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Courageous

Western “that team up north” vs THE OSU Outreach Report

September 30, 2015 by Michael Coughlin

First off all, hat tip to Jason Marianna for reminding me that “THE” is all caps when referring to THE OSU.

Saturday, September 26, 2015: Joshua Richards and I preached the gospel from about noon to 3pm at the usual spot, Lane and Olentangy River Rd, prior to the Buckeyes’ victory over the Broncos of Western you know.

I only brought a couple hundred tracts with me, and we were able to distribute them all! Pray, dear Christian, that God would bring someone to repentance and faith as the result!

Reading the Bible in public

After Joshua preached for the first time, I delivered this sermon (embedded below). The scripture read included Psalm 14, Romans 1:18-32, Romans 3:10-27; Psalm 1, Psalm 149, and parts of John 10. I have said this before: for many Christians, this is more reading that you are willing to do in a day…or even a week. I’ll confess – some days, that is a problem for me too! Together, let’s repent of our apathy toward God’s Word, shall we?

After Joshua preached a second time, I read the entire book of 1 Peter in the open air and followed it up with 19 minutes of preaching, using 1 Peter as my launching point. At one point, there was a large group of people waiting for the light to change including many children. I was so joyed to have the chance to tell them of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I also read Psalm 23 aloud during that preaching stint. Overall, we filled about 2-2.5 hours of preaching. How we wish for more laborers to join us!

You can see the pedestrian traffic in this picture.
You can see the pedestrian traffic in this picture.

Here's Joshua preaching the futility of human works to please God, but Christ's power! pic.twitter.com/67t7ldU4hL

— Michael A. Coughlin (@ABereanOne) September 26, 2015

Our culture is so hateful toward God’s law that there was a truck that kept driving by advertising strip clubs with loud music and large images on the side of the truck. Two young ladies women were walking around passing out free passes to a gentlemen’s strip club, as well. Much prayer is needed for our culture and for those of us engaging the culture with the gospel!

While Joshua was preaching, I followed an idea he gave me and I was able to offer prayer to a young man who had been recently injured. That was a really neat way to engage people and get their ear.

Praise Almighty God for His good work that day. His gospel must have been heard by thousands, and He will do as He pleases!

Filed Under: Gospel, Open Air Preaching, Theology, Witnessing Tagged With: apologetics, attributes of God, Christ, Courageous, Creation, discipline, God, Gospel, Open Air, people, preaching, pride, Righteous, savior, Scripture, sin

How to Protect Yourself from Deception

August 27, 2015 by Michael Coughlin

I preached this sermon this week at church. Here are the images which are referred to therein:

Picture1

Picture2

Picture3

Filed Under: Gospel, Love, Theology, Witnessing Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, Christ, church, Courageous, discipline, glory, God, Gospel, Grace, Holy, leadership, Mercy, pride, Righteous, sin

Movie Review – Camp

August 1, 2013 by Michael Coughlin

Movie Review of Camp

You can read Word Films own summary of camp here. Here is an excerpt:

Eli’s life is nightmare. His mother is a drug addict who neglects his care, and his transient father floats in and out of his life. Eli is filled with rage from the physical abuse he has received from his father but he longs for his love and approval. On his 10th birthday Eli is taken to the hospital by police who respond to a domestic disturbance call. Eli is removed from his home and is placed in Locustwood, a facility little better than a youth prison. In this environment Eli spirals downward, becoming an angry and scared creature.

Meanwhile, to impress a potential new client, investment advisor Ken Matthews signs up to be a camp counselor and gets paired with Eli. When the kids arrive at camp, the chaos begins. Ken and Eli bunk in a cabin with counselor Samuel, back from his second tour of duty in the army, and Redford, a kid who thinks he is an alien. Determined to hate camp, Eli is way more than Ken can handle.

I will proceed with the same three measuring sticks I have used in the past to try to judge the merit of this movie. Ultimately, the question is, should you spend the resources God has provided you with to see this flick? Or would your money be better spent elsewhere…there is certainly need all around us.

I offer the three criteria I will use to discern the worth of Home Run in order of importance.

  1. Is God glorified?
  2. Will the movie tempt someone to sin?
  3. Is there a practical application to the lessons learned within?

I will consider them in reverse order:

Is there a practical application to the lessons learned within?

I found Camp to be an enjoyable movie from a sheer entertainment standpoint. The acting was better than usual for what I expect was a relatively low budget film, the characters were believable and the story, although predictable, was compelling. The movie is loosely based on real life events. This brought even more emotion and feel to the story.

Generally, the movie depicts goodness. Characters are seen praying and bad behavior is not glorified. Without spoiling too much, I’ll tell you that lessons are learned by characters which are the types of lessons we would want to teach our children. Ultimately, you are left with a challenge as a view as to whether you would have it in you to do what you may spend the movie criticizing the main character for doing poorly!

The main plotline was rather simple, but the surrounding subplots and investigation into the lives of the various characters who attend the camp brings much interest to the story.

Will the movie tempt someone to sin?

Now we all have different sin-tendencies, I know, but I can only speak of a few of the more obvious ones. I saw no areas of the movie where a person would have a problem with sin. This is truly a well done movie safe for kids and families to enjoy! I recall no blasphemy, nor vulgarity, and the women were modest throughout. In fact, there are scenes in a swimming pool and the movie makers did an excellent job of doing that tastefully.

Is God glorified?

Camp, although worth watching and excellently done in many ways, falls short in a vital way. There are ample opportunities in this movie to refer to the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and declare the gospel. I would expect ANY Christian camp to do this, so why not exhibit it on film? My wife and I actually spent the movie wondering if the movie was even Christian – or if it was simply an offshoot of Christianity.

A bold, or even not so bold, gospel presentation would have alleviated these concerns. The answer to the needs of both the immature counselor and the hurting children in the movie is a reconciled relationship with Jesus Christ and a desire to know Him deeply.

I know I already said that the movie was modest, but let me put it this way – I recall more instances where the movie was borderline immodest than even veiled references to Christ’s atoning work.

Having said that, Camp can be an enjoyable night of entertainment for Christians, and even could be used as the launchpad for spiritual discussion which actually does center around God’s Word. Evangelistic and bold, it is not, but heartwarming and worth a couple hours, it is.

Concluding Thoughts

In conclusion, I highly recommend you try to see this movie. Visit http://www.wordfilms.com/ to find out how.

I received this movie free from Word Films as part of their Blogger Review Program, via Blogger Gateway. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Filed Under: Gospel Tagged With: adoption, Courageous, Gospel, Love, people

From the heart…

September 7, 2011 by Michael Coughlin

I haven’t ‘blogged’ for a long time. At least not regularly. But tonight my wife actually suggested it. This is a strange occurrence because we get so little time together anyway. I used to write my blogs on a laptop while riding a bus to work, but my new job is only good for listening to Todd Friel (which isn’t bad); the point is, no typing while driving.

It has been pointed out to me that I can sound ‘academic’ in some of my posts. That is meant in a critical way. I guess when I write posts about theology, I always feel like I need to somehow make it perfect. As if I can counter every potential argument, or lay out every possible cross reference.

It reminds me of Jerry Rediger’s voicemail greeting: “Please leave a brief and detailed message after the tone.”

What? Inconceivable!

But what may be lost in the array of amateur theology articles with a Jesuit educated vocabulary (I’ve repented of that if you are wondering), is the state of my heart. It may be clear that I intellectually assent to a lot of good doctrine. It wouldn’t take a CSI to detect that I probably have TULIPs growing in my front yard, or that I can read a page of ‘you might be a Calvinist if…’ quotes and wonder why its so funny. I don’t vote Democrat and I don’t watch TV (except football games) and my favorite book actually is, the Bible. Yep, I’m one of those guys who doesn’t really have a favorite verse, because, of course, all scripture…is profitable.

And can you tell I’m an evangelist? I would post more on the topic but I’m afraid of it coming across like boasting instead of sharing. Am I trying to please men? I don’t know. I think it’s wise to be concerned with others and how I’ll be perceived. But why do I evangelize? It is solely for the glory of God? Is that the be-all and end-all of my faith? Do I rejoice in the salvation of a lost sinner only because of the glory it exhibits of Christ? There have been times I have coldly preached or shared the gospel, without a shred of concern about the hearer. I have preached or spoken with ONLY Jesus as the audience. For that, I must, and have, repented.

Thankfully, that is few and far between. Because the fact is this, I truly love the lost. I was granted, by the grace of God, at a very early time in my walk with Christ, a deep love for people who do not know Him. In fact, I went to such an Arminian, seeker-sensitive, antinomian megachurch when I was saved, that I fit right into the groove. For those of you who don’t know, antinomianism can be loosely defined as ‘grace-abuse.’ These are the people who violate the spirit of grace by presuming it and becoming lawless. They cite the various glorious verses in the bible which speak of God’s grace and how good works cannot save, and they ignore the verses like Jesus telling a number of people, “depart from me, you workers of iniquity. (lawlessness)” The point being, I was really good at going out and inviting people to church and telling them the gospel. I wasn’t shy about it, (or if I was, I hid it well). I was the perfect new convert. I was so excited about what my eyes had just been opened to, I couldn’t imagine keeping it to myself.

I also found that I loved God…A LOT. I, like most Americans, had assumed I had always loved God. I didn’t understand my new affections. I assumed this was how ALL CHRISTIANS must feel about the Lord. So I unknowingly went out and simply offended others. I mean AT CHURCH. I was reading my bible regularly and the Holy Spirit was growing me, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that other people at my church didn’t want to have sin removed like I did! They didn’t even want to call the same things sin. I heard a lot of talk about liberty and grace. Both wonderful, biblical doctrines. But I heard nothing of holiness or righteousness or transformation.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I was talking about how much I love the lost. What I want to share is that I love Jesus Christ more than anything. And yes, bringing him glory through biblical evangelism is one of my goals. Evangelistic success isn’t measured simply by the number of disciples made. But to approach a living, breathing soul with the most important news ever and to have no real concern for that person’s eternity? That’s cold-hearted and not God glorifying, in my opinion. Oh Christ sees your efforts, your creativity and your words, but He is a discerner of your heart as well. He knows if you are truly interested in the people with whom you are witnessing. He knows if you are using the occasion to indulge your flesh, or if you actually despise the lost soul with whom you are professing to be sharing Christ.

I have been there. I’ve talked to people and realized I didn’t care if they got saved. One time, I began to witness to a guy because he kept trying to talk to me on the bus and was annoying me. So I figured, well, I’ll tell him the gospel and then he’ll certainly leave me alone. What a jerk. So of course, God humbled me quickly and allowed me to present the gospel to the man, but also worked on my heart right then and there. By the end I was truly expressing care to the man.

So dear brother or sister, please know that I do what I do out of a great love for a great God. But that isn’t all; part of the outpouring…part of the application of that love for God is a love for His creation. If God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked, why should I? Please do not make the mistake I did and forget your own utter helplessness. Your own utter sinfulness. Your own desperate need for a savior.

Now I’m rambling. I actually had intended to write about how wonderful it is to me that my local church leadership wanted to support an idea I brought to them about sending police and firefighters and other service men and women to a movie for free. I am so grateful…people are so good to me. And I deserve none of it.

Filed Under: Gospel, Just me, Love Tagged With: Bible, Christ, Courageous, Creation, God, Gospel, Grace, pride

Courageous Movie Outreach

September 4, 2011 by Michael Coughlin

Berean Baptist Church of Pickerington, OH is hosting a night at the movies for Columbus area Police, Fire, EMT and military personnel!

Are you interested in attending? Visit http://courageousweekend.org/ to register for you and a guest to see the new movie Courageous for free!

When : September 30 6:00pm
Where: Marcus Theater, Pickerington mapit
Who : Active or retired personnel who have so graciously served us in the area of police, fire, emt or military service!

What’s the catch? No catch. We want to give this free gift to you as way of saying thanks for all you’ve done. All we ask is that you pre-register as seating is limited.

If you do not receive a confirmation email within 24 hours of registration, please contact me.

Read a review of the movie here. No spoilers! 🙂

Filed Under: Gospel, Love Tagged With: church, Courageous, Movies, power, prayer

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