Snow Prairie

Why Use Gospel Tracts at Christmastime (and the rest of the year)

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:14:53 GMT

It's a fact, people are more open to faith discussions and religious gatherings at Christmas than any other time of year. As a big believer in gospel tracts, I think Christmas is the perfect time to distribute them. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement said,

"The easiest way to share the gospel is to give a tract away."

Many times, you don't even have to hand it to a person. I left a Christmas tract with the tip at Pondersosa on Tuesday night. Whether or not our server read it, I do not know. I DO know, the gospel was put in her hands and she now has an opportunity to know Christ simply because I left it on the table. To me, that is a gamble worth taking as a believer. That tract with the gospel message and our church's address may be the means to which she comes to Christ. Only God knows for sure. People die every day and Hell is open for business. We have to reach them somehow. Here is a neat article of encouragement I found about why Christians should use tracts in reaching the lost. -pastor frank-

In writing to the Corinthian believers, Paul explains the lengths to which he would go to share the gospel: "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). If Paul meant "by all means," he no doubt would have used gospel tracts as one means to reach the lost.

Never underestimate the power of a gospel tract. After George Whitefield read one called "The Life of God in the Soul of a Man," he said, "God showed me I must be born again or be damned." He went on to pray, "Lord, if I am not a Christian, or if I am not a real one, for Jesus Christ's sake show me what Christianity is, that I may not be damned at last!" Then his journal tells us "from that moment . . . did I know that I must become a new creature."

A Christian book relates the true story of a diver who saw a piece of paper clutched in the shell of an oyster. The man grabbed it, found that it was a gospel tract and said, "I can't hold out any longer. His mercy is so great that He has caused His Word to follow me even to the bottom of the ocean." God used a tract to save the man. He also used a tract to save the great missionary Hudson Taylor, as well as innumerable others.

Why should Christians use tracts? Simply because God uses them. That fact alone should be enough incentive for a Christian to always use tracts to reach the lost, but there are even more reasons why we should use them. Here are a few:

Tracts can provide an opening for us to share our faith.We can watch people's reaction as we give them a tract, and see if they are open to listening to spiritual things.

Tracts can do the witnessing for us. If we are too timid to speak to others about the things of God, we can at least give them a tract, or leave one lying around so that someone will pick it up.

Tracts speak to the individuals when they are ready; people don't read it until they want to.

Tracts can find their way into people's homes when we can't.

Tracts don't get into arguments; they just state their case.

Oswald J. Smith said, "The only way to carry out the Great Commission will be by the means of the printed page." Charles Spurgeon stated, "When preaching and private talk are not available, you need to have a tract ready. . . Get good striking tracts, or none at all. But a touching gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life. Therefore, do not go out without your tracts."

Perhaps you almost pass out at the thought of passing out a tract. Don't worry; you are not alone. We all battle fear. The answer to fear is found in the prayer closet. Ask God to give you a compassion that will swallow your fears. Meditate on the fate of the ungodly. Give hell some deep thought. Confront what it is that makes you fearful.

Do you like roller coasters? Some Christians want to try skydiving or bungee-jumping. Isn't it strange? We are prepared to risk our lives for the love of fear�and yet we are willing to let a sinner go to hell for fear of giving out a tract. Ask yourself how many piles of bloodied stones you can find in America where Christians have been stoned to death for preaching the gospel. How much singed soil can you find where they have been burned at the stake? None. Part of our fear is a fear of rejection.We are fearful of looking foolish. That's a subtle form of pride. The other part of our battle with fear comes directly from the enemy. He knows that fear paralyzes. We must resist the devil and his lies. If God is with us, nothing can be against us.

(If you distribute tracts) each night as you shut your eyes to go to sleep, you will have something very special to pray about�that God will use the tracts you put somewhere. You will also have a deep sense of satisfaction that you played a small part in carrying out the Great Commission to reach this dying world with the gospel of everlasting life. Don't waste your life. Do something for the kingdom of God while you are able to. Always remember: treat every day as though it were your last�one day you will be right.

I find it hard to understand why every Christian doesn't carry gospel tracts. Joey Hancock of the American Tract Society said, "Fifty-three percent of all who come to Christ worldwide come through the use of printed gospel literature." If we really care about the eternal salvation of those around us, how could we not carry tracts everywhere we go?

Look at these words from Charles Spurgeon on the use of tracts:

I well remember distributing them in a town in England where tracts had never been distributed before, and going from house to house, and telling in humble language the things of the kingdom of God. I might have done nothing, if I had not been encouraged by finding myself able to do something . . . [Tracts are] adapted to those persons who have but little power and little ability, but nevertheless, wish to do something for Christ. They may not have the tongue of the eloquent, but they may have the hand of the diligent. They cannot stand and preach, but they can stand and distribute here and there these silent preachers . . . They may buy their thousand tracts, and these they can distribute broadcast.

I look upon the giving away of a religious tract as only the first step for action not to be compared with many another deed done for Christ; but were it not for the first step we might never reach to the second, but that first attained, we are encouraged to take another, and so at the last . . . There is a real service of Christ in the distribution of the gospel in its printed form, a service the result of which heaven alone shall disclose, and the judgment day alone discover. How many thousands have been carried to heaven instrumentally upon the wings of these tracts, none can tell.

Suggestions for leaving tracts- restaurant tables (with a good tip) for your server, laundromat tables where they have magazines and other reading materials for guests, hotel room dresser drawers, or by ATM machines. Possibilities are limited only by one's imagination!

Seeing What Jesus Sees

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:25:19 GMT

I often wonder why we as Christians refuse to look at ourselves and see what Jesus sees? We beat ourselves up for our inability to be perfect, never stopping to consider that it is our very imperfections that necessitate a Savior in the first place. Having received a Savior in Christ Jesus by grace through faith, we have God�s promises that-

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love�he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:8-14

So God is slow to anger, abounds in love. He won�t treat our sins but gives us grace. He has removed the guilt or our sins to an infinite measure (as far as east from west) and He pities us for our weaknesses. Why do we then spend so much time beating ourselves up instead of just enjoying being part of God�s house? Even worse, why do we think and act as though God might cast us aside for our weaknesses which in spite of, He loved us enough to sacrifice Himself to save us? Seems irrational when one stops to consider our paranoia as sanctified sinners. Fact is, in his word, God has instructed us-

Be strong and courageous�for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

God will not abandon us for our inability to live perfectly. That is not an excuse to willfully sin, but rather a comfort and reminder that grace is exactly that, grace. It covers our sins thoroughly and because of it, when God looks at us, he sees people who love Him and have received Him by faith, ineptly trying to follow where He leads. The fact that He knows we�re inept servants and loves us anyway is all the more reason to love and follow Him for who He is. Mike Yaconelli, the late author of a wonderful book called, A Messy Spirituality puts it quite well when he wrote

Jesus is not repelled by us, no matter how messy we are, regardless of how incomplete we are. When we recognize that Jesus is not discouraged by our humanity, is not turned off by our messiness, and simply doggedly pursues us in the face of it all, what else can we do but give in to his outrageous, indiscriminate love?

We need to stop viewing ourselves through the dusty lenses of our own sin and unrighteousness and start looking at ourselves through the lense of Christ who has already completed the work and made us new creatures in Christ.

-Pastor Frank-

Stand thou to thy God by Charles Spurgeon

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:51:52 GMT

Some have lived for wealth, but when they have gained it, they have been disappointed with the result. Though they have heaped gold in the bag, and added house to house, and field to field, yet their aching spirit has craved still for food; for gold can no more feed a soul than dust can satisfy the hunger of the body. Some have followed the star of ambition; they would be famous, and make unto themselves a name like the great men that be in the earth, and when they have gained the bubble reputation, they have wept to find that, �vanity of vanities, all is vanity.� Even the best of earthly joys pall upon the appetites of those who attain to them.

Christian, stand thou to thy God. Be it thine to live for him that made thee, to live in him that bought thee, to live with him that chose thee, to live like him who lived and died for thee. Thou shalt find that such an object of life will satisfy all the powers and passions of thy soul, for to this end thy soul was formed and suited. Thou shalt run in this race without weariness, and walk without fainting, and if thou gettest the prize, it is one that shall not wither in thy hand like the ivy wreath of Greece, or like the laurel crown of Rome, decay upon thy brow; for thou shalt win a crown of life that fadeth not away.

From a sermon delivered March 29, 1868.

Christian and the world

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:21:12 GMT

The Christian�s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. He knows it, but as to solving all its enigmas, he feels that to be an impossible task. Dead, yet alive; crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Do not expect the world to understand you, Christian, it did not understand your Master. When your actions are misrepresented, and your motives are ridiculed, do not be surprised. Christ has said,

�If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.�

If you belonged to the village the dogs would not bark at you.

-Charles Spurgeon 1867-

Cross of Calvary by Charles Spurgeon

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:56:38 GMT

From the cross of Calvary--where the bleeding hands of Jesus drop mercy--the cry comes, "Look unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth!" From Calvary's summit, where Jesus cries, "It is finished!" I hear a shout, "Look unto Me, and be saved!"

But there comes a vile cry from our soul, "No, look to yourself! Look to yourself!" Ah, look to yourself--and you will certainly be damned! As long as you look to yourself--there is no hope for you. It is not a consideration of what you are--but a consideration of what Christ is, that can save you. You must look away from yourself, and to Jesus!

Oh! there are many who quite misunderstand the gospel; they think that their good works qualify them to come to Christ; whereas SIN is the only qualification for man to come to Jesus!

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor--but the sick!" Matthew 9:12

Choice Fruits by Alistair Begg

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:16:43 GMT

Choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.-- Song of Solomon 7:13

The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has all kinds of "choice fruits, new as well as old," and they are reserved for our Beloved. In this rich autumn season of fruitfulness, let us survey our supplies.

We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by new endeavors; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul is committing herself to new efforts.

But we also have some old fruits. There is the choice fruit of our first love, and Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith - that simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of everything. There is our joy when we first met the Lord: Let us revive it. We have our old memories of the promises. How faithful has God been! In sickness, how kindly He made our bed! In deep waters, how gently He picked us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously He delivered us. Old fruits indeed! We have many of them, for His mercies have been more than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had repentances that He has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross and learned the merit of His blood.

We have fruits, this morning, both new and old; but here is the point�they are all laid up for Jesus. Without question the best and most acceptable services are those in which Jesus is the solitary aim of the soul, and His glory is the focus of all our endeavors. Let our many fruits be laid up only for Him; let us display them when He is with us, and not use them to draw attention to ourselves. Jesus, we will turn the key in our garden door, and no one will enter to rob You of one good fruit from the soil that You have watered with Your grace. All that we are and have shall be Yours, Yours alone, O Jesus, our Beloved!

If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit.

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:23:49 GMT

by Alistair Begg

The two most important things in our Christian journey are the life of faith and the walk of faith. The person who grasps this is not far from being a master in experimental [experiential] theology, for they are vital points to a Christian. You will never find true faith unaccompanied by true godliness; on the other hand, you will never discover a truly holy life that does not have at its root a living faith relying upon the righteousness of Christ.

Woe to those who seek the one without the other! There are some who cultivate faith and forget holiness; these may be very high in orthodoxy, but they shall be very deep in condemnation, for they hold the truth in unrighteousness! There are others who have strained after a holy life but have denied the faith, like the Pharisees of old, of whom the Master said they were "whitewashed tombs."¹ We must have faith, for this is the foundation; we must have holiness of life, for this is the superstructure.

What use is the mere foundation of a building to a man on the day of tempest? Can he hide himself in it? He needs a house to cover him as well as a foundation for that house. Even so we need the superstructure of spiritual life if we want comfort in the day of doubt. But do not seek a holy life without faith, for that would be to erect a house that can provide no permanent shelter because it has no foundation on a rock. Let faith and life be put together, and like the two supports of an archway, they will make our devotion endure. Like light and heat streaming from the same sun, they are full of blessing. Like the two pillars of the temple, they are for glory and for beauty. They are two streams from the fountain of grace, two lamps lit with holy fire, two olive trees watered by heavenly care.

Lord, give us today life internally, and it will reveal itself externally to Your glory.

Fantastic sermon clip of Alistair Begg...

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:07:40 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfHPpxL4PkU&feature=related

Forgiveness 70 x 7

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:28:56 GMT

Recently, the terrorist who bombed a Pan-Am flight killing roughly 300 people was released and sent to his home in Libya. He had not earned an early release but rather was granted it as an act of mercy as he currently has a terminal illness. Understandably, many people were upset. He had done nothing to deserve this act of mercy and his sins were great. I can�t help but think, how very much like all of us in the sight of God. Our sins are many, and we did not deserve God�s mercy, yet he gave it anyway. The Bible says that

�God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.� Romans 5:8

While we were still guilty and in our sins, God extended his mercy to us�not unlike the Scottish judge did to the dying terrorist. As humans, it is hard to want to show mercy to this man and I�m not even saying he should have been let out. I am simply asserting, that the mercy shown him is a lot like the mercy God shows us in that it is unmerited and undeserved. That is why the Bible says-

�It is by grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, not of works so that no man may boast.� Ephesians 2:8-9

Another lesson to be learned from the released terrorist is this- many folks on the news, I�m assuming, family of the victims, said they would never forgive him. I was very sad when I heard that because that means those folks could realistically end up in hell along with the terrorist. The Bible is clear on the issue of forgiveness-

�For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.�

Certainly, God couldn�t expect us to forgive a terrorist? Yes, he could and does. That doesn�t mean the terrorist doesn�t have to face justice, his crimes merit a punishment, but we are required to forgive all men their sins against us. Look at what Jesus said-

�Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us.� Matthew 6:12

That petition from the Lord�s prayer asks God to forgive us in the same way we forgive men their sins against us. In other words, don�t expect God to do for you what you won�t do for others. If God, being holy and perfect, can forgive our sins, shouldn�t we who are sinful and imperfect forgive fellow sinful and imperfect people? But what if a person keeps sinning against us?

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21-22

Jesus� answer was not placing a limit of 490 times. Seven was a number of completeness to the Jews. Saying �seventy times seven� was a way of saying, �forgive as many times as is needed.� God forgives all who come to Him. Should we as his followers do any less?

Be Not Afraid by A.W. Tozer

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:09:31 GMT

NO ONE CAN BLAME PEOPLE for being afraid. The world is in for a baptism of fire, and whether or not this present conflict is the beginning of the ordeal, such a baptism will surely come sooner or later. God declares this by the voice of all the holy prophets since time began � there is no escaping it.

But are not we Christians a people of another order? Do we not claim a place in the purpose of God altogether above the uncertainties of time and chance in which the sons of this world are caught? Have we not been given a prophetic preview off all those things that are to come upon the earth? Can anything take us unaware?

Surely Bible-reading Christians should be the last persons on earth to give way to hysteria. They are redeemed from their past offenses, kept in their present circumstances by the power of an all-powerful God, and their future is safe in His hands. God has promised to support them in the flood, protect them in the fire, feed them in famine, shield them against their enemies, hide them in His safe chambers until the indignation is past and receive them at last into eternal tabernacles.

If we are called upon to suffer, we may be perfectly sure that we shall be rewarded for every pain and blessed for every tear. Underneath will be the Everlasting Arms and within will be the deep assurance that all is well with our souls. Nothing can separate us from the love of God � not death, nor life, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.

This is a big old world, and it is full of the habitations of darkness, but nowhere in its vast expanse is there one thing of which a real Christian need be afraid. Surely a fear-ridden Christian has never examined his or her defenses.

A fear-stricken church cannot help a scared world. We who are in the secret place of safety must begin to talk and act like it. We, above all who dwell upon the earth, should be calm, hopeful, buoyant and cheerful. We'll never convince the scared world that there is peace at the Cross if we continue to exhibit the same fears as those who make no profession of Christianity.