Your Story Speaks…So Say Something!

Good morning church have a seat if you would and I thank you worship team thank you We’re going to talk about your story this morning we’re going to do it together and it’s it’s good children you’ll go have some fun next door and we’ll come get you later but you get to hear some more great stories of how God works in people’s lives it’s good I don’t mean just the people in the room are going to hear stories I and and your story will be in

play but my story will be and those who are listening and taking this in someplace else this morning so please sit forward in your seat because we’re going to jump right in and talk about when things happen to us whatever we experience that is let me list a few things dramatic Kelly did such a great job of getting us to go back in time I just wanted to stay there did you and it was dramatic for me I was eighth grade and maybe traumatic is a

second word let’s throw in there so it’s a sentence that has you right now thinking of your story and thinking of a moment or time that was dramatic for you just in other words other than ordinary and maybe in some cases it came in the form of traumatic like it just flattened you it shocked you it was it was scary and hard or or perhaps some of you have come to label it as miraculous so those three let’s put those three together as part of your

memory a moment in your life where you were certain that God was working somehow you didn’t have to have words you wouldn’t be tested on it in the morning this is just a moment for you some of you this is really current I have somebody that’s written me from far away another country and they’re going through it and that’s okay they’re there maybe here this morning and that’s okay that’s good that’s that’s current for you a moment in your life and it was certain that God

looking back on it maybe not in the moment was calling your name and I want to say upfront if you’re taking notes if your heart’s gonna lock into something God plans to use that if you let it you with me I really want you to be with me we’re told today you know if you had something really terrible happened to you or it’s going on right now get over it expunge it from your memory the goal in some counseling models is to get you to move

past it and not think about it it’s nonsense that’s terrible theology okay that gets our attention doesn’t it it’s not what God would say at all if he were invited into the discussion he’d say hold on to all that you’re going through not the injury not the wound not the devastation but the story because I’m gonna use it he is after all the God who listen to this saves our tears when we cry you wear that Psalm 56 verse 8 reads this way you keep track

of all my sorrows how many of anybody cried this week you don’t have to raise your hand but probably right guess who else was there in that moment with you and who was tracking with you he tracked your sorrows he he does this thing he collects all your tears in a bottle and it’s his bottle and he’s recorded every single detail of them in his book why would God be interested in such things I’m gonna suggest to you it’s because he loves story your story and

my story and tears are part of our story and he does so we have to ask why because my assessment a hundred percent I’ve never had somebody in my presence I’ve never read of somebody unless they’re I just don’t know how to even conceive of somebody that isn’t in some fashion or another part of humanity a hundred percent of people are familiar with impossible they live it you lived it some of you are living it now so we know moments that are just like I can’t

get out of this there is no exit in this space or room in my life and it means that we crave more than prefer we crave impossible stories that that actually turn out well we crave the unexpected outcome and I’m not saying we in this room I’m saying everybody does we just like we go wow am I am I happy to hear that I just didn’t I was in despair we cannot get enough what I would call unbelievable outcomes and I don’t think I’m alone in

any fashion so God when he gives us one of those impulse possible he plans in that event and through that event he has hopes that when he does come through and when he pulls off the impossible you ready you on the edge you won’t be able to stop talking about it amen I hope you believe that I think by the end of our time God’s word you will you will believe it and you won’t stop telling others maybe starting today how how it turned out and

when you do when you do when I do that we’ll be sure to give the miracle working God every ounce of glory that he deserves because he was the one that did it that’s right so that’s the reason that’s what this morning’s about which explains let me say something I talked frequently frequently about it it explains the parting of the Red Sea the most popular reoccurring miracle story told in the Bible you don’t know it go to Exodus you’ll read about it chapter 12 but you

can read chapter 1 through 12 it’s not going to hurt you and it’s really good and it gets you going like oh oh here it comes it’s gonna happen no set back here comes again no set back and it goes on like that again again and again in chapter 12 boom it happened and God comes through so Exodus did I say Genesis I thought I said Exodus is read when God miraculously delivered his people from pursuing Egyptians it wasn’t like they were like get out of

here we’re done with it that’s that lasted about five minutes and then they changed their minds and gave mad as a hornet pursuit of those fleeing Jews we’re gonna get them and we’re gonna get rid of them was their sentiment that was that’s what was going on that’s why it’s the most talked about miracle in the Bible because they were hoes they were had there was no way out but God made away read Psalm 77 19 every every day this week read it a new living

translation and you’ll start to expect God to be the way maker in a brand new way I said way a lot hey that’s way cool okay so let’s go on so when he does such things let’s bring it to current in your life and in my life his hope is that we will not go shy or mute about what happened seems to me that’s the principle you’re gonna see on the screen from second Corinthians chapter verses three and four it starts out with blessing God blessing

the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies in the God of all comfort watch this who comforts you and me we can put our name in there he comforts us in a few afflictions that come up what’s it say people all our afflictions means he’s with us during that He comforts us in any of our afflictions with the comfort, okay? With the comfort that he wants us to give away, he wants us to utilize in the lives of other people that

we know at work in the neighborhood, in your friendships, in your family. He wants us to use that. How many of you ever thought of being a counselor or a therapist? A few, maybe 10 hands.

How many of you would like God to use you to comfort somebody? In distress and sorrow and struggle? Almost every hand. How many don’t want to do any of the above? I know it’s scary, but I’m not asking you to do it neither is 2 Corinthians 1 verses 3 and 4.

It’s saying you were comforted and God plans to use that. Let me put it in one sentence. God wants to leverage your story for his glory, for his glory. Today’s message presents how the Apostle Paul did just that. And it shows how the command of Jesus to share the gospel, because that’s the ultimate good here.

You’ll dry tears if you let God use you, but there’s a greater good. It’s the sharing of the gospel, which is how this whole letter, this book that we’ve been reading about acts of the apostles or acts of the Holy Spirit, it began. And it began with these words, verse 8 of chapter 1, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit arrives, when he comes to you or upon you. And you will, from that point, and only when the Holy Spirit, that is, when you belong to God and his presence is in you, at that moment you will be my witnesses. And he says to Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts.

So today is gonna pick up on that, and you’re gonna get to see in chapter 22, how some of that rolled out and how the Apostle Paul has something to say long ago to us today. Would you turn to chapter 22 if you’re not there? And we left off last week where the Apostle was warned. He was about to face bad stuff, chapter 22. Chapter 21 highlights that in verse four, where he’s told in the spirit, they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

Why? Chapter 21, verse 10 tells why, after he had been, for a number of days with a group of prophet named Agabus came from Judea, came over to us, took Paul’s sash or belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, the Holy Spirit says this, Paul, and this way Jewish leaders in Jerusalem are next stop. We’ll bind the owner of this belt and we’ll hand him over to the Gentiles. That is a warning. That’s a, what do you call it, a shot over the bow.

It’s a flare in the sky. Paul, are you sure you wanna do this? ‘Cause we’re sure it’s not gonna be fun. We’re sure it’s gonna be actually difficult and painful for you. He went anyway and sure enough, as predicted, he was arrested by Roman troops and taken to a cell, a holding cell, where he was rescued from the crazed crowd were told in chapter 21, verse 36, he’s rescued from them who in fact wanted to get rid of him.

Some of your Bibles say, kill him. Crucify him, other Bibles say. He kind of ominous connection to somebody named Jesus that the crowd said as much to on the day he gave his life for us. So we pick up as Paul speaks after being given the chance to speak by the Roman commander. This would amount to Paul’s testimony.

So I’m picking up here in the last verse of chapter 21. So after receiving the commander’s permission to speak to the crowd, when they were silent, Paul now steps up and motions to the crowd and he says this to them Aramaic as chapter 22 begins. Brothers and fathers listen now to my defense. He’s been arrested. I got something to say here is what he’s saying at the beginning.

When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. So he’s a Jew, they speak Hebrew. He’s also bilingual, we would say, and he gets the crowds attention ’cause many of them spoke Aramaic. They became very quiet. Then Paul said, I’m a Jew born in Tarsus of Salicia, but brought up in this city.

Remember, he’s in Jerusalem. I studied under Gamaliel. I’ll bet people went, whoa, at that moment. And they would remember what we were told in chapter five is Gamaliel. He’s a big deal.

And he was thoroughly trained in the law of our laws of our ancestors, the Mosaic law. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I imagine him, I just kinda go through the motions when I’m in my study alone. I’m just as zealous, the guy speaking right now, as you are today. I persecuted the followers of this way, my Bible capitalizes way.

It’s these Jesus people. I persecuted the followers of this way to their death. I arrested both men and women through them into prison as the high priest and all the counsel can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates of North and Damascus, Assyria, and went there to bring these people as prisoners back to Jerusalem to be what? Punished for believing this nonsense.

About noon as I came near Damascus, he’s telling the story, suddenly a bright light and heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and I heard a voice say to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord?” I asked. “I’m Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

My companions saw the light as well, but they didn’t understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. “What shall I do, Lord?” I asked. “Let up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus,” where he was heading, “and there you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” My companions led me by the hand into Damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

A man named Ananias came to see me from the city. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, “Father Saul, receive your sight.” I just would love to have stood there and watched. At that very moment, I was able to see him.

I don’t know if you could close your eyes and sort of imagine it and go, wow, there’s a lot of you. Or what? Or be in a dark room and suddenly the light goes on. But this is that moment for Paul. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors,” this is Ananiasas, “the God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear words from his mouth.”

You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard, verse 16. And now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away calling on his name. There’s no break in the book here, verse 17. And was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and I saw the Lord speaking to me again, quick, the Lord said to him, leave Jerusalem immediately because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.

You can read about that earlier in Acts as well, Acts 9 and 10. Lord, I replied, these people, they know that I went into from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen, that story’s told in Acts 7, was shed, I stood there with a smile on my face, giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him. Then the Lord said to me, he’s still quoting, the Lord said to me, go and I will send you far away to the Gentiles. All that we just read points to two words, Paul’s testimony.

He had a moment, he had a mic, he was given a chance to speak by those in charge, the Roman commander, and he spoke. And his testimony, like mine and yours, is all about Jesus. All of it. It’s a story that tells what you were before you believed. That’s in play, it’s relevant.

It also tells how you, we would say, got saved. How Jesus saved you. And then, because everybody wants to know how it turns out, it takes you into the third piece, what’s changed about you? How are you different today than before you met Jesus? Everything is right there.

So let’s take notes for a second on Paul’s approach. So we can share our Jesus story as the Holy Spirit provides us opportunity and hopefully see maximum impact. So Paul pulled the truth, that’s a starting point about his prior life. Y’all are gonna get uncomfortable now. ‘Cause we’ve been told get over it and get it behind you, move forward.

Yeah, it doesn’t have control, maybe over you today, but it’s a real shameful past. It might be filled with hypocrisy or sexual immorality or something. It might involve prison time. It might involve a restraining order. It might involve a whole bunch of things, you’re just going, gee, he’s hitting on them already.

I just don’t, ah, it’s awful. The story begins for Paul telling the truth about his prior life versus one to five. That’s what he did. This is who I was. He reverently addressed the audience.

He didn’t do this for, you know, sort of a fact. He was, dear sirs, your honor, your honor, that kind of language. He told people in the temple that were there. He told where he was born and raised. You know, I grew up in the Bay Area.

I was a son of a preacher. I’m telling my story there. Those are important things people like to know about that. I tell where I was raised. I tell where I was educated.

Sometimes I tell how many times I got kicked out of school, that kind of thing. You know what I mean? I don’t play. Parents go, “Why are you tired?” Our little kids are hearing that.

No, I’m telling them because it’s a dumb thing. But it’s my story. I was not on the path. So it needs to be told. And then he connects with his audience.

I love verse three. It’s why it took a little time to say it. He points the finger. He says, “You know something? You wanted to know who I was before Jesus?

I was zealous. I was on fire, baby. Just like you.” You say, “Well, how was it just like them?” They were the mob that wanted him killed.

That’s called zeal. They are the mob that had him arrested. These are fired up people. They’re filled with fury. That’s who he says he was.

And he honestly states that he had done those things out of a zeal for God. I thought I was doing God a favor. Isn’t that true? I didn’t really know I was off the path. I didn’t know about a path.

I didn’t know there was another path or the right path. Just talking like his audience might have heard. Our stories become compelling. Here’s why I’m emphasizing this. What is the bad and the ugly of our lives before meeting Jesus?

So the question we need to get comfortable with to start is what was my life before meeting Jesus? Everything I’m talking about is going to lead to a big homework assignment for all of us. This one, just one paragraph. You know, by the way, you might be one of those people that on the outside looked like you had it wired. You were good to go.

No one knew a thing about your soul. And that would be true. A lot of us fake it really well. People think, “Oh, yeah, they’re a model.” That’s a model, preacher’s kid.

I was so phony. My dad was in. That’ll work for me. I got away with all kinds of stuff. But we got to be honest.

Don’t hide the hard stuff. Because when you do, here’s the deal. You’re not being real. You’re not. And our world smells that quick.

It’s not honest. Here’s the deal. Paul, verse 19, did not scrub his story. These people know. They know.

He knew what the rumor was about him. It wasn’t a rumor. It was the truth. That I was the one that would beat in prison trying to kill. I stood there.

The only thing I didn’t do is throw rocks. Maybe I was a junior Pharisee and they wouldn’t let me do it. But I got to hold on to their coats because they didn’t want to get his blood. I stood there and thought, “Wow, this is living.” We’re getting rid of an enemy of God right here.

Read chapter seven and you’ll go, “Wow, he told it true.” So remember that the ones you are telling your testimony to are just like you. The dirt and the details matter to them. So if your life’s been a train wreck, say so. Say so.

Next, Paul explains the win and how of meeting Jesus. That’s the second paragraph I want you to write about. Okay? It’s real important that I tell you that I went to Mexico and to be around my dad who was leading a ministry trip where they were sharing the gospel. And everybody on that trip, except me and my brother, had not memorized our testimonies in Spanish.

But all these other kids had and they were sharing them every night as we invited people to tent meetings and gatherings out in the whatever, the dusty streets of Mexico where we were. And they were sharing the gospel and their testimony. They were sharing it in Spanish. And I couldn’t understand it in Spanish, but the more I understood, after hearing them talk further about it, the more I realized that I don’t have that. I don’t have that.

I don’t have a story. I don’t have a how and when. I have a dad, a mom, they’re good people. So it was an encounter that changed his life, Paul’s life. It’s verses six to 16 that we just read.

And not only his life, but his eternity. It changed it all. He describes intimate details of the dialogue between him and Jesus. And we read that already, but there’s two questions that Paul received answers to that was the change. Verse eight, he asked his first question.

And the answer was I am Jesus. I am Jesus, the one you’re trying to get rid of. And then he asked a second question in verse 10, what shall I do, Lord? And the answer is go to Damascus and you’ll get your answer and he did. And we read about Ananias.

And Ananias in verses 14 to 16 basically gives him what is best thought of as a culture to ministry. God’s changing your life right here right now. Your eyes are gonna be open. You will see clearly. You will understand with regret what you did.

And then God’s gonna set you on fire and send you out. What are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, wash your sins away, calling on his name. And he takes off from there. This was the moment of salvation.

And immediately Paul pivots and goes a different direction. From his misguided zeal, back in verse five where he says, I oppose people of the way. From that misguided zeal, I oppose them to telling people about the way, the truth and the life. Imagine the impact of admitting that you had it wrong about Jesus. That’s Paul’s story.

It may be very close to yours. Only now you live to tell people how they too can be forgiven and find a new path and life. That’s the effect of Paul telling people how his life had been changed. It breaks it down, doesn’t it? It makes it kind of real.

You can sort of taste it a little bit. I would not have been in the same town as Paul if I knew he was coming at one time. But after he met Jesus, I don’t think you could have kept me away from begging him to come to our house for dinner. ‘Cause I wanna see with my own eyes. Just can’t believe it.

Same guy. Yeah, same guy. But changed in every way. Works that way for us as well when we say in effect, I was going a wrong path. And then God, pulled off a U-turn in my life.

It’s the U-turn that is a story told in 1 Thessalonians. There was a group of people there that had a pretty dark past and then they met Jesus. It’s on the screen in front of you. The Lord’s message rang out from you and your faith in God has become known everywhere. These people in Thessalonica in Greece in the ancient world.

Therefore we do not need to say anything about it for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turn to God from idols. That’s about as extreme as it gets to serve the living and true God and wait for his son from heaven. That’s a change. We went from serving idols, wood and stone things.

That don’t have eyes or ears, no brain, no power, no nothing. We went from that. That’s who I was, these people would say. But I met the true living God. He did a U-turn in my life and he now has put a desire in me, a longing in me as I wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus Christ, who rescues all of us from the wrath to come.

So Paul couldn’t stop telling people his story either. The Thessalonica people, they had a cool story. Very late in Paul’s life, he had his arm around a young understudy who was gonna be his successor. His name was Timothy. We know the story.

He wrote him two letters, probably wrote him others but the Holy Spirit preserved these two letters in our Bibles. And in first Timothy chapter one, verses 12 to 17, the words are on the screen of Paul with his arm around Timothy saying, let me tell you my story again. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who’s given me strength. Timothy, you see it? He is considered me trustworthy and he appointed me to service, to his service.

You’ve watched that, Tim. You’ve been around that. You’ve been in my shadow, Timothy. Even though, and he goes back, can you hear it in his voice? I was once a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man.

Yet I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. And he brings up how it all changed him. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Again, will you look at me right now? As though he gets away from the podium and he comes down and says, here’s a deal.

Here’s a trustworthy saying that needs to be embraced by all. Don’t think of it as my story anymore. You see? He’s making it an application. He’s saying, this was my story.

Now here’s a trustworthy saying that deserves to be embraced by all. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And if you think you’re the exception to the rule, it can’t work in my case. Have you ever felt that way? Just be honest, have you?

I’ve been around people to say, the person I’m relating to right now says, I’m sure I don’t have. I lost my salvation. Really? I hope he will read 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 12 to 17. Because it says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

And I am the worst of all sinners. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, he repeats himself the worst as bad as it gets. Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for you who believe in him. And receive eternal life. No wonder he leaves the doxology in verse 17.

Now to the king, eternal and mortal and visible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen? We need to become comfortable telling people about our turning point. The turning point in who I once was to what Jesus was making of me. It’s a turning point in our stories where we tell, this is how I was brought to Jesus.

I’m gonna say this is the most appealing part of our story. And yet there are cynics among us that go, no, that’s sentimental, that’s good, that touches my heart. I think there’s a little moisture, a little tear. Then you tell him, okay, who are you today? I’m a different man, you would say.

And that’s what Paul did in verses 17 to 21. Paul tells of the towering way that his life had been changed since meeting Jesus. He went from hater of Jesus’ people. It’s not more extreme than that to the apostle who would reach verses 18 and verse 21 says Gentiles. You’re gonna go and reach Gentiles.

Diorani is stunning because Saul was a former enemy of Gentiles, of Jesus’ people. He was. And then he becomes this missionary with a purpose in being sent out to reach those very people. Folks, you and I have heard the story. We’ve heard the gospel.

And it starts out with not good news. We’ve all sinned and we fall short. So nothing you could do to make you good enough where that statement in Romans three verse 23 doesn’t apply to you. And here’s the really bad news. If that wasn’t bad, the really bad news is the wages of that sin is death.

In other words, eternal separation from God. Sin or sinners in his presence. We have a problem, Houston. That describes me or described me and it described every single person that’s ever been born in this world. The wages of sin, Romans six, 23 says, are death.

But this is the greatest transition statement you could read in all of the Bible. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Not through you getting good or good enough, but through the grace of Jesus, the undeserved gift of Jesus. That statement I said, I hope, with Kelly’s prompting earlier, you’re thinking about your story, but you’re realizing he doesn’t just tell you that.

Gift of God as eternal life through Jesus Christ, I look good, I’ve got it. He doesn’t want you to clutch it tightly, but to share it freely. That’s where storytelling comes in. Because you met Jesus, and when you met Jesus, he saved you, and he gave you a story meant to be shared. Are you sharing it?

Because God wants to use your story for his glory. We’ll pick up next week on the trigger word that was used in verse 21 that ignited the city, all was going well until that moment. Paul’s story though, and your story, and my story, all share a few features in common. If you’re still writing notes and many of you are, I want to give you those. They are, our stories together are very personal.

Don’t make your story about being the son of a preacher unless you are. Okay? And don’t make up a sin story, because it does get attention, but maybe you’re just that quiet, private, prideful little person. No one knew it except Jesus and you. So maybe that’s your story.

So it’s personal, that’s the first thing. Secondly, it’s powerful. God has an audience out there that needs to hear from a phony preacher’s kid to a changed pastor, changed human being that I live my life for an audience of one Jesus Christ. So it’s powerful. Change me.

And then here’s another takeaway, it’s persuasive. People hear that and they go, they just can’t help but they may not work for me. Or maybe I need to get serious about my testimony so I can tell, I can tell my story to others. Get comfortable with your story and the best way I know is to remember that God wants to use your story. So that’s kind of the takeaway here.

Tell what happened to you. Here’s the deal. Your story speaks. So say something. And remember, you’ve received power if you’ve met Jesus.

You’re not waiting for Acts 1 8 to happen. You receive power when you met Jesus. And the Holy Spirit came in side of you and lives within you as he gave you life and you are therefore to be his witnesses to Tigard and Beaverton and Portland and Wilsonville and wherever you live and whatever context you live. So say something. I want to leave you with two people to examine.

Just from your memory. I want to leave you first of all with a blind man. No one knows his name. He’s not mentioned by name. He just his feature.

He was blind. And his story is in John 9. Really cool story, very touching story. But people wanted to know how did this happen because now you were blind and now you see. I’d have you ask this question today.

Think about it at least for yourself. How many times do you think he told that story? Here’s another one. Any of you call yourself or describe yourself before meeting Jesus as a crook, a cheater, some kind of a, you know, embezzler or whatever or worse. You’re not going to raise your hand.

I don’t expect you to. I was. Okay. So I’m fascinated by Luke 19 and a man named Zacchaeus. He was a lion cheatin, robin guy.

And he met Jesus. Read his story, Luke 19. And ask the question, how long, how often do you think he told people that story? Called himself the same. I’m a cheatin, lion guy.

Here’s bringing it home. Debbie and I wanted to have children. We couldn’t. We were in fertile. And then we conceived a child and lost that first pregnancy.

Few months in. Devastating to us. We don’t hide from that story. God has used that to touch. To reach through us.

I don’t know what he’s done in people’s lives. They feel sad and you know hurt for us. But we show him the hope. And more recently my Debbie was stricken with AML on June 10th, 19, 2021. We’ve become evangelists since then.

We have a story to tell. I’d like you to bow your heads with me this morning and think about your, think about your hard to talk about moments. Of course, think about the biggest of all. I used to be finished the sentence. Then I met Jesus.

And today I’m finished the sentence. Tell that story really often. There’s a song, my Savior, my God, that he would leave his place on high. Our words that you’ll hear will sing for sinful man and men and women to die. You counted strange so once did I before I knew my Savior.

So Lord, now that we know you as our Savior. We have a story that speaks. I pray that you would help us share it often for your Glory, we pray.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,016 words.