The Thief Who Testified on the Cross - GOD Can Use You Even in Your Mess | John Giftah

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, in Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:45 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Welcome to this edition of the Fuel for the Soul with John gift of podcast. As you would have noticed that we're doing a series of this week studying about the two Thieves on the Cross and their encounter with Jesus, because I really believe in going in depth, just rushing through, and I want to look at different aspects that we can really dive in and apply in our life. And I really recommend you to stay plugged in. I also want you to go back to yesterday's episode to learn more.

1:11 Speaker 2: But there's one important aspect I wanted to recentrate and just take this forward. It's just that sometimes we think that one was a good thief and the other was a bad thief. But I was actually sitting the ground right to let you know yesterday through the scripture that both the thieves started the same way. Both of them ridiculed and mocked Jesus, which resembles the fact that we are all sinners. We can't say that, oh, I'm not a big sinner, you know, compared to somebody else who's murdered someone or something like that.

1:39 Speaker 2: No, we all have the same starting point, and we all need Jesus to come back to the frame. And you're the thing today. I want to talk about one aspect right that really caught my attention. I think you might know this, but I just want to put this out there. So there's this moment where one of the criminals hanging beside Jesus score saying, if you're the Messiah, right, prove it by seeing yourself and save us while you're at it. Okay, I'm reading from the NLT version and this is from Luke twenty three thirty nine to forty three.

2:12 Speaker 2: And here's the thing I wanted to understand the other criminal protest is saying, don't you fear God even when you've been sentenced to die. We deserve to die for our crimes. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. There's so much to unpack, so much to learn. The next couple of days we're going to learn as well, because I told you guys yesterday, I'm going to be a ministering in two churches this Good Friday on the same theme. So I'm studying and I think there's so much to unpack and I just want to share these with you guys.

2:45 Speaker 2: And today one of the things that caught my attention was when you think about Jesus hanging on the cross, there's so many things that he said, right, you know, he said, I'm thirsty. It has finished. Father, forgive them for the do not know what they do. Different things Jesus said. And the only thing that you see here is a moment where Jesus is responding to someone at a point where this man who's hanging on a cross was testifying about Jesus. He was actually preaching about Jesus. Think about this.

3:17 Speaker 2: No one else, none of their disciples were out there telling everyone a guys, you know what, this man has done nothing wrong. They were all in hiding except for John. The Apostle trust were all hiding, and except for a handful like Mary and a few others, everyone else was absconding. Right, Nobody else spoke up for Jesus except this criminal who was just transformed. Because I said, like yesterday, he was also one among the grayang that was, you know, mocking Jesus. Okay, I want you to go back to a Siday's episode so understand the context of it.

3:53 Speaker 2: But he transforms, you know, while hanging on the cross, to a point where he is actually preaching or testifying or witnessing for who Jesus is by saying, this man has done nothing wrong. You know, Like he doesn't even start by saying Jesus please save me. He first, you know, testifies about Jesus and then he says, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Right, he is witnessing, he's testifying for Jesus. You see, if a criminal like you just got saved, he's not gone to seminary, he's not gone through training, he's not grown in the church.

4:34 Speaker 2: He's not learned anything. But a criminal who just got saved is witnessing for Jesus. Sometimes we say, oh, you know what, you need to do theology, you need to do seminary, you need to do this, you need to do that to be qualified to talk about Jesus. Who are you? Can I tell you something If a criminal who just got saved was testifying about Jesus and defending Jesus and opening his mouth and talking about Jesus, when the people who were with Jesus throughout, like John the Apostle Mary, none of these people opening their mount and testified or said anything to you know, Oh, come on, Jesus, did nothing wrong?

5:15 Speaker 2: Come on, like do something, guys or I mean like they were just watching helplessly. No one else opened them out to testify. But this criminal, this robber, this rebel, this revolutionary, this guy who just got saved did it. Isn't that a message to all of us that if God can use a just saved criminal to testify at the point when no one else, who even the people who walked with Jesus for the past three and of years, dared to open them out, then can you imagine to what extent God can use you. And I I'm not saying don't go to seminary.

5:57 Speaker 2: I'm not saying don't be equipped. What I'm saying thing is you don't have to have that as a criteria for God to use you. God can use you if you're willing, if you are willing to defend, stand up for the truth, if you're willing to stand up to say you know what, this is all I know about Jesus. I may not know the theology. I may not know all the background in history and Greek and Hebrew. I may don't know all of that, but this is what I know. And I'm defending, and I'm standing up and I'm testifying about Jesus.

6:26 Speaker 2: That's what matters. This man did that, and then he went and he said, Jesus, remember me, Like, think about this. If you and I were in the position first thing, it'll be like you don't forget defending Jesus first. Jesus, please help me. You know, we'd like to get something first. But this man testified, he spoke up up, he defended Jesus. And then he says, Jesus, remember me. Isn't that a message to some of us that we need to stop being all about what can I get, what can I get? What can I get, and first be interested in doing something like Holly could do, is do that testify.

7:10 Speaker 2: He could have kept his mouth shut, but he didn't. And that is something really really worthwhile to think about because I believe he used one of the very few people who testified or witnessed for Jesus while Jesus was on the cross itself. And that and eventually he's the first to actually get into the getting getting saved when Jesus actually finished the work on the cross that day. So that's off to this man, and let us be like him in the sense, not like a criminal. Just kidding, I'm saying, let's feel like people who are willing to say even if I'm in a mess.

7:48 Speaker 2: This man was in a mess, you know. He people would typically say, you are a criminal, you are not fit to talk about Jesus. You look at your mess, you look at your problems. There is something if you say, let me my problem is, let my miss chrissolve and then I talk about Jesus, then well to go to heaven and talk about Jesus. So the best lesson to share is that even if you're in a mess. Even if things are messy today's today, God has given you to just use it to talk about Jesus. Amen. God bless you.

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