sharing the gospel

Simple Steps to Share Your Faith with Muslims

Hormoz Shariat Uncategorized, Lives Transformed , , , , ,

In last week’s post, I encouraged you not only to participate in what God is doing to transform Iran but also to share—with love—Reaching-Mosques-Clergythe truth of the Gospel with Muslims in your neighborhoods and cities.
Yes, I know that some of you feel shy since you have never done this before. Many of you want to know how to share the Gospel confidently without being rude.  

There are many ways to share the Gospel. A simple way is to remember that the Gospel is good news. (That’s what the Greek word for evangelize means: “proclaiming good news”!)

  1. Receive God’s heart for them. One powerful weapon we have that is non-existent in Islam is our true Love. I mean the agape type of Love that we can receive only from God. But many of us either are fearful of Muslims or are indifferent—both these conditions result from not having God’s heart for people trapped in Islam. So first pray and say, “God please give me your heart for the Muslims. I know you love them. Fill my heart with your heart and my mind with your teaching.” As you begin to talk with Muslims and get to know them, approach them with love. They sense true love and are touched by it. Be hospitable, friendly, and welcoming.
  2. Look for “bad news” in their lives and give them the Good News exactly where they are experiencing the bad news. Of course, I am not talking about the “prosperity” or “feel good” Gospel. I am talking about the power of the Gospel to truly transform lives, not just make circumstances better or easier.
  3. Be confident about the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. When you see somebody struggling with personal issues (such as anger, addiction, despair) or family issues (trouble with a spouse, children, or other family members), have confidence in the Gospel and say, “I know something that I am totally confident can transform you, your situation, and your family. It all depends on whether you want it or not.”
  4. Make a simple invitation. When they show interest, tell them, “Jesus came to save you not just from this problem but from this miserable life, from this world, and even from yourself. Wait! I am not talking about a religion. I am not talking about you joining our church nor becoming a religious person. Jesus did not come to give you a religion, but to love you and save you. If you are ready to be saved by being changed, Jesus is more than ready. He is ready now. You can experience a new life even now. He will transform your life.”

If you find yourself becoming tongue-tied, remember that you do not have to explain all of Christianity in one session; you merely need do as Jesus did: invite these persons to follow Jesus in all that He has done and said. Invite them to seek and know Him.

Jesus calls us to love. The best way to do that is to be bold and invite people to know the Author of Love.

A few years ago, a survey of 100 converts from Islam asked about the major factor in their conversion. Eighty-five of the 100 people responded that the overwhelming factor that sparked their interest was “the love of Christians toward them.”

My friends, many Christians in Iran risk persecution, torture, and jail time every day for the privilege of sharing the Author of Love with their family, friends, and strangers. In sharing Love, they are transformed by Love. Won’t you find the courage to do the same?

And please pray for our ministry, that God will reach many hearts through us every day with His truth and love.

Lessons from the Persecuted Church: Do You Value Your Freedom?

Hormoz Shariat The Persecuted Church , , , ,
This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series Lessons from the Persecuted Church

In the past several weeks, I have shared lessons of gratitude from the persecuted church: The persecuted church is thankful for the Gospel and knows its power—so they share it with others, often at great risk to themselves. The persecuted church is thankful and desperate for Jesus’s presence—so they seek Him daily, they love what He loves, and they obey His commands.

This third lesson in this series is about having gratitude for something the persecuted church has very little of: freedom.

We are free in the West. Many of us use that freedom to indulge ourselves in a self-centered life seeking pleasure, comfort, and entertainment.fake_worship But we are called to be different. We are called to be in this world but not of the world (John 17:14–18). Unfortunately, we Christians have become “one of them,” and living as “one of them” has become so normal for us that we do not even recognize it.

We are so used to our freedom that we no longer value it. We take it for granted, assuming incorrectly that the whole world is “just like us.”

We must know that much of the world does not enjoy our freedom. In addition to dictatorships in China (1.4 billion people), Russia (143 million), and North Korea (25 million), most of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims live under the bondage of Islamic regimes and the dark spirit of Islam.

We have over 2 million brothers and sisters in Iran. Most of them have come to Christ in the past 10 years. Yet 98 percent of them have never Vector illustration of a man lock up in prisonbeen to a church of any kind (neither building churches nor house
churches) even once. They do not have freedom. They do not have our resources. Yet they are living for Jesus. They are sharing the Gospel despite the high price of persecution (losing jobs, arrest, torture, jail time).

They desperately need our support. We must stand with them and help them transform Iran into a Christian nation. They are ready to live and die for Jesus, but they need our help.

What should we do? First we must change our mind about Muslims:

  1. We must decide to love people who are Muslims. “God so loved the world…” (John 3:16). God loves Muslims. Therefore, we must love them. If we hate Muslims or fear them, we are not loving them and we are clearly out of sync with God’s heart that loves them.
  2. We must see Muslims as victims and not as terrorists. Almost all Islamic people are Muslims not because they choose it, but because they are born into a Muslim family.

They are captives. They have all the characteristics of a captive: they have no choice, they are forced to stay in captivity and do the will of their captors, and they will be shot in the back if they walk away.

We must have compassion for Muslims. Millions of Muslims are recognizing that they are in captivity and are asking, “Is there a savior?” and “Does anybody care?”

  1. We must seek God’s plan for Muslims. The world does not have an answer to Islam advancing in Europe and America. Islam is not just a religion but a political system as well, and western governments do not know how to counter this. Islam demands more than the religious goal of converting the world to Islam. It also has political and militaristic goals. By Allah’s command in Quran, Muslims are to take over the political system of the world—by force if needed.

The world does not have a workable plan, but the Lord does.

If we ask God, “What is your plan for saving Muslims?” I am sure He will not be shocked or unnerved with that question. On the contrary, He will show us His plan for saving Muslim, and He will open our eyes to see what He is doing to make that happen.

I can imagine that after explaining His plans and what He is doing, He will confront us by asking, “Will you join me? Will you have my heart and mind for Muslims? Will you obey my commandment to go?”

America is the wealthiest and most powerful country in the history of the world. We must use our freedom and power to do God’s will and not to pursue a narcissistic life style. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48, NIV). According to the Bible, one thing is clear, one day we shall stand before the Lord and give an account of the resources and the freedom He has given us in the U.S. (Rom. 14:12; 2 Cor. 5:10).

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Gal. 5:13, NIV).

We live in a free and wealthy country. Let us use our freedom and wealth to do His will. Let us ask Him where He is working and invest our God-given resources to advance His Kingdom.

Christians spend 98 percent of their income on themselves. American Christians spend 95 percent of offerings on home-based ministry, 4.5 percent on cross-cultural efforts in already reached people groups, and .5 percent to reach the unreached. We can do better. Let us start today.

 

Related Articles:

Lessons from the Persecuted Church: Are You Ashamed of the Gospel?

Lessons from the Persecuted Church: Do You Take Jesus for Granted?

About Missions: Statistics

Are You Ashamed of the Gospel?

Hormoz Shariat The Persecuted Church , , , , ,
This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series Lessons from the Persecuted Church

Lessons of Gratitude from the Persecuted Church

As we transition from Thanksgiving to preparing for Christmas, the birth of our Savior, let us ponder about the great things God has given us that sometimes we take for granted.romans-1-16

It is just at this time of tradition and comfort and abundance—even overabundance—that we in the West should ask ourselves:

Am I thankful for my salvation? Am I sure?

People who are thankful share their gratitude with others. When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone?

We hear the Gospel so often in the West that we have gradually forgotten its true meaning and power. We are so familiar with it that it fails to move us anymore. We take the Gospel for granted.

Does this shock or surprise you?

When I, as a student at the University of Southern California, began comparing Christianity and Islam, I had many questions. The more I compared, the more questions I had because I came to realize that both couldn’t be true. Then when I heard the simple message of the Gospel, it changed my life dramatically.

The Gospel has power.

The simple Gospel has three simple truths:

1) God created you, and He loves you.

2) He is perfect, but you are not. To reach Him, you must be perfect because He is perfect. You can never be perfect; therefore, you can never reach Him on your own.

3) Because He loves you, He did for you what you could not do for yourself. That is what Love does. You could not reach Him so He reached out to you. He came on earth to meet you and save you.

It’s that simple.

In the persecuted church, we see how this simple Gospel has the power to transform individuals, families, and even societies and nations. We see drug addicts being set free; hopeless, desperate people at the verge of suicide change into persons with joy and love for others. They discover not just a reason to live but find a mission to live for: to love God and to share this life-changing Gospel with others.

The apostle Paul also endured beatings and imprisonment, death threats, and even martyrdom. He travelled far and wide to share the simple truth of God’s gift of salvation. Yes, he saw God’s power transforming lives! So on his third missionary journey, Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16, ESV).

In the West, if we are honest, most of us are ashamed of the Gospel. We may not call it “ashamed,” but we are shy about it. And if we are shy and ashamed of the message we have to share, why would God show us its power? We must be confident that the Gospel is THE ANSWER to personal, family, and society problems. I am not saying we must be rude, but we must be bold.

If you are thankful for your salvation, show it by sharing the Gospel with love and humility—but also with confidence—during this Christmas season.

Over the next few weeks, I want to share with you more lessons of gratitude we can learn from the persecuted church—from the people who must live their faith on the front lines of spiritual battle.

In the meantime, give thanks for the Gospel and pray for the persecuted church everywhere, especially in Iran.