What is your Testimony

1
What is your Testimony

• What is a testimony?      A testimony is a true
  story about what God has done in your life.
• Not just a salvation story      God is at work
  in our lives before, during and after our
  conversion.  Every true believer has many
  testimonies.  
• All different varieties      Some testimonies
  are flashy and even miraculous.  Others are
  quiet, but deeply moving.  Some are hilarious. 
  Testimonies come in many different forms because
  God is always on the cutting edge with some new
  twist, some new way of expressing His
  unchangeable goodness.  
• Why they have power      Testimonies have power
  because God can use them to engage our emotions
  and strengthen our faith.  You can study about
  God all day long, but His awesome qualities take
  on a whole new dimension when we see them played
  out in the lives of His people.  
• Conflict -- the key element      Testimonies,
  like any other story, derive their punch from the
  conflict.  Someone shared this proverb with me 
  "You gotta play close to the ball if you expect
  to score any points."  In the same way, you need
  to focus your story on the conflict if people are
  going to be interested in it.  What were you
  wrestling with?  Fear?  Hardship?  Sickness? 
  Addiction?  Loneliness?  Whatever it was, nearly
  every line of your testimony will focus on how
  that conflict affected you and/or how God
  intervened and resolved the conflict.
• Essential ingredients
• Almost every testimony has four essential
  ingredients. 1.  The problem.  What kind of
  trouble were you facing?  How did it affect you? 
  How did it feel to be in that trouble.  How did
  that trouble get played out in your life. 2.  The
  solution(s) that doesn't work.  Continue with
  your unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problem
  or difficulty.  At this stage, things often go
  from bad to worse.  As we run out of alternatives
  and hope, the problem is revealed as something
  much bigger than we are, or, at least, bigger
  than we thought it was.
• 3.  God intervenes.  God creatively intervenes. 
  He may remove the problem.  He may grant us some
  paradigm shift that changes how the problem
  affects us.  He may bring people into our lives
  that help bear our burdens.  He might bring
  perfect peace into a storm of turmoil, or
  overflowing joy into a pit of grief.  The options
  available to God are endless.
• 4.  The take away.  What I discovered about God,
  about His love, and/or about who I am in Christ
  -- and how that affects my life today.
• Christ-centered      Testimonies are about what
  God has done in our lives, not about what we did
  for God.  They are about God's success, not our
  success.  We want the reader to be in awe about
  God and not about us.
•   Length      Testimonies can be a paragraph
  long, a page long, five pages long, a hundred or
  more pages long.

2
The guide line for our testimony 2 Corinthians
112For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of
our conscience, that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the
grace of God, we have had our conversation in the
world, and more abundantly to you-ward.2
Corinthians 111-13 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 1
(Whole Chapter)
The Lords has a testimony Psalm 197The law of
the LORD is perfect, converting the soul the
testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the
simple
Be not ashamed of our testimony 2 Timothy 18Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of
our Lord, nor of me his prisoner but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God
Must Sound Off to others Psalm 11988Quicken me
after thy lovingkindness so shall I keep the
testimony of thy mouth.Psalm 11987-89 (in
Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Share what Christ has done for you 1 Corinthians
16Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed
in you1 Corinthians 15-7 (in Context) 1
Corinthians 1 (Whole Chapter)
3
God will put people before you Psalm 11946I
will speak of thy testimonies also before kings,
and will not be ashamed.Psalm 11945-47 (in
Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Our Life is a Testimony to others Matthew
84And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no
man but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a
testimony unto them.Matthew 83-5 (in Context)
Matthew 8 (Whole Chapter)

• Teach our Children by Testimony
• Psalm 13212
• If thy children will keep my covenant and my
  testimony that I shall teach them, their children
  shall also sit upon thy throne for
  evermore.Psalm 13211-13 (in Context) Psalm 132
  (Whole Chapter)
• The average middle class father spends less than
  5 minutes a day speaking to his child, but the TV
  speaks an average of 30 hr/wk

Your Testimony will not be accepted by all Mark
611And whosoever shall not receive you, nor
hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the
dust under your feet for a testimony against
them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of
judgment, than for that city.Mark 610-12 (in
Context) Mark 6 (Whole Chapter)
4
Your Testimony will cause
God to be Pleased Hebrews 115By faith Enoch was
translated that he should not see death and was
not found, because God had translated him for
before his translation he had this testimony,
that he pleased God
Delight in peoples hearts Psalm 11924Thy
testimonies also are my delight and my
counselors.Psalm 11923-25 (in Context) Psalm
119 (Whole Chapter)
Rejoicing in peoples hearts Psalm 119111Thy
testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever
for they are the rejoicing of my heart.Psalm
119110-112 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter
Others to Mediate on the Lord Psalm 11999I have
more understanding than all my teachers for thy
testimonies are my meditation.Psalm 11998-100
(in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter
5
30 question to help you

• 30 questions to help you unlock powerful
  testimonies you can share with others
• How did God show up for you in a time of need?
• How has God enabled you to overcome hardship,
  oppression and adversity for yourself and others?
  
• What did God do with your failed dreams or other
  disappointments?
• How has God healed you or given you special grace
  in a time of sickness?
• How did God arrange recovery from a crisis?
• How did God respond to your rebellion?
• How has God changed your perceptions of the
  church, of life or of Himself?
• How did God meet you in times of grief and
  sorrow?
• How has God revealed His sense of humor, bring
  light moments in a dark world?
• What epiphany, paradigm shift, or life lesson has
  God taught you, and what is the story behind it?
• How has God given you the strength to overcome
  life-controlling issues?
• How have you received direction or redirection
  from God?
• Where you ever in a situation where you needed
  God to show up -- otherwise you were sunk?  What
  happened?
• In John 155 we learn that apart from Christ we
  can do nothing.  How has that played out in your
  life?
• How has God enriched your marriage, family,
  career, or finances?
• How did God bring you to Himself?
• How has God used mentors in your life?
• How has God brought success out of humble
  beginnings?