Stories Told

[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Pastor Chuck Allen here, and welcome to another Group Day podcast. But today I want to shift gears. [00:00:13] Speaker B: A little bit, and I want to follow up from yesterday's chat. We talked about gratitude yesterday, and today I want to introduce gratitude as a part of your story and the power that it has. There's this verse buried in Revelation right near the middle of this cosmic battle scene. In Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, it says, they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. [00:00:39] Speaker A: By their testimony. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Think about that. [00:00:41] Speaker A: They overcame the enemy not just by what Jesus did on the cross, but by what that victory produced in them. [00:00:51] Speaker B: By their story, by their words, by their lived experience of grace. And that same story isn't something to be ashamed of or edited down. Your story shouldn't be something you're ashamed of or edited down. A God who could have kept you from experiencing that story allowed you to experience that story for a purpose, a rhyme and a reason. [00:01:17] Speaker A: Seriously, y', all, it's actually part of the way God pushes back darkness. In this world, you have a testimony because you have lived a story. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Not just any story, a story of significance. Now, you may hear that and think, well, not me. My life's been pretty normal, Chuck. But significance isn't about fame, and it's certainly not about flash. It's about fingerprints. God's fingerprints all over your everyday moments. That's the beauty of grace. It doesn't need a spotlight. It just needs to be noticed. Replacement. Think about this. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Remember over in the Psalms, where the psalmist wrote in 107:2, has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out. Speak out, y', all. Because your story isn't random. It's revelation. [00:02:07] Speaker B: Each of us carries a living, breathing testimony that says, God doesn't just write redemption stories in Scripture. He's still writing them in people like us. I can't tell you how many times I've sat with someone thinking the story they're telling me is just about loss or pain or how wrong things went. And then, like, wow, right in the middle, hope breaks through the cracks like the morning light through the opening of blinds. And suddenly you can see it. [00:02:32] Speaker A: God never left. That's testimony. It's the moment when your bruises start telling the truth about God's mercy. You see, friend, like yesterday, gratitude fuels faith. [00:02:45] Speaker B: But story, story spreads faith. When you share what God has done, it becomes contagious. Someone listening starts to think, wow, if God did that for them, maybe he could do that for me. And isn't that how so many of us came to faith in the first place. Not through some theological argument, not through bullet points, but through stories. A mom who prayed faithfully, A friend. [00:03:09] Speaker A: Who forgave what somebody else couldn't. A neighbor who stayed kind when the world wasn't. These stories, these living testimonies, they open the door to belief. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian. [00:03:21] Speaker B: Church in 2 Corinthians 3. 3. You are a letter from Christ written not with pen and ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Friend, think about this. You are a letter. You are a living message. And every scar, every healed wound, every answered or unanswered prayer becomes ink on that letter. That means your story isn't finished. Even if it feels like it's been written in pencil and erased way too. [00:03:46] Speaker A: Many times, God still writes in you. The story is still being told. And one day somebody's going to read your story. Maybe over coffee at Starbucks. Maybe at a hospit at bedside, maybe. [00:04:00] Speaker B: Biscuits and gravy at rushing coffee. Maybe sitting next to you at church. And their faith will catch fire again because of your words. So today, tell it. Tell the story of how you came through what you thought would break you. Tell the story of a God who showed up in places you didn't expect him to. Tell the story of grace that found you exactly where you are. [00:04:25] Speaker A: Because every testimony whispers to the world, God is still good, my friend. He's more than good. He's wondrous. You cannot wait to get the story that's in you out of you. [00:04:38] Speaker B: God bless you. Thanks again for listening in on today's weekday podcast.