Storylines: What's Your Story?

Last Friday we started our Storylines blog series telling the stories of some of the people in the church and their walk with Jesus. You can read the first one here and we are excited by the prospect of many more in the near future. We just wanted to give a little bit of an introduction to the series for folks who wonder what has inspired it.

We are constantly encouraged by all that we see God doing in people's lives here at Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow. We wanted to give people a way to share the ways that God is at work in them with as many people as possible.We gave people the opportunity to tell their story in the shape of:

I was...

But God...

And now...

So here is a fresh encouragement for you to get involved with three things about the story of your walk with Jesus that you might have lost sight of followed by some things about which you probably have a story to tell:

Everyone's grace story is amazing- Down with people saying 'I don't have much of a testimony.' If we are saying that, we are actually saying 'we don't have much of a clue.' This sort of line diminishes all that Jesus invested in you at the cross. Your sin IS as serious as any murderer ('I never murdered anyone or anything...') and just as undeserving of God's grace as anyone else in this world. We should be astonished that God would send Jesus for us. So don't downplay it, draw attention to Jesus through it.

Everyone should love to tell their story- Why would we not love sharing the story of what God is doing in us and has and is doing for us? We should be knocking down doors, tripping over one another, desperate to describe how Jesus has changed our lives forever. We talk a lot about worship the songs we sing and the lives we live: don't miss that one of the greatests acts of worship is actually the story that we tell.

Everyone should be ready with their story- Two words: season and reason. 'Be prepared in season and out of season' (2 timothy 4:2) and 'In your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you' (1 Peter 3:15). Jesus story in you is not just ancient history, it is designed to be a present reality: live it and tell it.

At small group last night we spent some time thinking about Psalm 103: 1-5 as a way of telling our story. The remarkable thing about it is that it points us to the truth that when we speak of what God has done it is a blessing to the Lord. Here is what it says:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

We encouraged one another to bless the Lord by telling the story of:

• A particular characteristic of His that had been particularly precious to us recently: Forget not all His benefits
• A particular area where we have known and experienced His forgivness: Forgives all your iniquity
• A particular way that He has healed us spiritually, physically or emotionally: heals all your diseases
• A particular pit or dark place that He has rescued us from: redeems your life from the pit
• A particular acceptance, gift or sense of His faithfulness that He has demonstrated: crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
• A particular way that He has renewed, refreshed or revived our souls: your youth is renewed live the eagle's

So what's your story, tell it and be amazed at how God might use it.