Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The twelve disciples knew a lot about Jesus and His mission, yet they lacked the power to carry out the Great Commission. They were ordinary working men faced with an extra-ordinary challenge. They got the power fifty days later.
Principle: You can fulfill God’s call to minister in the marketplace — if you want to. You have the Savior, the Scriptures, and the Spirit.
The power to do the work is what we need to minister to the marketplace. We have this power in the Holy Spirit. We have the road map, the written Word. The “playing field” is local and global. The subject is Jesus. It is that simple.
Notice that Jesus called his disciples to be witnesses, not lawyer or judges. A witness tells what God has done in his life. So after fifty days, starting in Jerusalem, they talked about Jesus to their families, neighbors, fellow workers, and people in nearby cities and synagogues. Then, when the dispersion came, they went to Samaria and the ends of the earth.
Are you chatting about Jesus in your “Jerusalem” with your co-workers, employees, customers, contractors, suppliers and competitors? They need to know Jesus. So do the members of the organizations you belong to, the restaurant server, the guy at Jiffy Lube, the custodian, and the parking lot attendant.
One name comes to mind when I think of businesspeople who consistently talked about Jesus. That was Lorin Griset, insurance salesman and former Mayor of Santa Ana, California.
Every time I had lunch with Lorin, he managed to introduce Jesus Christ to our server. It is safe to say that every insurance customer, most public employees in Santa Ana and every neighbor knew that Lorin was a follower of Christ. His golfing partners would hear about Jesus. I was in an arbitration hearing where he mentioned the name of Jesus Christ in a polite and natural way. I believe that Lorin witnessed in most every conversation. Why not? Jesus Christ is your Savior and the most important person in history.
James Allen Francis in his poem Jesus Christ: One Solitary Life said, “Jesus is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned – put together – have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.”
The disciples knew that. Lorin knew that. Do the people at your work know that?
Discussion:
1. Describe your experience in being a witness in a business situation.
2. How many people do you work with who do not know Jesus?
3. What is the downside of speaking up?
