We've been exploring the book of Acts at church and have been encouraged by our pastors to share the gospel message with others, as we should.
So, how are you going to do that? What's your plan of attack? We know we should be doing it but where do you start?
Here are some practical ways that you can share the gospel with people. They range from fairly easy to more difficult. I would encourage you to start where you feel comfortable and progress once you feel you are able.
1. Give out gospel tracts when no one is watching. You could put on a fake moustache, some glasses and a wig then go down town, or maybe a night-time letter box drop might be better.
2. Give out tracts in daylight, being seen by others doing it. E.g. Putting one on staff smoko table, or given as a gift.
3. Give tracts away to friends and family as part of a gift. E.g. a birthday gift.
4. Giving out tracts to non-Christian strangers after kindly introducing yourself. E.g. "Hi there, did you get one of these?" or "Hey, I'm from one of the local churches, how's your day going? Have you seen these?"
5. Verbally sharing the gospel to groups inside a church. E.g. at after a mens breakfast or small group.
6. Verbally sharing the gospel to a non-Christian that you know. E.g. on break, at a work do or social event, in town.
8. Verbally sharing the gospel to a non-Christians that you don't know. E.g. On the street, at a work do, or social event
9. Verbally sharing the gospel to a non-Christian group that you don't know. E.g. On the street, at a work do, or social event.
BE CREATIVE
There are so many ways to communicate the message I encourage people to get creative with it, paint a picture that you can explain the gospel through, write a song, make a video, rehearse a drama or dance, enter into a debate. Whatever your gifts may be use them to glorify God and spread the message of forgiveness through Christ alone.
We have the message of everlasting life! We need to go public with this. The important thing is to start doing something, even if it's small.
I pray that God gives us the strength, courage and boldness to share the gospel message, as we should.
The entertainment world seems to be talking non-stop about Miley Cyrus and her shocking 'sexually charged' performance at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. She has definitely made the history books, along with her big sisters Madonna and Britney.
I haven't followed the news on this one but it was hard not to hear about it. To be honest when I heard about it I was curious about what all the commotion was about so decided to check out. Big mistake. I got through a few seconds of it before I had to stop, realising that this was definitely not good for the soul.
I've listened to a number of conversations about what she did and frankly I'm uninterested in the whole thing. So why am I posting about it? Well what she's done has brought to light two very important thoughts that I'd like to share with you.
Before I share with you the first thought please take some time now to watch this video about Miley Cyrus talking about her faith. This may be more shocking than her VMA performance!
When watching this I seriously couldn't believe my ears! Miley openly professes her faith in God and Jesus Christ. She said that she "does everything for Jesus." Really? Wow does that mean that she's is a Christian? That's what the creator of this video thinks but I'm not convinced. Something's wrong with this picture. I mean, can you simply just say your a Christian and then live whatever sinful way you want and still be with God in heaven when you die? I'm not so sure. What's going here? Does scripture have anything to say about this obvious disconnect?
Yes it does. Scripture sheds light on what's going on here in a few areas. In Matthew 7 Jesus talks metaphorically about a group of people who disguises themselves as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. He goes on to say this "You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act." He continues to tease out this analogy until he repeats His main point.
"Yes, just as you can identify a tree by it's fruit, so you can identify people by their actions."
What would you think of a man who tells his wife that he loves her but then spends most of his time committing adultery on pornographic websites? His love is nothing but lip service, and Jesus addresses hypocrites like this in Matthew 15:8. He points people to a prophecy in the old testament by Isaiah about false worshipers of God. Isaiah stated clearly that there will be certain people who honour God with their lips, but in truth their hearts are far from Him. I believe this is what's going on here with Miley's profession of faith.
So am I saying the Miley's not a Christian? Is there a definite way to know if someone is a true and genuine follower of Christ? Well in all honestly we can't tell whether people are or not. Only God can judge our hearts and see us for who we truly are. But what we can do though is learn from Jesus and realise that we show people who we truly are not by our words, but by our actions.
Jesus went on to say that on judgement day many will say to Him "Lord! Lord! We lived for you, danced, acted and sang for you, we did everything for you." But He will reply "I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws."
May God lead you to pray for Miley and her family.
If by reading this you suddenly realise that you've been giving God lip service but your heart is far away from God please visit www.needgod.com to see yourself in truth and hear how you can be forgiven and brought back into a right relationship with God. I would also love to hear from you personally so write to me in the comment section below.
So how do you react to Miley's VMA performance? This question will be the issue for my next thought which I will post at a later time.
Remember to like, and share. Please leave a comment, a question, or a topic you'd like to see discussed. I would love to answer any questions you have.
Many of us Christians don't verbally share our faith because of a fear of being labelled by others a
religious fanatic or a Jesus freak.
As people we so naturally want people to like us and accept us that we automatically live in such a calculated way so that we don't offend anyone. This is the politically correct culture we live in. A world that tells us to be careful and avoid thinking, saying, doing anything that may offend a single soul in the slightest.
Here are a three points that I hope will help you overcome this obstacle.
1. Cultivate a fear of God. Scripture tells us in Matthew 28:10 to not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, we should be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
2. Answer this question, if a person dies without Christ where will they spend eternity? Some Christians can struggle with answering this one. Scripture tells us in Revelation 21:8 that
the unbeliever's fate will be the fiery lake of burning sulfur which is the second death. Our love for the lost should causes us to swallow our fears and insecurities and to reach out to them with the gospel.
3. Get used to the fact that some people in the world will always think this about you and may even hate you. When Jesus talked with crowds some listened, believed and cherished him as the Saviour, others listened and thought He was a babbling idiot. So be prepared to leave the results of your witness to God. Jesus said something to his disciples in John 15:18-19 which I think is very relevant to us regarding this third point. He said to them "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The
world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you
are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world,
so it hates you."
So today cultivate the fear of God, meditate on the terrible fate of those tho die without Christ and remember that the world hated Jesus, so expect some opposition.
I had a good time out witnessing today. I gave out some tracts and had a great conversation with two open minded guys who acknowledged they were sinners but weren't exactly sure how they could be forgiven or if it was even possible. One of them even said to me that he was thinking of going back to church and asked me for my church details. This was encouraging. I pray God does a mighty work in hearts of these bros.
Evangelism is hard going and many (including me) have intense battles with it. Here are some obstacles that can hinder a person engaging in evangelism.
They don't want to be seen as some kind of religious fanatic (especially with people they know)
They don't know what to say or how to get into a conversation
They don't agree with the 'street' approach
They are apathetic and lazy
They fear tough questions
They have a misunderstanding of what evangelism is.
I will look to address these obstacles in future posts and how we as Christians can overcome them. We must overcome them if we truly care about people and where they will spend eternity.
I was asked to film a drama at our school which was about sustainability. The focus was on solar
panels and how we can use the sun's rays to generate energy. The drama was organised by an energy company which was visiting our school.
I heard some of the drama students reading the script and something they said got my attention. There was a line in the script that stated that God made the sun. I was totally surprised as I didn't expect to hear this in a secular school.
I later found out that the script they were practicing with was from the previous school which was a religious school.
As I filmed the performance the "God made the sun" line was omitted, and this I feel is a reflection of the culture we live in. We don't honor God by acknowledging Him as the creator and sustainer of all things. We can easily appreciate the beauty and taste of a well ripened kiwi fruit but for some it's not so easy to see the God who made the kiwi fruit.
Our energy company visitors have been the catalyst for many conversations about solar power and solar energy within our school. Many would agree that the sun is absolutely amazing and vital for life on earth. Many would appreciate the sun and what it does. But many stop there, failing to see the God who made the sun.
"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
Romans 1:20
There was a part in the drama where the MC's said "without the sun... we would die!" and all the students on stage would fall down and act dead. The truth is without the sun life on earth would cease to exist.
Aren't you grateful for the sun and what it does? Isn't it time you thanked God for the joys of creation?
I enjoyed church this morning. Especially when I saw a guy Zeke and I shared the gospel with the previous day walk into the service with a friend.
This is what it's all about. Going out into the world and seeking people who are lost in their sins and sharing Christ with them, offering them reconciliation with God.
Jesus came into the world to seek and save that which is lost and I couldn't help but feel a sense of this with sharing the gospel with one of these guys and then seeing him rock up to church the next day with a friend.
What a joy it is to be used by God to reach others with the gospel.
May God do a work in these guys' lives. May they be born again.
David getting into a conversation at the gala day.
I was out sharing the other weekend with a group of guys at a church community outreach gala type event. I began a conversation with a couple who were just sitting down and I guess waiting for friends.
As I initiated with the guy he seemed disinterested and somehow managed to weasel out of the conversation in fact he got up and left. I found myself talking with his partner.
As I shared with her it seemed as if what I was saying was all new to her. I took her through the law and she was humble enough to admit that she'd violated God's law. It then made sense to her that if God were to judge her at the end of her life she'd be guilty and end up in hell. She began to see her need for forgiveness.
I could see a sobering expression on her face, as if she'd just realised the seriousness of her situation. That if her heart were to give out that night she'd end up in hell forever!
I asked her a question. I said, "Do you know what God did for you so that you wouldn't end up in hell?" and her words were a lot more profound that she may have realised.
She said, "He sent me you?"
The pure naivety in her response made he laugh in my mind. I said to her "Yes He did send me to you, not to save you but to tell you about the Saviour Jesus Christ, how He died on the cross for your sins, and then three days later rising from the dead."
As Christians we need to remember that we are Ambassadors for Christ and He sends us to people to share with them the message of eternal life.
May God give us strength to be a witness for Him as he sends us to people in our community.
I was stoked to hear that Brad Thorn was speaking about life and faith at my former Christian University group (StudentLife Tandem Ministries) back in Dunedin.
I was super stoked that a friend uploaded the video onto YouTube for the world to see. I was wondering how it went so it was great to be able to watch it from sunny Whakatane where I now live.
Brad's story reminds me that it's not just those in poverty and sickness and hardships that need God. Jesus isn't just for those who are down and out, he is also for those who are doing really well in life, who are rich, popular and successful. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, those lost in poverty and those lost in prosperity.
All of us, no matter how rich, poor, popular, unpopular, need righteousness or a right standing with God. We're all sinners. We're liars, theives, greedy, adulterers, fornicators, blaphemers, haters of God, lovers of other things. We naturally don't agree with God or want to follow Him. We are intrinsically rebellious.
None of us have followed God's holy laws perfectly and that's what He requires. So each of us stand as convicted criminals against the Creator of the Universe in desperate need of forgiveness.
God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, and without the righteousness of Christ we will perish on that day. Why? Because we have no righteousness in and of ourselves. That's why we need the one who never sinned. Our LORD Jesus Christ.
So the next time you think that you don't need Jesus, think again.
Please visit needgood.com to see if you do truly need God.
Below is part of a facebook message I read that a friend shared on my wall. It was about a person whose laptop lay on their bed and somehow caught on fire. "The reason I am writing this to all of
you is that I have seen many of us using the laptop while in bed. Let us
all decide and make it a practice not to do that. The risk is real. Let
us make it a rule not to use the laptop on bed with blankets and
pillows around. Please educate as many people as you can.
"Please pass to everyone you know, you might save one's life"
In a spirit of love my concerned friend posted this so that people could escape the tragic possibility of their bed catching on fire. Finally she pleads with people to pass the message on as it might save someone's life.
I couldn't help but liken this to Evangelism.
In a spirit of love for people we should be letting people know about God's holiness and that many of us live rebellious lives, breaking many of His laws. The consequences are real. Those who sin will die. No theif or fornicator will enter Heaven. All liars will have their part in the lake of fire. But God so loved the world, He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
As Christians we have the message of eternal life. The solution to defeating death! So please educate as many people as you can and pass this message on to everyone you know, you light save someone's life eternally.
Of course you do, We all do. I mean who hasn't watched countless news stories of murderers, rapists, and other various criminal related activities and had highly judgement attitudes towards the culprits on screen? It's simply just what we humans do. But have you ever wondered why we make these judgement calls?
We are judgmental beings because we're made in God's image. God cares about justice and because we're made in His image, we care about justice. All the courts systems we set up is evidence of that. Within each of us is a God-given conscience. It's like a referee in our heads. Like the 'angel and devil on your shoulder' concept. It's that place of the knowledge of right and wrong.
Your conscience is like an impartial judge in the court room of your mind, judging the thoughts you think about, the words you say, and the deeds you do (including the thoughts, words, and deeds of other people). That's why when you watch a news clip of a disgusting child molester, your conscience screams out from within you "that is wrong!" That's why when you tell an outright lie, steal from work or cheat on your spouse with an adulterous thought of another, your conscience screams out from within you "that is wrong!" And what usually comes next is guilt.
With all of these internal and external judgement calls firing left right and centre, how can we know whether our judgements are right or wrong? Do we just go by gut feeling or is there a more objective way?
Think about a sports referee for a moment. A referee makes judgement
calls all the time about the actions of the players during a game. How does the referee know whether an action committed by a player is right or wrong? Well, he judges all actions according the the rule book. The rule book is the ref's objective standard in which he judges by. Believe it or not humanity has a 'rule book'. An objective standard in which we can judge all acts in life by. God's success criteria if you will. It's the Ten commandments (See Exodus 20:1-21). God has written theses laws on our heart so we can know what right and wrong is, and more importantly so we can judge our own actions and see whether we are doing what is right in the eyes of God, or whether we're breaking his law and under his judgement and condemnation.
Referees judge all actions according to the rule book
How would you feel watching a rugby game being refereed by someone who doesn't know the rules? I could image some unpleasant words being shared among the boys. "How can this ref make the right judgement call if he doesn't know the rules?" And yet sadly people all around the world make judgement calls on all sorts of moral issues but don't have an objective standard in which they can judge anything by. They don't know the rules. They are refereeing their lives by what feels good and kinda sounds right and throwing the rule book out the window.
The results can be seen in the widely accepted practices of abortion and homosexuality in our society. This is evidence that the rule book is very much out the window. The problem with the rule book being thrown out is that right and wrong disappear with it. People are then left to make up their own right and wrong. So without any objective rules to follow, a pedophile can stand in the 'this feels right for me' camp. Here's a simple guide to judging morals correctly. If God says an act is right, it's right. If God says an act is wrong, it's wrong.
So how do you relate to God's law? I'll be honest I've broken them all. Many times. I've loved other things more that God, made up a God that I was happy with, used God's and Jesus' name to curse, been busy doing stuff and not thinking about God, disrespected my parents, hated people in my heart which is murder in God's eyes, lusted after many women which is adultery in God's eyes, stolen things, told lies and desired things that belonged to others. I am what the song Amazing Grace refers to as 'a wretch'.
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see".
That's why I'm a Christian. Saving grace is in Christ alone. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Have you ever wondered why you feel guilty about something you've done that no body else knows about? Well that's because you've violated your God-given conscience, and deep down you know that God knows all about you, what you think about, what you talk about, and the deeds you do in darkness. Don't be fooled. His eyes are in every place beholding the wicked and the good. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God, to whom we must give an account.
Instead of judging others, let us soberly judge ourselves.
Listen...
... to the voice of your conscience...
...what is it saying?
Please visit needgod.com to examine yourself under God's law and be sure to navigate to the end of the presentation where the Good News about Jesus is clearly explained. I hope that God gives you faith to believe.
We had another successful time out sharing the gospel today. I always remind myself that success is never defined by how many people pray to receive Jesus that day. It's obviously an awesome thing for that to happen, that's how we want everyone to respond but that's not how you measure success.
Success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit to share Christ, and leaving the results (good or bad) in God's hands. Salvation is of the Lord.
Darren and his family came along and David came with a friend. I was deeply encouraged by the faithfulness of the people who showed up, giving up some of their Saturday's to preach and teach the truth of Jesus to people in love.
Brenda engaging in conversation
Brenda had some good conversations. She was encouraged to chat with a 13 year old girl outside the
library who told her that she follows Christ. She also talked with a lady who had strong views of Maori spirituality from her whanau. The lady said that to accept Christ would mean to reject opposing thoughts and ideas she's learned from her whanau growing up.That's the challenge we all need to come to terms with. We need to reject anything that attempts to set itself up against Christ.
Darren chatting with a knowedgable bloke
Darren chatted with an elderly lady who didn't warm very well to his company. He also chatted with a guy(in pic) who was very knowledgeable. He then had a great chat with some youths. As he was sharing I could sense a very tense mood in the air. The youths weren't joking around or being silly, they were taking the gospel very seriously. I could tell by their body language that their hearts were brought to a place of being contrite and humble.
I talked with a guy who professed to be a Christian but then later found out he was trusting in his own righteousness to get to Heaven, which is in fact no righteousness at all! I told him that he needs the righteousness of Christ to cover his sin. I pray that he would be come a true follower of Christ.
I also spoke with a gang member who was not long out of prison. God was on this guys case because he had told me that two people this week had talked with him about getting right with God. For some reason he felt drawn to share some of his life journey with me. He said he was brought up a Christian and knows all about Christ, but something was holding him back from making a commitment to follow Him. He said it was because of bad things that happened in his life that turned him away.
God doesn't promise our life on earth to be easy and free from calamity. In fact He promises that life will get harder. It's through much tribulation that we enter the Kingdom, and Jesus said that the world would hate us because of Him. Those who have faith in Christ shall suffer persecution, not might suffer, but shall suffer. So that's why it's not legitimate to tell a person that they'll prosper in worldly ways if they become a Christian. If someone is promised a prosperous life here on earth, and then runs in to tough times they'll conclude that the promise was a lie and turn away from the faith. This is what I believe happened to the gang member I talked with.
We need to tell people they need Jesus not for happiness, but for righteousness. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, none of us have any righteousness of our own so we must fly to Christ and shelter in Him.
He alone can save us.
Behold the promises of God:
1. trials
2. temptation
3. persecution
4. eternal life
Are you willing to endure the first three to gain the last?
Jesus is our example. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. So Jesus endured trials, temptation, and persecution, for the joy of being back with the Father which He had set before him, and that's exactly how we need to see things in light of suffering.
Gospel tracts are kind of like pamphlets or flyers. But instead of having information about a business or a cause on it, a gospel Tract has the gospel message on it (Usually on the back).
Gospel tracts are great in that they can fit places human beings cannot, like inside jean pockets. They can go places we cannot E.g. into the houses of those you give them to. They can stay places we cannot. E.g. You have to check out of the Motel but a gospel tract can stay. Gospel tracts don't mumble their words or forget what to say. They can often communicate the gospel better than we can verbally.
The final reason why they are great is so important it needs it's own paragraph. Paul says that the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16). Did you get that? What is Paul saying that's the power of God that brings salvation? It's the Gospel! So as Christians we can trust in God's gospel which is the power of God that brings salvation. Not our eloquent words or human wisdom.
If you're staying at a bach or a motel or a holiday park, leave a gospel tract there. These places usually have an area set aside for leisurely reading so strategically place a gospel tract where someone who's browsing the area might find and read.
I usually like to dive into a pool, while my wife dips her foot in to test the waters. Placing a tract in places like this could be a 'foot-first' step for you in evangelism, I mean it's so easy that anyone could do it. This approach may seem like an insignificant or cowardly thing to do, but don't be discouraged but those thoughts, it's better than doing nothing.
Think of the fate of those without Christ. God's righteous holy anger against sin will see them cast into the lake of eternal fire. They need to hear what we've got to say. Tell them the gospel, the good news about Christ! That through Him alone God pardons our sins forever and gives us what we don't deserve, Heaven, and a new heart.
So weather you evangelize head first or feet first the important thing is that you do something, because people are going to Hell.
This week I was joined by a fellow labourer who has been
witnessing on and off in the Whakatane area for around 40 years.
It was very encouraging to meet with another fellow
Christian who cares for the unsaved enough to talk with them about the things
of eternity. It's as rare as hen's teeth.
Outside the library I talked with a German girl who said she
was a Christian. Regarding eternity she likes to focus her thoughts on Heaven
and doesn't like to think about Hell. This mind set is so easy to adopt. I
don't think anyone likes to think about Hell. We need to remember the Jesus
spoke about Hell. He warned people of it and that's what we should do as well. If
we love people and care about them, we will speak the whole truth in love, that
there are consequences for our sinful actions, that God commands all men
everywhere to turn from sin, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness, that anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never
experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgement. Accepting
Christ isn't solely an issue of happiness but of righteousness. Sure people
without Christ can be happy, but without the righteousness of Christ they will
perish on the day of Judgement.
David shared with a guy who at first looked rather
intimidating, but he was responsive and was taking in the words of eternal life
that David was sharing with him. David shared a powerful analogy with him that seemed to impact him deeply.
David sharing outside the Library
"Imagine a
criminal who's committed heinous crimes. He's in a courtroom and his punishment
is about to be administered. The criminal has a $50, 000 fine. He has to either
pay the fine or will go to jail for a long time. The criminal has not got the
money so he is being led to the cells. As he's being taken away, all of a
sudden someone he doesn't know bursts into the courtroom with $50,000 and pays
the fine. The criminal is released because the fine had been paid. Justice has
been satisfied."
Around 2000 years ago, Jesus 'paid our fine' in His life's
blood so that on Judgement day God can legally forgive us because Jesus took
our punishment.
Our last conversations were with two young guys. They had a
Christian background and said they were involved in their church youth group.
It was very encouraging to meet them and hear them talk about the things of
God. We pray that God will bless them and keep them from temptations.
May God work in the
hearts of the people we talked with this weekend.
Darren and I hit the streets yesterday with the goal of
sharing the gospel with people, and we had a successful time.
We talked with two teenage workers who were on their break from New
World. They politely listened to us and
didn't really have any questions for us, frankly because they had confessed
they hadn't given God much thought. It was great to meet them and to encourage
them to give it some thought. When sharing with people who are on their break
I'm often conscious that they may not want to spend it talking to a complete stranger about
the things of God, so I don't waffle on, I get to the point. I give them the law so they can see their sin
and therefore their need of God's forgiveness. I then give them the gospel. Then I make sure I've given them
a tract so they can refer to what we've talked about later.
We later shared with a group of teenage boys. I taught one of guys back in 2009 when I was a
student
Darren teaching youth the things of God
teacher in his class. It was amazing to see him now as a young
teenager, now on the same eye level with me when he's standing and now with a
'not so high' voice anymore. It was also amazing to have the opportunity to
share God's glorious gospel with him outside of school. We asked them if they had any questions and they did.
"How can we know God exists?"
"Do you come back as an animal?"
"What's hell like?"
Seeing Darren teach these kids about the things of God was priceless, I had to capture it on film. Where else would these kids learn about these things?
We also shared with another group of young adults along the
Strand outside the movie theatre. They seemed very scientific, mentioning thing
like the 'Big Bang Theory' (not the TV show), and how the universe is
expanding.One of them said Christianity
was forced upon her as a child so she decided to turn away from it altogether.
We went through the law and they were convicted of sin, and confessed that if
heaven and hell existed they'd end up in hell. We then talked about Jesus, the
only one who can save them from sin and hell. They began to argue where God
came from. Who created God? This question is very simple to answer. No one did.
God is eternal, He always existed. For more information on this visit http://carm.org/who-made-god-richard-dawkins.
Please pray in particularly for one of the guys we talked
to. His name is Ben. Pray that God draws Ben to Himself.
Living in a small town like Whakatane means you can't really
reach the multitudes with the gospel, because there aren't multitudes around.
This can give us the deceptive impression that we're not as effective as those
that are reaching the thousands around the world, but that's not true.
Recently I've been learning to focus more on quality rather than
quantity. Evangelism shouldn't be about how many people you've given tracts to,
had conversations with, how many times you've open-air preached. God's been
teaching me that it's not about numbers, but souls.
So Darren and I seem to give less tracts away each
week but have more in-depth conversations with people, getting to know them
better, building report, checking their understanding of what we are presenting, listening to people's responses
and answering any questions they have.
May God continue to guide us and teach us as we endeavour to
seek and save the lost.
This week I decided to head over to The Hub. The plan was to
hand out some gospel tracts, have some spiritual conversations with people,
then pop into Harvey Norman for my gadget 'fix'.
The Hub is one of Whakatane's local shopping areas complete
with a range of well known stores like Briscoes, Farmers, Bunnings, and my
favourite Harvey Norman. All the stores are adjacent to each other which creates
a strip where many locals come to shop. Near the middle of The Hub is a cafe
which usually attracts a quite a few people.
Seeing as it was Easter Monday I thought there'd be a lot of
people out and about that I could talk with but there weren't too many. As I
approached the Cafe I saw him.
For those of you who don't know me, God's put on my heart to
share the gospel with people, ever since I became a Christian. It's kind of
like a long-term goal He's given me. It's exciting, terrifying and burdensome
at times. But that's what He's put on my heart and with His help, that's what I
do. I've been evangelising on and off for the last seven years. One of the
biggest fears I used to have (and in all honesty still do to some degree) is
seeing people that I know from my work place. Seeing colleagues. I sometimes
hear voices inside by head trying to discourage me.
"What if I see someone from work out here? They'll think I'm a
religious nut!"
But God is helping me to care more about others than myself.
Jesus is the Saviour, the one who sacrificed his life for us. He was bruised
for our sins, He is the one that, if sinners turn from their sins and trust in
Him, will save them from the wrath that is to come against sin. Without the
righteousness of Christ, people will perish on the day of Judgement. That's why
we all need Jesus.
I continually remind myself that evangelism is not about me
being comfortable but more about the other person and where they will spend eternity.
Our compassion for the lost and their fate must swallow our fears of rejection.
As Christians we have a moral responsibility to share the gospel with those
around us, in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. Imagine
having the cure to cancer and keeping it to yourself. Yet we have something
better than a cure, we have the message of everlasting life! Will you keep it
to yourself?
So I saw him, my boss. He appeared to be having afternoon
tea with his son at the cafe, enjoying the Easter break. I waved and casually
approached their table and greeted them. Some small talk ensued and then he cut
to the chase. "What are you doing here?" He asked. I said something
like, "I'm out handing out gospel tracts, getting God's message of
forgiveness out there to people." I gave him and his son a gospel tract each
and they went through the test and then they read the back together. They
weren't too keen to chat about God stuff there and then but at least they have
the gospel message to take with them. We chatted some more and then I moved on.
May God reach him one day.
As a child I grew up thinking that Jehovah's Witnesses
(JW's) were just another branch of Christianity, they talked about God and Jesus
and invited people to what I thought was church.
This Easter I was approached by two clean cut, finely
dressed, middle-aged gentlemen and given a flyer advertising the celebration of Jesus'
death, and various service times of other events they held. This lead me to
research a bit about what they believe for myself. Below is just a tiny taste
of what I discovered. I hope this helps you understand JW's
more.
So are JW's Christian? Put plainly, no they're not. Why? Well
because a lot of their core beliefs and teachings differ from that found in the
Bible and orthodox Christianity. For example, they do not believe in the Trinity,
and the deity of Jesus. Concerning Jesus they actually believe He was Michael
the archangel. What? Yeah I know. You might be thinking how is it that they have different core
beliefs from Christians? Don't they read the Bible too? Yes they do but that's not all they read. They feed on
the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society literature, founded by Charles Taze
Russell in the 1800s. He was a guy who didn't like the idea of the doctrine of eternal
hell so he scrapped it and started the Watchtower Society. Bible buffet is it? According
to JW's the Watchtower alone can interpret scripture correctly. In other words
no interpretation of the Bible is correct outside of what the Watchtower Bible
and Tract Society interpret. You see if you read the Bible alone, you will not come to
Watchtower theology. You need to be immersed in Watchtower theology as well. That's why when you study with the Jehovah's Witnesses,
you agree to attend five weekly meetings where you are taught from Watchtower
literature.
Also the Bible they read
isn't the same as a Christian Bible. They've constructed their own Bible called
the New World Translation. In this they have changed certain verses that speak of
the deity of Jesus, so it fits conveniently with their Watchtower way of thinking. Stay away
from this one.
It seems that the Jesus that JW's speak of is not the Jesus of the Bible,
but the Jesus of the Watchtower teachings. Only through Jesus (of the Bible)
alone can a person be truly forgiven of their sin and it's horrific
consequences. JW are you trusting in the true Jesus? I hope so.
So if a JW (or anyone else for that matter) starts talking
to you about Jesus and it doesn't sound like the Jesus of the Bible, it's
probably not.
The Bible was written by men who were inspired by God. 2 Timothy
3:16 states that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,"
The Bible is actually 66 books in one
binding. It was written in the space of 1500 years by around 40 different
authors.
Now here's the amazing thing. The authors
came from different walks of life, they possessed different personalities,
jobs, lived in different locations in different times of history during times
of peace and war and yet their writings we now have in the Bible is absolutely
harmonious from beginning to end. The Bible's continuity points to it's divine origins and it's author - God.
2 Peter 1:20-21 says
"Above all, you must understand that no
prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.21 For prophecy never had its origin in the
human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit."
When
you write an email to someone the keyboard doesn't write the email, you
do. The keyboard is the instrument you are using to convey your thoughts in an
email and man was the instrument God used to convey His
thoughts in the Bible.
I haven't followed the news on this one but it was hard not to hear about it. To be honest when I heard about it I was curious about what all the commotion was about so decided to check out. Big mistake. I got through a few seconds of it before I had to stop, realising that this was definitely not good for the soul.
Many of us Christians don't verbally share our faith because of a fear of being labelled by others a 
I was asked to film a drama at our school which was about sustainability. The focus was on solar 
