Famous Last Words On Witnessing Series

HoHum:

We are uncomfortable with the word witness- mainly because there is another group out there who has overtaken the word. They are the same group who claim to be the 144,000 talked about in chapter 7 of Revelation. Much of that group’s theology comes from misunderstandings of the end times, of Revelation. My main gripe with them is that they mess with Jesus. John 1:1- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In their Bible it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” They have also taken over going door to door witnessing. If we went door to door people might think we are from this group. Flip Wilson once quipped, “I’m a Jehovah’s Bystander. They invited me to be a Witness, but I didn’t want to get involved.” Preacher might say in a sermon, “Can I get a witness? Or Can I get someone to testify?”

WBTU:

Transliteration of the Greek word “witness” in Revelation 11:3 is martus from which we get the English word martyr (see how this applies in a few minutes). A witness is one who may be called to testify to an event. Evangelist is a cousin word to being a witness. An evangelist is someone who proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Who is an evangelist? Everyone who is a Christian but many confine this word to the one who preaches to a local congregation- find this in NT in some places. Even so, every Christian must be a witness- not just preachers.

Witnessing is not an option- we bear testimony all the time. Evangelism is a term used to refer to the preaching of the Gospel. It comes from the same Greek word for gospel and means, literally, “gospeling.” When we evangelize we are “gospeling” — we are spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Enough about definitions of Christian words. Our mission is to love people and lead them to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thomas Rainer- 7 things google tells us about evangelism in US from 1998 to 2016

1. We are steadily losing interest in evangelism over time

2. Church members are losing interest in evangelism

3. Ministers and staff are losing interest in evangelism

4. American churches are among the worst in evangelism

5. Churches not doing evangelism will decline in health

6. Church members are much more likely to criticize rather than evangelize

Okay, enough of the preliminaries. Last week went over the 6 trumpets that sounded in Revelation 8 and 9. Read earlier the sounding of the 7th trumpet at end of chapter 11. Much like the opening of the 7 seals we have an interlude between the 6th and the 7th trumpet. This pause reminds us of our responsibility to witness. The 6 trumpets picture a terrible lost world and a terrible coming judgment; someone must speak up, someone must warn, someone must call the world to repentance and point them to salvation. Who is that someone? It’s the church.

Revelation 10 and 11 contains many things above my pay grade but want to focus on 2 things here: 1. Revelation 10:9-11 with John and the little scroll. 2. The 2 witnesses of Revelation 11:3-12. Notice their activity: all 3 are commanded to speak the message of God. Who exactly are the 2 witnesses? Unsure but we have some clues. Read Revelation 11:3-4. The olive tree symbolizes Israel, the OT people of God, while the lamp stand pictures the church, the NT people of God. Read Revelation 11:5-6. They have the power of Moses “to turn the waters into blood” and the power of Elijah “to shut up the sky.” These 2 are no longer present on the earth but if I was guessing, I’d say these 2 witnesses represent the Spirit empowered church of God. What is that power to be used for? To proclaim God’s truth. We the church are called to speak God’s message to the world. Too often, the American church wants to delegate that task to hired personnel and are content to sit on the sidelines cheering them on. The fact is: this is not an invitation, it is a command- Matthew 28:18-20. Church, we got into the ministry when we got out of the baptistry, and we must see ourselves as witnesses. I like the lady who, when asked about her job, said, “Oh, I’m a missionary… cleverly disguised as a grocery store clerk.” No matter our vocation, we are all missionaries. Most effective missionaries are ordinary Christians.

What exactly does Revelation 10-11 tells us about this call to witness? At least 3 things

Thesis: We are to witness from God’s Word, witness through hard suffering, and witness with great urgency