WE ARE HIS WITNESSES

THURSDAY 30 MARCH 2023

The book of Acts was written by St Luke the Evangelist, and it was addressed to Theophilus. It entails the inspired acts of men and women who took the great commission seriously after having a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit. As a result, they began to spread the good news of the risen Saviour to the most remote corners of the world, making the best use of the powerful influence of the Spirit. So the book, "Acts of the Apostles" majors on a notable phase in the expansion of the gospel message, which is the accomplishment of outstanding apostles and personalities.

Reference: Acts 1:8 New King James Version (NKJV) "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 Scripture is part of the Master's final decrees before He departed from this earth. The part that captured my utmost attention is the truth that the Holy Spirit has an overwhelming and significant impact in a Christian's lifetime. Imagine that they shall become witnesses to Jesus, after the empowering influence of the Spirit. Based on the encounter, they began to bear witness for Christ by instinctive and conscious control.

The gift of the Holy Spirit became available to all born again Christians because they have believed in Jesus who paid for their sins on the cross. Having been raised from the dead after His atoning sacrifice, Jesus was ready to ascend to heaven and for this reason, the Holy Spirit would become His gift to all who would believe in Him. Therefore, to be an effective witness for the Lord, you must have an encounter with the Holy Spirit. Evidently, receiving the power of the Holy Spirit happens when you are born of the Spirit, but after you've experienced the power in your life, you must continue to be filled with the Spirit. In doing so, you'll be so engulfed by His inspiration to preach the gospel of Christ according to divine revelation.

The Bible recorded in several passages of the Scripture, that Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. Mark 16:14-16 (ESV) says, 'Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."' Beloved, this is the Great Commission and we must follow it more purposefully.

We've been called and chosen to deliver the lost souls from the shackles of darkness and bondage of sin by proclaiming the glorious gospel of Christ in our various world. And we do this as ambassadors for Christ, denoting that we are called to function as His faithful witnesses in this present world. It doesn't matter how far anyone has gone from God because of the magnitude or depth of their sin, through us, the power of God can rescue them from the kingdom of darkness and transfer them into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we dare to share the glorious gospel with them. Why? Anyone who receives the gospel message and believes in Christ will automatically belong to Christ and become a new person. His old life will be gone; a new life will begin!

2nd Corinthians 5:18-20 (NLT) says, "And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" As we carry out the Great Commission to people within our respective communities, cities and nations, the Lord will draw many souls to Himself and transform their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Romans 6:23.

Exuberant Declaration: I am an effective ambassador for Christ. As I witness for Jesus in my world by bringing the gospel truth to the attention of every man that is bound by sin, the power of God will rescue and liberate them from the domain of darkness and transfer them into the Kingdom of light. Hallelujah!