How to Share the Gospel on Social Media - Good News for Everyone in 90 Seconds - Coffee & Conversation

Do you need some help to share the Gospel 

on Social Media?

Do you feel you need a short interesting video to help you 

share the Gospel?

We all could do with help or instruction to help us tell others about Jesus and there are many ways we can can find help.

In this post I want to point you to a Video which will do a lot of the work for you.

When looking for videos about the Gospel we need to be sure we are looking for good reputable, reliable, Bible Based companies or individuals behind these and not just click unto Google or Youtube and search Gospel or Good News.

We also don't have enough time to search through all that would pop up on our screens from these types of searches to weed out

 

the 

 boring, 

old-fashioned, 

long-winded ones

especially when we want to get someone's attention on Social Media.

Hence I want to introduce you to a video that is

NOT boring

NOT old-fashioned

NOT long-winded

and

is produced by people I can fully recommend

What could be better than a direct, to the point, colourful, eye-catching

90second video

who would refuse to take a look?

"Speak Life" has produced this video (see below)

called

Good News in 90 Seconds

and

it does what it says.

 

You can find this and other projects by this organisation on 

Facebook

SPEAK LIFE UK

and

Twitter

SPEAK LIFE

Here's a direct, to the point, colourful, eye-catching way to share the Good News

For other ways to share the good news on Social Media you can see my

 Facebook Page Sandra's Ark from which you are welcome to share my Bible Verse graphics, Inspirational pics and any other posts.

What & Where is True Happiness & Joy? - Coffee & Conversation

Do we need something complicated or elaborate to make us happy?

Do we need something beautiful or intricate to make us happy?

Do we need something expensive or outlandish to make us happy?

No I believe that mostly the simplest of things make us happy.

A Silly Picture

This picture that I saw on Facebook one day really made me laugh out loud.

Photo Credit - Holiday Spirit

 A Funny Word that makes us Laugh

 A Familiar Taste

So happy that there was one Mr Frostie ice pop left in the box because I don't like the Mrs Frosties

A Sense of Satisfaction over something we Achieve.  

The highest score I have ever got for one turn in a game of Wordfeud.

When we try and plan things to be happy events or special moments or fantastic pictures, they can be spoilt by the simplest of things as well.  But some of the best events, moments or pictures are the ones we haven't thought out or planned or hoped for but have just happened when we are not thinking about them.

I am definitely a person who likes to plan things but I have to learn to sometimes just let things happen and enjoy the moments that God gives me and not just the ones I plan.

Often I have been struck by the different things that I would chose as happy moments. 

It is great to think that the majority of them do not involve spending money so who can possible claim that money brings happiness.  

Often things that bring happiness are things I have made or achieved or took part in with others and memories.

These things were perhaps not perfect and not the most beautiful but I learnt new skills and I am always ready to take some time to enjoy my memories.

There is the contact with friends and family that make me happy.   

We were happy to have all our family together for summer holidays for the previous 3 years

A hug that made me very happy when I had a headache

Then there was that ordinary day when I was very happy to be able to embed this
 Gospel Presentation Video
 by Glen Scrivener

 in my blog sidebar.

This was not something that made me laugh or was cute & made me smile.

This was not something that involved my memories.

This was not something that I had accomplished.

No.

This was something that I knew would help to bring true happiness and in fact true joy to others.

What could make us happier than to know that others are happy too!

What can make others happy?

Where does our true happiness come from?

                   Not money and not perfection anyway!

Our true happiness is really deeper than happiness it is pure deep joy that comes from the Lord 

What and Where is True Happiness and Joy?

Can you say that you are truly happy?

Do you have this joy that nothing can take away from you?

I hope you take the time to watch the short 321 video
and share it with others too.

You may enjoy reading some more Coffee & Conversation Posts from this Blog

You may be interested in reading more encouragement around Happiness  at

Thankfulness & Happiness go Hand in Hand - A Dose of Encouragement 

 

Happiness, Happiness - A Dose of Encouragement  

What Makes us Truly Happy - Coffee & Conversation

Sunday Scripture - 2 Timothy 1:7

Sunday Scripture is just simply a thought or two on a Bible verse that may have struck me afresh or maybe for the first time or has always been special to me.

Today I am looking at 2 Timothy 1:7

Looking at verse 6 of this chapter we may be tempted to ask if Timothy had a fear of rejection in the use of the gifts or had he been hurt in some way in the past and was now timorous of exercising the gifts again.

Perhaps this was not the reason Paul felt he had to specifically write this, it could simply have been that Timothy had not made a conscious effort to be seeking to be used by the Spirit or he had let the gift lapse?

But then we read verse 7  and we do seem to have the indication that there was a worry or fear of some kind holding Timothy back.

Remembering that God is not going to give us something that is bad for us we can agree that He is not going to put fear into our lives but power, love and a sound mind instead.

Then that would lead us to 

"What gift was Paul referring to?"

If we simply looked at verse 7 on it's own would we come to the right meaning?

As usual the verses in this chapter should be read together to give the right context

5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

Verse 5 points us to the faith that Paul had witnessed in Timothy and we can presume that Paul was not mentioning this without a reason.

Verse 6 points us to the fact that Timothy has a gift from God and he is responsible for how he uses that gift.

Verse 7 points us to what God has given to Timothy which reminds him of how he has been equipped by God.

Look at the order of these three things:

1. Power - to combat fear and timidity 
2. Love - to bring care for people
3. Sound Mind - to bring clarity 

but then we must ask the question "What does Timothy need these three things for?"

To be a good Pastor 

to do the job he has been given to do

Verse 9 points us to what the people need.  The Good News of the Gospel and the building up of their faith.

Perhaps then the gift Paul refers to is one which is important for Timothy to have in order to continue to be a good pastor.  A gift that he knows about and Paul knows about but we do not necessarily have to know about. 

Can this be related to us?

Yes, we must always be equipped to do the job God wants us to do.

What has God given us?

What has God given us?                     The Right Spirit.

What should we give God?                 Faith.

I think this passage is not just about Timothy;
 it is about how God has equipped him and the faith he must use in order to share the Gospel.

Knowing God - 31 Days in Acts

Disclaimer:
There is an affiliate link on this blogpost.


At the end of this blog post the whole 31 Days Challenge will be over.  Some days the blog post has taken a little over an hour to work on but mostly it has taken up to three hours or more so for any blogger who can keep up daily blogging for longer than a month - Good for you!

Yesterday we left chapter 17 at the end of verse 15 so today we will finish off the chapter.

verses 16 - 21

Paul had gone on to Athens ahead of Silas, Timothy and Luke because of the anger incited up against him at the end of  Day 30  The Power & Destruction of Envy

Now we see him getting upset about the idol worship of the people in this city.  He feels so strongly about it that he goes to the synagogue and tries to get the Jews and the Gentile worshippers to see how wrong this is.  We are told he even went into the marketplace each day to talk to people there. 

The people who seemed to take the most notice are the philosophers who just want to always talk and hear about new things and they think that Paul is talking about a new god because he is preaching about the resurrection of Jesus which is unfamiliar to them.

The first thing that stood out to me here was the mention, yet again, of the resurrection being preached about and we have seen this several times before by Peter and others so it appears that the Apostles and other early Christians thought it important that they spoke of the resurrection and indeed could not preach about Salvation without including it.  

We would not have any hope of resurrection ourselves if Jesus had not been resurrected and yes part of our eternal life will involve resurrection for us so it is a main part of our understanding about Salvation.

So the philosophers take Paul to Mars Hill ( Areopagus ) because they want to know what this talk of his is all about.

verses 22 - 34

He starts with something that is familiar to them all which is the altar with the inscription to the 

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

An altar indicated that they would worship this god, one whom they did not know anything about but Paul directs them straight to God the creator of the world from this.

He explains who the god they don't know is, He's the creator, He is Lord of heaven and earth and everything else but does not dwell in temples that the people have made.

He isn't worshipped by our hard work instead He has formed us all as we are and placed on on this earth so that all men would seek Him and find Him.  He does not need us to do things for Him as we saw in Day 29  What Does God Need?

Why?

Because everything we do is made possible by Him

28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 

So the true God is not an idol, not made or formed by man but is alive and is to be worshipped by all when we understand who He is

30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

and He brings us to the knowledge of Him and the understanding that we need to repent of our sins and accept the fact that one day we will face Jesus and we will have no righteousness of our own to be able to stand before Him as He judges the world.  We will have no right to say we have worked for Him if we have not accepted Him as the true and living God because he has not looked for work.

God looks for true worship and obedience.

Then back to the testimony of the resurrection again.

Some people mocked Paul for telling them about the true God the one they felt existed but did not know who He was and perhaps were just happy not knowing so that they could believe whatever they wanted but Paul because He was a believer and was called of God to preach had the responsibility to speak the truth to them.

This should be a challenge to us that no matter what others decide to believe about God, if it is not what the Word of God tells us then we as believers have also the responsibility to tell them the truth.

Remember all of us will stand before Christ one day and we can only depend on one thing 

 - not how we lived our lives 

but who we truly worshipped as our Lord.

Christianity is not based on works but on the death and resurrection of Jesus in our place for the life we are not able to live by ourselves.

Christianity is not based on works but on the death and resurrection of Jesus in our place.

Thank you for joining in so much with me over this past month and for those who have asked if I'm going to continue in Acts the answer is yes, but not on a daily basis.  I will post a few times a week but not feel an obligation to keep to a very rigid schedule.

For anyone who has been reading and realises that they have not known who the true God is or has in the past kept putting off actually becoming a true believer then please click on the short  3 2 1 video at the side of my blog to hear more about the Gospel or contact me for further info.

Also if you have missed any of the days in this series on Acts please click on the link below and you will find a list & link to all of the 31 Days.

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.

The Power and Destruction of Envy - 31 Days in Acts

Disclaimer:
There is an affiliate link on this blogpost.

Today then is Day 30 and we are on chapter 17 of Acts.

verses 1-10

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke are still travelling and have reached Thessalonica.
There is a synagogue there and as we have seen in previous chapters the synagogue is where they go to be able to speak to the Jews of the new location they are in.  So no change here but this time we see that they go there for 3 consecutive Sabbath Days.  It does not tell us that they were greatly received and many were saved straight after the first sermon but rather that they reasoned and explained for 3 different days so people were listening but not necessarily responding immediately.

Doesn't this give us encouragement to know that Paul did not always have a great immediate response from everywhere he went but would sometimes have to wait to see the fruit of sharing Christ with others?  We need to not get disheartened and think we can't do a good enough job when we do not see results like Paul often saw.


So in verse 4 we read that many were saved, some were Jews, a lot were Greeks and some women get a mention here.

However, in verse 5 we see another reaction

5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

Look at the result of envy here.

The meaning of envy:

a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.

Note it does not say that the person has done something wrong to cause this feeling in others.

First of all what were they envious of?  
If we go by the meaning above then they were envious of the qualities Paul and the others had or the way things were happening around them or the good situation they appeared to be in or the way others liked them.
This means they resented Paul & the others and the effect they thought they had on people which was not an effect they themselves had.
There was probably a lot of admiring talk about these visitors and the Jews who had not believed their message grew angry and did some irrational and violent things because of the feelings they allowed to accumulate in their minds.

A lot of harm can be done in any setting whether it be a home, a city, a church, a community, or a workplace when someone becomes envious of another.

Secondly what does envy entail?  

Envy 

• brings exaggeration of incidents or actions, 
• increases associations with people who may have other ulterior motives, 
• invites gossip, 
• often involves lies, 
• incites other people who would otherwise have been happy enough with the situation originally, 
• spits out accusations 
• brings on attacks whether physical or verbal.

No-one involved in the situation can come through it unharmed in some way.

Jason is a new person introduced to us now, obviously someone who was hospitable and a believer and because they cannot find Paul and the others, he is ill treated simply for providing a place for the visitors to stay.

Then in verse 7  I think it is very interesting to read

 7 Jason has harboured them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 

because it makes me think of the accusations that were actually made of Jesus when the Jewish rulers were inciting the people and having Jesus brought for trial before being crucified.


Thirdly what were the two results of this envy?

verse 9   -   Jason & other believers had to give money to show they are promising that Jason's guests will not be a problem in the city.

verse 10  -  Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke had to leave straight away and go to Berea possibly because the other believers could not trust the mob or the Jews and still feared something would happen to them.

In a situation ruled by envy it is always hard to trust again.

verses 11-15

We can think back to Day 22  Daily Scriptures  when we looked at the verse about the Bereans and see a different attitude here from people who trusted by verifying with scripture and not going by feelings.

However those who had been ruled by envy came to Berea to cause trouble once more and again Paul & Luke had to leave immediately, moving on this time to Athens.  Silas & Timothy were left behind in Berea but Paul wanted them to join him again as soon as possible.

Evil will always want to stop the Gospel being preached.

I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.

Responses to the Gospel - 31 Days in Acts

Welcome to my 8th Day of 31 Days in Acts.

We are continuing on from the previous post.


Verses 5-12 of chapter 4 are very encouraging and should stand as a good example for us to follow.

First chance to speak and the Gospel is the first thing to be shared.

Why?

Because The Gospel is the most important thing.

The Gospel is the key point of everything we as Christians are called to say and do.

Everything should point us and others to Jesus.


Do we fail in this?

This is probably one of the hardest things for any of us to do but how do we get past that and learn how to share the Gospel in as many situations as we can?

We may not all be natural preachers but we don't need to be to tell others of Jesus.  We can use other people that are more gifted in that way or we can use videos, booklets, songs, poems to introduce the grace and mercy of God to others and to the Bible.

We can also make it a goal in our lives to learn from others how to present the Gospel in a conversation.

The Gospel is what the whole Bible points to & the Gospel is Jesus!

In my sidebar I have a short video called 3,2,1 and it is one way to help us 

to share the Gospel.  

Please click on the video and investigate the simple method shown there.

Verses 13 - 22

The rulers, elders & scribes saw from the way Peter & John talked that they were men who had been with Jesus.

They marvelled at the boldness of Peter & John.

They saw the healed man

They could not deny the miracle

They worried that word would spread


The response of the rulers, elders & scribes:

They commanded Peter & John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus


The response of the people:

They glorified God


The response of Peter and John:

They could not keep silent.

verses  23 - 31

After being set free Peter & John went to join other companions (other followers of Jesus) and tell them of the day's event.


The response of their companions:

Prayer for more boldness to speak God's Word and to be used in more healings.

Prayer for signs and wonders be done in the Name of Jesus.


God's Response:

Immediate filling of the Holy Spirit.

Do we have a positive or negative response to the message of the Bible?

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page

Who Complains About Good Things? - 31 Days in Acts

This is our seventh day in the Book of Acts and we are starting

Chapter 4

Immediately there are different questions forming as I read the first few verses.


          The first question that comes to mind here is

Who were they speaking to?

Chapter 4 v 1 - 4

"Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand."    NKJV

It is always important to know the context of the passage we are reading.

They were speaking to The people who were the people at the temple after the lame man was healed because this passage is continuing on from the section of chapter 3 that was covered in the  

 previous post.


The priests, Captain of the Temple Guard and the Sadducees are all mentioned here but did they come as a group with the same agenda or individually with the same agenda or individually with different agendas? 
Even if they came with different agendas the result may have profited them all in the end.


It says they came abruptly so does this mean quickly, or that there manner was abrupt and they just had to get saying what was in their mind.  Oh how this happens so often with us.
We need to say the thing quickly because

•   we might forget exactly what our argument is and not be able to articulate it exactly as we would desire to later.
•   we are in such a frame of mind that we cannot let the situation pass without addressing it.

Maybe a little patience and further thought and prayer on the matter in this type of situation might be the best turn and of course we are exhorted to be quick to listen but slow to speak.  Sometimes when we speak too soon, we later have to find other ways to get ourselves out of the situation we should not have put ourselves into and that can entail adding to things and even lying because of course we have to be right don't we!


Had they gathered together and discussed what to do before they came to him?
Seems likely at least a short dialogue took place if they came together.


What were their complaints?

•   Peter & John had taught the people
•   Peter & John had preached the Gospel

Seems strange to us that they should complain about good things, things that would benefit the people.   To them however, they were not good things.  Two perspectives of the same thing are never exactly the same.

Where they arrested suddenly?

It was already evening (what time had passed)?

Does this make it seem as if they had talked together first for a considerable time?


Also more than 5,000 had believed by this stage so it must have taken some time as to have that many people around the Temple would have meant people coming and going and telling others to come, because there would not have been enough room for them all there at the one time.

Often I have questions that I can't answer.

When this happens I need to seek out someone who is more knowledgeable than I am or accept that an event is never completely explained and I will never know all the details.

The most important thing here is not knowing all the exact details.

The most important thing here is the result of preaching the Gospel

which is

 the Salvation of souls.

The most important thing is always pointing people to Jesus the Saviour.

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page