Please open your bibles to Mathew 28:18 -20.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Let us pray!
Lord, I thank You for the guidance you granted me while
composing the message you desired me to deliver today. I pray that you send
your Spirit to help me to convey the message You have given me and also to open
the hearts of those who are hearing Your words, so they can receive the message.
I ask that You grant us a childlike
curiosity and a great hunger for Your Word. Lastly I ask for You to grant us
Your divine wisdom so we may understand the meaning of Your Word, Amen.
Jesus commanded to
all who believe, “go forth and make disciples in all nations of the world baptize
them and witness to them teaching them to observe all things I have commanded.”
With those words Jesus gave us His great commission. Since He never put a time limit on His
command, we are still under that commission. Now before I continue, I want you
to ask yourself when was the last time I witnessed to someone? If you haven’t witnessed in a while, why
haven’t you? Just remember what Jesus said in Luke 12:8-9; Also, I say unto
you, whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also
confess before the angels of God: 9 But he that denieth Me
before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
As Christians it is our responsibility to spread the word of
Jesus and try to witness to as many people as you can each and every day. We
don’t have to travel to the far ends of the earth to accomplish Jesus’s command
we can work right in our own communities. I am sure we all have friends and
families who are in spiritual crisis. Go to them and remind them that Jesus
loves them and He is waiting to welcome them to the fold.
Next we are going to
Acts 2:29-38. Let me set the scene Peter and the rest of the apostles were
waiting in a room for a sign that Jesus had promised them when the Holy Spirit
came to them. The sound of the Spirit’s coming was likened to the sound of the rushing
of a mighty wind and it attracted the multitudes. The people who were in
Jerusalem were from many nations and heard the apostles speak in their native
tongue and were amazed. we are picking
the verses up towards the end of Peter’s sermon.
29 "Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about
the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us
to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he
foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not
abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised
up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right
hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, "'The Lord
said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your
footstool.' 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God
has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." 37 Now
when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to
them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
After Peter finished
his testimony over three-thousand souls were baptized that day. You may say
well that is because it was Peter. Well let me point out that Peter was a
fisherman from Galilee whom wasn’t well educated. Yes, he was one of Jesus’s
Apostles. However, we have the very same advantage that Peter had on that day.
The Holy Spirit!
Let’s not forget that
just over a month before Peter had denied even knowing Jesus not once but three
times, then the Spirit took hold of him and look out he delivered one of the
greatest sermons/testimonies ever given.
You know on a
personal level I can sort of relate to Peter not that I am claiming to be a
Peter (Boy do I wish). Not too long ago if you told me I would be standing up
here delivering a sermon today, I would of most likely either laughed at you or
been calling the authorities to reserved you a padded room. I would
have told you first of all I do not speak in front of crowds and secondly I do
not believe in organized religion and I am not even sure that God exist. Then
my Grandmother died and I felt bad that my aunt was going to church alone so I
decided to come with her. During this time, the spirit got a hold of me and
opened my eyes. Now Not Only do I know
there is a God but I Know him and His Son on a personal level and now I am
standing up in front of you all reading this sermon that the Spirit helped me
to write. All I can say is thank you Lord for everything you have and are doing
for me.
As to how do you witness first of all Pray, then give
yourself over to the Holy Spirit and he will guide you. Now that being said,
here are a couple of suggestions to get you started. First of all, we can show what Christians are
like by the way we live and treat others. Live a life that is beyond reproach
by staying faithful to your professed beliefs. Then always remember the so
called golden rule Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye
also to them likewise or in plain English do to others, what you would want
done to you and never forget what Jesus
said in Mark 12:31; “to love your neighbor as thyself”. If you do love your
neighbor would you not want him to have the same everlasting life that you have?
If your answer is yes,
then you need to witness to him/her. You don’t have to be obnoxious. Just slip
in little seeds while you talk with them; things like I feel so much better
since I began following the Lord or I was just glad that God had my back the
other day when such and such happened.
Hopefully between the way they see you live and the little seeds you are
planting you will peak your neighbor’s curiosity and soon they will come
seeking you out to learn more.
Quick observation
here before we continue If we all would keep the golden rule from Luke 6:31 (31
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.) and Jesus’s second
commandment from Mark 12:31 in our hearts and start trying to live that way I
do believe that the world would be a lot better place to live in. How could you kill your neighbor if you loved
them? Think about this one the next time someone cuts you off in traffic before
you let your temper get the best of you. Try to remember this, If I cut someone
else off by accident would I want to be cursed at or would I want
understanding? I think we all know the honest answer.
When you are
witnessing to others never forget that you are a sinner who was blessed enough
to be chosen by the Lord to be saved and that it is the power of the Holy
Spirit that is doing the actual work through you, and never get discouraged for
if the person has chosen to be saved then they will be saved in God’s
time. One last comment on witnessing
before I close, when you are witnessing the most effective way to do it, is to
speak from the heart by giving yourself over to the Spirit and let Him guide
you He will always know exactly what to say.
The need for a
Christian to witness and help others find their salvation has never been
greater than it is now. The devil is working harder and is convincing more and
more people that Christianity to out of step with the modern world and is no
longer needed and this is far from the truth in fact it is the polar opposite
of the truth. Christianity is needed more today than it has ever been needed. I
would ask you to pray for all of the people that have yet to find their
salvation especially for your family and friends.
Father, we thank You for this time in Your precious word and
ask for Your help in doing Your great commission help us to be stronger
Christians. Please send the Holy spirit upon us when we are spreading your
word. We beseech You to help Your lost
sheep to return to the fold. we ask this through Your most precious Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Just a Footnote. I had intended to deliver this message to
the congregation of the church I had been attending but haven’t been presented with
the chance to as of yet. I felt that the
message was important enough that it needed to get out do I presented it here.
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