Dr. Sandy Toyne calls this message Lest We Forget, and its point is simple: in perilous times, go back to the Word of God and remember who you are and what you are here for. Drawing on 2 Timothy 3:15–17, she urges believers to read the New Testament again and again, and then tells the story of nearly seven decades in church, from her first Easter service at age four to the night God protected her when she tried to walk away.
Her testimony covers a hard childhood, a church that became a safe place, a long-sought baptism in the Holy Spirit and a first sermon that brought her father to the altar. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, every Scripture linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway, a timestamped outline and practical steps.
Sermon at a Glance
This message was shared at NTC Ministries and posted on August 29, 2023. It runs about 47 minutes. Dr. Sandy Toyne, who has spent 43 years in ministry with her husband, Pastor Dennis Toyne, opens by noting that Pastor Paul, “Doc” and the morning’s worship had all touched on her theme before she stood up. She took that as three confirmations that she was carrying the right message.
Most of the message is personal testimony, told with humor and honesty. Each story returns to the same thread: God was present and faithful at every stage, and believers must not forget what He has done or why He has placed them where they are.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Dr. Sandy Toyne |
| Series | Single message: Lest We Forget |
| Main text | 2 Timothy 3:15–17 |
| Key theme | Return to the Word and remember God’s faithfulness |
| Length | About 47 minutes |
Lest We Forget: Back to the Word
Dr. Toyne begins by describing how she studies. She wrote Romans 12 on index cards, and when she and her husband travel, she reads them over and over in the car. It is precious, she says, to know the Word of God, understand it and apply it to your life.
She then shares what she believes is personal instruction from the Lord, possibly for others too. He told her to get one translation and read the New Testament straight through, then get another translation and read it again. She has been doing that for a while because of the perilous times around us (2 Timothy 3:1), the strangest time she has seen in many years of church life.
Believers, she says, do not need to understand the political and media frenzy of the moment. They need to go back to the Word and find out what it says about perilous times and what God will do through them. It is not all about us; it is about God and His big plan, and you will not know that plan unless you get into the Word for yourself. She tells the congregation that they will find sound doctrine, the gifts in operation and the Word right in their own church.
After praying for the Holy Spirit to give her the right words, she reads 2 Timothy 3:15–17 from the Passion Translation. That version speaks of remembering what you were taught from childhood from the holy Scriptures, which are breathed out by God and will empower you, correct you and prepare you to fulfill any assignment God gives you. In the New King James, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Paul was writing to Timothy, his spiritual son, who had been taught by his grandmother and mother (2 Timothy 1:5). Dr. Toyne paraphrases Paul’s urgency: pay attention, Timothy, because false teachers are rising inside the church; what you have learned, do it. She loves the Old Testament and its life lessons, but for this season she is obeying the instruction to read the New. She wants to know the signs of the times, know the Lord’s instructions, and remember who she is.
A Safe Place in God’s House
Because the service had included testimonies and communion, Dr. Toyne goes back to her own beginnings. She keeps time by “years ago,” and the milestones she gives form a timeline of faithfulness:
| When she gives it | What happened |
|---|---|
| 69 years ago | First Easter service, at about age four, at Calvary Baptist Church |
| 68 years ago | Led in the sinner’s prayer at a Pentecostal altar beside her mother |
| 62 years ago | Her family moved to a strict Holiness church |
| 59 years ago | Brought five children from one family to church, and all were saved |
| 58 years ago | Baptized in the Holy Spirit on April 17, 1965 |
| 56 years ago | Preached her first sermon at 17; her father came to the altar |
| 52 years | Together with Mr. Toyne |
| 43 years | In ministry and pastoring |
At her first Easter service she wore a new dress, black patent leather shoes and a pretty hat, and walked straight to the front row. “Who would have known that I would spend the rest of my life in church? God did.” A year later her mother went to the altar at a Pentecostal church and brought her along. Sandy was hungry and whining, the pastor mistook it for conviction, and he led her in the sinner’s prayer. She still remembers repeating, “Dear God, I am a sinner, come into my heart.”
When her mother moved the family to a Holiness church, almost everything became a sin: movies, sports, baby showers and weddings. Hell was a familiar word, and she never thought she could make the grade. Five of her six brothers eventually left those rules behind.
Home was harder. She grew up as one of nine children in a home with alcohol. Her father had served as a sergeant in World War II, and she describes him waking from sleep with a frightening look, and her mother calmly saying, “It’s okay, Dad, these are your children and you are at home.” Later, as the oldest daughter, Sandy learned to say those words herself. She also watched three older brothers return from Vietnam and struggle down hard paths.
Yet that strict church was a safe place. People accepted her, and she knew she would be all right, because God was in the house, whatever the rules. The same is true here, she tells the congregation. A price has been paid for the presence they enjoy. It does not come because someone sings a song. It comes from laboring in the Word, in worship and praise, and from loving God and loving people. Some churches do not have it, she says, and she feels the Holy Spirit is interested in her every time she walks in.
Sandy Toyne and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
On April 17, 1965, Dr. Sandy Toyne received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4). The family was living in Fort Dodge, Iowa, when a youth group visited the church. They praised, worshiped and laid hands on the sick, and young people all around her received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She did not.
So she sat in the front row and pouted. Her pastor, Brother Sam, noticed and invited her to a spaghetti dinner. She crossed her arms and refused: she wanted the Holy Spirit. That night she went back determined. Faithful altar workers stayed with her. In those days, she explains, people tarried, praying and begging at the altar until they received. She is thankful that Pastor Dennis later taught her a better way.
On the floor she began to say a few words, something like “Nana Nini.” Her mother insisted she had not received anything: Nene was her sister’s name, and a brother just home from Germany kept saying something similar. But Sandy was sure. She went home, kept praying, and by morning had a full language. She fell in love with the Holy Spirit, and says there has not been a day since that she has not prayed in tongues.
Decades later, she and her husband taught on the Holy Spirit at a Bible college in Champaign, Illinois, for Congolese students. When she shared this testimony, students at the back began talking. They finally explained that the words she had spoken that first night meant, in their language, something like “look, look what God is doing,” as if someone were walking down a street with hands raised. She was in her early sixties before she learned what her first words meant.
For Such a Time as This
When she was a teenager, Dr. Toyne brought five children from one family to church. At the salvation call they all came forward crying and gave their hearts to the Lord. She did not understand the tears at first, then realized she needed to be renewed herself, and went to the altar asking God to renew His truth in her. Within ten years, one of those children died in a car accident and another disappeared. You never know, she says, what appointment someone has with the Lord when you bring them to church.
Too often, she says, believers come to church in their own little groups, thinking only about what they will do afterward, maybe a football game. We have to learn to include others and look beyond ourselves. You are in your neighborhood, workplace or school for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). She thanks the church for the outreach they had just done at the fair, but warns against letting it become so familiar that it turns into routine. Remember what you are here for.
Even when she cannot preach, she says, people must see Jesus in her actions, her love and her reaching out. Some think that if they cannot preach anymore they are no longer essential. She disagrees: “Oh yes I am,” because she can talk the talk and walk the walk, giving her family an example to follow.
Fifty-six years ago, she preached her first sermon. It lasted ten minutes, but her father walked down the aisle and gave his heart to the Lord. He had not been in church before. He still had things to work through, as we all do, but she calls it absolutely worth it. She also appreciates preaching on sanctification. Following Paul’s words to Timothy, she says that you are responsible for your own walk; do not blame the preacher. If churches were ever closed again, would you wait months before opening your Bible or talking with God?
The Night She Tried to Backslide
Dr. Toyne’s last story, she warns, is a weird one. As a teenager she dated a pastor’s son whose father hoped she would straighten him out. It was not her job to fix him, and he broke up with her, leaving her heartbroken because she thought God had said they would marry. She notes that he later became a born-again believer and preacher.
Around then, an older bachelor in the church announced he had dreamed that she would marry him and go with him as a missionary to Africa. She was sixteen. Her pastors refused his offer of a new Cadillac, and her mother, all four foot eleven of her, sent him away from the front yard. Years later he turned up on Valentine’s Day with a box of chocolates. She accepted it but told him never to give her anything again, then left it on the church table, where people recognized it and teased her mercilessly.
Furious with them, with him and with God, she wept on the floor of her room and decided to backslide. She was living at the YWCA on nine dollars a week, eating popcorn and drinking 7 Up. A college student with a car agreed to drive her to win back her old boyfriend. At twenty below zero, about twenty miles out of town, the car broke down. Some college men picked them up and took them to a dorm.
There, four young men handed her a shot of hard liquor. The moment it was in her hand, she says, the words came out: “I’m saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, I walk in the light of the Word and I’m called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” She handed the glass back. Stunned, they told her she needed to meet the man whose bed she was sitting on, and took her downstairs.
The next morning she was overflowing with the Holy Spirit in church. Afterward her pastor’s wife put a finger on her nose and told her not to let a certain young man get away. When Sandy went to speak to him, he asked, “Are you the girl that was sitting on my bed?” It was Mr. Toyne. They have now been together for 52 years. She marvels that God’s protecting hand was on her when she did not even think about the angels of the Lord around her (Psalm 34:7). God had a better plan, and He can bring you back from the side path you take.
Remembering What You Are Here For
Dr. Toyne closes by saying that we all lose track at times, thinking we are all right. Sometimes we need to take a step back, seek God again and go back to the Scriptures, because each of us is responsible for knowing what the Word says. Here are practical steps from her message:
- Read the New Testament through. Pick one translation and read it cover to cover, then do it again in another, as she has been doing.
- Carry Scripture with you. Write a chapter such as Romans 12 on index cards and read them in spare moments.
- Take responsibility for your walk. Do not wait for a preacher or a church service to open your Bible and talk with God.
- Look beyond your own group. Invite a neighbor, coworker or classmate to church, remembering you are there for such a time as this.
- Walk the walk. Let people see Jesus in your actions and love, especially your own family.
- Remember His faithfulness. Write down your own “years ago” milestones and thank God for each one.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 Romans 12 on index cards and the title, Lest We Forget
- 1:07 Three confirmations and learning to ride a bike
- 3:12 Reading the New Testament in perilous times
- 4:29 Sound doctrine in this church; opening prayer
- 5:39 2 Timothy 3:15-17 in the Passion Translation
- 7:08 Paul’s charge to Timothy
- 8:21 First Easter service, 69 years ago
- 9:43 The sinner’s prayer at a Pentecostal altar
- 11:09 Rules of a Holiness church
- 12:33 Growing up with a father home from war
- 13:48 Church as a safe place
- 15:12 The presence of the Holy Spirit here
- 16:44 Baptized in the Holy Spirit, April 1965
- 18:11 Pouting in the front row
- 20:23 Tarrying at the altar and “Nana Nini”
- 21:42 The Congolese students’ surprise
- 24:25 Bringing five children to salvation
- 26:52 For such a time as this
- 28:08 Talk the talk and walk the walk
- 29:26 Her first sermon and her father’s salvation
- 30:44 You are responsible for your own walk
- 33:21 An unwanted proposal and a box of chocolates
- 38:42 The plan to backslide
- 41:06 “I’m saved, filled with the Holy Ghost”
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Dr. Sandy Toyne focus on the New Testament right now?
She says it is personal instruction she received from the Lord: read the New Testament in one translation, then another, over and over. She still loves the Old Testament and has learned many life lessons from it. But in these perilous times she wants to know the signs of the times and the Lord’s instructions, and she believes the answers are found in the Word rather than in the news.
What does she mean by tarrying for the Holy Spirit?
In the church she grew up in, people seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit would stay at the altar praying and begging, sometimes for hours, until they received. She went through that process herself as a young girl in 1965. She says she is thankful that Pastor Dennis later taught her a better way, and that she has loved the Holy Spirit and prayed in tongues every day since.
Can someone who cannot preach still minister?
Yes. Dr. Toyne has been in seasons where she could not preach, and some people treat that as no longer being essential. She rejects that. When she cannot speak from a pulpit, people still see Jesus in her actions, her love and her reaching out. Walking the walk, not just talking the talk, gives others, especially your own children, an example to follow.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- 2 Timothy 3:15–17 — Scripture equips us for every good work
- 2 Timothy 3:1 — perilous times
- 2 Timothy 1:5 — faith taught by a grandmother and mother
- Romans 12 — the chapter she memorizes on index cards
- Acts 2:4 — speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance
- Esther 4:14 — for such a time as this
- Psalm 34:7 — the angel of the Lord encamps around us
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
Watch More Messages
If this testimony reminded you of God’s faithfulness, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep remembering what He has done.
