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Power of Your Testimony

The New Normal – Power of Your Testimony                                                                                                                                            Pastor Phil Derstine

7-11-21 

We are Witnesses and Testimony of God’s Power

  • Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto meboth in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
  • Romans 8:19 (NIV) “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
  • Testimony (Def.) - An open acknowledgment; a public profession of religious experience. Firsthand authentication of a fact; evidence.
  • Luke 17:20 “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: (21) Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there!  for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
  • Heaven’s influence on earth - The Community of God on earth
  • God’s culture, language, lifestyle, values, and morals - A domain of Righteousness, Peace, and Joy!

Your Testimony

1. Demonstrates Power in Weakness

  • II Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) “For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made His light shine in our heartsto give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  (7) But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
  • (7) “But we have this treasure in jars of clay. To show that this all-surpasing power is from God and not from us, we are…
  • Troubled on every side, yet not distressed, Perplexed, but not in despair,
  • Persecuted, but not forsaken, Cast down, but not destroyed;
  • (10) Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”

2. Is POWER to Overcome the devil

  • Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony:   and they loved not their lives unto the death.”          
  • We are OVERCOMERS!
  • David – I Samuel 17:34-37 “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
  • Moses – Exodus 4:1-5 “Then the LORD said to him, What is that in your hand?  A staff, he replied.”
  • Jehoshaphat – II Chronicles 20:6-9 “O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?”
  • Peter & John – Acts 4:13-20. “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

3. Is Evidence of God’s work on the Earth

  • John 9:1-3 (NIV) “As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”                                                                     
  • Luke 21:13-15 “And it shall turn to you for a testimony.  Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer;  For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”
  • Isaiah 60:2 “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon youand His glory appears over you.  (3) Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”
  • II Corinthians 12:9 “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (10) Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.”