Friday, September 04, 2009

With the announcement that Ben & Jerry's Ice Creme known as Chubby Hubby will now be known as Hubby Hubby some dear friends are stating their boycott of the company.

I complete understand and repsect their decision to do so. I don't share those feelings because I expect no less of a secular company. Though if you're going to truly hold to such convictions then I encourage you to at least be willing to boycott all the companies that are outspoken concerning gay rights and marriage.

Here is a list of some of the more known companies:

3M Co. St. Paul, MN 1AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah San Francisco, CA 4Abercrombie & Fitch Co. New Albany, OH 3Alaska Airlines Seattle, WA 1Allstate Corp., The Northbrook, IL 2American Express Co. New York, NY 5Ameriprise Financial Inc. Minneapolis, MN 3AMR Corp. (American Airlines) Fort Worth, TX 7Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. St. Louis, MO 3Apple Inc. Cupertino, CA 7AT&T Inc. San Antonio, TX 4BBank of America Corp. Charlotte, NC 3Barnes & Noble Inc. New York, NY 1Bausch & Lomb Inc. Rochester, NY 6Best Buy Co. Inc. Richfi eld, MN 5Boeing Co. Chicago, IL 3Borders Group Inc. Ann Arbor, MI 4BP America Inc. Houston, TX 4CCampbell Soup Co. Camden, NJ 1Capital One Financial Corp. McLean, VA 6Carmax Inc. Richmond, VA 1Charles Schwab Corp., The San Francisco, CA 5Chevron Corp. San Ramon, CA 4Chrysler LLC Auburn Hills, MI 4Cisco Systems Inc. San Jose, CA 5Citigroup Inc. New York, NY 5Clear Channel Communications Inc. San Antonio, TX 3Coca-Cola Co., The Atlanta, GA 3Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. Atlanta, GA 1Continental Airlines Inc. Houston, TX 1Coors Brewing Co. Denver, CO 5DDell Inc. Round Rock, TX 5DuPont (E.I. du Pont de Nemours) Wilmington, DE 3EeBay Inc. San Jose, CA 1Estee Lauder Companies New York, NY 4Esurance Inc. San Francisco, CA 2FFannie Mae Washington, DC 3Ford Motor Co. Dearborn, MI 5GGameStop Corp. Grapevine, TX 2Gap Inc. San Francisco, CA 4Genentech Inc. South San Francisco, CA 2General Motors Corp. Detroit, MI 3GlaxoSmithKline plc Philadelphia, PA 4Global Hyatt Corp. Chicago, IL 4Goldman Sachs Group Inc., The New York, NY 5Google Inc. Mountain View, CA 3HHarrah’s Entertainment Inc. Las Vegas, NV 2Hartford Financial Services Co. Hartford, CT 2Hewlett-Packard Co. Palo Alto, CA 6HSBC - North America Mettawa, IL 2IIntel Corp. Santa Clara, CA 7JJ.C. Penney Co. Inc. Plano, TX 2J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. New York, NY 7Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, NJ 4LLevi Strauss & Co. San Francisco, CA 6Lexmark International Inc. Lexington, KY 4Liz Claiborne Inc. New York, NY 3MMacy’s Inc. Cincinnati, OH 2Marriott International Inc. Bethesda, MD 2MasterCard Inc. Purchase, NY 2Merrill Lynch & Co. New York, NY 4MetLife Inc. New York, NY 6Microsoft Corp. Redmond, WA 4Morgan Stanley New York, NY 3Motorola Inc. Schaumburg, IL 5NNationwide Columbus, OH 5New York Life Insurance Co. New York, NY 1New York Times Co. New York, NY 5Nielsen Co., The Schaumburg, IL 1Nike Inc. Beaverton, OR 7Nordstrom Inc. Seattle, WA 4OOrbitz Worldwide Inc. Chicago, IL 1PPepsi Bottling Group Inc., The Somers, NY 1PepsiCo Inc. Purchase, NY 5Pfizer Inc. New York, NY 5PG&E Corp. San Francisco, CA 6Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP San Francisco, CA 3PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP New York, NY 3Progressive Corp., The Mayfield Village, OH 1Prudential Financial Inc. Newark, NJ 6SS. C. Johnson & Son Inc. Racine, WI 6Sears Holdings Corp. Hoffman Estates, IL 4Shell Oil Co. Houston, TX 1Sprint Nextel Corp. Overland Park, KS 4Starbucks Corp. Seattle, WA 2Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide White Plains, NY 3Subaru of America Inc. Cherry Hill, NJ 2Sun Life Financial Inc. (U.S.) Wellesley Hills, MA 1Sun Microsystems Inc. Santa Clara, CA 4SunTrust Banks Inc. Atlanta, GA 4Symantec Corp. Cupertino, CA 1TTarget Corp. Minneapolis, MN 1Texas Instruments Inc. Dallas, TX 1Time Warner Inc. New York, NY 2Toyota Financial Services Corp. Torrance, CA 1Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. Torrance, CA 3UU.S. Bancorp Minneapolis, MN 2United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) Atlanta, GA 2US Airways Group Inc. Tempe, AZ 4VVerizonViacom Inc. New York, NY 4Visa Foster City, CA 3Volkswagen of America Inc. Herndon, VA 3WWachovia Corp. Charlotte, NC 3Walgreen Co. Deerfi eld, IL 4Wal-MartWalt Disney Co. Burbank, CA 3Washington Mutual Inc. Seattle, WA 3Wells Fargo & Co. San Francisco, CA 5Whirlpool Corp. Benton Harbor, MI 5Wyndham Worldwide Corp. Parsippany, NJ 3XXerox Corp. Norwalk, CT 7YYahoo! Inc. Sunnyvale, CA 2

So if you really want to boycott then I suggest you get rid of your car, your, mortage, computer, cell phone, washer and dryer, savings and checkings, all credit cards, and prescription drugs.

Also you should never fly, stay at a hotel, ship a package, or drink any beverage other than tap water.You see my point is that all this goes way beyond Ben & Jerry's. These companies are run by sinful men and women just like us, but most do not know Christ. They don't need a boycott, but instead they need men and women of God to continually teach and preach the gospel in truth and love. We're called to proclaim truth, not become hermets. If you want to boycott fine, but at least be honest and boycott all companies that push the same agenda. Its easy to say that I'll give up Ben & Jerry's, but not all these other companies we use and depend on.

Don't be surprised when non-Christians act like non-Christians.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

All Star Outreach

I had a blast today. God was extraordinarily gracious in allowing me to go out and proclaim the gospel at the All Star Game today.

At first I didn't think I could do it. I have an upper respiratory infection and sound like Darth Vader breathing. I'm winded walking down the steps, but I made it through.

It started off as a great blessing because my friend Jeremy went with me and since the last few times I've gone it has been alone that was a great encouragement. We were also able to get really close parking for only $10.

We started by going and visiting my pastor's wife and daughter at Hardee's. They won tickets to the game and were wandering around. After a brief stop with them we went and met Bill and some on other preachers from Sports Fan Outreach International http://www.sfoi.org/ Most of them are from Atlanta.

All of those guys were a blessing. They were all older and most had been evangelists for years. Some were retired and had become full time since their retirement. they make me think of John Piper's "Don't Waste your Life" message. I pray that should Christ tarry that I should be allowed to preach until I'm dead and be an encouragement to others as they were to me.

I'm still praying more older men and women from my own church would join me on the streets.

We handed out a total of 350 tracts. I hand 250 or so Obama millions and some "round tuits." People loved the Obama Millions and it was a blessing to watch them read the true gospel.

(Side note: I completely understand some people not liking the Obama Millions. Bill and his team had some tracts I wouldn't want to pass out. But the main thing is that the gospel goes out. I urge you to find a tract you like that presents the gospel of Christ and pass those out fervently. The Word of God will not return void.)

Sadly, we quickly ran out of tracts. I just put a large order in for more so hopefully we'll be back with those soon.

I got separated from Jeremy for a while and wandering trying to start up some conversations without much luck. I did manage to get some free stuff though.

I met back up with Jeremy and we went and met some other street preachers. the first one we saw was this sassy black lady (I say that with due respect) who said her name was Evangelist Turner. She cracked me up. She was very bold in sharing the gospel of Christ.

Then we saw Chap, Zachary, and Franklin. I'm pretty sure all this men were retired. They were all street preachers Atlanta. Zach actually used the phrase "Turn or Burn" while open air preaching which made me laugh. He was a "unique" brother. I also heard Chap preach a bit as well. Chap's son is a missionary to Peru.

My voice has been hurting all day, but I was really inspired by these mean and wanted to get one message out. The DJ had momentarily stopped so I presented the gospel.

Then my favorite part of the day happened. Zach and Chap encouraged (they were a little pushy, but they're age allows them to get away with it) Jeremy to preach. Jeremy had never open aired before and his personality isn't one that leads itself to being out front alone, but with they're encouragement and more importantly with the power of the Holy Spirit Jeremy agreed to read in the open air and I would close with the gospel. Jeremy shared from the Sermon on the Mount.

I ain't going to lie. I was about in tears watching and hear my brother read. He was obviously nervous and he spoke softly, but God was glorified.

I preached one more time after my brother read and my voice was shot.

We then went around and got pictures with all the other evangelist and exchanged info. It is a great blessing to know there are others sharing and proclaiming the gospel out there.

We had to leave about 6 to make it to my apartment for what was suppose to be Bible study, but several guys were out so we watched Ee-Taow a story about the Mouk tribe coming to Christ and taking the gospel to other tribes. Yep, I cried like a baby thinking about the Word going to people who had never heard it.

To close the day I watched video of my last trip to Honduras. Amazing how my heart still longs for that foreign country. Perhaps God will allow me to lead a short term trip there some day soon.

I used to think that we were to share the gospel as a blessing to others. While that may be partially true I can't help but realize what a great blessing it is to me. Ever since I started street preaching my heart is more full than ever with the joy of the gospel and while I'm still nervous each time I proclaim the gospel it cannot compare to the comfort of Christ. I long for more to know that feeling.




Tuesday, January 20, 2009

World's largest balloon arch

Greg Arrigoni of Unique Balloons constructs massive Helium Balloon Arch, 340 feet tall 600 feet wide next to Mississippi river in St Paul, MN 7-3-04



If you're interested in a balloon arch or other decor at your next event. Please call 314-346-2241. Who knows maybe we can even break Greg's outstanding record one day.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Its not about sincerity

Many people today think that as long as they truly believe in something that even if they're wrong God will not hold them accountable for it. Catholics even have the doctrine of "invisible Christians" where they believe people that are good Muslims or Buddhists or anything else are saved.

Please hear me today. This is an absolute lie! As Paul headed down the road to Damasscus believing he was doing the very will of God by killing and imprisoning Christians Christ appeared to him and changed his faith.

This is why doctrine is important because doctine is faith. Doctrine and faith change how we live just as it changed how Paul lived.

So how then do we gain proper doctrine and grow in faith? By studying the Word of God. Rom. 10:17 tells us that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." The foundation of our faith is the Bible.

Many people walk around so sure in their faith. They have complete confidence in where they are headed. I fear that many, even those professing Jesus, are headed into God's eternal wrath.

"The object of our faith is more important than the sincerity of our belief. The man who thinks he is right but is not sure may be far better off than the one who is “sure” but is absolutely wrong. The credibility of our faith begins with objective truth and ends with internal trust." -Elmer Towns

Examine yourself. Is you God one of your own making or is He the God of the Bible?

Hearing the glorious gospel

Back when I was in college I used to be continually frustrated in chapel services. This is for a few reasons, but the one that bugged me constantly was the "invitation" and gospel presentation at the end of their sermons.

At the time, I thought it bothered me because we were at a Christian college so why did we need to hear this multiple times a week. I just want some more meat.

Now as I look back I realize how wrong I was. The real challenge I was having and didn't realize it was that the gospel most of the people were sharing was a weak and pathetic gospel. It wasn't a call to repent and believe in Jesus. It was a call to "pray this prayer" and "accept Jesus." Like Jesus was the nerdy kid at recess that needed friends desperately (trust me I know the feeling).

It was like some voodoo for salvation. The magic formula or words (abrakadabra pull the savior out of the hat). To prove how weak it was, people were to close their eyes and raise their hands because no one was looking around or to bring a friend down front with them if it made the more comfortable. How is this the radical life changing gospel of Jesus Christ?

I'm not saying that if you said this prayer you weren't saved. I'm saying you weren't saved by the prayer, but by repenting and turning to Christ.

The real way I came to understand this was that I heard the real, powerful, true gospel. I heard the gospel that was not about me and what I was to do but about God and what He had done for His glory to reconcile a people to Himself.

It was no longer about a God that was helpless and begging me to come Him, but about Christ who had DEMANDED that I come to Him not of my own power of will because it is completely sinful, but by His sacrifice and Spirit.

This is the true gospel. That we daily seek after Christ by His power and He brings us continually closer to Himself.

Salvation is not a one time thing. Its not a "I done did that" deal. It is a continual looking to Christ for only He can save.

Examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith.

The gospel is gloriously and never can one who know its power tire of hearing it.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

You will be Judged!

I was listening to a pastor from my church's Grace Camp Meeting and he made some great points concerning how we will be judged when we stand before God at the end of days.

1) We will be judged for what have done.
For every deed and every thought we will be held accountable to a holy God.

2) We will be judged for what we didn't do.
For every time we dishonored God by not doing what He commanded of us we will be held accountable.

3) We will be held accountable for everything we would have done if not for the grace of God.
We are completely evil, but yet even as bad as we are we would be infinitely worse if God's common grace were not on us. The "good" we do is still only from God's grace. If not for His common grace each of us make men such as Hitler look as though he were a boy scout.

So here is the point: Are you ready to be judged for all of this? How will you stand before God when it is over? If you say it is by your good deeds then know you still owe the little good you've done to God.

The only way to stand before a holy God in the end is with Christ. Seek after Christ. Know that if you do He will save you and when He saves you He will send the Holy Spirit into you crying Abba Father! And then you will stand before God not as an enemy standing before a judge, but as a son standing before his father.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Privilege of Preaching

In my last note I posted a letter in order to present the gospel to people I know. While, as I said in the note, I know the gosepel is offensive to those who do not know Christ, but I was surprised at to see the I received more Christians offended for the preaching.

I think there are a great deal of people in my generation who have bought in to this social gospel idea. The idea that our main person as Christians is to make this life better. Or that the only effective way to share the gospel is after building relationships.

May I make it clear that that is lie from Hell that has perpetuated the Church. While yes there is a great deal of merit to showing love as we are commanded to do (first to the Church and then to the world) and there is merit to relationships they can never take the place of preaching the name of Christ.

Throughout Scripture not only are we commanded to proclaim through preaching but we are given example after example.

And what are we to preach?

As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree, but God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
(Act 10:36-43)

We are to preach that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation and that He is the Judge of the living and the dead.

I hear very few preachers talk about Jesus Christ as Judge. Yes, He is a loving God and that is why we can preach that all who come to Him receive forgiveness of sin and rest for their souls, but whether you come to Him or not know that He will be your judge.

So let us follow His example and go about doing good, but may we never forget His command to us is to preach and to testify.

If we only were to do good without proclaiming Christ it would be as if we went up to a prison cell. In the cell there is a man that is captive, thristy, and starving. And we stand there desiring to do good so we offer him a crumb of bread. In one hand we hold out this crumb for him to take, but in our other hand we are holding the keys to that cell and yet we never even present them.

The world is hungry and thirsty and may we lovingly care for them and feed them, but there hunger and thirst is in no way their primary problem. Their ultimate problem is that they are captives to their sin. They love their sin and hate God. But we know the answer. We know the truth. And we must present it.

The world's ultimate need is not bread, but the bread that is the body of Christ broken for the world.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
(Joh 6:35)

And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
(Luk 22:19)

The world is thirsty and so let us offer them water is springs up from eternal life.

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
(Joh 4:13-14)

This is world's true need. How can we dare offer them any less?

Thursday, January 08, 2009

I must offend

Recently some friends became very offended due to a post I had made concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. One is Jewish and the other and atheist. Due to the note I created (actually it was a repost from a friend I called "a note from a friend to all my friends) I have now lost their friendship, but while I hate that it bothers me much more that they're eyes have yet to be open to Christ.

Below is a modified (for spelling errors and to conceal identities and minor changes to clarify my thoughts) reply that I sent to them. It is the say reply I would have to anyone that the gospel has offended.

I post this hear because I desire my friends first off to know my God, but secondly to know where I stand. I cannot bear to think that I go another day and not tell each of you about my amazing God and King. I beg you to read. If we were to never speak again this is the only thing I would desire for you to know.

_________________________
Dear friends,

My heart is screaming for relief. I have so many emotions as I read your letter. Know that I truly do hate that I hurt you, but I think you must also know that I am in no way sorry for the truth that I have written and shared.

Know that as long as you have known me I have known that Christ is the only way to salvation, and my regret is that I had not let you know sooner.

Please know that I do indeed love you and that is why I must not keep quiet concerning the Lord I know and serve.

Understand that I by no means believe that you are going to hell because you are an atheist or because you are Jewish. I believe you are going to Hell because you are a sinner and you have sinned against a Holy God. A God that created you and of you demands perfection, but your sin has made you an enemy of God and He will continue to seek to destroy you as such unless your relationship with Him changes.

Truly all people who are not in Christ are Enemy's of God because of their sin.

All men are alike this and that includes me. Of myself I am nothing but evil. My most righteous of deeds is like dirty rags to a Holy God. The fact that I and all people did not make Hitler look like a boy scout is due to the grace God has so mercifully bestowed. Had God not changed my evil heart and called me to Himself I would suffer His eternal wrath in Hell.

Yes, this Hell is indeed the destination of all men for their sin. But God did indeed have a plan from before the world began and that was to send His Son, Jesus Christ.

God demands punishment for sin but because He desired to save His people we needed a substitution. We needed one who could take upon Himself God's wrath and that sacrifice had to be perfect. So God became man. He walked among us and was tempted by all things, but yet He did not sin. And then just as God had planned Christ was killed by those He came to save.

Yet it was not merely Christ death that paid for us, but it was that all of God's wrath that was let out upon Christ. The pain of the cross was nothing compared to this.

Christ is so great and so glorious and so worthy that His momentary stay under His Father's wrath was enough to pay for all those that would come to believe in Him and repent of their sins.

But Christ did not stay dead. No, three days in the grave and He rose so that He may reign above all creation.

By His death we were cleansed of our sin and by His life we are counted in His righteousness.

But we must come to Him. We must cry out repenting of our sins continually and serving Him completely as Lord of our lives and of all things.

So no I do not think you are going to Hell because you are Jewish or atheist or Muslim or any other religion, but I do know that without coming to Christ you will go to Hell for sinning against a Holy God.

How much more evil would I be had I not spoke this? How cruel would I be to know the truth and not share it? I say these things because I love you more than you could ever know. I love you with the very love of God and beg you to seek christ. I weep that you do not.

I know this is offensive. It is so offensive that they killed my savior over it. If only I had offended you sooner for if I have not done so until now then I truly have done a great disservice to you for I must have never fully spoke the truth to you. By love I must offend or I do not know love.

I will continue until I die to speak these words and if I must lose your friendship then so be it. I wil not not stop speaking truth, I will not stop loving you, I will not stop respecting you, and by no means will I stop urging you to seek after Christ until He changes your heart and forgives you sin.

Call out to Christ for He alone can save you.

I desire in no way to lose your friendship, but if you cannot accept my faith then I wish you all the be stand will keep you in my prayers.

Love,
Jason

Monday, January 05, 2009

The Christian's Paradox

I cannot think but what a paradox in which the Christian lives.

The more I see my sin the more I see His grace.

The lower I find myself in distress of my sin the great joy He gives.

The more I see the world's need for Christ the more He reveals His sovereign control and plan.

But yet it is never in equal portions. No, what Christ gives many times more worthy and valuable. He continually gives me more grace in sanctification.

Oh God continue to cleanse us. Continue to heal us. Continue to sanctify us and bring us to you.

Praise Him, Praise, Praise Him for "Holy, Holy, Holy is Lord God Almighty"

The sorrow of my soul

I have found myself weeping multiple times today.

This morning as I was preparing for church I received an e-mail from someone I considered a dear friend. In this e-mail I was called harsh words and even compared to Hitler.

Why was this person so angry? Because I had written a posted a note on facebook that stated all those that do not know Christ are going to Hell for their sins.I cannot and will not stop sharing this message. For those that come to Christ it is the most beautiful message they will ever hear and for those that do not it is truly a horrifying message.

Because of this message I have lost 2 people I loved dearly. They have even removed me from their facebook friends. But that is not why I weep though it does sadden me.

I weep for 2 reasons and when I say weep I truly mean weep. Multiple times this day a strong sorrow has welled up in me and lead me to near convulsion in tears.

The first reason for this sorrow is that it has caused me to look at myself and wonder why has it taken such a long time for this gospel I believe to offend them. It has led me to realize that had i truly been as bold and as truthful to those I love most of them would have grown to hate me long ago. The gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive. It is sharp. It will separate those that love God from those that hate God. Oh Lord that I had spoken your truth sooner and more directly. May God give me the stregnth and courage to do so.

The second reason is that these people I love are still bound to Hell. They have heard the truth and rejected it and by their sin they will be condemned. I am weeping over their souls. Longing that they come to Christ and repent. Not just them, but so many more that I love and are going to suffer under God's wrath unless He changes their hearts.

Oh God I thank you for showing me the truth. I thank you that you are mighty and merciful and you have a people you are calling to yourself. I ask that you would call my friends out of their sin and unto your Son. I ask that you would give me the boldness to offend when I must, but the compassion to do so in love. Lord, I ask that in the midst of this pain I feel that you would make the joy of my salvation known. You have broken me this day and I thank you, but may you now rebuild my heart to be more like yours.

Saturday, January 03, 2009