On Drafting and Developing Your Testimony (part 1)
For efficient transfer
We’ve got to breakthrough.
There must be an intentional transition beyond our natural tendencies. Human nature drags us down. We are naturally embarrassed. It’s embarrassing how often we get embarrassed. And for the craziest things. (like my voice right now)
How do you spend your money?
“Well, I’m embarrassed to talk about it.”
Is that how we want to live?
Should I be embarrassed of who my parents are?
Where do you go to church? “Kind of embarrassing, but I go to the one over there.”
Where did you go to college? And what did you study? “Well, that’s a little embarrassing.” Really? What part is embarrassing? The fact that you studied for the ministry of serving others with the power of Jesus Christ?
I’m not much of nuthin. But I don’t want to be ashamed of Christ.
I strongly desire to work toward becoming the absolute opposite of ashamed of my Savior!
I have one Best Friend. The Individual I communicate with most frequently. The One Who understands me the most. The One Who’s most committed to this relationship. There’s just one Person above all others that I can be the least-ashamed to introduce to my other friends. I’d gladly give the intro.
If you were given opportunity to introduce one of your favorite people on stage … would you take a couple moments to think of some memories and emotions? How would you want the crowd to feel about meeting one of your heros?
How is my prep work going?
Embarrassment blocks preparation.
We must attack embarrassment head-on. With every weapon in the arsenal. We must name embarrassment. Call him out. Identify it clearly. Focus on the enemy. Completely eradicate him.
Do the opposite. Become courageous. Find a reason to go 180° away from embarrassment and embrace utterance.
Ephesians 6:19 “And for me [was the prayer of Paul], that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel”
Open up. Fully prepared.
Do you know what kind of people talk? Those who have something to say.
Do you know what kind of people have something to say? Those who carved time intentionally to plan. Planners are speakers. Non-planners freak out. :)
Am I going to live a life of regularly being in a position of feeling embarrassed?
Or prepared.
The title of today’s post is: On Drafting and Developing Your Testimony (will probably not make it that far)
“Well, I got nothing to say.” Then you did not receive Christ. There’s an ego issue, blocking the flow of the gospel. Because the gospel itself naturally multiplies.
There are no valid excuses. All of them evaporate when exposed to the light. Gaze upon the Cross. … Issue resolved. Just look long enough.
Our culture is trapped in transit 27 minutes a day.
That’s precious time to do something productive. “Currently driving.” Hands-free voice-to-text is composing the draft of this article. It’s almost wasteful to NOT be productive during the available windows of time in our day.
Thinking sparks outreach.
Preparation mostly happens internally. With God’s help.
Sharing is preparing. The spike in shared content is from (what our culture refers to as) “content creators”: those who curate and edit word flow.
All of us can be producing gospel content in someway every day. Totally.
Just thinking 💭.
Thinking upon God.
Thinking of His heartbeat.
Thinking of our neighbors.
Thinking of our hope in Christ versus the hopelessness of not understanding the gospel.
Just meditating.
If Matthew, the apostle were alive today, doubtless he would pick up his pen again, and write afresh an additional epistle to combat the tsunami waves of evil confusion crashing upon the ears of society. Matthew wrote the first time with clairvoyant inspiration, pointing-out the Royalty and worthy Kingship of Christ.
If Matthew could … in 2023, he certainly would script-out a fresh affirmation of the government being upon the shoulders of our coming Christ. Harmonizing with the message of Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Shabam! Relax.
Every writer of Scripture would be writing something today. Absolutely they would. If alive now. Peter would be a loudmouth podcaster. John would be ON whatever platform necessary to get the message out. And why?
To combat evil.
To inform the masses.
To clarify the identity of Christ.
To warn this generation.
To love our neighbors.
To explain the world to come.
To pull burning flesh out of eternal fire.
Should not we then, who are here right now, be likewise engaged in such an activity?
“Well, I’m not much of a writer.” That was not the question, sir. Everyone of us produces content every day we breathe. There are many forms of communication:
Art.
Song.
Rhyme.
Memes.
Quotes.
Story.
Reels.
Shorts.
All of us produce.
All of us prepare.
We talk about things we love, which is why perhaps we do not speak much of the gospel.
Revelation 21:5 “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
God was saying to John, “Don’t just stand there, John. Take notes 📝.”
What should I write about?
Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation …” That would be a great topic.
“Well, I am more of a face-to-face kind of person.”
Great. How often does that happen? Today? Yesterday? This week?
2 John 1:12 “Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak FACE TO FACE, that our joy may be full.”
Super cool. Face-to-face is obviously amazing. That’s not how God communes with us. But it is a great communication medium.
There’s about three categories of content distribution and reception:
Face-to-face
Written words
Audio / Video
All three invoke words.
So helpful to prepare.
Rare is the skillful freeverse floater who needs no prep time. Anomaly. Just throw him on stage and push the button. Do you know anybody like that?
(Apparently, this article is just going to crack the ice, for the topic.)
Most believers are still working through a measure of surface-level embarrassment. That must be why our testimony draft is not started. Written. Audio / Video. Face-to-face.
We’re not bad people. I totally would’ve written out my testimony, if someone encouraged me to do so as a teenager. Believing most of us would do good, if simply given the opportunity and the outlet.
By the way, your testimony is not your testimony. It’s God’s testimony … that just so happened to include you as one of the characters. And you might not even be the main character. There were multiple people involved in the choreography of the timeline of events that led up to your reception of the gospel. But you’re usually not the super-star of the show. :)
Here’s where testimony preparation starts. Just please humbly step out of the way.
Stop blocking.
Allow the gospel to naturally flow through you to the next person according to design.
Here’s the simple checklist:
Of course I’m not embarrassed of Christ.
Yes, salvation is worth sharing.
Correct, I would be more ready to witness with some proper preparation.
That’s a great start. You just started the process! Congratulations.
The truth is we should be ready. Getting ready. SO READY that we actually anticipate opportunity. Wanting to be prepared enough to work-out a first-round rough draft. More on that later. :) Please stay tuned …
