11/08/2026
What gives us the comfort and power we need to testify of Jesus Christ, and how is it that we should witness to others? Some of us go into the world and powerfully deliver the gospel message verbally to those who haven’t heard it, or to those whose heart has been prepared to receive it, and then there are others of us who quietly go about preaching of Jesus simply by living out our day to day lives... witnessing to the world by how we live out our faith. Do we feel inadequate when it comes to saving souls? Well let’s look at how we have been equipped to do this.
“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.”
1 John 5:5-8 ESV
There are three basic ways in which we learn, and although most people are suited to one of them over the others, all three participate in some fashion as we go through the learning process. I used to think that Jesus sent us all into the world to verbally deliver the gospel message, but people hear and learn of Him in these different ways so each of these methods is good and needed. Quite often we are called to teach in one of them more than the others in much the same way that we respond more easily to being taught in one of them.
The first method is most certainly hearing. We hear the gospel, and learn of it... even for those who learn best in the other ways they must hear the gospel at some point. Then there are those who learn best by seeing, and these are the people who respond most by actually watching how something is done... they are the folks that see how another lives their life for Jesus and learns of Him more fully in this way. Finally, there are those who must do something in order to learn it; after hearing, and seeing, they must actually do this thing in order to fully understand it... they need to feed, clothe, heal, or in some way do the things that Jesus did, and spoke of, before they can grasp them. Is there one of these methods that suits you over the others?
So, as we witness to others of Jesus we typically do so by employing the method in which we are most comfortable as we are learning. Some of us are inclined to deliver sermons, some teach by showing others what a life lived for Christ looks like, and then some of us help others to actually do the things that the Bible speaks of. We have Preachers, Saints, and Missionaries ... all doing the work of God, and each one impacting the souls around them. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. Are you learning? Are you teaching? Do you even realize that you are doing these things? Pastor Andrew Murray also wrote of how we learn about Jesus…
‘“But I bring you a message of joy. The Spirit who is in you, in however limited a measure, is prepared to bring you under His teaching, to lead you to the cross, and by His heavenly instruction to make you aware of what the crucified Christ wants to do for you and in you.” - Andrew Murray
Tell me, show me, help me do it... this was the life of Jesus. He taught in the temple through discourse, He showed those around Him his humility, and He performed miracles; then He sent His disciples into the world to teach with nothing except a few simple instructions...
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.”
Matthew 10:8-10, 14 ESV
Jesus sits at the right hand of God now, but the Holy Spirit has come to be within us, and the Spirit gives us instruction regarding our own faith... and how to teach others as well. He gives us understanding of the spoken Word, He shows us Jesus as He is being demonstrated in the lives of others, and He empowers us to go into the world and do God’s will there as we gather new churches together. Yet not all of us are called to teach equally in every way.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV
Don’t let Satan discourage you by pointing to a great orator and telling you how inadequate you are at delivering the gospel, or by showing you someone who is filled with humility and meekness then telling you that you can never be a saint, and most certainly don’t let him point out someone who builds many churches, or does other marvelous things, as he tells you how you have failed to do anything of worth for God. Satan is a deceiver, and He will work hard to use the gifts of others in an attempt to belittle the magnificent gifts you have been given.
Not everyone can understand an Ivy League lecture, so there are those whose gift isn’t to teach Divinity students, but to reach out to the common men and women who make up the world. Not every saint exhibits humility, meekness, or kindness, in the same manner, so to each who is given these things they are made to manifest themselves in different ways. And finally, not every missionary is sent to build a University, a cathedral, or a hospital... some build grass huts, and teach of Christ as they weave each blade of grass, or cast each mud brick... the dirt on their hands becoming holy as they do these things.
Take comfort in your relationship with God, and joyfully use the gifts of witnessing, teaching, and instructing that you have been given and have been called to do. Jesus was a King in heaven, but a carpenter on earth; He was great before God, but crucified between criminals on Calvary, and He was worthy of a crown... and yet he wore thorns. So it is with our calling and how we answer God’s will in our lives. Not everyone is knocked down by Jesus like Paul was... some of us will hear the gospel from a man who is dying of cancer in a seemingly insignificant vacation bible school in some nondescript building, as I did... others will find Him while watching a nurse dab cool water on a sick child’s head while softly singing and humming hymns to him. Every gift is precious, every calling the call to become messengers, saints, and carpenters for the glory of God. Which have you been called to, and are you prepared to glorify God in it?
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit that teaches me how to deliver the gospel message to those few around me... or perhaps equally as I write to the world. Thank you Holy Father for the child who was laid in a manger, and whose feet were later covered with the dust of the earth as He travelled and taught of your glory. Thank you Lord for the suffering and heartbreak that became His grandest gift as He poured out your grace upon us… Thank you for your Son Jesus whose life, actions, teaching and finally suffering, became the greatest act of love that has ever been known. Thank you now for the gifts you have given me, and the use you have planned for them. Help me to see your strength in my frailty, your greatness in my meager gifts, and your holiness as I look at my trembling hands, and my feet covered in dust. Help me Father to understand more fully the meaning you intended when you revealed to us that the first shall be last, and that the meek shall inherit the earth. Let me see the fullness of your glory in the most innocent and humble of your saints, and become one. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, who leads me to follow Jesus as your Holy Spirit beckons me and asks that I simply obey when Jesus says, “Come.”
Praised be your name, Father, and let all I do bring glory to you. You who gave the greatest of blessings to the world, disguised in a single drop of bloody sweat in prayer, and a teardrop that contained a mother’s heartbroken wail… your Son Jesus Christ.
“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
John 17:4 ESV
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen!
Rich Forbes