Witness Sermon #2

Theme verse: Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

We are called to be witnesses. This is our offense.

My hope is to equip us and embolden us to be witnesses, in the fullest sense of the word.

quick review - last week - contrasted between “evangelism” and “witness” - witness, to present evidence.

to do so by your words, and by your life.

not just a method out of a box - but presenting the entirety of the Bible to people over time that they may come to believe and be saved.

Today - we look at Matt 10 and begin to put more meat on the bones.

Matt 10:10-15 “no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”

REMEMBER: The disciples began as baby disciples.

they eventually were cross cultural experts in evangelism - but they didn’t start that way.

but they started with - “follow me and I will make you fishers...”

REMEMBER - this is our offense. this is how we put points on the board

BUT - we need a strategy, right?

we started talking about this last week. The idea of proclaiming ALL of the Bible. But lets put some more meat on the bones, eh?

There are a ton of competing evangelistic strategies out there

some good - bad - ugly.

bottom line - if we are going to be a witness - an effective evangelist - then we need to get our strategy from the Bible.

not marketing, not sales, not psychology, not political correctness...

not surveys asking “what would you like to see in a church”

none of that seeker sensitive stuff.

For God to bless our efforts - our efforts must be in line with his word - therefore… Matt 10.

TWO ELEMENTS - FIRST

WORD

Matt 10:7 “And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

First off - we should notice - Jesus doesn’t tell them to proclaim how to be saved

he tells them to give the good news that the KINGDOM HAS COME

but there is bad news in that too… why? Well, for those who hate God.

so good news, and bad news, and… HOPE

because Jesus wins. he has victories over all his enemies, including death.

So if you’re on his side - if you are not one who hates him - that means victory for you too

Notice - THIS IS NOT A REQUEST - it’s a proclamation.

you’re not inviting anybody to do anything. He’s here.

and as a result for some it is a warning - for some it is good news.

Its a proclamation of a reality, and everyone needs to know and respond to this reality.

The King of the world has come. The Kingdom is come. Now, respond.

Respond with what? REPENTANCE

John the Baptist “REPENT for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”

we would say - Repent for the kingdom has come, is here now.

AND WE HAVE GREAT NEWS! The King has made a way for all of us to be forgiven and accepted into his kingdom!

Notice - you’re not accepting anybody into your heart - your kingdom. He’s accepting you.

ALSO NOTICE - that the witnesses are just messengers - it’s not their message, it’s someone elses. They wouldn’t dare tamper with it.

EXAMPLES OF BIBLICAL PROCLAMATION

If you were talking to a king? Ruler? Mayor?

psalm 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

If Jesus is king - don’t be afraid of other kings.

If you were talking to persecutors? Right before they killed you? Take a note from Stephen the martyr.

Acts 7:51–52 ESV

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

Talking to your jailer? Who wrongly imprisoned you? When it looks like the Lord may be working?

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

There are TONS of examples, but they hold a consistent line.

no matter what - they wanted their hearers on the right side of history - the right side of the king.

They called for repentance, submission, faith.

BUT IT WASN”T ONLY PROCLAMATION

IT WAS ALSO DEED

Matt 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.”

THE KINGDOM COMES WITH POWER - and NOTHING - not the gates of hell itself - will stop it.

but… the power helps: it heals - it cares - it cleans.

in other words - the proclamation of the basic gospel truth MUST be accompanied by the kingdom’s concerns for the hurting souls.

sickness - demon posession - death - poverty.

IN SHORT - we are called to both word and deed ministry.

word alone isn’t enough - deed alone isn’t enough.

some have gifts in specific areas - great! - but BOTH things must be present in our collective AND INDIVIDUAL witness.

Some examples

Jesus feeds the hungry, heals the sick, the church does the same. the heart of charity.

Acts 6 - they sell their posessions to help the persecuted - the deacons are appointed to feed those in need.

the church helped the widows - to the point where they had qualifications for the widows to be added to the roll.

“let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify God” matt 5:16

The tithes and offerings being used to care for those in need

and a Gospel promise Deut 15:4 “But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—”

IF WE ARE FAITHFUL - there will be no poor among us - instead our church will be a launching pad for it’s people OUT of poverty for generations to come.

man if that’s not a compelling reason to witness and invite the poor to church… i don’t know what is.

SO - Word, Deed, and the final element

PRAYER Matt 10:9-10 “Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.”

in other words - everything we do is done in dependence on the Lord. Prayer is that language of dependence.

We cannot cast out demons, heal the sick (medicine or prayer) if God doesn’t do it.

in other words

we dont depent on money - they had no budget

we don’t depend on facility - they had none.

we don’t depend on fancy production equipemtn or audio or video

no dependence on rhetoric - or graphics - or tweetable quotes....

but before the disciples even had a spare change of clothes, they had success. Why? Because they knew wehre their dependence should lie.

WE ALL HAVE GIFTS

but at the end of the day - a complete evangelistic strategy includes word, deed, and prayer. That means we all do all of it to a degree.

but we also do what we need to do utilizing our gifts to do this work corporately.

don’t know your gift yet? Well, get to work. You’ll figure it out pretty quick.

If we are going to see the church grow by witness, then we all do our part, run in our lane, operate in our gifts in every sphere that we are operating in

The kingdom has come! And that means a lot.