Christians Are Witnesses for Jesus. Amen!

Introduction
I'm not a die hard sports fan, but if I chose favorite teams, I would probably choose the Georgia Tech and Washington, and I'll tell you why.  My brother went to Georgia Tech.  He was eight years older than me and sometimes would invite me to come up and stay with him at college.  It was really cool.  And though we were never hard core college football fans, I guess if I had to choose a college team, I would choose Georgia Tech.  But really, our family's team was the Washington (formerly Redskins).  Why?  Well, even though I've lived most of my life in Georgia, I was born in Maryland (along with my brother and two sisters).  We all moved to Georgia when I was only about 7. So we left everything we knew behind and came to a strange new place--Macon, Georgia.  People thought we talked funny and we felt the same way about them.  And my family still rooted for Washington; it was sort of our thing we were proud of because of where we came from.  

In church service this past Sunday, I asked three people why they chose to be fans of their favorite team.  One was a Green Bay Packers fan.  One was a Georgia Southern fan.  Another was a Ole Miss fan.  I didn't warn them ahead of time that I was going to ask them why they liked that particular team.  I just asked them write in the middle of the sermon.  Not surprisingly, each one of them could easily share why they loved their team and each had a great story.  The Packer fan had a family connection to Wisconsin, near the Green Bay area.  The Georgia Southern fan and his wife both attended the college and actually met while working together at the original Zakby's in Statesboro.  The Ole Miss fan grew up near Oxford, Mississippi and saw a friend with an Ole Miss notebook when she was a young kid and eventually went there.

We usually don't have a hard time talking about our favorite teams.  If we're not into sports, there are probably lots of other things we love to talk about that seem natural--our kids, our favorite movies or TV shows, etc.

We like to support our favorite teams.  They’re important us for many reasons.

Today, I want to talk about being a witness for Jesus, because Jesus commanded His followers to be His witnesses.  I want to talk about 3 ways to be wintess for Jesus. If you are ready to learn, say Amen! Amen!

Acts 1:8
⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Explanation
The Book of Acts tells the story of how the early Church, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, told people everywhere about Jesus.  Every Christian told their family, their friends, their neighbors, their co-workers about Jesus.  It started in Jerusalem, where followers shared the amazing Good News that Jesus died and rose from the grave.  The Holy Spirit enabled them to do miracles, like the supernatural ability talk to people in other languages they didn't know so that those people could hear and understand the Good News about Jesus in their own native tongue.  No one was in need in the early Christian community because everyone loved each other and they looked after one another as family.  It was a beautiful movement--the original "Jesus Revolution". 

Then persecution broke out.  The temple authorities got jealous and started killing Christians and driving them from their homes and canceling their businesses.  Christians stared leaving Jerusalem and going out into the countryside.  They went out into Judea and told people there about Jesus and more people believed and followed Jesus.  Christians even went to Samaria—a country that was traditionally rivals and enemies of the Jews.  The Jewish Christians didn’t care.  They went to Samaria and told them about Jesus and the Samaritans believed and got saved and became Christians too!

Then the Christians went up into Syria and Turkey and told people there the Good News about Jesus.  Then they went to Greece and Macedonia and even to Rome.  Everywhere they went, Christians told people about Jesus.  They told about his death and ressurection.  They told how Jesus changed their lives.  Even when talking about Jesus could get you in trouble or even killed, Christians were faithful witnesses.  In fact, the Greek word for being a faithful witness--martyr--became synonymous with giving your life for your Christ.  Christians are faithful witness who tell people about Jesus.

Today, I want to talk about three ways to be a witness for Jesus.  1) Sharing Your Love for Jesus. 2) Inviting People to Church. 3) Recruiting people for Jesus.

Sharing Your Love For Jesus
It wasn’t hard for me to decide who to ask about their favorite team.  I knew, because some people are such devoted fans of their team, everyone knows who they support.  You can probably think of several people you know and which team they support.  You could ask them why and they would be glad to tell you.

Being a witness for Jesus can be as natural as sharing about your favorite team.  I hope your love for Jesus is something that everyone knows.  Hopefully, Jesus is the most important thing in your life and that comes through to everyone everywhere, all the time.

It doesn’t have to be hard to be a witness for Jesus.  If you have a real relationship with Him, people will know.  Sometimes, they will just see it. Maybe they saw you wearing a cross or overheard you talking about your faith or they knew you went to church last weekend or saw you doing Christian service.  

If you live for Jesus, people should be able to see your faith at work.  Are you doing the kinds of things that show people Jesus is your Lord?  If someone was looking to find out more about what it means to be a Christian, would they know to come talk to you because they know you’re a Christian?

Sometime people will see your faith and know you are a Christian.  Other times, you will tell them.  If you’re a serious Georgia Bulldog fan (or Alabama or whatever), no one has to twist your arm to get you to talk about your team. Right?  You probably look for opportunities to get in a conversation about them.  You love to talk about the game that's coming up this weekend or you want to celebrate the win last weekend (or cry about the loss).  It just comes natural.  Are you that quick to talk about Jesus?  Do you look for reasons to tell people why you love Him?  Do you relish the chance to share the difference Jesus makes in your life (or even be honest about how He's helping you overcome your shortcomings)?

Inviting People to Church
Following Jesus isn’t just a private thing.  We live out our faith in a community.  One of the ways you can be a witness is to invite people to experience Jesus at Church—the body of Christ.  Here again are some striking similarities with sports fans.

Being a fan of a certain team means being part of a community.  Right?  I mean, you get together with other fans and watch the game.  There’s a whole community.  It can be electric to be in the stands with thousands of other cheering fans, all rooting for the same team.  Or how many of you have gotten together with friends to watch the game on TV?  Even if you watch the game all by yourself, there’s this sense that you are part of something bigger.  You are part of a community and that matters.  And if you really want your friends to experience what it’s like to be a fan of your team, you would probably invite them to go to a game with you (or watch it on TV with you).

The same is even more true for Christians.  If you want people to experience the risen Jesus you know, you might want to invite them to church (or a Christian retreat or Bible study, etc.).  Christians experience the fullness of our faith in a community of believers.  Yes, your relationship with Jesus is personal, but it’s not only personal.  It’s something that takes place with other people.  Stories about Jesus always took place in a group setting.  Jesus called twelve Disciples and they worked together asa group.  Jesus was transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John.  The Last Supper was a meal shared with all the Disciples—even Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus.  When Jesus rose, he appeared to hundreds of people—often in groups.

Christians experience the love of Jesus most fully through other Christians.  We learn in groups.  We worship as a body.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them.”  That doesn't mean Jesus isn't present when we are all alone.  He's with us when we are alone too, but there's something something sacred and essential about Christians gathering together.  And if you want your friends to experience what it means to really be a Christian, you probably should invite them to Church—the Body of Christ.

Recruiting For Jesus
There’s one more way to be a witness that I want to talk about:  Recruiting.  Sometimes, you just need to be direct.  Sometimes the situation calls for it.  Sometimes all it takes is, “Hey, come to church with me.”  But recruiting could also mean:  “Hey, my church is packing sack lunches on Wednesday nights for the school next door.  Why don’t you come help us out?”

Again, let’s go back to the sports analogy.  In order to build a winning college team, coaches have to get out and find the best high school athletes and convince them to come to their college.  Right?  But it’s not just the coaches that do the recruiting.  How many of you who went a certain college and had a good experience and you try to encourage others to go to that school too?  And it's not that you're trying to sell something people don't need, right?  If you know your school had a great nursing program and you have a friend that's looking for a nursing school, you'd be like, "Hey, the college I went to has a great nursing program.  You should check it out."  We would be doing them a favor by hooking them up with our great alma mater.  Right?

If we believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, I hope we will recruit people to be part that.  Don’t you?  We’d be doing people a favor to recruit them to be on Jesus’ team.  So why not?  A lot of people out there are looking for a team—they’re looking for meaning and hope and peace and love and healing…  Jesus is all of that.  Why not be the ones to tell people where they kind find what they’re looking for?

So there's three easy to understand ways to be a witness: 

1. Sharing your love for Jesus,
2. Inviting people to Church, and 
3. Recruiting for Jesus

I Challenge You to Be A Witness for Jesus.
I’ve been giving you challenges throughout this series. Here’s one for today.  Make a list of specific people you know to whom you could be a witness.  Pray about how you could witness to them.

Could you share with them a spiritual struggle you need Jesus to help you with? 
Could you share with them a way you are growing spiritually because of Jesus?
Could you invite them to come to church with you (or Sunday school or Bible study…)?
Could you ask someone if you could start praying together. (Maybe you and a co-worker go out to each lunch every Tuesday.  Could you ask to start saying a blessing before you eat?)
Is there someone you know who needs to pray to accept Jesus as Lord?  Could you pray with them about it?

Start with a list of people. Write down their names.  Look at it every day and oray that God would show you how you could be a witness to them.  Let the Holy Spirit guide you and empower you to be a witness for Jesus.

The ABC of How to Be a Christian - Guest Blogger David Crawford

Well here we are, the Sunday after Easter.  What a trip we’ve been on since our Ash Wednesday Service a little over 45 days ago.  I hope the season of Lent, Holy Week and Easter have strengthened your relationship with God.  I hope that you have taken time to pray and meditate on the sacrifice our Lord and Savior made on our behalf.  I hope you are ready to rise up to the challenge of being a follower of Christ.  A Christian.

Now more than ever, after the Lent and Easter season, you shouldn’t have to think too hard to figure out why 2.2 billion people have decided to follow Christ and strive to live life the way He did.  He fed us, He healed us, He taught us, He entertained us, water into wine, that’s pretty entertaining, but the best reason of all is that He loved us; enough to die for us.  So it is no wonder we feel an allegiance to Christ.  But how do we honor Him and our calling to follow Him.  How do we BE Christians?   

God answers prayer in the strangest ways.  When Chris asked me to speak, the first thing I did to prepare for the message was to pray for a topic.  Two days went by, and on my way to church Wednesday night I heard The Jackson Five singing ABC.  I was singing along with Michael and the rest of the family when it dawned on me, that was it, the ABCs of being a Christian.  

Many of you may have heard of the ABC of becoming a Christian.  A - Admit you are a sinner.  B - Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for your sins.  And C - Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Has anyone heard that before?  If you were at VBS a couple of years ago I know you heard it, because we sang a song that was almost word for word the same.  Anyway, I was thinking that most of us here have already admitted that we are sinners, if you haven’t, well, you are, and so am I.  Most of us believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins in order to save us.  And most of us have confessed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  So, I didn’t want to go over all that again.  Of course if there is someone here today that would like to know more about how to become a christian, please see me following the service.  But what I wanted to talk about today is how to BE a christian, not how to BECOME a christian.  Thus the A, B, Cs of being a Christian, and we begin with the letter A.

Letter A: Attend Church Regularly

When you became a Christian, you began an authentic personal relationship with Jesus. However, it is important to also have authentic connections with other Christians.

In a fireplace, many logs burn together creating heat and energy, but a log by itself quickly dies out.  Most of us have been in a place where we desire or need encouragement and support, what better place to find it than in the family of believers.  To take the fire metaphor one step further, to keep a fire going we rely on logs and coals already lit to light the logs that are not yet on fire. Sometimes you coming to church isn’t about keeping you on fire for God, but rather helping start a fire in someone else.  You might be the hot spot that sets someone else ablaze.   Don’t miss out on the blessing that comes from being used by God because you failed to show up.  And, one last spark from the fire symbol, do you know how much easier it is to keep a fire going versus starting a brand new one?  Well I can tell you it’s 73.9% easier to keep a fire going than start a new one.  Of course 33.7% of statistics are made up on the spot.  It takes a lot of work to get to a point where you are living the life a Christian is expected to live.  Finding time to pray, to study God’s word, to act on your faith, and to help others is not easy.  And if you start giving up time and replacing it with something else, it will be even harder to reclaim that time.  Acknowledge that all days belong to God, but especially Sunday.   He only lets us borrow the time we have anyway.  It’s not like the days are ours, I mean, we don’t even belong to ourselves. We need the fellowship of other believers to keep our faith vibrant and growing, and other believers need you and me to keep their faith vibrant and growing.  

Proverbs 27:17  As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.  We need each other to stay sharp, and remain useful to each other and for the purpose of God’s work.

 

So “A” Attend Church Regularly

 

Letter B - Be Of Service To Others:

            So how do we serve others?  Helping serve food at a shelter?  Dropping some change in a bucket outside the drive thru at McDonald’s?  Taking your old, but gently worn items to the Salvation Army?  Yes, yes, and yes.  But the goal we strive for as Christians is that our service be motivated by our love for each other.  And this is not always easy. God’s actions were motivated by love when He sent His Son Jesus to us.  Jesus’ actions were motivated by love as He walked among us and eventually carried a cross for us.  We strive to be like Jesus, to walk His walk and talk His talk, therefore our actions of service should also be motivated by love.  But what are some other motivators that might cause us to serve if not out of love?

How about guilt?  I have been motivated to action before because I felt guilty about my lack of action in the past.  Because I didn’t do lunch for the elementary schools, family promise, clean up day, walk to Emmaus, or whatever it was last time, I guess it’s my turn, so I’ll do it just so I won’t feel guilty about it.  I have acted out of guilt before, and I bet I’m not alone.  But guilt is not good for you.  Guilt weighs heavy on you, and God doesn’t want us weighed down with guilt.  Jesus even offered to carry our load, whether it’s grief, worry, guilt or whatever.  Come unto me all ye who labor and I will give you rest.  Serving others out of guilt is a temporary fix for an aching Christian soul.  Serving out of guilt is not the same as serving out of love.  

How about peer expectations?  If I don’t show up I’ll hear about it next time I see “so and so”.  Or, it’s my job, so I better be there.  I’m the chairperson of the committee, I have to be there.  If I don’t show up, how will that look?  If this is the motivation for service then we’ve acted out of expectations from my peers, not love.  While it’s true we need to support, motivate, and challenge each other, we are not here to impress each other.   The expectations we should be  trying to meet are those set by our Lord and Savior, because by meeting those expectations we are serving God.  Serving out of peer expectations is not the same as serving out of love.

How about the eternal scorecard?  If I do this and this and this and that and that and that then I’ll build up a bunch of points for my Heavenly Gate Score Card.  Even though we know this isn’t how it works, sometimes we are motivated because we think we’re banking bonus points in the heavenly grade book.  That’s not love.

How about love?  Here’s when I think I’ve acted out of love.  When I want to do something that will make me happy, but I hear or see someone else needs something, and I realize that me helping them will make them happy, so I do it for them without begrudging the time or experience I deny myself.  For example:  On a Sunday evening, when I would like to be replacing my camper’s city water connector, but I know that there is a congregation at Providence Ministries that would like to hear music at their evening service, I realize that the excitement and happiness, and joy of hearing music will enhance their worship experience, so instead of repairing my camper, I go, out of love.  Because of my selfish human nature I cannot go out of true love on my own.  I can go solely out of love only because God first loved me.  I can go out of love because God so loved the world He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, that I might not die but have life eternal.  I can go out of love only because the Holy Spirit can work within me and create within me the capacity to deny my selfish nature and act out of love.  

Does this happen often?  Not as often as I wish it would, but it seems to happen more often as I practice my faith and as my church family challenges me, inspires me, encourages me and holds me accountable to the choice I made when I accepted Christ as my Savior.  And the craziest thing about acting out of love, is when I do get around to working on my camper, it is even more rewarding because I remember the experience of sharing God’s love, and I find myself more relaxed, more focused and at peace.

Letter C - Converse with God

            Today we take the word converse to mean something along the lines of “engage in conversation”.  And it does mean that.  But it came from the French word converser (cone-vehr-say) meaning to: “live among, and be familiar with”.  And that came from the Latin conversari (cone-where-suh-ree) meaning “to keep company with”.  I have discovered the more I pray, the more I converse with God, the less it becomes about spending a specific time set aside for talking to and listening to God, and the more it becomes about keeping company with God, and being familiar with God.

    Now I’m not saying that you should do away with your set aside special prayer time.  I need that time, you need that time, I think God enjoys spending that specific special time with us.  But conversing with God also implies keeping company with God, and because God is always with us:

 

Joshua 1: 9  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

 

1 Corinthians 3:16  Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

            I would think it strange, rude and awkward if we just ignored God except for our special time of prayer.  Can you imagine how awkward it would be if I followed you everywhere you went through every moment of your day and you never said a word to me?  If I never spoke to you?  Don’t you think God might have a few words of wisdom for you throughout your day that might make things go a little more smoothly, more nicely, more, oh I don’t know Godly?  We are keeping company with God because we are Christians.  Here’s an example of how I like to think I keep company with God.  I know a person, no, it’s no one here, no they’ve never gone here, you don’t know them and I’m not answering clues about who they are, so there.  And this person is a beautiful person, but their personality and my personality don’t mix well.  It is not as easy for me to be around this person as some other people.  When I see this person coming, though I might be tempted to duck down and retreat, I am keeping company with God.  And God says, “Now David, you go over there and say hi to this person.  You look them in the eye and give them your attention for a few minutes, this person is my child, and I love this person.”  And then I say to God, “But I don’t think they saw me, it’s good, I can just go over here and…...oh yeah, I know what you’re going to say, “Remember Jonah”, and yes I do, alright, thanks God, here I go”.  And I go, and I’m always glad I did.

Another really cool part of the french meaning is, “to be familiar with”.  So to converse with God is to be familiar with God.  But I want to look at it not as  being familiar by getting to know God better, but rather being familiar meaning being yourself around God.  Just doing what you do, being who and whose you are and at the same time acknowledging God’s presence by conversing with Him.  You might be alone washing dishes, guess what, God has experience cleaning dirty vessels.  You might be working in your shop, guess what, God has some experience with building materials.  You might be driving alone down the road, God has traveled more miles than we can imagine.  You can be you, just doing what you do, and God wants to be there with you; smiling when you have small successes, laughing with you when you make silly mistakes, directing you so you don’t make the same silly mistakes as often,  holding you when your eyes fill with tears, and strengthening you when your body is weak.  

Now, I know I started this with how to be a Christian, and I have talked a lot about God.  But what Jesus wanted for us more than anything was for us to love our heavenly Father, as Jesus loved His heavenly Father.  That is what following Christ will do, it will take us on the path to eternal life with God.  Being a Christian is about trying to live our life the way Christ lived His.  And if we A-Attend Church Regularly...B-Be of Service to others….and C-Converse with God, then we are moving in the right direction.