42 Seconds: The Jesus Model for Everyday Interactions

by Carl Medearis Narrated by Tom Parks

Overview

The average length of Jesus' conversations as recorded in the Gospels was 42 seconds long. This is good news for all of us. It frees us up to talk about the most important part of our lives in a way that's natural, meaningful, and helpful instead of clumsy, awkward, and irrelevant. Anyone who has spent countless uncomfortable hours walking from house to house with a clipboard or flash cards that talk about four spiritual laws understands. Jesus' conversations were remarkably simple. Contemporary Christian lingo has set up a dichotomy between what we call “discipleship” and “evangelism,” but the Bible doesn't do that. Jesus had conversations all the time with those who thought they were close to God, as well as with those who deemed themselves lost and without hope. He invited all of them to come and learn from Him.42 Seconds is a simple book that uses the ordinary moments of our lives the way Jesus used the same moments in his own. The premise is straightforward: If we can learn from Jesus how to have great conversations, it will change our lives and the lives of those around us. Its four-part structure, including five short chapters per section, is for churches and small groups to engage with the practical ideas together. 42 Seconds includes discussion questions to help groups and individuals implement Jesus' natural rhythm of interaction in their own lives.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170255634
Publisher:	EChristian, Inc.
Publication date:	04/17/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Say Hey

The Nonstarter: Fail to acknowledge someone. The Opener: Say hello. Hi. Hey. Howdy.

JESUS WAS NICE TO PEOPLE.

Read that again. Almost sounds funny, right? Jesus was many things to people, but "nice" isn't always the first one we think of. We think of the miracles, the teaching, the walk to the cross, and nice seems pretty far down the list of what was a big deal about Jesus. But he was, in fact, nice to people. I mean, he wasn't particularly kind to religious people — at least not to those who used their religion to beat people up rather than share the Good News. He was also sometimes a bit hard on wealthy people and those who thought they had some sort of inherent power. But generally, to most people, most of the time, he was a pretty nice guy.

But let's look a little closer at what "nice to people" meant according to Jesus.

Jesus incorporated greeting people into his basic theology of ministry. In both Matthew 10:12 and Luke 10:5, when he gave his disciples practical instructions on how to go out and share the Good News, he told them to greet those they interacted with. If the other person returned that greeting, the disciples were to stay and hang out there. If not, they were to say, "Yo, what's up?" (my translation) and then just keep on moving.

Here's my version of that: When I kindly say hello to someone and they say a nice hello back, then we're off and running. It's really that simple. Pastor John Wimber liked to say that 90 percent of all successful ministry was just getting out of bed in the morning. This is another version of that. You can't be effective at whatever you're trying to do if you don't say a warm hello to people. That's where it all begins.

Jesus greeted some fishermen, and they ended up giving their livelihood — and eventually their lives — to follow him.

Jesus greeted the Samaritan woman at the well and asked if she could give him a drink of water. And that led to one of the most powerful and often quoted stories in all the Bible.

Jesus said hi to the children along the way, and they wouldn't stop coming to him.

Jesus said hey to the two guys walking on the road to Emmaus, and the next thing you know, he was eating dinner with them.

It all starts with hello.

I live in a cul-de-sac, so it's theoretically easy to say hello to my neighbors. Especially at around 7:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. on workdays, or really any time on the weekend. But I have a garage-door opener in my car, and when I just don't feel like saying hi (knowing it might lead to a real conversation), I reach up and push that little black button of personal choice and freedom. My garage door rises like the door to my castle, and bam, I don't need to say hi to my neighbors.

But I try to resist that temptation. Or because it sort of makes sense to go ahead and pull my car into the garage, I'll walk back outside and say hi to whoever's around.

It looks like this. I pull the car in, then walk out front and look around until I see someone and yell, "Hey, John!" (or whatever the person's name is). That's pretty much it. They usually yell back something like "Hey, Carl, what's up?" And then we might be done. Or it might go somewhere like my asking back, "How are you doing?" And once you get to "How are you doing?" you'd better watch out, because every once in a while, people actually say how they're doing.

This week make the time to say hi to people. Everywhere. Almost always. Go out of your way, look them in the eye, and say hello. Often add the ever-so-dangerous "How are you?" And try to actually mean it — like Jesus did.

Just see what happens.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "42 Seconds"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Carl Medearis.
Excerpted by permission of NavPress.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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