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When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, the church at Jerusalem stood up in a dynamic witness for Christ. The most obvious event of the church’s witness was Peter’s great Pentecost sermon. This is the same Peter who, just a few weeks earlier, had been too scared to admit he even knew Jesus. What made the difference? The Holy Spirit had taken control of Peter, and Peter was about to take off and soar in his spiritual life, becoming a bold and faithful witness for Jesus Christ.
Evangelism is a necessity for being a disciple. But you may argue, “Steve, I’m not bold. I’m a private person.”
Well, the fact is that most of us are private when we want to be. However, when something exciting happens in your life, you will undoubtedly talk about it without a whole lot of prompting. Anyone who is so private that he or she never talks about anything that matters has to be comatose or dead.
I see this regularly acted out with people who have news to share about an engagement, the arrival of a new child, or getting that anticipated promotion or a new job. When this things happen, news hits the airwaves spreading very quickly through phone calls, text messages, and FACEBOOK posts. Perhaps, it is even more astonishing that some people think what they eat for lunch is that news worthy.
Yet the Bible assumes that kind of infectious excitement from a believer anxious to share his story of faith. As a matter of fact, the Bible assumes that we will be sharing the gospel The first phrase of Matthew 28:19 would most aptly be translated, “Since you are going, make disciples of all nations …” Jesus didn’t think that he would need to force or coerce the church into reaching beyond its walls. He assumed that the church would move at the chance to tell others the good news that they had come to know.
Tony Evans has said, “One reason a lot of us Christians don’t share Christ is that we’ve lost our excitement about Him. When He is exciting to you, you can’t keep Him to yourself.”
The enthusiastic witness of the believers who received the Spirit on Pentecost and Peter’s dynamic message on that special day added three thousand new believers to the body of Christ. Now that’s a witness! And please notice that these three thousand people did not become believers because of an evangelistic “program”. They came to Christ because God’s people were so overwhelmed with the experience of His Spirit that they couldn’t keep the faith to themselves.
The exciting witness of Pentecost is the same witness we see in new Christians. They are excited about the difference forgiveness and grace, in and through Christ, has made in their lives. So they begin to share Christ with all kinds of people without being embarrassed or knowing any better.
What would it take for you to become so excited about what God has done in your life that you could no longer hold it in?
This ought to be happening in our church and in our individual lives as we scatter each week to witness for Christ wherever we go.
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