Five Truths About Witnessing

my witness

When I was in school and a youthful devotee, one of the primary Christian books I read was Bill Bright’s Witnessing without Fear. It was a useful prologue to evangelism and the call of supporters to be witnesses for Jesus. Simply starting to comprehend what it intended to take after Christ and make teaches, this book helped enormously to be an ‘observer’ for Christ. Today, I’m as yet grateful for that book.

As of late, as I read through Acts, the subject of seeing went to the fore once more. What’s more, how might it not?

In Acts 1:8 Jesus advises his devotees to stay in Jerusalem until the point when the Holy Spirit comes to engage them to be his observers in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the finishes of the earth. To be sure, “seeing” is something more than a profound teach or a Tuesday night action. It is the very pith of our identity as Christians. However, what does that mean? What’s more, how precisely would we say we are to talk about Jesus?

“Witness” and “Seeing” in Acts

Maybe the most ideal approach to answer that inquiry is to perceive how the messengers “saw” to Jesus in the book of Acts. After Jesus’ recognizes his supporters as his observers in Acts 1:8, Luke utilizes the word μάρτυς 12 more circumstances to depict the witness-course of the early church (1:8, 22; 2:32, 40; 3:15; 4:33; 13:31; 14:3, 17; 22:5, 20, 15; 26:16). (He additionally utilizes the verb μαρτύρομαι twice, 20:26; 26:22).

From watching how this word is utilized we can start to outline what a steadfast witness may resemble. While an entire religious philosophy of seeing could be composed from Acts and whatever is left of the New Testament (e.g., see Allison Trites, The New Testament Concept of Witness), let me recommend five realities about seeing from the book of Acts.

Five Truths About True Witnessing

1. Seeing is close to home.

Jesus starts by telling his educates that in only a couple of days they will get his Spirit, and when they do, Jesus says, “you will be my observers.” From John, we know Jesus’ Spirit is known as the “sofa” or “aide” (παράκλητος). He will have Jesus’ spot and be much the same as him (ἄλλος in John 14:16). At the end of the day, the endowment of the Spirit is the endowment of Jesus’ exceptionally nearness intervened by the Spirit. Along these lines, he will keep on being with them and in them (John 14:17).

On the other hand, the followers will be his own witnesses. Witnesses bear declaration about what they know, and for this situation it is Who they know. As John affirms in his first epistle, “That which was from the earliest starting point, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we viewed and have touched with our hands, concerning the expression of life (1:1), so we demonstrate the veracity of the God who we know. Seeing isn’t feasible for the individuals who don’t know Christ; and it is fortified as the individuals who know the Lord develop in affection with and learning of the One who spared them.

2. Seeing is essentially about the restoration.

The primary spot where the substance of seeing is depicted is Acts 1:22: “. . . one of these men must move toward becoming with us an observer to his restoration.” In choosing who might supplant Judas, the capabilities included onlooker declaration of Christ’s revival. Essentially, the essential observer in Acts isn’t about Christ’s cross, however his revival from the dead (which, obviously, surmises and incorporates his cross). This revival accentuation is shown in this prerequisite and in the path declaration about Christ’s restoration rehashes in Acts (2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 13:30-31). In each of these verses, witness is made about the restoration.

In like manner, we who witness today should not talk only of a God who is cherishing, a Christ who excuses sins, or a salvation that gives fresh opportunities. Such gospel messages truncate the full gospel and miss the energy of Christ’s Lordship. Jesus isn’t a Forgiver who happens to be Lord; he is the Lord who passed on to secure pardoning through his demise and revival. Acts puts accentuation on his revival and we ought to as well.

3. Seeing is Christ-focused.

In the event that seeing spotlights on Christ’s restoration, it likewise incorporates all that he said and did. For occasions, Acts 5:32 says the missionaries took the stand concerning “every one of these things.” The “these things” are elucidated in the past two verses: “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you slaughtered by hanging him on a tree. God commended him at his correct hand as Leader and Savior, to offer atonement to Israel and absolution of sins” (vv. 30– 31). Passing, revival, and worship to the correct hand of God were alloted to Christ, with the goal that he may send his Spirit to give repentnace which gives salvation; these are the essential features of the gospel. Furthermore, they are what genuine witnesses announce.

Moreover, Acts 10:39 talks about the breadth and Christ-centeredness of genuine seeing, “And we are observers of all that he did both in the nation of the Jews and in Jerusalem.” Like in Acts 5, Peter’s words are not without content. Or maybe, Acts 10:39b– 43 feature the principle purposes of the gospel:

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 however God raised him on the third day and made him to show up, 41 not to every one of the general population but rather to us who had been picked by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he became alive once again. 42 And he instructed us to lecture the general population and to affirm that he is the one named by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him every one of the prophets take the stand everybody who trusts in him gets absolution of sins through his name.

Under Jesus’ summon his witnesses are to affirm about him, much the same as the prophets of old. What’s more, similar to the prophets God conveyed his message, we find in Acts 10:41 how God picks us, too. We don’t be his witnesses; he picks us. In this manner, similarly as the focal point of our message is Christ, so is our source. Just by God’s benevolent decision in Christ will we be, would we be able to be, observers to Christ.

4. Seeing is joined by the observer of the Spirit.

After the messengers recognizes themselves by their declaration in Acts 5:32, they distinguish the Holy Spirit as giving testimony them: “. . . as is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to the individuals who obey him.” As Jesus guaranteed in Acts 1:8, the Spirit would enable his devotees to hold up under witness. Truth be told, it is difficult to broadcast Christ without the Spirit. Consequently, seeing isn’t something we do in our own particular quality, it requires the thoughtful work of the Spirit in us.

In this way, seeing is a significantly otherworldly action. Similarly as the early church got the Spirit and had various subsequent”fillings of the Spirit” (4:8, 31; and so forth.), so we depend on the power and nearness of the Spirit, as well. Seeing requires confidence, supplication, and the energy of the Spirit. To put it plainly, to observer to others, we require the observer of the Spirit.

5. The objective of seeing is the salvation of others, not only the dispersal of (gospel) data.

In Bill Bright’s book, he characterized evangelism as sharing the uplifting news “and surrendering the outcomes over to God.” no doubt, this is a freeing standard: God awards salvation, not us. Be that as it may, I think about whether it might prompt a sort of evangelistic lack of concern. I can envision somebody supporting, “It’s all up to God, so insofar as drop a couple of gospel chunks, I can limit the ponderousness of the discussion, and believe him with the results.”Because evangelism is fighting, we think of a wide range of reasons to witness.

Thus, we have to steel our hearts with guarantees of the gospel’s prosperity and our obligation to stand up as observers to broadcast the gospel with control. One of those guarantees is that when the choose of God hear the uplifting news of Christ’s restoration they will atone and accept. Acts 13:32– 33 says, “we present to you the uplifting news that what God guaranteed to the fathers, this he has satisfied to us their youngsters by raising Jesus.” The “we” and “us” in these verses are characterized as “witnesses” in verse 31. Jesus showed his devotees how he was the satisfaction of the Old Testament guarantees, and now as his witnesses they disclosed these things to others, so that in hearing the gospel they may accept. Verses 33– 47 show how Christ’s revival satisfied the Old Testament, and afterward in verse 48 Luke records, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they started cheering and extolling the expression of the Lord, and the same number of as were selected to unceasing life accepted.”

To put it plainly, the messengers who got Jesus’ direction did as such with a specific end goal to be observers of Christ. Also, loaded with the Spirit they went out certain that their message would be heard and accepted by those designated to everlasting life, i.e., the sheep of God scattered all through the world (cf. John 10:16, 26). Thusly, witnesses go out with certainty that the gospel will be effective, and we can’t be content with just releasing the message. Or maybe, we should yearn for the salvation of others, persevering relentlessly to see others come to confidence in Christ.

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