Acts 1:8 KJV But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
The Lord has chosen us to be a witness for Him.
Isaiah 43:10 KJV “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen…”
John 15:16 KJV ” Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…”
He has chosen you to be a witness to your family and friends that are lost. He has given each of us a duty to fulfill while we are on this earth. And He is not going to give us this duty without giving us the power to accomplish it. Acts 1:8 says, ” And ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” God gave us the power when we received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Isn’t our God great, He never leaves us empty handed.
Acts 1:8 says, “… and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” Jerusalem would be like a city today, Judea a county, and Samaria a state. The Lord didn’t want us just to be a witness in one place, but everywhere we go we must be a witness.
Acts 8:17-19 KJV Then laid they their hands on them, and the received the gift of the Holy Ghost. [18] And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, [19] Saying, Give me also this power, that whosoever I lay my hands, he may may receive the Holy Ghost.
Many people desire what we have, just as Simon desired to have what the apostles had. I Used to be one of those people. I used to be in a boring church that said I could do whatever and still be saved, but I felt like God had more than what was there. And He led me to United Pentecostal Church in Dothan. Simon was willing to pay much money for what the apostles had. So would they pay for what we have inside of us. Simon heard Philip preach in Samaria. So must they hear our lives preach Jesus Christ.
The words that Jesus spoke in Acts 1:8, where the last words spoken before His ascension into heaven. So these words must be very important. Those that heard these words obviously knew they where very important, because, most of them died for this cause. We can’t let anything get in our way of witnessing.
We use excuses why we can’t witness to someone. Some of these excuses are:
1. I’ll do it tomorrow.
Revelation 16:15 KJV ” Behold, I come as a thief…”
1 Thessalonians 5:2 KJV For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Matthew 24:36 KJV But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
None of us know when the Lord going to come back and we are all not promised tomorrow. We take each day for granted. We can’t do that! We must live everyday like it is our last and their last. You might not get another chance to speak to those people. No one knew that Enterprise High School was going to get hit by the tornado, and that those students, who died, would never come back to school. We can’t just sit down and wait. We must witness now because there might not be a later.
2. They might say no.
Matthew 10:14 KJV And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
We can’t let “NO” stop us. We must as Jesus said, “Shake off the dust of your feet”. There is always going to be a person who tells you no. Some said no to Jesus, but he didn’t let that stop Him. And, we can’t let it stop us either, and there is a good chance that they will say yes.
3. They might laugh and talk bad about me.
Matthew 5:10-11 KJV Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Jesus said we are blessed if they say bad things and laugh at us. There is one person that laughs at us right now, that is the devil. The devil is probably talking to God saying,” They can’t win those that are lost”. I believe God is telling him watch and see. Just like in Job, the devil said that Job would fail, but God said knew that he wouldn’t fail. And God gave the devil permission to test Job. Have you ever wondered if we were being tested by how much we reach out. Lets prove the devil wrong again. And, don’t say you can’t do it because, God said you can.
4. What if I’m shy?
Pray for them and pray for courage and boldness to be able to talk to them. We should all pray for the lost whether shy or not. You can’t be shy forever; You have to step out of the boat before you can walk on water, just as Peter.
When Andrew had seen Jesus, he went straight to Peter telling him that he had found the Messiah. If Andrew would have made up excuses why he could not reach his brother then Peter might not have become that man of God he was. I wonder if there is someone we know that God could use mighty, but they never come to Jesus because we keep making excuses why we can’t witness to them. We can’t make excuses why we can’t witnesses. We must witness to them no matter the cost.
I wonder how many we could reach if we had the same compassion for the lost that the disciples had. Lets fill our church with a lot of people.
One night, you woke up and your neighbor’s house was on fire.Knowing that your neighbors were still in the house, I’m sure you would make an urgent plea for the fire department and would make an effort to save those that are in the house. You would respond to their cry. The spiritual house is no different. Souls are in desperate need for help. This world and the devil are leading them to a fire. An eternal fire that threatens to consume them for the rest of time. I’m going to ask you a question, while I ask myself the same question. Are you going to reach in and try to save them or just sit there and watch them burn in a eternal fire.
