5-3-2026 Witness of God

What a witness. Please be seated. What a witness singing this song. I want you to consider, try not to forget the words that we just sang just now. They go really well with what the Lord has laid on my heart to bring before you. What a wondrous witness to the world. I know whom I have believed. in your Bible for this morning's scripture reading to the book of Ezekiel chapter 36. I want to save our series of scripture readings that we're giving in Psalm 119 for when our brother Mike is well enough to come and bring a study on it.

He's doing such a good job there with that. And I want to thank him in front of all of you for standing in my stead last week. He did a great job. Several ministers I've spoken with already that have heard his message are very encouraged with what we heard from this pulpit last Sunday.

There are very few men who are willing to stand up and give witness to who God is in truth and in spirit. So to hear one who is fairly new at it stand up and give such an account that Mike gave of our God last week is not only just a blessing to you folks that many of you have come forward and expressed that blessing to me, But to others as well. Ministers like myself who are not young men anymore. Ministers like myself who wonder, Lord, are you raising up workers of the field still?

And then we hear men like my brother Mike Gialotti stand in a pulpit and preach. And we say, yep. And I know Mike's listening right now. I know he's not. Him and his wife Becky stayed home sick today. They didn't want to give us whatever the last few days, and we thank them for that.

But I know that if he's truly sent of God to preach God's Word, to speak about God, to stand before people and declare, to witness, to testify, that God won't let him get a big head over it. He'll send trials our way to humble us, to keep us, just as he did Paul. just as he did all of his ministers, just as he does to each and every one of us to keep us from allowing our pride to raise up too high. Here in the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, for our scripture reading, we begin at verse 24.

For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the old stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

Now, before I read these last two verses, I ask you, was there anything in those words that we read, the Word of God, that man has anything to do with? other than we were in a different land, and God took us out. He took us out from among the heathen, as we read there in verse 24. No, it is all the works of God. Now look at verse 29 and 30.

I will also save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you, and I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord, be it known unto you, be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord in the day that I shall have iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, wherein it lay desolate in sight of all that pass by. And they shall say, this land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste and the desolate and the ruined cities are become fenced and inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you places and plant that it was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it."

I'd like to ask you now if you would turn your Bibles to the first chapter of Acts. And as you're turning to the right through the scriptures there, stop at John chapter 1 and mark your Bible. Once we have read from the book of Acts the verses that I want to read there to set the table, you can turn your Bible to John chapter 1, set it on your lap, and we'll remain there for the rest of the service. John 1 and Acts 1.

This is a rare opportunity for a preacher to get a chance to preach a message three times in a row. If you've tuned in to Wednesday night service this last week, you would have heard me preach this message in Kingsport, Tennessee. I know you didn't tune in last Sunday because you had your own preacher here, but also because they didn't record it. Sylacauga is a very small congregation, not unlike ourself, other than everyone in the congregation but one is over the age of 70. And there's only eight regular people. Pray for our brother Larry as he goes through what could be the Lord shutting down the light there in Sylacauga. They haven't had very many visitors over the last several years. So pray for them if you would.

I've titled the message, Witnesses of God. And as you noticed in our song there, I really emphasized, I knew the word was there somewhere on my tongue, I really emphasized the word witness in that song. What a statement of one who is witnessing who their God is. In 2nd Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 5, you don't need to turn there, let me read that for you. It says, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Examine yourselves. I think of this verse often. Don't fall asleep over there. I've heard it twice already. Each one's different. Oh, good. Good, good. I think of this verse often. Examine myself.

When I get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror and think about what's going through my mind, just from going from the bed to the bathroom, Maybe brushing my hair, whatever, on the way past the mirror. I had to look in the mirror and see John Reeves for who he is. Does that happen to any of you? Do you folks ever have that, where you get up and you eat? This is who I am. I'm a sinner. Every moment of my day, I fight the battle of the war between the flesh and the spirit. And it starts from the moment I wake up and open my eyes to the moment I go to sleep at night.

So this verse stands out to John. This verse stands out to me as, am I truly in the faith? Am I in the faith that the Lord is talking about here? How can someone who thinks the thoughts that I think, how can someone who does the things that I think, how can someone who is as weak as I am, examine whether I'm in the faith and say, oh, yes, you are. Well, there is a way. And I want to show you what God has given as a way to examine yourself this morning. Am I in the faith of the true and living God? I think about that when faith rears up its ugly head. Do you ever have that problem? Your faith is, you know, sometimes I just, I wonder, Lord, I don't see you.

I don't see the reason for the trial that you have me in. I don't understand why I have to suffer. I never suffered with myself before. I wasn't a bad guy. I thought I was pretty good. And then the Lord showed me what I truly am before Him, and I've suffered with that ever since. I'm but a worm before God.

One who deserves nothing but His wrath for the sake of our guests. We don't have anybody here who's holier than thou. The only people here are sinners. Sinners who need a Savior every moment of every day that we live. I'm going to talk about that battle next week. The battle of the flesh.

When my sin that is ever before me crashes against the little boat, I wonder, Lord, am I in the faith? Why am I doing the things I shouldn't and not doing the things I should, as Paul has stated? Aren't you thankful for that? Aren't you thankful the Lord gives us examples?

You know, if he ever showed Paul doing anything wrong, we might put him up on a pedestal as being somebody special with God, wouldn't we? What about Peter? Look what the Catholics have done with Peter. They put him on such a high pedestal. It's a pedestal of their own imagination.

He's nothing but a man just like you and I am. Oh, I'm so thankful that God shows us examples of even good men and their struggle with sin. The Apostle Paul in Romans 7, he states, I find then a law that when I would do good, do you catch that? Does that grasp a hold of you? Even when I would do good, evil is still present with me. That's saying this, when I would do something that is good, my pride would jump up in front of me and blind me, and that's as evil as anything can get right there, your pride. So he cries out in verse 24. That was verse 21 in chapter 7. In verse 24, he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I can relate to that. I can understand why Paul would say that. Am I in the faith? Am I in the faith that God declares in His Word? Another example our Lord gives us is when Peter, when he denied the Lord three times, the Lord told him he would do it, yet he walked right into it. Do you know the Lord tells us in His Word all the things that we would do if He removed His hand of grace, His hand of mercy, His hand of restraint? And yet, though He tells us this, we walk right into those things, don't we? The Lord's Word, it is clear about the war between the spirit and the flesh, yet I do not turn, lest the Lord turns me.

I find myself more and more like that publican. You recall the publican and the Pharisee. The Pharisee walked into the temple and stood in front of all the people and said, thank you, Lord, for not making me like all these other people, like that guy over there in the corner, the publican.

Remember him? What was his stance? He was with his face down in the dirt, over in the side, not even out in front of anybody, over in the back corner. because he was too ashamed, hiding his face, ashamed of the sin that dwelt within him. And his only words were this, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

That's what I find most from John Reeves. Do you find that in yourself as well? Do you ever ask the question, am I in the faith? One of the ways God tells us through his word is this, the faith is whosoever believeth in me shall be saved. I pause for a moment. I want you to wrap your hands around that. Am I in the faith? Well, here's how our Lord tells us if you're in the faith. Whosoever believeth in me shall be saved.

In Luke 12, verse 34, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. In Luke 12, verse 8, also confessed before the angels of God." That's our Savior's words right there. The word confessed is often the same word as witness. In Romans 10 verse 9 it says that, "...if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe Look at Acts 1, verse 8. Our Lord tells us a little something of what it is to be in the faith. Am I in the faith? I'm examining myself. This person who struggles with sin so much, am I in the faith?

Well, look here what it says in the Holy Ghost, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Now, there's no doubt that this is talking directly to the apostles, but folks, this entire Bible, the entire Word of God is a love letter to all of his people. He's speaking to you and I here just as well as the disciples. Everything in God's Word is directed directly to His children. Nobody else hears it.

It's just like when the Lord Jesus walked this earth. And there were all kinds of people around watching Him do miracles, and they still stood there and said, if thou be in Christ, tell us plainly. He says, I told you. The miracles I did at my father's name prove who I am. You do not believe, because you are not my sheep. My sheep hear this, my word.

You, ye, I want you to walk out of here with today, and if you examine yourself, am I in the faith? Well, what do you witness? What is your witness? Our Lord says, you shall be witnesses unto Me. What he's saying is, if I am in the faith, His gift of faith, as stated in Ephesians 2 verse 8, I will witness, I will bear record, I will testify of Him in my words, in my walk, in my heart, in my spirit, and in truth.

Here in the Lord's house, right here today, this is easy. I haven't got any problem talking to anybody God breaks through that door about who the Lord is. I do it quite easily. I find it quite easy. I find it refreshing to be a preacher and I love to preach God's Word.

And I'm ashamed to tell you it's a different story out there. Do you struggle with that? Do you have any struggles with your family in talking about who the Lord is? I can't talk to my children at all. Both my son and my daughter want nothing to do with it. My daughter is so far from the Lord right now. My only hope is that if she's a child of God, God can save anything. And if she's a child of God, He will save her soul. That's my only hope. Do you ever struggle with that? With talking about who the Lord is in truth? I have relatives that are religious, steeped in religion, who I love dearly. I can't talk to them about my God. I can't tell Him who my Lord is.

I've tried. And all it does is bring up that war, that battle. Oh, you're so stuck on that one little section, in that one little path. If you could just get past that sovereignty of God and see God who loves the whole world. He doesn't love the whole world! Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. That's His Word, not mine. I'm not making an interpretation of God's Word. That's His Word perfectly.

You know, I'm going to admit, maybe it's not so hard to talk to people out in the world about my Lord now as hard as it was 26 years ago when the Lord first called me, but it's still difficult. I recently reminded Kathy, She knows, but like myself, occasionally the title pastor comes out in my conversation. And then I'm uncomfortable. We were on the trip, and there was a lady, and Kathy was excited about something, and she mentioned that we live at the church, that I was the pastor.

There was no harm in what she said. But all of a sudden, this lady was like, oh, I'm a Christian too. I started following the Lord at such and such date. I gave my life over to Him. I turned to Him. I made a testimony. I brought the baptism. She just, all of a sudden, it was all about what she was. Born again Christian, that's what she said.

When I think about this, that I'm ashamed to tell people that I'd rather not tell this person that I'm a pastor. I have to stop myself and ask this question. Am I in the faith? Do I truly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is God my Savior? And if I do, then why am I ashamed of it? Why am I hiding from it? Makes me ask the question, am I a witness unto the true and living God?

You know, that was the witness that Peter gave. In Matthew 16, the Lord asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? You remember that story. He asked, well, who do the people say that I am? They said, well, maybe Elias, maybe some prophet, maybe such and such. And he says, well, who do you say that I am? stepped right up to the plate and said, Thou art the Christ.

You know what he just declared? He just declared the Lord Jesus as his deliverer. He just declared the Lord Jesus as the only one who would deliver him from sin. You're the Christ. You're not just some prophet walking around. You're the man sent of God to save his people. You see the witness coming out from Peter there, and it just flowed right off of his tongue, it seems like, doesn't it? He just came right out. Oh, yeah, you're the Christ. I know you are.

Then he declares this, he says, after calling him to Christ, the very one who knew no sin, the one who loves his people so much that he laid down his life that they may live. Listen to these words from Philippians 2, verse 5. This is basically what Peter was saying when he called him to Christ. He called him to Christ and said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in the fashion of the man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

That's what Peter was saying when he said, thou art the crush. And then the very next thing, he said this. He said this about the one who he just called his deliverer. He said this about the one that he just said, you're my substitute. You're the reason I'm going to live. He said, thou art the son of the living God. Am I a witness? Am I in the faith?

Peter believed God. Because as soon as he said that, the Lord Jesus said to Peter, he said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Peter didn't figure it out on his own. He didn't hear some man preaching, through the preaching of whatever man was preaching.

You see, folks, true witnessing is something you have to experience. It's not something that we can learn from a man who's standing in the pulpit. God must be your teacher. He must take the words that we speak of in this pulpit and apply them to your heart. To be a true witness of God, to be a true child of God, God must speak to you personally.

I didn't get saved on the shirt sleeves of my brother and his wife, Shirley. I got saved by God speaking to me through the preaching of His Word. That's what we read in Romans chapter 10. How are you going to believe in someone who you've not heard? And how are you going to hear except a preacher preaching?

Only God can reveal this truth to man. Only God can cause one to truly witness, to truly testify, to truly bear record of what God has done through His Son, the Lord Jesus. Now consider with me, if you will, one for whom Christ declares there to be none greater born of a woman. Yet he says, the least in heaven is greater than he.

Are you in John chapter 1? And you can just set your Bibles right down in your laps there, and we're going to be right there for the rest of the service. I want you to read verses 6 through 8 with me. John chapter 1, verses 6 through 8. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now catch these next words, the same came, he was sent of God, remember that? That's what he said in verse six. The same came for a witness to tell about, to testify, to bear record, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.

Now, I want you to go back to where it says men there. You see how that's in italics? That's not original. That's not in the original text. The translators add words to God's Word, and sometimes it's helpful, and sometimes it's not. So I'd like you to go back and read this again with me. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe." Oh, now there's folks who want to take God's word and they want to say, well, God loved the whole world.

Like in John 3.16, you know how popular that is? You all know that. You ask them, how do you know that God loves everybody?

First thing they'll tell you, John 3.16, for God so loved the world. And they completely ignore in Romans chapter 9, where God says he hated Esau. Or they'll completely ignore in John 17, in the 17th chapter of John, where the Lord says in his prayer to his father, his priestly prayer, the one that we call the Lord's Prayer, I pray not for them of the world, but for them that thou hast given me. They completely ignore that.

Yet they say, this saying came for a witness to bear the light that all men through him might believe. Well, how does that make sense, John? What does the word all mean? Over and over and over in scriptures, we know that God has determined his people to be saved, period.

He will lose none. Not one for whom his son went to the cross and shed his blood will die and go to hell. Why? Because Christ went to hell for him. The Lord Jesus died in our stead. And He was perfect in it. For by one offering, it says in Hebrews chapter 10, one offering, the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ, He hath perfected forever. them that are sanctified."

So who is he talking about when he says all here? He's talking about all of his children throughout all time. All of those who will come into this world who were loved by him before the world began, as it states in Ephesians chapter 1. All of those for whom he died for out of every tongue, every nation, every tribe. That's the all. All of those that the Father has given Him from before the foundation of the world.

Verse 8, look at that, it says, He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. This light that would be preached from the pulpits of wherever God's ministers would be sent. The light of Jesus Christ. He says, I am the light of the world. Look back in verse 1. This is the light that he's talking about here. In the beginning was the Word. You see the witness of John? John's giving a testimony to you and me. Here, John the Baptist is bringing this out.

He says, in the beginning was the Word. Folks, Jesus Christ has always been the Son of God. He just wasn't Jesus Christ in the flesh, the God-man. Emmanuel, God with us. A body had to be prepared. A body that would humble itself and become a servant to God for the sake of His people and lay down His life, even the death of the cross. This is the Word. This is the Word that has been spoken of from the beginning. How often have we looked at that sacrifice that God had given when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden?

What did they do? They tried to cover themselves with their own righteousness, which is nothing but filthy rags. The only righteousness that would cover them is the blood. And at that time, it was the blood of an animal to be covered with God's righteousness. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There are so many mysteries of God that I cannot explain. How God became a man. How God was made flesh. How God was made sin. How God died. Verse 2, the same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made. Over in Colossians chapter 1, you don't need to turn there, allow me to read it for you for the sake of time. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities. Do you see how it's covering everything there? Folks, our God is sovereign over everything because He has made everything. Every dominion, every throne, every principality, every power are things that were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.

Back in the book of John there, if you're still there, chapter 1, look at verse 8. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. Remember when you knew Him not? Some of you were very religious before you knew the Lord. You remember when you knew Him not? I do. I remember clearly John was doing it his way. John was his own God. I remember what it was to be blind, blind to the truths. I use this as an example in Kings 4.

Try to explain the color blue to a man or a woman who's never, ever seen anything. They've been blind from birth. That's a picture of you and I. Blind from birth. We come from our mother's womb, dead in trespasses and sin, dead spiritually. You must be given life. That's what it means to be born again. Born again means God is coming to your life. And remember what we read in Ezekiel? Giving us a new spirit. A spirit that sees the truth of God in His Word. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Now look at verse 12. It wouldn't be grace. This is the power of God's love for His people. It's not something wasted on God loves everybody, but somebody goes to hell. It's God loves a people and they are going to spend eternity with Him.

But as many as received Him gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory is the only begotten of the Father, full, full of grace and truth. Verse 15, John bear witness of Him. and cried, saying, This is he, this is he, was he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness hath all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Who is your God? Who is the God in your heart? I'm not talking about the God that you struggle about professing without in public. I'm asking you to examine your heart Do I believe who He is? Do I believe what He has done? Do I trust in Him and trust in Him only? Or is there something that I think I can add to or take away from my God who is perfect and doesn't need me for anything?

If your God is the Sovereign Son of the Living God, if He is your Messiah, if He is your Deliverer, then you will witness unto Him as He is in Scripture. You will witness that once I was dead, once I was blind, once I was lost, by grace I am saved through faith, in other words, belief, through regeneration, That's belief, that's faith, gifted to me by Him Himself.

Not of words, lest I should boast. That's what it says in Ephesians chapter 2. My witness, my testimony is in He who is my substitute. The one who is born perfect of a virgin. The one who is born without the sin of man. He who knew no sin was made sin and died in my stead, that I would be made the righteousness of God, not in something that I have done, not in anything of this flesh, but that I would be made the righteousness of God and live in Him.

That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21 says.

And I'll back in our text, if you would, and I'll close with these last few words. John chapter 1, look at verse 29. This is what I've been telling you this whole time. This is the message that I have brought before you this morning. This is the message that I was given to preach to men in Silicon Alabama and to men and women Hold.

Quit looking at yourself. If you're going to examine yourself, if you're in the faith, examine what the Lord says. There's nothing in this flesh to examine. Folks, the only thing of God's glory that is in you is believing the Lord Jesus. There is nothing in this flesh that we can take any confidence in. Jesus Christ is my glory of God. My confession to you of who He is, what He's done, and where He is this very moment, that's the glory of God. It's all about the Lord Jesus and Him crucified.

If I try to add one thing, one little thing, I know, I made up another word. Couldn't find balonialism quick enough. The old brain here just doesn't work that quick anymore. Oh, folks, if I try to add anything, a little leavened ruins the whole lump. If you try to add...

I believe. If that belief is not from God, you've ruined it. If that belief has anything to do with you and you alone, you have ruined the glory of God. But if Jesus Christ has given you the ability to believe in Him, that's giving God all the glory. My testimony, my witness is that God in the flesh came, Emmanuel, God with us, came to this world, and by His righteousness, I am saved.

By His blood that was shed on that cross, over 2,000 years ago, my sin was put away. Behold, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, which taketh away the sin of all of those throughout all time, throughout the whole world, for whom Christ died, every tongue, every nation, every tribe. He shall not lose one. Behold. The Lamb of God. God who sits on His throne. You see, death could not hold God. He's the God of death. He's the God of everything, remember? Principalities, powers. Does He not rule everything in your heart as well? He sits on His throne today, and oh, how thankful I am that he's making intercession for me.

5-3-2026 Witness of God

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5-3-2026 Witness of God

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