Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
Acts 16:14

Continuing with the topic of how the Lord saves people as the Holy Spirit supernaturally “opens people’s hearts” as God’s people share the gospel, lets talk about our testimonies.

Our testimonies can save no one. We are not out to get people to receive Christ because we did, or because it “worked for us.” Before considering the value of our testimonies, let us be reminded of Paul’s words in Romans 1:16

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

So the gospel is what people need to hear, because the gospel is the power of God to save! Our testimonies are a valuable tool for sharing the gospel—as long as our testimonies include the gospel. Think of your testimony as a bridge to connect the disinterested with at least hearing you out. Face it, there are lots of people (maybe even most?) who are not interested in hearing about Christ and the gospel. But if they know and care anything about you, they will listen when you want to tell them something very important to you.

So tell them your story. And when you get to the place in the story at which you were converted, say something like this: “That is when I came to understand that God is holy and demands holiness from all of us. I knew that I was not holy and that I was therefore subject to God’s wrath. But I also came to understand that because God is also loving, He provided a way by which I would be forgiven. That way is Jesus, who died to pay the penalty for my sins and that I would be forgiven if I trusted in Jesus and truly sought to turn from my sin.”

Can you see how your story is a way to share the gospel? Can you also see that your testimony without the gospel is not the power of God unto salvation?

More tomorrow…