As we lay down our own plans and yield completely to Him day by day, the Scriptures promise that we will receive power from on high to be witnesses "to the end of the earth." - Steve Munsey
Get ready to go to a new level of walking more deeply with Him. Spirit to spirit, deep to deep, and let Him refresh you now with His rain knowing that He who made and formed you will establish you in your destiny and calling! -- Keith Miller
I resolved that I would succeed better this year with filling every minute full of the thought of God than I succeeded last year. - Frank Laubach
A friend grows in favor by embracing a life of obedience, motivated by passion for Him and Him alone. - Bill Johnson
Knowing how He views us in Christ will strengthen the inner man and demolish satan's strongholds. - Mike Bickle
It was not the ministry that made life worthwhile. It was my journey of watching the faithfulness of God all my days. - Corrie ten Boom
If you do not know that life is war, you will not know what prayer is for. In the Christian life, life is war, a spiritual battle that happens to us from the day we are born to the day we die. - John Piper
First: Where in the world is Asia? Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Easternand
northern hemispheres. It covers 9.6% of the Earth’s total surface
area. Asia has approximately 4 billion people. 60% of the world's
population. The 20th century saw Asia's population nearly quadrupled.
Second: Who lives there? Many
Westerners hold beliefs that stereotype Asians. They think of
Asians as being a single group of people. They imagine that
all Asians have the same cultural background, behavioural
characteristics, and religious beliefs. This is far from the truth.
There are many, rather than few , religions practised by this group
commonly identified as Asians. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism,
Buddhist exist and and some thrive in the Asian cultures. Lumping
people together under one label is the type of prejudice causes the
Asians to reinforce their prejudgment of us. These preconceived ideas
will spill over to the message you are trying to deliver. If you have
not done your homework and you do not know the heritage of the person
you are attempting to share the Gospel with ; the results may not be
what you anticipated. 2 Timothy 2:15 (The Message)
14-18Repeat
these basic essentials over and over to God's people. Warn them before
God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just
wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.
Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words,
you know. If they're not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as
poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples, throwing
believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the
resurrection is over and done with. What does this mean for my mission? All
cultures, including Asian cultures operate with varied traditions
and as a rule, they are tight knit. In the last century or even in
the last 50 years, If one member of an culture married out of their
culture into another, they were treated as outcasts by both cultures.
This was true in the United States as well as Asia. This type of mutual
distrust and the instinct for preservation of ones’ one culture is
not as wide spread or as strong as it once was. Today, those cultural
barriers are starting to vanish. In today's’ modern times, Asians
derive their heritage not from being Asian, but from being a
descendants of a particular culture.
There
has been a central belief system of one sort or another in Asia
throughout history. Buddhism has been at one time or another been the
central belief system of many, if not most Asian countries.
Buddhism is very tolerant toward other beliefs. The overriding
characteristic of Buddhism is that it is quite successful in
merging with the established religions of various Asian societies.
In contrast to this, Islam, which is growing in popularity, does not
hold the same tolerance towards other religious systems. Many
of the older generation Asian population were very devoted to what
ever faith and beliefs they were taught as children. This older
generation in turn, trained their children to be strict in the faith
and practice that was passed to them from their parents and grand
parents.. With
that being said, Not quite all of that generation were devoted with
the same intensity. Some were only nominal in their faith and
practice. These are the ones who would attended services for only
weddings and funerals. These are those who had no other interest in
any religion. This is one of the reasons that led their children to
leave the influence of their parents and accept and embrace the
Christian faith. There was no substance or satisfaction in an empty
faith passed down from the previous generation.
Knowledge for effective witnessing If
you want to witness to these or any people , equip yourself with
some basic knowledge of the faith heirtiage in which the person you
are dealing with grew up in. Without some basic knowledge, you may
present your faith in an unacceptable manner. Academic credentials are
no guarantee of clarity in communication. Be led by the Holy spirit.
Be aware that the person you are witnessing to has an history and does
not exist in isolation. Address the person in the situation that they
are in. Dealing with strangers When
witnessing to strangers, or people you do not know well, develop a
friendship with them first. It is always necessary, especially dealing
with Asian cultures, to build trust through friendship. Friendship, as a
rule, comes first before effective evangelism. Friendship must be
included in one of the necessary steps in accomplishing your task of
witnessing. . Another step you must take in your mission to spread the
Good New of Christ, is to realize that Asians are a diverse population
and the more your arm yourself with knowledge of this diversity the
better use you will be. You do not witness to a Jehovah witness in the
same way as you approach a Mormon. You do not approach Buddhism in
the same way you do Islam. All these different belief systems have
preconceived ideas about your faith, you you are going to have to render
these ideas ineffective. You also have some preconceived ideas about
their faith. Friendship is so very important because it makes the other person see you as more than some one knocking on their door.
One
step to take, on your part, is to become sensitive to the Asian
diverse background. Become more informed about the history and culture
of group you are dealing with. Avoid offending out of ignorance. Try to
get some measure of "cultural competence" know what is appropriate and
inappropriate behaviour and speech . Ignorance of this can cause
great harm in interpersonal relationships. Another step is to find
similar interests. Shared interests are a great ice breaker and a good
foundation for developing an honest and sincere friendship. Pay
attention to the thought process of a potential friend. Lead by example
to develop an honest and sincere friendship. One of the first things is
to show your self as an honest and sincere friend, one who can be
trusted.
Ask yourself: What are the cultural differences that make you different from them? How
are they different from their neighbors? these are powerful
influences. This will help in avoid misunderstandings and resentment
that can surface WHILE you try to develop friendship.
Do
you know that Asian culture has a special place for doing and
accepting favours? Any favours that are done for any reason, any gifts
given will compel the recipient to reciprocate. If you invite an
Asian to dinner, they will want you to come to their home for a meal;
if you help them paint their kitchen, they will want to mow your yard,
forever. If you give them some sort of gift of any kind and for what
ever the event expect to receive one for some occasion, no matter how
Minor. if you help them do their garden they will be over inside a week
to do any minor chore they can. they are not just being polite; they
feel indebted to you. This is something they do not want to feel.
they do not want to feel indebted to anyone, period. There are many
Asian Americans who are just like Asian Asian in this regard. If
you want to develop a friendship with people from this culture, go out
of your way and do something for them, and keep doing things for them.
They will be your friends for life.
Does this sound like underhanded influence ?
What is you motivation in these transaction? If you motives are less
than worthy, you will be found out and the whole deal will be failure.
People are not stupid. Once they realize that you are doing these
things only to make Christians they will not only despise you, but
Christ as well.
If
you sincerely want to become friends, be first. Be first giving the
invite. Give first, take the first step, and do first. They are very
shy and shyness is a part of their culture. They prefer to stand back
and see what you do first. If you treat them right they will warm up to
you with open arms A
mother, attending the marriage of her son to as Asian gil who had
several sisters, wrote in her diary that all the girls were intelligent,
outgoing but very shy. But the shyness did not interfer with
acceptance.
Asians
place great value in avoiding shame and guilt. Shame and guilt are
human qualities natural to all people. Shame and guilt are feelings
of embarrassment, blame and responsibility for negative circumstances that have befallen yourself or others.
Because of this,
shame plays an prominent role in affecting interactions of people
that have Asian background. Shame, more so than the emotion of guilt.
Guilt is the feeling of responsibility for negative circumstances that
have befallen yourself or others Asians are group oriented. This group consciousness exists in contrast to people of the west who admire individualism. In
any situtation that comes up thatt comes up in the family, the first
consideration is given to the outward appearnce of the family group. How
does the family appear in these circustances? I know a lady who
became a Christian but her husband remained a Buddhist. More yet, she
does not attend church because of what her mother will think. This is
group orientated culture. She makes decisions and behaves according to
what her family group feels is shameful or not shameful. Her parents
thought such a decision would bring shame to their family They thought
that becoming a Christian would bring a split to the family unit. The Asian you are dealing with may want you to take the extra step in being sensitive to the family unit. Face saving (or saving face) refers to maintaining a good self image. I
have seen parents of teenaged childern turn on the porch light for
one of the childern out on a date to return. But as the houe becomes
very very late, one of the family will go and shut off that light
because they do not want the neighbors to kknow that the child has not
returned at an eariler hour.
People
who are involved in a conflict and secretly know they are wrong will
often not admit that they are wrong because they don’t want to admit
they made a mistake. They therefore continue the conflict, just to avoid
the embarrassment of looking bad. one way to avoid this problem is
to allow one’s opponents to make concessions gracefully, without having
to admit that they made a mistake or backed down. Often a simple change
in wording, or an exchange of concessions will help negotiators
maintain a positive image, even when they are actually giving in very
substantially.
theological difficulties while sharing the gospel. Understand
who you are dealing with. This will involve some thought, study, and
reflection on your part. They are different from you. They are
different from your neighbors in your neighborhood. You are in their
neighborhood, and not the opposite. Your understanding of this fact
will help to build a bridge between you. Once the bridge is built,
friendship can develop. Then you will have gained insights concerning
your effective presentation of the gospel to them you will discover
for yourself that Asian culture is built around the Group, not the
individual. Shame is more important than guilt. Shame has more
affect on the Asian than guilt. In this culture, one does not
lightly bring disgrace to ones family. It is not the private sin that
brings disgrace, but the public sin. Public sin is shameful. After
understanding this concept then you will begin to understand why the
cross is viewed as shameful and hard to accept its true meaning. At
first it is not seen as a act of love. It becomes a public sin. They
do not understand how we can worship the act they consider shameful and
bringing disgrace.
The
thought of Jesus on the cross is unthinkable and a weakness in
their eyes. This act of god cannot be understood correctly against this
background. You must bring these people to see that Christ is a
living God who conquered death and who died in this way because of His
great love for people.
This
is the downside to the concept of protecting the family name, of
repaying favors, of not being in debt to any one; People of this
rational may have difficulty in accepting Christianity, because
Christianity teaches salvation is a free gift from God . This gift
is given to those who believe in, have faith in, who are yielded
their lives to Jesus Christ. On one hand, you are introducing them to a
gift from God and then you are telling them they cannot do anything in
return to merit it This is hard to believe. The
doctrine of grace is an huge stumbling block in experiencing the
Christian faith. The doctrine of grace means "unmerited favour". You
cannot earn grace.. It is a gift. You don't deserve it but God wants you
to have it because He loves you. All you have to do is receive it. In a
nutshell the doctrine of grace is based on the fact that Jesus Christ
went to the cross to pay for your sin so that you could have eternal
life with Jesus in heaven.
Ephesians 2:8 (The Message)
7-10Now
God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the
next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving
is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let
him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the
major role.
If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole
thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making
and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the
work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we
had better be doing.
Those
who are raised in the Asian cultural cannot easily understand a
faith that leaves out any effort to achieve God’s grace. They
fail to see how this will have an ethical effort on their lives. They
also see many who claim to be Christian and yet, see no piratical
effect on their lives. They see no fruit. No fruit, no value, no
need. What they or anyone who is to come to saving faith, must see
God’s great love for them. They must see what He did for them, not
what they can do for Him. They must see that they can be made capable
of being fully restored to that image through faith in His Son.
Galatians 5:11 (The Message)
11-12As
for the rumour that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I
did in those per-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still
be persecuted, then? If
I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I
mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn't
matter one way or the other. Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
This
was written to a complex culture in Asia Minor. How else will people
see Jesus for who He is? They will see it all when they think of the
cross.
It
is your job to Present your message of the Gospel so that they see the
Love of God in all this. Your presentation must show God’s love for
them. Your actions and message must make them see that love is
working in ones life. The Love of God is our motivation. It must be
shown to who you are bearing witness to that your motivation does not
come from an attitude of earning His love, but demonstrating His love to
them and to the world.
we should not, and we cannot be ashamed of the cross. As Paul said, some will certainly stumble over it
Luke 12:8-9 (The Message)
8-9"Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God's angels. But if you pretend you don't know me, do you think I'll defend you before God's angels?
Your Personal Testimony. Your
personal testimony comes from your experience with the Holy Spirit, in
your life and in your setting. It is not theory. It is not theology.
It is something that grew from your reality from your contact with the
God of the universe. Actually when you search the Bible you will notice
that there is a lack of recorded “personal testimony” mainly because
the New Testament is a series of collected letters. In each letter,
several issues are discussed and remedies for certain situation. These
sort of communication do not lend themselves well for the recording of
some ones’ personal testimony. The
personal testimony has become such an integral part of evangelistic
training that it is assumed to be described and mandated in the
Bible. The
closest records of a personal testimony that was written down was
from Paul when he wrote about his former life. “I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung” (Phil. 3:8) Or as the message puts it:
Philippians 3:8 (The Message)
7-9The
very credentials these people are waving around as something special,
I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything
else I used to take credit for. And why? Because
of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are
gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ
Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for
me is insignificant—dog dung.
I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be
embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of
righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get
the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.
This
is a type of personal l testimony. Reading it closely and in context,
it is about how Jesus changed Paul’s life. This testimony is found in
the same context where Paul compares himself to Evil workers.
Philippians 3:2 (The Message)
2-6Steer
clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no
bite. All they're interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers,
I call them.
The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at
this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it. We
couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though
we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know
my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an
Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent
to God's law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to
the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything
set down in God's law Book.
In this context Paul was illustrating for believers the contrast between himself and those who were preaching false doctrine. This is what we would cal argued that the church in Paul’s time would put a label on this as “evangelism.”
There
was no testimony how Jesus had changed his life. There was nothing
concerning feelings. . The people he was writing to and appealing to,
saw and heard for themselves what happened as an historical fact.
Personal
testimony is a form of evidence, and a changed life can make a deep
impression on others, especially those who want their own lives
to change. Personal testimony that comes from experience is sensed by
the hearer as authentic and believable.
We
need to be familiar with the factual basis for our faith in order to
“be ready always to give an answer” to any person who asks
1 Peter 3:15 (The Message)
13-18If
with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped?
Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the
opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master.
Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way
you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience
before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick.
They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath. It's
better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be
punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered
because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He
went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to
God.
A basic familiarity with fundamental apologetic s is essential and makes us extremely useful to the Holy Spirit. Apologetic is
the discipline of defending your religious position through the
systematic use of reason. Those who wrote a defence of their faith
against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists. Christian
apologetic is a field of Christian theology that presents a rational
basis for the Christian faith Become more fimiliar with you basis and
foundation of thought that supports your thinking.
Personal testimonies must stem from personal experience Do not
delievey a lecture on theology. . Appealing to the miracles of Jesus as
evidence will sometimes invite yawns. Your personal experience will
not invite such a reaction. Often a discussion of theology will end up
as being dismissed as fabrication of primitive minds. Most modern
thought holds that science has proven that miracles are impossible.
your witness to them must come from personal experience, or else you do
not know what you are talking about. addressing the philosophical
premises of naturalism is many times a trap used by the devil. After
you have explained and demonstrated that personal contact with the
Living God is possible and desirable and life changing, theory
discussion may come later. Remember, no one is ever argued into the
kingdom. We are not here to argue. For every argument or theory you can
being up, no matter how good they are the opposition can bring
contradictions to cast doubt on your point of view.
You
are going to be faced with Rampant cynicism, ignorance, and scepticism.
This is a difficult task to counter unless you are led by the Holy
Spirit. Believers who can communicate the basis for their faith can be
far more convincing and make a far greater impression with their
personal testimony. It must bee along with personal testimony, not
instead of it.. Paul, in fact, advised the Thessalonians to “prove all
things”
1 Thessalonians 5:21 (The Message)
19-22Don't suppress the Spirit, and don't stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don't be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what's good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.
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