Jesus was born in a borrowed manger. He preached from a borrowed boat. He entered Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey. He ate the last supper in a borrowed room. And he was buried in a borrowed tomb. Now he asks to borrow the lives of christians to reach the rest of the world. If we do not speak then he is dumb and silent.
J. John – in UK Focus, Aug 97 (HTB)
“During the war a man lay dying in the trenches. A friend leaned over him and said, ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’
He replied, ‘No I am dying.’
‘Is there anyone I can send a message to for you?’
‘Yes, you can send a message to this man at this address. Tell him that in my last minutes what he taught me as a child is helping me to die.’
The man was his old Sunday School Teacher. When the message got to him, he said, ‘God forgive me. I gave up Sunday School teaching years ago because I thought I was getting nowhere. I thought it was no use.’”
Questions of Life, Nicky Gumble, p200
To avoid the risk of losing their religion, a lot of people don’t take it to work with them.
“There is not a better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.”
D L Moody
“Before Christ sent the church into the world, He sent the Spirit into the church. The same order must be observed today.”
John R W Stott
Mother Teresa:
In India I was asked by some government people, “Don’t you want to make us all Christians?” I said, “Naturally, I would like to give you the treasure I have to you, but I cannot. I can only pray for you to have the courage to receive it.”
While speaking in London, evangelist D. L. Moody was approached by a British companion who wanted to know the secret of Moody’s success in leading people to Christ. Moody directed the man to his hotel window and asked, “What do you see?” The man looked down on the square and reported a view of crowded streets. Moody suggested he look again. This time the man mentioned seeing people–men, women, and children. Moody then directed him to look a third time, and the man became frustrated that he was not seeing what Moody wanted him to see. The great evangelist came to the window with watery eyes and said, “I see people going to hell without Jesus. Until you see people like that, you will not lead them to Christ.” What do you see in five o’clock traffic, a busy restaurant, a crowded waiting room, your neighborhood, or your extended family?
From The Sermon Fodder Email List
There was a group of missionaries from a couple of centuries called the Maravian Brethren. They heard of various needs, and two of the most impressive stories, these are young people just like ourselves, with the same hopes and the same desires for comfort and joy. They heard of a leper colony in Africa, where there was a huge wall built around it and it was guarded by soldiers and once you were found to have leprosy you were taken in and you never got out. There were farms, there were shops, and there was a graveyard in there. And these guys asked the obvious question who shares the gospel with them? So they didn’t write books and send them in which they could have. Two of the young men went in and they never came out. That is the level at which they cared. Another couple of the young men, were trying to reach out to the slaves in the Carribbean. And they found that they had no time where they could actually find the slaves and speak to them. So two of them where sold as slaves and they lived and died as slaves. Not just for a week or two, they shared themselves, they went in amongst them. Now I’m not telling you that to make you feel guilty, I’m saying it’s that sort of thing that says I want to be able to reach these people, I want to share myself with them so I can get the gospel to them.
Ian Powell : KYC 1990 “Learning the game by watching others play”
Norman Cates shared the humorous story of a guy who prayed this prayer every morning: “Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is.” One day he found himself on a bus when a big, burly man sat next to him. The bus was nearly empty but this guy sat next to our praying friend.
The timid Christian anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get very nervous about the man next to him, the big guy burst into tears and began to weep. He then cried out with a loud voice, “I need to be saved. I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?” He turned to the Christian and pleaded, “Can you show me how to be saved?” The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, “Lord, is this a sign?”
Are you looking for a “sign” to start witnessing? It can be found in Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8.
(Deacon, Jan.-March 1995, p. 34) By way of the Gospel Radio Group
This is BRILLIANT – I’ve used it in both All Age Services and School Easter Assemblies/Services.
I eventually worked it out with Iodine, spray starch and Sodium Thiosulphate. I used some of the links and information below to work this out.
http://www.crosstrick.com/cross-trick.htm
http://childrensministryperspectives.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/object-lesson-on-salvation.html
http://professorwonder.com/magic3.htm
Another version:
You will need a large clear jar with a lid that can be sealed, a second container of some type, some Chlorine bleach, some Iodine, and two light colored sponges. Cut one sponge in the shape of a heart. Cut the other in the shape of the cross. Both need to be of a size that will fit in the jar with a lid.
Fill the jar with a lid about half full of water, and the other container with a very strong solution of bleach and water (half and half will do). Set the cross in the bleach solution as you begin your lesson (not too long before, it could disolve the sponge).
For the lesson, show the children the heart shaped sponge. Talk about sin and put some drops of iodine on the sponge to represent those sins. You can talk about how impossible it is to remove those stains by yourself. Even dip the heart shaped sponge in the jar of water and show it is still dirty. Then, put the heart shaped sponge in the jar of water and leave it. Now take the cross out of the bleach solution, keeping as much of the solution in the sponge as possible. Tell the children about the power of the cross to cleanse the heart from sin. Put the cross in the jar with water and the stained heart, seal it with the lid, and shake it up a bit as you talk some more about the cross. Then, open the lid and take the heart out. It will be clean.
You should experiment with this lesson once before you actually give it to be sure you have a strong enough bleach solution to clear the iodine from the heart shaped sponge. Be sure to rinse the heart shaped sponge very clean with clear water so the iodine stains will remain when you do the real lesson.