Summary: A TIME OF PERSUASION,A TIME OF PREPARATION

EYE WITNESS NEWS

Profile of a Witness

Acts 1:8 " . . . and you shall be My witnesses"

Introduction:

What does this text: "Ye shall be witnesses to Me!" evoke in your

thinking? What is a proper response?

A. IT SAYS TO ME THAT I PERSONALLY, AND WE, AS PEOPLE CALLED

NAZARENES, NEED TO TAKE THESE WORDS TO HEART

1. Early on in my Christian walk I got the message that I was not

a complete Christian unless and until I was also a witnessing

Christian. Just about all my Christian life I have had an annoying

feeling that I should be a better personal witness of the grace of

God.

B. BUT IT ALSO INVITES ME TO SEE HOW THE PEOPLE TO WHOM JESUS WAS

SPEAKING DIRECTLY, AT THAT TIME, UNDERSTOOD AND CARRIED OUT HIS

ORDERS:

1. The context of this text is the end of that period between the

first Easter and the Ascension and Pentecost with the outpouring of

the Spirit. That was a very important time for the disciples.

Several questions come to mind: [After the death and resurrection

of Jesus things were decidedly different. It was not merely business

as usual.

"Where did Jesus go at night to sleep?" or, "Where did Jesus go

when He disappeared from their sight?" I know that speculation is all

too easy. But several things are apparent:

Why, do you suppose, was there a period of 40 days between the

Resurrection and the Ascension?

Why, again, were there 10 more days until the descent of the Holy

Spirit at Pentecost?

What part do the Old Testament figures of Passover and Pentecost

have in the scheme of salvation? It certainly was more than

coincidence that these significant events fell on those significant

holy days.

I. A TIME OF PERSUASION

Of what were the disciples witness, relative to Jesus?

A. Old Testament fulfillment:

1. In the matter of the calendar itself:

JESUS THE PASSOVER

Lets take that last question first: From our vantage point we

see that the Old Testament holy days found fulfillment in the Person

and Ministry of the Savior.

Cynics would say that Jesus was the supreme opportunist. They

would say that He sought to fill out the prophecies of the Old

Testament.

Jesus filled out the meaning of the Old Testament: Do you

understand Passover? Divine intervention in behalf of helpless people

who cry for deliverance. Beginning an Exodus that was to climax in a

Promised Land.

The planting of a Seed... JESUS THE FIRST-FRUIT, OR HARVEST Do

you understand Pentecost? The "Seed" planted in the ground brought

forth 3,000 souls fifty days later; The first harvest celebrated; and

also the giving of the Law on Sinai;

B. Personal encounter/ spiritual revelation: The disciples met the

Risen Savior, and He revealed Himself to them.

II. A TIME OF PREPARATION

A. They were not to leave Jerusalem until they had received the

Holy Spirit.

B. This involved ten days of intensive prayer.

C. This also involved

III. A TIME OF PROCLAMATION - [Conclusion:]

A. The overwhelming sense of joy that accompanied the knowledge that

they were NOT left orphaned; they were indwelt by the Spirit of their

Savior-- THIS was the thing that powered their witness.

Their battle cry was, "The LORD is risen!"

We must have this in order to be witnesses, and not hear-say

gossips:

1. A personal encounter of revelation: (not enlightenment only;

that is not enough. but God-revealed reality. We must know, be

persuaded that God has raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection

is the dynamo that makes everything about the Christian faith genuine.

There is nothing wrong with becoming a seeker. If you are not

satisfied, ask God to help you look within. Come away with reality.

If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart and knows

all things.

2. An increasing joy and love for the Savior. This will be

"felt," for want of a better word. Deeply satisfying. It will

resonate with others who love Jesus, too. The greatest family on all

the earth is the family of God. This love will respond to the

Spirit’s prompting to go. (Philip)

3. This witness will be both conscious and unconscious. There

must be a congruence of the unconscious and the conscious witness.

When what we say and how we live are in disagreement people will

always finally believe the way we live. But when both coincide there

will be effective witness.

a) they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus

b) we ought to obey God rather than man!

4. There is nothing wrong with organized effort in witnessing:

I have attended special seminars on witnessing, and have undergone

intensive on-the-job training; and I have had concentrated weekend

efforts and have led small groups in witnessing. Perhaps if God so

leads we might move in that direction again. But however we witness,

my deepest concern is that we shall witness for the highest and best

of reasons.

5. Personal evangelism has a bad name in our time: The

pluralistic culture in which we live, with its highly personalized

view of religion, makes it difficult to witness to the saving grace of

Jesus without appearing to violate the unwritten code of respect for

other’s beliefs.

6. The tension we feel within when we approach an opportunity

to say a word for Jesus Christ is that of standing between a genuine

respect for the personality and quality of another human being and the

conviction that unless that human being comes to know Jesus he or she

will be forever lost. I have the deep conviction that Jesus meant what

He said when He said, "No one comes to the Father except by Me!"

Perhaps that tension can sometimes simply be translated as

cowardice. But sometimes our normal, natural human reticence to talk

about deeply personal, private matters is entirely appropriate.

7. We must earn the right to speak to people about important

matters. There must be some common ground; or, the Holy Spirit must

help us to understand that this is a moment when we can and must

speak.

"Common ground" means that there is a reason for speaking about

personal matters; there is an entry point. [Illustration: How would

you feel if someone came up to you on the street and said, "I’m

interested in how your kidneys are working!" But if that person were

your doctor, and you had been having painful sessions with kidney

stones, you would not only be glad to tell the doctor, but you would

be flattered to be remembered and asked in a non-official, non-office

setting. It would show that your doctor genuinely cared.]

The idea of "common ground" must also be balanced with the

concept Jesus gave us of the witness as a sower going forth to sow the

precious seeds of the Word of God. The sower sows extravagantly--

some falls on the roadway, some falls at the edges of the field, some

falls just about everywhere.

8. Common ground can come because we invite inquiry. If we are

an evangelistic church then our public services are a place where

people will expect to be confronted with the claims of Jesus, with a

witness to His grace. There is a common ground of expectation that the

Gospel will be proclaimed.

Bible study groups to which non-Christians or non-evangelicals

are welcome and respected are a wonderful idea whose time, it seems,

has come.

9. Common ground can come when we genuinely care about people

who may not be of the Christian persuasion. It is not a sin to be

friendly. We can genuinely care about people who disagree with

us. And the friendliest thing a Christian can do is to introduce His

friends to the greatest Friend.

We have been trained to avoid sin, and rightly so; but we are

not the world’s sin-police. The cross of Jesus was at the very heart

of the message the early church proclaimed; but so was the joy and

certainty of the resurrection. "This same Jesus, whom YE crucified,

God has raised Him up again!"