Who’s your hero and what about them makes them amazing?
(answer)
Right, it’s the things they do that make them awesome.
So tonight we are talking about biographies and testimonies and that begs the question, what is a biography and what is a testimony?
A biography, as we all know is an account of someone’s life.
In every biography the hero rescues him/herself—or someone else—from a terrible fate. As we read such tales of heroism, we look for sources of hope and examples of courage, dedication, sacrifice, and triumph. Biographies are great—but testimonies are even better.
Testimonies are very different from biographies. A testimony is about Jesus—his life, his accomplishments, and his determination in an individual’s life. In a testimony, Jesus is the hero who rescues us from the terrible fate of sin, death, hell, and the just wrath of God.
So as we jump into this I want you to be thinking, “what’s your testimony? How has Jesus rescued you?”
If we are each honest, Satan has already won battles in our lives. Significant battles.
You might be someone who is addicted to porn or maybe you’re screwing up in your relationship with that significant other. Maybe you have sought your value from other’s opinions, believing you’re not good enough, or pretty enough or strong enough. Maybe your sin isn’t obvious but instead a spirit of anger or spite or jealousy. Whatever the sin may be we all have our areas where we do not live up to God’s standard.
My biography is one of failure and screwing up, my testimony is one of God’s grace, forgiveness and sufficiency. It’s really hard for me, to be honest with you, to stand up here and admit I still struggle with stuff I struggled with years ago. I like being a leader and I like being respected. But more than that, I like and want God to be glorified. I won’t be of any help to you unless I’m honest with you, and you won’t be of any help to each other unless you’re honest with each other.
Sin often takes over part of our life or sometimes all of it. It distracts us from our real purpose as we believe the lies of the enemy. It leads us down a path of mixed-up priorities. Instead of seeking God, we seek someone or something else first. We have set up idols, whether we know it or not, in our lives.
Many of us are living our lives like it’s a biography, like life is about us. I did this, this person did that, I was mad, I was sad, I cried etc etc.
1 John 1:7-9 says:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
We have 2 options:
1) To live a biography where your story is about you and what you have accomplished, where we are the hero or;
2) To live a testimony, where your story is actually God’s story, where God is the hero
Sanctification or God making us holy or pure is a lifelong process.
But you need to repent, and repenting is acknowledging your sin. What is your secret? What is it that you’ve never talked to God about? What is it you’re too ashamed of? What is it that you’ve never told your best friend or mentor? What is the secret?
http://skitguys.com/videos/item/redeemed
It’s not an easy task to defeat sin and change the course of our lives, but luckily Revelations 12:11 tells us how to defeat the enemy.
“They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;”
Because of the blood of the Jesus, the Lamb, there is a testimony, and that testimony is that we need to talk about why the Lamb died. Our testimony can never just be, “Jesus went to the cross and died for the sins of the world.” It needs to be, “Jesus went to the cross and died for my sins, and here they are, and the blood of the Lamb was literally shed in my place, for my transgressions and my guilt, to bring my forgiveness, to remove my shame, to cleanse my filth, so that I could have a testimony, talking about the triumph of this victorious Lamb.”
What’s your testimony right now? Or is your life just a biography? “I did this, they did that, so I’m stuck here.” Or is your story actually God’s story? “I did this, they did that, Jesus died, so I have hope, I have forgiveness, I have life, and I have Christ.” And I’m not just talking in a theoretical or theological way. I’m talking in a day-to-day practical way. I’m talking about integrating the living Lamb of God who takes away sins into the hard stuff of your daily life. Not just the theological or theoretical, but the practical and the painful. That’s a testimony.
If we say that Jesus died for sin, but we don’t talk about our sin, what we’re saying is we don’t really believe that his death was for us, and we don’t believe that his resurrection is the hope for a new life with Him. I tell you my testimony, not because it would make a good book cause it won’t but because you may be in a place that’s not great, and what you don’t need is another person telling how everything is great. I think what you need is a repentant sinner to tell you that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and together with him, you can have a testimony. If the story of your life was concluded right now, would it be one you’d want to have your grandchildren read? If not, then get Jesus involved and keep writing your story, by the grace of God.
I don’t want you just to say, “Wow, (insert person here) has an interesting testimony.” I want you to have an awesome testimony of the change that Jesus makes daily and practically in the life of a person who invites him in, not just to part of life, but all of life, to the dark places, the shameful places, the lonely places and the devastated places.
If you’re not a Christian, your testimony could now include becoming a Christian, giving your sin to Jesus, accepting his forgiveness and inviting him in as the hero of your story and the writer of your testimony, as the Lord and ruler of your life. If that’s you, please come talk to me or another leader after we conclude tonight.
This is not just a talk that I’m trying to show you, but a legacy where Jesus is the writer of your testimony.
Friends, we have a choice. We can let our lives be just a biography and live day to day or we can let God use our lives as a testimony. That doesn’t mean everything is going to go just great – in fact it will probably become even harder. But I want to encourage you to live your life as a testimony.
I want to encourage you to invite God into your life, whether for the first time or whether you are just giving Him control and not holding onto what you feel is so important you can’t let go of. I encourage you to open yourself to God and let Him take control, let Him be the reason behind your choices, behind what you watch, behind what your do, behind where you go, behind what you listen to.
http://skitguys.com/videos/item/gods-chisel
Regardless of your past God wants to use you. He wants your life to be a testimony for Him. God wants to transform you into something new and that’s what your testimony is – God’s transformation of you! God wants to see His salvation in every detail of your life. He wants you to live in freedom from sin because He paid for it and transformed you from a sinner into a son or daughter. You were created to be God’s original masterpiece.
However, giving your life in complete surrender to God isn’t easy and believe me as soon as you do you’re going to want to snatch control right back up… but don’t. Leave it there, let God have the reigns in your life, let Him lead you where you are to go. If you do I promise you that you will have made one of the best decisions you can make and God will bless you for your obedience.
It’s time to trade your worry, doubt, sin and hurt in for peace, promise, forgiveness and healing. It’s time to live a testimony. Who’s with me?
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God bless!
Aaron
