The Christians Hour

Aaron Brockett: You're listening to The Christians Hour. Thank you for joining us today. It's a joy to welcome you to our program. The Christians Hour is a ministry of Gospel Broadcasting Mission, where we use radio and media to share the good news of Jesus Christ. We take that truth, the hope and salvation found in Christ, to areas of the world that have never heard.

For many of us, we have heard. We have access to the message of Jesus because someone's told us. Maybe for you, it was a family member or a friend, or maybe a neighbor, or perhaps you heard it at church because someone invited you. Aren't you glad someone told you, that they loved you enough to share about Jesus?

And yet, sometimes, when an opportunity arises for us to do the same, we can find it a bit challenging. We can feel reluctant or even fearful at times. But what if it didn't have to be that way? In today's message, Ben Cachiaras, lead pastor of Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland, helps us see not only the importance of sharing our story but also gives us practical ways to do it. He points us to a biblical example of how to tell others what Jesus has done in our lives. You're going to enjoy this powerful message. Here's Ben to share more.

Ben Cachiaras: Do you know that God has given you power to be a witness for Him? To tell people about Him? Immediately, a lot of us are thinking, "What? Me, a witness? Share my story? What does this mean? How do we do it? Do we just walk up to random strangers and start jamming things down their throat?"

Does it have to mean high-pressure sales or some kind of creepy, awkward, relational thing? If that's what it means, a lot of us are out. And that's actually what's happened to a lot of Christians. I'm here to tell you that's not what it means, but here's what's happened in the meantime. Because we don't understand this, a lot of us say things like, "Well, I'll just witness with my life by my example alone."

We shift from not wanting to verbally assault people, which is good. I don't want to stick my head in their doggy door. That's a good thing. But it usually leads to a life where Christians are basically isolated and never actually have spiritual conversations or spiritual impact. You can go to a church with thousands of people who say they love Jesus and actually have zero influence for Christ on the people that He's given you to bless.

Being an example is important, but it's just not enough. Jesus made it really clear that we were to share our story. After His resurrection, He gathered His friends as His final little send-off message. In Acts chapter one, verse eight, here's what He says. He says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere, like Jerusalem, right where you are, Judea, like the surrounding region, Samaria, the people you can't stand, and even the ends of the earth."

I'm here to remind us what I think we already know, but we forget sometimes: words matter. Stories matter. Words express ideas; ideas have consequences. Look around. God created with a word. Jesus Himself is God's Word made flesh. God gave us the Scriptures, a collection of words. We call it "The Word," and it together tells a story. That story is good news that everyone needs to hear to be drawn to the one who's lifted up in the center of the story, the star of the story, who is Jesus. They won't know that whole plot or His name until someone uses words.

Paul says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." That's good news. But then he goes on to ask this very important question in verse 14. He says, "Wait a second. How are they going to call on him to save them unless they actually believe in him? And how are they going to believe in him if they've never heard about him? How are they going to hear about him unless someone tells them?" I think we all see where he's going with this.

So, let me give you a little encouragement. There's a bunch of data out there that's actually very encouraging in this regard about how easy and receptive people are. I think we're more afraid than we need to be. A Gallup poll reveals that 87% of Americans say, "I believe in God." Most of your friends and neighbors believe in some kind of a God. Eight or nine of them probably do. They're probably not faithful. They probably don't have a real relationship with Jesus. Fair. But they have some concept of a God.

What they need is someone who will help them find their way back to the one true God. About a fourth of people in America who are not part of any church—and a third if you're younger, like 20s or 30s—almost one in three are automatically now seeking and curious and would be very open to having a conversation with someone who actually really believes something and lives it out, as long as they don't feel like they're a project or some kind of thing they're getting coerced or tricked into in some religious pyramid scheme.

When the time is right, you're going to have a conversation with someone, and you're going to have an opportunity to share your story. If it's coming from a place of sincere, genuine, openness, and confident conviction, people do want to hear from you. It's called earning the right to be heard. That's why we bless. It's more important now than ever because we live in a time of increased skepticism toward Christianity.

A few years ago, that probably wasn't the case, but now we all know someone who's really skeptical of all things Christian. There are a lot of things about Christianity that in some people's minds are just a real turn-off or an unpopular taste. We live in what's called a post-Christian nation. Christianity used to be a positive thing in a lot of people's minds. Now it's viewed as dangerous or unwelcome, and you don't always know what they think. It's way easier just to spout off on Facebook to no one in particular, and that's how most Christians like to do it, it seems. But that's not what God calls us to do.

That's not the way of Scripture. We're called to be witnesses and to share our story, to have lives that are actually shaped by Jesus. We show it and prove it by living blessing-kind of lives. When you open your life like that, you're going to have an opportunity to open your mouth. We've got to open our lives first. People notice when a person is actually shaped a little bit like Jesus. When you actually have some love and you're different than the world around you, you've got some generosity about you. When you are a servant, when you have hospitality and openness, that kind of stuff stands out like stars in a universe. It shocks the world.

If you aren't marked by any of those Jesus-like traits, why would anybody want to listen to you? Are you drawn to people that are petty and small and negative and divisive? Do you want to hear more from someone who's stingy and angry all the time, someone who gets really easily offended and closed off? Of course not. That's why we have to be Jesus-shaped because He's not like that. You're called to be weird. You're called to be different. You're called to be more like Jesus.

So, share your story. Have you ever felt like you've had a moment where you could feel God nudging you, like, "There it is. He opens the door. You can say something now. It's wide open"? You have this thing in the pit of your stomach, fluttery feelings, and you don't know what to do. I've had that. I've acted on that impulse and stepped through that door. Other times, I've held my words, told myself I'm not sure, I don't want to insult anybody, and the door closed and the opportunity was gone.

I think there are some reasons that make us so reluctant. One of the chief ones is we figure it's for some other super Christian, someone who's a little bit better Christian than me. Someone who's got their act together, someone who knows the Bible backward and forward. What if they ask me a question I don't know the answer to? I start to tell my story and then they say, "Well, wait a second. Did Adam have a belly button?" Then I'm like, "I don't know," and then Jesus is mad at me and they're screwed up forever.

You will not have all the answers. There are some super challenging questions, and there aren't really answers to some of them. But you have something better. You have the Spirit of God. Jesus sent out disciples just like us one time. He said, "Go share your story." Here's what He told them in Matthew chapter 10: "Don't you worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not even you who will be speaking; it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

I love when people tell me this. It happens all the time. "I don't know. I was there, and they said something. I didn't know what to say, and then I found myself saying something, and it was pretty good. It wasn't bad. I think it was true. I think it was from God." It's a rush. It's awesome. It still happens. You keep a willing, humble attitude and a sincere, genuine desire to share your story. God will give you the words. Think about it ahead of time as much as you can, but don't be reluctant because of that.

I think another reason we're reluctant sometimes to open our mouth is because we wouldn't want to forcefully impose our beliefs on other people. Of course, there's a sensitivity to this and a wisdom to this. But also, we have to realize we live in a culture that has told us now that we're all supposed to be super afraid and it's super offensive to talk about anything important in the religious realm. We're all supposed to pretend that it doesn't matter at all what anyone believes. It's all okay, just truth for you, truth for me, which doesn't make any sense, but it's how we're all told to live.

Even beyond that, we don't want to be obnoxious and jam something down someone's throat. Humbly sharing the difference Jesus has made in your life with a friend over a bridge of trust that you've built is not imposing your beliefs on anyone. That's what friends do. They talk about important things. You can't pretend to love someone if you have good news and fail to share it. In the end, what they do with Jesus is up to them. Your job is to love them no matter what, all the way.

Christianity is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. That's all it is. We're all beggars. At the end of the day, if you find some bread, it doesn't mean you're a smarty-pants. It doesn't mean you're condemning anyone or forcing anything on anyone. You're just saying, "I found some bread, and it's making all the difference for me. It's right here if you want it."

When you discover that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that anyone who would believe in Him will never die but have everlasting life, and that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn anyone but that the world through Him might be saved, you found some bread. That's called good news.

We're people that share good news all the time. Anything we're happy about that we've found, we share it, don't we? I went to a restaurant last week with my son and my daughter. It was an Asian fusion place. They had this edamame in this little sauce. It was amazing. I've told like six people about it. "You've got to go! Have you tried the beet salad over there? I had a great steak over there." We tell people, "Oh, I'm watching this new series on Netflix. Oh my gosh, the writing is so good. It's so funny." We tell people about things we love all the time.

If you have found any good news in Jesus at all, in a way that's altered your life and given you more peace, changed your worldview, given you purpose and hope, and helped you help others, and changed your eternal destiny and forgiven your sin, why would you want to hoard that? You're a beggar, and if you found bread, you can just share that. That doesn't have to feel awkward.

One last reason that we're reluctant is it just feels awkward and hard to do, or we're shy about it. I felt the same way when I took my driver's test or when I asked Carla to marry me. I'm kind of glad I did those things. This is more important than that. There's a time for words. Your words and your story can point people to life-saving bread. That's not imposing. That's compelling.

In John chapter 9, there's this beautiful and strange story of a man that Jesus changed how he looked. It's a perfect example of how all of us can share our story. Jesus is heading somewhere and He sees this man who's blind from birth. We don't know this guy's name. We just know he's been blind his whole life. He sits and begs every day. Jesus sees him and does something very strange. Jesus spits on the ground, makes a little mud pie, picks up the goop, and smears it in the guy's eyes.

Ew, right? Worse than a wet willy. "Here's mud in your eye." I have an appointment with my eye doctor coming up. Can you imagine if she spits on anything and puts it in my eyes? We're going to have words. "What are you doing?" But Jesus often does shocking things, and people meet Jesus in shocking, weird, unexpected ways all the time. When He asks you to do some shocking, weird things and you do it, amazing things happen.

Jesus not only wipes the mud in his eyes, He says, "Now go wash it off in the pool." When he does, his eyes were opened for the first time in his life. Light went through his cornea and the lens and focused on the retina, and those photoreceptors started converting into light and dark images and colors and signals through his optic nerve to his brain. Can you imagine? For the first time, he could see the outline of trees and the joy of a sunset and what a baby looks like and the expression on someone's face when they hear a funny joke or his mother's face.

Do you think that guy's going to keep quiet about that? His neighbors even ask him what happened. He says, in verse 11, "I don't know. This guy they call Jesus took mud and put it in my eyes. He told me to go wash it out, so I did. I washed it and then I can see." That's his testimony. He doesn't know anything about how it happened. He just tells what Jesus did and what happened.

That's your story. That's what you do. We can't always explain what happened or why it happened. Nobody knows why it's mud. It's just the way it is. They ask him again. They want the details. They're so curious. He says in verse 25, "I don't know. I was blind, now I can see. That's it. What else do you want to know?" Don't you love that? He doesn't quote scripture. He doesn't get all theology on them. He doesn't draw a diagram or hand them a tract. He just says, "I was blind and now I can see."

People could see the change. Every person who knows Jesus has this story to tell. "I was one way, now I'm another, and in between, the difference was Jesus." That's it. Your life before Jesus, the change in your life, and "now I can see." That's what a witness means. You're not ever called to be a judge. You're not called to be a jury to decide anything. You are an expert witness to what has happened in your own life, your heart, your story.

That's what witness means: to give witness. You don't have to convince anyone of anything. You just testify to that. That's called a testimony. What happened in your life? It's never wrong. It's always right because it's your story. So how do we do it? Let's get super practical. This man's story gives a framework that every one of us can use. Think of your own story now in the same way that his story works, in three parts.

First is part one: my life before Jesus. This guy says, "I was blind." That's how I was. Tell the truth. Don't candy-coat things. If you grew up in church knowing Jesus for a long time, just tell about what your life was like before you got all serious about following Him. Start with who you were and what life was like. I've heard people say things like, "Man, things were great. I was having a blast." Or, "Things were beyond my control and got me down. I couldn't control my anger, or I felt some emptiness inside. I was going through the motions. I was successful in this way or that way, but there was something missing. Or I was lonely, or I was over-consumed with work, or I was a very selfish person. I was abusing alcohol, drugs, or people. I was a partier. I was preoccupied with myself." Tell the story of my life before Jesus, whatever it was.

Then move to part two: tell how you became a follower of Jesus. For some of us, that was a hard time in our life that led you to God. A marriage fell apart, or someone died, or you got another DUI, or you went to the military and you saw things. Or you got sick of the mediocrity, or you hit midlife, or you had kids and started asking new questions, realized you didn't have a spiritual compass. What happened?

I've heard so many versions of this story. "I was driving by the church and I always thought for years it's too big, I wouldn't want to go there. Then something told me to come and I did, and I just met God. I started crying in the songs, and I knew I was home. A friend sent me a message to listen to, and I was surprised that it spoke to my heart. I listened for a while online, and then I said I want to go be a part of it." That's where I found my relationship with Jesus. A friend invited me to a men's retreat, or I was so desperate in my dorm room, on my bathroom floor, wherever. I cried out to God and I said, "Help."

What's your story? You've got one. Tell it. Over many years, I just felt Jesus gradually drawing me from my childhood on up in a straight line until finally, I knew this was my faith. I was reading my Bible and one verse cut me to the heart and I invited Jesus in. I went forward at CIY camp. I heard a sermon, I knew Jesus was calling me. They called for baptism, and in that moment, it was like all my past was gone and I was ready to move forward. Tell your story of how you met Jesus. What is it in one or two or three sentences?

Then you move to part three, and that's what life is like since you met Jesus. "I was one way, now I'm this way." What difference has He made? It might be dramatic. For many of you, it is. "I stopped drinking and I haven't drugged since. I don't use porn anymore. I don't cheat on my spouse. I stopped stealing and lying." Or it might be internal things, like, "I just have a deeper sense of calm and peace about me. I'm not the same angry person I used to be."

You might have the same job, the same family, but you've found joy finally. Don't candy-coat this part. Don't make it look better than it is. Just tell the story, the good and the hard times. Be honest about the challenges that you still have, but also tell about the friends and the community you have and your hope for eternity in Jesus Christ that means your sins are forgiven forever. Don't forget that part.

Everyone of you can tell this story. Keep it real. Keep it short. Practice out loud. Do it in the car, imaginary conversation, so that you can be ready to do what Peter says in 1 Peter 3: "In your heart of hearts, you're going to put Jesus first, get Jesus-shaped. Yes, but then always be ready." Be ready. Some of you aren't ready. So do the steps. Be ready to give a reason for the hope that you have and do it with gentleness and respect. Share your story.

Live your life in such a way that provokes a question. Always be ready. When they ask, then you're ready. "What's up with you?" "Ah, glad you asked." Because of the way you love and the way you grieve, the way you get through hard things, the way you forgive other people, your unflagging courage under fire, your joy in pain, your generosity toward the things of God and to other people. Those are the things that shock the world. They're Jesus-shaped and they bless people. When we do, be ready because you're going to have an opportunity to share your story.

So can I ask you something bold right now? Would you be willing to ask God for an opportunity to share your story? This was more than a sermon, more than a lecture, but actually a lab. Like we're going to do this. You're going to do this. I don't know if you were nervous when you took your driver's test, if you took a driver's test, but aren't you glad you did? You'll be glad. Keep praying for people. Begin with prayer. Keep listening, keep eating, keep serving. But ask God for an opportunity. Write it out, practice it, share your story, and then ask God for an opportunity.

Aaron Brockett: What a practical and powerful reminder of how to share our story. Stepping out to love others by sharing the truth about Jesus. Some of Jesus's final words to His followers were found in Matthew 28, and they were to go into all the world and make disciples, taking His name and His story to all nations and all people. We take that seriously. We want to love those who have never heard. So we have a goal this year to broadcast the good news of Jesus to five unreached people groups who live in some of the most remote and unchurched areas of the world.

We want to invite you to come be part of it with us. Would you check out our website? Visit us at thechristianshour.org and learn more about how you can help us proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ around the world. Friends, I want to encourage you today: live with intentionality, love like Jesus, and boldly share your story. It will influence someone today. Our thanks to Ben Cachiaras for that wonderful teaching, and our thanks as well to Acapella Ministries for their music of worship.

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