TOPIC:‌“Witnessing - The Preparation of the Christian”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Acts 1:1-8

 

‌‌“And you shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8)

 

‌In our first message on witnessing we looked at the penetration of the challenge. Today we shall come to grips with the PREPARATION of the CHRISTIAN when it comes to this matter of personal evangelism.

 

‌A. W. Tozer, former editor of The Alliance Witness, hit the nail right on the head when he wrote: “The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it.” He goes on to state: “Our Lord said `Go ye' but He also said `Tarry ye.' And the tarrying had to come before the going. Had the disciples gone forth as missionaries before the day of Pentecost it would have been an overwhelming spiritual disaster.” How true! They had to be spiritually equipped before going out to evangelize the lost. Let me mention something about the preparation which is needed for this great work of soul winning.

 

I.

 

‌To begin with, one word that must describe the soul winner is POSSESSION. This word has two sides to it.

 

‌First of all, THE SOUL WINNER MUST POSSESS CHRIST AS SAVIOR. They must know in a personal way the forgiveness of God as found in Jesus Christ. Christ must be present in the life before He can be presented to others. You can't give away what you have not encountered yourself. You can't explain what you have not experienced. When the Apostle Paul stood before King Agrippa, the King said to Paul, “Thou art permitted to speak for thyself” (Acts 26:1). This is exactly what Paul did. This first-century Apostle gave his own testimony of how Christ had transformed him. Paul could explain what it meant to be a Christian because he had experienced it for himself. Paul was possessed by Christ.

 

‌Friend, this before anything else is the first prerequisite in becoming a soul winner. You must discover for yourself that becoming a Christian is not some make-believe thing, but a living, personal relationship to Jesus Christ. You must know in a personal way what it means to be found by God and forgiven by Jesus Christ. This is the first obligation of a Christian witness.

 

‌The second part of the word possession is this: you must not only possess Christ as your Savior, but you must possess A DEEP CONVICTION OF MAN'S DESPERATE NEED TO BE FOUND AND FORGIVEN BY CHRIST. The person who wants to be a successful witness must possess . . .