Marlboro Heights Missionary Baptist Church, Inc. 2901 Illinois Avenue - Killeen, Texas 76543 P.O. Box 11568 Killeen, Texas 76547 254. 690.4521 Office - 254.690.4546 FAX Shaun L. Moton, Pastor/Teacher SHIFT 01/06/2015 T he relationship between being a witness and sharing one s testimony is in concept equivalent to the relationship between the identity of a person and the integrity perceived in what they have to say. A Witness is a credible person who has encountered, endured and experienced something of which they can share with others in a manner that inspires, instructs and ultimately impacts their life in an undeniable and unforgettable way. A Testimony is a consistent portrayal of what a person has to say about the workings of the Lord in their life. It is a public proclamation of Providence, Provision, Power, and Preservation of God on one s behalf; designed to encourage hearers and to ultimately edify sojourners along the highway of life. Peter is one whom the Lord depicts his life will comprise these inseparable qualities. In Luke 22:32, the Lord assures Peter; only after he has encountered, endured and experienced the downfalls of life will he be qualified to serve as a bona fide witness, empowered to share his testimony for the encouragement and edification of others. Our Lord s words to Peter in this verse say, But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. The interpretive implications of this verse are conveyed as follows: Despite the imminent and inevitable fight approaching you, I have already petitioned the Father on your behalf. My petition was not to get you out of the fight; but, for the strength, stability and steadfastness of your Faith. After you have conquered and overcome the effects of the fight, you will be equipped and empowered to establish, to enhance, and to ultimately expand the parameters of the determination of the brethren. [1]
While testimonies are detailed declarations depicting the consistency between the will of God and workings of God in the lives of His Saints; the Saint s witness to the workings of God in their life become verbal and visible affirmations of what the Lord can do in and through the lives of all those willing to invest their trust in Him. A s we further our pursuit for this session of SHIFT, we are challenged to explore the reality that our testimonies and our witness to the Glory of God should comprise the same consistency exhibited in the Character and Conduct of God. It is one matter to say this in theory; however, it is quite another to live this in reality. Our testimonies giving emphasis to the Goodness of the Lord manifested in His workings in our life should be reflected in the transparent witness exposed in both the good and the not so good doings and dealings of our lives. We should ALL be able to affirm that the true magnitude of the Lord s GOODNESS manifested in our lives is to a degree made possible for us to see by our willingness to examine the magnitude of our BADNESS. This is to say, when we are blinded by the Light of God s Goodness in our Lives and become willfully and or strategically oblivious to the midnights of our own darkness; we distort, devalue and ultimately defeat the purpose of being a Witness and sharing our Testimonies to the Glory of God. Matthew 5:14-16 says, Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. [16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. By context of application, the value of Light is best viewed in contradistinction to the darkness necessitating its existence. TRUTH: Everything GOOD by the standards of God is set on the premise of something that was not GOOD. R egarding the above, our TESTIMONIES prove to be most credible to others when the hearers cannot only LISTEN to what we have shared about the goodness of God but, when they can also SEE what requires us the courage to SHOW them what necessitated his goodness in relationship to ourselves. [2]
Psalm 32 exposes us to David s Testimony surrounding the blessings of the Lord bestowed upon his life which stemmed from the confession of his sin and the consolation of God s forgiveness. This psalm clearly qualifies as a psalm of Personal Penitence, Prayer and Thanksgiving resulting in Praise to God. The psalmist offers Praise to God for the voice of Wisdom filtered through a painful experience in his life that gave birth to a clear and consistent affirmation for the necessity of Saints living an open and honorable life before God and one another. This psalm offers a descriptive disclosure of David as one having experienced the chastening of the Lord for his decisions and subsequent deeds done in what he perceived to be in the dark. However, he would live to discover and affirm the words he wrote in Psalm 139:11-12 which say, If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. [12] Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. He would painfully come to grips with the reality that everything done under the blanket of darkness is fully exposed in the sight of our Omnipresent God. He has been confronted with unconfessed sin and convicted by the irreversible effects of his choices upon others and himself. He confesses his sin before a Holy God and is able to rejoice in the consolation of attaining the forgiveness of God for his sin. This psalm is likely the fruit of Psalm 51 where David s petition of God was to be forgiven and in Psalm 32, David offers God Praise for His Forgiveness and the lessons he lived to learn as the end result. In the opening verses, David goes on record to affirm the fruit of his petition for God to forgive him as a sinful man. Psalm 32:1-2 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. [2] Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. [3]
Favored and Favorable is the one who has escaped the wages of disobedience and utter rebellion, and whose immoral choices and subsequent conduct is conceived as being sealed and settled as a fully satisfied debt. Favored and Favorable is the one to whom the Lord does not lay guilt to his account for evil and wrongdoing, and in whose actions the Lord does not lay a charge. Describing his condition before his confession before receiving forgiveness, the psalmist affirms the unbearable effects resulting from his efforts to suppress the truth about his choices and conduct as opposed to properly disclosing and disposing his actions by the means of Confession. Some translators consider these verses to affirm that David s willful choice to conceal his sin became the cause of some form of a physical illness according to these verses. Psalm 32:3 4 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. [4] For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. As long as I failed to acknowledge and confess my sins, I was weak, feeling like my stomach was pressing up against my bones so that it appeared as though they were wasting away as I anguished in prayer throughout the entire day. During the day and throughout the night, it appeared as if the strength of your hands were crushing me from the inside out; no matter how consistent my hydrating efforts were, I was as dehydrated as a dry plant setting in the heat of the desert sun. [4]
The next verse affirms the fruit of his conviction to confess his sin, resulting in his confession accompanied by the blessings of relief and release. Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. I openly told the truth on myself and against myself to You, and I withheld no decision or deed from you. I convinced myself to openly disclose my sins right down to the very details of my guilt about my sins; and the Lord issued a pardon for the penalty of my sin. The next two verses expose us to the Counsel of David s Testimony to the Saints to repent of their sin. He affirms the consolation of confessing our sins to the Lord. Psalm 32:6 7 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. [7] Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. This is why every worshipper prays to you in the times of sin s discovery because it is here and at our greatest need that you will be found. During the turbulent times of distress, when calamities are imminent, they will not overwhelm those who have confessed their sins. The Lord is a Shelter, a Shield and Secures all those who trust Him with a song. [5]