The Offering Of A Testimony!

THE OFFERING OF A TESTIMONY

THE POWER OF A TESTIMONY

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.

I. I KNOW PEOPLE THAT ARE GIVERS, AND THEY FORGET TO GIVE A POWERFUL TOOL OF DELIEVRANCE.

A. I know loving people that give regularly to the work of the Lord.

B. I have been sustained for the last 25 years because of the loving giving of God’s people.

C. GOD GIVES US:

1. TIME

2. TALENT

3. ENERGY

D. WHAT WE DO WITH THOSE THREE GIFTS SHOW WHAT WE LOVE!

E. Many are faithful to tithe and give sacrificially of their time, talent, and energy --- BUT THEY FFORGET GIVING A TESTIMONY IS A POWERFUL GIFT TO GOD TO TOUCH OTHER PEOPLE.

F. A TESTIMONY’S POWER CAN BE RELEASED IN CHURCH AND

AT YOUR HOME AND AT YOUR WORK PLACE.

II. DO YOU KNOW THE TWO KINDS OF POWER?

A. KINETIC POWER:

Of or relating to the motion and energy associated therewith.

Active, lively, dynamic energizing.

B. POTENTIAL POWER:

Existing in possibility.

Capable of development into actually.

Expressing possibility.

THAT WHICH MIGHT COME TO BE THE CASE.

C. WHAT IS A BATTERY? KINETIC OR POTENTIAL?

The battery could be both?

If the battery is sitting idle it is Potential energy.

If the battery starts the engine it is KINETIC energy.

D. MUCH OF CHURCH LIFE AND THE POWER OF THE TESTIMONY

IS VESTED IN POTENTIAL ENERGY.

E. Faith can not be passive.

F. A THOUSAND MILE JOURNEY STARTS WITH A PLAN?

A THOUSAND MILE JOURNEY STARTS BY ONE STEP.

III. DO WE UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF A TESTIMONY?

A. TESTIFY

To make a statement based on personal knowledge or belief.

To serve as evidence or proof.

To express a personal conviction.

To bear witness.

To make a solemn declaration under oath for the purpose of establishing

a fact.

Attest, to make known.

To give A STATEMENT SOLEMNLY STATED TO BE TRUE.

B. TESTIMONY

In the Old Testament the tablets of stone inscribed with the Mosaic law was called The Testimony.

A firsthand authentication of a fact.

Evidence, an outward sign.

A solemn declaration usually made orally by a witness under oath.

An open acknowledgement.

A public profession of a religious experience

IV. THE TESTIMONY HAS POWER. WE MUST LEARN TO RELEASE THE POWER.

Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

A. IF THEY HAD A TRIAL TODAY, WOULD THERE BE ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO CONVICT YOU OF BEING A CHRISTIAN?

B. A Christian’s faith is not despair.

The proof is a Christian can persist in surviving and raising up a testimony.

C. David Hume said:

No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact

which it endeavors to establish.

E. A testimony can take many forms.

A testimony could be a song God’s children sang while in slavery in a STRANGE LAND.

A testimony of a groan or a moan could be a prayer going heavenward dreaming of deliverance from the chains of bondage.

V. THE LAW REQUIRED THE TESTIMONY OF TWO TO BE SPOKEN

BEFORE THE JUDGE COULD ESTABLISH A TRUTH.

A. There was a problem with testimony? Some testimony could be false?

B. If a person made another person mad enough, perhaps in anger that person would tell a lie and defame another person.

C. Thus the law built in a protective clause to require the witness of two.

Deut. 17:6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

John 8:17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.

VI. WATER BAPTISM IS A PUBLIC DECLARATION AND TESTIMONY OF JESUS’ SAVING POWER.

A. OUR STAY IN THIS LIFE IS NOT A MATTER OF HOW LONG OR HOW SHORT OUR LIFE IS, THAT MATTERS LITTLE.

B. WHAT MATTERS IS A TESTIMONY OF FAITHFULNESS AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH AND THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD.

C. WATER BAPTISM IS AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE. TODAY MANY BELIEVERS COME TO THE LORD AND THEN THEY BYPASS THE COMMAND OF JESUS.

D. WATER BAPTISM IS SYMBOLIC OF:

1. DEATH

2. BURIAL

3. RESURRECTION

Mark 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

E. THERE IS MORE THAN WATER BAPTISM, THERE IS A SPIRITUAL BAPTISM.

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:

he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: