A Personal Testimony

ACTS 20: 13-27

Do you have a personal testimony?

Teleperson System   Someone has said that the Gospel in the first century was carried by a good system. It was called the teleperson system, and it truly got results, better than we do today with our telephones, televi­sions, and so on. The woman of Samaria carried the Gospel after her meeting with Christ by the teleperson system. It is said that "many of the Samaritans... believed on Him for the saying of the woman." (John 4:39)        

Acts 1:8  If you are saved you have a personal testimony of ‘How’ you got saved, of the loveliness of your Saviour, the power of God, the grace of God in your life.  Paul never tired of giving his testimony. It was most natural for him.  Acts 9 = his conversion which he repeats or gives part of in Acts 22, Acts 26, Gal. 1:13, Phil 3, and 1Tim. 1.  Do you have a testimony, and can you and do you give it to folk?  Most people that I deal with  in general soul winning visits can not give a Bible reason how they received Christ.  Each individual who truly is on his way to heaven has had a definite change in his life. Sin, Fear, Hell, Heaven, God, Righteousness, Saviour.  Not only do we have a personal testimony of our conversion, but we have a personal testimony of our walk with God.  Luke here records the personal testimony Paul gave to the elders at Ephesus:

I.    HE WAS HUMBLE  “Serving the Lord with all humility.”  Vs. 19
A.    A meek and lowly heart should rule every Christian.
B.    The Lord can never be truly served in any other way but in ‘all humility of mind.’
C.    Brokenness of spirit is an essential condition for fellowship with God – the communion of the H.S. is directly connected to this.
D.    Paul was not ashamed to call himself ‘the least of the apostles’ & to declare that it was ‘by the grace of God I am what I am.’

II.    HE WAS COMPASSIONATE He served the Lord ‘with many tears and temptations.’ vs. 19 ‘He ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.”
A.    Paul’s ministry was not a cold formal business.
B.    Many preachers use the words ‘I tell you’ but how few can add ‘even weeping.’
C.    We might as well throw stones at people, as heartless words of wisdom.
D.    We can weep over our own sorrows and losses, and if the interests of Jesus Christ were as real to us we would weep over His.

III.    HE WAS FAITHFUL ‘I kept back nothing that was profitable.’ Vs. 20-21
A.    He taught from house to house, both Jews and Gentiles, preaching repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, and shunned not to declare the WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD vs. 27.
B.    Paul had no theories of man to defend – he had the revelation of God to declare.
C.    Sad note today is that one of the most prominent doctrines that Paul preached – Repentance toward God – has all but died.
D.    To seek popularity and the praise of men, instead of to declare the whole counsel of God is to become a traitor to Christ and a stumbling block to the souls of men.  Only the faithful shall be rewarded.

IV.    HE WAS SUBMISSIVE “I go bound in spirit to Jerusalem … but none of these things move me.  Vs. 22-24
A.    Paul had the witness of the H.S. that ‘in every city bonds and afflictions waited for him’ yet there was no offence in his heart at this painful providence.
B.    He truly believed and lived Romans 8:28.
C.    Bonds and or afflictions are not in themselves evidences we have sinned. They are often conditions necessary to the discipline of the soul to ensure further and deeper experience of the things of God.
D.    Jesus’ sufferings were in no sense corrective, but served as a background for the manifestation of His glorious character & love

V.    HE WAS DEVOTED “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish the ministry…”
A.    To publish the Gospel of the grace of God was a thing more dear to Paul than his own life.
B.    It was his meat and drink to do the will of his Redeemer and Lord. He could say ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’
C.    He who seeketh ‘Great things for himself’ is morally unfit for the service of Christ.  If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself.

VI.    HE WAS COURAGEOUS ‘I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.’ Vs. 27
A.    No ‘fear of man’ could fetter the tongue of this faithful witness.
B.    The power of the Gospel had been revealed to him, and at any personal cost he was determined that not one ray of it should be hindered from shining through him.
C.    The perfect love with which the heart of  Paul was filled cast out all fear.
D.    He loved the Lord Jesus Christ and the souls of men too intensely to keep back anything that was profitable. Vs. 20
E.    It is a false love that shuns to declare the whole counsel of God.

Humble, Compassionate, Faithful, Submissive, Devoted, Courageous.  Do you have a  personal testimony of conversion? Do you have a  personal testimony of a walk with Christ?  Free from the blood of all men.

Clock Of Life
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop,
          At late or early hour.
To lose one's wealth is sad indeed.
To lose one's health is more.
To lose one's soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.
Thirty-nine people died while you read this short poem. Every hour 5,417 go to meet their Maker. What are YOU doing to help reach them with the Gospel e're they are cast into Hell

Ike's Faith And Humility

The late Dwight David Eisenhower had the distinction of being the only American President to have been bap­tized and received into church member­ship upon confession of faith while in office. The memorial service in the Wash­ington Cathedral witnessed strongly to his faith, there can be no mistaking of it. The simple service, the hymns sung by choir and congregation, the Scriptures' read, the prayers given, the Apostles Creed, all bore witness to Ike's faith in his Lord. The leaders of one hundred nations were present and they heard the witness. More than that, national televi­sion brought the witness before the American people.

We were not only reminded of Eisenhower’s faith, but of his humility. There might have been much pomp and ceremony. Eisenhower was the Com­mander of the Allied forces for the inva­sion of Europe. He was one of the world's most decorated military men. Many honors had been heaped upon him in life. In death, the services were simple. It had been planned that way. He was buried in a casket just like those used for common soldiers. This speaks of humility of the man. With all the honors bestowed upon him, and having been the 34th President of the United States, and having enjoyed a personal popularity seldom matched in America, he chose the common lot.

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