Bezeugen BLOG

Romans 1:16 says that the Gospel is the power of salvation. Many false messages are out there. Many people who go to church and claim to be Christian live in the same way that the people of the world live. Why is that? It is possible, that these people are really false converts.

It is very important that we share the Gospel truthfully. Paul prayed that above all else he would do this.

2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. – Colossians 4:2-6

In our efforts to Evangelize, it is our desire to share the true Biblical Gospel. Then God waters the seed and it grows into faith of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. To understand the difference between the true and false conversions, I encourage you to watch the second of Living Waters’ foundational messages. This is episode 17 of Way of the Master, which is summarized as “The Bible has much to say on the subject of false conversion. This vital teaching will persuade you to remain within the bounds of Scripture when reaching out to the lost.” A study guide is also available that you can fill out as you listen.

What’s next? If you have not already repented and trusted in Christ alone to save you then do that right away. You can review the Gospel message online. It is the most important thing you can do. If you have already done that, then why not start sharing your faith today. Enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club and get 30 free Gospel tracts to hand out “As You Go!” Then join us for an Evangelism Seminar to get equipped to share the Gospel Biblically and effectively.

I was raised in a Christian household. Confirmed in middle school. And drifted away from church in high school. My senior year of college, I felt God tugging on me to figure out what it meant to have a relationship with him. I graduated from college and moved to another state. I was not able to find a church that I liked and fit in. So I ignored what I knew was God calling me to come to him. I convinced myself that one day it would be important to get right with God, but this was not the day.

In 1991, I attended a church in DeSoto, TX. The Pastor asked me, “if you die today would you go to heaven?” I said, “of course, I am a good person!” He then explained the Gospel to me like I had never heard it explained before that. He showed me my sin through the mirror of the Ten Commandments and showed me my need to repent and trust in Jesus to save me. I did!

Immediately, I had a desire to tell others about Jesus. But, I did not know how. A few months later this same pastor offered an “evangelism class.” I knew I had to take it! He taught a method that required a lot of memorization. Then we had to develop a testimonial and be able to share it with people. We went to other church members houses to practice. Looking back, I see this method was very cumbersome and I never was able to use it to share the Gospel with anyone.

Over the years, I’ve taken a number of other Evangelism training classes. Each time I came away continually frustrated still not knowing how to share the Gospel.

Fast forward to the spring of 2005. A friend of mine told me about Living Waters, Ray Comfort and the Way of the Master. He told me there was this teaching called Hell’s Best Kept Secret. I decided to check it out. I realized that this teaching held the missing key of what I had been looking for to share the Gospel – law to the proud, grace to the humble.

I invite you to check out the video of this teaching (or click the image below). It has meant a lot to me. I pray that it will have the same positive impact on your desire to evangelize as well.

So what is your next step? Have you already repented and put your trust in Christ to save you? Then why not enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club today and receive 30 free Gospel tracts per month and start handing them out.

If not, then please consider this teaching. Repent of your sins and trust Jesus today. Jesus is God’s one and only provision to pay for your sin!

As I was going door to door this weekend, I was praying for some helpful tips that I could share about going door to door. God revealed five things that I can share with you.

1. Stand Back From the Door
When I ring the door bell, I like to stand back 4-6 feet from the door while I wait for someone to answer. This is helpful because that way, I am not right in someones face when they open the door. In addition, in many houses, it allows the person to look out from a window in a room near the door to see who is standing at their door.

2.Watch for signage
When approaching a house, watch out for No Tresspassing and No Solicitation signs. Solicitation is typically used in conjunction with selling something or asking for money. Since we are doing neither of these things, I don’t actually think we are violating a No Solicitation sign. However, most people that put up such signs do so so that no one will bother them. It is my experience that they get “bent out of shape” by knocking on the door. For this reason, I choose to bypass houses that have No Soliciting signs posted. I will pray a prayer over the household as I pass by. I have noticed that some No Soliciting signs are posted fairly inconspicuously. So you really have to look for them sometimes. A couple of times, I’ve run the door beel without noticing the sign. Fortunately, when I saw the sign, I just left and it turned out no one was home anyway. I think obeying the No Tresspassing sign is obvious.

3. If in doubt … ask if it is a good time
A woman comes to the door and looks like she is not feeling too well. I say, “hi, is this a good time to talk for a minute?” She says, “no.” I hand her a tract and tell her to have a nice day. The bottom line is we need to be sensitive to the fact that they may not be able to talk right then.

4. Ask for their parents
Sometimes a child will answer the door. In this case, I’ll ask, “is your mom or dad here.” If they say no, then I give them a tract to give to their parents. If they say yes, then I wait to speak with the parent. Now, I only apply this rule when the child is say less then 14 or so. With teen agers, I’ll ask them for prayer requests and talk to them about spiritual things.

5. Recognize when it is time to leave
In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches about four types of soil. When we are planting seed in good soil it is fairly obvious. Likewise, we need to pay attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit and recognize when we are spreading seed in the rocky places. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to spending an hour (or more) at one house talking with someone. I’ve actually had some long conversations with people while going door to door. But, if the conversation is going no where, and they are not interested at all in talking about the things of God, then I will hand them a tract, excuse myself and move on to the next house. On one particular occassion, the man had made up a god to suit himself. He had totally dismissed the idea that any god could judge and send people to hell. Then he began telling me that it was not appropriate to have a spiritual conversation in front of his two children (1 and 4 years old). I pointed out that the Bible says to have the faith of these little children. At that he said something to the effect of, “I am not going to discuss my beliefs with a stranger.” Interestingly, we had already been talking about these things for 5-10 minutes. I handed him a tract, thanked him for his time and then left. Finally, I added him to the prayer list for salvation!

Statistics
Here are the updated statistics on reaching Carrollton for Christ.
Houses visited: 337
One on One conversations: 90
Prayer Requests: 56
Food items collected: 199

Well, that’s it for now. I hope these suggestions are helpful.

Last week I was in New York City on business for my company. I worked long hours for the company even including some business dinners into the evening. Since my hotel was a block off of Broadway and Times Square, I was able to spend time each evening doing some witnessing.

I brought a selection of various gospel tracts with me. All of the tracts were well received. The “10 Beers” tract was probably one of the favorites. Even a group of teenaged girls were able to name 10 beers – and half of the Ten Commandments. The “Why?” tract, Good Person Comic and Chicken and Egg tracts were also well received.

Sunday’s sermon was on the parable of the sower:

“A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” Matthew 13:3-9

As I walked around Times Square, it is evident that all of these types of soil are right there. Some people would not even receive a tract. Others would take it but not really have much interest beyond that. Others would take the tract and begin to read. Finally, I was really encouraged to throw seed on some “good soil.” On several occasions, after giving someone a tract, they asked what it was and I told them “a Gospel tract”, they said, “are you going to tell me about it?” Each of these occasions lead to very good witnessing conversations with the people that had asked the question.

This reminded me of Acts 8:30-31:

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The first time this occurred was on Monday night. I had arrived in NY and gotten settled into my hotel room. The next morning I was going to take the subway to one of my companies offices. So I decided to go find the subway station and make sure I knew the logistics of riding the subway. I grabbed a stack of Gospel tracts and headed out onto the streets. At first I was just walking, looking at all the lights and stuff. Then I stepped into the ESPN Zone where Monday night football was on about 50 screens! I headed over to the subway station and started handing out a few tracts on my way. After getting my bearings at the subway station, I was back out to Times Square to walk around. I handed out a few more tracts. Finally, there were two young men standing on the sidewalk talking. So I went up to them and handed them “Why?” tracts. They immediately started reading them. As I was about to walk away, one of them said, “aren’t you going to tell us about this?” So, I stopped and we had a good long conversation about the Law and the gospel. They both had some religious background, but neither really understood the gospel. They thanked me for my time and I encouraged them to repent and believe while they still had time.

I made it back to Times Square and looked down the street and saw the “Church of Scientology” building. Now, a little background. When I was in NY in August, I talked to a scientologist in Times Square who was handing out cards inviting people to their movie “dianetics”. However at that time, I did not know precisely where their “church’ was located. When I saw the building I prayed and decided to head that way. In front of the building were two men, one on each side. I assume they were security of some type. One of them had huge ear phones on and just ignored me as I walked by. The other was smoking a cigarette and just hanging out. So I walked up to him, handed him a tract and struck up a conversation with him. He claimed to be a trillion years old, had been reincarnated many times, lived on earth for 1500 years and on Venus before that. I pressed on through the Ten Commandments to show him he had sinned against our Holy God. I probably talked to him for 10-15 minutes. While I was talking with him, people were coming out of the church building. As they walked past, I was handing them Gospel tracts too! I pray those seeds all take root.

On another night I handed a ten beers tract to two young men. They named the ten beers. So I asked them if they could name the 10 Commandments. They named about half of them. We had a good conversation. They were receptive to the Word, but seemed like they were not ready to repent and trust Christ. I pray that they will.

As I continued back towards my hotel, I came by a theater that was just letting out from showing West Side Story. I stood on the sidewalk and handed tracts to everyone as they flowed by. One group was trying to take a picture of themselves outside of the theater. So I offered to take the picture. They were appreciative. They all got tracts after the picture and I shared the Gospel with them. They were from Israel.

Finally, I’d like to share one last story from New York. About a block from the theater I met a young man named Mike. Mike apparently was friends with the two men I had given the 10 beers tract too a few minutes earlier as one of them came up and started to help him answer the questions. Mike was receptive to hearing the Law and desired to hear the Gospel. I used a courtroom example to show him that time would not forgive his sin. Then I explained how he could go free from a theoretical courtroom if someone paid his fine. He agreed. Then I asked him how he would feel if someone had done that. “Grateful”, he said. So I said, “that is what Jesus has done for you on the cross. He paid a fine he didn’t owe, so that you don’t have to pay the fine you do owe.” He thanked me for taking the time to talk with him. I asked him to really consider what we have talked about and he said he would.

There were many more one on ones that I had with people. I’m not going to mention them all here. I go back to NY again October 19-23. So God willing, I’ll have more opportunities to sow seed on the streets of NY. Please pray that some lands on “good soil”!

Part 3
In the first two parts of this series we have seen the power that Gospel tracts can have in bringing people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. First, in Brady’s tract testimony, we heard a personal testimony of how the Gospel tract affected him personally. Then in the Frank Jenner story, we heard how people all around the world have come to Christ through the faithful efforts of one man.

This week, I’d like to turn our attention to what the world expects of Christians. A Christian believes that Jesus is the only way to heaven (John 14:6). If that is true, then all non-Christians are going to hell when they die. Right? And if that is true, then wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect Christians to tell others how to avoid going to hell?

The sermon version of the video Interview With an Atheist provides a convicting look at this argument. It is a mere four minutes. I hope you will watch it and then consider the question, “am I doing what the world expects of me when it comes to evangelism?”

If you’d like more detail, then I invite you to watch the full length version of this video.


If you are not already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club, why not enroll online today, receive 30 free Gospel tracts per month and start handing them out.

Would you like to share your faith but not know how? Are you afraid (like most others)? Then the Basic Evangelism Training Seminar is just for you. The next session is tomorrow night, October 15th in Pilot Point, TX. Please come join us. See the web site for complete details. Other sessions are planned for the remainder of 2009. We are also willing to talk about scheduling a seminar for your church or small group.

This is Part Two of the “As You Go” series. Last week we shared a video that gave Brady’s testimony and showed how the power of a Gospel tract message was able to trigger him to repent of his sin and trust in Christ. Some may question that this is an isolated case. However, it is not an isolated case. This week, we’d like to ask you to take eight minutes and watch the Frank Jenner video below. I don’t want to give away everything in the video. However, I think you will find it inspiring how one mans dedication to sharing the Gospel through tracts lead to so many people around the world being saved!

I hope that you, too, will see the power of the Gospel tract and consider what God could do through you if you were to start handing them out on a regular basis.

Question to consider: How many people will you meet this week that you could share a Gospel tract with?

If you are not already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club, why not enroll online today, receive 30 free Gospel tracts per month and start handing them out.

If you are already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club, please forward this message to a friend (or two or more) and encourage them to join you in handing out Gospel tracts each day!

Let me share a couple of ideas of how simple it can be to share the Gospel.

After Life Pens
With our After Life Catalog pens, you can simply leave a pen when you sign a bill, sign in at a doctors office or pay for your pizza. How many times do people (not us of course) walk off with the waitresses pen. So how about leaving one instead. We are just about out of After Life Catalog pens. We’ll be ordering more soon. So if you would like some let me know and we will get them out to you once we place the order. Or maybe you want to get your own Evangelism pens made! The After Life Catalog pen is the white one in the pen holder below. I signed in at the doctor, and then put the pen into their pen holder!

Booklet reading material for the Doctors office
Or what could be easier than this idea. Carry some booklet Gospel tracts. I like the Why Christianity and Scientific Facts in the Bible from Living Waters and the Gospel of John from International Bible Society. Now, while I was at the doctor, there was a stack of magazines. So I added a Scientific Facts in the Bible right to the stack. Look closely and you can see it in this picture.

I hope these simple ideas will help you share the Gospel “As You Go” (Matthew 28:19)!

It has been over a week since my last update. Due to some rain and a very busy schedule both personally and with some other ministry events, we have not been able to do any more door to door since the last update. I hope to cover some more houses on Saturday morning.

We did try another way to reach Carrollton for Christ by standing with a cross at the corner of Old Denton and George Bush on Monday evening. You can read about this in the Bezeugen Blog. As we continue to consider various ways to reach the city for Christ, it seems that this will be a good thing to include.

Your continued prayers for our door to door ministry and reaching Carrollton for Christ are appreciated.

In a previous blog entry, I described making a wooden cross. The cross stands 5.5 feet high and 42 inches wide. It is made out of 2×4’s and weighs 20 pounds.

First Time

This week, Duane and I took the cross out for the first (two) times. The first night we took the cross out we decided to stand by a busy intersection at rush hour. We arrived at the corner of George Bush Tollway and Old Denton Road in Carrollton, TX at about 6PM. We picked a spot on the North side of George Bush. At that point, Old Denton is three lanes each north bound and south bound. In addition there are turn lanes making the road even wider. In the center there is a grass median that is about 15 feet wide. About 100 feet up from the intersection there is a “Carrollton” sign.  That grassy median by the sign would serve as our place to stand with the cross. As this would also be a means to reach Carrollton for Christ. We parked the car at the Panda Express at that corner. We read 1 Corinthians 1:18 and following:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Then we prayed.

Since this whole thing was my idea, I went first. Finally, after two months of seeing pictures, videos and blog entries of Tony and the others stand with a cross, it was my turn to take up the cross. I must admit. I was nervous. And if Duane had not been there as encouragement and support, I might have just gone home. But it was predecied to do this. So I took the upright portion of the cross in one hand and the cross beam in the other and went to the cross walk. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the light to change to get the walk indicator. When the light finally changed, I crossed to the median and walked over towards the Carrollton sign. At that point, I stood up the upright piece and inserted the cross beam. I stood with the cross facing the north bound traffic. This was also a good spot for people to see it who were turning from George Bush via the turn lane onto the north bound side of Old Denton.

Lift High the Cross
I intiailly stood with the words “Repent” and “Believe” facing out. Standing behind the cross, I realized that how I was standing, I was blocking those from behind me from seeing the cross and reading the “AfterLifeCatalog.com” that is printed on the other side of the cross beam. At that point I decided to stand more to the side and hold the cross with one hand. That way both sides of the cross could be seen and read at the same time. As I stood at the corner, I had the lyrics to Lift High the Cross, going through my mind. I was reciting them over and over again and praying. So, I thought, how ironic. I am singing Lift High the Cross, while I stand holding the cross from falling over. So I lifted the cross up on my shoulder (see picture above) and held the bottom of it. With the cross in this position, both sides of the writting were easily visible to the cars.

Trading Places
After about 10-15 minutes, Duane and I switched places. I took over with the video camera, and he took the cross. We have most of the event captured on video that still needs to be editted and then posted online. As Duane was staning with the cross, I set a timer for two minutes and counted every car that I could see that passed by. There were roughly 110 cars passing by in two minutes. So figure ballpark is 50 per minute. I am not sure exactly how long we were there. We each held the cross for about 10-15 minutes. So somewhere between 25-30 minutes total. That means approximately 1250-1500 cars passed while we were standing there. Pray that these people heed the warning, visit the web site, hear the Gospel and most of all repent and believe the Gospel.

Reception
The obvious question is “what kind of reaction did standing on the corner with the cross have?” Overall, it was well received. Some people smiled, some waved and some gave a thumbs up. There were a few that shook their heads and laughed at us. I recall at least one car honked at us.

Day Two
The next night, Duane and I took the cross with us to The Shops at Legacy in Plano. We stood the cross against a light pole and then set up the box nearby so we could open air preach. Duane preached first. He preached a wonderful message that I call “this man” and gave attributes of “this man” and his impact on all of history. He then revealed that the man he was speaking of was none other than the God-Man, Jesus Christ. It was very moving. There was a steady stream of people walking by as he preached and read from the Bible. As people walked by, I handed out Gospel tracts and had a few short one on one conversations. On atheist had a violent reaction, tossing the tract back at me and saying, “it is because of him that I am an athiest.” I pointed out to her that Duane had no control over her willingness to acknowledge the evidence that God created the universe and her and that it was her choice to pick sin rather than the savior. She walked away. Others gave a thumbs up or smiled.

I went next. I read Acts 26 which was the Project Ezra suggested reading for the week. I then preached a Gospel message and made reference to the cross that was standing there several times. Then we called it a night and went home.

This is part one of what will probably be a twelve part series on witnessing how you go. After much prayer and consideration we decided to share a step by step approach to get out there and share the Gospel. Ultimately as this unfolds it will be seen that the steps do not even need to be followed in any particular order. We are merely putting them out there in a suggested order that makes sense.

The first question that comes to mind when handing out tracts or witnessing is “are Gospel tracts really effective.” In our studies we have found numerous people that have been saved through Gospel tracts. We’ve even heard of a man who found a Gospel tract in an outhouse, read it, repented of sin and became a believer in Jesus. He then confronted his wife who it turns out was a false convert. She eventually repented and trusted Jesus as her savior too! Now they are both out on the streets witnessing and sharing the Gospel with others.

I’d like to encourage you to take one minute and fifteen seconds and watch this video of Brady Brewer. I met Brady in May (2009). He shared with me that he was saved through a Gospel tract. Please watch and listen as he describes the impact of the Gospel tract in his life.

Now please consider. How many Brady’s will you come in contact with today, this week and this month? Could you hand them a Gospel tract or leave a tract someplace where they will find it? Can you give the Brady’s out there a chance at heaven?

If you are not already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club, why not enroll online today, receive 30 free Gospel tracts per month and start handing them out.

If you are already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club, please forward this message to a friend (or two or more) and encourage them to join you in handing out Gospel tracts each day!