Joe Charles Mens Breakfast Meeting

Thanks for all you prayers and support. I was blessed to have Al Gordon & Dale Chase with me to help engage with these men after the breakfast.

With the five minutes I was given I emphasized why those who claim Jesus the Christ as Lord are commanded to share with the lost, not just friends and family as is the more acceptable tradition. In Acts 10:42,Paul stated ”And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.” (John 14:21, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8) (Know any pew sitters?)

One of the comments I shared with these men was what the Lord had given me early one morning. JFK’s famous quote,

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country!”
What we should be asking is, “Ask not what Jesus can do for you, but what you can do for Jesus!”

I then mentioned to these men what seems to be really difficult is to start a conversation with a perfect stranger, or maybe you don’t really care what happens to that stranger, it’s not your job, or maybe someone will become his friend who goes to a church and then that pastor can save him. If this was them then they should read(2nd Cor 13:5)


If you really appreciated what our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ did for you on that cross, you would be out shouting in the streets, so that everyone knew what an unbelievable gift you had received.

To quote Charles Spurgeon:
“We must school and train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted.
We must not excuse ourselves, but force ourselves to the irksome task until it becomes easy."

So it looks like Training & Practice make it easy. The most common objections I hear for not sharing is that, I’m a quiet person, I don't like to speak with other people, I’ve been told to wait for God to tell me when to speak to someone, the final one is, I don't feel comfortable speaking to a perfect stranger about my faith as they could ask me a question that I don’t know. (So why not be honest and say you don’t know and then find out!)

Remember, He calls whom He equips, not those who are equipped.

To many of us say we follow Jesus but only if He is our co-pilot!
I asked some of the pastors if this concept of reaching the lost could be taught at their place. The response was almost the same. They had their own way and they didn’t think that scattering tracts was of much use because you wouldn’t be able to come along side a person or bring them into the Church where his teaching would save them. They said they were only interested in bringing someone into their church, so that through their message they could make them a Christian. Once that happened, then that person could go out and bring in another person, and so on.

I was told that it was a waste of time to just hand out tracts and speak to strangers who I may never see again. So to teach it to those who come to their worship would not be productive. These people need to have a close relationship with the person sharing. But they were thankful that God had given me the gift to evangelize to those people, but they were satisfied that what they were doing was what God had in mind for them to do. I even had one claim he would speak only to those God told him to speak to and he repeated that comment several times, so that I wouldn’t ask him if he would like to learn how to share with everyone.

Then Al commented about a pastor (with the cross around his neck) who was so against everything we tried to say really bothered him. Not the man himself, but that reaction from a pastor. I let him off easy and just moved on to talk to others, but maybe we should be a little more aggressive towards a pastor. They will be judged more harshly, according to Scripture. He’s either deceived or a deceiver and it doesn’t really matter which one. They seem to think that they are making the conversion; they’re building their church, puffing themselves up. I should have asked him, “What caused Satan’s fall?” Selfish pride caused it, and the Bible tells us that pride comes before a fall. If one thinks that scattering Gospel seed is useless, that man obviously thinks that he has the secret to bringing people to salvation, through his own works. God’s Word does not return void, and who are these mere mortals to speak of God’s Word with such derision in their voice? Anyway, there were people who were open to the idea, excited by the tracts, and a few of them even asked for extra tracts to give to friends and family. Al then mentioned how he liked what the guy who’d been in prison said. He said, “There was going to be a change this year, and people weren’t going to like it. No more sitting around being nice, we are to get out there and tell the Truth, whether anyone likes it or not.

Now the good news! Well a few men came to me and admitted that they did not speak to others about what God had done for them because they were shy and mostly kept to themselves. These were humble men, not using the excuse that almost all Christians use so then can justify their neglect and lack of love for what Christ has done for them. They knew they should share but were uncomfortable to even try. When I asked them could they ask a perfect stranger, “did you get your first Million yet,” they said yes they could, so I encouraged them to sign up for the Crash Course and watch the Lord perform a miracle.

Some asked if we had any extra Million Dollar bills, so that they could hand out some as well. I was encouraged by the woman who was serving us the food, as this was for men only. I gave her one for serving such a delicious breakfast and then asked her the Million Dollar question, “Are you GOOD enough to get to Heaven” She said yes and then I read the back of the bill with her and then she understood that she wasn’t and said, “WOW, this is awesome, I like how easy this is to explain. I’m a Christian do you have any extra as I would love to give them to some people I know.” I then gave her a bunch and then explained that if she would come to this Crash Course I would show her how she could not only give it to her friends but everyone she comes in contact with, if that were true how much more effective as a Christian do you think you would be? (You should have seen the look on her face, like a light bulb just turned on)

Well it’s a good thing that our Lord and Savior wasn’t like this. Can you imagine what He was thinking when He went with His disciples to Gethsemane and was praying, sweating blood, because He knew what He was going to go through the next day? Judas would betray Him, His disciples would abandon Him, falsely accused in a mock trial, He would be beaten, punched in the face, whipped, spit on mocked, striped of His clothes then, rejected by His own people, sentenced to a horrendous death by carrying a heavy wooden cross, wearing a crown of thorns and then be nailed to it and hang there for about three hours all the while taking on the sins of the world. This part had to be the most painful punishment as this Man Jesus who was God in human form never knowing sin now taking on the sins of the world to satisfy the only sacrifice acceptable to our Heavenly Father. Then came the worst and most agonizing torture of all…when he stated, “Father why has thou forsaken me.” Here we see Jesus all alone as our Father in Heaven turned away from the only Begotten Son. Jesus was looking for a plan "B" but did the will of the Father, can't we!(Mat 26:29, Luke 22:24, Mark 14:36)

So couldn’t we overcome our fear by placing our trust in Him, (Phil 4:13) and share with everyone with meet, not just friends and family?

Of course those of us who have been chosen and are adopted into the Kingdom understand that this was God’s plan of redemption for mankind and His death brought us life as He was raised from the dead three days later.

We now know we have the gift of eternal life because of what happened then, and those of us who place our trust in what He did that day and repent from our own selfish desires will spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

How then can anyone who claims Him as Lord not have the desire to do as He commanded to GO into the ALL the world and proclaim the Gospel to ALL creation (Mark 16:15)

Well the final blessing was when Al brought a man to me who asked if I would like to use his Tour Bus as a place to have my Crash Course. He explained that the bus takes them out for about 4 hours, each seat has it’s own TV monitor. They can be driven to a place like Prescott and while they are confined in the bus (can’t leave, ha, ha) they can be trained on how to reach the lost and then when in Prescott practice handing out and sharing with those we meet there. I asked how much would it cost and he replied that the Lord would provide! WOW, to say the least I was in shock!

I pray that those of you have not been able to communicate this message that our Lord suffered so much for to come to this Crash Course.

Remember what Spurgeon stated earlier well he also stated that:

If you’re not seeking to save the lost then you’re not saved yourself,
you can be sure of that!

And of course we must honor our Lord when He prayed in Luke 10:2
And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

So if you’re still struggling with reaching out to others, need some practice, I pray you come to the next Crash Course.
(no more excuses!)