Gospel Blunders

Two ladies in our church had just finished evangelism training and were picking out tracts from my store to go hit the streets with. They both loved the Curved Illusion tracts and decided to buy those. 

As we were driving to our fishing hole they realized to their horror that they had bought tracts that required them to actually speak to people! Gasp! They're big chickens just like I am, and we had a great laugh at their blunder. I was so encouraged when they used them anyway with great results. 

 Gospel blunders…making us smile and keeping us humble. ;-)

Q & A

Question: What do cancer surgery, a kidney stone, a stroke, heart trouble and a death in the family all have in common? 

Answer: They are all things that have happened this past week to different members of our dear church, and they all serve as reminders that we aren't guaranteed another moment; that life is but a vapor.

What does this have to do with you? Well, if you are a Christian I hope it compels you to go share the Gospel while you still have time.

And if you're not a Christian I hope it compels you to get right with God while you still have time. www.NeedGod.com

Guest Blogger - Wally Austin

The Blessings Of A Heart Attack

"My heart attack was God's plan. It was a blessing as it allowed me to see how much He loves me. He showed me how blessed I was to have so many brothers and sisters in Christ who prayed, called, visited, and emailed me. He showed me the value of having a great local church to care for me. He showed me how much I need Him to even live for one more heart beat. He also showed me that He does not need me, but He allows me to do part of His will while I am here. 

Our God is awesome. He is completely sovereign and does whatever He wants. Thank You Jesus.

Is 46:9-10 'Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,'

Ps. 115:3 'But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.'

Col 1:16-17 'For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.'

Rom 8:28 'And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.'"

Amen. :-)

Just reflecting...

June 24 – Ray Comfort's Audacity movie released today. Had a very good bible study with the ladies' from church. Two ladies shared how they have been passing out The Biggest Question DVD. Impromptu dinner and evangelism at Applebee's after study where I wished I had a copy of The Biggest Question and Audacity on me. ;-)

June 25 – A friend watched Audacity with her daughter who just came out of a lesbian relationship. Thank you God for making Audacity.

June 26 – Woke up to hear the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of homosexual marriage. God's perfect timing is so evident in releasing Audacity two days ago. Friend Kristen watched The Biggest Question with her unsaved parents. After watching about 10 minutes her mom said, "I can tell you right now I don't like that Todd Friel guy." Lol. 

June 27 – Ran out of tracts while out running errands. Ahhh! That night hit the streets for evangelism with several from Heritage Grace church. 

June 28 – Church, finally! Thanking God the ruling on gay marriage came out on a Friday and not a Monday; waiting two days to be in full fellowship with the brethren was long enough. Three people we met during last night's evangelism came to our service today – one Hindu and two Christians. 

June 29 – Working for Wretched, answering emails, sending thank you's working on a project for www.LifeIsBest.TV. Meeting with the Hindu lady that came to church yesterday. 

June 30 – Kristen is scheduled to have dinner with her parents again…mom wants to share more thoughts on The Biggest Question. Glad they're still thinking about what they watched. 

Very thankful for a full week. :-)

“William Carey the great pioneer of modern missions, cobbled shoes in England.  But you know what he did while he cobbled shoes?  Right in front of his face, every day, was a map of the world.  And he wept over it, and he prayed over it, and he planned over it, and he strategized over it.  And one day God hit the launch button and said you’re gone from the shoe business, William Carey.  And he landed in India and he opened India to the gospel for every missionary who’s gone there since.  And God used a man who was a faithful man in the present who proved himself a capable man, and it was a man who had a vision for the future.  And he planned and when the time came, he was ready."John MacArthur

Let’s aim to be faithful in the present. Where we are right now.  

“I’m afraid that there are some people even in seminary, some young people in seminary, they’re just going through the motions of seminary trying to get the grades done.  They’re not involved in an effective, dynamic ministry now, so they’re not proving themselves for a future one.  And they’re not strategizing for anything in the future and then when they come out of school, they really don’t have anything, because they haven’t prepared themselves to do anything by the route of faithfulness, and they haven’t planned to do anything by virtue of evaluating the need and setting a strategy.  You’ve got to be ready.” – John MacArthur

May God help us to reach the lost, to pass out tracts, DVDs and bibles where we are right now to those around us as we go about our days.

”So he (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”  – Acts 17:17

The Righteous Aren't Always As Bold As A Lion. Lol

After ladies’ bible study last night, my friend Kristen and I were hungry. It was late, so we headed to the closest thing still open, which was Applebee’s. It was a beautiful night and they have a nice patio outside, so we decided to sit outside along with about 6 other people sitting at various tables. Immediately, we gave the young guy that seated us a tract. He actually pulled up a chair while he tried to answer the I.Q. test question on the front. Turns out he was Seventh-Day Adventist, so we got to fully share the gospel with him. 

After we had been eating for a bit, a very effeminate guy with a purse walks into the patio area and sits directly behind me. Our eyes got huge. We had just been talking about Ray Comfort's new movie, Audacity, which had been released that very day. Oh, how we wished we had an Audacity tract to give to him! A Biggest Question DVD or a 180 Movie tract would be just as good though, we decided. People love getting free movies.

"I think I have some in my car," Kristen said and she quickly jumped up to go look, but came back empty handed. She couldn't find any.

By now the patio is FULL of people who all seem to be smoking, and one table even had a cute pit bull puppy. Suddenly, fear gripped me just thinking about giving them tracts (and it was not because of their dog, lol). I start digging through my bag trying to find a tract that would allow for a quick getaway and come up with my "Doggit" tract and start tossing them across the table to Kristen.

"Why are you giving them all to me?!" she said. 

"Because I'm suddenly terrified," I said. "You tract the whole patio and I'll give a bathing suit tract to the guy with a purse behind me." 

"Okay," she said. She didn't seem terrified at all.

We paid the bill, grabbed our stuff and our tracts and she took off to the table of 5 people with the pit bull. I turned around to the effeminate guy behind me and say, "Here's a gift for you. Don't turn it over until you think you know the answer. I'll give you a hint it's not a bathing suit, uh, I mean, it's not an asian outfit!" I totally blundered, and then see Kristen leaving the patio. She had only tracted the pit bull table and was now making a beeline for the car. I was quickly hot on her heels digging for my keys, but couldn't find them. Panic is setting in. Did I leave them on the table? “I hope not!”

By this point Kristen was no help. She was just sitting on the curb laughing hysterically and taking my picture as I'm frantically digging for my keys.

"I thought you were going to give tracts to everyone!" I said.

"I was, but then I chickened out." she said.

Keys! I found them! Praise God!

We sat on the curb laughing at ourselves and our fear of man. No angry mob came running out after us. Those people may have been really receptive to the gospel, and hopefully heaven will show the rewards.

When I got home Kristen texted me, "I just looked in my backseat and there's a whole bag full of 180 tracts."

Figures. Lol. 

#BiggestQuestion  #180movie.com #Evangelism

Guest Blogger - Kristen Rasor (My Assistant)

One of the hardest things about being married to an unbeliever is when your husband asks you to do something for him and you have to tell him no because your conscience won't allow. Like when my unbelieving husband asked me to make business cards for his hobby/side job that included a slogan that was not God honoring in the least. Despite his excitement I knew I couldn't do it; but how to tell him knowing he wouldn't understand and was likely to get angry?  

I prayed, asked for prayer, and waited for him to get home from work. 

And then I chickened out. 

Things were peaceful in the home, which wasn't always the case because of my faith, and I wasn't looking forward to that changing. 

The next day I knew it was only a matter of time until he asked if I had worked on the cards, so I decided to text him:

"I've been thinking about the business cards 

and I won't be able to help. My conscience 

won't allow. The slogan isn't God honoring. 

Not to take anything away from your skills 

at all though because they're off the hook 

crazy good."

And then, crickets. No reply at all. "What does THAT mean?!", I wondered. 

He came home that night, barely speaking to me, so I went for a walk and started praying hard. About two hours later he started talking and acting like nothing was wrong. "What does THAT mean?!", I wondered again. Only God knows for sure. 

It's now 5 days later and he still hasn't mentioned anything about my text or the business cards. I'm just trusting in The Lord and praying that He will use that text somehow to save him. 

If you're married to an unbeliever too, don’t lose heart in doing good. God knows what He's up to. Just keep running the course. :-)

From The Mail Bag

I love hearing your evangelism stories as they encourage me greatly; even seemingly simple ones like this one that came into the ministry yesterday. Great are the rewards in heaven. :-)

"I have to tell you about my last grocery store trip.  I saw the cashier and was certain I had given him a million dollar bill before, so considered not doing it again.  But then I saw the sacker was new.  I couldn't hand the sacker a million dollars and not the cashier, as that would appear rude.  So I gave both of them million dollars and the tract with all four movies on it.  The cashier said, "I love these million dollar bills!"  So I asked, "Have you read the back?"  He said, "Yes, I read all of it."  Then I remembered his face again as the cashier that told me once, "Look I already have one of these million dollar bills," as he opened his wallet to show me he carries it around with him. I have given him at least three million dollar bills, maybe more.  

I often don't hand them out to people I know for certain I have given them to in the past.  My reasons: 1. I don't want to be harassing. 2. That allows me to give that tract to someone else who hasn't received one before. But I learned from this grocery store trip that I should not worry about handing a tract to someone more than once. That person just might need another one and he or she can certainly pass them along to someone else who hasn't received one." ~Candace W.