The Spirit of Witness

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Every Christian is empowered and commissioned to this, sharing the Good News.

Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

We are also called to make disciples.

But how? How are we to do this?

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Witness

It tells us of our Father, our Abba. We are saved. It speaks of God's love.

The power of witness

When the Spirit is poured out, people testify and witness. Sure, there were miracles. But those miracles were for the sake of witness. The end is not a miracle, it is the verification of the disciples' witness. The spirit is living and working to open hearts to God and Jesus.

When we consider the phrase "do not grieve the Spirit", we generally think of overt sins. But if we are not living a life of active evangelism/witness, we are grieving the Spirit. Half of what the Holy Spirit desires is for Jesus to be known in us and through us.

By ourselves, we are apathetic. We don't want to be witnesses. Jesus tells the disciples to wait for the Spirit. The implication is that we are powerless without the Spirit.

The power of conviction for witness comes from the Spirit. We get this heart for witness from the Spirit. Otherwise, our witness is half-baked. It has little conviction behind it. It gives us boldness to share. It gives us wisdom to dispute. It also orchestrates opportunities to witness. The eunuch and phillip is an example of this. There is also the power of conviction for salvation. People are convicted of salvation through the Spirit. We do not convict people by our arguments or actions. The Spirit does it.

The Holy Spirit wants all the world for Christ

To stay in step with the Spirit, what do we do?

We are to be both locally and globally oriented. Glocally, as they now call it. We are living out our lives here in active evangelism and we are supporting overseas missions.