Bobaloca and Louie

Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk with our 8 month old son, Evan and our two black labs, Maggie and Noah. Before leaving, I noticed a box outside our gate. My new tracts had arrived! I was excited to try them out, so I opened the box and put a few of them in my pocket. Then we walked down the street to a coffee shop called Bobaloca. I have been going there regularly for a while so when I walked in the owner said hello and smiled. Then her husband brought out a bowl of water for the dogs, which was very nice. As I sat outside drinking my coffee, I knew that I needed to at the very least give Gospel tracts to the owner and her husband. Before leaving, I went inside and found them sitting at a table working on their laptop. I handed them each a tract and introduced myself. Their names are Lionel and Mary. They are from France, grew up Catholic, but are not currently practicing and they do not know that much about Jesus. Unfortunatley, they did not have time to talk, but I promised them that I would tell them about Jesus another time. They seemed very happy to have received the tracts and I look forward to being able to share the Gospel with them next time.

Now to backtrack a little, as we started our walk we walked past a man doing some gardening in the front yard of a house a few doors down from us. This man was our neighbor, but I have never met him. I thought about turning around to give him a tract, but I kept on walking instead. I hoped that he would still be there on our way back and praise God, he was! I gave him a tract and introduced myself. His name is Louie. He inherited the house from his parents and currently lives there with his wife and sister. He went to Mira Costa High School, which is where I went, but long before I was there. He also served in the Vietnam War. We had a great talk about God, Jesus, eternity and whether or not he thinks he will go to Heaven. I took him through the law and the Gospel and tried to explain to him that it is not something to take lightly. He was a very nice guy and I hope to see him again.

I could not stop praising God for allowing me to witness to these people. If you have never shared your faith in Jesus Christ with someone, I highly recommend that you do. The feeling you will have afterward is indescribable. What an honor it is to serve the King of Kings!

Plese join me in praying for Lionel, Mary and Louie.

Fishing For The First Time

Last Friday was my first time going down to the Redondo Pier to do some fishing (for souls). The bait: Gospel tracts, the hope: to be able to have a meaningful conversation with someone regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was awesome! After parking my car, I met up with my friend and we walked down to the pier. We prayed and then went off in different directions. As I walked onto the pier I began to notice other Christians that were there for the same reason I was. It was really cool to know that I was not alone.

I started to hand out my tracts. Some people took them while others refused. Finally I spotted a man sitting on a bench and approached him. He did not want the tract, but we had a conversation about Jesus. He told me that he will go to Heaven because he believes in Jesus. At first I was excited to have met a Christian, but as our conversation progressed I discovered that he thought that all someone needs to do is "convert" in order to be saved. He did not believe it was neccessary to repent or be born again. When I told him that Jesus said that unless a man is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3), he said that it doesn't matter what Jesus said. He didn't seem to think that the Bible was important at all. He was relying on the fact that he was "confirmed" rather than on what Jesus did. I tried to reason with him by taking him through the law, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. In the end, he heard the Gospel, but was not willing to accept it.

Then I spoke briefly to an elderly couple who told me that they do not want to go to Heaven and that they do not believe in Hell. I asked them where they were going to go and they said somewhere in between. They did not want to talk, so I urged them to put their trust in Jesus as they walked away.

After that I started talking to a fellow brother in Christ who were down there for the same reason I was. After encouraging one another, I met a man named Danny. He was from the Philipenes, grew up Catholic, switched to Christianity, but is now an atheist. We had an amazing conversation. We talked about the Bible, other religions, and I was able to take him through God's perfect law and share the good news of the Gospel with him. Please pray for this man.

All in all, I had a great experience on the Redondo Pier last Friday. I have had some incredible divine appointments in the past couple of weeks, but this was my first time going out with tracts in hand and the intent of sharing Jesus Christ with the lost. Afterwards, I met back up with my friend and the other guys who were down there sharing their faith. I learned that for the past several Fridays, there were only 2 or 3 of them, but this particular Friday 8 people showed up!

Please pray for:
- Danny, the man on the bench, and the elderly couple
- That everyone who received a Gospel tract would read it and be saved! (Romans 1:16)

Another Divine Appointment

Last Friday I wrote about a man in need who the Lord allowed me to bless and witness to about Jesus Christ. On Wednesday, I was given another opportunity to share the Gospel with a lost person.

On my break, I parked my car down the street from where I work to read the Bible. I had just started reading when a man knocked on my window. He wanted to know how long I was going to park there because he was parked in front of me and since his car is old he needs room to let it roll backwards in order to start it. I ended up giving him a tract and I took him though the law and the Gospel. I also briefly shared my testimony with him. We had a long conversation, which was interesting because I was sitting in my car and he was standing outside the window. He was an interesting guy, probably in his 30's, big red beard and very nice. He was quite knowledgeable on religion, the Bible, science, conspiracies, etc. I kept telling him that it doesn't matter what we believe in, but whether or not what we believe in is true. He was also very skeptical on the trustworthiness of the bible so I got his email address and sent him a link to Charlie Campbell's site (www.alwaysbeready.com). Even though we disagreed on many points, he definitely heard the truth from me.

Probably one of the more interesting things he said was that more Christians need to be out there sharing the Gospel. He thinks that most Christians go to church on Sunday and that is all they do. That's a good word coming from a non-believer!

Please join me in praying for him, his name is Dave.

My Friend Witnessing @ Redondo Pier

Here are some audio clips of my friend, Jason Gallagher, witnessing at the Redondo Pier last Friday:

Brothers

Teens

A Divine Appointment

Everyday at work I take my break and go to the El Segundo Borders to read the word. Today I went there with the intention of handing out a few tracts and hopefully being able to share the Gospel with someone. I am pretty new to this type of evangelism and so far I have been able to hand out some tracts, but I have not been able to have any actual conversations.

Today I parked my car, read Philemon, prayed for God to direct my steps (and my words if He would grant me the opportunity for a conversation) and that He would be glorified. Then I got out of my car and started walking. After passing by a few people, I noticed an older man sitting down and knew right away that I was supposed to talk to him. As I approached him, he got up and started talking to me! (Talk about divine appointments!) He told me a brief story then asked me if I would be kind enough to give him some money for food (he goes to Hometown Buffett for the $7.95 deal). I gave him $10 and told him that the reason I gave it to him is because Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35). He was very appreciative and thankful. I then gave him a $1,000,000 bill Gospel tract, which he thought was really cool. I told him that it had the Gospel message on the back. He told me that he grew up as an altar boy in a Catholic church. So I asked him if he were to die today if he was 100% sure he would go to Heaven? He said no. I then asked what he thinks it takes for someone to go to Heaven and his response was "honesty". So I asked him if he has ever told a lie and his response was yes, but they were white lies. I explained that in God's sight, if you have ever told a lie He will see you as a liar, it doesn't matter what kind of lies they were. I told him that I have lied as well. Then I took him through more of God's law (10 commandments) and explained that we ALL have sinned and we ALL fall short of the glory of God. I explained that God is holy, righteous and just, therefore He must punish sin and the punishment for sin is eternity in Hell. Then I asked him if he knew what God did so that we would not have to go to Hell? I explained that 2,000 years ago God sent His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the perfect life that we could not live. He never sinned in His thoughts or His actions. He was the sinless Lamb of God. Then 33 years into His life, He voluntarily went to the cross taking upon Himself the punishment that we deserve. I told him that the Bible says that He became our sin so that we could become His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). I explained that on the third day He rose from the grave defeating death. I told him that what we must do is repent, turn from sin and towards Jesus. I told him that Jesus said to Nicodemus that unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). I also explained that there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9) that it is completely based on what Jesus did for us.

Then he asked me to pray for him. After praying for him, I asked him if he owned a Bible. He did not. So I told him I would buy him one from Borders. He at first refused saying that he can go to the Hotels and read the Bibles that they have in the rooms, but I asked him if they would give him a Bible to keep and since he knew that they would not, he took me up on my offer. I explained that the only way we can know God is to read His word. Otherwise we create a God in our own mind the way we want Him to be and that is called idolatry. I told him how amazing God's word is and that it truly is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).

While we were looking at the Bibles at Borders I asked him where he lives and he told me that he has been sleeping in LAX for the past 3 years. He also has hernia pain and his feet hurt real bad. I was confused as to his story, but something to do with a company he started and ended up getting ripped off by his partner and lawyer. He picked out a Bible and I wrote a little note in the cover for him. I asked him one last time what we have to do to go to Heaven and he said that we must read the Bible and trust in Jesus (great answer!). Then he thanked me for everything and said that he was going to take a nap in Borders.

Please pray for this man. His name is Victor. Pray first and foremost that he receives Jesus into his life and that he would no longer be unsure about his eternal salvation. Also pray that he would no longer have to sleep in LAX, that he would get a job, and that his hernia and feet pain would be healed.

Today, I was so humbled by God's amazing grace. I was able to bless a man in need, share the Gospel with him, pray for him, buy him a Bible and I didn't have to walk more than a few steps to find this awesomely divine appointment. I prayed in my car and God answered my prayer in less than a minute!

It has been very heavy on my heart lately to get out there and share my faith with the lost, but I have been afraid of what might happen. Would I say the right things? What if someone gets mad at me? Mark Cahill (www.markcahill.org) made a great point in a sermon that I listened to today. He said that we should not worry about having the perfect witnessing conversation (being an OCD perfectionist type, this was exactly what I needed to hear), but that we should just be faithful to get out there and tell people about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May this encourage you, bless you, and remind you of just how faithful our God is!