You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
Join us.
Amen.
Good morning, everybody.
For those of you who may not remember, our senior pastor, Will, is in India, and he is
doing very well in India.
He actually is preaching this morning, and tomorrow he starts teaching in one of the
conference-type seminary places that we partner with, and then Wednesday he will be a youth
retreat speaker.
That should be interesting.
And he said he appreciates your prayers, and he's very thankful for this place, so I was
texting with him a little bit.
So just an update there.
He is there safely and doing really well.
And I'm privileged to get to lead us this morning.
I'm also privileged to have Skeets lead with me this morning.
Thank you, Skeets.
I love having our elders be a part of leading up here.
It's not easy to do, and I'm just really thankful to have y'all's voices in our lives,
and so we'll get to do that again next week as well.
But let me pray for us this morning before we jump into looking at God's Word together.
Father in heaven, thank you for this time.
Thank you for these wonderful people.
Every face in here is a life and a soul.
And this morning they're going through something, and you've brought them here for something.
May that be your spirit that ministers to me and to us together as we look at your Word
and consider the things that you say.
Thank you, Father.
It's in Jesus' name that I pray these things.
Amen.
So, some of y'all know this.
I play music, and I used to play a lot more than I do now.
And, like, there's this particular place in Birmingham called Work Play Theater,
and there was this guy there who ran the sound.
And his name is Davey, okay?
And Davey is one of the men who you meet and you are like, am I a man?
Okay?
Because he is so very manly man.
And when he talks, he talks like this!
And Davey is one of the scariest men that I ran into for quite some time.
And so I would show up to play these concerts, and I got to know Davey, and I would get sometimes
a little intimidated by him, but I kept, he was on my heart, like I wanted to talk to Davey.
I wanted to interact with Davey.
But he was cold.
He didn't really want to talk to me.
And most of the time he could be misinterpreted as kind of mean.
So it became the backdrop to every concert there that I would play at Work Play.
How am I going to talk to Davey?
And so I found myself, though, praying for Davey a lot.
I found myself wanting to encourage him and to listen to his story.
But I didn't really know what to do to get over that hump.
But what I found was I was longing for this doorway to bear witness.
I think that's what was really going on inside my heart.
If you think about that word witness.
Witness is a person who sees an event and they give evidence or proof of that event or that person or that thing.
Bearing witness, then, would be showing that something exists or is true.
It's giving a truthful testimony about what you've seen.
It's speaking honestly about something that is important to you for the purpose of showing that it does exist or that thing is true.
Now, there's a very popular TV show on right now that's about to enter into its fifth season.
And it follows the life of a lucrative estate businessman.
And he's purchased a large ranch in Utah.
It's a 500-acre site previously owned by the government and the site of purported paranormal and UFO-related activities.
Now, the series follows a team of scientists, investigators, and skeptics who have been brought to the ranch to investigate the reports by testing them scientifically.
And the latest investigation led them to a location on the ranch where they've witnessed time being manipulated and gravity not operating normally.
And they speculate that it could be a naturally occurring wormhole.
Okay?
They speculate.
But as they witness and they film these amazing phenomenon, they bear witness about them, providing evidence in an attempt to show that these things indeed exist and are true.
Now, I recently met some friends who worship at a different church in a completely different denomination than we are in.
And when we had them over for dinner, it was fun to hear how they were talking about what their church services are like.
And one of the really wonderful things that they mentioned that they do in each service is that they have a time where people are given opportunities to stand up and bear witness about what God has done and is doing in their lives.
Kind of what we do at the Thanksgiving service that Kelly mentioned.
And at our meal, when they were over at our house, they were doing that very thing as they told us about how God had delivered them from some really, really tough circumstances in their lives and how he's still at work in their family.
They were giving truthful testimony about what they've seen and experienced.
And so, as I was walking and praying about these scriptures today and thinking through this and praying through it, I started to notice these things around me that I had never noticed when I was walking before.
In a different way.
It's just interesting as I was praying about it.
So, at first, I looked up and I was like, wow, that's really heavenly.
That's really, really beautiful.
And these things, to me, as I looked, I started to notice them crying out, God, God, God.
There was this little anthill that was made from all of the leftovers from the, all these leftovers from the clippings from the grass that was cut.
And these little creatures that God created, they make a home.
Then I looked out and I saw this.
I didn't know what that was.
I got closer and it was that.
And if you get closer, it's that.
It's amazing.
And I'm like, God did that.
God created the thing that created that thing.
And it bears witness to God.
And then there was this beautiful bird.
I mean, that looks like something out of Jurassic Park.
But it's amazing.
And it was just this blue that even, that doesn't even capture it.
It's like a beautiful piece of art that I was looking at.
And then there's ducks.
Have you just thought about ducks?
They're like paddle boat animals.
Like if a paddle boat could have fur on, that's all they do.
And they sit there and they talk to each other.
But if you know what's going on underneath the surface there, it's amazing what ducks are.
And if you look today in our passage that we're going to look at briefly together, what we're really learning about is bearing witness.
Okay?
A witness that proclaims that Christ really is God.
Okay?
They're providing evidence, this passage today, to show that God exists and that God is true.
And so Jesus is going to tell us what he thinks about all that.
And in the verses just before these verses, we learn, remember last week, why the Jews are seeking to kill Jesus.
Because not only had he just healed a man at the pool at Bethesda on the Sabbath, which they said was sin, because it was work.
But he was also now calling God his own father.
And he was making himself equal with God.
And he was pointing to the authority that he himself has to give eternal life.
And then he also had just spoken about right before these verses, the day of judgment.
Okay?
Where all those who have died, everyone who died, he says, will be raised.
Okay?
But not all will be raised to eternal life.
There'll be a resurrection to death and eternal judgment.
And there'll be a resurrection to life.
So all of these precede this verse here.
So now he's going to continue and he's going to shift the focus to witness.
So let's start just by looking at the first five verses.
I can do nothing on my own.
As I hear, I judge.
And my judgment is just.
Because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.
There is another who bears witness about me.
And I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.
You sent to John and he is born witness to the truth.
Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
The first thing that Jesus does here, notice, is he refers to the Jewish law.
Okay.
Not only in the Hebrew culture, but in most every ancient culture, for something to be verified as true in court, there has to be more than one testament.
Okay.
Today you're going to see it in the court system.
What do we have in courts?
Witnesses, right?
Well, in the Jewish courts, if you claim that something was true and you don't have evidence to support it outside of your own testimony or other eyewitnesses, then it fails.
You had to have at least two eyewitnesses.
Okay.
So Jesus knew this and he's speaking their language to them.
Okay.
About himself though.
And he's using the standard of their law.
And he's saying, God has given you evidence, all the evidence that you need to back up the claim that I am God.
That I am who I say that I am.
That I am equal with God, the Father.
And what's the first evidence that he mentions in here?
Who's the first witness that he calls to the stand?
It's John the Baptist.
So witness number one there is John the Baptist.
And he tells us this, that John is a lamp.
So Jesus here is talking about himself.
If you're wondering who Jesus says he is, he's going to tell us in these next verses here.
He describes John first as a burning and a shining lamp.
And he even points to the fact that they believed the things that John said.
And they rejoiced in them for a while.
So Jesus is saying, hey, John was a lamp.
And that's the witness of John.
He was a human who devoted his life to shining a light.
Saying, repent and prepare the way for who?
Jesus.
Now, the handheld lamps of this time, they would have been an oil lamp.
And they only produced a very small amount of light.
Usually about as much as a candle or a big candle.
And though he was a lamp, he's saying he was not the light.
So think about that.
John is a lamp.
He's providing a small amount of light.
Jesus is going to come in and just, right?
Blow the whole thing up.
Turn all the lights on.
So though he was a lamp, he was not the light.
So Jesus then moves on to call another witness to the stand.
And do you know who he calls to the stand next?
It's in your bulletin.
God.
His works, miracles first.
And God the Father.
He's going to put these two together here, okay?
So saying this, and let's read these verses together.
The testimony that I have is greater than that of John.
For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing,
bear witness about me, Jesus, that the Father has sent me.
And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.
His voice you've never heard.
His form you've never seen.
And you do not have his word abiding in you.
For you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
Okay.
If John is a lamp, which he just told us, then Jesus now is the light, the real light.
And God is here.
And so Jesus here is pointing to his miracles first.
Okay.
If you need proof, look at what I'm doing.
And he's been performing them saying they give proof to the realities of the things that he's seen
and who he says he is.
They witness.
And the fact that he and the Father are one.
Remember right before this, the Jews tried to kill him.
And that's because he's bearing witness to these things.
And some people will say to you today, it does not say in the Bible anywhere that Jesus is God.
That is not true.
Okay.
That Jesus never claimed to be God.
That is not true.
You're seeing it right here.
But there's lots of accounts elsewhere where it's right in your face.
But how is Jesus the light?
There's two verses here to look at.
It's really a lot of verses in two slides.
Again, Jesus spoke to them saying,
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
So the Pharisees said to him,
You are bearing witness about yourself.
Your testimony is not true.
Now remember, this is the same thing Jesus has just been doing.
He knows the whole system there.
And Jesus answered,
Even if I do bear witness about myself,
my testimony is true.
For I know where I came from and where I'm going.
But you do not know where I come from or where I'm going.
You judge according to the flesh.
I judge no one.
Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true.
For it's not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
In your law, it's written that the testimony of two people is true.
I am the one who bears witness about myself.
And the Father who sent me bears witness about me.
Okay, this would have blown their minds, right?
He right now is saying, you do not get it.
I am God.
Okay, he's pointing to Yahweh as bearing witness about him as God.
This would be an astounding claim.
So the Father, you know, in the Trinity,
the Father God sends the Son.
The Son will accomplish the work of salvation,
who then goes back to heaven and sends us who?
God the Holy Spirit.
This is the Trinity.
They are all co-equal in power and glory, though.
Okay, we don't understand this great mystery,
but you see community from the very beginning of existence
in the Godhead.
And if you ever long for community, that's why.
God made you that way.
Community is a good thing, but because of sin,
it's also a very broken thing.
So it's hard.
It's not easy.
But that's why the church is so important.
That's why the church is so worthwhile.
And I don't just mean these walls.
I mean the people of God.
We're supposed to be restoring that brokenness in the world
and those relationships.
One single smile and hug and conversation at a time.
So he's going to send us, though.
He's going to talk about later in John sending us the Holy Spirit.
But we'll probably get to that in the year 3000 at the rate we're going.
So hang on.
So he tells us that nobody has ever heard the Father's voice.
No one has seen his form.
Okay?
Except for who?
What's assumed there?
Jesus.
Right?
He was there in the beginning when the earth had not been fully formed
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
This is also what I saw when I was walking.
That just, right?
Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And he says that they've never seen the Father except in Jesus.
Now, why not?
He says it's because they don't have his word abiding in them.
Skeets mentioned that earlier.
What does it mean to have the word abiding in us?
And Jesus is saying, if you don't believe me,
you don't believe the one who God has sent.
Then you don't know God.
I am God.
Okay?
Okay, John told you to look out for me.
And here I am doing the miracles, teaching you the truth,
about to die for you, and you don't believe me.
What does that mean to abide in Jesus?
Because we don't want to make that mistake.
I had this friend in high school, and I couldn't drive,
but he would always drive us around.
His name was John Mark Adrian.
And he always had the phrase, abide or don't ride.
And if you did anything outside of his rules in the car,
he would kick you out.
He was known to just drop you off on the side of the road and make you walk.
And most of it had to do with passing gas.
You could not do that in his car.
Okay?
And he would look at people, he would go,
abide or don't ride.
And he was serious.
Well, to abide in Jesus is to believe and to do exactly what he says,
and then to bear witness about that, to shine light, just like John did,
with our lives, to show him to be true,
to provide evidences to those around us in the relationships,
to bear witness about what he's doing in our lives,
to show God to be true.
John is a lamp.
Jesus is a light.
And as we learned earlier in the book,
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
And now, as Jesus is continuing,
he's going to call another witness to the stand.
And this is a big one.
Scripture.
You search the scriptures
because you think that in them you have eternal life.
And it's they that bear witness about me.
Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
I do not receive glory from people,
but I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
I've come in my Father's name,
and you don't receive me.
If another comes in his own name,
you will receive him.
How can you believe when you receive glory from one another
and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Okay, again, equating himself with God.
Don't miss that.
But this is really important.
Okay, and here's why.
Because Jesus is telling us that scripture is so very, very important
to bear witness about him that he's calling it to the witness stand.
Now, why is that different than the other two witnesses?
They're both meaningful and huge, right?
God himself, miracles, John the Baptist.
But we hold what he's talking about now.
You can look at it.
I can't look at John the Baptist right now.
I can't necessarily see all of Jesus' miracles that he talked about,
but I can read the word, and you can read the word.
That's something that's still with us right here and right now
that he's talking about right then and there.
It means that in this world of chaos, okay,
confusion, fake news, whatever you want to call it,
you have truth to guide you.
The things that it bears witness about and hear are true.
The life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and not only that, the fact that Jesus is coming back, it's all real.
And Jesus is saying all of this to the most educated Bible scholars of the day.
It would be the smartest people that you could talk to about scriptures
out of that time.
And I want you to think about this.
If the most educated Bible scholars of the day could spend so much time
studying and teaching the scriptures that talk about Jesus,
yet completely miss the point and the purpose,
what does that say for us today?
We can make the same mistake, okay?
It's very possible for you to worship Christianity and miss Jesus,
to worship the Bible and miss God himself.
I don't want you or me to make that mistake.
And we have an opportunity to look at our hearts today.
Here God himself is looking in the face of his creation,
and he's saying,
you care more about the glory of man than you do about me.
You use the scriptures that testify about me to your advantage.
You use God as a means to your end.
You twist them to make them say what you want,
and all the while, it's killing you.
Life is standing in front of your face,
and you want to kill it.
Scripture is more than just information, okay?
Scripture is about transformation.
It's how we hear the voice of God.
And if it doesn't transform you,
you should probably stop and ask yourself,
why?
Why does it not transform you?
There's something behind that.
There's something underneath it.
And it might be different for each of you.
Because it's God's inspired word.
It's the sword of the spirit.
And it's the only weapon that Jesus ever used,
if you think about it.
Remember when he was tempted by Satan?
What did Satan use to try to tempt Jesus?
He used the word of God, didn't he?
Mm-hmm.
And what did Jesus do?
He slayed him like a Jedi, right?
He just vanquished him with this.
Well, yeah, you're right.
Scripture says that.
But here's what else it says.
Slam, drop the mic.
Satan runs away, right?
The word made flesh wields those scriptures.
And as we learn in Ephesians,
it's the sword of the spirit.
So don't make the mistake of just getting so busy
that this is another thing you got to do,
that this is just information.
Satan knows this information better than you and I.
Okay?
But we've got to let these scriptures transform us.
This is back to what it means to abide in Jesus.
Right?
It means to abide in his word.
Abide or don't ride.
If we're not in the word
and we're wondering why God isn't at work in our lives
or we don't experience him,
that's where it starts, right there.
Okay?
Start there.
Are you abiding in his word?
It means that in everything,
everything we do,
everything we think about,
every problem we have,
we go back and we search the scriptures.
And then we let the scriptures search us.
And then we let the scriptures lead us.
And in faith,
we take steps to do the things that it says
in every facet of our lives.
And when we're done doing that,
then we do it again.
And the more we do that,
the more we start to conform to Christ
and his word and his principles
and the things that he commands us to do.
And we grow and we become transformed.
And that's all the work of the spirit inside us.
But apart from his word,
what are we listening to for his voice?
Okay?
And I just want to encourage you in that.
If you don't know where to start,
we've got a two-year Bible plan
where you can just read on an app every day.
But I'm going to tell you,
it's easy to get legalists about it
and still see it as information
and forget God.
But it's scripture transforming you.
Okay?
Disciples sit under the authority of their teacher.
In verse 44,
Jesus points out that they cared more about each other
than they did about God.
And when we care more about each other
and our lives and our busyness and everything,
the same thing happens to us.
Okay?
We miss Jesus.
So disciples sit under the authority of their teacher.
And we know our teacher's voice
through this book of his special revelation.
You ever thought about whether or not
you sit under the authority of scripture?
At least this morning you can.
You know who else sits under the authority of scripture?
Angels.
Okay?
Consider this verse from Galatians.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him
who called you in the grace of Christ
and are turning to a different gospel.
Not that there's another one,
but there are some who trouble you
and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
But even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel contrary
to the one we preached to you,
let him be accursed.
As we have said before,
so now I say again,
if anyone is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to the one you received,
let him be accursed.
For am I now seeking the approval of man
or of God?
Or am I trying to please man?
If I were still trying to please man,
I would not be a servant of Christ.
Angels sit in submission to scripture.
Can you think of any religion
that bases its context
and its principles upon what an angel said?
Anybody think of one?
Mormonism.
I think Jehovah's Witnesses,
can we throw that in there?
It's been a while.
And it preaches something contrary
to what the scriptures say.
This stuff is very real.
And then there's other things.
It could be,
you can worship TikTok.
Okay?
You can worship anything.
You can put anything in the central core
and receive that information
as the guiding principles of your life
more so than Christ.
But what sits in authority over you?
What is your foundation?
I just want you to consider that.
May our religious lives
not blind us from the God
that is in front of us
every day
and the opportunities
that he gives us to bear witness.
So we can listen to voices each day
as we read his word,
his voice,
and then ask,
would you search me?
Would you lead me?
Will you show me where I'm off?
Will you restore me?
So John is a lamp.
Jesus is the light.
Scripture teaches that Jesus is God.
And now Jesus calls his last witness
to the stand,
Moses.
Do not think that I will accuse you
to the Father.
There is one who accuses you,
Moses,
on whom you set your hope.
Again, man.
For if you believed Moses,
you would believe me,
for he wrote of me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?
Moses.
So,
he's telling us here
that Moses is a messenger.
Jesus ends this passage
by appealing to those words
that someone,
that the Jews claim to believe.
So he's using something
that they understand.
But again,
he's pointing out the blindness.
He says,
even Moses was writing about me.
And if you say you believe him
and you don't believe me,
you even really don't believe Moses.
You don't understand
what he was doing.
And he's pointing then later
to the day of judgment
where Moses' words
will be the ones
that condemn them.
Now,
what does that mean?
It means that
because they believe
Moses' words,
yet they chose to
not believe
that they were about Jesus,
that that will be
the very thing
that condemns them.
And it's the law,
remember,
that shows us our sin.
Okay?
But only through Jesus
can we be forgiven
of that sin.
So they're missing
that whole piece.
And this echoes
earlier verse in John 1.
John 1.17 says,
the law was given
through Moses,
but grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ.
So both are necessary,
but one is pointing
necessarily to the other.
So what is grace there?
What is grace?
What does it mean?
Think about this.
To be a people of grace
who experience
sin express it,
which you hear
a lot here.
I think it means this
in a nutshell,
in a very small
secular version
of saying this,
I guess I should say,
not a lot of God language
in this.
I can make mistakes
in front of you,
and you can make mistakes
in front of me,
and it's okay.
Why?
We'll get to the God language now.
Because while we are sinners,
Christ died for us.
He doesn't hold
our sin against us.
So why would I hold
any of your mistakes
against you?
That doesn't mean
we ignore them
or that we say
that they're healthy,
but if you've experienced
the grace of God
in your life
and you've really
been forgiven,
and you're holding
someone else
under your thumb
of condemnation,
you're not getting it.
You're missing the gospel,
and I'm missing the gospel.
Because we're supposed
to be people
of no condemnation.
To live a no condemnation life
means that that worst conversation
you're in right now,
even if it's an unhealthy relationship,
you don't have the right
to condemn them.
Because you don't have the right
to be uncondemned by God
except by His grace.
And we are to share
that grace with the world.
That doesn't mean
don't set boundaries.
I'm not saying
that every relationship
that you're in
that's toxic is a good one,
but if you can't forgive,
then we're missing something.
Because we're supposed
to be able to get to a place
where we can forgive.
Okay?
And we need help
to do it sometimes.
Perhaps what you're missing
is the help to get there
and the work
and the heart work.
But we're supposed
to live no condemnation lives,
and God's sending us now
on this redemption mission
in this great story of grace.
So to experience it
means we go live it.
Okay?
But the best part
of the story
is what's ahead.
Do you know
where you fit
in that story?
Because you today,
if you're here,
you're a part
of God's story of grace
that He's still writing.
And it doesn't have
to be flashy and big.
You don't have
to write the books.
You don't have
to have the big accolades.
God will use you
in the grocery store
if you let Him.
God will use you
at your house
or with your neighbor.
How is He calling you
to express grace
where you are
in the ordinary things of life?
Because that's where
He calls the most of us.
So John is a lamp.
Jesus is the light.
Scripture teaches us
that Jesus is God,
and Moses is a messenger
of that truth,
and we're supposed
to be messengers of it too.
Now here's why
it all matters.
Worship without witness
is not worship.
Worship,
when I say worship,
I don't mean singing
praise songs.
Okay?
I mean Romans 12.1.
Offer your bodies
as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God.
This is your spiritual
act of worship.
Have you done that?
Many of you have,
I'm sure.
Have you asked Him
to save you?
Have you asked Him
to forgive you of your sins
that He offered on the cross
when His blood was given
as a propitiation for you?
Have you accepted that gift?
If you have,
then you say,
I have been crucified
with Christ,
and it's no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.
Holy Spirit,
through me,
going into this world
and bearing witness now.
And you are set apart
as holy
if you are saved.
You're looking to His provision
instead of yours.
Okay?
His life
instead of yours.
No condemnation
in that sense
when you face judgment
one day.
Eternal judgment
will not fall upon you,
but eternal life.
Well,
then you're called
to go talk about the witnesses
and help other people
meet the King,
meet the great mediator.
Okay?
This is where we will find life.
And I'm not meaning
that all of you
have to become
street evangelists,
but do you stop
and look at people?
Do you listen?
Listen,
it's never too late
to turn your life around
from what you're worshiping.
A lot of times
as Christians,
y'all,
we worship God
in our words
and we miss
all of the people
walking around us
every day
who are these opportunities
to just love.
You can bear witness
about God
by saying,
how was your day?
And listening to Him.
Watch where that leads.
Okay?
Is bearing witness
about Jesus
a part of your life.
Worshiping God
without witness
equals consumer Christianity.
Okay?
If you are only coming
and consuming
of God's word
every single week
and doing nothing with it,
it's going to make you miserable.
It's going to make you irritable
and you're going to wonder
where God is.
I don't want you to be there
because we're designed
to be these lamps
shining in the darkness
transformed by the word of God.
Remember Jesus said,
you are salt and light.
You put a lamp on a stand.
We're like cities on a hill.
But if the salt has lost its taste,
what's it good for?
Nothing.
Except to be trampled underfoot
and thrown out.
So every day
God has a purpose for you
and you're going to find it.
I'm going to just encourage you.
When you start to bear witness,
provide evidence
of the things that he's done
in your life
to others,
you will see
a new side of God
and you will see
a new depth in your soul
that makes church itself
even different.
Let me ask you this.
Consider this.
How many sermons
have you heard
in your life
if you totaled it up
in hours?
What are you doing
with that information?
Because
you're supposed
to be doing something
with it.
We get a lot
of great food
at the church
every week.
Are you going
and sharing it
with anybody?
Because when you do,
you will find
something happens.
God becomes bigger.
But it starts
where you are.
Okay?
And what are we
bearing witness about?
that Jesus
is who he says he is.
That he offers
the true meaning
of life and existence
that we're searching for
and so many other things
and that he is the God
that we're all seeking.
The God who created
the universe.
We disobeyed him
and then brokenness
of sin
and death
and condemnation
entered the world
and that's the reason
why things are so
messed up today.
And death
holds us in fear.
And that's the reason
why we are so scared
to talk.
And we become
worshipers of self
and life
and pleasure
but God
sent his son
to undo the mess
and set things straight
to fix it all.
And Jesus
being crucified
for your sins
and having then
paid that penalty
of death
on our behalf
on the cross
as he said he would.
If we look to him
and we put all things
in submission to him
and we ask him
for forgiveness
from our sins
he promises
that we'll be raised
to eternal life.
You have that truth
to take
to the world
to bear light
in everything
that you do
because he took
that judgment already
you can go out
into the world
and you don't have
to create judgment.
And not only that
there's four chapters
of the gospel
it's not just
sin and redemption
there's creation
and restoration.
Creation,
fall,
redemption,
restoration.
Because he created
the world
he's going to
recreate it
but he's doing it
right now
through you.
So now that you
got your fire insurance
from hell
that's just
the two chapter gospel.
If you forget
the whole purpose
of what you do
with it
you miss it.
And Jesus
standing right there
in front of us
saying don't miss me.
Okay?
Don't read the scriptures
get your salvation
go home
and miss me
in the process.
Alright.
Now I've learned
a lot about
witness.
If you want
a practical
example of witness
has anyone met
Adriana Clark?
She loves peacocks
and if you are
around her
you know it.
Why?
Because they're
the most incredible
bird ever.
And if to be
a friend of Adriana
is to know
that she loves
peacocks
and I didn't
care about peacocks
until I met Adriana
now I love them
because she told me
how much she
loves peacocks.
Witness is
simply that.
People see
God at work
in our lives
we talk about it
and they eventually
start to ask
questions.
Are you doing
that?
Where do you
start?
Right?
How might
what you love
be a doorway
for that witness?
So think about
this metaphor.
If I wanted
to lose weight
and I never
exercised
it wouldn't be
a very effective
weight loss
program.
but weight
loss without
exercise
is not
weight loss.
In the same
way
if
you wanted
to lose
weight
I wouldn't
encourage you
to start
by running
a marathon
but rather
to start
small
with a walk
or a run
or just
to change
one little
habit each
day.
Over time
you would
see a
difference.
The same
is true
about bearing
witness.
It takes
time
it takes
intentionality
and you
got to
start
small.
Okay?
So here's
my encouragement
to you.
If you're
like I want
this to be
a part of
my life
and it's
not,
great.
Step one
is identifying.
This is not
a guilt trip.
I mean
this is me
with you
in this
learning this
together.
But Jesus
is bearing
witness about
himself not
just to say
oh now you
know who I
am.
It's to go
do something
with that.
Okay?
So start
here.
Pray.
Slow down.
Listen to
your breath
as you're
walking.
Remember
the breath
of Jesus
that he
breathed
upon his
disciples
when they
were scared
and afraid.
Imagine
he's standing
there with
his hand
on your
shoulder
and ask
God to
help you.
What do
you want
me to do
God?
Two,
listen.
Read his
word.
Listen to
what it
says.
While you're
doing that
throughout the
day,
start listening
to the
conversations
in your
own head
with yourself.
Okay?
What's he
letting you
hear?
And then
what are the
conversations
you're hearing
around you?
The voices
around you.
So pray
and listen.
Then look.
In the same
way that that
spider web
and that
anthill
and that
fog are
open doors
to see
God's glory
and nature,
what people
has he
placed in
your path
as open
doors to
bear witness
for you,
just where
you are?
Ask him
to show
you three
people.
That's just
a number
I'm picking.
It sounds
great.
It's
Trinitarian.
Three
people to
start
praying for
with the
intention to
shine the
love of God
to them.
Not the
intention that
they end up
in church.
We get
sideways.
Let's not
go there.
The intention
to do
nothing,
ask nothing
in return,
but bear
witness about
what God's
done in
your life.
Three
people.
If
everyone in
here just
had three
people that
they were
bearing
witness about
God in,
wow!
You know how many
people are
impacted in
Huntsville?
So pray,
listen,
look,
and then
speak last.
After you've
done all of
that,
repeat steps
one through
three a hundred
more times.
Listen,
look,
pray,
listen,
look,
pray,
listen,
look,
pray,
listen,
look.
Then consider
speaking and
opening your
mouth.
You don't have
to have all
the answers
to everything
to ask
somebody how
they're doing
and believe
it or not,
somebody is
tuned into
your frequency.
They just
need you to
start broadcasting.
Okay?
So every
time I tried
to interact
with Davey,
he was cold
and he didn't
want to talk
and he was
basically mean.
So it became
the backdrop
of all the
concerts that
I would play
in Birmingham
and I found
myself continuing
to pray for
him and wanting
to encourage
him,
but I
didn't know
what to do
until one
day I heard
him say
that he
liked cookies
and from
that day
forward for
about two
solid years,
every time
I played
a concert,
I would
take him
a cookie
and I
didn't say
anything.
I would
just walk
up to him
and give
him a
cookie
and then
walk away
and he'd
be like,
what did
you give
me this
cookie?
I said,
this is
a cookie
and I'd
just walk
off,
go play
the show.
Well,
at first he
thought it
was weird
and then he
started to
talk to me
and the
next thing
I knew
he would
invite me
to sit
with him
and I
would just
listen and
I would
usually just
talk about
a cookie
and then
he started
to talk
about his
life and
then I was
able to
talk about
Jesus.
Fast forward
to two years
ago,
I mean this
is like 15
or something
years,
I hadn't
seen the
guy,
I ran
into somebody
here that
knew him
and I
said,
hey,
would you
tell him,
would you
tell Davey,
I said,
hey,
and the
next time
they saw
him,
they said,
Davey wanted
me to tell
you,
when are you
going to
come back
here and
bring him
another
cookie?
We've got
more than
a cookie,
okay,
to give to
people.
So,
bear witness
about Jesus
and just watch
how it will
change it.
Let me pray
for us.
We've got a
Savior.
Lord Jesus,
thank you that
we can call
upon you
and that you
give us the
good news of
the gospel.
We're merely
beggars showing
other beggars
we're to find
bread.
I pray that
you would show
this congregation
where you're
calling them to
bear witness in
their lives,
not out of
shame or guilt,
but out of
joy,
and that your
spirit would
drive them to
see these
opportunities,
to bring these
to conversations
into their
grace groups
and into their
communities,
to bear witness
about where
they're hurting,
but also where
you're working.
Lord,
as you repair
this world,
one relationship
at a time,
we pray for
salvation for
so many that
don't know you
and restore
unto us the
joy of salvation
that we may
overflow.
And I can't
wait until we
get to come
back next week
and hear about
you then
feeding the
5,000 and
how you overflow
as well.
So thank you,
Lord Jesus.
We give all this
to you in worship
and we thank you
in Christ's name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us online
at
southwood.org.
O deferral,
visit us online
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meals,
visit us online
in worship
on meals,
from your
zorك Effective
my life
and
that's
timeless,
a place
in worship
and that
few gardens
underneath
or
a place
in worship
and with
your
bas
is
up again
of a
death