Sharing the Gospel with Muslims

You can share Jesus Christ with a Muslim. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. The meaning of the name Jesus Christ

Since Jesus Christ is mentioned in the Koran known as Isa Masih, ask him what does the name Isa Masih mean.

The meaning of a name is important.

Isa: What does his name mean?

3:45 (and remember) when the angels said: “ O Maryam! Verily, Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him, whose name is Isa Masih (Jesus Messiah), the son of Maryam, held in honor in this world and in the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to Allah.”

Surah Ambiyaa 21:91 “.. and she (Maryam) guarded her chastity, therefore We breathed into her of our Spirit and made her and her son a sign for all people.”

Isa Masih means Savior Messiah

Al-Masih means “the anointed or promised one”

For more explanation click and read this article al-Masih

Isa Kalimutaullah (The Word of Allah)

Isa Ruhullah (Isa the Spirit of Allah)

Isa is the Word (Kalim) and Spirit of Allah. He is savior. What did he save us from. The Injeel says:

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 1 Peter 3:18

2. Talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus

The Koran tells us that Isa Masih died and was raised to life

Surah al-Imran 3:55 Allah said:
“O Isa! I will cause you to die and raise you to Myself.

Surah Maryam 19:33 Isa says about himself:
Blessed was the day I died, and blessed was the day I was resurrected.”

What was Allah’s purpose in the death and resurrection of Isa?

Isa was not born in sin like you and me. He the is the only one who had no father except Adam. He was the second Adam. He lived a holy and blameless life.

It was Allah’s plan for Isa to be the sacrifice for our sins. Just as Ibrahim made a sacrifice so God cause Isa to die for your sins. It was Allah’s plan for Isa to die as your savior. That is the meaning of the name Isa. The meaning of Masih is the appointed one.

Isa is the appointed one of Allah to die as your savior.

Believe in Isa. Read how one man came to that discovery. 

3.       Have them read the Injeel (New Testament)

The Qur’an tells to read the before books.

Sura Al An’am, 6:115 Perfected is the Word of the Lord in truth and justice. There is nothing that can change His words. He is the knower.

Sura Al-Imran 3:48 And He (Allah) will teach him the Scripture and wisdom, and the Torah (Tawrat) and the Gospel (Injeel)

Give them a New Testament or full Bible and ask them to start reading the Torah and Injeel

Thoughts on Christian Persecution

The one who is persecuted is blessed
When a radical extremists broke into a Christian meeting the comment from the one who was beaten, taken away by his extremist captors by vehicle, had his valuables stolen, said he knew something incredible spiritually was about to happen.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Persecution is glorious?
I remember having said that suffering for Christ is glorious. But when I visited Gowda, a persecuted Christian in the hospital I remember thinking, “this is not glorious, this is hideous”. Then I began to think of the ultimate glory, the cross. It is also the ultimate hideous act. There is a paradox that while persecution and suffering for righteousness sake is glorious, it is not going to look that way. It looks very ugly, because in one sense it is ugly. Only a spiritual perspective will enable you to view persecution as glorious.

1 Peter 4:12-14 12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Persecution backfires
One radical extremist boasted, there will be no Christians worshiping on my watch. He died of a massive heart failure about forty-eight hours of his public statement. There was murmuring through the whole community that God avenged him for his persecution of Christians.
When Dinesh was persecuted for his faith a group of extremists stole his money, roughed him up and broke into his house, burned his Bibles and tracts in the road. They kept his important documents like graduation certificates and told them they would be returned if he re-converted to Hinduism. Many people were praying for Dinesh.

Later his persecutors brought by his documents apologized for all they had wrongly done to him and asked him to pray for them. They said that since the group of twelve persecutors did all the wrong to him there had been a string of misfortunes including road accidents, illnesses and family problems. They concluded that God had judged them for the wrong they did and they would have problems until they asked Dinesh to pray to God for them. It does not always happen this way but we do know it is not a good outlook for the persecutors.

Jeremiah 20:11 NIV But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.

Those become our best partners
I mentioned visiting Gowda in the hospital. The ironic thing is that Gowda had 15 years before been behind Christian persecution that put a man in that same hospital. The persector had become the persecuted. That is what happened to the Apostle Paul. This man who so persecuted the church was beaten, stoned and imprisoned for his faith. Those who were radical extremists against Christ often become the radical extremists for Christ. They didn’t drift into their faith in Christ and they live with passion and become our best partners for the sake of the gospel. Think about that the next time one of your ministry partners is beaten for the sake of Christ. The one who beat him my soon become your best partner in the ministry. Pray for those who persecute you.

Acts 9:3-6 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Prepare to respond rightly
When I became aware that a friend of mine was persecuted I became angry. That is the natural response. We become like Peter who struck the guard who came to arrest Jesus. But Jesus told him to put away his sword. Our call is to love our enemies and pray for those who would persecute us. We need to be prepared. To be walking in the Spirit to respond rightly when persecution comes.

2 Timothy 3:12 (New International Version)
12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

John 15:18-20
18″If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

God Bless You!

Tribal Church Planting Movement in India

Read about an exciting movement of God among tribals in Middle India.

 This describes a Church Planting Movement in Middle India  

 

click here to read Tribal CPM

Tribal CPM cover

Status of Global Evangelization

Red dots represent populations less than 2% evangelical with no known church planting within the past two years.

What do you see when you look at the red on this map?

Romans 15:20  It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. (NIV)

This map is published annually by the IMB, SBC    www.imb.org

Mumbai Ministry

                                       

You will find a great feature on Mumbai ministry at go2southasia 

View a multimedia presentation about Mumbai at http://www.commissionstories.com/?p=141).

Find other great articles here

http://www.go2southasia.org/slumdog.html

Please see these articles about Mumbai ministry:

http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=30667

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=30660

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=30659

Vedic Bridge Bengali

Download printable version at    Bengali Vedic Bridge 

 

 

 

Download printable version at Bengali Vedic Bridge 

Vedic Bridge French Version

                                                                                           

Here is a free download of The Vedic Bridge Gospel tract for Hindus in French language.

 

Click here for Vedic Bridge French Version 

 

for other versions Hindi, Englsih click here:  Click

Evangehand

The hand represents God and the thumb is You.

 God made you to be in fellowship with him. God’s purpose for you is relationship with you.

 

Adam and Eve experienced this relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. Because of only one sin the relationship with God was broken. 

 

God tells us that a sacrifice is required to restore the relationship that was broken between us and Him. 

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

Not only Adam and Eve, but the Bible says each of of has commited  sin that seperates us from God.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the golory of God. (Romans 3:23)

The wages of sin is death  (Romans 6:23)

God loves us so much that He came to us.

Jesus Christ born in a humble manger came to provide the sacrifice that was required of us.  Jesus Christ came lived a perfect sinless life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin. 

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,  (1 Peter 3:18)  God tells us that if you believe that Jesus and ask God that his death on the cross count for our sins, then our relationship with God will be restored. We will be back into God’s hand. 

The punishment that was for us was inflicted upon Jesus. 

God has already provided the sacrifice that is necessary to bring you back into His hand. 

If you refuse the sacrifice then your bad works remain between you and God. 

You are unable to do enough good things to overcome that barrier.  If you die in this position you will be cut off from God’s protection forever. 

We cannot do good works to retore our broken relationship with God.  

 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

 

If we are in God’s hand we will remain there, protected and safe forever. 

 John 10:28  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

  

When you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord you have assurance of eternal life.

 

1 John 5:12 He who has the son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  

 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

 

 

1 John 1:9 NIV

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Evangehand downoad engish pdf      Evangehand ASAP

Evangehand Kannada PDF        kannada evangehand    kannada evangehand

 

Ends of the Earth: Free Prayer Resource

Get Free Resource

There are hundreds of millions of people in South Asia living and dying with no access to the Gospel. These are the Ends of the Earth people groups. Learn more about specific Ends of the Earth people groups and how you can pray for them each month with our Ends of the Earth 2009 calendar.

Each month has a tear-off bookmark. The bookmark will remind you to pray for that people group and will give you specific prayer requests.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you shall be my wintesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria and to the Ends of the Earth.

Click for resource

John Clough Apostle to the Telugu

 

 

John Everett Clough was born in New York July 16, 1836, Died November 24, 1910.

John Clough went to India with his wife Harriet Clough in 1864. He established the Baptist Mission in Ongole.

John Clough baptizes 2,222 in one day in Ongole in the Gundlakamma River which was of the Madras Presidency, July 1878 and 9,000 within six weeks. This happened after many non-productive years, when only a few people favored continuing the “Lone Star Mission” in South India.

The American Baptists began work among the then neglected Telugu in 1840 in Nellore. The first believer was baptized in 1841 and a church organized in 1844. Fruitless years followed and in 1846 and later in 1855 the Nellore mission was in danger of being closed.

A speech by the corresponding secretary and a poem on the “Lone Star Mission” turned the scale and the mission continued. Again in 1862 comparative non-success of the mission put the mission in jeopardy.

One missionary Dr. Lyman Jewett said, “You can give up the Telugu mission, but I will never abandon the Telugus. I will go back to India and die there.” After this one of the secretaries said, “well brother, if you return to die in India, we must send somebody to give you Christian burial.” The mission was continued, but some felt continuing was unwise.

At first John Clough worked with the high caste Brahmins. If outcasts were received the work with the Brahmins would be finished. Clough did not hesitate long to work among the Madigas. While turning the matter over in his mind, he opened a new copy of the Telugu New Testament and his eyes fell on the verse, 1 Corinthians 1:26 “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many are wise after flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.”

Dr. Clough made great advances in 1878 following a famine, and Clough took a contract for a portion of one of the canals that were dug. He gave employment to thousands of Telugus who may have otherwise starved. This practical demonstration won the hearts of the Telugus.

Clough’s Tomb reads: Be Still and Know that I am the Lord.

John Clough was known as: “The Apostle to the Telugu.”

References:

Click to read:  Understanding Church Growth  by Donald McGavran, C. Peter Wagner Page 10-12

Click to read:  Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions by Gerald H. Anderson

Jayaraj, Franklynn. Moses of 19th Century John Everett Clough Published by Centre for Contemporary Christianity. India, 2006

Clough, J. E. Social Christianity in the Orient To Read on-line click here    Macmillan Company 1914