I just listened to an excellent, updated version of this sermon by Max McLean, and was very thankful to be saved after hearing this “Fire and Brimstone” message. I am now even more committed to sharing the Gospel with “sinners” as a result. I can’t wait to preach it myself at my church this summer. Hmmmm… I wonder how many “walkouts” there will be? Every evangelist needs a copy of this antidote to Joel Osteen . Get a copy and listen to a sample by clicking here.

Buy the easy-to-read print version that I will use for my sermon here.

See Joel Osteen’s preaching loveseat here!

Check out a horrible, terrible, wonderful book here.

America’s greatest theologian and philosopher, Jonathan Edwards, reminds us of these very things in his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Here’s a short excerpt where he explains the suddenness of death and the varities of ways in which we can die:

It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable.  

Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God’s hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case. Read the whole sermon here.

Jehad Ramzi Razack was apprehended and held in lieu of $1-million bail. His mother, whose name has been withheld by police was found by a family friend at her home. —L.A. Times, 3/2/08

What is my conclusion after having the privelege of leading nine students at the first-ever evangelism training put on by the best evangelism ministry in the world?

Everybody needs to go.

Though I have been sharing my faith nearly everyday since January 1, 2004, I have never had a more impactful experience than the time I spent at the Ambassadors’ Alliance, the wonderful new bootcamp put on by Ray Comfort’s ministry, Living Waters/The Way of the Master. It was first-class all the way.

In fact, I was so excited afterward, that I told my wife, “Honey, next to being married to you, and having our two daughters, this was the best experience I ever had!” (Note to men: Never say that to your wife; I learned the hard way.)

I had the great pleasure of seeing my team of nine stand on the “box” and preach in the open air—some for the very first time—in Hollywood! And they did it because they were bold as lions and wanted to go home and introduce what they learned to their home churches.

What impact can a three day intensive training make in the life of a would-be evangelist? The image below is of Cheri Mills, who with her friend Lesa Dae, stop light preached on Derby Day in Kentucky—one short week after the training.

Before enrolling in the Ambassadors’ Academy they rarely even handed out a Gospel tract.

Lesa wrote: “I’m still amazed at the experience and surely I will never be the same. I have had many evangelism experiences, but not like this one. My eyes have been opened to a truth that has been staring me in the face for years. It is a simple, but profound truth.”

Another man on our team, Victor Stinson from Texas South Carolina, wrote this: The most significant step I took beyond my comfort zone was getting onto the box for the very first time at the Chinese Theatre. Also, I did stoplight preaching… at Huntington Beach. I learned a lot about going beyond what kinds of things you THINK you can or should do. I hope to employ many of the things [I learned] into my own evangelistic efforts in the future.

So what are you waiting for?

For further information on The Ambassadors’ Alliance evangelism bootcamps, click here!

It was horrible. Awful. Stomach-churning. I wanted to turn my head to avoid the tragedy that was destined to happen. I didn’t. But what I witnessed, no man should ever see…

The persecution took place at Huntington Beach during the last day of training at the Ambassadors’ Academy, a new evangelism bootcamp of Living Waters, while one member of the team I was leading, Neil Collins, got on the “soapbox” to preach.

Launching into a powerful sermon, the two or three gathered to hear him preach were almost moved to tears.

The audience then doubled to three or four… but on the outskirts of the crowd, evil was plotting its dastardly course.

Two rent-a-rickshaw bicyclists circled around the perimeter of the preacher. They were vehemently opposed to this orator on a box. “It’s bad for business!” spat the baldheaded rickshaw driver. He was determined to put an end to this foolishness. He sat in the back of his rickshaw punching the keypad of his cellphone. Was he dialing “M” for Murder?

The plan was hatched. I overheard the baldheaded guy, probably the ringleader say, “Drive through the crowd. Drive through the crowd!” to his ponytailed partner of perdition. Then the son of Belial whispered conspiratorially, ”And when you do…” (here’s where it gets ugly) “…ring your bell!”

I had no time to warn Neil. Old baldhead went first, sin in his eye…

That awful sound, that echoing, tingling, chiming tune of the little girly bell on his handlebars rang out… ever so wimpily, Ting-Ching!  He broke through the throng of five listeners! Ting-Ching!

Undeterred, Neil continued to preach on as Old Baldhead went up and consulted with his ponytailed partner.

The ponytailed guy made his move. Would there be victory for this spawn of Satan? Ting-Ching! He, too, crashed through the crowd. Actually, they stepped aside politely. Ting-Ching!

Unable to remove the man-of-God from his rightful place, the two ruffian rickshaw rebels rode off into the sunset. But there was no sunset. It was High Noon. The fight was over at the OK corral. 

Neil continued to preach on. And on. And on… And on… oblivious to the works of darkness that met their defeat at the foot of the… soapbox. The crowd, the masses, inclined their ears to the words of salvation.

All five of them.

Ting-Ching!     

Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) wrote:

Once recommenced, the fruitful agency of field-preaching was not allowed to cease. Amid jeering crowds and showers of rotten eggs and filth, the immediate followers of the two great [preachers] continued to storm village after village and town after town. Very varied were their adventures, but their success was generally great. One smiles often when reading incidents in their labors. A string of pack horses is so driven as to break up a congregation, and a fire engine is brought out and played over the throng to achieve the same purpose. Hand-bells, old kettles, marrowbones and cleavers, trumpets, drums, and entire bands of music were engaged to drown the preachers’ voices.

In one case the parish bull was let loose, and in others dogs were set to fight. The preachers needed to have faces set like flints, and so indeed they had. John Furz says: “As soon as I began to preach, a man came straight forward, and presented a gun at my face; swearing that he would blow my brains out, if I spake another word. However, I continued speaking, and he continued swearing, sometimes putting the muzzle of the gun to my mouth, sometimes against my ear. While we were singing the last hymn, he got behind me, fired the gun, and burned off part of my hair.

After this, my brethren, we ought never to speak of petty interruptions or annoyances.
—From Spurgeon’s sermon, OPEN-AIR PREACHING - A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY AND REMARKS THEREON

Read the conclusion of this Ambassadors’ Academy series by clicking here!

I’ve just found out that Ray is sick. If he is better on Saturday morning when I call him, then we will go to Huntington.

The second day of evangelism training was located in Huntington Beach.

watch as a man possessed by a clown demon does backflips during a very serious Gospel presentation after the baptism of one of the evangelism students. Trust me, it was really hard to keep a straight face (”Really, Pastor Steve!”) as Tony Miano, the leader of this entire training, kept on preaching.

(To go directly to the Clown-demon-possessed-backflipper guy, go to the 4-minute marker on the video.)

Click here if you can’t see the video.

I laughed to myself.

At the first day’s training of the Ambassadors’ Alliance, a ministry where people from all over the country came to be coached in a three day evangelism bootcamp, a couple of the teachers assured the class that no one would be pushed to do something they didn’t want to do. “No one will make you do anything,” Tony Miano, the organizer of the event, said over and over.

I thought to myself: People are paying a goodly amount to be taught how to evangelize effectively. They’ve also paid for their airfare, AND sacrificed a lot of time to be here at this training. I don’t want people to go away wondering what they could have done or should have done; I want people to go home thanking God for what they did!” So I pushed them… just a little…

In front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, two ladies, Lesa and Cheri, who never even handed out Gospel tracts on a regular basis, stood on a stool and preached the Gospel powerfully to the forecourt, while tourists inspected the handprints in cement. I hardly pushed at all; God did the pushing.

Lesa Dae belted out the message…

So did Cheri Mills…

But in the background, skulking, was the chicken lady, a worker for the Star Tours buses, who refused to take a Gospel tract.

“SHADDAP! SHADDAP!” she clucked, as everyone continued to preach.

I grabbed Victor Stinson’s elbow. Bam! He climbed on the preaching stool.

A little nudge, and Michael Chamberlain stepped up, in spite of his objections to open air preaching…

Later, the demon tree guy of Hollywood Blvd. scared the pants off of him…

And the chicken lady, growing more agitated by the moment, continued to squawk: “SHADDAP! SHADDAP!” rebuking all those who tried to hand her anything about Jesus.

The husband and wife team, Dennis Feely and Jennifer Good, The FeelyGoods, after a little encouragement, also jumped on the stool shouting repentance to tourists from Idaho, Iowa, and other far-flung places that begin with “I”. 

Big John Chisam from Minnesota, needed no pushing to jump on the stool. But when he did, he crushed it—twice! I didn’t push him to stand on it again. Neil Collins, also a large man, fixed the stool—twice—and preached without it, I think.

The chicken lady circled, feathers ruffled. I convinced Alan Lee to hand her a Gospel tract—a million dollar bill! What would she do? She took it!

Then promptly ripped it up, shoving it back into Alan’s hands.

I had an idea. I wanted to hand the chicken lady an unrippable, untearable, impossible to shred, Ticket to Heaven Gospel tract. She would grab it, try to tear it in half, then when she found out that it wasn’t possible, we’d win her over and share the Gospel.

One problem: She refused to take it.

I tried to push her a little, just a little, but no go. Maybe next time, I’ll gently grab her by the elbow, and ask her to stand on a stool and preach, “SHADDAP! SHADDAP!”

The evangelism students nicknamed me “The Pusher”. To this day I can’t understand why.

READ PART 8 BY CLICKING HERE!

Last week I wrote about how I totally blew it on Hollywood Boulevard.

I was demonstrating to the students attending an evangelism bootcamp put on by Ray Comfort’s ministry, the importance of open air preaching in the midst of distractions. As I started to preach John Travolta showed up; to my shame, I jumped off my preaching stool to give him a tract (read about it here). Little did I know that one of the students, Dennis Feely, was videotaping the whole sordid affair. So, to minimize the damage to my reputation, I thought I’d let you see it before the National Enquirer got a hold of it (you only need to see the first minute). I want to just get it out in the open. (If for some reason you can’t see the video, then click here.)

Thanks a lot Dennis. I owe you, buddy. Big time.

Click here to read part 7!

Click here to see an open air sermon from this year’s Academy Awards, where I actually stayed on my preaching stool.