Respecting the Bible

I grew up in church and my family was very devout. I recall my father telling me to never place my Bible on the ground. We were to respect God's Word as a holy, living love letter from God to us.

One time I remember using it like a coaster by placing my glass of water on it. My mother almost flipped out as she scolded me. This was the last time I made that mistake. To this day I am careful to treat my Bibles with respect, even if I mark them up inside with highlighters.

I've been through a lot of Bibles over the decades. Sometimes the binding gives way, the pages fall out and the cover fades or cracks. Not from misuse, but from daily use. Tape and glue can only go so far before I need to buy a new copy.

Some people, however, are not so excited about God's Word. Check out this story of how one tiny Bible changed a man's journey.

It was hot and Lonalynn was tired of being rejected all day whenever she tried to spark spiritual conversations with Middle Easterners.

During this Jesus Film^® mission trip, Lonalynn handed an Arabic New Testament to Mo, a Muslim man on the street. He took it, glanced at it briefly, then promptly threw it down on the curb.

That was the last straw for Lonalynn. Infuriated, she yelled "Hey! No! You do not treat a holy book that way!"

Mo stopped and waved his hand at her, "It is not the Koran. I have no use for it."

"This is the Word of God and you must respect that," she said as she picked it up from the street.

When he saw her passion, he changed his mind, took the Bible from Lonalynn and asked for more information. They spoke for a long time about the one true God and his Word.

Mo walked away that day eager to read this book from God and to watch the Jesus film Lonalynn gave him.

More conversations have been occurring as Mo continues to meet with local Jesus Film workers. Pray for Mo as he embarks on this new spiritual journey and reads his new Bible.

Check out this link to learn more about the Bible and its power to transform lives.

Building Bridges with a Thriller

Rarely do horror movies present the message of Christ. And I wouldn't really call the latest short film created by Jesus Film Project^®, a horror film. "Nightwatch"  is more of a G-rated thriller.

Moreover, God is using it to reach students overseas with the gospel. In one Asian country a young woman named Tiffany is seeing God work…

Tiffany was pretty sure the director of the girls' school, which adheres to the dominant religion in the area, didn't like her.

But as the in-country contact for Jesus Film Project teams in her region of Asia, Tiffany worked hard to build bridges with leaders in the community.

One day, to her surprise, she had a nice visit with the director. This resulted in an invitation for Tiffany and some of her Jesus Film^® associates to teach an English class at the school.

The superintendent personally welcomed the team to the campus, serving snacks and talking with them for an hour before the seminar for the students began.

The team then showed the short film "Nightwatch"  to a group of 72 girls before breaking out into small discussion groups.

According to Tiffany and the other members of the team, the time spent with the girls was precious. The director seemed appreciative of their visit as well.

Pray for God to continue to strengthen the relationship between the local ministry workers and the school's director and teachers. And pray this leads to more opportunities for believers to interact and have spiritual conversations with both the educators and the students.

I often use the sovereignty-themed, Mel Gibson movie "Signs," to jump-start conversations about God. What other scary movies from Hollywood might be easy to use for sparking spiritual conversations? Give us your ideas in the comments.