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Welcome back to our sermon series Write Your Story

I love stories

Do you know the story of the 1992 Lithuanian men’s basketball team?
Go see the movie “The Other Dream Team”

Really, that is a story of redemption.

REDEMPTION

What is redemption?

1. The action of saving or being saved from something bad (sin, error, evil)
2. The action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt

We love stories of redemption.

Darth Vader – Star Wars

But have you heard of a movie called The Room?

There are movies where redemption doesn’t happen. The main bad guy isn’t redeemed in the end. But some of those movies can still be quite good.

But then there movies that are just plain bad. What redeems that? What fixes that?

The Room is an awful, unwatchable movie. But the story of the movie itself is a story of redemption.

GOD CAN REDEEM ANY STORY

There is a similar story in the Bible. The main character is just a jerk almost the whole time. He doesn’t seem to turn around in the end. And it is my favorite book of the Bible. Jonah! I’m going to give a brief recap. But it is short, only four chapters, so as homework I encourage you to go read it yourself. See if my interpretation is off.

Recap Jonah

But the reason I love it… Not only does it feature a large sea creature, but I believe there is redemption present there. Not only are the Ninevites redeemed, but I think Jonah is too. There are details in the story that only Jonah and God could know. So the only way we know them is if Jonah wrote them down or told somebody.

But Jonah doesn’t really look that good in this story. So why would he share it?

Unless in the end, he got it. He said, “Look at the incredible things God did here, despite me.” So in the end he was redeemed.

And Jonah is one of the few Prophets that Jesus mentions by name. I’m a little skeptical that Jesus would name-drop a jerk who never got with the program.

And we know about it because Jonah shared his story.

TELL YOUR STORY

We need to be brave enough to share our stories.

That is the only way stories persist and get passed on.

Our story is the story of God working in us and through us. Tell it.

Telling our story to others is also known as giving out testimony.

That can be a scary word. But we need to share it.

REVELATION 12:11 NIV – They triumphed over him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Our testimony is how we overcome, it is how we triumph.

As I said, I love stories. I love telling stories. I love hearing your stories.
But the person I know the most stories about is me.

I love telling stories about me, all glory to God; but I could tell you some stories that would make you wonder how is this guy a Care Pastor in a church?
And that in itself is a story.

I could tell you a lot of stories. Several are funny. Some I am proud of.

But if you asked I could also tell you other stories that aren’t so fun.

Pain, Loss, Anxiety, Breakdown, Backsliding, Shame

One reason we don’t like to tell our story is because sometimes it involves telling those too.
Sometimes it feels like those are our only stories.

GOD CAN REDEEM ANY STORY

But if we believe in a God who redeems, then these bad stories are part of a larger picture. They are all things we overcame in our journey to grow closer to God.

As I said, our story is the story of God working in us and through us.

I had to get past all those negative stories in order to be where I am today. And my story includes telling how God helped me along the way, and how He put people in my life that lifted me up when I was really low.

God can redeem any story

I was really disappointed at the time, when I didn’t get that job with NASA…
but that wasn’t the end of the story.

The story of our church, Redemption Church is a story of redemption.
In 2012 on Easter week, something happened that should have killed this church.
But it didn’t, and we are stronger today than we were then.

Most of the Bible is people telling their story, and a lot of those stories are stories of redemption:

Samson

Abraham and Isaac

The Apostle Paul

Simon Peter

Barabbas

The un-named thief on the cross – his story is a story of triumph

GOD CAN REDEEM YOUR STORY

If God can do all that, then He can redeem your story too.

If you believe in a God who can do anything, then why would you think he couldn’t redeem your story?

Not only that, redeeming isn’t just what He does, it is who He is.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:30 NIV It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Jesus is redemption. He can redeem your story, you just have to embrace Him.
In Jesus, you can literally embrace and receive redemption.

And He has already done it. Remember our memory verse from last month?
It starts out:
Isaiah 43:1 NIV “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

He HAS redeemed us. Past tense.

Colossians 1:13-14 NIV For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We have redemption already.

In whom do we have redemption? – Jesus!

If we already have redemption through Jesus, then why don’t we act like it?

You have been bought at a great price.
You had a really HUGE debt and it has been cleared.
You have been saved from some really awful stuff.

Why aren’t we telling that story?!

GOD CAN REDEEM YOUR STORY***MUSICIAN***

One reason we don’t tell our story is because we feel like our story isn’t really a story of redemption. And maybe it’s not even that great of a story.

I believe in Jesus. I know there was redemption there.
But I’m not that remarkable. I’m not even that great of a Christian.
My story is boring. There’s no great moment of redemption there. My story is lame.
It’s The Room. No one would even want to hear it.

Lies, lies, lies. Child of God, you underestimate yourself.

You are beautiful and you are precious to Him.
You are capable of doing mighty things, of overcoming impossibly difficult things,
and having an amazing story.

Your story isn’t over yet. Everything up to now was just prelude.

The great, triumphant redemption can begin right now, as soon as you decide.

Repent. Turn to God more fully. He is redemption!

If you are hearing this message and you don’t feel like you have a story worth sharing, consider this: You got here somehow.

Maybe you are watching this video in the year 2023…

But God has brought you to this moment and now you have the opportunity to make a decision.

Will you just go on living your boring story life?
Or will you step out on faith, take a step toward God, and let the plot twist that makes your story epic take place? Does redemption begin now?

You write your story.