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.

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

Validity of the Bible.

It is vital for the Christian to know that the book he believes in has exceptional proof. With such an important topic, I thought it necessary for this post to be long. When confronted with skepticism of the Bible’s truth, many Christians simply say something like, “I believe that the Bible is true.” The problem is: It doesn’t matter what you believe; it matters that it is actually true. With that in mind, what proof is there of the Bible?

Uniqueness- Though it doesn’t make it true, the uniqueness of the Bible is unparalleled. Here is a book that was: 1. Written over a 1600 year span. 2. Written during 60 generations. 3. Written by over 40 authors from every walk of life including kings, peasants, statesmen, fishermen, etc. 4. Written in many different places including a wilderness, a dungeon, a hillside and inside a palace, written while traveling, on the isle of Patmos, and in the rigors of a military campaign. 5. Written at different times and during different moods: David in times of war. Solomon in times of peace. Some writings were written during heights of joy, others were written in sorrow and despair. 6. Written on three continents and in three different languages. 9. Its subject matter includes hundreds of controversial subjects which would normally create opposing opinions when mentioned or discussed. 10. Despite all of these extremes, the Bible’s continuity is astounding. Imagine simply ten modern day authors writing a book about a similar controversial subject; it would likely be a confusing conglomeration. The way the Bible agrees with itself is wonderfully great. Not only does the Bible show amazing things inside its pages, but facts simply about it show uniqueness. The Bible has approximately 150 million copies printed annually. That far outweighs the printing of any other book. Also, more than 5,000 ancient, hand written, Greek New Testaments are in existence today, greatly exceeding any other writing from long ago. Homer’s Iliad,which is considered very valid by modern critics, has only five hundred manuscripts in known existence. The Bible’s uniqueness is amazing.

Claimed to be written by God- Most people don’t realize it, but the Bible claims to be written by God. 2Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2Peter 1:21 “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”  God used men as a tool to write the Bible. Some may say that because men are not perfect, men couldn’t write the perfect word of God. This is where God’s supernatural power arrives. It’s been said, “God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.” He is powerful enough to enact a flawless scripture using flawed people. The Bible says, “thus saith the Lord…” over 3,000 times. But just because the Bible claims to be written by God isn’t enough. I could write a note that says, “-from God” at the end, but that wouldn’t mean it was true. Now I’ll show some actual proofs of the Bible’s truth.

Non-contradictory- The first test employed to test the validity of a document, like the Bible, is a test that checks for internal contradictions.  If a document gives two different dates for the same event or explains an event two different ways, it is discarded.  However, there must be no way to explain away the contradiction, or the contradiction will be ignored.  The Bible has many apparent contradictions, if you look hard enough, but they can all be explained away to misinterpretation, mistranslation, etc.  There are no contradictions that hold well enough to disprove the Bible.

History and Archaeological- There hasn’t been a single fact of history that has contradicted the Bible. The Bible was always supported historical data. If men had written a book with so much history, it would be very likely to hold many errors. Not so with the Bible, after all these years, not a single historical fallacy has been found. It is the same with archaeological data. To this day, there hasn’t been anything in the Middle East found that contradicts the Bible; in fact, the archaeologist’s finds have strengthened the Bible’s validity. Over 25,000 archaeological finds have been discovered relating to the Bible, and each supports the Bible’s trustworthiness. “If you can believe the physical records in the Bible to be true, why can’t you believe in the spiritual?” Is a good question to ask.

Prophecy- This is truly the greatest proof of the Bible (Isaiah 48:3-7). Prophecy is a great ally to us. Suppose someone was to write a book that fortold events of the future, and those events didn’t come to pass, you could reasonably say that the book is false. Now if the prophecy did happen, it would provide great validity for the book. Statistically, there is no possible way for a human to prophecy the future with 100% accuracy, but that is exactly what the Bible has done. Approximately 25% of the Bible contains foretelling of the future. That means that a quarter of the Bible is prophecy. All have come true except for a few that will happen when Christ returns. Not only have they been fulfilled, but they have been fulfilled to the minutest degree. Here are a few starters:

• Zechariah 11:12b “…So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.” It was said the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver! (Matthew 26:15)
• The Old testament states that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, John 7:42). It also says that the Messiah will come out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1, Mathew 2:15). Then the Old Testament also says that he will be called a Nazarene (Isaiah 11:1,Mathew 2:23). The Jews were confused by these references because they took it to mean that God would be coming from three different places. They considered that maybe there was going to be more than one Messiah. The amazing thing is, is that Jesus fulfilled all of these prophecies Himself! He was born in Bethlehem, he then was taken by his parents to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath. Later Jesus returned to Nazareth and thus, was called a Nazarene.
• In Ezekiel 26:3-21 it prophecies some very precise prophecies about the great city Tyre. It says: 1. Nebuchadnezzar will destroy the mainland city of Tyre. 2. Many nations fight against Tyre. 3. Make her bare rock; flat like the top of a rock. 4. Fishermen will spread their nets over the site. 5. Throw debris into the water. 6. Never be rebuilt. 7. Never to be found again. These prophecies have all come true to amazing detail. After Nebuchadnezzar attacked Tyre, Alexander the Great attacked Tyre and eventually pulled it into the sea. It was made a bare rock, and to this day fishermen spread their nets on it. And lest people think that nearly every big city of ancient days is destroyed, it also says how the city of Sidon would be attacked, but it never says that it would be destroyed. Sidon was, in fact, not destroyed, but Tyre was brought to ruin. There are many more biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled through history.
• The prophecy in these verses is overwhelming: Psalms 22:15 “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” When it says, “My tongue cleaveth to my jaws”, it refers to Christ thirst and his asking for a drink while on the cross (John 19:23). Later it says, “they pierced my hands and my feet”. Jesus was nailed to the cross by His hands and feet (John 20:25). A remarkable fact is that at the time these verses were written crucifixion wasn’t even invented. It would be over 800 years before a cross was even used as a means of punishment. It then says, “I may tell all my bones:”. In other words, it is saying that He can count all of his bones; they aren’t broken. In the normal crucifixion process the soldiers would break the legs of the punished to make breathing more difficult. But when the Roman soldier saw that Jesus was already dead, he instead simply speared Him in the side (John 19:26). Lastly, when it says, “ They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”, it is astounding to note that Jesus’ garment was truly gambled on by the soldiers with lots(John 19:24).

Not only did Jesus fulfill these prophecies, but He fulfilled more than 300 other prophecies. And they had been written down for hundreds of years before he was born. The odds for one man to fulfill 300 prophecies in one lifetime are next to impossible. The Bible has over 2,000 prophecies in the Old Testament alone. No other religious book even compares to that . Believing the Bible to be true is not a blind leap of faith, rather it is a calculated step of faith into Jesus.

These statements were compiled using information found in the Bible, Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell, The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven by Mark Cahill, and One Heartbeat Away by Mark Cahill. (Levi speaking)

The Power of Scripture

Hey everyone,

Scripture, the inspired word of God, that was written by man, has been a strength through all ages. God used many different people from all walks of life to be his tool for writing His Word.
One amazing thing about the Bible is it’s uniqueness. The Bible is very different from all other books. -It was written over a span of 1,600 years. -It was written by over 40 authors from all walks of life including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, even a doctor. -It was written in many different places like, a wilderness, a dungeon, on the isle of Patmos, in the rigors of a military campaign. -It was written during different moods, some wrote from the heights of joy and others from the depths of despair. -The scripture has foretold many things that were in the future, and they came to pass. -The Bible is the actual word of God! 2Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The Bible has many uses in our lives. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ” God’s word is extremely powerful! Quoting scripture to believers and unbelievers releases an authority from God. The Bible is also a great source of inspiration and comfort. Psalms 119:105  “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” God’s word leads us to His ways and plans for our life. Follow it! In Romans 10:17 it says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” The word of Christ while he was on earth has been copied down in the Gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.

With the tremendous advantages of reading scripture, how can we not read it every day? Every hour? I encourage and exhort you to read God’s word. Meditate on scripture. It will give you Life!

By Levi.

Wait on the Lord

This is something that SO many people, including myself, struggle with as they evangelize.  We too often become impatient when people don’t accept Christ right away.  We need to avoid that; it makes it so much harder to evangelize and often discourages us.

The Bible speaks of this in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” This has got to be pretty important if God says “wait” twice.

I have a really good example of this. I was trying to witness to my friend, and I kept inviting him to youth group, but, he didn’t come, and he didn’t come. So, I honestly got discouraged, but, I took it to God, I said, “God this is in your hands, there’s nothing I can do at this point.” Finally, I got a chance to witness to him yesterday. And God totally showed up, my friend really started thinking about what I was saying. So, waiting for God really does help, if you bash the door open and try to work on your own strength, it doesn’t work. He empowers you as long as you wait for His timing.

One more verse to think on. James 5:7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.

As farmers of evangelism seed we need to wait for the Lord’s timing to yield a harvest.

In Him,

History Maker

Weekly devotional 2

History Maker says:

Grace gasps for air, as once again her lungs change from life giving
organs, to turgid muscle. Brian apologizes for the thousandth time, because he didn’t come to the meeting that would save his soul. James asks me to stop talking about religion, when I’m talking about the relationship he so desperately needs. I count the money I have as the time for my missions trip comes nearer and find that I’m still short.

All these worries and more tug at my heart. So often I bring them to God and tell Him, please, take care of this, this problem too God. A few hours later, I’m worrying again, I take back the problems, and try to think of a way to solve them. I’m a very independent person, so I’m used to doing things my way, but a lot of times, there’s things I just can’t take care of, there’s things I have to put in His more than capable hands.

So, there’s obviously some major problems I can’t handle, but what about the little problems, the things most people would think I *should* be able to handle? Should I give those to Him too? Or should I handle them myself?

Well, let’s think about it, let’s look at the Bible and see what God has to say about it, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT) Note the word *all* it doesn’t say, cast *some*, or cast *most*, but it says all, that means, the littlest thing, He cares about all of it. Still not convinced? Take a look at Matthew 6:28-34 ” 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will
we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God [a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

From this scripture you can see, God will take every worry for us, even
down to what we wear. You see, God cares about everything, He will take care of us.

Earlier, I shared a quote, that I honestly believe was from God, I heard
Him whisper in my ear, “Space is big enough to boggle the human mind, yet small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.” If God can hold space, he can definitely hold little me and my (compared to Him) little problems, He’s got it. I need to quit worrying. I know, it’s a hard lesson to learn, and honestly, I’m still learning it, but, the more I pray, and the more I tell myself to give Him my problems, the more he gives me peace and tells me, “I’ve got it, it’s under control.”

What worry do you need to surrender to Him?

The Gospel Message

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to publish something in “gospel message” section, because I believe that this is one of the most important things on our blog.  So here is my explanation.

Matt says:

First off, we need to realize that we are all sinners, whether we think so or not.  Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (emphasis added).  We all do things that God tells us not to and avoid doing things that God tells us to do.  The judgment for this is death.  Romans 6:23a says, “For the wages of sin is death…”  Now realize that I mean spiritual death, not physical.  After we die physically, there is a judgment where God decides what happens to us next.  Either we go to heaven, or we go to, well, you know.  If we were judged based solely on our deeds and how much good we did, no one would go to heaven.  It takes one sin to kick you out for good.  Here is where the good news comes in.  Romans 6:23b says, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christs our Lord.”  God has given us a chance to spend eternity in heaven.  He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins.  He came to earth, was born as a baby, lived a sinless life, and died in our place.  He was then buried in the tomb of one of His followers.  Finally, after three days, He rose from the dead, fully alive.

Levi says:

There is so many important aspects of the gospel. God’s probably thinking, “Levi, get realistic, you don’t know half.” I will attempt to say what I think to be important. First “Gospel” means “Good news”, I think that for you to see that news is good, you first have to hear the bad news. The bad news is: Rom 3:23 ” For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Lets face it. I think I can safely say that we have all lied (at least). And if you have lied then “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10) That means that if you have lied that you are guilty of of murdering, theft, it all. Further more the Bible says Rev 28:1b ”all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire”. That puts everybody in quite the pickle. God is such a righteous judge that He will send you to hell for sinning once.

Now for the gospel (good news). God doesn’t want to send you to hell. So why doesn’t he automatically send everyone to heaven? Because he is righteous. What righteous judge on earth would let people guilty of murder and theft go scott free? No, God requires something. Also, God had a lot of effort on his part for us to be able to be saved. He sent His Son to earth to live in the same temptations each of us have. His Son, Jesus, didn’t fall for those temptations, Jesus was and is most thoroughly perfect. He was killed for our sins. Jesus gave up his life so that we could be saved from our sins. He took our sins onto himself. Its a hard concept. It would be like a surgeon taking our disease ridden brain and switching it with his own. Or a stranger coming into a courtroom and paying our 500 million dollar fine. Jesus paid our debt that he didn’t owe and we couldn’t pay. Hallelujah! He then rose from the dead defying death! He asks you you to believe and have faith in Him and he will forgive you of your sins and give you eternal life. You must repent (change) of your ways and be made new.

He also says that you shall know them by their fruits. The things you do (what you watch on TV, think about others, things you say) are evidences of your faith and belief. Reports have shown that their is no difference between the morality of those who call themselves Christians and those who say they are not. What does that tell you? It should tell that their is a lot of hypocrytes who are going to hell thinking that that one prayer when they were three will save them. I know this sounds extreme, but a good tree won’t have bad fruits.                    There you have it. That’s my gospel message.

History Maker says:

I see the gospel message as one of love, Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” I think that is amazing while we were still in full rebellion against God, He sent His son to die for us. While we were still doing wicked deeds, while we still hated God, He sent His son for us.  John 15:13 says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” Again, we see that word “love” again. Because of His amazing love for us He lay down his life, so we could go into eternity with Him. The last “proof” of love I see is that He gave eternal life to us as a free gift, we don’t have to do anything to enter into a relationship with Him all we have to do is believe. Ephesians 2:8-9 say, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no man may boast.” Three words stand out to me, grace, faith and gift. Grace is getting something good you don’t deserve, faith is believing, and a gift is something you get, you don’t work for a gift. So, what does the gospel mean to me? In a nutshell it’s LOVE!