Sermon

”Testify!” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Sun AM | Joshua 4

Bethel Baptist Church | Hillsville, VA

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. The title of the message today is just

  2. one word. Last week we preached on the

  3. word remember.

  4. And today we're going to preach on the

  5. word testify.

  6. Testify. Here's what we know. There is a

  7. world outside of these walls that you

  8. and I are in this morning who need to

  9. hear how great our God is. Outside of

  10. these walls, there's a world of people.

  11. There's a community of people. There are

  12. neighbors who are our our neighbors who

  13. are people. All outside of these walls

  14. in our community and in our

  15. neighborhoods and in our workplaces and

  16. in the stores that we go into, there are

  17. people who need to hear how great our

  18. God is.

  19. There's a mama who's struggling to hold

  20. it all together and she needs to hear a

  21. testimony of how God helped you. There's

  22. an addict out there who needs to hear

  23. how God can deliver them. There's a dad

  24. out there who needs to know that God is

  25. still able to be his strength. There's a

  26. grandma or a grandpa out there who are

  27. praying for their grandkids who need to

  28. hear again how powerful God is. There's

  29. a neighbor who needs to hear about our

  30. God's mercy and grace. There's a

  31. co-orker who needs to hear about love

  32. and compassion of Jesus. There's a

  33. friend who needs to see the joy of Jesus

  34. overflowing from you. There's a hurting

  35. Christian who needs to hear about God's

  36. restoring power. There's a child who

  37. needs to hear those Sunday school

  38. lessons one more time from God's amazing

  39. word. There is a world outside of these

  40. walls and they need to hear how great

  41. our God is.

  42. How are they going to hear? How are they

  43. going to know?

  44. They will know through the testimonies

  45. of God's people. They will know through

  46. the testimonies of the church. Look at

  47. Joshua chapter 4. Look at verse 23 and

    Joshua 4 chapter mention

  48. 24. We'll read the text. I'll give you

  49. some context and then most of the

  50. message today will be application. Look

  51. at verse 23. For the Lord your God dried

  52. up the waters of Jordan from before you

  53. until you were passed over as the Lord

  54. your God did to the Red Sea which he

  55. dried up from before us until we were

  56. gone over. that all of the people of the

  57. earth might know the hand of the Lord. I

  58. want I want to read that phrase one more

  59. time. You see that in your Bible? That

  60. all the people of the earth might know

  61. the hand of the Lord. Let's say it all

  62. together. You've got it in your Bible.

  63. I've got it in mine. Let's all say it

  64. out loud together here. Here we go.

  65. Verse 24. That all the people of the

  66. earth might know the hand of the Lord.

  67. that it is mighty that you might fear

  68. the Lord your God forever. We come back

  69. to Joshua chapter 4 and we understand

    Joshua 4 chapter mention

  70. the context uh from last week. We spent

  71. a great deal of time framing this

  72. chapter and walking through this chapter

  73. and and looking at what they have done.

  74. They've come across the Jordan River.

  75. God parted the waters. They come across

  76. on dry ground and they're now entering

  77. into the land of Canaan. They've waited

  78. for 500 years to claim this land. Uh,

  79. this generation has waited for their

  80. whole life to claim this land. And now

  81. it's finally time to go into what we

  82. call the promised land. It's time for

  83. them to go into that land that God had

  84. promised them, that God had given them,

  85. that land of Canaan.

  86. But before they do anything, before they

  87. go any farther, before they set foot

  88. into this land, before they start

  89. battling Jericho or Ai or the other

  90. battles that we'll read about in the

  91. coming weeks, before they do any of

  92. those things, God tells them to pause.

  93. Wait a moment. There's something I'd

  94. like for you to do. And he tells them to

  95. construct two altars. One on the west

  96. bank of the Jordan River and one in the

  97. midst of the Jordan River. And we talked

  98. about those two altars and what they

  99. mean and why God told him to construct

  100. them last week. And this week we come to

  101. the end of the chapter and we're just

  102. going to look at these two verses

  103. and what these altars are. They are

  104. meant in part to help the nation of

  105. Israel remember their God. That's where

  106. we focused last week. But they're also

  107. built as a way to be a testimony.

  108. They're a testimony to those people who

  109. did not come across the Jordan River.

  110. It's a testimony to the city of Jericho

  111. that when they look down from the top of

  112. their wall and they look out across the

  113. plane and they see that mound of rocks

  114. standing on the west bank of the Jordan

  115. River, they're immediately reminded of

  116. the hand of the Lord.

  117. It's a testimony to all of the

  118. Canaanites who live in the land of

  119. Canaan that God is a miracle working

  120. God. that God has a mighty hand. That's

  121. straight out of verse 24. It's a

  122. testimony.

  123. It's a testimony.

  124. Last week, we talked about these two

  125. altars and how they are a calling. They

  126. tell us to remember what God has done

  127. for us. There's three reasons that we

  128. gave and I just want to remind you of

  129. them for context sake. We straight from

  130. the text, we saw that we must remember

  131. what God has done. First of all, for the

  132. sake of our children. Second of all, for

  133. the season of crisis that we will all go

  134. through. And then third, for the

  135. seriousness of the conflict because

  136. there is an enemy and there is a battle

  137. that will take place. So we must

  138. remember what God has done. But the

  139. these altars are not just for memorials.

  140. And a lot of times churches get stuck in

  141. a rut of tradition because they have

  142. erected a memorial and it's just a

  143. memorial. Well, it's always been there.

  144. We've always done that and it's just a

  145. pile of rocks. It's just a memorial. And

  146. we must remember what God has done for

  147. us. But we must remember and we must

  148. also testify.

  149. We must tell someone about how great our

  150. God is. I want to show you five specific

  151. things from this text. Five testimonies.

  152. Now, here's the deal I'll make with you

  153. this morning. I'm going to preach these

  154. real fast

  155. as long as you give me some feedback.

  156. Okay. If I don't see no smiles, if I

  157. don't hear no amens, if I don't get no

  158. feedback, you just sit there like a bump

  159. on the log. I'm going to go back and

  160. preach them over and over and over and

  161. we'll be here till 2 o'clock this

  162. afternoon. All right, y'all with me?

  163. Here's what I'd like to do this morning.

  164. These are five testimonies that come

  165. straight out of these two verses. And I

  166. would like to preach them this morning

  167. as my testimony to you. I want to give

  168. you an example. You don't have to be

  169. this animated. You don't have to be this

  170. crazy. You don't have to talk this fast

  171. when you do it. But these are five

  172. testimonies that you can go outside of

  173. these doors with and you can tell

  174. somebody about these five things about

  175. your God. Are you ready? Put down number

  176. one. We testify about his provision.

  177. Look at verse 23.

  178. For the Lord your God dried up the

  179. waters of the Jordan from before you.

  180. The Lord dried up the waters of the

  181. Jordan. There is provision in that

  182. statement. Here stands the nation of

  183. Israel looking back at was just a moment

  184. ago a rushing river overflowing its

  185. banks completely impassible. There was

  186. no way to get across. And now they stand

  187. on the other side looking back over this

  188. riverbed that moments ago was rushing

  189. overflowing its banks. Impassable now as

  190. dry as the Sahara Desert. There's no

  191. water in it. There's no mud in it. It's

  192. not sloshy. It's not sticky. It's dry

  193. all the way across. And as they stand on

  194. the west bank and before they go any

  195. farther into the promised land, they

  196. construct an altar as they're looking

  197. over this dried up riverbed completely

  198. dry. And it's a testimony that God

  199. provided for them. What they needed,

  200. what they were facing, God came through.

  201. And friends, this morning I've come to

  202. tell you that whatever river you are

  203. standing at the foot of right now,

  204. whatever river it is in your life,

  205. whatever mountain there is in your life,

  206. whatever valley you're going through in

  207. your life, whatever storm of your life

  208. that you're facing, you use whatever

  209. analogy you want to, when you're

  210. standing there and you're looking at it

  211. and you're thinking, "There's no way we

  212. get across this. There's no way we get

  213. through this. There's no way we come

  214. over the other side of this. This is not

  215. going to work out good. This is not

  216. going to end well. There's a rushing

  217. river before you. I serve a God who can

  218. part the river and make the ground

  219. underneath completely dry. I serve a God

  220. who can provide exactly what you need

  221. when you need it. We serve a providing

  222. God. And somebody out there needs to

  223. hear it from you that your God provides

  224. for you.

  225. >> Can I give you some examples this

  226. morning?

  227. right now. Right now in this very

  228. moment, as far as I know, unless

  229. something is broken, we are live on

  230. YouTube

  231. right now. Yeah, that's a praise. Guess

  232. what? It didn't cost the church hardly

  233. any money at all to buy a a very nice

  234. camera, set up everything, do all of

  235. this. Why? Because God provided.

  236. Where God guides, he provides. Where God

  237. takes you, he's going to make a way. We

  238. are getting ready to start a $15,000

  239. building project right here in our

  240. church. We're going to put in a new AC

  241. unit in the next couple of weeks. A

  242. brand new AC unit, heat pump. We're

  243. putting in a natural gas stove burner to

  244. heat the building in the winter time.

  245. It's a $15,000 project. We're going to

  246. pay cash for it. When they're done with

  247. it, we have the money in the bank right

  248. now. All of it. Why? Because we serve a

  249. God who provides. You say, "Where'd the

  250. money come from?" I can't tell you. I

  251. really don't know who gave it. I just

  252. saw it show up in the bank account.

  253. Somebody felt led of God to give some

  254. money to a church who had a project

  255. going on. You say, "Well, that's just

  256. coincidence." It's not coincidence. It's

  257. a God who provides for his people. And

  258. every time I look at my life, every time

  259. there's been a need, every time there's

  260. been a river, every time there's been a

  261. mountain, every time I felt in a valley,

  262. every time there was a great need in my

  263. life, I serve a God who has come through

  264. every single time. God provide. And we

  265. ought not be ashamed of the fact that

  266. God is the one who provides for us.

  267. Don't be ashamed. Don't be bashful in

  268. giving him the credit that he deserves

  269. for providing for his people. He's a God

  270. who provides for us.

  271. Number two,

  272. not only do we testify that he is a God

  273. who provides, but I want you to write

  274. this down. We testify that he is a God

  275. who protects. Number two, his

  276. protection.

  277. Now, notice what it says in verse 23.

  278. Very simple, straight from the text. For

  279. the Lord your God dried up the waters of

  280. Jordan from before you until you were

  281. passed over. Now, that's a little bitty

  282. statement that we read over. But think

  283. about the alternative. Think about if

  284. that was not true. God parts the waters

  285. like he did at the Red Sea and and half

  286. the nation gets over and just like God

  287. did at the Red Sea when the Egyptians

  288. got in the middle, the second half of

  289. the nation of Israel gets on the Jordan

  290. River and all of a sudden here comes the

  291. waters back. What a catastrophe that

  292. would have been. I mean, there's they're

  293. standing in harm's way. This rushing

  294. river, you imagine when it does come

  295. flowing back, how fast it's coming back.

  296. Can you imagine how swift this thing is

  297. going to flow back into place? Imagine

  298. if God didn't protect them by holding

  299. back the walls, by holding back the

  300. waters, by pushing things back and say,

  301. "Hey, we're going to go across on dry

  302. ground." And then he just throws in this

  303. little statement, just a few words.

  304. Until everybody's over, I'm going to

  305. protect all of you. We're going to make

  306. sure everybody gets safely across. And I

  307. am thankful this morning for God's

  308. protection in my life.

  309. I'm thankful this morning that God has

  310. protected me. You know you're here this

  311. morning. You are right here in this

  312. place in that seat this morning only

  313. only because God has protected you. You

  314. could be in a hundred other places, but

  315. you serve a God who protected you and

  316. got you here this morning. And you're

  317. here and you're healthy and you're alive

  318. and you're breathing God's air

  319. cuz God protects his people. And

  320. somebody out there needs to know that

  321. the people in the church, the people who

  322. call themselves the church, the people

  323. who say they love God, we have a

  324. testimony that our God has protected us.

  325. Even when things get bad and

  326. circumstances are uncomfortable, think

  327. about this now. Even when things are

  328. uncomfortable, the doctor gives you news

  329. that you don't want, the situation is

  330. dark and and and you you don't know

  331. what's going on and you wonder what's

  332. happening and and things don't seem like

  333. like they should be. Even in those

  334. moments, I can have peace. Because

  335. imagine how bad it would be if God

  336. wasn't holding back the waters in that

  337. moment. Imagine how much worse things

  338. could be if God wasn't there protecting

  339. his people. You see, in in it all,

  340. through it all, God takes care of you

  341. and I. Put down number three.

  342. Number one, his provision. Number two,

  343. his p uh number two, his protection.

  344. Number three, his persistence.

  345. Look at verse 23 again. For the Lord

  346. your God dried up before you until you

  347. were passed over Jordan. And then he

  348. says this, as the Lord your God did to

  349. the Red Sea, which he dried up uh from

  350. before us until we were gone over

  351. from the Red Sea all the way to the

  352. Jordan River

  353. near almost 40 years of time. From that

  354. moment to this moment, every single day,

  355. God persistently supplied for the needs

  356. of his people. Think about it. They wake

  357. up every morning, there's no food. They

  358. start to grumble and complain, "God,

  359. what are we supposed to eat out here in

  360. the desert?" They wake up the next

  361. morning, mana on the ground,

  362. heavenly honey buns laying all over the

  363. place. And they just wake up and start

  364. eating. And every morning, every morning

  365. they wake up, there they are. Mana

  366. laying all over the ground.

  367. Well, they get upset about that and they

  368. start complaining, "God, well, you got

  369. to give us some meat to eat. We can't

  370. just eat heavenly honey buns all the

  371. time. We got to have some substance."

  372. They wake up the next morning, there's

  373. quail. So many quail, you can't even

  374. walk through the camp. There's quail

  375. just dead everywhere, fresh. They cook

  376. them up. They eat meat. Oh god, we don't

  377. have nothing to drink. What'd you do?

  378. Bring us out here into the desert just

  379. to let us thirst to death. We don't have

  380. nothing to drink. Moses goes over and

  381. hits a rock and water start it becomes a

  382. fountain and water starts coming out of

  383. the rock. I mean a miracle God

  384. persistently providing for his people.

  385. Every day they wake up. Every day

  386. there's mercy's new. Every day they wake

  387. up there's grace that's new. Every day

  388. that they wake up, God's provided

  389. something else for them. Persistently

  390. following them from the Red Sea all the

  391. way to the Jordan River. And they're

  392. testifying here in verse 23. They say,

  393. "God, all the way back there, you took

  394. care of us. And right now, you're taking

  395. care of us. And all the days in between,

  396. you have taken care of us. You have

  397. provided for us. You have given us the

  398. grace and the mercy and the protection

  399. and the provision that we need. You have

  400. persistently followed us from the Red

  401. Sea even to then even to now. God was

  402. good to them with the mana. God was good

  403. to them with the quail. God was good to

  404. them when water came from a rock. God

  405. was good to them when they complained

  406. and murmured. God was good to them when

  407. they sinned. God was good to them when

  408. they did not deserve it. God des good to

  409. them even when they didn't want God to

  410. be good to them. God still poured out

  411. blessings on them over and over and over

  412. and over and over and over and over

  413. again. God's goodness pursued after

  414. them. I can imagine them if the song had

  415. been written. I imagine them standing on

  416. the west bank of the Jordan River

  417. thinking about the last 40 years and

  418. perhaps they would have begun to sing,

  419. "All my life you have been faithful. All

  420. my life you have been so so good." And

  421. they maybe they just skipped right on

  422. ahead to the bridge part and they began

  423. to sing, "Your goodness is running after

  424. running after me. You've been chasing us

  425. this whole time. We tried to abandon

  426. you. We tried to run from you. We tried

  427. to forget you. We tried to complain and

  428. murmur. But from that day until this

  429. day, our God has persistently pursued

  430. us. His goodness has been running after

  431. us. David would write years later when

  432. he pinned Psalm 23, the last verse he

  433. wrote. Surely goodness and mercy shall

  434. follow me all the days of my life. There

  435. is a God in heaven who persistently

  436. pursues his people with goodness. And

  437. somebody out there needs to hear it from

  438. somebody in here that my God has been

  439. faithful for my whole life. That doesn't

  440. mean things never got difficult. That

  441. doesn't mean things never got got

  442. uncomfortable. Oh no, there's trials and

  443. there's there's troubles and there's

  444. storms and there are things that we go

  445. through. Sure, we understand that.

  446. But all my life he's been faithful. All

  447. my life he's been so so good

  448. persistently

  449. following his people.

  450. Can I give you a just a simple

  451. application for me personally

  452. and I think you could apply this too to

  453. your life. I look back over my life as a

  454. I grew up in a Christian home. I've been

  455. in church. I was in church nine months

  456. before I was born. I I have been in

  457. church my whole life. We would go to

  458. church multiple times a day, many days

  459. of the week. And and this is all I've

  460. ever known. And and as I look back over

  461. my life, I I can look and I can see God

  462. has been so good

  463. to this guy right here.

  464. Very practically, every time I was

  465. hungry, there was food. Every time I was

  466. thirsty, there was drink. Every time I

  467. had a need, God provided. Every time I I

  468. struggled, God was my peace. Every time

  469. I look at my life and I look at I can

  470. think back to the college days when I

  471. was in college and undergrad and I

  472. remember getting the bill in the mailbox

  473. and it says so much money is due by this

  474. date or you can't take your final exams

  475. and I didn't have the money.

  476. And I remember how God provided. I

  477. remember God doing different things, all

  478. kinds of different things. I've had

  479. checks just show up in the mailbox. I've

  480. got stories like that. I I went and

  481. checked my mailbox one time in college

  482. and and had to pay money and opened it

  483. up and there was a check. I have no idea

  484. to this day who sent it. Had no name on

  485. it. It was just an amount, just a

  486. number. Deposited that check, paid the

  487. bill. God provided

  488. persistently following us. You know what

  489. that tells me? You know what that tells

  490. me? If God has been with me my whole

  491. life up to this point and on this year

  492. 2026

  493. spiritually I turned 20 years old this

  494. year my 20th and this fall

  495. if God's been with me for the last 20

  496. years

  497. then I can mark it down. He's going to

  498. keep following me. He's going to keep

  499. pursuing me. He's going to keep running

  500. after me. He's going to keep being

  501. persistent with his goodness in my life.

  502. He's been so good already. that gives me

  503. anticipation and excitement to look

  504. forward to what the future might hold

  505. because he's going to still be good. He

  506. said, "I will never leave thee nor

  507. forsake thee. I will never leave thee or

  508. forsake thee. I'm never going to leave

  509. you abandoned. I'm always going to come

  510. through."

  511. I'm so thankful for every time I prayed,

  512. he answered me. When I looked up, he

  513. showed himself to me. When I needed

  514. comfort, he was there. When I needed

  515. peace, he was there. When I needed help,

  516. he was there. When I failed him, he

  517. forgave me. When I've been discouraged,

  518. he encouraged me. When I backslid away

  519. from him, he drew me. When I was a

  520. sinner, he loved me. I'm so thankful all

  521. through my life, from the day I was born

  522. until the day that I'm standing here

  523. right before you this morning. God has

  524. been good to me. And God has been good

  525. to you just the same. And you ought to

  526. leave this place today and go testify.

  527. From the Red Sea to the Jordan River,

  528. God's been good.

  529. All right, let me give you two more.

  530. Number four,

  531. write this down. We testify of his

  532. preeminence.

  533. This is the phrase that we read

  534. together. That all the people of the

  535. earth might know the hand of the Lord.

  536. These altars that they are building are

  537. not only for their own benefit, but they

  538. are for the benefit of the world around

  539. them. They're they're not just meant to

  540. be exquisite, but they're meant to be

  541. evangelistic.

  542. Do you hear that? They're not meant to

  543. be exquisite. They're not just supposed

  544. to be some memorial that they construct,

  545. but they're their purpose is to be

  546. evangelistic, to speak of the power of

  547. God that a world might know. That a

  548. world might know that they serve a

  549. mighty God. They're not meant to be just

  550. traditional pieces. They're formed to be

  551. testimonies. They're not meant to just

  552. be props, but they're pictures of the

  553. power of God.

  554. The purpose of these altars is to

  555. demonstrate that the hand of the Lord is

  556. mighty in a lost and a pagan world. All

  557. of those Canaanites when they saw that

  558. altar, it immediately brought to their

  559. mind the goodness of God. And you, you,

  560. Peter writes in the book of First Peter

  561. that you and I are lively stones. You

  562. and I are living testimonies. You and I

  563. are walking and talking altars of the

  564. goodness of God. When people look at

  565. you, they ought to see how good and how

  566. strong and how great and how mighty your

  567. God is. Just like when the Canaanites

  568. looked at those altars, they saw how

  569. great their God was. When they look at

  570. you and I, when the world out there

  571. looks at you and I, when they talk to

  572. you and I, when they interact with you

  573. and I, do they see Jesus? Do they

  574. recognize how good and how great our God

  575. is?

  576. I think in the church, I'm just going to

  577. pause here for two minutes and I'm going

  578. to make a church application. Okay? I

  579. think in the church a lot of times we've

  580. we've began to lift up things that God

  581. never intended to be lifted up. We build

  582. altars in the church and we we do it in

  583. the name of religion. But I wonder what

  584. would happen if instead of focusing on

  585. on all of the stuff or or the things

  586. that God uh has given us or or however

  587. you want to say it, the things that we

  588. have made idols is really what it is.

  589. They're these little things that we have

  590. crafted and and we begin to worship the

  591. thing. We begin to worship the altar

  592. instead of the God that it was built

  593. for. We begin to worship the stone

  594. instead of the God that it pictures for

  595. us. And then we begin to argue over

  596. things. And I wonder what would happen

  597. if instead of all of that mess, what if

  598. the church would just come together and

  599. just start testifying about how good God

  600. has been to us. That's it. That's it.

  601. You realize it's not about the altar.

  602. The altar was just the picture. It was

  603. simply simply pointing them to Jesus. It

  604. was simply a testimony that pointed them

  605. to Jesus. And so we must point people to

  606. Jesus.

  607. Let me give you one more and I'm done. I

  608. saw this last night. This message was

  609. only supposed to have four points, but I

  610. saw this la late last night. I was up

  611. way too long last night into the wee

  612. hours of this morning and I stumbled

  613. across this as I was studying this text.

  614. Write down number five. The purpose.

  615. What's the purpose of testifying? What's

  616. the purpose of all of this? I you've got

  617. to look at the last statement in verse

  618. 24.

  619. He said, "That you might fear the Lord

  620. your God forever." Notice the text.

  621. Notice exactly what your Bible says.

  622. that you might fear the Lord.

  623. Well, I thought that we were doing all

  624. of this testifying for a world that's

  625. outside these walls. I thought we were

  626. doing all of this so that a pagan world

  627. would see our God. True. But at the end

  628. of the chapter, God doesn't say it's for

  629. them. God says it's for you so that this

  630. this nailed me in my heart last night,

  631. this morning really.

  632. It's for you. The testimony, yes, they

  633. will benefit, but your testimony is for

  634. your church.

  635. Your brothers and sisters need to hear

  636. your testimony. The text is very clear.

  637. God does not say, "So that the

  638. Canaanites might fear the Lord." He said

  639. that in so many words in the first part

  640. of verse 24. Yeah, we want to testify

  641. and yeah, we want to tell people how

  642. good our God is so that they might see

  643. how great our God is. So that they might

  644. understand his might and see the hand of

  645. the Lord. But but notice how IT ENDS.

  646. WHAT'S THE final purpose? It's not about

  647. them. It's about you.

  648. It's for your benefit.

  649. Two things. First of all, that you might

  650. fear the Lord, reverence him, stay in

  651. awe of him. And then this right here,

  652. the last word in the chapter, you cannot

  653. miss it. It's so good. That you might

  654. fear the Lord your God

  655. >> forever.

  656. Forever.

  657. Do you realize that the greatest way to

  658. keep a church faithful to our God is for

  659. other church people to tell them how

  660. great their God is?

  661. I'm done. You can come, babe.

  662. I'm going to try my very best to give

  663. this to you and I hope it'll help you.

  664. Faithfulness

  665. faithfulness

  666. comes directly

  667. from the testimonies of God's people. We

  668. have got a problem in our churches all

  669. across America. I watch churches almost

  670. every day of my life. I'm tuned into

  671. some church somewhere in the United

  672. States.

  673. And there's a lot of good churches.

  674. But you know what I see a lot of times

  675. in churches is we have a church that

  676. comes together. We meet on a Sunday. We

  677. gather in a place like this. We sing

  678. songs like we sang this morning. We hear

  679. a preacher get up and preach something

  680. that the Lord has laid on his heart that

  681. he studied over. and we leave.

  682. And if we talk to anyone at all, the

  683. conversation never goes farther than,

  684. "How was your week? It's good to see you

  685. today." And that's it.

  686. And we never tell one another, "Hey,

  687. brother,

  688. I'm going through some stuff right now.

  689. Would you pray for me?"

  690. And we never tell one another, hey, hey,

  691. I I I know that it's church and church

  692. is getting ready to start and and but

  693. I've just got to take 30 seconds and

  694. tell you what God did in my life this

  695. week.

  696. We wonder why people why is it so easy

  697. for people to walk out of the church and

  698. not come back? Why is it so easy for

  699. people not to be faithful to our God?

  700. Could it have something to do with the

  701. fact that when they come to church, they

  702. don't even hear about their God?

  703. Could it be that when they come to

  704. church, nobody's excited about it? Could

  705. it be that nobody's faithful because

  706. when they come into the house of God and

  707. they look around at people who are

  708. supposed to be worshiping, we just sit

  709. around and act like God's never done

  710. nothing for us. And so people who want

  711. to be faithful are not faithful

  712. because somebody's not telling them

  713. about what God has done.

  714. The altars are for you. The testimonies

  715. are for you.

  716. Yeah, you can walk out of here today and

  717. you can go tell somebody about Jesus.

  718. But let me give you another challenge

  719. before you leave today. Why don't you

  720. find somebody and you tell them

  721. something that God has done for you this

  722. week?

  723. Why can't we brag on Jesus as

  724. Christians? I'm concerned about this.

  725. You try and talk to another Christian,

  726. especially in our area. I don't know

  727. what it is about this area, but you try

  728. and talk to another believer, somebody

  729. who says they are saved and and that

  730. they're on their way to heaven, and you

  731. try and talk about how good God's been,

  732. and it feels like the most awkward

  733. conversation you've ever had in your

  734. life. Why?

  735. And we wonder why people say, "All that

  736. church stuff's not for me." Could it

  737. have something to do with the fact that

  738. God's people are not being testifiers of

  739. God's goodness?

  740. Has God been good to you? Oh, you sang

  741. about it this morning. You sang the song

  742. evidence. Oh, you sang the song uh uh

  743. gratitude. And yeah, we worshiped God in

  744. those songs. But did you mean it? Did it

  745. mean anything to you?

  746. I'm concerned about one thing

  747. really,

  748. and it has nothing to do with you.

  749. has to do with me

  750. because as I look back over my life, I

  751. see God's goodness over and over and

  752. over and over and over and over. Last 20

  753. years of my life, really my whole life,

  754. even before I was saved, God was good to

  755. me. And I come to this place this

  756. morning and I stand before these people

  757. this morning.

  758. And I'm terrified of something.

  759. I'm fearful of something.

  760. I'm genuinely terrified

  761. >> that between this day and the day that I

  762. go to heaven,

  763. I'll be unfaithful

  764. to the God who has been so good to me.

  765. I'm being as transparent as I know how

  766. to be right now. I'm terrified of it.

  767. That the devil will get me with a

  768. temptation and that the devil will will

  769. stumble me and make me fall.

  770. I mean, the New New Testament talks

  771. about this. Peter talked about this.

  772. Hey, take heed that you don't fall. It's

  773. a good thing to be terrified of, but I

  774. want you to know I'm terrified of it.

  775. And part of the reason I'm so scared of

  776. failing is because I have seen men way

  777. more spiritual than I am, way closer to

  778. God than I am.

  779. And they fell.

  780. I watched church members. No, there

  781. wasn't pastors, but they were good,

  782. godly church members who were in church,

  783. who were active, who were serving, who

  784. would have been honored on a Sunday like

  785. this,

  786. and they fell.

  787. Unfaithful.

  788. Why? What happened? I can't put a finger

  789. on it completely, but I really believe

  790. that if the church would just get

  791. comfortable praising God, that if we

  792. would just get comfortable lifting up

  793. the name of Jesus, then all men would be

  794. drawn. In fact,

  795. that scripture

  796. Jesus himself said, "If I be lifted up,

  797. I will draw all men to myself."

  798. So, if people are not being drawn, if

  799. people are becoming unfaithful to church

  800. and unfaithful to God,

  801. that's not God's fault.

  802. We're missing something on our end.

  803. And I want to tell you church, as your

  804. pastor this morning, from the bottom of

  805. my heart, the thing I desire more than

  806. anything in this life, I don't I don't

  807. care if I'm ever rich. Certainly don't

  808. care if I'm ever famous.

  809. Could care less about

  810. I mean, honestly, I don't I don't even

  811. care about a big church.

  812. I don't want to be unfaithful to the God

  813. who has been so good to me.

  814. And you know the way one of the most

  815. encouraging things in my life I'm done.

  816. I'm telling you this right here and I'm

  817. done. The most encouraging thing in my

  818. life is when somebody another Christian

  819. comes into my life and they say, "Pastor

  820. John, can I tell you what God has done

  821. for me?"

  822. Go read some stories of the saints who

  823. have gone on before and you read about

  824. how God provided for them and how God

  825. took care of them and how God made a way

  826. for them.

  827. And all of a sudden, my discouraged

  828. heart becomes a little more encouraged.

  829. If they can do it, I can do it. If God

  830. can do it for them, God can do it for

  831. me. It's the testimony of God's people

  832. that motivates God's people to keep

  833. going. So, if the testimony is absent,

  834. if the altars have been broken down, if

  835. we're not telling one another about how

  836. good God's been, don't be surprised when

  837. we walk out the doors and we do not feel

  838. inclined to ever come back.

  839. unfaithful

  840. because we never heard about how great

  841. he was.

  842. May it not be so in this place.

  843. In this place, may we be a people who so

  844. adore our savior that every person we

  845. come in contact with, we going to talk

  846. to them about Jesus, whether they want

  847. to hear it or not. Your neighbors, your

  848. co-workers, your family, they know when

  849. they come into your house, they going to

  850. hear about Jesus. They're going to hear

  851. about what God's done for you. They're

  852. going to hear about how he saved you.

  853. They're going to hear about how he

  854. provided for you. They're going to hear

  855. about what he's doing in your church.

  856. They're going to hear about Jesus. Well,

  857. I don't think that that would go over

  858. very well. Look at Jesus's ministry. Did

  859. anything he say go over very well?

  860. Let's just give him praise. Let's just

  861. lift him up. And let's see if he doesn't

  862. draw all men to himself.

  863. It's for you just as much as it's for

  864. them. Here's what I want us to do today.

  865. It's been a little bit of a different

  866. Sunday and I I understand that. But I

  867. hope that the word of God has spoken to

  868. your heart this morning.

  869. I'm going to have Esther sing that song

  870. that she sang at the beginning again.

  871. The goodness of Jesus.

  872. And as she sings, I just want you to

  873. think back over the message today. Maybe

  874. pray a little bit.

  875. testify to God. Tell him how good he's

  876. been to you, how thankful you are for

  877. it. And then I want you to commit

  878. if you would do so. Would you commit

  879. right now in this moment while she sings

  880. that you're going to go tell somebody

  881. about Jesus

  882. today, tomorrow, we're going to tell

  883. somebody