Stone the Preacher

Charles Spurgeon writes:

The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that “Christ is risen from the dead;” for, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins.” The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in his resurrection, since he was “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” It would not be unreasonable to doubt his deity if he had not risen.

“The promise is fulfill’d,
Redemption’s work is done,
Justice with mercy’s reconciled,
For God has raised his Son.”

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

I try to re-post this wonderful illustration of this wonderful day every year…

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life, positive or negative, and remarking, “This is good!”

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!”

To which the king replied, “No, this is not good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.

“You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”

“No,” his friend replied, “This is good!”

“What do you mean, ‘This is good?’ How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”

“If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you.”

*****

God was pleased to crush Jesus and put him under all that suffering knowing that we would be saved by His death. That’s real love. What truly seemed so horrible and tragic was really… very good!

Happy Good Friday!

*****

Now read a not so good thing that happened to me on a Good Friday in 2007. It’s called “Murder at Peet’s.

Forget wearing green, getting pinched or even being Irish. This day is about a man of God who cared about harvesting souls. Cheers!

Ireland has a very distinctive history. It was an island untouched by the Roman legions, and Patrick, the Evangelist, brought to it the Gospel of grace.

Patrick was himself descended from a family that had been, for two generations at least, in Christ Jesus. His father, he tells us was “the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a presbyter, of the settlement of Bannaven Taburniae.”

These facts are recorded in Patrick’s own testimony of faith. This authentic document is preserved in five manuscripts: one in the Book of Armagh of the seventh century, the second in the Cotton Library of the tenth century, a third in the French monastery of St. Vedastus, and two more in the Cathedral Library of Salisbury. This authenticated document is the main source of both the person and the mission of Patrick, and also his clear statement of the Gospel of grace. Click here to read the rest.

That’s “Happy New Year” in Chinese—in 9 seconds! Thus began the evangelism team’s outing to the Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown yesterday.

“His name shall be called Emmanuel . . . God with us.” (Matt. 1:23) . “The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).

A few years ago a striking Christmas card was published, with the title, “If Christ had not come.” It was founded upon our Savior’s words, “If I had not come.” The card represented a clergyman falling into a short sleep in his study on Christmas morning and dreaming of a world into which Jesus had never come.

In his dream he found himself looking through his home, but there were no little stockings in the chimney corner, no Christmas bells or wreaths of holly, and no Christ to comfort, gladden and save. He walked out on the public street, but there was no church with its spire pointing to Heaven. He came back and sat down in his library, but every book about the Saviour had disappeared. (more…)

For almost 50 years the world has enjoyed “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” But did you know that it was almost stifled by network execs (atheists?) at its inception? Read this very interesting story by Lee Habeeb of the National Review.

The famous show was an instant classic when it was created by Charles Schulz on a shoestring budget back in 1965…. What people don’t know is that the Christmas special almost didn’t happen, because some not-so-smart television executives almost didn’t let it air. You see, Charles Schulz had some ideas that challenged the way of thinking of those executives 46 years ago, and one of them had to do with the inclusion in his Christmas cartoon of a reading from the King James Bible’s version of the Gospel of Luke. Read the rest by clicking here.

Here’s a touching excerpt about how Pearl Harbor survivor Joe Morgan forgave the Japanese after the naval commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, spoke on the island of Maui ten years after the war:

Shortly after the attack, Joe was transferred to another unit on Maui while his previous unit was sent to the South Pacific where it suffered heavy casualties. Joe felt God had a reason for protecting him, and the only wound he carried from the war was his hatred turned animosity for the Japanese.

He never hated Japanese Americans who abound in Hawaii, just those from Japan. Two years into his Wailuku pastorate, Joe heard that Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese naval commander who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, was speaking on Maui.

“He was flying high above my head that day, giving orders to his pilots over the radio,” Joe recalls in his written account.

Fuchida, however, had become a Christian after meeting a former prisoner of war who had returned to post-war Japan as a missionary. Joe felt the animosity resurface and didn’t know “whether to shake Fuchida’s hand or shoot him” if they ever met. (more…)

Yep. Today marks twenty-two years with Jesus. Believe it, you did not want to know the old me…. But if you’d like to read my testimony B.C., click here.

Take a look at the picture below. Do you agree? Is God truly non-partisan?

Maybe the sign guys pictured above are not entirely correct…. To find out what the Bible has to say, click here: Ecclesiastes 10:2.

As is our custom in the Sanchez household, when one of our daughters finishes reading through the Bible, (in this case, for Laurel, it was Psalms, Proverbs and the New Testament) they earn a 100 fins.

Happy Birthday, my Tiny Baby!

It’s tradition that I re-post this every year!

Here is a rare image of Martin Luther nailing a Gospel tract to the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany (the Million Dollar indulgence tract had not yet been invented). Shortly thereafter, he stood on a milk crate and preached at traffic signals where he was castigated by other Christians for being too zealous.

On October 31, 1517, one man did something outrageous: He challenged those who misrepresented the man who did something outrageously wonderful 2000 years ago. Because of one man’s convictions, the rest of us have the privilege—and freedom—to tell others that they can go directly to God without charge or priest! The assumption is, of course, that people will tell others…

Read more about Reformation Day here: (more…)

Today my wife Karen and I enter into our 17th year of marriage. I could never have asked for a better friend and helpmate!

At the time of our marriage I was not an evangelist because I always thought that was someone else’s job. So she has had to put up with a lot since I became a very zealous witness for Christ in 2004. One of those times she had to put up with me was while we were on a family trip to the San Diego Zoo. I learned a valuable lesson about priorities there.  (Read “My Big, Horrible, Awful, Stinkin’ Mistake” by clicking here.)

Thank you, Karen, for 16 wonderful (and challenging) years!

*****

Also, a hearty Happy Anniversary
to Mr. and Mrs. Tony Miano
and Mr. and Mrs. “Righteous” Richard Chavarria!

Photo credit: The Fuzzy  Wuzzy Blog

I put my 12-year-old girl to bed and prayed for her for the last time before she went to sleep….

Before hitting the hay myself I reviewed posts from the past to see what was the earliest evangelistic article I had written that featured my oldest daughter D.D.

Well, lo and behold! It turns out that it was the second E-vangie Tale I ever wrote, way back when my daughter was only 4-years-old! It went like this:

At Supercuts on Friday, in the middle of my haircut, my 4 year old D.D. asks Barbara, the hairstylist, if she knew Jesus .

(During haircuts, I like to wait until the end [to share my faith] because I hate long uncomfortable silences).

D.D. then asks if she was going to Heaven, then asked how she knew that! I was stuck. I had to follow my daughters lead and then had to endure an uncomfortable silence because Barbara wasn’t talking after this.

I wonder if shoe polish will cover the razor-induced bald spot behind my left ear?(kidding!).

Then I found another post about how she witnessed to a mohawked guy at age 5.

At age 7, she was unafraid to hand out tracts to law enforcement at our first USC game.

At age 8 she stood her ground against an obnoxious atheist!

At nine-years-old she almost got eaten by a pelican when she tried to give it a tract!

Yet she arrived back home safe and sound after an evangelistic outing to the Michael Jackson Memorial where she handed out 1,000 specially made commemorative tracts!

And believe it or not, at the tender age of ten, she did her first extended open-air preaching gig at Pink’s World Famous Hot Dogs! See for yourself!

At age 12, she worked her way up to a better quality video as she stop light preached at the 3rd St. Promenade!

But all that’s in the past… She’s now, today, thirteen! Will she lose her zeal and focus on other things?

It doesn’t matter. I love my Baby D regardless if she ever hands out another tract, or preaches another open air sermon. She is a precious gift to me and her Mom. As she turns teenage, our hope is that she will continue to follow Jesus all the days of her life.

And that she’ll do her chores.

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY D.D.!!!

My oldest daughter, 12-year-old D.D., was greeted first thing in the morning with a photo-flash and a hundred fins a few days ago. Why? Because she finished another yearly read-through of her Bible.

Her Bible of choice is The New Living Translation version of the One Year Bible. It’s a great way to read systematically. There is a daily reading from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs.

I started reading to her when she was one day old in the incubator. I Read Matthew chapter 1 to start—the genealogies! She fell right asleep.

Is it bribery or blessing?

I call it an incentive so that she will have a full understanding of what God requires of her; so she will fall in love with Jesus more and more each day; so she will know how a holy and righteous God condescended to save her through faith in His Son. And there’s a whole lot more reasons. Click here to read them from the post of when my 10-year-old earned her $100!

And especially for my wife, who was born on this day, as you know!