Grace That Is Greater Than ALL Our Sin

Three men. One bull dog. There they were doing nothing at Royal Oak Saturday night while we were doing open air. A dear sister, Christina (for the irony of this, see her entry--I was the one to encourage her encounter) suggested that I try to share the gospel with them (the men, not the dog). After some regrettable hesitation, I struck up a conversation with them and told them about the Lord Jesus. They definitely mocked the gospel and said crude things about Lord Himself. I was not happy, to say the least. I didn't exactly know what to do, so I completely gave up all attempts of "fitting in" and said that if Jesus is who he said he is, then all of them would spend eternity in Hell, not because of their back lifestyle choices, but because they rejected His offer of eternal life and forgiveness. (If you have any good ideas as to how I could have acted better, please respond to this post with your thoughts--I'd like to hear your ideas.) One benefit of this conversation was that I was able to remind them of the seriousness of eternity and the importance of searching for the truth of who Jesus is. But another benefit has been for me. Those men deserve to go to Hell, forever. So do I. . . So do I. I have been sobered up by the fact that today alone, on my own merits, I deserve eternal punishment. Like the hymn writer said, sin and despair like the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss. Grace that is greater, yes grace untold, points to the refuge the mighty cross. Though the men I talked to rejected the Lord, and that is discouraging, I am nevertheless encouraged as well. I always am when I witness. It is then, more than ever, that I understand more of the plight of the lost, and appreciate more the incredible blessedness of being saved. Praise God for His Son! Praise God I'm saved! Have you thanked God for your salvation today?

Evangelistic Devotionals are Back

If you’ve been familiar with The Ezekiel Project for a while now you may remember that we use to send out a weekly evangelistic devotional. Well, because of some technical difficulties and complications we have not been able to send them out on a regular basis for the past few months. But recently we have fixed the problem and are sending out the devotionals once again. If you’ve never received the devotionals before they are short devotionals that emphasize evangelism that are sent straight to your e-mail inbox. If you would like to receive these devotionals click on the link and fill out the sign up form and hit the submit button. Only your e-mail address is necessary but if you would like to include your name and further information we can add that to our mailing list. We trust that you will be blessed by these devotionals, God bless!

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Who, me?

“Hey, that Muslim girl is reading the tract that Brandon gave her!”

“Wow, she’s just pacing back and forth going through it.”

“I sure wish we had a girl on our team that could go talk to her.”

Suddenly I wished I was a guy. I was the only girl on the team that day at Michigan State University and they couldn’t have been dropping a more obvious hint that they wanted me to go talk to her.

I typically feel inadequate to speak to people about the gospel, I suppose that’s a good thing, but it’s not a really comforting thought when your about to talk to a girl who has been ingrained in her religion since the day she was born.

I whined a little bit, so the guys prayed for me and then I went off to talk with her. When I approached her I discovered that she had only gone through the first page of the May I Ask You a Question tract. She agreed that we are all sinners. Then we went to the next page and talked about how the wages of sin is death. She didn’t understand so I explained it and then she disagreed with me. She said that Allah loves us and when we do bad things all we need to do is make up for it by doing good things. I told her that you can’t make up for breaking the law by doing something good. I explained it with the illustration of breaking the speed limit and trying to make up for it by driving slower than the set limit – it’s just not possible. But I then went on to tell her how God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to pay for our sins. I probably talked about this for two minutes before she interrupted me and asked, “Who is this Jesus?” To say the least that caught me off-guard. So I tried my best to explain who Jesus is and God’s plan of salvation for us. The conversation ended when her friend called her.

She didn’t make a profession, but I know that sharing the gospel is never pointless (“So will My word which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” –Isaiah 55:11 NASB). I made sure to tell her the truth so that when she stands before God she cannot say that no one ever told her about Jesus and what He did for her.

Need a hug?

Today was the national "Free Hug" Day and many students as Michigan State University took it upon themselves to remind everyone of that fact by standing in a group wearing "Free Hugs" t-shirts and offering hugs to their fellow students. When doing open-air ministry on campuses we try to utilize cases such as these to our advantage. Today was no exception.
During one of the class breaks, Tom Bell, preached a paintboard message called "Need A Hug?". He started off by talking about the times we need or receive hugs. When your dog dies, you need a hug. When you are all alone on a Friday night, you need a hug. And, how cool would it be if one of the presidential nominies not only pointed, waved, gave the thumbs up, but also hugged you after one of their speeches?
The cuteness became serious when Tom then went on to explain that a hug shows a personal relationship and love between at least two people. He transitioned to the gospel by sharing the love of God, demonstrated by Jesus Christ opening up His arms to hang on a cross to die for their sins. How good it is to know that someone loves us that much!
The Lord blessed our time in the open-air today. Please continue to pray for us on Wednesdays as we endeavor to reach students with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thoughts from open air this weekend...

When I think about open-air and the reasons for doing it, most of the time I think of the benefits it has for others. For example, we go in the open-air to reach the lost, because Christ offers them an eternal home in heaven. Another reason to go in the open air is to encourage Christians who come along and are thrilled by what is being done. I wrongfully have a self-sacrificing mentality..... I am giving up my night, my time, my energy, to help you.
But I was reminded last night of how much open air streachs me, encourages me, shows me what things I need to be working on, and draws me closer to the Lord. It puts me in a position that my sinful nature does not like to be in, one that puts me out of my comfort zone, a place where I do not know what do or say, so I have to turn to and rely on the One who does have the answers.
Last night I talked to a man who was way out there as far as beliefs go. I wanted so badly to be able to put him in some sort of box. A box that I know how to deal with. But he just would not fit. You desire so desperately to be clear, to explain to this man his need for a Savior, the Savior, Jesus Christ. I did not know how to "give an answer for the hope that is within you" with this man.
But the Lord knows. He knows this man, Larry. In fact he died for Larry. I take comfort in that, but it is also forcing me to hit the books again so that if I ever have the privilege of speaking with him, or someone with similar beliefs again, then I will be able to better know how to give an answer.
So the Lord taught be and blessed me in the open-air this weekend. Even with all the other reasons for witnessing aside, that would be reason enough to fulfill the great commission.

Open air on Saturday

In the will of our Lord, a few of us from TEP will be going to Royal Oak to do some open air work Saturday night. If you are in the Detroit area and have some free time, I'd encourage you to come. If you can't come, (and even if you can) please lift this outreach up to the Lord in prayer when you get the chance. A few of us (Greg, Anna, and myself) went last Saturday and we we had a profitable time. We look forward to what the Lord will do.

Greetings

The Ezekiel Project, Inc. has moved up in this technological world and has started its own blog, so that we can keep you updated more regularly. We hope that this would provide better communication between us and our friends and those that care about us. Check back often to see more posts by various members of our staff. God bless.

The Ezekiel Project, Inc.
www.tepse.org