Equipped and Passionate to Tell Your Story

INTRO/RECAP

We’ve been talking about the difference between Assimilation and Transformation.

We’ve also been talking about Discipleship being the greatest need of the church in the West, the church in America, and the church here at SMDCOG.

Discipleship describes the necessary process of transformation; where every day we look more and more like Jesus. True discipleship transforms 1.) our Knowledge; 2.) our Affections; and 3.) our Behaviors. (REPEAT)

Like Jeannette said last week, most of the time the church’s discipleship efforts focus on a transfer of Knowledge (Christian Education). This is a good thing but falls short in our ability to transform the world (bring order to chaos; bring fruitfulness to barrenness). We Assimilate people by simply giving additional knowledge. Instead, we should be helping them to be Transformed by the renewing of their mind (Romans 12:2).

At other times, we chase the things that make us FEEL something spiritually. Things that stimulate our Affections (our passions, our feelings, our emotions). We want to experience REVIVAL. So, people rushed to Asbury when they were experiencing revival. Or we rush to Moody, or Pensacola, or Toronto, or Azuza Street to feel what they are feeling. We want to be MOVED in worship, but usually our feelings are only temporarily moved. Being “moved in the moment” by revival experiences is Assimilation; discipleship is being Transformed when the Holy Spirit breathes new life into us.

And at several points in history, the church has focused on a list of behaviors that we either DO or AVOID. Our TO DO lists and our DON’T DO lists. This is always an effort to control our behavior, not to transform our behavior. Assimilation not Transformation.

Discipleship describes the necessary process of transformation; where every day we look more and more like Jesus. True discipleship transforms 1.) our Knowledge; 2.) our Affections; and 3.) our Behaviors.

We’ve been using two foundational passages: John 17:15-19 (ESV) (part of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer – where Jesus is talking with the Father about you and me). And he prays, “Father …

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

The second passage is Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) (where Jesus described the mission of the church – the mission of every Christian).

And Jesus said [to the disciples], “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We’ve also been focusing on what the church did in the days and weeks after Pentecost. Acts 2:42-47 (ESV):

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

On October 8th we talked about living life with Biblical Knowledge. On the 15th we talked about developing a life of Missional Prayer. Last week we talked about living a lifestyle of Worship – 24/7.

Today we’re going to talk about being Equipped and Passionate to Tell Your God Story.

We touched on this a few months ago when we looked at 1 Peter 3:13-16 (ESV). Always be prepared.

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous (Peter is talking about having our Affections changed – becoming passionate about the things of God) for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled (our Affections), but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy (set him apart), always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you (i.e., always be prepared to Tell your God Story); yet do it with gentleness and respect (our Behaviors), having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

Loving God With Heart, Soul, Mind, Strength

To be equipped and passionate to Tell Our God Story requires three things:

1. Loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Transforms us Affectively [what we feel, our passions, what moves us] and Behaviorally [how we act, respond, behave]).

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (ESV) - “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Mark 12:29-30 (ESV) - Jesus answered, “The most important [command] is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”

What happens when we fall in love with someone? Don’t you spend as much time with them as you can? You start to learn what makes them happy, or sad, or angry. Your emotions change; you begin liking what they like. Your behavior changes; you do things (or don’t do things) based on how they will feel when you behave certain ways.

When we fall in love with Jesus, when we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we spend more time with him. We spend more time in his Word. We discover what he likes and what breaks his heart. Our emotions change. We begin liking what he likes. Our heart breaks over the same things that break his heart.

Your behavior changes. You start asking, not ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ but how will Jesus feel about what I’m doing? You stop acting in ways that break his heart. You start behaving in ways that you think would please him. And eventually you realize that you can act on his behalf. You can do the things that he want’s done. You do justice. You love mercy. You walk humbly (Micah 6:8). Not just to make him happy, but to accomplish his to-do list in the world.

That’s the first thing that is required to Tell Your Story. The second requirement is we must …

Ongoing, Transformational, Encounter with God

2. Have an Ongoing, Transformational, Encounter with God that changes us Affectively (what we feel, our passions, what moves us) and Behaviorally (how we act, respond, behave).We must stand in God’s presence.[1]

Exodus 19:9 (ESV) - And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” [2]

Jeremiah 23:18, 21-22 (ESV) - For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? ... “I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

Over and over again in Scripture we see that a prerequisite for speaking for God is that people had to stand in his presence. [3]My professor Michael Heiser noticed this pattern. He said, “When God chose someone to speak for him—to represent him to the rest of humanity or to his own people, they had to meet first. This is the idea behind the biblical “call” to service.[4]… The implications are clear: true prophets have stood and listened in Yahweh’s divine council; false prophets have not.[5]”

To speak for God, to tell our God story we must stand in his presence. We must have an ongoing, transformational, experience, with God that transforms our actions and our passions.

That’s the second thing that is required to Tell Your Story. The third requirement is we must …

Be Filled With the Spirit

3. Be filled with the Spirit who Empowers us to Speak (Second work of Grace[6], submission to the guidance of the Holy Spirit). (Acts 1:4-8; Acts 2)

Acts 1:4-8 (ESV) - And while staying with them [Jesus] ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Rabbit Trail: The Church of God is part of the Holiness Movement that teaches that there is a “second work of Grace” after salvation. A baptism of the Holy Ghost. A Second Blessing. Jeannette talked about this a couple of weeks ago – the ability to live victorious over sin. Salvation occurs when we confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as Savior. But there is a work of God after Salvation when we are filled with the Spirit of God. In this second decision we accept Christ as our Lord, and we become sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. Sometimes these two events happen at the same time. Sometimes we embrace the Holy Spirit, and partner with him gradually – over time. We accept and anticipate the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our life. We consciously, intentionally, cooperate with the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day life as he shapes and conforms us into the likeness of Christ. This is the process of sanctification. This is the process of becoming a Disciple.

This opens a topic that we could spend weeks or months on, but for today, to understand what being filled with the Spirit means we have to answer the question, “What Does the Holy Spirit Do in the Life of the Believer?”

Five Things the Holy Spirit Does

The Holy Spirit does five things in the life of a believer who is committed to the discipleship process and wants to Tell his or her Story:

1. The Holy Spirit Teaches Truth (John 16:13-15)

John 16:13-15 (ESV) - When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

a. He reminds us of Christ’s words. (John 14:26)

John 14:26 (ESV) – “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

b. He prepares us in advance for the day. (John 16:13)

John 16:13 (ESV) – “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

2. The Spirit of God guides and prompts (Matthew 4:1; Romans 8:14; 2 Peter 1:21; Acts 16:6-10)

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1). Every child of God is led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). The Spirit of God carries those who speak for him (2 Peter 1:21).

Acts 16 tells us that the Spirit of God had forbidden Paul and his colleagues from speaking in Asia. The Spirit prevented them from going to Bithynia. Then the Holy Spirit led them by Mysia and down to Troas where the Spirit gave Paul a vision to go to Macedonia. So, after picking up doctor Luke (the author of Luke and Acts), they all sailed to Macedonia.

3. The Spirit intercedes (prays) for us (Romans 8:26)

Romans 8:26 (ESV) – “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

4. The Holy Spirit gives us Spiritual Gifts (tools) for ministry (1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Romans 12:1-8; Ephesians 4:1-16; 1 Peter 4:1-11)

5. The Spirit of God gives us spiritual power (Acts 1:8)

a. Why? To empower us to accomplish God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven” (1 Corinthians 12:7; Ephesians 4:11-14; 1 Peter 4:10-11).

Now there’s a common misunderstanding that we need to clear up. Sharing Your God Story is different than evangelism (Sharing the gospel). There are lots of ways to share the gospel – Romans Road, Evangelism Explosion, the Four Spiritual Laws, etc.[7]

Those things are evangelism. They are not telling your story.

Sharing your story is just that simple. Why Do You Love God? Are You Regularly Experiencing the Presence of God? How Does the Holy Spirit Guide You? Most of the time, when you do that, it opens the door to sharing the Gospel – the Good News.

I want to specifically tie this into last week. Telling Your God Story is Worship!

Theology of Worship

One of the best theologies of worship can be found in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. That is the text I used for the very first message I gave on the weekend I candidated here in January 1998. Worship IS telling your story. Every week when we gather, we tell our story. This week I want you to read through Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and then apply it to your life. In this passage, God instructs the people how to worship. He says, “When you bring me an offering do this: declare what you were, declare what Yahweh God did for you, and declare who you are now.” When you do that, you can’t help but worship!

This is What I Was

This is What God Did

This is Who I Am

Let’s go back to our three requirements to be equipped and passionate to share your God Story.

How do you talk about God if you don’t love him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?

How do you talk about God if you have never experienced him? How do you talk about God if he has not transformed what you are passionate about? How do you talk about God if he has not changed how you act and react to the world around you?

How do you talk about God with any kind of spiritual impact if the Holy Spirit has not filled you? If the Holy Spirit does not guide you? If the Holy Spirit has not gone before you and prepared the “soil”, the hearts, of those you are speaking into?

The Story of John Wesley

As I close, I want to tell you the story of John Wesley.

John was the fifteenth child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. They had nineteen children in all. John was born in 1703 in England.[8] His father, Samuel, was an Anglican priest in the Church of England, and frequently traveled for months at a time. When John was 25, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and served for a while as his father’s assistant minister. The following year, John joined his younger brother, Charles, at Oxford and began leading a group of like-minded students in prayer and bible study that Charles had started. This group became known as the Holy Club.

John required the Holy Club to wake up before sunrise, have lengthy devotions, fast twice a week, volunteer at the Oxford jail, and to evangelize their fellow students. John also required that each member of the Holy Club review their day before bedtime, list what they had done right and wrong, and commit to doing better tomorrow. This was one of the early small groups, and more intense than most of them.

The Holy Club was so methodical in their devotion to God that they were given the name “methodists”. Seven years later, John felt called to become a missionary to Savannah, Georgia in America to minister to the Chickasaw tribe of Native Americans. It would seem, by all appearances, that John Wesley was one of those overachievers, a Super-Christian. He was a great preacher, a dedicated priest in the Church of England, devoted to a holy lifestyle, leader of a small group, and now about to embark on his first missionary journey to reach the unsaved Chickasaw “Indians.”

However, on Sunday, January 25, 1736, as he was traveling to the American colonies on a ship called the “Simmons,” a great storm arose and threatened the life of all aboard that ship. Most of the people on board were English but there was also a group of German Lutherans called Moravians who were devoted to living out the Christian life throughout the week, not just on Sundays.

Now because it was Sunday, those onboard the ship held a church service and, in the middle of the singing of the opening psalm, John records this in his journal:

“… The sea broke over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, “Was you not afraid?” He answered, “I thank God, no.” I asked, “But were not your women and children afraid?” He replied, mildly, “No; our women and children are not afraid to die.”

From them I went to their crying, trembling neighbours [the English], and pointed out to them the difference in the hour of trial, between him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not. At twelve the wind fell. This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto seen.[9]

This encounter with the Moravians intrigued John and he knew he needed to find out more about their spiritual life. John spent as much time as he could with them.

Well, his missionary journey did not go well. The Chickasaw Indians did not respond to John and Charles’ efforts, so John decided to focus on a small parish ministry in Savannah. This also did not go well. John fell in love with Sophie Hopkey, one of his parishioners, and after courting her for some time, for some unexplained reason, John stopped calling on her. (Maybe he got cold feet? Maybe he got too busy? Nobody knows.)

Sophie thought the relationship with John was over, so she turned to another suitor, Will Williamson, and very quickly married him. John was not happy, and a few days later, in the church service, John refused to serve Communion to Sophie. This outraged Sophie’s new husband, Will, who promptly sued John for public defamation. John, being the upstanding, Anglican priest, small group advocate, missionary, did the only responsible thing – he skipped town and returned to England![10]He put an entire ocean between himself and his problems.

But back in England, John had a crisis of faith. He felt that his failure with the Chickasaws and the debacle with the church in Savannah and Sophie and Will, were due to the fact that he was not fully saved. He was Assimilated but not Transformed. There had to be something more. His Moravian friend Peter Boehler told John that what was missing was “‘Dominion over sin, and constant Peace from a sense of forgiveness,’ [John] was … amazed, and looked upon it as a new Gospel.”[11] For five months John met regularly with Peter and the Moravians and – two and a half years after his first encounter with the Moravians in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean – on the evening of Wednesday, May 14, 1738 John Wesley said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”[12]

Three months later, John sensed God’s call on his life to return to America. His affections, what he was passionate about, had changed. He wrote, “O when shall this Christianity cover the earth, as the ‘waters cover the sea?’”[13]

When he returned to America his ministry was more effective. When he joined Jonathon Edwards, and George Whitefield, a movement of the Holy Spirit started that became known as the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening was the first unifying experience of the American colonies and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.

Out of the Great Awakening, and the Wesleyan focus on holiness and prayer, the Holiness Movement was born. The Holiness Movement birthed the Church of the Nazarene, the Salvation Army, the Wesleyan Church, and the Free Methodist Church. The Holiness Movement, with its practice of outdoor preaching, also gave rise to the Campmeeting Association of Christians. And out of the Campmeeting Association, a young preacher named Daniel Warner felt a renewed call to holiness and unity and the Church of God Reformation Movement was born.

And it all started with an Anglican Priest/small group leader/missionary, who had a divine encounter with a group of German Lutherans, who in turn shared their God Story in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. These German Lutherans, the Moravians, loved the Lord with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They had regular, transforming, encounters with God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and allowed him to guide, direct, and empower them.

What could God do if you were equipped and passionate about sharing your God Story?

What could happen if you loved God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? If you loved him so much so that it transformed what you feel, your passions, the things that move you? What would happen if you loved God so much that it transformed how you act, even in the midst of a life-threatening storm? What would happen if your love for God transformed how you respond to the people around you, how you behave?

Do you have regular encounters with God that transform your passions, your emotions, the things that move you? Do you have encounters with God that transform your behavior in every situation you find yourself?

Have you been filled with the Spirit; Empowered by God to give a witness to what he has done in your life? Have you spent time in prayer until the presence of God fills your life? Are you letting the Holy Spirit guide and direct you? Are you listening for God’s Spirit to daily teach you the things you need to accomplish God’s will on earth as it is in heaven?

The ongoing question is, have you been Assimilated into the church, or are you being Transformed into the image of Christ? Are you cooperating with God’s efforts to disciple you?

A true disciple of Christ lives a life with Biblical Knowledge. A true disciple of Christ develops a life of Missional Prayer. A true disciple of Christ lives a lifestyle of Worship 24/7. A true disciple of Christ is Equipped and Passionate about sharing his or her God Story.

Endnotes

[1] See (Genesis 3:8; 5:22, 24; 6:9; 12:6-7; 18:1; Job 15:7-8; Deuteronomy 31:14-23; 34:10; Exodus 3:1-3; 19:9; 24:15-18; 33:7-11; Isaiah 6:1-2; Jeremiah 23:18-22) [2] “For the Israelites, divine encounter was what convinced people that Moses was God’s man. Exodus 19:9 makes the connection explicit: “And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Look, I am going to come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people will hear when I speak with you and will also trust in you forever.’” The implication is clear—the people need to listen and will listen to the person who is validated by an encounter with the presence of God.””, Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 236. [3] “The pattern that emerges from the patriarchal sagas is that when God chooses someone to represent him, that person must first meet with God. By necessity, that meeting is with the visible Yahweh, who can be discerned by human senses. In many cases, the divine job interview occurs in a place that is described as God’s home or headquarters, the place where the divine council meets.”, Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 236. [4] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 234. [5] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 239. [6] “(2) The nineteenth-century Holiness Movement adopted the Wesleyan idea of a second work of grace—an enhanced sanctifying work of the Spirit that lifts a believer to a new level of holiness and Christian experience. W. E. Boardman called this the “higher Christian life.” Charles Finney spoke of an experience subsequent to conversion which he called “the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.” Many who were Wesleyan in their orientation spoke of this as a “second blessing” in which a believer achieved sinless perfection or near perfection. Others, particularly those within the Keswick Movement, were more Reformed in their orientation and spoke of the gradual, lifelong work of sanctification in a believer, aided by successive “fillings” of the Spirit”, Daniel G. Reid et al., Dictionary of Christianity in America(Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Pr, 1990), art. Baptism in the Spirit-Holiness Movement View. [7] Romans Road (Romans 3:23 – All have sinned; Romans 6:23b – The wages of Sin is death; Romans 5:8 – While we were sinners Christ died for us; Romans 10:9 – Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart and you will be saved; Romans 5:1 – We have peace with God through Christ). Evangelism Explosion – Do you know for sure that you will go to heaven some day? If God asked you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say? Four Spiritual Laws – Law 1: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Law 2: Man is sinful and separated from God, and cannot experience God’s plan for his life. Law 3: Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for Man’s Sin. Law 4: We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. [8] Frank A. James (III), CH102 Introducing Church History II: Reformation to Postmodernism (7 Hour Course) (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), sec. 40. [9] “The Moravians and John Wesley,” Christian History Magazine, 1982. [10] James, CH102, sec. 42. [11] “The Moravians and John Wesley.” [12] “The Moravians and John Wesley.” [13] “The Moravians and John Wesley.”