Witness

Dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.(Acts 7:58)

Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”(Acts 7:55)

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him(Acts 7:54)

Enemy doesn’t like us to be full of the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t like us to see the glory of the Lord.

To stop us from advancing the Kingdom of God, enemy immediately, accuses us, by throwing the stones of rumors, gossip, manipulation, hatred, and jealous. It tries very hard to ruin our lives and our ministries. It uses every person as a witness to stone us to death, including young man like Saul. (Acts 7:58)

Such people,witnesses, persecutors, want to put away their coats from staining of the innocent blood, but they forget the fact that the shedding of the innocent blood causes a permanent staining on their hands and in the records of the heavens.

The enemy even uses young man as weapons for persecution. It used Saul.

However, the innocent blood keep crying as we read in Revelations 6:9-11

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,were killed just as they had been.

The moment the number of the martyrs reached the account, the cup of innocent blood in Jerusalem became full, Our Lord Jesus encounters the same enemy, Saul, whom the enemy used to persecute, to bring about a revival, and renames him to Paul, by starting a new chapter in his life, in Christianity.(Acts 9)

God used Saul, the same witness of the innocent blood, the witness of Stephen’s death to be a witness of the precious blood of Jesus, to be witness of the Lord Jesus to the entire world (even till today through His writings inspired by the Holy Spirit).

Let us not be afraid of the Sauls, the enemies, who hinder us in our walk with the Lord Jesus, who hinder our ministries. But let us boldly witness the word of the Living God in authority as Lord Jesus taught, as Paul taught in the midst of persecution, as Stephen taught and see the glory of God, see the heaven open.(Acts 7:58)

God is calling us to be His co-workers, to be His Witnesses, in building His kingdom here(1 Corinthians 3:9).

All our lives we worked for our needs, for gathering wealth, going after name and fame, what profit is it to us to gain the whole world, and lose our soul? (Mark 8:36)

Let us now become Witnesses of His grace, mercy, love and not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.(Gal 6:9)

Saul was a witness to innocent blood, later was transformed into Paul saving innocent from the fires of hell

Let us be transformed to Pauls, into the likeness of Lord Jesus

Let be the WITNESS
God Bless You

✍ Sis.Anita Thumma

The Holy Spirit

Acts 8:6 “And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did”.

The believers in Acts were undergoing tremendous persecution.

In Acts 8:5-7 we note that Philip, an apostle of Jesus, is serving as a witness in Samaria.
He preaches the Word, proclaims the Messiah, heals lame and paralyzed people, and drives out impure spirits from many.

In Acts 1:4-5, we see that Jesus even commanded his apostles to not commence their witnessing ministry before receiving the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit…
enables an individual to study and understand the Word of God, enriches an individual’s faith in Jesus Christ and reveals the glory of God the Father, enhances an individual’s belief in the risen Christ even without seeing Him (John 20:29b “…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”), empowers an individual to truthfully share God’s Word and personal experiences of God’s saving grace, emboldens an individual to envisage their God-given purpose in life, and ensures that God’s hand guides everyone and everything.

Are ordinary people called to witness like what Philip did?
Yes, ordinary people can serve as God’s witnesses when they are bestowed with the Holy Spirit.

Disciple making is the job of every believer.

When Jesus commands us to make disciples He intends for us to live our lives in obedience to Him in the presence of other people,believers and unbelievers.

Obedience is the key to the living as a faithful disciple.

The Holy Spirit will lead us to be obedient people who live holy lives to God’s glory.

Everyone who is blessed with the Holy Spirit will be able to witness Christ in their everyday lives.

They will bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), which is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
So dear friends… Let’s pray to God, to grant us the gift of thy Holy Spirit so that we may serve as HIS witness.

Jooley Mathew Z
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