The Unexpected Adventure- UE 14- "The Influence of a Story" Acts 26:22
Lee Strobel uses the account of Paul's defense before King Agrippa as an outline of how we can share our personal testimony with seekers. He breaks the 26th chapter of Acts into these parts:
26:4-11 How your life was before Jesus?
26:12-18 How did Christ come into your life?
26:19-23 How is your life different now that Jesus has become Lord and Savior?
In his book Comes Before Winter, Charles Swindoll points out why this type of witnessing is so effective. "Because one of the most convincing, unanswerable arguments on earth regarding Christianity is one's personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. . . The skeptic may deny your doctrine or attack your church, but he cannot honestly ignore the fact that your life has been changed."
I know the no matter how often I listen to Ravi Zacharias or read Josh McDowell, I don't have the philosophical arguments or historical proof at my fingertips to argue with skeptics, but I do know that my relationship with Christ has made some very positive changes in my life. That is what I need to share.
This type of testimony has two lynch pins. First, has my life really been changed? If I share a verbal testimony, I had better make sure my life is backing up that testimony. Second, I need to have spent time intentionally preparing a mental outline of what I want to share. Nothing formal with points, subpoints and a day/date timeline that I have memorized. But Strobel encourages us to take time to write out our major Christ-moments and practice sharing our personal conversion experience. He suggests a 3-4 minute story that covers all the major points. (This sounds a lot like the Sunday night class at Ridgecrest.)
Who was I before Christ? How and when did Christ come into my life? What has changed in my life as a result of Christ?
P.S. If you don't have an answer to that last question, spend some time alone with God to make sure you really have accepted Christ as your personal savior.
I agree with the "personal story" school of witnessing....partially.
ReplyDeleteI can only barely remember my life before I became a Christian. I don't remember any change that took place at the moment of my salvation. I can testify why I value my current life WITH Christ, but I cannot compare it to a time WITHOUT Christ.
I can compare the times of close walk with times of not-so-close walk, but I am not sure how effective that would be to a lost person.
I think my personal testimony might be effective with a Christian who has walked away from God or who is doubting God because of a personal tragedy.