Christmas Parade
Jasper
Christmas is coming are you ready? One of the first parades
has come and gone this year. Jasper Alabama
You may be asking yourself, if the lights did not work, how
can you feel good about your entry? Well the lights were a garnish on our
entry. Our core entry was the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the Lamb of God, and the
Savior. Our goal this year, as in years past were to present the gospel, the
good news, to the people attending the parade.
In our first year we passed out 900 tracts, last year the
team passed out 7,000 tracts. I was not able to participate last year because
of work schedule, but Richard his wife, sister, nephew and some friends worked
hard that year. This year was a little different from past years. This year we
had more laborers than ever before.
This year Shawn Doss brought a team from his church to help
us. I want to give a shout out and thank you to Shawn, Aaron (probably
misspelled forgive me), John, and Joe. We also had a few more additions,
Richard’s brother-in-law David, Amber a friend of Melissa’s. Another cherished
addition to the team was Cynthia, a godly influence on Richard’s whole family
and a leader in their church, Living Light Church of God in Jasper.
In previous years, it took everything we had to keep up with
the float, in order to replenish tracts. This year I found myself behind
everyone else, and most of the people had already gotten the tract. Previously,
I had to force myself to just say “Merry Christmas” and hand out tracts,
because in order to finish the job I could not take the time to talk to people.
This year was different.
This year, once I realized how far behind I was, I started
talking to people. I would encourage them to check the back of the tract to see
if they were naughty or nice. As opportunity arose, I was able to take a few
through the naughty or nice test. Almost all of those, I left with them being
naughty. I did give them the good news that Santa does not use the Ten
Commandments, so they do not have to worry about getting a presents from him.
Then I gave them the bad news that God does use His Commandments as a rule of
judgment. I then told them that there was another section of good news on the
back of the track and they would want to read it later.
I did not explain the good news to most of them because they
appeared not ready to hear it yet. However, there was one person, John, who was
ready to receive it. I stopped and talked to John and his girlfriend. He said
he was nice, and once I asked him if I could give the test, he accepted my
offer. It turned out the John had lied, and not stolen. At that point, I asked
him if he knew this girl standing beside him. He said it was his girlfriend. I
asked her to cover her ears for the next question. I then asked John is he had
ever looked at a woman with lust, he admitted he had. I said, “Check this out,
Jesus said you have hear it said of old you shall not commit adultery, but I
say unto you, if you look at a woman to lust after her you have already
committed adultery in your heart.”
I asked John is he was judged by Ten Commandments would he
go to heaven or hell. He said heaven,(typical wrong response). Hoping he was
thinking that Jesus died for him, I asked why. He explained because he went to Jasper First
Baptist Church
I told him, the fact that Jesus, Son of God, Beloved of the
Father, most precious thing in the universe to God, the one who by which
everything was created and sustained after pleading with His Father to provide
another way, still had to go to the cross tells me one thing. There is no other
way. If your going to church could have saved you from your sins, then God
would have given His Son that request and would have not sent Him to the cross.
I explained to Him that God so loved him that He sent His
only begotten Son. I shared with him one of my favorite verses. “God
demonstrated His love toward us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.” I explained that a few verses before tells us that you probably
would not die for a righteous man, you might do it for a good man, but God
makes it clear that Jesus did not die for either one of those. Jesus died for
sinners. He died for you even while you were an enemy of God in your mind
through wicked works, He died for me when I hated Him and was opposed to Him.
I asked him if had a Bible, he said he did in the truck, I
told him to read the Gospel of John. A chapter a day and talk to God about
this. He shook my hand goodbye, and thanked me for talking to him. I held his
grip a little longer, and told him to not harden his heart this day. That God
was calling him now; there no guarantee God will call Him again. I told him
that I had no offering plate, no credit card machine, and I was not trying to
get him to come to my church, all I wanted was for Him to come to Jesus. I told
him that I love him and that God loved him so much he sent me to him tonight.
I would love to say that John dropped to his knees and
repented on the spot, but I would be a liar. I can tell you this, John’s eyes
were red, and tear were forming on his cheek. I am praying that was the
beginning of Godly repentance, not to be repented of, that will lead him to
faith.
You see faith without repentance is not saving faith, just
as faith without good works is not saving faith. They go hand in hand. We may
quibble about which one comes first, but Godly sorrow, over our sins, leads us
to repentance, the kind that will not be regretted by the repenter. Repentance
takes faith, or else why repent in the first place. So I will not argue about
order, but I will say on the authority of scripture that they both are present,
or the one we think we have is not the real deal.
I wanted to tell you about John, because if we had not had
enough people to hand out the tracks, then I would have not taken the time to
talk to him. I would have been to busy trying to reach the most with the
gospel. That is not a bad thing, and I have no regrets over the previous years
were 1-2-1 was not possible. I have full faith the God can, will, and does use
gospel tracts to saves souls. Over 50% worldwide come to faith through the
printed Word, some kind of gospel literature. I just thank the Lord, I was able
to take the time this year to talk to John.
I just want to thank God, for those who made it possible.
Thank God for those who provide finances, time, creativity, prayer, and love.
We gave out around 2500-3000 tracts this year. It was down from 7,000 last
year. I noticed that there seemed to be fewer people this year than in previous
years I have attended. The walkers also got passed up by Santa’s float, and
once he goes by everyone leaves so we missed some near the end of the parade
lines.
I also noticed on the way home that the Bingo halls were
filled up with cars. I figure some that would have brought kids or grandkids to
the parade were busy this year donating to charities through the bingo hall. I
will not go into how much it grieves me to see this all over the place. However
they are not a cause of the spiritual condition in Walker County
.
I used to use tracts simply as icebreakers, and if the ice
was broken I shared verbally, if not the tract was my witness to them. Others of you the Lord has chosen tracts as
the primary method that you would spread the good news, especially to
strangers, others may be through your music, or through your writing, or
through teaching Bible studies, abortion recovery, reading the Bible on street
corners as people pass by, or even in the pulpit.
We all are called to preach (proclaim) the gospel, but the
setting and delivery method may be varied. Now do not get me wrong, God makes
it clear that it is primarily through the foolishness of preaching, and you
need to insure your method does not actually produce another gospel. It is
still a Holy God who is Just, a sinful man who has transgressed God’s commands
and is under judgment, and a Son who was sent to take God’s punishment on
Himself, to save those whom God loves. Repent and believe in that Son.
Can I challenge you today? What setting has God chosen as
your primary setting for proclaiming His gospel? What method has He gifted you
to use in proclaiming that gospel? If you know, are you doing it? If not, why?
Also, are you willing to set aside your own preference of proclaiming when
there is another setting or method were there is a need for Laborers? Not for
the long run, but from time to time.
You see Richard’s primary setting for giving the gospel is
in service. He serves others, through a food bank, and he has served prisoners
and taught Sunday school as the need has arisen. I do not know what Shawn’s
primary gifting is or that of his team, except maybe Aaron. My oldest son,
Walker, told me that they had to keep reeling her back in because she was
skipping, hopping, down the road passing out tracts and getting ahead of the
group.
All that to say sometimes we serve outside of our gifting
for the greater good to help others serve within their gifting. As more and
more laborers are thrust into the Harvest, we may have to do that less and
less.
.
