This sermon emphasizes the importance of being a testimony of mercy, highlighting the power of God's covering, empowerment, and joy in our lives. It encourages believers to embrace their divine calling, not based on their own works, but on God's purpose and grace. The message urges individuals to stir up the gift of God within them, to be unashamed of their faith, and to boldly share the mercy and grace they have received through Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy chapter 1, I'll be reading from verses 6 to 14. The topic is you are a testimony of mercy. Actually, you are an incredible testimony of mercy. Did you know that? Do you know that? Do you know that you are an incredible testimony of mercy? You may not feel that way, but hopefully you will by the time we get to the end of this. Now, Father, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for the strength, the power of God. Lord, I thank you that when you put your hand upon the passage of scripture, you make it come alive to our hearts. You take it off the page and it begins to live inside of us. And by the promises of God, we are changed from image to image and glory to glory by the Spirit of God within us. So help us, Lord, to see your word in its creative and recreative power this day. Help us to understand that though we may feel one way about ourselves, that may not be the testimony of heaven concerning our lives. Give us great grace to hear. Give me great grace to overshadow my frailty and speak through me, O God. And I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Second Timothy chapter one, beginning at verse six. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings of the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep what I've committed to him until that day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you've heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. Paul was saying, Timothy, the hand of God came on you. If you go to the verse, actually, before he starts, he says, I remember the tears. Remember the tears in your heart the day you realized that God loved you, the day you realized for yourself, yes, your mother and grandmother had faith, but the day you realized that their faith could become yours through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and God stirred you and gave you a gift. Did you know today that everyone who's here in this sanctuary, you're called with a unique and a divine calling of God to do something for his glory in this generation that you are uniquely called to do? Not only uniquely called, but you're enabled by God to do it. You're given that inner power of the life of Christ through his Holy Spirit to do the very thing he's called you to do. The only thing that can keep you from doing it is fear and unbelief, fear that God could use such or would use such a frail vessel as ourselves, and unbelief, tragically, that the God who created the universe with the word of his mouth could actually do such a thing in us, drawing back and somehow not believing that with God all things are possible except for you and me. That's the frailty of the human heart. Paul knew Timothy was a fearful young man, and it was a fearful time that they were living in, somewhat similar to our day. There was a deep hostility in the culture towards the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Paul saw very ominous days ahead of the church in which he was a part of at that time, and he knew that Timothy had this predisposition to fear, but he told Timothy, God hasn't given you a spirit of fear. He gave you power, and he put a love inside of you that will transcend all the fear that will come your way. The love that casts out fear, the beloved apostle John said in one of his epistles, and he gave you a sound mind, Timothy, to know these things are true, that you are uniquely called of God. You have something that God has prescribed through your life that will bring his name to glory, and so stir up that gift of God. If ever there was a time, my friend, to stir up that gift, it's now. If ever there was a time that you and I need to shake off everything that comes to weaken us, everything that's occupying our time that is of no profit to eternity, we need to shake these things off and stir that gift, and so the question is, how do I stir the gift of God within me? Do I read my Bible more? Do I pray more? Those are good things, and those are things we need to do, but here's one method that God showed through Paul, this young man, Timothy. In verse 8, he tells him, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. In other words, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You have the truth that stands above all other thought abiding within your life, so let the perishing of this world scoff, let them scorn, let them vilify, let them deride your message, but you stand between them and death, eternal death on Christ's behalf, and you are fighting for their eternal souls. You have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing whatsoever. You have found the meaning of life. You've found truth. You've found eternity. You've found redemption. You've found freedom from sin. You've found eternal purpose, and everything that hell has, it will throw at you through fallen humanity, through the frailty and thoughts even of your own heart to try to get you to convince that somehow you have something to be ashamed of. Sit down. Cower. Don't raise your voice. Don't stand for those because they're going to think you're foolish. A foolish world that's going to spend eternity in hell is going to think you are foolish because you stand and say, I've found the way to eternal life. I know who God is. He is transforming my heart. He's transforming my life day by day. I'm not yet what the fullness of what God's called me to be, but by God's grace, I'm not what I was yesterday. He is changing my life. Nothing to be ashamed of. And secondly, in verses nine and 10, he said, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to his own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before time began and now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior. Jesus Christ was abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. In other words, he has brought something into view that was formerly hidden. Your calling is holy. It's appointed and it's divinely enabled. And you stand as a testimony that death is abolished and eternal life has come into view. You and I, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. Jesus called us the light of the world. We are enabled to do what we do. And it's a holy calling. It's appointed by God before the world began. And we're not ashamed of that. And we're not going to take our light in this generation and hide it under a bushel. And we're not going to be quiet when our neighbors are dying in their sin and are facing eternal hell. And all that means when we have the hope, the truth and the enablement of God to do the very thing that God's called us to do to glorify his name in our time. And Paul says to Timothy in verse 13, hold fast the pattern of sound words, which you've heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. And that good thing, which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. You need nothing new, Timothy, only what God has given you. So don't run around looking for some new thing. You have everything you need. The fullness of Christ through his word, his Holy Spirit, the redemption he offers is already yours. That is your assignment. That is your mission. That is my mission on the earth. You don't need a new thing. You don't need to be searching for a new thing. It's all been given to you. This incredible testimony, and he will keep you until your work on earth is finished. Oh, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. He will. I'm not afraid of the arrow by day and the terror by night or vice versa. I'm not afraid of it because I am until God says, I'm not, I'm not in the hands of anybody but God. The Bible says he knew my day when I was born, when my, he knew the last beat of my heart. It was all pre-counted. It was all pre-calculated by God. I can't turn one hair black or white by worrying. There's nothing I can do except release myself into the hands of God. As Paul said to Timothy, I'm persuaded that that which I've given to him, he's able to keep until that day when he takes me home and deposits me at the throne of grace for all of eternity. I am until God says, I'm not. Let that be sewn so deep in your heart. You cannot be taken out of this world before the time. And if you are taken out, God appointed it for a specific reason. I don't need to understand everything in this life. I need to believe the one who's faithful to me. And so we stir up the gift by understanding not only who we are, but what we are. Do you know what you are to this world? You might know who you are. You're redeemed. You're cleansed. You have the spirit of God upon you. You have giftings of God to do something that glorifies him. You have a holy divine enabled calling. You have a testimony of grace and mercy, and that's much of who you are. But let me tell you now what you are to a fallen world. In the old Testament, the mercy of God was available, but the working of mercy was hidden behind a veil and remained a great mystery to most of the people. In the temple, there was a tabernacle, and there was implements in that tabernacle that represented the totality of God's provisions, covering his grace, his ability to bring life out of death. It was all inside that tabernacle. The words of God were there as well. Above the tabernacle, there was a mercy seat. And on that mercy seat, it prescribed times throughout the year. The high priest alone would go behind the veil, and he would cover that mercy seat in the blood of an innocent sacrifice, an animal that had to be sacrificed on the behalf of the people. It was God's remedy. It was the only way that sin could be covered and forgiven. And then the kind of glory, the glory of God would come down upon that mercy seat, and it would be such an incredible vision, but it was hidden from the people. They could only stand in the outer court with the fear of God upon them, because the scripture tells us clearly that if the high priest did not properly prepare himself before going behind that veil, if there was sin that was unatoned for, unrepented of, willful in his life, he would die in the presence of a holy God. And the people outside that veil were afraid, because if they knew if that veil somehow fell from its moorings, the presence of a holy God without the covering of the blood would cause them to immediately die in the presence of a holy God. Leviticus 16.2, it says, the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron, your brother, not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. You imagine, it's only at prescribed times, it's only one person covering the mercy seat with the blood of an innocent sacrifice, who could see the glory of God's mercy and his power working in beautiful operation together, but it was hidden from the masses, nobody could see it. It was, it was a something they would have to try to picture in their minds because there was no testimony of it, was all hidden behind a veil. And as wonderful as it was, the masses of the people could only hear the report, but they could not see this glory and mercy of God in operation. Hebrews chapter nine, verses seven to nine says, but into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit indicating that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to conscience. How wonderful it must've been. But can you imagine if you and I were in this temple and we're standing outside wondering what mercy looks like? What does mercy look like? We, we have this conceptual forgiveness. High priest comes out at his prescribed time and declares us forgiven and says, you have received mercy. But what does it look like? What does mercy look like? What is a vision of mercy? And it remained behind the veil. It remained hidden until the day that Jesus Christ as our high priest himself entered into that holy place, not with the blood. The writer of Hebrews says of calves and goats, which has to be repeated and repeated and repeated over and over again. No, he went in with his own blood. He placed that blood on the mercy seat and it was received as the covering for those who would trust in his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary as sufficient to pay the price for their sins. It would be a once and forever covering of mercy that would come into the hearts of those who would choose to believe in Jesus Christ. Christ himself as a high priest, Hebrews nine 11 of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands that is not made of this creation, not with the blood of ghosts and calves, but with his own blood, he entered into the most holy place once and for all having obtained eternal redemption by his own blood. Now, when he did this, when he went in, when he paid the price, the scripture tells us the veil that separated this incredible work of God's mercy from the general populace. This veil that allowed only one man at one prescribed time, generally once a year to go in behind and see this and have a visual declaration of this incredible mercy of God. When Jesus took his blood in behind the veil, figuratively speaking, and laid it on the mercy seat, God received it. The separation now between God and man was over. God could not dwell with people without them fearing dying in his presence because there was a covering of the blood. And when Jesus did this, the scripture tells us in Matthew 27 verse 50, Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Now we know what he did because the writer of Hebrews tells us he went in behind the veil. He put his blood. Now I'm speaking in figure and type on that mercy seat. And when he did this, it says, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earthquake, the rocks were split and graves were open. In other words, the mercy of God that had been hidden. The fullness of it was hidden from the day that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. But when Jesus went in behind the veil, that veil was torn. The rocks were split. Graves were open. In other words, the mercy of God came into public view with enough power to shake the earth and raise the dead. It's important for you and I to understand this. You say, well, how do I fit into all of this is by understanding not only who I am, but also what I am. I am, you are a visible demonstration to fallen mankind of that which was once hidden to them. You are the mercy seat. You are that place that is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. You are that place where that's your kind of glory of God rests upon you. You are demonstration now and type of that which was hidden behind the veil. Do you understand your life being brought out by God, your life appointed before the foundation of the world, your life called with a calling that is holy, that cannot be taken away. Nobody can stop you from what God's called you to do. You have been put into public view as an incredible testimony of mercy and grace. Did you ever wonder why in the Acts chapter two, when those 120 came up out of the upper room and into the public sphere, the 3000 people who had a belly full of religion most of their lives, but they had lived on the other side of the veil. Now they saw mercy. They saw power. They saw the glory of God. That's why you can't be quiet now. That's why you must never be hidden. I'm a type of the mercy seat and so are you. I'm not the mercy seat obviously, but I'm a type of the mercy seat. I'm covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm forgiven. The glory of God's spirit is upon me and in me and I live. I live. God's spirit is upon me and I live. If there was no covering, I would die the moment the Holy Spirit touched me, but because there is the covering of God's blood upon my life through his son, Jesus Christ, his Holy Spirit can live inside of me and because he lives there, I live too. Therefore, I'm unashamed of who I am. I'm unashamed of the Christ within me. I'm unashamed of this testimony that God himself has given me, this power of his endless life that he has chosen to plant within mine. I'm not living this Christian life behind a veil. I'm not going to be. That's why the scripture says, if your testimony is hidden, it's hidden from those that are lost. Running through this world, still looking for mercy, but still living on the wrong side of the veil. But oh, thank God that I am as you are holy. I'm appointed and divinely enabled. My testimony is not about me. If it was, nobody would want it. Trust me. My testimony is about mercy. That's the testimony of the Christian church. That's why you don't have to be perfect to open your mouth in this generation. Because people will point out your faults in the marketplace and in your family. Yeah, you lost your temper last Thursday and I saw what you did over there and I heard what you did over there. And you can say, yes, it's all true, but it's not about me. It's about mercy. Mercy has touched my life and I'm not ashamed of the mercy of God that has touched me. And I am divinely appointed by God to bring that mercy to you. A testimony of that mercy. Don't look at me, but look at the one who has covered me. Look at the one who has enabled me. Look at the one who has come inside my life. And as I said earlier, I am not yet what I ought to be, but I'm not what I was yesterday. And leaving those things behind, I'm pressing on to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You stir up the gift of God by not falling into the trap of thinking that I have to be walking in human perfection before I can open my mouth. You stir up the gift of God by coming back to the understanding that no weapon formed against me can prosper. And every tongue that rises against me in judgment, I have the right to condemn it because I have a righteousness that is not my own. It comes from God. The devil can't take my story. He can't take my song. He can't take the mercy from my life. He can't shut me up. He can't shut me down. Hallelujah. Because I am and you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I am not perfect. Neither are you, but I am covered. I am sincere in my faith in Jesus Christ. I am walking forward. I will never reach sinless perfection in myself on this side of eternity, but my sin is covered by the mercy of God. Thank God for that. I can make this claim because I'm a sincere Christian. You can make it if you're a sincere Christian. If you're a game player with the holiness of God, then God help you. But if you're sincere, see, that's the hallmark now of what I'm speaking. If you're a sincere believer in Jesus Christ, nothing can stop you from speaking this wonderful name, this wonderful mercy of stepping into the public sphere and saying, God, thank you for stirring the gift that you've given me. Thank you for bringing my life up from behind the veil. Thank you, almighty God, that as you did when that veil was rent from top to bottom, the first thing you did is split the rocks in two. You've given me power to tread on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy and everything that would try to stop me from fulfilling what I'm called to do. You've shown me there's no mountain the devil can place in front of me. There's no hardship he can bring my way that can stop me from the mission that God's given me is to get to that cemetery as quickly as possible and watch the dead in sin raised to life in Jesus Christ. That is the mercy. That is the mission of God in my life. I can go through hard places and so can you. I can shake the gates of hell and so can you. And I can see the dead raised to life in Christ and so can you. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Now listen to what he says, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's you and me. You are the light of the world. He abolished death and he brought life that he offers to all of humanity into view out from behind the veil through the gospel that he spoke, the words that he spoke, and the people that he raises from the dead called the church of Jesus Christ. You have a divine and appointed calling. You are an incredible testimony of mercy. So don't let the devil or anybody else stop you from speaking. You're not presenting yourself and if you are, you won't be presenting it for very long. You are presenting the one who covered you, the one who set his glory upon you, the one who made a choice to dwell with you and in you and through you, the one who has promised you eternal life in heaven with God, not by your works, but by his mercy. This Christmas, don't be quiet. This Christmas, be joyful in your workplace, be joyful in your neighborhood, and when people ask you for a reason for the hope, tell them, I'm an incredible testimony of mercy. I'm such a failed, flawed vessel, but yet God in his mercy has covered my sin when I trusted in his son. He's given me a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, a new song, new direction, new purpose, new vision, and when it's all said and done, eternity in heaven with him. That's why I have joy in my life. I'll close with this thought. I think a lot of evangelism is ineffective because we try to present ourselves as it's a testimony of perfection rather than a testimony of mercy. Of course, it doesn't work. It fails, and so when it fails, we feel we have nothing to say and the condemner is there condemning us, but if we could realize again, it's not about me doing everything right. It's not that, you know, don't let the devil quiet you because you yelled at your kids in the morning because they wouldn't get out of bed. It's a good thing not to do that, but until that happens, don't let him take your voice or get you feeling like you've got nothing to sing or say. It's all about mercy. You see, people are not looking. When I was a lost man and I met a Christian, I wasn't looking for perfection. I was looking for reality. If we present perfection in ourselves, people can't attain to it, so even if they find themselves marginally in agreement, they can't make the step because they say, I could never be like him or her. Why would I even try? A testimony of mercy requires humility. It requires the ability to say, you know, I'm not everything you see, and I have struggles like you do, and I got trials, and I get depressed, and I get mad, and you know, sometimes I do things I shouldn't do, but I want to talk to you about this incredible covering of mercy that has come on my life, and it's come on my life because I have believed in the sacrifice of God's Son on the cross for me, and I'm not playing games with God. I'm sincere in my faith in Jesus Christ, and he responded to my sincerity by giving me his Holy Spirit who has come into my life, and now he's changing me. He's changing me daily because he's a God of mercy. My life is a testimony of the mercy of God. Let that be your testimony. Let that be your song this Christmas time, and you watch how many people will want to come to the place where you worship, whether it's, I'm talking about both your prayer closet, the place where you serve God, or your church where you attend. If you will let that testimony be yours, you'd be amazed. You'd be absolutely amazed at how hungry people in this generation really are for the truth of Jesus Christ, and Father, I thank you, Lord, with all my heart today. I thank you with all my heart, God, for words, Lord, that bring life to us, Lord, give us purpose to live. I ask you to help all of us in this hour in which we are living to be a testimony deeper than anything we could have ever imagined in our own strength. Help us, Lord, to come out from behind the veil, to go into public view, and to endure hardship for the sake of seeing those who are dead in trespass and sin raised to life in Christ. Renew our sense of vision and mission as a people. Give us the grace to endure what we will have to, to see this accomplished. Give us a compassion that will allow us to be real before fallen humanity. God, I thank you for this. With all my heart, I do, Lord. I thank you in Jesus' name. I feel the Holy Spirit just asking me to give an altar call this morning for people who are, you just don't, you don't have any joy. You're listening to the news too much, for real. Get that fox off your vine. Say, God, I don't want to go through this season speaking about the things that people speak about in the world. I don't want my, I don't want to be so burdened down that my testimony is hidden. I want joy. God, would you give me joy? Would you give me a song, a smile, a handshake, a work ethic? Would you just give me joy? Give me joy. Remember the scripture says, whatever you ask for believing, you shall receive it. Give me joy, a renewed joy in how deeply your mercy has touched my life and that you're not looking for perfection in me as a person. You are perfection. You've covered me. You will change me, but you're not looking for perfection in me, only sincerity. Help me to be renewed. Stir up the gift of God that is in me. If you feel the Lord speaking to your heart, especially this season we're now living in, as the people of God, we have an opportunity to make such an incredible difference. We really do. People are afraid. They're down, discouraged. Families are breaking up. You and I just being a visible testimony of mercy have such an opportunity to make a difference. If that means something today, if you feel the Lord just trying to say, God, I'm just tired of all the negative speech coming out of my mouth. I'm just tired of just always looking at all the problems and not seeing the solution. I'm tired of just looking in the mirror and seeing all the flaws in my life and not seeing the covering. I'm tired of the devil taking away my song, my testimony. I've had it with this. This is Christmas. I'm going outside with the shepherds and I'm going to shout and sing with the angels. I don't care. I'm not ashamed of the testimony of Christ in my life. We're going to stand in just a moment. If that's the cry of your heart, I want to invite those in the main sanctuary, the balcony, go to either exit in the main sanctuary, just slip out and make your way to the front of the auditorium. We'll worship for 10 minutes, and then we'll just pray together and believe God that what we ask for, he'll give us. In the annex in North Jersey, if you could step between the screens and those that are online at home, just stand up in your living room. That's all you got to do, or just lift your hands and begin to rejoice in God because we are going to be a testimony of mercy in this generation. By the grace of God, we are in Jesus name. Let's stand together and you can come forward if the Lord draws you to do so. You know, when the prodigal son came home in the Bible is a story about a young man, took his inheritance and just went away. And he went so far down with his life that his father had given him that he ended up in a pig pen. And one day he got up and decided to come home. And he met his father on the road and his father covered him first, then gave him power, put a ring on his hand and put shoes on his feet, which represented, I want you son now to walk with me. And you're going to have a story to tell. Then they went into the father's house and he struck up the band and this boy is just standing there. And underneath this covering is still an awareness that he was living where pigs live, but it's covered now. And he has power to live a new life. Doesn't have to go back there anymore. He doesn't have to go back where he used to be because he has been given power to live a new life. See, sin loses its power when the covering of God comes on you and you don't have to go back and he's, he's given then shoes, which you are being given now to say, come with me, son. And we're going to talk about what you have experienced, the mercy, the power to change the ability to be different than what sin would have made you into. And then the father strikes up the band, which I love because it says it was music and dancing in the house when the older brother came and the boys just standing in the corner. And suddenly his father begins to dance and the boy sees something that changes his life. He sees this joy. It was the absolute joy in his father's heart to cover him. It was his father's joy to empower him. It was his father's joy to invite him on this journey. And the joy of the Lord becomes his strength. It's not your joy. It's his joy that becomes your strength. It's when you see that Bible says he rejoices over you with singing. We have such a hard time believing that because we feel so unworthy, but you see, it's a testimony of mercy. You watch what it will do in this generation. I'm going to pray for you. Then I want to sing one more song before we close. It's called, I believe, I think it's called, I believe anyway, as a second verse, it says, let the, let the dead be raised and let that whatever, whatever it says, but it says, I pray father in Jesus name for these men and women at this altar, the young people as well. And the old God almighty, would you help us to let you rejoice over us? Would you help us to become partakers of the truth of what you have done in our lives? Would you, would you help us to stop condemning ourselves? Lord, we're not playing games with you. We want to walk with you. We want to live a changed life. And so we thank you Lord, that on this journey, the singing never stops. You're rejoicing over us. Never stops. We are a testimony of mercy, incredible mercy. And therefore our song can't be taken away. We get a whiff of the old nature coming out from under the covering, but yet it's still covered. And so God, we thank you for this Lord. We thank you God for joy. This Christmas, it can't be taken away. We will not walk the streets mourning. We will not bring sorrow into our homes. We will not be cowered into a corner. We will lift our voices and the joy of our savior will become our strength. God, we thank you for that.