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Stones Cry Out Ministries
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The message we preach We preach Christ crucified following
the pattern of Jesus and His Apostles. Just as they did, we warn people that the wrath of God rests upon all those
apart from Christ. Since most people fail to see themselves as God sees them, we sense an obligation to describe
their sinful condition to them in order that they might begin to see their need for the Savior. (Jesus came to save
sinners, not those who consider themselves righteous in God’s sight.) The Bible likens the process of
evangelizing to sowing of seed. Like the farmer, the evangelist must first prepare the ground by lovingly
confronting people about their true condition before God. Most men will admit they are sinners. It is our job to
show them that as sinners, they stand justly condemned and rightly deserve eternal hell. Until a man begins
to comprehend his real condition, the good news of Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice will not be significant.
Often during an initial conversation, 90% of our time will focus on these issues. As God enables us to help them
see their condition, we then gladly explain how Jesus took the punishment they deserve by dying in their place
as the Lamb of God, and that He rose from the dead and is now seated at the Father’s right hand, proving
that God accepted the payment. This central theme of the gospel is what separates Christianity from all of the
man-made religions. The message we preach is contained in the tracts that we write and distribute. We give Christians
permission to use the text of our tracts in their evangelism outreach. (Select “Free Evangelism Tools”
from menu bar.) We only ask that if you do so, that you do not alter the text of the tract itself without first getting
permission from Stones Cry Out Ministries. To learn how to share the gospel the way Jesus and His disciples shared it, click on "Biblical Evangelism"
(below) to download a presentation given by Tom Bear (MP3 format). It explains what every Christian MUST know in order to share
the gospel properly. The following
Bible passages are referred to in the presentation in the order they appear here: 2 Cor 10:12,I Cor 4:5, I John 2:11,John 16:8,I John 3:4, Romans 3:23, Nahum 1:3, Psalm
92:15, Deut 10:17, Habakkuk 1:13, Nahum 1:6, Hebrews 10:30-31, John 3:36, Colossians 1:13, Romans 5:10, Isaiah 53:6, Romans
3:11, Romans 1:29-31, Psalm 2:1-3, Matthew 15:19, Jeremiah 17:9, John 3:19-20, Ephesians 2:3, Psalm 2:4-5, Acts 17:2-4,
Acts 17:17, Acts 18:1-4, Acts 18:19 Acts 20:21, Acts 20:21, Acts 26:20, Acts 26:19-21, Acts 17:1-3, Romans 1:18-2:2, Romans
3:10-21, Galatians 3:19-22, Ephesians 2:1-3, Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22, II Thessalonians 1:7-9, Acts 24:24-25, Matthew 15:19,
Matthew 9:12-13, Luke 18:9-14, Luke 10:25-28, Matthew 15:10-20, John 8:44, Matthew 5:22, 29-30; 7:21-23; 8:12; 10:28; 13:37-50;
22:13; 25:30, Luke13:24-30; 14:16;16:19-31 Matthew 10:39, Matthew 16:24-28, Matthew 10:22-23, John 15:20-25, I Cor 1:18, John
4:7-30
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For more detailed explanation about our message and approach
to evangelizing the lost, refer to Tom Bear's book, "Bringing Back the Gospel" A description of it is
provided on the books page of this web site.
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Stones Cry Out Statement
of Faith Section 1 The Word of God We believe the Bible (both the Old and New
Testaments) is God’s authoritative Word to man. We believe God used men to write the books of the Bible but moved them
supernaturally to produce writings that were free of error. We believe that God has faithfully preserved His written Word
in the many available Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and the many translations that are faithful to the original writings. We
believe that though the Bible speaks about many things, its main message is about God’s eternal plan to redeem people
from sin through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. We believe that this message of the Bible is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who believes and that there is no other book on Earth given by God for this purpose.
Section 2 The Triune
God
We believe
there is only one God; He is without beginning and end; He is the creator and sustainer of all things; He is in control of
all things, including the salvation of sinners; and He is perfectly holy and will tolerate no sin in his presence. We believe
that the one God has always existed as three persons, referred to in the Bible as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe
that these three are equal in every divine characteristic and that they are joined perfectly in purpose to carry out the will
of God.
Section 3 Jesus Christ We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal Son and that He has exactly
the same nature and attributes as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that, according to the eternal plan of
God, He took upon Himself a human body by the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. We believe that He
is fully God and fully man. We also believe He lived a perfect, sinless life that fully pleased God. We believe that He came
into our world to offer His life as a blood sacrifice in order to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins. We believe
that God’s demand for justice was completely satisfied with the payment Jesus made by His death. We believe that Jesus
rose from the dead three days later and was seen by many people. We believe that after many days, Jesus ascended to His Father's
side and received a place of complete authority over all things and that He continually intercedes for His people as our High
Priest. We believe that one day He will return from heaven as He promised and all will know clearly that He is King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
Section 4 The Holy Spirit
In addition to God the Father and God the Son, we believe in the person of the Holy Spirit. We believe
that the Holy Spirit works to show people the ugliness of their sin, the perfect and absolute righteousness of God, and the
certainty of their condemnation before God because of their sin. We believe that the Holy Spirit actively works to raise some
sinful people from spiritual death to spiritual life, giving to them the undeserved gift of faith and repentance. We believe
that the Holy Spirit lives inside every believer during this time in history. We believe that He always directs believers
to live holy lives like Jesus, and He gives them the power to do so by faith.
Section 5 Man
We believe God originally created man, male
and female, in the image of God and free from sin. We believe that sin entered the world through disobedience on the part
of Adam, the first man. We believe that Adam’s nature became corrupted and that all people afterward, except for Jesus
Christ, have inherited Adam’s corrupt nature and show this nature by personally choosing to sin. We believe that all
people live their lives in rebellion against God, independent of God’s rule, seeking happiness as they see fit, and
not really seeking God. We believe that based on their attitude and actions, all people stand condemned before God and fully
deserve to be punished in hell forever.
Section 6 Salvation
We believe that God grants forgiveness of sins to anyone who truly believes from the
heart that Jesus died for their sins as their substitute. We believe that no person will ever receive this gift simply by
his own choice, because he would rather keep living his life the way he sees fit, independent of God. We believe that out
of mercy God takes the initiative to draw people to Jesus, and God is therefore the only One who deserves any credit for the
salvation of all who are saved. We believe that, according to His pleasure, God chooses to give some people the gift of faith
which results in eternal life. Because only God deserves credit for saving, no man can take credit for anything except for
his own sin and rebellion. None of man’s works, rituals or merit sways God in any way, because in themselves they are
all considered dirty by God. Further, no man may take credit for his decision to follow Christ, because that too was a gift
from God, the outworking of the faith God gave him. We believe that every person God saves repents of sin and trusts Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord. We believe that the people God saves gladly begin to serve and obey God as their new Master and will persevere in their faith through sufferings and persecution. Two examples of this new heart-felt obedience
are a willingness to declare one’s faith through baptism and a desire to be joined together in partnership with other
believers.
Section 7 The Church We believe that every person whom God saves is spiritually and supernaturally
united to Christ and to all other believers in one Body. We believe that this entire Body of saved people is the real Church
and is the visible manifestation of Jesus on the Earth during this time in history. Thus, we believe that the Church is the
spiritual Body of Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself is the Head of the Body. We believe that the true Church is composed
of all persons who have been given supernatural, holy life by the Spirit of God. We believe that it is God’s purpose
to build up the overall Church and to purify it by causing individual members to be joined together with others in local assemblies.
We believe that God has planned that believers in these local assemblies serve each other and work together to advance God’s
Kingdom by proclaiming the gospel to people all around them and teaching new believers to do the same. We believe that God
has planned that local assemblies see themselves united to all believers in the world to advance God’s purposes throughout
the entire Earth. Therefore, we believe that all true believers are unified as partners with the goal of seeing Jesus exalted
through the salvation of people from every nation and language. We believe it is normal to expect believers to flock together
like sheep, to lovingly resolve conflicts between and among each other, to seek the good of each other, to encourage each
other in the labor of harvesting for God’s Kingdom, to pray for each other, to watch out and care for each other, to
teach each other, and to exhort each other, all with the aim of advancing God’s Kingdom. We believe all true Christians
desire that the Good News of Jesus Christ be proclaimed to all people and work and pray to that end. We believe all true Christians
share a passionate desire to see this take place and offer themselves to God to be used in any way He desires, so that His
purposes are fulfilled. Lastly, we believe that, along with the Biblical practices just mentioned, local churches should visibly
display the gospel through the practice of baptizing believers by immersion and observing the Lord’s Supper.
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