ONE

Section 1: “Becoming a Disciple”                                   Session 5: “Witnessing”

WHO’S DISCIPLE ARE WE?

Jesus:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

  • Disciples are imitators of the one they follow

“Go and make disciples…”  (Matthew 28:19)

  • Disciples obey the commands of the one they follow

 “You will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8)

  • Disciples of Christ follow a “rabbi’ like no other!(Holy Spirit’s power)

“In most churches we have the preacher performing, with God as the prompter, and the people as the audience. In truth, worship should be the people performing, with the preacher as the prompter, and God as the audience.” -Ben Merold

WE MUST WITNESS CHRIST

IN THE SCRIPTURES

  • Luke 1:2, handed down to us by those who… were eyewitnesses
  • II Peter 1:16, We did not follow cleverly invented stories… but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

IN  ACTION

  • John 5 Man at Pool of Bethesda… healed… stop sinning
    • Met physical need THEN spoke truth
  • John 4 Samaritan woman at the well
    • Gave respect to the disrespected THEN spoke truth
  • John 8 Woman caught in the act of adultery
    • Gave grace to the guilty THEN spoke truth

IN OUR LIVES

  • Acts 3:6, @ temple gate …what I have I give you.

We can speak it w/out having it, but we can’t share it w/out having it.

  • John 9:25 blind man “Whether he’s a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!”
  • Acts 9 Saul encounters him… becomes Paul the missionary!

MUST witness with own eyes before witnessing with mouth!

IN THE PATTERN OF HIS WORD

  • Matthew 7:3 other’s speck of sawdust / plank in own eye
  • James 3:9-11 Praise God, curse men…Salt / Fresh water
  • I Peter 3:15 Be prepared to give an answer.. gentleness/respect

Witnessing is not attacking Godlessness, it’s evidencing Godliness

  • I Cor. 14:23-25 Public Worship, concern for unbelievers to connect

In my personal “structure” of ministry involvement, how often are new people coming to Christ?

ONLY REASON WE ARE STILL HERE AS SAVED CHILDREN IS TO REACH THE UNSAVED! God would bring us home, otherwise… light shine… world see deeds and glorify God.

Samaritan villagers, “We no longer believe because of what you said, now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

WE FOLLOW A “RABBI” LIKE NO OTHER – POWER OF HOLY SPIRIT TO TRANSFORM US INTO THE LIKENESS OF THE ONE WE FOLLOW!

NEXT WEEK: DISCIPLING OTHER BELIEVERS