Reforming Church | Witnesses

About this series: In some senses nothing has changed - the church is still the church, with the same values, the same vision and the same people. Yet, so much has changed - we are now onsite and online, people are still going through a historic event and church life will never be quite the same again. A series on the church is therefore very timely and will hopefully remind people of the unchangeable nature of the church as well as envisioning people for what has changed. We’re framing this series of Sunday talks around eight terms used in the New Testament to describe the church - people, family, community, temple, unity, body, disciples, witnesses. These are the words the New Testament uses to describe the Spirit-empowered people of God and these are key elements for how we want to build Citygate. About this talk: Scripture: Acts 2:22-33 Being a witness is to bear testimony to what we have experienced. It is that way that the early disciples made more disciples - speaking of what they had seen and heard (Acts 4:20, 22:15). Being a witness is about living a Spirit-saturated life (personally and corporately) in the world that demonstrates to all that we have encountered the risen Jesus and are submitting all of life to him. We are witnesses not only to historic events in the life of Jesus, but to our own personal experience of his life-changing power as Lord and Saviour. It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us for witness (Luke 24:45-49; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8), so keeping full of his presence and connected to the vine is vital for effective witness.