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

TRANSFORMED

Brothers and Sisters:

The Transformed conference was this last weekend and it was FANTASTIC! There was a great turnout, and the "team" of Ray Comfort, Kirk cameron, Todd Friel,"E.Z."Swayne were on point! You can find out more on the LIVINGWATERS.COM website. I had the wonderful opportunities to meet with some of our congregation during the conference, and also see some old friends again, like my Brother in Christ Jack Suehiro. He was my roomie during the Ambassadors Academy #3. It was so good to hear the information provided during Transformed, and although much of it was not new to me, I gained some new skills that I am and will be using in my Evangelizing. we had some great fellowship during the conference, and I sat next to a very nice gentleman named Bill. He was from a local church, and I couldn't help noticing that he availed himself well from the book tables! Praise God!

Strange, after the conference, I had an overwhelming feeling of emptiness, and at first it puzzled me greatly! Looking back, the anticipation of the conference, meeting with Jack Pearson of Living waters, and the knowledge that I am NOT sharing my faith with boldness, contributed to these feelings. I know this to be true, that I need to get out more, gain a greater heart for the lost, and as 2 Timothy 4:5 states "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." (niv) Please if you have not done so, go to the Living waters website and check out transformed, and listen to "HELL'S BEST KEPT SECRET"

Blessings to you all!

Until the nets are full!

Robert

Happy New Year

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We are well into the new year and I wanted to say thank you for being a part of the He is just family. We are taking some time this new year to review our site, make some changes, and move up to a new level in this blog. We are exploring new information and ideas to bring you more tools to help in your evangelism. Over the next month, you will see many changes in the site, and we value your input and suggestions. We will still be bringing you stories from the "harvest" and encouraging you to step up and start sharing your faith, His love is too great,to not share with others! Looking forward to hearing from you!

In HIS love

Robert

The "Origins in Schools" Project

The "Origins in Schools Project"

On November 18th, Our "TEAM" of 4 went to San Jose Sate University and handed out 1000, 150th anniversary editions of Charles Darwins origins of species... with a twist! This edition, had a 54 page introduction by Ray Comfort, and contained the Gospel message!

Our team started arriving at 7:00 am, and even though we had a basic plan to meet and park, well, the enemy, and his minions were in full swing to thwart this effort. first, the parking structure we were to use was a PERMIT ONLY parking structure, so, of course, we needed to find a new place to park, so the Lord countered that attack with providing us a parking spot just across the street from the west entrance to the campus! What a blessing, as the books were distributed on campus, and re-supplied from the back of my truck less than 1 block away!

The parking was at a taqueria, cold as it was that morning, we met inside for coffee and a plan.

Soon, there were three soldiers of Jesus Christ, heading out into the battlefield, breaching the stronghold of the atheist camp... our universities! After spending some time in prayer, we pulled 4 boxes of books out of the truck, and headed onto the campus. As we entered the west end of the campus, we saw a small kiosk(see above) and this became our base camp. As we opened the boxes, and started handing out the books, we realized how big this endeavor was, as the 4 boxes went in about 15 minutes! I returned to my truck and quickly grabbed 5 more boxes with my handy dandy folding hand truck and raced back to our "camp" It was such a blessing to see how appreciative most of the students were, as the received the free books. I found myself

having such a great time handing the books out and engaging in conversations with the recipients. I received many interesting responses for the "million dollar bill" tract I placed in each book that I handed out, telling them, "HERE'S A GREAT BOOKMARK FOR YA!" Gabriel, our "Star" team member would load up books in his backpack and on his lap and scoot off to parts unknown handing out books, then would return for another load. Tim, out videographer and resident apologist (man, he knows his bible!) would be handing out a book in one hand, and holding the camera in the other!!! Mr. multi-tasker! Our Brother Kurt arrived later and could be found, handing out books and sharing his faith with many students!

As the day wore on, we broke for lunch, and returned, fueled up and ready to go... this is when we met "paul." Paul was very engaging, and was a great witness for the Lord, as he was very supportive, and a quite likable guy. In comparison, we soon met "brent." This young man was very bitter,very angry, and very,very opinionated! He refuted anything we would say with statements like "DON'T EVEN GO THERE WITH THE LACK OF FOSSIL RECORDS" or " DON'T TRY TO CONVINCE ME ABOUT IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY" He became so agitated, he grabbed a copy of the book, and tore out the front section angrily, then throwing it in the garbage, as not to litter...Hmmmm? As he stormed off, I could see our first real opposition stomping off in the distance. A while later as I was reaching down in the box for the last few books of this load, I noticed in the corner of my eye, someone heading towards me... Yep, it was brent. My eyes immediately shot to his hands to see if he was holding a weapon, (old military habits die hard) and I noticed he had a new copy of the book. He headed straight to me and as I prepared for the worst, said "YOU KNOW, I'M VERY SORRY FOR HOW I ACTED EARLIER"

Well, as I picked my jaw up off the sidewalk, all I could do was thank him, and encourage him that, that was a nice thing to do. This led us into a long, animated conversation, ending in agreeing to disagree. He did, hear the law, gospel and the need for repentance tho! As we were nearing our last few boxes, I saw Kurt and Tim having a conversation with a lady, tim, having to go, led her over to Gabriel and I... well the war was on! See this lady was a biology instructor with a PHD in Astrophysics.... Yes we may have felt out-gunned, but our Lord is infinitely greater than any of His creation, and the Gospel is the sharpest of all two edged swords!

Our professor, argued and refuted any disputed area of evolution, like the lack of transitional forms, irreducible complexity,proof in creation and would turn it around to a religious "guilt trip" and frequently said " WHAT A SHAME YOU'VE WASTED SUCH A MIND" to Gabriel, like you have to park your mind at the door if you don't believe in evolution! Through the power of the Holy Spirit, We were able to give her the law,hell, repentance and the Gospel during our nearly 1 1/2 hour "conversation" Spent from her failed efforts to convince us we were lunatics, she left, another deceived and lost soul. I know both Gabriel and I were saddened by her lack of concern for her eternity, and this encounter frequently come to my mind.

We met and engaged in conversation with many students and faculty, and gave out all the books

as our day drew to a close, there was a sense of accomplishment, and yet a sadness that this great battle was done. How many lives were touched that beautiful November day? Only the Lord knows! We, the team received the greatest blessing of all, and that is for a moment in time, we were Gods hands and feet, his voice and his heart. Please be in prayer for the students who now have BOTH sides of the story, and be in prayer how the Lord can use you!

Until next time loved ones!

Robert

p.s.

A special thanks to Gabriel, Tim, and Kurt true warriors of GOD!

Food and Faith, lunch and a lesson

Dear Beloved:

I had a great day today, and had a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel and help be Jesus hands today. I was heading over to the Church today, and found everyone was out. So I went to the local Starbucks to get a "cuppa" and my Yorkshire friend used to say. I got a cup of Joe and sat at a table just outside the "bucks" I saw a man standing near the table I asked his name and he said "Burt" and after some pleasantries I asked him how he was doing? He said that he was hungry and it was near his birthday? I could tell he was genuine in his request(not that that matters!) and so we went to Subway for some grub. We returned to the table and I was able to share the Law and Gospel with him, and It was a blessing. See Iv'e been struggling lately with getting out and sharing the most wonderful gift given to me, that cost me NOTHING and cost Him EVERYTHING and that's Salvation from the wrath to come, and Eternal life. Funny, how we can go out and tell even strangers that we got a new car, job, baby..etc yet, when it comes to the Gospel, we are shy and afraid.

Brothers and Sisters we should be telling everyone we see, the wonderful gift of Life that cost our Saviors Body and Blood. What is it we (I) fear? man's disapproval, his wrath, pain,rejection? So what, we're talking about the Savior of the World, the Holy Creator of the Universe, The Lamb of God, God himself! How weak and fallen we are, how shallow, that we can boast about our accomplishments, our possessions,our jobs, and yet are afraid to boast about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! How is it that God even lets us live for one second, it is by His Mercy and Grace, definitely not because of ANYTHING we've done! I may be admonishing you, but I am definitely admonishing myself and I' pray that you and I would get boldness and courage from our Lord to proclaim His Good News! I was reading the other day in Revelation, and do you realize that coward's will NOT inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, Behold " Then He said to me, It is done. I am he Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death." Revelation 21:6-8 nasb

Go beloved, go in strength, go in HIS strength, for His Glory and Honor GO!!!

Robert