4. Practitioner's Podcast: The Stories of a Disciple Maker

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I am so excited for today's episode Get are so much relevance here. Today's episode is perfect for disciples who are having trouble communicating their experience with God and His truth in their everyday relationships, especially with non-Christians. Justin, in all the churches that you work with and all the people that you're discipling, how do you see this play?

Yeah, that's a great question. So our episode today really revolves around the question, is God relevant in today's world? , I think most of us would say if you're listening to his podcast, you have some interest in God. You have interest in, , making him known there's some relevance to you and your life.

But yet we continue to hear over and over and over again from those who don't know Jesus, that either God's not relevant to life today or the Bible's not relevant to life today. And if you're anything like me that kind of bugs you. It drives you up the wall because you know the relevance that God has.

He has changed your life. He's currently shaping your life, and that's what we're talking about today is why is that the case and how can we change it? Yeah. One of the interesting things that I think happens when we say that or we allow someone to say that God's not relevant today is that it kind of puts, , the idea whether it's spoken or unspoken, it puts the idea that God's done moving.

And I don't know about you Justin, but there's nothing in my theology. There's nothing that I see in scripture. There's nothing that I see in the world today that tells me God is done moving in the world. And so when we talk about stories, what we're really talking about is God's story in our story and how our story then testifies to who God is.

Yeah. Yeah. It's that inter, inter intersection, right, of how these things interact and in a disciple making framework, right? That's what we're about. Jesus style, disciple making, everyday life. We talk about life on life and life on life's super important because that's where the rubber meets the road.

That's where relationships happen. And this topic today is so important because life on life happens through stories. And so if we aren't, , aware of that, if we're not developing ourselves in not only awareness of what God is doing in our life, how he's at work, and also the ability to communicate through stories, through just talking about right what God is doing, then we are going to miss opportunity to impact people in a life on life framework in the way that God is at.

Yeah. One of the interesting things that I think happens to a lot of disciple makers is we have these separate hats, right? And I love hats. , so it's easy for me to think this, right? Like it's, there's a church hat or a sacred hat, and then there's a secular hat. And so one day when I'm having a conversation with my buddies at the gym, I'll put on my secular hat and we'll talk.

How the Bengals just blew a game against the Steelers, and that's horrible. , , but then if I'm meeting with somebody for disciple making, I'll put on my sacred hat. And the reality is, and one of the important realizations that's happened in my own faith in the last several years is that we have to acknowledge that there is no difference between secular and sacred.

That if Jesus is Lord of everything. Then it's all sacred. And I also think that this is how we get to a biblical worldview. We get to a biblical worldview when we realize that the living word of God, Jesus, the logos is all over the world as much today as he was a, and what we see in the scriptures. Yeah, that worldview idea, right?

If we really see Jesus as the king. And his coming kingdom is already here, but is continuing to expand itself on the Earth. Then that is the framework, the worldview through which we see everything, right? And so sometimes we have to work at stories because we are communicating to people that aren't aware of or surrendering or submitting themselves to God's kingdom.

So that's really where the work or the tension of this episode comes, right, is because we want to do it and we can't just talk in the same ways to our non-Christian friends, as we might with our Christian friends, because they might be like, Wow, that's, that's really weird way to look at things. , and so we have to find a way to tell a story that connects to common han experience, right?

And so one of the ways that most Christians. , kind of dip their toe into this is through the personal testimony, right? And we did an episode on this in season two, episode eight, where we talked about the testimony, which is generally speaking, communicating about who you were before Jesus. How Jesus changed your life and now how he's continuing to change your life.

And we said, That is wonderful, but you need more. And this episode is really looking at, well, what are those more stories that we need? How do we actually connect our story that continues, right, not only this year, but this week, today. What are the stories? How is God impacting you in the life that you're.

Yeah, I, I think, you know, obviously Jesus does a great job of this. He connects stories and parables constantly throughout the gospels, and we see it, right? He takes things that are contextual and he turns them into lessons about biblical truths. And the reality is, is that we are called to do the same thing in John 1426.

It says, , Jesus says, But the advocate, the holy. Whom the father will send in my name, will teach you all the things and will remind you of everything I've said to you. So I, I think that there's a couple important notes here, right? The one thing is, is the scripture's really clear that the Holy Spirit's gonna teach us, which means that the world that we live in today, the Holy Spirit's gonna teach us what and how we see, , Jesus in the world, right?

It says in the scripture, he will remind you everything I've said. And so that's the kind of the second part is, the first part is we need to, , just submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit in the world. The second part is we need to be based in scripture so that we can see the scripture in the world.

You're not, you're not gonna get to a biblical worldview and not spend any time in the Bible, right? Like you're gonna have to do the work of being in the Word. But once you're in the word enough, then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit will teach. Right. Hey, this is the God truth, right? I, I think about the parable of the mustard seed, that small little bit of faith that can move mountains well, I see that all the time with kids.

Kids have huge faith, right? Oh, I, I know this is gonna work. I believe in this. I, It's the same parallel. It's not the exact same, but it's a parallel that teaches us about God's truth. And when you spend enough time in the word, you'll begin to see those parallels every step of the way. And those parallels become great stories to bring to your disciple making meetings to help show people that God is still alive and active in the world today.

And his messages are still as relevant now as they ever. All right. So Tony, this is really, really good, right? So we have kind of set up what we're talking about. We've talked about why it's important, but now we're, you're kind of transitioning, bringing us into the how, right? Which is what we're all about, right?

Practical, how do we make this practical? And what I heard you just say is that we have to do a couple things if we wanna get better at connecting our stories with God's stories to the people that need to hear it. We have to first integrate our lives with Jesus and the scriptures, right? That has to be the framework that we, , that we live our lives through.

And we also have to allow him be in touch with, be in relationship with, be in communication with the Holy Spirit so that he is reminding us of things. But the other thing that you mentioned that I don't want us to, to pass or to skip over too quickly is Jesus and his stories and the parables. And one of the things I think a lot about is how do I tell a story in such a way that it connects to cultures, the timeless truths, not only for people, but also this cultural moment that we are in.

And I look at Jesus and I think that is exactly what he did. He stepped back from, , active ministry or he didn't step into it? It's probably a better way to say it. He didn't step into it for close to 30 years, and I don't think those were idle years for Jesus. I think he was, in many ways studying the culture, trying to understand the culture that he was in, understanding people connecting his experiences.

God the father and the truths that he knows and was continuing to, to learn as he studied the, the Jewish scriptures. And that's, that's probably the biggest part, right? We cannot connect our culture to God and the scriptures if we don't know God and the scriptures right? But then that's the, from there, that step that you just said, I think the next step is how do we then look at our culture and begin to understand what's happen?

You know, 20 years ago I was leading a, a college ministry, and one of the assignments that I would give our leaders, and I'd ask 'em to do it a couple times a year, is I would give 'em lots of notice, but I would say, Hey, you know, maybe a month from now I want you to come ready to share an original spiritual illustration.

And at first they were like, What? What is that? And I said, Well, you know, it could be. , you know, and they, they were familiar with some of the illustrations that we had used. , we've just talked about the disciple maker's loop, right? That's a spiritual illustration. Said you can make your own or you can use something that you see out in the world, but I want you to come in with an original spiritual illustration.

And it was so fun, , to hear the things that they would come back. Right now, it was many years ago. I don't remember many of 'em, but one that I do remember, , was about rain and windshield wipers. And this student came and, , they said, you know, as I was driving, God helped me to see that he wipes away sin the way that white windshield wipers wipe away the rain.

I was like, Wow, okay, that's interest. Tell me more. It's good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, the rain doesn't stop after the first wipe. It just got, It's gotta keep wiping it because that stuff keeps coming and in my life, sin keeps coming and hopefully over time it's gonna rain less and less. And I need to be sinning less and less as God redeems me and as he sanctifies me.

And yet, no matter how long it takes, Jesus is still wiping away that sin in my life. And I thought, Wow, that's really cool. And that one, again, that one has stuck with me, but it's that side of it, right? It's how do we look at the things that we're experiencing in our culture so that we're not living a life that's separated between the secular and the sacred, like you talked about.

Yeah. You know, the other thing about that is, is that I, I really believe that if you look at the scripture, All of creation was set up to be sacred, right? It gets designed to all of creation, testifies to who Jesus is. Mm-hmm. , I love the way Mark 16 says it. 16, 15, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all of creation.

When we think about the seasons changing, when we think about the rain and the sun and the moon and the stars, I think what we see is all of creation, bowing to the lordship of Jesus. And all we have to do is be willing to take a half a step, a full step. , all we have to be willing to do is to take one step into seeing it through the Lord's eyes versus seeing it through our eyes, and all of a sudden we'll begin to see that all of creation was designed to testify to who Jesus is.

Yeah. Oh, that's so good. The. What that verse reminds me of is if we are preaching the good news to all creation, that really stped me for a while. Like, what am I supposed to go out and preach the gospel to my tree? Or you know, what did this look like? Mm-hmm. . , but it's exactly what you're talking about, right?

That, that God intends the restoration of all things. And so as we move throughout the world, we should be leaving what I call a wake of restoration behind. Right. Yeah. Just like a boat, you can see the wake of, Yeah, that's good. Of the waters that have been separated, that there should be a wake of restoration as we move throughout the world and our relationships and part of that, right?

Part of that is that idea that we have something to share. We have good news to share and for our non-Christian friend who is struggling with shame or guilt, you know, we have a story that we can either say, Hey, you know, I have felt guilt or, Last week I was feeling guilt and Jesus really helped me with that.

He is, he teaches about that. And they're like, really? You know, because most of 'em haven't, haven't connected to Jesus. They don't know what he talks about or what he says. And so those small stories intentionally a place can really lead people into the scriptures. The other thing that it does that I really appreciate is that when we can put God into our story, it creates intimacy, right?

Intimacy broken down is into me, right? Into me, see my heart. Right? Which I is a little cheesy. I love, Yeah, that's a stretch, but, okay. Yeah. Well, I mean, the goal here though is that the moment that you're willing to give your story over to. Yeah. Right. And you begin to start to see God, and you try to see the world through God's eyes.

One of the things that Jesus says all the time is, you know, give me, give them eyes to see, and ears to hear. Hm. Right. And I believe that, that that's not just for the moment that Jesus was in, but that's for our moment now. And that's a, a prayer I pray often for myself is gimme eyes to see, and ears to hear, eyes to see the gospel.

Mm-hmm. ears to hear the gospel and to share the gospel. Right. And that's how we begin to create that kind of intimacy. Yeah. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. I, I am curious, Justin, how, how has it impacted your disciple making? Relationally as you share your heart with your brother in Christ. Yeah, that's, So one of the things for me when I disciple, and this has been the case ever since the start, first person I discipled, , I have struggled with stories, right?

Because as someone who's intentional and, , Whatever else about me has caused this, I don't know, is, , I struggle sharing what's personal. And so from the start, always walking into a disciple making meeting. I am thinking, and the one, the guy who discipled me during this time really helped me with this.

He said, Justin, you always have to share a. He says, Share your life with people. And so it was a personal story that he was talking about. Don't, don't just share the stories of Jesus, the stories of scripture, although we need to do that, but I need to share. A personal story from my life so that there's flesh to my words, right?

That it's that life on life. And so I really think every disciple maker that's effectively discipling needs to have stories that they share, , about whatever it is they're talking about, right? So if they're talking about, , the importance of quiet time, that disciple maker needs to be ready to share a story about how quiet times have impacted.

Or prayer. And you know, for me, I try to tie these stories in with the scriptures that I'm teaching and it really helps because if I memorize verse, I've meditated on it, God has helped me to see the truth in it, and then he helps me to connect that truth to my life. Well then I can share those things. , with those that I'm discipling.

And so I try to have a story, , with all those sorts of things. And I don't, until we thought about this podcast and, , listeners, you guys don't know, we've kind of wrestled with this one a little bit because Right. We don't, we don't wanna repeat what we talked about in season two. But at the same time, there's something really significant that we're talking about today that we didn't talk about then, and that significance is that we are prepared to communicate.

Prepared to communicate through our stories and our experiences to both non-Christians and to the to other Christians. And those were discipling. Mm-hmm. . Now, Tony, let me, let me share this story with you. , A lot of times in my life as I've inter interacted with non-Christians, those who seem really hungry, , I will share with them Jeremiah 29 13 and Jeremiah 29 13 says, You'll seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

And I will ask a non-Christian. I say, Well, have you ever been, have you been seeking God? I'm like, Well, I don't know. And I'm like, Well, if you don't know, you probably haven't been. , but did you know that God says that if you seek him with all his. That you will find him. And, , they don't know that. And so then I challenge him.

I say, What would it look like for you to seek him this week? And a lot of them have said, Well, I'm gonna pray that he shows himself to me tomorrow. That's great. If you are really fully invested in that, that's coming out of your whole heart. I believe he'll do that, and I've seen him do that in my life, and so I'm giving that story as well.

And time and time and time and time again when I see that non-Christian again, a couple days later, I say, Well, what happened? And time and again, God has shown up and revealed himself because he cares about non-believers and he cares about all of us, right? But it's how do we find those stories and communicate them in a timely way that allows him to do his thing.

I love it. I think it's an important truth and I think, , for believers and non-believers alike, , as we begin to see the world through the lens of Jesus, the world will begin to change. So let me give you our takeaway for today. , the takeaway is God wants to express his truth in your stories. God wants to express his truth in your stories and the action.

Okay, friends, I really want you to try this action step. Write out a story from the last week or two where God has really impacted your life. Share it with one person, one friend, Christian, non-Christian. Doesn't matter, right? Write out a story from the last week or two, , where God has impacted your life and share it with a friend.

As always, guys, we're so incredibly thankful to be on this journey with you. Do us a favor, legal rating, a review on iTunes or Spotify, the highest compliment you can give us. Share this episode with a friend. Maybe this can be part of how you shared your story of God impacting your.