Hey Brethren:
Wow, this is a breakthrough for me. It's been a long time since I have written and God has told me to wake up and get to work. I apologize for the time lost in teaching you how to tell a soul about our creator and Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that it hasn't hindered you from using what I already have taught and that you have received enough information to get you started on your journey of fulfilling the commission given us by our Lord to preach, saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
I am presently living in Madera, Calif. and fellowshiping with Brethren at a Pentecostal Church. We have recently started going out on the streets and preaching to the homeless. I am currently trying to get a newsletter together that I can take around to the homes in Madera and share the Gospel simply by introduction and invitation to come to church. More about how to do that later, right now I want to talk to you about getting started witnessing by reaching out to the homeless.
Witnessing to the homeless is one of the greatest ways to practice your evangelism outreach. Even if you are afraid to talk to someone about Christ, or you are shy or timid about talking to anyone about anything, the homeless are a great way to break through that inhibition.
Why? Because, think about it, what homeless person doesn't have any inhibition to come to you and ask for money, or something to eat or cigarettes or whatever they want. Most homeless will listen to you tell them about anything if they think they can get something for their boldness. If you don't immediately say, "No", to their asking, then they immediately assume they have another sucker on the hook, so they will patiently appear to be interested in what you want to say, no matter what you want to say.
Never forget the verse in Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it". You are God's vessel and the Word of God that comes out of your mouth is the way the Holy Spirit is sending the word that comes from God's mouth.
This verse is telling us that its not our job to convince them or change their mind. Our only job is to share the word of God and let God accomplish that which He pleases and let Him make it prosper in the thing He has inspired you to send it to. If you think about it, that takes all the stress and worry out of witnessing, evangelizing and sharing.
So I have developed several ways I respond to the homeless adage, "Do you have any spare....."?
First, let me say that, I try to always keep a few Gospel tracts on me and you should too. So when they come up to me and ask for something, depending on the Spirits leading, one of the responses I will give is, "I'll tell you what, I don't normally give money, but I am willing to buy you something to eat, if you will do something for me"? This immediately will tell you whether they really want to eat or if they are just raising money to buy drugs or alcohol. If they just want money then I say, "No I'm sorry, but I want you to know that God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten son Jesus, to die for you that you might have life and life more abundantly so that you could have a better life than walking the streets begging for money". Then I will offer them a tract to read and let the Holy Spirit lead in the conversation.
Usually though, they will agree to do something for me if I buy them something to eat. That is when, again, according to the Holy Spirit's leading, I will take a tract and say, "If you will read this tract to me, which only takes about two minutes, and tell me what you think it says, I will buy you something to eat". Whether they will or they won't, it doesn't matter, because the conversation has opened the door for you to witness or quote one Bible verse which is the word that came out of God's mouth and won't return unto Him void.
So this week, if you are approached by a begging homeless person, practice this. When you get up everyday say a quick prayer that God will inspire you to have the tools of Biblical wisdom to use should anyone approach you. If you don't know scripture, memorize a verse, even a short verse that you can quote and God can use to accomplish and prosper.
Next week I will share another technique I use that might give you an idea to use in witnessing to homeless people.
If anyone needs tracts, please contact me at fbevangelist@yahoo.com or write me at Tellasoul. Tracts are free of charge, we never charge for the Gospel. Or you can order your own tracts from the Fellowshiptractleague.
Please feel free to read my other blog Yosemiteriverrat
God bless you as you witness and build rewards in Heaven.
The Evangelist Brother Bill
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Romans 10:13
Romans 10:13
For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
Hey Brethren:
This is the last verse in the Roman highway. You of course can keep finding verses in Romans that will apply to witnessing, but the verses we have gone through here, so far, are enough that will give you the tools talk to others about the Lord.
This verse is the main point. This is the message we are trying to get across, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, a righteous rocker, or a cult member, or a homeless person, a murderer or lier. We don't have to be anything other than who and what we are, if we call upon the Lord, we will be saved. \
This is the message we have been commissioned to tell people.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and many of us will be getting together with family members who aren't saved. This is the message we want to give to those family members as well as the world.
I saw on TV that the Obama administration put out an ad for everyone to take advantage of the holiday season and talk to your family members about getting signed up for healthcare. I feel this is the best time to talk to family about their spiritual health and get on the Heavenly Father care and make sure that you impress upon those who are dear to you the need for them to call on the name of the Lord.
So hopefully you have memorized these scriptures, marked them in your Bible like I explained and have some tools to be able to share the Gospel. From here we will start sharing ways to use these scriptures and ways to initiate conversations and we will also teach different ways to use Gospel tracts and I will show you where you can get Gospel tracts and what you should look for in a Gospel message.
I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Brother Bill
aka River Rat
For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
Hey Brethren:
This is the last verse in the Roman highway. You of course can keep finding verses in Romans that will apply to witnessing, but the verses we have gone through here, so far, are enough that will give you the tools talk to others about the Lord.
This verse is the main point. This is the message we are trying to get across, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, a righteous rocker, or a cult member, or a homeless person, a murderer or lier. We don't have to be anything other than who and what we are, if we call upon the Lord, we will be saved. \
This is the message we have been commissioned to tell people.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and many of us will be getting together with family members who aren't saved. This is the message we want to give to those family members as well as the world.
I saw on TV that the Obama administration put out an ad for everyone to take advantage of the holiday season and talk to your family members about getting signed up for healthcare. I feel this is the best time to talk to family about their spiritual health and get on the Heavenly Father care and make sure that you impress upon those who are dear to you the need for them to call on the name of the Lord.
So hopefully you have memorized these scriptures, marked them in your Bible like I explained and have some tools to be able to share the Gospel. From here we will start sharing ways to use these scriptures and ways to initiate conversations and we will also teach different ways to use Gospel tracts and I will show you where you can get Gospel tracts and what you should look for in a Gospel message.
I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Brother Bill
aka River Rat
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Romans 10:10
Praise His Name Brethren:
Last post we introduced Romans 10:9, topic, confess and believe, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
Our next verse is Romans 10:10. I use the topic "believe and confess", so just to refresh the memorization technique, we want to recite the verse, Romans 10:10, then the topic, "Believe and confess", then the verse, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation".
I've been reading in Acts right now in my morning devotions. There in the first five chapters are some of the greatest examples of the power that we can have if we confess with our mouth, and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead it will enable us to believe so strongly that when we confess Christ, God can move and do great things in drawing men to salvation.
Look at how Peter and John brought 5000 souls to Christ just by using these truths with the healing of the lame man at the gate. They truly believed and their belief was so strong that they couldn't quit confessing. Even though the religious leaders were telling them not to preach Jesus Christ. They still went out and confessed what they believed and then were thrown into prison. Then when the Angel came and delivered them out of the prison, they didn't go, "Whew, that was close, I thought we were going to be in there forever, come on lets get out of here before they realize we're gone". No, they went right down to the temple and started confessing their beliefs again in front of the very people who threw them in prison, then they were flogged and they still didn't quit and the Bible says that souls were added to the church daily.
That is belief and that is what confession of your beliefs can produce for the Kingdom of God. Their belief and confession was a consuming fire. Today, most of our churches are nothing but a pile of ashes. I beseech you Brethren to get these verses into your beliefs and confess your beliefs and watch what can happen. We serve the same God today who sent an angel to open prison doors back then. The same God Peter and John believed in is the same God we believe in. Two thousand years hasn't changed God.
There is a story about a young couple who were out on a date and while driving in the car the woman said, "Honey, remember how when we first met, we would drive and I would sit next to you while you drove, why don't we do that anymore"? The man looked over at her and said, "I don't know but I know that I haven't moved, I'm still sitting in the same spot"! Its us as Christians who have changed, not God.
O.K, next time will be our last verse for the Roman highway series. If you are just joining in on reading this blog, I would suggest going back to the first post and getting in on this from the beginning so you have the full foundation to build on. It is about to get fun and I'm hoping all of us can use all the techniques to start revival in our families and communities. Anyone who has some great ideas of how they witness, please share them. My new email address is tellasoul@yahoo.com.
Until next time,
The Evangelist Brother Bill
aka: River Rat
Last post we introduced Romans 10:9, topic, confess and believe, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
Our next verse is Romans 10:10. I use the topic "believe and confess", so just to refresh the memorization technique, we want to recite the verse, Romans 10:10, then the topic, "Believe and confess", then the verse, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation".
I've been reading in Acts right now in my morning devotions. There in the first five chapters are some of the greatest examples of the power that we can have if we confess with our mouth, and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead it will enable us to believe so strongly that when we confess Christ, God can move and do great things in drawing men to salvation.
Look at how Peter and John brought 5000 souls to Christ just by using these truths with the healing of the lame man at the gate. They truly believed and their belief was so strong that they couldn't quit confessing. Even though the religious leaders were telling them not to preach Jesus Christ. They still went out and confessed what they believed and then were thrown into prison. Then when the Angel came and delivered them out of the prison, they didn't go, "Whew, that was close, I thought we were going to be in there forever, come on lets get out of here before they realize we're gone". No, they went right down to the temple and started confessing their beliefs again in front of the very people who threw them in prison, then they were flogged and they still didn't quit and the Bible says that souls were added to the church daily.
That is belief and that is what confession of your beliefs can produce for the Kingdom of God. Their belief and confession was a consuming fire. Today, most of our churches are nothing but a pile of ashes. I beseech you Brethren to get these verses into your beliefs and confess your beliefs and watch what can happen. We serve the same God today who sent an angel to open prison doors back then. The same God Peter and John believed in is the same God we believe in. Two thousand years hasn't changed God.
There is a story about a young couple who were out on a date and while driving in the car the woman said, "Honey, remember how when we first met, we would drive and I would sit next to you while you drove, why don't we do that anymore"? The man looked over at her and said, "I don't know but I know that I haven't moved, I'm still sitting in the same spot"! Its us as Christians who have changed, not God.
O.K, next time will be our last verse for the Roman highway series. If you are just joining in on reading this blog, I would suggest going back to the first post and getting in on this from the beginning so you have the full foundation to build on. It is about to get fun and I'm hoping all of us can use all the techniques to start revival in our families and communities. Anyone who has some great ideas of how they witness, please share them. My new email address is tellasoul@yahoo.com.
Until next time,
The Evangelist Brother Bill
aka: River Rat
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Romans 10:9
Hey Brethren:
I am so blessed this week. I have been praying that God would provide me with a Brother to go witnessing with and this week I had two men call me. One is a man named Tony who goes out in Fresno and Oakhurst on his horse. He goes to the gangs in Fresno and God has blessed him richly in the work of evangelism and the other man is also from Fresno. His name is Frank and he shoes horses. When he is shoeing horses in Fresno he evangelizes in Fresno and when he is working on horses in Oakhurst, he evangelizes in Oakhurst. There is another man I am waiting to call me from Oakhurst named Joe. Joe recently accepted Christ from meeting Tony and the Lord immediately blessed him with a burden for souls. Be praying for all of us as we reach out to the lost.
Todays verse is Romans 10:9. I use the topic, "confess and believe". Then the verse goes like this,
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
As I mentioned in the beginning of my blogs, we are commanded to preach the Gospel. All of us. When you go to church on Sunday, your pastor isn't the only guy who is ordained to tell people about Jesus. Jesus gave us the command to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel, that includes you and anyone who accepts Christ. Are you ashamed to confess Christ? You shouldn't be, Christ said, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you". Matt. 5:11,12
Even if we are rejected or persecuted, we should rejoice because we are building rewards. That is exciting to me. We are also told that if we confess Christ before men, Christ will confess us before His Father in heaven Matt. 10:32. Then in the next verse, v. 33 He says that whosoever denies Him before men, He will deny that person before His Heavenly Father. Then in Luke 12:8 Christ also said, "Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man (Jesus) confess before the angels of God".
The next part of that verse concerns belief. Do you really believe? I question a lot of people who say they are Christians. I believe that a lot of the reason why those who say they are Christians never confess Christ to others is their lack of real belief in Christ in their heart. Not only do you believe, but do you believe that God really raised Him from the dead in His earthly body?
Remember and think about this thought. The devil believes in Christ, that's why the devil seeks to rob, destroy and kill every person on earth. The devil knows that Christ is real and that Christ died to defeat him (the devil) and save all mankind if mankind will confess and believe in Christ. But the devil doesn't want you to believe unto salvation and escape the devil's destruction. Jehovah's witnesses are an example of belief that isn't unto salvation. They believe that Christ died on the cross for man's sins, that He died and was buried, but they believe that when He rose from the dead, He rose as a spirit creature, He didn't rise in the flesh. This is one of the reasons they are missing the mark.
God brought Christ back to life as he was before he died, He was risen from the dead. If He would have risen as a spirit, He couldn't have deafeated death. All men whether they are saved or lost become a spirit when their bodies die and they either go directly before God or they go directly to hell. If Christ was only a spirit after His death then He would be no different than anyone else and He couldn't have defeated death. I hope I haven't gotten too deep into something that ends up confusing you more than helping. Feel free to write me if you need any help with understanding what I am saying here.
This verse we are learning this week is a very important verse and I hope you will meditate on it and pray about it and know how to share it as you learn to witness.
So remember, confess and believe, Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9
Until then remember that He is risen, He is risen indeed.
God bless you,
Brother Bill
aka: River Rat
I am so blessed this week. I have been praying that God would provide me with a Brother to go witnessing with and this week I had two men call me. One is a man named Tony who goes out in Fresno and Oakhurst on his horse. He goes to the gangs in Fresno and God has blessed him richly in the work of evangelism and the other man is also from Fresno. His name is Frank and he shoes horses. When he is shoeing horses in Fresno he evangelizes in Fresno and when he is working on horses in Oakhurst, he evangelizes in Oakhurst. There is another man I am waiting to call me from Oakhurst named Joe. Joe recently accepted Christ from meeting Tony and the Lord immediately blessed him with a burden for souls. Be praying for all of us as we reach out to the lost.
Todays verse is Romans 10:9. I use the topic, "confess and believe". Then the verse goes like this,
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
As I mentioned in the beginning of my blogs, we are commanded to preach the Gospel. All of us. When you go to church on Sunday, your pastor isn't the only guy who is ordained to tell people about Jesus. Jesus gave us the command to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel, that includes you and anyone who accepts Christ. Are you ashamed to confess Christ? You shouldn't be, Christ said, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you". Matt. 5:11,12
Even if we are rejected or persecuted, we should rejoice because we are building rewards. That is exciting to me. We are also told that if we confess Christ before men, Christ will confess us before His Father in heaven Matt. 10:32. Then in the next verse, v. 33 He says that whosoever denies Him before men, He will deny that person before His Heavenly Father. Then in Luke 12:8 Christ also said, "Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man (Jesus) confess before the angels of God".
The next part of that verse concerns belief. Do you really believe? I question a lot of people who say they are Christians. I believe that a lot of the reason why those who say they are Christians never confess Christ to others is their lack of real belief in Christ in their heart. Not only do you believe, but do you believe that God really raised Him from the dead in His earthly body?
Remember and think about this thought. The devil believes in Christ, that's why the devil seeks to rob, destroy and kill every person on earth. The devil knows that Christ is real and that Christ died to defeat him (the devil) and save all mankind if mankind will confess and believe in Christ. But the devil doesn't want you to believe unto salvation and escape the devil's destruction. Jehovah's witnesses are an example of belief that isn't unto salvation. They believe that Christ died on the cross for man's sins, that He died and was buried, but they believe that when He rose from the dead, He rose as a spirit creature, He didn't rise in the flesh. This is one of the reasons they are missing the mark.
God brought Christ back to life as he was before he died, He was risen from the dead. If He would have risen as a spirit, He couldn't have deafeated death. All men whether they are saved or lost become a spirit when their bodies die and they either go directly before God or they go directly to hell. If Christ was only a spirit after His death then He would be no different than anyone else and He couldn't have defeated death. I hope I haven't gotten too deep into something that ends up confusing you more than helping. Feel free to write me if you need any help with understanding what I am saying here.
This verse we are learning this week is a very important verse and I hope you will meditate on it and pray about it and know how to share it as you learn to witness.
So remember, confess and believe, Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9
Until then remember that He is risen, He is risen indeed.
God bless you,
Brother Bill
aka: River Rat
Monday, October 7, 2013
Romans 5:8
Hey everyone:
Had a great day yesterday, (Sunday).
Today, our verse is Romans 5:8. This verse is so important because the verses up till this point are verses that can be convicting. So far we have shared that nobody is righteous, all have sinned, sin has sentenced us all to death which are the wages of a sinful lifestyle. The end of last weeks verse does break into the hope that there is a way through Christ for eternal life and that Christ's death is a gift to us.
Today, Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". To help me remember this verse, I use the topic phrase, "God still loves us". That is what this verse says to me. Even though we are sinners, God still loves us, but He hates the sin. He loves us so much that He was willing to give up His only son as a way for us to enter into a right relationship with God so that we could have fellowship now and eternal life in heaven with God.
We have a family member who doesn't make the right choices a lot of times. Because I am the disciplinarian in our family (not a position I chose or really want) this family member at times will start thinking that I don't love that family member, that I hate them. I sat them down recently and told them, "I don't hate you, but I hate the dissension you drag into our home, I hate the element of people you bring to the house, I hate that you look us in the eyes and lie to us and I hate that we have provided you way after way to escape this lifestyle and better your life and you won't take advantage of it and turn your life around". That in a lot of ways is how God is with us and Christ is the way He has provided for us to turn our life around. It's the condition we have to accept to be allowed to come to God's home.
So study this verse and next time we will add another verse. We are getting there, we have three more verses I want to share on the Roman highway and then we are going to get into some great ways to share these verses and other ways to reach the lost with tracts and build some eternal rewards.
God bless you as you learn,
Brother Bill
aka: River Rat
Had a great day yesterday, (Sunday).
Today, our verse is Romans 5:8. This verse is so important because the verses up till this point are verses that can be convicting. So far we have shared that nobody is righteous, all have sinned, sin has sentenced us all to death which are the wages of a sinful lifestyle. The end of last weeks verse does break into the hope that there is a way through Christ for eternal life and that Christ's death is a gift to us.
Today, Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". To help me remember this verse, I use the topic phrase, "God still loves us". That is what this verse says to me. Even though we are sinners, God still loves us, but He hates the sin. He loves us so much that He was willing to give up His only son as a way for us to enter into a right relationship with God so that we could have fellowship now and eternal life in heaven with God.
We have a family member who doesn't make the right choices a lot of times. Because I am the disciplinarian in our family (not a position I chose or really want) this family member at times will start thinking that I don't love that family member, that I hate them. I sat them down recently and told them, "I don't hate you, but I hate the dissension you drag into our home, I hate the element of people you bring to the house, I hate that you look us in the eyes and lie to us and I hate that we have provided you way after way to escape this lifestyle and better your life and you won't take advantage of it and turn your life around". That in a lot of ways is how God is with us and Christ is the way He has provided for us to turn our life around. It's the condition we have to accept to be allowed to come to God's home.
So study this verse and next time we will add another verse. We are getting there, we have three more verses I want to share on the Roman highway and then we are going to get into some great ways to share these verses and other ways to reach the lost with tracts and build some eternal rewards.
God bless you as you learn,
Brother Bill
aka: River Rat
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Romans 6:23
Greetings brethren:
If you are reading this for the first time, please go to the first blog post so that you can understand where we are at with our scripture memorization and hopefully join with us in our desire to have the tools to tell people about the faith that is in us as believers in Christ.
Lets briefly go over what we have learned so far. At least I hope you are taking this to heart and learning these scriptures in order to be prepared to share the wonderful work that Christ did for us on the cross. Our first topic and verse was, "nobody's righteous", Romans 3:10, then, "all have sinned", Romans 3:23, then, "by one man", Romans 5:12.
Today our topic and verse is about the results of sin in everybody's life. As I mentioned in the post titled Romans 5:12 revisited, we will not be judged for anyone else's sin, whether it be Adam's or your next door neighbor's sins, but our own and the previous scriptures have shown that we are all guilty of sin. This is the basic reason that we are called to share the Gospel with the unsaved. You will find as you go out and talk to people that just about everyone thinks they are a good person. Here is how most conversations will go when you ask this question, "If there is a heaven and hell, would you go to heaven or hell?" I would say that eight times out of ten, their response will be, "I would go to heaven, because I am basically a good person, I try to respect people, I try to always think positive about life and others, etc. etc." So this is where having a knowledge of scripture helps you to show them what the Bible says and point them to salvation through Christ by showing them that the Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short. God is a just God and He can't allow sin into heaven so if someone was such a good person that they maybe only sinned once in their life, our next verse says that they have missed the mark, or fallen short of being able to enter into God's Kingdom without salvation through Christ.
These verses we are learning and memorizing are just the elementary foundation to being prepared scripturally. Once we get through them, then I will start teaching you how to implement these verses into a conversation and will share with you other websites that can also assist you in sharing what we are learning. I will also start teaching how we can use tracks to reach the lost. But right now I feel the need to lay some foundations.
Our next verse is Romans 6:23. This is a verse that doesn't mess around but comes right to the point.
It says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". I use the topic, "sins wages". There is a cost for sin. Sin costs every human being their eternal life in heaven and condemns them to hell. This is why we are commanded by Christ to preach the gospel to everyone. God wants everyone to come to the truth and accept eternal life with Him.
We have four more verses to memorize. I could give them all to you now, but I am hoping that a little at a time will give you time to get them firmly planted in your mind. Please share this blog with someone and if any of you need some tracks, please contact me and I will send you some free of charge.
God Bless,
Brother Bill
aka River rat
If you are reading this for the first time, please go to the first blog post so that you can understand where we are at with our scripture memorization and hopefully join with us in our desire to have the tools to tell people about the faith that is in us as believers in Christ.
Lets briefly go over what we have learned so far. At least I hope you are taking this to heart and learning these scriptures in order to be prepared to share the wonderful work that Christ did for us on the cross. Our first topic and verse was, "nobody's righteous", Romans 3:10, then, "all have sinned", Romans 3:23, then, "by one man", Romans 5:12.
Today our topic and verse is about the results of sin in everybody's life. As I mentioned in the post titled Romans 5:12 revisited, we will not be judged for anyone else's sin, whether it be Adam's or your next door neighbor's sins, but our own and the previous scriptures have shown that we are all guilty of sin. This is the basic reason that we are called to share the Gospel with the unsaved. You will find as you go out and talk to people that just about everyone thinks they are a good person. Here is how most conversations will go when you ask this question, "If there is a heaven and hell, would you go to heaven or hell?" I would say that eight times out of ten, their response will be, "I would go to heaven, because I am basically a good person, I try to respect people, I try to always think positive about life and others, etc. etc." So this is where having a knowledge of scripture helps you to show them what the Bible says and point them to salvation through Christ by showing them that the Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short. God is a just God and He can't allow sin into heaven so if someone was such a good person that they maybe only sinned once in their life, our next verse says that they have missed the mark, or fallen short of being able to enter into God's Kingdom without salvation through Christ.
These verses we are learning and memorizing are just the elementary foundation to being prepared scripturally. Once we get through them, then I will start teaching you how to implement these verses into a conversation and will share with you other websites that can also assist you in sharing what we are learning. I will also start teaching how we can use tracks to reach the lost. But right now I feel the need to lay some foundations.
Our next verse is Romans 6:23. This is a verse that doesn't mess around but comes right to the point.
It says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". I use the topic, "sins wages". There is a cost for sin. Sin costs every human being their eternal life in heaven and condemns them to hell. This is why we are commanded by Christ to preach the gospel to everyone. God wants everyone to come to the truth and accept eternal life with Him.
We have four more verses to memorize. I could give them all to you now, but I am hoping that a little at a time will give you time to get them firmly planted in your mind. Please share this blog with someone and if any of you need some tracks, please contact me and I will send you some free of charge.
God Bless,
Brother Bill
aka River rat
Monday, September 23, 2013
Romans 5:12 revisited
Hey Brethren:
Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned".
I wanted to talk a little about this verse and give you something to think about. In witnessing, I have made what I now consider, a mistake, and have many times used this verse to prove what I was saying. Many, many times I have told unbelievers that the reason they were sinners and going to hell if they didn't know Christ was because Adam and Eve sinned and as a result, we were all sentenced to hell because of their sin. On the day of judgement, we will not be judged according to Adam's sin, but will be judged according to our sins. Adam and Eve's sin brought the sentence of death upon all of mankind. Originally we were designed and created to live forever but Adam's sin changed that. God even warned Adam that if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die (Gen. 2:17) and after Adam ate of the tree, God passed sentence upon man that he would no longer live forever but return unto the dust from where he came. (Gen. 3:19).
To tell someone that they will be judged according to Adam's sin is to tell them that they will be judged because of what they are (mankind) and not because of what they do. We are not going to be judged for the sin someone did thousands of years ago, but we will be judged for the sins we individually do. I think this has to do with a lot of why we don't see repentance among millions of Christians, because they don't really see themselves as sinners. They see the first Adam as the sinner who did all the sinning for them and the last Adam (Jesus Christ) took care of all the rest which leaves them thinking that they have done no wrong and believing that repentance merely means accepting Christ and going on in life just like they have always lived.
I will stop right here today. I would ask you to pray about this. This subject can be shocking to some and cause a lot of Christians to pull out the, "legalism" or "saved by works" card, so to speak. But let me tell you, I personally have butchered the Gospel in both teaching it and living it. For years I drank Jack Daniels, snorted crank, swore like a drunken sailor, committed adultery and sinned almost every way imaginable and had no conviction because I believed that Adam did the sinning and Christ died so that I could be saved by grace and had no moral conviction to repent of my sins. I don't believe in salvation by works, but I do believe that when Christ commanded us to repent, He wanted us to turn towards God in our mind and heart as well as our lifestyle.
God bless you till next time,
Brother Bill
aka River Rat
Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned".
I wanted to talk a little about this verse and give you something to think about. In witnessing, I have made what I now consider, a mistake, and have many times used this verse to prove what I was saying. Many, many times I have told unbelievers that the reason they were sinners and going to hell if they didn't know Christ was because Adam and Eve sinned and as a result, we were all sentenced to hell because of their sin. On the day of judgement, we will not be judged according to Adam's sin, but will be judged according to our sins. Adam and Eve's sin brought the sentence of death upon all of mankind. Originally we were designed and created to live forever but Adam's sin changed that. God even warned Adam that if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die (Gen. 2:17) and after Adam ate of the tree, God passed sentence upon man that he would no longer live forever but return unto the dust from where he came. (Gen. 3:19).
To tell someone that they will be judged according to Adam's sin is to tell them that they will be judged because of what they are (mankind) and not because of what they do. We are not going to be judged for the sin someone did thousands of years ago, but we will be judged for the sins we individually do. I think this has to do with a lot of why we don't see repentance among millions of Christians, because they don't really see themselves as sinners. They see the first Adam as the sinner who did all the sinning for them and the last Adam (Jesus Christ) took care of all the rest which leaves them thinking that they have done no wrong and believing that repentance merely means accepting Christ and going on in life just like they have always lived.
I will stop right here today. I would ask you to pray about this. This subject can be shocking to some and cause a lot of Christians to pull out the, "legalism" or "saved by works" card, so to speak. But let me tell you, I personally have butchered the Gospel in both teaching it and living it. For years I drank Jack Daniels, snorted crank, swore like a drunken sailor, committed adultery and sinned almost every way imaginable and had no conviction because I believed that Adam did the sinning and Christ died so that I could be saved by grace and had no moral conviction to repent of my sins. I don't believe in salvation by works, but I do believe that when Christ commanded us to repent, He wanted us to turn towards God in our mind and heart as well as our lifestyle.
God bless you till next time,
Brother Bill
aka River Rat
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