“So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking Him,
‘Lord, has the time come for You to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’
He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority
to set those dates and times,and they are not for you to know.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere —
in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
After saying this, He was taken up into a cloud
while they were watching, and they could no longer see Him.”
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Jesus said the disciples will be His witnesses.
Not His lawyers. And not the judges. But His witnesses.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ we’re to be a living witness to the redeeming work He has done in our lives. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect or that we have it all together. It just means that we’re devoted to growing more like Christ every day.
Notice, too, the order in which Jesus said the disciples are to be witnesses: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Jerusalem was their local community. Judea was the rest of their home country. Samaria was a neighboring country. And the “ends of the earth” represented everything geographically beyond the neighboring country of Samaria.
In the same way, we’re also called to be witnesses:
- in our local community
- in our home country
- in our neighboring countries
- and to the countries beyond those nearest us
This will look differently for each of us. But each of us can do something.
What is one way we can be a witness in our own “Jerusalem” — our own local community?
What is one way we can be a witness beyond our local community?