My Dad - Good Memories :)

With my father going home to be with Jesus I thought I would repost a list of fond memories I have of my father. I am grateful for all 30+ years he influenced and loved me. I know that memories and the video he made for us prior to his death will continue to influence me (and hopefully my family). Of course this list is not everything. How could you encapsulate 30 years into one short list? That being said here are a few great memories I have of/with my dad.

Great Memories (Thanks Dad)

10. Hearing my dad loud and clear on the football field during our games. No matter what the score was you would always be clearly heard cheering us on.

9. Getting "butches" right before the Utah vacation

8. Touring Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona on vacation. Especially when we went through Tombstone on vacation. For that matter all of the camping trips stick out in my mind. We always had great family vacations.


7. Watching you sit in your rotator cuff therapy chair with your arm going up and down while we were on vacation in Bishop.

6. All of the wiffle ball games we ever played on Grandma Kamie's driveway and on our driveway. Heck, throw in the "Freeman Bowl" where I would be the quarterback and you and Nate would both get impatient with my terrible passes.

5. Pouring the concrete and setting up a basketball court for me because you knew I loved shooting hoops.

4. The time you fell on April Fool's Day while we were playing basketball and mom didn't believe me when I told her that you were in pain on the concrete outside. The scraped chin, teeth, and glasses bore evidence though that you took a spill though!

3. The night in Scotland after we ate the amazing dinner and you were so happy that you kept saying "That was the best dinner I've ever eaten!" "That was the best beer!", "This is the prettiest country I've ever seen!" "I just can't take it all in!" it was a fun drive home that night even if we were on the wrong side of the road!

2. Even though we always finished in last place, I was always glad that you were my coach in baseball. I was always the luckiest kid in the league to have a dad that cared that much. You always cared about teaching me how to properly play baseball. I will always be an Angels fan because you took us to the Angels-Twins game all those years ago. I'm glad Chone Figgins left the club before you passed on :)

1. I will always remember that when I needed to return to Christ and leave my debaucherous lifestyle you paid all of that money for me to go to the Every Man's Battle camp. I will forever be in debt to you for that expensive camp that ended up getting me back on the right path with Jesus. I would not be the man I am today without that financial sacrifice or the tough love that sent me there - so thank you!

Honorary Mention 1 - The week we spent at Mission Beach at the house you rented for the week this past summer was a trip I will never forget. The good time with family. The trip to the Creation Museum. The daily devotionals. The mornings spent in the sand and surf. All of the wonderful meals. The last trip we took as a unified family. Unbelievable week.

Honorary Mention 2 - You coined the phrase that we grew to know and love - "Catch you later, bye".

I love you dad and await the day when we are together again in heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Have a Splendid Christmas

Sitting down to a great meal with your loved ones, enjoying the warmth of a crackling fire, hanging stockings, decorating the tree… these are the things that make for a splendid Christmas. Nothing beats snuggling into a comfy chair with a cup of hot chocolate, looking at the twinkling lights, and listening to the old familiar carols…

Hark the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled…”

The Christmas season may mean different things to different people, but one thing is sure… it is the time of year set aside by Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  You’ve heard the story… a virgin was visited by God’s angel and told she would become miraculously pregnant with God’s one and only Son.  An angel told her fiancé, “You shall name the baby Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” 

But what does this really mean?  Aren’t we pretty good people?  Sure, none of us are perfect, but do we really need someone to “save” us from our sins?  To clearly understand what Christmas is about, we must try to look at ourselves the way God sees us… and the way we do that is to see if we’ve obeyed his Holy Law—The Ten Commandments.

Have you ever told a lie?  Have you ever stolen anything?  (Think hard, and be honest… regardless of the item’s value, have you ever taken something that didn’t belong to you?)  Have you ever used God’s name in vain (such as exclaiming, “Oh my G-d!”)?  Have you ever felt hatred in your heart against someone?  Have you ever looked at someone and had sexual thoughts about them?

Here’s the ugly truth.  If you’ve told lies, that makes you a “liar” in the eyes of God.  If you’ve ever stolen anything, God sees you as a “thief.”  If you’ve used God’s name in vain, you’re a “blasphemer.”  According to God’s word, anyone who hates is considered a “murderer” (1 John 3:15).  And Jesus said that anyone who looks at another person with lust has already committed adultery with that person in their heart—anyone who has lusted is considered by God as an “adulterer” (Matthew 5:28). 

We’ve only looked at five out of The Ten Commandments, but if God judges you by that standard, will you be innocent or guilty of breaking his Laws?  Many people say, “Guilty… but God forgives.”  They may think that God is so good that he will overlook their sins.  Well, God is good, that much is true.  But in the same way that a “good” human judge could not let a guilty criminal go, God must see that justice is done.  You and I will be guilty when we stand before God—guilty with nothing to say for ourselves except that we’re sorry.  But the Just Judge of the Universe can’t let us off for being sorry.  We’ve broken the Law, we should be sorry, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has to pass sentence. 

The Bible tells us the sentence for breaking God’s Laws is Hell.  In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, God gives us a list of those who will not be able to enter Heaven.  Among others He includes: fornicators (those who have had sex before marriage), idolaters (those who put anything in their lives before God), adulterers (those who lust for someone they’re not married to, as well as those who go through with the sexual act), thieves (those who have stolen), and the covetous (those who have greedily desired something that doesn’t belong to them).  And in Revelation 21:8 God tells us that, “...all liars, shall have their place in the lake of fire...” 

You and I stand guilty before God—without a thing to say in our own defense.  But God did something amazing for us so that we wouldn’t have to go to Hell.  Do you know what that was?  He sent his own Son, born of a virgin, perfect and sinless, to die a criminal’s death on the cross in payment of our sins.  Then he rose again, defeating death forever. 

That’s why Jesus was born, to suffer punishment in your place.  That’s what the angel meant when he said that Jesus would “save his people from their sins.”  You see, we can never undo the sins we’ve already committed… we can never live a perfect life as Jesus did.  But God’s word says that if we will repent of our sins (feel sorrow for, and turn away from all the things we know are wrong) and put our faith (entire trust) in Jesus as the only one who can save us, then God will wipe out the record of our sins because Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross will be counted as the payment. 

That’s why Christians have such a meaningful time at Christmas.  At Christmas, a Christian is setting aside a day to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  Christmas can be truly splendid because God loved us so much that he sent his Son to take the punishment for our sins.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6).  Don’t wait.  Repent and put your faith in Christ today.

Freedom

If they are breathing they need Jesus

Over the past few weeks we have had some wonderful adventures in witnessing! Two Fridays ago I had the opportunity to talk to many people a few of the names that we remembered to write down for prayer purposes were Manuel, Thomas, Brandon, Philip, and Daniel.  Nicole had the opportunity to with Ricky (who said he would be attending the Harvest Crusade the next night...so hopefully he got saved! Pray for him!), Robert, Hunter, and Michael.  We handed out hundreds of tracts between the two of us and had the distinct pleasure of happening upon a group outing for deaf people.  Neither of us know sign language, so it was a great way for us to share the Gospel with them!  One of the funniest things of the night was when Nicole handed a tract to a young woman who turned out to be the daughter of Ray Comfort! She was with her husband Emeal Zwayne who is a featured speaker at the "Transformed" conferences that the Way of the Master people put on a few times every year.  He also has been featured in a few of their witnessesing videos, most notably in the video "When things go wrong".  He said that Nicole was the first person who had handed them of their own gospel tracts! I was in the middle of talking to Manuel and Thomas, so I didn't  get to meet them, but it was still a great story for me to hear from her.  She was very encouraged to meet like minded Christians who are not ashamed of the Gospel.  There was definitely some pep in her step after that point in the night!  God used that chance encounter for encouragement. 

This past Friday we shared the Gospel with many people one to one and also were able to distribute a large number of gospel tracts.  The highlight of the night came while I was inadvertenly pulled into a conversation with two young men who had been given a gospel tract by Nicole earlier in the night.  I called it "inadvertent" because as I was walking by one of the young men called to me "why are you handing these out?" so I stopped to talk with them, but quickly it seemed that the young man who asked the question was only interested in me stopping so that I could block him from the view of the security guards (I assume he was about to do something or had done something that would have gotten him in trouble), but I took the opportunity to share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The young man who seemed distracted quickly excused himself from our conversation when the security officers left, so I figured that his friend would want to leave with him.  Instead the young man said goodbye to his friend and said he wanted me to talk to him some more!  After about twenty minutes of sharing and answering questions I could see tears welling up in his eyes.  When I asked him if he wanted to receive Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior he said that he did!  So we prayed together and I was able to find out from him that his parents have taken him to church his whole life, but that he never had put his faith in Christ figuring that he could put it off until he was older.  So we encouraged him to start reading the Gospel of John, to hook up with his Christian friends, to tell people what Christ did for him, to get baptized as a public declaration that he is now a Christian, and left him with our contact information.  I ended up spending the better part of an hour talking to this young man who attends Fontana High School.  I'm hopeful that our church can pray for him as he starts his new life with Christ.  His name is Edgar Villa.  Praise the Lord for Edgar!  My "inadvertent" encounter was really a divine appointment that God knew would happen long before we did! Praise God!

Toward the end of the night Nicole and I were handing out gospel tracts near the movie theater at the Ontario Mills when 4 college aged people walked by and asked Nicole what exactly we were handing out.  I continued to pass out tracts while Nicole engaged them in conversation.  Eventually they asked if I was with Nicole, so I joined the conversation.  These young people were spiritually confused, but were not in complete denial that there was a God and they were kind with their inquiries. It turned out that one of the young men, Frank, is a practicing homosexual.  He was hung up on that one particular sin in his life.  He said that if he stopped being a homosexual that he would be living a lie.  While I can sympathize with his reluctance to change his lifestyle (which no man can do apart from the power of Christ) the Bible makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 the following: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." Homosexuals are one of many sinner types listed on that list.  In fact there are three separate types of sexual sin listed. Fornication is sex outside of marriage. Adultery is stepping outside of the confines of marriage, but Jesus also states that if we look with lust we commit adultery in the heart (see Matthew 5:27-28). I think we all would fall short of that standard.  Though homosexuality seems good to Frank he, at this point in his life, fails to see that "there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 16:25).  We suspect that the other three (Jonny, Cassie, and Jennifer) were trusting in their own righteousness to get to heaven (their own performance).  Nicole shared that "it is by grace through faith that you are saved, not as a result of works, so that no one can boast".  They have been falsely taught by the Catholic traditions that even though Jesus died for their sins that they have to confess their sins to a priest and hope that they die after they have had their last confession.  Jesus died once for sins, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 1:18).  Pray that God will send Christians into the lives of those four young people to continue ministering to them. Hopefully one day they will repent and turn back to Christ in faith.  That is our hope and prayer for them.

Over the past few months the number of attendees to Friday night PIE has dwindled to three, but we are not dismayed because we know that God can still use us for His glory! We have had the opportunity to share the Gospel with atheists, homosexuals, muslims, jehovah witnesses, mormons, and other assorted types of people over the past few months.  One man was shocked to learn that even though he had "committed every sin in the book" that God would still offer him forgiveness. That is why our motto is that "If they are breathing, they need Jesus".  Please pray that God would continue to use our small ministry for His glory.  My hope is that He alone will be glorified in whatever happens. Here is a copy of what is on the million dollar bills that we pass out every Friday night. Thanks for reading!

The million dollar question: Will you go to Heaven when you die? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things, God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. That's not God's will. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. You broke God's Law, but Jesus paid your fine. That means He can legally dismiss your case. He can commute your death sentence: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus alone, and God will grant you the gift of everlasting life. Then read your Bible daily and obey it.

A New Week

 ⁵Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

 ⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

 ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

 ⁹The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

 ¹¹Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

 ¹²I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

 ¹³I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.