Take the Step: Personal Faith, Bold Witness

Summary

This Sunday evening gathering began as a night of praise and worship and grew into an open-microphone testimony service and a call to mission. The worship leaders reminded the church that the people outside its walls are loved by God and chosen, even if they do not know it yet, and that believers are sent to show them that love.

One after another, members stood to share. Amy told how she lost her faith after baptism when the enemy filled her mind with lies, and how God personally drew her back through a word that spoke straight to her heart. David urged that no one is ever ready or perfect enough, because God qualifies the called, so we simply take the step of faith and Jesus meets us. Others confessed seasons when they could no longer hear God, and the freedom that came through confession and full surrender.

A warning ran through the evening against a fashionable, watered down Christianity: search the Scriptures daily like the Bereans and verify everything you are taught. It all returned to one truth repeated from the morning service, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The closing call was to make faith personal rather than borrowed, to remain in Christ daily, and to go and preach the gospel plainly, as one brother did simply by asking coworkers whether they knew that God loved them.

Key Points

• Faith cannot be borrowed; each person must seek God personally and test His word for themselves.
• The enemy whispers you are not ready, not good enough, but God qualifies the called, not the qualified.
• Take one step of faith toward God and He takes two steps toward you.
• Knowing God rests on what He says, not on how we feel; I know is stronger than I feel.
• Search the Scriptures daily and verify what you are taught, guarding against a distorted gospel.
• Nothing - death, life, fear, or sin - can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
• We are sent to be the light and to share the gospel plainly with the people around us.