Share a Story
B.L.E.S.S. • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsSharing your story as taken from the book B.L.E.S.S. by Dave and Jon Ferguson.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Recap of the Bless Practice
Recap of the Bless Practice
All month we have been talking about practical ways to share our faith with people who don’t know Jesus, are curious about Jesus or even those who just want more information about Jesus.
However we have been talking about these practices as a way to not be invasive, these are not street corner preaching methods but rather neighbourly relationships with a purpose.
Because the world knows how to be a good neighbour, but we a commanded to be a Good neighbour and given a reason to love others.
All month we have dived into the Bless practices, to recap these practices.
Begin with prayer - that we are earnestly praying for others and blessing them by praying for them either in person or during our personal time with Jesus.
Listen - We need to care about the stories that come from others, not to dominate the conversation but to show empathy for others by hearing and sharing in their life with them. It’s not about me, its about you.
Eat - My favourite one, we need to eat together because great things happen around a table. Did you know that when you eat your body sends signals to the brain saying “I am safe”. We want to eat with others because we great environments and welcoming spaces to have frank conversations about Jesus and show His love to others.
Serve - That we would go out of our way to help others. Taking the self out of selfishness and putting it in selfless. When we serve others we share our heart for them in a powerful way.
Today lets talk about what it means to share a story:
I have had to get over my fear of sharing embrassing stories really quickly. See I am a pastors kid and I know that there is a very good chance that something dumb that I have done in my life is going to be a sermon illustration.
I only wish my future kids good luck..
But for me it only pushed me to be open about sharing my story and sharing Jesus with others. Because I know I get to tell it in a way that was not embracing nor that fight into a specific parable of Jesus.
I got to retell the encounter of Jesus in my life in a powerful and passionate way.
Reluctant to share
Reluctant to share
Sometimes we are reluctant to share our story, we have these hurdles of sharing that we need to over come. The first:
I don’t have what it takes
You say “I don’t have what it takes”
We feel lacking in the confidence that our story might have a kingdom impact.
I personally have battled with this one, that is where I said “I’ll just have to share more”
When we share the gospel story our even bear a personal witness to Christ, the Holy Spirit works in our midst. It just might not notice it right away.
It wasn’t until my 30th time telling my Testimony did I actually feel like I had what it took to tell others about the gospel and lead people to Jesus.
Let me tell you how you get past the “I don’t have what it takes”
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
We lean not on our own power to speak the story or our testimony but rather we depend on God to communicate through us!
When ever you think, my story or what I will say will not be good enough you must double down on the thought that God will communicate the message through you.
Our stories are based all around the person that is Jesus Christ, his life and death and resurrection, the great power the only God could do. God’s message of redemption has been translated through many different people through out multiple ages after the final book of the bible was write. God is a great communicator of his Word, and He will use you to deliever his message through your testimony or a recalling of the gospel message.
believe the Holy Spirit is in every word
I don’t want to impose
Lets move on sometimes we feel like we don’t want to impose and this is a real hurdle. Sometimes it feels like asking someone for money, which is more difficult asking for a few dollars or talking about God.
We have all felt the pressure that is wanting to share the message of God with someone but not wanting to shove it down their throats.
We all want to see the power of Jesus in our neighbours and communities lives. We cling to verses like Romans 10:13
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We save yes everyone! but we forget the next verse,
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Who will be the one to tell them if you don’t?
How can anyone learn to call on the name of the lord if we never tell them they can and show them how.
The one thing I know as a follow of Jesus is that there is a lot of people that do not know what we as Christians do. They have ideas and concepts that most likely are handed down from stories but mostly pop culture, however it’s our role to tell people about Jesus to tell them how to believe in Jesus and ultimately we get to the place where we can tell them to call on the name of Jesus Christ and receive freedom of sin and everlasting life.
Don’t feel like your imposing but rather know that you might be the only person willing to share Jesus with that person.
I feel uncomfortable when I share
Lets keep going.
Sometimes we feel uncomfortable when we share. Which is fair and we are going to talk about this more as I teach you how to tell your story is a short but effective way.
But comfortablitity is important especially when our story of finding God has twists and turns that hurt to even talk about.
Don’t fear sharing but pray for confidence!
I was think about the uncomfy feeling and Biblical characters we are familiar with and I could not help but think about the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.
The one who meets with Jesus at the well and he tells her that he knows her, even that she has multiple husbands. Her response is then to go tell other people this line where is overcomes the feeling of being uncomfortable.
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
Can you imagine the freshness of that testimony, where she says “he has told me everything I have done”. In this chapter she goes from someone who hides in her sin of having multiple husbands to someone who has told the whole town the testimony of meeting Jesus that included her sin.
We should not be ashamed of the change we have received in Jesus Christ but rather use that encounter and how Sin was being vanquished to show the power that Jesus Christ has had. Our uncomfy moments is where Christs power works most.
So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
Sharing your Story
Sharing your Story
When it comes to sharing our story we need to take a approach like the blind man in John 9.
First we need to know the context of the Blind man’s testimony, the encounter the he has before we actually read about what he says to the Pharisees which are the religious leaders of that time.
So Jesus is walking down the road and his disciples are looking for his teaching and asking why is the man they meet on the road blind. Jesus replies he is blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Then Jesus heals him by sending him away to wash his face as Jesus had place mud on his eyes.
But here is where the story changes focus from Jesus to the man speaking about the encounter.
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”
Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
First we need to know is that the mans life is now the testimony of Jesus. He has had a encounter that has completely changed the way he lives.
A Testimony is: transformation Jesus gives you.
However his being physical we too can say the same thing, we know that our encounter with Jesus has lead to a different way of living, we have changed our lifestyle because of the encounter let it be Jesus physically healed you and you can say that Jesus physically changed your life or if your philosophy or daily life practices is different because of him.
However this testimony continues on;
The author John contiunes to follow the man as the Pharisees question him to see if the man will confess that Jesus is claiming to be God.
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
One thing to point out in this testimony that the once blind man gives, he does not know the full picture, but he has the information that people have told him about who Jesus is and he has this encounter with Jesus that informs his message.
So when he says “ can sinners perform these signs”? and “He is a prophet”. The man is telling the testimony from his education, he never needed to study with Jesus for hours or to follow him around the countryside to share a testimony about Jesus. All he needed was that encounter that changed his life.
A Testimony is about how I know God
The same goes for us, we can tell our testimony based on the facts that we know and the man shares that as the pharisees come back for another round of questioning and they have this quick back and forth that I want to hang on:
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Again he acts within the bounds of what he does know. He was blind but now he sees, and he hangs on that encounter with God even when pressed into giving witness to him. We don’t need fancy words or to get technical in our testimonies of Jesus. The blind man shows us that all we need is a understanding of how Jesus had encounter us and a willingness to tell that story over and over again.
Now this is not me saying that we just need to know the basics to be a Christian because at the end of the chapter there is this reconnection and teaching that the blind and and even the pharisees receive where the blind man begins to understand more of who Jesus is.
But here is one more thing that the blind man does, he offers up a invitation.
The Pharisees ask one more question;
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
The blind man ends his testimony with a inviting question, do you want to become his disciples too? Do you want to receive the same power that is Jesus Christ.
Because us telling our story is great, we bear witness to Jesus and glorify is name but I want to encourage you end your testimony end the gospel message, end any God conversation with a question.
Do you want to become his disciple too?
A testimony ends with a invitation
Remember early we might be afraid to tell people about Jesus but if we won’t who will? Just entering into a God conversation is a power moment, but I want to encourage you don’t let the feel good moment distract you from extending the teaching, ask;
Do you want to become his disciple too?
We need to not only share that Jesus is the way, but we need to invite people to encounter Jesus for themselves just like you have.
But how do you share a testimony that helps people encounter Jesus? Well you have to share your life with them, what has happened and what is happening;
Who was I
Who was I
You have to first accept what was, the person before Christ and anything.
This is where we really get hung up on, because we want to let go of what has happened in our life but also not air dirty laundry.
We want that perfect balance of a personal story without getting too personal that it feels weird. When we follow Jesus we take up the new life that is Jesus and his way and so we cannot let the past define how we speak about what Jesus has done.
To talk about the person that you were before Jesus was a main character in your story, not to say that he was not around but the point is to show that powerful transformation that is Jesus Christs death and resurrection in your life.
To do this you’ll need to be open and available. Which is a hard step, but listen to Isaiah:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
This new thing is Jesus, and I am reading from prophecy of his coming, but that same verse is still true in a personal way to each and every one of you.
Do not dwell on the person that you were for there is a new thing, that of Jesus in your life. He has transformed and created streams in the wasteland and paths in the wilderness. Jesus has overcome whatever has happened in the past.
If you are transformed by Jesus, then you should not be ashamed of the past
In my opinion, the hardest part of a testimony is to say where you are coming from, what kind of background and situation Jesus brought you out of. However you are to be encourage, that person is no long in the picture, they are just a distant memory for their is new creation!
So you need to start with who you were before Jesus was the centre piece of your life, not the dwell on it because the past is not the focus, it’s Jesus. But also not to completely skip the story!
Think about it; What would (Movie be if the protagonist was already a hero!)
When I met Jesus
When I met Jesus
Then you need to talk about the big moment where everything change. that one distinct moment where it changed! Some of you might be nervous because your probably saying “well Liam there has been a great handful of times where I met Jesus” and so for others the moment might have been many for some of you.
I want to encourage you to figure out the times where it was most evident and most impactful that Jesus met you.
Here is a handy list I have
When I met Jesus!
When I said I met Jesus!
When I felt the Holy Spirit
When I gave Jesus my life
Now any of these make a testimony, thats the tricky part. I tell you when you write one testimony you’ll start writing one hundred.
When we encounter people through the Bless practices we will understand that our testimony is not one size fits all and that we will feel the Holy Spirit lead us to go into different parts of our life that Jesus had touched and use it for this believer.
Who am I now
Who am I now
Then you should leave them with how Jesus is still active in your life today.
Because we all know the story is not over yet, there is more that is happening.
Every testimony is different
This is in my opinion so much more important then talking about who you were because you are letting the people you talk to about how Jesus is still active and in your day to day.
Because a lot of people see God as a distant being in the clouds but you and I know that he is closer then they think.
So I want to encourage to talk to them about Jesus and what he is currently doing in your life