Evangelism in the Old Testament
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Join Our List
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Volume 3, Number 16
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April 22, 2009
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Greetings!
In the past couple of weeks Todd and I have discussed several passages from the Old Testament that have a direct tie to Evangelism today. I thought I would share those passages with you here.
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 Get Out of Hell Free
These new tracts are proving to be very popular. Don't miss out on your chance to hand them out. Enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club. They will go out in the May mailing.
Living the Abundant Life
Does God care when the economy is down? Does the Bible say anything about family finances? Does God understand the problems of losing a job, finding childcare, using credit cards, paying for college? Can the Bible help couples to stop arguing about money? Can God redeem our budget mistakes? Waiting for a bailout can be stressful. While waiting, why not take some time to look into God's Word? There's a lot of practical wisdom there about debt, work, family, money
management, and Living the Abundant Life which Jesus Christ promised (John 10:10). A free seminar is being offered May 9th and 16th in Carrollton, TX. Download the flyer for the details.
Transplant Radio
I have been enjoying listening to Transplant Radio. It is live on Tuesday nights where it is broadcast over the internet. Or you can listen to the podcast.
Urgent: Your Help Needed
Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, disappeared February 4,
and was last seen being taken away by a dozen police officers. Gao
Zhisheng has been repeatedly kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned and
tortured by Chinese authorities, because he has defended the persecuted
and has been an unyielding voice for justice in the Chinese courts. China Aid and Voice of the Martyrs is asking for your help to free him.
Please go to www.freegao.com to help!
Islam Update
Last month I completed the Islam 101 course. My friend David Sonnen sent me an interesting article comparing Jesus and Mohammed. I thought I would share that link with you to assist in any witnessing you are doing with Muslims.
Moses in Uganda
Please pray for Moses in Uganda. He is out on a week long mission trip preaching the Gospel.
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Warning to Israel
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 Ezekiel 3:16-21
16 At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me: 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18
When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn
him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save
his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19
But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his
wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will
have saved yourself. 20
"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does
evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you
did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did
will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 21
But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he
will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved
yourself."
Notice that the Lord gives the responsibility to warn about sin. It shows that man will be accountable for his actions. But it also shows that the believer is accountable to witness to him. The Evidence Bible states it this way, "God made it plain to the prophet that he was responsible for warning the wicked of impending judgment."
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The Siege Lifted
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 2 Kings 7:3-11
3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4
If we say, 'We'll go into the city'-the famine is there, and we will
die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of
the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us,
then we die." 5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, 6
for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and
horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the
king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" 7
So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their
horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their
lives.
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The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of
the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and
clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another
tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
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Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of
good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until
daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this
to the royal palace."
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So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, "We
went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there-not a sound of
anyone-only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as
they were." 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.
On Monday night at the Bezeugen Ministries Bible study, Todd lead us in a discussion over this text. We actually covered all of Chapter 7. It is interesting to note that the leapers had all the problems of everyone in the city plus their leprosy problem. This represents man's depravity of sin before God. The leapers realized they may die either way, so they decided to venture into the city. Once they got there they not only found food, but treasure too. How much greater heaven will be then we can even imagine! Notice next that the men hide the goods to hoard them for themselves. However, in verse 9 we see a picture of evangelism. "This is a day of good news"! This is a picture of salvation. The Life Application Study Bible puts it this way, "The lepers discovered the deserted camp and realized their lives had been spared. At first they kept the good news to themselves, forgetting their fellow citizens who were starving in the city. The Good News about Jesus Christ must be shared too, for no news is more important. We must not forget those who are dying without it. We must not become so preoccupied with our own faith that we neglect sharing it with those around us. Our 'good news', like that of the lepers, will not 'wait until daylight.'"
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Fort Worth, Texas
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 Main Street Arts Festival
This was my third year to hand out tracts at the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival. We arrived at 10AM on Saturday just as the booths were opening. We had many great one on one conversations with people. We meet several people who were strong believers and they could explain the Gospel to us. We meet many more that had no idea how to be saved. The new Bail Out and Get Out of Hell Free tracts went over very well with the crowd. At one point I handed a Get Out of Hell Free tract to a girl standing by a fence then was standing a short distance away handing out tracts to people passing by. One man took the tract, looked at it and then did not want it so he set it down on the edge of the fence. Not wanting to litter I made my way towards it to pick it up. Before I could, the girls friend by the fence grabbed it up! At other times, people were coming back to get a Get Out of Hell free card for a friend. Or an extra Bail Out tract for a neighbor. Our group handed out over 1800 tracts! Please pray that these seeds of the Gospel will take root!
Please see Jon Speed's update on The Lost Cause Ministries blog for more details on the witnessing events of the weekend including hearing about a young man who repented of his sins and gave his life to Christ!
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Thank you for your support and partnership in the Gospel. Please remember that we have Free Evangelism Resources available for you on our web site. Choose from a number of books and DVDs. Please use the link at the bottom of this email to forward this email to your friends and ask them to subscribe to the Bezeugen Blast!
God Bless,
Carl Kalbfleisch
Bezeugen Ministries
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Witnessing Events
and Calendar
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Monday's and Thursday's at lunch: witnessing at Valley View Mall, Galleria Mall, Gravevine Mills Mall, Irving Mall or Brookhaven College. If you would like to join us, please contact me for the specific location and time for a given day. Friday, Saturday and Sunday (April 24-26) there will be a number of people witnessing at the Denton Arts festival. Please keep them in prayer. Monday, April 27: Witnessing at Brookhaven College at lunch 11:30-1! Saturday, May 2: Garage Sale at Hebron Community Church. If you have items to donate please let me know. We will supply you with an "in kind" tax receipt for your taxes. Items will be sold and the money sent to Bezeugen to buy more evangelism resources. Monday, May 4: Witnessing at Brookhaven College at lunch 11:30-1! Monday, May 4: First Monday Bezeugen Prayer and Fellowship May 6-10: Carl attends Living Water's Ambassadors Academy in LA We appreciate your prayers. Please come join us!! |
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See all witnessing events: www.bezeugen.org/events/
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Memory Verse
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Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of
good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until
daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this
to the royal palace."
2 Kings 7:9 (NIV)
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More Memory Veres Online: http://www.bezeugen.org/verses.html
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