LawGrace

Does a Complaint Trump Our 1st Amendment Right?

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:38:00 +0800

On November 10th, 2007, Brother Robert and I had been preaching on in the Pismo Beach Plaza. It was one of those picture perfect days at the beach – not too hot, not too cold – so there was a good crowd gathered. This photo was from a different day. The reason I posted it again will become obvious as you read on. We preached for over an hour to those that sat in the sun and passed by. I was up preaching when I saw a Pismo Beach Police patrol car out of the corner of my eye. It’s always nice to see them because I know they are there to protect us and enforce the laws of the land. I believe the Pismo Beach Police Department does a fine job of uphold our laws and keeping our town safe. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the officers – even witnessing to several of them. This day was a bit different. Not that I had a bad experience with them but felt maybe the officer wasn’t upholding our 1st Amendment Rights. On a side note: Does a Christian have, “rights?” I mean, we were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ – we are not our own. Mmm… You be the judge. Was my 1st Amendment Rights violated or was the officer right in shutting me down? I mean, he said someone did complain about the preaching, sighting California Penal Code § 415. When I got home I looked it up and here it is. Please read it and listen to the short podcast of the encounter with the officer. We didn’t get to finish our discussion - he was pulled away on another call. California Penal Code § 415 § 415. Disturbing the Peace Any of the following persons shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than 90 days, a fine of not more than four hundred dollars ($400), or both such imprisonment and fine: (1) Any person who unlawfully fights in a public place or challenges another person in a public place to fight. (2) Any person who maliciously and willfully disturbs another person by loud and unreasonable noise. (3) Any person who uses offensive words in a public place which are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction. Please leave a post to let me know what you think. Does our First Amendment rights end when there is a complaint? Did I handle myself in a Christian manner? Do you have any suggestions, critiques or comments? In spite of this encounter with the police, Brother Robert and I moved and continued to preach. It was getting dark and cold and there were few people there. However, we continued to read aloud from God’s Word, I began expounding a bit on the 3rd Commandment, when a group of young people (two guys & two girls), standing by railing on the pier began intentionally blaspheming God’s Name – loudly. They began attacking Creationism and Christianity in general. They were collage students; one of them named Kyle came on real strong with his best intellectual arguments. Problem is, I’m a bag of hammers when it comes to debating intellectually – so I did my best, just to keep things on edge for a bit, thinking it might draw in a few more to hear the Gospel. Anyhow, it got pretty hot between Kyle and I as we debated Creation vs. Evolution. Sure enough it drew in a few more people. I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder. I looked over and was my Pastor from our first church we used to attend. Pastor Robert and his wife Tammy showed up and asked, “What are you guys debating?” I think Pastor thought he would come in for back up. It was cool. Pastor Robert began talking with Kyle, asking him about his religious background. This gave me opportunity to speak with the other three. After about 15 minutes or so, Pastor Robert had Kyle calmed down and I had been carrying on a civil (intellectual) conversation with the other three. They all were very resistant to God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. One of the young ladies was Jewish and outright rejected Jesus as Messiah. Pastor ended up leaving and I spent the next hour or so reasoning with these collage kids. As I continued to press them with the Law, the Holy Spirit seemed to be breaking up the hardness of their hearts. One of them asked, “Ok, if the whole world is on their way to Hell, why do Christians say God is all loving? Why does He want to send everyone to Hell?” I took this as my queue for giving them the Gospel. As I began to share God’s love with them, it seemed like they softened even more. They were not justifying themselves in their sin, or blaspheming God’s Name – just quietly listening without argument. In the end, they heard the Gospel at least three of four times and here’s the best part, they ALL took Bibles and tracts. Can you believe it? We should – “the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.” Please pray for Kyle and these three dear souls. God is so good and His Word is true! Is preaching the Gospel worth it? Is getting hassled by the police worth it? Can we get discouraged? Could the beginning of this encounter with Kyle and his friends, seem to some as unloving? Yes – Yes – Yes! It’s all worth it. I thank God for this encounter with Kyle and his friends. I don’t need confirmation from God but He knows we need encouragement from time to time. Wow – what a blessing to partake in Gospel fellowship with our Triune God. Praise be to the Lamb that was slain!

Why Listen To Jesus? - 2007 Pismo Clam Festival

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 02:55:00 +0800

In our Sunday school class we are working our way through John Piper’s book “What Jesus Demands of the World.” Last week, one of the chapters we looked at was chapter 6, in regard to Jesus’ command to, “Listen to Me.” He called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.”—Mark 7:14 As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”—Luke 8:8 Take care then how you hear.—Luke 8:18 And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”—Luke 10:38-42 Meditating on these and other related passages has helped me to see why people don’t seem to care much for what we have to say when we attempt to share our faith. Whether it’s open air preaching, 1-2-1 witnessing, or even handing out gospel tracts – many you come in contact with have no desire to listen. Why won’t they? I mean, it’s the Good News, right? Why won’t a fallen man, dead in trespasses and sins, who the Bible says is “condemned already” listen? They will not listen to us because they won’t listen to Jesus. Why won’t they listen to Jesus? John Piper sights this passage, “You seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you” (John 8:37). Then Piper says, “Their minds and hearts are shaped (or stuffed) in such a way that when he speaks, what he says won’t fit in their hearts.” Oh and remember the encounter Jesus had with Pilate, when Pilate says, “What is truth”? Jesus responds, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37) Piper says “…our condition as fallen sinners unfits us for hearing the truth—especially as it comes from Jesus…When Jesus speaks, unless God acts to give us ears to hear and eyes to see, there will be no place in us for the words of Jesus.” In summary, people will not hear Jesus because, 1) His words have no place in them, and 2) unless God enables them to hear and see they will not. What does all this mean? I mean what is the application for me right now? Praise God because He is Sovereign in all things – even the salvation of man. I’ve received feedback from concerned Christians in regard to street evangelism. They say things like, “How do people respond to you? Don’t people get upset that you speak so openly about their sin?” Often times Christians are worried about the fact that people might see us as being judgmental, unloving, and/or condemning. Here is another typical question that I’ve heard from more than one skeptical Christian, “Why do you keep on preaching when no one is listening to you - they are just walking by?” Again, God is in total control in saving men – from beginning to end. In addition to the fact that in spite of my fears of how people will respond, whether they believe I’m being judgmental, unloving or even condemning, those who wont “hear Jesus” wont hear us either. Those who our Sovereign God enables to “hear Jesus” will hear us. Christian, our desire should be to JUST BE FAITHFUL. As long as we are sharing the Gospel in love with this lost world, we shouldn’t be worried about how people will respond. I guarantee this, they will respond to us the same way that mankind has always responded to the revealed Word of God. If they are not of God there will be no Holy Spirit prepared heart to receive the truth. If they have in fact been “made alive” to receive the Word of Christ, THEY WILL RECEIVE IT. My son Sawyer and I went to the Pismo Clam Festival last weekend. We walked around for a half-hour, looking for a place to set up. Every place we stopped, we would have to contend with loud music. All the places we normally preach, pass out tracts, and have good 1-2-1’s was packed full of people, but with the loud music, it would be impossible to preach or carry on a conversation. So we ended up setting up half way down the pier. I passed out tracts and preached on and off for about four hours. There were a ton of people in attendance. There were a ton of people who just walked by and didn’t listen. I preached for a while without any amplification but I ran out of steam because the wind was blowing so hard. I brought my portable PA and cranked it up – thinking to myself, “The police are going to shut you down Allen.” However, while I was preaching, two police officers road up on bikes and asked me if every thing was ok. One of them said, “No one is hassling you are they?” I responded, “No.” The officer went on to say, “If you have any problems with people hassling you, let us know.” What a blessing! Even though most people just walked past and wouldn’t listen, there was one sixteen-year-old gent named Nathan who stopped to chat. Nathan has a Mormon background. I don’t think his family or him are practicing but he mentioned that he had attend a Mormon Church on and off. After getting an idea of what his religious background was, I took Nathan through a few of the Ten Commandments. We can’t see a person’s heart but this kid was convicted – you could just tell. I shared with Nathan some of God’s characteristics – His holiness, righteousness, goodness, and the fact that He hates injustice. I dwelt there for a bit, helping Nathan to understand that God is just and hates sin and that God is a God of wrath towards all who sin. The little guy’s face said it all – he knew he was in trouble. I asked Him, “Nathan, are you going to be sent to Hell for your sins against God?” He said, “Yes,” looking up just for a second. I asked him if he deserved to go to Hell. He responded by saying, “Yes.” This young man was concerned. I so wanted to give him some relief by sharing the Good News with him – but I didn’t. I just kept thinking, “Not yet, take the time.” At length I spoke with Nathan about Hell. I shared with him every passage I knew about it. I spent some time speaking about the hopelessness of Hell. I thought to myself, “How can this little guy bear all this?” I also thought, “Wow, here we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and God brought this one guy, out of all of the rest, to listen to God’s Word.” Finally I shared the Good News with him. I also took the time to share with him the difference between the Mormon Jesus vs. the Biblical Jesus – two different Jesus’. Also defining repentance and faith, emphasizing Eph 2:8-9. Before we departed Nathan said he would repent and trust in Jesus when he got home. I also gave Nathan a New Testament. Please pray for this little guy. The audio is from last Sunday. I met a nice young lady named Uli. I hope that’s how she spells her name. This encounter is also pretty lengthy – but well worth it. They all are! It was nice to have Uli ask, what I thought were genuine questions. Quite often people will ask disingenuous questions just to dodge the subject at hand. But Uli didn’t. Although she was honest about the fact that she is still wrestling between her Catholic upbringing (there is a God) and what she is leaning is school (evolution), she did ask some good genuine questions. I pray that God will use my witness to save her soul for His Great Namesake. Oh yea, John Piper gives us a partial list of reasons why people should listen to Jesus: 1) No One Ever Spoke Like This Man 2) Jesus Speaks the Very Words of God 3) Jesus’ Words Silence Supernatural Powers 4) Jesus Has the Words of Eternal Life 5) Jesus’ Words Awaken Faith I love it! I believe these are also five more good reasons why Christians should share the Gospel with the lost. Five additional reasons why we should preach the Word, in season and out of season. These are just five other reasons why you Christian should be deliberate in sharing the Words of Jesus Christ with strangers, friends, family – all creatures.

COMPASSION FOR THE MULTITUDE - 2007 AG Harvest Festival

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:26:00 +0800

Before going forward, listen to this John Piper Jam about the Cross. “And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, Bring them here to Me.” Matthew 14:17, 18 I recently downloaded a CH Sprurgeon sermon entitled “Compassion for the Lost.” It is now one of my all time favorite sermons. If you haven’t listen to any of the audio I’ve posted, I pray that you listen to this one. Please take the time, YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY YOU DID. You can download the audio here: http://tinyurl.com/2lk7dz If you prefer, you can download the text transcript here: http://tinyurl.com/2wlvde As I listened to it (three times), I thought about our Lord Jesus Christ. He had compassion for the multitude like none other. I asked myself, “Self, why does your concern for the lost come and go? Why don’t you have that deep, lasting, compassion – the way Jesus did?” I thought, “give me a break Allen, you’re not Jesus. He had compassion like no other because He is God.” Yep – that’s true! But then Spurgeon quoted this verse, “Greater works than these shall you do, because I go unto My Father.” Then he said, “Let the words sink down into your ears. Let the vision rise perpetually before your eyes. See your work. Great as it is, dispirited as you may be by the great multitude who crave your help…” Christian, our work is to be compassionate and get to work taking the Gospel to the lost. In the sermon he likens our gifts to the “five loaves and two fishes,” that Jesus commanded to be brought to Him. Small and weak as they may be it is our Lord Jesus Christ who multiplies them, so we can distribute to others in need. The little bit of weak compassion I have, that comes and goes, I must take it to the Lord Jesus. It is He who will multiply and give back to me in greater measure for the good of the lost. Spurgeon went on to say “As Christ fed the hungry, so the Church, wherever she meets with those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, is to bless them in the name of Him who has said, “They shall be filled.” Your business as a Church today, and my business as a member of the Church of Christ, is to feed hungry souls who are perishing for lack of knowledge with the bread of life. They had thought over the problem of how to feed these people and had come to the conclusion that they could not do it. As they could not feed them, the next best thing would be to send them away to provide for themselves. Since they could not supply their necessities, they would endeavor to shut their eyes to their needs. “Master, send them away. Let them go and buy for themselves.” The Master promptly replies, “They need not depart. There is no necessity for it—you give them to eat.” I also remembered something else when I listened to this sermon. At the end of September, my brother in Christ, Robert Bass and I set up a booth at the Harvest Festival in Arroyo Grande. Brother Robert is a man who adores the Lord Jesus and is driven by this love for the souls of men. Never have I known someone who desires that men are saved like Brother Robert. It was pretty hot during the festival. Robert sat outside the booth and ministered to “the multitude.” It was a privilege to minister along side this man of God. I listened to him plead with the hard hearts. I saw Brother Robert share the Gospel so tenderly to four little Catholic girls (4yrs old to 6). It was the most precious thing to see. At one point on Saturday, neither one of us had eaten all day, just one encounter after the other – God is faithful – I was going to take a break under the booth canopy we had set up. I went under the cool of the tent, grabbed my bottle of cold water, took a big drink and looked out at Robert sitting in the hot sun, perspiring like mad. He was just pouring himself out Christian! Brother Robert is an example of compassion in action. If ever I knew a man with all the excuses NOT to be faithful and obedient to God’s command for us to be, as Spurgeon puts it, “warriors who must carry the victorious arms of the Cross to the uttermost parts of the earth,” it would be Robert. Robert is paralyzed from the waist down – but in Christ Jesus, I’ve never seen someone battle so valiantly. He has health and comfort issues, but I’ve never heard him use them as an excuse why he can’t “hit the streets.” With all that he endures, he’s there – not thinking of himself but allows the compassion that God gives him to compel him. Christian, what is your excuse? Why is it so difficult to get you out of your comfort zone? Do you have any compassion for the lost? Take it to our Lord Jesus, ask and believe He will multiply it. Take your weak tongue to Him. Do you tremble at the thought of handing a stranger a gospel tract? Take it to your God and ask Him for help. In the sermon, Spurgeon said, “Barrenness, leanness and sterility have seized upon all the fields of man’s tillage. They yield him nothing. He sows, but he reaps not. He plows but obtains no harvest. By the works of the flesh no man living can be justified, and in the devices of human tradition or human reason, no souls can possibly find substantial comfort. See, disciples of Christ, see the great need which is before your eyes. Open the eyes of your understanding. Let your heart move, let your hearts beat with sympathy. Let your souls be alive to pity—do feel for those millions! I beseech you, if you cannot help them, weep over them. Let there be now before your mind’s eye a clear and distinct recognition of the many hundreds and thousands who are crying to you, “Feed us, for we famish! Give us bread to eat, or we die!” There are people who need to hear the Gospel. BUT why will you not MAKE TIME to share the message that God uses to save the souls of men? You say, “Not today the games on.” You say, “Can’t make it today, I didn’t use my time wisely.” You say, “Something came up.” When is a good time for you? When it’s too late? Spurgeon goes on to say this: “The blasts of Hell and the wrath of Heaven would fall upon us if we renounced the task. The world’s only hope— shall we put that out? The lone star that gilds the darkness—shall we quench that? The saviors of men, and shall we fold our arms and let them die? No! By the love we bear for Your name—by the bonds that unite us to You—by everything that is holy before God and humane in the sight of our fellow mortals—by everything that is tender and gentle in the throbbing of our hearts, and the yearning of our hearts—we say we must, though we feel we cannot! …there is a strong tendency in our hearts to shift personal responsibility. “Let us send them away into the villages to buy meat.” We look towards some Bethsaida in the distance and say, “Let them go there and get food.” This is a strong temptation with many Churches. Perhaps, you say, “We have not got all this work to do ourselves—there are other Churches. Let them do their part. In all the suburbs of London there are Chapels. There is the parish Church— cannot they hear the Gospel there? There is the City Missionary going about after them. What need is there that we should visit them? No doubt there are some good men preaching in the street. Why should I do it? Let them go into the villages and get meat. Ah, but not so—the Master said to you, “You give them to eat.” “YOU.” Let this Church feel that it should look upon the world as if it were the only Church and do its utmost as if it had no helper under Heaven but had all the work to do itself. And let the entire body of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ—instead of looking to societies for evangelization, or to commerce, or to governments—remember that she is the sole savior of the world. Christ never was incarnate in kings and in princes. His incarnation today is in the sacramental host of His elect.”” Christian, make no mistake about it – it’s you’re blessed duty to take the Cross of Jesus Christ to the lost people of this world. But why is it so difficult to get us to do it? Why? You don’t have any excuses – valid one’s anyway. Let me give you one more Spurgeon quote: “The world’s salvation is given instrumentally into your hands. As far as your power lies, you are to consider yourselves as the world’s hope, and you are to act as such. And what shall I say of you if, instead of accepting this charge from Christ, you shall sit still and do nothing? If, after having built this great house in which you meet, you should disregard others who hear not the Word of Christ—if, being fed with Heaven’s food yourselves, you shall be satisfied to let others perish—I tell you that, as a Church, Ichabod shall be written upon your brow!” Brothers and sisters, Spurgeon spoke to his flock with tender love, “do you hear it?” My love for the Church of Jesus Christ is growing every day. It is this same kind of love that compels me to say what I say. Don’t sit back and do nothing. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1 Please pray for those who heard the Gospel during this event. Here is a short list of names you can lift up to our Merciful God: Steven, Marilyn, Thomas, Jacob, Kyle and family, Abbie and Ashton, Nate and Kaitlan, Frank, Jordan Kobe, Zach, Mario, Al, Joe and Chad, Daniel, 4 little catholic girls, Taylor/ Kaitlan, Bart and Kristen, Rockey and Angela, Bill and Donald, Jed and Devin, Anthony, Colby, Nancy, Jen and Chad, 4 evolutionist, Cathy L, Kylee, Dawn and Terry, Davie, Kelley, Jacqueline, Karly and Andrew, Jessica and Cathie, Casey, Steve, Taren, Joe, Loren and Samantha, Michele and Steve, Jenell, James and Reanna, Alex, Michelle, Erica, and Savannah, John and his friend....they were about 13-14 years old...admitttedly gay and proud of it, Michael and Tyler, Matthew , Alex, and Dennis, Philippe.

Klaus Makes Martin Luther Roll in His Grave

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:55:00 +0800

Ps 36:1-4 says, “An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil.” I think Martin Luther would be appalled if he knew his countrymen have turned so far away from God. I met Klaus and Dorothy when they stopped and asked me what I was doing (in regard to the microphone I was carrying). Klaus did most of the talking. Listen closely, it is obvious, “there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Reread the passage above and then listen to this encounter. You’ll notice that as we go through four of the Ten Commandments, Klaus trivializes his sin and attempts to justify himself at every turn. After I listened to it again, I wish I had emphasized that his “trivial” sin is against a Holy God. In retrospect, I should have dwelt on the fact that this brazen man would be cast into the lake of fire, by God whom he has sinned against, if he didn’t turn. There was something else that that Klaus said that would make Martin Luther roll in his grave. If you share your faith regularly you’ll hear it. He said, “You shouldn’t read the Bible that literally.” As the passage above says, “he has ceased to be wise and do good.” Please pray that God would use my weak attempt to share the truth with Klaus and Dorothy for His glory.

Men Loved Darkness

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:16:00 +0800

Here is another encounter I had just as the sun was setting on Tuesday. Mike and Lisa were on their way to walk the pier when I attempted to ask them a few questions. They stopped and Mike and I had this conversation. Mike had the Christian lingo down. He quoted a few Scriptures and said no matter how he lived, he would always believe in God. In the end, Mike seemed to agree with John 3:19, “…men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” Please pray for Him and Lisa.

Not Forsaking Our Own Assembling Together

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:22:00 +0800

What a trip! Pastor Tim, of Grace in San Luis Obispo is preaching a sermon series called, “What in the World is the Church?” So far he has taken us through: The People of God (1 Corinthians 1:1-9) A People of the Book (1 Peter 1:22-2:3) A People Committed (Hebrews 10:19-25) This series of sermons has caused much discussion in the Peek home for sure. Especially the sermon God gave to Pastor Tim based on Hebrews 10:19-25. Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. The Holy Spirit challenged us with the fact that since the Gospel is true, let us commit together. Since we have a new access to God…since we have a family Advocate with God – let’s draw near together, hold fast our confession together, and consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Isn’t that awesome? My family and I have been attending Grace since November of 2006. However, we haven’t developed any close relationships. We just don’t know very many people yet. My excuse has been, “the church is so big and there are so many people.” We attend church every Sunday. But the fact of the matter is I haven’t led my family to be more deliberate in “assembling” ourselves with others from Grace other than on Sunday morning service. How in the world does this relate to evangelism? Well, Tuesday afternoon, my son Sawyer and I met a couple named Jeff and Kim - a very nice young couple who allowed me to interview them. When our encounter was ending, Jeff said something like, “see you at church on Sunday!” I kind of laughed and said, “Ok!….” I thought to myself, “I didn’t invite him to church.” After Jeff and Kim had gone, my son Sawyer said, “Dad! They go to Grace!” Sawyer also indicated that we just saw them the Sunday before in passing – Jeff and Kim had also sat a couple of pews just in front of my family. It wasn’t immediate, but I began thinking of Pastor Tim’s sermon. The words, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some…” came to mind. Ouch…Conviction!

God is Faithful to Answer Prayer

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:27:00 +0800

This is going to sound prejudice – I know it will. Please know this, I love older people. I mean, I have a mom and dad, grandparents, and tons of friends that are much older than me and I dearly love them. However, when we are on the streets sharing the Gospel, I am terrified of sharing with someone that would be considered a “Senior Citizen.” In my experience, many older folks are pretty much set in their ways. In spite of the fact that they are theoretically closer to death than a younger person, they can be pretty hard. Then there is the issue of showing respect to your elders. I’m always thinking in my head, “oh, no, I hope they don’t think I’m disrespecting them…” But they need to think about eternity, they need to think about their sin and God’s justice, holiness, and their need for the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Well, on Tuesday, God showed me that my fears are empty. I also have been a bit convicted that I often do not even try to share the Gospel with seniors. Shame on me… I had a very pleasant conversation with Robert and Vicky - they were so cool! Check this out! I love it when I hear this. Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Robert and Vicky if they are born again. They said they weren’t. Robert said, “Our son is born again.” Again, I love it! Do you think Robert and Vicki’s son is praying for them regularly. If he is a born again Christian he is. I know that I’m praying for my unsaved parents and loved ones. I pray that God would lead them to someone who would share the Gospel with them again. I pray that God would soften their hearts so the seed of the Gospel would “take root,” and they would become saved. God is faithful to answer prayer. There we were in Pismo Beach on a Tuesday afternoon, Robert, Vicky and I, talking about eternity, personal sin against God, Judgement Day, Hell, The Cross, the Resurrection of Jesus, their need to repent and have faith towards Jesus. Not only that. But I also had prayed for divine encounters that day. So here we were…OUR GOD IS FAITHFUL. For His glory! Saints, please pray for these dear people. Both Robert and Vicky were tenderhearted towards the message. Also lift up their son – pray that God would encourage him, strengthen his faith and bless his family.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:48:00 +0800

I met a CalPoly student named Jath on Tuesday afternoon. He was actually leaving but gave me just a few minutes. Thanks Jath! Did you know that it’s going around? I should say, it is still going around - nothing new under the sun. Maybe it’s just an old misconception. Or maybe it’s something a bit more sinister. Let me ask you a question: Do you think you can earn God’s favor by proving to God that you’re a good person? If you are a born again Christian, your answer will be, “definitely not!” However, fallen man believes he can. I must admit, I believed it for most of my life as well – “if a person is good, God will accept them.” When I asked Jath, “What is your purpose in life?” His response was, “You can tell that I’m religious, so I feel that my purpose here in life is to somehow accomplish a greater good and prove to God that I’m a good person.” Our view of ourselves is one of self-centeredness and pride. We compare ourselves to each other instead of comparing ourselves to the perfection of Jesus Christ – God. I asked Jath, “What do you think happens when you die?” He responded, “If you live your life correctly you can go to heaven…” At least he was honest about what he believed. I did my best to share what the Bible says in regard to our “goodness,” or lack thereof I should say. I pray that the Holy Spirit would use this witness encounter to cause Jath to flee from God’s wrath and turn to Christ Jesus in faith. Please pray of Jath.

Tuesday Afternoon

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:20:00 +0800

It was late Tuesday afternoon when Sawyer and I went to Pismo Beach. We met a very nice young lady named Vanessa (14). Joanne, Vanessa’s Grandmother, stood by and allowed me to ask Vanessa a few spiritual questions. Vanessa and her Grandma are originally from Santa Maria – they are now living on the East Coast. After sharing the Gospel with Vanessa, I had the privilege of spending a few minutes with Joanne. Joanne indicated that she used to attend a “word of faith church.” She said that she had been hurt in this experience. She then went to a church that ended up being “legalistic.” When her family began having problems, the church didn’t offer much support. She was a bit distraught with church and said, “I think I need to go back to square one.” Joanne opened up and told me the sad story about her daughter, Vanessa’s mom, who is a recovering drug addict. Vanessa’s mom had four children who all ended up in foster care due to her lifestyle. Three of the children found good foster homes. Joanne wasn’t comfortable with the home Vanessa ended up in so she now lives with her. Isn’t that a loving thing to do? I could tell Joanne really loves her granddaughter. In spite of the love she has for Vanessa, their relationship is going through a tough time. Joanne indicated that she was a born again believer. Please pray for this dear family. They are going through a real tough season. Pray for the salvation of Vanessa and her mom who needs surgery from a self-inflicted injury.

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.4

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:31:00 +0800

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.

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.3

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:13:00 +0800

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.

Labor Day in Pismo Pt.2

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 20:46:00 +0800

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.

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

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:50:00 +0800

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.

Stone Soup 2007 Part 4 - Help Them

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:33:00 +0800

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.

Stone Soup 2007 Part 3 - IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:11:00 +0800

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.

Stone Soup 2007 Part 2 – Open Air Offence

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:38:00 +0800

On Saturday, my bother in Christ, Andy, showed up around 2 o’clock. I asked Andy if he wanted to do some open air preaching. That’s a silly question to pose Andy, he’s always up for preaching. We proceeded to make our way down to the park area, where most of the activity was. The photos here were taken on Sunday afternoon when the festival was almost over. I just wanted to give you an idea of the layout. There were a lot more people in the park and on the street when the preaching started. The park area is right on the corner of two cross-streets which where blocked off for the festival. A large bandstand was kitty-corner from the park. Everyone was waiting for the next performers to set up. Our plan was to preach a couple of short messages to the people during this intermission time. I laid my inflatable mannequin in the grass and covered it up with a sheet. It looks just like a dead body. I stepped up on a bench, and began my discourse. You can see the bench in the fourth photo down. There wasn’t anyone sitting on them at the time. Everything was going well. I preached a bit about death and how we will all die someday. I preached a bit about God’s judgement and opened up four of the Ten Commandments. About six minutes into it, a very LARGE man in a tie-dye shirt stepped up and began to give me a hard time, saying, “Do me a big favor, Why don’t you ask all of these people if they want to listen to you. If they want to listen to you they can listen to you. If they don’t, why don’t you respect their space.” Wow! It got a touch volatile after this guy showed up. In addition to this guy, there were three others who were coming against me pretty hard (Listen closely, you’ll hear them). They were mad for sure. At one point the big guy turned and asked this sizable crowd if they wanted to hear me preach. It seemed about half said NO and the other half said YES. Isn’t it always that way? The big guy told me that I didn’t have the right to stand on the bench, so I stepped off and stepped up on my portable stool that was in front of my “dead body.” About that time he walked right up to me, got in my face (nose to nose) and wouldn’t back off at all. This agitated man made a comment that I thought revealed why he was coming against me so hard. I tried to reason with him that we all have our First Amendment right that protects freedom of speech. His response to that was, “that’s right, but you know something, you don’t have the freedom…to infringe upon other people’s faith because you believe your God is better than theirs.” It wasn’t a matter of infringing on people’s space; he had a problem with God. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” You’ll hear that I tried to calm the guy a bit by speaking to him softly. “A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.” But this guy didn’t back down one bit. He was mad! At one point you’ll hear Andy jump in and debate the guy about our freedom of speech rights. A the man backed away from me and walked toward Andy, I must confess, as I looked across the park and turned around and saw all the people watching this transpire, these thoughts flashed through my mind: “Maybe my approach wasn’t smooth enough…Maybe I came on too strong…These people are irritated with you Allen, your big mouth has you in trouble now…Have you made a foolish decision to preach here today?…This big guy is going to rip your head off Allen, this is dangerous…I know a lot of the people here, now what are they going to think of you?…I wonder what my pastor would say if he finds out about this?…maybe this was a bad idea.” While the guy was speaking with Andy, I tried to continue to preach. They had already endured the Law so I wanted to finish with the Good News and get out of there. I lowered my voice a bit so as not to upset the big guy, and tried to proceed. At this point the same big guy came back and got in my face as I’m reading out loud from Romans 3. This time he starts yelling, over and over, “Do you like to be yelled at?” At the same time, he’s trying to push me off the stool with his belly – that’s how close he was. Yeiks! When emotions fly, I’m usually pretty emotional myself. I was waiting for my bottom lip to quiver or my eyes to water up. Funny thing is, it didn’t happen. I was totally calm and actually felt quite comfortable. Other than the thoughts that I mentioned initially rushed through my head, I didn’t get distressed at all. The big guy and several others continued to interrupt me as I continued. So I did my best to preach Christ Crucified and repentance and faith. Wow! What an experience... Do you think that I exercised spiritual wisdom in preaching here? Is it your impression that I was using carnal wisdom when deciding to continue to preach? I would really appreciate your input. If you read this, post your thoughts please. On one hand I understand there is a time a place to preach the Gospel. And I’m not saying I have perfect discernment. I have so much to learn. “A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!” Prov 15:23 This is another reason why we need MORE LABORERS out there with us. We need each other’s godly council. On the other hand 2 Tim. 4:2 says, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” I found an excerpt from Thomas Boston’s book entitled, “A Soliloquy on the Art of Man-Fishing.” Check out his comments below. Carnal vs. Spiritual Wisdom OUR LORD’S command “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19, emphasis added) implies a renouncing of our own wisdom. Human wisdom cannot be our guide (Matt. 16:24); we must deny ourselves. Paul refused to preach with the wisdom of words (1 Cor. 1:17)—nor did he follow the rules of carnal wisdom. Therefore, oh my soul, renounce your own wisdom. Seek the wisdom that is from above; seek to preach the words of the living God, and not your own. When you determine to take this direction, praying that you might not preach according to your own wisdom and natural reason, you receive God’s signal blessing. Do not take the way of natural reason or follow the rules of carnal wisdom. Its language will always be, “Spare yourself. Guard your honor and your reputation among others. If you speak freely, they will call you a troublemaker and call your preaching reactionary. Every church will be frightened of you as a monster that would preach them all to hell; and so you shall never be settled. Such and such a man, who has a great influence in the church, will never like you. After all, direct preaching is not the way to win people; it unnerves them from the very beginning. Instead, you should bring them on little by little, being somewhat smooth—at least at first. For this generation is not able to abide such doctrine as what you preach.” But hear and follow the rules of the wisdom that is from above: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Cor. 3:19). That which is in high esteem among men is nothing in God’s sight. The wisdom that is from above tells us we must deny ourselves (Matt. 16:24; Luke 14:26). We cannot seek honor, reputation, acclaim, or other such earthly enticements. Heavenly wisdom tells us people may call us what they will, we must nevertheless “cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1). Divine wisdom says, “Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” are called (1 Cor. 1:26). “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are” (vv. 27, 28). “But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious” (Ezek. 2:7). God’s wisdom will show you rules quite contrary to those of carnal wisdom. Consider then what carnal wisdom says, and what the wisdom from above says: Carnal Wisdom - Your body is weak; don’t weary it. It cannot abide toil, labor, and stress. So spare yourself. Spiritual Wisdom -Your body is God’s as well as your spirit; don’t safeguard it from glorifying God: “You have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20). Paul said, “I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (2 Cor. 11:27). But God “gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power” (Isa. 40:29). This you have experienced. Carnal Wisdom - Work diligently for fluent and eloquent speech; fine style very much appeals to the learned. Without it they will think nothing of your preaching. Spiritual Wisdom - Christ sent you “to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech” (1 Cor. 1:17). Do not preach “with superiority of speech or of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:1). Your message and preaching should not be “in persuasive words of wisdom” (v. 4). Carnal Wisdom - Attempt to be somewhat smooth and calm in your preaching. Do not attack the particular sins of the land, or of the persons to whom you preach. Spiritual Wisdom - “Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1). “Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed” (Prov. 27:5). “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God . . . handling accurately the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Carnal Wisdom - If you are not subtle, your hearers will be irritated against you and may create trouble for you. And what a foolish thing would it be for you to speak boldly to such a generation as this, whose very looks are disagreeable! Spiritual Wisdom - “He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue” (Prov. 28:23). I have experience of this. “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces. . . . Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house” (Ezek. 3:8, 9). Experience confirms this, too. Carnal Wisdom - It is dangerous to speak freely and deal with specifics: there may be more hazard in it than you are aware of. Spiritual Wisdom - “He who walks in integrity walks securely” (Prov. 10:9). “He who walks blamelessly will be delivered” (Prov. 28:18). Carnal Wisdom - You will be perceived as a fool, as a monster; you will be called a railer and so lose your reputation and prestige. You need to preserve that. People will hate and abhor you; why should you expose yourself to such things? Spiritual Wisdom - “If any man among you thinks that he is wise . . . let him become foolish that he may become wise” (1 Cor. 3:18). “We have become a spectacle to the world. . . . We are fools for Christ’s sake” (4:9, 10). “ ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Who cares what people say about you? After all, many said of Jesus, “He has a demon and is insane” (John 10:20). He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you,” says our Lord (John 15:18). Carnal Wisdom - Great people especially will be offended unless you speak charmingly to them and court and caress them. And if you are looked down upon by great people who are wise and mighty, how will you have any self-respect? Spiritual Wisdom - “Let me now be partial to no one; nor flatter any man. For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away” (Job 32:21, 22). “No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?” (John 7:48). “Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” are called (1 Cor. 1:26). “I will also speak of Thy testimonies before kings, and shall not be ashamed” (Ps. 119:46). “If you show partiality, you are committing sin” (Jas. 2:9). Carnal Wisdom - Our people have just come out from under the oppressive hierarchy of a state church. They would not desire to have certain sins disclosed or especially old sores to be ripped open. They cannot abide certain doctrines. More agreeable doctrine will be better for them. Hold off negative things. Such doctrine may do them harm; it will do them no good. Spiritual Wisdom - “You shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious” (Ezek. 2:7). “Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’; and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand” (3:17, 18). “What the Lord says to me, that I will speak” (1 Kings 22:14). Carnal Wisdom - If you do preach such things, prudence requires that you speak of them very cautiously. If conscience says you must speak, do it somewhat covertly, so that you do not offend people too badly. This is especially important with respect to people who are young in the faith. Take your time exposing them to the hard truths and soften them as much as possible; you don’t want to turn young believers away. Spiritual Wisdom - “Cry loudly, do not hold back” (Isa. 58:1). “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully” (Jer. 48:10, kjv). “[We] have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2, kjv, emphasis added). Peter, preaching to unbelievers in the first sermon of the Christian era, told the Jewish inquirers, “You nailed [this Man] to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death” (Acts 2:23). “We must work . . . as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4). Carnal Wisdom -Be especially pleasant to those who have the most influence in the church—at least until you are settled and secure with a comfortable salary. Otherwise, you may be always looking for work; for churches will be frightened away from you, and will not call you. How then will you live? Forthright preaching, therefore, may be detrimental to your livelihood. A more subtle approach might also afford you a broader ministry. Spiritual Wisdom - “To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress” (Prov. 28:21). “The will of the Lord be done!” (Acts 21:14, 15). God has “determined [your] appointed times, and the boundaries of [your] habitation” (Acts 17:26). “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure” (Isa. 46:10). “God makes a home for the lonely . . . only the rebellious dwell in a parched land” (Ps. 68:6). “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished” (Prov. 28:20). “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted” (Prov. 29:25). Thus you see how carnal wisdom—although it speaks convincingly and with a good deal of seeming reason—is quite contrary to the wisdom that is from above (cf Jas. 3:15–18). It promises great advantages to those who follow it, but its promises are not always performed. It threatens great calamity for those who defy it, but neither do its threatenings always come to pass. It makes molehills mountains, and mountains molehills. Therefore reject the wisdom of the world, for it is foolishness with God. Carnal policy would make us fear those who can only kill the body—and they can hardly do even that much these days. Worldly wisdom would make us cast off the true fear of God. But remember this and use it to strengthen yourself: “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted” (Prov. 29:25). Never seek temporal profit by putting your soul in hazard, but “Wait for the Lord, and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it” (Ps. 37:34). For His way is the safest way, though carnal wisdom may speak otherwise and call His way mere folly. Above all, remember that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong” (v. 27). “Your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (2:5). “The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:18–21, emphasis added). “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing, and will perish” (Isa. 41:10, 11).

Stone Soup 2007 Part 1

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:12:00 +0800

Saturday, my son Sawyer and I attended the 2007 Stone Soup Music Fair. It is a typical small town festival, where they close off a block or two, set up stages for entertainment, food, beer, and kiddy rides for the community. We arrived around 11am and stayed until 6pm. Our purpose in being there was to do nothing other than share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we could. Calvary Chapel, Arroyo Grande set up a ministry booth this year – what a blessing to see a Church obeying the Great Commission. I spent quite a while standing in front of the booth passing out tracts and sharing the Gospel. I watched Pastor Steve Carr (Calvary Chapel AG’s pastor) passing out tracts and engaging in 1-2-1 encounters – one after the other. I thank God for you Pastor Steve. Pastor Steve is a guy passionate about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ that’s for sure. Best of all, he's passionate about doing Biblically. He was so excited, like a kid in a candy store. When I asked him how it was going he said something like, “Allen, this is the greatest thing – we have to make sure to be at all these local festivals.” He then proceeded to list all the local festivals he could think of – but with that same big smile on his face and a gleam in his eye. This guy loves people. But more importantly, he loves Jesus Christ! There were hundreds of tracts distributed over Saturday and Sunday. Many heard the Gospel again or some for the first time, believe it or not. Please pray for the salvation of the individuals who received tracts and heard the Gospel. The first person I approached was a young lady named Mellana. Mellana was very kind in allowing me to interview her. Her picture is at the bottom of this group of photos. This is an interesting interview. Besides the fact that I again changed the persons name during the interview (Call me Mr. Bag Of Hammers), Mellana has combined elements of Christianity, Yoga, faith healing, and probobly some other eastern religions I didn’t pick up on. Please pray that the One True God would break down the deceptions in her mind. Pray that God would save this young lady. There were so many encounters it is hard to pick out the most memorable because they are all so special. Christian, when you step out to be deliberate in sharing the Gospel, trusting God for each and every encounter, and surrendering to His will to use you as His vessel, each time you speak with someone, you’ll experience God working. That’s why I say, each encounter is special. On Saturday, two encounters that turned out really cool went down like this. Two young guys on bike rolled up to the booth. I offered the million-dollar bill and proceeded to share Law and Grace with them. Maybe an hour later two other young guys walked up and the same thing happened. All four of these 15-16 year old guys felt the burden of their sin, understood that they deserve to be punished by a Good God, and His grace through Jesus Christ. By the end of the encounter, they also understood they needed to repent and trust in Jesus in order to be forgiven. It is encouraging to see soft hearts towards the Gospel – very cool indeed. Later that afternoon I noticed that all four of these young guys were hanging out together. Sunday afternoon, I’m standing outside of the booth talking with my brother in Christ, Robert Bass, when all four of the young guys walked up and politely waited for us to finish our conversation. I turned around and greeted them. One of them said, “We’ve been talking about what you told us yesterday. Would you tell our other two friends?” Can you believe it? These four guys brought two other teenagers to me so I could communicate this glorious message with them. I spent a half-hour with them, taking my time helping them understand the truth of sin, righteous, and judgement. They both had the deer in the headlight look in their eyes. Then we talked about Hell. These young men were crushed. What a pleasure it was to communicate the Good News to them – it is indeed Good News. To make a long story short, all six young men have an understanding of the truth and know how to respond to God in repentance and faith. Praise His wonderful Name! Hang on to your hats! The next podcast is a bit zesty so come back later to hear what happened on Saturday afternoon when we tried to so some open air preaching.

PREACHING SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUDGMENT OPEN AIR

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:01:00 +0800

Doth that man love his Lord who would be willing to see Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, while for himself he craves a chaplet of laurel? Shall Jesus ascend to his throne by the cross, and do we expect to be carried there on the shoulders of applauding crowds? Be not so vain in your imagination. Count you the cost, and if you are not willing to bear Christ’s cross, go away to your farm and to your merchandise, and make the most of them; only let me whisper this in your ear, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ open air is scandalous these days. Of course, it was in NT days as well. Now that I think about it, even the preaching in the OT was scandalous. I guess some things never change after all. I’ve heard Paul Washer say time and time again that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in fact scandalous. And if a preacher removes the scandal, they are no longer preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m afraid that more often than not, that is exactly what has happened. When open air preaching it’s neat to see Christians enthused about hearing Jesus Christ exalted in public. Often they yell, “Amen brother,” or “Preach it!” Christians love to hear the Gospel. You expect the unregenerate person to be upset with the message, just like you expect Christians to be excited with the message being preached. However, more often than not, “Christians” often are upset more than the unbelievers are. I’ve had professing Christians pretty antagonistic towards open air preaching specifically. Last Sunday a pastor from a church approached me and expressed that he didn’t feel that what I was doing was effective, “no one is listening, everyone is passing you by.” Many times individuals will say things like, “I appreciate your passion to see people saved, but I don’t think this is the right way to do it. They need to hear about the love and grace of God – not how awful they are.” Believe it or not, I had a professing Christian very angry with me one time because she said I was causing other Christians to “look bad.” In one sentence, this one mad lady summed up what the real issue is. Many modern churches and their attendees don’t want to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. They desire to be “well thought of,” instead of faithful to the message God has given us. I understand that preachers can be offensive in and of themselves. I pray that the offence is never from my personality, body language, tone of voice, etc. But if the world was offended when OT prophets preached God’s message can we expect anything less? If the world hated John the Baptist because of the message God gave to him, can we expect that we will be loved by all for the message God gave to us? If they hated the Apostle John, Peter, Paul for the Gospel… and what about our Lord Jesus: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:18-22 The problem is, the modern church is failing to be faithful. I once had a conversation with a pastor that was implementing marketing techniques in order to “grow the church.” I asked him, “Pastor, why can’t we just be faithful to what God has given us? Let’s just preach the Gospel! The Bible says that it is the power of God unto salvation.” I’ll never forget his response. I began to literally weep when he said it. He said, “Allen, it doesn’t work anymore.” You see the individuals who sit in church week in and week out are not hearing anything about sin, righteousness, and judgement. This is why when they hear someone preaching the truth, especially in the open air; they are offended to the max. Sad but true. Here is a quote from John MacArthur’s book, “The gospel according to the Apostles.” Chapter 12 – What Must I Do to Be Saved? “If we want to follow a biblical model, we cannot ignore those issues. “Sin, righteousness, and judgment” are the very matters about which the Holy Spirit convicts the unsaved ( John 16:8 ). Can we omit them from the message and still call it the gospel? Apostolic evangelism inevitably culminated in a call for repentance ( Acts 2:38 ; 3:19 ; 17:30 ; 26:20 ). Can we tell sinners they don’t have to turn from their sin, and then call that evangelism? Paul ministered to unbelievers by “declaring … that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance” ( Acts 26:20 ). Can we reduce the message to simply, “accept Christ” and still believe we are ministering biblically? Furthermore, in all the instances where Jesus and the apostles evangelized—whether they were ministering to individuals or crowds—there are no two incidents where they presented the message in precisely the same terminology. They knew that salvation is a sovereign work of God. Their role was to preach truth; God Himself would apply it individually to the hearts of His elect. The new birth is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” ( John 3:6 ). The Spirit sovereignly chooses where, how, and on whom He will work: “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” ( John 3:8 ). Clear proclamation of truth is the means through which the Spirit works—not inventive methodology or human charm ( 1 Cor. 1:21 ; 2:1–5 ).” Here is another quote from John MacArthur’s book, “Ashamed of the gospel” Market-Driven Ministry? “The new philosophy is straightforward: The church is in competition against the world. And the world is very good at capturing people’s attention and affections. The church, on the other hand, tends to be very poor at “selling” its product. Evangelism should therefore be viewed as a marketing challenge, and the church should market the gospel the way all modern businesses sell their products. That calls for some fundamental changes. The goal in all marketing is “to make both the producer and consumer satisfied,” so anything that tends to leave the “consumer” unsatisfied must be jettisoned. Preaching—particularly preaching about sin, righteousness, and judgment—is too confrontive to be truly satisfying. The church must learn to couch the truth in ways that amuse and entertain. One best-selling author has written, “I believe that developing a marketing orientation is precisely what the Church needs to do if we are to make a difference in the spiritual health of this nation for the remainder of this century.” He adds, “My contention, based on careful study of data and the activities of American churches, is that the major problem plaguing the Church is its failure to embrace a marketing orientation in what has become a marketing-driven environment.” That all may sound very modern, and very shrewd—but it is not biblical. And it has given the church a hard push onto the slippery slope. Marketing principles are becoming the arbiter of truth. Elements of the message that don’t fit the promotional plan are simply omitted. Marketing savvy demands that the offense of the cross must be downplayed. Salesmanship requires that negative subjects like divine wrath be avoided. Consumer satisfaction means that the standard of righteousness cannot be raised too high. The seeds of a watered-down gospel are thus sown in the very philosophy that drives many ministries today. And make no mistake, the new philosophy is altering the message the church conveys to the world, although many who propound these ideas think of themselves as loyal to biblical doctrine. Christianity is on the down-grade again.” I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Please leave a comment to weigh in on this issue. If you feel I’m way off base, please let me know.

First Amendment & Open Air Preaching

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:20:00 +0800

First Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES. The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791 Christian, God has sovereignly placed us in this country. What a blessing it is to have the religious freedoms to gather together whenever we desire to do so. “Pray without ceasing,” even in public. Read your Bible whenever and wherever you desire. Fellowship with other Christians and above all, worship the One who has richly blessed us with these liberties. Praise His Wonderful Name! Christian, we have been commanded to, “Preach the Gospel to every creature.” In God’s sovereignty, He has also blessed His Church with the freedom to preach the Gospel in the public arena. So why don’t we take advantage of this freedom? Why aren’t there more Christians partaking of the blessing there is in obeying God in taking the Gospel to our local communities? I heard a pastor once say, “God doesn’t need us to take the Gospel to the lost, He chooses to use us – it is our privilege.” God graciously desires that we partake in His work with Him. We get to experience God at work when we “GO.” Christian, we have no excuses! God has commanded us to take this Gospel and share it with the world. He has also placed us in a country where we have the freedom to do so. And Christian, it is our privilege to partake in this work of spreading the Gospel. It’s not a chore! God is glorified in the preaching of the Gospel. So lets glorify God to the best of our ability – because He has been so gracious toward us. This is the first of two parts of an open air I did on my birthday – Aug 12th. What a cool birthday present! I’m not sure, it’s a bit different every time but it seems the longer the preaching goes on, the more people are drawn in to hear. Maybe that’s pragmatic – may it never be! But it seems most people do just pass by, but stick with it for an hour or so, God will draw in those whom He wants to hear this glorious Good News. Here is another good resource in regard to our First Amendment Rights and Open Air Preaching. http://www.biblicalevangelism.net/451

Central Coast Idol @ SLO Farmers Market

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:05:00 +0800

The stage was set. The television cameras were on and the first contestant stepped up to perform for the audience gathered at SLO Farmers Market for the Central Coast Idol auditions. Contestants are selected to go on to additional competitions, ultimately trying to become the next American Idol. Just before the first performer began, I met two very nice young ladies named Rachel & Alison (see the middle photo). I won’t write too much about them due to the fact that the interview is just over a half-hour in length. They were very kind in allowing me to interview them and have thirty minutes of their lives. Thank you ladies. The one thing I will say about Rachel & Alison is this. Their understanding about who God is and what God is like is typical. Many today believe that God is our friend and Father in the sky just looking for ways to bless us. He must forgive, because he is forgiving. He must be loving, like us, because he is loving, etc. In all fairness, I’m not sure they would articulate this with these words – but in the interview, it seems that it is implied. In addition, there are many individuals who say on one hand, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior,” and yet they don’t believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. They believe that Jesus died for their sins and yet they believe what the Da Vinci Code says. The contradiction is obvious. If Jesus is your Lord, you WILL surrender to the truths that God gives us, in the most authoritative manner, in the Bible. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (II Tim 3:16) Many today allow history books, television, fiction writers, etc., to shape their worldview, these are their authority instead of the Word of God. Many today understand that they need to be forgiven. They may not understand the seriousness of their sin before a holy, righteous, and just God. But they have a conscience that informs them of their guilt. So they say, “yes, I need the forgiveness offered through Jesus dying on the Cross.” But they don’t understand that the Da Vinci Code and its like, are attacking who Jesus Christ is, and how He revealed Himself to mankind, thus making Jesus and His finished work nothing that important. These individuals also do not understand that if Jesus is who the Da Vinci Code says he is, then they have NO SAVIOR. Because Jesus is the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He was a man, being tempted, though NEVER sinning. Jesus Christ lived a perfectly righteous life. Jesus fulfilled the LAW that God commands each of us to keep – in perfect righteousness, always obedient to the Father. Living the life that I was commanded to live but chose not to long ago. He was not only a man, but GOD IN THE FLESH and He died as a substitute for sinners, taking our sin, shame and God’s wrath upon Himself on that Cross. Jesus was perfectly obedient to the plan and will of God, even unto death. He was put in a tomb – DEAD. But oh what glory! Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. Showed Himself to many and then ascended into heaven and He now sits at the right-hand of the Father. This is what the WORD OF GOD teaches. This is the redemption plan of God to save sinners from sin, death and God’s just wrath for the praise, glory and honor of His name. What an offer! A person can be forgiven of sin, cleansed of all unrighteousness. Why? Because of the blood of Jesus and and His resurrection. A person can recieve the righteousness of Christ so that God will declare them righteous in His sight. What grace! What love! What kindness! Everlasting life in God’s presence is ours IF we are willing to repent (turning from sin) and trust in the blood of Jesus, in HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS to save us from the wrath that is to come. Jesus didn’t take Mary Magdalene as His wife nor have a child with her. If He did, then all the other things said about Him in the WORD wouldn’t be true and we would have no Savior. Mmm…That sounds like a lie from Satan himself and so it is. Jesus is not the jesus revealed in the Da Vinci Code or any of the like. He is eternal, infinite God! Either a person humble themselves to God’s Word as the ultimate and final authority or they will trust history books, TV – Discovery, A&E, PBS specials, fiction writers – the Da Vinci Code as their ultimate authority. This will ultimately be to the damning of their souls. Please pray for Rachel and Alison. I also thank God for bringing another seed sower to the streets. My brother Matt invited his friend Michelle. You can see a photo of Matt and Michelle sharing truth with three young ladies. Michelle hadn't been exposed to street evangelism, but this young lady wasn't fearful. At least I couldn't see it. God gave her a boldness that just blew me away. I thank God for your obedience and faith in Him Michelle.

The Ten Commandments vs. a 10th Degree Blackbelt

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:01:00 +0800

I met a guy named John Hackleman and his girlfreind Jennifer in Pismo on Sunday. John told me he was into martial arts and that in fact he owned THE PIT in Arryoy Grande, CA. Here is some background info about him I found on THE PIT's web page: The founder of Hawaiian Kempo, and The Pit, and KuZen John is a 10th degree Blackbelt. He has been studying martial arts for over 30 years, and holds two black belts. He also fought on the US Army boxing team, where he won numerous National titles. After turning professional, John fought the world's best Boxer's and kickboxers winning many State, National, and World titles, as well as fighting on television many times, and for Don King. He has 30 years of amateur and professional fighting experience. John was rated as the #1 Kickboxer in the world in the 1980's. He has also worked as a bouncer and a bodyguard. John has trained 1000's of people into the best shape of their lives, as well as taught, and trained many of the world's best kickboxers, and No Holds Barred fighters. John is sought out by professional martial artists from all over the world to learn Hawaiian Kempo... . Talk about nervous. This guy could have snapped me in half. He could have, but John was very cool. He and Jennifer allowed me to ask them a few questions. I asked more than four questions and John called me on it - "hey, you've asked more than four questions." He was right, I shouldn't say, "I have four questions for you," and then ask more and more. I'll watch that in the future. Christian, this is the best way to learn - go out and do it! Don't sit in church all your life studying "HOW TO," but never "DOING." At some point, you must trust that God will use what He has taught you up to this point and move out in obedience to share the Gospel. Please pray for John. Although he was very cool in allowing me to share with him, he was resistant towards the message. Remember, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Also, pray for Jennifer. She, at least at a couple of points in this short podcast, seems receptive. Father, have mercy on John and Jennifer. Humble them under Your mighty hand. AMEN

Keith

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 01:14:00 +0800

Keith was passing by when I stopped him and asked if he would be interested in being interviewed. He indicated that he was in fact a Christian - "washed in the blood." That's so cool! Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. It's not up to me to determine that. I'm just the messenger. God says, "preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15) So, that's what we must do. If Keith is in fact a Christian, he will rejoice in hearing the Good New again. If he isn't, he has the opportunity to hear that God Himself died to save sinners. Again, just because someone says that they are a Christian doesn't mean they are or are not. Just preach Christian! Remember Matthew 7:15-23? A Tree and Its Fruit "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "So then, you will know them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' We cannot be sure who is and who isn't a Christian, so preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they might be saved by God's grace.

Sunday's Open Air Part 2

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:34:00 +0800

After preaching for thirty minutes or so I sat down and began to pray and read some Scripture. Sawyer and I began talking a bit and things began to settle down. I passed out a few more tracts and had a nice conversation with two older couples before returning to my preaching stool. I thought about going home at this point - I was a bit tired. I sat down again and opened up the Bible and read Genesis 1:1. Without event thinking about it, I stood up and went for it again. What happened afterwords was really neat. When I finished, all the young adults that were standing there, stayed and engaged in more discussion. Most of them seemed to be genuinly interested and/or concerned. There were a half a dozen people who received Bibles and lots of tracts were passed out. God also provided a Christian couple, whom I had never met before, to minister to these young people. The Christian couple prayed with many of these kids. We read Scripture to them - they even read some Scripture out loud for themselves. This went on for another hour or so. Praise God! It was just amazing to see what God did in Pismo on Sunday afternoon. I thank God that I could join Him in His work. Christian, please come out some time and experience this with us. This is my prayer - that more laborers would come out into this harvest. Please, come out and share the Gospel with them - preach the Good News - have "beautiful feet." Romans 10:15-16 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!" Please pray for all those who heard the Gospel. Also thank God for His provision of faithful ministers to step up and love on these kids.

"ALLEN, MY NAME ISN'T KIEITH, IT'S JACOB!"

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:17:00 +0800

How gracious - I met a couple on Sunday afternoon in Pismo. There names are JACOB and Melissa. Note that I emphasize Jacobs name. I'm a bag of hammers! Did you know that? Yep! My new found friends Jacob and Melissa gave me twenty minutes of their lives and I kept calling Jacob, KEITH. I even called Melissa, "dude" at one point. Jacob and Melissa were the first encounter of the day. Maybe it was nerves, maybe I wasn't being a good listener, maybe it's like I said earlier - I AM a bag of hammers. Despite my short term memory, Jacob allowed me to call him "Kieth." Can you believe that? He never said, "Hey Allen, my name isn't Keith, it's Jacob!" He was very gracious. Please forgive me Jacob. Thank you for your time. Please pray for this very nice couple. They were both very tender towards the Good News.

Sunday's Open Air Part 1

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:51:00 +0800

It was just Sawyer and myself - the other seed sowers were at the Mid-State Fair witnessing and spending time with family. I don't typically open-air without my brothers there but Sunday was different. There was just too many people there not to open up and go for it. It may sound like I'm yelling - I'm not. Just raising my voice so everyone can hear. Jesus was passionate - to The Extreme - the Cross. The Gospel we preach is about Him and what He did. Shouldn't we be passionate too? I think so! In part two, I'll tell you what happened with many of the people who sat/stood and listened.

SLO Farmers Market

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:06:00 +0800

My brother Matt and I went to SLO Farmers Market on Thursday evening. I wasn’t hungry until we arrived – the smell of food permeated the air. It was warm and Higuera Street was crawling with people. Although we didn’t do any open air preaching, we again noted a really cool place to do it. Almost every time we’ve come to Farmers, there has been a captive audience sitting on these steps eating their food. Always keep your eye out for good fishing holes. Anyone up for it? Matt was excited. No – he was extremely zealous to share the Good News with the people gathered in SLO. It’s so cool to see a brother or sister in Christ, prayed up, pumped up, and on fire to share the Gospel. Armed with his Bible, assortment of tracts, clipboard, and spiritual survey, Matt jumped right in. Matt surveyed a gentleman named Jay (the guy with the leather hat and black shirt). Jay indicated that he had visited Calvary Chapel SLO a few times. Matt took Jay through the survey and Jay understood his personal sin and didn’t try to justify himself. He understood the Gospel, repentance and faith. We shared with Jay what it means to be born again. We asked him if he was born again - He wasn’t sure. I asked him if he died on the spot, if he had assurance that God would accept him though Jesus Christ. He lacked assurance for sure. I encourage him to get right with God, read his Bible daily, and get into a solid Gospel preaching church. He said that he would visit Grace SLO. Praise God. Matt introduced himself to a man named John who was sitting on a bench outside of one of the clothing stores. He was waiting for his girlfriend. John agreed to allow Matt to survey him but said, “you have three minutes.” Using the survey, Matt took John through sin, righteousness, and future judgement. John actually gave Matt more like five minutes before it was over with. I spoke with John’s girlfriend while Matt finished up with John. I found out that they are from Boston, visiting SLO. They took Gospel tracts, very politely thanked us and departed. We tag-teamed a group of young kids who was there with a Christian youth group. The youth leader was a young lady named Marley. Not knowing who was a believer and who wasn’t, we took the eight kids through a few of the Ten Commandments and then explained the Cross of Jesus. They all received tracts. The very next divine appointment we had was with two young men named Eric and David. They were enjoying some ice cream and were receptive to the survey. From the beginning they indicated that they were Mormon. Eric seemed to have a solid understanding of Mormon doctrine. Matt walked them through the survey, which contains questions that give a person the opportunity to express what they believe – in this case, the Mormon doctrine of Salvation. Even though they would deny salvation is by works with their words, and would with their words agree with the Protestant doctrine of saved by grace alone, they were trusting in their own works. They basically say, ‘yes Jesus atoned for our sins, making a way for us to be saved, but we must cooperate and work.’ In other words, their formula is this: JESUS + WORK = SALVATION. I have learned from other Christians that it is also helpful to the Mornon (or JW) to see the difference between the Jesus they worship and the Jesus we worship. The Mormons say that Jesus is Satan’s brother and that Jesus is created. We know that Jesus IS GOD in the flesh and we know that Jesus is the Creator and one of the Three divine Persons in the Godhead. After doing our best to help Eric and David understand that they worship a different Jesus. Then we expressed our concern that they make sure that they have the RIGHT Jesus. Here are some good passages to share: Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Also see Matthew 24:4-5; Galatians 1:6-8) Matt and I plead with Eric and David to “be sure” that they have the right Jesus. Both Eric and David took tracts. After finishing up with Eric and David, we turned around and ran into two other Mormons. Elder Beath and Elder Shipley (in the picture) agreed to the survey. Talk about spiritual warfare! As Matt was taking them through the survey, I was praying. This encounter went about the same as the previous – but these two Elders articulated the Mormon doctrine with confidence, again JESUS + WORK = SALVATION. So sad! Toward the end of this encounter, another lady named Marina showed up. Mariana was hosting Elder Beath and Shipley in her home. She got into the conversation with us. Shortly after that, another older couple walked up and began listening and engaging in the conversation intermittently – I believe they too were Mormon. All five of them were basically arguing that “faith without works is dead.” I shared Eph 2:8-9 & Gal 3:10-14, explaining that they are trusting in their own works. Before it was over with, this encounter turned into a min-open air – we preached the true Gospel to these five Mormons. Praise God! Matt continued speaking with Elder Beath and Shipley. I began speaking with Marina, asking her how they can know for sure if their “prophets” are speaking for their god. While we were talking, another guy walks up to Matt and the elders and begins to chastise the young Mormon missionaries for their physical stance. Note in the picture how they were standing with their arms folded. They also were standing up on the curb, Matt was standing down in the street. This guy, whom we never met before, began to tell these Mormon guys that they were standing over Matt with a posture of self-righteousness. Wow! He was a bit harsh, but I think it humbled these two young Mormons. We all shook hands, exchanged tracts and departed. However, we spent the next forty minutes or so with this guy who chastised the Mormons. His name is Brigtion. He is a very intelligent, articulate, religious young man. He grew up attending a Baptist church but over the last couple years began attending an Eastern Orthodox Church. Brighton was passionate about his beliefs. He quoted Scripture, OT & NT. He also quoted Jonathan Edwards, Church Fathers, C.S. Lewis, and others whom I’ve never heard of. We disagreed on much. Brighton’s motive was to debate doctrine and had high and lofty thoughts - but he had a man-centered view of God. Matt and I enjoyed our conversation with Brighton. Please pray for these individuals who heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get a recording of any of these encounters. However, I have something better. Have you ever heard of Paul Washer? If you have, you MUST listen to this. If you haven’t, you MUST listen to this. It’s a sermon that brother Paul preached on Romans 1:14 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” It blew me away – you will not be disappointed. You can hear more of his sermons here: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/ I highly recommend all of his sermons – I trust this will be for your edification.

A Day of Fishing

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:15:00 +0800

My brother Josh and I decided to “cast our nets” on Pismo Pier on Sunday. As we walked out on to the pier, we noticed a large group of people congregating out at the very end. By the time we were two-thirds of the way down there, we heard people saying things like, “that guy has something big on the end of his pole.” As we drew nearer, it was obvious that one of the fishermen did in fact have something large on the end of his line. There were many skeptics saying, “it’s probably an old boot or some sea weed.” I think I may have also been thinking that. But as we watched this guy, I found my skepticism was about to be proven out of line – pardon the pun. Whatever was on the end of this guy’s line was pulling him from one side of the pier to the other. He went where the fish went. He even got tangled up in the lines of other fishermen – this guy wasn’t giving up. His tenacity paid off after approximately 45 minutes. IT WAS A THRESHER SHARK! 7 FEET LONG! As this monster from the deep broke the water's surface, everyone gasped. Men, women, and children shrilled with excitement and fear. It took three full-grown men with rope gaffs to pull this fish up. We couldn’t believe it. The three fishermen wrestled this fish up over the railing, and on to the pier. One of the guys grabbed it by the tail to pull it out away from the edge of the pier. It took all this guy had to move it. Once out in open, where everyone could look at it, we were astonished – this beautiful animal was caught! It was neat to look at; but at the same time sad to see such an awesome creature gasping for it’s last breath – doing it’s best to stay alive. This reminded me what Christians are called to do. We are to be fishers of men! From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:17-20 Where is your “net” Christian? Where is your “pole?” Is it ready with good strong line on it? We must be persistent. We must have tenacity when it comes to fishing for the souls of men. We need to go where they go or your never going to catch any. Christian, are you willing to get “tangled up” with other Bible-believing Christians and go fishing and cast the gospel line? There are many skeptics to street evangelism. “It’s too much in your face,” they say. Our society is, “in your face.” Turn on the TV, walk down the street, do you hear the conversations that teens are having these days, do you see the bumper stickers, and T-shirts, it’s all about shock and awe – blasphemy, sexual immorality, covetousness – IN YOUR FACE! Very few people take great offence to street evangelism. They may take offence to the gospel, but that is to be expected. They didn’t receive our Lord’s gospel preaching either. Let’s “GO” fishing Christian! Let’s exert ourselves and drag them to the cross that they may die to themselves. Let’s help them to see their eternal destiny without Christ Jesus; pleading with them to trust in His blood alone for the forgiveness of sins. Christian, when you intentionally go out to share the good news with people, your heart’s desire must be to do nothing more than to glorify God, out of gratitude and with a deep sense of compassion for the lost. While we were fishing, I met a nice lady named Cammey (spelling?). Cammey is a pastor’s daughter. She briefly shared here story with me and told me in no uncertain terms that she was not born-again. The audio of this podcast stops abruptly. My battery died! I couldn’t believe it. I thought about not posting this but I want you to hear Cammey’s voice, keeping in mind, this very nice lady isn’t saved. She understands the gospel – we chatted about it for some time. Cammey also understands what her response should be. Namely to die to herself, repent of sin, turning to Christ in faith. She understands! I asked her why she hadn’t called on God to save her. It sounded like she wanted what she wanted and that is that. Cammey is very tender towards the truth of the Bible, the gospel, and God so please, please lift her up in your prayers. Here are a couple more names you can lift up in prayer: A family of three: Keith, Tracey, and Breanna. Keith is in the Air Force and has served our country in the Middle East. He and Tracey both have a ‘buffet’ sort of belief system. A bit of everything - not holding firmly to any one religion. Claiming the old standby: “there are many roads to God.” They gave me 10 or 15 minutes of their time and I was grateful. Even though they resisted the idea of Jesus being the only way to God, they seemed open minded and they took tracts. Please pray for this young family. In the previous podcast, I talked to a Jehovah’s Witness named Miranda. Right after that encounter, I met another Jehovah’s Witness and we began to chat. While we were talking, an oriental man came up and began listening intently to our conversation. After our conversation ended, I asked the man, “what do you think about Christianity?” Chandler was in his sixties. He told me he grew up in Cambodia. Both his parents are Buddhist. He indicated that he lived most of his life as a Buddhist. He told me where he grew up and how he had to live in wartime in Cambodia – wow, make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. During our conversation, I did my best to weave sin, righteousness, judgement, the Cross-, repentance and faith. By the end of our conversation, Chandler said that he better understood the Christian message. Please pray for Chandler as well.

Asking the Four Big Questions in Life

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:19:00 +0800

If you’ve ever wanted a good way to start a witnessing encounter, here it is. Just ask a person, “Hey, can I ask a couple of interesting questions?” I know this may seem way too up front and in your face but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how many people respond positively. They may say, “What are the questions?” You can then say something like “Well, these are the four big questions in life.” Then ask the first question. These questions are really cool because they relate to everyone, no matter who they are. They are inoffensive questions that most people have thought about and don’t mind sharing with you what they believe. Here are the questions: The Four Big Questions in Life 1. Where did you ultimately come from? 2. Why are you here? 3. What is your standard of living? 4. What will happen to you when you die? This podcast is an encounter I had with nice lady named Chris. I sensed that Chris might have ended the conversation quickly had I used the Law the way we normally would – the “Good Person Test”. “Have you ever told a lie? Yes. What does that make you, etc.” I believe it is equally effective to use my personal testimony to take a person through the Law. You can say something like, “When I first started reading the Bible, I read that God sees looking with lust as adultery of the heart. I also read that God hates lying and stealing. The Bible also says that if you hate your brother you are a murder at heart and that God takes great offence when we use His name in vain. I began to understand that I was in trouble on the day of Judgement because the Bible says all liars will have their place in the lake of fire. It also says that no thief, adulator, or blasphemer will inherit the kingdom of God.” In our fallen nature mankind interprets sin as ‘hurting one another’ – violating mankind. When we sin against man, Who’s Law are we breaking? God’s Law! Christian, we must help them to see that sin is primarily vertical – God being the offended party and that He is infinitely just. He must punish because justice is in accordance with His own nature – His character. Christian, you can do this! Please lift Chris and her family up in your prayers.

Lacey in the Courtroom

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:56:00 +0800

This is an encounter I had with a young lady named Lacey. She was sitting on a bench in Pismo when I asked here if I could talk to her about spiritual things. I knelt down and we had this conversation. I know there are many of you that don’t have the time to listen to each encounter. In order for you to see how important it is to use the Ten Commandments when you evangelize, I am going to give you some quotes from Lacey. Like Lacey, I to before God converted me, was extremely man-centered (selfish). I to had the, “hey, hey, it’s all about ME” attitude. Oh, I would use language to make someone think I was concerned for others, sensitive, and loving, but inside, it was all about me. Lacey’s statements are very revealing. Allen: Why are you here? What’s your purpose for being on earth? Lacey: “I’m here to learn. I’m here so my soul can gain the knowledge and information to be more perfect in the other world?” Allen: What if I was to tell you that there was a Creator and He decided before the world was even formed that He would form and earth and a universe and place mankind here so that we could reflect who he is and that we would worship Him – how would you feel about that? Lacey: “I think if there is a god, that it’s not about him it’s about us. If he made us perfect and he made us in his image, he didn’t make us to worship him. I don’t think that he wants us living our lives for him, he wants us living for ourselves and for our souls and to better us, not him.” Lacey was indeed intense and feisty. You can hear it in her tone of voice. However, I believe it’s just her personality. In addition to being feisty, Lacey is very self-righteous. Here are a few of Lacey’s statements that queued me in on her self-righteousness and the need to stay in the realm of the conscience – pressing her with the Ten Commandments (Rom 7:7, Gal 3:24). Lacey: “I’m here to live my life and do good as far as I see as good, I don’t hurt people, I lie and I steal but I don’t do it to hurt people.” Lacey: “The majority of people on this planet are not very good people.” Lacey: “I’ve found what works for me and what helps me be a good person everyday and that’s all that I need.” Lacey also didn’t like the doctrine of Hell. Like an atheist, the one thing that throws them into a mad frenzy is the doctrine of eternal punishment. Why do you think that is? If a criminal is convinced of his innocence – punishment is unreasonable to the max. To them the thought of throwing an innocent person into prison is highly offensive and wrong, and so it is. However, if the person is guilty of breaking the law, they deserve punishment. Mankind – Allen, Lacey and the atheist alike have committed “cosmic treason” against a Holy God. We deserve His wrath, judgement, and Hell for eternity. Here are a few more of Lacey’s statements: “…I don’t believe that if I’m a decent person inside, whether I’ve committed sins or not, I think that the overall soul of a person is what is gives. I don’t think I would go to hell.” “I don’t think our god is evil. I don’t think our god is mean like that were he’s going to send us there.” Don’t you see? Lacey’s greatest problem is that she sees herself as innocent or at least that she is “overall” good. She didn’t like the courtroom analogy either. Why? Because it helps them understand justice and in conjunction with the Law, it makes punishment reasonable. I trust that even though Lacey resisted, the Holy Spirit will have His way with her conscience. When a person like Lacey begins to feel the weight of their sin, they often will try to justify themselves as you have seen above. The other thing that they will try to do is set up the proverbial straw man; doing their best to dodge the real issue their sin. They want to take you down a rabbit-trail. Some of these arguments we should be prepared to address and others simply ignore. Here is a rabbit-trail that Lacey brought up that I purposefully didn’t address. “Organized religion is very bad for our population.” Christian, you can go down that road and prove to the lost person why religion isn’t bad. But it will not help the individual you are speaking with understand their personal sin before God. It will not get them to a place where they see Jesus Christ paying the price for their sin and making the only way for them to be reconciled with their God. I’m not saying we shouldn’t ever answer these types of questions. I think we should, if we recognize the question as legitimate and sincere – instead of something for the individual to hide behind, trying to dodge the real issue at hand. Here is another rabbit-trail that a self-righteous person will try. “The Bible was written by man.” With Lacey, I did my best to address this issue. I didn’t do such a good job, but I felt I needed to try and knock that straw man down so she could see that she couldn’t hide there. Apologetics are awesome. I think Christians should spend some time leaning ways to defend our faith and to be ready to give people answers. But, I believe that next to prayer, the Law of God is our greatest weapon when we share our faith. Please pray for Lacey. Pray that God would overcome her self-righteousness and help her see her need for our great God Jesus Christ.

A Young Jehovah’s Witness Named Miranda

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:27:00 +0800

I met a sixteen-year-old girl named Miranda on Sunday in Pismo. At the beginning of our discussion I found out that Miranda had a Jehovah’s Witness background. When she told me about her religious background I thought to myself, ‘here we go.’ I thought for sure we would have to go around and around about the deity of Jesus Christ. I was wrong. I didn’t seem that Miranda was indoctrinated or convinced with the Watchtower Society teachings yet. Please pray for this little girl. Ask God to protect her from Satan. Ask God to bind the Devil and enlighten her mind and obey the gospel.