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Discipleship Lesson 2 What To Do After Salvation: WITNESS! John 1:35-42, KJV Again the next day after John stood, and two of his
disciples; (v36) And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb
of God! (v37) And the two disciples
heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. (38)
Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?
They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where
dwellest thou? (39) He saith unto
them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that
day: for it was about the tenth hour. (40)
One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother. (41) He first
findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias,
which is, being interpreted, the Christ. (42) And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him,
he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is
by interpretation, A stone. Note the progression here: John 1:43-49, KJV The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and
findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
(v44) Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
(v45) Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of
whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son
of Joseph. (v46) And Nathanael said
unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him,
Come and see. (v47) Jesus saw
Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile! (v48)Nathanael saith
unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that
Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
(v49) Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of
God; thou art the King of Israel. Note the same progression as in the aforementioned example. John ch. 4 details the story of the woman at the well. Note verse 28, “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men….” Note these points of emphasis.
Too often people come to Christ and they “burn the bridges” by disassociating themselves with their unsaved family and friends. We are to be holy, but we are not to burn the bridges of relationships. We should get the unsaved people to our side of the bridge by compelling them to come into the Kingdom of God. John 4:39 (NIV), “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." The very men this woman probably had illicit sexual relations with were some of the men who believed what she had to say about Jesus. She didn’t hide in shame from her past… she “used the bridge” of relationships and brought people to Christ. Question: From the above stories when can it be determined
that a person is ready to “WITNESS”? What about training? The idea that we have to have “training” before we
qualify to be active is three fold: (be advised this is my opinion) We don’t need trainers as much as need mentors. When
it comes to ministry the following should be remembered:
Let’s face it, “I don’t know how” – for a
majority of the time – isn’t a plea for help, but an EXCUSE! “But I’m not a minister!” Webster’s Dictionary gives one of the definitions of the word “minister” as, “to attend to people’s needs.”
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They need Christ. God never intended for His church to be dependent upon one
leader in the form of the pastor or an elite group of spiritually advanced
people. God wants His church to be
a BODY MINISTRY where everyone is promoting and increasing the Kingdom of God. Restoration Ministries is a BODY MINISTRY. What is a “WITNESS”? Webster’s Dictionary defines a witness as “a person who sees or hears something.” You don’t have to have a doctorate to be a witness. All you have to do is see and hear something. Have you seen or heard Christ do things in your life or the lives or others? Avoid stagnation. Let your cup run over. Pour out and God will pour in fresh stuff. How do we do that? We are conduits not reservoirs. If you don’t pour out you begin to die from the inside out. After a while you are miserable. You are discouraged. The preacher isn’t preaching right. The worship time does nothing for you. You don’t like what your friends are doing. The problem is that you aren’t allowing God’s freshness to flow into you because you won’t let what He’s already given you be released. DO SOMETHING! The most immediate and most simple thing you can do after coming to Christ is WITNESS!
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