Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 296 | It Matters How You Live - Living as Testaments to Jesus' Love

Transcript

296 | It Matters How You Live - Living as Testaments to Jesus' Love · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

0:00
Music.
0:07
Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
0:11
where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
0:16
well in John chapter four.
0:18
Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
0:21
Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
0:25
or on our website at watwm.org,
0:28
we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
0:33
about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
0:38
Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
0:38
Music.
0:48
She's a happy girl.
1:02
It truly does matter how you live, because how you live is a walking billboard for who Jesus is.
1:09
Every believer has not only the opportunity to demonstrate the principles of
1:14
Jesus in their life, but they also have the responsibility to do so.
1:20
Living for Jesus and demonstrating His power and His might through your life
1:24
is a magnificent way to lead others to Jesus.
1:28
Acts 16.31 says, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
1:32
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
1:36
Join us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a
1:40
journey through the scriptures, exposing Daniel's witness and the fruits it brought.
1:44
Those who are around godly people have a much greater opportunity to be saved than those who don't.
1:52
Come along with Kimberly Miller and learn the power of a godly witness.
1:57
Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries.
2:02
You know, every born-again believer has been commissioned to give the gospel.
2:08
He says, go you into all the world, teaching them. And when we begin to think
2:14
about that, it can be a little bit daunting sometimes.
2:19
But it shouldn't be, because Jesus will equip us and has equipped us to tell
2:25
all who are around us exactly who God is.
2:29
And he does that by supplying us with a testimony.
2:34
The very testimony of your salvation could be all that another person needs
2:41
in order to believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ.
2:45
But all too often, we are around people and we just don't have the opportunity. It's legit.
2:52
You don't have the opportunity, perhaps, to have a conversation with them regarding Jesus.
2:59
But you are always displaying your definition of who Jesus is by your life.
3:08
Your life is always giving others a glimpse into who Jesus is if you are professing
3:19
to be a Christian, if you're professing to be Christ-like.
3:22
You hear this from me often.
3:25
You may be the only Bible some people ever read, so we've got to make sure we get it right.
3:29
But also we have to make sure
3:32
that we are demonstrating the principles of the
3:35
Bible that we are manifesting the
3:39
characteristics of Jesus Christ that when people see us who are Christians who
3:44
are Christ-like that what they are seeing is truly Christ-like and when we begin
3:51
to think about that and think about the importance of that not only were we
3:55
commissioned of that If you see in Acts chapter 16 and verse 31,
3:59
the scripture says, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
4:04
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
4:09
This verse says that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
4:14
It also says that this opportunity is for your household as well.
4:18
It is telling us that people who get saved must believe themselves in a personal
4:27
God for a personal relationship,
4:31
for a personal salvation.
4:34
But when we read that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
4:39
be saved and thy house, we can delve into this verse just a little bit further.
4:44
Further, Paul and Silas speak the words in Acts 16.31 to the jailer in response
4:54
to his question when he says, What must I do to be saved?
5:00
Salvation is simple for those of us who receive it.
5:05
It was complex and difficult for Jesus who provided it.
5:12
But each of us have to make that decision.
5:16
But there's so much truth in the concept that if someone is saved,
5:23
those around them have a better opportunity of understanding who Jesus is than someone who doesn't.
5:30
Now, all of us will have at least a opportunity because he said that he wishes
5:36
that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
5:39
And so he provides every human being an opportunity to be saved.
5:44
But we all know that every opportunity that is given is not taken advantage
5:48
of because we know people who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior.
5:53
But for those who are surrounded by people who are living the word of God,
6:00
by people who are witnessing for Jesus, whose life manifests his goodness,
6:07
his grace, his mercy, his glory, his integrity, his amazing characteristics.
6:13
Those people see Jesus and they are soaked in who he is. And no doubt,
6:19
it is easier for them to understand than someone who hasn't had that opportunity.
6:27
This verse in Acts 16 31 should be more than enough for each of us who have
6:34
given our lives to Jesus Christ to live godly.
6:38
It is the foundational verse for the results and the the fruit of living godly.
6:44
Although each person has to personally make the decision to receive Jesus as
6:49
their Savior, the likelihood of it happening greatly increases if those around
6:54
them are truly modeling who Jesus is.
6:58
You knew what drew you to Jesus. It was his love and his mercy and his grace.
7:04
The Bible says in 1 John 4 19, we love him because he first loved us.
7:10
You have a first account, a front row seat, if you will,
7:17
of who Jesus is and what the miraculous power of Jesus in you does for you.
7:26
And so you have to live out the truth of who Jesus is in your life.
7:34
So that as you're living out your faith, people are seeing Jesus in you,
7:38
and this Jesus they see in you draws them to make that same decision.
7:43
If we demonstrate the love of God in our lives and we make Jesus real to those
7:49
around us, then they too may fall in love with Jesus.
7:54
How compelling is your life about the love of Jesus? Jesus, how clearly is Jesus seen in you?
8:05
Are his characteristics readily portrayed in your everyday activities?
8:11
It makes a difference, people. I'm always completely confused and somewhat dazed
8:20
when people tell me that they just don't understand how to witness to others.
8:25
It's just a mystery to them. This same person can passionately and enthusiastically
8:31
tell you all about their greatest vacation in such a way that every one of us go and book it.
8:38
But really struggle telling you about Jesus.
8:44
Friends, we need to talk to God about that.
8:47
Because we should be as passionately inspired and enthusiastically invigorated
8:55
to tell someone about Jesus even more so than about our greatest vacation,
9:01
or our most wonderful accomplishment.
9:04
All you have to do is speak about the difference that Jesus has made in your
9:08
life, and that will show them who God is.
9:14
But it's important that those around you have a clear understanding of who God is.
9:20
Because the amazing love of Jesus that's revealed to them has this incredible
9:26
drawing power because of the Holy Spirit that is in you.
9:30
And he will extend, the Holy Spirit will extend to them that same invitation.
9:35
And that's what Paul meant when he said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
9:40
thou shalt be saved in thy house.
9:41
You can't keep it to yourself your
9:46
life is the most convincing version of
9:49
the wonder-working power of Jesus than anybody around you will ever see living
9:55
your faith and walking your faith and demonstrating your faith they are all
9:58
powerful parts of your testimony fact in revelations 12 11 it says you've overcome
10:06
by the blood of your testimony testimony.
10:10
See, you need to walk in a way so that your life is a billboard that speaks that Jesus is alive.
10:20
That screams that he is real, that embodies that he loves everyone.
10:28
If you want others to come to know Jesus as their Savior, demonstrate him in your life.
10:35
In Daniel chapter 6, we're going to walk through these scriptures and see a
10:41
true living billboard for who Jesus is.
10:46
Daniel is a devout man of God, and he loves him, and he lives out his faith.
10:55
And he had found favor in King Darius and was set over the kingdom and 120 princes,
11:02
which should be over all the whole kingdom.
11:05
And over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might
11:10
give account to them and that the king should have no damage.
11:13
So as we're reading through the first verses in Daniel chapter 6,
11:18
what we're seeing is Daniel had a job, and that job reported straight to the
11:24
king. He had great authority.
11:27
And Daniel was preferred above all the presidents and the princes because he
11:32
had an excellent spirit within him. He had a great attitude.
11:36
There was a goodness about Daniel. There was a joy about Daniel.
11:40
There was integrity within Daniel.
11:43
See, that's what happens when we are following Jesus Christ and doing what he asked us to do.
11:49
And so the king thought to send him over all the whole realm.
11:54
And so those presidents and those princes that had been colleagues of Daniel's,
11:59
they were trying to find some way that they could trap him up something that
12:05
he was doing wrong that they could report to the king so he would lose favor
12:10
there was jealousy at work in this event,
12:15
but see here's what we hear in verse 4 he says but they could not find none
12:20
occasion or fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him,
12:28
When we are following the Lord, our intent is to do the right thing,
12:32
and he enables us to do that.
12:34
Now, we often are not perfect at it, but we have 1 John 1, 9 that says,
12:39
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to give us, to cleanse us from
12:44
our sins and to forgive us.
12:48
As Christians, we are to be the best at our job that we can be. We need to be prompt.
12:54
We need to be setting the example because we should do all of our work as unto
12:58
God and not unto men, we are told in the scriptures.
13:01
And so these individuals saw that there was nothing they could find fault in Daniel.
13:07
And then they realized, well, there's one thing we can do. In verse 5, they say,
13:11
The thing that they knew that would trap Daniel was if they put Daniel in a
13:23
situation where he had to choose between God and the king.
13:29
If he had to choose between doing right and following the precepts of God or
13:34
following after flesh or taking care of himself or putting anything else in front of God,
13:41
they knew that Daniel would choose God.
13:46
These are people who didn't like Daniel. These are people who didn't want to
13:51
know anything good about Daniel, yet they couldn't find anything bad about him.
13:55
This is the life we must strive to live.
13:58
And maybe up until this point in your life, you haven't lived that way.
14:01
But my friend, you still have time because today's a new day and he's still
14:06
in the forgiving business and he'll set your feet on a solid rock and through
14:10
the help of the Holy Spirit, you can walk in his ways.
14:14
And perhaps all of us at this moment should draw a little closer to Jesus because
14:19
if we draw an eye unto him, he'll draw an eye unto us and we need to follow
14:23
closely in his footsteps,
14:25
hear him when he whispers and be a walking billboard of who he is.
14:29
And this is what Daniel Daniel shows us in Daniel chapter 6.
14:33
So once those presidents and princes got together and figured the only thing
14:38
they could do was get him to have to choose by his God.
14:43
Then they decided to deceive the king. I believe the king had a bit of a pride problem.
14:50
So I believe that the people around him knew that as well.
14:53
And they knew if they could just get him thinking about himself,
14:56
if they could just show him part of the picture and he didn't think it all the
15:00
way through, that they could probably get him to cause problems for Daniel. And thus they did.
15:06
So the princes and the presidents and the kingdoms and the government, all those people,
15:11
they consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree
15:15
that whosoever should ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days, save of the old king,
15:22
he should be cast into the den of lions.
15:25
They knew Daniel's life. They knew what Daniel was committed to,
15:30
and they knew that Daniel was not going to serve another God.
15:34
But they appealed to to the king to establish this decree and to sign it in
15:39
writing that it not be changed.
15:42
So in verse 9, we see that King Darius signs the writing and the decree.
15:47
They were feeding his pride. They were feeding his ego.
15:53
And it truly gets the best of him because it causes him to hurt someone he loves.
15:59
In verse 10, we see a very, very important statement. It says,
16:04
now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed.
16:07
Daniel understood that if you prayed for 30 days to any god except King Darius,
16:14
that you'd be thrown and cast into the lion's den.
16:19
When he knew the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows
16:24
being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem.
16:27
He didn't even change how he did it.
16:29
He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before.
16:34
His God, and he did a four-time.
16:37
Then these men assembled. They were waiting. They knew. They knew this was how
16:42
they were going to get Daniel.
16:44
And they found Daniel praying, making supplication before his God.
16:49
When's the last time someone walked upon you pouring your heart out to the Lord?
16:56
They knew about these three times a day that Daniel did.
17:00
They knew about the devotion Daniel had to his God. They knew he was not going to back down.
17:07
His witness for who God was to him was evident and widely known.
17:15
And so then they came near and they spake before the king and reminded him that
17:20
he had signed this decree.
17:22
And the king answered and said, that's true.
17:27
And they reminded him that he couldn't take it back according to the law.
17:31
Then they said, in verse 13, Then answered they and said before the king that
17:37
Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah,
17:41
Begardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed,
17:44
but maketh his petition three times a day.
17:48
You know, pride goes before a fall, we're told in Scripture.
17:51
King Darius at this moment realizes that he's done wrong and he's going to hurt someone he loves.
17:58
So when he hears these words, he's very upset with himself.
18:03
And his heart was troubled. And he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him,
18:09
and he tried to figure out what he could do all day long, but he couldn't do anything.
18:14
There are places in our life that no one can help us but only God.
18:19
So these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king,
18:22
Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and the Persians is,
18:26
there's no decree or statute which the king establishes that can be changed.
18:31
Then the king, he commands that they bring Daniel to him, and he cast him into the den of lions.
18:38
But I want you to hear in Daniel chapter 6 verse 16 what the king says.
18:45
The king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
18:55
Here's King Darius. He knew who Daniel served, but listen to the term he uses,
19:02
whom thou servest continually.
19:06
Daniel was steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
19:12
Daniel was always about his father's business.
19:16
Daniel was devoted and faithful and filled with faith and loyal to the one true living God.
19:26
To the extent that everybody knew it and he was willing to die because of it.
19:35
How strong is your faith? If people are walking behind you, where would it lead them?
19:42
Would it lead them to the foot of the cross or to the bar down the street?
19:46
Would it lead them to reading God's word and feasting upon it?
19:52
Or would they find you had no time for that?
19:56
Would your person who was observing you observe joy and peace and happiness,
20:02
or would they observe worry and negativity?
20:05
The people who followed after Daniel knew how to get Daniel,
20:10
and they were going to use his faithfulness to God to do it.
20:14
And then what we see as we continue with this account is that the stone was
20:18
brought and it was laid upon the mouth of the den.
20:20
The king sealed it, and it couldn't be changed.
20:24
Verse 18, we see that the king goes into his palace and he passes the night fasting.
20:31
He's solemn. He's sad. There's no music. There's no party.
20:34
There's none of the great stuff that's brought to the king, the very king who
20:38
was so prideful that he had an entire kingdom praise him instead of the one
20:45
true living God, is now feeling anything but pride.
20:50
Pride goes before for that fall. We must humble ourselves under the mighty hand
20:55
of God that he may exalt us in due time.
20:58
So morning comes in verse 19.
21:01
The king rises very early in the morning and he goes in haste to the den of lions.
21:06
And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel.
21:11
And the king says to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God,
21:17
is thy God whom thou service continually, able to deliver thee from the lions.
21:25
Just a few verses earlier in verse
21:27
16, he says, Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
21:32
But Daniel knew about God because of Daniel's experience.
21:38
He didn't have his own personal experience with God in verse 16.
21:43
And so when he comes to verse 20, he's saying, Daniel, Daniel, are you there? there.
21:52
Daniel's witness told him who God was, but wasn't strong enough for him to truly believe.
21:57
He needed to see it. He needed to come to that conclusion on his own.
22:01
He needed his own personal revelation of who God was.
22:06
But it was Daniel's life that moved him in that direction.
22:10
It was Daniel's life that made him be acquainted with Jesus.
22:16
But it's his own experience here through through Daniel's faith,
22:19
that's going to make him know Jesus.
22:23
When he came to the den, he cried with that lamentable voice.
22:27
He says, Daniel, servant of the living God.
22:33
Daniel's life had painted that he was living God, that he was a strong and powerful
22:39
God, that he was a loving God and that he loved and was personally involved in Daniel's life.
23:13
Verse 21,
23:14
It was an opportunity to demonstrate his faith. And perhaps we need to look
23:19
at some obstacles and some events in our lives as opportunities to demonstrate
23:23
our faith and not obstacles to make us stumble.
23:27
For when your faith is as strong as a mustard seed, you can move mountains.
23:32
When your faith is as strong as Daniel, you can go through the trials of this
23:37
world and the angel will come and shut the mouths of lions.
23:43
That you must live your life demonstrating who God is, walking hand in hand with Jesus,
23:51
listening to him when he whispers, following his commands, and loving him above
23:57
all else with your whole mind, heart, and strength.
24:02
Daniel's rescued, and everybody can see it. But Daniel's demonstration of faith
24:10
started way before there was a decree that he couldn't do it.
24:17
But it continued through the decree.
24:20
It continued through the distress.
24:23
It continued through the event.
24:27
Daniel lived his faith. Daniel believed in his God.
24:32
And everyone could see it. People were talking about it. The king is speaking
24:36
of his God as a living God, and he knows that statues aren't living God.
24:41
He knows he's not powerful.
24:44
But everybody's talking about Daniel and his life.
24:47
When the angel shuts the mouths of the lions, and he's not hurt,
24:53
the king is now seeing the power of God for himself.
24:57
See, sometimes we go through things so that somebody else can see Jesus.
25:01
Sometimes we have a trial or a problem so that somebody else grows closer to Jesus.
25:07
It's not always about us. It's not always because we've done something wrong.
25:11
It's not always because he wants to teach us a lesson.
25:14
Sometimes he wants us to be a blessing for someone else, and they need to come
25:19
to see Jesus while they watch you walk through the fire.
25:24
But when you come through the fire, you'll have no smell of smoke.
25:27
Oak when you come out of the lion's den as he asked them to pull him out of
25:32
the lion's den and he's exceedingly happy.
25:37
So Daniel's taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt is found upon him
25:41
because he believed in his God.
25:44
Everybody can see it. Daniel's shouting it. Daniel's saying,
25:48
hey, I'm okay. Don't worry about it, king.
25:50
He's not even yelling at the king for throwing him into the den.
25:53
Nowhere in this account does Daniel fight the king because the king put him in the den.
25:59
No, because Daniel knew it was Jesus. It was God.
26:03
It was the Holy Spirit. It was the Trinity, all three in one,
26:06
who had landed him in the lion's den.
26:08
It wasn't Daniel's problem. It was now in the hands of Jesus,
26:12
of God, and of the Holy Spirit.
26:14
He wasn't alone in the lion's den because God said he'd never leave us nor forsake us.
26:20
Jesus is there. The Holy Spirit is there.
26:23
God is there. And the lions are helpless.
26:27
Daniel doesn't even seem upset when he comes up.
26:30
Daniel says when he yells at him old king live forever not old king you dirty
26:37
rotten scoundrel I can't believe you did this to me I can't wait till you get
26:40
your comeuppance there's none of that in there because Daniel doesn't respond
26:45
fleshly because Daniel walks in spiritual places,
26:51
Daniel has his affection set on things above and not on things of the earth
26:55
Daniel walks by the faith in the Spirit of God.
27:01
And here's what happens when you do that, my friend. The king commands,
27:06
and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and he takes care of them.
27:10
But Daniel doesn't ask him to.
27:12
Vengeance is mine, thus saith the Lord.
27:15
Then in verse 25, King Darius writes to all the people, all the nations,
27:19
all the languages that dwell on the earth.
27:21
And he says, peace be multiplied unto you. It went beyond the kingdom.
27:27
Daniel's witness, Daniel's influence, Daniel's impact was beyond the kingdom
27:34
he was sitting in because faith has no limit.
27:38
God has no boundaries. boundaries, and when you are doing something for Jesus
27:43
Christ, he will take it and multiply it.
27:46
He will bury it, and he will push it down and press it out a hundredfold.
27:52
All you got to do is follow. All you need to do is walk in his ways,
27:57
and look at the impact that Daniel has,
28:01
on Darius's life, which is in turn impacts all the nations in that letter. He says.
28:26
God is a living God. God, Darius speaks it with conviction, with authority, and personally.
28:39
Because through the faith of Daniel, that started long before he ever met Darius,
28:46
Darius come to know Jesus personally.
28:50
Because the witness of Daniel put Darius in front of Jesus. Jesus,
28:56
where does your witness lead others?
29:03
And you can't out give God.
29:06
Because listen to what happens to Daniel just after Darius, who didn't know
29:15
God in the beginning of our account,
29:18
now has a personal relationship with God and describes him this way.
29:24
He delivereth and rescueth.
29:28
And he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered
29:32
Daniel from the power of the lion.
29:36
If Daniel had never been in the lion's den, Darius may have never seen the power of God.
29:44
Daniel may have never known the mighty miracle God had done for him.
29:51
That trial you're going through, I'm sure it's yucky.
29:56
And I'm sure you didn't sign up for it. But it may not be about you at all.
30:00
But how you respond to it how you
30:04
live through it how you faith your way
30:07
through it that's all about you and it says everything about your relationship
30:12
with Jesus you cannot give him verse 28 says so that Daniel prospered in the
30:19
reign of Darius not just in the reign of Darius but also in the reign of Sirius, the Persian.
30:27
Daniel found favor in God's eye because of the wonderful attitude and disposition
30:33
he had and his faithfulness to God, which was what caused him to have such a faithful, beautiful,
30:42
good disposition.
30:45
But because of his faithfulness, because of his godly witness,
30:50
greatness Darius came to the Lord with his own personal confession because Daniel
30:59
placed Darius at the feet of Jesus through the life he lived.
31:07
Today's a new day. You can be more for him than you've ever been before.
31:12
You can allow him to blot out your sins as far as the east is from the west.
31:18
And he will forgive you if you ask.
31:23
And he will bless you if you follow. Remember, you are loved.
31:29
Jesus loves you.
31:33
Music.
31:39
Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
31:44
quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
31:47
We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
31:51
our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
31:54
You can find our app by searching for A Woman at the Well Ministries in your
31:58
app store or through our website at watwm.org.
32:02
We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash watwm. If you visit our website,
32:08
you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits, a daily devotion written by Kim and
32:12
delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
32:15
Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
32:20
And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
32:25
To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
32:30
Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song,
32:34
Happy Girl. We greatly appreciate your prayers.
32:37
We are praying daily for our listeners.
32:40
Remember that God loves you. You are loved.
32:44
Music.