Meet Brittany, Christopher, Azmite, Hop, Dan (7-11)

Alright, I am like 2 weeks behind on keeping up with this and before I forget I need to start putting this stuff down.

I had a really good talk with Brittany (and I am sure I got some special Sun Burn Crowns in heaven)! She was sitting down by herself on a bench and I really try to talk with people that look like they are sitting by themselves on a bench. I will keep each talk short because I do not remember much, so the big thing with Brittany was that after we had talked about her sins and she realized that God would justly punish her she said, "Maybe, God won't judge me that way." I asked her if she was saying that because she did not want to go to hell or because she believed that were possible. "I guess I am trying to soothe my conscience", was her response. It was pretty cool. I got to share the Gospel of Jesus with her.

Christopher is the same Christopher from one of my first posts. I found him at the same bench in the same spot. I got a picture this time so now you know I could take, right? The first time I met him I knew his accent was not from Florida (which is what he told me.) He is from Russia! I knew something was up with that accent. So, I was talking to him and I am getting the feeling from that he is cool with whatever. I mean I talk to him about the Gospel and he seems to 'blah' about it. God save me from ever being ambivalent about your Gospel! I reminded him of my church. Still haven't seen him visit. But, my prayer will use whatever weak words I said to be seeds in his life. My hope is that God will bring someone along to water it.

Ok. This next person was a great person to talk to, but in the spiritual realm it was a terrible talk.Her name was Azmite (not sure how to spell it). She was very nice and had a lot of opinions. Opinions are good. I like to hear about what people think. However, when all of your opinions are anti-biblical you have got some problems. I knew from the beginning it would not be the smoothest talks in the world, but I have had a couple of pretty nice weeks and a talk like this was past due. The jist of the talk was her preparing herself to listen to me "sell" her Jesus. You would not believe how much I hate the idea of "selling" Jesus to anyone. Jesus is a person, not a thing. I share His story, I don't sell Him. Honestly, there was not an offensive word spoken between the two of us (except the selling Jesus comment, but I know she did not mean to offend me) but the talk was terrible because there was no soberness from her. There was no evidence that she would ever think about her sins, ever think about God's judgment, ever think about the price my Lord Jesus paid so that she could be set free from her sins. Its kinda funny that this talk bugged me so much. To be honest, I would rather be threaten by someone after witnessing to them than have someone walk away from the Gospel with their noses up or without a care in the world.

After talking with Azmite, I picked myself up off the ground and slumped over to the Student Union to try and witness to some more people. On the way there I was walking by this guy and decided to walk and witness. His name was Hop. He said he was down for talking and so I had to jump right into it. When I an walking and witnessing I feel the need to rush things because I don't know where the person is headed or how long I have to talk with them. The jist of the talk with Hop went like this:

R: So, what do you think God will do with you if you have broken his laws?
H: He is gonna let me into heaven.
R: What? Why would he reward a criminal?
H: I go to church.
R: All you have to do is go to church to get to heaven?
H: Yeah.
R: Are you sure?
H: ...yeah.
R: Are you sure?
H: ...yeah.

Then I let him walk away. I thanked him for letting me talk to him and just stopped in my tracks. Hopefully, the talk shook him a little and wobbled his position on the whole 'bribe God' thing. If you think that reading your bible, going to church, sharing, being a nice person, praying, singing, giving tithes, or any other thing you think pleases God is going to get you into heaven then you should give up right now. George Whitefield said, “Works? Works? A man get to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!”

Dan. Dan, Dan, Dan. Dan, was the shining light at the end of the tunnel for my day. After talking with Azmite and Hop I needed Dan. I asked Dan what the Gospel was and he actually told me. It took a little coaxing but he said it. He knew it! Dan, was a young christian, I think a year old. It was so refreshing to talk to him. I asked him if he deserved heaven and he laughed! I asked him if he has been reading his bible and he had been. Dan is so rare on a college campus! It was just good. Not much else to say.

Go! Go out there and bring the Gospel to someone. Anyone.

Witnessing Witnessing

Alright, its been a while and I have to put this down before Tell it To'em tomorrow comes and I get way too far behind.

So, this last Tuesday was a "No Go" with the evangelism because I had a big group meeting for class. We spent way too long on this Electronic Business Game, but it turned out we tied for first place in the first round so we are looking pretty good for now.

But after the meeting as I was walking to the shuttle bus I saw this guy who looked familiar. I had seen him passing out Gospel Tracts before. My ChristianDar was going crazy and I had to check him out. He was with another guy I had never seen before and they were going around witnessing to people. When I found them again the new guy was sitting with a guy at a table and John, the guy I recognized, was sitting behind him at another table. He was watching them intently, and probably praying the entire time.

I am listening to this guy share the Gospel with this other guy. Then I notice that Keith, the new guy with John, is really laying out the Gospel. He was hitting it all. I mean from prophecy, to the disciples, to lambs, to resurrection, to aliens (I added that one for exaggeration purposes. This sentence was begging for some exaggerating.) Kudos to him, he was slamming scripture on this kid like crazy.

Afterwards the kid was all, "That was a lot. You are too condemning. God is love." This is a summary of what he was saying. At this point I started praying that Keith would bring up Galatians 3:24. After I get down praying a minute or so goes by and John gets up and sits at their table. Then he says, "Excuse me. Let me interrupt for a just a second and share Galatians 3:24. It says that the law was given as a tutor to lead us to Christ."

It was awesome. After they were done talking to that guy we find out that he is the president of an on campus Christian Club or Group or something. When they were done, John had noticed that I was watching and listening in the whole time and if you have been witnessing for a while you know that if you see somebody showing any kind of interest when you are witnessing to someone else then they are the next person you are talking to.

They locked on to me the moment they left his table and were on me like dogs on Jezebel (that is probably one of the lamest things I have ever said...if you didn't get that you better read your bible. 1 Kings 21:23). So they came over and we had a great time in fellowship. We shared testimonies. I asked for tips on witnessing and we exchanged numbers and email. John goes to Grace Community Church.

Man, if you haven't tasted Christian Fellowship you need to get yourself some. Hmm, hmm, good. When is the last time you had genuine fellowship with a brother or sister?

Meet Brian (6)

If you look at the picture with Keith, you can see Brian in the background. While I was talking to Keith I could see Brian was listening in. We also caught eyes several times and man, was that ever uncomfortable. If I had the choice of witnessing to strangers or locking eyes accidentally with a stranger for a split second...Man, that would be a toughy.

I used the fact that he was listening in and we uncomfortably caught eyes to start our conversation. He agreed that he was uncomfortable during those eternal split seconds as well.

Brian was from New York but I didn't hear any accent (too bad, because that would have been sweet). He had grown up going to catholic school. I knew he had heard about God's Laws and so I told him that I was going to run him through some scenarios that are very familiar to his catholic upbringing but the end will be much different from what he had learned in the catholic church.
He had 15 minutes till class and I asked him for 10 of them.

Maybe I can explain what I am talking about when I say 'I run people through the Law'. When I say Law I don't mean every single one of God's Laws. There are laws in the old testament that we do not follow anymore because we are in the new testament. Out with the old and in the with new, so to speak. But it is not a total trashing of everything in the old. The new testament speaks of the end of the law (Col 2:16, Rom 10:4, Gal 3:23-25, Eph 2:15). But there were some laws that Jesus carried through to the New Testament. He brings forth the Ten Commandments, the moral law of God leaving behind the civil and ceremonial laws that were specifically written for the Jews. All of that to say, Jesus brought the Ten Commandments before sinners and therefore I want to to. So, I use the Law to show people their need for Jesus (Ga; 3:24, 1 Tim 1:8-11).

If we are honest everyone will admit to breaking the Laws of God.

1)Have you always put God first in your life?

If you break any of the following laws then you have broke this law.

2)Have you ever treasured anything more than you do God?

This is the negative side of the commandment #1.

3)Have you ever used God's name without giving it the respect it deserves?

For example, OMG!

4)Have you always set apart one day in seven for God?

5)Have you always honored your parents?

6)Have you ever hated (strongly disliked) someone?

God calls that murder. (Mat 5:21-22, 1 John 3:15)

7)Have you ever looked at someone and had X-rated thoughts?

God calls that adultery. (Mat 5:27-28)

8)Have you ever taken anything that did not belong to you?

For example, music off the net or candy from a store.

9)Have you ever told a lie?

10)have you ever been obsessed with something?

I normally just go over #'s 9, 8, 3, and 7.

Brian understood he would be guilty but didn't get that Hell made sense. I explained to him why Hell is reasonable and it made sense to him.

By now, my time was almost up. I think a good question to ask people when I am done going through the Law and sharing the Gospel is to ask them, "Why would you not respond to this message today and submit your life to God?"

He said he still had other questions. In a way, I can feel for him. I had questions too, but when I seriously started questioning God (beforehand I didn't care about God, but when I thought about if it were true then I seriously started questioning) I also seriously started searching for answers. Not just to prove God and the bible, but also to disprove. I wanted the Truth, no matter where it led me. Funny thing was it lead me to Christ (John 14:6).

I recommended he read 'The Case for Christ'. It was a fast, interesting read and answered all the biggest questions in a way that wasn't some fringy psycho kinda way.

I also gave him an invitation to my church and I hope to see him this weekend. That would be awesome. It was a great talk.

Meet Keith (5)

If I remember correctly his name was Willard Keith Charles, but he introduced himself as Keith. After being rejected twice I thought if I could sit with him I would spend the rest of my break period with him if I could. I think I had about an hour.

So, I was upfront about everything. I used to kinda try and swing the spiritual stuff on people out of the blue, but I think it is a more comfortable conversation and easier on my conscience if I come out upfront and explain what I am doing. I told him I am putting together a blog of encounters with people I meet and talk to about spiritual things.

He was down with it. By the way, I am still using my "Are you afraid of talking with strangers?" It is so good for me. I wanted to get to know him because I figured I had an hour so he told me about his life. Turns out he has 2 kids and an ex-wife. The relationship with them is rocky but it would seem his kids are beginning to want to get closer to him. I think his daughter is around 21 years old with 3 kids and his son is 19. Keith is going back to school to get his bachelors.

After the talk I told him I would be praying for his family and for his school work.

Talking to him was a little different than your normal person. He said that he read the bible and I think he even quoted scripture (from Peter I believe. He said it had something to do with wife's submit to your husbands.)

But when I asked, "If you stood before God, Keith, and he asked you,'Why should I let you into My heaven?' what would you tell Him?''

He said, "I am a good person. I have lived a good life." Now, when some one says that to me flares start flying and warnings signs blow up and tomatoes melt and some body sings the bohemian rhapsody in my head. I'm saying that is a big no-no.

Why is that a big no-no, Rik? What is the big deal?

I am so glad you asked. The big idea is that whenever some one attests to their own goodness they are saying, "I don't need God's forgiveness" or "I am such a good person I deserve His forgiveness". These are dangerous statements because it is a spit in the face of a God of grace. It is an offense to Jesus. He said, "No is good except God alone." (Mark 10:18) If you have lived a life good enough to get into heaven that means that Jesus died for no reason. You did not need Him. Trust me, when you meet Him in heaven and look at His hands and at His side you are not going to be saying, "Hey, that was a real nice thing You did down there, but...heh...I found my own way." That just aint gonna fly.


"...there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9)

So, after he said that I had to try and dig deeper. Towards the end of the conversation he began to talk about Jesus and how He paid the price for us. After hearing that it was like a load off of my shoulders. I can not judge whether he is a Christian or not because I just met him, but he knew about Jesus and he talked as if he were a Christian. I figured I would play it safe and share the Gospel with him to make sure he agreed with it. He did and then he had to go. It was a good talk and I thank God that He set it up.

*Closing question*

If I said to YOU why should God let you into heaven, what would you say?

Tell It To'em Tuesday!

So, this Tuesday was a stinker, at least in terms of the weather. If you share your faith then you know what I am about to talking about here. Almost every time I go out to share my faith I start to get a little sick. Not I got to find a bathroom sick or I got to go to the hospital sick, but more of a I don't want to move very fast because there is something in my stomach that is turning me into a big chicken baby (that's right a chicken baby, as scared a your run of the mill chicken but as cute as a baby, but the baby has butterflies in his stomach. On second thought, I guess the feelings are just butterflies in my stomach. Scratch the chicken baby thing. It was lame anyway.)

.

I always get nervous and don't want to talk to anybody because lets face it Talking to Strangers about Jesus/Heaven/Hell/Judgment is very uncomfortable. But in America that is pretty much it for now. We are uncomfortable. There are places in the world right now where if you are caught reading a bible you will be beaten, thrown into a labor camp, and tortured. In terms of Devoted Christians it would seem that America holds candle where as places like China are set on fire.

But, anyways, this Tuesday it was drizzling so me and Trabo were ready to give up and just read our bibles (not that reading your bible is bad or not as 'holy' or 'pleasing to God' than evangelism, but there is a time for everything [Ecl 3:1] and Tuesdays are our time for spreading the Gospel of Christ). I knew that I had to discipline myself and not give up so easily because it is drizzling.

So we prayed and then headed to the new Student Union. The Green was kind of empty because of the raining and the wet grass.

This is what the Green looks like. On a good day people will be laying out all over the place, but because of the new Student Union that may become the new hang out, which would be sad because the Green is a public speaking area which means if I feel bold enough I can use it to open air preach. I am not sure if it is the same with the Student Union.

But the Student Union did have plenty of people there sitting around. So Trabo got to talk to a guy sitting next to a trashcan. I tried to talk to two ladies but the first lady named Sandy said she wasn't in the mood to talk about spiritual things. So after getting out of the fetal position in a dark corner and taking my thumb out of mouth from the rejection I picked myself up and went to the next person. I can't remember her name because we talked for a minute maybe. She was sitting on a chair near the fountain in the above picture and I asked her if I could talk to her about spiritual things. She said, "I believe in God and Heaven and Hell and if you commit suicide you go to Hell. That's good enough, right? I'm sorry I am waiting for this call." That was the end of that conversation.

Let me say, if I had never heard about Christianity and that was all I heard about it, I probably would have laughed in her face as I walked by her. If you had one sentence to share with the world what you believed about God would it sound like that? Would it even make sense? Would God agree with it? Honestly, I think her response upsets God.

Go ahead and leave a comment, give me your best shot. You have one sentence to explain to me what it is you believe in.

(Trabo witnessing next to the trash can. Trabo on the left in gray. It was a good thing he didn't wear his leisure suit.)

So, I headed back to the Student Union and ran into Keith and Brian.