M/E International - CDP Scripts

*Kasturi:*	Good morning, Anna (respectful way of addressing a lady).
*Mano:*	Good morning, Kasturi . . . Are you not the wife of Sunder? I haven't seen you for ages. . . come. . .come. . . sit down.
K:	No... Anna (shyly) ... I'll stand here.
*Vasant:*	Who's here?... Kasturi... How are you?...How are the children?
K:	We are all doing well by your blessings.
V:	Where is Sunder? Is he also coming?
*Kasturi:*	He has gone to the town shandy bazaar. He may arrive any time now. For some days, he has been talking repeatedly about Jesus Christ. He urged me to come and talk with you. That's why I have come.
*Mano:*	Very good. You have come here for the first time. Come, drink this cup of coffee.
K:	No. No. (blushing) No, Anna....!
V:	Come on Kasturi... Don't feel shy. Please have your coffee!
M:	What did Sunder say? Are there any problems at home?
K:	No.. no.. no! No problem at all. Nowadays, he is very much more responsible in taking care of the family. He has stopped his bad habits of drinking and smoking too. After he started meeting with you, he's changed much.
*Vasant:*	It's very good to hear this, Kasturi! We rejoice to know of this change in him. Tell me... what did he tell you about God and Jesus Christ?
K:	Oh, that... let me recall.... He told me about how God created man and this world... and...how man sinned... and... what God did to save man from his sin. Then... He Himself came to the world as a man...and how He died for us and rose fromthe dead...and so many other stories from the Bible.
M:	Oh, my... I do not know how to thank your husband for sharing all he learned about Jesus Christ. How nice that you have grasped whatever he had told you.
V:	Yes, Mano... I'm more than convinced that if such people are given opportunity and encouragement, they will be a great blessing to many... Look there...who is coming...
*Mano:*	Oh, Sunder has also come... Come, Sunder.
*Sunder:*	Akka... Anna... How are you doing? Oh... Kasturi is also here...Good... I went to the town to buy pesticides for our paddy fields.
V:	Sunder, did you know that nowadays it is very difficult to get pesticides?
S:	Well, I managed to get some... and I left it at home and then came to see you. Kasturi also wanted to see you and learn more about Jesus Christ. And she showed eagerness and so we are here.
V:	Well, that's really good. Let us then talk about a very, very important matter today.
S:	We are eager to hear about it.
V:	Sunder, we very much appreciate your earnestness to narrate to your wife whatever we told you about Jesus. There is a need to understand that by the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has determined a way of salvation for man. Following this path, you can experience the life of being *BORN AGAIN*.
*Kasturi:*	Way of salvation!... means?
*Vasant:*	Let me explain it in detail. The way of salvation has a few steps. When I have explained these steps, the way of salvation can be understood clearly. The Bible explains these steps. If you follow these steps you can have the "conversion experience" yourself. Conversion means turning from one direction to another.
S:	Which means... if I understand you right... that I turn away from my sinful life towards God.
V:	Correct. By nature, man's thoughts and ideas devise evil, worldly desires. Turning away from these desires and deciding to think God's thoughts and seek His ways is conversion.
*Sunder:*	I often think about God and desire to do good deeds... But I find it very difficult.
*Mano:*	I am glad you are truthful. Do you know why you fall? Satan, who is the arch-enemy of God, forces you to shut your spiritual eyes, not to see, know or understand your sinful nature. He does it in such a way with everyone so that there is none who can be called as "good." Explaining this, God's Apostle Paul cried that all have sinned and have lost God's glory. You and I should realize this situation and that is the first step towards the way of salvation.
S:	Kasturi, do you understand that as a first step, we should realize that we are sinners?
K:	Yes, I do!
V:	Very good. Even in my case...before I turned to God through Jesus Christ, I acknowledged that I am a sinner. Those leaders, kings and prophets of the Bible also realized this as a first step. King David cried after accepting this truth and said, "Behold, I am brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." Apostle Paul, from his experience, went further to say, "...the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil that I will not to do, that I practice."
K:	When you say this, I sense that a battle is going on in my mind. I feel tired.
*Mano:*	Don't loose heart, Kasturi. We have victory in this battle. Jesus makes us "more than conquerors." He helps us to climb the steps in the way of salvation...Now it is time for you to hear a song which speaks how God leads us, directs and protects us in this world of sin. (A popular song which brings the awareness of the watchfulness of God over His people. It emphasizes that without Jesus and His salvation nothing is possible.)
K:	Thank you very much for this song. It has lifted me up.
*Vasant:*	That's nice to hear. Now listen, let us proceed to the second step. After having realized that we are sinner, we should know the result of sin. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord." The first man, Adam, experienced this death. We are his descendants and we are also deserving of this punishment. Lack of knowledge of this fact leads us to do evil.
S:	Yes, Annan. But the verse from the Bible which you have quoted now, also tells about the deliverance you can get from the punishment of death.
V:	Exactly! And to know the implications of this verse and to believe in the role Jesus Christ plays in this deliverance is the third step in the way of salvation.
M:	Please, may I explain that step?
V:	Of course!
*Mano:*	Even though man may go astray, God's love follows him. He seeks after man. John was the most beloved disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote, "...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
*Kasturi:*	How exciting! But I don't think I deserve this sort of love and care at all. I am so wretched.
M:	Very, very true! But God does not think how much we deserve His love. He desires to bring man back into His own... into His fellowship... Because He created man in His own image. His death on the cross to reconstruct His image in us again, and His constraining love, always beckons us to Him.
K:	Amma.... I can't think of the scene of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, bleeding. It is so awful.
M:	Kasturi, it's no use weeping over the ignominious death of Jesus on the cross; and it is fruitless to simply be emotional about the shame and suffering He went through. You must understand deep in your being, why He suffered and died on the cross? You should believe that He brought eternal salvation for you and me by such a death. Let me explain to you what the cross speaks to us, through a song. (A song that depicts how God calls each one of us and tells us how much the cross is capable of rescuing fallen man from the mire of sin and pleads with man to come to Him and drink from His cup of Salvation and LIVE!)
S:	The last two lines are significant: "Will I despise the sinner who comes to me? No, never! I will give Him the most coveted life with me in heaven!" Oh, what praise he deserves!
V:	Yes, Sunder.... beautiful praise! In order to appropriate this promise you should trust explicitly on the One who gave such promises. And this Jesus made incredible claims. To put your trust on these claims is the fourth step you take in the way of salvation. I remember to have told you one of such claims earlier. Let me repeat it. Jesus said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
S:	I do trust and believe. How can I disbelieve the One who was crucified for me?
*Kasturi:*	I too believe...Now tell me.. how should I approach Jesus and get this salvation?
*Mano:*	That's the last step. Peter, the foremost disciple of Jesus Christ, speaks pointedly about this step. He said, "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Repenting for the sins you have committed is the key to conversion. In practical terms, you should confess all the sins you have so far committed in your life and ask for God's pardon. You should also make a commitment to God that with His help, you will never commit such sins again. Then, in His grace and mercy He pardons your sins through His Son Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of God will then reside in you and cleanse all the filth of sin.
S:	Is it not wonderful, Kasturi?
K:	Yes, of course!
*Vasant:*	Let me give you some more information. The beloved disciple of Jesus, that is, John, said, "...as many as received Him, to them, He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name."
K:	Well, I want to be called a child of God.
*Sunder:*	Annan.... will God accept us as His children?
V:	Certainly, yes! Jesus Himself is waiting for you. Do you know what He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him an he with me." (As the recitation of this verse progresses, the phrase of a poplar song of exhortation begins. When Vasant completes the sentence the full audio of the song emerges and continues. The song urges the sinner to accept Jesus as Savior and enumerates the benefits that one can enjoy in Jesus Christ.)
K:	Deep in my heart I feel that I am sorry for my sins and I want to turn away from my sins.
S:	I have also committed a lot of sins and I remember so many of them. I want to ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness.
V:	Sunder... Kasturi... Please realize that God is speaking to you. Open up your hearts and say this prayer. (Here the following Sinner's prayer is said by both Sunder and Kasturi. Vasant tells them the prayer, breaking it into convenient groups of words and the respondents repeat after him.) "I *know* that I am a sinner and *ask* for Your forgiveness. I *believe* that You died for my sins. I now *invite* You to come into my heart and life. I want to *trust* You as Savior and follow You as LORD."
*Mano:*	Kasturi...Sunder, by asking God to accept you, you have asked Him to come into your heart. You have now become new creatures. All the old things of your life are things of the past and you have become new in every aspect of your lives. You need to realize one thing -- that you are saved through faith and you can continue to live in this new life only by faith.
V:	Now listen carefully. The writer of the Book of Hebrews, one of the books of the Bible, wrote, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is faithful, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." The writer of Hebrews also gave a list many of those who believed in God with true faith. Among them are Abraham, Sarah, Abel, Enoch, Moses and many others.
K:	Yes, I know about Sarah. Sunder read about her from the Bible and told me her story, how God gave them a son when they were very, very old.
M:	You are smart, Kasturi...How much you have grasped from the Bible.
Vasant:	Yes...She is really smart... This Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful. In the first place, He accepted God as his Lord and Master and then he trusted Him with all his heart. When God told him that he will have a son when he was 100 years old he trusted God explicitly without a word, much before he received a son. He believed fully that what God told him would certainly happen.
*Mano:*	Similarly, the birth, work, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, on whom we trust were not seen with our own eyes. But through faith we see them with our spiritual eyes and we should put explicit faith on them. We should see with the eyes of our spirit that today He is sitting in heaven by the right side of God, pleading for each one of us. Besides, He has promised that He will come again and gather all of us into Himself. We will be also living with Him eternally.
Kasturi:	Amma... Thank you so much for explaining about faith. I desire very much to live a life of faith.
Sunder:	I, too, want to go forward in this life of faith. I think we have taken a lot of your time today. Kasturi and I will be very happy if you both can come to our house some day soon.
Vasant:	We will certainly come. We need to talk more about this life of faith. (A song is played which prays that we want to come closer to God every moment of our lives to live a life of faith.)

	This ends Cassette 3 Go to Cassette 4
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