Summer Update August 2011

Hello everyone,

I feel the need to update everyone with what is going on here in Helena and in my life. Tomorrow we will be starting our half week of evangelism. We will be hanging out packets on doors and doing street evangelism in the afternoon/evening. This summer has been very interesting for us here. One of my evangelism partners and friend (Scott Doherty) and his family has gone to Costa Rica to learn Spanish and then on to Peru to be a missionary to Peru for the rest of his life. Please keep him in your prayers.

Throughout this summer I have gone on the streets and see a great need for young people who come along side kids and just talk with them, because the kids can relate to us. After sharing the gospel with them, they have wanted to talk to me about the Bible for at times hours on end. They have never heard such things as this. They do not know the stories of God’s great power. They yearn to hear. When asking how I could contact them, it has been hard to get a response from them, they don’t really want to be contacted. Many of these kids want to give up their drugs and their addictions and follow Christ, but they see it as to hard or that they will do it later.  They yearn for something more in life then what they have. They yearn to be loved by someone.

When I started doing street evangelism this summer Helena was totally open to the gospel. People would take tracts and they would talk to me. As the summer has progressed there has been more and more opposition. There was one man named Job of Ob who had a bunch of his Atheistic followers with him. As I approached them they started shouting at me. A couple climbed up in a tree and started shout profanities and random things at me. Job was absolutely closed to the gospel, so much so that I could not even talk to him. He went through his spiel and then told me to leave. As I left he told me he would rather rot in Hell then to acknowledge that there is a God. I was saddened by this, but the Lord can even break the hardest of hearts.

A week from tomorrow, Monday the 29^th I will be starting my classes at MSU. I have decided to change my major to Construction Engineering Technology. The Lord has worked it out that I have taken most of the classes I needed to take, last semester for this degree. I don’t know what is in store for this year, but I hope and pray for many opportunities to share the gospel with the kids there. I have found that many younger kids that I have known are going to be going to MSU. I would ask you all to keep them in your prayers, that they would stand firm and that I would be able to encourage them and that they would not fall away.  It will be an exciting, but hard year this year. I am ready for it.

This last Friday I gave out tracts at my last day of work. I was amazed at the responses. The people, I thought were absolutely hard against the gospel , were open to it and the one who I thought was a Christian turned out to be a JW. It gets harder and harder to tell Christians from the rest of the world, because many Christians swear. Many are in this world and of this world. Please pray for me as I respond to this JW and also for the rest of the guys in the store that they would come to know Christ as their Savior.

This next summer I will be planning a trip to Nigeria, Lord willing. There is a possibility that I can do an internship over there. Please pray for that. There is no way on my own that I could get over there the Lord will open the doors if it is His will. : )

Please keep all of these things in your prayers. Many things are happening here. The Lord is working in amazing ways. Thank you to you all for your prayers.

Your brother in Christ and Servant of the Lord,

T.J. Kerttula

Are we Hypocrites or Disciples?

 "Hero" by Abandon

"He walked the dirty streets famous for nothing
He said, "Come follow me" and they came
A face like all the rest, but something was different
The Son of God would lead the way

And soon they all would say

There He goes, a hero, a savior to the world
Here He stands with scars in His hands
With love He gave His life so we could be free
The savior of the world

He spoke with clarity, walked across the sea
A single word would calm the storm
His touch could heal the sick, but He was called a hypocrite
Laid behind the stone, his death was shortly mourned

He left the curtain torn

There He goes, a hero, a savior to the world
Here He stands with scars in His hands
With love He gave His life so we could be free
The savior of the world

He chose to take the cross, shed tears for the lost
The broken and the needy, forgiving those who were and will be
The angel made it clear, he told them, "Have no fear
He's not here, He's not here"

There He goes, a hero, a savior to the world
Here He stands with scars in His hands
With love He gave His life so we could be free
The savior of the world
(The savior of the world)

The savior of the world
(The savior of the world)
The savior of the world"


As I listened to this song tears came to my eyes. What an amazing sacrifice Jesus Christ made on that cross.With love He gave His life so we could be free. He is the only Savior to the World, and yet people continue to mock His name. Whether by their word's or by their actions. Even us, Christians, mock Him by disobeying Him and not living the life that we should. As I have been reflecting on the life that I have been living, I realize that my life is not what it should be. It is us that lead the way to godly and holy living. Are we going to throw away this great opportunity to point our generation to Christ? Let us both in word and deed show the love of Christ. First, of all by sharing the gospel with others and second of all by showing others the One we follow is the loving Savior of the World, by showing Christ's love, to whomever we come across. Do we deny Jesus by our lifestyle or do we show Him through our lifestyle? Friend's let us together change our lifestyle, to what is pleasing to the Lord, not what seems to be pleasant to us. Let us love God with our whole heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, with all of our strength. Let us stand up to this world and not compromise. Let us read the Bible and do what is says. Let us obey the commandments that have been given to us. Let us stand firm. I, for one, am sick of the apathetic rut I am falling into. It's time to show the World who this Savior of the World we follow is. It is time to follow in Christ's steps. It is time to stop being hypocrites and it is time to be disciples.  I would like to leave you with a few verses to think about.

1 Corinthians 15:55; 16:13-14 "'O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O  DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?; The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord..... Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

I was listening to this song as I was writing this and decided to include it. I pray that the Lord would raise of men after His own heart.

I wanna know you like that- Anthem Lights

I wanna know x7

Just today

I heard a story of a Pastor far away

Who watched his church walls fall with the rain

With tears in his eyes

Here is what he had say

"Let's reach the ones that will rebuild this place"

 I wanna know You like that

To live to love

With everything I am

To give it all

 I wanna know You like that

To become

A man after Your heart

And not look back

I wanna know You like that

 I wanna know x3

 Like David did

He lived a life this world cannot forget

He'd fall so hard then get back up again

 Then face the giant

Knowing he would win

Because You were with him

 I wanna know You like that

To live to love

With everything I am

To give it all

 I wanna know You like that

To become

A man after Your heart

And not look back

I wanna know You like that

 With every breath I breathe

I wanna help others see

And I will never stop

'Til everybody's singing

I wanna know You like that

God's Love Part 2 -Love Your Neighbor as Your Self

We talked in part 1 about God being the ultimate example of love toward us. He showed us how to love. He didn’t just say He loved us, but He gave us an example of His love in sending His son Jesus Christ. Now let’s look at how we can love our neighbor as our self.

The first question we might as is "Who is our Neighbor?" That is exactly what the lawyer asked in Luke 10:29. Jesus went on to tell Him the story of the Good Samaritan. Let’s take a look at the story of the Good Samaritan.

“But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?” And he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’" Luke 20:29-37

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and the robbers ambushed him, beat him and stripped him of his cloths and left him half dead. By chance a priest went down the road and saw the man left for dead and instead of helping him, he went to the other side of the road as far away from him as he could and walked right on past. The same thing happened when a Levite came by. But the third one that came by was a Samaritan. The Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get along real well in fact they hated each other. The Samaritans were people that were half-breeds. They were not fully Jews. The Jews would actually go around Samaria, because they hated the Samaritans so much. This Samaritan despised by the Jews stopped in the heart of Judea to help this man left for dead. He could have said,”He wouldn’t have helped me so why should I help him?” He could have made excuses. But he didn’t. Notice it says he was on a journey. That explains why he is in the heart of Judea. When the Samaritan saw him it says he felt compassion on him. He came to him and took care of his wounds and bandaged him up. He could have just left him there, but he put him on his donkey and took him into Jericho. He could have left him at the gate, but He took him to an inn. Imagine the looks, stares, whispers and thoughts as a Samaritan entered Jericho with a bandaged up Jew riding on his donkey. He took him to an inn and he paid for the man’s care and stay and not only that he told the innkeeper that if there was more money needed for this man, he would pay it when he returned. What amazing love and compassion. Jesus is making the point that our neighbor is not only our friends, but those who may not like us or that we may not like. God gives us the ability to love others because on our own, without the Lord’s example of love for us, we would not be able to love others like He loves us.

Matthew 5:43-44 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' But I say to you,’ love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,’”

I have thought of an example from my own life where there was no way to love without God’s help. This last year, I was at Montana State University. In my Public speaking class I was able to share the gospel with them. There was this one kid who didn’t like the message so in his written review he gave me a bad score. I thought well I probably won’t see him again so it’s not a big deal. All of this happened first semester. I was going to my Chemistry class the next semester and I sat down, well guess who sits next to me. The kid who gave me a bad review. We really hit it off on a good foot. He started by bugging me and punching me in the leg. Finally I could stand it no more so I thought to myself well what should I do? I prayed about it and suddenly a thought came to me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a gospel tract and handed it to him and told him to read it. He left me alone for the rest of the period. He took the tract and placed it in his backpack. I was astonished. Over the course of the year he would continue to do things to try to get my goad or to make me angry at him, but the Lord was watching out for me and he helped me love this young man. I could have made him my enemy, but instead the Lord gave me a love for him that I can’t even explain. I should have been angry, but the Lord gave me patience and compassion for this kid. It is nothing I could have done on my own. Over the course of the year I gave him 20 or more tracts and he didn’t reject any until I gave him the one on evolution. Over and over again he would take them back to his friends and they would all read them and make fun of them, but the Lord still used this lost, young man for His glory. This young man has not believed in Jesus Christ, but I hope and pray that he might come to know Him who loves us very soon. The Lord is the one who helps us love. We have been given an example by Him. What amazing love He had for us. Now we are, with His help, to love others, to love our neighbors, to love our enemies.

The ultimate act of love would be to lay down your life for your enemy. You might say that’s crazy, but think about it. We were enemies of Christ (Rom 5:10), but Christ still died for us.

Here is something else to think on. If we love others we will share the gospel with them. If someone is in a burning building you are going to tell them that the building is burning and that they need to get out. You love them enough to warn them of the danger. In the same way you need to tell others of the danger that is coming. That we are sinners and that we deserve to go to hell. You are going to show them to the exit sign, the way out, Jesus Christ. You are going to tell them about His death on the cross for their sins and His resurrection. If you go and tell them here is the exit to the building you should come with me, but you fail to tell them that the building is burning. Many will say. Why should I leave? I am fine right here. I am comfortable. They will not know of the danger to come until it is too late. So if we love others, neighbors, enemies, friends, we will tell them about the danger to come and we will show them the way out. Whether they take the way out or not is up to them, all we can do is tell them about the danger and Jesus Christ and his free gift to mankind. I don’t know about you but, if I was an unbeliever, I would want someone to tell me the gospel. We are to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. With the knowledge of the gospel that you have, would you want to be left alone as an unbeliever or would you want to know the way out.

These are some things to think about. Do we love our neighbors as our self? Are we telling others about the danger to come and about Jesus Christ and the way out? I encourage you friends to try to tell someone about Jesus just once a week or to get some gospel tracts and to give one to someone once a week and after a month of doing that, give it to someone twice a week, then three times a week, then once a day and so on. People want to hear about Jesus Christ. There are many people just waiting for someone to tell them. That doesn’t mean everyone is ready, but some of them are.  If you love your neighbors you will tell them about the danger to come and about Jesus Christ and His salvation to all mankind.

God's Love Part 1

I have been thinking on God’s love for us and have decided to write down some thoughts on it. I hope you enjoy.

What amazing Love God had for us. Let’s take a look at this amazing love.

Romans 5:6-8-For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God showed his love to us, helpless, ungodly sinners, at exactly the right time.  That love was shown through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God’s love was manifested, demonstrated, shown; that God sent His one and only Son into the World that we would live through Him. Then is verse ten we have an example of this love.  In this, in what? In God sending His son into the World so that we might live through Him. John goes on to tell us of this love. We did not love God. We wanted nothing to do with Him, but that He loved us and sent His one and only Son to be the satisfaction of God’s wrath against us for our sins. This truly is love.

1 John 3:16, 18-We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren… Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

We have knowledge of what true love is by the fact that Jesus laid down His life for us. We know how to love. In verse 18 it tells us something very important. We are not to love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. What if God had said I love the whole world and that’s it? What if He had not sent His Son to die on the cross? He didn’t do that. He gave us an example of love, by sending His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins; by His Son laying down His life for us. He didn’t just tell us He loved us, but He showed it with a deed that has changed the whole world. That He would willingly give up His Son to die on the cross for us so that we might not continue on the pathway to hell but that we might have a pathway to heaven to take. A path of eternal life. Now that is what I call love.

1 John 4:19-We love, because He first loved us.

1 Peter 2:21-24-For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,  WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

The reason we love is because He first loved us. That is the only reason we can truly love our neighbor as our self is because of the great example that the Father and the Son are to us. Christ suffered for us leaving an example for us to follow in His steps. Then in verse 22-23 we see an example of His love toward others. He committed no sin, He did not deceive, when He was insulted, He did not insult in return. When they make Him suffer, He did not tell them He was coming back to get them and destroy them, but He gave all of these things to the Father. He not only left us an example of love in all of these things but also in the fact that He bore our sins in His body on the cross. Our sins were nailed to the cross with Him. The reason He did this was so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness. We have been given a new start because of His wounds. All of these sins were piling against us, ripping us apart but when He went to the cross and took our sins there and died for us, that is when we were healed. For by His wounds we were healed. Is 53.

God has shown us the greatest example of love. That is the reason we can love our neighbors. He helps us to be able to do that. What amazing and great love our God had for us that He would send His one and only Son to die on the cross for us. That He didn’t just say I love you, but that He had actions to back up His love, to show His love to us. That is wasn’t some empty words but that these words are true and that we can see that these words are true through what He has done for us. Praise the Lord for the great love He has shown us. Looking at these things has made me love and appreciate God even more and I hope and pray that it will do the same for you.

God's Love Part 2- Loving your neighbors as yourself.  Coming soon!

Evangelism story: What is the Gospel?

I was talking to some Christian youth leaders from a local church here in town and I asking them to tell me what the gospel was. They told me Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. That was the only thing they knew about the gospel. Then I asked them how does someone get to heaven? One replied repent and that was it. I continued to ask questions until the other one said Believe in Jesus. Then they asked me why I was asking them these questions. I told them that 90 % of people that claim to be Christians don't know the gospel. One of them though I was rude for asking and told me maybe I was asking the wrong question. That I shouldn't be asking what is the gospel. The other one didn't have much to say. I left them but I thought about what this person said about asking Christians about the gospel. As I thought about it verses came to my mind. I wondered what did this person think when she read the New Testament and the word gospel came up? I wondered if she even read her Bible, because if she had she would have known what I was asking when I asked about the gospel. The word "gospel" is used in the Bible 96 times. In Romans 1 we find the gospel mentioned 4 times. I look at this instance and I think about this and I wonder what these people are being taught. As I have met many young people in Helena who are trying to serve the Lord who have gone to church for most of their life and yet many of them know nothing about the Bible and what it says. It is sad. When I talked to these two youth leaders they were running a climbing wall for a church to give it publicity. It was a sad waste of time because they neither shared the gospel with the people that came nor gave them gospel tracts. It saddened me, but I am thankful that I can go out and share the gospel, though many others tell me that I am hindering people from coming to Christ by handing out gospel tracts and talking to people about my Savior. It is the Spirit that works in people’s hearts and I am told to go and preach the gospel so that is what I do. I cannot be hindering people if I am doing what my Lord commands. How can anyone keep this amazing gift from God to themselves? What an amazing Savior we have.

If you want to know more about the gospel go to:
http://cbf.thelivingword.us/Messages/StudyDays/Salvation/Salvation.html

Gospel speech in Business 201

The Lord laid upon my heart to give a gospel speech in my business class on the last day of classes. I was thinking on what to do my speech on. It is my policy to share the gospel any chance I get. So it was an easy decision. I started to prepare and thought of how I could do it in five minutes. I prepared my outline for my teacher and to keep me from going off on tangents. Five minutes is a very short time. When some of my friends asked me what I was doing for my speech I told them and they gladly prayed for me. The Lord was definitely working as some of the guys in the other sections also shared the gospel in their classes. As the time grew closer to the speech I found myself very busy, but the Lord helped me to not feel tired. I was so excited at this amazing opportunity. I was also very nervous because my classmates get to ask questions afterwards and I was sure that one of the Muslim guys would ask a question. I was thinking of all the hard questions that could be asked of me and praying that I would have the words to answer those questions. I got there at 8 am and all the time I was praying for the Lord to work in the heart of my teacher as to when I was to go in the lineup. I would have loved to go last but I was called on to go first. I passed out the almost illegal literature (gospels of John) in class. There was a big ruckus and at first I didn’t hear it and then I realized what they were saying. Some of the things they said was “I don’t want any of this garbage; I don’t need this. This is dumb.” (All of this was said in much more colorful terms). I knew of at least four Christians in my class. So I started my speech I had my outline but after the first point I discarded it and just went with what I had done a thousand times over when talking to people on the street. The Lord helped me with it. I asked where people were going when they died and immediately I got most people’s attention. I went on to explain explained that we are all sinners and going to hell. Then I went on to what Christ did for us in dying on the cross and rising again. 3.5 minutes had gone by So I told them the only way to heaven was believing in Jesus Christ and in believing , turning away from their sins. Then I closed with asking them if they were to die tonight would they go to heaven? I told them that that needed to make a choice and not to wait. I think it really made some of them think. Immediately afterwards just as I predicted the Muslim fellow raised his hand and asked me if someone came and raped my sister would he go to heaven or hell. I simply answered him if he believed in Jesus Christ after he had done that he would go to heaven. He didn’t like that very much and told me he had read the Bible before and in Song of Solomon 16 (at this point I was like what Bible is he reading) Jesus said to a man that if he kept the commandments he would go to heaven. I knew the story and did not bother to correct him on the book and chapter but went on to explain to him what Jesus really said. That if the man had kept the commandments since he was born then he would go to heaven but because no one had there had to be another way and that way was Jesus Christ. Immediately afterwards my teacher rushed me off from the front of the class not wanted anyone else to ask questions. I smiled in my mind and prayed for the rest of class. Many of the unbelieving friends I had made in that class did not want to have anything to do with me after that, but that goes with sharing the gospel, so it is not a surprise. I was wondering how everything went, but I had no way of finding out. I had a bunch of other things to do so I went to check my e-mail to see if one of my professors had e-mailed me back and I found a message about the speech. A girl in my class wrote an encouraging letter to me about my speech. She is a believer. She told me what she saw while she was in the audience. She thought it was really good and that many of the kids were listening which was a great encouragement. The whole goal of this speech was to encourage the believers in the class and also to plant seeds. Praise the Lord that about 25 kids heard the gospel. Please continue to pray for them. The Lord is good. I am so thankful and excited at the opportunities I had this year and I can’t wait for more of them on campus next year. Praise the Lord for all He has done this year. Thank you all for your prayers.

Reflection of Christ's Suffering, Death and Resurrection

I was reflecting on why we celebrate Easter this evening. What an amazing story it is. I am going to start at the Lord’s Supper. They went into the upper room to eat the Passover together. They eat and then the Lord’s Supper is instituted. Judas had left before this had happened. The Lord went out with the eleven disciples and walked to the Garden of Gethsemane. We will stop here and think about what Christ went through here. As He went to pray, he told the disciples to keep watch (Which they didn’t do well at and fell asleep. Three times Christ came and woke them up throughout the time Jesus spent in prayer.) Jesus went and prayed that the Fathers will be done and that if there was any way for God’s wrath to be satisfied, then let that happen. His sweat was like drops of blood. He was there pleading with His Father, yet He always wanted the Father’s will to be done. In Luke, it tells us that an angel came to Him and strengthened Him. Christ knew what He was going to go through and He was ready. It was time. He got up and asked them for the third time “why are you sleeping?” Immediately, Judas came with a Roman Cohort (around 600 soldiers) and officers. They were ready for a fight and ready to take Jesus away. Judas came to Him having told the Romans that the one he kisses is the one they are to take captive. Peter being the “brave one” goes and cuts off the high priests slaves’ ear. Jesus stops Peter and then heals the slaves’ ear. He showed love even for those that hated Him and that were taking Him to His death. He went to several different leaders both Jewish and Roman. I will not account these is detail, but I will look at what our Lord had to suffer during these trials. First of all it was an illegal trial that He was taken to, held at night. When He answered the High priest with the truth, an officer strike’s Him. Many times during that night Jesus was beaten and struck. Early in the morning He was taken to Pilate. Pilate could find no guilt in Him but, it was his custom to let go a prisoner during the Passover celebration. So he gave the Jews a choice between a notorious robber named Barabbas and Jesus Christ. The Jews chose Barabbas. Think about how Jesus felt. He came to the Jews as the Messiah they had been waiting for and they were shouting Crucify Him, Crucify Him. There was a greater and better plan then anyone could have ever imagined. All the people wanted was Jesus to be crucified. Pilate then took Jesus and gave him over to the soldiers to be scourged. When Jesus was scourged it was done with a whip that had barbed hooks, glass and sharp metal in it and it wouldn’t just bruise up the skin, but it would tear into the skin. There would be nothing but a mess of muscle exposed on His back. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns. These thorns were not small thorns like on a rose bush. These were big thorns. They put it on His head and it wasn’t just a gentle placement, but they made sure it was on his head. Blood came running down around His face. They mocked Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They spat on Him. They took a reed and beat Him on the head. The blows driving the thorns deeper into His head. Then they took him to be crucified. When Jesus walked up that hill he was only carrying the cross beam and as He carried it on His shoulders and back it was heavy. The wood splinters went deep into the exposed wounds of His back, from the scourging that took place. The clots that were once there were ripped away. It became so heavy that Jesus could no longer carry it. The Romans pressed a man named Simon into service to carry the cross for Jesus. They then crucified him. The drove the nails into His hands and His feet and even more blood came out of His body. With every stroke of the hammer there was pain and the nails were driven deep into the wood. They hoisted the cross upright and there He hung while the people jeered at Him and spat upon Him. The soldiers gambled for His garments. Even the men that were crucified with Him made fun of Him at first. For three hours darkness fell upon the land. Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice My God, My God why have you forsaken me. The Father had laid the sins of the whole world and had left Him alone. He left Him to bear the tremendous burden of the sins of the whole world by Himself. The Father’s wrath that was meant for us was on Christ, the perfect spotless Lamb of God. Jesus Christ was the only one that could satisfy the Fathers wrath toward mankind. Why did the Father do this? Because He loved us. Jesus then cried out with a loud voice “It is finished” and gave up His spirit. Jesus Christ conquered sin and satisfied God’s wrath. It wasn’t the Romans that killed Him. Yes, they crucified Him, but He willingly gave up His spirit. He willingly went through this pain and suffering with one goal in mind. That goal was to pay the penalty for our sins. All of this was for us, so that the wrath of God would not come upon us, sinners. Jesus Christ did this out of love for us, even when he was reviled and beaten. What love is this that the Son of God would lay down His life for me and everyone in the whole world? The Jews needed to get Jesus’ body off the cross so Pilate told the guards to go break the legs of the crucified ones. When the guards came to Jesus, He was already dead, but to make sure they stabbed him in the side and blood and water came out. Joseph of Arimathea had His tomb ready for the body of Jesus and they took Him and put Him in the grave. Guards were put around the tomb to guard the body in case someone came and stole it. At this point most stories end. That is most stories end in death. But this story is different. The Jews don’t count days by twenty-four hours, but by the first day being the night Jesus was buried and then the next day being the second day and then the day after that being the third day. On that third day, Jesus rose from the grave. The day before was Sabbath so no one came to put spices of Jesus body. But on the third day a group of women came and they were surprised to find that the tomb was open, the stone was rolled away and it was empty. An Angel spoke to them and told them He has risen. Come and see for yourself and go tell the others. JESUS HAS RISEN. What an amazing truth. That is what Easter is all about, celebrating Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. What an awesome God we have that sent His Son, Jesus Christ to this earth to die on the cross for our sins to pay the penalty for our sins and to conquer sin once for all time, but it didn’t just stop there. He rose again to show He had conquered death for all time. He rose again to that we could have eternal life. So that when God looks at us He sees us as Holy and righteous. He sees us as justified and He sees the perfect spotless Lamb of God, who took our place so that we do not have to pay the penalty for our sins but if we believe in Jesus Christ, that He did all of this for us, we have eternal life. What a story of true love. This is the best love story ever. So during Easter let us remember what our Savior has done for us and went through for us, because it is the greatest gift given to all of mankind. Jesus Christ Has RISEN, Praise His Holy name!!!!!

Do We Owe God Anything?

There was a question that was asked of me several weeks ago, a question that I had not thought about before. It has made me very curious to see what I could find. That question is “Do we owe God anything?” Many people try to get others to go out on the mission field by saying, “You owe God your life so you should go to the mission field for Him.” This is an interesting statement. Do we owe God anything?

First let’s take a look at a few passages. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” What is grace? Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. It is by grace that we have been saved through faith. We do not have salvation by doing good works but it is the gift of God. If you give someone a gift are they going to reach into their wallet or purse and pay for the gift. If they did, we would be offended . God gave us a free gift. It was the most expensive gift and there is no need for us to pay Him anything. We do not owe God anything. This is not to say we are not to do good works. In the next verse it says “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” We are to do good works but not for the reason that we owe God for what He has done.

The reason we should be doing good works, that we are to be sharing the gospel, and that we should be going to the mission field is because of our Love for our Savior and because we want to share our Savior with all people. It is not because we owe God anything. Let us look at Paul. In His letters to the Romans, Philippians, and Titus he calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. How is a bondservant different from other servants? There is a big difference. A bondservant is one who worked for his master for a long time and then one day the master told him, he was free. Instead of going away and doing his own thing the bondservant decided to serve his master for life. They would get an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door. Then He would be the master’s servant forever. (Deut 15:12-18) Paul has given His life to Christ and out of his love for his Master has decided to stay with Him and serve Him for the rest of his life. Paul does not do this because he owes Him anything but because He loves His Savior and Master. This should be the attitude of every Christian. We should be willing to do what God wants us to do because we love Him. We should be willing to obey what He commands of us because we love Him, not because we owe Him or because we feel that we have to. I Corinthians 9:16 says “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” We see here that Paul feels obligated to share the gospel. The reason for this is because Christ commanded believers to” Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” (Mark 16:15) Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And in v21a "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.” And in v23-24 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; … He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.” If we love Christ we will follow His commandments and His words. Paul preached the gospel out of love for his Savior, Jesus Christ, and His Father in Heaven. Because of this love, he obeyed Christ’s commandments, which were directly from the Father.

We don’t owe God anything, but if we love Him, we should be willing to give our life to Him. In showing our love for Him, we should be willing to die for Him. Everything we do should be out of love for Him and not because we owe Him. If we love the Lord then we will obey His commandments. That day that Christ, our Savior, died on the cruel cross of Calvary. That day that He was bruised, beaten and scourged. That day that His innocent blood was shed on the cross for you and for me. That day was the day he showed His love for mankind. All that Christ did was as a gift for the whole world, so that those who believed on Him would be saved. Does that not make you want to love your Savior even more? Does that love for your Savior not make you want to tell someone about Him? Do you not want to show your love for Him by obeying what He commands? Every time I think of that day that my Savior died, it brings tears of joy to my eyes for that great gift of salvation He gave to me and I don’t owe Him anything but I love Him for that very reason. I love Him, because He first loved me and that love for Him should be the drive behind everything I do. It should be what separates me from the world that does not love Him and what shows the world that I am a follower of Christ. What is the reason you serve the Lord ? Is it out of love for your Savior or is it because you feel that you owe Him and you need to try to repay Him back? I will leave you with the verse that has been pressing upon my heart. “If you love Me you, will keep My commandments.” John 14:15 (see comment below)

January/February Evangelism 2011

Hello everyone,
I guess I should update you all on what evangelism has been going on in my neck of the woods. I am currently in Bozeman, MT at Montana State University taking Civil Engineering. The Lord has blessed me with so many opportunities to share the gospel with my unbelieving class mates. This semester there have been several kids in my classes, that were in my Speech class last semester when I shared the gospel with them. Praise the Lord for the opportunities that I have with them. Every other day I get to sit by Jake, who is hostile toward the gospel, in my Chemistry class. Let me start at the beginning. When Chemistry first started he sat by me and I started giving him gospel tracts every class period. Each of them different. He would be bugging me swearing at me taking God’s name in vain at the start of the class to try to rile me up and then I would give him a gospel tract and he would leave me alone for the remainder of the time. Every time he told me that the tract was depressing and every time I would try to talk to him but he never wanted to talk to me. Please pray as the semester goes along I will be able to talk to Him about Jesus Christ dying on the cross. There are also two other guys that sit with us. Please pray for their Salvation as well. Also pray for Blane, Kyle, Riley, Christian, Ammon, Will and another one in particular who is in almost all of my classes Chris. So many opportunities, I am loving it. Please pray for boldness and love on my part.
This past Saturday I was going to meet someone to go out and do evangelism but I couldn’t get ahold of them so I went with my Lord. The weather was 17 degrees with a windchill of -10 degrees. Most people would think that no one would be out on a day like that. I know it sounds crazy but I seem to have the best conversations with people when it is either storming or really cold. That is exactly what happened. It was so cold that I could barely move my mouth but the Lord helped me to be able to speak and share the gospel with several people. The rest were too busy and cold to stop and talk but most of them took a tract. Please pray for Josh who goes to a big church here in Bozeman and believes that Heaven in here on the earth. He did not want to talk to me after I quoted that Jesus went to prepare a place for us. He told me my interpretation of that passage was wrong and that I needed to go study it out further. Then He left with a gospel tract. Coming the other way that instant was a couple who when I gave them a gospel tract and told them what it was turned around and said I love the gospel and I try to share it and live it in my life. He and his wife were so excited that I was out sharing the gospel with people. I stopped another kid that said that the way to heaven was by being a good Christian, never once did he mention Jesus Christ. He thought you got to heaven through good works. When I took him through the ten commandments he said he was still a good person and going to heaven. Finally, told him that it was only through Jesus Christ that we could get to heaven and he said he had to go right away. He took a tract also please pray for him. Please pray for the rest of the people I was able to talk to and give gospel tracts. Praise the Lord for the way He is working here in Bozeman. Please pray for those trying to discourage my ministry in street evangelism. I know that this is what the Lord has put on my heart and it is what I enjoy more than anything else. Thank you for your prayers.
T.J. Kerttula

Glorifying God in Everything We Watch, Listen to and Do

Some Christians a long time ago saw worldly things coming out as new fads and decided that they were not for the glory of God. One such thing was going to shows (movies). Now days many Christians say you are “old fashion” if you don't watch or be a part these things. It has been on my heart lately how many bad things there are in many movies and shows. These bad things are not glorifying to God. Most Christians just set this aside and try to allegorize the movie so that they come up with a principle found in the Bible. They try to make an excuse to watch something that is not glorifying to God. I can honestly say that I have no problem with movies, as long as they are glorifying to God. Sometimes we make excuses so that we can satisfy our selfish desires instead of glorifying God. Other times we want to look just like the world so that we can try to get more of them to believe Christ. Something seems wrong with that way of thinking. Brothers and Sister of Christ, we are called to be different from the world. We are called to not be the same as the world, but going back to the topic at hand. I am not saying that all movies or shows are bad and that we should never watch them. The question we should ask our self is, “Is this glorifying to God? Is what I watch, what I listen to, what I do glorifying to God? If Jesus were sitting with us watching, would He be pleased? Or would He be disappointed that we are wasting our lives in such a way that has no spiritual benefit to us? Wasting our life on things that draw us away from Him? Wasting our time on things that could cause us to stumble into sin?” These are questions we should look at in light of scripture. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Colossians 3:1-17 (look it up and read it in your Bible). I find that if I listen to stuff that is not glorifying to God I seem to have a bad attitude. On the other hand if I listen to things that are glorifying to God then I am encouraged and have a good attitude. If we are setting our minds on things above then we should be thinking about things that are glorifying to God. Everything we do is to be done for the glory of Christ. If we fill our minds with garbage we will have bad attitudes and we won’t be thinking about things above. If we fill ourselves with things of Christ then we will have good attitudes. We will be setting our minds on things above and we will reflect Christ through our lives even more. We will be a brighter light shining for Christ.

I have been thinking of these things because I see a lack of godliness and righteousness in “Christians” lives. It made me ask myself what is the reason for this? What can I do to make people think about godliness and righteousness? What can I do to make them think about glorifying God in everything they do, watch and hear? There is a song that really makes you think about the effects of what we put in our minds. It’s called “Garbage in” by Tal and Acacia. “Garbage in, Garbage out what goes in is found out, all can see what goes in me, I pay the price.” Brothers and sisters in Christ this may only be a sliver of what we must look at to live a godly and righteous life but it is a good place to start. I challenge you to glorify God in everything that you do.

I will leave you with a quote to ponder from My Heart, My Life, My All by William MacDonald:“As the deeper significance of what happened there (At Calvary) begins to dawn on him or her, that person will never be the same. He says, in effect: ‘I have seen a vision, And for self I cannot live. Life is worthless, Unless all I give.’ People (True believers in Jesus Christ) like that will never again be satisfied with a bland Christian life. They determine that they will never again lower themselves to the chill of their environment. They realize that the Christianity they see every day is not the Christianity of the New Testament. A new drive controls them. They have a passion that absorbs their waking hours. They may become what some call a fanatic, but that does not deter them in the least. If they have lost their mind, they have found the mind of Christ. If they are beside themselves, it is for God. If they seem odd and out of step, it is because they march to the beat of a different Drummer. They don't want anything to come between their soul and full commitment to the Savior."