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 10

Mormonism
Most people today believe that Mormons are just another “Christian” denomination. It is not only not part of Christianity, but it is anti-Christian. They have twisted the most fundamental doctrines of the Bible. Here are a few

Source of Authority-They don’t take the bible as the infallible word of God and they don’t believe scripture was closed with the bible. They have 3 additional books; the Book of Mormon (which has changed in 4000 places since it was written in 1830), the Doctrine of Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Their belief is that the Bible is correct as long as it is translated correctly. If the bible contradicts their teachings or their other books, then they fall back on “it is an incorrect translation”.

Trinity-Mormons believe in polytheism, many gods. The universe has many gods that produce spirit children. They believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but they believe that these are three different Gods.

God-Their view is that God was once a man like us. Through self-effort and the father-god of his plant was able to work his way to receiving his own planet and now has a physical resurrected body. They believe through their own good works and the atoning work of Jesus we to can be god and have our own planet.

Christ-They acknowledge the divinity of Christ, but not by the bible’s standard. They believe that Christ, Lucifer, the demons, and mankind are all bothers and are spirit babies from our father-god. They believe that Christ was conceived by sexual relations between god and Mary. They also believe Jesus had many wives; Mary and Martha (the sisters of Lazarus) and Mary Magdalene.

Heaven and Hell-Mormonism teaches that there are three degrees of glory: Celestial (for good Mormons able to cease sinning in this lifetime), Terrestrial (for good people who do not comply with all the teachings of Mormonism), and Telestial (for those who have lived unclean earthly lives). They don’t really believe anyone will go to hell but a few that can’t be redeemed, sons of perdition. They used to put blacks in this category up until 1978. Their belief is that the people that half-heartily fought when Lucifer got mad at God’s decision to select Jesus and fought against Him and Michael were the black race.

There are many differences these are just a few. The main thing to realize is that the lingo is the same. They use works like “salvation through Jesus”, Grace, and Trinity, but their definitions are totally different

Our Visit
Joanna and I picked up Josh this time out to make our three person team. We were scheduled to visit a family from the Church’s school. The husband was there with their 2 children. We had a good visit. When I asked what his understanding of how a person goes to heaven, he gave a “faith” answer, in Jesus only. I asked him if he as put his faith in Jesus and he told us that he has recently done that and was starting learn more and grow as a Christian. He already had a Church that he was attending and was about to start a new bible study. We didn’t want to pull him away from his church, but did tell him about Victory since the school and church were connected, this way if he ever needed anything he would know a little about us. We prayed with him and encouraged him in his new walk with the Lord.

Prayer Request
Pray for the family of a boy that was just saved. Pray for my step-father-in-law. He has is battling cancer and is taking chemotherapy. Pray for our family has we go through this with him. We only have a couple weeks left pray for our FAITH teams.

Week 10

Baptism

This week our pastor is preaching a revival and wasn’t in class. Matt filled in and did a good job discussing baptism. This is the next step after a person receives Christ. Part of the Great Commission is to go out and make disciples, not just make converts. We are to teach and help new believers grow in the walk with the Lord. We are to be, as the book puts it, their spiritual parent. Paul refers to Timothy as “[my] own son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2).
Part of the teaching is to show them the importance of baptism. Baptism isn’t going to save us. It is done in obedience to God. It is an outward way to publicly show what has happened to us on the inside. We are buried with Christ and come up a new person. There are four reasons we should be baptized.
1. Jesus Commanded It (Matthew 28:19)
2. Baptism demonstrates Obedience.
Jesus set the example (Mark 1:9)
Jesus’ followers obeyed (Acts 2:41, 8:38)
3. Baptism represents a picture of breaking from the past and beginning a new life with Christ. (Romans 6:4)
4. In the New Testament baptism is a public testimony of faith. (Acts 2:41)

Our Visit

We had one assigned visit. It was a new residence. We parked at the end of the street, started with the first house on the block and made our way up. The first house was a nice Catholic lady. She gave a works answer on how a person gets to heaven. Sherri presented the gospel to her. When asked if that is something she has done, referring to repent and faith in Jesus, she said she didn’t understand what we were asking. Sherri did a good job at going back to her works answers and that she just wanted to make sure she know that wasn’t relying on works to save her and that it is through the sacrifice Jesus made for us. She said that she has done that. Whether she has or has not the gospel was presented. Sherri prayed before we left and again she gave the gospel in the prayer.

The second house was the assigned house. It was clear that they were eating. We told them that we would come back at a better time.

On the third house, Sherri said the house looked familiar to her. We rang the doorbell and a lady answer. She said that she was the caregiver and that the family is members of our Church. She invited us in. When I asked, “in your personal opinion what do you understand it takes for a person to go to heaven”, she responded with belief in God and heaven. It was kind of an unclear answer so I asked “do you mind if I share with you how the Bible answers this question?” She said that was fine. I went through the FAITH gospel presentation. She said that she has done that. We invited her to Church. She said that she would love to go but she takes care of Gary all but 40 hours a week. Gary is handicapped and his mother died within the last year. Her funeral was at the Church and he is not ready to go back. His is hard for him. We did go back and talk with him a little before we had to leave. He got emotional when talking about going to Church. We prayed with him before we left.

Prayers

There was one saved tonight. Pray for her and her new walk with the Lord. Still pray for Susan that was mentioned in the last blog. Pray that God will open up doors for us to share the gospel.