Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] I have a topical sermon today for you on the importance of personal testimony.
[00:00:09] A couple things led me to want to preach on this topic. One is that next month we're having a communicants class for the children of the church in the materials that we gave out to you to help you and your kids prepare for this class talking about church membership and faith.
[00:00:26] It calls upon your children to give their personal testimony of faith.
[00:00:32] Now, this may be a fearful thing to come up against as a parent.
[00:00:37] This may be scary for a couple of reasons.
[00:00:41] Some of you will come with your children to that section and may find that your children are unable to articulate belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:00:51] This may simply mean that they are children and lack the ability to be very eloquent about it.
[00:00:58] But it may also mean that your children have not embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:01:05] This is a startling thing to contemplate, and if we let fear get the better of us, it may lead us never to probe the spiritual state of our children.
[00:01:17] We might be afraid of what we might find if we do.
[00:01:20] Probably better just to assume they're fine, right?
[00:01:26] It may also be scary to come up against this issue of personal testimony because it causes us to have to examine our own faith.
[00:01:34] The discipleship of our children is itself a test of our faith.
[00:01:40] It demands that we come face to face with the question, do I love the truth of the gospel enough to pass it on to my children?
[00:01:51] Is this what I truly believe needs to be passed on to the next generation?
[00:01:58] Or will I be content with passing on a good work ethic, civic virtue, and plenty of money?
[00:02:08] What is the most important thing for us to pass on to our children?
[00:02:14] We must pass on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:02:20] A personal testimony of faith is part of our communicants class for children because it is essential for being welcomed to the Lord's table.
[00:02:29] Those who come to the table must themselves profess that they need the body and blood of Jesus Christ. That is what we confess when we participate in the Lord's Supper.
[00:02:42] Another reason I wanted to preach on this topic of personal testimony is because I want to encourage our church in particular to be growing in our evangelism of unbelievers.
[00:02:54] This will involve growing in one in our desire to tell unbelievers about Jesus and growing in our ability to tell unbelievers about Jesus.
[00:03:06] Our joy in the Lord ought to propel us to share our faith and our hope with those who are without hope.
[00:03:14] I hope this sermon will help encourage you in wanting to evangelize the lost and in being able to.
[00:03:24] First of all, I want to point out from Scripture that personal testimony is biblical. It is for every Christian.
[00:03:32] We have this from the example of the apostles themselves throughout the New Testament. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20, he says, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
[00:03:47] And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
[00:03:57] Notice how personal Paul's testimony is.
[00:04:03] This is the example of the early church as well. When Paul is writing to the Thessalonians, he says about them. He says, the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything.
[00:04:24] The Thessalonian Church. The word of the Lord went forth from them because of their love for Christ and their obedience to the Gospel.
[00:04:34] The Apostle Peter commands us to be ready to make a defense of the hope that is in us. 1 Peter 3:15 says, Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Set him as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.
[00:04:56] So what is a personal testimony of faith?
[00:04:59] Well, here's how I'm going to define it.
[00:05:04] A personal testimony of faith is a personal declaration of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has made you different than you would be without it.
[00:05:19] Okay, I'm going to say that again.
[00:05:21] A personal testimony of faith.
[00:05:23] It's a personal declaration of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has made you different than you would be without it.
[00:05:35] I want to break that down a little bit. So first of all, personal testimony of faith is a personal declaration.
[00:05:45] It's more than just reciting certain doctrines.
[00:05:50] It's testifying to where you have placed your hope and your trust.
[00:05:56] This is much more than just regurgitating the Catechism's definition of justification, which many of our children are very good at knowing. The Westminster divine's definition of saving faith is not the same thing as having saving faith.
[00:06:15] A personal testimony of faith says, I believe.
[00:06:19] And here's why.
[00:06:21] It is bearing witness to others of how you have seen the truth of God's Word made evident in your own life.
[00:06:31] True faith is a personal faith.
[00:06:36] There is no inclusion in God's family apart from you personally. For yourself embracing the truth of the Gospel, the personal Testimony of faith is personal. That's what it means. It's I, me, my. Like the Apostle Paul said in Galatians, it's a personal declaration of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has done something.
[00:07:06] First Timothy 1:15.
[00:07:08] Paul says, it is O trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance.
[00:07:13] Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
[00:07:18] That is a very brief and good summary of what the Gospel is. And this is what we're talking about changing us when we talk about a personal testimony. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
[00:07:30] Now that itself is a statement of truth.
[00:07:34] A personal testimony of faith goes further and says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save me.
[00:07:44] That's exactly what the Apostle Paul goes on to say when he gives this Trustworthy statement in 1 Timothy, he goes on to say, paraphrasing, I was the worst sinner and Jesus saved me to prove that he'll save anyone who believes in him for eternal life.
[00:08:05] I want to exhort you to keep the gospel that Jesus died for sinners to save them at the center of your personal testimony.
[00:08:14] And by gospel I mean just that, that Jesus came to die for sinners, to make them children of God so that they might receive an eternal inheritance from God the Father.
[00:08:29] I think we're more naturally inclined to testify of earthly blessings that God has given us. And we absolutely should give God glory and thanks for earthly blessings in the presence of others, even unbelievers, as a testimony to them.
[00:08:44] But I want to encourage you, even as you testify of good things God has done for you troubles. He's delivered you from diseases, he's healed you from money and houses he's given to you.
[00:08:58] The gospel must be central to our understanding even of those blessings.
[00:09:04] After all, God causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
[00:09:14] The fact that you have good things in this life is not necessarily evidence that you are a child of God.
[00:09:25] The wicked often prosper, the righteous often suffer.
[00:09:32] What is it ultimately that gives us confidence that God is benevolent, kind and gracious toward us?
[00:09:43] Only the gospel itself is able to do this.
[00:09:49] It's the gospel that tells us that we belong to God in Christ Jesus, that He is favorable towards us in Christ.
[00:10:00] It is only the gospel that can assure us that our blessings are gifts from a good Father.
[00:10:09] And only the gospel enables us to identify hardships as coming from that same Father who disciplines us for our good in order to prepare us for eternal blessings.
[00:10:23] Only the gospel tells us that Christ died to secure for us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's what Ephesians 1 says.
[00:10:33] So by all means, testify to others of God's kindness to you in giving you children, giving you wealth, g, giving you comfort, carrying you through danger and disease.
[00:10:43] But do not stop short of telling why. You can say with certainty that those things are from a God who is on your side.
[00:10:53] Having God on our side, having him for us, is the fundamental blessing that only the Gospel can give.
[00:11:03] Only the assurance that Christ died for your sins and secured your adoption into God's family, can actually make you see everything in your life as working together for your good.
[00:11:16] Our personal testimony must be about the gospel.
[00:11:23] So a personal testimony of faith. It's a personal declaration of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ in particular has made you different than you would be without it.
[00:11:39] Through a personal testimony, you testify to how you have been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:11:48] In the most general terms, your life in Christ should look different than your life outside of Christ.
[00:11:58] A biblical word for this change is conversion.
[00:12:04] This is important because not everyone is changed by the gospel when they hear it.
[00:12:10] Not everyone is converted.
[00:12:13] Each Christian ought to be able to testify to how the gospel has changed them.
[00:12:19] And what kind of change are we talking about?
[00:12:23] Well, first of all, the change that the gospel brings about is a change in, we could say, status or a change in your position or a change in your identity.
[00:12:35] Listen to this, a few passages that teach us this. Colossians 1 says that God rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
[00:12:52] Through the gospel, we go from being citizens to a dark kingdom to being citizens of a new kingdom. That's a change in identity and status.
[00:13:05] 2nd Corinthians 5.
[00:13:07] The apostle Paul says God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
[00:13:19] Through Christ's death. Our standing before God goes from being unrighteous to being righteous in God's sight. That's a change in status before God.
[00:13:34] Another change in our identity, or an aspect that highlights this is from Ephesians 1, where it says God predestined us to adoptions as sons through Jesus Christ to himself.
[00:13:48] Jesus Christ has brought us into a new family in and given us a new name, a new identity.
[00:13:57] When we testify of our conversion, the change that the gospel has brought about in us, we should tell of these scriptural changes that God has brought about for us in Christ.
[00:14:09] I was a citizen in the kingdom of darkness.
[00:14:13] Jesus Christ made me a citizen in God's kingdom.
[00:14:18] I was unrighteousness and condemned by God. Christ made me righteous in God's sight.
[00:14:28] I was a child of wrath.
[00:14:31] Jesus made me a son of God.
[00:14:36] This change in identity that Christ brings about for us is characterized by two realities, this conversion.
[00:14:44] And those two realities are faith and repentance.
[00:14:49] And whenever you hear the word conversion, you need to think of these two faith and repentance.
[00:14:57] Let's first talk about faith.
[00:14:59] What is faith? I'm going to borrow a definition from a book I recently read, an author, Michael Lawrence, who wrote a book called Conversion. He says Christian faith is wholehearted trust that God will keep his promises in the gospel.
[00:15:17] I love using the word trust to talk about faith because I think it has a lot more color and meaning to us. Faith is one of those theological words that sort of we hear it so much, it tends to lose its weight with us. But trust is a perfect synonym for what faith in God means, that we trust God to keep his promises in the gospel.
[00:15:41] Now, it should be self evident that faith should be central to our personal testimony of faith. Right?
[00:15:49] But let's make sure we're clear on what it means to talk about our faith.
[00:15:55] Strictly speaking, evangelism, preaching the gospel is simply declaring the gospel itself.
[00:16:01] It's telling people that Jesus died for sinners and and that anyone who believes in him will be saved from their sins and given eternal life as a child of God.
[00:16:11] Now when we talk about giving a personal testimony of faith, we're talking about a step beyond strict evangelism.
[00:16:19] We're talking about testifying to others of our own trust that God will keep his promises in the gospel.
[00:16:28] It's one thing to say God is merciful.
[00:16:33] It's something more to tell others he has shown mercy to me.
[00:16:38] It's one thing to say that God is faithful.
[00:16:42] It's something more to tell others I trust in God.
[00:16:48] It's one thing to say that God is able to raise the dead.
[00:16:52] It's something more to tell others I believe that he will raise me from the dead because of what Christ has done for me.
[00:17:03] In Paul's defense of himself at the very end of Acts, as he's on trial, he's on trial before secular authorities.
[00:17:13] And when he's on trial, he's continually testifying of his own hope in the resurrection of the dead.
[00:17:22] What is that? It's a declaration of trust that God will keep his promises in the Gospel.
[00:17:30] And So my question for you is, do you trust God?
[00:17:36] This is a different question than do you believe in God? At least how we normally mean when we say, do you believe in God?
[00:17:45] We often wrongly reduce faith to just believe. Believing God exists.
[00:17:51] But remember what James says. The demons believe that God is one and they even fear him.
[00:18:00] But the demons do not trust God, do they?
[00:18:04] What about you?
[00:18:09] Directly connected to trust in God. Faith in God is the other aspect of conversion which we should tell people about, and that's repentance.
[00:18:20] What is repentance?
[00:18:22] It is turning away from sin to serve the living God.
[00:18:27] Repentance is turning away from sin to serve the living God.
[00:18:32] Now, faith and repentance should always go together.
[00:18:36] They cannot and should not be separated.
[00:18:40] Faith without repentance is dead.
[00:18:44] It's not true faith.
[00:18:46] It's empty.
[00:18:48] It's mere talk with no substance.
[00:18:51] Faith without repentance is like saying you trust the bank to keep your money safe, but never actually letting the bank keep any of your money.
[00:19:01] It's like saying you trust the lock on your front door to keep you safe, but then staying up all night by the front door with a gun in your hand.
[00:19:10] It's like saying you trust the lifeboat to carry you to safety.
[00:19:15] But staying on the sinking ship.
[00:19:19] Faith without repentance is dead.
[00:19:23] Repentance is the outworking, the evidence of our faith in the Gospel, which means it should play an important part in our personal testimonies.
[00:19:36] We should speak to others of how our faith in the Gospel has changed us, which means we should speak of our repentance from sin when we testify to others of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:19:49] Here are a couple places in Scripture that we see this. The apostle Paul speaks of terrible sins he committed when testifying of God's mercy toward him in 1 Timothy. Let me read this whole passage here. In 1 Timothy 1, Paul writes, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.
[00:20:21] Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
[00:20:34] It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
[00:20:43] Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would Believe in him for eternal life.
[00:20:57] Paul is not concerned about making himself look good in his testimony.
[00:21:02] Quite the opposite. He knows that if he is honest about himself and the sins that he has committed, God's abundant grace will be magnified in him.
[00:21:15] Now he's not saying, I continue in sin so that grace may abound. Paul is no longer a blasphemer, which is wonderful. But Paul is not ashamed to say, I have committed terrible sins and God has shown mercy on me.
[00:21:31] King David shows us this same thing in Psalm 51, which he wrote after he had fallen into very grievous sins. Adultery and murder.
[00:21:41] He says, crying out to God, restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.
[00:21:49] Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you.
[00:21:57] Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips that my mouth may declare your praise.
[00:22:09] David was ashamed of his sin before God, but he was not ashamed to tell other sinners about his sin. In order to magnify God's abundant grace, he wrote at the top of this psalm, when David had gone into Bathsheba, when David had committed.
[00:22:33] When David broke the Ten Commandments, God showed mercy to him.
[00:22:40] We too should tell others what sins we have committed and what sins we've gladly turned away from because of what Christ has done for us.
[00:22:50] Doing so will testify to the power of the gospel to change us and to change others.
[00:22:59] So a testimony, personal testimony, is a personal declaration of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has made you different than you would be without it.
[00:23:13] Now, I want to acknowledge here that some Christians may not be able to look to a clear time before they believed.
[00:23:24] Does this mean that someone like that, who can't say, well, you know, I don't remember a time when I didn't believe. Does this mean that they don't have a personal testimony?
[00:23:37] Conversion can happen at a very young age, perhaps even in the womb.
[00:23:41] After all, John the Baptist leapt for joy in Elizabeth's womb. When Jesus entered the room in Mary's womb, did John the Baptist not have a personal testimony because he, you know, was a Christian in the womb?
[00:23:59] Not at all.
[00:24:01] Any Christian can make a personal declaration of how the gospel of Jesus Christ has made them different than they would be without it.
[00:24:13] For those who can remember their life before Christ in the kingdom of darkness, there will be a strong contrast between the new life and the old life.
[00:24:22] But even if you can't point to a time when you know you were unconverted.
[00:24:28] You should be able to look at specific times in your Christian life of faith about which you can say I sinned, but then I repented of my sin because God was merciful to me in Christ.
[00:24:42] In fact, had it not been for Christ, I would have continued in sin.
[00:24:48] But I have turned away from that sin and I will continue to do so because of what Christ has done for me.
[00:24:57] This was the heart of David, a man after God's own heart in Psalm 51, when he repented of his adultery and his murder, which was after he had already been serving the Lord.
[00:25:10] But it was nevertheless a genuine Gospel testimony.
[00:25:15] Repentance is not a one time act that happens at conversion.
[00:25:21] Repentance begins at conversion, but then the life of a convert is the life of repentance.
[00:25:33] Now, saying that conversion can happen at a very young age is not the same thing as saying that your children, simply because they were born into a Christian home, are converted.
[00:25:46] They very well may not be.
[00:25:50] I was asked recently by someone what personal testimony should look like for children who were baptized as infants.
[00:26:00] The implication to me seemed to be that Christians who are baptized as infants won't really have a personal testimony of faith.
[00:26:09] Now I want to make something clear.
[00:26:12] Nothing I have said so far in this sermon has anything to do with whether or not you believe in infant baptism.
[00:26:20] Baptism, no matter when it takes place, does not exempt you from having to testify of your own personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:26:30] One way we recognize this in the church is by requiring a personal testimony of faith for anyone to be admitted to the Lord's Supper.
[00:26:38] And that bar is exactly the same for everyone, regardless of whether their family believes in infant baptism or not.
[00:26:46] We have differing views on baptism, but we don't believe that your experience of conversion corresponds to your view on baptism.
[00:26:54] It's not like the Baptists among us all believe that our children will necessarily have some dramatic conversion experience that leads directly into their baptism and that the paedobaptists all believe that their children are already converted and that's why they baptize their children.
[00:27:10] We differ on when we think baptism should be administered, but we all believe that one must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God and that this applies to our children.
[00:27:25] It is not enough that they are born into a believing household.
[00:27:29] Our children are our children according to the flesh.
[00:27:32] Only God can make them his children according to the Spirit.
[00:27:39] Listen to this from John 1 as many as received him to them. He gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
[00:28:03] Our children must trust in Christ's name in order to become children of God.
[00:28:10] We don't know when this will happen in our children's lives, and there's no guaranteed timeline.
[00:28:16] And it's possible that it may happen without us being able to mark its exact timing.
[00:28:22] If that's the case, it is merely the fulfillment of Jesus. Words to Nicodemus the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going.
[00:28:33] So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
[00:28:37] In any case, we must seek the faith and repentance of our children.
[00:28:43] Our children are not saved by our faith.
[00:28:46] They must be saved by calling upon the name of the Lord for the forgiveness of their own sins.
[00:28:53] They themselves must embrace the Gospel and love Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for their sins.
[00:29:00] And they themselves must repent of their own sins and walk in newness of life. We cannot repent for them, nor can we manufacture or coerce their repentance.
[00:29:12] They must be born of the Spirit.
[00:29:17] If your children do not personally love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they are in grave danger.
[00:29:24] They may love truth and beauty and goodness, but if they don't love the truth that they need to be cleansed from their sins and that Christ has provided for that cleansing, they are not safe.
[00:29:42] Some practical tips about Personal testimony Some people, first of all, don't have a personal testimony because they haven't believed the gospel.
[00:29:53] Now others have a real testimony, but they need to grow in their ability to clearly communicate that testimony to others.
[00:30:02] That's me.
[00:30:05] I want to give some help for this.
[00:30:08] First of all, just two things. Just two things. One is to make sure that you memorize a good scriptural summary of the gospel. Okay. There are many I'm going to read two that have been meaningful to me in the past few years. I don't have them memorized yet, but it would do you much good to have committed into your heart, stored up in your heart scriptural summary of what the Gospel is One for reminding yourself and two for being able to clearly tell others what your hope is.
[00:30:40] So here's two one is from Acts 10. This is the Apostle Peter preaching to Cornelius the Centurion after his vision about God welcoming Gentiles. This is what he says in this perfect like, hey, you came into my house.
[00:30:59] God Said you had something to say to me. This is Peter's elevator pitch of the gospel, right?
[00:31:05] He says, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation. The man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him.
[00:31:16] The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all.
[00:31:22] You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.
[00:31:30] You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For God was with him.
[00:31:42] We are witnesses of all the things he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
[00:31:47] They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross.
[00:31:51] God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. That is to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.
[00:32:04] And he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.
[00:32:13] Of him, all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.
[00:32:22] So that's one place. Here's another good summary from one Peter, I guess. Yeah, from the apostle Peter again. But this one's a little different in its point of view. It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away. Reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. I'm going to stop there on that one. But is that sentence.
[00:33:05] It's one sentence. I know it's a long sentence, but is that not a wonderful way thing to have stored up in our own hearts and ready to tell others? It's what we believe.
[00:33:17] Kind of covers it all.
[00:33:20] Others.
[00:33:21] John 3:16 and the verses that come after it.
[00:33:26] Romans 8. The whole thing.
[00:33:29] It's a chapter worth memorizing. I think a lot of our kids are called upon to memorize Romans 8.
[00:33:36] There are many. And pick one that strikes you and your heart. There's no.
[00:33:41] There's no wrong answer like picking the wrong scriptural summary. Of the gospel. Pick one you like and that speaks to your heart so that you're excited to share it.
[00:33:53] So that's the first tip is to memorize a good scriptural summary of the gospel.
[00:33:59] Number two is to write out your personal testimony of faith.
[00:34:05] I hope many of you have done this, and even if you have, it's worth doing it again. This is not cheating to write it out.
[00:34:15] I have this weird mindset and temptation like, oh, it has to be spontaneous for it to be real, which is just silly.
[00:34:24] It's not cheating to write out your personal testimony of faith. It's for your own benefit to remind yourself and for the benefit of all those who come into contact with you.
[00:34:35] First Peter remember, in 1 Peter 3 he says to be ready to make a defense of the hope that is in us.
[00:34:42] It's right and good to get yourself ready for speaking more clearly about your faith in Christ. And one way to do that is by sitting down and writing out your testimony. And think about these questions as you write.
[00:34:57] One is just how I summarized a personal testimony.
[00:35:01] How has the Gospel of Jesus Christ made you different than you would be without it?
[00:35:08] How has the Gospel of Jesus Christ made you different than you would be without it?
[00:35:15] That's at the essence of a personal testimony of faith.
[00:35:20] Some other questions to consider do you trust that God will keep his promises in the gospel?
[00:35:31] What did you trust in before you knew the gospel?
[00:35:34] Or what do you think you would trust in if you didn't have Christ?
[00:35:42] How has your trust in the gospel affected your how has the gospel affected your understanding of who you are and what your purpose is in life?
[00:35:56] How is it evident in your life that you believe the gospel?
[00:36:01] Does the gospel affect the way that you live?
[00:36:07] What specific sins has God forgiven you for?
[00:36:14] How has God's forgiveness of you empowered you to live differently than you would without God's forgiveness?
[00:36:26] What specific sins have you turned away from, repented of because of God's love for you in Christ?
[00:36:37] And then what blessings do you have because of what Christ has done for you?
[00:36:43] And as you consider that, what blessings do I have because of what Christ has done for me?
[00:36:49] I encourage you to press beyond earthly into spiritual blessings.
[00:36:54] The capstone of your testimony should be God's blessing you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
