The importance of Scripture memory

Memorizing Scripture is an essential part of the Christian life.  It is even more essential to evangelism.  The Bible itself even says that it is a powerful tool for evangelism.  Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  The purpose of God’s Word is to draw people to Jesus.  If we use it, it will accomplish that purpose.  But honestly, who carries their Bible with them wherever they go?  I’m sure that it wouldn’t be a bad idea, but sometimes that could be impractical.  Therefore, in order for us to use the Bible in evangelism, and in order to be ready at all times, we need to memorize God’s Word.

Besides being ready to use Scripture in your evangelism, Scripture can also help us fight temptation.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”  Besides the obvious reason of sin essentially being spitting in the face of God, we need to not sin so we can be a good witness to those around us.  If you do things that you know are wrong and don’t hold yourself to higher standards, it could seriously hurt your ability to witness to those around you, and it could also distort people’s view of Christianity.  Therefore, we must hide God’s Word in our hearts.

In Christ,

Matt

Side Note:  I have recently discovered a great event called the National Bible Bee.  It is a Scripture knowledge and memory competition.  You can get more information about it here, though the deadline for this year is past: www.biblebee.org.  Also, there is a tool for Scripture memorization at www.memorizehisword.com.  These are great tools and motivators for Scripture memory!

Evangelizing With the Youth Group

Earlier tonight, my Mom and I were able to go witnessing with a church here in town. I was somewhat excited about it, as we had never done it with them before. We arrived several minutes early, then loaded up the bus with (mostly) the church’s youth group. As we were driving, Mom handed me a paper wrapped in plastic which had their general “Gospel” presentation.

I looked it over, and it wasn’t too bad. It did give the Gospel pretty well, and was fairly simple. We arrived at the condos and chose partners. Mine was a good talker who had obiviosly done it before, so I became the secondary speaker (which was alright with me). I also carried the notepad to record what the people in the houses said, or if they were home or not. 

The first house turned out to be the only house which let us go through the whole presentation. She seemed to be about twenty and was friendly, but shy. My partner began by saying “I’m taking a religious servay,” and then proceeded to ask several questions, ending with “Are you 100% sure you’ve saved?” She wasn’t, and said so.

He then went on to begin sharing the Gospel, and it was exciting! But, when it came time to tell her about her sin and her need for a Savior, he zoomed through that part. I was disappointed. I had made occasional interjections and said a few things, but he carried the conversation mostly. He ended by asking, “Would you like to pray a simple prayer that will make you 100% sure you’re going to Heaven?” She was totally confused… and I think I was too. =)

She said she was too shy to pray with us. I could tell she just wasn’t convicted and if she had prayed the “simple prayer”, it would have been a false conversion for sure. People need to know they’re a sinner and need God, before knowing there’s a way to Heaven. I’m so glad to have learned The Way of the Master teaching courses, they taught me a lot!

We went through about eight more houses, and all of them were either busy or not home, so we gave tracks to most the houses. All of the groups were done as well, except for my Mom who went with another lady. We went to the bus as they talked to a girl. We waited and waited, until the youth pastor suggested we pray for the conversation they were having. We all did, and I now know that person is further interesting about Salvation and may come to the church. Praise God!

Since we had arrived, this 5-or-so-year-old boy had been riding around on his bicycle, and would shout things like “Praise the Lord” (somewhat mockingly, at all) and “Are you guys hippies”, etc., to us. I really wanted to talk to him, as I’ve been reading How to Succeed in Winning Children to Christ, and it is a very good book. I went out of the bus to talk to him, but he ran away saying “Oh no! The crazy man is coming for me!” =)

I chuckled, and started walking around the bus to get back inside. I saw three more boys by the bus, who all appeared to be a little younger than me. The final group walking towards us, so I didn’t have time to give the full Gospel to them, but one of them asked, “So do you go to church?” I was amazed at someone would give me a chance to share the Gospel with them! 

Sadly, I didn’t have much time. I said something like “Yes, I do,” and asked them if they did. After they answered, I asked if any of them had their own Bible, and they all said they did. I encouraged them to read it, as God’s Word is very important!

If this trip did only one thing, it was to make me more thankful of the way I’ve learned to share my faith. Although, several people who the group talked to was impacted, and many tracts were given out – so the trip was not meaningless! God is working, so we’ll see how He uses it.

God bless, J.J.

Road Block

Hi everyone!  This is a post from my personal blog…I hope you not only enjoy it, but that you can apply it to your life as a Christian.

I’ve totally hit a “road-block!” I have 6 different sites on the bottom of my screen (2 e-mails, this blog, facebook, a different blog, and the Rebelution site), but I don’t know what to do. My brain feels like mush. I’m having to type and re-type because my fingers won’t “say” what I want them to “say” the first time they hit the computer keyboard. I think that sometimes our spiritual life, our walk with Christ, is like that. We know that there is a lot that we can do. We know that we have our “6 different sites on the bottom of our screens” (praying, reading the Bible, talking with someone about Christ, etc.), but we just don’t know what to do. We can’t think or feel, but yet somehow we manage to keep living life. There isn’t always a reason for feeling numb, it just happens sometimes. We get busy with our lives, our friends, school, and all the things that “have to get done.” We spend ourselves on what we think is important and totally exhaust and stress ourselves out, but totally forget to leave time for what and Who is truly the most important to spend our time on. Everyone says, “We need to find/make time for God,” but I’m here to tell you that that statement is just not true!!! We don’t need to make time for God, our almighty Creator who should be the most important in our lives, we need to make time for all the other things in life. We need to put God first and then worry about the other things that need to get done in our lives. When we “exhaust ourselves” and “spend all our time” on Christ, like we should, everything else is just going to fall into place. We’re going to have time to study, read books, check our e-mail, do missions projects, and hang out with friends if we put Jesus first! That’s a guarantee!!! But it’s not guarantee that you’ll “have time” for your Savior if you push Him to the end of your day. When you meet Him face to face, do you want to stand there knowing that you should and could have “made more time” for the One who died for you so that you could have everlasting life, or do you want to hear Jesus say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”? Put Jesus first today!

I hope that this all makes sence to you, readers. I felt that I needed to blog what was on my heart…even if I’m not totally functioning mentally because of the busy day! I admit to you that I failed in putting Jesus Christ first in my life today, but I will tomorrow, and I hope you will too!

Hugs and Prayers,

Kendra Allison

Book review!

How to Share Your Faith Without an Argument written by Bill Faye. (Read here.) I’d have to say this booklet  is excellent, truly excellent. Though only thirty three pages long, the great ideas and examples it shares are a wealth of knowledge. It teaches the use of interesting questions that get people thinking, but which bring no cause for an argument. It then shows how to have the unbeliever read the verses out loud and tell you, the soul winner, what God means by the verses. This leaves their argument with God, not you. This technique also opens the door to the Holy Spirit to speak directly to the person because they have to interpret what God is saying. The booklet gives several verses to explain this way of sharing your faith.

My parents had talked quite a bit about the book, but I never read it until tonight, and I wish I’d done so much earlier! Why don’t you read it right now? Read here. I took me about an hour or so, and it was very well spent. If you can’t read it now, make a point to read it tomorrow. You can’t miss out on it!

God’s richest blessings!
Levi

Here’s another testimony

As a Christian, I feel compelled to tell others of the work God has done in my life. I also feel that it is my responsibility to help others who come from a situation similar to mine. You often hear that God works through bad to work for good. This is true, but it has been written off as a simple cliché to be glossed over and discarded.

This idea is not however one to be glossed over. It is the rallying cry for so many people. God has used the worst parts of my life to bring about the best parts. Through my pain, God has called me to a new level of closeness to him. He has comforted me and taught me things that up to a year ago I would not have seen as possible.

When I was an infant, my father abandoned my mother and me. I have seen him twice since then: once in Publix grocery store; the other time was at the local movie theater. I always wondered what it would be like if he had stayed, why he didn’t want me, and whether or not I would be accepted among my friends, because I had no father. My mother has loved me and done everything in her power to make me happy since the day I was born, but I always had these nagging thoughts in my head.

I never hated my father for abandoning me; Far from it. I longed for someone to teach me; someone to love me and accept me as their own. For years, I blamed myself for this. I called myself weak, and said if I had a son as repulsing as me that I would have left too. I blamed myself for my mother’s unhappiness, and the lines that were etched into her skin from the stress that is constantly on a single-mother. When I was five, she was married to a man named David. Though he was named as the man after God’s own heart, he was no such man. He was a weak man, vindictive and cruel. He suffered from bipolar disorder, but he was still responsible for his actions. He pretended to love me for two years, and even adopted me. A year later, my mom had a daughter and he no longer wanted or needed me to carry on the family name. For years, he verbally and physically abused me. He would backhand me to the floor, and kick me repeatedly. His reasons were things like the fact that I had forgot to make my bed, or I was going to make them late. He would hurt me, showing no mercy, and several times I feared for my life. As I grew, the beatings escalated, and three times my mom kicked him out of our house. For a time all was well.

Everything was good, except for me. The next year he returned and moved back in saying that he was better and he was on a new medicine. A week went by before he threw me to the floor and tried to throw me down the stairs. My mom had had enough. She had him arrested and filed for a divorce. During the divorce, we realized that he was addicted to prostitutes and had been with 100+ women during the marriage. My mom was devastated she cried for 3 days straight, and I hated this man even more. He had pushed this family beyond breaking point and I just wanted him to die.

I was suicidal for about two months and was checked into a children’s hospital. It helped me a lot with the fact that this was not my fault; But I still hated. It grew inside of me and ate me from the inside out. My life grew worse, at school I was bullied and actually had to change schools because of this. From there my life improved and I found the Lord. I loved him but I didn’t know him. I went on a family building retreat last October with my mother. This retreat was the single most important part of my life. I learned forgiveness, and it changed my life. I knew what he did, but I no longer hated him. I had truly forgiven him for those long years. This was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I no longer hurt. I no longer was constantly tired, or hurt. Forgiveness is the most important thing that has happened to me besides being saved. Because of this, I felt it was my responsibility as a Christian to share my testimony with you. If you have been abused in your life, or have general hurts, I want to be here to support you with empathy not sympathy. I want to help you get through this because I know how it is to go for years without any help. I pray for you even though I don’t know you, and will pray for you even more when I learn of you particular situation.

May the Lord bless you and keep you forever and ever. Amen.

New Scriptures

Hey everyone!

I was doing some thinking (ya I know it’s dangerous but sometimes it’s healthy XD), and I realized that there are probably a whole bunch of Bible verses that we don’t have on our Scriptures page.  I also realized that some of you readers might have some that we are missing.  If you know of any good, evangelism-related Bible verses that fit in any of our categories on the Scripture page not listed there, feel free to leave a comment with the verses and we’ll be sure to add them.  We really appreciate anything you can give us .

Matt

They just keep coming…

Got another testimony for you all!

I was raised in a Christian home, and at the age of five I was watching a Donut Man video. The Donut Man was saying that our hearts are like a donut, there’s an empty space that we can’t fill. But Jesus comes in and fills up that empty place (the Donut Man used a donut hole for this part) and takes away our sins. So I went and found my dad, and he and I prayed on the stairs of our deck. And that’s how I initially trusted in Jesus Christ.

Some time went by, and I continued going to church, having a Christian upbringing, etc. But my faith still wasn’t really my own. I wasn’t letting Christ run my life. When I was twelve I went to church camp. The speaker was talking about surrendering all that we have to Christ, and letting him be the center of our lives. I prayed for God to change me, and let him run my life.

Since then I have really grown in my faith, and God has taken me through lots of difficulties. I am constantly shown that I can’t do anything good on my own, can’t get through anything on my own, but I can with God. I love Jesus and am so glad he saved me.

One more testimony

I’ve got another testimony to share with you!

My life was normal until 2nd grade. I accepted Christ at the age of three, and was raised by Godly parents in a Christian environment. But when 2nd grade came around, the doctor discovered I have growth hormone deficiency by a 6-hour blood test and an MRI. Without an addition of hormones to my body, I would be around 4′ tall full grown. The only way to make my life regular was to take shots. Since then, I give myself a shot in the stomach every day. It’s not painful, but it is highly expensive and a big hassle. Just last summer (0 I was given a second long test (around 4 hours) to determine if I still needed to take shots. Duringthe test, I was shot with insulin to simulate a 24-hour period. Unfortunately, my blood sugar dropped very close to death and I was somewhat sick. A few weeks later we discovered that I would have to continue taking shots, to avoid obesity and to keep my body functioning. This was a hard time for me, as I struggled with what the purpose of it was. God kept bringing me back to Romans 8:28, and it didn’t take me long to get my life back focused on Him. But I still have to face the consequences, and will for the rest of my life. Obesity as I grow older could become a factor, and the outrageous price of the medicine could become a major problem in the future, plus I have a weak immune system and get sick easily. But God was with me through all of it, and taught me that He would bring beauty from my pain.

While this was a very hard time in my life, I have been blessed in so many ways. God has given me a great family, an easy way of life, and a plethora of Christian friends. Around four years ago, my mom started a small group for me and three friends. Now there are eight of us, and they are a great way to stay accountable in Christ.

Probably the greatest thing that God did for me during this time was show me what to do with my life. When I was young, all I wanted to be was a missionary. I’d try to convert my (Christian) grandmother, and practice telling Jesus’ story to her. When I was six, I handed out the Easter story as I had written it. But as I grew older, I was still very firmly a Christian but my interests swayed from misssions. But just several months ago (2008), God spoke to me and told me that missions was where I could be used, specifically in the Middle East, and possibly as a Wycliffe Bible translator. I’m not sure what God has in store for me, but if I keep on His narrow way and focus on Him, whatever it is will be the best thing for me.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28

Hannnah

Street Evangelism

A little while ago, I started a series on  Evangelism. We’ve already talked about Friendship evangelism. So now I’d like to move onto Street or Cold Evangelism. I haven’t used this technique much and it seems sometimes to put people off. However, I know people who have used this method with some success. Basically just as you’re walking around, living life and, when you come in contact with other people you tell them the Gospel. Not neccessarily all the time, but you’re on the lookout for people who need Jesus. This is a good idea if the idea of talking to people you know scares you. It’s kind of hard to follow up with this, but there are ways to do it. One of the people on this site actually set up another site to which he directs people he’s talked to. Whatever method you decide to use, it’s always a good idea to tell people about the good news.

Start of Evangelism series

Hey all! I’ve been given the privilege of starting off the evangelism series.

So, I’ve decided to start off with what I like to call love evangelism. This is a really big subject, but I feel like God has been laying this on my heart more and more.  I have been evangelizing to my friends for a while now, but it’s only recently that I’ve started thinking about using this style of evangelism.

I think you have to start with understanding that every person you meet is just that, a person. And what’s more, if they’re hurting they don’t want you to throw a bible at them. They want you to understand them.  And if you think about it, that’s what Jesus did. He didn’t go around telling people to repent and turn to Him, he loved them and made friends.

I believe that if you live for you life for Christ, and spend more time loving people than you do preaching at them, they will notice a difference, and want to know why you are different.  I’m not saying that you should never bring up the gospel, I’m simply saying that it might be better to start a relationship first.

This brings me to another point, when you do get into a “religious” discussion, you have to be careful not to bash the person or their beliefs. Nobody wants to be yelled at, and nobody really wants to be told they’re wrong. I had the best results when I took this approach. Instead of attacking my friend and his religion, I listened to what he believed and then showed him what I believe. This particular person believes in the Bible so, I showed him what he said, and what the Bible said. While I didn’t actually bring him to Christ, I believe God helped me to plant seeds.

I hope this has caused you to think about your approach to evangelism.

In Christ,

History Maker