Newport Beach

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

When I came to you brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom

as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

I came to you in weakness and fear,

and with much trembling.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,

but with a demonstration of the spirit's power,

so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom,

but on God's power.

It is not by how much we know that we will be able to make a difference witnessing, it is by God's power.

We can come to people trembling and nervous.

He is the one working on people's hearts. We are just his tools.

God showed me this verse today.

It was extremely relevent to what our goal this week is.

I like it when God does that :)

Newport Beach wasn't quite as busy as Huntington.

I still liked it though. Just being on a beach is nice for a change.

We approached a lot of people today with the Harvest invites,

and most of them were friendly and seemed interested.

Like I said earlier, it's not easy to approach a complete stranger,

but if it could play a part in someone getting saved,

I'll do it :)

Protestors came. Not a surprise.

Someone will always have a problem with someone else when it comes to religion.

It's unavoidable.

Our group went over to talk with them, and I went to listen in.

They believed that we are following the wrong Jesus.

They told us we were going to Hell.

We told them we believe in the Jesus that is in the Bible.

The same one they proclaimed to believe in.

All they would respond with was,"No you don't."

It was extremely frustrating.

They read verses out of context, and when we tried to explain to them what they actually meant,

they wouldn't listen and would direct their attention to another person.

Some people thought it was funny. They treated it as a game.

They would come back laughing saying how stupid the protestors were.

In all honesty, I did not find it funny whatsoever.

My eyes even watered up as I listened to their twisted views.

They are not going to heaven.

And that tears me apart.

To see someone and know that unless they completely change, they are going to Hell,

 is a terrible feeling.

To see how stubborn they are;

only interested in telling their view,

but not willing to listen to our rebuttals,

makes me think of how hard it will be to get them to change.

All I can do is pray.

James 5:16

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

After the bands played and Greg Laurie talked, he did an alter call.

We headed down to the field with our starter bibles, praying the whole time.

Over 2 thousand people came onto the field and made commitments to follow Christ.

It was overwhelming and I was on the verge of tears the whole time.

To see the joy and excitement in these people's faces,

to hear how much it means to them for you to pray with them,

it was an experience I'll never forget.

And this is only the first night.

[These are the beautiful children I was able to pray with]

They wanted a picture with me :)