Sermon notes: July 14, 2013
A testimony: do you know that you have one? Every child of God has one.
- Have you ever thought about talking about your testimony.
- The Bible says You will overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.
- I have a Testimony
- 1 Timothy 1: 12-17
- Paul's testimony of God saving him is that God is demonstrating His patience, forgiveness, and mercy.
- His testimony is I have been forgiven of a lot.
- It demonstrated the power of God's grace.
- Where sin abounds, a bigger amount if grace abounds.
- Your sin is no match for the grace of God.
- Paul's testimony proclaims the reason for Christ coming to the world. (Verse 15)
- Christ Jesus came to save sinners, to save a lost soul.
- Paul believed that if he was the only lost soul in the world, Jesus would have come just for him.
- Paul's testimony demonstrates just how kind God is. (Verse 16)
- All the time Paul persecuted and cursed the name of Christians, the time he was running and rebelling against God, God was loving, patient, and pursuing with him. He never gave up until he came and saved him.
- He made Paul an example to the people who would look at him and hear his story.
- What is the example? The example that if God can save someone like Paul, He can save me, He can save anybody.
- What is a testimony?
- The story of my salvation.
- Every Christian has one.
- If you don't have a testimony, then you haven't been saved.
- Do you like to share your testimony?
- When was the last time you shared your testimony?
- Have you ever shared your testimony with anybody?
- Have you ever told the story of when God saved you and wrote your name in the book of life never to be erased?
- One reason we don't share our testimony is because we are insecure of our testimony.
- An insecurity or an excuse many people have is:
- "I don't remember when I was saved."
- A lot of us say I haven't had a "burning bush moment" (making a reference to Moses) where I walked down the yard and God was talking to me.
- Many Christians are truly saved but Satan has planted many doubts about their salvation where they are questioned whether if they were saved.
- So don't ask when you were saved, but if you were saved.
- Don't focus on when it happened but THAT it happened.
- What are you trusting in?
- An experience or Christ?
- A prayer or Jesus Christ?
- A memory or in Jesus and who He is?
- That He died for you on the cross?
- Another reason people don't share their testimony is because they think "their story is not that exciting."
- Let's say that you were saved when you were five, and you hear all the other testimonies and think that yours is not that great.
- It says you don't understand that it takes the same grace to save any sinner.
- That it takes the same blood to you that it took to save another.
- What's not exciting about God saving you and dying for you.
- Your testimony IS exciting, because Jesus gave it to you.
- Nobody else has the same exact story that you have and that's what makes it exciting.
- If you're saved, you have an exciting testimony.
- Another excuse or insecurity is "I haven't lived the Christian life, I should have lived."
- The Holy Spirit will try to draw you into repentance but Satan will bring back your past mistakes, the ones that you have already been forgiven of.
- Sometimes we want to share our testimony but we hear a voice of condemnation saying you're not good enough, you can't talk about God, remember when you did this or that.
- Perfection is not a sign of Christianity.
- No one but God is perfect.
- Nevertheless, would you want to wait until you're perfect to say how good God has been to you?
- If you do, you will never open your mouth.
- What is sanctification?
- God saved me, but He's working with me day after day.
- God is still working on me.
- I'm giving Him a run for His money, but He's still working on me because I am His child.
- He will not give up nor forsake me.
- A real testimony says the only reason why I have what I have, and the only reason I have gotten as far as I have is because of the grace of God.
- Not my own power but God's grace.
- God deserves the glory for your salvation.
- Do you believe you're saved?
- Do you believe what the Bible says, that He's not finished working on you?
- Your testimony should base not on how you feel but on your faith.
- It's not what I feel but what He has done.
- I'm not where I want to be but I'm not where I was.
- Sometimes when a kid gets saved at a young age, they grow up in a church environment and don't face any temptations or tests until they go away to college, their faith is put to the test.
- That child may commit sins of the world, but when they hit rock bottom, they go back to Jesus Christ.
- They repent and realize that they have sinned against God.
- Rededication sometimes is more important than the time you were saved.
- Because it says God saved me as I turned from Him for a little while, but He came after me, He found me, and has taken me back.
- You can be a Christian and live in sin, Paul wrote many letters to Christians living and earthly lifestyle.
- Christians who had faults and committed things bigger than any pagan.
- Your rededication is part of your testimony.
- Part of your testimony is the verbal praise that I give to God:
- My testimony is the good words that I say to others about God.
- Psalms 145
- David says he's not afraid to speak to anyone about God's goodness.
- Anything you tell others that God has done is part of your/a testimony.
- If you are a parent but don't have a mastery of the scripture, you can tell them the things God has done in your life.
- Some parents say I don't preach to my kids because they don't like it, they tell me to lay off because they don't want to hear all of that.
- Well, you tell that little punk that he's going to sit there and listen.
- Back in the day, it didn't work that way; the child spoke when given permission to, no one dared roll their eyes or talk back to their parents.
- The way it worked was my house, my rules, I work, you have a shelter, I buy food, and you eat free.
- Many parents nowadays seek the approval of their kids; they don't need to approve of you as long as you are disciplining them and raising them with good morals and values. They will thank you later.
- One day your kids and your grandkids will stand by your casket and cherish all those stories that they did not want to hear.
- The Bible says one generation shall tell its children of the great things God has done.
- Psalms 145:10
- David says to The Lord that His followers will praise Him
- Meaning people who love God will be talking about Him.
- Think about the things God has done for you.
- God has healed people of abuse, set them free from bad habits.
- Yet there are times when we pray for God to heal us from something, and that's just not what God has planned for you.
- A greater miracle than God healing someone is Him giving them the strength to make it through that sickness.
- Many times we think, God, why would allow this to happen to me?
- Everything God allows you to endure is a chapter that He's writing for your testimony.
- He wants to use you and say, look what I brought her through, or look what I deliver her from. Together we did this.
- Let Him finish His story and put that chapter in the book.
- Are you a person who's inclined to be cynical and negative when enduring something?
- We praise Him and are happy when everything is going the way we want, but what about when you're going through hardships? Is He still your God, do you still praise Him with the same might?
- Some people walk around as if they don't believe that God is still in charge.
- Complaining and crying.
- He wants to hear you say, God is still in charge, He's strengthening me.
- I have tribulations but greater is He in me, than that who is in the world.
- I don't know why this is happening, but the Bible says that God works all things for my good.
- It's all part of your testimony.
- Psalms 51:51.
- Some of us aren't sharing because our lips are sealed
- Psalms 118:17
- I'm not going to lose or give up, I will overcome, because God is still writing my story and I will tell it when He is done.
- Your testimony is the overall message your life is sending.
- The things you say to give thanks to God.
- We are not waiting for perfection, but when you're living for The Lord, people can tell.
- People are always watching you.
- Live for God, not for the world.
- There is someone who knows you wherever you go.
- The message you need to ask is what is the message you're giving by your testimony.
A testimony: do you know that you have one? Every child of God has one.
- Have you ever thought about talking about your testimony.
- The Bible says You will overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.
- I have a Testimony
- 1 Timothy 1: 12-17
- Paul's testimony of God saving him is that God is demonstrating His patience, forgiveness, and mercy.
- His testimony is I have been forgiven of a lot.
- It demonstrated the power of God's grace.
- Where sin abounds, a bigger amount if grace abounds.
- Your sin is no match for the grace of God.
- Paul's testimony proclaims the reason for Christ coming to the world. (Verse 15)
- Christ Jesus came to save sinners, to save a lost soul.
- Paul believed that if he was the only lost soul in the world, Jesus would have come just for him.
- Paul's testimony demonstrates just how kind God is. (Verse 16)
- All the time Paul persecuted and cursed the name of Christians, the time he was running and rebelling against God, God was loving, patient, and pursuing with him. He never gave up until he came and saved him.
- He made Paul an example to the people who would look at him and hear his story.
- What is the example? The example that if God can save someone like Paul, He can save me, He can save anybody.
- What is a testimony?
- The story of my salvation.
- Every Christian has one.
- If you don't have a testimony, then you haven't been saved.
- Do you like to share your testimony?
- When was the last time you shared your testimony?
- Have you ever shared your testimony with anybody?
- Have you ever told the story of when God saved you and wrote your name in the book of life never to be erased?
- One reason we don't share our testimony is because we are insecure of our testimony.
- An insecurity or an excuse many people have is:
- "I don't remember when I was saved."
- A lot of us say I haven't had a "burning bush moment" (making a reference to Moses) where I walked down the yard and God was talking to me.
- Many Christians are truly saved but Satan has planted many doubts about their salvation where they are questioned whether if they were saved.
- So don't ask when you were saved, but if you were saved.
- Don't focus on when it happened but THAT it happened.
- What are you trusting in?
- An experience or Christ?
- A prayer or Jesus Christ?
- A memory or in Jesus and who He is?
- That He died for you on the cross?
- Another reason people don't share their testimony is because they think "their story is not that exciting."
- Let's say that you were saved when you were five, and you hear all the other testimonies and think that yours is not that great.
- It says you don't understand that it takes the same grace to save any sinner.
- That it takes the same blood to you that it took to save another.
- What's not exciting about God saving you and dying for you.
- Your testimony IS exciting, because Jesus gave it to you.
- Nobody else has the same exact story that you have and that's what makes it exciting.
- If you're saved, you have an exciting testimony.
- Another excuse or insecurity is "I haven't lived the Christian life, I should have lived."
- The Holy Spirit will try to draw you into repentance but Satan will bring back your past mistakes, the ones that you have already been forgiven of.
- Sometimes we want to share our testimony but we hear a voice of condemnation saying you're not good enough, you can't talk about God, remember when you did this or that.
- Perfection is not a sign of Christianity.
- No one but God is perfect.
- Nevertheless, would you want to wait until you're perfect to say how good God has been to you?
- If you do, you will never open your mouth.
- What is sanctification?
- God saved me, but He's working with me day after day.
- God is still working on me.
- I'm giving Him a run for His money, but He's still working on me because I am His child.
- He will not give up nor forsake me.
- A real testimony says the only reason why I have what I have, and the only reason I have gotten as far as I have is because of the grace of God.
- Not my own power but God's grace.
- God deserves the glory for your salvation.
- Do you believe you're saved?
- Do you believe what the Bible says, that He's not finished working on you?
- Your testimony should base not on how you feel but on your faith.
- It's not what I feel but what He has done.
- I'm not where I want to be but I'm not where I was.
- Sometimes when a kid gets saved at a young age, they grow up in a church environment and don't face any temptations or tests until they go away to college, their faith is put to the test.
- That child may commit sins of the world, but when they hit rock bottom, they go back to Jesus Christ.
- They repent and realize that they have sinned against God.
- Rededication sometimes is more important than the time you were saved.
- Because it says God saved me as I turned from Him for a little while, but He came after me, He found me, and has taken me back.
- You can be a Christian and live in sin, Paul wrote many letters to Christians living and earthly lifestyle.
- Christians who had faults and committed things bigger than any pagan.
- Your rededication is part of your testimony.
- Part of your testimony is the verbal praise that I give to God:
- My testimony is the good words that I say to others about God.
- Psalms 145
- David says he's not afraid to speak to anyone about God's goodness.
- Anything you tell others that God has done is part of your/a testimony.
- If you are a parent but don't have a mastery of the scripture, you can tell them the things God has done in your life.
- Some parents say I don't preach to my kids because they don't like it, they tell me to lay off because they don't want to hear all of that.
- Well, you tell that little punk that he's going to sit there and listen.
- Back in the day, it didn't work that way; the child spoke when given permission to, no one dared roll their eyes or talk back to their parents.
- The way it worked was my house, my rules, I work, you have a shelter, I buy food, and you eat free.
- Many parents nowadays seek the approval of their kids; they don't need to approve of you as long as you are disciplining them and raising them with good morals and values. They will thank you later.
- One day your kids and your grandkids will stand by your casket and cherish all those stories that they did not want to hear.
- The Bible says one generation shall tell its children of the great things God has done.
- Psalms 145:10
- David says to The Lord that His followers will praise Him
- Meaning people who love God will be talking about Him.
- Think about the things God has done for you.
- God has healed people of abuse, set them free from bad habits.
- Yet there are times when we pray for God to heal us from something, and that's just not what God has planned for you.
- A greater miracle than God healing someone is Him giving them the strength to make it through that sickness.
- Many times we think, God, why would allow this to happen to me?
- Everything God allows you to endure is a chapter that He's writing for your testimony.
- He wants to use you and say, look what I brought her through, or look what I deliver her from. Together we did this.
- Let Him finish His story and put that chapter in the book.
- Are you a person who's inclined to be cynical and negative when enduring something?
- We praise Him and are happy when everything is going the way we want, but what about when you're going through hardships? Is He still your God, do you still praise Him with the same might?
- Some people walk around as if they don't believe that God is still in charge.
- Complaining and crying.
- He wants to hear you say, God is still in charge, He's strengthening me.
- I have tribulations but greater is He in me, than that who is in the world.
- I don't know why this is happening, but the Bible says that God works all things for my good.
- It's all part of your testimony.
- Psalms 51:51.
- Some of us aren't sharing because our lips are sealed
- Psalms 118:17
- I'm not going to lose or give up, I will overcome, because God is still writing my story and I will tell it when He is done.
- Your testimony is the overall message your life is sending.
- The things you say to give thanks to God.
- We are not waiting for perfection, but when you're living for The Lord, people can tell.
- People are always watching you.
- Live for God, not for the world.
- There is someone who knows you wherever you go.
- The message you need to ask is what is the message you're giving by your testimony.
