Video Transcript: Joy for Father and Son

Video Transcript: Joy for the Father and Son

Well, here we are. We're gonna start a new section now. And the section is about the joy of vocal witnessing. I've been a pastor for a long time, over 50 years, and I noticed something in various areas of our lives. The people who come to a pastor and complain about the church. You know what word I hear all the time. The word I. I don't like the way this is done. I don't like the music that's being played. I don't like the way the church building looks. We hear it all the time. Over and over again. The whole focus is right here on I. Another area where I hear that is in marriages. I've noticed that when I meet with couples before they're married, and we go over things together, they look at each other with a smile, and they're talking about the other person all the time. Oh, she says this or he does that. And this is why we get along and it's going to be so fine. And then a year later or 10 years later, or 30 years later, when the marriage gets in trouble, what word do I hear? What word do you think I hear? Same thing. I don't like the way he does this. I don't like the way he sound. So I have fallen out of love. I'm not going to put up with this. And all the ones I think what's going on here. There were these two people who couldn't do enough for each other. Now, they have I trouble it's all about me. I this and I that. 

I wonder if that's true about our vocal witness. What do we hear when we talked about mentioning the name of Jesus, about taking the name of Jesus with us, no matter where we go. Whether it's in sports or at work or at a Christmas party, or whatever it might be. I'm not comfortable doing that. I'm not sure I know enough. It's just not my thing. I serve the Lord in other ways. Just like those other cases where people are dissatisfied with the church or where the marriage is in trouble. We hear the word I, like it's all about me. Like being a vocal witness for Jesus. It's all about me. 

But we're going to talk now for the next couple sessions about the joy of vocal witnessing. Can you picture that? I think we've gone through some tough times here in these classes. We've heard warnings. We've heard commands. We've heard ought tos and shoulds. And even though I don't intend it, maybe you'll hear a guilt trip. Like there's something wrong with you if you're not a vocal witness of Jesus. Let me just say we're all in this together. We're all the same under the skin. I'm no different than you are. I'm just a watchman on the wall, I guess. Just a shepherd of the sheep. Just a fellow believer who wants to be spending time with you about the joy, the joy of being a witness for Jesus. 

Let’s pray. Jesus, how can it ever be that we think that obeying you is less than a joy? That we think it's a burden. We think it's something we have to do. And how can it be that when we have such a message for people that can change their eternities as well as their lives here that we think that's a burden. For the next three times that we're together, we want to look at what joy it is to be a vocal witness for you. We love you. Amen. 

Well, we're gonna look at it in three ways. First, the joy that it is for Jesus and his father by the power of the Holy Spirit. Next time, the joy that it is for others around us. And then finally, what you would expect the joy it is for us. So today we're going to be talking about the joy that it is to be a vocal witness for the Father and the Son. 

The joy - one of those is to obey Jesus. Matthew 28:19. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. There's a hymn we sing, but you never can prove the delights of His love till our all on the altar we lay, for the favor he shows and the joy He bestows is for those who will trust and obey. And if you want to know the joy of serving Jesus, obey Him. Jesus said, If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Isn't that true about our children? Sometimes our children will say, Well, I don't want to do that. But I will do it because you want me to. We do things for people because we love them. Even if we especially don't want to do it. We do it all the time. We're talking a little bit ago about the young couples. Oh my, when they're deeply in love when their love is mostly emotion, and has not been proved to be action, then they can't do enough for each other. Well imagine having that love for the Father and for the Son. To obey Jesus is such a joy. 

You know, think of the commands that are set before us. Think of the 10 commands. For example. I want to tell you something here. Don't ever read the 10 commandments starting with the first command. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image. And all the rest. Begin with the two verses that come before that start the chapter in Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter five. They begin this way, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and then it starts. 

What is he saying there? He's saying, I am for you. I am your God. You were slaves. There was nothing you could do for yourself. And you know what? I set you free. I brought you out. And now I'm going to give you a beautiful life in your own country. I'm for you. You don't have to earn my love. You already have it. I chose to love you, even when you were unlovely, and unlovable. And then he says, the best way for you to live is not have other gods. I made you. I know what you're like, I know what makes you run the best. I know what's inside of you. And you know what? If you have another god than the God who created you, you're not going to be the whole person I made you to be. If you're going to bow down and worship to things you make with your own hands and never worship the God who made everything, you're not going to grow at all. If you're going to just treat me like dirt, use my name in any old way you please. 

If you're not going to take time in your life to celebrate me, to worship me, you're not going to become anything. You're just going to become very very, very flat. I know what's best for you. It's best in culture, in civilization in your life, that we have structured to obey your parents. We obey those in authority over us. If you kill somebody, in a sense, you're taking your own life because you're gonna diminish yourself. If you commit adultery, you're just cheapening yourself. If you steal, if you tell lies, can you see how it all fits in? If you covet it what other people have, you're gonna be putting yourself down. He said, I know what's best for you. It says in the Bible. I made you. I know that you're made out of dust. I know how I shaped you. I know what's best for you. So know, I love you. I set you free. You're no longer slaves. And here's the best way to live. 

Can you picture that in the New Testament. That story in the Old Testament is history, it's true. About God's people in bondage being set free under a leader named Moses. In  the New Testament is explained that Jesus is greater than Moses, and the burden of sin is far greater than the burden of having to make bricks and build buildings. And the freedom that is set free the salvation is so far greater than being able to come out of a nation where you were prisoners of war. And now Jesus sets commands before us and he says, If you love me, you keep my commands. And one of his commands is make disciples of all nations. 

Some people resent signs along the road when it says go at the speed or slow down here, stop here. They get into trouble. Some children don't obey their parents. Little kids they'll run into the road if their parents don't stop them. Kids when they're getting to be teenagers or older, they'll drink too much if their parents and disobey their parents no matter what their parents have said Where does it lead? It leads to accidents, it leads to grief. Commands help us be all that we should be. I want us to understand that about commands. So when Jesus makes a command and says, Make disciples obeying Jesus is for him, we give it to him. 

And then the other reason for being vocal witnesses and this one is the best of all time – is to honor God. Can you imagine? Here's a picture. It's a picture of what's going on now. And what eternity will be like. Revelation 14 Three. And they sang a new song before the throne. Who's on the throne? God. Who's next to him in his right hand, Jesus. And it's all the beauty and glory of heaven. And who's standing before the throne, the people whose lives have been changed the people who have heard the name of Jesus, and they're standing before him with their arms up and they're singing You are great, you are worthy. You are the only true God. We believe in Jesus Christ whom you’ve sent, and day and night they never stopped praising him. That's why I say the best reason for getting others to believe is that they spent eternity praising God. 

I think of all the movie stars sometime when they have the Oscar awards, all these beautiful people stand up, dressed fine, and they have that golden Oscar there for being the best in the movie or the best support or whatever it might be. And they kiss it and they cry over it. But I know about their lives. They’re divorced, they were unfaithful to each other. They’ve money, but they're not happy. I look at them. And when I see them, I pray. 

Or I think of powerful leaders in the country today. I'm thinking especially leaders in Muslim lands who don't trust in Jesus, who do not believe that Jesus died on the cross, who do not believe that Jesus is God. And I look at them with all their power in their nations, and with all their troubles in some other nations, and I pray for them. 

We had an incident here, where one American won the Tour de France on his bicycle seven times. And then found out that he had been taking drugs in order for him to win. When I seen that on TV I pray for him. 

You know others, Michael Jordan just had his 50th birthday. Everybody in the world knows Michael Jordan. He and Michael Jackson might have been the two Michaels most famous in the whole world. Everybody knows about them. And when I hear about Michael Jordan's 50th birthday, they talk that he feels unfulfilled, that he misses all the excitement. And I pray for him, that he might find the fulfillment of Jesus Christ. 

Or I think of government corruption all over the world. How people suffer under country after country after country is in trouble because of all the corruption that goes on. I imagine those people changing, I'm getting somewhere with this. We had a University recently decided that in addition to the Christian holidays, they're going to celebrate the holidays of the witches, of the wiccans because they said, that's only fair. And I think of these wiccans, and that they don't trust in Jesus Christ and honor him. 

Or there there's been a lot of talk lately about atheists. A lot of books written just lately about the new atheism. Atheism means your believe that God does not exist or you don't believe that he does exist. And one of the brightest ones one of the greatest minds, as well knows today's an atheist Stephen Hawkins. He's against Christianity. He's against the existence of God. I think what if he were to change? You know, I have a prayer list for special people, important people. And I pray and I say all of this for one reason. Imagine these ones that I mentioned, Imagine them standing before the throne of God and worshiping Him forever and ever. That's why I said this is the best reason to testify that they would stand there and honor him. 

There's a woman named Madonna, a very beautiful woman in a way that does dishonor to her body, to the bodies of women, and to the God who made her. There is an international figure named George Soros. He does a lot of things, but I never hear anything about faith in his life. Saddam Hussein in Iraq, before he was put to death. I prayed for him almost every day that he would become a Christian. I think now the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, I've been praying for them that they could be saved. I think of a rich man here in America, Donald Trump. I never hear anything about a personal faith. Think of President Putin in Russia. I have them on my prayers. You know why? Because I think and I pray that way. I say, dear Holy Spirit, if they were saved, imagine what that would be. That one day, they would stand before the throne of the Creator and they would stand before the throne of Jesus Christ the Savior, and they would praise Him night and day never, never ending. And that would be the best of all. 

What about people in your life? There's somebody now who's running around on his husband or on her or his wife on her husband. If somebody now in business was cheating people. There's somebody now who's in despair. Somebody who's contemplating suicide, there's somebody who's living off of himself. Imagine if through a vocal witness, they were to be saved. And in this life, it'd be as if they were standing before the throne. They'd be honest in their business. They be kind to each other. They'd be helpful to everybody they know. 

You know, a lot of times we can almost get selfish about people being saved. We say what I want them to be saved so their lives can be changed. I want my husband or my wife or whoever it might be. But I'm saying today, that if we are vocal witnesses and the people in your life, you know who aren't saved, and the name of the person that you wrote down just a short time ago, that if they became saved, it would be to the glory of God. Dear Lord Jesus in John chapter 15. He said, Well, you know what? It is to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit and imagine if there were dozens and dozens and dozens of people who were taken from out of the army of the misbelievers, and who are made Christians, and in their lives now and someday in eternity they would stand before God and say you are the one true God and we believe in you, and in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. That's the best of all reason to be a vocal witness.