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Collierville First Baptist Church
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Well, it might be today.
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I said it might be today.
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The Bible said He is coming for those who love His aperiod. And I want to see Him, don't you?
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Amen, don't shout me down. I said I want to see Him, don't you?
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Amen, if you have your Bible, turn with me to the book of Acts 4. Acts 4, while you're turning there, we say thank you for the great privilege to be here. I am so grateful to Pastor Chuck for his invitation. I appreciate him and I've known him for a long time and I thank God for him and his ministry. He called me this morning and told me he was praying for me and I am sure grateful for Pastor Chuck and Darlene. Love, brother Sam. We've been friends for what, about 82, 83 years now?
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I appreciate, brother Sam, and so many, I could go on and on where they had read and so many others who share and work in the state of Tennessee and share in the work of what the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board is doing. Thank you, thank you for the privilege of serving you there. Thank you for giving to the cooperative program and thank you for giving to the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions. I want you to know that we are unapologetic at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board about the fact we're trying to win Tennessee for Jesus.
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And the need to win Tennessee for Jesus has never been greater than it is today.
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If my statistics are anywhere near close,
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more than 70% of Tennesseans are probably not in church today.
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Now I don't believe you have to be a Christian. You don't have to go to church to be a Christian. I believe you go to church because you are a Christian.
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It bothers me that church doesn't seem to be important to the vast majority of Tennesseans.
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If our statistics are anywhere close, I'm trying to be very conservative, but we are in excess of 4 million lost people in Tennessee.
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We only have 7 million, a little over 7 million residents.
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Lostness is great.
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And they're all around us. They're your neighbor, your classmate, your coworker. They pump gas beside of you. They go to Walmart with you.
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Many of them are in their own families.
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And I stopped by today to tell you that we need some witnesses. I said we need some witnesses. Acts chapter 4, I'm going to begin to read in verse 8 in just a moment. You know this to be called the Acts of the Apostles, but we literally know it to be the Acts of the Holy Ghost and the lives of the Apostles.
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And I'm going to invite you, if you would, in reverence to the Word of God, would you stand with me as we begin to read in verse 8.
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Acts chapter 4 in verse 8,
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"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole,
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be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him,
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that this man stand here before you whole. This is the storm which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other.
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For there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."
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Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant,
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they marveled and they took knowledge of them
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that they had been with Jesus. Pray with me, Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that it is strong, living, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
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And God, I pray today that it would please you to preach your word to us. Lord, would you just dismiss me and move me out of the way? We need to hear from heaven. No one has come to hear what a mere mortal man has to say. We want to hear what King Jesus has to say.
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God, I pray you'd preach to us. And Lord, I pray that it would please you to preach to the end that somebody might get saved this morning.
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And Lord, I would that any praise, honor, glory that might come, may it all be credited to Jesus. For it's in his name I pray, Amen. You may be seated.
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Many of you, being students of the Word, you recognize this text immediately following a great experience in chapter 3 where there was a man who was laying out in front of the church and Peter and John are going to the house of prayer to pray and on the way this man says, "Give me some money." And Peter and John said, "We don't have any, but we will give you what we have."
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And Peter said in the name of Jesus, get up and walk. And the Bible said Peter stuck out his hand. My Lord, I wish somebody had enough faith.
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I wish somebody had enough faith to believe God enough that when you call on him you go ahead and prepare for something to happen. He stretched out his hand because he fully expected this man to get up and walk.
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Amen belonged right there.
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And so he got up and walked. And the Bible said that this man who was laying from birth got up and he went into the house of God. He came in kind of like y'all, leaping, shouting and praising. No, that was the other church I was at. I'm sorry.
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Amen. He came in leaping, shouting and praising the Lord. Well, all these folk gathered around and said, "Well, what's going on?" We saw this dude sitting out there begging. He's laying. He hadn't been there. We've never seen him walk. Here he is walking and shouting and praising the Lord. What's going on? And so the crowd gathered and Peter and John do what Baptist preachers do. When the crowd gets together, they start preaching. And so they began to proclaim the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thousands came to know him, but in the midst of it, the religious leaders got upset and they were arrested. We get to chapter four. They're put in jail. Then they're brought before the Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of the day said, "Hey, we want to know by what power, by what name have you done this?" How is this dude that wasn't walking, is now not only walking, but he's shouting.
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What's going on?
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And the Bible says that Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, we need some witnesses, such as are described in this text. We first of all need witnesses who are filled with the Spirit. I said we need witnesses who are filled with the Spirit.
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Amen. The Bible tells us that Peter being filled with the Spirit, I wanted to hear his answer. I've read this text so many times and I want to hear what he's got to say. By what power, by what name have you done this? But the Bible doesn't rush into his answer, but rather describes his condition. He was filled with the Holy Ghost.
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The Bible is clear that when we meet Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, it's hard, no, it's impossible to be a witness
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if you're not filled with the Holy Ghost.
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Amen.
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What is a witness?
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Well, dictionary.com, God forbid we'd look it up by hand, right? Let's go to the...
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A witness, according to dictionary.com, is an individual who, being present, personally sees or perceives a thing. A beholder, a spectator, or an eyewitness. A witness is someone who has witnessed something themselves.
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You're not going to be called to a court of law as a witness of a crime if you didn't see the crime.
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Amen. I said, you're not going to be called to a court of law to be a witness about a crime if you did not see the crime occur. Thank you. Because a witness is somebody who saw it, you were there when it happened.
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Y'all are catching on.
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You cannot be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ if you're not spirit-filled. Now listen to me. I know we live in a day where some folks will say, "Well, the initial evidence of being filled with the spirit is being able to speak in an unknown tongue." Bless your heart. I believe the initial evidence of being filled with the spirit is being able to control the tongue you got.
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Hello?
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Because the Bible said the tongue is the hardest member of the body to tame.
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And with the tongue, we can give testimony to the witness of what we have experienced ourselves, and that is the filling of the Holy Spirit. If I hear people, "Well, I just need more of the spirit." Bless your heart, you can't handle any more of the spirit.
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When I got saved, I got all the spirit I'd ever need. The issue is not more of the spirit. The problem is I need less of me.
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Come on. He must increase. How's that happen? I must decrease so he can increase.
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If we're going to be witnesses, we've got to be filled with the spirit. Listen to what John says in chapter 7, verse 37 through 39. Listen to this. "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, John cried out saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this he said in reference to the spirit
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whom those who believed in him were to receive. For the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." Jesus said that the spirit would be like flowing waters from us.
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You can't have flowing waters if you don't have the fountain. Amen. That woman at the well, you remember her, she left her water pot and she went to town and said, "I've met a man. Why'd she leave her water pot?" I thought that's why she went because she went for a pot of water, but she left with the fountain inside of her. Is somebody with me yet? What had happened was she met Jesus. And when you meet Jesus, he fills you with the Holy Spirit. We need some witnesses today who are filled with the Holy Spirit. How do I know I'm filled? Well, I'm glad you asked. Number one, there needed to be a time that you have surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. You said, "Lord, I'm a sinner and I need a savior, and I believe Jesus died for my sin. I believe he rose from the dead. Would you forgive me my sin? Would you come in and live in my heart? Save me, Lord." That's the first thing. If you've never done that, you're not filled with the right spirit. You might have some spirit, but it's not the right one
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unless you've done that. That's number one. Number two, how do I know if I'm filled with the spirit?
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It shows.
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I said it shows. I want to tell y'all something. I know I'm going to shock you a little bit, but apple trees bear apples.
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Y'all know that?
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Lemon trees bear lemons.
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Lemon trees do not bear apples.
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Apple trees do not bear lemons.
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You know why an apple tree doesn't bear lemons? Because it's an apple tree.
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Amen.
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You say, "Rock your crazy." That's just good walking around sense. It is, isn't it?
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If you've been connected to the vine Jesus, then what you produce ought to look like you.
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How do we know if you're filled with the spirit? It shows.
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I said it shows.
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I've seen folk try to fabricate that, but you cannot fabricate the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.
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He shows himself through those whom he fills. I've got the hasten on. I'm doing a very unbaptistic thing. I've got more than three points. Don't look at your watch. Amen.
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We need some witnesses who are spirit filled. Number two, look what the Bible said.
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All we've looked at so far is verse eight where he said Peter filled with the Holy Ghost. Isn't that good? Then he directs his comments to you rulers in the sin of God. He didn't exclusively say what he's about to say just to the rulers. He said, "Be it known to you and to all Israel." Because what he had to say was for everybody. I said what he had to say was for everybody. Amen. If I repeat, I'm hunting that help. Amen.
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He clarified the question, "If we this day be examined of the good deed to this impotent man by what means he's made whole, be it known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ." Listen, we need some witnesses who are spirit filled, secondly, we need some witnesses who are singularly focused. I said singularly focused. You want to know how this man's walking?
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Look, look, look, let the scripture speak. What did he say?
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"By the name of Jesus Christ." Jesus, the name given is incarnation Christ. The fact that he is the Messiah, the anointed one, the chosen one of God. Oh, you're not sure who he is? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. Oh, you still don't know? Oh yeah, he's the one you crucified. Can't you just hear Paul? Peter, I mean, can't you just hear him? The one you crucified, you still not sure? Well, this will help you. It's the one God raised from the dead. Amen.
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By him.
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Does this man stand here?
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Peter was singularly focused on Jesus. We need some witnesses who are focused on Jesus. Christians, we get scared sometimes of eyewitness to somebody. Well, if they ask me a question, I can't answer. Hey, I do evangelism in Tennessee, so I came to help you. That will happen. Did that help you in it?
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Amen. You're going to get asked questions. It'll happen. The devil will give them some leadership in that and help to ask a question you don't know. And I found out what to say when you're asked. In the middle of your witnessing endeavor, you're trying to tell somebody about Jesus. Somebody asked you a question you don't know. I found out what to say. Now, I've had to go to seminary for a long time to figure it out, but here it is. I don't know.
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Amen. I don't know.
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Well, what is it? I don't know.
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What was the name of every animal that Noah had on the Ark? I don't know.
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I don't know.
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Why did God...
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I don't know. Put whatever you want behind it. I don't know the why's. God is God. I am not. I got a real freedom the day I realize he's God and I'm not. Amen. Are you with me yet? I don't know. But here's what I have found about witnessing. It's okay to not know the answer to somebody's question. Why don't you tell them what you do know?
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So somebody asked me a question in the middle of the night, and they're trying to share Jesus with them, and they'll say, "Well, what about such and such?" I said, "I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do know. If you don't give your heart to Jesus, you will go to hell."
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It kind of brings it back to center. It just... I mean, immediately their attention gets... Are y'all with me?
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Peter was not interested. Watch, this is so good. You want to know how this man's walking? Some of us would have been tempted to say, "Well, you know, me and John came walking up to church, and we saw the man, and we had compassion on him, and I said, "Well, in the name of Jesus..."
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Peter didn't say any of that.
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He didn't even talk about the role he played in the process. All he talked about was Jesus. You want to know how this man's walking?
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It was in the name of Jesus, the Christ of Nazareth, the one you crucified, the one who rose from the dead. You remember him now, right? "Oh, you still not sure who he is? Well, let me go on. He is the stone which you builders said you wouldn't use. He's the stone you said, "Let's set aside." But he has become the chief cornerstone. And oh, yeah, by the way, there is salvation in no other name. Given among men, given under heaven, there is salvation in no other name,
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except the name of Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, we need some witnesses who are spirit-filled and who are singularly focused on the fact that Jesus saves. I said, "Jesus saves." I don't save, you don't save. Jesus, is somebody here? Jesus saves!
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And he'll save anybody who'll call on him.
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I said, "He'll save anybody who'll call on him." How do I know that? Because the Bible said so. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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We need some witnesses today who are singularly focused on this, Jesus.
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He's enough, he's sufficient, he can save, he can satisfy, he can change, he can heal, he can help.
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Keep going!
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Our focus must be Jesus. And when we talk to other people, we need to talk about Jesus.
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I have noticed in our society,
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they'll have anybody on the news or interview if they'll just talk about God. Kind of sounds like generic God.
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Even the pagans call their God, God.
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And not everybody that says God has a capital G-O-D. Some of them are little G-O-D. But I'll tell you, you get on the news or get an interview somewhere and you start talking about J-E-S-U-S and it changes the tide. That's why I like Franklin Graham. I like Franklin Graham because he'll get on the news, he'll say, "You know what about this and what about that?" He said, "I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do know. If you don't believe in Jesus the Christ, you'll go to hell." I mean, he just tells it.
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We need to be singularly focused. Listen, in our discussions with people, we need to make a beeline for Jesus as quick as we can get there.
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Did I tell you Jesus saves?
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See, we get all tore up about our witness and trying to prepare what we're going to say. Let me tell you something, get to Jesus as fast as you can get there.
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Because here's what I found, Jesus saves. I said, "Jesus saves." I've been witnessing, and in the middle of the witnessing event, I'm like, "This is the worst presentation of the gospel I've ever heard." I couldn't even get saved and I'm the one presenting. Have you ever felt that way? Am I the only one?
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And you know, I'm already in my heart apologizing, "God, I've just messed this up. This is terrible." And then the person gets saved. And so afterwards I go to the Lord, I'm like, "Lord, what's going on? That was the worst presentation I've ever heard." He said, "Me too." And I said, "How did that person get saved?" He said, "I didn't need you. I just let you be there when it happened."
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Amen.
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Listen, when somebody gets saved because you were giving a witness, it will never be more evident to you that he did it and not you.
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We need some witnesses who are singularly focused on Jesus, because I just stopped by today to tell you,
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Jesus is not a way to heaven. Jesus is not a good way to heaven. Jesus is not even the best way to heaven. He's the only way to heaven.
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Unless you go by Jesus, you're not going.
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Everybody in heaven is going to have a sold-out conviction that Jesus is the only way. I know we love to ask these questions. Well, if you stand before the gates of heaven, they say, "Why shall I let you in?" What are you going to say? And I love people's answers. And here's what I'm going to say, "Jesus!"
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That's all I got, man. I'm just going to call on Jesus and the blood that he shed. Amen. Come on now. I got to move. Listen, we need some witnesses who are spirit-filled. We need some witnesses who are singularly focused on Jesus. We need some witnesses who show signs of fellowship with Jesus.
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I said, "We need some —" that was an amen right there. That's a good point. We need some witnesses who show signs of having fellowship with Jesus. The Bible tells us that the religious leaders looked at Peter and John and said, "They're bold, but they're ignorant."
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And I dressed that up because Brother Sam and I know that is just a little above one syllable, "Ignorant."
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Amen.
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They're bold, but they're ignorant. They said they're unlearned, they're untrained, and they're ignorant.
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Boy, wouldn't you like to put that on your resume?
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It's been said of me, I'm ignorant, unlearned, and — huh?
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But I'll tell you what, you can put that on my resume if you'll put the rest of that verse.
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He said, "They're bold, but they're unlearned, they're untrained, and they're ignorant."
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But they took note that they had been with Jesus. My Lord, we need some witnesses that show signs of being with Jesus. When I was a student at Carson Newman College back then — it's Carson Newman University now, we like to say that, but it was a college when I went, bless their hearts. And so we didn't have many places to eat. There was McDonald's.
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We got a Walmart while I was there.
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And there was another restaurant, and I used the term loosely,
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called Pops.
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Pops, you walk in and there's a bar like a diner bar, and on the other side is a flat-top grill, and there's some dude over there cooking and sweating and cooking and sweating and cooking.
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You follow me, right?
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Well, we like to go to Pops, because when you're a college student, quality is always second to quantity.
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Amen.
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The problem with Pops was when you left Pops, everybody you came in contact with knew you had been to Pops.
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I mean, you walk in the dorm and somebody's like, "How is Pops?"
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You go see that girl you wanted to take on a date, and she's like, "Well, I don't really like Pops."
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Everybody could smell Pops on you.
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Anybody smell Jesus on you?
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Does anybody ever mistake you for Jesus?
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Does anybody ever recognize you've been with Jesus?
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Years ago, the University of Chicago Divinity School,
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they would have a big day called Baptist Day, and they wanted to get all the Baptists to come and continue to support the work at Chicago Divinity School.
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And one year, they invited a very famous theologian, and I use that term loosely,
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and he stood up, and for about an hour and a half,
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he explained why the resurrection of Jesus really never took place.
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When he finished with his presentation,
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he had the audacity to say, "Does anybody have any questions?"
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Old dark-skinned, white-headed preacher stood up,
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and he had a little bag lunch with him, and he reached in, and he pulled out an apple,
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and he said, "Sir," took a big bite of that apple.
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He said, "I have a very simple question. (Snoring)
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I've never read those books you mentioned today.
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(Snoring)
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I can't recite Scripture from the Greek text.
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(Snoring) And I don't know those people you referred to as theologians.
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(Snoring)
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All I want to know is, was this apple that I just ate bitter or sweet?"
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And the theologian said, "Sir, how could I possibly know that?
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I didn't taste your apple."
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And the old preacher said,
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"And neither have you tasted my Jesus." (Snoring) "Oh, taste and see," the psalmist said, "that the Lord is good." Hey, when you've tasted Jesus, people notice,
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because when you spend time with him, he rubs off on you.
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Actually, it's not even rubbing off on you, because he already took residence in you, and you're just getting out of the way enough so he can be revealed through you.
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Amen. We need some witnesses who show signs of having fellowship with Jesus. Your words will expose you. Your actions will expose you. Your attitudes will expose you. Amen. Do you know we have plenty of opportunity to reveal Jesus?
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If you don't believe me, just go to the store, any store, it don't matter.
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Somebody is not going to be doing it like you would do it because you're perfect.
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And right before you give them a piece of your mind that you really can't afford to share,
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if you've been with Jesus, what comes out of your mouth will sound like Jesus, because you don't know what kind of day that person's at. You don't know what they're going through. You don't know what challenges they have, but you have an opportunity to look like Jesus instead of looking like you.
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And when we've been with Jesus, we tend to act like Him.
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Ladies and gentlemen, this world, listen to me, they don't want to know a theological treatisey on the resurrection of Jesus. Do you know what this lost world wants to know? What difference did Jesus make in your life?
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And when you've been with Him, it'll show.
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Amen.
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Ignorant, unlearned, and untrained. Something about them boys though, they've been with Jesus. Oh to God that somebody would look at us and notice that we've been with Jesus. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the Sanhedrin, they decide we need to have a little time to think about what we're going to do with these two fellas.
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They have testified, they've given witness because the Spirit filled. They were singularly focused on Jesus, and they show signs of having fellowship with Jesus. What are we going to do with them? And surely it wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack who said, "I got it! Let's tell them don't talk about Jesus anymore."
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And I can just see somebody else say, "Well, why didn't I think about that? What a great idea."
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So they call them in, and they said, "Now boys,
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this dude's still walking around so we can't say that didn't happen.
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But I'm going to tell you what we are going to do. We're going to tell you right now. You need to shut your mouth. Quit talking about Jesus.
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Did I tell you we need some witnesses? I said, "Did I tell you we need some witnesses? Come on, I'm trying to land this plane."
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We need some witnesses, Spirit filled. We need some witnesses who are singularly focused on Jesus. We need some witnesses who show signs of fellowship with Jesus. But listen, we need some witnesses. This is my last point. Does that help you? We need some witnesses who will speak fearlessly.
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Peter said, "Whether it's alright for us to obey you or God, you be the judge."
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But as for us, I can't speak for nobody else, but as for us, as for me and John,
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we can't help but speak. We can't help but speak because we've seen too much. We've heard too much. So what it said, "Because of what we have seen and heard, we cannot help but speak."
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Oh, to God that we'd have some witnesses who would speak fearlessly. I don't care who tells you to shut up, you go ahead and speak anyway when it comes to Jesus. Hey, is somebody here? We need some boldness in our witness today. Why was it that they said we've seen too much or we've heard too much? I often wonder, what had they seen and what had they heard? Well, when I look through the text, I see that they had seen the lame walk.
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They had seen the deaf get their hearing, the blind receive their sight, the lepers were made whole, and the dead were raised to life. We can't shut up about it. What had they heard? They had heard the words of love over hate. They had heard the words of eternal value over temporal useless verbiage. They had heard the words of hope to the hopeless and help to the helpless. They had heard righteousness over religiosity.
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They had heard the words of life and they would never be the same again. We cannot help but speak fearlessly because of what we have seen and heard. Listen, God brought this home to me just the other day in such a rich way. In Mark chapter 9, I'm sure you theologians remember this, Jesus went up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. You remember? He went up on the mountain and the Bible said, Moses and Elijah came down to meet and talk with Jesus.
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And Peter, he's a good Baptist. In Mark 9, he says, "Lord, it's good that we're here."
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That's what he says. Y'all go read it something. "Lord, it's good that we're here." Amen. Some of y'all ought to say that today. It's good we're here. And so he says, "Lord, let me build three tents here, three tabernacles, for you, Moses, and Elijah." And Jesus said, "No." See, Peter didn't fully understand because we didn't need three tabernacles. There's not but one who's worthy of a tabernacle.
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I said, "There's not but one who's worthy." Amen. I thought I lost you for a minute.
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And so they start off the mountain.
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And can you imagine you're Peter, James, and John. You've just seen Moses and Elijah come down. The Bible said that Jesus' face and his clothes were white like no bleach of the day could have made them.
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We call it the amount of transfiguration that means changed.
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Can you just imagine Peter's thinking to himself?
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Then when I get back down there and tell these other dudes, "I don't believe this. This is crazy, man. This was awesome."
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And Jesus said, "Don't tell anybody about this."
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That's all it says. You can read it yourself. He said, "Don't tell anybody about this until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."
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Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. This is--wait a minute.
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We're in Acts chapter 4.
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I said, "We're in Acts chapter 4."
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I don't know if you've read it. Chapter 1, Jesus goes up. Chapter 2, the Holy Spirit comes down.
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He went up because he had already been raised from the dead.
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I still don't think y'all are there yet. I'm going to build this bridge. Stay with me. Peter is finally getting to tell what he saw, what he heard.
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See, once you've been with Jesus, you just got to tell somebody.
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They would speak fearlessly. Listen, Peter was not just moved by all he had seen and heard, but he had experienced it himself, and now he knew he had--listen, not just an opportunity, but he had been commanded by the Lord. Don't talk about it till I rise, and then I want you to tell everybody.
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I wish I had time today to tell you about Brian who got saved when we were in the ninth grade in the cafeteria lunchroom one morning before school. I wish I had time to tell you about Barbara, who had two spots on her breast, but God healed her. I wish I had time to tell you about Mary Jane who faced cancer, but she rode that cancer all the way to the gates of glory. I wish I had time to tell you about a lady who came in our church and said, "I want a baby, and I can't have a baby. Would you pray?" And the church started praying. We prayed for two years.
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She got a call. We got a baby for you. He's two years old.
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We found out that his birthday was the very day she had came and asked the church to start praying. That's when he was born.
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I wish I had time. I wish I had time to tell you about those months that had more months at the end of the money. I wish I had time to tell you about the debts that were owed and the payment just showed up. I wish I had time to tell you how he's always come through. I wish I had time to tell you how he's never left me alone. I wish I had time to tell you how he's walked with me in the valley of the shadow of death, and he's walked with me on the mountain top high. It doesn't matter how wide the valley or how deep the river, he is with me.
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I wish I had time to tell you and prove to you that the Word of God is true when it says, "I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging for bread."
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That great theologian, Nancy Collins, my mother, said, "You never will."
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John in chapter 21, verse 24 and 25 wrote these words, "This is the disciple which testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written, every one of them, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."
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Amen.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I've seen too much.
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I've heard too much, and I can't afford to be quiet. I've got to tell somebody.
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And whereas it can be discouraging to think we've got over 4 million lost people in Tennessee, be not discouraged, friend. That just means we have 4 million plus candidates to hear about Jesus.
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Who's going to tell him? I'll tell you who's going to tell them.
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Witnesses.
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Are you a witness today?
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If you've never been saved, you're not. But the good news of the Gospel is today you can be saved. Right where you are, you think you just showed up today, but God wanted to meet you today. And he's calling you unto himself. The Bible said he draws us unto himself, and I'm saying to you if the Lord Jesus is calling you to himself today, he's saying come and follow me. The Bible said whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Friend, if you've never asked Jesus to come into your heart and be Lord of your life, today's your day. I said today's your day. I said today's your day. Would you come to Jesus? The Bible said if you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth that he is Lord. What does that mean? It means he is the sinless Son of God. Came born of a virgin, laid his life down on the cross and shed his life's blood for your sins and my sins and the sins of the world. And three days later he raised from the dead. He seated the right hand of the Father on high and he's soon to come back and get his church. That's what it means to believe he's Lord. If you believe he's Lord,
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and you believe God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Would you come?
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Would you come?
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God loves you. We heard the song about it today. I almost changed my message in preach. First John 4, when y'all got to sing in that this morning.
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He loves you and he wants a relationship with you. Would you come to Jesus?
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Somebody said to you today, you said, "Well, I'm already a Christian. I'm already a follower of Christ. Have you followed him in believers baptism? Because that's the first step of obedience for a believer." Do you know what that is? That's the first act of your testimony. That's your first witnessing opportunity to follow the Lord in believers baptism. And you're proclaiming to this world that's in front of you, "I'm buried to the old way of life, raised to walk in the goodness of life." If you've never made that commitment, today's the day to make that commitment. You see, going to baptize me right now? Well, I'm not against it, but probably they'll take a little time, talk to you and set up a time for you to come.
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Maybe today, the vast majority of you would say, "I know Jesus, I followed him in believers baptism." I'm going to ask you something, friend.
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Are you a witness? Because we need them bad. We need them bad. We need some witnesses who are spirit-filled. We need some witnesses who are singularly focused on you. We need some witnesses who show fellowship. They have signs of fellowship with you. And we need some witnesses who speak fearlessly.
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This body, they may harm,
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but the spirit lives on because it is he who lives in me.
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Our musicians, our ministers are beginning to come this way.
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You need to come and accept Jesus, come. You need somebody to pray with you, come. You need to make a commitment, come. You need to pray for somebody that's lost. I would to God that we'd be on our face praying for people who know not Jesus.
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I don't know what God has said to you. Maybe you need to join this fellowship. Man, if I lived in Collierville, I believe I'd join this church. I'm feeling right at home.
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Maybe you need to become a part of this family. I don't know what God might have said.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we need some witnesses. And I'd just stop by to say, could we count on some of you?
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Lord, thank you.
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Thank you for your word.
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Thank you for the picture of a witness through the lives of Peter and John.
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Oh, God, raise up some witnesses today.
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God, I pray for that man or woman or young person who's set to your lost without you. If they die, they're going to go to hell. They'll be eternally separated from you. God, I pray right now, you'd draw them to yourself. Oh, God, may they not have any peace, no rest until they give their heart to you.
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Oh, God, have your way. This is your invitation. We leave it in your hands. In Jesus' name, amen. Very quietly and reverently stand to your feet.
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You come as the Lord spoke to you.
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