A Barrage of Testimonies!

2013 April 16 (28)

Exhortation

Testify Tuesday. Markville Mall. 6:30PM. Preach Jesus. Come/Pray.

This weekend at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region I heard from Rom 8:9-11... I heard a sermon, like many before it. And now I'm going to the mall with a team of Christians to preach this same good news of Jesus Christ to others who need to hear it.

I want to be honest though. I'm tired. Right now I'm on my lunch break at work, and tonight I have a paper to write for seminary. I'm tired. A part of me just wants to go home, eat dinner, and not even do my paper...

I'm no superman. I don't always get excited about sharing the gospel. I'm no elite evangelist. I don't pray enough. I can't even share eloquently half the time. I'm just a guy honestly trying to do the things Christ tells me to do as best I can. I know many people coming tonight are like that too (ie. Mike, Ben). So no, I won't just go home and eat dinner, I WILL proclaim the gospel at the mall tonight. I have to, for people have to hear this gospel! This is life! And without it, all they'll have is death... eternal death (Matt 25:46). How CAN I keep quiet...?

So please, pray for us. We need it, I need it... Pray too for the people we'll soon encounter, they'll need it even more. And pray for yourself, for your own walk with Christ. Know that I'll be praying with you too.

Testimony

Mike’s
Today (at Testify Tuesday with Tony Chuang, Ben Sampson and others from Harvest Bible Chapel York Region), we proclaimed the gospel at Markville Mall again. Today I came in feeling very very very tired and a bit apprehensive. Staying at home would have been the easiest thing to do. Today Jackson and I were partners and the first two conversations appeared as though they were flops and we may never know what the outcome of them will be, but the gospel was proclaimed. We planted, others may water, but it is God that gives the increase. There's a huge group of older Macedonian guys and their wives that meet every single day at the mall to hang out. We had always wanted to approach them, but were scared. Well, today was that day! It went really well and opened the door for future conversations. There are there every week...no, actually they're there every day! Anyways, Psalm 28 says "the joy of the Lord is my strength and my shield" and that was so true of us when we concluded tonight. Praise God for more opportunities!

Linda’s
Amazed and humbled truely, by what God did at Markville Mall today at Testify/ evangelism Tuesday.
Dorothy and I had the opportunity to engage in two conversations.
The first, we talked to a group of three who vaguely knew about heaven and hell, but categorized it as just another "experience". We did walk away encouraged that after sharing the gospel and asking about prayer requests we were able to pray with them.
Our second conversation,was with an individual who says he is a Christian. We wanted to "toil the soil" to reach a deeper understanding of where he stood and weren't quite sure, yet again walked away encouraged that we could pray for him. We invited him to come check out Harvest. Let's pray that he does! God is good and truely the joy of the LORD is our strength!!! — with Mike Fenty and 4 others.

Dorothy’s
Was reading a book by Mark Cahill on the subway on the way to work this morning and felt convicted by this question: Would you deal with your laziness problem for the love of money when you won't deal with it for the love of God? Too often I pass up opportunities for God to be glorified simply because I didn't feel like it. Yet for things like work or school I will manage to get myself going despite how I'm feeling.

Another great Testify Tuesday evening with Harvest Bible Chapel York Region peeps, Tony, Mike, Ben, Jackson, and Linda. Teaming up with Linda, I met a group of friends Keanna, Brendan, and Sabrina, who were really courteous and patient, and were open to hearing us out. Though they didn't express interest in considering the gospel in the end, Keanna nevertheless asked for prayer for her grandmother, who was recently in a serious accident.

We next met Mark, with whom we also had a generally pleasant conversation. His responses were rather vague, though he was genuinely interested in the dialogue, and was interested in visiting Harvest sometime. He told us that he has been a Christian for a little over a year. Though we don't know where exactly he's at in his relationship with Jesus, we trust that God will use this encounter to spur Mark further towards Himself.

Glory be to God. Even when we present ourselves to him with unworthy hearts, He still uses it towards the up-bringing of His Kingdom. What undeserved grace! Praying that He will continue to break us out of our complacency and turn our concrete hearts to softened ones, that we would hurt for those who have yet to know the peace of God that transcends understanding.

Ben’s
Yesterday evening, with friends from Testify Tuesday at Markville Mall; I verbally communicated the good news of Jesus Christ to complete strangers. Up until now, I have been somewhat reluctant to talk about what God has been doing with and through us on Tuesday nights, especially on Facebook, though it has been going on for some 6 months. (Perhaps I am afraid of what you, the cyber friend, think of God or me and my motives concerning God.) Friends, the good news is that Jesus Christ took the punishment we deserve for sin and now we, everyday people, must repent and believe in him in order to be saved. Jesus died for our sins, He rose from the dead, and He will return to judge us. This is something I believe, and I daresay that when I surrendered my life to Christ; He has changed every aspect of who I am, and who I am becoming. I praise God for the friends he has put in my life to help me obey this command - make disciples of all nations, including Canada! (Matt 28:19-20) My Christian readers.. will you join me on Tuesday? Will you pray for me today? Will you submit to God's word? I have only just begun to realize who I am in Christ when I obey him... will you begin to do this in your life and join me???!!! I need your help...! - with Tony Chuang, Mike Fenty, Jackson Tsuji, Hope Linda, Dorothy Leung.

Jackson’s
Last night was another evening of sharing the Gospel at the Mall! Mike Fenty and I paired up last night, and we talked with a few groups of people about the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ. We did not see much “fruit” from most of our conversations, unfortunately. (But who knows what God will do?) Even so… we’ve got to keep proclaiming this Good News and not stop! The Bible says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 ESV). It’s only by the Gospel that we can be saved – that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died to pay for our sins (thoughts/actions that are displeasing to God) so that we could be forgiven and not face the eternal punishment that we deserve. That’s some amazing news (how will you respond to it?), and it ought to change those who have received it. I’m not saying you have to share this message at a mall with us, but if you’re saved, is the Good News of what God has done in you flowing out of your life? It’s a great check for me as well.

I was so convicted last night that I need more boldness in sharing this message. I struggle, and even struggled last night, with speaking the whole truth about the Gospel and speaking it plainly, because I’m afraid of what people will think of me. BUT praise God that He is the one who gives us boldness and the words to speak (Ephesians 6:19-20)… I can trust in Him that He will keep growing me in this area.

Thanks to everyone who came out (Mike, Dorothy, Ben, Hope, Tony). Because of what Christ has done, let’s keep praying that God will transform us to be people who live out each and every day for His Glory. — with Mike Fenty and 4 others.

Tony’s
You’ve heard testimonies about Testify Tuesday from Mike, Linda, Dorothy, Ben, and Jackson. I asked all of them to write individual testimonies because last night was different. We had many interesting conversations. This one guy Sam wanted to leave about 4 times during the conversation but somehow we kept talking to him for a while. He said he was Christian because he went to church, naturally I had to quote Matt 7:22 to him. At the end, Ben somehow convinced him that he needed to be born again (John 3:3). But sadly, like Nicodemus, he just walked away... :(

The thing is, we should be discouraged. We should be disappointed and tired because honestly, the conversations weren't “fruitful”. But we weren't depressed. Instead we experienced more joy this time than we ever have! We joked with each other. We walked away from conversations knowing that though they didn't respond well, the full gospel has been unashamedly proclaimed, without adulterating an ounce of truth. Oh just imagining how these seeds will take root excites me. And we were filled with such joy, such overflowing joy!

It was the joy of knowing we did exactly what God told us to do. The joy of the Lord supernaturally filled every one of us as we shared the Word with each other and prayed fervently in the Spirit at the end. Team, we were wrong, there was fruit! The fruit was the work done in our own souls! I praise the Father for all five of you and for countless others who were praying. You truly make my joy complete and I wouldn't be able to keep evangelizing without you. The fruit is you too, the one reading. Brother, be encouraged. Sister, be edified. Family, be exhorted to work for Christ and so experience His extraordinary joy! :D

Souls (19) {Total: 211}

M (gay guy);
H (good life personal trainer);
P, T, T, J, S (5 teenagers);
S (Adventist);
M and Macedonian crew (7 people);
S, K, B (prayed for them);
M (self-proclaimed Christian)

Team (6)

Tony, Ben; Mike, Jackson; Linda, Dorothy

More Adventure

2013 April 9 (27)

Exhortation

Testify Tuesday is here! Join us in the work of evangelism at Markville Mall tonight at 6:30PM.

If you're a Christian, then you hear sermons at church week after week. The question is, what do you do with those sermons? Do you actually try to live them out? Those of you at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region heard how Rom 8:4 says we "walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Let's try to apply it now:

Evangelizing. Does that seem more like what the flesh would do or what the Spirit would do? Playing games, flesh or Spirit? Praying, flesh or Spirit? Spending hours on the internet, flesh or spirit? Working for God, flesh or Spirit? Watching TV, flesh or Spirit?

I know many have busy lives serving family, discipling children, etc. Praise God for those opportunities. Keep doing them! It's not always about evangelism. But if you call yourself Christian, ask yourself this: are you doing anything tonight that is of the flesh? If so, don't. Walk according to the Spirit instead! It's not an abstract concept; it's not optional either! Do it!

Testimony

Man, tonight was a pretty adventurous night sharing the gospel! There's nothing like working for God. :D

We started with three antagonistic kids (who ended up listening anyway) and moved on to a group of Hindus who believed in the reincarnation. Praise God that at the end, it seemed they heard what we were saying and at least know for sure that sinners don't "maybe" or "possibly" go to Hell, they "definitely" go to Hell. Pray that our "parting gift" would cause them to come to us when they are ready to repent.

Ben and I then talked to these two Jehovah's Witnesses. Apparently it's the first time in their lives that anyone approached them to share the gospel with them. First time? Man, what have we Christians been doing!? We truly need more laborers in the harvest field... Anyway, we had a very civil discussion on how we disagree with each other. At the end we got each other's contact information and I know this is one follow-up that will happen, should we choose it.

As an added bonus, Jackson and Linda spoke to John the sunglasses guy from last week again. We've talked to him for three weeks in a row now, and to see his change is just amazing. God is working in him! He might even come to church this weekend! Pray that he does!

Souls (13) {Total: 192}

A, J, R;
J, D, P, D, R (Hindus with birthday guy);
W, D (Jehovah’s Witness);
B, J;
J (sunglasses guy)

Team (4)

Tony, Ben; Jackson, Linda

Cool Conversations

2013 April 2 (26)

Exhortation

Testify Tuesday, 6:30PM, Markville Mall (or wherever you are).

If you were at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region this weekend, you heard this simple truth from 1 Cor 15:20 "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead."

HE. IS. ALIVE.

If that's not enough to passionately move you, I have no more to say to you.

Testimony

Short stories from last night:

Linda and I started off talking to this couple. But the woman had this intense stronghold in her heart. She told her husband to stop saying anything and from that point on they wouldn't even open their mouths. It was really sad to watch... Praise God that after Dorothy joined us, we had a good, long conversation with this couple. We then ran into Dorothy's old friend. I might have made the encounter awkward... But that's what Testify Tuesday's all about: having awkward gospel conversations that people don't want to have. I'm glad Dorothy and Linda were there to smooth things out.

Mike and Samantha started talking to this guy who works in the sunglasses booth. Praise God for Sam the initiator. ;) He was genuinely interested. He wanted to know how to have assurance, where to start in the Bible, and had many other good questions. At the end, Mike got his number and they semi-planned to meet up to go through the Bible! Pray for that to actually happen!

Ben and Jackson talked to these two Muslim guys for what must have been two hours, getting into really good conversation. Who cares about being punctual right? As long as we're having gospel conversation, we should go for as long as we can... Right guys?

Souls (11) {Total: 179}

A, W, J, A;
Asian girl (works at mall);
S, A;
A (Dorothy’s friend);
J (sunglasses guy);
O, A

Team (7)

Tony, Linda, Dorothy; Mike, Sam; Ben, Jackson

A Big Team Again

2013 March 26 (25)

Exhortation

It's Testify Tuesday. Come out to Markville Mall at 6:30PM to evangelize with us. Text me if you are coming. More importantly, pray for us. You ARE participating when you pray. In fact, I would rather someone dedicate this time to prayer than to physically come out.

My family, my brothers and sisters, especially those at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region, Ephesians 2:10 tells us that there are good works "God prepared beforehand" for us to do. What are those works for you?

I'm tired of urging people to evangelize more. I'm tired of begging people to see Hell for what it really is. Church of Jesus Christ, wake up! Arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you! Millions are dying every day. Our very friends and loved ones are happily running into eternal damnation. What "work" are you doing to stop that? Btw, if you're one of them, please turn around and save your soul, trust in Christ. He is real, He is faithful, I know it.

Not everyone is an evangelist, I understand that. But if you're a Christian, you're called to do God's work. Not only so, if you're a Christian, Eph 2:10 says that God has ALREADY prepared work for you to do. If you have no God-given work, what does that say about your faith? My work is at the mall. What is yours?

Prayer, hospitality, teaching, giving, cleaning... There are many types of work, many types of gifts, but one Lord. Work for the Lord Jesus Christ using what He has given you. Ask Him in the Spirit what it is! It is a labor-intensive work, sometimes filled with pain, but oh is it ever joyful. Therefore my brothers and sisters, I want to urge you in love, work for God.

Testimony

Well, last night was our weekly adventure of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ at Markville Mall! It was so encouraging to see so many people come out and to even see several people we knew at the mall who prayed for us... this is only my third time out, but I can already see God building up this ministry. It's so not about the messengers, but just about willing people excited about what Jesus has done in their lives and ready to be used by God to tell others. (Of course, evangelism at the mall isn't the only way to do this, but this is what God has put on our hearts for the time being.)

It sounds like there were many conversations last night. Praise God for that, especially given how close we are to Easter, when the whole story of the Gospel reached its climax some 2000 years ago. I can testify to one conversation that Sam and I had where God seemed to be at work. A guy we talked to for a bit under an hour moved from open skepticism about Christianity to hostility before suddenly becoming much more open to talk about the God of the universe. We were shocked that wanted a Bible at the end (thankfully we had one) and even wanted to know where to start reading! We don't know for sure what he's going to do with it, but we can certainly be praying that he'll read that Bible and come to the repentance and forgiveness of sins that God offers me, you, him, all of us through His Son Jesus. Do you know this Good News? This is the true story of Easter - that God "made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21b ESV).

Again, thanks so much to everyone who came out! It was great praying with and standing alongside you all in the Gospel - Andrea, Carmelina, Josh, Sam, Mike, Ben, and Tony. Thanks for everyone who prayed as well; your prayers make a huge difference for this ministry! Let's keep praying for God to do a great work in this place for His Glory.

Souls (15) {Total: 168}

M, L;
A (Russian kid);
J, A (high school girls);
D (Christian);
J, J;
A, M;
Y, E;
T;
J (sunglasses guy);
J

Team (8)

Tony, Josh; Mike, Carmelina; Ben, Andrea; Jackson, Samantha

First Picture

2013 March 19 (24)

Exhortation

Testify Tuesday is now at 6:30PM instead of 6:00PM. I know, this changes everything! Whether by prayer or by being there, I look forward to partnering with many of you in sharing the gospel at Markville Mall tonight.

Each week I take the passage preached on at church (which for me is Harvest Bible Chapel York Region) and uses that to encourage people to actually practice what they're learning. For me, the practice often comes in the form of evangelism, which is sharing the gospel with myself so much that I can't help but let it overflow to sharing with others. I do wish everyone would come out with me! But alas, that's not how Christ established the church. Nevertheless, I pray that at least some are encouraged by what we do weekly and by this message.

This week's sermon contains Eph 2:8 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith..." This grace that revived us from death to life. This grace that loved us when we were enemies. This grace that is completely undeserved. This grace that saved us from everlasting torment. This grace that caused the Lord Jesus Christ to face the full wrath of God as He died alone on that cross... for me, for you... This wonderful, beautiful, amazing grace.... I don't just believe it, I know it's active in my life even now! Can you feel it too? So preach this grace to yourself today. And let it overflow into change and action, whatever it may be. How can it not!?

Perhaps you've never felt this grace in your life before. You can... today. :D

Testimony

At Markville tonight, we talked to so many people. Some conversations were more than an hour and some less than 3 minutes. God keeps growing the team and blessing our conversations. It's sometimes hard going out because you don't always "feel it". But I've been blessed each time. More than that, we are bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to all these people! Any amount of labor is worthwhile as long as the gospel is preached. But the laborers are still few, so please pray for more laborers for the harvest field.

Ask any of us if we want to hear testimonies because we have many, too many to share here. ;) Praise God for the marvelous team full of people with beautiful feet. Mike, Ben, Andrea, Dorothy, Jackson, Jacqueline, I look forward to partnering with you more in the days to come. We have a picture this week!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151335146643202&set=a.10151100742103202.433888.503748201&type=1&theater

Souls (16) {Total: 153}

F, T, T, J;
S, A;
M, M;
B; S, C;
K;
4 different girls

Team (7)

Tony, Jackson; Ben; Mike, Andrea; Dorothy; Jacqueline

First On the Spot Convert!

2013 March 12 (23)

Exhortation

Testify Tuesday is here again. Join us in person or in prayer. We'll be at Markville Mall from 6PM to 7:30PM sharing the gospel. Why you ask? Well...

Rom 7:24 says, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" I am wretched. I try to do good things but I fail horribly so often. Those of you at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region know more deeply what this is like. There is nothing good in my body. But yet God has put His Spirit in me and Christ has saved me by His blood. Me! A wretched man! Obviously God sees something in me that even I have trouble seeing, or more likely He just loves me that much. I will not disappoint Him.

This is why I share the gospel. And this is how we do it: we use the law to reveal sin, then we point them to Christ. Then the Father won't see our wretchedness anymore! Instead He'll see Christ, as will we.

Testimony

God always does great things for those doing His will. Tonight: We got to witness SALVATION!!!

There were these two teenage boys eating Taco Bell. Turns out one of them is a Christian. Jackson, Dorothy, and I sat down with them and started sharing the gospel, going through their sinful state in full detail. When we asked the non-Christian Ryan where he'd go if he died, he responded with a solemn look, "I'll probably go to Hell."

Then we shared what Jesus died for and how we can receive this gift. He plainly said that he wanted it! We asked, "So you're saying you want to be Christian?" He said yes! We then spent the next 10 minutes trying to scare him away. We shared how he has to repent and stop doing some things, how following Jesus sometimes mean suffering, and how personally, it led to rejection within my own family.

We asked if, even after understanding the costs, he still wanted to follow Christ. When he still said yes, we were ecstatic (but trying hard to hide it). We prayed with him right there in the food court for him to enter into this new saving relationship with God! We made sure to say after that he will know the reality of what he did today by the fruit he sees 5 years down the road.

I want to rejoice, I want to scream that we now have a new brother in Christ. And I can! And I'm happy! But ultimately, like every follower of Christ, we will know them by their fruit. That's why I pray that God will cause him to bear fruit, that he'll be discipled into a man of God and not choked by the thorns of this world. Pray for him.

Despite all that, I'm still incredibly blessed to have been a part of this. You can be a part of this too! All you have to do is put yourself out there, God will do the rest. For those who prayed, you were a part of this! God bless you! There are few joys greater than knowing you were part of God's plan to bring someone to salvation. So rejoice with me church, again I say, rejoice!

PS. Mike and Hope Linda talked to this group of 12 teenagers. It looked intense. Next step for them: open air.

Souls (19) {Total: 137}

S, A (salvation later through Kevin), S;
Group of 12 teens;
M;
T;
R, D (R believed, D was Christian)

Team (5)

Tony, Jackson, Dorothy; Mike, Linda

And then He Comes to Church!?

2013 March 5 (22)

Exhortation

On this Testify Tuesday, we will only be evangelizing at Markville Mall from 6:00PM to 6:45PM so that we can pray with our church family at 7PM. It's gonna be short and sweet tonight.

Those at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region heard from Rom 7. Rom 7:4 says that we have died to the law "in order that we may bear fruit for God." Let's not go out because the law demands, since it doesn't. Let's go out because we want to bear fruit for He who died for us! So let's bear fruit brothers and sisters, a hundred or even a thousand times more!

Grow in holiness, pray, evangelize, whatever you do, don't stop bearing fruit.

Testimony

‎Harvest Bible Chapel York Region: On Tuesday, a couple of us went out to Markville to share our faith. We got into a couple interesting conversations. I spoke to a young man named Mikael. He invited me to take a seat, since I was standing when I started talking to him, which is a rare thing. Most people are just waiting for you to leave! It turned out that he was a very spiritual guy and interested in learning more about the gospel and what Christ had done for us. Truth be told, he was also interested in many other religions, but he said that our discussion cleared up some misconceptions about Christianity that he had. After realizing I was late for church wide prayer, I told him that I had to leave. He expressed interest in possibly talking about these things again so I gave him a Harvest Bible Chapel card and put my number on it since I didn't have any paper. As soon as he saw the card he exclaimed that he knew Curtis. He also told me that he was planning on attending the new believers classes that started just recently. It turns out that Curtis had previously shared the good news with him. I would not pronounce him a Christian, but I feel that God is drawing Him unto Himself. I always wonder if the people that I share the gospel with ever hear it again, or if they ever surrender their lives to Christ. Remember, it's not anything that we do that saves people, but like Paul said in 1 Corinthians "...God gave the increase"!

Souls (4) {Total: 118}

D;
M (knows Curtis, later goes to new believer’s class);
K, woman

Team (5)

Mike, Kevin; Ben, Tony, Curtis