Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000026A
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00:25 Hello, and welcome to Heart Lift.
00:26 I'm Jill Morikone, and I'm so glad that you 00:29 have joined us today. 00:31 We're in the midst of a journey toward hope, toward healing, 00:35 toward the transformation that the Lord Jesus wants to work 00:39 in your heart and in mine, as women, as daughters of God. 00:44 Right now we're in the middle of our discussion 00:47 on transformation. 00:48 We talked about the washed heart, the pruned heart, 00:52 the Spirit filled heart, and last program and this one, 00:57 we're discussing the heart that witnesses. 01:00 Our last program we talked about the first way that we can 01:05 witness, that we can be Gods ambassador; that is to pray. 01:10 Prayer brings unity. 01:12 Prayer changes us, or allows God to change us. 01:17 Prayer changes others, or allows God the opportunity to get in 01:24 there and to work in someone else's life. 01:27 Today we're going to discuss the next two aspects of how 01:30 we can share Jesus; how we can be God's witness. 01:34 Our Scripture is: 01:41 The Bible says: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, 01:45 he is a new creation... 01:47 Or we could say she is a new creation. 01:50 ...old things have passed away; behold, 01:53 all things have become new. 01:56 Verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, 02:01 as though God were pleading through us: we implore you 02:06 on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 02:11 Let's pray. Father we come before You right now in the name 02:15 of Jesus, and we thank You that You have called us 02:19 to be Your witnesses. 02:21 We thank You that even though we are unworthy, 02:25 You want to pour the light of the gospel of Jesus into our 02:29 hearts so that we can go out and be Your ambassadors to our 02:34 brothers and sisters, to those who are lost and alone, 02:37 and dying without knowing You. 02:39 Right now I pray for Your special anointing, 02:43 for Your Holy Spirit. 02:46 And we thank You in the precious and the Holy 02:49 name of Jesus, Amen. 02:52 It had that feeling of Christmas: woodsy smell of the 02:58 pine tree, carols on the radio, the floor strewn with colored 03:04 paper, and most importantly, the excited laughter and joy 03:10 of little kids running in circles around the room. 03:15 My sister... We were at my sister and her husband's 03:19 house in North Carolina. 03:21 My sister was sitting there in the chair, and supervising the 03:25 boys, as they were very excited about Christmas. 03:28 And now the boys started distributing their presents. 03:32 They went underneath the tree and they pulled out, 03:35 it was maybe a star that Stephen had put some glitter on, 03:40 or a tree that Jonathan had colored, or made himself. 03:45 Such are the presents of children: cute, heartfelt, 03:51 and oh so precious! 03:53 All of a sudden Stephen was back underneath the tree. 03:59 I turned questioning eyes to my sister. 04:02 Weren't all the kids presents distributed? 04:06 Why was he going back under the tree? 04:09 She merely shrugged, and I turned my attention to Stephen. 04:13 He picked up a package, and this one looked like it wasn't 04:16 wrapped with Mommy's hands. 04:19 It looked like little hands had struggled to fold that paper. 04:24 He came from under there, under the tree, right across the room 04:28 straight to my spot as I was sitting on the piano bench. 04:31 And he said, Auntie Jill, this is for you. 04:34 And I said, What Stephen? 04:36 I didn't know I had another present. 04:38 You already gave me presents. 04:40 Did you make this one yourself? 04:42 And he shook his head, no. 04:44 But he said, Open it! 04:46 It's from me. So I pulled off the many strips of tape, 04:51 and I dug, and I dug in all of that wrapping paper until 04:56 I pulled out this yellow Post-it Note paper. 05:00 Two pieces of paper, two pieces. 05:04 In that instant my mind traveled back to the stories my sister 05:10 had told me about Stephen. 05:12 The time he'd wrapped up his favorite pencil to give to his 05:16 Dad when he got home from work, to the time he picked out a toy 05:20 from his own collection to take to a friend's birthday party. 05:25 How could one five year old heart be so unselfish? 05:30 I hesitated just a moment, because I was thinking these 05:34 thoughts, and uncertainty began to show on 05:36 little Stephen's face. 05:37 Do you like it? Oh, Stephen, I said, I love it! 05:43 How did you know that I always need paper to write stuff on? 05:50 I gave him a hug. He ran underneath the tree. 05:52 He pulled out another package, ran to another family member, 05:56 and they opened it, and it was two little 05:58 squares of yellow paper. 06:00 He did the same for each member of the family until there 06:04 was one package left. 06:05 That was for my sister-in-law Janelle. 06:08 He pulled that out from underneath the tree, 06:10 took it to her, and by now we knew what was in the package. 06:14 It was going to be two squares of yellow Post-it Note paper. 06:18 Well, she opened, and opened, and opened, 06:21 and there was nothing in the package. 06:24 He had forgotten to put something in the package. 06:27 He looked embarrassed, and discouraged, and he ran back to 06:30 his Mom, and then after just a moment he ran to the kitchen. 06:34 He took the little present. 06:35 He came back to Janelle and he said, Open it, it's from me! 06:39 And she opened it, and there were two squares 06:43 of yellow paper inside. 06:45 After that we turned to adult stuff, but my mind remained 06:50 on Stephen and his gifts. 06:52 Of what value were his gifts? 06:55 After all they looked like simple scraps of paper. 07:00 In reality though infinitely more lay behind, 07:05 for Stephen had given something he valued, 07:08 something he treasured, something of himself. 07:12 It didn't matter whether the package was professionally 07:15 wrapped, neither did it matter whether anything was even in it. 07:19 All that mattered was that Stephen loved us; 07:22 that he cared enough to give, that he gave himself. 07:27 I think sometimes we feel like, I can't witness. 07:31 I'm not good enough. 07:32 I'm not smart enough. 07:34 I'm not brave enough to be God's ambassador. 07:38 You know what God says? 07:40 All that matters is your heart. 07:43 If God truly gets a hold of us, we're going 07:48 to love other people. 07:50 We will want to give. 07:52 We will want to give the most important gift of all, 07:56 and that's of ourselves. 07:59 Last program we talked about the first way we can be God's 08:04 ambassador; that is to pray. 08:08 The second way we can be God's ambassador is to preach. 08:12 I invite you to turn with me to Romans 10. 08:16 Romans 10, and there's a couple of very interesting verses here. 08:20 We're looking at verses 14 and 15. 08:23 The Bible says: How then shall they call on Him in whom 08:28 they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him 08:33 of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear 08:37 without a preacher? 08:39 And how shall they preach, unless they are sent? 08:44 as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach 08:49 the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things! 08:55 How shall they call if they haven't believed? 08:59 How shall they hear without a preacher? 09:04 How shall they preach unless they are sent? 09:10 What are we supposed to preach? 09:12 You might say, Jill, I can't preach. 09:14 And we'll get to that. 09:16 But first of all, What in the world are we supposed to preach? 09:20 What are we supposed to share? 09:22 I think two things: first we share our experience. 09:28 Let's jump over to 1 John, 1 John, we're going to look at 09:34 chapter 1, the first three verses. 09:37 John's writing. Now before I read it, I want to see if you 09:41 can identify how many senses, how many of the five senses, 09:46 that John mentions in these verses. 09:48 Verse 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have 09:53 heard,... 09:56 ...which we have seen with our eyes, 09:59 which we have looked upon,... That's our eyes as well. 10:03 ...and which our hands have handled,... The sense of touch. 10:08 ...concerning the Word of life;... 10:10 He says, That which we heard, that which we've seen, 10:15 that which we've touched. 10:17 The life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness 10:22 and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, 10:25 and was manifested to us; that which we have seen and heard 10:30 we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us: 10:35 and truly our fellowship is with the Father, 10:38 and with His Son Jesus Christ. 10:42 You know that I enjoy looking into the original language 10:46 from which the Bible is written. 10:49 So in the New Testament it was written in Greek. 10:52 And if you look up those senses, remember there were three 10:55 of the five senses that John mentioned. 10:57 He mentioned hearing. 10:59 He mentioned eye sight. 11:01 And he mentioned touch. 11:03 There were three of them that were mentioned. 11:06 If you look in the Greek at what those verbs mean, 11:09 it kind of opens it up and unpackages that story. 11:13 Let's look at the first one. 11:14 That which was from the beginning, which we heard. 11:17 In the Greek heard means to hear, which is the same thing. 11:21 And then it says: to give in the audience of. 11:26 What's John saying here? 11:27 He's saying, I am not sharing with you something that I heard 11:32 from my neighbor, and they heard it from their mom, 11:36 and they got it from their cousin, and their cousin 11:40 actually heard it from Jesus. 11:42 He's saying, I listened. 11:45 I sat underneath Jesus. 11:48 I heard it in the audience of. 11:49 It was given. I was there in the audience. 11:52 I was in the boat when the waves were rolling, 11:57 and I heard Jesus' voice say, Peace, be still, 12:01 and there was a great calm. 12:04 I was on the side of that hillside there by the 12:09 Sea of Galilee when Jesus spoke the Beatitudes, 12:11 and He said, Blest are the poor in spirit, 12:14 for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. 12:16 He said, I have first hand experience. 12:19 I sat under Jesus. I heard Him. 12:22 What about the eyesight? 12:24 Which we have seen with our eyes. 12:27 Seen means to stare at, to gaze with wide open eyes. 12:34 He's saying, I didn't just look at Jesus, and I turned away 12:37 and went back to my nets. 12:38 I didn't look at Jesus and then do my own thing. 12:41 I gazed at Him. I stared at Him. 12:47 What about the other eye? 12:49 Which we have seen with our eyes, 12:51 and which we have looked upon. 12:54 That means to look closely at. 12:56 That's really the same thing. 12:58 What about the sense of touch? 13:00 He says, Our hands have handled. 13:03 In the Greek it means to verify by touch. 13:07 To verify by touch. 13:10 He's saying, I actually reached out physically. 13:12 I touched Jesus. He said, That which I knew, 13:17 that which I experienced, that's what I'm telling you. 13:22 I believe that's important. 13:24 When we preach, when we share Jesus, what are we to do? 13:28 We are to share our experience. 13:33 How can we share with Jesus if we have never experienced? 13:38 If we don't know what it's like to walk with Him? 13:41 If we don't know what it's like when we're in a hard time, 13:45 and in a hard place, and we don't know what it's like 13:49 for Him to come alongside us, for Him to pour into the broken 13:54 places of our hearts, for Him to transform us? 13:57 If I don't know that Jesus can help me in my trial, 14:00 how can I share that with someone else? 14:02 If I don't know that Jesus can turn my sorrow into joy, 14:06 how can I share that? 14:08 If I don't know that God can fill the broken places of my 14:12 heart, how can I tell someone else that He 14:15 can heal them as well? 14:18 We are to share our experience. 14:21 2. We share what God instructs us to. 14:25 I'm jumping back to one of the minor prophets; this is Jonah. 14:30 Interestingly enough, we won't go over the story of Jonah, 14:34 but you know the story of Jonah, or you might be familiar 14:37 with the story of Jonah. 14:39 Remember God told him, Go to Nineveh. 14:43 Nineveh was the capitol city of Assyria, 14:46 and it was a hard place. 14:48 Do you know, I used to be hard on Jonah, because instead of him 14:51 going to Nineveh, he went the other direction. 14:55 He boarded a ship and sailed as far as he could from the 15:00 call God had placed on his life. 15:03 He was trying to run from the call. 15:06 And I used to be hard on him. 15:08 What's wrong with Jonah? 15:10 Why did he run away? 15:12 But if you study what the Assyrian people were like 15:16 at that time, they were warlike, they were fierce, 15:19 they were probably the most cruel and bloodthirsty 15:23 people during that time. 15:25 So if God called you to go to a place where you would be killed, 15:31 would you want to obey? 15:33 I'm being honest. I wouldn't. 15:36 So now that I understand that I think, Okay, I kind of 15:39 see what Jonah is doing here. 15:40 But remember, God got ahold of him. 15:42 He ran away. They had the big storm. 15:45 The sailors threw him overboard. 15:47 God prepared a gigantic fish that swallowed him up, 15:52 kept him alive for those three days. 15:54 He was spit out on the shore. 15:56 And we're in Jonah chapter 3 right now. 16:01 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time,... 16:04 Remember the first time he ran away. 16:06 Now after he's spit out of the fish, it comes the second time. 16:10 And He said, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, 16:16 and preach to it the message that I tell you. 16:20 He told him to preach. 16:22 But not only did He say, Just preach what you feel like, 16:24 preach what you want to preach, He said, Preach what I tell you. 16:30 1. When we preach we want to share our experience. 16:35 2. We preach what God has instructed us to do. 16:41 How do we preach? How do we preach? 16:44 There's many different ways. 16:45 You might say, Jill, there's no way I can go out and preach. 16:48 You don't have to get up in church and do a sermon, 16:51 although that is one way to preach. 16:53 You don't have to go to your neighbor and give them 16:55 Bible studies, although that is one way to preach. 16:59 You don't have to share with someone on the street, 17:01 although that is a good way, too. 17:03 You could share on the phone, praying with someone, 17:07 encouraging someone. 17:08 You could write someone a card of encouragement 17:11 and include some Scriptures. 17:13 Those are all ways that we can preach. 17:16 Who are we supposed to preach to? 17:19 I think we preach to everybody, at all times, and in all places. 17:25 We preach to friends, and family, to neighbors, 17:29 strangers on the street. 17:31 My husband, Greg, was out pumping gas. 17:36 This was when we were dating. 17:38 And all of a sudden I was like, Who's he talking to? 17:42 Oh, the guy at the pump. 17:45 So he gets in the car and I said, Do you know him? 17:47 No, Jilly, I don't know him. 17:49 But he's just reaching out and being friendly. 17:52 God has given him a gift of reaching out to strangers. 17:55 Now that's a little more uncomfortable for me. 17:57 But whatever your comfort zone is, reach out and preach. 18:02 What are our reasons not to preach? 18:06 Why would we not want to share Jesus? 18:09 I think the biggest reason, at least for me, would be fear. 18:12 I was in Wal-Mart. I was rushing getting my groceries. 18:17 I was in the shampoo isle and I saw a lady, and I smiled 18:21 and said Hi to her. 18:22 She had a kind looking face, hair kind of swept up 18:25 and away from her face. 18:27 I passed and all of a sudden a Wal-Mart employee asked her 18:31 about her hand, and I thought, That's funny, I don't remember 18:34 seeing anything weird about her hand. 18:36 And I looked at it, and there was a loose bandage 18:39 wrapped around her hand. 18:40 And instantly I felt an impression from the Holy Spirit. 18:43 Go talk to her! And so I said, Okay, Lord, Here am I. 18:47 I want to obey. And I stepped forward and I said, 18:50 Hey, my name's Jill. 18:52 What's your name? And we struck up a conversation. 18:54 We'll call her Jan. 18:56 Pretty soon the Holy Spirit came, the second prompting, 19:00 Jill pray with her. 19:02 And I said, Absolutely not! 19:04 We're in the middle of a store; I'm embarrassed. 19:08 I'm afraid of what other people are going to think of me. 19:11 We parted our ways. 19:14 I was disobedient to the Lord Jesus. 19:18 I ran across the woman again in the candle isle. 19:21 And again the Holy Spirit said, Pray with her. 19:23 And I said, No! I ran across her again in the chip isle. 19:27 And the Holy Spirit said, Pray with her. 19:29 And I said, No! Three times God brought her past my path. 19:35 Three times I refused. 19:37 I was in the flour and the oil and the sugar, the baking isle, 19:43 when God broke through my rationalizations, my defenses 19:47 to my core, and He said, How many times do I have to ask 19:50 you to do something before you're going to obey? 19:54 And I said, God, forgive me! 19:57 Please, if it's in Your will, could you cause 20:00 me to find her again? 20:01 And you know what God did? 20:03 I went to the end of the isle, I peaked, and there she was 20:06 at the back of the store. 20:08 And I rushed down with my cart and I came to her and I said, 20:13 I wanted to come back and pray with you, if that's okay. 20:16 And, Oh, honey, she said, I'd love that! 20:19 And she held her good hand out to me. 20:22 And we held hands there in the middle of Wal-Mart, 20:24 in the middle of a major thorofare. 20:27 We petitioned the throne of grace, and we found grace, 20:30 mercy, and help in our time of need. 20:34 Sharing Jesus and witnessing to other people doesn't just 20:38 come from a Bible study. 20:39 It doesn't always come from the preacher in the pulpit. 20:42 And it doesn't come from knocking on a strangers door, 20:45 although all of those are good ways. 20:47 Sharing Jesus is simply walking with Him, and obeying His voice 20:52 when He speaks to our hearts. 20:54 It's being willing to say, Here am I, send me. 20:58 The size of the job doesn't matter, neither does it's 21:01 importance, or the publicity it brings, 21:04 or the pain it might cause. 21:06 What matters most is my willingness to hear 21:10 His voice and to obey. 21:12 I think fear is a big reason we don't want to preach, 21:16 we don't want to share Jesus. 21:17 Another reason could be insecurity. 21:19 I'm not good enough. 21:21 Maybe I don't know my Bible enough, 21:22 or I don't know what to say. 21:24 Or like Moses said in Exodus 4. 21:28 What did he say? He said, God, I can't speak. 21:33 I can't speak. Exodus 4:12. 21:37 This is when God called Moses to lead the children of 21:41 Israel out of Egypt. 21:42 He said, I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue, 21:45 and I can't do it. 21:47 And God said, Who made man's mouth? who makes the mute, 21:50 the deaf, the seeing, the blind? 21:52 And then Verse 12: Now therefore go, and I will be with your 21:57 mouth, and I will teach you what you're supposed to say. 22:02 Now therefore go, and speak for Jesus. 22:07 The other reason besides fear and insecurity, 22:10 I think is just plain busyness. 22:12 I don't know about you, but life is hectic; life is busy. 22:17 And sometimes we get too busy to really reach out. 22:21 You could ask God to re-prioritize your day. 22:25 You could go to Him. 22:27 Sometimes I'll do this in the morning, and I don't do it 22:29 often enough, and I should. 22:31 You could go to Him and say, God this is Plan A for my day. 22:34 I need to do this. I need to take care of that. 22:37 And then this project when I'm done with everything else. 22:40 But God, I don't know what Your plan is for my life, 22:44 so if You choose to alter Plan A to Plan B, 22:47 I'm willing to accept that. 22:50 First we pray. We discussed that in the last program. 22:54 That's the most primary way that we can witness for Jesus. 22:57 2. We preach. We share what we have experienced. 23:02 We share what God instructs us to. 23:04 3. Practice. A sermon is only as powerful 23:10 as the life behind it. 23:12 Have you ever heard a great preacher who had no power? 23:16 Maybe you've seen a simple, humble preacher who maybe 23:20 was not as eloquent, yet there was great power. 23:23 The difference is, of course, the anointing 23:26 of the Holy Spirit. 23:27 But in addition to that, it's the connection with God. 23:31 It's whether they actually walk the talk. 23:34 Francis of Assisi said, Preach the gospel at all times, 23:38 and when necessary use words. 23:42 There's a poem song I love that talks about this very thing. 23:50 It says, Many now are watching the footsteps that we take. 23:54 Many soon will follow in the choices that I make. 23:59 Let us then be faithful to be what we should be, 24:03 and leave a good example that others can clearly see. 24:08 Be an example of the believers in word and in conduct. 24:13 Be steadfast in faith, and life, and purity of heart. 24:18 For those behind us, let us stand within the gap, 24:23 and make a difference in their lives. 24:26 Be an example to follow Christ. 24:29 Let us then be watching though weary day by day, 24:34 looking to encourage, and to lead them in the way. 24:38 To run the race with patience, and on Jesus fix our eyes. 24:44 Let's challenge them with excellence that they 24:48 might win the prize. 24:50 Be an example? Be an example to follow Christ. 24:56 In 1898 Cuba and Spain were at war with United States. 25:04 The Spanish were guarding the harbor, and the American's could 25:07 not enter the harbor into Cuba. 25:10 And because they couldn't do that, 25:12 they could not win the war. 25:14 Richard Hopsin, he was a 27 year old Naval engineer, 25:18 he laid a plan. He would commandeer the Merrimack, 25:23 which was an American coal ship. 25:25 He would line it with explosives. 25:28 They would detonate it. 25:30 They would sink the ship, and that would give them access 25:35 coming into the harbor. 25:37 It was a suicide mission. 25:39 No matter which way it went, everyone who was going to be 25:42 onboard the Merrimack would probably lose their lives. 25:46 They asked on three different ships. 25:49 Over 700 men were asked. 25:51 They all knew they would be blown to pieces if they went. 25:55 All 700 volunteered. 25:59 They were between the ages of 21 to 33, 26:02 the 7 men who were selected. 26:04 Amazingly every volunteer survived. 26:09 Today Satan is at war with God's forces. 26:12 God is extending a call to you and to me, and He says, 26:16 Will you go to work for Me? 26:18 Will you go to war for Me? 26:20 Will you go witness for Me? 26:22 Will it cost us something? Absolutely. 26:26 Will it cost us everything? Perhaps. 26:32 Will it cost us life itself? Maybe. 26:37 They answered a call for their country. 26:40 Will we do it for God? 26:44 There's a song I like: Lord I'm giving back to You the Life 26:48 that You've breathed into me. 26:50 As a living sacrifice I lay it down. 26:53 I am placing at Your throne all desires of my own 26:57 as I run the race to win the victor's crown. 27:01 At any cost I will follow where You lead me. 27:04 And anywhere you send me, I will go. 27:08 What was gain I count but loss, for the glory of Your cross. 27:12 Lord I seek to do Your will at any cost. 27:16 I want to leave you at the conclusion of our Heart Lift 27:21 series with a couple of questions. 27:23 If we don't live for Jesus, who will? 27:27 If we don't love other people, who will? 27:30 If we don't speak for Him, who will? 27:34 If not me, then who? 27:37 If not here, then where? 27:40 If not now, then when? 27:43 I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ equips, empowers, 27:47 and stands you up to be all He's called you to be. 27:51 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace 27:55 in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power 27:58 of the Holy Spirit. |
Revised 2016-12-13