In Acts 1:8 we are told to be “witnesses” of the validity of Jesus Christ and his claims. There have been a lot of unrealistic expectations placed on people to witness to the unsaved.  The church has tried to put all Christians in the same box and said all Christians should witness in a certain way.  But we need to understand that there is Diversity in the Body of Christ which means that we don’t all do everything the same way, including how we witness.

Back when Sue and I were in Bible school over 30 years ago we were required to take an evangelism class that involved door to door witnessing.  Twice a semester we would all load onto buses to travel to the closest city,  going door to door to people’s homes and try to witness to them.  I would have a knot in my stomach for days before we would leave; what do I do, what do I say, what if somebody pulls a gun on me.  To be honest, I never felt comfortable with that method of sharing my faith.  I found it impersonal, ineffective and very nerve wracking.  At times I thought of myself as a bad Christian if I was unable to witness in the way other spiritual leaders told me I needed to.  

But then as I studied the Bible more I began to see that God used different people with different witnessing styles to reach different kinds of people in the New Testament.  Furthermore, as I matured in my relationship with God and in my ministry as a pastor I discovered I could be a witness for Christ in many different ways – some of them amazingly felt very natural and people were actually being saved because of my witness. This Sunday we will consider 6 biblical styles of witnessing. Join us this Sunday and you might just find a witnessing style that works for you.

When I was a young college student in my first preaching class I remember the professor describing the various kinds of messages. Among the many styles of messages, he listed the simple, personal testimony as a legitimate message. This Sunday my wife Sue and I will share our personal testimonies of how God saved us and directed our lives over the last 5 decades. I often share parts of my faith journey in my messages from week to week, but I hope to share my faith journey in a very clear and concise way this Sunday. You will be especially blessed as you hear from Sue about her faith journey – most of which I’m sure will be new for you. I suspect that some of you will relate to Sue’s story in ways that you are not expecting.  You will find as we share on Sunday that Sue and I came from extremely different backgrounds and because of that we are wired very differently. As our two stories merge together into the life we have shared the last 35 years you will see that it is through those differences that God has used us to help each other become more of what God wants us to be. I am very pleased to share this Sunday’s message with Sue and I pray God will make our stories of God’s Grace a blessing for you.

ALSO – We are baptizing 3 people in the Ocean after our Beach Church service. Please plan to stay for 10 minutes after the service to witness these baptisms.

The concept of “seeing” has many facets to it. There is the obvious seeing with our eyes whatever our eyes can see. Then there is seeing in the sense of understanding: “Oh, I see now!” There is also the challenge to see when there are other details vying for our attention: “can’t see the forest for the trees.” John 9 is all about seeing on many levels. The chapter begins with Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath that was born blind. What’s interesting is Jesus meets this man’s physical need of seeing before the man ever declares any faith in Christ as the Messiah. It was only after the healing that he declared his faith in Christ. There is an important lesson for the church in this account.

In contrast to the man born blind are the Pharisees that Jesus identifies as spiritually blind. They could see in the natural world just fine, but were blind when it came to spiritual things. In spite of Jesus’ attempts to draw them into spiritual sight, they stayed in their darkness. What was the difference between the Pharisees and the man born blind? The blind man knew he had a physical need that was beyond human help, but he also had been told his whole life he was in that situation because of his sin. When Jesus met the felt need in his life by giving him sight, he was open to seeing Jesus on another level; seeing Jesus in the spiritual realm as the messiah and his savior. The Pharisees stayed in darkness because they refused to recognize any deficiency in their lives. Because they were proud in their righteousness they never saw they had a need of any kind. That pride kept them from seeing Jesus for who He is and the blessings He alone could provide for them. Join us this Sunday as we look into John 9 for a fresh, new way of “Seeing Jesus.”

“… The truth will set you free” is a widely used phrase in society to establish the importance of truth. Caltech and Johns Hopkins University use it for their mottos and Johnny Depp quoted this after he was victorious in the trial with Amber Heard. It gets used so freely many people don’t know it’s a quotation of Jesus in the Bible, and if they knew it’s in the Bible, I would guess they don’t know the context of the statement. That famous quotation is in this Sunday’s text where Jesus is emphasizing the path to real truth . . . truth that is liberating.

While Johnny Depp and the above mentioned Universities use that statement to defend truth, and with it preserve freedom, that is not how it was originally used by Jesus. Because Jesus is the truth itself, there is no need to defend it. However, because we live in a world that is ravished by sin and ruled by the father of lies, the devil himself, truth needs to be discovered. And in that discovery comes true and lasting freedom. Considering the current assault on truth in our media driven world, this is a fascinating look at the timelessness and unchanging nature of truth. Join me this Sunday as we look at truth in an age of deception: You can know the truth and that truth will give you ultimate freedom.

I know I’m dating myself when I ask this question – do you remember the TV game show “To Tell the Truth”? A group of 3 people would all pretend to be the same person, of which one was actually that person. A celebrity panel would ask questions to determine who was the real person, making a guess at the conclusion of the show. The big reveal came after the host would say “Would the real ____ please stand up!” In these middle chapters of John there is a little bit of “To Tell the Truth” going on here. 

We know that during the time of Jesus there were other men making claims to be the promised messiah and many of the religious leaders were trying to determine who was the real messiah: will the real messiah please stand up!  In our text this Sunday we see a group of Pharisees peppering Jesus with questions and getting answers they were not happy with. In verse 25 they come to a point of exasperation and blurt out “Who are you?” And that is a very good question. A question that is still asked today regarding Jesus. In John 8 Jesus provides the verification of who he is – the promised messiah, and those points of verification still provide the proof that Jesus is the messiah. The passage concludes in vs 30 by recording that many people put their faith in Jesus as a result. The verification of Jesus as messiah still has that effect on people today as Jesus calls us to put our faith in Him to meet every need for time and eternity.