180 Movie

This is the best pro-life movie I've ever seen. It uses logic and the Holocaust event to help open people's eye's on what Aportion really is. Way of the Master and Living Waters did a great job. If you are pro-choice, pro-life, or undecided watch it:

New Website

We have a new website for our church. Victory Missionary Baptist Church in Sherwood. www.victory1st.com. A new format and we are now able to download sermons.

Bookmark it or add it to your favorites.

Way of the Master

It has been a while since I've posted on this blog. About a year and a half. I started it to put my thought out there about my quest through learning how to share my faith.

I posted a lot on our church and the FAITH outreach program. Currently my class is going through a series from Living Waters called Basic Training Course.

I look forward to sharing what I've learned and experiences.

Dave Matthews Concert

Prayer partners,
Sorry I haven't been doing my FAITH Blog this time around. In the past I would blog about the Tuesday's class and the results of the visits for my prayer partners. Here is the blog to check out past semesters (FAITH blog) . I should have this one posted there too.

We had a good night. Robert sent me to the Dave Matthews concert to hand out track and if possible do some one-on-one witnessing, Way of the Master style. If you don't know this is a way of witnessing that I do with a group of friends about every other week (see groups site). It is an easy way to talk to strangers on the street. It preaches the law. Shows them that their sinners, and let them know what they must do. Here an example: (Witnessing Clips)

Back to our night. I had Tim and Tammy with me. We didn't have a lot of time, only about 15 minuets once we got there. Because of the time constraints, we decided that Tammy would just drop us off and come get us in 15 minuets. In this short amount of time we were able to hand out 150, million dollar tracts (not 150 million, dollor tracts). Since people were moving and on their way to the concert, we didn't have a lot of opportunities to talk directly to people about the gospel. I did, however, talk to 3 parking attendants, two of them claimed to be saved and one did really say much.

When we left there we needed to hand out a bible. I have some Million Dollar New Testaments, that match my Bible tracts. I decided to stop in at one of the lottery locations and give it away. I asked a guy leaving if he got his winnings yet and handed him a million dollar tract. After talking with him for a little bit, I gave him the bible.

It was a great night, something different than usual. The best part of the night came when we got back. Julie's team went door knocking and we now have a new sister in Christ. An elderly lady was saved. She ended up being an in-home care giver to one of our Church members.

Thanks all for praying!

Chris
Victory Baptist Church

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.

Week 7

I is for impossible.

According to the Bible, it is impossible for us to get to heaven on our own. The Bible tells us in Eph. 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Grace is usually defined unmerited favor. It is something that we receive but don’t deserve.

If we tried to save ourselves we would fall way short. Very short. Not even close. How much do we need to do to make up for the laws and commandments we’ve broken? Remember the verse under “A?” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That right there is why we need forgiveness. How are we to buy that forgiveness? We’re not! That would like trying to bribe the judge. “I know I murdered that person, but I give to my church and I even helped an old lady cross the street.” Will the judge let you go for the good thing? Of course not. He is going to throw the book at you. If the judge is good and just, he must punish crime.

The only way you can go free is to have that penalty paid for you. That is exactly what Jesus did 2000 years ago. He paid the debt in His life’s blood. There was a legal transaction. God’s wrath and punishment was put on Jesus, who knew no sin. In exchange, we receive His righteousness. A legal transaction was made. We can now go free in God’s court room. So if you repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus, you will be saved. We know that is that He will save us because of what it says in Romans 10:9-10.

You see we can’t save ourselves. That is why we need a Savior. If we claim we are saved by what we do, we are stealing the honor and glory that God rightfully deserves.

Our visit

We went door knocking around Victory Baptist School. We are now having an early service at the school campus and we were getting the word out in the surrounding areas (actually word about the new service and the Word).

When talking with people, if we got anything but a faith answer to the key question “In your personal opinion, what do you understand that it take for a person to go to heaven”, we would share the gospel. We had one good visit. We ran into an officer that had a Catholic background, but his wife went to Fellowship North. His answer to the Key Question was “faith in Jesus Christ”. Surprisingly there was no works added in his response. We had a good dialogue with him in his driveway. He shared with us struggles about an incident where he had to use his gun on duty. Even though he was totally justified, it still bothers him. I could relate to him because I’ve seen that situation in my own family and understand how hard that is. Before we left we prayed with him that God would protect him both physically and mentally.

Another team had great news. They had the privilege of leading a girl to Christ.

Prayer Request

Pray for this officer. Pray that the little girl that was saved will grow in the Lord and that her mother will come to know the Lord also. Another team had a guy that was clearly under conviction. Pray that God will continue convicting him and that he’ll surrender to God’s will.