What's a Grace Story? [33]

Host: TJ Freeman

Summary: In this episode of Back to Rurality, rural pastor TJ Freeman addresses the guilt many Christians feel about not sharing the gospel. TJ offers up a powerful tool for evangelism he calls 'grace stories'—narratives of God's grace in one's life. He reassures listeners that it's okay not to have all the answers and encourages them to be genuinely interested in others' stories. TJ shares his own experiences and biblical examples, such as the Apostle Paul's testimonies, to illustrate how to communicate one's faith. He challenges listeners to share their 'grace story' with at least one person this week and offers practical advice on how to practice and improve this skill.

Connect with Us:

• Website: backtorurality.com
• Social Media: Facebook
• Email: tj@brainerdinstitute.com

Transcript

Do you ever struggle with feeling guilty? Well, if you're like most Christians, you sure know what that feels like. And there's one area in your walk with the Lord where you might feel a little more guilty than the rest. And that happens when you start thinking about your responsibility to share the gospel.

How can we be more faithful to share God's word? Stay tuned to this episode of Back to Rurality. Well, thank you for joining me here today. My name is TJ Freeman, and I am just like you in the sense that I'm rural and I know it. I didn't really want to be rural. In fact, I tried to run away from rural places for a while.

The Lord brought me back, and he helped me to see, as I struggled with being a rural guy, so far from a Chick fil A and good sushi, that in fact, he loves rural places very much. And he wants to spread the good news of the gospel throughout rural places, because he wants his glory to be seen. Even in the middle of nowhere. Happens to be the reason he created all things.

But here's the reality. A lot of us understand as Christians that we should be sharing the gospel. We should be witnessing, and we think of it in these abstract ways, like, oh, should I be knocking on doors? Oh, should I be having people over to my house and, having a weird conversation with them that they're not expecting?

Oh, should I be just saying, like, praise the Lord all the time in public and hoping it opens up a door? It's kind of hard to know what we're supposed to do to share the gospel, even though we know we're supposed to do it. So what I want to talk about today is one tool that you have in your arsenal.

Whether you know it or not, you've got this tool, it's there, and you even know how to use it. And that is Your grace story. That's right. Your grace story. The story of God's grace in your life. There's one thing that you are an expert on and that is yourself. You know your past. You know what you've been like. You know what you've struggled with. You know what things You've overcome.

You know what it was like before you trusted Christ. And now you know what it's like after you trusted Christ. And believe it or not, you're pretty decent at telling stories about yourself. I mean, you've got the content pretty well memorized at this point.

And I think some of the things that keep us from sharing the gospel have to do with some fears about not knowing what to say. So you're, you may have, like a lot of people, a fear that if you start talking about Jesus and you're a Christian and people assume you're going to know a lot of stuff, but you don't feel like you know enough stuff. That can be a really tough thing.

So you're going, okay, well, what if somebody asks me something and I'm just like, Don't know. I got a secret for you. I'm a pastor, and I get questions sometimes that I don't know the answers to. It's not uncommon. Sometimes people ask me something and I'm like, wow, I don't even think I ever thought about that before.

And I know you've heard this before, but it's worth repeating, the best answer to give when you don't know something. You're ready for it? It's going to shock you. I don't know. That's it. That's all you got to say when you don't know, I don't know. But there's a next step to that. It's, I don't know, but boy, I'd be happy to look into that. I'd love to find that answer and get back to it. Do you mind if I do a little research and we can talk about this more? And there are going to be things you don't know the answer to. There are going to be traps that people have set to try to Get you to say the wrong thing.

That's part of the reason that it's scary. You know, if you start talking about political issues, Social issues, some of those kinds of things in light of what the Bible says, that can really be tough. It really doesn't matter. Don't have that fear be okay with saying I'm not sure and go find the answer and Go back to the person and continue the conversation.

If they're willing to continue to engage, that's a huge win. Another reason that we're afraid to share the gospel, I think, is because we don't know how to transition from normal conversation to spiritual conversation. And we make it too hard. If you think about grace story, it will really help you, because not only do you know a lot about yourself, but the people you're talking to know a lot about themselves, and they don't mind usually sharing their story.

You know, this is a huge thing that you'll want to think about just with life in general, not just sharing the gospel. How good are you at asking other people questions to draw them out? It's pretty common to feel like you need to have some stuff to say. It's less common to be prepared with questions that can really draw people out without being like a total weirdo creep.

I've crossed that line before. One time I was in the barber shop and I was asking these guys all these questions and the barber goes, What are You trying to pass some exam on us or something? And I thought, Well, that's how I know I crossed the line into creepy. There's a time and a place to ask good questions.

Consider that you should regularly take an interest in people and just ask them questions because you're interested. Oh, where did you grow up? Did you have a good childhood? Did you feel like you enjoyed those younger years? You just start picking and eventually you'll find the thing that gets them to open up a little bit.

Take interest. Now, that's A good way for you to transition into spiritual things. So did you guys go to church growing up? What kind of spiritual beliefs did your family teach you? How have you personally handled thinking about your eternity? You can ask some questions like that, and it doesn't have to be creepy and weird.

If you take a real interest in the person. Getting them to tell their story, in this case, spiritually, should open up the door for you to be able to share your grace story, what's happened to you spiritually. And before I kind of go into just a couple points on that, I want to draw your attention to scripture where we learn some things about grace stories.

The Apostle Paul uses this technique a lot. He likes it a lot. And you can see three times in the book of Acts when Paul shares his testimony. So in Acts 9, as Luke, the doctor, gives an orderly account of the things that happened after Jesus was resurrected, he gives an account of Paul's conversion there. The conversion of Saul, that's what he went by before, and how he got saved and became the apostle Paul.

So his testimony is recorded, but Paul then twice later in the book of Acts gives it in Acts 22 and Acts 26. Once before a Jewish crowd, once before King Agrippa, and he just goes over who he was before Christ and how he came to Christ. He does the same thing. He mentions elements of his testimony or his grace story in Galatians one, in Philippians three, and in first Timothy one.

He says things about himself to help the person he's talking to understand who they are and what they need to do in light of the gospel. That's something that you can definitely do. So we see it happening in scripture and we understand that it's probably a good example of what we should do in our own lives.

So your grace story consists of a couple of parts. It consists first of who you were before Christ. And some of you got saved at age two. As soon as you quit drinking out of a bottle, you were like, Jesus, would you please save my soul? I know I'm a sinner.

You might just be the exception, which is great, and praise the Lord for all the things He spared you from. But here's what you had to know to get saved, even at age two. You were born into sin. You had a sin problem. You had a rebellion problem. You don't need to be telling this person you're talking to, Hey, I was just saved at age two, and I have a good, boring testimony, blah, blah, blah.

No, just express to them, I remember when I realized that I Needed a Savior. I knew I was a sinner and I asked Jesus to save me. You can talk about that. You don't have to get into the nitty gritty unless it fits the occasion. I, before I became a Christian, was ruthlessly unkind to my friends to try to make popular kids laugh, so that I could become a popular kid.

I'm ashamed about that. I don't celebrate that. I'm embarrassed by it. But there are settings where I can relate to people who have had that same kind of struggle where you really want the approval of other people and you do stupid stuff to get it. So when I'm in that situation, I can say, look, I get it.

I totally get it. Oh, and here's what you could do. As you're asking people about themselves, So what was junior high like, you know? Everybody has a junior high story. Junior high is usually the worst. So what were you like in junior high? Let me tell you what I was like. I was the worst. You know, so you can just have a normal conversation with people like that.

That's a big way that I talk through mine. And then after, how did you come to Christ? For me, I went to camp. I heard a message preached about friends, and I heard the preacher say you can't be a friend of God and a friend of the world. In fact, to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. Man, was I angry at that preacher.

A lot of people can relate to that. You hear something preached and you just get angry. Especially as an unbeliever. Darkness does not like the light. And so people can understand, Oh man, this guy's a Christian, but he's being honest about the fact that he got angry when he heard something preached. And then the Lord didn't let me sleep that night.

I tossed and I turned in my bed. Until finally I told the Lord, I don't want to follow you if it means giving up all my friends. But, would you help me to want to want to follow you? And the Lord used that to change my heart. By the morning I had become a Christian, and then I had some struggles, and I didn't understand how to read the Bible, and all of those kinds of things.

That's all part of my grace story. You've got a grace story too, and you can prayerfully think of ways that you can weave your testimony, the story of God's grace in your life into conversations with normal people, like your barber, your hairstylist, if you're a lady, like the gas station attendant who's having a bad day and you can tell and you start drawing them out a little bit because there's nobody waiting in line behind you, like your family member, like your friends, like your coworkers.

Like your boss. Hey, here's the reality. You are here to make Christ known. If you're a Christian, the only reason that Jesus did not take you straight up to heaven when he saved your soul was so that you could bring him glory here on earth. And one of the biggest ways you do that is by telling other people about the hope that you have in you.

And that is Jesus Christ. So I don't want to add weight of guilt onto your shoulders. I want to help take some off. And here's my challenge to you. Find one person this week that you can share your grace story with. Don't make it weird. Just draw them out with some questions, sprinkle in some things about your story along the way, and see what the Lord does with it.

If you want a second assignment, fine, I'll give you one. You can practice your grace story with another Christian. If there if you live in a little town, There may not be that many Christians in your town. If you are blessed to have a healthy church, get together with one or two other Christians, and say hey, Can we just talk about our grace stories together?

I just want to get better at sharing it. They won't think that's weird. And If you don't have that, you're going to want to just practice it with a family member. Practice it in front of the mirror. Write out some details so that, you know, just bullet points. This is what the Lord's done. This is how he saved me.

And this is what I want to try to share with others. We exist for the glory of God, guys. We're not going to find satisfaction in doing anything less. And we're here for so much more. So go share the story of God's grace . 

Do you know the old hymn? There is a fountain filled with blood. Starts off weird. Talking about a fountain filled with blood. Picture that. That's not something that normally exists. And the blood is drawn from Immanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Now that happened to you.

It also happened to the dying thief that rejoiced to see the fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he was, wash all my sins away. It goes on down to this verse. It says, ever since by faith I saw this dream. Thy flowing wounds supply, redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. 

I hope redeeming love is the theme of your life. And that you are each day learning more and more what it means to share that theme with others, so that they can experience the great joy that you experienced in coming to know Christ and being with him for all eternity.

For now though, how about we get back to life? Back to Rurality.