A Powerful Testimony

Introduction

The Super Bowl is the biggest events of the year for American culture. This year, an average of 127.7 million people tuned in to see Philadelphia and Kansas City. I must admit I am a football fan so the love of the game is enough to cause me to tune in. But over the past few years I have also been intrigued by another component of this Super Bowl moment; the commercials. Around Super Bowl time your television or streaming device will be littered with star-studded commercials with actors paid to portray the companies’ best creativity with the goal to get you to engage their product. This year, a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl costed around $8 million. That’s a major increase from the $37,000 fee in 1965. $8 million for 30-seconds seems like such a bizarre investment but when you consider 127.7 million potential customers and clients, the investment pales in comparison to the potential gain. these companies willing to break the bank for a brief spot in your entertainment understand the value of their product and the value of their story.

What is the value of your story? Is there a monetary value you can allocate to the narrative of your life? How much time do you think one would invest to hear your story? All of these questions are questions of reflections about the ways our life’s events contribute to the value that we contribute to the world. But how beautiful and unique and powerful would it be if we realized that the powerful individual stories we have come together to collectively shine the light on God’s great work in the world? What then would you think of your story?

The writer of our text today, Paul, he has a story. We learn on his story in Acts 9...

As a part of Paul’s story, he goes on these journeys planting churches and sharing Christ’s story and when he comes to a place called Lystra, he meets Lois and Eunice who are the grandmother and mother of this guy named Timothy, by which this book is named. We get this book because as Paul is impressed with Timothy, he mentors him to the point where when trouble arises in the church in Ephesus, he sends Timothy there to confront the problem and restore that church to the order of the Christian community. For some reason, after his greeting to Timothy and the overall statement about why he is writing in verses 3-11, Paul finds it necessary to put some of his story, we might call it a testimony in there as a bridge between greeting and instruction.

Focus: This text teaches about God’s ability to maneuver throughout the messiness of our lives, granting us the mercy and grace to present the beauty of His strength in our story.

Function: We should be ready and willing to share our testimonies to others so that they may relate to us, but look to Christ.

Big Idea: The greatest story ever told is the one you tell of Jesus Christ in your life.

It’s a story of thanksgiving (verse 12)

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow" - Melody Beattie 

Gratitude and neurotransmitters

Emily Fletcher, the founder of Ziva, a well-known meditation training site, mentioned in one of her publications that gratitude as a ‘natural antidepressant’. The effects of gratitude, when practiced daily can be almost the same as medications. It produces a feeling of long-lasting happiness and contentment, the physiological basis of which lies at the neurotransmitter level.

When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside.

By consciously practicing gratitude everyday, we can help these neural pathways to strengthen themselves and ultimately create a permanent grateful and positive nature within ourselves.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." (Psalm 100:4)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6)

But what did Paul have to be thankful for?..Transformation

Its a story of transformation (verse 13)

Acts 9 (the Damascus Road)

*illustration about Transformers (they are efficient at whatever they transform into, Optimus Prime into a tractor trailer truck, Megatron into an armored tank, and Bumblebee into a sports car). Sometimes we operate like that. We are one way in the presence of Christians and another way in the presence of non-Christians.

We are not called to be Transformers; we are called to be transformed.

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

BUT those who have been transformed by God have a responsibility to translate their story to both Christians and non-Christians.

Its a story of demonstration (verse 16)

Demonstration of patience from Christ to us

Romans 5:8 “But God proves (demonstrates (NKJV)) his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

2. Demonstration of our belief in Christ as result

John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Visual learners: Prefer to learn by listening, and benefit from spoken stimuli 

Auditory learners: Prefer to learn through listening, and retain information through repetition 

Reading/writing learners: Prefer to learn through written text, and enjoy reading and writing 

Kinesthetic learners: Prefer to learn by doing, and process information best when they can actively participate 

God’s demonstration in Christ makes us visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic learners. In other words, God has done everything possible to get us to learn more about Him so that we can be more like Him!

Why do we need to hear your story of God’s work in your life?

We need to hear your story of God’s work in your life because you stage of life is the stage when people are unsure about their faith.

From James Fowlers Sis Stages of Faith Development

Individuative-Reflective Faith: A stage that occurs in young adulthood, when people begin to question and reflect on their beliefs 

As you all are currently wrestling with the faith that you’ve been taught as you were growing up, in this stage of your life you may be coming into contact with people that believe radically different things from you unapologetically. They may be just as confident in the absence of God that you may be in the presence of God. They may be just as confident in the advancement of the self as divine as opposed to your confidence in God as the divine and our advancement coming through God as part of God’s creation. As a result, there are those who you are friends with on social media and who you may hang out with at the coffee shop or maybe even study with who believe radically different things about God. But God is not intimidated by unbelief because He has a solution for it....YOU! Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19 “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

The powerful testimony of God in you is one of value to the Kingdom of God that rids the world of darkness and ushers people into the light of the presence of God. Be encouraged friends to share the story.

Remember the Super Bowl commercials? I remember one in particular that starred the infamous rapper Snoop Dogg and the GOAT himself, Tom Brady. In that commercial they mentioned all the things they hated about one another and Snoop concluded the quarrel saying “I hate that things are so bad that we have to do a commercial about it.” It is 30 seconds that make you think. Its 30 seconds that probably ruined your mood. 30 seconds that made you sad and probably a bit depressed about the state of the world and I will admit upon watching that commercial I too felt disappointment for the state of the world until I realized that the story was not full.

The story of humanity is that...share the gospel...

Paul’s story serves as encouragement to Timothy because its not a story about Paul’s charisma or success, but of God’s power through grace and mercy. Your story is powerful because the story of the cross is powerful. Share your story...