I respect Britney.  Last Saturday night I was open-air preaching on Mill avenue in Tempe, AZ.  Britney was troubled as she walked by and heard me talking to another individual about their personal sin against God.  I asked them if they had ever told a lie and then asked them what they call people who do that.  I respect her because she was willing to approach me and inform me that she believed I was doing [evangelism] the wrong way. She said that it's not right to tell people about their sin. (Which is sort of ironic, because she was telling me about something I was doing wrong…)

On one hand I respect her. In the same way that we do, she was lovingly telling me something that I was doing wrong because she thought that the consequences would be serious if I continued doing it.  I offered to send her some literature of a link to a video that would help explain why open air preaching and the use of God's Law in evangelism is biblical.  That's what I do respect her for, speaking up when she thinks it's beneficial. But I lost respect for her because it's been a week and she has yet to contact me for those resources.

Doesn't she understand that she did what we do?  We speaking in love telling people what they are doing wrong (lying, stealing, fornication, blasphemy, etc.) and we do this because we know that they are in grave danger if they continue to live like this.  We, unlike Britney offer them even more.  Instead of just telling them that they are wrong, we warn them that the punishment is death and eternity in hell - but that there is one way that their sins can be forgiven.  We tell them about "God's Wonderful Plan:" that He sent His only begotten Son to suffer and die on the cross to pay the price for their sin.  That He rose from the dead defatting death.  We let them know that God commands them to repent and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of their sin.

The father of lies has certainly blinded people in this world from the truth.  Even professing Christians will tell you that telling other people what's wrong and right is wrong… they are blinded by the irony of what they're doing.  Telling someone that they are in the wrong,  in love, is not bad.  If you think I'm wrong, just let me know.

By God's Grace
~ brandt dary

Each month on the first Friday of the month there is an event in Downtown Phoenix Arizona fittingly called "First Friday."  I believe it's an art festival, but as far as I'm concerned it's a time when hundreds of people walk the streets and wait to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm thankful to have been made aware of this event by a friend Marcus M.  (www.RepentTrust.com)


It's true what Ray Comfort says regarding going out to share the Gospel: "I'm dragging my feet when I go out, and clicking my heels when I'm done."  Thankfully last night I was actually excited to GO, and I was so encouraged when it was all over.  I ended up going from about 8pm to 11:30pm.  In that time I was used by God to share the biblical gospel with close to 100 people.  I did some open air preaching and also had great one-2-one conversations.

If you are thinking, "You are so bold, I could never do that" -- trust me, that's not true.  All you have to do is learn how to share the BIBLICAL gospel, hand out Gospel Tracts, and learn how to respond to the 10 questions that people usually ask.  Ninety percent of the questions are all the same, and the 10% that's different usually don't matter and aren't worth responding to.

Here's an example of a silly question that was asked to me last night.  A homosexual tried to disprove the accuracy of the Bible by telling me that the Bible contradicted itself.  He stated that the Bible said that God killed all the fish in the flood, but fish can swim. So his logic was that God couldn't have killed all the fish because fish could swim.  (Do you see what I mean, the 10% of silly questions you get aren't even really worth commenting on...) But anyways, because I wasn't 100% sure of the wording of the Bible regarding the flood, I just shared with him that whatever the Bible said happened, happened.  He wasn't really satisfied with that answer, but that wasn't really the point.  Even if I told him that God, the creator of the heavens and earth could figure out a way to kill fish if He so desired, that wouldn't have convinced him that he was a sinner in need of Salvation.

The point is this: I wouldn't know how to be "so bold" as to go out and talk to people if I didn't realize that sharing the Gospel is the power. What I mean to say is that I, like Paul, preach Christ and Him crucified.  I preach why Jesus Christ was crucified.  The pay the penalty for the sins that we have all committed.  I make sure to teach lost people that sin is transgression of the law (See 1 John 3:4). Sin is lying, stealing, adultery, idolatry, coveting, murder, dishonoring your parents, etc.  When people understand what sin is, then it clearly helps the good news of "Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the cross for sinners" become good news indeed.

In the coming weeks (TBD), there will be an evangelism training class that you can attend if you want to know how to share the biblical gospel, like Jesus did. The class is put on by another friend of mine Tom Fusco (www.tillthenetsrfull.org) The basics of the class, and teaching, is this: Law to the proud (the 10 Commandments) and grace to the humble (The Gospel).

I'll end with one of my recent favorite scriptures.  This scripture is for those of you who wonder why I'm quoting the old testament 10 Commandments in regards to evangelism. 

1 Timothy 1:8-11 (NKJV)
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

By God's Grace,
~ brandt dary