Category: Resources

Evangelism Resource: Living Waters Youtube Channel

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)

On the 15th of March 2020, the president of Ghana took the unprecedented step of ordering all religious services to be suspended for a month as a countermeasure against the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Most schools are out, social gatherings are discouraged, Ghanaians’ ‘favourite’ funerals are limited to 25 persons maximum.

These are strange and confusing times to be sure, but the larger numbers of housebound folk, smaller gatherings and scared friends posting all kinds of dire messages on WhatsApp all mean greater opportunities for witnessing and evangelism.

But what do you say, and how? How do you make sure you are sharing the true gospel and not confusing people or, worse, giving them a false sense of assurance? There are many helpful resources online and offline about how to evangelize. Here is one I highly recommend: Living Waters on Youtube and its accompanying website Living Waters.

According to their “About” page, ” Living Waters seeks to train the members of Christ’s Body in the principles of biblical evangelism and to provide them with practical tools to proclaim the gospel.”

To that end, they provide many, many examples of founder Ray Comfort talking to people of all backgrounds about the gospel of Christ, from your everyday person on the street to others with a wide variety of beliefs, including atheists, agnostics, Satanists and Hare Krishnas. Some encounters go well, others not so well. Some people are open, others are not so welcoming.

Either way, the videos along with Ray Comfort’s penetrating article “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” present a simple and effective approach to evangelistic encounters. First share the bad news and help others understand how God sees them. Then share the news that Jesus died to take away the penalty we deserve as guilty sinners, so that in Him we can fulfill God’s standards for righteousness and be acceptable in His sight.

There is no guarantee the people we speak with will accept the message in faith, but that is not our command. Ours is to share the full, true message and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit.

BTW, in addition to videos about evangelism, the Living Waters channel also has resources discussing contemporary issues such as the coronavirus, celebrity news (!), politics and evolution. Plus they also have a many short movies on topics like Christmas and Hollywood which are far more interesting and profitable to our souls than the latest telenovelas and juju movies.

Together with Scott Gilchrist’s sermon expositions that I recommended some years ago, you should have plenty of material to keep you busy until the president’s directive is lifted approximately a month from now. May God be with us all.

Sermons on Salvation in Fante

Hi Dear Readers,

We want to take this opportunity to upload a few sermons in Fante. This is in response to one of our readers, who made a special request so she can share the gospel with members of her family. These sermons were preached by Pastor Bentum Ennin of Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coast.

Topics include:

We hope it will be helpful to others as well. Especially for those of you with family members who don’t speak English but desperately want to hear sound Bible teaching in their local language. We hope to be able to add more Fante sermons later as well as other resources in Ewe, Ga, Twi and other languages.

Stay blessed!

Resource: Downtown Bible Class with Scott Gilchrist

All the resources I have posted so far have been online resources. I hope you have found them helpful and educational. Still, there’s no doubt that online resources are a drain on precious bandwidth and credit so this week I bring you an offline resource: Downtown Bible Class on Spring FM 102.7. It’s a radio program that airs every weekday evening at 9pm sharp and features 25 minutes of sound, eye-opening Bible exposition by American pastor and teacher Scott Gilchrist.

Who is Scott Gilchrist? What is Downtown Bible Class?

Scott Gilchrist has been Senior Pastor at Southwest Bible Church in a suburb of Portland, Oregon since 1979. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and has a passion to see God’s Word taught and understood. He is heard daily on the radio broadcast “Downtown Bible Class” and teaches the Bible to the business community in downtown Portland each week at the Portland Art Museum.

Downtown Bible Class: We are a non-denominational Christian ministry whose purpose is to bring clear, Christ-centered Bible teaching to the marketplace. We believe the Bible is God’s word, and that it is the only reliable source for truth. Since the spring of 1993, DBC has met each Wednesday in downtown Portland, Oregon. (official website)

Best things about Downtown Bible Class

It’s available for free on Ghana radio, 102.7 FM at 9pm every weekday. If you have a phone, you have a radio. Set an alarm and tune in every day. Radio programs don’t use up any bandwidth, they don’t cost any money and they’re easy to share with your friends, family and anyone in a 10 foot radius.

I’ve been listening to Pastor Gilchrist since 2011 and he has never steered me wrong but has instead provided clarity on a variety of difficult and tricky issues. His teaching is 100% based on the Bible, illustrated with pertinent examples drawn from real life. He has a real passion for the unsaved and for educating Christians about who they are in Christ, and it shows in all his sermons.

There’s also an element of humility and a willingness to admit when he doesn’t have all the answers that is missing in some otherwise excellent Bible teachers (no names will be given) but he doesn’t guess or give up either.

Let me give an example: in Hebrews we are told that Jesus Christ gave up his life once and for all and then sat down at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 10:12). In Acts, on the other hand, Stephen looks up into heaven and sees Jesus standing at the Father’s right hand (Acts 7:55-56). So which is it, is Jesus sitting or standing in heaven right now? Pastor Gilchrist doesn’t brush the question aside or skip over the seeming contradiction but instead examines the issue from all sides and all arguments and gives his (prayerfully-considered) opinion. It’s very helpful.

Hm? You want to know his answer? Well then you’ll have to listen to Downtown Bible Class!

Drawbacks of Downtown Bible Class

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Downtown Bible Class itself. The problem is with Spring FM’s presentation. Gilchrist does verse-by-verse exposition of the New Testament book by book. Spring FM jumps around from sermon to sermon without notice. I tracked them for a week. One day they were in Acts 7. The next day in Hebrew 7. Then in Acts 6. And on and on with no semblance of order. That’s not how the Bible is meant to be read or how Bible exposition is meant to be followed.

It’s also a bit inconvenient that you can’t pause and reflect on the sermons or listen to them right away when they’re on the radio. I like to pause, take notes, check the Bible and think a little sometimes before going on.

More information and further sermons

There used to be a website called essentialchristianity.net where you could get all the past Downtown Bible Class sermons in one place. The radio program still advertises it, probably because it’s an older recorded program. Sadly that site is now down, but all the sermons have been moved to the Southwest Bible Church website (click here) along with Gilchrist’s latest sermons. Now you can listen any time you want!

Until next time, keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. As will I.

Resource: I’ll be Honest.com

I’ll Be Honest (illbehonest.com) is a massive collection of audio and video sermons to inform, admonish and enlighten the growing Christian. In their own words:

I’ll Be Honest is a media ministry that is part of Grace Community Church of San Antonio, TX (gccsatx.com). We are seeking to publish Biblical Christian Videos on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Unlike the previous resources I’ve posted, I’ll Be Honest offers material from not one preacher but up to 66 different pastors, teachers and godly men and women of proven character. Some of them have over 50 years of experience in ministry. This allows I’ll Be Honest to cover a much wider variety of topics than any one preacher can cover in a lifetime.

It also means you get access to a bigger variety of accents, approaches and teaching styles. I don’t mean to encourage an “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos” attitude, but it is true that some people are better at explaining certain topics than other people, perhaps because they have a special burden for that issue.

I’ll Be Honest offers hundreds of sermons and recorded teaching services on topics like Christian Living, Church Life, Theology, Salvation, Family, Sin, Outreach and False Teaching. For a new believer, I particularly recommend the various titles under Examining Yourself and Assurance of Salvation to strengthen your hope in the promises of God and enable you to manifest the faith and love of Christ (as explained in Colossians 1:5).

The only disadvantage of I’ll Be Honest is the sheer size of most of the sermons and teachings means it takes a lot of bandwidth. I recommend downloading the mp3 versions instead of watching the videos if data is an issue. Their teachings are also in-depth and involving, which is a good thing but does take time and concentration to get through. It’s not quite suited for quick soundbites throughout the day (I recommend Wretched for that).

Apart from that minor drawback, I’ll Be Honest is a great resource for Christians seeking to grow and deepen their knowledge of various theological, moral and personal issues. Give their website a browse whenever you get the chance.

Resource: The Briefing with Al Mohler

The Briefing bills itself as a “Daily worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations.” Or as the host Al Mohler puts it, a daily analysis of the news and headlines from a Christian worldview.

In a time of unprecedented change and moral decline the world over, all Christians need to be pointed back to the Bible again and again to help us know how to think and respond to the latest news and legislation going on in the world around us.

Dr. Albert Mohler is a Christian speaker and author of no small repute. He is currently the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a theologian with almost 25 years of experience. As we say in Ghana he is no “small boy” mouthing off about every current event but rather a mature Christian teacher who helps listeners make sense of the news and events going on in the world today.

Listening to The Briefing will help you articulate what exactly is behind that feeling of “But that’s wrong” you get when you read so many headlines today. Abortion, euthanasia, LBGTQI issues, war, natural disasters and all the other issues all require critical Christian thinking and responses. You’ll be able to make sense of these issues from God’s perspective and get the encouragement of knowing that His Word and His standards never change no matter what else does.

Through Al Mohler’s insightful analysis of the media and news articles of the day also comes in handy whenever you watch anything on the TV or radio, as you will quickly come to realize that there’s no such thing as agenda-free media. Every advert, every podcast, every movie, every broadcast has a message behind it that the discerning Christian would do well to listen to.

What I appreciate most about The Briefing is that it led me to realize that the Christian worldview is the only one that can stand up to the evil forces behind the so-called “moral revolution” sweeping the world right now. Everything else will crumble to the pressure eventually.

Tradition and culture? They change all the time.
Legality? Changes even faster, especially in the past 10 years.
Practicality? Just because something works or does not work doesn’t affect the morality of that thing in God’s eyes. It’s only the Christian worldview that lets you say “I’m going to do the right thing regardless of the consequences because God said so.” Whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of this world does not matter as long as you fulfill your ultimate purpose on this earth, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

It really helps you know how to engage with unbelievers on these issues so you can keep bringing God’s timeless truths to bear on recent matters. Dr. Mohler is especially good at pointing out the many contradictions and hypocrisies that attend this “revolution” – though at the end your goal is not to see unbelievers squirm but to bring them to the light of Jesus Christ.

There’s only one major drawback to The Briefing: it mainly addresses news and affairs in North America and Europe. I’ve been listening every day for almost a year and haven’t heard Africa mentioned yet, much less Ghana. No news is good news, eh? It’s only natural for Dr. Mohler to deal with what concerns him. We should make our own local version of The Briefing to cover Ghanaian matters. Economic issues. The media. Tragedies like the Circle fire, road accidents, tragic murders. The recent spate of acrimonious ‘celebrity’ divorces. We can’t expect someone outside to cover things we could be covering ourselves.

And a minor drawback: it’s too short! 30 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to cover every single news items I would like him to cover. But that’s just me being greedy.

Check out The Briefing on weekdays on its official website here. I’m sure it will soon become part of your daily routine.

Wretched Radio (Christian radio and video series)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things (Philippians 4:8)

Instead of watching the latest music videos and viral marketing broadcasts, why not check out something edifying on Youtube for a change?

Wretched Radio is a Christian video/radio series that has been running since 2005 on streaming radio and video with Todd Friel as its frontsman and spokesperson.

The program covers just about every salient topic pertinent to Christian life today, from salvation to marriage to death to thinking correctly about current events, with a focus on providing godly, Biblical bases for our beliefs while pointing out error in a loving way. Best of all, most (video) episodes are only 5-10 minutes long, perfect for a quick watch when you want to brush up on a certain topic. Todd Friel is always amusing and lovable to watch while never compromising on the truth of God’s Word.

But don’t take my word for it, try some episodes from their official Youtube channel here: Wretched Network. Browse through their uploads and you’re bound to find something that piques your interest or addresses a situation you may be dealing with. Topics like these:

And all that is just from a cursory glance at their page. As you can see some of the topics are fairly controversial in Christian circles today, but what I like about Wretched is that they don’t run from even the touchiest of topics – all backed by scripture. Even if you don’t agree with everything Friel says, the Biblical basis makes Wretched videos a good place to start when gathering info on any subject. Highly recommended whenever you have the time, and at under 12 minutes for most videos, you have no excuse!