How to be a Faithful Witness Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Cause of Christ Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 26:1-32.

Many of you have walked through trials and troubles in your life. You’ve had some challenges in your life. And God wants you to use that as a testimony to share with others who are walking through the same season of life. And he wants you to use that to reach them for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hello.

This is pastor Mike Sanders, and you’re listening to Hopeworth Having radio program. We’re excited to have you with us. Today, we’re going to be in Acts chapter 26 verse one through 32, and we’re gonna be learning how to be a faithful witness. What a wonderful opportunity you and I have to be a witness for God. So let’s grab our bible, a cup of coffee, maybe a notepad, and let’s get into the word of God.

I want you to take your Bible to Acts chapter 26 this morning, Acts chapter 26. I wanna keep going because I wanna finish up the book of Acts. Nothing wrong with the book of Acts. It’s just we’ve been in it a long time. It’s a long book, but we’re gonna get there.

We’re in chapter 26. Now when we have been studying the book of Acts, one of the things that I want you to know is that six times Luke records the apostle giving a defense of the gospel. That is that the apostle has been brought before a court. Sometimes that court has been a religious court like the Sanhedrin court. Sometimes it’s been a political court, or has been before kings as it is today before King Agrippa.

And he has given a defense of what he believes. And we are here today in Acts chapter 26 learning about that fifth defense. So there’s still one more to go. And we are learning from the life of the apostle how to be a faithful witness for God. How to be a faithful witness for our savior.

Because he is calling all of us in these unique times to be a faithful witness. It is easy for us as believers to get our eyes off of the ball and forget what is most important in life. And that is that people know Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Wouldn’t you agree with that church? Amen.

Well, we better get a better hearty amen than that. How about we try that again? The most important thing in life is that we would know Jesus Christ as our savior. Amen. But I want you to be on fire for Christ no matter what.

And I want you to always be ready to bring your a gang. But here’s the thing that we need to note. That as we are observing the apostle in chapter 26, defending the gospel, being a faithful witness, we realize that he is not defending himself, but rather, he is seeking to convert King Agrippa and others to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to just jump down to verse 28 of chapter 26. Again today we will not be able to read every verse in the chapter.

You do that on your own time, but we’re gonna highlight different things in the chapter today that will help us to be a faithful witness. But in verse 28, then Agrippa said to Paul, you almost persuade me to become a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains. Meaning, he wanted them all to be believers. He wanted them all to follow Christ.

He wanted them to put Jesus as number one in their life. That’s what the apostle was desiring in his heart. That’s why he was not afraid to stand before kings. He was not ashamed to be brought and dragged before courts because he saw it as an opportunity to be a faithful witness for God and to be able to preach, teach, and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, today, we wanna learn how to be a faithful witness.

And we already read, and I want to emphasize it again because it’s so powerful, about John. John was a witness. John was a great man of God. The Bible says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. And the same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.

Think about this. What was John’s life like? It was a life that was committed that he would bear witness to the light, which is Jesus, and that all who observed his witness that they would believe in Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about that God wants you to be a witness, and God wants you to bear witness to his name, and that all who observe your life, who are watching your life would believe in Jesus Christ. Now I know that sounds like a very monumental task and perhaps even more that we could ever do in our own strength.

But as we begin our study in this book, the book of Acts chapter one, we are reminded of the promise and the commission that Jesus gave to his disciples. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. How is it that we will be a witness for God? It’ll be through the power of the Holy Spirit of God. You know, sometimes people say there’s no way that I could ever be a witness for God, that I could ever talk to anybody about Jesus.

I tell you my friends, when you are filled with the Spirit and anointed of the Spirit, you have the capacity, ability to be a great witness for Jesus Christ. Now, you might think about this great task. He says in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And you say, well Pastor Mike, I really cannot go around the world and be a witness for God. Well listen, here’s what God means when he tells us this great commission he gives us, that we are to be a witness across the street and around the world.

And that we are gonna coop together as the family of God, as the people of God to reach others for Jesus Christ. So every time we’re supporting the ministries of the Open Door Church that is reaching people in our neighborhoods or even our community, and every time we get behind a missionary that is going to other lands, we are being partners in the gospel of reaching people around the world for Jesus Christ. And believe it or not, you’re a witness for God. Now God wants you to be a visual witness. He wants you to be the kind of witness that when people look at your life, they see something unique.

They see something distinct in your life. And then He wants you to be a verbal witness. People say it’s good enough for me to just live a good life, and that’s all I’ll do. But no, wait a minute. God wants you to talk to others about Jesus Christ.

God wants you to articulate His plan of salvation. Now you say, well, I haven’t been to Bible college. That doesn’t limit you. That doesn’t excuse you. Friends, all of us need to continue to expand and being prepared to be a witness for Jesus Christ and to be able to articulate and say what we need to for the Lord Jesus Christ.

So this morning, I wanna teach you some very practical principles on how to be a faithful witness for God. How to be faithful witnesses for God. Now, I want you to know, I don’t wanna scare you, but I have eight points for you this morning. And you say, pastor, what did you do on vacation? I prepared this sermon.

But in between my conversations with my mother, I prepared this sermon. But I want you to know that I will get through them quickly, and that if there any reason I see that alarm clock going off right up here, they’ve got a little clock up here to remind pastor Mike to stay on task, stay on point, then I’ll cut it off, and then we’ll turn it into a class that you could take later, and you can get all eight points. We’ll turn it into an eight week class on how to be a faithful witness. How about that? Would you like that?

Now, number one, we’re taking notes because if you’re not taking notes, then you’re not remembering. So let’s take some notes this morning. Number one, address unbelievers respectfully. Now we come to chapter 26 verse one. Again, the apostle Paul has been brought before King Agrippa, and notice what he says.

Then Agrippa said to Paul, you are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you, concerning all the things of which I am accused of by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to hear me patiently. Now in a gesture of respect, the Apostle Paul extended his hand to this King. He reached out to him.

It was a sign of respect. Sometimes, you and I, maybe we might stand in respect to God or in respect to someone. We might stand to honor someone. And in the Jewish custom, it was that they would extend their hand as a symbol of respect to the person, acknowledging them and appreciating them. And that’s exactly what the apostle is doing.

He is not only is he showing a great respect to this king, but you’ll note in verse two and three that he gives generous comments and courteous comments to the king. And it reflected the spirit and the attitude of the apostle as he was striving to be a witness for God in this culture. Now I want to say something to you this morning. I wanna say that if you are a disrespectful Christian, if you treat people like trash and you’re rude and obnoxious, you’ll never be an effective witness for God. Now, I have been places with Christians, and I have watched how they treat other people, and I have been so embarrassed.

I was afraid to tell anybody there that I was a Christian and that I was a pastor because I did not want to shame the name of Jesus Christ because of the conduct of other people. We have to be careful and remember that wherever we go and whoever we interact with, that we are believers in Jesus Christ, and we are called if we’re gonna be effective for God to be respectful. You say, what do you mean, pastor? Well, listen to the words of the apostle Peter who said in first Peter three fifteen that we are to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. That is, we are to make him number one and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

That word fear is the idea of respect. You’re to do it with meekness, meaning you’re humble, and you are to do it with respect. God has not called us to be rude. He has not called us to be demanding. He has not called us to be obnoxious in this culture that we live in, but just the opposite.

Yes, we’re courageous. Yes, we are bold for Christ, and we’ll talk more about that, but we are not going to effectively reach others by being disrespectful to them. The content of what we say is more important than how we say it, but the manner in which we deliver it and the tone that we use matters to god, and it matters to the people we’re speaking to. We should therefore strive to combine truthfulness with tenderness and courage with compassion. Hear me out, church.

You and I may not agree with everybody’s lifestyle in this culture that we live in, but you’re not called to be hateful. I may disagree with how you live your life, but it doesn’t mean I have to treat you like less than human. Right? And I want to encourage you to remember that if you wanna reach people for Christ, you’re gonna have to show some respect and kindness to them. Because it will be a barrier in your ability to reach them for Christ.

Now I remember that when I first came to the Open Door Church, there was a missionary that came to see me. And this missionary was in my office, and he was expressing how his son had chosen a lifestyle of homosexuality. And he didn’t know how to respond to it. He didn’t know what to do. And he said, Pastor Mike, what should I do?

Here’s what I told him. Are you ready? Love him in Jesus Christ. I said you love him. You may not agree with his lifestyle, certainly understandable because it contradicts the word of God, but we do not disrespect them.

We want to reach them for Christ. We want them to know the Lord Jesus as their savior. And so as I walk in this world and I live in this culture as a believer, I’m not out there to destroy everybody, burn every bridge, and show hate, but rather I am striving to show the love of Jesus Christ. That I am courageous, yes, but I’m also compassionate. I am a person who is willing to tell the truth, but I do it with tenderness, and I acknowledge the situation and the circumstance that I might be speaking to someone who disagrees with the gospel, disagrees with the Bible, but I still want to leave the door open.

I wanna plant a seed and leave the door open that I can come back later, and maybe that seed has born some fruit, and I can help this person to come and to know Jesus Christ as their savior. Some of you are dealing with family members who disagree with you about your faith, and they disagree with you about your lifestyle relating to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or they may disagree with you about a decision, and they may disagree with you about some of the choices you make in life. But remember this, friends, that it’s not your job to destroy and correct everybody, but it is your job to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to them and to do it with meekness and fear. And let the chips fall where they may.

Let them fall where they may. Now the second thing that I want you to learn, I could probably spend a whole sermon on that, but we’d never get beyond verse three. But the next I want you to see is that we need to express what it is like to not believe. In verses four through 11, as well as verse 14, look at verse four. My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. Now the apostle says that he was a Pharisee. Now remember that his audience is a Jewish audience. His audience is an audience that have buy into Phariseeism or Sadduceeism. And they would they would respect what the apostle Paul had accomplished.

We know that Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter three that the Pharisees were hypocrites, and that they sometimes said one thing but they did another. But the apostle did not take the time to condemn Phariseeism, but rather he identified with them. He was saying to them, look, my background is that I was a Pharisee. I was a religious person. I kept the law, I did my best to cross every t and dot every I.

He wanted them to know that he was just like them. And we’re not all like everybody out there, But I’ll tell you this, if you would identify with others, and you would help them see that you’re no different than them, you would open a door for them to be able to identify with you, and then you can share the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle was a religious man, but he was not a righteous man before he came to know Christ in Acts chapter nine. And you see, Saul was a man who we go on later in verse nine of chapter 26. He said, indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus the Nazareth.

It’s not just that he said, hey, I don’t want nothing to do with Jesus. It’s not that he was just, agnostic about Jesus. It’s that he defied Jesus, and he was against the name of Christ and the way, and he persecuted Christians, and he did everything that he could to hinder the gospel of Jesus Christ. And those zealous people who were bringing the apostle before the courts, those Pharisees that were determined to bring about his demise when they heard his testimony of how dedicated and passionate he was about being a Pharisee and hindering the gospel of Jesus Christ, they could connect, they could relate with what he was saying. Here’s what I’m trying to tell you, that many of you have walked through many trials and troubles in your life.

You’ve had some detours in your life. You’ve had some challenges in your life, and God wants you to use that as a testimony to share with others who are walking through the same season of life or the same chapter in life and different challenges of life, and He wants you to use that as a platform to reach them for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle was very dedicated to doing everything he could to hinder the gospel. And he wanted to reach those who were on that same path, who had that same ignorance about Jesus. And he wanted to say to them, hey, I was just like you.

My life was a mess. And you say, some of you say, well I grew up in a great Christian home. I got saved as a young child. And man, I don’t have much of a testimony. We all have a testimony, it doesn’t matter that the grace of God has reached out to us.

But for some of us, I think about when I was a young child coming to Christ as a bus kid, but my life was so selfish and my life was all about Mike, and it was about what I wanted. And see, there are different ways that we can relate to people as we go through our circumstances. And I know you can one up me, and I know you can tell a better story than me. And I get it. I’m with you.

I’m not against your story, and I’m for your story. I just want you to use your story to get to his story, meaning the story of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and giving us salvation. Which leads me to my third point. How about that? Here we are, we’re not even that far down the road.

I’m not gonna tell you what time it is, all you already probably know, but I start telling you what time is, you’re gonna start timing me. But I want you to know, we’re on point three. And usually, I only have three points, and I finish my sermon after three points. Number three, aim to exalt Jesus, not self. Now we come down to verse 12.

We come down to verse 12 of chapter 26. The apostle of the word of God says, while thus occupied as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, At midday, O king, along the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me, and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. Now I wanna help you a little bit because sometimes terminologies are used that we don’t understand.

But when he uses the word goads, it’s just a stick that was used to prick the ox or the cattle to get them to do something. And so he’s saying that and sometimes they would kick the goat or they would kick the stick that the farmer was using. And that’s what he’s saying is that God was convicting Saul. God was showing Saul that he need to give his life to Christ, but he was resisting the conviction of God. He was pushing back.

And notice what Jesus said in verse 14, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Friends, when you attack the church, you’re attacking Jesus. When you attack other Christians, you are attacking Jesus. Remember that God’s people are the bride of Christ. They are the body of Christ, and we have to keep that in mind.

And then look at verse 15. So I said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. You and I know the story. We know the story from Acts chapter nine.

We know that Saul, who would later become Paul, gave his life to Jesus Christ on that road to Damascus. But I want you to see something here that Saul or Paul is not pouting. He is not complaining. He is not trying to negotiate a deal to the king, but he is letting him know how he came to Jesus Christ as a savior. He’s exalting Jesus, not self.

Our witness as believers should always be first about Christ. And what he did in our heart, you see here, he continues to point people back to Christ. We go back a little bit on Acts chapter 26 to verse eight. As he was sharing the gospel with them, he said, why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? Why is that so stunning to you?

He is wanting to engage their mind. He is wanting them to see that Christ is risen. He is wanting them to understand that He is alive. Now hang on. Your story of forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

The path and the direction that God used in your life, the people, the circumstances that God used to bring you to that point of forgiveness and salvation. Your story of forgiveness is ultimately a story about Jesus Christ. It’s a story of God’s good work in you, in that Christ found you, and that Christ saved you, and that Christ has been sustaining you, and that he’s been meeting every need in your life. You need to make sure that when you share Christ, it’s not about you, it’s not about all the stuff you’ve been through, but it’s always about God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s strength, and what God has done in you, and what God has done through you. Now these people were looking for hope, and they wanted the hope of Christ.

And the apostle was reminding them because they would have been taught about the resurrection as Pharisees, and they would have been taught about the messianic hope that is found in Christ, the coming of Jesus. They would have been taught about that, And the apostle is just trying to point these people to Christ. And he’s trying to give a witness to what Christ has already done. Now, let’s get point number four done. Now, we get point number four done.

Guess what? We are half way there. And so I figure in the next two hours, I should be able to get the last four points in. Amen? I’m excited.

I’m just trying to wake you up. Now nudge your spouse or elbow your husband and tell him to wake up. Now I tell people I’m not ashamed or I’m not even upset if you sleep while I’m preaching. It’s okay. I just don’t want you snoring while I’m preaching.

Amen? I mean, that’s ridiculous. You gotta quit the snoring. But number four, share the need. The need for and the benefits of the gospel with every type or all types of people.

So in verse 16, look at this. I’m in chapter 26 verse 16, And I want you to see what he says here. He says, but rise, this is the words of Christ. But rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you, and for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness, both of those things which you have seen and the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles to whom I know, who I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

The apostle is helping them to see as he’s sharing what Christ has said to him, what Christ has shared with him, that he has this role, he has this responsibility to go to the Jewish people plus the Gentile people, and he must tell them about the gospel, and not everybody will receive it. Not everybody will respond with great happiness. Others will reject it, but he has this responsibility to share to every person the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he wants them to see the benefits of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What are some of those benefits?

Well, again, look at verse 18, to open their eyes. To open their eyes. This is how I pray for lost people is that God would open their eyes, that God would help them to see the truth, believe the truth, and to embrace the truth, and to turn from their sin, and to receive the truth of Jesus Christ. Unbelievers unfortunately are spiritually blinded by Satan. They are blinded from the truth.

Sometimes people say, what’s wrong with these people? What’s wrong with this world? I tell you it’s not that difficult to understand that the world is a mess because they are blinded by Satan to the truth of Jesus Christ. What we consider to be common sense and understandable, and it just makes a lot of common sense to us that we should do A, B, or C, whatever it is. Friends, to the world, they are blind to the truth of God.

That’s why Jesus says the truth will do what? Set you free. It’ll set you free. But I’ll tell you another benefit, I want you to see it, it’s from darkness to light. Again, we’re still in verse 18, from darkness to light.

So many people are walking in darkness. Think about that. They’re walking in darkness, and I was witnessing to a young man. And he was already a Christian, but I was encouraging him to be a witness to his family, and he had some difficulties there. And I said, look, you have the responsibility to take the light of Christ to the darkness.

To the darkness. Sometimes what we like to do church is we like to curse the darkness. We like to throw bricks at the TV, or we like to be upset at everybody and their lifestyle and what’s wrong with them. But here’s this. We need to remember they’re in darkness.

And the best resolution, the best response is that we would take the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. The apostle is making a defense for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He uses it as a platform to be a faithful witness for God. And so we learn how to do that as we are talking to unbelievers, as we are interacting and having spiritual conversations with others. We can learn how to live faithfully and be a bold witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We wanna encourage you to check out our website, hopeworthhaving.com. That’s hopeworthhaving.com. Make sure you go to our website, check out all the opportunities how you can be involved and that you can be ministered to and take advantage of the tools to grow your faith. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.