We believe that testimonies are powerful and that God can use our testimonies, to remind us of His faithfulness to us and a provocation to other people to trust Him afresh for things in their own lives.
It's really important to keep a record and share testimonies of the work that God has done in our lives. The Old Testament has many examples of God's people keeping a record and remembering what God has done, through His word and through the various feasts that they celebrated as a community. They also remembered things by placing piles of stones in particularly significant places or by changing the names of a location to commemorate what God had done there.
We want to continue to share the work that God is doing amongst us on a regular basis. Not only does it remind us of what God has done to invade and transform situations in our lives, it helps us to worship and praise Him. Testimonies also give Him glory and help us to remain thankful for the work He has done in our lives, rather than always focussing on the areas in our lives where we are still asking Him to move.
Not only that sharing a testimony releases the power of God to work afresh in our lives and in the lives of other people. Through sharing and particularly by hearing testimonies our faith can rise that God can replicate similar miraculous events in our own lives. When we share testimony it becomes like a 'seed' which can bear much fruit and we get the privilege of seeing a 'harvest' in other people's lives as well as our own!
With this in mind we spent some time sharing some stories about what God has been doing amongst us as a church family. You’ll hear from various people from across our church about things God has been speaking to them about or showing them through their situations.
We're so grateful to God for all that he has been doing amongst us. If you have a story you would like to share why not email us: info@jubilee.org.uk or call the church office: 01332 322655
Testimony #1 - Lucy
Hello, everyone. Good morning. 14 years ago, I went to university to study medicine, and on Thursday I got my final exam results that mean in August, I will be a GP! I just wanted to testify to God's goodness. You know, there were multiple times where I wanted to give up on that journey. There were multiple times where I thought actually this is too hard, this is too much for me, but every time I was reminded of God's promise that actually I've called you to this and this is what I want you to do. So, he has definitely carried me through and also just to testify to the to the power of prayer. I walked into my exam which was a 200 question exam, 200 questions in 3 hours and I have never felt peace like it ever, that morning I had wonderful friends praying for that peace and I wanted to say and remind you that God is good, he hears our prayers and he answers our prayers so thank you everyone!
Testimony #2 - Tim
We we've been talking about how amazing God is, right? We've been singing about how good he is and how he is able to heal. Even when we are really, really sick, sometimes we sing about these things, but actually sometimes we don't hear the stories about it.
I want to share with you a story about a little girl who's five years old and she's a friend of our family and she was really ill. One day she started to go a bit yellow, that means that that part of her body wasn't working very well, it means her liver wasn't working very well. She went to the hospital and the hospital couldn't work out what was going on with her. It was it was bad and it got to the point a few days later where she was so sick that they were thinking “we're going to have to take out, her liver. We have to do big, big surgery and take it out and see if we can find a healthy liver to put to replace it. It was really, really serious and they're friends of our family and the little girls grandmother said. “Can you pray?” So that's what we did! That's what we did, as a family. We lifted this, this wonderful little girl up, who's five years old and we just asked God, would you heal her, would you heal her? We've never met her before ok and we were saying, God, would you heal her now? It had got so bad that things were starting to go wrong in her brain, so she was starting to not be able to think correctly. I want to share with you a message that we got a few days after we started to pray for her. This is from her Nana and it says this “her levels have dropped, she can go home. Please, will you say a massive thank you from me to all your family (and she knew that people in our church were praying for her as well) who prayed for her? It seems like a miracle. She was so ill.”
It's a miracle, there was no like, like the Doctor said "We don't know, we don't know why she's got better, she was so ill we don't know why she's got better”. Even people who don't necessarily believe, knew that actually something miraculous has happened here. So I want to say thank you, if you were with us and our friends praying for her.
Isn't God good when the prayers of many rise up and? Wow, he brings healing and that he is so good isn’t He, let's let's give glory to God for how good he is!
Testimony #3 - Naomi
I’m just feeling challenged as I've asked other people for testimonies this morning that God is good all the time! It says this in Psalm 42 “Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taught me saying, where is this God of yours? My heart is breaking, as I remember how it used to be. I walked among the crowds of worshippers, leading a great procession to the House of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of great celebration. Why am I so discouraged? Why is my heart so sad, for I will put my hope in God, I will praise him again, my saviour and my God. Each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me and through each night, I'll sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.”
I want to acknowledge that. Maybe you don't have a testimony right now and actually, it's really hard to say that God is good! But can I tell you, God is good all the time, no matter what we're walking through, no matter what we've been through, no matter what we face in our walk, God is good. He is faithful and maybe it feels like right now you only have tears for food. Whatever it is you're going through, maybe you're asking God for healing, or you're just walking through something really difficult. “I will put my hope in God and I will praise him again, my saviour and my God.”
He is our living hope, He is good even when our prayers don't seem like they're being answered. He is good even when the (answers to our) prayers are a no. He is good when someone is healed, He is good when someone isn't healed. God is good and he is faithful and we can put our hope and our trust in him. He is the same God. He was, he is and he always will be. So, can I just pray for you, if that's you right now. I know that my testimony has involved grief and the hardship of that and I want to acknowledge that that might be yours too. Sometimes it's hard to say God is good, but I can testify that he is. So if that's you, you can lift your hands to God, you can stay where you are, you don't even have to move but I'm going to pray for you.
“God, we thank you for amazing testimonies of your goodness of your healing, and maybe this morning there are people in here, God, and you're going to heal them and we will rejoice with them when you do. God, I pray for those walking difficult paths right now, God be with them. Let them know that you are still good. May we lift our gaze to you this morning. God, may we look to you, for you are faithful God. You see the tears, you see the heartache, we give it all to you, Father, for you are good. Our hope and our trust we put in you.”
Testimony #4 - Martin
That testimony Tim brought about God healing and I've seen God healed people, but I've also experienced in my own life that there's times when God doesn't heal. I’m suffering from long COVID if you excuse me, I'm, I'm going to sit down, I’m so tired.
Last Sunday, fortunately, I was well enough to go to Doncaster to worship at the church where I was ministering in the early 2000s. When we got there, we were greeted by our old church secretary. She's 90 this summer, she's damaged down one side, nerve damage, so she can't use her right arm very well. Her left hand is crippled with her arthritis but she still went out and did Sunday school.
I thought, OK, Lord, I've got movement. I'm OK, we don't have much energy from time to time. Lord, I can serve you? On Thursdays, my wife and I will help out at Derby City missions, Community cafe and Food bank shop, and I have to meet on Thursday, I was struggling with long COVID more than I am now. We knew that they're going to be short of help. So say, OK Lord, I'll go and that morning's Bible readings with Mark six, I think I might be a day or two behind, actually, Tim.
It's where Jesus says to the disciples, it's my para-phrase. Come away with me and have a rest. And then you read on through Chapter 6 what happens? The disciples end up having to go and serve 5,000 people and if your arithmetic is any good, 12 disciples 5000 people? That's 400 people they served each, if they served them individually, they probably didn't.
I thought the disciples was to turn around and said to Jesus, that's a rest?! You gotta be kidding! Anyway, we went to Derby City mission we helped out with serving coffees and teas and baked beans on toast and stuff like that. I nearly got overwhelmed when I got 5 customers in a row but then it quieten down. We had a helper their a young Muslim lady. She got to asking about me about my life and so I told her what I'd done in the past and got talking about Jesus. She was surprised! We started talking about his love for us that it's not a religion. It's not about a set of rules and doctrine it's about a relationship with the living God. She was nearly moved to tears. There’s an 18 year old lad called Harry. He's taken a year out and he thought he'd look good on his CV if he did some volunteering work. He doesn't know Jesus but he makes the effort to come and talk to me and again, he wants us to know why I was there on Thursday, when I hardly got the energy to stand. I told him that Jesus suffered for me. I'm hardly suffering at all really. Jesus doesn't always heal us but we have the choice to continue to serve him. There’s times in actually serving him, we find a greater healing than if he physically heals us. If you're going through something this morning and you feel that God doesn't hear you, that God doesn't heal. He is with you and he'll give you the energy and the strength to serve him! Just look around and say Lord, where are you at work, where can I come and join you that you may be glorified. Because you see, that is what he created us for to worship him and to glorify him.
Testimony #5 - James
Look, we put it out there at the back end of the week that we want to do some testimonies and said please, who wants to share a testimony. You know, we had one at the beginning. Now just to testify how, how much they are important in our life as a church to encourage each other. Isn't it amazing that once we've had one, then another one comes forward and then another one, and like that encouragement really breeds like oh yeah, God has done this in my life and when we start to attribute that to God, don't we?
Testimony #6 - Fiona
We're talking about testimonies today, and I just, I don't actually like coming up here. I know I do it a lot for LoveDerby, but I don't, feel really uncomfortable. But you know, I really felt it would be wrong not to give glory to God for what he's done in our life as a family over these months. So many of you already know, but Rich and I got the keys to our own first home on January the 19th, and we've had a month in our rented house and we just moved into our new house on the 21st of February and I just really want to give glory to God because he provided the deposit. He opened the doors for us to get a mortgage with the Christian bank that gives mortgages to full-time Christian workers, which is what Rich and I are, so we don't have regular income. We can't go to a normal high street bank and get a mortgage because we don't have any income that they would recognise but we found out about a Christian bank that does. You know God's just opened the doors and just so, so faithful, you know, we still can't believe it!
We managed to find a home in Littleover just across the road from where we currently live, so nothing really has to change and you know, we just felt all the way, it's been a huge step of faith. There was massive work that needed to be done but do you know what, we just felt God saying this is the house that he has for us. So we just needed to keep moving forward, step by step, trusting him that He has it all under control. Even when it seems it's completely out of our control and God is just so faithful.
The one scripture, I just really want to quickly share that God really encouraged us with from the beginning was Peter walking on water, you know, Jesus didn't call Peter to walk on water on a nice calm, sunny day, which would have still been an amazing miracle. He called Peter to walk on water in the middle of the night in a raging storm when the circumstances couldn't have been any more difficult.
You know, we really felt like that with buying a house. I mean, what a daft time to try and get a mortgage and start to buy a house when there is a financial crisis. It's just raging all around us but do you know what, we just felt that encouragement, just to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and keep taking one step at a time, as he opens the doors. You know, don't focus on the storm around us, but just keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, keep moving forward and I just, I just want to stand here and give Him the glory for what He has done. It's nothing that we've earned or achieved in our own strength, it's doors that God has opened and I want to give him the glory and just encourage you that there really is nothing impossible with God, because if he can do this for us, there really is nothing impossible for him.