Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas

It is that time of year when the atheists try to remove Christ from Christmas. They want the "mas" that includes the lights, trees, parties, gifts, etc., but not the "Christ". They don't want to admit that Christ exists otherwise they would be forced to face the realization that they are one day going to stand before Him, bow their knee, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and then be judged for the sin they committed against their Holy, Righteous Creator.

So instead, they push to take out any reference of Him by calling the season, the holiday season and we now have Happy Holidays, holiday trees, holiday parties, etc.

But did you know that the word holiday derives from the Middle English word, holidai, which means Holy Day and that word came from the Old English words halig (holy) and daeg (day).

So the next time someone says Happy Holidays, you could inform them about the root of word holiday, explain to them that the birth of our Savior is a Holy day of Holy days. Now you have a natural spring board into the Gospel.

We were created by a Holy God. "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) But then we rebelled (sinned) against Him, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and with sin comes punishment "for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) This punishment is eternal because God is eternal and our sins are against Him; "These will go away into eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46) We all deserve this punishment!

But this is the Good News, "for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) who lived a perfect, sinless life, always obedient to the Father. "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8) creating a way for us to be reconciled to God; "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also those of the whole world." (1 John 2:2) And this forgiveness is a free gift, "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. " (Romans 6:23) The bible teaches that forgiveness is received by grace alone, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) This forgiveness is demonstrated by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36) and repentance (turning) from sin, "From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'." (Matthew 4:17)

Crosswalk

Ray Comfort Live

Ambassadors Alliance radio that was hosted by Tony "The Lawman" Miano and Bart McCurdy is now becoming Ray Comfort, Live. The show will air on blog talk radio every Monday through Friday from 2 PM until 3 PM (PST).

This is what Tony Miano had to say about the show; "Join Ray as he shares his 30+ years of biblical evangelism and open-air preaching experience. The show will include daily, live witnessing encounters, you'll hear from interesting guests, plus news about the persecuted church, and the passion, wisdom, and humor of Ray Comfort."

One of the street fishers will be Trish Ramos of Fish with Trish.

You would pity me indeed!

This post is taken from grace gems and can be found here Grace Gems. I hope this helps you examine your heart as much as it has helped me examine mine. God Bless.


You would pity me indeed!
(Letters of John Newton)

Dear friend,Wickedness prevails and increases in our city to a dreadful degree! Our streets are filled with the sons of Belial, who neither fear God, nor regard man. I wish my heart was more affected with what my eyes see and my ears hear every day! I am often ready to fear lest the Lord should show His displeasure in some dreadful way!

And surely, if He were strict to mark all that is amiss--I myself would tremble! Oh, were He to plead against me--I could not answer Him one word! Alas! my dear friend, you know not what a poor, unprofitable, unfaithful creature I am! If you knew the evils which I feel within, and the snares and difficulties which beset me from without--you would pity me indeed!

So much forgiven--yet so little love to Jesus.

So many mercies--yet so few returns.

Such great privileges--yet a life so sadly below them.

Indwelling sin presses me downwards; when I would do good, evil is present with me! I can attempt nothing--but it is debased, polluted and spoiled by my depraved nature! My sins of omission are innumerable. In a word, there is . . .
much darkness in my understanding,
much perverseness in my will,
much disorder in my affections,
much folly and madness in my imagination!

In short, I am a riddle to myself--a heap of inconsistency!

Alas! when shall it be otherwise? I have a desire of walking with God--but I cannot attain unto it. Surely it is far better to depart, and to be with Jesus Christ--than to live here up to the ears in sin and temptation!

But, "We have an Advocate with the Father." Here my hope revives! Though wretched in myself--I am complete in Him! He is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. On this "Rock" I build--for time and eternity!

Evangelism Training and Outreach

Do you want to learn how to biblically share your faith? Ray Comfort with Way of the Master Ministries is holding an evangelism training conference and outreach event July 24-26 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The conference begins Friday evening with a time of worship and then training. It continues all day Saturday with an outreach Saturday evening in Indianapolis. Sunday morning there is an outreach at the Allstate 400 race where, by God's grace, they plan to pass out 100,000 gospel tracts.

The cost for the training is only $20 (there is an additional $20 fee if you attend the race on Sunday morning.) After the race on Sunday morning, you can attend the church service where Ray Comfort is preaching at E91st Street Church.

You can read more about the conference here http://www.onemilliontracts.com/wotmconference/index.html

Do You Share Your Faith?

Here is a short video that may be of an encouragement to you.



To learn how to biblically share the Gospel go to Way of the Master

He drank the whole cup!

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble! Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas!" Psalm 46:1-2

Jesus Christ drank the whole cup of unmixed wrath for us! Please read today's grace gem. I'm sure it will encourage you in times of trouble as it has encouraged me.

http://gracegems.org/Grace_Gems.htm

The Gospel Message - Paul washer

Sermon on the Mount Saturday

Tony Miano of Living Waters is encouraging people to get out on Saturday May 23, 2009 and read Matthew 5-7 (known as the Sermon on the Mount) in public. He is part of his post on The Lawman Chronicles where you can read in more detail.

Here's the mission:

Find a public place in your community (street corner, sidewalk, public park, etc). Stand atop a box or other sturdy object. And read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) aloud, in the open air. Depending on how fast you read, it will take you 10-15 minutes to read the Sermon on the Mount, aloud.

To learn more about this, go to Facebook page.

Sound familiar?

Do any of these "preachers" sound like your pastor?

She's how old?

Deborah Drapper, a 13 year old girl from the United Kingdom was the focus of a documetery on the BBC called Deborah 13: Servant of God. She has more passion for the lost than most Christians I have met. Not only is she concenred about their eternal fate, she uses biblical methods to share the Gospel with them.

Please watch the video and let me know what you think.

Here is part 1 of 6



So what did you think? To see more of the documentary you can click on the links below.

Part 2 of 6

Part 3 of 6

Part 4 of 6

Part 5 of 6

Part 6 of 6

To Live Is Christ

Please watch this 3 minute video and let me know your thoughts. It is from KP Yohannan of Gospel For Asia.



So what did you do? I know that I have failed miserably but by His grace alone He continues to sanctify me. Thank you Lord Jesus!

I have been "Tagged"

My blog has been "tagged" by my wife's blog Consider It All Joy. I guess this means that I am supposed to list 25 random facts about myself and then "tag" 3 others.

I will do my best to list the 25 things but I'm not too sure on who to tag.

Well hear goes;

1. I am a vile, wretched sinner deserving of eternity in Hell.

2. I have been saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and get to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

3. I just returned from the True Church Conference in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

4. I am married to my wonderful wife Alicia.

5. I like to watch Chicago Bears football games.

6. We have a dog named Izzy ( Border Collie / Whippett mix )

7. I am usually a shy, quiet person.

8. I suffer from the Fear of Man; I do not engage enough people in conversations about their eternal destiny. Please pray for me.

9. I'm not very interesting and am having trouble finishing this list.

10. I work for a police department and am responsible for registering all of the sex offenders.

11. I'm in a Strat-O-Matic baseball league.

12. I desire for my sole purpose to be to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and glorify Him alone but fail miserably.

13. I am thankful that the Lord found a biblical church for my wife and I to attend: Fox Valley Bible Church in St. Charles, IL.

14. I am tired of having every sentence begin with "I" because I don't like the attention. (Is this list over yet)

15. Didn't think I was a complainer until after reviewing this list. I guess I was wrong.

16. My favorite dish is Spaghettini alla Bolognese from Il Fornaio

17. Also a big fan of pizza, especially from Nick's Pizza.

18. I need to devote more time to prayer. (Please pray for me)

19. We have a cat named Muffinski

20. I am a hockey fan.

21. I am a slow reader but need to pick up the pace, I have a stack of books that I want to read.

22. I read from the bible daily.

23. I am 6'03" but am the shortest among my brothers.

24. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and pray that He will continue to transform me.

25. I am not very verbose hence the brevity of this blog.

Well I made it through this list. That's all for now. I hope this list didn't bore you too much.

Returned Home From the True Church Conference

Well, by God's grace, He allowed me to return home safely after blessing me with four days of passionate, biblical teachings of God's word at the True Church Conference which was hosted at Grace Life Church of the Shoals in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. ( I want to add a thank you to Frank and Lisa and their family for allowing us to stay with them while we attended the conference. You and your family are truly a blessing.)

Only 359 more days until a return to Muscle Shoooaaaaaalllsss for the True Church Conference 2010 on Evangelism.

While taking in all that I heard at the conference and thinking about the Glory of God and how He is glorified through His church, my thoughts went to a clip of Pastor S.M. Lockridge (who is now with the Lord) praising the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy!

Inaugural Prayer

Well tomorrow is Inauguration Day and Barack Obama is going to be sworn in as the 44th President. I'm sure most of you know (unless you are hiding under a rock somewhere) that Rick Warren will be giving the inaugural prayer. Here is a video clip from Todd Friel's Wretched TV show talking about some suggestions for the prayer. I guess we will have to wait and see how watered-down and universal, Mr Warren's prayer will be. I'll keep you posted. Enjoy the video.

For God So Loved the World...

How does a person confess that they have been saved by Jesus Christ and then live a life contrary to His teaching? Not only did Jesus suffer extreme torture and Crucifixion but he drank the cup of wrath that the Father poured out on His Son instead of on us. The Just for the unjust (1Peter 3:18). We are guilty and Jesus paid our fine so that we can be forgiven.

As you watch this short video please understand Jesus didn't sweat blood in the garden (Luke 22:44) because of the thought of the horrible, unspeakable torture and Crucifixion that he would face but because He would be facing the wrath of His Father who wouldn't be able to look at Him because He would take our sins upon Himself. I hope this encourages you to ponder Christ's love for us and what He truly endured on our behalf.

Are you good enough?

Watch and find out....