be glorified in my posts. May you be encouraged to experience God as your living day by day, not just once on Sunday, or Saturday. He is the God of the here and now. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may never come. Only what’s done for Him, his glory, and his kingdom, will matter.

God bless you!

The prodigal daughter

Blessed yesterday to be back in downtown. We even got to do some preaching :).
Towards the end of the day, God brought “Brandi” by. My guess is that she was around 30 years old. She is your typical homeless girl bound by heroin. She was raised in Alabama in a southern Baptist home. She has two kids who are being raised by her parents in two separate homes.

We listened to her story. And as we did, the Holy Spirit gave us some insight into where she was currently at spiritually. We shared and encouraged her that God is not very far away. In fact, he is just camped out next door. He is just waiting for her to turn to Him. She listened.

We reminded her of the “Prodigal son” story, of which she had heard many times before. However, we put her into the story as the “Prodigal daughter”. The Father is there waiting with open arms to through a party upon her return, but she just has to get to the point where she “has spent all”, and “comes to herself”.

We also reminded her that she is indeed responsible for that which she knows. And of course being raised “Southern Baptist”, she knows about Jesus and the salvation that He alone brings. It was good for her to be reminded of this, because in her sharing, she has allowed some demonic influence to change her thinking, which is so very common out on the streets.

We asked her if we could pray for her. She smiled and said, “well, as long as I don’t have to stand here and close my eyes” . So we did.

She shared how she misses her kids. Heroin is no doubt nullifying the pain.

She seemed to have hope as we parted. Please pray for her. She could have been any one of our daughters. Thank you.

An encounter with “Jesus”

We must never underestimate the power of one encounter for Jesus. I was reminded of this yesterday.

While traveling north on the bus, i stopped off at a local Walmart to use the restroom and pick up some water. While at the water aisle, i reached up to grab a bottle when i heard, “Hey! It’s good to see you again! Remember me?” My eyes immediately fell upon his name badge, which read “Jesus”. Bing! “Yeah! I remember you! At the neighborhood market close by where i live”.

Here we were…..

Approximately 6 months ago, i pulled into the neighborhood market parking lot and quickly noticed the “cart pusher”. I walked over to him to say hi. Then i noticed his name tag saying “Jesus”. I smiled and said that i really liked his name. Then of course, we asked him if he knew Jesus. He said that he did. We had a great visit in the parking lot that day.

Now…..

Approximately 6 months later, 5 miles north, and at a different store, here he remembers me. I was amazed. I complemented him for his remembrance, and of course knowing all the time that it was the Lord indeed that brought it all to pass. I asked him what God was currently doing in his life, and he shared a testimony of how God blessed him recently by being able to return to Walmart after quitting his last store. He realized that it was a mistake and that God showed mercy upon him and what a blessing it was to be able to work. We stood there sharing for a while, then parted knowing that we would see each other again.

One encounter can make a difference. We must never underestimate it. Go Jesus!

Seeing and hearing

Like anything else in life, if we don’t use it or practice it on a regular basis, we can become less acquainted with that which we used to do on a regular basis.

This past Saturday, i was seeking God and wanting to go out again and be led of the Spirit to where He wanted me to go. This is a big part of the ministry that the Lord has given me and called me to over the years. I have seen some really divine moves of God into this realm of the Spirit. My heart craves for more of the Spirit of God to “see” and to “hear”, then to move into that realm.

As we were waiting upon Him, He soon gave us the route to take and the place to go. We were to head out on foot east, then turn north and walk up to the “Target” store. As we walked, we prayed, and at the same time looked around to see if there was any people around that He might be leading us to. During the approximate mile long walk, there was no one who we sensed we were to talk to. Soon we were at the Target store and walked into the restroom. Once inside, we spotted a young guy washing himself at the sink. We knew immediately that he was the one to speak to. However, not at the present time.

We left and went outside after hearing to wait out there for him to come out. After a few minutes, we looked ahead down the walkway and spotted him. Our immediate thought was “wow, he sure looks different from when he was under the lights in the restroom”. We proceeded to follow him. Up ahead, we saw him take a left into the store next door. We heard to wait there for him to come out. After waiting a few, he comes out, and we say to him, “Hey brother! Come on over here and tell me what God is doing in your life”. We saw that he had a shirt on that had a small cross on it and a ministry name under it.

He began to share his testimony of being saved right after getting out of prison, and being now clean for 30 days. He shared how God had delivered him and how thankful he was. I asked him if he has been tempted to use again since being clean. He said “oh yes”. I then heard that i was to pray for him regarding this help. So i asked him if i could pray for him. He smiled and said “sure!”. As we did, we really prayed for his protection. We covered him in the armor of the Lord, from his head to his toes. When finished, he was blessed and encouraged. We soon parted our ways. He went down the walkway, i took off to my left and went across the parking lot.

After about 10 minutes and turning to my right to follow the sidewalk, i look up ahead to the intersection and i see him and a guy standing with him at the light. As i walked up, i immediately noticed that the guy that was with him was the guy that i originally saw in the bathroom. I said to him, “Hey you were the one who i saw in the restroon”. He said that he remembered seeing me also. I then was amazed at what had just been revealed to me…..

Here i was in the presence of these two guys, one who i thought was the one from the restroom in which i prayed with, the other who i didn’t pray with which was the guy from the restroom. Just how did my “seeing” and “hearing” play into this all? Was God once again just showing his sovereignty? Would things of changed out differently if i were to of “saw” and “heard” differently? Was this just how it was all to play out, i.e. the guy that i prayed with was the reason why i was to go to “Target” in the first place?

I find it all interesting.

Then the guy introduces me to the other guy. He quickly shares his testimony of being saved and how he was also clean from addiction. He lit up as he was sharing about God’s power to save and keep him. They were both there that day to also collect money at the intersection for the ministry that they were a part of. All three of us rejoiced at God’s goodness and how our divine appointment all transpired.

Someday we will see clearly, see completely. Until now, i endeavor to “see” and “hear” more clearly as i approach the gates of heaven.

Our understanding of the character of God and Jesus.

We all have our personal understanding of what the character of God and Jesus means to us. By “character”, I am focusing here on their “attributes, dispositions, personalities and temperaments”.

We all have arrived at this point in our lives with the understanding we have. This comes over a period of time, and comes from several different means. Our life experience to this point makes up some of our view or understanding of God and Jesus. We have had a personal experience through our dealings with God and Jesus, be it good or bad. This helps to create our image of God whether we want to believe it or not. Experience cannot be denied. Of course now, if our experience has been filled with a lot of negativity, disappointment etc. then we must address the issues that have been experienced in hope to be able to move on in our to a proper understanding.

Along with our experience comes the way we were raised. Those who raised us had a very strong influence on us whether we will admit it or not. We are all products to some extent as to how we were raised. Those who raised us, be it our parents, our parent, step mother, step father, Grandmother etc. all taught us in many different ways their views or understanding about the character of God/Jesus. Even if they didn’t believe in God, they still taught their understanding of God/Jesus. It might have been in subtle ways but taught never the less.

Another means of which many of us have arrived to this point in our understanding is through the reading of books. We all particularly like the books that we can relate with, or agree with. If we find one that hits on our understanding of God and or Jesus, we get that one and enjoy reading it because we agree with what’s being said. It comes into line with what we have understood to this point.

Another way is through being taught by teachers. Maybe it was our teachers in school when we were children that influenced us on the character of God. Also, it could have been our Sunday school teachers. Later on, if you went to college, your professors may have taught you some about the attributes of God. It may have been in a direct way, or an indirect way. Either way, you were influenced. If you were raised in a believing home that went to church, your Pastor taught you on his understanding of the disposition, temperament or personality of God/Jesus.

And, not only were we taught while growing up, we are all being taught continuously through life.

However, there is a couple of questions here that we must address. We must ask ourselves these questions, and face the honest answer if we desire the truth with proper biblical understanding. It is of vital importance for us to know as much as we can about the character of God and Jesus because the more we understand what they are like, the more our relationship opens up. We are no longer one-sided or lopsided in knowing what God/Jesus is really like. We open the box to our limited view. This opens up our relationship. Also, it is very important because we need a proper, more complete understanding to share with all the different people we run across who have many different views of God, or a limited view. With more of a complete biblical understanding we will be sharing not our view, our God/Jesus, but the true biblical God/Jesus as the best we understand it.

The first question is:

Am I willing to reevaluate my understanding of the character of God? If not, then of course, you will continue to be limited because you choose to be that way. In other words, you are content to remain in your present understanding of God’s character. However, we must ask ourselves the question….why do I not want to learn more?

If we are willing to reevaluate, then,

Am I willing to open myself up and study for myself to find out the true character of God? In the light of doing this, would I be willing to embrace any new understanding or any understanding that I might not be comfortable with? Will I agree with what I find? Would I be willing to change my view? Would I be willing to receive all the attributes of God? Am I willing to lay aside any feelings/emotions that affect my view of God? (This one is a big one for many). Why?

Because if you have been hurt or abused by anyone that had anything to do with God/Jesus, you have formed a lot of your understanding from this. As hard as it may be, this has to be laid at the feet of Jesus if you are to come to any kind of balanced view of God/Jesus. You would have to be willing to let this go and be healed in Jesus name first. It’s a closed-door without healing, and Jesus is the only way the door can be opened.

We cannot move further in our understanding of the character of God unless all these questions are answered with an affirmative YES!

The Cross Offers a Glimpse into the Heart of God

The Cross Offers a Glimpse into the Heart of God.

Our brother Peter was blessed with some good insight from brother Trevin who wrote from the Spirit.