Witnessing in the last days
In these last days that we are living in, especially in recent years, we have been given a golden opportunity to be able to witness for the Lord. From books on how to witness, with seminars, learning evangelism from many programs produced by the church. Also we have in recent times have new and innovative means through the electronic media with live-streaming our church services, our website and Facebook accounts which is reaching the wider community of the unchurched. So we have purchased appropriate equipment to achieve it at professional level.
When we look at the book of acts we can see how the church grew quickly and substantially by face to face witnessing for the Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost how three thousand were converted in one day.
When we look at the four gospels, there were some successful witnessing by individuals that you probably might think that they may not be the best qualified to be successful witnesses for Jesus.
So in this talk today I have three individuals that you may think at first that they would be the last ones to become successful witnesses. As the saying goes: God doesn’t call the qualified, but qualifies the called.
In Mark’s gospel chapter 1:40 – 44. We are introduced to an individual that you might think that he would be the last person that would be a successful witness.
Mark 1:40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Here we see a leper come to Jesus and pleading with him to be cleansed from the terrible disease of leprosy. Jesus was moved with compassion and touched him and the leper was cleansed.
It is interesting to note what Jesus said to him. Say nothing to anyone and go show yourself to the priests and make an offering for his cleansing according to the law of Moses. Apparently it was one of the Priest’s task to examine any individual who had developed any unusual sores on the skin that may be the onset of leprosy. But in this case not only did he go to the Priest to examine whether he was cured or not, but published his healing everywhere he went.
Leviticus 14:1. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:
7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.
One of the reasons why Jesus told the leper to go and to tell no one but show himself to the priests was that if he told the priest that Jesus had healed him, they may have refuse to pronounce him clean. Such was the animosity of the priests toward Jesus.
But instead of obeying Christ, he spread it all abroad that Christ had healed him of his leprosy. Because of that, Jesus was unable to go openly into the cities, but stayed in isolated places, yet the crowds still came to him that they could be healed of their sicknesses.
The question is: was the leper a theologian? Probably not. He was an outcast? Was he a bible scholar? Maybe, maybe not. The Bible doesn’t say.
So he didn’t qualify to go out door to door. Yet his witness was so successful that all he did was to tell those living in the area and they all came to Jesus to have their sicknesses healed. So he told them his personal testimony. Do you have to have a PHD in theology, or to know your Bible off by heart to be a successful witness? No. A personal testimony is a powerful influence in telling others about what Jesus has done for you.
The Healing of the Demon Possessed Man
There is another story in the NT about the same principle of witnessing for Christ. And it is found in Luke chapter 8: 26-39. Jesus and His Disciples sailed across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes and a demon possessed man met Jesus as he stepped onto the shore. A man that was naked, unkempt and uncontrollable. He was screaming at the top of his voice, saying: “ what do you want with me Jesus Son of the most High God! Pleading with Jesus not to torture me! No body could hold him, iron chains could not hold him in check, even though he was chained hand and foot. He was completely controlled by the demon. Jesus asked the demon, “what is your name? The demon answered, my name is legion for we are many.
A Roman legion back in those days could be from four to six thousand soldiers. It’s hard to imagine so many demons in one man. No wonder no one could control him. And they begged Jesus not to send them into the abyss, a place of darkness and torment for the fallen angels.
They also begged Jesus to send them into the pigs grazing on a nearby grass land. When they did, the pigs stampeded down the hill into the river and drowned.
Of course this upset the owners of the pigs and They told Jesus and His Disciples to leave the area.
Here is where it gets interesting. Because they saw the demon possessed man clothed and in his right mind, and they became afraid.
As they were getting into the boat to leave, the man who was saved from his demon possession came to Jesus because he wanted to follow Jesus. So how did Jesus answer him? Did he say to him no, you must go and study the Torah to understand the way of salvation. Before you can follow me you have to be baptised for you to become a follower of me. Or that you have to have the Holy Spirit and able to speak in tongues to be my Disciple. No! see Luke 8:38,39
On reading this, is very interesting on how Luke here is hinting to His readers. Did you get the import of what he is saying here?
Let’s read it again. Luke 8:38,39.
Did you get the hint of what Luke is trying to convey to us readers? He is actually hinting that Jesus is Actually God. Wow! That hit me right between the eyes when I came to realise what Luke is saying here.
So again I say: was the demon possessed man able to quote scripture? I don’t think so. Did He know anything about God’s law? Not likely. He told his family and those who lived in the region of the Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him. That is his personal testimony. What a powerful witness for Christ to those who know Him not! They may have driven Jesus and His Disciples away, but it opened the door for the gospel for the Disciples later on and was welcomed by the Gentiles. And it was through the personal testimony of the demon possessed man who no one could control whom Jesus healed.
The Woman at the Well
In the third story found in John Chapter 4, we have the story of the woman at the well. We all know the story, how Jesus and His Disciples we’re passing through Samaria and stopped at the local watering place for a rest in their Journey. Jesus was left alone while the Disciples went in to buy some food. The time was around midday and quite hot. All of a sudden Jesus sees a woman coming to the well and noticed that she was all alone carrying a water jar on her shoulder. As she finished drawing the water, Jesus asked her to give Him a drink. This surprised the woman because Jews would not have anything to do with Samaritans.
In Desire of Ages, Ellen White writes: A Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan, nor receive a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water. but here Jesus asked her for a cup of water. No wonder she was surprised.
Reading from verse 10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give Me to drink, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water.
11 The woman said to Him, Sir, you have no vessel, and the well is deep. From where then do you have that living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his children and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may not thirst nor come here to draw.
16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband
18 for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly.
We can see why this woman was coming to the well alone, as she was in the eyes of her township, a woman with not a good reputation.
But she said to Jesus that She had no husband. Could you imagine the shock of Jesus proceeding to tell her that she had five husbands and that the one now she was living with was not her husband, and what she said was true.
It is interesting how she answered Jesus. Sir, she said that I perceive that you are a prophet. She then proceeds to say to Him that our father’s worship on this mountain but you Jews claim that the place in which to worship is in Jerusalem. So she must have had some spiritual knowledge. Can you see the Holy Spirit working on her heart?
Jesus tells her of a time is coming that when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem. God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth.
Jesus said to her that you Samaritans don’t know what they worship, because the source of Salvation comes from the Jews. Because Christ being a Jew, Salvation Comes From Him.
Again she must have had a knowledge of a Messiah who would come and explain everything to us Samaritans.
It is here that Jesus speaks plainly to her when He declared to her: “ I-who speak to you am He.”
How would that have gone down if He said that to the Jews? They would have accused Him of blasphemy and picked up stones to stone Him. It is interesting that Jesus was able to speak plainly with a Gentile women, but couldn’t say that to any Jew.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own received Him not.
12 But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,
By this time the Disciples returned and were surprised that their Master was talking with a woman, and a Samaritan at that.
But immediately the woman left her water pot and hurried into town and told them: “Come see a man who told me everything I did. Could this be the Christ?” And they came out and went to where Jesus was.
What caught the people’s attention? Did the woman quote scripture? No, she just said to come and see a man who could read my past and present life. Could He be the Christ. It was obvious that the Samaritans, even though they were Gentiles did have some knowledge of a coming Messiah that would teach them the truth about the kingdom.
Of course many of the Samaritans from the City believed in Him because of what the woman had said about her. When she said to them that He told me everything I did. Not only that but when they heard Him, they begged Him to stay with them. So Jesus stayed with them two days.
And in that two days many more believed in Him because of His Word. After the two days they said to the woman: we believe not because of your saying, but we have heard His words for ourselves and know that He is truly the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Wow! What a testimony. Here was a women who had a questionable reputation among the inhabitants of Sychar going to the local well, meets up with Jesus and after dialoging with Him, turns out to be a wonderful witness for Jesus and brings the whole city to Him and they hear and believe Him to be the true Christ the Saviour of the world. And they were Gentiles hated by the Jews.
So what do we see in common with these three stories. All three were unlikely candidates to be witnesses for Christ.
When you think of the leper, he would be an unlikely witness for Christ? He would have had very limited scriptural knowledge and would be the last person you would think to be a successful witness. Christ had told him not to say anything about what Jesus had done for him, and go and show yourself to the priest. But instead he went and spread it abroad of what Jesus had done for him. So much so that Jesus could not move openly about among the people.
Now with the demon possessed man, here was an unlikely witness for Christ. He was possessed by a legion of demons. No one could control him, no chain could hold him and he lived among the tombs. Then he met Jesus, the only one who could heal him and After He was healed he came to Jesus, for he wanted to follow him. But Jesus said no. Go back to your family. And friends and tell them what great things God has done for you. And because of his witness the towns in the region of the Decapolis opened the way for the gospel later on when the Disciples spread the gospel to the Gentiles.
And lastly, the woman at the well, was she a likely witness for Christ? There were some issues with her lifestyle that might disqualify her to be a witness for Christ. Yet when she met Christ and spoke to Him who began to tell her of her past and present situation, she began to realise that Jesus was no ordinary man. Firstly She dropped her water jar and rushed of to tell them in the city to come see a man who told me everything I did, could this be the Christ. And because of her witness the whole city turned up to Listen to Jesus.
So what did they have in common? They certainly weren’t knowledgeable in the Torah, they probably Had no knowledge of scripture, although the woman at the well may have had a limited knowledge of a coming Messiah. So what was it that made them such good witnesses?
They told them their personal testimony. I think what these stories bring out is that you don’t have to know the Bible inside out. But tell someone your personal testimony of what Jesus has done for you. This is a powerful witness. Bible knowledge can come later. So what it is saying? You don’t have to worry about what to say biblically, just tell you testimony and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.
So is witnessing in the last days be any different back then? Not at all. Our personal witness is a powerful tool because we are the ones who have experienced on how we came to meet Jesus and what He has done for me. This is why personal testimonies are a powerful way to encourage us in the Church service, in Sabbath School.
Did you enjoy Christine’s personal testimony last week? Yes.! So let’s pray for each other and think about our personal testimonies. With the help of the Holy Spirit I believe will bring revival to the Church.
Amen!
