ABUNDANT LIFE VISION.
WITNESSES. Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere-in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. NLT.

Good morning my friends. I welcome you to the month of October and I pray that it shall be a great month for us in Jesus name. This morning, we will look at “Witnesses”. Who is a witness? Oxford language define a witness as someone who sees an event, typically a crime or accident, take place. Let me explain it like this, in the court of law, lawyers call people up as witnesses to a case because they want to use their testimonies to reinforce the case they want to make. This is the same thing for Christians, Jesus has called and sent us to the world as witnesses to use our testimony to reinforce the gospel in the “court of life”. This is because there are times that people present false witnesses in order to win a case. Matthew 26:59-60 “Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward who declared this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.” NLT. As long as a false witness is no countered by a true witness, the party that present the false witness will win the case. Therefore, as Christians, it is our duty to go out and present to the world the true witness about Christ.
At this point, let us look at the reasons Jesus called us to be witnesses.

1. For salvation: Matthew 28:18-20
“Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to end of the age.” NLT.

The number one reason Jesus came to the world is to pay the price for our salvation and save us from sin. He finished this on the cross and he tasks us share the Good News to people who have not received it. We do this by telling the world about the life and ministry of Jesus in order to bring them into the fold. This is so important because Jesus came to save all and not some set of people. Note, our job as witnesses is to tell the world about what we have experienced about Christ. The things we have in the bible are people’s testimony, we are to use these testimonies with our personal testimonies to preach the gospel.

2. To combat the spirit of the Antichrist/lies: 1John 4:3
“But if someone claims to be prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.” NLT.

One of the activities of the spirit of the Antichrist is falsehood. The spirit thrives by making people believe that Jesus is not the son of God, that he did not die for our sins, that he did not resurrect after three days and that he did not ascend to heaven. It brushes aside everything about the death and resurrection of Jesus. If you pay attention, you must have heard some people say; Jesus was not the one that died on the cross, some say it was Judas, some say it was Peter, some even say there was no point in time that he came to the world, they say he is a fictional character. All these are the work of the Antichrist. Paul in 1Cor 15:3-9 provided a logical explanation about the death and resurrection of Jesus. He argued that Jesus died and resurrected and he was seen by his disciples and over five hundred people before he appeared to him too on his way to Damascus. The logic here is that, a lot of people saw him and all of them could not have been lying. Most of the people that saw him were still alive when Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. The same way in which Paul proved the resurrection of Jesus is the same way he expects us Christians as true witnesses of the gospel to prove the authenticity of everything written about him. The writer of the book of Luke did this by writing in Luke 1:1-4, “Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honourable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.” NLT.
This is so important because lies against the death and resurrection of Jesus started immediately after his resurrection. The spirit of the Antichrist started spreading lies concerning Jesus at the time he resurrected. This is seen in Matthew 28:12-15, “A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. They told the soldiers, you must say, Jesus disciples came during the night while we were sleeping and they stole his body. If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble. So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.” NLT.

At this point, I am sure we can all agree that we Christians need to rise up to the task and witness for Christ in order to bring more people to the kingdom and debunk the lies of the kingdom of hell against our saviour. Therefore, if you are reading this and you are not a witness for Christ because you have not met him or you have gone back in your service to him and you are ready to come back to him, say this prayer after me; Lord Jesus, I confess you as my Lord and saviour today, please save me and be my lord and I will be your witness till the end. Amen. If you have recited the prayer wholeheartedly, I congratulate you and I welcome you to the family of God. Make sure you join a bible believing church as you start your journey in Christ.

If you have been blessed by the teaching and you have questions and comments. Contact Abundant Life Vision through the following platforms:
Twitter: @VisionAbundant
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Email: visionabundantlife@gmail.com
God bless you.