SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good evening, church family.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all did better for me than him.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: I was good.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's great to be able to laugh and have a great spirit in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for uh just your reception this morning and all week long.
SPEAKER_01: What an incredible privilege it has been to be here.
SPEAKER_01: And just a great service this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We had church this morning, didn't we?
SPEAKER_01: The choir and the worship in all of you was incredible.
SPEAKER_01: I would tell my church, our church in Cabot and in East Side all the time that it takes everyone to make a service like that.
SPEAKER_01: You you have to be open and engaged and you have to be prayed up and participating, and the Holy Spirit have free reign to move.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you for who you were and how you worshiped and joined in today.
SPEAKER_01: And thanks for having us back tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there aren't a lot of churches that let me back a second time, so thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: It is a blessing to be here.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray and then we'll get started.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we do thank you for a great day in your house, and we pray that you are taking great pleasure in seeing your children come to your house in your name.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we thank you for the spirit that you brought into the church and what a blessing and encouragement it is to the church at this time.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that you'll just continue to give that spirit of joy and excitement and openness to what you have to teach us and how you want to use us in your plan.
SPEAKER_01: As we come to your word tonight, we ask that you be our teacher, and you putty all the cracks of the things that I mess up, that the Holy Spirit speak clearly in the lives and directly to all the folks that are here tonight.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we thank you for your word, which is living and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword.
SPEAKER_01: It speaks to our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: So speak to us tonight.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' saving name we pray, and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: I was in Mark chapter 2 this morning, and so I want to be in Mark chapter 5 tonight, and I want to talk to you about something that is very, very dear to my heart.
SPEAKER_01: It is a major passion for me as a pastor, both to encourage you and a part of our evangelism strategy.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, when we talked about having our focus on Jesus so that we could see him as he is, we saw his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And his purpose is to reach those who are lost, those who are headed to hell, and to redeem them and save them through his grace and his mercy and his shed blood on the cross and his conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: So we see another example of that, as my wife teaches me to say, episode of that in the life of Jesus here in Mark chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me just uh call your attention to something here on Mark chapter 4, verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he's been preaching, he's been doing stuff on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and uh, and then he uh is going to give an instruction here, and I just want to set up what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: Here he says in verse 35, on that day when evening had come, he told them, Let's cross over to the other side of the sea.
SPEAKER_01: And so you have a story there where he goes on the other side, and there's winds and waves and storm, and there's another lesson in that passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: But what you see is in verse 1 of chapter 5, they came to the other side of the sea.
SPEAKER_01: And so when God has a plan, he accomplishes that plan.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus sets out to do something, he is faithful to complete that.
SPEAKER_01: And what I also want you to see, I think it gives us some context here, that God has a purpose in directing Jesus in this mission.
SPEAKER_01: That he is going on his purpose and in his mission, and we're going to see in a moment where he leads a man to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been in church any amount of time, you've heard this story.
SPEAKER_01: And he saves him to put him on task.
SPEAKER_01: He gives him an incredible salvation testimony, and then he instructs him to use his salvation testimony to advance the gospel in that area where he's from.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what I want to talk to you about tonight is the power of your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: The power of your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I've grown up in church my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: I shared a little bit of my salvation testimony this morning, being raised in church and family and all that.
SPEAKER_01: There are lots of different salvation testimonies, and I said this morning, all of them are incredible.
SPEAKER_01: However, you came to meet Jesus, if you have given your life to him and he is your Lord and Savior, it is an incredibly powerful and wonderful thing, your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it cost Jesus, his shed blood on the cross to save you.
SPEAKER_01: And so the fact that you're saved and you know him as your savior, meant he died for your sins.
SPEAKER_01: It is a powerful thing because he conquered death and sin to accomplish salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And the fact that you and I have a salvation testimony means that it is filled with that eternal supernatural power that we talked about this morning.
SPEAKER_01: When you get saved, man, you get a new name, you get a new heart.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says you're a new creation, you get a new spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: You are adopted by a new father into a new family, never to be disinherited.
SPEAKER_01: You're given a new mission in life, a new heart, a new passion, and you are given a new eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And so it is an incredible thing, your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And I think so many times we don't realize the power and the impact of sharing your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, sometimes I'll hear folks say this.
SPEAKER_01: They'll have a testimony like mine and say, Oh, Pastor Ray, my testimony is kind of boring.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just, you know, I grew up in church and just, you know, when it all made sense, I got saved, and I've just been in church, and you know, I just don't have that great, I mean, it's just not that great a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Hogwash.
SPEAKER_01: It is an incredibly, supernaturally, eternally significant, powerful thing that you were saved.
SPEAKER_01: I was on a mission trip down in Argentina a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01: It was one of my first mission trips, and I was still learning some of the humor of missionaries and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And so we uh we we were they uh the the team uh that was local, I was one of the pastors and head of the trip from our church at home, and we were working with missionaries and group of pastors, and we were planting churches, and they were taking us doing evangelism things, and these guys came and said, Listen, we have an opportunity for you guys to go speak to a high school, and so we want you to come do that.
SPEAKER_01: So the missionary, one of our IMB missionaries, I joined up with him and we head off, and he's my translator.
SPEAKER_01: We get in there, and we're speaking in this high school class, and it's kind of, you know, and high school kids and they're sort of doing a QA and wrestling, and then I got a chance to share Jesus with them.
SPEAKER_01: I shared my testimony, and we kind of did that.
SPEAKER_01: We came out and I said, I asked the missionary, I said, okay, how did that go?
SPEAKER_01: You knew what they were saying.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Oh, Pastor Greg, your testimony was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: They love that.
SPEAKER_01: And that part where you were on death row and you got saved dramatically, man, lots of kids got saved.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you don't have you you don't have to have some seemingly dramatic story.
SPEAKER_01: Some are, some aren't.
SPEAKER_01: But what you have is a life change by the supernatural, eternity-changing action of Jesus when he redeems us and makes us his own.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I want you to see in this story.
SPEAKER_01: So it has some drama in it, but I don't want you, I want you to understand you don't have to have the drama of this.
SPEAKER_01: What I want you to see is the instruction that Jesus gives about the power of our testimony.
SPEAKER_01: So we find here in Mark chapter 5, verse 1, where he says, They came together to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Garosenes.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as Jesus had gotten out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I this is I I I would get bogged down.
SPEAKER_01: I could preach a long time on all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of my favorite pictures right here.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, his holiness, his power, his magnificence, just stepping on the shore causes these demons to tremble and freak.
SPEAKER_01: Is it incredible?
SPEAKER_01: Just the very presence of Jesus is an incredible thing.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we want to focus on him and we want to give him free reign so his presence can do the work that he does.
SPEAKER_01: So it says this man, they came, uh man with an unclean spirit, came out of the tombs and met him, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: He lived in the tombs.
SPEAKER_01: No one was able to restrain him anymore, even with chains, because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had snapped off the chains and smashed the shackles.
SPEAKER_01: No one was strong enough to subdue him.
SPEAKER_01: And always, night and day, he was crying out among the tombs and in the mountains and cutting himself with stones.
SPEAKER_01: When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him, and he cried out with a loud voice, What do you have to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?
SPEAKER_01: I beg you before God, don't torment me.
SPEAKER_01: For Jesus had told him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
SPEAKER_01: What is your name?
SPEAKER_01: He asked him.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Legion, he answered him, because we are many.
SPEAKER_01: And he kept begging Jesus not to send them out of the region.
SPEAKER_01: Now large, a large herd of pigs was there feeding on the hillside.
SPEAKER_01: And the day the demons begged him, send us to the pigs so that we may enter them.
SPEAKER_01: And he gave them permission.
SPEAKER_01: Then the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.
SPEAKER_01: And I learned a long time ago that is not an appropriate place for razorback jokes.
SPEAKER_01: See, I've been in Arkansas for a long time, I know.
SPEAKER_01: The men who tended them ran off and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened.
SPEAKER_01: They came to Jesus and they saw this man who had been demon-possessed with all of this stuff going on.
SPEAKER_01: He is sitting there dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, no kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine the wailing and the all that goes on, and you hear that every night, and this is the culture where you are, and you've got all that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know which is more scary, what happened with all the demons and the pigs and all that, or to come and to see this guy that they couldn't even shackle sitting there looking like he was in church.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just, it just, they were just totally amazed at all of it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16, uh, the eyewitnesses described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs, and they began to beg Jesus to leave their region.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is one of the most reasonable pictures in Scripture right here.
SPEAKER_01: As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed kept begging Jesus to go with him.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, isn't that it wouldn't you imagine?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can just see that right there.
SPEAKER_01: This man and the horror of living and all of that sort of stuff, and to be freed from that kind of deal, and to have Jesus have done that, and then to have his first normal conversation in however long that had been, to sit there like a man with another man and the man who had who had done all that for him, Jesus, to sit there and do that.
SPEAKER_01: And then for Jesus to leave, I mean, I want to go with him.
SPEAKER_01: I want to go with him.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be with the one who saved me.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be with the one who freed me.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be with the one who has that supernatural power that he took care of these demons and all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But as we saw this morning, the supernatural power of Jesus is aimed at more than just our circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: But it is aimed eternally and the advance of the gospel, and God puts his thumbprint on moments and uses them to show his power and who he is for the purpose of advancing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And I just believe in love.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told him this, but Jesus said, No, I'm not going to let you come.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he told the man go back to your own people, report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.
SPEAKER_01: So he went out and he began to proclaim in all of these towns around there, that's what that is, how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.
SPEAKER_01: You see that right there?
SPEAKER_01: The supernatural power of Jesus works in this man's life in a way greater than even all this demon stuff to give him a salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And then he instructs this man, I've saved you to go back into your town.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who knows who you are, everyone who knows what you did, everyone who went to high school with you, every, you know, whatever that went on in life, and all that stuff, I want you to go back and I want you to tell them how God has worked in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Because you see, Jesus later on tells his disciples, look, greater works than I do, you will do.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: That means more and more and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus trains us and empowers us and supernaturally creates in us this incredible salvation testimony that is a powerful message.
SPEAKER_01: Man, we knew you.
SPEAKER_01: How what happened to you?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus saved me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad you asked.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you how it happened.
SPEAKER_01: And every one of us has been given that salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And what I want to encourage you tonight with is for you to realize the power of your salvation testimony, and I want to encourage and even challenge you a little bit to begin to prepare how to share your testimony and to find someone to share your salvation testimony with.
SPEAKER_01: My dad taught 52 consecutive years at Bellevue, and I told some of the QA things the other day.
SPEAKER_01: My dad taught middle school boys for 35 years.
SPEAKER_01: I tell people all the time that either makes you Jesus-like or crazy or maybe a little of both, right?
SPEAKER_01: But he loved it and he did that.
SPEAKER_01: And since I was raised in church, I was raised in all the kids' ministries and vacation Bible school and all of that, and I remember lots of times.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is not a negative story if you've done this, so just work with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I can remember all throughout church life where somebody would do this.
SPEAKER_01: They would say, Greg, we want you to know that Jesus loves you individually.
SPEAKER_01: And so they would take John 3.16 and they would teach it to us this way, and I'm sure some of you have done that.
SPEAKER_01: I've done this.
SPEAKER_01: We say, For God so loved, and then you put your name in there.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody, y'all with me who've done this?
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved Greg that he gave his only son.
SPEAKER_01: Greg, believes in him, Greg will never perish, and Greg will have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not being negative, but again, it's not a negative story, that's not what it is.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes the law of unintended consequences that we don't mean to do in church is we tend to inadvertently communicate that your salvation is about you.
SPEAKER_01: And that when you got saved, man, that was the end of the journey, and yay, and everything's great, and we got to move to somebody else, and you're all good.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, again, the fact that our testimony caught Jesus has shed blood on the cross means that our testimony is not ours.
SPEAKER_01: Now you think about this story for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is over here and he's doing all this, and he says, We're going to the other side.
SPEAKER_01: Why is he going to the other side?
SPEAKER_01: Because he's got a mission over there.
SPEAKER_01: He is going to create an evangelist in those areas.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, We're getting in the boat, fellas, and we're going over there, and they head over there, and storms and all kinds of stuff get in the way, trying to interrupt this pattern and trying to interrupt this mission over there, and Jesus is not going to let it happen because he's got a plan over there, and he's going to advance the gospel over there, and he's got a man he's going to save and create a testimony in his life so that he can go and do that.
SPEAKER_01: And nothing stops Jesus from his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And they land and he gets there and he saves this man and then he tells him, Look, I know I appreciate your love for me, and I did it because I love you, but listen, here is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I do not want you to follow me and just sit under the shadow of whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to go tell everybody what I did for you.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to go tell everyone what God's mercy has done in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Later on in this same book of Mark, Jesus is doing the same thing, and he calls his followers together and he puts them into groups of two and he sends them out to go share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he is training them, you've got to go out and share.
SPEAKER_01: And a part of that training, I have no doubt, was how they got saved and why they're being sent out there.
SPEAKER_01: You see, our testimony is not ours, it is Jesus' testimony about what he's done for us.
SPEAKER_01: When we sing Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER_01: That means it is now his life.
SPEAKER_01: It is now his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, just peek over at 1 Timothy chapter 1 for me.
SPEAKER_01: And let me just show you an amazing thought in Scripture here.
SPEAKER_01: In 1 Timothy, this is one of the letters that Paul writes to Timothy as a young pastor.
SPEAKER_01: He is, he calls him one of his sons in the ministry, and he is mentoring him as a pastor, and he's encouraging him, and he writes in this letter.
SPEAKER_01: And in this letter, Paul gives again his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing how many times we read in Scripture Paul sharing his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: It happens multiple times.
SPEAKER_01: And I just know that Paul was wired into his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says in verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
SPEAKER_01: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's saying, listen, y'all listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's telling them.
SPEAKER_01: Timothy, son, you listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what I'm about to tell you.
SPEAKER_01: He probably wrote it in bigger letters.
SPEAKER_01: If it was my dad, he'd be going, Greg, listen to me, son.
SPEAKER_01: This is worthy of all acceptance.
SPEAKER_01: And the message that is trustworthy and worthy of all acceptance is Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says: I'm the worst of them.
SPEAKER_01: But I, Paul, received mercy for this, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty shocking statement when you think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, for this reason, he received mercy.
SPEAKER_01: God saved him for this reason.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes as preachers, when we give invitations, we don't mean to, but we confuse the matter a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: We'll give an invitation, we'll say, you come to Jesus and Jesus will fix your marriage, or you come to Jesus and Jesus will break these additions, or you come to Jesus and He'll stab those wounds, or you come to Jesus and He'll give you joy when your heart has been broken, and all those things are true, but those are all byproducts.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, you come to Jesus and He's going to save you because He's going to send you back into your family as an example that Jesus saves.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to put you back into your school students as an example that Jesus saves.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to put you back in the place where you work because he wants you to be an example where Jesus saves.
SPEAKER_01: You may be an accountant.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to send you back in that accounting firm so other people can see how Jesus does that work.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a lawyer, if you are a contractor, if you're an electrician, you're a plumber, you're a school teacher, if you're a basketball player, if you're a cheerleader, if you're in the band, whatever it is that you do, God is going to put you back into that place and you say, Look, nobody's going to believe me when I tell them, Pastor Greg.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard me say this, they've heard me do that, they've seen me do this, they've seen me do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly why Jesus puts you back in there.
SPEAKER_01: Because he wants people to see the difference and the change.
SPEAKER_01: He wants people to see, and they say, Man, I didn't think Greg would ever change in his life.
SPEAKER_01: What is going on right there?
SPEAKER_01: As an example to those who would receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You see, our testimony is not ours.
SPEAKER_01: When you get saved, you are literally grafted into the flow and the advance of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And when this man was saved, the whole reason Jesus went through that storm and everything else and had a plan to get there is because he had a plan for this man's life greater than he could have ever imagined.
SPEAKER_01: And he was going to use him for ministry and evangelism, and his primary tool was his salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Man, our testimonies, they are eternally powerful and special.
SPEAKER_01: Your testimony, Jesus has given that to you and already supernaturally equipped you to be a soul winner, to give him glory, and to lead others to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: All we've got to do is pick up that tool and use it.
SPEAKER_01: Awesome to see the power of that.
SPEAKER_01: When I go on mission trips, when I'm planning those mission trips and working through that, I tell everybody very clearly, now look, I'm not going on this mission trip to be a minister.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going on this mission trip to be your mentor.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not preaching, you're preaching.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not knocking on doors, you're knocking on doors.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing prayer walking.
SPEAKER_01: I'm showing you how to do it and you're doing it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm over there, man.
SPEAKER_01: If we're in Central America, I'm going to find the best tamales that they make there, that, you know, all that.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing the ministry, and they laugh and I tell them, but we spend a lot of time prepping them for their testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: We had a few years ago in Cabot, we were on a mission trip.
SPEAKER_01: We were in Guatemala and had a team.
SPEAKER_01: And so the first day, and we're going door to door, and we're going to invite them to revival services, and we're doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Make a long story short, they I'm in a group, a couple other people in a group.
SPEAKER_01: We get in this group, and there's about five or six of us.
SPEAKER_01: And um, and there's a young lady who's a junior high student.
SPEAKER_01: And so she all of a sudden, great junior high student, loves Jesus, great family.
SPEAKER_01: I'm awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this shocked me.
SPEAKER_01: She comes to me in a panic.
SPEAKER_01: She says, Pastor Ray, I can't, I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: What can't you do?
SPEAKER_01: She said, I can't, I can't share my testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You, you, you're good at this.
SPEAKER_01: You prep you practice with me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you it's you got this.
SPEAKER_01: No, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just one of those moments in that deal where you just, and she just panic.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Listen, went through all this supernatural and power and eternal.
SPEAKER_01: I can't I can't I can't do it again.
SPEAKER_01: I said, okay, here's what we'll do.
SPEAKER_01: I will share mine, and you stand there right with me, and you pray for me, and I'll do it, show you, we'll work, break the ice together.
SPEAKER_01: And then, and then you share yours, and I'll stand there right with you, and I'll pray with you and work through this.
SPEAKER_01: Can you do that with me?
SPEAKER_01: Can we how about we do this to this together?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, maybe I can.
SPEAKER_01: So she said, maybe I can't say, Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm praying, Lord, this is where all that stuff I'm telling them about the power of their testimony stuff, like you gotta show out, or I'm gonna look bad.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to really do a thing here.
SPEAKER_01: So we go to the first house, and uh, as you read in my ministry statement, all that, I had a secular career before I was called to ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I was an attorney and all that.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things I did as attorney, our firm represented the city of Memphis in employment matters.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I the partner that I work for, and I worked on a team, and we were the adjunct city of Memphis, all that.
SPEAKER_01: So we get there, we knock on the door, and somebody starts, a translator starts, lady comes to the door, and all that.
SPEAKER_01: She's upset.
SPEAKER_01: She's not at us, just she's upset, life is difficult, all that going.
SPEAKER_01: They're talking in Spanish, I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: They turn to us and they say, Here's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: Her husband is the mayor.
SPEAKER_01: And he is in a major city council meeting, and they're just really worried about him, and they're distracted and not sure, and they don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And they look at me and what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: And she's looking at me like, What are you doing, Pastor Greg?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Watch this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the power of God in your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And I turn, I said, Please translate.
SPEAKER_01: I said, uh, I'm a pastor with a group, but I also used to practice law.
SPEAKER_01: I'm an attorney, and I actually work for the city and where uh we live, and I worked and represented the mayor, and I've been in meetings with the mayor, and I understand the type of meeting that your husband is in, and I would really like to pray for him if you would give me the honor to do that, because I know how to pray for him because I've actually been in meetings just like the one she's in.
SPEAKER_01: Man, she came apart, she was excited, please, she hugs, we pray, she ushers us in, we go in the house, we're able to lead her to the Lord, we're able to lead her mother to the Lord, and we're able to lead a servant in the house to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so we walked out of the house and everybody's all pumped, and and and the young lady, seventh grader, she's all ugh.
SPEAKER_01: I said, okay, don't be dancing because you're going at the next house.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Lord, I need you to know, I need to know how you do this.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to have a plan.
SPEAKER_01: We're trying to teach people how to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Power of this.
SPEAKER_01: We go to the next house.
SPEAKER_01: It's uh we're in a third world country, Central America, and the way the houses are, and there's this little path and these bushes, and you go back to this gate, and there's this thing there, so we go back there, we knock on the gate, and I'm not kidding you, this is the Lord doing this.
SPEAKER_01: Man, a seventh-grade boy comes to the gate, lets us in.
SPEAKER_01: And then we start to meet him, we talk to him, and the young lady that I'm with, seventh grade girl, looks at him and says, Pastor Greg, I got this.
SPEAKER_01: And she walks up to the gate and she says, I'm so and so, and he says, I'm so-and-so, and they translate to him, they do this deal, and she says, I'm a seventh grader, and he says, I'm a seventh grader, and she says, What do you like to do in school?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I want to be a journalist, and she says, I want to be a journalist.
SPEAKER_01: I'm studying for journalism.
SPEAKER_01: What else do you like to do?
SPEAKER_01: He says, I love music, and she says, I love music, and I like this thing, and she dives into her testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Young man gives his uh life to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that little girl comes away with this idea.
SPEAKER_01: As a seventh grade girl raised in a Christian home with nothing dramatic in it, my testimony relates directly to other people on this world that need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: God has supernatural, empowered me, and given me the opportunity to share my testimony, and it is not mine to hide, it is his to use, and if I will surrender that to him, he will graft me in the advance of the gospel and use me to lead people to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And God wants to do that with your testimony as well.
SPEAKER_01: Read the scripture again in Mark chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: It says that the man went and shared his testimony in verse 20, and they were all amazed.
SPEAKER_01: It is powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Not the demon part, the Jesus part.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did not tell him to share the demon part.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You tell him how much God has done for you and you and how he has shown you mercy.
SPEAKER_01: So if the first part is your testimony is not yours, it is his for a purpose, then let's talk about what your testimony is.
SPEAKER_01: It's very simple.
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
SPEAKER_01: This is who I used to be before I met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is how I met Jesus, and this is what he's done in my life now.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing earth-shattering.
SPEAKER_01: There's probably half a dozen evangelism training deals that have that same kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is we don't use them enough because we don't really own and understand the power of our testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to get out a piece of paper when you get home tonight, and I want you to pray over it, and I want you to start writing your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to write down this is who I was before I met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be dramatic.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to list all kinds of terrible sins or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: Just who you were.
SPEAKER_01: Who you were is who you were.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew who you were, and he saved you.
SPEAKER_01: He found you and saved you where you were.
SPEAKER_01: This is who I was.
SPEAKER_01: This is how I met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so what you need to do is describe the method of how you met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Who told you about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: How did he enter into your life?
SPEAKER_01: How did you understand you were a sinner?
SPEAKER_01: How did you understand Jesus loved you so much that he died on the cross to pay the price for your sin?
SPEAKER_01: Where were you when you said, Lord, I want to give my life to you because you gave your life for me?
SPEAKER_01: Or, Lord, please forgive me of my sin, or whatever it was, however it happened in your life.
SPEAKER_01: What was it?
SPEAKER_01: How did you meet Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Write it down, write it out, prepare it.
SPEAKER_01: That is the key because in that moment, that is how you're going to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And then this is what he's done in my life afterwards.
SPEAKER_01: We all have things that we are grateful for the mercy that God has shown us.
SPEAKER_01: Incredible truth that Jesus saved us from our sins.
SPEAKER_01: I promise you, several things will happen when you begin to do that.
SPEAKER_01: You'll begin to realize things, and God will begin to speak to you, and you'll have moments of worship where you will be so grateful as you rehearse back in your life your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm telling you, you'll draw close to the Lord, He'll speak to your heart.
SPEAKER_01: You'll have moments of revival in your life as you walk through.
SPEAKER_01: This is who I was, and this is how I met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When you begin to write down how I met Jesus and what that means to you and how that happened, you're going to be grateful for Sunday school teachers who taught you about Jesus, or that grandmother who prayed you into the family of God, or that person who took you under the wing, or those people that worked on the bus ministry at church, and you got on that bus every week, and someone loved you and led you to Jesus, or you came into the youth group and you were chasing girls, or you were chasing boys, and somehow Jesus caught you.
SPEAKER_01: All those testimonies, you work back through that, you're gonna realize how awesome our Savior is.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have a whole nother round of worship and excitement.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have a whole nother understanding of how incredible Jesus is, and there's going to stir in you supernaturally because you can't help it a desire to share with somebody what Jesus has done in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the point.
SPEAKER_01: It is not our testimony, it is Jesus' testimony of what he did in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Just when Jesus tells this guy right here, he says, Listen, you show him how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.
SPEAKER_01: Our testimony is Jesus' testimony.
SPEAKER_01: It's what he's done in our lives, it's how he led us to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where the power is in that moment.
SPEAKER_01: It does not matter how you got there necessarily.
SPEAKER_01: What matters is that you are there because Jesus saved you.
SPEAKER_01: And you can now begin to tell people about the incredible mercy of God.
SPEAKER_01: And then you write down something in your life, what God has done, what he's doing now, a moment where he worked and was faithful.
SPEAKER_01: This can be a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01: This is probably going to be a long list of how God has shown us mercy.
SPEAKER_01: But when you sit down and you begin to talk to someone and God puts somebody in front of you to share your testimony, man, you're going to think, well, this piece fits right there.
SPEAKER_01: They've got this question, they've got this experience, they've got this struggle, they've got this doubt.
SPEAKER_01: They've been through this journey.
SPEAKER_01: They don't think Jesus can save them from what they did, or they don't think they need Jesus because of whatever.
SPEAKER_01: And when you talk about the mercy of God, he's going to say, hey, number one, bullet point number four, and bullet point number seven.
SPEAKER_01: That's the one you need to share with that person.
SPEAKER_01: And you begin to understand again the magnitude of the supernatural power of Jesus that is in your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And you know then that you are able to share your faith.
SPEAKER_01: And you're able to lead people to Christ because of the supernatural power of your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, brothers and sisters in Christ, we we need to understand what Jesus did in your life, it is an eternally incredible, powerful, magnificent thing.
SPEAKER_01: And we cannot sit on that report.
SPEAKER_01: We got to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I'm going to challenge you a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: I know Matt and the staff and leaders have done a great job getting you ready for Easter and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be awesome to have Eric here.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all love Eric, man.
SPEAKER_01: He's an incredible guy, great man of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be awesome.
SPEAKER_01: But as you invite people to church, if I may presume on that, what I'm going to ask you to do is this.
SPEAKER_01: As you pray for that person you're going to invite to church, I'm going to ask you to pray for an opportunity to share your testimony in that part.
SPEAKER_01: What I'd also like you to do is when you get your testimony down, I want you to find somebody and I want you to practice it on them.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to get comfortable sharing it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe your wife, your husband, whoever, maybe a prayer partner, fellas, maybe the guys you drink coffee with.
SPEAKER_01: I hadn't figured out where that is, but there's always some old rat hole diner that's been there 947 years and the coffee pot's black, whether it's got coffee in it or not, and you dudes are over there drinking coffee and eating greasy biscuits and all that deal, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: Man, you guys are over there, you've told the same fish story for 400 years, right?
SPEAKER_01: Take one time, skip the fish story, and tell each other how you got saved.
SPEAKER_01: Practice your salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I did a college retreat a couple of years ago for one of our BCMs here in Arkansas, one of our universities.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to tell this because we talked about university ministry this morning, and this is an incredible way to share with college students.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're doing this retreat, and so I worked through something like this with them.
SPEAKER_01: I took, I think, the woman at the well or something, and I'm walking through them with the testimony because I believe deeply in this.
SPEAKER_01: This is a part of my life and passion sharing testimonies and getting people to share their testimonies and embracing their testimonies and using our testimonies on mission trips with people that you share with and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And so here we go on this evening, and we set that deal, and I tell them, and here, this is who I was before I met Jesus, and this is how I met Jesus, and this is what he's done my life afterwards.
SPEAKER_01: And then I made them all circle up in twos, and I gave them ten minutes to figure out their testimony, and then I made them practice right there.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what happens: I get a call after the weekend's over.
SPEAKER_01: Three of those kids have gotten saved.
SPEAKER_01: I get a call a few days later, four of those other kids had gone into their campus, set somebody down, shared their testimony with them, and led them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: People get saved when we tell them what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: When you go back to your people, as Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: When you go back to your home, when you go back to your workplace, when you go back to your school, when you go back to your family, and you report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has admir and how He has had mercy on you, man, people get saved.
SPEAKER_01: Because you have been supernaturally empowered with an incredible testimony of God's grace and salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: You find somebody to practice on.
SPEAKER_01: Make them sit there.
SPEAKER_01: Look, if you call your buddy you drink coffee with, and he's, you know, hey, I that preachers, they do all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You tell them, look, if you don't sit here and listen to my testimony for five minutes, I'm calling Pastor Greg, and that guy's crazy enough to come get you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we can come up with some some enforcers in the deacon body to help us do that, right?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you what, it's gonna amaze you what happens.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna amaze you what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Because what did Paul say?
SPEAKER_01: Paul said, I was saved for this reason as an example to those who will accept Christ as their savior.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And what is the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Man, I was a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: I was on my way to hell, and I discovered that Jesus loved me so much.
SPEAKER_01: He stepped out of heaven and he died on the cross to pay the price for my sins, and he rose again, conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, this is how I met Jesus and learned that out, and I want to share that with you, and I want you to know the same Jesus that I know.
SPEAKER_01: You would be amazed what God will do when we do that.
SPEAKER_01: If you pray for someone and you pray and ask God to give you an opportunity to share your testimony, and then you share your testimony, people will get saved.
SPEAKER_01: A couple of years ago, I did another singles retreat.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about me, this is about people being faithful and power of testimonies, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We did a thing like this, and I walk them through testimonies, and we did all that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm on a singles retreat at uh the Billy Graham thing in North Carolina.
SPEAKER_01: A friend of mine, we're doing that.
SPEAKER_01: We do this on Friday night, we've got the whole thing, and uh, and then we go and I go back to my room and they do whatever they do, and they're fires and s'mores and whatever and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I go back to it, I get up the next morning, I come into the breakfast room, and like everybody has lost their minds.
SPEAKER_01: They're all, you know, this and they're crazy, and they're I'm like, what is going on with people?
SPEAKER_01: And I say, have they told you about last night yet?
SPEAKER_01: Have they told you about no?
SPEAKER_01: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Have they told you about no?
SPEAKER_01: And they get wearing me out.
SPEAKER_01: So we go in for the Saturday morning session, they're like, we just gotta tell you what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, somebody please tell me what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what happened: we're in these cabins and on the back deck of the cabin, and don't panic when I tell you the story, okay?
SPEAKER_01: There's a hot tub on the back of the cabin, right?
SPEAKER_01: So some of y'all got no.
SPEAKER_01: They get eight or nine singles in one of the cabins.
SPEAKER_01: They're in this hot tub and they're sitting there talking and they're sharing.
SPEAKER_01: It's all good, they're whatever.
SPEAKER_01: They did it, and then somebody says, Hey, Pastor Greg told us to share our testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to practice.
SPEAKER_01: So here I go.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna share my testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And so that person shares their testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And they get finished, and the one sitting next to them, person number two, they go, Okay, well, why not?
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'll share my testimony.
SPEAKER_01: So they share the testimony, and they poke the next person to them, the third one does it, they poke the person who's fourth, and then there's silence.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're on a church group retreat, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Silence.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to if you don't want to know?
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how I ever met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I never met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I love y'all, I love church, I love doing it, but I I've never trusted Christ as my Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them says, hey, why don't we do that right now?
SPEAKER_01: And this will be your testimony in a hot tub.
SPEAKER_01: And right there they got saved.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, revival broke out in the hot tub, and they all started sharing, and they get around to like person number six, and there's silence again, and there's snipples, and there's I've never met Jesus either.
SPEAKER_01: And they gave their life to Christ right there, and they were so excited the next morning because people were saved because they took the time to share their supernatural, life-changing, eternal salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to encourage you, church family.
SPEAKER_01: God has supernaturally empowered you with a tool to be a soul winner.
SPEAKER_01: And it's called your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you, just like Jesus encouraged this man.
SPEAKER_01: As you're praying for that person you're going to invite to Easter, you pray for an opportunity to share your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to go home and I want you to write your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: There's no right or wrong way to do it.
SPEAKER_01: You can't mess it up.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it's awesome, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: This is who I was before I met Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is how I met Jesus and what he doing my life now.
SPEAKER_01: And if you find out you don't have a testimony, praise God.
SPEAKER_01: You call somebody and you get it right then and get saved, and now you have that testimony to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Practice with each other, encourage each other, and find that person to share your testimony with.
SPEAKER_01: If you will ask God to give you an opportunity to share your salvation testimony, I believe with all of my heart that Jesus died on the cross to answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So that we could lead people to know him.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having a heart for the gospel, a heart for people.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for letting us be with you this weekend, and thank you for the honor of sharing my heart tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I thank you for tonight, and Lord, I want to pray that you will encourage the church tonight.
SPEAKER_01: That the picture of this man who didn't know anything, didn't have a theological degree, didn't anything, he just knew that Jesus changed his life and God had shown him mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And he went and told the people that he knew, and they were amazed.
SPEAKER_01: And God had a platform to save souls.
SPEAKER_01: I pray you'll encourage that with my brothers and sisters tonight.
SPEAKER_01: I pray you'll excite them about that.
SPEAKER_01: If Satan tries to tell them theirs is not good enough or whatever, Lord, I pray you'll tell them to just leave them alone and they'll turn to Jesus and rehearse those things, and it will excite them and it will empower them.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I pray for open doors between now and Easter for this body of believers to share their testimony of the mercy that God has shown them.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you will open doors for people to come on Easter Sunday and hear the word preached and see the resurrected Jesus, the one who holds the keys to death and hell, and there will be people saved because it started right here with a believer who got alone and practiced their testimony and believed the truth of the power that you had given them and stepped out in faith to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I pray you will empower and bless and move, and we pray that boys and girls, men and women, students will come to faith in Jesus Christ because of the supernatural power of the testimony of this church family.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray these things.
SPEAKER_01: I ask your blessings on the church in the saving name of Jesus and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.