Sunlin Hospital - Class 10 of 10 - last one...
Friday night we finished up our 10 week mission training course at Sunlin Hospital.
We started with the same "warm up ?" that I used in my classes this week:
Is Christianity based on "blind faith" or "logical reasoning"?
Of course, the answer is BOTH! "Blind faith" is more of a non-Christian way of looking at it though and as one of my students pointed out, perhaps "unseen faith" is a better way of describing it.
Verses highlighting that our faith is "unseen":
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)
"By faith, he saw Him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27)
"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)
"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" (Romans 8:24)
"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations." (Romans 4:18)
Verses highlighting that our faith is "logical":
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15)
"...the account of things handed down to us by those who from the first were EYE WITNESSES and servants of the word." (Luke 1:1-2)
"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were EYEWITNESSES of His majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)
"If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (1 Corinthians 15:32)
We looked at Isaiah 1:18-20 to see that God calls us "TO REASON with Him..."
To emphasis the logical side of our faith, we looked at FULFILLED PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS CHRIST:
PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS CHRIST
Prophecies given hundreds of years before Christ and fulfilled by Jesus in every detail prove the truth of His claims to be the Son of God. The chart below is a brief list of some of the prophecies made concerning the Christ and how Jesus fulfilled them.
TOPIC: Place of birth
PROPHECY: "But you Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2) 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea." (Matthew 2:1)
TOPIC: Virgin birth
PROPHECY: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son." (Isaiah 7:14, KJV), 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:18)
TOPIC: His triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem
PROPHECY: "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9), 500 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it..." (John 12:13-14)
TOPIC: Betrayed by a friend
PROPHECY: "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." (Psalm 41:9), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them." (Mark 14:10)
TOPIC: His rejection
PROPHECY: "He was despised and rejected by men...Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3), 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." (John 1:11)
TOPIC: Crucified with sinners
PROPHECY: "(He)...was numbered with the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12), 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left." (Matthew 27:38)
TOPIC:Hands and feet pierced
PROPHECY: "they have pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side." (John 20:27)
TOPIC: His resurrection
PROPHECY: "...you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." (Psalm 16:10), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead." (Acts 3:15)
TOPIC: His ascension
PROPHECY: "Thou hast ascended on high..." (Psalm 68:18, KJV), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "...he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight." (Acts 1:9)
Of course, most of these are well-known to all Christians, so we looked at the one prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus would be crucified (and they were encouraged to study the others at home.) The AMAZING thing about the Psalm 22:16 verse is that CRUCIFIXION would not come to exist until about 100 BC by the Romans. During Isaiah's time, those who were executed were done so through STONING. ONLY God could know such events HUNDREDS of years before they happen. You found NO SUCH foretelling (AND FULFILLING) of future events in the Koran or ANY other "religious books" other than the Bible!!!
Next, we discussed how to share our testimony to those we might meet on field. First, we looked at cultural differences and universal similarities which define us as people.
We started with the same "warm up ?" that I used in my classes this week:
Is Christianity based on "blind faith" or "logical reasoning"?
Of course, the answer is BOTH! "Blind faith" is more of a non-Christian way of looking at it though and as one of my students pointed out, perhaps "unseen faith" is a better way of describing it.
Verses highlighting that our faith is "unseen":
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)
"By faith, he saw Him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27)
"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)
"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" (Romans 8:24)
"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations." (Romans 4:18)
Verses highlighting that our faith is "logical":
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15)
"...the account of things handed down to us by those who from the first were EYE WITNESSES and servants of the word." (Luke 1:1-2)
"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were EYEWITNESSES of His majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)
"If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (1 Corinthians 15:32)
We looked at Isaiah 1:18-20 to see that God calls us "TO REASON with Him..."
To emphasis the logical side of our faith, we looked at FULFILLED PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS CHRIST:
PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS CHRIST
Prophecies given hundreds of years before Christ and fulfilled by Jesus in every detail prove the truth of His claims to be the Son of God. The chart below is a brief list of some of the prophecies made concerning the Christ and how Jesus fulfilled them.
TOPIC: Place of birth
PROPHECY: "But you Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2) 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea." (Matthew 2:1)
TOPIC: Virgin birth
PROPHECY: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son." (Isaiah 7:14, KJV), 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:18)
TOPIC: His triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem
PROPHECY: "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9), 500 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it..." (John 12:13-14)
TOPIC: Betrayed by a friend
PROPHECY: "Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." (Psalm 41:9), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them." (Mark 14:10)
TOPIC: His rejection
PROPHECY: "He was despised and rejected by men...Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3), 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." (John 1:11)
TOPIC: Crucified with sinners
PROPHECY: "(He)...was numbered with the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12), 700 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left." (Matthew 27:38)
TOPIC:Hands and feet pierced
PROPHECY: "they have pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side." (John 20:27)
TOPIC: His resurrection
PROPHECY: "...you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." (Psalm 16:10), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead." (Acts 3:15)
TOPIC: His ascension
PROPHECY: "Thou hast ascended on high..." (Psalm 68:18, KJV), 1000 B.C.
FULFILLMENT: "...he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight." (Acts 1:9)
Of course, most of these are well-known to all Christians, so we looked at the one prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus would be crucified (and they were encouraged to study the others at home.) The AMAZING thing about the Psalm 22:16 verse is that CRUCIFIXION would not come to exist until about 100 BC by the Romans. During Isaiah's time, those who were executed were done so through STONING. ONLY God could know such events HUNDREDS of years before they happen. You found NO SUCH foretelling (AND FULFILLING) of future events in the Koran or ANY other "religious books" other than the Bible!!!
Next, we discussed how to share our testimony to those we might meet on field. First, we looked at cultural differences and universal similarities which define us as people.
BEHAVIOR INVENTORY
Directions: Read each item and mark P if it is personal, U if it is universal, or C if it is cultural.
__ 1. Women eating separately from men
__ 2. Sleeping on a straw mat
__ 3. Sleeping regularly
__ 4. Liking Mel Gibson movies
__ 5. Considering a broken mirror to bring seven years of bad luck
__ 6. Being concerned about your child's illness
__ 7. Believing that your child's illness is caused by a hex
__ 8. Honoring your ancestors
__ 9. Tracing your family tree
__ 10. Speaking English
__ 11. Speaking English as a foreign language
__ 12. Desiring justice when you have been robbed
__ 13. Cutting off the hand of a thief
__ 14. Having conversations
__ 15. Laughing
__ 16. Laughing to hide embarrassment
(Used by permission of the International Mission Board, SBC.)
With these cultural differences and language problems in mind, we discussed these guidlines for sharing our testimony on the mission field:
SHARING YOUR TESTIMONY GUIDELINES
Please keep the following important guidelines in mind as you prepare to write and share your testimony:
1. Help your listeners concentrate on your message-keep gum, hats, sunglasses and other distractions out of the picture.
2. Introduce yourself-name, age, where you are from, etc.
3. To make translation easier, keep sentences short.
4. Avoid using slang or expressions that do not translate easily to other languages. (ex: "Butterflies in my stomach")
5. Aim for a length of about five minutes.
6. Try to memorize your testimony or share with a few notes rather than read off the page.
7. Tell of your relationship with Christ and the difference that He has made in your life. Include an example of what you used to be like and what changing influence Jesus has had on you.
8. Try to focus on a single spiritual truth you have learned, rather than giving a rambling story of your life.
9. It is good to use Scripture to illustrate and back up your testimony. "The Bible says..." is a good way to introduce this. Relate it to your own Christian experience.
10. Include something about the real power and presence of God in your life.
11. Avoid referring to material objects you may have had or have now-this often points out differences between you and your listeners and may make it harder for them to relate to you.
12. Emphasize your point in closing and then stop. Don't ramble-5 minutes max!
13. Remember that this is a testimony of what Jesus has done for you. This should show in your voice, actions and facial expressions-smile and make eye contact! (Avoid scuffing at the floor or putting your hands in your pockets or looking at your translator.)
14. Don't feel bad if you don't have a dramatic experience to tell. God is working in your life-share how. Many people need "common" testimonies to relate to their own "common" lives.
15. Trust God! He will work through what you share.
Tae-Kyun shared his experiences during the past 2 weeks in East Timor with us. (PRAISE GOD for his successful trip and safe return!!!) He felt that the Catholic people he shared his testimony with (and 4 spiritual laws!) did not take it well. I reminded him that God can stir up what he said and bring it to their minds later. We must continue to pray in faith that God is not willing that any should perish. We MUST remember that "God's word will not return to (Him) empty, but will accomplish what (He) desires!" (Isaiah 55:11)
"They overcame him (Satan-the accuser of our brothers...from verse 10) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." (Revelations 12:11)
posted by Andrew Brown at 9:35 PM
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