Friday, June 10 (2016)

This Friday started with some good fellowship over pizza and cold water. As we ate food we discussed some of the social ills of the world and our response as Christians to these social ills before transitioning  into reading from Psalm 32 as our text for the evening. While Psalm 32 is not a passage on sharing your faith it is a passage about the beauty of a life redeemed and forgiven in spite of depraved decision making. We are blessed when our transgressions are forgiven, so what better way to bless others than to share with them how they have be forgiven too! After praying we headed out for the night.

The first conversation of the night happened on the way into the mall. Two young guys Adam and Isaiah were sitting on a small wall talking near the entrance to the mall. I handed them million dollar bills and the conversation got started. We talked about their personal beliefs (they both believed in God, but weren’t sure about much else) and whether they thought themselves to be good people or not (they believed they were good). I asked “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions to see if that’s true?” to which they both agreed. They both admitted to lying, stealing, blasphemy, and dishonoring their parents. It was at this point in the conversation that Isaiah had to leave the conversation but Adam stayed behind to talk further. I encouraged Isaiah to read the million dollar bill and check out the website on the million dollar bill. The conversation steered toward the gospel at this point. Adam heard the good news that he could be forgiven of his guilt through faith in Jesus Christ. He was reminded by Stan that he can’t be good enough to get into heaven and that once he’s dead it’s too late to go back and make new decisions. Pray for both to repent and believe the Gospel!

Stan then struck up a conversation with two women named Julianna and Rita. It seemed obvious from the beginning of the conversation that they were both believers. They had a few curious answers when Stan asked them questions, but when it came to the big questions they seemed to have a firm grasp on how to get to heaven and why they can go there even though they are sinners (cliff notes version – through Jesus!). Pray for them as they continue in their faith. Hopefully they will be emboldened in their faith and dig deeper into God’s word!

As we scoured the patio where we enjoy talking with people I approached two college aged guys. As I handed them the million dollar bills they immediately asked skeptically “what is this about?” After telling them that it had a gospel message on it and that I was out talking to people about their worldviews they proudly proclaimed “we are atheists” and “we know why we’re atheists and nothing is going to change that so we’d prefer to not talk with you.” I politely walked away, but even though we weren’t able to talk I took solace knowing that they had million dollar bills in their possession. Even though it may not seem like much I’ve heard encouraging testimonies LIKE THIS ONE that demonstrate the power of the Gospel, even if it is read on the printed page rather than being heard orally. Pray for these atheists to leave foolishness behind and turn to God.

We were about to walk inside due to some loud, unruly teenagers before I turned at the last moment toward a table of four high school aged teenagers. One of the four, a young man named Andrew told me “I talked to you before!” and told the others that they should listen to what I have to say. I told him “I don’t know if I can live up to the hype!” before taking them through the 10 commandments and sharing the amazing Gospel with them. They listened intently and were polite as we shared with them that through repentance and faith in the Gospel they could be made right with God. Stan added that “it would be a shame if you missed out on eternal life because you put it off one day too long.” They thanked us for the conversation and we parted ways. By the time I went to write down the names of the four of them I had forgotten one of the names (good thing God knows her name!). Please keep Andrew, Julian, Crystal, and the nameless girl in your prayers! They seemed to genuinely take to heart what we talked about. We want to see them in heaven!

As we walked inside the mall we handed out gospel tracts and eventually ran into a guy named Jose. Stan tried to start a conversation with him but it became clear very quickly that his English wasn’t very good. I quickly opened my GM28 app on my iPhone which presents the gospel in a live presentation in 10 different languages (Spanish being one of them). Jose sat there with a squirmy daughter and read the entire presentation. I was praying for him the whole time as I held the phone out for him to read. Stan noted, correctly I might add, that it was a long time that he spent reading the gospel on my phone. So while it might not have been a concise Gospel presentation he did hear the whole Gospel! Part of my prayer was that he would read it and not be distracted. That prayer was definitely answered! Pray for Jose to come to faith in Christ!

All in all, it was a great night of sharing the Gospel! Thanks for reading

~The PIE Team

Friday, June 3 (2016)

As we kicked off the month of June our theme verse for the night was Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Believing that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes whether it be a Jewish person or a gentile person is important. It means that the power lies with God. Not with our efforts or good works. The Gospel is enough to save. We ate, prayed, and left for our local fishing pond of late the Tyler Mall.

The first conversation of the night was with Santos and Brian. Brian was convinced that he could work his way to heaven. They both came from a catholic background, but for Santos it was more of a family thing than a faith thing. Brian was certain that he was headed for heaven though because of his laundry list of good deeds. As we went through the 10 commandments (which showed them both that they have rebelled against the living God) and the Gospel Santos became more quiet and Brian became more assertive. Unfortunately, Brian clung to his belief that he could pay for his sins in purgatory – take his own punishment. He then said “I just want to love God.” So I took that as a good opportunity to tell him that the primary way he could show God that he loves Him is to repent and believe that Jesus Christ is his only way to heaven. To place his faith in the provision that God the Father provided for humanity. Brian became a bit quiet as Stan and I told him that he couldn’t be good enough to get to heaven on his own and that Jesus was the only way. Pray for both of them to become born again!

Stan then started a conversation with a table on the patio with two young people named Helena and Kyle. Initially Kyle informed us that he was an atheist before quickly backtracking and saying that he’s not sure if there is a God or not (“sometimes I think there is, sometimes I don’t think there is”). In fact, both Kyle and Helena are/were agnostic. They are both skeptical of the claims the Bible makes. The foundation of their lack of belief proved a bit flimsy though as Stan asked them challenging questions like “Why is that a valid authority?” They went through the law and then the Gospel. As the conversation was drawing to a close Kyle asked us which church we attend, so we told him about GCC. He then told us that he knows the Uroza family (David in particular). Though we shared a smile about him knowing a family in our church, we hope that ultimately he knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior one day. Pray for both Kyle and Helena!

Inside the mall I struck up a conversation with a young father named Ricky. We shared a few smiles as we talked about our little ones. I then swung the conversation to the spiritual world. Sensing that I may not have a great deal of time I intertwined my testimony with the Good Person Test that we give people. Having rushed through the Gospel, I swung back around to talk a bit more about it, since we had more time than I originally thought. As we were in the middle of talking his wife/girlfriend (the mother of his child) came out and wanted to leave. So my initial thought of going quickly was correct. I just didn’t have to go quite as quickly as I did. Nevertheless, Ricky heard the gospel and I encouraged him to read the million dollar bill again when he got home. Pray for Ricky and his young family!

Our last conversation of the night was with another agnostic guy named Marcus. My back was hurting so I took a seat across from him after starting the conversation. Stan took over and gave Marcus his worldview survey which made Marcus trip a bit over his own words/beliefs. It seemed by the end of the conversation like Marcus understood the Christian view of salvation. We shared what Bible says and asked him “What next?” as he talked about his next steps in life. Ultimately the “What next?” ends with death. Hopefully Marcus will have eternal life rather than the alternative. Pray for him to come to faith in Christ!

Thanks for reading about our adventures in witnessing this week!

-The PIE Team

 

 

Friday, May 27 (2016)

This Friday night got off to a good start. After eating pizza, praying for those the Lord would lead us to speak with, and reading from the Bible we headed over to our local fishing pond – the Tyler mall. Immediately I began a conversation with four people – Juan, Jocelyn, Ana, and Diana. Stan was standing a few feet away talking with a different table. As I began talking with these four people they shared that their religious background was Catholicism. None of the four really took it seriously though. They said that it was more of a family thing than a hardcore faith thing. As we went through several of the 10 commandments they admitted to lying, stealing, blaspheming, and coveting. When I asked them if they would be guilty or innocent if God judged them by that standard they replied “guilty.” I then asked “heaven or hell?” They all said heaven. I asked them why God would let a guilty person into heaven. They didn’t know why. Or at least they were hoping that God would let them slide into heaven and overlook their sins. I shared with them that a good judge can’t overlook crime. God dealt with the issue of our guilt by sending Jesus to take our place of punishment on the cross. We broke the law but Jesus paid our fine when He died on the cross for our sins. They were nodding frequently and seemed to understand that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was their only way of being forgiven by God and having their sin problem dealt with. I closed by telling them that they couldn’t be good enough to get into heaven and shared John 14:6 with them. Pray for them!

Meanwhile, here is Stan’s account of his conversations while I was having my conversation.

SOMETIMES THE PERSON NEEDING THE GOSPEL MAY NOT BE THE ONE YOU ARE TALKING TO

Usually Chad and I will tag team our conversations during the evening. We seem to be able to complement each other’s presentations so that the sum is better than the individual components.  However on this evening we got separated at the outset as Chad engaged a table of people just as I started up a conversation at the next table, thinking Chad was right behind me.

While Chad was having his conversation I had two shorter ones and both of the encounters I engaged in had an oddity, common between the two, but different from the norm.  When beginning a conversation with two or more people, we usually receive a collective yes or no, most in the group either nodding their approval or shaking their heads.  The two conversations I had, started with at least one person saying yes and another saying absolutely not, they weren’t interested.   In both cases I responded to the ‘yes’ and presented the dilemma of mankind’s inability to be good enough to overcome our sins.

While my focus was on documenting answers to the survey (Do you believe in God?  Why?  Do you consider yourself to be a good person?  Why?  Here are God’s standards, the Ten Commandments, don’t we all fall short?  And, “How can we ever get into heaven with our sins?  And then presenting the forgiveness of Christ as the only option we have to be saved from what we deserve) with the one person of the group willing to participate, it was very interesting to note that even though the others tried their best to ignore the conversation, I found them nodding at some places, recognizing their own predicament at others, all the while not wanting to hear, and yet smiling and or silently carrying a quizzical expression while the gospel was presented and in the end some seemed  to be as convicted as the their friends who had said yes to hearing the questions.

It was a stark reminder to me that sometimes we don’t even recognize who God’s intended target is.  Sometimes it could be someone within earshot that the presenter wasn’t even aware was there or listening.

Once we were sharing the gospel with three college-age students, just finishing up, when a man who seem to come from nowhere (meaning I didn’t see him in the area before he began to speak) and started encouraging the students to listen and believe what we were telling them because, he said, he had been listening in and told the students, “This is the truth that they are sharing with you.  You should listen!”

Nice moment.

I was at the Loma Linda V.A. hospital last week for routine check ups and had time to kill between appointments.  I am usually uncomfortable sharing the gospel in the hospital because people are in a hurry or just about to be called in, etc., but I do try to find opportunities were I can.  I was seated in a booth in the cafeteria looking around for opportunities but it was just too crowded and noisy and seemed like everyone was already talking to someone so I just put my head down and ate and was kind of grateful there wasn’t going to be any rejection or uncomfortable conversation today.

Then a man appeared at the table and said, “Excuse me, this place is really crowded.  Do you mind if I sit here with you?”

Shooting a glance upward at God and thinking to myself, “Really?”

I said, “Sure, have a seat!”

After we talked about what maladies brought him to the hospital I asked, “So what about the big picture?  I mean no matter how many times they fix us we are going to die eventually anyway, so do you know where you’ll be going in the next life?  Do you know if you going to heaven or hell?  In the end it’s the only question that counts.”

We talked for a good 20 minutes and he left seemingly uncommitted but with a lot to think about.

After he was gone, a lady in the next booth over who had her back to us the whole time, turned around and surprised me by saying, “That was a very good presentation of the gospel, and, in her opinion, that was just what that man needed to hear.”

The point being not that I shared the gospel with someone (whom God had to send to me because I was feeling uncomfortable) but that it was being overheard.

Again, sometimes the person needing the gospel may not be the one you are talking to.

We then struck up a conversation 3 guys named Ernesto, Brian, and Oscar. They agreed to answer a few questions about their worldviews. What made this conversation special was that a minute earlier we had a man named Robert stop and talk with us. He was excited to receive a gospel tract from us. He told us that he was a Christian and had been looking for a way to share the gospel in San Diego where he lived. We shared with him for a moment and gave him contact information. As he walked away he told 3 guys (Ernesto, Brian, and Oscar) to talk with us and hear what we had to say. The conversation went very well and I’m thankful that Robert stopped and talked with us. He played a part in these young men hearing the gospel! Pray for Ernesto, Brian, and Oscar!

Our last conversation was in the parking lot on the way out. Stan stopped two guys, Nick and Mike, and asked them if they knew whether or not they were headed for heaven or hell. They both stopped, clearly struck by the simple question. A great conversation ensued in which we were able to share the Gospel. They both clearly heard that they couldn’t work their way to heaven or expect God to be okay with all of their sins. They needed Christ! Praise the Lord that Stan took that initiative to strike up that conversation!

Thanks for reading!

~The PIE Team