Can I Get A Witness?

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Doc Dewberry

Faith Vision Christian Ministries

Sermon • Submitted 18 days ago • Presented 17 days ago • 1:42:10

Acts 1:8

1 John 1:5

John 1:6–8

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Title of the message this Morning

Can I Get A Witness?

In churches that practice call and response preaching, one might hear the preacher ask, “Can I get a witness?”

People might begin to testify or begin to say what God has done in his or her life:

He gave me peace, He healed my broken heart or He answered my prayer.

In the Old Testament, a fact had to be establish by witnesses.

It was not enough that one person could testify to an event, but two or three witnesses were necessary to verify that something had happened.

And don’t forget: Marvin Gaye - Can I get a Witness?

Main idea:

John the Baptist understood his calling and identity in the kingdom of God better than he understood what the coming Messiah was going to be like.

He fulfilled his calling, being a witness to the light of Christ, by pointing others to Jesus.

We are also called to be witnesses, and we have one advantage over John the Baptist, and that is we have a better understanding of what the Messiah is like.

He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who perfectly reveals the character and light of the Father.

Prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, you are the opener of eyes and the filler of hearts.

Help us to understand our calling and identity in your kingdom.

Help us be so captivated by your beauty and purity that we naturally point others to you.

We want to be witnesses of your salvation and love.

Amen.”

Scripture: John 1:6-8, 1 John 1:5, Acts 1:8

(All scripture is taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted)

Introduction

Hello Church!

Today our passage comes from the Gospel of John.

Now, there are two different “John’s” we’re going to discuss today.

The first one is John the Baptist.

Some of us are familiar with this guy.

He was the forerunner of Jesus who baptized people in the wilderness for forgiveness of their sins.

He’s the primary “John” we’ll talk about today.

The other John is actually the writer of the Gospel of John.

This is John the apostle.

He wrote the Gospel of John and is also credited with writing three other books in the New Testament (it was either John himself who wrote these epistles or possibly members of his community — some scholarship indicates the latter).

In today’s passage, we have John the apostle writing about John the Baptist.

And here’s what he writes:

Read John 1:6-8

"There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”

John the Baptist was sent from God.

He came as a witness to the light of Jesus Christ.

Now it’s interesting that while John the Apostle says that John the Baptist “came as a witness to the light,” John the Baptist never says those words in this gospel.

John the Baptist never says that Jesus is the light. Only John the Apostle says that.

And this is because John the Apostle became much more acquainted with Jesus than John the Baptist did.

John the Apostle was the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23).

John the Apostle was the longest-living disciple among the twelve.

He actually lived a very long time after the resurrection, a good 40 or maybe 50 years.

John the Apostle walked with Jesus in this life when Jesus lived on earth.

He also encountered the risen Christ, after the resurrection, through prayer and the church until his death.

So it’s fair to say that John the Apostle knew Jesus Christ more closely than John the Baptist did.

The Apostle simply had an abundance of years and experiences with Jesus.

He encountered a lot of truths about Jesus that John the Baptist didn’t have the chance to encounter yet.

And the same is true for you and me

You and I possibly know much more about Jesus the Messiah than John the Baptist knew.

We’ve encountered the Lord’s kindness, love, forgiveness, guidance, and healing power.

We also have two thousand years of church history to learn.

And we have the New Testament scriptures.

John the Baptist knew the Messiah was coming, but not much more than that.

He wasn’t exactly sure who it would be actually.

As it turns out, the Messiah was his very own cousin!

You and I have the benefit of receiving the outpouring of love and kindness in our life through the Holy Spirit.

You and I have tasted how good and gracious God the Father is.

You and I have the ability to pray to our Father in heaven — and then hear back from God.

We also have the gift of scripture to guide us, teach us, and inform us.

We have a lot of advantages over John the Baptist!

And yet, John the Baptist is still known as a “witness to the light” of Christ.

We can become witnesses to the light of Christ too.

Main Teaching

How can we become witnesses to the light of Christ?

John understood his calling and identity

It’s clear from reading the gospels that John the Baptist understood his calling and his identity in the kingdom of God.

He says about himself, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’” (John 1:23).

This is a reference to Isiah 40:3.

John reoriented his life around his identity and calling.

He moved to the wilderness, began preaching, and as people came to him, he baptized them in water for the forgiveness of their sins.

He declared boldly that the Messiah was coming and that people should get ready by “making straight the way for the Lord.”

He taught that while he baptized with water, the coming Messiah would

“baptize with the Holy Spirit” (1:33). That’s a reference to you and me, by the way!

John also understood what he was not.

He confessed freely that he was not the Messiah (1:20). He was not Elijah (1:21). And he was not the Prophet (1:21).

John had no misunderstanding about himself.

No inflated sense of self-importance.

No ego or arrogance that drove his ministry.

His identity was not rooted in ministry, but in obedience to the One who called him into the ministry.

This means he could lose his ministry (which he did) without losing his sense of belonging and closeness to the Father.

• Let me ask you, do you understand your calling and identity?

• Do you know why God has sent you here?

• Why does God have you on planet earth at this time and place in history?

Pastor:

Let me help you grow in their identity and calling in the kingdom of God!

How me help you have a growing sense of belonging and closeness to the Father!

Let me give you a hint.

Part of your calling is to be a witness for Christ.

Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

One of the natural outcomes of living and walking in the Spirit of God is that we become witnesses for Christ.

We start to encounter the love of God and the fruit of the Spirit, and we start to change.

And as we change, we talk more about Jesus.

We talk more about how Jesus is saving us in the here-and-now by helping us overcome our dysfunctions and bad habits and sinful impulses.

We become more Christlike and begin to love people the way God loves them.

And when they ask why, we point to Jesus.

This is all due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which God has given us.

This is part of our identity and calling.

God is light

We’ve been discussing John the Baptist but I want to go back to John the apostle, the writer of the Gospel of John.

He’s the guy who lived and walked with Jesus and then had 40-50 years of encountering the risen Christ after the resurrection.

He knew Jesus pretty well.

And he understood that Jesus came to reveal God the Father.

John writes towards the end of his life, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

"God is light." John is using light as a symbol of purity and goodness.

Light signifies God's holiness, righteousness, truth, and love.

“No Darkness at All.” John then emphasizes a key attribute of God— that there is no darkness in Him.

This means that God is completely free from any form of moral or spiritual darkness, sin, deceit, or impurity.

It emphasizes the absolute purity and goodness of God's nature.

God is light.

In him there is no darkness at all.

Think about this.

There is no darkness in God.

Zero. Zilch. Nada. No darkness at all.

People, this is very good news.

This is mind-blowing good news! God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

The most important exorcism of Jesus is that he cast the attributes of the devil out of our understanding of God.

There is no darkness in God.

God is not angry, he’s not disappointed (the word, “disappointed” never occurs in scripture), he’s not out for revenge, he does not inflict people with sickness or cancer or suffering.

God is not hungry for revenge or retribution.

He is not a liar, he is not selfish, he is not a narcissist.

God is not violent and he does not hate anyone.

All of those attributes are darkness, not light.

And in God there is no darkness.

God is light, pure light, beautiful light.

How do we know this?

Because God is like Jesus.

God is exactly like Jesus.

God has always been exactly like Jesus and God will always be exactly like Jesus.

God and Jesus are one and the same.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over creation”(Colossians 1:15).

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3).

If there is no darkness in Jesus, there is no darkness in God.

If we cannot imagine Jesus doing or saying something, we cannot imagine God doing or saying it.

When we start to see this, when we encounter this God of light and self-giving love, it becomes easy to be a witness because the beauty of the Father is irresistible.

Isn’t this good news?

Wouldn’t you like to be a witness of this God, in whom there is no darkness at all?

Maybe you can become an exorcist too!

Maybe you can live and speak in such a way that casts the attributes of the devil out of the understanding of God that people have around you!

Wouldn’t that be fantastic?

Now that’s an amazing calling!

Keep it simple

Finally, I want to encourage you to keep it simple.

What if your calling is simply to love and serve the person in front of you, no matter who that is at any given moment?

Maybe it’s your boss, your co-worker, the cashier, the flight attendant, your spouse, or someone else.

Your only job is to love and serve them with the self-giving love God has poured into you.

And if they ask you why, you can point them to Jesus.

You can simply say you are passing along the love you’ve been given.

You are loved, and because you are loved, you can love and serve others well.

That’s being a witness to the light and love of Christ.

That’s one of many ways.

Here’s a beautiful thought for you:

“We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” -Madeliene L’Engle (Lang ill)

Isn’t that beautiful?

Illustration:

Pastor, share how you’ve grown over time to see the “light that is so lovely you want with all your heart” to better know the God who radiates it.

Conclusion

John the Baptist was a witness to the light.

And yet, we know so much more about the Lord than he did.

We know more of the goodness, truth, love, and kindness of the Father.

We know that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

Let us also be known as witnesses to the light.

Let us love and serve whomever God puts in front of us today and everyday.

Let’s pray together.

Salvation:

The Word of God says in:

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you’d would like to receive Jesus today, please pray this prayer with all of us:

Lord I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died On the cross for my sins and His resurrection from the dead gives me eternal life. I ask forgiveness of my sins, and I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

Pastor Doc@FaithVision.org

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Benediction

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”

— Acts 1:8 —

Remember!

We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” -We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” -Madeliene L’Engle (Lang ill)