Acts 8:5-13a
John 1:43-51

Opening
I was on an airplane to a business meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was sometime around 1990. My assignment was to deliver some important information to others in my company who lived and worked in N.C.. I took it very seriously. People in my company were depending on me to help educate my audience about the future price levels needed for homeowners insurance in the state, so that we could make sure we remained financially strong that we could make good on the promises we had made to our policyholders.

They needed to understand the what's and the why's, but I needed to convey the message sensitively, answer their questions patiently as best I could and listen carefully to their comments and concerns. I anticipated most of the 100 in the audience would approach the meeting thinking of me as the messenger bringing news that was not necessarily welcome. Some probably even had a mind set similar to what we heard in this morning's passage from John, except in this case the words would be along the lines that "Nothing good comes out of Corporate Headquarters."

But, I felt it was my responsibility to proceed on my mission and I actually felt excited about the challenge I knew lay ahead. Well, it was a long day. I saw lots of serious, long faces at the beginning of the meeting. I made my presentation, answered many questions, drew upon my judgments as well as the facts as I knew them, and said, "I don't know, but I'll get back to you" in response to questions for which I didn't have the confidence to answer fully. I was on my feet for over four hours.

By the end, I sensed that the majority of the audience was at least respectful of what I had shared and some actually said they saw things a little differently now. It took several years and a number of additional meetings and other people's involvement for the issues discussed that day to be accepted and truly take hold, but I can look back and say I was part of planting the seeds of progress in this fairly simple business situation.

This account of a business meeting may not be a great analogy to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, but it does present some striking similarities which I hope were obvious. To share the Good News it certainly can require some basic knowledge, sometimes personal risk, persistence, sensitivity and always honesty, but we must give it our best effort, knowing that God is watching over us all the way.

Through God's forgiveness and grace and the Bible's teachings as I understand them, we have a faith and related life experiences that God wants us to share with others. I know I need to be more about sharing those experiences so that I might in some small way share Christ's Good News and help others along in their own journey.

So What is This Good News?
I believe it's important that we interpret and communicate the Good News about Jesus Christ in our own way ... a way that is real and honest for us. In a nutshell the Gospel message that must be our focus can be stated as follows: We separated ourselves from God by sin, yet with love and mercy God's Son, Jesus, was sent to save us from sin by giving his life on our behalf, and we also believe Christ rose again to claim victory over death for all who believe.

That's just a brief summary of the Good News of Jesus Christ. In my opinion this Good News also includes everything we've observed and lived that demonstrates all that God is and does. We need to respond in faith to God's love and live out what we believe every day, every moment, as we live, learn about and tell others about the wonderful Good News.

Why Should We Share This Good News?
In our Acts scripture, it is certainly evident that we should tell others of our faith because the Good News saves people. This Philip was one of the first deacons and he brought many to Christ, even the powerful and apparently popular Simon, who practiced magic throughout the region, but then he heard Philip, believed, was baptized and continued on with Philip on his journeys as a changed man to assist him in reaching out to others.

We also need to spread the Word because Jesus commands us to do so. It's not optional. Not even being a Chicago Cub fan disqualifies us. If we're Christians, then we're a witness for Jesus. God has no secret agents.

Listen to Matthew 28:19-20 in which we also hear Christ's clear command:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.

Many scholars say the logic is clear:

People without Christ are eternally lost.
Lost people dearly matter to God.
Lost people should matter to us.

If we believe this, then I don't think we need any more knowledge to realize people's eternal lives are at stake and we need to be very convinced of the importance of the task and our critical responsibility.

People of our church already spread the Good News in so many ways and so generously and unselfishly. We are about ...

• Educating ourselves more, both youth and adults, about all of Christ's teachings and about what it means to be a Christian today,
• And we're about reaching out to others through Share Fest, Habitat, a rummage sale for emerging congregations, new member orientations, youth mission trips, peacemaking, and I could go on and on.

We have so many role models right here in our faith family.

We are called to make sure we are not only taking Christian action but also telling the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We might be thinking, "I'm just not skilled at talking about my faith or comfortable doing so." Some have a natural gift to do so, but this gift can be developed. More good news is that we don't have to be able to communicate our faith in as inspiring a way as Billy Graham or with as compelling a message as Pastor Jim. God wants us to tell the Good News through our stories, our experiences, our learnings and in our own words. Telling others how our lives have been changed and what God has done for us and how we see God alive and at work right here in our world can lead to an eternal difference in someone else's life.

So, if sharing the Good News is so important, why don't we do it more often?
Don't get me wrong. I am not implying that we should turn to the person behind us in the grocery store line and say, "Hello, do you have an opinion on predestination or existentialism?" What I do mean is that I don't think I have a good reason to miss some very good opportunities to pass on what I should be sharing with others in a way that makes sense for us and the situation.

On a Monday morning at work, I often get asked, "How was your weekend?" Yet, I don't find myself always remembering to mention the meaningful message I heard in worship or the inspiring music of one of our youth or adult choirs. That's not relating my faith directly, but it's a healthy start. That's the kind of sharing I believe that I, we, should be doing more often.

Our avoidance is certainly partly because sharing our faith puts us at risk. We're out on a limb, spiritually and emotionally, feeling vulnerable and we know we can meet rejection. That's not very comfortable and I am sometimes guilty of convincing myself terrible consequences could occur if I speak up so I remain silent, when many times I doubt that would happen at all. So how can we overcome those feelings and share? We know we really do want to help others.

So, How do We Share the Good News?
I mentioned people in this church do a lot already to spread an awareness of God's love and message in what they do and say. I am not saying we don't do enough, but I know we can always do and say more and I feel sharing the Good News is a continuing process and we must always strive to do all we can. Eternal lives are at stake.

I obviously don't have all the answers, but let's look at how others have shared and how you have already shared as helpful examples for us.

Let's also keep in mind we don't have to know it all and we certainly don't have to provide deep philosophical thoughts to start a conversation. What we say can be very simple.

In the Family Circle comic strip, young Dolly says to her other young friends, "Heaven is a great big hug that lasts forever." Deep theology, probably not, but insightful, definitely and it's something that could certainly come from the mouth of a five year old. If we put our mind to continued learning and truly make the effort, we can do at least half as well as Dolly and make a difference.

In our John passage, Philip the apostle, a different Philip than in the Acts reading, finds his friend Nathanael and tells him of his thrilling discovery that Jesus, the Savior, about whom Moses and the prophets wrote, is here. He meets a little resistance, as Nathanael's sarcastic reply is "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" However, Philip perseveres and says, "Come and see."

We certainly are equipped to give others an invitation as Philip did and ask others to come see for themselves if being part of Christ's family makes a difference in their lives. We owe them that offer. We can invite others to enjoy the experiences that we have, whether it involves an invitation to attend church or just inviting others to enter into dialog with us on more than superficial conversation. Motivated by wanting to befriend and truly love others, I believe we must act to reach out in this way.

What exactly should I say? I don't know where to start.
Josh Clemons led our Minute for Mission last Sunday about sharing some good news in our lives. If you were here, I'm sure you will remember turning to a neighbor and sharing something good that happened to you during the previous week. That's a great start and proof each of us has the basic gift to share in this way.

I find it also helpful to first spend some alone time reflecting what we believe and what experiences we have had. Even mapping on paper the major milestones of my life can help identify significant experiences I've had.

Prayer is so valuable in preparing us as well.

So, let's think for a second — Who has helped me grow in my faith or even made me think about what I believe, whether I totally agreed with them or not? Or, if someone directed you to try attending this church, how did they relate to you in a way that motivated you to come? We are very glad to those people who've nudged us forward in our lives. We need to do what we can to nudge others to learn more about God and progress on their faith journey. Thinking about how that's happened in our lives can be a guidepost for relating to others.

Certainly, we have things to tell, but we must also listen to others, find out where they are and meet them right where they are today on their life journey. And, I know one thing for sure, we will learn and grow in our own faith in the process.

I don't mean to imply it's always easy. I have a friend with whom I'd like to share more frequently and effectively, but I believe at this point my efforts have been few and far between. I've overanalyzed how to approach him and I know that's just a subconscious delay tactic. I have a lot of room for improvement, but I must commit to taking the risk and it's worth it because the Good News is so important and the eternal life of my friend is so valuable to me as well.

Step One for us might be to focus on more open and intentional sharing first with those with whom we're relatively more comfortable. That could be a member of your small group from our church, but that is something each of us needs to determine. The general idea would be to first share more with those with whom we already have a good relationship. That will give us the confidence to keep branching out and if we should stumble a bit, these people with whom we have the most comfort should understand.

Sharing beyond what I'm calling Step One, I recognize may require more advanced skills. When we try to share our faith with those with whom we aren't in the same comfort zone, including a stranger or even a close family member, the risk we sense is greater, and we usually feel less equipped to be effective. I believe our responsibility is not to reach everyone, but to make sure we develop ourselves to all we're capable of. Our personal responsibility may not be to reach everyone, but to at least share with those who come into our lives.

While I'm not making any announcements or promises, some of us on the Membership/Outreach Committee are exploring ways that would offer us opportunities to learn and better prepare ourselves for the sharing we're capable of, in a way that can move all of us from where we are today to a better equipped and more comfortable instrument of God's in sharing the Good News.

Closing Thoughts

I want to leave you with a couple closing thoughts.

First, let me first tell you how my delivering this message today came about. Terry Tosh, Josh Clemons and I were meeting with Jim Bell, offering our ideas about how we could emphasize sharing the Good News in today's worship. For my part I read a 5-point outline, just simple bullet points that I thought could provide a starting point for Jim to use for a sermon. Jim responded with a few good insights as to how to improve the outline, and then said, "Why don't you give the message?"

After feeling quite overwhelmed for a minute or two, I said I'd be willing to take a shot at drafting the message, but noted that if I find I can't write a decent message even with Jim's help reviewing it, I'd welcome his stepping in and improving or rewriting it as well as delivering it. I don't know how insightful this message has been and I certainly had the benefit of Jim's review, but saying yes to doing this has helped me grow tremendously and can be the springboard to additional growth and sharing if I act on it the opportunity. That opportunity for us to grow is present for all of us if recognize all the opportunities we have to share and act on them.

Finally, let me relay a story about a very young girl. Driving home from church, seven year old Jenny said to her Mom, "I'm not sure I understood what the pastor said this morning in church." She continued, "He said God is bigger than we are, and that God's so big that the whole world fits in God's hand." Her Mom said, "Yes, that's right." Then Jenny said with a furrowed brow, "But the Pastor also said God comes to live inside us, and if God's so much bigger than us, wouldn't he show through?"

My hope for all of us is that throughout our daily lives, we all make sure we let God show through to others, both through our actions and our words.

Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we know that we need to approach sharing your Good News with honesty, truth and a desire to help others learn about you, even though we often don't feel we're capable. We know that you will always be there to help us reach out with a Christian heart in word and deed and we ask your guidance as we thoughtfully and prayerfully get in touch with what we believe and what our experiences are, so that we can share in a way that others might benefit, knowing that our faith will mature as well. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.