I think that clock's fast, but I'm slow.
Welcome, friends.
Our topic this morning is the fountain pulse of witness bearing.
There's a bit of an outline there for you.
The late and beloved Tim Keller, in his final public written words
addressed to the state of the evangelical church in America.
Where are we? How did we get here? And where do we go from here?
And among his seminal points, for me, most vivid and arresting
was his diagnosis of a troubling malady.
A malady which alarmingly touches us at one of our vital organs as a people of God.
The gravity of Tim's assessment was this.
We are sickest where we need to be most healthy.
Well, what was this vital organ so afflicted?
In Tim's mind, it was our ability graciously to engage
unbelievers around us with the gospel.
Well, I've become persuaded that Tim's diagnosis is on the mark.
And if it's so, what more burning topic to take up than this?
So with this sense of supreme saliency, let's take it up together, team.
So how do we hope to do so in these next four weeks,
should you come along for the journey?
Well, here's a map of where we're headed.
Today, we'll begin by asking,
how does witness bearing fit into our Christian life?
What place does it have?
And what calls it forth and sustains it?
Our witness, that is.
Next, we'll ask the fundamental question.
So in the next session, Lord willing,
what is the message we bear?
And there we'll explore what we mean by calling the gospel good news.
What is the significance of it being news?
And what's so good about it anyway?
Then on the third session,
we'll identify some of the common barriers and obstacles to our witness bearing
and explore how we might overcome them.
And then with resolute determination,
my wife Anita always helps me on this.
We want to be really practical.
And we will follow up with a kind of a top 10 helps for sharing our faith.
And finally conclude with some suggestions as the first steps as to how to get started.
So that's our excursion prospectus.
So let's begin our tour by turning to our divine guide
and beseech his traveling mercies.
Father, we do crave your blessing presence with us in this endeavor as we're together.
Spirit, take these things of Christ and give them to us,
just as Christ promised you would do,
that we might both will and do your good pleasure.
And we want you, Christ, to be exalted in our lives together as your people of God,
such that when Christ is exalted, you have said you will call many to yourself.
So do it, Lord.
We ask for your glory.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right.
So let's turn to the question,
how does witness bearing fit in to our Christian life?
What are its fountainheads and its energies?
And I want to propose five fueling dynamics of our witness bearing.
And here they are.
It flows from the commission of our King.
It reflects an attunement to the great drama.
It's impelled by love of neighbor.
It's central to our praise of the Savior.
And it arises out of a spirit.
And it arises out of a spurring of the Spirit.
So first, the commission of our King.
Our witness.
Well, what commission is that?
Well, it's been called the Great Commission.
And it's recorded by each of the gospel writers.
Every single one of them.
The Matthew account is probably most familiar.
Where Matthew writes, recording Jesus' saying,
All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Matthew 28, 18.
Go.
Actually, it might be better rendered going or as you go.
And that's to say, as we go about, wherever it is that it takes us,
always and everywhere, let gospel witness accompany our goings.
And we quickly get the impression that it's far deeper than a task.
As great as the task is, it might even be regarded in some sense as an identity.
Think of yourselves as ambassadors.
The term is Paul's from 2 Corinthians 5.
You are always and everywhere representing me to the world.
Ever being my embassy, calling a world to be reconciled.
I can pull back.
We can put some chairs up in front if we need to.
That's fine.
My commission is that you be the one through whom I make my appeal to a lost and a dying world.
As it says in 2 Corinthians 5, where we drew that term ambassador.
2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 20.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, in Christ, God is reconciling the world to himself.
And he is making his appeal through us.
Therefore, we are ambassadors.
We implore on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Now, some have suggested, yeah, yeah, that's only the apostle.
That's what he was supposed to do.
He's really only talking about himself.
You know, the we and the us, that's the royal we and the royal us.
That's what's going on there.
But this is a grievous mistake because it's impossible.
As clearly, this is God's plan for reconciling not a little portion of the Mediterranean around the first century,
which Paul might have managed to do on himself, you know, because as remarkable as a fellow he is.
No, no, but this is God's strategy for reconciling what?
Non-rhetorical.
The whole world, yeah.
The whole world.
So, you know, that's something that it's going to take a whole village, the whole people of God to pull off, not just one apostle.
So, it's going to involve more than that, as impressive as Paul is.
And as to verse 20, I don't know, people don't, well, if you have your Bible open, verse 20, and you happen to have a pencil,
cross out the U, cross out the U, cross out the U in verse 20.
It's not there in the Greek.
You see, Paul is not making an appeal to the Corinthians.
Be reconciled.
You know, I beseech you, you should be reconciled to Christ.
No, they already were reconciled.
They were believers.
What he is doing is explaining what we, as reconciled believers, do.
We all implore, be reconciled to Christ.
He's just given us our job description.
So, our witness bearing flows from our marching orders.
We are under the King's commission.
With all authority on heaven and earth, he sends us on this errand.
He appoints us as ambassadors.
And this is quite an authorization.
Now, think of Christ's words to us as his disciples for a moment as an authorization.
An authorization.
All authority is given to me.
And it's wonderful to know of your authorization.
When you feel your presence or activity may be exposed to some challenge.
What are you doing here?
You've no right.
This is not called for.
This is unwanted.
This is an offense.
I remember when I was a graduate student in Cambridge.
The colleges would have a number of gardens.
Lovely gardens.
But they were stratified.
And you could only use certain ones if you had certain authorization.
Each required its own authorization to set foot in.
And whenever I'd go into certain gardens.
Say that might have been gardens of another one of the colleges.
There was always this low-grade anxiety.
That somehow my authorization would be challenged.
There was a palpable difference in my cadence when I was in my own college garden.
Knowing my indisputable authorization to be there.
So brothers and sisters, if ever there were an indisputable and all-conquering authorization,
surely it is this one given to us by the King of Kings and the Heir of all things.
So may that put a confidence in our step wherever we go, wherever we happen to be.
As the Lord said to Gideon, Judges 6.14,
Go in this your strength.
Have I not commanded you?
Have I not sent you?
So our witness flows from the commission of the King.
But also our witness reflects an attunement to the great drama.
You see, all of us find meaning in the story that our lives are a part of.
And no human being can live without implotment.
And for the Christian disciple, that governing plot is supplied by the great drama of redemption.
It just pulses progressively through the whole of Scripture.
And one place where the drama and its implication for our lives surfaces vividly
is from the pen of the Apostle in his letter to the 1 Corinthians.
Again, if you have your Bibles, take a look if you'd like.
1 Corinthians 7, 29 through 31.
And the context of this instruction is Paul's answering some questions about marriage and singleness.
But we won't look into those.
But I want us to catch the framework as to how he answers this question.
So the framework.
This is what he writes.
Pick it up in 29.
This is what I mean, brothers and sisters.
The appointed time has grown very short.
From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none.
And those who mourn as if they were not mourning.
And those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing.
And those who buy as though they had no goods.
And those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.
For the present form of this world is passing away.
Notice that for Paul, something has happened which radically alters the way we are in the world as believers.
This event absolutely conditions the way we now live.
We might be married.
But because of this event, we don't simply settle into our domestic routines.
Yes, like others, we weep and we rejoice.
But not as if those emotional highs and lows were somehow decisive.
Now, our engagement with the world cannot be our engrossment with it.
Why not?
What is this all conditioning reality?
Well, the key to understanding why not is the Apostle's phrase,
The time has been shortened.
Verse 29.
The word for time there is not chronos, just kind of chronological duration, one moment after another.
But rather the word kairos.
That is the specific quality of a particular period of time.
A critical moment in which much is at stake.
A time of opportunity that will not last indefinitely.
What is the great event that has charged time, which injects drama into this drama?
And what are the great events that have become bookends that bound our time and animate it,
energize it, electrify it?
Well, those events are the coming of Christ and his coming again.
There is cross and resurrection and with them a call for all everywhere to repent and believe
and his imminent return as judge of all.
That's what bounds time.
And notice that the Apostle also supplies the ground for this radical living.
For the present form of this world is passing away.
Verse 31.
What does he mean by the present form of this world?
Well, not the created order itself,
but rather the created order in rebellion.
The world that has judged Jesus on the cross by nailing him to it.
But of course, the world's judgment of Christ was its own self-judgment.
The judgment of the cross means that this present world order is passing away.
So, in light of this saving act of God in Jesus and his imminent return as judge,
and in light of the verdict that lies over this present world,
to live a life utterly absorbed in other things is to be completely out of touch with the grand drama that we live in.
Out of touch with the nature of this limited critical moment
and the fleeting kairos opportunity for bearing witness to the saving event of Christ
and a calling of a world passing away under judgment
to align itself to God's saving Messiah, Christ.
So, what does it mean for us to be attuned to the grand drama?
Well, it means that the chemist cannot be exclusively consumed with her experiments,
nor the artist be forever absorbed with her canvases,
nor the geologist with her rocks,
nor the historian with manuscripts, Kevin,
nor the philosopher with their puzzles,
for such would be utterly out of touch
with the supreme fact that we are caught up in a grand drama.
And so, the Christian baker cannot simply coax out the treasure of wheat, rye, barley, and yeast,
but will also herald the news that Jesus is the bread of life.
Neither may the Christian electrician simply install light bulbs,
though she will attempt to do them well,
she will also testify to the light of the world, Christ.
Nor must the Christian cobbler merely make shoes,
make them well as he will.
His feet must be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Anything less would be to be completely out of step with the drama that we inhabit.
And what of our witness-bearing role in the drama?
I mean, should we think of it as an insignificant role, really?
Or is it a leading role in the drama?
Well, let's think in terms of the unfolding drama of witness to Christ
and our place in that story.
Let's think of some of the protagonists together.
Who are some of the great witness-bearers to Christ the Messiah?
Well, there was Moses,
who testified of one who would come after him
and speak God's words to the people.
In Deuteronomy 18, 15.
There's the prophet Micah in 5.2,
indicating where the Christ, the coming Christ, would be born.
It was that prophecy that led the wise men to Bethlehem.
The star just got him to the general region.
It was actually the scriptures that lead you.
Isaiah spoke of him as a suffering, sin-bearing servant, Isaiah 53.
These and many other Old Testament prophets
bore witness to the Christ who would come.
And the final, the final Old Testament prophet,
John the Baptist, Jesus identified,
this is Matthew 11, verse 11,
Jesus identified as the greatest of all the prophets.
Greatest in the sense of his witness to Christ.
You see, all the other former prophets
had a witness that was connotative.
The Christ that comes will be like this,
and like this, and like this,
and this will be true of him.
It was all connotative.
But John's witness was denitative.
This is he.
Compared to all of his forebearers,
John's witness was the clearest,
and thus the greatest.
But remarkably, does anybody remember
what Jesus goes on to say after that?
Remember?
He says,
John the Baptist,
the greatest of all of the prophets,
but the least in the kingdom of God
is greater than he.
What?
The least in the kingdom of God?
The least of us,
New Testament saints,
greater than John the Baptist?
In what sense?
In what sense could we be greater than John the Baptist?
Well, in the same sense in which
John the Baptist was greater than all the other prophets?
In terms of the articulateness of his witness to Christ.
And Jesus is telling us that the least of us,
New Testament saints,
because of where we are in the unfolding drama,
and what we know about Christ in his great salvation,
we can give witness to Christ more articulate than John the Baptist,
and all of the preceding prophets.
Oh, friends, does this not give us strong encouragement to bear our witness?
May our attunement to the great drama energize us in our testimony to Christ.
Let's live in that drama.
Let it deep die our consciousness and shape our imaginaries.
And there will be a natural and inevitable flow of witness as it does.
So, attunement to the great drama, from that flows our witness.
But also, our witness is impelled by our love of neighbor.
Impelled by our love of neighbor.
Friends, we follow a master who is full of compassion and love for the lost.
Matthew records in 9.37,
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,
because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
And this description of spiritual destitution of the lost
is cast in such vivid language.
The word rendered here in our translation, harassed,
originally meant flayed, mangled,
and came to indicate vexed with weariness and sorrow and worry.
In B.B. Warfield's classic work,
The Emotional Life of Our Lord,
much of the discussion of that long essay
is devoted to Jesus' remarkable compassion and love for the lost.
To his disciples,
after the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well,
he urges,
Look up, I tell you.
Lift up your eyes
and see that the fields are white for the harvest.
John 4.35,
So often I confess that I see,
or I think I see,
not the whiteness of readiness for harvest,
rather the darkness of hardness of heart,
the opposition of devotion to sin in my neighbors,
rather than the oppression of the devastation of sin.
You see the difference?
What is my impulsive heart response to my lost neighbors?
What catches my eye and holds my gaze?
One of our daughters, I won't name which one,
when young, would sit on our stairs,
concealed there,
and listen to the conversations that we would have
in our living room with those who were present.
And when the guests left,
she'd finally come down,
and then she'd go around just from memory
by the different voices
and characterize each speaker that she had overheard.
And quite insightfully and incisively,
but often very critically.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, daughter.
She was very young.
Whoa, daughter.
What is fundamentally true
about each one of our guests
who are here with us tonight?
They're sinners, Daddy.
More fundamental.
More fundamental than that.
All right, Dad.
They're in the image of God.
Yes, daughter.
Dearest daughter.
Make it your practice
when you encounter a son of Adam
or a daughter of Eve
to spend the first ten minutes
discovering and delighting
delighting in how they reflect the image of God.
It will make your encounters
much more fruitful
and your life much more joyful
if you do so.
I'm struck by a phrase in Mark's account
of Jesus' encounter with a rich young ruler.
Do you remember it?
Mark 10, 21, Mark says,
Jesus, looking at him, loved him.
He saw something lovely in him
and his heart went out to him.
Brothers and sisters,
I fear that sometimes this is not us
at our best.
We have not lately been known for love
when it comes to the unbelievers around us.
I remember asking some of my unbelieving
new friends at the gym,
hey, if you could ask
evangelical Christians
anything you would want to ask,
what would you want to ask them
if you had a question for them?
And one of them immediately responded,
I'd ask them,
why do you hate us so much?
Why do you hate us so much?
Isn't that sad?
I recently asked a sauna full of unbelievers,
hey, if you could take all of your experiences,
all your encounters with Christians,
kind of squeeze into a Rorschach ink blotch,
and then just freely associate,
what would you see?
Come on, tell me, what would you see?
You know, I can't even repeat it.
It was so unflattering.
Now, this is not everybody,
and I know there are just luminous,
luminous exceptions of this.
Just this morning,
I was praying that my widowed mother,
who was running into some hard times,
would find a way to church,
it would be a new church,
and someone would befriend her.
And when I called her,
she was at someone's house from the church
who had invited her to lunch,
and they were sitting down
for a nice roast beef Sunday dinner.
So, oh, people of God,
you do it so well.
You do it so well.
But let's try to abound still more
in this area.
What if, instead,
we were to gain the reputation
for having a keen eye
for the virtues of others around us,
and a readiness to affirm them?
What if we became known
for speaking over our neighbors
their love-worthy qualities,
and sincerely and routinely
complimenting them whenever we can?
Shall we despise them
for their waywardness and sinfulness?
Wait, but doesn't our understanding of grace
forbid looking down on any sinner?
For what causes us to differ
from anyone else,
presses the apostle.
And what do you have?
What do we have
that we have not received?
1 Corinthians 4.7.
Or 1 Corinthians 15.
Paul says,
By the grace of God,
I am what I am.
John Newton, in his memoirs,
impresses this same point
with a vivid illustration.
He writes this.
Speaking of our relation to unbelievers,
those who believe
the doctrines of sovereign grace
act inconsistently
with their own principles
when they are angry
at the defects of others.
A company of travelers
fall into a pit.
One of them gets a passerby
to draw him out.
Now, he would not be angry
with the rest for falling in,
nor because they are not yet out,
as he is.
He didn't pull himself out.
Instead, therefore,
of approaching them,
he should show them pity.
In the same way,
Newton continues,
a truly saved one
will no more despise others
than blind Bartimaeus,
after his own eyes were opened,
would take a stick
and beat every blind man he met.
Yeah, it's true.
But, we might object,
this is not Newton anymore.
We might object,
yeah, but these unbelievers
live immoral and misdirected lives,
which deserve God's judgment.
Yes, God's judgment,
not ours.
We're not to judge outsiders.
And would ourselves
only deserve God's judgment
as outsiders to Christ?
As the apostle writes to the Corinthians,
in 1 Corinthians 5, 12,
for what do I have to do
with judging outsiders?
Is it not those inside the church
whom we are to judge?
God judges those outside.
So, how do we engage
our unbelieving neighbors?
I love to generate an image
from Psalm 126, verse 6.
We go about them weeping,
bearing our seed for sowing.
We sow the seed of our witness,
and we water that seed
with our tears of compassion and love,
in the hope, indeed confidence,
that the powerful work
of the Spirit
shall one,
as a result of that,
we shall one day come home
with shouts of joy,
surrounded by the sheaves
of a great harvest
that the great Lord of the harvest
has wrought among us.
So,
we,
our witness flows
from love of our neighbor.
our witness is also
a central aspect,
four,
of our praise
of our Savior.
Our praise of our Savior.
As Peter wrote,
mightily encouraging
the exiled believers,
you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim
the excellencies of him
who has called you out of darkness
and into his marvelous light.
First Peter 2.9.
We are to proclaim
the excellencies of him
who called us out of darkness
and into his marvelous light.
Isn't that interesting?
Why,
that seems like
a simultaneous
description
of gospel witness
proclaiming him
and praise
his excellencies.
Hard to pull him apart there.
And,
that's no surprise,
for we rightly
think
of our declaration
of Christ
as Savior,
that is,
witness bearing,
as a species
or a family member
of praise.
It's praise.
It exalts Christ.
It holds him forth
by holding him up.
And,
is this not
the natural,
one might say
even irrepressible,
bubbling up
of testimony?
And,
if you feel
the Lord has done
great things for us
and we are filled
with joy,
it's hard not
to express that joy
in praise.
And,
this is,
this sort of
natural,
irrepressible,
bubbling up
of testimony.
Why did I say that?
Think of,
think of
having just been
delivered
from the bondage
of Egypt
through a
Red Sea escape.
Isn't it
kind of instinctive
that like Miriam,
we just look around
and grab the timbrel
and then
take up the dance
and take up a song?
It just,
just seems natural
to do this.
And,
witness bearing,
it's the
bubbling up
of the
fizz
of wonder
and joy
at God's
salvation.
Here's how
Spurgeon
expressed it.
When the Lord
first pardoned
my sin,
I was so
joyous,
I could scarce
refrain from
dancing.
I thought
on my road
home from
the house
where I had
been set
at liberty
that I
must tell
the stones
in the street
the story
of my
deliverance.
So full
was my
soul of
joy
that I
wanted to
tell
every snowflake
that was
falling from
heaven
of the
wondrous
love of
Jesus
who had
blotted
out the
sins
of one
of the
chief
of
rebels.
This is
from his
morning and
evening
February
1st.
Praise
and with
it witness
bearing
is inner
joy
made audible.
Inner
joy
made audible.
And my
aim here
is not
to make
anyone
among us
feel bad
if we don't
have much
of this,
many bubbles
if you will.
Rather it's
just to
point out
the bubbling
spring.
And some
of us,
I know I
do often,
I just go
around dehydrated
and I need
to drink
deeply
from God's
saving grace
in my
life.
So let's
carry around
the picture
of our
beloved
in the
locket
of our
memories
and often
open it
up to
gaze upon
him.
I have
someone's
picture on
my cell
phone
and when
I see
that picture
my heart
leaps
and it's
hard not
to muse
about her
which puts
me in a
frame to
want to
speak about
her.
And when
I do
what comes
across
is that
it's
really easy
to like
her and
it's hard
not to
love her.
And in
this respect
praise
and its
family member
witness
bearing
is not
just
natural
but it's
self-
energizing
and self-
accentuating.
It just gets
richer and
deeper
the more
we give
it vent.
What C.S. Lewis
writes of
praise is
also true
of witness
bearing.
Again,
same species.
It augments
our delight
in Christ.
It helps
to compound
and even
complete it.
Lewis writes,
and this is from
his reflections
on the Psalms,
I think
we delight
to praise
what we
enjoy
because the
praise
not merely
expresses
but
completes
the
enjoyment.
It is
its
appointed
consummation.
It's not
out of
compliment
that lovers
keep telling
one another
how beautiful
they are.
The delight
is incomplete
till it
is expressed.
It's
frustrating
to have
discovered
a new
author,
Lewis writes,
and not
to be able
to tell
anyone
how good
he is.
To come
suddenly
at the
turn of
a road
upon
some
mountain
valley
of
unexpected
grandeur
and then
to have
to keep
silent
because
the
people
with
you
care
for it
no more
than
for a
tin
can
in
the
ditch.
To hear
a good
joke
and to
find
no one
to share
it
with.
Michael
Green
in his
classic
work
Evangelism
in the
early
church
speaks
of the
first
Christians
gossiping
the
gospel.
What a
great
phrase.
Gossiping
the
gospel.
The
gospel
just
bubbled
up
everywhere
for their
witness
bearing
was a
form of
praise.
The
wonder
and joy
of their
Savior
just
ever
vesting.
Ever
vesting.
What
they were
doing
was
just
simply
praising
God
in
public.
That
was
their
witness.
So
our
witness
flows
from
praise
of the
Savior.
And
finally
our
witness
bearing
arises
out
of
a
stirring
or a
spurring
of the
Spirit.
A
spurring
of the
Spirit.
The
Holy
Spirit's
a
missionary.
A
missionary
comes
from the
Latin
missio
to
send.
The
Spirit
was
sent
among
other
things
to
send
us
out
on
our
mission.
And
this
is
clear
from
the
opening
of
Acts
where
Jesus
tells
his
disciples
Acts
1-8
you
will
receive
power
when
the
Holy
Spirit
has
come
upon
you
and
you
will
be
my
witnesses.
Now
notice
that
link
between
the
Spirit's
empowering
and
witness
bearing.
And
this
pledge
of
the
empowering
witness
energizing
Spirit
was
made
good
at
Pentecost.
In
explanation
of that
event
Peter
references
the
prophecy
of
Joel
back
from
Joel 2
this is
in Acts
2
17-18
where
he
explains
this is
Peter
kind of
quoting
Joel's
prophecy
he says
and in
the last
days
it shall
be
God
declares
that I
will pour
out my
spirit
on all
flesh
and your
sons and
daughters
shall
prophesy
and your
young men
shall see
visions
and your
old men
shall
dream
dreams
even
on my
male
servants
and female
servants
in those
days
I will
pour out
my
spirit
and they
all
shall
prophesy
so
Peter
recognized
Pentecost
the beginning
of the
church
our age
as the
beginning
of the
fulfillment
of this
vision
and this
helps us
in our
grasp
of Peter's
understanding
of how
God's
spirit
animated
new
covenant
people
would
prophesy
and
Peter
clearly
thinks
that this
prophesying
is important
as he
doubles
the single
reference
in Joel
and Joel's
text
prophesying
only comes
up once
when he
quotes it
he doubles
it
what did
Peter
take
prophesying
to mean
Peter's
citation
of Joel
stresses
you noted
that the
activity
of the
spirit
is on
all
of God's
people
sons
and daughters
young
and old
even
servants
implying
not simply
for the
special
everybody
in these
last days
all
God's
people
will have
his Holy
Spirit
and all
shall
prophesy
now
if we
understand
prophecy
here
as simply
foretelling
some sort
of future
event
as it
is commonly
taken
the obstacle
to understanding
it that way
is that
in Acts
that goes
on being
a witness
to what
was fulfilled
in Joel's
prophecy
in Acts
there are only
a few
occasions
where people
are actually
foretelling
things
four to be
specific
11 27
13 1
15 32
21 10
you can
just read
the whole
book
no
Peter
means
by
prophesying
not
exclusively
or not
primarily
foretelling
but rather
forth
telling
of the
wonderful
news
of God's
saving
action
in Christ
he's
speaking
here about
witness
bearing
and the
outpoured
spirit
enables
each
and
every
disciple
powerfully
to bear
such
witness
solid
ground
here
solid
ground
exegetically
what does
that look
like
well the
whole book
of Acts
gives us
a picture
but we'll
just take
one glimpse
of one
little
instance
and only
that
partially
Philip
in his
connecting
with the
Ethiopian
in Acts
chapter 8
if you
turn up
there
if you
have it
Acts
chapter 8
I'll pick
up in
verse 26
we won't
read the
whole thing
we don't
have time
but I
commend it
to you
Acts 8
26
now an
angel of
the Lord
said to
Philip
rise and
go toward
the south
to the
road that
goes down
from Jerusalem
to Gaza
this is a
desert place
and incidentally
the angel of
the Lord
here is
subsequently
identified as
the Holy
Spirit
in verse
29
it's clear
that that's
what he
means
angel
messenger
of the
Lord
so
notice
the Holy
Spirit's
direct
prompting
initiative
with
Philip
the life
of a
witness
bearer
is one
open to
the promptings
of the
Holy Spirit
I wonder
if you've
ever
experienced
such
promptings
do you
recognize
them
as the
Lord's
messengers
and such
promptings
need not
be communicated
in an
audible
voice
external
perhaps
they just
present
themselves
as a
distinct
inward
sense
that we
identify
as divinely
given
how do we
do with
these
promptings
well Luke
tells us
of Philip
verse 27
Spirit
prompted
him
and he
rose
and he
went
it's
actually
quite
astonishing
we don't
have time
to look
at it
now
but
to
actually
respond
and to
go
he had
to
overcome
all kinds
of
implausibilities
whoa
that's
like
that's
like a
desert
road
why would
I
expect
to see
anyone
there
it
goes
for a
long
way
it
goes
80
miles
all
the
way
to
Gaza
I
mean
that's
kind
of
that's
kind
open-ended
oh
and by
the way
you know
it's
toward
the south
it could
also be
translated
noon
could be
rendered
noon
that is
the least
the hottest
time of the day
nobody traveled
at noon
in the desert
you die
so it's
an implausible
time
it's an
implausible
place
all
kinds
of
and
where would
he have
been
called
from
he was
in the
middle
of a
massive
evangelistic
crusade
in
Samaria
baptizing
hundreds
and hundreds
what he's
going to
leave that
to respond
to
this
prompting
so all
these things
that he
had
to overcome
but
we
notice
how does
he respond
verse 27
he rose
and went
he rose
and went
and subsequent
in the
narrative
the spirit
prompts
Philip
again
it says
in verse
29
and the
spirit
said to
Philip
go
he says
so
Philip
ran
don't you
like that
what a
wonderful
picture
of the
disciples
alacrity
the Lord
says go
and you
just
you run
so
let's
expect
the spirit's
promptings
here's a
good prayer
to pray
as we
enter
society
whether
the
cafeteria
the gym
or the
shuttle bus
what if
we were
to pray
holy
spirit
I'm
available
I will
be
listening
to your
promptings
guide me
and grant
me occasion
to bear
witness
to your
saving
works
about
Jesus
so the
spirit
prompts
our
witness
what a
blessed
experience
and there's
a further
work of the
spirit
in operation
in our
witness
bearing
not only
does the
spirit
prompt
us
he also
prepares
the
hearer
not only
is the
spirit
behind
the
go
he's
also
behind
the
behold
in the
text
did you
catch that
text
where
okay
I'll go
down to
the
middle
of the
desert
he says
it goes
in the
middle
of the
desert
in the
middle
of the
day
and
behold
there's
somebody
here
as if
who
would
have
fought
that
who
could
imagine
that
the
spirit
is behind
the
behold
also
the
extraordinary
providence
of a
ready
hearer
appearing
in the
desert
whose
heart
was
receptive
that's
the
spirit's
orchestration
as
Luke
tells us
of Lydia
in Acts
16
the
Lord
opened
her
heart
to
respond
to
the
things
that
Paul
said
to her
is
this
not
wonderful
encouragement
that
the
spirit
not
only
goes
with
us
prompting
us
and
empowering
our
witness
but he
also
goes
before
us
in
front
of
us
bringing
to
us
God's
elect
who
will
respond
in
faith
as
many
as
are
chosen
as
Luke
writes
of
Paul's
witness
in
Antioch
Acts
13
48
and
when
the
Gentiles
heard
this
was
the
gospel
announcement
they
began
rejoicing
and glorifying
the word
of the
Lord
and as
many
as
were
appointed
to
eternal
life
believed
God
has
a
great
harvest
that
the
Holy
Spirit
is
ripening
and
readying
for us
to gather
in
and even
when our
hearers
don't
immediately
seem
very
ripe
or
ready
the
Spirit
is
still
pursuing
the
harvest
he's
pursuing
the
harvest
and
as
the
Lord
said
to
Paul
in
the
tough
and
gritty
town
of
Corinth
we
might
say
the
Las
Vegas
of
its
day
Acts
18
9
and
10
so
Paul
do
not
be
afraid
but
go
on
speaking
and
do
not
be
silent
for I
am
with
you
and
no
one
will
attack
you
to
harm
you
for
I
have
many
in
this
city
who
I
have
chosen
to
be
my
people
brothers
and
sisters
as
witness
bearers
together
we
are
on
an
adventure
that
assuredly
will
bear
fruit
for
the
Father
has
given
to
the
Son
a
number
that
no
one
can
count
from
every
tongue
tribe
and
nation
who
the
Spirit
is
drawing
and
we
by
bearing
our
gospel
witness
just
sowing
our
seed
simply
tossing
out
the
seed
maybe
almost
even
mechanically
the
soil
that
he
has
prepared
will
be
able
to
show
life
we
render
visible
with
our
witness
the
secret
inner
drawing
work
of
the
Spirit
what
a
privilege
what
a
joy
so
as
we
go
wherever
we
go
let
us
be
responsive
to
the
Spirit's
promptings
and
attentive
to
the
Spirit's
providences
perhaps
an
application
might be
the
regular
prayer
Holy
Spirit
you
were
sent
to
send
here
am I
send
me
open
my
eyes
to
your
promptings
and
open
sorry
open
my
ears
to
your
promptings
and
open
my
eyes
to
your
providences
shall
we not
pray that
together
and see
how God
delights
to answer
it
wouldn't
that be
exciting
one
final thing
to note
Luke
concludes
the
episode
but
Philip
found
himself
in
Azotus
and
as
he
passed
through
he
preached
the
gospel
to
all
the
towns
until
he
came
to
Caesarea
that's
verse
40
interesting
no mention
is here
made of
any
special
promptings
of the
Holy
Spirit
in
regard
to
Philip's
witness
he
seems
just as
happily
willing
to
proceed
simply
on the
strength
of the
king's
commission
you
shall
be
my
witnesses
preaching
the
gospel
as
he
passed
through
all
perhaps
there's
even
a
suggestion
of a
systematic
approach
to
witness
in
the
words
in
all
the
towns
as if
he
flipped
out
his
little
map
and
figured
out
how
he
would
catch
all
of
them
certainly
the
personal
prompting
of the
Holy
Spirit
is a
great
blessing
in
our
witness
spirit
but
no
need
to
remain
quietistically
inert
apart
from
such
a
prompting
go
down
into
the
desert
no
and
neither
should
we
think
that
pulling
out
a
map
and
making
a
strategy
or a
plan
should
be
contrasted
with the
work that
the
spirit
impels
and
sustains
no
both
the
king's
commission
and
the
spirit
spurring
impel
us
let
stop
there
I
haven't
left
too
much
time
but
yes
if
there
are
any
questions
or
comments
I
would
love
to
entertain
them
for
probably
no
more
than
five
minutes
alas
but
I'll
do
better
next
time
I'll
work
on
that
don't
hold
me
to
it
that
might
be
a
rash
vow
but
I
will
try
yeah
questions
yeah
well
yes
the
Bible
when the
Bible
uses
judgment
it
uses
judgment
in a
couple
of
different
ways
and
sometimes
if we're
not
careful
about
that
it
can
be
confusing
so
one
of
them
is
a
sense
of
being
judged
or
under
judgment
or
under
condemnation
and
it
is
true
that
outside
of
Christ
we
are
all
under
condemnation
for
our
sin
and
the
only
shelter
from
the
storm
of
just
judgment
is
in
Christ
but
there's
also
sometimes
the
scripture
does
use
a
word
that
we
render
judgment
in
terms
of
an
evaluation
and
you
can
see
how
they
be
connected
and
it
is
true
that
believers
are
evaluated
for
their
life
but
not
to
see
if
they've
done
well
enough
to
secure
God's
favor
but
rather
as
evidential
support
that
they
have
been
truly
in a
fruitful
union
with
Christ
and
every
union
with
Christ
is
fruitful
so
there
will
inevitably
be a
fruitfulness
of life
that
then you
can
point
to
and
it
could
say
ah
this
person
is
in
Christ
look
at
the
fruit
of
this
look
at
the
love
joy
peace
patience
so
they
are
evaluated
to
affirm
the
reality
the
visible
reality
that
they
are
in
union
with
Christ
and
it
is
that
union
with
Christ
that
keeps
us
from
being
condemned
because
as
well
as
we
might
do
in
our
fruit
bearing
we
still
have
not
loved
God
without
our
heart
soul
mind
and
strength
our
neighbor
as
ourselves
who
Christ
alone
has
done
which
is
what's
required
I
think
that's
so
if
we
remember
that
you know
what
causes
me to
differ
from
someone
else
I'm
just
I
am
a
sinner
just
as
all
but
for
the
grace
of
God
there
go
I
absolutely
I
think
that
is
a
healthy
truth
to
remember
a
spiritual
truth
to
remember
yes
yep
okay
last
one
go
ahead
yeah
sure
I
believe
what
you
outlined
here
is
a
description
of
our
general
commission
would
you
have
another
talk
prepared
for
discerning
your
specific
commission
well
that
is
we'll
talk a
little
bit
about
that
I
think
when
we
ask
how
do
I
begin
where
do
I
start
because
we'll
spend
some
on
talking
about
what
is
the
gospel
so
that's
the
content
of
the
message
but
then
another
really
important
thing
is
you
gesture
at
is
what
is
the
context
for me
having
a chance
to share
some
of the
content
and
that's
going
to be
probably
pretty
peculiar
and
personalized
to each
person
what
is
the
context
in
which
I
might
have
most
natural
and
fruitful
potentially
fruitful
opportunity
so
absolutely
we will
touch
on some
of that
yes
a team
I think
we best
probably
break
please
safely
haste
to
worship
don't trip
on the
stairs
but
I
don't
want to
sink
my
reputation
even
further
thank you
and
Lord
willing
we'll
see you
next
week
I