Come & See预览

Stories

Recently, I asked a few friends to sit down with me and do something we don’t do often enough. And sadly, I asked them to do something with me that would not take most modern-day church attenders much time to do even if they sat down to do it. We simply took the time to share with one another stories of the amazing things we have seen Jesus do recently in our midst.

To get ourselves started, we spent some time reading the many miraculous stories of people in the New Testament whose lives were completely changed when they encountered Jesus. Tax collectors, Prostitutes. Pharisees. Lepers. Blind people. Lame people. Deaf people. The broken. The arrogant. The dead.

Then we started sharing various stories from the lives of people we knew—those whom we had seen the Lord miraculously reach and rescue in our own church community. We sat down to remember what He had done.

Remembering caused us to do what disciples have always been commissioned to do. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the people. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.” Just as His original disciples had endless stories to share around the campfire each night after any particular day with God on earth, radical transformation is supposed to be something evident and observable in us and in those around us each and every day we are walking with Jesus. Abiding with Him produces a daily, continual call to worship in response to what He is doing.

The only thing that should surprise us is that we are not continually being surprised by God.

Please know that my point here is not to lift up the local expression of Jesus’s Church of which I am a part. I am writing this to encourage you. To give testimony to the reality of the truth of Scripture, the power of the gospel, the resurrection of Christ, the kindness of God, and the hope of the world. I cannot hide what the Apostle John could also not hide: the world-changing realities of what Jesus is still doing in our world, giving testimony to it by sharing what is going on in our community.

And as our time of sharing overflowed with stories, our hearts were filled with awe.

“How about Lance? Remember? He was an owner of one of the largest party-planning companies for nightclubs in our city. His business and personal energy encouraged the raucous destruction of countless lives in Dallas. But not anymore”

Drug dealers. Drug addicts. Sex addicts. Sex traffickers. Sexually trafficked. Thieves. Alcoholics. Pornographers. Liars. Drunk drivers. Dead professors. People who claimed they knew God but denied Him by their actions. All radically transformed through a gracious encounter with Christ.