Testify of the Coming Christ HHM Pastor Jim Parisi March 9, 2003
Rev. 12: 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Rev 12:11 NLT And they have defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of their testimony. And they were not afraid to die.
Story: A man was arraigned for murder in Los Angeles about 70 years ago. The case against him looked pretty good, but his lawyer thought of an ingenious ploy.
In his summing up speech, he said: "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, you must find my client not guilty of murder if there is the slightest doubt in your minds that he is the murderer.
And now I have one final witness. The true murderer is about to walk through the door."
All eyes swung towards the door but no one came in.
"You see" the lawyer continued: "there is doubt in your minds about my client’s guilt; otherwise you would not have looked towards the door."
The jury retired to deliberate and came back after one half hour with a "Guilty" verdict. The lawyer was beside himself.
Before the judge could pass sentence, the lawyer sprang up and said
"But I proved beyond doubt - that you had a doubt about my client’s guilt.
A shrewd old man in the jury stood up and replied:
"As everyone looked towards the door, I watched your client’s eyes.
He didn’t look towards the door because he knew no one was coming through. Why? Because he was the guilty one."
I want to look at the subject of witnesses - but unlike in that Los Angeles courtroom,
I want to look at how to become an effective witnesses.
The Book of Acts tells the story of how Christianity spread from Jerusalem - an obscure outpost of the Roman Empire to Rome to the very capital itself.
The Heart of the known world of that time
When Jesus died on Good Friday almost two thousand years ago,
Conventional wisdom said that this was not a great way to start a world religion.
How can you start a movement, how can you get this idea off the ground if you can’t even keep the leader alive?
What power will save me the people of that must have been thinking would it have for them if this Jesus’
The leader was dead lying in a tomb?
So how did an obscure carpenter from Nazareth, who never wrote a book, never held high office,
Never led an army and died an ignoble death on a Cross.
Become the man to have affected civilization more profoundly than any other?
More then any other being to walk this earth.
Through His Death and Resurrection.
One reason for the spread of Christianity lies in the fact that after Jesus died, yes they put him in the tomb.
But when they went there 3 days later to check.
There was no body to be found.
No corpus rotting on that slab.
The tomb was sealed when they left
No body so they knew at that point
He rose again from the dead. Just like he said he would
In our reading from Acts 1, Luke records that Jesus "showed himself to the apostles and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive."
(Acts 1:3) to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Talking to them after His death…
This is the power of our God
The Power of His Holy Spirit.
Another reason for the spread of Christianity lies in the fact that the Power of the Holy Spirit
came down on the disciples at Pentecost
(as recorded in
Acts 2 1-2) 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord* in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
The power of the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost –
to enable the disciples to share their experience of Jesus with the world.
That’s right for you and me
We have this in creditable power within us
In other words, to be His WITNESSES. His witness in the this earth
Jesus’ final words to his disciples - that were read to us earlier from Acts Chapter 1:8.
Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
“And to the ends of the earth." This gives you license and power to preach this gospel all over this earth
Jesus is saying that there are three ingredients if we are going to be effective in sharing our faith with others.
They are:
1. Knowing what kind of witness you are called to be
2. Knowing God’s timing
3. Knowing God’s power if His Holy Spirit
The first ingredient to being an effective witness is knowing what kind of witness God has called you to be.
Who you are to be in Christ?
The disciples were called to be God’s witnesses.
Witnesses to what?
To the life, teaching and resurrection of Jesus that they had experienced.
The life they experienced sharing their lives with Him
In a Court of Law, a witness can do one of two things.
He can be a witness of events that occurred.
In which case, he simply recalls what he has seen or experienced.
On the other hand he can be an expert witness,
Who explains to the Court the meaning of the evidence
(usually it is a complicated set of facts).
And throughout history the Church, there have been both types of witnesses.
God has called those who have had an experience of Him to share that with others.
And he has called others to be expert witnesses who can explain the Christian faith.
These people are what we call today Apologists.
They have always been with us. We just coined this phrase for our well being.
These are a people who study and know the word.
Not on a superficial level.
But on a level of depth and commitment to the word.
The second ingredient to being an effective witness is knowing God’s timing God’s perfect timing was important.
The disciples were told to wait for power from on high. And they were told where to wait - in Jerusalem.
God had a perfect plan for them.
If we are to be his servants we need to be obedient to his commands.
They didn’t try to move out on their own second guess God.
He told them to wait - and wait is what they did.
Look how important Timing is???
Timing is important. It is only as we draw close to Jesus and listen to what he says to us
So that we will be effective in sharing our faith
and building up the church.
The third ingredient to being an effective witness is knowing God’s power God’s power is awesome.
The apostle Paul came to Corinth to preach the Gospel "not with eloquence or superior wisdom"
(1 Cor. 2:1-3) 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony* of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
Paul relied on a "demonstration of the Spirit’s power"
(1 Cor. 2:4), 2:4
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
Remember Rev. 12:11 - You are an over comer through Jesus!
Conclusion:
Jesus commissioned his disciples to be his witnesses. HE has commissioned You
They were not to preach it in their own strength but were to wait on God for his empowering.
They were God’s witnesses, in his timing and with his power.
Let us make that our prayer that God will empower us to testify.
AMEN
