The Testimony Of The Redeemed

The Testimony of the Redeemed

Psalm 40:1-3a

I have watched that 2 minutes of film about 20 times this week. It makes the hair on my neck stand up. It was not meant to be a Christian film or have a Christian message but I tell you that is as powerful, as convicting, as biblical and as relevant as anything that ever came out of the mouth of Billy Graham.

I want to pick that video clip apart and give you a message God spoke to me.

When Johnny Cash started singing, in this clip, it was just so dry and so lifeless.

The words were good, that was not the problem.

But the record executive asked, “Have you guys got something else?”

I tell you the world is asking the same question of the church… have you got something else, something new, something that doesn’t smell like moth balls?

See Johnny Cash was singing a song that was on the radio on county and gospel stations. Every artist was singing it. It was on the radio 10 times a day by several singers. And they were all singing it just like Jimmy Davis.

The record executive said, “we’ve already heard… that song. Just like you sung it, J-U-S-T- L-I-K-E Y-O-U S-U-N-G-I-T!!!

In the world today… people need the gospel, but they are immune to the song the church is singing.

They feel like they have heard it just the way we sing it.

Johnny asked, “What’s wrong with the way I sing it?”

And the executive said, “I DON”T BELIEVE YOU!”

I think that is the problem the world has with the church and the song we are singing…

They don’t believe us

I think they believe if we really believed it…

It would change us and the way we live

If I had played a little more of the video, you would have seen Johnny sing another song for the record executive… ONE HE WROTE… Fulsom Prison Blues… and you could hear it was different… it wasn’t flat, it wasn’t just singing words, it had passion, it was HIS HEART BEAT…

and it was HIS song.

The record guy heard something that would sell, something new, something original, something the public would believe. They cut that record that night.

Listen, Johnny Cash could not come in there singing tired renditions of other people’s songs. The world does not want imitations.

The words of that record guy still make me tingle…

“Alright, let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you was laying out in that gutter dying and you had time to sing one song… one song people would remember before you was dirt… are you telling me you would sing that Jimmy Davis song we’ve all heard, or would you sing something different, something you wrote, cause I’m telling’ you right now, that’s the kind of song people really want to hear… that’s the kind of song that truly saves people.”

The world wants something new, SOMETHING YOU WROTE… YOUR SONG… “that’s the kind of song people really want to hear… that’s the kind of song that truly saves people.”

In this clip the record guy was wrong about one thing. Johnny asked, “Is it the gospel or how I sing it?”

And the guy said, “Both.”

The problem is not the gospel. The gospel is still the power of salvation. The gospel is still true and still relevant.

The problem is how we sing it.

Most Christians make one of three mistakes with their song…

SING = (testimony) (story of what God has done and is doing in their life)

1. They don’t sing or don’t sing well.

They try to sing some song they heard… but they don’t really know. (Roman Road)

Imagine you are at the record store in 1957 trying to get a friend to by a great new record. He asks, “How does it go?” and you say… Love me tender….all my dreams fulfill…. Love me tender… and I always will.

Do you think they would buy the record?

Some can’t sing well or they don’t sing at all.

2. Some don’t have a song so they sing someone else’s song.

Does anyone here want to drive to Richmond and pay

$25-$35 to watch some fat, balding guy in a jump suit sing Elvis songs?

Well, the world does not want to hear you sing someone else’s song either.

They want to hear you sing YOUR song… something you are passionate about.

TELL YOUR STORY..

what has God done for you?

What were you like before

How has He changed your life

Some are trying to tell their story like they heard someone else do it

You have a unique story, that is what people need to hear