Preaching and teaching in the Underground has been looking at passages about church growth. We began by looking at passages in Acts and then talked about the spiritual gifts described in Ephesians 4. God wants to build the church and expand the circle of faith.
Today we talked about what it means to live faithfully according to Acts 1:8 which calls us to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. That seems like a tall order, but actually it just means doing what we already do and applying it to the church. We are challenged first to discern why we believe in Jesus, what we can say about our belief and where we see God active in the world. Next we need to ask ourselves why we are members of the church; why we come on Sunday. When we put words to these actions it becomes a lot easier to be come a witness to our friends and acquaintances.
Jesus calls us to be witnesses and speak of what we know. Just like we laud the benefits of a restaurant or salon, we are to speak of the church. When we can offer that testimony, what we know, we become the greatest evangelist the church has seen. Putting words to our experience is offering witness and being faithful to Christ's exhortation in Acts 1:8