At The Movies // How to Share your Testimony

Amen, family.

We're going to be at John chapter 9 this morning.

John 9 · chapter mention

We are starting a brand new series entitled At the Movies.

How many of y'all got some popcorn in the lobby?

Yes, okay.

How many of y'all got a soda in the lobby?

How many of y'all got two sodas in the lobby?

Okay, don't raise your hand and embarrass yourself, I'm just kidding.

We're at John chapter 9 this morning.

John 9 · chapter mention

So great to see you guys.

I don't know if you've ever considered this, but some of the greatest iconic, thrilling movies that we love actually got their themes from scripture.

Themes and stories of redemption, stories of sacrifice, stories of heroism any brave heart fans in the room.

Some of the most iconic movies got their themes from scripture and today we are going to look at a theme from scripture that a movie took.

The actor that stars in this movie is Denzel Washington.

Yeah, the balcony, they like Denzel.

The movie Remember the Titans, that's right.

Remember the Titans who's seen Remember the Titans?

Okay, remember the Titans.

You know how you have like a movie or a show or a song where you know like half of the lines in the movie.

That is this movie.

For me, it is an absolute classic.

Now, if you haven't seen it.

First of all, I'm going to pray for you.

Second of all, remember the Titans is about.

It's based in the 1960s, when schools, white schools and black schools integrated together, as you can imagine all types of animosity.

And with that there's a school in Virginia, two high schools, two football teams that came together and they formed one football team and racial tensions were incredibly high, incredibly high.

And in the movie based on a true story, when the black players started sharing their stories with the white players, the white players started understanding them better.

The white players saw their racism and they saw how they had treated them so poorly.

And this began as stories started being shared.

And I don't know if you realize this, but if you're a Jesus follower, you know that you have a story.

You have a God story.

In fact, scripturally it's called your testimony.

In fact, everybody say the word testimony ready, your testimony.

It would be like if you were in a court of law and a witness were to go up and they were to give their testimony of what had happened, what they had seen, and your testimony matters.

In fact, john writes in Revelation that your testimony has the power to overcome the evil one.

It says this they conquered him.

This is Satan by the blood of the lamb and by the their testimony.

So your testimony has the power To overcome the enemy and your testimony has the power to make Jesus known to others in ways that well, few other things can.

Some of you in the room you think, man, like Nate, my testimony is not really that powerful.

Like I was, I was.

I was raised in church.

I never was like in drugs.

I was never like on the street.

I didn't do any of that stuff.

My testimony is not that powerful.

No, friend, your testimony is powerful because scripture says when you come to Christ, you go from death until life, and anytime a dead person resurrects, it's always powerful.

Your story is powerful and I want you to believe it.

So we put some things on the screen to help you believe it, because I want you to know this.

So we're going to say some things together.

Let's put this up on the screen.

We put up all three lines already.

So I'm going to say something and then I'm going to say a line and then I want you to say the line.

You got to say it like you believe it.

All right, here we go.

I have a testimony.

My testimony is powerful.

God wants to use it.

Do you believe that I love it?

God wants to use your testimony.

So two questions, and we're going to get into the text.

Question one is do you know how to share your testimony?

Do you know?

Do you know how to share your testimony?

Do you know how to share your God's story?

At the end of this message, you're going to know how.

Question number two when's the last time you shared your testimony with somebody else?

When's the last time somebody was calling you and you answered the phone and you said let me tell you my story.

I love it.

When's the last time you shared your story?

And here's the thing If you will learn how to share your story, and then you will share your story, you will have the same impact that a man had in John, chapter number nine, because Jesus was made known to other people because of one man's story.

This is what we know John nine, the book of John, was written so that people would believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of God, and this man's story allowed people to see that.

So we're going to learn about it in John, chapter nine and together we're going to see that our testimony is powerful and we're going to learn how to share our testimony and God's going to use your story to impact other people, and that's what I believe.

And if you're ready for it, would you say amen, amen, let's do it.

John, chapter nine, verse number one this is what it says.

It says, as he was passing by, that's Jesus.

He was passing by.

He saw a man that was blind from birth and his disciples.

So Jesus is passing by, his disciples are with him.

His disciples asked him Rabbi, teacher, who sinned?

Was it this man or was it his parents that he was born blind?

His disciples think well, if that guy's blind, if he's got a physical infirmity, it's because he sinned or it's because his parents sinned.

They did something, they thought something, they said something that broke God's law.

But Jesus is gonna twist the story of what they thought had happened.

In verse three he tells them why this man was born blind.

In verse 3, he says neither has this man nor his parents sinned.

Jesus answered but this came about so that God's works might be displayed in him.

Works might be displayed in him.

So this man's suffering had nothing to do with something that he had done, but so God's works could be displayed in him.

Some of you walked in this room and you're in a season of hardship right now and you're in a season of suffering and you've thought it's my fault.

But it might not be.

Maybe you blamed yourself.

Maybe mentally, you've driven yourself crazy because you think this is it's my fault.

I did something.

It may not be anything that you've done.

It may be that God wants his works to be displayed in you.

In fact, in Acts, chapter number nine, it says that the reason, the reason that the apostle Paul, that the apostle Paul was actually chosen by God to suffer like God chose him to suffer.

I don't know about you guys, but personally I like to be chosen, to be on the team.

I like to be picked and I don't want to get picked last.

You know what I'm saying.

I like to get picked and chosen on a team.

But one team I don't want to be on is I don't want to be on team suffering.

Ain't nobody signing up for team suffering?

God chose the apostle Paul to be on team suffering, not because of anything that Paul had done.

2 Corinthians tells us.

The reason being is so God's grace would be on Paul's life.

You know, right now you might be in a season of suffering or hardship, and it might be because God wants to do his work in you.

It might be because God wants to heal you and you're going to see that God is a healer.

It might be because God wants to transform you and you're going to see that God can transform your life.

It might be so you can see that God is a faithful God in the midst of this hardship.

It might be because there is somebody that's on the other side of your journey that you're going to be able to share your testimony with about God's faithfulness to you.

And maybe right now you're in a place where you're just like man I don't know like God what did I do?

Like I'm trying to do right.

I'm trying to do like maybe it's nothing you've done, but so God wants to work in you.

And if you're in a challenging season right now and you got lights going all around your life, can I just encourage you to pray a prayer, and it's this Lord, help me to learn what you want me to learn and show your mighty works through my season of suffering.

And if you prayed this prayer every day, it may surprise you some things you might learn.

It may surprise you in ways you see God's work in your life and, yes, it's easy to just like wallow in sorrow, like I get it, like I do.

But if you will say Lord, what are you trying to do in me, lord?

How are you trying?

What are you trying to teach me?

We might be able to see what God can do in our life, because the blind man, his blindness, had nothing to do with him, but it was about God's work being displayed in him.

Jesus sees the blind man.

He tells the disciples it's nothing he's done.

And then, in verse four, he tells his disciples, he says we must do the works of him who sent me.

While it is day, night is coming, when no one can work.

As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world.

And then, in verse six, something crazy happened.

I want y'all to get a picture of what's happening.

In verse number six, After Jesus had said these things, he spit on the ground Probably not one of the normal things that Jesus would do day to day.

He spit on the ground, he made some mud from the saliva and spread the mud on his eyes.

And if I'm the blind man, I'm thinking is there any other ways I could be healed here.

And then, in verse seven, this is what Jesus tells him.

He says go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sense.

You think about this At that moment, after Jesus told him that the blind man had a choice.

Was the blind man I know y'all are cheating, so y'all already know what he did, y'all see it but the blind man had a choice Was he going to go or is he just going to stay there and say Jesus, I already heard you talking to the disciples and you said that this isn't anything I've done, but that your works are going to be displayed in me.

So like go ahead and like do it right now.

He could have done that.

This is what he did.

He left, he washed and he came back.

Seeing, don't miss this the blind man's healing happened on the other side of the blind man's obedience.

When Jesus put the mud on his eyes, he wasn't healed yet.

When Jesus just said go, he wasn't yet healed.

It was when he obeyed, when he took a step of growth by obeying Jesus.

Some of us are praying for healing from God, whether that's physically or emotionally or mentally or spiritually, and sometimes God will heal in the moment, but oftentimes it's on the other side of our obedience.

But oftentimes it's on the other side of our obedience.

And isn't it hard to obey Some of y'all parents?

Sometimes you think you look at your kids and you're like man, I have such a hard time getting them to obey.

Sometimes I wonder what does God think about us?

And could it be that maybe we're in a place in our life where God wants to bring healing, where God wants to bring maturity, where we have these deep desires that we want God to do in us, and God says I will do those things, but they only happen on the other side of our obedience.

You know, here's the reality about a lot of us.

We're stubborn, don't raise your hand.

We're stubborn, don't raise your hand.

But if I asked you who's stubborn, some of y'all will point at somebody near you.

You don't do that either.

Okay, no elbows.

But let's just be honest.

We all got a little stubbornness in us, don't we?

We can kind of like dig our heels in.

We're like this is where we're at.

We can do that even with God.

We can put a circle, draw a circle called our comfort zone, and we could say I ain't getting out of this one, because doing this is uncomfortable, doing this is difficult, doing this doesn't make sense, and it's nobody else in my family does that.

Why would I do this, friend?

This is why we would do this, because Jesus commands us to.

And on the other side of our obedience, healing can happen in your life and if we'll have enough faith in our life to obey God, whether it makes sense or doesn't make sense, whether it's easy or whether it's hard, what can God do in your life?

I grew up in the church, and I grew up in a church where they just sang a bunch of old hymns.

How many y'all know the old hymns?

Oh, my, okay, yes, hands.

Some of y'all know the old hymns.

Let me tell you right now.

When I say old hymns, we're talking about a piano, we're talking about an organ, we're talking about a choir.

You know what I'm saying.

We was having church.

Then there was this song we used to sing.

It used to be called Trust and Obey.

Anybody heard that one before?

Well, if you haven't, I'm going to sing it right now.

No, I'm just kidding, I'm not.

There's a couple people at the 10 am service sitting on the front.

They were like singing.

I'm like get out of here.

We don't want people to leave, come on.

So here's the line of the song, here's how it went.

Trust Can we get that next slide up?

Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

And can you imagine what that blind man felt when, maybe for the first time in his life, he could see after he obeyed?

Could it be that God wants to bring healing in us on the other side of our obedience and when we obey, what will happen is people will take note of how Jesus transforms our life and what Jesus does in our life and how our life is a testimony.

I mean, I'm looking out at people in this room right now and you have shared your story with me of obedience and I have seen God do many mighty things and your story has impacted mine.

And in verse number eight, what happens in this text is all this blind man's neighbors they're like is that the guy that was just blind?

Let's pick it up, verse 8,.

It says this his neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said isn't this the one who used to sit begging?

Some said he's the one, others were saying, nah, but he looks like him.

He kept saying I'm the one.

Y'all imagine this.

Let's say you had a neighbor live down the street from you and you knew he was blind.

You were very aware he was blind.

Then one day you came home.

You look down the way and dude's out mowing his yard.

You'd be like is that the same guy?

So you know what you would do.

You would do the same thing that they did in this story.

You would do the same thing that they did in this story, verse number 10.

So it says in verse 10,.

So they asked him how are your eyes open?

Like what's your story, man?

I want to know what's going on.

He answered the man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes and told me go to Siloam and wash.

So when I went and washed I received my sight.

That's his testimony.

Where is he?

They asked.

I don't know.

So verse 13,.

They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.

These are the religious people.

The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath day.

Can't do anything on the Sabbath.

Verse 15,.

The Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight.

He put mud on my eyes.

He told them I washed and I can see.

Some of the Pharisees verse 16 said this man is not from God Talking about Jesus Because he doesn't keep the Sabbath.

But others were saying how can a sinful man perform such signs?

And there was a division among them.

Again, they asked the blind man what do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?

He's a prophet.

He said.

The Jews did not believe this about him, that he was blind and received sight until they summoned the parents of the one who received sight, y'all.

They just got the parents involved.

Now the parents are now involved.

The dude's a grown man.

They're like ah, we don't believe you.

Like.

He shared his story a couple times.

We gotta talk to the parents.

It says this in verse 21.

Where we at Verse 19, verse 19.

They are we at Verse 19.

Verse 19.

They asked him is this your son, the one you say was born blind?

And how then does he now see?

Verse 20.

We know this is our son and that he was born blind.

His parents answered mama knows.

Verse 21, we don't know how he sees and we don't know who opened his eyes.

I love this next line.

Ask him he's of age.

It's like he's grown, he'll speak for himself.

Verse 22,.

His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, the son of God, he would be banned from the synagogue.

Socially, this had massive implications for this to happen.

They didn't want that to happen.

So, verse 23,.

This is why his parents said he's of age.

Ask him.

So.

A second time they summoned the man who had been born blind and told him give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.

Verse 25,.

He answered.

Whether or not he's a sinner, I don't know One thing.

I do know I can almost hear the exasperation in his voice.

He's like, told all these different people and he's like.

One thing I do know I was blind, but now I can see.

And this blind man's testimony has an impact on others, and your testimony can have an impact on others.

People can come to know that Jesus is the son of God if you will share your testimony.

But how do you do it?

People can come to know that Jesus is the son of God If you will share your testimony.

But how do you do it?

If you look at what the blind man did.

This is what he did in his testimony.

He started off with sharing his life before Christ.

This is how he started.

Look what it says, verse 25.

One thing I do know I was what's that word I was.

I was blind.

That was his testimony.

And when you're sharing your testimony with people, what was your life like before Christ?

Sometimes we're like man.

My testimony is really simple.

It's not dramatic, it's not.

I did this.

I was in human trafficking.

It wasn't no, no, that didn't do all this stuff.

Know what your testimony needs to be.

It needs to be authentic to you.

My testimony isn't a testimony that was super crazy, as some people would say.

It's not.

I never tried drugs, I never smoked.

I don't say that because I'm better than anybody.

I just say that because that's not my story.

But here's my story.

My story is I grew up in church.

I knew about God, but there's a big difference between knowing about God and having a relationship with God.

I remember, late in my high school years, feeling the conviction of sin.

Sin is anything we say, think or do that breaks God's law.

Feeling the conviction of my sin and understanding the weightiness of sin.

And here's how I understood it was weighty because I knew that sin is why Jesus came and died on the cross.

So sin isn't something that's like not that big of a deal, like who cares?

Everybody sins.

No, guys.

It's weighty because Jesus came and died on the cross for our sin.

This was, this was my life before Christ knowing things about God but not truly knowing God.

Number two when you share your story, what led you to Christ?

When you think about your story, when you think about what God's done in your life, what was it that drew you to Christ?

Look in verse number 11 of what the text says.

This is what the blind man said in verse number 11.

If we can get that next slide up there, verse 11,.

He answered the man called Jesus, made mud, spread it on my eyes and told me go to Siloam and wash.

So when I went and washed, I received my sight.

This man's story isn't so much about he came to Christ for him.

It's a whole lot more about how Christ came to him, like it wasn't, like he was pursuing.

After Christ, jesus found him and said hey, I want to heal you.

Go, go to the pool and wash.

And here's my question to you.

What's your story of what led you to Christ?

Was it that maybe you had a friend that their life was super compelling and there was something about them and as you got to know them better, you realized it was God in their life and that drew you to Christ.

Was it that maybe you got invited to a church service where they had popcorn and soda in the lobby and you heard the good news of Jesus for the first time in your life?

Was it a season of hardship that you had where something just in you told you that you needed God and that's what brought you to Christ.

What, what was it that led you to Christ?

Describe that well.

That means to Christ.

It's pretty simple.

I'm pretty simple, dude.

I looked at people that were following Jesus and I knew their lives weren't perfect, but they had joy, peace.

I looked at people who weren't following Jesus and they seemed to have very little joy and very little peace and I thought, if I'm choosing between the two, I'd probably rather have that one.

And then I took a step back and I looked at the historical events that surrounded the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This supposed resurrection and the events that surrounded the resurrection were undeniably true.

And if I didn't believe those things, literally I was being intellectually dishonest with myself.

Just looking at the facts, not even scripture, looking at the facts around first century Jerusalem and what happened.

And when I looked at these different things and I looked at the facts, I'm like it's a no brainer for me to trust Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and follow him.

When you share your story, what was your life like before Christ?

What led you to Christ?

And then, number three, what is your life since you've come to Christ?

So you think, since you've trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, what has your life been like?

What kind of a difference has Christ made in your life?

For me, my life has not been perfect since I've come to Christ.

I wish I could say that.

I wish I could say, man, my life has been like lilies and roses and daisies.

And I wake up and I hear the angel singing every morning.

Don't have any hard times.

It's not my story.

Here's what my story is.

It's not my story here's what my story is that no matter what I've experienced in life, I've had peace and joy that I literally cannot explain in my life.

That when I've lived my life since Christ, I've had this deep assurance that God is with me every moment of every day and this assurance that one day I know I will be in heaven with the Lord.

I have had this in my life and God has done so many things in my life and there is no explanation for it, apart from a real life God that has done real life things in my heart and when we're sharing our testimony it's really simple what was your life like before Christ?

What led you to Christ and what is your life since you've come to Christ?

Now some of you in the room you don't yet have a testimony because you're not yet a follower of Jesus.

Maybe you came here because your friend dragged you here, your family member dragged you here.

Maybe you know a lot about church.

Maybe you've heard the worship songs that the worship team was singing man, they just did a great job this morning leading us in worship and maybe you know a lot, but you don't know the Lord and you've never trusted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.

Can I just say that today can be your day when you make the decision to turn from your sin and put your complete faith and trust in what Jesus has done for you by dying on the cross.

For you, that is how you experience salvation, and today can be the day of your salvation.

But for the rest of us that already know the Lord, here's what we can do.

We can be people that share our testimonies.

This is what I want you to do.

I got two homework assignments for you guys.

It's been a long time since I give y'all a homework assignment, so I know it's the middle of the summer, so some of you teenagers are like we got another month before we're doing this thing again.

I got two assignments for you.

Here's the first one.

It's one I want you to write out your testimony.

Write out your testimony Now.

Some of you have already done this.

If you've already done this, you don't got to do it, but if you've never done this, I want you to write out your testimony.

It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be like four pages.

It could be like six or ten sentences, and here's why I think you should write it out, because it will be able to help you articulate it.

And number two share your testimony with somebody.

What's your testimony?

Maybe you can share it with a coworker or a friend, maybe somebody you've kind of been having some conversations with a little bit kind of below the surface.

Maybe it's time for you to say, hey, can I share the most important thing about my entire life?

And you get an opportunity to share your story, maybe what it is.

Maybe you get on your social media where you got dozens and hundreds and some of y'all got thousands of people on there and you say you know, I'm going to share my story of what God has done in my life.

Maybe you have a story and some of you have forgotten what God has done in your life and you need to remind yourself of what God has done for you Because, remember, you have a testimony, your testimony is powerful and God wants to use it.

We can get that on the screen.

You have a testimony, your testimony is powerful and God wants to use it, but you have to share it and you have to know it.

I was talking to somebody after the one of the services earlier today and they said to know it.

I was talking to somebody after the one of the services earlier today and they said man Nate.

They said I have forgot.

I forgot all that God's done for me.

I wrote out my testimony a long time ago and today, for the first time in a long time, it caused me to go back and think man, look at all that God's done for me.

Look at all that God has brought me from.

Man, look at all that God's done for me, look at all that God has brought me from.

And, friend, when you know your testimony, when the enemy plants, lies in your mind and plants doubts in your mind and puts all these things in your head, you need to say hey, hey, hey, I remember what the Lord has done for me.

This is my testimony.

Enemy, I'm not gonna buy into the things that you're saying.

I'm not gonna buy into the lies of the world, I'm not going to buy into the lies of all these other things, because this is my testimony.

We sang about the faithfulness of God earlier in the song, earlier in the service, and we can know this God, you've been faithful in the past.

So here's what I want you guys to do.

I want you one to think about your testimony and our reflection response.

Think about what God's done for you and, as we have a time of prayer just a moment, would you thank him for what he's done for you.

Would you thank the Lord for what he's brought you from?

Would you remember how he's worked in your life?

Just praise him.