Monthly Archives: January 2011

I was at the University of North Texas today. Went to lunch at the sandwich shop. Gave a tract to the cashier. It was a Super Bowl Trivia tract. He said thanks.

After lunch I handed out a few tracts to random people.

I was sitting on a bench reading a book. I had a business card in the book as a book mark. The wind blew and the bookmark flew out onto the sidewalk. As I was picking up the business card, two college students came walking by. So I quickly grabbed a couple Super Bowl Trivia tracts from my pocket and asked if they were going to watch the Super Bowl.

The both said yes.

So we talked about who was going to win and that kind of thing. Both wanted the Packers to win. One because the Steelers had beaten the Jets (who he roots for) and the other just because he liked the Packers more.

So I asked, “do you think anyone will remember who wins this came in 100 years?”

Both said that the fans might care especially the Steelers fans because they have the most championships. So then I asked “where do you think you will be in 100 years.”

Probably Dead – came the reply.

So I asked, “what do you think happens when you die?”

Neither was sure. Turns out one guy was Jewish. The other had some Christian background. But neither believed in Christ at this point in time. We talked about how creation testifies that there is a God. One of them said, “I want to believe, but I don’t want to just say I believe because I know God would know the truth.” Good point! God knows the heart. He was also confused by how there could be so many religions. They talked about how they don’t worry about death, but rather just live for the moment. Drinking and girls and that kind of thing.

Eventually the one guy said that he was a good person. And his friend agreed. So I asked what standard he uses to determine that he is a good person. He said he compared himself to others.

I told him that according to the Bible, God’s standard of goodness is moral perfection – the Ten Commandments. I asked if they knew any of the Ten Commandments.

The first guy named “you shall not steal”. So I asked if he ever had stolen. He said yes. The other guy said no. What does that make you? A thief! The both agreed.

Neither of them could name any of the other commandments. I told them that the ninth is “you shall not lie” and asked if they every had. Yes came the answer. So I asked what that makes them? They said “a liar”. I then reminded them that Revelation 21:8 says that that all liars will have their place in the lake of fire which is hell. At that the first guy used God’s name in vain to express his shock.

I explained t them that adultery is having sex outside of marriage, but Jesus said that to even look with lust is adultery. They tried to explain that everyone does it, it is the culture, etc. But ultimate, they both agreed that they were guilty of breaking the 7th commandment.

So I asked if they would be innocent or guilty.

Guilty! Said the first. Not sure said the second.

The first guy also said he was concerned that his destiny would be Hell!

So I focused on the first guy. He thought he could simply be forgiven. So I took him to a court room example. I said, let’s say you go out with your friends tonight. You get drunk and commit some crime. You stand before the judge and admit your guilt. He would find your guilty and sentence you to a one million dollar fine or prison time. What would happen.

Prison! He said.

So I said, what if someone walked into the court room and told the judge, “I’d like to pay this mans fine” and set down one million dollars on the judges desk. I asked him, “what would happen to you?”

He said, “the judge would let me go!”

Exactly! I then explained to him that that is exactly what Jesus did for him. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. Being fully God and fully man he was able too. Then he willingly went to the cross to pay for your sins. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead. He defeated sin and death. I told him that the Bible commands all men everywhere to repent. And that if he would turn from his sin and trust in Christ that he would have eternal life.

Unfortunately, at this time, the guy was more interested in his next party and chasing girls. I asked him if he knew when he was going to die. He said no and even said it could be tomorrow. I told him that that is why the Bible says that today is the day of salvation. We never know if we will have tomorrow.

They were both very flippant about forgiveness and that they could just ask for it and receive it and that they still knew that God would know if they falsely confessed faith. I told them that the issue is that they are not truly concerned about their sin and how it separates them from God. I asked them to read the tract and consider what we talked about.

They thanked me for my time and headed on their way. I pray that they will consider these things, repent of their sin and trust Jesus for their salvation!

In my last post I mentioned handing out Super Bowl Trivia tracts. Mostly, these are going out to men. However, I find that women are interested in the Super Bowl too. At costco, the young lady checking receipts at the door was wearing a Chicago Bears shirt. So in that case it was evident that she was interested in football. So I gave her the Super Bowl Trivia tract.

In other cases, I’ll hand the Super Bowl Trivia tract to a woman and say, “quiz your boyfriend on this trivia” or something similar. Normally they will smile and say thanks. The good thing is that if they do quiz him on the trivia, then both she and her boyfriend will hear the Gospel when they read the back.

The Super Bowl Trivia tract is incredibly easy to hand out. I simply walk up to someone and ask

Are you planning to watch the game?

Almost always the answer is “Yes”

So I hand them a Super Bowl Trivia Tract and say “well, here is some Super Bowl Trivia.”

What happens next is up to the soil (Matthew 13). Sometimes they simply say thanks and take the tract. Other times they will start to read the questions and guess the answers. For example last night at the fabric store, my wife was paying for our items at one register. The cashier at the other register asked me if I was ready to check out. I guess he did not realize we were together. I said I was with my wife and handed him a Super Bowl Trivia tract. The guy that was ringing up my wifes items wondered what it was so I gave him a tract as well.

While my wife paid for the purchase the two guys guessed the answers to the questions. It was a fun time. About then more customers came to check out, so I encouraged them to read the back of the tract later. They said they would.

The day before at the mall we had similar results handing out these Super Bowl Trivia tracts.

Today may have seemed like every other day. And in a sense it may have been. But it was another day to tell people about Jesus. I had the day off work and the kids were out of school.

We started off the day with a trip to Best Buy. At Best Buy the sales guy got a tract, the gal at the counter got a tract, and the guy checking receipts as we left got a tract too.

Then it was off to the UPS store to ship back the defective printer that we had had replaced. The guy at the counter got a tract.

On to the hobby shop for some supplies. The cashier got a tract.

Then to the mall to wonder around and let the kids try out the big inflatable ball that they have there. Kind of like a gerbil ball for people … on water. They had fun. The two girls operating the ride each got tracts.

After that I wanted to look for a baseball hat. We walked down the mall to the hat shop. Inside, I gave a tract to the guy working there.  I said “Happy New Year” as I handed him a new Year resolution Gospel tract. He stated looking at it and said “wow, this is hard to name these resolutions.” Yet he wanted to do it out loud and started naming off

• lose weight
• get a new job
• and a few others

He said he could not name ten. I told him that was fine. Then I asked him if he could name the Ten Commandments. He started off

• Don’t use God’s name in vain
• Don’t lust after people
• Don’t steal
• or kill

He got stuck and I said that is ok. I asked him if he had kept those commandments. He admitted he had used God’s name carelessly, lusted and stolen. He denied killing. Then I explained that Jesus said that hatred was the same as murder. And I also asked him if he had every lied.

Innocent or guilty? “Guilty” came back the reply.

Then a customer. Ugh! Someone bought a couple hats. I hung out and waited for him to complete the transaction. When he did, I wrapped things up. I said, “look, the reality is that everyone has sinned against God and we all deserve to go to Hell. But the good news is that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin by living a perfect life and dying on the cross. He could only pay for our sin because He is fully God and fully man. The Bible says that if you will repent and trust Jesus alone then you can have eternal life.”

Certainly a lot to think about. I left so that he could work with his other customers.

Walking back out of the mall I handed a few more tracts to the people we passed, especially those that were just sitting and waiting. As we passed back by where the ball ride was, I talked to the guy that I know that works there. A kid was trying to buy a ticket, but was two dollars short on the amount. I handed him the two dollars and gave a tract to his dad. His dad was very appreciative because he did not have the money for his son to go on the ride. I encouraged him to read the tract and then left!

Just another day? Well, maybe. But it is just another day to tell people about Jesus. Tomorrow is another day to tell people about Him too! I can hardly wait.