You know, when it comes to evangelism, we in the church are like the Apollo 13 Astronauts: "Houston, we have a problem." A recent poll by Life-Way research concluded that among those American adults who are either non-Christian or who haven't been to church in the last six months, a full 86% of them believe that a person could have a good relationship with God outside of church involvement. In addition, 44% said yes to the following statement: "Christians get on my nerves."

     And yet in this poll there are also some encouraging signs. We used to think that the people around us are all churched. That is not at all the case. A local funeral director holds, from his experience, that right here in this area fully two-thirds, 66%, of all the families that come to him are unchurched. One might think that that's a cause for concern - but it is also a great opportunity to share the good news!  We should have the attitude of the early church - an attitude full of gusto, full of the spirit of adventure - the attitude exhibited by Jesus Himself when He said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are too few. Therefore," Jesus said to His disciples, "ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest!" (Matt. 9:37-38) Yes, sir! There are plenty of people we can reach out to out there! We can be the harvest laborers God sends out! You know, Matthew recorded these words of Jesus because Matthew himself had been "harvested" by Jesus - by Someone who would not give up on him or his fellow outsiders. As we see in this film clip, Jesus first of all loves to be with just about everybody - even when warned away by the overly pious. And He also knows how to get people's attention, once He is with them. Let's take a look:

     [A clip is shown of Jesus with Matthew and his tax collector friends.]

     Jesus says, "Let me tell you a story," and everyone is immediately intrigued. Through the power of His stories, His "parables," Jesus showed that stories are the best ways to reach into the hearts of other people, and that's a big clue about how we can communicate like a walk-across-the-room person. Check your sheet there. Our first of 3 "fill-ins" is that we realize that stories - and the words used to tell them - are powerful!

     You see, the power of story and of words is undeniable throughout the Bible: words that are humble, healing, wise, gentle, and grace-filled. Are these the kind of words that we are known for speaking? If we were to ask some of our family members who actually live underneath the same roof as us, would they say, in the course of our normal everyday life, that we can be counted on to speak words of encouragement and grace...or not?

     So it seems to me that if we could find a way to consistently use words for good in people's lives, then we might just avoid the perception that we Christians can "get on people's nerves." In fact, the same poll points us in that very same direction, for 78% of these non-believers and unchurched also said that they were willing to listen to someone tell them about his or her Christian beliefs. They are willing to listen to our story.

     Now, before we get into that, first, a little review. Last week we discovered that after you decide to "Just Walk Across the Room," it's important to focus on developing a friendship instead of giving your spiel. Then, discover the other person's story instead of wedging your own agenda into the conversation, and then finally we learned that it's absolutely critical to discern the Spirit's guidance about what next steps to take to meet the need of the person you're with. That's the 3 D's - Develop the friendship, Discover their story, Discern the next steps - of "Living in 3-D."  Now here's the thing: when you do these three things, somewhere along the line God is going to give you the opportunity to say a bit more about God, or to tell someone why you started to walk with Him.

     There are two primary areas ways we use words to reveal God to others. 1. One way is by talking about God, explaining who He is and what He has done for all of us.  2. The second way is by talking about our personal experiences with God, explaining the main thing He's done in our lives.     Basically, that's 1. God's Story and 2. Your Story. How well we tell both of those stories is what's important - so well that our listeners walk away saying, "Now that makes sense. I really want that for my life."

     Okay, the second of our big realizations today is that God has a story, a powerful story, and your job and mine is to learn how to tell it well. What would you say if someone in your current circle of friends were to come to you today and say, "You know, we've been friends for a long time and you've been really good not to force this ‘God stuff' on me. But, with all that's been happening to me lately, I gotta ask you. How has all of your devotions, and praying, and worshiping, and all that - how has that connected you to God, if He exists? Why have you found faith in God really necessary for a good life?" Then what are you going to say?  

     Well, when it comes to explaining God's story, one thing you can do is this: you can grab a piece of paper or a cocktail napkin or whatever and ask their permission to sketch out this bridge. It's an image they won't soon forget, I assure you. Here's how it goes.

      For starters you establish that there's God, and there's people. Between people and God is a great chasm, a division that exists because of people's propensity to rebel against God's way and to go their own way.  Go on to explain that the Bible calls this ‘sin.'

     Then explain that the dilemma all people face is that when we want to get to God, we know we can't just leap over the chasm, and so we exert a lot of human effort, hoping that we can get a "bridge of good deeds" built, but in the end we realize that all the human effort in the world will never be enough to get us to the other side. The chasm is too wide.

     Thankfully, God sympathizes with our dilemma and, because He loved us so much, He intervened so that we would have a means of getting close to Him.  His solution was to choose His Son, Jesus, to serve as THE bridge between us and God. And you draw a cross as this bridge over the chasm.

     If you remember nothing else about the bridge illustration, remember this: Christ came to earth to be our bridge and whoever makes the decision to cross that bridge will live with God forever.

     This is one possible way you can go about explaining who God is and what He's done. Whatever way you choose to tell the story, keep in mind the types of words we should use are humble, gentle, grace-filled words.

     Remember, you're not responsible for transforming a human heart.  That's the responsibility of the Holy Spirit. Your role, when the Spirit prompts you to do it, is to know when to open your mouth and give a tender, thoughtful,  and passionate understanding of who God is and what He's done for every person who has lived or ever will live and that's all.

     The third thing we are to realize today is that now not only does God have a story, but YOU have a story as well, a powerful story, and your job is to learn how to tell that story well, too. I'm surprised sometimes by how many good Christian people don't think they have a story to tell, but you do! You do!!  If you've come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then you have a wonderful story to tell.

     Here's why that's true. Regardless of how old or young you are, there have been struggles in your life in which your faith in Christ has made the difference. You were different after that struggle than you were before.  Like many of the people of the Bible, you also have a ‘before' and you also have an ‘after,' and I don't know what that might be for you, but you do.  It could be any one or more of the following:

            Before, I was striving, but now I'm at peace.

            Before, I was self-destructive, but now I'm healthy.

            Before, I was guilty, but now I feel free, liberated.

            Before, I was full of fear, but now I feel confident.

            Before, I was despairing, but now I am hopeful.

            Your own ‘before and after' doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. It just has to be simple, humble, succinct, and true.  Sounds pretty straightforward, right?  I think so. It should be that easy to tell an effective ‘before and after' story, but I have to be honest with you. These stories that we're talking about can absolutely get derailed. Let me remind you of a few ways:

• 1. Faith stories derail when a Christ follower just won't shut up, when he or she just goes on and on even when the listener is sending signals that they're not interested;
• 2. Faith stories derail when a Christ follower is fuzzy and gets all tangled up in a dozen other story lines and leaves his or her listener frustrated, and baffled.
• 3. Faith stories derail when a Christ follower lays out a string of four syllable Christian insider words that no one else outside our family of faith understands; and
• 4. Faith stories derail especially if you play the ‘superiority' card. If you act like you have it all together and the listener is somehow inferior to you, I tell you, you're headed for the ditch.

     You know what I would suggest for you to do, right now? I want all of you - and I'm going to do this, too - let's all of us take some time and just write down some highlights of our faith story - perhaps at least one aspect of your ‘before and after' story. Now, later in this service, during the affirmation of faith time, we're going to listen to each other. We're going to pair up with another person and tell them what we have written, and listen to the other person has written as well. So, right now, let's write down a few things here. We'll give you a couple minutes.

     What you write here is just a start. When you get home, expand on what you've written and put together about a hundred-word statement that you can memorize and oila! You have a faith story that you can tell the world!

     You know, we tend to make this more difficult than it is. No one knows our story better than we do, and people love stories. So let's do our part to insure that as far as THIS congregation is concerned, we are getting our act together. For when we know God's story and we know our own stories and we know how to tell them well, we realize this: That we can go out and tell those stories as often as God gives us the opportunity!!   Amen!