Being a witness in the book of Acts.
*Quick note before reading. This is my first time writing something like this. Please do not compare me to anyone. I never really edited it or anything and I wrote it in a day and a half. If I am wrong in any way I ask that you talk to me about it and not go off on me for it. Thanks- Brian
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It cracks me up when people say “I can’t be a witness, I ______”. Fill in the blank with whatever you want but know that as believers in Jesus Christ we are all given the Holy Spirit which grants us the power to be a witness. (Acts 1:8)
When diving into the book of Acts we see people from all sorts of backgrounds and statuses who left everything behind to witness and testify about the good news of Jesus Christ.
We find adventures in fishermen speaking to high status Sadducees, believers being persecuted to the extent of dying for the name of their Savior, cultural boundaries being broken and even Pharisees turning to Jesus and proclaiming his name to those in far out places who acknowledge his existence but know nothing of him.
The story of Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin is a beautiful picture of being an ordinary believer and witnessing to those of high status and deny Jesus.
Now when I say ordinary people, I truly mean it. John was a partner to Peter and when we look back we remember that Peter is one of the fisherman who Jesus told “Come, follow me….and I will make you fishers of men”. (Matthew 4:18-22) Peter is also the one who walked on water but started to sink when taking his eyes off of Jesus and even denied Christ three times before Christ’s death. So if you make minimum wage, have ever had doubts in your faith or have even denied Christ, you are in the same boat as Peter and will still be used to further the Kingdom of God.
Well, in chapter three of Acts we see that Peter and John are walking to the temple to pray when outside the gate called Beautiful a beggar asked them for money. Instead, Peter heals him in the name of Jesus and they walk into the temple courts.
When the huge crowds gathered Peter and John took the opportunity to witness to them. Now, the Sadducees did not like this one bit and that’s where the story kicks off in chapter four.
Immediately the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees were alarmed when Peter and John were proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. (the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection nor in angels or spirits)
They seized Peter and John and stuck them in jail since it was evening. (something to note- they went to the temple at three o’clock to pray and now it is evening. They must have been preaching for awhile!) The bright side to this is that from them speaking in the temple courts the amount of believers increased from 3,000 to around 5,000!
The next day the Sanhedrin held a meeting with the High Priest, teachers of the law, elders and rulers to speak with Peter and John about their “misconduct” from the previous day. The Sanhedrin asks a simple question that receives a great response, “By what power or what name did you do this?”.
What’s pretty awesome is before recording Peter’s response, Luke (the author), first records that Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is what gives him the words, gives him the courage to speak to the Sanhedrin.
Peter starts with why they are brought in, the healing of a crippled man, and uses that to proclaim that God resurrected Jesus, the same Jesus they put to death on the cross. (which we remember- the Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection)
Then Peter goes on to declare that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, no “ifs” “ands” or “buts” about it. (the Sanhedrin wouldn’t believe this since they are composed mostly of the Sadducees who believe solely in the law and nothing else)
Peter spoke boldly and without fear. (although Peter should be fearful of what he says for he is speaking to the court that sent his Savior to the cross!)
It’s interesting that “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) Peter and John obviously weren’t as smart as the Sadducees but since they were with Jesus they were able to testify first hand to what happened and what is true. (that goes for us too. we don’t have to go to seminary to tell someone about who Jesus is and the life he gives)
The Sanhedrin soon sent the disciples out so they could discuss how they knew the miracle performed the day before could not be denied and how to stop the disciples from teaching about Jesus.
The Sanhedrin called them in and commanded them not to speak about Jesus. Peter and John reply boldly “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)
This is beautiful! While witnessing to a mass crowd of lower status outside the temple gates, the Sadducees seized Peter and John only providing them means to witness to those of higher status! Sure the Sadducees created a setback but at the same time provided an opportunity for an average believer to be used for extraordinary purpose! Oh what a marvelous sight!
Next up we have a story about a guy named Philip and an Ethiopian.
Now, this isn’t Philip the disciple. Although, this Philip was full of the Spirit and wisdom and was one of the seven chosen to take care of the widows back in Jerusalem before Saul started a huge persecution on the church and caused the believers to be scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. (Acts 6:5 and 8:1)
This story is one of complete trust and surrender in the Lord and the Holy Spirit guiding every move made.
In the story of Philip and the Ethiopian, Philip is told by an angel of the Lord to go south down a desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Little did Philip know, he was about to be used to witness to an Ethiopian eunuch that was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. (a eunuch was someone who held some position in office)
This wasn’t any old eunuch. This eunuch was an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This guy was a pretty big deal.
So, the Holy Spirit tells Philip to go to the chariot and stay near it. What’s super cool is Philip RUNS to the chariot only to hear the eunuch reading Isaiah the prophet. (I’d say Philip is pretty excited!)
Boom. Holy Spirit does work. Philip asks a simple question that leads to him witnessing to the Ethiopian “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30) The Ethiopian replies with a simple answer of “How can I , unless someone explains it to me” (Acts 8:31) and then simply invites Philip up onto his chariot to sit and explain to him what he is reading.
Bang. Philip explains that Isaiah is talking about Jesus’ death and from there goes on to tell him about the good news of Jesus Christ.
As they travel along down the road they spot water and the eunuch is baptized by Philip and next thing you know the Holy Spirit guides Philip away to continue traveling and preaching the gospel. (Philip is constantly spreading the good news of Jesus. That’s how we should be. It shouldn’t just be one time a month, it should be everywhere we go we glorify God and find ways to speak about him with people)
Wow. What another amazing story about a follower of Christ willing to let go of control, trust in God, listen and do what He asks and allow the Holy Spirit to enable him to witness to someone of much higher status than himself.
Of course Philip doesn’t use the same technique Peter and John used when witnessing to the Sanhedrin, which goes to show that there isn’t only one way to tell someone about the good news of Jesus Christ.
Another thing to note, look at the role the Holy Spirit plays in this. The Holy Spirit is what constructs this whole story. First, he prepares Philip and guides him there and then brings him into contact with the Ethiopian and then provides the words to speak to the Ethiopian.
When I see this story I think to myself “Could I do that? Could I let the Holy Spirit guide me and put me in a situation with potential for failure? Potential for awkwardness? Potential for judgement?” and that’s when I realize that is the difference between myself and the early believers, they were fearless! They trusted in God 100 percent! We need to start acting more like Philip and start going wherever the Holy Spirit guides us.
This final story is one that contains a character that is first hated and then loved. (there is a lot to this character, I will try my best to sum up his story)
You might know him as Saul, one of the biggest persecutors of followers of the Way. He was the one who stood by giving his approval as Stephan was being martyred. He also started the persecution that included going house to house and dragging disciples into prison. Saul began to destroy the church. (Acts 8:3)
Jesus blinded Saul for three days and instructed a disciple named Ananias to go and place his hands on Saul to restore his sight because Saul was a chosen instrument to be used to carry Jesus’ name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. (Acts 9:15)
Soon Saul is referred to as Paul and becomes part of the movement he was recently trying so hard to destroy. He travels place to place preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, his own Lord and Savior. Paul’s story is amazing because he goes from the biggest persecutor to the biggest know disciple; writing a lot of the new testament.
Paul traveled with different people. He spent quite a bit of time with Barnabas but after parting with him he later on travels with another disciple names Silas to Thessalonica where they encounter trouble so they leave to Berea. While preaching there they encounter trouble because the people from Thessalonica find out he’s preaching in Berea and go cause trouble. So, Paul is now escorted to Athens and is told to wait there until Silas and Timothy arrive. Now this is where the final story begins, In Athens.
While Paul is in Athens he tours the city and finds idols everywhere. (Athens is known for their multiple gods; like Zeus and all those peeps. The culture is extremely different than what he is use to. People sat around all day and spoke about philosophy and latest thoughts and ideas)
This brought great distress to him. Day by day, since he was stuck there waiting for Silas and Timothy, he would make his way to the synagogue and market place to reason with the Jews and God-fearing Greeks. (its not like he’s going there saying “you’re wrong I’m right” more of “look at the scriptures you’ve been studying and see how Jesus’ life fulfilled it”)
Because Paul was preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, philosophers began disputing with him. There were two types of philosophers disputing with Paul; one group strictly believed in determinism (the Epicureanist) and refute anything that deals with divine intervention and the other group (the Stoicist) dealt with the relationship between cosmic determinism and human free will. So when Paul starts preaching about Jesus’ divinity, that hits a hot spot with the philosophers.
They soon took him to a meeting of the Areopagus where the council asked him what he was teaching because like I said earlier, they all sit around talking about the latest ideas. This is where things get interesting.
Instead of Paul getting upset and lecturing them for their beliefs, he takes this opportunity to witness to them. He finds common ground and runs with it.
“Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:22-23)
And that’s why Paul is a stud. Out of every possible thing he could have said, he searches for that common ground to introduce them to Jesus Christ. He goes on to tell them how God created the earth and that he doesn’t need anything because he gives all men life and breath and everything else. He even combines talk of determinism and free will. (Acts 17:26-27) He started talking about idols and how God once overlooked such ignorance but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent. From there he goes on to speak about judgement with justice by the one he raised from the dead. (Jesus). When he began to speak of the resurrection, some dismissed him and some wished to hear more. A few became followers of Christ. (All of this can be found in Acts 17:16-34)
Let’s recap on our characters.
In the story of Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin, two disciples who were once fishermen are used to witness boldly to a group of highly recognized religious people and speak strongly to them while opposing what they believed and doing it in a manner that was still respectable as well as still getting their message across.
In the story of Philip and the Ethiopian, a simple disciple, full of the Spirit and wisdom, was guided by the Holy Spirit to witness to a highly recognized government official one-on-one about Jesus Christ. He spoke with compassion and excitement while at the same time keeping cool.
And in our final story, a disciple, who was once a Pharisee and persecuted Christians, found common ground in a city full of false idols and philosophical thinking to witness to them about his savior Jesus. He went to a land completely foreign to his own and still managed to find a way to proclaim the name of Christ to someone completely different than himself.
It’s amazing to see so many different ways the Spirit guides us to share the good news about Jesus Christ. The best thing is, there isn’t one right way of doing it!
If you look closely you’ll see, not all the characters have the same background. Some come from low status families ranging all the way to Pharisees who are higher on the status pyramid.
Also note that not all the witnessing styles are the same. Some call for bold speaking to groups of people who deny Christ’s resurrection, some don’t know Christ at all and call for simple explanation of who Christ is and some call for correction of what they believe. Either way, the good news of Jesus is being spread through his disciples in every situation.
So now here comes the big question that we’ve all been waiting for, how can we witness to our culture today?
Our culture is so stuck on image and status that it needs ordinary radicals to shake the cultures foundations and stand for the truth in Jesus’ teachings. I know for sure it’s going to take Peter and John’s guts, Philip’s passion to share the life of Jesus with someone and Paul’s brains to find common ground and lay it out for them to decide.
I just read a story about a man who stepped into a deep purpose. We will call this man Phil. Well, Phil was told to walk down a road to a particular place. When he got to that place he was told to walk up to a parked limo and stay there. When he approached the limo, there was a man who was sitting in it and reading. Phil heard what the man was reading and was pretty familiar with it so Phil asked “Do you understand what you are reading?” but the man replied “How can I unless someone explains it to me?”
At that point the man invited Phil into his limo and read him what he was reading. That was when Phil explained to him what it was and who the person was that he was reading about. The man was overjoyed when learning about this person who died for him that while the limo was going he asked the driver to pull over so he could have the opportunity to symbolically devote his life to the one who died for him. At that moment, Phil was pulled away and placed in another town.
This story is actually about Philip and the Ethiopian, from the book of Acts. An angel of the Lord told Philip to go to Gaza where there he would approach a chariot and stay there. Philip did and heard an Ethiopian eunuch reading the book of Isaiah the prophet and asked him the question that opened the doorway for Philip to explain the Ethiopian’s reading which led to Philip telling the Ethiopian the good news of Jesus. While traveling they found water and the Ethiopian had the driver pull over so Philip could baptize him. When Philip pulled the Ethiopian out of the water God took Philip to Azotus. The Ethiopian went on rejoicing.
What’s awesome is Philip heard the calling to do something, and then he did it. God called him to do something and he DID IT. How often are we called to do something and brush it off? How often do we feel ourselves being nudged to do something but we choose to do otherwise? Philip isn’t afraid to share his faith. He isn’t afraid to share the good news of Jesus. He openly speaks of our Savior. This is how we need to be as followers of Christ. Fearless. Willing.
Remember this next time you feel called to do something for the name of Jesus Christ. We are His hands.
A Memory
There once was a time when my heart was full of joy. When everything in the world felt perfectly in place. A time when I felt like I was the greatest and luckiest guy in the world.
I remember this time when I was in high school and I was waiting for this girl to walk onto campus from the parking lot. She was my girlfriend. I stood on what was called “the prep box” and kept looking out for her when all of a sudden she appeared next to the science wing. I stood there, feeling like the luckiest guy in the whole world when she walked up to ME and gave ME a hug and kiss.
Later on she told me how great and lucky she felt to walk up to me and give me a hug and kiss.
I still remember that day. And to be honest, that’s all it ever is anymore. Just a memory. She is just a memory.
I Miss You
I would rather imagine being with you than actually be with you. That’s because the person I imagine is the person you used to be. You’re not that person anymore.
“How does he feel? How does he kiss? How does he taste when he’s on your lips?”
I got to see my favorite band again at Warped Tour this past Sunday! If you know these lyrics then you’re a stud and definitely my friend!
And through all of this there is nothing, absolutely nothing.
No fear.
No insecurity.
No doubt.
No hesitation.
No one will ever, ever stop us because we are the sons of the living God.
Because we are the children of the Almighty.
Because we are the residence of the Kingdom of Heaven.
And we are soldiers and an army of the immortal.
And when we speak life, life happens.
And when we speak healing, healing happens.
And when we speak truth, truth happens.
And when we go, take what we have found to a dead world, we’ll see it come to life again.
And when we take what we have found to a hopeless world, we’ll see hope come back.
We’ll see the heart of our world start beating again.
And we’ll see the color come back into peoples faces.
And absolutely nothing will ever stop us.
Mountains will move before us.
And oceans will part before us.
And the dead will raise before us.
And the world will know that our God is a God that heals.
And our God is a God that lives.
And our God is a God that loves unlike anything that anyone has ever felt before.
Because we are fearless.
Because we are his hands and because we are his feet, forever and ever.
A Standard None Can Reach….
I really wish God hadn’t raised the bar so high when it comes to girls. He brought one girl in my life that set a standard so high, no girl has ever come close to reaching it.
My Junior year of high school was the year I met the girl of my dreams. I literally walked into my percussion class, saw her and my heart started beating faster. Once I got to know who she was I realized this girl was the most amazing girl I had ever met. She had a beautiful personality. She had a huge heart, was super caring, shy, beautiful, imperfect, had a passion for music, passion for God, and was someone I could talk to about anything and feel completely comfortable. She was the person I went to for everything. We bonded so well.
We dated for a year and three months and in that time she managed to steal my heart and set the bar for all girls to come. I have dated three girls since the girl of my dreams has walked out of my life and none of those girls have even come close to the dream girl. All of them had a little special something but the dream girl had EVERYTHING all in one. And it breaks my heart when I think about it because I could never imagine a girl better than my dream girl. I don’t see how God could bring a girl in my life that will exceed the bar that has already been in place.
This means that God has someone SUPER special planned for me, or no one at all. Any thoughts?
Relationships
They are interesting to say the least. They come in different shapes and forms. Some are healthy, some can kill you from the inside out.
Unhealthy
Let’s talk about the unhealthy ones. They usually commence with lust, a simple glance that triggers a part of your mind that imagines you with that person in a physical way. After that you start seeing each other more and more and are only wanting that physical attraction. You set up false hope for one another with talks of a future with each other. Hearts flutter, for the right reasons or wrong reasons? Could it be the feeling telling you no or yes? After all that physical attraction is gone what is left? Nothing. Nothing at all. A broken heart that was falsely lead with no intentions of a future. These “relationships” give false images of what a relationship should be. No friendship. No deep connection.
Healthy
These are the ones that last forever. These are the ones that start from the inside, the heart, and then move to the outside; the body. Looks fade but when your eyes see beauty on the inside before the outside, look never fade because you always see beauty. These are rare. Its rare for someone to hold off from the physical part of a relationship and actual get to know someone and know who they are before they say “I love you”. The healthy relationships put God in the center and do what glorifies him. These are the relationships that are real. That mean something. These relationships contain a deep friendship that can’t be found anywhere else. When you have this relationship, you’ll know.
Tonight was my brother’s wedding and I have never seen so many healthy relationships. It brings hope to my heart. One day I will have that, for now I’m content alone.
About me
When you're on my page you get the chance to enter my mind. You receive the opportunity to experience things that I have experienced. In a sense, you will be looking through new eyes.
