Share the Love - Share His Love Through Your Story, Part 2

Something really good happens to us is easy to share in his. In fact, you can't wait to deliver the news to someone you really care about what if you could learn how to tell someone else about the amazing love of God in the same nonthreatening natural way.

Well today that we can learn how to do.

Stay with welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge ship and Living on the Edge features the Bible to this daily discipleship program in this program. Chicken is a series sure the love to talk to anyone about God by giving us a look inside his own faith in the process is going to give us an outline telling our story to the teaching trips can have some additional thoughts about how to talk with Jesus, to be sure to stay with us for that. Okay let's get started with part two of his message from acts chapter 26, so let me just take a moment and I'll share my story using this outline okay you probably heard parts of it here and there but if I was sitting down in we had a couple coffee and I said a word. You grow up and you told me where you grew up in what was it like growing up, and you told me little bit about your family and this and that and then just normal casually likes what you tell me about your life externally. When I say is what I grew up in a home. Parents were schoolteachers and we were in general, pretty pre-moral.

My mom was an amazing person. The guidance counselor. My dad X Marine Guam Iwo Jima science teacher. I was a great athlete, so I was really no pushed and admired and wanted to be a good athlete and my dad was one of those guys that I never heard him say I love you until late in his life. I never he was in a hugger but I knew he loved me and the way he loved me was that in that generation is he would help you become successful. If you did really well. That's the way you got love, so he hit grounders until they would bounce off my face and if I get for raising the V we had a deep talk about what happened with the be and it was really me. That was his love language it was. I really want you to do well because I learned in my house early that if there's a theme.

It was if you can become successful, then you'll really be happy and I want to help you be successful, and the way successful is this. It's really easy you know you get up earlier than everybody else use it very clear goals, you develop a strategy to get there and when their sleep and you work when they go to bed you keep working and I'll tell you what son you will be successful when you're successful, will be happy and so I became a workaholic. By the time I was 13 I had six or 7 yards three paper routes at one time I let my parents $3000 when I was 13 years old at 6% interest.

I decided I I read an article about Pete Maravich when I was about seventh grade, I saw all the drills that he didn't started doing those drills for about eight or nine hours a day and decide I'm going to date a pretty cheerleader to get Abascal scholarship I'm going to graduate in the top of my class. I'm to be in this club and the all-league and this and that and and I went like absolute wild man. After that I didn't do any drugs.

I didn't do any alcohol.

I was too busy, but internally I was desperately insecure. I was very short and very skinny so I had that little chip on my shoulder trying to prove myself. I was very mouthy very arrogant had a real foul mouth and really lonely inside because my dad begin to drink more and more and more as I got older and I just had a big wound. I did know about but that's what my life is like so the realization of my need came the night that I graduated from high school. I vividly remember sitting in an empty apartment off a high-stakes campus with a 25 or 30 people and as a note, those days I called it a refer a joint. Whatever you call it, but they were passing it around and we were telling stories about high school and as it came around the gal named Jackie turned to me and said you must be very happy tonight and that she was one of those girls. It was a friend and were lot of study halls together and talk honestly and member turning single why do you say that and because we talk, she was well you know you did well in school. You did that cute little cheerleader you got a scholarship and she named a few things and I didn't realize that every single person pursues something or someone that you believe is going to make you happy. Everyone behaves in a way that makes sense to them. Even if you don't articulate it even if you don't think it through your behavior, your energy, your time, your money, it all. I mean if you could do it altogether. All of us go toward something that makes sense. I didn't realize the mantra was if you work hard aren't successful you'll be happy and when she said that is like a light came on and I didn't feel happy. I felt empty because I'd already decided the next set of goals. I've Artie decided to major political science will be a lawyer. I'll be very rich and you're very beautiful girl I will have a luxury car, a station wagon and I reset her three beautiful kids by age 35 will be a leader in the community. I mean and think you know my daddy was an alcoholic and he may have sorta worked me a little bit but I have this amazing mother and they they produce this child with a very high self-esteem coming arrogant self-esteem. I grew up with someone who told you you don't worry about failing just get up and tried again and if you keep going you'll you'll you always and I that night I realized I had 15 years not do the next set of goals in my life will be maybe 10 times more empty than it is right now. So I drove harm home and I looked at the stars and I had given up on organized religion because all the Christians I met were phony and I was in the church that taught God's word in. I was disillusioned with God and disillusioned with people but I looked at the stars and said if there is a God reveal yourself to me because I mean I please take this this is my actual prayer. It's not like I'm cussing in church, but this was my prayer. My dad is a science teacher. There must be some designer behind all this design of all the stars I've heard about God that I don't know if you exist, but if you exist and if you're big enough to reveal yourself to me in a way that I can understand you actually created me. I will do whatever you want if you don't exist.

Or if you're not big enough to reveal yourself in a way that makes sense. I'm gonna live like hell and I'm gonna die young. I'm gonna squeeze as much fun. I'm tired just be in sort of a moral person out of some code that doesn't make any sense within a week I was told by the guy was going to start my summer job that the job was delayed a week we would get obtain a house next day the football coach said I like to send you to this camp will pay your way is called Fellowship of Christian athletes there 600 of the best high school basketball players from Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia sport sounded good. Someone's going to pay your way. I went and then it was like, what have I done this is how I met Christ. What caused me to consider a solution was I was desperately lonely insecure in my performance orientation of the matter what you do doesn't measure up and I'm starting to learn success doesn't necessarily equal happiness. II land and they 600 guys and they gave me a Bible said good news for modern man and I never read the Bible before, and then they gave me a T-shirt with the cross on and I heard like in the first 20 minutes.

People say Jesus name like out loud like he was a real person and I thought I have been dropped into the land of Jesus freaks. What have I done this 1972 they can indoctrinate me.

These are the weird people I've read about these people there. Weird, I want to play basketball, but this is nuts for the first two days I didn't open my Bible. I refused to do any of the religious stuff they did, but every morning after some workouts. A guy would read a paragraph from the Bible and explain it and it actually made sense in word you can understand the biggest thing was I got exposure to God's word. I saw people in my world.

Christians were weak anti-intellectual people that need a crutch and mostly women. I never saw any masculine strong person that I would ever ever want to be like and had the word Christian or Jesus in the same sentence. And now I'm working out with guys that are pro athletes and college athletes and high school athletes from all over and I I respected them heard Tom Landry shares testimony, but the big moment for me was a member.

After about four days and realizing because I thought there faking it.

This must be a big act for two or three days and no one can be this kind and loving and a member of two guys walking off the grass workout field we've been working out all day and can still remember the green shorts he was a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons and was walking with the fullback from Illinois and I was a skinny, maybe hundred and 3538 pounds just skinny little white kid who was a basketball Jones trying to do what I wanted to do and I'm about 10 feet behind them. I can hear parts of the conversation in this wide receiver guy put his hand on the shoulder and heard a conversation between a grown man and a grown man that expressed deep intimate love for one another that was masculine and I've never seen it before my life I did know the verse that said that I would know that Jesus came from God because Christians love one another. Later on that fullback would sing the Lord's prayer the very last night and I didn't even know what was happening. I had never opened anything, but after watching that I finally gave in and so I decided on one of the mornings every morning to read your Bible for like 10 minutes and so I open the Bible for the very first time and you all will get a kick out of this. Knowing me now these are the first words ever read good news. I urge you, therefore, my dear friends in view of God's wonderful kindness and grace to you that you should offer your body as a living sacrifice to him. This is what God really wants from you.

Don't be conformed or molded any longer to the ways of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that your life and how you really live would demonstrate what God's will. Looks like that which is good, acceptable and perfect and to the grace given to me. I say to everyone.

If you don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think is to have sound judgment as God is allotted to each measure faith.

Does that sound familiar. The first time I ever read the Bible and it was like a video camera went on and I could see me acting tough in the locker room and cussing and then I could see me acting like the all American boy with teachers and acting sweet with girls and and I just this unit was like this videotape of this phony person that I hated. Always trying to figure out what to give different groups seeing this this chameleon socially in this manipulator who was desperately insecure and longing for love for the first time ever, someone put their finger on, and he sang the Lord's prayer that night and when he got done singing the Lord's prayer because it was the same guy I heard talking to that wide receiver guy got up and drew a picture with some chalk and he said that God loved me and after he told me that God love me.

He said he proved it by sending Jesus his son and after he drew this picture of Jesus his son. Somehow he made this picture bitumen with the lighting it opened up and he talked about that this Jesus rose from the dead, and he would offer me peace in life and forgiveness that he was standing at the door knocking at my heart.

Revelation 320 and five would open the door of my life and my heart.

Jesus would actually come into my life and the person the Holy Spirit forgive me for ever see only with the spirit give new direction and purpose to my life and make me heaven down and I I prayed a prayer that I wasn't theologically very smart, or sound, but I said God I don't get it all.

But here's what I know, whatever it means for you to come in my life.

Forgive me of my sin. That's what I want more than anything else. So, will you come and that's what happened in my life.

I changed it happened was the I went home and less my parents who were not that they would be super opposed, but religion in my family was when we didn't pray together. We didn't talk about it as my dad would say later, even when he was drunk. He went to church. You know you just did it. You know, and so I took this little Bible they gave me and I hit it underneath my pillow and in the morning when I got up it was just like wow, I had this hunger for dad read it and before I went to bed. I turn on the light that you read it and it was like how can anybody know this about you and I would run I just read to the New Testament, and there is this something that happened that that I can explain externally and in about 10 days to two weeks.

My tongue, something happened because I customer worse than a sailor and all the sudden I didn't I didn't. It… When external things I didn't cost any more than aware that no and then I'll never forget my desires changed externally and I just turned 18 and the laws of just change she could go hang out in bars in your 18 years old and not read the Bible. Now, like for five days and so the guys come on guys let's go.

And so we hit some very sleazy bar and helps to remember myself another guy here in my mother friends here and then a very ill clad lady in this very sleazy bar sitting next to him and a member looking around this place that I'd never been in and I just something came over me inside that I couldn't explain any men we can drink. Now we can come to places like this and we can party and this is all I can tell you is it is like this is dirty.

This I don't. This is is is like. I just wanted and a member get not long guys been up I'm going to cut a get you like to get out here, man. Come on man you have another I don't understand it. I just and a member walking out that door and get my little green Volkswagen drive away and think I have no idea what's going on but I mean three weeks ago. I'd been want to be near God begin to change me from the inside out internally talk about continued struggles. I have plenty of them. But I had peace. I had a sense of forgiveness and probably the greatest gift for me was I didn't pretend someone loved me and forgave me I could be chip the same chip with the girl the same chip with my family the same chip in the locker room. It was freedom I didn't know the verse that you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. All I knew was it was just like the entire weight of the world was off my shoulders. Now I love to say that I from that moment on, of never felt like I had to perform to earn the favor.

Please people. In fact, for the good part about beginning to read the Bible was is transformational.

The bad part was if you would've asked me two weeks before I trusted Christ. Are you a good person. 99%. I never killed anyone right. I live in America.

I vaguely believe there must be a God. You know I don't drink I don't smoke, don't do drugs meet. There's no Mother Teresa will blow her but I mean literally, honey, I just met. I started to read the Scriptures. I realized how sinful, selfish, manipulative, how lustful I began to realize that all my sin had to do with stuff inside my head and was despicable in God's eyes, but that he loved me and he forgave me that's my story that I can tell that in about three minutes. I can tell 11 like I just did, and here's what you know what is not real dramatic but it's mine and I'm a trophy of God's grace and I'm sure that story thousands of times in the last 30 years and I've seen scores of people who for some reason made a connection with my story and realized my little story was a bridge between this ocean of God's love the person of Christ and their need. What would happen if each one of the house would say, Lord, I commit 30 or 45 minutes or an hour and I'm can outline my story, at least, or I'm gonna write it out and I'm going to be prepared. How long did it take me to to read Paul story four minutes but if you wrote yours out and then it was ready and then what you'll find is the spirit of God. People will ask you questions that will lead to your story and you know what, it's not preachy. Just your story. Let me just give you some very specific tips number one.

Develop a theme. The central issue in your life that shows the contrast in your spiritual outlook before Christ and then after my my theme of very interestingly is that whole success equals happiness. When I sit down and talk with people. Now when I'm playing hoop and sit like I did yesterday and talk with someone I use the basketball illustrations when I'm sitting with an executive and were kicking stuff around I talk about what my workaholic lose them in my work, but both of those are my story, but the themes the same second outline. Keep a clear and simple. Just keep it clear and simple. The powers and what God has done, third, and with the question or statement. It requires a response you. The apostle Paul said King Agrippa. You believe in the profits, don't you all often share when I get done with my stories to what you think.

Have you ever investigated the Bible I I'm often way more committed to someone saying you know what I've read the book of John with you want to keep that around that I am them.

I've never heard anything about God them to pray. Prayer just need to be discerning but just asking. Would you like to explore. That's my story. Would you like to explore God story for you. Fourth, Scripture think of one verse that opened your eyes and share how it impacted you of Revelation 320 for me was just like I mean, forget this, but you're kidding me since I was a mess. I just couldn't what he will come in length. Be brief and to the point, you can always share more, but write it out where you can share it briefly, attitude, share don't preach just your heart. You have to convince you it's not your job just this is what God did in me.

This is where I was.

This is how I met him. Here's what's changed sensitivity focus on the other person and share aspects of your life that relate to their interest in the and as you get better and share more and more.

You just find that there's a lot to your stories and their and you can pull from this partier story or that Portier story but just be sensitive in and share the parts of your story that connect with what's going on in their life and finally focus make Jesus the star of your story. I'm at times heard a story of a testimony, and 90% of it. This is my life before the sky like you know I'm in the name of sharing Christ you hear all the stuff that you really not sure you want to hear that much and then pretty soon that the person is the start of the story, the star of your story is the son of God, the star of your story is his love and forgiveness. The star of your story is that whether you came out of a great environment or very difficult environment. He is the Savior of the world and he's your friend and he's God and he's done that for you and he longs to do that for the person you're talking to you so let me encourage you. Would you be willing this week to block off 45 minutes and write and then would you be willing just to say I got it. Lord, if you open the door, I will naturally lovingly share my story with the person is you that with this application.

Just a quick reminder that this message share his love through your story is from his series, share the love, how to talk to anyone about God for lots of reasons we can be hesitant to talk about her faith. That's why Chip taught this four-part series to boost your confidence and hope you have spontaneous conversations about your relationship with Jesus. If you'd like to hear this message again the chipping remap is perfect for free access or one tab sharing of these powerful messages. If you prefer CDs take advantage of our honor discounts. Remember, the MP3s are always free. Just visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at triple late.

333-6003 before I come back and talk about how you can share the love in a practical way. Let me ask you kind of a crazy question because many of you traveled up done some wonderful things. Have you ever shared Christ and led someone to the Lord in China, India, Africa or the Middle East. Now some of you can say yes I really have.

But the great majority are saying are you kidding I've never been to those places we here's what I want you to know if you have given to Living on the Edge you have been a part of thousands of people coming to Christ and those places we've done things in China. The last four years that are beyond my imagination in terms of training, hundreds of thousands of Christians to share their faith. We did one with 1700 pastors throughout 300 cities in India just a few months ago we broadcast nine times in the Middle East each week. God has opened doors in Africa were helping pastors and leaders.

Here's what I want you to know we want to share the love of the whole world. And when you give this December.

Every dollar is doubled, dollar for dollar so we can take it farther and farther to reach and love more and more people thanks for whatever God chose you to do well first of all I want to say thanks to our ministry partners who helped make all of those teaching opportunities possible.

We couldn't do what we do without the prayers and financial commitments of listeners like you, we never take for granted that were in this together. If you like to join the team and get in on what's happening. Just go to LivingontheEdge.org Donate on the app or give us a call at triple late. 333-6003 that's AAA 333-6003 and let me thank you in advance for your generosity. Well Chip you close the teaching with a challenge for us to take 45 minutes and write out our own story. How would you just walk us through that process one more time. Absolutely day. This is what I want people to get, there's a very simple three-point outline is what the apostle Paul used a point number one.

What was your life like before you met Christ. Don't spend too much time there but specifically write out. This is what my life was like before I met Christ. This is how I thought this is what I did. This was the kind of home give people a snapshot of your life. Second, how did you actually encounter Christ some in your actual prayer tell people this is where I was.

This is what I was thinking this is what I actually prayed and I want you to just write this out. It'll take you about 45 minutes and that may sound like a big assignment but believe me, it'll it'll fly by and then third since I trusted Christ as my Savior.

This is how my life changed now. Again, everything is perfect.

You have good days you have rough days. But God has been faithful begin to write down how has your life changed internally. What's happened.

Your thoughts, your emotions, your hopes externally, what's happened relationship sort, you may be any moral issues that there was a clean break with their God is worked in your life.

Let me encourage you go to the website I get these notes maybe even listen to this message again in preparation then get a sheet of paper to out in 45 minutes answered those three questions and and since I've taught this before. Can I give you just a little word of encouragement. I've had a number of people write me and say you know I've never really shared my faith. I took 45 minutes. I wrote it out.

I've never shared it much.

And then out of the blue. God gave this opportunity and I shared it, but I never would have if I wasn't prepared, and then they said I think God gave me the opportunity because now I'm prepared. Can you imagine someone's eternity being changed for ever and ever because you take 45 minutes and get clear about how to share your story and then watch and see if God doesn't bring someone into your life. Now go forward like strip was you consider writing out your story. You might want to pick up a copy of the series. Share the love as a resource to help motivate and direct your interest in sharing God's love with others. As always, you can hear the series online on the chipping remap order the CDs from our website. LivingontheEdge.org. Remember, to the chips message notes are absolutely free will help you with that outline. Chip was talking about X us up for this program. Until next time, this is Dave truly saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge