Be a witness where you live – and to the ends of the earth!
Acts 1: 8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria , and to the ends of the earth.
How will we do this?
Firstly, we are promised power. It is the power or ability that comes from being transformed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's primary ministry in us, is to bring us to Jesus and then make us more like Jesus. When we reach out to others, the Spirit will be working in them too, making them hungry for the promises of God. And the Sprit will be working in us to make our lives more attractive for both God and the world. He gives us the words to speak and he will help us to live the enthused lives to back up what we say.
Secondly, we are called to be witnesses. A witness tells what he has seen, heard, or experienced. We cannot testify about the Kingdom of God if we do not live in it. We cannot give away what we do not have. But, if I do have a personal experience of being part of God's family and a certain knowledge that I am God's child, being able to live a life that testifies of the Lord’s work in me, is a very simple thing. I simply share, in word or action, from my own journey of faith. Since I experience God's love, I love others. Because I experience God's generosity, I give to others.
Thirdly, our testimony move in ever outward going circles. The disciples began in Jerusalem where they lived and where people knew them.
This is often the hardest step.
When we speak about our relationship with Christ, our sincerity will be under scrutiny at home, because the people that know us personally and intimately, also know when we are faking it!
Only when we became trusted and accepted witnesses to Christ within our inner circle of family, friends and members of our congregation, can we move beyond our geographical, social, and cultural comfort zones to represent God’s good news, without embarrassing God’s work.
Are we guilty of trying to be Christians without the power of the Holy Spirit?
Do we share what we have personally experienced?
Are we willing to be both personal and boundary crossing in the sharing of our faith?
Blessings of the Power of Pentecost!
Hail the joyful day’s return,
hail the Pentecostal morn’,
morn when our ascended Lord
on his Church his Spirit poured.
Like the cloven tongues of flame,
on the twelve the Spirit came –
tongues, that earth may hear his call,
fire, that love may burn in all.
Lord, to you your people bend;
Unto us the Spirit send;
Blessings of this sacred day
grant us, dearest Lord, we pray!
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