I heard this story from one of our student pastors, whose freshman year of college they decided that in this new chapter of life, they wanted to learn something new. They picked up their roommate’s guitar and started to learn to play. If you ever picked up an instrument for the first time, you probably experienced what I experienced. Learning a new instrument is hard! It was difficult to get your fingers to move how you want them to move and not to mention the blisters you get, but they kept at it. They practiced every day. Eventually, they got to the point where they could play a couple of songs and it started to become fun.
New things can be hard, but work at it and it'll be worth it. It’s the same way when it comes to sharing our faith.
For the past two weeks, we have worked hard on learning how to share the difference Jesus has made in our life. We have been learning to share our stories about how Jesus changed our life. For a lot of you, this is new! Did you know that over 80% of Christians have never shared their faith with someone else? Like everything else in life, this can be hard or scary at first, but you have to stick with it, be committed, and keep practicing.
People make this harder than it is. If you will take a little bit of time and practice what I am about to share with you, you will always be ready to share what God has done for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins and be made right with God. It’s important to share your story well with others.
1 Peter 3:15 says,“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”
The Bible says that we are to always be ready to share Jesus with others and that we are to share what God has done in our lives with gentleness and with respect. That means we are to never argue with someone over what God has done for them. You and I will never convince someone to follow Jesus if we are arguing with them.
I have never seen anyone trust Jesus to be the leader and forgiver of their life through an argument but I have seen thousands of people ask Jesus into their life through a conversation.
What I am about to tell you to work on is found on our Sagebrush app as well. If you open the Sagebrush App, go to “Resources”, then scroll down until you see “One Life”. Click “ 4 Bridge Video”.
We put together a video of what I want you to learn and I want you to watch it again and again I want you to practice it until you can share these truths without a piece of paper and a diagram. I want you to get this down so well that it is just something that you know like the back of your hand so when the opportunity comes you will be able to share what God has done for us.
Let’s walk through it together. Put the word US on one side and GOD on the other side. Then write the word SIN between the two words. Explain that because of our sin there is a separation between us and God. Now the problem that we all have because all of us have sinned is we want to get to God but we can’t make it to the other side on our own and people have tried. Some people think if I am a good person that I can make it to the other side on my own or if I go to church and become a religious person I can make it to the other side on my own but the Bible says no matter how hard we try to get on the other side we can’t make it to the other side on our own.
Thankfully, God saw the mess we were in. And because he loved us so much, he sent his son Jesus to bridge the gap between us and God. Jesus died for all the sins that we have committed. You see, at noon the sky grew dark as midnight as Jesus hung on the cross. It was at this time that all of our sins were placed on Jesus and when that happened Jesus cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me? God the father is holy and he cannot be in the presence of sin so God the father turned his back on Jesus as all of our sins fell upon him. Jesus became the payment for our sin that we owed a holy God.
One of the last things Jesus said before he died was “It is finished”. That saying in the first century meant paid in full. Jesus paid in full our sin debt and now we have access to God through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. You see Jesus didn’t stay dead but, three days later he rose again from the dead! Jesus promises to those who put their faith and trust in him that, when we die, because we have asked Jesus to take control of our life, we get to go to heaven to be with him forever. Asking Jesus into your life is as easy as 1,2,3 or A, B, C.
Admit you are a sinner. Have you ever sinned? Everyone has but it is not enough to just admit that you have sinned you have to repent of your sin. That means we must turn away from our sin. I was once living for myself but now I want to live for God.
Believe that Jesus is God’s son who died on the cross for you and rose again from the dead. Most people believe that to be true. In James 1 it says that even the demons believe and shudder with fear so it’s not enough to just believe some facts about Jesus. You have to do step three.
Commit your life to Jesus. You say Jesus everything I am and everything I hope to be I give it over to you. Take my life and use it. I don’t want to live for myself anymore. I want to live for you.
After I share this I always ask them “ Where do you see yourself? Here at number 1, number 2, number 3. Most of the time they say I am at number 2. I know that I am a sinner and I believe that Jesus is God’s son who died for me and rose again but I have never committed my life to him.
I look them in the eye and I ask them is there any reason why you wouldn’t want to commit your life to Jesus today? If they say no, I pray with them and I pray right through the three steps.
1. Dear God I know that I am a sinner. 2. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again3. I commit my life to you. Everything I am and everything I hope to be I give it to you. I love you and I thank you for forgiving me and loving me. In Jesus' name, Amen.
If they say I’m not ready, I leave it at that. I thank them for letting me share this with them and I hand them the paper and say if you ever have any questions about this stuff you know where I am at.
Years ago, when our Pastor Todd was a student pastor, he had a young girl in his student ministry. Her name was Keri. She was in the 8th grade when she gave her life to Christ.
She was so concerned for her friends that she prayed for them and cared for them and when she had the chance she shared with them the difference Jesus had made in her life. Her friends wanted what she had found. Now, this girl lived over 30 minutes away from the church but she didn’t let that stop her from inviting her friends to come with her to church.
On a Wednesday night, Todd was greeting kids who were coming out in the parking lot when he saw this station wagon loaded with kids. It looked like a station wagon low rider coming into the church parking lot. She got out and Todd said, “Keri you sure brought a bunch of people with you tonight.” She said, “Yea, but I have a problem. We had to leave some of my friends behind.”
Todd said, “That is a problem. Keri, the church has a van. Do you think you could fill up a van?” She said, “I think so”, so the next Wednesday Keri’s mom came by the church and picked up the church’s 15-passenger van.
The next Wednesday night this lowrider van came onto the church parking lot. 24 kids came out of that van. Todd said, “Keri, this is amazing.” She said, “I know but I have a problem.” Todd asked, “What is your problem?” She said, “I had to leave some of my friends behind because they wouldn’t fit in the van.” Todd said, “That is a problem.” Todd said, “Keri, the church has a bus. Do you think you could fill up a bus if I got someone to drive the bus out to your house?” She said, “A bus. I don’t know about a bus.” Todd said, “I’ll send you a bus.”The next Wednesday the bus arrived with over 70 kids on it.
Because Keri cared about those around her over 35 of her friends trusted Jesus to be the leader and forgiver of their lives in three months. Because of Keri’s intensity, the baptismal was full for months to come. Every time one of her friends was baptized she would be there in the front row with this huge smile on her face.
There is nothing like having someone say “I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. I was wasting my life, but now it has purpose and meaning. I was searching, and now I am home.
And then they look at you and say, “God used you to do it.” Find a friend who is a Christian or someone who goes to Remix and walk each other through this diagram as if you were explaining the good news of Jesus to them for the first time.
The actual script on how to do this is on the "Sagebrush" app. You follow the same steps as finding the Bridge Video, but instead of clicking 2, you will click “4 Bridge Diagram Script”. I hope you will practice this again and again because this little diagram could be the difference between someone going to heaven when they die or going to hell.
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