Hey everyone, and a warm welcome, wherever you are connecting in from. Amanda, I want to talk today about sharing our story, sharing our testimony. Stories are a great way to communicate truth, and I love listening to a testimony. I’ve heard some good ones, I’ve heard some that aren’t so good. Can you give us some top tips on how we can share our faith with others?
Absolutely. We use an acronym called ‘best testimony’, and we use the letters B-E-S-T to help us shape our story. The letter B stands for before, which helps us to communicate what our life was like before we met Jesus. What happened before in our life and where we were going. The letter E stands for evangelization. And this is where we can think about the things that happened throughout our life that helped to point us towards Jesus. Maybe little seeds that were sown through events that we attended, church that we went to, or just conversations with friends and family. The letter S then is our salvation moment. That moment when we asked Jesus into our heart. And it’s really important not to skip over this, because so many people think, “What happens in that moment? Do you pray? Do you stand up? Do you kneel beside your bed? Do you feel different?” There’s just so many things going through people’s minds.
Oftentimes when we hear people’s testimonies, they rush over that. And someone who is thinking about becoming a Christian, they want to know the details. Did a weight lift off their shoulders? Were they on their own? Did they pray out loud? So it’s important that we don’t rush that.
And then the letter T stands for transformation. And here we get to tell about what our life is like now that we are walking with Jesus. Our circumstances don’t always change, but what changes is what’s on the inside. And so, it’s good for people to know that there’s a peace that passes all understanding and when we are walking with Jesus.
So let me encourage you today to share your story, to think about what you have been journeying through with Jesus and put a bit of a structure to it, so that you’re ready when you’re having that conversation with a friend in a coffee shop. Or maybe you get an opportunity in church.
So today’s a good day to share your best story. If you’re watching, and you’re not yet a Christian, it’s the best decision you’ll ever make, and you can start the journey of sharing your best story. I love this verse in Acts 2:20 where Peter and John say this, “We cannot but speak of the things that we have seen and heard.” So today, speak up and share your best story. Shalom, Shalom.