All posts tagged Evangelism

Why Would YOU Want To Be A Christian?

Wow, what a question.  Have you ever considered why you or anyone else would want to be a Christian? If you were to ask that to 100 people, you would probably get 100 different answers.

I think that God, or Christianity of some sort, has a different appeal to everybody but ultimately, when the answers are sifted out, you come down to the basic reason of Good nature versus Bad nature.

On the Good Side, most people’s image of Christianity says:

  • If you are at the lowest that you think you can get, Christianity can make everything better for you.
  • If you are having problems, regardless what they are, God can make things all better.
  • If you have poor health, Jesus will heal you – just like He did in the Bible.
  • I want to be rich and Christians say that if you are walking closely with God then He will let you have anything you want.
  • I want to see my deceased loved ones.
  • And the list could go on for a long time.

When in actuality, God, in His Word, The Holy Bible, says:

“Come unto me all you who are weary
and I will give you rest.”
-Matthew 11:28-30

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
-1 Corinthians 2:9

2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.“
-John 14:2-3

4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said,
Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me,
Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
-Revelation 21:4-5

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life.“
-John 4:14

13 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
-1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 

Christ transforms the Christians

Yet, on the Bad Side, people would say about Christianity:

  • “There really is no hell.”
  • “If God is real, He is very loving and would never send anyone to hell.”
  • “Christianity is nothing but a bunch of rules that if you break them you go to hell.  There is no way to keep them all so why try?”
  • “The God I know of from the Bible is not loving at all, in fact He is very angry and vengeful. Why would I want to spend eternity with a God that caused the whole earth to be flooded and He chose to make total nations be slaughtered by His people?”
  • “I’m having too much fun doing the things that the Bible says are wrong.”
  • “I believe that when we die we don’t go anywhere – there is no eternity – we just cease to exist.”
  • “I believe that hell is the bad stuff that we go through while we are on earth and when we die, God lets us all go to heaven.  If we are really good, we get really nice things when we get there.”
  • “I go to church every time the doors are open and I even give my 10% to the church. I try to be as good as I can and love everyone else.  That should mean that I will get into heaven if I’ve been good enough.”
  • “I was baptized when I was little and went through catechism so I should skip purgatory and go right into heaven when I die.”
  • “God has blessed me with plenty of money while I’ve been on the earth and I’ve even given a lot of it to the poor. Since I’ve done so well on earth, then God must love me enough to let me into heaven. I’ve never done anything really bad so I should have no problem getting into heaven.”
  • “I don’t think that anybody can really KNOW that they are going to heaven for certain.”
  • “And there are so many more that I can’t list them all, but most of them are similar to these.”

Instead of giving you a bunch of scriptures that refute what I just wrote above, let me ask you a question (or three or four).

What is it that you are relying on to get YOU to Heaven?

If you were to die in the next 10 minutes and you are standing face to face with God and He asks you, “Why should I let you into My Heaven?” — What would you say to Him?  

If what you were relying on to get you to Heaven was wrong, would you like to know? If you can say, “YES“, to this question, please read on.

If you can relate to any of these statements on the BAD side here, and your answer happens to be, “NO“, then you can close out of this page and find something else to read (I suggest reading “I’m Dead, Now What?“) because you won’t want to listen to anything that I have to say anyway.

Moving on…

According to the Bible only (I am not making any of this up) since we count the Bible as God’s own Words – He doesn’t just come out and talk to us person to person (yet).

First – Every man is a sinner (breaker of any/all of God’s 10 commandments as set forth in Exodus 20)

James 2:10 –
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Romans 3:10 –
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”

Romans 3:23 –
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Second – The penalty of sin is eternal death!

Romans 6:23 –
“For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Third – Eternal Life is offered to us ONLY through Jesus.

John 3:15-16 –
15 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.“

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

Romans 5:8 –
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Fourth – How do we receive this GIFT of God?

Romans 10:9 – 13 –
9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

It’s as easy as that!

If you are relying on anything more than what I’ve just described, then you are not putting ALL of your faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His redeeming blood that was shed to wash away all of our sins.

God doesn’t want us to add anything to this because if we do, it becomes a “works based” salvation. What do I mean by that?  I mean that if there was ANYTHING that we could personally add in order to get to heaven, we would be relying on ourselves to do something special to buy our salvation into heaven.  God won’t let that happen!

Why?  Because, if you or I were able to add anything to that very basic salvation then, whether on this side of heaven or even once we get into heaven (which won’t happen), we would be bragging to our friends or anyone we come in contact with about what WE did to get to heaven. Can you tell me what sin that would be called?

PRIDE!

Proverbs 16:18 –
“Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 –
8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith;
 and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Pride is one of the biggest sins that there is.  If you think about it, most of our sins that we commit on a daily basis are based on pride or at least are stemmed from it.  They can almost all be linked back to pride.  That being the case, and pride being a sin, and heaven can contain NO SIN, we would never be allowed into heaven based on anything that we are able to personally do.

All God wants us to do is to put our faith and trust in Him.  Believe in Him and His salvation-work at Mt. Calvary as all that is needed to get into God’s Heaven.

Doing some of those extra things that you do to get into heaven on your own might make you feel really good, but imagine how much better you could feel if you trust Christ first and then all of those good things that you would have done for your salvation, if there is still any virtue in their accomplishment, you can do them for God’s glory rather than your own.

You see, in Matthew 6:16, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees of the day for doing works out in the open so that they can look more pious than others, but in verses 17 and 18 He goes on and tells them that they should do their “works” in private so that only God can see them.

Because, in verses 19 through 21 He goes on to say:

19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
– Matthew 6:19-21

What’s even better than this is in:

John 14:2-3 –
2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.”

These verses give me great promise and comfort that when my time on earth is finished, I will have a place of extreme comfort to be able to finally rest.  Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection from the dead so that He could prepare a place for me.  If you put all of the verses together, that tells me that after we are saved from our sin’s penalty in Hell, and I start doing things for Him (not for myself and my own glory), I start to lay up treasures in Heaven.

Those verses indicate that there are many mansions in Heaven and that Jesus is going to prepare a place for me and if I lay up treasures in Heaven, as the other verse says, then, when I get there, I should have, as I picture it, a larger mansion with many treasures in it.

Why would anyone in their own right mind want to, knowing this, please ourselves and others around us for our own vain glory when we have so much more waiting for us when we do things the way God wants us to do them?

I mean, seriously, WHY?

Yet, people do it all the time — WE do it all the time!

Yes, I’m guilty too!  It is the “old man”, the “sin nature”, that is in us that naturally wants to receive the pleasure from the gratitude that we get or the trophy (or equivalent) that we would get for doing something especially well and so that others around us can see how GOOD WE are.  We have to fight that sin nature to make sure that God gets the glory for our accomplishments instead of us – after all, He is the one that gave you the ability to do the thing that got you that glory.

I can speak from experience that if you continue to bring glory to yourself and God has other plans for you and you continue to do your own thing to please yourself rather than do the things that would bring God the glory… He can arrange it to where you are no longer able to do those things that bring you pleasure/glory, but make it so that you have no choice but to turn to Him.

Folks, He will continue to allow bad things to come your way so that little by little you are disabled of the things that bring you that pleasure.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  God has control over all!  He can and WILL do what is necessary to get your attention… until… some day, He may finally determine that you are a hopeless case and you will never turn to Him to do His will and He will bring you home.  That “home” may be Heaven, or it may be Hell, but if you don’t listen to Him and His callings, the outcome may not be the way you would really have liked it.

God wants your talents and your time and abilities – let Him have them.  <I’m pleading with you> Turn your life over to His will.  You will have more peace and joy in your life than you ever imagined.

Yes, you will still face adversity but the difference now is that when you do, you will have a friend with you that sticks closer than a brother, that will NEVER leave you or forsake you and will never steer you wrong by giving you bad advise.  He is the Comforter.

You see, all of those things that I listed at the beginning of this article can still be yours but only if you are serving God.  He will NOT grant those things to you because of your own selfish pleasures. He truly knows the best way to live your life – better than you do.  Let Him have control over your life so that He can show you what He has in store for you.  It may not be what you thought you would be doing, but I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Lord, I ask that you get into the heart of those reading this article right now and convince them of all of the great things that You have in store for them – at the very least, You can take away the heartache and hurt that they are feeling right now.  Give them comfort in knowing that You are now in control of the situations in their life.  Please, bring healing to their hearts and lives.  In Jesus’ Name and for His glory I ask these things, Amen.

If you have received the blessing from this article and or this prayer, please leave a comment (or go to my contact page if you wish to stay anonymous) and let me know that you have received a blessing from this.  I would really love to share your joy so that I can give God the glory as well.  As always, if there is anything you need from a spiritual point of view, please feel free to let me know.

God bless you, –Mark

©2013 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on November 12, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on November 12, 2013

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God or Government?

Christians May Have to Choose God over Government.
Do you know which you will choose?

Joshua 24:14
“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.”

Joshua 24:15
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Exodus 23:32
“Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.”

Exodus 23:33
“They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.”

1 Kings 18:21
“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”

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What Are You Wearing?

SantaDachshund (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As we think of Christmas right now, I see people scrambling at the malls and department stores, waiting in lines to get in first – WHY?

Oh, I understand that they are trying to save money on the early Christmas sales, or they want to get that thing before the stores run out. But is that what Christmas is all about, wearing all the latest fashions, having all the coolest gadgets, getting that thing before your friend gets it?

Everybody has to have all the latest fashions that they see the stars wearing in the magazines at the checkout of the grocery stores…

Lets stop for a second to take a look at that person;  most would be lower middle class that are scraping to get by because they have stretched their budget too tight so that they can barely buy groceries, or maybe they are lower class that have ratty clothes (the in style thing to do) and paying for their food with food stamps or government aid money.

Google Glasses Even Look Creepy on Fashion ModelsPhoto credit goes to www.theatlanticwire.com

Google Glasses Even Look Creepy on Fashion Models
Photo credit goes to http://www.theatlanticwire.com

Yet, if you look closer, you will see that the middle class person standing in line with their cell phone out and it just happens to be the latest *phone that they spent $400 on when it first came out (ok, some a little less – this is an example), and then the “shabby-schiek clothing” person is getting government aid and they can’t afford to buy food from their income but yet they can afford to buy a $50 carton of cigarettes that they will probably burn through in a week or so.

You see these people always trying to riffle through the racks of clothing to see if they can find their size in that cool looking outfit.  Or, they are in the sporting goods store/department looking for the latest style of athletic shoes.

Then you have the upper middle (and above) class that don’t worry about the money or what they are wearing because they have achieved greatness (or their daddy did), and they can wear anything they want and buy anything that they want short of a new car (for some).  They worry about what their buddies (homies?) are wearing and if they would be accepted in their group if they wore a particular brand of falling-down jeans or, for the girls, the latest brand and style of painted on clothes (if you call them that).

Why is it so important for a person to wear a particular brand or style? Why can’t people get by with a pair of jeans from your local discount department store that costs $15 or even something that they might find in a second-hand store for a few bucks?  You can find some really great things there – that’s where the rich dump their clothes after they are through with them, after all.

I’m sure that I don’t have to remind you – because we always know it all and know best, right – that God’s Word, The Holy Bible, tells us in Isaiah 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

Where this verse doesn’t condemn having nice, good-quality things, it does remind us that we, as Christians, are clothed with the garments of salvation and covered with the robe of righteousness.  Now, I know, this is not literal clothing that we can wear out in public or anything.  We might be embarrassed or get arrested if we would try.  No, this is telling us that if we put our trust in God and not the physical things, we are covered with Godly clothes.  We will be wearing these clothes when we finally get to see Jesus in Heaven.

My concern here is not about the clothes that we wear every day – although some of them leave a lot to be desired – we forget where our heart needs to be every day.  It is not supposed to be on earthly possessions but rather Heavenly things (Matthew 6: 33;  Matthew 6: 19 – 21).  Remember the saying, “You can’t take it with you when you die”?  It is true.

Jesus tells us in the above verses that since we can’t take anything on this earth with us to the “afterlife”, we are supposed to store our things up in Heaven.  Things on this earth can/will be destroyed and will eventually go away, but if we lay up our treasures in Heaven, those things will be waiting for us when we get there.  And, if we store our treasures in Heaven our “mind”, or the things that we put the most emphasis on and effort into, here on earth, is where our “heart” will be.  What does that mean?  If we work for things on earth, our “heart” is paying attention to ourselves.  If we work for things in Heaven, our “heart” is paying attention to God.  The main focus of our existence on this earth is not to be on us but rather on God and for spreading His Gospel.  Those things are the ones that will be stored for us in Heaven.

“How do we store up things in Heaven?”, you ask.  “We can’t even see there right now, nor can we get there to deliver anything to store it?”

1 Corinthians 3: 11 – 15
 11 “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
 12 “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
 13 “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
 14 “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
 15 “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

When we make decisions here on earth, we can make them to please our own desires or we can choose to please God.  When we choose to please ourselves, those things are the things that will be burned up. If we make the choice to trust Jesus for salvation, and yet we never do anything for Him afterward, that is what is talked about in v. 15 where all of a person’s “works” will be burnt up and he will be left with nothing, no “reward“, but yet he will still be there in Heaven, “saved; yet so as by fire”.

You know one thing that really wakes me up when I think about this is v.13 where it says that “every man’s work shall be made  MANIFEST”.  WOW!!  Right here I picture a huge jumbotron T.V. in Heaven.  Jesus will call each one of us up to a stage where everyone could see everything I did during my life after my salvation.  I think that I would feel about a centimeter tall about then when everything is shown that I did wrong. But, for all of those things that I did right and for Jesus and in His name, I would get some kind of reward for that.  Thankfully God is a forgiving God and when we ask forgiveness for our sins after our salvation, He “forgets” about those sins and just remembers those things which I’ve done for Him.

John 14: 2 – 3
2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” 

What I see here is that everything that I truly do for Jesus’ sake and not my own, will be shown in the mansion that He is preparing for me.  I’m sure that there will be huge mansions in Heaven and there will be “shacks” for mansions all due to the “works” that a person does in Jesus’ name and for His sake and not our own.

You notice that I say “not my own” or “not our own” here.  I say that because it is difficult to determine at times that the things that we do that look like they should matter for Christ can sometimes be done selfishly.  Our motives MUST be pure.

Sometimes we do things because we have to or we made a commitment to do it so “I am fulfilling that commitment, not because my heart is really in it”; or maybe because someone told you to do it.  Or maybe, you do something just because you are trying to lay up things for yourself in Heaven.  I know that that verse tells us to, but there is a fine line here. Are we doing it for our future self or are we doing it for Jesus?  Those things done for Jesus are the ones that will NOT be burned in the refining fires.

Christian, I hope that this has been a graphic for you of what we need to be doing for Christ and for what purpose we are to be doing them.  I’d really like to see you in Heaven with a huge mansion.

© 2012 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on December 11, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on December 11, 2012

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Lesson 6 – Witnessing – Lesson

Lesson 6

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    Growing in Grace – Lesson 6 Print out here

WITNESSING

WITNESSING – WHAT IS IT

What is a witness? A witness is one who is called to testify before others about what he has seen, heard, or known.Paul stated that when he accepted the Lord, Ananias said to him, “For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard” (Acts 22:15).

Acts 1:8, the last words which Jesus spoke before He ascended into Heaven, commanded His disciples to be witnesses – “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

The early church took this commandment literally. As a result thousands were saved, churches were planted, and Christianity grew rapidly.

The Bible teaches that we are saved to tell others. God has given His Son for each of us. Therefore, we should be anxious to tell others of this wonderful love.

TWO WAYS TO WITNESS

1.  Confess Christ to Others – Romans 10:9, 10.

Our salvation requires that we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. This confession is given when a believer tells others he has accepted the Lord. It is also given by stepping forward during the invitation in a Bible-preaching church and taking a public stand for Christ.

2.  Witness to others to win them to Christ.

In John 1:41, 42 we find an excellent scriptural example of leading a soul to Christ. Andrew had come to know the Lord.  The Scripture says, “He first findeth his own brother Simon… “ (v. 41).  That is, he went out deliberately to find his brother and witness to him about his coming to know the Lord Jesus. He did this by speaking to Simon, by witnessing to him – “…And saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”

First – He found his brother.

Second – He spoke a witness to him.

Third – “And he brought him to Jesus…” (v. 42).

This should be the result of our witnessing: That we bring others to know the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is what we call “soulwinning.” It means that we give ourselves to be used to witness so that someone else accepts the Lord Jesus Christ.

WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD WIN SOULS

1.  The Bible commands us to be witnesses.

I Peter 3:15 – “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

2.  The Lord Jesus called His disciples to be  “fishers of men.”

Mark 1:17, 18 – “And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straight-way they forsook their nets, and followed him.”

3.  The example of the early church was one that was on fire winning souls to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 5:42 – “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

4.  The Apostle Paul set us an example.

Acts 20:20, 21 – “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

5. The soulwinner is wise.

Proverbs 11:30 – “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”

a.  Wise because the soulwinner is laboring with the world’s most priceless possession, the soul of a man (Mark 8:36, 37).
b.  Wise because the only real peace in this world comes through Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28).
c.  Wise because the soulwinner gains eternal reward (John 4:36).

6.  The soulwinner glorifies God.

John 15:8 – “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall you be my disciples.”

7.  The soulwinner delivers souls from an eternal Hell.

Ezekiel 3:17, 18 – “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”

8.  The soulwinner has confidence at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Ezekiel 33:8 – “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand.”

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESS IN SOULWINNING

1.  Personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior (John 1:12)

2.  Assurance of salvation

I John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

3.  Purity of life

II Timothy 2:21 – “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”

4.  Yieldedness of life

Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren  by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

5.  Burden for lost souls

Matthew 9:36 – “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”

6.  A prayer burden for the unsaved – Paul had such a prayer burden.

Romans 10:1 – “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”

7.  A practical knowledge of the Bible

As a person develops in soulwinning, he needs to learn more and more in the Word of God. But you do not need to have a great knowledge of the Bible to start out in soulwinning work.  In John 9 the blind man had just been healed when he was called upon to give his witness to the unsaved Jewish leaders.  His witness was simple, but it was a wonderful testimony.  He said, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (v. 25).

He told them what he knew; he gave them a witness without knowledge of the Bible.  You can start winning souls if you will just use John 3:16 and tell others what Jesus Christ has done for you. Then to continue winning souls, you need to grow in the Lord and in a knowledge of His Word.

8.  Boldness without being ashamed

This man in John 9 was bold for the Lord and gave forth a clear-cut witness.

Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

HOW TO LEAD A SOUL TO CHRIST

1.  Show him or her the fact of sin.

Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The first truth that one must see in order to be saved is that he is a sinner.  If a person does not see that he has sinned against God, he will not realize he needs a Saviour. Joe Henry Hankins said, “You must get a person lost before you can get him saved.”

2.  Show him or her the penalty for sin.

Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The second truth the unsaved must see is that there is a penalty for his or her sin.  This penalty is death – not just physical death, but also spiritual death.

3.  Show him or her that Christ paid the penalty for his or her sin.

I Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also hat once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

4.  Show him or her that salvation comes by receiving Christ.

John 1:12 – “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”  The word “power” in John 1:12 means “right” or “authority.”  Those who receive Christ have the right or authority to be called the sons of God. To receive Christ is to believe on Him.

HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS

1. Read good books on soulwinning.
2. Become active in your church visitation program.
3. Go soulwinning with someone who is experienced so that you can get some good training.
4. Watch for opportunities to witness.  You will be amazed at how many there are.
5. Take every opportunity God gives you to present a bold witness for Christ.

    Growing in Grace – Lesson 6 Print out here

<< Lesson 5 – Prayer – Assignment

Growing in Grace – Table of Contents

Lesson 6 – Witnessing – Assignment >>

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©2012  Mark Davis
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How full is your bucket?

‎”To answer objections, is an endless task; it is like trying to empty a flowing fountain with bottomless buckets.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon

 

©2012  Mark Davis

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The Printed Page

Since you have been saved, you are most likely wanting others to know the same peace and joy that you have found in the Lord Jesus Christ. As you read God’s Word, you have an increasing desire to spread the Word of God so others can experience the same joy of having the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. You may have a keen sense of urgency as you see the current events and realize that Jesus could come back to catch away his redeemed ones at any time. The time is short and there are so many to reach with the gospel message.

This is written to give helpful techniques and instruction in the ministry of giving out the gospel by way of the printed page. I will unfold this information according to the following outline:

  1. Why?
  2. Exhortation
  3. Testimony
  4. Techniques
  5. Contact information
  6. After the tract is in their hands

I. Why?

The answer is in the Word of God:

Rom 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”.

They MUST have the Word Of God !!!

Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

II. Exhortation

In II Timothy 4:2 we are told in the Scripture that God, through Paul, urged Timothy to preach the Word. Is it important? YES

The great commission commands us to GO. This is the commission for every Christian. We all have this responsibility. We need to take it seriously.

Mark 16:15 says …”go ye, … preach the gospel”. This is proclaimed even by the printed page.

III. Testimony

I have been personally challenged with the testimony about a man in Australia that committed to giving out the Word of God for many years… his mission field was only a doorway. As he gave out the Word, he planted the Word. He didn’t see much fruit then. But, years later, testimonies from various places in the world began to pop up about how people were saved because of the faithfulness of one man to give out the Word of God.  His name was Mr. Genor.  You can HEAR the account on the internet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CQ9amtIOTY

I have personally given out many thousands of tracts through the years… and yes I have heard testimonies of people getting saved because of the “printed page”. It is thrilling that God can use such a simple method to reach souls for Christ.

IV. Technique

You come in contact with people every day that need the GOSPEL message. It is easy to walk on by and ignore them. Of course, Satan does not want them to hear!!! Pray each day that God would lead you to some souls each day to evangelize. You just might be the last person they will ever come in contact with that can share the gospel message with them.

If we fail, we have their blood on our hands. It is an awesome responsibility that we have. Although I try to reach as many as I can, there are so many that I will have to give account for… because I failed to put the message in their hands. I MUST work “for the night is coming when no man can work…” As long as God gives me strength, I have decided to follow Jesus and do His will in reaching souls for Christ.

Here are some pointers you may want to make note of:

  • Keep the tracts neat and not folded or “dog-eared”. If soiled: do not use.
  • Hand out the tract so they can read it (right-side-up)
  • Be cheerful!
  • Don’t be looking for an argument.
  • Be sincerely interested in them.
  • Speak so they can hear you plainly.
  • Be positive that they will take it.

I will now give you my technique. Your way might work, but this way has been what has been helpful for me and God has used it.

At a restaurant —

Place 1 to 3 tracts at the edge of the table where the waitress will most likely be.

When she has a moment and she is not busy, I simply say: “I have something free for you. You may have your choice. (most likely she will take one, sometimes all 3). I then say – “That is a good choice. It has helped us a lot and you might enjoy it, too”.

_______________________________________________________________

At a restaurant —

Tell the waitress that you have something free for her. She says: “What is it?” I say, “This is a little Bible tract that shows how you can be 100% sure of one day being in God’s heaven. It has helped us a lot and you might enjoy it, too.”

Sometimes there is a response like: “I will be sure to read it when I get a chance.” Or: “Well, thank you very much. I will be sure to read it.”

_______________________________________________________________

A clerk at a store:–

“Let me give you something free. (Hold it out for them) This is a little Bible tract that shows you how you can be 100% sure of one day being in God’s heaven. It has helped (‘me’ or ‘our family’) a lot and you might enjoy it, too.”

_______________________________________________________________

Anyone else —

Use the same technique. Be flexible.

V. Contact Information —

Even though the tract might have your church imprint on the back side, always try to have your name and phone number vertically along the back edge. This might also include your e-mail address.

The reason for this is — if they might come up with questions, encourage them to contact you so you can give them a Bible answer.

If you and your spouse are both believers, you can encourage a lady to contact your wife, while guys should contact the husband. Many times this is more comfortable – and safe.

VI.  After the tract is in their hands —

PRAY that the Holy Spirit will use His Word and the tract to bring them to the place where they will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.  (Rom 10:9-13)

If you can possibly visit with them after the decision, give them verses on assurance of salvation.

Encourage them to get into a good Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church where they can grow in the things of God.

________________________________________________________________

Note:  Where can you get a supply of tracts? I recommend: CHICK PUBLICATIONS, P.O. Box 3500; Ontario, CA 91761-1019 or contact by the internet: www.chick.com

Submitted by Bob Davis. E-mail at: rld736@yahoo.com

©2012  Mark Davis

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The Wordless Book Presentation

The Wordless Booklet

A visual sample of the actual Wordless Book

How to be a soul-winner –

Written by: Bob Davis – rights reserved

Edited by: Mark Davis

Introduction:

The following is a presentation that I have used for many years with good success. Early in my pastoral ministry, I decided to use this presentation and found it to be simple, to-the-point, and thorough. As I have presented it to the prospective converts, I had the privilege, in one year, of leading 34 people to know Jesus as their personal Savior and, as you allow the Holy Spirit to work through you, I am sure that you, too, will be fruitful at winning souls.

I must give special thanks to the Child Evangelism Fellowship for the basic idea. They came up with a great tool which I have modified somewhat to fit my style of soul-winning. Even though I have “tailored” the plan, I have tried to be faithful to their basic concept.

When you use the scripture (which is of great importance) you will want to quote the verses accurately and from memory. **ALWAYS USE THE WORD OF GOD!!** God honors His word.

The Presentation:

Make a ribbon card: The colors can be ribbons ⅜” x 1½” pasted onto a 3” x 5” card or onto a page in a date/diary book. This is optional, but the colors are essential. It might also be the “Wordless Book” booklet which can be purchased from the Child Evangelism Fellowship or a Christian book store.

Exchange:

After meeting your “Prospect”, try to get to know them a little bit. Make them feel comfortable with you.

You: “Have you ever seen little colored ribbons (or a little booklet without words) that tell you how to get to God’s Heaven”?

When they express a question about how this can be possible, turn to the GOLD colored page and begin as follows:

You – “God has a wonderful plan for your life and it involves us being with Him in His heaven. The gold page speaks of the streets of heaven. The Bible tells us they are pure gold like transparent glass (Rev. 21:21). There is no crime, hospitals or bad things in heaven – everything is perfect (Rev. 21:27). He wants us to be there with Him, but something is preventing us from going there, and that is sin”.

Open the book to the BLACK page and point to the color.

 “The Bible tells us that we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23). Are you a sinner, too, like everyone else in the world”?

Prospect – response

You: “Since there is no sin in heaven, God cannot allow us into His heaven. Sin will reap the wages of death. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). It also tells us that there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not (Eccl. 7:20). That is a pretty bad picture so far, isn’t it”?

Prospect – response

You – “Even though we are sinners, God still loves us and sent His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ to prove that love to us”.

Open the book to the RED page and point to the color.

 “The RED stands for His blood. He went all the way to the cross of Calvary to shed His blood so He can forgive our sin penalty (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8). That was a huge price to pay, but God did it all for you… so you can be with Him in Heaven”.

“We can know all this and still be lost and go where Satan will be: in Hell. God is not willing that any should perish in Hell, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

“Let me illustrate this…”

Have a little card handy with the words written on it that say “eternal life and Sins Forgiven”. Have another foldable object handy that the card will fit into (tract, paper, Bible, etc.).

“Let’s put this little card, that represents “eternal life” and “your sins forgiven” into this book (or whatever foldable object you have and you say)… Now, I have it in my right hand and I want to offer it to my left hand. ‘My left hand, would you like to have eternal life and your sins forgiven’? Left hand says, ‘Sure, I would.’

Then extend your right hand with the book in it to your left hand. Then ask the left hand:

“’Do you have it now’? It answers, ‘NO, it is still in your right hand’.”

 Go ahead and follow through and take it. Your left hand takes it, then ask:

“’What did you have to do to get the book which stands for Jesus Christ and eternal life? Did you have to work for it or join something’? The left hand answers, ‘No, I didn’t have to do anything but take it’.”

Turning to the person, ask them, as you hold the booklet/tract out to them:

You: “Do you have this little book in your right hand”?

Prospect: “No”

You: “How would you get it”?

Prospect: “I would have to take it”.

You: “You are exactly right. You see how simple God has made it for us (John 1:12)? Would you like to have God’s free gift of eternal life and have your sins forgiven”?

Prospect: “Yes”.

You: “Alright, I will help you. I will lead us in a prayer and after I pray, you can invite Jesus to be your Savior. It will go something like Wedding Vows; I will pray phrase by phrase and you can then repeat after me. If you are serious, and realize that you are a sinner, lost and on your way to Hell, then take my right hand.

I hold out my right hand to the Prospect and clasp his/her hand. I lead in prayer, something like this:

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus to pay the full price for my sins by dying on the cross for my sin, He was buried and rose again so that I can be forgiven and saved. I thank you for that. (Prospect’s name here) has said that he/she wants, right now, to trust Jesus, by faith, as his/her personal Savior”.

When you are finished, you say:

“Now repeat after me in prayer: Dear Lord Jesus”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “Dear Lord Jesus”,

You: “I know that I am a sinner”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “I know that I am a sinner”,

You: “And that You died for my sins”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “And that You died for my sins”,

You: “And right now”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “And right now”,

You: “I trust you and receive You, Jesus”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “I trust you and receive You, Jesus“,

You: “to be my Savior”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “to be my Savior“

You: “and give me that new eternal life”.

Prospect: (Repeat) “and give me that new eternal life”.

You: “Thank you for saving me”,

Prospect: (Repeat) “Thank you for saving me”,

You: “and giving to me that new life”.

Prospect: (Repeat) “and giving to me that new life”.

You: “Help me to live for You and obey you”.

Prospect: (Repeat) “Help me to live for You and obey you”.

You: “I thank you in Jesus’ dear Name, Amen”.

Prospect: (Repeat) “I thank you in Jesus’ dear Name, Amen”.

After they finish praying, ask them:

You: “Did Jesus do as He promised and save you and come into your life? Did He give you that new eternal life (2 Cor. 5:17)”?

Prospect/New Christian: **Response**

You: “Praise The Lord”!

The WHITE color comes into the picture!

You: “The white speaks of forgiveness and cleansing. That is what we have in Jesus”.

Give them assurance verses such as: John 3:16-18; John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:28; Rom. 10:9-13, I John 5: 10-13

 God the Holy Spirit has sealed us forever: Eph. 1:13; 4:30

 The Holy Spirit is now our guide and teacher. John 14:1-16:13

Display the GREEN cover/page.

You: “The GREEN color speaks of growth. The grass, trees and flowers are green and are growing. We begin as babes in God’s family. God wants us to grow and mature. How do we do that? We read God’s Word;(1 Peter 2:2) this is our food. We should gather with God’s people for fellowship, teaching in the Bible, and encouragement – going to a good Bible believing, Bible preaching/teaching church.

“We should follow the Lord in believer’s baptism (by immersion).

“We can now tell others about your “New-Found Friend” (Jesus) and pray to the Heavenly Father in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ”.

I trust this pattern will be of assistance as a tool for your soul-winning.

Yours for many to be saved… Bob Davis

©2012  Mark Davis

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How Many Ways Are There To Get To Heaven?

Dear God,
It’s O.K. that you made different religions, but don’t you get mixed up sometimes?        – Arnold (age 10)

Well, dear Arnold has been just as deceived as 98% (just an estimate not a fact) of the world’s population. Last I saw, there were over 10,000 separate distinct religions in the world today. Is it really logical that a God that is totally perfect – from eternity past to eternity future infallible – could make a mistake 10,000+ times over?

Surely, if all of the religions out there led to Heaven, God would be really contradicting Himself a lot. So many of these religions have conflicting doctrines and beliefs; so how can they be right? Some of them have to be wrong, right?

What is the definition of “religion” first?

Noun:

      1.) The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.
      2.) Details of belief as taught or discussed.

Synonyms: faith – belief – creed – denomination

Which ones are right and which ones are wrong?

When you consider this question, you have to think about what you would consider to be the “gold standard” of thought. What can you compare all else to that would be unfailingly right (correct)? How do you go about trying to figure that out? Wow, what questions…

Most people would boil it down to morals.

Q: Well, where do people get their morals?
A: Their parents and the people around them and they just figure right from wrong from there.

Q: Where would they have gotten their standards and ways of thought from?
A: What/who gave them the morals that they have now (or had)? And it goes down from generation to generation. Back to the beginning of time.

It all leads back to the first man and woman; and even before that. God is the only “gold standard” that you can look at that is totally unfaltering and unwavering and infallible and the only One that can be considered “perfect” without refutation.

Well, ok, if God boils down to being the only One that can be considered; then God it is. Now, how does He give us morals? How does He even talk to us? The way He talks to us is through the Bible. The Bible is the only history book ever written that has never had any contradictions to itself. There might be some oxymorons in there but when you get down to the original manuscripts and the true meanings of those texts, we find that they really don’t contradict themselves.

2 Timothy 3:16 KJV
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

So, the Bible (God) gives us morals or at least He is the “gold standard” in which we can look to and compare anything else to find out if it is right or wrong.

The concept of “right” has been around since before creation because God is inherently “good”. So then, what is the source or beginning of “evil” or “sin” or “wrong” (all being the same thing)?

When Adam and Eve were created, they were originally sinless. They had never done anything wrong at that point. God told Adam and Eve that they could do anything that they wanted to do EXCEPT eat of the fruit of only one of the trees that were in the Garden of Eden. Out of all the different trees that were there, they could only NOT eat of ONE of them. Well, I think we all know human nature well enough that, eventually, when someone tells us not to do something, it only makes us want to do it even more.

Eve was in the Garden wandering around one day when she was approached by a serpent. This serpent was the incarnation of Lucifer (Satan, the Devil, etc). Mr. Serpent told Eve that she should eat of the fruit of the Knowledge Of Good And Evil which God had told them not to eat. Oh, the fruit looked so good. Mr. Serpent said “God only told you not to eat it, because if you did, it would make you just as smart as God. Now, you want to be as smart as God don’t you”? Well, Eve thought that that sounded pretty good. She wanted to be smarter, after all, Adam had been the one that named everything not her. She wanted to be as smart as God. She went to Adam and told him about the proposition that she had been given by Mr. Serpent and, with the lures that she had, tempted Adam and they both ended up eating from the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  (**Color added for readability**)

Well, they sure knew Good from Evil at that point. They immediately knew that they had done wrong in the sight of God (yes, God saw them – He sees everything at all times-did then and still does today) and they realized that they were naked and they hid from God. Just like a parent playing hide and seek with their child, knowing right where they were hiding all along, God went looking for Adam and Eve.

One thing led to another and God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, never to return again. He took it a step, or really a bunch of steps further and cursed; the animals (primarily the Serpent); the land would, from then on, have weeds; woman would have pain in childbirth; and man would now have to labor. Couldn’t you just hate Adam and Eve about now?This story can be found in The Bible in Genesis 2:16-17 and Genesis 3:1-24. I’ll not post it here since it is rather long. I have a feeling that this post will be long enough as it is.

Right and wrong were conceptualized from that point on. It has been passed down from generation to generation and none were skipped. It went through Cain and Able, Jacob and Esau, Noah and the Ark (that God told him to build) and so on and so forth down to you and I now.

You know, life would have been a whole lot better now if Adam and Eve had not sinned. We wouldn’t have sickness or disease or have to pull weeds out of the garden and our wives would actually look forward to having children (just kidding ladies). I don’t think that we could really be able to imagine life in a perfect world.

I regress; we wanted to know about how many ways there were/are to get to Heaven.

Looking through the Bible, I have never read anything about any “religions” besides idol worshiping, maybe. Then to top it off, the idol worshipers in the Bible were always on the wrong side of God. God commanded that there be no other gods before Him and no graven images – idols. Well then, if “religion” isn’t the way to Heaven then how does it work out that we can all have the opportunity to go to Heaven?

The Bible tells us through history that there would be a “savior”*, someone to come to earth – a King that would deliver us from all oppression and the penalty for doing wrong. Oops! Did I not say anything about a penalty? Hummm. *There are many prophecies about that in the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus’ coming to earth.

Looking through history, when someone did something wrong, there has always been a penalty. The first five books of the Bible are filled with rules and laws that God’s people were supposed to follow but, there, along with the laws are also the penalties for breaking the laws. Most of the penalties are really severe – the most severe was/is, obviously, DEATH! Yikes! That’s pretty bad!

Along with the laws and the severe penalties, God also made a way that they can have forgiveness by Him for their sins, restoring favor in His sight, or restoring their “friendship” so to speak. It used to be that the penalty was a sacrifice of a lamb but, we don’t seem to be doing that much anymore, right?

When God created us, He wanted to spend time with us (in our perfect state). He still wants to spend time with us, it’s just that there seems to be omething in the way. We have a barrier between Him and us. The barrier is called “sin”. While we are sinful we can’t be in God’s presence.

Isaiah 59:2 KJV
“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

If you look at God as Light and Sin as darkness; when you bring light into a dark room, it is no longer dark. Light cannot be in the same place as darkness. The above verse indicates that God has hidden His face from you because your “iniquities” or the sins that are in your soul – all the way back to when we were born and started sinning to the present time.

John 8:12 KJV
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Romans 3:10 KJV
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

Romans 3:23 KJV
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Being sinners, we are in need of a way to pay the penalty for our sins, which would be eternal death without a payment.

Mind you, I said Eternal Death. That is different than just death – being dead at the end of your life here on earth, buried and six feet under the ground. Eternal Death is what happens when we die and our soul continues on into eternity without any salvation.

Since sin cannot be where God is in Heaven, there is another place for sinners to go and that is ultimately into the Lake of Fire – a place where the fire never goes out and those there will be in excruciating pain but unable to just die and get it over with. Such PAIN and AGONY! They will have to stay like that for the rest of eternity.

Any idea how long eternity is? It Never ends! Eternal Death is separation from God – in the Lake of Fire. The alternative is eternity WITH God, in Heaven.

Matthew 25:30 KJV
“And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Mark 9:42-48 NASB
42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.
43 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,
44 “where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
45 “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell,
46 “where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
47 “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell,
48 “where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.”

Romans 6:23 KJV
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The alternate payment for our sins is only something that God can give. He gave His only Son so that we can have Eternal Life:

John 3:16 KJV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

His only Son’s name is Jesus. He came down to earth to live as a man. He was born of a virgin (Mary) – conceived of the Holy Spirit (God the Spirit). He lived a sinless life – unlike anything that anyone else could do. No one else has done it before or since. He did many miracles and cast out evil spirits (demons) and raised some dead people. He did things that only God could do. Because ONLY He is God. Only God could take our sins away or pay the penalty for our sins.

Jesus was crucified on a cross – one of the most excruciating deaths that they had for people in that day. When He went to the cross, He took with Him all of the sins of everyone that had ever lived and even all of the sins of everybody that would live from that day on. He paid the price, or redeemed us, from our sins. We were convicted of being sinners and sentenced to eternal death, and He, God, through Jesus Christ’s blood, paid the full price for our pardon. His blood was the only thing that could ever forgive our sins and remove them from the sight of God so that we can go to Heaven and so that we can have that continued fellowship with God.

Colossians 1:14 KJV
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

Psalms 103:12 KJV
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

Wait, it doesn’t end there. I know I am boring to listen to and I like to ramble on and on, but you have got to hear this.  Jesus took it a step further because, you see, anyone could say that they are going to die and take away our sins but if it stops there, that person is no different than you or me and, in reality, couldn’t take away my sins or anyone else’s.

Jesus died. They buried Him in a tomb and three days later He was gone from the tomb. He rose from the tomb and was alive again. Not just any man could do that. Only God can do that.

John 20:11-18 KJV
11 “But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12 “And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13 “And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my LORD, and I know not where they have laid him.
14 “And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
15 “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
16 “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
18 “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the LORD, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

John 20:24-29 KJV
24 “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26 “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27 “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.
29 “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

A short time after He rose from the grave, He ascended back into Heaven. He stood and started raising into the sky until He couldn’t be seen any more.

Acts 1:9 KJV
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

Before He left, He promised that He was going to prepare a place in Heaven with Him and He would come back and get us and take us home to be with Him.

Wow, this is really starting to sound like an alien movie or something. I assure you that it isn’t. Have you ever read a book or story that was so crazy and outlandish that there was no way that anyone could have made it up? None of this story is made up and can all be corroborated from the Bible, as you can see by the scriptures listed.

John 14:1-4 KJV
1″Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

John 11:25-26 KJV
25 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this”?

1 John 5:12-13 KJV
12 “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 

If God went to all the effort to make a way available to us to get to Heaven through His Son, why would He let there be more than one way to get to Heaven? Let’s take a look at some of the things that Jesus said while He was still on earth:

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

John 10:9 KJV
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

John 8:24 KJV
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

John 1:12 KJV
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

John 3:36 KJV
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Revelation 20:15 KJV
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Revelation 3:20 KJV
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

You know, God made it so that there was only ONE way to get to Him for one reason and one reason ONLY!

That reason is that “man” has a real bad problem with pride. So much so that, if it were possible, we would do anything and everything that we could to be able to get to God/Heaven by doing any imaginable thing, such as: going to church, donating money to charities, volunteering at the homeless shelter, being baptized (yes, that’s what I said – I’ll touch on that in another post), becoming a missionary to another country to propagate a “religion”, being a pastor or employee in a church, being born/raised in a Christian home, and the list could go on and on.

Why are these things so bad? They aren’t. But none of them together or by themselves will do anything to repay the debt we owe to God for our sins. Many of the “religions” out there today will try to lead you to believe that one or more of those things are required for salvation. NOT TRUE!

The reason that He made it impossible for us to do special things to get to heaven is very simple – and if you try to make it more than that, you are trying to legitimize and justify your own well-doings – God wants ALL of the credit for you getting to Heaven. He wants you to go there because you love Him; because you would give your life to be with Him and to make Him pleased with what you do (for Him). He wants us to give Him the glory for the things that He has done for us, not for the things that we do to try to get to Him by earning His good favor.

Someone once explained the difference between “religion” and “true Christianity” as this: True Christianity is God trying to get to us, whereas, Religion is us trying to get to God.

The people that tried to build the tower of Babel in the Old Testament were trying to make it so high that it would reach God. Remember that that was when God got very upset with them and scrambled their words (creation of different languages) so that no one could understand each other (hence the word babel). The tower was destroyed as will anything else be that we use to try to get to God.

Isa. 64:6a KJV
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness (good works) are as filthy rags”

Romans 5:8 KJV
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV
8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Romans 10:9-10 KJV
9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Friend,

If you have never received God’s gift of salvation before today, I trust that you won’t hesitate to do it now. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, nor for that matter, another breath. Take care of this ASAP! Hell is a very real place and I’d really hate to find out someday that you had the chance to receive His gift and didn’t take it.

If you would like to receive God’s free gift NOW, please pray the prayer below and let me know that you did so that I can rejoice with you for your new-found hope (promise) of ETERNAL LIFE. I would really love to hear from you by email to let me know of your decision. My email is listed at the bottom of the right hand column of this page, please write to me. 

“Dear Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner and I know that I don’t deserve to go to Heaven. But, Your Word says that if I ask You to forgive my sins that You will forgive me and let me become Your child so that I can go to Heaven. Lord, I ask You to forgive my sins, right now, and take them away. I want to become Your child so that I can please You and so that You can become my best friend. Lord, thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins to take them away and to enable me the right to become Your child and go to Heaven to spend eternity with You. Thank you for forgiving my sins, Lord. I ask you this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.”

Christian, new or old, thank you for reading this far. I will be posting follow up articles relating to different things that the Bible teaches us and what it tells us that we should/n’t believe and do. Become a reader/follower at the top and keep up to date on my postings. You can also keep up to date by subscribing to my updates via email on the right side of the page as well. 

If you have gotten anything out of this post or if you have a comment (please keep them nice), please leave them in the space provided at the bottom. By all means, feel free to pass this article along.

©2012  Mark Davis

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46 Comments
by Christians Are Us on October 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Discipleship, Gospel Presentations, How To Be Saved, Salvation
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Posted by Christians Are Us on October 3, 2012

https://christiansareus.com/2012/10/03/how-many-ways-are-there-to-get-to-heaven/

YOU’RE DEAD — NOW WHAT?

Mark 8:36 KJV
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Ok, most of us have asked ourselves this question at least once in our lifetime.  I’m not talking about your earthly body.  Of course, our physical body will be buried, cremated, tossed into the sea or any other manner of things that could happen.  All of us have three parts to our being:  Body (the physical part that we see when we look into the mirror), Spirit (the part of us that is inside of us – our thoughts) and our Soul (the part of us that lives on for the rest of eternity – whether we want it to or not). It is just like water has three parts: Liquid (Water), Solid (Ice) and Gas (Steam).

The part that I am working with right now is the Soul – the part of us that will continue on into eternity unknown whether we want it to or not.  Whether we are aware of it or not right now.

Back to the question… Where will your soul go once you die? The Bible says:

Hebrews 9:27 KJV
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”

This means that when we die, we will be immediately “judged” to see if we will spend eternity in Heaven with God or Hell with the Devil and his angels.

Yes, these places really do exist; again, whether we want them to or not! Whether we acknowledge it now or not!  Our soul will go to one of those two places.

What determines where we will go?  That is a choice that we have to make now, while we are still here on earth.  Where do we start?

When we are born, we inherit the penalty of DEATH.  Why? Because we are sinners.  How do we know?

Romans 3:10 KJV
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”

Not one person has gone without sinning at least once in their lifetime. Not even YOU. Not even ME.  No one in the past (nor future) has been without sin besides Jesus.

So now we are sinners – what then?

Romans 3:23 KJV
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”

The “come short of the glory of God” part of that verse means that God is not happy with our sins.  Because He is not happy, He “judges” us to spend eternity in HELL or ETERNAL DEATH!

Romans 6:23 KJV
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

If you notice at the end of that verse, there is HOPE.  There is a “GIFT of God” that is the opposite of eternal DEATH – ETERNAL LIFE or otherwise known as Heaven – in God’s presence for the rest of eternity.

Romans 5:8 KJV
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Contrary to popular worldly belief, God actually LOVES us. He made a way of escape for us – so that we don’t have to spend eternity in everlasting HELL. That LOVE; that GIFT is His son Christ Jesus.  God sent His Son to earth to live a sinless life so that He could die a very painful death (the worst sort of death known to man at that time) on the cross.  He took our sins with him to that cross and paid our debt of death for us so that we won’t have to spend the rest of eternity in HELL or eternal death.

John 3:16 KJV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“

This verse has to be the most popular verse in the whole Bible, and for good reason.  God Loves the world (you and I) so much that He gave His only Son so that if we believe in Him (Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross) we won’t perish, or go to HELL, but now we have the opportunity to have ETERNAL LIFE or go to Heaven!

He made a way of escape for us so that we don’t have to go to HELL.  As was stated above, this “GIFT” is just that; a GIFT! All we have to do is accept that Jesus did pay the price for our sins on the cross and ask Him to take our sins away from us and to allow us to be able to go to Heaven instead of HELL!

How do we “ACCEPT” this gift?

Romans 10:9-10 KJV
“9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
“10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

We have to “confess with our mouth” the Lord Jesus.  We have to confess that we are a sinner and that we believe in Jesus Christ and that he was our substitution for our debt of sin – ETERNAL DEATH – and that God raised Jesus from the dead three days later – after all of that we will be saved!  Without “heart” – the Spirit part of our earthly being – we believe unto “righteousness” – righteousness is an expression that means God doesn’t see our sin anymore and now are sinless in His sight (Ps. 103:12) so that we can finally go to Heaven – and with our mouth “confession is made unto salvation” – we need to actually say (to Jesus) that we accept His sacrifice so that we can have salvation from death and hell.

We need to pray and ask Jesus to take our sins away and to make us sinless in His sight so that we can go to Heaven when we die.

Psalms 103:12 KJV
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Acts 4:12 KJV
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

WAIT – does that previous verse mean that there isn’t any other way to get to Heaven besides by doing what is talked about here?

YES!  God doesn’t want us to be able to brag or boast about how we got to Heaven except by the “GIFT” of God that He gave us.  Leave it to “man” to be so proud that we would say “I was a real good person” or “I went to church every Sunday” or “I gave a lot of money to the church” or “I was raised in a Christian home – My parents were real good Christians.”

That’s all fine and dandy but it does absolutely zilch, nada, zip to get us to Heaven.  We are still on our way to HELL!  There is NOTHING that we can do to finally get to Heaven besides putting ALL of our trust in God and His gift of salvation.

Why do I say this?

Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV
“8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
“9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Titus 3:5 KJV
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”

Have you ever asked Jesus to come into your heart and life?  Is there something missing in your life and you just can’t explain? You need to ask Him to come into your heart and take your sins away and make you a “new creature”.

Let Him take control of your life.

Pray this prayer with me:

“Lord Jesus, …I know I’m a sinner and I would like to ask you to take my sins away …and make me a new creature.  …I want to go to Heaven when I die, …just like the Bible says will happen.  …I want you to take control of my heart and life …and I would like to live for You and please You from now on.  …Thank you, Jesus for taking my sins away …and for the free gift of eternal life that You have offered.  …In Your name, Jesus, …I pray all of these things. …Amen.”

Now that you have asked Jesus for forgiveness for your sins, you have become a Christian (Christ-like or Christ-follower). You are on your way to Heaven, now, and now nothing that you can do or say, and nothing anyone else can do or say can take that away from you.  You can NEVER lose your salvation and you will always be going to Heaven.  You now have nothing to worry about when it comes to the “afterlife”.  You DO have life after…

I praise God that you have chosen to make this decision.  I would really love to know that you have done this and I would like for you to contact me so that I can follow-up with you and help you on your new journey as a Christian. The road is not going to be easy but now you can have peace and hope, where you didn’t have it before.

I will be following this post up with other things that might answer some questions that you might have.  If there is a specific question that you might have (that is legitimate), I will do my best to answer them for you.  I’m sure you aren’t the only one with that question.

 Thank you for your time and God bless you.

–Mark

 

Other Really Great Verses To Know:

2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

John 10:28-29 KJV
“28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
“29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.“

Matthew 7:14 KJV
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.“

John 14:27 KJV
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.“

©2012  Mark Davis

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Continued Reading:

53 Comments
by Christians Are Us on October 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Gospel Presentations, Salvation
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by Christians Are Us on October 1, 2012

https://christiansareus.com/2012/10/01/youre-dead-now-what/

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