(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, so the title of my sermon this evening is The Importance of Your Testimony. The Importance of Your Testimony. This is a really important subject. In my mind, it's recently, who knows how long it's actually been, I preach a sermon on keeping your word and being a man of your word or a person of your word and how important that is. And this is a very, very similar concept, a very similar subject. Even though it's very similar, it's extremely important, I don't mind preaching again. But when I'm going to talk about your testimony, what I'm going to show you from scripture too is that your testimony goes beyond just the things that you say. It has a lot to do with your actions and what you do play a part into your overall testimony as a believer, as a Christian. And we're going to look at what the Bible talks about, the Bible uses the word testimony and testifying and things like that, and we're going to look at some of that to help us to get a good understanding of what we need to be aware of and responsible for. Now in Exodus 31, you have to turn and understand Matthew, Exodus 31 verse 18, the Bible talks a lot in the Old Testament about the Ark of the Testimony, and that the testimony itself was those two tablets that contained the Ten Commandments. So in Exodus 31, 18, the Bible says, and he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God. So the Ten Commandments were a testimony, that is the testimony of the Lord, obviously the Ten Commandments are very important, written with the finger of God, and our testimony likewise should be important, just like as I mentioned, the word of God, the Bible is the word of God, we're saved by the word of God, Jesus is called the word of God, well our word ought to be important as well, we should value it and treat it very importantly, very highly, that when you speak something, just as when God speaks, you know it's going to come to pass. When God makes a promise, it won't fail. When God promises eternal life, and it's only by faith, we know that's true. Well our word and what we say ought to be similar, to the best of our ability, obviously we're sinners, we're not all perfect, but you know what, we ought to hold ourselves, try to hold ourselves to a standard of if I'm going to say something, then it's going to come to pass. If we're going to be children of our Heavenly Father, let's try to act like children of our Heavenly Father, and not say things flippantly, and not be loose with our lips, and say things, and make promises, and say things that just aren't true, or aren't going to come to pass, we ought to take that and hold it, try to hold it as sacred as possible, hold our word, because at the end of the day, what else do you really have other than your word? I mean once people label you as a liar, or say, oh yeah, he's always running his mouth about stuff and never comes to pass, then you have, no one's going to put their confidence in you, no one's going to put their trust in you, that's going to ruin your testimony, and then when you try to tell people about the important things, you try to tell them about Jesus Christ, you try to talk to them about the Bible, they're going to have no reason to believe you. And that's the danger of ruining your testimony. God treats his testimony very serious, written with the finger of God in stone is the testimony they gave in the Old Testament, and then he encapsulates that in the ark of the testimony, and all throughout the Old Testament you see a lot of references, but we're not going to focus on all of those references this evening, we'll focus more on the New Testament because I said it's more than even just your word. In Matthew chapter 8 where we started, look back down there, verse number 1, the Bible says when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him, and behold there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed, so Jesus just heals this leper, just miraculously heals this guy. Verse 4, and Jesus saith unto him, see thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. So he tells him basically to follow the law of Moses in what a leper would do, and he's been cleansed, and he's following the rest of the law, and he's saying, you know what, I want you to provide a testimony unto the law of Moses, because it's the law of God, and show that that's important, so his action, even though he was clean, even though Jesus healed him, he said, you know what, I want you still to go through the rest of these steps now, being clean, for a testimony unto that law, because Jesus wasn't coming to be contrary to the law of God, and he wants to show importance that he's not circumventing the law of God either, and that he wants to show the respect, and make that testimony, but notice that testimony was through his actions, it wasn't something he was physically saying, he even said, see, don't tell anybody, don't go and broadcast this, but his testimony had to do with his actions of following through of the law, he would give credibility to the law of the Lord, flip over to Matthew chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10 verse number 16, we see another instance of actions being used to form a testimony, verse number 16 the Bible says, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them, and the Gentiles, so he's talking about people being brought up and being whipped and being persecuted as a testimony against them and against the Gentiles, just based on their actions, and them remaining faithful is going to bring a testimony against those people, again, it has to do with their actions, flip over to Mark chapter 6, we see one more example here and then we'll move on to the next point, Mark chapter 6 verse number 10, the Bible reads, and he said unto them, in what place soever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart from that place, and whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city, and here he's referring to, you know, when they're going out to preach the gospel and they're going out and nobody's receiving them, right, everyone's just slamming the door, not having it, they're already trying with their mouth to convince them, to show them the truth, and they're just not being received, they say, you know what, kick the dust off your feet, as of something that's visible, something that people are saying, you know what, they didn't want to hear what you had to say, so when you leave, go ahead, kick the dust off your feet, you know why, because you don't even want to have the dust of that town clinging to your feet, because God's going to destroy us, it's going to be more tolerable of Sodom than it will be for that town, for people who have the gospel freely being brought to them, and it is completely rejected, and it will have nothing to do with it, they're hell bound, and God says, you know what, shake off the dust of your feet and move on, and that's a testimony against them, hey, I came, I tried, I was here, but you know what, not going to stick to me, it's not going to bother me, I'm going to move on to the next town, but that action is a testimony, this is you living and doing what you're supposed to be doing, and testifying through your very actions, our actions ought to, and think about your actions, think about how you live, think about what you do, does it represent what you believe? Or would people have no idea that you're a believer, that you believe the Bible, even just based on your actions alone, let alone your words, right? All the things that you do, I mean that leper that I cleansed, when he went to go and fulfill the sacrifices and do what's written in the law of Moses, he was giving a testimony just by going there and doing that and showing, you know, that's where his heart was, that's what he believed, he's showing a testimony of those things, that he believes those things to be true. Obviously, even just coming to church is a testimony that you're believing the Bible, I'm going to go to church, but does that permeate your life, or does it just stop at church attendance? We want to have a strong testimony that when we decide that we believe something, that we actually believe it, and our actions are going to show what we believe. John chapter 3, turn if you would to Acts chapter 14. I'm going to read from John 8, I'm going to skip over John 3. John 8.15 reads, you judge after the flesh, I judge no man, and yet if I judge, this is Jesus speaking, if I judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me, beareth witness of me. And again, I'm going a little bit out of order here. Forgive me, I'm a little bit tired this afternoon. Recovering the point of your testimony being, you know, not just your actions, we started off with your actions, now we're going back to being your words, right? And even in the law of God, your testimony, testimony of two men, that's how you determine what is the truth. So if you're going to convict somebody of a crime, it's going to take their testimony, what they testify, what they say to be true, as being true, your word is your testimony. You need to hold that true. Here in Acts chapter 14, look at verse number 1, the Bible reads, And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. So just so you understand what's going on in this story up to this point, the disciples are doing a lot of great work, they're getting a lot of people saved, verse 1 says that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. So they're out preaching the gospel and they're getting a lot of converts, right? But the unbelieving Jews, similar to the unbelieving Jews that crucified Jesus, the one that hated him, the one that wanted to kill him, they're stirring up the other Gentiles, the other unbelievers that are there, they're trying to stop this work that's being done, so they're stirring up the Gentiles and they're making their minds evil-affected against the brethren. So what are they doing? They're probably going around lying about them, spreading rumors, saying, oh man, these guys that are coming here, don't listen to them, and just saying whatever to make their mind evil-affected against people. You know, it's not that hard to do. All you got to do is bring up some false railing accusation against somebody oftentimes, and that's enough to get people's minds evil-affected against someone else. But look at what happens here in verse 3, long time therefore abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord. So they didn't let that stop them. The disciples here, hey, they're having great success. They're converting Jews and Gentiles alike, and they speak boldly, it says here, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. So they're speaking boldly in the Lord. They're not backing down in the face of opposition. That gives a testimony unto the word of grace. When you can withstand the oppression, when you withstand the persecution, when you can still stand and boldly preach in the face of all that persecution, that alone gives testimony unto the power of the word of God. And because they did that, because they showed their unwavering, God added to that and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. If they would have backed down, though, guess what? They wouldn't have had the granting of the signs and wonders. The fact that they were already giving the testimony unto the word, God just added on top of that, even further showing the power of God through these people, through the miracles they allowed them to do, because they didn't back down and were already testifying to the word of grace. Turn if you would to, let's see, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I apologize. I had that one point out of order about the testimony, because the most of the sermon I want to focus in on your actions, because that is the most important thing that I want to draw attention to this evening. It's going to be a shorter sermon than usual, but I just want to make sure that we're thinking about how our actions line up with what we believe and making sure that we can hold a good, pure testimony so that way when we represent Jesus Christ, when we're trying to represent the Bible, when we're going out and trying to convince people to believe that our testimony shows forth, wow, you really do believe this, don't you? I'll tell you what, nobody wants to listen to a hypocrite. The testimony of a hypocrite falls flat on its face, and you know what, rightfully so. Now, I know people might try to nitpick. At some level, everybody's a hypocrite. Everybody falls short, because if you say, well, I believe this book, yeah, I believe there's things written in this book, but I know that I'm not perfect. So when I sin, guess what, I'm a hypocrite in the sense that I didn't keep what I hold to be true. But everybody has that, and obviously if you're dealing with a reasonable person, they're not going to nitpick that small. But you know what I'm talking about. We're talking about the people who want to pontificate and spout off like the Pharisees did, and they're not going to lift up one finger to the work that they're telling everyone else to do. They're the ones saying, you've got to do this, and you've got to do that. That's why, you know, when we have these challenges, you know what, I participate in them too. I'm not standing up here saying, you guys need to go solar, you need to go knock doors, you need to memorize the Bible, you need to do this, you need to do that. Oh, yeah, but I'm too busy, I don't have any time to do any of that. No, no. I would have no credibility. Why would you even want to listen to somebody that's just telling you to do a bunch of stuff that they're not willing to do? Now look, that's for me, but how about for you? How about for you moms and dads? How about for you people who have co-workers or other people? How do other people view you? Are you living like you believe this book? Do you have a testimony? Do people know that you are going in church, that you're involved, that this is really important to you? Do people know that you've made changes? Look, don't take this the wrong way, because I don't mean to puff up yourself and say, hey, everybody, look at how spiritual I am, guess what I'm doing? But there's a testimony that ought to naturally allow its way out through normal conversation that, oh, yeah, I don't do those things, or whatever. Hey, man, you want to come out to the bar with us and have a drink? No, actually, I'm sorry, I'm a Christian, I don't believe in drink, I don't do that. It's not a holier than thou, you're not trying to rub people's face in it, but you know what? You still ought to have that testimony. I do believe this book. There's a right way of having that testimony. But do you have that testimony? Or is there no difference between you and just everyone else out in the world? The Bible says that we're supposed to be sanctified and separated. The Bible teaches that we are supposed to be a peculiar people. We're set apart. We're not, you know, we're in this world, but we're not supposed to be of this world. You know, the friendship of the world is enmity with God. So we're not supposed to be like the world. We're not supposed to be patterned after the world. We're not supposed to love the things of the world. We're supposed to love the things of heaven, love the things of the Father, and do what's right. And you know what? There ought to be then a difference. And that's all part of your testimony. And your testimony will go, can go a very, very long way with people, especially those that know you. This is a really important point. I'm going to read for you from Hebrews 3. I think I had you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. But this concept goes, it's referenced multiple times in scripture. We see Moses is a great man. He's very faithful, and he had a testimony in the Lord. Hebrews 3, 1 reads, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ has a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope from under the end? Now what's awesome about this is imagine, this is comparing Christ's testimony to Moses's. Even just being in the same sentence like that, just being that reference point, obviously it's saying, hey, the person who builded the house has way more honor than the building, than the house. So we see the huge disparity between Christ and Moses, but what an honor just for Moses even to be used as the person, that's the faithful person, because people have a lot of respect and honor for Moses, and rightfully so. He was a meek man, he was a great man of God, he was a great prophet, and did a lot of great things. So hey, if we're going to give that man honor, how much more deserving is Christ? But at least Moses had that testimony to even be used in that context at all as a reference point, because why? Because he was faithful in his household, and he had a testimony that he believed the word of God, and he believed every word of God, and made judgments according to the word of God and was faithful to that. That was Moses's testimony. That's why he's even being used in Hebrews as any point of reference to Jesus Christ. How is your testimony? How does that compare? Hebrews 11 verse 5, the Bible reads, by faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. There's a lot of great blessings to be had for someone who has a great testimony. Enoch was a great example of that. Enoch got to be translated to be with God because God just was really pleased with him. See, that's a good testimony. The bad testimony is, God's wiping you out because, you know what, you just keep screwing things up, and you just keep on getting this in, and you're just not listening to me, I'm just going to take you early. You're not even getting any more chance of getting rewards, I'm just going to take you. Whereas Enoch, he's going, hey, you're really pleasing to me, I'm just going to have you come up and be with me early. That's a good testimony to have. I had you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1, look down at verse 9, the Bible reads, but we had descendants of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raised the dead, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us, ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf, for our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you, word. Now I want to show you some other verses, because here this is tying the testimony of our conscience in with our conversation, and I brought this up in the past, but just in case any of you might have missed it, that word conversation in the Bible, it's an older meaning of a word, when we think of the word conversation, we just think about talking with somebody. Like, oh yeah, I had a conversation, and we just communicated, and that was the end of the conversation. When the Bible uses the word conversation, it's not talking about just two people talking with each other. It's an older meaning, you can look it up, it's an older meaning of the word, but what your conversation is in the scripture, it's how you carry yourself, how you present yourself, how you behave, it's your behavior is tied in with your conversation. That's what that word means, so we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you, word, and the reason why I brought that up, I want to show you some more references here, and I actually don't think I referenced it, but I talked about your testimony, right, which can also be swapped out for your conversation, and having an impact in other people's lives, especially when people maybe don't want to listen to you, you've already tried talking, your testimony and your actions can still end up penetrating to people's hearts, and the Bible talks about women who are married to men that may be unbelievers, and that the holy and chaste conversation of the wives, so how they behave themselves, can actually win over their husbands, and get through to their hearts, and that they can convert their husbands through the conversation of the wives. And that's what the Bible says, I didn't have that reference in here, but that's one example of how you decide to live, and look, ladies, men, whatever situation you may be in, you may not have the best situation at home, I don't know, maybe you do, hopefully you do, but the point is, you know, you can't control what other people do. And even men that are given the authority and power to be the ones in charge of their household, at the end of the day, the submission of your wife has to be voluntary. It has to be voluntary. I mean, there's only so much you can do, I mean, if you have to resort to violence and physical restraint or things like that, you're not succeeding. You're not succeeding. That is not the way to be in charge of your home. And at the end of the day, you know, whether it's a man being in charge, or a woman being submissive, it needs to be voluntary from the heart to do that, to be in the proper role. And you could only do what you can do. But here's the thing, is that if you have a good testimony, because as a man you're trying to lead, as a man you're trying to pay, as a man you're trying to do all the work, as a man you're doing what God has ordained for you to do, that's a good testimony. If you're trying to get your wife to become more submissive, how about you act godly and show, you know what, the reason why I want you to be submissive, wife, is because that's what the Bible says. I'm doing my best and I'm trying, here's my testimony. This is what I'm doing. I'm showing honor under the weaker vessel, I'm loving you, I'll give my life for you, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, you know, all the things they're trying to do, and that should, you know, you don't have to spell it out, but they should see that and flip flop too, vice versa, right? The wife, man, my husband's a lazy, is a jerk, he doesn't go out and do anything, he's not supportive of me, he's, you know, whatever, he's not providing. I have to work, I have to do this, I have to do that, because he just wants to sit on the couch all day and he's a lazy bum. Well, you can't control that, but what you control is what you do. And still choose to be submissive to someone who may be a jerk because you're doing it because you believe the Bible and you believe God's word and you're going to have that testimony that might get through then to his heart even if he's not listening to what you're saying. After a while, that sinks in and people go, man, I thought it was just a phase, I thought they were just, oh yeah, whatever, they're going to go back to it. No, when it's real, when you really believe something, when you really hold something to be true, let that become part of your testimony. You ought to be like a different person. I know that's oftentimes I feel I'm a different person than I was before I got saved and especially before I got into a good church, because even after I was saved, there wasn't a whole lot of difference. There was an internal difference that was born again, but it didn't manifest itself outwardly very much. But we should be striving to get that outward manifestation because we're changing our lives, we're improving our testimony, and we're giving more credibility to the word of God through our actions, because it will impact other people. The Bible reads in Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, turn if you would to 1 Peter chapter 2, we're almost done, 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Philippians 1, 27, the Bible reads, only let your conversation, remember that's your action, that's how you live, let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. He's saying, I want to hear about your affairs, about what you're doing, about your actions, about how you're living, that's your conversation and that it's becoming of the gospel of Christ. That you don't just talk a big talk, oh yeah, we need to preach the gospel of a creature, as you sit back and do nothing. As you wait to have some opportunity once in a blue moon to talk to some person or whatever when it just falls into your lap like perfectly gift wrapped opportunity, no, let's have our conversation as it becometh the gospel and go out and make the opportunities and treat this as important. You know what, how about you treat the gospel as if you really believe hell is real. How about you treat a love for people as if, you know what, if that person dies without Christ they're going to burn and be tortured and tormented eternally forever and I actually care about that, I actually don't want to see that person engulfed in flames and have to suffer eternally so I'm going to just tell them how to be saved. I'm going to open up my mouth because I actually believe it. That's what I'm trusting in. Thank God for his mercy, thank God for his free gift, thank God for his salvation, but you know what, I believe it so much I'm going to tell other people about it too. How do you turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, we'll get to that in just a minute. Another thing that could tarnish your conversation, your testimony is when you start misrepresenting other people and what they believe and their positions also, someone else's belief system. I brought this up in the past, I'm a firm believer in this, as I get into doing different sermons and different topics and we cover false religions and different doctrines and things like that, I like to debunk false doctrine and I should, it's part of my job, I need to be explaining and exposing things that are false doctrine but you know what I don't want to do and I don't want to try to do is just prop up some straw man, something that nobody believes just so I can knock it down because it's real easy to do or claim that oh this person believes this when they really don't. Now I may be saying all kinds of true things and promoting a good doctrine but if I'm starting to ascribe a certain belief to someone that doesn't believe that way that's going to hurt my testimony. People are going to say yeah, I heard your lies, that's not what he believes, you're completely misrepresenting it so why would I want to listen to you about anything else? It's going to ruin your testimony with people, don't do that. Don't just repeat things that you hear. If you don't know something to be true then you don't have to use it, don't say it. Don't go off hearsay, that's going to damage your testimony. Ask questions, understand someone's exact position so you can focus on responding to what they actually believe. Now there's always going to be some level of people saying well you're not saying exactly what I believe when you deal with big topics like Calvinism because there's so many people that believe all kinds of different things, there's all different nuances and things like that, whatever. When I ever do preach on things like that there are specific people that believe the things that I preach against, I'm not just making it up. It's not like it's stuff that nobody believes and I'm just coming up with it but if you're going to preach specifically about people too though make sure you know and that's why I've done this before. I preach against John McArthur, I preach against Billy Graham, whatever, I don't even remember. I go to their websites, I go to the official, what they're saying, not what some people are saying about them but I'll go and get their content and say this is what he's saying and this is why it's wrong so if they don't believe exactly what they say well that's not my fault because it's printed, basically coming from the horse's mouth. Books they write, things they publish, Sam Gibb was another one, I'm using word for word what he's saying. It's coming out of his mouth. So if I'm going to preach again I'm going to do it that way but I'm not going to start ascribing things that aren't true because someone's going to say hey that's not true. At least you need to have the source and say no this is true, this is why, look there it is because otherwise it's like you're bearing a false witness and that's going to hurt your testimony. 1 Peter chapter 2 look at verse 11, Paul reads dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, honesty, no lying, right, keeping things on the up and up, extremely important to have a good testimony that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. The Bible is saying you know what, people could be talking all kinds of bad about you, they could be slandering about you but you know what you need to do? Just maintain your good works because if they're lying about you it's going to be revealed eventually anyways. The time's going to come. You just make them ashamed and embarrassed by your maintaining good works and that if they're just lying about you then you know what, don't worry about it, it'll come to pass and it'll come to light. And if you've got people because sometimes people just act irrationally and emotionally but if you remain consistent and steadfast even that can get through to them. Someone who once was your enemy and spoke evil of you can say wow you know what, I didn't realize because sometimes people think you're just faking or put on a show because they've seen other charlatans and they've seen other false prophets other things and they think like you're just one of them so they'll start speaking evil of you. But if you maintain an honest conversation, you maintain an honest testimony that can speak volumes to those people and to the people around you. Verse 13, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king or supreme again. This has to do with having a good testimony. Even some of the stupid ordinances of man that may be ridiculous, you know what, just go ahead and submit themselves just so that you can be on the up and up and say no one has any evil and mud to sling at you, he says just do it. Verse 14, or unto governors is unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God. So the will of God here in verse 15 says that your well doing, your testimony, your conversation will put to silence other people's ignorance when they speak foolishly about you and ignorantly about you, you could maintain and say hey let my work speak for myself. You're in 1 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2, this is similar to what I was talking about, 2 Peter chapter 2 is about false prophets because false prophets do bring a bad name on the cause of Christ. The wolves in sheep's clothing because they're pretending to be a prophet of God, they're pretending to be somebody good, they're pretending to be a Christian and then when they go and hurt people and damage people and steal from people it's going to leave people with a bad taste in their mouth thinking that that's what Christianity is. Well if that's what church is and that's what Christianity is I won't have nothing to do with it and it tarnishes and brings down the name of God without them realizing no that was a wolf. He doesn't represent Christianity, that is not of God. He was a devil and you've been had and damaged by a devil but you know what? That's one of the reasons why they creep in and do that stuff because they're enemies of the cross of Christ. Look at verse number 1 of 2 Peter chapter 2, but there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction and many shall follow their pernicious ways. Look at this, by reason of whom? Reason of the false prophets, the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. The way of truth, the right way, the true way is going to be evil spoken of because of their ways, because of their pernicious ways, because of their damage, because of what they do. Because of their pedophilia, because of their stealing from people, because of all the wicked things that these false prophets do, it's going to make the way of truth be evil spoken of. Now, you're not a false prophet, okay, but you may not be a false prophet but don't do the damage of a false prophet either to the name of Christ. Again, I'm not saying you're going to do something, you know, as bad as some of these guys are doing, but don't even get close to that, right? Don't allow your testimony to become a point of damage in someone else's life, because you can do things that doesn't make you a reprobate, but you can do some bad things and hurt people and maybe stiff people or do something that's just not godly and not Christ-like and cause damage to someone else's life. That's going to make that person speak evil of the way of truth. Don't allow that to happen in your testimony. Last verse, I'm going to close on this if you want to turn to your can, Ecclesiastes chapter 10, great verse to memorize, great verse to live by and to understand, Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse number 1, the Bible reads, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. The ointment of the apothecary, this is a nice, smelling, great, beautiful ointment that's put together that you anoint yourself with, and it's saying, you know what, if dead flies get in that, it doesn't matter how nice it was, it's going to cause it to stink and no one's going to want it. So it completely destroys the whole use of that ointment, and you're just going to have to trash it and throw it away. It's no good anymore, because the flies landed it, died, and now it just stinks. So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. It takes a lot of work to build a reputation of having wisdom and honor, people that respect you, people that time and time again you can show you've got wisdom, you can show the truth, sometimes you can say things and people are like, no, no, no, it's not true, but then later on it turns out, yeah, he was right, yeah, it's true. It takes a long time to build that up and to build trust in people and to show people, no, look, I've got wisdom and deserving of honor, and it's not because you're seeking those things, it's just because you have it, right? And you express that in your conversation, in the way that you live, through your testimony, how you're living, you're showing people, and you're consistent, and time after time you're doing good, and you know what, it just takes a little bit of a folly. A little bit of foolishness, a little bit of just getting involved in some foolish sin to just completely destroy your testimony. It happens. Don't destroy your testimony. And this, I mean, you have to treat the Word of God, because if you could treat the Word of God in such high regard and say, man, watch out for the things that are going to destroy your life. The Bible talks a lot about them. But you don't want to be found as a Christian being an adulterer, being any of these wicked things that's going to completely destroy your testimony in people's eyes, because who's going to want to believe you anymore? I mean, look at what Pastor Romero did. It's a prime example. Someone getting up and preaching on sin and all that stuff, preaching the Word of God, and then it comes out that he's just doing all this other stuff. He's destroyed, as far as his testimony and everything, that's destroyed. No one's going to listen to him. Is anyone here going to want to listen to a guy like that anymore? I wouldn't. He could be saying things that are true, but I don't want to listen to someone like that that's completely destroyed, because it's like, man, you're preaching on this one day and you're doing the same exact thing behind closed doors. Hypocrite. Destroyed testimony. You used to be able to have influence for good in people's lives, and now it's a shot. It happens. Don't let it happen to you. You can't control what other people do, but you can control what you do. Hold your testimony, your conversation, sacred. Sacred to God. God holds it very high. We have two testaments from testators. That's their testimony. Keep your testimony sacred. Have a good, establish a good testimony. Believe, I know you believe this, implement it in your life. Show other people just through your life, through the changes that you make, let them see it. You don't have to broadcast it. Like I said, you're not sounding a trumpet, but by you believing this book and really believing it and making the changes, that ought to just help your testimony to be seen by other people, to help them be won over, to see that this is real. This isn't some fable book, this mythical book. This is something that's real and life-changing, and people need to realize the truth that's in the Word of God. Let's bow our eyes and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You so much for giving us the Bible. We thank You for saving our souls, and I pray that You would please help us to overcome the sins in our life, help us to improve on our own testimonies, dear Lord, and that we would be mindful, especially when temptation comes our way, Lord, that we would consider how devastating participating and getting involved in some sin is going to be, especially those that we love. Parents with their children, we don't want to destroy our testimony in our kids' eyes. We want them to be able to look up to their parents and be able to trust them and look to them for guidance and truth and leadership, dear Lord, and I pray that You would please just help us, not just with the children, but the people around us, those that we love, with our church, and even just with other people that we go out and preach the Gospel to, dear Lord. Help us to have a good, solid testimony. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.