The Most Useful Thing My Pastor Has Taught Me

Dilbert Terry said 'often what prevents us from having an overflowing testimony is not having the right priorities'. He said that referring to this verse:

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them

asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch

with me one hour?

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:

the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Matthew 26:40&41

When we have the right priorities and God is in His proper place in our lives, we will do right and have an overflowing testimony.
That quote of Dilbert Terry is something I remember often- especially when I'm in the perfect position to give someone an invitation to church and I don't have a tract/invitation on me. The closer you walk to with the Lord, your burden for lost souls grows greater, and your priorities shift greatly. When you are right with the Lord and your priorities are His priorities, your dealings with the unsaved become more about winning them to the Lord than anything else.
The salvation of lost souls ought to keep you in line when dealing with the world. 

When it comes to reaching the lost my pastor has taught me more than anyone. It's not just the things he says during preaching but the way he conducts his relationships with the unsaved and how he treats visitors to church. It is clearly a priority of his to tell people about Jesus.

Last summer I was at the park with my son on a very hot Sunday afternoon when I saw two Jehovah's Witnesses set up and stand in the shade. I got into a bit of a friendly debate with them (though I could see one of them getting frustrated) and left unsatisfied with myself and my conduct.
I told my pastor about it and he told me that two Jehovah's Witnesses' approached him one day while he was working and he simply asked them, 'if you died today do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?' They said no. My pastor told me that no matter what they tried to get at during the conversation he kept steering it towards salvation. He said they finally gave up.
It's not about disproving false doctrine, it's about promoting the truth.
So I armed myself with that knowledge.

In the last week God gave me two great opportunities to talk to people.

Last week I was in the community putting invitations to our church's Easter Event in people's doors when a lady who was passing by asked if so and so lived in the house I was just leaving.
I told her I had no idea and I was just passing out invitations and gave her one. I asked her if she went to church and she said she goes to a big baptist church just over the hill from my little baptist church. I then asked her 'when did you get saved?'
She told me she was saved when she was nine- a relative had died and it got her thinking about it so she asked her mom about it and got saved.
It was a really lovely conversation and I think she needed it. She told me her and her husband are moving to Chilliwack so I told her I'd pray for her and she had tears in her eyes when we said bye to each other.
I really have no idea why God led me into that conversation but I'm very grateful for it and this lady, Debbie, is on my prayer list. I kind of wonder if I was put in that position to prepare me for Saturday:

My husband left for work on Saturday morning and just as my son and I were digging into breakfast a knock came at the door. When I opened the door a very friendly man wearing a suit and holding a pamphlet greeted me. I knew as soon as I saw him that he was a Jehovah's Witness and the Lord immediately said 'give him the gospel'. This man, Jason, made small talk, then opened his pamphlet to a page with the word 'anxiety' in big bold letters. He said he wasn't trying to convert me to any religion but he knew that lots of people suffer from anxiety and this pamphlet had some 'biblical' help. I said 'oh, is that by the Watchtower Society?' he said yes and I told him I don't suffer from anxiety because I have peace through Jesus Christ.
I then asked him if he died today did he know for sure he would go to heaven and with the biggest smile on his face, almost joyful, he said 'I have no idea,'
I won't go through our whole conversation but I told him the gospel several times while he just nodded, smiled, and subtly dodged the issue. He realized quickly that I was a Christian and he kept telling me how Christians all believe different things. True true but I told him it does not matter what our opinions are and what we believe- it matters what the bible says.
He said a few things I really wanted to argue with- I mean, a new heaven and a new earth just means a new government? adlkfas;kfj asdkljaskl ;jals;dfkj no.
BUT I didn't argue with him, I stuffed down my fleshly urge to run up and grab my bible. I listened to him peacefully and whenever I got a word in edgewise I would repeat that we can know we're going to heaven because of Christ's sacrifice and all we need to do is believe. I kept telling him about my peace.
We didn't talk for long and before he went on his way I told him that he's welcome to my church. He didn't offer me the pamphlet again.
I feel very sorry for this man. He clearly is fighting something inside and hiding it with a cheerful demeanour. God wanted him to hear the gospel and me to give it to him.

My pastor's simple instructions on just asking people who claim to be saved when they got saved and asking the unsaved if they would go to heaven would not be as effective if he didn't prove it from his conduct. Soul winning is something he talks about a lot and 'making Jesus known' is our church's vision for this year.
It's not us trying to win people through our conversation skills, charms, or knowledge of the bible. It's us showing the love of Christ, sharing his mercy, and telling them about the peace we have with God through Jesus Christ. Submission is always the first step; yielding our will to His and letting him work through us.
It's not natural to want to talk to people, learn about them, and tell them about Christ. It's not natural to be cheerful and discerning when dealing with people you will likely never see again. This is where your priorities show. If you're all about yourself and your own, you won't consider that the people you are dealing with every day are headed to hell.
I have to say, it helps when you are challenged almost every time you go to church to reach others.
So there. Next time you're talking to someone who may be unsaved, ask them if they died today do they know for sure they would go to heaven. You may just have to throw it out there randomly, but it will get the conversation started and if they run away, at least you put a life saving bee in their bonnet.

Lastly, my pastor showed this video at church one Sunday night. It is a huge encouragement and a wonderful story:

I hope this was an encouragement and a help to you.

Community Carnival at Park City Baptist Church

I've been taking an official break this week from writing.
My mother-in-law has been visiting and my church is putting on a free community carnival.

If you happen to be in the area, please stop by! I will be at the cotton candy tent, covered in pink sugar, and glad to be apart of an outreach event. Come say hi if you are around.
If you are not in the area, we'd love prayer from you for our community.
We take the great commission seriously and we want to be a blessing to everyone that lives around us.
We're praying that this carnival tells our community that we're here, we love them, we want them to know Christ and his blessed assurance of salvation.
Please pray that we will be loving to all those that come, good examples of Christ's passion for souls, and that we all conduct ourselves wisely. Also please pray for the planning, set up, games, and those overseeing it.

The address, time, and all the details you need are below:

How to Have A Personal Ministry

Every Christian should have a personal ministry. A personal ministry is something you don't talk about, unless asking for prayer for a specific need, it is something between you and God. A personal ministry is done outside the local church. It is the body of Christ, exercising their abilities to reach lost souls.
At the Judgement Seat, you will not be judged along with your local church. You will be judged alone, receive your own crowns for the work that you did for Christ, and have your own works tried.
While the church presents opportunities for you to do outreach, Christ's burden for the lost extends far and above once a week witnessing. We are around lost people everyday. We need to be reaching people every day.
I know for a fact that keeping yourself from reaching the lost hinders your relationship with Christ. I have personally experienced it. My unwillingness to give out tracts prevented me from having a full and fruitful relationship with God for at least two years. It's not easy talking to strangers about Christ or giving them a tract. I had to grow into it, mature into it, and fully trust that God would help me.
I realized I just needed to give out the gospel then take my hands off and let God work:

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but

ministers by whom ye believed, even as the

Lord gave to every man?

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God

gave the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:5&6

For anyone scared to give out the gospel, those verses above should comfort you greatly. All we can do is give out the gospel. God does the rest.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey (Hymn by John H. Sammis, 1887, Trust and Obey)

The hymn is absolutely true. The more you trust God, the easier it is to obey, the happier you are because you're bearing outward, inward, and upward fruit.

Without any further ado, here are my tips for having a personal ministry every day of your life:
1) Have the right motivation

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or

whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God

1 Corinthians 10:31

The best way to test your motivation in God's work is see how your flesh reacts when no one compliments you.

Having a potluck at church and no one says anything about the lasagna you worked so hard on- does it bother you? If it bothers you, you likely have the wrong motivation for serving God's people- the praise of man.

This is why you shouldn't talk about what you do on a daily basis for the Lord- how much you pray, read the bible, witness, and so on. Preachers can do that to encourage and guide their flock, but us non preachers don't need to talk about it. We shouldn't need the praise of man to do work for the Lord.

Souls getting saved and most importantly God's glory should be all the motivation we need to work for Jesus.

2) Pray about it

Pray for the burden to reach souls.

Pray for the willingness to reach them.

Pray for boldness and strength.

Pray for good opportunities to hand out tracts and speaking to people about it.

Pray for the lost people you know right now and think deeply about what they're facing in eternity.

Pray to God that every tract you give out, every person you tell will get saved.
Thank God for the opportunity and freedom to pass out tracts and to witness.

3) This ties in with that last point but is slightly different: pray specifically for everyone you give a tract to.

I've found that my experience with giving out tracts is different with everyone I give them to.

Leaving tracts in random places is one thing but to actually look someone in the eye and hand them a tract leaves a mark.

Every time I give out a tract I pray for the person who received it. I pray for them all day. I pray for them the next day. I love that I remember them and can pray for them.

This is what having a personal ministry is about: praying over those you want to see saved.

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,

behold, Satan hath desired to have you,

that he may sift you as wheat:

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith

fail not: and when thou art converted

strengthen thy brethren.

Luke 22:32

Satan could have had Simon Peter BUT Jesus prayed for him. I like to think that God will do the same for those we pray for:

Confess your faults one to another, and

pray one for another, that ye may be

healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a

righteous man availeth much.

James 5:16

4) Set your priorities straight by obeying the Spirit's urgings

Your priority when you leave home is to get the gospel out. If you're a stay at home mom like me, there's really no reason you can't give out a few tracts a day or leave them in places for people to find.

You'll find the Holy Spirit will remind you when to give out tracts or if there is someone to talk to. The more you heed the Spirit's commands, the stronger you'll be in the Lord, the more Spiritual you will be, the better decisions you will make.

5) Bring tracts everywhere you go

Keep tracts with you in the car, in your bag, in your pocket (just don't crumple them). Make sure you have them. That way you have no excuse not to give them out.

About the tracts: make sure they have a clear presentation of the gospel using bible verses. Those tracts with paragraphs and paragraphs aren't to the point. The point is, people don't really care about the gospel and won't care to read a mini novel about it. A simple card with the Romans Road on it will do just fine:

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.

Isaiah 55:11

and

So then faith cometh by hearing,

and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

Our job is to get the Word out there. God takes care of the rest.

6) Be kind, gentle, peaceable, pleasant, and generous everywhere you go

This means having a good testimony.

If you're rude, obnoxious, or just plain sullen, no one will take the tract seriously.
What often keeps us from having an overflowing testimony is not having the right priorities- Dilbert Terry
You may be going out grocery shopping, but your priority can still be to get the gospel out and be a good testimony. Always, in the front of your mind, remember that you must have a good testimony.
Fear the Lord and depart from evil- Proverbs 3:7b
How will you feel if someone goes to hell because of one thing you said to them on an off day?
I've been in a terrible mood but I've managed to smile at cashiers, be pleasant, and give them tracts. If I didn't remember that my demeanor and countenance towards them could make an eternal difference in their lives, I would never have been able to pull myself out of a bad mood and be sociable with them.

7) Have a goal/ challenge/ rule to give out tracts

For example: my rule is to give out tracts to all the cashiers I deal with when I go grocery shopping and to leave tracts wherever I go.

You may have a goal to give out two tracts every day or a challenge to give out tracts to every third person you walk by on the street.

Right now, you're shy and timid, going all out may keep you from handing out tracts entirely. Start slowly and see how God builds boldness inside you. It gets easier and easier, I promise:

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly

shall reap also sparingly; and he which

soweth bountifully shall reap also

bountifully.

2 Corinthians 9:6

That verse sealed my determination to hand out as many tracts as I could. I want to reap bountifully. I want to meet people in heaven that are there because I gave them a tract or told them about the gospel or was just a good, solid testimony while they knew me. 

8) Go to outreach events at your church

My church goes out every Saturday morning to put tracts in mailboxes and hand them out to people on the street. We want to saturate our community with the gospel. In fact, we're going to go door to door later this month. I'm nervous but excited. 

We have gym night every third Saturday and we're planning a community barbeque/ carnival later this Summer. 

It is a blessing that my pastor is so burdened for our community and intent on making our church as outreach oriented as possible. He said last Sunday that our job, as the local church, is to get the gospel out. He doesn't just say that, he makes it happen. Praise the Lord for that!

If your church is lacking in this area, maybe talk to your pastor about getting an outreach program started.

9) Say Hi and be helpful to visitors at your church
I know this sounds kind of elementary but it's a small thing that makes a huge difference.
-Before or after the service go up to people you've never seen before and shake their hand, welcome them, tell them your name, and learn a bit about them.
-If you see someone who clearly has never been to church before, maybe sit by them and help them find the passages your pastor is preaching on.
-If they walk in late or during singing, give visitors your hymn book so they don't have to fuss with finding the right hymn.
-Smile at everyone you see and be genuinely happy to see them at church
This goes hand in hand with being a good testimony and it could be instrumental in bringing someone to Christ.
One of the things that kept us going to the church we do now is the kindness and love bestowed on us as soon as we walked in it's doors. Kindness and hospitality go a very long way.

And be ye kind one to another,

tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even

as God for Christ's sake hath forgive you.

Ephesians 4:32

There you have it! Nine ways to bear fruit. By the way, nine is the number of fruit bearing- seven is completion, eight is abundance, and nine is fruit bearing (pregnancy is nine months).

I hope this helps you in some small way!

Then saith he unto his disciples, the

harvest truly is plenteous, but the

labourers are few;

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,

that he will send forth labourers into his harvest

Matthew 9:37&38