Pt. 1 - Highlight Real
I. Introduction
Stories are important. Stories are powerful. Stories often make the difference. It is why we follow and are loyal to particular authors. It is why we stand in line to watch moving pictures on a screen. “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.”
Stories have the power to change things. One man said it like this “If you want to learn about a culture listen to the stories. If you want to change a culture change the stories.”
Jesus certainly knew the power of story telling. He was a story telling master and was constantly telling stories to drive home truths. However, one of the clearest examples of His grasp of this power wasn’t a story He told. It is the account the demon possessed man in Mark 5. Jesus goes 8 miles out of His way to see him. Jesus gets in a boat. Crosses the Sea of Galilee. Steps out of the boat. Meets a demon possessed man living in a cemetery. Casts the demons into 2000 pigs. Is chased off by the owners of the pigs. Followed to the boat by the now changed man who wanted to go back with Jesus. Jesus stops him and says, “Go home, understanding power of a story, and tell them your story.” Tell them what God has done. Several chapters later, after being chased away, Jesus arrives in the same area and a crowd of 4,000 comes out to meet Him with their sick and diseased in tow. What caused the change? Why did rejection turn into reception and expelling into expectation? Story. One man told his story.
We think other’s stories are powerful but we underestimate our own. We should know our story is important because in Revelation 12:11, after a war breaks out between the devil and saints, we are told just how powerful our story can really be . . .
Revelation 12:11 (NIV)
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Jesus’ blood and the power of our story defeats the enemy of our soul in the days to come but victory today is also tied to our story.
Our story is important. Our story is mighty. Our story is powerful. However, there is a challenge that we face in a facebook world. There is a subtle change that has taken place in our Sports Center society.
Perhaps the best modern day example of this challenge and danger is the GOAT! He said it himself. “Maybe its my fault. Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line and not in the gym. Maybe I made you think every shot I took was a game winner. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength and that pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift and not something I worked for every single day of my life.” Michael Jordan
We are a highlight driven. But the danger is that we tend to focus only on highlights and we fail to highlight real. Michael Jordon would go on to say that "I missed 9,000 baskets, lost almost 300 games, missed 26 game winning shots, I have failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed."
Jesus combats this danger in one account in the New Testament and without saying it Jesus refused to accept highlights only. When Jesus dealt with the woman at the well in John 4 He tells her to go get her husband and she gives a highlight truth. I have no husband. Jesus refuses to settle for that and reveals her whole story . . . Your right you have no husband, you have been married 5 times and you are living with your boyfriend now. She leaves Jesus, runs into town and says come meet this man who told me everything I ever did.
So, from what Jesus illustrated and knowing our story has power that is supposed to help us and others overcome what do we need to know?
Half doesn’t make whole!
Too often today we don’t see the powerful impact of our story like the demon possessed man or the woman at the well simply because we fail to highlight real. Jesus wasn’t a fan of highlights only. He showed us that the power is released when we highlight the real!
We want to tell half the story. We like to tell the good part of the story only. There are some issues with this. . .
It is the whole story that leads to healing. Half the story leads to hopelessness.
When we only tell half the story we make us look good. When tell the whole story makes God look good. When we tell half the story we are the hero. When we tell the whole story we make God the hero.
You need to understand that even though your highlight may be powerful without sharing the back story it is partial. The highlight may be compelling but it is incomplete.
Two things happen when we only tell half the story.
If we only tell a partial story, then people fail to understand that there is a process that leads to promise. So then they try to get a quick fix rather than a making a long term choice to walk in obedience over an extended period of their life. Without your whole story people run to altars but won’t alter anything in their lives and when they don’t get your highlight they walk away from the very thing that would have produced victory in their lives if they would have stayed the course. Our half stories make it look too easy. Those that hear a partial story often want a quick fix to issues they worked decades to create!
Second, when we only tell a partial story we fail to reveal the partnership that leads to the promise. Our half stories don’t reveal that healing comes when God intervenes and we make necessary changes. That financial freedom comes when God steps into our accounts and we cut up our credit cards and make better choices. That relational healings come when God changes our hearts and we change our tone. They need to know the "but God" part plus the "but I" part of the story!
The second reason we can’t just give highlights is that
Weaknesses witness.
Paul came to this understanding in 2 Corinthians 12.
“Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”
We may impress people with our strengths, but we connect through our weaknesses. Craig Groschel
If Paul had no weakness we would not relate. If you had no weakness your neighbor wouldn’t relate. So . . . Don’t waste your weakness.
People need to hear our pain to desire our prevail. Why? Without the pain your story not only seems impossible but impersonal and unobtainable.
We need your story but we need it in its entirety. Your story can change the world if your story is whole.
We are promised our story helps us overcome but do you know that your whole story will help others? Your story isn’t just for your victory but there are wins for others if we learn to let our weakness witness.
To bring help you have to highlight real! For you to be ready to do that there are some of you that are going to have to wrestle with the real of your story. We want to only show the result without showing the wreck!
This means you can’t allow shame to silence you. You can’t let mistakes cause you to be mute. You can’t let the hurt cause you to hide.
