About a week ago or so, I was invited to minister at an international conference in the city of Cincinnati, OH.
The theme of the conference was called “Releasing the Kingdom of God in You.” The subtopic that the Lord gave to me to share was called “Being A Witness for the Kingdom.”
Biblically speaking, one of the words for “witness” in the Greek language carries a different meaning than its English counterpart. The Greek word for witness is the word “martus” or “martur” which is where we get our English word “martyr” from.
A martyr is defined as one who bears witness by his/her death, both spiritually and naturally speaking. Meaning that one is willing to die for what they believe. This is a concept that is foreign to the Western Christian mindset although Christ taught on it extensively during the time of His earthly ministry.
We live in times where believers in Jesus must be willing to faithfully proclaim the truth of the gospel and be willing to suffer death (loss) of anything that stands in the way of this message being proclaimed in truth. We must stand and fight the good fight of faith!
To stand means to:
- Refuse to be pushed backwards, or to continue on in your beliefs.
- To adhere to fixed principles
- To maintain moral rectitude and to keep from falling into error or vice.
Today’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing same sex marriage in the United States of America is just the genesis (beginning) of challenging professing Christians to really stand for what they believe. In my message, “Being A Witness For The Kingdom,” last week the Lord highlighted three areas for me to speak on. They are as follows:
1) LEARN TO STAND WHEN ITS UNCOMFORTABLE (Galatians 2:11-14)
In this story, Paul the Apostle was challenged with confronting Peter the Apostle due to his racial prejudices against Gentile believers. When Jews were not around, Peter would eat, fellowship and converse with Gentile Christians. When the Jews came back around, Peter would act like he didn’t know the Gentile Christians. Paul called this hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-13). Paul saw how Peter’s influence and ungodly stance was causing other believers, like Barnabas, to sin and be carried away with his hypocritical behavior. Although I am certain it was uncomfortable for Paul to confront someone who walked so closely with Jesus, Paul understood that he had to stand against this blatant foolish behavior that Peter was displaying.
2) LEARN TO STAND WHEN IT COSTS YOU (PERSONALLY) (Acts 15:36-41)
In this story, Paul the Apostle had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of commitment of one of their young proteges by the name of John Mark. Earlier during one of Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journeys, John Mark left the ministry team and had not continued on with them for an indefinite period of time. The Bible does not clearly state why he left, it only underscores the fact that he did leave and did not go on with the team to do the work that they were called to do.
When the time came for them to go back and visit the areas where they had been ministering, Barnabas, Paul’s ministry companion, insisted on taking John Mark along with them. Paul disagreed. He did not want to take along a tag-a-long that was not committed to the mission like the rest of the team was. Paul and Barnabas disagreed so sharply over this issue, that it actually caused the two of them to no longer work together. Now Paul was losing not one but two valuable members of his team. This was a very costly loss. Nevertheless, Paul felt as if it was better for them to be off the team versus having people on the team that were not as committed as the rest of them. This is a frustration for many leaders in the church today. Where the people that they serve alongside have a half-hearted commitment to advancing the mission of the Kingdom while others possess an “all in” mentality. Paul and Silas left Barnabas and John Mark and went on doing the work of the Lord (Acts 15:39-40). You never hear of Barnabas any more in Scripture after this encounter. We know that John Mark was valuable to Paul’s ministry because down the road, Paul wrote to bring along John Mark because of how profitable he was to his ministry and to the mission of Jesus (2 Timothy 4:11). Even when it means losing valuable relationships, sometimes we have to do just that in order to stand on what we believe.
3) LEARN TO STAND WHEN ITS NOT CONVENIENT (Acts 21:11-14)
In this story, Paul receives a prophetic word from Agabus the prophet concerning his future fate if he dared to venture into Jerusalem while preaching the message of the Kingdom of God. The Scriptures said:
And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said,
“Thus says the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
Paul’s response to Agabus’ prophetic word and the pleas from the people begging him not to go?
Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:10-14)
Paul didn’t budge.
He was so committed to being a “kingdom witness” (martyr) for the Lord, that the very outcome of his life did not matter to him. He understood “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Paul’s mission in life was to know Christ and to make him known. Even when it could potentially cost him his own life, Paul’s mantra was “onward Christian soldier.” As Christians, we have to learn to stand for the truth and for what’s right, even if it costs us our jobs, relationships and freedoms. We must learn to stand when its not convenient.
When the early church was being persecuted for the belief in the Lord Jesus, their cry was not “Lord come and rapture us out of here and save us!” No. Their hearts cry was “We cannot help but to speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
In a time where cultural compromise is attempting to replace biblical morality and ethics, we must boldly declare that “I AM NOT ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
Then and only then can we be found to be called faithful witnesses like our Lord was during his time while ministering on the earth (Revelation 1:5). #KingdomAdvance
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