    |
 |
    |
A Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy for Witnessing, pt. 9:
How to Give Your Personal Testimony
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24).
Larry Kirkpatrick ++ Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists ++ 26 July 2003
[Note: Handout here at http://www.greatcontroversy.org/pdf/sdapwit9-ho.pdf.]
Today we are going to look at the treasure. From the time I began to plan this series, the information which we are presenting today was what I longed the most to share with you. You see, there is a science as it were in sharing our personal testimony. Today we are going to share some of the inspired materials that especially help us in outlining that science.
Now one caveat. You may have on some previous occasion shared your testimony. You may hear some of the counsels we will look at today and say, “Wow, my presentation before was not really very good. I didn't do it just right.” Don't worry. Don't be embarrassed. You will not be the only one who reacts that way. You are here among friends. Rejoice if indeed you discover today that which will improve the way you present your testimony. Don't kick yourself.
Do you know that many have never even taken the risk of giving their testimony and of doing it wrong?! So you are already commended by the gospel. Better to give your testimony and let the Holy Spirit work, than to become needlessly coy and refuse to give it at all. Be bold and God will be with you. Don't be counted among the fearful or the cowardly in Revelation 21:8. When you became a Christian, you were given your share in the great commission.
What is the Personal Testimony All About?
Let us now proceed by giving thought to our opening verse from Acts 20:24:
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Paul was on his way to Rome where death awaited. But he said that none of the tumults and challenges and fearful events before him phased him. He counted his life precious, for it was a gift from God, but not so precious to rob others of the gift he had for them from God. He was determined to finish his course with joy, and to continue in service to God until the end.
He knew that he had received something, not just from some random person but from “the Lord Jesus.” He had received the gift of serving; serving up “the gospel of the grace of God.”
When we share with people, we do not just share at random. Yes, we tell our own unique story, doubtless a bit different each time. But our story is always a snapshot, a cropped-photograph from something larger. The gospel is not just “the gospel.” It does not merely hang out there on nothingness, descriptionless, powerless, and indefinable. It is the gospel of the grace of God. It is not the gospel of Jesus apart from the goodness of the Father. It is not the deep and indescribably presence of the Holy Spirit apart from the definite lines drawn by the Father, the moral etchings He has wrought into the fiber of His creation. Likewise, when we share God's goodness, it is not mere random acts of kindness unattached to a specific moral and ethical system. We share from a particular ethical foundation. The gospel as presented in Scripture is much more than foggy anecdotes or hollowish platitudes. Every time we speak of Jesus to others it should be “the gospel of the grace of God.”
Remembering Not to Be Pushy and Preachy
Don't forget the ethical concerns we previously expressed in this series. We do not manipulate others or cross legitimate boundaries. Giving your personal testimony is no mere matter of obtaining a captive audience and then pulling the trigger the same way each time. Each situation is a bit different. Each person you will share with is a bit different. Each time you share, your experience will be a bit different.
Don't plan a one-size-fits-all kind of testimony. Testimony is not a tube-sock which fits every foot. Sharing your testimony is a call to fill your mind with things old and new (Matthew 13:52) so that you may bring them forth from the storehouse in their season. It is a call to prayer for wisdom to know when and how to share (Nehemiah 1:4-11; 2:4), wisdom to understand in some measure what is the key to the listening heart.
When you are granted an opportunity to share, do not treat it lightly. People are becoming more and more insulated. We're all getting pounded more and more by technology. Spam does not just come in E-mail. It comes on the telephone, etcetera. I was spammed at my bank yesterday. I went to the counter to make a deposit, and the lady asked me, is there anything else we can do for you? No, I said, I'm set. Can we refinance your home for you? she answered. I wanted to say, What don't you understand about my saying I'm all set? But I didn't. In fact, this dialogue had about three more moves in it. But I will tell you plainly: I was spammed. I was treated like a number, like a blood-doner by a vampire. They offered me an unsolicited service which I had repeatedly indicated I was not open to.
People don't like to be spammed.
Remember what we said before: God grants people freedom to make bad choices, freedom to reject truth. You have to grant them that too. You cannot be conscience and Holy Spirit for them. You come in the power of the gospel, but you do not force-feed it to people. Remember the truth found on page 550 of Ellen G. White's Desire of Ages: “In Christ's kingdom, there is no lordly oppression, no compulsion of manner.” This is why you won't normally ask someone at their doorstep whether you can give them your personal testimony. Before you give your testimony, you should proceed with permission. You should present yourself before that in such a way that you are more likely to gain that permission.
Giving one's testimony in a mechanical manner, in a one-size-fits-all style, presenting it without a personal connection having been made, is asking for it and you to be treated like spam. Don't do it that way. But find a way to secure permission to share. We'll talk more about that in another talk because when you share your testimony, you may run close to the line of giving an unsolicited service. We don't want to cheapen something that is so precious and sabotage the very thing we are trying to do by doing it clumsily.
Warnings Concerning Testimony Pitfalls
Before we go to the detail for how we share our personal testimony, let's consider some of the warnings we are given:
Let us be careful now not to exalt men, their sayings, their doing; and let not anyone consider it a grand point to have a startling experience to relateÉ" ((Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 59).
Even those who are sincerely seeking to reform are not beyond the danger of falling. They need to be treated with great wisdom as well as tenderness. The disposition to flatter and exalt those who have been rescued from the lowest depths sometimes proves their ruin. The practice of inviting men and women to relate in public the experience of their life of sin is full of danger to both speaker and hearers. To dwell upon scenes of evil is corrupting to mind and soul. And the prominence given to the rescued ones is harmful to them. Many are led to feel that their sinful life has given them a certain distinction. A love of notoriety and a spirit of self-trust are encouraged that prove fatal to the soul. Only in distrust of self and dependence on the mercy of Christ can they stand. (Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, p. 178).
Never be obliged to tug at your memory in order to relate some past experience. What does that amount to today to you or to others? While you treasure all that is good in your past experience, you want a brighter, fresher experience as you pass along. Do not boast of what you have done in the past, but show what you can do now. Let your works and not your words praise you. Prove the promise of God that ‘those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him’ (Ps. 92:13-15). Keep your heart and mind young by continuous exercise. (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 221, 222)
There are quicksands upon which many are in danger of being swamped. It is always safe to seek for the earnest of the Spirit of God, if we do not mingle with it a force and presumption that is not heaven born. There is need of caution in all our utterances lest some poor souls of ardent temperament shall work themselves up into a zeal not according to knowledge. They will act as though it was their prerogative to use the Holy Spirit instead of letting the Holy Spirit use them, and mold and fashion them after the pattern of the divine. There is danger of running ahead of Christ. We should honor the Holy Spirit by following where it shall lead. ‘Lean not unto thine own understanding’ (Prov. 3:5). This is one danger of those who teach the truth to others. To follow where Christ leads is a safe path for our feet. His work will stand. Whatsoever God saith is truth.
But ministers who bear the last message of mercy to fallen men must utter no random words; they must not open doors whereby Satan shall find access to human minds. It is not our work to experiment, to study out something new and startling that will create excitement. Satan is watching his chance to take advantage of anything of this order that he may bring in his deceiving elements. The Holy Spirit's moving upon the human agents will keep the mind well balanced. There will not be a wrought-up excitement, to be followed by reaction.
Satan will make use of every extravagant expression to the injury, not only of the speaker, but of those who shall catch the same spirit and infuse others to their harm. Calmness and solemnity should be cultivated; the solemn truths we dwell upon will lead us to manifest deep earnestness. How can we do otherwise when weighted with the most sacred message to bear to perishing souls—weighted by the sense of the nearness of our Saviour's coming.
If we are constantly looking unto Jesus and receiving His Spirit, we shall have clear eyesight. Then we shall discern the perils on every side, and shall guard every word we utter, lest Satan find opportunity to weave in his deceptions. We do not want to have the minds of the people wrought up into an excitement. We should not encourage an expectation to see strange and wonderful things. But teach them to follow Jesus step by step. Preach Jesus Christ, in whom our hope of eternal life is centered. (Ellen G. White, Slected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 59, 60).
It is possible to relate that which has happened in connection with the past experience of the people of God, and so relate it as to make their experience assume a ludicrous and objectionable appearance. It is not fair to take certain features of the work and set them apart from the great whole. A mixture of truth and error may be presented in so doing, which our enemies would handle greatly to the disadvantage of the truth and to the hindrance of the work and cause of God. (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 342).
What Is Your Personal Testimony?
There are different kinds of testimonies. There is the basic personal testimony, and there is the giving of a testimony in church. The situation in each case may be very different. How did Ellen White describe the giving of one's testimony? “I was invited to relate my experience, and felt not only great freedom of expression, but happiness, in telling my simple story of the love of Jesus and the joy of being accepted of God” (Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, p. 41).
As we go deeper into the details of giving our testimony, let's never loose sight of this very simple and comforting definition. Giving one's testimony is “telling my simple story of the love of Jesus and the joy of being accepted of God.” It means sharing with others your personal experience of how in your case, God has shown His love to you through Jesus, and what you have tasted of His salvation. It is your personal story, but it is your personal story “of the love of Jesus” to you. It should not be all about Jesus and none about you, nor should it be all about you and none about Jesus. It is a personal testimony you are giving. Let Jesus and yourself both figure very prominently in it together.
So. How do you tell your simply story? This will help:
All who receive the gospel message into the heart will long to proclaim it. The heaven-born love of Christ must find expression. Those who have put on Christ will relate their experience, tracing step by step the leadings of the Holy Spirit—their hungering and thirsting for the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, the results of their searching of the Scriptures, their prayers, their soul agony, and the words of Christ to them, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee.’ It is unnatural for any to keep these things secret, and those who are filled with the love of Christ will not do so. In proportion as the Lord has made them the depositaries of sacred truth will be their desire that others shall receive the same blessing. And as they make known the rich treasures of God's grace, more and still more of the grace of Christ will be imparted to them. They will have the heart of a little child in its simplicity and unreserved obedience. Their souls will pant after holiness, and more and more of the treasures of truth and grace will be revealed to them to be given to the world.
The great storehouse of truth is the word of God—the written word, the book of nature, and the book of experience in God's dealing with human life. Here are the treasures from which Christ's workers are to draw. In the search after truth they are to depend upon God, not upon human intelligences, the great men whose wisdom is foolishness with God. Through His own appointed channels the Lord will impart a knowledge of Himself to every seeker. (Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 125).
Let's go to work in unpacking this. First we notice these two facts. If we have received the gospel message into our heart, we “will long to proclaim it.” Do you long to share the beauty of God's merciful dealings with yourself to others? Many of us long to do that, but sometimes we've kept back because we were fearful, or felt that we didn't know how to share. Sometimes we've traded boldness in Christ, for comfort. Easier just not to try than to try and feel we'd made a fool of ourselves. But again, what does our reference say? We “will long to proclaim it.”
Not only will we be itching to tell others, but the reason this arises is because “The heaven-born love of Christ must find expression.” Heaven-born means that this love has an origination-point not in our hearts but in God's heart. It flows out to us. It is too large for us to contain. It needs to be expressed, it needs to make its way out into the world, it needs to be presented to specific, flesh-and-blood individuals.
But we find another sobering fact here too. Who is it that has this experience? Who longs to share Jesus with others because of a heaven-born love in them? All of this arises only we are told, in “those who have put on Christ.” Giving one's personal testimony is an activity of and for the converted. They have something inside. They have something to tell. They have something from heaven that is meant to be presented on earth. They have a message that cannot be cloned or replicated. In the sharing of it, it should be adapted to fit each given situation., each unique hearer. It is not a generic message from heaven for a John or Jane Doe. It is specific sharing from one person to another, from one knowing God to another who needs to know God.
The Components of Your Testimony
Perhaps you noticed the fivefold counsel to tell these things:
- How I hungered and thirsted for the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He had sent
- The results of my searching of the Scriptures
- The results of my prayers
- My soul agony in seeking God
- The words of Christ to me, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee.’
So let's work through all this counsel. These are the very elements that each one of us should incorporate into our own personal testimony in our own way, generally in this very order. We are going to do more work with this as we go forward, we are not going to stop at just hearing it today.
Notice that we are counseled to relate our experience. To relate is to describe, tell, link, narrate, recount, connect things in thought or meaning. To experience is to undergo an activity participated in. So relating our experience is going to mean telling how our journey with Christ developed. We need to be ready too to adjust this to the opportunity we have. Sometimes we will have a five minute opportunity, sometimes a 30 minute opportunity. We need to be ready to adjust the granularity of our testimony so that we can share a more detailed and fuller explanation in some cases and a more condensed, concise retelling in others.
We also find the counsel to share by “tracing step-by-step.” Tracing is systematically recounting, with particular reference to the important parts. There is a logical, sequential manner in which we can tell others of our experience. What are we tracing step-by-step? “The leadings of the Holy Spirit.” We are not telling the story of one confused person on one confused planet in a universe without the Holy Spirit. We are telling how a personal being, God, the Holy Spirit, led us to an awareness of the broken state of the world around us, inside of us, and the salvation He desires to make live in us.
We are sharing the “leadings,” not leading. The reference is plural, the Holy Spirit, one person leading another person. God's leadings are many. Salvation is not one random event, one chance to get a bus-ride into the kingdom that we might miss and forever lose. God is working continuously to lead us ever so gently but decidedly to the place where we can choose Him. Let us keep in mind then these factors as we learn how to share our faith with others.
How I hungered and thirsted for the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He had sent. When one's spiritual hunger awakens from slumber, it makes a mighty difference. The lights are coming on. The Holy Spirit is knocking ever more loudly at our door and the veil is being withdrawn from our eyes. We begin to see the bankruptcy of all our achievements and to sense our need for something higher, greater, outside of ourselves. That we want to share in our testimony. If the one we are sharing with has any sense of the same, they may begin to hear heaven calling in the experience that we are sharing with them.
The results of my searching of the Scriptures. God wants everyone glued-down to a Bible-centered faith, a belief-system in which His authority reigns supreme. By sharing how the Bible was a central feature in our journey to God, even the texts, the Bible stories, the incidents that impressed us—in this way we will guide those who hear us to respect and desire to understand God's revelation to us through His Word.
The results of my prayers. When we were coming to God, we all prayed. What did we ask for, how did God answer? Is heaven silent, or how was God moving? God reaches through to lead us where we were at. Maybe we even prayed and asked for some things that were unwise or asked God to deal with us in a manner that is out of His standard way of working—and perhaps He did! He loves to lead us to Himself and we should not be ashamed of how He has led us. As we tell others how God has led us in prayer, it will encourage them to seek His leading through the avenue of prayer as well.
My soul agony in seeking God. What is “soul agony?” Did you plead with God to show you Himself, have you cried and rained tears down onto your pillow as you sought for God to take you and forgive you for your sins, even sins just committed? Since we live in an age of T-shirt Christianity, when things often do not run very deep, it may be that some of us have never really experienced very much of the soul agony. But it was common a century and two centuries ago. Perhaps our generation has been the deficient one and not that of our spiritual fathers. We'll do more with “soul agony” in our next presentration.
The words of Christ to me, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee.’. What did it mean to you to know that God had forgiven your sins? That you were a pardoned person on his way into eternity? When the guilt of all your sins was rolled away, what effect did this have on you? Remember, you are designed to be a sensitive moral being. Experiencing sin removal is a life-changing magnitude event. Don't tell only the facts to your hearer, but tell how it felt to know you were accepted by God.
These things will provide the outline of our personal testimony, which, in the next presentation in this series we will embark upon. Remember the truth of our quotation, that if our hearts have been moved of God in this way, we will desire that others will receive the same blessing as we have, that as the gospel of the grace of God is imparted to others, our Christian experience itself grows ever richer, that we will be going forward in acquiring the heart of a little child with its simplicity and unreserved obedience, that we will be panting after holiness. And more than all of this, that even more of God's riches will be revealed to us “to be given to the world”
The Threefold Storehouse of Truth
One other thought for us today before we finish. How does God speak to us; through the Bible only? “Through nature and revelation, through His providence, and by the influence of His Spirit, God speaks to us” (Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 93). The Written Word is the most specific, is the most definitive because it is an objective quantity. It exists outside of us and was written before us. It contains detail unavailable through other means of divine-human communication unless God specially intervenes. At the same time, it is true, and we highlight this because we are sharing our personal story of how God has loved us and guided us, that He does communicate via nature, via providence, via the influence of His Spirit. Those means are more open to interpretation and potentially misguided understanding of meaning.
Many whom we share with will be wary of our making flat statements and assertions about how God has led us. Whether rightly or wrongly, the strongest assertions may become stumbling blocks for the very people we want to take us seriously, who we want to influence for God. We want to be wise in our statements, our assertions concerning how god has led us. For this reason, we want to be careful of making statements such as “God said to me. . . ,” or “The Lord told me to. . . ” Even “God showed me” can be problematic. Now if God did speak to you audibly, of course, feel free to include that. If He gave you a vision or a dream, feel free to include that. But be wise. The details you give are up to you. Very few people truly hear an audible voice. More often than not, God's leadings are quieter, in a stiller, smaller voice.
God will speak to people through the whole testimony of your journey to Him. It's not quite the Bible, but it is a story of providential guidance and leading. Say that “I understood God to be leading me to. . .” or “I felt heaven was calling me,” etc. Remember, we can afford to be cautious as we recall our understanding of how God has led us, for His names sake and His honor's sake. If our testimony comes across to someone as the ravings of a very strange person, then it is more assertions we have made than making God responsible for our strange journey. The question is not how certain you are that God led you, and you do not need to persuade yourself. The question is, how can I tell the simple story of how God came to me, in the most comely, appealing, fair-minded way to others. Now that, God will bless.
Conclusion
We have begun to gather together today the kind of counsel we need to put together our own personal journey so that we can learn how to share it with others. None of us need to have perfect diction, exact editing, faultless expression to share. We need to share. Remember, “Under the showers of the latter rain the inventions of man, the human machinery, will at times be swept away, the boundary of man's authority will be as broken reeds, and the Holy Spirit will speak through the living, human agent, with convincing power. No one then will watch to see if the sentences are well rounded off, if the grammar is faultless. The living water will flow in God's own channels” (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 58). This is not a call to disorder, but to being led by the Holy Spirit and not being rigid about details. We mustn't be fearful of sharing and then in our silence rob the world of the testimony God would have us present to it.
I want to invite you this week, to sit down in a quiet place, and just with pencil and paper in hand, spend some thoughtful time in prayer and reflection. Pencil out the basics of your experience. You were lost. Now you are found. Connect the dots from point A to point B. Think of the strong spiritual events along the way and what they meant to you. We are beginning to map out how God has led us so that we may give thought to how we share it with others. This may be a very precious Sabbath for you! We will continue this series on a Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy for Witnessing soon.
