An Evangelistic Prayer Meeting (Accidentally)

A couple of weeks ago, Steve K and I were praying on a bench just behind Shops at Don Mills. While Steve was praying, I noticed that a lady sat down on the bench right across from us. I thought, “She must see that we are praying. Our heads are bowed and she can certainly hear Steve. Should I talk to her? God, what do I do?” As soon as Steve was finished praying, I said, “It’s a beautiful day isn’t it.” She responded by telling us how encouraging it is to see people praying in public.

We had to slightly yell to communicate, so Steve and I ended up sitting on the bench with her (not too close though … it was not awkward .. the benches were quite large). With a smile she told us, “I’m a stanch Catholic.” She went on to tell us of some struggles her brother is having. At that time I was able to share what Julian had been preaching on in 1 Peter 1:6-7, that God gives us trials to for the testing of our faith.

She was thankful for what I shared and went on to speak about the goodness of God and our need to follow Him even when times are tough. It was a nice conversation, and it was quite tempting to NOT push to the Gospel, BUT, being compelled by God, I knew it would not please the Lord to let this opportunity pass … how often to we have people approach us in the midst of prayer?!

I asked her, “Do you think God will accept you because of your faith in the work of Christ alone OR  because of your faith in Christ PLUS her efforts of following God?” She was quite sure that her works contributed to her reception of the forgiveness of sins. I asked her if I could show her a passage from the Bible that teaches that savlvation is by faith in the work of Christ alone. She consented. So I opened my Bible to Ephesians 2:8-9 and read it to her. She was silenced and seemed a little surprised. I went over it again, nice and slow.

However, somehow she was able to redirect the conversation. I forget how this happened but suddenly she asked me if she still needs to forgive a family member who has done many wicked things and remains unrepentant. I took her to Matthew 18:21-35 and read it to her. She seemed to want me to move on and just tell her my thoughts … but I persisted in reading Scripture – I figured, “you need the Word, not my opinions; I’m gonna give you the Word.” I emphasized that she must forgive as she’s been forgiven, that is, of course, if she believes she deserves hell and has received God’s unmerited grace. I re-read to her Mt 18:35 – “So also my heavenly Father will do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

I asked her if she had unforgiveness and bitterness in her heart (for by the way she talked, it seemed she may be struggling with it). She said, “No, I have forgiven him.” But then she asked me, “How can we know if we’ve forgiven someone?” I took her to Psalm 103 and read these words: “as for as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” I told her, “when God forgives, he completely removes the sin. He forgets it and he does not hold it against us. He does not hold onto it. It is gone.” She persisted in saying that she had forgiven him, but we continued to chat about this. I forget the exact comment she made at the end, but she basically ended up saying something like, “Maybe I haven’t forgiven him as much as I originally thought.” Then she left.

Now that’s an accidental evangelistic prayer meeting. Be it Ephesians 2, Matthew 18 or Psalm 103, may the Lord use His Word and draw her to the Gospel of his grace.

Jesus Came for Sinners: Evangelism in the Workplace (2 of 4)

Cosmetics at Shopper’s Drugmart

After my first few days of training as a concierge/security guard for condominiums, I learned that I would be doing two overnight shifts a week at Shopper’s Drugmart. The first two hours of my shift were spent in the cosmetics department. I was to spend my time near the cash, thus, naturally, I would be spending time talking with the worker in the cosmetics section.

 My second night at Shopper’s

On my second night of work, the lady working was quite talkative. We talked about many things, much about security work, for her boyfriend also does night shift security work. Needless to say, I was praying and waiting for opportunity to speak of the things of the Lord.

 Nothing seemed to be happening until . . .

Nothing seemed to be happening. After my first hour, nothing happened. I thought, “Well, I may work with her again. I will be patient.” The next thing I knew, she asked me, “So do you have another job?” I thought, “Well, yes, do I ever!” I replied, “Yes. I am a Christian preacher. I teach the Bible at churches when they need someone to fill in.” This led to a long discussion about her desire to see her grandma when she dies and about a Christian lady from her past who used to take her to Peoples Church (for a brief season).

People either go to heaven or hell

She really wanted to see her grandma when she died and she asked me, “Do you think I will see her when I die?” I told her, “Well, I know that the Bible teaches about life after death. There is judgement and then people either go to heaven or hell. I asked her where she thinks she will go. She told me that she had a very promiscuous past and that she had an abortion many years ago, and she confessed, “that is murder.” Then she said, “so that’s a pretty big [sin].” She was convinced that God would hold the abortion against her.

If you seek Him you will find Him

I was stunned and humbled by her openness and honesty, and by the grace of God I proceeded to tell her the Gospel of God’s grace. I forget how I started but I remember telling her that Christ came for sinners and that no sin is too big for God to forgive. I also told her how God commands her to believe on Christ. I told her to seek Jesus Christ, for in Him forgiveness is found. I remember encouraging her with these words: ”If you seek Him, you will find Him.”

Sharing Scripture

During a portion of our conversation, when I started to share Scripture with her, she suddenly got out her pen and began to write down the Scriptures on a piece of paper.  When she grabbed the pen I told her Genesis 3, Romans 3, Romans 5, Mark 1:15 and Ephesians 2:8-9. I thought that would be a sufficient start. A week later I followed up with her I learned that she read at least one passage. However, she was discouraged because she did not understand it. I was unable to really follow up on which passage it was and what it was that she could not understand.

 May the Lord keep Satan from stealing that seed. May He make her heart good soil that she may bear the fruit of genuine faith.

Talking to a JW at Coffee Time (2 of 3): Translation and Trust

On October 19, I wrote my first of three posts on a conversation I had with a Jehovah’s Witness at a Coffee Time in Guelph, Ontario. I promised to write two more posts. Originally, I planned to continue writing about that first meeting I had, but I met with that same man last week. Thus, though I shall keep my promise of writing two more posts on my dialogue with the JW at Coffee Time, this post (and the third one) will recap my most recent talk with him, which again, was at a Coffee Time in Guelph.

Again we met for about two and a half hours. Thus, we talked about many things, but one very important observation we keep coming to was that of our differing translations. Different translation means different meaning which means different truth and therefore, a different faith. Accordingly, we talked about translations.

Though I have only studied three years of Greek and two years of Hebrew, I know for certain that when Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, ego eimi” (John 8:58), ego eimi is in the Present Indicative Active. For those of you who do not know what Present Indicative Active means, simply know this, it means ego eimi should be translated “I am.” Accordingly, “Before Abraham was, I am” is the correct translation of John 8:58. I spent quite bit of time explaining this to my JW friend, but he would not accept it. His translation says something like, “Before Abraham was, I have been.” I showed him that Jesus is alluding to Jehovah’s self-description in Exodus (3:14). Jesus is saying that He is Jehovah. Jesus is saying He is God. He would not believe it. I explained that Jesus’ pronouncement of being God is the very reason that “the Jews picked up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59). 

In response, he took me to Proverbs 8:22, where wisdom personified seems to be a description of Christ. However, the JW translation says something like, “Jehovah produced me at the beginning of his work.” However, the ESV says, “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work.” Produced and possessed contain very different meanings. Did the Lord produce Jesus OR did He possess Jesus? The Lord did not produce Jesus. Jesus is eternal. We looked at various texts and I continued to see that the JW translation was different at many points.

Sadly, this man trusts the JW translation and he believes that all the other translations are wrong. He does not know any Greek or Hebrew. He has not questioned the JW translation. He has not fixed his hands to the task of studying these things. He simply accepts the JW translation, trusts it and prizes it.

In my first meeting with him, I had my Greek NT with me and I explained how John 8:58 is not translated correctly. However, he would not accept what I said. He only believes what the Watchtower society tells him. I asked him what he reads. He only read three things: the JW Bible and two magazines produced by the Watchtower society (Watchtower and Awake) - that is it. I also noticed that he uses a book called something like Reasoning from the Scripture, which tells him the meaning of various passages of the Bible that may be controversial. He used this book a few times when I asked him questions on texts that he could not answer and that contradicted JW theology. Therefore, other JW authors interpret the Bible for him. Some of their reasoning is certainly NOT reasonable.

I challenged him, “What if they are wrong? These other sources are simply the word of man. They can be wrong.” He replied, “If they are wrong then I am wrong, but they teach the truth – everything is right from the Bible. I am not learned like you . . . I don’t know the Bible like you, so I trust them.” I responded, “So what if I approached you before the JW’s did, you would believe me?” He said, “Maybe I would.” I said, “So you are banking all your trust in what they say?” He said, “Yes, I trust them. They show me the truth from the Bible.”

This was a very interesting talk that went on for some time. I told him that they are wrong about Jesus and I tried to show him why, but he would not really listen to me – he will only think about the Bible in ways that the JW’s have told him to think. I kept reminding him that he is trusting in the word of man.  I really challenged him to read more widely but as far as he is concerned, as he said, ”If I have the truth, why look elsewhere?” I assured him that he doesn’t.

I also told him that his view of the Bible has been dictated by two magazines for twenty-three years. I assured him that I was telling him the truth but that he will not accept it simply because it is not in agreement with the teaching of two other magazines that have shaped his theology. He openly admits that these two magazines have largely shaped the way he sees and understands the Bible. However, he sees this as a good thing.

We both agreed that we are not worshipping the same God, nor the same Jesus. I am sobered and saddened by his blindness. I cannot help but think of 2 Corinthians 4:4 (“the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers”). But, I believe that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16) . . . and how will JW’s believe? By hearing the Gospel (Rom 10:17). I believe there is hope. May the Lord have mercy on whom He will have mercy.

Back to the Bus Stops – An Hour with Steve F.

Georgie and I returned from our honeymoon this past Sunday (by the way, I love being married to Georgie!).  Upon returning we’ve been busy moving into our new place. So now, after about a month of silence, I am online again and ready to blog!

After feeling convicted for shying away from some evangelistic opportunities (and possible promptings) this past month, I felt burdened to hit the bus stops today. After spending time in the Word (2 Kings 6:8-19 and Phil. 1:29) and prayer, Steve F and I hit the bus stops at Islington and Elmhurst for about an hour this afternoon. What follows is a very brief summary/recap of two conversations we had:

A Catholic Trusting in his Works

Steve and I approached a guy at the bus stop. I told him we were from the church down the road and that we were out sharing the Gospel. I asked him if we could speak with him briefly while he waited for his bus. He was cool with that, but he reassured me that he too was a Christian for he was Catholic.

Then I proceeded to talk to him about Jesus as the only way to God. He then informed me that he is NOT really a devout Catholic but that his parents are more Catholic than he. I cut to the chase and asked if he thought God would accept him or reject him if he were to die today. He was convinced that God would accept him. He said he was a good person. He also mentioned that he had never murdered anyone or did anything really evil.

I told him that what ultimately matters on Judgement Day is the standards of the Judge. I said, “God standards are what matter. Jesus talked about these standards.” I opened up my little NT to Matthew and read Matthew 5:27-28 on Jesus’ standards concerning adultery and lusting. The bus came so I gave him the NT and really encouraged him to read the tract inserted.

Talking to an Agnostic with No Religious Background

We approached this young man (we will call him V) the same way as we did the Catholic. He did not seem to be excited about talking, but he definitely listened and seem to get more interested the more we conversed. I quoted from John 14:6 and told him that Jesus must be either the Lord, a lunatic or a liar. He agreed to these logical possibilities. I asked him, “Have you ever read from the Bible?” ”No,” he replied. Then I said, ”Do you have any religious background?” Again, he responded, “No.” I asked, “Do your parents have a religious background?” He said, “Buddhist.” Then he told us that he was basically agnostic.

Steve proceeded to explain the law of God. He asked V if he had ever lied, stolen, dishonoured his parents. If my memory is correct, V confessed to breaking these laws. After going through the law, Steve asked him how this all relates to his worldview as an agnostic.

On that topic the conversation swung back to me. I did not want V to think that he was somehow exempt from the law of God and it’s just demands simply by being agnostic. Thus, I decided to show him that his worldview is self-refuting and thus problematic. I said, “I am not trying to be rude with you here, I just want you to consider how being agnostic is self-refuting. Think about this: you are certain that you cannot be certain about things.” He said, “I guess you can put it that way.” I said, “I do not know exactly how your agnosticism fleshes out compared to other agnostics, but is true that you believe that we cannot know anything for sure?” He agreed (that we cannot know anything for sure). I said, “Listen closely, this position is self-refuting, it does not hold – you are saying that you are absolutely sure that you cannot be sure about anything.” I spelled this out slowly for I wanted him to see that he really is sure about something, namely, that you cannot be sure about anything. I am not sure if he has ever had anyone attack the very foundation of his worldview like this, but I hope the Lord uses it to shake his confidence in agnosticism and to drive Him to the Scriptures and to Christ.

We gave him a NT and encouraged him to read it and to read the Gospel insert as well. His bus came and he seemed to be slightly sad to leave. I told him that my contact info is on the literature we gave him. Then he left.

Praise God for giving Steve F and I the grace to go and spread His Word. May He keep us humble and may His Word bear fruit and multiply.

Interpretation and Truth

I was talking to a U of T student at the bus stop today. I asked her if she thought God would accept her if she was to die today. She was hoping that God would. She was Catholic. I spent some time explaining how God has given us His Word in human language so that we can know the way to be made acceptable. I emphasized the clarity of the Bible on the topic of the way of salvation.

She responded by telling me that people misinterpret the Bible. She told me that most people have different ideas about what it says. All in all, her argument boiled down to this: we have little hope of knowing for sure what the Scriptures say.

I replied to her objection saying, “Yes, I agree with you. This is a big problem. Many people misinterpret the Bible. They butcher it. However, just because many people misinterpret the Bible, that does not mean we cannot get it right. Think about this: Imagine a bunch of your friends were gossiping about you and saying things about you that are not true. Or, it could be people at your work. Whatever the case, they could tell me things about you that are not true. How am I to know the truth? I can find out. I could go to your closest friend and find out the truth about you. Or, I just go to you to find out the truth. You see, just because people say different things, that does not mean we cannot find what is true. (She nodded for she got my point). The Scriptures are very clear on the way to be made acceptable to God. We can know this truth. God has spoken on it.”

The bus was coming so I gave her a NT and told her that the way to be made acceptable to God is explained on the insert (which I wrote) in the NT. I encouraged her to read it. She told me that she was planning on taking a course on religion at U of T this year. The bus came. That was it.

Sitting with some Sikhs

Yesterday, I spent some time with a friend of mine at a local mall. My friend is a professing Christian who openly confesses that his works contribute significantly to make him acceptable before God. His confidence in his works makes for some very interesting Bible study and discussion. May the Lord gives ears that hear and eyes that see.

Whatever the case, he introduced me to two of his friends who are Sikh. I sat down with them at the food court. They asked me what I do. I told them how I am training to be a minister. I asked them about their religion. I asked what they must do to be right with God. They explained the core beliefs of Sikhism, and noted that it is the newest of the world religions (being only 500 years old).

Before long we were talking about Jesus. The man denied that Jesus is the Son of God. I opened up Mark and read to him Mark 14:61-62. When Jesus is asked if he is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, he says, “I am . . . ” The one man responded, “who wrote that?” I said, “Mark.” He said, “How can we know its true? We have our holy book, you have your holy book – how do you know its true?” I said, “That is a fair objection and very reasonable.” I continued, “First, the Bible says it is God’s Word and therefore I believe it is true. But also, I have studied the reliability of the Scriptures and I know that they are reliable. In fact, there is more historical evidence for the historical reliability of the Bible than the rest of ancient literature. If you discount the reliability of the Bible, you must be consistent and thus discount Aristotle and Plato. Now, I am not arguing right now for the inspiration of the Bible, I am just arguing that the Biblical authors really wrote these books.”

The one may responded, “but it is in the hands of men.” He was implying that it must have been changed throughout history. I replied, ”The copies of the originals are so numerous that we know that we have good English translations, for they continue to be based on the Greek and Hebrew text of old.”  They seemed to accept my argument about the historical reliabity of the Scriptures, but I am not sure what they thought about the faithfulness of the contemporary English translations. Whatever the case, they didn’t seem to believe that the Bible should be trusted more than the holy book for Sikhism.

Holding up the first 39 books in my Bible before them, I said, ”the OT is about promise – it is God’s promise to Israel that somebody’s coming – a Savior. And these (holding and showing the other 27 books) are about how Jesus is the One, the One who fulfilled the promises.” He went on, “but we have our book. Why should we believe your book.”

I tried to reason with them about the faithfulness of the apostolic record. However, before long the conversation had turned to other things. They really seemed to enjoy talking, but they certainly did not believe the things I shared. However, out of curiousity the one man started sharing points about Sikhism and then asking me what the corresponding view is from Christianity. This was great, for I was able to teach about creation, eternal punishment and eternal life, and justification by faith alone.

I asked the one man, “in light of these things (judgment and eternal punishment) are you worried about death?” He smiled and said, “No. I just life my life man – do good and that’s it – I don’t worry about it.”I told him that he should be concerned. Then I shared with him what Jesus said in John 14:6. I told him, “If you are not with Christ, you are againt him. If you do not turn to him and trust in him, you reject him.” He was silent for a moment but then seemed to make the logical connection. I said, ”So, you realize that you are rejecting Christ?” He said, “yes.” I told him that he ought to be concerned and said (about Jesus), “What if its true?” He didn’t say much but didn’t seem too concerned. I encouraged him to read the Scriptures.

He (and his other Sikh friend) hang out at the mall often. I was glad to meet these two very friendly men. I hope to see them again. By God’s grace they seemed to enjoy meeting me as well. May the Lord have mercy on whom He will have mercy.

Dealing with Misconceptions: A Loving Service

In this post I will first share some thoughts on “dealing with misconceptions.” Thereafter, I will recap of a conversation I had with a young man on Tuesday.

Some Thoughts on Answering Objections, Love and Sincerity

Dealing with misconceptions is an essential element of Gospel ministry. Christians and non-Christians alike struggle to think rightly about God. Mr. Unbelief, Miss Skepticism, and Dr. Doubt are not wimps. They are not only powerful, but resilient and tough. They dominate unbelievers. Though under the death sentence, they seem to have a twisted kind of prevalence even in the lives of most believers (until execution). However, when the eyes or our faith catch a glimpse of “the commander of the army of the Lord” (Joshua 5:13-15), we see that there is hope indeed. Jesus is mighty to defeat Mr. Unbelief and his associates. By the Word of his power, Jesus will cause his people to think rightly about him and his Father. May we never forget the words of Christ: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18b).

Misconceptions about God and his Gospel are from the gates the hell. What is amazing is that Jesus builds his church through his people (i.e., “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church”). So, he works through us to do his will. Of course, it is preaching Christ and his Gospel which is our ultimate weapon of righteousness, but there is a place for defending the truth and answering objections (1 Peter 1:15; notice, this was written through Peter!).

Surely defending and preaching often go hand in hand. Whatever the case, let me cut to the point: it is loving to consider the interests of others. Why do I say that? Well, we are commanded: ”love your neighbour as yourself.” And why do I say that? Well, here is the connection: some people are sincerely interested in hearing Christian answers to their objections (and questions). What an opportunity to lovingly serve them!

Sometimes, their sincerity may be masked with a form of arrogance (or some attitude which seems insincere). I think I have encountered this mask a few times this summer. At first, I thought I was dealing with insincere arrogance; but after a long dialogue, I learned that I was likely dealing with an authentic thinker with really good questions! Thus, we must be careful not to be over-confident in our initial assessment of people. We must love them and seek to serve them. Now, granted, not all questions are good questions. Even so, many are, and we need to lovingly interact with all objections and questions that come our way. We can also serve people by showing them the questions that they should be asking – and then by teaching them the answers that the Bible gives (i.e., What must I do to be saved?”).

When we meet people with objections (and questions), we can serve them by exposing any misconceptions they may have about the nature truth, God, man, sin and salvation. Now, this is not to say that true Christians have no misconceptions whatsoever, nor that we know all truth. But, this is to say that Scripture is the ultimate authority, and God has spoken clearly and plainly on many aspects of truth concerning himself, man, sin and salvation. On these issues we ought to speak and to reason with people. And we must always remember: our goal is to see Christ’s church built, not to win arguments. These are just some thoughts on “dealing with misconceptions.” These thoughts were initially stirred after a conversation I had this past Tuesday which I recap below.

What about the Bible? What about other Religions? What about . . .

John C. and I met a young man by giving him a coin with the 10 commandments on it. I quickly learned that he comes from a Catholic home (but that is not not devoted to his parent’s religion). At one point he said to me: “I believe that that Bible is not a book of rules.” I agreed, “You’re right, the Bible is not just a book of rules; it is the revelation of God. But, it does contain rules.” He replied, “The way I see it is that the Bible is more like a book of guidelines.” I asked him, “Have you read the whole Bible?” He said, “no.” I said, “Do you read the Bible?” He said, “no.” I said, “Then how can you claim to know what it is like? You do not even read it.” I think he followed my argument. I had tried to deal with his misconception about the Bible, but the conversation suddenly took a new spin.

Before I knew it, he had switched the topic and asked me, “Well, what about other religions. There are so many religions - how do we know which one to believe?” There are many different ways to respond to such a question. On this occasion, I told him to study. I said, “you have to study to find out which one is true.” I went on, “Faith is reasonable trust” (if my memory is correct, I think I learned this definition from William Lane Craig). There are at least two reasons I said this: 1) He is not reading the Bible (and he needs to study it!); and 2) it really seemed as though he was suggesting that one faith (religion) is equal to all kinds of faith (religions). In other words, all faith is on equal ground. Many people believe this. There is one massive problem with such a mindset – it fails to evaluate the object of faith (that is, what people are believing in). Just because a religion exists does not mean that it is based on truth . . . even if it has many followers! The question ought to be: which faith believes what is true? Or since there may be elements and traces of truth in various faiths, a better question may be: which faith is absolutely true? To deny the possibility of absolute truth from the outset would be to hold to the absolute truth that absolute truth is unattainable. This position is clearly self refuting. Accordingly, consistency suggests that we presuppose the possibility of absolute truth.

Back to the conversation: I discerned that he had a misconception about whether or not absolute truth exists. Thus, I told him: “Imagine being in math class and you are given a problem to solve. Suppose there are ten students who answer the question and seven different answers are given. They cannot all be right. Only one is right or they all are wrong.” He did not seem satisfied with my illustration. Whatever the case I was attempting to deal with two misconceptions. First, I was trying to show that there is absolute truth (only one answer can be right). Second, I was trying to teach that we can know it (through looking into the matter). Possibly he believes that the nature of truth in mathematics is just different than the nature of truth in religion. Thus, my argument carried no weight for him
(at least, I think it didn’t; the Lord knows).

Again, he wanted to know, “how can we know what religion to follow? There are so many?” By this time, we had already been talking for a while and he had already decided NOT to get on his bus, but to wait for the next bus in order to keep talking (this is always very encouraging!). I figured it was time to talk about Jesus. “Well, Jesus Christ is the person we need to focus on for that question. Every religion has something to say about him. We know he existed. Even liberal scholars who do not believe in Jesus (as the Son of God) do not deny that he was a real person who lived. All religions say something about him, but only Christianity believes that he rose from the dead. Do you believe that he rose from the dead?” He said, “yes.”

I said, “I don’t know about you, but if someone can raise himself from the dead, I will listen to him – I don’t care who he is.” He replied, “many people have risen from the dead.” I said, “no, only Jesus.” I went on to explain: only Jesus raised himself from the dead. Then I proceeded to tell him about something that Jesus taught. I pulled out my Bible and read John 14:6, saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I asked him if he knew of C.S. Lewis. He did. I proceeded to tell him the Lord, Liar, Lunatic argument: Jesus must really be the Lord, or he was a liar or a lunatic. The bus came. I handed him a clear presentation of the Gospel (which he took). He was really appreciative for our talk (and so was I). He expressed his thanks. I hope to see him at the bus stop again.

I struggled with my own misconception of him – at first, I did not think he was being sincere, but the more he spoke, the more I realized he really wanted to hear the Christian position on selected questions. May the Lord help him (and all of us) to think rightly not only about each other, but about truth, God, man, sin and salvation. Amen.

A Typical Afternoon and Talk about Science

Well, after a morning of catching up on administrative duties, I hit the streets in the afternoon (on Monday). And what did the bulk of my afternoon look like? Well, what follows is a brief overview, followed by a snippet from a conversation I had with a young teen about science. The purpose of this post is to give you a better feel for the nature and dynamics of this summer ministry:

Overview

1) went to Elmhurst and Islington bus stops (praying on the way for grace; was reminded that my primary aim is to please Jesus)

2) tried talking to a friendly lady from China - she said that she does not speak English (this happens often . . . I really need to have more tracts in other languages)

3) walked toward the plaza on the corner of Islington and Rexdale Blvd.

4) stopped at a bus stop to try to talk to man who looked really hard; I was reminded not to judge by outward appearance; I tried giving him a coin and talking to him, but he would not talk with me and even turned his back to me . . . indeed, he was hard

5) kept going toward the plaza and a boy happened to join walking on the sidewalk really close to me; just as he was about to hang back (or go ahead) I gave him a coin with the 10 commandments; he was going into grade 9; we talked for a while as we both walked toward the plaza (I will elaborate on this below)

6) went to the coffee shop to work on my lesson for the Grace Kids Remix service Wednesday night; part of the reason I go there is because I want the regulars (and there are MANY regulars) to get more and more familiar with me so that sooner or later they will feel more comfortable with me and I will hopefully be able to build friendships and have more open doors for the Gospel

7) Steve F. called and wanted to hit some bus stops; thus, I went back to meet him at Islington and Elmhurst; co-labouring in the Gospel gets top priority on my to-do list

8) arrived at the bus stops and met a Christian girl who is a friend of Chloe M. (from GFC)

9) had a great talk for a while with a man from Ghana (in West Africa); we had his NT open (which I had given to him) and we read Ephesians 2:8-9 (for he said that God would accept him based on God’s forgiveness AND the good things he does); he folded the page in half in his Bible (I think he was surprised and wanted to revisit this passage); it seemed as though he hopes we meet again – he has my contact info

10) hooked up Steve F.; he arrived and shared the Gospel with a Muslim man while I was talking with the man from Ghana

11) Steve and I talked to a high school student who goes to a United Church; upon giving him the coin with the 10 commandments on it, he assured us that he has been baptized and confirmed; we talked to him for a bit but the bus came – he also has the Gospel tract which is included in the NT we hand out

12) Steve saw a guy who he knows from local pick-up basketball - I prayed for Steve while he talked to him; just as Steve was getting into the Gospel the bus came

13) saw a man who I had preached to last summer, who actually came out to visit our church once; we talked to him for a bit, giving him a copy of the NT and inviting back to church; interestingly he said, “no, I do not have much money right now.” We insisted that we are not looking for money, and that coming out to church is for FREE  . . . he was thankful for the NT . . . it was nice to see him again

14) we walked back toward the church

15) we met a Hungarian lady on the way back who I had ministered to two summers ago; in fact, she also visited our church (at least a few times) two summers ago; I had preached the Gospel to her much two summers ago and even a bit last summer (I think), but she has sadly been infected by the teachings of the word-faith movement and the health and wealth gospel; this time, I simply gave her a copy of the Gospel presentation which I had typed up as an insert in the NT’s I hand out, and I encouraged her to read it to see what she thinks

16) we continued on back to the church

Well, that is it – a typical afternoon of evangelism ministry in Rexdale (though no evangelistic outing is ever the exact same). I am hoping and praying that, by the grace of God, the ministry at the coffee shop will look much different a few months down the road.

Talking about Science with a Grade Nine Student

He just happened to be walking right toward me. When he came onto the side walk I could tell that he was about to go ahead of me or lag behind. So, right away I handed him one of my coins with the 10 commandments on it. He received it and we both kept walking together. I asked, “do you have a religious background?” He said, “Buddhist and Christian.” I responded, “have you ever read the Bible?” He said, “no.” Thus, I reached into my bag and gave him a free NT. I explained to him how the Bible is made up of 66 books and that the NT is the last 27 books, which we have since the coming of Jesus. He did not seem to have a clue about the Scriptures, nor the 10 commandments, but he had heard of Jesus. I asked him of his age and learned that he is going into grade nine at a local high school. I talked to him about this for a bit and learned that he is nervous about going into grade nine.

I did not know how long he would be walking with me so I cut to the chase: “If you were to die today, do you believe that God, the God who created the world out of nothing, who is a person –  that God – would he accept you or reject you?” He seemed to be very interested in the way I modified God (as the God who created everything out of nothing), and responded saying, “Did you know that most scientists hold to evolution.” I said, “you mean, that all things came from nothing?” He said, “yes.” I said, “well, there are many who believe that, but that are also many who do not. I went on to talk to him about creation scientists and informed him of the many scientists are convinced that there must be a designer based on the evidence of intelligent design.

I pointed out the apartment building beside us and told him, “I know that someone built that; it did not just come to be.” He said, “obviously.” He went on to talk about the components of the bricks in some scientific lingo that I did not understand. I take it that he is really into science. I asked him if he knew about DNA. He did. I went on to explain that the design of DNA and all things in our world point to a designer.

Since I know that he has already been lied to about science and since he will likely keep hearing lies in high school, I thought it was a great opportunity to reason with him about the nature of science. First, I told him that the scientific process requires observation before conclusion. He knew this. This is basic grade 6 science. He agreed. Then I asked him, “how could people observe what happened before anyone was there? No one was there to observe.” He said, “they can’t, or it would take them millions of years to find out.” I said, “No, they can’t find out from science. No one was there to observe it; it is too late now. We are going beyond the limits of science when dealing with the question of how things began.” I told him, “now we are talking about philosophy and religion; we are talking about what to believe. People can offer theories, but this is not science.” I went on to tell him that the Bible says that God created all things, and that the Bible is God’s Word.

I told him not to believe everything he is taught from his teachers in science. I encouraged him, “have a critical mind.” I asked, “Do you have any younger brothers or sisters?” He said, “yes.” I said, “you know more than them, right.” He said, “yes.” Then I asked, “Are you always right? Should they always believe you?” He said with certainty, “no.” I said, “well, this is the way it is with your science teachers, though they have more education than you, they are not always right; you need to be a critical thinker.” I told him that science is great and that I really like science (for I do). I did not want to discourage him from scientific study, I just wanted him to be aware of the limitations of science. Accordingly, I had one more argument for him to consider.

I told him, “Science cannot prove itself. It is a practice with is based on a set of assumptions, such as, there is order in the universe, conclusions can be found, and other assumptions. These are good assumptions, but the assumptions themselves, that is, these ideas cannot be tested empirically.” I asked him, “Do you know what I mean when I say, ‘you cannot empirically test ideas?’” He said, “yes.” I think he followed my argument. I love science. We simply need to be honest about its limitations.

I hope and pray that he reads the NT and the Gospel tract which I gave him; I hope to see him around.

Bus Stop to Coffee Shop to Church: He Came to Church!

Bus Stop

Phil K. and I hit the bus stops Saturday evening. We had some good talks about God’s righteous standards and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God gave us grace to continue ministering in a spirit of prayer. We continued to pray for the Lord to lead us to the right people. Interestingly, we saw a man sitting down at a bus stop just a minute or two away from us (corner of Islington and Elmhurst). Thus, we went and met him. I approached him giving him a penny with the 10 commandments on it. I explained that we are from the church down the road. I also told that we were out spreading the Gospel. I had asked him we could talk to him while he waited for the bus. He was fine with that. I learned that he is originally from India and currently attending an Anglican church.

He was thankful for the coin and wanted to know, “Why are you handing these out?” So, why do I hand out penny’s with the 10 commandments on them? Well, there are a few reasons why I do this (possibly I will post on this in detail later); but I only took the time to elaborate on one. I explained, “The 10 commandments were given to Israel. Israel agreed to obey the law, but they failed. But God, in his love, sent Jesus do be faithful in a way that Israel had not been faithful. And all of us, well, we are like Israel, we have failed to obey God’s standards which Jesus taught when he came.” He wanted to talk more. When the bus came, he suggested that we jump on the bus to keep talking. Now that was an exciting suggestion! I asked Phil, “you got your metro pass?” I had change . . . on the bus we go!

We got on the bus and though it took me a while to dig out the right change (pocket full of 10 commandment pennies!), I eventually sat down and we resumed our conversation. If my memory is correct, I think I went on to talk about the righteous standards of Jesus, which he preached when he came (cf. Matthew 5-7). However, we did not talk long on the bus, for we got off soon to go to a coffee shop where he wanted to treat us to some coffee and to sit and talk more! Bus stop to coffee shop! I love it!

Coffee Shop

We sat down and began to talk for a bit. Before long he explained to us that he had recently talked to his pastor and asked, “If I follow the theory of Christianity and the principles of Jesus and his teaching, what will happen to my soul when I die?” His question was not simply a theological test for his pastor; his question was sincere and he was concered about his soul. His pastor told him that he would get back to him with the solution (sometime in the next week or so). He told us, “I know my body will go into the ground, but what about my soul?” I was stunned. I have not met too many people at the bus stops who seem to be truly concerned about the state of their souls. I was (and I am) really thankful to the Lord for orchestrating this meeting. I told him, “Do you want the answer which is small in length, medium, medium to large or large?” He looked at the clock. Seeing it was almost 9 PM, he needed to go and get milk before a neighbouring grocery store closed. Accordingly, he went to go get his milk. While he left, Phil and I stayed put with his stuff. We prayed for the Lord to help us. I was a little troubled – where do I start? Matthew 25 came to my mind. This passage is the clearest passage which I know of which clearly spells out eteral life and eternal punishment (thus, telling us about our soul). Then he came back and our conversation resumed. We studied the Bible for well over an hour!

I gave him a New Testament which we hand out for free. We started in Matthew 25. Phil was our public reader. He would read the Scriptures aloud as my friend and I followed along in our Bibles. After the reading of each portion, we would go back and study it, interacting with it and talking about the meaning of the text. We read Matthew 25:31-46. Conclusion: the condition of our soul will depend on whether we are righteous or cursed. The righteous go into eternal life and the cursed (non-righteous) go into eternal punishment. Out of curiosity, I asked him, “is there an emphasis on explaining and teaching the Bible at your church?” He said, “no.” I encouraged him to come to our church where the Bible is explained and taught. I told him how important it is to better understand the Bible, for it is the very Word of God.

After that, we looked at Luke 18:9-14. We spent a while studying this passage. I tried to teach that there are two kinds of people in this passage – (1) those who believe not only in the need for God’s grace, but who also “trusted in themselves,” and (2) those who rely completely on God’s mercy and do NOT trust in themselves at all. He seemed to understand the point of the parable; however, he was not identifying himself with the Pharisee. I find this to be the greatest problem with most of us . . . we do not realize the we really are the Pharisee; even though our self-righteousness is not nearly as blatant, we really do tend to believe that our performance counts for at least something (even in a little bit) when it comes to gaining God’s acceptance.

Phil also directed us to John 11:17-27. We looked at how Jesus is the resurrection and the life. We spent quite a bit of time in Romans 3:9-26, especially 3:19-20. He seemed to understand that we are all guilty before God. I think we also looked at the standards of Jesus in Matthew 5-7, that we cannot even lust after a woman (5:27-28) and that we must be perfect (5:48). I tried to explain Jesus’ subsitutionary life for all who believe, and his substutionary death for all who believe. The major point of concern seemed to be his apparent misunderstanding of faith alone in Christ alone which results in works vs. faith in Christ + works for Christ in order to gain God’s acceptance.

Phil directed us to Hebrews 9:11-28, and he explained the sufficiency of Christ’s work, specifically in his sacrificial death. I cannot remember where we studied after that, but we kept talking about the sinfulness of man and the sufficiency of Christ’s work. Whatever the case, we helped him carry his groceries as we walked him home. On the way home, he made mention of the ”theory of Christianity.” We took time to passionately emphasize the Christianity is centered in the person of Jesus Christ who has risen and is alive. I explained that Christianity is not simply as system of principles to believe, but a real relationship with Jesus Christ.  I referred to John 17:3, telling him, “this is eternal life, that you know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.” When he got to his place, he invited us in and we watched a video of him performing music and dance for a Christmas festival (he is certainly talented!). Thereafter Phil and I both prayed for him. We encouraged him to come to church in the morning.

Church

Guess what! He came to church! I was delighted to see him again. He really enjoyed the teaching. The saints welcomed him with much love. Georgie (my fiance) and I took him out for lunch and at we had a great dialogue again Sunday afternoon. Again, we talked about God’s standards and the Gospel. Georgie mentioned that it is not our performance that gets us right with God (or keeps us right with God). She emphasized that it is Christ’s work that seals our standing with God.

He wanted to know about hypocrites who say that they have faith but do not have works. He was convinced that they have no right to assurance. Georgie and I agreed that those people to do not have real faith (cf. James 2); however, works do not equal saving faith. An important distinction is the following: are our works simply the result of genuine faith (which is faith alone in Christ alone), OR  do we believe that our works somehow contribute, in conjunction with Christ’s work, to make us right with God?

If someone is trusting in their works to help gain God’s acceptance, they ought to take these words to heart: “you are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Now, of course, the Galatians did not think they were saved by works of the law alone; they believed in Jesus and knew that Jesus was the Messiah. However, they started to think that trusting in his work alone was not sufficient. They started to believe that they must obey certain parts of OT law in order to help make themselves fully acceptable to God (to be a full/real son of Abraham). However, notice what Paul says, if you want your works to count at all, you are “obligated to keep the whole law” (Galatians 5:3). So, for God, you must trust in Christ alone; if you don’t, you will be judged according on your own performance (Christ’s work does not count for you).

Near the end of our discussion he indicated that though he knows he is a sinner, he does not think he deserves eternal punishment. Thus, I spent a while sharing about the holiness of God, referring to Isaiah 6, 1 John 1:5 and especially Genesis 3. Thereafter, I asked, “In the courtroom of heaven, if you were to die today, do you think you will be innocent or guilty?” He said, “A little bit of both.”

I am thankful to God for all the time we spent together. He is a very friendly man. I am really hoping that he will keep coming to the church to hear the Bible expounded clearly. I am also hoping and praying that God would open his eyes to see that, like me (and like all of us), he deserves eternal punishment, so that in believing so, he may beat his chest and cry out to Jesus, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” I also gave him the option of doing Bible studies together. We will see how the Lord leads. Praise God for this amazing weekend! You never know where bus stop evangelism may lead!

Translation, Interpretation and Evangelism

Thursday morning marked my third trip to the gay village. John B., Ian C. and I prayed beforehand. I had not talked to anyone on my first two trips and was feeling nervous (yet eager). We prayed for the Lord to open doors and he answered our prayers. Now these were very interesting doors which opened! I was at a coffee shop and sat down near a man who was getting some shelter from the rain. I talked to him about the weather and his roller blades (which he was wearing) . . . I am currently planning on buying a pair. However, it became apparent that he thought I was a guy blogging about life in the gay village with some kind of political agenda (in conjunction with some television program and events going on in South America). The more I told him I was not that guy, the more he was convinced I was, so I stopped talking. Surprisingly, he started asking me questions (even my first and last name . . . he had some suspicion about me) and naturally we ended up talking for over an hour and a half or so! Indeed, the Lord opened doors.

Once he was convinced that I am not that guy (whoever he is), we began to talk about other things, including his life . . . but what he shared was mainly by his own initiative.  I felt awkward asking him personal questions in light of the fact that he had already rebuked me for asking him too many questions and he thought I may be some kind of undercover reporter for some TV program. Whatever the case, I am thankful for the opportunity to meet this man who is created in the image of God. 

Though we talked about many things, when he found out that I was training to be a Baptist pastor, he had some questions for me. Now, at first, he thought I was gay, but later he learned that I am not. I explained how the Bible is my authority and that it is the Word of God. He responded by suggesting that it must be polluted and altered since it has come into the hands of men. I had the pleasure of informing him that this simply is not the case. I was thankful for the opportunity to tell him about the reliability of the Scriptures (at least from a historical standpoint) and the quality of many current English translations. He knows a couple of languages himself. I was able to help him to see that though subtle nuances often get lost in translation, the central meaning is definitely translatable. This is the presupposition upon which all translation work rests.

I explained to him that though I am not a scholar in the original languages, three years of Greek and two years of Hebrew has taught me that we have some really good English translations. He was very interested in the reliability of the Scriptures and in the quality of current English translations. He seemed to believe the things I shared with him, for he said, “I have never really looked into these things, but you have, you are my authority on this right now until I look into it further, that is, if I do.”

Since I have some experience of working from the original languages, he wanted to know about the way I interpret the “natural and unnatural relations” spoken of in Romans 1. He told me that this passage is interpreted differently in the gay village and that it is an area of debate.  Now, keep in mind, this man grew up Protestant, he is biblically literate, and enjoys conversing about these things. How would I respond? I felt nervous, but by the grace of God, I told him that most of the English translations do a good job here. I told him that this passage contains a list of sins which display God’s judgement. In other words, homosexuality is not the only sin in the list. He found this interesting and expressed his frustrations with the ”demonizing” of one sin over the others in the list. I agreed that it is wrong to be selective about these things, and to ignore the other sins listed, such as envy, pride, etc.

By the grace of God, I explained that Scripture condemns everything in that list, and that the list shows us that the world is messed up. We are all messed up. I explained that I have my sins too (which are also stated in that list) and that I feel shame for my sin. However, these sins are all wrong (that is, they are all offensive to God). He understood what I was saying and was glad that I was consistent and not selectively bashing the sin of homosexuality. I explained that I am not gay but that I enjoyed meeting him. 

At the end of our conversation I told him that the Bible is the authority for all people, in all places in all times. However, I am still unsure if he really understood what I was saying. May the Lord help me to learn how to do a better job of interacting with his worldview and talking about absolute truth and how the Bible can be understood and interpreted objectively and accurately as the revelation of God and thus our rule for life. May the Lord help me.

Though I was not able to preach the cross, I am thankful for the opportunity to meet this man who is created in the image of God and to speak the truth in love. I hope to see him again. I am thankful for John Bell’s continued encouragement not to give up. I am thankful to God for opening these doors.