Let the Redeemed Say
By: Rev. Kyland Dobbins
Pastor, Harvest United Methodist Church
North District
Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Psalm 107:2
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so….”
It’s the 2022 NFL playoff season! Unfortunately my beloved Dallas Cowboys got eliminated in the first round, but there is always next year because I’m always hopeful…LOL! At the moment, I’m a bit disappointed in them…but I’m still a fan. I grew up with Dallas Cowboys bed sheets and comforter. I had team posters on my wall. I met a few of them when I was a child and they were so nice to me. I loved Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Randy White, Tony Dorsett, and Drew Pearson who taught receivers how to be receivers with finesse on the field and class off the field. And every football team who has ever benefited from the Hail Mary has to give credit to Roger Starbauch—who actually named the play—and did it successfully. You can hate the Cowboys but you’ve gotta love what they’ve done for the game of football that all fans and teams benefit from to this day!
I could go on about the impact of my beloved Dallas Cowboys, but I’m not here to talk about them today. I just wanted to demonstrate to you what it sounds like to talk about something or someone who you say you love, honor, respect, celebrate, and brag about because you say your life has been changed by them.
Some men brag about their cars like that. Some women celebrate a good man in their life. Parents proudly tell friends and family about the accomplishments of their children. You know what you’re doing when you share your experience with others like I just did? You are simply sharing your good news experience. Your good news experience can’t be refuted because, well…it’s your good news experience. And guess what evangelism is—the sharing of your good news experience with the Lord.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses all over the land, even in foreign places with foreign people, including known enemies. That had to be scary! Can you hear the disciples asking questions like, “What’s this power? Who is the Holy Spirit? We gotta go where…and speak to who? Why would Jesus want us to do that? How does he expect us to do that?” Do these sound familiar to you?
The Greek word for “witness” is marturion, which refers to the objective evidence or proof of a thing or event. So when Jesus calls his disciples his witnesses, he’s literally calling them his objective evidence and proof of who he is and what he is able to do in a person’s life. Objective evidence is verifiable, undeniable, and without refute.
Since you’ve become a believer in Jesus Christ, two specific things have happened: one, you have become the objective evidence of what God has done and can do in a person’s life; and two, you have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to share your good news. God has called you to share your good news experience with others: that good news that God has blessed you; that good news that God has been good to you; that good news that God has been a healer and a sustainer in your life. Think of all the doors God has opened, all the ways God has made, all the mountains God has moved, all the trouble God has delivered you from, all the enemies God has put under your feet, all the promotions you got that you didn’t deserve, all the prayers God has answered, and the salvation of your soul that he didn’t have to do. You better say something to somebody about what the Lord has done for you! God has not redeemed you just to keep all of what God has done FOR YOU TO YOURSELF! No my brother and my sister! God has called you to share your good news experience. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for giving us the power of your Holy Spirit and our own good news. Help us to share it so that someone may see Christ in us, hear Christ through us, and come to know Christ for themselves. In the name of Christ, amen.