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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Ready Hearts, Ready Lives

We want to be able to acknowledge him even once more as we continue.

Father in heaven, we just want to ask that you would now manifest yourself through your holy word.

You've done so through music, through baptism, through praise.

And now Lord, show yourself through the written word as it's spoken and heard may do a good work in us.

A couple of weeks ago, and I know there's Pathfinders here who are basketball fans, and I'm sure some adults are too.

A couple of weeks ago, a man by LeBron James that I would venture to say most of us if not all of us have heard the name before LeBron James surpassed 40, 000 40, 000 points in his NBA career.

All right, fellas, how many points is a basket, a regular basket?

You know, even the adults answer that question.

And it solidified his place in the NBA record books.

He will be remembered for this milestone.

And for those who watch the game, what was the layup?

A layup that made him reach the 40, 000 point mark.

He tied it, and then it was another layup that surpassed 40, 002.

And when that took place, oh man, oh man, when LeBron James reached that history-making number, On that day, inside that stadium, 18, 649 LA fans jumped up to their feet because they had just witnessed something spectacular.

You know, being a witness of LeBron James feats, It's nothing new.

He's been doing this throughout his career.

People have witnessed him do amazing things.

So for that reason, it is no surprise that In 2007, all right, nearly 14 years ago, some of you weren't even born or you were just born, 14 years ago, well, Nike rolled out with this Witness marketing campaign.

You probably have seen the billboards yourself.

In fact, I've seen t-shirts, I've seen caps with the word witness.

And since then, Nike continues to claim that we are and always have been witnesses to LeBron James and I quote never-ending greatness.

And when you consider that basketball, the game of the sport of basketball is watched around the world by 2.2 billion people, yes, Nike got it right.

Many are witnesses or spectators of LeBron James greatness.

Yet there is 1, there's really 1 who alone has ever or never-ending greatness.

The book of Psalms makes this declaration.

It says, and let's read it together, shall we, in 1 voice, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

And this theme is repeated throughout the Scriptures.

It's found in both the Old and New Testament.

And I can't help but to realize that Isaiah in the Old Testament, he said it.

The prophet, He said, you are my witnesses.

Witnesses of the great 1, The greatest 1, the 1 who alone has greatness that is unsearchable.

Isaiah, prophet of old, has been saying that we are witnesses from the very beginning, millenniums ago.

And then Jesus in the New Testament, He carries that theme right into his teachings, because Jesus now himself said more than once, you shall be my witnesses.

And so, sorry Nike, the scriptures called it first.

And the world, the world is ready to witness the 1 that many do not know.

Because the word Witness, the word witness was merely defined as 1 who is a spectator, which in LeBron James' case, millions of spectators are witnesses.

And That's the default concept we have of being witnesses.

But I'm going to break it to you that if the word witness, as used in the Bible, if the word witness is merely defined as 1 who is a spectator, Then it would be easy, and I emphasize the word easy, for many in this context to declare themselves witnesses for Christ.

You don't have to assume any responsibilities.

In fact, you can remain in your comfort zone.

If we take the definition and the cultural definition of the word witness, we're spectators.

You know, you remain in your comfort zone.

There's less effort and commitment when you're just spectating.

You can avoid the possibility of failure.

In fact, it's easy to be lost in the crowd of spectators.

So let me offer you, shall we say, a more demanding definition or meaning for the word witness.

For those who may not know, the Living Hope Pathfinder Club, they're messengers.

And the word messenger, messenger, implies certain things.

The word messenger implies that you've got something to say.

Well, you've got to go say, you've got to go deliver a message of something you witnessed.

Someone has witnessed something happen and now they're going to go deliver the message of what they saw.

So in essence, messengers has a subtitle or sub meaning of witness, witnesses.

So I'm going to give you a more demanding definition, Pathfinders.

You see, it's a higher calling, much higher than just spectating.

In Acts 1, verse 8, we read the words, and you shall be my what?

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Ready Hearts, Ready Lives

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