Sunday 3:14:10

Pointing UP The Power of Story We don’t disagree with the need to point people toward God, we just struggle with how to do it. 1. Develop friendships 2. Discover their stories 3. Discern next steps How do you move from initial interactions to really making a significant difference in people’s lives? • Be with them. Have you ever been in a conversation that turned spiritual and found yourself tongue-tied regarding how to explain who God is and what he has done in your life, this message is for you! Christ-followers often struggle to convey God’s redemption. How do you convey the difference Christ has made in your life in a way that you could share it in conversation? If you haven’t thought it through, you can talk it to death, confuse it, or use so “Christianese” so that only someone who wasn’t a believer cannot understand it. Whether you’re gifted in evangelism or not, you can be prepared to engage people in spiritual conversations and point people toward faith in God. When conversations take a spiritual turn, you need to know how to convey two stories: God’s story of salvation and your own faith story. God’s Story – The Bridge God is on one side. People on the other. Between the two is a great chasm, dividing people from God because of their propensity to rebel against God and go their own way instead. The Bible calls this “sin”. (Isaiah 59:2a) “But your iniquities have separated you from God.” The dilemma people face is that we want to get to God, but can’t leap over the chasm. We try. We try to be good enough, sacrifice enough, do enough. But in the end we realize all the human effort in the world will not be enough to get us to the other side. Our lives would end in death forever separated from God. But thankfully because God loves us so much, he intervened so that we could come to him. His solution was to send His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus bridged the gap to bring us to Him. John 5:24 24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:1-15 Your Story – Your story fits into God’s greater story. When eternity is at stake, avoid these: • Long-windedness – Give your listener a chance to ask questions. • Fuzziness – KISS (keep it simple sweetheart). • Christianese – Avoid words like “salvation”, “born again”, “accept Jesus”, “personal Lord and Savior”. They don’t mean much to people who are not Christ-followers. • Superiority – Don’t act like you have it all together and they’re the pitied lost person. • Ambush – Blasting people with the Gospel with no love for them is worthless (1 Cor 13:1-3). What difference has Christ made in your life? What were you like before Christ ad now what are you like after Christ has intervened? A diet plan – are you losing weight? A counselor – has he/she helped? Zachaeus – was gripped by greed, but became freed from greed. Paul – was self-righteous, but became a recipient of grace. Me – I was overwhelmed by me sin. He removed my sin and guilt and gave me a new start. What is the single key concept reflected in your life that is relevant to someone living far from God? I was striving… but now I’m grateful. I was self-destructive… but now I’m healthy. I was guilty… but now I’m liberated. I was paralyzed by fear… but now I’m confident. I was despairing… but now I’m hopeful. What were you before Christ? What are you now after walking with Him for a time? I was _______________, but now I’m _______________. Write out your story in 100 words or less. The main thing that Christ has done in your life. In 100 words, it’s easy to share in conversation – more than that and it’s a monologue. God has a story – learn to tell it well. You have a story – learn to tell it well. God has moved and changed your life. And He did it for a reason. It’s not only for you, but also so that you would walk into work each day choosing to be focused on more than just the work at hand. That you would be willing, under the Spirit’s prompting to walk across your office complex or construction site or school building. That you would remember everyone you see is someone for whom Christ died. That you would put some action behind your faith, look a person directly in the eye and start a conversation, a friendship, a chance to affect their whole life.