DiG Bible Memorization Challenge for October

Here's the challenge for October guys. I figured I'd give you a head start in case you finished the one for September. Make sure you let us know how you are doing in the comments! I know 14 verses is a lot but it is called a challenge after all! Good luck!

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 (New International Version)

³¹But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Wild Donkey of a Man

Yes I realize that the title of this blog article is strange. You can thank my Fox News app on my iPhone for this one. I generally stay clear of the news but the story about the upcoming Kuran burning engineered by Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach in Florida caught my eye. This is not appropriate behavior at all. It's not loving, kind, caring, or anything else Jesus would have us be towards the Muslim people. It's in no way an outreach either. Maybe Rev. Jones would consider renaming his organization to the Dove World Instigating Center or Dove World Chest Pokers. It drives me crazy when people do stuff like this because our website has outreach in it and now we can easily be tied in with this Christian version of extremists. It's not like I approve of the Ground Zero Mosque or that I think the Kuran is God's Word or anything like that but we do have freedom of religion here, something not afforded by Muslim countries. I don't think burning the Kuran will make Islam go away. I also do not think this will increase violence towards Americans like President Obama and others hold to. Why? Because of the title of this article. These guys don't really need a reason to be hostile towards us, they just are because God said they would be. For those that don't know Ishmael, Abraham's son via a maidservant, is where Islam has it's roots and Genesis 16:11-12 tells us what would come out of Ishmael. The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." The bottom line is you can do away with the Kuran, the book of Mormon, the Jehovah's Witness version of what they call the Bible and people will just make up something else to follow. Idolatry will always rear it's ugly head. So with all that said, instead of trashing the Kuran lets pray for Muslim people this week. Pray that they would come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. I'm gonna leave you with some scripture and some tips when witnessing to Muslims.

The first thing to note is that Muslims believe in the Old Testament. That makes it easy to relate to them through the 10 commandments. Unfortunately, they see the need for repentance and God's forgiveness but think they can attain it and stand before a Holy God on there own merit through works. So if the Law doesn't make them tremble, you will need some more scripture in your holster. Get them to soundly say that they believe at least Genesis to be true. At that point show them Genesis 17:19-21 where it says:

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."

And Genesis 21:12-13

But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

Why are these important? Because in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3 it is clearly shown that Jesus(his fully man side) came from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through both Mary and Joseph's side. What that means is that Jesus fulfilled what God said when it was told that through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.

Now that's all fine and dandy but now you will run into the issue that Muslims believe in Jesus, or Isa in the Kuran, but not who He says He is. They believe He was just a prophet like Moses or Muhammad. Familiarize yourself with scriptures that show Jesus' Deity and places He accepted worship etc. Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58 is a great example of Jesus claiming to be the I Am. Also show them John 8:24. It says, I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." Reason with them that if Jesus was in fact who He claimed, God in Human flesh, that no other prophet would need to follow Him. Talk to them about how the Old Testament speaks of a New Testament in Jeremiah 31 but the New Testament says the opposite and that we are NOT to add to or take away from it. They may try to tell you that John 14:26 is Jesus predicting Muhammad but it is the Holy Spirit Jesus is referring to which did come as predicted on the day of Pentecost. One other hurdle with Jesus is they don't believe He died and rose again. Muslims say He was just taken by God. Instruct them that there were over 500 witnesses to the Resurrected Christ. The Resurrection is what sets our faith apart. I've gone so far as to let my friend know that he can go to Medina and see Muhammad. Jesus left an empty tomb, defeating death!

Remember that you are just to share the Gospel and that when witnessing to Muslims, you are dealing with people who's faith is not only strong but very, very well versed. We said earlier that Muslim people think that they can stand on there own before God. Let them know that God had always required blood sacrifice throughout the Old Testament(which they believe in) and that Hebrews 9:22 says, In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. This can lead you into Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, both of which predict the suffering of Messiah.

I hope this is helpful to you guys. This is all from witnessing to one Muslim friend over a period of several months. You may not know any Muslim people but if you are to run into one who is peaceful and friendly as they claim, you should be equipped. These are the Muslims that this article applies to. If you see a red and white checkered headband and an RPG, you might want to slip the Tract back in your pocket. I wouldn't blame ya, I'd have a fear of man then too. But I've found that a reasonable, friendly conversation can happen between a Muslim and Christian. If you have questions, email me at virgil@digoutreach.com

DiG Bible Memorization Challenge for September

Alright, on the heels of my previous post we are going to challenge/encourage our faithful readers to commit scripture to memory. Every month we will pick a block of scripture for you and your families to memorize. Thirty days should provide ample time to commit these verses to memory and to store God's Word in our hearts. For September our passage will be John 1:1-14. Make sure you post comments to let us know how you are doing!

John 1:1-14 (New International Version)

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

⁶There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. ⁸He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent,nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Airplane Encounter

So I get to travel again for work, this time to an undisclosed location.  Had my tracts ready for the airport, passed some out, one to a security officer and had a great conversation with him and another to the clerk running the shop where I bought my water and twizzlers.  Both of them appreciated the brief conversations and were not offended and thanked me for the tracts!

Next was the airplane a small plane 2 seats on each side, I had the window seat, seated next to me was a woman named Donna, I think she said she was 60 years old.  We made some small talk and were getting along.  Then we got into the air, once airborne I planned on sharing Christ with her.  I was a little nervous but than I just dived in, I gave her a Ten Commandment coin and asked her if she could name any of them, she said yes and then I asked her if she feels she has kept them and she said, "mostly."  I asked if I could ask her a few questions and she said yes, I went through the Law with her, and she agreed to lying, stealing and using Gods name as a curse word.  She also agreed she would be guilty if judged by Gods standards but she didn't believe in Hell.  She said she didn't believe in God or the Bible and that doesn't affect her.  I told her that her disbelief in reality doesn't change the fact she has to stand before God someday.  I told her the Bible says man is appointed to die once and then be judged, she again said if you believe that, and went on to talk about her son-in-law and how he was on his Bible box with her before too.  She said he tried talking to her before too.  I could tell she kinda wanted to end the conversation but I continued talking with her, I asked her how she thought the world came into existence, she said it didn't matter to her.  I pressed about Evolution and what she thought and discussed some hard evidence that Evolution is a mere theory and nothing more, she understood that I think while questioned some of my answers at the same time with a level of interest.  Donna told me she believed Eastern Arts and used to be a Methodist but just couldn't believe everything, the Bible and God said so she quit. I talked to her about that and some of my previous beliefs like iChing and Tarot Cards and other things I did at one time in my life before I was soundly saved.  I shared my testimony with her and what God has done for me.  I talked about the Bible a little more and than she said there you go again with the Bible, can't you use anything else than the Bible?  We discussed Creation more and Science more and I went on to tell her that the Bible is Supernatural and discuss prophecies that have been fulfilled and told her to research Messianc Prophecies like Psalm 22 and later parts of Isaiah, she wrote that down.  We went on to talk about contradictions in the Bible, she said there was one about homosexuals as they are not mentioned in the Bible and wrongfully accused for practicing, I remembered I Corinthians 6:9-10 when I grabbed my iPhone and went to my Bible and started finding the verses and showed her the word homosexuals, she grabbed her pen again and asked for the verse.  Man was I thankful I remembered the scripture verses.  She almost seemed to buy into what I was talking about after seeing some scripture to back some of what I was saying and I think she appreciated that I was having a friendly conversation with her about my beliefs and that I had answers.  I wasn't yelling at her or condeming her, just providing facts.  I went back and brought up death again this time she seemed to have a little more concern, at least it seemed she did.  We talked about how we never know when you will die and that is why it is so important, she spoke of a loved one in Cleveland Clinic having a bypass as we flew and questioned her eternity if things didn't go well and figured she would wait until she was there.  Again I reminded her that she may not live that long, none of us can know when we will die.

My plane ride went by really fast, even though it was a short flight, I felt very confident speaking with her about many things, Evolution, Salvation, Creation, The Law, Death, Authenticity of the Bible, Heaven and Hell and different Religions.  She gave back the Ten Commandment Coin and I pressed her to keep but she said no, when I then said well maybe you'll take one of these get out of Hell FREE cards; she looked at it and said yes.  She asked what else to look up, I mentioned a few other things, pointed out the back of the tract card had scripture and a Gospel presentation and then told her to check out our site digoutreach and she asked what DiG was and I explanied that and gave her my email address.  I told her to email me any questions she might have.  She wrote a lot down and I believe is going to research what she wrote down.  I told her to do her own homework and research with a clear mind.

Please take a minute to pray for Donna, I do not think our meeting was by chance, pray that God would reveal Himself to her and that her eyes would be opened and that God would give her a fleshy heart and remove the Stone heart she has.  I am so thankful for this opportunity to have such a great conversation and pray Donna comes to true repentance and trusts in the Savior.

Brothers and Sisters please be encouraged by this and remember what Virgil said in a previous post, store up Gods Word in your mind, as you never know when you will need to recall it and help demonstrate Gods Word and its Authnticity.