running the map

Yesterday was wild. God is teaching me a lot for sure.

Before I had to be at soundcheck at church, I spent a few hours at Starbucks starting to do a study, but was interrupted by an aggressive heretic. This guy came up to me and asked what my favorite verse was, and then badgered his way through my responses to show me his.

I should have been leery because of how poorly he was interpreting the verses. It turned into an hour long discussion of him trying to convince me that God elected all people, because he made them to sin, so he could redeem them. That hell was temporary and that Jesus will save people out of hell and destroy hell forever. His ideology wasn't merely unbiblical and heretical, but incredibly offensive as to how he attempted to twist Scripture. I pinned him as a hyper-calvinist-universalist. He has no desire to commune with God, or the church or even share the gospel. He just wants to fill his head with the bent meanings of greek words he comes up with. It's so unfortunate and saddening to see people get to this point.

Poor David showed up just as this guy came over to start talking, so he had to sit through this guy's nonsense. But David made a good point when he said, "It's no wonder we're all getting attacked personally and together since we're really pushing hard to grow in our walks with God."

Always a great reminder. I am to be readily prepared at all times for whatever comes my way.

Fast forward 7 hours: I had the opportunity to share the gospel, in great detail with Joseph and Steven's friend from school. Her name is Ashely and it's the first time she'd ever been to a church that wasn't LDS. She said she loved it and wanted to have that "thing" that Joseph and Steven have in their lives. It was nearly an hour spent walking through the gospel with her. She said it made sense to her, and Glory to God - that's great, but I told her it needs to be her decision and sincere prayer. Not to do it because I made a pleading case, or that Steven was there, or because she wanted to clean herself up - but that she needs Jesus desperately.

I'll be praying for her this week, and Lord willing, she'll pray to repent, accept Christ and become a Christian. Hopefully she comes back too! She could be one more person brought from death to life as the incredible miracle and work of the Trinity.

It's a wonderful thing seeing people come to saving grace and actively being a part of growing the Kingdom of God. I pray it's a trend that perpetuates through our people and churches - that more and more people have the disposition to reach out regularly and that we can plant more churches in the next few years.

This is real life. This is what I will spend the rest of my life doing.