We are Called to be Witnesses

Do shake in your boots at the thought of sharing the Gospel to friends, family and or co-workers?

I kind of do.

Though, it's not a fear of talking to them, it's the subject of what I'm sharing.

I guess our fears can stem from a range of things:

• Messing up the Message 
• Not knowing how to start
• Not knowing what to say
• Not finding the right time
• Being found annoying, offensive and ultimately losing friends

For me I guess it would be pretty much all of the above, but especially the last one. 

Personally, I don't have many close friends that I share a lot with, but I do have many people that I'm always happy to see and talk with and sometimes even go out with.

A whole heap of these people are from various 'religions' Sikh, Hindu, Bhuddist.

Now a lot of these folks will like my Facebook statuses about God, but when I mention Jesus, the likes come only from my born again friends. 

They are going through life missing the point though, and I'm bursting to share the life and love that Jesus is with them, but I guess I feel something is stopping me. 

For example, I enjoy spending time with one of my good friends, who is a Hindu but I seriously  yearn for her salvation.

So what's stopping me from sharing Jesus?

Fear of offending and losing her as a friend, fear of our friendship going sour and south.

Well, consider the below:

What if we were so in love with Jesus, that nothing stopped us from sharing Him with those we know, love and care about?

My good friend who I referred to above, has always asked me why I never gave up on her (she was into a lot of the wrong things) and she is greatful that I didn't.
Well you say, that's easy, as Christian's we're supposed to love the unlovable and believe in the worth of people though they think themselves unworthy, as God has shown love to us while we were still sinners and as he has placed worth on us in Christ Jesus.

I guess I knew deep down, but never could articulate the above because man did she test and try me!

However, earlier this year, as I was discovering more about the personality of Jesus, the holy Spirit gave me the answer in plain terms.  It was all about Jesus and his love, grace and mercy shown towards me, the second chances that he had given me that should be afforded to everyone, because we are called to show God's love and be living vessels of it!

So I explained it to her in a private message via facebook.
And you know what, I did have the voice saying to me, she doesn't want to hear about Jesus, but I shoved it aside, and I told her, because I needed to give the Glory to God. I was falling more in love with Jesus, and I could not deny talking about Him to her anymore.

1 John 4:18 (NIV):

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

The Outcome? She loved me for it. Now I wanted her to love Jesus for it, not me, becuase if it wasn't for His love toward me, I would have given up on her as a lot of people did, and I explained this to her.
No major breakthrough for her, but we shouldn't let what we can see, dishearten us because it's often what we can't see that counts - and sometimes that's the bigger picture (what we can't see or understand).
This reminds me of something Scott 'Sanga' Samways preached on the topic of witnessing:

"Don't be the missing link!"

See, Sanga said that, you might not be the one who takes a friend all the way to the point of Salvation, because it can be a series of "God deposits" in their life that all take them up to that point, so it's crucial that you play your part. You might be the starting link in the chain, the middle link, the end link or a link some where in between, it doesn't matter which link you are, as long as you are there!

Even if my friend had said "look that's great and all but stop with the all the Jesus stuff", it wouldn't have been the end of the world! Sure, I would have been upset but, as Rich Wilkerson Jr said :

"You get up, dust yourself off and move on!"

  2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus 'sake.

Even in including the example of my friend in this post, I was almost tempted to delete it, out of fear that she might read it and get offended. And on that note, if you're reading this my dear friend, I just want you to know the perfect love that is Jesus - because life is best when it's lived with him. 


There is a tweet which really convicted me on this matter, here it is:

Brittany Posey ‏@_Jesusdied4u

I would rather share God's Word and lose a friend down here rather than stand in judgment before God with their blood on my hands in Heaven!

Finally, I'm going to leave you with a quote from Carl Lentz - Pastor, who said of offending people while witnessing (paraphrased):

- Jesus offended many to get to us, so if we have to offend some to get them to Him, so be it.

Y.O.L.O - so live it in Jesus name.

You only live once here on earth.


We should be living life to the fullest in Jesus name for life is best experienced with it's Creator. 


Jesus is the giver of life - just look around you, our planet is teeming with life, all but a glimpse, a reflection of the Artist. 


It is only when we share our life with the Creator, when we walk in a daily relationship with him, that we can experience life as God intended it to be - robust! 


Friends, we can experience intimacy with the Heavenly Father - it is available to you today.
Jesus has torn the veil people! - Have you heard?!


Mat 27:50-51 "Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died. Then the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces, from top to bottom".


As Max Lucado puts it in his book "He chose the nails" (which is a powerful read!) - 

The Holy of Holies was the part of the Temple we could never enter - it communicated that God is Holy, separate form us and unapproachable. God is Holy and we are sinners and there is distance between us. Job said "If only there were a mediator who could bring us together" 9:33.                               Jesus is our mediator! "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5)                                                                      A mediator it one who 'goes between'. Wasn't Jesus the curtain between us and God? And wasn't his flesh torn?                                                                               What appeared to be the cruelty of man was actually the sovereignty of God.                                                                                                             God has removed the barrier that separates us from Him. He has torn the veil. The blood has been spilt and the veil has been split.                                       You are welcome in God's presence!

This is Good News people! 


I guess the problem is that we heard it, and we do know it but we're too busy, too lazy or not hungry enough to seek that sort of relationship with Him - I mean we should crave Jesus in every part of our life, because life isn't full without him. It is only in Christ that we are something. Check out Paul talking about our Spiritual Blessings in Christ 
 Ephesians:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he^c predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 

6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 

9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  

13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

These are our gifts to claim because of Jesus - these are truths that we can believe and affirm over our lives! 

"You Only Live Once" is more of a reason to stop doing stupid things than to continue doing them.   

- Jarrid Wilson

YOLO - give away your innocence and you can't ever get it back, no matter how much you may want it - it's gone forever. God's word says that you become ONE flesh!


 Mark 10:8 'and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 


Think about it, don't you want to be ONE flesh with your future husband or wife and not Lisa from senior year, Joe from 'that' party or Mike from work?


Keep your eyes fixed on eternity, don't live for what feels good in the moment, because it will more than likely be your undoing in the long run. 

YOLO - Will you decide on those BIG and SMALL decisions with God's guidance or will you ignore His will and follow your own.

If you didn't consult him at the start and just settled for something, are you brave enough to seek his will about it now?

Will you seek His will if he/she is the right one to marry or indeed if you should be in a relationship with them at all?

See the truth can be confronting, I mean it is the truth after all. But the truth will never lead you astray and Jesus' name is Faithful and True - He will guide you on the right way for your life. Trust Him, He loves you and has your best desires at heart, He doesn't desire your destruction (Satan does!) but your betterment. 

YOLO - the way you treat friends and family. Are your relationships soaked in monotony and familiarity or do you treat them like the God given gifts they are to you? 

YOLO - what about your gits and talents? Have you hidden them away or buried them? Are you perhaps using them, but not for the purposes of His kingdom?  Your talents are God's gift to you, what you do with them is your gift back to him.


Are you working for His glory or your own? 
That career your dreaming of or building at the moment - is it for your own purposes or His?


Are you being all that you can be in Christ?


Are you trashing your life away one Friday night at a time or are you building yourself up in Christ on day at time?

So go, live life to the fullest and be all that you can be in Jesus name because

You Only Live Once

I would love to hear your comments and thank you for taking the time to come down by the stream!