REVIEW
So today, I believe we will be concluding our series on how to be the Lord’s witnesses, and I hope that you have been stirred to see the importance of our witness to the world.

We started off talking about the power that we have to even be the Lord’s witnesses in the first place and how the Holy Spirit is that power.  We also looked at how we are called to be witnesses before we are ever called to go witnessing. Therefore, the necessity of bearing His fruit and gifts in our lives. 

We have also been learning what it means to be the Lord’s witnesses and we have seen that this is a much bigger part of our purpose here on the earth than we’ve realized. In fact, aside from personal relationship with God, the reason we are here is to bear witness of the goodness & glory of God to the rest of God’s creation.

Then we began getting into some of the practical parts of being Christ’s witnesses such as how we can break through the darkness that has blinded the lost, how our spiritual sandals are this preparedness to share the gospel, and specifically where we are called to witness …

Now I would like to conclude this series with a couple of very practical things regarding how to be a witness—specifically how to actually witness to someone and how to prepare and give our testimony. 

Let’s begin with how to be a witness …

HOW TO BE A WITNESS
I’ve found that far too many Christians are not very confident and even are downright terrified to witness about Christ to others. This should not be so, saints. Sharing the Gospel with others should be second nature to us and we should never shy away from telling others about the Lord. Yes, we should always be ready to share the good news and love others enough to give them the truth.

The apostle Paul said he was ready: In Romans 1:15, he said, “So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.” This was after saying that he was a “debtor” to both Jews and Gentiles (vs. 14). In other words, he saw it like he owed it to, first, the Lord and then to every person to share the Gospel.

Church, I believe we are “debtors” as well. So, as the apostle Paul said, “as much as is in us” we need to be “ready” to share the Gospel. Amen?

Then Paul goes on to say in verse 16— “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Church, we have nothing to be ashamed of! For this Gospel is the power of God to salvation. There is no other way. So, if we do not share it, how can man be saved?

We have a corner on the truth, saints! So we need to be bold and confident and know that the Gospel that we are sharing is the answer, whether the world realizes it or not.

But we still need to know how to share this good news and there are some very practical things that I believe are essential to being as effective as possible. So let me quickly share with you some tips on how to witness to others …

Now these tips are not the only way to do it. As always, the most important thing is to be led by the Holy Spirit. However, these are just some good practical wise tips that generally are good methods when approaching others with the Gospel.

The first is that whether you are in the “in season” or “out of season” time, to always have your spiritual antenna up.

By “in season” times, I am referring to those times where you are actively out looking to witness to others. This would be when I am going somewhere for the purpose of witnessing to someone—that is, I’m participating in a group who is going out to share the Gospel or I personally am going to a Christian meeting looking to share the love of Christ with others.

Now the “out of season” times would describe other times where we are out and about to do something other than witness. Like maybe going to the hardware store to pick up a tool or going to a restaurant to pick up a meal. Of course, we should always be looking to witness, but that’s my point: We need to always have our antenna up, and pick up on when the Holy Spirit is targeting a specific person.

You see, the Holy Spirit knows people—and He knows when they are ripe for the pickin’. So if we would just stay in tune with the Holy Spirit, He will show us who to approach and how to approach them.

It just goes back to the old adage—just be LED. The Holy Spirit is here to lead & guide us into all truth. Those who the sons of God, are called to be led by the Spirit of God. So when it comes to witnessing, being led by the Holy Spirit is key to being effective. By having our antenna up, we will be in the right place at the right time to share with the right person.

Secondly, after the Holy Spirit identifies the person or persons we are to share with, I believe a good rule of thumb is to start out the conversation with less “in your face” topics of conversation.

Now of course, a lot of this is determined by the time & situation. Sometimes you might need to move in a little quicker because time is of the essence. But if you have the time, I think it is better to start off the conversation with something that shows the person that you really do love them and care about them.

You see, there’s nothing worse than someone who just gets right into their sell. If you show actual care and concern for someone, I believe that most people will be more apt to hear what you want to tell them.

So, if you can, start off the conversation with something like— “Hey, is there anything I can pray with you about? Is there something you would like me to ask God for you?” Or you could simply show concern by asking them “How they are doing?” and make sure to tell them that you are not just asking to ask, but you really want to know.

The possibilities are limitless, but I’ve just found that a softer more loving approach is the best way to earn entrance into sharing the truth with people. And, in fact, if we are doing this right, the real reason we want to share the Gospel with them is because we do love them and want God’s best for them.

Thirdly, I would add that we need to listen in our heart to the Holy Spirit and pay attention to the pictures He is showing you.

What I mean by this is that when you and I have approached the person, we need to be listening to them, yes, but at the same time listening in our heart for things that the Holy Spirit would give us to share with them.

I’d also add that we need to pay attention to any pictures He might show us. It’s not always going to be words we hear from Him. Sometimes, we might see things in our hearts and while we cannot always make sense of what they mean, the person we are speaking to might be able to.

Many times, I have communed with the Holy Spirit in my heart while carrying on a conversation with someone. I’ll even ask Him questions in my mind, knowing that I need specifics from Him to better help the person I have in front of me.

I’ve had the Holy Spirit give me some really good things to share with people—some stuff that I never thought of before.

As you’ve heard me say already in the series, the Holy Spirit is “witnessing made fun!” And if we would just listen to Him, He can give us creative ways to evangelize and share the Gospel with others. He will do this through the various gifts that He gives us and through wisdom that was outside of ourselves.

And next, one very important thing to do when witnessing to someone is to keep it simple. You know … that old K.I.S.S. acronym … KEEP IT SIMPLE, SAINT (No, not stupid). Yes, we need to keep the Gospel simple, saints, by not overcomplicating the message, but simply sharing the things we have seen and the things we know.

You see, the devil will try and get us over into what we don’t know—he will do this by trying to convince us that we don’t know enough to share with others and he will also stir up those we might be sharing with to try and show us what we don’t know. Don’t fall prey to that.

Simply share the truth you do know, which is Jesus, His love for us, and your own personal testimony. As we’ve learned, these simple truths are what overcomes the devil in others.

YOUR TESTIMONY
Now when it comes to sharing our testimony, I believe there are some very important things we need to know …

For one, we need to realize that every born-again believer HAS a testimony. I’ve run into a lot of Christians that don’t believe that they really have a testimony because they maybe were brought up in a Christian home and never did some of the things that others did like coming out of a lifestyle of drug & alcohol abuse or being saved out of a life filled with committing what we consider to be the “big” sins, etc. No, the fact is, we all have a testimony, and all of our stories, which are different, can be used to help people who likewise have come from different backgrounds.

For example, if you are someone who might not have had a dramatic conversion, being raised in church and receiving the Lord at an early age, you should still have an “ah-ha” moment where your eyes were opened to know something about the Lord, right? Maybe it was when you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Maybe it was when you came to realize some truth like how your religious deeds do not justify you, how much God loves you, etc. It can even be when you received some healing or miracle in your life as a Christian. There are so many things we’ve experienced in our lives that can be used to help witness to others.

So I’d encourage everyone to think about what these things are. Go back and remember the various experiences you’ve had with the Lord and the things He’s done in you and revealed to you. In fact, you’ll be amazed at how much it encourages you to recount these things. Yes, the memory of all that the Lord has done in your life will stir you up in your soul!

But my point is that we all have a testimony to share with others. We might need to recall what these evidences of Jesus are in our lives, but they are there, nonetheless. Stir up the memory of these things, saints!

Now when we look at our testimony from this much broader scope, we ought to realize that we all have multiple testimonies we can share. So I believe a good practice is to write all of them down separately—perhaps in a journal. Yes, either put them on paper or save a file of them electronically.

One of the reasons I believe it is important to write our testimonies out is because it can stir up our minds to remember things. Not only that, but it can cement the memory of those things by simply writing or typing them.

Personally, this is how I discovered that God had gifted me to write as well as speak because as I began to put truths on paper, I realized how it flowed so easily. Perhaps you have a gift within you to write that hasn’t been discovered simply because you haven’t given it a try.

But another reason it is good to write out our testimonies is because it’s just good to be prepared.

You know, some of us are ramblers and most of the world has short attention spans. So that’s not a good combination. Therefore, it’s good to have our testimonies written out in a short and concise manner—no, not so that we can read it to others, but so we have them hidden in our hearts and, therefore, are prepared to share it quickly and efficiently.

Now we have our long, detailed testimony that we might get the opportunity to share with someone if we have an hour or so to sit down with them. But these times are few and far between when it comes to evangelism. What most of us will run into when trying to win people to Christ are the shorter five to fifteen minute time frame that we have to share our testimony. Those are the ones that we need to be differently prepared for.

So let me give you some tips on how to write out these shorter versions of your testimony:

1. Short background: Always be sure to start off with a brief general background of what it was like before. If you are giving the testimony of how you got saved, then share what your life was like before you met Jesus. If your testimony is of how the Lord healed you, then share what was physically wrong with you.  Now these are just general facts; no gross details are necessary. You can include things like – I had no purpose, no joy, was feeling unloved and lonely, etc.  But the explanation of the predicament is important to explain and share the thing you experienced.
2. What happened:    This is where you would state the events and circumstances that brought about the change.  It can include the steps you took, a Bible verse that you received a rhema (revelation) of, or if something miraculous happened.
3. The after effect:    This would be a brief description of how your life has changed, what a difference the Lord has made in your life, how what you have received has filled the deep needs you had beforehand. Perhaps you could share how you’d never change or go back to the old way of life. 

So basically what you are mapping out is the before, the after, and the line in between that divided between the before and after.

Now here are some other helpful hints to writing out your testimony – whether it’s the short or long version:

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you as you compile your testimony. He can bring things to your remembrance you never would have thought of. He can inspire your words and guide you into the truths you are to emphasize. In short, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in preparing it.
2. It’s not necessary to memorize the whole thing word for word because you don’t want to sound mechanical when sharing it, but memorizing key words and their order might be helpful so that you remain fluid in your delivery.
3. You might even consider beginning your testimony with an attention getting sentence or story.  Sometimes these “attention getters” are good tools to capturing their attention.
4. Avoid religious words, phrases, and jargon unless you are prepared to explain their meaning. Don’t assume the listener knows what you mean by terms such as sin, saved, etc.
5. Share about what happened to you, don’t preach about what should happen to them. Say “I” and “me,” not “you.” This helps keep the testimony warm and personal and less “preachy.”
6. Even though it is your story, be sure to glorify God the Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit because the Lord is the most important element of your testimony. You can do this by including less personal pronouns and more divine pronouns such as HE, HIM, HIS, etc.
7. Along those same lines, be sure to not glorify the sin, devil, etc. Some people’s testimonies spend far too much time talking about how bad their life was and then only spend a fraction of time sharing the change that occurred. This should be reversed. While it’s important to share the background to set up what happened, the “what happened” is more important in regard to why we are sharing our testimony with others.
8. Always include a “call to action” after sharing your testimony.  This might be you asking someone if they would like to experience what you just described or if they would be willing to come to a church meeting with you.

CONCLUSION
So, in review, my four tips for effective witnessing are this:

1. Keep your antenna up.
2. Start with less “in your face” conversation.
3. Listen and look for the Holy Spirit’s help when talking with people.
4. Keep it simple!

​If we will simply walk in these four simple guidelines for witnessing, I believe we can be very effective in testifying of and for the Lord.

REVIEW
So, we have been learning what it means to be the Lord’s witnesses and we have seen that this is a much bigger part of our purpose here on the earth than we’ve realized. In fact, aside from personal relationship with God, the reason we are here is to bear witness of the goodness & glory of God to the rest of God’s creation.

Most recently, we’ve started talking about some practical things regarding how to be a witness, and last week we talked about where we are called to be His witnesses.

We saw in Acts 1:8 that after Jesus said that His disciples would receive power to be His witnesses that He said it would be “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

So, we saw how these places are progressive: They were to start in Jerusalem, which was the city where they were currently at. Judea and Samaria were the regions surrounding their city. And to the ends of the earth obviously included everywhere beyond the previous two.

So, we looked at what these places symbolize to us:
First of all, Jerusalem being the place where they were currently at, shows us that God calls us to bear witness of Him where we live and with those close to us. And we saw how this can speak of many things:

Geographically speaking, our “Jerusalem” could describe our neighborhood, our county, or our own city. But our “Jerusalem” can also describe certain close people in our lives like our family, friends, co-workers, etc. So, in essence, our “Jerusalem” would be those close to us and where we are at. This is where we are first called to be His witnesses.

Now we saw that our “Judea and Samaria” symbolizes the places and people outside of where we live and those closest to us.

So geographically speaking, our “Judea” might be the state we reside in. So whatever we consider our “Jerusalem” to be, our “Judea” is the much more expansive part of it—like if we look at our “Jerusalem” as our immediate family, then our “Judea” would be our more far reaching family members like our uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. If we consider our “Jerusalem” our friends who are close to us, then our “Judea” would be those who are just outside of our inner circle of friends.

But we saw how our “Samaria” is different than our “Judea” in more ways than one because while our “Judea” are people who like us, our “Samaria” is not most people’s preferred place of evangelism.

Our “Samaria” is obvious: Geographically, it would be the places that are outside of our comfort zone. Like, for instance, to the southerner who was born & raised in Georgia, “Samaria” might be the northerner that talks a little differently and culturally, might be a little out of their comfort zone. But symbolically, the “Samaritan” might simply be the person who is different than you religiously, culturally, racially, sexually … the list can go on and on.

The bottom line is, Jesus was telling His disciples that they are not just called to be witnesses to those who are like them both physically and spiritually, but to those they don’t necessarily like, those who are different than them, etc.

Church, this is the Lord’s heart—that we possess His perfect love that goes beyond just loving our friends & family to loving the stranger & our enemies.  

And, last but not least, being witnesses in all of the earth doesn’t necessarily mean that we are all called to be world travelers. No, in this world we live in today, we are just one click of a button away from communicating with people all around the world.

So I see this as another way that we can be witnesses! We can utilize the technology that we’ve been blessed with today to share the Word with people! We can use email, social media platforms, YouTube, etc. to spread the Gospel and share what God has done in our lives!

We then looked at Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan and saw an excellent picture of how we are to love & witness to people! In this parable, Jesus perfectly illustrated how to love our neighbor as ourselves by what He did for us. And church, this is how we need to view & treat those first in our “Jerusalem,” then in our “Judea and Samaria,” and also everyone all around the world.

Jesus has said, “Go therefore!” Go into your Jerusalem! Go into your Judea and Samaria! Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and be His witness! Amen!

THE GOSPEL SANDALS
Now this week, I would like us to go over to Ephesians chapter 6 and take a look at a piece of our spiritual armor that echoes our call to be witnesses.

Now this chapter is basically devoted to the subject of spiritual warfare, and in it, the apostle Paul describes six pieces of armor that make up the whole armor of God. Well, one of these described by Paul are the shoes/sandals of the soldier—and that’s what I would like to talk to you about this week—the sandals of the soldier.
​
Let’s look at Ephesians 6:15 … In it, Paul said, “and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”
 
First of all, what is important to understand about this piece of the armor of God is that it is not just the sandals of peace, but it’s the preparation of the gospel of peace. This is important because the terminology makes a big difference in understanding what these sandals are.
 
You see, most people have taught how these are the shoes of peace and, therefore, the peace of God is one of our weapons. And while I certainly believe that peace is a virtue that we ought to use in combatting fear, worry, anxiety, etc., I don’t believe that this is the peace Paul was talking about here. No, the peace Paul is speaking of here is “the gospel of peace,” which is obviously talking about the good news we are called to share with the lost.
 
So, what is this gospel of peace? Well, we know that the word “gospel” means “good news,” right? Which is a very important point of what it is that we are sharing with those we witness to.
 
You see, the gospel is not that God hates sin, people are going to hell, and that there is a judgment to come. No, the gospel is the good news in light of these issues of sin, hell, and judgment. In other words, the sharing of the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—everything from His death, burial, and resurrection and all that these events provided for mankind. That’s the gospel!  
 
But Paul tells us specifically what he considered to be the gospel that we are plundering the kingdom of darkness with – It’s the good news of “peace.” So, what is this good news of peace? Well, I believe that Second Corinthians 5:18-21 best describes what the gospel of peace is …
 
Verse 18 starts off by stating that we have now been reconciled to God and now God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Verse 19 states that this word of reconciliation that we have been given the responsibility to share with others is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. 
 
So, we can see from this passage of Scripture that this “gospel of peace” is referring to the good news that we can have peace with God. In other words, it is the good news of reconciliation—that is, that God is not mad at mankind but wishes to impart His righteousness to them and is not imputing their trespasses to them. 
 
If you recall, this gospel of peace was what was proclaimed at Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:14 when the angels appeared to the shepherds singing, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” What were they declaring? It was that with the birth of the Messiah, God has sent the Way for peace between He and mankind! Glory to God in the highest indeed!
 
Therefore, when our sandals are shod with this gospel of peace, we are to be proclaiming the good news that there is a merciful, loving God who is willing to reconcile them to Himself just like the angels were. This is the good news of peace, and this is what our walk should consist of—sharing the gospel of reconciliation!
 
HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET
 
But what do our feet have to do with the gospel of peace? The Scriptures give us the answer to this question…
 
In both Isaiah 52:7 & Romans 10:15 the Bible tells us “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation.” Wow! We can see here a direct connection between our feet and preaching the good news of peace. Notice the phrases, “good news,” “peace,” and “glad tidings of good things” in connection with the feet of those who bring the message of salvation.
 
Therefore, it seems very obvious that Paul’s intent of identifying our shoes with the gospel of peace is to describe how our walk is meant to be a walk encompassed in bringing the good news of reconciliation to a lost and dying world. This is our complete mission on this earth—to bring others into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 
 
In fact, the words “bring glad tidings” come from the Greek word that is transliterated “evangelism.” Did you know that this word “evangelism” literally describes a good message, a good report, and good news? So I submit to you if there is no good news being proclaimed, then there is no evangelism going on.
 
You see, we weren’t given shoes so that we can survive. We were given shoes to bring others unto salvation. This is a major misconception about spiritual warfare. Many only identify our armor with what we need to bring ourselves victory, but our armor is meant primarily to accomplish the great commission. In other words, our armor is meant to propagate the gospel of the kingdom and not to merely experience God’s kingdom in our own little sphere of life.
 
Now, according to these Scriptures, proclaiming these things makes our feet beautiful. We need to make sure our feet are “beautiful” and not “unattractive” by preaching condemnation and judgment.
 
Now I am not saying that there is not a time to preach “fire and brimstone” messages, but the most consistently effective witness is to tell people God loves them and wants to give them a life full of fulfillment and purpose. The apostle Paul said that it is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. Unbelievers already have an inward intuition of an impending judgment (Romans 1:18-19).
 
Therefore, primarily preaching what the ungodly already know in their hearts does not offer the hope that they are looking for. In other words, they don’t need to hear more of what the problem is (i.e. sin & death, hell & judgment); they need to hear more of what the solution is to the problem. Yes, what they need to hear, and what is “attractive” to them, is the “good news” not the “bad news.” It is in this gospel of peace that righteousness is revealed (Romans 1:16-17).
 
Now again the sandals of a soldier are what he or she walks in, right? So regarding our spiritual armor, the sandals of the gospel of peace represent what our walk (or, lifestyle) should consist of. In other words, our life and conduct should be tied up with the sandals that are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
 
So this reiterates what we’ve already been learning about our witness: this is not just something that we do occasionally when there is initiative put forth to go witnessing. No, this is what our Christian “walk” is all about—being witnesses. Therefore, it’s not just something we do from time to time; it is who we are all the time.
 
So, what are these shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace? They represent a walk that consists of witnessing to others and sharing the good news- the gospel of peace!
 
So now that we have seen what the shoes of our armor represent, let’s look at what Paul specifically said regarding them and how they are to be walked in …
 
HAVING SHOD YOUR FEET
 
He begins by saying that we are to have “shod” our feet with this preparation of the gospel of peace…
 
The word “shod” comes from the Greek word hupodeomos which comes from the words hupo (meaning “under”) and deo (meaning “to bind”). Therefore, this word means to bind something very tightly under one’s feet. Of course, the shoes of the Roman soldier of those days looked more like sandals than what we think of nowadays when we think of shoes. Thus, the reason Paul describes to bind up tightly underfoot.
 
You see, our walk must be “wrapped up” in the preparation of the gospel of peace… All of us are well aware of what can happen if we have the laces of our shoes untied: We could trip up over them and also our shoes will not be as securely on our feet. Therefore, Paul uses this as an illustration to show us how, if the shoes of our armor are not securely fastened, we can lose our footing or stumble. What this means is that having our spiritual sandals tightly laced up is an important part to not stumbling around in our Christian walk.
 
If we were to have on all the armor of God except the shoes of the gospel of peace, how would that leave us susceptible to being defeated? It is because if we do not have our walks with a focus on reaching the lost then the enemy can and will confuse our purpose, destiny, and life. Without a lifestyle that is primarily focused on winning souls and sharing the good news with unbelievers, we will lose our sense of purpose and will “stumble” around. Church, that’s how one becomes “De feeted.” The high calling of every born-again believer is to be Christ’s witnesses and without a commitment to that calling, we are open to being confused and deceived by the enemy.
 
Oh, how many times have I heard Christians say, “I wish I knew what God has called me to do. I want to know His purpose for me.” Well, while I know what they are referring to (i.e. they want to know what their place is in the kingdom of God and what their specific calling is), I believe their “stumbling around” in finding their purpose is primarily because they have not “shod their feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” In other words, these people are trying to find their “ministry” but have missed the fact that their ministry is, first and foremost, “the ministry of reconciliation.” Therefore, if their walk in not “tied up in” sharing the good news with those they come in contact with, their walk will tend towards confusion and be void of purpose.
 
BE READY!
 
So, let me ask this question: what are we tying up our shoes of the gospel of peace with? Paul said that “having shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace!
 
The word “preparation” comes from the Greek word etoimasin which means “readiness or preparation.” So what Paul is saying is that the act of having our spiritual shoes shod with the gospel of peace is us being prepared or ready to share the gospel of peace throughout our Christian walk.
 
There are a couple of Scriptures that further describe this preparedness of sharing the good news … 
One is found in Second Timothy 4:2 which says, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” 
 
In this passage of Scripture, the word “preach” used here was from the Greek word that describes an imperial herald. The herald would go into the king’s throne room, receive the message from the king, and then go out on the balcony and deliver the message to the people. 
 
This is what we must do! We must spend time in the presence of the King of kings so that we can be full of the message to declare it to the people.
 
But this is one of the reasons so many “preachers/proclaimers” do not have beautiful feet. It is because they have never truly come to know their God. They have never spent time with Him to let Him teach them His true nature of love, goodness and peace. Therefore, they can only draw from the well that they have personally drank of.
 
Saints, we need to get into the presence of the King of kings and let Him teach us this “ministry of reconciliation.” Then, once we have received it for ourselves, we are able to proclaim it to others!
 
Then Paul says in Second Timothy 4:2, “Be ready…” Be ready to what?  Be ready to preach the Word!  The word “ready” was a Greek military term which meant “to stay at your post and not leave it.” We must always stay ready to share the gospel with people—that is, having our feet tied up tightly with the message of peace. 
 
He then says to “be ready in season and out of season.” This means we are to stay ready in the good times and we are to stay ready in the bad times.
 
What are the good times? An example of an “in-season” moment would be at church and someone comes to the altar to be prayed for. This would be an in-season moment because, hopefully, we would be prepared to minister to this person. Another example would be when we are specifically going to witness as a group somewhere. These are the “in season” times—the times when we are focused on being a witness and are in the position to witness. 
 
So, what are the “out of season” times? These would be the times where maybe it is inconvenient or is unplanned. For example, if we are in our  work place and a co-worker begins to open-up to you about their need for God. This is most certainly not a time or place where we are planning on sharing Christ with someone, but when these “out of season” opportunities present themselves, we must take advantage. Other examples of the “out of season” opportunities to share the good news may be when we are shopping at the grocery store, when we are at a sporting event, or when we are eating at a restaurant with family and friends. These are the “out of season” times—the times that we are not focused on and specifically prepared to witness. But it is during situations like this that God might lead us to tell someone about Jesus and we have to be ready to do so. 
 
Paul then said there are times we are to try and “convince” people of the truth, not argue with them.  There are times to “rebuke” people by calling them out on their sins.  There are times to “exhort” and encourage people in the Lord. We are to “convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering,” that is not getting quickly frustrated if they do not immediately say the “sinner’s prayer” with you, but bearing with them and giving the Holy Spirit time to work.  Sometimes it is just to be seed planting times. And, last but not least, Paul says we are to be this witness “with teaching”—that is, being able to explain and instruct in what the Scriptures say about Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection.
 
The other passage of Scripture that I want us to look at is First Peter 3:15… It says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
 
Notice that Peter, first of all, said, “Set the Lord God apart (i.e. sanctify) in your hearts.” This literally means, “Make sure God has His own place of prominence in your hearts.” Why? Because whatever or whoever has that set apart place in your heart is what is going to be talked about the most, thought about the most, and lived for the most. 
 
Then Peter went on to say…”and always be ready …” Again, God tells us to be “ready” to be a witness. That is why Peter first said to sanctify the Lord God (the Greek literally has “Christ as Lord”) in our hearts because we will be even more ready to talk about who we have in our hearts the most. 
 
Ways we can be and stay ready are to be mindful of our surroundings and seeing the places we go as harvest fields. Also, we can be ready by being well grounded in what we believe so that we can be more convincing through our understanding and our confidence. 
 
Peter concluded this verse by saying (always be ready) “to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” “Giving a defense to everyone who asks” shows us that sharing the Gospel is not just going to happen because we approach people, sometimes it will happen when people approach us! So, we must be ready for that reason as well.
 
“The hope” that they will question us about is our lifestyles that reflect our belief in the resurrection, the second coming of Jesus, heaven, no fear of death, etc. Hope is one of our greatest tools to attract people to the Lord because they are without hope (Eph. 2:12).
 
Just like Paul did in Second Timothy 4:2, Peter tells us how we are to witness (or, in what spirit) when he says, “with meekness and fear.” “Meekness” describes being gentle and considerate. This would mean that we are not the only one who gets a word in, not being overly opinionative, and being considerate of their feelings. “Fear” literally means to be respectful or reverential. This would describe respecting their views and being careful not to offend them or drive them away because you place great value on them. A good example is how we witness to our loved ones. We are very careful with them. Why? Because we are afraid of driving them further away. This is the same attitude of meekness and fear that we are to witness to others in.
 
So, from these two passages of Scripture we should be able to see the importance that the apostles placed on being ready to share the gospel of peace.
 
IN CONCLUSION
 
So, in conclusion, I can promise you that if you do not have your walk prepared to share the good news, you will be susceptible to the enemy’s deception. If you do not stay on ready to fulfill the great commission, you will stumble and fall into one of the devil’s most deceptive devices—apathy.
 
Stay ready! Be prepared! Keep your shoes on, always being ready to move forward and take ground for the kingdom of God! There is no greater fulfillment; there is no greater sense of purpose than when we seek first the kingdom of God by sharing the gospel of reconciliation!  

REVIEW
So, we are on a teaching series right now where we are learning about what it means to be the Lord’s witnesses. And like I’ve made the point of, this is a much bigger part of our calling in Christ than most Christians believe.

You see, we live in a day where believers are focused on discovering their identity and understand what Jesus has done for them. And while knowing these things is critical, it is also important to understand what is expected of us after we’ve received His love & grace—and that is, we are called to be witnesses for Him.

So, church, we need to recognize how big of a part that our witness plays in our life here on the earth. It’s the reason the Lord physically left us here even though we’ve been raised up together with Him. It’s our purpose!

So, we started off talking about the power to be a witness. In other words, we have looked at the promised Holy Spirit and seen the role He plays in making us effective witnesses for Christ. And we discovered that in order for us to be lights to the world, we have to have power to do so. And this power is that second work of grace that is available to us when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we are filled with Him.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve been looking at the word “witness” and we’ve learned that the Greek word used is martys, which is where we get our word “martyr” from.

So, when we think of the term “martyr”, we think of a person who gives their life for the Gospel—meaning, they are put to death because of their faith and/or the sharing of it. But the fact is, in the original sense of the word, a “martyr” was not just one who died for their faith; it is one who lived for their faith! Might we say that a witness—a martys—is one who is “dying to testify of Jesus Christ”?

Well, the fact is, we did die to become a witness because everyone who has called on the name of the Lord and been born again “died” to themselves and had their old man crucified in Him. Therefore, we have been born & created as His witnesses.

But our point was that a martys (mar-tose) is someone who is so committed to the cause of Christ that they are not only willing to die for what they believe but they will live their lives committed to bearing witness of what they believe.

So, are you a “martyr”? Am I a “martyr”? Are we someone who is willing to both live & die for our faith and are living our lives to testify of Him and make Him known? This is what I believe the mentality of the early church was and ought to be the same mind that is in us. Amen?

Now last week, we looked at Revelation 12:11 and learned how overcoming the devil in those he has blinded is done—by three things: 1. The blood of the Lamb 2. The word of our testimony 3. Not loving our lives to the death.

If you missed that one or any of the others for that matter, go back and listen to what the Lord has been teaching us about being His witnesses.

But again, our emphasis has been that of Acts 1:8—that we have received power to be Christ’s witnesses because of the Holy Spirit and therefore are called to testify of Him!

WHERE DO I START THEN?
So, the question many of us might have is – “Where do I start?” I mean, the immensity of the call can be so overwhelming because there are so many people out there who need Christ. Therefore, it can be intimidating to consider what the Lord expects out of us as His witnesses.

Well, I believe Jesus gave us a very practical directive to fulfilling His great commission of being Christ’s witnesses in Acts 1:8. In this verse, He said that His disciples would be His witnesses— “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

So, I want you to notice that the places the Lord called them to be His witnesses in was progressive: He started in Jerusalem, which (as you are about to see) was the city where they were currently at. Judea and Samaria were the regions surrounding their city. And to the ends of the earth obviously included everywhere beyond the previous two. So, let’s look at all three of these in detail…

First of all, notice that the first place that Jesus mentioned for His Jewish disciples to begin was the city where they were currently at—Jerusalem:

You see, we know this is where they would be because in Luke 24:49, Jesus told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. Therefore, when Jesus said in this verse that they would receive this power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them, He was referring to them being witnesses in the place they were doing the “tarrying”—thus, they would be in Jerusalem.

So let me say that it’s rather obvious that each one of us are not called to begin in the city of Jerusalem like Jesus’ disciples were; no, we are called to begin in our own “Jerusalem”—which is in the place where we are at. Therefore, geographically speaking, our “Jerusalem” could describe our neighborhood, our county, or our city—depending on how far reaching you want to make it.

You see, we are to find the places and opportunities around us in the “city” in which we live and take advantage of them. Yes, we need to actively be looking for the opportunities contained in our center of influence and comfort zone as much as we can! The possibilities are limitless. The key is just possessing a sense of urgency and an acute awareness of the opportunities around us!

Now I don’t believe we need to only look at this geographically either. Our “Jerusalem” can also describe certain people in our lives like our family, friends, co-workers, etc. So, in essence, our “Jerusalem” would be those close to us and where we are at. That’s where we are first called to be His witnesses.

What this teaches me is that one of the places that we need to put our focus on is our own household and in the household of God.

Have you ever noticed that from the Lord Jesus to the apostle Paul, they always went to the Jews first. Yes, when Paul went into a new city, he would go to the synagogue first. Jesus Himself was not called to the Gentiles but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is why Paul said in Romans 1:16 that this salvation is to the Jew first and then to the Greek. Yes, this describes those born Jewish, but it can also be applied to those who call themselves Christians and are churched.

We need never forget that—that the Lord has called us to be His witnesses within these church walls by loving one another. And this certainly applies to when we get together with other believers of other churches & denominations, which we are currently doing through Hope for the Heart of Georgia.     

This should be a practical lesson for us that when it comes to fulfilling the great commission we do not need to get bogged down by the immensity of the call and try to figure out where does the Lord want me to go. As Jesus said, we just need to begin where we are at! We need to first find the opportunities contained in our “Jerusalem” and be witnesses to those who are around us.

Then notice what Jesus told them next: He told them that they would go into all of Judea and Samaria. This was the surrounding country and region around the city that they lived in.

Now the fact that Jesus mentions Judea first is significant in the fact that Judea was one of the few regions of Israel and it was where the city of Jerusalem was located. So geographically speaking, our “Judea” might be the state we reside in. So whatever we consider our “Jerusalem” to be, our “Judea” is the much more expansive part of it—like if we look at our “Jerusalem” as our immediate family, then our “Judea” would be our more far reaching family members like our uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. If we consider our “Jerusalem” our friends who are close to us, then our “Judea” would be those who are just outside of our inner circle of friends. Do you get the point? Our “Judea” are those who are around us, which I’ll describe here in a moment …  

But our “Samaria” is different than our “Judea” in more ways than one.

You see, to the Jews, Samaria was not their preferred place of evangelism. There was a lot of religious prejudice there, so the Jews & Samaritans did not care much for each other.

So our “Samaria” is obvious: Geographically, it would be the places that are outside of our comfort zone. Like, for instance, to the southerner who was born & raised in Georgia, “Samaria” might be the northerner that talks a little differently and culturally, might be a little out of their comfort zone. But symbolically, the “Samaritan” might simply be the person who is different than you religiously, culturally, racially, sexually…the list can go on and on.

The bottom line is, Jesus was telling His disciples that they are not just called to be witnesses to those who are like them both physically and spiritually, but to those they don’t necessarily like, those who are different than them, etc.

Church, this is the Lord’s heart—that we possess His perfect love that goes beyond just loving our friends & family to loving the stranger & our enemies.  

Therefore, when we have done what we could do in our “Jerusalem”, we are to move on to “Judea and Samaria” which is symbolic of the places surrounding our circle of influence. This would obviously be the opportunities we are surrounded with and see in the “marketplace” or the place just simply outside of our comfort zone like Samaria was to the Jew.

You see, we all want to stay in our “Jerusalem’s” (i.e. the places where we are comfortable and that we are familiar with), but God has called us to eventually move out of our comfort zone and into a ministry that might stretch us. That would certainly be in the grocery store, the movie theatre, the airport, etc. So be aware of those “Samaria’s” that the Holy Spirit might desire to manifest Himself through you unto.

And, last but not least, He included all of the earth so that they were not confused about His intention to preach the gospel to every creature all around the world. So, this is a process to expand until we have covered the whole earth! Jesus has plans for His kingdom to spread like leaven until it fills the whole earth and this is only going to occur as you and I first claim our “Jerusalem’s” and then our “Judea’s and Samaria’s.”

Now going “to the end of the earth” is obviously not for everyone—for the Lord is not going to call all of us to go to the far reaches of the earth to share the gospel. Now some of us might be called to go outside of this nation to be His witnesses, but I would venture to say that most of us will not physically go beyond our “Judea / Samaria.” But here is what is awesome …

In this world we live in today where with just one click of a button you can communicate with people all around the world, we have an awesome opportunity to share the gospel and be a light from our own home!

Jesus taught us in Matthew 24:14 that this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world and then the end will come. And I believe the technology that we possess today is a big way that this is capable of happening. 

So I see this as another way that we can be witnesses! We can utilize the technology that we’ve been blessed with today to share the Word with people! We can use email, social media platforms, YouTube, etc. to spread the Gospel and share what God has done in our lives!

Of course, we know the devil has used these things for his purposes, but I believe God gave us the technology we have today to promote His agenda. So even though the devil has perverted it, using it for his purposes, that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us using it for cause of Christ. So, here’s the lesson in this: Let’s use it for His glory! Let’s take the tools God’s given us to be His witness to the ends of the earth!

I can’t tell you how many times I have posted a Scripture or an exhortation online on something like Facebook and get responses thanking me saying, “That was just for me today!” or “I needed to hear that.” Personally, I have a lisp when I refer to Facebook—To me, it’s faithbook! Lol.

I also use things like Facebook & YouTube to promote videos & teachings. I have over 10,000 people watching these things weekly. And that’s not just because I’m a pastor/minister. It’s simply because I’m utilizing the tools God has given to me, and figuring out the best ways to use them. 

What I’m saying is that there are a lot of ways to witness and testify of the glory & goodness of God to people that I might never see face to face. So we need to use those vehicles to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth.

The bottom line, church, is that we love people. If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we will be a great witness in our own Jerusalem, in our Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Having God’s love in our hearts for others is the key, accompanied by having the right perspective on eternity.

So I would like to end today by sharing with you what I consider to be a parable that perfectly illustrates what it means to be a witness in all of these places in our lives—the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN
This parable is one that Jesus taught to answer the question of who our neighbor is:
You see, the Lord said that one of the greatest commandments is to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. Well, the real question then that comes up is “Who is my neighbor?” If you recall, this was a question that a lawyer asked Jesus, seeking to justify himself.   

You see, what this religious dude was trying to do was determine where the line was. What I mean by that is he wanted specific requirements to having eternal life, so that he could do the bare minimum to “pass the class.” But Jesus did not let people do this—because it’s not just about following a bunch of rules and fulfilling certain criteria; it was about actually having it in our heart to love everyone—which ranged from those we like to those who are our enemies.

So Jesus gave this man a parable to answer his foolish question—what we call the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus began this parable in Luke 10:30 by saying, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

So this “certain man” was obviously a Jew because he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now let me quickly make the point that if our “neighbor” that we are called to witness to was strictly in Jerusalem, then it would be easy for someone to just pass on by this hurting man because, after all, he technically wasn’t in Jerusalem, right?

So this Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and something terrible happened—He “fell among thieves.” These thieves stripped him of his clothing, physically wounded him, and then left him there half dead. (All of these things pointing towards a far worse condition which we will get to in a moment).

Then, in verses 31-22, we are told— “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.”

So both of these religious Jews—a priest and a Levite—saw the man yet passed by on the other side.

Now why would they both have chosen to go around the man by passing by on the other side of the road? It’s because people know instinctively that if they passed by close to the man, that they should be the one to help this man. It’s kind of like how we might see something that might solicit compassion on television, and we change the channel real quick before it tugs on our heart strings. Well, these religious guys did not want to cross that line even though they saw that there was someone in need on the road.

But then Jesus said in verses 33-35, “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.” 

So Jesus used a Samaritan—a religiously and socially unacceptable person in the Jewish way of thinking—to represent to His Jewish audience the one who truly loved their neighbor. He did this to show that your “neighbor” is not just your friends and affiliates; your neighbor is also someone totally different from you. Therefore, Jesus’ point was that your neighbor is anyone you come across on your way regardless of the color of their skin, what side of the tracks they live on, their religious beliefs, etc. In other words, your “neighbor” is whoever you come into contact with and whoever is close to you at the time—not necessarily geographically, but also those whom you are aware of.

So, in verses 36-37, we see the culmination of Jesus’ point from the parable: He starts off by asking— “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” Then we see the lawyer answering him – “He who showed mercy on him.” So Jesus answered and said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Now here is another important point that I believe we need to see in this Parable of the Good Samaritan: It also paints a beautiful picture of our Savior Jesus Christ and His redemptive work …

Notice in verse 30 that this certain man (a type of mankind) fell among “thieves.” Satan is called the thief in John 10:10. Then notice the three things that the “thief” did to him:

1. He stripped him of his clothing
2. He wounded him
3. And he departed, leaving him half-dead.

The stripping him of his clothing can symbolize several things: It can refer to stripping mankind of his robe of righteousness and garments of salvation which he lost when he transgressed in the garden. It can also refer to the same instance when he was stripped of his authority over the earth. And, last but not least, his “clothing” can refer to his prosperity thereby leaving him in poverty (one third of the curse of the law).

The “wounding” of this man describes his physical affliction. This symbolizes our physical afflictions consisting of all of our sicknesses, diseases, pains and infirmities.

Then with the last effect of the thieves, we see that they departed him, leaving him half dead. You see, this is always what Satan and sin will do to you: They will entice you, and then when they are through destroying your life, they will forsake you. But notice that they left this man “half-dead.” This symbolizes the state that man was left in after his transgression—half dead—that is, left alive physically, but dead spiritually.

You see, these three things – being stripped of his clothing, being wounded, and being left half-dead – can symbolize the three-fold curse of the law—poverty, sickness, and death. Our run-in with sin left us cursed, but our rescue by our “good neighbor” left us blessed.

Yes, this “Good Samaritan” is a type of our Lord and Savior as He too likewise “journeyed” and came where the man was. This symbolizes Jesus journeying from heaven to earth, where we are (vs.33). When He saw us, He was moved with compassion. Then, in verses 34-35, we see what Jesus did for us …

Number one, He bandaged our spiritual and natural wounds! How? By pouring on oil and wine! The oil represents the indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon salvation. The wine represents the infilling of the Holy Spirit after salvation. He then put us on his animal which describes us taking His yoke upon ourselves which is easy and light. Then in verse 35, after doing so much to take care of us, He departed but promised He would come again!

CONCLUSION
Church, Jesus perfectly illustrated how to love our neighbor as ourselves by what He did for us. And church, this is how we need to view & treat those first in our “Jerusalem,” then in our “Judea and Samaria,” and also everyone all around the world. We need to recognize that we are called to be witnesses to those we pass in the grocery store, those we sit next to at our jobs, those who live in our neighborhood, etc. etc. etc. The majority of these people are that certain man who fell among thieves. They are stripped of the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness! They are wounded, damaged, sick, and infirmed! They are half-dead—being alive physically but dead spiritually!

Every day we pass someone in this condition, and the Lord has called us to love our neighbor by being His witnesses to everyone we come in contact with.
​
Jesus has said, “Go therefore!” Go into your Jerusalem! Go into your Judea and Samaria! Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and be His witness! Amen!

REVIEW
So, for the first four weeks of this series, we have spent our time looking at the power to be a witness. In other words, we have looked at the promised Holy Spirit and seen the role He plays in making us effective witnesses for Christ.

We saw how being filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit is the first step to becoming witnesses because in order for us to be lights to the world, we have to have power to do so. And this power is that second work of grace that is available to us when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

We then started looking at the various ministries that the Holy Spirit is meant to provide in us that make us better witnesses—ministries such as being the Convicter, Counselor, Intercessor, Strengthener, etc. We went through these different workings of the Holy Spirit and learned how there is a lot more that the Holy Spirit is willing to do in and through us that not only helps us in our own personal walks but helps in being a light to others.

Then over the past couple of weeks, we have looked at how the Holy Spirit also produces certain things in us that also contribute to our witness. In fact, these are two groups of nine things—the fruit of the Spirit & the gifts of the Spirit.

First of all, we talked about how the most important way the Holy Spirit helps us be Christ’s witnesses is by the fruit He produces in our lives. Yes, the love, joy, peace, etc. that we have manifested in our lives speak to and validate our faith to the world around us. Jesus taught us that we will know the nature of wolves by their fruit. Well, if that’s the case with those who are not Christians, then it will also be that way with us who are. Yes, the world will know us by our fruit. That’s right—these nine fruit being produced in our lives will cause people to look at these here branches and say, “Yup, that’s a Christian tree! And I want to eat the fruit of what this Christian tree is saying!”

Then last week, we looked at the role the gifts of the Spirit play in our witness. And we saw how the Holy Spirit desires to manifest these gifts in and through us when we are ministering to people, as a help to us and a sign to them.

We saw that the Greek word for “gifts” is where we get our English word “charisma” from. So, the gifts of the Spirit are the “charisma” of God, and we sure know that we could use some charisma to be more attractive to unbelievers, amen? And this charisma of the Spirit are these nine gifts He manifests in our lives.

So, we looked at all nine of them and saw how the vocal gifts (different kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and prophecy), the revelation gifts (word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits), and the power gifts (gifts of healings, working of miracles, and special faith) all can be used in our witness to the world.

But like it is with the fruit of the Spirit, these gifts have to be cultivated. These things the Holy Spirit is there to produce in our lives don’t come automatically. No, they must be planted & watered. The ground must be cultivated and tended. And we learned various ways that this occurs. 

DYING TO BE A WITNESS
So now that we have spent ample time talking about this power we have to be witnesses, let’s transition to specifically talking about the witnesses that He has made us.

Again, Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This word “witnesses” here comes from the Greek word martys, which is where we get our word “martyr” from.

Now when we think of the term “martyr”, we think of a person who gives their life for the Gospel—meaning, they are put to death because of their faith and/or the sharing of it. But the fact is, in the original sense of the word, a “martyr” was not just one who died for their faith; it is one who lived for their faith! Might we say that a witness—a martys—is one who is “dying to testify of Jesus Christ”?

Well, the fact is, we did die to become a witness because everyone who has called on the name of the Lord and been born again “died” to themselves and had their old man crucified in Him. Therefore, we have been born & created as His witnesses.

In fact, specifically what we have been called to do is be the Lord’s ministers—His ministers of reconciliation. This is the purpose of our witness. But my point is that this is who we have been made; not just what we ought to be. This is why Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will be witnesses.

If you recall, in Luke 24:44-49, we see how Jesus said something similar: These verses read— “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

So, notice in verse 48 that Jesus said that they were witnesses of these things. What things? Of how the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day as well as all of the other things that would come as a result of His death, burial, and resurrection.

But notice that upon experiencing these things, Jesus said that they “are witnesses.” Not “will be witnesses” but that they currently were witnesses. Now this does not mean that those who walked with Him on this earth are the only witnesses of Christ. No, any of us who experience Him, have our lives changed by Him, etc. are His witnesses too.

So being a witness is not something we become. It is something we are once we come to know the truth.

I just have run into a lot of Christians who believe that they are not good witnesses of Christ because they don’t always represent Him well and because they associate what they do with who they are. No, the fact is, you are a witness regardless of your behavior or actions.
And this is important to understand because when we see the importance of how we live our lives, this ought to change the way we live them.

You see, people watch us. When they know you are a professing Christian, they are watching to see if we are practicing what we profess. This is why so many Christians are accused of being hypocrites – because people are looking for any sign of hypocrisy.

This might not always be entirely fair, but it is what it is. Therefore, we ought to be very careful how we conduct ourselves before the world because we are witnessing to something whether we know it or not.  

But my point is that a martys (mar-tose) is someone who is so committed to the cause of Christ that they are not only willing to die for what they believe but they will live their lives committed to bearing witness of what they believe.

You see, I think this is something that we all need to look at in ourselves and determine—Do we really see ourselves as a witness? Are we so committed to the cause of Christ that we are living our lives with this purpose—to show Him to the world around us. This would range from our families, coworkers, etc., to even the strangers we run into in the marketplace.

So, are you a “martyr”? Am I a “martyr”? Are we someone who is willing to both live & die for our faith and are living our lives to testify of Him and make Him known? This is what I believe the mentality of the early church was and ought to be the same mind that is in us. Amen?

WHAT IS A WITNESS?
This leads me into my following point: When we hear this term “witness,” what do we think of? In today’s society, we generally use it to describe a person who is a “witness” in a court of law—meaning, they are someone who has been summoned to court to testify of something or provide evidence in a trial. These “witnesses” usually possess knowledge or proof that is relevant to the facts of a suit, and they convey their relevant knowledge as lay testimony or as expert testimony—depending on their experience and expertise.

So, a witness is, first of all, “called or summoned” to testify: Isn’t that the way we should see ourselves as witnesses of Christ? It’s not something that you & I should see as an option. No, it is required of us, and is not optional. As the apostle Paul told us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ …” (Second Corinthians 5:10). And I know that this is more referring to us being the ones on trial at the end of this age, but I bring this up because our witness is going to be a major part of what we will be judged by on the judgment seat of Christ.

So, we need to first of all know that we have been “summoned to court” and are called to be witnesses for Him. Secondly, we need to understand that it is our job to testify of something specific—something that we know, have seen, have experienced, etc.
So, when it comes to us, our job is to share what we know kind of like an expert witness where they come in with expertise in an area to help prove a case like a doctor, scientist, or something like that. What is it that you know? Well, I know God is good. I know His love is real. I know He has been faithful to me. Well, if that’s what I know, then that’s what I need to bear witness to.  

You know, a witness does not come to court to just share anything they want. They are asked specific questions and are expected to just state the facts. Likewise, we need to understand that when it comes to our witness, we need to share simply what a witness is called to share.

I’ve seen far too many Christians get over into trying to argue with unbelievers and try and prove their case. That is, in my opinion, leaving the witness stand and trying to be the Advocate. Church, this goes with everything, but specifically when it comes to witnessing, we need to let God do His job and just do ours.

Do you remember when I made the point that Jesus said that the Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment? Therefore, He is the Convicter, not us. We are the witnesses that need to stick to the witness stand and let the Holy Spirit do His job of the convicting. This is oftentimes us having a Messiah complex and being Holy Ghost Jr. That’s not how we get God results.

Church, we have to realize that we are not the Savior and let God be God. Most don’t realize they are doing this, but so many of us like to be so much in control of things that we try and make things happen. That’s where we get in trouble.

The Bible teaches us that it’s the humble that get more grace (James 4:6)—and if we want to get grace for leading people to Christ, we have to learn to take our hands off the wheel sometimes and learn to take a back seat, letting the Holy Spirit do His job.

So no, this trying to outwit the atheists and pushing the gospel on the agnostics doesn’t usually have the best results, and that’s because we are doing it in our own power & might. But what does the Bible say again? It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6). This is how people are going to come to Him—not through our programs, methods, arguments, etc.

You see, I believe the best way to get through to an unbeliever is by our testimony, because people cannot argue with a testimony. They might be able to argue Scripture. They might be able to argue science. They can argue a lot of things but one thing they cannot nullify is our testimony of how the Lord changed our lives. They either have to call us liars or acknowledge that there is some power that gave us a new life!

THE WITNESS THAT OVERCOMES
What does Revelation 12:11 say? “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

So, first of all, the apostle John said that we overcome the devil …

Did you know that overcoming is a big part of the faith? We have Scripture after Scripture in the New Testament that talks about us overcoming satan, the world, etc. And we need to see ourselves this way, saints! We are not “under-goers”; we are “over-comers.” In other words, we are not going under, we are coming over!

I’ll tell you, church, there is something to be said for having a heart, an attitude, and a mentality that sees ourselves as overcomers! That pervasive loser’s mentality of how bad it is, how bad I am, etc. is what I would call “stinkin’ thinkin’.” We need to have the mentality that we are victors, more than conquerors, and always triumphant! Amen?

Well, guess what else this overcoming satan includes? It includes the impact we can have on the lost—that is, the devil’s deception, the blinding of this world’s eyes, etc.

You know, the Bible teaches us that this world lies under the power of the devil.

Second Corinthians 4:4 talks about how the devil has blinded unbelievers. It says, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

But it wasn’t just them; this was our condition as well!

Ephesians 2:1-4 teaches us how we all once were under the sway of satan, being dead in our trespasses and sins, just living our lives according to the course of this world and being driven by the prince of the power of the air. This spirit that is leading & driving the lost is working in & through our flesh.

So, my point is that when it comes to us being a witness to the unbeliever, there is a certain sense of needing to overcome the power of the devil in them that needs to occur.

And church, here me on this … One of the reasons it is important to understand this is because some live under the delusion that if we can just have a good enough argument, build a strong enough case, or have the best programs in place that we can convince unbelievers of the truth.

And while I certainly believe it’s important that we have all these I’s dotted and all these T’s crossed, it’s more important that we don’t just wage this warfare carnally—for as the apostle Paul said in Second Corinthians 10:3-5, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and bringing into captivity every high thing to the obedience of Christ. 

You see, all of those things are the strongholds, imaginations, high things that satan as erected in people’s hearts & minds. So, they are not going to come down by us just doing the natural/carnal things right; it will require spiritual weapons of warfare—these things that are mighty through God! Amen?  

And I believe that the weapons of our warfare for pulling down the strongholds and opening the eyes of others are found in the rest of Revelation 12:11. John goes on to say the devil was overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and that we do not love our lives to the death.

So, the first thing we see that overcomes that blindness in unbelievers is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I see the blood of the Lamb as the evidence that we point to as witnesses! So, from the witness stand, we are saying this thing right here is the power of God unto salvation! This is how everything was made possible! If it wasn’t for the blood of Jesus, none of us would be able to be free from the power of sin. And this is why we will for all eternity celebrate the Lamb and His shed blood, throwing our crowns at His feet, saying, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise! For it is by Your blood that everything good has been made possible!” Amen!

But what seems to be happening in most of the church? We are turning away from what God gave us as evidence and are trying to win people to Christ through the other “seeker sensitive” formulas.

Church, there are some things that we must never move on from, and one of those things is the blood of Jesus. You see, this world is trying to get us to erase things that they deem offensive, such as terms like the blood of Jesus, repentance from sin, etc. But these cornerstones to our faith are the power of the gospel. We don’t need to talk less about the blood of Jesus; we need to talk more about the power of His blood! We don’t need to skirt the subject of sin; we need to call evil, “evil” and good, “good.” There are some things that the spirit of this world is trying to take away from us to disarm the gospel, but I am not ashamed of the true gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes! Glory to God! 

So, we need to always celebrate the blood and we need to continue pleading the blood! For His blood speaks better things than that of Abel’s—wherein it cried out for justice, Jesus’ blood cries out justification! Amen!

But notice what comes next—it’s the word of our testimony! So now that the evidence & “power” of the case has been provided, the word of our testimony comes into play—and this is one of the big things that “overcomes” the devil’s sway and power over someone’s life—because as we’ve seen, this is what provides the opportunity for a conviction.

But notice that it’s not just our testimony itself that enables us to overcome; it’s the “word” of our testimony: This word is logos which describes that it’s not just us having a testimony but us sharing that testimony. In other words, our words hold power and by us putting a voice to what God has done for us in our lives, we break the power of satan.

I mean, if we will be held accountable for every idle word we speak as Jesus taught us, that means that all of our words are being recorded and are significant. Therefore, when we share the things that God has done in our lives, there is something powerful that takes place! Yes, the simple utterance of what God has done for us can break the strongest of strongholds, penetrate the hardest of hearts, and shed light on the darkest darkness. That’s the power of putting a voice to our testimony!

Finally, the part of Revelation 12:11 that most people tend to leave off is the last part— “and they did not love their lives to the death.”

You see, it’s not just the power of the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony that overcomes the devil; no, it is also us not loving our own lives so much. Specifically, what these were celebrated for was that they did love their lives “to the death”—meaning, they were willing to die for their faith (and many of them did).

So, the key we are seeing here is that the power to overcome is found in not loving ourselves and not fearing others. Did you know that these are probably two of the top things that keep people from sharing their faith with others?

Yes, loving our own lives will keep one from being the kind of witness the Lord expects us to be because we don’t want to be rejected, we want people to like us, we don’t like conflict, we care about how we look, etc., etc., etc. These are all things that are symptomatic of loving our own lives in an unhealthy way. 

The fearing others & death is similar to loving our lives: Many believers don’t share their testimony because they are afraid of messing up, embarrassing themselves, losing friends, people talking about them, etc.

So, I believe a big part of us being effective witnesses for Christ and overcoming the devil is found in us loving others souls more than we do our own life and not allowing the fear of man to have place in us. Amen?

This is really one of the reasons why some people are terrified of public speaking and things like that. It’s because we care too much about what other people think about us. What if we had more love for the one we were sharing with than we did for ourselves? What if our concern was genuinely for their soul more than it was for what they are thinking about us?

Church, I believe if Christ’s love is shed abroad in our hearts and we allow that love for the lost to spring forth, our effectiveness for the kingdom of God will reach the ceiling! And then, if we remove any & all the fear of man, death, etc. from our hearts, then it will go through the roof!  

So, a great way to pray would be something like— “Lord, help me to love the lost like you do. Take the love of my own life out of me and put in me a love for others.” Also, “Father, help me to have zero fear of man in my heart. I desire only the fear of You in my heart so that nothing keeps me from sharing your love with others. I want to have a heart that’s willing to die for you.” 

Which bring us full circle back to the basic meaning of the word “witnesses” …

We saw how this word “witnesses” comes from the word where we get our English term “martyr” from. So, in essence, a witness is someone who does not love their lives to the death. In other words, they are willing to do anything to testify of Christ, whether that means they are rejected or even might be put to death for their faith.

CONCLUSION
Church, I believe this is a mentality that we must adopt if we are going to be His witnesses: We cannot fear man, rejection, or persecution. We cannot love our own lives so much. No, we must love the Lord and our neighbor so much that we are not worried about what they might think or how they might reject us.

So, I think a good lesson to take from this today is that the Lord would have us to die to be His witnesses—that is, that He wants us to die to ourselves, our passions, wants, dreams. And He desires for us to let people know what we know, what we’ve seen, and what we’ve heard. We share with them the truth of the gospel and our testimony of how it has changed us, and let the Holy Spirit do the work in them.

This is how we overcome the devil’s deception in people, church. It’s not through a bunch of smoke & mirrors, formulas & programs, or arguments & debates; the way we see people come to Christ is the simple sharing of the truth of gospel—things like the blood of Jesus, the necessity of repentance, the love of God, etc. It includes the sharing of our testimony—which is what God has done in us, what we’ve experienced, etc. Finally, it is enveloped in the genuine love of others more than our own life while having no fear of man. These three things work together for the Holy Spirit to do what He does best—drawing sinners to repentance. Amen.

REVIEW
So, for the past few weeks, we have been on a new series of teachings on how to be witnesses for the Lord.

We have started out talking about the power to be witnesses because as Jesus taught us in Acts 1:8, before we can be His witnesses in our own proverbial Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, we have to receive the promise of power in the person of the Holy Spirit.

You see, I can have a lamp, but if I don’t have any power, the lamp does me no good because it needs to be plugged into a source of power that enables it to do what it was designed to do. Likewise, in order for our light to shine to this dark & perverse generation, we have to be plugged into the power of God—and this is the Holy Spirit.

We then learned how having the Holy Spirit empowering us to be a quality witness for Jesus works together with the various ministries He provides, such as His calling to convict, counsel, comfort, strengthen, intercede, etc. We went through these different things and learned how there is a lot more that the Holy Spirit is willing to do in and through us that not only helps us in our own personal walks but helps in being a light to others.

Now last week, we began looking at arguably the most important way that the Holy Spirit helps us to be Christ’s witnesses—through His fruit & His gifts.

You see, the New Testament reveals to us that there are two sets of nine things that the Holy Spirit performs in and through our lives, and these play a big role in our ability to effectively be Christ’s witnesses.

First of all, we talked about how the most important way the Holy Spirit helps us be Christ’s witnesses is by the fruit He produces in our lives. That’s why it is called the fruit of the Spirit. This means that these nine fruits are what the Holy Spirit is meant to produce in our lives, which are a big part of our witness. Therefore, the love, joy, peace, etc. that we have manifested in our lives speak to and validate our faith to the world around us. 

Didn’t Jesus teach us that we will know the nature of wolves by their fruit? Well, if that’s the case with those who are not Christians, then it will also be that way with us who are. Yes, the world will know us by our fruit.

You see, Jesus taught us that the world will know that we are His disciples by our love for one another (See John 13:35)? Well, that’s fruit #1, isn’t it? And what Jesus was saying here is that the world isn’t going to necessarily know we are Christians because we have a t-shirt or a bumper sticker; it’s by how we love!

But we also saw that love isn’t the only fruit that testifies of Him. No, the rest of the fruit also witness of God’s goodness.  

Speaking of goodness, what does the Bible teach us leads men to repentance? It is the goodness of God (See Romans 2:4). So how do you figure this works? Is God personally showing forth His goodness from heaven so that unbelievers are repenting hand over fist? No, that’s not how it works. Although He is good, and he makes the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust, it’s the fruit of His goodness in the lives of His children that will draw men to repentance. Amen?  

Yes, these nine fruit being produced in our lives will cause people to look at these here branches and say, “Yup, that’s a Christian tree! And that’s the tree I want to eat from!”
So we looked then at how this fruit of the Spirit is produced in our lives, so if you missed that, I’d highly recommend going back and listening to that message because, nothing makes us better witnesses than us being fruitful Christians. Amen?

SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Now although producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is the best witness we can have, there is something else that the Holy Spirit is there to produce in us that also helps us witness for Christ, and that is His gifts!

Yes, I trust that most of you have heard of these things, but the vast majority of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has little to no revelation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus the exhortation given by Paul in First Corinthians 12:1 to not be ignorant of them has come to pass in the Body of Christ, because it’s a small percentage of us that have a good knowledge & understanding of the Spirit’s gifts. But I am here to tell you today that these gifts described to us in First Corinthians chapter 12 are still a very real part of the church today! On top of that, they are a big part of our witness!

Now, first of all, I want to point out something about the phrase “spiritual gifts” in First Corinthians 12:1—and that is, how the word “gifts” is in italics. That means that it was added by the translators and was not in the original Greek manuscript. However, in this case, I believe it was added correctly because spiritual gifts is the obvious context of this chapter. But I believe there is an important truth that can be seen from this point:

Since the Greek word for “gifts” (Greek charisma) was not used by Paul here, the more literal translation would be— “spirituals” (it is plural in the Greek). Therefore, a good translation would be— “spiritual things.”

Now there is an important principle to understand in this because, although the gifts of the Spirit are dealt with in the following verses, Paul was instructing this church (and the universal Church as a whole) of spiritual things and their proper order and importance in the Church. So, if we desire to be “spiritual,” then these things mentioned in First Corinthians chapter 12 should be a part of our life as well. In other words, the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows on us are simply things that go into a life of true spirituality. Therefore, one cannot say— “Well, I am walking in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and living a truly spiritual life,”—and there be a total absence of the gifts of the Spirit manifested in their life. No, these charismatic gifts are to be a normal part of a Christian’s everyday walk! Amen.

My purpose for bringing this out is because of the “denominational” mentality in most of the modern-day Church where there are certain groups of Christians and then there are the “charismatic Christians.” No, sweetheart, all Christians of all churches can and should operate in the “charisma” of the Holy Spirit.

Now I am not saying this mass of Christians who do not operate in the gifts or even believe that the gifts of the Spirit are for us today are not going to heaven. Heck, it might get them there quicker!  What I am saying, however, is operating in the gifts of the Spirit is available to every born-again Christian and if we want to truly be a spiritual man or woman of God, then the gifts are to be a regular part of that spiritual walk.

But some avoid this subject like the plague because they see “spiritual things” as “spooky things.” In other words, some think that if you are spiritual then you are weird and peculiar. No, even though the Bible teaches that we are His own “peculiar” people, the expression does not mean that we are weird, strange, or odd. You can be absolutely “spiritual” and have the same personality you had, and good character to boot.

Actually, in First Peter 2:9, the word translated “peculiar” literally just meant a people who have been purchased, obtained, and possessed by God. So, no, it does not mean that we are strange; it just means that we have been peculiarly obtained as God’s own purchased possession. The Lord was the One who was peculiar—choosing a peculiar group of people for His own prized possession.

So, now we have no Scriptural precedence for believing a spiritual Christian is an odd or spooky Christian! To be “spiritual” is to simply be different—but not different in personality; different in fruit! We are different in that we can lay down and get a good night’s rest in a den of lions through the peace that passes all understanding and that we can sing at midnight in prison through joy unspeakable and full of glory. We are different in that our circumstances do not mold us, but we are the same no matter what life throws at us and we change our circumstances by God’s Word. This is what it means to be spiritual. It is the opposite of being carnal, which is to be led by our senses and moved by our feelings and circumstances. To be spiritual is to be full of the Spirit and to let His fruit manifest in our lives.

You see, some believe that if we are too spiritual that we won’t be good witnesses because we won’t be relatable to the world. But I don’t believe that—I believe that if we walk in the Spirit, producing His fruit & His gifts, then we will be better witnesses. Sure, there will be those who will ridicule and slander us for these manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean we are doing something wrong. In fact, it probably means we are doing something right!

Church, the world needs us to be different! They need to see true spirituality by seeing the power & life of God in us! This is what will draw people to Him.

YOU GOT CHARISMA!
Along these lines, did you know that the Greek word that Paul used for these “gifts” in these verses is the word where we get our English word “charisma” from. So the gifts of the Spirit are the “charisma” of God. 

Now when we use the word “charisma” in our modern-day language, we use it to describe someone who has flare and a gift to influence and attract people’s admiration. It is often tied to people in positions of leadership—specifically because their magnetism is what launched them into that position.

Well, the truth is, if you have the Holy Spirit, then you have “charisma!” Yes, if the Holy Ghost resides in your heart, then all of the gifts that He gives are in you too! Amen? So, guess what that means? It means that you are gifted! It means that you’ve got flare! Yes, you’ve got charisma! All of which should make you attractive to the world.

But one of the ways the Holy Spirit gives us charisma before the world is through these gifts He provides. And church, these gifts are available to all those who will earnestly desire them! Yes, we can all see ourselves used in these nine gifts as we seek after and press into them in our lives.

Church, the truth is, if you have the Holy Spirit, then you have “charisma!” Yes, if the Holy Ghost resides in your heart, then all of the gifts that He gives are in you too! Amen? So, guess what that means? It means that you are gifted! It means that you’ve got flare! Yes, you’ve got charisma! Amen! 

So, what we did then was we looked at the various times that this Greek word charisma is used in the New Testament and saw that the common usage is that we’ve already got it! Therefore, the point that the Lord was making last week is that we do not need to have the mentality that we are trying to get these gifts of the Holy Spirit. No, we’ve already got them—for if we already have the Holy Spirit, then we have the gifts that He gives. Amen?

Church, this is when I believe the gifts will begin to flow like rivers of living waters—when we tear down the dam of unbelief, complacency, and indifference. Let us believe God when He says that we have charisma and walk in that favor today! Amen! 

THREE GROUPS OF THREE
So let’s quickly look at these 9 gifts of the Spirit and see how they can be used in being witnesses:

Now these nine gifts of the Spirit can conveniently be broken down into three groups of three:

1. THE VOCAL GIFTS (Different Kinds of Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, & Prophecy) *These 3 “say” something*
2. THE REVELATION GIFTS (Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, & Discerning of Spirits) *These 3 “know” something*
3. THE POWER GIFTS (Working of Miracles, Gifts of Healings, & Faith) *These 3 “do” something*

THE VOCAL GIFTS
Let’s start with the three vocal gifts …

These first two—the different kinds of tongues & the interpretation of the tongues—work together in a lot of ways: We see how tongues can be us speaking in another known language for the purpose of ministering to people who speak that language. In fact, this was how the church got started in Acts chapter two—because when they were all filled with the Holy Spirit in the upper room, the people outside heard them speaking in their own native languages, which was obviously a testimony to them to listen to what Peter had to say.

But as Paul said, there are different kinds of tongues—and another kind of tongue is not the tongues of men, but the tongues of angels. In other words, the Holy Spirit gifts us with a heavenly prayer language that speaks directly to God and edifies us in the process. And do you figure if we get “edified” that will make us a better witness? I guarantee you it will. Yes, building ourselves up on our most holy faith will charge us up to be a better witness than we ever could have been in ourselves. For one, it will get us on the same frequency with the Holy Spirit, which will help the flow in witnessing to others.  

Now the gift of the interpretation of tongues works together with the gift of tongues in that it allows us to supernaturally know what those other tongues were communicating. This can be helpful in witnessing because it can provide us with insight that will assist in sharing with others.

Now this next vocal gift—the gift of prophecy—certainly helps in being a good witness …
My definition for “prophecy” is that it’s a supernatural utterance given to us in a known language (which corresponds to tongues which are a supernatural utterance given to us in an unknown language).  

And what is this supernatural utterance meant to do? Well, Paul said prophecy was meant to provide edification, exhortation, and comfort to people (First Corinthians 14:3). So, can’t you see how this would be helpful in regards to our witness? Yes, having this gift in operation when speaking into people’s lives is tremendously helpful in building them up, encouraging them, and bringing the comfort of the Holy Spirit into their lives—and it does this by supernaturally giving us the words to speak and by showing us pictures that we convey to them that “read their mail.”

So these vocal gifts can and should be used in our witnessing to others by using our mouths to share the goodness & love of God with others. But what about those revelation gifts—the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits?

THE REVELATION GIFTS
Well, it’s important to understand how these three gifts of the Spirit help us to know something, which comes in handy when you have someone in front of you that you might know nothing about.

You see, when we are witnessing to someone, there are obviously going to be times where we have no idea of who that person is, what they have gone through in the past, or what they are currently going through. Well, thank God for the Holy Ghost and these three revelation gifts that He gives us—for they will give us information we need to be able to minister to them more effectively.

Now the terminology is important here: You will hear believers saying that they have the “gift of knowledge” or the “gift of wisdom.” But these gifts are not just called knowledge and wisdom; they are called the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom.

So, these gifts of the Spirit of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are not just natural wisdom or knowledge that one can accumulate. No, they are a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom that are given supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.

So, what does this mean? Well, first of all, we need to understand that they are both a reference to the knowledge and wisdom of God: now we know that God is omniscient. This means that He knows everything. He is all-knowing. We also know that God possesses all wisdom as well. True wisdom comes from God. The Scriptures say specifically that God alone is wise. So, when Paul says that the Spirit will give us the gifts of a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom, this means that He will give us, of the complete knowledge and total wisdom that He possesses, a word of that knowledge and a word of that wisdom. Amen.

A great example of this is with the word of knowledge: The Greek word used for “knowledge” here is the word gnosis. This word describes a complete or thorough understanding of a subject.

We see this word used in Ephesians 3:19 in reference to Paul’s prayer for this church to know the love of Christ. He prayed in the first half of this verse that we would know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.

This seems like an impossible statement, does it not? How can you know something that passes knowledge? Well, the key to understanding this is in understanding the difference between the Greek words for “know” and “knowledge.” The word “know” comes from the Greek word ginosko which literally describes an experiential knowledge. Ginosko was more of a broad, general knowledge than the word that was used for “knowledge” here. Can you guess what the Greek word Paul used for “knowledge” here is? You guessed it! It is the same word gnosis as he used in the word of “knowledge.”

So, when Paul prayed that these saints would know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, he was praying that they would experience the love of Christ that could never be fully comprehended. In other words, He wanted them to taste in their minds just a bite of the love of God that they could never fill themselves up on. In essence, we could say that Paul was praying for them to have a word of knowledge concerning the love of Christ because he was saying, “Hey guys, you’ll never be able to completely exhaust the knowledge of God’s love, but I’m praying that you’ll get a word of the knowledge of His love!” In other words, he was praying that they would get a word of that knowledge. He was praying that they would taste and see that the Lord is love and He is good.

And that is exactly what the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are. They are simply “words” that are given to us in specific and strategic moments that originate from the complete knowledge and understanding of the all-knowing and the alone wise Creator of all things.

And, no, I am not referring to “word” as in He only gives us one actual word, but “word” as in He gives us a communicated thought or a statement.

The Greek word used for “word” in both of these gifts is the Greek word logos which describes “a transmission of thought, a word of explanation, an utterance, a divine revelation; a statement, instruction, or oracle. It is a divine promise, a divine doctrine, or a divine declaration.”

So, when we see this word logos being used, we need to understand that it is more than just one actual word. It is the transmission of a thought from the mind of God. For example, the Bible is referred to as the living and powerful Logos of God (Hebrews 4:12). Well, the Bible is not all of that which God knows. It is not all the history of the human race. You know, there was likely a lot left out between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2. There were over 2,400 years of human history in those 50 chapters of Genesis. The Bible is also not all the truth and wisdom that there is in the world. It does not hold all the answers to every problem that anyone will ever have. But do you know what the Bible is? It is all of the knowledge and wisdom that we need concerning salvation and concerning knowing who God is and what His will is. In essence, the Bible is a “word of knowledge” and a “word of wisdom.” It is the Living Logos!      

So, to summarize, we can conclude that these gifts of the Spirit called “the word of knowledge” and “the word of wisdom” are simply small fragments of God’s vast knowledge and wisdom that are communicated to us as the Spirit wills and for the edification of the body of Christ.  

Now the word of knowledge is a fact from the past or present, while the word of wisdom is direction for the present or future. In other words, the word of knowledge is a supernaturally revealed piece of information that either has happened or is happening and the word of wisdom is the direction or guidance that is supernaturally revealed to us for what is happening or what will happen down the road.

Well, don’t you see how these two gifts can come in handy when witnessing with others?

Say the Holy Spirit shows me how a person was abused as a child and I share that with them, I can guarantee you that this person will be a little more open to what else I have to tell them. And then, I end up telling them how I know this and that the One who let me know loves them very much and has healing available for them. Then He gives me a word of wisdom of what this person needs to do to get that healing. Wow! Now that’s witnessing made fun, church—and it’s available to us!

Now notice that the other revelation gift is not called “the gift of discernment.” You will hear this phrase thrown around many Christian circles, but it is important to realize that the Bible makes no mention of a “gift of discernment.” Sure, there is a certain degree of spiritual discernment that every believer has the ability to walk in, where the Holy Spirit shows us things, but my point is that there is no mention in the Scriptures regarding a gift of the Spirit called “the gift of discernment.”

What many refer to as a gift of discernment that they possess is really just a knack for criticism and fault finding. They like to spiritualize their vice by saying, in their arrogance, that it is a gift that God gave them. No, friends, no one has a gift of discernment, but some do operate in the gift of the discerning of spirits.

So, what is this gift of the Spirit? Well, notice the terminology used in the New King James version: Paul called it “the discerning of spirits.” Most other translations say that this gift is the supernatural ability to “distinguish between spirits.” Therefore, the discerning of spirits is the supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit which enables us to have insight into the spirit realm and distinguish between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God.

You see, the word “discerning” comes from the Greek word diakrisis which means to “distinguish, differentiate, or pass judgment.” But, like we said, it is not a gift that gives one the ability to pass judgment on people. No, it is the ability to be able to correctly judge something behind the curtain of the spiritual realm, which could certainly be a spirit motivating and inspiring a person. 

Church, we need to understand that the spiritual realm is more real than this physical realm that we live in and can make contact with our five physical senses. In fact, God created the natural world through the spiritual world. So, we should be able to accept this truth that the spirit world is more real than the natural, because the spirit world is the parenting force.

But my point is that the spirit world is very real and, in this world, there are angels in abundance and demons on every corner. Someone might say, “Pastor, you are not one of those who see a demon behind every bush, are you?” No, I’m not—I see five or six demons behind every bush. In fact, if our eyes were to be opened to see clearly into the spirit realm, our jaw would likely hit the floor. We would see the most giant and majestic angels encamped around us, but we would also see the most ugly and vile demons as well.

This is the real world out there, saints—and God has given us the ability through this gift of the Spirit to perceive these spirits in specific situations.

You see, this gift is important in order to set people free. We need this gift in order to identify the cause of many spiritual, emotional, and physical problems that people we are witnessing to experience so that we can get them delivered.

For instance, this gift is extremely useful in the area of deliverance and healing. Sometimes in these situations, it is extremely important that we are able to discern a specific spirit that is causing their afflictions so that we can speak to the specific mountain that is keeping them in bondage. I am convinced that the reason that some stay sick or stay afflicted is because the one doing the ministering has not correctly identified the root cause and are praying amiss and are taking authority over the wrong things. Friends, we need this gift in order to distinguish what we are specifically taking authority over so that we can have better results when we pray.

You see, sometimes the person might be experiencing panic attacks or extreme anxiety because there is a spirit of fear that has attached itself to them. Sometimes a person might be in bondage to a certain lust of the flesh because they are bound by a spirit of lust. This is why it is so important to be able to discern the activity of a spirit in a person’s life. It is because in both of these situations the world and the church have their own ideas as to what the person is dealing with. For instance, with the anxiety, the world will just immediately label the person with some mental medical condition and try to band-aid the problem with medicine. Well, there might be a medical condition involved because people can certainly be sick mentally and emotionally like they are sick physically but sometimes people’s condition is a result of demonic activity. Likewise, in the church, if a person is dealing with a bondage to any lust of the flesh, we immediately say the problem is their flesh. But we need to understand that sometimes a spirit can be involved.  Sometimes the problem can be an unclean spirit that is causing the unclean lusts.

So we need this gift of the discerning of spirits to be able to truly help those we are witnessing to, saints!

THE POWER GIFTS
Now we’ve already seen how the promised Holy Spirit is the promise of power. And this final category of gifts certainly falls under this idea of “power”—for these gifts are “the working of miracles, the gifts of healings, and the gift of faith.”

Let’s look at the “gifts of healings” first: Notice that this gift is not called the “gift of healing” but rather “gifts of healings.” In other words, the word “gifts” is plural and the word “healings” is plural. So, what does this tell us? It tells us the same thing that the gift of “diversities of tongues” told us—that there are different kinds of gifts of healings.

You see, Paul could have called this gift—the gift (singular) of healings—and that would mean that there is a gift that imparts different kinds of healings. And that is partly true. Paul could have also called this gift—the gifts of healing (singular)—and that would have meant that there are different kinds of gifts that bring healing to people. And that would have also been part of the truth of what this gift of the Spirit is.

But the apostle Paul said that this gift of the Spirit is “the gift(s) of healing(s)” (i.e. multiple gifts of different kinds of healings). In other words, this means that Paul is describing different kinds of gifts of different kinds of healings.

You see, the same principle exists with this gift as it did with tongues. While there are the tongues that every Spirit-filled believer can operate in, there are also other kinds of tongues that only certain parts of the Body can operate in. Likewise, there are different gifts of healings that are given. There is the gift given to all believers where we simply lay hands on the sick and see them recover and then there are the other gifts of healings where people are healed in other ways supernaturally.

So, let me explain what this means: It means that just as there are different kinds of tongues that the Holy Spirit gives us—some for one purpose and others for another purpose—there are different kinds of gifts of healings that are used for various purposes.  For example, some people may have more success with healing cases of bad backs, where another may have a stronger anointing to heal cancer cases. In other words, the Lord will sometimes specialize on the kinds of healings He will want to do through an individual believer.

So we need this gift operating through us in our witness because how many of you know that we don’t need to just be coming with words when sharing the gospel with people; we need to bring healing to them in order to ring the dinner bell!   

What about the “working of miracles”? The “working of miracles” is a supernatural intervention by God in the everyday, ordinary course of nature. In other words, this gift of the Spirit is God, through the Holy Spirit, interrupting the natural laws governing this earth. For example, a miracle would be things we see in the Bible like the parting of the Red Sea, the sun standing still, the floating ax head, (good) earthquakes that open prison doors and unlock chains.

Now it should be noted here the terminology: Paul called this gift— “the working of miracles.”
Actually, this word used to translate “working” is the same word used in First Corinthians 12:6 when Paul said that there are diversities of “activities” but the same God who works all in all. As we have already seen, this means that there are different ways that God works through the various gifts and ministries given to the body. In fact, these are the only two times this Greek word energema is used in the New Testament.

So, what does this teach us about this gift of the Spirit? It teaches us that what comes before the miracle is an activity or a working. What do I mean by that? I mean that there is an action or a work of faith that always precedes the miracle.

This is why I believe that the gift of faith usually works hand in hand with the working of miracles. Why? Because there is usually a supernatural, special faith that is deposited in the heart of someone before they step out and see the miracle. 

You see, there has to be some sort of cooperation between us and God for the miracle to occur. He will tell us to do certain things that just don’t make sense in order to position us for a miracle. But if we don’t “just do it” then we won’t “just see it.” It is that simple.

In fact, if you look at the instances of most miracles recorded in the Bible, you will find that there were some pretty strange directions given that led to the miracles like “Go dip in the Jordan seven times! Throw a stick in the water! Stretch out your rod! Strike the rock! Speak to the rock!” On and on and on, you see God giving specific directions and when those directions were followed—leprosy was cleansed, axe heads floated, plagues came upon God’s enemies, and water came out of the rock.

There was a cooperation, and then, there was a demonstration! And why? It is because God requires faith! Faith always precedes miracles! There is to be a working on our part—not just “works” but the “works of faith” (First Thessalonians 1:3)—and when there are those corresponding actions of faith that are based on what God has said, then we see miracles. Amen!  

And this leads us to this final power gift of the Holy Spirit: the gifts of the Spirit simply called “faith.” Now many see this gift of the Spirit called, in the King James Version, faith, and say, “See, not all have faith. It is a gift of the Spirit.” Well, that is not completely true.

The gift of faith that Paul is speaking of here is not the normal measure of faith that every believer possesses (See Second Peter 1:1). This is faith that far transcends where our faith is at. This faith can remove the largest of mountains, create planets, and give life to anything that needs it—and this is God’s faith!

You see, sometimes it will take higher levels of faith to receive a major miracle from the Lord, and where our faith levels will not be high enough or good enough to be able to do this, this is where the direct faith of the Holy Spirit Himself will then move up in us and pick up the slack with our own imperfect faith levels so God can then manifest the miracle that He will be looking to do through us.

And this is what this gift of faith is—It is a temporary impartation of His faith. Amen! In other words, it is the gift of faith by God taking a little amount of His faith and giving it to you for a specific situation.

This is why I do not like to just call this gift of the Spirit—faith. I like to call it special faith—that is, faith that is different than our own faith which we have received. It is a temporary borrowing of God’s wonder working faith (see the Amplified Bible’s translation of First Corinthians 12:9) so that we can operate at a higher level than we are at at that time. Hallelujah!
This too might be called upon when we are ministering one on one with someone because, for instance, the person has a need in their life that transcends where our faith is at. In other words, we have a hard time believing for that. Well, the Holy Spirit can grant us this “special faith” for those times so that we boldly declare to them— “By the time you get home, that situation will have changed!” Well, what do you think that gift of faith will do for their faith? I can guarantee you they will be more of a believer than they were when you first started talking to them. Amen?

EARNESTLY DESIRING THE GIFTS
And church, this is the point of all nine of these gifts. It’s so that our witness can be even more effective—for we do not want to come just in the wisdom of words, but also in the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power when we are sharing our faith.  

Sure, it’s the Word that produces faith in people, but it’s the fruit & the gifts that make what we say more credible. So we need these nine gifts of the Spirit to operate in our lives to ring the dinner bell (so to speak). 

So how do we begin to see more of this manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Well, I believe the answer to this is found in the Scriptures …

You see, we are told in various ways in the Scriptures that if we seek, we will find; if we knock, it will be opened, and if we ask, it will be given to us. Yes, we are promised that when we hunger & thirst for righteous things with all of our heart, we will be filled.

So I believe the main reason we don’t experience the full manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit is because we don’t honor those gifts.

Saints, I can assure you that the reason that the Holy Spirit is quenched in many different churches, gatherings, and Christian homes is because these believers are lightly esteeming His manifestations! In other words, they are not placing value upon and honoring Him—particularly the ways in which He manifests in our midst!

We need to honor Him—not just in respecting Him, but in actively and aggressively seeking Him! We need to be more like Jacob where He was hungry for the blessing and birthright and less like Esau where he was hungry for the things of the world.

This is why the apostle Paul exhorted the church of Corinth twice in First Corinthians to “earnestly desire the best gifts” and to “desire” that they may prophecy. (See 1 Corinthians 12:31 & 14:1)!

Does “earnestly desiring” the gifts of the Spirit make a difference? Apparently, it does! For why would he tell us to desire it if in the desire was not found more of the manifestation of it?
This is the key to seeing more of the gifts of the Spirit manifested in our churches, gatherings, meetings, and in our everyday life also … It is simply in getting hungry for the gifts! To earnestly desire them like we hunger for our next meal! To seek them as precious jewels! For when we seek for the things of the Spirit with our whole heart, we will find them!

Let’s get hungry for the Holy Spirit! Let’s not let a day go by where we do not say, “Welcome Holy Spirit!”- and not just welcoming Him, but welcoming the wife and kids as well (i.e. His gifts and His fruit!)

You see, what many Christians do is they are only open to some of the Holy Spirit. Sure, they want the Holy Spirit to bring the sinner to repentance in & through their lives, but they don’t want nothing to do with those gifts or fruit.

This would be like me, Shannon, and Levi knocking on your front door and you saying, “Trey, you can come in, but I don’t want her or that boy of yours in my house.” Friend, if you were to despise the presence of my wife and son, then you just despised me! And you certainly will not experience my presence in your home!
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Holy Spirit, you are welcome in my life and ministry! And, by all means, bring the whole kit and caboodle with you! Bring the whole family! I am hungry to not just experience communion with you but also to experience communion with the gifts and with the fruit! I want it all! Amen!

​REVIEW
So, for the past two weeks, we have been on a new series of teachings on how to be witnesses for the Lord.

We have started out talking about the power to be witnesses because as Jesus taught us in Acts 1:8, before we can be His witnesses in our own proverbial Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, we have to receive the promise of power in the person of the Holy Spirit.

You see, far too many Christians who know precious little about the Holy Spirit still try and become good witnesses of the Lord. And these believers certainly mean well, but in their ignorance, they get the cart before the horse. Church, we cannot really be the kind of good & effective witnesses of the Lord that He expects us to be without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just that simple!

So church, this to me is the absolute first thing we need to know when it comes to being the Lord’s witness—that we cannot do it alone! We need the Helper to help us be the kind of witnesses that we are called to be, and that is because He is the power to be a witness. Yes, we need to be endued with the power of the Holy Ghost as Jesus talked about in Luke chapter 24.

We learned how the word Jesus used here—“endued”—means to be “clothed.” And I’ll tell you, church—the main reason why some Christians aren’t good witnesses is because they aren’t wearing the right clothes! No, I am not referring to our physical clothing, but to the virtues of Christ that we live in. They are wearing their own filthy garments of fleshly efforts, but that’s not what “enables” us to bear witness of the Lord. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that we need to be clothed in to testify of Jesus properly. And the intended result of us wearing our new clothes is that the unbelievers should be so impressed with our sharp attire that they will want to know who our Father is, if He’ll adopt them, and give them the same clothing too!

We then learned how having the Holy Spirit enabling us to be a quality witness for Jesus works together with a very specific ministry of the Holy Spirit—His commission to “convict.”
You see, it’s sad to say but there have been many believers that think that this is their ministry—to bring people under conviction. But, no, this is the Holy Spirit’s job, not ours. The Bible does not call us “convicters”; it simply calls us witnesses (see John 15:27 & Acts 1:8). And there is a big difference between someone who simply witnesses and someone who does the convicting.

And the good news that we learned from this is that when we do our job of being witnesses, the Holy Spirit can do His job of convicting those we are witnessing to.

Church, this is one of the reasons why witnessing for Christ seems so laborious and, frankly, isn’t what most Christians enjoy doing—because most people ain’t doing it right. 

I stated last week that I’m convinced that if the Lord were to write a book on witnessing, chapter one would be entitled “Witnessing Made Fun,” which would be a chapter devoted to the help of the Holy Spirit.

Church, I have seen far too many Christians try and be witnesses for Christ, and while they might have the right words to speak, Scriptures to use, etc., they aren’t utilizing the greatest tool that we have to share the truth with people – the precious Holy Spirit.

You see, we learned that the Holy Spirit is more than just a convicter that leads sinners to repentance; no, He is much more than that, in that He has been sent to help us in every sense of the word.

We looked last week at how Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Helper” several times in the Gospel of John. This word “Helper” here is, of course, the New King James Version’s translation. If you use the original King James Version, you will find a different word—the term “Comforter.” Other translations use the words “Counselor” or “Advocate.”

But we saw that, although this word is translated a few different ways, by far the most elaborate and detailed translation of this word comes from the Amplified Bible, because its description of this word is, for lack of better words, more “amplified.”

Again, John 16:7 says, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].”

I believe that this “amplified” description most accurately defines the Greek word into its broad and vast meaning. So, what we did was we looked at each of these words that it uses in order to detail and discuss what the Holy Spirit is specifically called alongside of us to do. We saw that He is our …

1. Comforter – When we don’t know what to say or what to do, He gives us the ability to bring comfort to others—particularly when they are suffering or grieving.
2. Counselor – When we don’t have the answers, He gives us the supernatural ability to counsel those in need.
3. Intercessor – When we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, the Holy Spirit steps in to intercede for us and through us.
4. Advocate – The Holy Spirit’s job is to defend us. So when we are letting Him work through us, He is not going to make people feel guilty or condemned. Yes, He builds us up (i.e. edifies); He does not tear us down.
5. Strengthener – When you feel weak and unequipped to witness for Christ, the Holy Spirit steps in to give strength to the weak.
6. Standby – This means that we aren’t on our own in being the Lord’s witnesses; we have the Holy Spirit standing by our side to help us in every way we need.

So we’ve talked about how the Holy Spirit is the power for us to be witnesses for Christ – by us being baptized in Him, Him coming upon us, and us staying full of Him. And we have also learned that we have to then utilize our fellowship with the Holy Spirit to take advantage of THE Advantage, by our leaning on Him to be our Helper— our Comforter, Counselor, Intercessor, Strengthener, Advocate, and Stand-By.   

Now I want us to begin to look at arguably the most important way that the Holy Spirit helps us to be Christ’s witnesses—through His fruit & His gifts.

You see, the New Testament reveals to us that there are two sets of nine things that the Holy Spirit performs in and through our lives, and these play a big role in our ability to effectively be Christ’s witnesses.

A TREE IS KNOWN BY IT’S FRUIT
Now, first of all, I want to say that the most important way the Holy Spirit helps us be Christ’s witnesses is by the fruit He produces in our lives. That’s why it is called the fruit of the Spirit. This means that these nine fruits are what the Holy Spirit is meant to produce in our lives, which are a big part of our witness. Therefore, the love, joy, peace, etc. that we have manifested in our lives speak to and validate our faith to the world around us.  

Didn’t Jesus teach us that the world will know that we are His disciples by our love for one another (See John 13:35)? Well, that’s fruit #1, isn’t it? And what Jesus was saying here is that the world isn’t going to necessarily know we are Christians because we have a t-shirt or a bumper sticker; it’s by how we love!

But love isn’t the only fruit that testifies of Him. No, joy is one of the greatest things we possess to be a witness of His goodness.

How many of you know that we serve a Happy God, a God who rejoices over us with gladness? We do! He is not like so many imagine Him to be—a grumpy, hard-faced God. No, He actually knows how to smile, laugh, and have a good time. For the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and JOY in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). That means that in God’s kingdom one of the primary things that we will experience is joy. Yes, folks will be happy there—and this certainly includes the Lord.

Church, this is what the world needs to see in God’s children—the same joy that He possesses.

You know, this is one of the main things most people in this world desire—to be happy and find joy. So when they see true, genuine joy of the Holy Spirit in us, they will want what we have. You can bet the bank on that!

How about peace? That is another virtue that very few people ever find in life, but desperately desire. Well, that too is a fruit of a Spirit-filled & Spirit-empowered life.

Another fruit is goodness, right? Well, what does the Bible teach us leads men to repentance? It is the goodness of God (See Romans 2:4). So how do you figure this works? Is God personally showing forth His goodness from heaven so that unbelievers are repenting hand over fist? No, that’s not how it works. It’s the fruit of His goodness in the lives of His children that will draw men to repentance. Amen?   

So my point is that these fruits of the Holy Spirit being produced in our lives is the first and most important part of our witness—for they first of all make what we believe more attractive to others as they see in us the fruit they all long for in their lives. But secondly, it makes witnessing even more fun for us because, when you genuinely love the person you are sharing with, you really have joy in your heart, and walk in this abundance of peace, witnessing just becomes more enjoyable. 

So, it’s the love we have for the brethren and even our enemies, the peace we have that enables us to lie down in the den of lions and get a good night’s sleep, and the joy that helps us to sing at midnight in prison—these are the fruit that the world will see that lets them know we are Christ’s disciples. Yes, these are the fruit that cause people to look at these branches and say, “Yup, that’s a Christian tree! And that’s the tree I want to eat from!”

HOW FRUIT IS PRODUCED
So let me quickly give you a couple of ways that you and I can produce more of His fruit in our lives …

Jesus taught us in John chapter 15 that fruit comes in our lives as a result of us abiding in Him, the True Vine. And the word “abiding” is the key word: This word “abide” means to stay, live, remain, or dwell. So, what Jesus is referring to here is living in His presence habitually—that is, spending time in His presence on a daily basis. Church, this is the only way to bear fruit—to be consistently connected to Jesus through spending time in fellowship with Him.
Don’t we like to say, “You’ll become like who you are around”? Yes, corrupt communications (or, fellowship) corrupts good manners (See First Corinthians 15:33). That means that hanging out with the wrong people will influence a person’s lifestyle. Well, if that works negatively, don’t you think it will work positively too?

That’s why “hanging out” with God is one of the main ways a believer can produce the fruit of the Spirit – because these nine fruit are the nature & character of God Himself.

You see, that is why Paul, through the Holy Spirit, calls these nine virtues of character—the fruit of the Spirit. That’s because they are the fruit of a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life, but they are also the fruit of the Spirit of God Himself. Yes, Paul meant that since they are called “fruit,” they are the fruit that originates from another source of life. In this case, they have come through the Seed of the Spirit. In other words, as fruit, they grow and are produced in our lives after His (the Holy Spirit’s) own kind.

Let me explain what I mean by us looking back at the Book of Genesis …

Do you remember on the third day, after the Lord created the earth, what the Lord said? He said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:11-12). Here we see how God originally designed fruit to be produced:

And I want you to notice that, first of all, in order for the tree to yield fruit, that it must be created as a fruit tree. For example, if the tree is not an apple tree, then what is it not going to produce? Apples! So, the first thing that had to transpire in order for you and I to bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives is to be recreated as a fruit-bearing tree. And we know that this occurred by the Holy Spirit when we called on the name of the Lord, were born again, and received the new nature, which we received through the Spirit washing, renewing and regenerating us (Titus 3:5).

So, the Lord created things so that a fruit tree will yield its fruit, but notice that it yields fruit “according to its kind.” I like how the New Living Translation says this. It says, “from which they came.” In other words, a fruit tree is only going to produce the fruit, and the seed in that fruit, from the seed from which they came.

So, the reason it is called the fruit of the Spirit is because it is fruit that is according to His kind, or you could say, it is the fruit that came directly from the seed of the Spirit.

Now notice how we are then told in Genesis 1:11— “whose seed is in itself.” Glory to God, saints! Since the Holy Spirit resides in us, we have the seed living in us that will replicate Himself!    

How many of you know that a tree can only bear the fruit that it was created to produce? Likewise, we are only going to be able to produce the fruit of the Spirit because He is the seed that we have living within us and because of the new nature we have been given. Amen? In other words, these nine fruit of the Spirit are a product of the nature living within us.
I don’t believe most Christians have ever considered this—that if these nine virtues are the fruit of the Spirit, then they are attributes of God. It would make sense though—for why would God be producing characteristics in us that He Himself didn’t possess?  No, saints, by possessing the fruit of the Spirit, we have love within us—but not only that; He is also joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Let’s look at these:

1. LOVE – The Bible teaches us that God is love (see First John 4:8). You might have heard this by now. So, He does not just have love; He is love. This is His nature! It is who He is! Well, if God is love then perhaps, we could read some other verses in a different light. For example, take First Corinthians 13:4-8. In it, we can learn more of God’s nature. Yes, God suffers long and is kind; God does not envy; God does not parade Himself, God is not puffed up; God does not behave rudely, He does not seek His own, He is not provoked, God thinks no evil; He does not rejoice in iniquity, but He rejoices in the truth; God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God never fails (i.e. He is everlasting).
2. JOY – We are familiar with Nehemiah 8:10 where it says that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but did you ever consider that there really is the joy of the Lord? Sure! Many don’t see Him as joyful, but He certainly is. In First Timothy 1:11, the apostle Paul calls Him the “Blessed (or, Happy) God.” So, because He possesses joy Himself, He has joy to give to us. Amen!
3. PEACE – Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Elsewhere, God Himself is called “the God of Peace.” This is why I consider peace to be the manifest presence of God. So, He doesn’t just have peace; He is our peace (see Ephesians 2:14). So, because He Himself is and has peace, He can say, “My peace I give to you.” (John 14:27) 
4. LONGSUFFERING – The apostle Paul said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (Second Peter 3:9). So, God Himself is longsuffering. And why? His longsuffering nature is for the purpose of giving people time and space to repent.
5. KINDNESS – Have you ever considered that God Himself is kind? There are many Scriptures that refer to His kindness like Ephesians 2:7 that talks about that for the ages to come He was going to show you and I the exceeding riches of His grace towards us in His kindness. Titus 3:4 says that it was the kindness of God our Savior that saved us. I mean, how many times in the Scriptures are we made aware of the “lovingkindness” of our God?
6. GOODNESS – This is one we like to say a lot—God is good! But why do so many Christians say God is good in one breath and then accuse Him of doing bad? Would we say someone was exhibiting the fruit of goodness if they were causing their children to suffer like God is accused of doing by much of His church? I think not. 
7. FAITHFULNESS – Oh, this is one that we like to sing about: Great is Thy faithfulness! This is found in Lamentations 3:23 where, in the midst of the children of Israel’s failures and mistakes, God is declared to be faithful, showing us that we might be found faithless at times, but He remains faithful (Second Timothy 2:13). God is always faithful, church—meaning, He is always there, and He always tells the truth.
8. GENTLENESS – This word describes meekness or humility. Many have never considered this, but the Lord is humble too—power under perfect control. We see this in Philippians 2:5-11 where Jesus is described as lowering Himself from heaven and even to the point of a servant before His death on the Cross. Jesus—the express image of God’s person—certainly was, is and evermore shall be “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). 
9. SELF CONTROL – Finally, God is self-control. You know, we like to say things like “God is in control,” right? But what exactly is He in control of? Himself! He is in control of Himself. Yes, He operates within certain parameters that He Himself has set up and is not out of control! This is why we can know and believe that He will do what He said He would do and not have to worry about if He is going to kill one day or give life the next. Yes, God possesses the fruit of the self-control. 

So, what does this have to do with producing the fruit of the Spirit in ourselves? I’m glad you asked. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Now if we consider the context, we see that Paul was describing the difference between the glory of the Old Covenant and the glory of the New Covenant (which was said to exceed much more in glory [see verse 9]). And he uses the example of Moses putting a veil over his face after He came out of the glory of God on Mount Sinai, describing how the glory we’ve received does not pass away. Now we have had the veil removed and can behold His glory, which results in us being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

Now, if you recall, Moses desired to see this glory and the Lord responded that He would make all of His goodness pass before him. Therefore, I equate God’s glory with His goodness. So, if we behold God’s glory, we are seeing His goodness.

And here is my point: If we behold the self-control, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, longsuffering, peace, joy, and love of our God, what does this verse say will happen? We ourselves will be transformed into the same image we are beholding—meaning, you and I will begin to reflect His nature that we are beholding. Yes, we become what we behold, church. So, behold His beauty and watch His fruit become yours, in Jesus name. Amen! 

CONCLUSION
Just consider your own fruit—your children. How do they produce your fruit? First of all, they have to be born of you—holding your nature. Then by abiding with you—they become more like you through their relationship with you. But what we have just seen is a vital part of them becoming like you—they also bring forth your fruit by beholding you—for as they get to know you, observing how you live your life, they grow to become like you.

So sure, it is by being born of those parents and having their nature put in you. Sure, it is by living in the presence of those parents and being raised in their home. But it is also by beholding how those parents do things; that is what produces the fruit of those parents in the child (i.e. fruit). 
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Church, the greatest way to be a witness for our Lord and Savior is by bearing His fruit. Yes, it is by us exhibiting His love, joy, peace, etc. that people will get to witness Him! This is why the fruit of the Spirit is the most important way that we can be a witness for Him. Amen. 

​INTRODUCTION
So, we have started out this new year with a series of teachings on being witnesses for the Lord. And church, I want you to understand that this subject is so critical to us populating the kingdom of heaven—because in case you haven’t noticed it, God is not in the business of appearing to the world and witnessing of Himself. No, the way He has set things up is that we would be His witnesses to the world around us.

You see, what this Scripture reveals to us is that we—our lives—are the true “Bible” that mankind comes to read and know. Yes, they are looking at how we live our lives and how what we profess is practiced in our everyday lives. Therefore, it is imperative that you and I learn what it means to be His witness and to do everything God has put in us to do to testify of His goodness.

So, let’s turn back over to Acts chapter one, and look again at a passage of Scripture that teaches us along these lines:
Acts 1:4-8 says, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ ”

What we learned last week is that, in verse 4, Jesus essentially told His disciples not to go anywhere or do anything, but to wait for the Promise of the Father—the Holy Spirit of Promise—before they try and “witness” for Him.

Church, this to me is the absolute first thing we need to know when it comes to being the Lord’s witness—that we cannot do it alone! We need the Helper to help us be the kind of witnesses that we are called to be, and that is because He is the power to be a witness …

Notice in verse 8 how Jesus told them (and us) that they shall receive “power” when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, and (then) you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem. So, the power of the Holy Spirit was to come first and then becoming His witnesses came second, correct? And it’s exactly the same with us, church!

You see, far too many Christians who know precious little about the Holy Spirit still try and become good witnesses of the Lord. And these believers certainly mean well, but in their ignorance, they get the cart before the horse. Church, we cannot really be the kind of good & effective witnesses of the Lord that He expects us to be without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just that simple!

So we then looked at Luke 24:44-49, where Jesus said something similar about the Holy Spirit: These verses read— “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

We saw how Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Promise of the Father” because time and time again in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is forecasted and prophesied as to come. Therefore, He is the Promise made by the Father. But we learned what He is the promise of—the Promise of Power! Hallelujah!

Jesus said here that when the Promise—the Holy Spirit—comes from on high, we will be endued with power. And we learned that the word “endued” means to be “clothed.” So, what will we be clothed with? With power!

I’ll tell you, church, the main reason why some Christians aren’t good witnesses is because they aren’t wearing the right clothes! No, I am not referring to our physical clothing, but to the virtues of Christ that we live in. They are wearing their own filthy garments of fleshly efforts, but that’s not what “enables” us to bear witness of the Lord. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that we need to be clothed in to testify of Jesus properly. And the intended result of us wearing our new clothes is that the unbelievers should be so impressed with our sharp attire that they will want to know who our Father is, if He’ll adopt them, and give them the same clothing too!

But we saw how this word “endued” also has another interesting meaning: In ancient Greek literature this word was used as having “a spell cast on you,” to where a person is transformed from something weak & unattractive into something powerful & attractive. Yes, when the Lord endues us with His power—the Holy Spirit—in a moment’s time we are transformed from a shy, cowardly human being into an empowered, overcoming witness for Christ!   

And we learned then how having the Holy Spirit enabling us to be a quality witness for Jesus works together with a very specific ministry of the Holy Spirit—His commission to “convict.”
You see, it’s sad to say but there have been many believers that think that this is their ministry—to bring people under conviction. No, this is the Holy Spirit’s job, not ours. The Bible does not call us “convicters”; it simply calls us witnesses (see John 15:27 & Acts 1:8). And there is a big difference between someone who simply witnesses and someone who does the convicting.

You see, a witness is not the judge or the jury. A witness just simply testifies of what they have seen, heard, or experienced. And just as sometimes a witness is needed to convict a lawbreaker in a court of law, a witness is needed to open the door for the Holy Spirit to convict an unbeliever of their sin. Yes, we as witnesses, are not to point our finger at them; we are just to tell people what we’ve experienced and then let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.

You see, some people, in their zeal, have gone beyond the witness stand and tried to bring people under conviction themselves. This not only can frustrate the witness, but it can drive the people we are trying to convict away from God. We need to eliminate this “Holy Ghost Jr.” mentality of trying to convict people of their sins ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do His job. Again, He’s the Judge who convicts; we are simply the witnesses—and by doing our part of being Christ’s witness, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His part of being Christ’s “convicter!” Therefore, our word regarding this was – “Don’t leave the witness stand”!

WITNESSING MADE FUN
But church, this is one of the main reasons why witnessing for Christ seems so laborious and, frankly, isn’t what most Christians enjoy doing—because most people ain’t doin’ it right. 

I’m convinced that if the Lord were to write a book on witnessing, chapter one would be entitled “Witnessing Made Fun,” which would be a chapter devoted to the help of the Holy Spirit.

Church, I have seen far too many Christians try and be witnesses for Christ, and while they might have the right words to speak, Scriptures to use, etc., they aren’t utilizing the greatest tool that we have to share the truth with people, the precious Holy Spirit.

So, this week, I’d like us to camp on this chapter of being Christ’s witnesses and talk about how the Holy Spirit truly is our Helper—especially regarding this subject of being Christ’s witnesses.

ANOTHER HELPER
Now we talked about last week how the Lord told His disciples that it was more advantageous for them that He went away because if He didn’t go the Holy Spirit would not be sent. And we saw how the reason this is true is because Jesus could only do so many things for His disciples being in a physical body. But when the Holy Spirit comes on each of us, He will indwell our physical bodies and can do for us everything that Jesus did for His disciples. Glory!

But I want you to notice how Jesus several times in the Gospel of John, called the Holy Spirit, the “Helper” …

This word “Helper” here is, of course, the New King James Version’s translation. If you use the original King James Version, you will find a different word—the term “Comforter.” Other translations use the words “Counselor” or “Advocate.” But I want to focus on the word “Helper” right now. 

Now what is a “Helper”? A helper describes an:

1. Assistant—that is, one who helps someone else in accomplishing a task.
2. Associate—that is, a coworker in business or a fellow worker at work.
3. Partner—that is, one who supports another and helps bear the load.
4. Right-hand man or woman—that is, kind of like an assistant and there to give you a helping hand. 
5. Helpmate (or helpmeet)—Now this last term is very interesting because I believe the Holy Spirit was foreshadowed like this in the Beginning…

Do you remember when God created Adam and then sometime after that, said, “It is not good for man to be alone…” (Genesis 2:18). Now you could paraphrase this statement like so— “It is not advantageous for man to be alone…” or “It is not beneficial, profitable, or best for man to be alone…” Does that sound a little familiar (See John 16:7)?

Then the Lord went on to say in Genesis 2:18— “I will make a helper comparable to him.” Ah, isn’t that interesting that we see the same word “helper” used here? I believe that is strategic by the Lord to reinforce this truth from John 16:7—that it is to our advantage to have a Helpmeet in the Person of the Holy Spirit! Glory!

But what is interesting is what God did immediately after making this statement. What He did not do was immediately put Adam to sleep, pull his rib out, etc. No, in verse 19, the first thing God did was form every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. Then Adam named all of these animals, but we are told at the end of verse 20 that there was still not found a helper comparable to him.

So, after this, the Lord caused that deep sleep to fall on Adam and after He made woman, He brought her to Adam. And verse 23 said that Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” This was essentially Adam choosing Eve to become that helper that God said would be good for him. Therefore, the woman—Eve—was that helper. 

But although this word is translated “Helper” here in the NKJV, by far the most elaborate and detailed translation of this word comes from the Amplified Bible because its description of this word is, for lack of better words, more “amplified.”

John 16:7 says, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].”

I believe that this “amplified” description most accurately defines the Greek word into its broad and vast meaning. So, let’s look at each of these words that it uses in order to detail and discuss what the Holy Spirit is specifically called alongside of us to do.

THE COMFORTER
The first and primary word the Amplified Bible uses to translate parakletos as, is “Comforter.” So, this would obviously describe the Holy Spirit as being called alongside of us to comfort us, but it also would mean that He’s right there with us to comfort others.  

Have you ever been faced with needing to minister to someone who needed comfort but didn’t know what to say or do? I believe we all have. Perhaps it was after they lost a loved one or had some other horrific thing happen to them.  Sometimes when people are going through difficult situations like this, they need someone who will be able to provide the comfort of Christ to them. This is where the Comforter comes in! He can give us the words to speak when we don’t know what to say! He can grace us with the ability to hug someone in a meaningful & impactful way. He can even just provide the atmosphere with the presence of comfort as we are with the person.  

Yes, the Holy Spirit certainly knows how to console during tough times—which is the opposite of Job’s friends. Job’s friends started out right when they first arrived, but then wound up not providing Job with any comfort when they began accusing him.

We don’t want to be Job’s friends, saints. We want to be like the Holy Spirit who truly comes alongside of us to comfort us when we are hurting, to encourage us when we are despairing, and to simply love on us when we need it. Sure, there is a time where He speaks expressly—giving us the truth. But as it is with prophecy, He knows how and when to edify, exhort, and comfort—for He is the author of this wonderful gift. 

So, the Holy Spirit’s presence—both us knowing that we have Him with us wherever we go and Him being there to edify, exhort, and console others through us—should bring us much “comfort.” That’s right—this should make us feel confident when we are faced with times of needing to provide comfort to others—for the Holy Ghost is the “Comforter.”

THE COUNSELOR
The next word that we see used by the Amplified Bible is “Counselor”: This obviously describes the Holy Spirit being called alongside of us to give us His counsel.

The word “counselor” today describes several things, but what we might identify it with the most is a person who is trained to give guidance on personal, social, financial or psychological problems like say a marriage counselor, a financial counselor, or a mental health counselor. What these “counselors” are there to do is provide people with the direction, treatments, etc. that they need in their respective field. 

Now I know that most of us are not trained & licensed counselors. But guess what? You have Someone living in you who is lightyears more qualified to counsel others than the best counselor on this planet! Amen!

I’ll tell you; I’ve found myself many times being faced with needing to give counsel to somebody that in and of myself, I had no experience or qualifications to give it, but the Counselor lives on the inside of me did—and He did!

Church, we need to also know that we all have the fairest of ten thousand counselors living on the inside of us! So, when attempting to help others we ought to go to the Counselor first instead of just giving advice out of our own limited resources.  

Yes, just like we had “guidance counselors” in school to give us advice and guidance for our academic lives, we now have the Holy Spirit to provide far greater advice and guidance. He is with us and lives within us to not only counsel regarding big, spiritual issues, but He is also there to advise on what job someone should take, what car they should buy, who they ought to date, what investments to make, etc. He is our Omniscient Guidance Counselor! Yes, He lives within us to guide us into all truth.

THE INTERCESSOR
Then after we see the Amplified Bible translating this word as “Helper,” which we’ve covered already, it uses the word “Intercessor.” So, this means that the Holy Spirit is called alongside of us to intercede for us and through us.

Have you ever been asked to pray for someone but didn’t know how to pray for them? Well, that’s when the Lord helps us by interceding through us.  

We see this in Romans 8:26 when Paul tells us that when we do not know what to pray for as we ought, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. That means that He stands in the gap for us when we are ignorant concerning what to pray for. How does He step in, you ask? He does this praying for us by praying through us. Amen! 

Saints, this is why praying in the Spirit is so vital in the life of the believer. You see, there are so many times when we are ignorant of what to pray or even that we need to pray. That is when the Holy Spirit is available to pray through us and for us. All we have to do is yield to Him by praying in other tongues. In fact, He is called in the Old Testament “the Spirit of grace and supplication” (Zechariah 12:10). 

You see, the Holy Spirit is meant to assist us in our prayer life as well, and this certainly includes praying in another tongue. He wants to use our mouths to intercede for people and things that we have no idea about. This is why He is called the Intercessor! 

THE ADVOCATE
The next word used by the Amplified is “Advocate.” In fact, this is probably the most popular definition of this word parakletos because in their days, it described a legal counselor. So, this word certainly describes a lawyer, or more accurately a defense attorney. Therefore, this means that He is called alongside of us to stand by our side and to plead our case for us.

But most Christians do not see the Holy Spirit as our defense attorney; they see Him as the prosecuting attorney. You will hear many Christians accuse the Holy Spirit of “taking them to the woodshed” when they do something wrong, saying that the Holy Spirit “convicted” them of their sin. Church, this is not the nature of the One we have living inside of us.

You see, the problem is that they see Him as being against them and not really for them. They see the Holy Spirit as the One who heaps all of that condemnation on them, but I can assure you that this is not His ministry. How many of you ever see a defense attorney turning around and start accusing and trying to convict their client in a court of law? You won’t—because their job is to defend you and not condemn you.

Likewise, as we are being a witness for Christ, the Holy Spirit is there to use us to encourage and build up, not tear them down. So, if I am having the Holy Spirit help me in being Christ’s witness, He is going to primarily lead me to cover a multitude of sin, not make all of everyone’s sin manifest. Amen?  

Church, the Holy Spirit is for us and not against us! We see this clearly described in Romans 8:31-34. While He does convict us when we are missing it, He never condemns us! His ministry is to defend us. Yes, He builds us up (i.e., edifies); He does not tear us down.

THE STRENGTHENER
I especially like the next word the Amplified Bible translates parakletos as— “Strengthener.” This obviously describes the Holy Spirit as being called alongside of us to strengthen us. Hallelujah! This means that He lives within us to empower us and to give us the ability to do what we might not feel we are able to do!

You see, He doesn’t just give us the counsel on what we should say & do; He also gives us the strength to say & do it! Thank God we don’t have to be a witness for Jesus in our own strength! Through the Holy Spirit’s inner-strengthening we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). All we have to do is stay so full of the Holy Spirit that it is no longer we who live, but Christ living in and through us. Yes, “He works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (See Philippians 2:14).

You see, the Holy Spirit doesn’t just instruct us, He even gives us the strength. He’s kind of like our strength and conditioning coach, in that He trains us to become spiritually fit, developing our spiritual muscles (the fruit of the Spirit).

So, don’t focus on your weaknesses in witnessing—talking about what you cannot do, what you do not know, etc. Focus on Who you have living on the inside of you. He is your strength. Indeed, let the weak say, “I am strong.” We can say this with full confidence because you have the Strengthener living on the inside of you!

THE STANDBY
And, last but not least, the Amplified Bible uses the word “Standby” to translate parakletos. No, this does not mean that the Holy Spirit is on “standby” in the sense that He is on waiting (like a second-string athlete) and not the priority. Rather, it describes His “readiness for duty and immediate deployment.” This would describe the Holy Spirit as being called alongside of us to do just that—stand by us.

You see, He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is faithful to never leave us nor forsake us. Oftentimes we quote these Scriptures in reference to Jesus, but they are just as true for the Third Person of the Godhead too. The Holy Spirit is promised to abide by our side forever (John 14:16).

Again, He is faithful to us. Being a part of the Trinity, faithfulness is His nature as well. So, erase that wrong doctrine out of your mind that the Holy Spirit is easily offended and leaves us when we grieve Him. He STANDS-BY us always, even when we are hard to stand by. He won’t leave us or forsake us. 

In fact, as I thought about this term “Stand-By” I came up with a song, which I’m sure could become a hit one day. It’s called “Stand by Me.” But the fact is, the Holy Spirit is there to be yours and my STAND-BY. And He is more than willing to stand by you, with you, and for you until you breathe your last breath. Amen.

CONCLUSION
Yes, the Holy Spirit is called alongside of us to make our witness more fun and effective. He is on this earth to stand by our side—comforting, counseling, and strengthening us. 
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So today I urge you to open your heart to this ministry of the Holy Spirit. Let Him be your Helper in being a witness. The truth is, He was sent to be your Helper whether you recognize it or not. But as you open your heart to the Holy Spirit—listening to Him and diligently following every aspect of His instruction from His role as your help in life—this I can promise you: you will be changed. It won’t be long until you look back on who you were before you made the decision to allow the Holy Spirit to be your Helper, and you’ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your decision started a process that has completely changed your life! Yes, you will be the best version of a witness you can be—because you allowed the Holy Spirit to do what He does best.  Amen!

​INTRODUCTION
So, I would like to begin this new year with a series of teachings that I believe are long overdue in the Body of Christ—the subject of us being witnesses of the Lord and for the Lord.

You know, our witness to the world around us is so critical to us populating the kingdom of heaven. Because in case you haven’t noticed it, God is not in the business of appearing to the world and witnessing of Himself. No, the way He has set things up is that we would be His witnesses to the world around us.

Sure, He has given us things that witness of Him like the precious Holy Spirit (whom we will learn more about today) and His Holy Word, but in order for this world to “witness” His love, power, glory, etc. it’s going to take us bearing witness of these things. Amen?

Did you know that you are the only Bibles some will ever read? Yes, there are many who will never pick up a Bible, will never attend church, and aren’t going to ever hear the name of Jesus preached.    

Second Corinthians 3:2-3 says, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”

You see, what this Scripture reveals to us is that we—our lives—are the true “Bible” that mankind comes to read and know. Yes, they are looking at how we live our lives and how what we profess is practiced in our everyday lives.

Therefore, it is imperative that you and I learn what it means to be His witness and to do everything God has put in us to do to testify of His goodness.

So let’s turn over to Acts chapter one, and look at a passage of Scripture that teaches us along these lines: Acts 1:4-8 says, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ ”

So, the Lord told His disciples that they would be witnesses to Him first in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth. And did you know that this commission did not end with them? No, as those who believe on Him by their word, we are called to carry this same mantle and be His witnesses as well in our own proverbial Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Amen?

THE PROMISE OF POWER
But I want you to notice back in verse 4 how Jesus essentially told His disciples not to go anywhere or do anything, but to wait for the Promise of the Father—the Holy Spirit of Promise—before they try and “witness” for Him.

Church, this to me is the absolute first thing we need to know when it comes to being the Lord’s witness—that we cannot do it alone! We need the Helper to help us be the kind of witnesses that we are called to be, and that is because He is the power to be a witness …

Notice in verse 8 how Jesus told them (and us) that they shall receive “power” when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, and (then) you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem.

So, the power of the Holy Spirit was to come first and then becoming His witnesses came second, correct? And it’s exactly the same with us, church!

You see, far too many Christians who know precious little about the Holy Spirit try still try and become good witnesses of the Lord. And these believers certainly mean well, but in their ignorance, they get the cart before the horse. Church, we cannot really be the kind of good & effective witnesses of the Lord that He expects us to be without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just that simple!

In fact, in Luke 24:44-49, we see how Jesus said something similar: These verses read— “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

So, notice in verse 48 that Jesus said that they were witnesses of these things. What things? Of how the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day as well as all of the other things that would come as a result of His death, burial, and resurrection.

But now that they were His witnesses, they needed something else, so Jesus immediately tells them, “Behold. I send the Promise of My Father upon you …” So, notice how Jesus then immediately refers to how they were to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. This is obviously talking about the Promised Holy Spirit – how He is the promise of power.

Now also notice here that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Promise of the Father.” Why does He refer to the Holy Spirit this way? It is because time and time again in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is forecasted and prophesied as to come. Therefore, He is the Promise made by the Father.

But what is He the Promise of? He is the Promise of Power! Hallelujah! Jesus said here that when the Promise—the Holy Spirit—comes from on high, we will be endued with power. The word “endued” means to be “clothed.” And what will we be clothed with? With power!

I’ll tell you, the main reason why some Christians aren’t good witnesses is because they aren’t wearing the right clothes! No, I am not referring to our physical clothing, but to the virtues of Christ that we live in. They are wearing their own filthy garments of fleshly efforts, but that’s not what “enables” us to bear witness of the Lord. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that we need to be clothed in to testify of Jesus properly.

Did you ever notice how the apostle Paul liked to encourage the church to “put on” this and “put off” that. He’s using a similar term there of either clothing ourselves in good virtues versus taking off the bad things.

So, what is the purpose of putting on these good virtues? If we already have all these attributes in us, why must we put them on? The answer is simple—for the same reason we put on clothes in the natural—for other people! We partly wear our physical clothes for the benefit of others. It is the same in the spiritual—we put on the fruit of the Spirit so that unbelievers can see how good our God is. When they see our supernatural peace in the midst of a severe trial, our unconditional love towards an enemy, our great self-control when we should have a fit of carnality, and our consistent joy through up and down circumstances, they will see us wearing the fruit of our new man. The intended result of us wearing our new clothes is that the unbelievers should be so impressed with our sharp attire that they will want to know who our Father is, if He’ll adopt them, and give them the same clothing too!

Well, the truth is that it’s the Holy Spirit who we have to be clothed in and He is the One who enables us to put on any & all good virtues to begin with. Yes, working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit is really the only way to be an effective witness for the Lord. This is because the Holy Spirit is the only real way to be an effective witness for the Lord in regard to my lifestyle, behavior, etc. That’s because the fruit of the Spirit cannot be self-produced. These fruit are generated by the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. But this is also because the Holy Spirit is the One who empowers us in our witnessing.

But this word “endued” also has another interesting meaning: In ancient Greek literature this word was used as having “a spell cast on you.” Now, of course, we don’t believe in these things, but I think it gives us a great illustration …

Let me give you a story to illustrate this: A very meek, shy, and cowardly woman came to a magician and said, “I am so incredibly shy. I cannot even look at other people in the eye. Is there anything you can do to help me?” The magician then cast a spell on her (i.e., an endowment) and then she was supernaturally transformed into a bold & powerful woman (Compare with First Samuel 10:6 when Saul was turned into another man when the Holy Spirit came upon him). Likewise, we come to God saying, “Lord, I need help! I want to be a bolder witness for you than I currently am, but the thought of being this way terrifies me!” And the Lord then endues us with His power—the Holy Spirit—and in a moment’s time we are transformed from a shy, cowardly human being into an empowered, overcoming witness for Christ!   

Again, didn’t Jesus say something similar in Acts 1:8 when He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you …”? So, again Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, what we are receiving is “power.” I say all of this to say that with the Holy Spirit comes power! He is the power of God, and He is the Promise of that power! Amen.
 
CONVICTING THE WORLD
So now, let’s begin this week looking at how the Holy Spirit helps us in being witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ: And let’s start by looking at what Jesus taught us in John 16:5-11 …

Now if you recall, Jesus had shown His disciples here how important us having the Holy Spirit is by saying, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

I’m sure that Jesus’ disciples had a hard time grasping this because, as a general rule, Jesus was the One doing the majority of the witnessing. So, if He was going away, all of this was going to fall on their shoulders.

Would you have felt this way? Say you and I were going into the marketplace or door to door witnessing to people. I would venture to say that most of you would lean on me to do all the talking. Well, I’m sure Jesus’ disciples did this more times than not.

So, for them to hear Jesus say He was leaving might have made them feel like you would feel if I said to you, “Okay, I am going to go home and I want you to go to these next few people and witness instead of me.” Most of you probably would be terrified and feel completely unequipped to do so.

Well, what Jesus was saying here was that having the Holy Spirit is more advantageous to us than having Himself physically present with us. And if that’s the case, I can guarantee you that having the Holy Spirit is better than having Pastor Trey there when you are witnessing to someone. Amen?

But then notice what Jesus immediately says after this: In verses 8-11, Jesus said, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Now let me begin by dispelling a couple of popular belief systems that people have of these verses and about the workings of the Holy Spirit in general:

Notice, first of all, that Jesus said, “And when He has come (And He most certainly has come!), He will convict the world…” Convict who? “The world.” So, who is it that the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment? The world! And we know that when Jesus refers to the world here, He is certainly including unbelievers because, in verse 9, when He goes on to explain why He will convict the world of these three things, He says, “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” Therefore, this is certainly talking about those of the world who have not yet believed on Jesus. However, I also see it as including those who are in the world but not of the world as well (i.e., believers) because in verse 10 He says, “of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you see Me no more.” (We will deal with how the Holy Spirit performs this in our lives in the latter part of this teaching) 

So, this particular commission of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8-11 is what He is assigned to do for everyone living in the world, and not necessarily just for God’s children. This is important to understand, particularly as it pertains to the sin portion, because how many of us have heard how the Holy Spirit “convicted” one of our brothers & sisters in Christ of their sin—taking them to the woodshed and made them feel horrible for what they did wrong—and they used these very verses to substantiate it?

Well, I’m here to tell you that what a lot of Christians say is the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit—which leads me to point number two: Part of the reason people misunderstand the workings of the Holy Spirit is because of this word we see in the King James version— “convict.”

You see, in our modern-day terminology, the word “convict” has more of a negative tone to it. To us, the word “convict” paints the picture of a courtroom and carries the idea of some judge who is looking down on the guilty and condemning them for their wrongdoing. And religion certainly has not helped this perception of conviction either: It has painted the picture that God is looking down on us with a lightning bolt in His hand ready to strike us down at any moment for our sinful ways. So, therefore, a good portion of the Church teaches that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to constantly hound us—condemning us for all our various faults and shortcomings. Saints, this is not what the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do!

So, what does the word “convict” actually mean? The Greek word translated as “convict” carries more of the idea to “convince or to prove” than it does to “condemn.” In fact, the Greek word that the apostle John used here literally means “to bring something to light, and thus to expose it.” So, don’t get stuck on the word “convict” and let that word paint a negative picture of the Holy Spirit’s dealings with the world.

But the fact is (as we’ve made the point of already), Jesus specifically said that the Holy Spirit’s assignment to “convict” of sin is aimed at the world, and not at the church. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s job of convicting, convincing, and simply bringing to light one’s sinful condition is specifically targeting unbelievers.

Which brings up an important point—Not only is His ministry to convict of sin not aimed at us but at the world, this ministry to convict of sin is His job to perform and not ours.

HOLY GHOST JR.
Now allow me to take a little rabbit trail here concerning this: It is unfortunate, but there have been many believers that think that this is their ministry—to bring people under conviction. No, this is the Holy Spirit’s job, not ours.

You see, the Bible does not call us “convicters”; it simply calls us witnesses (see John 15:27 & Acts 1:8). And there is a big difference between someone who simply witnesses and someone who does the convicting.

You see, a witness is not the judge or the jury. A witness just simply testifies of what they have seen, heard, or experienced. And just as sometimes a witness is needed to convict a lawbreaker in a court of law, a witness is needed to open the door for the Holy Spirit to convict an unbeliever of their sin in the kingdom of God. We, as witnesses, are not to point our finger at them; we are just to tell people what we’ve experienced and then let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.

Have you ever noticed that when you have realized someone has missed it in some area and then you, in your zeal, call them out on their sin, that you rarely get the desired response? Yes, people do not usually respond well to us when we try and do the convicting. However, when we take the humble approach of simply testifying to what we’ve seen and experienced in our own life, we will get more “God-results.”

Second Timothy, chapter two, gives us a good example of this: In Second Timothy 2:22-26, the apostle Paul says to Timothy, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

First of all, notice how he first tells Timothy what he should “flee & pursue” Why is this important? Because the first part of being a good witness is to walk in the truth ourselves. And not just because we ought to avoid hypocrisy and ruin our witness, but because our lifestyle and behavior is also what sheds light on the darkness that the world walks in.

Do you remember how in in First Timothy 4:12 that Paul told him – “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

This means that Timothy was not to keep people from despising his youth by verbally correcting that attitude, but by being an example in how he conducts himself. Amen?

But have you ever noticed how the world around us just seems to be convicted from being in our presence? Now we might not have noticed that if we are walking like the world ourselves, but if we have been pursuing the things of God and we are carriers of God’s presence because our relationship with Him is where it needs to be, the ungodly around us will get convicted simply from being in our presence—and here’s the kicker: without us even saying a word. Therefore, by being Christ’s witness simply by our example, the Holy Spirit is able to fulfill His commission to convict.

Now I will say that this does not always mean that the person under conviction will have a repentant reaction. In fact, in most of these cases, the person under conviction will more than likely have a negative response by resenting, hating, or even persecuting us. But that is just the response you get when letting your light shine before men: You will have both the moths & the roaches—the “moths” being those who come to the light and the “roaches” being those who run from the light. And unfortunately, we live in the woods of the world, where there are many more roaches than there are moths.   

Then Paul goes on to show us that we need to avoid disputes and quarrels because all they generally do is generate strife. Why? Because with the vast majority of people, they do not dispute to find the truth, but to defend the truth they think they know. So, arguing and debating is generally fruitless and actually anti-productive according to Paul.

But notice how he goes on to describe that there is a place for correcting others, but just that we should do it “in humility.” For example, when we are tempted to correct & convict someone else for something and we are certain they are doing wrong, it is always a good idea to broach the subject in humility. How? By, instead of correcting them for what they are doing wrong, being a witness of what the Lord has shown you. Say, for example, you see someone having the wrong attitude about something. While you might be tempted to just correct their “stinkin’ thinkin’,” you can give them an example of how you yourself once did what they are currently doing and then share with them how the Lord corrected you. This takes that “holier than thou” perception of you out of the picture and enables them to see more clearly how they need to respond like you did. Not to mention, it opens the door to the Holy Spirit to validate in their heart the truth that you gave witness to. We see this in the remainder of these verses in Second Timothy.  

Paul went on to say, “if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” So, what we see here is that it begins with us being a witness, and then what follows is God—in the Person of the Holy Spirit, I might add—who helps the person to repent, know the truth, and come to their senses to escape the snare of the devil. Amen!

Again, we cannot make a person repent. We cannot make someone come to know the truth. And we cannot bring them to their senses. This is the Holy Ghost’s job! And for us to try and do this ourselves is just pride—thinking we can do His job for Him.

You see, some people, in their zeal, have gone beyond the witness stand and tried to bring people under conviction themselves. This not only can frustrate the witness, but it can drive the people we are trying to convict away from God. We need to eliminate this “Holy Ghost Jr.” mentality of trying to convict people of their sins ourselves and let the Holy Spirit do His job. Again, He’s the Judge who convicts; we are simply the witnesses—and by doing our part of being Christ’s witness, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His part of being Christ’s convicter! Don’t leave the witness stand!
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So, in conclusion, the Holy Spirit is here to convict the world, and this is His assignment, not ours. Let’s do our job of being witnesses and not leave the stand to try to do the Holy Spirit’s job. And as we have learned, the good news is that if we just be the witnesses that we are called to be, we can help the Holy Spirit do the convicting that He is called to do. Amen?