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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

The Fiery Ripple Effect

The epistles opening words that you just heard suggest that the apostle John was an eyewitness who personally knew Jesus.

3 times in this passage it is mentioned that the Word of Life was seen, was seen with our eyes.

The Word of Life is not a mere theory, but something experienced personally.

And when we declare that eternal life which was manifested to us, the result is a fiery ripple effect and the fullness of joy.

My message today is entitled, A Fiery Ripple Effect.

Our Father in heaven, you have been welcomed, acknowledged in this place of worship.

And we know that your presence is here now.

And we ask that through the Holy Spirit, you would bring conviction to our hearts, bring revival where it is needed, and have that own way, Lord.

Thank you that the Word of life will be heard and we pray that it would also be seen.

So thank you Lord for answering our prayer in Jesus name, amen.

And it is written, And it is written, you shall be my witnesses.

And if the word witness was merely defined as 1 who is a spectator of something that takes place, or just an onlooker, or a watcher of someone, If that is how we would define witness, then it would be relatively easy to consider yourself a witness, even of Christ.

If All that entails is but to spectate, to observe, even from a distance.

You know, thousands across the country from coast to coast, they arrive to church or go online as audiences of spectators to watch a church service.

They're all over the Gospels, who witnessed Jesus in person teach and preach like no other.

It's recorded multiple times in all 4 Gospels.

For example, In the Gospel of Matthew, let's go all 4 Gospels.

In Matthew, it says that when they saw him, they worshiped him.

In the Gospel of Mark, he recorded, and behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him, witnesses.

He wrote, and Pilate said to them, behold the man, witnesses.

In the gospel of John it is written, behold the Lamb of God witnesses.

And if we had been there ourselves, if you and I had been there, we would all have seen Jesus.

But then again, These written accounts that I just highlighted, accounts of crowds witnessing Jesus, don't quite end the way we might expect witnesses of Jesus to act after witnessing Jesus.

In Matthew 28, 17, after seeing Jesus, some doubted.

In Mark 5, 17, after seeing Jesus, they implored Him to leave the region.

In Luke 23, 18, after seeing Jesus, they cried out all together saying, away with this man.

And in John 1, verse 11, after beholding the Lamb of God, we are told that He came to His own, and His own received Him not.

Ah, up until now you were probably safely assuming that witnesses of Jesus receive Jesus.

That witnesses of Jesus testify of Jesus and follow him.

There are many who have been a witness of Jesus, but have not yet understood what it means to be a witness for Jesus.

And this is something to ponder, lest we find ourselves in a place where we comfortably tell ourselves, I'm witnessing Jesus.

Before we go any further though, let me go ahead and offer you now a more demanding meaning for the word witness.

I don't want that to be a word that we underestimate.

You see, in Acts Chapter 1 verse 8, the Greek word translated witnesses is martous, I like the sound of that word, martous, it's a Greek word, which is where we get the English word translated martyr.

The assertion of the New Testament, let's call it what it is, is that if you are to be a witness for Christ, then you're called to be ready to die.

If you're going to be a witness for Christ, then you're called to be ready to die.

Now all of us, Without exception, all of us will realistically die, for we are subject to death.

All of us who are mortal, we're subject to death.

What guarantee do we have that we're going to even make it home this afternoon?

Many died yesterday around the world and 1 can expect about the same number of deaths tomorrow.

Advocacy group Open Doors, they estimated that the number of martyrs rose to 5, 898 in 2022, up from 4, 761 in 2021.

A martyr is 1 who is surrendered to the fact that he will die for his faith.

I'll read that straight out of the dictionary.

1 who makes great sacrifices, suffers much, or is even killed in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.

And if we're going to get to that place, if I'm ever going to get to a place where I'm willing, I'm ready to die for my faith, is going to take counting the cost of discipleship.

Loving Truth with conviction and being prepared to stand alone.

And what's interesting is that those who doubted when they saw Jesus, they were not martus.

Those who implored him to leave their region when they saw Jesus, They were not martus.

Those who cried out all together when they saw Jesus, away with this man!

Those who did not receive him were observers, but not martus.

And so again each 1 of us must ask ourselves, though I may witness Christ when I come to a church service, for it is our prayer, often, not daily, that Christ be lifted up, that Christ would be seen.

If in fact, we come to church and we see Christ, we see Christ through song, we see Christ even in the very act and behavior of our brothers and sisters towards 1 another.

When we see Christ, as we come to a place of worship, where the presence of Christ is, after all, invoked at the start of every service.

The question we must ask ourselves is, have I become a marthus?

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The Fiery Ripple Effect

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