Alec's Story
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Going through story time. Last week Leah shared her story and she tied it to the Bad news, worst news, good news, best news method, which you can find on the Life on Mission app. Jason is going to share next week.
Hook: “to be honest, i often feel I have nothing interesting to say.” “Being honest is always interesting.” Whatever your story is given to you. Do you feel like your story might be…boring? We often get caught up in exciting testimonies. Share story about small group leader who had a wild testimony and felt convicted. There is beauty in a “boring” testimony. It’s a testimony of the generations of people that have followed the Lord, decades of people praying for you, your salvation is an answered prayer and a reward for faithfulness over generations.
My Story:
I grew up going to church
I went to Awana, VBS, all of the things.
One time in church, the pastor asked if anyone had never sinned, raise your hand. Me at 6 years old, raised his hand. People laughed and I didn’t understand why!
When I was 7 years old, I was at a Gospel concert at our church.
Someone got up to talk, they were giving a gospel presentation. I zoned out.
I saw my cousin go forward.
I thought I had missed an announcement that kids got to come up for something, so I got up and followed. My dad asked, “where are you going?”
I said, “Up there”—as if I was saying, don’t you know, didn’t you hear the announcement.
I get to the front and someone is there to receive me—they start asking all of the typical questions and they lead me in a prayer to ask forgiveness of my sins and ask jesus to be the lord of my life.
I understood what was being said, but I was full of doubt and guilt because I came about that decision not from what was said but because I wasn’t paying attention and followed my cousin.
A couple of years passed and I was asking about baptism. I met with the pastor and he helped me affirm that decision I had made. I talked with him and I got baptized.
I still had some doubts, it was the beginning of my 6th grade year, at the first youth night. They gave a gospel presentation and the guilt was bothering me, and I decided to just figure it out. I went and talked to someone, shared what I was dealing with and took ownership of that decision. Maybe it was a rededication, maybe it was the real thing.
In 2 Peter 1:10
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
i was taking that moment to “shore up” my salvation and submitting to Him.
This is the story of my salvation, my testimony. You can have other “stories.” Like being called into ministry, how God showed up in moments in my life. In all of them, there are principles we can apply to help us share these with others.
Six Principles for Sharing Your Testimony:
Keep it Short
Communicating too many details can distract from the central point of the story: how you met Christ.
Three minutes is a good target.
What are some parts of your story that you could cut out?
Have a before, how, and after.
Clear timeline and logical flow.
Answer these three things: What was your life like before Christ, how did you meet Him, and what is your life like now?
If you’ve been a Christian since childhood, the “how” may be a time when the gospel really clicked or you understood it at a deeper level.
Have a theme.
A theme helps the listener walk away with one main idea.
Clearly present the gospel.
Your story should show people that God loves them, they’re sinful, Jesus is the payment for the penalty of their sin, and they need to trust Christ in order to have a personal relationship with God.
If you haven’t shared the gospel in your testimony, you haven’t really shared your testimony.
Avoid ‘Christianese’
These are Christian slang words or “church-y” words.
Don’t alienate the listener because they can’t understand the message.
Practice, practice, practice!
Write it out
Say it in the mirror.
Share it with a friend.
Next Steps:
we are going to apply step 6 right now. Whether you need to write it out, find a corner and practice alone, or share with someone. Take from what you practiced last week and go for it again. If you want to talk to a leader about it, you’ll have an opportunity for that as well.
