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Sunday, March 27, 2022

Use What You Have




This is the manuscript of the eighth sermon in the series "Responding to the Living Word".  

When we share what we have and know, Jesus blesses and multiplies it and makes it enough. So, share what you have; it is all you can do. You cannot give what you do not have. Share what you have; no one else can give what only you have to give. Although what you have to share may not seem to be much or even enough, you never know what God will do when you give him what you have.


You can watch a video recording of the entire service on the Christ Church YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/FpMaY1KvJ6g

Scripture


John 6:1‭-‬15 NIV Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.



Text:


John 6:11 NIV  Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.


Introduction 

 

When the ocean liner the Titanic was built and sailed in 1912 it was the marvel of her age. At nearly 883 feet in length, Titanic was longer than the tallest structures on Earth at the time. Over 1800 people left England on the “unsinkable ship”, but only 675 arrived. After hitting the iceberg on April 14, 1912 it took the Titanic just two hours and forty minutes to sink. 

While the Titanic was sinking in the North Atlantic another ship was being built. The SS Medina was not nearly as large or grand as the Titanic. It made no claim to being unsinkable. For years it carried onions and other produce between New York and Texas. During World War II it was converted to a troop ship and carried soldiers across the ocean. It was bombed and torpedoed but the ship refused to sink. On one crossing it was the only vessel in it’s convoy to reach it’s destination. After the war it was sold as scrap but rescued and converted into an Italian cruise liner called the Roma. Years later it again was sold for scrap but rescued again to become the MV Doulos. For many years it held the record as the oldest active passenger ship in the world. 

God is in the business of taking little ordinary things and using them for His glory. While it may be the great “Titanics” which make the headlines – it is the faithful Doulos' that are making the difference. The same is true of people. God often chooses the smallest and weakest to demonstrate His power. God wants to use you not only as a history watcher but a history maker. 

If we want to be history makers for God we need to remember 3 things:

  1. Ability

  2. Availability

  3. Abundance

1. Let’s look at ABILITY first.

John 6:5‭-‬9 NIV When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Jesus multiplied what He was given. He had the ability. . 

This miracle is recorded in all 4 gospels. This incident happens on the far side of the lake down from the town of Bethsaida on the north east bank of the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida is the town where Philip was from. 

John 1:43‭-‬44 NIV The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.

Jesus asked Philip where they could go to buy enough food to feed all the people. Philip, who knew the area, saw the task as impossible - and he was right!. They did not have the physical resources to do what Jesus asked them to.

Have you ever been in a situation where, like Philip, you faced an impossible task? It says here that Jesus said this “only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do”. 

Jesus already knew what He was going to do. Isn’t that a relief? Sometimes like Philip there are in life things that seem like mountains before us. You look at the situation and realize that it is impossible. At times like that it is easy to concentrate on what you don’t have instead of on what you do.

Remember the story of the widow's oil in 2 Kings 4

2 Kings 4:2‭-‬4 NIV Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.” Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

The widow focused on what she did not have but Elisha used and God multiplied what she did have.

Remember, that God has a plan for your life. He knows what He wants to do in and through you. 

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Instead of concentrating on what you do not have, remember what you do have and give it to Jesus. 

That is what Andrew did. He trusted and brought to Jesus what he could find. 

John 6:8‭-‬9 NIV Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

It wasn’t much, but it was something. Jesus took what they had and miraculously multiplied it. 

  • What do you have that Jesus can multiply? 

  • What can you offer? 

Start with what you have already been given – your spiritual gifts.  That's your ability. 

The problem with the church is that, “few of us really know our strengths. Many of us do not know what we have already been given. So few people in the church seem to really know what their spiritual gifts are.

Many Christians live in spiritual poverty. They are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power. At our salvation we are all given at least one spiritual gift when we see born again  but many of us are not aware of our birthright.  

So what are the gifts? Let me go quickly through a list  of the gifts. As I do ask yourself which of the gifts you are most drawn to.  I preached a series of sermons and had a bible study on the gifts so I am going to go through them quickly today.

There are the gifts of REACHING which include, Evangelist and Teaching.

There are the gifts of LEADING which include Pastor, Leadership and Administration.

There are the gifts of REVELATION which include Prophecy, Tongues and Interpretation.

There are the gifts of INFORMATION which include Wisdom, Knowledge and Discernment.

There are the gifts of ACTION which include Faith, Healing and Miracles.

There are the gifts of COMFORT which include Encouragement, Mercy and Hospitality.

There are the gifts of SUPPORT which include Helps, Service and Giving. 

If you don't remember the characteristics of the gifts or want to know more about them, call me.  

Maybe you have never really discovered your spiritual gift. Let me ask you 3 questions to help you think about it.:

  1. What do you see yourself doing?

  2. what do you enjoy doing?

  3. what do others encourage in you?

a. What do you see yourself doing?

Of all the different areas of ministry, is there something that your are drawn to – that catches your attention? Like the young boy’s small lunch, sometimes this is difficult to see at first.

One of the ways you envision yourself doing something is to ask “what bothers me the most about the church?” This may seem a little strange but it is true. If you could change one thing about church, what would it be? Maybe you think the church is cold and uninviting. You could have the gift of hospitality and encouragement. Maybe you think it is disorganized. You could have the gift of administration. Maybe you think I am a terrible speaker. You may have the gift of teaching. What are you drawn to?

The important thing to remember about Spiritual Gifts is that they are often given to us in raw form and develop as we use them. You may have the gift of teaching but that doesn’t mean that the first time you speak everything will be perfect. The gift must be developed.

b. The first question was what to you envision yourself doing the second is what do you enjoy doing?

As you try to get involved in different areas of ministry there will be opportunities which you really enjoy. God does not call us to do things we hate. Unfortunately often people are forced through guilt into ministries they are not gifted for and the result is a bad experience. One way of knowing your gift is that it is an area that you enjoy. 

c. The third question was what do others encourage in you?

What gifts do others see in you? Often we do not see our own strengths and weaknesses but others do. Is there an area of ministry that others have recognized and encouraged you in? It is good to get feedback from others, especially people who know you well.

What do other people say comes easy to you and not so easy for others?

 What is easy for one person is not always easy for another!

2.Ability is important but it is only good if you are available.  Are you available?

John 6:10‭-‬11 NIV Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

Jesus was the multiplier of the food, not the distributor.

Matthew 14:18‭-‬19 NIV “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

While Jesus multiplied the supply of food he did not actually give anything to the people. His disciples had to do this. The same is true in ministry today. While Jesus is the giver of life, the church exists to take that message out to those who need to hear it. He has entrusted us with the task of distributing the message.

Matthew 28:18‭-‬20 NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

You can be the most gifted person in the world, but if you do not use your ability and are available then it is of no good to anyone. Ability is important, but availability is essential.

Too many Christians are not serving. When you ask them to do something they say, "Sorry, but that is not my spiritual gift." because they say that about everything and do nothing. The truth is that there are no such gifts as pew warming and sermon or music listening!! 

All of the spiritual gifts are proactive. and the gifts are given for the common good.

That means that church is not a spectator sport. It is not like a spiritual spa where you can just come every week and soak in God’s goodness. Just like in every family there are family responsibilities. You divide up the chores.

1 Corinthians 12:7‭-‬11 NIV Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Ephesians 4:16 NIV  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

What happens if each part doesn’t do their part? Then the work does not get done. 

As each part of  the body does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole Body is healthy and growing together. When we work together we get things done. You have a part to play. When we cooperate, we get more done together than we could ever get done by ourselves.

3.When you add ability and availability the result is  ABUNDANCE 

John 6:12‭-‬13 NIV  When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

They had the ability,  two fish and five loves of bread.  The disciples were available and distributed the food. Jesus did His thing and the result was that everyone was more than satisfied.

The multiplied food was more than enough to satisfy the crowd. Everyone ate as much as they could and even then there was a supply left over. Jesus did not simply make enough so that everyone could have a bite. There was an overwhelming abundance for all.

The offspring of ability and availability is abundance. Remember the story of Gideon and his 300? A small band of willing and able soldiers were able to defeat a great army because God was with them (Judges 6 &7). 

When you recognize your gifts and then use them for His kingdom there is blessing in your own life and also blessing in the lives of everyone around you.

When we use our gifts to share what we have and know, Jesus blesses and multiplies them. So share what you have; it is all you can do. You cannot give what you do not have. Share what you have; no one else can give what only you have to give. Although what you have to share may not seem to be much or even enough, you never know what God will do when you give him what you have!

 


Sunday, March 20, 2022

Either He Is or He Isn’t




This is the manuscript of the seventh sermon in the series "Responding to the Living Word".  

John 5:18 NIV  For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

If Jesus is not God in the flesh, you are free to walk away, but if he is God in the flesh, you must believe or face the unhappy consequences of your unbelief. He either is or he isn’t. You either will or you won’t. You will either live or you will die. What will you choose? I urge you to believe Jesus and choose life!

The choice is yours. Do you want to face the curse of your sin? Or, do you want the blessing of God in your life? God says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. . . . Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT).


A link for an audio recording of the sermon is at the end of the manuscript.

You can watch a video recording of the entire service on the Christ Church YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/pb6HLYHNAAg

 Scripture


John 5:16‭-‬29 NIV So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.


Text


John 5:18 NIV  For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.


Introduction 


Occasionally people will say, “I can’t accept anything by faith. I have to have reasons for believing.” Theology has sometimes been defined as “faith seeking understanding.” 


No Christian would deny that we are saved by faith, but not by faith in faith. We respond to God’s gift of salvation by putting faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world. 


Contrary to popular belief, Christianity is not based on “blind faith”; we have reasons for believing in Jesus Christ. We have something called “reasonable faith.” 


Reasonable faith is believing in something because of the evidence. 

         

We have reasonable faith when we believe something because it is the most reasonable inference from evidence, even though we may still have some unanswered questions.


I believe, for example, that penicillin helps fight bacterial infections. There is laboratory evidence to support this claim, and I’ve personally had and used it to fight infections. I still don’t know how (or why) penicillin works, but I have faith in penicillin, even though I have many unanswered questions. In a similar way, Jesus encouraged us to have a reasonable faith based on the evidence He provided. 


The greatest thing a child of God can do is to proclaim Jesus Christ as God’s Son, given to us for our eternal salvation, and urge people to use that information to make a decision as to  what they will do with that knowledge. 


At the end of Jesus’ earthly life, the Roman governor Pilate asked the crowd, “What shall I do then with Jesus?” 


Matthew 27:22 NIV “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!”


Essentially, that is the question every person must face. And there can be no half-hearted decision. As the Scripture  Jean read makes clear, Jesus claims to be the Son who “gives life to whom he is pleased to give it" 


John 5:21 NIV For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.


The Jews were ready to kill Jesus because they understood that he was claiming God as his Father, “making himself equal with God” 


John 5:18 NIV For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.


Jesus pointedly said, 


John 5:24 NIV “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.


So let’s face the issue squarely. 


Either Jesus is the Son of God and we must praise him, or he is a liar and deceiver and you are free, even wise, to walk away from him. 


If that radical choice shakes you up, then you understand a little bit of what the Jews felt that day when Jesus would not back away from his startling announcement, 


John 5:17 NIV … “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”


And 


John 5:22‭-‬23 NIV Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.


Remember Jesus and the people He was talking to were Jews and the Jews had come to a bedrock conviction that “the LORD our God is one LORD”.


Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.


They were strict monotheists, people believed that there is only one God, and who knew from their history the awful results of idolatry. For Jesus to claim to be God’s Son in a unique and shocking way was either blasphemy or a fantastic miracle. There could be no middle ground. 


And you will either decide to come to him and follow him as God’s Son, or you will decide to walk away from him, rejecting his claim to be the giver of life. If you walk away, you will face the judgment God has placed in his hands.


John 5:25‭-‬27 NIV Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.


Jesus did not simply claim to be the Son of man (a messianic title) and Son of God and expect people to believe it because he said it. He offered witnesses to the truth of his claim. 


I. Jesus presented three witnesses as evidence of the integrity of his claims. (John 5:30–47). 


The witnesses were:

  • John the Baptist

  • The works that He did

  • The Father Himself through the Scriptures 


A. John the Baptist testified on Jesus’ behalf.


John 5:31‭-‬35 NIV “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.


The power of this witness of John the Baptist, is the courage and integrity that surrounded his ministry. Everyone knew he was a truth teller no matter the cost to himself.


In front of the crowds who came to hear him, he did not mince his words or seek to soothe. Like a hot iron his words had pressed the weighty judgment of God down on the minds of the people. 


Matthew 3:7‭-‬10 NIV But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.


John had been the first to see and understand.


John 1:29‭, NIV The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 


‬34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”


And then John the preacher did something amazing: he turned his congregation over to someone else! He said of Jesus, he “ranks before me, because He existed before me”


John 1:30 NIV This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’


And he also said


John 3:30 NIV He must become greater; I must become less.”


B. The mighty works Jesus did also bear witness to Jesus’ authenticity (John 5:36).


John 5:36 NIV “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.


No magician could do the works Jesus did. He had turned water into wine.  We talked about that a couple of weeks ago.   He had told a woman all about her life and had given her living water that brought a joy she had never known.  The story of the woman at the well is at John 4:1–42. Jesus healed a man sick for thirty-eight years (John 5:1–9). He would feed a multitude of more than 5000 people from a small shared lunch (John 6:5–14), and he would raise a man dead for four days to life (John 11:1–44). Every mighty work was a sign that brought people into an awareness of God’s extravagant love for them. These mighty works Jesus offered as a witness to the truth of his claims. 


C. Jesus next cited the witness of the Father himself through the Scriptures (John 5:37–40). 


John 5:37‭-‬40 NIV And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.


The messianic prophecies of the prophets were often used by early Christian preachers as evidence of Jesus’ messiahship. But here in His conversation with the Pharisees, Jesus went all the way back to Moses—the lawgiver himself—the most important religious person in Jewish history. Jesus claimed Moses’ witness in the Scripture as God’s witness to the truth of Jesus’ claim to be God’s Son.


John 5:45‭-‬46 NIV “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.


Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible as we know it. For the Jews those books constituted the Law.  The first of those books is Genesis and Moses wrote what God told Eve in the garden of Eden.


Genesis 3:15 NIV And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”


Jesus was the offspring of the woman who would indeed bruise the head of the evil one, Satan.


Jesus was also the fulfillment of the law, the Mosaic Law that God gave to Moses who wrote it down.


Matthew 5:17‭-‬18 NIV “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.


Jesus sought to move the faith and worship of the people past the written Word to the living Word, past the Scriptures to the One whom the Scriptures bear witness to. He is the Savior in whom there is eternal life.


John 5:24‭, NIV “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 


‬39‭-‬40 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.


II. Today we can add even more evidence, more witness to establish the claim of Jesus’ unique place as God’s Son. 


  1. The first is History. 


We have the advantage of over two thousand years of experience with the life and teachings of Jesus. This historical argument points to what it has meant to the world that Jesus lived among us. 


Decades ago an anonymous person wrote: He was born in an obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he became an itinerant preacher. . . . Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life. 


B. Not only do we have history but in that history we have the entirety of Jesus’ life. 


There was a wonderful harmony in Jesus’ life between what he taught and how he lived, what he said and what he did. 


Who Jesus said that He was He was; what he said was true, he proved. Jesus said a seed must fall to the ground and die if it is to live, and then he went to the cross and offered himself in death for us. 


John 12:23‭-‬24 NIV Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.


He said you must love your enemies. 


Matthew 5:43‭-‬45 NIV “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.


He proved it because as he hung on the cross dying, he prayed,


Luke 23:34 NIV … “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.


The ability to complete His mission which was the salvation of mankind and, to live completely as He taught, is evidence to His claim.


C. The church is a witness. 


The life of the church after the crucifixion of Jesus would lead one to believe Jesus was much more than an ordinary man. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, there would have been no momentum for the church to live. The disciples were defeated and disheartened until Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection to empower them and send them forth. 


Matthew 28:16‭-‬20 NIV Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”


The very existence of the church—baptizing, observing the Lord’s Supper, preaching the Word, and seeing lives changed—is evidence to the truth of Jesus’ claims. 


D. And finally Your inner need is witness to His claim. 


Each person’s life is an open testimony to the reality of Jesus’ claims. He offers to meet our deepest needs. 


  • Do you experience sin and brokenness as a part of your daily experience? 


  • Do you know the dark feelings of guilt that arise not because somebody is trying to lay a guilt trip on you but because you really are guilty? 


  • Do you know about coming to the end of the day and having no reason to live another day? 


  • Do you know about loneliness and a need for love that is frustrated again and again by counterfeit imitations of the real thing? 


  • Are you afraid to die not knowing what, if anything, lies ahead for you? 


  • Have you reached most of your goals in life but are finding with some discomfort that the goals you have achieved may not have been worth what it has cost you to achieve them? 


If any of this description of human need touches you deeply, then Jesus has come to touch and to heal you at the point of your deepest need. 


  • Jesus is the One who heals our brokenness, forgives our sin, removes our guilt in his own deep acceptance of us. 


  • Jesus is the hope that gives purpose to life. 


  • It is his love for us that makes us know we are important and valuable to God. 


  • He is our eternal life, who fulfills the living of life now, who gives direction in the setting of lifelong goals, and who escorts us through death into the full and blessed presence of the eternal God. 


Conclusion 


If Jesus is not God in the flesh, you are free to walk away, but if he is God in the flesh, you must believe or face the unhappy consequences of your unbelief.


John 5:24‭-‬29 NIV “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.


He either is or he isn’t. You either will or you won’t. You will either live or you will die. What will you choose? I urge you to believe Jesus and choose life!


If you’re a believer, you can have the assurance that wherever you are, God is smiling on you. He’s gracious and attentive to you. He wants to give you His peace.


But this promise is only for the child of God. The blessings of the Bible are only for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus was cursed so that we could be blessed. He died so that we could live. And He was forsaken so we could be forgiven.


The Bible says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (Galatians 3:13 NKJV).


The choice is yours. Do you want to face the curse of your sin? Or, do you want the blessing of God in your life? God says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. . . . Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT).


God has made it clear. He wants to bless you. He wants to come into your life.


Romans 10:9‭-‬13 NIV If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”


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