Hebrews 8 - The Birth of a Testimony

In much of today's Christendom, a person is labeled as "born again" if they can agree with a few truths in Scripture and intellectually ascend to acknowledging the Gospel as being true. Thus armed with the understanding of something to be true, they are told they have been born again and "saved", yet seem to lack the experiential reality of Heaven's saving grace to be true in their lives. So what is missing? In short, the grace of God! All throughout the Old Testament, when a person came into contact with the presence of God, things happened, to say it mildly! People died, the dead were given life! Mouths of lions were shut, and graves were opened wide! Lives were completely changed when the presence of God entered the stage! So why would we think it would be any different for us today when the Spirit of God supposedly enters us, and we enter into being seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven? You see, it doesn't matter if your parents were saved, if you signed a card, sang in the choir, lived a "good" life, always went to Church, or even taught Sunday School...if you don't have a testimony of your heart truly being changed, and knowing the Spirit of God has come into you, then you have never encountered the presence of Jesus! If you don't have a testimony, you have already failed the test (2 Corinthians 13:5). I know, these statements can seem too direct and even "judgmental" in today's watered down, tolerant generation in which Truth is relative and not absolute, but this sermon is one that many can ill-afford to miss hearing because it very well could be the difference between life and death, Heaven and hell...