Tell Your Story

When was the last time you reflected on how God saved you? Think about the truth that was shared. Think about the people God used to deliver this truth. Think about their care for you in speaking hard things concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, and speaking gracious things concerning the cross and forgiveness and cleansing.

For most of us, God used someone else’s “testimony” (the story of how He saved them) to open our hearts to the gospel. In fact, one of God’s chosen, powerful evangelism methods has always been for believers to tell their story. Twice in the book of Acts, Paul tells his salvation story as a context for sharing the gospel (22:3-21; 26:12-29). In a sense, a secondary purpose of both Matthew and John’s Gospels are to recount their story of who they were before Christ, how they met Christ, and how Christ changed their lives. And, having encountered Jesus, the guilt and shame of The Woman at the Well’s story turned into her testimony of grace: “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did’” (John 4:39).

Telling our story can also be a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 6, after listing off a number of sinful acts, the Apostle reminds these Christians, “such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Like Paul, the Corinthians had a story of redemption to tell, and he was reminding them of this fact as he called them to greater faithfulness to Christ.

So, here’s the point:
You need to tell your story.
We, your brothers and sisters in Christ, need you to tell your story.
And those lost without Christ need to hear your story.

Have you noticed the new feature on our Calvary Severance App called “Tell the Story”? With this button, you’re only a few clicks away at any time from hearing how the Lord has changed the lives of the people in our church. We pray that this will build your faith in Christ and that, in hearing others’ stories, you will also learn to share your story with those who don’t know Christ.

Can I ask for your help?
Would you take a few minutes in your personal time with the Lord this week to reflect on how God saved you? Then, would you turn your cell phone camera on selfie mode and tell us your testimony? Would you email that video to andyduke@thecalvary.org? It doesn’t need to be polished. Mine has like 30 ‘um’s and ‘uh’s in it. It doesn’t need to be long (2-3 minutes max). It just needs to point people to Jesus by explaining what He’s done for you.

Would you tell your story?