Tract Evangelism Multiplies Your Eternal Investments (Acts 1:8)
As believers we know we are commanded to be His witnesses in our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the utter most parts of the earth. (Acts 1:8) When Jesus gave that command He recognized that all of us may not be able to physically go to all of the 24,000 people groups of the world, but we need to find a way to reach them where they are at.
As New Testament believers in America, about 2% of Christians are sharing their faith on a regular basis. Evangelistic tracts do not take the place of sharing our personal testimony but can be a valuable tool for being His witnesses in all four demographics of Acts 1:8.
First let us consider some of the advantage of uses evangelistic tracts:
1. EFFICIENCY - Tracts help you share Christ with people who you may not have time to explain the gospel in detail. Tracts allow you to say to a person in a grocery line or to a clerk:
"Did you get one of these." Rarely will a person not take the tract. This affords you an efficient way of being obedient to the Lord in sharing the gospel on a regular basis. Tracts allow you to share the gospel with many people who will then have a clear presentation of the way of salvation in their hand perhaps for the first or only time in the life.
2. BREADTH OF OUTREACH EXPANDED - Tracts allow you to share the gospel’s message with people who you may never meet personally. One church in Indiana offers free gospel tracts for anyone who will go to the web site and order them. These tracts can be sent around the world to many places and people who are yet to understand a clear explanation of the gospel. Go to the website and order 100 tracts today. www.fellowshiptractleague.com
3. SUCCESS - Success in witnessing is merely sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. When we pray and allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit we will see God do great things. Sowing the seed is our responsibility, but the giving of the fruit is God’s promised assurance. Jesus said, "The sower went out to sow the seed and some fell on the good soil and yielded 30, 60 and 100 fold." (Mark 4:1-22)
Illustration: Library: Economic Update
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A CRITICAL LOOK AT NET WORTH
For the week of January 19, 2004
By Tom Lipp
What is your net worth?
I hate this question. Expressions like this one can inadvertently diminish human dignity.
Every industry has its own lingo and jargon. Many terms are of no real consequence, but sometimes a particular expression can be misleading and even harmful.
In the financial planning industry, the term "net worth" is a prime example of a poor choice of words—which in this case is used to identify a person’s financial resources or net equity. This calculation is made when a person applies for credit or makes a non-guaranteed investment.
If you added all your assets (bank balances, cash on hand, value of home, car, furniture, RRSPs, investments) and then subtracted all your liabilities (mortgage, credit card balances, loans, personal lines of credit), this numeric total would be called your net worth.
For some, this can total hundreds of thousands or even billions of dollars. For others, their net worth may be zero or even a negative value. High net worth individuals are rich and low net worth people are poor.
The proper accounting expression for net worth is net equity. This is technically more accurate but not as commonly used.
Although net worth is widely recognized, my contention is that sloppy terminology leads to sloppy thinking. Have you ever considered, "What was Jesus’ net worth?" Using this measure, Jesus’ net worth was about zero. After all, at the time of His death, His only worldly assets were the clothes on His back.
But it’s ridiculous to say that Jesus was worth nothing. He changed the world more than anyone else in history. He purchased back from Satan the entire human race. Christians are redeemed by the blood of Christ, which is more precious than all the gold and silver (1 Peter 1:18-19).
There is no way whatsoever that the term "net worth" can be used to identify the worth of an individual.
Each one of us is priceless in the eyes of God, because He died for everyone, making each of us infinite in value. By saying John Smith is worth $50 million, while Peter Brown is worth $500, or even worse, has a negative net worth, we tie their dignity to their financial resources. How degrading!
People, created in the image of God almighty with an indestructible soul, should never have their worth equated to a commodity as mundane as mere money. I’m glad that God doesn’t think this way—not even for a split second.
If God does use a tool to measure a person’s worth, then it’s based on their attitude of humility and the attention they pay to the Bible.
Isaiah 66:2 reads, " ‘For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,’ declares the Lord. ‘But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.’ ”
An excellent example is found in Daniel 10:11, where Daniel is called a man of "high esteem" or "preciousness."
Let’s remember that the inherent worth of individuals is not measured by their earning power or by their assets. It is also not measured by their education or public influence. The true indicator of worth is their closeness to God. That’s why King George II of England once said that he feared the prayers of John Wesley more than the Spanish armada.
So if someone asks you what you are worth, say that you are priceless. Maybe we can slowly reform some sloppy thinking to break the line between personal dignity and financial resources.
In my practice I use the term "financial resources" rather than "net worth." I also like the slogan that a friend of mine, Bruce Koss, uses in his professional accounting practice—"Money matters, but people count."
4. EFFECTIVENESS - An evangelistic tract can be given to a person with graciousness, love and a smile that is often more effective than any other approach. Tracts allow you to be personal without being pushy. Many Americans are in a hurry, but the gospel tract is never impatient, grows tired and creates an opportunity where there may not be one previously.
Evangelistic tracts can work day and night. They can be read anywhere and anytime and by anybody who sees them. They never grow discouraged or get offended if they are abused or overlooked. They are never tempted to compromise the truth. They can be read over and over again to give full clarity of the message of the gospel to children and adults of all ages. Tracts can be a source of comfort that provides answers for problems that plague millions.
5. PLENTIFUL SOWING - Evangelistic tracts allow you to abundantly sow the seed of the gospel at very low price per tract.
Illustration: The Lord allowed me to help print and distribute more than two million gospel tracts in Nigeria that were used in helping to lead more than 500,000 people to Christ and start hundreds of churches.
One never knows where the seed of the gospel is going to bear fruit so it is our responsibility to sow the seed in all four soils that Jesus described in the sower and the seed parable of Mark 4:1-22. Paul wrote, "He who sows sparingly, we reap sparingly, but he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
Techniques for Using Evangelistic Tracts
1. PRAY - Ask the Lord to lead you in a way that your tract ministry can have the greatest effect. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. (Psa 127:1) Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matt 7:7)We have a great assurance from Jesus that as we ask, seek and knock the doors of many peoples’ homes, hearts and minds will be opened to the gospel. Unless we pray we cannot expect God to do all that He wants to with, through and to us in the tract ministry.
2. ELECT A LEADER - Ask the group to determine who would be the best leader for church, school or fellowship’s tract ministries. We always need someone to supervise, organize and motivate people to use tracts. Without someone who has a God given vision for using evangelistic tracts, this ministry will quickly be overlooked.
3. ENCOURAGE COMMITMENT - Encourage people to prayerfully commit themselves to distributing at least ten tracts per month. Start small and then as people build up their faith and confidence and skill they will begin to look to other fields that are ripe for harvesting.
4. CONDUCT EVANGELISM TRAINING - Set up short training sessions in how to share the gospel, but include the best ways to distribute tracts in leading people to saving faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Help people ask others the question:
"In your personal opinion, what does it take for a person to make it into heaven?"
Many people are afraid of witnessing because they have never been trained in the ABC’s of witnessing. According to Romans 10:9,10 there are three parts to sharing the gospel:
Admission - Admit that one has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Turn from our sin and acknowledge that we are lost without Christ and we need a Savior.
Believe - Trust Christ Jesus alone to be the substitutionary payment for the forgiveness of our sins. Respond to Him in saving faith by casting all of your sins, shortcomings and burdens upon Him to be your sin bearer and the one who can give you the gift of eternal life.
Confess - Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from sin, separation from God and hell by prayerfully and personally receiving Him as your Savior and Lord.
Pray - "Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I believe you died for my sins. Right now I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you for giving me the gift of eternal life right now."
5. ACQUIRE A TRACT RACK - Tract racks should be located at or near main entrances to the church, organizations or your fellowship. Attractive tract racks are available for churches to order. These are not sold by the Fellowship Tract League, but they will order them for churches at their cost. Please look up their phone number at the website www.fellowshiptractleague.com and they will order you that fits your size requirements.
6. SEND TRACTS OVERSEAS - Trust the Lord to help you sned many tracts to missionaries overseas. The fellowshiptractleague.com has evangelistic tracts in 68 languages. Representatives from the Fellowship Tract League often take "M-Bags" (mail bags) to be sent to missionaries, pastors and laymen overseas. The fellowship tract league fills these order but needs help with the postage (usually $20 for about 5,000 tracts) which is a real efficient way of sharing the gospel where it is needed most. Often the challenge of sending tracts overseas stimulates individuals to be more involved in sharing tracts here at home.
7. ENCLOSE TRACTS IN THE MAIL OR IN PUBLIC VIEW - Ask the Lord to give you the obedience to include a tract in the next bill that you pay. You can also leave tracts in telephone books or on counters where people will read magazines in a dental or medical office. You can also leave tracts in public rest rooms or in restaurants but be sure that you leave a tip as well. You can leave tracts on trains, planes or buses or public places where they people are looking for things to read. Tracts are effective in jails, some libraries, hospitals or in convalescent homes. Tracts can be found that are specifically geared for new parents or students of various ages.
8. HAND TRACTS OUT PERSONALLY - When sharing the gospel with another person simply say, "This might be of some interest to you." That usually triggers people curiosity as everyone likes to get something for free. Do not become discouraged if your tract is refused, dropped on the sidewalk or torn-up in your face. Satan often does everything in his power to dissuade people from sharing the gospel.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God so you can stand in the evil day. Gird your loins with truth and take up the shield of faith so you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Have your feet readied with the gospel of peace. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse, for vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay. "Do not be overcome evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:19-21)
9. BELIEVE GOD FOR GREAT RESULTS - Jesus said, "He who believes in Me the works that I do will he do also and greater works than these will he do because I go to the Father. And you can ask anything in my name and I will do it." (John 14:12,13)
Application: We are only limited by our faith and obedience. To whom is entrusted much, (as we American Christians certainly have been given much) much will be required. Know that by getting the gospel out to all four demographics through tracts that are reprinted in newspapers, magazines and even read on TV and radio, we will be honoring the Lord and obeying and trusting Him to bring in a great harvest of souls for His greater kingdom and glory’s sake.
Illustration: If one thousand people would each distribute just fifty tracts each week, in one year over 2,400,000 tracts would be distributed. If one person would be saved for every thousand tracts, 2,400 souls would be won to Christ in one year. Less than two minutes per day, per person, is required to distribute this many tracts.
Application: Evangelistic tracts can be order from dozens of places on the intenet. Go to google.com and write in evangelistic tracts and you will be directed to hundreds of great web sites.
Application: Tracts can create in interest in the Gospel and open doors of opportunity to lead thousands of people to Christ and to engage in pre-evangelism for hundreds of thousands. Our prayer and goal is to sow the seed so that more people can trust Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord and find eternal solutions to their problems. Jesus is the only one who can provide them with the way, the truth and the life that is eternal with God. (John 14:6)
Illustrations and quotes;
Evangelism Quotes and Illustrations
1. Paul Harvey said, "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium."
2. Paul Little in his book "How to Give Away Your Faith" defines witnessing: "Witnessing is that deep-seated conviction that the greatest favor I can do for others is to introduce them to Jesus Christ."
3. Elton Trueblood, the Quaker scholar, once compared evangelism to fire. Evangelism occurs, he said, when Christians are so ignited by their contact with Christ that they in turn set other fires. It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as fire that does not burn is a contradiction.
4. Evangelism is not what we tell people, unless what we tell is totally consistent with who we are. It is who we are that is going to make the difference. If we do not truly enjoy our faith, nobody is going to catch the fire of enjoyment from us. If our lives are not totally centered on Christ, we will not be Christ-bearers for others, no matter how pious our words. [Show and Tell, Citation: Madeleine L’Engle, quoted in Christian Reader (May/June 1998, p. 50)]
5. Recently, I saw a letter written by a relatively new Christian to the person whose life had influenced hers so greatly. She actually lists about a dozen qualities she found contagious in the life of this older Christian. Listen to some of what she wrote: You know when we met; I began to discover a new vulnerability, a warmth, and a lack of pretence that impressed me. I saw in you a thriving spirit - no signs of internal stagnation anywhere. I could tell you were a growing person and I liked that. I saw you had strong self-esteem, not based on the fluff of self-help books, but on something a whole lot deeper. I saw that you lived by convictions and priorities and not just by convenience, selfish pleasure, and financial gain. And I had never met anyone like that before. I felt a depth of love and concern as you listened to me and didn’t judge me. You tried to understand me, you sympathized and you celebrated with me, you demonstrated kindness and generosity - and not just to me, but to other people, as well. And you stood for something. You were willing to go against the grain of society and follow what you believed to be true, no matter what people said, and no matter how much it cost you. And for those reasons and a whole host of others, I found myself really wanting what you had. Now that I’ve become a Christian, I wanted to write to tell you I’m grateful beyond words for how you lived out your Christian life in front of me.
Basically, she was saying, "Thanks for being a Contagious Christian." Reading a letter like that motivates me to live as a contagious Christian too. How about you? I’ll bet you want your life to count for a whole lot more than trinkets and toys and zeros on a pay check, too. From: Becoming A Contagious Christian
6. Recently I heard Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, "wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble." Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, "critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive."
"There is a difference between knowing the good news and being the good news," Zander said. "We are the evidence! How we live our lives are the evidence. Everything counts--all the time."
"With previous generations, a strong preacher could give a good message, even if the church was hypocritical and critical and people would still get saved," Zander continued, "but not any more. I’m seeing a change in what seekers are looking for. Not something they can relate to. They are looking for a transcendent God. They don’t want to be entertained they want to be transformed."
7. There is something wrong when people are leaving the church to find God
8. "It is our privilege to have world evangelism as a passion, not our responsibility to have as a burden." Mary Nordstrom
9. Jim Wallis writes in The Call to Conversion (HarperCollins, 1992, p.
108) his testimony: "When I was a university student, I was unsuccessfully evangelized by almost every Christian group on campus. My basic response to their preaching was, "How can I believe when I look at the way the church lives?" They answered, "Don’t look at the church, look at Jesus." I now believe that statement is one of the saddest in the history of the church. ...People should be able to look at the way we live and begin to understand what the gospel is about."
10. "Our English word witness comes from an Old English word we do no use very much anymore but we used it in Elizabethan times and afterwards. It is the word wit. ’To wit’ means ’to know’ A ’wit’ is ’a knowledgeable person.’ So a ’witness’ of some who knows something and testifies to it."
11. A free flowing river purifies itself and is alive with life. So also is the Christian who becomes involved with others in sharing the Gospel. That Christian will discover the reason for his or her existence. Being involved in the ministry of a witness is essential to finding the fulfillment we desire as humans.
12. Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher of the 17th century conveys the urgency, the zeal of Christian witness when he said, "I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!"
13. Jesus issues the same call to all, but to different tasks. Someone put it rather quaintly: "to some, Christ calls ’leave boat and bay, and white-haired Zebedee.’" To some, the call is harder - "stay and mend the nets for me."
14. CT STUDD: "wealthy, nationally famous athlete put it all aside to disappear into the mission field: China, India, and then Africa. Lost from sight for 13 yrs without contact. WHY? ’Some people love to dwell near church with choir and steeple bell. But I want to run a rescue station a yard from the gates of hell.’"
15. Alexander Whyte said, " It would change your whole heart and life this very (day) if you would take Peter and Cornelius home with you and lay them both to heart. If you would take a four cornered napkin when you get home, and a.. Pen and ink and write the names of the nations, and the churches, and the denominations, and the congregations, and the ministers, and the public figures (men), and the private citizens, and the neighbors, and the fellow-worshippers - all the people you dislike, and despise and do not, cannot, and will not, love. Heap all their names into your unclean napkin, and then look up and say, ’Not so, Lord, I neither can speak well, nor think well, of these people. I cannot do it and I will not try. If your acted out and spake out all the evil things that are in your heart in some such way as that, you would thus get such a sight of yourselves that you would never forget it." [As quoted in (R. Kent Hughes. Acts: The Church Afire. Wheaton, ILL: Crossway Books, 1996) pp. 147-148]
16. Dr. Ellin Greene, of the University of Chicago, has said, "We get so quickly sidetracked from the simple story nature of our faith. We begin to think that theology saves us, that truth is somehow embodied in our theology of the Atonement, or our mastery of eschatological charts. But when Jesus wanted to communicate the truth of God’s kingdom, he left out the polysyllables and told a story about a woman who lost a coin or a man who dug for treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like this . he said. Dare we ask for more scholarly explanation from the Son of God?"
17. David Brainerd, the famous missionary to the American Indians, proclaimed this truth throughout his ministry. He said, "I never got away from Jesus and Him crucified in my preaching. I found that once these people were gripped by the great evangelical meaning of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, I did not have to give them many instructions about changing their behavior."
18. Howard Hendricks said, "In the midst of a generation screaming for answers, Christians are stuttering."
19. "Jesus . . . wants us to see that the neighbor next door or the people sitting next to us on a plane or in a classroom are not interruptions to our schedule. They are there by divine appointment. Jesus wants us to see their needs, their loneliness, their longings, and he wants to give us the courage to reach out to them" (REBECCA MANLEY PIPPERT, Draper’s).
20. "When it comes to community ministry, we finally put our program where our mouth is. Instead of expecting the community to come to church, we decided to take the church to the community." Mark Krenz
21. Michael S. Hamilton, Assistant Professor of History at Seattle Pacific University wrote, "In the 1930’s, most missionary agencies emphasized evangelism, church-planting, and discipleship. In 1998, however, four of the five largest overseas ministries specialized in relief, development, and education work. For many of these agencies, evangelism is a secondary concern."
Assembled by Paul Fritz
