It never fails. Every school year I get that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Is this the year I am going to forget how to communicate the gospel?!” I know, the thought makes me want to vomit too. If I asked the question, “Who here knows the gospel by heart?” I’m assuming you would raise your hand. Well done. How about being able to communicate it all, clearly, in one minute or less? Get out your stop watch or look at the song playing on your iPod right now as the seconds go by and time yourself.
You’re on the bus, a conversation has struck up between you and a kid you don’t even know. You have three minutes. Introduce to them to Jesus, communicate the gospel. A nugget, leave them with something or the whole thing. Go. Rough? Not perfect? I bet I would fail as well. Just not as bad. Change the situation. You have 15 minutes. You’re in a conversation before class. A friend says, “I just don’t get why we make such a big deal about Jesus’ death. Why is it so important anyway?” Go.
I don’t want to embarrass you, really, who cares, you’re reading a blog. It’s to expose a need. The need to know and internalize the Gospel in different forms, in different ways, for different venues, and different people. The four laws is a complete, clear and effective way to share the gospel so that someone can understand and respond if time allows. But sometimes time doesn’t allow and you don’t have a four laws in your pocket. So then what? Peter says to be prepared on the bus and of the bus, over lunch and over a coffee. Without your discipler and with your discipler. Translation mine.
Jesus was the ultimate story teller and he told stories to illustrate a point about the kingdom, or salvation, or God’s love. Luke is filled with stories. Luke 14:15-24, Luke 15:11-31, Luke 18:9-14. When you get a chance, read these stories and pull out some concepts or ideas Jesus was trying to get across. Not just the obvious ones, but see if you can extract some lessons within the lessons.
Some questions to ponder. Why did Jesus tell stories? What stories did he tell and how did he tell them? For example, the story of the prodigal son. Why did he tell that story and how do you imagine he communicated it? 90% percent of communication is non-verbals or something like that. Imagine what Jesus’ non-verbals were like. Other than being the son of God, why was he able to tell good stories/illustrations?
The take away is this. We should know these stories and be able to tell them well. At the very basic level, we should be able to present to someone a clear illustration of what God’s love is like, what his son is like, and what the kingdom is like. We have some stories that can help you do that. Share with them How Death Shows Love , and the Indian Chief . Take any illustration of Jesus’ and make them modern. He didn’t copyright them, use them. Also, the best way to do this, is to internalize the message. And one way we can do that is to memorize it. And the easiest tool to use would be the Four Laws. If you can master and memorize that, you’re on your way to being a master story teller and your weeks on campus will be filled with significant spiritual conversations not always leading to faith in Jesus, but leading to Jesus nonetheless.
Here’s your assignment. Memorize the Knowing God Personally booklet. Take a week and memorize the whole stinking thing. Eat it, chew on it, carry the book around until it tatters in your back pocket and it is hardly recognizable to anyone and you are forced to repeat it to them verbally and without error. If you accomplish that, memorize the two illustrations found on the Compass about how death shows love. When you’ve mastered that, take an illustration Jesus used and see if you can adapt it for our time. And on the way, if you’re able to share them with someone, anyone, go ahead. Trust the Holy Spirit to speak through you. He’s had them memorized for a while now. He could show you some pointers.
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