I wanted to send out a short update and ask you to keep our evangelistic efforts here in prayer.  The Lord is blessing our efforts, and we’re starting to see the fruits of our labors.  We’ve been in Albuquerque for about a month and a half now.  Braden and I have been evangelizing every week in the apartment complexes around where we live, as well as preaching along the local bus routes that are quite busy.  Albuquerque is a city where public transportation is used pretty heavily, so the bus stops are a great place to continually preach to new people.


OCCUPY WALL STREET  

I mentioned in my last email about evangelizing at the Occupy Wall Street event that was being held at the University of New Mexico.  Well, the protest was eventually shut down by local police, ending the large gathering of people there.  We were able to continue to minister to the young Arab man that I met there.  He continued to come over to our apartment for a couple weeks, and we were able to share the gospel with him for hours on end and exhort him to put his trust in Christ.  He’s yet to become a born again believer in Jesus Christ, but he does stay in contact with me every now and then.  We’re praying that the word of God we shared with him will take root in his heart and that God will send other believers into his life as well.

BUS STOP PREACHING – NEW BELIEVER

Preaching at the bus stops has been a huge blessing.  It’s a great place because you constantly have people to share with.  You get to see new faces every day, and you get to see people that you’ve preached to before, giving you an opportunity to build upon what you’ve already shared.  Recently we’ve seen a man come to Christ through our ministry at the bus stops.  A few weeks ago, Braden and I were out preaching at the different stops.  We had just finished and were just starting to walk back to our car.  A man called out to us from behind and was wanting to talk to us.  Apparently, he had heard us talking to others at the stop.  He asked us if we were Christians, to which we said yes.  He then began to tell us about his life and how messed up it was.  He’s married and is a student at the local community college.  He told us that he was an alcoholic and that his marriage was a mess.  Having some church background, he knew the gospel and knew that what he needed was God.  We explained the gospel to him, explained how Christ could and would deliver him from the power of sin, and then prayed for him.  We invited him to come to our weekly bible study, which he said he would do.

Well, Thursday rolls around and he shows up at the bible study, with his bible in hand, ready to study the word of God.  In fact, he’s come every week, and is coming to our fellowship meetings on Sunday as well.  At one of the bible studies, we were talking about being born again, and I asked him if he believed that had happened to him.  He said yes, and I asked him when it happened.  He said that the day after we met him at the bus stop and prayed for him, he was alone at his house and was thinking about his life and the Lord.  He said he just broke down weeping and asked the Lord to save him.  Since then, he’s had a desire to follow Christ and said he hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol.  In fact, you can see the Lord working in him as he’s removing things out of his life that are not pleasing to the Lord.  He definitely seems to be bearing good fruit, and we’ll be baptizing him soon!  His name is Ronneal, if you would like to keep him in prayer. 

I think sometimes when we’ve been a believer for a long time and we’ve read the word of God numerous times and we’ve spent a lot of time with other believers in Christ, we can forget just how little people know of biblical truth.  I was out at the bus stops evangelizing another day.  I walked up to a young man, who was probably between 18-24 years old.  He had headphones on and was just waiting on the bus.  I gave him a gospel tract and started talking with him.  I was explaining to him God’s righteousness and what sin is.  We were talking about the specific sins of lying and lust, which he admitted he had done numerous times, and he said that he had no idea that those were sins.  I think he knew lying was wrong, but I don’t think he had ever equated it with sinning against God.  He really looked completely shocked and concerned.  He listened really intently and asked some good questions.  He asked me, “Are you a priest or something?”  I smiled and said, “No, I’m a follower of Jesus Christ.”  I invited him to our bible study before he got on the bus.  The interesting thing was that he said that he had just recently gone out and purchased a bible so he could read it.  I was overjoyed to hear that and thankful the Lord allowed me to be part of what he seems to be doing in this man’s life. 

I share this though to point out the reality that many people, though they know that some things are wrong, they don’t understand that their sins are against God.  I obviously believe the scriptures when they state that God’s attributes are clearly seen (meaning men cannot deny God’s existence) (Romans 1:19, 20), that God has put eternity in our hearts (Ecc. 3:11), and that God has given every man a conscience (Romans 2:15) that to some degree or another testifies to what is right and wrong.  Yet simply because people have a conscience doesn’t mean they always make the connection between their sin and God.  It’s up to us to help men see their true condition before God so that the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ will make sense to them.  As it says in Romans:


How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"  (Rom 10:14-15)

People mistakenly think that everyone in America has heard the gospel.  This is completely false.  I would say that almost everyone in America has heard about Jesus and that he died on the cross and maybe even that he died for our sins.  But that is still a far cry from understanding what the gospel really is (what it says about God and what it says about man) and what it means to them personally.  Regarding much of this truth, a great majority of people in this country are still in the dark.  Christ has commissioned all of us, no matter where we are, to make this truth known to men (Matt. 28:19, 20).  I pray that wherever you live, or whatever sphere of influence you have, you allow the Lord to use you to help men see the truth of the gospel.  


EVANGELIZING  AT APARTMENTS

Along with preaching at the bus stops and on the campus, we’ve gone door to door in some of the apartment complexes around where I live.  For the most part, people have been receptive, and we’ve been able to share with quite a few people.  If someone’s not home, we usually leave a gospel tract and an invitation to a bible study.   About a week and a half ago, a lady called me because of one of the tracts we left on her door.  She’s been coming to the bible study we have on Sunday evenings and is also meeting with us during the week to study the word of God. 

So what can I say, other than the Lord has been good!  He’s bearing fruit from our labor, and we’re praying that it will increase. 

GOSPEL TRACTS

Currently, I’m using gospel tracts that I’ve ordered from an online company.  They’re good, but I always find them lacking, to some degree, in the truth that I want people to hear.  I’m writing a couple myself and hope to have them printed soon.  We wrote our own tracts when we were in Mexico, and it was good to have literature to pass out that clearly presented the gospel to people.  We’re also putting together a website specific to our ministry here in Albuquerque.  If you’d like to help us with ministry resources for tracts, pamphlets, etc., email me and I’ll let you know how you can help. 

NEW SUPPORT ADDRESS

In my last update, I had made a change to the address where we receive support.  I had to change it again since I just opened a P.O. box here in Albuquerque.  For those of you who mail support, please notice the new address on the website.  Here’s the link that will take you to the address on our website. 

http://www.preachingjesuschrist.com/donate.html

Thank you to all of you who keep us in prayer and support us through giving.  If you would, please keep Ronneal in prayer, and please pray for our outreaches.  Pray that God would testify to the preaching with His power and that we would see more people converted to Jesus Christ. 

May the Lord Bless you….

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa Scott
Preachingjesuschrist.com
Preachingjesus.wordpress.com




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