Led by the Spirit in Boldness! - Episode #16 Summary of the episode: In this episode of The E.A.R. Podcast, we dive into Chapters 46 through 48 of Loving Your Muslim Neighbor by Timothy Harris. Join us as we unpack the spiritual depth behind encounters like "The Holy Spirit and the Moroccan Rug Salesman" and discuss how God’s presence and timing guide us meaningfully. We explore questions around the role of the Holy Spirit in outreach, reflecting on whether boldness is simply a personality trait or a divine gift for every believer. We also consider how Muslims might experience genuine concern for non-Muslim souls and the challenges they face as they move toward faith in Christ. This episode invites listeners to think about success in ministry not in terms of human metrics but as God’s sovereign work in every step toward His Kingdom. Tune in to be inspired and challenged in your witness to others! Tune in to gain insights on reaching out in love, letting the Spirit guide, and creating connections that transcend differences. Meet the Guest: Timothy and Miriam speak in churches everywhere to educate, equip, and energize Christians to gain God’s heart for Muslim people and to love them. Please listen to Episode #1 of this season to learn more about Timothy and Miriam Harris. Calls to action: Please visit their website, www.lovingyourmuslimneighbor.com. You can also purchase a copy of the book and follow along this season! To contact Timothy and Miriam Harris, email them at [email protected]. Note: This podcast is part of the Christian Podcast Community. You can click here to access more episodes and similar podcasts. Works Cited: Cover Art: Brandon Queen | Bible Translations – English Standard Version (unless stated/noted in the interview) | Quotes: authentic from the host and guest (unless stated/pointed out during the podcast) | Song: Turkish Beat - Music by: Muzaproduction from Pixabay --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elderqueen/support--- Support this podcast by subscribing to our Patreon page! CLICK HERE --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elderqueen/support
The Ear, Evangelical and Reformed, Christian Podcast. Welcome to The Ear, the Evangelical and Reformed, a Christian podcast that urges you to think deeper and draws you closer to God through faith. Through powerful sermons, teaching segments, and discussions, The Ear hopes to give you a different perspective on secular topics from a Christian worldview. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Please welcome your host, Brandon Queen.
Well, good morning, Podcast World, and welcome back to another episode of The Ear Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Queen. And guess what? We're diving right back in to our series, Loving Your Muslim Neighbor. And believe it or not, this is almost coming to an end. We have three more episodes left. After this one, we have today we're going to be going through chapters 46 to 49. And
The appendix is going to be coming up soon, and I can't wait for that one. But anyway, let's dive on in. I have with us today Timothy Harris, the author of Loving Your Muslim Neighbor. How's it going, Tim?
So well, man, and thanks again for having me. I always look forward to being with you.
I got to say, man, thank you so much for even doing a series with me. This is the first time I've actually covered an entire book without leaving any chapters out like the first time, which is amazing because that tells people, you know, that this book is worth reading. And I think everybody should pick it up and give it a shot. Read these stories and pray about how to deal with Muslim neighbors.
So that was awesome, man. Thank you so much for your time in that.
Thank you, brother. We are so honored, man. All right, let's do it.
All right. So let's talk about the first segment, the Holy Spirit and the Macaroon. I'm saying that wrong. The Holy Spirit and the Moroccan rug salesman. Let's talk about that.
Let's do.
All right, so you titled that, I thought it was a pretty funny title, but you talk about strategies of the Holy Spirit versus strategies of the human doing its own thing instead of listening to the Holy Spirit. So how good would you say you may seem, and this is for you personally, Tim, by not using the Holy Spirit to advance the gospel?
man i tell you when when i just rely on you know different things even that are good things that god has given me it's just not it's not the same man i mean you know all of us are tempted to rely on uh human talents that god has given us or even our spiritual gifts that god has given us and uh or maybe our education um you know our personality And so sometimes we rely on all of that to witness.
And, you know, God wants to use each and every one of those things. But to depend upon them really is kind of, it's not just misguided, it's idolatrous. And so we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the words and thoughts so that we can witness for Him in just, you know, in every moment.
Amen. Yeah. And I find it I find it interesting, too. When I was reading the chapter, you know, you talked about let me let me open the book, actually. So if you have a copy of the book, it'll be chapter 46. So that would be page 235. I like how you used the ideology, the idea or the imagery of a salesman.
trying to sell them a rock and rug and what I love about that too is when you you take a look at Jehovah Witness you take a look at the Mormon faith they're out and about and they're always in your face trying to you know share their version of the gospel with you and I see that in the Muslim community as well and you know you can't when you go to a car dealership you go in there to buy a car so you can't talk yourself out of buying a car
unless you don't want a car so yeah i find it very interesting this chapter that you talk about this because it gives me uh kind of a little slap on the back if you will uh or behind the head to not use my own merit to share the gospel we have we have to focus on the holy spirit
Yeah, yeah. Well, can I share kind of what the background story is of this chapter?
Yeah, if you don't mind.
Okay, I'd love to. So yeah, as you said, brother, the title is The Holy Spirit and the Moroccan Rug Salesman. So this story took place in Morocco. In the summer of 2018, we had been in Greece, and then we were blessed to go stay in a place in Spain for free. And Spain is so close to Morocco. I mean, you can just take this very short, fast ferry ride over to Tangier, Morocco from Spain.
And so we did that. And one of the first things that our tour guide did after we ate, he took us to a restaurant, was to take us to a Moroccan rug place. And so they literally rolled out the red carpet for us. Actually, a lot of carpet. So many beautiful rugs made by Berber people. And the salesman, Salah, he was kind, but he was pretty high-pressure.
And so finally, he said that he was just going to leave us alone to talk it over about which rug we wanted to take home, even though he had told him, our friend, you know, we didn't even know we were coming to your shop. You have beautiful rugs, but these rugs are bigger than our house almost. And we don't have the money. And so but he said, oh, that's OK. That's OK. Just talk it over.
Well, while he was gone. It was so cool because the Holy Spirit put a beautiful response to him in Miriam's heart. And so when he returned, this is what we said. We don't want to buy a rug, even though they're so beautiful, but we would rather give you money for the poor Berber women that you said made these rugs. And he was so surprised. He was so astounded.
That, yes, he accepted that amount of money, but it just opened up the doors then for us to start talking about what we believed and about who Jesus is and about the gospel. And so this is just a cool example of how Miriam was open to the Holy Spirit and allowed him to give her faith. this amazing idea, these very words. And those words just opened his heart.
He couldn't believe that somebody would give him money instead of paying money to buy a rug. That it would be money that would go to these very poor women who made these rugs. And so after that, we just had this amazing conversation. And at the end of it, we prayed for him. And then he said, please, please. I mean, he totally forgot about selling a rug. Please, please come downstairs.
Meet my family. I want you to pray for them, too. And so we did. We went down, and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't, Brandon, like we were able to share the whole gospel necessarily. We did quite a bit of it. And it wasn't that they put their faith in Jesus that day, but what it was was seeds were planted in Morocco. You know, we didn't walk out of that rug store with a rug under our arms.
But we did walk out of that rug store with hearts that were full of joy that this man had received a little more knowledge, came one step closer to understanding who Jesus really is.
Amen. Amen. I like that. Let me ask you this on a different occasion. Have you seen the Holy Spirit give you words or thoughts in your witness? You know, that would anything that can come to mind. Have you seen the Holy Spirit do that or have you experienced the Holy Spirit do that while you were ministering to people?
Well, I mean, that that was definitely that was definitely one experience right there. I remember, I mean, in the very beginning of our book, I think it might even be in the introduction that. We talked about how I went to visit a young Muslim man, I think he was only 18 or 19, and he was dying of cancer. In fact, I saw him twice in the week before he actually died.
And on one occasion when I went up to see him, I just felt like the Holy Spirit told me to tell him about cancer Revelation 3 and how God says, Jesus says he's knocking on the door of our hearts. And if we'll open the door, he'll come in and he'll have fellowship. He'll have a meal with us. Now, I know that verse is written to a church, but I do believe also it can be an application.
It can be used in evangelism. And so I just said to that young man, I can't remember his name right now, but let's call him Muhammad. I just said, Muhammad, I believe right now that Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart. And he just wants you to say very simply, Jesus, come into my heart. And he was so weak, but he just looked at me, and he, I mean, it was above a whisper, but not much.
He just said in English, he could speak English and Arabic, he just said, Jesus, come into my heart. And it was just so cool that I just felt like the Lord didn't want me to have him pray an elaborate prayer, but the Holy Spirit just gave me
those words and he received them and as i said he passed away just a few days after that wow oh man goes to show you how powerful the holy spirit is for sure you know it's it's it's something we do not have control over at all and it's not something that you know we uh
we do on our own everything that we do is definitely for the holy spirit now um let me see and really and really i want to say brandon i mean let's say let's say the heart of every unbeliever if you picture it as having a lock on it right as we did as well well the holy spirit knows what key to use to unlock that lock He knows what will reach that heart.
He knows how to come into a human heart, and we don't. We just don't know, because everybody's different. Every Muslim is different, and they sometimes need a little different approach, and sometimes it's just a word or a sentence or a thought that the Holy Spirit gives us, and light kind of just comes on.
you know, in the soul, in the heart, the mind of a Muslim person and and leads them closer to to crossing the finish line to receive Jesus and enter the kingdom of God.
Yeah. Amen. So I do want to move in the chapter 47, because I think this one is it's actually getting closer to my favorite chapter. But you titled it, I fear for your soul on the day of judgment. And, you know, it's a it's a very genuine concern for our Muslim brothers and sisters. OK. And you went at it from a very unique perspective.
So I'm going to ask you a question and then I want you to actually explain this story because I do want the listeners to hear it. So does it surprise you that a Muslim would feel that way when you tell them that?
Well, the this story, I mean, it surprises them when I tell them that. But the interesting thing about this story, this title, I Fear for Your Soul on the Day of Judgment, is that a Muslim said that to me. And it was in the fall of 2018. It was in Nevada, in Reno, Nevada. And I was at a mosque.
I was scouting out a mosque on a Friday, on the day of prayer, so that I could take a small church group there the next day just to interact. to learn, to be a witness, to observe a prayer time. And I met a guy from Palestine named Samir. He was just a classic extrovert, just so warm and inviting, huge smile, very joyful. And we were the last ones out of the mosque.
And he said to me, are you hungry? And I said, yeah. I said, in fact, before I came here, I looked to find out what good Middle Eastern restaurant might be near the mosque, and I'm going to go there. Would you come with me? And I was kind of shocked when he said, no. He said, I want you to go with me to a place called El Pollo Loco, which is a chain.
I haven't seen it where we live in the Midwest, but it literally means the crazy chicken.
Yeah.
Yeah, and so we went to the Crazy Chicken, and I couldn't believe it, man. I mean, he ordered the family dinner for the two of us and even added other menu items onto it. And as I say in the book, I hate to admit it, but we ate the whole thing. But during this meal, after my visit to this mosque,
In Reno, Nevada, we just had we were just talking about family and our wives, our kids, our backgrounds are, you know, different things. But then we just started going deeper. I mean, it's the first time I ever met this guy. And the Holy Spirit just had it all set up for me to meet him. It was a totally divine appointment.
And we just went deeper, and then we just started talking about Islam, Christianity, the Quran, the Bible, Muhammad, Jesus. And it was just very candid. And then he just looked at me, and he just made this shocking and bold statement to me. I mean, I still remember it. He said, Tim, I fear for your soul on the day of judgment.
And I think, you know, I just actually a lot of Christians would be offended. But I want to encourage your listeners. If if a Muslim ever says that to you, please tell them what I said to him, because I well, ask the Holy Spirit to give you words. But these are the words the Holy Spirit gave me. I just said to him, I just said, Samir, you must really care about me to say such a bold thing. I mean.
And you believe I can tell that Islam is the way as the only way to paradise. And what's cool to me and what touches my heart is you want me there and you don't want me to go to hell. And then I just said, thank you, my friend. And so and then we had more conversation and I and I said the same thing back to him. I just said, no, Samir, I, too, fear for your soul.
on the day of judgment, because the Bible truly says that there's only one path, one road to heaven, to paradise, and it is through the cross of Jesus, the person and work of Jesus. And so, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I just want to stress to your listeners that even Paul asked for the Ephesians to pray for him to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel, and you think, what? Paul?
Who could be more bold than Paul? Well, apparently he wasn't always bold. He needed the Holy Spirit to help him, and so he asked the Ephesians to pray that he might be bold. And so, man, we need the compassion for Muslims that God has, and we need the boldness that he wants to give us to share his love with them.
Yeah. Amen. And, you know, y'all went to a crazy chicken to have this conversation, you know, but it's it's unique because you'll be in like places you wouldn't think of. You know, you wouldn't think to have a conversation in a restaurant called the Crazy Chicken about each other's salvation. That's right.
You know, but like I always tell people, you have to be able to know, you know, when you're going to know when, but you have to be able to know when to share your faith. You're definitely going to be given the opportunity to share your faith. And when you're when you are given an opportunity to share your faith, you have to do it.
by relying on the holy spirit because if he would have told me that i would have looked at him in in shock and tried to rebut what he said with the gospel like i wouldn't i would not have responded in a in a more loving compassion way because i'm not used to somebody telling me of a different faith telling me that they fear for my soul well you know i i have to say that
very early in our ministry to Muslims, I wrongly responded to somebody who said something similar, and we touched on this in a very early episode, but just to touch on it briefly again, I remember I had another Palestinian man who was an international student, and I was in his apartment, and this was really early when we started out in ministry. We were as they say, super green behind the ears.
We were rookies and just learning. And I remember that this man and I were sharing with each other one night, and we were sitting close enough on a couch where he poked his finger right in my chest, and he said, Tim, I swear to you that I love Jesus more than you do. I was, like, shocked. I was like, in my head, I'm thinking, what are you talking about, man? You don't know Jesus.
How can you say you love him more than I do? And what came out of my mouth was something that wasn't great. I just said, I said back to him, I swear to you, you don't love Jesus more than I do because you have the wrong Jesus. Yeah. Okay, now Brandon, let me just share with your listeners what I'd say now. I hope. I'd probably say now something like this. You know, my friend, wow, that's amazing.
You say you love Jesus. Well, I love Jesus too. So why don't we just talk about Jesus? And that, you know, that you're not defensive. You're not trying to win. You're diffusing what could potentially be, you know, some fireworks and some debate that won't be helpful. And so I want to encourage your listeners.
I mean, I think sometimes we as believers, we think we have to win all the time when we're talking to a Muslim or any unbeliever. I've got to win. If I don't win, they won't understand the gospel. Well, what happens is you might win an argument but lose the person. And really, sometimes winning is more about us than it is about the Lord.
We like to think it's about the Lord and the gospel, but sometimes it's our egos.
Yeah, our pride.
Yeah, our pride. And so, yeah, I think, I mean, what does the Bible tell us? A gentle answer. You know, turns away the wrath of man, the anger of man in Proverbs. So sometimes when a Muslim says something shocking to you that you might be easily offended by instead, you know, just diffuse it with kindness and a gentle, loving heart.
Hmm. I like that. So given that, what you just said, do you think that this can teach us about the urgency with which we share the gospel?
Well, I love that word you just used. I mean, I'll just say that I struggle sometimes as it relates to the balance of being led by the Holy Spirit and the whole concept of urgency. Because if we let the concept of urgency, that is, The idea that Muslims or any unbeliever, that we've got to get to them right now.
We've got to get it out there, get the word out there, witness to as many people as fast as we can. Well, then you're going to do it in your own strength, you know. And so we need a balance between, yes, the days, you know, Paul said are evil. And Jesus said, work while it's day, night is coming when no man can work.
So, yeah, there is an urgency, but it has to be balanced by looking at the life of Jesus. I mean, one thing one of my friends said to me one time is, Mark, you know, Tim, you have, I was thinking about a friend, Mark, Tim, you have a sense of the urgency, right?
of the gospel okay that's great you know but when you look at matthew mark luke and john do you ever see jesus running from one village to another do you ever see him being in a hurry and and man that just kind of shocked me like if jesus wasn't in a hurry
to get from village to village, but instead he said in John more than once, I only do what I see my Father doing, I only say what I hear my Father saying. It was just this amazing kind of combination of, yeah, there's an urgency, but yet there's a peaceful going about, sharing the gospel, when, where, how, all about the timing.
Yeah, that that's good. That's really amazing. Now, think about this, too. We have we have what I call bully Christians. They exist. And it's it's it pains me to even say that. And they actually push people further away from the gospel than they do bring people in to the fellowship of Jesus Christ. And we have to be careful with how we witness and how we share the gospel.
You know, we don't need to walk into a Muslim area and just disrespect them because they're not Christian. Like, that's not what we do. That's not what the Bible teaches. And we need to be careful with with how we do that. Now, chapter forty nine, which leads us to the next part, you titled it. What happened to our Muslim friends? They're disappearing.
So what prompted you to title that chapter that?
Well, this was related to, we had three Muslim friends. I have an outreach partner. His name is Gary. And we don't live in the same city now, so it isn't quite the same. We're not able to do this. But for years, we would go out every Thursday, and it was our Muslim outreach day.
And we would just go out in a city here in the Midwest, and we would just search for Muslim people and go love on them, meet them, strike up conversation. And then once we knew enough people, we'd just go back and see them again. And then we'd set up times where, you know, maybe we would have coffee together at Starbucks or something. And so we had three men like this, Muslim men.
And what happened to all three of them was it just seemed like all three of them were making advances toward putting their faith in Jesus. And then all three of them individually, they didn't know each other. Well, two of them did. I take that back. They just disappeared. I mean, it was like all of a sudden they wouldn't answer their phone. they wouldn't return a WhatsApp message or a text.
And, you know, I remember one of them, I mean, he was this gentle, older Muslim man from Syria. Oh, we just love this man. And it was so fun because it looked like that we were watching him. His name was Mansour. And it just looked like we were watching him be born again. In fact, Brandon, one day,
We were talking with him, sitting with him in his home, and I asked him if he had come to believe that Jesus died on the cross. And this is something, obviously, that the Quran denies and Muslims don't believe. But I'll never forget his just totally unexpected response. Here's what he said. If Jesus didn't die on the cross, then who was that man that came out of the tomb? Isn't that cool?
I mean, so he believed in the resurrection and because he believed in the resurrection, then he said, I have to believe in the cross. I mean, it was kind of a different way of thinking, but the Holy Spirit was working on him. But so he kept joining us actually in Bible study. And then, like I said, he just disappeared. And I remember I went back to his home.
And his granddaughters would even give me, you know, conflicting stories of where he was. Like one of them would say he's taking a nap and the other one would come out and say he went to the store, you know. And so what happened was it was very obvious to us his family shutting down. Yeah, his daughter and son-in-law and son, we think they just shut him down and kept him away from us because...
it became clear that he was getting really close to putting his faith in Jesus. And actually, I think that he did. But the point, brother, is that, and this happened with the other two guys too, and the point is that what we have found with so many Muslims is they will say, once they do come to Christ, they'll say, I didn't give up Islam easily. In other words, it was a hard, hard, hard decision.
But we want your listeners to hear, please believe us when we say that Islam doesn't easily give up its people either.
Yep.
Yeah. And so you're in a spiritual warfare. Your battle, our battle, is definitely not against Muslim people. It's not even against the leaders at the mosque. You know, we had another guy... that he just flat out told us, I'm sorry, I can't meet with you anymore for Bible study because I'm getting too much pressure from the people at the mosque. And they're putting pressure on me. I can't do it.
So he was afraid. And so, yeah, so our battle, you know, really, it's not against Muslim people, but really what we need to do is just keep loving our Muslim neighbors and fight for them on our knees in prayer.
And so those three men that disappeared, yeah, it just showed us so clearly, man, if you want to be involved in outreach to Muslim people, you better buckle your seatbelt and be prepared because there's going to be spiritual warfare, not just against them, but against you. And so it's spirits, man. It's... And so we love the people, but we battle those spirits.
Yeah, I like how you said, you know, battle for them on your knees. That's something we definitely have to focus on is prayer. Everything we do has to be saturated in prayer. Like nothing else, just saturated in prayer day in, day out. That's it. Just prayer. But I want to do something a little different.
I want to go back one chapter because we just did forty nine and I want to go back to chapter forty eight. And it was kind of out of order by my mistake because I'm a human. But I think it's actually going to fit perfectly. And you titled the chapter. Are you having success in your ministry to Muslims? And.
I think the only way I want to answer that question, in my opinion, is I think the only way that we can have success in our ministry to Muslims is to be on our knees, praying daily, asking the Holy Spirit to intervene whenever needed and to give us the words to say at the time it needs to be said.
and and i think that goes for anyone in ministry it doesn't have to just be muslims it's any type of ministry stay on your knees stay in prayer stay in the word and stay in fellowship with christ amen yeah that's so cool yeah we i i mentioned the chapter when i was a boy i was i was so fascinated by a character i i got a little book at school and it was by uh johnny appleseed
that lived in the late 1700s, and he planted apple seeds all over part of the eastern U.S. and the Midwest. And I think that one problem a lot of Christians, followers of Jesus have, is that they think that they're not being successful in evangelism unless someone you know, praise the prayer, so to speak, or becomes a follower of Jesus.
And instead, I just love the whole idea that a lot of us are gifted to plant seeds. And I want to read, if I could, a definition that I really love related to quote-unquote successful evangelism, because you have to define success. And so this is by a man named Paul Hazelden. It's on page 245 of this chapter.
He says this, if you understand something of the journey a person must take in order to discover God, then you know that helping someone take one more step towards God is successful evangelism just as much as helping them over the final line. Yeah.
And so I want that to sink in for your listeners that evangelizing Muslim people or anybody, but especially as we're talking about Muslim people, it's a process. And really, it can be a long process. It can take years.
But doesn't this just bring, I mean, this definition, doesn't it bring just this new freedom and encouragement that, hey, if you help a person, if the Holy Spirit uses you to bring a Muslim person one step closer to Jesus, that is successful evangelism.
I like that, you know, and because I was going to ask you, well, how would you even measure success when when you're ministering to Muslims? Like what would be the the measuring stick, if you will, to measure such success when it comes to ministering to Muslims?
Yeah, I think I think that's it. I mean, part part of the measuring stick is relational and part of it is. Knowledge of the word and who Jesus is. So let's just say relational first. We've talked about this chapter after chapter because the title of the book is Loving Your Muslim Neighbor. So we say in the book over and over, the whole thing is about relationship.
And so I think that, for example, you spend time with a Muslim person. You hang out. You find out about their family. You find out what matters to them. You find out about their history. You find out about what Islam means to them. You know, when you've heard answers to those questions, in my opinion, and you're growing closer to that Muslim person, then in my opinion, That is success.
It's part of the definition of success regarding evangelism. It's a path. It's a road. It has markers on it as you go. And sometimes the road takes some really wild turns. And then maybe you're in a conversation with a Muslim and you say, you know, that reminds me. We have a story about forgiveness today.
Because I just had a Muslim guy say to me the other day, you know, he said, I'm so angry at another Muslim guy. He said, because Tim, he said, one time we were together and he didn't show respect for you. And he said, I'm just angry at him. And he said, also, he's not helping our fellow refugees. He's greedy, and he doesn't give money to help the newer refugees, and so he won't talk to the guy.
Wow. Yeah, and it brings up the story, right, of, I mean, you know, just the beautiful parable that Jesus told of the man who owed this king, let's say, a million dollars, and the king has mercy on him and forgives him. Then that man goes out and finds... a man who owes him $1,000. And he won't forgive that man.
And so it's so clear that the Bible says that we are to forgive one another just as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us in Christ. And so if you tell that parable to a Muslim man who's angry at someone else or a woman who's angry at someone else, then they can see that, well, do you want God to forgive you? Has God not forgiven you of so much?
Then Jesus said, you need to forgive your fellow man or woman. And so that is one step closer for them. Anything you're able to do to show them who Jesus is. and get them into his teachings and do oral stories, you know, that can touch them right where they are. All of those things are success because all of those things are bringing them one step closer to Jesus.
Amen. Before we wrap up, I want to talk about boldness and overcoming hurdles, just briefly. Do you think that boldness is a personality trait, or is it something that we can receive from the Lord and grow in it?
I think it's both. I think that some people definitely have kind of a natural boldness. They they're more courageous than the average person. It's built into their DNA. I'm not that person. I'm sad to say I have a natural fear of conflict. But I do think some people have a natural boldness that helps them, unless they only rely on that and not on the Lord.
But a lot of the rest of us, I mean, I think your average listener to your podcast probably feels some anxiety when they think about sharing Jesus with a lost person. It just creates, well, what will they think? Well, what will their response be? Or, I don't know enough. And I think two things. We need boldness. And we need, I put this on page 241, Brandon.
We need a love for people in which fear for their souls on the day of judgment means more to us than fear of their response to our witness in the here and now. And we need to have more fear for their soul than we have fear of their response when we witness. And I want to just go back to that verse that I alluded to earlier.
It's Ephesians 6, 19, where Paul said to the Ephesians, pray for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. So, man, I mean, if Paul needed boldness, and I think he was naturally bold, but if he needed more Holy Spirit boldness, so do we all.
Amen to that, brother. I got a hard one for you. It's a hard question and you might have a hard time answering it today, Tim, but I have faith that you can answer it. So here we go. Now, as we wrap up, I want this to be the closing question. And I do want the listeners to also ponder this question.
So Timothy, how has God used you to move someone one step closer to following Jesus, even if you didn't see the final result?
Okay, that's wonderful. So I'll just use an example that is right now, current, and that is that I have a a friend from north africa a muslim guy he is a refugee here i've known him now for not quite two and a half years and we feel like that miriam and i both have been used to take him several step closer several steps closer to following jesus out of um i would say friendship and service
So it started out with service because when we met him he just had so many needs and so I mean, it's like, you know Helping him get a phone at boost mobile, you know helping him open up a checking account at PNC Helping him find an immigration lawyer Helping him find a place where he can buy the food that is closer to
to what he had back home in North Africa, helping him related to getting a driver's license, going to Secretary of State, and taking driving lessons. I mean, it just, man, it goes on and on. And all of those steps of what we have heard people call servant evangelism have brought him one step further. Two steps, three steps, and many steps, we believe, closer to Jesus.
And then it has given us the right to, when we're together, or even I've sent him many WhatsApp messages saying, with Bible verses in English and Arabic. Wow. Yeah, and even I've used the Bible app for that, so you can copy and paste in English and Arabic. And I've used the Jesus Film app. It's outstanding. And you can get video excerpts from stories of Jesus
And you can have it dubbed in Arabic or the language of your Muslim friend. Yeah. Yeah. The Jesus app is tremendous. And it's got more on there than the old, old Jesus movie. It's got newer stuff. And so, yeah, we're pleased to say. And then just, man, just hanging out in each other's homes.
Yeah.
Just being together, feeding them, letting them. Feed us. I mean, so in two and a half years, I mean, I always consider like I set aside a day. That friend has Mondays off. So I just think about this. Most of Monday, I'm just leaving open because I'll probably be with that with that Muslim refugee friend. We'll be doing something. Maybe I'll be taking him across the state.
to the ICE office, you know, an office that keeps tabs on refugees, where they are and their court cases coming up. Or maybe I'll leave it open because he needs me to take him somewhere else. Or maybe I'll leave it open just to take him to do something fun that he's never done here in America before. So, yeah, I mean, all these things...
whether they are relational or gospel, are ways to help our Muslim friends come one step closer to following Jesus.
Man, that is a beautiful, powerful reminder that we need to trust God with the results. I find that often so many times we want to see the results. And yeah, I get that way, too. But it's not about us, brothers and sisters. It's about Christ. So we have to trust God with those results. I'm not going to trust Timothy with those results. I'm not going to trust Miriam with those results.
I'm not going to trust my pastor with those results. I am going to trust God with those results. Our job is to plant the seed and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. God may bless us and we may see the result in our lifetime. Who knows? But we have to first trust God with that result and nothing else.
Well, Timothy, thank you so much for sharing these incredible ingredients, if you will, with us today. You know, for our listeners, I want us to remember that success in our ministry is about being faithful to God's call, trusting the spirit and having compassion for those who don't know Christ. That's what we need. That's what we need. Plain and simple.
Now, Timothy, can you tell us how we can get a copy of this book?
I sure can, my dear friend. We have a website. It's the same as the title of the book. So it's just lovingyourmuslimneighbor.com. And when you go to that site, you can see that there is the introduction is there. Well, first of all, the table of contents, you can read it there. You can find out what every chapter is about. Then the introduction is there to read for free and the first chapter.
And then there's a place to actually order the book, whether you use Amazon or someone else. We've got links there. And I do want to say for your listeners, I don't know if I've said this before, Brandon, but we don't make a penny off this book. It all goes back into an account. I won't say the name of our missions agency, but it all goes back into an account there.
that's used for training believers to reach out to Muslim people. So, yeah, I can kind of unashamedly promote the book because of that.
Awesome. Well, that will be one of the appendices that we're going to go over, you know, about how to get that training. But but Timothy, that's all I have for today. And that is that is all I have for this episode. And I cannot wait until the next one. And then right after the next one, we get to dive on into the appendices. So that is all I have for this episode of The Ear.
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