Your story matters
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INTRODUCTION
Have you ever had some really good news to share?
Maybe, you’ve passed an exam, got a job, a child has been born.
Is it easy to share the good news?
Now, Jesus is the best news the world has ever received because through Him we can know God personally, have our sins forgiven, and receive a brand-new life filled with hope, purpose, and peace. He didn’t come to condemn us but to rescue us—defeating sin, death, and the power of darkness through His death and resurrection. Because Jesus is alive, anyone who trusts in Him can experience God’s love today and look forward to an eternal future with Him forever.
Unfortunately, this good news has an expiry date:
Carl Henry puts it this way:
“The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.”
Yet if we know this good news for ourselves how often do we share it? And what may stop us?
How many of us have ever thought:
“I don’t know enough.”
“I’m not good at talking to people.”
“I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“My testimony isn’t dramatic enough.”
Yet one of God’s most powerful tools for reaching people is something every believer possesses:
A testimony.
Your testimony is simply your story of Jesus:
Before – Who I was.
How – How I met Jesus.
Now – The difference He makes.
And the Bible tells us there is power in that story.
11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
God has always used transformed lives to point people to Jesus.
And perhaps nobody demonstrates this better than the Apostle Paul.
1. PAUL SHARES HIS STORY
In Acts 26, Paul stands before King Agrippa.
He has the attention of a king, a governor and military leaders. If ever there was a moment to impress people with theology, this was it.
Yet Paul simply tells his story.
BEFORE
Paul speaks honestly about who he was.
9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul doesn’t hide his failures.
The power of testimony begins with authenticity.
People connect with real stories, not perfect people.
HOW
Paul then tells how he encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road.
13 About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. 14 We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?… 15 “ ‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
Everything changed because Paul met Jesus.
Every testimony has a “how.”
How did Jesus become real to you?
NOW
Paul then describes his new life and calling.
The persecutor became a preacher.
The enemy became an ambassador.
The destroyer became a disciple.
But notice that Paul doesn’t simply say, “I got saved.”
Jesus gave him a new purpose.
16 …I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve me and be my witness… I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes. I want you to turn them from darkness to light. I want you to turn them from Satan’s power to God. I want their sins to be forgiven…’
Paul’s life now had direction.
He had gone from opposing Jesus to serving Jesus.
From imprisoning believers to helping set people free.
From spreading darkness to pointing people to the Light.
And that’s what Jesus does.
He doesn’t simply forgive our past.
He gives us a future.
He gives us a purpose.
He gives us a story worth telling.
A testimony is not just the story of how Jesus saved you.
It’s the story of how Jesus is shaping you and using you.
The goal of testimony is not to magnify our past.
The goal is to magnify Christ.
People need to know:
“What difference does Jesus actually make?”
That’s the “Now.”
2. YOUR LIFE IS A LIVING LETTER
Someone once said:
“You may be the only Bible some people ever read.”
Whether or not that’s literally true, the principle is biblical.
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
People are reading our lives every day.
They’re watching how we respond to pressure, disappointment, conflict and hardship.
A testimony isn’t just something we tell.
A testimony is something we live.
Agrippa wasn’t just listening to Paul’s words.
He was looking at a transformed life.
The persecutor had become a preacher.
Paul himself was evidence that Jesus was real.
And so are ours.
3. IT’S NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW, BUT WHO YOU KNOW
This is where many Christians get stuck.
We think:
“I don’t know enough.”
But look at Peter and John.
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
The religious leaders weren’t impressed by their education.
They were struck by their connection to Jesus.
The qualification for being a witness is not knowing everything.
The qualification is knowing Someone.
It’s not ultimately about what we know.
It’s about who we know.
Carl Medearis writes:
“When we preach Christianity, we have to own it. When we preach Jesus, we don’t have to own anything. Jesus owns us. We don’t have to defend Him. We don’t even have to explain Him. All we have to do is point with our fingers, like the blind man in the book of John, and say, ‘There is Jesus. All I know is that He touched me, and where I was once blind, now I see.’”
That’s exactly what testimony is.
We’re not called to be experts on every question.
We’re called to point people to Jesus.
In John 9, when questioned by religious experts, the healed blind man simply said:
25 …One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
That’s the essence of every testimony.
“I was lost, but now I’m found.”
“I was anxious, but now I have peace.”
“I was broken, but now I’m being restored.”
“I was blind, but now I see.”
A testimony doesn’t have to be dramatic, and it doesn’t have to be something that happened 40 years ago. Sometimes we think our testimony is only our conversion story.
But testimony is also what Jesus is doing in our lives today.
What difference does knowing Him make this week?
What difference does He make in your marriage, your workplace, your worries, your decisions?
Imagine a friend telling you they’re stressed about a big decision.
You don’t need to launch into a sermon.
You could simply say: “I used to get really stressed whenever I had a big decision to make. But as I’ve got to know Jesus, I’ve learned that I can trust Him to guide me. I still don’t always know the outcome, but I have a peace now that I never used to have.”
That’s a testimony. It’s not preachy. It’s not complicated.
It’s simply pointing to Jesus and saying: “Here’s the difference He’s making in my life.”
Because testimony isn’t just: “This is what Jesus did for me years ago.”
It’s also: “This is what Jesus is doing in me today.”
And often those everyday stories are the ones people find most relatable. They may not identify with your conversion story, but they do understand stress, anxiety, disappointment, grief, loneliness and uncertainty.
When they hear how Jesus meets you in those things, suddenly your faith becomes real, relevant and compelling.
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US
Jesus knew His followers would feel nervous.
That’s why He said:
11 …do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
The pressure is not all on us. The Holy Spirit is our helper.
Which is why Jesus promised:
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Not experts. Witnesses. A witness simply tells what they have seen and experienced.
5. PREPARED, NOT PRESSURED
Peter writes:
15 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,
Notice the balance.
Prepared. But gentle. Ready. But respectful.
Peter isn’t describing someone winning arguments.
He’s describing someone whose life has created curiosity.
Someone sees your peace, your hope, your joy and asks: “Why are you different?”
And you’re ready to share the reason.
That’s what a testimony is: A reason for your hope.
CONCLUSION
After hearing Paul’s testimony:
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”
Paul replies:
29 Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
Paul wasn’t trying to win an argument.
He simply wanted others to experience the Jesus he had encountered.
That’s our calling too.
The goal of a testimony is not to prove Christianity.
It’s to point people to Jesus.
To be able to say: “There is Jesus. All I know is that He touched me. And where I was once blind, now I see.”
Because ultimately it’s not about what we know. It’s about who we know.
And every testimony can be told in three simple steps:
Before. Who I was.
How. How I met Jesus.
Now. The difference He makes.
So let’s ask the Holy Spirit for boldness and a fuller realisation that it really is good news that we have to share.
