This is the final installment of the three part series by Cash Godbold. In this session, Cash Godbold reminds us to trust the work of the Holy Spirit as we minister to Muslims and to continually pray for them as they seek Jesus.
Here starts the auto-generated transcription of Trust the Holy Spirit in your Friendship with Muslims:
Hello. This is lesson 3, the last lesson in this series. We’ve thought about in in lesson 1 that the love of god is experienced in my friendship with my Muslim neighbors and contacts. It will take patience to have conversation, hospitality, and to spend time together so I can sprinkle in our talk statements about Old Testament characters. When I find a person who is open about spiritual things, I will continue the friendship without exposing him to danger.
In lesson 2, we talked about the power of God manifest in and through me. I should be a godly person who prays, reads the scriptures, and shares this walk with God with my friend. I should share answers to prayer that I experience. And when my friend asks for prayer, I should say yes, that I will pray all night for his problem and fast. When God answers my prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, the lord, for the request of my friend, I should get with my friend and explain why God does this.
I can believe God to do miracles to confirm that the message of the Bible is from God himself and that he, God, has sent the savior for us to have forgiveness. We listed biblical bridges for use in our conversations with our Muslim friend. In lesson 3, we will be looking at difficulties we may encounter. There will be several of them. Then we will look at some guidelines for our lives and then contrast what I have proposed for you with the way many used to do it.
Let’s get started. Islam contradicts or teaches against many Christian principles. In this area, problems exist which vary depending upon the country, the sect, the ethnic background of the person you’re talking to. It is best that you ask your friend about his beliefs so that you can better understand him and his thinking. There are so very many division divisions and sects in Islam that it is difficult to study them all.
It is better for you to understand the beliefs of your friend, which is what matters. You don’t have to understand all the others, but it is good to know what your friend believes. Let’s take a look at a few important general beliefs that would be common to most. Number 1, the family of Islam, umma. One should right away recognize the force and the importance of the concept of cohesion of the family of Islam.
My friend believes he is part of the largest religion on earth. Christians are more numerous, but your friend can leave your city and travel halfway around the world and walk into a mosque and be accepted. Muslims strongly sense the strength and the protection existing for them with the world of Islam. Within this world which we inhabit, there are millions of Muslims. Moreover, in his corner of the earth, your friend knows only Muslims.
For many of us, is it not love demonstrated by members of the body of Christ which drew us toward Christ? Then can we not find this same love in our hearts, this same welcome offered to a Muslim friend to be used of the Lord to invite him along this long journey, leading him finally to find the savior. Now let us speak of the Christian family. In the same way that Umma is important to Muslims, our lives should reveal that the Christian family worldwide is cherished by us. Be very serious about not criticizing our Christian brothers.
Although we may have many various denominations, we have one Bible and one Christ. We should eliminate from our conversation any derogatory talk of a pastor, the leaders of the church, or the family of God? Should you and your wife have an argument, Would it not be shameful for you to spread this news around your supermarket? You should resolve these things in private. When problems arose among Jesus’ disciples, he dealt with them among themselves.
Speak well of your brothers and sisters. They are a comfort to you. Their presence should encourage you. If this is your testimony before your friend, then he or she will realize that the family of Jesus is precious to us. When you were young in the faith, other Christians encouraged you and helped you to grow in your Christian life.
Do likewise for your friend, thereby to show him the way of Christ. According to Islamic thought, their prophet was the last, and therefore, that means the greatest prophet. According to the word of God, Jesus, 600 years before, said He is Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Jesus cautioned that false prophets would come after him. Please, nothing will be gained by arguing these things, but you should understand them.
Criticize neither your friend’s religion nor his prophet. It follows also that since their prophet is last and therefore superior to others, that therefore they who follow him are also superior those who do not follow their prophet. A strong doctrine in Islam is that its adherents must dominate all the world. Our defense is prayer. We are to pray for God’s protection.
Let’s look at another problem. In second Corinthians 614 to 18, god forbids his children to marry someone of another religion. It is that he wants to save you from bondage that he gives this teaching. You young ladies don’t believe the smooth words of a young man saying that you will be permitted to continue to believe in your religion. Such words are without value.
They change after you are married in 24 hours. A far greater worth is the word of our god and obeying his teaching. You must resist the temptation. God gives his teaching not to make you miserable, but for your good. Another important teaching to be considered is the law of apostasy or This means that if a Muslim changes his religion, there is a prescribed law as to what must follow.
If a Muslim seeks more light, reads a tract, accepts a New Testament, much is jeopardized. He could lose his job, perhaps his wife. He could be beaten up. If a wife, she could be divorced, her children taken from her. All of this is to coax the seeker back to Islam.
If these persuasions are to no avail and the person continues to search for truth, it is possible, even probable, that a relative will kill this recalcitrant one. In light of this law of apostasy, we need to apply much wisdom. We need to keep a low profile and do our best not to expose our friend to this persecution. Keep it all 1 on 1. Do not spoil what you have sown by insisting on contact, which will result in drawing persecution.
You need to protect the seed and water it whenever the Lord makes a way and a time for it, and this is best guided by your friend who will be abreast of the situation in which he or she is. This will take time and, therefore, patience on your part. Remember that whatever time you may think is being wasted without contact, the Holy Spirit is at work. It will take some time for the truths of the Bible to be understood. They are very different from what your friend has been taught.
Continue to water and nourish when there’s opportunity and pray. One day, he will confess Christ himself. You must not rush or force a decision. And during this whole time between first contact till his till his believing on the lord Jesus Christ, you must be prudent and understand not to expose your friend to danger. When your friend finds himself ready to accept the risk of death.
Let me say that again. When your friend finds himself ready to accept the risk of death, the Holy Spirit will give him or her the context in which to make profession of his faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit will show him, not you, with whom to share his faith. His profession will be more real, more pure than if you push him before he is ready. Often in our desire for results, we try to push for a public profession.
We should rather cultivate by faith and wait the harvest by faith. It will be clear when the harvest is ripe. Mark 426 to 29 says, and Christ was saying, the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows. How? He himself does not know.
The soil produces crops by itself. First, the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. After your friend makes his decision for Christ, you must continue to nourish him personally, privately, but do not blow his cover. You alone will attend church.
Listen carefully to what is being taught, and you will be able to share privately and personally in your home what you have learned in order to teach your friend. You too will have become a little cell group of your church at whatever place the Lord directs for your personal and private worship service and teaching. You will pray together. You will open the bible together. It is your responsibility to feed this newborn in his Christian life.
Remember that the Holy Spirit will press him as to whom he will witness as to whom he will witness. The Holy Spirit knows who is open or who is against Christ. He will lead the new believer to choose from among his friends who will receive the message and who will persecute or betray or kill him or her. Let the Holy Spirit of God guide this young Christian. Your work is to nourish.
The Holy Spirit knows how to push or nudge. The lord has much work of testimony for his new child in his own milieu, his own culture, his own language. He has his friends, his family, his neighbors. The Holy Spirit now residing in him will show him who and when. You feed him on spiritual truths more and more both before his conversion and even more afterward.
I cannot emphasize too much how important it is not to draw attention to your friend. The contact you have with him above all that above all the changes coming about in his life, Do not invite him to church services or programs. This would draw attention to his interest in the gospel, subsequently then drawing ridicule and even beatings. Your part is to nurture by Bible teaching, fellowship 1 on 1, and by praying for him, and in all of this, being sensitive to any given situation that would expose him to persecution. An illustration of this is this story.
A Muslim priest turned from Islam to follow Christ. The church invited him to give testimony in service, followed by his baptism. After his baptism, everyone left the church and formed a parade around the downtown area led by this new believer flanked by the church leaders. Imagine what came next. His family jumped on him.
He stood for a while, but finally returned to Islam broken. Who is at fault here? I’m afraid we, the Christians. I fear we indulged ourselves in folly, ignoring those surroundings and their law. Leave it to the Holy Spirit to direct this babe in Christ where and when and to whom he will give witness.
You and I are not the Holy Spirit. Let’s move on and look at another difficulty. There are great differences of teaching between the Quran and the Bible. There are several biblical principles which have served me well in knowing how to respond to their thoughts of teachings in the Bible. Let me say that I find little value little value in arguing about miracles that Jesus supposedly worked when he was a baby.
They say that Mary didn’t have any food for Jesus when he was a little baby, and his hand touched a cup and it turned to gold. And she took it to the market and sold it and was able to buy food for them. I don’t think we need to argue about that. Titus 39 says, but shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. I have not seen that debate where I speak at the top of my voice and they debate at the top of their voices does much to advance the testimony.
To the contrary, Titus calls it useless and vain. Another difficulty is there are some problems impossible to rectify because your friend with whom you share the gospel does not yet possess spiritual discernment. The Holy Spirit does not yet reside in him or her. 1st Corinthians 214 says, but a natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of god for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Bearing this in mind, when we speak with a Muslim and refer to Jesus as the Son of God, our friend sees this as God having had sexual relations with a woman who then bore him this son.
To be sure, this is not our belief. It is abhorrent to us. However, we blaspheme to Muslim ears when we say son of god. His reaction is to spit and leave, never to have to do with you again. Therefore, you have lost all in a moment of time using the title son of god that you’ve built in your friendship up to this time.
It is useful to note how Jesus’ disciples conducted themselves in a similar situation. It was Pentecost, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and preaching to the Jews who had crucified Jesus for this same reason, saying that Christ called himself the son of god. For the Jews, this was blasphemy. Study acts 214 to 44. Really.
Study acts 214 to 44, noting the names or titles and descriptions which are given to Jesus Christ. Note also that the gospel was clearly preached and many were saved that day without Peter’s having used the title son of God in his sermon. When Peter stood preaching at Pentecost, he was among thousands of Jews, some of whom had participated in the crucifixion of Jesus just about 50 days prior to Pentecost. And he gave a clear gospel message, and people were saved. And he didn’t use the phrase son of god.
That expression, son of god, is very precious to us. Study the passage and imitate the disciples. Follow Peter’s example to the end that god can use you to reach Muslims around you. It is extremely important that you not blaspheme in the beginning of your contact. Be patient and wait.
Did you hear what I said? Be patient and wait until they ask you about this title for Jesus. Some years ago, my pastor at the time traveled to the Near East. His seatmate in the plane was an Arab. These 2 men conversed on many subjects and in friendly fashion up to the moment when the pastor made reference to the Son of God.
Our pastor told us that at that point, a wall, albeit invisible, was erected between those two seats. Total silence reigned. The Arab man refused to utter even one word. I encourage you, especially in the beginning, not to use this title for Jesus. There are others to use.
The scent one, I told you they like that. That’s a good one. The one who is coming again. Now that’s a powerful point. And if you use that title, it reinforces the fact that Christ is coming again.
You can use lord. That’s a very strong statement. You can use savior. That’s the practical working of who Jesus is. You can use son of Mary.
This is very, very often used by them. These titles will build an understanding of who Christ is, and that’s what you want to do. After some 6 months or a year, your friend will probably say something like, you Christians, you talk about the son of God. What does this mean? It’s significant that he is now asked for this and that it was not introduced by you.
You have not blasphemed. He asked a question, and you responded to his question. Since he asked you, he will not refuse to listen to what you say and you can explain the meaning. The trinity is hard for people to understand. The sonship is a part of that question.
So when your friend asks you to explain what we mean by son of God, you will have to be very patient. In many languages, the use of sun as an expression is used. In English, we have son of New York, to honor someone. We say son of liberty, to express that he is part of the liberty movement in the past. We say son of the soil to show where a person comes from.
These are all language expressions, and they have nothing to do with sex. The one I think is the best picture in explaining the title, son of god, comes from Africa. They have a title, son of the truck. This is the young man who receives the money from the passengers and puts their baggage on the top of the truck. There’s a flat tire, son of the truck is the one who repairs it.
When the driver goes to town to get something to eat, the son of the truck stays with the truck. So you could say that the son of the truck does the work of the truck, and he stays with the truck. The son of God does the work of God, and he is with God. It does not mean that the truck slept with a woman and they had a son. When we say son of god, we do not mean that god slept with a woman and had a son.
The son of God does the work of God and he is always with God. Son of God is a language expression of a relationship between God and Jesus. You will have to explain this many times to the same friend for him to get it because of years of teaching to the contrary. I hope one day your friend will be able to say, well, if that is what you mean when you say it, then we don’t have a problem with you. No illustration or parable can completely cover or explain a spiritual truth, but it gives us some insight.
I want to quickly give you 7 guidelines for your life and contacts with your friends. Number 1, in every way possible, try to engender prayer help for the outreach to those with whom you have contact without giving name or details. We need god to be at work. We need the holy spirit, not only to accompany our sharing, but to prepare the soil to receive the seed. Therefore, ask fellow believers to pray for your contacts in the neighborhood, at school, at the office.
What I am sharing with you in this course is simple but hard. It requires that we be willing to sacrifice that Muslims can understand the love of God and God’s power. Ask your Christian friends to pray for God’s undertaking for you. Secondly, number 2, sow the seed of the gospel in every way possible and as widely as possible. Be friendly.
Greet those with whom you come in contact in your daily life, not just a 1 or a 2. You want to sow widely in order to find that one person of good soil prepared by god to be receptive. Even when you find a receptive person, keep greeting others so as not to call attention to the one receptive person you have found. Stop and speak. Be friendly in order to see if one might have an even a tentative interest.
Number 3. Be humble and pray for a servant heart. Picture, if you would, in your mind, three places to sit, a bench, a folding chair, and a upholstered armchair, which should be the Christian’s choice. According to Jesus, the bench. Our natural choice is the armchair.
In an overseas country, the diplomatic corps, as well as other expatriates, wanted to build a place of worship for themselves. They applied for a piece of land, but since the country was Islamic, their request was denied. By and by, the president of the USA, at that time, paid a state visit and was approached by the diplomats and asked to make this request of the ruler on their behalf, which he did. His request was accorded. Since many among the diplomats were wealthy, they built a large, perhaps you could say imposing church rather than a modest chapel.
On the opening Sunday, they celebrated with a fine choir and great sermon and made it just a great occasion. Monday morning, the demolition crew arrived with bulldozers and flattened everything. Every stone was pushed down. Had wisdom and humility prevailed, their church might have survived even today, a place where they would still be hearing the Bible preached and worshiping together. They made a big splash and lost it all.
Present yourselves humbly. Number 4, utilize every cultural means at your disposal. Music, art, written script, social events. These will draw some and give you contacts. You need not enter into their worship when you participate.
These are subjects you need to do further study on, music, art, written script, social events. This course was meant to be a start, a simple way to get started. Ask the Lord to show you how Christ would meet the spiritual needs peculiar to this people, this person. Each culture has felt needs, and discovering these will direct you as to how best to present Christ. Individually, each person has his own spiritual needs.
Listen keenly to what he says to discover what a person really desires. For example, if your friend is very much aware of his disobedience or impurities or sins, it’s great news to share that God sent Christ to forgive us and purify us. If he’s desirous of going to heaven and afraid of hell, present God’s savior, presenting Christ as the one who gives eternal life with God. When my wife and I started making friends with Muslims, after a while, she started analyzing what it was that was important to this people. We found that when they said goodbye, they asked for forgiveness.
When they wanted to say thank you, they said, may god forgive you. When you ask what’s the most important thing in heaven or on earth, they would say forgiveness. Jesus shines very brightly when it comes to forgiveness, so I started preparing my teaching built around forgiveness. Because the teaching was on that wavelength that they were on, I believe it communicated better. Number 6.
Be on the lookout always for those in whom the spirit of God is finding a welcome. Those who are open or serious about salvation. Be available to these persons without obviously seeking them out. Ask the lord’s guidance to those with open hearts. In acts, it says that people were saved whose hearts the Lord had opened.
That’s what we’re talking about. Number 7. Know that you need to be patient for a long time. You probably have to spend months before seeing a person profess Christ. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, Matthew 1618.
God is going to do it. God is doing it. Let us work together with him. Pray for God to bring a a 1000000 Muslims to trust Christ in 1 year. I have been praying this for years.
Will you join me in prayer for God to bring a mus million Muslims to trust Christ in 1 year? The last thing I want to touch on is a contrast of the traditional approach to Muslim outreach and what I am proposing. I hope the contrast will clarify what I’ve been teaching. Traditionally, first off, the first step was to go out and start preaching in the open, draw a crowd, pass out literature. The second step is that the unsaved believes the gospel, decides to follow Christ, confesses Christ openly in public.
The third step is baptism, church attendance, and receiving bible teaching. Unhappily, this brings about a social and cultural separation. It’s a serious defect. Relatives are more troubled by breaches of culture and family and thinking of the spiritual condition of their offspring. The 4th step is usually the removal of the new Christian from danger.
Because of the ruptured culture and cultural and social relationships, the babe in Christ is now under the threat of death, and it becomes necessary to help him escape to another large and distant city. He can no longer support himself financially and must be helped by individual Christians or an organization cared for, far removed from his people, his family. In this distant place, he knows no one. He has no contacts. The testimony that he might have had where he resided is now lost to the kingdom of god.
We have lost the influence he could have been by virtue of his background. This has been the traditional way to minister by some in the past. I admire their perseverance. Let me say now to each person listening to these lessons, I’m going to give you the contrast in hopes that you’ll understand what I’m trying to teach better. 1st step, make friends.
Testify to the love of God by your friendship. Testify to the power of God revealed in you as you share answers to prayer. Utilize the bridges we have in which we can be in accord. Keep the contacts personal and private. 2nd step, friendship.
Always friendship. Cultivate any seed you’ve sown with anyone who may show some interest. Keep it 1 on 1. When speaking with Muslims, start with God. Talk about the God who created the world.
God who has done all things well. Talk about the Old Testament first before the New Testament. Mention that it was God who sent Christ to pay the price of our sins. Base all your beginning witnessing or sowing on God. The Bible tells us in second Corinthians 518 and 19 that God reconciled us to himself through Christ.
Namely, god was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. This will seem right and good to Muslims because it starts with God. If you begin your spiritual conversation with God, your friend will lean toward receptivity. God is the normal starting place. Keep your conversation about god short at this step.
This step could take many months. Share about answered prayer in your life. When he asks for prayer, be ready to say yes and promise to pray. When god answers, explain why god hears prayer in the name of the lord Jesus Christ. If god gives dreams, be ready.
3rd step, friendship. Always friendship. Let’s say your friend has reached the point of aligning himself with the gospel, believing in his heart and personally. It is quite possible that you yourself know nothing of this. It is still totally internal, but he is believing.
It is a personal response within his own spirit. You do not know when this has happened. Keep teaching him. Give him or her the teaching that will sustain them during this time. 4th step, always continue the friendship.
Keep being available to this babe in Christ. The Holy Spirit will teach him or her, will lead him to confess his faith when God nudges him to do it. He knows the people around him, their language, who he can trust, and who will betray him. This new Christian will respond personally to the burden laid on him by the Holy Spirit. Your job is fellowship and teaching the truth of God’s word.
5th step, friendship. Yes. Each step begins with friendship. You lead your friend in studying the bible, worshiping the Lord together in prayer. You are drawing him gently to become a disciple, showing how to follow Christ, how to study the bible.
Always keep it 1 on 1 and private, your house or neutral, and do not draw the attention of others. Keep schooling yourself to help him study. Pray with him and for him, but it is the Holy Spirit who guides him and will show him when, where, and to whom he will witness. 6th step. The last step, and, again, we continue the friendship.
This is a strong important thing, that friendship. The love of god manifests itself in this friendship. Study the Bible, worship, be a disciple, now begin teaching the concept of the church local and universal. He needs to understand that he belongs to the church universal even if he is worshiping at your house with you. In addition to being a member of the church universal, he should understand that you and he make up a cell group of the local church.
It is neither needful nor desirable that he enter the building used to house the church or whole services. He is still a part of it. Perhaps your pastor would like to attend a Bible study with the 2 of you Only if your friend is agreed. Remember, you are still keeping this non public one on one. If there are other Muslims who have become Christians, perhaps they will want to have a study time, maybe include worship and prayer.
Also, big time caution. You do not do this on your own. You seek each individual’s agreement privately and seek the Lord for his timing on this. It is only normal for Muslims to distrust each other. New Christians will have a difficult time coming this because of their fear of one another.
Don’t rush it together time. Be patient. Bring up the subject once again in 2 or 3 months if they don’t agree at first. When you get agreement, keep the gathering small. 2 plus you would be great, or 3 or 4.
This is happening both here in this country and overseas. Be encouraged and seek the lord’s help in beginning an outreach such as this in your area. More and more, I get news of Muslims who are coming to Christ, which excites me wonderfully. I just heard of 1 group of over 35 here in the USA and even larger groups abroad. I was just blessed reading about a friend who did this kind of outreach and how God opened the way and led to open hearts.
May the Lord bless you richly. Take courage in your contacts with those outside of Christ. God is at work. Work together with him. Amen.