In Acts 22, Paul defends himself against the crowd in Jerusalem. Interestingly, though he was quite able to provide details regarding the evidence for Christianity, Paul started with something else–his story. He began with his personal background and continued with how Jesus had radically changed his life one day on the road to Damascus.
It would have been great to have a conclusion where the crowd all converts to Christianity, but they did not. Unfortunately for Paul, the crowd grew more hostile as a result. The observation here is not a technique for reaching people with the gospel, but the method Paul relied upon to talk about Jesus.
Paul did not rely merely on evidence; he relied on his story.
Too often, we follow the training manuals that teach us the four steps or five verses or six secrets to sharing our faith. We make it far too complicated.
Paul’s plan was to pray, tell his story, and talk about Jesus.
What if we did the same?
The crowds may still turn against us and society may reject our message. Yet our story is one of the most powerful and engaging ways to communicate the most important message of all–that Jesus came to change lives, ours and all those who respond to his message.
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Dillon Burroughs is the author or co-author of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of the New Testament in 2011 at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.