CAN THE
WOODEN INDIAN HEAR THE GOSPEL?
Psalm
119:18 “Open my eyes to see the wonderful things in your word.”
Scripture: Romans
10:13-17
Some More Bible Facts
– KeyNote on Screen
ONE
BIBLE /
Two Testaments / 66 Books
OLD
TESTAMENT
LAW HISTORY WRITINGS PROPHETS
Gen-Deut Josh-Esther Job- SoS Isaiah-Malachi
NEW TESTAMENT
OSPEL HISTORY LETTERS PROPHECY
Matt-John Acts Rom-Jude Revelation
Over 40 writers: kings and
peasants, doctors and fishermen, princes and herdsmen, poets and laborers, rich
and poor, educated and illiterate.
Written over a period of
1600 years.
2,930 characters -
people /
1,151 places – locations.
STUDY TIPS: Who is speaking in the text? Who are they speaking to?
What is the
context/setting? Why are they
speaking/writing?
Is there an application
for you today?
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Joel 2:27-32 Then
you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there
is no other; never again will my people be shamed. And afterward, I will pour
out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old
men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, will
pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the
earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will
be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.) 14
EVERYONE (no one is left out at this
point) But there is a requirement on the
recipients part: Everyone who CALLS.
What does it mean to call? It
means to take the initiative – to move toward God – to call out to him (Bob
Laurent calling out in the river)
Essential to realize
who you are calling – GOD Creator who brought you into existence and therefore
loves you with a deep abiding passion. Not calling on generic God but calling
him by name JESUS CHRIST the one who took the penalty for your sin by dying a
horrific death nailed to a wooden cross, sealed in a stone tomb, whom God
raised form the dead and 40 days later he ascended to heaven waiting the day
till he comes again to bring his people home for ever.
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how
can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written,
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" 16
But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord,
who has believed our message?" 17 Consequently,
faith
comes from hearing the message, and
the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Are you the preacher
it here refers to? VIDEO: Witnessola
Are you the preacher it here refers
to? Do you know the scriptures well
enough to teach them to someone else. To share them at a moment’s notice. What if you and a friend go horseback riding
because the friend loves to do that? Can
you read to them Job
39:19-25 "Do
you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you
make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength,
and charges into the fray. He laughs at
fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along
with the flashing spear and lance. In
frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the
trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!' He catches the
scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
And
from here comment that this description of a mighty horse is like my savoir
Jesus, when they beat him and whipped him and paraded him through the streets,
he went to the cross catching the scent of the battle in my soul between sin
and righteousness and he went fearlessly to fight on my behalf and yours so
that the death penalty we deserved he was willing to take on in our place,
running the race with all his might even as the lance pierced his side.
If
not you church then who? You don’t have
to know everything today but you need to grow in your knowledge everyday so God
can call you up as a preaching when he needs you to help someone else hear the
message and respond by faith – just like you did.
Teleperson System
Someone
has said that the Gospel in the first century was carried by a good system. It
was called the teleperson system, and it truly got results, better than we do
today with our televisions, email and cell phones, facebook and twitter. The
woman of Samaria, after her meeting with Jesus at the well, carried the Gospel by
the teleperson system. It is said that “many of the Samaritans…believed on Him
for the saying of the woman.” (John 4:39)
The teleperson system is the best Public Relation tool we have during
this time of Post Resurrection.
Speaking To Wooden Indian
A
woman in a mid-Western town some years ago took an unusual method of testifying
to her faith in Christ. Her friends for the most part were lukewarm and
indifferent. Surface Christians’ one might call them. One day she knew they
would be passing by, so she stood before a wooden Indian in front of a cigar
store and spoke to the Indian about Christ. When her friends ridiculed her for
creating such a scene, she gave this defense: “I would rather be a real
Christian and talk about Christ to a wooden Indian, than be a wooden Christian
who never talked about Jesus to anyone.”
CAN THE
WOODEN INDIAN HEAR THE GOSPEL?
No – we are responsible for speaking the word of God not
making the person or object hear, though the statue can’t hear, maybe a
passerby will.
