Sharing Your Faith

Those of you who like historic novels will probably have come across the writings of somebody who is an academic historian as well as a novelist called Philippa Gregory.

And reading about Tudor times, which is primarily her interest, you discover what it cost at certain times in our history to actually acknowledge the fact that you were,

well, the big tension then, of course, was, and thank God these days are over, was the tension between Roman Catholicism and the Reformed faith.

And if you found yourself in the wrong company or in the presence of the wrong monarch, and you admitted you were of the other parish, if I can put it in Anglican speak, you very likely lose your head for that.

And I find that a kind of salutary thing to remind myself because I think today, I think it was Os Guinness who said that, rather cryptically, said that, he was talking in the 20th century,

he said the 20th century church is like the St. Lawrence Seaway.

We were all like, what?

He said, frozen at the mouth in winter.

And what I want to talk to you about today is, just so you know, I am not obsessed by the idea that sharing our faith is only about the words we use and the way we speak.

If you can hang on for this evening, and this first session will probably dictate either way, whether you do or you don't.

If you can, what I am going to be talking about this evening is, the impact of change in a person's life in terms of our credible witness.

I mean, you can argue with a lot of things.

You can argue with creeds.

You can argue with clergy.

You can argue with bishops.

Believe me, people do.

You know, I can name names.

But what you can't argue with very easily is a changed life.

And this evening, I want to look at that and the impact of that.

But this afternoon, if you'll forgive me, and truthfully, you have no choice.

And what I want to talk about is this difficult area in our culture.

You know, it would be nice for me to say, why don't you do this?

It's easy.

But actually, I don't think it is that easy.

Although I identify in our culture at the moment huge amounts of need.

I think we'd all be agreed that whatever the political agenda is exercised by any political party, somehow our society seems to be on a hell-bent journey towards damaging people.

And, you know, one thinks of our younger people.

And, you know, the reported increase in incidence of mental health issues, issues with personal image, the impact of social media.

I'm not here to tell you that's all bad.

I just, you know, don't quite get it.

Somebody said, you know, the worst day of my life was the day my mother learned to text.

So what I want to talk to you about is this.

But before I actually get around, and by the way, I want this to be as practical as I can make it.

Okay?

So you can decide when you leave here, am I going to act on any of this stuff?

Or am I just going to, you know, write it in my journal tonight and ignore it for the rest of my time here on planet Earth?

I can't make you do that.

I'm rather glad I don't have that power.

But what I want to say is that there are two very fundamental things that you need to think about

before you will even get started on this whole idea of offering a verbal witness.

Before I do that, I want to read to you this amazing narrative from 2 Kings chapter 7,

2 Kings 7 · chapter mention

which I feel sure you're all desperately familiar with.

But it's a remarkable story.

Where we are is there's a city called Samaria,

and there's an enemy army led by a rather violent king called Ben-Hadad.

And his military strategy in order to capture Samaria is to lay siege to it.

So there are people inside the city who can't get out.

There's no logistic channel, so they're starving to death.

The narrative amusingly tells us that actually they were so hungry and so desperate for food

that things like a donkey's head were selling for big bucks.

I mean, you know, can you imagine those of you who are cooks,

you come home to your partner, those of you who got one, your wife, your husband, whatever,

and say, darling, what's for lunch today?

And he or she says, I got a donkey's head.

Right?

I can tell you you're not even smiling at the thought of that.

I mean, just illustrative of how horrific the situation was.

But even worse,

sorry, I'm just telling you this because you need this background before I actually read the narrative.

But even worse are four lepers.

And they're trapped between the armies of Ben-Hadad on the outside of the city wall

and the inhabitants of Samaria who are inside the wall.

And you understand that leprosy wasn't just a horribly disfiguring disease,

but was in fact a major kind of socially unacceptable.

So these people are sitting outside and they're wondering what to do.

Here's what the Bible says about them.

There were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate.

They said to each other,

why stay here until we die?

If we say we'll go into the city,

the famine is there and we will die.

And if we stay here, we will die.

That's what you call a classic Hobson's choice, right?

So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender.

If they spare us, we live.

If they kill us, then we die.

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans.

When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there,

for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army.

So that they said to one another,

look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us.

So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys.

They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents.

They ate and drank and carried away silver, gold and clothes and went off and hid them.

They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

Then they said to each other,

we're not doing right.

This is a day of good news and we're keeping it to ourselves.

I know this is a dangerous thing for a preacher to say,

but I cannot tell you how many times I preached on that text.

What an amazing kind of recognition.

And so the two basic requirements I want to say,

before you will even get started on this business of offering any kind of verbal witness,

is this.

The first thing is, in whatever way, I don't think there's one way,

but I think you have to have experienced the good news of the gospel

before you will even have any motivation whatsoever

to share the good news that hopefully has changed your life.

So I said, I don't think that there is one way to do that.

I think, you know, I say accepting the gospel is a bit like falling in love.

You know, there are some people who are standing in a room

and somebody comes into the room and they know from David,

that is my future wife, my future husband.

Then there's people like my wife,

who, you know, looked at me for a very long time,

down her nose to a certain extent,

till she kind of warmed up to the idea that,

you know, maybe I'm desperate enough to...

Some people come to Christ like I did, literally overnight.

And for other people, it's a much longer journey.

And I don't think any of those experiences is inauthentic,

but I do believe there needs to be a point

where you realize that you are the recipient of the good news for yourself.

And you don't need to just experience it

if you're going to get involved in verbal witness.

You need also to be pretty certain that it is good news.

The Greek word for good news is the Greek word euangelion,

which we translate in two ways.

One is we translate it by the English word gospel,

the other by the English word good news.

Why?

Because the gospel is very good news.

And if it's good news,

why wouldn't we want to tell others about it?

I remember seeing a movie when I was a kid.

I can't tell you the title of it.

But the movie was about the world being attacked

by this really dangerous bacteria.

And everybody, all the scientists,

were working overtime to try and find

how you might get rid of this bacteria.

Mixing chemicals, spraying it on the bacteria, etc., etc.

It turns out that the hero of the story,

who wasn't even a scientist,

discovered that the best way to get rid of the bacteria

is to chuck water on it.

And you, just imagine,

that you had found a cure for a bacteria

which could wipe out the world,

and you decide,

I'm going to keep this to myself.

Would you have any moral,

don't shout out,

would you have any moral conscience about that?

And yet it seems,

there are many of us

who have experienced the good news,

and are agreed that it's the best news,

are very happy to keep shtun about it.

I saw some data recently,

incidentally,

which is vaguely encouraging,

and that was that,

the outcome of the data was

that more people at least claim

to talk about their faith

than anybody ever thought was likely.

I don't know if that's true of you.

I hope to God it is.

But I want to talk to you,

you know,

I love that story from 2 Kings 7,

because in a way it embodies the gospel.

It's about those lepers

who were just,

you know,

they had no options whatsoever.

And in terms of eternity,

you know,

one of the things that scripture teaches us

is that without Christ,

your options for eternity

are extremely limited.

It's a story about an intervention of God.

In this story,

it's about an intervention of a God

who makes a great big noise somehow,

and people confuse that

with the noise of Egyptian armies,

and decide to leg it.

And it's about four people

who had no hope,

finding hope,

and deciding

in the very short term

that the hope they've discovered

they're going to hold on to themselves.

This is a day of good news,

and we're keeping it to ourselves.

I don't know about you.

You know,

I heard

a message

this morning

that Russ preached

where he stood up

and owned for himself

on the subject that he was to.

He's like,

I'm not talking at you about this.

I'm talking with you about this

because what I'm describing

is,

you know,

part of me as well.

He was talking about,

you know,

Jesus' imperative,

you know,

that we shouldn't worry.

And look,

I am saying to you,

I have been tempted

on more occasions than one

to keep my mouth shut.

I think it would be true to say,

I am looking at my clergy colleagues here

for some support,

but I think generally,

when we're in Mufti,

you know,

and we're out in,

you know,

maybe on vacation

or something like that,

and somebody says,

you know,

you've been having a cup of tea

and you're starting to chat to people,

and somebody says to you,

so,

you know,

what do you do for a living?

I'm like,

oh,

you know,

shall I say

I'm in middle management

in a large,

you know,

national organization.

And if I did,

would I hear a cock crow

in my head or something?

So,

but I mean,

I'm tempted.

But I need to tell you

that some of the most amazing

moments of my life

have come from

unplanned,

inadvertent conversations

when even unwillingly

I have said something

about my faith

and somebody's life

has been transformed.

And that's not me saying

I'm great,

you know,

I mean,

I can tell you stories

where I was extremely

half-hearted

about it all.

So,

let's just for a moment,

if we may,

meditate on

what I would call

the possibilities

of the spoken word.

You remember

that right at the beginning

in the book of Genesis

when chaos brooded

over the whole earth,

it was God speaking

into that chaos

that started to form

order from the chaos.

The logos,

the word of God,

bringing order

from what was

kind of cosmic chaos.

You can fly through

the centuries a little bit

and I love that verse

and I think it's

Psalm 107 and verse 2

and I love the authorized

version of this.

It says,

let the redeemed

of the Lord say so.

I like,

well,

I don't like,

I mean,

it fills me with trepidation.

You know,

when Jesus said,

if anyone in this sinful

and adulterous

generations

is ashamed of me,

then will the Son of Man

be ashamed of him

or her

when they return

in glory.

The Son of Man

is kind of,

Jesus' kind of,

apocalyptic,

speak for

himself.

That's worth

bearing in mind,

isn't it,

that if

we're ashamed of him,

he might be ashamed

of us

at that moment

in our lives

when it will really matter.

And then

the day of Pentecost.

I've heard so many people,

you know,

build a massive construction

on what happened

on the day of Pentecost.

You know,

sometimes I think

the actual text

of the day of Pentecost

won't bear that construction.

But actually,

do you notice this?

What happens there is

the Spirit comes upon the people,

people who are standing by

and think,

well,

what's happening?

You know,

it's like fire coming from heaven.

And what happens?

You know,

does it say,

and they started to sing hymns louder?

Or they started to wave their hands?

Or they started to jig around?

You know,

no.

What it says is

they began to speak about

the amazing things

that God had done.

And even more amazingly,

the Spirit inspired them

to be able to speak out

those things

in a way that the people

who are in the crowd

could understand them.

You're sitting there,

saying,

well,

that's a novel idea,

you know,

never went to church

thinking I might understand

the sermon,

you know,

and you had to kind of endure it,

but no,

the Word was spoken

in a way

that people of every

different tongue

who were gathered there

could understand

exactly

what was being said.

And finally,

in 1 Peter 3.15,

where

Peter says,

look,

look,

look,

always be ready.

Always be ready

to give a reason

for the hope

that is in you.

I mean,

don't put your hands up,

but you know,

would you say you're ready

to give a reason?

And I want to speak to you

about this verbal witness

because I think

it can be such a game changer

in the lives of others.

Although,

I do want to say to you,

this could seriously affect

your comfort zone,

you know,

health warning.

And here are some factors

that I want you to bear in mind.

The first thing is,

specific prayer

in relation to this verbal witness,

I would say,

prepares the ground.

I think it does that

in two ways.

The first way is,

trust me,

if you pray for opportunities

to share your faith,

I can promise you

they will come.

Okay?

If you don't want them,

don't pray them,

but if you pray them,

pray for opportunities.

They will come your way.

The second way it does this is,

I think,

I mentioned this in church

some months ago now,

but anybody remember

prayer triplets?

You know,

I think we called it

Operation Andrew

or something like that,

and three people

would meet together,

and each of them

would bring three names

of people who didn't know Christ,

and they would sit together,

and they would pray

about those people,

and,

I mean,

in my prayer triplet,

and,

you know,

we were,

frankly,

a bit haphazard.

I mean,

nearly everybody

we prayed for

intensely in those

prayer triplets

crossed the line

and became a Christian

at some point.

So I think

that part of preparedness

is to be prayed up

for the opportunities

and for the,

to us,

that God might use me

when those opportunities

arise.

Second thing

I want to say to you,

I think you need

to bear in mind,

is check your love dial.

What I mean by that is,

I don't think you should

plunge into

verbal witness

if you're a kind of

spiritual scalp hunter.

You know,

if it's more about you

than it is about

seeking to bring

the good news

to the people

that you speak with,

I'm not sure

how helpful that is.

It's not about winning,

it's not about

making people

feel judged.

But verbal witness

should be an expression

of God's love

for the world,

as far as I can best see.

Third thing is,

if you wait

until you're ready

to give a verbal witness,

you'll wait.

I think it comes to a point

when you've just got to

plunge in there

and say something.

Fifth thing is,

have you met Christians

Christians who,

frankly,

are desperate

to kind of promote

Jesus and his kingdom,

but actually

have the net impact

of putting people

off massively?

You ever met people

like,

am I the only person

who meets people

like Ryan?

I mean,

very often they've got

a Bible the size

of a paving slab

and they'll go around

beating people

around the head

with it until,

you know,

people just give in

to get rid of you.

And I think there is

a kind of sensitivity

that's kind of required here,

but, you know,

that needs to be put

alongside a kind of boldness

as well.

I would say this,

I found this really helpful

when I was a young Christian.

I did this thing.

Anybody heard

of Evangelism Explosion?

Well,

you're going to be horrified

by it, right,

before I explain it,

just let me say.

Evangelism Explosion

was a process evangelism course

that was put together

in a church in Florida

by a man called James Kennedy.

Basically,

it was a door-to-door

visitation program.

I can see you,

you know,

scared already.

And what you did was

you learned

a kind of skeleton

of the gospel.

And the idea was

you knocked on the door,

somebody answered it,

and you would,

you know,

you were instructed

that you needed to do,

you know,

English people do this,

don't we?

You know,

there's a kind of intro

that we go through

in,

I just want to say

this phrase very carefully,

social intercourse.

There's something,

you know,

we go through,

we talk about the weather

or we say,

you know,

all that stuff.

So the course encouraged

you to kind of do

a bit of that stuff.

And then it had

a diagnostic question.

And at the right moment,

you're supposed to feed in

this diagnostic question.

And the,

it's a very good question,

this actually.

I mean,

you might,

don't,

you know,

mind it to room it.

But the diagnostic question was,

if you were to die tonight

and God were to say to you,

why would I let you

into heaven?

What would you say?

Some people would say

stuff like,

can you come back

after EastEnders

is finished?

interesting.

But a lot of people

would be like,

oh,

well,

you know,

I'm not perfect,

you know,

not religious,

but,

you know,

I try my best

given to kind of,

you know,

a comic aid

or all that stuff.

But it was all,

the idea was

that 99% of people,

scarily 99%

of church people,

place the emphasis

on their effort

to save themselves

rather than

the intervention

of God in Jesus Christ

who came

that we might do

for ourselves,

sorry,

he might do for us

what we could not do

for ourselves

and that is

save ourselves.

So having,

you know,

asked that question,

given that 99%

of people

gave the wrong answer,

it kind of gave you

a way in

to talk about

the gospel.

Do you know what?

I know you're sitting

there horrified

by the very idea

of it and,

you know,

I get that in a way.

Actually,

I find that a really

helpful thing.

I found it really

helpful to learn

a skeleton of the gospel

with some Bible verses

so it's not just

me talking,

it's, you know,

what scripture says

about this,

that and the other

and I found that

really helpful

and then I found

something else

really helpful

and that was

I went to a,

I think they call it

a clinic,

you know,

it's never a great

thing is it to call

something a clinic

because it implies

you're not well

before you get there

but the clinic

basically said

you need to be able

to give a thumbnail

sketch of your

Christian story

and you need to be able

to do that

within two minutes

and,

you know,

I think that is

another really

helpful thing

to do.

You know,

if somebody says

to you,

you know,

why are you a Christian?

What would you say?

And,

you know,

if you need,

you know,

two and a half hours

to drone on

to explain it to people,

they're probably going

to lose the will

to live by the time

you finish

trying to explain

it to them.

But the important

thing about trying

to set a limited

time

around your testimony

is this,

it helps you

to focus on

what is the real

change in my life

as a result

of my discipleship

in Jesus Christ?

What is the thing

that God has really

changed in me?

I think it's

really important

and can I just say

that?

Can we agree

that it's really

not helpful

to kind of give

our testimony

and it's founded

on sort of

what I will politely

call simplistic

nonsense?

You know,

I'm not saying

that God doesn't

care where you

park your car,

but the kind of

testimony,

you know,

that goes like this,

I couldn't find

a parking space,

you know,

I needed to get

out of the car

because my

four-year-old

was desperate

for the bathroom

and,

you know,

God opened up

a car.

Let me tell you,

people are not

massively impressed

by that kind

of thing.

What they're much

more impressed

about is

when there was

a season of

adversity in

your life,

how did God

help you deal

with it?

You know,

maybe you went

through bereavement

or maybe you've

been through

divorce,

maybe you've

lost somebody

really close

to you,

maybe you've,

I mean,

maybe you've had

none of those

old things and

for crying out

loud,

don't make

stuff up.

But actually,

I think it's

far more

impactful.

If you've got

something to

share about

the way God

helped you

through adversity,

then it is

talking about

God providing

you with a

parking place.

Focus on

what has

changed in

your life

as a result

of your

faith.

The seventh

thing is,

and I'm glad

to say this

to churches

together in

Clevedon,

though clearly

this is a

ramification for

local congregations,

if together

we covenant

to seize the

opportunity to

share our

faith.

I think that's

a really good

thing to do.

And the reason

I think that

is that it

kind of builds

in a level

of accountability.

If we've got

stories to share

about when we

tried it,

that's a very

powerful thing.

Some of you

will know

Pip and Jay

Church in

Bristol was

one of those

churches that

went through

the very first

wave,

of renewal.

And it's

amazing back

in the day,

you know,

I saw

when old

Malcolm

Whittacombe

was the

rector there,

you know,

he stood up

there with

his big

pork chop,

sideboards,

you know,

holding forth

from the

pulpit.

And in turn,

it's a massive

church,

probably twice

the size of

this church,

standing room

only.

And,

you know,

he did his

thing there,

and they

covenanted

together as

a church

to be people

who would

seize the

opportunity,

if and when

it arose,

to share

their testimony.

The impact

was truly

staggering,

and what they

used to do

in the services,

I don't know

if they still

do,

it was,

they would

leave a

short time

for people

to come and

tell their

stories as to

when they'd

spoken about

their faith

in the week,

and the

outcome of

speaking about

their faith.

And very

often,

no,

not very

often,

occasionally,

they would

bring a

person to

the front

with them

to share

their

experience,

which is

the person

who they

shared the

faith with,

who come

to church

for the

first time,

maybe ever,

maybe for

years,

maybe not

for years.

The full

thing is,

I need to

say this to

those of you

who are

living on

yesterday's

spiritual

experience.

You know,

if you look

in Isaiah

64 and

verse 6,

the prophet

there writes

about those

whose spiritual

experience fades

like the leaves

in autumn.

I mean,

I think it's

much better if

your spiritual

experience is

fresh and you

try and maintain

it in a fresh

way.

rather than,

you know,

people say

to you,

you know,

what's the

most significant

moment in

your life?

I mean,

clearly your

conversion,

if it was a

long time ago,

is a very

significant

moment.

But if,

you know,

you're talking

about the

conference you

went to in

1957,

you know,

probably people

in today's

world are not

going to kind

of quite

resonate with

the lack of

contemporaneity

around that.

So,

I want to

leave some

time for

questions.

But here are,

are you ready

for this?

Buckle up.

Ten things.

Practical tips.

One,

I don't need to

say.

Pray and pray

for people who

are not

Christians,

who you in

your heart would

love to see

across the line.

Second thing is,

you might need to

start with a

spiritual order.

Where are you?

Are you hot

for God or

are you lukewarm

for God?

You know,

is your experience

like that which

Isaiah spoke

about?

Is it fading

like the autumn

leaves?

I mean,

you can't,

you know,

I know where

people are

moved and all

that stuff,

but generally,

generally,

would you say

you're hot for

God or would

you say,

yeah,

you know,

maybe not.

Third thing is,

you need to

build authentic

relationships.

I never

forgot,

when I went

to the church

where I was

a rector,

there were a

lot of

people in

middle age

there,

nothing wrong

with that,

you know,

I am one,

but one of

the things

that,

you know,

I taught

them about

sharing their

faith and

taught them

about evangelism

and they come

to me and say,

you know what,

we don't really

have any friends

outside of the

church these

days.

I'm like,

seriously,

you know,

I was quietly

thinking,

are you that

sad?

And,

no,

we don't.

I've never

forgotten this.

In fact,

we had that

man from

Florida come

to Slough

when I was

a cure at

there,

James Kennedy,

and the

Salvation Army

guy,

he'd been going

on about

evangelism

explosion,

the Salvation

Army guy

was there,

lovely guy,

said to him,

well,

the problem

for me and

for my

congregation is

such a kind

of big social

thing as well

as a kind

of spiritual

thing that

most of us

only have

socialized within

our immediate

circle.

So he said

to James

Kennedy,

do you have

any advice?

Right,

don't follow

this.

I think he

was joking.

He said,

yeah,

why don't you

go down to

the nudist

beach?

And we're

all kind

of having

an attack

of the

vapors,

you know,

who are

going?

Look,

some of

you,

you know,

I know

some of

you,

I know

some of

you are

in roles

that put

you in

touch

with people

who are

going through

difficult

times in

their lives,

people who

don't know

Christ.

I think

that

you know,

the important

thing is that

we build

authentic

relationships,

not just

relationships

that solely

we're making

to try and

exploit them

in some

way,

but relationships

that,

you know,

are truly

reflecting the

love of God

for the

person that

we've been

praying for.

I've said

it'll help

if you can

find a way

of expressing

your allegiance

to Jesus

Christ,

which isn't

particularly

off-putting.

I think

that's really

important.

Five,

be attentive

to the

Spirit.

As I've

got older,

I was going

to say as

I've become

more mature

in the faith,

but that

would be

stretching a

point.

But as I've

got older,

one of the

things that

I've noticed

is that

whereas in

the early

days of my

walk with

Jesus,

my life

with him

was confined

to kind of

20 minutes

in the

morning and

a kind

of sign

off prayer

before I

crashed out

of bed

in the

evening.

But the

longer I've

been a

Christian,

the more

I feel

like,

if this

doesn't

sound too

fanciful,

that Jesus

is kind

of with

me wherever

I go and

whatever I

do.

I mean,

sometimes that's

great because

it starts me

sinning.

What's great

is I think

sometimes the

Holy Spirit can

give you those

notches to

speak to

someone and

see where it

goes.

I think,

again, I

told the

congregation

here this.

I have a

question that

I ask people

that really

catches them.

You know,

it's a bit

like if you,

sorry to use

sporting analogy,

but it's a bit

like if you're

playing cricket

and suddenly

out of the

blue the

bowler boils

a bouncer

or your

head.

It takes

you by

surprise.

And so my

question is

slightly designed

to do that

and it's

very simple.

It is,

you know,

I talk to

people a bit,

you know,

on a train,

where are you

going?

Going to

Paddington

Station,

yeah,

what are you

doing down

there?

You know,

all that.

And I'll

say,

so,

how's your

life?

And the

first thing

people tell

you is,

it's fine,

it's all

alright.

And then it

starts to

unravel.

Actually,

I'm going

through a

really difficult

divorce at

the moment.

Actually,

my husband

left me 20

years ago

when I was

four months

pregnant with

our fourth

child.

Actually,

I'm feeling

horrible malice

towards my

sister.

I've even

had somebody

say this to

me,

and I'd

like to

kill her.

it is

amazing.

It is

amazing.

A number of

times people

have said to

me,

I don't

think anybody

who knows

me would

probably say

that pastoral

care was top

of my gift

list,

honestly.

But the

number of

people who

just through

Chan's

conversation

said to

me,

you know

what,

I've never

told anybody

this before.

And even

in that,

there must

be some

kind of

release,

isn't there?

Galatians 5,

well we say

a burden

shared is a

burden

harved.

It's a

sort of

slight

distortion

of a

verse in

Galatians 5

where Paul

says,

you know,

share one

another's

burdens and

so fulfill

the law of

Christ.

And you

could do

that.

You know,

and I

mean what

you've got to

get through

is that,

you know,

as Dr.

House said,

those of you

who watched

that sing

on,

Netflix

or whatever,

everybody

lies.

So when you

ask people

about their

life,

they're going

to probably

lie to you

to start

with about

how good

it is.

But actually,

they keep

talking,

they probably

start to

unravel.

The sixth

thing is,

keep the

good news

fresh.

I've talked

about that.

The seventh

thing is,

what a

witness does

is they

share their

experience.

and again,

you know,

I would

think,

you know,

call me

novel,

but I

would think

that if

you've got

no experience,

it's probably

going to be

difficult for

you to share

it.

What is your

experience of

God?

Do you know

about him

or do you

know him?

I think

it really

helps,

you know,

I mean,

I'm always

amazed,

to be honest

with you,

you know,

I don't

know if

I'm kind

of low

level

Asperger's

or something

like that,

but,

you know,

I tend

to give

honest answers

to honest

questions.

It used

to drive

my press

officer

bonkers.

You know,

I remember

him saying

to me,

a very

sophisticated

man,

my press

officer,

he wrote

the world's

leading

treatise on

being a

butler.

Right?

Terribly

formal,

very straight.

He'd been

a press

officer to

William and

Harry when

they went

through Eton.

And he

used to say

to me,

do you know

what the

trouble with

you is,

Mike?

You know,

when people

say that to

you,

like,

where's this

conversation

going to

go?

I said,

no,

but I think

you're going

to tell me.

He said,

the trouble

with you is

people ask

you a

straight

question,

you're in

grave danger

of giving

them a

straight answer.

I'm like,

so what's

the problem

with that?

It's like,

the press

will kill

you.

Well,

I'm still

alive.

Look,

sharing our

experience

and the

way,

you know,

I was going

to say

to say

that,

I'm

always

amazed

how many

people,

I wouldn't

surprise me,

Russ,

if people

didn't come

and say

that to

you this

morning after

that sermon.

People are

shocked by

ministers being

honest.

They're just

shocked by it.

They're like,

really?

You know,

you suffer

from that?

Yeah,

I do.

I don't

know if it's a

sense of let

down.

I can't

really understand

it.

I mean,

partly because

I've been a

minister for

so long now,

I can't

really remember

not being

one.

It just

shocks me

that people

would be

shocked.

It's like,

you know,

when you're

looking for

a minister,

are you

really looking

for a

liar?

It just

seems mad

when you say

it like that,

doesn't it?

So,

sharing,

the eighth

thing is

sensitive

persistence.

How many

of you have

asked and

bucked up

the courage

and asked

a friend,

come to our

guest service,

come,

and they've

made some

feeble excuse

and you've

thought,

oh,

that's it.

No.

You've got to

keep going.

You know,

there's a

man,

it wouldn't

be right

for me to

share his

name,

he's a

multi,

balty,

squillion,

billion,

billionaire,

made an

absolute fortune,

he's on the

radio fairly

frequently,

not because

he's been

sexually abusing

or racially

abusing

anybody,

but because

he has

standards that

he applies

to his

business and

the rest of

the business

world just

don't get it.

For instance,

he will not

have any of

his employees,

he's in

retail,

partly,

he will not

have any of

his employees

work on a

Sunday.

So they're

very interested

in him in

the media,

you know,

how does

your business

plan work

without Sunday

trading?

It's like,

works very

well,

thank you.

Why,

you know,

because God

blesses us

because we,

you know,

we're trying

to live by

the way he

wants us

to live.

And,

but,

I remember

for years

and years

and years

I used to

phone him

up when

we had,

I'm trying

to remember

how often

men,

there were

men's

breakfasts

in those

days,

I apologize

to the

women in

the house

for that,

but that's

the way

they were

back in

the day.

I can't

remember

how often

we had,

but a number

of times

I got on

the phone

to this

guy and

said,

would you

come?

He always

made some

feeble excuse,

never came,

but I kept

making the

calls,

and in

the end

he said,

yes,

when Barry

Kissel

from

St.

Andrew's

Chorleywood

was our

speaker,

soundly

converted

at 9.47

in the

morning,

he's given

millions

of his

wealth

away to

churches,

charities,

whatever.

And I'm

not taking

any credit

for that,

it's purely

the work

of God

and the

power of

his Holy

Spirit

revealing

himself to

my friend,

but I

sometimes

wonder,

if I'd

given up

phoning him,

because you

know what,

it just gets

embarrassing,

but if I'd

given it up,

I'm not saying

he wouldn't

have become

a Christian,

it must

have been

somewhere in

God's plan,

but I'm

just telling

you,

don't be,

you know,

somebody says

no once,

keep rattling

that cage,

keep rattling

it.

The only thing

is,

as Peter

would tell

us,

always be

ready.

You know,

have some

idea of

what you