Exerpts From My Personal Studies

These are a collection of ideas about how to witness. I am very immersed in the process of empowering my ability to witness for The Kingdom of God! Quoted text is directly from the book. All of the rest is my own perspective on what I read.

1. "Creation represents the overflowing of fullness, not the hunger of emptiness."
2. The "Word" became deed through Christ. Words = Power. God does by saying, and He says by doing. Words act, deeds speak.
3. The reality of the Pentecost: "We have been attempting to do the work of the Kingdom with tried, tested, and properly credentialed saints, and we have not done it very well. Perhaps the time has come to emulate Jesus. Jesus chose the publicans and sinners to proclaim the kingdom."
Example: (My witness' authenticity comes from my experiences before I accepted Jesus. The fact of my struggles with drugs, alcohol, and a multitude of other spiritual maladies lends to the power of the transformation in Christ. If I had been a "goody two shoes" my whole life, it would be much more difficult for me to be able to relate to people who are marginalized, agnostic, or even vehement atheists. The message of the Cross is about a transformation from brokenness to restoration. The completion of of God's will made perfect in me through the saving power of the blood of the "Lamb". The perfect Holy Sacrifice.)
4."The final point on our compass for preaching and testifying is hope. The Church lives in hope. When we preach or testify, we speak of the Kingdom that has come, is come, and will come. The hope of the kingdom enables us to live in the "tension" between the present and the future."
Author CS Lewis paints an interesting picture of this in his antithetical book "The Screwtape Letters". The demoniac character from the book laments that the enemy (referring to God), desires most for humanity to remain hopeful in the present, not looking ahead or dwelling in the past. He states that the "being" in the present is the closest thing in this world to touch eternity. By being grateful for this moment, we are closest to the will of God!
5."In the proclamation of the "Good News Event" God discloses self and beckons us to respond.
6."Knowledge about God can be transmitted through books and tracts but the personal knowledge of God is communicated through a vital, living testimony of self revelation."
7. "The Church at it's deepest aspect and function requires inspired explanation." - Scofield Study Bible
8.When we are in the will of God and serving others as He calls us, we become the tools of Grace which make the truth of the Gospel a tangible, real, and life changing event.
9.The Incarnation Principle of Wesleyan Methodism-
"Our belief in the Incarnation insists that the witness must engage in the pain, problems, pressures, and the fears, foibles and frustrations of the human family. This is quite different than approaching people "from above." It is our calling to enter into the sufferings of people and allow ourselves to become vulnerable. We are like wounded healers. We know what it is like to suffer the pains of death and bondage of sin. Therefore, we stand alongside our brothers and sisters, offering the good news of the Gospel and inviting response."
10. In closing, it is the authenticity and transparency of our humanness as Christ Followers that the Holy Spirit is allowed to work in the transformation of the last, the lost, and the least into the born again "son ship" of God's family! Good News Indeed!
2 Cor 3:4-6
⁴ We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. ⁵ It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. ⁶ He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.