Becoming A North Star

Personal Testimony

Introvert - Pastor

Comments from Conference Official when I took my leadership test

Experience in ...

Troy, MA

Battle Ground, WA

TGH

You are the North Star for some person out there in the darkness looking for something/someone to lead them in the right direction.

Kim Allan Johnson Testimony - Spiritual Body Building

“I always felt that the salvation of souls came down to my ability to convince individuals to give their lives to Christ and accept Him as their personal Savior. Eternity hung in the balance. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

I felt I needed to make (my) invitation so compelling and inspirational that after I shared it an unbeliever would clutch at my shirt and cry out tearfully, “ You’re sooo right. Kim. I’m lost! Please lead me in the sinner’s prayer.” I figured anything short of such a response would be a failure.

The

You are the North Star for some person out there in the darkness looking for something/someone to lead them in the right direction.

What a overwhelmingly lonely picture of witnessing.

Thankfully, I have learned that I don’t have to do it alone. I understand now that helping someone progress in their spiritual journey involves a team effort.

Are there many in darkness today? Yes.

Team Member #1

God

We cannot create spiritual interest or conviction in anyone’s heart anymore than we can make a seed sprout or a child grow.

Creating Spiritual interest is God’s job.

Jesus told us plainly… []

John 6:44 NASB95

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

Paul wrote… []

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 NASB95

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

Ellen white comments … [COL pg. 64]

Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 3—“First the Blade, Then the Ear”

As in the natural, so in the spiritual sowing; the teacher of truth must seek to prepare the soil of the heart; he must sow the seed; but the power that alone can produce life is from God.

Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 3—“First the Blade, Then the Ear”

This is what Christ tried to impress upon His disciples. He taught that it was nothing they possessed in themselves which would give success to their labors, but that it is the miracle-working power of God which gives efficiency to His own word.

Take Away:

1. Creating Spiritual Interest is God’s part alone.

Team Member #2

Me

Representatives & Guides

Live out God’s grace, peace and love

Help people to understand how they can bring those spiritual qualities into their lives.

Peter put it this way… []

1 Peter 2:9 NASB95

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Ellen White share the purpose of the Christian Church … [AA pg. 9]

Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1—God’s Purpose for His Church

The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. From the beginning it has been God’s plan that through His church shall be reflected to the world His fullness and His sufficiency. The members of the church, those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light, are to show forth His glory. The church is the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to “the principalities and powers in heavenly places,” the final and full display of the love of God.

Take Away:

1. Creating Spiritual Interest is God’s part alone.

2. Our task is to be representatives and guides

Team Member #3

The Person

Everyone you come in contact with at some point along their Spiritual Journey ?

Spiritual Interest Line & The Parable of the Sower [ ]

Mark 4:3–9 NASB95

“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. “Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. “And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. “Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. “Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

o% - No Spiritual Interest / Path or Roadside seed

1-94% - Not yet conscious of their need for God because spiritual interest grows internally over time. The Holy Spirit primarily uses the deeds of love done by Christians to quietly increase unbeliever’s openness to spiritual things.

95% - Become conscious of spiritual need / Rocky and Weedy soil are represented here

100% - Accepts Christ as Savior / Goody soil represented here

Take Away:

1. Creating Spiritual Interest is God’s part alone.

2. Our task is to be representatives and guides

The Holy Spirit primarily uses the deeds of love done by Christians to quietly increase unbeliever’s openness to spiritual things.

So it is a three person team!

I love the way Jesus describes how spiritual interest develops in the Parable of the Growing Seed []

Path

Mark 4:26–29 NASB95

And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. “The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. “But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Prophet Isaiah put it this way… []

Isaiah 32:20 NASB95

How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.

The Psalmist paints a passionate picture in

Psalm 126:6 NASB95

He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Ellen White comments … [ COL 65]

Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 3—“First the Blade, Then the Ear”

The good seed may for a time lie unnoticed in a cold, selfish, worldly heart, giving no evidence that it has taken root; but afterward, as the Spirit of God breathes on the soul, the hidden seed springs up, and at last bears fruit to the glory of God. In our lifework we know not which shall prosper, this or that. This is not a question for us to settle. We are to do our work, and leave the results with God.

Take another look...

You are the North Star for some person out there in the darkness looking for something/someone to lead them in the right direction.

Trinary star

Aiding people for centuries to find thier way back home.

As a team we are called to do the same.