Equipping Families to be Strong in the Lord
A few people have recently asked about Christmas tracts. We wish we had more. I sometimes use this “Christmas Quiz” that my dad put together. People receive these very well and they teach about the Christmas story and ask a few gospel questions. (We print it on both sides and get two on a page.) My dad also wrote a short “Prince of Peace” tract this year, which we link to in our December newsletter. I hope these ideas are useful for some of you!
Merry Christmas Everyone! To view our December newsletter, click here.
Merry Christmas Everyone! Christmas is such a great time for sharing about Jesus with unbelievers because people are in a festive mood and willing to talk! Here is a simple questionnaire that can be used to get conversations started:
1) What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
2) Why did God choose to be born as a baby and enter the human race?
Just grab a notepad and pen, find someone on a bench at Wal-mart who looks bored, and see if they are willing to take your Christmas questionnaire! 🙂 After they answer the second question, you can ask them if they’d like to hear what the Bible says about why Jesus came. (Consider sharing these Scripture verses: Matthew 1:21, Luke 19:10, John 18:37, Philippians 2:7-8, Hebrews 2:14)
And be prepared with a Christmas tract to leave with them!
On a different note, this afternoon my dad and I bundled up and picked out our Christmas tree at a local tree farm. We picked it out in record time this year! (The temperature probably had something to do with that!)
If you have not yet seen Eric Ludy’s video clip, “Intercession” please take the time to watch it! I love this clip. What a powerful message. And what an awesome Savior Christ is.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)
This is my new special friend, Francisca! Francisca is the girl who prayed and asked God for eternal life recently in the mall food court. (See post from November 24th) We’ve kept in touch via texting, and this morning my dad and I drove to take her to church in her area. It was really encouraging to be able to spend more time with Francisca (and her two adorable daughters) and see her desire to understand the Bible more. Francisca told me that yesterday she had a conversation with her friend about how we can ask God for eternal life. Apparently her friend doesn’t really understand yet – but I was glad to see how Francisca is already “witnessing” from what she knows! 🙂 Praise the Lord for what He is doing in Francisca’s life! And please pray for Francisca as she grows in the Lord.
We just started a montly newsletter for Tomorrow’s Forefathers / Bright Lights.
If you’d like to read November’s newsletter online, click here.
If you’d like to sign up for the newsletter, you can do so on the left hand column of our website. The December newsletter will be coming out in a few weeks.
Being the youngest in the family, you never outgrow the “kids” table! Thats ok, I’m sure we had a lot more fun, anyway. 🙂 (Pictured above are Stephen and I with our cousins Laura and Andy, and our Uncle Ron cutting an amazing pecan desert he made.)
The “adult” table
Andy and Stephen, entertaining themselves with a half-broken flashlight…
Holidays are very useful for opening doors to share the gospel! Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays because it turns our attention to God—the Giver of all good things—and it gives us opportunity to share about God’s eternal provision. This year my dad came up with a little sequence of questions to direct people’s attention to the Lord, and we have been excited to see the Lord bless and use it. We want to share this idea with you, so that you can do the same with people you meet this week. You can use it after Thanksgiving too, as you ask people how their holiday was.
“Would you be willing to answer some questions about Thanksgiving?” my dad and I asked a young couple at a shopping mall last week.
“Sure,” they said.
“Great. The first question is, ‘Do you have Thanksgiving traditions in your family?”
“Yes,” they responded.
“Whom do you give thanks to?” we asked.
“Well, to God, of course,” they said, looking at us like, “Who else would we thank?”
“What do you thank Him for?” was our next question.
“For food and health and family…” they replied.
“Great. Have you ever thanked Him for eternal life?”
They looked at each other with sort of a surprised look and then the guy said, “Well, you can’t thank God for eternal life until you have eternal life—and you can’t have that until you die.”
We took some time to explain from the Bible how and why we can know before we die and, in fact, how we must know before we die. They were very interested and brought up a number of questions. They were not argumentative, just very interested. This was all new to them.
Then we asked, “Have you ever asked God for eternal life?”
Again they gave each other that look of surprise and both said, “No.”
After another 45 minutes of talking, answering questions, and covering the basics of how Jesus Christ paid for our sins on the cross, they both said, “God brought you to us today.”
“Well, if the Lord is bringing this to your attention, then you want to take care of it right away and not put it off,” we told them. “You said you have never asked God for eternal life. Is that something you’d like to do now?” we asked. We could tell their hearts were open. We offered to pray with them and began looking for a corner we could go to in order to get out of the busy flow of people walking by.
“We can pray right here!” the guy said.
First we prayed for them, and then the girl said she wanted to pray. Right there, she confessed her sin and asked the Lord for eternal life. Later that evening she texted me expressing thankfulness.
The Holiday season is just beginning–let’s not forget about the abundant opportunities it provides to talk with people! Just a simple sequence of questions is able to open many doors.
We’ll try to post some Christmas ideas before too long. 🙂
Having spent a good amount of time in Singapore and Malaysia, we always enjoy spending time with people from that part of the world! There are several students from Malaysia who attend the University of Iowa, and we were thrilled that 8 of them were able to come to our church’s Thanksgiving dinner last night.
We had 11 different countries represented at our Thanksgiving Dinner. (You may notice the Indian feathers we provided to help the atmosphere. 🙂 ) Our guest speaker was Ben Bradford. He is a 13 generation descendant of William Bradford who came over on the Mayflower, who was a leading Pilgrim and governor of Plymouth Colony. Ben’s father is William Bradford the 12th and his older brother is William Bradford the 13th! They are a strong Christian family. Their family still has the cuff links from William Bradford who came on the Mayflower.
Young people from our church getting acquainted with new friends from SE Asia.
And tonight the places were reversed, as our Malaysian friends invited us (and a few friends from church) to their apartment in Iowa City for a Chinese meal. Sarah and I had so much fun….great Chinese food (these students are great cooks!) enjoyable conversation, lots of laughs…
Thank you for your hospitality, friends! We had a great time. And don’t forget… we still want to take you sledding. 🙂
“For the church:
The greatest price was paid: the death of Christ;
The greatest honor was extended: to be co-regents with Christ;
The greatest intimacy was introduced: as the body and bride of Christ;
The greatest blessing was assured: eternity with Christ.
When He gave His word, it was to her;
When He gave His life, it was for her;
When He expressed His will, it was that He might spend eternity with her.
The church was in His heart and mind and will from before the foundation of the world and shall be in His embrace forever.” –Author Unknown