Berean Break
April 4, 2004 broadcast
Testimony of Wanda Shepherd
by George Sinkie
Good
Morning and welcome to this edition of the Berean Break. My
name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have taken this
opportunity to join with me in a study of Gods word. On
this program we use and promote the word of God as the only guide
that man should use in religion. While others strive to
take people away from the word of God and lead them by their
man-made creeds and catechisms, we proclaim the truth of God
by calling people to His word. Lets begin this morning
with a prayer,
Great Loving and Almighty God,
We thank You for this day. We thank You for Your word.
Help us accept the fact that it is Your complete revelation
to us. Help us to reject the man-made creeds and catechisms
that are so prevalent today. Great God, we thank You for
Your Son, Who died for us that we can be free. Help us
to know Your truth and obey Your truth, so we can have that freedom.
In Jesus Name, we pray!! AMEN !!
Paul
wrote to the church in Thessalonica the following words of encouragement,
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
6 For after all it is only
just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
7 and to give relief to
you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
8 dealing out retribution
to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 And these will pay the
penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of His power,
10
when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and
to be marveled at among all who have believed for our
testimony to you was believed.
The
idea of a testimony is important today, but we must remember
that our testimony has to be in harmony with the revealed will
of God. The testimony that Paul speaks of here was his
sharing of the will of God with them. In verse 8 Paul mentions
the gospel which was a dominate theme of
Pauls writings. Paul spoke of the gospel he preached
being the death, burial, and resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1 Now I make known to you,
brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you
received, in which also you stand,
2 by which also you are
saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless
you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you
as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried,
and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Here
in 2 Thessalonians 1 he speaks of the need to obey the gospel. How can a person obey
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? In Romans
6:3-4, Paul shows that we obey
the death, burial, and resurrection, by being immersed, that
is baptized into Christ. Read with me,
3 Or do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been
baptized into His death?
4 Therefore
we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order
that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of
the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
You
can read these passages for yourself and I believe that if you
are sincere you will understand them and obey the Lord.
Todays lesson is going to
deal with the idea of a testimony. As I mentioned our testimony
needs to be in harmony with the word of God. What this
means is that when we share something we need to show that it
is supported by the Scriptures. To show an example of this
I want to share with you a pamphlet that I received one time
in the mail and examine it just like I would any teaching.
Im
not sure why I received this mailing but perhaps others in the
community received it as well. It was a little booklet
called The Persuader and is put out by a denomination
in Calvert City, KY. The cover of this booklet reads, Victory
in Jesus, Testimony of Wanda Sheppard. Now if someone
was not careful and did not check out what this booklet taught
by the Scriptures, that person may fall for this scheme of Satan.
Most of the booklet deals with the religious searchings
of Wanda. Since I want to think positively of Wanda, I
believe that she was sincerely searching for God. Unfortunately,
rather than going to the word of God to learn how to be saved,
she listened to the teachings and doctrines of men. I would like
to share with you a little bit of what she says on page 16. Wanda
says,
Early in the morning on Friday,
May 1st, after wrestling all night, I moved from the couch to
my bed. I was laying there still praying and asking God
to help me when I heard in my heart the words Victory in
Jesus. At that moment, something inside me welled
up with a resounding YES! and the burden was lifted.
I immediately turned and looked at the clock and it was
6:07a.m. I thought to myself, I must have been asleep
and dreaming. I said, (not out loud, but in my heart)
Lord, did you really save me? Was that really you?
and I heard the words (in my heart) tis done, the
great transactions done. Well, this wasnt
what I had thought it would be at all.
Then Wanda says on page 19,
God came unexpectedly
to me. I did not have any idea He was going to save me
when He did.
Now
I do not doubt the sincerity of Wandas feeling that this
saved her, but these feelings are not based on the word of God.
Lets consider a biblical example of someone who spent
time praying and see what the Bible teaches that they had to
do to be saved. We have three inspired accounts of this
change from being lost to being saved. The first of these
is found in Acts 9:10-19
10 Now there was a certain
disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said
to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold,
here am I, Lord.
11
And the
Lord said to him, Arise
and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house
of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is
praying,
12
and he
has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his
hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.
13
But Ananias
answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man,
how much harm he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem;
14
and here
he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call
upon Thy name.
15
But the
Lord said to him, Go,
for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before
the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
16
for I
will show him how much he must suffer for My names sake.
17
And Ananias
departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on
him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to
you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that
you may regain your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18
And immediately
there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained
his sight, and he arose and was baptized;
19
and he
took food and was strengthened.
Verse
18 says that Saul, whom we know better as Paul, arose and was baptized. Did he have this feeling
well up inside. NO! Ananias, a disciple
of Jesus Christ, came to him and told him what to do if he wanted
to have his sins removed. As Paul tells this story of his
conversion, or as some would say, gives his testimony,
listen to what he says, in Acts 22:14-16
14 And he (referring
to Ananias) said, The God of our fathers has appointed
you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear
an utterance from His mouth.
15
For
you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen
and heard.
16
And
now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your
sins, calling on His name.
It
is plain to see from the inspired word of God that salvation
comes to a person when they are baptized, that is immersed in
water for the forgiveness of their sins. Those who maintain
that a person can be saved without baptism, must teach that a
person can be saved even when they have unforgiven sin in their
lives. Now this washing away of sins in baptism is not
a physical washing like when we throw the clothes in the washer
and they come out clean, but is a spiritual cleansing of our
souls by the blood of Christ.
Whose testimony will we receive,
that of Wanda Sheppard which is based on the teachings of men
or that of Paul the apostle, based on the inspiration
of God? If we will be sincere and honest with God, then
we will accept and follow the teachings of Paul and the other
inspired writers. When you hear a testimony from someone,
dont just accept it as being the will of God. Check
it out with the Scriptures. If you receive a booklet like,
Victory in Jesus, Testimony of Wanda Sheppard, I
encourage you to check it out with the Scriptures and then reject
it for what it is false teaching by Satan.
Just as I have encouraged you to
check out the testimony of Wanda Sheppard by the word of God,
I want you to check out what I have taught by the word of God.
I believe that if you are sincere and honest with the Word
of God you will see that I have taught you the truth. And,
if I have taught you to truth, then I want to encourage you to
obey the truth. |