Testimony Sunday

NEXT WEEK:

local church conference

Brand new series beginning on Moses…My hope is that it is both a deep dive into the book of exodus but also a character study in this faithful, flawed and amazing forerunner of Jesus ...

So Join us next week as I begin to unpack Moses Hebrews 3:1-2

Hebrews 3:1–2 NIV

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

ECUMENICALISM

Today after service I am going home and my whole family is jumping on our bikes and riding to St. Anthony’s church. Once a year there is a Pocket Area Churches BBQ. And that is where everyone from every church is Invited to come and eat together and fellowship together.

Now we understand that not everyone can make it, but if your able it is a really good way to get to know other christians in the pocket area. I know people from here have gone and have seen their neighbors there

So come out to this, it is an impotrant time.

Next Year, we are hosting the BBQ

Testimony’s

about a month ago when we started our series on Core Values we decided that we wanted to show our church that these values were already being lived out by us, so what we decided to do was to have a testimony accompany each and every sermon in the series...

And it was powerful!

I want to give you just one story to show how powerful it was....On Wednesday morning I was having coffee with a member of our church, AJ. Dodd. AJ and I ran into Rod who just shared with us last week about prayer and how he did it...

We all kind of said…wow what a good reminder…I had actually never heard of Rod’s finger prayer method so I told him I had tried that....And Aj was saying that it was helpful

testimonies are your story about what God has done in your life

They are what the early church used to spread the gospel.

When there was no new Testament yet. And the gentiles didn’t have the Old Testament…They literally just shared their stories

I want to share with you the scripture that is on your bulletins

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have...

Now maybe some of you have done the deep dives and can prove the resurrection of Jesus....That’s awesome…Maybe some of you are deep into apologetics and you can get in a university and go toe to toe with atheists...

That is AMAZING but not what a testimony is.

A testimony is just personally sharing, what God has done in your life..

Its part of the hope that you have

So today: Instead of a sermon…We are going to hear a few stories

And then we are going to do something really risky

after these 4 people share I am going to ask all of you that if anyone wants to share in 3-5 sentences. What has God done for you? So if you have something…I want to invite you to be bold

Because testimonies are celebrations. They increase our faith! So without further adieu

Monica

Mike

Jill

Sean

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.