Lots of Rejection

2013 Jun 4 (35)

Exhortation

N/A

Testimony

Today was Testify Tuesday once again at Markville Mall! Thank you Harvest Bible Chapel York Region for constantly keeping us in prayer, we definitely needed that today. I was joined by Melinda, Ryan and Ambrose as we sought to glorify God through telling unbelievers about His great love for us. Throughout the month of May, we've been in prayer asking God to add to our team and this has been a prayer that has been continuously answered! Ambrose joined us for the first time this week!

I teamed up with Ambrose and we started a couple of conversations that were either shutdown prematurely or just went nowhere. We know that it is only through the working of the Holy Spirit on a sinners heart that one would ever come to Jesus, but sometimes it's easy to get discouraged. After praying that the Lord would lead us to someone who would be willing to hear the gospel, we were lead to two friends Alan and Riaz who were in their 30s. They were both Guyanese and just like all good west indians, they grew up with a lot of respect and a little bit of Christianity. It is amazing how the "light" goes on when someone realizes that they are not good enough and that they need a saviour. They asked a lot of questions near the end of the conversation, but had to leave early because one of their wives was ready to go. It was exciting to be able to plant the seed of the gospel in their lives. We may never know, this side of heaven, what that seed produces in their lives, but the gospel was preached!

Tonight was filled with a lot of rejection and possibly even fear of rejection, but our hope is not in ourselves and our abilities...it's in Christ. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." 1 John 4:18. When I think about what Christ has saved me from I rejoice in rejection, I rejoice in trials and I rejoice in the gospel. Friends, even when it seems like there's no hope, we have hope! Please continue to pray for us and perhaps even join us..we'll be there next Tuesday! "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives." - Proverbs 11:30.-Mike

Souls (7) {Total: 271}

M, S, V;
R, A;
A;
C

Team (4)

Mike, Melinda, Ryan, Ambrose

God Answered Our Prayer! Someone Got Saved!

2013 May 28 (34)

Exhortation

6:30PM, Markville Mall, Testify Tuesday. Be there or be praying. Please? We NEED your prayers.

I’d like all you Christians reading this to be praying for these two things:
1. At least one more team member (anyone is welcome to join us)
2. At least one person come to saving faith and discipled

This is the last Tuesday for May. God has already answered the first item. Now we are begging Him for the second. Know that when it happens, it will not be by coincidence or the power of man, but because my God is real and my God is powerful. Glory to my God, my Lord and savior Jesus Christ!

Pray with me, my family at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region and my family from afar.
-Tony

Testimony

God answers prayer! Both items have been answered! Someone trusted Christ as Lord and savior tonight!!!

Remember how for the month of May we asked God for two things, a team member and a saved person? Got gave us many new team members. Shout out to Ryan and Melinda, who encouraged Mike, Ben, and myself greatly. God also saved someone tonight! I ran into K, whom God brought to me. As I explained everything, he told me many times how "If you put it this way, it makes so much sense." I really focused on the fear of the Lord as I talked about the reality of death and the harshness of Hell. At one time, he told me, "Now you're just scaring me."

Hell is scary! But praise the Holy Spirit for opening his eyes to see everything so clearly for the first time and the desperate need for Christ to be saved. He kept saying, "My mind is just blown!" After we prayed together right there against the railing on the second story of Markville Mall, he said he felt this burden lifted off. Praise God!

Please, please keep praying for K. He got my contact information and said he'll be coming to church as well as promising me he'll read the gospel of John. I told him how real Satan is. So please, pray that Satan won't snatch him away, scorching him with the sun or choking him with the thorns (Matt 13:6-7). Pray that I can disciple him. It's no coincidence that we focused so much on prayer this month. Prayer IS where everything happens!

I'm reminded of all the fasting and praying we've been doing. You there, do you see this? Do you see God answering prayer? Did I not say that my God is real and powerful and mighty to save? Did I not say that He hears our cries? Did I not say that this WILL happen and that when it does, you should glorify God?

Well, this did happen! God did increase our team. God did save someone in the month of May, just as we prayed. Do you still doubt the faithfulness of God? Doubt no more Christian. Doubt no more atheist. My God IS real and very powerful. So glorify God! It's all Him! Believe in Him, and you WILL be saved (Acts 16:31).

-Tony

PS. Harvest Bible Chapel York Region, look forward to meeting a new brother this weekend. :)
PPS. Check out http://testifytuesday.blogspot.ca/, especially the month of May, for more testimonies.

Souls (11) {Total: 264}

E, G (E's gf, pastor's kid);
K;
J;
J;
K;
D;
M, T;
D;
K (salvation)

Team (5)

Tony; Ben, Melinda; Mike, Ryan

He Asked All the Right Questions!

2013 May 21 (33)

Exhortation

It is Testify Tuesday. That means at 6:30PM, a bunch of us will be sharing the gospel at Markville Mall.

I’d like all you Christians reading this to be praying for these two things:
1. At least one more team member (anyone is welcome to join us)
2. At least one person come to saving faith and discipled

We are praying for God to do something amazing this month of May. It’s going to happen. So watch, and pray. Pray to Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Pray that people won’t just have excellent days, but excellent eternities.

Seminarian attending Harvest Bible Chapel York Region,
-Tony

Testimony

You want to read this! We have an amazing testimony tonight sharing the gospel at the mall!

We approached this high school kid Mike to ask him what he thought the worst suffering he can imagine is. He mentioned depression, physical pain, and death. This led perfectly into a definition of Hell. After spending a few more minutes elaborating on Hell and assuring him of his status as a sinner with no hope, Melinda came in and shared about the hope in Jesus Christ, about justification by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). It was a perfect tag team's one-two punch!

Initially he seemed put off, but as we talked more, he became more and more engaged. When asked if he thought this was interesting, he said straightforwardly that he'd have left if it wasn't. He then asked really good questions like what the cross meant and who Jesus was, to which we gave a brief history lesson. He also asked how we came to be Christian, to which I shared my personal testimony. He even asked what it meant to pray and how we know God is talking to us! He asked many more pertinent questions, those that only genuinely interested people ask.

Near the end, he asked whether sufferings will cease once we believe, to which we shared the cost of discipleship, essentially telling him that even if he believed, life might even get harder as persecution comes. But this aroma of Christ was definitely a fragrance of life to him (cf. 2 Cor 2:15-16). It's so obvious that the Holy Spirit was working in him, tugging him to give his life to Christ.

We asked what was stopping him from entering into this saving relationship with God, to which he said "Nothing"! Though he wasn't comfortable praying with us then, he has our number and seems interested in either youth group or meeting up to discuss further. Pray for him to call me.

Christian, don't stop believing that God can use you in any encounter if you put yourself out there. Don't stop praying for our new friend to be saved, as he is so ready! Don't stop sharing the gospel for the harvest is oh so plentiful (Matt 9:37)!

-Tony, Ben, Mike, Melinda

Souls (6) {Total: 253}

Older couple;
E;
M;
C;
M

Team (4)

Tony, Melinda; Ben, Mike

God Brought More People

2013 May 14 (32)

Exhortation

Testify Tuesday, 6:30PM, Markville Mall. You know how I feel about evangelism. Please, pray with us. We got two requests that we hope God will answer this month:

1. At least one more team member
2. At least one person come to saving faith and discipled

Do you believe God hears and answers prayers? We do. Prayer is where things happen. Going out is but a mere byproduct of hours of prayer. We are tired of watching death rule this world. We refuse to idly sit by and do nothing! No, we shall preach life; we shall preach Christ. So pray with us.

Evangelist at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region,
-Tony

Testimony

Today, we had a team of 6. Praise God! He grew the team! These are the evangelist tonight: Mike, Ben, Linda, Timo, and Melinda. Though some came out for the first time, their boldness and obedience were really encouraging to me.

I will share one story: We talked to this girl Christine for a long time. She's a very kind person. She grew up in a Christian home and believed in this kind of new age spirituality. As we shared the prison analogy and how Christ came to save us, she was just agreeing with everything we said. She even elaborated on how painful it must have been for Him to have died on the cross. She agreed how punishment for sin has to be dealt and it has to be death.

We could have just prayed for her, but that wouldn't be sharing the gospel. She didn't believe in the blood of Christ as the sole propitiation for her sins and didn't see Him as Lord and savior. And she needed to... After a while, we finally shared enough for her to say this, "I respect you for your views, but I don't exactly see it like that." She rejected the gospel...

I experienced more joy in this rejection than I have in recent memory. I rejoiced because she finally understood what we were saying. She understood that what she believes and what we believe are vastly different. She understood that being a Christian isn't about doing good, it's about Christ and His cross. See, you can't reject something you don't know. If she rejected us, that means she now knows the gospel. The seed has taken root! Whatever it grows up to be is no longer my responsibility, it is God's. And for that, I rejoice. Because I know that there's no better hands to be in than the loving hands of my God (cf. 2 Sam 24:14).

Souls (15) {Total: 247}

M;
J;
T+3;
F, Miss H;
I, C, M;
3 ladies (mother and daughters);
A;
C

Team (6)

Tony, Timo; Ben, Linda; Mike, Melinda

Testing the Power of Prayer

2013 May 7 (31)

Exhortation

This Testify Tuesday, where we go out to Markville Mall to evangelize at 6:30PM, we are asking foremost for prayer.

For the next month, no more exhortation to go. No more pushing people out of their comfort zone through posts. Just simple prayer to an almighty God. In the next month, I am asking God for 2 things:

1. At least one more team member
2. At least one person come to saving faith and discipled

I know, small goals... But we are a small team. And I'm just a small guy whose heart cries for the lost. But my God is big, and He is faithful. And I know He will answer those prayers. Watch, watch and pray with me. Then in a month, rejoice with me.

Just a random guy from Harvest Bible Chapel York Region doing evangelism,
-Tony
— with Mike Fenty.

Testimony

Update: Ben and I were the only two people there tonight. And we were both tired. I'm still tired. We did have 4 good gospel conversations, though they walked away, we know we gave them something to think about. It's times like this that we can only pray and trust that God knows what He's doing. Because sometimes from our perspective, it can get discouraging...

Souls (7) {Total: 232}

C, N;
V & girlfriend;
B;
E, I

Team (2)

Tony, Ben

Discouraging...

2013 April 30 (30)

Exhortation

I think all of you see Testify Tuesday as a normal thing now. You might think: "Every Tuesday, a bunch of guys go to Markville Mall at 6:30PM to evangelize. Good for them." Hmm.

Harvest Bible Chapel York Region preached from Jonah 2-3 this weekend. Jonah evangelized at evil Nineveh, and they believed! "From the greatest of them to the least" (Jonah 3:5)! He got to witness one of the quickest massive revival in recorded history! What do you think of when you hear that? Do you think, "Oh, good for them"? Or do you cry out, "Lord I want a revival here too"? Do you sit around doing nothing about it or are you willing to act to make a difference, however small. Do you seek a revival? Then DO something! If I can do it at the mall, you can do it in your sphere of influence too! Arise, and go!

Christ-follower, I don't want to guilt anyone into coming out to evangelize with us. In fact, if guilt is the reason you're coming, I'd rather you stay home and work things out with God. I don't want you to feel guilty... But how can you exhort without creating guilt? *sighs*

I must sound like a broken record since every week it's the same exhortation. I'm sorry... But I will never stop. I will never EVER stop until the whole world knows of my beautiful savior and the global church mobilized to do just that! This is the goal of Testify Tuesday: To Testify to the lost the urgent need for Christ and to testify to the church the urgent need to evangelize.

Testimony

Desperation. The condition for many of us as we headed in, desperately hoping to see people saved, to have them run into the loving arms of Heaven and not the fiery depths of Hell. How are people not seeing the wrath awaiting them!?

Discouragement. That was how we felt after tonight as we spent so long talking to people who just brushed what we said right off.

Weakness. Knowing that our words fell on deaf ears and that no matter how eloquent we were or how many Bible verses we quoted, the Spirit was the one who has the power to save souls, not us.

God is the only one who has the power to save. It's always ever been only Him. It's good to be once again grounded in that truth during this "off week". Nevertheless, the lesson has its fair share of tears. Please pray for us.

The brave warriors: Mike Fenty, Ben Sampson, Dorothy Leung.

Souls (6) {Total: 225}

A;
A, N, A;
S;
White guy

Team (4)

Tony, Mike, Ben; Dorothy

Jackson's Last Week

2013 April 23 (29)

Exhortation

What is Testify Tuesday? Well, a group of us go to Markville Mall at 6:30PM every Tuesday to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with whomever will listen. Why do I? A better question is why don't you? Does scripture command it you ask? I'm glad you asked. :) Yes it does.

My church's (Harvest Bible Chapel York Region) sermon was on Jonah 1 this weekend. God told Jonah simply, "Arise, go" (v2). Even the ship captain told Jonah to "Arise, call out" (v6). Jesus told a dead girl, "Arise" and she rose (Mark 5:41). Even a dead little girl obeyed Christ! Do you? Awake, O sleeping Christian, and ARISE; let Christ shine on you (Eph 5:14)! Arise! And go! GO and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19)! Go to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8)! Go!

But where Tony? To the mall? No, not to the mall. Do come if God is calling you to. But for most, I know it is not to the mall that you must first go. It is to prayer. It is to the word. It is to the cross. It is to His feet. It is to His life! Follower of Christ, we are all really going to the same place and that place is Jesus. Like Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). Arise... and go. — with Mike Fenty and Ben Sampson.

Testimony

A few of us were out sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the mall again last night! This was the last time I’ll be able to go for a while, since I’m moving away next week. It was great partnering in the Gospel with everyone who came last night, as well as everybody who’s been out over the last few months.

Some highlights from last night:
1. One lady who had gone through a lot of hard times in her life understood the Gospel and took a Bible to learn more. (It sounds like God had already been at work in her life far before us – but isn’t this always the case?).
2. Mike had a great chat over dinner with a guy who we’ve run into several times at the mall. It’s so neat to see longer-lasting relationships like this that we can continue week by week!

The last few months of sharing the Gospel at the mall have been a great encouragement to me, too. Going to the mall is certainly not the only way of telling others about Jesus… but for me, it’s been an amazing reminder to be bold in the relationships I’m a part of every day, as I have opportunity. I had gotten lax about this, but God says in His Word about Jesus, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” I’m praying that God would give me boldness as I move to a new place to be the light of Christ there, not just in actions, but also in words. — with Mike Fenty and 3 others.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151420236863354&set=pcb.10151420238613354&type=1&theater

Souls (8) {Total: 219}

3 Chinese guys;
T, L, D;
M;
J (sunglasses guy)

Team (5)

Tony, Mike, Jackson; Dorothy; Linda