2-15-2018

Good Morning All,

     Acts 1:8; “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

    My late-night television has included a lot of “Perry Mason” lately.  He always wins the cases and poor Mr. Burger always loses.  The court room scenes always hinge on a witness or two who either change their story, remember something new or show up as a last-minute surprise.  Then we get the last dramatic witness who is usually the real killer.

    Throughout the court room scene Perry Mason keeps asking for the facts, not opinions but for facts.  What are the facts that you know?  This seems to always be the salient question.  Yet that is what it means to be a witness; you state the facts that you know.  You do not add to them or subtract from them.

      This verse represents the last words which Jesus spoke to his disciples while he was here on earth.  In it, He makes them a promise, a promise that they will receive the Holy Spirit.  This is truly God’s gift to the church.  The Holy Spirit works through the church calling, gathering the believers, making them holy as they live.  The Spirit gives us the power to be the kind of witness that Jesus wants us to be.

     The gift of the Spirit means everything to us as well.  The Spirit continually calls us back to the Gospel, gathers us together as the redeemed children of God, enlightens us with the gifts of the Spirit and builds us into the disciples which Jesus wants us to be.  God has created stuff for you to do.  He has stuff for you to do where you are right now.  He has given you the talents, skills and gifts which are necessary for you to be that witness.  He has placed them throughout your world.

     Just as the disciples were witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.  Ours is similar.  We start in our neighborhood and in our family.  We start with those closest to us.  We usually do this witnessing by our self or with one or two others.  It is evident in the way we live our life, the way we treat each other, the way we love one another.  As our circle expands to our state and region, we continue to witness with the power of the Spirit leading us.  Here we usually join together with many Christians to give a strong witness.  Yet sometimes, the opportunity will arise where you can impact one person whom you have never met before and may never see again.  God has stuff for you to do places for you to be a witness to his Gospel. 

     We continue to be led by the Sprit as we try and witness to the ends of the earth usually aiding those whom God has called to go there.  We are his witnesses, given the power of the Holy Spirit to change the world.

Dearest Father in heaven, you have called us to be witnesses to the saving grace of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Lead us to be powerful witnesses and to touch the lives of those around us especially those most in need.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret