24-0205P_TESTIMONY OF A TRUE WITNESS
Act 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Act 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
Act 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Act 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Act 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
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A PERSON HAS TO HAVE AN EXPERIENCE BEFORE THEY CAN TESTIFY.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN
V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
68 Now, a testimony... Before... A person has to have an experience before they can testify. If you were called in court, you'd have to--as a--give a testimony, you have to know something before you can testify. And a witness is a person who has seen something, that knows that it is the truth, and they're called to give witness. And then, a witness must know what he's talking about. He must be not, "Someone told me a certain-certain thing." He must be the witness himself. If not, he's speaking of someone else that could be a witness at the scene.
THAT LIFE IS SO FRAGILE, THEN THAT DEATH IS SO POSITIVE …WE NEED TO COME
TO A PLACE THAT WE ARE POSITIVE SURE THAT THIS THAT WE SPEAK OF IS RIGHT.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
70 Now, I think that, being that we see out from our congregation, that life is so fragile, then that death is so positive, we need to come to a place that we are positive sure that this that we speak of is right. See? It is not nothing that you can just haphazardly, as we would say, accept it. You've got to be positive sure that it's right, because we do not know what kind of an end that we will come to.
*WHEN A MAN OR A WOMAN IS IN THEIR RIGHT
MIND, THAT IS THE TIME TO ACCEPT THE LORD JESUS AND GET IT ALL SETTLED THEN
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
71 Now, the one reason that I am a Calvinistic thinker, of security of the believer, is because that I believe that when a man or a woman is in their right mind, that is the time to accept the Lord Jesus and get it all settled then, once for ever. Because when we come to the end of the road, we don't know just where and how we're going to be sick. We may be sick in our mind; there might be a fever that would really cook our very brain; and we might say anything or do anything at the end of the road. We don't know. But, you see, if we have already anchored in Christ, no matter what sickness takes us, or what condition we are when we go, it's already settled. We are sealed until the day of our redemption. Ephesians 4:30, says, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the day (not of your death, but) of your redemption." See? After death's done over, you're still sealed.
*THE WORD IS THE TESTIMONY OF GOD.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
79 But I said, "What I did, mama, I went back and read the Bible. And I taught just exactly the way the--them apostles taught It. I never varied one bit. Where they said baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ, I said baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ. Where they said the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I said baptism of the Holy Ghost. And I taught it just the way they taught it. Mama, I got the same results that they got. And I seen the same God that come by their teaching, the same God that comes into our midst and does the same thing He did for them back there, He does for us today. Therefore, His promise is, 'He that eats My flesh and drinks My Blood has Everlasting Life, and I'll raise him up again at the last days.'" The Word is the testimony of God.
*THERE IS OTHER
WITNESSES WE COULD CALL IN THIS MORNING. ONE OF THEM, LET'S THINK OF THE TREE.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
80 There is other witnesses we
could call in this morning. One of them, let's think of the tree. It's fall of
the year, and when the autumn time is here now. And we take a leaf; that's like
a life. And we are, if we are borned again, we are a
leaf on the Tree of Life.
And this tree that we see out here in the woods, the life
finally leaves, pulls away from the leaf, because the season is over for the
leaf. And that life leaves the leaf, and the leaf will drop off when the life
leaves it. We're all real sure of that, as we look at it from our very windows
now, that as soon as the life leaves the leaf, the leaf will drop off. And
that's the body that we bury.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
82 But the life that was in that leaf goes back where it come from, down through the tree to the root, and there it remains in the root of the tree until another season. For this season the sun has rocked away, or the earth has rocked away from the sun, and it's following the--the orbit as it goes around; and it's way away, and cold weather is headed for the earth. Therefore, the root holds the life of that leaf until the earth rocks back around again, and then there is no way to ever hide that leaf from coming back again. It'll come back just as sure as the sun comes back. It'll come back. But it has to wait for another season before it comes back.
*AND TODAY THAT GIVES US A GREAT
TESTIMONY, AS A WITNESS OF THE GOD OF CREATION. BECAUSE THAT WHEN WE ARE IN THE
SEASON OF MORTAL LIFE…
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
83 And today that gives us a great testimony, as a witness of the God of creation. Because that when we are in the season of mortal life, raising our children, marrying and bringing forth families, this is a life or the season of mortal life. But when we have been borned of above, the body returns to the dust from where it come, and the spirit goes down to where it come from, or goes up, rather, to where it come from, to the God Who gave it, and there will come another season. And that season that will come will be the immortal season. And when the Son of God rises with healing in His wings, it'd be totally impossible to hold those bodies in the ground any longer. They'll come forth in the brightness of the Son of God. Very nature itself testifies of that.
*SO IF WE ARE A CHRISTIAN, AND WE ARE
BORNED OF THE SPIRIT, DEATH CAN HOLD NOTHING BUT VICTORY FOR US…
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
84 So if we are a Christian, and we are borned of the Spirit, death can hold nothing but victory for us, because this old corruptible body that Satan still has power over will drop into the dust of the earth. But when that season... This is the wrong season now; this is mortal season. But immortal season is coming. When the immortal One comes He will bring with Him the immortal spirits that has returned to Him from the earth, and they shall come forth again in the resurrection for the great millennium, and shall shine in His glory.
*EVERYTHING ON EARTH GIVES A TESTIMONY…
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
85 Everything on earth
gives a testimony.
The sun rises in the east to show the beginning of life; it goes over and sets
in the evening. Of a morning the birds wake and sing,
and they're happy; we feel fresh; the evening we're tired when the sun sets. It
gives testimony that there is a life and a death; a day was born; a day is
gone.
A tree lived, the leaves dropped off. God preserved in the roots of the tree, where this life
origined, where it started at, down in the roots, the--went forth and
made the leaves for shade, comes back again to where it come from, only to rest to come at another season.
Life in the little flower that drops out of the seed returns to somewhere that we know not where. But all the pulp might go out of the seed, and the seed rot in the ground, but yet there is a life in there that's hid for a resurrection again. Everything speaks of--gives testimony.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
88 …..This Christian religion is the right religion: death, burial, and resurrection, all nature, heavens itself, and earth, testifies of it. It is God's witness to His people every day, that there is a death, burial, and resurrection. Each season passes over our heads; we see death, burial, and resurrection. So we know that this is Truth; Christianity basically is the truth. It gives its testimony.
*AND IT GOES TO SHOW THAT IT WAS MADE BY A GREAT, SUPREME INTELLIGENCE TO
SERVE A PURPOSE. IT'S HERE FOR A PURPOSE.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
90 And it goes to show that it was made by a great, supreme Intelligence to serve a purpose. It's here for a purpose. God did not have to make trees like that. He made them like that, though they different one from another and so forth. He made all of that for His purpose to give witness and to give testimony. He could've made trees like something that would--would been something else, like rocks. He could've made trees any way He wanted to. He could've made flowers any way He wanted to. But He made them to bear witness, for they are God's witnesses. They are a true witness that all other religions is false and Jesus Christ is right. Death, burial, and resurrection gives witness that we are not dead eternally, but we live again: shows a supreme Intelligence.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
195 Becky, my
daughter, was reading to me, "The Gladiators," the other night. Said,
"Listen to this, daddy." And I cannot at this time, I'm sorry, I
can't call the name. But a--a young Christian had been throwed out as a
gladiator to fight at the Roman arena. I've stood in that arena, praying. The
old walls are falling in.
And when they would set there, and they--they just loved to see them. They had to kill one another. God speaking... In the old days they--they just meet one another and kill one another, and that was it. God was against that.
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
197 And one of the very--one of the--one of the
very first signs of Christianity, refused to kill a man. That's right. And you
can kill him more ways than just sticking him with a knife; speak against his
character, many ways you can do it.
But this gladiator, they turned a lion loose on him. And with
the strength and power of God he killed that lion with his sword, a knife. The
people clapped; it was gallant. They stood up. They turned another one loose,
and he killed it with his sword. And then they turned a man loose, a big,
great, tall, dark African pagan. And this Christian had to fight him, which he
didn't want to do. But in the fight he knocked the--the African down, had his
sword right up over him, of course. The African said, "Sir, kill me
quickly, so I won't suffer. Don't torture me. Kill me quickly."
The Christian threw over his sword, took off his armor, walked out before the emperor, and said, "Emperor, I am a Christian and my Lord and Saviour forbids us to take one another's life. I'll take the life of a wild beast, but not of my brother. I refuse to kill a man."
THE.TESTIMONY.OF.A.TRUE.WITNESS_ JEFF.IN V-15 N-6 SUNDAY_ 61-1105
200 All of the emperors of Rome, and so forth,
stood up, and said, "You mean a gladiator, a slave will refuse to obey the
voice of Rome?"
And they called the man, "Jump up, and take that sword
and kill him." He jumped up, and took the Christian's sword. The
Christian, unarmed, laid his arms out. And the man struck him through the heart
with a sword; right through his heart with a sword. And when the gurgles,
between the blood gushing out, and filling up of his lungs, when this big knife
went through his lungs, the little Christian fell on his knees, and said,
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And we talk about suffering for
Christ? What will our testimony be with men like that?
Oh, faith of our fathers! living still
In spite of dungeon, flame, and sword.
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