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#44466 Thu Apr 01, 2010 7:38 PM
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Max Offline OP
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Hey guys =) Max again. Recently, I've been attending a new church called First Presbyterian, a very small church with only 60 members and 30 active members, the others are homebound. We've (my brother and I) been attending for about 2 months now and we've absolutely loved it! =) There, Christ is real, He IS Lord, His Kingdom IS priority, and His Gospel IS NOT watered down! ^_^

We were talking to one of the elders, and he is one of the people in charge of what they've called the "Evangelism Committee". Now I don't much understand why only certain members are a part of it, but I don't know much about it =/ But We've been looking for a place to serve in the church and he said that this could be it! =D He told us that instead of passing out pre-ordered Gospel tracts that mislead many, write out own Gospel tracts and pass them out and witness to the ones who we pass them out to at Walmart, or Lowes, or any place where they'll let us in. =) (Our town is small, so they're pretty much the hangout spots.) So, I've been working on mine, and I was hoping that you guys would help me out with it? I've written up the first one, but I want to know that I haven't messed up anywhere. =/

=) Here it is:

What is in a Man: Wickedness of the Heart

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -Romans 3:23

Surely, most who have ever been presented with the Gospel in America have been shown this single verse. Usually, the standard way to present this verse is often jokingly, "Hey, (chuckle) you know we're all just a bunch of sinners, right? (laughs, smiles)" Sadly, the true meaning seems to have been lost in a subtle and shallow Gospel. So then, what does this verse really mean?

To find the true meaning of any verse, it must be seen in context of the chapter and in harmony with the rest of Scripture:

"As it is written, 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God; All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.' 'Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.' 'The venom of asps is under their lips.' 'Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.' 'There is no fear of God before their eyes.'" -Romans 3:10-18

The Apostle Paul makes the argument through the law that God gave to His chosen people, the Jews. In Romans 3, Paul is using that very law to show te sinfulness of the Jews. He then follows up with this:

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those under the law (Jews), so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world be held accountable to God." -Romans 3:19

He's trying to tell us that if the very people of God have fallen and become sinners, then those who do not have the favor of God are sinners as well, "that every mouth may be stopped." The rest of Scripture agrees with this:

"every intention of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil continually." -Genesis 6:5

"everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." -John 8:34

Many, though, believe in their hearts that they are still good people for the things they have done and sins they've never done. But how can you trust your heart?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can know it?" -Jeremiah 17:9

"the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" -Genesis 8:21

"'For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.'" -Mark 7:21-23

The Scriptures say that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and this is true: the sins of your heart defile you and corrupt your good deeds:

"all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" -Isaiah 6:46

Even the best works we could ever do will always fall short of His glory, because of our sin. And that is the biggest problem of man:

"For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man." -Psalm 5:4-6

And again the holiness of God is shown in His righteous judgments:

"The LORD tests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let Him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous" -Psalm 11:5-7

But God, through His love for us, has provided an escape from judgment and wrath through His Beloved Son:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith... in id diving forbearance He had passed over former sins." -Romans 3:23-25

"Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God." -Romans 5:9

Through the blood of His precious Son, He established the long promised new covenant:

"'I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules... you shall be my people, and I will be your God... Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.'" -Ezekiel 36:25-31

God, through the sacrifice of His Son, He can come in and remove your corrupt and deceitful heart and replace it with a new clean heart and spirit and puts the Holy Spirit in you and everything about you changes from a wicked and corrupt creature to a new and holy creature:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5:17

What, then, is your responsibility?

"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out," -Acts 3:19

"'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved'" -Acts 16:31

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.'" -Acts 17:30-31

Turn from your sins, and believe in Jesus Christ, and He will save you!

Max #44467 Thu Apr 01, 2010 7:49 PM
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Max,

I think you have made a noble attempt at writing a tract in which the Gospel is contained. Instead of offering comments about your tract in detail, I have decided that perhaps the best way to address your request for comments is to offer you this as a starting point:

- A Summary of the Gospel
- Various articles on Evangelism

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simul iustus et peccator

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Max Offline OP
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Thank you! ^_^

Max #44470 Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:40 AM
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Max,

If you use the "Switch to Full Reply Screen", you will have access to all the neat features of posting here, e.g., Smileys grin, bold, italic, underline, etc. But IF you are using the full reply screen because you clicked on "Reply" or "Quote", then all those buttons across the top of the text box are there for that purpose.

Need more destructions? shrug Then we have a "HELP Forum" just for that purpose as well as the FAQ link at the top of every page. BigThumbUp


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I would have trouble writing a hand-out-to-random-people tract too. I can write a summary of the gospel or write out my testimony with supporting Scripture quotations, but a tract would be harder for me. I live in a small town too, where everybody knows everybody. Sharing the gospel is easy in my li'l town where most everyone has heard it from at least a dozen people. Yet we have many non-Christian cults in town that borrow Jesus' name for their own agenda (JWs and RCs), but there's a church on just about every block of this town. Amazing that a little town like ours can even support that many churches!

-R

Robin #44503 Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:58 PM
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Like you Robin I would probably have difficulty in writing my own tract, but this is one which we've been using whenever I can get out. Its reproduced from Christian Watch here. All I know is that my husband read it once to my brother, David, about a year ago, and he was speechless! which is really saying something! Here it is :-

GOOD TIDINGS FROM HEAVEN

Mk. 8:36,37 "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Ezk. 18,20. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."

HAVE YOU EVER STOPPED TO WONDER
WHAT THIS LIFE IS ALL ABOUT?
WHY YOU'RE HERE AND WHERE YOU'RE GOING
WHEN YOUR LEASE OF TIME RUNS OUT?
MAYBE YOU'VE BEEN FAR TOO BUSY
TRYING HARD TO REACH YOUR GOAL;
WOULD YOU LET ME ASK YOU KINDLY,
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR SOUL?

YOU MAY REACH THE HIGHEST PORTALS,
AND YOUR DREAMS MAY ALL COME TRUE;
WEALTH AND FAME MAY BE YOUR PORTION,
AND SUCCESS MAY SHINE ON YOU.
ALL YOUR FRIENDS MAY SING YOUR PRAISES,
NOT A CARE ON YOU MAY ROLL;
WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT TOMORROW -
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR SOUL?

DON'T FORGET YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED,
THOUGH YOU MAY BE RIDING HIGH;
BUT, LIKE ALL OF US POOR MORTALS,
SOMEDAY YOU'LL UP AND DIE.
YOUR SUCCESS AND FAME AND GLORY
WON'T BE WORTH THE BELL THEY TOLL;
LET ME ASK YOU JUST ONE QUESTION,
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR SOUL?

IF YOU'VE NEVER THOUGHT IT OVER,
SPEND A LITTLE TIME TODAY;
THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT
THAT WILL EVER COME YOUR WAY
THAN THE JOYS OF SINS FORGIVEN,
AND TO KNOW YOU'VE BEEN MADE WHOLE.
IN THE NAME OF CHRIST, THE SAVIOUR,
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR SOUL?

Lev. 17,11 "It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."

Is. 55. 3. "Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live."



Love in Christ from English Rose




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Dear friends,

I believe it is vastly different here to America. Here, there are so few who really know the gospel. Most are Religious, and have only been brought up in the Church of England, and been through the ceremonies, as I did as a young person. But I kept saying in my heart, "There must be more to it than this!" meaning the vain repetition of the Prayer Book and a short lesson! I used to enjoy then the singing of the old hymns, as I had a voice then, until this chronic illness got hold of me, through taking a contaminated polio vaccine as a teenager, as there was a polio epidemic at the time.

Many here think they are good enough for God to take them in, as their good deeds outweigh their bad ......

I had a Religious Aunt who wanted me to be "confirmed" in the Church of England at age 10, and I refused, saying I did not want to, as I did not understand it, and she was cross with me.
Later, when Christ saved my soul, one of the first things I was shown was the plight of those who attended this church, who believed they were alright because they had gone through "christening" and "confirmation" by a bishop!! They were trusting in their church rather than in Christ. In fact, at the "christening" the Vicar actually says that the water is holy water, and they are born again!

How wonderful is the Salvation of Sinners, those washed in His blood, elected and chosen, and redeemed. Here is one thankful heart, by God's mercy and grace.

Love in Christ from English Rose

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Originally Posted by English Rose
I believe it is vastly different here to America. Here, there are so few who really know the gospel. Most are Religious,...
Neither America nor Great Britain is a "heathen" nation, i.e., both have been exposed for centuries to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ the righteous, to one degree or another at different times according to the mercy and sovereign good pleasure of God. Another similarity is that many here in America, as is the situation where you live do not know the Gospel in the sense of really knowing Him of whom the Gospel speaks. In the past 150+ years, true Gospel preaching has been in the minority, albeit doubtless for the most part this has been true since not long after the Apostles had gone home to be with the Lord. There have been many false gospels in this world, even in the days of the Apostles, for example, even a cursory reading of the letters to the Galatians and Colossians clearly show.

Yet, we have the infallible promise of Christ Jesus that He will build His church, all His sheep who were loved of God in Him before time, will be brought to the cross having been given a living faith in the great Shepherd of the sheep. The true Gospel is still being preached both in the Church and through the faithful witness of the saints. Yes, a remnant though they be, still and surely they have been, are being and will be saved. We need to make a concerted effort not to fall prey to what I call the "Elijah disorder" whereby we begin to withdraw and think, "I, only I am left." For of a truth there are those who haven't bowed the knee to Baal, regardless of what form idolatry may present itself, even as an angel of light or it seems in our day as the church of Jesus Christ.

Quote
Matthew 9:36-38 (ASV) "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest."


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Rose,

Your description of salvation-by-sacrament in the Church of England reads like a description of the Federal Vision heresy that masquerades as "orthodoxy" in my own denomination.

I have heard more than one knowledgeable seminarian theorize that it takes only about 40 years for a denomination to become apostate, no matter how pure it was at the start, and it seems that the "good guys" are always the ones who have to separate and start over while the "bad guys" remain in control of the denomination, it's seminaries, it's physical and financial assets, and most of it's clergy.

It really makes Pilgrim's "remnant" remarks come to light in a new way. But the wonderful, glorious thing is that God always has a people who remain faithful to Him, scattered (often among the membership of those apostate "churches") and small in number at any given time, yet when counted cumulatively across the centuries of time, a huge multitude from every race, tribe, language, people, and nation. What a reunion that is going to be!

-R


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