Thursday, February 16, 2023 Some Material taken from Kingdom Opportunities
But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. Luke 21:12-13
Hard Testimonies
Our mission in this community, our neighborhoods, schools, and jobs must never be mainly a come and see mission. It must be a go and tell mission. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, that is our mission field. It is the everyday circumstances of life that God opens doors for witness.
God can also use the negative circumstances of our lives to bring about an opportunity of witness. We have said it all week – the world is watching everything we do – how we act and react, and the listening to the words we say. We have an opportunity to influence our communities for the kingdom, and we should. We should be living every day in that way – a living testimony – in the ups and downs of our lives. That is authentic Christianity.
When Jesus looked into the future and predicted what would happen to his disciples, he said something very sobering, but also very encouraging. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.
Jesus was saying that, even though the cause of Christ will eventually triumph in the whole universe because He is alive and sovereign, following Jesus would mean arrest and persecution for some of his disciples. What is encouraging about that?
The encouraging thing in these words is that God intends for persecution and imprisonments to be a strategic opportunity for witness to the truth of the gospel. For the disciples, He was letting them know that they would suffer and even die for the name of Jesus, but that suffering would not be in vain. Their suffering would be used to advance the kingdom of God.
The same is true for us today. We may not be treated like the disciples, but any suffering we experience in our lives, any hardship, and tragedy, any difficulties can be used to advance His kingdom. All these things that happen in life that devastate us, they interrupt our lives and bring us to our knees, but it doesn’t take you out of the race. It does not interrupt God’s plan for your life and your role in His evangelistic strategy. We make our plans, but life happens. God takes what happens and makes it part of our story for His glory. People see how we handle these circumstances and that often opens a door to tell what God means to us, how He has helped us during these times, and how our lives have been changed because of Him.
God is the master evangelistic planner. What God wants is people who wear
the shoes of readiness to move with the gospel.
…and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; Ephesians 6:15…
As we develop and a heart for lost people and begin to reach out, there will be many interruptions and surprises -- but none of them without evangelistic purpose. In other words, in every circumstance -- especially the unexpected ones, and the frustrating ones -- be ready to bear witness to Christ.
