Video Transcript: Joy for Others

We're still talking about the joy of vocal witness. We have to emphasize that because a lot of times it doesn't feel that way. I saw an announcement in a church program it said, urgent call be a witness is that's what it is. Is it a burden, something that we have to do? And I want to focus again, on the joy of being a vocal witness. Maybe you've heard how that were joy is explained. J. O . Y. The J stands for Jesus. The O stands for others, and the Y stands for yourself. And that's sort of what we're doing. When we talk about the joy of vocal witness. 

We're going to talk first of all today about the joy it is for the father and for the Son. And we're going to talk in the second place today about the joy it is for others when we are vocal witness. And the next week, we'll talk about the joy it is for ourselves for yourself to be a vocal witness. But the emphasis is on the idea of joy. It's not a burden. It's not asking too much. It's something we are privileged to do. Imagine if the leading political figure in your country, were to ask you to be his representative, wouldn’t you go and tell your family. Hey, I'm going to work there. Or if somebody for sports team or big business and you were the spokesperson for them. The Lord of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ enables us and asks us to be His witnesses here. That's joy. 

Let's pray about it. Oh, Jesus, we have that picture in our mind. You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. There is none like you. You are truly God and truly human. And one day we will see you face to face. There were people who saw you and believed in you. And it's our privilege to stand for you in this world and to bring others to you through our vocal witness. We love you. Amen. 

So where we want to start when we talk about others. Listen to this. Would you believe it? You can save someone else's life. James said, Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death. I just got caught up in that thought and when I was thinking about that. You know, people who don't love Jesus. You can change their eternity. Picture that person you know. They don't love Jesus. They're gonna go through all the experiences in life. Maybe they'll get sick. Maybe a loved one will die. Maybe they'll have an accident where they lose a leg or an arm or they go blind. All their life they were going to get married and it didn't happen. Or they got married in the picture having these children and they never did or they had the children and then when the boy got to be 11 he got killed by a car or the girl at 13 got drowned in the water. And they waited for grandchildren, but that didn't happen. And then when they got older, they thought well, in our old age, we'll be together and then one of them dies. That's going on every day, every day in life. 

And you know what? Without Jesus it's blackness. If you're a Christian, maybe you've even forgotten that already. But without him, there's no meaning. What meaning is there? I called on a woman whose husband died she was in her 70s. And I said to her, how do you feel about the fact that your husband was taken? She said, I think it was a dirty trick. There's a lot of people out there who feel that way. That life itself is a dirty trick. And you know what? You can save a person from death. We think of death as losing our breath, being buried in the ground. But there's such a thing as a living death. Afraid of what's going to happen, discouraged about what's going on, ready to commit suicide if you have to. And you can change that person's life starting here. 

Paul wrote to some believers, they were just believers for about three months in the city of Thessalonica. And he said to them in the first letter, chapter four, he said when you grieve, he said, Don't grieve like people who have no hope. You know what happens in Christians lives, the same things that happen in non Christian lives. They don't marry when they wanted to, no children when they expected to, children get killed, they lose their job, their business goes down, their spouse is unfaithful to them, their children disrespect them. They have some kind of illness and accident, whatever it might be that great loss. Paul didn’t say that's not going to happen. But he said when it does happen, you mourn in a different way. Because you have hope. You know that when Jesus suffered everything on the cross, to the point where he cried out to God and said, Why did you forsake me. That he suffered everything we ever will suffer? And he went through it. He tasted death for us, so that we could live. That's what you have to bring to unChristian neighbor. 

But the greatest part of this, remember we studied about what is the great part for God, of all those who love Him, standing before the throne and worshiping Him. That starts right here and then those people you know, who live without hope, who are not forgiven, but who become forgiven. They will stand before Jesus someday, and you have the opportunity to change someone's forever. You can do that. 

There's a man in our church. Ordinary man owns a business. Listen to this. A man used to come in every day, he owned a food store. A man used to come in every day and pick up a few things and he just started talking to him. And in the conversation, he found out that the man didn't have any hope, the man didn't believe anything at all, no religion. So he invited them out for coffee and they visited some more and spent time together. And when he told him about Jesus when he was a vocal witness, that man believed. The reason I know this, that some time ago, I got a letter from a lady who said you don't know who I am. But my uncle just died. And he died as a Christian. He wasn't a Christian, but the man in that store told them about Jesus and he believed and I know now that my husband is in heaven. Because the man in that store, talked to him about Jesus. Imagine that you can do that in somebody's life. 

Ray Boltz has a song a great song. It makes me want to cry every time I hear it. Thank you for giving to the Lord. And he talks about this person who served the Lord by giving some money and by giving a testimony, by teaching a Sunday school class. And then this person dies and goes to heaven. And there's a line of people there who come up to him and say, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for giving to the Lord. That can be you. That's the man in the grocery store an ordinary, everyday Christian, who would be embarrassed if he knew I was talking about. He doesn't even know it. And he has people in heaven because of his vocal testimony. 

So these people you know about, that can be you. You can be leading them into a life of meaning. And here's a thought too. Can  you picture yourself as an answer to someone's prayer? Because there are Christians out there, maybe in your community, maybe in the area where you live, maybe in another country, and a relative has gone there, or a child has run away or someone was transferred through business, and they're not believers. I know people personally, close relatives who are not saved, and I'm always praying for them. I say Lord, put someone in their life who will testify to them. Put them in a place where there's a church that's vibrant, where the people will come out and be vocal witnesses for Jesus. And imagine that.  Somewhere  in the world, someone is praying for someone in your life, and you can be the answer to their prayer by being vocal witness. 

You know, I think there's good selfishness and bad selfishness. Good selfishness is God maintaining his name? Which selfishness is us getting rest or eating or protecting ourselves for danger? That selfishness is when it's all about us. When we talk about saving another's life, that's for them. It's not for us. Think of what it says in the Bible. This verse, you can, you it says. Did you see that? You will save him from death. Jesus saves we know that. But you will be used in that way. Proverbs 11:30 he who wins souls is wise, vocal witness to save another's life. 

There's another way that we can reach others by being vocal witness and that's by encouraging them. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in Second Corinthians four verse 15. All this while this had happened, all God's grace is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. The church, their hearts were thumping. They're getting excited because more and more people were being saved. 

Think for example of sports, because of the internet or because of TV or the print, we know so much more about sports. Everybody talks about sports. And it's funny in a team that this year wins the championship next year can hardly do anything. A team that last week beat the number one team this week, looses to the last place team. A team that was strong and was going for the championship loses three games in a row. You know what it is? It's team spirit. Is something goes on there, that when there's team spirit there, they can be greater than themselves. And when they lose that team spirit, when they lose that enthusiasm, they're less than themselves. 

That can happen in churches too. Sometimes at church goes along so well and everything is fine and the pastor's preaching the word with power and people are responding. And other times the church just creeps along and nothing seems to be happening and everybody's discouraged. And he says here you know what, when God's grace is reaching more and more people, thanksgiving is going to overflow in your church. It's not for you. It's for them. It's not to go out and say well, I’m testifying no justifying so that others will believe and be saved here and in the life to come, but also that will build up the body. 

And I wonder, what is your vision for your church? What is it? Are you thinking about it? Does your church have a vision? By God's grace I came from a vision that has a church that has a mission statement like this. We exist to be used by God intentionally, to bring lost persons to full life in Christ. We do other things. We have all sorts of ministries, marvelous ministries, all sorts of things going on youth, adults, seniors, people outside the church, people in other communities, people in other countries, many ministries. But there's one goal in everything that we do. And I said when I was a pastor there, if we ever lose this vision, let's just close the door. Because then we're like every other place. We exist to bring lost persons to full life in Christ. 

But there's one word I left out, and that's at the beginning and that is the word intentionally. That is why we exist. If we stop being intentional about bringing lost persons to full life in Christ, we are no longer ourselves. What is the vision for your church? Why do you exist? I was in another church recently and in their church program that said our church mission is to build our body here. Is that the way it is? For those inside? For those who already know? Or are we following Jesus who came with his mission to reach the world? All those things that we've been studying so far, not about us, but about giving up. It's for others. 

And then the thanksgiving. It all goes back again, doesn't it? Cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. We've seen that in churches. You see it in your life. Did you ever meet someone who has led another person to Christ and he wants to tell you about it, she wants to tell you about the change that there's been and they're so excited, giving thanksgiving. What happens? Overflowing to the glory of God. 

Jesus said, Listen to this. When one sinner repents, there is rejoicing in heaven. Do you want to be the cause of that rejoicing? Think of all the people that you know, people who are unsaved, people who are wondering far from God, people who are living for themselves, and then you can bring them, cause them to rejoice to the glory of God. What a picture that is. We have said here that we're talking about the joy of vocal witness. You don't get the picture of that. I'm emphasizing this because I think most often we don't see it as a joy. We see it as a burden. We see it as something that scares us. So I want to go back again. 

Last week, we said you know what? We do it for Jesus, we obey Him. How does that make his heart feel when we obey Him? We do it for God the Father and for Jesus because those people who are changed, they glorify Him. It's not about us. It's not about our church. It's not about the people who are saved even. It's about giving glory to God. We're talking today about the joy vocal witness, of saving another's life. You know, people who aren’t saved. Can you picture that? Are you willing to look at that to think about, the name that you wrote down? People out there, people in other countries, maybe it'll drive you to move or to go to another country or to go next door to where you live. Have to talk to people about Jesus, the gift to them. 

And then the joy for your body, your church body, whatever that churches, whatever Bible study it is that you're in. We have testimonies in our church from time to time, and when people are up there testifying about how Jesus has changed their lives, and given them hope and how much it means to them. I'm always looking around and watching. People are smiling, and they're happy, and sometimes there's clapping. And you know why? Because they're overflowing with thanksgiving. And that goes to God.

And as we end this one session, I want to ask you, really, what is the goal of your life? As a Christian, I know you're not gonna say I want to make money. I want to be the best in the world. I want my business to grow. I want to just have fun. I want to live for myself. I know that. You say I want to live for him. I want to bring glory to my Savior and to his father. Then I want to ask you what is the greatest way that you can bring glory to God? By obeying him here? Yes. And obey him in such a way that you reach out to those people you don't know and they become Christians. And then there's two then there's four and then it grows. And all of them will stand in this life and then eternity praising the Father and the Son through their spirit. The joy of vocal testimony.