Difference Makers Tell their Story.
Acts 21:40-22:21
Years ago there was a commercial for this super discount place. To be able to shop there you had to a member of a union. It began with a guy wearing a hardhat and someone asking him "What’s the Story Jerry?" At the end "Jerry" would say "thats the story."
Everyone has a story to tell. Every conversion story is not as dramatic as that of Paul, but every testimony is a “before and after” account of the transformation of a human life by Jesus Christ. Paul described the man that he was and the man that Christ had enabled to him to be. Paul was not saying how good he was, or what he had done, but how good Jesus was and what he had done.
There are times though when people began telling of their past that I wondered if they were not bragging about how sinful they were. Many times though I have heard people say “I would witness but I do not know how or where to begin.” To quote my dad, “begin at the beginning.”
1. The Beginning:
a. Paul starts at a common sharing ground with his audience.
b. Do not fake it, or make it sound like you can identify with everyone’s beginning.
c. If you do not identify with someone’s beginning find a Bible story that does.
i. Emotionally or mentally beaten down woman (John 4)
ii. A parent who lost a child (widow at Nain, Prodigal Son)
iii. A person who has it all (Rich man and Lazarus)
2. What lead to your conversion
a. Pau tells of the events leading up to his Damascus Road encounter
b. Tell where you met Christ, or when He became real to you.
i. At a Revival
ii. When you starting reading your Bible
iii. Maybe it had to do with someone reaching out to you
1. Helping you in time of need
2. Genuineness of someone life
“A missionary who was speaking to a group of Hindu women was surprised to see one of them get up and walk away. Soon she returned and listed more intently than before. ‘Why did you leave in the middle of my message?” asked the missionary. ‘I was so interested in the wonderful things you were saying that I went to ask your servant if you live like you teach. He said you do. So I came back to hear more about Jesus,’ said the woman.”
3. Tell of where you came to meet Christ personally
a. For Paul it was on the road to Damascus
b. For the Eunuch it was a desert road where Philip answered his questions
c. Where were you?
d. Be specific as you can, it may be the same road someone else is on.
e. Use facts not feelings
f. Paul had witnesses to what he was saying.
4. Let them know how they to can meet Christ personally
a. Someone needs to find their Ananias
b. Paul tells the words Ananias used.
c. For some it may be a Bible verse
d. All need to hear the words of Jesus.
The Samaritan woman told the people “Come and see the one who told me everything I ever did, could he be the Christ” the people came, their testimony is “We no longer believe because of what you said, but now because we have seen for ourselves.”
5. Tell of the change it brought about
a. Again no bragging just facts
b. It isn’t about us, but about the change that Jesus brought in us
c. Let them know they can have the same.
In Luke 8 Jesus healed a man. The man went away telling of the great and wonderful things Jesus had done for him. Go and do likewise. Share your testimony, Share the Word, Share Jesus, it was never meant for us to keep it to ourselves.
