Transcript: CHAPTER 1

1. Personal Testimony

I am 30 years old. I come from a Christian family in Egypt, and I spent my whole life wondering why I was born into a Christian family without the opportunity to choose my beliefs. As I grew up, I questioned myself, especially growing up in Upper Egypt, where life is more conservative, and both radical Muslims and Christians are deeply concerned with beliefs and traditions.

I used to go to a Baptist church almost daily, either with my parents or by myself, attending nearly every meeting. However, at that time, I didn’t have any intimacy with the Lord; I was just someone who inherited the faith from his family.

I often blamed God for being an only child and growing up without siblings. It was really tough dealing with life at school and church, and even more challenging when my parents used to fight. Being alone made things harder, and I began to blame God for many difficulties in my life, such as the way my parents raised me, how people treated me, and being without siblings. But despite all this, I NEVER STOPPED GOING TO CHURCH AND MEETINGS.

In 2013, I made a hard decision to move to Cairo and leave my city. I felt my life was useless and that I was a burden to my parents, who fought because they couldn’t provide for me. During this time, I had a passion for sharing the Gospel in Cairo with people who didn’t grow up in the church, but I always felt it was difficult because I struggled to live out the things I wanted to share.

Turning Point:

In 2017, I had a very dark day in Cairo. My parents were fighting, and they called me to complain. Everything felt broken, and I began to cry. I decided to end my life because I felt it was pointless. I took 13 tablets of medicine, crying hard out of guilt, and I called one of my best friends, who came and took me to the hospital. By God’s grace, they helped me stay alive. Although I didn’t trust Him, God loved me and saved me, even when the doctors were amazed. On that day, I knew God wanted me to be alive for a purpose.

After that, I met people who helped me overcome feelings of guilt and encouraged me to share the Good News with the majority in Egypt, the broken people, and the Syrian refugees. I spent seven years sharing with these people, and it completely changed my understanding of God and many of the wrong teachings I had received. Every time I shared, God taught me more about His faithfulness and goodness. In the next part, I will share how God set this fire in my heart for sharing the Good News with the lost. I hope God will do the same for anyone who reads these posts.

We Are Not Better Than Them:

One day, in 2010, I was attending a revival at my church. I remember the preacher raised his hands towards the streets and asked the congregation to pray for the “sinners,” referring to the Muslims. I did the same as everyone around me, but I was deeply concerned. What?! Sinners?! I thought to myself, “So, does that mean we are better than them just because we grew up in the church and aren’t sinners?” I couldn’t help but laugh in my heart because I had just come from home to church after watching pornography.

I realized that our churches and Christian communities had been teaching us wrongly by judging Muslims as sinners. But the Bible doesn’t teach that. Jesus never told His disciples that people around them were sinners or bad, even those who betrayed or denied Him. He always had good intentions for everyone, and this love is what changed their hearts!

Luke 5:31-32:
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Matthew 9:12-13:
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

After reflecting on these truths, I found that LOVE is the key, above all else. I pray that God teaches us to love others just as He loved us from the beginning.

CHAPTER 2

2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

I knew this verse a long time ago and memorized it when I was about seven years old, but I never focused on the rest of the verse that tells us we have the ministry of reconciliation and that we are ambassadors. Being in Christ and becoming a new creation means we must represent Jesus and share the Good News with the people around us. There are still millions who have never heard the Gospel or have only heard a distorted version through a YouTube video or a Muslim Sheikh. That’s why we are here—to share the truth and allow God’s grace to heal broken hearts.

I believe sharing the Gospel is 40% of our new identity, and it’s essential not to neglect this 40%. The remaining 60% is accepting Jesus as our Savior and not stopping at that step.

P.S. If you strive to live in intimacy with God, you will naturally share His message of love with those around you.

Sharing the Good News is like a fire and passion to let others know so they can come back to His kingdom. God’s plan for the earth is for everyone to know Him and the Good News, even if not everyone believes or accepts it. His heart from the beginning was to share this privilege with us because He loves us and wants to show His glory through people believing and following Him.

CHAPTER 3

In the following paragraphs, I’ll share some tools I’ve used when sharing with Muslims. We must recognize that Jesus did three main things when He was on earth:

1. Asked questions
2. Spoke in parables
3. Performed miracles

It’s helpful to follow His strategy when sharing with friends who didn’t grow up Christian or don’t believe in Jesus. One important thing I’ve learned is that we aren’t trying to convert people to Christianity but rather sharing personal stories of how the Lord changed our lives so they can follow Jesus. There’s a big difference between Christianity and following Jesus.

In the next sections, we’ll explore effective tools to use when sharing about Jesus.