Share the Love - Share His Love Through Your Story, Part 2

When something really good happens to us, it's easy to share it, isn't it? In fact, you can't wait to deliver the news to someone you really care about. Well, what if you could learn how to tell someone else about the amazing love of God in the same, non-threatening, natural way? Well, today that's what we're going to learn how to do.

Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this daily discipleship program. I'm Dave Druey, and in this program, Chip continues his series, Share the Love, How to Talk to Anyone About God, by giving us a look inside his own faith journey. Now, in the process, he's going to give us an outline to follow for telling our story. Now, after the teaching, Chip's going to have some additional thoughts about how to talk with people about Jesus, so be sure to stay with us for that. Okay, let's get started.

Here's Chip with part two of his message from Acts chapter 26. So let me just take a moment, and I'll share my story using this outline, okay? You've probably heard parts of it here and there, but if I was sitting down, and we had a cup of coffee, and I said, hey, where'd you grow up, and you told me where you grew up, and so what was it like growing up, and you told me a little bit about your family and this and that, and then just normal or casual, you might say, well, Chip, tell me a little bit about your life. Externally, what I'd say is, well, I grew up in a home. Parents were school teachers, and we were, in general, kind of pretty moral. My mom was an amazing person, a guidance counselor.

My dad, you know, ex-Marine, Guam, Iwo Jima, science teacher. He was a great athlete, so I was really, you know, pushed and admired and wanted to be a good athlete, and my dad was one of those guys that I never heard him say, I love you, until late in his life. He wasn't a hugger, but I knew he loved me, and the way he loved me was, in that generation, is he would help you become successful if you did really well.

That's the way you got loved, and so he'd hit grounders until they would bounce off my face, and if I got four As and a B, we had a deep talk about what happened with the B, and it was real, I mean, that was his love language. It was, I really want you to do well because I learned in my house early that if there's a theme, it was, if you can become successful, then you'll really be happy, and I want to help you be successful, and the way you're successful is this, it's real easy, you know? You get up earlier than everybody else, you set very clear goals, you develop a strategy to get there, and when they're sleeping, you work, and when they go to bed, you keep working, and I'll tell you what, son, you'll be successful, and when you're successful, you'll be happy, and so I became a workaholic by the time I was 13.

I had six or seven yards, three paper routes at one time. I lent my parents $3,000 when I was 13 years old at 6% interest. I decided, I read an article about Pete Maravich when I was about seventh grade, and I saw all the drills that he did and started doing those drills for about eight or nine hours a day and decided I'm going to date a pretty cheerleader, I'm going to get a basketball scholarship, I'm going to graduate in the top of my class, I'm going to be in this club and be all league in this and that, and I went like an absolute wild man after that. I didn't do any drugs, I didn't do any alcohol, I was too busy, but internally I was desperately insecure. I was very short and very skinny, so I had that little chip on my shoulder trying to prove myself. I was very mouthy, very arrogant, had a real foul mouth, and I was really lonely inside because my dad began to drink more and more and more as I got older, and I just had a big wound I didn't know about, but that's what my life was like. So the realization of my need came the night that I graduated from high school.

I vividly remember sitting in an empty apartment off Ohio State's campus with about 25 or 30 people, and in those days they called it a reefer, a joint, whatever you call it, but they were passing it around and we were telling stories about high school, and as it came around a gal named Jackie turned to me and said, you must be very happy tonight, and she was one of those girls that was a friend and we were in a lot of study halls together and talked honestly and I remember turning and saying, well, why do you say that? And because we talked she goes, well, you know, you did well in school, you date that cute little cheerleader, you got a scholarship, and she named a few things, and I didn't realize, see, every single person pursues something or someone that you believe is going to make you happy. Everyone behaves in a way that makes sense to them, even if you don't articulate it, even if you don't think it through, your behavior, your energy, your time, your money, it all, I mean, if you could put it all together, all of us go towards something that makes sense. I didn't realize the mantra was, if you work hard and successful, you'll be happy, and when she said that, it was like a light came on, and I didn't feel happy, I felt empty, because I had already decided the next set of goals. I've already decided I'm going to major in political science, I'll be a lawyer, I'll be very rich, I'm going to marry a beautiful girl, I will have a luxury car, a station wagon, an Irish setter, three beautiful kids, by age 35 I'll be a leader in the community, I mean, and thank, you know, my dad, he was an alcoholic and he may have sort of warped me a little bit, but I had this amazing mother and they produced this child with a very high self-esteem, I mean, arrogant self-esteem. I grew up with someone who told you, don't worry about failing, just get up and try it again, and if you keep going, you'll always, and that night I realized, I had 15 years and I do the next set of goals, and my life will be maybe 10 times more empty than it is right now. So I drove home and looked at the stars, and I had given up on organized religion because all the Christians I met were phony, and it wasn't a church that taught God's word, and I was disillusioned with God and disillusioned with people, but I looked at the stars and said, if there is a God, reveal yourself to me, because, I mean, please take this, this is my actual prayer, it's not like I'm cussing in church, but this was my prayer. My dad was a science teacher, there must be some designer behind all this design of all these stars, and I've heard about God, but I don't know if you exist, but if you exist and if you're big enough to reveal yourself to me in a way that I can understand, and you actually created me, I will do whatever you want. If you don't exist, or if you're not big enough to reveal yourself in a way that makes sense, I'm going to live like hell, and I'm going to die young, and I'm going to squeeze as much fun.

I'm tired just being sort of a moral person out of some code that doesn't make any sense. Within a week, I was told by the guy I was going to start my summer job that the job was delayed a week, we were going to paint a house. Next day, the football coach said I'd like to send you to this camp, I'll pay your way, it's called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

There's 600 of the best high school basketball players from Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. Sports sounded good, someone's going to pay your way, I went, and then it was like, what have I done? This is how I met Christ.

What caused me to consider a solution was, I was desperately lonely, insecure, and my performance orientation of no matter what you do doesn't measure up, and I'm starting to learn success doesn't necessarily equal happiness. I land, and there's 600 guys, and they gave me a Bible, said good news for modern man, and I'd never read the Bible before, and then they gave me a t-shirt with a cross on it. And I heard, like in the first 20 minutes, people say Jesus' name, like out loud, like he was a real person, and I thought, I have been dropped into the land of Jesus freaks, what have I done?

It's 1972, they're going to indoctrinate me, these are the weird people, I've read about these people, they're weird, I want to play basketball, but this is nuts. For the first two days I didn't open my Bible, I refused to do any of the religious stuff they did, but every morning, after some workouts, a guy would read a paragraph from the Bible and explain it, and it actually made sense in words you could understand. The biggest thing was I got exposure to God's word, I saw people, in my world, Christians were weak, anti-intellectual, people that need a crutch, and mostly women. I never saw any masculine, strong person that I would ever, ever want to be like, and had the word Christian or Jesus in the same sentence.

And now I'm working out with guys that are pro-athletes and college athletes and high school athletes from all over, and I respected them. I heard Tom Landry share his testimony, but the big moment for me was I remember after about four days and realizing, because I thought they're faking it, this must be a big act for two or three days, no one can be this kind and loving. And I remember two guys walking off a grass workout field, we've been working out all day, and can still remember the great green shorts, he was a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons, and he was walking with the fullback from Illinois, and I was a skinny, maybe 135, 138 pounds, just skinny little white kid who was a basketball Jones, trying to do what I wanted to do, and I'm about ten feet behind him, I can hear parts of the conversation, and this wide receiver, big guy, put his hand on the shoulder, and I heard a conversation between a grown man and a grown man that expressed deep, intimate love for one another that was masculine, and I'd never seen it before in my life. I didn't know the verse that said that I would know that Jesus came from God because Christians loved one another. Later on, that fullback would sing the Lord's Prayer the very last night, and I didn't even know what was happening, I had never opened anything, but after watching that, I finally gave in, and so I decided on one of the mornings, every morning, you were to read your Bible for like ten minutes, and so I opened the Bible for the very first time, and you all will get a kick out of this knowing me now. These are the first words I ever read.

Good news. I urge you, therefore, my dear friends, in view of God's wonderful kindness and grace to you, that you should offer your body as a living sacrifice to Him. This is what God really wants from you. Don't be conformed or molded any longer to the ways of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that your life and how you really live would demonstrate what God's will looks like, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect. And through the grace given to me, I say to every one of you, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think is to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each measure of faith.

Does that sound familiar? It's the first time I ever read the Bible, and it was like a video camera went on, and I could see me acting tough in the locker room and cussing, and then I could see me acting like the all-American boy with teachers and acting sweet with girls, and I just, this, you know, it was like this videotape of this phony person that I hated, always trying to figure out what to give different groups, seeing this, this chameleon socially and this manipulator who was desperately insecure and longing for love, and for the first time ever someone put their finger on it. And he sang the Lord's Prayer that night, and when he got done singing the Lord's Prayer, because he was the same guy I heard talking to that wide receiver, a guy got up and drew a picture with some chalk, and he said that God loved me. And after he told me that God loved me, he said he proved it by sending Jesus his son. And after he drew this picture of Jesus his son, somehow he made this picture of a tomb, and with the lighting it opened up, and he talked about that this Jesus rose from the dead, and he would offer me peace and life and forgiveness, and that he was standing at the door knocking at my heart, Revelation 3.20. And if I would open the door of my life and my heart, Jesus would actually come into my life in the person of the Holy Spirit, forgive me forever, seal me with his Spirit, give new direction and purpose to my life, and make me heaven-bound. And I prayed a prayer that I wasn't theologically very smart or sound, but I said God I don't get it all, but here's what I know, whatever it means for you to come into my life, forgive me of my sin, that's what I want more than anything else.

So will you come in? And that's what happened in my life. I changed, what happened was I went home and left my parents who, not that they would be super opposed, but religion in my family was we didn't pray together, we didn't talk about it, as my dad would say later even when he was drunk he went to church, you know you just did it, you know. And so I took this little Bible they gave me and I hid it underneath my pillow. And in the morning when I got up it was just like wow, I had this hunger for it, I'd read it, and before I went to bed I'd turn on a little light and I'd read it. And it was like how could anybody know this about you?

And I just read through the New Testament. And there was this something that happened that I can't explain externally, and in about 10 days to two weeks my tongue, something happened, because I cussed worse than a sailor. And all of a sudden I didn't, I mean that was just one of the external things, I didn't cuss anymore, where did that go? And then I'll never forget my desires changed externally and I just turned 18 and the laws had just changed so you could go hang out in bars and you're 18 years old and you know I've read the Bible now like for five days and so the guys, come on guys let's go, and so we hit some very sleazy bar and I'll still remember myself and another guy here and one of my other friends here and then a very ill-clad lady in this very sleazy bar sitting next to him and I remember looking around this place that I'd never been in and I just, something came over me inside that I couldn't explain. I mean man we can drink now, we can come to places like this and we can party and this is, and all I can tell you is it was like this is dirty.

This, man I don't, this is, it's like I just wanted, and I remember getting up and going guys man I'm gonna, I'm gonna cut, I'm gonna, I gotta chill, I gotta get out of here, man come on man you know have another, I said you know I don't understand it, I just, and I remember walking out that door and getting in my little green Volkswagen and driving away and thinking I have no idea what's going on, but I mean three weeks ago I'd been, and I don't wanna be near it. God began to change me from the inside out. Now internally you talk about continued struggles, I had plenty of them, but I had peace, I had a sense of forgiveness and probably the greatest gift for me was I didn't have to pretend.

Someone loved me and forgave me, I could be Chip, the same Chip with the girl, the same Chip with my family, the same Chip in the locker room. It was freedom. I didn't know the verse that you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. All I knew was it was just like the entire weight of the world was off my shoulders. Now I'd love to say that I from that moment on have never felt like I had to perform to earn the favor or please people. In fact, the good part about beginning to read the Bible was as transformational. The bad part was if you would have asked me two weeks before I trusted Christ, are you a good person?

Ninety-nine percentile. I've never killed anyone, right? I live in America, I vaguely believe there must be a God. You know, I don't drink, I don't smoke, don't do drugs. I mean, there's Mother Teresa and I'm a little below her, but I mean literally, I mean I just, and then I started to read the scriptures and I realized how sinful, how selfish, how manipulative, how lustful. I began to realize that all my sin had to do with stuff inside my head and it was despicable in God's eyes, but that He loved me and that He forgave me. That's my story. Now I can tell that in about three minutes, I can tell it in about 11 like I just did.

And here's why, you know what? It's not real dramatic, but it's mine and I'm a trophy of God's grace and I've shared that story thousands of times in the last 30 years and I've seen scores of people who for some reason made a connection with my story and realized my little story was a bridge between this ocean of God's love, the person of Christ and their need. What would happen if each one of us would say, Lord, I commit 30 or 45 minutes or an hour and I'm going to outline my story at least or I'm going to write it out and I'm going to be prepared. I mean, how long did it take me to read Paul's story?

Four minutes? What if you wrote yours out and then it was ready and then what you'll find is the Spirit of God, people will ask you questions that will lead to your story and you know what? It's not preachy, it's just your story.

Let me just give you some very specific tips. Number one, develop a theme, the central issue in your life that shows the contrast in your spiritual outlook before Christ and then after. My theme very interestingly is that whole success equals happiness. When I sit down and talk with people, now when I'm playing hoop and sitting like I did yesterday and talk with someone, I use the basketball illustrations. When I'm sitting with an executive and we're kicking stuff around, I talk about my workaholism in my work but both of those are my story but the theme's the same. Second, outline, keep it clear and simple. Just keep it clear and simple.

The power is in what God has done. Third, end with a question or statement that requires a response. You know, the apostle Paul said, King Agrippa, you believe in the prophets, don't you? I'll often share when I get done with my story.

So what do you think? Have you ever investigated the Bible? I'm often way more committed to someone saying, you know what, I'd read the book of John with you, wanna kick that around? Then I end them, I've never heard anything about God and I'm gonna pray a prayer.

You just need to be discerning but just ask them, would you like to explore? That's my story. Would you like to explore God's story for you? Fourth, scripture. Think of one verse that opened your eyes and share how it impacted you. Revelation 3.20 for me was just like, I mean, forgive this but you're kidding me.

God lives inside of you? Whoa. I mean, I just couldn't, what?

He will come in? Length, be brief and to the point. You could always share more but write it out where you can share it briefly. Attitude, share, preach. It's your heart, you don't have to convince.

It's not your job. This is what God did in me. This is where I was, this is how I met him, here's what's changed. Sensitivity, focus on the other person and share aspects of your life that relate to their interests and needs. As you get better and share it more and more, you'll just find that there's a lot to your story, isn't there? And you can pull from this part of your story or that part of your story but just be sensitive and share the parts of your story that connect with what's going on in their life. And then finally, focus, make Jesus the star of your story.

I've at times heard a story of a testimony and 90% of it, this is my life before and it's kind of like, you know, in the name of sharing Christ, you hear all this stuff that you're really not sure you want to hear that much. And then pretty soon, the person is the star of the story. The star of your story is the son of God. The star of your story is his love and forgiveness. The star of your story is that whether you came out of a great environment or a very difficult environment, he's the savior of the world and he's your friend and he's God.

And he's done that for you and he longs to do that for the person you're talking to. And so let me encourage you, would you be willing this week to block off 45 minutes and write your story? And then would you be willing just to say, I've got it Lord, if you'll open the door, I will naturally, lovingly share my story with the person as you lead me. Before Chip comes back with his application, just a quick reminder that this message, Share His Love Through Your Story, is from his series, Share the Love, How to Talk to Anyone About God.

For lots of reasons, we can be hesitant to talk about our faith. That's why Chip taught this four-part series, to boost your confidence and help you have spontaneous conversations about your relationship with Jesus. Now if you'd like to hear this message again, the Chip Ingram map is perfect for free access or one-tap sharing of these powerful messages.

If you prefer CDs, take advantage of our on-air discounts and remember the MP3s are always free. Just visit us online at LivingOnTheEdge.org or give us a call at 888-333-6003. Before I come back and talk about how you can share the love in a practical way, let me ask you kind of a crazy question. Because many of you travel and have done some wonderful things, have you ever shared Christ and led someone to the Lord in China, India, Africa or the Middle East? Now some of you can say, yes, I really have.

But the great majority are saying, are you kidding? I've never been to those places. Well, here's what I want you to know. If you have given to Living on the Edge, you have been a part of thousands of people coming to Christ in those places. We've done things in China the last four years that are beyond my imagination in terms of training hundreds of thousands of Christians to share their faith. We did one with 1,700 pastors throughout 300 cities in India just a few months ago.

We broadcast nine times in the Middle East each week. God has opened doors in Africa. We're helping pastors and leaders.

Here's what I want you to know. We want to share the love with the whole world. And when you give this December, every dollar is doubled, dollar for dollar, so we can take it farther and farther to reach and love more and more people.

Thanks for whatever God chose you to do. Well, first of all, I want to say thanks to our ministry partners who helped to make all of those teaching opportunities possible. We couldn't do what we do without the prayers and financial commitments of listeners like you. We never take for granted that we're in this together. Now if you'd like to join the team and get in on what's happening, just go to livingontheedge.org, tap donate on the app, or give us a call at 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003. And let me thank you in advance for your generosity. Well, Chip, you closed the teaching with a challenge for us to take 45 minutes and write out our own story. Now would you just walk us through that process one more time? Absolutely, Dave.

This is what I want people to get. There's a very simple three-point outline. It's what the Apostle Paul used. Point number one, what was your life like before you met Christ? Don't spend too much time there, but specifically write out, this is what my life was like before I met Christ. This is how I thought. This is what I did.

This was the kind of home. Give people a snapshot of your life. Second, how did you actually encounter Christ? I mean, your actual prayer. Tell people, this is where I was, this is what I was thinking, this is what I actually prayed. And I want you to just write this out.

It'll take you about 45 minutes, and it may sound like a big assignment, but believe me, it'll fly by. And then third, since I trusted Christ as my Savior, this is how my life changed. Now again, everything isn't perfect. You have good days, you have rough days, but God has been faithful. Begin to write down how has your life changed internally what's happened, your thoughts, your emotions, your hopes, externally what's happened, relationships, or maybe any moral issues that there was a clean break with that God has worked in your life.

Let me encourage you, go to the website, get these notes, maybe even listen to this message again in preparation, then get a sheet of paper or two out, and in 45 minutes, answer those three questions. And since I've taught this before, can I give you just a little word of encouragement? I've had a number of people write me and say, you know, I've never really shared my faith, I took 45 minutes, I wrote it out, I've never shared it much, and then out of the blue, God gave this opportunity, and I shared it, but I never would have if I wasn't prepared. And then they said, I think God gave me the opportunity because now I'm prepared. Can you imagine someone's eternity being changed forever and ever because you take 45 minutes and get clear about how to share your story, and then watch and see if God doesn't bring someone into your life? Now go for it. Thanks, Chip.

Well, as you consider writing out your story, you might want to pick up a copy of this series, Share the Love, as a resource to help motivate and direct your interest in sharing God's love with others. As always, you can hear this series online, on the Chip Ingram app, or order the CDs from our website, livingontheedge.org. Remember too that Chip's message notes are absolutely free. They'll help you with that outline Chip was talking about. Well, that wraps us up for this program. Until next time, this is Dave Drouie saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.