Solemn
Witnesses
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men." —Acts 5:29
When there is an accident, police officers will try and
locate witnesses to ask them what they saw and heard. A witness's objective is
not to make up something or to try and make the story better than it actually
was. No, a witness is simply to state what he or she saw—plainly. Just the
facts, ma'am.
That is what believers are to do. We are to give
testimony to what we know is true. The apostle John wrote in his epistle,
"That which we have seen and heard we declare to you" (1 John 1:3).
If you walk in fellowship with God, He will be working
in your life. He will be showing you things from His Word that will help you to
grow spiritually. You will find that these things will overflow, sort of like
wringing out a sponge. When we are full of the things of God, it comes out
because we are sharing what we know is true.
There is also a seriousness to it, however. The word
testify means to solemnly give witness. As we tell others about Christ, there
is a gravity to it. Yes, we want to talk about how God loves us and will
forgive us and come into a relationship with us. But the heavy part is the fact
that there is a judgment, and there is a hell for the person who rejects God's
offer of forgiveness. We are to share this truth with all seriousness.
Yet in a lot of evangelistic presentations today, there
is no message of hell or judgment. We sort of edit out that part because we are
afraid we might offend someone. But my concern is that if I don't include it,
then I will offend God. And I would rather offend a person than God.
What a powerful word from Pastor Greg Laurie!!! Hell is real so it is important that as we
share the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ, that we also share the reality
of hell for those who reject the Lord. I
hope that you all have a Simply Heavenly day!!!
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