Goals: To Obey

In the first post of this blog, I mentioned that there were seven goals I had for starting this "Good News for Calgary" blog:

• To Obey
• To Pray
• To Learn
  
• To Teach
• To Model
• To Report
  
• To Encourage

I want to spend a few moments reflecting on the first goal:  to obey.  Simply to obey.  

The Lord Jesus commissioned his disciples to make disciples by going, baptizing, & teaching.  The classic text is Matthew 28:18-20. 

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you alwasy, to the end of the age" (ESV).  

We are explicitly commanded by our Lord to "go."  Disciples make disciples by going, by doing something.    

Just before His resurrection, He told his disciples,   

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

I have had the privilege of talking to people about the Lord Jesus Christ since I became a Christian at age 16.  Some have been hardened, some have been apathetic, and some have been receptive.  I've had the privilege of ministering in a number of different settings and in 3 different countries, yet I can do far more.  The older I get (hitting the top of the hill this year!), the more pressing this seems to me.   

Jack Dennison says in his book, City Reaching,

"Evidence suggests that 95 percent of all Christians in North America will not lead a single person to Christ in their entire lifetime."

In his book, The One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven, Mark Cahill references a Zondervan Church Source that says

"...97 percent of church members have no involvement in any sort of evangelism." 

He goes on to say,

"A survey by Christianity Today found that only 1 percent of their readership had witnessed to someone recently.  Does anything strike you as being wrong with this picture...?"

Clearly, it is the duty & responsibility (& should be the joy) of every believer to witness for His Lord.  There are many ways to do this from the evangelist who goes out intentionally speaking to folks about the Gospel to the average Christian who provides answers to those within his or her sphere of influence for the hope that is within them.

Yet so many Christians have no intentions whatsoever of speaking about Christ.  I know many pastors who don't ever talk to anyone outside the four walls of their own church about the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote to his friend, Philemon, in a short little letter in the New Testament.  One of the things he said was,

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ" (NIV).

That is my prayer for myself and for others, and this blog hopefully, will keep me focused on the task at hand.  So the first goal of this blog is to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, and to hold myself accountable in proclaiming the Gospel to Calgary.  Not every conversation will be recorded here, but I hope to write about a lot of them, and so spur on my fellow Christians in their own obedience to the great task that God has given to us. 
 

Marley - mid 20s; Richard - mid 50s

Marley
Tom & I headed back to the car after spending an hour plus walking Stephen Ave in very cold weather.  On the way back, we met Marley, a 20-something construction worker.  I asked him if he had anything he needed prayer for, and he paused for a moment and said, "I just want everyone to be happy."

Why do you think people aren't happy?

Marley looked around at the buildings and said, "People are just lonely and isolated and just care about making money."  Yeah, big cities like Calgary have problems like that.  It just seems everyone is out to use the city and others to make money.

Well, Marley, we can pray for that and do pray for that.  That's one of the reason's that we are out here today praying for the city.  But how can we pray for you.

"I just want to be happy too."  I wish that we could have had more time to talk with him.  The concrete truck & the crew that he was a part of were backing down the alley and he would have to jump on when they reached him.  So I prayed briefly for him & for his job.  Then I asked him if he had any spiritual background.

"Well, my parents were hippies."  I smiled and kinda laughed because he smiled at giving such an answer.

I briefly explained that Tom & I were Christians & our hope was rooted in the belief that God had not abandoned the world, but had entered it in the person of Jesus Christ to restore it & heal it, and that included our happiness & loneliness & the brokenness of this world.

The truck had backed up to us at this point so he had to go, but it seemed that he wanted to talk more and so did I.  I wished that I would have offered to buy him a drink after work and talk more, but I wasn't that quick on my feet. 

Richard
Having said goodbye to Marley, I turned and Tom was already speaking with another man who was trying to sell Tom some tool holsters.  He said that he was hard up and needed money and found these while he was dumpster diving.  He was dropping the F-bomb left and right, and just said he needed some money.  Tom offered to buy him some lunch, which he initially agreed to, but then said he just wanted money.  To his credit, he said he wouldn't use it to buy drugs because he only smokes cigarettes and drinks alcohol (which wasn't helping his case).  We told him that we weren't out giving out money, but would be glad to pray for him.

He gave us conflicting stories about how long he'd been in Calgary, once saying that he'd been there only 4 months and another time saying he'd been there 7 years.  We asked him if he knew about Mustard Seed which is provides shelter & meals for homeless people.  He then mentioned that he was a Catholic and not a Christian (I guess b/c Mustard Seed is Christian based).  We tried asking clarifying questions as to what he meant by that statement, but his answers weren't making any sense.

At any rate, Tom ended up praying for this man & a bad tooth that he had.  Richard was pretty scatter-brained and it was hard to keep track of his train of thinking, not to mention making it hard to talk about the Gospel.  The man thanked us sincerely, asked us for money again, and then headed off.

-----

Mark 2:17,  “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus Christ, since Marley is sick and in need of a physician for his soul, would you heal him of his spiritual disease of rebellion against you?   

Matthew 18:3-4, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Holy Spirit, cause Richard to turn and become like a child so that he can enter the kingdom of heaven.  Give him a true estimation of himself so that he will be humbled.  

Terry, Marilyn, James, Stanley, & Lonnie

My friend, Tom D., & I headed downtown to Stephen Ave to prayer for the city & for people in it.  It was cold, about 20*F, and most people were darting from building to building to avoid the cold, but there were some folks out having lunch, smoking cigarrettes, etc.  We had a handful of conversations with about 6-7 folks for the 1.5 hours we were there.

Terry
Terry is a homeless & handicapped person that was the first person we met.  We told him that we were out praying for the city and asked if there was anything he needed prayer for.  He said that he was hungry and would love some chicken.  So Tom & I headed to McDonald's to buy him some chicken (I know, its debatable if what they sell there is chicken!).

While there, I noticed a lady looking through a notebook with an open Bible on the table in front of her.  I said to her, "Excuse me, but I noticed that you were reading your Bible.  Are you reading any book in particular in the Bible?"  She said that she was just reading a few passages, but was really downtown praying for the city.  "Wow, what a coincidence.  We are downtown praying for people as well."  She said she just prays and if people come up to her, then she'll speak to them.  I found out her name was Marilyn, and asked her to pray for us as we go out to talk with people on the streets.  Evidently, her ministry is to pray, so I was glad to have her praying for us.

We headed back out to give Terry a meal, and asked if there was anything else we could pray for.  In all seriousness, he said that he needed some new legs.  I smiled and said, "I can see that."  We told him that we would pray for that, & ultimately our hope is in the Lord Jesus who would come back & heal this world & make everything the way it is supposed to be.  As he was busily chowing down on his McNuggets & fries, Tom said, "Let's pray," so I led us in prayer, asking God to bless him, to instill hope in Christ's future coming, & to encourage him in his struggles.  At "amen," I looked up at Terry who had removed his hat & bowed his head.

Interestingly, there was another man who had stopped about two yards away to listen to our conversation, and as we were saying goodbye to Terry, he took off.  Don't know that man's name or why he stopped to listen, but God does. 

Looking back on the situation now, I should have asked a few more directed questions, but hopefully our conversation gave him some things to think about.  I'm sure I'll see him around there again, and hopefully today's conversation & McNuggets will give us more to talk about next time.  Later, we passed by across the street from him & I hollered out, "How was the chicken?" & he responded with two thumbs up. 

My heart breaks for Terry's of Calgary & the brokenness of the city.  He is a precious person created in the image of God.  How we long for Christ's Kingdom to come in all its fullness to Calgary.  Afterwards when we were eating lunch, Tom & I talked a bit about the overwhelming needs of the city, and the importance of a network of churches and ministries that can not only minister to folks like Terry, but enfold them into a renewed communities of faith. 

We had chatted with a few more folks telling them we were out praying for the city & wanted to know if they had anything they needed prayer for.  They assured us that everything was okay, that they had everything they needed.  One man, a construction worker, told us to remember the folks in Haiti.

We had a few more conversations with some other folks like James whose brother Stanley was sick & in the hospital, & Lonnie who was new to Calgary, but hadn't eaten in a couple of days.  Tom bought him a shawarma while I stayed outside to counsel with him. 

I'll tell you about Marley & Richard in coming posts, but let me just say that getting out & talking with people & especially praying for them has an interesting effect on you.  You begin to see the city through Christ's eyes, and you long for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  I'm glad that we went out today.  I just wish that Calgary was warmer!!!

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Mark 2:5, “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus, as you told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, would you speak those words over Terry, James, Stanley, & Lonnie as you draw them to yourself?

Why does this blog exist?

What is the purpose of this blog?  What are my goals? 

That is a good question to define as one starts something new like this. 

A blog is a web-log, that is, it records the thoughts of its creator that he or she wants to share with others.  There are probably as many purposes for blogs as there are blogs out there, yet I recently searched specifically for blogs that talked about people’s actual conversations about & attempts to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I found that there are not many blogs out there in the blogosphere that fit this description.  There are blogs about the subject of evangelism/ witnessing/ defending the faith, many blogs about ministry, but not many that actually blog about real conversations with real people about the real gospel, though there are a handful (here, here, here, here, & here).    So I thought I would carve out my niche & contribute to this neglected area of the blogosphere. 

So is the purpose of this blog? 

Simply put, this blog will record recent conversations with people in Calgary about their spiritual beliefs & interactions with the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ & His kingdom, as well as random thoughts about the task of evangelizing such a great city. 

I have a few goals as well.  What are my goals?  There are at least seven goals that I hope to accomplish by starting this blog, Good News for Calgary! 

• To Obey
• To Pray
• To Learn
  
• To Teach
• To Model
• To Report
  
• To Encourage

I will blog about them in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned...