Iowa State Fair Outreach 2021 - Friday the 13th.

 I arrived at the  Answers In Genesis (AiG) booth at the fair about a few minutes late. The crew already had things out, prepared, the televisions on, and trains running around the model of the ark. Chatted with the workers for a few minutes before starting, and noticed that the glass on the ark was dirty, so I cleaned it free of fingerprints and snot from little kids.

The morning went well, and even got my hands dirty giving kids dinosaur tattoos. I really love giving kids tattoos because it's about the only time I can talk with kids on a one-on-one basis. But in putting the tattoos on, I have about a minute to share something with them. Even the adults get at least a dinosaur million dollar bill. But I usually talk about the Ark, that it's 450 ft long, 75 ft wide, and 7 stories high. That you can fit over 500 shipping containers inside -- that there was more than enough room for people, animals, food, and supplies. In fact, only one-third of the ship was dedicated to the animals. I enjoy talking with the teens as well while giving tattoos. I show them that the ark is a picture of Jesus Christ -- that just like there is one door of the ark for people to walk through to find salvation from the flood, that Jesus is the only Door to find salvation from eternal damnation. Most kids, teens, and adults have at least heard of the story -- but to put it in the context of the New Testament, most never understand the relationship. 

That afternoon I had a strange conversation with a man who I thought was interested in the things of God. He came in and looked around. Nodded several times, and even took some tracts and pamphlets. I asked him how he was doing and gave him an Ark million dollar bill. I said it had the "million dollar question" on the back: "In the days of Noah, God judged guilty men with a global flood. When you face God on Judgment Day, would you be innocent or guilty?" He looked at it for a minute looked up and said, no. So I probed a little. 

"The Ten Commandments are God's standard of goodness; as a mirror to see how dirty we really are. Like when you wake up in the morning you look in the mirror to see what damage happened during the night. Do you think you've kept the Ten Commandments?"

"Sure I have."

"All the time?"

"Yes." 

"OK, let's look at a few and see. Have you ever told a lie?"

"Like Republicans? Sure. I've lied like Republicans."

Looking surprised and afraid to ask I said, "Well, what does that make you if you lie?"

"Republican. Or more specifically, a liar."

"Have you ever stolen anything. Even if it's small?"

"Like Republicans? Sure, I've stolen lots of things. Maybe not as much as Republicans, but, yes."

Rubbing my forehead I said, "Sir, let's try to leave the politics out of this, ok? Many people lie and steal on both sides of the isle and..." 

"Well, maybe you can answer a question for me! Why did God murder my two kids, let me become an alcoholic, and damage my marriage. If God is so awesome, forgiving, and loving -- then why did He do that to me! Huh!?" 

I started to have pity on him, and realized that this was a sensitive issue. I started to explain that God didn't create sin, and that God doesn't murder anyone. But before I could explain deeper he yelled an obscenity at me and walked off, grabbing two more tracts as he left. 

One of the new Testify students were there and looked horrified. I told him, "Sometimes you can't give the good news to people, if they don't see their need for it." That's a hard lesson to learn sometimes. But giving someone the good news when they are clearly not wanting it, would do more damage than good. It would make them into an inoculated sinner -- people who know they are a sinner and that God will forgive them anyway. 

It reminds me of the time I was sent to a hospital to pray for a man who got throat cancer. Upon arriving he asked me, "Why would God do this to me?" I asked him, "Did you smoke?" 

"Yes," he replied

"Do you have cigarettes here?"

"Yeah, in the drawer." 

I walked over to the drawer and pulled them out. I held them up to his face and said, "What does that say on the side of the box?"

He read it out loud, "Surgeons General Warning: Smoking causes lung cancer, throat cancer, heart disease, emphysema and may complicate pregnancy." 

I paused for a minute. "So you were warned every time you bought a pack. God didn't do this to you. You ignored the warnings. The bible warns us of many bad things to come, and how we are sinners in the hands of God, that we broke His law, and are deserving of judgment. But God also shows us in the bible how to escape from that as well. Would you like to know how to escape God's wrath?"

"Get out." 

And so, I left. There's a saying where I'm from, "Self-infliction gets no sympathy." I do have pity on them both. I'm no monster. But until people see that they have a disease, they will not receive the cure. They will laugh and mock it like the Greeks in Acts 17. If either of them would have stayed, or not told me to leave, I would have shared the gospel till I was blue in the face. But that wasn't the case. 

Iowa State Fair Outreach 2021 - Arrival

It was Thursday morning, August 12th. The bustling crowd, people laughing, kids running around; the smell of deep fried food, animals, and corndogs cooking in the fryers; the sound of classic rock and talk radio walking past the WHO radio booth. All these sounds, smells, and senses hitting me as I walked into the Iowa State Fair for the first time since 2019. My heart started beating harder -- not from nervousness as I headed to the Answers In Genesis (AiG) booth, but from excitement -- excitement in catching up with my evangelist friends, engaging the people who come into the booth, and to meet the new people who come and want to be a part of this amazing ministry. 

I first started sharing my faith at the AiG booth in 2018. It was an amazing experience; also joined up with them in 2019. In 2020, the Iowa State Fair was cancelled because of the worldwide plandemic. But this wasn't the first time I was at the booth. The booth holds a very special memory for me, and one that literally changed my life forever. 

The first time I came to the booth was in 2003. I was new to Iowa, engaged to my now wife, and living with my friend and his family starting a new life in Iowa. The prior year we all went to the fair, and had a blast, but missed much of it and couldn't see everything in one day. This certain time, I decided to start in places that I didn't see. My first stop was indoors at the Varied Industries Building. At this time the both was run by the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). AiG would later take it over in 2016. But it was at this booth in 2003 that I heard the gospel for the first time. 

I remember him as a man about 35-45 years old. There wasn't anything special about him, but he really took the time to show me things in the bible. For some reason I couldn't understand him -- like someone put their fingers in my ears. He was very patient with me and shared the gospel, some bible verses with me, but no matter what, I couldn't get it. He even gave me this tract, which I have to this day. 

I wish I could have gotten his name and phone number. The stories I could tell of how my life changed over the years with that one conversation I had 18 years ago. 

But when I got to the fair this year, I was talking with a new booth-worker who told me he was talking with a man who ran the booth the same time I heard the gospel in 2003; that he works just a few booths down the day I arrived this year. So I took my tract I received all those years later and went to talk with him. 

I introduced myself and told him my story. I recognized him right away, and thanked him for working all those years and leading the booth. Even though he was not the man I talked to, he took my information down and said he would at least try to find who it could have been. It was a touching moment for both of us; we even shed tears, and the other guys working his booth got choked up as well. It was a great reminder to the both of us that you just never know who you will impact when sharing your faith. We may never even get the entire gospel out, or go as planned. But God can use even our faithfulness of getting His Word in the hands of lost sinners. 

This was the exact encouragement I needed to fire me up to start my ten days sharing Jesus at the AiG booth. I was more motivated than ever, and looked forward to see what the Lord has in store. 

How Are My Eyes?

Today I was reading through Matthew chapter 20, about the householder who hired laborers to work in his vineyard. It is a both a convicting passage and an assuring one. When I think about it, and hold it up to my life, I know I would be right there with the murmuring workers condemning the good man for paying the late-comers the same as myself.  Here is the passage:

     "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 

     And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 

     So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 

     But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 

     But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" (Matthew 20:1-15)

When I put myself in the shoes of the earlier laborers I know that even without saying it, my heart would be right there accusing the man of being unjust, unfair, and wrong for dissing me like this. I am convicted yet again that what Paul wrote about in Romans 7 is truth: in my flesh dwells nothing good. I have nothing good in me to offer God, and apart from his grace toward me in Jesus Christ I must be condemned as a sinner against his goodness to Hell. 

See, the goodness of the good man did not create in the workers an evil eye; it exposed what was already in them...it brought it out. Think about it: they agreed to the customary wages of a laborer which he offered them. These guys were not  newbies and they knew what the market would bear for their profession. But the late-comers got incredibly blessed, and that's what set them off. 

God is good. I want to see his goodness and marvel in it, not live like I'm the center of the universe. So often I do not. Thank God that Jesus Christ delivers me from the "body of this death" (Romans 7:24,25). I put notes in my Bible mostly to remind myself of some truth there. My note here reads:

"Be careful -  don't justify covetousness or envy: 

be happy when someone else is blessed!"

That's the convicting part. The assuring part is that GOD IS GOOD! The good man kept going back to the market place where people looking for work waited. He sought them out, even to the last hour of the working day. He simply asked them what they wanted, and when they said they were looking for work, boom - he said go to it, and that he'd do right by their wages. He was extravagantly gracious to these guys! I bet they could not believe it when they got paid as if they worked the entire day. They probably did a double-take and triple-take, looking from the wages in their hand and this good man. They knew they didn't deserve it, and they probably never forgot it.

The Bible says that the Lord Jesus came to seek and to save lost sinners (Luke 19:10). We don't deserve him, but we sure need him. It's beyond me to comprehend how good God is. Every day regardless of circumstances I need to remember this and be filled with wonder and appreciation for God's goodness to me in sending Jesus to rescue me and anyone else who wants it. Wow!

Maranatha.

Paul

One Man. One Nation. One God.

 Happy Independence Day, America: Thought this was a good video to share on this holiday. Enjoy!

What the World Desperately Needs

The Bible is timeless: it is relevant for today, just as it was yesterday, just as it will be tomorrow. I'm reading Acts chapter 3, and a note I penned in the margin some years ago rings truer now, if that's possible, than ever before. That's not just me saying it...a headline from a March 23, 2021 article in The Irish News reads:

"Google searches for 'hope' and 'prayer' peak while 'party' and 'festival' slump."

Google searches for ‘hope' and ‘prayer' peak while ‘party' and ‘festival' slump - The Irish News

Acts 3: 1-8. This "certain man lame from his mother's womb...whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful...." had a great physical need. A desperate need. He was lame from birth and had to beg for a living. He needed physical healing, but what he really needed was Jesus Christ and to be spiritually healed from the "disease" of sin and the "prognosis" of death and eternal Hell because of it. 

God used Peter and John to deliver physical healing in the name of Jesus, and we can infer that the man believed on Jesus for the forgiveness from his sins, since he is found standing with the Apostles before the Jewish religious rulers later in Acts 4:14.

My little margin note on Acts 3:1-8 says, 

"The world desperately needs what we have: not silver or gold, but the gospel of Jesus Christ! Give it to them!!!"

They need what we Christians have. They need it just as desperately as the lame man did. Mary and I pray every morning before I leave for work, and usually I include a request that God raise up His church - His people - to be light and salt, to point people to the Lord Jesus and give them the gospel. He is our only hope, and this world's "party" is almost over!

Lost At Sea - Ministry Videos (godtube.com)

That's why we go out and offer Bibles and prayer for our neighbors here in Iowa, or wherever we find ourselves. Christian, I hope you join us in sowing the word where God has you planted.