Who is Jesus Christ ? – A former Muslim explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Thabiti Anyabwile, currently senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman, is a native of Lexington, North Carolina. Thabiti Anyabwile has a remarkable testimony of being converted to Islam while being a nominal Christian, and then God called him to a true saving faith in Jesus Christ. Being a former Muslim and is now a Christian pastor, Thabiti Anyabwile has a unique perspective of explaining to Muslims the Gospel and specifically “Who is Jesus Christ ?” with some very useful insights from Islam which he once held to.

Thabiti Anyabwile began serving as elder/senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman since August 2006. He served previously as an elder/assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and as an elder at Church on the Rock in Raleigh, NC. Thabiti Anyabwile has a strong professional and academic background in community psychology, with special interest in the history and development of the African American church. Thabiti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University.

In these video clips, Thabite Anyabwile explained “Who is Jesus Christ” at a dialogue/debate was organised by the Muslim Student Association and Christian Fellowship Club from the University of Wollongong in Dubai.

Related Post: Who is God and how are we saved? – Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Muslims

From Homosexuality to Holiness --- Living with HIV and Hope

A gripping testimony of a rebellious young man who was steeped in homosexuality and drugs. The young man and his non-believing parents were saved and transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A sovereign God, through sad and disappointing circumstances, drew them and called them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jer 29:11-13

"In this video, Christopher Yuan gives his testimony with his father, Leon at a Thanksgiving service. Christopher tells his story of God bringing him out of the homosexual lifestyle into a life of purity and obedience. In addition, although living with HIV, Christopher has realized that his true hope is found in Jesus Christ and lives each day to please His Lord and Savior. Visit his website at http://www.christopheryuan.com."

Testimony: Hardcore Rapper's Life Transformed by Jesus Christ

Mark was a former rapper of PKO. Mark, also known as Magic Mark was part of the underground rap scene awhile back. The Lord has saved His soul, and this is His testimony. Mark shared his salvation and transformation by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark shared about Jesus Christ, and the change that is only found in Him.
Marvelous Light


Who is bigger than God?

True evangelism, wrought through faithful preaching of Gospel in full

This is an excellent "must see" video clip documentary on how, Mark and Gloria Zook, a New Tribes Mission's missionary couple from the US went to Papua New Guinea to share the Gospel with Papuan natives in a remote village.

These people have previously never seen the world outside of their village. These people have never heard of God of the bible, the missionaries did not want to jump right into sharing who Jesus Christ is without first providing them the full picture on the Gospel story as revealed by the bible. The missionaries started by sharing with these Papuan natives simple information on the location where the natives lived relative to others in PNG and in relation to the community of world nations. The Papuan natives started to have a bigger worldview beyond their remote village. They realized that there is a much bigger world beyond their village. With an enhanced worldview, teaching the bible and its events began to make much better sense.

The missionaries took great pains to faithfully teach and explain the whole counsel of God, starting from the creation of the world, creation of man and how man sinned against God, the basis of Old Testament revelations in the calling of Abraham and the sacrificial offering of Isaac by Abraham and how God finally provided the sacrificial lamb. Old Testament's typology were carefully explained and necessity for a perfect sin bearer to atone the sins of sinners and then pointing to God sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was faithfuly expounded and the people began to see their sinfulness to be as vile as that of people of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is evident that God moved amongst these people, by His grace, the glorious Gospel's saving power to shine into their hearts, giving them light and opening the hearts to repentance and faith. The people turned to trust in Jesus Christ and were overjoyed that they have found a Savior in Jesus Christ, they loved Him. This video showed the results of true evangelism, wrought through faithful preaching of Gospel in full and relying on God's mighty power and promise to save through His Gospel.

Mark Zook - Biography

Mark Zook and his wife, Gloria, were born and reared in Belleville, Pennsylvania. While farming, they were involved in their local church and in correspondence courses through Moody Bible Institute.

They completed New Tribes Mission’s training and moved to Papua New Guinea in 1983 to begin working with the Mouk People. After learning the language and culture, Mark began Bible translation, Bible teaching, and church planting work. He has translated the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament, developed an extensive Bible teaching curriculum in the Mouk language, and trained Mouk believers for the ministry which has been documented in the videos EE-TAOW and EE-TAOW, the Next Chapter. More than one hundred Mouk men serve as pastor-elders, deacons, Bible teachers, teacher trainees, and literacy program workers ministering to the eighteen indigenous churches in the Mouk tribal area. During the time the Zooks lived and worked with the Mouk tribe, Mark also served as a consultant for tribal missionaries.

Upon returning to Pennsylvania in 1997, Mark joined the team that developed new curriculum for the New Tribes Missions Institute. For the next four years, he taught and refined church planting courses. He has presented church planting seminars in Ivory Coast, Senegal, Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Argentina, Portugal and the Philippines.

Most recently, Mark co-founded the Worldview Resource Group (WRG), which provides training in cross-cultural church planting methodology with an emphasis on a worldview approach to ministry. Mark’s seminars and workshops are a combination of proven methodology and Biblically-based, practical advice. On December 11, 2004, he received the Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Lancaster Bible College.

Mark and Gloria live in Belleville, PA. They have two children, Rick and Nichole, and two grandchildren. Rick and his family are church planters in Papua New Guinea. Nichole and her family live in Pennsylvania.

When the Holy Spirit Moves and Brings Revival

When the Holy Spirit moves and brings revival, people are found turning away from their selves, they are found humbling themselves before a Holy God, there will be much prayers, tears, repentance, confession and forsaking of sins and souls will be saved. Evangelist John Sung, the anointed servant of Jesus Christ, knew from his own experiences that these sovereign works of the Holy Spirit in convicting sinners are clearly evident in the 1931 Nan-Chang revival when the Holy Spirit came mightily to draw men and women to Him and revived the churches in China.

During that revival, he recounted an occasion when one of the teachers brought five students who had already heard about the Gospel to see him .While their hearts were prepared but they had yet to come before God in faith to repent and believe. He wrote, “I asked everyone to kneel and pray, and said: “Lord, you have greatly suffered for us on the Cross, and they have doubts or are still unwilling to accept this unprecedented salvation. Those who are proud or doubtful are but seeking their own demise. Who can enter the Kingdom of God but he who is like a child? As I prayed, I felt that my “self” had died, and it was the Lord who was speaking to them. At that hour, the Holy Spirit descended upon us and Li Yun Ding started to cry bitterly as she felt heavy with sin. All five of them finally turned to the Lord.”

Clearly the message that John Sung was saying to every sinner that is seeking salvation, with a child-like faith you must humble yourself and look to the Lamb of God on the cross and cry out to God for mercy and grace and be born again. Through the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit calls the sinner, convicts him of his sins and draws him to Calvary. The sinners saw their sins and they saw Jesus Christ, the pure and perfect Lamb of God, offered as their atoning sacrifice and their only hope.

Walking very closely with God, John Sung himself fully immersed with the Word of God and prayers before God. He shared with foreign missionaries and teachers, “I read 11 chapters of the Bible every day. After each chapter, I will ask the Lord to reveal to me my sins. The Bible is His Precious Blood meant to cleanse my sins. I cannot leave the salvation brought about by His Precious Blood for even one minute.” He urged foreign missionaries and teachers to attend a particular meeting to be held in the night and he revealed “as this was the day the Holy Spirit would descend upon us mightily.”

In the afternoon before the meeting, it was already evident that the Holy Spirit was already working amongst attendees, he wrote “Many were tearing amongst the audience even before the service was due to begin that afternoon.” John Sung pointed them to the Savior, the perfect Lamb of God dying on the cross for the transgressions of sinners. He wrote,”I preached from Luke 23:26-46. Before long, the entire congregation and I were in tears and everyone raised their hands. The hall was reverberating with heartfelt prayers.”

In a meeting with the teachers and preachers just prior to start of the meeting, he pleaded with

them, “If a preacher could not identify his own sins and empty himself, he would lack the power to penetrate the strong citadels in other people’s hearts. Destroy not what the Holy Spirit has wrought in your heart, lest God be grieved. God loves to work with him who has an obedient heart.” He stated “There is now a spiritual revival amongst the students, and the leaders will be guilty of a great sin if they themselves do not experience a spiritual revival.” Surely, John Sung clearly understood that a preacher of the Gospel must have spent much time before the Lord praying and preparing his heart and dealing with known sins and seeking to rely and call upon God’s power to bring forth the Gospel to illuminate sinners who are spiritual dead and blind. He mentioned, “In my prayers, I lamented the fact that I do not even have a tiny fraction of His Love, and begged for His forgiveness. May He give me His love and save all the prodigal sons who have been led astray. During the meeting that evening, John Sung recorded the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit: “At that hour, the Holy Spirit came upon us …… broke down and cried as she confessed and gave her heart to the Lord.” Sins were confessed, lives and focus priorities of leaders were aligned.

He believed that The Holy Spirit will sustain the revival already begun but it was important that weekly prayer meetings be held for people who are saved to come together to pray and ask for God’s “cleansing by the Blood of the Lamb”. Weekly prayer meeting were the focal points where people of God come together to seek His face and seek His interventions in their lives and for the work at hand. On 7 March 1931 in another meeting, he delivered a sermon warning about hypocritical attitudes will take over if people who are saved do not come often before God. He wrote, “I asked the audience to pray when I had finished. At this juncture, I heard the sound of the Holy Spirit descending in my left ear. More than 50 people continued to pray incessantly, confessing their sins in a deluge of tears, and were unable to continue with their prayers. All but three girls from the high school accepted salvation on that day.”

When hearts of God’s people are prepared and they earnestly seek His presence, He will come !

Holy Spirit's work in convicting all sinners before God

From his diary, John Sung revealed the key to the 1931 revival in Nanchang, China . In any true revival, he confirmed the vital works of Holy Spirit in convicting men and women of their sins. John Sung wrote then: “Suddenly, I felt deeply touched to speak on sin and salvation”. God must prepare the hearts of his messengers in a revival.

This distinct aspect of the Holy Spirit's work in convicting all sinners before God is clearly stated by our Lord Jesus Christ in John 16:8 – 11 : “And when He is come, He will reprove the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment: concerning sin, because they believe not in Me; concerning righteousness, because I go to My Father and ye see Me no more; concerning judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

It is evident that John Sung was convinced that for evangelism to be effective, God must send the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of men and women through the clear preaching the Gospel. John Sung was sure that those“who have not been touched by the Holy Spirit are not aware of sin.' and those “who are not aware of sin cannot accept salvation from the Lord”

This is an important point in any effort to evangelise to sinners. It is not about the making the message more “seeker friendly”, toning it down to the “unchurched” or “pre-believers” and relying on the man-made method to claim “decisions for Christ”. God centred evangelism is to sinners and must faithfully declare the Truth as proclaimed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit of Truth who will show sinners their sinful and lost state and point them to their only hope and Savior.

John16-13-15 “However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you.”

“I have come to understand more clearly than ever that the Lord did not come to teach us or set an example. Indeed He came to take away our sins and die for sinners. A sense of great guilt burned within me as I recalled that my past sermons were ineffective for lack of emphasis on confession and salvation. Henceforth, I shall be a fisher of men! The Lord will only glorify the teachings of those who spread His Truth. As the Lord loves me, He allowed me to experience the many weaknesses of the ministry workers and showed me the path to church revival. I knew in the past that the Lord had come to cleanse our sins, but I knew not that He had come to do just that. A miss is as good as a mile indeed! One who is truly born again can spot sin with ease and repent because he knows what sin is. He will surely be concerned for the salvation of those around him.” Pg 119 “The Journal Once Lost”

Everyone who thirst, Come To Me and Drink!

John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The feast mentioned here is the Jewish festival of Sukkot and there is a ritual of the drawing of water from a spring and bringing it to the altar as an offering to be poured out. The “Pouring of the Water” (nisuch hamayim) was an important feature of the festival of Sukkot. It was already at the end festival of Sukkot, when all the celebrations including the ritualistic pouring of the water at the altar of the Temple are already finished, our Lord Jesus Christ stood up and cried out …..EVERYONE WHO THIRST, COME TO ME and DRINK !

Background to the Jewish festival of Sukkot and “Pouring of the Water”
“When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the “Pouring of the Water” (nisuch hamayim) was an important feature of the festival of Sukkot….; .. The drawing of water for this purpose was preceded by all-night celebrations in the Temple courtyard, with music-playing Levites, torch-juggling sages and huge oil-burning lamps that illuminated the entire city. The singing and dancing went on until daybreak, when a procession would make its way to the Shiloach Spring which flowed in a valley below the Temple. A golden pitcher, holding three lugim, was filled from the Shiloach Spring. When they arrived at the Water Gate, the shofar was sounded…. [The priest] ascended the ramp [of the altar] and turned to his left … where there were two bowls of silver … with small holes [in their bottom], one wider and the other narrower so that both should empty at the same time–the western one was for the water and the eastern one for wine…” - The Taste of Water-Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; adapted by Yanki Tauber

From what the Lord said, there are three things to happen : you must thirst, you must come to Him and you must drink from Him.Unless you thirst after righteousness of God, why would you go and get a drink ? Would any man or woman “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1) thirst after God’s righteousness and seeks after God ? Rom3:11 says it: “there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God.”. No no one will seek after God unless God draws him or her to Him. Our Lord said in John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Can we claim our drink from Him on the basis we earned it by our “works of righteousness” ? Simply put, can we seek to claim salvation from God on the basis that we have always striven to live better and behave better. No! Why would you come to the Divine Physician unless you acknowledge that you are sick in sins and it is incurable and terminal without God’s remedy and power? “But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” Matt 9:12 Every one has to humble himself or herself, leaving behind all our “self righteousness” claims, come to Jesus Christ and ask Him to give us a drink. In our Lord’s encounter with the Samaritan woman, he revealed that it is “the gift of God” and she will only ask if she really knew who Jesus Christ is. Yes, Jesus Christ is greater than Jacob, only Jesus Christ can give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can give us living water of eternal life through born again and regeneration because Jesus Christ has provided the only Way to God and the only Truth to come to God and the only Life Everlasting.

John 4:10-13Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”"Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Only By His Grace, God the Father upon His begotten Son’s victorious work on the cross has raised Him from the dead, sent the Holy Spirit into all who come and believed in Him. Our rebellious kneels and hearts must have bowed to the our Sovereign who is absolutely Holy and absolutely Just. Our faith must be in Him as our sin-bearer, the Lamb of God. We have to look to Lamb of God lifted up and live. We in our bodily temples are cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us.

All life on earth needs water, without water, all life will die sooner or later. Without water, we will die ! The Holy Spirit is the living water of eternal life, we have to come to Jesus Christ to drink of the Holy Spirit. He alone can quench our spiritual thirst and will continue to abide with us and give us “the rivers of living waters” ! He will be a “spring of water welling up to eternal life”. The Holy Spirit will do His mighty works of righteousness in us. The Holy Spirit is the gift of our risen Lord Jesus Christ to all who heard Him stood up and cried out, we have come to Him and we have drank and we have Life Everlasting. Hallelujah ! To God be the Glory !

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