Taste and See

We're going to, at this time, read a verse found

in Psalms. So would you join me in Psalm chapter

Psalms 34 · chapter mention

34 and verse 8? A few weeks ago, I preached out

of verse 1. I preached out of verse 1, I will

bless the Lord at all times, remember, and his

praise shall continually be in my mouth. And

so in that message, gave some context for David's

writing of Psalm 34, and I felt to take it a

step further in the spirit, and I want to read

this one short verse that says, Oh, taste and

see. Someone say, taste and see that the Lord

is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed

is the man. who trust in him. And I want to just,

I want to speak here for a few moments on that

thought, taste and see. Taste and see. Someone

say, in Jesus' name. Come on, let's say, in Jesus'

name. Say, God, speak to me. Speak to me today.

Amen. You may be seated in the presence of God.

Every so often, my wife will tell me, usually

from a... across the house to close my eyes because

she wants me to taste something, but she doesn't

want me to see it. She says, close your eyes.

I want you to taste this. And every time she

does that, I get a little nervous. I'm not going

to lie because I don't like surprises. I don't

know if anyone has ever done that with you. Just

close your eyes. I get a little nervous. I go,

why? Why? She said, I want you to taste something.

Just close your eyes. And then if she senses

a little hesitation in me, she'll usually ask

me, do you trust me? Do you trust me? And I'm

like, well, yes, I trust you, but I still don't

like not knowing what you're about to put in

my mouth. He said, do you trust me? Yes, I do.

So I'll close my eyes. Sometimes I kind of squint

a little bit. But, you know, to be fair to the

process, I'll close them all the way. But nine

out of ten times, nine out of ten, which means

the majority of the time I like whatever it is

that I'm tasting. And the reason is because my

wife knows my taste. She knows my taste. She

knows what I like. And so 99 .9 % of the time,

it's something I'm going to like because she

knows my taste. And she wouldn't put something

in my mouth. She wouldn't have me taste something

if she knew that I wasn't going to enjoy it or

need it. And I want you to know today, church,

that God knows your taste. Somebody say amen

for that. I said he knows your taste. But more

than that, he knows what, not just what you like,

amen, but he knows what you need. He knows what

you need. Someone say, he knows what I need.

He knows what you need, what you delight in.

He knows what will change your life even. He

knows what will, if you taste it, make you more

like him. The only question is, will you trust

him? In the same way that my wife would say,

close your eyes and ask, do you trust me? That's

the same question that God will often ask us

in those. moments of uncertainty and those moments

of experience, moments of challenge and trial

and tribulation where God is saying, will you

trust me? Because what you're tasting right now

may not seem like it's what you need or may not

seem like it's going to produce something in

your life. But if you trust me and taste fully

what it is that I am putting into your life,

then... you will see the goodness of the Lord.

Amen. In this psalm, David invites us to experience

the goodness of God. And he does so through a

series of blind taste tests. In the natural,

we usually see before we taste. That's why my...

Example makes me uncomfortable when I'm asked

to close my eyes because we like to first eat

with our eyes before our mouths. Ain't that right?

We eat with our eyes first. And how many of you

know that sometimes our eyes are bigger than

our stomachs? Amen. We order bigger than what

we can actually eat. Say, I am hungry today.

Don't hold back. Fill up my plate till it's running

over. Right? Because we eat with our eyes first.

And then we taste it. And with our eyes, we already

start imagining what it's going to taste like

and what that experience will be. But David flips

the order. Flips it around. Because in the spirit,

you taste before you see. In the natural, you

see before you taste. But in the spirit, you

taste before you see. I won't dwell on this particular

thought very long, but in theological terms,

theologically speaking, this reverses the order.

initiated by Adam and Eve, whom we read in Genesis,

first saw that the tree was good for food and

that it was pleasant to the eyes, and then they

ate. David reverses, and it's God's will to reverse

that order so that we are no longer led purely

by what we see, what is pleasant to the eyes,

what is appealing to the eyes, our natural sight,

our physical senses, but that we walk by faith

and not by sight. Amen, somebody. And that we

not be led by what our senses, what our vision

is telling us. I'm talking about our physical

vision. You could almost say that Eve and Adam

would have never. fallen into that trap of sin,

had they not been so eye or physically led in

their sight, had they remembered what God told

them, they would have not allowed the appeal

of that fruit. But God wants to reverse that

order today, and he wants us to taste, to fully

experience his goodness. Now, I'm going to be...

talking today about the goodness of God. But

I don't want to approach it from the usual way

that we do when we speak of his goodness. We

talk usually about when we hear that word good,

we think of like just good things that we think

are good. Like we talk about, you know, good

times and good things that are happening. And

I want you, Today, with the help of God, with

his anointing, to understand that the goodness

of God takes on different forms. Sometimes in

your life, you're experiencing the goodness and

the richness of God, though your life may be

looking contrary to that, though what you're

feeling may not appear to be the goodness of

God. But in fact it is. And I hope I can prove

that for you today. For you to understand that

when we say God is good all the time and all

the time God is good that doesn't just mean when

I'm feeling good. It doesn't just mean when things

look good. But God is good. David penned this

psalm in the wake of one of his lowest moments,

when he had pretended to be insane to avoid death

at the hands of his enemies. It was a humiliating

moment for him. One of his darkest hours. But

out of that moment came a revelation of the goodness

of God. and how God's goodness is tasted, not

with our physical tongue, but through faith and

through trusting in him, even before we fully

understand what God is doing in our life. I hope

to convey and inject into someone's faith today,

someone's spirit today, that you can taste and

experience the goodness of God even without fully

understanding all that God is doing in your life

and why things are happening the way that they

are. When I'm blind, taste something. It takes

me a minute or two to identify the flavors in

my mouth. How many of you, you know, when you're

taking a blind taste, it's like, you got to chew

it a little bit. What is that? Is that cinnamon?

No. Is that salt? You try to identify, what am

I tasting? It tastes like this. It might be that.

You're trying to figure out what the ingredients,

the flavors are in your mouth. And when I do

this, I often don't know what I'm tasting. And

sometimes I still don't know. It tastes good,

but what is it? And my wife will tell me. She'll

show me the box or she'll tell me what the ingredients

are. This is what you just ate. Oh, okay. Well,

I like that. Give me more of it. Someone will

say, hey, man, I want more. Where that came from.

I don't know what it is. I can't even pronounce

it, but I like it. I want more of it. I wonder

what would happen if we took that same approach

with God. God, I don't understand it all. I don't

have it figured out yet. I haven't quite computed

and dissected everything that you're doing, but

I know that if you're allowing it to happen,

it must be for my good. And it must be for your

good pleasure in my life. It must have a purpose.

In the spirit, we don't know what we've tasted

until later sometimes. And I really want to develop

this point. And don't worry, I've got like three

or four points today. If I don't get through

them all, then I'll have to come back to this.

But I really want to develop this, this idea,

this biblical idea that we don't often know what

we've tasted until later. We don't often realize

the goodness of God until we have made it across

the other side. Until we've lived to tell the

story. Until we say like the psalmist, if it

had not been for the Lord that was on our side.

You don't always have that revelation when you're

in the middle of it. You don't know that you're

tasting something good because All you taste

in the moment is bitter. It's sour. It's hurt,

pain, frustration. But when God brings you all

the way through, you say, oh, like the psalmist,

it was good for me. Hallelujah. I didn't know

that I needed it. I didn't know that God was,

his goodness was, it was actually his goodness.

I wasn't being punished. I was being promoted.

Promotion in the kingdom comes wrapped in trial

and in suffering and pain sometimes. In fact,

oftentimes it does. But what goodness was David

tasting? We have to look at the prior verses.

So we're looking at Psalm 34. He talks about

the goodness, but we have to take a few steps

back. Rewind the video. to see what was it that

gave him this revelation. Well, in the prior

verses, he shows us the ingredients of God's

goodness. And God wants us to taste these same

ingredients today. Let us look at the first ingredient

of the goodness of God, which is the goodness

of a God. who hears. Amen. The goodness, he tasted

the goodness, and we need to taste the goodness

of a God who hears. Let me tell you that God

is not deaf. He's not hard of hearing. David

said in verse four, in this low moment, in this

embarrassing moment, In this dark moment where

he cowered from responsibility, where he shrunk

from courage, in that moment, he said, I sought

the Lord, and he heard me. I learned how to pray

like I had never prayed before. I learned how

to call on God in a way like I had never called

on him at any other time in my life. And so David

comes to this realization on the other side of

his trial that the goodness of God begins with

God's willingness and his desire to listen to

us when we call on him. I think most of us today

believe in prayer. Somebody say amen. We believe

in prayer. And that belief is grounded in the

truth of God's goodness to hear us when we call

on his name. He hears the cry of the desperate,

the poor in spirit, the humble, the heartbroken,

the disenfranchised, the discouraged. When we

call on the Lord, he hears us. Prayer, someone

say prayer. Prayer is your connection to God.

It's your 24 -hour hotline. It's your way of

communing and communicating with your creator.

But I want you to understand something about

prayer today. Prayer is not simply or just for

the perfect. Prayer is not for the polished or

the pedigree, but prayer is an open line that

whosoever will call on that name in the day of

trouble. Hallelujah. God will hear your prayer.

See, what I like about David's revelation is

that in his lowest of lows, in his darkest of

moments, he found out that even then, Even in

that pain and regret where he was less than the

man that he ought to be, that God still heard

his prayer. Hallelujah. I don't have to climb

to the top of the mountain for God to hear me.

I don't have to climb to one of these holy mountains

for God to hear me. But I can be even in my most...

Oh, God, my most hideous time, even in my most

embarrassing, humiliating, even in the hole that

I am in, even in David's most... Hallelujah.

Humiliating moment. He was whispering prayer.

Lord, I've dug myself into a hole. Lord, I put

myself where I am right now. I am living the

consequences of my own decisions. But I know

that you still hear me when I call. So I need

you right now to save me, to deliver me, and

to rescue me. And so David was whispering these

prayers under his breath as he was pretending

madness in front of his enemies in order to escape

death. He was whispering, God, Lord, if you get

me out of this one, I'm going to serve you like

I had. God, if you will hear this one way, if

you never answer another prayer in my life, God,

if you will just hear this one, God. God! If

you will just answer me this one last time, Lord,

I'll pay it forward. I'll make it up to you,

God. Lord, just get me out of this thing that

I have created. Get me out of this situation.

Oh, the enemy wants you to believe, my friend,

that your prayers have no power, that you'll

never get an answer. But I want you to know that

prayer changes things. I want you to know that

God's not looking for a professional prayer.

He's not looking for. a classical prayer. He's

not looking for an educated prayer. He's looking

for an honest prayer. A real prayer. A prayer

that says, God, I need you. Come on, somebody

thank him today. Somebody thank the Lord and

bless his name. God, that's what I need. And

God hears me. But here's the question to you

today. Here's the question. Will you trust him?

You say, well, why do I need to trust him? Because

his answer may not come when you want it. Hello,

somebody. Come on now. His answer may not come.

And the answer may not be the one you want. Hallelujah.

I think people forget that no is also an answer.

Come on now, y 'all ain't with me here today.

No is an answer as well. But will you trust him?

You can't return to sender. No, no, no, I'm going

to keep praying until I get a different answer.

Sometimes God's word is his word, his final,

this is the answer. But will you trust him? Because

what if God is delaying the answer or prescribing

an answer that you don't like simply because

he's got something different in mind for you?

Imagine if God answered every prayer you asked

for. what our lives look like. Prayers that we

prayed and when it was more our flesh and our

spirit that was guiding the request. Lord, I

want him to be six foot three and salon hair

and green eyes. Can God give it to you? Hallelujah.

God, I want the job to be right there in the

corner. Can God do all this? Absolutely he can.

But God said, that's not maybe what you, that's

what you want, but that's not what you need.

Hallelujah. I might bless you with somebody with

one leg shorter than the other. You know, but

loves the Lord. and serves him and is faithful

to his word and his death. Come on, I don't know

who that's for, but I'm just going to throw it

out there. You're going to look for the one person

with the one legs. Is that him, Lord? Hallelujah.

The question is, will you trust him? Someone

say trust. All right. Will you trust him when

you pray? Secondly, David tasted the goodness

of a God. Who delivers. Oh, hallelujah. He testified

in verses four and six. Again, we're still in

Psalm 34. The Lord, he said, delivered me from

all my fears. He delivered me and he saved him

of all of his troubles. David's deliverance in

Gath was not a picture perfect moment. Don't

forget, he was pretending to be a madman, drooling

on himself, scratching on gates, rolling around,

humiliating himself just to escape the hands

of his enemies. This was, if I can frame it this

way, one of the most awkward deliverances we've

seen in Scripture. This was awkward, uncomfortable,

messy even. But yet, it was still deliverance.

Not every deliverance is going to look and be

neat and tidy. Can I tell you that sometimes

deliverance is messy? Hello, somebody. Deliverance

is messy. And this is where we struggle. We want

victory. Without appearing weak? Silly. We want

victory, but we want it our way. Hello. We want

it to look like our version of victory. Let me

ask you this. What if Naaman refused to dip in

the Jordan because it was embarrassing? He would

have died a leper and missed his deliverance.

What if Israel refused to march around the walls

of Jericho? Because this looks silly and undignified.

We look like we don't know what we're doing.

What if they refused to do that? I'll tell you

what would have happened. The walls would still

be standing today. I wonder what walls are still

standing in someone's life today simply because

you don't want to risk humbling or humiliating

yourself. You don't want to risk being vulnerable.

You don't want to risk even the appearance of

being in need or being weak. I wonder what walls

stand in the life of the believer simply because

they won't be obedient to doing the thing that

God wants us to do, needs us to do, simply because

it doesn't line up, it doesn't match what we

have in our minds. Like, Lord, you want me to,

this is going to. Make me uncomfortable. This

is gonna make things awkward. It's gonna be messy.

It's not going to be clean and tidy, but this

is how God works sometimes. If you want the goodness

of God, then you need to trust that sometimes

God does things in unconventional ways, that

his ways are higher than ours. Amen, somebody?

And God does things in unusual ways and unconventional

ways, but if we're willing to trust in him Trust,

someone say, trust the process. Friend, God wants

you to taste and see, but you need to trust.

Well, this makes me uncomfortable, and this is

outside of my comfort zone, and this is not what

I'm used to, and I'm just waiting for God to

do it the way he did it last time. But God's

trying to do something new and different, and

deliverance doesn't always look the same in every

stage of our life. Sometimes deliverance comes

at an altar, amen, but sometimes it comes somewhere

else. It could come in your car somewhere. Sometimes

deliverance happens with the layman. on of hands,

but sometimes, from the preacher, but sometimes

deliverance happens when you lay hands on your

own head, you know, and you pray for yourself.

Sometimes it happens in a conversation. Sometimes

it happens in prayer. God has a myriad ways of

delivering us out of our trouble, but you know

what we gotta be, church? We gotta be open -minded.

To understand that God has more than one way

to speak, more than one way to move. And so maybe

I've had spiritual tunnel vision. I want God

to do things on my terms. And God said, look

at the deliverance I'm going to bring to you.

It's going to be a little unorthodox. It's going

to be a little different. It's going to get you

out of your comfort zone. And you might have

to risk looking a little silly like the children

of Israel did on that day when they marched around

the walls of Jericho. But if you'll trust me,

On day seven, you're going to see the hand of

God move in your life. You're going to see deliverance.

You're going to see those walls coming down.

I don't know if there's somebody here today got

some walls in your life that need to come down.

I'm asking you to trust God today. Be obedient.

The goodness of a God who delivers. That's why

David could say, I have tasted. And now I have

seen that God. was good to me in the way that

he delivered me from the hands of my enemies.

And it wasn't pretty. It wasn't cute. I can't

post it on Instagram. There's nothing flashy

or fancy about it. But God has set me free. Whoo,

hallelujah. Don't be ashamed of the places that

God has brought you from. You gotta, when you

tell your testimony, you gotta, hallelujah. Don't

spare us the, you know, the ugly part. No, share

it all. Because that might be the thing that's

going to help somebody else and deliver them

so they understand that, hey, if God can do it

for you, then he can do it for me. And it's going

to look a little different. But God is with me.

God can do it. So don't be ashamed. Don't run

from it. Don't hide. David put it out there.

He said, man, this is how it happened. Man, I'm

not too proud of it. It wasn't my best moment,

but God was good. I saw the goodness of God.

God, in my life, he spared me from my enemies.

Amen. Somebody give God a hand in praise today.

Hallelujah. Let me move along today. He takes

you to the goodness of a God who transforms.

God's goodness changed David in verse 5, Psalm

34 again. He talks about the transformation in

the way that he describes himself. The way that

he describes in the third person, those that

are being transformed, he said, they looked to

him and were radiant. And their faces were not

ashamed. You see, when you look to God, something

changes. You cannot be in his presence and something

not change. His goodness doesn't just bring you

out of trouble. But his goodness uses trouble

to transform you into the better version of who

he called you to be. His goodness doesn't just

deliver us from trouble, but his goodness shapes

us, molds us, changes us through our trouble.

For somebody here today, the best thing that

could have ever happened to you is the trial

that you wish had never happened to you. Pastor,

how in the world are you telling me that was

the goodness of God? Because without that trial,

you wouldn't have learned patience the way you

did. You wouldn't have learned forgiveness the

way you did. You wouldn't have learned grace

the way you did. The trial itself, the trouble

changed you. It transformed you. Amen, somebody.

His goodness doesn't just bring you out, but

it brings something out of you. Hallelujah. I

thank God today that he doesn't leave me the

way that he found me. Oh, hallelujah. Don't waste

your trial by coming out of your trial the same

person you were when you went into it. Don't

waste your pain by coming out bitter and not

better. When you truly encounter the goodness

of God, you will walk away different than you

were before. Hallelujah. You recall Jacob when

he wrestled with God. He said, He said, I'm not

going to let you go until you bless me. And God

blessed him. But before he blessed him, he touched

the socket of his hip and he broke his leg. And

from that day forward, Jacob walked with a limp.

Hey, there's that brother with the short leg

right there. I found him. Now he's walking with

a limp. He's walking away different because of

his experience with the goodness of God. You

see, we want God to bless us, but we don't want

to walk with a limp. And I question, I question

this. I question whether it was truly from the

Lord. If your blessing doesn't change you, I

question whether that blessing was from God.

Because every time God blesses you, every time

he endows goodness upon your life and he favors

you in some way, that blessing always comes with

change. Your favor needs to change how you walk.

And so David realized the goodness of the Lord

in his life. He said, he changed me. This is

echoed in Romans 2. I'll be just a few more moments.

In Romans 2 in verse 4. Paul writes, do you despise

the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and

long -suffering, not knowing that the goodness

of God leads you to repentance? Hey, I need you

to understand the goodness of God isn't just

for us to feel good. God has been good to us

so that we can change and so that his goodness

will lead us to repentance. Hello, somebody.

It draws us to change. The goodness of God should

lead us to the holiness of God. Holiness and

separation from the world. You say, well, what

does that have to do with good? Because when

God has been good to you, you want to be good

to God. Hallelujah. I said, when God has been

good to you and has loved you, you want to be

good to him and love him in return by giving

him your whole life. You see, when you taste

the goodness of God, it changes your appetite.

All of a sudden, you lose your appetite for sin.

When you've tasted his mercy and you've tasted

his love. Is there a witness in the house today?

And you've tasted his goodness. Sin loses its

appetite. People who keep falling into the same

sin, keep going back to the same habit, to the

same thing from their past. It's not that the

sin is so attractive to you, it's so appealing.

It's that you have yet to truly taste and see

how good God has been in your life. Because if

you've ever tasted, you would lose your appetite.

Oh, my God. Have you ever tasted something at

a restaurant and you thought it was good until

you tasted something better? I'm like, man, this

whole time, I thought that was the best there

was. And someone takes it to a, you thought those

were the best tacos there were, and someone takes

you to even better tacos. Man, I'm getting somebody

hungry now. Hallelujah. And a part of you is

like, wow, that was good, but how can I go back

to that now? I have tasted and seen that the

Lord is good. I can't go back to that now because

you know what happens? You raise your standard.

Oh my God, I'm going to preach in this place

now. You raise your standard. And I know when

we hear that term, we think of just talking about

the standards of our holiness, principles and

all that. That's part of it. When you taste and

see that the Lord is good, you raise the bar.

Now there are certain things I can't do anymore.

Not because somebody told me I can't. But because

I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good

and that serving the Lord is nothing like anything

this world can offer. See, this is what I want

for my children. This is what I want for every

one of you. I don't just need you to understand

that the world is bad and that sin is bad. I

need you. We don't just need to preach a message

of how sinful the world is. We need to preach

a message of how good our God is. And for us

to understand that there is nothing sweeter and

nothing better and nothing more satisfying than

being a servant and a child of Almighty. There

is nothing that can compare. My God, I wish I

had a witness in the house. There is nothing

that can compare. That's why Joseph wouldn't

go with Potter for his wife. That's why he turned

down the offer, not because she wasn't attracted,

not because, but because he had already tasted

and seen. I've got a destiny in God. God has

been too good. He didn't deliver me out of the

pit so I can fail in the palace. He didn't deliver

me from the hands of my brother so I can fumble

on the one yard line and not make it over. God

has been too good. And I have tasted and seen

his mercy in my life. I have tasted and seen.

I have. Brother, if you could come and help me

here at the keyboard. I have. And this is what

we need to do. At the very root of going back

to Adam and Eve, remember, because this verse

undoes what they did. At the very root. of their

problem. It's not that the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil looked pleasant and appetizing

and ooh, look how shiny it is, look how awesome.

It wasn't how appealing the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil was. It's that they didn't fully

appreciate how satisfying and eternally fulfilling

the tree of life was. Because once you have tasted

and seen that the Lord is good. You might see

that tree over there. Why would I leave this

tree? Why would I walk away from God? I know

I'm helping somebody right now. Why would I turn

my back on God? Why would I stop serving him?

Why would I put my... Why would I walk away from

my ministry? Why would I walk away from my gift?

Why would I walk away from my relationship with

God and his church? Why would I do that? When

the goodness that God has given me here far outweighs,

far outlasts, far outshines, far outdoes whatever

is being offered to me over there. Would you

stand with me at this hour? Hallelujah. I want

to give you this last thing, that the goodness

of God gives us a taste of a God who protects.

Oh, David saw. At the end, he saw how the Lord

was good in his life. He saw how the Lord had

done all these wonderful things for him, but

he came to this revelation. He said, the Lord,

has a protection program. The angel of the Lord

encamps around all those who fear him. David

realized that God had been protecting him. Oh,

my God. That God had placed angels around his

life. You know that God has assigned an angel

to you? Some of y 'all giving your angels, making

them work overtime, driving without a seatbelt

and all that kind of stuff. But God's got an

angel. The Bible says that the angel of the Lord

encamps. And David realized that even in my lowest

moments, even when I was doing my own thing and

I was... trying it my way, and I was acting up,

and God was so good to me. Oh, my Lord. He didn't

use it against me. He didn't turn his back on

me. But maybe he remembered prayers that I had

prayed prior to that. Maybe it was just the fact

that he had already anointed me, that I was his

own, but God suffered. fit to keep me. Oh, hallelujah.

To preserve me. Now, David didn't realize it

in the moment, but when he came through on the

other side, he looked back over his life and

that's when he could say, I was young, but now

I'm old. But I've never seen the righteous forsaken

or is seen begging for bread. Can I tell you

that the goodness of God who protects will not

dawn on you. You may not fully realize it until

later. Can I tell you, you don't understand this

by what you see, but by what you don't see. You

don't know how many car accidents God saved you

from. If you're only going to serve him based

off what you see, you're going to miss it. You

don't know how many car accidents God saved you

from. You don't know how many situations God

delivered you from. Things that you never even

saw. Oh, in the middle of the night, how many

of the burglar was going to stop at your house,

but somehow it just kept going to the next house.

You don't know how many disease was going to

hit your house, and you didn't feel it, and you

didn't see it, but God was protecting you. witness

here today you don't see the weapons that didn't

prosper against you you don't see the angel that

he assigned to you in the midnight hour but God

was with you and now I see that the Lord is good

why don't we lift our hands and just give God

some glory today thank you God for your goodness

thank you for your goodness mercy has never failed

me i want the praise team to i want you to come

and i want you to render your song to the lord

and i want everybody right now under the sound

of my voice maybe this message didn't get you

running and shouting today maybe you don't feel

like swinging from these chandeliers today in

excitement but somebody today needs a revelation

of the goodness of god because god has been good

to you all of your life You didn't deserve it.

He spared you. I don't know about you, but I'm

thankful that God kept me. Some of you have been

in church for a long time. You may not have tasted

of the world so much. You didn't come out of

drug addiction, alcoholism, and things like that.

You say, well, what can I possibly say? You have

a testimony, brother or sister. And your testimony,

is that he kept you.