Testifying in the Church

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We are continuing on in in the series that Mike started three weeks ago in the Pillars of Community, and you get a little bit of my spin on that. Sorry about that. Will return to your regularly scheduled programing next week with pastor Mike. But how would we present the pillars of community? Hopefully you're familiar with our mission statement that our mission as a church is to know Christ, his life changing power, and to make him known.

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Hopefully, you know that. But the pillars of community is, as Mike shared a few weeks ago, are an outgrowth of of what was developed with the eldership of our core values. These pillars are kind of the put it on the bottom shelf, how to how to of who we are and how we carry out this mission of knowing Christ, his life changing power, and making him known.

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So just to refresh, we're going to keep doing this. You have it as a handout today, but just to run through. We'd like to make sure that we, we look at these today before we look at our passage, because we'll be focusing on testimony again. So let's review those very quickly. The pillars of community. Let the slides go.

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One we worship. We pray. Maybe we pray. Oh, there we go. Now we pray. We fellowship. Sometimes, like this afternoon, between services.

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Help me out, brother. We testify. We disciple. We forgive and we serve. Today we'll focus on. We testify. Part of the structure of these pillars is that they're designed to embraced in the two greatest commandments. That we love God with all our heart, soul and mind. Strength. And the second like to it that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

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So these are also framed in how do we do that in each of these pillars? Mike shared with you last week of we testify from the folks from the standpoint of loving people. I get to share with you today from how do we love God with we testify. We love God. We give honor and glory to God by proclaiming his wondrous works in our lives.

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And again last week, we looked at the other side of that. There's more evangelistic. If, yeah, we might ditch the slides. We love people. We share the gospel and how Jesus has changed our lives so others may see what is possible and may desire to have their lives changed as well. So again, we're going to focus on on the testimony to honor God today.

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And what do we mean by the term testify? What's the simple thing that comes to your mind and where does it usually take place? The simple one that I think of is simply in a court of law, where we call a witness to testify. And I'm only spend a couple of moments on that. But this ties back to what Mike's message was last week.

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You know, the job of the witness on the witness stand is simply to report what they experienced and observed. They are not the jury. They're not the judge. They're not the prosecutor, and they're not the defender. They are to give testimony. Sometimes we overcomplicate that because we think we have to be the jury. We think we have to be the prosecutor.

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We think we have to be the defense folks. We just need to testify. The spirit will take care of the rest, and we trust him. Just a little challenge on that. So before we look into answering this question, what is a witness? The other side of that, a witness is the idea of an advocate. Now, maybe more so in this service, those closer to to my age and more experienced in life.

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Remember the testimonial commercials, you know, and and think of those. Some of them were really poor, but it was either on the idea of I'm endorsing this product because it's worth it. Now, in our current generation, it's all about, did you get five stars on your Yelp review? There you go. That was a good place to go. That is sort of the aspect we're looking at today.

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So before we dive into Psalm 40, ask that you bow with me, father, as we look into your word and we look of into David's life in this testimony that he shared and how it, is used by you to impact your glory, to reflect your love, and to share with your people. Pray now that you would govern all that is said and all that is heard, that you would work through your word.

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The words you put in my mouth, that your truth would be made known. That you would be glorified. That you would filter out any error or stupidity on my part to preserve what what you need your people to hear, know, and to do, and that you'd be glorified by our response to you in it. We thank you for your presence.

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Honor your word. Now, father, as we read in Jesus name, Amen. So we're looking at Psalm 40, the first verse, the first ten verses. Please follow along with you. With me, I will. David says this. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

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He put a new song in my mouth. A song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear. And put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. Who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray. After a lie. You have multiplied, O Lord my God. Your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us.

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None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell of them. Yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering. You have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering. You have not required. Then I said, behold, I have come in the scroll of the book. It is written of me.

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I delight to do your will. Oh my God! Your law is within my heart. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. Behold, I have not restrained my lips as you know. Oh, Lord, I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and of your salvation. I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

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And may the Lord and his blessing to the reading of his word. I don't present to you any great theological truths today, but a simple observation of the anatomy of a testimony before the congregation. Just ask that will observe this as we proceed. In the first two verses. We see that David simply observes that God has acted in his life in a very tangible and personal way.

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Let me review those two verses. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. Translation David was in a mess again.

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See times of crisis and crying out in desperation often precede God's special revelation of his personal love, care and presence in our lives. You know life we are promised. We're told in the Scripture. In this life you will have many troubles. None of us escape them. And sometimes the critic and the cynic among us said, if you're not in a crisis, that means you either just got out of it or just about to get into one.

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Is that not true? All right. Most I, I propose to you that most believers who can testify that they've experienced this personal, dynamic touch of God in their lives, who can tell you, I know not only is he my God, but I know his promise to never leave me and never forsake me. Most have experienced that through times of suffering.

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And although they would never tell you that they would want to go through it again, they would also tell you they would never give that time back. Because it was their that they understood that in that moment I knew he was my God. He's my father who provides for me, who does not leave me, who does not forsake me.

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And this is where David was. And he describes that this was he was in the miry bog. And it's not quite, you know, quicksand, but it's a mess. But he wasn't able to get himself out. It was his Heavenly Father who set his feet upon the rock, making him secure. And his response was simple. And we see that in verses three through eight.

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So let us review those. He put a new song in my mouth. A song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. Who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie. You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us.

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None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell them, yet they are more than can be told in sacrifice and offering. You've not delighted, but you have given me an open ear, burnt offering, and sin offering you've not required. Then I said, behold, I have come in the scroll of the book. It is written for me. I delight to do your will.

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Oh my God, your law is within my heart. You see, when we've encountered. When God has rescued us, when we have seen the revelation of who he is in our lives, the natural response is increased gratitude. Praise for who he is and a deeper devotion and commitment to serve him and proclaim his goodness.

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And here is David when he was rescued from that pit in that miry bog. Like us, he didn't care how much mud and mire he had on him. And when we're rescued from those, we lose that self-protective mindset that says people can't see what a mess I've been in. They can't see my scars. They can't see my wounds.

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They can't see the stupidity with capital S that I have done. I lose sight of that because what God has done by picking me up out of there makes all that go away, because his glory and his kindness is greater. Because of the mess I've been in. The only things that matters when we're in that desperate mess covered in the mud, is that we've been rescued.

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And who it is that rescued us. It's that simple. And yet there's part of us. Part of it's the enemy. Part of it is trying to protect ourselves and what we think other people think. We tend not to share. But David is our example here. And again, verses nine and ten we see just the third observation. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation.

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Behold, I have not restrained my lips as you know. Oh Lord, I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and of your salvation. I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. Repeatedly through these few verses of this Psalm. You see David proclaiming, this is what God did.

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And I didn't withhold it from the congregation. I shared what he did, and the result was that they would follow him and that they would also praise him. That's the call of testimony. That's the call of witness in the congregation. You see where Mike spoke to us about the testimony outside the congregation, that we would testify again of Christ's cleansing power and what he does in our lives.

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But our audience is different. It's to share with them that we might invite them to join in and to submit to the same Lord and Savior when it's within the testimony, within the congregation. It's to strengthen the body and to reflect the glory of God. So this is definitely where I stop talking and I start preaching. See, folks?

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Sin hides in the darkness. Depression grows in the darkness. Isolation is a tool of the enemy to keep us from experiencing the glorious joy of love of God in our lives. And we need the testimony of one another so that you know that I've gone through the same pathways that I know I can look to you. I don't have to hide from you because I've struggled.

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Because you've already told me you've been there. And your testimony says, come on, brother, I'm taking you with me to the throne of grace, because there is deliverance and there is victory. We need to be vulnerable, to share with one another, to testify of his good works. That he pulled us out of the mud and the mire of the bog.

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So let me just review some of those things that David said. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Because verse five, you've multiplied, oh Lord my God, your wondrous deeds, your thoughts towards us. None can compare with you. And I will proclaim and tell them. Yet they are more than can be told in verse ten, I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart.

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I spoken of your faithfulness and in your salvation, and I'm not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the gate. Great congregation.

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Give me a moment to give you a little commercial on steadfast love. Steadfast love is the love that doesn't quit.

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It's the love that outlasts everything else. The Hebrew word for it is. It kind of sticks in my head. Has it? It's unconditional. It's covenant love that God has promised.

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Folks, we really don't understand that kind of love. Because everything we see in our world says you earn it or it's not yours. You mess up one more time and I'm gone. Hassid love says. I will be your God. You will be my people. I have done everything to bring you to me. And I will not let you go.

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This is our God.

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Let me take us to a few practical examples. Depending on our technology, we may be wheelchair. We may not. Here is one.

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You may be familiar with the story from Joshua four, where the Israelites have crossed the Jordan, but they are told as they're crossing on dry land to enter into the promised Land, that they were to have one leader from each of the 12 tribes to go and take a rock. And then they were to bring it to the promised land, and they were to stack it.

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It was a stone pile of remembrance. Why? So that generations upon generations would come across that, and they would look to one another and say, this, this is the place of promise. This is where God, after we wandered in 40 years, after we'd been 400 years slaves in Egypt. This is the land that God had promised to our forefather Abraham.

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And this. This is where and when he delivered.

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We need to pass on our testimony to generation to generation, to build a foundation of strength and faith. And then what is another benefit of testimony? This picture might be a little hard to see, but has anybody done any rock climbing? All right. The anchors. The anchors are when you put that little stake in the crevice and trust it a whole lot.

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I mean, there are folks who sleep hanging from those anchors. I mean, but why are they there? It's a fail safe. Folks, we need testimony in our lives. We need the testimonies of others to be the anchors driven into the rock so that when we don't have the strength to hold ourselves up in our faith, we've got an anchor.

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We need that anchor point. We need someone else to have stuck one in there that we can put our carabiner on and hang the hope to no, that we can make it through. Testimony in the congregation does this, so it encourages the body by disposing and dispelling the darkness. Folks, what is what is the one thing that all of us have in common that Romans 323 tells us?

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Anybody remember?

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We all fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned. I don't care who you are. I am no way any better than you are, and vice versa.

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And so there's nothing that I need to withhold. There's nothing that I should be hiding in the congregation. In the testimony that I can say yes. This is. This is me. This is me, the sinner. This is me, the sinner saved by grace. This is me, the sinner. Injured, spiritually wounded, coming to the place of healing. Will you help me heal?

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That's the power of testimony in the congregation. And finally, it reminds us of the hope in the struggle. And it's not always going to be the same way it is right now, and that God's grace truly is always sufficient. Been relatively brief. I could share two stories with you. One that I encountered this past week of congregation and the testimony.

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Conversation I had with a lady who shared with me a being post abortive.

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You know, we we strongly stand on our pro-life stance, but but rarely do we do a good job. It's not that we don't mean to, but we rarely do a good job of saying, by the way. If you did go through that process, we are not here to condemn you because we're all sinners. We've all fallen short of the glory of God.

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Instead, we want to help you find grace and healing. It was through and definitely divine orchestrated a series of events that this post abortive. Woman got a call from a friend in the invitation to go halfway across the country. So happened.

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That in a women's event with a special speaker was happening at that same time in that same city that her friend said, hey, I've got an extra ticket. Can you go at that? It wasn't planned, said the speaker. But she did share that she had gone through the miscarriage process and had struggled with the grief and mourning until.

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Until the Spirit of God spoke to her literally in a dream and helped her think through the process of naming the child she'd lost. Just the act of naming that child helped her mourn more completely. That woman sharing her testimony helped this post abortive woman also complete her healing process by naming the child, by lamenting the loss and her actions.

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The power of testimony in the congregation. Many of you may also have heard of TobyMac. Anybody in here? Is anybody seen TobyMac in concert? By the way? I mean, the guy's high energy. He's my age and he looks like an acrobat.

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But TobyMac has been around the Christian music business for a number of years. Way back started with DC talk, but he had a tragedy five years ago. His oldest son, Truett, was also an aspiring musician. In fact, had just had a first concert to but struggled a little bit with his emotions and depression.

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And was borrowing some some friends prescription medications. One time, one time he met somebody in a parking lot to buy an illicit medication. Instantly died.

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Toby was crushed.

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And he actually didn't think he'd ever play or sing again. But he wrote a song called 21 years. In fact, an entire album that it's worth. Worth just knowing the story to go look at. But in response to a question with an interviewer over this song, 21 years, which is how old true it was. He says, I wrote it about the recent passing of my firstborn son.

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True, it. I loved him with all of my heart. Until something in life hits you this hard, you never know how you'll handle it. I'm thankful that I've been surrounded by love, starting with God's and extending to the community near and far, and have walked with us and carried us every day. Writing this song felt like an honest confession of the questions pain, anger, doubt, mercy, and promise that describes the journey.

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I'm probably only beginning. The rest is yet to come. One thing I know is that I am not alone. God didn't promise us a life of no pain or even tragic death, but he did promise he would never leave or forsake us. And I'm holding dearly to that promise for my son as well as myself. And if we can, we're going to try to play a video.

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Just a real 32nd clip of him testifying about that, followed by another song he wrote called faithfully. We'll try it. There we go. I opened up my Bible a few days after Truett passed. I'm like, I just can't. I just can't continue on with this. But something just moved me and I'm like, I'm going to try. And I kind of looked at God and I said, I'm going to give you a chance.

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I'm going to give you a chance. And I just continued reading the Bible. And I can just tell you, this man reading the Bible cover to cover has changed my life.

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He goes on to tell, I mean, there we go.

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It's been a long year. It almost took me down. I swear. Life is so good. I'm not so sure we knew what we had. I'll never be the same man. I'll never feel like I felt before. It's been a hard year. It almost took me down. But when my world broke into pieces. You were there faithfully. When I cried out to you.

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Jesus, you made a way for me. I may never be the same man. But I'm a man who still believes. When I cried out to you, Jesus, you were there faithfully.

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I've had a hard time finding the blue in the skies above me. And if I'm keeping it real. I've been high faking I have been a singer. I may look like the same man. But I'm half the man I was. It's been a hard year. It almost took me down. But when my world broke into pieces. You were that faithful.

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You leave me when I cried out to you. Jesus made a way for me. I may never be the same man. But I'm a man I still believe. When I cried out to you, Jesus, you were there faithfully. In my darkest hour. You met me so quietly. So gently. You said you'd never leave. And you stood by your word.

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So quietly, so gently. In all my pain. You met me. You said you'd never leave. And you stood by your words. When my world broke into pieces. You with that faithful to me. When I cried out to you. Jesus, you made a way for me. I may never be the same man, but I'm a man who still believes.

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When I cried out to you, Jesus, you were there faithfully. When I cried out to you. Jesus, you were there faithfully.

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That's our God. He is faithful, isn't he?

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So far, I've only given you half of the purpose of my message, and that was to exemplify testimony in the congregation. I have only done part of my job. Unless I call you. And I encourage you. I prompt you, I exhort you.

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To glorify God yourselves by sharing the work he's done in your lives. Do you recognize God's work in your life? Those moments of his grace, his deliverance, his presence, his promise to never leave you or to forsake you?

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If not. I ask you to spend some time with him. Ask him to show his work, his goodness to you. I'm going to tell you it's going to be a risky time. He redeems a lot of things. Things we wouldn't ask for. That's worth it. It's worth it to. Will you put aside your self-consciousness, your fears of what others think here?

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Embarrassment or even pride to share your story and tell others how God met you and showed himself to you.

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Will you share it? It doesn't have to be on this platform. It's just one another, encouraging one another. Second Corinthians Paul writes in first chapter verses through the four. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

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It's decision time. If we come into his presence in worship, if we hear His word and we leave as we came, did we worship? Did we encounter the Almighty God?

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I pray that we won't leave unchanged, unaffected. The last word I'll share with you is the reason I shared TobyMac. As you know, that wasn't a need and his son did not come back. Sometimes we think testimony always has to have this fairy tale happy ending. This is this is normal. This is often how God works.

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Because wanting what we think we need, we need to have this picture perfect ending. Are you ready? It's not enough.

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It's not enough. Even if I have a marriage that's falling apart and God saves that marriage, we're both going to die.

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I want it to work. I want health restored. But this life is the beginning. He turned with him in deep intimacy. Being known as we are known. That's the goal.

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