Scripture:  Acts 7

Key Verse: Acts 7:1

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia…”

A good story will captivate the heart and draw out real emotion.  When teaching, motivating and accessing the hearts of people, I try and tell stories that captivate people’s attention.  Sometimes, when you tell stories, they resonate so much that extreme raw emotion surfaces.  This is what happened in this scripture. Stephen told such a good story of the history of his people that it “enraged” the people to charge in and kill him.  That is powerful!  If Stephen were was in my speech class, he would have put ALL of us to shame.  Here are some key pieces to telling a good story.

#1 Make it personal – Stephen was one of them, a Hebrew.  This scripture is so littered with cross references, you could spend all day reading and studying the circumstances behind everything.

#2 Begin where people are – This story is an incredible appeal to the Hebrew culture.  He started where people were.  They all knew the story, but he explained it in a way they probably had never heard it before.

#3 Know where you are going –  Stephen’s punch line was incredible, “you stiff necked people…you always resist the Holy Spirit…” (vs 51) Stephen knew what the end of the story was and where it fit.  He was sharing the Gospel clearly with them.  They could not argue with it, so they just disposed of him.

#4 Have conviction – In short tell your story passionately with emotion.  So many people are afraid of emotion.  This is a cop-out.  An excuse to disengage passively and be mediocre.  Don’t just give information, deal out inspiration.  I have a philosophy I have lived with for some years now.  “If you preach soft you get hard people, but if you preach hard, you get soft people.”

Stories change people, they are the tapestry of the Kingdom of God at work…Tell yours boldly

Question:  Who do you need to tell your story to?  Have you ever written your story down?