Just Testify!
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes …”. Romans 1:16
There is a song by Elevation Church, “My Testimony.” The words to this song remind me of growing up in church where we had old fashioned “testimony service.” The whole idea for this part of the service was to stand and tell the good things that God had done for them. The testimonies would start off slow, but once people started praising God for their salvation and proclaiming how blessed they were, you couldn’t hardly get a turn in to share!
Let me explain. It wasn’t the pastor or preacher that shared but it was the people in the congregation. These congregants weren’t trying to preach or teach but tell their story—their testimony.
“ When they (rulers and elders of the people) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
The word, testimony, is defined as “a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law; evidence or proof provided by the existence or appearance of something; a public recounting of a religious conversion or experience.”
I can assure you that in “testimony service” there wasn’t a written or formal statement. It was recounting the evidence of Jesus in their own life!
In the Bible, we read many accounts of people that came to know Jesus, and how their lives were changed forever. Some of these people were educated and some were not. In Acts 4, Peter and John were sharing the salvation message of Jesus. In verse 13, it says, “When they (rulers and elders of the people) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
“We are living in a day when reality shows are flooding the television. People are interested in the details of life whether good or bad because it is entertainment. ”
Since March, church has been different. Pastors have been stretched out of their comfort zones to reach not only their congregations but people in general. This pandemic has literally pushed church people out of the walls of the building and onto social media, to having drive-in church, or to sharing the gospel by any means possible. Church has been thrust into the marketplace, aka stores, work, beach, or wherever you are because you are the church.
Persecution pushed the early church from formal worship in the temple to moving from house to house, sometimes secretly, to share the good news of Jesus. They shared their experiences and encounters with Jesus. You see, no one could argue with their testimony because it was their story. It happened to them. In so doing, Christianity began to spread like wildfire.
We are living in a day when reality shows are flooding the television. People are interested in the details of life whether good or bad because it is entertainment. These shows share the testimony of people. But what if you and I began to seize the opportunities on our job, in Wal-Mart, in our neighborhood, or wherever we were, to share how Jesus has changed our life? Not to preach a sermon, not debate theology and the differences in churches, but to tell our story?
I can tell you what would happen. The hope and the love of Jesus, the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, would begin to spread like fire across our land! You see, people can’t argue with your experience. Tell your story. It’s time to testify!
Jesus taught the disciples that their worth to God was more than the sparrows – and Jesus said that God does not forget the sparrow. Jesus then went on to say that God knows the number of hairs on each head.