Ambassadors for Christ

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
(2 Corinthians 5:20)

We are instruments for His will, tools in His hands.

We didn’t work in our own strength but always asked for power from He who saved us to do His good will. Before going door-to-door to talk to our neighbors each Saturday morning we gathered in prayer asking the Father to make us His excellent representatives.

As His ambassadors we were always respectful to everyone we met, and we sincerely communicated God’s message of love through Jesus.

As His ambassadors we were only interested in doing his work through His spirit and always prayed for the Spirit to move in the lives of those we met.

As His ambassadors we were never ashamed of the gospel, but spoke BOLDLY. We knew we couldn’t “talk” anyone into the kingdom, but always depend on His spirit to do His work. We are merely the clay vessels that carry the Word to a dying generation.

Copyright 2012 Paul W Rutherford

God Seekers and the Evil One

Influenced and Drawn Away by the Enemy

Refer to Ephesians 6:12 ff to see who our real enemy is.

As we walked through the neighborhoods around the church building we discovered there were many God seekers out there, looking for someone to show them the way to the Father–to heaven. And we know that the way is only through Jesus. As He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” John 14:6. And as believers we know it is only His blood that continues to wash away our sins. In the book of Acts we learn that we must be baptised for salvation…and that baptism is for the remission of sin.
Nothing complicated. Really!

Insideous ways Satan draws them away…
In the Introduction I mentioned how we had seen the parable of the soils played-out before our eyes: It seems Satan uses nice people to accomplish his own goals. For example, one of our neighbors initially wanted to study to find eternal life, but on a later visit changed his mind after talking to “Christian” co-workers. Insistence on baptism was just too much for them, and they had convinced him.

It seems true that “if Satan can’t keep you from the cross, he will push you past the cross,” creating confusions through damaging and divergent ideas.
God’s message is simple, but many seekers can’t grasp the simplicity of it because they don’t listen to His word.

Yes, sometimes they are drawn away by ideas that might seem reasonable but are not true according to the Bible, by which we stand: “sola scriptura”.
So what does God’s word say about these matters? …Isn’t this where we should be looking for the Truth?…Not listening to what mere men have to say?

Sadly, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Truth to be heard against the cacophony of voices in today’s culture, making things easier for The Adversary and calling us to work harder to carry the Word to lost souls.

Copyright 2012 Paul W Rutherford

Encountering Members

Three Years of Saturdays…
Encountering Members Along the Way

Some of our most enjoyable visits turned out to be when we encountered our own members!

As we went from house to house through the neighborhoods around our church building we occassionally ran into our own members; and there were many. Some were surprised to see us at their own doorstep, others were quite pleased to see our congregation actually out working in the community. Most everyone said they themselves wanted to participate in the visitations, but had something else to do on Saturday mornings (or were not physically able to get out).

These chance encounters gave us an opportunity to visit with and encourage our brothers and sisters in a non-worship environment–in their own homes.

Priceless. And heart warming to all those involved.

Some of the brothers and sisters we encountered were members of other congregations and they were very encouraged to see the work of the church being done “person-to-person.” After all, we should ALL be about strong personal relationships, with God and with each other (read I John 3:11)…”This is the teaching you have heard from the beginning: We must love one another.” …For God is love.

God bless the many church members, young and old alike, who participated in this good work.

Copyright 2011 Paul W. Rutherford

Faiths and language

Encountering many different faiths and cultures in our own neighborhood:

Jewish
Buddhist
Hindu
LDS
Muslim/Islamic
Ancestor worshipers

…and others were seen.
All these were challenged during the conversations with our neighbors because all are lost without the blood of Jesus.

Many are misled by the various calls to follow th gods of this world or the creeds of mere men.
(More later in the “God seekers” article)

Some say we must go to distant places to reach the lost, and we should– as scripture commands. But we can also reach the lost of many cultures right across the street, literally!

Our first hurdle was to get into a conversation at all, since many of our neighbors thought we were Jehova’s Witnesses –so they didn’t want to get into any discussion. Curiously, after a few years of these Saturday talks about the need for salvation, some common themes have appeared. It seems the people of certain faith groups seemed to respond in similar ways to God’s plea.

Those of the Jewish faith:
Some did not want to talk or come to the door on a Saturday…during their Sabbath observance. (Of course they might not have been at home.) We received a tongue lashing from one Jewish lady… While I knew there was a limit to the distance Jewish believers could travel on the Sabbath, a trip to the door isn’t that far. But I didn’t expect to hear a lecture on disturbing the peace! (This was our first day going out to visit our neighbors.) Nevertheless, we were very respectful and listened intently with only a few comments sprinkled-in to defend our position for talking to our neighbors. Consequently we were very careful to watch for the Mezuzah attached to door posts! However, other Jewish believers were more open to a discussion about their salvation and engaged us gladly, though with no apparent action on their part.

Asian traditional faiths:
Communicating in a way that our neighbors could understand went way beyond getting to a common spoken language. Basic religeous and theological terminology had to be established because our normal “Jesus speak” was like a totally foreign language for many. For these lost souls, a completely different approach is needed.

Hindu neighbors:
Always very respectful to listen, but never could really come around to believing in a single God or a Godhead over all other gods. But knowing of their own respect for other beliefs, I frequently challenged them to personally investigate Jesus’ own truth-claims shown in the books we gave them. –Very effective in planting seeds. Follow up is needed.

Muslim neighbors:
These neighbors were very upset that we would sully the name of God by associating Him with a human, “Jesus.” (This in spite of the fact that Jesus proved that he is God.) So, speaking of Jesus in any devine terms was counter productive, even though it is true with lots of evidence as we showed them in the books we gave them. (details in a previous article)

Catholic neighbors:
Most of the Catholic neighbors, not all, wouldn’t even talk or receive our material. One of these dear neighbors was visibly upset that we were freely giving out salvation material. (Sadly, probably the source of the police complaint I described in a previous article.)

This is only a peek into the variety of interactions and responses we experienced as we went out on Saturdays to visit with our neighbors.
More info in future articles.

God bless all who care about the many lost souls in our community.

Copyright 2011 Paul W Rutherford

God’s Holy Word

The Bible–God’s Holy Word

Of the many reactions we saw as we talked to our neighbors, the most meaningful was when we offered our neighbors the B-i-b-l-e. Many had never owned or even held a Bible! One lady was so thankful she didn’t know how to thank us enough. She just didn’t have the words. Another begged for more so she could share with her family. Fantastic, and incredible! These folks knew the real value of the book. It is the Word of God and contains the secret to eternal life through Jesus. We are meerely the “jars of clay” that carry that message. (2 Cor 4:7)

But some would not accept our gift. They acted as if it was “poison” to them, saying if they did take it they would immediately throw it in the trash bin. No amount of discussion would change their minds! (And there was a lot of discussion.)

Sometimes we spent a half-hour to an hour at some doorsteps; describing, explaining and showing the Truth contained within it, and pairing with it a “self-guided study for salvation” developed by John Hendry for this ERV Bible. Occasionally we had the privilege to sit with our neighbors in their homes as we presented God’s love written in the Book of books while we became friends. (see previous articles for more details)

Copyright 2011 Paul W Rutherford

Books–Putting a Gift in Their Hands

Telling vs Giving: Giving Something is Better

Holding something in their own hands as a gift is important. The fact that we wanted them to have something of value to keep and expected nothing in return truly made an impression. Some were speachless that we would give them something of value with no “strings” attached. …But they didn’t understand our underlying motivation. We were not doing this for ourselves but to introduce them to our Savior. (Planting seeds)

Hand delivering a book about salvation without “hammering” the reader or “bible thumping” was worth the time and money spent. Allowing them to read The Agony and The Glory on their own timetable was a good idea. Most said they would read it! That was priceless. Now more help is needed to follow up with these neighbors.

Yes, we gave them a nice gift bag of books, worship info and a self-study guide to the scriptures along with an ERV Bible, but we gave them much more… We showed them where to find real Hope!

Copyright 2011 Paul W Rutherford

Police-part 2

Why was it a great end to a great day? Because we are beginning to have an effect. You see, when you are going against the grain of the world you will experience push back. Praise God we got push back. Come and ask me or Matthew Lewis if you want the details.

It turns out if you really press someone on what they believe they will call the police or in some other way try to stop you. Sadly that prevents others in the neighborhood from hearing the Good News. It seems someone we talked to that morning didn’t want to hear it and perhaps wanted their neighbors to be “spared” from hearing it. As you can see, Satan works in very insidious ways. More on this later in article #9-God Seekers and the Enemy.

Copyright 2011 Paul W Rutherford