Left as Witnesses      ACTS 1:6-8One of the biggest problems in the church today is that many Christians don’t see themselves as servants of the Lord. However, it’s not His will that we just come to church and listen to sermons. He wants us to go out and be Christ’s witnesses wherever we are or wherever He sends us.

The roles and methods by which we carry out our witness will be different, but each believer has a vital role to play. Individually, you may feel as if your efforts have little impact, but the Lord can work wonders through a willing servant. No one is too messed up to be used by Him: He specializes in taking broken people and making them whole. Nor does anyone reach an age when he or she is no longer useful—if you’re still alive, God isn’t done with you yet.

The question is not whether we are adequate to be His witnesses, but whether we are willing. God has promised the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish His purposes through us, but if we won’t use His divine strength, we waste opportunities for impact. Earthly responsibilities have a way of stealing our attention and limiting our obedience to the Lord. However, nothing in life is more important than doing the will of the Father.

Have duties and pleasures of this world lured you away from your responsibility to tell others about the Savior? Salvation is not just an experience to be enjoyed; it’s a gift to be shared. You don’t need a theology degree. Just tell what Jesus has done for you, and the Spirit will do the rest

Raised from the Dead

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:20

The whole system of Christianity rests upon the fact that “Christ has been raised from the dead;” for “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (verse 13).

The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in His resurrection, since He was “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.”¹ It would not be unreasonable to doubt His Deity if He had not risen. Furthermore, Christ’s sovereignty depends upon His resurrection: “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”² Again, our justification, that choice blessing of the covenant, is linked with Christ’s triumphant victory over death and the grave, for He “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”³

More than this, our very regeneration is connected with His resurrection, for we are “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”⁴ And most certainly our ultimate resurrection rests here, for “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”⁵ If Christ is not risen, then we will not rise; but if He is risen, then those who are asleep in Christ have not perished but in their flesh shall surely see God. In this way the silver thread of resurrection runs through all the believer’s blessings, from his regeneration onward to his eternal glory, and ties them all together. How important for believers is this glorious fact, and how they rejoice that beyond a doubt it is established, that “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”

The promise is fulfill’d,
Redemption’s work is done,
Justice with mercy’s reconciled,
For God has raised His Son.

¹ Romans 1:4
² Romans 14:9
³ Romans 4:25
⁴ 1 Peter 1:3
⁵ Romans 8:11