Evangelism and the Single Man

28 CommentsBIG Events

There’s room for everyone on our evangelism team, even single men….

Newcomer Greg had been hanging out in Huntington Beach with Ray Comfort, preaching with him on Saturdays but wanted to try something different by coming out with us to the Chinese New Year Parade in L. A.’s Chinatown. Having never “worked” a parade before, I charged him with an extremely difficult task: Hand out tracts to the “special” dignitaries that the married Christian men wanted no part of.

Greg, being a sensitive, godly, Christian man, was up to the challenging call, throwing all caution to the wind, willing to pick up his cross and follow Jesus.

Greg was off on his Gospel mission after I briefed him on the proper tracting technique when handing them to parade participants. (Use a “photogenic” Gospel tract like a Giant Hundred Dollar Bill, run up to the car or float while holding your arms out wide to show that you’re not carrying a weapon, then lean into the car or float, honoring the personal space between you and the participant, and hand them the tract. See “The 12 Step Program for Parade Preaching.”)

With eyes firmly fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of his faith, Greg performed his sacred duty with a joyful attitude and an evangelist’s heart.

Talk about suffering for the Lord…

My friend Chris Yarsab,
another single man,
had his version
of what went down
in Chinatown.
Click here to read that story.

Comments (28)

  1. Garrett

    Reply

    Are you saying that all you married guys can’t handle interacting with attractive women that aren’t your spouses? That’s pretty weird, Steve.

    • Steve Sanchez

      Reply

      It’s just better to have a single guy doing this. That’s all. No rule that says we can’t. I just thought it appropriate that Greg should do it. He’d have more fun. And as you can see, he did!

      C’mon Garrett, this is supposed to be somewhat amusing. Laugh a bit. 🙂

  2. Chris Yarzab

    Reply

    This is fantastic. This is a huge encouragement. As to Garrett’s comment I wouldn’t really call these women attractive. A woman of God is far more attractive because of her discretion and fear of the Lord.

  3. vintango2k

    Reply

    Did you ask him afterwards if he ever looked at a woman with lust in his heart?…..

  4. vintango2k

    Reply

    Doesn’t mean he still doesn’t sin. We can’t have backsliders Steve. Best to give him the test anyways. Just like homosexuals who continue to sin but place their faith in Jesus, they aren’t REALLY saved right?

  6. vintango2k

    Reply

    An interesting article Steve, it talks about whether one should keep preaching to them if they’re homosexual, but what about those homosexuals who have decided to seek out God and go to churches. Oh they might not be the typical Christian churches but they believe in Jesus and trust in him to save them. Like everyone else they will continue to sin but are not even the greatest of works filthy in the eyes of God? If we’re all sinners, and only belief in Jesus Christ and being Baptized is the only way to salvation then how is the sin that homosexuals commit any worse then the sin of your evangelical tract hander outer friend if he happened to look lustfully at those quite beautiful women at the parade?

  7. Revulayshun

    Reply

    @Vintango- I see your point. It’s true that Christians sin, and it’s true that Christ has redeemed us (the elect) from every lawless deed. But, when God applies salvation to one of His people through the new birth, that person, although they may wrestle with sin, will ACKNOWLEDGE that it IS sin. If someone insists that their sin is accepted by God, that is evidence that they PROFESS, but do not POSSESS salvation.

  8. Glenn Parker

    Reply

    vintango2k,

    Can you really not see the difference between someone who stumbles in an area versus someone who lives in open rebellion against the thing they claim to believe?

    Here’s the difference: ask a homosexual who claims to be a Christian if his lifestyle is an open rebellion against Christ. Then ask Steve’s evangelist friend what Jesus thinks about his lustful thoughts.

    Do you know what the answers to these questions will reveal? It will reveal the condition of the heart. The homosexual who lives as such wants Jesus and he wants his sin too. Steve’s evangelist friend, if he is a born-again believer, will be crying out to God over his sinful thoughts.

    Do you see the difference? Do you cry out to God to keep you from the things that He hates? Your answer will reveal your heart condition as well.

  9. randy

    Reply

    vintango2k If someone is living in a lifestyle that is contrary to the Word God like Homosexuals, Thieves, fornicators and so on, whether they call themselves a Christian and go to a church building every day… if they’re like that, that will not make them a Christian nor does believing in Jesus. They must REPENT and forsake all sins and the lifestyle of it.

    1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

    1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

    Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

    Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

    Read 1 John. Romans 5 and 6.

    Why are you so focused on the homosexual?

    Sir Do you consider yourself a good person?

  10. randy

    Reply

    And be sure to seek the word ” serve” If you serve sin or don’t have any kind of fight against it then something is Wrong.

  11. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    For the record, Greg did an outstanding job, remaining above reproach. I will trust him with the future ministry of witnessing at a Miss America Pageant.

  12. vintango2k

    Reply

    @Randy

    Just used it as an example, though I have worked with homosexuals before in the past and gotten to know a few that I would consider friends, I could use other examples though, but the Bible’s prohibitions on sexuality just baffles me really. That Jesus would consider lustful gazes a cardinal sin, when physical attraction is sort of the way the human species keeps going. Why would our only means of continuation as a species also damn us? I mean if the majority of human beings lust and lust regularly until their hormones die down then what’s the point of knowing you’re saved when you continue to commit the sin of adultery in your heart. I mean would you say that people who are born with compulsive behavioral disorders such as hyper sexuality and can not control their impulses due to chemical imbalances in the brain can’t be saved even if they except Jesus as their personal lord and savior despite a craving in their brain that can not be satiated. (Some can through medication but not all) If you would afford people with mental illness some leeway (Unless you believe the mentally handicapped go to hell because they don’t except Jesus or have a brain dysfunction that compels them to keep committing acts that are considered sinful) in the getting saved department would you not also grant that same leeway to people who are homosexual or even transgendered, as they also possess brains that are differently wired then heterosexuals giving them desires for same sex interaction?

    To use a different example, various studies on human sexuality such as the UK 07 probability survey and the Kinsey Study report that roughly 92% of males have practiced the act of ‘self gratification’ which is a sin. And roughly 53% of those reported doing it on a weekly basis, with women its a little less because of lower testosterone levels. If THAT act is sin and there are probably Christians out there who do that, and they continue to do that, are they also beyond redemption as well?

    There are plenty of good reasons not to fornicate, and I can understand why many religious texts are against it, given the age in which they were written. Lack of access to birth control and lack of knowledge of VD are the primary ones, but all matters of lust aside. If God is Love and Jesus tells us to love one another, then what about homosexual couples that get married (depending on the country and state they’re in) or form partnerships, raise families, and spend the rest of their lives together because they love one another? Is that love a sin?

    Last little bit for Glenn, to this date the APA hasn’t discovered any methods for ‘curing’ homosexuals of their desires. There was the Spitzer study but when submitted for peer review the process he used was found to be flawed (he saturated his sample of rehabilitated gays with ex-gay activists to name an example) There is conversion therapy which some subjects undergo electrical shocks and other painful stimuli to shake their desires. But honestly Glenn, do you think that these people LOVE their sin SO much that they’d be willing to undergo vast amounts of physical torture to help them rid themselves of it only to fail to curb these desires just to appease God, when they still believe in Jesus and even are that much more desperate for a savior to take away their sinful thoughts? When some are even suicidal or self destructive because no matter how hard they pray to Jesus, it just doesn’t seem to transform them into heterosexuals? Imagine how crestfallen you’d be if you believed in Jesus and wanted to be Christian but you couldn’t shake your homosexual attractions and were incapable of generating heterosexual ones. Now imagine people telling you that as long as you have these desires you can never truly be saved, or be a Christian, that you are destined to be alone with out any chance of finding a soul mate or forming any sort of family group?

    I realize people are different and that I’m making some generalities, but I’m going off of what homosexuals that I’ve worked with (I work in an creative industry) have told me from past experience.

    Empathy. Walk a mile in their shoes or chat with them, its easy to dismiss, generalize or even demonize people when you don’t know anything about them or have never actually gotten to know them or met them.

  13. Michael Coughlin

    Reply

    Wow, Steve, you get it from both ends…one group says you aren’t hard enough on homosexuals, the next blog you’re condemned for putting any focus at all on it.

    Keep preaching the Word, brother. Be thankful to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41), and enjoy the identification with Christ.

    And, yes, pray for Greg – all brothers and sisters. Even though he is single “in the present.” In God’s eyes, and the eyes of his someday wife – Greg is united to one woman someday, so pray he doesn’t violate that relationship, even when technically “single.”

  15. Glenn Parker

    Reply

    vintango2k,

    One sure-fire cure for all homosexuals from all walks of life: celibacy. There is no physical requirement that we must engage in sex. Our unwillingness to give it up is a clear indication of our heart.

    Remember what Jesus said: he who seeks to keep his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for my sake will find it.

    If we aren’t willing to give up our base desires for Him, then we don’t belong to Him.

  16. vintango2k

    Reply

    @Glenn

    An interesting idea. So you’re okay with a homosexual couple getting married or partnered if they’re in love, just as long as they don’t act out their base desires?

  17. Glenn Parker

    Reply

    vintango2k,

    Sure, I’d be okay with it. Unfortunately, I can’t decide who goes to Heaven. Besides, wouldn’t you be okay with a rattlesnake in your sleeping bag if I promised he wouldn’t bite?

    Jesus provided precisely one way, and it involves denying ourselves. That means putting aside our pet sins and living for Him. You can argue with me all you like, but the Words spoken by Jesus shall never change, and we can either accept them now or we can accept them later.

  18. vintango2k

    Reply

    @ Glenn

    Yep denying ourselves, Jesus also said to give away all your possessions and give them to the poor in order to be perfect or complete. Have you followed this example?

    And wow on the rattlesnake analogy… just wow…

  19. Glenn Parker

    Reply

    vintango2k,

    Sorry for the rattlesnake thing. Perhaps my point was lost therein.

    And…regarding Biblical interpretation and exegesis, where did Jesus tell me to give away all my stuff? I believe you’re referring to his response to the rich man, when he asked Jesus how he could enter Heaven. Jesus pointed to the very thing that the rich man was holding onto the tightest. For you and me, it *could* be money or stuff, or it might be something else. But you bring up a good point. What is the thing that we hold onto, that signifies we are trying to “hold onto our lives”, as Jesus put it?

    You must agree that *not having anything* doesn’t make me Spiritual since, if that were true, the 2/3 of the world’s population in the 10/40 window is by default far more Spiritual than any of us. No, Jesus wants us to be WILLING to give away all our stuff. Did you notice Jesus didn’t say this exact thing to everyone else that asked him the same question? To the woman at the well, he told her to stop sleeping around. Zaccheus had to stop stealing from tax payers. The Pharisees needed to humble themselves to see Heaven.

    Are you holding onto something that you refuse to surrender? It doesn’t have to be a material possession. It might be pride, fornication, drugs, whatever. We all have SOMETHING that in turn has us, and unless we are willing to give it up in return for Heaven, we will take it to Hell with us.

  22. Nohm

    Reply

    Steve wrote: “Sadly, our atheist friends will not understand this very clear and reasonable response.”

    And here we have failed mind-reading at work… yet AGAIN. Yeeesh!

    “Understand” is not the same word as “Agree with”.

    I understand his response. I do not agree with his response. Do you understand the difference?

  23. vintango2k

    Reply

    @Glenn

    You identified the correct area of Matthew true and, it states, Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” and then it goes onto mention the Rich Man, Eye of the Needle analogy. You say it was JUST for that rich man or rich men but he then goes on to tell the Apostles that because they have given up all they have to follow him they will sit with him on golden thrones to judge the 12 tribes of Israel (Something which confuses me given that only God can judge people, no? Why do the Apostles get to?) It ALSO mentions that towards the end that those who abandon pretty much all they have, house, mother, brother, sister, family, etc. etc. and their fields/work etc. and follow Jesus will be rewarded a hundred fold and get eternal life. If you want to go further then Matthew 5 includes such lines as “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” and “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

    You ducked the question nicely, and I find your interpretation to be very convenient for how you justify actually accumulating wealth or working a job in lue of abandoning your possessions, family, and job in favor of following Jesus’ example of going out into the world and preaching the Gospel. Its why it sickens me greatly when Christians or maybe supposed Christians get rich, really really rich off of spreading the gospel when they could quite easily be giving every cent they accumulate off of tithe or donations to the poor. And why do you not do the same? If salvation is guaranteed in the Bible, not just guaranteed but written at the end of Matthew 19 that you will receive a hundred times what you give up and eternal life is yours, why do you cling to wealth at all?
    Additionally, one could easily use that same justification you mentioned of being just willing to do these things to say that Jesus said that we simply must be WILLING to give up fornication or our vices but don’t ACTUALLY have to do it. You see that’s what happens when you put words in Jesus’ mouth that aren’t there. I was a bit perplexed that you would declare that the love between two people (You know that thing Jesus told us to do, Love and all that stuff) was like a rattlesnake waiting to strike. Either you believe that two people can’t be celibate and be in love or just that homosexuals are incapable of celibacy which is the very thing you advocated in the first place.

    As far as what I’m unwilling to give up? I don’t know… science?

  24. Glenn Parker

    Reply

    vintango2k,

    I didn’t duck anything. The issue isn’t what *I* have given at all, for that will only serve as a witness for or against me. Remember, we all have the same Scriptures which stand in judgment of us all. God does not play favorites.

    Your reading of the Scriptures is rather sophomoric. Did you ever notice that Peter was married, had a house, and that Jesus went to Peter’s house? It seems that you don’t understand what Jesus meant when he said they had given up everything for Him. What about that command that you mentioned to “not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you”? If you have given everything away, how then shall you loan anything to anyone? How can you give what you do not have? Don’t you see that Jesus is addressing a heart issue? Do you know who the “poor in spirit” are? Understanding this is the key to understanding the Gospel.

    Many people use the name of Jesus for gain, that’s true. But the Scripture remains, and the bad example of a few shall not stand as an excuse for you or anyone else in God’s Court.

    I can sense that you want to find the absolute boundary and ride that fence all the way to Glory. Well, the Pharisees felt the same way. Take a few minutes to read Jesus’ kind words to them.

  25. vintango2k

    Reply

    I don’t know how you make that assumption about me Glenn that I simply wish to ride the fence.

    I don’t get how my interpretation of Matthew 19 is ‘sophomoric’ it states very clearly that everyone who gives up family, home, work, etc. will be rewarded a hundred fold in the kingdom of heaven. If the analogy of the rich man applies to us all then are we not commanded to give up that wealth, give it to the poor and follow Jesus. I understand that its a heart issue, that we must be willing to give up those things but if we don’t ACTUALLY do it then there’s no point. A fornicator may be willing to give up that habit for Jesus in their heart but if they don’t actually DO it then what’s the point? Jesus calls for people to actually give up those things, not to just be willing to. You lose all ability to condemn the actions of people if you go off this assumption Glenn, a man may be willing to give up what he loves for Christ, a liar might be willing to give up lying and you might be willing to give up your money instead of giving it to the poor as Christ tells you to but unless you actually do it……

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