“AND YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME”

MEMORY VERSE: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Proverbs 17-18

Who is a witness? A witness is simply one who bears testimony or gives evidence. Acts 1:8 says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The moment we hear the word ‘witnessing’, what comes to the mind of some of us is preaching on street corners or going from house to house to share the gospel of Christ. These are good things to do. However, there is more to witnessing than preaching on street corners with a loud microphone. There are several other ways of witnessing. You can witness to people by giving them tracts. You can either hand it to them by hand or put it through their letter holes or post boxes. You can witness by forwarding conversion stories on email to friends and family who are yet to meet the Lord. One of the ways the Holy Spirit has helped me to witness to people is by sharing my conversion story – how i gave my life to Christ after a dream i had – with friends and family.

You can witness by offering to pray with people when they are sick. The whole essence of witnessing is letting people know that Jesus saves. The Greek word translated “save” in our English Bible is sozo which means, according to the lexicon: “Sozo... preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions.... save from death.... bring out safely from a situation fraught with mortal danger... save or free from disease...from demonic possession.... be restored to health, get well... keep, preserve in good condition...thrive, prosper, get on well... save or preserve from death....” By offering to pray with a sick person you are indirectly telling the person that Jesus saves. I have never known anyone to resent or reject or react badly to prayer especially when they are in trouble or when they are sick. Even those that don’t believe in God, if you offer to pray for them when they are going to through a challenge or when they are sick, they will gladly accept the offer.

You can witness to people by inviting them to church to hear about Christ. How did Andrew witness to Peter? He simply brought him to meet Jesus (John 1:42). How did Brother Albert McMakin witness to Bill Graham, the popular televangelist? He invited him to church. Brother Albert, just to get Billy Graham to church, gave him his truck to drive while he sat in the passenger seat. You can also witness by sharing church flyers either by hand or putting it through letter holes. Time will not permit but i can share testimonies of several people who met the Lord through this way. Someone who was saved through a church flyer is late Willie Mullan - Northern Irish Evangelist. Many were blessed around the world by his Tuesday night Bible class where several hundreds attended to hear the exposition of the word. People got saved from listening to the tapes from the Tuesday night Bible class in places like Iraq. Asides all these, you can also witness by your manner of living. The Christian who doesn’t pay his bills, who isn’t quite honest in his business dealings, who quarrels noisily with his family is not going to help the cause of Christ by his behaviour. The world is watching how you conduct yourself in lesser matters.

NOTE: Jesus did not say “and ye may be witnesses.” He didn’t say “and ye can be witnesses”. He said “and ye shall be witnesses!” It is a commandment. It is not negotiable. He said “ ye shall be witnesses unto me...” not witnesses unto denominations. We are to preach Christ not denomination.

QUESTION: How many souls have you brought to Christ since He saved you?

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world