“YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES” Acts 1:8

Pearl · Jan 16, 2021

We are his witnesses, each and every one of us who call ourselves Christian, but we aren’t necessarily good witnesses of God’s love and forgiveness. We all know people who have been put off church by Christians who have been bad witnesses to God’s love, grace and acceptance; people who have been intolerant, judgmental and plain unfriendly.

Our witness lies not only in what we say but how we are as well. People notice things like hypocrisy and back-biting. We like our cosy gatherings where every one is well dressed and polite; where we can feel holy, calm and peaceful in the presence of the Lord. But the purpose of the church is not to provide a social network for ‘good’ people but to reach out to those still in their sin. All saints have a past but all sinners can have a future.

So we all need to be good witnesses to God’s compassion for the lost and draw people to Jesus by our acts of love and kindness; our sincerity and generosity. Let us welcome into our church meetings those people who need God’s grace; the prostitutes, drug addicts and drunks as well as professional people with money and status. And let us love with all our hearts those who he has put us with in our church families and neighbourhoods.

There may be little obvious difference on the outside between Christians and good kind non Christians but God sees the heart, and the fruit we manifest in our lives is the fruit of the Spirit of God so therefore it is supernatural and so must have a great impact.

Nancy · Jan 16, 2021

Pearl said:
We are his witnesses, each and every one of us who call ourselves Christian, but we aren’t necessarily good witnesses of God’s love and forgiveness. We all know people who have been put off church by Christians who have been bad witnesses to God’s love, grace and acceptance; people who have been intolerant, judgmental and plain unfriendly.

Our witness lies not only in what we say but how we are as well. People notice things like hypocrisy and back-biting. We like our cosy gatherings where every one is well dressed and polite; where we can feel holy, calm and peaceful in the presence of the Lord. But the purpose of the church is not to provide a social network for ‘good’ people but to reach out to those still in their sin. All saints have a past but all sinners can have a future.

So we all need to be good witnesses to God’s compassion for the lost and draw people to Jesus by our acts of love and kindness; our sincerity and generosity. Let us welcome into our church meetings those people who need God’s grace; the prostitutes, drug addicts and drunks as well as professional people with money and status. And let us love with all our hearts those who he has put us with in our church families and neighbourhoods.

There may be little obvious difference on the outside between Christians and good kind non Christians but God sees the heart, and the fruit we manifest in our lives is the fruit of the Spirit of God so therefore it is supernatural and so must have a great impact.

Hi Pat,
You got that right, the un-saved watch us like hawks! And yeah, why does it seem that "church" is supposed to be for the saved? I read one time that the church is not for Christians but for the unsaved. We gather to strengthen and lift one another up, and worship Him corporately.
I wonder how many here would, if they see one unfamiliar lone person, sitting with messed up clothes, hair or another thing that makes most people recoil. Would you not feel for that person? and just maybe he is there in hopes of finding "true" Christians who will teach him about the Lord.
My own attire is clean and in good repair. Not expensive, I go to thrift shops allot and STILL...when I walk into a mainline Evangelical church, I feel very alone amongst most there. Nobody wants to have a conversation to get to know you as, they are ALWAYS in a hurry, or would much rather find their friends so they can go out to lunch. "we might be entertaining angels unawares"

Great post Pat, ty!
xx

amigo de christo · Jan 16, 2021

Nancy said:
Hi Pat,
You got that right, the un-saved watch us like hawks! And yeah, why does it seem that "church" is supposed to be for the saved? I read one time that the church is not for Christians but for the unsaved. We gather to strengthen and lift one another up, and worship Him corporately.
I wonder how many here would, if they see one unfamiliar lone person, sitting with messed up clothes, hair or another thing that makes most people recoil. Would you not feel for that person? and just maybe he is there in hopes of finding "true" Christians who will teach him about the Lord.
My own attire is clean and in good repair. Not expensive, I go to thrift shops allot and STILL...when I walk into a mainline Evangelical church, I feel very alone amongst most there. Nobody wants to have a conversation to get to know you as, they are ALWAYS in a hurry, or would much rather find their friends so they can go out to lunch. "we might be entertaining angels unawares"
Great post Pat, ty!
xx

March on my dear sister . LET the LORD be praised . This is truly why i feel its time to return to house churches .
Lambs gather with believers to recieve edification . Those who taught that other stuff , were known as Seeker friendly .
And look what happened and is happening to those churches . They rarely just teach truth for the sake of truth anymore .
They silence truth , cause they say that might offend or run some off .
WELL I say welcome all in , BUT PREACH SOUND DOCTRINE . Those who hear amen , Those who reject it will leave .
WE do not build the church by feeding it with fleshly bait . Not only will the lambs starve , but
even if the numbers get huge , THEY aint saved . They were baited to another image of JESUS that is not compatible to the one in the BIBLE .
IF we coming to any OTHER jesus , then it aint JESUS . We must simply preach , and speak the truth .
Did JESUS ever pander to the emotions of men to win men . NOPE .
HE spoke truth and whoever received it , WAS BLESSED indeed .
And those who rejected it , JESUS never said okay lets tone it down , lets change the message and try and reach them THAT WAY .
NOR can we . GOD knows who Will come and who will reject . WE simply speak truth .
Seeker friendly truly was a total destruction unto the churches who went under it . Now look at how bad it is
Now some even say its offensive to preach JESUS as the only means of attaining salvation . Cause , you guessed it , that offends .

Nancy · Jan 16, 2021

amigo de christo said:
March on my dear sister . LET the LORD be praised . This is truly why i feel its time to return to house churches .
Lambs gather with believers to recieve edification . Those who taught that other stuff , were known as Seeker friendly .
And look what happened and is happening to those churches . They rarely just teach truth for the sake of truth anymore .
They silence truth , cause they say that might offend or run some off .
WELL I say welcome all in , BUT PREACH SOUND DOCTRINE . Those who hear amen , Those who reject it will leave .
WE do not build the church by feeding it with fleshly bait . Not only will the lambs starve , but
even if the numbers get huge , THEY aint saved . They were baited to another image of JESUS that is not compatible to the one in the BIBLE .
IF we coming to any OTHER jesus , then it aint JESUS . We must simply preach , and speak the truth .
Did JESUS ever pander to the emotions of men to win men . NOPE .
HE spoke truth and whoever received it , WAS BLESSED indeed .
And those who rejected it , JESUS never said okay lets tone it down , lets change the message and try and reach them THAT WAY .
NOR can we . GOD knows who Will come and who will reject . WE simply speak truth .
Seeker friendly truly was a total destruction unto the churches who went under it . Now look at how bad it is
Now some even say its offensive to preach JESUS as the only means of attaining salvation . Cause , you guessed it , that offends .

The pastors out there, like the watered down "different" gospel, have stopped trusting in God to provide for them and their ministries. If only they gave the WHOLE truth, the WHOLE gospel and the correct Jesus, they could have only 5 people within the big church and...God WILL grow it because of the faith of the pastor and the few congregants. They want to stroke the flesh of the people so they keep coming ang giving monbey. For what, another fancy coffee shop?? A sandwich bar?? A new lobby??? God help us!

amigo de christo · Jan 16, 2021

Nancy said:
The pastors out there, like the watered down "different" gospel, have stopped trusting in God to provide for them and their ministries. If only they gave the WHOLE truth, the WHOLE gospel and the correct Jesus, they could have only 5 people within the big church and...God WILL grow it because of the faith of the pastor and the few congregants. They want to stroke the flesh of the people so they keep coming ang giving monbey. For what, another fancy coffee shop?? A sandwich bar?? A new lobby??? God help us!

Thats right my dear sister . Here is how simple it truly is . Who is in control . GOD IS .
Simply speak the truth and GOD will add to it those who would be saved .
But never feed the flesh . They turned it into a business . They actually learned tactics from men on how to grow a church .
ONLY GOD can grow a church. They use wordly bait , wordly entertainment , and thus the world is won to the world .
That aint good . And leaven left alone , not corrected , WILL and it has swollen the lump .
We are in such a falling away now sister . OH but OUR LORD is with us . In HE alone is our hope .

Nancy · Jan 16, 2021

amigo de christo said:
Thats right my dear sister . Here is how simple it truly is . Who is in control . GOD IS .
Simply speak the truth and GOD will add to it those who would be saved .
But never feed the flesh . They turned it into a business . They actually learned tactics from men on how to grow a church .
ONLY GOD can grow a church. They use wordly bait , wordly entertainment , and thus the world is won to the world .
That aint good . And leaven left alone , not corrected , WILL and it has swollen the lump .
We are in such a falling away now sister . OH but OUR LORD is with us . In HE alone is our hope .

I put my hope, faith, and my everything in Him. And, I live simple as, it's wonderful when He shows us just how little money we can live on. Wouldn't it be nice if we all went back to the barter system??

"I'll supply your eggs if you provide me vegetables, I'll fix your roof if you will take my kids to school for a week...so on and so forth...you get the pic! He Is The Answer to...ALL THINGS, amen?

Truman · Jan 16, 2021

amigo de christo said:
March on my dear sister . LET the LORD be praised . This is truly why i feel its time to return to house churches .
Lambs gather with believers to recieve edification . Those who taught that other stuff , were known as Seeker friendly .
And look what happened and is happening to those churches . They rarely just teach truth for the sake of truth anymore .
They silence truth , cause they say that might offend or run some off .
WELL I say welcome all in , BUT PREACH SOUND DOCTRINE . Those who hear amen , Those who reject it will leave .
WE do not build the church by feeding it with fleshly bait . Not only will the lambs starve , but
even if the numbers get huge , THEY aint saved . They were baited to another image of JESUS that is not compatible to the one in the BIBLE .
IF we coming to any OTHER jesus , then it aint JESUS . We must simply preach , and speak the truth .
Did JESUS ever pander to the emotions of men to win men . NOPE .
HE spoke truth and whoever received it , WAS BLESSED indeed .
And those who rejected it , JESUS never said okay lets tone it down , lets change the message and try and reach them THAT WAY .
NOR can we . GOD knows who Will come and who will reject . WE simply speak truth .
Seeker friendly truly was a total destruction unto the churches who went under it . Now look at how bad it is
Now some even say its offensive to preach JESUS as the only means of attaining salvation . Cause , you guessed it , that offends .

If you're not offending people, you ain't preaching the gospel.

Pearl · Jan 16, 2021

@Nancy @amigo de christo

I think your posts are great. I would love it if more people felt like that. And I would love to go back to 'house church' - it's where my own fellowship began. And like Nancy I don't 'dress up' to go to meetings and mostly wear stuff from charity shops as I don't want people to feel that they can only come here if they are well off.

I am a little disappointed with my own fellowship. Like I said it started in houses and then as it grew we bought a building in the town centre and did it up. The numbers soared but mostly from the traditional churches. Then some people started to form a clique and then moved out of town into more affluent areas and then the church started to go downhill. It is still the best around though and the pastor now instead of being worried about dwindling numbers gives thanks for those that God has placed there.

Nancy · Jan 16, 2021

Pearl said:
@Nancy @amigo de christo

I think your posts are great. I would love it if more people felt like that. And I would love to go back to 'house church' - it's where my own fellowship began. And like Nancy I don't 'dress up' to go to meetings and mostly wear stuff from charity shops as I don't want people to feel that they can only come here if they are well off.

I am a little disappointed with my own fellowship. Like I said it started in houses and then as it grew we bought a building in the town centre and did it up. The numbers soared but mostly from the traditional churches. Then some people started to form a clique and then moved out of town into more affluent areas and then the church started to go downhill. It is still the best around though and the pastor now instead of being worried about dwindling numbers gives thanks for those that God has placed there.

Too big to fail?? lol...even when only two or three are gathered...
Thank you Pat, for the compliment! And, I so enjoy yours as well as Amigo's. Yes, I think the pastor is so on the right track here...thanking God for who is still there. I'd say smaller is always better and maybe once a year, perhaps all get together for fellowship. With that said, I am finished with the mainline church's here in the U.S. I leave starving! Starving for the "meat" of the word and, have not gotten that from a mainline church. The few on here I feel close to are enough fellowship I could ask for. I correspond with several on here through in-box and have gotten to know so many this way. Oh how I'd love a house church!!! Until then, He blesses me with sisters and brothers like yourself and several others on here.
God will bless abundantly when we trust in Him, Amen?
xxx

Hidden In Him · Jan 16, 2021

Pearl said:
We are his witnesses, each and every one of us who call ourselves Christian, but we aren’t necessarily good witnesses of God’s love and forgiveness. We all know people who have been put off church by Christians who have been bad witnesses to God’s love, grace and acceptance; people who have been intolerant, judgmental and plain unfriendly.

Our witness lies not only in what we say but how we are as well. People notice things like hypocrisy and back-biting. We like our cosy gatherings where every one is well dressed and polite; where we can feel holy, calm and peaceful in the presence of the Lord. But the purpose of the church is not to provide a social network for ‘good’ people but to reach out to those still in their sin. All saints have a past but all sinners can have a future.

So we all need to be good witnesses to God’s compassion for the lost and draw people to Jesus by our acts of love and kindness; our sincerity and generosity. Let us welcome into our church meetings those people who need God’s grace; the prostitutes, drug addicts and drunks as well as professional people with money and status. And let us love with all our hearts those who he has put us with in our church families and neighbourhoods.

There may be little obvious difference on the outside between Christians and good kind non Christians but God sees the heart, and the fruit we manifest in our lives is the fruit of the Spirit of God so therefore it is supernatural and so must have a great impact.

Gotta keep first things first, though, Pearl.

Certainly love needs to be the motivation behind why the gifts are used according to 1 Corinthians 13. But without the power first, we will be viewed as just a bunch of nice people who are caught up in a deluded religion. The verse is about the power of God, and by that Peter was talking specifically about the supernatural power of God to confirm His word with signs and wonders following:

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

They were called to love one another well before this, and understood the command (John 13:34, John 15:12). But it was at this point that the outpouring of the Spirit for signs and wonders was now coming into play. This is when the witness began, and when the church began to grow. And it will be the same again. Until the Spirit is again poured out in Power, we would be largely ignored, sad to say. It will be AFTER the Spirit is poured out and the world wakes up to the truth of the gospel once more that our treatment of one another will again become especially important, because then they will again be looking, and with the interest to believe, not just to criticize as things are now.

amigo de christo · Jan 16, 2021

Nancy said:
Too big to fail?? lol...even when only two or three are gathered...
Thank you Pat, for the compliment! And, I so enjoy yours as well as Amigo's. Yes, I think the pastor is so on the right track here...thanking God for who is still there. I'd say smaller is always better and maybe once a year, perhaps all get together for fellowship. With that said, I am finished with the mainline church's here in the U.S. I leave starving! Starving for the "meat" of the word and, have not gotten that from a mainline church. The few on here I feel close to are enough fellowship I could ask for. I correspond with several on here through in-box and have gotten to know so many this way. Oh how I'd love a house church!!! Until then, He blesses me with sisters and brothers like yourself and several others on here.
God will bless abundantly when we trust in Him, Amen?
xxx

It was not the surroundings in which the early church hoped . When they met
they didnt ask things like , do ya think if we had some indoor hot water it might bring more in to fellowship with us .
They didnt ask , well lets see if we had pews set up a certain way and maybe played some uplifting music is might help .
NO , they didnt care about the gathering place . THEY only cared about CHRIST and one another .
They didnt go out and buy lands , they often sold lands and gave to those who had need .
Earthen comforts did not bring them to Christ . T RUTH IS , they knew something that many no longer do know .
To live for JESUS , meant they were often gonna lose those comforts , OFTEN be on the run . OFten persecuted
hated by many . THEY didnt seek earthly pleasures and comforts , THEY SOUGHT JESUS and heavenly comfort .
HOPE was in HIM . And to live a life faithful to him , paul and others knew , meant , YA GONNA LOSE much in this life .
A lot of pauls letters that were written . Yeah they were not written from some grand suite , some fancy decked out place .
THEY WERE WRITTEN FROM JAIL . FROM PRISON . YET I SAW ALL HOPE IN THAT MAN . ALL JOY . ALL PEACE
cause to him the loss of all things were counted as dung , OH BUT TO KNOW JESUS was GREAT GAIN .

amigo de christo · Jan 16, 2021

The saddest truth i had to learn was this . Most who even profess to know JESUS , they know not two things .
THEY Do not know what true chrisanity has lost , and they know not that they too are still lost .
Broke my heart for them this did .
Its like one once said . An unknown author around the end of the first millenium .
And the writing goes as this . WELL surely we can no longer say , AS DID PETER , that silver and gold have we none .
And the other man agrees and says so true . BUT No longer can we say ARISE IN THE NAME OF JESUS and BE HEALED .
THE CHURCH SOLD OUT folks . It placed its hopes on the very things JESUS had said not to trust in .
And then they wonder why they cannot say arise and walk . OH i know its true that not all have the gift of healing .
BUT ITS VERY TRUE that folks are focused on earthern comforts , NOT JESUS .

Pearl · Jan 16, 2021

God has put it in my heart to pray for the Church this year and I'm hoping people will join me. I have put a reminder in my bible so that I can't forget.

The more people that pray for the church the better. We need it to be God's Church, Jesus' Church not the peoples' church. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in the hearts of our pastors and leaders across the whole spectrum of Church life. Without the Holy Spirit it is man's church and not God's Church. Without the Holy Spirit the church is not the Body of Christ.

Pearl · Jan 16, 2021

Hidden In Him said:
Gotta keep first things first, though, Pearl.

Jesus is the first thing. Everything else comes through him.

Hidden In Him · Jan 16, 2021

Pearl said:
Jesus is the first thing. Everything else comes through him.

Absolutely, but just like the apostles, his fame spread abroad because of His miracles. Otherwise He would have simply been regarded as a nice and righteous man, but no one would have taken much notice of Him. (Mark 1:28, Mark 1:45, Mark 6:14, Luke 5:15, others).

amigo de christo · Jan 16, 2021

Hidden In Him said:
Absolutely, but just like the apostles, his fame spread abroad because of His miracles. Otherwise He would have simply been regarded as a nice and righteous man, but no one would have taken much notice of Him. (Mark 1:28, Mark 1:45, Mark 6:14, Luke 5:15, others).

Here ye this proverb . He who waits upon an end time revival is he who will fall for the great delusion .
GUESS what , JESUS never changed . WE already HAVE all we need to preach the truth . IF so be we have the SPIRIT .
I never saw paul and them telling the churches too wait on some end time big awakening . NO they were the awakening
they actually preached THE TRUTH . The only thing they warned about concerning the end , WAS false miracles , delusion
and many falling away . WE WARN NOW , OR forget it . cause it wont be getting any better in this world , ONLY worse .
IF JESUS said so and the apostles said so , THEN YA KNOW I SAY SO .

Hidden In Him · Jan 16, 2021

amigo de christo said:
Here ye this proverb . He who waits upon an end time revival is he who will fall for the great delusion .

Nah. This is something Marks teaches, and the problem I have with it is that it presupposes the power of Satan will be greater than the power of God during the end-times. This is simply not true. Throughout history, whenever Satan has manifested supernatural power, the Lord has manifested even greater supernatural power to prove who the Most High God truly is. It will be no different during the end-times.

amigo de christo said:
GUESS what , JESUS never changed . WE already HAVE all we need to preach the truth . IF so be we have the SPIRIT .

We have the Spirit, but we don't have the Spirit poured out in Power at the current time. If we did, we'd be seeing far greater works of power than we do.

amigo de christo said:
I never saw paul and them telling the churches too wait on some end time big awakening .

He didn't have to. They were moving in the power of the Spirit during New Testament times, far more so than today (Acts 2:43).

amigo de christo said:
WE WARN NOW , OR forget it . cause it wont be getting any better in this world , ONLY worse .
IF JESUS said so and the apostles said so , THEN YA KNOW I SAY SO .

Again, Friend Of The Lord, this is far too pessimistic an outlook in my opinion. The scripture says the harvest is the END of the age, and we won't see more souls coming to Christ than ever before if the Devil is the one doing all the works of power in this world. There would be no harvest if that were to happen.

mjrhealth · Jan 16, 2021

Pearl said:
God has put it in my heart to pray for the Church this year and I'm hoping people will join me. I have put a reminder in my bible so that I can't forget.

The more people that pray for the church the better. We need it to be God's Church, Jesus' Church not the peoples' church. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in the hearts of our pastors and leaders across the whole spectrum of Church life. Without the Holy Spirit it is man's church and not God's Church. Without the Holy Spirit the church is not the Body of Christ.

I think people miss the point,we, the people are His Church, God cannot partake that which is not of Him, mens churches, Christ came to build His church not mens, yet men demand that Christ be a part of what men built, and He cannot be..

1Co_6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

Pearl · Jan 16, 2021

Hidden In Him said:
Absolutely, but just like the apostles, his fame spread abroad because of His miracles. Otherwise He would have simply been regarded as a nice and righteous man, but no one would have taken much notice of Him. (Mark 1:28, Mark 1:45, Mark 6:14, Luke 5:15, others).

Without the Holy Spirit working in power there will be no signs and wonders. People need to really put Jesus at the centre of their lives, of their church lives and then the Holy Spirit in will once again move in power. Church has become so wishy-washy and world pleasing that the Holy Spirit is notable by his absence. And without the Holy Spirit it's a pointless exercise.

There is a passage which I remember reading and writing about a few years ago where a blind man knows that Jesus is near because of the noise.

Luke 18:35-37
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’

The Church today needs to be making more of the right sort of noise so that the 'blind' and 'deaf' will see and hear and be healed of their sin.

Hidden In Him · Jan 16, 2021

Pearl said:
Without the Holy Spirit working in power there will be no signs and wonders. People need to really put Jesus at the centre of their lives, of their church lives and then the Holy Spirit in will once again move in power. Church has become so wishy-washy and world pleasing that the Holy Spirit is notable by his absence. And without the Holy Spirit it's a pointless exercise.

There is a passage which I remember reading and writing about a few years ago where a blind man knows that Jesus is near because of the noise.

Luke 18:35-37
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’

The Church today needs to be making more of the right sort of noise so that the 'blind' and 'deaf' will see and hear and be healed of their sin.

Well certainly, Pearl. I don't think we're in much disagreement, other than that I still think demonstrations of power have to come first or they will not take any heed to us one way or the other at this point. The reason there was so much noise around Him then was because of the following He developed as a result of the miracles He performed.

The works of power are what make "the noise" spread abroad. The love of Christ within us is what confirms that the Spirit manifesting those works is one of Love.

“YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES” Acts 1:8

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads