BECOMING  WITNESSES FOR JESUS

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ said: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:15-16). The Bible shows we may become effective witnesses for our Lord, despite or in light of our difference backgrounds. 

WITNESSES FOR JESUS IN THE BIBLE

ZACCHAEUS. A tax collector named Zacchaeus who cheated people out of their money, repented and became a witness for the Lord. Being short, Zacchaeus had climbed a tree to see Jesus as he passed by in a crowd of people. Jesus saw Zacchaeus and asked to eat at his house. As Jesus was eating in Zacchaeus home, he was convicted of his wrong doings. He told the Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and I will pay back four times the amount to anybody I have cheated. Jesus said, today salvation is come to this house. Zacchaeus became a living witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. (Luke 19:1-10).

SAMARITAN WOMAN.  A Samaritan woman who had been rejected by men and others in her community went to a well alone for water; there she met Jesus. He befriended her, and told her all about her life of rejection. She believed Jesus was God’s promised Savior– “Christ, the Son of God.”  She left the  well and went and told others that she met the “Christ, the Son of God.” She became a witness of the Lord.  And many people believed in Jesus as the Christ. (John 4:29). 

PAUL. This man was a scholarly Rabbi who persecuted people who believed in Jesus Christ as the Messianic Son of God. Paul was on his way to kill more believer, when  Jesus appeared to him, knocking him off his horse. After the Lord made himself known to Paul, he became a leading witness to diverse people for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Acts 9).

PETER AND OTHER DISCIPLES. When Peter and other disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, to thousands of people “from every nation under heaven.” And “about three thousand [believers in Jesus] were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:41).

OUR BECOMING WITNESSES FOR JESUS

If you have believed in Jesus and repented, you are called to be his witness to others (Mark 16:15-16).  Because of your personal testimony and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, others may come to believe in him as their Savior and Lord (Mark 16:15-16).

1. Our backgrounds as believers who witness for the Lord may be different.  Yet we have much in common. We have learned from the Word of God and our personal experiences what we pass on to others:
2. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me: (John 14:6).
3. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
4.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[a] Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
5. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
6. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

• The Lord may use the differences in our backgrounds to add to the effectiveness of our witnessing for him. For instance: Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, Paul, Peter and other disciples had different backgrounds and different levels of  Bible knowledge; but the Lord used each of them effectively in witnessing about him as the Messianic Savior of the world.

The Lord said: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:38).  Despite or in light of our background, our  loving almighty God is able to achieve his purpose in our witnessing about Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. And he said, you will receive a reward “that does not fade away” (1 Peter 1:4);” in the place he has prepared for you in heaven to be with God (John 14:2-3).