Gospel Story by Colors Pull-out Ink Pen from CTA

Many years ago, I used to have a nut that had a pull out ribbon inside containing the 5 colors used in telling the Gospel story. The colors were in this order. I used to go around with my little nut and ask kids if they ever heard a nut that could tell a story, then I would teach them the Gospel. I did give an invitation at the end, and I would not do that anymore, but I think that this is a good visual to use with children. I would like to find or make items using the colors that tell the Gospel story. Please send any ideas or experiences in the box for comments. If you want to email me, send an email to RUgood@mail.com   Thanks.



              

Everyday Evangelism - Card Trick with Gospel Message

This card trick (I don't like the word 'trick' but I don't know how else to describe it) is a great visual for presenting the message of the Gospel. I have used it in children's ministry classes and it can be used anywhere you have a table to put the cards on. I would imagine you could even use UNO cards or any type of cards that have the set up of 4 suites and the numbering of a regular card deck (52 cards). I do have the instructions for this and I will not post them here, but I can tell you where you can get the instructions for this if you email me. Also, you can ask a number of different questions at the end. For example, you can ask, "Who is the only person who ever lived that rose from the dead?" or " Who is the only person who ever lived that never broke any of the 10 Commandments during His lifetime?". Here is the link to the video on Youtube: Card Trick with Gospel Message
Enjoy this and share it with others. You can share it with people on Face Book or send it by email to your friends. email me:RUgood@mail.com

Everyday Evangelism - What a Waste of a Day, From My Perspective

Today started out like any other Monday, except that I was able to get up earlier, knowing I was going to be picking up products as soon as the truck arrives, which used to be around 10 am. I got there at 10:40 and heard the truck was going to be a little late, so I went home and came back an hour later. I heard the truck was on it's way, but it would still be a while, so I went off shopping at Target. It feels very strange to give out tracts here because a couple of years ago, I was caught giving out tracts and ended up being banned from this shopping center for a year. So I opted to be careful and use smaller, less noticeable tracts. This shopping center now has a 'Security' tower, which is elevated and I suppose if someone is in it can pretty much look over the whole shopping center. So I carefully have to give out tracts here. My time is over for the ban, but I know how possible it is to get caught again. Perhaps I would never be allowed in this shopping center again. Sad.
   We waited a long time for the truck, and I went into Target to pick up some things. On my way out, I saw two men walking and called out to them asking them if they ever got one. They looked like they were waiting, so I talked with them and explained the Gospel. I didn't realize one of them was the father of the other one. I talked for a couple minutes and explained the Gospel in more detail and gave him another tract. I also invited him to church and gave him a map to the building, since he didn't have a place where he was going to church at this time.
   He gave himself a 9 on the Good Person Test score, but he seemed to understand the Gospel when we were done talking. Please pray for him and his son. They are both named 'Aaron'. I don't know their hearts, but I pray that the connections to the Gospel would be made in their hearts. Pray that they would see their sin as serious before God.
   I don't know what will become of that, but what I do understand is that God is in complete control of everything. Perhaps he allowed the truck to be late so I could talk to Aaron and his son. Maybe God will work in the hearts of the other people I gave tracts and toys to. I don't know what He will do, but one day, it will make sense to me.
  As long as I am faithful in telling the Gospel to other people, it is up to God to bring about the results. From God's perspective, it wasn't a wasted day. Perhaps we will know on the other side what happened the day the truck was really late and we had time to kill.
  The truck did end up coming. And I was one of the last ones to leave the parking lot. But I felt joy because I was able to tell the Gospel to someone today.

"Then they left the presence of the council, erejoicing that they were counted worthy fto suffer dishonor for gthe name. 42 And every day, hin the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and ipreaching jthat the Christ is Jesus."


Here is a message on evangelism taught by one of our pastors, Aaron Law: http://metrolife.org/sermons/sermon/2012-03-25/spirit-empowered-boldness 


Both audio and notes are available for this message.

Everyday Evangelism - The Solo That Didn't Make Sense

  A couple of years ago, I had learned how the Old Testament and New Testament work together. They have the same message, and they compliment each other. The Old Testament is the foreshadow, and the New Testament is the fulfillment. That is why it is hard to just see the Gospel from the New Testament perspective, in some ways. The Old Testament is like the backdrop. If a person doesn't have a good understanding of the Old Testament, he won't appreciate as deeply, the Gospel of the New Testament. To say it more clearly, and in a simplified way, a person won't understand or appreciate the 'Good News' (of the Gospel), unless he understands the 'Bad News' first. We have to understand that we are sinners first, before we can understand why we need Jesus to be our Savior.
   I was thinking of that a couple of years ago, when my son was going to do a trumpet solo for a solo competition. This was serious business. The child has to learn the solo so he or she can perform as best as possible before a judge. The accompanist is a piano player. He or she has to have an original copy of the music that will be played, when the student is playing his or her instrument before the judge.
    My son had  a piece to practice. And practice he did. I could tell he was playing the right notes. But there were long pauses in the song. It just didn't make sense. In some ways, it didn't really even sound like a song! He practiced and practiced. Then the week came and we had to get ready for his solo.
   Even at this point, when the song was perfected, it still didn't sound right. It wasn't that he was doing anything wrong. It just sounded incomplete. I couldn't figure out why. Until the night before the solo was going to be played before the judge, I just began to see something new.
   We went to the trumpet teacher's house, where the teacher's wife was the piano accompanist, and she played the song on the piano. Then they practiced the song together. At that moment, I understood the song. I made perfect sense now. The song had another part that would compliment itself. The trumpet and the piano played in harmony together, and the song was beautiful. My eyes were opened to something that didn't make sense, now making perfect sense.
     I think the Bible is like that. I don't think it is wrong in any way to sow seeds. We have to do that. But if we have the time, and hope someone understands the Gospel, they first have to have the background information (Old Testament). The Old Testament is the 'why' of the New Testament. Why do we need the Gospel? Because we are sinners. How do we know we are sinners? Because we break the Law (10 Commandments) all the time. We are trespassers. The New Testament explains the Old Testament. The Bible is one book with a continuous story. Both Old Testament and New Testament compliment each other.
    In the Old Testament days, people would offer lamb sacrifices for their sins. In the New Testament, Jesus is the Lamb of God. The people that lived during the Old Testament days, who offered sacrifices for their sins, would have understood what it meant when John the Baptist called Jesus the 'Lamb of God'. The Gospel would have made sense to them.
   The point of this article is, practically speaking, that when we preach the Good News of the Gospel, we need to tell people the Bad News of the judgment for their sins. They need to know that they have broken the Commandments and will be judged by God. They need to know that God has provided a way for them to be cleansed from their sins, when they repent and trust in what Jesus did for them on the Cross. Only then will true conversion take place. And just as the piano and trumpet playing together sounded beautiful and made sense, so will a person's understanding of the Gospel be beautiful and will make sense to him or her when they understand the whole Gospel story, from beginning to end.

Everyday Evangelism - Are You On Satan's Hit LIst?

      In the book, 'One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven', there is a chapter called, 'Hit List'. The whole book is great and has several experiences recorded of Mark Cahill talking with people about the Gospel. There are some really interesting stories in the book! In the last chapter called 'Hit List', Mark talks about a situation where he goes into a prison to meet men who are prisoners and tell them the Gospel. Well, Mark was talking with a man who wanted to defect from a Mafia group, but this man's name was on a 'hit list'. In other words, the man who was leaving the Mafia group, wanted to get out of the group, but if the Mafia group knows that a person is leaving, they will put that person's name on a hit list, and make plans to kill him. Mark talked with the man, but had to be quiet because there were other prisoners who were part of this Mafia group and would kill the man he was talking to if that man were found out. The prisoner indicated where the cell was of a man who was planning on killing him. So Mark went to that cell and talked with the man in there. Mark explained the Gospel to him, and the man was ready to respond to the Lord. These people can be reached with the Gospel if we are willing to talk with them.
    The man who came to know the Lord had a hit list with the names of the people he was planning to kill. He gave the list to Mark, and Mark tried to contact them, so they could hear the Gospel message and be saved. What a wonderful story this is. What an impact this prisoner will have for the Kingdom of God.
   Just as the Mafia has a hit list with the names of the people they plan to kill for defecting, Satan has a hit list as well. Satan hates the Gospel. If we are taking an active stand for the Gospel, Satan won't be happy and will try to discourage us. He will do whatever possible to stop us. He will attack us with sickness, difficulties, discouragement, fear, and the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, God is in complete control and Satan has no power over us, unless we give it to him. Nothing will happen to us unless God allows it.
   Are you on Satan's hit list? Is the light of the true Gospel shining through you? Are you hungry for God's Word and for the Truth? Are you giving away that which God has given to you? Are you willing to stand up for the Gospel when it is compromised? How about going against the tide of what everyone thinks is ok vs. what is right in God's sight? These are questions I have to ask myself. We should all be asking ourselves these questions.
   If we are growing in the Lord, are spiritually healthy, and our identity is with the Lord, we will be on Satan's hit list. When we are gone, Satan will be celebrating. Will there be those who will be following in our footsteps? Do we want to be on Satan's 'hit list'?

Everyday Evangelism - Evangelizing Around the Security Guards Part 2

   On Saturday I wrote about the episode having to do with our group of five people, out at Blanchard Park, giving tracts away and talking to people. I am still amazed at what happened that day, and as I continue to think about it, I realize that we need to be praying for our country. I know people today are ignorant about true historical events and even what the Constitution says. I have to try to not take it so personally, I know.
   My son had some insight into something that happened while the security guard was trying to make us leave. Remember I said that 'Ed' accused us of 'solicitation', and he then ordered us off the park property. When asked, Ed did not know what to say to the question, 'Do you believe we have freedom of speech here?'. You could tell that Ed was not experienced with people like us. He had no category for us. He threatened to call the police, but then didn't go through with his threat.
   The man Ed was conversing with, got a business card from Ed, with his supervisor's name on it. With that, he called the supervisor. When he got a hold of the supervisor and explained the situation to him, the supervisor definitely said that Ed was in the wrong, and that we had the right to be in the park and giving out tracts and Bibles. He also sent an apology to all of us.
   But here is what is most interesting; My son pointed this out tonight as we were talking about this event; while we were having the discussion with the security guard, and he was explaining to us that we were 'soliciting' (which we weren't because we weren't selling anything), an ice cream truck was coming though the park. You could hear the unique sound of the ice cream truck. They play that music to let people know they are coming through. If they see people on the side of the road, they will stop and people will buy their goods. Isn't it amazing that there were no security guards going after the ice cream truck? Wouldn't that be considered 'soliciting'? People can sell ice cream in a park, but they can't give out beach balls that have Scripture on them because that is soliciting? What is wrong with this picture? I think we have an idea what it wrong with it. And I think that it is common knowledge (although wrong knowledge) for people who work at parks, to believe that it is wrong for people to be at a park, and using their freedom of speech rights, to communicate the Gospel in any way. They put a label on it, even though it is a wrong label. If the people in our group were ignorant, we probably would have assumed that the security guard was right, and we would probably never go back again. And every time we go to a new place and get kicked out, we probably would think that we were caught doing something we weren't supposed to be doing, when in reality, we were doing the right thing, in the right place, all along. Ignorance is a very wicked enemy. But we know better. And I know enough to become familiar with the law and carry the Constitution with me from now on (Hey I didn't realize, but I have the Constitution on my I-Phone!). Also will print out the page from ACLJ and have it with me.

Everyday Evangelism - How Can We Get People To Feel the Weight of Their Sin?

We were talking yesterday about different approaches that people have in evangelism. Some people have gentle voices and others have strong ones. Some people show love and concern, while others seem more serious. But when it comes to helping people see their sin, how do we do that?
    Some Christians feel strongly that they must pound in the fact that the person they are talking to will burn in hell if they don't repent. Many times they are expressive and try different ways to communicate that the person they are talking to must immediately feel his guilt and repent. What kind of dangers does this present though?
   If we are the ones pounding in the fact that the other person is a sinner, could we be, maybe even unintentionally, trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit in that person's life? Isn't it the work of the Holy Spirit to show and convict people of their sin? Are we ignorant of the fact that 'salvation is of the Lord'? If we try to do the work of the Holy Spirit, wouldn't that be a form of manipulation? God grants us repentance, according to the Bible. God also gives us the faith we need to have to trust in God.
   The danger with this kind of thinking could actually lead to legalism. We are, for all practical purposes, not acknowledging the person of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person. He is the One who reveals Christ. He makes God real to a person. He works in the individual's heart, helping him or her to see his or her sin, and to own that sin. And, He makes the Gospel 'make sense' to us. He helps us to understand our need for a Savior, and that Jesus is the only Savior. We can't do those things. Are we doing the work only reserved for God?
   How hard should we be pressing people to repent? What was your conversion story like? Did people bang on your heart and try to make you feel bad for your sin, or, was it God who was beginning to do a work in your heart, and you responded to that work, and were drawn to the light? Was your salvation experience the work of people, or was it the work of God in your heart?
   Yes, I do believe, (and I know that if you know me, you will believe me) that we need to do the work of evangelism. We need to lay the foundation down, explaining to people who God is, and what He is like. They need to understand what sin is, and how they are affected by it. They need to understand that God is holy and perfect, and He will punish sin. We need to tell them what God did in order to take care of their sin problem. They need to repent and turn to God and trust in Christ. I wish we could be out there every day doing this. But if we are coming down hard on people, and showing anger and hatred to them (trying to explain to them by our appearance, how God feels about sin), we are acting in the flesh. We are not in faith believing that God is not big enough to help a person see his/her sin. We are trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit.
   God's word never returns back to Him void. It accomplishes what it is intended to do. We give it out. We ask people questions. We serve and love people. But we preach the Gospel to them.
    The Bible tells us that we are 'constrained by the love of Christ'. It also describes the Apostles as people who could not contain the Gospel. They had to tell others. Not to get brownie points, but because they realized how great their sin before God was, and what a great salvation God had provided for them. They sowed, they watered, but God gave the increase.
   Let us love people and go out and give them the Gospel. And let us be filled with the Holy Spirit and ask God for boldness to make His name known.