6 Years of Grace

God is so good, yesterday marks the 6th aniversary of my conversion. All praise and glory goes to God and my Lord Jesus Christ. Praise also to the Holy Spirit for keeping me

Redemption

Redemption is equated to the word ransom. Thus a redeemer is the person who pays the ransom (fine or dept or similar situation) saving them from a punishment or something else very unpleasant. In the context of Christianity Jesus is the redeemer. While we were in dept to the Law of God (by lying, stealing, blaspheming etc.), Jesus paid our fine by dying on the cross for our sins, thus redeeming us from hell.

Only God Is Faithful

Holy is the Lord God Almight
The earth is filled with His glory
Chris Tomlin

I would like to affirm that God alone can be trusted. He is the Holy, the Perfect one, the one who is absolutely just, and rich in mercy. In Christ alone I place my trust. I state though mother and father forsake me, though all friends leave, yet Christ is with me. What I'm trying to say is:
ONLY GOD IS FAITHFUL

Satanic Opposition to preaching

I happen to have two extremely badly behaved, and through a number of circumstances we ended up on the field, I took the opportunity to give out some million dollar tracks, and managed to engaged one of the boys in conversation. Immediately about 5other students did everything possible to distract me, pulling at my beard, jumping in front as we walked, interupting and attempting to pickpocket are some of the things they would do.

God I pray for those inderviduals, save them please Lord

Thank You Lord

Thank you God

Christ is very good, today He has given the opportunity to preach to several people today, I thank God that these people heard the truth.

Lord I pray that you save them

Picture

Here are the boys I witnessed to in the previous post - please pray for them

Witnessing

I got the chance to preach to two young men during a break at my school. I used a curved illusioned track as a seway. Soon they realised that they had lied, stolen, committed adultery by lust and blasphemed and that they needed to repent and put their faith in Christ.

They both were serious about this, they learned what they had to do. Then I explained why I would tell them something like this. That I care about them and didn't want them to go tell hell, which is what the bible says will happen, if they are still in their sins.

They left with a feeling of awe, but I don't think they have repented yet. God please save these two young men, raise them up as men of God and faithful witnesses. In Jesus Name Amen

A New Opening

I have discovered a new opening into the gospel. I am blessed by a job, working at a High School. But in my spare time I am studying my theology degree. "what are you studying?" is a common subject. I tell them I am studying theology, they ask: "what's that?" I explain that the word comes from the two greek words: theos and logos. I explain a little of the some of the things I study in theology, then I bring up the subject of Justification By Faith. The always ask: "what is that?" What a segway into the gospel. I preach the law, and how we need to be justified, and how can that happen only through repentance and faith towards Jesus Christ.

Isn't God good, puting me in this place, at this time, to preach the gospel to a group of young people, please save them Lord

Preaching To Grade 10s

I've just got the new Million Dollar bills from www.livingwatersafrica.com and I thought I'd hand them out in one of the classes, which had before seemed receptive to tracks and the gospel. God is so gracious, that at least 3 people heard clearly the law and the gospel. First time, was a girl I'd tried to witness to before, but something else had interupted. But today we resumed and she clearly heard the gospel. She seemed very convicted. I ended it by asking "Is there any sin that you love enough that you are willing to risk hell for eternity, by doing it?"

I moved to two other girls who I'd given the Million Dollar bills to. These two were not as receptive, but they listened and I left them thinking about their sin and the Saviour's kindness in forgiving us.

Pray for all of them because others in the class heard me as we talked. One girl was heard to say: "thats Sh**". Pray for them all, that they will be saved. In Jesus' name

A pray that God answered yes to

Before I go any further, let me say why I called this post "A pray that God answered yes to." God answers all prayers, and He give basically 3 answers. "Yes", "No", or "Later". Praise God He has answered all my prayers, but let me share something that happened to me this weekend.

I teach a Sunday School class for Grade 6s and 7s for the last few years. Last week I decided to teach on the Parable of the Sewer and I had decided to make it a 'lighter' class and we would act out the parable. The problem is that my class averages about 5 kids, mostly from the Church's ministry school. This is a picture of my class on a good day, in a numbers way:


The problem was that this number wasn't enought for the little skit routine wouldn't work. So I prayed that God would grant me a big class this week. God answered yes, He gave me 12 kids that day. Our ministries school's sister school, in Cozi Bay came to visit. This trip takes several hours and is a preplanned months in advanced.

This means that God prepared the organiser's hearts to do this trip for, among other reasons, an answer to my prayer, which I only prayed about an hour before the class.

Isn't God great!

This Made Me Angry

As an evangelist, theologian and more importantly just a plain Christian I am concerned with the right understanding of scripture. The theological term for this is Hermeneutics. Now personally I am one of those fundamentalist Evangelical conservative Christians. I have read the King James Version (KJV) also known as the Authorized Version for many years. I currently use the English Standard Version (ESV) the translation used by my church. However this doesn't mean that if someone reads the NIV, NRSV or NASB etc. that they are necessarily reading a bad or perverted version of the bible. However there is a line to be drawn here, And while I wouldn't like to commit to exactly where that line is, I've just read two versions which step way, way over that line. And because it is God's word at stake, it makes my blood boil.

Here are the versions. First is the KJV to use as a comparison. Note () are in the origional, my comments are between [].

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Now for "The Message" version"

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are. [you would think something like 'we worship you']
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals. ['3 square meals, if nothing else, what about fasting, although I could say much more]
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. [how about forgive me]
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.[Yes?, er no actually Amen means: and so shall it be]

That was the paraphrase, now for the one that really made me mad

B Marshall

God, our father (our mother)
[Whoa lets stop right there: 'mother?' er no, God is genderless, but in the bible He portrays Himself as the father figure rather than as the mother because of the rolls these two parent figures take in the home. I will lay it on the line, anyone who believes God can be refer to God as 'mother' has an idolatrous understanding of who God is.][what about, who is in heaven]

may your name be honoured
may your Way become our way
[way? this is not some mistical idea, its God's Kingdom rulership on earth]
as we surrender to your will
Give us what we need, for today
Just as you free us when we have fallen, help us not to hold on for too long to pain caused by others.[pain caused by others, no sir, we need to be forgiven of sin]
Guide us and give us wisdom to distinguish between your voice, and what only seems like your voice. [you got that right anyway, this bible certainly ain't God's word]
Amen.

Systematic Theology

If you have ever wondered about systematic Theology, Let this serve as an introduction about what it is and why it is important. The rest of these teachings and others can be found at:

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I pray that today you will give me another opportunity to preach today. Lord I pray for my youth, that you would save them in Jesus name. But yet Lord, I pray that today I might open my mouth boldly so that they might hear your law and gospel, that they might be saved. In Jesus precious name. Amen

Sex bofore marriage

Sex before marriage is wrong, a sin, immoral. Check this out:

A Good Day's Fishing

I had a good day fishing outside the school today. The scene was outside the school after the bell had gone. I was talking to some girls from one of my classes. The girl in particular was asking about some questions about general things of Christian life. Then she told me that everyone was surprised that she was a Christian, when she told them. I talked about a few things such as growing in Holiness. Then I used the segway: I told her that if she regularly shared her faith with her friends, they wouldn't have to guess if she was a Christian or not, then I said, I would show her what I meant. So I gathered three of her friends and shared them the gospel. At one point I gave them the Good News/ Bad News tract. A couple of other girls asked for one, and I gave it to them. By the time I had finished sharing with the first group, two others had wondered up and they had just finished reading the tract I gave them. So I shared the Gospel with them also. All six had such a look of conviction that I was so encouraged that the Gospel was going deep.

I used an analogy today which was useful today. I share it with you, if you find it useful: imagine if I put a chip in your brain that recorded every thing you see, think and say for just a week. Then I took those images and sounds and thoughts and projected the screen in the school assembly. The feelings you would have is a small part of the shame of what judgement day will be like.

God bless, please pray for those girls;

God Has Been Very Faithful

God has been very faithful to me - a sinner. He has given me much opportunity recently. Let me give you one example. One of my class's was argueing about the bible, was it true or not. Lord thank you, what a segway, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with about 4 of them. Then the next day the kids wanted to keep talking so I shared the gospel again. At least 6 of them heard it. I saw much conviction in some of their faces. So I pray that that the gospel would come in and change them.

Satanism & Rock Music

Here is a video by the Way Of The Master (WOTM) team. I have been talking recently about Satanic influences in Rock Music. This video, brings this out

Gospel Track Passing

I've got to promote the Million Dollar Bill gospel tract. It is so desirable to the sinner. Let me tell you the story. Because I have a beard on of the kids in one of my class asked me if I was a Muslim. I said no, I was a Christian and could prove it with a million Dollars. (Obvious you can't know a person is a Christian that way, but I used it to springboard into passing them out.) The four kids in that row, (who I was talking to) all took one and read, but someone in the class noticed and almost instantly I had given just about all of them a Million Dollars each.

I pray that God would save some of them through reading the tract. These tracts are from: www.livingwatersafrica.com if you are in Africa or www.livingwaters.com if you are elsewhere.

School Witnessing

Praise God, praise God, praise God

Thanks be to God, so far today, He has allowed me to preach the twice, first to two guys who claim to be Christians. I don't know if they are or not, but they don't seem to understand it so I was priveliged. Then I preached it to a young man, which arose from using Gospel tracks.

The first one arose when the kids wanted to research their heros. The hero in question was 50Cent. And he believed he was a hero because he had reformed from drugs and stuff. From that everything followed, looking at the law and then a bit of grace.

The second happened when I gave a Million Dollar Bill and then a Good News/Bad News track. He asked why I work where I work. Things progressed quickly so that when I said I was an evangelist, he asked me what that was. I used that to springboard into the spiritual. I gave him the the GN/BN track and asked him to read it, which he did. I then took him through the Law and Grace. I could see the contriction on his face. I asked him if he there is any reason why he should not repent and put his faith in Jesus. He said there is no reason...

Thank the Lord

Facebook Evangelism

I've been chatting with a friend of mine on Facebook. It was very evangelistic, He was thinking about life and stuff. We discussed death and its cause. And then I asked, 'do you believe in heaven and hell, and where will you go when you die?' He told me he wasn't sure, but then asked what is probably the best segway into the Law: 'but do I really deserve hell?' I took him through the Ten Commandments, and he admitted to me that he had lied, stolen and committed adultery and blasphemy. His next statement was so good, bearing in mind what the bible says about the mouth being stopped, I was so pleased to see the contrition in the words: 'so I'm in big trouble.' I could see he was humbled before God so I gave him the good news and grace of God, the cross etc.

I don't know if he was converted but by what he said gives me hope he now understands that he needs to repent and put his faith in Christ, and I ask you to pray for him and his salvation.
God bless

Witnessing At Work

I was blessed today to witness to two young Grade 9s who I teach at my School. One has been brought up Catholic, but doesn't agree with that church, and the other isn't anything, but believe in reincarnation.

What was interesting was that the conversation was started by a comment that I wasn't wearing the WWJD bangle that I usually do. One of the girls asked about it and thus the conversation developed. They both had several questions but by the grace of God I was able to answer all of them and always bring it back to the important things, the Law and the Gospel. We parted on aimable terms and they promised to think about their sins, and God's kindness to save them from the sins. The other big think that they didn't get was HOW God saves, through Jesus, what did dying on the cross have to do with it. I was able to share how Your sins are punished on the cross and Jesus (when you are born again) gives you His righteousness.

Pray for these two, any Christian reading this that they would come to the knowledge of the Lord in repentance and faith.

Opportunity

I am so grateful to God, He is so faithful. God has given me such an opportunity. At the High School where I work I was talking to a biology teacher yesterday. The discussion turned to that most contraversial of subjects 'Evolution.' The discussion was very cordial, the teacher in question believes that God exists, but is committed to evolution. Then this morning the same teacher came to me and offored me the opportunity to present the creation view of the world before her students because both sides needs to be presented and she feels she cannot do it fairly.

So I, an IT assistant and teacher, will have the chance to present God before about 30 young matric students, God's faithful...

The Blind Man

I pose this question to anyone who may be reading it:

I blind man is walking towards a high cliff. What is more loving: redirecting the blind man away from the cliff or giving him some food for the walk?

The answer is obvious: redirecting him away, because if he goes over the cliff he will die! Ponder that for a while, I will expound and explain it in the next post...

Sermon Sources

The two best places for many many sermons from many Godly preachers are the following:

www.sermonaudio.com
www.sermonindex.net

Some preachers include:
C H Spurgeon, John Piper, Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, A W Tozer, John MacArthur, D L Moody, Jonathan Edwards, A W Pink, Thomas Watson, K P Yohannan, Leonard Ravenhill... and so on

Reformers, Puritans and today most Godly and conservitave preachers... Looking for stuff, there where to go to.

Burden Of The Verse

Ephesians 6 vs 1 - 3
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
I may spend some time on a later post expositing (going through in depth) these three verses, but for now I have been burdened with them for the last hour, so I thought I would post them, for your edification. God Bless

Gospel Tracks

As any Evangelists know, a good gospel track is just as effective as a one on one witnessing in some situations. There are obviously times for one and times for another, and generally actual preaching is most neccisary. However I have heard many stories of men and women being saved purely from reading a track someone gave them in the street. If nothing else, its a great way to get into evangelism, because it takes much less courage than standing on a soapbox. Here are some tracks, available in South Africa, which are really good:

This is from the Livingwaters Africa Website:

CARD ONE: Hold both cards curving toward the right. Which is bigger, the pink or the blue? Both are the same size. Our eyes are often fooled by optical illusions. Speaking of eyes -- imagine if you were offered $1,000,000 for an eye for the purpose of eye transplants. It could be taken out painlessly, and you be give you a new glass eye which will look as good as your other eye, but it just won't look as good as your other eye. Would you sell an eye for $1,000,000? How about both for $20,000,000? No one in his right mind would. Your eyes are priceless, yet they are merely the windows of your soul. Jesus said that your eyes are worth nothing, when compared to the value of your soul -- "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you, for it is better to enter Heaven without an eye than to go to Hell with both eyes" (Matt 18:9).
CARD TWO: He asked, "What shall man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26) There is nothing as important as your salvation. Here's what to do: Judge yourself by the Ten Commandments -- Have you lied (even once), stolen (value is irrelevant), committed adultery (Jesus said, "Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" Matt. 5:28), killed (hatred is considered murder by God -- 1 John 3:15), have you loved God above all else? Be honest. On Judgment Day you know you will be guilty, and therefore end up in Hell. Today, repent (confess and turn from your sin) and trust in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross to take our punishment, and then He rose from the dead. He showed how much God loves us. Then read the Bible daily, obey what you read -- God will never fail you.

available at:

www.livingwatersafrica.com

Gospel

I am going to take this opportunity to preach the gospel to any who may read it. This is the structure of any witness encounter I would have with anyone and follows the Way Of The Master.

Do you considder yourself to be a good person, I'll bet (if you are not a Christian) you answered yes, basically I am a good person. OK that doesn't suprise me because the bible says that everyone sees themself as good in their own eyes. But here is the test, using the objective standard of goodness, according to the bible. The standard is The Ten Commandments: and I'll only look at 4.

1: have you ever told a lie? yes? what do you call someone who tells lies? A liar right.

2: ever stolen anything regardless of value. The command is: Thou shalt not steal. taken anything that isn't yours and you have broken this one, what do you call someone who steals? no not a stealer, its a theif.

3: Ever used God's name in vain. That is called blasphemy and this is very serious in God's sight. The bible says that He (God) will not see him (you) guitless who takes his name in vain.

4: Ever committed adultery, probaby not, but listen to what Jesus said: If you even look with lust (sexual desire) at someone else, you are committing adultery with that person in your heart. Ever looked with lust. God sees you as an adulterer.

If you have done any or all of these things, you are then a self admitted lying, theiving, blasphomous adulterer at heart. This is not me judging you, this is what you are admitting to doing if you answered yes to any of the above questions. Now the question is: If God judges you by this standard, would you be found innocent or guilty? and on that basis, heaven or hell?

Many of you probably said 'guilty' on that basis, but 'heaven' for the second? Why? Why sould the just judge of all the universe let you free from your crime. God's grace and forgiveness cannot apply to you because you have no basis to receive them. If you have any other reason, feel free to comment, I will try and answer them all.

Basically this is the problem in a nutshell. You have committed sin. God the Just cannot ignore and forgive or leave unpunished, sin. Therefore you would be condemned to hell, what you (and I for that matter) deserve. But there is some good news (gospel) also. The bible discribes that this same judge is rich in mercy. He has provided a way which guilty sinners like us can be forgiven. Jesus Christ, the God man himself, died on the cross, taking the punishment you deserve. The bible says that he was bruised for our inequities. He stepped in to the courtroom, where you have just been found guitly, and says: I will pay your punishment.

What does this mean? You can be forgiven, made right with God, and allowed into heaven, on the basis of Jesus' righteousness. Its the great exchange, He takes your sin, and gives you His righteousness. There is no amount of work that can be done to earn salvation, but to receive it there are TWO things that you must do. You must repent (turn from sin to God, apologise) and put your faith in Christ, like you put you faith in a parachute to save you from death from falling. Then HE will save you. And please do it today, you can't guarantee you'll have tomorow, you could be dead before then... so today is the day of salvation, repentance and faith.

Way Of The Master

How do we do evangelism. There is a very simple answer to this question: We do it the same way as Jesus. I will save my own exposition of exactly how later, but If you want to know more. I suggest you listen to a downloadable audio sermon preached by a Kiwi called Ray Comfort. His ministry is designed to teach us to preach the gospel biblically, the way Jesus did, hence it's name: THE WAY OF THE MASTER.



The message can be heard at:
http://www.livingwaters.com/learn/hellsbestkeptsecret.htm




And to get gospel tracks and resorces in South Africa:
http://www.livingwatersafrica.com/

Welcome To The First Post

EVANGELISE SA

Greeting one and all. This is the first of, by God's grace, many posts. I have established this blog site to relate my experiences in personal evangelism. What is evangelism? It is the theological name for preaching the gospel to any and everyone. Later posts will deal with what, how, why and when etc, but suffice it to say that it is an action that all, who profess the name of Christ, should do. Remeber, its all about God being glorified, and this is one of the primary ways in which this is done :). The other aspect to this blogspot is that of the country in which I live, South Africa (SA or sa). I will look at current affairs, and our place of evangelism and Christian witness therein. Until the next post - Glory to God.