Captured Audience

Acts 3:11-16

11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

Ground Breaking

A friend would usually ask me to pray during the ground breaking ceremony in most of his building projects. I would normally, say in those occasions, “There is no point of praying if we are not standing on the praying ground.

Are you standing on a praying ground? God listens to the prayers of His children and we want our prayers to be heard.”

From there, I would transition to sharing the gospel because the audience is captured by the occasion and cannot leave me speaking about Christ.
In ground breaking ceremony or other special occasions, there is captured audience.

When God brings a person or audience to our attention, get ready because God might be giving you an opportunity to witness in any given occasion.

Christ gave simple instructions to the disciples on how to be effective witnesses. First, wait and receive power from the Holy Spirit. Next, get ready to be a witness. Christ Himself will bring the right person whom the disciple would witness to.

We need to be prayerful and get ready because anytime anywhere, there is an opportunity. Christ will bring the person He prepared to our attention of whom we are to witness to.
It is really challenging to start conversation about Christ but when the power of the Holy Spirit is active in us, witnessing is effortless and exciting experience.
Your current situation can be an object lesson to bring the audience to hear about Christ.

1. Object Lesson

11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.
The miraculous healing of the crippled man was Peter’s object lesson for witnessing. Peter and 71 other disciples have been trained in evangelism under the supervision of Christ. They also had on-the-job training when Christ sent them out by two by two. Christ did not send out the disciples without knowing what to do but with clear instruction. In effective witnessing, Christ clearly instructed the disciple to receive power first of all.

From our passage, Peter experienced the power of the Holy Spirit when God miraculously healed the crippled man before their very eyes.
The miracle became the object lesson of Peter and at the same time the miraculous healing was the sign that the power of the Holy Spirit is active in his life. The miraculous healing was the current situation when Peter started witnessing.

Whatever we do, wherever we are, whichever occasion we attend to, when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, opportunity to witness is always there before us.
12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
When the people were staring at Peter and John, Peter took that opportunity to witness.
When the Holy Spirit is at work, He would surely prompt the disciple to talk about Christ.
Christ does not pressure us to go witnessing instead, He gives us courage to evangelize.

Laos Exposure

In December 2006, Lori, Louie and I joined a group of short-term missionaries in Thailand and Laos. During our stay in Laos, we taught English Language to University students. Since it was Christmas time, the topic of Christmas was very appropriate object lesson for conversational English teaching and for witnessing, too. We taught conversational English to Buddhist students without pushing hard to tell about the birth of Christ when we tell about the history of Christmas.

In many Asian countries like Laos, we are warned that evangelism is strictly prohibited. The courage we have in talking about Christ was a display of God’s power at work. In missions, it is easier to talk about Christ and God’s power is more experienced.

Keep praying for an opportunity for you to join our short-term missions in 2014. God might be calling you to be a missionary, long-term or short-term. You will have more opportunities to glorify Christ in the mission field, for sure.

2. Glorify Christ

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

Do you have any idea if Peter had opportunities to witness in his hometown or in Galilee? Peter who grew up as fisherman in the Sea of Galilee was an effective witness in Jerusalem. Peter’s situation was a great example that God uses simple people more effectively. Peter did not have any seminary training but was trained by Christ, the Master Teacher. He was very obedient in waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit.
Peter did not have any evangelism outline to follow or guideline in witnessing. He just used the miraculous healing to remind his audience about Christ’s resurrection. Peter glorified the Lord Jesus before the eyes of the surprised audience.

How much ease do we have in talking about the death of Christ to others?
We should be more confident than Peter because we are trained in Evangelism. Training is helpful but the power of the Holy Spirit is the force behind witnessing. Seasoned preachers and evangelist can testify that only with the power of the Holy Spirit can we talk about Christ’s death and resurrection without any difficulty.

Peter connected the death and resurrection of Christ to the miraculous healing. Christ’s resurrection from the dead was a display of how much God can do miraculously to anybody who trusts in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Nothing is impossible for God to do but our greatest challenge is to wait upon the power of God through the Holy Spirit.

Many times if not most of the times, we go ahead to do our best and let God just do the rest. It is very noble principle, isn’t it?
“Do your best and God will do the rest!”
If we are to do our best and just give the rest for God to do it, then we are to receive the best appreciation and God will receive the rest of appreciation, right?

It is not fitting to give God the best appreciation if He only did the rest, right?

Team Sport

In Team Sports like basketball or football, there are star players and role players. The Star player carries much of the responsibilities to win the game. The role player is just there to be supportive to the star player.

Selection of the Most Valuable Player, or the most significant player, is chosen from groups of Star Players, not from the supporting players.
One of the favorite teams in the NBA was eliminated in the playoff because the star player was injured and was not able to play. The supporting players did their best while the star player did the rest of watching and cheering for the role player to do their best. The supporting players played heart and soul but their best was not enough, The other team have their star player playing his best and their role players supported him.

That is the idea of doing our best and letting God do the rest. Christ is our star player and we are just role players. Nevertheless, the believers who are not star players try their best to win the game. Christ our star player is left in the sidelines to just do the rest.

Asking Christ only, what to do, whenever, we are beaten black and blue by the enemy. The result, many are weakening in their faith and loosing hope of winning the spiritual battle. Witnessing or giving our testimony becomes less and less effective, also.

Peter and John just waited for God to do His best and after that they did the rest. God did miraculous thing, Peter and John just tell them about Christ death and resurrection. Peter readily pointed the miraculous healing to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit that prompted him to speak about.

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

When the power of the Holy Spirit is active in our life, sharing about Christ death and resurrection is very easy, by faith that comes through Him. When we struggle in sharing the gospel, it is a reminder for us to ask the help of God for His power to become active in our life.

We need to wait and desire to be filled by the Holy Spirit. We need to keep asking God to help us receive His power to witness.

Every struggle we experience in this life is a spiritual battle that only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we come out winners.

In God’s kingdom, Christ is the star player in our life and we are but role or support players.

To maximize living abundantly, to lessen depression, to experience love, joy and peace in everything we do, be sure to allow Christ the star player to do His best and we do the rest.

><((‘> … ><(((“> TMEC\2020 <‘)))>< … <‘))><

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