Witnesses (Part 3) - Foolishness and Power

Every response to the Gospel, whether visible or hidden deep within, is a profound and crucial decision. With part 3 of Witnesses, we confront the stark helplessness of worldly wisdom when faced with spiritual needs, emphasizing the precious promise of faith and the unshakable assurance of salvation. This episode isn't just a discourse; it's an invitation to experience the ultimate reconciliation of Jesus Christ.

Chapters

• 0:14 Encountering Jesus
• 13:23 Power of God Through Salvation
• 19:22 Global Ministry Outreach and Support

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Greetings and welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast. My name is Phil Duddy, evangelist with Grace Baptist Tabernacle of King, north Carolina. Really glad to have you with me on the program today as we get into part three of our current series, which is called Witness. As always, please do feel free to reach out to us at redeemingthelost at icloudcom. And as we lead into part three of this series, we need to go back and link up with part two of the series and we talked about something called an encounter last time. Can't overemphasize how key that is An encounter between a person and Jesus, an encounter being a meeting, particularly a sudden or an unplanned, even an accidental meeting of two or more persons.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Jesus is alive and people are alive and there are encounters every day to go on between Jesus and people. And these meetings, especially from our perspective, from our perspective, you know I've met a lot of people over the years. I myself used to be one. I sought out a religion, I sought out a philosophy, I sought out a worldview and it was all sort of geared based on my own taste, based on my own preferences, based on my own lusts. People will seek that out. People will seek out a religion or philosophy or way of looking at the world that kind of suits them, that kind of fits them, maybe challenges them to grow in something that they already believe. But the difference is, when Jesus shows up, people are like whoa. When Jesus shows up, because Jesus is not tailored according to our lusts, jesus is not tailored according to, you know, our preconceived notions about him.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Jesus is Jesus, jesus is alive. And Jesus shows up. And Jesus reveals sin. Jesus reveals lostness. Jesus reveals the reality that there is a difference between the fallen world and fallen humanity and who God is. Jesus reveals that something has been lost. He's here to restore that. He's here to forgive the sin. He's here to make all things new. He's here to heal, he's here to restore. And that runs counter to our lusts, that runs counter to fornication, that runs counter to adultery, drunkenness, anything like that. At the same time, jesus doesn't change who he is, but he's looking to heal, he's looking to restore, he's looking to save people, certainly from the wrath of God, and he's looking to sort of restore people, to heal people of all the consequences of sin. And he seeks and he saves that which is lost.

Speaker 1: 3:15

And it's a real, real, sobering, major, huge reality that sin has consequences, that while we're living in sin we're not living in the will of God. When we're living in sin, we're not living in the will of God and certain things are lost. You know, the price of fornication is often a stable family. The price of adultery is certainly a family. The price of drunkenness there's, you know, there's physical consequences, there's emotional consequences, there's even mental consequences, and all of those things kind of take root where, you know, the whole time, god designed it for us to be joyful, designed it for us to be peaceful, designed it for us to be fruitful, designed us, you know, to have wisdom. But you know, in choosing sin you're putting aside Jesus. In choosing sin you're putting aside the Holy Spirit, you're putting aside the Father and you're putting aside God's will for your life. When you're choosing sin, so yeah, and so we choose sin and addictions come up. We choose sin, and sin kind of creates more and more and more and more and more problems without really fixing anything. Sin creates all of this death, sin creates all this destruction, sin creates all this brokenness.

Speaker 1: 4:47

And then this encounter takes place and Jesus shows up and he is so completely different. He's so completely different from a philosophy or a worldview or a way of you know looking at the world or sort of a set of religious structures. But we've got the living God encountering a living person. And something always happens in that meeting Either the person is saved and born again and that healing process gets started, or that person you know goes away sad, or that person goes away angry. Or that person goes away and kind of clings and doubles down on the sin. That is bringing about a lot of destructive consequences in that life. But the encounter is absolutely key, folks, and we're going to jump one verse out of 1 Corinthians, so excuse me. So come on over to 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, starting in verse 18.

Speaker 1: 5:48

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God. Preaching is a means of this encounter and preaching is always a part of this encounter somewhere. So the preaching of the cross, the preaching of Jesus, the preaching of the finished work that Jesus did on that cross, and God uses one person. God uses one person, you know, and God uses one person. God uses one person, you know, a spirit-filled, jesus-loving hallelujah, amen. You know God uses one preacher to get this word to another preacher to get the word of Jesus to another preacher, to get the word of God to another person. No-transcript.

Speaker 1: 6:43

And, as we've mentioned, the people who hear always have a reaction. There's always a response. There's never a neutral, even if the person doesn't say anything. There's never a neutral because inside, that person is reacting, that person's reacting in the heart, that person's reacting in the head. There's all kinds of responses going on. That person may not verbalize them, that person may just go blank, that person may even, you know, use a deception to cover it up, but there is always, always, always, always, always a response.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Whenever Jesus is preached, whenever Jesus is preached, whenever the Word of God goes forward that God so loves this world that he sent his only begotten son so that any who should believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life, whenever just that one verse goes forward, that's just John 3, 16. Whenever that goes forward, there is always a response because God sets up an encounter. In that moment, god initi up an encounter. In that moment, god initiates an encounter. In that moment he shows up and he says this is who I am, this is my love for you, this is my nature, these are my thoughts, these are my ways, this is who I am as Lord ways. This is who I am as Lord and this is who you are, and I love you. And I love you, no matter how much you might have sinned against me, no matter how much you might hate me, no matter how much you want me to go away and stop talking. I love you. This is what God says to people.

Speaker 1: 8:25

This is kind of what goes on in this encounter, and God reveals a lostness, god reveals the sin. God reveals all the consequences, all the addictions, all the brokenness, all the hurt, all the pain, all the ungodly fear, all of the worry, all of the concern, all of the stress, all the anxiety, all that has come up. You know all the broken relationships. God kind of reveals not only an individual sin but the consequences of that sin and, first and foremost, god is going to deal with the relationship between a lost and dying sinner and God and himself. God's going to deal with that relationship first Because Jesus is the foundation, jesus is the chief cornerstone, jesus is the foundation of everything and God's going to start at that foundation. Where that person is before holy God. Is that person, you know, in Christ or outside of Christ? Is that person under the authority of God and in his kingdom or is that person in the kingdom of the devil? You know God's going to deal with these foundational issues first in this encounter, and preaching is the means of that encounter.

Speaker 1: 9:43

At some point somebody has to open the mouth, somebody has to preach Jesus, and you know, and that reaction is going to go on in people who listen. You know, book of Romans tells you know. You know, you know, faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. Whenever the preaching goes forward, that little bit of that faith, that capacity, that God-given faith that's in every person, that faith kind of gets stirred up and that belief either goes toward God or toward something else. You know, if it goes toward something else, call that unbelief. But that person's either going to go to Jesus, run to Jesus or run away from Jesus. But preaching is kind of the catalyst. If you will God, you know, if you're preaching Jesus, you're not going to use the words of the world but you're going to use the Word of God. And God honors His Word, god moves in His Word. If all you do is stand out on the street and read the word of God verbatim, out loud God is still going to move. God's going to move because God honors this word and this word is a living word. This word is an active word, this word is a powerful word and this word is always going to have a response. And so we go.

Speaker 1: 11:10

You know, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Those who perish are the lost and the ruined and the destroyed. And this perishing is a big deal Lost, ruined and destroyed. As you know, as we've already seen, already seen, sin's got a lot of consequences. If you're living in sin, you're not living in the will of God. If you're choosing sin, you're not choosing the will of God. If you're building up sin in your life, you're not building up the will of God and the word of God in your life. And there are consequences. God would want us to have joy, he wants us to have peace, he wants us to have wisdom, wants us to have temperance, wants us to have all the good fruits of the Holy Ghost. And if we're choosing sin, if we're living in foolishness, if we're living in arrogance, if we're living in anger or hatred, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, drug use, whatever the case may be. We're building that up in our lives. If we're living there and there's a lot of lostness, there's a lot of consequence that comes about from that and you know it's been well said.

Speaker 1: 12:30

You know what we need to do is we need to and you know, sometimes you know you got to ask God for this and God will give it to you but to really have a vision of you know, this person that you want to see saved, this person that you want to see born again, what would their role in the body of Christ look like? What would their place in the church look like? What would their life look like after salvation? After all those consequences of sin have been dealt with and washed away, torn down, and righteousness and goodness and holiness and godliness has been built up. What would that person look like? We've got to kind of have that heart for folks and those who perish, lost, ruined, destroyed, in the here and now and in eternity.

Speaker 1: 13:23

And as this preaching goes forward, the difference between God's thoughts and God's nature and the fallen world's thoughts and the fallen world's nature becomes very, very pronounced. And you know the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. So if they're going to stay in their sin, they're going to dismiss it as foolishness. But unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God. If that person will stay in their sin, they dismiss it as foolishness. But if that person will believe Jesus Christ, will put their faith in Jesus Christ, will say yes and amen. Lord, you know I'm lost, I'm dying, I'm hell bound. I'm a sinner. I need grace, I need the blood of Jesus. I want the blood of Jesus, I want Jesus, I want you to be my Lord, my God, make me all new, make me all born again, whatever words kind of come up out of that person. But the faith is toward Jesus Christ. The faith, the inward faith, the attitude of the heart goes toward Jesus Christ and he responds with that miracle of new birth and salvation. This word is the power of God unto salvation.

Speaker 1: 14:34

The preaching of the cross, the preaching of that finished work, the fact that Jesus became our sin and the fact that Jesus shed his blood, the fact that he died in atoning death and he rose again on the third day, the preaching of that cross that he became our sin, that he became our lust, he became our arrogance, our lostness, our. You know any lust you want to look at. He became all of that on the and he died in our place so that we might have eternal life. That is the very power of God and the us which are saved. Saved meaning rescued from destruction, rescued from destruction. The cross was used as that instrument because Jesus died there. You know, the cross itself was just wood, the nails just metal, but Jesus died there. The cross was an instrument. Jesus shed his blood there. There, god the Father made him to be sin. There he was made to be a curse. There he died an atoning death.

Speaker 1: 15:59

The power of God, god's, you know, the sort of ultimate act of initiation, because God did this while we were yet sinners. The ultimate act of God initiating an encounter with the fallen, lost, dying world. And that's every single one of us included. God initiated that. He did this while we were yet sinners, while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. That's how we know his love. Hallelujah, amen, glory to God.

Speaker 1: 16:27

And we've got to look at this, because all the knowledge and the philosophy and the culture of the world, every, all, all of its might, all of its ability, everything that it's been able to come up with over generations, over eras, over times, over cultures, everything that people have been able to kind of come up with has not yet and it never will, um has not yet and never will conquer sin and death, and it cannot bring a single soul home to God, because that's the design of God the world. We cannot do this by ourselves. We can't learn enough. We can't get big enough, bad enough, strong enough, we can't get powerful enough, we can't get smart enough, we can't get healthy enough, we can't get enough technology, we can't get enough enlightenment, we can't get enough chemical assistance, prescription drugs and the like. You know, we cannot do enough. We can't do enough to cover one sin, to cover one moment of sin, to cover one lie. We cannot do it. We can't get to God on our own.

Speaker 1: 17:50

But hallelujah on the cross. This is why it's the power of God. God came down to us and said look, this is who I am. This is what I'm going to do for you, because I love you. I'm going to die your death. I'm going to die your death. You won't see one second of hell. I'm going to die your death so that we can be reconciled. You can be with me, we can heal your wounds, we can give you a new mind, we give you a new heart, we give you a new life. You get born again and you be with me and I be with you. I be your God, you be my people with me and I be with you. I be your God, you be my people.

Speaker 1: 18:33

And God made this happen. God did this, god initiated it, god provided for it and hallelujah and amen. You know God maintains it. You know the blood's never going to be shed again. Jesus never going to die again. Jesus never going to rise up from the dead again. It's done one time. It's finished, it's complete.

Speaker 1: 18:51

And the question is are you going to receive it? The question is are the people you minister to going to receive it or not? But it's foolishness to them, who will remain in their sin. But hallelujah and amen, if they're going to believe. Now you might be listening to this today. You know God drawing you. If you're going to believe, it's the very power of God on the salvation. Hallelujah and amen. You know I pray. This has been a real blessing to you today.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Feel free, you know, as all you you know, get in touch with us. We want to hear from you Redeeming the Lost at iCloudcom and also, please do continue to play these for your churches, continue to play these in your households for your families, you know. Continue to share these, help us to continue to reach people around the world with the preaching of Jesus and especially, you know, if you've been listening to this and God's been drawing you to salvation and you've been saved, we want to continue to be a ministry to you. Please look us up, you can find us. We're a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're in King, north Carolina.

Speaker 1: 20:03

Gbtministriescom is the website address and you can find service times. You can find service locations there. We would really, really love to meet you in person. We would love to just come and visit one of our services, worship with us, meet us in person. We would love to know who you are and continue to minister to you, and I want to thank you all of you again for helping this podcast get around the world, for helping this podcast get around the world. It's a real, real, tremendous blessing for us to see on our end, and so reach out to us, let us know how we can pray for you, how we can be a ministry to you, and thank you for continuing to support the podcast, and may the Lord continue to richly bless you, amen.