In the Bible Christian Ministry
Sunday 9-27-26 (Faith Goes to the Stand, Part 4)
  • Worthy of My Praise
  • Glory Glory Hallelujah
  • Praise
  • I Love You, Lord + We Exalt Thee

  • Part 1: What Is a Witness? (Firsthand Faith Over Hearsay)

    We opened this series by confronting the comfort of inherited, secondhand religion—riding on the spiritual coattails of family, tradition, or routine attendance.
    We learned that a biblical witness isn't a salesman pitching a product, but an eyewitness called to testify to what they have personally seen, heard, and experienced in Christ.
    God isn't keeping a checklist of religious chores;
    He measures the daily state of our intimate connection with Him.
    Every breakroom, classroom, and kitchen table is a modern courtroom where our daily grace and integrity take the stand.

    Part 2: Integrity Under Pressure (Structural Wholeness in Babylon)

    In week two, we addressed the exhaustion of religious performance and the temptation to climb onto a pedestal to argue, posture, or prove our faith.
    Looking at Daniel in Babylon, we saw that biblical integrity means structural wholeness—having an internal integrity matches the polished outside because the internal integrity it what has to carry the load.
    Cultural pressure doesn't create our weakness; it simply exposes where we were already fractured. Real power doesn't require loud theater; it comes from a quiet, non-anxious stand forged in the private prayer closet.
    The flood didn’t break the bridge it just exposed the lack of integrity.
    How God referenced the builders plum line. Which is held outside the wall to ensure the wall is straight.

    Part 3: The Radical Table (Dismantling the Pedestal & Humble Muscle Memory)

    Last week, we dismantled spiritual elitism and the "promotion shift"—that subtle trap where growth tempts us to get "too good for the world" and look down on struggling people.
    Simon the Pharisee with the weeping woman who washed Jesus' feet and the bleeding woman who touched His hem, we saw that real faith risks everything to be seen by Christ rather than applauded by the crowd. Their active faith transcended time, challenging us to condition "humble muscle memory" so that our testimony on the witness stand leaves zero surprises between our Sunday profession and our Monday reality.
    Bridge into Part 4"Now, church, as we step into this final movement—Part 4: Honest Courage—the question before us is simple: When the pressure turns up and earthly allies walk away, how do we speak truth without relying on rehearsed human scripts or defensive masks

    I. The Anxiety of the Rehearsed Defense

    Matthew 10:16–18 NIV
    We live in a world where everyone feels an exhausting pressure to constantly defend their stance.
    Whether it is a conversation at work, an encounter in the classroom, or tension across the family dinner table, our culture teaches us to put our guards up, prepare our counter-arguments, and fight for our corner.
    Many believers freeze up in conversations about faith because they think taking the stand means stepping into an intellectual boxing ring.
    We think, "I don’t know enough doctrine, I haven’t memorized enough scripture, and I don’t know how to win a debate."
    I don’t feel comfortable
    When Jesus sends His disciples into the harvest in Matthew 10, He looks them in the eye and gives them an honest warning: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves."
    Matthew 10:16–18 NIV
    16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
    Notice the setting: He explicitly warns them that they will be handed over to local councils and dragged before governors and kings for His sake.
    So many times you may be challenged because of what you believe.
    Matthew 10:19–20 NIV
    19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
    When we read the word "arrested" today, we think of posting bail, picking up a phone, calling an attorney, and having someone clear our name.
    In the 1st-century world, being arrested meant something entirely different.
    If a common person was hauled before a local council, they faced public scourging with leather straps.
    If they were dragged before a Roman governor seated they stood in a system where justice belonged to wealthy.
    The elite had money to hire professionals who stood in court and buttered up magistrates with elaborate, rehearsed flattery.
    The powerful had legal advocates who used who they knew to shield them.
    The disciples had none of that.
    They had no money for a mouthpiece, no political connections, and no legal leverage.
    Jesus sent them out without a visible legal mouthpiece, not to conform to culture, but to live a lifestyle so radically counter to the norm that their everyday obedience would land them on the witness stand.
    Only thing he gave them was:
    Matthew 10:19 NIV
    19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say,
    That’s our biggest concern:
    What
    How
    What am I going to do; How am I going to do it
    They had to take the stand with zero human leverage, relying completely on God.

    II. The Advocate at the Defense Table

    2 Timothy 4:16–18 NIV
    Jesus strips away the anxiety of the rehearsed speech
    It’s hard to go against what people think or say or expect.
    We always feel we have to live up to what people expect of us
    You funny- you got to be funny
    Smart - got to be smart
    Parties - got to out do the last one
    And we have to defend when you feel different or act different
    You do not have to spend all your energy trying to prove yourself when it comes to God.
    In the ancient world, when you went to court, you needed a legal advocate called to stand at your side.
    Jesus promises that when you are on the stand, you have a resident Advocate.
    The Holy Spirit is not just an emotion or a warm feeling; He is divine legal counsel standing right beside your table.
    The Apostle Paul experienced this exact reality at the end of his life in Rome.
    Sitting in a cold cell, facing execution, Paul wrote to Timothy about his formal legal hearing: "At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me."
    2 Timothy 4:16–18 NIV
    16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
    Paul did not have a human mouthpiece in that courtroom; the people ran, the influential friends scattered, and the defense table was empty according to worldly eyes.
    Paul continues: "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed."
    When earthly allies walk out, the Lord remains at your side.
    Those same people you defend yourself against leave QUICKLY
    When we PANIC we resort back to what’s comfortable not necessarily what’s right.
    When you feel the need to perform, Think about the emergency oxygen mask on an airplane.
    If a plane experiences sudden cabin depressurization at 35,000 feet, alarms wail, fog fills the cabin, and panic sets in. In that crisis, you do not pull out an aeronautical textbook to read a technical essay on cabin pressure, and you do not practice a speech in the mirror.
    You reach up, pull down the mask, and breathe the pure oxygen flooding into your lungs.
    When the pressure drops in your workplace, when a difficult situation arises in your home, or when someone confronts your faith, stop scrambling for rehearsed scripts.
    Take a breath, stay prayed up, and breathe in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
    When you seek God for your personal growth—learning the Word for yourself rather than just gathering facts to win arguments—the truth takes root in your life.
    God is not a collection of trivia or fun facts to recite; He is a living God to experience.
    When you experience Him, you do not have to perform; His truth flows out naturally when you open your mouth.
    God created you to who you are

    III. Empirical Evidence Over Theoretical Debate

    Matthew 11:2–6 NIV
    Consider what happened to John the Baptist.
    John was Jesus' cousin and the prophetic herald who stood in the Jordan River, pointed to Jesus, and declared, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
    John had preached that the Messiah was coming with an axe laid to the root of the trees, ready to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.
    Now, John sits in solitary confinement inside Herod’s desert fortress above the Dead Sea.
    For months, the prophet who ran free in the wilderness is locked in a dark, sweltering dungeon with iron staples anchored in stone.
    The isolation, the desert heat, and the silence began to press against him.
    Jesus was not calling down fire on Rome or overturning Herod's throne; Jesus was walking through villages, eating at banquets, and touching outcasts.
    The reality did not match John’s expectations, and John fell into the snare of a stumbling over unmet expectations.
    How many of you think. God will work this out and you just wait and what he asks of you doesn’t look like what you expect
    and what he does doesn’t look like what you expect.
    Matthew 11:2–6 NIV
    2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
    From that dark cell, John sends his disciples to ask a vulnerable, honest question: "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?"
    Notice how Jesus responds.
    Jesus does not get offended, insulted, or defensive.
    He does not say, "How dare my cousin question Me after I was baptized by him?"
    Isaiah 35:5–6
    5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
    6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”
    He does not launch into a complex theological debate, and He does not stage a parlor trick to show off His authority.
    Jesus responds with simple, unvarnished empirical facts: "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor."
    Jesus points directly to the tangible, observable evidence of how He was living and fulfilling God’s promises.
    He gave John facts and personal support, resting on the reality of His work.
    The world is exhausted by religious rhetoric, institutional defensiveness, and corporate public relations spin.
    When people encounter the reality of a transformed life—observable love, unbending integrity, and genuine compassion—arguments lose their power.

    IV. The Freedom of One Face: 24/7 Authenticity

    Ephesians 4:25–32 NIV
    Me:
    We carry many different responsibilities in life.
    Kids School
    Family
    Work/Career
    For me, on top of all those roles, there is the hat of being a pastor
    In all those spaces, you interact with people from completely different walks of life who see you in different environments
    It is tempting to think: "I need to be this way for these people, and that way for those people."
    Trying to jump back and forth between different masks and curate different personalities for different crowds is exhausting.
    When you try to be a different person in every room, you live under the constant strain of remembering which version of yourself you presented.
    Life becomes simpler when you are simply who you are, no matter where you are.
    Ephesians 4:25–32 NIV
    25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
    Notice it didn’t put a time limit or an occasion on any of this. LIVE IT!!!
    Living as a 24/7 witness is not just being a witness to God; it is being a witness to yourself and how God designed you [source: 30].
    Isaiah 63:10 NIV
    10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
    You just live it.
    the plum line is not Satan
    Lion just needs out of the cage!!!!!
    Flood doesn’t break the keystone.
    plum line from God to expose where your faith has cracks!!!!
    How it’s Made.
    They did ALL that
    You see them build it. But they also TEST it.
    Sometimes before you put into that place. God has pulled you aside and seeing how you respond to Him.
    I’m about to put you out here SHEEP AMONGST WOLVES
    If God designed you to walk in integrity, love, and grace, He did not design you to be that way only when convenient or when church members are watching.
    He designed you to be that person in every situation, all the time.
    Does that mean you will never have an emotional day, feel frustrated, or make a mistake ?
    Of course not; we are human, and life brings real challenges.
    But when you live your life in totality—true to who God created you to be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—it makes your life and your witness effortless.
    You are the same person on stage, off stage, behind the wheel in traffic, walking in the park, answering a phone call, and sitting at home.
    When you stop trying to manage an image and simply reflect Christ in all you do, blessings follow.
    Living aligned with how God designed you unlocks divine favor and peace, because you are walking in the unforced rhythm of His grace.

      • Matthew 10:16–18NIV2011

      • Matthew 10:19–20NIV2011

      • Matthew 10:19NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 4:16–18NIV2011

      • Matthew 11:2–6NIV2011

      • Isaiah 35:5–6NIV2011

      • Ephesians 4:25–32NIV2011

      • Isaiah 63:10NIV2011

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