Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast
Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast
Witnesses (Part 2)
There is a stark contrast between the 'natural man' and those awakened by the Spirit. If you are born again, you are a living temple of the Holy Spirit, and every personal interaction is an opportunity to be a vessel of the Lord.
Through 1 Corinthians 2, we unravel how the Spirit allows us to comprehend and share the heavenly gifts we've been graced with. Every time we interact with someone, whether it's with an atheist, an idol worshiper, or someone who's simply lost their way, it is a precious chance for them to witness Jesus Christ through our words and deeds.
NEW BOOK! I'm pleased to say that we have completed a new book that has been years in the making. The Ten Shirot: Songs of Redemption looks at ten songs that were sung through pivotal times in Scripture. It's an examination of the redemption of Jesus, of worship, and of Scripture in a way that we believe you probably haven't seen before. Check it out at https://a.co/d/0a4KIooL .
The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're located at 121 Arborside Lane in King, NC and we can be reached at welcome@gracebaptisttabernacle.org. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!
Greetings and welcome to the redeeming love Bible broadcast. My name is Phil Duddy, evangelist with Grace Baptist Tabernacle of King, north Carolina. I'm very, very glad to have you with me on the program today. We are going to have part two of our series called Witness and very, very excited. As we get into the broadcast here today, as always, please do feel free to contact us at redeemingthelostaticloudcom. We would love to hear from you and we would love to know how to pray for you as well.
Speaker 1:Our text here we're going to be jumping off of 1 Corinthians, chapter two, starting in verse 11. So 1 Corinthians, chapter two, starting in verse 11, the Word of God says this For what man knoweth, the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God. Now we might know the things which are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, but the natural man we see with, not the things of the spirit of God for there. Foolishness on him. Under him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And hallelujah, amen, thankful for the Word of God.
Speaker 1:Today, and looking at this series, this entire series I know we're on the second part of it, but looking at the series on a whole, it's been one of the more challenging ones that I've done and I'm glad that the Lord is the one who's given this to me. Amen and hallelujah. But the challenging aspect of it is more in the language, because there aren't really words in English for what we're describing in this series. The best one that I've found in the Word of God is witness. It's being a witness of Jesus Christ as the Lord has made us to be, and simply living that out. Living that out no matter who we're around, no matter what we're going through, no matter what's going on, no matter what city we're in, no matter what country we're in. We are living as witnesses of Jesus Christ, witnesses that he is alive, witnesses that what he has said is true, witnesses that he's not only willing but he's mighty to save and to forgive sin and to make people born again and to heal people. And witnesses that everything they said is true and that eternal life starts now, that the spirit is alive, that we are the temples of the Holy Ghost, that the Father loves us, that the Father is not willing that anybody should perish, but that everyone should come to repentance and life in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Because of all of these things and along the way, people encounter Jesus Christ, along the way the people we interact with, because Jesus is alive, he's made us alive and we're walking, talking temples of the Holy Spirit and the church is really just a bunch of living people and it's not a bunch of buildings, it's not a bunch of denominations, it's not a bunch of books or tapes or anything like that, but it's a bunch of living people that we've all been to the same cross, we're washed in the same blood and we're filled with the same spirit and so we're brothers and sisters in the Lord and the Lord fitly joins us together and we have local churches and so we have a worldwide church and that worldwide church is kind of made up of local churches and those local churches are made up of individual people who are saved and born again and spirit filled and living out eternal life, glory and hallelujah. But as we're living along the way, we're encountering people. We're meeting people and I really like the word encounter, like the word encounter, especially for what we're talking about. It's a helpful word and so what does it mean? It's an encounter. You can boil it down to a meeting. It's a meeting particularly of a sudden or an accidental nature, and it's a meeting of two or more people, and I really like this word because Jesus is alive and Jesus is one of those two people. You know, we're temples of the Holy Ghost, we're vessels of the Holy Ghost, we are, you know, sort of the hands and the feet. You know, if you will, you know it's been described that way. The church is described as a body and we reach out and we go and we tell and we demonstrate, you know, by our very lives, by the way we live our lives, by the way we talk, by the way we act, by the way we speak, by the way we handle our business, by the way we take care of our families, by the way, by the way we worship.
Speaker 1:And worship is not something that's confined to a few minutes of music in a church service. Worship is something that always goes on between us and the Lord. It always goes on and in our churches and our church meetings, gloria and Honoluluia. We get together and we worship together, but we worship together because we've been worshiping individually, we've already been worshiping and we get together and we worship and then after after you know, the meeting's over we go our ways and we continue worshiping and along the way, people encounter Jesus in us. People encounter Jesus in us. We are His hands, we are His feet and we are the body of Christ. We are the church and as we live, we have this encounter People who don't know Jesus, people who aren't Christians, people who aren't born again. As we encounter them, they encounter Jesus.
Speaker 1:A meeting goes on, particularly a meeting of two or more people. A meeting between Jesus and this lost person that we're talking to. A meeting between Jesus and this atheist that we're talking to. A meeting between Jesus and this idol worshiper that we're talking to. Whatever the case may be, whoever you're talking to, there is an encounter going on. Wherever that person is, whatever fornication that person's into, whatever hatred that person's got walking around, whatever lust, whatever idolatry, whatever deception that person's trying to put on you, whatever the case may be, there's an encounter that goes on, especially when we say the name of Jesus, especially when we say the name of Jesus, especially when we give someone the Word of God, even if it's one sentence out of the Word of God, even if it's John 3.16,. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son. Hallelujah. Whosoever believes in Him, there's no condemnation, but they're going to see everlasting life. They're going to see eternal life, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1:You give someone one sentence out of the Word of God and you say the name of Jesus. You know, jesus knows you, Jesus loves you. Jesus doesn't want you to perish. Jesus wants you to have eternal life. Jesus wants you to have forgiveness. Jesus wants you to come under grace. You're under the mercy of Jesus Now. He wants you to come under grace, he wants you to live. He wants you to have life. He wants you to have healing.
Speaker 1:You say the name of Jesus and things happen. Why do things happen? Because this person over here who's living life against Jesus, this person over here who's worshiping idols, this person over here who's worshiping the money, worshiping the hatred, worshiping the scientific knowledge, worshiping the politics, worshiping the entertainment, worshiping the sexuality and worshiping the alcohol, worshiping the drugs. Now in this person who's in idolatry, this person who's in unbelief, this person who is perishing, this person who is slowly being consumed by their sin death is taking hold this person who is going minute by minute by minute by minute by minute toward the second death, this person is you know, it's what you know. We can go back to 1 Corinthians here.
Speaker 1:The natural man receiveeth not the things in the spirit of God for their foolishness under him. This is a natural person, we got over here. This is a natural man, we got over here. They're into the idolatry, they're into the sin, they're into the lust, they're into, you know, the pride, they're into the ego, they're into the arrogance, they're into the possessions, they're into what you know, and it manifests itself in a thousand different ways, folks. But you know, we can boil it all down to the natural man. And they receive not the spirit of God, their foolishness under him. Neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. And so we have an encounter. We have an encounter, and that is where our focus, that is where things happen People encountering Jesus personally and responding to Jesus personally, not only encountering Jesus personally.
Speaker 1:And again, how do they do that? They do that, you know, because the church encounters them. They encounter the church We've got the spirit of God. And you know, this person over here, the natural man, does not have the spirit of God. And so there's an encounter that goes on, there's a meeting that goes on, and that happens on a personal level. You know, it may sort of start out just sort of on a social level, but man does it get personal. I'll tell you what it gets personal.
Speaker 1:And there is always, always, always, always, always, always, a response to Jesus. There's a response to Jesus that goes on, and it's been my experience. People either run to Him or they run from Him. Even if they don't say a word, to go completely silent, to go completely blank, they are running from Jesus. That silence is a response and it's a running from. It's trying to get away from Jesus, trying to push Jesus off, trying to get this vessel of the Lord off your back, whatever the case may be. But we can boil that to it's a no. So it's either a yes or a no. It's either a running toward Jesus or it's a running away from Jesus, but there's always a response, there's always a product of this encounter, if you will.
Speaker 1:And I love this definition of encounter for another reason too it's sudden and it's accidental, it's a sudden or an accidental meeting and it just we don't wake up looking for it, we don't wake up knowing that this is gonna happen. It's not a set appointment, it's not a set time. And hallelujah, because salvation belongs to Lord, folks, salvation belongs to God. And I don't know about you. But the day I got saved, I didn't wake up saying, okay, today I'm gonna get saved. At about nine o'clock tonight it didn't happen.
Speaker 1:I was going about life. I was a natural man. I was into all the sin and all the lust and stuff like that that I was into. That was life, that was normal. Mine just happened to be looking very moral and looking very religious and stuff like that on the outside. But sin is sin, no matter how it looks on the outside. But I didn't wake up saying that, okay, I'm gonna get saved. At about nine o'clock tonight. It wasn't like that.
Speaker 1:No, there was one vessel of the Holy Ghost over here and, by the foolishness of preaching the Lord, god Almighty, starts to work. And I encountered the Holy Ghost, I encountered Jesus that night. And it wasn't planned and it was sudden and it was a meeting, a meeting between me and a meeting between me and the living God. And there was a response and it was all very, very simple, all very, very simple, all very, very personal, all very, very God-reaching and God-drawing and me responding. And that's how it works. You might say, that's how it moves, that's how salvation happens.
Speaker 1:People respond to God and I know God draws and God moves and God reaches and his personal encounter takes place. And if there's a response in faith, there is a response in faith. Somebody puts their faith in God. Now, glory, hallelujah, and then God does a miracle and that person receives eternal life. That person receives the Holy Ghost. That person receives, we receive, we receive, we receive, we receive. And then, all of a sudden, we can receive the things of the Spirit because we've got the Spirit. We receive the Spirit of God, we receive Him by faith. And this is not a thing. And this is where I see a lot of people trip up and this is where I see a lot of real damage done. This is not a thing that we can.
Speaker 1:It's not a matter of education, it's not a matter of training. It's not a matter, you know, this isn't like math, this isn't like language, this isn't like science, this isn't like that Education. You know I love education, value education. You know my kids. You know they're getting an education. You know I've got an education, my wife's got an education. I know a lot of people you know. They've got classroom education, they've got trades education. They've got, you know, street smarts, they've got book smarts and all that. That's a wonderful saying.
Speaker 1:At the same time, we're not talking about education. We can't educate a lost person enough to make them a saved person. We can't educate people to kind of engineer this encounter. We can't teach people. We can't teach people who are in sin and then just give them an education and make them saints. That's not it. It's not a question of education.
Speaker 1:People can memorize the Word of God all they want, but if there's no encounter on a personal level, there's no encounter and there's no salvation. There's no, you know, washing of the blood, there's no humble brokenness over the revelation of sin, there's no personal encounter between this person and Jesus and it's just education. And you know, salvation is not by education through works. No, salvation is not by education, it's not by training, it's not, you know, by church membership, it's not by seminary degree, it's not by anything like that. No, salvation is by grace and through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so we cannot train people. We can't train a sinner into becoming a saint. It's just not that way. But no, how is it?
Speaker 1:You know, we see this from the New Testament, folks God starts drawing people, somebody gets up and somebody starts preaching and then, by the foolishness of that preaching, this encounter starts to take place. Or you've got a situation like Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch, where it's kind of one-on-one, but there was an encounter that took place. You've got a situation like Peter in Cornelius Cornelius, hallelujah and Amen. He believed God before he knew what God was going to tell him. There was faith there, and so God set up an encounter. God set up a meeting. God kind of took Peter and he sent Peter over here and Peter went into the house and Peter started preaching and the Holy Ghost started coming up on him. There was an encounter.
Speaker 1:This encounter can be sort of with big groups or it can be one on one, but it all revolves around this foolishness of preaching as well, because we don't preach ourselves, we don't preach our denominations, we don't preach our theologies, but we do preach Jesus. We preach Jesus, we preach him crucified. We preach Jesus. We preach the blood he shed. We preach Jesus, we preach him. He died on the cross and we preach him risen up again on the third day. We preach him alive, because he's alive today. And my, my, my, how God kind of uses us like a vessel, like he pours it into us and then we pour it out to other people. And that's been the way it's been since the church was born. That's how the church was born.
Speaker 1:You go back in the book of Acts. The Holy Ghost came upon. You know they all up there in one accord, they're waiting for the promise of the Father and the Holy Ghost comes in. And all of a sudden, the Holy Ghost comes in, the Holy Ghost fills them. They go out and they start pouring out what the Holy Ghost gave. And a whole bunch of encounters took place and you had a whole bunch of people responding to Jesus in faith and you had the church born on the streets. That day the church was born on the streets. You know, hallelujah. The church wasn't born in the seminary classroom, the church wasn't born even in a church house, but the church were born on the streets and glory, hallelujah and amen. It was real simple. You had a bunch of spirit filled men and they went out and they said what the spirit gave them to say. And people met Jesus and people put their faith in Jesus and Jesus responded A whole bunch of people got saved that day. A whole bunch of people got the blood of Jesus applied to them that day. A whole bunch of people received eternal life that day. They received the Holy Ghost that day. Glory and hallelujah.
Speaker 1:You know, we need to get back to this folks and let our focus be on living out life as a witness of Jesus Christ, living out life as a witness. And as we live as a witness, we encounter people. People encounter us, but that's only in the human. As we walk around, you know, filled with the Holy Ghost, people encounter the living God, people encounter Jesus and my. You know how easy a thing is it just to give someone the word of God and you watch that encounter happen. As we speak the word of God and there must be a speaking we speak the word of God. This other person over here is a natural person over here. It's a natural man over here. It goes in through the ears the word of God does. But there's something else that happens there as well. There's a very real meeting and a very real interaction and in the space between one second and the next, that person starts running to God or running away from God, and so amen in Hallelujah. You know we keep it simple because glory, hallelujah, god kept it simple and so we're gonna be continuing on with this series when it comes you know it's called Witness and I thank you for being here with me today and again, let us know how we can pray for you redeeming the lost. At iCloudcom. That's the best way to get us here at the program.
Speaker 1:You can also reach us. We're a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're a church, you know. We meet in King, north Carolina, and we've got a website, wwwgbtministriescom. You can find our service times there. You can find our service locations there. We would be thrilled to meet you in person. Please do feel welcome and expected in any of those services. There's a Sunday morning at 10, there's a Sunday evening at six and there's a Wednesday evening starts around seven, and please do come and visit us. We would love to meet you in person and thank you again for listening to these. Please do continue. Play them for your churches, play them for your family, play them for your friends and help us continue to reach a whole bunch of people around, not only America, but around the world as well several different nations and we thank you for being part of the program. Thank you for praying for us, thank you for supporting us as well, and may the Lord continue to richly, richly bless you. Amen.