Your Most Powerful Weapon #107

Do you want to tell others about Jesus but aren’t sure how to do it?  Maybe you are worried that you don’t know the Bible well enough or you don’t understand theology.  The good news is you don’t have to worry.  You simply have to be willing to share your story.

Your personal testimony (or your story) is the most powerful tool you have for sharing your faith.  One of the most powerful testimonies in the Bible is found in John 9:25. Jesus healed a blind man and when the Pharisees interrogated him about what happened he simply responded, “One thing I know.  I was blind, now I see.”

Terry, Brian and Dan discuss the power of your story in this installment of Finish Strong.  You’ll learn how to tell others about Jesus in a simple but powerful way. The world needs Jesus now more than ever, so if you want to “finish strong” start sharing what He has done for you today!

Transcript

Dan Wheeler: 0:02

I grew up in a church that had services Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. Oh, yeah, Mom made sure that me and my sisters were there. For one of my favorite parts of church was TESTIMONY TIME on Sunday nights. I am Dan Wheeler. This is finish strong. And I'm joined by Terry Steen and Brian Roland. Guys, do you remember TESTIMONY TIME?

Terry Steen: 0:26

No question. Yeah, everybody got the opportunity. In fact, even probably 20 to 30 years ago, I lead testimonies that at a church I was associate pastor in and tried to keep that active on a Wednesday night because it's good, isn't it? We get encouragement from it. Absolutely.

Brian Roland: 0:49

My little grandfather, my Italian grandfather was sitting in a second row. And they'd say, testimonies on who's only for a lover, and you see his little hand go up. And he'd say, Charlie, and he get up and you go, I love it. My Jesus. I mean, he was he was he started growing, because when people hear him, he thought was his broken English, they couldn't understand them. And it was just so precious to watch. And it was testimony every week.

Dan Wheeler: 1:10

We had one guy in my church every week, he'd get up, but he'd apologize because the old devil had been after him, and he got to drink. And again, and I just, it seemed like we heard the same thing every week. And it's like, when are you going to change? When are you going to be sanctified? But you know, TESTIMONY TIME is a biblical thing. Psalm 1072 says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And I love to hear a good story, you know, and stories are powerful. Boy, and you know, preachers that can tell a good a good story. But we all have our story. Right?

Terry Steen: 1:42

Right. Yeah, yeah, I was. It was interesting. I ran across a verse I knew we were going to be talking about this. And in first John 511, and 12, it says, This is the true testimony, that God's given us eternal life. And this life has its source in his son, whoever has the Son has eternal life. Whoever doesn't have the Son does doesn't possess eternal life. And that's what it comes down to, isn't it?

Brian Roland: 2:11

Yeah, that's very true. But the question is, what is a testimony? Okay, I'll answer. Testimony is a statement. That is something that is true. And when you look at that, it's a thing. And I think you you mentioned that people may dispute your theology, they can never dispute your testimony. And it's the truth, because it is something that is true to you. I look at it because I always look at testimony and witness, you know, my witness or my testify, what am I doing? And I find that as a testimony, you're, you're telling the story of how you became a Christian, you're letting people know how, how Christ entered your life and what he did and change your life. And as a witness, when you're witness, you are really demonstrating your faith and your actions and your attitude and, and know what God is how he's living in your life now, but testimony is sharing what is true and what has happened to you. And it's, it's just solvation. But everything that's going on every day in your life could be a testimony,

Dan Wheeler: 3:11

I just want to let everybody know, before we jumped into biblical examples, Terry, that we're all going to give our personal testimony tonight. So if you've never heard our stories, you're going to

Terry Steen: 3:23

Yeah, yeah, everybody's got one, don't they? And as you go through scripture, there's tons of stories. But just to highlight a couple that I think are really good is ones in Mark, the fifth chapter in Jesus had taken a man and cast out the demons out of this man. And the man was so impressed that he wanted to go with Jesus. He wanted to be where he was. And Jesus realized this man now has a story to tell, because of what God's done to him. And it says in the let's see, the 18th 19th Verse 19, verses says, Jesus told him, No, you can't come with me. Go back to your home, and to your family, and tell them what the Lord's done for you. Tell them how He had mercy on you. A man insisted they go and tell the story. And then there's that other story in John the ninth chapter, where he healed a blind man. And they were really upset about that. And they were drilling him on wanting to know who did it and why they did it. It was seemed to be against them, their religion, it was blasphemous. And finally, the blind man that was healed, said, I have no idea what kind of man this is all I know that I was blind and now I can see for the first time in his life, and he didn't try it. argue with him. He didn't try to like today we can be political or we can argue religion. All he did was say what happened? And leave it at that. And that's all we have to do, isn't it? And then I

Dan Wheeler: 5:13

didn't. You know, Brian, that sounds familiar was blind. But now I see whereby I heard that I think there's a song that can be really good. Well, you know, in Revelation 12, verse 1011, we learn about how powerful our testimony is, because John writes, then I heard a loud voice in heaven, say, now have come to salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ for the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before God day and night has been hurled down. And here's the key, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death, the power of their testimony. So we knew to not be afraid to give our testimony, there's a story about Dr. David Cho, who built the largest church in the world and South Korea had over a million members. And he was actually a Buddhist, but he came to Christ through a woman's testimony. And he only met her once. And he always wanted to find her to thank her, but he never could thank her. But that's an example where she won't realize the power of her testimony until she gets to heaven.

Terry Steen: 6:34

That's something I think about frequently when we get up there. All the stories that we don't know anything about that we may have had a part in affecting people's lives. That's a nice thing.

Brian Roland: 6:48

You know, we get responses from people, or get notes from people in your thinking, What am I, who am I reaching anybody, and it's like, wow, the floodgates opens up, this was for me. And so you never know. And that's gonna be amazing that time. You're right, Terry.

Dan Wheeler: 7:04

That's what encourages us so much when you write us and if you haven't joined us on our Facebook page, that's where a lot of things happen. FFM 60. Everyday we do our morning cups of inspiration. And every day we hear that from people that was just for me, how did you know? Well, guys, it's TESTIMONY TIME here on the finish strong, who wants to start off share their story?

Terry Steen: 7:27

Man, I'd be happy to.

Dan Wheeler: 7:29

All right. You know,

Terry Steen: 7:30

we always think about how many people knew where they were on 911. And the big days in their life, they knew where they were. And I know exactly where I was when I accepted the Lord for the first time. And I was in fourth grade, I was nine years old. Living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and went to a little church probably had 40 to 50 people in it on Oakland road. It was first Assembly of God church. And there was an evangelist that had come in for the week. And I still remember the little brown vinyl squared floor, the wooden pews. And at the end of that service, I went down and gave my heart to the Lord. I remember going back to the house that night, I just pondered it in the car as we were driving home as to what I have actually done. And it's still emotional, even today, after almost 60 years, because of how it changed the direction of my life, even as a little kid. But I walked up the stairs and shared with my dad. But I had done that. And that was confessing it to somebody else, to publicly make it known that that's something that I had done, and I'll never forget it.

Dan Wheeler: 9:03

What did your dad say to you?

Terry Steen: 9:05

He said, he said have Feels good, doesn't it? And that was about it. I said yes, it does. And then we went our ways to go to bed that night.

Dan Wheeler: 9:17

No, weren't you? Were you headed towards a life of drugs and illicit relationships?

Terry Steen: 9:23

Because I've been saved. I got saved at such an early age. I do tell people to have a test when I said he's delivered me from drugs. Prostitution, no, I don't say that. But all these evil things because he saved me early. He didn't allow me to get into all that stuff. So he did save me from Yeah,

Dan Wheeler: 9:45

but you know, that's the best testimony that you've walked with the Lord all these years. Did you ever go through times and animate I knew you in college and you were solid, all four years there but did you go through times where you You ever doubted that you were really saved? Or you wondered if this was the right direction to go with your life?

Terry Steen: 10:07

You know, I never did. And, and we can talk about it more later in the in the podcast as some individual things that kind of pop up that reinforce that, that testimony and that life, but that was something, you know, I was involved with church I stayed true during high school, I went to a Christian college and, and God has put a calling on my life to work for the kingdom. And he he's been able to weave that into everything I've done throughout my entire career. And there's just, it's a phenomenal life. That's God's given me. And I've shared with you guys that I had a friend that asked me if I would, if I knew everything I knew today, would I live my life over again, the exact same way? And I said, Of course I would. And he said, You know, I've asked hundreds of people that no one has ever said they would want to live their life over again, really, and, and so I was the only person to say that too. And it's only because of God. It's only because God saved me at that young age. And he's kept me and he's protected me. And he's allowed His Holy Spirit to just keep that peace and joy and comfort. Everything that he promises. He truly does. And I'm a witness to that.

Dan Wheeler: 11:40

And you know, he has blessed it, Terry, I mean, I look of all of our buddies that we all played sports and everything, you are probably in the best shape and you haven't had knee injuries or problems. I've been struggling with knee injuries with back and it seems like, you know, your health is just really, really strong.

Terry Steen: 11:58

Yeah, a lot of things we take for granted. But if we stop and think about it, you're right. God blesses, in many ways doesn't move. Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 12:07

Mr. Rowland, would you like to share your story?

Brian Roland: 12:10

Sure. I was a young age two, I was only five at the time. And

Terry Steen: 12:16

I had to beat me, didn't you?

Brian Roland: 12:19

I'm five years older than you still before. No, but I was. I grew up in a church too, that we went to church every Monday or Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, twice on Sunday and Wednesday choir on Thursday, young people's group on Saturday, all that. But as a young kid, though, I was in the basement and mom was Was she had an old rear washing machine. That's all this was my goodness. And, and I was standing there next to the to the tubs, the water tubs, cement sinks. They had backed up. And I remember leaning up against it. And I test her I says, Mom, what did this mean that they talked about being saved? And I asked her about that then because I heard it in church over and over and over again, but didn't know what it was. And so she told me, she explained that all just broke it down. And she's you've heard this in Sunday school. And this is, this is why you've heard this is how you've heard it. And when she when she finished she says, Would you like to have Christ in your life? And I said, Yes, I just I definitely because you're sure. This is a strong commitment you're going to make as a young kid, and make sure you want this. And I said yes, I want this. So we prayed together. And when we finished, she said, never forget. She says to me, she goes, she just looked at me. And she says what do you think? And I said to her I feel so clean. Because she always told people that that was the first thing you said I feel so clean. And that was when I was received Christ. I was five years old in the basement and Abbey Avenue in Cleveland or Euclid Ohio, just because we were and and again like like Uteri I had to go upstairs and tell my dad he was always so proud.

Dan Wheeler: 14:04

Now I know that you've been through like we all have you been through a lot of difficult things in your life. And I know that God was always there for you in those difficult times. Tell us a little bit about them.

Brian Roland: 14:18

Which times you're talking about. There's so many. Judy, I was thinking yeah, yeah, no, I had is I had a failed marriage. And it was a difficult time in my life. And I questioned a lot at that time. But I didn't really question God. Not being in my life. But I questioned why I was walking through this and going through this at the time. And then you realize that it wasn't God that made the decisions it was me and that I chose to be in that position. And but I

Dan Wheeler: 14:54

know that you were the one that stayed faithful and you were near so hard to make that work I

Brian Roland: 14:59

have tried so Review through it, the guy brought me through it and he blessed me even better now and where I'm at in my in depth course is my beautiful wife. She's everything that I could have ever asked out for. And more I mean, she's she takes care of me. And I know that that's that was one difficult time but we went through several in our, under my family net with with health issues. And then that went on and some miracle after miracle take place. And Alyssa will probably get into more of these later. But God has never I have walked away from him and came back but he never walked away from me.

Dan Wheeler: 15:38

Well, my story is I was nine years old, and I had been raised in the church and my mom had me pray with her almost every day we would have our devotions together. When my sisters my older sisters were off to school before I went to kindergarten, even I remember praying and she always taught me to kneel. And then I was at summer camp, it was an Assemblies of God camp and Bridgman, Michigan, about 15 miles down the road here. And I'd been praying after the service, they asked us if we want to come forward and accept the Lord and I went forward and not only accepted the Lord, I just stayed there for I don't know how long but I'll bet it was at least an hour, after that hour and a half just praising the Lord and, and thanking him. And I remember just crying. And again, like you guys have both said, feeling so clean, that he had washed away my sins. And I remember walking back to my cabin that night, and it was kind of out in the woods, and I looked up and the stars were never brighter, and they seem so close that I could touch him. And I just looked up and said, Lord, I know you're there. And I've given my life to you now and I just want to serve you. And I want to be used by you. I remember telling him that. And that began my faith journey. Now I haven't always followed the Lord or lived for him as I should. And many years ago, I guess about 13. Now I went through a terrible time and I ended up in a mental hospital, I hadn't slept for weeks, and just was having trouble finding God, but I knew he was there. And I would read my Bible all the time. And I was just reading an Isaiah 40 and 41 a lot. And, you know, Isaiah 4110 says, For thou not from with the Be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen the I will help thee I will uphold the the right hand of my righteousness. And that was the verse that pulled me out of everything. One day the sun broke through and I told the people that ran the place, you're checking me out, my wife's coming to get me this Friday. And she did. And from there, I feel like I've been, he made me stronger than ever. He's given me a heart that's just focused on him. And like we say, all the time, this podcast, I want to finish strong. But you know, some people say, I don't know if I could share my testimony, but it's really just telling your story. But you guys have some vital advice as to how someone should share their testimony, things they might think about if they've never done it before.

Terry Steen: 18:26

I think part of it comes with sharing specific experiences that the other person can relate to. I mean, even back, and when I talked about I got saved in fourth grade. And you would think as a little kid, that shouldn't be a big deal. But I was a Hellion in fourth grade, as I remember back, we talked to get into putting his tongue on the sill of a window in the winter. You notice it stuck, and it's stuck. And then I remember painting on the school walls and art class and all this and I remember swearing. And in fifth grade when when I got saved. To my knowledge, I've never intentionally swore since. But in fifth grade, I gave a my teacher a track. That's how much my mindset had turned around. And I know over the years, there's people that you come in contact with that are going through a tough time. Maybe it's financial, and you have a story, how God has blessed you financially. I was sharing with you guys how I've been laid off one time and I was out of work for months, the only four months I've never worked in my whole life. And I went when I got my job and started working at the end of that four months. I went back and looked at how much money I had in my account. The day I got laid off and how much I had the day I started. And somehow I had more money in my account. And that's only God, that's good. That's a story that you can share with somebody who is in financial straits, or is out of work, or is wondering where their next job is. And that can be just the tipping point to get them curious to ask more questions.

Brian Roland: 20:27

Is what you're saying, especially with the finance, that's what came across to my mind. And I was thinking about how when Debbie, and I sold our home in Atlanta, and we had both lost our jobs, and I got another job in California, we wanted to go back to California, because that's where she's from originally, when I lived out there previously, and I got a job offer out there, and the waiters had to happen. They had to sell our place, we had to get a place in California. We had a friend out there that was a realtor that was looking around for us. And he was he was calling me telling me I know, I told us, You know what the likes, of course, he was telling me these different homes that I was going to snap in our first or I want to be at and he goes no, with this one, you're gonna like this is perfect for bought a sight unseen. And this is word, because we figure we can go to for the inspection. And then we wouldn't if we didn't like it fine. But at the same time, our house sold immediately in Atlanta. And so we were able to pack up, go to California, move right into the next house, all the way across country. And never skip a beat and I start work as soon as we get there. It was just amazing how that just took place. But it was boom, boom, boom. And I was telling all this stuff was happening. And it's such a manner and I was told my sister and she goes, write it down, write it down, write it down, because you won't remember it all. And I can't remember the whole sequence anymore. But it was it had to happen at the fire, like in all the cylinders as it was going for it to happen like that. And it was perfect.

Dan Wheeler: 21:55

Yeah. Well, you guys, both when you were telling your stories, you were very specific. You were honest. And that's what people have to remember. That's how you share your story. Because yeah, I think you said it. Brian, in the beginning, people, you know, may not agree with all your theology, they may argue with you over creationism versus evolutionism. One thing no one can argue with is your story. Right? Because you know what happened? You lived? Right.

Terry Steen: 22:27

And you can tell her with confidence because nobody can denounce it. Right? Yeah,

Brian Roland: 22:32

yeah, absolutely. And it goes through with healings, too. I mean, as you all know, we split it before I saw my sister, Lord, heal my sister have multiple sclerosis. Yeah, I saw it. It's undeniable. And I saw it. And I could tell people that and it's and she's this happened back in 1970. What, three or something like that. And, you know, here we are, she's still with us. And she's, you know, she wasn't supposed to be but check that out. You know, yeah, it's only gone.

Dan Wheeler: 23:00

Yeah. And, you know, I've read a quote today. In fact, I did a morning cup of inspiration that will be airing here in the next few days. The quote was, it's never too late to become the person that you would be. And I thought about that the person you would be, who would you be, but it's never too late. So if you're saying right now, boy, I don't have a testimony. I have never accepted the Lord. It's probably too late. You're talking to three guys here who are in their late 60s, early 70s. And we went into ministry, I guess, full time ministry kind of late in life. And I know we've all been in various other ministries. But fearless faith came about when we just said, Okay, we want to go hard. And now's the time. You know, don't wait till tomorrow. Do it today. Give your life to Jesus. And you can have an amazing story that can impact the world. People are searching for, you know, it was interesting today, Pam and I were walking along the bluff. And I see these two women out in the bluff all the time. And they're Jehovah's Witnesses, and they're always standing there with their sign. And it said, you know, what is the kingdom of God? So I just walked up to I said, What is the Kingdom of God? And they seem like stuff. I go, it's right on your side. What is it anyway? We got into a discussion. And I know that they don't believe that Jesus is truly God. He's not equal with God, the Father and I recited a lot of verses. And I went to John one, in the beginning was the Word the Word was with God, the Word was God. And then, you know, the same was in the beginning with God, but it says he was God and later on says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And I asked him who that was. And I found out they've changed that in their Bible. To say that Jesus was a God, he wasn't equals Oh, at the end, I said, Can I pray for you? And it was a very nice and they said, The One woman said, No, I don't I'm not comfortable that I said, Okay, well, I'll just let you know I will be praying for you to

Terry Steen: 25:14

people walk away from a Jehovah Witness you went.

Dan Wheeler: 25:19

Just felt the Lord was telling me to do that. And it but at the end, she also said, Hey, before you go, I just want to say I really appreciate the way you talk to us because it was it was done in a loving manner. And you were very kind like, Well, Jesus has called us to do that. Yeah, so that was a story right there.

Terry Steen: 25:40

Yeah. Yeah, no question. It's

Brian Roland: 25:42

a perfect example.

Dan Wheeler: 25:43

Yeah. But go ahead.

Terry Steen: 25:46

I was just gonna say one final thought that I would have as we bring this to a close as we talk about how we can be a witness to others, but we can and we can build even other Christians faith with our story. But additionally, we can build our own faith as we tell our own story. But another bigger thing is, like you said in Revelations, 1210, and 11, they overcame the accuser. The devil comes at us all the time. But a word of RTS, it's the blood of Christ. But the word of our testimony is a weapon against the enemy. And we can never lose sight of that. That's because there's power in those words enough to deter the devil from having a stronghold in our life.

Dan Wheeler: 26:44

Boy, that's true. In fact, I think we should call this podcast your most powerful weapon. It's the most powerful thing we have in our in our arsenal, thank you. You know, but just like the blind man, this I know, I once was blind. But now I see now that is a powerful, concise, specific testimony.

Terry Steen: 27:08

Amen. Amen.

Dan Wheeler: 27:10

So i What a great time guys boy that we all have a testimony we all have a story feel free to share yours and we'll hope that to see you they hear you to have you with us for our next edition of finish strong. God bless everyone.

John Matarazzo: 27:31

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out their website F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong