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While coronavirus has caused a lot of disruption in our world it has also created some great new opportunities. Crescent Project's annual national conference has needed to adjust and has moved online. Introducing the Hope Conference. More accessible than ever and FREE, Hope Conference will happen Thursday September 10th from 9 am - 2 pm central time. The event will feature top notch speakers, opportunities to interact with mission mobilizers, missionaries, former Muslims and Crescent Project staff and all of this will happen online. This will be a great opportunity to be encouraged and equipped to join the work that God is doing in the Muslim world. Watch alone or gather some friends! 
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  One of the number one reasons former Muslims give for leaving Islam and coming to faith in Christ is that they met a true follower of Jesus. The challenge is that the vast majority of the 1.8 billion Muslims in our world today live in places where there are no followers of Jesus. In Turkey for example, a nation of over 80 million, fewer than 10,000 have left Islam to follow Christ and eighteen of the country’s 81 provinces have no known churches. Most Turks will not hear a clear presentation of the gospel this year - perhaps not in their lifetime. They won’t have a friend who is a follower of Jesus. It is much the same for Hindus, Buddhists and the followers of the world's many other religions who live in what missiologists call the 10/40 window. 95% of the world's unreached people groups live in the 10/40 window. Globalization is bringing the people of the world to countries where there are churches in every neighborhood and Christians all around them. Technology is opening up the world to communicate with one another in ways never before imagined. English is the new lingua franca and it is easier than ever to connect with a unreached peoples - and their families - and to be the first true follower of Jesus they have ever met. Covid-19 is a terrible disease that is bringing and will continue to bring great loss to our world. But it is also bringing opportunity. Children across the globe have been sent home from school. They are isolated and oftentimes alone and are spending their time online. Your children are home. Muslim children are home. Hindu children are home. Buddhist children are home. What would it take to help your child be the first real Christian one of these children has ever met? What would it look like if you could help your child build a friendship with a child their same age and gender from another country? There are dozens of online communities working to connect children with other children and adults with other adults through the age old practice of pen pals. Some help you connect through traditional mail. Many more are helping make connections through email. I want to invite you to consider praying as a family about becoming pen pals with new friends in the Muslim world. Imagine if each member of your family were connecting with people in a Muslim majority country. Imagine how much you would learn about the world. Imagine the encouragement you could bring to an individual who is also living through this current world crisis. Imagine the conversations about Jesus that just may happen as you hear the story of your new friend’s life and they hear yours. Getting Started I want to first and foremost, encourage you to do this as a family. Your kids are going to make easy connections as they share about what they do for fun but depending on their age, they’ll probably need some coaching. And you, mom and dad, are going to need your kids to keep you accountable to continue to reach out and connect through email or regular letters with new friends. Be a family on mission together! When I first helped my son with pen pals in Turkey and Indonesia he was twelve. We went onto the website Pen Pal World together and I helped him set up his profile. We prayed about what countries to look into and then searched together for boys age 12 that he could connect with. He reached out to two and they both responded. Soon they were exchanging emails. They were super simple. At one point the thread of emails was over 70 replies between the two of them. One would ask a single question - “Who’s your favorite soccer team? - and the other would respond “Real Madrid,” and then send off a single question of their own, “What’s your favorite movie?” It felt a little ridiculous but they were two twelve year old boys getting to know one another. This boy happened to live in Indonesia. I monitored and checked in with my son regularly, encouraging him and helping him know how to proceed. Below are three sites through which you can find pen pals in the Muslim world. All three have their users create profiles which include the user’s gender, age and country. Be sure and help your children find friends who are the same age and gender - and that goes for you too! And then pray about what countries in which you would like to make connections. It’s a great reason to explore and learn about countries within the 10/40 window. A great resource to tune up your heart for these nations is Prayercast where you can learn about every country in the world. https://www.prayercast.com/ And a great resource to help you and your family learn more about Islam and how to share the love of Jesus with Muslims is the Bridges study. https://www.crescentproject.org/bridges Interpals Interpals started in 1998 and has been helping people make new friends across the globe ever since! You can sign up for free. You’ll need to create a profile and then you can search the profiles of others to find someone to write to. You can start by messaging on the Interpals website. This will all happen on their on-site inbox, which means you won’t need to give out personal information at first. Take some time to get to know the person you are connecting with. You will want to switch over to email though so that your conversations can happen more naturally. https://www.interpals.net/ PenPal World Like Interpals, PenPal World has also been active since 1998. Like Interpals, you will sign up, build a profile and search the profiles of others, then communicate within a PenPal World inbox. They also have some helpful safety features. They manually verify every single profile photo, and they enable minors to block all adults. http://www.penpalworld.com/ Global Penfriends Global Penfriends was established in 1995, and is a safe platform that runs in a very similar way to Interpals and PenPal World. It is completely free, and you set up a profile, search for others, and have a secure inbox. Unique to Global Penfriends is their My Post service, which enables members to send snail mail to each other via the internet! You can use this service to send any written correspondence: letters, postcards, birthday cards, invitations, etc. https://www.globalpenfriends.com/ Parents, you will want to look at each and see which suits your needs best. Please remember that these sites are secular sites open to anyone with an email address. They are for profit and so it is in their very best interest to make the sites as safe as possible. That said, it is up to you to stay safe and remain vigilant. You and your children have an opportunity to build real friendships and to be Christ’s ambassadors in a lost and broken world. And you can do it together! Learn more about unreached people groups and the 10/40 window in the short video below.  Sahara Challenge is an important training opportunity for anyone wanting to go deeper in their understanding of how to better minister to Muslims. It is Crescent Project's top tier training event and because of Covid-19 will this year be offered online for the first time ever, making it more accessible than ever before.
Included in the Online Event:
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.
* Information taken from the Crescent Project website.  Laylat al-Qadr - the night of power - is the night during the month of Ramada that Muslims celebrate the receiving of the first of the Quranic revelations by Mohamed. For Muslims it is a sacred night, perhaps the most sacred night in the Islamic calendar and is a night spent on tasks such as prayer, reciting the Quran and spending as much time as possible at their local mosque. It is believed that worship and prayer on this night is more valuable than one thousand other nights of worship and prayer. It is a night when the hearts and minds of Muslims all across the world are focused on one thing: trying to please God. And it is a night that we as followers of Christ can gather around our Lord's throne of grace, asking God to make Jesus known to Muslims all across the world. This year, Laylat al-Qadr falls on Tuesday, May 19th. Will you set aside time this year to take action? Will you do one thing to join God in His global purpose to see Muslims worshiping Him? WILL YOU LEARN MORE? Stop by the Prayercast page, watch the prayercast video and read more about the Night of Power. WILL YOU PRAY? Will you set aside time on Tuesday, May 19th to pray for your Muslim friends and Muslims in general. Pray that on this night:
WILL YOU FAST? Consider fasting on Tuesday May 19th as you pray. Skip meals from sun up until sun down. Fast for 24 hours or more. Maybe fast from media or your smartphone. Give something up as a way to focus your prayers during this day. Will you do something this year to join God as he calls Muslims to himself?  I remember growing up, my grandmother would tell stories of the waning days of the Great Depression and the first years of World War II. I was captivated by the way she and the whole country seemed to respond to the crisis of war and depression. She told stories not only of the young men who willingly signed up to defend freedom but also of the ways those who stayed behind stepped up to serve, sacrificially rationing and growing gardens and doing anything they could to support the war effort. Those stories left a longing in me to live a purposeful life of sacrifice and meaning. The Covid-19 pandemic is our crisis. For many of us, we are looking for purposeful ways to respond. Somehow, “stay at home and watch Netflix” just doesn’t seem all that meaningful, even though we know it is the best thing to do (at least the stay at home part). As followers of Christ then, what are the ways we can respond that are meaningful and in partnership with the mission of God. Nearly six billion people in our world do not yet call themselves Christians and over two billion don’t even have access to an opportunity to hear the gospel. Here are five different ways you can be a part of God’s global mission, even as you stay at home. LEARN As the global pause button continues to be depressed, take the extra time you have to learn more about God’s mission and how you can be a part of it. Here are several ideas:
ENCOURAGE Isolation and loneliness are real issues in a time of pandemic. I trust you are already doing your part to discover creative ways to encourage those in your neighborhood, your church family and your immediate family. But missionaries and our global brothers and sisters in Christ are also isolated in times like these. Here are a few ideas for encouraging them.
PRAY Too often, followers of Jesus underestimate the power of prayer. It seems that in the pandemic and the forced slowing of life, prayer would be the greatest response would could give to the Lord. Here are a number of resources to help you pray more.
GO Mission trips have been canceled, missionaries have had to return from the field and stay at home orders abound across the globe and yet the opportunity to go into the Muslim world has never been greater. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, more people on every continent are home bound than ever in world history. They are isolated, alone, and wondering what tomorrow will hold. Hundreds of thousands of young Muslim men and women who speak English are also sheltering in their homes, smartphone in hand, surfing the Internet in search of answers, hope and friendship. What if they met you? Volunteer with Embassy and they will teach you how to connect online with Muslims in difficult to access nations. You will almost certainly be the first follower of Jesus they have ever met. Sign up for a free one hour introductory training or stop by the Embassy website to learn more. FILTER We live in a media saturated world. Messages come fast and furious from every device we own and many are wondering if we can trust any of the news we hear. How do we filter through all the nose? The reality is that we are all being discipled - being formed - by the messages that dominate our days. Because of this it is imperative that we shut off the noise and immerse ourselves in the word of God. As we do this, the word of God will increasingly become the filter through which all other messages have to pass. If the dominant source of messages in our day is our favorite right leaning or left leaning news outlet, it will become the filter, even filtering the way we read the Bible. Nobody is making you listen to the news or keep scrolling through your Facebook feed. Nobody is forcing you to not read your Bible. It’s a choice we all have to make. We have an opportunity to filter what we read, hear and see. As we do that and as we prayerfully seek God’s direction each day we will find the things we can do in this season of global pandemic and God will use us in his global purposes.  A few weeks after our last conversation, I returned to Ahmed’s store to say hello, grab some more Kenyan tea and see what God had in store for our next interaction. Sometimes we just chit chat but increasingly, Ahmed was turning our conversations to the major stumbling blocks to faith that most Muslims face. After our customary greetings and small talk, Ahmed again looked thoughtful. “You know what, I saw a movie the other day. Some guy was giving them out at the park and I took it home. I watched most of it. It was called 'The Passion'.” I wasn’t sure what he would think of the movie so I asked, “What did you think of the movie?” He smiled, “Oh it was a really interesting movie. Jesus’ life is very compelling. He lived such a beautiful life. I really love Jesus.” He really loved Jesus? I’d not heard Ahmed talk quite so openly about Jesus before. “Wow. It’s really great to hear you say that. It sounds like you are beginning to understand why Jesus is so important to me.” I replied. Ali looked a little surprised. “Well, I’ve always known he is important. He lived a perfect life. He did miracles. And he will come back on the last day. Jesus is one of God’s greatest prophets.” He paused then and took a deep breath as if he were about to tell me some really bad news. “It’s just that the movie got a few things wrong.” I didn’t know exactly where he was going so I said, “Hmmm. Like what?” It was the best I could do at the time but it was enough to give Ahmed the floor. He would tell me what. “Well, to start with, Jesus did not die on the cross. God would never allow his prophet to be treated that way. According to the Quran, God caused someone else, most likely Judas, to look like Jesus and die instead of him. Jesus was taken up to heaven without dying. Sura 4:157 says, “That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:” So you see my friend, Jesus did not die on the cross.” How would you respond to Ahmed? The Muslim Perspective The Quran teaches pretty clearly that Jesus did not die on the cross, but that another was crucified in his place and that Jesus was then taken directly up to heaven. Within Islam there are a number of theories about who was placed on the cross in Christs place. These include Peter, Judas, a Roman soldier, a Jewish bystander and in some minority opinions, the swoon theory is accepted. Most Muslims believe that the prophets of God in the Koran must win and be victorious. Muhammad defeated the enemies of Islam and destroyed the idols in the Ka’ba. So Jesus could not have been subjected to beating, humiliation and death. Like the post we shared last week and the week before, I’ll share a few helpful thoughts and then allow some of the experts in this to take over the heavy lifting in the articles, books and talks shared below. A Few Thoughts We don’t need to argue with our Muslim friends, but we can start by asking what I’ll call “Pebble Questions". A pebble question is a question that forces someone to consider something that will stick with them, like a pebble in their shoe. These create opportunities through which the Holy Spirit can begin to work. You’ll find this pattern familiar, but a good place to start is with three responses. The three ways to respond are once again:
Here are three simple questions that will hopefully create a pebble in their thinking about the cross. Theological Response: What glorifies God more? To help Jesus escape death or for Jesus to conquer death? Logical Response: Would you be willing to die for something that you absolutely knew was a lie? Historical Response: Have you ever read what historians in the first century wrote about the Crucifixion? Unpacking The Questions The theological response challenges our Muslim friends' belief that God is great. Saving Jesus through trickery doesn’t give glory to God or show his power nearly as much as stepping into the teeth of death and defeating it. The logical response forces our Muslim friends to see the Biblical story in light of human nature. Human nature is bent toward self-preservation. It is one thing to die for something you absolutely believe in. ISIS and Al Qaeda suicide bombers do that. But if the Quranic story is true, then the disciples and hundreds of others who claimed that Jesus was raised from the dead would have all known with absolute certainty that the resurrection was a lie. Human nature is bent toward self-preservation and yet they all willingly died violent deaths to perpetuate that lie. Maybe one person would do this. There is no logical way that the story of the resurrection would have been sustained in the heat of such intense persecution and murder if the early followers of Jesus all knew it to be a lie. The historical response allows us the opportunity to invite our Muslim friends to simple explore what the historical record says. Non-Christian sources like Tacitus and Josephus speak of the crucifixion. The historical record of the Crucifixion is so strong that even Reza Aslan, an Iranian Muslim and author of the book Zealot, agrees that one thing we can know for sure about Jesus is that he was killed by the Romans. We'll end this article with the same few paragraphs that we ended with last week. The first and last thing we should do as we discuss the Crucifixion and resurrection with our Muslim friends is to pray and fast. Intellectual assent is rarely enough for a journey to faith. "No one comes to Jesus but that the Father who sent him draws them (John 6:44)." Salvation is always a work of the Holy Spirit. Remember, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4)." We must pray that the blinders be removed! As a final word, "honor Christ the Lord in your hearts as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6). Each person. Our Muslim friends are people. They are not arguments to be defeated. They are people to be loved and the Father is drawing them to himself. The following articles, videos and books are resources I've found helpful as I prepare to give a reason for believing in the Crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ. Articles
Books
Videos  My good friend Ali and I had been connecting regularly to drink tea together and talk about life. Every topic was up for grabs and the very topics I’d been taught to avoid - politics and religion at the top of the list - were often the starting point of conversation for Ali and his friends. We had recently been having more in-depth conversations about the nature of Christianity and Islam and I was looking forward to meeting again. As I opened the door to Starbucks and stepped inside, Ali was there to greet me. We ordered our drinks - he always got a chai latte and I ordered my usual cup of black coffee - and we headed to a table in the corner. As we sat down Ali grinned and asked, “Shall we continue our discussion of Christianity and Islam?” I was in many ways still trying to figure Ali out. In one sense he had a real curiosity to learn about other religions, especially Christianity as he conversed with me. But it also seemed that he just liked to talk about stuff. He - and his friends when they joined us - reminded me of the Athenians in Acts 17 who “spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.” I wasn’t sure if he was really interested in my faith or just interested in talking about it. But I plugged away trusting that the Holy Spirit was working. Grinning back at him and unzipping my backpack I said, “Oh that would be great. In fact, I brought my Bible with me and wanted to share a few verses that are very important to me. They sort of explain why I believe what I believe. I’d love to hear what you think of them.” “That would be interesting,” he said as he sipped at his tea. “I guess I could tell you what I think.” “Good. The first verse is from the book of John in the New Testament. It says . . .” Ali interrupted me before I could even begin. “Wait a minute. What is the book of John? Jesus’ book is the Injeel.” I realized I’d need to explain some things. “Oh, yes. John is the fourth biography of Jesus and is part of the Injeel. We Christians call the Injeel the New Testament.” A look of concern came over Ali’s face. He began to speak cautiously. “Hmmm. I don’t want to offend you Aaron, but this only confirms what I’ve always been taught. We Muslims believe that Allah gave Isa - you call him Jesus - the Injeel. He gave him the Injeel because he had given the Tawrat to Moses but the Jews corrupted it. So then he gave the Zebur, I think you call it the Psalms, to David but it too was changed and corrupted. Then God gave the Injeel to Jesus and, I’m sorry to say this Aaron, but Christians corrupted it as well. What you have there, your Bible, is not really God’s book but is a corrupted form of the Injeel. Thankfully, God in his mercy saw fit to send the Holy Quran to the Prophet Mohammed - may peace be upon him - and it is incorruptible.” How would you answer Ali? Most Muslims believe that the Bible has been changed. It is one of the most common assumptions in the Muslim world and is an idea that has been passed on from father to son and through the teachings of local religious leaders. I’ve met few Muslims who can tell me any more than the fact that they believe it has been changed and corrupted. They believe that Jews and Christians changed the words of the Bible over time to change it’s true meaning. Like last week, I’ll offer some simple ways to respond but will encourage you to soak in the teaching of the articles, books and talks below to really gain a deeper understanding of how you can respond and help your Muslim friends begin to look at the Bible in a new light. A Few Thoughts This is an important concept that you will need to talk about with your Muslim friends. All other major objections will find their way back to the Bible and it’s reliability at some point in time. If the Bible has been reliably preserved and has not been changed, then the other objections that Muslims have to the Christian faith don’t have ground to stand on. The divine nature of Christ, the Crucifixion and the teaching of the atonement area all grounded firmly in the scriptures. Here are three ways we can respond to the idea that the Bible has been corrupted. They are taken from “Is the Injeel Corrupted" by Fouad Masri and I’ll give the bullet points here. They are explained in much more detail in the articles, books and talks below. The three ways to respond are: a) a theological response b) a logical response c) an historic response Theological Response Who is stronger? God or man? If God is stronger, then God is strong enough to protect his books. A Good Question: If God cannot protect his books, how is God all powerful? If God is strong enough to protect his books but chooses not to protect them, then how can we call God good? Logical Response If the Bible was changed, then our Muslims friends should be able to answer these questions:
Encourage your Muslims friends to find the answers to these questions. Ask them to read the Bible to find the places where it has been changed. Historical Response Please read the articles and books below to learn about all the historical evidence for the integrity of the Bible. There is so much historical evidence and nearly all historians agree that the Bible we have today is the same as the Bible that we had in the first century. These are three simple ways to help your Muslim friends wrestle with the the claim that the Bible has been changed. These responses will hopefully put a small pebble of doubt in the shoe of their minds and allow the Holy Spirit to begin the process of deconstructing the false teachings of Islam and open their hearts to Jesus. We'll end this article the same way ended last week. The first and last thing you should do as you discuss the reliability of the Bible with your Muslim friends is to pray and fast. Intellectual assent is rarely enough for a journey to faith. "No one comes to Jesus but that the Father who sent him draws them (John 6:44)." Salvation is always a work of the Holy Spirit. Remember, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4)." We must pray that the blinders be removed! As a final word, "honor Christ the Lord in your hearts as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6). Each person. Our Muslim friends are people. They are not arguments to be defeated. They are people to be loved and the Father is drawing them to himself. The following articles, videos and books are resources I've found helpful as I prepare to give a reason for trustworthiness of the Bible. Helpful Articles:
Helpful Books:
Helpful Videos and Interviews:
Andy's excellent talk starts at the 8 minute mark. Lots of information on the Quranic witness to the validity of the Bible.  It was a blustery January afternoon when I stepped through the door of my friend Ahmed’s shop. I was stopping by to say hello, to grab a cup of tea and to continue a relationship I’d been working to build for the last few months. We’d gotten to know one another sipping tea over Champion’s League soccer match reruns on the large television and amidst the steady traffic of people coming in to pick up groceries, to wire money or to ask Ahmed for help with filling out an application. The store was also home to a group that met regularly to discuss politics, education, sports and the teachings of the Quran. I had joined them on a number of occasions. The group had met the evening before and after Ahmed and I had exchanged all the regular greetings and small talk, he began to talk about a difficult topic which was on his mind. “Our group was meeting last night and my friend Mustafa was asking about why Christians believe in three Gods so I thought I’d see if you could come by next time and sort of explain about your three gods.” It wasn’t a surprise to hear this from Ahmed and so I said, “Three gods? Ahmed, Christians don’t believe in three gods.” Ahmed looked both relieved and confused and said, “Oh? But I’ve heard about the trinity. Trinity means three. You believe in God. That God had a son and that he is somehow God. And you believe that Mary is God.” He paused but before I could break in he continued, “Honestly, it’s rather disgusting to us Muslims. The idea that God could somehow have partners is really dishonoring to His glory and greatness. God is Great. God is unique. God alone is God - He has no partners. What Christians believe is “shirk”, Islam’s cardinal sin because it diminishes God’s greatness by saying that someone else is equal to God. Muslims cannot accept this. In the Holy Quran in Sura 5:73 it says, “They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three: when there is no Allah save the One Allah. If they desist not from so saying this, a painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.” You are my good friend. Please reconsider your beliefs. I don’t want you to experience that doom.” How would you answer Ahmed? Growing up in a Christian community I was never challenged to explain the triune nature of God. Most of my friends - myself included - believed in the trinity but outside of a few analogies we could do little to really explain why it was important to the Christian faith. Your Muslim friends will not let you off the hook so easily. With today’s article I’d like to offer a few introductory thoughts about how to step into this particular conversation. These thoughts are not exhaustive and so I'll also share a number of helpful resources and talks by experts that will do a better job than I can do to actually explain the trinity to your Muslim friends. I want to encourage you to read and listen to all of these. For me it is a bit like watching a picture appear on a canvas as an artist adds layers of paint. With each article or video, a clearer picture will emerge and you will be better equipped to help your Muslim friends understand the central importance of the triune nature of God to the Christian faith. A Few Thoughts Rather than thinking you need to completely explain the Trinity to your Muslim friends, start with the more modest goal of helping them see that a triune God is logically possible. We may not be able to completely understand but that doesn't mean it is an unreasonable ideas. Shouldn’t the all powerful, infinite and glorious God of the universe be at least a little beyond human understanding? That doesn’t make his triune nature irrational or illogical. We also need to be careful with analogies. Saying that God is like an egg is problematic in all sorts of ways and we need to make it clear that we know that God cannot be explained by an analogy. All analogies will fall far short of ever explaining God and most are filled with real problems. Give a clear definition before you do anything else. Here is Nabeel Qureshi's definition: God is one in being and three in person. "Being" is what we are. I am a human being. "Person" is who we are. Ahmed or Tim or Juana or Anna. Make sure to read the scriptures with your Muslim friends whenever the opportunity arises. Why? First, they will meet Jesus in the scriptures because it is the living and active word of God. Second, they will have to wrestle with the validity of the Bible which can be proven and which we will explore in next week's post. If the Bible has not been changed (most Muslims contend it has), then it is clear that the Bible teaches that Jesus is God. Not only are there clear statements about the divinity made by Christ (Mark 14:62) and about Christ (John 1:1) in the Bible, there are also things that Jesus does which only God has the authority to do: forgiving sins, accepting worship, dictating scripture, etc. The first and last thing you should do as you discuss the triune nature of God with your Muslim friends is to pray and fast. Intellectual assent is rarely enough for a journey to faith. "No one comes to Jesus but that the Father who sent him draws them (John 6:44)." Salvation is always a work of the Holy Spirit. Remember, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4)." We must pray that the blinders be removed! As a final word, "honor Christ the Lord in your hearts as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6). Each person. Our Muslim friends are people. They are not arguments to be defeated. They are people to be loved and the Father is drawing them to himself. The following articles, videos and books are resources I've found helpful as I prepare to give a reason for the hope I have in the Triune God. Helpful Articles
Helpful Books
Helpful Videos  God loves Muslims. He really does. He came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life and went to the cross because he loves Muslims and he desires both relationship with them and worship from them. It's what he desires for all of us. He loves them so much that he has begun to do an amazing work in the Muslim world. More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in the last fifteen years than in the previous 1,400 years combined! God is on the move in the Muslim world. And yet. Of the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, the percentage who have come to faith is still extremely small. Even if the number were tens of millions, in order to reach 10% of the world’s Muslim population, there would need to be 180 million Muslims come to faith in Christ. There is still so much work to be done! And here is the challenge. The vast majority of Muslims in our world today live in places where there is little to no gospel witness. Turkey for example is a nation of over 80 million people and the number of Muslims who have come to faith in Christ is less than 10,000. Of the country’s 81 provinces, 18 of them have no established church. The vast majority of Muslims in Turkey will live and die without ever meeting a true follower of Jesus or having an opportunity to respond to the gospel. The story repeats itself across the Muslim world.
This list represents nearly half a billion people in just twelve of the largest Muslim people groups. These twelve people groups are just one quarter of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, most of whom live within the 10/40 window, the region of the earth between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator in the eastern hemisphere. Are Muslims hard to reach? Are they resistant to the gospel? The reality is that we don’t know because the global church sends so few missionaries to the Muslim world - just one missionary for every 405,500 Muslims in 2015. The only thing we know for certain is that vast majority of Muslims across the globe have never had a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." - Romans 10:11-15 What can you do this week to ensure that more Muslims have an opportunity to respond to the gospel and be connected to a true follower of Christ? Here are a few ideas:  I've found the story of Jonah to be a helpful starting place for the North American church when it comes to exploring our attitudes and actions toward people from groups other than our own - Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists or the LGBTQ community. Jonah is at best, the reluctant prophet. His reticence to go along with the mission of God to save the Ninevites becomes almost a distraction to the main message of Jonah's book: the heart of God to save. But God does save the Ninevites who repent and believe and turn from their wicked ways. Meanwhile, Jonah heads out to a hill beside the city in hopes that fire will still fall. It's there that the curious event with a shade plant growing and then dying occurs. Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” Jonah was concerned about the plant and the comfort that it afforded him. The heart of God however was to save. The heart of Jonah was somewhere else, focused on something he thought he was loosing. Something he thought was important but that God didn't think was important. At least not as important as saving the Ninevites. This particular point in the story has had me thinking lately about the plants in my own life that I elevate above the mission and purposes of God -- the old wine skins that Jesus is inviting me to let go of in favor of new wine skins. Jonah is not a Bible character that we should emulate. His is not an example to follow. God seems to place the story of Jonah in the scriptures first and foremost to demonstrate His heart for the nations - even nations bent on evil. But there is an important opportunity in the story of Jonah to reflect on our own hearts. Discovery Take fifteen minutes to read or listen to the story of Jonah and then answer the following questions:
Feel free to interact with these questions and the E2E community in the comments below. |
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