VALENTINE'S DAY OUTREACH

My friend Dave Kinsella came to Dublin today and I was glad to join him and some others at North Earl Street to preach and witness for Jesus. We met a young man who had hatred and murder in his heart towards his childhood abuser. My good friend Jimmy helped explain about forgiveness and the fact that it was not an emotion but a decision of the will...and an essential part of our own reconciliation to God. I told him that unforgiveness was like swallowing poison and expecting your enemy to die. By God's grace the man humbled himself, spoke words of forgiveness and asked Jesus then to forgive him and come to be his Lord and saviour. . . What a joy it is to serve our wonderful King! AB

The photo was taken in Temple Bar Square last month..No I'm not busking but worshipping the King. Why you ask? Read Psalm 149 for the answer. I believe that there is gret power in lifting Jesus higher in worship as well as in name with the sign!

GOD IS NOT ALL-FORGIVING

Okay...Come down off your high horse and consider this. There was once a judge who sat in authority in the courts of the land. Regardless of the crimes brought before him he always said to the perpetrator "I forgive you..you are free to go". What an absurdity! Such a judge would be a BAD Judge..or more to the point he wouldn't be a judge at all because he would have no regard for the law. Is God in heaven, our creator, a judge or not? If He is He cannot be "All Forgiving". Too many people on the street say he is all forgiving but our call as believers is to explain that Jesus died as the payment for our guilt before Holy (perfect) God. When the pin pricks of guilt hit we must avoid the temptation to lash out at the messenger saying "Don't Judge". God is a judge and I too judge Molesters, Terrorists, Rapists, Thiefs and Gangsters. God goes further and judges all men and finds all guilty and then places that guilt on His beloved son's shoulders, let's Him take the rap and offers not a universal amnesty but a promise of forgiveness to those who turn to Him in humility. God is forgiving but not all forgiving and without the shedding of (His) blood there is no forgiveness. Happy New Year.

Stunned and Silent

As soon as I mounted my 2 foot high stool at 10.30pm last night in Temple Bar, with the name above all names lifted high and the guitar strapped across my back, I knew I was in for a riotous time. A group of revellers started shouting back but I, with the higher elevation and superior angelic backing, answered them back. About a hundred gathered to hear the encounter and stayed, with great interest to hear that there is no forgiveness... without the shedding of the innocent blood of Jesus. Kenny, the Irishman who preaches daily in Manila Phillipines was with me and he was not used to such irreverence for Jesus. Where sin abounds grace abounds!!

Later on while witnessing to a french atheist who was not short on words about his opinion on all things biblical I quietly listened..not to him but to the Holy Spirit while I asked Him who knows all men for a Word of Knowledge. Was it a sore knee, leg arm or side? " No" I sensed the Lord saying "but his chest". I cut across his speaking and asked "Do you have a pain in you chest". Instantly he went silent and wide eyed as he stared in shock at me. "God knows everything about you and He wants you to know Him personally. Jesus paid the punishment for you." I said, or words to that affect. He then moved on...stunned and silent.

God has His people in various parts of the world bring the gospel to the unchurched on the street...Please join us for the harvest is rich while the labourers are pitifully few. Don't feel condemned by this call but challenged. I asked Kenny how he started evangelising and he said that after he heard his pastor complain that he had so many tracts but no one to give them out he gingerly took 2 and passed them out with great nervousness....the rest is history for this Irishman on the streets of Manila (see photo)