It’s only natural – we want to share our story!
Your story can have a powerful impact on someone else’s life, even if it’s just a little part of that story!
This past week gave us several great examples of that truth.
While enjoying the 4th of July fireworks at Stewart Park in Beaumont, Mary got into a conversation with Vickie. Their conversation led to Mary sharing that she was at the park with a group from her church, FamilyFellowship. One thing lead to another and Mary eventually introduced Vickie to her Pastor. Vickie attended church Sunday morning and our home Bible study Sunday evening; all the result of Mary sharing a little piece of her story. (Mary shared with me later that that was the first time she had ever invited someone to church and it worked!)
Sunday evening I witness it again. People sitting around after Bible study sharing their stories, each relating how God brought them to FamilyFellowship and back to Himself. Each time someone shared part of their story others were touched, encouraged, challenged.
Thursday afternoon at the park we again sat around telling our stories while the kids slid down the waterslides and build sand castles. There is incredible power in sharing our stories.
Think about it, when God began to reveal Himself to the world He did not send down bookshelves filled with outlines, theologies, or lectures, He began with a story. As a matter of fact, He created a huge picture of His love (creation) and then placed a man and a woman inside that picture. Adam and Eve were the first recipients of God’s story!
Just look at the Bible, it’s a story book. It’s not a book of lectures, outlines and sermons. It’s simply a storybook filled with the most powerful stories you will ever read or hear.
So, it’s no wonder that God wants us to share our stories of His work in our lives. First John chapter one shares it this way: “And now we testify and announce to you that he [Jesus] is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was shown to us. We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:2-3)
The Apostle John who walked with Jesus was now sharing that story with his readers. He was testifying, announcing the Good News of Jesus to those who would listen.
Did you catch the word - testify? The Bible uses another word for sharing our story; it’s called testimony or witness. When we share the story of God’s work in our life we are sharing our testimony. That’s exactly what God expects from each of us as His followers – to simply share the Good News, to share the story of how that Good News has changed us! He wants us to share our testimony. He wants us to be witnesses to what we have seen Him do in our lives.
Sharing that kind of story is powerful and life changing! I would dare say that most of you here this morning are here because someone shared their story with you and it brought you to Jesus! So relax, you don’t have to know everything in the Bible to be a witness. You don’t have to be a graduate theologian to share the Good News. You only have to be willing to share the story of what God did in your life.
During His time on earth that’s exactly what happened. Jesus would work in someone’s life and they would simply share that story with others.
When Jesus healed the blind man, the blind man said: I know this: “I was blind, and now I can see!” (John 9:25)
When Jesus forgave the Samaritan woman she “told everyone, Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did! Can this be the Messiah?” (John 4:29) The people of her village later told her, “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, (John 4:42)
These were simply common people telling an extraordinary story of Jesus working in their lives. That’s why Jesus told His disciples “you must also tell others about me” (John 15:27).
But let’s be honest, sometimes we are ashamed to tell our story. We’re not ashamed of the story, but we are ashamed that we don’t really we can meet the expectations of that story!
In other words, our lives don’t always match what we know God has done in us. Instead of living a good story and having a good “testimony” we get sidetracked and our testimony, our lives become a mess. We become ashamed of our testimony.
That’s what the author of our passage this morning in Galatians chapter six is dealing with.
Galatians chapter six begins with a believer losing his testimony, a “Christian is overcome by some sin”. If anything will mess up your testimony getting trapped in sin will certainly do it!
Galatians six is about testimony.
The first part tells us how to help someone else who falls.
The second part of the chapter tells us four pitfalls that will ruin your testimony: pride, comparing yourself with others, selfishness, and lying to yourself.
It’s at verse ten that he makes the final shift and explains what it takes to maintain a good testimony: what it takes to make sure your day to day walk matches the moment by moment work God is doing in your life.
Here is it – four strategies to a powerful testimony. You follow these four steps and you will feel confident about sharing God’s work in your life and people will be begging you to share it!
#1 – Do Good
It’s that simple. You want to have a powerful testimony? You want others to want to hear your story? Do Good.
Galatians 6:10 says, “Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters.” That’s it. Do good. We are simply to do what God calls us to do – do good to everyone!
Of course, as my Momma used to say, “That’s easier said than done!”
Doing good is not always the easiest thing to do. It’s really tough to do the right thing when everyone around you is expecting you to do the wrong thing. Galatians 6:12 tells us that some people don’t want to do what’s right because they are afraid of persecution. They are afraid of what others will say or do to them.
You take a stand for Jesus and there will be those who don’t like it. But you can’t worry about the crowds when it comes to your testimony.
What will make your story so powerful is that you actually allowed God to work in your life.
Most people in this world ignore God’s purposes for their lives.
The crowd usually follows the easiest way not the best way.
Weak fish swim downstream, it’s the strong fish that swim against the current.
God calls us to do good. While the rest of the world tells us to do bad, to do wrong – we simply must determine that whatever we do will be good and Godly!
But doing good is not enough. If it were we could all just turn in to philanthropists and forget about God.
The problem is that it’s impossible on our own to do good all the time.
We’re going to fall; we’re going to fail if we attempt to just “be good” or “do good”.
That’s why the Apostle gives us the second strategy for living a powerful testimony:
#2 We have to keep our Focus on the Cross.
“As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.” (Galatians 6:14).
You may not have been around the Lord or Christians long enough to notice something, Christians love to share their horror stories. They love to tell all the bad things they did before God forgave them. It’s almost as if they are bragging on their sins.
I noticed early on, when I was just a kid, that you could fill an entire church if you announced that some Christian with a really bad background was going to speak. Everyone came waiting to here all the bad things that person had done. It made for a really good story. There was only one problem, it was the wrong story! Most people walked away remembering all the bad things, more than the fact that God had forgiven those things.
So whenever you share your story – the focus needs to be on what Jesus did not what you did!
That’s why the Apostle Paul said, “God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord”. That advice works for everything! Focus on the cross.
We’ve all seen TV or movie scenes where focus is illustrated. First we see a large scene, lots of action, lots of people, things going on everywhere. Then the camera moves in, everything is blurred except for one small object. All you see is that object. That’s called focus.
It’s easy to get our attention on anything, everything but what’s important. It’s easy to find our selves distracted and sidetracked (that’s what the second part of the chapter was all about). But we have to stay focused. What Jesus did on the cross must hold our attention because it means everything!
Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to give us forgiveness, freedom and a whole new life – eternal life. The cross is the symbol of every purpose God has for us.
There’s a benefit to focusing on God’s purposes for our lives. The more we focus on the cross the less we focus on the stuff that weighs us down and holds us back. That’s what the end of the verse we just read explains: Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.” (Galatians 6:14b).
The more we focus on God’s purposes the less we focus on the world. You will also notice something else. The longer you live for God and His purposes the more friends and acquaintances who do not want to live for God will begin to drop away. When you stop partying like the world, talking and walking like the world the less people who live for that stuff will want to be around you while they live that way.
But don’t lose hope. Many of those same people will start coming around again when they see something in you they know they need: Jesus. They will begin to notice that you are different and that difference makes all the difference! The Apostle addresses that difference in the next strategy.
#3. We have to realize we are not the same any more.
“What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people. May God’s mercy and peace be upon all those who live by this principle. They are the new people of God.” (Galatians 6:15-16)
You want to have a powerful testimony. You want to have confidence to share your story with others. Then realize that you are not the same person you were before. When Jesus came into your life, when you turned your life over to Him, accepted His forgiveness and made Him the boss, when you began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you were given a new life. You became a new person!
“Those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
See what it says: “all those who live by this principle”. It’s not just knowing that God has forgiven you and given you eternal life – you have to live by that principle.
Each morning you have to begin your day by declaring to God that you plan to live by that principle.
“God, you made me a new person when I accepted Jesus into my life. Now I’m going to live that way! My actions will be different, my attitudes will be different, my desires will be different. I am a new person living for Your purposes. I will do good, focus on the cross and live like the new person that I am!”
I know what you’re thinking! “Pastor Paul, it’s not that easy!”
I didn’t say that it was. As I often say, it’s simple, but it’s not easy!
That’s why the Apostle ends this challenge by saying:
“From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17)
Don’t bother me if your plan is to discourage me.
As Joylyn would say, “Talk to the hand ‘cause the face ain’t listenin’!”
You may be afraid to share your story – to live out the kind of life God is asking because you are afraid. Sometimes living for God hurts.
People misunderstand. They say hurtful things.
They accuse us of thinking we are better than they are.
They laugh at us because we don’t do some of the things we used to do.
They try to drag us back into the gunk God saved us from.
But the author of this passage, the Apostle Paul, confidently shouted: “DON’T LET ANYONE TROUBLE ME!”
Don’t trouble me. Don’t mess with me. It’s not going to work.
You may try to hurt me – but I already carry the scars!
You see, the Apostle Paul was hurt, big time! He was rejected by his best friends. He was beaten more than once within a few strokes of death. One time he was even stoned to the point of death, but he lived.
He was willing to take the hits and still live for God’s purpose.
#4. We must be willing to take the hits. We must be willing to wear the scars.
The Apostle Paul could literally take off his shirt and point to the scars. Scars very similar to what must have been on the back of Jesus Christ after He was beaten before He was nailed to the cross.
Paul was saying – I’m willing to take the hits as long as it means I can live for Jesus.
You want to have a powerful testimony?
Do you want to live a life that people point to and say – “Hey, that person really lives for God. That’s a true believer – a genuine Christian.”
Then –
Do good...
Focus on the cross, focus on God’s purpose for your life…
Live the new life God created you to live…
And be willing to take the hits and the hurts for God.
Your story can have a powerful impact on someone else’s life, even if it’s just a little part of that story!
Your testimony, the way you live your life is God’s story to your world! So follow these strategies and share your story!
To view this sermon at our website visit
http://churchforfamily.com/Sermons/PowerOfTestimony.htm
paul@familyfellowshipchurch.com
