Pandemic Chronicles #3 And you will be my witnesses....

In the Book of Acts before Jesus ascended back to heaven he told the disciples:

8 But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

He told them that they would be His Witnesses....and that charge carries through for us.

I'll admit I haven't been a good witness.  I'll post about God and people know (or at least I hope they know I'm a Christian) but to be bold about preaching/teaching Jesus.  That's a whole other thing.

I was commissioned to do a video for our Shiloh Impact ministry and my video was shared on the Impact page but I was nervous to share it on my personal social media because I was going to be reading out of the Bible and sharing a word of encouragement.

What if people argued with me?
What if I lost people because of being vocal about Jesus?
What if people looked at me differently because of this?

Those were the thoughts running through my head and then I became very ashamed. 
I was ashamed that I would be so cowardly. 
I was ashamed that  I cared so much about what people would think of me

This happened on Good Friday and so after watching dramatic depictions of the Crucifixion and reflecting on the sacrifice on the cross...I was even more ashamed of myself and I repented for being such a coward.

Just one person...

So I posted it and I was surprised at the response. 

One person said that she isn't religious but the message gave her a little peace that she needed.

Another loved the scripture I quoted "If God is for you, then who can be against you"

Did anyone argue?

Yes.  

A man that I only know through Facebook did argue back and forth with me about why a Good God would kill all the male Babies in Egypt instead of just killing Pharaoh.

I brought up the fact that the other side of the coin was that God delivered the children of Israel who were under terrible oppression of the Egyptians.  God had given Pharaoh the opportunity to let the people go multiple times but he did not.  

In fact things had gotten worse before they got better but we see that the point of this was because God was going to display his power throughout the Land.  Then everyone would know that he is the Lord.

Look...we don't understand God's ways.  His ways and methods aren't like ours....so we just have to trust his way.

I wouldn't have sacrificed a piece of myself for humanity on a cross....but I'm glad he did it.

An Easter Sunday Surprise

After that exchange I prayed for that man's salvation. I prayed for a radical God encounter and that he would give his life to Jesus.  When I went on my walk I decided to pray for him again.

On Easter Sunday I was surprised to see that same man post a video with the caption: I am not religious but this lifts the spirit.  

The song was about the Lord!! The song explicitly said The Lord!!

People commented on his status that God is their peace and others commented that they were praying for him.

WOW!

Game Changer

I decided right then and there if just one person comes to Jesus, then I would gladly make more people mad about talking about Jesus.  If one person comes to Jesus and I lose 100 people on social media, then so be it.

That was a game changer for me.

I don't just want to be a closet Jesus Follower.  I wanted to be a Witness. I wanted to be a witness with boldness and with power!

This is the time...

We are on the cusp of revival and a Great Spiritual Awakening.  When we go back to church, things won't be the same.  This is the time to train, get mobilized, and get ready for what God is doing.  I think there will be a lot of pruning even as far as ministry is concerned.

So this is the time to become bold and ready to teach/preach Jesus

We need laborers for the Great Harvest that is coming 

Luke 10:2
These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

And shall we all be his witnesses!