Who is your testimony about?

KiDZ Message

Prep: Nothing needed for the stage

SLIDE — KiDZ Message

On-Ramp

Ask: Has anyone ever seen something so cool that you just had to go tell someone right away?

Let 2-3 kids answer quickly

"That feeling — I have to tell someone — God built that into us."

Doing that is called giving our testimony

GAME — Telephone

Whisper to the first kid: "Yesterday I saw a dog drive a car to get pizza."

Pass it down — no repeating

Hear what the last kid says

Key line: "When you tell someone else's story, it gets mixed up. But YOUR story — what YOU saw Jesus do — nobody can change. Because you were there."

SLIDE — KiDZ Big Idea

Share your testimony about Jesus

Read John 1:41 “41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).”

Andrew didn't give a big speech.

He was there. He couldn't help telling someone. That's a testimony.

THE POINT

- A testimony is telling someone what you've seen Jesus do.

Before you head to KiDZ, let me help you start thinking...

Has Jesus ever: - Helped you feel brave when you were really scared? - Answered a prayer — even a small one? - helped someone you know change for the better? - Helped you feel better when you were really sad or alone? - Helped you forgive someone who hurt you?

"If any of those sound familiar — that's your story. And today in KiDZ you're going to write it down."

SLIDE — KiDZ Big Idea

Share your testimony about Jesus

CLOSING PRAYER

- Thank Jesus for the real things he has done in our lives

- Ask him for courage to tell one person this week

Main Sermon

SLIDE - Title

On-Ramp

If someone stopped you on the way out today and asked — why do you follow Jesus — could you answer them?

Series Bridge

Two weeks in, and we’ve established two things together.

The gospel reached you because someone didn’t keep it to themselves.

Feeling inadequate to pass it on is a confession, not an excuse. Jesus isn’t asking you to hide your inadequacy. He’s asking you to rely on him as you obey beyond your ability.

Today we get practical. I want to give you something you can actually do this week.

You will leave today with a clear path toward sharing your own testimony about Jesus

The fastest way I know to show you what I mean is to just go first...

Personal Testimony

Who I was and what I was living for: I have always wanted to be seen as a good person. And I also wanted freedom — to do what I wanted, on my own terms. As a kid those two things were already in conflict. I’d run the water instead of brushing my teeth and tell my mom I had brushed. A small lie to protect the image. I wanted the identity without the cost.

How that fell short: I came to faith as a late teenager, but looking back, I think I accepted Jesus because it seemed like the right, responsible, good thing to do — not because I actually needed him. I thought it was the correct choice. And as I tried to follow him, those two competing values — freedom and goodness — hit a head. Instead of actually trusting Jesus, I would secretly follow my own curiosities and desires into places a good person wouldn’t go. Dark secrets behind a façade. It was an incredible burden. And it almost cost me my marriage.

What Jesus did: He didn’t demand groveling. He showed me something I hadn’t considered. He said he could give me freedom AND goodness — but only by bringing the hidden things into the light where he is. When I trust his love for me, when I rely on his healing instead of managing other people’s perceptions of me, he transforms me from the inside out. He didn’t take away my curiosity and desire. He’s been sanctifying it. Converting me from someone who seems like a good person into someone who actually is one.

When I decided: When I stopped hiding and started relying on his healing instead of my own image management.

What life looks like now: I believe a big part of why Jesus called me into pastoral ministry is to use what he’s taught me about true authenticity to point others to him. The church has a reputation for hypocrisy. I pray he will use me and my story to show the world his true nature. I have come to believe that true goodness and true freedom can only be found by those who place their full selves in the hands of Jesus.

“That’s my testimony. Could you tell yours? By the end of today, you will be able to.”

Why This Matters

Faith doesn’t only stop with us through silence. There is a second way it stops — when we talk about ourselves and never get to Jesus. Both failure modes are real:

We keep quiet and never share at all.

We share — but tell a story that ends with us rather than with Jesus.

A testimony that ends with you isn’t really a testimony. It’s an autobiography.

SLIDE — Big Idea

A testimony isn’t about you — it's about Jesus.

A testimony is a story about Jesus told through your experience.

The test: If someone hears your testimony and walks away knowing something true about Jesus they didn’t know before — that’s a testimony. If they walk away knowing something about you and your improved life, that’s an autobiography.

And the stakes are real. Without your testimony, some people in your life may never hear about Jesus. Not because there is no one else — but because you are the specific person in their life.

This is not a new problem. The first disciples figured out what testimony looks like in real time — and watching them will show us exactly what we're aiming for

Exposition — John 1:35–51

SLIDE — John 1

Narrative Walk

John points to Jesus. Andrew follows, then finds Peter. Jesus finds Philip. Philip finds Nathanael.

In seventeen verses, three things are always happening. And once you see them, you’ll see them everywhere.

1) Prevenient Grace — Jesus Is Already Working

SLIDE — John 1 Prevenient Grace

Jesus calls Andrew before Andrew fully understands what is happening.

Jesus finds Philip — Philip does not find Jesus. (v.43)

Jesus already knows Nathanael before Philip even calls him. (v.47–48)

Key point: The Spirit is already at work in the person you’re thinking about. You are not blazing a trail for the next generation. You are keeping pace with what Jesus is already doing in, for, and through them.

This matters because it removes the weight of initiation from your shoulders. You are not the first one there. You are joining something already in motion.

2) Testimony — They All Point to Jesus, Not Themselves

SLIDE — John 1 Testimony

John: “Behold the Lamb of God.” (v.36)

Andrew: “We have found the Messiah.” (v.41)

Philip: “We have found him of whom Moses wrote.” (v.45)

Three different people. Three different encounters. One subject: Jesus.

Andrew’s testimony is personal — “we found him”, “we were there.” But the subject is the Messiah, not Andrew. Philip’s testimony is personal — but the subject is the fulfillment of prophecy, not Philip.

Key line: The personal parts of your testimony are not the point — they are what make the point believable. Andrew didn’t say ‘let me tell you about my journey.’ He said ‘we found the Messiah’ — and you believed him because he was standing right there having just found him.

Andrew's testimony was four words: 'We have found the Messiah.' He didn't say, and now I have a bunch of cool friends. He pointed to Jesus. That's a testimony.

That is the difference between a testimony and an autobiography. One centers on you. The other centers on Jesus.

3) Invitation — “Come and See”

Now, your story can play a role in your testimony, but it is always serving as a doorway to Jesus.

You hold the door open, and offer an invitation.

SLIDE — John 1 Invitation

Jesus says it in v.39: “Come and see.”

Philip says it in v.46: “Come and see.”

Not an argument. Not a theological defense. Not a persuasion campaign. Just: come closer and encounter him yourself.

Key point: Your testimony is a doorway that you can use to invite people toward Jesus.

You are not responsible to convince anyone. You are responsible to tell them what you found and invite them to come and see for themselves.

Which means the only question left is this: do you actually know what your testimony is?

Could you say it right now if someone asked?

That's what we're going to figure out now.

Application — A Testimony Framework

SLIDE — Testimony Framework

Since a testimony is an account of an encounter with Christ rather than an argument. You do not have to have arrived — Nathanael confessed before he fully understood. Write from where you are.

A Testimony is simply a story about Jesus through your eyes.

Five movements — the worksheet does the work:

Introduction: Who you are and what you were living for. (your mission)

This is your context. It is the who and why about you.

What motivates you? What happy ending have you searched for? What is your mission in life?

ex. being good, being helpful, achieving something great, being unique, being prepared, staying safe, being free, defending the weak, staying hidden, living simply, having family.

Give 1 concrete example (not 7) of what this has looked like in your life.

Body: How have you try to get to that without God.

This is where you show the ways that you couldn’t do it on your own.

Where did that mission break down? What did it cost you?

Give 1 concrete example of a way you tried to complete your core mission without God.

Bridge: What Jesus has done for you.

This is the subject of the whole story. Everything before it is the on-ramp. Everything after it is the evidence.

Be specific. What did Jesus actually do to realign your mission and/or help you on it?

Climax: When you decided to follow.

This does not have to be a single moment. It can be a season, a turning point, a slow realization.

How did you decide to follow Jesus. What did you do/change?

Afterglow: What life looks like now.

Not a finished product. An ongoing work. What is Jesus doing in you now?

Give an example of life WITH Jesus that shows the change.

Does your story end at ‘my life changed’? That is autobiography.

Does your story end at ‘Jesus did something real and specific — and here is what it was’? That is testimony.

Note: A testimony is not the gospel. It is the gospel’s impact on a real person. Next week we will talk about what it means to actually share the gospel. Today, start here.

Vision for Valley Chapel

Invite the band up

SLIDE - Title

This is the vision I carry for Valley Chapel.

Not one voice telling the world what Jesus is like — through one personality, one decade of life, one set of wounds and wonders.

But a community where hundreds of testimonies show the real impact of the gospel

Where people are not just invited to church, but introduced to Jesus

Where kids are not just told to behave right, but taught about the God who cherishes them in ways no one else could

Where young people find purpose in the mission of God that is beyond anything the world has to offer them.

This is what it means to be a Spirit-led community. Not one voice. Hundreds. Every testimony that never gets written is a story about Jesus that someone needed and never heard.

May we instead be a community where the burdened are regularly invited in by our testimonies to encounter the same Jesus that saved and continues to save our lives.

Conclusion / Call to Action

This week, write your testimony — and identify one person you hope to share it with.

Because there is someone in your life who may never hear about Jesus if you don't. Not because you're the only Christian they know — but because you are the specific person they trust.

The Spirit is already working on them. Your testimony is how you keep pace

You are not responsible to convince anyone.

Simply write a name down on a Keeping Pace card and be open to the Spirit’s leading.

The Spirit was already there before you arrived.

So don’t let it stop with you.

Pray