The Zone Gathering

This past weekend, I visited my sister Julie and brother-in-law Duane in North Carolina. I had the opportunity to visit their church (First Assembly of God in Wallace) and hear a great sermon based on three Scriptures (Acts 1:8, Matt. 16:24, and John 4:23-24) entitled “The Power, The Witness and True Worship.”

The timing for Brother Bracken’s message was perfect as I think about, prepare for and get psyched for this weekend’s annual leadership retreat, “Forceful Advance.” I especially resonated with the words Jesus spoke to His disciples just before He left the earth:

“But 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 1:8, NIV)

Brother Bracken pointed out that in the Old Testament, the word “witness” means a record (or to record), testimony, or history. In the New Testament, it also can mean “martyr.” When Jesus tells His disciples “You shall be my witnesses,” He was essentially preparing them to: (1) tell their stories of how He saved them; and (2) die for Him.

I think it is easy for us to sign up to do the “fun” things Christ calls us to, but are we willing to take up our cross and follow Him, even if it costs us our lives? To be true witnesses, we must be willing to tell our stories and spread the gospel, but we also must be willing to lay down our own lives. We must be willing to die for Jesus.

That is discipleship. Are we willing to be true witnesses of Christ?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Bible Drills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.