PRAYER CONVERSATIONS: Speaking To People About God (b))

Opening Illustration

He was a shy boy and wanted to please people. Having 2 sisters he craved male friendship. So growing up, his mates meant a lot to him

He and his mates did heaps together .... they surfed, went skin diving, played football .. soccer / league .. they camped together.. went out together .. they even joined the High School choir together (well to get out of maths periods) BELONGING meant everything to this bloke .. so much so that after seeing the latest James Bond movie in Wollongong Crown Cinema .. and having exhausted their finances .. he did a bit of shop-lifting and ran off with a handful of chocolate bars to share

Growing up in the 60’s Sunday School was NON NEGOTIABLE in his family .. super boring and confusing... but he had to go EVERY SUNDAY. At age 12 Sunday School was finished. Religion was finished!

UNTIL .. late teens and an invitation to a YOUTH CAMP from his RELIGIOUS FANATIC of a sister. One of the YOUTH LEADERS. Despite giving her a loud NO .. he went .. clinging to the promise of SURF .. FOOTBALL ..and GIRLS

That Saturday night another leader in the youth group asked him “What do you think of Jesus?”

Here we go .. Sunday School stuff .. but 2 hrs later .. this young young teen knew he was desperately lost .. and seriously in trouble if this was true .. but what a tremendous promise if it WAS true .. forgiveness .. and being right with God. Eternal life that I don’t deserve.

Tears streaming down his face he blurted out “But what about my friends .. I’m going to loose my friends if I become a Christian .. I’ll be one of the NERDS .. like the girls in ISCF at school”

Friends .. That’s MY STORY .. I’m that shy kid who needed friends .. wanted to please people

Coming to Christ .. 3 Dec 1972 started that deep conviction of what Jesus has done for me .. going to the cross to die in my place to take the punishment that I deserve .. and rising again to assure me there is an eternal home .. reserved and kept for me!

Yes it meant that I lost friends .. we drifted apart .. and I didn’t handle that very well .. to this day I have no contact with any of them .. but it was the centrality of that Question that stays with me “What do you think of Jesus?”

REVIEW : Last week we started to think through talking to people about God .. Colossians 4:2-4 gives us insight into what prayerful opportunities look like … God ordained conversations .. and that we might be WISE and also SEASON our conversations with salt

That we would be intentional with people .. building intentional friendships / relationships amongst people we mix with … and LISTENING to people in a conversation

Today we are going to look at TWO QUESTIONS

WHERE do you want to get to?

HOW do you want to get there?

WHERE do you want to get to?

As we’ve seen earlier .. there’s no guess work .. we’re told in this passage

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ,

We have to be clear with people .. this is non negotiable .. the gospel declares that Jesus is LORD .. that He is the Son of God .. in Acts 4 a cripple is walking and leaping and praising God and the religious people drag Peter the apostle in for interogation .. and he says

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Read the book of Acts .. How many times do we hear “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!”

Read the gospels .. Repent and believe .. Jesus is the Son of God .. the Messiah has come .. the KINGDOM is here .. I who talk to you am He .. the Lord’s annointed .. his name is Jesus for He will save His people from their sins .. etc etc etc

Read the NT … and the overwhelming subject matter is Jesus .. the Lord .. crucified and risen .. you get to the end of the NT and the book of Revelation gives glorious imagery of the LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN .... and RISEN!! We have the victory .. we have won .. heaven is secure .. we can rejoice that our names are written in the Lamb’s book of LIFE

Y’see .. what we want to very clearly do in talking to people about God is to correct the misunderstanding that Jesus is “just a man” .. or .. “good teacher” .. or “crazy mixed up man”a LUNATIC .. or some would say Jesus knew he wasn’r God .. he’s a LIAR … or there are all sorts of guesses as to who Jesus is .. fill in the blank __________________

Some doubt Jesus lived .. more a LEGEND .. a bit of a Robin Hood .. friend of the poor and out-spoken towards the rich and churchy people

BUT .. here’s the thing .. where do we go next?

The Bible is clear .. and we are convinced that we want to introduce Jesus Christ to others because faith in Jesus is the ONLY way people are saved

How do we go about telling others about Jesus Christ .. especially in this post modern culture where people will say “I’m happy you’ve found Jesus .. but He’s not for me”

In a world where people are LONELY .. ANXIOUS .. DEPRESSED .. feel a sense of WORTHLESSNESS … BROKENNESS .. wonder where there SIGNIFICANCE and INDENTITY lie … what’s their PURPOSE .. WHY am I on planet earth etc etc maybe there asking about DEATH .. and although DEATH is always with us, in this COVID climate death is stark and in our face .. so is there life after death .. is there a heaven .. a hell .. judgement to come??

So some would want to explore these things BUT they are really distractions if we don’t bring the discussion back to Jesus and centrality of WHO He is and WHY He came .. CHRISTIANITY is unique .. God has come down to earth

So …

HOW do you want to get there?

Sharing what we believe as followers of Jesus is important .. as we’ve said a number of times - we have to use our words. While our lives need to back up what we believe .. and the Bible directs our BEHAVIOUR .. we can’t give people the idea that being a Christian is all about BEING GOOD .. GOOD people go to heaven

So .. we’ve been devoted to prayer .. we’ve seen God upen up an opportunity … we’ve engaged in conversation that’s been seasoned with salt … we’ve listened to people .. maybe even heard their story .. how do we declare the MYSTERY that IS Jesus

Hopefully they are asking “What is this CHRISTIAN FAITH?” or “Why is Jesus important?” Why is Jesus the ONLY way we can be saved ?” .. and .. “Saved from what?”

Hmm .. so now the question becomes “Where are you comfortable and confident in giving some answers?”

Maybe you’d like help .. I’d love to talk to someone you know who’s thinking about the gospel .. you and I talking to your friend .. or going through a gospel outline .. or reading a gospel together (eg. MARK)

Maybe you are confident and feel you can talk to people about God .. the hard thing is trying to understand where that person is

The argument talking through Jesus being LIAR .. LUNATIC .. LEGEND .. or .. LORD can be a good place to start (Josh McDowell .. Evidence That Demands a Verdict) .. it’s a logical way to get to Jesus as a HISTORICAL PERSON

There’s gospel outlines like TWO WAYS TO LIVE .. depending on how much time you have that can take 10 mins or 6 sessions .. a good little booklet that visualises TWTL is .. YOU, ME AND THE BIBLE

There’s a lot of good books or DVD’s .. online courses to take folk through

John Dickson has written a lot of books introducing Christianity .. LIFE OF JESUS is helpful.. he’s a historian and writes well .. he’s writtten award winning books on World religions .. he’s CO-DIRECTOR of AUSTRALIA’S CENTRE FOR PUBLIC CHRISTIANITY .. so yep he’s an Aussie

Tim Keller has written heaps of books for inquiring people .. MAKING SENSE OF GOD .. PRODIGAL GOD … THE REASON FOR GOD .. various levels of complexity

If you go to our website crpc.org.au there’s a gospel presentation WHAT WE BELIEVE .. and there is a collection of books under RESOURCES

And then there’s a whole lot of courses .. CHRISTIANITY EXPLAINED .. CHRISTIANITY EXPLORED .. etc etc etc

HOWEVER .. here’s a simple and effective way of sharing your faith

TELL YOUR STORY

Nothing new here but it’s still a great way to connect with other people .. our world loves a story .. post moderns love a story .. the person you’ve prayerfully been in conversation with might well say something like "Tell me about you and your story with Jesus"

You might remember we did a course called UNAWKWARDING JESUS back in 2016 and we worked hard at crafting OUR STORY … something of our life BC .. BEFORE CHRIST .. how we came to Jesus .. and life NOW .. just taking a few minutes

You are UNIQUE. Your life has been ORCHESTRATED BY GOD .. friends relate to your story ..it’s PERSONAL .. they can’t DENY your story .. and they esp relate to a story that’s NOT spectacular .. It’s great to hear how something has worked in a real way in a real life… what Jesus means to you

You might have heard someone give their TESTIMONY … those amazing stories, .. you know the ones about the former drug-trafficking, ice addict who lived under a bridge but then became a Christian and now they run a series of orphanages in Africa.

You hear those stories and you think... wow, yes, that person needed Jesus.

But when it comes to us we're not so keen.. I’m UNSPECTACULAR .. or .. I’ve always been a Christian .. no BC

NB Talking about how Jesus has done something in my life is not boring

BUT … beware of the WAFFLE .. if we’re not careful the focus is US and not JESUS

WHY should we tell our story? and HOW can we do that? ..

If you have you Bible .. turn to that passage we read earlier .. Acts 26 .. this is Paul telling King Aggrippa and his wife about God .. look at what he does

He talks of life BC .. Before Christ .. Paul the zealous Jew .. a Pharisee .. like a lot of other Jews

“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities

But then Jesus revealed Himself to Paul .. on the Damascus Rd

12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

Yep that’s a pretty good story .. very dramatic conversion

Paul started out RELIGIOUS .. and proud of it !!

Telling his story makes it clear how STUPID that is! RELIGIOSITY is dangerous.

Even when they're in the midst of things that look good, or even religious. The danger is that they're distant from the living God. Coz our default is I’M GOOD ENOUGH .. all about me and my ability to impress. What I consider IMPORTANT

That’s why TELLING OUR STORY is so important. Esp if it’s an ORDINARY story .. coz some people think it’s ONLY the hard core deviates .. the AXE MURDER .. or POLITICIAN in the world that need saving .. they might need Jesus .. the rest of us are OK

And this ought to push us out of our comfort zone.

The first reason Paul's happy to tell his story is because he can see his friends in danger. Ignorantly walking the path to destruction... thinking they are OK when they are not

And the second reason is because he actually experienced that danger for himself, he used to be the most religious of all. (Phil.3 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;) Paul had every reason to be confident in his efforts, he could stand in the mirror and point to his body and say 'this is impressive. I am one very good man.

By all appearances Paul had it all together… his story points out he was a self-righteous jerk.

The heart of things is what Jesus did .. His DEATH and RESURRECTION and who He really is

Paul is NOW totally surrendered to Jesus … is OBEDIENTand goes to others to proclaim the good news of the RISEN KING JESUS

V.20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.

Martin Luther the great Christian reformer talks about one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

Jesus had radically changed Paul's story, and Paul wasn't afraid to use himself to show others the power of Jesus.

The truth is, the reason we are here is because Jesus has changed our story

AND .. that has to be the most significant event in your life .. the most important part of your life .. knowing Jesus

Perhaps your story is one of being a constant search for something more... to be NOTICED good marks and grades, job, money, family...

Perhaps you are still angry for who you are .. shattered dreams .. where was God when your loved ones died .. when your world fell apart

Maybe you think being a Christian is all about being good / keeping a moral code to earn salvation .. earn a place with God .. but how good is good enough ??

You must come to Jesus as you are .. Messy as it might be. No matter how serious your sinful past is .. all can be forgiven. Will you come? Do you want to straighten that out. Someone to talk to?

Conclusion

Your UNIQUE story can be a powerful and real way to help you and people around you understand Jesus, to talk to people about God .. and if you follow him it's really important to take some time to get to know your story

Because we CARE … because we know the very REAL DANGER people face without Jesus .. we want to connect and share the most important news in the world

So brothers and sisters you must take time to know your story… be REAL

The whole endpoint of this is that we want to see people become followers of Jesus.

We want them to come to God, have their sins forgiven by Jesus and join in his church.

As a Christian, our stories are just mini-pictures of what the gospel is doing.

Lives being changed by Jesus for the glory of God.