WE SHALL BE WITNESSES 

ACTS 1:4-8; LUKE 24:46-49 

          In the two passages we just read Jesus addresses His disciples after His resurrection.  The focus in both of these passages is on the disciples being witnesses for Christ and preaching the Gospel to the world.  Today I want to talk about 5 P’s associated with witnessing.

1.     Passion  - ACTS 4:18-20

Peter and John were commanded not to speak of or teach in the name of Jesus.  But they responded, “We can’t help ourselves”.  We must tell of the things we have seen and heard.  God wants every Christian to have a heart for the lost.  But the passion that drives one to witness is a love for Christ and the excitement of what he has done in your life.  It was love that drove Christ to lay down His life for us; His love for God and His love for us.  God Sent Christ because of His love.  Christ came because of His love and in John 20:21 Jesus says ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’.  We are to go in love and because of Love.  God is separated from the masses who He loves.  Our love for God should motivate us to do whatever is necessary to reunite God with His love ones.

I COR. 9:19-23

          In this passage Paul describes his passion for reaching the lost.  He was willing to become a slave to everyone in order to share his love for Christ and to witness to the lost.  He adjusted to whatever circumstances he was presented with in order to share the gospel, but he did not compromise what was true or right.  He like Paul must be willing to make personal sacrifices in order to share the Gospel. Our passion for God and our excitement over His workings in our lives must actively move us to making whatever sacrifices are necessary in order to share the gospel.  (Matthew 28:19 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  An accurate translation of this verse is ‘as you are going, make disciples’.  As we go about our days activities, let our passion for God be seen; talk of the wonders of God in our lives, so that others will be drawn to seek after God.

2.     Prayer – John 15:5

Witnessing does not require intense training or extensive Bible knowledge.  Witnessing is a supernatural work.  Without the leading of God we can not be effective witnesses.  Prayer connects us with the supernatural power of God.  I Cor. 12:3 says that no one can say that Jesus is the Lord except it be by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.  No matter how good you are at witnessing and how much you know about the scriptures and God, it takes the move of the Holy Spirit in the situation for effective witnessing to occur.  We need the Spirit of God to tell us who to witness to when, what to say and not say and where to go or not go.  We need His guidance every step of the way.  This guidance will only come through a prayer relationship with God.

3.     Partnership – I Cor. 3:5-9

All work that we do for God involves being in partnership with Him.   Jesus told His disciples in the Great Commission to witness, “I am with you always”.  He is with us through the Spirit of God who is present with the believer.  In John 16:7-8 Jesus told his disciples ‘Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.’  The Spirit of God is in partnership with us in witnessing.  It is His responsibility to convict people of their sin.  Our part in the partnership is to be a conduit through which He speaks to the world.  In other words, we are the tools that the Holy Spirit wants to use to fix a dieing world and restore its members back to life.  Each believer is to be a tool in the hand of the Spirit and each tool has its own special use.  In order to be effective witnesses we can not be like Moses in Exodus chapters 3 and 4 and offer God excuses for why we are the wrong tool.  Moses overlooked one thing, the fact that God promised to be with him in Ex. 3:12.  Working for God is a partnership.  A good partnership requires consistency, responsibility and dependability.  We know that we have these things in God; the question is ‘can God count on us to uphold our part of the partnership.  We are workers together with Him.  If we do our part (planting, watering, fertilizing, etc) He is sure to do His part and bring about an increase.

4.     Preparation – I PETER 3:15

Learning to share Jesus means being prepared to respond to witnessing opportunities with those who are lost.  Being prepared to witness will not necessarily relieve the fear associated with witnessing.  However because we are called to witness, we can not let fear dictate our choice of obedience.  There is nothing that Satan wants more than to cause us to be silent when God is working in the life of a lost person.  Regardless of what is prompting our fear, we must trust God to work it out, and then we must act in obedience and speak out for God.  Witnessing is more about obedience, than measuring success by results.  Learning to witness is more about learning to trust God and obey Him than it is about improving you skills or learning the right methods.  Guess what?  Successful witnessing occurs the moment you are obedient and began to share.  Failure is not possible when you are faithful to the command to share the gospel.  As Christians we should always be ready to share our personal journey towards the salvation experience.  This can be done in as little as 3 minutes.  One minute on what your life was like before you met Christ.  One minute on how you came to meet Christ and one minute on the difference Christ has made in your life.  This is a very simple method.  There are others which we will talk about later.  But this week let’s just practice talking about the difference Christ has made in our lives.

5.     Power – ACTS 1:7-8

Even as Jesus was trying to explain to the disciples that they would receive help in carrying out their mission, the disciples were more concerned about when he was coming back to set up His kingdom.  Jesus basically said to them ‘stop worrying about things in which you have no control and focus on what I am leaving within your control.  The task of the Christian is to witness for Christ throughout the world and to assist us in doing this Christ empowers us through the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

          The baptism with the Holy Spirit is a separate and distinct operation from the saving work of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said in John 3:5 that we must be born again, born of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God.  When we truly repent of our sins and invite Jesus to come into our lives and be our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit at that moment rebirths our spirit.  He re-energizes our spirit so that we can have fellowship with God who is a spirit.  At that moment the Holy Spirit becomes a resident in our lives.  So, all born again believers have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

          But what Jesus was speaking of in Acts 1:8 is different from this initial work of the Spirit.  How can we know this?

JOHN 20:21-23   - It is believed that this is when the Holy Spirit actual came to indwell the disciples.  This is their rebirth experience.  But in ACTS 1:4, after having already breathed on them the Holy Spirit, He commands them to stay in Jerusalem until they receive the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.  It is this experience with the Holy Spirit that gives the believer power to be a more effective witness for Christ.  I am convinced that the Church as a whole is not effective in the ministry of reconciling the world to Christ because we lack the power of God.  But this power is available to us through the baptism with the Holy Spirit.  Why do many lack this power?  Because they have not asked Jesus to baptize them with the Holy Spirit. (For me only, John 7:37-39 – believers should receive).

LUKE 11:13 – God is our father and the Holy Spirit is a gift that God wants to give us.  He wants to empower us to do His will.  All we as Christians need to do is ask Him to fill us with His Spirit just as we asked Him to save us.  And just as received salvation by faith, we must receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit by faith.  Now many will be concerned with the Gifts of the Spirit that come with the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.  To that I will say, look for power to be an effective witness and the Holy Spirit will add whatever gifts He deems necessary to get the job done.

          As believers we are to be witnesses for Christ and share the Gospel.  In an effort to be effective at fulfilling our mission let’s this week pray that God will give us passion for Him and the lost, that He will continue to prepare us to speak on His behalf, that we will fully understand the partnership we have entered into with God and that He will empower us through His Spirit to be effective witnesses for Him.