Transcription
God is about to give you a fresh story to share. When you share testimony, first of all, you are sharing your testimony unto God. Testimony is about telling God that you acknowledge what He has done for you, for some loved ones, for that community, organization, or platform. You are acknowledging to God that you recognize that He's the one that made it happen.
Testimony, sharing testimony, is a powerful way of telling people about God, about the mercies of God, about the power of God, about the influence of God, about the interventions of God, about the grace of God. You need to correct, make corrections that people, some people may have about your success story. You are the best person to make that correction, because sometimes you will need to make it clear concerning certain things that, please let me make this clear to you, this thing that has just happened, this thing that has just been achieved, is not about me. Because you are also aware of many others who did exactly what you did, but they did not get the result you got. That's the place of grace. That's the place of grace. Because sometimes you will observe that some people even worked harder than you did, but you got a better result. So you need to point it out that this is by the grace of God.
When you share [Music] testimonies, you are telling people, there's an opportunity to tell people about the favor of God, the help of God, the help of God. Testimony is a very powerful tool, very powerful. It shows that God is still in the business of doing things, that our God is not a god of biblical times alone, that whatever He did in the times of the scriptures, in the Holy Bible, Old and New Testament seasons, He's still doing it now, and He's still able to do it now.
Testimonies are attestation, evidence, proof of something. In Mark 16:20, our Lord and Savior speaking said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe." And He said, "And the Lord confirmed," sorry, verse 20 will tell us that the Lord confirmed His word with signs following Him. The promised Bible will say the miracles they worked proved that the message was true. Signs are physical proofs or confirmations of the word of God. A sign is a supernatural manifestation that is deliberately performed to prove or confirm the message of God or the certainty of what God has revealed. And this could have been conveyed to you by prophecy, through a direct promise from God, a revelation, or a covenant. Signs are performed as a proof of God's presence with His people, God's backing of the message that has been conveyed. Signs are normally performed to remove every element of doubt, uncertainty, unbelief about the divine origin of the message or the certainty of its fulfillment. Signs are performed to sometimes remove doubt and unbelief about the authenticity of the message or the messenger, or the messenger.
Testimonies talk about what God has done for us. It is good news. Somebody say good news. You will have good news to share. Testimonies are revelations of the various keys to divine intervention. So when people hear testimonies, they begin to understand what to do in order to achieve a particular outcome based on the experience of the person involved in that testimony. People take note of how it happened, and then keys to also making such happen again are revealed and confirmed through the events of the testimony. Listeners to such testimonies will understand the steps the testifier took in order to obtain. He's our testimony.
Testimony is about telling the goodness of God. It's a way of showing your gratitude to God. It's a way of showing your loyalty to God. There's a time where certain landmark accomplishments are attained, and everybody will listen to you on that day. One of the things everybody that listens to you will be sensitive about is who you are going to attribute what has been achieved to. So every time you share testimonies of what God has done, you are showing Him gratitude. You're acknowledging Him as the source, as the power behind the things that are happening for you. And it's also a demonstration of your loyalty to God.
God likes to hear the testimonies of His people. He wants to hear from you. He's waiting for you to testify. Help me turn to a neighbor and say, "Neighbor, neighbor, God likes to hear testimonies. He's waiting to hear your testimony." And you will do that soon.
Brethren, there is need for testimonies. And if you have not been sharing testimony, please, please make a correction immediately. After God has saved your soul, He expects you to go out and minister the good news. In John chapter 1:45, John 1:45, the moment some of the early disciples discovered Jesus, he said, "We have found Him. We have found [Music] Him." Take note, that implies they are confirming that He is the Messiah. He's the Messiah. "We have found the Messiah. I have found Him. I have encountered the Messiah." Your friends must hear your testimony. Family must hear your testimonies. And people you meet must hear your testimony.
By sharing your testimony, your personal testimony, and then outstanding testimonies of what God has done in the lives of other people, you have to share the good news to people by informing them of how God is transforming the lives of people, solving problems, and meeting the needs of other people with similar needs as that of the people you are talking to. And you have to be strategic. You have to be wise in sharing testimonies. Share testimonies that are relevant, very relevant to whoever you are talking with. Testimonies could cut across different realms of life. Could be something in the realm of the spiritual, could be in the realm of the marital, before or after marriage, could be in the realm of health, could be in the realm of career, the works of your hands, your business, finances. It could be in the area of protection, could be in the area of promotion, upliftment. It could be in the realm of achieving what initially appeared to be impossible, but God made it possible.
Now listen to this very closely. People fail to share testimonies for different reasons. One, some will say it is not big enough. So they are waiting for one very, very, in their own perception, great thing to happen before they share. But that's not correct. Some will say, "People will not see it as anything. That if I share the testimony, people will not see it as anything." So they have a change of mind. That's not correct as well. And then some will say, "Why must I share? Why must I share?" And they feel it's not necessary. It's not necessary. That is also not correct.
Then some people do not share testimonies because of pride. Because of pride. Pride will make you feel ashamed to tell people how bad things used to be for you. Pride. Pride will make you feel ashamed to acknowledge your past challenges, your past challenges, all the trying times that you experienced in the past, the trying times you experienced in the past.
Why would some people not share? Closely related to pride is another factor, and that is the entitlement mentality. This is one reason why some would not share, the entitlement mentality. If someone has a sense of entitlement, that means the person believes he deserves certain privileges and is arrogant about it. People with entitlement mentality often see themselves as superior to others. They see themselves as superior. So even when God, by His mercy, elevates them, they don't see it from that perspective that this is a divine lifting, and they attribute everything to themselves, their intelligence, things that have to do with them. In the journey of life, you will sometimes be privileged to benefit from certain things that are not due to you. So you must be very careful not to feel entitled and see such things as your right. We all need to be very, very careful about this, very, very careful about it. Entitlement mentality doesn't make people show appreciation. Yeah, when they need to, they won't want to because they feel it's their right. Even when it's a favor, clear favor, they see it as a right. The spirit of entitlement would not allow you to show gratitude to God and to people.
But on the reverse, humble and broken people, humble and broken people have a sense of gratitude, and they have no difficulty expressing it openly. The humble have a sense of gratitude. They never forget their days of little beginnings, their days of little beginnings. They are conscious of the trap of Deuteronomy 8:17. It's a trap. The tendency to claim personal credit for one's success and empowerment. God told them ahead. He told them ahead, "I'm going to empower you. I'm going to do many things." Said, "But be careful, be careful that you do not begin to boast and feel that it's all by your personal strength and might that you have achieved those things." Say, "For you shall remember the Lord thy God." That's verse 18.
The humble can publicly acknowledge that they were once lost, that they were once lost, just like the prodigal son, just like the prodigal son. They are not ashamed to publicly acknowledge that they were once very poor or deep in a particular sin of vice. They're not ashamed to say it publicly because that aspect of your past life, it has power. When you share it, especially in the relevant quarters, it will give the inner strength and motivation to some people for their deliverance, to break the yoke of addiction, to believe that they too can come out of that besetting sin, secret sin, or very ungodly vices. You become a living proof that God can do it. And so your story encourages them. The humble are not ashamed to acknowledge that they failed an examination many times before they eventually succeeded. They appreciate people. They honor people. Humble people, people have no issues with this.
You need to tell people how far God has brought you, how far God has transformed you, how far God has transformed you. Some of you, you may not know it. Maybe sometimes you are in the midst of people who knew you in the past, and there are some very overwhelming changes that have happened in your life. And when they meet with you after a long time, and they sit with you two hours, three hours, they are making some observations. They're making some observations. Maybe you are the type that used to drink, you used to drink a lot in the past, and now there is an occasion, and everybody is seated, and others are drinking, and the drink is flowing, but you are there, and you are happy without drinking. You are smiling without drinking. And they, you know, they won't voice it out, but they are watching. And inside them, something is saying, "God is powerful." Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
You need to tell people how God has transformed your life, how God has empowered you, how God has helped you, how God has helped you. Because people may eventually see you at a particular level, and except you tell them, they wouldn't believe. They wouldn't believe that you were at another extreme compared to what they are seeing today. Tell people where you are coming from in different areas of life: spiritual, moral, marital, relationship, finance, even your personal experiences, like even with feeding, that at a time, this is how you survived. These are the kind of things you had to eat. It was that challenging. You'll be surprised that that testimony will strengthen and encourage many that are having a sense of hopelessness. Let people know that at a time you could not even afford transport, and so you would set out two hours ahead of time and walk a very long distance to get to wherever you ought to be, and you were doing this five days a week. Tell them.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 10:3, it said, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." People will not believe until they hear someone's testimony, someone's experience. Yeah, by the time you tell them what you went through, the person that was crying will start laughing because he has just found, she has just found someone whose case was five times more severe than what he or she is going through today. Let them know that there is no challenge that has not happened before. There is nothing new under this sun. There is no sickness, no mistake that someone else has not made in the past. The story of your past can save souls. The story of your past can save souls. The story of your past can encourage souls, can encourage souls. A lot of people are discouraged. The story of your past can encourage souls. The story of your past can sow the seed for people to change, for people to change. Glorify God. Give God the glory. This cannot be done in your heart alone. You need to express it. And one of the ways you can express it is by sharing your your story. May God find you faithful in this realm from today, in the name of Jesus.
And in closing it up, what are the benefits of sharing testimonies? What are the benefits of sharing testimonies? Number one is a show of God's power in the lives of His children. Say, "Show of God's power." Let them know that these things are happening. We declare what God has done when we share testimonies. Number two, testimonies vindicate, sorry, validate the word of God. Validates the word of God. It's a proof that God still does miracles. It's a proof that God still does miracles. It shows the world around us that God is with us and for us. People will believe God through your testimonies. And our testimonies also, when we share testimonies of what God is doing amongst us, we validate our ministry, we validate the church, just as we validate the word of God. One of the reasons why people go to the wrong places is because of their search for certain things, solutions, breakthroughs. When they hear testimonies of what God, how God has done the same thing for people within our midst, it encourages them to recognize that they need not go to the wrong places. Testimony glorifies God. It brings glory, brings honor to God. It's a display of gratitude to God. And so when you do any of these things, of course, you know what follows. There will be fresh blessings from the Lord, and the Lord would be more committed to sustain what you have testified of. God will make it permanent. God will prepare you for higher promotion in the name of Jesus. Every time we share testimonies, we sow seeds of faith and hope, seeds of faith, seeds of hope that will be another testimony. And you can see an example in 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5.
Testimonies bring joy to people who hear it. Testimonies bring joy to people who hear it. It brings joy to people who hear it. It brings hope to those who are waiting. It brings hope to those who are waiting. People who are undergoing or experiencing similar problems are encouraged to keep on waiting simply because of the testimony they have just had. And you know that testimonies, they terminate fear. They terminate doubt. Hearing another person's testimony terminates fear, doubt, discouragement, hopelessness. And testimonies bring healing from depression. Yeah, testimonies, they bring healing from discouragement. They bring healing from hopelessness. Testimonies encourage people to keep pushing, keep trying, remain determined and persistent. Testimonies encourage people to keep praying until something happens. It will eventually happen for you. Your prayer will be answered. The Bible tells us that one of those weapons of warfare that God has given us, along with the blood of the Lamb, are words of our testimonies. You will overcome by your testimonies. And you know, testimonies also, they encourage people to seek God. They encourage people to seek God. Someone that heard your testimony is going to come, go to some church the following Sunday because of your testimony. It's a tool of evangelism. So as Christians, when we testify, we build people's faith in God. It's a tool of evangelism. It enhances church growth, kingdom growth. When people hear our testimonies, I make closing reference to Mark 1:40-45. Mark 1:14-45. You could see the power of testimonies, power of testimonies, power of testimonies. New Living Translation, Mark 1:14-45: "A man who had leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. 'If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,' he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. 'I am willing,' he said. 'Be healed!' Instantly the leprosy disappeared and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him away with a stern warning. Because Jesus knows the power of testimonies. And at that time, at that time, he still had a lot to do. So in this instance, you see it was this is Mark chapter 1, chapter 1, now to show you the stage in his ministry when this happened. So he said to him, 'Give him a stop. Don't tell anyone about this.' Because he knew what will happen once the news goes out that testimonies like this about things like this would draw crowds because there are many people that want healing as well. He said, 'Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.' Verse 45: 'But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened.' As a result of what he did, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus." The power of testimony. Somebody say, "Power of testimonies." Testimonies. And he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places. But people from everywhere kept coming to him. Why? Because of the testimony he had.