Storyboarding - Week 2

If you've got a Bible, go to Psalm chapter seventy seven.

Psalm Chapter seventy seven. We're gonna continue our series storyboarding.

Today we're talking about building our testimony, crafting our testimony.

Last week we talked about the testimony. This week we're

gonna give you some practical steps of how I build

that story, how I build that thing that God is

doing in my life. Psalm chapter seventy seven, Verse ten.

If you're there, say amen. If you're not, say oh my,

all right, the old MIAs follow along on the screens.

Everybody else read with me, Psalm seventy seven ten. And

I said, this is my anguish.

Let's just stop right there for a second.

You know, I think a lot of times we trivialize

our own problems, and we think our own problems are

insignificant because we and we compare those problems to other

peoples and we think they've got it so much worse

than us.

But the reality is, your problem is your problem, and.

It may be much bigger to you than it feels

like to people looking in on the outside. If it's

your struggle and it's distracting you from the Lord, it's something.

That needs to be addressed.

That struggle is very real because it's personal and we're

all wired different, we're all we all have different personality types,

we're all gifted differently, and we approach those struggles in

much different ways. So when we make altar calls and

we have that that that miracle moment that we have

during that third song, and you're struggle, listen, just because

maybe your throat sore and you think, oh, well, that's

not a big deal.

Listen, it doesn't matter if it's bothering you. Come and

let somebody lay hands on.

You and pray for you. Because God's got enough for everybody.

He doesn't run out.

It's not like, oh, I'm.

Gonna keep my sore throat because you know that person

up there might have diabetes. No, He's got enough for

sore throat and diabetes. Amen, He's got enough for everybody.

So when we look at that and we hear these words,

this is my anguish.

The psalmist is talking about a.

Situation and a circumstance in life that has consumed his thoughts.

It's something that's bringing pressure into his life, a trauma

that he doesn't just describe as a problem, but anguish says,

this is my anguish, but I will remember the years

of the right hand of the Most High.

This is my anguish. I'm having a hard time, but

I'm going.

To remember all the good years and a lot of

times this is where we craft our testimony from. We

think back of all the good years. And I don't

know how many testimonies I've heard over the years that

somebody would say it this week and then next month

you're in how many of your old us remember, like

testimony Sunday nights and you go Sunday night serves people

stand up testifying. You know, it was like a good

Pentecostal tradition. Somebody kicked their leg up, somebody at shay.

I mean, you know what I'm saying. And a lot

of those testimonies would would be this repetitively over and

over again. I just want to thank the Lord that

he saved me, sanctified me, and fill me with the

Holy Ghost. And that happened forty five years ago, and

those are all good things, right, I mean, that's the

greatest miracle in the world, is somebody getting saved, literally

raised from the dead. But when we're forty five years

later and our testemonia is still he saved me, he

sanctified me, and he filled me with the Holy Ghost.

And there's nothing else beyond that.

Come on, somebody, I wonder how thriving that relationship with

Jesus really is, and if we're pursuing the destiny that

God's dropped in our spirits, because there should be other

things in the story.

See, the story.

Doesn't end with saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost.

That's just the kickoff of the most marvelous journey you

could ever imagine.

He says, I'll.

Remember the years of the right Head of the Most High,

I will remember the works of the Lord.

Surely I will remember your wonders of old. And then

in verse twelve it switches. He says, I will.

Also meditate on all your work present future. See in

the original language, this is a this is a present future.

He's not talking about remembering, He's meditating on what God

is doing right now and what God will do. See,

our testimony is not in the past. It's in the

present and it's in the tomorrow. Because God is progressive,

and he's always working, and he's always doing something great.

He's always he's always opening doors He's always closing doors

we don't need to walk through. And when we meditate

on the thing that God is doing now and also

what God is doing in the future, that's when.

We begin to.

Try to start comprehending the immensity of God and what

He's doing in our lives. So he says, listen, I'm

gonna meditate on what you're doing now and what you're

gonna do tomorrow, and.

I'll talk of your deeds.

Sounds like a testimony, sounds like that living story that

God's writing in our lives.

See. I think that one thing, that.

One powerful tool for you crafting your testimony is the principle.

Now listen.

Ninety percent of the men in here, you're gonna roll

your eyes when I say this, and you're gonna refuse

to do it.

And it's okay.

Live in just partial of what you can have. But

one of the greatest things we can do to craft

our testimony is the act of journaling. Now listen, I'm

not talking about keeping a diary. That's not what I'm

talking about. If you want to keep a diary, that's fine,

get you one of them's got a little lock on

it in the key right and you can do that.

That's uh, some of y'all laughing because y'all used to

have one of those. I'm talking about a written.

Process of not where God's been and what He's done,

but where God's going and where He's carrying me.

So I sit.

Down and I meditate on the work of God, and

I realize in my life that I handled things a

little differently today than I did last week. The same

situations that just really tore me up last week, they

don't seem like that big of a deal today. And

we want to quote those wise human proverbs right like

time heals all wounds. Sanctification and the progressive work of

God is what heals all wounds. That we know a

little more about Him and we're resting more comfortably in

his presence and his peace over that same situation today

than we were yesterday. And it's not just the passage

of time, because all the passage of time does is.

Make you old.

The trauma is still the trauma if we're not resting

and embracing what God's doing a little more this week.

And we write down those things and we say, hey,

you know what, last week, I was worried because my

kids have lost their mind, and this week they're they're

probably acting crazier than they ever have, Lord, but I

just seem to have peace. They seem to have peace

about it for some reason, because you know the Lord's working.

You found that scripture, you found that promise in prayer

in that quiet time, and you're meditating on what he's doing.

And then you move from that and you begin to

look at the destiny that you have.

In front of you, and you begin to write those

statements of faith in that journal. Come on, now, you

begin to not just record what he's actively doing, but

what he's going to do, and you begin to write

things down like pay in five years from now, I'm

going to own my own home, or you know what,

I'm declaring that in ten years from now, maybe ten

days whatever, it's a sure journal. In ten years from now,

if I keep repeating the things that I've done this

week over and over again, I'm going to be at

this place in life. And we begin to make those

positive faith statements. I'm not talking about naming it and

claiming it, but I'm talking about writing down the place

where you want to be, where you believe God is

carrying you, so that you can look back one day

and say that's when it started and my faith was activated.

And when I get there, now I have a testimony

to craft because I've got it in writing and I

can remember it wasn't just that I fell into it,

but I started praying about it and believing about it

ten years ago, and now it's a re reality. God

started that process. I think sometimes we miss our testimony

because we wake up one day and we realize things

are different, and we think it just happened, but the

real but the reality is it didn't just happen. God's

been working on it. When we intentionally craft those faith

statements and we apply our faith to situations. Because faith

is the currency of the kingdom. Let me say that again.

Faith is the currency of the Kingdom. Just like you

take a you know, you used to take a dollar

in and be able to buy, you know, a mountain dew.

Now you take two dollars and ninety cents into the

convenience store. Do you buy a mountain dew? And you

exchange that currency for that. That's the same way faith

works in the Kingdom. I invest my faith in the

things God's doing, and he activates the process of bringing

it into my.

Life and faith.

Statements work because they keep our eyes on what God's doing,

and they refocus our efforts to point towards what He's doing.

Journaling is a powerful tool. And remember always remember this.

I've taught y'all over and over again. The most spiritual

thing you can ever do. Just write it down. Write

what down? Yes, yep, that's yep. Write it down so

it will hurt my feelings. Write it down. How much

do I owe pastor Steve? Write it down twice?

Amen, because I wrote it down.

When we put things in writing, it keeps us focused

and it activates things in the heavenlies. The back was

standing watch, and the Lord spoke to him, and he said,

write the vision and make it plain. He said, if

it's important, write it down. So start the process of journaling.

And Philippians chapter one, verse six. It says, being confident

of this.

Very thing that he's that's the Lord, that he who

has begun a good work in you will complete it

until the day of Jesus Christ.

See when we write it down, we see when the

work started, and we can progress through it.

His promise is that if he started.

It, he'll finish it. He's the author and the finisher

of our faith. He said that again, He's the author

and he's the finisher of our faith. How many of

you have ever watched a movie and you're like, this

is this movie's amazing, it's really good, and then it

just gets to the end and stops, and you're like, man,

they just quit right and they must have run out

of time by the movie just ended. Don't let your

life be that. Don't live this extraordinary life. And then

when it just gets to the end, it's like, oh,

for the last fifteen years they just didn't really do anything.

Let Jesus write it and let him finish it and celebrate.

The milestones all along the way.

See, the second huge thing in crafting that testimony of

your life is celebrating the victories, no matter how small

they are. Take an opportunity to celebrate those victories. Israel,

in the Old Testament they practiced this process called memorial stones.

Every time God would move and do something, they would

build these stacks of stones or these individual memorial stones,

and they would set them in place.

And one of the most powerful pictures of.

That is when Joshua was getting ready to carry the

children of Israel into the Promised Land. Moses had already

come to the river, and he allowed the people to

convince him not to go because there were giants in

the land and there's no way they were gonna be

able to take it. Then Joshua rolls up and they

get to the bank of the Jordan River and he says, okay, priests,

take the arc, go walk down.

Into the river.

When the feet of the priest hit the river, it

just divided.

The water backed up and it was dry land.

And they walked over and they got in the middle

and he said, whoa stop, And the priest stopped in

the middle of the river and he said, listen, I

want you to take twelve stones out of the river,

and I want you to stack them on the other side.

So when our kids and our kids kids kids come.

By and they see stock that stack of rocks right there,

they're gonna look back and they're gonna say, hey, that's

when the Lord dried up the river and we went

into the Promised Land. They celebrated that moment for all

to see. But then Joshua did something that.

Most people wouldn't do.

He then looked at him and said, okay, now I

want you to go get twelve stones from over there,

and I want you to stack them up in the river.

And they went and they took those twelve.

Memorial stones, and they brought them back in the river,

and they stacked those stones up in the river. And

when the priest walked out of the water, the river

started running again, and those twelve stones were covered up,

and nobody could see those stones, because those stones were

meant for Joshua, and Joshua only it was that time

where he could go back to that place and nobody

else could see the miracle, but he knew it was there.

He placed Mamoor stones that were personal and private to himself.

There are some things that we celebrate to everybody, then

there's some things we celebrate to ourselves.

Just think about how.

Different Joseph's story would have been if he had celebrated

the vision God gave him privately, rather than telling his

brothers that they were going to bow down to him

one day. He may have been able to skip the

whole souled into slavery and the thrown into prison and

all of those portions of the story and just been elevated.

But he decided to celebrate something that wasn't meant to

be celebrated publicly. See, sometimes God speaks a truth down

on the inside of us, and we still celebrate it,

but we don't celebrate it to the outside. We don't

invite other people there because that's private.

It's for us.

God speaks things to you that's only for you sometimes,

and listen to me, young people, maybe not even young people,

maybe some of you older people that are still you're single.

Here's something you need to understand that when you're single

and God speaks something to you that's about you, that's

not for you to celebrate with the person you're dating.

Listen.

Relationship is the sharing of private things in the context

of relationship.

That's what that is.

And the moment we do that, there are certain tithes

that are formed, there are certain bonds that are formed.

And then when things don't work out, those things are

crushing because we've shared identity and there's been a merging

of identity through those things, those things that God meant

for us as individuals. And now I've onboarded somebody else

into my quiet time and into my personal time with God,

and there's a spiritual tithe that's there and it is

terribly difficult and hurting and heartbreaking when things don't work

out because you've on board and you've shared that process

with someone who's close to you. Keep your things private

that God speaks to you in a long times. Celebrate

the victories with everybody that are for the public, but

internalize those things and put those memorial stones in the

river where only.

You know that they're at.

And if you will celebrate those things, if you'll celebrate

those winds along the way and learn to celebrate those winds,

then you're going to be able to craft a testimony

that will move people because it's full of the truth

of what God's doing. And in Luke, chapter seventeen, verse seventeen,

it says, so Jesus answered and said, where they're not

ten clans, catch.

Up to where we are.

Here, Jesus is doing his ministry and he comes up

to these ten lepers and they cry out to.

Him, cleanse Us.

There was a place at the gate where these lepers

would gather, and they cry out to him and they say, hey,

cleanse Us. We know just if you'll speak the word,

we'll be cleansed. And Jesus says, hey, okay, I tell

you what this is what you need to do. Go

and go and show yourself to the priest. And immediately

as they went, they were healed. That there's some faith

in action there, right, But that's not today's sermon. These

ten lepers leave and they go to show themselves to

the priest, and on the way they're healed.

And one of those guys realizes that.

Healing has happened, and he stops, and he turns around

and he comes back to Jesus. And that's where we

start reading. So Jesus answered and said, we're they're not

ten cleansed. But where are the nine? Where were there

any found who returned to give glory to God?

Except this foreigner. This is important.

It's important here that that that he says foreigner, because

that means he's you. That means this person is a gentile.

That means that this person's not in that he's not

yet in that whole Abrahamic covenant. He's he's not on

the end, or he's not on the inside yet, he's

not part of the chosen group. He's not there. He's

a foreigner. He's on the outside. And listen, you don't

have to look like everybody else for God to do something.

But he said he's looking into the future. He's looking

into right now.

And he said, and hey, I'm willing to do something

in you, not just everybody else but you, but this foreigner.

And he said to him, arise, go your way. Your

faith has made you well. This word here is also

translated whole in many translations.

It's a different word than healed.

This word well literally means restored to the way it

was before. Now I want you to think about leprosy.

The whole.

Act of isolation and exclusion is to keep the flesh

from touching flesh, because the way leprosy would spread is

if someone with leprosy would rub up against your skin,

that infected bacteria would then begin to eat your flesh.

So these people with leprosy were isolated not just from

jobs and not just from community, but from their families

and from everyone they loved.

And they formed colonies.

Together, and they spent their lives with strangers, and they

went through life with people that.

Were not family, that they didn't know.

They just simply were forced to be in community with

people because those were the only people that had a disease,

like theirs.

And they had lost everything.

Every relationship, everything was gone. And these nine received healing

and they went on to show themselves to the priests.

But this one, this one returned and he began to

give thanks to the Lord, and the Lord Lord looks

at him and says, hey, you're not just healed, but

I'm putting everything back like it was. I'm restoring every relationship,

I'm restoring every promotion you ever had.

I'm going to restore everything.

That you had, and I'm going to cancel all those

years that you lost, literally and I'm going to give

you those years back so that you can live in

the fullness of who I say you are. And that

man was made whole. Everything was restored, and everything was

put back in a moment because of gratitude. And if

we will live in an attitude of gratitude, then we

can see the progressive work of the Lord. Clay, you

guys can come and get ready. You can see the

progressive work of the Lord moving forward. You can see

the progressive work of the Lord. That he didn't just

do it one time, but he's still doing something in

my life. He didn't just heal me, but he's making

me whole. He didn't just fix me. He's made me

better than ever. And as I move ahead, there's so

much more to look forward to in the future.

Because of who he is. See, here's the thing.

When we're crafting our tarisi our testimony to talk to people,

stop discounting it, because your testimony is not about you.

It's about him. Our testimony is not about us.

Listen, Wednesday night, I started. I started a group I'm

gonna be for the next seven weeks. I'm gonna be

meeting with our high school students and we're talking about

personal leadership and doing some of those things. And it

may embarrass him, but I got to meet a cool

guy in there, Alan, and listen, I want you to know, buddy,

God's got a big plan for you. I can just

feel it on you when I was sitting in the

room with you. God's got something special for you. And

you need to start. You need to start writing down

where God's carrying you, because listen, it may be good

enough to write a book about someday. I believe when

God gets you to where He's going, and you can

look back and you can write about the fat guy

in the orange shirt that Sunday that told you that,

and it's a testimony, a testimony that resonates and echoes.

Through eternity, a testimony about who Jesus is.

And it just so happens to include who Jesus is

in my story.

And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb.

And the word of their testimony, or waiting for you

to tell them what God's doing in your life, because secretly.

They've been waiting.

For someone to tell them that their life doesn't have

to continue to be the way it's been. That they

won't admit it, but the enemy extinguished the hope on

the inside of them years ago, and they've just been

going through the motions of survival. And then suddenly your

testimony the story of what God's doing. And remember it

may be messy right now. In that story of the lepers,

the nine were healed, but remember this man still hadn't

shown himself to the priest. The work wasn't finished yet.

He was willing to embrace the word of God in

the middle of it when he still had sores, when

it still looked like leprosy, because he hadn't made it

to the priest yet, he hadn't been declared clean. So

he was willing to get involved in it in the middle.

Share where you are, right in the messy middle, so

that God can onboard people into the process and bring

hope into their lives.

Listen, if you're if you're.

Swimming in debt and you don't know what you're gonna do,

you're broke, and you just but you know God is spoken.

You know God's spoken, and he said, Hey, I'm gonna

bring you through it. I'm gonna bring you through it.

It's gonna be hard, I'm gonna challenge you, but I'm

gonna bring you through it. Go ahead and tell people

right now that, hey, my finances are a mess, but

God's doing something. Maybe maybe right now, your marriage is

just it's a wreck, it's in trouble. You go ahead

and tell people and on board people into that story.

Right I said, hey, listen, my marriage is not what

I thought it was going to be.

But God's doing something.

He's doing something, because what you don't know is that

person you're talking to. Every time she gets home at night,

her husband cusses her out and tells her she's not

good enough.

She doesn't think there's any.

Hope, but she can experience God working a miracle in

your life that increases faith for her to believe, so

that she can believe for God to do something.

In her life.

And maybe you're lost in wondering. You just you don't know,

You're just you're just wandering around.

You begin to tell people.

Hey, God's got a plan for me. God's got a

purpose and a destiny for me that ain't quite grabbed

it yet.

But I know he's working.

And I feel a little bit every day He's nudging

me just a little bit this way and a little

bit that way.

And I can hear him speak. And you know, I'm.

Having dreams at night and onboard them before you figure

it out, listen, if I stand up right now and

I share, hey, you know what I have.

I've been a pastor on staff here.

At Cornerstone for eighteen and a half years. People are like, good, good,

but that testimony is, hey, you know what.

I was an alcoholic.

I was broke, busted and disgusted. I didn't know where

I was going. I didn't know what I was doing.

And God's done.

Miracle after miracle after miracle in my life.

When I thought all hope was lost, he brought new

hope and now, I've been pastoring the same church for

eighteen and a half years.

And hey, listen to this. The best is yet to come.

We're going to reach more people over the next nine

years than we've reached in the past eighteen years because

God is accelerating his timetable because time's getting short, and

I'm just happy that he's using me to be.

Part of it. I don't have to lead it as

long as I'm part of it.

Why don't you come get on board and help us

get where God's carrying us.

That's a testimony.

That's a testimony, and God's doing something more powerful.

In your life. Journal it, write it down and recognize it.

Celebrate those wins, and then live in an attitude of gratitude.

Everybody's staying with me all over the building.

Lord Jesus, these are incredible people, but you already know that.

My prayer for them today is that they would see

themselves the way you see them, That they would recognize

the potential, the greatness, the gifts, the passions, and the

skills that are on the inside of them that set

them apart from everybody else in the world.

That they would begin to see.

That today and craft a testimony that leads molditues to

life change in you, or to have your way in

this place right now in Jesus' name. Amen, Listen, if

you're here today and you've never asked Jesus, you've never

asked him to to forgive you of your sins, you've

never asked him to be the Lord of your life.

Or maybe you've done that, but now you've allowed sin

to come into your life, to creep in and separate

you from the Lord. Just a moment, I want to

give you an opportunity to.

To come to the Lord to make those things right.

Listen, You're in a building with people that love you,

that want the best for you, of people that don't

think that because you've had sin in your life, or

because you do have sin in your life, that you're

dirty and ichy and somehow this weird perverted thing that

there's no hope for. Listen, We've been praying for you

all week to show up for this moment, for this

moment right now, so that we can celebrate with you.

What God's doing in your life is he washes you clean,

makes your brand new creation. We've all been there, most

of us this past week We're just ordinary broken people

in love with Jesus.

So and just man.

I'm gonna count to three, and if that's you, if

you want to come to the Lord, I want you

to step out and make your way down to the front.

We want to pray for you.

Matter of fact, Alter Team, come on and get ready.

This next part is pretty specific. Though.

While I've been preaching, you've been thinking. You've been going

over all those things in your mind that the Lord's done,

and you realize that you haven't been very grateful.

You realize that maybe you haven't shown the gratitude.

To the Lord that he needs for where He's brought

you from. When I count to three, I want you

to step out and make your way to the front

and just repent for not being grateful and then celebrate

who He is in this moment. And these Altar workers,

this Alter Team, they're gonna help you. They're gonna help

you celebrate you learn to be grateful for the things

God's done in your life. So when I count to three,

if you're here and you want to make things right

with you and Jesus, or if you want to repent

for not being very grateful, I want you to step out,

and I want you to move. I'm the count of three, one, two.

Three, step out and move right now. Amen. Amen, heymen,

come

On, the altars are open, the band's gonna sing, and

you can step out and move Pastor Clay