Day 49 — Your Story
Acts 2:32-33
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
The Spirit has been poured out on the disciples and they have spilled out onto the streets, praising God in all sorts of new languages, astonishing the people who see and hear them. A crowd has gathered and a transformed Peter steps up and starts speaking to them. And this is the crux of his talk: ‘We are all witnesses of it.’
Peter and the other disciples haven’t taken some kind of intensive evangelism course, or read the latest books on ‘reaching out’ to their neighbours. They aren’t working out what the best method for being seeker-sensitive might be – or even offering good coffee and cookies to lure the people in!
For the disciples it was simply a matter of saying what they had seen. What they had seen of Jesus’ life, heard from his teaching, experienced of his miracles – but more than that, what they experienced of his presence with them and his love. Peter paints a beautiful picture of the Trinity nature of God: Jesus raised from death, the giving nature of the Father and the Spirit poured out so that everyone can see with their own eyes. God is three persons to express relationship and community – a community that each of us are invited into.
What is your story of meeting with Jesus? How did you first encounter him? What has he done in your life? How has he spoken to you? These stories are where our evangelism comes from. We too are witnesses of Jesus Christ and what he has done in our lives. We don’t need to have theology degrees, or know the Greek alphabet back to front. The authentic story of your own encounter with Jesus Christ and what he means to you is your means of sharing your faith with others.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the story of my life and my encounter with you. Remind me of what you have done for me and show me how I might humbly and joyfully share that with those around me.
Ali Herbert
Associate Pastor