"What did you see?"

We have been looking at Paul’s final words to the leaders of the church in Ephesus.

Here, the great apostle is summing up the essence of the Christian life. He is laying out what we as believers ought to be doing,so we might have a “well-lived life.”

Paul says, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my lifea dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

We have seen that we as believers are like runners in a race,and servants. Now, Paul uses a different picture where he compared himself to a witness, “testifying of the gospel of the grace of God.”

“Can you describe it for us?”

When there is an accident, police seek to locate witnesses to the incident. They ask, “What did you see and hear? Can you describe it for us?”

A witness cannot make something up or make it more or less dramatic. They are not there to entertain the audience or do anything other than to just testify to what they saw. And that is what we are to do: give testimony to what we know is true.

As John said, “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you. . . .” As you walk in fellowship with God, He will be working in your life. He will be showing you things from His Word, and life in general.

You will have seen and heard a lot, so when the opportunity comes to speak, you can and should. Your witness will just  “overflow” from you, like water from a full sponge.

Let’s get serious!

But there is a seriousness to this too. The word testifying means “to solemnly give witness.” This reminds us of the seriousness of the message and of the ministry. As we share the gospel with others, it is a matter of life or death.

For instance, in the case of a witness, to give false or incorrect testimony could have dire consequences, like the wrong person being convicted of a crime, for instance.

So we must take this very seriously. Let’s look for opportunities this weekend to do this.

This weekend at Harvest

I am on vacation, taking a little bit of time off. In my absence, James McDonald is speaking. James is the pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicago area.

James is in Southern California for all of January and part of February, as he is receiving daily treatments for prostate cancer at Loma Linda University.

He asked me if he could do a series on the topic of trials while he is “landlocked” here, so he could tape the messages and send them back to Chicago on video for his congregation to view. And of course, I agreed!

Who better to talk about such a subject than a man going through what James is? He is facing this like a real Christian and I know the Lord is pleased with him.

Please remember him and his family in prayer and pray that these treatments will be 100% successful and that James might have a full recovery.

You ought to come hear James or turn in to the webcast.

This and that

I have an article at WorldNetDaily that you might want to check out. You also may want to read my long-form weekend devotion today.