Outline
A. Theme of Hope and Anticipation B. Understanding God's Wisdom (1 Corinthians 2) C. The Mystery of Salvation and the Indwelling Spirit D. Heavenly Anticipation and Perseverance E. Spiritual Senses Over Physical Senses F. The Importance of Loving God G. Tangible Blessings for Those Who Love God H. Living with Spiritual Anticipation I. The Role of the Holy Spirit ​Transcription 1 Corinthians 2. You know, we always talk about the hope that a believer has. And part of that hope is anticipating what brings about that hope, to look forward to it. We'll use Will here for an example. I hope he doesn't mind. He's hoped that he'd get a house. Now he's got one. Now he's anticipating what it's gonna be like to live there, and so we look forward to this. And as we look at this Scripture, we find out in verse nine that God has prepared for us things for those that love him. And we should be in anticipation of what God has for us, not just heaven, but here on earth too. So hope's a wonderful thing, And he's made preparations for select group of people, and we'll get to that in a moment. So are you anticipating what the Lord has for you? We should wake up every morning wondering, what does the Lord have for me today? Instead of waking up and going, "Oh, man. I gotta go to doctor again, or I gotta go to work, or I gotta do this, or I gotta do that." No. Anticipate, look forward to what God is going to do and how he's gonna work in each of those situations because that will make our life so much better. In verse six and seven, the scripture says: 1 Cor 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: First of all, in verse 6 when it says we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, that means not perfect as having no faults. Although, if you've had your sins forgiven, your spirit has no faults. 1 John tells us that once you've been born again, once your spirit is renewed, it cannot sin. So your spirit is sinless and will remain that way. The flesh, on the other hand, we got problems with that sometimes. But if we let the Spirit work with our spirit, we can slowly get over those. But we can be perfect. It also means mature, spiritually mature, where you really do wake up every morning thinking, what does God have for me today? How is God gonna use me? Or sometimes we even have to work on that anticipation we have with going to heaven. When you wake up in the morning and, for some older people (I'm just getting this way really bad), you wake up, every joint creaks. You know? You sound like the cereal, snap, crackle, and pop. But on the other hand, we can anticipate, how's God going to use me today? And when thing get really bad when you just say, "Well, one day, I won't wake up with snap, crack, and pop. I'll wake up standing in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ." And that keeps us going. Why? Because our sins have been forgiven. Spiritually speaking, we're perfect. But he also wants us to be perfect as being mature, to learn more and more about the Lord, to follow in his path more and more every day. He tells us that this knowledge, though, has been, v. 7, a mystery that God came in the flesh and then died for our sins. That God has allowed his Spirit to dwell within us. Now in the Old Testament, if you read it, it will talk a lot about the Spirit coming upon somebody. But it also talks about if they do some wrong things, the Spirit leaves them. Saul, the first king of Israel, was that way. The Spirit was on him till he sinned against God, decided to take the priests' job away from him. What happened? God took his Spirit away, and then he felt terrible. But in the New Testament, the mystery is when you get saved, born again, trust the Lord as your Savior, the Spirit doesn't come upon you. The Spirit dwells within you and never leaves no matter how bad you are. That's why sometimes we grieve the Spirit or quench the Spirit, but he's always there. Literally, you have God dwelling within you now. That should give us some hope, some anticipation of knowing that God will watch over us. But it's been hidden in a mystery, it's been ordained since the world began. Can you imagine that? Since God created the world, he had a plan for his creation to be with him for eternity. And then Satan messed it up by tempting Eve. Then Adam bought into the lie, and sin's been in the world ever since. But God's plan has always been that his creation, mankind, should be with him in eternity in literally a Garden of Eden experience. You know, Adam and Eve, in the beginning, they walked and talked with God. Sin entered in, and there was a separation between mankind and God. But when we trust Jesus and that Spirit comes to dwell within us, now we can walk and talk with God again. That's why it tells us, "Don't be drunk with wine, which is excess, but be" what? "Filled with the Spirit." That doesn't mean you have to keep asking the Spirit come in you. That means let the spirit control you. It's been a mystery all through the ages, but God revealed it to us in the church age. Wow. We can anticipate great things knowing God dwells within us. So we also have realized in verse 9 that this anticipation is not based on our human senses. Notice: 1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Over the ages, people have tried to see God. And in order to make that sight even more, they build images of their gods so they can look at this image and go, I see my god. But that's not God. God even specifically told the the Jews, do not build any images of me. Why? Because God is a Spirit and he must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. No images at all, but some had done that. Ear has not heard. People tried to listen to people that would convince them that they're worshiping the true god and have been driven in a wrong way. It tells us that we can hear, but we have to have a spiritual hearing. We can see, we have to have a spiritual sight. Even in Revelation, the seven churches, for each of them, after he talked about what they did wrong, what they did right, for the first letters, it's sometimes at the beginning, some at the end. But he always says basically the same thing. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." That tells us that we can have hearing, but it must be spiritual hearing. Not just human hearing, spiritual hearing. We also can't rely on our hearts. When it says here, neither have entered into the heart of man. In other words, what people have tried to gain with knowledge and with experiences to try to get closer to God, the old thing, just let your heart guide you. That's good worldly philosophy, but what's the Scripture say? Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?10 I the LORD search the heart ... We can't follow our heart based on worldly wisdom. We have to follow our heart when it's been spiritually renewed and Spirit filled. Proverbs 28:26. Listen to this. Prov 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. So you can't just say, well, I'm gonna follow my heart. No. You have to follow God because your heart is desperately wicked. Follow your heart means you're a fool. Anybody in here wanna be a fool? Nah, I didn't think so. We can't rely on the physical, but we can rejoice that since God is a Spirit, we can truly know God. We can know his plan. We can know his guidance. We can know God. So who's this anticipation? It was revealed to certain people. Notice. God had prepared for them who? "That love him". You know, Jesus, when he was on earth, they asked him what's the greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Mark adds, "and with all thy strength". (Mark 12:30) Loving God. Now there's a lot of people that say they love God, but they don't know him as Savior. So this has to mean more than just caring for God. A lot of people do that. I believe what it means is trusting God with all that you are. All you married folks, you know what I mean. Your husband, your wife, they'll say, "This is what I wanna do" and you're kinda doubtful that it's gonna work. But then they say, "If you love me, just trust me." And that's what God's saying. "If you love me, just trust me." Really it's backwards. "Since you've trusted me, then love me." The first church in the seven churches, what was their sin? They left their first love. They stopped remembering all that God had done for them. So God wants us to realize how important it is to love him, and that's why Jesus, what did he say was his commandment to his new followers? Love one another. Why? Because when we love one another, that shows our love for God. Do you love one another? If you love God, you should. That doesn't mean love their sin. That doesn't mean love their bad behavior sometimes. That just means love them as a person. God loved the world. And what did he do because he loved the world? He was willing to let his Son die for it. And I know there's a lot of people that, "Yeah. As a Christian, I gotta love them, but I don't like what they're doing." But on the other hand, if they came to me with a need and I could supply that need, I would help anyway I could. That's love. And so when you love God, he says, I prepared some things for you, but you gotta love God. I looked up that word just those that love God. There are several verses that start to give us some of the "things". That's why it says here, you know, the "things" God has prepared. Little side note I had a college professor who used to say never use the word things in a message. Do you have the same one? And so people would always come up with Bible verses that had the word things in it. We're a cantankerous group. But some of the things that God loves us. Think, for example, Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. When you look out at the world, you look out at America, you just wanna shake your head and go, "Lord. What is wrong with this?" But if you love God, you have to realize all things are gonna work together for good. It tells us. All things work together for good to them that love him, to them who are the called according to his purpose. The called are the believers. You're called for a purpose, but when you love him, you realize all things are gonna work together for good. We don't know what it is all the time. But we know God's prepared you so that you understand no matter what happens in your life, you can just say, "Lord, I'm anticipating something great to come out of this. I don't know what is happening, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to work out in my life or show me all things work together for good to them that love God." Do you love God enough to realize that, to understand that, to believe that - that things are going to work out? But when we start worrying about them, contemplate on them, sometimes we miss the good that's working out. Just love God. In James 1:12: 12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. What are some of the things that God's prepared for us? A crown of life. And that crown comes with some temptations. Overcome them through the power of God. You endure temptation or, really, trials. You go through different things in your life. When, I joined the navy, the guy talked me into going to nuclear power program. That was just so he could get me enlisted for six years instead of four. I got sent to nuclear power school. Now nuclear power school can best be described this way. When Hyman Rickover, the father of nuclear navy, wanted to develop a program, he asked a bunch of college professors, "This is what I want them to learn. How long will it take?" All of them agreed, the college professors, it'd take two years. Rickover said that's too long. I want the same knowledge, I want you to figure out a way to teach the same knowledge in six months. So when I got to Nuke PowerSchool, I was overwhelmed. But one of the things that kept me going was this: there have been people dumber than me going through this program and passed, and if they can do it, I can do it. And that's what we have to understand. When we look at things going on in life and we endure trials, we can say there have been people weaker than me that made it through these. There have been people with more problems than I have made it through these. I'm just gonna love God and realize he's gonna take me through these trials. I'm gonna learn a lesson. I'm gonna get a crown of life. Why? Because I love him, and he's promised it to me. You can make it through anything when you make it with God. You can go any path God leads you on as long as you don't walk away from God until you're on the same path. You can endure any trial, any temptation, because God is with you. And then we got heaven. In James 2:5. James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? You love God? You've trusted God? You're heir to a kingdom of God. That ought ought to keep you keep you going straight. You know, there's a lot of people that live their life waiting for some relative to die because they know they're gonna get some riches. Well, believer - live your life knowing that the riches God has planned for you, what he has prepared for you, is much greater than anything the world can offer. He has promised for those that love him to be heirs of the kingdom of God, to be part of the kingdom of God, to be in heaven. And, literally, if you studied Revelation, we're not gonna live in heaven forever. Where we are gonna live is a new Jerusalem on the new earth forever with Jesus at the center. Heaven's just a starting point, but you gotta love God. You gotta trust him. And those that have loved him, God's prepared something for you. God's prepared a way to get through trials and promised you the crown of life. God has prepared a way for you to understand all things work together for good. God's prepared a way for you to be heirs of the kingdom of God, to walk with all of these saints we read about in the Bible. Do you ever think about that? When you get to heaven, if you could talk to one or two Bible characters, who'd you talk to? I'm not talking ... Jesus is is a given. But who else you wanna talk? You wanna talk to Moses? Paul? Noah? Noah, how'd you get all them animals on the boat? You know? How'd you take care of them for all of that time? Boy, talk about cleaning up after them? Joseph, what made you trust God so much even when you were in prison? That's a whole lot of people. But you'll be there long enough you can talk to all of them. Every single one. Why? Because for those that love God, God has promised it. And that's why we can anticipate no matter what happens in our life, God has promised us for those that love him, promised us that things will be working out for good, promised us that we'll make it through trials, promised us that we'll be heirs of the kingdom of God. But how do we get through today? Because we let the Spirit. How do we know about all these things? Verse 10 (1 Cor 2:10). God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit. Once again, that Spirit that dwells within you. The Spirit. You say, well, how does the Spirit ... First off, the Spirit can reveal him to you just through prayer. How often do you pray to God for guidance? For direction, for comfort, for peace, for joy, for whatever? Sometimes, have you ever felt like you wanna pray about something, but you just can't put it into words. That's where the Spirit comes in handy. Hope I'm not being blasphemous by saying come in handy. This is where the Spirit can work in your life. Romans 8:26-27. Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So when you are walking with the Spirit and you start to pray, even when you're stumbling over your words, the Spirit knows what your heart is because he dwells within you. The Spirit can take your message to God. The Spirit gets the message from God and delivers it to you, to calm you, to let you feel his joy, to let you feel his peace. Pray, and the Spirit will help you to understand. Understand what? Understand what's going on around you. Sometimes we put too much concern in what's going on around us because we got heaven to look forward to. But we know what we should be doing by the word of God, and the Spirit will help us to understand His word. Isn't it great the way that works out? John 16:13. Here's what Jesus said. John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. It's the Spirit of truth. And what is truth? Jesus said "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17) So when you let the Spirit, which God's given you as a believer, work through you as you're reading his word and as you're praying, all these things that God has prepared for you will slowly come to light, and then you can be anticipating. "Lord, what kind of good are you gonna work in my life today? I can't wait to see how you're gonna work. Lord, I can't wait to put on that crown of life. Gotta go through today, though, so that's a little bit of hope, knowing it's coming. Lord, what do you got to show me in your word?" So if the truth is in the Word, let me ask you. How often should you be reading his Word? I guess that depends on how much truth you want to help you through the day. You say, well, I haven't read the Bible very much. Well, there's different methods people use. Some people say to get started, read Proverbs. Most months have thirty or thirty one days. There's thirty one books in Proverbs. So every day you read a proverb, you know, today's what, the fourth. So today you read Proverbs 4. Let's say you get lazy and skip a couple of days and suddenly it's Wednesday, which is the 7th. So you go, okay. I'll just read Proverbs 7 today. Some people say read the book of John, which is a good book about God, Christ. But as I've said before, that can be a little deep for some people, so read 1 John. 1 John's the Reader's Digest version of John, and you'll learn so much about God. But the thing is, start reading and ask the Spirit as you're reading. "Help me to understand." Just like the Spirit can interpret your prayers, the Spirit can interpret the word of God for you. And then you will learn to love him more and more. You will learn to, want to anticipate all that God has prepared for you and make every day so much better because we'll be looking up instead of looking around. We're gonna do the Lord's supper in just a few minutes. But before we do this, let's finish this message. So first of all, are you a believer? Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? If you have, your sins are forgiven. If you have, God has prepared some things for you, just for you. I said before, they're prepared for those that meet the qualifications. What are the qualifications? You're born again, and you must try to show your love for God by trusting him. And if you do, are you living a life of anticipation? Instead of worrying about your problems or worrying about what you have to do or worrying about this or being concerned about that, instead - have a little anticipation of, "Okay, God. I can't wait to see how you're gonna work in this one." And at the end, you'll be praising him. Why do I say praising? Finish up. 1 Cor 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory ... Well, that word glory means 'worship' or 'praise'. God has prepared all of these things so that we can worship and praise him. Let's bow our heads. First of all, we need to thank God for our salvation. Jesus Christ did a lot so that we could have forgiveness of sins. And because we have forgiveness of sins, he now tells us that we just need to continue to trust him, to love him, and to look for the things that he's prepared to us, the Holy Spirit will show them us .. show them to us, each and every one. It takes us making the decision to let God work in our life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father. Lord, we thank you for your your Word. We thank you, Lord, that you teach us that even though many of these things were mysteries to those who came before us, before Christ, now Lord they've been revealed. Now Lord we know what's been prepared for us to those that love him. We know Lord that you, when we love you, everything will work together for good. When we love you, we'll have a crown of life even though we may be tried. When we love you, we can look forward to the joys of heaven. We know, Lord, that we can make it through today, though, with guidance from your Spirit to show us the truth, to show us the way. Help us, Lord, to rely on your Spirit for all things. Help us, Lord, to be in anticipation of all that you have for us and all that you wanna do in our lives. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Transcription
Outline: I. Introduction II. Believers who are Witnesses Need to be Humble III. Believers who are Witnesses Need to Stay Focused IV. Believers who are Witnesses have Faults V. Believers who are Witnesses Rely on the Holy Spirit VI. Believers who are Witnesses have a Purpose VII. Conclusion VIII. Concluding Prayer I. Introduction 1 Corinthians chapter two. Paul's basically in these first five verses of chapter two showing us his testimony among the church at Corinth. And from that, we're going to see what our testimony should be amongst those that we live among or live with. Mostly this is dealing with our testimony as a witness of Jesus Christ - to see what really our focus should be, what our purpose should be. And, I know we've covered some of this. That's one of the problems sometimes of going through books. If the writer repeats himself a lot, sometimes we have to be careful we don't repeat the messages a lot. In chapter one (1 Corinthians), he repeats a lot about God's wisdom, world's wisdom. Why is that? Because he wants to make the point. It's important to know the difference. And so here, Paul is showing as an example and we need also as believers to be witnesses to those around us. So we're just gonna go one verse at a time and I think each verse will teach us a different attribute of our lives generally as Christians, but also as as witnesses for Jesus, the first one notice. 1 Co2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. II. Believers who are Witnesses Need to be Humble The first thing we need to be as a believer who is a witness, who testifies, we need to be humble. We need to be humble. Notice also he says "when I came to you." Oftentimes what we need to understand, if you say, 'Hey I've got the gospel', people are not going to be knocking down your door to come listen to it. Many times we have to go to them. That's what Jesus did. He went to people and then after a while, he gathered a crowd. I had this thought this morning as Peter's going through the book of Mark. He always had a crowd when Jesus put on a show. When they thought he was gonna heal a bunch of people or do some miracles, you know, something really special, he always had a crowd. But when he got to the point where he said, "Okay, now you're gonna have to suffer with me", everybody left. We see that in in religious groups and Christian groups. People will gather for a show, but they won't gather if there seems to be some way they're gonna have to suffer for their faith. So as a witness, we need to be humble. He didn't use fancy words. He says, "I came not with excellency of speech or wisdom." Years ago, I was visiting my mom's church. My brother and sister go there too. And the youth pastor who graduated recently from Bible college was asked to give the message that day. And so he wanted to show off his knowledge. And I still remember mainly, I don't remember what he said, but I remember throughout the message - I'm sitting next to my sister and it seemed like every other sentence she's giving me the little elbow and saying, "What's that mean? What's that mean?" Because he was using all his Bible college terms and people didn't understand what he was talking about. We have to be very careful when we're talking to people about Jesus Christ, if you have any amount of Bible knowledge, don't flaunt it, I guess is the word. I mean, there are some people, if you're witnessing to people in academia or something like that, they may know these terminologies. But for most normal people, these big words, nobody understands what you're saying. And, so we have to be very careful and not use excellency. That means, also have an air of superiority. We use a big word and somebody goes, "What's that mean?" You go, "What do you mean you don't know what that means?" That's not being humble, that's being proud. And so when we come in and when we talk to people, we need to be humble. Humble in our speech. Use words that they will understand. Not just spreading the gospel, but really anything about Jesus Christ. God's word is simple if we just take the time. Now theologians throughout the ages have added big names to all the beliefs we have. You don't need those big names as long as you understand the concepts. So don't use Christianized words lots of times. Don't use fancy words. Don't use 'excellency of wisdom', thinking you know more than the other person, that's not being humble again. That's being proud. We're to be humble. Some people try to use the fancy words. They try to tickle the ears with words that really - they may not be fancy, but they're words that try to pique somebody's interest. Paul ran into this when he wrote to the Romans in Romans 16:18. He says (meaning the, false preachers): Rom 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. So just because somebody has a good speech, is it a biblical speech? Just because somebody talks to you in a way that sounds good, does it match up with what God teaches. So preach. Speak humbly, not with fancy words. Not with your own wisdom. Instead, what is it? We declare the testimony of God. You know what the testimony of God is? I'll give you another word for it. It's called gospel. Very simple. What? Jesus Christ died on the cross, shed his blood, was buried, and rose the third day. He did all of that so that he took the punishment, the sacrifice for our sins and we have to trust him by faith. So we don't need our own wisdom. We just need God's testimony. So be humble. It's a good idea even in your normal life. No matter what job or position you have, just be humble. Just because you know a lot, you don't have to tell everybody. III. Believers who are Witnesses Need to Stay Focused Second one, verse two. He says: 1Co 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. A good gospel witness, a good believer that testifies is a witness that is focused. When you're talking to someone about Jesus, talk to him about Jesus. And they will try to veer you off. I remember, years ago when I worked in the foundry, I would talk to a couple guys that wanted to talk about the Bible. And sometimes it was real hard to get back to Jesus. They'd say, you know, where's the ark of the covenant today? Well, I don't know, but I know a better way, you know. And you have to be focused when you're witnessing to somebody because what you want them to know is Jesus Christ. You want them to know Jesus Christ. That was the goal of Paul. He knew that he knew Jesus. He wanted everybody to know Jesus. And that means know him not academically, but intimately. Not the historical Jesus. Many people know the historical Jesus. You can read books, you know, the Greek historian Josephus. By the way, Josephus is one name. It's not a guy named Joe with the last name Cephas. It's Josephus. And I say that because I was probably in my thirties before I realized that. I heard a lot of preachers say it and all of a sudden went, wait, that's just one word. He was a historian. He tells about the historical Jesus. Some people look at the Bible, it's just a history lesson about this guy named Jesus. But we don't have to know him just academically. We need to know him intimately. Know who he is. He wants to be not just your savior but your friend. And as a friend, he gave his life for you. And so get to know him. Get to know his righteousness. Get to know the new life you have through him. Get to know that he loves you. Get to know that he understands you. And so you can let people know that Jesus wants to be their Savior. Jesus wants to get to know them. You're saying, well, doesn't God already know me? Yeah, but he wants to get to know you on a personal basis. That's why we say, we trust him as our personal savior. He's not just a Savior. He's not just God who came in the form of man. He can be our personal savior. And so we need to be focused to get people to know Jesus and him crucified. That's a hard one. People want to know the Jesus that teaches them how to live a good life, you know, the "what would Jesus do." But they don't want the Jesus that suffered on the cross. Deep down we know that Jesus taught we're to take up our cross daily. And if you start accepting Jesus as being crucified, you realize that when we trust Him, we are crucified in Him also. And He wants us to live a crucified life. But that's who Jesus is. When we're talking to people about Jesus, we need to give them the full gospel. Oh, you need to trust Jesus because he'll teach you how to live a good life. Yeah, he'll do that, but just knowing how to live a good life won't get you to heaven. Oh, you need to trust Jesus because he loves you. Yeah, you can love him back too, but that won't get you to heaven either. You need to trust Jesus for what he did for you, that he was crucified, and we need to let people understand that. You say, well, how can I do that? Wasn't that what you believed? That's why we're witness. We just share what we know. And we're focused when we talk to unbelievers. And I know sometimes it's gonna be hard. We gather with crowds. We wanna talk about everything else. Right? We wanna talk about sports. We wanna talk about music. We wanna talk about TV shows and things like that. But if you're there to witness to him, talk about Jesus. And not in a way in which, you know, what's the old term that we used to say? We used to beat people over the head with the Bible. No. Not that way. But in a way that you share the relationship you have with Christ with others because you want them to have the same relationship. I remember the last time we were at the nursing home, I told everybody there. I said, you know, a lot of people had family and friends and things. I told them, I said, I would love for you to come to my church. But I would love it even more if I'd see you in heaven. So often we stop at, and I'm probably one of the worst offenders of this. We stop at, why don't you come to church with me and fail to tell him about Jesus. Now if you only got a few minutes sometimes that's all you can do. I understand that. But just inviting them to church will not get them to heaven. It will get them closer because they're gonna hear the gospel when they get here. But Paul said, I'm focused. What I want to know about you guys is that you know Jesus Christ and him crucified. We can have a new life, a crucified life through Jesus Christ because when we realize Jesus was crucified, we understand that we're crucified in him. Amen? Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. When Christ was crucified and we accept him, we're crucified with him. All of our sins are gone because when we're crucified, we die to sin. Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. We teach Jesus and him crucified so people can get saved, but also to remind us - that's how we're to live our life too. Just like Christ did. IV. Believers who are Witnesses have Faults 1 Co 2:3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. There's something we have to understand. A witness has faults. Just because you're born again, blood bought believer, does not mean you don't have problems. And many times we use those problems, those faults to keep us from sharing the good news with other people. But Paul says here, I came to you first of all in weakness. We know Paul had weaknesses. He had frailties of his body. In Galatians 4:13, he says, Gal 4:13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. Gal 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. We can't let infirmities of our bodies, sicknesses, health issues, keep us from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ when we have the opportunity. It's okay to have faults. It's okay. As long as that doesn't stop you from doing what we're here to do. We just need to be like Paul when he said in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Remember he had that thorn in the flesh? He prayed. God said, "Sure. I'll heal you." No. He said, "You want healed? No." But he said I got something better for you. 2 Corinthians 12:9: 2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. It's okay to be weak. It's okay to have infirmities as long as you let God's grace carry you and God's grace allow you to continue to share his gospel with other people. But notice also he says, "and in fear and much trembling". It's okay to have a little fear as long as you don't let it stop you. You know, that's what a hero is. A hero is somebody who doesn't let fear stop them. On a battlefield, there are those that turn and run in the midst of fear and the enemy, and there are those that go on and keep fighting. We call the ones that keep fighting heroes. Oh, they weren't afraid. Oh, they were just as afraid, but they didn't let that stop them. So it's okay to have a little fear as long as you realize you don't really need those because of Jesus Christ. You're going out into, sometimes if you've never witnessed a lot into areas you may not be comfortable with, but that's okay. Because the word of God says, "greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world." (1 John 4:4) Over and over when the disciples ran into problems and they got scared, what's the first thing Jesus always said to them? Fear not. Fear not. So it's okay to start with a little fear as long as you don't let that stop you. As long as you realize Jesus can help you overcome that fear. You believe that? Amen. Good. So witness has faults but they don't let that stop them. They may have these fears from without. Paul had everybody and his brother after him in his life, but he didn't let that stop him. Sometimes we have fears from within. I'm not good enough. I don't know enough. Maybe they're gonna start laughing at me. These could give fears. And they're all real fears, but don't let that stop you. The grace of God will allow you to overcome those fears to do what we're here to do. To preach Christ and him crucified. V. Believers who are Witnesses Rely on the Holy Spirit 1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: A witness relies on the Holy Spirit. We're not to walk in the flesh, we're to do what? Walk in the Spirit. We're to be filled with the Spirit, not to be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit. And I'm not talking about the Pentecostal running around falling down. I'm talking about letting the Holy Spirit of God which dwells within you have free reign with your life. You're saying, well, I'm not sure what to say. If you let the Spirit guide you, He will give you the words to say. Well, I don't I know a lot of Scripture. Well, first of all, learn more. But as you learn it, you're saying, well, "I have trouble remembering." I'm at the top of that class. I have trouble remembering too. I remember when I went to my ordination, they said, "Do you have anything to say before we start asking you questions?" In ordination council they ask you all these Bible questions. And I said, "Yeah I have one thing to say." They go, what's that? I said, "I know a lot of Bible verses. I can back up all my doctrine, but I have trouble remembering the addresses, where they're located. So if that's okay with you, we can continue because I really have trouble remembering where the verses are." I remember them. I can quote them. But where are they located? I mean, except for maybe John 3:16, I'm at a loss. That's why I write them down. But the Holy Spirit will bring the verses to me. He'll bring these verses to you. Jesus told his disciples in John 14:26: John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. So as you learn the word of God, you get it here. The Holy Spirit will access that when you need it if you let the Holy Spirit guide you. I'm sure everybody in here has probably had a testimony. You know, suddenly you face the situation, you need a verse, and all of a sudden you just pop there and you go, where'd that come from? Well, that came from the Holy Spirit saying, "Hey, I just accessed your memory banks. And it was way back there. Had a little dust on. I had to clean it off, but here it is. This is what you need." That's why we need to let our lives rely on the guidance of the spirit in all things. Relying for the power to witness. He says he didn't preach with enticing words. He didn't try to convince people with well crafted sermons. He just told people what the Holy Spirit guided them to teach from the Word of God. This is what Christ taught me, and now I'm teaching it to you. Not that hard. Just the facts. You say, "Well, what if they ask me a question and I don't know the answer to it?" Be honest and say, "I don't know the answer, but I'll look it up." Don't try to make it up. Because you know what the 50-50-90 rule is? Given a fifty fifty chance, ninety percent of the time you'll be wrong. It's the same way trying to make up things about what God thinks. It's either this or that. And if you're trying to guess, you'll probably be wrong. Just say "I'll look it up". Or "we can look it up together". Just the facts from the Word of God. Finally, verse five. VI. Believers who are Witnesses have a Purpose 1Co 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. As a witness, we have a purpose. And this purpose is that we build up people's faith so that they stand in the power of God. Not in the wisdom of men. Unfortunately, many, many preachers throughout the ages are self-help messages. "This is what you got to do to make yourself better in this area." And they never mention Jesus Christ. They never make sure those people that they're talking to know Jesus Christ. Because, honestly, you cannot live a godly life unless you know Jesus. You're not a Christian unless you know Jesus. You can't serve God the way God wants you to unless you know Jesus and him crucified. That's what he wants us to do. Not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The knowledge that we impart upon others so that they'll trust Christ shouldn't just be head knowledge. It has to move down to be heart knowledge. A lot of people know about Jesus, but they don't know Jesus. And I know sometimes you talk to somebody, "Oh, I know Jesus." Make sure that they know about Jesus. But more importantly that they know who he is in their life. And the heart, you know, not just head knowledge, that's the wisdom of man, but we need to have heart knowledge. The heart is the center of our spiritual life. You know we always sometimes say, you know, "You got to ask Jesus in your heart". Some people go, "Well that's dumb. Because that heart just that organ in your body." No. The heart symbolizes the spiritual center of your life. And there are verses that even talk about that. In Acts 16:14: Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. Her head, she knew God. But her heart had to be open to receive Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4 & 6: 2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them 2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. People don't just need head knowledge, they need heart knowledge. You know, one pastor said once the difference between an unbeliever and a believer is about twelve inches, between the heart knowledge and the head knowledge. So we have to have purpose to make sure that their faith is not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge. They know Christ and him crucified. That their faith through God's power will bring change in their lives. That's how we know. You're saying, "Oh, we got to be fruit inspectors." That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying if somebody truly trusts Christ and has their life changed, at first there will be a change in their life. They will want to be different because that Holy Spirit really, to be blunt, the Holy Spirit hasn't had a chance for you to grieve it yet. So, the Holy Spirit wants to work in your life until the world takes over if you're not careful. There will be a change in people's lives because he says that when you trust Christ, you're a new creature. "Behold, all things are passed away. All things become new." And so we need to help people. We understand that some people are still caught in their old sins, and they need to be learned. I think I told you this before. Years ago, I was still in the Navy and I was out door knocking with my pastor. We came upon this lady. We actually knocked on the wrong door because we're visiting people who'd asked us to come. We knocked on the wrong door. And this woman was a drinker. So she had a sit down. He explained the gospel. She accepted Jesus Christ. She was so excited that her sins would be forgiven. She offered all of us a drink. And some people think that's strange but that's what she knew, how to celebrate. She wanted to celebrate, so pastor had to tell her, no, that's not really how Christian celebrates. But we have to understand that. That there will be a change in people's lives. And our purpose is to see lives changed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. VII. Conclusion So as we finish up, let me ask you. First of all, are you a believer? Have you accepted Christ as your Savior? If those trumpets sounded now, my prayer as a Pastor, would the room be empty? I'll tell you what, I'm not sticking around to find out. But if you are, you're called to be a witness. That's why God left us here. Because we can worship in heaven. We can learn his word in heaven. All good things to do on earth, but we can't witness to unbelievers. So if you're going to be a witness, be the best. Be humble. Be focused. Realize you can have weaknesses, don't let that stop you. Be Spirit led and have a purpose. To see people know Jesus and then start living in that new life. Let's bow our heads. Just for a moment. Let me ask you. Are you the kind of witness you need to be? Do sometimes you get a little scared to witness, do you sometimes just don't think about it? Let the Holy Spirit guide you. The Lord's coming soon. And there's a lot of people that don't know Jesus that need to. So help us be focused. Help us to be on track doing what God wants us to. Taking the opportunity we can. Sometimes it's we get to talk. Sometimes all we can do is leave a tract. But share Jesus. I don't know how the Lord spoke to your heart today. Maybe he's encouraging you to be a better witness. Maybe he's encouraging with somebody that he put on your mind that you need to go talk to. Whatever it is, let's go to the Lord now and pray. VIII. Concluding Prayer Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for your word and what it teaches us. We thank you Lord that Paul has shown us what a witness should be. That as we go to people and share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we do it with the right attitude, Lord. We do it not out of duty, but out of concern for their souls. Help us, Lord, to be better witnesses. Help us, Lord, to be humble and focused, to be Spirit led. Help us, Lord, to have purpose in each and every one of our days. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.
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