Mission Venture Ministries

On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.  (Matthew 10:18)

Let’s take a look at who the first witnesses for Jesus were:

Most of Jesus’ apostles were fishermen (Matthew 4:18-22) and had no formal education. They lacked humility and requested position in the Kingdom (Mark 10:35-45). Peter told Jesus that He would not allow Jesus to die on the cross (Matthew 16:21-23). John wanted to torch the Gentiles (John 9:54) and when Jesus was arrested, they all ran (Matthew 26:56).

However, look at them 50 days after the resurrection huddled into the second floor of a Jerusalem house, wondering what in the world Jesus had in mind with His final commission: “You will be my witnesses.” Then they finally understood as the Holy Spirit came upon them and empowered them to witness about Jesus (Acts 2).

Jesus had told them that they would spearhead a movement that would explode out of Jerusalem and would spill to the ends of the earth. You will be a part of something so mighty that two millennia from now people will be asking “does Jesus still do this today? “ You bet! The only real question is” Will you witness?

You might be asking so how can I? Basically a “witness” is someone who attests to a fact; so in order to be an effective witness for Christ; one must have firsthand knowledge of Jesus. John the Apostle speaks of this in 1 John 1:1-3, when he says, “That . . . which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life.” Today, we who have experienced new life in Christ give an account of His love and forgiveness, both verbally and in the way we live our lives. This is witnessing. To be effective in our witness, we should remember several basic things:

1. The THEME of our witness is Jesus Christ. Paul defined the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). If we aren’t explaining the sacrifice of Christ, then we’re not really sharing the gospel. (See also 1 Corinthians 2:2 and Romans 10:9-10.) An important part of this theme is the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, not just one of many ways. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
2. The POWER of our witness is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who transforms a life (Titus 3:5), and a transformed life is evident to all. As we witness, we should spend much time in prayer, appropriating the Spirit’s power so that we are enabled to let our light shine in such a way that others will recognize the power of God in us (Matthew 5:16).
3. The VALIDITY of our witness will be shown in how we live our lives. Philippians 2:15 sets this goal for us: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” The effective Christian witness will live their life above reproach in the power of the Holy Spirit, whose fruit we exhibit when we remain in Christ (John 15:1-8; Galatians 5:22-23).

Perhaps most importantly, we must be familiar enough with the Scriptures to be able to accurately and coherently present the gospel to others. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). Always being prepared means diligent Bible study, memorizing Scripture, and praying for God-given opportunities to share with those whose hearts have been prepared by the Lord to hear His message of salvation.

Jesus was preparing His hand-picked group of twelve apostles to go out on their own into the world and preach His message about the coming of His kingdom (Matthew 10:1). He is warning them that it will be dangerous. They may not know it yet, but Jesus is pointing forward to a time of great persecution of Christians after His death, resurrection, and return to heaven. He said in the previous verse that persecution will include being flogged in the synagogues by the Jewish religious leaders after being tried before a Jewish court (Matthew 10:17).

Now Jesus adds that substantial persecution will come from the Gentiles, as well. His followers will be “dragged” before governors and kings for His sake. These would include Jewish religious leaders (Acts 4:1–22), but also secular Jewish government authorities (Acts 12:1–4) and, eventually, Roman rulers (Acts 14:5).

This persecution before these authorities would serve a specific purpose, however. When standing trial, Jesus said His followers would continue to represent Him. In this way, they would have the opportunity to tell the message of Jesus to those at the highest levels of power, both Jews and Gentiles. The coming persecution would allow the good news of salvation through faith in Christ to reach even those who were doing the persecuting.

Winning souls is, essentially, the process of evangelizing or witnessing, which is simply communicating the message of salvation to unbelievers. Jesus Christ told His followers they would be His witnesses to “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) and to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), which is the essence of winning souls. As our Father in heaven does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), all Christians should be eager to heed this call and have a passion for winning souls.

If you feel lead to follow the Great Commission ask the Holy Spirit to guide you wherever you go to be a great testimony and witness for Him. Clearly, there can be no better calling than working on behalf of the One who died so that we may live. Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14), and His command was that we obey Him and that we love each other as He loved us. Clearly, then, our love for Him is best exemplified when we passionately and tirelessly work to share His gospel with others.

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Source: Excerpts taken from Gotquestions.org