Encounter: Meditate on the following passages: Psalm 108:3-4, Romans 1:12, Luke 12:12, 1 John 5:6-12. Underline or journal words or phrases that speak to you.
“He helped me understand God.” My favorite five words. This week I had dinner with a young lady who participated in the youth group here at Eden many years ago. After not attending for some time and going through some challenging experiences, she is feeling drawn to return to what was shared with her as a teenager. She told the story of how her faith grew when the youth pastor helped her understand more about Jesus and she has never forgotten it. She remembers his name, what he told her about God and how his witness of what he knew to be true still compels her to learn what it means know God now.
This week I also met with a young couple as they prepare for marriage. This young lady had attended Eden Kids and youth in her teen years and shared with me the story of how her family was rejected by one church and how a woman at Eden invited them to attend. She talked about how much it meant to her to have this person in her life. When it came time to get some guidance and wanting their marriage to begin with God guiding them, her connection to this woman brought her back where she had first heard of God. She remembers her name, what she told her about God and how her witness of what she knew to be true compels her to follow God now.
Maybe it wasn’t water turned into wine, but it seems like a miracle whenever someone’s life is transformed because of the simple act of sharing our experience of what it is like to follow Jesus. To be a witness to is “to see, hear, or know through personal experience, what we have seen of God, what we have heard from God and what we now know of God, not just in knowledge but because in some miraculous and mysterious way, there is now an imprint made by the Holy Spirit on our heart and mind.
In Episode 5 of The Chosen, these new disciples begin to experience Jesus in ways that deepen their faith. Witnessing the water change into wine along with the miraculous catch of fish caused trust to build in the Messiah and would one day fuel their passion to become witnesses to the one true King. A witness that allows each one of us to know are Creator today.
Before you think of witnessing as going from door to door, take in the stories of these disciples in the Scriptures and through The Chosen and let it inspire you to let your life be an invitation to everyone you know as you sing with the Psalmist! “Wherever I go, I will thank you. All the nations will hear my praise songs to you. Your love is so extravagant, it reaches higher than the heavens! Your faithfulness is so astonishing, it stretches to the skies! Psalm 108:3-4
Reflect: The first four books of the New Testament are first-century accounts of Jesus’ three year ministry, written by guys who were alive at the time. How does knowing that change the way you read them? What would it look like for you to write a letter that others would read about your experience of walking with Jesus? Begin writing it today.
Encourage: Share your story with someone who does not share your faith presently. What was their reaction? Begin a prayer journal praying for those who you know that are not yet experiencing the love of God. Pray with us over the young people in our community who need to know of his great love for them.
Gather: Share your story with your small group and ask them to tell you what it meant for them to hear your story. Pray for one another to be witnesses to those God send you to every day.
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