Witness Statements

Witness Statements Acts 1:1-11 Good morning. I'm honored to be with you. How many of you have ever served as a witness in a court of law? Several years ago I had to go down to Bartow, Florida, and serve as a witness in a court case. I stood before the judge and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - then I was asked questions to ascertain what I had seen and what I knew. That's what a witness is. We use that word in two ways. We say someone is a witness to an accident or a crime because they saw something. But we also call someone a witness in court because they're required to say something - to share what they saw and what they know. The word can refer to a person who sees and a person who says. That is true of followers of Jesus Christ as well. Whether or not you've ever been called to a courtroom, we've all been called by Jesus to be his witnesses in the world - people who have experienced something with Jesus Christ and are called to say something about him. That's what I want to talk about today: Witness Statements. If you're a follower of Jesus, I want to help you see where this call comes from, why Jesus wants us to be his witnesses, and how he wants us to do it. If you're not a follower of Jesus, this may give you insight into why the Christians in your life sometimes share their faith with you. Our culture says it's intolerant to tell someone they should turn from their sin and place their faith in Jesus - but I always want to ask those people: Are you trying to convince me to change my beliefs? We can't force anyone to believe. But we have been commissioned to tell. Open your Bible to Acts chapter 1. It's right after the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, then Acts. This is a history of the early church and the work Christ continued after he returned to heaven. Beginning with verse 1, Jesus is still on earth after his death, burial, and resurrection, and he gives his disciples their commission. Acts 1:1-11 (KJV) 1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 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 Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Let's look at Five ways to be witnesses of Jesus. Prayer As you read, I want to give you five ways to witness to others about Jesus. I. Witness with Proof. When you go out and tell people about Jesus - his death on the cross for our sin, his burial, and his bodily resurrection - you can go with proof. Our witness is grounded in history. Luke, the author of Acts, writes in verses 1-2: 1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: Then verse 3: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: Luke is saying: I wrote the Gospel of Luke to tell you about the earthly life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus - and now I'm writing this second volume to tell you what Jesus continued to do through his church. And after the resurrection, Jesus presented himself alive with many convincing proofs. On approximately 10 occasions, Jesus revealed himself to be alive. The Christian faith is not based merely on what people believed about Jesus - it's based on what people experienced from the living Jesus, who walked out of the grave and presented himself with proof. For forty days, Jesus appeared to his disciples - morning, afternoon, and night. He appeared to individuals and to groups. On one occasion, he appeared to more than five hundred people at once. He ate with people, talked with people. He said, "Touch me. Handle me. See that it is not a ghost - it really is me." He appeared in Jerusalem itself, where people could have said, "That's not him - let's go to his tomb and show you the body." But even his enemies had to admit the tomb was empty. Jesus appeared to men - and to women. The first people he appeared to were women. I don't find that scandalous, but put yourself in the first century: in a Roman-occupied Jewish world, a woman's testimony was not admissible in court. Her voice was considered legally unreliable. If the disciples were fabricating this story, they never would have started with women as the first witnesses. The gospels tell the story the way it happened, not the way a publicist would have written it. The disciples themselves were not prone to believe Jesus had risen. If you're skeptical about the resurrection, you're in good company - so were they. Thomas was absent from the upper room on Easter evening. The other disciples told him about their encounters with the Risen Jesus, but he would not believe. He probably said you should not joke about such things. I saw Him dead. In John 20:25 (NKJV) 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." That is something you say if you think you'll never get the chance to do it! Jesus appeared again in the upper room a week later. Thomas was there, and with the risen Lord standing in front of him, Thomas cried out, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him in John 20:29 (NKJV) 29... "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." He was talking about you and me. The greatest blessing in the kingdom of God belongs to those who believe based on the eyewitness testimony of the risen Lord. "A man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man with just an argument," When you go out and witness, you are not sharing a hope so salvation. You are proclaiming good news grounded in the authenticity of Scripture, the perfect life of Jesus, his resurrection from the dead, and the testimony of hundreds of eyewitnesses. First, Witness with proof. Second... II. Witness with Power Jesus knows his disciples are heading into a hostile world. Many of them will be rejected. Many will suffer. Many will die for their faith. And if this mission of telling the whole world about Jesus depended on our own strength, it never would have gotten off the ground. So just as he gave them proof, he promised them power. Acts 1:4-5: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. This promised power was foretold by the prophets - · God promised in Joel 2 that he would pour out his Spirit on all flesh. · It was proclaimed by John the Baptist: "I baptize you with water, but he who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." · Jesus referenced the coming of the Holy Spirit repeatedly - John 7, John 14, 15, 16. · And it was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came and enabled the disciples to be witnesses for Jesus to the whole world. 3000 souls were saved and baptized! The first disciples had to wait in Jerusalem. We don't need to buy a plane ticket and go wait there now - because the promise has been fulfilled. The moment you trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the presence of God comes into your life. As Paul writes in Ephesians, we are all baptized into one body through the Holy Spirit of Christ (SEE Eph. 4:4-6). You don't need more of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit needs more of you! Yeild to the Holy Spirit of God and be filled with the Spirit (Eph 4:18). Now, I know a lot of people have been turned off by abuses of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit - preachers manipulating people in the name of the Spirit to fund their luxury lifestyles. There have been a lot of strange things said and done in the name of the Holy Spirit. But go back to the Scriptures. The reason Jesus promised the Holy Spirit was not for weirdness - it was for witness. You need power from God himself to say what you know about Jesus, even when it's unpopular, even when people persecute you. And don't talk to me about your relationship with the Holy Spirit if you're not being faithful to tell others about their need for Jesus - because the evidence of the Spirit in your life is that you will be his witness. That's the power we need. Witness with proof. Witness with power. Third... III. Witness with a Plan. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 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 Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. The disciples wanted to talk about THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL, but Jesus wanted to talk about THE REDEMPTION OF THE WORLD. They wanted to talk about TIMING. Jesus wanted to talk about THEIR TASK! Acts 1:8 is the central verse of the book of Acts, and it gives us our missionary mandate. We don't have to wonder what our mission is. We don't get to vote on it. Jesus already told us - and we will either obey or disobey His Great Commission. I pray to God that we will not be comfortable turning the Great Commission into the Great Omission. Every New Testament church has the same mission. We may look different, act different, do things in different styles - but when it's all said and done, we all have the same assignment: make Jesus known throughout the world. That's why it irritates me to hear pastors criticize and demean other churches. As long as they are following Scripture and surrendering to King Jesus, I won't criticize. Other churches are not our competition. The enemy is our competition. If someone is preaching the gospel, I'm going to be for them. And church members, hear this: Christ did not die to form country clubs for comfortable Christians. When it's all said and done, it is not about us - it is about the mission of Jesus in the world. Jerusalem. Judea. Samaria. The uttermost parts of the earth. Your city. Your country. Your continent. Your world. Why the whole world? Because Jesus said in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." What is the plan? It is for the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world. The question has been asked: What do you get when you cross a Mormon, a Jehovah's Witness, and a Baptist? You get someone who will ride up to your house on a bicycle, knock on your door, and not say a word when you answer. It is funny because it is closer to the truth than we want to admit. God renew a passion in us where we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (SEE Romans 1:16). Each one of us must own our part in the missionary mandate of Christ. Witness with proof. Witness with power. Witness with a plan. Fourth... IV. Witness with Prompting Verses 9-11: 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Just as Jesus bodily walked out of the tomb, forty days later, he was bodily transported back to heaven before the eyes of his disciples. The Son of God - still bearing the nail prints and the scars - sat down at the right hand of God the Father. As our great high priest, his work was finished. The high priest in the Jerusalem temple had no chair in the Holy of Holies because his work was never done - but when our great high priest arrived in heaven, he sat down, because it is finished. · The WORK of redemption is complete! He did it all at Calvary. · But the WORD of redemption is ongoing. It is ours to complete. So the angels ask the disciples: Why are you just standing here looking up? He gave you orders. Wait in Jerusalem. When the Spirit comes, go into the world and be his witnesses. And then they tell us something else: This same Jesus who just ascended into heaven is going to come back the same way. It brings COMFORT to know that Jesus is coming back one day! How many times have I stood before a grieving family and read the words of John 14:1-6 "Let not your heart be troubled... I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself." It brings comfort to know Christ is coming back. But it also brings CONVICTION. He's coming back. When? We don't know - it's in the Father's hands. But it could be any time. And that knowledge prompts us. It prompts us to get serious about Jesus. Serious about his mission. Serious about loving him, living for him, and telling others about him. I remember when I was a kid at Lake Park Elementary School, our teacher left the room and told us to stay at our desks and do our work. For about thirty seconds, I was a good kid. Then I started cutting up, and the room began to giggle - and then suddenly everything went quiet. You know that feeling: someone is staring at the back of your head. I turned around, and there was my teacher: "Richard Edwin Powell, come here." She took me into the hallway. I had never been called out into the hallway. I had seen other students called into the hallway, and we never saw them again! I didn't know what to expect. She stood me against that cold painted cinder block wall, looked me straight in the eye and said: "Of all the students, I never thought you would disobey me." I'm in my fifties, and I haven't forgotten her words. I don't want to stand before my Lord one day and hear him say: "I told you what I wanted you to do. I told you your purpose. I told you to lean on me for strength. I gave you a plan - and you didn't do it." I want to hear him say: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Witness with proof, power, a plan, prompting, and... Fifth... V. Witness with a Promise Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. That word always in the Greek means "all the days" - Jesus is not watching from a distance. He is with you in it. The same Jesus who stood with Stephen as he was being stoned. The same Jesus who met Paul on the Damascus Road. The same Jesus who showed up in a prison cell at midnight and sang with two men in chains - he is with you when you witness. So here is the comfort: you are never alone when you speak his name. And here is the challenge: a soldier who knows his commanding officer is standing right beside him has no excuse for cowardice. You have the proof. You have the power. You have the plan. You have the prompting. And now you have the promise. Go. Respond WHOSE YOUR ONE? ARE YOU THE ONE? "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 Let's pray together. Page 1 of 10Acts 1:1-1105/12/2026