Video Transcript: Lack of Vocal Witness, Part 1

It's good to be back together again and to be talking about the things that matter so much to Jesus and to his church around the world. What we've seen so far is that God uses ordinary everyday people to bring the word for him, and that there must be a vocal witness, we have to mention the name of Jesus or otherwise who gets the credit. And when we do God provides for us. He protects us and watches over us the day and we've seen how people in that day have made such a difference. They just spread out and spoke what was in their heart. 

What we have to ask today is that this had an impact on you. So far as a stirred up something. Have you actually gone out and started to give a vocal witness for Jesus? 

Today we're gonna be talking about the lack of a vocal witness. 

Let's first pray and then get into the material. Our Lord Jesus, we talk about a million other things. We share stuff about good deals and about good movies and things that we've heard. We talk about events and about people. We want to talk about you, the only name given under heaven whereby people can be saved. We love you. Amen. 

So you know, there was a lady here in 1955, by the name of Rosa Parks. She was a black lady in the South. She was supposed to sit in the back of the bus, and she refused to do it. She knew that she was somebody. She caused a whole revolution here in America called the civil rights movement. And she said once in a speech, when you know what you have to do, it takes the fear away. We talked about the fear of being a vocal witness. You know, what the most often repeated command in the Bible is? It’s not something about sex. It's not something about giving. The most often repeated verse and command in the Bible is “Fear not”. And I think that applies to us here when we talk about being vocal witnessing. 

One of the first things that we want to do is recognize that we have fear. Just admit, you know, instead of talking about other things. Goes all the way back to the Bible. Look what it says in Romans 1:16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel. If Paul never thought about it, why would he write about it? But what is he saying? Yeah, the tendency is there, but I am not going to be ashamed about it. And Jesus was talking to people in Luke nine, verse 26, and he said, whoever is ashamed of me, and in my words, the Son of Man, that's his favorite name for himself, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them. And there we have it again. He looks out there and he realizes people are going to have fear. 

And then one more thing that Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy, 2 Timothy one, verse eight. So Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord. The testimony about our Lord. Why would he have to write that to Timothy if Timothy weren't maybe showing already some idea of fear? You know what the statistics show when we talk about fear? Billy Graham did a survey of people and their testimony. This was some years ago, and he found out that 9% of the people just said, we're just too busy. And 12% said, you know, we're really not qualified. But 51%, more than half said that they were just very uncomfortable and weren't sure that they could do it, weren't willing to take the risk. 

And so I want to ask you right now, can we just admit it to each other? To say you know what, I can tell you stories about when I blew it, when I didn't get a vocal testimony of Jesus, because I was scared. And you have that too. That's something that we have to work at. One of the ways in working at it is to understand what our fear is. We read all sorts of things in the Bible about it. For example, we read about maybe part of that fear is ridicule of others. Matthew 27, verse 39, says, Those who pass by the cross hurled insults at him shaking their heads. Don't we fear that too. You stand up and you start talking about Jesus and there are going to be people at a party, or at work or at school, and just gonna be shaking their heads at you. They're gonna say what is with you? And closely aligned to that is actually represents rejection, right? 

Here's a great story. Jesus healed a man. He was born blind. And because the enemies of Jesus hated him, they couldn't accept the fact that this man had been born blind. And they couldn't accept him. They couldn't accept Jesus. So they said to him, “Who did it.” He said, Jesus, and they said, “He's a sinner, he can't do that.” He said, I don't know about that. But I was blind. And now I can see, he must be a good man. And they said him, “How do you dare lecture us. We know so much. We are real leaders in the religious community,” and they threw him out. And what will people do in your group? What would the guy you're dating do? Or the gal? What are your classmates or maybe somebody on your team or your neighbor. We're afraid of that rejection. 

Another thing that can happen, not so much here in America where I'm speaking, although it does, but it could happen all around the world and maybe you face it. Maybe people you know have faced it. And that's a physical attack. In Acts, chapter five, verse 40, it says, they call the apostles in and had them beaten. They hadn't done anything wrong. They just didn't like their message. So they thought we'll just give him a good beating. Maybe you face that too, and that's a very real fear. I don't mean to minimize it. 

Another fear could be official threats. The same apostles face the same group. And it says in Acts, chapter five, verse 40, then those leaders called the apostles in and they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then they let them go. Kind of silly, really. Because what's in your heart is gonna come out and they said, We can't help but speak it. But they wag their finger at them and say, You better not do that. I'm sad to say that here in America where I'm speaking, more and more we are facing that, that we are threatened. You can't speak the name of Jesus at a graduation ceremony. You can't speak the name of Jesus in a prayer in public. And maybe you face that too. That's a very real part of fear. 

And then maybe the biggest one is death. We're not made to die. We need to live. It says in Second Corinthians five verses one to five, for while we are in this tent, this body we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed. And by that it means we don't want to leave our body. Body and soul were made together, meant to be together and someday Jesus promises that it will be restored together. We don't want that. 

And one more example that we could talk about another fear is uncertainty. And you know what? I can't give you any examples from the Bible, because there just weren't any people who weren’t uncertain. They went out and they spoke what was in their hearts. So maybe you find yourself in one of those fears. And what we have to do then is deal with it. 

First thing in dealing with it is just own it. Psalm 56 Verse three written about you when I'm afraid I will trust in you. You see what it says? It doesn't say if it doesn't mean that there are some who are never afraid. On the back of a lot of pickup trucks here we see that little sign that says “no fear”. And I think yeah, for how long? It just says here when I am afraid. We are going to be afraid there is going to be fear because we live in a world of a lot of danger and a lot of trouble. And there's always that thing about death hanging over our heads. Can we just own and say you know what, I have fear and that's one of the ways we're going to be able to deal with it. 

Another way to deal with our fear is define it. Those things I mentioned, is part of your fear of ridicule. You know, those people look at you with that sly smile, or you see people on TV and they kind of make jokes about people who clutch their Bibles, or we think they have to live in a certain way. We don't like to be ridiculed as sort of the first step toward death isn't it is breaking us down.

Another part that we saw was rejection. Is that part of your fear? What are you going to have to give up? Maybe a friend, maybe a job, maybe an opportunity, maybe a date, maybe the love of your children or of your parents. 

Another way is physical attack. As I said, here in America, we don't have much as part of your fear where you are. Here in America or in another place to somebody can really give you a beating, and it happens or official threats. You may not speak that here. You may not have your Bible here. You may not hang the 10 commandments here. You may not talk about Jesus at work. And maybe the threat is death. You know what if you stand for Jesus, you could very well die for him. Are you ready for that? Just to recognize these things. 

And maybe part of the fear is uncertainty. You know, should I do it? Should I say it? Maybe  we're just not ready to talk about that. But you know what? I believe the Bible shows us how we can overcome fear. Talk about ridicule. In Hebrews 11, verses 13 to 16. Listen to this. These early Christians admitted that they were foreigners and strangers on Earth. Listen, therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Why would we feel ridicule? God Himself, the God of creation, the God who controls all things, that God says, Hey, I know your name. I got your picture in my house. I know where you live. I know your street number. And if anybody in the whole creation were to say to me, You mean he belongs to you? I'd say oh, yeah, because I'm not ashamed of you. And when you think of your fear, things that God himself who created all things, who rules all things and who one day you will see face to face, He's never shamed you. So what is some ridicule on this earth mean? 

How about rejection? You know, I talked about that man in John chapter nine who have been healed from born blind. And he gave his testimony, his vocal testimony about Jesus. They said, You don't know enough and they threw him out. Here's to me one of the most tender stories in the whole Bible. This verse John 9:35, they threw it out. And it says, Jesus heard that they had thrown him out and then listen to these words for yourself. And when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in me”, but listen to these words and when he found him. That’s Jesus, the Son of God, looking for a man who had been blind, a man who still smelled bad, a man who had terrible clothes on. Jesus, can  you see him? He's looking all over. He's looking over people. He's looking under them. Jesus goes looking for him. Those words just touched my heart, when he found him. If ever you are rejected for the vocal witness, you get to Jesus. He's gonna be in your life looking for you to find you. That can take away the fear. 

Another is the physical attack. Listen to this. Remember, they told, “We are officials here and we're serious and you better not mention the name of Jesus.” You know what they said? We can't help but to speak, what we've seen and heard. So they took him in and they beat the tar out of him. And what did we read? Acts 5:41, the apostles left rejoicing because they have been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus, the only name given under heaven. We can do that. That can overcome our fear. We're not just getting beat because we did something wrong. We're getting beaten because we gave the name of Jesus out. It’s not going to be pretty, it's going to hurt. But when they're beating us, in one way or the other, we can rejoice and say you know what? This is for Jesus. That can overcome fear. 

And then there are those official threats. So you better not do it. And after they rejoice that they have been found worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus, we read in Acts 5:42 day after day in the temple courts from house to house right down the street, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming her good news that Jesus is the promised one, the Messiah. And you know what we do, you know what overcomes the fear. When we go out there, say, I'm not talking about myself. I'm not talking about something that's not going to last. I'm talking about the Promised One who came. Jesus is his name. And his name means he brings forgiveness. His name means he saves from sin. And that helps us overcome those official threats. 

Another thing we face is death. What's going to happen to us? Listen to this. Second Corinthians 5:15, that passage where we saw that we're afraid of death. We don't want to have this body taken off of us, because it's not natural. Paul said, we know that if this earthly tent we live in this body, if this is destroyed, we don't have a tent, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. And that's the promise to help us overcome our fear of death. We might lose this body. Paul says, you have a permanent, everlasting body, right in Jesus’ presence, not something that you can lose, something that goes on forever. 

And then there's the matter of one more that we said, and that was to let's see, it was uncertainty. And you know what, I never found an example of uncertainty in the Bible. Those people knew and they knew two things. Number one, their message was true. Romans 1:16 says the Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. The gospel of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. The first thing this they knew that that's why they were not uncertain. They  were convinced of it. And the second thing is, people had to be saved. They knew that; that's what drove them on. Listen to this second Corinthians five verse 10. Listen to these words, for we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due to us. That's the people you know, the people who would die without having heard of Jesus Christ from your lips, and they will have to stand in the judgment. 

One more thing we can do is confront it. And that is, in Matthew 10:28. Jesus said, there are those who can hurt the body, but they cannot hurt your soul. And the interesting thing is the word Kenna means they are not able to hurt your soul. They can hurt your body, they can give you those beatings but you’re alive forever in Jesus Christ, so you can confront it. 

And then just the last thing, live with the fear. We started out by saying, can we acknowledge that we have it and we ended up in the same place saying, You know what, we're just going to live with it. We can work at it.  I believe that we can overcome it, the ridicule and the rejection and the physical attack and the official threats and the death. We don't have to have uncertainty. We can live with this. I know I have that fear. It's there. I'm going to be a vocal witness for my Lord and Savior Jesus, the Savior of the world. Will you do it. Fearful saints have done it throughout the centuries. And you and I can do it too.