Valerie Rae Hanneman
Acts 20:13(NIV) “When they saw the courage of Peter and John, and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
Acts 4:20 (NIV) “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard”
I went up to my boss one day, “Chris, I need to speak to you for just a minute.” “Why,” he answered, “Do you want to know everything that I know?” “No, Chris,” I teased, “I need the full minute, not thirty seconds.” My boss and I have a very comfortable relationship built on a great deal of respect. We have a lot of respect for each other’s knowledge and opinions, but even deeper than my respect for his knowledge is my respect for how he has lived his life. Chris has been an advocate for the most powerless of our society since he was 16. At the age when most of us were dreaming about cars, proms and members of the opposite sex, Chris was already involved in equal justice and equal rights work. I really enjoy hearing him talk about those days because it is the account of what he has seen and heard. It is personal eyewitness testimony. His experiences are part of his life and have made him the man he is today.
Peter and John had gone to the temple as was their custom and on the way they healed a life-long cripple in the name of Jesus. A crowd gathered and Peter started preaching about Jesus. This made the Sadducees so irate that they threw Peter & John into jail. The next day they started questioning them and Peter started preaching about Jesus again. Peter and John stood up to the most powerful men in their society; many of them had probably conspired to crucify Jesus, and Peter started telling them that they had crucified Messiah. The Sadducees were astonished by these two men because they were ordinary uneducated men who spoke boldly about Jesus to them. They took note that Peter and John had been with Jesus. They listened, and then told Peter & John that they were going to let them go – but that they were to quit preaching about Jesus. John & Peter answered that they would not because they were speaking about what they had seen and heard. It was personal, eyewitness testimony. They could not – they would not – stop telling about what they knew.
“I just don’t know enough about the Bible to be a good witness – I mean – what if I get asked a question I don’t have an answer for?” I was really surprised when a Christian friend said that to me recently. She had been a Christian for longer than I had – but I couldn’t really fault her for saying out loud what I have thought more than once. Have you ever thought something similar? My guess is that most of us have. And the simple truth is that we can study the Bible until we can qualify as professional Christians and we are not going to have answers to all the questions.
“What about the dinosaurs?” “Why did God allow the Holocaust? 9/11? Children starving to death? AIDS?” “How can a loving God not accept everybody who believes – even if it is not a Christian belief?” I can answer these questions – sort of. I can tell them what I believe about the pre-creation, free will and so on. But what I tell them will only be what I believe. And I don’t think that that is going to be too effective. People don’t really want to know what I believe – they want to know what I have seen and what I have heard – what I am an eyewitness to.
Unlike Peter, John and the rest of the disciples, I cannot tell about witnessing a physical Jesus that I touched after He rose from the dead. I cannot tell about the miracle of feeding 5,000 because I did not see that. I cannot give eyewitness testimony about anything Jesus did while He was on the earth. But I can tell you – and anybody – what I have witnessed Him do in my life. I can tell them about how I was before Jesus changed me. I can tell about hiding the truth of who I was behind a wall so none could get to me, none could hurt me. I could tell of how important it was that I was always in control of what was going on around me. ; And now there is Jesus in my life and I know the freedom that comes of being His. I know that He loves the truth of who I am and He encourages me to be all that I can be in Him. I now know that I am not in control of anything around me but Jesus is in control of everything around me – and that is working for me.
I am like Peter and John in a few ways – I am an ordinary person who serves an extraordinary God. I am not highly educated – but I know what I have seen and heard. The Sadducees took note that John and Peter had been with Jesus – I want the world to know that I have been with and am with Jesus. I cannot – and I will not – stop talking about what I have seen and heard because I have a personal, eyewitness testimony of how Jesus saved me.
I don’t need to know everything God has ever done and why He has done it to be an effective fisher of people. I just need to know what He has done in my life and why. He has forgiven my sin and saved me. He did it because He loves me more than life. And He freely offers this salvation, this incredible life, to anybody who asks Him for it.
LORD Jesus, I don’t know a lot, but I know that You love me. I don’t believe in You, I know You personally. The most effective way for me to fish for people is to tell them what You have done for me. Thank You for saving me and giving me this life.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of FFBC at Valerie@fresnofirst.org
Posted by Valerie at October 29, 2007 12:50 PM