CONTENTS
THE RUSSIA-GEORGIA CONFLICT
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PRAY FOR THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTIONS
ON BECOMING RICH
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU ALL YE THAT PASS BY?
HOW TO LEAD A SOUL TO CHRIST?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
PRAY FOR THE UNITED STATES,
AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
A request from a
co-worker in the United States:
We are requesting
special prayer for the U.S.A., which, as you know, is in the midst of a
fierce general election battle. The forces of evil are at work like
never before. The two sides are like light and darkness in ideology.
The liberal left (Democrats) wants to destroy America and remove its
Christian influence. The conservative right (Republicans) wants to keep
America strong and maintain its strong Christian heritage.
The Bible has
an interesting way of looking at how we lean with respect to our
ideology.
“The heart of the wise inclines to the
right, but the heart of the fool to the
left.” (Ecclesiastes 10:2 - NIV)
Along these lines
we’ve been thinking and praying about the upcoming elections in the
U.S., and something interesting came to mind. King David prayed a
unique prayer when he had troubles and had to flee for his life.
Here’s the story from
2 Samuel chapter 15 in the Old Testament. King David’s son Absalom
usurps the throne, forcing David to leave Jerusalem and flee for his
life. One of King David’s advisors is Ahithophel, who joins Absalom.
David is told about this defection, and is deeply troubled. Then King
David prayed this unique prayer:
“O Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness”
(2 Samuel 15:31)
We’ve been telling
people that we should all pray in the same way during this political
season that the Lord will turn the advice and counsel Sen. Barack Obama
receives into foolishness, so that everything he does fails. The
U.S. will suffer immeasurable harm and great loss if Obama is elected
president. He will try to peel away our freedoms, greatly expand
government to make the U.S. a socialist state, increase our taxes,
destroy our economy, weaken our armed forces, and lessen the tremendous
Christian influence this country has enjoyed and upon which it was
founded.
Even though
we are very concerned with the outcome of the elections, we believe
Christians all over America are praying that God will intervene and
protect this nation from destruction by the liberal left (Democrats).
However, we as
Christians must also humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s Face and
turn from our wicked ways before He will hear us and forgive our sin and
heal our land. (see 2 Chronicles 7:14)
We should as a church
body gather regularly for prayer regarding the elections and also for
our nation as a whole. We are not currently doing this, and our church
leaders are not talking about the issues that define us as Christians
and our nation as a Christian nation. If they would speak to the issues,
many young people who are looking to Obama for ‘change’ may begin to
understand why Obama is very bad for America. Please pray for the U.S.
ON
BECOMING RICH
Q.
I
would like a suggestion regarding my career. Is it wrong to aim to
become rich in life? Please send me a Biblical answer.
A.
It
is not wrong to want to have a decent job with a good salary. But if you
are a follower of the Messiah, and your goal is to get rich, you are in
danger. There are other goals that are honorable and should be embraced
by the believer. The most honorable are, “Not my will but Your will be
done,” and, “It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me.”
Regarding being rich,
remember what the Master said:
“Y’shua said to His disciples, ‘I tell you truly, it
is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven’.” (Matthew 19:23)
It is good you asked
for a Biblical answer. The Master said:
“Do not store up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
where thieves break in and steal; but store up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
The Book of Proverbs
contains wisdom on many of our human issues, such as these two quotes on
riches:
“Do not wear yourself out
to gain riches; cease from your
own understanding! Will you set your eyes on that which disappears?
For wealth certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle it flies
toward the heavens.” (Proverbs 23:4-5)
“Two things I have asked of You, O YHWH; do
not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me.
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with only my daily portion of bread, lest I be
full and deny You and say, ‘Who is YHWH?’ Or lest I be poor and
steal, and profane the Name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9)
And some very wise
warnings and advice from the apostle Paul:
“But those who want to get
rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and
harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of
evil, and some, by hankering for
it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs.
“But you, O man of God, flee from these things and
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
perseverance, meekness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of
faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have
confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
(1 Timothy 6:9-12)
These scriptures
answer your question. But just one final word of exhortation: Beware of
the
prosperity preaching
that is leading many into spiritual poverty these days. Big time
preachers are making millions by promising sincere believers great
financial dividends by investing their money in the preachers’
“ministries.”
The Heavenly Father
may greatly prosper some believers financially so that they may share in
spreading the Gospel; but the Scriptures teach a
spiritual prosperity
for those who are in Christ.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Master,
Y’shua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in the Messiah.” (Ephesians 1:3)
In our Master’s
messages to the seven churches in Asia minor (Revelation 2 & 3), it was
the believers in Smyrna living in poverty, who were spiritually rich.
And it was the Laodicean believers who were materially rich, whom the
Master declared, “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.”
The love of money has
been the downfall of countless souls, and it has turned many a Christian
ministry into a spiritual graveyard. Beware
“those
who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap.”
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU 
ALL YE THAT PASS BY ?
By E. Christian Weiss
IF the Lord Jesus
were to appear in person among His churches today, I feel sure this is
the question He would ask with reference to the great unevangelized
areas of the world. Therefore we must face this question as coming to
us from Him.
“Is it nothing to
you,” the Lord Jesus asks, “that I suffered and died for the sins of the
whole world? That My atonement was a propitiation, not for your sins
only but also for the sins of the whole wide world, for all mankind? Did
I not plainly state this through My servant John?
(I
John 2:2)
VAST
THRONGS YET UNREACHED
“Have you not
understood that on My cross I paid the penalty for the transgressions of
all mankind — not merely for you alone? You who have received the
benefits of My atoning death and sacrifice, is it nothing to you that
there are still vast numbers of Adam’s children who are chained
helplessly to their sins, in misery, dread, and despair? Is it nothing
to you that these multitudes continue to live and die in the bonds of
iniquity and in the gall of bitterness and in despair, as though God had
never sent Me into the world?
“Is it nothing to you
that I should have endured all the agonies of sin and judgment IN VAIN
so far as these multitudes are concerned? That My finished work on the
cross should be utterly without fruit in these vast, dark, distant lands
where men and women abide still in the total darkness? That the
countless throngs have not so much as one ray of light from My gospel?
Is it nothing to you that I should have been led as a Lamb to the
slaughter for nought with regard to these millions, for whom I did it as
much as I did it for you?
“Is it nothing to you
that My Father laid upon Me the iniquity of all mankind, yet more than
half of them still have not been told? Is it nothing to you that I was
wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities, and
that the chastisement of their peace fell upon Me — and yet they are not
healed? (Isaiah 53:5)
SINGING, BUT NOT DOING
“You sing, ‘Oh Happy
Day When Jesus Washed My Sins Away,’ but is it nothing to you that vast
areas of the earth have never been told of the fountain open for sin and
uncleanness here at My cross? You also sing ‘Jesus, I My Cross Have
Taken, All to Leave and Follow Thee,’ but you lie to Me when you sing
it, or else you do not think about what you are singing for you have not
taken My cross to these benighted millions who are the helpless victims
of sin and fear. Have you taken My cross at all? WHERE have you taken
it?
“Is it nothing to you
that I bore in My own body on the accursed tree, the guilt of all of
Adam’s race? Is it nothing to you, you whose skin is white, that I died
for those whose skin is black and yellow and brown and red? Why have
they not the same knowledge that you have? ‘For some have not the
knowledge of God”, I speak this to YOUR SHAME.’
THE
AGONIES OF CHRIST
“Is it nothing to you
that I stood forsaken before Pontius Pilate in judgment and opened not
My mouth when hellish men cried out ‘Crucify Him’? And when Pilate
delivered Me into their hands, I remained silent because I wanted to be
‘lifted up that I might draw all men unto Me,’ and unto My Father? (John
12:32)
“Is it nothing to you
that yonder in the garden of the Olive Press I took upon Myself the sins
of the whole world, which almost crushed Me down into the very jaws of
death then and there, and that I sweat My body’s blood to carry the
load, and cried out to the Father to spare Me from the awful cup if
there could be any other way of saving the world? But because THERE WAS
NO OTHER WAY ‘I suffered the just for the unjust that I might bring men
to God” (I Peter 3:18)
“Is it nothing to you
that I bore My cross to Golgotha, and gave My feet to the spikes, and My
back to the smiters, to bear away THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD? Is it
nothing to you that this is all in vain with regard to the many
millions, past and present, who have never heard the good news? Are you
unconcerned, indifferent? Do you not care that I did all this because I
knew it meant salvation for men - does it mean nothing to you? Nothing
save your own PERSONAL salvation?
“Is it nothing to you
that I could at last declare with satisfaction, ‘It is finished?’ (John
19:30), that I had done ALL I COULD, ALL THAT WAS REQUIRED OF ME, in
order that men might be saved? And you - what have YOU done to save
them? I finished My part, but My redeemed ones, My Bride, My Church, YOU
HAVE NOT FINISHED YOUR PART! WHY?
THE
ACCOMPLISHED TASK
“Is it nothing to you
that Almighty God bared His arm and ripped asunder the veil in the
temple of Jerusalem from the top to the bottom to show the world that
the way was now open for all mankind? Should they not all therefore be
told? WHY HAVE THEY NOT been told? Why must so many grasp and grope in
the dark, trying to find their way to God, despite the fact that I
suffered so much to provide a way, a way broad enough and plain enough
for them all ? What have you to say in answer to this?
“Is it nothing to you
that I gave a plain commandment to My church: ‘Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature’ ? (Mark 16:15). I repeated this
commandment many times to My followers after I came out of the grave. It
was the VERY LAST WORD I left with them before I went back to heaven as
the King of Glory to be received at the Father’s right hand. Why has it
not been fulfilled?
“I only gave two
commandments to My Church, and they are both plain and positive. No one
could misunderstand them: no word in human language could have been
plainer: ‘Love one another’ (John 13:34), and ‘Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15). The second one
was the VERY LAST I spoke to My people on earth as the clouds received
Me out of their sight — I thought surely it would not be forgotten or
omitted. But, alas, such seems to be the case. My people have done and
are still doing many fine things which I did not at all command them to
do, and I am not unmindful of these things, but the two things I
straightly commanded them to do is where they have failed Me most. Why
is this?
“I knew it was a
heavy burden and a severe task I placed upon your shoulders, and that it
demanded more than human power could supply, that it would mean
sacrifice and suffering; BUT I PROMISED that I would be with you to the
end. Have you not read My promise? Did I not give My word that I would
never leave you nor forsake you? Did I not promise that I would send you
My Spirit who would bring all My power, supreme in both heaven and
earth, into your beings, and that THIS POWER would enable you to
accomplish the task? Is it nothing to you that I gave such a commandment
and made such a promise?
The Work of the HOLY Spirit
“Is it nothing to you
that THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME? That He came to earth to take up His abode in
the Church which is My Body — that He has made your beings and body His
very own temple? That He did this to empower you to fulfill My command
to bear My witness throughout the length and breadth of the earth? That
this was His chief reason for coming? I told My disciples: ‘Ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be
witnesses unto Me . . . unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts
1:8)
“Do you think the
Holy Spirit came just to bring you more joy, and help, and happiness?
Just to SERVE YOU? Just to make the Christian life more satisfactory and
easy for you yourselves? Is THAT all His coming means to you? Is it
nothing to you that the Holy Ghost wants to POSSESS YOUR LIVES,
consecrate you to God and to My service, and to direct your life into
Our holy will, and to thrust you forth into the great harvest fields of
the earth that are white with ripened grain and ready for reaping ? Have
you not been told to pray the Lord of the Harvest to do this? And if you
prayed that He do this, can you hold back yourselves and refuse to let
Him thrust YOU forth?
“Is it nothing to you
that the Spirit longs to ‘shed the love of God abroad in your heart’
(Romans 4:4) so that your soul will be moved with compassion over the
lost and dying multitude of mankind as Mine was, and is ? I wept over
them when I saw their plight, that they were sheep not having a
shepherd, and I poured out My life for them. What about you?
Have you ever wept
over any of them? Are you pouring out your life, or any part of it, for
them? Have you any concern for them, or are they nothing to you? Have
you closed your heart to the Spirit’s work, so that you do not share My
concern for lost souls?
“These songs that you
sing about God having His own way in your life, and containing pleas to
the Holy Spirit to fill your souls, are they really nothing to you?
“Is My command to
preach the gospel to the whole world, and My promise to be with you to
the end of the age, and My Spirit’s Heavenly power to enable you to
witness to all the world - all of these, are they nothing to you?
“Is it nothing to you
that I gave My all for you? Are you not willing in return, to give your
all back to Me?”
These are not
fictitious attempts at rhetoric. These statements are all based on
indisputable facts which face us both in the Word of God and in the
world of our day. We cannot be indifferent. To be indifferent and
irresponsive is the equivalent of high treason in Christ’s kingdom.
- From the booklet under the same title, published by
Back to the Bible. Used by permission.
HOW TO LEAD A SOUL TO CHRIST?
The early church
prospered and grew rapidly because every Christian was a soul winner. D.
L. Moody covenanted not to let a day pass without attempting to win at
least one soul, and God used him. God uses men who have a burden to win
lost people to the Saviour.
To be a
soul winner a Christian must have:
1. A real heart
zeal - a burden for the lost, and a deep desire, a passion, to bring
them to Christ. Without a deep love, there will be neither the
incentive nor the ability to lead lost people to the Saviour.
2. Some knowledge
of the Scriptures and of how to deal with people. Being an effective
soul winner requires study and effort.
Knowledge without
zeal is valueless. Zeal without knowledge is also valueless and may
even be a hindrance. The winning of people to Christ requires deep
exercise of both heart and mind.
Because we are
dealing with human beings, we need to study the human approach; because
we are dealing with spiritual matters, we need the work of the Spirit of
God in our hearts to fit and equip us.
How to
obtain these two Pre-requisites?
1. The zeal must be
born of the Holy Spirit. We cannot make ourselves love the lost, but
“the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us.” (Romans 5:5). We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us a
passion for souls.
2. The head
knowledge must be obtained by study.
“Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman
who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2
Timothy 2:15)
We must study to
learn the truths of the Bible and the mind of the Holy Spirit, and we
must study to understand the minds of men and their reactions to
different situations.
The
Right Approach
How should one
approach a person to deal with him about salvation?
1. One of the
easiest and best methods is to hand the person a tract.
2. Be tactful, but
not deceitful. Always be gracious and kind in approaching anyone about
spiritual things.
3. The direct and
frank method is the best in most cases. After some general introductory
conversation, come to the point and say, “I want to talk to you about
your soul,” or something to that effect.
The
Right Procedure
You should not try to
get a person to make a definite decision to accept Christ until he
realises why he needs the Saviour.
1. Show
him that he is a sinner by;
(a) appealing to his
honesty
(b) appealing to his
conscience
(c) using the
Bible. Use Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23; Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 17:9.
IMPORTANT. Do not
just quote these passages Read them to the person from the Bible. Let
him see the Scriptures with his own eyes.
2. Show
him that he cannot go to heaven while he is still in this condition.
(a) God is holy, and
He cannot tolerate sin. Read 1 Samuel 6:20; I Peter 1:16; Ps. 24: 3, 4;
Habakkuk 1:13a.
(b) Heaven is holy,
and nothing sinful can enter it. Revelation 21:27; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10;
Galatians 5:19-21.
3. Show
him that a righteous God must punish sin.
(a) Human justice is
based on the principle that all wrong-doing and law-breaking must be
punished.
(b) Divine justice
is based on the same principle. Show this from Ezekiel 18:4; Romans
6:23; Romans 1:18; John 3:36; Revelation 21:8; Hebrews 10:26-31.
4. Now
show him that Christ has paid the full penalty of our sins for us.
4. Isaiah 53:4-6; 1
Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:21. “Repent and
believe the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
5. Show
him that one is saved by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ as one’s
personal Sin-bearer and Saviour.
The following
Scriptures are among the best to use for this; Romans 6:23; John 1:12;
John 3:16 & 36; Romans 10:9-10; Revelation 3:20; I John 5:9-13; Acts
4:12.
IMPORTANT: At this
point ask the person if he will believe and trust the Saviour right now.
Ask him point-blank, “Will you take Jesus Christ as your personal
Saviour ?” If the answer is “yes,” say, “Then let’s talk to Him now and
tell Him so.”
It is usually best to
kneel. Once on your knees, you pray first. Pray a simple prayer,
thanking the Lord for coming to seek and save the lost, for dying for
our sins, and for His willingness to save all who come to Him.
Then ask the Lord to
reveal Himself in all His saving grace to this person who is now coming
to Him and who wants to be saved from his sins. Ask God to grant him
assurance of full and free salvation.
After you pray, ask
the person to pray. If he says that he cannot pray, urge him to tell God
that he is a sinner, that he believes the Lord Jesus died for him, and
that he wants Him to be his Saviour.
Urge him to express
his faith in the Lord Jesus. If necessary, you may formulate the prayer
for the person, sentence by sentence and have him repeat it after you.
IMPORTANT: After
prayer, ask him if he believes that God keeps His promise. Then go back
to the same verses that you read to him concerning trusting Christ as
his personal Sin-bearer and Saviour.
Thus bring him to an
assurance of salvation which is based upon God’s own Word and promises.
It is always good to use the last half of John 6:37.
6. Then
point out that if a Christian sins after he accepts the Saviour, Christ
will act as his intercessor.
Hebrews
7:25; I John 2:12; 1 John 1:9.
7.
Finally, point out that successful Christian living can be maintained
only by:
(a) Daily
Bible Reading and growth.
Suggest that he start with the Gospels. And then introduce him to a
church that teaches the Word of God in truth.
(b) Daily
Prayer.
Explain that
it is talking to God alone. Suggest that a time be set aside for prayer
each morning and each evening as a minimum.
(c) Bold
Witnessing.
Urge him to let others know that he is a Christian and is determined to
live for God.
A large number of
citations from the Bible have been given here. However, in dealing with
a person, it is best to select only a few verses. Ask the Holy Spirit to
give you wisdom for it is, “Not by might or power, but by My Spirit,
says the LORD.” (Zechariah 4:6) AMEN!
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