THE WITNESS OF THE LORD PART 2

Acts 22: 15 “ For you are to be His witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. “

After Ananias had restored Paul’s sight through the power of God, he gave him a prophetic word in the anchor scripture above “ For you are to be His witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard”. For me this is a perfect definition of a witness. From the scripture we see who or what a witness does for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

Last week, we learned that a witness is a proof producer and a martyr.

Please, say after me, “I’m a proof producer. I’m a martyr for Christ Jesus. Amen!

A witness is also a preacher or an evangelist. Some people say preaching and teaching are the exclusive right of the five fold ministries ( apostle, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers). Some even say women are not supposed to preach or teach because of a scripture they were shown that lacked good biblical exegesis . We are not here for arguments but to learn precious ones. Every believer is supposed to preach and teach the word of God wherever they are and when the need arises. In Matthew 28: 19 -20, we read “ go ye ( disciples or believers) therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I’m with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen!

Besides, when Jesus resurrected from the dead, he first appeared to a woman who later went and informed the disciples ( Mark 16: 9 -11 “Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.

Mary Magdalene proclaimed the good news to the disciples. Theologically speaking anyone who proclaims the word is actually preaching it. One can also encourage the people of God by preaching. In other words, Mary, a woman preached the word of God. So every believer who desires to be a witness should strive to teach and preach the word of God with power, accuracy and precision.

When you preach, you talk about God’s personality, power and kingdom.

When was the last time you preached the word of God to someone. If you say you don’t know the scriptures and that’s why you can’t preach, I would tell you Jesus is disappointed in you. If you say you can’t preach because you don’t understand English, I would tell you Jesus says you are not serious. Sometimes, we give all these flimsy excuses because we live like those in the world. We don’t care if people perish. See, heaven and hell are real. If we don’t believe the word of God, only death can confirm the existence of those realities to us.

Would like death to confirm the existence of heaven and hell to you? What if you were not saved and thought you were before you died? Stop saying if my father will change, he will change and that you don’t care. Masa, care oh. In fact, those who are not saved in your family are your assignment as a witness. You can’t afford to see them languish in hell tomorrow. It’s not a good place. Please, get them genuinely saved through the word of God. You are not only going to church to have your personal needs met but also to be a blessing unto others.

When we come to church, we taught the word of God, are trained to read the scriptures, meditate on them and go out there to win souls for Christ. If you have never preached before or you feel shy to do so, please wake up cos we don’t have time now and you and I may not know when we or our loved ones who are not saved may exit this world. When a young person or someone dies, the question we ask is “ were they married? Did they have children?”. In as much as these are well meaning questions, I don’t think that should be the first questions to ask? Were they born again should be the first question and the rest come follow. This is because marriage and children are blessings from the Lord but trust me when to get to the other side of the divide the question would not be “ were you married or did you have children”? No! If you did on earth, that’s a plus and it’s good but there it means nothing. Your salvation is what counts there!

Your pastors can’t reach out to everyone on earth and that’s why they preach to you every day so that you can go out there and become a blessing to perishing souls.

If you are a policeman, you have to go and preach to policemen and not necessarily your pastor. This is because, the Lord planted you there for that purpose. If you are a nurse, get unsaved nurses saved either through the word, your lifestyle that commands results or your prayer life. You will render an account of unsaved souls at your workplace that you didn’t try to get saved when you face the judgement seat.

1 Corinthians 9: 16 “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”. It’s a must to preach the gospel like Paul said as a witness. How did you get saved? Share it with a scripture! How did you get healed? Talk about to the sick with a scripture to back your experience and pray the prayer of faith for them. That’s preaching. How did you get a husband or a child after so many years? Tell people how God had mercy on you and met you at the point of your needs. That’s the work of a witness. You may not need to always quote the scriptures but let Jesus be the focal point of your preaching or salvation and not a Mallam or a fetish priest or priestess somewhere.

I started preaching to, visiting and praying for the sick when I was in secondary school and God has always been faithful. You can do better! Yes, you can do it!

As you begin sharing the good news, the Lord will start upgrading you in the spirit. A time will come, you will quote scriptures to convince some people to get saved and they wouldn’t mind you because such people need something beyond the word. You may hear something like this from the Spirit , “his name is Peter and he had a very bad dream last night and when he woke up he was scared”. As you tell him that he will now be surprised and give you his undivided attention and that would be an opportunity to now expose him to the entire counsel of the Lord and ultimately get him saved and you would also have the opportunity to pray for him.

Some people wouldn’t be moved by the prophetic because of their conditions so out of faith you would have to reach out to them and lay hands on them and pray for healing for them. What do you think would happen if they are instantly healed? Paul said the “gospel is not in words but in the demonstration of power”!

As a witness, you can meet someone and as he begins to tell you about a particular yoke that has plagued his family from generation to generation, you will instantly have an answer to that long standing battle and help him out through the Spirit or God. Would he follow or listen to whatever you tell him when he’s totally free? That’s the gospel.

There’s however a price to pay to get to that level as a witness. Joshua 1:8 “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”. Fill your soul with the word, listen to spirit filled word from generals in the kingdom, live a life of holiness and prayer and you will be a good ambassador of Christ here on earth to the glory of Yahweh!

As a witness, you are a preacher and a teacher irrespective of your sex, age or background.

The best is yet to come. Shalom!

Se. David Tobi Ogoudou