Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
A very interesting and very dis heartening occurence these days in many churches and among very well meaning Christians is when time for testimonies exceeds time given to listening to the preaching of the gospel. No, testimonies are not wrong. They indeed remind us that God is doing marvellous things in our midst. But it is also good to remember that it is the gospel that saves and not the flashing lights and THE BOOM in the story – however dramatic the experience was.
If our testimonies, our teachings and our lives are centred around the gospel then we will be known as the gospel guys-Christ followers or Christians saved by grace through faith in Christ to the glory of God.
Are you a Christian? Have you ever been asked to give “your testimony”? Will people remember the BOOM and the FLASH of your testimony or will they go saying surely God saved a sinner through the work of Christ on the cross, thanks and glory be to God alone? How much gospel is remembered or deleted from testimonies these days for the sake of exciting others with the BOOM and the FLASH?
The disciples and Apostles were the first witnesses of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and with their proclamation rang the message of the cross:
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Cor 2:1-5)
The one BOOM and FLASHing lights in Acts 2 was not ever talked about there after. Instead the focus of their message and preaching became centred relentlessly on the work of Christ on the cross. When the people of Jerusalem (Acts 4) saw their courage (of Peter and John) and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been in a BOOM and a FLASH….. with Jesus.
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 
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