Oh Black Friday...

Black Friday is a special time for me. Back in the day I used to work in Toys R Us and Target where I served in battle on this crazy, crazy day. I was nearly pushed off of a ladder, hit by carts, handled disgruntled, impatient, and unruly "guests" (we were not allowed to refer to them as customers or shoppers). A couple of years later (January 2009) the Lord got a hold of my carnal, wretched, filthy heart and saved me by His grace for His glory alone. He then opened my eyes to biblical evangelism and the necessity of the Great Commission to every believer in Christ.

Last year when the Lord saved me I went back to the battleground on Black Friday, haha. It was a much more pleasant experience spreading the Gospel, handing out tracts, than working for the company! The whole experience was awesome and I was able to hand out hundreds of tracts at Target and then witness at Town East mall afterward. This year I have been looking forward to this day once again, however, I planned to go to the Mesquite Super Target instead. There wasn't a really good spot to begin handing out tracts so I just went down the line. Within about 20 tracts I was asked to stop soliciting by what appeared to be the manager. I then proceeded to go in a rant on how the company owes me and...just kidding. She told me I could not be soliciting on Target property. I explained that I wasn't selling anything or asking anyone for anything, but she was persistent and asked me to leave once again. So I said yes mam and went on my way. I really didn't want to get held up by security so I left pretty quick so I could go somewhere else. God's plan is always better than mine anyways!

I headed over to Best Buy because I knew they opened at 5am and it was about 4:25 at the time. I was a little discouraged because I knew that Best Buy was higher in security and I would probably get shut down pretty quick. When I pulled up there was an even bigger crowd and much to my surprise there was a McDonald's cart set up and a catering company going down the line. I don't know if they had permits or not, but it was good news to me! So I began to hand out million and trillion dollar bills all down the line. Glory to God that I was able to pass 500+ to everyone. The comments always crack me up, sometimes people say some ugly things and rarely you will hear something encouraging, but my favorite line today was from a much older gentlemen. He said, "is this Obama Bucks?", I said no sir, he strongly replied, "good, because they they're worthless!"

It was ironic because last year at a parade I had many people angry with me because I was passing out trillion dollar bills with Obama's face on them. I soon discovered that was not a very smart thing to do in Texas. Now they make them with Lincoln so I don't have that trouble anymore. Best Buy went great. Somehow the cart guy ran a cart into me, but it was all good. Next, I went over to Town East mall. I was pretty hyped up on Mountain Dew and the fact that I was able to tract the whole time at Best Buy, so without thinking much I began passing out tracts inside of Macy's and at the foot of the escalator. Now that is not the best idea or best place to pass out tracts. For the second time I had a manager come at me like a hawk saying that I could not do that here and that I needed to get out and go into the mall. At least she didn't call security. So I said alright and went on my way. She even followed me the whole way out. I wasn't making a scene nor was anyone getting upset, oh well, God is sovereign.

As I walked into the mall it was pretty packed. I always like finding the groups of people sitting down and engaging in conversation with them especially the guys who think they are too cool for school. To simply put it, I had an amazing time. I wholeheartedly believe that God was working on the hearts of some of the people there today who heard the Gospel. Please pray that they would respond in repentance and trust in Jesus Christ. There were many conversations, but there were a few that really stuck out. I had one with 2 youth pastors and a worship pastor. When I asked them how to be saved they gave me the typical Bible belt response along the lines of believing in Jesus and accepting Him into your heart. I praise God I was able to share the Gospel with them and stress the importance of sharing and preaching the law. I had a similar conversation with about a group of 4 other church goers that are involved in ministry.

In two of my encounters I heard very foul language and cussing going on as I approached. When I asked these individuals if they believed they were good enough to go to heaven they responded in a very confident yes because they said they were Christians and asked God to forgive them a long time ago. In one of those conversations there was a girl who very skeptic about Christianity. She made some of the best claims I have ever heard that addressed today's modern Christianity. She said, "how is God good if He lets everyone into heaven just for saying sorry. He just let's everyone off the hook?" She replied this way, because her cussing friend was saying that all you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and ask for forgiveness.

We proceeded to go onto how God is holy and that He hates sin and the fact that we are sinners and sin every day. I told them that God is angry with the wicked and WE are the wicked. I always explain that this is not a popular concept, but it is biblical. To understand the grace and love of God one must understand that He is righteous and hates sin. That is what makes the cross that more important, because Christ saved us from God's just wrath. I believe a lot of this clicked in the girls head as she had been a witness to so much Christian hypocrisy that goes on today. She had lots of other great questions. The girl with the potty mouth began to question her salvation because she said she had been saved in 6th grade, but was backslidden and not living right. She said that she kind of goes in circles with it. That is when I explained the different between worldly repentance and repentance with a godly sorrow. Turning over a new leaf or trying to stop sinning because it makes you feel better or think it will get you to heaven is not repentance. Biblical repentance is a change of mind, action, and attitude towards sin that produces a godly sorrow. Meaning, you feel bad because you have sinned against God, not because it goes against your morals or makes you feel better. The other conversations went very well too.

I am so incredibly thankful for the experience today. Although, I was sad as usual with a lot of the responses I heard from professing Christians I pray that God will open their eyes to the true Gospel. I was a little shocked to meet those who were not familiar with Christianity and was thankful for that. I also want to state something. My hope and prayer by posting these events and blogs on Facebook is that you might be exposed to biblical evangelism, encouraged, have an opportunity to pray for those in these conversations, understand what people really think out there about these things, and most importantly, that God would be glorified.

Please understand that this is not about me. It is about the lost and it is about Christ being glorified through the foolishness of the preaching of the only Gospel that saves. We only have 70-100 years on this earth, if that. I plead with you to please go serve your King while you still have time. For more information on sharing your faith or resources please check out www.livingwaters.com

In Christ,

Joey

God bless you and thank you so much for reading.