Week 10

Scenarios

This week we talked about some of the different scenarios we come across on visits and what would we say in response to various situations. What it all comes down to is our goal in FAITH: to share the gospel and to disciple people. The best way to disciple is through our Sunday School groups. Even though we try to share the gospel while we are on our visits, the Sunday school class should be there to reinforce it. Besides being a place of discipleship and where the gospel is shared, the Sunday school group is a place of support and friendship.

Our Visit

We’ve been doing opinion polls for the past couple of weeks, and we were going to take a break from that and check on a member of our Sunday School class that lived near the school. They weren’t home, so we went back to opinion polls. One problem: we didn’t bring anything with us. We hunted down another team in the area and obtained some of their material. After leaving them, we realized we didn’t have a pen either. We went to the convenience store down the street and purchased one.

Now we’re ready. We went to a cul-de-sac behind the school. We had more people answer the door then we have in the past. We talked to a guy that was saved and went to First Assembly. We had a good visit with him and prayed with him before we left. Our last house was a guy that said he read that bible and went to church when he was younger, but doesn’t have time for it now. We asked him the “key question:” What do you understand it take for a person to go to heaven? He gave an unclear answer. After trying to have him clarify it, I was still unsure of his salvation. I went ahead and shared the gospel with him. At the end of it he just said with some doubt that he thought he did that when he was younger. We told him about our different Bible study classes and worship times. We hope that he will find time to visit our church and see his need for salvation.

Prayer Request

There was another one saved tonight!! Please pray for that person and the others that made professions on that same street. Pray for Patty, Georgia, and my family as we continue to mourn the loss of my father-in-law. Pray for me this Friday as I hand out bible tracts at Disney on Ice.

To find out more about Victory Baptist Church, visit our web site. www.victory-mbc.com

Week 9

H is for Heaven.

“H” is the last letter in our FAITH outline. Heaven is where we’ll spend eternity with Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:3: 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. That word “if” could be better understood as “since”. It is a conditional statement. It’s means that He is already going and since He is going then…

If we are to spend eternity there, what is it like? It seems a lot of people believe Heaven is what they make it to be. If you like ice cream, then you’ll have all-you-can eat ice cream. If you like sports, your Heaven will include a big screen TV with the sports package. Is Heaven what you make it out to be?

That is our selfish view of Heaven. Like now it is not about us. It is about the one who created us. I believe that our desire will be to worship God. Don’t get me wrong it will be a great place where all hurt and sin is wiped away. Originally God made a place that He was pleased in, Genesis 1:31. Sin messed that up and I believe he’ll make a restored earth. The way he originally intended it to be.

We don’t have to wait until we die to experience Heaven, that eternal live starts now with Jesus. Because of our sins, our live are limited (Romans 6:23), but once we repent of our sins and put our trust in Jesus, we have a promise of eternal life. We don’t have to worry what will happen when we die. God makes us a new creature.

John 10:10 say: I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. This doesn’t mean that we somehow we’ll have a perfect life after trusting Jesus. We don’t somehow get that dream job, hit the lottery, and our life will be free from all troubles. That abundant life is an eternal life. We have the assurance of knowing that when we die our eternity will be spent in Heaven.

People think that when you become a Christian, all the sudden life is boring. I know just the opposite. It is not that we “have” to stop doing certain things. It is that God gives us a new heart. We are a new creature. We now have new desires. What is better then having new desires and being able to do them? I think of it like this. I think running a marathon is torture, but some people love the idea and live to run them. Their desire is to run that marathon. When their desire is fulfilled then that is a good thing. Same thing with being a Christian, our desires change. We want to go to church and worship God, we want to do what is right. We want to share Christ with others. When those desires are fulfilled then we are happy.

Our Visits

Josh and I went door knocking on a road behind the school. Our desire was to tell people about the new services and if we got a chance, to share the gospel. We knocked on a lot of doors and left a lot of flyers, but didn’t get to talk to many people. The only person we really go to speak with was already saved. We didn’t share the gospel, but we did get the info out about the new services and we also had a great time of walking and talking.

Prayer Request

Pray that opportunities will come up during the week for me to share my faith. At the beginning of class we discuss some “life witnessing” experiences we have, and I realize that I haven’t talked to anybody. Pray for our new church services at the school. Pray that they’ll be able to reach the lost in that area.