"...This is My Story..." The Testimony of Man.

Introduction

Over the past two weeks, we discovered the power of testimony.

A story that establishes and records truth.

There are true testimonies and false testimonies.

God shares His testimony through creation and His sovereign hand over His people.

He is noticed through nature but God has a deeper connection with mankind that painting pictures for us to see.

He is the Savior to His people Israel.

He sent Jesus.

Jesus came to establish His father’s kingdom on the earth and to bear witness to the truth.

Even as false testimonies were placing Him on the cross, He never backed down from His purpose.

He is the embodiment of truth.

He didn’t come to fight the world with their weapons. Darkness doesn’t fight against darkness. He came with light.

It’s all one story. One amazing story.

FCA Victory Banquet 4 Generations of Disciples

We have talked about God’s story and Jesus’ testimony. Don’t forget that you have a role in this whole thing. God has a purpose and a plan for each of us to be a witness to what has happened.

You can be one of three things:

The side of truth.

The side of a falsehood.

In the middle. (This is falsehood)

We have to pick a side.

How can we fight against the darkness with light?

1. Know your purpose. ()

Acts 1:7–8 NASB95

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

The disciples world was much smaller than the world we know today.

Judea and Samaria were 40 km from Jerusalem.

In other words, Anything outside of Post represented the rest of the world.

Jesus had led these men for 3 years teaching them how to be a witness. He told them to “go and make disciples among all nations” in .

They had asked Him if it was time for Jesus to restore the kingdom back to Israel. Jesus told them that it wasn’t time for them to know God’s plan for His kingdom.

They were promised the Holy Spirit and told that they would His witnesses.

By the time we got to , Samaria had been reached with the gospel.

The disciples did exactly what they were commanded to do. By the time we got through Paul’s writings, the gospel had been spread to many other places in Europe and in Asia. Every attempt to squash the witness of Christians resulted in a multiplication of truth across every area.

The disciples figured out their purpose. They knew what they were put on earth to do.

Andrew, like his brother Simon Peter, was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. And, like Peter, he was the son of Joanna and Jona. Andrew was also a fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, just like his brother, Peter, and like their father before them. Four disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and John were fishermen prior to being called by Jesus to follow Him.

Four disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and John were fishermen prior to being called by Jesus to follow Him.

As we see in John’s biography of Jesus, Andrew was the first disciple to follow Jesus ().

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.

“When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him” ().

Simon, called the zealot, is referred to in , “Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot…”

Matthew was a tax collector.

Matthew was a tax collector, as we read in :

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’

Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, Judas, Simon, and Judas occupation is unknown. Perhaps they were tradesmen of some sort.

“On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’"

These men had a sudden life change because of Jesus. They became the first witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection that they preached the gospel across the world.

Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, Judas, Simon, and Judas occupation is unknown. Perhaps they were tradesmen of some sort.

Verl Hart from Star Tire. He has been to Mexico on mission hundreds of times. He may own a tire shop by trade, but he is missionary by calling.

We are culturally patterned to identify ourselves by where we work, who we spend our time with, who we are married to, and who our children are.

None of these attributes are sinful, but they can’t sustain you for all eternity.

Every person was put on this earth from one purpose.

Testimony

2. Heed the darkness ()

Revelation 12:7–9 NASB95

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 12:7–10 NASB95

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

Revelation

Verses 7-9 teaches that we are caught up in a wider conflict that the one that we see. There is a conflict that not simply demons against men. Angelic forces are also engaged. Our struggles are not to be shrugged off as insignificant. We are not alone in the fight. We are part of a great conflict between good and evil.

Michael is the leader of the heavenly hosts; they are his angels. Michael is the ‘archangel’ and according to scripture, he is a warlike angel.

There was a war in Heaven well before . The result of this battle is the defeat of the dragon, so that he and his angels lost their place in Heaven. He had been the accuser of God’s people, but now he has no place in Heaven.

In verse 9, Satan is described very fully. He is the great dragon, and that ancient serpent, which is probaly meant to awaken recollections of . He is both the devil (‘slanderer’) and Satan. Satan is the older name. It translates to the ward adversary.

The title ‘accuser’, ‘satan’, became attached to him in an exclusive sense.

This name for the evil one would have made a specially strong impact in the first century, for there was a well-known and well-hated figure called the delator, the paid informer. He made his living by accusing people before the authorities. It is not a large step from ‘accuser’ to ‘slanderer’ and thus ‘the satan’ is not infrequently called ‘the devil’. In addition to accusing and slandering, the evil one deceives and John brings out the scope of this activity by saying that he leads the whole world astray.

Satan is a sleepless vigilant who stands for evil against good. Satan was banished from the divine council in Heaven to earth. He has been a murderer, accuser, and slanderer from the beginning. Unable to best God, he was banished. He can’t go anywhere but down from here.

Bullies exist. We can’t teach our children to avoid them. They will always be around us. We teach our children to protect themselves against bullies.

Satan exists and so do his demons. He is smart and bitter and he has few options. If he couldn’t remove God from power, keep Jesus in the ground and off of His thrown, he’s going to hurt what he is left. His eyes are on you and me.

He’s not going to be a gentlemen about it either. He wants you to never see the light of day.

He want to hurt you and your family. You have to know how to deal with his attacks.

He opposes God and strives to defeat his will.

He hinders man’s temporal and eternal welfare.

When we heed the darkness, we know what we are up against. Satan is allowed to make attempts on your life and testimony. He will use whatever he can to slander the message God has through you.

3. Wield the light. ()

Revelation 12:10–12 NASB95

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. “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. “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

John hears a loud voice. The words are a song of triumph.

Power (exousia) means ‘authority’ rather than ‘physical power’ (as it does in 9:3, 10, 19). His Christ emphasizes the complete sovereignty of God, but at the same time puts the Saviour in the closest connection with the Father.

The reason for the song of triumph is that Satan has been overthrown. He is the accuser of our brothers and that he has been busy comes out in the words who accuses them before our God day and night. The picture is one of implacable hostility on the part of Satan as well as of the complete triumph of God. Satan urged the sins of the brothers in the highest court. But now he has been overthrown and is completely powerless against them. Christians accordingly are not working towards victory, but from a victory already achieved.

The point of this song is to say that salvation, power, and the kingdom are all now realized and established.

The accuser has been cast down from heaven once and for all.

Satan’s role in the divine council was to accuse continually, but he rebelled from this proper role and became evil. Now, he carries on his original word, but outside of God’s jurisdiction.

Verse 11 points at the martyr's of the faith. People that died because of their beliefs. They did not triumph themselves.

They overcame by the blood of the lamb.

The blood of the lamb was linked to their testimony. The redeemed bore witness to their redeemer.

To stand firm means final victory over Satan. John has the martyrs in mind is clear from the words they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

The same quality of devotion is required from all the followers of the lamb.

The knowledge that Satan could be defeated by faith, witness, and perseverance would have been a tremendous encouragement to the members of the seven church and others being pressured to compromised spiritually.

Because of what Christ has done, his victory extends to the ‘brothers’. While this rejoicing is called for from inhabitants of heaven, it is plain that people on earth can rejoice too.

Their citizenship is in heaven. Though they suffer trouble on earth, they are assured that these are temporary and that the triumph is being savored in heaven. But for now, there is woe for them on earth.

The troubles of the persecuted Christians arise not because Satan is too strong, but because he is beaten. He doing all the harm he can while he can. He’s trying to disrupt the arrival of God’s kingdom.

A good coach knows that there is strategy for a team to continue correctly even when victory is immanent. “Keep your eyes open”.

You are on the winning team but that doesn’t mean the game is over yet. The adversary is out there and you will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony.

How do we wield the light?

Consistently find fellowship with your church family.

Sunday School

Friendship

Accountability

Be a student of the word

Personal study

Church worship

Discipleship

Share your testimony

Christians

Non-Christians

You can’t wield the light without dedicating your life to these disciplines.

This is how we overcome.