Saturday, November 19, 2011
Portland....We have You Surrounded!
The past week we went down town ...it was raining at times but people were out shopping! And we were out preaching the gospel. I had an unusual thing happen. While I was preaching a crowd gathered! They slowing made their way over to the box and waited for me to acknowledge them... "WE want to pray for you!" I was just in the middle of the final appeal of the gospel...."Let me finish this verse...." I discovered these dear people came 149 miles to Portland from the East Side Church in Prineville, Oregon, to pray for people and generally to minister to people. They were encouraged by the preaching and that we were here holding forth the light of the Word. I was blessed to see Brothers and Sisters who saw the need to bring their young people to the 'big' city to serve the Lord in some way. Youth Groups need to be led into the gospel ministry at some level! To many churches today are in the youth entertainment business. Young people need to be challenged to do great things for the Lord. Portland is surrounded by gospel preaching churches who for whatever reason do not come to Portland to evangelize. Pray the Lord of Harvest that He will send laborers into His harvest.
This precious little flock stepped out in obedience to the Lord. They were not sure exactly what they were going to encounter but they acted on the call to go and minister the Gospel! Thank you dear folks from Prineville for your prayers and encouragement!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Professing Themselves to be Wise....
We went down to Portland
State University
to stand with Brother Shawn Hole and his team as they preached and witnessed
one on one. I gave out the 180 tracts, written by Ray Comfort which uses the
historical context of Hitler’s Germany
and the American holocaust to bring home the truth of our national sin of
abortion with a personal application to repent of sin.
As usual, there was a good deal of reaction to the signs and
preaching ministry. Some laughed and mocked, saying profane things. Others walked
by with a looks of utter distain for this ‘foolishness’ and then there were
those who were in a rage that we would dare come onto ‘their’ campus and yell
at them! It is funny how preaching anything biblical always seems like yelling
to those being preached at! Granted, some open air preachers can come across
pretty strident in their tone, but I did not see or hear anything like that
from those preaching.
I positioned my self about 25 feet from the crowd to hand
out literature… After some time an intelligent looking couple approached me, “Are
you with these people?” “Yes, I’m a
friend with the leader of this group and I came out to be a part of the team.” “How can you as a Christian condone this
judgmental condemnation of everyone to hell? Do you really think that Jesus
would hold those signs and yell at people like that?” (watch the YouTube to see
the signs). I replied, “Jesus has commanded his followers to go into all the
world and preach the gospel….I believe that would include speaking as well with
written means….” I then pointed out that God instructed Jeremiah, “….have you
read about Jeremiah?”…..She cut in, “We know the scriptures…we were raised in
church and have read the bible…” It became apparent to me that these two definitely
were out to pin my ears back. They were like two dachshunds working together to
take down a coon, “You are being judgmental aren’t you? Did not Jesus say to
remove the ‘beam’ from your own eye before you worry about the splinter in some
else’s eye?” At this point I gave more rope, “Ok so what is the beam in my eye?”
They blurted out, “Do you eat meat?” I told them that I did and that the Lord
was OK with that (Genesis 9). To which they pointed out that I was wearing a
leather coat! “An animal had to die for you to wear that coat!” “Well…” I said,
“They have die sometime…why let a good coat go to waste?” Needless to say they did
not appreciate my stab at some dry humor and were quite disgusted with my red
necked attitude toward husbandry! I then turned the subject to abortion and the
killing of children in the womb, “…Are you OK with killing children in the
womb?” The young woman rejoined, “They are not children….it is a fetus!” the
young man chimed in, “Yes we are pro choice!” I replied, “OK, I see you are fine
with killing a human baby in the womb, but object to the biblical view of
animal husbandry?”
This should make your blood run cold. These are the people
who are and will be the elite, educated ruling class of our society! This is exactly the belief and attitude of Germany leading
up to the holocaust. Germany
has killed their millions and America
has killed her tens of millions! God help us!
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into and image made like unto
corruptible man and beasts!” (Romans 1:22-23) When it became apparent to them
that they could not tree the ‘coon’, we agreed to disagree…
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Sowing the Seed....The Laborers are Few
We were handing the 180 tract that deals with two nations, Germany and the holocaust and then America and her holocaust. Germany killed her millions and America has killed her tens of millions! There is a personal application to repent and believe in Christ for salvation. We had Brother Andrea come out to hand out tracts. He is a friend of Pavel and attends a Ukrainian church in Vancouver Washington. You see in the picture below folks receiving gospel tracts as they go on their way through the market.
This next week Brother Sean Hole is coming through Portland to preach the gospel. Pray for a good day as to the weather and plan to come out to pass out gospel tracts with us or just come out and watch and pray. The harvest is great but the laborers are few! We will be at the Skidmore Fountain at 10:30am, Portland, Oregon. You can park at Loyd's Center Mall and then ride free of charge on the Max Train to the Fountain...BE SURE TO RIDE A RED OR BLUE LINE TRAIN! The Green Line train by passes the fountain.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
In Due Season you Shall Reap if you Faint Not!
It has been a few weeks since I was able to go out to preach and hand out tracts in portland. I had a bad ear condition that completely blocked my hearing in my left ear. I thought is might be an infection but it turned out to be blocked by wax...Thanks to the Doc it is all better...I'm am back to normal and I am not saying ....what? to my family as much!
I give thanks be to the Lord for the faithful brothers that went out to sow the gospel seed in my absence. Brother Pavel is a very faithful soul-winner and preacher of the gospel and I am honored to serve with him and others who come out! Pavel shared with me that last week a man approached him and asked to share his testimony. He revealed to Pavel that he had heard the gospel in this very spot at the Skidmore Fountain, some 29 years ago, from a faithful servant of the Lord and had come to faith in Christ as a result! We cast the bread of the gospel on the waters, not knowing what the Lord is going to do in the hearts of men, women, boys and girls. We must be faithful to obey the call to the field of service he has for us. God bless everyone and thank-you for praying for the ministry of the gospel in Portland!
I give thanks be to the Lord for the faithful brothers that went out to sow the gospel seed in my absence. Brother Pavel is a very faithful soul-winner and preacher of the gospel and I am honored to serve with him and others who come out! Pavel shared with me that last week a man approached him and asked to share his testimony. He revealed to Pavel that he had heard the gospel in this very spot at the Skidmore Fountain, some 29 years ago, from a faithful servant of the Lord and had come to faith in Christ as a result! We cast the bread of the gospel on the waters, not knowing what the Lord is going to do in the hearts of men, women, boys and girls. We must be faithful to obey the call to the field of service he has for us. God bless everyone and thank-you for praying for the ministry of the gospel in Portland!
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