TALE OF
THREE STORIES
Sunday, December 2, 2007
REVIEW:
Word Association:
►Mona,
►Remote,
►Ice
…
►Vacation,
►Diet,
►BORN
AGAIN CHRISTIAN:
Up-tight, narrow, rigid
I went to school with
one: isolated, kept to himself
I don’t know any very
well; they hang out with their own kind, certainly not with
people like me
I feel judged every
time I’m around her, self-righteous, haughty, egotistical
Classic simpletons!
Throw their nice little bible verses and the world’s most
complex issues
►WHAT
IF
WE COULD FIGURE OUT A WAY TO STOP THE BLEEDING, GIVE THE
WORLD SOMETHING GOOD TO SAY?
If you DIG IN to God’s heart
(through Jesus) you’ll discover it beats for restoring
relationship with people far from God and we’re his agents
to get that done (Plan A – no Plan B)
(It’s gotten so bad that people
are starting to call themselves Christ-followers instead of
“Christians”)
WHAT IF
PEOPLE SAID (when asked what they thought of Christians)…
Full of integrity
(shoot straight with you), they tell the truth; ridiculously
compassionate, just plain kind to people, care (no one cares
for the poor like they do); show up for everything when
there’s a need, humble people, have this incredible inner
strength;
Christians? They’re radically
inclusive, regardless of their background, their
preferences, their life-style choices, it’s amazing
Christians? They’re always
taking walks across rooms. Whenever somebody needs a little
encouragement or friendship, Christians always make the
first move; they’re great listeners
They really do love well,
they love God, they love people,
ALSO: when they talk about
God they’re so clear! They’re so pumped up about Him, and it
really seems to work for them – really makes me think; hard
to argue with
►►Ecclesiastes
6:11 says that when used sparsely … succinctly … words carry
great meaning.
►Psalm
119:130 says that words can actually give light.
Words can give understanding to those who don’t yet
understand.
►Proverbs
12:18 says that although reckless words pierce like a sword,
words from the tongue of the wise can actually bring
healing!
►►Proverbs
17:27 says that when used with restraint, words prove you’re
a person of knowledge!
►Ecclesiastes
9:17 says that words you speak will be heeded when they are
spoken quietly!
►Proverbs
16:24 says that pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet
to the soul and healing to the bones.
►►Ecclesiastes
10:12 says that although a fool is consumed by his own lips,
the words from a wise man’s mouth are … gracious.
►Deuteronomy
32:2 says words can actually descend like dew, like
showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender
plants.
Humble, Healing, Wise,
Gentle, Gracious words.
Would your family and closest
friends say that in the course of normal, everyday life, you
can be counted for words of encouragement and grace?
►THREE
STORIES THAT MATTER
1) STORIES WE HEAR
How we find out about
what matters to people:
What is going on now? People are most responsive when things
aren’t going well; Our world is loaded down with pressures,
fear and stress;
Key to Stories we hear is the ability to listen
CLOSED MINDED PEOPLE make statements;
OPEN MINDED PEOPLE ASK QUESTIONS
►2)
STORIES WE TELL
How we relate what God
has done for us to what matters to people
Develop the ability to
see how being a Christ-follower has changed us
►3)
STORIES ABOUT GOD
How people find out who He is, what He’s like, and what He’s done
What kind of a story
teller was Jesus? (Built His stories about God on what
mattered to people: livelihood, lifestyle, )
“Incarnational
STORY-TELLING”
►John
17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for
those who will believe in me through their message, that all
of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am
in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe
that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you
gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and
you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the
world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you
have loved me.
A
SUMMARY CONCERN
►Rom
2:17-24 - Now you, if you call yourself a Jew (Christian);
if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to
God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior
because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are
convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for
those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the
embodiment of knowledge and truth- 21 you, then, who teach
others, do you not teach yourself? … 23 You who brag about
the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24
As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of you."
