Tell Me Your Story
2
Acts 22
(Acts 22:15) "For you will be a witness for Him to everyone of what you have seen and heard."
The Book of Acts is exciting, amazing stuff! And it is also very encouraging. I am encouraged that the greatest evangelist ever, the Apostle Paul, would often default to simply sharing his personal testimony. Paul had an awesome intellect, was highly educated, skilled in debate and gifted at reasoning from the Scriptures. Yet, numerous times in Acts, he just shares his own story of how he met Jesus. I find this very encouraging, because I can do that too and so can you!
Whether you came to Christ at five years old, sitting on the corner of your bed with your dad and mom or you met Him as an adult after trying everything BUT Jesus... you have a story to tell. If your grace story includes you coming to an understanding your own need for Christ (your own lostness), His provision for your sin and salvation (substitutionary atonement) and you personally receiving Him as your Savior & Lord... you have an awesome story!
CS Lewis writes that, "Every story of conversion is the story of blessed defeat." In his book, Surprised By Joy, he wrote about his own blessed defeat:
"You must picture me alone in that room, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England"
TELL YOUR STORY!
My life before I met Jesus Christ:
- What was your spiritual viewpoint before receiving Christ?
- What were you pursuing for satisfaction?
- What had captured your heart?
What God used to open my eyes:
- How did you first hear and understand the gospel?
- What was it about the message the affected you?
- What was your response to that message?
- When did you receive Christ?
How Jesus Christ has changed/is changing my life:
- Anyone who comes face-to-face with Jesus, with a willing heart will have their life changed.
- This was true at conversion and it is still true every day.
BOBBY PRUITT | Lead Pastor
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2 Comments
Bobby Feb 24, 2014 @ 10:17 pm
Connie, what an amazing grace story!
CONNIE TURNER Feb 24, 2014 @ 7:19 am
BEFORE I MET JESUS I KNEW OF HIM THROUGH MY GRANDPARENTS AND COUSINS.
I HAD A FEW CONCERNS ABOUT WHY THINGS WERE HAPPING TO ME THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN TO LITTLE GIRLS.
I WANTED WHAT MY GRANDPARENTS HAD AND I KNEW THAT MUST BE CHURCH BECAUSE THEY TOOK ME AND MY FAMILY TO CHURCH WHEN WE VISITED AND I WANTED THAT FOR MY FAMILY. SOMEHOW I ASSOCIATED WHAT THEY HAD WOULD BE MINE AS WELL BY ASSOCIATION OR INHERITED BUT LITTLE DID I KNOW YOU MUST TAKE A DIFFERENT STEP IN FAITH.
WHEN MY COUSINS TOOK ME TO VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL I WAS 10 AND I HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT JESUS AND HOW HE DIED FOR MY SINS AND I WOULD BE WASHED CLEAN AND SINCE I FELT DIRTY FROM WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO ME I WANTED TO BE WASHED CLEAN. THE PREACHER AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH WHERE I WAS ATTENDING THE VBS GAVE THE GOSPEL AND I WANTED JESUS IN MY LIFE SO I WENT UP AND HE EXPLAINED THE GOSPEL VERY CLEARLY TO ME AND I ASKED JESUS IN MY HEART.
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY MORE TRIALS IN MY LIFE EVEN AFTER I ACCEPTED CHRIST AND THE BAD THINGS DIDN'T STOP TO THIS LITTLE GIRL BUT I FELT A PEACE COME OVER ME BECAUSE I HAD JESUS. ONE DAY MY MOLESTER ASKED ME FOR FORGIVENESS WHEN I WAS SEVENTEEN AND I ACCEPTED HIS APOLOGY. FORGIVING SOMEONE FOR THE HURTS IN YOUR LIFE IS FREEING YOURSELF OF THIER CHAINS THEY HAVE ON YOU AND IN ACTS PAUL HAD TO BE FORGIVEN BY MANY BEFORE HE WAS TRUSTED AGAIN AND HE HAD TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO DID NOT TRUST HIM FROM HIS PAST AND HIS PRESENT AND FEARED WHAT HE SPOKE OF THE FUTURE I SEE FORGIVENESS IN THIS PASSAGE AND IT MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. THANK YOU JESUS FOR DYING ON THE CROSS FOR MY SINS, THANK YOU FOR NOT GIVING UP ON ME WHEN I FAILED YOU SO MANY TIMES AND THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE STRENGTH TO FORGIVE SOMEONE WHO HAD ME SCARED EVERYTIME WE WERE TOGETHER AND THE PEACE YOU GAVE ME AFTER YOU TAUGHT ME TO FORGIVE. I WILL CONTINUE TO SHARE YOUR STORY TO THOSE WHO WILL LISTEN AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO WILL NOT LISTEN.