Frontline Apologetics May 2017 Update

5-2-17 Im Saved Because Im Pentecostal

The Team: Joel and myself

First RP began thier outreach at Rosa Parks. Please Keep Sean, Pastor Craig Scott and his wife in your prayers

The Scripture: John chapter 4

This was particularly a great evening. Joel.met with Christian to answer some Biblical questions before id arrived. He was very grateful. The proclamation went smooth and while i had the normal driveby blasphemies to the Christian faith, there was a largw anount of support. One man slowed down as Joel and i debriefed and shouted “God bless you gyys”. This indicated that he must have listened and seen us before. There is no biblical way he would know that we bring the Good News by our just standing and talking to one another in a debrief. Another man held up his Bible as i stood upon the box and shouted “praise God, im on my way to church right now”. And another man, whom i also engaged while on the bix who remained in the left turn late for 2 lights so that he could affirm and rejoice in the truths pouring from the Word of God. It was quite the day of support and im grateful that while weve received much threat and hate speech, that the abundance of the commumities support of the Gospel has been wonderful.

On the ground, however, Joel took to much rejection. He boldly delivers the Law and Gospel to many people. Families, students, elderly, you name it. Unashamed because of the name. Nearing the end of the open air, Joel encountered a woman. He asked her if she knew wether or not her sins were forgiven. She replied, “yes, im pentecostal”. Joel explained to her that this is NOT what saves a person. There is no salvation from damnation through denomination. He explained to the women the Law of God and the Gospel of Christ by regeneration of the Holy Spirit. No one is saved by way of denomination, but by the grace of God alone, through faith in Christ alone.

 

5-3-17

I heard on Moody radio that it was National Widows day. Seems like a fitting reason to pull over on the way home to proclaim the Gospel from Psalm 146. The Lord upholds the widow. May a widow within the sound of my voice hear the comforting words of the Bible and the urgent call to turn to Christ and His mighty power to save.

On the way into the Mr Burger tonight, this gentleman and professing panhandler named Corey Eugene approached our vehicle for a few dollars. My wife and I took the opportunity to share the Gospel with Corey in his brokenness. He received a tract, a few bucks, prayer and the Gospel which is salvation for all who believe. It was a good engagement for about 10 minutes. Would you pray for Corey please. For his wife and children and for his growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ?

5-5-17 THE NEWBIRTHDAY

A GREAT DAY TODAY! You may have read this last year, but today is My Birthday!

Whether you know my birth date, realized its not my twins bday, second guessed and said happy bday to me just to be safe, will say happy bday to me later or not, today is not the day i was born from the womb. Lol Rather it is the day i was born again. (More in a second) I want to thank all of those who shared a loving message to me or for me by in return giving a loving message to you. Whether or not you already know whats up, i challenge to to read ahead, to deepen your friendship/relationship with me, to know me better. The best gift you can give me on my birthday is to hear me out. 🙂 I love you all.

If you knew me, you would have known that there was no greater of a sinner than i. I was the cheif of them, the most deserving of destruction. I mocked, spat and cursed God with the nashing of my teeth and the prideful bellow of my sin sick soul. I most deserved the hottest of Gods wrath to be poured fiercly upon my naked soul for all eternity in Hell, but God chose to extend His grace to me. Not because of who i was, but DESPITE who i was. One day, like me, we will all stand before God to give an account for our lives. Every thought, word, and deed. We will stand before the God who created us in our mothers womb, the God who has made himself known to all men so that they are without excuse.

We will not be able to claim we didnt know Him or that we have not broken His law. I and everyone else knows we are not perfect and our God-given conscious bears witness against us.

We know its wrong to lie, steal and use Gods name in vain because we know that God is truth, that He has given us all things and that He is our Creator. We know this because we are all made in God’s image. But all of us either currently or in our past traded the truth that we know about God for a lie. We chose to worship created things, false gods, ourselves and other idols, rather than God who is blessed forever, Amen.

Like guilty children we try and hide under the very bed our father blessed us with to hide from the punishment we know we deserve. In the same way, we take His science, His logic, His knowledge, His reason and even His very Word as revealed in the Bible and abuse it in a prideful attempt to justify our unbelief. It didn’t work in the first game of Hide-N-Seek that took place in the garden and it doesn’t work now.

If we are honest with ourselves, we are all guilty of breaking God’s law, His perfect moral standard. Because God is holy, perfect, just and all good, He will do what any good judge does. He will punish our sin. The punishment that God presribes in His Word is eternity in Hell.

I love you, and i don’t want that for you. I can’t save you to heaven, and i can’t send you to hell. Only God is the final judge, and only He can see your broken, sin sick, weary, burdened heart. But i can share with you! Not because its my opinion but because God has revealed certain truths for us in His Word and has commanded us to share them.

I am to love God and love people. And so i can warn you in truth and in love that those who do not build their houses on the only firm foundation are fools. Not in a derogatory way or a name calling way, but in a moral way because they know better. And God will punish with His righteous wrath those who break His law and know better. Our hard hearts want to build our own way so we reject God because we love our sin more than the Savior. Therefore, noone can claim they did not know. The just judge will punish every criminal, no matter how small the crime. We have all sinned personaly against God and given Him the proverbial middle finger. He knows the intent of every heart and every heart left to itself, including mine, deserves Gods righteous judgment in Hell.

Again, i love you and i dont want that for you and so i want to share with you the good news. The good news that the same God who is perfect, holy, just and righteous to punish you in your sin is the same God who is full of grace, mercy and loving kindness and is able to forgive you and eternally set you free!

In His eternal goodness and love God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to live the perfect life you and I couldn’t live and to die the perfect death, to take upon himself the wrath that we rightly deserve. Your only hope is to repent (turn from your sins) and through faith (trust) alone receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Tomorrow is not promised. Hate your sin and love the Savior! Today is the day of salvation!

We should realize that although we all stand guilty before a good God, there is One who paid the fine. One who bore our sin and took upon himself the wrath we rightly deserve. One who died for sinners to set them free. And not only to set them free but to make them righteous! One who rose again and defeated sin and death and will return at a time of the Fathers choosing.

One who says that noone is too dirty for Him to clean. You won’t look to Jesus to clean you up, until you realize that you can’t clean yourself. If you say “i want nothing to do with God”, you’re in error! If you say, “Im too dirty and God wants nothing to do with me”, even more error! God will take that which is scarlett and make it white as snow, He will take a hardened heart and soften it unto new life! You will begin to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves!

There is no one too low for Him to reach, no sin too great that Jesus cannot cover, no one and nothing that can stop the greatness of His love, for it is by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone as revealed in God’s Word alone that men are saved! To God alone belongs the glory! Not a work of ourselves, but of God that we would receive salvation. Not based on how much youve been to church, or how many seemingly good deeds youve done, or even on a certain prayer you may have prayed but solely on the basis of receiving the gift of repentance and faith in Christ alone. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. There is no greater act of love than this!

I submit my life as a testimony of this great love! Years ago on the side of a Holland road today, God freely gave me everlasting life in Christ through the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, not because im any better than anyone else but purely by His grace alone. Repent and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior today and be able to celebrate a second birthday with me, the New Birthday that i celebrate today!

Thanks for hearing me out. The proof that the God of the Bible exists is that you dont nees proof. Hes made Himseld known through creation, yoir conscious, the Bible, Christ and your calloused heart. You know Him and will stand before Him. Be reconciled to your Creator! He will no longer be your Judge but your Father. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Do not hearden your hearts, Today is the day of salvation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. Read john chapter 3 without taking it for granted. I love you and so does my family (wife and daughter/s) whom the Lord has graciously caused to be born again as well.

5-13-17

The most challenging and rewarding trials in my life have not been growing up in poverty, nor urban highschool, nor time in service, nor deployment to Iraq, nor post military struggles, nor heralding the Gospel in the streets, nor being mocked, ridiculed and threatened for the truth. As Jeff Rose has said, “You think these things [street preaching] is difficult? Try being a husband and a father” who takes up his cross daily to follow Jesus.

My real soapbox is my family. The foundation is the Triune God of the Bible. My home is the quiver, my wife is the vine that weaves it and gives it support, and my children are the arrows by which the Gospel will go forth into the world. Today i rejoice and celebrate the “second” arrow to the Nylen quiver. Cadence Grace Nylen. You are a special kind of arrow my beautiful baby girl. You are fierce and courageous. Bold and beautiful. May the Holy Spirit produce great fruit in you. You are the triumphent rythym of grace that will transform the world by God’s Gospel power.

In a likewise fashion of how i gave you your first bath on the day you were born, i will wash you from head to toe with the Word. May you forever be unashamed to defend and proclaim the Gospel that has been delivered to you even from the womb. Fight baby, and dont ever look back. Fight for Jesus sweetheart and dont ever surrender. There is no King but Christ and your Heavenly Father will love you far better than i will or ever could. I love you Cadence. Happy 2 year birthday.

5-16-17 PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO AND PRAY

The Aroma of Christ

https://youtu.be/xPaVbMnEyzc

 

5-20-17

New City Fellowship Celebrates the Heights

Last Saturday New City Fellowship Outreach and Evangelism subcommitee had the privelage and opportunity of having a tent and table alongside our wonderful neighbors at the Celebrate the Heights event. Hundreds of tracts were distributed and one on one evangelism took place on many fronts. We had a good turn out and rejoice that members of our church took to the field of souls and shared the Law of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with so many people. Our table had free tracts, free english and spanish Bibles and played the “Streetlights” sampler cd of the Bible in spoken word. We encountered those who loved the Gospel, those who hated the Gospel and those who believed a false gospel, which is no Gospel at all.

It was a wonderful time and although we labored hard at many points including witnessing to a little boy who was a professing “atheist”, translating into spanish, a professing hebrew israelite, and those who refused to take tracts, we enjoyed serving our community by way of Biblical Evangelism. Many of the people who stopped by enjoyed the tent and thanked us as they praised God for the faithful witness theyve seen coming from New City. From our table, saints of the neighborhood were equipped, encouraged and exhorted. We didnt have a sign, but they knew us by our deeds. May New City Fellowship OPC always be a pleasing aroma to Christ and a beacon of light in Alger Heights.

Thanks again to all who came out. I was concerned we would have noone, yet the Lord called some of his saints to share the Gospel which was delivered to us. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. We love you Alger Heights!

Also:

A neighborhood outreach regular and friend, James Yeck, is getting ready for his special olympics competition. Pray for him and rejoice with him. We love you James and enjoy seeing you on B&E!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozj0rvSLZXM

5-30-17 School Buses and Middle Fingers

The Team: Joel, Darryl, myself

JOHN 7

First i drove to burton amd division to do some quick recon…..and get some popeyes. I stopped by the apartment in the back alley i grew up in and remembered Gods faithfulness to our family even in unbelief. Afterward i drove through the neighborhood thinking and looking. I then went to B&E and we called Cristian Venta on facebook chat to talk and pray with him after his recent surgery and to give him a view of the neighborhood. It is wonderful when we can minister in such ways to people with technology. He has his Bible and loves to talk of the Lords faithfullness to him through surgery. Hes a strong young man and wise for his age.

Tonights Outreach began with childlike faith and the faith of devils. As we briefed, a school bus stopped behind us due to the redlight. The children in the back of the bus cheered the name of Jesus and asked us to preach and rejoiced in the Gospel. It was incredible how they purposefully called our attention and already knew what we were there for (i preach to the kids on the buses that pass and thank the drivers for thier service). I pulled out a free Bible and what seemed like dozens of beautiful hands poured out of the bus exstatic to recieve the Word of God. As soon as the hands tucked the Bible in, a gentleman in the vehicle just behind the bus honked his horn and flipped us all off in hate and bitterness. From the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks. You will either confess Jesus as Lord or have no fear of God in your eyes and venom on your lips. Rivers of living water and child like faith or waters of jugdment and the faith of devils. It was very telling and sobering and put us on fire to preach and proclaim the Gospel.

I preached and Joel and Darryl hit the ground. From my end: Many listened and let me engage them, an old friend Eddie came by and i spoke with a false prophet who has drug and alcohol addiction and has been lying about being homeless. I called him out and called him to repent amd believe and to be reconciled to God by faith in Christ. He said that he knew the Lord, but i exposed his folly by the way he lived his life. I called him to fall to the cross and to come to the church regardless of his helpless estate. He said he would come. Tony (owner at wing) ave listened as he sat outside, along with some of his friends at the barber shop (they all believe a false Gospel).

Joel engaged many people and distributed tracts. He was often rejected by cold shoulders but a young man lended him an ear. Darryl engaged 2 young men named hassan and abdi who were professing muslims. He spoke with them for a long time. They know Sakin from the market. We have many muslims along the strip who are without excuse as we share with them the Gospel. Darryl exchanged contacts and we look forward to more engagement. Thier cpnversation was excellent. Afterward as we debriefed we saw and heard a man drive by in utter anger and hatred cursing at his wife over the phone, yelling, “youre MY fu***** wife!”. The Gospel is needed in marriages. If it werent for grace, there go i. Tonight was an intense night concerning spiritual things. The spiritual battle manifests itself in many physical ways and we saw much of it tonight. Much of it.

Please pray for our city.