A pastor, recently graduated from seminary, gave his first sermon to the congregation. It was an inspiring sermon about how Christians should help the homeless. After the sermon, the congregation agreed that it was a wonderful message. Nevertheless, the following week, he gave the exact same sermon. The elders wondered, “Perhaps, the pastor’s inexperience didn’t give him time to prepare another sermon?” When the pastor gave the same sermon on the third week, the elders called an emergency meeting to ask him if he had any other messages. “Certainly,” he answered, “I have a whole file of sermons. I was just waiting for the congregation to act on the homeless one first, to SHOW and TELL that they understood my message.”
If you are like most children, you probably looked forward to SHOW and TELL time in grade school. Why did we get so excited about this event? Because it was an opportunity to reveal to someone else something we possessed. When we would show, we demonstrated how that something worked. When we would tell, we used our voice to explain what we just demonstrated.
Jesus practiced and believed in SHOW and TELL. He not only demonstrated that He loved us but also voiced His confession of love for us. According to Genesis 1:27, God created us in His image and likeness. If Jesus practiced SHOW and TELL, then He created man and woman to be SHOW and TELL beings. The Bible says, “…greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” (I John 4:4) The word, “Christ” means the anointed one. When you said, “yes” to Christ, the anointed one, His anointing came to live in you. Therefore, you are overflowing with the anointing because you are a Christian. As such, you are Jesus’ hands, feet and mouth to go and SHOW and TELL others about Him.
Jesus said very clearly in John 14:12 that the works He did would you do also, and even GREATER works would you do. According to the New Testament, among Jesus’ mighty works was showing and telling people that “He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).” As believers, we can take God at His word, i.e., we can show and tell even greater works than Jesus showed and told.
What is your sign? I’m not talking about astrology, which is forbidden by God, rather I’m talking about signs, which locate and direct. Mark 16:17 lists the signs of believers. Included among them is healing the sick, yet, we do not follow after signs, but signs follow after us. These signs are to SHOW and TELL people about Jesus, that salvation is only found in His name.
If I were traveling from Houston to Austin and saw a sign that read, “Brownsville: 2 miles,” I would immediately know from the sign that I needed to change direction and go north. As believers, we must walk by faith and not by sight, but we must never despise the signs in our lives. Signs will show and tell us whether we are traveling in the right direction..
Matthew 11:1-6 tells of a well-known man named John the Baptist being imprisoned for rebuking King Herod’s sin. John had been well aware of his role as the forerunner of Jesus. Had he not said in John 1:23, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord?” But because of his situation, he began to question his ordained ministry and calling. Furthermore, he even began to doubt whether Jesus was the Messiah. For assurance, John sent forth two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah or should he, John, look for another.
Jesus replied in this fashion (Matthew 11:4), “Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see.” Why did Jesus want to remind them about what they had been shown and told to convince John? These were show and tell signs, “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Matthew 11:5) These signs confirmed to John the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah.
Have you ever questioned the Lord? Look for His signs. What testimonies have you heard and what changed lives have you seen? Take an inventory today and allow such signs to locate and direct where you are going. As a believer, you are called to be a SHOW and TELL Christian. Like Jesus promised, Go and do the works that He did – SHOW and TELL.
Matt Woodfill is the Senior Pastor of The Woodlands Christian Center, 24418 Interstate 45 North, Spring, TX 77386. Service times are: Sunday, 9:00 a.m. and 11:00a.m. You may contact the church at (281) 681-8922 or info@thewoodlandscc.org. Visit the church’s website at www.thewoodlandscc.org. Watch Pastor Matt on The Way TV every Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on ION TV.
