Can I get a Witness

It has been good to be in the house of the Lord thus far

I’m thankful for what God has done in this service already

I want to say thank you to all my family that has traveled to support me…

Also my church family…

I want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to preach

I am humbled and definitely count this a great honor to be able to share what the Lord has laid on my heart

If you have your Bible you can be turning to Psalm 145

Psalm 145 and verse 2 is where we will start

I do want to give honor to our pastors.. I believe that we have The Best pastors, amen church?

I am thankful for the role that our pastor have played in my life getting me to this point and then also mentoring me through this time of learning about the ministry

I have so enjoyed the Sunday School class that Pastor Webb has been teaching

The teaching has been excellent and i'm just trying to soak it up and glean as much as I can as a young minister

CAN I GET A WITNESS

If you have your bible open to psalm 145 please stand for the reverence of the reading of the word of the lord

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭145‬:‭2‬..3‬.. ‭5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

2 “Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.

How many know we serve a great God, Amen?

4 “One generation shall praise thy works to another, And shall declare thy mighty acts.”

5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, And of thy wondrous works.”

Let's read verse 5 one more time

5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, And of thy wondrous works.”

Im sure this has been preached before but this is just the way the Lord gave it to me

I want to preach tonight on CAN I GET A WITNESS? CAN I… GET A WITNESS?

Would you stretch your hand this way and ask the Lord to help us and speak to us tonight.

OPENING

In my study of this 145th Psalm I found that this is the last of the Psalms of David within the book of Psalms in our Bible

This particular Psalm has been titled “David's Psalm of Praise”.

For context this Psalm was written when David was an older king in Israel just before he gives the reins over to his son’ Solomon, that is to take his place as the king

I can see in my minds eye David, that old king, setting on his throne.. in his kingly robes having every comfort a king could want

I can see him thinking back over his life and how God delivered him out of the hands of his enemies time and time again

And he starts thinking of how he's never seen the righteous forsaken

And he starts thinking about how God led him through the valley of the shadow and beside the still waters

And he starts thinking about how He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay

And I can see as a tear drips off his chin as he says bring me that old harp

The same harp, he used to play when he was out in the field with his sheep

The same harp he used to soothe the nerves of king Saul

And I can see him reach out and grab that harp as he says

Gods been too faithful for me to just sit here on my throne

Gods been too good for me to not give him one more praise

And David proceeded to write the words that read earlier…

2 “Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.

4 “One generation shall praise thy works to another, And shall declare thy mighty acts.”

5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, And of thy wondrous works.”

David here towards the end of his life is saying.. I have witnessed what God can do and I won't be silenced. I'm gonna speak of his glorious honor and His wondrous works no matter where I am.. No matter who's listening.. No matter who disagrees.. I am witness of God's great power and I will give him praise he deserves. Amen?

I just feel tonight that there are some Witnesses here like David that would say he's been too good for me to stay silent… he's been too good for me to not give him the best praise I can give him.

Here we are in this time of Thanksgiving when we are celebrating what a mighty God we serve and how much that he has abundantly blessed us I believe this would be a Good service to forget about everything else that’s going on in the world and lift our hands to heaven and say God I am a witness of your great power.. I'm a witness of your great love and I am Thankful for all that you've done for me.

I want to be a witness tonight, amen?

SECTION 1

I read a story recently about Cornelia Arnolda Johanna ten Boom or Corrie ten Boom as most of us know her. She was a Dutch watchmaker who worked with her father, her sister, and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II. They were caught, and she was arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. And We all know what terrible inhumane things that she and her family suffered there.

But She was approached later in life and they said

“Corrie.. what great faith you have” and she just shook her head and replied “No… what a great God I have”

“What a great.. God I have” Amen?

You see even with all the atrocities that she experienced she was still a witness… She was a witness that our God is good. Even at her darkest times she still placed her complete trust in the one who died for her.

Im sure in crowd of this size there are some that feel like your in a low place like Corrie Ten Boom experienced

Im sure some of us may feel trapped in a prison cell may be a prison cell of your mind

But I want to tell you tonight no matter what state you’re in you can still be a witness of the goodness of God

You can still be witness of where he's brought you from

You might be in the Valley but our God is still worthy

You might feel like you're fighting for your life but God hasn’t changed

Everyone of us can testify that God's been good even at our lowest point..

Even in our darkest valley..

God is still good, Amen?!

Another story that comes to mind when talking about prisons and being trapped can be found in Acts chapter 16

We read about Paul and Silas and how they were thrown into a prison

The Bible even calls it an inner prison

From my research I found that this is a part of the prison that was as far from light and air as it could be

This was a truly dark place

But we all know that story.. Amen .. of how in the midnight hour they began to sing unto the Lord

And the place was Shaken….

They didn’t let the prison take their praise

They didn't let the shackles take their shout

They had every reason in the world to be down and depressed but they decided to praise their way out

They decided to be a witness and they started singing and praising and the chains were broken and the prison walls shaken and both men were released from their bondage

And if that’s where you’re at tonight.. you feel like you're in an Inner Prison

I want to encourage you to remember back to all the things he’s done

Remember back to some of the old songs of praise that got you through

Like Victory in Jesus my savior forever

Like power power wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb

Or maybe he set me free yes he set me free he broke the bonds of prison for me

Aww.. those lyrics have a different meaning when your in the prison

When you’re bound up

Just remember, friend, even in our darkest times we can still be a witness of his wondrous works

I believe there are some folks that could praise their way out tonight, amen?

Do I have any witnesses in the house that can say even in the valley God is good?

Amen.

SECTION 2

How many’s heard the term Eye witness?

Eyewitness. We’ve all heard it

There’s only one stipulation for you to be an eyewitness.. you had to have seen it with your eyes, amen?

You have to have seen something or witnessed it with your own .. eyes

I'll tell you a quick story that happened to me here at the church - story about Eagle in backyard

I didn't know what to do

I looked around for a flag so i could start saying the pledge of allegiance

But I couldn't believe what I had witnessed

You can argue with me after church and you can say oh You didn't see an EagleI.. It could have been this or it could have been that.. But you didn't see what I saw with my own two eyes.. You didn't experience what I experienced.. You didn't witness what I witnessed

And I know there’s some church folks here that have seen God do some pretty amazing things in your life… you've seen God do things in your family that you can't explain… You've seen him turn situations around that only He can

I know there's some church folks here that are witnesses of the power of God in your life.

Do I have any witnesses in the house tonight?

Do I have anybody in the house tonight that’s seen him move too many times for your family for you to stay silent?

We’ve see him do some amazing things right here in this church

I was there when God used brother JohnGabbard to pray over sis Dorris and she was healed of her infirmities

We've all seen one of the most amazing modern day miracles I've ever heard of with Bro Toro receiving sight in his eye that has the optical nerve severed

We've all heard the story of when they found spots on Sis Angie's lungs I believe but God turned that situation around. Hallelujah.

I was there when the Clayton’s brought little tanner up in front of the church with bladder issues, but God moved again.

So you’re way too late to tell me God ain’t moving

You’re way too late to tell me Gods not healing bodies anymore

You’re way too late to tell me that was only for the book of Acts church

I’ve seen it

I’ve seen it

I’m a witness

And I could go on and on all day about how God has moved in each one of our family’s

We’ve all got stories to tell

What I’m trying to tell you church is we can’t take these miraculous things that we’ve seen for granted

We’ve got to lift him up, church!

We've got to give him the honor that is due unto his name!

I believe we’ve got some witnesses in the house tonight that will say thank you Lord for your blessings upon us! Amen?

We’re all eyewitnesses, church…

If you’ve been in this church very long you’ve seen him move

You’ve seen the hand of God working in and around us and among us

See our text said.. Every day… will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name… for ever and ever.

I believe we need an every day praise on our lips, amen church?

Not just when the music is cranking and not just when the choir is singing or when Bro Titus is leading us in congregationals..

And those are great times worship don’t get me wrong those are some of the best times

But David said this a daily thing

He said daily I will be a witness of thy great and wondrous works

In Psalm 34 he said “I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Help us, Lord, to not get so self-sufficient and self-reliant that we forget to be a witness..

God help us to never forget that every good and perfect thing that we’ve got .. comes from above

Every bit of success that we have

Every job

Every car

Every house

Every hobby that we are able to enjoy

Every bit of food on our table

Every dollar in the bank

These are all the blessings of God, church.

Proverbs 10:22 says

The blessing of the LORD, … it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it

It’s the blessing of the Lord that we all have what we have

It’s not of our own selves

Without him where would we be, church?

None of us would be here except for the grace of God and his blessing upon us.

And I don't ever want fail to be a witness of his great blessings upon my life

Amen. Hallelujah.

SECTION 3

It’s one thing to see something with your eyes.. To be an eyewitness.. but There's nothing like experiencing something for yourself

I'll tell you another story about myself.. I was a young teenager, probably 12-13 range and I had never experienced a roller coaster.

Now my family had gone to Silver Dollar city there in Branson and if any of you have experienced it you know it's an enjoyable place to be.

I had never experienced a roller coaster

I had fear, fear of the unknown, fear of possible danger, fear of getting sick as I had seen others

But I watched as my family and friends rode the rides and the swings and the coasters and all the thrills and frills of the park and I thought man that looks like a good time

They're all having so much fun

Well a little bit of peer pressure goes along ways and they coerced onto a ride known as the Powder Keg

Now understand the Powder keg is not necessarily an entry level ride

This ride is known for its launch from 0 to 60 in around a second

I was nervous as I climbed in that seat and was putting on that harness but I had to experience it for myself

I was sick of just watching everyone else’s experience

I wanted that first hand experience, Amen?

The lights started counting down and I remember as they turned green I felt that g force slam me back into my seat

I began to scream and holler and as we took that first drop and rounded that first corner

And I felt that pure adrenaline rush through my veins

And as I opened my eyes to that theme park blowing by me at 60 plus miles an hour my emotions went from fear to pure joy

And for the rest of the day you couldn't drag me away from the rides

I wanted to do every single ride I could do

I was telling everybody how amazing and how much fun it was cause I had experienced it for myself

You couldn't wipe the smile off my face if you tried cause once I felt that my heart rate elevate, and felt that adrenaline rush through every fiber of my being, once I felt that pure joy and elation

I couldn't hide how I felt about it, you couldn’t keep me away from that thrill, I was telling everybody I could tell

And I know there's people in the house tonight that you have some experiences you need tell

You have some first hand experiences that you need to be a witness to

There's some folks that have known the goodness of God and have seen him move time and again

Can I get a witness in the house tonight?

Is there somebody that has some first hand experiences that you wont keep silent about?

Waffle….

I go back to our scripture where it said

2 “Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.

5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, And of thy wondrous works.”

And I believe tonight we have some witnesses that’ll say I will give him glory I will not be silenced, the rocks aren't gonna cry out for me, Gods been too good, I will give him all the glory and the honor He deserves

Can I get a witness in the House?!

CLOSING

Musicians and Singers that I've asked can be making their way to the platform

I want to point out one last thing about being a witness and we’ll try to have an altar

We’ll see what the Lord has in store for us…

The thing about being a witness…

Is that there is not a single person that can tell your story for you

Nobody knows your story like you know your story

In a court of law you can’t have someone take your place on the witness stand and tell your story for you

And I just want to tell somebody tonight that there’s not a person that knows what you’ve been through like you do…

There’s not one person that knows where God brought you from like you do, amen?

And it would be a shame tonight for you to leave this place without giving him the glory he deserves..

Because nobody can tell your story for you

Nobody can take your praise from you

Don't let the rocks cry out in our place

You can be a witness tonight of the goodness of God tonight

See I looked up the definition of the word Witness and one source read like this

: one who has personal knowledge or first hand experience of something

: one who has personal knowledge or first.. hand.. experience

And I believe tonight.. I'm preaching to some folks who have some personal knowledge of the goodness of God. Can I get a witness?

Im preaching to some folks that have some first hand experience with his unsearchable greatness, Can I get a witness?

I believe I’m preaching to some Folks who seen him move in your families

Folks who have seen him heal your bodies

Folks who have experienced the precious blood of Jesus and felt it wash away aaallllllll your sins

Folks who have experienced the amazing power of the sweet Holy Ghost

Can I get a witness?

Can I get a witness?

Folks who have seen him provide when you didn't have a dime

Folks that have seen put food on the table

Folks who have seen him come through when the bank account was at zero

Folks who have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread

Can I get a witness tonight?

If you can't keep quiet, if you can't stay silent here's your chance… Here's your chance!!

Is there a witness that’ll say I’m not gonna set in my seat

no rocks gonna cry out in my place

He’s been to good to me

He’s brought me a mighty long wayyy!!

Stand all over the house tonight

I’ll tell you what church he’s been good …

He’s been good

Can I get a witness that’ll say

he’s made a way out of no way

he’s always come through right on time

he’s never done me nothing but good

If he’s been good to you why don’t we lift our hands and come up around these altars and give him the best praise of thanksgiving you can give Him

On this Thanksgiving service I believe he's worthy of the highest praise