1. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NKJV

5. Acts 1:22 “…witness with us of his resurrection.” Acts 2:32 “This Jesus hath God raised up….” Acts 3:15 “…whereof we are witnesses” Acts 5:30-32 “the God of our fathers raised up Jesus” “and we are witnesses of these things” Acts 13:30-31 “But God raised him from the dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.”

6. Acts 10:34-43 v. 38 “who went about doing good” v. 39 “And we are witnesses of all things which he did” v. 40 “Him God raised up the third day” v. 41 “Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.”

7. “one who has personal knowledge of something”

8.  Share their own experience about accepting Christ  Telling of their conversion = witnessing  Personal testimony of what they believe Jesus has done for them.  Used to convince prospect of power of Gospel  New Converts encouraged to develop own witness. Acts 1:8 “You shall be witnesses to me” Does this refer to all Christians? What did they witness?

9. Context shows that the witnesses were the apostles Four specific qualifications: 1. Be with Jesus from beginning of ministry John 15:26,27 2. From John’s baptism until ascension Acts 1:21-22 3. Had to have seen the resurrected Christ Acts 1:27 4. Inspired witnesses - perform miracles Luke 24:48-49 Baptized with Holy Spirit - Acts 1:8 2:1-4

10.  We are not witnesses of the Resurrection  We can pass on the testimony of others  They left a record of his resurrection. Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

11. Does it have an acquired meaning ? To convert souls Terms used in the New Testament:  “teach” or “make disciples” Matt. 28:19  “teach and preach Jesus Christ” Acts 5:42  “preaching the word” Acts 8:4  “converteth” James 5:20  “preached unto him Jesus” Acts 8:35

12. Some want to tell about their experiences We are saved by the gospel - - - not our experience 1 Cor. 15:1-4 Gospel -- Death, burial, resurrection Rom. 1:16 the Gospel is the power of God that can save us “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.” Titus 2:1

13. Jesus tells us that people would believe in Him through the words of his apostles John 17:20 “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

14.  Do not need the “witnesses” of today  We have the witness of the apostles  We decide on obeying Christ based on the testimony of these inspired witnesses  Faith = based on evidence Heb. 11:1  Romans 10:17 - faith comes by hearing the word

16. Sermon by Arthur Pigman Evans Church of Christ 515 Gibbs Road Evans, Ga. 30809 706-855-1249arthurpigman@bellsouth.netwww.evansgachurchofchrist.org Sunday Morning January 27, 2013