Living as Witnesses: Sharing Faith with Grace and Power

John thirteen thirty four and thirty five says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Verse 35, listen to this, by this shall all, underline that, all men know that you're my disciples. All men know that you're my disciples. If you if you you, King James, you have love one to another. I challenged y'all a couple weeks ago and even last week to go a week without saying anything negative about anybody, especially to yourself in the mirror. Amen? Try a week without saying anything negative to anybody. And I know it's gonna be tough. You say, well, I've I've failed. Well, then ask the Lord to forgive you and start trying again. Amen? [00:55:24] (65 seconds)  #LoveLikeJesus

Let me tell you something, and I can be criticized. I don't care who criticizes me because that's between you and God, not be you and not me, you and God. I'm separate from that. God has sanctified, set me aside, amen, for his purpose, and his purpose is for my life is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in season, out of season with the power of god on my life, and I'm gonna tell you today that I don't care who you are. I don't care about who your son, daughter, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparents, grandchildren, whoever and what they've done, I'm gonna let you know as long as I'm pastor at this church, they're welcome here and if anyone tells you any different, you come to me and let me know and then I'll call them out. Can I get an amen? Amen. [00:57:12] (43 seconds)  #AllAreWelcomeHere

Because this is a church doesn't belong to me, doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the lord Jesus Christ. Bubba Pew is not the bishop here. The lord Jesus Christ is the bishop here. I'm just an under shepherd. If you're a pastor here, you're just an under shepherd of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Come on. Can I get it? Amen? Amen. Preaching. You say, what does that have to do with sharing your faith? Sharing your faith is not defining yourself by what you're against, but defining yourself for what you're for and what the Bible says we ought to be for. And that is with a lot of grace. We are in the church age. We should be full of love and grace. That doesn't mean accepting. I can love a child that may be doing something wrong in their life and tell them they're doing it wrong, but still love them. Can you do that as a parent, as an aunt and uncle, as a grandparent? Come on. Amen? The same way with God. And if you hey. You say, give me scripture. Well, just go over to Luke chapter 15 and read the whole chapter. [00:57:55] (57 seconds)  #GraceAndTruth

He said, he's not saying follow me as long as you want. I'm a make you fishers of men. He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So there has to be a time as leadership we come together, we pray together. Come on. Amen. And we share our faith. And how do you share our faith Is it when we're around the table, we're talking about a subject sometimes, sharing our faith is allowing the young people to come in, young men to come in, and we're we're talking and then they chime in because they read something and that is sharing your faith among the brother. Do you know part of sharing your faith may mean that you're going through a trial and tribulation? God's brought you something. You have a friend or you have a family member going through something, and you have an experience, a testimony that you can tell them, and you can share your faith how God brought you through it, and maybe they need to read this verse or that verse. That may be sharing your faith. [00:59:24] (56 seconds)  #FishersOfMen

You say, well, well, that's not getting them saved. Well, who wants to get saved with someone beating them over the head? You may get them to pray a prayer but that doesn't mean or you may make them cry enough to where you think they're broken enough. But truly did they accept Jesus Christ as lord of their life? See, that's salvation. Amen? Faith by with grace. I'm not saying we don't need to tell them the truth. We need to be very careful in telling the truth. Second of all, we need to know that we need to be empowered by the holy spirit. There are times that I have met people that people wanted me to talk to them, and I did not feel the leading of the holy spirit to say much of anything. And I kept my mouth shut. [01:00:19] (49 seconds)  #GentleWitness

Acts one eight says, but you shall receive power when the holy ghost has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth or until the end of the earth. Amen? Acts two one says, for when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Let me tell you why churches can't be in one accord because they don't have the power of the Holy Spirit. Somebody's working in the flesh. Somebody's working in the flesh. Somebody says, I demand my rights. I hate to tell you, you and I have no rights. When we become a child of God, we need to agree with God. Amen. Amen? That's the right that we have. [01:02:35] (58 seconds)  #PowerToWitness

``You see, here it is in Luke twenty four forty nine says, behold, I send you a promise of my father. Upon you, but but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endured with a power on high. Some of you need to understand today that Jesus told his disciples, you wait in Jerusalem till the power of the holy spirit's upon you. Some of you need to know today, you need to stop trying to tell your family and friends what to do until you study your bible and see what God's telling you to do. Come on. Allow the holy spirit when you study, meditate on the word of God. Come on. You can you know the power of the holy spirit with you. You can speak out to people then and they'll hear you. They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Can I get an amen? And that's the truth. That's in any leadership, whether it be at the church, whether it be at home, or whether it be at work. Any leadership. [01:05:43] (64 seconds)  #WaitForTheHolySpirit

The music minister, deputy Dejean, can tell you we've walked through with people that have come in this church and they have messed up and they have come and they've said stuff to us. And instead of instead of, setting them necessarily, we just listen to what the holy spirit said. I've taken criticism for it, and I've allowed people to go on and do certain things in the church. Why? Because the holy spirit of god said to keep them up, to keep them coming, and then they changed their whole life around because we gave them opportunity. Which one of us is sinless? Is there anybody here that doesn't have sin in their life today? Anyone? Only thing makes us righteous is Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen? [01:07:26] (45 seconds)  #RestoreWithGrace