12: God’s Strategy For Civil Conquest 2 of 7 - WITNESS

No nation can become a Christian nation unless a critical mass of people come to know Jesus Christ personally as their Savior and Lord. Therefore, the second of God’s seven strategies – WITNESS!Christians must become witnesses - everywhere witnessing for Christ. We must be engaged with Jesus’s mission to save souls in our cities. Only with a critical mass of genuine Christians can we transform a city or nation for the glory of God and fulfill Jesus’s Great Commission.No spiritual leader can fulfill His charge He has been given to do from the Lord if he does not “do the work of an evangelist.” This is the Lord’s charge to every spiritual leader “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 4:1-5):“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”Spiritual leaders that only teach and don’t do the work of an evangelist are not fulfilling their ministry or charge from God and Christ Jesus. Here are the reasons why a spiritual leader does not do the work of an evangelist:* Paul said, “do the work…” Work is hard. Who wants to do hard work? But that’s why Paul prefaced the command – “endure hardship, do the work…”* Here’s the big excuse – “I don’t have the gift of an evangelist.” But Paul didn’t say be an evangelist but to do the work of an evangelist – the work of going out and WITNESSING for Christ! Go out to the lost and tell them the Good News. Every Christian can do that, and every spiritual leader is charged in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus to do that work to FULFILL their ministry!Jesus said, “everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be LIKE his teacher” (Luke 6:40). He will NOT say everyone will be like the teaching but like the teacher. Congregations are not witnessing to the lost because their spiritual leaders are not out witnessing to the lost. It all starts with leaders – LEADING!Then spiritual leaders can and will equip all their flock to witness.Church Leaders Are To EquipWhat did the apostle Paul command church leaders to do (Eph. 4:12):“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”If someone is going to build up a family, it starts with having children born into the family. To work to build up the church, it starts with having spiritual children, as Jesus said, being “born again” … into the family of Christ. And that starts with witnessing!Now this is what is necessary to know (Rom. 10:13-17):“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? …“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”No witnessing = no hearing = no one getting saved! As Paul said, “sow sparingly and reap sparingly or sow bountifully and reap bountifully.”All Christians MUST witness! And all church leaders are “responsible” to equip all Christians in their church to be effective witnesses! The New Testament strategy for bringing people to Christ was NOT to invite the unsaved to church … but to equip the saints to GO OUT of church and witness to everyone everywhere! “To equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church.”The New Testament leaders equipped all their believers to go out and witness everywhere (Acts 8:4):“But all the believers were scattered everywhere telling the Good News about Jesus wherever they went!”“All the believers” were equipped to witness!True Followers of Jesus Will WitnessJesus said to all His disciples (Acts 1:8):“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere.”God has made sure that every Christian will have “power,” and for what purpose - to witness! The Holy Spirit is in every Christian to give them “power.” Do you know what the Greek word for “power” is? It is where we get the English word “dynamite!” As a Christian you have dynamite power … for what purpose - to witness!Did God given you dynamite power so you would be able to go to church? For making money? To have a family? Any non-Christian can do any of these things, and they do! You don’t need “dynamite power” to even do many good works for Christ. Many non-Christians do many good works.So why don’t most Christians witness? They have some fear. But the moment a Christian opens their mouth to witness for Jesus, you will find it like lighting a fuse of dynamite. Power will explode inside you. You already have the dynamite of the Holy Spirit in you. Opening your mouth is the match that lights the fuse. But never before you open your mouth.Do you remember what the Apostle Paul said about himself when he first came to Corinth to witness about Jesus (1 Cor. 2:3-5):“I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.”Do you not witness because you feel weak, or afraid, or lack knowledge? Congratulations! You qualify to be an apostle! That’s just how Apostle Paul felt!Paul was so nervous to witness that he couldn’t keep his hands or knees from “trembling.” Now what other excuse do you or I have? Personally, I have felt that way many times, maybe all the time, right before I open my mouth to preach or witness for Christ. But soon as I open my mouth for Jesus the Holy Spirit power takes over. I’m always amazed seeing and experiencing what the Holy Spirit does at the time.Being weak or fearful in any way doesn’t make you less effective but rather more effective because it is then that the listeners can see there is another power moving you. I can’t tell you how many times after preaching or witnessing that I’ve been amazed at how the Holy Spirit worked speaking through me, like I was an outside observer, which I was.Regardless, what you feel or experience or if you feel nothing, what Jesus said He would do every time we witness should be enough to excite us (Matt. 10:32):“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty cool to think how I can get Jesus in heaven right now to turn to the Heavenly Father and tell Him - “Father, there Jim goes again, acknowledging Me before others!” I’d like to keep Jesus busy doing that. What about you? Jesus tells us to witness for Him here on earth and He tells the Father in heaven every time we do!Did you know every time in the Book of Acts, all 6 times, when it says that any Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit - it was ALWAYS when they were witnessing to non-Christians? So today if you want to be filled with the Spirit and see the Holy Spirit explode in your life - WITNESS! If you want to obey Jesus - WITNESS! If love Jesus - WITNESS! If you love anyone – WITNESS!It’s easy to witness. It’s just taking about Jesus:* Tell what you thought of Jesus before you were saved.* Tell when, why, and how you started to seriously think about Jesus.* Tell all about what happened when you received Jesus.* Tell how you were saved.* Tell why you received Jesus.* Tell what happened in your life right after you received Jesus.* Tell how your life has been changing since you received Jesus.* Tell why and how Jesus is so wonderful or meaningful to you today.You can be a witness for Jesus with just one sentence or give more details as above. Most important, memorize gospel verses that you can share. You can share many for more understanding for the listener or even one will penetrate the heart - “the Word is living and powerful!” Here are a few verses I would memorize which the Lord will be able to speak through you:* John 1:12* John 3:16* John 10:10* John 14:6* Romans 3:23* Romans 6:23* Romans 10:9-11* Ephesians 8:9-10* Revelation 3:20If you are a true follower of Jesus what will happen to you (Matt. 4:19; Acts 1:8):“Jesus said, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men!”“You will be My witnesses!” Get full access to Jim McCotter LIVE at jimmccotter.substack.com/subscribe