Title: Those who testify/Acts 4:13-21
George H. Bush, the 42nd President of the United States, one day visited a public school in the suburbs of Washington. An eight-year-old boy named Anthony Henderson asked Bush. "Is Grandpa the real president?" "Do you think I'm fake?" "There's no proof that he's a real president." Bush then showed him a driver's license issued by the state of Texas and said, "Look, there's my name on it, right?" "There is no occupation written on this license." So this time Bush pulled out his credit card and showed him a picture of him playing baseball with his grandson. And he could only get out of trouble by showing him a business card with the president's autograph. This article was published in the Dong-A Ilbo on March 27, 1991.
If one day at a meeting a person sitting next to me asks me, "Are you a real Christian?" How can we prove that we are Christians?
no. Those things can be evidence that I am a churchgoer, but they are not evidence that I am a Christian. What is your evidence of being a Christian? It is to testify of Jesus Christ. A Christian is not to testify of "who I am", but to testify who Jesus is.
John Chrysostom was bishop of Constantinople around AD 347. He was being interrogated by the Roman persecutors. The emperor interrogated him. “If you do not betray Jesus, I will send you home.” "Everywhere in this world is my father's house, so where does it matter?" "Then I will kill you." “My life is in Jesus, and your Majesty cannot kill me.” “Then I will take all your possessions.” “My wealth is in heaven, so it will be difficult to take away.” "I will separate you from your friends." “My majesty is the only friend you cannot separate me from. You will not be able to separate me from him.” It is said that the emperor sent him away.
This is proof that you are a Christian. How long you have attended church, what kind of position you have held in the church, and how much you have served are not something Christians can boast about. A Christian is someone who says, "Jesus is my Savior. I believe in him. I have been saved by believing in him. You must also believe in Jesus to live."
1. The testimony of Jesus has nothing to do with learning. Verse 13 says, “When they saw that Peter and John were speaking without arguing, they thought that they were originally ignorant criminals, and they were amazed.”
Originally, Peter and John were ignorant fishermen. I didn't even have a chance to get a basic education. At dawn, they went straight to the sea, and at night they fell asleep from exhaustion. I never studied logic or oratory, nor did I study dialectic or rhetoric. However, their testimony of Jesus was powerful and logical. So people were surprised.
We find here that a life of witnessing to Jesus has nothing to do with knowledge, education, or standard of living. In other words, people who graduated from graduate school are not better at witnessing Jesus than those who graduated from elementary school.
The testimony of Jesus is proportional to the person's faith and is proportional to the filling of the Holy Spirit. Only those who have been saved and have received the Holy Spirit can open their mouths and testify of Jesus without questioning.
In John 7:15, Jesus taught the Word in the temple. The Jews who watched the fluent and powerful teaching were amazed, saying, "How does this man know how to write, since he has not studied it?"
There are people who study the Bible and receive evangelism training, but cannot evangelize at all. On the other hand, there are people who preach Jesus very easily. They are Christians.
2. It means that you reported what you saw and heard.
Verse 20 says, “We are compelled to speak what we have seen and heard.” Romans 10:14 says, “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” Psalm 49:20 says, "Those who are in honour, but do not understand, are like burdens that perish."
Those who see and hear but do not understand, and those who cannot speak or convey them, are no different from those of perishing beasts. The difference between humans and animals is whether we apply what we see, hear, and realize to our lives and teach, learn, and practice it.
It is said that the government needs 12 billion won this year to solve this problem. Computers, no matter how powerful they are, cannot see, hear or understand. We don't get excited about the coming of the 2000s, we don't plan anything for ourselves, or change the numbers. It only works when people enter it and change the data. That is the difference between humans and machines.
Peter and John reported what they had seen and heard. What have I seen and heard? I have heard the story of Jesus countless times. I read the Bible with my eyes and listened to sermons. But we still haven't opened our mouths. In short, you are a shameful Christian.
3. Only Jesus was preached. Verse 10 says, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead, this man is made well and stands before you.” He testified that it was Jesus, not Peter himself, who healed the crippled man at birth.
Verse 12 says, “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” In a nutshell, there is only “Jesus”.
Even if you hate it, you have to say it, Jesus Christ. Even if you die, you have to say, Jesus Christ.
Jonah hated going to Nineveh, as God had told him to go, as much as dying. How hated would it have been for a prophet of God to escape in a ship going to Tarshish? Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the nation of enemies that harassed and invaded the nation of Israel at that time.
He hated God's command to go there and preach the gospel. There was a quarrel between God who wanted to send and Jonah who wanted to refuse. But Jonah had to go. Even if I didn't like it, I couldn't help but go.
There are people who try to fit Jesus into me. There are people who are willing to believe in my taste, my hobbies, my tastes, and my tastes. But it is culture, not faith. It is faith that makes me fit for Jesus. A life of faith is to entrust my life, my hobbies, my view of life, and my values to the frame of Jesus.
Even if you don't like it, it's annoying, and it doesn't suit your taste, you have to obey and follow it in order to grow and develop your faith.
In the case of Stephen, Paul, and Peter, they testified of Jesus even in death. Even if we die, we have to say something, even if we die, that is Jesus Christ. Because only then can I enter the kingdom of heaven prepared by the Lord.
The lonely grandmother was struggling at night because she could not sleep, her chest was stuffy, and her anxiety symptoms overlapped. One day I went to see a specialist. After the examination, the doctor told the grandmother that she would feel much better if she often went up the mountain to get some fresh air and made major repairs. The old woman who climbed the mountain was shy and awkward to shout, “Hey!”, so after contemplating, she called out her grandson’s name aloud. Cheolsuya~, Cheolsuya~, after a while, hikers flocked from all directions. And I asked my grandmother. "Have you lost your grandma child?"
Christians must call on Jesus. Christians must preach Jesus. If you call your grandson's name out of pride because of your face, you will not get salvation or eternal life.
In verse 16, the people who tried to quarrel and interfere with Peter and John's testimony of Jesus said, "We cannot deny it either." Who denies it? Who can stop Jesus?
The Soviets stopped Jesus with guns for 70 years. But the guns and swords have fallen, and Jesus is being witnessed. Both Buddhists and Muslims are making every effort to stop Jesus, but Jesus is being witnessed more deeply and widely.
The Lord said. “If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father in heaven; if you confess me before men, I will also confess you before my Father who is in heaven.”
These words are both thrilling and terrifying. If I deny Jesus in my life day by day, the Lord also denies me. But if you confess, the Lord will also give you because of your poetry.
What is a poet? is to admit it. speaking with the mouth. In Romans 10:10, Paul said, "With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made, resulting in salvation."
Let's confess Jesus. Let's talk about Jesus. Let's say Jesus. Let's testify of Jesus. Let's preach Jesus today.