Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Ordering tracts

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:  it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10,11.

I would like to caution you about what to order when ordering tracts.  I prefer to find ministries that don't sell their tracts.  That doesn't mean you should order them and not be willing to send a fair offering.  The fellowship tract league boasts on their website that they never refuse to send tracts because someone can't pay and they go on to tell you what it costs to make each tract which gives you an idea of an offering to send that is fair.  Another thing I like about the ftl ministry is that their website allows you to look at each tract and read it before you order.  This is something you should always do.  I have ordered tracts from ministries that once I received them and read them, I didn't want to pass them out because I didn't feel it portrayed the gospel as I understand it to be correct.  For instance, I like to order tracts from Liberty Gospel. They are a Baptist ministry and have some great no frills or flashy print tracts.  I love calling them when I order because they always have some sweet little older sister in Christ who answers the phone and is just old world gospel hearted.    They have one tract that preaches about why its a sin to have drums in the music service at church and they have another tract about how you shouldn't sing or play the new praise and worship music that most churches have adopted and have canned the old gospel hymns.  I prefer the old hymns myself and it bums me out that I can't find a church in my area that still sings them.  I also don't agree that God loves pianos but hates drums and I don't think its a topic we need to lay on someone who is in need of a Saviour.  Another time I wanted to witness to Jehovah's witnesses and I was going to order a tract that sounded like something no JW could deny.  First I got a JW New world translation bible and looked that verse this tract used and they had completely deleted most of that verse.  My King James Bible used all of that verse.  So I started researching commentaries on that verse and found that it is a very controvercial verse and that almost all Biblical scholars agree that the end of that verse was originally in a side note of the greek manuscript and not in the actual manuscript.  You need to do some research and if you have questions about certain tracts, don't be afraid to ask your Pastor or someone you feel really studies the word in depth, what their take on it is. 
Actually, I should have mentioned this fact first, PRAY ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU EVEN START LOOKING.  The Holy Spirit will guide you into the truth and direct you to what He wants you to use.  A tract that I don't think is gangbusters might be what God wants you to have and distribute.  God knows where you are going to distribute those tracts and so He knows what will reach those people's hearts.
Most ministries, even the ones that sell tracts, will send you a sample pack, for free.  This gives you the chance to look them over and pray about them.
I have recently been getting tracts from living waters ministry.  They aren't free although if you get their weekly newsletter via email, they will send you weekly deals.  Although this ministry sells their tracts, I still buy them because they have really interesting, eye catching tracts that people can't resist reading when they get one.  They also have a lot of freebies that they will send you links to if you contact them.  Also, this ministry is doing more for promoting the Gospel than any church I've been to in years and if you are serious about learning how to witness, you need to sign up for their weekly newsletter.  Some Christians will tell you that Ray Comfort is preaching a saved by works gospel.  But personally, I think that the ones that are trashing Ray have some issues of their own they should be praying about.  Research their ministry and see what they offer in promoting the Gospel and pray about it.  I love the way this brother approaches people on the street and leads them into a conversation about Christ and I watch the little street witnessing video clips every week so that I can try to perfect his method.  I've seen this brother engage white supremist atheists who are radical when they start talking, into a conversation, and completely calm that man down and lead him into a senseable conversation about the plan of Salvation. I've seen him talk to hardcore pro-choice advocates and by the end of the conversation, they are pro-life. We can all learn from this brother.  Please don't get me wrong, I'm not pushing Living Waters Ministry and trying to get anyone to be a follower of Ray Comfort, so don't delete this blog from your favorites.  My soul intentions with this blog are to show you ways that you can share the gospel.  That is why prayer is so important when ordering tracts.  We need to listen to God and not others who can always tell you what's wrong with another ministry and why you shouldn't have anything to do with it.  You might be missing a real blessing that God wants you to receive.
One more thing, pray about how many tracts you should order at first.  Getting ten tracts that you actually send out or give to others does more good than a thousand tracts that sit in your closet or the trunk of your car.  Set a goal even if it's as little as leaving one tract somewhere a day.  God will bless you for it, but be real with yourself.
So I hope this gives you some pointers on getting started with your tract ministry.  I will be totally blessed to hear from you on how you are doing and remember, you can always contact me and request tracts.  I will send you a sample pack of what I like to use and you pray about it and if you need more, let me know.  They will be free of charge even if I paid for them, the Lord provides.  Till next week!

Brother Bill

Below are some more links and please feel free to check out my other blog,
The life and adventures of a Yosemite river rat

Contact me by email at waworld@yahoo.com

Tract ministries:
Fellowship tract league

Living Waters

Liberty Gospel Tracts





Fearfully reaching out

I hear Christians all the time talk about how we are in the end times.  I believe that.  When I talk to them about it a little more, I always get the sense that they are truly looking forward to the second coming but they don't seem to have any burden for souls.  I can say the same about myself, I'm about as chicken as any of the rest of the Christians when it comes to sharing the gospel, but I do pass out tracts.  One of the reasons I never succeeded in the sales jobs I've had is because I hate rejection, I don't want to be disliked and God has to generally chain me to His flaming chariot and drag me over to someone to motivate me to share with someone about Christ.  But I do have a burden for souls.  I go to my knees at times, begging God for more boldness to do the job that Christ gave me.  So many times I have been like a fireman standing outside a burning building just watching innocent confused people walk into the burning flames and never trying to prevent it.  If we take scripture word for word and believe in hell, and we have the promise of deliverence and can tell anyone else so they can be delivered too, we should want to. 
Tracts are a great way to do that.  With the proper selection of tracts you can direct a person to salvation telling them about God's love towards us or about the eternal punishment that awaits the lost soul. 
When I read Isaiah 55:11 which says,"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, IT SHALL NOT RETURN UNTO ME VOID, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."  God is telling us that if we will just put His word out there, He will make it do what He wants.  That was when I started getting tracts and putting God's word out there because God promises that His word will not return unto Him void.  He will make it do what He wants and He will make it prosper wherever He wants it to prosper.  All as we have to do is put it out there and God can do the rest. 
If you don't have tracts and you would like to get some, please write me and I will send you some totally free.  One of the greatest tract ministries I've found and support is the Fellowship tract league.  They don't charge for their tracts, so if you don't have a lot of money, you can still get tracts.  I always send an offering, but if I was flat broke, those blessed Brethren would send me all I want.  Their address and website link is listed below. The greatest tract that I think they print and every Christian should read is called, The World's greatest missionary, be sure and get one or more or get with me and I will send you one.



My email address is:  waworld@yahoo.com

To order tracts:
www.fellowshiptractleague.org  or write them at P.O. Box 164 Lebanon, Ohio
or call them at 513-494-1075.





Church growth

Hey everyone.  Just looked and realized I have had 73 pageviews.  I know, I know. Whoopy right?  Well it's a big deal to me since I've hardly told anyone about this blog.
I missed the Billy Graham witnessing seminar in Bakersfield that I mentioned a couple of blogs ago.  We had a family member who has had cancer and had taken a turn for the worse on that weekend and we felt it was more needed to go see her. Her name was Angel and her Aunt Nancy did get a chance to talk to her when she became coherant enough to hold a conversation, about her beliefs concerning salvation.  Angel assured her aunt that she did know the Lord and was at peace in her own heart about her future.   We had services for Angel almost two weeks ago now.  Be praying for her husband, three children and her father especially that God will help them through their loss.
I personally believe that she is alive right now.  That she is free of pain and suffering.   Many believe that we go into a sleep phase and sleep until the second coming of Christ, but I don't.  I've heard arguments for both beliefs.  It would take many blogs for me to write and show all the scripture why I believe the way I do but the Bible says that when God breathed into Adam's body, he became a living soul.  When I picture that in my mind, I don't see this fleshly body just calmly opening his eyes and saying, "Oh Hi, so who are you and what's this all about"?  I picture him coming up off that ground like a house afire running through the garden, shouting praises, jumping up and down and acting like a spirit filled Pentecostal Holy roller on a Sunday night.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Reaching the Homeless

Hey Brethren:

Wow, this is a breakthrough for me.  It's been a long time since I have written and God has told me to wake up and get to work.  I apologize for the time lost in teaching you how to tell a soul about our creator and Lord Jesus Christ.   I hope that it hasn't hindered you from using what I already have taught and that you have received enough information to get you started on your journey of fulfilling the commission given us by our Lord to preach, saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

I am presently living in Madera, Calif. and fellowshiping with Brethren at a Pentecostal Church.  We have recently started going out on the streets and preaching to the homeless.  I am currently trying to get a newsletter together that I can take around to the homes in Madera and share the Gospel simply by introduction and invitation to come to church.  More about how to do that later, right now I want to talk to you about getting started witnessing by reaching out to the homeless.

Witnessing to the homeless is one of the greatest ways to practice your evangelism outreach.  Even if you are afraid to talk to someone about Christ, or you are shy or timid about talking to anyone about anything, the homeless are a great way to break through that inhibition.

Why?  Because, think about it, what homeless person doesn't have any inhibition to come to you and ask for money, or something to eat or cigarettes or whatever they want.  Most homeless will listen to you tell them about anything if they think they can get something for their boldness.  If you don't immediately say, "No", to their asking, then they immediately assume they have another sucker on the hook, so they will patiently appear to be interested in what you want to say, no matter what you want to say.

Never forget the verse in Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it".  You are God's vessel and the Word of God that comes out of your mouth is the way the Holy Spirit is sending the word that comes from God's mouth.

This verse is telling us that its not our job to convince them or change their mind.  Our only job is to share the word of God and let God accomplish that which He pleases and let Him make it prosper in the thing He has inspired you to send it to.  If you think about it, that takes all the stress and worry out of witnessing, evangelizing and sharing.

So I have developed several ways I respond to the homeless adage, "Do you have any spare....."?
First, let me say that, I try to always keep a few Gospel tracts on me and you should too.  So when they come up to me and ask for something, depending on the Spirits leading, one of the responses I will give is, "I'll tell you what, I don't normally give money, but I am willing to buy you something to eat, if you will do something for me"?  This immediately will tell you whether they really want to eat or if they are just raising money to buy drugs or alcohol.  If they just want money then I say, "No I'm sorry, but I want you to know that God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten son Jesus, to die for you that you might have life and life more abundantly so that you could have a better life than walking the streets begging for money".  Then I will offer them a tract to read and let the Holy Spirit lead in the conversation.

Usually though, they will agree to do something for me if I buy them something to eat.  That is when, again, according to the Holy Spirit's leading, I will take a tract and say, "If you will read this tract to me, which only takes about two minutes, and tell me what you think it says, I will buy you something to eat".  Whether they will or they won't, it doesn't matter, because the conversation has opened the door for you to witness or quote one Bible verse which is the word that came out of God's mouth and won't return unto Him void.

So this week, if you are approached by a begging homeless person, practice this.  When you get up everyday say a quick prayer that God will inspire you to have the tools of Biblical wisdom to use should anyone approach you.  If you don't know scripture, memorize a verse, even a short verse that you can quote and God can use to accomplish and prosper.

Next week I will share another technique I use that might give you an idea to use in witnessing to homeless people.

If anyone needs tracts, please contact me at fbevangelist@yahoo.com or write me at Tellasoul.  Tracts are free of charge, we never charge for the Gospel.  Or you can order your own tracts from the Fellowshiptractleague.

Please feel free to read my other blog Yosemiteriverrat

God bless you as you witness and build rewards in Heaven.

The Evangelist Brother Bill





Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Romans 10:13

Romans 10:13

For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.

Hey Brethren:

This is the last verse in the Roman highway.  You of course can keep finding verses in Romans that will apply to witnessing, but the verses we have gone through here, so far, are enough that will give you the tools talk to others about the Lord.

This verse is the main point.  This is the message we are trying to get across, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.  It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, a righteous rocker, or a cult member, or a homeless person, a murderer or lier.  We don't have to be anything other than who and what we are, if we call upon the Lord, we will be saved.  \

This is the message we have been commissioned to tell people. 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and many of us will be getting together with family members who aren't saved.  This is the message we want to give to those family members as well as the world. 

I saw on TV that the Obama administration put out an ad for everyone to take advantage of the holiday season and talk to your family members about getting signed up for healthcare.  I feel this is the best time to talk to family about their spiritual health and get on the Heavenly Father care and make sure that you impress upon those who are dear to you the need for them to call on the name of the Lord.

So hopefully you have memorized these scriptures, marked them in your Bible like I explained and have some tools to be able to share the Gospel.  From here we will start sharing ways to use these scriptures and ways to initiate conversations and we will also teach different ways to use Gospel tracts and I will show you where you can get Gospel tracts and what you should look for in a Gospel message.

I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Brother Bill
aka River Rat

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Romans 10:10

Praise His Name Brethren:

Last post we introduced Romans 10:9, topic, confess and believe, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".

Our next verse is Romans 10:10.  I use the topic "believe and confess", so just to refresh the memorization technique, we want to recite the verse, Romans 10:10, then the topic, "Believe and confess", then the verse, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation".

I've been reading in Acts right now in my morning devotions.  There in the first five chapters are some of the greatest examples of the power that we can have if we confess with our mouth, and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead it will enable us to believe so strongly that when we confess Christ, God can move and do great things in drawing men to salvation.

Look at how Peter and John brought 5000 souls to Christ just by using these truths with the healing of the lame man at the gate.  They truly believed and their belief was so strong that they couldn't quit confessing.  Even though the religious leaders were telling them not to preach Jesus Christ.  They still went out and confessed what they believed and then were thrown into prison.  Then when the Angel came and delivered them out of the prison, they didn't go, "Whew, that was close, I thought we were going to be in there forever, come on lets get out of here before they realize we're gone".  No, they went right down to the temple and started confessing their beliefs again in front of the very people  who threw them in prison, then they were flogged and they still didn't quit and the Bible says that souls were added to the church daily. 

That is belief and that is what confession of your beliefs can produce for the Kingdom of God.  Their belief and confession was a consuming fire.  Today, most of our churches are nothing but a pile of  ashes.  I beseech you Brethren to get these verses into your beliefs and confess your beliefs and watch what can happen.  We serve the same God today who sent an angel to open prison doors back then.  The same God Peter and John believed in is the same God we believe in.  Two thousand years hasn't changed God. 

There is a story about a young couple who were out on a date and while driving in the car the woman said, "Honey, remember how when we first met, we would drive and I would sit next to you while you drove, why don't we do that anymore"?  The man looked over at her and said, "I don't know but I know that I haven't moved, I'm still sitting in the same spot"!  Its us as Christians who have changed, not God.

O.K, next time will be our last verse for the Roman highway series.  If you are just joining in on reading this blog, I would suggest going back to the first post and getting in on this from the beginning so you have the full foundation to build on.  It is about to get fun and I'm hoping all of us can use all the techniques to start revival in our families and communities.  Anyone who has some great ideas of how they witness, please share them.  My new email address is tellasoul@yahoo.com.

Until next time,
The Evangelist Brother Bill
aka: River Rat


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Romans 10:9

Hey Brethren:

I am so blessed this week.  I have been praying that God would provide me with a Brother to go  witnessing with and this week I had two men call me.  One is a man named Tony who goes out in Fresno and Oakhurst on his horse.  He goes to the gangs in Fresno and God has blessed him richly in the work of evangelism and the other man is also from Fresno.  His name is Frank and he shoes horses.  When he is shoeing horses in Fresno he evangelizes in Fresno and when he is working on horses in Oakhurst, he evangelizes in Oakhurst.  There is another man I am waiting to call me from Oakhurst named Joe.  Joe recently accepted Christ from meeting Tony and the Lord immediately blessed him with a burden for souls.  Be praying for all of us as we reach out to the lost.

Todays verse is Romans 10:9.  I use the topic, "confess and believe". Then the verse goes like this,

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".

As I mentioned in the beginning of my blogs, we are commanded to preach the Gospel.  All of us.  When you go to church on Sunday, your pastor isn't the only guy who is ordained to tell people about Jesus.  Jesus gave us the command to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel, that includes you and anyone who accepts Christ.  Are you ashamed to confess Christ?  You shouldn't be, Christ said, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you".  Matt. 5:11,12

Even if we are rejected or persecuted, we should rejoice because we are building rewards.  That is exciting to me.  We are also told that if we confess Christ before men, Christ will confess us before His Father in heaven Matt. 10:32.  Then in the next verse, v. 33 He says that whosoever denies Him before men, He will deny that person before His Heavenly Father.  Then in Luke 12:8 Christ also said, "Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man (Jesus) confess before the angels of God".

The next part of that verse concerns belief.  Do you really believe?  I question a lot of people who say they are Christians.  I believe that a lot of the reason why those who say they are Christians never confess Christ to others is their lack of real belief in Christ in their heart.  Not only do you believe, but do you believe that God really raised Him from the dead in His earthly body?
Remember and think about this thought.  The devil believes in Christ, that's why the devil seeks to rob, destroy and kill every person on earth.  The devil knows that Christ is real and that Christ died to defeat him (the devil) and save all mankind if mankind will confess and believe in Christ.  But the devil doesn't want you to believe unto salvation and escape the devil's destruction.  Jehovah's witnesses are an example of belief that isn't unto salvation.  They believe that Christ died on the cross for man's sins, that He died and was buried, but they believe that when He rose from the dead, He rose as a spirit creature, He didn't rise in the flesh.  This is one of the reasons they are missing the mark.

God brought Christ back to life as he was before he died, He was risen from the dead.  If He would have risen as a spirit, He couldn't have deafeated death.  All men whether they are saved or lost become a spirit when their bodies die and they either go directly before God or they go directly to hell.  If Christ was only a spirit after His death then He would be no different than anyone else and He couldn't have defeated death.  I hope I haven't gotten too deep into something that ends up confusing you more than helping.  Feel free to write me if you need any help with understanding what I am saying here.
This  verse we are learning this week is a very important verse and I hope you will meditate on it and pray about  it and know how to share it as you learn to witness.

So remember, confess and believe, Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9

Until then remember that He is risen, He is risen indeed.

God bless you,
Brother Bill
aka: River Rat