Gospel tracts?

Esaias · #1 01-25-2015, 02:30 AM

Do they work? Are they worth messing with? Have you seen the usefulness of any ones in particular? If so, which ones?

Michael The Disciple · #2 01-25-2015, 07:57 AM

I look at it like why not give them a try? Most people rarely witness of Jesus just through the course of the day so what have we got to lose?

When I was in sin God used tracts 3 strategic times for me. The first a Chick tract THIS WAS YOUR LIFE. This was about the time I started on the path of the drug infested lifestyle. I did not repent but God warned me.

The second time I was sitting in a bar stoned on pot, downs and beer.Everything I looked at was fuzzy like I was seeing double. Then I noticed a tract had been placed at my table by who I will never know.
Tho I could not see anything else clearly for some reason (Holy Spirit) I could see the words of the tract fine!

It was called HELP FROM ABOVE! Just what a sinner like me needed. It was nothing but Bible verses! I looked at it a bit and wound up leaving it there but again God was warning and reaching out to me.

The third time was a time of real crisis for me. I had been living the hippie life in the last 4 years. My latest sin had been reading occult type books that trashed Jesus and lifted up false religons.

At work one day I was just at my limit of sanity and I cried out in my heart THERE IS NO GOD! That was the first time in my life I had ever told myself that. Well rite afterwards I went outside to dump trash with the forklift

When I got outside I just happened to notice something falling down from the sky. I watched it come down and land. Out of curiosity I picked it up and it was a tract that said OF MEN AND MORALS.

After glancing at it I was so shocked I just threw it in the trash not knowing what else to do. Well that very day things began happening behind the scenes in my life that I understand was God drawing me. It was like I became aware of spiritual things in my life. My sins particularly the door I had opened to the occult now visited me and I really knew I HAD TO HAVE THE GOOD GOD OF THE BIBLE!

So yes at key times in my life tracts just seemed to appear.

Michael The Disciple · #3 01-25-2015, 08:16 AM

As a young Christian Jesus was working dramatically in my life. I looked for chances to witness to friends and family. This was a great time for me but I longed for more contact with the lost.

I started putting tracts in phone booths and other places. That was good but I wanted more. One night at a Baptist Church I met a Pentecostal Bible School student. We talked a bit and I never thought I would see him again. A short while after this I met him again in a Wesleyan Church.

That night he asked me to pray about "Fishnet". Well not knowing anything about it I prayed. I found out he lived in the same plat I did so one night I went to visit. He told me he wanted to start a street ministry called OPERATION FISHNET REACHING OUT FOR CHRIST.

I told him Im in! So we gathered a few other people and started going out on the streets Friday nights. We would pass out hundreds of tracts in downtown Dayton Ohio, the malls, the Airport, in front of stores or the bowling alley!

What a wonderful time it was. Over the next two years we passed out only God knows how many tracts. It was a way to open doors with people we didnt know. We would always give a tract and then try to engage the person in conversation about Jesus.

If they would not talk many of them would accept a tract. We prayed with many people right where they were to repent and accept Christ. We baptized a number of them in water and prayed with some who received the Holy Spirit baptism!

That was the beginning of ministry for me. Not preaching in a Church but ANYWHERE I COULD.

So do tracts do any good? For people God is drawing absolutely! And its better to invest time in passing out some tracts than sitting around doing nothing for Jesus amen?

Michael The Disciple · #4 01-25-2015, 08:32 AM

One time in the midst of this we got a letter from a guy in France who claimed to have come to Christ through reading a tract we had given him while he was in America.

Another time the leader of our group was at a revival meeting in Columbus 70 miles away. A guy came up to him and lifted him off the ground, praising God and said "you dont remember me". The guy said he had been on the streets of Dayton in a sin filled lifestyle and our leader gave him a tract and witnessed to him.

He said he had been saved and was now working in ministry! Are tracts the all in all? The only way? Certainly not.

But they are SOMETHING! Something is better than nothing and who knows with patience and passion great things COULD happen.

Esaias · #5 01-25-2015, 06:22 PM

Thank you for that testimony! Are any tracts you would recommend?

Praxeas · #6 01-26-2015, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esaias

Do they work? Are they worth messing with? Have you seen the usefulness of any ones in particular? If so, which ones?

I think they can be but nothing beats first person dialog. A tract can open the door to such a dialog (See Way of the Master series)

aaronliford07 · #7 01-26-2015, 10:21 AM

I think gospel tracts are good to give someone that you are witnessing to or someone that has come to church. Those are the two ways that I have seen them work effectively.

I wouldn't just give them a tract and not witness to them in an actual conversation.

KeptByTheWord · #8 01-26-2015, 10:55 AM

MTD - awesome testimony of how the Lord used tracts to draw you to Him! I believe that tracts have a part in spreading the gospel to those who might never hear any other way, but in all things we must be led of the spirit in all we do... and the work of the spirit obviously was leading people to leave those tracts in places where you could see them. Even though they will never know how those tracts became essential tools in your salvation... isn't it marvelous to know that we can be led of the spirit to encourage someone to Christ, and never even know we were a small part of it!

Enjoyed your testimony MTD!

Michael The Disciple · #9 01-26-2015, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronliford07

I think gospel tracts are good to give someone that you are witnessing to or someone that has come to church. Those are the two ways that I have seen them work effectively.

I wouldn't just give them a tract and not witness to them in an actual conversation.

Well if they dont want to...or have time to talk at the moment why not JUST give them one? What would it hurt? Maybe they will read it?

Michael The Disciple · #10 01-26-2015, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

MTD - awesome testimony of how the Lord used tracts to draw you to Him! I believe that tracts have a part in spreading the gospel to those who might never hear any other way, but in all things we must be led of the spirit in all we do... and the work of the spirit obviously was leading people to leave those tracts in places where you could see them. Even though they will never know how those tracts became essential tools in your salvation... isn't it marvelous to know that we can be led of the spirit to encourage someone to Christ, and never even know we were a small part of it!

Enjoyed your testimony MTD!