Witnesses: Commissioned, Sent, and Empowered

Witnesses: Commissioned, Sent, and Empowered

Dave Riddle - 4/21/2024

Key Passages: Luke 24:47-48, John 20:21, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8

You will be my witnesses

- Luke 24:47-48

- To all the nations

- Acts 1:8

- To the ends of the earth

Commissioned and Sent

- John 20:21

- As the Father sent me, so I am sending you!

- Matthew 28:18-20

- Go, therefore, and make disciples

Empowered by God

- He provides us with His own power.

- Luke 24:49

- Acts 1:4-5

- John 20:22

Until He Comes Again

- 1 Thessalonians 4:16

He’s Still Here

- Matthew 28:20

- I am with you always, even til the end of the age

Fear & Peace

Fear & Peace

Dave Riddle - 4/14/2024

Key Passage: John 20:19-30

They were afraid

- John 20:19

- The disciples were deeply afraid

- John 19:38

- Joseph was deeply afraid

- Luke 24:37

Called to peace

- John 14:27

- Embrace peace, not fear!

The disciples rejoiced

- John 20:20-21

- Peace Be With You

God wants to give us peace

- Peace with Him

- The peace that only He can provide

- eirene: a national state of tranquility, harmony, and safety. In a Christian context: the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Jesus, and so fearing nothing from God and content with his/her earthly lot of whatsoever sort that is.

- Peace: the absence of chaos.

The key to peace

- John 20:25-27

- it isn’t based on what we see or experience.

- Peace is found through faith in Jesus.

- John 20:28-29

- Believe

- John 20:30-31

- Are we foolish and slow to believe?

- Luke 24:25-27

No Turning Back - The New Normal

No Turning Back - The New Normal 

Dave Riddle - 4/23/2023

Key Passage: John 21:1-14

They go fishing and catch nothing

• John 21:1-3

• In the midst of a crazy situation the disciples look for normalcy so they go fishing… and catch nothing.

• Probably not a coincidence…

Jesus knew

• John 21:5-9

• Their struggles

• The solution

• What they needed

Not the first time

• Luke 5:1-7

• Jesus is again showing them a different way, an alternate reality to their default way of life.

• Ephesians 3:20

Breakfast with Jesus

• John 20:10-13

• They knew it was Jesus and they sat down to eat.

• Compare this to Luke 5 or Matthew 4.

• They weren’t called to be successful fishermen, they were called to be fishers of men.

The Hidden Made Visible

• John 21:14

• Jesus reveals himself to remove all doubt as his followers are about to head into the gauntlet.

• There’s no going back to our old lives!

We have been commissioned. Have we embraced it? Are we walking in it?

Sent. Commissioned. Empowered.

Sent. Commissioned. Empowered.

Dave Riddle - 4/16/2023

Key Passage: John 20:19-31

They Locked Themselves Away in Fear

• John 20:19

• John 19:38

• We gather together today, not in fear, but with joy!

Peace Be With You

• John 20:19, 21

• eirene: a national state of tranquility, harmony, and safety. In a Christian context: the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation

• Peace: the absence of chaos.

Sent On A Mission For The King

• John 20:21 - “as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

• Sent in the same way He was sent.

• This mission is going to come with chaos, confusion, and resistance.

• Yet, he calls us to peace.

He Breathed on Them

• John 5:22

• A preview of Acts 2

He Validates their Message

• John 5:23

• their message is His message

The Purpose of This Gospel

• John 20:30-31

• So that you may believe!

• That you may come to believe (an evangelistic purpose.)

• That you may keep on believing (an edifying purpose)

• BOTH!

Easter Sunday 2023

30:31 ✦ Jesus is arrested, tried, and sentenced to crucifixion.
36:01 ✦ Jesus is crucified and dies on the cross, fulfilling his purpose to give his life for humanity.
41:39 ✦ Mary Magdalene discovers the empty tomb and informs Peter and the other disciple.
47:11 ✦ Mary Magdalene, a close follower of Jesus, was the first to witness the empty tomb.
52:54 ✦ Mary Magdalene encounters the resurrected Jesus
59:13 ✦ God reveals himself to those who society excludes.
1:05:30 ✦ Mary Magdalene serves as a prototype for each one of us that God comes to us and knows us personally and invites us to receive, not condemnation, but forgiveness and salvation.
1:15:09 ✦ Celebrating the truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection

Our Upside Down Mission

Message begins around 35 minutes

Our Upside Down Mission

Dave Riddle • 04/03/2022

Key Passage: Matthew 4:19

Our God is both Sent and Sender

• John 3:16-17

• John 17:1-4, 18

• John 20:21

Jesus followers are “sent ones”

• Matthew 4:19

  • A challenge and a new identity

• Mark 3:14

  • Why? To send them out.

  • Not to continue living their lives the same way they were before.

    • We say we believe… but we live like universalists.

• Do we see ourselves as “sent ones”?

  • To whom are you sent?

What does this calling look like?

• Matthew 28:18-20

  • Salt and light

• Acts 1:18

  • You will receive power…

  • You will be my witnesses…

• Matthew 28:19

  • Therefore go and make disciples…

• 2 Corinthians 5:20

  • We are Christ’s Ambassadors

Our Content and Our Conduct

• both must be in line with God’s calling for our life.

• We can stand for everything that’s true, but does our conduct repel people before they can hear our words?

• Philippians 2:14-16

  • Blameless, pure, faultless…

    • A high calling!

  • Hold firm to the word of life and hold it out to the world.

Hearts for Redemption and Restoration

• We are citizens of God right now… But it’s not yet fully realized

  • An “Already… not yet” reality.

  • Citizen of the Kingdom of God should be our primary identity here on earth.

• Revelation 21:5

Proclaim! So They Can Hear

Proclaim! So They Can Hear.      

1/2/2022 - Global Partner 

Key Passage: Romans 10:13-15

ROMANS 10:13-15 

• Disciples are sent.

• Disciples preach the gospel.

• Lost people hear.

• Some believe and are justified.

• They call upon the name of the Lord in repentance and are saved.

ALL PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR THE GOSPEL.

• “Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God.” Romans 10:17

ALL DISCIPLES SHOULD PREACH THE GOSPEL.   

• 2 Corinthians 5:18–20

• Our witness may include more than the spoken Gospel, but it should never include less than the spoken Gospel. 

THE LORD SENDS ALL HIS DISCIPLES TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL. 

• Matthew 9:37-38

• John 20:21

• Mark 16:15 

• “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

  • People don’t even know that there is a saving message to hear.

  • They don’t even know that they need to believe and call on the Lord.

GOD SENDS ALL OF US TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL SO PEOPLE CAN HEAR, BELIEVE, CALL ON HIM, AND BE SAVED.

Peace, Hope, and the Resurrection

The Resurrection 

The Gospel of John - Part 27 • 4/04/21

Key passage: John 20

The Importance of the Resurrection 

• 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17

  • If Christ wasn’t raised then our faith is useless, futile!

Peace

• John 20:19

  • eirene: a state of tranquility, harmony, and safety. In a Christian context: the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation.

• John 14:27

  • Peace I give to you... don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

• John 16:33

  • I have told you these thing so you may have peace in Me. In this world you will have trouble...

Hope

• Hope and hopelessness are powerful things.

  • John 16:33 - you will have trouble, but take hope!

• 1 Corinthians 15:19

  • If our hope is only for this life, we are to be pitied more than anyone in the world.

    • If my hope dies with me, what a pitiable person I am.

• 1 Corinthians 15:20

  • But Christ has INDEED been raised from the dead.

• 1 Peter 1:3-4

  • A living hope!

  • An inheritance!

• Hebrews 10:23

  • Hold onto the confession of our hope without wavering.

Have we allowed these truths to fully reside in our hearts?

• even though our world is full of trouble, even though things often feel hopeless...

• God wants you to trust in Him completely today.

Easter Sunday 2020

Easter Sunday

Dave Riddle - 4/12/20

Key Passage: John 20:1-29

I am saved from the darkness of confusion and enter into the light of a new calling

• John 20:14-18

I am saved from the darkness of fear and enter into the light of a new presence and peace

• John 20:19-22

• John 16:33

I am saved from the darkness of doubt and enter into the light of a new beginning. 

• John 20:24-29

You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9, NLT)