THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS

And what did God the Father give us for Christmas?

For God so loved us that He gave us His only begotten Son, born to save His people from their sins; regenerated our hearts that we may repent and believe in Him and so not perish, but have everlasting life.



Merry Christmas from all both of us at The Word Street Journal.

Paul & Kim

KIM BREAKS THE SOUND BARRIER

Street evangelism, as any other form of evangelism, is always a work in progress.

As time goes on for Christians who regularly bring the gospel out from the pages of the Bible and into the public square, there seems to be a progression of courage, confidence and tactics to assure the gospel is effectively given out to the general public.

Kim and I have been bringing the gospel to the streets of Ottawa together now for the past two and half years. We are still growing in this ministry. We are still learning. We are still a work in progress. And by God's grace, we pray we will always be.

The posted video documents Kim's first open air venture which took place this past weekend prior to my gospel presentation. A calling not of anyone else's but God's. A moving of His Spirit in her heart to call peoples' attention to the truth and glory of God in the public reading of Christmas carols and, more importantly, God's own word.

Our prayer is that other Christians who may be sensing a call to go the extra mile for the Lord in evangelism, may be encouraged by being witness to the ease and simplicity of Kim's presentation and follow suit.



But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

JESUS AND SANTA

OK, so it's new to me. I like it.

OPEN LETTER TO TIGER WOODS

Len, over at One Over 99 blog, saved me alot of time in writing this open letter to Tiger Woods. I had thought of doing something of the same but Len seems to have been first to the keyboard.

While every media outlet is thrashing against Tiger Woods for his adultery, published by many who I am sure are no less guilty of the same, whether in body and/or mind, Len offers Tiger hope...eternal hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Good News that tells of our Savior who came to earth to save wretches like me, wretches like you and wretches like Tiger Woods.

Unlike us, he may be world famous and popular, but in the eyes of the Lord: "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

It's so good to see a sinner saved by grace point out for a sinner in need of grace, where that grace may be found. And I pray Mr Woods gets a hold of this and takes it to heart.

...............................

Here is Len's letter:

Tiger,

I have prayed for you. You may not believe it, but its a good thing that all of this happened to you right now. Can you see what you have done? I mean really see... Surely you understand the hurt you have placed in your wife's heart, right? Your family and your friends... Well I'm talking about something bigger. Much bigger!

I want you to understand something... Even the things that haven't been brought into the light are actually not hidden from the light... What I mean is, the Light, is Jesus. He has seen every thing you have done. There are no secrets from Him. The Bible tells us that when we die, we go before Him for judgment. I know you may feel like He is a loving God, and He is, but He is also a just God. He will judge you for everything you have done in thought and deed just like He will judge any average person.

The fears you feel of "What will everyone think", and "What is going to happen to everything I have worked for?" are valid. But you should really be thanking God that you didn't die in that accident you had in front of your house, man. Because you would have faced Jesus right then for judgment, and He would have sent you to hell for eternity. I know it sounds serious , bro, because it is.

You may be very wealthy and famous in society, but to God you are a mere mortal, created by His hands. His, to do with what He wants. Its very obvious to me that He has given you the ultimate chance of pardon from this. Is it obvious to you?

I have a personal relationship with God and know very well that you can too. He is attainable. But you can not have it in the sinful state you are in. You have to understand that He wouldn't even look upon His only begotten Son with all of our sin upon Him while hanging from the cross. You are certainly not any better than that.

Listen, God knows everything you have ever done, good or bad. The Bible actually tells us that our good deeds are filthy menstrual rags. It also says if we look upon a woman with lust we have committed adultery with her in our heart. If we have ever told a lie or if we have ever hated someone we have broken the ten commandments. Jesus half brother, James, said if you offended one of the ten, you broke them all. God sees each and every time too. For breaking His law, we have to pay the fine. The fine is eternal life in hell.

But there is a free gift that God provides which allows us to escape His wrath. You can go to heaven, but you must be born again. God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross as payment of our fine. Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin. He lived a perfect and sinless life. He died on the cross and rose in three days. He satisfied God's wrath so we don't have to.

In order to get that free gift you must do something. You must repent (turn from sin) and be born again. When you are born again, you become a new man. The old one dies. There is a true change in your life of the way you live. You love others. You read the Word every day and do what is says. You won't want to sin, the more you come to know Jesus. It just happens.

You have to put God first in everything in your life. Jesus is Lord of your life not you. He said, "If any man come after me, he should deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

So, its not just saying that you believe with your mouth like some people say and then continue to live your life with yourself first. Its being committed to Christ first, loving others, and then yourself.

SO you need to stop what you are doing, and tell Him you are sorry. You need to pray. If you don't feel as sorry for sinning against Him as you do for cheating on your wife, then you need to.

This is the real deal. God doesn't give the gift of eternal life to a prideful heart. You must be broken. You will only get it if you completely understand that you stand naked in your sin in front of an angry and just God. Understand that is up to Him to whom He gives His mercy and grace.

You're not a famous anybody to Him. I want you to think about this and get back to me. Call me or email me and we can sit and talk about this in depth.

I'm going to pray for you, but I can't save you. A whole church full of Christians can't save you with their prayer. Only God can save you. Its up to Him.

Stay in touch with me. Let me know what you think. I'll do my best to biblically answer any questions you may have.

Take it easy. It was nice of you to listen to me.

Thanks.

Len

HT: Bring the Noiz

LET'S GO TO JAMAICA!

Aaahhh, Jamaica!

Sunshine, ocean beaches, waterside hotels, wonderful culture, array of colors, spiritually and physically impoverished people, great music, posh resorts, delicious food, luxurious landscape, etc.

A bunch of guys from Orlando jetted off to Jamaica recently and immersed themselves for a few days in just one of the above attributes of the country...with only one purpose in mind.



THIS is mission evangelism!

With glory to God and thanks to the team at Bring the Noiz.

THE GOSPEL BEFORE THE SANTA PARADE

There is nothing new in stating that Christmas is more about Santa than about Jesus. On Saturday evening, Kim and I took a 1 hour window of opportunity to present the saving gospel of Christ, by voice and by tract, to the Santa anxious crowds at the Ottawa Help Santa Toy Parade.




Important note: even though at times it may it look as though nobody is listening to the gospel message, it is always the case that, from my viewpoint on the preaching stand, there is always a person or some people in the crowd on the peripheral or in the distance, who seem to be listening intently. Then there are those who I can easily tell are pretending not to be listening, but their glances and body language reveal otherwise.

But even if nobody were really listening, we must preach on! We find truth in the Bible when it says that God's word will not return to Him void. We must trust Him with that and remain faithful to the preaching of His Word.

Preaching the gospel, in spirit and truth, is never for nothing!

WHEN IS IT TIME FOR TRUE CHRISTIANS TO GO TO THE MAT?

Brian Dufala, of Proclaim the Truth, presents an excellent article on the TRUE Christian's call to take a stand for Christ, to lovingly proclaim the truth of the saving gospel to the lost, and that without compromise, no matter how it is received by those who hear it.

A very encouraging exhortation, indeed.

Here is an excerpt from "When is it Time for True Christians to go to the Mat?":

"Because Christianity has been, and will continue to be invaded by tares (false Christians), we must understand that this is a battle we will always have to fight. And yet, it is not easy. It is not easy calling out friends and family, and other supposed Christians when they are preaching a false gospel. So, the question remains: when do we go to the mat and when do we remain silent? That is not an easy question to answer because the danger is always present that we become divisive in the name of truth. We have to be delicate and balanced. We have to go to the mat in love. We have to proclaim the truth, but try to do so in as winsome a way as possible. We will offend people because of the gospel, but we have to try to not be offensive in the way we do it. To my regret, I have not always done this correctly. All Christians will fail at this from time to time. But, it must be always on our mind as we seek to be salt and light."

Read this short and to the point article here at Proclaim the Truth.