 We are on session six today, and we're going to be looking at communicating the gospel part one So we looked at what Islam believes what Muslims believe and then we looked at Some of the objections that Muslims will bring Against Christianity that Jesus was not crucified. There is no Trinity. Jesus is not the Son of God And so all of these things so we need to learn and be able to go over I encourage you to go over those notes because that's what I need to do That's what you probably will do is go over these notes again and again and again and just refresh your mind in your heart and And then let God use you, but today we're going to start our class on communicating the gospel. Okay, so I'm going to give you some important things that are going to help you how to communicate the gospel really some How to reach the Muslims with the gospel and to be able to take what we know and then communicate that gospel to them So let's let's start off on in the on page one here at the top It says remember a few things I want you to keep in mind This is so important as we go out and as we do Muslim ministry The first thing is keep the gospel central keep the gospel central Romans 1 16 says For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek see When it all comes down to it It is the gospel that we need to communicate to the Muslims It is the gospel it is the salvation that is through Christ alone that is going to save them nothing else We might be able to win the argument But lose the soul and if they don't come to Jesus that is really what it's all about. It's about them Being able to see Jesus more clearly. And so that's why we learn what are the their objections to the gospel? So that we can begin to tear down those walls because once again They believe that you believe Jesus is the physical son of God. So what do we need to do? We need to tear that down. No, they think you believe in three gods. That is not what the Bible teaches That's not what any Christian believes So we have been called to tear down and then to build right to build on a foundation of the gospel So this is very important. That's what Paul said. Okay, Lord. Are you speaking? Okay Look at this that some of this I quoted here the words of Ravi Zacharias. I thought this was really insightful He says always remember in ministry to Muslims the gospel is the main course Apologetics is the seasoning You do not want too much seasoning. Otherwise it makes the main course insipid an Argument may remove the doubt, but it is the Holy Spirit who can convict of truth You see it is the Holy Spirit ultimately That's going to do the job You can only do so much and you present it, but leave it to the Lord. We must leave it to the Holy Spirit Let's communicate clearly and he says three things here that Ravi Zacharias says That Muslims understand the necessity for Christ's atonement. They have to understand that number two The grace received is to forgive and transform but not a license to sin See a lot of Muslims Hear that Christians say Well, I just accept Jesus into my heart and I I say the sinner's prayer and I'm saved I'm going to heaven and they think that that is a license to sin And so now you can live however you want and so I've had a lot of Muslims come to me and say So you can just lie cheat steal commit adultery and you're still going to heaven because Jesus told you're going to heaven And you can do anything you want and I've had to say no not at all Our forgiveness is not a license to sin. It's to transform me and make me Free from sin Because now I don't want a sin now. I've been changed. I've been transformed But see they need to understand that the grace of God. What is it? What is the grace do and? Thirdly we are not inviting them the Muslims to commit shirk What is shirk to associate partners with God or believe in more than one God? Remember that is what they are assuming shirk is that you worship three gods And so when we are saying believe in Jesus, we are in their mind inviting them to commit Tri-theism to believe in three gods and we are not doing that. So we we must communicate that to them Another thing to keep in mind is the urgency of reaching Muslims There is an urgency and just look around us as I said in our first class. Just look around us Go outside and see the Muslims are coming by the multitudes to our land And what are we going to do about it? That's the question. What are you going to do? Because it's not the world's job. It's the church's job. And if the church doesn't do something about them Then they will perish And the question is how can we let that happen? So I know my responsibility is I can do I can take the gospel to them Even if that's one person and see this is where I like to break it down and make it practical Are you willing to reach that one person? But it's when we are closed off and when we are not open and willing to also take risks guys You're gonna have to make yourself go out of your comfort zone, you know It's about getting out of our comfort zone. Yes, it will feel uncomfortable and should I go should I go talk to them? You may be the only Christian that they ever meet But sometimes if we have this idea and say well somebody else will talk to them. What if not? what if not That would be a fearful thing on the day of judgment and so we need to take this into consideration the urgency What did Jesus say in John 9 verse 4? I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day The night is coming when no man can work So there's an urgency about what we we are going to communicate to the Muslims And a third thing to keep in mind is We are called to love the Muslims and speak the truth even if it offends Ephesians 4 verses 14 through 15 says that we should no longer be children Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, but speaking the truth in love We have been called as the body of Christ as Christians to love to love the Muslims It doesn't matter who they are It doesn't matter where they came from it doesn't matter if they don't know my language Or I don't know their culture. I have been called to love them and I've been called to tell them the truth and Remember the truth will offend remember the cross is a stumbling block If it doesn't stumble then you have not preached the gospel That is very important if it does not stumble somebody or the deity of Christ the crucifixion the sin issue if That is not stumbled upon then maybe we are not preaching the gospel and that goes for Muslim ministry that goes for the church when people You know when people are offended It has to be the gospel that offends But at the same time it cannot be my personality or my character that offense because if I offend that person because of who I am or the way I am then that's something I need to change the gospel. It's not changeable This is an old message. This is an ancient message and it doesn't change. It's the same cross the same blood The same call to follow Jesus that Paul preached and that Jesus gave to us So we need to just preach it But remember love Muslims and speak the truth and please my brothers and sisters When you hear other friends other Christians Around you they might make because I've heard comments About a Muslims or about and we ought you know, we ought to do this You know, you know, I understand the the anger that we can feel or how the hurt we can feel when people are being You know tortured and Christians are being persecuted. I understand and that hurts But if we are biblical We are not called to say God destroy them We are called to say God save them You know, and there is there is a real So I just want to encourage you when you hear others speak up Say to them, you know what the Bible says speak evil of no man The Bible says pray for your enemies. Love your enemies. Does this look like love? No, it doesn't look like love You know and so sometimes we have to do that. I've done that before and you know Sometimes your friend might say, you know what? Thank you. I I I didn't see that when I when I said that I said it But you know what? You're right But we need to speak up, you know, and sometimes we just hush hush. We need to encourage one another, you know So before we move on though Billy was just noticing my my outfit here. Okay, so I want to just explain a little bit. So this is typically a traditional Outfit that a man would wear in Morocco. Okay, so this is called a Jalaba. It has a hood here. All right So you can see like the ladies this is they're wearing I can tell they're wearing a Jalaba's That's what you see like a design here and you have different designs different colors different, you know All that all sorts of things they have thinner ones They have thicker ones I had in Morocco a one made of wool very thick. You wear it in the winter You know so the men typically wear this this is something ancient and when you if you go to Morocco or through North Africa The men usually wear Jalaba's and so do women they wear Jalaba too with it's more like has flowers and some more decorations But this is a traditional Moroccan wear and then also I have my shoes. I don't know if you can see them but They are like this They are not comfortable people ask me are those comfortable not really But and of course the reason why they're slip on slip off is because they go into the mosque So when you go into the mosque and when you go to pray and because they pray five times a day The easiest shoe to wear is not one with shoelaces, but you can slip on slip off and you walk into the mosque So that's what they wear. These are called a belgaz and this is called a Jalaba Okay So and then next week I'm gonna wear something else that they wear in the in the Sahara Desert. Okay, so I wear something different So let's go on now to the uniqueness and the supremacy of Jesus This is very important the uniqueness and the supremacy of Jesus contrasting Jesus with Muhammad When we communicate the gospel to Muslims One of the most important things is it all comes down to two people It comes down to Jesus and Muhammad It's so easy just to get lost in all of these things, but let's talk about Jesus and As a Christian if I am in the Bible, I should know the life of Jesus, right? So really we're just gonna talk about his words What are the words of Jesus? The life of Jesus the miracles of Jesus Okay, everything about Jesus and then let's look at Muhammad, you know, so when you compare one to the other you see a huge contrast So we're gonna focus on this for a moment. So the first point I say is major on the majors Don't major on the minors and that's why I said that because it's so easy to get lost and start talking about You know, well, didn't this happen and you know, he did this and did that, you know Stick with Jesus who is Jesus and who is Muhammad and what did they do? So let's look at that the central figure of Islam is Muhammad Everything rises and falls upon who he is and what he did in Islam Muhammad is the seal of the prophets the most exalted Standard of character among humans and a beautiful pattern that should be followed by all who would seek after Allah Okay, you have to remember that keep that in mind the life of Muhammad his words his actions The Quran says that he is the perfect pattern the perfect example to all humanity So we have to work with that and Yet in Christ Christ is the perfect example in fact Jesus Christ He is the image of God and that's what we want to communicate to them. See in essence when it all comes down to it We have no problem. We don't worship a man You see just as the Muslims say they worship only one God we worship God Jesus is God in the flesh. We worship one God Okay, we worship God. We have no problems but When we contrast their lives, we're going to see a huge difference in The Christian faith it is Jesus Christ who is central as Christians We believe not only should we imitate his life the life of Jesus his words and his works But Jesus was the eternal God manifested on earth as a man Jesus was and is the exact representation of God on earth Invisible form if we want to know exactly what God is like Look at Jesus. See for us. It's very it's very simple in a way If we want to know what God is like look at Jesus if you wonder How would God act towards his enemies? Look at Jesus. How would God act towards a woman? Look at Jesus. How would God act with the religious Pharisees? Look at Jesus Everything is there. How would God act towards sinners? Look at Jesus. You see we Jesus reveals to us who who God is so We're going to start off with the unique and unparalleled and miraculous life of Jesus So these are some very strong points to keep in mind Number one when we talk about Jesus in the prophecies of the Old Testament Okay, his birth guys the birth of Jesus is prophesied It says you oh you Bethlehem. I believe it's Micah 5 to Micah 5 to it says you oh Bethlehem though You are little among the the the towns yet out of you shall come a ruler Who is going forth is everlasting? Okay? This is a prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem his life It's in the book of Isaiah It's in the book of Psalms that the life of the Messiah would be that of healing the sick the lame Okay, his ministry Isaiah chapter 61 I believe where it says that he will preach a Captives he will he will set the liberty the captives and he would bring healing to the lost and healing to the blind His ministry was proclaimed and prophesied the suffering of Jesus was prophesied Isaiah 53 Psalm 22 My god my god, why have you forsaken me Isaiah 53? He was wounded for our transgressions and the and the chastisement for our peace was upon him See, it's all prophesied in the Old Testament the death of Jesus Psalm 22 the resurrection of Jesus Psalm 16 in other places. It's all prophesied in the Old Testament Hundreds of years before Jesus the second coming of Jesus is prophesied again in Isaiah and through the The minor prophets you see that it speaks of the one coming whose whose robe is dipped in blood and Whose whose feet has has tread the winepress of the wrath of God It speaks in Zachariah of him coming upon the Mount of Olives and it's splitting into two Okay, it says we will look upon him whom we've pierced And every eye will see him. It's in the Old Testament Who in the world which prophet ever had his birth foretold his life his ministry his suffering his death his resurrection? unparalleled This is Jesus Christ He stands alone Look at his birth guys his birth is Miraculous for first of all I said the place the place was prophesied in the Old Testament The fact that Jesus Was born of a virgin Isaiah 714 Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Emmanuel This boy's name this boy. This baby is called God with us That's pointing to his deity This child is God with us. He is Emmanuel And he the fact that he was born of the virgin. This is very significant Why because he was sinless and he had no human Father he was not he was not conceived as a human would be conceived between a father and a mother and Therefore the sin passing on through the father Look at the angelic proclamation no Human in history has ever had the angelic proclamation as Jesus did Proclaimed to Mary the angels came proclaiming to the shepherds, right? And then look at Joseph's dream even in Joseph's dream the angel Gabriel came and declared to him that he would have a son Look at the worship from the Gentile wise men. Remember these wise men came from the east We don't know how many remember they brought three gifts, but they could have been 10 could have been 20 We have no idea, but we know is what they brought But they came and worshiped him From the east They may have been Asian. They may have been Arabs To me this is a beautiful picture of the nations coming to worship the Jewish King and to bow before him Awesome look at the testimonies of others So not only do we have all of this, but then we have the testimonies of Elizabeth Zacharias Simeon and Anna all of this only around the birth of Jesus It's amazing only around the birth of Jesus. There's so much that is pointing to who this person is that he is unique He is the Son of God Next we look at the life of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus Think of his sinlessness The sinlessness of Jesus the fact that no other human was born without a Father now Muslims will say yes, but Adam Jesus is like Adam and they will normally compare Jesus to Adam But I will say yes, that's true. Adam was born without a father and a mother But did Adam sin? Yes, he sinned Jesus never sinned and I will say to them tell me one Mistake or one sin or one error that Jesus committed They cannot they will normally agree with you. They will say yes, you're right. He was pure and So Jesus was sinless Jesus received worship from men remember the several times Falling at his feet and worshiping him. He received worship from demons Remember the demon possessed man who said do not cast me throw me into the abyss Jesus forgave sins Jesus healed the sick the lame the blind he raised the dead He walked on water and commanded the weather Who else has the power to command the weather? Simply by his word. He said peace be still Jesus cast out demons remember about Muhammad The different accounts on when he was receiving his revelation his own wife His friends were afraid of him because they saw that he was demon possessed when he got these revelations From Allah giving him the Quran and yet Jesus the opposite he cast out demons. He was not controlled by demons Then Jesus had total authority Simply by his word. We see that without using aggression Total authority Look at his death even in the death of Jesus. What did he do when he was on the cross? The Bible says he gave up his spirit There is nobody that has the authority to tell your spirit to go Jesus did because he's God. He gave up his spirit. He dismissed his spirit He is unique in his resurrection Because Jesus died and for three days was in the grave, but on the third day. He rose again. He conquered death And the book of Revelation Jesus in his own words. He says I Who was dead and now alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades? Jesus has the those keys He's unique in his ascension Jesus from heaven. He came and to heaven. He returned Jesus ascended And so we need to ask some questions about Christ's uniqueness and it's important to ask Muslims those questions So we might ask things like Well, let me ask you Why was Jesus born of a virgin? Why the virgin birth? Why is that necessary? Why was every human through history born? Normal with a with a father and a mother a sperm and an egg, but Jesus Was not born from a man's sperm and an egg He was born of the virgin And you have to direct them you have to lead them to understand why the virgin birth What about the first messianic prophecy in Genesis the seed of the woman? This is an amazing prophecy in Genesis chapter 3 where God says the seed of the woman From the seed of the woman would come the Messiah and And God says and he will crush the serpent's head though the serpent will bruise his heel So we know that that prophecy is speaking of Jesus speaking of the the third person This is an amazing prophecy and you have to read that with them and explain that to them that this was important that Jesus Was sinless so that he could be our Savior because without being sinless. He could not save us from our sins Is it significant that Jesus was sinless is God telling us something see we have to make the Muslims wonder and ask those questions What are the differences between Adam and Jesus? Well Look at Romans 5 in Romans 5 for example It tells about it talks about Adam through one man sin entered the world and through sin death entered So through Adam as sin entered the world death came to all But the Bible says but through one man Jesus came everlasting life and righteousness and through his one act Redemption Okay, so completely different death life Okay, sin righteousness and Then also you can see 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 45 through 49 It talks about the earthly man or the earthy body Compared to the heavenly body that we will receive in heaven and then he talks about Jesus That Jesus is not of this earth, but he is of above from above. He is heavenly See Jesus he entered this world, but he was not created God simply put him in the womb of Mary so that he could be born of a woman and born as a human But he entered our world by means of the birth Okay, and Jesus is from above Jesus is the heavenly man Muhammad was born of a father and a mother every man in history was born of a father mother, but not Jesus Now let's contrast Jesus with Muhammad So first of all Jesus claimed equality with God He said in John 10 verse 30 I and my father are one and It says there that the Jews took up stones to stone Jesus Because he made himself equal with God see they understood that that statement was a statement of deity Proclaiming deity and so they were going to stone him Jesus claimed equality with God Look with me to Luke chapter 22, and I gave you we may not look at all these scriptures But we'll look at a few But look at Luke 22 Versus 66 through 71 As soon as it was day the elders of the people both chief priests and scribes came together and led him Into their council. So this is Jesus as he was taken by The priests and the and the council before his crucifixion and they said if you are the Christ Tell us but he said to them if I tell you you will by no means believe and if I also ask you You will by no means answer me or let me go Hereafter the Son of man will sit on the right hand of the power of God Then they all said are you then the Son of God and he said to them you rightly say that I am and They said what further testimony do we need for we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth Jesus there proclaiming his deity with God now Contrasted with Jesus. Muhammad was only a man Okay in the Quran in Surah 18 verse 110 it says of Muhammad I am but a man like yourselves Okay, Muhammad was simply a man. He was only a man. He was from earth. He was not from anywhere else Then we see concerning Jesus Jesus was sinless John 846 Jesus said to them which of you convicts me of sin Which of you convicts me of sin now if you said that or I said that anybody can convict me of sin Because I'm a sinner Jesus sinless Look at Hebrews 726 We're gonna if you want to pull out your Bibles. We're gonna look at several verses Hebrews 726 For such a high priest was fitting for us who is holy harmless Undefiled separate from sinners and has become higher than the heavens. He's become higher than the heavens That's Jesus first Peter 2 verses 22 through 23 first Peter 2 22 Speaking of Jesus who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth Who when he was reviled did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten But committed himself to him who judges righteously Now on the flip side we have Muhammad Muhammad was a sinner and needed forgiveness This is Surah 47 verse 19 know therefore that there is no God But Allah and ask forgiveness for thy fault. This is Allah speaking to Muhammad ask forgiveness for thy fault and For the men and women who believe So Allah is telling Muhammad you need to ask forgiveness for your fault Now I have run into Muslims that will tell me that Muhammad had no sin But what they're saying contradicts with the Quran says here you have it here Surah 47 19 Now look at this. This is from the hadith Okay, if you go all the way to the end of the next paragraph, this is from the hadith Sahih Bukhari. That's the hadith volume 1 711 Muhammad prayed that his sins be cleansed Narrated Abu Huraira Allah's apostle or in other words Allah's messenger Allah's apostle used to keep silent Between the taqabir and the recitation of the Quran Okay, so these are two different things that they would do when they pray as a Muslim there's two different things that they do and That interval of silence used to be a short one. I said to the prophet May my parents be sacrificed for you. What do you say in the pause between taqabir and recitation? The prophet said I say Allah Huma Bayd Baini. Okay, so then it goes on and it gives us phonetically in Arabic what he said Which is this? Oh Allah set me apart from my sins my faults as the east and the west are set apart from each other and Clean me from my sins as a white garment is cleaned of dirt after thorough washing Oh Allah wash off my sins with water snow and hail so clearly Muhammad was admitting that he is a sinner that he needed to ask forgiveness from Allah Next we see Jesus forgave sin right the paralytic man Matthew nine versus one through eight the sinful woman that came to him and She wept over her his feet and remember he said your sins, which are many are forgiven Muhammad on the other hand could not guarantee anyone forgiveness He could never guarantee he himself needed forgiveness, but he could not guarantee anyone forgiveness and of course He cannot forgive because only God can forgive only God can forgive and actually in the passage in Matthew 9 We see the Pharisees and the Jews talking among themselves and saying who can forgive sins, but God you see Next we see that Jesus performed many miracles This is from Mark 7 37 and they were astonished beyond measure saying he has done all things well He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak And also John 21 25 on the other hand Muhammad did know miracles He did know miracles this may be surprising to some However, the funny thing is is there are traditions and there are stories that say Muhammad did various different miracles But according to the Koran he did no miracle So those are actually just fairy tales Okay in Surah 17 verse 59 It says and we refrain from sending the signs Only because the men of former generations Treated them as false Okay, what what it's saying there is Allah is speaking to Muhammad He's saying I am not sending you any signs for you to do Because the other generations before didn't believe them and they treated them as false Look at the next one. Surah 17 verses 90 through 93 They say We shall not believe in thee Until thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth or until thou have a garden of date trees and vines and Cause rivers to gush forth in their midst carrying abundant water Or thou cause the sky to fall in pieces as thou sayest will happen against us Or thou bring Allah and the angels before us face to face or Thou have a house adorned with gold or thou mount a ladder right into the skies No We shall not even believe in thy mounting until thou send down to us a book that we could read Say and then so you're saying this but Allah says you need to say this say Glory to my Lord. Am I ought but a man a messenger In other words, am I anything but a messenger? I can't do these miracles these things that you're saying I can't do them. I am only a man bringing you a message and that's it and that's it Next we see concerning Jesus that Jesus knew what was inside people's hearts This is something that only God can know because only God is omniscient to know all things in Revelation 223 and all the churches shall know that I am he this is Jesus speaking I am he who searches the minds and the hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works and There's another verse 2 there in John John chapter 2 On the other hand Muhammad did not know hearts in Surah 11 verse 31 I tell you not that with me are the treasures of Allah Nor do I know what is hidden nor claim I to be an angel Next Jesus didn't use aggression and forbade his followers Matthew 2652 but Jesus said to him put your sword in its place for all who take the sword will perish by the sword Okay, turn with me to Luke chapter 9. This is our I love this verse So we just read this passage where the enemies of Jesus are coming to arrest and take Jesus and Jesus refuses to fight them Because you see the very opposite in Islamic history now once again in Luke chapter 9 verses 51 51 through 56 Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up That he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face And as they went they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him But they did not receive him. Okay, the people of Samaria. They rejected Jesus Because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem And when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? But he turned and rebuked them and Said you do not know what manner of spirit you are of For the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives But to save them and they went to another village So this village rejects him rather than turning around and Destroying them or telling them gather an army. Let's burn them all and behead them all because they rejected us He says you don't understand what spirit you're from. I didn't come to destroy men But to save men. So let's go and keep going to another village The very opposite is what you see in Islamic history and what you see in the life of Muhammad When he went from Medina to Mecca as he grew in his following and one by one Campaign after campaign going destroying and fighting against the infidels Now on the flip side here, Muhammad used aggression and urged his followers to do so in Surah 4 verse 84 Then fight in Allah's cause Thou art held responsible only for thyself and Rouse the believers So Allah is telling him this is a command you must fight them and you must rouse the believers cause everyone else to fight Next one Surah 2 Verses 190 to 193 Look at what it says Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you Okay, so imagine remember Jesus there. He was they were going to take him attack him arrest him and Then Peter pulls out his sword and he says put it away Okay, so contrast that fight those who fight against you But begin not hostilities low Allah loveth not aggressors And slay them Wherever you find them Okay, to me this is a bit of a Contradiction here Allah loves not aggressors, but the very next sentence. He says slay them wherever you find them and Drive them out of the places once they drove you out For persecution is worse than slaughter. Okay, what does he mean by that? If you are persecuted by the enemies, that's worse Then you slaughtering them. It is better to kill them before they end up persecuting you Okay persecution is worse than slaughter and Fight not with them at the invul enviolable place of worship until they first attack you there He's speaking about the place in Mecca But if they attack you there then slay them Such as the reward of disbelievers But if they desist then low Allah is forgiving and merciful and fight them until persecution is no more and Religion is for Allah But if they desist then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers So it's very it's very clear and there are There is a Brother on the website there. I can give it to you Where he has an article there are 164 verses on jihad in the Quran 164 verses and one after one you can read them But you see very clearly the aggression and the encouragement to fight and to kill Jesus next Jesus taught against avenging our enemies and he taught us to love them You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I tell you not to resist an evil person That's exactly opposite of what we just read right when they fight you you fight them. Jesus says no I tell you not to resist an evil person But whoever slaps you on your right cheek turn the other to him also Matthew 5 38 through 39 and Then in Matthew 544, but I say to you love your enemies You will not find one verse in the Quran that says love your enemies No Love your enemies bless those who curse you Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you on The flip side Mohammed taught revenge and hatred against enemies Surah 2 2 verse 194 if then any one transgresses the prohibition against you Transgress ye likewise against him Next one surah 3 verse 32 say obey Allah and his messenger But if they turn back Allah love if not those who reject faith So if they do not accept your message to obey Allah and his messenger Then he says God Allah does not love them. God does not love. He does not love unbelievers Next we see that Jesus received the blind lame and poor. Let's look at Luke chapter 18 Luke chapter 18 Beginning with verse 35 Then it happened as he was coming near Jericho that a certain blind man sat by the road begging and Hearing a multitude passing by he asked what it meant So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and he cried out saying Jesus son of David have mercy on me Then those who went before warned that he should be quiet But he cried out all the more son of David have mercy on me So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him and when he had come near He asked him saying what do you want me to do for you? He said Lord that I may receive my sight Then Jesus said to him receive your sight your faith has made you well and immediately he received his sight and followed him glorifying God and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God We have on the other hand Muhammad rejected a blind man and was rebuked This was something he did Now he was rebuked by Allah and then he asked God to forgive him But nonetheless he did it because he sinned This is in Surah 80 Verses 1 through 10. I don't have the whole All of those verses, but I have this verse here. It says the prophet frowned and turned away Okay, the blind man came to him in the story and he turned away from him because there came to him the blind man Interrupting of him. What's thou unmindful? So this is Allah rebuking Muhammad saying you were unmindful you rejected this blind man Jesus we see that he loved and he received sinners Next we see about Jesus that Jesus taught monogamy Okay, he taught monogamy in Matthew 19 that passage there on marriage and divorce versus four through six Remember what Jesus said. Have you not read the two shall become one flesh? And we know there are other places other verses, but Jesus clearly taught marriages between a man and a woman to becoming one Muhammad taught polygamy himself having thirteen wives and In the Quran Permitted sex with slave girls In Surah 4 verse 3 Surah 4 verse 3 if ye Fear now remember this is the words of Allah if you fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans Okay, now, what does it mean the orphans? Remember there were battles and wars where they fought and killed people So when all of those men of the unbelievers died They were left all of their women and their daughters were left the daughters orphans So that's what it's referring to those that they lost all of the men the husbands the fathers So he says if you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans Mary women of your choice Okay, notice how Allah is saying this so very flippantly Mary women of your choice two or three or four But if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with them then only one or A captive that your right-hand possess. Okay, that was speaking of the slaves because they took slaves your right-hand possess That will be more suitable to prevent you from doing injustice So according to the Quran and any Muslim will tell you this because I've had many discussions with him So according to this verse they are permitted to marry up to four wives Only the only condition is they must treat all four equally. This is exactly what a Muslim will tell you They must treat all four wives equal and they must provide for all four equally the same So this is a very interesting discussion Because see what happens is once again as a Christian man, and of course, I'm a married man I see the Quran in the Bible in a very different light. I See as I study the Bible as a spiritual book and the Quran as a very physical very fleshly book So this is looking from the eyes of the physical and when you talk to them everything is focused on the physical So you need to focus on for you need to treat them equally provide equally So I said I've said to them. Okay. Well, let me ask you this question How can you love every one of those wives equally? How can you love? You ask those wives, how do they feel? Have you ever gone and ask a man who's married to four wives if they feel equally loved and how are you equally loving them? Because see when it comes down to the spiritual issue is God never created it that way Just as I have one God. I also have one wife The Lord also revealed that to me. I have one God And God says you cannot serve both God and man. You see God is one God He wants all of my love just in the same way in the human relationship I have only one wife and she has one husband. I cannot divide my heart and so this to me it is Not from God and so I've had very good discussions with Muslims about this But this is where they get the doctrine that they can marry up to four wives Okay, but you know why a woman cannot marry four men. Okay, so wait a minute. Where is the equality here? If it's equal, okay, because the Muslims will say Islam came into the world and brought equality Where it was not Okay, yeah Well, you're if you're comparing that time in that area in that desert where there was Polytheism and they threw their women and their children into the fire. You're comparing that but Go into the world and see Christianity and if they saw or what Christianity taught and what the Bible taught They wouldn't say that but this is what they will say Now look at the next one. This is a long one Sura 33 verses 50 to 51 Oh prophet Low we have made lawful unto thee thy wives Unto whom thou has paid their dowries. Okay, so now remember Muhammad married 13 wives But the Quran says you can marry only four So wait a minute. How is that? But look at what Allah tells the Prophet tells Muhammad Prophet we have made lawful we have made lawful unto thee thy wives Unto whom thou has paid their dowries and those whom thy right hand possess possesseth of Those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war and The daughters of thine uncle on the father's side and the daughters of thine aunts on the father's side and The daughters of thine uncle on the mother's side and the daughters of thine aunts on the mother's side Who immigrated with thee and a believing woman if she give herself unto the Prophet and The Prophet desired to ask her in marriage a privilege for thee only Okay, only Muhammad had this special privilege. Look at what it said that that sentence and a believing woman If she give herself unto the Prophet so you can marry more He's saying you can marry if a believing woman if a Muslim woman comes up to you Muhammad and says I want to marry you marry her Go ahead marry her Privilege for thee only not for the rest of believers We are aware of that which we enjoined upon them Concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess right whenever it says whom their right hands possess is speaking of the captives slaves That thou mayst be free from blame for Allah is ever-forgiving merciful Thou canst defer whom thou wilt of them and receive unto thee whom thou wilt and Whomsoever thou desirous of those whom thou has set aside Temporarily it is no sin for thee to receive her again. So anyone that you desire you can have That is better that they may be comforted and not grieve and May all be pleased with what thou givest them Allah knoweth what is in your hearts. Oh man, and Allah is ever-forgiving Clement Guess Clement must mean kind or merciful. I've never never heard that word used, but this was in the English translation So this is what the Quran teaches and this is what Islam teaches Contrast it Jesus next Jesus came to save lives We read this previously Luke 9.56 for the Son of man did not come to destroy men's lives But to save them John 10 10 the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy I Have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly Amen, our Lord Jesus came to give us life He came as the good shepherd to give us life and yet the thief comes to steal kill and destroy now Muhammad we see in the life of Muhammad that he destroyed lives In this surah, which is surah 9 verse 29 The Quran says fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day Nor hold that forbidden which has been forbidden by Allah and his messenger Nor acknowledge the religion of truth Even if they are of the people of the book Until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued So what Muhammad was commanded fight them and it doesn't say if they fight you it just says fight them until they believe So no matter where they are If they don't believe this message of Islam you are to fight them and the last we see Jesus died voluntarily he Resurrected he ascended and he is alive in heaven in Revelation 118 Jesus said I am he who lives and was dead and behold. I am alive forevermore Amen, and I have the keys of Hades and of death Unlike Jesus Muhammad died and was buried like any mortal man His tomb is in the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia But our Lord Jesus is in heaven. He's ascended and he's at the right hand of the father The next thing I want to look at is the seven I am statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John Let's turn to those in John 6 35 and let's look at these And I encourage you To please try to memorize all of these I am statements. There's seven of them seven statements that Jesus made in the Gospel of John Where he declares himself something that That directs us to who he is It's a self-description of Jesus First one John 6 35 and Jesus said to them I am the bread of life He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst Jump down to verse 48 Jesus again says I am the bread of life and You can actually read this and actually speak to a Muslim concerning the story because Jesus talks about the story of The wilderness when Israel was in the wilderness and God gave them manna from heaven But Jesus says that was not the true manna. The true manna is what my father sent down and that's me Excuse me the next one John 8 12 John 8 12 then Jesus spoke to them again saying I am the light of the world He who follows me shall not walk in darkness But have the light of life Jesus is the one that gives us light light to our soul Next one John chapter 10 verse 7 10 7 then Jesus said to them again most assuredly I say to you I am the door of the sheep And jump down to verse 9. I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture See Mona Muhammad never said that anyone who comes to him will be saved That is only reserved to God. This is Jesus speaking Next one the good shepherd John 10 verse 11 Jesus said I am the good shepherd the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep and Then jump to verse 14. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I'm known by my own See, what does a shepherd do a shepherd cares for the sheep a shepherd protects and a shepherd provides That's what a shepherd does and he says also a shepherd will give his life for the sheep Next I am statement is John 11 25 Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life He who believes in me though. He may die. He shall live and Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? See Jesus said if you believe in me Though you may die you shall live. I am the resurrection life. Muhammad could never say such words John 14 6 we all know this one Jesus said to him. I am the way the truth and the life No one comes to the father except through me and John 15 Verses 1 through 5 I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me That does not bear fruit. He takes away and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit You are already clean because of the word which I've spoken to you a bite in me And I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine You are the branches He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing and Once again if you read these words or quote these words to a Muslim Is Jesus a vine is he an actual branch and he says we are the branches. No, he's speaking spiritually So what does he mean that if I abide in him? I will bear much fruit Shouldn't that be in God? Yes, Jesus says I am the true vine Jesus is claiming deity through every one of these seven I am statements and See when you're able to memorize these These are the words of Jesus Do you believe Jesus is a true prophet? Yes, I do Then Jesus said this do you believe him? Yes, or no Put them on the spot Would Jesus lie the Muslim will say no then Jesus said I am the way the truth in life No one comes to the father except through me. Did Jesus say it or not? Okay, Jesus said it. This is his word. He said it and he said that he is the only way to God So these are the I am statements of Jesus next Let's look at the uniqueness of Jesus in the second coming of Christ in In all three monotheistic world religions Judaism Christianity and Islam it is Jesus Christ the long-awaited Messiah Which means Deliverer or Savior who is returning to establish his kingdom It's interesting to discover the title Messiah of Jesus is also used in Islam However, if asked to give the meaning of Messiah or Messiah in Arabic They will have no answer You see it's amazing, but in all three religions world religions. They are each waiting for the Messiah If you go to Jerusalem right now When I went years ago on the opposite side of the wailing wall was a banner that said the Messiah is coming The Jews are waiting for the Messiah We're waiting for Jesus the Messiah and even the Muslims are waiting for the Messiah to come back But who is the Messiah? And what does his name in Arabic Messiah, which is Messiah? What does it mean? ask a Muslim We know what it means. It means Deliverer or Savior, but Savior from what? You see Deliverer. What does he deliver us from? You see I am not a Deliverer unless I deliver you from something. There is a danger. There is something I'm delivering you So that is Jesus Now we're gonna move on to the next Area that is very important and if you learn this this is this is so crucial because this is what we need to Communicate to Muslims and this is what is called the scarlet thread of redemption This is the principle of blood atonement Okay, so follow with me The Bible is a book of redemption history is his story The story of God's redemptive work on earth now this paragraph here is taking you can see at the end from the New Open Bible a portion in it God's story of salvation and deliverance for sinful and lost mankind The idea in the word redemption is twofold It refers to a deliverance and it refers to the price paid for that deliverance a ransom Our Lord's redemptive work for us is threefold first It is closely related to forgiveness since we receive forgiveness through the redemptive price of Christ's death Second it involves justification Since the deliverance establishes us in a restored position of favor before God and Third it promises final deliverance from the power of sin at the coming of the Lord This redemption is the scarlet thread Okay the scarlet thread From Genesis to Revelation. There is that scarlet thread There is the thread of the blood atonement which unites the whole story of the Bible That is what is amazing this book that was written thousands of years ago by many authors on Over a span of time and over many continents and yet it has a single message the message of redemption But This is unknown to the Muslim They don't understand God's story of redemption Now the Bible says in Leviticus 17 verses 10 3 11 and Whatever man of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell among you who eats any blood I will set my face against that person who eats blood and Will cut him off from among his people For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar To make atonement for your souls For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul So if we're going to communicate to the Muslims the fact that there is no Forgiveness of sin. There is no way that I can enter heaven There is no way that God can put me and bring me into a position of favor There is no way unless There is shedding of blood and unless My sins are washed away No one's sins can be washed away except through the blood of Christ Okay, the blood of Jesus But what we are going to look at is that this is a story that God is taking us from throughout the whole Bible so It starts in the Garden of Eden So this is important because if you talk to a Muslim and you talk about this You need to be able to share it in a way that they can understand So that's how we need to know the stories of the Bible and know the story of redemption. Okay, so begins in the Garden of Eden So look at Genesis 3 21 We know that God created Adam and Eve placed them in the garden to tend the garden But man sinned both Adam and Eve sinned against God and disobeyed and as they sinned They the Bible says that death entered into the world, right and they were cursed and So what does it say in verse 21? Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothe them Okay God Though they were created perfect and they were created obviously without clothing naked But yet now sin entered the world and because of sin shame and now the Bible says that God Made for Adam and Eve tunics of skin. Where did those tunics come from? skin an animal So the very first person to shed blood was God God initiated the blood He covered their covered them and started the story To direct man that it will be God Who will cover your sin? It will be God who will cover your shame because really it's the shame of their nakedness And this was God so look at Almighty God was the initiator of a blood sacrifice He was the first and the last one to make an atonement for sin, right when Jesus died on the cross It is finished Ah The first Adam was created perfect, but willingly sinned The last Adam Jesus was born sinless and never sinned So this is what we need to communicate to our Muslim friends Adam sin enter the world Jesus is called the last Adam But he came to take away our sin But look we see what happened in the Garnovedan Next This is a story that Muslims are familiar with Abraham offering Isaac because this story points to the substitutionary death of Jesus Okay, Genesis 22 You don't necessarily have to turn actually no turn there. I'm sorry turn there Genesis 22 The Muslims everywhere are familiar with this story because every year each Family sacrifices a sheep in remembrance of the story remember. I told you that every year They have to every father has to take a sheep and sacrifice those sheep so all through the Muslim world They're doing this every year Remembering that Abraham offered his son and God provided a sheep Okay, so they know the story very well in and they are reminded of it every year but in this story Which is really a prophecy of the Messiah There are many parallels and it's amazing when you read this and you see it There are many parallels and foreshadows of Christ a foreshadow is something that points to Jesus Christ beforehand For example in verse 2 We see there then he said take now God said take now your son your only son Isaac Whom you love First of all we have two people we have a father and a son It could have been a father and a daughter. It could have been a mother and a son, but it wasn't it was a father and a son Then we see in this verse take your son whom you love This is the very first and now this is for us as Christians. This is the first Mention of the word love in the Bible The first time love is used is how between a father loving his son isn't that powerful? The first mention and he says Go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains So he would be offered on a mountain Then jump down to verse 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off So they were traveling for three days traveling Abraham and his son And actually with some young men this is they were with young men So he was traveling for three days and it was on the third day of their journey that they arrived And so it would have been on that day that he went up and then offered his son on the third day Remember Jesus died and was raised on the third day And the Bible if you go to Hebrews 11 in Hebrews 11 19 it says that Isaac was raised in a figurative sense Because really in his mind he was going to die or be raised on that very same day Abraham didn't know how God was going to do it, but God was going to do it Okay in verse 5 we this in verse 5 we see the first mention of worship in the Bible the first mention of worship He says stay here with the donkey the lad and I will go yonder and worship Abraham says we're gonna go and He says we're gonna worship and we will come back to you. That's amazing too notice. He says we He doesn't say and I will come back and maybe we will both come He says we will come back to you amazing the faith and verse 6 Verse 6 it says so Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering And laid it on Isaac his son and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together So Abraham placed the wood only on Isaac Who is carrying the wood the son? And who is carrying the fire and the knife the father the father is carrying the fire and the knife Verse 8 And Abraham said My son God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering So the two of them went together So we see here that Abraham says God himself is going to provide the lamb And then in verse 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him and Abraham built an altar there And placed the wood in order and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood Isaac went willingly doesn't say that he resisted or fought he willingly went and laid on the altar For his own father to slay him Verse 13 After he was about to slay his son right the angel God calls out and says Abraham Don't lay your hand on him for I see that you fear God In verse 13 Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram a male sheep ram And caught in the thicket by its thorns by its horns So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son So we see that Abraham slayed a ram instead of his son This is pointing to the substitutionary atonement Jesus Was sacrificed instead of me instead of you he took my place God emphasizes three times that Isaac is Abraham's only son how interesting Even though he had Ishmael the son of the flesh Which God never told him to go into Hagar But he did and that was the son of his flesh God said your your only son Isaac God recognized the son of the spirit But this is important Memorize this story because when I'm talking with a muslim and when you begin to share within the story I asked them. Hey, do you know the story of Abraham? Offering his son now you may say Isaac and if they catch you they may say no no no It's Ishmael because for the muslim in the Quran. It's Abraham offering Ishmael But I don't make a a ruckus about that. Okay. I leave that alone I just say do you know the story? And I say tell it to me and I'll let them tell me They'll normally be able to just tell you very little And then I'll say well, let me tell you more and they'll listen And you tell them the whole story and then this happened and you know the father went up and they went on to a mountain And do you know what happened? Yes, this happened. He was about to slay and what did God say? God said stop. I know that you fear me and do you know what he saw? God brought a lamb a ram For him to take and slaughter And then you will ask them and say so What is the significance of this story and you know what a muslim will say God was testing Abraham He was testing to see if he would obey you're right. He did test him But let me ask you another question If that was all it meant to be When he was to slay his son and he stopped him And he let his son go He passed the test He obeyed God If he passed the test, what was the significance to slay the ram? Instead of his son If it was only to test his faith That didn't require any faith. It was right there God was trying to give us a message. He was trying to prophesy to us that one day there would be Someone that would be placed in our stead as a substitution And so you need to point the muslim to that Now the next story which is very important to know is the Passover And when you guys have a chance later on when you have an opportunity some quiet time at home read through exodus chapter 12 But there you have the Passover you have the nation of israel's in egypt And god says that he's going to bring the angel that's going to pass through egypt And whoever does not have the blood on the Top of the doorpost and on the lintels the bible says the angel of death will kill the firstborn of that home But we see for example several things that are important In verse 5 the lamb had to be without blemish And it had to be a male In verse 7 he said to apply the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and lintel So that was man's responsibility. They had to take the lamb. They had to put the blood Around the door And then in verse 13 it says that when the lord sees the blood His judgment will pass over So it was by the blood of the Passover lamb that the israelites were redeemed from slavery You see for us it is only by the blood of jesus That i am set free and i will not be under the judgment of god See god will judge all sin All of his wrath and judgment will come against sin But if i have the blood of christ over the door of my heart and of my soul God's judgment will pass over me And actually jesus says that in john 5 24 He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me Shall have everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but it's passed from death to life You see We have the Passover But you need to share the story of the Passover Then we see throughout the old testament priesthood and the sacrificial system We see the blood and we see how god commanded that sacrifices be made for the atonement of man's sin And then into the new testament We see john the baptist's declaration now a muslim when you ask them they will they believe in john the baptist And i would ask them do you know what john the baptist said about jesus? And normally they'll say no Well in john 129 john said behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world See this is john the baptist telling the whole world This is god's lamb This is god's provision from heaven to take away the sin of the world And the people that knew the story of the old testament they knew the story of abraham and isek They understood who jesus was that he was the lamb of god Then in matthew 26 28 jesus declaration of himself He says for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins And then we also have the apostles testimony the the various apostles They told us they gave testimony to the fact that the blood it is through the blood that we have redemption Look at Ephesians 1 7 in him. We have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And uh, hebrews 9 12 not with the blood of goats and calves But with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption So we need to ask muslims questions about this scarlet thread of redemption Why would god require blood sacrifices throughout history to cover sin? Why would he do that? god is Pointing us to the fact that there must be a death a penalty for my sin see the animal Either the animal had to die or i will die And so in the old testament god was preparing the people for the messiah It was a preparation and it was a sign to point them to the messiah Is god just? Is god merciful and gracious? How can god be equal in both? How can god both be just and punish sin? But at the same time be merciful and forgive my sin See there is no forgiveness Unless my sin is punished But how can god do both? Why would god ask abraham to give his own son as a sacrifice? Why not give of his livestock or of his wealth god could have asked many other things that he had? But why did he ask his own son? All of this is prophetic Would sacrificing his son demonstrate the depth of his love for god? Yes, of course And how did god demonstrate his love for us? It was not by creating the universe and doing all the things that god did The way god demonstrated his love for us is by giving the most precious gift Giving his own giving his son as a sacrifice Another question has allah ever demonstrated his love for mankind Is there anything that cost him and was very precious to him? See the muslims have nothing to demonstrate Allah's love for them Because he didn't do anything to sacrifice there is no sacrifice But this whole idea and this whole understanding of the scarlet threat of redemption is so important Because in islam you have no shedding of blood in islam Nobody paid your price Your sins you simply come to allah and you repent and you ask god to forgive you and he forgives you But there is no penalty for your sin Now we're going to look at the last portion here the path of the prophets As we said before christians and muslims have much common ground on which we can meet This is a great advantage even if we can't agree on everything Taking a muslim through the path of the prophets The history of redemption Looking at the lives of each of the prophets that the bible and the koran itself attest to Is an excellent way of unpacking truth from beginning to end Rather than the typical way of starting at jesus So It is important to understand the prophets because they believe in these prophets. So we are able to Look at these stories with them as we call it the path of the prophets And once again point them to jesus Okay, these are these are just different ways as i'm giving you here the path of the prophets the scarlet threat of redemption These are different ways Contrasting jesus and muhammin. These are different ways you can share with muslims So first of all we have adam adam transgressed against god And death was the consequence He attempted to use fleshly means to cover his sin and shame But we see that it was insufficient So talk to them ask them questions about the story You know, this is how you get a muslim to to converse with you Because we see as we know in the story how they they covered themselves with leaves Interestingly enough, but god came and killed an animal and provided tunics of skin Another the next main prophet that we have in the story we have noah noah was righteous But mankind had become wicked He obeyed god and built an ark to save his family from god's judgment That was coming The ark was god's provision to preserve noah and his family Once again, even in this story it points to jesus Because god told noah noah i am bringing judgment on the earth Everyone is going to perish But the bible says in hebrus that noah was a preacher of righteousness Which tells me that noah was warning people He was telling them god is going to judge this earth But come into the ark Come to be saved Come to salvation But what do people do they rejected him they laughed at him they mocked him They didn't believe it. This is foolishness Oh, what does the bible say the message of the cross is foolishness See you're inviting people to come and receive christ We're inviting people to repent and turn from their sin and believe that god judged his son for you And people will either receive or reject the muslim needs to know god Was preparing us through noah as he said there was the way the only way was into the ark And guess what there was only one door And the bible says that god shut the door But noah was a preacher of righteousness and he warned people Next we have the story of abraham Abraham believed in god He was declared righteous by believing not his doing Thus he was called the friend of god God's promise was fulfilled in isek God tested his love by commanding him to offer his son And god made provision and substituted around And so we can explain that story and share that how through Through abraham and through isek and through his lineage The bible says that the messiah would come and it would be the messiah who would deliver the world from sin Then we have the story of joseph In the koran. He's one of one of the great prophets joseph One of the 12 sons of jacob He was revealed through dreams that he would be chosen by god For a unique and exalted role Once again when you know this story, it's an amazing story Because you have the 12 sons of jacob And out of the 12 sons One is chosen There is a chosen one if you want there is an anointed one Okay He is chosen and he's given these dreams by god He was rejected by his own Right He was sold to gentiles He was purchased as a servant to potterfer Later he was accused wrongfully and he was imprisoned with two other men See you can point the muslims that joseph is a foreshadow of christ Just as joseph was sold into slavery. So was jesus He was betrayed and he was imprisoned. He was taken And he was on the cross between two thieves. Isn't that amazing joseph was imprisoned with two men And one of those men died and the other men lived Same with the two men Same at the cross After i'm sorry i wrote okay one was saved and the other executed after being humiliated, right joseph was humiliated And in the lowliest of places He was exalted to the second position in pharaoh's kingdom jesus He was crucified at the cross But the bible says in philippians that god has given him the name that is above every name that at the name of jesus And now he is at the right hand of the father He is at the right hand of the father See jesus has been exalted On a wonderful story Then we have the story of moses and the life of moses moses was chosen to be the deliverer of israel God redeemed them by the blood as we looked at the Passover right from the Passover the blood the blood redeemed them out of israel God gave moses the law Which revealed God's holy and righteous standard God's law was given to reveal God's holiness and man's sinfulness excuse me And this is a good place where we can talk to them about the law Because the bible says that god's law is perfect and holy and just and god revealed his law and his commandments Not to save us But god gave his law in order to show us our sinfulness Because the law is just like a mirror When i go to the mirror the mirror shows me that my face is dirty Now i don't hit the mirror I don't take the mirror and cleanse my face with the mirror No, the mirror points me to the water that i need to wash my face And god's word is as a mirror it shows me that i am in sin I am lost i am in darkness i am imperfect I cannot enter the presence of god because the bible says if you have sinned in one point You have failed in all the bible says you're guilty of all And so you can ask your muslim friend have you Sinned more have you ever sinned once yes, then you are guilty of all the law You cannot enter god's presence because you have broken his holy law But the law was to take us to jesus it was pointing us To the cross that jesus would come and die And he would be in our place and take the penalty for our sin because the law says the soul that sins Shall die the wages of sin is death But the gift of god is eternal life So the law was revealed to moses to point us to jesus to bring us to christ because christ alone could redeem us Then we have the prophet david david wanted to build a temple for god But wasn't permitted god declared to him that one of his descendants would establish an everlasting kingdom Also that this one Which was referring to the messiah would suffer Be sacrificed and conquer death You can point again the muslim to david Do you believe in david? Yes, do you know that god spoke to david and told them that from him would come one That would be the messiah Even david the prophet david Then we have jonah They believe in jonah unis the prophet unis jonah was sent by god to preach his message to the ninovites But he refused god prepared a large fish to swallow up jonah He remained there three days and three nights Then back to life And you can see the words of jesus because jesus refers to jonah And he says just as jonah was in the belly of the fish. So will the son of man Be three days in in the belly of the earth So we can refer back to jonah jon the baptist Coming up Jon the baptist he prophesied of jesus And declared it that he was the lamb of god. So it is important to to remind your muslim friend the words of jon the baptist the words of jon the baptist And then last we come to jesus jesus was the lamb of god provided as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity And god was made flesh through him Fulfilling all the prophecies beforehand in the old testament You see all of these all of these prophets that we've been looking at adam Noah, abraham, joseph, moses, david, jonah, jon the baptist All of them are pointing to jesus and that's what we want to do We want to take him down this path so that we can show them That all of the story is pointing us to jesus And finally jesus rising from the dead Defeated death and hell then ascended into heaven Coming again to judge the living and the dead So there you have it. This is the path of the prophets We looked at the uniqueness of jesus And his blood atonement and how the bible Throughout all of scripture tells us that There is no remission of sin except through the blood And jesus came to pay for our sins And so once we understand this it's important for us to to learn this And kind of memorize it and understand it read the stories get familiar with the Passover get familiar with the stories In the old testament so that you can have a conversation with the muslim Because one of the things that they they love is they love hearing stories But remember everything bring them to the gospel the gospel is central Okay All right. Well, we have some time here. Wow, we ended early 15 minutes So i'm gonna open it up to uh questions and answers And then we can pray so any questions you have Now's a good time No, they won't call it the old testament so they would refer to it as the Torah So you can say the Torah that's fine You you can refer to the Zabur Okay, so yeah, you can refer to it as the Torah. Yeah Yes No, they don't know Because remember they don't read the bible So they just once again, so this is This is something that I wanted to um to clarify The holy books in the Quran because this was asked previously They believe that god gave the Torah The the Zabur, which is the books of david The injil which is the gospel of jesus and the Quran for holy books. Okay now they don't explain What or how much are those books? It just says god gave four holy books That's it Okay, so when What's that? Well, because remember they believe that it's been corrupted Even the Torah so in their Quran So all they know when they read their Quran This is the final word of god This is perfect But we believe in the Torah that came before And the Zabur before and the injil the the bible the bible or the gospel before But the one that is now existing is corrupted So we can't trust it. It's not reliable. So that's why god sent the Quran So when I'm ministering to a muslim though, obviously Deal with one thing at a time. Okay, so if they do if they come and they say no Well, you can't trust that the bible has been corrupted. Okay. Well, let's talk about that objection The corruption of the bible. Let's talk about that Okay, remember the Quran points to the bible And says that you must test test the Quran by the people of the book that came before it So if it's corrupted, how are you going to test the Quran by something that is corrupt? Okay, so you have different issues that you have to face with them Yes No, I have the whole old testament and new testament. Yeah. Yes. Oh, absolutely I will oh no. Yeah, you can find anything you can find any. Yeah, you can find even thinner than this Yeah No, you can find it, but that's why yeah, I like to I will always carry the whole bible I don't suggest people carrying Just the new testament Yeah Even the fact even that issue to me is a question If you think about it a muslim could actually drill you and say well, why do you have a new testament? Okay, I understand we have new testaments in our pockets But why it's almost as if I'm saying the old testament is not the word of God. I only need the new testament That's kind of dangerous So I have a bible. I have a real small bible, which is the whole bible in my pocket So they have those two those but they're real tiny letters But you know what you can carry this But I mean typically, you know, it depends If I'm having a it depends where I'm at. Okay, if I'm at a mosque I don't uh, I don't I don't necessarily carry a bible. Okay. I can I can talk I can memorize things I don't necessarily need to have the physical bible Okay So usually when we go to a mosque and normally I'll have a backpack Women will have bags so you can have the bible in there too, you know or a small bible So like I like I said, I have a small miniature bible Yeah all the time. Yeah But I I don't I don't uh I don't recommend people carrying it like this. It's very Uh A confrontational Here I am with my bible, you know, I don't do that even street witnessing. I don't And it's something it's something we do but I mean if you think about it in the book of acts They didn't have the bible printed yet The whole church in the book of acts they didn't have a bible and what did they do they preached But we we have the the the benefit or the privilege of having that they didn't have But I don't have to carry it with me. No, I have it in my heart in my soul The bible you are the live you are the word of god walking. Yeah, are in the tablets of stuff on your hearts. Yes Yeah, I don't know I mean it is practiced it I mean, I know Mormons do it, you know Mormons can do it But I don't know as far as technicalities and legalities I don't know if it is like in california or what states or which I don't know Yeah, and even when I was in morocco overseas There are not too many people that actually have more than one wife It's not a common thing. They can't afford it. Yeah Yes Yeah, that's fine and and most of this these things Are for you to know I have almost Rarely ever even came up this issue about four wives It doesn't even come up a lot of things will not come up They'll come up the cross the trinity Okay, the son of god those will be red lights all the time When they do the the sacrifice of the sheep, okay? So first of all When they kill the sheep it is not a sacrifice for sin. It is just a memorial So that's all what they're doing But they do it and they have to do it now here in the united states is different than overseas Where they can actually do it at home on their patio and kill the sheep Here, um, you know, they will go to a local Place here in chino and different places where the butcher will just give them the meat and that's it So they don't necessarily do it themselves when you go other places and you see them doing it themselves No, it's at a different time Yeah So this this is important for us this year everyone May 27 through june 25th is ramadan So remember these dates for everyone that you know muslims And you may want to I encourage you if you go to this website here www.worldchristian.com You can order a prayer booklet And it's I don't know how much it is. It's very very minimal and the prayer booklet it has every day a devotional And a prayer for that day so you can pray during ramadan And this is what a lot of thousands of christians do all over the world Yeah, right for christians No, no, no, it's for christians. Yeah, no, we're christians praying for the muslim world. Yeah Worldchristian.com world christian. Yeah. Yeah, sure. What's that? um It'll be called 30 days of prayer You'll see it'll it'll be called either like ramadan prayer booklet or 30 days prayer for the muslim world And we want to you know, we want to pray when you know during ramadan because all the muslims in the world Will be fasting So, you know any muslims, you know, you know in in during those days They will not be eating or drinking nothing Until sundown, right So also they are very inclined to talk about spiritual things They're inclined to talk about god to talk about prayer to talk about the bible to talk about the coran They will be open because they are they are fasting. They have to pray and fast No, it's a prayer booklet. So we know how to pray for them for the muslims So each day has a different topic. It'll say, okay, we're going to pray for you know, um, the spiritual attacks in nigeria Now I pray for the christians in egypt As for a muslim woman, what will be my first step? The first step is just like you are doing exactly like you're doing just smile And say hello or salamu alaykum And see where it goes from there, you know shake their hand if they are willing to shake your hand I mean, I don't know. Are you talking about people that you work alongside? Oh at the market. Yeah. Yeah, just say hello Just say hello and then Leave it at that, you know You know, if you want to talk more if you want to ask them say, how are you or uh, you know Can I ask where you're from? You know, you can start a conversation like that. That's usually how You know, we would do that Yeah Have you ever tried? No, okay. Yeah, try it. Try it. Yeah, try it Right That's exactly what we what we said. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly the issue is that if the koran is not corrupted And yet his previous revelation in the bible got corrupted. Why would he allow it to be changed? Because we have verses in the bible that say first of all god preserves his word And the koran says none can change the words of allah So if none can change the words of allah, then why are these changed? So yeah, that's what you would bring up to them and that's what you would say. Yeah, right Right, exactly. Yes You know You can only you can only wonder all you can do is wonder because we know That he was around jews and christians We know there was a lot of trade and he went traveling, you know by cities And so he was and then in medina it was a very huge jewish population So he would have maybe heard the Torah read. Maybe he would have heard by synagogues and even churches He couldn't read but he could hear So yeah, absolutely Yeah, do you have another question? Yeah Together Yes, and you know what questions like Ramadan, you know, oh, I I know you're you're You're practicing Ramadan right now Okay, just that they will be shocked that you know because nobody knows this It's not it's not like christmas here Everyone knows it's christmas. Okay, because it's everywhere But for you to tell them, oh, I know you're practicing Ramadan. How does how does that feel? Just that's a simple question. How do you feel? How are you doing? You know, they will be very shocked Oh Yeah Oh totally totally opens up And then when you talk to someone about that then you may end up because at the end of Ramadan they have a huge celebration So they may you may end up inviting you you may get invited. Okay And then that would be great I ended up a few times at a mosque in uh where I lived before in san gabriel San gabriel valley mosque They invited me to come to the mosque for a big dinner and I was like, yeah, I'll come So I was the only one there. I was sitting outside with all these muslims there and stuff, but you know I was there. I was a light, you know Whether I got to talk or whether I didn't get to talk but I was I got to be a light You know, and I was just I was just there hanging out with him, you know, but they they invited and they're very welcoming, you know But it just it takes a little bit of just kind of breaking the ice kind of breaking, you know Yeah, and you know what's and then not everyone is the same You know, so there might be some women that you might find a little bit cold, you know And you just leave it and then someone else that maybe will respond, you know