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Before I begin let me encourage you to get out this brochure that is in the bulletin. Ive
brought back the devotion. I included one last week after not sharing one since this past
summer. So many of you shared positive comments about having a devotion that Ill include one
every week. This week the devotion is a training guide on inviting people. I encourage you to
use it every day. I hope youll be blessed. In this brochure is a place to take notes. I believe that
God might say something to you that youll want to write down and remember.
Today Im concluding a two-week sermon series called Game changer. The idea for
this series originated from a comment that Dave Nyberg made as we were getting ready to move
to our new home. Dave said that our move to this facility would be a game changer. He was
right. We are a different community now compared to three months ago. I anticipate that we
will be a different community in two months compared to today. Were growing, and I expect
that we will continue to grow. Yay, God!
Our move to this facility has been a game changer.
Lets dream about our faith being the same type of game changer as our facility has been.
The faith that we have as individuals and as a community today is vibrant and alive. Lets dream
about it growing so much and being so compelling that it would have a powerful impact on the
community and ourselves.
Lets envision helping people even more than we do now.
SLIE
We made an impact by:
Helping people in their faith life
Helped people in their relationship life
Helped people experience healing from their wounds
Helped people discover their identity in Christtheir Inspirational Intersection.
Faith as a game changer.

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Part of faith as a game changer is sharing it with others. Evangelism.

For some of us evangelism is a touchy topic fraught with stereotypes. Last week we
pushed through some stereotypes about evangelism. I shared that good evangelism is sharing a
story. Its sharing
Gods story and our own story.

SLIDE

I taught you one story about Jesus that you could share with others. It was the story of
Jesus healing a man who had a withered hand on the Sabbath. The story illustrates that no matter
how much trouble he got in, Jesus would do whatever it took to help people. I also gave you a
sheet that can help you articulate your own faith story. I encouraged you to share a response
with someone to one of the questions on that sheet this past week.
I know that some of you did that. I had a very meaningful conversation after worship last
Sunday about evangelism. Im still reflecting on the conversation. I also know that some of the
folks in our Monday morning group went through the sheet.
Today were looking at the question of how. How do I share faith?
Were going to look at how Jesus shared faith. Well do that by listening to the story of
Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Ive broken up the story into four segments. Melanie will read a
segment and then Ill talk about it. In this first section pay close attention to what Jesus did.
Luke 24:13-19
Do you notice what Jesus did in this section of the story. He asked questions. He asked
two questions.
SLIDE
What were you discussing with each other while you walk along?
What things?

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A terrific way to share faith with someone is to ask questions. Ask questions about their
experiences with God and with the church. By asking questions were showing that were
interested in the other persons story. Were curious about how God has worked in their life.
We want to know about their own experiences with the church. We dont make statements; we
ask questions.
Good faith sharing is not a debate. Good faith sharing is not having an argument about
whether God exists or whether Jesus really healed someone. Good faith sharing starts out by
listening intently and asking good questions.
I think what happens at times is our stereotypes regarding evangelism get in the way. We
might have grown up thinking that good evangelism is completing a sale. Many evangelists have
this approach of evangelism as a sale, and they have done this very well. I shared last Sunday
my experience of going to the Billy Graham crusade in 1997 at the Metrodome. Thousands of
people came forward to give their lives to Christ. Thats really cool.
For a lot of reasons I dont think this method of evangelism as a sale works that well
anymore. Theres nothing that says we cant do it. We can ask people to convert to Jesus on the
spot. We can ask people to pray the sinners prayer. We can ask people if they died tonight
would they be assured of going to heaven. We can try these techniques.
I just dont think they work that well. Its my experience that most people dont want to
feel pressure when talking about God or talking about a church. These methods that have been
used in the past dont connect as much to people. Some of you will disagree with me on this.
Thats okay. One of our Core Values is Healthy Disagreement. We can keep talking about it.
I would encourage us to share faith like Jesus did in this story. If we do it like Jesus we
draw the other person out. We ask leading questions like Im curious, or Im interested or

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Im wondering. We can say, Help me understand. If the other person says something about
which you disagree, let it go. Perhaps at some point you can share your own view. But be like
Jesus. He asked good questions. Which leads us to the second part of the story
Read Luke 24:19b-24
Look at what happened. Jesus asked the right questions and all of a sudden the two
people were sharing their story. Something was going on in their lives. The two men were
trying to understand the resurrection of Jesus. Their story just spilled out of them.
If we ask the right questions in a humble way, people will share their stories.
Another obstacle in sharing faith is the concern that we will lose a friend. Weve heard
the saying that the two topics we should never talk about at a holiday are religion and politics.
My heart is said when I hear that statement. Talking about our faith does not have to be a debate.
If it is a debate were probably talking about God or the church in the wrong way. Jesus didnt
spend a lot of time having debates with people with whom he wanted to be in a relationship. He
had conversations with people.
If someone says something about God or the church with which we disagree we can push
back. Lets do it with humility. We could say something like, I certainly dont have this
figured out, but I look at this a bit differently.
We dont know whats going on in another persons life. What we do know is God is
somehow working in that persons life. If we go out of our way to be in relationship with the
person and ask the right questions, then their story might just spill out of them. All of a sudden
our friendship has gone deeper. We have a friend and not a debating partner.
That leads us to the third part of the story.
Luke 24:25-27

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Here Jesus did share his story. He shared with the two what he believed. He taught them
the Scriptures.
We might think that when we talk about faith that we are supposed to talk about our
views about certain doctrines. This is the idea that faith sharing is talking about our view of God
or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, or how we interpret the Bible or our thoughts on the end times. Or
the Bibles view on homosexuality or abortion or poverty or war.
Ive had many conversations about every one of these topics. Im not at all against
having conversations about doctrines. I just think that when were talking to a person who hasnt
connected to God a better way than talking about a doctrine is to have a conversation about our
storiesGods story and our own story.
Ive had people ask me beforehow do I have these faith conversations. How do I get
into a conversation about faith> How do they happen?
SLIDE

How do we get into a conversation about faith?

Firstpray for opportunities. Pray, pray, and then pray some more.
When we pray we access a spiritual realm that we dont even see or know about.
Through our prayers that spiritual realm becomes more visible to us. I believe that the more we
pray the more spiritual energy we muster.
When we pray things happen that we never could have imagined. Thats why Im
encouraging you to pray every day this week for an opportunity to invite someone to the Grand
Opening. The more we pray the more we tilt this spiritual realm towards something that we
believe God wants. The more we pray the more things happen in a way that surprise us.
Let me give you an example. When I was in seminary I attended a Youth Leadership
conference with the youth group I was staffing. I ended up attending a workshop on prayer. It

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was a wonderful workshop. At the workshop the leader encouraged us to pray. Because of the
workshop I decided to pray differently.
I was single at the time. I hadnt been on a date in a couple years. I decided that I was
going to pray every day that week that I would go on a date.
This was an odd request. The combination of prayer and going on a date didnt seem to
match up. I really wasnt sure if God had all that much interest if I went on a date. But I thought
that I had nothing to lose. So I started praying every day for an opportunity to go on a date.
Guess what happened. Within a week I had a date set up. The first one in a couple years.
Now did my prayers suddenly tilt this spiritual realm and convince God to give me an
opportunity to go on a date? Maybe. All I know is I hadnt been on a date in a couple years, I
went to a prayer workshop. I prayed with energy to go on a date and all of a sudden I had a deate
set up.
I think the same thing can happen in faith sharing. When we pray for opportunities they
suddenly come to us. Pray boldly this week. Pray that youll have many opportunities to invite
someone to the Grand Opening. My challenge to you is a daily challenge this week. Pray for
opportunities to share your faith this week.
SLIDE
Lord, give me an opportunity to share faith. Give me a chance to share faith and
invite someone to the Grand Opening who I didnt think I would invite.
Which leads me to the fourth reading
Luke 24:28-35
Jesus had developed such a relationship with these two men that they asked Jesus to stay
with them. They went into a house. Jesus went to a table, he took some bread, he blessed it and
he gave it to them. Its the same thing that Kate is going to do for us today.
Jesus blessed the two men.

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How do we share faith? We ask good questions, we look for ways to be in relationship
with people, we pray for opportunities, and we look for ways to bless the other person. This is
criticalwe go out of our way to bless someone. Our motivation for blessing someone is not
primarily so that this person will come to God or come to church. Our motivation is the blessing.
We just want to help the person.
Last fall we had some neighbors move next door to us. From their license plates we
could see that the family was from Kansas. When I came home from work on the day they
moved in my wife, Amy, said that the family had three boys. Amy had to work that night, but I
didnt. I told Hannah that we should buy the family some food. I could just about imagine how
hectic their day was. They probably were filling out paper work and then moving their stuff.
They had come from Kansas. Hannah and I went to Cub and bought them spaghetti.
I took Hannah over to the house. It was a little nerve wracking ringing the doorbell of
someone we didnt know. But the father of the family was very appreciative. We talked at the
door. I learned that he was going to work at Medtronic. He didnt ask me what I did, so I didnt
even tell him I was a pastor.
When Hannah and I got back to our house we both felt good. We had blessed them.
He knows that Im a pastor. They started going to another church. I still talk to them
about Chain of lakes.
This past Friday the manhis name is Davewas home from work. I saw him. I told
him that we were having our Grand Opening a week from Sunday and his family was going to
receive a post card about it. He was very positive. I think they might come.

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We never know the types of seeds we plant when we bless people. Ive shared this quote
with you before. Francis of Assisi said preach the gospel and use words if necessary. When we
brought them spaghetti Hannah and I shared the gospel.
Blessing people is sharing faith.
Today were coming to the Table. Im excited because Kate OBrien-Soltau is going to
lead us in Communion. Kate became a pastor or Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church
(USA) last fall. Today she will stand by the table just like Jesus was at table with the two men in
todays story. As we come to the Table lets reflect on how our faith can be a game changer.
Lets commit ourselves to praying for opportunities to share faith. Lets pray daily for these
opportunities. Lets look for opportunities to ask questions and help people share their stories.
Lets see evangelism as having a conversation and not a sales pitch. Lets bless people in an
extraordinary way.
I think this approach to faith sharing is a game changer. I think people in the community
are going to be interested when a group of people called Chain of lakes dont use pressure or
coercive tactics when it comes to faith sharing. I think people in the community are going to be
interested when a group of people called Chain of Lakes blesses them.
May our faith and how we share it change and impact the world.