Can I Get A Testimony?

The last couple of weeks have been very busy.  Between meetings, school activities, and spring break, it has been difficult to get everything done.  But it has been good.  Recently, I looked back over my time in Haskell and it amazed me how active God has been in the life of our congregation.  We have ministered to others, loved our brothers and sisters through some difficult times, and remained faithful to God as his children.

One of the texts that I studied for this week's sermon is found in Jeremiah.  In this promise, God declares through the prophet that a new time is coming.  The people God called turned their back on him and his Law. They refused to allow the Law to penetrate their hearts.  Because of their unfaithfulness their hearts were as stone cold as the tablets that the 10 Commandments were written on.

So God's promise is of a new covenant.  Through that covenant God says, "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."  Of course, this promise was fulfilled through the only Son of God, Jesus Christ.  He came and taught, modeled, and witnessed to the love of God that inspires and ignites people to go forth and to testify to the amazing transformative love that comes to people through the Holy Spirit.

In the early days of Methodism, it was common for there to be a testimony time during the weekly worship service.  One of the questions the Methodists were asked in their small groups was "How goes it with your soul."  Part of the meaning behind that was how have you seen God active in your life recently.  These people were willing to get up in front of others and tell how God had been putting his law within them.  They were excited about God writing his law on their hearts.

For some reason we have lost this aspect of our history in our church.  Most churches no longer allow a regular time of testimony from the people and most people are hesitant to get up and testify about how God has been active in their life.  Maybe we are afraid of what the Holy Spirit will do in our midst.  Perhaps we don't want to lose control of the service.  It could be that we are afraid of becoming vulnerable in front of others.  But whatever the reason, we simply don't do it much anymore.

But this past week in our Methodist Beliefs class, several of the ones who attend the class volunteered to give a testimony of God's activity in their life.  As their pastor, I sat back and listened with great pleasure to my flock's stories.  There were some tears and there were some shaking voices, but everyone simply sat and listened.  When the testimony was over, there were "amens" and many smiles around the table.  I was truly moved and blessed during our time of sharing.

One of the keys to evangelism and faith development is the testimony.  People can doubt Scripture.  People can refuse to believe in God.  People can even make fun of us for our beliefs.  But the one thing they cannot do is discount our testimony.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that God has been active, caring, and encouraging.  I know what he has done in my life and how he has transformed me from a hate-filled, repugnant, know-it-all.  I know where he continues to work in my life.  And I know that God's love has penetrated my heart.

In St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he talks about ministers.  He states, "We are fools for the sake of Christ..."  I have learned that he is describing me.  I am a fool for the sake of Christ.  But I've also learned something else.  I'd rather be a fool for the sake of Christ than to be the person I was before God's love penetrated my evil heart.

So I encourage you to go forth and tell your story.  Testify to God's activity in your life.  Don't be afraid of being honest with people.  Be truthful.  Be genuine.  But most importantly, testify to God's love for you and his desire to work in the lives of everyone.  Until next time...





Print Page

Take Up Your Cross

This week we continue our Lenten journey.  Our Scripture focus is found in the gospel of St. Mark where Jesus plainly teaches the crowd and his disciples the implications of being his followers.  In opposition to many contemporary sermons on prosperity and gaining a worry-free life once you sign up for Christianity; Jesus tells the reality of being his disciple.

He tells them "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it"--8:34-35.  That doesn't sound much like fun and games to me.

But Jesus was simply being honest with them.  The life of a Christ follower is not always easy.  In fact, it can be down right hard.  It's not easy to stand against the pressures of a society that wants you to look, think, and act a certain way when our Lord and master says we cannot.  Its not easy to resist temptations to compromise our beliefs and faith.  Its not easy to continually ask the Holy Spirit to examine us and to prune away the unfruitful segments of our life.

One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was to say yes to God.  When he called me into the ministry I was living a life in a town I had chosen to live in.  I owned a home that I wanted to own.  My children went to the school that I wanted them to attend.  I was a member of a church I loved.  But that all changed.  It had to.

You see, what Jesus was saying is that our Christian walk is not about us.  It is about a relationship with the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.  He was saying that salvation is not some future promise.  Our salvation compels us to do the things we see Jesus do.  In this passage, we hear the words of Christ and we realize that Christian living is about sacrifice, self-denial, and bearing a burden for another.

Desert Father praying.

While I was preparing for this week's message to my church, I came across a wonderful story that I had not heard before.  It's the story of a man named St. Telemachus.  Sometime in the late fourth or early fifth century a monk named Telemachus was fed up with the church.  Like many others, he decided to traverse into the desert to live away from the hypocrisy of the church around him.  One day while he was in the middle of his daily prayers he felt convicted that he was being selfish.  He realized that instead of loving God that he was simply living his life how he wanted to.

So prompted by the Holy Spirit, he began to walk to Rome.  He made his way across the miles from where he had been living to the Imperial City.  When he got there, he heard a great cry from the Colosseum.  He followed the shouts until he reached the arena.  Much to his horror, there in the middle of this "Christian" city was a fight to the death.  What Telemachus realized was that here were men in the midst of fighting who Jesus Christ had died for.  And worse yet, here were men and women shouting for their deaths.  He jumped over the barrier and began to plead with the gladiators to stop fighting.

Of course, the crowd was furious.  They began to shout for him to move so they could watch the death battle.  He refused.  The crowd then began to throw stones at him so that the games could continue.  After they had killed him, they realized what had happened.  The crowd was convicted of their actions and the games came to a sudden stop.  Shortly after that episode, the games were permanently cancelled.

St. Telemachus intervening in the games.   Foxe's Book of Martyrs

I found this story to be fascinating.  Here was this man who was called forth from God to go into the world to love humanity.  When he did, he was killed for it.  Because of his death, others were saved and people turned away from sin.  It sounds a lot like St. Telemachus took up his cross.  He truly lived the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That is the call of every true follower of Christ.  Until next time...




Print Page