LawGrace

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.4

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The sun began to go down. The heat began to subside. I was tired and ready to go home. Then brother Robert said, “hey Allen, you want to do another open air?” He asked if I brought my portable PA system. I said, “yes,” and “yes.”




I also brought my mannequin. We set up right at the mouth of Pismo pier, underneath a light. I laid the inflatable body down and draped the dark blue sheet over it. Robert and I just stared at it for a minute and people began to stop and see what happened.




This was only the second time we have used the dead body approach but it is effective. Robert opened up and spoke about death. This relates to us all – no matter who you are or where you come from. When we hear of someone dying, or if we speak of death, people think of their own mortality.




Robert preached for twenty minutes and I preached for awhile to. I was a bit bummed because my MP3 recorder ended up being to close to the speaker of the PA – much of the recording was too distorted to use. So this podcast is clips of the less distorted portions of the open air. Midway through the recording quality improves quite a bit.




Though the recording quality could have been better, the number of people who came to hear the Gospel preached was far more than what I expected. There was even a couple walking by that stopped and set their lawn-chairs up to sit and listen.




Many people stayed to listen, many people passed by. I read a something that Spurgeon wrote that I often think about when people just walk on past. He said, “In the street, a man must keep himself alive, and use many illustrations and anecdotes, and sprinkle a quaint remark here and there. To dwell long on a point will never do. Reasoning must be brief, clear, and soon done with. The discourse must not be labored or involved, neither must the second head depend upon the first, for the audience is a changing one, and each point must be complete in itself. The chain of thought must be taken to pieces’ and each link melted down and turned into bullets: you will need not so much Saladin’s saber to cut through a muslin handkerchief as Coeur de Lion’s battle-axe to break a bar of iron. Come to the point at once, and come there with all your might."




He is right! Dwelling long on a point will never do and one part of what a street preacher says shouldn’t depend upon the other. Why? Because the audience is always changing. Each point must be complete in its self. Again, this is so true. I need to learn to do this. A thirty second discourse on God, righteousness, sin, man, judgment, hell, Jesus Christ, life, death, resurrection, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, repentance and faith. It can be done. I’ve heard people do it before. These are the “bullets” that we need to be shooting. Hit the target, and they will take these truths with them.




Spurgeon also said that, "It will be very desirable to speak so as to be heard, but there is no use in incessant bawling. The best street preaching is not that which is done at the top of your voice, for it must be impossible to lay the proper emphasis upon telling passages when all along you are shouting with all your might. When there are no hearers near you, and yet people stand upon the other side of the road and listen, would it not be well to cross over and so save a little of the strength which is now wasted?”




He goes on to say, “A quiet, penetrating, conversational style would seem to be the most telling. Men do not bawl and holler when they are pleading in deepest earnestness; they have generally at such times less wind and a little more rain: less rant and a few more tears. On, on, on with one monotonous shout and you will weary everybody and wear out yourself. Be wise now, therefore, O ye who would succeed in declaring your Master’s message among the multitude, and use your voices as common sense would dictate."





I’m learning that no one wants to hear a bunch of yelling. It sure wears you out quick I can tell you that. There is a fine line between lifting “up your voice like a trumpet” (Isa. 58. 1), and just plain yelling.





I wish we could always use the portable PA system so we wouldn’t have to shout to be heard. It was quite relaxing to just speak easy into the mic and let the PA do the heavy lifting. I could definitely get used to using it all the time. However, Jesus, Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, and many other open-air preachers came long before me and they didn’t have PA systems. How did they do it without yelling?





This night was a pure joy and I thank God for you brother Robert. Christian, please pray for those who heard the Gospel.

Posted by Ambassador at 6:31 PM |  MAKE A COMMENT    

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.3

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Wow! John (the heckler), mentioned in the previous podcast, even heckled me as I stood up to preach a bit. He cussed at me a few times, telling me to “shut up.” I thanked him for his service in Vietnam, which gave us the freedom to preach open air. This bothered him. I was being sincere but he didn’t care. He wanted me to “shut up.”






I tried giving away some money for trivia questions. I took one young lady through the “good person” test. She didn’t want to give me her name but she and everyone there heard Law and Grace again.






As I was finishing up with this young lady, a young guy named Lee began spouting off – somewhat loudly I might add. This guy started out kind of funny, which everyone seemed to enjoy. He drew in a good-sized crowd.






Lee was so bold that he stood up on the memorial near the flag right next to me. The memorial stone is maybe three and a half feet tall with a commemorative placard on it. Lee is a pretty tall guy anyway but you can see he is towering over me in the picture.






We had an exchange about whether he had lied before. But he shushed me and began spouting off saying, “Jesus was a man that lived at one point…he questioned authority.” Then he said something like; “…you guys got it all wrong…we don’t know if there was any Jesus because we didn’t live that long ago…”






Since he was doing a pretty good job of bringing in an audience, I just waited to see what he had to say. That was until he began to speak of Jesus in a very offensive, irreverent manner. I couldn’t hold it back.






I pointed out the 3rd Commandment – “you shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. I also challenged his blasphemous idea of who Jesus Christ was and preached a bit about how his concept of Jesus is idolatry.






I’m going to be honest with you. I’m not comfortable trying to deal with a heckler. But they do get people’s attention so you can preach the Gospel to them. I’m learning on the fly how walk the fine line between being firm with the heckler and loving on them at the same time. I know that it may sound like I don’t care for Lee, oh but I do. My heart breaks when I hear how hard they seem to be towards God. Or in Lee’s case how strange his idea of who Jesus really was and is. Please pray for Lee and John both.






As I challenged Lee the second time in regard to his idolatry, he began yelling, “crucify me, crucify me.” Wow…that got people listening! The cool part is, after he yelled “crucify my” a couple of times, he got quiet and got down. He stayed up there long enough to get a good group of people listening.






I only uploaded a 5-minute portion of this open air – just the part where Lee and I went back and forth. I get very little feedback from you. But I’m going to ask again. Please tell me what you think.






I did try to talk to Lee when we finished. It was at that point that I realized he was a bit tipsy. He didn’t seem to be in a state of mind where we could have carried on a meaningful conversation. Please pray for this young man. Pray that one of us would have another divine encounter with Lee when he’s sober.

Posted by Ambassador at 12:13 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT    

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.2

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It was hot! No, it was really hot! I don’t care what the weather station says; it had to be at least 100 degrees in Pismo Beach on Sunday afternoon. I’ve never felt it that hot there before. The only thing that made it bearable was the slight breeze that was blowing. Everyone was trying to find shade.

Around 3:30, the tide was out quite a ways. This made plenty of room under the pier for people to pack themselves in the shade with their lawn chairs and beach balls. The heat didn’t slow foot traffic on the pier or around the plaza either. But every small sliver of shade was occupied.

What an amazing day! My son Sawyer and I showed up around 3:00. We were to meet brother Josh there. I’m not exaggerating; it took twenty minutes of driving around and around the parking lot until a parking space opened up. When we found our space I thanked God for His provision. Then it hit me. This is the last big summer evangelism opportunity for this year. It also occurred to me that brother Robert and brother Andy said earlier that they wouldn’t be able to make it. A bittersweet moment for sure. Bitter because I so desired the awesome fellowship in sowing the Gospel seed with all my brothers. But sweet because God did bring Sawyer, brother Josh and myself to experience this beautiful day.

Josh caught a wave or two before starting. So Sawyer and I walked the sidewalk, trying to stay in the shade along side the buildings, passing out tracts and fishing for some 1-2-1’s. We had two solid encounters before my cell phone rang. It was brother Robert. He indicated that he was going to get away after all. He said, “I’ll be there in a bit.” My heart rejoiced.

Sawyer and I continued to hand out tracts and fish for 1-2-1’s. As we were finishing up another encounter, Sawyer said, “Dad, Andy is here.” We ran and caught up with him. What a blessing – we were all there. Sawyer, Robert, Andy, and Josh all made it to Pismo. The only one who missed out was brother Matt. It was still very hot when we all hit the plaza for some group fishing - 1-2-1’s and passing out tracts to those sitting on benches, sidewalks, and those who walked by.

The fishing was great! Listen to the podcast - you’ll hear me casting my line. "Hey, did you get one of these?" You’ll hear several people turn down the offer of the icebreaker tract before I “hookup.” This encounter is with three young adults.

By the way, during the encounter, you’ll even hear a small child ask me for a tract. You’ll have to listen closely. I call the little child “sweetie” not the older girl in the group of three I’m witnessing to. She even asks for another one for her older brother. How cool is that, children asking you for Gospel tracts. Believe it or not, it happens a lot.

Please pray for Daniel, Jeremy, and Evelyn. They listened intently and had the “deer in the headlight” look. Towards the end of the encounter I asked them what they thought of all that stuff. Daniel piped up and said something like, “Personally I don’t believe in God.” Daniel was the one who really reminded me of myself before God saved my soul. Daniel had a black Marilyn Manson T-shirt on, all the piercings, black fingernails - the whole shot. He was hard on the outside, but soft on the inside – I could tell. He seemed to have a tender conscience. After reasoning with him for a bit about the fact that a creation must mean there is a Creator and speaking about where conscience comes from, he said, “it makes sense.” Maybe he was just being polite. Maybe he just wanted out of there. But maybe God was giving Daniel understanding. Again, pray for these young people.

A word of warning - five minutes and ten seconds into the encounter a loud car drives by and distorts the sound a bit – it’s only for a second or two.

After many 1-2-1 encounters in the plaza area, we decided to do some open air preaching. Andy and I prayed for a bit before he led the way. One of the things we prayed for was a good heckler – someone who would maybe disagree and be loud enough to draw in a larger group of people so we could preach the Gospel to them.

Almost as soon as brother Andy opened up, a gent named John began heckling. John is a Vietnam veteran. You can see a picture of John (sixth picture down). He’s the older gent with white hair and beard, sitting on the left side of the bench. Andy is a Desert Storm veteran so he found something in common with him. The vociferous dialogue went back and fourth pretty good between the two of them. People began to stop and listen.

Please pray for John, he heard the Gospel again but seemed pretty hard towards God.

Check back later for PART 3. Let me give you a hint. Let’s just say, God answered our prayer AGAIN.

Posted by Ambassador at 8:46 PM |  MAKE A COMMENT    

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.1- Brother Josh Burned His Boat

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Brother Josh burned his boat yesterday in Pismo. What do I mean by that? Josh didn’t hold back from going further with God than he had before. Surrendering to God’s will is a beautiful thing.



Josh stood up on the stool and read aloud from John chapter three. It was during the time our group was open air preaching. It was Josh’s first time up to proclaim God’s Word – and as you’ll hear, he did an awesome job. Praise God!



It was a blessing to see Josh go a step further. I’m sure it was out of his comfort zone but it’s not about the Christians comfort is it? No. It’s about Jesus Christ. It’s about lost sinners that desperately need to be reconciled to God who is a “consuming fire.”



Christian let Josh encourage you. Maybe today isn’t the day that you’ll jump up and preach the Gospel to a bunch of strangers. Pray about it. Never say “oh I’ll never do that – I’m an introvert!” Or, “I don’t have that gift.” Just say, “in my flesh, I’m terrified, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”



When you pray and read His Word, surrender to God no matter what He wants you to do. Maybe it’s not open-air preaching, but maybe it is.



Please pray for those who heard God’s Word yesterday.

Posted by Ambassador at 11:50 PM |  MAKE A COMMENT    

Stone Soup 2007 Part 4 - Help Them

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Although not many people will come right out and say it, most believe that God is going to judge us according the scale illustration – our good works out weighing our bad works. Bria (14) and Kevin (13) are no different. However, Bria (spelling?) did in fact articulate this idea. If you’re a “good person” you’ll go to heaven. If you’re a “bad person” you’ll go to hell.

Christian, it is so important that you use what God has given us to help the lost see that they are not “good” and that God is going to judge the world in righteousness. Use the Ten Commandments! I know it’s not comfortable or easy to help a person look at him or herself in truth. But it is altogether necessary and Biblical. They must see themselves in truth. If they don’t, they go through life believing they are “good enough” – self-righteous.

As Christians, we are to love our neighbor. Love is a verb! Put some action to what you say and help them. Help them to see that they are in trouble without Christ Jesus.

Please pray for Bria and Kevin.

Posted by Ambassador at 4:33 PM |  MAKE A COMMENT    

Stone Soup 2007 Part 3 - IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

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I met a very nice couple at the Stone Soup Festival. Ivy agreed to allow me to interview her while her boyfriend stood in the background. Ivy didn’t seem all that concerned about what would happen to her when she stood in judgement before God. Maybe her idea of Hell wasn’t all that bad. Maybe she didn’t really believe in Hell. Maybe she still thought she was a “good person” and wouldn’t end up there. I’m really not sure.

I tried reasoning with her using the, “would you sell your eye” point, to help her see that she should value her soul. Then I began speaking about the Cross. At that point, IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

It never ceases to amaze me. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” When the Christian begins speaking about the Name of Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross, His Blood, His Death and Resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, and reconciliation between and Holy God and sinful man, it bothers Satan. Listen to the interruption about the time that I begin to speak of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. I believe these interruptions are spiritual interruptions – demons trying to keep Ivy from hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Needless to say, my Gospel presentation is short and to the point – salvation is of the Lord. Please pray for Ivy and her boyfriend.

Posted by Ambassador at 4:11 PM |  MAKE A COMMENT    

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