Witness - Part 1

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'm going to ask Tuni and Anilay and I think he wanted to bring Nick up to Nick to

come up.

There's this church that's been happening in Northland called Lifehouse 360.

And so most of us don't know what's happening, so I just thought I'll ask Tuni and Anilay

and Nick to come up and talk about it.

Because there's the Wally Outreeds that's happening, there's Revive 24 which is happening

in Langley every week on Thursdays, and then there's Lifehouse 360 Northland, all part

of what we're doing as a church.

So I'm going to ask Tuni to come up and take five minutes and talk about that.

And then I'll continue from there on.

Hello.

Hello, friends.

We want to briefly share about what's happening in Nord-Van.

So just to cover a little bit about how it started, it was in 2022.

The Lord would put Nord-Van in our hearts, so we would drive there and ask what God wants

to do there.

And nothing.

We would go month after month and pray and ask the Lord for what he wants to do there.

And we did that for a year.

And it was in 2023 in the summer when we found out what we...

There was a big area where there were no church in that area, so we showed it to Derek and

Jacob and then they suggested us that we should start a church.

And so that's how we landed there.

And just when we were going and praying there and asking for space to rent so that we can

go and meet.

And I'm just going to tell one story of how we ended in that church.

And I think the other two can share.

So we would drive in that area and ask people.

We have asked restaurants, schools, and daycare.

We have asked in different places and we couldn't find and we struggled to get a place.

And then one day we were walking on the Grand Boulevard and we saw this church.

It's an Anglican church.

And we felt the Lord saying, go to that church.

So we went inside and the lady gave us a business card of the priest and then we immediately

texted the priest and then the priest said, come and meet me on Tuesday.

So Nick and I, we went to meet the priest and then the priest asked, who are you guys?

What's your intent?

What brought you here to North Vancouver?

What's your intent?

And so we answered those questions.

And then within 10 minutes, he said, you can have the space.

That was quite shocking to us.

It was a pleasant one for sure.

And we were wondering about the rent, how much he will charge.

And then he gave us two options.

You can use the sanctuary or there's another bigger space on the other side.

And you can just have it for $25 an hour.

So we got the space and that's how we ended there.

And we've been meeting since last October, every first and third.

And now we have about 10 to 12 people now.

And we're starting to launch every week starting August.

And so that's what's happening.

I said we are very enthusiastic about what's happening, but sometimes our faces don't show it.

Don't be put off by that.

Yeah.

Yes, please.

So just one story was Nick and I were having a coffee in a coffee shop.

And then the owner and her daughter, they were wondering why North Vancouver?

And she said, it's a dead community.

Everything closes by 4 p.m.

All the shops are closed.

Transit gets pretty slow by 4 or 5.

And she said, it's a dead community.

And instead of disappointing us, we realized this is the reason why God brought us there.

And so God is doing some really awesome things there.

We are seeing some amazing things that God is moving in our midst.

Even the people who are attending, the things that we are teaching, seeing God as a father

or hearing God and all of these things, they're learning and they're starting to practice

in their own lives.

And we are hearing amazing stories as we gather week after week.

So that's been happening.

Anything to add, Nick?

I was just going to go along with what you said.

God making space for us there.

And you invited me in, just to be clear, it was God gave them the dream of going to North

Vancouver.

And then he invited me in and I went along for the adventure.

And with God making space, it was so cool to see each life that he gave us along the

path of 12 months.

There was really interesting people that we would meet.

We would meet them for bits and pieces and then all of a sudden they would go goodbye,

see you later, we're not going to see them again, and then they come back.

Just each person is so unique and precious.

This is him making space for this home, this family that he wants to establish there.

So it's just been really a blessing to me.

Awesome, well done guys.

They stuck with it from October to now.

Sometimes you have to stick with it for results to show because the first few weeks they would

come back and they would talk about what they did with no results, eh?

And that went on for a while.

You stick with it, it always breaks, always.

Acts 29 is a result of that.

Look at it.

All you guys are here now.

Sometimes you just have to stick with it.

I want to start a new series called Witness.

So we finished Running with the Horses for now.

So I want to start a new series called Witness.

So if you notice what we've done over the last little while, it's been power surge.

What can we do to cause the power of God which is present in a place to surge through us?

Second, what does it take to expect the impossible or expect the supernatural?

Why it's so unnatural not to?

So now that we know those things, if we step into the role of what is called witness bearing,

how do the first two topics that we talked about now find avenues to express themselves to us?

So it might take three, four weeks before we get through this.

So let's define the word witness.

It's a person, this is not a Christian definition, it's just the definition for the word.

A person with experience and knowledge

that can help establish the truth about some fact that is being disputed or that may be disputed.

So it's a person, it's not a video, it's not a film, it's a person, it's life

who has both experience and knowledge, not just knowledge but experience and knowledge.

And what do they help do? They help establish what the truth about what, about some fact that may be disputed.

So now you can see why when Judas dies, the disciples get together and they say,

we need to replace Judas and so we have to pick someone.

And one of the qualifications they lay down for someone that they want to pick

is that the person should be a witness to Jesus' life and his resurrection.

They wanted to pick someone who could testify to the veracity of Jesus' being someone they met on a shore in Galilee

to when he died and was buried, to when he resurrected and appeared to many.

Why did they go into that kind of a resume?

Why couldn't they pick the most passionate believer present at that time?

Why? Because they needed someone who could be a witness to facts that were indisputable.

And so they picked Justice, right?

So that's what a witness is.

And the Bible says that you are here.

The Bible says this right from Isaiah onto the book of Revelation.

You are here to bear witness, to bear witness.

You are here to bear witness to who he is,

what he did,

and what he does.

To who he is, what he did and what he does.

You are here to bear witness to who he is, what he did and what he does.

And this is why sometimes we are like blind witnesses.

Isaiah 42.15 talks about it where God is lamenting over Israel saying,

Who is as blind as my servant?

Who is as deaf as my servant?

Why is he saying that?

He's saying that because in his mind, those that should be bearing witness to him

are the ones that seem blind to him or deaf to him or have a distorted opinion of him.

So one of the reasons we keep working at correcting our perception of God

is because a distorted God will end up being presented distortedly.

And therefore people don't get an accurate witness.

They get an inaccurate witness.

That's why so much labor is put into correcting our perception of God.

Correcting our perception of God.

Like last week when I was really raging high in temperature and couldn't sleep and all this stuff,

I keep going back to, Who are you, Father?

I wouldn't go to Who are you, God?

Because then it becomes, God, you can't heal me.

God, you said this, you are not doing it.

God, what mysterious purpose do you have in boiling my eyeballs at 40.7 degrees?

Instead of that, why not go to Who are you, Father?

Oh my God, you're Father.

What else can you do but take care of your son?

Who are you, Jesus?

Aren't you the one who was striped brutally till his back was split open for my healing?

Who are you, Holy Spirit?

You're present right here, right?

And you're bringing to pass everything the Father and the Son want to.

Brilliant. I'm in good hands.

The only problem now is since I recognize you like this,

who do I go and complain to and who do I lash out at?

Because you've taken away that option.

That's the only problem when you find God being good.

You'll have to find a cat or something because you don't know who to lash out at.

And so at the end of the day, once you have a correct perception of God,

you will be able to present the correct God to a world that begs to find in God a scapegoat they can punish.

Every trauma that you and I bear, every background that has caused us harm,

every evil that is perpetrated in the world,

every injustice, who do we blame it on?

We blame it on the one perfect good father-like person

that runs the entire universe and has never changed from his intent.

We blame it all on him. Why?

Because he's the easiest one to blame.

Because your dad and your mom and your boss will only take it so long

before they kick you out of work or kick you out of your house.

So why not make God your favorite scapegoat?

And yet, if we are able to see his nature differently,

we will be able to bear witness differently.

Any questions on this before we go on?

So what are we bearing witness to? Who is he?

And there's two options to all these questions.

Not two options. There are two ways to answer this.

This entire thing can be answered,

one, from Scripture,

and two, from personal experience.

And these, if they don't match,

you'll have to stay within

A, what matches,

B, what Scriptures say.

But if you can get to the point where these begin to match,

my God, now we have a witness who is absolutely sold

on what he is talking about

because he actually loves what he is talking about.

Any questions on this?

What he, who he is, Scriptures tell you who he is,

but is that your experience?

And if it's not, then I'm at a loss because Scriptures tell me he is good,

but I don't fully believe that he is good.

There might be some areas that I'm beginning to believe that.

And in those areas I'll be able to free flow from my heart.

Otherwise all I can use is Scriptures.

Second, what he did, that is the only one that perhaps is the experience of a Christian

and in Scriptures, he died for me.

I cannot approach the holiness of God. God is absolutely holy.

But because God made me, because he is my father and he wants me back,

he pays the price.

Yahweh comes down in the form of human flesh in that of his son Jesus Christ

who historically is real.

There's no question to that.

You can question the historicity of Krishna, of every Hindu God,

of anyone else who claimed to be God who came down.

You can question the historicity,

but you cannot question the historicity of the birth and the death

and the resurrection of Christ.

You cannot question the authenticity of that.

And so having established that from Scripture and from experience,

what did he do for you? He died for me.

Then comes the hard part.

When he died for you, do you actually feel forgiven or do you struggle with guilt every day?

If you're struggling with guilt every day, the free flow will stop.

You'll just have to say, Christ died for me and he said he has forgiven my sins.

But can you, if you really believe it, actually say it with the same kind of enthusiasm

that maybe Levi the tax collector or Matthew the tax collector

or the woman who was forgiven and therefore breaks a whole alabaster flask of oil on Jesus' head,

can you begin to react that way where forgiveness is so dear to you,

so special to you that you actually, when you talk of forgiveness,

you sound like you've really been forgiven.

That's what experience does with Scripture.

And then the last bit is what he does now.

Scriptures tell you that he's the same yesterday, today and forever.

What's he doing now?

The second part is what's he doing in your life?

Is that real?

So the silent brooding, I'm quiet and I'm a deep Christian type, is not Christian.

Because it doesn't express what's happening inside.

If I'm in love, you always announce what you adore.

I mean, you do that about a burger.

One announces what one adores.

And therefore, if Christ is actively at work in me, my God, I'll talk about it.

So to not talk about it, it's because sometimes experience is not there.

Experience is not there.

And when experience is not there, yeah, it's hard to talk about stuff.

But when experience is there, it's easy to talk about stuff, man.

I don't know what it is to go skiing downhill.

And I'm not interested in finding out at 60.

But it must be exhilarating to have, I mean, yeah, I assume it must be fun.

It is, yeah.

So experience gives way to authentic witness.

So sometimes if the experience is not there, guys, don't sweat it.

Work on how do I make this God who is in scripture real in my life so that my experience keeps increasing.

We don't beat ourselves up for not having the experience.

We work towards making word flesh.

So a free flowing witness is when someone is so convinced of who he is

and can put it into words without going through a course.

Wouldn't it be a shame if you had to go through a course to tell someone who your wife is?

But if you really know her, tell me a little bit about her wife.

Usually your immediate reaction would be, honey, what should I say?

That would be the appropriate response.

But you should be either tongue tied or your tongue should be free when it comes to Jesus.

What I dislike about formats on doing witnessing is they tell you Jesus Christ is Lord, Jesus Christ is this, Jesus Christ is that.

That used to work long ago.

Today people want to hear who he really is, guys.

Who is he to you?

And then when they hear that, you make him attractive.

Once they find him attractive, then you can tell them this is who he is.

He is the unchanging king.

He is the Lord of the universe.

He is a creator.

You can begin to give him definition.

But initially you should be attracted by this person who in my life seems to be changing me just like he's changing you.

And he is.

Don't for a moment think you're not changing.

You are.

You are.

Any questions on this?

Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those things should always be my quiver full of arrows.

But what good is a quiver full of arrows in a guy who's not interested in archery?

The question is, shouldn't we know the archaeological finds?

Shouldn't we know the historical information about Jesus?

Shouldn't we know the most recent discoveries?

Shouldn't we know, have arguments about how to let people know that the Bible and the manuscripts found are authentic?

That they have been verified?

That they actually go back to 2,000 years, 4,000 years?

Shouldn't we know that?

Yes.

A person who knows that is armed for sometimes arguments that come from the world which is skilled at arguing.

But why would you argue about something that you're not passionate about?

So the passion comes first and the passion is fed and fueled and substantiated by the arguments.

And so it's not the arguments that at the end of the day usually win people.

At the end of the day what wins people is the reality of someone in your life.

The reality of someone in your life.

That gets people.

And then you can tell them.

Sorry, go ahead.

Yeah.

No.

How to express it.

Which is why you have to when it comes to witness bearing.

If these don't match, stick with this.

If these don't match, stick with this.

Stick to scripture.

You may not think Jesus is good because he hasn't done much for you over the last one year.

Stick to God said that he will always be good and that he will not do you harm.

You stick to that.

Because otherwise in this room there will be 30 different experiences with God.

This God is going to come out looking not like he says he is, but looking like anybody's painting.

Any questions?

All good?

Okay.

So what does a witness do?

A witness says you are here to bear witness to who he is.

To who he is.

What he does and what he did.

And remember this is from scriptures and from experience.

Okay.

Which brings us to the fact that if I don't increasingly grasp his faithfulness and truth,

I cannot be a fluent witness,

but I can be taught to witness.

I would rather be a fluent witness than a taught witness.

I can still be taught witnessing.

There are tons of courses that can teach you how to witness.

I got them.

I was so tempted to bring them.

But I want to be a fluent witness.

Someone can be taught to be a witness.

This is what you need to say.

This is how you lead people to God.

Nothing wrong with that.

That's part of the equation, but I think it's putting the horse before the cart.

What you need to do is become a fluent witness where your heart flows as you tell stories about who he is,

what he did and what he's still doing.

Through your life, through others' lives, through scriptures, through your grasp of it.

God's faithfulness.

How do you define God's faithfulness?

God's faithfulness is your palatable experience, as in something you've tasted.

God's faithfulness is your palatable experience of his love.

You've tasted.

You've seen.

You have history.

God's faithfulness is his mighty power at work,

cause of his furious love.

Part of my desire in life, and I pray that I live long,

is to continuously prove here on earth God's faithfulness.

Prove not to myself.

I think I'm convinced of it now.

But to continue to prove through my life the faithfulness of God.

Through my life to prove the faithfulness of God.

That, hey, there is tasteable, seeable evidence that you can see through the stories in my life,

in the lives around me, that God's love is being backed by his mighty power.

It's palatable.

That's what faithfulness is.

So I desire to prove that.

I mean, some of you guys are doing your thesis, right?

You're going to become doctors in the future.

Why do you write your thesis?

Is it just some fairy tale or do you want to prove it?

You want to prove it.

That it works.

That should be a desire that we have to prove the faithfulness of God.

That it can be tasted, it can be seen.

And it's very simple.

And here's the simplicity of it.

Because he is true, you have a point that you can stand on that you do not have to shift from.

I'll tell you why it is simple.

And this might seem like an oxymoron because this is where we struggle.

But the reason it is simple to continually prove the faithfulness of God is because he speaks the truth.

And therefore there's one thing in this entire equation that is so solid that you can put your feet there and know that that will not shift.

To have a starting point in anything that you know cannot be shifted is the beginning of everything.

You know that gravity works.

It's a starting point. You know it works.

You can go to Africa, it works in Africa.

Water doesn't go the other way around in Sydney and they'll flush.

It still goes. I went and checked it.

I went and flushed every toilet in Sydney and Brisbane and Melbourne and nothing is wrong with gravity there.

It still goes around this way.

And so you realize suddenly that the one thing you can do in any part of the world is throw something up and it usually comes down.

It's the same way with the Word of God, eh?

So that's your great starting point.

So every time I think to myself, it's not working, the promise hasn't come to pass, it's taking so long, you said so, nothing is happening,

I go back to that one place where I can stand and say, this bit I know is true because you are truthful.

Any questions?

That's why it's easy.

The second thing is if you can begin to take… to be a witness, take your eyes off yourself.

You're not bearing witness to yourself.

You're not bearing witness to yourself.

The Holy Spirit has done that already.

He's born witness that you are a child of God.

Stop bearing witness to yourself.

You don't need proof.

The world needs proof.

Take your eyes off yourself.

When I get self-engrossed with my problems only, until they are repaired, there's no other progress.

We're going to have very difficult times because all I have to do is make sure, if I'm the devil, that I have enough problems in your life.

One of the things we must do is every week, like for instance tomorrow,

this is Jacob and he's got this bullseye staring at him on Monday.

Displace it first.

Then replace it with something that is from the rock called the Word or Christ.

That you will keep reverting back every time this tries to come in.

Keep reverting back.

Every time it keeps coming back, be it shame, be it fear, be it, oh shucks, am I making a mistake?

Is this a good decision?

Be it, this promise hasn't come to pass, the deadline is coming, I'm sunk, I'm screwed, I'm whatever.

And you're beginning to think all those things.

And in the midst of that, can you remember that you have displaced this bullseye and placed something that is solid rock from the Word or from the nature of Christ in there?

And every time it comes back to this place, you go back to this and say, nope, nope, nope.

All of us have this happening in our lives.

It was not justice, it was Matthias, thanks Heidi, who replaced Judas.

How are we, I mean why are we his witnesses?

Why are we his witnesses?

You can think of many different reasons, but let me tell you the main reason, which is in Isaiah 43, 10 and John 15, 16.

We are his witnesses because he says,

I chose you, that you may know me.

I chose you, that you may understand me.

Go to Isaiah 43, 10.

Isaiah 43, 10.

You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.

He chose you for this.

He chooses you, Matt Dirks, and he says to you, Matt Dirks, you are my witness.

I chose you.

I chose you out of a community of intellectual, high thinking, scientific people, but I chose you and also at the same time gave you a heart that is humble enough to know me as your savior.

I chose you and gave you the understanding to understand what men wiser than you are still struggling to understand.

And having chosen you and having given you this understanding, you now are my witness.

Beautifully.

And then he chooses someone who is absolutely uneducated.

And he goes and says the same thing to him.

I chose you.

People may think you are not educated, that you have got nothing going for you, but I gave you an understanding of God who human minds cannot comprehend.

You understand with such ease and simplicity.

Why?

Because you are my witness.

This is what he is doing.

Why are you his witness?

Because he chose you.

That's why you are his witness.

He chose you.

And he thinks the ones he's chosen thus far are enough at present to keep doing what he wants done because he ain't losing this game.

We'll talk about 2 Corinthians 5, 14 to 21 next time.

It's a beautiful passage where you'll realize that bearing witness is not possible without a passion for God.

God's claim over everything.

And the price he has paid.

It's a beautiful passage.

Maybe next time you come for next week, read it up.

2 Corinthians 5, 14 to 21.

Bearing witness is not possible without a passion for God's claim over everything.

Where Paul gets so passionate about the fact that Christ has paid for everything that he says, I can't help it.

I'm compelled by the love of God to go around telling people that hey, you, you, you, and you, you, you, you belong to Christ.

Whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not, you belong to Christ.

He made you.

He paid a price for you.

How can I not tell you?

He becomes quite passionate about it.

He's convicted about it.

He says through one man, Adam sin came in through one man, Christ sin was removed and you now belong to Christ.

The price for you has been paid.

A ransom has been paid and I cannot but tell you about it because I'm compelled.

I got to tell you that you do not belong to either the devil or to yourself or to the world.

You belong to one who's paid a price.

You can reject it, but I will not stop from telling you.

But that's for next week.

One of the reasons the Holy Spirit is given, we've been talking about power and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was given for bearing witness.

Acts 1, 8.

And the Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Spirit of God will make you witnesses.

So we need to understand that this is very dear to his heart and he loves igniting.

This idea of witnessing.

So here's a question I have for you.

One of the ways the Spirit of God works on this is yes, he helps you when you go out to bear witness.

The other thing he does when you're not going out and when you're inside is he ignites in you wonder for God.

The fire of wonder for God will eventually end up in being flame for witness.

So for instance, what you find about God in the dark is what you will speak out about God in the light.

The marvel of God that you find in your quiet is the God you will talk about openly.

You see this in Isaiah.

Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Is Isaiah in a public place preaching?

No.

He's seeing a vision.

He's seeing a dream.

And in the dream he sees him who is seated on high.

And then he begins to talk about God and God's sending.

One of the things the Spirit of God does is hey, this is the Holy Spirit.

And then he begins to talk about God and God's sending.

One of the things the Spirit of God does is hey, Jacob, can I show you something about Jesus

that will so impress you that it will become a part of your life and you'll bring it up everywhere you go.

So here's a question I ask you.

If you were in Acts chapter 3, and all of us have this, so I'm actually giving us one or two minutes to think about this.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

If you were in Acts chapter 3 and you say the lines as you see the man sitting at the gate, paralyzed,

Acts 3 · chapter mention

and you are with Peter and you go up and you say, such as I have, give I thee.

That's what it says.

Acts chapter 3 verse 6.

Acts 3:6

Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I now give you.

What is it that you have at present that you're so convinced about, that you're so sure of,

that you don't have any hesitation giving, that you genuinely, honestly believe

is your understanding or niche with God that you can give away fluently, what would that be?

And if you arrive at the conclusion that I don't know, that's okay.

It helps you start discovering it.

But what is it?

Such as I have, I give you right now.

If I was a beggar by the door and you were passing me and you said what I have I give you.

I got no silver, I got no gold, I got no message, no teaching, I got nothing I can give you.

But what I have I'll give you.

What is that thing you have?

What is it?

It's not money, it's not aid, it's not food.

What do you have?

What do you have?

What do you have from the son in you that you can give away genuinely, honestly, fluently?

If you don't understand the question, ask.

Praise God, that's his answer.

Mine surprisingly wouldn't be that.

But I absolutely believe what Dilna is saying.

That the love of the father can flow through that man just like that.

What is it that can genuinely flow out of you?

I can give any human on earth at any moment on earth, if I walk past them, I assure you,

I can give them a sense of dignity and destiny with the words that come from heaven.

Any moment.

You wake me up any time during the day.

I put a man in front of me, I will tell that person who he is, who God made him,

and what God's plans for him are.

It'll flow out of me like water.

What is it that flows out of you?

If they took everything away from you and all you have is the son in you,

what flows out of you without thinking?

Because we all have it, what is it?

And if you can't find it, it's time to find it,

because we're entering that time in our lives, guys, as a church.

This is when you form a net that has such strong notches that the fish will be caught.

If they're not caught in the net of dignity and destiny, they'll be caught in the net of love.

What is it?

Think about it for a couple of minutes.

Such as I have, give I thee.

There can be more than one, eh?

What else can you give?

And if you can't think of anything, start the process or even ask the question why.

Why can't I think of anything?

Because your little flask of oil is what the Holy Spirit will start with.

And if you can't think of anything, start the process or even ask the question why.

Why can't I think of anything?

Because your little flask of oil is what the Holy Spirit will start with.

We said the Holy Spirit was sent to make us witnesses.

He gives us the power to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

But he starts with what?

I already am so worried about the future of the world.

That then becomes a mighty river.

I'll give you a minute.

I'll give you a minute.

I'll give you a minute.

It's not a talent, guys.

It's a gift or a nature or character or act that comes from the sun in you.

It's not a talent.

Sometimes it's a desire that's burning in you.

You haven't even seen its fruition, but it's been burning there, burning there, burning there.

Oh God, please let this happen through me.

Remember, we'll come back to this.

Keep Act 3.6 in mind.

We'll come back to it in the end.

The power of the Spirit will always be present.

The power of the Spirit will always be present.

The power of the Spirit will always be present.

The power of the Spirit will always be present

where bearing witness is practiced.

Where bearing witness is practiced. He'll always be present.

Can you learn this scripture this week? Can you memorize it?

Just like Sunday school kids memorize it. Can you memorize this?

Acts 26.

Because we've got to, the entire church has to learn it. Yeah?

Acts 26.

Verse 17 and 18.

Acts 26, 17 and 18.

Yeah, just remember to memorize it.

Sorry, verse 16, 17 and 18.

Now get up and stand on your feet.

I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and a witness

what you have seen of me and what I will show you.

Then you can skip verse 17 in the first part if you want and go to the next part.

Then you can skip verse 17 in the first part if you want and go to

I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light

from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins

and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

One more time.

Verse 16.

Now get up and stand on your feet.

I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness

of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.

I am sending you to them to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light

and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins

and a place among us as a church.

Learn that up for next week. We'll try it together.

Sorry. You can choose any version. This was an IV.

Yeah. Try not to choose TPT or one of those versions but stick to one of the main versions

just so we can say it together.

Guys, Satan blinds minds.

Who said so?

God. Where?

2 Corinthians 4.4.

Satan blinds minds.

Who said so?

God. Where?

2 Corinthians 4.4.

What's the solution?

Light of the gospel.

What in the world is the light of the gospel?

What in the world does that mean?

Good news.

Preached.

Whenever the good news is preached,

whenever the good news is preached,

it's like light and blindness is penetrated.

And every time you preach it, a strange thing happens.

If you go to Acts 16, verse 14,

Acts 16:14

Acts 16, 14, Paul is at a river and there's a lady there called Lydia

and she's a merchant. She's not a Christian.

She wasn't a believer.

And so as Paul starts preaching to her, here's what the scriptures say,

as Paul preached to her, the Lord opened up her heart to Paul's words

and she becomes a believer.

As you preach, God opens the person's heart.

The gospel or the good news,

and we'll briefly touch on good news and then end,

the gospel or the good news is the only thing that takes away the blindness of people.

Arguments do not.

The only thing, Paul does say,

have a reasonable defense for what you believe.

And that's where we need to load ourselves with all the good news

that we need to load ourselves with all the things that we need to

so that if anyone questions, it is for the defense of what we believe.

But the offensive weapon is always the gospel,

the good news of Jesus Christ is the only thing that takes away blindness.

But the good news of Jesus Christ cannot be expressed with much joy

if I'm not fully persuaded of it.

The fluency comes when I'm persuaded of it.

I mean, do you think a person who is healed

will have any problems talking about God healing?

Do you think someone who's really forgiven or something terrible,

something nasty will have any problems talking about,

oh my God, you won't believe, I really messed up,

God can forgive you too?

God can forgive you too.

That's why new believers are so enthusiastic.

They see things that happened to them that they never thought could happen to them.

And it fills their heart with such joy.

And then if we can keep them fired up, that's all we need to do.

Because God takes care of it.

What do I mean keep them fired up?

Help them keep stepping out, keep stepping out, keep stepping out,

keep discovering God.

How do you fire up someone?

Not by raraing them, but by helping them step further and further and further and further.

That's how you get someone going, man.

This rara thing doesn't work because once you leave here, the rara will become rara.

But you keep helping them go further and further.

It is only the Gospel, only the preaching of the Good News.

So let's look at the Good News.

What in the world is this Good News?

Because as you preach the Good News, something strange begins to happen.

As you begin to preach the Good News, God in heaven,

who is all powerful and can actually do anything he wants if he wants to,

but he refuses to take anyone's will away,

so as you begin to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ,

God begins to open the heart of people.

And their hearts get chained.

They can still choose to reject. That's up to them.

But he opens their hearts up.

The blindness that Satan puts on people is removed.

No other religion is worse than one other.

The Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, every religion, we can't say this one is worse or this one.

Christianity, if Christianity is true and Christ is the only living God,

everything else that conspires takes a person away from Christ.

In fact, everything works together against one main truth.

You turn from darkness to light through the light of the Gospel in the mouth of witnesses.

You turn from darkness to light through the light of the Gospel of the Good News.

I will talk about what the Good News is.

Through the light of the Good News in the mouth of witnesses.

That's very nice. Get ready. We're going to have a lot of fun.

So my grasp of Good News is revealed through the light of the Gospel in the mouth of witnesses.

Conviction, meaning the heart condition.

B, the conversational fluency.

Or response to the questions below.

Okay. My grasp of the Good News is revealed.

I'm going to give you a list of four questions.

And again, maybe we'll take two minutes to think about it.

I'm going to give you four questions.

But our grasp of the Good News is revealed through one.

The conviction we have as we respond to these four questions.

If you had to ask these questions to yourself as you respond, what's the conviction of your heart?

And B, the conversational fluency or the ease with which you can respond.

Both will give you an idea of your grasp of the Good News.

I mean, haven't you had guys who call you on the phone and they're trying to sell you a product

and you know they're reading off a paper?

And it is just so painful because you've got to wait right till the end.

You don't want to interrupt them.

Dinner's getting cold and they go through that stuff.

And then there are some guys who know their product, eh?

And those guys are so fun to work with because they know the product.

And so here are the four questions.

These are terribly simple, terribly difficult questions.

The fifth one we can keep up for now.

The first four questions.

You'd be surprised at how much we'll struggle with this right now if we went around the room.

I'm not asking that you go around the room because it'll be quite a mess.

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

Lord, King, Master, Creator, God.

All fine answers, but really we don't process these things, eh?

Which is why someone else has to process it for us.

But the problem with someone else processing it for us is we learn it by heart

instead of actually taking what they process and making it our own.

So who is Jesus?

What has Jesus done?

We're talking about bearing witness.

We're not talking about what Jesus has done this morning in your life

or what he did with you yesterday.

We're talking about what has Jesus done?

How do you put into words that are both heart conviction and free-flowing conversational fluency?

What has he done?

Yes, it will involve talking about the death of Christ.

We'll talk about what the Bible says it must involve.

But that aside, what has he done?

Can you talk about it through?

I can ask one of you to try it.

Yeah? You want me to pick on you? Sure.

Why has he done this?

Why has he done this?

Can you explain why he did it?

And the fourth one, okay, now that you've explained it, how should you respond?

I'm so excited for us, I can't tell you.

So can you work on this? This week there's homework. Oh, please.

In fact, I deliberately kept the sermon short.

That's when I'm really serious about something.

No, I'm kidding. Serious most weeks.

But can you work on this? Can you have heart...

I'm going to work on this too.

I've got standard pastoral responses to this.

I want Jacob responses.

I don't want pastoral responses.

We're not trying to close the deal.

We're conversing about someone who can change the universe and change your life.

So there's no hurry in closing the deal.

You want to take a shot at it, Ashish?

Want to come up?

No?

Okay, next week?

Okay.

I wanted to impress your friend today itself.

Because I've got to report back to Annette about how you're doing.

Yeah? Okay.

No pressure, but next week, yeah?

Annette is watching this anyways.

And she knows your parents.

Okay, no pressure.

Here's what the scriptures say we must take into account when we talk about the Good News.

That in the Old Testament,

this you can do with some Christians or some people who have a Christian background.

You don't need to do this with many people today because it wouldn't make a difference to them.

In the OT, Old Testament, prophecies were fulfilled

in the birth of Christ.

Two.

Jesus came saying,

I'm bringing in

a new kingdom.

And Jesus said,

I'm bringing in a new kingdom.

Do you want to be part of it?

Three.

He was fully man

born to Joseph

and Mary.

Four.

He died

according to scriptures

to deliver us from sin.

See, this is where it's not conversational.

It's very biblical and Christian sounding.

Conversational is when you simplify this.

Five.

He was buried.

Six.

He rose in three days.

Seven.

He is seated in heaven.

Eight.

He will come again

to save and judge

the earth.

These are essentials of the Good News.

Can you bring them into conversation?

Any questions?

I'm going to ask you a question.

I'm going to ask you a question.

I'm going to ask you a question.

I'm going to ask you a question.

I'm going to ask you a question.

Any questions?

Sorry, go ahead.

Yeah, he was, the actual scriptures say he was born from the line of David.

He was, so you have to add to that.

He was fully man and fully God.

But I'm trying to find that scripture.

Can someone find it for me?

All this is in one scripture in the Bible where it says,

First Corinthians, First Corinthians 15.

Do you know which verse?

Yeah, verse three.

Verse three.

Starting at verse two.

Let's start at verse one.

It's reading from the NIV.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preach to you,

which you received and on which you have taken your stand.

By this gospel you are saved.

If you hold firmly to the word I preach to you,

otherwise you have believed in vain.

For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance.

That Christ died for us sins according to scriptures,

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

and then that he appeared to safest and then to the twelfth and so on.

There's another scripture which talks about how he was very similar to this,

how he was born of the line of David,

that prophecies were fulfilled in his being born,

and then the same thing again, and that he's coming back to judge.

Any questions?

I can't find the other scripture.

I'll find it some other time.

So this must be the scriptural basis for you to develop.

Sorry, go ahead.

Because of the fans, I'll have to come closer.

I can't hear you too.

Yeah.

At what point do you bring the story of Adam and Eve?

You bring it in at any point from your treasure chest of all the new stories

that God has given you and based on the person.

This is the skeleton.

On this skeleton, we got to pull from our understanding of the story of Adam and Eve.

We have to understand that Adam and Eve are the same.

On this skeleton, we got to pull from our understanding of,

do we have to go back to Adam and Eve?

Do we have to perhaps talk about David and how he committed adultery and yet God forgave him?

Which story at present would help the person understand?

If I go to Adam and Eve, am I going to suddenly open the Pandora box of evolution and Genesis and creation?

Which perhaps I can use another time.

I'll leave Adam and Eve alone right now.

Because what if the argument becomes about whether Adam had a belly button or not?

You want to move away from that one.

So, depending, oh, did I tell you the fig is not a fruit, it's an inverted flower.

But we'll talk about that another day.

So, here's the thing though.

That, shoot, I promised myself I wouldn't talk about the fig today.

Yeah, so what we use to substantiate this depends on two wonderful things.

One, how's the Spirit of God leading me in this conversation?

Two, how conversational can I get about this?

How conversational can I get about this?

How do you get conversational about someone who was beaten and bruised and killed for you?

Trump is getting conversational about his ear.

How do you get conversational about someone who was beaten and bruised for you?

My first exposure to the Gospel was through a man called Chakrabarti.

He was a devout Hindu whose life was a living hell.

And he would abuse her, he would punish her for that.

And then one day he had come home drunk and was completely bruised.

And his wife had not come home yet, but she sees the fire.

And he's asleep there and they're beating him.

And he's sleeping.

And he's sleeping.

And he's sleeping.

And he's sleeping.

And she goes in and pulls out the son and she literally goes in again and pulls out the husband.

And then in the process, both son and husband live, but the wife is sleeping.

And then in the process, both son and husband live, but the wife gets third degree burns and dies.

I'm 11 years old listening to this story.

This is the first time our family has ever heard.

I grew up in a nominal Christian home where we used to go to church.

Every Sunday I would go to church.

But this is the first time I heard this man say,

that day when my wife went in and pulled my son and me,

and she had to drag me out because I was so drunk that I couldn't even, I wasn't even awake,

so the flames were all around her.

And how she died of third degree burns.

And that is when suddenly the story of Jesus Christ that he,

she would keep telling him about how Christ died so that you could live.

Christ died so that you could live.

And he is just weeping as he begins to say,

suddenly it was like the lights went on and I knew why I was alive and she was dead.

Why I was alive and she was dead.

And I'm listening to this thinking, how come I've read these stories over and over again?

And this is the first time it's making sense that Christ was a sacrifice so that someone else might live.

That guy went around from house to house as a converted Hindu believer,

talking about what Christ has done.

That is what I mean by something becoming part of a fluent conversation in your life.

It was the first time I became a believer in my life.

It didn't last, I didn't even know what to do.

I just started weeping and a guy came and asked me, do you want to receive Christ into your life?

I said yes, and I received Christ into my life.

I sustained it for about five days and didn't know what to do with it.

And then it was years later that someone came and talked to me about Christ.

And it happens to us in churches where we get dull to Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, but no salvation.

But I still remember how it wrecked me to know someone died so someone can live.

I remember going to the back pages of a magazine that was very popular in India then,

and it would have letters to the editor.

One of the letters to the editor was from a guy in West Bengal who was dying of cancer.

I quickly got his address and I wrote to him and told him that Jesus died for you and that he can make you live.

I was 11 or 12, man. I sent him a letter. It was the only thing I knew how to do.

I didn't know how to sustain it after that.

I don't even know what could have happened had someone helped me when I was 11.

It took another 13 years bearing witness to who he is, what he did and what he has done.

I don't know whether I'll see that man from West Bengal.

I wouldn't be surprised if I did.

What are the odds that an 11-year-old was touched for five days and wrote a letter to a man dying of cancer in West Bengal saying,

Christ can save you?

You'll be surprised at the number of people we'll meet that we thought we didn't make an influence or an effect on.

What is it to conversationally speak of these truths, man?

That's what we need to become, eh?

I refuse to subscribe to discipleship methods to talk about someone I love.

The discipleship method should give me format. If I need, I can dip into it.

But my God, I'm talking about someone inside who I care for, who loves me, who I love.

How can I make him a method?

I can't. I'm not saying you shouldn't.

I'm only saying there's a more excellent way.

Yeah, I'm not trashing method.

Method is important, but it is not the most excellent way.

I refuse to have this church or myself settle for anything less than the most excellent way.

The most excellent way takes the most time.

Romans 1.3.

Yeah, this is that part that I was talking about.

If you can add this to 1 Corinthians 15, it gives you a complete picture.

Romans 1.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.

The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

regarding his son who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,

and through the spirit of holiness was appointed the son of God.

This is a combination of a few scriptures that makes it known to you what the content of the gospel should be.

What the content of the gospel should be.

So let's close.

Here's what I want us to close by doing.

In Luke chapter 10, verse 1, it says, And they went out two by two.

Luke 10:1

I want us to this week try going out two by two, to actually bear witness.

I pray God that we come back on Sunday, and all of us can say we did go out two by two.

Are we, we did bear witness?

Whether it be rejected, whether it be spurned, whether it be laughed at, that we did try it.

And so I just want you to find your significant other.

And by this I don't mean your spouse, I mean whoever you're going out two by two with.

Suddenly all the single guys are going, ha, they are here?

No, I meant significant other as in, but don't worry, Don's working on that one too, for all of us.

And guys, find someone that will encourage you in this.

Find someone that will spur you on to doing this, that will give you the courage to do this.

Like, you know, when you want to exercise, you always want someone who will spur you on to exercise.

For instance, in this church, there's Jeremy and Sheldon.

I mean, they spur each other on, eh?

They have decided that they are going to go and exercise at 7.30.

At 7.15, Jeremy wakes up and he'll text Sheldon at 7.16 saying, Just woke up.

Sheldon will text back saying, Not to worry then, let us skip.

I'm not talking about people like that, eh?

I'm talking about someone who's more committed to it, yeah?

But occasionally Sheldon and Jeremy do go, they're committed to once a week, they do go about once every seven weeks.

So there is some hope there.

But we want someone who can spur you on and stir you up, yeah?

So can you find your significant other?

And then, right now, for those of you who are not married or whose wife or husband is not here, find someone right now.

Move around, you can ask each other, you can go and say, I would like to, would you please accept me?

Yeah?

Now, now.

Yeah.

And then you'll have to go and make sure that this week you find a time where you go out to bear witness.

We'll talk about it a little more.

So, I mean, you can move, you know, you can ask someone.

Yeah.

Yeah, husbands and wives can do it together, no problem there.

Davant, will you come with me?

Yeah.

So, I'm going to ask you to come with me.

So, I'm going to ask you to come with me.

So, I'm going to ask you to come with me.

So, I'm going to ask you to come with me.

Will you come with me?

Do you have time?

It would be okay?

Oh, great. Thank you so much.

It would be great.

I'm going to ask whether you found someone in a couple of minutes.

Pardon?

One person for now.

Yeah.

Let's start with one.

Because it's unlikely you'll go twice a week.

Let's at least start with once a week.

Everyone's found one?

Next week, if this works, we'll go buy one, get one more free.

Okay, can you go stand next to the person you're going with?

Davant, you'll have to come up.

Oh, by the way, if you think two by two and you want to make it three by three,

that's fine too, yeah?

Yeah.

Two by two can become three by three, so it's not a problem.

What I meant is it should be at least two by two.

Let's limit it to three by three.

Okay.

So, I'm going to ask you to come with me.

So, I'm going to ask you to come with me.

I meant it should be at least two by two.

Let's limit it at three by three, otherwise it becomes one big group.

Max is three, guys.

Max is three.

Not more than three.

Not more than three.

It has to be sufficiently difficult and should require sufficient courage.

Has everyone found someone to go out with this week?

The only way you can excuse yourself out of this is if you just don't want to.

If you don't want to, just feel free to sit down, yeah?

Because there's no compulsion.

I forgot to add that.

All righty, let's pray.

Let's pray.

All good?

Father, this part now we are genuinely...

Come, Davant, you'll have to walk up and down with me.

No?

Oh, you're on camera.

Okay.

So, Father, this part is sincere.

This week we want to start what will never end in this church.

This week we want to start what will never end in this church.

It is a going out two by two to bear witness to who you are,

to what you have done and what you do every day.

To this we, oh God, commit ourselves.

This is just a small start.

It's a small start, but my God, when have you despised small beginnings?

This is not a group in Wally.

This is not a group in Quest or Pursuit or Life House or Revive.

This is the church doing it.

And we start with the persons we are standing next to, Davant and me, others.

And we will go out this week.

We will go out this week not to feed the poor, not to clothe the naked.

That will come later.

This week we will take the courage to go out and bear witness in places unfamiliar,

to strangers we may not know or neighbors we haven't talked to.

And tell them about who you are, what you have done and what you do.

Begin this process because this is something you are starting.

I'm so excited for you, Father, and so excited for us

because the Holy Spirit is going to honor us with His power and His presence.

And we have longed for.

And He sent them out two by two saying, go, I give you authority.

Tell them that the kingdom of God is here.

Please the good news to the poor.

Heal the sick. Cast out demons.

As you have been freely given, now freely give.

As you have freely received, now freely give.

Jesus, we ask, you are the one who said, pray to the Lord of the harvest

to send more laborers into the fields and that the fields are white.

We are asking that you send us out as laborers, that today changes

and brings in a new phase into the nature of this church that reflects you here on earth.

This is what we ask for in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

So may you go out two by two and three by three, yeah,

and start something that will never go back to normal. Yeah?

The question is not about results. The question is about obedience.

The results are His.

I'm going to ask Juni to come up and sing the song.

Actually, I'll sing the song.

Yeah, yeah, you come and sing along. Yeah.

Hey, Brandon, do we have the song?

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

First, I thought of singing, I've been touched by a fire.

I think I'll sing this one instead.

Yeah.

Nii, you want to come up?

Sheldon?

No.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom, kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom, kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

Our father.

So he sends us two by two.

Take no bag or bread with you.

Cast out demons and field us sick.

For the glory of the Lord God dwells in you.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom, your kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

One more time, our father.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your name.

Your kingdom.

Kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

One more time.

So he sends us two by two.

So he sends us two by two.

Take no bag or bread with you.

Take no bag or bread with you.

Cast out demons and field us sick.

Cast out demons and field us sick.

For the glory of the Lord God dwells in you.

So he sends us two by two.

So he sends us two by two.

Take no bag or bread with you.

Cast out demons.

Cast out demons and field us sick.

For the glory of the Lord God dwells in you.

One more time, cut.

So he sends us two by two.

Take no bag or bread with you.

Cast out demons.

Cast out demons and field us sick.

For the glory of the Lord God dwells in you.

Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom.

Kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

Honor.

Your kingdom.

Kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

Honor.

Your kingdom.

Your kingdom.

Kingdom has come.

Your will be done.

Honor.

Brandon, it's not on Google, it's on some of our old PowerPoints.

Guys, bless you. If you need prayer, someone will be here to pray with you.

And otherwise, we'll see you when the church meets.

Remember who you said goes with you two by two, yeah?

And make sure it gets done this week.

And if you finish it by Monday, go again Thursday and Friday.

Yeah? It's not a one-off. It is something we are starting so we become used to.

Bless you as you go.

That's the rest of it.