Every Christian A Witness

[angels4u]

Are we unashamed of the gospel and are we ready to share the good news???

 

 

Dr T.T. Shields:

It's Our Solemn Obligation!

Before our Lord departed to be with the Father, He made a promise to His disciples that they should receive a gift of power: "Ye shall receive power, the Holy Ghost coming upon you" (Acts 1:8). The purpose of that spiritual endowment was to enable those who knew Him to be witnesses unto Him, and that, in a word, is the business of every individual believer, and of the Church collectively!

We are not here to devise new schemes for human betterment. We are here to bear a simple personal witness to the power of Jesus Christ to make men new creatures in Him. That is the task of the Church--to be witnesses to tell what we know about Him. That is our business every day we live.

An Outstanding Witness

In all the history of the Christian Church, there has never been a more fruitful preacher than the Apostle Paul. He labored more abundantly than all his contemporaries. From the beginning of his Christian life to the end, he did nothing but bear witness to the power of divine grace. "Straightway"--after his conversion--he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God."

And he kept on preaching Christ until, as Paul the aged, he was able to say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day" (2 Tim. 4:7.8). What were the motives which lay behind this lifelong testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ?

"I Am Debtor"

Paul describes himself as a "debtor": "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also" (Romans 1:14,15).

Consider how this man got into debt. Saul of Tarsus was as truly a missionary as Paul the Apostle. From what we know of the life of Saul of Tarsus, it is clear that he was dominated by one purpose, mastered by one idea, carried forward day after day by a great zeal for the accomplishment of that purpose: "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9).

This man Saul, the proud Pharisee, who boasted that he owed the law nothing at all, was consumed with a great passion. That is a striking phrase which describes the intensity of his zeal: "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus" (Acts 9:1-2). Like the hot breath of some beast of prey determined to possess that which it was pursuing, Saul breathed out "threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." His passion for the law, for the honor of the religion of his fathers, consumed him. It was the one thing for which he lived.

Then a voice from heaven spoke, and this proud man who believed that he was free before God and men, that he owed nothing--suddenly discovered that he was hopelessly insolvent, utterly bankrupt, in debt--hopelessly in debt to the law of God. And when he expected the doors of the eternal prison to swing open to receive him, and the hand of the divine jailer to make him a prisoner forever, behold, he discovered that his debt was paid, that his obligations were cancelled, that Another had stood in his stead. He learned what he later wrote, that in Him "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Eph. 1:7).

It was revealed to him that God's books were balanced and that he, who had richly deserved to be in chains, had been delivered "into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:21), and was no longer in debt to the law. He discovered, however, that by that deliverance he had been placed under an overwhelming obligation to his great Redeemer, and that he was more deeply in debt than ever.

Paul discovered that Jesus had become the bridegroom of his soul. There was no possibility of his ever getting out of debt to redeeming love. But it was a blessed obligation, a happy bondage, a glorious bankruptcy, for his chief Creditor was none other than the Lover of his soul. When he began to inquire how this debt was to be liquidated, when he asked, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Jesus said, "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do" (Acts 9:6).

Then the Lord said to Ananias, "He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:15-16). Paul discovered that his whole future was mortgaged, that he had become the bondslave of Jesus Christ, that he was not his own--he was bought with a price, and that he must spend the rest of his life and all eternity in trying to make some return to Him who had redeemed him at such tremendous cost. He learned that the only way by which it could be done was to render service to those whom the Lord loved.

The Lord said to him in effect, "Saul, if you would pay Me, if you would show how much you love Me, if you would endeavor to discharge your obligation, then from this time forward be My witness. Tell other people who are in debt to the law as you are; tell other people who are bound with the chains of sin as you were, of One who is able to set them free."

We Are All Debtors!

That is true of every one of us: we are bankrupt before God. There is no possibility of our paying what we owe, but "Jesus paid it all." Therefore we are debtors. There rests upon every one of us a solemn obligation to make Jesus Christ known, even to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Paul recognized that what Jesus had done for him had made him a debtor to all men. He said, "I owe it to the Greek--to the man of culture, to the man who seeks after wisdom, to the man who is proud of his intellectual attainments, to the man who thinks that by his own reason he can fathom the mysteries of life--I owe it to the Greek to tell him that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God: I owe it to him to preach the everlasting gospel."

We, too, must preach to the learned, but it is our obligation also to preach Jesus to the barbarian--to the unlettered, to the simple, to the savage, to the man who dwells in the regions beyond. It is our obligation to make Jesus known to the unwise as well as to the wise.

Let us dedicate ourselves to this service. Let every blood-bought soul accept the simple teaching of that text: I am in debt to every man who does not know my Lord Jesus; I am under bond to make Jesus known. If we would dedicate ourselves to that service, and resolve that we will go forward preaching the Word, set on fire by the Holy Ghost, in the power of the divine Spirit, bearing witness for Jesus, we should have a revival at once!

It is well that we should pray, and we cannot pray too much. It is well that we should invoke Heaven's blessing upon those whom we love, but we must ourselves recognize that God uses human instrumentalities for the accomplishment of His work. We are bound before God "to tell to all around, what a dear Saviour we have found."

We shall never do this unless we recognize that we are under a personal obligation to Jesus Christ. It is a debt of honor, as far as we are concerned. We are in honor bound to do for our Lord Jesus in obedience to His commands what He requires.

But by no resolution to do our duty shall we ever become effective witnesses for the Lord Jesus. Effective witnessing depends upon what we know about Jesus. If His work is so real to us and of such great value that He never fades from our vision, that He is always the altogether lovely One, that He is the One with whom we live and with whom we converse, the One of whose grace we are daily receiving, the One with whom we walk, the One who is more real to us than any of our friends, the One whose redeeming work is so precious to us that it is the most natural thing in the world to tell other people about it--then from a sense of obligation to Him, we shall be able to tell others what Jesus has done.

I will tell you why we do not do it more often. It is because we have lost the bloom of our first experience, the first joy of redemption. There are multitudes who have no vital relationship to Christ, who are not living in daily fellowship with Him, who are not spurred on by a present experience of His grace to tell other people what Jesus has done for their souls. It is only as we abide in Him, and as He abides in us, as we live in the joy of His presence, that we shall be able to bear witness to His abounding grace.

How Are We To Do Our Share?

What is our share of the obligation? How much do I owe? How much do you owe? You cannot estimate that but how much can you pay? What can you do? What return can you possibly make for the infinite sacrifice of the cross?

The Apostle Paul said, "As much as in me is, I am ready..." It means the dedication of all natural powers. You say you cannot speak. We all have thought that is true, but He makes the dumb to speak. Not only give your heart wholly to the Lord Jesus, but give your tongue to Him.

If our mouths were continually filled with His praise, it would save us a lot of trouble. Keep your tongue busy speaking about Jesus, praising Him.

The silence of Jesus before Pilate was designed to teach us sometimes to be silent, but His speech before Pilate, when He said, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" (John 18:37), should teach us that these tongues belong to Him, to be used wholly for His glory.

It also means the development of our latent powers. Nobody knows how much there is within. We do not become perfect all at once, in any profession, in any art. We have to learn how to do things, and we have to learn to do well. We have to learn to speak for Jesus. We have to learn what to speak.

You say, "I have been doing the best I can; and I do not know that any souls have been saved. I have come to the conclusion that my talents are so small, my ability is so insignificant that the Lord could well dispense with me."

This text means, all there is of you -- of body, of mind and of spirit: heart opened to the Spirit of God, the mind given up to the Spirit of God, that it may be flooded with His light, that all its powers may be brought in subjection to the Holy Ghost. Some modest soul says, "Even with all that, it does not amount to very much, because I am just a little man. As much as in me is: that is not very much." I hope you feel like that. I wish we could all feel like that and keep feeling like that. There is no danger of our ever becoming too small for God to use us, but there is great danger of our becoming too big. "As much as in me is"--your little powers, whatever they may be, plus Deity, plus Omnipotence: that is what it means.

"I cannot go with these," said David to Saul, son of Kish; and he put off the splendid armor, and the great sword and helmet--all the military equipment, and he took his sling and went to the brook and gathered five smooth stones.

You say, "David, are you going to battle like that, without a sword?" because there was no sword in David's hand.

"Yes, I am going to do the best I can today."

"Well, how are you going to do it?"

"As much as in me is, I have dedicated it to the service of the Lord. I am going out against that giant in the name of the Lord of hosts--the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied."

"As much as in me is,"--his little ability, and you know the result. Just one smooth stone in David's sling, in the sling in the hand of this trained man of the wilderness! O no, one smooth stone in the sling in the hand of Omnipotence, and the giant licked the dust, and there was a great victory in Israel.

"As much as in me is." Will you let Him have it--little or much, whatever it may be? Are you ready to preach the gospel to anybody, everybody, to whom God shall send you? "But Paul, aren't you a little extravagant?"

"No, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God, to me: it saved me." That is what made Paul unashamed of the gospel: it was what the gospel had done for him, and he was ready. Let us ask God to make us ready!

Abridged from The Gospel Witness.

 

 

[Guest mikedonato]

thanks, very very interesting and useful information. 

[RustyAngeL]

Thanks angels for starting this forum.  I have felt for a long time now that we as the body of Christ needs to really wake up and start being who and what God said we are to be.  Light in the world, people who are in the world but not of it.  A lot of Christians have become complacent and lazy.  Sharing our faith doesn't always involve words but our actions or responses to those around us.  They are to see the Jesus in us.  That is what I pray for all the time.  "Lord let me be that light You called me to be, let  me never be ashamed of the gospel". 

[angels4u]

Thanks angels for starting this forum.  I have felt for a long time now that we as the body of Christ needs to really wake up and start being who and what God said we are to be.  Light in the world, people who are in the world but not of it.  A lot of Christians have become complacent and lazy.  Sharing our faith doesn't always involve words but our actions or responses to those around us.  They are to see the Jesus in us.  That is what I pray for all the time.  Lord them the lost see Jesus in me.  Thank you again angel.  Well done. 

 

 

If there ever was a time to be a witness its NOW!  

 

When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? Lu.18: 8

[kwikphilly]

Blessings angels4u,

           One of the saddest things to me in reading this enlightening article is that it needs to be said....if you know what I mean?Just as each and every believer has been personally saved by our precious Messiah,personally suffered for,personally absolved,personally loved,personally called out they  must still be reminded to be personally obliged to say"thank you''.....

        I am only accountable for my own actions but faith without works is truly dead.....there is no way I could ever repay the Love of my life for what He has done for me...the very least I can do is to say "thank you"by giving freely what has been given me,to share with others the peace,the love,the joy,the freedom that I have discovered at the foot of the cross......to be His living sacrifice,His living testimony,His ambassador!I live only because of His Grace and Mercy,I am nothing without Jesus.How can anyone(believers)wake up in the morning and not be grateful that God even allowed us one more day?

       I facilitate a prayer line on the weekends and participate every morning,I am grieved when the line goes silent and there are 20 children of God who have been given the undeserved gift of Salvation and cannot find one word to say to our Loving Father.....perhaps they are praying silently,I cannot know the heart-that is between them and God.But God gave us a voice to use,to praise Him,to encourage one another and to proclaim the Name of our Living Redeemer!How can one agree with another and pray in one accord if they are silent,are these people going to come off the prayer line and go out and preach the good news of the Gospel when they cannot even muster up an" Amen"

      Thank you for this very much needed message,I pray it will be well received.I hope I am not off-topic nor do I mean to sound judgemental but lately I have been''hearing''alot of ''silence"......I am  thrilled to be called a fool,bible thumper,crazy person or whatever else one thinks me to be in the hopes that a seed will be planted in the heart and mind of somebody who hears me say''Are you saved?Jesus loves you exactly as you are...."

                                                             Proud to boast the Name that is above all names,Christ Jesus

                                                                                                 With love,Kwik

[Hippie333]

Mat 25:14  For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
Mat 25:15  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey.
Mat 25:16  Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents.
Mat 25:17  In like manner he also that received the two gained other two.
Mat 25:18  But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
Mat 25:19  Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them.
Mat 25:20  And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents.
Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:22  And he also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents.
Mat 25:23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:24  And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter;
Mat 25:25  and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own.
Mat 25:26  But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter;
Mat 25:27  thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest.
Mat 25:28  Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents.
Mat 25:29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.
Mat 25:30  And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
Mat 25:31  But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32  and before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats;
Mat 25:33  and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35  for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in;
Mat 25:36  naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38  And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39  And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.
Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42  for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me.
Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

 

How can we as a saved servant of God....a Christian - have such a treasure inside of us ( the Holy Spirit ) and not be simply overwhelmed with the want / need to share what we have with everyone else? I think it does not matter if we know the entire word of God - word for word and can quote it on the spot - give all the hebrew and greek translations of words.......if we are spiritually flatlined what good is it? What does it profit anyone to keep such a treasure to ones self and not give it to others? How can we as Christians talk about loving others, how people need salvation, what Christ is all about - if we only discuss it among other Christians? One of my personal pet peeves is to hear people at church, at work , elsewhere ( that say they are Christians) - when asked if they witness to others - serve others ( may it be thru the church, charity, etc) ...say " well, I am not comfortable doing those things - but I have God in my heart and he knows how I feel " - Matthew 25: 14-46 rings in my ears - I always feel I should be doing more, sharing more, serving more.....I don't understand the professed Christian that can sit in the window and watch the world go by.

 

Mat 13:52  And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

[OneLight]

Everyone is a witness, be it for Christ or not.  Our witness is how we live our lives.  We can say whatever we wish, but unless we live it, they are empty words in the ears of the hearer if they see us contradict ourselves.

[angels4u]

Everyone is a witness, be it for Christ or not.  Our witness is how we live our lives.  We can say whatever we wish, but unless we live it, they are empty words in the ears of the hearer if they see us contradict ourselves.

Amen!

[ShannK]

Thank you! Just what I needed to be reminded of!

[*Zion*]

Thanks angels for starting this forum.  I have felt for a long time now that we as the body of Christ needs to really wake up and start being who and what God said we are to be.  Light in the world, people who are in the world but not of it.  A lot of Christians have become complacent and lazy.  Sharing our faith doesn't always involve words but our actions or responses to those around us.  They are to see the Jesus in us.  That is what I pray for all the time.  "Lord let me be that light You called me to be, let  me never be ashamed of the gospel". 

 

How beautiful!  I'm praying it with you (for myself too!)