Amazing Story
Salvation “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” Hebrews 2:3b-4
An amazing story happened at the village on the Nile River in Uganda where I lived with my family. Aisah, a friend of my daughter Hannah, was raised in a Muslim home but became a follower of Jesus. Recently, her parents arrived at the Nile River crossing after dark. The crossing is a relatively calm stretch of river, just above the treacherous grade 5 rapid called Bubugo Falls. The transport boat does not operate at night, and Aisha’s parents were advised to spend the night and cross in the morning. Aisha’s dad, determined to get home, decided to cross in a small fishing boat he found at the landing site. Halfway across the river, the current overcame them and their boat capsized, sweeping the couple down the falls. To go down those falls without a life jacket is certain death for the strongest of swimmers. Aisha’s dad, though a strong swimmer, perished that night. His body emerged from the falls three days later. Aisha’s mom, who didn’t know how to swim, miraculously survived. As she washed down the falls, she cried out to Jesus for help. She managed to grab onto a patch of grass on the edge of the river and clung there while calling for help. Her cry was heard, and she was rescued by a fisherman out on the river that night. Aisha, who is very close with her mom, told me that she will forever follow Jesus because of how He saved her mom.
That is the same crossing where my friends Henry, Rob, and Salim, cross the Nile to carry the Good News of Jesus to a village on the other side. They are the disciples that I sat with for seven years, teaching them about Jesus through the stories in the Gospels. They shared the stories of Jesus with Aisha and her mother and now God is spreading the witness of her story and her salvation through that miracle. Pastor Nate Jore
Amazing Storyteller
What is orality? In simple terms, it is teaching through stories. Jesus used stories to teach a variety of people. Stories have the ability to reveal our hearts as we relate to the characters in the story.
When a lawyer approached Jesus in Luke 10 he asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus asked him what was written in the law. The conversation led the lawyer to ask Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus used a story to teach the man who his neighbor was. “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers…” At the end of the story, Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which one of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The story pierced through the lawyer’s self-justification.
On another occasion a man called out to Jesus from the crowd (Luke 12), “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” After cautioning the man to be on his guard against greed, Jesus told him a story to teach him about the dangers of selfishness: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest…” The story connected with his audience and revealed the man’s heart.
When Jesus was reclining at the table with Simon the Pharisee, a prostitute came in with her jar of perfume (Luke 7). To Simon’s horror, Jesus allowed her to weep over his feet, wash them with her hair, kiss them, and anoint them with the perfume. In order to teach Simon about forgiveness, He told him a short story, “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him 50 denarii and the other 500. When neither of them could pay, he forgave them both.” Then Jesus asked Simon, “Which one will love him more?” Simon replied, “The one who was forgiven more.” Simon’s lack of love and the women’s outpouring of love were exposed. How could you utilizing stories in your quest to make disciples?
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