How To Share Your Faith: Part 2 | Chris Stefanick Show

brothers and sisters thanks so much for being with me our last episode if you didn't catch it you need to watch it before you watch this one I talked about what's going on in the world what's wrong with the world right now why is the world rejecting Faith gave some helpful insights and how we're supposed to respond to that but a lot of our high ideals go nowhere unless they translate to practical realities realities that are so stupidly simple they leave you saying duh to which I would say duh so do them right it's so often the difference between a life we know we're supposed to live and a life we're living comes down to stupidly simple things that we don't make time for because what's urgent crowds out what's important in life I'm going to talk about the importance of you sharing your faith of embracing the apostolic option being like the apostles who ran into the world joyfully despite the fact that they knew it could have and eventually did kill them because the world wanted the faith less and less and the world today a lot of people just can't stand Christianity and we're supposed to jump into the mess with love and with joy just like the apostles did today we're going to talk about how to thanks for being with me how do you share the faith like the apostles I'm gonna give you five tips five rules to live by are you ready take your pens I want you to take some notes I want you to actually do the things that I'm going to lay out today number one keep first things first I know you're watching and I can't hear you but I'd like you to say it out loud right now keep first things first okay uh C.S Lewis said put first things first get second things thrown in put second things first lose both first and second things isn't this true with everything in life if you're running a business you got to keep first things first what's your business about there's a lot of details that come from what the business the core business is about if you get lost in all the details you lose the core thing and then all the rest criminals married life it's the same thing at the end of the day marriage is about this exchange of Hearts you had when you exchange vows in front of an altar in a church full of people and there's a zillion details that come from that exchange of hearts and vows but if you get lost in the details and forget why you did this why you're doing all these details what all this is about everything crumbles your faith is like that Pope Francis said we're in the midst of a love story if we don't understand that we've understood nothing of what the church is just like marriage this is a love story you forget the Love Story what are you left with I gave a talk about this at a church recently and an old guy in the front row said a to-do list you get to give up all your closet space you get to report to someone every three hours for the rest of your life about where you are you get to have kids that suck all the life out of you my parents are so boring that's because of you kids they were cool before you if however you put the Love Story back every detail starts to make sense we need to keep first things first as Catholics and as we share the Faith with the world the thing we should lead with is this is a love story this is about the love of God for you that he's given himself to you and he's calling you to give yourself back to him this whole thing is contained in and explodes from John 3 16 for God so loved the world so love you to give his only son that whoever should believe in him would not perish but have eternal life let me tease this out a little and spell out what this love story is this this core message of our faith this Foundation of everything in scripture everything in Christian Life all the smells the bells the incense the church history the doctrines the Dogma all the stuff it all comes from this core message this simple story that there is a God but this is very good news you know why because the fact that there is a God is what shows us that life has purpose I live in Denver I was driving down the 25 freeway recently I saw a billboard that said the meaning of life is to make up your own meaning no it's not and if you think it is then you know that even if you made up something that sounds really cool that what you've made up is nothing more than make believe that's kind of a depressing way to live and in fact it is depressing people gen Z is the least religious generation in history it is also the most depressed anxiety-ridden unsure of themselves self-loathing generation in history and I'm not just making that up this is well documented and I think a huge part of the reason for that is that people don't have answers to their fundamental questions about the meaning of life they're sitting down in front of counselors looking for answers to metaphysical problems doc I just kind of feel like there's no inherent meaning and that I'm self-aware space sludge destined for nothingness uh uh here's a pill it's not gonna work and by the way no shame to mental health issues sometimes it's someone's particular cross that's making them a great soul I mean that's your path to heaven and your path to sainthood but I look at the statistics today man 2016 was the first year that gen Z the least religious generation in history entered College over half of them self-reported as below average in mental health over half when you have numbers that high that's not all chemical imbalances in the brain we have a crisis in Hope of poverty a purpose we have the good news of the Gospel to answer it it's amazing how we're getting shy about this how Christians are thinking what's someone going to think about me guys the world is literally dying for what you have the good news that there's a God the even better news that most of History has gotten around that God is not a cosmic jerk most people throughout history have been afraid of their idea of God but that we have a God who is love one of my dear friends was an atheist I got to become his Godfather after many late nights talking to him about the faith he said Chris I don't know if there's a God but if there is he's Catholic because I can't imagine it being less than the love that you say he is you know we'll have people today who tell us like I don't know man to me the purpose of life is love or like there's this cosmic energy in the universe that's all about love and I just want to shout like guys you know that is like a hundred percent TM trademark Jesus Christ nobody thought that nobody said that before Jesus this is a hundred percent Christian Catholic stuff that we believe in a God who revealed himself to beloved that's the only reason we've dared to think that this God who is love had a great plan for us that heaven is described as a Wedding Banquet a place where everyone is rejoicing in love forever where everyone has a stupidly large smile on their face for all eternity this is God's dream this is his why this is why he made the universe that when we wandered from his plan John 3 16 God so loved the world so loved you that he gave his only son and that he invites us today to repent believe the good news follow him be filled with his life be United with his church and bring his love to the world this is literally the best news that mankind has ever can ever will ever receive I mean we could try to think up worldviews to compete and there is no other Faith No Other philosophy no other steps to happiness outside this that remotely compare with this idea that there's this Cosmic force of love that created you wants you to be happy and died for you so that you live in his eternal Joy Nothing Compares with that and we're cowering in fear fear maybe being canceled fear of how they might label us hateful and bigoted because we actually think that God might have rules for how I'm supposed to act especially with with sexual ethics whatever the heck it is that that's bothering the person you're talking we cower and fear this guys the word side this context all things Christian crumble it strikes people as a to-do list disjointed doctrines that have nothing to do with real life rituals that I do to keep Grandma happy and not only does faith not make sense when we're not constantly keeping first things first in our conversations about God and I've seen this all over all over social media people get lost in the particular debates without ever mentioning the name Jesus I was reading something from Cardinal cantile Mesa about this recently and he said it finally he's like I follow a social media debates and it's as if a man named Jesus never existed we get lost in the particulars without drawing people back to the love story why do we have these rules within marriage oh yeah because two people fell in love why did we have these rules within Christianity oh because God loves us I put a theology on tap on when I worked for the Archdiocese of Denver and my Bishop Bishop Connolly was an auxiliary Bishop here at the time he gave a talk about abortion and the guy started to Heckle him and my wife went up to this guy after the talk I guess she wanted to get me into a fight I don't know and uh we ended up actually having a great conversation about the church's logic when it comes to abortion it went on for about an hour but at the end of that hour this guy said you know I just think my mom should have aborted me oh and it struck me here I am trying to explain the logic of the church's teaching about life when he has no idea that he has any value himself that any life has any meaning or purpose whatsoever outside the context that is the love story The Gospel of Jesus Christ not only does your faith not make sense all of human existence becomes an absurdity let's start leading with this gospel I'll give events all around all around the world these reboot events actually you want to bring me out someday look at real life catholic.com and you can apply to have one of those reboot events we do a big Outreach plan we draw on full churches half the people are not regular church goers and we invite people to make a decision for Jesus let me tell you what's tragic as I talk about the core message of the Gospel the love of God for them the invitation to to make a choice but Jesus I want you as a savior is Lord Of My Life every once in a while someone says man you sound like a like a Baptist you don't sound Catholic dude you don't know what Catholic is if you think that doesn't sound Catholic so many people have lost first things we need to come back to that we need to be known as the Church of the Gospel again not the Church of the issue again oh don't get me wrong we dive into the issues we dive into the moral teachers diving into the doctors the dog must all this stuff but we always have to draw it back to the why first things first that's number one that's your rule number two make friends do not be so busy doing churchy things that you don't make time for people I was actually writing this talk in a coffee shop and a woman came and sat next to me and started crying and I almost said uh I'm writing a talk about Jesus would you please shut up I didn't do that I had a conversation with her drop my laptop you know I'm just like close it and she started talking about the stuff she's going through and uh it turns out she was a Buddhist and we I prayed with her in the coffee shop probably her first time praying with a Christian people come first friendship human connection guys it's not programs the programs are great it's not apps though apps are great I make programs and you might be watching me on the forumed app right now but the ordinary forum for conversion is friendship it's friendship that's the place where programs and apps help to actually convert people the ordinary forum for evangelization is not Twitter I'm not sure I've ever seen I've seen plenty of debates I'm not sure I've ever seen someone actually have their mind changed about Jesus and finally and converting them because of a Twitter debate right it's friendship where the deal is sealed where we bring in these resources and all this other stuff and let me make this even simpler duh stupidly simple small groups and I just use a churchy word that may have scared some of you small groups sounds kind of cheesy you have to sit around I don't have a cup of tea and be knitting something while I have my small group with my friends small groups okay I am in two different small groups I meet once a month with three other guys and I meet once a month with me and my wife and three other couples what is a small group what's this look like we ask the Friendship forming question how are you which might sound kind of funny how stupidly obvious that is but guys I'm looking at you right now you can go fishing uh for an entire weekend with a friend come home your wife says how is he and you say how am I supposed to know uh you're with him all weekend yeah we were fishing all right take the time to ask the how are you question and sometimes people get together and they have Bible studies and they never ask how are you and we can have church communities with tons of different programs and studies and guys that's not actual Christian Community that's not making friends in Christ you have to know and be known by other people do you have that kind of accountability where your spiritual friends where you know the struggles your friends are going through you can call them on because if you don't if you're if you're not that honest with people I'll tell you what man no one is so strong that they can stand without other people to hold them up God has designed us to need each other we're made in the image and likeness of God it was a trinity of persons we're made to be a communion of persons he doesn't just save us one on one he saved us as a church we ask how are you then we might study some Catholic resource and there's plenty of things out there then we ask how can I pray for you we rinse and repeat guys it's life-changing for me it's a necess it's a total necessity for my spiritual life you know what else it's Church changing we're not aggressive and going out and getting other people to join our group however we'd be open if some new family moved in town some new guys needed some support if everybody's doing this and they're merely open what happens I'll tell you what happens what happens is what happens in our non-denominational friends churches and ecclesial communities that are outgrowing Catholic churches not because their preaching is great but because they're small groups are great and they're intentional about it I may have shared this before Saddleback Church in Southern California Grew From six thousand to nine thousand small groups during coven six thousand two nine thousand small groups not because of everything happening from the pulpit but because it caught on like a wildfire and everybody said the front porch to Christianity that's my house I take ownership of this I invite people to God through communion in my house not receiving Holy Communion but Community right and actually the apostles talks about Temple worship and gathering in the homes it's that one-two punch somehow as Catholics we've completely lost the the the the jab and we just kept the constant you know cross that's it you're not gonna win you're not going to win that way Saddleback by the way they've had 50 000 baptisms since they opened the doors in the 1980s and they have a different Theology of baptism but those always Mark someone converting and giving their lives to the Lord in a different way if not their actual water baptism for the first and only time guys this works when we look at the decline of church membership I think that if everybody started making this a a regular part of how they do Christianity we can change the world we're not dead yet keep first things first make friendships the ordinary form for evangelization for how you share your faith number three do not let your fear come in the way courage is not an absence of that gut sense of fear it's pushing through it anyway for a greater and higher cause and every time you share the faith there's going to be some fear because it's stepping out there putting your neck on the line you might make someone angry you might get yelled at you might get canceled you might upset grandma but you got to do it anyway and it's awkward for me like it is for you not right now right now it would be super awkward if I didn't talk about Jesus you just turn on like a Catholic YouTuber formed wherever you expected in my daily life different story one of the most awkward times I ever had sharing the faith my wife's grandma was dying of pneumonia she was 92 years old and she was a wonderful old woman but she never went to church and she had told my wife years before that moment on her deathbed that she thought she'd end up in hell when she died and I don't know what secret sin she was carrying around or guilt in her heart but I was there at her at her bedside and I knew God sent me to that moment and I had to say something so I leaning him real close to her and I screamed my pants yeah no I did not do that I didn't know what to say so it got close to her and I said Florence there's a thief crucified next to Jesus and he never did anything good his whole life but the very end of his life he said Jesus Remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus said today he'll be with me in Paradise I said that guy went to heaven that day not because of what he had done but because of what Jesus did for him on the cross so that guy can be you the next day she was reconciled to God and receiving to the Catholic church and the day after that she died what if I hadn't said anything what if you don't say something in his plan for the Salvation of the world almighty God has made the Eternal Destiny of other people contingent on you stepping outside your comfort zone and putting your love for that other person before you feeling comfortable and safe guys that was not a moment where it was comfortable for me to rock the boat with an awkward discussion with Grandma about faith I had to do it even though it might upset someone even if it might have said her son who's an agnostic and here I am of this preacher boy even then yes there's no safe space in Christianity guys we follow a God who said step out of that boat and stand on water with me Lord are you crazy yes but the right kind it's love that drives us keep first things first make real Christian friendships small groups commit to that commit to it by the way if you're if you want a resource for that if you text the word Joy to the phone number 44144 or if you're from Boston 44144 the word Joy you can get my living Joy program that has 11 small groups I got you covered from a Year's worth of small groups or I recommend looking at the search just look up christophanic formed search incredible seven episodes about the faith that no matter where you're at in the faith it's going to touch you and you just talk you watch the video and then talk about how it touched your heart and ask how you doing before you watch the video three don't let fear come in the way make it known that you're a Christian and even if you don't have the time for that or the opportunity for that deep discussion with a person on their deathbed you walk into the grocery store you get change instead of saying thanks to the change say God bless you did I sneeze no I'm just a Catholic it's those little things but you got to be intentional about doing it and saying I'm okay being branded with this guy number four do not give in to the spirit of cancel culture don't give in to the spirit of cancel culture I was really challenged I Was preparing this talk and I heard a beautiful homily from a priest who who said that you know he said when I was a young priest and the initial Scandal broke in 2002. he said some of his fellow priests were saying those men who took advantage of Children Are Monsters and he said I remember contemplating that and thinking there's nothing in in the gospels that tells me I'm supposed to love a monster and yet I'm supposed to love everybody we like writing people off as if they're monsters people do horrible awful things sometimes guys but no human is a monster I learned not long ago that Ted Kaczynski the Unabomber went to confession before he died and when I learned that I was angry how sad is that my first gut response was dang that's not fair no it's not fair the Cross isn't fair it's Mercy but I brought that that feeling to prayer and I just I heard the Lord say to my heart Chris I worked all Ted's life to get into that confession Rejoice with me guys we live in a world that seems to be comfortable with with hating Christians more and more even with violence more and more of ones that no doubt will turn against Christians more and more the apostles found themselves in a world like that their response was not to give in to a spirit of us and them and I hate you the world is is tearing a part of the Seamus right now there was a study done recently that found that 80 of people who describe themselves as liberals hate conservatives 80 of people who can describe themselves as conservative hate liberals to just blindly side with one side and say I'm on the conservative side no no I'm on the Christian side we engage the issues of our age just like anybody else but we should sound different when we do it Saint Paul was it was in prison in Chains and the people he saw is prison guards he knew any one of them that might be the guy that shocks my head up that might be the guy that chops my head off but he didn't hate them he actually found himself thinking that prison guard is exactly where I want him time to spread the gospel and the scriptures tell us about how Saint Paul was preaching the gospel constantly to the to the prison guards and because of that talks about how members of Nero's household were converted why because he brought a spirit of love to the people who couldn't stand him I think of the witness in Martin Luther King Jr the Reverend he's a preacher he wasn't a secular humanist pushing an agenda for a get even retribution kind of agenda he was a preacher of the Gospel and his principle was Radical love your enemies doesn't sound very Christian to say that we have enemies Chris okay the Lord wouldn't have said love your enemies if we didn't have any enemies there are people who want to hurt you our response has got to be loved and I think I love Acts chapter four after they were scourged Peter and John went back to the to the Christian Community and I love this prayer it really convicts me they prayed together Lord take note of their threats God take note of their threats all the Injustice and the scales tipping against Christianity in this cancel culture garbage and all this stuff take note of their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness give us courage in the face of the threats as you stretch forth your hand and smite them actually that's not what it said that's not what they prayed that's how we want to pray sometimes Lord take note of their threats and let's get even no no no as you enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness as you stretch forth your hand to heal Lord give us courage in the face of persecution the face of cancer culture in the face of people who can't stand you and don't like me just because I follow you as you stretch forth your hand to heal them you got to pray man the Lord says love your enemies that's impossible without Grace Lord give us Grace to love our enemies number one you want to you want to look like the first apostles and have the joy spread in the gospel in the world having the joy of seeing people's lives change number one keep first things first be known as a person who talks about your relationship with Jesus let his name be on your lips Jesus make time for people and build real friendship and real Christian Community through small groups that's number two number three do not let fear come in the way number four resist the spirit of cancel culture and finally number five pray as you do it pray as you share the faith pray each day Lord give me the opportunity to share you with somebody today open a door and give me the courage to walk through it and then as you're sharing the faith and I have conversations man every every trip I go on every Uber driver you watch it if you're my Uber driver right I'm talking about Jesus everywhere I go I'm looking for the open door not in a forced heavy-handed awkward way but in a natural normal human way I'm just you talk about how you're into football I'm gonna talk about Jesus give me the words to say because I don't know what this person needs to hear but you do so show me and I think of Jesus he had the advantage obviously of being Divine that he knew what each person needed to hear and he he went to the Pharisees and they needed a challenge they needed to hear him yell at them you are like a whitewashed tomb you're all dead bones on the inside you know some people think well if you're gonna be an evangelist you're gonna share your faith today don't be harsh with people that's not like Jesus wrong wrong you see evangelization is not about you being liked it's about what that other person needs because the motive isn't me doing it right it's love for that person and sometimes what that person needs is a straightforward challenge more often we're going to find what people need is what Jesus gave to chaos an unconfident guy no one liked him he was a tax collector he climbed a tree Just to See Jesus and he stood at the base of the tree and said it's a cast you are like a tomb with dead bones in the inside no it's not what he said he said Zacchaeus come on down I want to have a beer at your house I'm paraphrasing scripture right now but it was something like that literally I don't want to come over and people criticized he's going to the house of that sinner the tax collector and just because of that that simple invitation to hang out Zacchaeus stood his ground gave back all the money he had he had unjustly taken from people stolen from people and began to follow Jesus total conversion what does the person you're talking to need ask the Lord sometimes he might tell you very overtly one of my dear friends is a traveling evangelist writer and he was on his way home from a trip once and he was exhausted after this weekend doing a long youth conference and this guy was sitting next to him on the plane he looked at the guy and he saw miraculously the the word adultery written across his forehead in big black letters and he said Lord really man I want to take a nap but if I look at this and see it again I know I have to say something and he looked and it was still there so he mustered the courage and he said hey uh I don't know how to say this but I can see the word adultery written across your forehead the guy's jaw dropped and he said I'm on the way to see my mistress right now they talked about the faith the entire flight to Los Angeles the guy got off the plane went to the ticket counter and brought a ticket home sometimes the Lord will do that he can show you exactly what a person needs usually even though he can always do that the Lord doesn't why can you make it easier for us there's a reason he doesn't guys I'll tell you what the reason is why I think it is because he wants to put us in an uncomfortable situation where we are stretching our hearts to listen to the person in front of us who sometimes doesn't even like us because we stand with Jesus and we're stretching our hearts and praying and listening to the Lord at the same time and as we stretch our hearts and try to share the faith who do we become more like just like Jesus on the cross guys his end game for you is not just that you'd be an effective tool in his hand but that you become more like him and that's why sharing your faith is not just for the spiritually Elite or the full-time evangelist or the guy with a podcast Christianity 101 it's for all of us it's a part of how we become like our Lord our Lord who driven by love left the 99 to search for the one who ultimately driven by love put everything on the line and lay down his life for us Jesus give us that love for Humanity and for you amen brothers and sisters thanks so much for being with me lean into this man share the Faith with me the world needs it your soul needs it God bless you man wasn't that great listen if you don't want to be happy be sure not to subscribe but if you want a more joyful life the kind of life that God created you for the kind of Life Jesus Promised when he said I came to give you life to the full then make sure you hit subscribe and share this Channel with everybody you know

Channel: Augustine Institute - Catholic Church Explained

Views: 3,346

Keywords: eucharist, Catholic eucharist, transubstantiation, catholic sacrament, 7 sacraments, augustine institute, formed catholic, ignatius press, lighthouse catholic media, lighthouse talks, Dr. Tim Gray, Dr. Brant Pitre, Chris Stefanick, holy communion, catholic church, Catholic Faith, the augustine institute, catholic theology, catholic graduate school, christian theology

Id: -tdNJao8Bww

Length: 29min 40sec (1780 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 21 2023