Worth Repeating - July 19, 2017

I Corinthians 2: 4, 5 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (NIV)

Is the struggle to share our faith a product of insufficient theological information . . . or insufficient experience with the transforming reality of Christ?*

The thought of witnessing to our friends and families gives us stage fright. We don’t know all our lines so we don’t deliver any of them. What if they ask me something about Revelations? What if I forget one of the steps in the plan of salvation? What if I don’t know what the Pentateuch is?

I am certain that when it comes to stage presence, Paul was the best. I would not discount the need for a preacher to be good at what he does, but even Paul would tell you that eloquence and knowledge aren’t what makes us effective witnesses. It is experience in the Holy Spirit’s power that gives us something to show and tell.

Do you want to be an effective witness? Then you need an effective testimony. I’m not talking about a dramatic lifestory about how you wandered far from God and how you found your way back. Your experience with God may be quiet and outwardly uneventful, but you can’t encounter God without having something to show for it. If he hasn’t changed you, you haven’t met him. Get into his Word and get to know him. Then you will have a story worth sharing. A story that demonstrates the Spirit’s power.

The gospel is embedded in lives and personal testimonies.*