Thanks for waiting!

Dearly Beloved:
Just wanted to say thanks for your patience during a really busy time in our lives! We have a new baby daughter Sarah Rose! We've had quite an experience over the past 9 weeks. Our sweet child was born in another state and we had to go quite quickly and live in a hotel for weeks! The opportunity to share the Gospel is everywhere and when you travel, you realize how big this opportunity is! On the plane,in the airport,hotel,grocery store....everywhere! Looking back, I realize how little I shared my faith, and how many lost souls passed within reach of the precious Gospel I have been given! I am looking forward to returning in August to sarah's birthplace to finalize the adoption, and another blessed opportunity to share the life saving Gospel of salvation.

Be bold beloved
snatch them from the fire

until the nets are full!

The Blessing of conversation

Greetings beloved:

I wanted to share a brief conversation I had with a man at 7-11 i frequently talk to. I was picking up some water and snacks after work, and as I was checking out, Haman, the 7-11 employee told me that the store owner had died... well, what he really said was.. the store owner had retired. after a bit of a laugh, Haman stated" well I guess we all die... me,you.." I told him "yep, just gotta know where your going, that's the important thing" He looked at me and said, where are you going? I said "to heaven" he said "no,theres no heaven or hell" I said that there was, and he asked my how did I know? I told him it says so in the Bible, he asked my who wrote the bible, I told him man did, inspired by God, he told me that there was no proof that it was God inspired, and I told him that there was no proof it wasn't inspired by God! We were at a potential stalemate.. This is usually where you can get into a "rabbit trail" was it, or wasn't it? proof or no proof? but if you are going from the natural to the spiritual, you can direct the conversation into a fact finding mission. How did he come to that opinion,has he ever read the bible? As you are finding more about how he came to his conclusion, you will find many opportunities to clarify the truth about these issues. It is important to know biblical apologetics if you are going to defend your position in these conversations, but far more importantly, it is a chance to share the Law and Gospel! This command "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16:15 nasb is our command.. so don't caught up in the apologetics, but it is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that saves! Natural to the Spiritual, Law to the proud, grace to the humble!

Keep up the good work of the Kingdom!

Until the nets are full, and the harvest done!

The Teaching Moment

Greetings Beloved.... It's been awhile and I just wanted to share with you a very special teaching moment that happened today with my three and a half year old son Joseph. We were heading to our local market to get some items and Joe was going to go to the "machines" with his two quarters (the ones that are always at the entrance of the store) We saw these two folks sitting outside the store and as we parked, I got Joe out of his car seat, grabbed my bible and thumbed through it, all the while trying to find a passage to read to them. As I got to the book of Ephesians, I stopped on Chapter 5. We headed to them, Introduced ourselves to this couple, and I started reading this passage to them... They were quiet and very engaged, and when I finished I was able to share the need for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ to them. They were so thankful, then the lady pulled out a well worn copy of "our daily bread" and proceeded to tell me how she had just read a passage to her man, and that she had some questions on 1 Corinthians 1:3-11. I was blessed to be able to read to them and help them to understand some background of these passages. Joe took out his coins and we gave them to the couple,"not much" I said..but they were so thankful even for a few coins (they didn't know it was machine money, but we did!) How does this relate to evangelism... Here's the point... I've been weak and lazy about sharing my faith lately ... always ready to share when the opportunity arises, but not heading out for the sole purpose of sharing the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today I was not going to let this day go by without sharing God's Word, and returning to regularly sharing the Gospel and open air preaching! It's not easy to do beloved, it's scary, and it's uncomfortable true, but think about how scary and uncomfortable an eternity in hell will be for the unrepentant? How many have passed within your voice...and you refused to "snatch them from the fire"

Jude 1:23 "save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh."

Why, brothers and sisters..because of fear... fear of what... rejection? Did not our Savior face rejection and tell us we shall do so too?

Luke 6:22"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man."

I am guilty of letting this "uncircumcised Philistine" called fear make me cower and become useless for the Kingdom of God... But dear ones, today, I started choosing the best round stones I could find, fitting them in the sling of Gods Word, and I am running towards the battle, not in armor, but in the strength of our Lord God Almighty. With just a sling and a stone!

May the Lord bless you, and strengthen you, as you prepare for battle.

Oh and the teaching moment.... Joe got to share Gods word, give, and engage in the battle for men's souls.. a teaching moment indeed!

Until all the harvest is done and the enemy has fallen at the feet of Christ!

Robert

Pray,Plant,Grow,Give..SHARE

Dear Beloved:

I wanted to give you an opportunity to share in our garden Ministry and let you know how rich of an evangelistic opportunity is afforded by something as simple as a garden. We started the Neighborhood Bible Church community garden last October, and since then, we have had so many opportunities to share the Gospel through giving out fresh,organic vegetables grown on our property. I have been so blessed to give out these vegetables, and in turn have had the opportunity to share from the "natural" to the Spiritual in many of our conversations. This is the point, you can take a simple idea, like sharing vegetables and use it as a "ice breaker" to get conversation started. Then as you are sharing the "vegetable" stories, you can move from the natural to the spiritual. There are so many analogies you can make when it comes to a Garden, like tilling the soil and planting a seed... Which is what we are doing when we share the law and Gospel. The Law tills the soil of the heart and gets the person thinking of their sin, and then the Gospel shows how God is merciful to have provided us Salvation through the shed blood of His precious Son Jesus. Watering the plants, How without constant "watering" of His Word, we will wither and die, just like plants. How a small and simple seed, will grow to feed many. This how the Lord uses us. He is so great and we are so small in comparison, yet He uses us to further HIS kingdom, He doesn't need to, but He does! Praise the Lord! How one plant produces many seed, and those plants produce even more seed, and on and on. This is how the Gospel is spread, we tell one person, then they tell another, then pretty soon, more and more people are sharing the Gospel and their faith. From that one seed, comes an abundance of fruit! Wow... I could go on and on, but you get the point. The Golden thread that runs through all of these conversations is Christ and Him crucified. We must always preach Jesus and His salvation, through His death and resurrection. He is the one who saves, He is the one who grows, He is the one who takes the seed of His Gospel and grows it in the hearts of men. Praise the Lord of the harvest, Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matt 9:38nasb

Until the last grain is harvested!

Robert

Evangelism and the Garden

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We have embarked on a great ministry project called Neighborhood Garden. We have taken a blessed abundance of property and built raised garden boxes full of vegetables. Our plant date was October 9 2010 and the garden is growing very well! The lettuce alone has provided many opportunities to share the Love of Jesus Christ. Our vision is to share the abundance from our garden with those in our community, focusing on the neediest of our neighbors. This being said, I am so amazed how just harvesting some bags of lettuce or spinach, can open doors to sharing the Gospel. It seems almost too easy to hand someone a bag of lettuce, and then move from the natural to the spiritual in ones conversation. Here's the point.. You can and must, use any life situation to share the Gospel, and now that Christmas is here, It is so important that we tell the "REAL" story of the birth of our Savior an Lord Jesus Christ! Stay faithful Beloved!

Robert

for info go to www.nbcsj.org/garden

Gilroy Gardens and The Gospel

Brothers and Sisters:

We have a local amusement park called Gilroy Gardens and we recently had a great family day there. What does this have to do with evangelism? Well, First it is filled with trees,flowers, and rolling brooks, that well, are soothing to the spirit compared to the noisy frantic ride centered amusement parks. Second, it was a great place to hand out tracts and talk with people. Most of the rides and attractions are for the little ones, and mom's and dad's are standing around waiting as the kids have fun. I was able to hand out some tracts and one to a young man running a food stand and as we passed by a little later, I saw him reading the tract, pray that the message is clear to his heart. One of the things that I found difficult is having conversations with the "little one" element. You have to be quick and to the point as your, or their little darlings are going to run amok! But overall, if you pray that the Lord will place those before you that need to hear the Gospel, and you are equipped (tracts,etc..) you will always have an opportunity to witness for Him. Beloved, it always comes down to courage, even in a idyllic setting as this... will I be bold for Jesus? Will I get past my fear and realize that many of these people are going to step off into eternity lost? Will I make a stand for my God and King? Whether your at a beautiful garden park, or standing in front of the gas station proclaiming the Gospel... be bold. my brethren,be bold... For He IS Worthy!

Until the nets are full

Robert

Project Ezra

On Saturday may 29th 2010, all around the country, and possibly the world, people went out among the masses and openly read Gods word and proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Project Ezra is a Facebook group that is dedicated to openly reading Gods word in public, and I am blessed to be a part of this very important work for the kingdom! We have our local farmers market on Saturday in Sunnyvale, CA. As of present, it is in the Cal train parking lot while our downtown is being renovated and has been a fun and exciting place to hand out tracts, and proclaim Gods word.

On this Saturday, we were committed in reading Matthew 5,6,7 and I chose this location for my reading. As usual, I was on my knees in prayer for courage and that His word would be heard and understood (funny how you can't feel your knees shaking when your down upon them!) As I proceeded to the farmers market, with my step stool in hand, I was looking for the best place to set up and read and crossed into the market and made one quick walk through; as I was looking at all the people I was overwhelmed with the thought that all these people were Gods creation and if they haven't repented and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation, they will perish. This motivates me to get past my fear and do as God has commanded and preach the Gospel. I noticed a modest size group of people sitting in the train station bench area, near where people gather to eat lunch on a small lawn area (which was filled) and met a man dressed in a santa hat handing out goodies to the kids, I introduced myself to him and I told him I was going to read Gods word, and he said "Oh I know alot about the bible" I said " Oh, good then you'll let me know if my theology is correct" we both laughed and I got up on the wall near him, opened my Bible, hands shaking, and asked the crowd for their attention.

I introduced myself to the crowd and said I was with a group called Project Ezra and was going to give them the opportunity to hear the Good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by a bible reading. As I turned to Matthew 5, and started to read, some people left right away, as they often do, but a man stood up walked toward me yelling "why are you doing this? Look at all the people leaving!" He snatched my bible away from me,(which he did three times) and I calmly told him "you know, that is assault,sir?"He said "No it's not!" and handed me back my bible, I opened it back up to Matthew 5 and continued reading. This man was angry and on a tirade, he was asking me, what religion I was in, that he had been an alter boy and this is not the right way to act and that I was ruining his day, and no one wanted to hear what I was reading as well,although there were quite a few who were still there and engaged, as well as the people on the lawn, and in the farmers market! I continued reading, even though he got up on the wall and was so close, I could feel his breath on my face as he was yelling at me, I just kept on reading as he got louder, I read on. I have to tell you, our God has blessed me with a voice that can talk over a passenger train, so as this man got louder, I just read louder. People need to hear Gods word even if this man was bent on stopping me! I read on.... At one point he even blamed me for causing him to lose his phone.. (actually If he didn't come back to yell at me, he wouldn't have found it again!) His wife got involved after trying to get him to leave yelling at me "Why are you doing this? Why don't you go to church and do this?" I wanted to tell her that church if for church people and that the lost need to hear Gods word, but I didn't. Thank you Holy Spirit! I finally reached the end of chapter 7 and the man, although away from me, hadn't left yet.. I wondered if he was listening or planning something.. Oh well.. I then gave the crowd, (which seemed to have grown in size) a short Gospel presentation, the Good News, and Gods plan of salvation. I thanked the crowd, many who were listening and engaged and grabbed my step-stool and left.

As I was leaving the Farmers market (unfortunately I had to get ready for work) I felt worn out and quite dejected... I knew I had opened Gods word for the hearing, and I don't expect to feel a sense of accomplishment or anything, but this time I felt so dejected. I sensed in my spirit the remembrance of a passage I had just read Matthew 5:11

"Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Even knowing this, was still worn out and feeling quite badly.. I now now that the enemy was trying to steal my joy and as I headed home, I plopped down in the bed for a much needed nap before work! Now talk about a word in due season, in church the next day.. what was the teaching? Matthew Chapter 5! Wow! I was blessed by our Pastors teaching and could kind of review the previous days events in the light of the Gospel and not my own understanding! Beloved, I relate this story to you, not for any effort on my part, as this should be our daily activity until we are called home, but to encourage you by His Grace and Mercy, that He will make His word known.. and it isn't by mans standard but HIS! We must proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, no matter what it takes.. truly what is our small pain compared to the pain that Jesus suffered to save the world, may you be encouraged by this account as I am, remembering it is ALL for His glory, and may our Lord and Savior truly receive the full recompense for his suffering on the cross for us!

Have a blessed week!

Until the nets are full and the counting accomplished!

Robert