The Testimony Of God Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Our faith should change our life. Our faith should change who we are, what we do, what we think, and how we think.

• Faith is no small issue. Biblical faith is LIFE changing!

• When we look at verse 5 we see how special faith becomes.

• SLIDE #2

• 1 John 5:5 (HCSB) And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

• Our faith in Jesus is what that allows us to overcome the world.

• Our faith helps us to overcome the sin that is so prevalent in the world. Our faith in Jesus changes everything about us.

• I know in my life before I gave my life to Jesus, I was not on the right track. I was driven by selfish motivation. I was all about me.

• I had no real direction in life; I had no real purpose in life. Well, other than me.

• All that changed when I gave my life to Jesus. Faith in Jesus is a wonderful thing to have. It gives hope it gives purpose and it leads to life.

• Robyn did not tell me about Jesus and then I just blindly followed it. I studied and I looked at some things that convinced me that Jesus was the way the truth and the life.

• When I was considering whether or not to give my life to Jesus, I did not just blindly jump off of a cliff, I needed to see something I could trust so that I could make an informed decision as to what to do with my life and where to place my faith.

• Today we are going to examine so reasons we can have faith in Jesus.

• SLIDE #3

• 1 John 5:6–8 (HCSB) — 6 Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood —and these three are in agreement.

• SLIDE #4

SERMON

I. The testimony triplets.

• When one tries to decide if they can believe something, the more witnesses the better, if the witnesses are reliable.

• When we are trying to decide if we want to follow Jesus as our Lord, we cannot go up and speak with Him. We cannot set an appointment to go and visit Him; we have to rely on the testimony of others.

• This is not an unusual thing for us to have to do. Every day we make decisions in faith based on the testimonies of others. I have never been to Hawaii. I believe it exists because I have seen pictures I have been told by others who have been there that it exists.

• I have been given testimonies by those who have been there.

• There are some other things in which I believe that I have not been able to speak to those who witnessed the person or event.

• Years ago we went to Washington D.C. When we were there I went to George Washington’s home Mount Vernon.

• I do believe that George Washington was the first president because I have read the testimonies of others who said he was.

• I trusted the people at Mount Vernon. I believe their testimonies concerning Mount Vernon. As far as I knew, those people could have been lying to all of us, but that kind of thinking would have been irrational.

• As we ponder Jesus, we have some reliable witnesses concerning His life.

• It is easy to say those testimonies from the Bible cannot be trusted.

• Why? What evidence can be provided that would suggest you cannot trust the Bible? What evidence do we have that would tell us we cannot trust the testimony of those who wrote it by the inspiration of God?

• In Gospel of Luke, Luke says he investigated and interacted with the eyewitnesses of Jesus ministry.

• SLIDE #5

• Luke 1:3 (HCSB) — 3 It also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus,

• In John 21:24, John reminds us that he was an eyewitness if the events he shared in his writings.

• In 1 John, John shares some testimonies concerning the validity of Jesus life, identity and ministry.

• These testimonies These testimonies attest to the life of Jesus. They confirm His humanity and His deity. These items were attacked by some during John’s day.