Pure Life Ministries Podcast

From the Chapel: The Power of Our Testimony

In the "From the Chapel" segment, Nate Danser talks about the power of testimony. Sin gives us a dark testimony that causes us to say things like, "I'm hopeless," or "Maybe God has abandoned me." But when we choose to surrender and obey God, He gives us a testimony that will overcome every lie of the enemy.

Broadcast on:: 26 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

Hey, this is Patrick with Pure Life Ministries. When our hearts are truly transformed by God, significant changes should be occurring in our lifestyle. But this goes far beyond just stopping porn use or avoiding illicit scenes in movies. How we spend our time, where we go, what we pursue in life, everything, should be radically altered as we begin to walk on the narrow way. And many Christians just don't think deeply enough about the way they live, and it's not uncommon for those in the church to base their daily decisions off the media and the culture rather than on the moral principles of Scripture. We want to see that change. Please join us on Saturday, October 12th at 10am Eastern on our YouTube channel for another episode of Pure Life Live. I'll be sitting down with Pure Life's President and Founder, Steve Gallagher, and our Executive Director of Counseling Programs, Jordan Yoshimine, to discuss the influence of the media we ingest, the limits we should put on our devices, the impact of spiritual atmospheres in and out of the home, and much more. Our hope is that this will help you learn to lead a lifestyle that honors God and helps you get free or stay free from sexual sin. We'd also love to respond to your questions about this topic, so send those to live@purelifeministries.org. A testimony is a proclamation of what we truly believe. Sin gives us a dark testimony where we say things like, "I have no hope," or, "Maybe God has abandoned me." But when we choose to surrender and obey, God gives us a testimony that overcomes every lie of the enemy. On Sunday morning in my quiet time, I've been studying first John for the last month and a half or so, and there was a verse that stuck out to me in first John chapter 5. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son, whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. And I started thinking about the difference between teaching and testimony, and just thinking about how teaching is information, but testimony is experience. And with teaching, you don't necessarily have to have real faith, or any real knowledge of God, just it's all packed into your head, but testimony is real knowledge. And it's like you've got all of these people in the church and all are receiving the teaching. And then you've got people interspersed throughout who have received, not just teaching, they've received the testimony. And I'm just amazed at how gracious God has been to me. Because when I came to Pure Life, I came to receive the teaching. You know, like, if someone had asked me, "What is Pure Life going to do for you?" I would have said something along the lines of, "They've got the knowledge that I need. They've got the teaching. Not I'm coming here to receive the testimony." I never would have thought like that. And I'm just amazed that God brought me to Pure Life, despite how ignorant I was, and how out of sync with Him I was. I wasn't looking for what He was wanting to give. And that has amazed me year after year after year, that I was not seeking for God. He was seeking for me. That is why I came to Pure Life, because Jesus was seeking me. And I was thinking about people who have received the testimony. Moses received the testimony. Exodus 34, "God took Moses, and He put him into the cleft of the rock, and He revealed His glory to Moses. And this is what Moses heard the Lord say. Moses wasn't reading this in a book. This wasn't something passed down to him from other people. This was one-on-one testimony coming from the lips of God Himself. The Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving, iniquity and transgression and sin. But who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation? Do you think that Moses could ever have been the same after receiving that testimony? And I was thinking of David who also received the testimony. Listen to Psalm 103, this is amazing. This is David speaking to himself, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles." This wasn't tradition that was handed down from person to person to person to David, and then David says, "Oh yeah, I need to remember this about the Lord." This was David saying, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, because I know that He's treated me this way. I have personal testimony that God has been this way to me, and I need to remember this for the rest of my life." That's what this is. This is testimony. And I was thinking about John too, who said this, "This is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." Again, that's not just, that's not God just inspiring this man's intellect to then write down words. This is God flowing through what John heard and saw and experienced. And I'm just like, that's what we need, all of us. We don't need teaching, we need testimony. And that's what God brought us here to give us is the testimony. That is what changes us. I was thinking about my own life and certain verses in the Bible that are testimony to me. Not just things that I've read, but things that I've experienced. I can say with this writer, yes. I know this about the Lord because I've experienced it. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed. When I have been oppressed, I'm saying this as myself to you right now. When I have been oppressed, when I have been laden down, when I'm not sure how I'm going to get through one more day, I have found the Lord to be a stronghold for my soul. A stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you for you have not forsaken those who seek you. That is my testimony. How many times my soul has been in distress when I have not known if I'm going to make it through when I look out into the future and all I see is darkness and I seek him. He has never ever forsaken me, never. When the enemy has told me time and time again, go ahead, put your faith in this God, you're going to find out that one day when you need him the most, he's going to abandon you. That is not the truth because I've tasted and seen this God and he has never forsaken me when I've sought him. Never. He has never yet failed me. I was thinking about the testimony that I had before I came to pure life because I did have a kind of a testimony, but it was about the testimony that sin gives us. Because sin gives us a testimony, but it's about the worthlessness of life. I mean, we still testify to people with our words, but it's a dark testimony. It's a testimony about whether or not we can trust God. It's a testimony about why am I not experiencing the freedom and the liberty. Why is my life so hard? Why is there so much misery in my soul? There's a dark testimony inside. I just love Jesus because I came here for one thing and he brought me here for something so different, something so much more satisfying than I ever could have imagined, something I didn't even know I needed. He brought me here to give me the testimony. And when God gives you the testimony, it just changes things. It changes everything. And the thing I love about it is that it continues to unfold and expand. God isn't wanting to give us little tiny, isolated experiences. He's giving us the knowledge of Jesus and he's building that testimony into us. He's building this structure inside of us. And that's what I just encourage us all tonight. Let's worship him with our whole hearts and let's seek him, not for an emotional experience but for the testimony. Let's ask him to reveal himself to us. I ask him to reveal himself in me, Lord, disclose yourself to me, not just information about you but the reality of you in me. That's what I really need, the reality inside. And that's what he wants to do for all of us. That's why he brought us here. So I just praise him and let's give him all of our hearts tonight, amen? All right, that's it for this from the chapel segment. God bless. We'll see you next time. [ Music ]