Witness | Luke 24:36-49

Well, I'm I'm on the pastors here is so good to have you guys this morning. We are actually now finishing up our Spiritual Disciplines series that we have been looking at over the course of this summer, and so I'm excited for what's next.

Eventually, actually, by way of announcement, we're going to get into the book of Ephesians. But before we get there, we're going to do a little pre-work over the next few weeks. So that's exciting. We'll explain more about that next week. But today we get to wrap up this idea of living like Jesus and spiritual disciplines that we need to have in order to live more like Jesus.

A few years ago, I a few years ago, I woke up one morning and I just wasn't feeling quite right. There was a little bit of an ache in my stomach and I didn't know what it was. I assumed it was something that I ate or whatever, and like the rest of the day, just kept getting worse and worse and worse.

By the time that I went to bed that night, like I couldn't sleep at all, I was tossing and turning. I was just in so much pain. My wife was like, do you need to go to the doctor? And me being a man, I was like, no, I don't need to go to the doctor. It's just a stomach ache.

I'll be fine. And I woke up the next day and at that point I was feeling even worse and I was like, I'm going to tough it out. So I went to work. I could barely stand up at that point, but I was just going to grit it out. My wife was like, you need to go to the doctor.

I was like, no, I don't need to go to the doctor. And so I went to bed. I couldn't sleep again. The next day I went to the doctor, right. And and she's a little bit wiser than me when it comes to all this up. I'll be honest, leading up into that point, as I was just really an intense pain, some of the things that was I was saying, some of the way that I was acting, the way that I was responding to my kids, was not the way that I should have been responding, but there was something inside of me that was like it felt like it was going to kill me.

And and so, like, it was really hard to be a Christ like in that moment. Right. But I went to the urgent care the next day, on the third day, finally. And I went there and I started sitting in the waiting room, and I was just waiting, and I was waiting. And the weirdest thing started to happen. As I was sitting in urgent care waiting for the doctor, I started to feel a little bit better.

Like it went from like eight pain level 8 to 9 down to like 7 or 8. I'm not going to say 6 or 7, but like it was, it just started going down a little bit and a little bit, which was interesting. And by the time that I got to the waiting room, I was able to honestly tell the doctor was like, I've been in like horrible pain in my stomach, but like, it is actually getting better.

But he's like, it might be appendicitis. So let's go ahead and get you the casket and do all that. And so then I had to go from one doctor's office down the street to another doctor's office, get the Cat scan, then go home. This whole while I started to feel better, though, it was very interesting like the rest of the day.

Like I was just getting a little bit better, a little bit better, and I was like, you know what? I'm sure this is nothing. I'm going to go home. I'm going to feel fine. Like I'm already starting to feel a lot better. And then I get the call from the doctor and he's like, hey, you have a penis.

Itis get to the hospital right now so it doesn't explode. I was like, are you kidding me? Lord? Like, but but like I'm feeling better, so I so I drive over to the hospital, I get in and they're like, I checked in and they're like, what are you here for? The doctor says, I have a penis itis. I need to get taken out there.

Like, you don't look like you're in that much pain. I'm like, I'm not. I'm actually I'm like, I'm feeling pretty good. And so I was supposed to have surgery that night, but they realized that I wasn't in a lot of pain. So they were like, we're just going to do this tomorrow. And I was like, all right, so.

So then I had to spend the night in the hospital. The rest of the night, I started to feel better and started to feel better. By the time that I woke up the next morning, I was feeling perfectly fine, like I was getting up. I was walking around, I was showing off and from the nurses I was doing some squats even.

And then I realized you shouldn't do squats in a hospital gown. And yeah, like I was, I was feeling good. So much so that by the time that the doctor walked in, it kept going, delayed and delayed and delayed. The doctor finally walked in around 3:00 that afternoon. I just wanted to go home. I was just sitting in a chair.

He walks in. He's like, all right, so what's going on with you? I was like, I don't know. And he's like, it looks like you're supposed to have appendicitis. And I was like, yeah, that's what they tell me. And he's like, I like your energy. And I was like, I would call it something else, you know, because I've had 100 plus people that were praying for me behind the scenes.

But then in that moment, he said, he's like, I've never met somebody that was supposed to have surgery that was as happy as you. Well, how could I not? Because I felt good in that moment. See, there was a radical shift based on what was going on inside of me by what I was displaying now. And so that everybody walked in.

Everybody could see that. No, actually, inside of me, I was feeling pretty good. And eventually the doctor was like, well, I'm not going to operate on you if you actually are feeling better today. And so I got to go home and I didn't even have surgery because somehow the Lord healed me through the prayer. But but it was something that inside of me that changed.

And when something inside of me changed the attitude and the words and the disposition and everything else changed as well. See, we've been talking about spiritual disciplines over these last summer, and we've been encouraging you to get into Scripture and to to serve other people and to sit at the feet of Jesus and to fast and pray and spend time in solitude.

And we start to fill ourselves with all of these practices of Jesus. And when you do that, it should show off to everybody else around you. See, everything Jesus puts inside of you is meant to spell out that Jesus puts inside of you is meant to spill out. And that's what we get to talk about here today, on this last Sunday, is how to let all the things that Jesus has done inside of you spill out.

As we now evangelize and witness and share our faith to the people all around us. You know, over the series of 5 or 6 times we've been able to actually bring up a few of you guys and have an interview or give a testimony. And this is the last Sunday I wanted to invite one more person up, somebody that you guys, most of you know very well.

But whenever I was thinking about this idea specifically, my mind went to one person and that's Miss Jessica Betts. And so would you please welcome Jessica to come on up here on stage for us.

Now, you guys know Jessica well. She helps. She's on staff here and she helps actually run all the first impressions ministry out there. But one of the things that I love about Jessica is like, whenever we're talking about sharing our faith, sometimes it's a it comes from a sense of obligation that's like, I have to do this. There's other people where it's like, no, they just really, really love people that much.

And that's Jessica, if you know her at all. And so I wanted her to share a little bit about her heart as well. And so, so Jessica, thank you for being up here. Thank you for sharing your heart with us. And so I just wanted you to share like, so why is why are you sharing your faith? Why is witnessing and caring for people in that way?

Why is it so important for you? I think just even the song that we just sang, when I look back at my life. First of all, just the sin. And I tell my kids all the time, you will never out sin me. There's nothing you'll ever tell me that I've not done worse. But I know God's covered that.

And there's been so many things in our lives that have been so very difficult. And I serve this Savior that loves relentlessly loves. And so I have to share that. And when I walk into the room or I see someone hurting with whatever it is, and I have him inside of me and I know who he is and what he does, just to be able, like you have to share that.

You don't want to watch them go on alone. Alone like that. I, I think that heart is something I've always, not always, but have had for a while. And then actually, when I came on staff, God just really began to challenge me on this. And I read a book and there was this quote that it said, the only thing worse than being lost is being lost and knowing that nobody is looking for you.

And I was just even as a mom, I'm like, wow. And that really challenged me to be like, when I'm walking around, like, if you're lost, I want to find you. I'm looking for you. When I walk in a room, the people in there may not know I'm looking for them, but I am looking for them because we serve a God that love so crazy.

And the last thing I wanted to share on that, Joel, is a balance. All of this glasses.

It was the scripture also during that time that God challenged me with. And it's out of acts and it's Paul and it says, I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it's not my fault, for I didn't shrink back from declaring all that God wants you to know. And that served as a challenge for me to not just walk in a room and show God's love.

Because that's what I'd done a lot. Show God's love, but to not shrink back and sharing the gospel. Amen. Amen. So what does that practically look like for? Like, what are some ways that you have done it or you've seen that that's been received? Well whenever you are able to share your faith? Yeah. I think the biggest thing I would say is when I, when I, when I'm talking with people where it's a cash register for somebody at the cash register or walking into whatever room.

It's first of all to just be present, like to talk to them. It's I don't go in there like I share the gospel. I gotta share the gospel. Where am I going to share the gospel? You just go in and you seriously care about the person and you just listen to them. And as you listen to them, there will be a place where you can share God in some way and you'll just see what door opens.

Maybe they feel terrible about something they've done. And then I start with just talking about the Jesus that came to cover that. Or maybe they're going through a hard time and I talk about, oh my gosh, let me tell you what I do when I am worrying or anxious. And that leads me back to my story and to the Jesus is the part of my story.

And so one of the biggest things I do is truly just walk in and not just be there for whatever earthly thing I came in there for, buy groceries, but to just look in those conversations and really listen to the person and look for the opportunity to share the gospel. And the one thing that almost always, even if someone doesn't look like they're upset, if I'm at a table or at a restaurant and I'm like, hey, we're about to pray, is there something I can pray for you?

I have rarely had someone turn me down, and you don't have to pray for them right there at the table. But sometimes a lot of times they'll let you be like, do you mind if we just pray for you now? Because people really want to know their scene, and if you actually stop and they know you're truly seeing them, they'll begin to share.

And that opens up the opportunity to share Jesus with them. Amen. Amen. Any other practical advice or any other encouragement that you want to give the the congregation? As for a lot of them, there's probably a lot of us that are scared to to share our faith or have that conversation or to broach a subject. And so any other advice?

Yeah, I think one of the things like what I just said is literally don't go into it scared about the gospel. That's just the enemy messing with you. If you walk in there and you're like, oh, I'm too scared to do this, that's what you're there to do. You're there to be there and be present for the person.

And then have been prayed, and let the Holy Spirit pour out of you and just care. And then look for a way to share your story. There was another scripture I wanted to share in acts. And this is Paul again. He's on a roll. He's talking to Simon, and he's like, when I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ.

Yes, I try to find common ground like he tells us right there. Don't be scared. Find the common ground and share that. And I think the last practical tip I would get is spend time with the Lord. If I were to ask you right now, if I were to spend five minutes with any of you, I could tell you what's going on in your life you're excited about.

If you talk to me and my husband was on a trip, I'm going to tell you about it. Fact I've told some of you this morning, you're going to know that because that changed my life. And I couldn't help but find a way to put that in my conversation with you. Here's what I'll tell you. If the Lord is alive in your life, you're going to have to share him.

You're not going to be able not to. You're going to have to spill out just what you just said and overflow that love, because there's going to be nothing that could keep it from spilling out if he's alive and changing you today. Not two weeks ago, not two years ago today. And so spend time with him. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Jessica.

Hey, let's let's get into the word of God. This morning, I'm going to invite you to stand up. We're going to be in Luke chapter 24. Luke 24 at the very end of the Gospel of Luke here, starting in verse 36, right where we left off last week, Luke 24 verse 36 says, as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said, peace to you.

But they were startled and frightened and thought that they had saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do your doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.

And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they were still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it before them. Then he said to them. These are my words that I have spoken to you while still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, thus it is written that Christ should suffer on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are my witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you.

But stay in the city until you are clothed with power on high. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Keep your Bibles open, because we're going to jump right back in here to verse 36 as it says, as as they were talking about these things, Jesus stood among them. And if you you're here last week, hopefully you remember a little bit that we just went through a story, a story of clypeus and his friend that walked all the way out to Emmaus.

Amen. A guy that was on the road, they didn't realize that it was Jesus. And Jesus starts to share and share the very similar things about what he's going to share to all the disciples. But by the time that he gets to the house, then he reveals Himself as Jesus, the Son of God. They get up then and run all the way seven miles back to Jerusalem, in order to tell all the other disciples that, hey, we just saw Jesus.

And so that's the things that they were talking about right then. And they were talking and they're there now here in the story, it says, I can't believe Cleopas and his friend just saw Jesus in this way. And is it really true? We now had so many reports that people are saying that they saw Jesus, the risen Lord.

And as they are standing there and almost like trying to piece together all the things, Jesus just stands in the midst of them. And it's peace be with you. Shalom, peace. And immediately when they hear that and they see that, they're like, you know, it's a I had to wake you guys up. I love the Bible.

The Bible. Sometimes it's funny, we just read past it, but like, this is kind of funny. Jesus shows up in the middle of them. They're all freaking out, wondering if Jesus has actually risen up from the dead. He says, peace be with you. And they immediately scream. If you've ever had one of those moments like, I don't know if Jesus just like, stood in the corner, like waiting to see if people noticed him or if they were all in a circle and he just popped in right in the middle there or what?

What it was. But he showed up. They get so scared that even in that moment they don't know what to believe. They don't know what to think. And so in that moment now they're screaming and shouting because they not sure if this is just a spirit. And so in the verse 38 it says, and he said to them, why are you in?

Why are you troubled? It's like, I think I know why. Jesus, they saw you just get brutally murdered a few days ago. And why do your doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet? That it is I myself touch and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.

And in verse 40 he says, and when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved now for joy, so they are now elated. Could this really be true? Is it really Jesus? Did he really rise up from the dead? He said to them, have you anything here to eat? And I love this.

She's like, I haven't eaten in three days, guys, you got anything to eat? Man, I am, I am starving. And then they gave him a piece of broiled fish and I was like, my kids. Every time we serve fish, they complain. They're like, we want McDonald's. I'm like, listen, if broiled fish was good enough for our resurrected savior, it's good enough for you.

And so eat those fish sticks and whatever we got today. And he took it and he ate it before them. Now this let me just stop here because once again, this this isn't really the the point of today's message, but it is very interesting that that Luke took time to actually say this. Like, who cares if Jesus ate a fish, right?

Like in this moment, like there's only so many words that they actually put in there. But yet every word has meaning. Every word has significance in the gospel. And so why did why did Luke feel the need for Jesus to to recount that? Jesus said, touch me, see me like you feel me? I'm not a spirit. I have flesh and bones.

Why did he feel the need to say that Jesus was hungry and wanted to eat some fish? Well, what Luke was doing in this time period was a little bit of apologetics. Apologetics is a theological word that means a defense of the faith. Now Luke out of Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels. I'm going to go a little bit academic, just for a couple of minutes.

All right. Can you guys stay with me here? And so he's the first three Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are very similar. Luke actually probably wrote his gospel last because he was more of a biographer that came after Jesus. He never met Jesus, but he came after he was a doctor, well educated man. And so, as a good biographer would do, he would collect all the written material, all the other books that's been written about Jesus.

And then he would go and he'd have interviews with people who talked to Jesus. And that's how Luke likely formed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, formed his gospel. And so he wrote a little bit later, and by the time that Luke wrote it, there was one of the first heresies already on on the scene, and it was called a heresy of Gnosticism and Gnosticism believe that Jesus didn't actually have a physical body, that he was just a spirit being.

And so whenever he walked on the beach, he didn't leave footprints. And and thus he didn't need to eat. He didn't actually have flesh and bones. He was just a spirit that appeared as a man. And the reason why that that is not good news for us, if that was true, is because you and I, we do have flesh and bones, right?

And so if if Jesus was only a spirit and rose up again, that doesn't help us for anybody that has a body. And so this was one of the first heresies. And Luke is seemingly puts all of this in to say, hey, by the way, you might have heard this false belief. You might have heard this false belief that Jesus was just a spirit, wasn't actually a physical person.

Let me just remind you that he actually had flesh and bones and people could see it. Let me just remind you that he actually needed to eat. A spirit doesn't need to eat like that. Only a person would like you and me, and he starts to give this defense. Now I realize for most of us now, we aren't going to come out and just meet people that that claim Gnosticism.

There's still some of those beliefs kind of floating around in some areas, but in reality, that's not really the main thing that we're competing against. But for a lot of us, we are going to meet people that are going to say either that they don't believe that Jesus existed, or even more that will say, I don't believe that Jesus is God.

He might be was a good person, but I don't believe that. And so let me just take a minute here and give you some defense of the resurrection real quick, because I understand that for a lot of us, we still kind of struggle with saying, but is this true? Or how do I defend this here? And so I had a professor back at my school.

He was Gary Habermas, one of the foremost experts on the resurrection. And he he did a giant survey of 1400 different scholars, both Christian and non-Christians, and that study the Bible that that said, okay, here's what the the baseline is that these proofs, these truths are what almost every single scholar believes. And here's here what they are. They're called the minimal proof of the resurrection.

Number one, that Jesus existed, that there was a man named Jesus and he died by crucifixion. Listen, I'm about 95% of secular scholars, even people that don't claim to believe that Jesus is God, still say that there was a man named Jesus and he got killed by crucifixion by the Romans. That is almost universally accepted in the scholarly realm.

And so for somebody come out and say that Jesus doesn't exist, it's completely ignores all the evidence. We have more proof that Jesus existed from a literary standpoint than we do, that Caesar Augustus existed. Like, it would be completely ridiculous to to try to say that Jesus didn't exist. But not only that, another minimal proof that almost every scholar agrees on is this is that his followers had experience they interpreted as real appearances of the risen Jesus.

So we can't prove beyond the shadow of doubt what they saw. But we can say that they at least believed it was the risen Jesus. Almost every scholar agrees on that, because all of them in this next point here they were willing to die for their faith in the resurrection. Ten I, the 11 disciples that were left, ended up being crucified.

You don't make up a lie and say, man, he didn't actually really get resurrected, but I'm just going to make up this lie. If you knew that it was going to kill you, one of them would have broke. But all of them, through intense persecution, held firm to this. Number four is that these things were taught very soon after the crucifixion, as early as 20 years later, we already start having writings about all of these things happening, which is incredibly fast for the ancient world.

Number five is Jesus's unbelieving brother James believed after he thought he meant the resurrected Christ. And this is so important because anybody here have a brother. All right. How many of you would believe that that brother is God himself, right. Listen, I got a big brother. He's been actually here this weekend. And. And listen, if you were to try to convince me that the big brother that tried to give me what?

Jesus a kid. Like, if you were to try to convince me that he was God himself, there was literally the last person that I would expect would be my brother to be God himself. Nobody would believe that about the brother unless your brother claimed to be God dies and comes back to life again. At that point, you might start to say, maybe there's something to this.

And so even he convinced even his own family that he was God. And then last, the Christian persecutor, Paul or Saul had also became a believer after a similar experience. And he starts writing the book of First Corinthians that claims this as soon as 20 years after the resurrection. So we can look at this. And this is something that almost every secular scholar would agree to these truths, these facts.

And now the choice is yours. Am I going to believe that Jesus actually said what he met and that he was God, and that he was risen up from the dead? Or you could still say, you know what? No, I think it was all just made up. The choice is yours. I can't make you believe. But I can tell you that this, this faith that we have is grounded in something.

And this resurrection that we have is the most verifiable fact in all of ancient history. So do you believe it? And we're going to talk here about sharing your faith. But let me just stop here and say, I know that we have people here. I don't know every one of your faces, and I certainly don't know your hearts, but let me just encourage you, if you are here today, you need to believe maybe you've been in church a while.

Maybe you've been coming. Maybe you know all, even all of these types of things. But you never truly believe. Don't leave today. Don't even wait till the end of my sermon. You might have a heart attack. Believe right now. Say Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross. I believe that you're my savior. I want to follow you.

And so then let's get back into the scriptures here. It says in verse 44.

Then he said to them. These are the words that I have spoken to you while still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written that Christ should suffer on the third day and rise from the dead.

Similar to what we talked about last week, he opens up the Word of God again and says, oh, by the way, every little part of this book is all about me. It points to me. It points to this idea that one day a Savior was going to come, that one day he was going to die in the cross and be resurrected again.

In all, the Scripture is connected to tell this beautiful story. Let me show you another picture here. You probably have seen it maybe on a Christian podcast or something like that. But what this picture is, is a picture of the Bible. See every one of those arches that you see, those colorful arches that you see is a cross reference.

There's a connection inside the Bible, and there's over 63,000 different connections or cross-references in the Bible. And they're all telling one story from the far this side of it is Genesis all the way to the other side to revelations. It's connected and it all tells the story of Jesus. If you were to look at this and you'd say, this is just one author, you would say that this is the greatest author of all time, but it's not one author.

It's 40 different human authors written over a period of 1500 years in three different languages across multiple continents, all telling one story. The only way to understand this is that this word is the Word of God, and it tells something true. And so I want to share now, as we continue on, I want to share three things that you need to share to lead somebody to Jesus, to share your faith.

And the very first thing is the truth of Scripture. You need the truth of Scripture. You need that gospel truth. And now some of you and I say that immediately, you're like, that's that's the whole point, Joel. Like, I don't know enough about the Bible like that. What if they ask me a question? I don't know what they asked me that, you know, I had him and Eve have belly buttons or not.

Right? Like what? What if they ask me about the dinosaurs? What do I say about the dinosaurs, Joel? Is it? You know what? All those things can be important. I'll know about the belly button ones. Like, all of that is important. But at the end of the day, I don't care what they believe about Jonah, because first they need to first believe about Jesus.

And oftentimes all those other conversations just kind of get in the way and they'll throw that in there in order to not have to deal with their own sin, in their own mortality and have to believe. And so oftentimes, I'll say, you know what? I'm not sure about that one, but I'd love to talk to you more, but can we get back to to Jesus first?

Because at the end of the day, Jesus doesn't tell us to win arguments. He tells us to simply proclaim the truth. And that's our job. And people might not like it always. And there's a right way to do this in a wrong way to do this. If you're trying to just win the argument or make somebody look dumb or get a nice YouTube clip, you're probably doing it wrong.

But when you say, listen, I love you so much that you need to know this, that one day you're going to die and you're going to go to either heaven or hell, and the choice is yours. But you need to believe that's what we are called to do, because we have so much love for the person across the table from us.

And so the very first thing that you need is this truth of Scripture. And you might say, but I don't know enough. If you knew enough to get saved, what did you know? When you got saved? You probably didn't know much, but you knew that you were a sinner and you knew that Jesus died for your sins and risen up again.

If you know that, then you know enough of the gospel to start to share it with other people as well. So every single one of us has this opportunity. And he goes on to say in verse 47, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. The word repentance means to change mind or change direction.

So the idea here is that like we are chasing after our own desires, chasing after our own way, but then we repent, we change direction and now say, Now I'm going to pursue after God and leave all of those things behind us for the forgiveness. That means that he's going to wipe clean the slate of all the sin.

All the things that we have done wrong are now all gone, and they should be proclaimed to all the nations, literally nations as every ethnicity. So every type of people should hear this message. And that's why I love the what grace point is about and how we have missions in Asia, and we have missions in South America, and we have missions in Europe, and we have missions in Africa.

And there's all sorts of ways that you can get involved to to spread this throughout the whole entire world. But also what I love is it says, starting in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, three days before the people in Jerusalem were screaming, Crucify him! They wanted to kill this man. And Jesus is like, hey, by the way, make sure the people that literally just killed me hear about my forgiveness for them.

And if you think that you or somebody you know is too far gone, you don't know how awesome Jesus is. As I say a lot, you might be a good sinner, but Jesus is a better Savior and you can't out send him. You can't outrun him. He's already there. Wherever you're going to run to, all you got to do is simply turn to him.

And then he says in verse 48, you are my witnesses of these things in the Greek. If you were to read that word, witnesses, it literally it would sound like, because it's where we get the word for martyr, you are my martyrs. Which is an ominous foreshadowing, because once again, all of them, except for John, who got exiled, died a horrible martyr's death because they believed it, because it was real to them.

And so not only though do we need the truth of Scripture, but we also need a testimony of a changed life. See, the reason why so many people believe these men is because they were something different about these men. These men. When men went from cowards to being scared to now they are out there boldly proclaiming because they have seen something and it has changed them.

And probably the most powerful thing that you can do is simply have a changed life. So you don't need every answer. When you can show Jesus answered your deepest needs say, I don't know about all that, but here's what I do know Jesus has changed my life. Yeah. I'm different. What can somebody say against that? They can't say anything.

If it's true that Jesus actually has changed you for the better. It's one of the most powerful things. Hey, if you are here and you say, man, I want to do this, but I'm still scared, I still know how to. We have a couple really good opportunities at Grace point. Couple really good ones. Number one, Jessica, who is actually up here, she helps lead one of our initiatives called Know Your Story.

Know Your Story. And what it is is that it just helps you articulate your testimony. Remember how you got saved in order to be able to share that with other people as well. And so that's a great thing that you can go on our website and get signed up for. Talk to Jessica and she can help walk you through that.

You connected with somebody else to train you in that. Another cool opportunity is on our equip nights coming up in September. Tom and Marianne are going to be leading How to Live class, how to share your faith. And it will just answer some of these questions about how do you go up and start this conversation with people. So these good opportunities to get connected, because God has put you in the job that you're in and the school that you're in, in the neighborhood that you're in to be a light.

That's the reason why you're here. If that wasn't the reason, he would have taken you home already. But he still has a mission for you. As we start to wrap up here, last verse and it says, and behold, you know what that word behold means? Pay attention. I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

The last thing he's going to tell him in this passage. So pay attention to this. I am sending the promise. I am sending the promise. What's that promise? It was a promise that the Holy Spirit was going to come on then and clothe them with power from on high. So the last thing that you need in order to witness to somebody, not just the truth of Scripture, not just to change life, but you need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

You need him to do the work on your behalf. See, the Holy Spirit isn't just God's presence in you. He is God's power through you as well. Because there's been so many conversations in my life. I go in and I try to witness to somebody, and I try to share my faith with them. And and it falls on deaf ears.

And I know the Word of God never returns back void, but yet it doesn't feel like it works. Then there's been other times where I feel like I have just stumbled over my words and I can't say anything right, and something inside of them changes that wasn't me. See, let me illustrate it this way as we start to wrap up here.

If I were to come to you guys and I come up to one of you, and I come up to one of you and I'm like, hey, Bob. Whoever. Bob. Oh, hey, brother. I noticed you've been putting on some weight, brother. And I bet your cholesterol is not really great right now. And I bet you, you know, blood sugar and blood pressure and all of that, that's probably a little bit out of whack just by appearances, you know, like, if I were to go up to you and say that, what would your response be?

Who are you like? Like I'm never coming back to this church again. And then further all like, who? Who are you to have the audacity to speak to me about the things that's going on in my life, right? Well, now let's imagine. Imagine that you are sitting on a hospital bed and somebody comes in one day and they're now wearing an outfit that looks a lot more like this, right?

A doctor's coat that shows that they are a doctor, that shows that, number one, that they care enough about you to be there, to care enough about to help you. And then he walks in and he says, you know what? I've been looking at your charts. It doesn't look like you're doing too good, but I have a plan that can help you.

And in that moment, if you are sitting in a hospital bed and you now hear that from a doctor clothe in the doctor's clothes, you're going to say, I will do whatever you want me to do, because you're the one that's going to help me get from the deathbed out again. You're the one that's going to help me.

And this is like with the Holy Spirit when it says it's going to clothe us in power. All of a sudden, what would have fallen on deaf ears now? Now, is somebody going to hear that and say, I know that I'm a sinner, I know that I need Jesus? And it wasn't anything that you or I could have said, but it was Christ's power that is now clothing us, that gives us the power to speak into dead hearts.

See? Because at the end of the day, we're not actually just trying to help sick people feel better. We're not. That's not the gospel. At the end of the day, this is this is what our missions field actually looks like in a spiritual realm. This picture of a cemetery. See, because the Bible is very clear, you're not just a sick person trying to get better.

You are a dead person that needs life again. Listen, if if God came to us and gave us a special revelation and said, oh, by the way, you don't have to share your faith anymore instead. How about you just try to just go down to the local cemetery and just try to raise somebody from the dead? Like you don't need revival.

Like just get one, you know? It's like.

A doctor wouldn't help. It's already too late for that. You wouldn't come up with the best preacher like you wouldn't. You want to come with a band and be like, maybe if we do an awesome song. No. If we realize that there's a spiritually dead person there, what would we have to do? We would get down on our hands and feet or downs and knees and say, Lord, I can't do this.

I can't raise the dead. But God, I know that you can. So, Lord, please give me the words to say because I know that it won't be my words. Some of us have children that have gone wayward, and we're praying and we're praying and we're praying. We're thinking, what can I do? You can't do anything, but God can.

And you will. Some of us have friends and neighbors who we've been praying for for years, and God still hears that the way to raise up the dead again is by his power and his power alone. All we have to do is be willing to step into that. And when we step into that, we can start to see God move.

Because at the end of the day, we've been talking about what does it look like to live like Jesus? And here's the invitation. The last eight weeks is I want you to live like Jesus. But if you live like Jesus, it means you're going to die like Jesus and carry your cross and die to yourself. But here's the beautiful part.

If you live like Jesus, you'll die like Jesus. But if you die like Jesus, you will rise like Jesus. And you can only have a resurrected life. After you take up your cross and carry it, you carry it.

Every head bowed, every hour clothe.

I would hate to not give you the opportunity. Number one, if you are here today and you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I don't want you to leave here without the opportunity to say, Joel, I want to believe. Listen, I can't make this decision for you. Nobody can. But there's a God who loves you, who might be calling you today.

I'm not going to embarrass you. I just want to say a prayer for you right now. I want to say a prayer for you. If you're here today and say. You know what, Joel? I'm not sure. Whenever I came in, I'm not sure if I truly believe, but I want to. Would you just raise your hand right now?

I'm not going to embarrass you. I'm just going to pray for you.

Amen. Amen. I see it, sister. Amen. Thank you for being brave. Amen.

Amen.

Lord, I lift up those that are in this congregation right here in this room. That may may still be figuring out what it means to believe in you. I pray that even right now, that they would be crying out to you in their heart, Lord.

I pray that they would know that they are sinner and that they can believe in you, that you died on the cross and that you're risen up again. I pray that they would follow you, that this faith would be real for every single person in this room. Lord.

Let me ask you guys. Congregation with every head bowed still. Let me let me ask one more question. If you're here today and you say, you know what, there is somebody in my life right now. Maybe it's a family member, maybe it's a neighbor. Maybe it's a coworker that needs Jesus. And I know that I'm probably the one that needs to share it with them.

Will you raise your hands if you know. Amen. Amen. All over. All over. All over. Amen. You can put your hands down. I hope that it's every single one of us. The first step is to pray for them. So I'm going to ask you in this moment. Now, before we conclude this service in just a minute. Take a moment and start to pray for them.

Here's my challenge.