Chapter 61 - The Mad Man!

Psalm 23:4

^“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

     On another day of visitation at Highland Park Baptist Church, after a delicious meal, a partner and I headed off to some townhouses to witness for the Lord and to give out tracts.  We were knocking on doors with good response.
     Knocking on one door, a huge man, not fat, just big, filling the door side to side and top to bottom answered.  Though I was six feet tall, he looked seven feet tall as we had to look up to him.  I said, “Sir, we are,” and that was all I got to say.  He said, “I told you to stay away from my door and never come back here again.”  I started to say something and he said, “Leave and do not ever come back,” as he slammed the door. 
     Well, that was an interesting encounter, but little did we know that was not the last we would see of this big man.  I started to put a gospel tract on his door as we usually do.  Suddenly, the door flew open and a wild man filled the door.  We backed off.  I looked at my partner and he looked at me (I knew we both were thinking the same thing) RUN!  But we didn’t.  The wild man got right up in our faces and said, “I thought I told you to get away from my door and never come back.”
     By this time we were backing down the sidewalk and he was coming along after us madder than a bear when you had messed with her cubs.  We continued to back down the sidewalk and the last words we heard was, “If you ever come back to my door I will beat you until no one will ever recognize you.”  We said, “Yes sir.” 
     We left the townhouse complex that night with a new respect for big, mean, wild looking mad men.  But it didn’t stop us from being a witness for the Lord.  We went right up the road to another set of townhouses and were treated great by everyone we met.  No, this man did not get saved, which was regrettable, but we never saw him again, Praise the Lord for His protection!

Chapter 60 - The Mad Dog!

Matthew 28:18-20

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”     

      While attending Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee we were required to attend Highland Park Baptist Church for the first year. We would go soul winning on Thursday night after being provided a delicious meal. The main reason for going out, of course, was that people needed to know Jesus as their Savior.
     One particular night a partner and I went out to a certain section of the city while it was still light outside. We drove up to a house where it looked as though no one was at home. When no one is at home we would leave a literature hanger on the door. I alone went to the door, and then heard some noise from the rear of the house.  Thinking someone was at the back; I started down the side of the house and could not believe what I was seeing.
     I froze in my tracts and was staring at the biggest, blackest, meanest looking Do  berman I had ever seen. I looked back at the car and back at the dog.  “Run!”  But my legs would not more an inch. My partner in the car shook his head as if to say, “You’re on your own with this one.”  The dog was so mad that he was biting the air and running straight toward me, madder than any dog I had ever seen. I froze like a Popsicle that had been in the freezer for months. 
     Why was the dog so mad? I had done nothing to him. My heart was about to beat out of my chest and sweat was beginning to pop up on my forehead. Fear gripped me and would not let me go.  “Help, Lord,” was all I could think of. All of this happened in a flash. The dogs breathe smelled by now. His eyes were that of a mad dog who wanted revenge and it looked like he had zeroed in on his victim. He was about a dog’s length from me when suddenly a man came around the corner from the back and yelled, “Whoa boy.”  The dog seemingly stopped in mid air and I said, “Thank you, Lord!”                
     The man walked up to where his dog was growling, slobbering, and shaking his big old head and asked, “May I help you?”  “I’m out visiting from Highland Park Baptist Church and I would like to invite you to come to church.”  I handed him a gospel tract and calmly, yea right, walked back to the car. 
     It took me awhile to get my composure back. Then we headed off to another house and this time I made sure that someone was home and no dog before getting out. From that time until now, I’m very cautious about dogs, especially big, black, growling, slobbering at the mouth dogs who wanted revenge for no reason, as I saw it

Chapter 59 - Can God Pay This!

Matthew 6:8

“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

    Deputation was a time of calling one pastor right after the other, but that was the only way to get meetings so that we could raise support to go to Africa to spread the Gospel. 
    At one time, our telephone bill rose to $1200 and I knew why--I stayed on the telephone eight hours a day calling requesting meetings. We did not have a cell phone back in those day that had unlimited calling. The Lord gave us many meetings.
    This large telephone bill was weighing heavily on my mind as we headed to Texas for a meeting on a Friday. We spent Friday night in a motel and were going to finish the trip on Saturday lodging the night in the mission apartment at the church.
    On Saturday just inside the Texas line we started to smell burnt oil. At a truck stop, I found that oil was pouring out from a blown intake gasket. We weren’t going anywhere for a while. A trucker at the stop suggested that I take off the intake and seal it with gasket sealer. Others thought that was about the only thing I could do this late in the evening with no auto parts stores open.
    Therefore I bought some gasket sealer and took off the intake. The gasket that had blown was nowhere to be found so I used the sealer to make a gasket and sealed all the other gaskets, replacing the intake. We would have to wait three hours for the sealer to set up enough to drive.
    I called the Pastor and he said that the mission apartment would be open when we were able to get there. There we sat in the truck stop patiently waiting to continue our trip. Three hours later I fired up the old van. Since no oil was leaking we cautiously hit the road.
    We arrived at the mission apartment about daylight Sunday morning and got a few hours sleep before the 9:45 AM service at the church next door, not feeling the best in the world.
    All the men gathered for prayer before the service and they asked if anyone had a prayer request. I had one and let it be known that we had a $1200 telephone bill resulting from calling pastors which we needed to pay right away. Along with other requests, prayer was lifted for my request.
    We had a great service followed by a time of food and fellowship. While fellowshipping the Pastor came to me and said, “Brother Ayers, the men of the church voted to give you a $1200 check to pay your telephone bill.” I jumped for joy. Praise the Lord, what a blessing! The Pastor also gave us a generous love offering to help with our expenses and the church even took us on for monthly support.
    The devil tried to hinder us from this blessing, but the Lord saw us right on through to the end and He will you also. Glory to His Name!

Matthew 6:33

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Chapter 58 - Do You Have Eternal Life Insurance?

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

    I headed out to the church to do some work on a sign that I was painting on the side of the church building. The first letter, which was a 24 inch letter, was an E and guess what, yes, you guess it, I made the E backward which was a little annoying. You may be wondering why the letters are 24 inches in height? People needed to be able to see them from the road which is about 60 feet away. Not letting this little mistake hold me back I got the wall paint out and painted over the backward E. The paint took a little while to dry. This time I did not make the same mistake and was able to finish up the writing on the church wall which people would be able to read from the road. The verses I was writing on the wall was Matthew 7:12-14 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

    After finishing, it was clean up time, which is always the fun part of any job. After finishing I got into my car to leave. Before I could get it into drive a truck pulled across in front of me. A man got out of the truck, came to the window of the car and handed me a sheet of paper. He commenced telling me all about how terrible the economy was here in Belize and if I would bring my receipt where I was buying my insurance for my car that the company he works for would beat their price. That did sound reasonable to me and would be considering his offer the next time insurance was needed.
    Carlos was about to leave when I gave him a Gospel tract and asked him did he have any eternal life insurance.  Carlos said that he did not have any of that kind of insurance. I went on to tell Carlos about the eternal life Insurance that Jesus gives and this life Insurance will take him to heaven one day if he decides to receive it. He said that all religions say they have the way to heaven and what makes what I am talking about any different. I open the Bible that I keep in my car and let Carlos read John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Jesus is what makes the different whether you go to heaven or hell. Then Carlos remarked, “hell is here in Belize because it is so hot here.” I said, “Carlos, Belize is nothing compared to how hot hell is going to be.”
    By now Carlos was getting pretty hot standing out in the sun therefore I invited him to sit in the car. After Carlos was seated, we went straight to the Bible. He read John Chapter 3, and like Nicodemus he did not understand how a person could be born again. Then I explained the different between the physical birth and the spiritual birth. The more scripture Carlos read and the more I explained about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the more he began to understand. Before long Carlos bowed his head and asks Jesus to forgive him of all his sins, come into his heart and be his personal Savior. Carlos assured me that he had become a born again Christian; was trusting Jesus to take him to heaven when he died and would be in church Sunday.
As Carlos was getting out of the car, I gave him a Bible. In front of the Bible, I wrote the time and the date he received Christ as his Savior. Thank you Beams Bible Ministry, Gulfport, Mississippi for supplying Bibles so that new Christian will have the Word of God to read and meditate upon.
    Carlos though he was stopping to sell some insurance, whether it be for my car or something else but instead of selling me some insurance he received the Eternal Life Insurance, Jesus, that cost him nothing but cost God His only begotten Son.
I never saw Carlos again after that day, but I do know if he meant what he said he became a Born Again Christian and one day I will see him in heaven.

 "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:20)