Remember Lot's Wife!! Are you kidding me Lord!?

Remember Lot's Wife...that is what the Lord told me to preach on this past Monday night while speaking in the DTS up in Discovery Bay for their Monday evening community service.  There was just one problem, I had already planned a teaching for that evening, and it had nothing to do with Lots wife!  I told the Lord that I had already prepared a great sermon for the evening.  He told me He did not care, and I was to speak on Lots wife.  I begged and pleaded with God, that's not the type of thing you preach on your first evening some place!  As much as I did not want, to, I obeyed and spend Monday afternoon coming up with my teaching.  I was not to happy to have to speak on Lot's wife, but when God says to do so you better.  So I preached my sermon, and to be honest, I had a tough time because it covers some heavy topics.  Anyway, as we were having coffee and fellowship after the meeting a lady came up to me, and stared my in the eyes and said, "I am the reason the Lord changed your plans and told you to preach on Lot's wife".  I was shocked to say the least, but as she explained what she meant by that it became apparent to me that the Lord had a specific word for that lady through the message.  Obedience to God, no matter how hard our awkward, is always the best choice.  In my teaching I had a phrase where I said, "Hesitation to obedience will result in the isolation of disobedience". This is the word the Lord had for that lady.  In certain areas of her life she was disobeying God and needed to repent and change that.  Moral of the story I guess is when God asks you to do stuff...do it.

A Week in Discovery Bay

This past week I was up in Discovery Bay, WA speaking on evangelism in their fall DTS.  It was a great week.  I think the highlight of the week for the students was when I took thenm out to do evangelism.  For all of them, it was the first time doing anythign like that.  One student was brought to tears during one of our witnessing times.  I was speaking with a young man about the Gospel, etc..  During our discussion, he stopped me and said, "Here is what I do not understand, how could it be that just because a guy died, all my sins would be forgiven?"  I looked at him and sais, "You know, I completely agree, there is no way that just because a man died all our sins could be forgiven...but on that day on the cross, it was not a man dying, it was God who died."  The young man took a few seconds and asked me, "What?  You mean God died?"  I then shared the Gospel and in specifics about the incarnation of Christ.  As he walked away one of the students said that today was the first time in her life that she was brought to the reality that God died for her.  Even hearing it for years in church, something triggered that truth in that discussion.  Just in that one afternoon, students spoke to Muslims, Satanists, Athiests, Wiccans, and many "religous" people. 

It was great having Abby and Autumn sit and listen to me teach.

By far the best part of the week was spending a lot of time with Abby and Autumn.  So blessed to be able to have had this time with them.

I took the students into the city to evangelize.  They were speaking to people about ghosts.  Great time.

Pumpkin Patches and a Birthday

Fall here in Oregon is all about apple picking and hitting the local pumpkin patches for a day of fun. As you can see, the kids are getting bigger by the day.  Alistair turned 2 on the 26th and enjoyed gorging himself on pumpkin pie.

Alistair excited to blow out some candles.

The Birthday Boy

16 Years Later!

On October 16th, Sarah and I celebrated our 16th Anniversary.  We spent the day as any true North-westerner should...in the outdoors.   We hiked along the beautiful Comlobia River Gorge to a lookout place called Angels Rest.  Truly blessed with the faithfulness of God in our lives,marriage, and family!  If you think of it...it also marked our 16th year serving the Lord in YWAM!  Where is the time going?

No justice after death

This has been an amazing month so far as we have been speaking to people on the streets about their beliefs in spirits, ghosts, etc...  We have seen 3 people give their lives to Christ over the past two weeks and have had some other amazing conversations.  One of the things that has struck out to me so far this month in our conversations with people is how so many people believe in justice here on earth, but do not belief in a justice after death.  The logic just does not make sense.  One man in particular was having a tough time grasping the grace of God.  He said there was no way he could believe in a God who would forgive someone as nasty as Adolph Hitler on his death bed if he sincerely asked forgiveness.  I spoke with him a bit about God's love, justice, grace and mercy...but nothing seemed to be getting through.  Then I approached it a different way and asked him that if he had three kids, and two of them turned out good, but one ended up messing up their life, becoming a criminal, doing horrible things, etc... If this person found out they had a terminal disease and were on their deathbed, and they asked to see you and with all their heart asked forgiveness from you for how they treated you as their father and how they messed up their life, would you not forgive them?  The look on the guys eyes said it all.  Of course he would forgive him.  How much more would the God of this world forgive those that deserve justice?  He realized his logic was flawed, and that making the excuse of God forgiving a "bad" person on their deathbed was just a scape goat for the real reason he did not believe in God would not cut it.  I continued to share the Gospel with him and prayed for him.  These past two weeks we have had tons of these types of conversations.

In Our New Office!

This past week we finally move in to the Gospel Guy Network office in downtown Salem.  I am so excited about this!  We could not of asked for a better location in the city and we are looking forward to seeing how this office can be of great use to the ministry.  already on the day we were moving in the guy who was putting our decals on the window ended up sitting there with me for about 45 minutes and I was able to share the Gospel with him.  One of the awesome testimonies of this office is that the rent is being paid by the 5 churches who are part of the network.  What a blessing!  We still have some decorating to do on the inside, but when all is said and done, we are stoked!

Captive by Demons...Freed by Christ...

This month we are talking to people on the streets about their beliefs in ghosts, spirits, the afterlife, etc... the month of October is always a great month to talk to people about this stuff since it is the month of Halloween.  Today, we were asking the question..."Do you believe in the spiritual world?"  As we prayed and asked the Lord to send us the lost, a young man approached us and I asked him the question.  He responded "Absolutely...I have personally experienced this type of stuff."  I asked him to share what he meant.  He went on to explain that there has been a few times in his life where he has been held down in his bed by a dark shadow. During those times he has not been able to move, or even talk.  He said that during those times he feels terrified and is not able to do anything but  wait until whatever it is lets him go.  We went on in our conversation, and I then began to share with him what I believed those "shadows" were....demons mean to keep him from Christ.  As I began to ask him questions, and answer his questions, it became apparent this guy wanted to find new life in Christ.  After speaking to him for about 30 minutes, this young man surrendered his life to Christ and as he did, he said, "I dont know what just happened, but I literally feel a strange tingling in my body and I feel happy."  Don't get me wrong, I don't rest anything in peoples feelings, but I truly believe that Holy Spirit and that time was doing something in him as he became born again.  We exchanged numbers.  Pray that this young man will begin to be discipled and find a good church and mentorship.

Invading Peoples Lives with the Gospel

When we bring people on the streets with us, one of the biggest hurdles we run into is people's fear in not wanting to "disturb" or "interrupt" people and talk to them.  I see this all the time, and to be honest, have experienced it in my own life many times.  However, when we read the Bible, we see God doing just that...invading peoples lives with the Gospel.  Jesus invaded this world to bring salvation, and He brought truth that confronted mankind. I tell people who come on the streets with us that invading somebodies life and confronting them with truth is indeed Biblical, and actually, one of the most loving things you can do for them.  Like the martians in the picture above, we need to invade the world for the Gospel. Today on the streets we saw two people give their lives to Christ because we stepped out in faith and chose to confront them with the truth of the Gospel.  We also had an angry atheist give us an ear full.  When we proclaim the Gospel, truth cuts to the heart of man.  Some receive it, and some do not.  We measure our success in our obedience to the call...not the fruits of our obedience to the call.  I encourage you to invade someones world with the message of the Gospel...for it in the end is truly the most loving thing we can do.