Witness: Its a Heart Thing! - Stewardship: Its a Heart Thing!

Liberty Chapel United Methodist Church

Witness - Its a Heart Thing!
Scripture
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you,
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Operation Christmas Child

Kids Time
Blessing of Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child
[Pass out commitment cards]

Teaching
TPing
Toilet Paper
A legend of Pastor Appreciation Month is the TPing of
our house.
Lovingly designed and draped.
I felt really good about it - until I found this.

Toilet paper in bush

What a waste!
Until I realized that were going on a mission trip in
February.
And this is going with us.

New Hope Church

New Hope
May 2008 - News - Murders in Dayton - Do something
about it!
I figured in the fall, Id volunteer a couple hours a
week.
However, I fell off roof - off the hook.
Fall 2009 I was introduced to Jeff Cartwright. He
invited me to come - I announced in church I was
going - several went with me.
I saw hungry people being fed - I saw people finding
Jesus and Christian community - I love that combination - the holy grail.
Partnership - meals - VBS - teachers - small groups - legal aid.
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Stewardship - Its a Heart Thing!
The talk today is on witness.
Witness is everything the church does for people who
are not part of the church fellowship.
When people join our church, I ask two questions:
Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and
savior?
This is the most important question in life.
It sets the course of your life - will it be Christ centered
or will it be self-centered?

Will you make a difference for Jesus and for others?

Or will you only make a difference for yourself?
It sets the course of eternity.
Will you wind up in Heaven? or in Hell?
Every one of these stewardship talks has a come to Jesus component. Here is this one.
Jesus - Sheep and Goats
Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his
glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered
before him, and he will separate the people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the
goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right,
Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. . . .
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . .
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Im glad Im here. I was in a serious accident Friday. Saturday I saw the truck. You never know.
Judgment - one day you will be judged - maybe today - maybe lots of years from now.
I want to be a sheep on Jesus right hand not a goat on his left.
How can that work?
John describes rules for Gods courtroom.
1 John 5:9-12
9 We accept human testimony, but Gods testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God,
which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony.
Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the
testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of
God does not have life.
1 John 5:12 - Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have
life.
Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?
That is not an optional thing - like different strokes for different folks.
Settle that question today.

Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?

Until he is, Christianity is rules, rules, rules, blah, blah, blah.
After he is, stewardship is a joy that leads to deeper fellowship with God and the people of God.
Stewardship - Its a Heart Thing!

The other membership question I ask:

Will you be faithful to Liberty Chapel with your
prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness?
This series - Stewardship is a Heart Thing! has five
parts - prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness.
What Im really doing in this series is to ask you to
do what you have already committed to do when
you joined the church.
Today, Im going to talk about witness. Last week was service.
Heres how I break down the distinction between the two:
Service is what we do for us here at Chapel.
Witness is what we do for people outside of Chapel.
Generically
Witness is everything the church does for people who are not part of the church fellowship.
It truly is agape love - we do this without expecting something in return.
Specifically - Witnessing - winning another person to Jesus Christ.
Stewardship - we manage something that belongs to someone else.
Jesus gave his life for you. He wants you to give your life back to him.
My goal in this series:
1 - Enhance your discipleship.
2 - Build up a great church of committed disciples.
A great way to begin is through prayer.
Prayer = spending time with God.
The first week we had prayer commitment cards. If you missed, please fill one out.
I read your commitments - 129 of you made commitments to pray.
God will honor our prayers and Liberty Chapel will be strong because of it.
A second thing to add is presence.
Presence = spending time with the people of God. If you missed doing the commitment card,
please fill one out.
116 made commitment to be present.

A third thing to add is giving.

Giving = Returning part of Gods gifts back to God.
91 families and individuals made commitments to give to God.
A fourth thing to add is serving.
Serving is what we do for people within our church body.
95 persons made commitments to serve.
If you havent made commitments yet, cards are available.
A fifth things is witness
Witness is what we do for people outside the body.
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Discipleship Circle
Discipleship circle
Seek - Accept Jesus - Grow as a disciple - Serve
your interests - Witness, Serve the interests of others
- introduce persons to Jesus.
They live out this circle. They begin others on this
circle.
Another way of saying this...
Invite them to church. Well introduce them to Jesus.
New pastor is an opportunity.
Christmas programs and Christmas Eve are opportunities. So is New Years.
1 John 5:12 - Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have
life.
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you,
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Kairos
Some of my mission experiences.
Kairos - I always had claustrophobia when I visited in
prison. Five people from our church - I went to support
them.
You will do this. Yes, sir.

I learned these people were people.

Some were there because of a bad moment. Some, a bad life. My role is not to judge them - state
already has. My role is to love them - for some thats a first.
Brothers in Christ inside prisons.
God called; I said yes!
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you,
whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
New Orleans
New Orleans. This was a missions trip in January
2006 - five months post-Katrina. V.I.M.
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you,
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me.
India
India. This was another missions trip I went on.
I really was hoping for a call. Pastoring was no longer
fun and fulfilling.
God called me to Liberty Chapel.
I hope to make a return visit to my sisters and brothers
in India.
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you,
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Witness - Its a Heart Thing!
Liberty Chapels Mission Budget - a dream come true
for me.
Pakistan Agape Christian Ministries
My mama taught me - my experience has confirmed.
Churches that do mission, live; churches that dont,
die.
Christians that do witness, live; Christians that dont
do witness, die.

Church Farm Harvest

Church Farm Harvest
Many hands make light work +
when you do something for someone else, it blesses
you more than the blessee. Not codependent.

Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you,

whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Jesus, sheep, and goats
Matthew 25:31-45
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious
throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him,
and he will separate the people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He
will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right,
Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
40 "The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me.
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was
thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed
clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
44 "They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?
45 "He will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did
not do for me.
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Witness - Its a Heart Thing!

Commitment Cards
How will you witness? How will you help Christs
church do for people who are not part of the church
fellowship?