Good Soil?

In Luke 8 we have the parable of the Sower going forth sowing his seed.  The Scriptures tell us that the Seed is the Word of God and that we have a duty to sow His Word.  Often though the seed falls onto stony or thorny soil.  The problem - bad soil!

Instead of ignoring the bad soil and just trying to find 'good' soil - let's work harder at trying to prepare the bad soil for the seed.  In this era when less and less have any understanding of the Word of God or who Jesus Christ is - we need to start at the beginning.

Eight key words that must be understood:  God, man, sin, death, Christ, cross, faith, life.  We need to make sure that the lost understand the importance and meaning of each of these profound truths!

Personal Evangelsim - R.B. Ouellette

Personal Evangelism

• Outreach
 
• soulwinning

Dr. R.B. Ouellette

There are those who would tell us that evangelism is a gift—some Christians may have it, and others do not. Yet neither Romans 12 or 1 Corinthians 12 list evangelism among the spiritual gifts. The office of the evangelist is mentioned in Ephesians 4, however, this is not a listing of spiritual gifts, but of gifted persons. The reason for the omission among the spiritual gifts is simple. God gave His command to every believer to preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:19–20). How can we personally and effectively share this Gospel?

Follow the Scripture’s Model

In many of our churches, it has become common to go soulwinning at a particular time each week. I think it is wonderful to have a definite, scheduled time to go out and give the Gospel to people. I believe that if we don’t schedule a soulwinning time, many of us are not likely to go. Just as we have a time to read our Bible and a time to pray, we should have a time to go soulwinning. However, we have not completed our mission or obeyed God’s command when we have gone an hour and a half each week. Remember, the commandment is that the Gospel is to be given to “every creature.” Please note these examples from the lives of our Lord and His disciples.

Their soulwinning was personal. Though the Lord Jesus addressed crowds on many occasions, He also spoke individually to the woman at the well, to Zacchaeus, to the man who was blind from birth, and to a host of others.

While the early Christians were personal in their witnessing, it did not limit the scope of their soulwinning. Look at how the Bible describes their witness, “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

“…ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine…” (Acts 5:28). Paul said, “…I am pure from the blood of all men” (Acts 20:26).

While I have had the privilege to win people to Christ out soulwinning many times, some of my most wonderful experiences have not been during a scheduled “soulwinning time.” I’ve led people to Christ on airplanes, in restaurants, in the line at a grocery store, across the counter in a motel, and in hospital lobbies. Wherever there are people, there are people who need to hear the Gospel.

Listen to the Holy Spirit

While we are commanded to preach the Gospel to every creature, we must always be led by the Spirit in the way that we approach them. It is interesting to note how the Lord Jesus used the conversation about a well to turn a woman to Christ. The Apostle Paul used a statue to an unknown God to tell people of the true and living God and His Son, Jesus. Stephen gave a complete lecture on Hebrew history before making the Gospel application which so angered his persecutors that they picked up rocks and began to stone him. Each approach was different. Each approach was led by the Holy Spirit.

Just a few months after I had come to First Baptist of Bridgeport, I was feeling a bit frazzled with all I had to do. I needed to work on a Sunday morning sermon, a Sunday evening sermon, a Wednesday Bible study, a Bible school lesson and a Bible school skit. I asked the Lord which one of these I should work on next. The answer I got was, “Go visit John Bailey.”

Now, I had given a multiple-choice question to the Lord and He had answered as if it were a fill-in-the-blank! When I had visited Mr. Bailey just a couple of weeks before, he was kind, but he had made it clear that he had studied with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and was not interested in trusting Christ as his Saviour. As I reluctantly drove to his home in response to God’s fill-in-the-blank answer, I remember thinking, “What do I say to a guy to whom I’ve just given the Gospel a couple of weeks earlier?” I came up with an extremely clever approach.

When he answered the door, I said, “Hi, have you thought any more about getting saved?” (See how subtle and smooth I was?)

To my surprise, he answered “Yes, I have.”

That day, John Bailey not only got saved, but he became a faithful member of our church and his was the first wedding I performed.

Spread the Seed Everywhere

At first, it might have seemed that witnessing to John Bailey wouldn’t come to anything. But as we learn from Jesus in the Parable of the Sower in Mark chapter four, our responsibility is to spread the seed of the Word everywhere. Some were sown on the hardened path were people walked. Some were on shallow ground with only a few inches of soil covering rocks. Some were on thorny ground and some on good ground.

This distribution can seem inefficient. Why would the Lord want us to waste seed in places where it seems obvious that fruit cannot come? Because He wants everyone to hear the Gospel. In addition to that, we may not be as much of an expert at determining what the condition of the soil is as we think. Many with hardened exteriors have hungry hearts. That’s why we ought to give a tract to every person we can; to speak to every person we have the opportunity to, and not to disqualify anyone in our mind. Despite falling on several types of grounds which did not yield fruit, some did. “And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:8).

We plant, others water, but God gives the increase.

I am often reminded of a story that I heard Dr. Ford Porter, the author of God’s Simple Plan of Salvation, tell when I was a young man. He had ridden his bicycle to a bus stop and was passing out Gospel tracts. He began a conversation with a man on the bus. The man was interested and was listening to the Gospel but the bus was pulling away. As clearly as he could in a limited time, Dr. Porter explained the Gospel to this man and led him to Christ. He even rode his bicycle along the bus for a short time as it pulled away from the stop. Later on, someone said, “Ford, don’t tell that story. No one will believe it.” After all, the time was short, the conversation was rushed, and though Dr. Porter did the very best he could in the time allotted, it wasn’t what we would call a thorough presentation of the Gospel.

A few months later, Ford Porter was at the same street corner, this time without his bicycle, passing out tracts and trying to win people to Christ. He asked a passerby if he was on his way to Heaven and the man said, “Yes.”

“Wonderful,” said Dr. Porter. “When did you get saved?”

“Well,” he said, “A couple of months ago, I was riding a bus and a man on a bicycle came by and gave me a Gospel tract.” Let us give as much Gospel as we can to everybody we can and trust God, by His Spirit, to bring forth fruit.

Gospels of John

I would recommend checking out www.ptl.org The Pocket Testament League.  They have the Gospel of John attractively published in a variety of eye catching covers and ask only for a donation to cover the publishing cost.

 

Get them Lost by Mike Ray

Get Them Lost

Recognition of Sin Must Precede Salvation

Mike Ray

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke19:10
Have you ever tried to get somebody saved who just did not see the urgency of making an immediate decision? Have you ever had anyone pray the sinner’s prayer and just couldn’t seem to get assurance after it? Or worse than that, after praying, they still talked about how they “still would have gone to Heaven anyway, even before praying ‘that prayer.’” What’s the problem? We did not get them lost before we got them saved. In the fifteenth chapter of Luke we have the key phrase—“that which was lost.” Three lost objects are the center of attention—a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. One of the big mistakes of some soulwinners is trying to get a sinner saved before he thoroughly realizes that he is lost.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus tried to reveal man’s lost condition before He revealed God’s salvation. Do you remember Nicodemus, the Pharisee, coming to Jesus by night? Jesus kept pounding away at the truth—“Ye must be born again.” Nicodemus was a good man who needed salvation. The more moral or religious a person is, the more we must emphasize the depravity of man. You don’t have to prove to a drug addict, gang member, or prostitute that they are lost and deserve Hell—they already know it. Pride stands in the way of people admitting their lost condition. Do you remember the woman at the well? She said, “Give me this water.” Jesus did not say, “Okay, here it is.” He said, “Go, call thy husband.” Jesus knew He had to deal first with the sin issue. Romans 3:23 and 6:23 must come before 10:13! We have idolized Romans 10:13 to the point that it is often taken out of context. It is only applicable when the truth of sin (Romans 3:23 and 6:23) is understood first. A prayer by a person who does not think he needs saving does nothing but waste words.
Salvation is not a prayer. Salvation is from the heart! (See Romans 10:10.) When unsaved people in a church service hear a clear presentation of the Gospel with an appeal to get saved, sometimes they are saved the moment they step into the aisle. The “prayer of salvation” simply confirms their decision. Why pray then? The prayer is claiming the promise of Romans 10:13! It also “nails down” the moment of salvation to keep the devil and doubts away.
Years ago two ladies were out soulwinning. The trainer knocked on a door where a lady answered, “I’m an atheist and don’t believe the Bible,” and then shut the door. They went to the next door. The trainer began witnessing to the next person and realized her “trainee” was missing. A few moments later the sincere, zealous trainee who was unknowledgeable about the Bible doctrine of salvation, returned saying, “She just got saved. I got the atheist to put her hand on the Bible and repeat the sinner’s prayer.” She showed her no Scripture. The atheist didn’t believe the Bible. Words were simply repeated. No salvation took place. Now don’t get me wrong. “I’d rather a Christian do that than not try to witness at all, but better yet is the soulwinner who works at getting them lost so they can clearly be saved!
Scripture says, “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Galatians 3:24). Why is the Law in both Exodus and Deuteronomy? God wanted to emphasize and define the penalty of sin. D.L. Moody had a favorite sermon with four parts:

1. Man is lost and going to Hell.
2. Man can do nothing to save himself.
3. God does not require man to save himself.
4. Jesus did it all.

In years gone by, before the media and modern transportation, the average family farmed and stayed near home. Revivals were a big thing where entire communities came. They had much time to think about the sermons they heard. That is why Jonathan Edwards, Billy Sunday, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and others saw so much conviction with people weeping and crying aloud for mercy! The people realized they were totally lost—then totally saved.
We live in a day in which there’s little guilt for sin and little repentance. Jesus is thought of as someone who simply “brings happiness.” He is treated as an “additive to your life.”
Jesus was very gentle in leading openly wicked sinners to Himself (the woman caught in adultery, the Maniac of Gadara, etc.). But He was very hard on the Pharisees, scribes, and hypocrites. Do you remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus? He said he had kept all the commandments (he lied). Jesus then put His finger on the idolatry in this man’s life—his riches. Did Jesus want him to be saved? Oh, yes! But He had to first get him lost. The rich ruler would not admit his lost condition and left sorrowfully.
How would a grown man in a four foot swimming pool feel about you diving in and dragging him to shore so he wouldn’t drown? He could resent it. But take the same man in treacherous rapids going under for the third time and he will welcome the rescue. We’re in no race to run people through the Gospel verses. Take your time to get them lost first!
Do you remember when Felix trembled as Paul witnessed to him? He realized his lost condition. The thief on the cross knew he was lost and was easily won to the Saviour. Can you imagine boarding a jet and the stewardess requiring you to put on a big back pack parachute? People would complain and be irritated. Why? Because planes rarely crash. When we get on, we don’t believe it is going to crash.
Now, take the same group of people after the pilot notifies them of engine trouble and a possible crash and see how easily received the parachutes are! There will be no complaining about how they look, their weight, or discomfort. So it is with the lost—once they realize their lost condition and danger of Hell, they easily take the parachute of salvation. By the way, once a person has the chute on, if the stewardess spills coffee on them it’s no reason to try to take the chute off! Salvation cures our biggest problem and dwarfs our other trials.

This article was copied from Ministry127.com 

Reaching Muslims with the Gospel

Monthir Abdullatif

Are Muslims inherently inhumane, savage, and evil? No, Muslims are ordinary people, just like anybody else. They are fathers, mothers, sons, and brothers. They are your coworkers and your next-door neighbors. Only a minority of Muslims commit acts of violence. It is important to understand that not every Arab is a Muslim; not every Muslim is an Arab; and not every Muslim is an extremist.

But why do extremist Muslims act violently? Their actions are rooted in a dangerous Islamic teaching called Jihad.

Jihad is one of many sacred duties Muslims perform. The word Jihad is an Arabic word which means “struggle.” Jihad can mean striving to become a better Muslim, but it can also mean fighting in the name of Allah (their god). In this sense, Jihad is the struggle for the cause of spreading Islam, using all means available to Muslims, including force. This kind of Jihad is often referred to as “Holy War.”

In resorting to force, Muslims will not have any problems finding passages in the Quran (believed by Muslims to be Allah’s word), and the Hadith (Mohammed’s sayings as recorded by Al Bukhari), that not only condones violence but also demands it.

But despite the acts of terror committed against us, as Christians we cannot allow ourselves to react with hatred and violence, lest we fall into the same snare. We need to understand that the Muslim people are not our enemies. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Muslims are men and women who are trapped in the enemy’s snares and need our help.

It is not the Muslim people we oppose. No, we love Muslims. Our prayers are directed against the religious system that denies the life and liberty which are found only in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

We must preach the truth without compromise. We desire peace, but we cannot deny Christ as the only way to salvation or turn our backs on Christians who are persecuted for their faith.

We need to know that Islam is a religion that has blinded and enslaved more than one billion people. The Bible teaches that all people are created in the image of God and are valuable to Him. Jesus Christ loves the Muslims and died for them.

Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to love our neighbor. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39).

After September 11, 2001, many Muslims began to recognize the vindictive and destructive spirit of Islam and want something better. They are disillusioned with Mohammed and the Quran, but they believe in the existence of God. What a golden opportunity you and I have to share the Good News of Jesus Christ! Muslim hearts are yearning for the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Monthir Abdullatif is a missionary to the Islamic community in the United States and the Middle East.

** Reprinted from the Baptist Voice - a ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church