The Sacred Cowtipper    |     home
Dec. 14th, 2007
What an awesome night. Actually, awesome doesn't describe it.

We had a newcomer to carrying the cross tonight. Her name is Julia. She is from a local church in the NE Ohio area. She has such a love for the Lord. We (Mike and I) like to call newcomers NEWBIES for the fun of it. Hey, if you can't razz your own, whom can you razz?

The city of Warren, Ohio had put up a temporary ice rink right in the courthouse square, a popular spot of ours to hand out tracts and talk to people. This night, there were about 40 people in the rink and about 30 outside of the rink sitting at the picnic tables, eating some snacks, and keeping warm by the fire - a nice full crowd.

We talked to a girl that was in the skating rink named Katie. A bunch of her friends gathered around for awhile and listened on. She seemed very receptive to the Word of God.

I was handling the cross at the time so I went walking around the square a couple of times while Mike and Julia kept right on ministering the Word of God. Mike got another chance to talk to Joshua. We had talked to Joshua on December 6th. He was receptive. He thought his good works would get him into Heaven. He thought being a "good" person was enough. Read the December 6th article for more.

When I came back around, I entered the center of the square and Mike and I talked quite some time with a young couple, Brandon and Corrie. They now understand what it means to be a true Christian and we went on and trusted the Holy Spirit to bring the increase. Julia was ministering to the adults that were by the fire and Mike went over to help her.

I went on another journey around the square. As I went down one of the sidewalks that led to the outer perimeter of the square, I stopped and talked to a couple. The young man said the girl that was with him knew the Lord. I'm not sure of that but she got awful quiet. I said, "How about you sir?" He really was in a hurry but I told him, "You should take some time and give some thought about your eternity and where you are going to spend it because once you die it will be too late. Your life is like a vapor and you really don't know how old you really are." I love that last line because they look at me like a deer looking into the headlights of an automobile. "What does that mean; how old are you really?" It means that you may be a young strapping 20 year old but you don't know if you are already at the end of your life. You may die tomorrow, a year from now, or maybe eighty years from now. Nobody really knows how old that they are when looked at it in the light of their own lifespan that they can't predict and especially in the light of eternity. I brought this young man through the Ten Commandments and showed him that he had a need of a Savior and what the purpose of Jesus coming to the Earth was all about. It is amazing how little most Christians know or understand about the Bible but then you have them that don't know the Lord and are completely Bible-illiterate. I shared with them for about 30 minutes and let the Holy Spirit do His thing with the Word that was planted in their hearts.

Who said that it is impossible to carry a wooden cross while wearing gloves and still be able to hand out tracts? I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

After that, I came back around and Mike, Julia, and I decided to carry the cross throughout the whole downtown area and up parts of route 422 and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to hearts - backslidden hearts, carnal Christian hearts, unsaved hearts, and the hearts of Christians who don't share the gospel with unbelievers who they are around on a daily basis.

We hope to encourage every Christian to not be afraid but to be bold for Jesus. Jesus said that if you don't confess me before men that I WON'T confess you before My Father and His holy angels. I want every Christian to make sure that their calling and election is SURE. We are told to do that according to scripture. It is the Holy Spirit's job to give people assurance of their salvation whether they were truly converted or not. There will be a real change if there was true belief. There is MIND belief and there is HEART belief. Mind belief is understanding but not following or applying what you heard. Heart belief will follow. It's like having knowledge. You can have all the knowledge in the world on how to do something but if you never go out and do it, it will remain mere knowledge. You may sound smart but are you really. Wisdom is taking that knowledge and APPLYING that knowledge. We are not to be deceived.

 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
James 1:22

Well, it was time to put the large piece of lumber on little Julia's shoulder and let the NEWBIE get broken in. Julia is a trooper. She carried it quite a ways. I have been dealing with neck and shoulder tightening and sometimes it comes up when carrying the cross. It's nice to have a few NEWBIES around to come out now and then and relieve my shoulder. Just joking. We like the occasional NEWBIE though. They tend to get on fire for the Lord more. Go Julia! We did a video of Julia carrying the cross that can be seen at this link http://vccreachout.com/?page_id=21. Julia started to shed some tears as she realized what Jesus went through for her. Carrying the cross made it more real to her. What a sweet tender heart she has. Hey, Julia, me being a hard-core preacher, I think I will pick some of the fruit of kindness off of your fruit tree. It's a wonderful thing when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and makes things even more real. We need more Julias. Are there any Julias out there?

Most of the cross carrying was visual for those driving by. As we were going West on route 422, Mike and Julia crossed the street between the police station and The Tribune Chronicle newspaper plant. I handed a few tracts to a couple of black men that turned out to be brothers in the Lord. They were blessed and I encouraged them to be bold in their walk with the Lord. The one man was a minister.

We got back to our vehicles and Julia had to get going. Mike and I really didn't feel like going any longer. It was cold. We were out about two or so hours already. Family. Friends. Hunger. Snick, snack, snickety-do, snick, snack, snickeroo. TV. Relax. Sleep. Souls. Souls. Souls. Did I say souls? Which would it be? The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We decided to go longer. We decided to load up the cross and go to Parkman Road. We parked in the Kmart parking lot. Everyone was out doing Christmas shopping. We unloaded the cross and I had a great idea.

I said, "Come on Mike, let's carry the cross through the McDonald's drive thru." Mike was reluctant. I consider him to be the “more bold one” most of the time but this time he was going through a “mid-life cross-carrying crisis”. I decided to head on into the McDonald's drive thru. On our way there, and hearing Mike say, “I don't know about this”, a young person walked by and Mike gave him a tract. He seemed really depressed. I hope the message of the cross was opened to him as he started to read it.

Picture this. Here you got two guys in the drive thru with cars in front and cars behind at the “Can I take your order speaker?” I guess they don't know if you are really there waiting to give your order if you are not in a car. Was it the lack of headlights on the cross? Was it the lack of pitter-patter of the engine or the smell of global-warming smog? We proceeded to go forward and place our order at the payment window. Guess what it was? A large hot coffee. Yes, we were indulging in the flesh. We handed tracts to those at the order and pickup windows. I bet they never had that happen before. It's not every day that a cross goes walking through a fast food drive thru. I found it quite fun. We gave them some of our million dollar bill tracts.

We then headed down Parkman Road and came to Little Mac's convenient store. We went up to a big black guy that was standing outside of the store on the left end of the building. His name was Willie. Pray for Willie. This guy had the bling-bling baby. He just looked the part. I think he might have been a drug dealer. Anyhow, we proceeded to bring him through the Law (Ten Commandments) and conviction came upon him. You can tell when the gospel makes sense to someone. He was very receptive and his ride showed up right when we were done talking to him. Boy, when you use the Law like Jesus did when preaching the gospel, it just hits them like a ton of bricks whether they are self-righteous or not.

Got a side note here. Most preachers today don't use the Law anymore in their presentation of the gospel. I guess their way is better than Jesus' method. I believe that is why there are so many false converts (tares) today, backsliders, and carnal Christians. Even Willow Creek Church couldn't understand why their people were so spiritually immature. You can read it on their website in their Willow magazine. I believe it was the October or November issue. Anyhow, there CANNOT be an appreciation of what Christ has done on the cross if they don't realize how abominable their sin is to a righteous holy just God (the real God of the Bible). When using the Law as you start to preach, it's like a light bulb goes off in their eyes. Sometimes we get a jaw to drop. It makes sense to them. If someone's gospel message to me was “Jesus loves you”, I would say, "Thank You" and go off thinking that I would get to Heaven because of my good works because, after all, Jesus loves me. They didn't tell me about my sin, about my unregenerate spirit man, about God's justice and wrath about my sin or to even warn me of a literal place called Hell. “Jesus Loves You” is such a small part of the gospel message. It's true that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… but why did He give His Son? See, when you only give one scripture like that, it comes off as Universal Atonement. The likes of Rob Bell and other Emergent Church New Age leaders take these few scriptures to mean this. Many of you have read at least one of their books and don't even know the things they believe. Many of you have played Rob Bell's NOOMA videos and don't know how heretical he is. I encourage anyone naming the name of Christ to get back to what Jesus said and preached and read how the early apostles reached people. They used the Law and the Prophets. The Law shows men they need a Savior by cutting through their seared conscious and showing God's righteousness.

19.  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
 20.  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
 21.  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
 22.  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
 23.  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
 24.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
 25.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
 26.  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
 27.  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
 28.  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
 29.  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
 30.  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Luke 16:19-31

Jesus, John, Peter, Paul, Stephen and others in the gospels and the Book of Acts used the Law and the Prophets in their preaching. You can use the New Testament too in addition to the Law but to use it alone is not as effective. The New Testament   won't work when trying to reach a Jew, Muslim, or one that doesn't want to come humbly before God and cry out for His mercy. The Jew and Muslim believe the New Testament is not God's Word of if it is God's Word that is has been corrupted. The unrepented sinner loves his sin and doesn't value his soul enough to look at his need. Even the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the prophet Isaiah. In the many years of sharing Jesus with others and having spent hours on the streets and on the phone doing it, I have found the Law to be the most “cutting through to the sinner's conscious” method for us to use. I encourage you to try it. After all, we want followers of Jesus not tares. Jesus thought it was a good method. Peter, Stephen and Paul thought it was a good method. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Charles Finney, A.W. Tozer, and John Whitfield thought it was good enough. These men had real results and fruit that remained in the end. They had great results with the Great Commission.
A ninety percent stay with God rate. We changed our methods and now have a 10% stay with God rate. We either had false conversions to begin with, forced people into making a commitment (while they were all emotional) without ever letting them count the cost to follow Jesus, left out repentance in our message, or tried to get them to repeat a prayer without ever having a message and by default they put their faith in the prayer and no the Word of God. I hate to say this, but repeating a prayer is not repentance nor is it the message. Sorry to say that and ruffle some feathers but traditions die hard. Ask the Pharisees. Jesus always came against their traditions because it kept people out of the kingdom. Anyone want a cracker? Ruffle some feather. What I said above. It was a funny.

Now, back to our story. When the preach hits, you has gots to let it out or you will explode. About the time that Willie left, a young woman named Nicole came out of the store. She was an employee there. This is Nicole and I outside of Little Mac's convenient store in Warren.


Nicole saw us carrying the cross and came out to see what we were doing. She stood out in the parking lot with no coat, in sub-freezing weather for at least 20 minutes listening to us share the Gospel with her. She was unbelievably receptive. She even commented to us that her boyfriend wanted her to start going to church. Is that a divine appointment or what? We allowed the Holy Spirit to do His work.

What if we hadn't gone longer that night? Would Willie and Nicole and the McDonald's workers have gotten the gospel?

You know, you think you would offend people if you present the gospel in its clarity without watering anything down. More often than not, they shake our hands and are very receptive and even give us much of their time - sometimes 2+ hours and we don't water down a thing.

Let's say your child, Buddy, stepped on a rusty nail. You bring him to the doctor out of concern that he might get an infection and die. The doctor looks over Buddy and realizes that he needs to stick a needle right in the wound and give him a tetanus shot. But because the doctor doesn't want the boy to be mad at him or dislike him, he gives him a lollipop and sends him on his merry way not giving him what he really needs. Two days later, Buddy dies from an infection that had spread through his body. What do you think of that doctor?  What do you think God will think of those who have not given people the whole counsel of God? As John MacArthur has said,  “A preaching of "easy believism" doesn't produce disciples (followers of Jesus).” Many of the times it just makes people religious or more religious but they never have a real relationship with the Lord. Give them the Law like Jesus did (the tetanus shot) that will take care and address their sin problem.

Law to the proud and grace to the humble. Ninety-five percent or more of the people we talk to think they will go to Heaven because of their good works or because they are not as bad as Joe Shmo down the road. They are proud and need the Law (which is our schoolmaster that leads us to Christ) to show them they aren't as good as they think they are.

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:24

 They are spirit-tainted, soul-tainted, flesh-tainted individuals. They are self-deceived and the Law of God will wake them out of their spiritual slumber and disease of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS and bring them to the cross.

When we were done talking to Nicole, we carried the cross down about one mile and then back to the Kmart parking lot and loaded it up in the truck.

Mike decided he was hungry and if you know Mike and McDonald's - well, we won't go there but he should have bought stock in them many years ago. Mike treated the ever-plump-and-growing-plumper Bob to a McKee-D meal. On our way out, we gave tracts to the workers there that weren't working the drive thru. They were reading them as we left. Someone was even reading their tract out loud. They were not mocking either. Awesome!!!

What an awesome night. That had to be one of our best nights out so far since we brought the cross out on its maiden mission on November 17th, 2007.