Witness

Tonight, at pastor's direction, we are talking about being a witness, being a witness. And we're going to begin this evening in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. No doubt it's familiar to us. We've read it many, many times, and we're going to read it again. The Bible says, but you shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. Amen. You shall be witnesses. Why don't you say that with me, witness. The Great Commission was Jesus' final command to His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension into heaven. And His directive is unchanged. The mission of the church is to evangelize the world and make disciples of all nations. This is not simply the responsibility of pastors and leaders and what we often refer to as

fivefold ministries or the leadership of the church. It is the responsibility, the burden that is to be assumed by every follower of Jesus Christ. We are all to be teachers. We are all to be disciple makers. Now you notice this next heading in your handout is talking about building healthy habits and you may think this is a far reach from witnessing, but by God's help we're going to try to connect the dots for you tonight. As I was studying Acts 1 and 8 I saw something in this verse that I'd never really considered before and it brought to memory some material that I had read in a couple books and had used and teaching in other settings, but admittedly I had never made the connection to the subject of which we speak tonight. And so if you permit me a little time I want to talk to you about habits and

then we'll come back to this subject of witnessing. A habit by definition is a settled or regular tendency or practice and studies show that every day more than 40% of the actions that people perform are not actual decisions but habits. What this means is in the moment you do not stop to consider this and to weigh out the pros and the cons and then make a conscious decision. These are things that you do subconsciously just out of habit. And so I would submit to us that the culture of the early church was such that they had a habit of evangelizing. When you look at the scripture I've put the references in your handout, Mark 16 and Acts chapter 8. Both of these verses use this word everywhere. What it's telling us is as the disciples went about they preached everywhere. Now what is unique as you contrast these two passages of scripture is Mark 16 is Mark's

recording of the Great Commission. This is Jesus telling them, I want you to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And so the Bible says this is what they did. They went preaching everywhere. Acts 8 is very different. Acts 8 was not the result of favorable circumstances or the commandment of the Lord alone. Though His words were still relevant, Acts 8 was the result of persecution. The Bible said that the believers were scattered, but as they went they were preaching everywhere. And so it did not matter if their location was the result of careful planning or persecution. They preached everywhere and I would submit this is because it was their habit or perhaps another word that may be more common to us, it just was their culture. This was the norm in the early church. But on the subject of habits tonight and if you're a reader, I'm a reader and some of

what I'm going to share here with you this evening is out of two books. One is a book called Atomic Habits by a man named James Clear and the other one is The Sly Edge by Jeff Olson. And both in their own way touch on this concept, but James Clear a little more in depth. His book's been on the New York Times bestsellers list for I think 284 consecutive weeks now. But in the consideration of what motivates us, because if we're talking about witnessing we have to consider our motivation. Are we just doing this because pastor has asked us? Are we doing it because it seems to be the responsibility of the church is it in response to acts one and eight? What is it that motivates us? And Mr. Clear talks about this at length about these contrasting motivations, outcome versus identity. Outcome versus identity.

See, we often set goals based on outcome. And probably the most familiar to us is weight loss. And so we come through Thanksgiving and Christmas and we sit in the recliner of great regret. It tasted good, but now you don't feel good and you're checking the price of a gym membership and you're just thinking, well, if I can go this many days a week and I can do this, I've already determined my outcome. I want to weigh this much. You have an outcome, a goal, an objective. You have a number, a figure. It is the outcome. The problem with this, he says, is the intention is good, but it is not complete. Because you have to consider the three levels where change occurs in your life. I provided them a graphic tonight. I think if you've got it, you can put it up on the screen now.

This will show the three areas of change. Maybe we don't have it. Maybe we do. This is what he talks about. Three areas of change. Outcomes, processes, and identity. Outcomes, processes, and identity. I'm just laying a little groundwork. So hang with me here. If you want to change your outcome, this is the result. So this could be losing weight, could be writing a book, could be making money. The problem when you focus on the outcome only is people often get stuck in the process or the how. So think with me about that one who on January the 1st was so eager to go to the gym. They had an outcome, a number. They were determined to lose weight, but somewhere in the how, they got caught up in the weeds. They didn't figure out how much they should go to the gym, what exercise they should do,

or what gym they should go to, or the time of day that they would go. And the process just overwhelmed them to the point that they got lost and staggered and never got the outcome. The process is it's your habits or your systems. So this is the new routine. It's the new practice. These are the things you change in order to reach your desired outcome. But then even beyond that is the concept of changing your identity. This is your beliefs, it's your world view, your self-image, your judgments or your opinions concerning things. And so this is how people most often try to initiate change in their life. They first determine the outcome, but the problem is, is their outcome and their identity war against each other. Because they say, well, I want to weigh this number, but they keep referring, there it is, beautiful.

And so what happens is you can see the outcome is the outer layer, the identity is the core. We make the mistake of trying to work from the outside in and not the inside out. Now you may recall, I've taught them this before, but we've talked about the spirit, the soul and the body that Paul talks about in 1 Thessalonians 5. This is a very similar concept. And so what happens is you have an outcome. You have a goal, a result that you want to reach. But at the core of your identity, you really don't believe that's who you are. So as much as you intend to do this, your intention is at war with your identity. And so what James Clear writes about in this book, Atomic Habits at Length, is addressing this concept. And what he proposes is if you desire lasting change in your life.

Now, I'm not just talking about weight loss. In fact, I've come to talk to you about witnessing. But if we want to produce change in any area of our lives, we need more than a desired outcome. We need an identity change. Now, Pastor has voiced it many times from this pulpit. It is his vision that new life would have a hundred Bible study teachers weekly. It is his vision that we would fill this sanctuary with a thousand people every Sunday. That is an outcome. It's a good outcome. But if we're not careful, we can get lost in the process. How is this going to happen? Because that intention, the intention to witness and our identity, what we think of ourselves are in conflict one with another. So let's consider this here because if my outcome is that I want to lose weight, then I have to adopt an identity like this.

I'm going to be the type of person that moves every day. Now, you may decide to set a noble task like you're going to go to the gym for an hour, five days a week, and you're going to get about two weeks in and probably realize that your identity and your intention are at war one with another. Because when you create change, you do it by small, manageable, and consistent action. And so you have to adopt this identity concerning yourself. I'm going to move every day. And maybe you go by a pedometer to count your steps and you decide I'm going to make sure every day I walk at least 2,000 steps. It's really not that many steps. It's equal to one mile. But you need something small, something manageable, and something consistent. Or what if you desire that you would like to be a better writer

or you would like to write a book, then you have to decide, I'm going to be a person that writes every day. It may start out with 250 words or 500 words and let it grow but you're not going to sit down and write a book in a week or a month if you've never written before. But if you can create small, manageable, and consistent changes where you determine every day I will write one paragraph, you can solidify the identity of a writer in your mind and now because you believe it about yourself the action flows out of that identity. And so you may think, well, this just sounds like a whole lot of pop psychology. Well, I would beg to differ. But here's the point. True behavior change is about identity change. Now let's go back to the Scripture. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5,

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away and behold, all things are become new. What's Paul saying? He says, when you were in Christ, which happens by baptism, when your sin is washed away and you are baptized into Jesus Christ, you are a new creature, you have a new identity. All the old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new. What's he saying? Now there's a lot of New Testament Scriptures that speak to us of the concept of discipleship and holiness and righteous living and our conduct towards God and our conduct towards one another and our conduct towards the world. But all of those behaviors flow out of the realization that I'm not who I used to be. That when I was baptized into Christ, the old man was buried and now I have a new identity.

And it's this understanding. In fact, Paul writes about it so many times in the New Testament. Romans 6, he's saying, the old man is crucified. The old me is dead. Romans 8, he gets back into this vein of instruction. He says, now we are the children of God. It's all about your identity. Galatians 2. He said, it's not I that live. It's no longer me, but it's Christ that lives in me. Why does he continually hit this concept over and over in Colossians? He said, my life is hid in Christ with God. Why is he doing this? Because he understands the only way you can change the behavior of somebody's life is to change their identity. I've had conversations with my kid. Well, I'm just bad. Wait a minute. I've been a parent for 13 years. Now, you've been spanked. You've been corrected. You've been grounded.

We've had a lot of conversation. But never in 13 years of being a father have I ever told my kids they were bad. Now, I've told you you had bad behavior. That conduct was not good. Those words were not appropriate. But somehow through circumstance or experience, something at some point was said or perhaps not said or misunderstood where that little lie gets lodged in the mind and out of the belief that they are bad comes the justification for bad behavior because the identity is ultimately what determines the outcome. And so Paul so many times in the New Testament, these are just a few examples. He writes of this again and again and again because he understands if you want to create a culture, if you want to produce a habit, if you want to change the behavior, you've got to get in their mind and change their identity.

Now, let's jump back to witnessing. Because in Acts chapter 1, Jesus said you will receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me. Now, that word witness, now the word witness is unique in that it can be both noun or verb. But in this verse, the word witnesses is a noun. A noun is a person, a place, or a thing. What's this mean? When Jesus is speaking in Acts chapter 1, he is not talking about the action of witnessing. It is the identity of a witness. What he's saying is you are a witness. This is who you are. And I fear that too often we have not embraced the identity. We want to do the action, but we really don't believe it about ourselves. And as such, our intention and our identity are at war one with another.

And we become frustrated in our faith and defeated in our faith because pastors call them for evangelism and pastors call them for Bible study teachers. And he should. And we want to do it. We feel the burden to do it. And the problem is not that we don't want to, it's that we don't believe it's us. And Jesus looks at them and tells them, I'm giving you power by my spirit and that spirit's going to change your identity. You are a witness. And so I'm speaking tonight. This is my assumption. I speak tonight on the assumption that everybody in this room wants to be a witness. I'm speaking on the assumption that we all believe in the essentiality of salvation and that we all desire to play our part in the process through sowing and watering. However, if we're honest, we must admit that at least sometimes we struggle.

We feel inadequate. We feel unsure. We don't know what to do or how to do it. We want to witness in the verb tense. We want to do the action. But if we will do that, we must embrace that we are a witness in our identity. Because if we do not believe it about ourselves, we will never do it. The action flows out of the identity. And so let's now consider the qualification. What is it that qualifies you to be a witness? Jesus told them in Acts 1 and verse 8 that you would receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and that power would make you a witness. So this is to say that the qualification to be a witness is your experience. That's it. Your experience. Because the salvation experience you have when you were baptized in Jesus' name and when you were filled with the Holy Ghost

and spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave you the ability. I don't know if you realized it, but the old you was buried. You have a new identity. And central to that identity is that you are a witness. But you have to know that about yourself. You have to believe that about yourself. All too often, listen, we live below the level of God's potential because we allow false narratives to live in our mind. Something that was said to us or done to us. Something that we believe about ourselves that is not true. I don't know if anybody's ever told you this before, but witnessing is not just what you do. It is who you are. So I don't feel qualified. I could never teach a Bible study like Pastor Harpole, and I could never do this. And I don't have the personality that Sister Harpole has,

and neither do I. But we're not qualified by our personality. We are qualified by our experience. In Mark chapter 5, we're introduced to a man. The Bible says he has an unclean spirit. He's possessed of many devils, hundreds of devils. He lives among the graves. The Bible says he's crying out. He is emotionally unstable. He's inflicting self-harm. He is suicidal. This is not a good situation. But guess who he meets? Jesus. And after one encounter with God, this is what the Bible says, he's sitting, he's clothed, and in his right mind. One encounter, one moment, one Bible study, one invitation, one church service, one touch from God really can change everything. And as you might expect, when his life is radically transformed, he decides, I'm gonna follow you. And Jesus, to his amazement, says no. Look at Mark 5 and 18. It's in your handout.

When he was coming to the ship, he, that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that he might be with him. Please, I want to stay with you, Jesus. And Jesus suffered him not. But said unto him, I want you to go home to your friends, and I want you to tell them how great things the Lord has done for thee and had compassion on thee. And the Bible says in verse 20, he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. The man is a witness of what's qualified him an experience that changed his life. That's all he's got. He does not have an education in the doctrine of the church. He's not graduated Bible school. He does not have a diploma. He's not received as ministerial credentials. He is not a leadership position in the body.

All he has is an experience. And in the eyes of Jesus, the experience alone qualified him to be a witness. And Jesus says, I don't need you to follow me right now. In fact, I need you to go back to your friends. Go to all the people who know you and know you well, who saw you unclothed and crazy and suffering in the grip of sin. I want you to go back to them and tell them what the Lord did for you and that the Lord had compassion on you. Because there's a lot of people who just think that he's a cruel judge, that he doesn't love and he has no compassion and he does not care. So I want you to go back and tell all those people who wouldn't give you the time of day and thought there was no hope and there was no chance.

Go tell them that the Lord had compassion on you. Because there's some people that have a thought about God that's not right. There's some people that have a narrative about God that's not right. So go tell them your experience. Let them know how you've been changed. This is all it is to witness. You don't have to be the most gifted. You don't have to be the smartest. You just have to share your experience. Second Timothy 1. Now the context here, Paul is writing to Timothy and he is appealing to this young man for his support and his loyalty in the ministry. That's the context. But I really just want you to look at a couple phrases here and I've put them in the handout for you. He said, Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me. The testimony of our Lord.

This is the story of Jesus. Nor of me. Do not be afraid or ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or the testimony of me. One is the story of Jesus and one is the story of Paul. The point tonight is simple. If God has ever done something for you, share your story. Share it. Bruce Filer is an incredible author, writes a lot about families, Eastern faith, world religion, got a lot of very interesting books and one of his books talks about a study done at Emory University in the early 2000s where they concluded that children raised in homes with a strong family narrative grew up to be more secure, had a stronger self-identity, went on to be more successful. It was just better in so many regards and as life would have it, in the middle of this study, 9-11 happened. And so they decided that

because even though these families were untouched by what happened in New York, the trauma of that rippled across the world that they would go back to these same children that they were involved in this study and see how did they respond to the trauma of 9-11 and without fail, they concluded that every child that was raised in a home with a strong family narrative had more capacity to deal with trauma or grief. Their coping mechanisms were better and you say, what does all this have to do? It's all about story. In fact, story is central to the tenets of Judaism. That's why he told them coming out of Egypt at the Passover, I want you to stop and think about how you're going to tell this story to your children. Why? Because they understood the power of story. I fear sometimes that we beat ourselves up

thinking we can't witness because I can't preach like pastor. I don't have a degree. I'm not that smart. Listen, you don't need a degree in Bible theology. All you need is a story of your experience. And so the Jews would do it. To this day they still do it. Let's gather around the table and let's talk about the night of the Passover. Let me remind you of what God did when he brought our ancestors out of bondage. What are they doing? They're creating a family narrative that incubates them from the distractions and the deceitfulness of the world. This is who we are. And there is a security in that narrative. Now you have a narrative whether you've realized it or not. Perhaps sometimes we are at fault of being too casual with our narrative. Not allowing God to pen it or stopping to consider precisely what God has done

but you have a story. There is a story that could be told tonight of why you're sitting in this church. Of how you came to be here. Of who taught you a Bible study. Of when you were baptized. Of when you received the Holy Ghost. About the changes and the work of sanctification that happened in you. What are you saying? This is all I'm trying to tell you tonight. You need to tell your story. Find somebody. Start with family. That's what the Jews do. Gather them around and tell them, you know what? I didn't always live like this. I wasn't raised in this. But a few years ago I got an invitation to come to New Life Fellowship one Sunday. And I felt something I never felt before. I lifted up my hands and I started praising God and all of a sudden I was speaking a language

I'd never learned. I'd never heard about this before. It's your story. This is all it is to witness. In fact I would submit your story is more powerful than the theology. You say, are you minimizing theology? Absolutely not. His word is truth. It is forever settled. It cannot be altered. And it must be guarded and it must be declared. But I'm talking about witnessing tonight. And I think sometimes because we lead with theology and not with story we get into arguments. We get into debates. And we cross theological swords when instead we should be inviting them into the story of our transformation. Because this is what Paul's telling Timothy in this verse. I don't want you to be ashamed of the story of Jesus Christ. Or my story because my story intersected with his story on a road to Damascus. And now our stories are one story.

This is powerful. If you could just if you could realize how powerful your testimony is. You don't need a certain personality. You don't need a certain education or credential. You don't need a special commissioning. You just need to realize you are qualified to be a witness by virtue of your experience. This is who you are. So I'd like to tell somebody tonight you are free from the guilt and the shame of your past. At the moment your story intersected with his story. You were freed from the grip of regret because you got redeemed. And now you are qualified by virtue of your experience. Jesus said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Let your light shine. Light just is. You are a constant witness. If you would just live your life

you will naturally be a witness because this is just who you are. You really don't even have to try to witness as much as you have to cut out the things that prevent you from witnessing. And remember as you tell the story you're not the main character. He said let them see your good works so they may glorify your Father which is in heaven. Not you. Not me. My good works only exist to point back to the main character because this is his story. Now how do we witness? I know in our mind we can think of a lot of things. Well, I'm going to invite them to church. Leave a church car with the waitress. I'm going to all these things. I just want to kind of give you two simple things. Here's the first one. We witness by conversation. What I mean by this is

with our words. We talk to people. The Samaritan woman and John 4 met Jesus at the well that day. The Bible said she left her water pots which means the purpose for which she had come became secondary when she got caught up in Jesus' story. Everything in life becomes secondary to the story of Jesus. So I got a great career. That's good. God bless you. But somehow you got to figure out how your good works called career can point back to the Father which is in heaven. When's the last time you told somebody about how God blessed you with that job? It wasn't your degree. It's not your education. See, you left God out of the story. I don't think you did it because you're bad, but I really believe that oftentimes we are missing on God opportunities because we really don't see ourselves as a witness.

We want to do the action but we really don't believe it's who we are. Here's this Samaritan woman who's invited into the story of Jesus, drops her water pot, goes into the city and says, I want you to come see a man which told me. What's she doing? She's witnessing by conversation. She is telling others about her experience. You know, the beauty of this is there's so many things you can say. It could be a first-time visitor who knows nothing about sound doctrine. Doesn't know any of the theology of the church. They just know when they were here on Sunday they felt something they'd never felt before and they can go back to work on Monday morning and tell their best friend, you won't believe where I went yesterday or you can be in church 20 years reading the same verses you've read for 20 years

and get new revelation and new challenge and God's convicting you about new areas of growth and you can witness of it. This is available. Listen, the opportunity to witness it doesn't matter what depth of the pool you're in because you are qualified by your experience alone. The blind man in John 9 what did he say? I was blind but now I see. He didn't finish the discipleship course yet. Nobody had laid hands and ordained him as a preacher but he was armed with a testimony, a story to tell by virtue of his experience. All I know is I was blind but now I see. So what I'm telling you is this is a lot easier than we make it. All you have to do is tell your story. If God has done something for you tell your story. So we do it by conversation. This is what we say

it's our words but we also do it by conduct. Stephen and Acts 6 and 7 as he is eventually martyred and in his closing remarks as he tells his story. The Bible says as they said concerning him they saw that his face shined like an angel. Now Stephen is telling his story. He is witnessing by conversation but that's not all he's doing. He is witnessing by conduct. These words are what was said concerning him. So as others looked at his life they said something different about him it was to witness by conduct. This is to say that yes we must open our mouth and speak and yes we will witness with our words but we also witness with our conduct because this is just who we are. How we live if we live right is a witness. When we could retaliate with anger but we hold our peace

and a soft answer turns away wrath. Our conduct is witnessing to the story that has changed our lives. When every other co-worker gets angry and cusses and is doing this and doing that but your behavior is such a contrast to their behavior what's happening. You are witnessing by your conduct. Paul and Acts 9 again this is not the words of Paul these are the words of other people spoken concerning Paul. They said the man who persecuted us is now preaching the faith. Something's happened. Something is different. It is to witness by conduct. He's just living his life in such a way that his very actions his conduct, his behavior is an ever present witness that his life has been changed by Jesus. And now let's consider Jesus example. Mary is overshadowed by the spirit and the angel tells her you shall call his name Jesus

for he shall save people from their sins. What is this? It is his identity and that determines his action. Your very name Jesus your way is salvation. Now you are born to die you will go to the cross you will redeem humanity but your very identity who you are has already determined the outcome and so back to where we began. You have to believe this about yourself. You are a witness and so since this is Jesus very identity it's no surprise that as you follow his footsteps through his earthly ministry we would find him consistently acting in this manner. John 1 and 42 43 pardon me. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and sayeth unto him follow me. Now Philip was of Bessata the city of Andrew and Peter Philip findeth Nathaniel and sayeth unto him we have found him

of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did right. Jesus of Nazareth. Did you catch that? He reached back into the story. You know the story that that the Jews have been telling for thousands of years? We found it. He reached back into that familiar narrative that had been incubating the Jewish people that had kept them in hopeful expectation of a Messiah for so long and as he reaches back into the story what he's saying is my story got connected with his story and I've got to tell you about that now. Nathaniel said can anything good come out of Nazareth? And Philip said why don't you come and see? Just come and see. I really don't think there is a more beautiful picture of witness and evangelism in the Bible than what we read right here. Let's look at Jesus. First verse I read.

Three words I'd like to highlight. These are your witnessing habits. The Bible said Jesus would go that's your first one, go. So where will we go? Well we must get into the field. Mark 16 was the promise of miraculous signs following the believers in the Great Commission. From what I see in Scripture miracles are I don't want to say never but certainly very, very rarely if ever were miracles given as with the intention of being the affirmation of God's love. Now there are times the Bible said he is moved by compassion so compassion moves him into action but the overwhelming majority of public miracles in Scripture were given by God to create belief. Belief in what? Belief in who he is and what he had come to do. The miracle was their experience to tie them back to his story. And so if miracles were given

primarily to create belief we must put ourselves in positions where belief is necessary. We must get out in the field as sheep among wolves commissioned to go out into the world where there is a dependency where we say God if you don't show up and if you don't confirm your word that is the place where most miracles happen. That's why the Bible said as they went the Lord was working with them because as they went into uncomfortable situations to witness unfavorable circumstances to witness God said, okay now I'll work with you and give people an experience that allows them to put faith in the story that you've been preaching. Story doesn't mean fable. This is not made up. This is a real thing and you are qualified by your experience. So Jesus goes and then the next word I'd like to highlight is findeth. He findeth Philip.

So you go and you find as we go we have to look. I don't know if any other homes have this dilemma but it seems like it doesn't matter how many times I tell my kids how did that garbage get there? Why did you walk by that garbage? You know, the staircase is only like what? 32 inches wide, 36 inches whatever it is and I can put a laundry basket full of clean clothes fresh out of the dryer sitting right there that they either have to step over or awkwardly step around and they'll both walk by and walk upstairs. Boys did anybody happen to see the basket full of clothes right here? But see you don't see what you're not looking for and you can train yourself by poor habits not to see things you should see. Confirmation bias is the tendency to see the thing

that confirms your existing thought. So it is that if our existing thought is not good we must change that otherwise we prohibit ourselves from seeing what must be seen. I have to believe that I am a witness and the world needs saved and if I believe this as I go about my life I will not, I'll just see it. It'll be there. Or perhaps maybe you've had this experience you bought a car and now you're driving around town and you're wondering did everybody in the city of Terre Haute buy the same car I just bought? It's called the Bader-Meinhoff Phenomenon also called the Frequency Illusion. It is the cognitive bias where something you recently learned or became aware of seems to appear more frequently in your daily life than it actually is. What's the point? The point is this, you will find what you're looking for.

So if you start believing this about yourself if you would change the narrative of your mind and your life that you are qualified to be a witness, you are a witness by virtue of your experience you are called by God, empowered by God and sent by God you would start seeing the opportunity because it's just who you are. The action would flow out of the identity but you have to look for it. And it is all too easy to get busy and not look for it because we don't think about it. You will not see it unless you look for it. Jesus went and found Philip. You know why he found him? Because he was looking. And then he does this. He saith unto him. He speaks. You go, you find and you speak. 1 Peter 3.15, the Bible said that you are to be ready always

to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you. I don't know what to say. I just, I stumble on my words. I don't feel like I'm the best teacher and I'm just not that confident. Listen, all you need is a story. That's it. Now I think as you mature in your faith and you grow in your understanding I think it would be prudent of us to memorize a little scripture, hide a little word in our heart. I think that would be good. That would be good discipline. But don't you feel like because you can't sit down and teach tabletop by memory that you can't witness. All you need is a story. You say, well, I don't really have, I don't have much to tell. Oh, don't have much to tell. Were you baptized? Do you remember what it felt like

when you came up out of that water? Let's go down memory lane a little bit. Think back with me to when you first came around the church. Maybe you thought we were crazy and perhaps we were a little bit. But you're still here, why? Because there was this undeniable reality. This presence of God, this power of the Spirit that started working in you and all of a sudden you started changing and faith came, where did it come from? It came from hearing and hearing by the word of God. Because this is how God works. What was it? It was your story meeting his story. Maybe up until that Sunday or that Wednesday, up until that Bible study. Up until all that stuff, up until your experience, your story was about a broken home and abuse and neglect. Maybe you grew up with parents that were alcoholics.

Maybe you never had healthy relationships and maybe your self-esteem was low and maybe you felt neglected and forsaken and forgotten. But all of a sudden you came to new life and there were these people you never met but you felt like you knew them your whole life. Why? Because they love you. Where did that love come from? I'll tell you, it was the love of God. Shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. What is it? It's the story of the Gospel. It changed me and it changed you. It's going to change this city. But the only way it can do it is if we share the story. So whatever the depth of your experience may be, whatever measure of understanding you may have, that is sufficient. All you need is a story. A story about what God did for you, for me, for us.

Come on, there's a lot of stories that can be told. Stand with me now. What are we going to say? We're going to share our story. That's all we need. Because I really, I think the scientific evidence, it's great. The scripture should be sufficient, but that scientific evidence sure is nice to have for this western mind. And the evidence confirms the scripture. The story is powerful. A story can, it can save you. To think that you can come to a pulpit in Terrahode, Indiana, and you can preach about God coming to earth and flesh. That 2,000 years ago, he died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, rose on the third day. What are you doing? I'm preaching the story of the gospel. But when his story meets your story, that old identity gets left in the water and you put on a new identity in Christ Jesus.

You're not defined by that broken family you grew up in. You're not defined by your mistake, no matter how bad it was. You are a joiner with Christ. You are a son and daughter of God. You got a new identity. That's why he said, after the Holy Ghost comes upon you, you will be a witness. It's not just what you do, it's who you are. Every time you open your mouth, every time you walk into work looking godly, acting godly, smiling, showing grace, forgiving, restraining yourself. What is it? It's witnessing. It's who we are. It's what we do. So where do we go from here? We just follow his example. We go. Now, I want to confess to you tonight. I struggle with this sometimes and I don't think our world is making it easier because I'm like a lot of you and it's really convenient

to put in my order and pull up in the parking space at Sam's Club, push the button so my trunk opens and get all my groceries and never have to deal with anybody. Now, maybe this is too honest, but I like that. That's really convenient, especially for an introvert. But as I sat studying this today preparing, I began to think, man, everything in our world is making this harder. You know, I've walked into a bank one time in the last three years. One time. Now, there was a day you had to go to the bank every week, sometimes multiple times a week. But oh, thank God for phones. The introvert in me loves it. But as I consider that I'm a witness, there's a light in me. I have to let it do what it's designed to do. I began to consider today what changes

do I have to make in order that I might go. That I may force myself into environments where I'm around people. You say, well, that's not as efficient. No, it's not. But we're called to be a witness. I have to force myself to go get around people, to look. I'm going, I'm finding and I'm speaking. And sometimes that speaking may say, you know, I would love it if you would be my guest and come to church with me this Sunday. Sometimes that speaking may be you know, I'd like to tell you a story in the summer of 1988 when my mother was five, four, five months pregnant and I was the baby in the womb. I had a tennis ball size tumor growing on the side of my head. The doctor said there was no way I would live but on a Sunday night in Fredericton, New Brunswick

a preacher walked off the platform and walked up the center aisle of the church and with the word of knowledge stretched out his hand and said there's somebody sitting in this area of the church right here. I don't know what it is but you just got a bad report and there is a life in jeopardy. But the Lord says to you all will be well. That's my story. See, I'm here because my story met his story and that's just one of the many I could tell and here in just a few weeks we're all going to have a story about God's provision and blessing on this house. What has happened in this house is unprecedented. What is it? It's a story of what God is doing in our lives and through our lives in this city. So here's my challenge tonight if there's going to be a thousand people

that gather into this sanctuary on a Sunday and lift up the name of the Lord it's not going to happen just because we have a goal or we've defined the outcome. There has to be a fundamental change in how you see yourself. You are a witness no matter how much you're struggling or how unqualified you may feel your experience with God qualifies you to be a witness all you have to do is go and I feel pretty safe tonight to issue this challenge to us all we're getting ready to move into a little season of outreach and harvest that Jesus' tent revival is coming we baptized a bunch already this year last couple Sundays we've baptized through the week but haven't been in the last couple Sundays but that could change this weekend all we've got to do in the next few days is go

maybe if you've got to get your groceries this week you're not going to do the order anymore you're going to walk into the store I don't know all I'm asking you is find a way to go get around people and when you are a look so what am I looking for I'm just looking for somebody to share a story with would you lift your hands Jesus I love you God I thank you for your greatness your faithfulness I thank you for how you've changed my life I thank you for so many stories of redemption of healing and restoration that fill this room and do on a weekly basis but I pray Lord that something would change in our thinking tonight I rebuke every feeling of inadequacy and inferiority I pray Lord that there would be a fundamental change in how we see ourselves we our witnesses it is the essence

of our identity because we have been changed by you every action we do every word we speak there is a light that emanates from our lives not to bring attention to ourselves but to you and I'm asking Lord that you would just push us beyond the place of familiarity and comfort give us courage tonight to go and as we go let us see as you see and not as we see let us see with eyes of compassion and eyes of love Father let us see the opportunities that you put before us and in those moments let us speak with boldness from the story that has changed our lives I thank you I pray your blessing upon these people I'm asking God that you would grant us a great summer of harvest I know there will be some coming and going and vacations but Lord I don't want this to be

a summer of slack I don't want sleepiness to overtake us I don't want vacation mentality to infiltrate the church Lord I'm ready to see increase and harvest and life change I pray Lord that this would be a great summer of increase propelled by the witnesses of this house we thank you and we love you we bless your name in Jesus name Amen