Turn to now Acts 1. We'll read the first 14 verses of the chapter. I call your attention tonight to verse 8 in particular. This is God's word to us in Acts 1, holy and inspired. The former treatise, have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. That former treatise being the gospel according to Luke. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer, and supplication with the women and marry the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. We'll read God's word that far. I'll read verse eight again. But ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the occasion of the sermon tonight is the work of the Evangelism Committee of our congregation. The Evangelism Committee has been active, and we are very thankful for that. Active in helping us as a congregation be faithful in what is the responsibility of all of us to bear witness of the truth that God has given to us and of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. One of the events that the Evangelism Committee has planned is to have a service in which we identify it as a good time to invite others to join us for worship. And I realize that with my acceptance of the call, maybe this won't happen as they just planned, but be that as it may, this is what was on the radar. And the radar was coming up on Thanksgiving Day to use that as a special time to invite others that we know, others that we may work with, others in our local neighborhoods to join us for worship. And that is something that should always be on our minds as believers. We really should always be thinking about the opportunities God gives us to share the truth that he has given to us and to take it a step further even and invite others to come to the house of God with us and worship God and hear, as we heard this morning, the powerful preaching of the gospel, praying that God works that power in their hearts to believe. We should always be thinking that. It should always be on our radar. However, it is good for us to hear a word and have something on the docket, so to speak, that calls special attention to that, puts it right in front of us, revitalizes us in our desire to be faithful in that regard. And that's the idea of having a day like that, where we use it as a time to invite others to join us for worship, praying that the Jehovah God would use that to gather his people and his church and bring others to the knowledge of the truth. So even though it's something that always we need to be thinking, it's good to have special times in which that's the case. So part of that was to preach a sermon or two leading up to that to help us as a congregation. be revitalized in this calling that we have and this desire that we have to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ. And that's the sermon tonight. So we look at that from Acts 1, chapter 1, verse 8, using as our theme, witnesses of Jesus Christ. We notice in the first place who? In second place, what? And last, where? An explanation of Acts 1 verse 8. The context of our passage in verse 8 of Acts 1 is simple. It's an Ascension Day text, we could say. We have the disciples with Jesus on Mount Olivet between his resurrection and right before his Ascension into heaven. Verse 3 makes very clear what the context is. That's the time frame in between the resurrection of Jesus and the ascension into heaven. And then what Acts 1 does is it brings us to that 40th day when the disciples with Jesus are on Mount Olivet and Jesus is lifted up from them in their sight engulfed by that cloud and he's brought into the glory of heaven. That's the context of Acts chapter 1 verse 8. What we have here then in our text is the parting word of the Lord Jesus to his disciples and that parting word of Jesus to his church. And that should cause us to stop and think about the significance of this. What we have in our text is the last thing that Jesus told his disciples before he went into the glory of heaven. It's the last thing that would reverberate in their mind as he departed from them and as they went on in their life without him. All of this was prompted by the disciples asking the question at the end of verse 6, And in response to that question, Jesus tells them something that they can't know. It's not for them to know, but then he tells them something that they must know. What they can't know, what it's not for them to know, is the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But you need to know something. And this is what you need to know. This is what will happen. You shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you. What Jesus does here is he tells them this is what's going to happen and you need to know it. Pentecost is going to happen. The Spirit that is given to me is going to be poured out upon the church. And that's the final word, the parting word that he gives to his disciples. And it's not just The fact of Pentecost. Something about the Spirit that is that parting word that reverberates in their mind. But the parting word is what that means for them. That's what we want to draw attention to. He doesn't just say the Spirit is going to be poured out. But he says, this is how important it is. Because that Spirit, as we read in our text, shall make you to be witnesses unto me. Again, It's good to stop and reflect simply on the fact that the last thing Jesus tells his church is, you shall be witnesses by the power of the Spirit that is going to be poured out. Now that really, when you think about it, shouldn't surprise us. And the reason that it shouldn't surprise us is that this point right here that Jesus is making is not a A side note so to speak. It's not tangential to all of the other things that God does. But what Jesus tells his disciples really is fundamentally important to everything God from the beginning has determined to do. And that's why this shouldn't surprise us. It shouldn't surprise us because it has always been God's grand redemptive plan in Jesus Christ to save a church. And a church That is a Catholic church gathered from every nation, tribe, and tongue in the world. And part of the accomplishment of that grand redemptive plan in Jesus Christ to gather a worldwide church is this. You shall be witnesses of me. And so really when it comes down to it, we shouldn't be surprised that this This is central to what God has always intended to do throughout the world. And that's revealed even when you think about what is said here in light of the Old Testament scriptures. God has always made this clear, even though we may not always emphasize it and think about it that much. What Jesus says here First of all, to explain this from the Old Testament and why it makes sense that this is his final word. What Jesus says here is the promise that Pentecost is going to come. He always told his disciples that. If you read John chapter 14 verses 16 and following, he told his disciples the exact same thing that he tells them here. The Comforter is going to come. He's going to come after I depart from you. It's good for me to depart because I will send the Comforter. And Jesus said that and knew that because that was the plan and purpose of God all the way from the time of the Old Testament. He said that in harmony with Joel chapter two. And I'd like to read that, Joel chapter two, verses 28 and 29. Joel 2.28, And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit. And then you come to the end of the chapter, verse 32, And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Jesus makes this his final word, because Jesus came to fulfill all of the prophecies of the Old Testament. And this was a fundamental prophecy concerning the person and work of Jesus. It wasn't just his death, it wasn't just his resurrection, but it was also this. I'm going to ascend to heaven, and I will pour out the Spirit, now my Spirit, upon the church. And this will be the effect of it. Witnesses unto me, language of Joel 2, all men who have that spirit will prophesy and speak of the wonderful works of God. So from that point of view, it makes sense. Sensual to the work of God was the very thing that he ends with before he ascends into heaven. And then you think about the Psalms. The Psalms make clear that the grand redemptive plan of God was a redemptive plan for all the nations. We read of that in many places. I'll call attention to just one right now. I took the call to worship from Psalm 22, so we'll go back to that Psalm. Psalm 22, we read in verse 27 these words, All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. Beautiful psalm, because the beginning of the psalm is one of the most prophetic psalms about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22 brings you right to the foot of Calvary. You can see it in Psalm 22, the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And then the end of the psalm says, now this is the effect of it. That gospel, that suffering of Jesus, that proclamation of the person and work of Christ, it's going to go out to the whole world. And the effect of it is that all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto me. And then you go back even farther. You go back to the history of Abraham and God's word to Abraham. So that even in one of those first promises of God to Abraham, we read this, When we think of the Old Testament, rightly, we often emphasize this is God's work among the Jewish people. Israel. And it was. It was. He gave snippets here and there that it was more than, it was broader than. There was foreshadowing of this, but it was largely among the people of Israel. And God had a purpose in that. But even then, from the very beginning, with Abraham in the Psalms, and in that prophecy of Joel, we see that this in the end was the grand redemptive work of God. That that seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent and in whom there would be salvation would be for a kingdom, a kingdom that was worldwide from every nation, tribe, and tongue. So that you get to Acts 1, and you hear this, last word, You're going to receive the Spirit. He's going to be a power and this is the power. You shall be witnesses to Jerusalem, to Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. You see how that makes sense when you step back and you see the grand redemptive purposes of God the world over and all throughout history. We haven't been so much on the who, A lot of that was introductory in nature, but now let's go to the who. Who does this apply to? Who are the witnesses of which the passage speaks? So we can start with the text itself, and we're answering the question, who are the ye? But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon, and then who are the you of the passage? Well, the most direct answer to that question are the disciples, now the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. You go back to the beginning of the chapter, verse 3 and 2, the Holy Ghost giving commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, and then that's the theme there in chapter 1, and then you're brought to Mount Olivet and we know that the apostles, the disciples, minus Judas Iscariot, were on that mountain with the Lord Jesus Christ. So that the most direct application here is to the apostles. They were the ones who would be in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost. They would receive the Spirit and in a very real way they would be witnesses in these ways. Right there in Jerusalem, in that moment of Pentecost, it would expand a bit to Samaria, right near Israel in Palestine. And then these very men would be the ones also that would go to the uttermost parts of the world. Not every part, but other parts broader than Jerusalem and Samaria. The very narrow, most specific application here is to the disciples and what they would do. Which leads to the question, is it proper then to take this word and say that it speaks to you and to me? and to all Christians throughout history. Is it proper to make this truth, you shall be witnesses unto me, normative for the everyday Christian? The answer to that, I believe, of course, is yes. That we don't read Acts 1 verse 8 and say, that was for them and it doesn't say anything to us. We don't do that. But we read Acts 1 verse 8 and we say, that was for them and that is for us. That is because every single Christian is one for whom what Acts 1 says In verse 8, it's true. And notice the name for the believer that I'm using right now in this section. Deliberately, I'm using the name Christian. A name that first comes in the book of Acts. A name that appropriately identifies who we are as the children of God and as believers in Christ. We are Christians. And Christians means anointed ones. Anointed with the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. So that very simply, to be a Christian by definition is to have this be true of you. Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Every Christian has the Holy Ghost come upon them. And every Christian, therefore, has the power of that Holy Ghost. And every Christian is, therefore, by virtue of that, witnesses, as the text says, unto Jesus Christ. So that in answer to the question, is it normative for the believer? The answer is yes. Because this is the wonderful work of the Spirit. The wonderful work of the Spirit is to dwell in you. Romans chapter 8 verses 9 through 11, ye are in the Spirit. The Spirit dwells in you. God the Holy Spirit, now the Spirit of Jesus Christ, takes up residence in your heart. When he takes up residence in your heart and life, he makes you alive with the life of Jesus Christ that he earned on the cross and in his resurrection. He unites you to Jesus Christ so that you belong to him in life and in death. By the power of the Spirit, we receive the blessings of salvation and the hope that is found in God alone. We have, every Christian has, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Because what Jesus Christ does on the cross and in His resurrection and in all of His saving work is then applied to you by the Spirit who lives within you. So that no Christian can say as a true Christian, I don't have the Spirit upon me. But every Christian says, knowing the Scriptures and knowing who that Spirit is, He is upon me and he is in me. So can we, must we apply this to the everyday believer? The answer is yes, by virtue of what it means to be a Christian, an anointed one with the Spirit. And we can add to that the historical proof. The historical proof in Acts chapter two, when Pentecost actually happened. When Pentecost actually happened, the Spirit was poured out upon the church. And it wasn't just upon those 11 apostles. It was upon the 120. They, in a special way, received that Spirit. And they immediately also, with them, became those who were witnesses of the truth and of Jesus Christ, so that they spoke. as we're going to come to later in the sermon of the wonderful works of God. Very practically, to end the first point, what this means is that none of us tonight hear this word and say that's a word that applies to Paul, to the apostles, or that may be a word that applies to someone else in the church, but it's not a word that applies to me. No one here can say that, both young and old, but we say together tonight, We are, all of us, as Christians, I am, as a Christian, a witness unto Jesus Christ. So that now what we're going to explain in the second point of the sermon, what that means is a word that applies to every single one who has the Spirit of Jesus Christ in them. To explain now the what of the passage, what it means that ye are witnesses of Jesus Christ, I want to do that under two headings. What we're going to start with is identity, and then what we're going to get to is activity. We're going to start with identity. This is what makes this passage so important. It is the form in which this truth is explained. The form of it is to identify who we are. When we have the Spirit, who is a power, ye shall be. Ye shall be witnesses. That's the form of the text. That's the language explicitly of Acts 1 verse 8. In other words, this is who you are. By virtue of the power of the Spirit now dwelling in you. That's different than, for example, what is found in other places in the scripture, and it is in other places where there are commands. You must be. You must do. You must witness. You must speak. And the Word of God says that. And we need that imperative. And we're going to get to some of that later in the sermon in the second point. But that's not explicitly what the text is saying. The text is not first and foremost a command to be witnesses, but it's the declaration you are witnesses. You shall be witnesses. This is your, and this is the word I'm using to describe it, this is your identity. This is who you are in your essence, your core, everything about you. Witnesses unto Jesus Christ. Now oftentimes when we talk about identity, we do so with a warning. And we've done that. I've preached that before. It's a very important part about thinking about our Christian life properly that we never as Christians find our identity and place our identity in the wrong thing. Your identity, who you are, is not a sport that you love to play. Your identity, who you are, is not your job. Your identity, who you are, is not another hobby that you enjoy. Because none of those things, even though they may be things we do, we enjoy, we must do, none of those things strike at the essence and core, this is who I am. And if we do root our identity in those things, we have a serious, serious problem. And we need a heart change by the grace of God so that we do root our identity in the right thing. So oftentimes we're warning when it comes to identity. But here's a positive. A positive declaration that we all say, this is my identity. This is who I am. This strikes at the core of what I'm all about. And when you speak of your identity, you're speaking of something that is not just a part of your life. You see, when you talk about those other things, work, sport, hobby, it's in your life, but it's only ever to be a part of your life. It's not your whole life. But this, this isn't just a part. This is everything. This is who we are at our very core and in our very essence. Witnesses unto Jesus Christ. Now the reason that's the case, It's not because there's something in you. It's not because of a decision that you've made. This is what I'm going to root my identity in. The reason this is the case is because the Spirit is in you. That's what makes us witnesses in our core of who we are. That's the whole point of the text. You're going to receive power. That power is the Holy Ghost coming upon you. And when that Holy Ghost is upon you, by virtue of that Holy Ghost, you are witnesses unto Me, unto Christ, because you have the power of the Spirit in you. And here's the important point. The Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. And the Spirit of Jesus always does this. He always testifies, makes known, reveals, language of our text, witnesses, Jesus Christ the Lord. A couple of passages, John 15. John chapter 15 verses 26 and 27. This is who the Spirit is. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father. Now this is what he always does. The Spirit doesn't testify of himself. The Spirit always does this, He shall testify of me, of Christ. And ye shall also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. One other passage, 1 Corinthians 12 verse 3. 1 Corinthians 12 verse 3. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaketh by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." You have the Holy Ghost. And then you testify, it's the only way you can, by Him. Because He always leads to the testimony, the witness, Jesus is the Lord. So everything the Spirit does always has this as His objective, to expound and make known Jesus Christ the Lord. And when He comes upon us, in us, the effect of that is that by virtue of being indwelt with the Spirit, we are witnesses of Christ. And it's not hard to understand that, because what does the Spirit do? The Spirit works the life of Christ in us. The Spirit makes those who are dead alive. The Spirit transforms and changes. The Spirit makes us think differently, talk differently, live differently. The Spirit doesn't make us on this side of the grave without sin, but He changes the way that we think about sin, so that even in thinking about sin, and turning from sin, and confessing sin, and forgiving sin, what is the Spirit doing? He's witnessing. He's making known the cross and saving work of the Lord Jesus. He's filling us with hope. He's giving us promises. He's empowering us to live by the fruit of the Spirit in love, and gentleness, and meekness, and peace, and all of the rest. The whole work of the Spirit in you, in all of His saving works, makes known and testifies of Jesus Christ, who is the Savior and the Lord. And you read the book of Acts, and that is exactly what happened. These people would receive the preaching of the gospel, and the Spirit would come upon them. And what would happen? They were changed. Everything about them was changed. Their lives were transformed. They're in these very dark places in the world, Corinth and Thessalonica and Athens, dark, dark places. And then the Spirit comes and there are a bunch of flickering lights spreading throughout the city because now how they talked and how they thought and how they lived and who they associated and how they worked and the way they had hope, it all changed. And all of it was the testifying as witnesses of Jesus Christ. By virtue of this now being their identity. It's who they were in the very core by the power of the Spirit. And so we stop and we say, is this our identity? Do we know it to be our identity? Do we say, this is who I am? indwelt by the Spirit and therefore a life transformed into a living testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ who lives within me by His Spirit and who has saved me from my sins and given me the hope of heaven. But identity, we've implied this already, but now we make it explicit, identity always informs action. To use the negative example, when you root your identity in a sport and play in that sport, it informs everything you are. It informs your eating, your drinking, your sleeping, when you're playing, when you're training, when you're competing. It's everything. When you make your identity your work, it's everything you are. And that's the danger of that. It's all about work. When I'm working and when I'm not working. I'm there, I'm not at home anymore in my mind and heart. I'm not present. It's all in the job. Identity informs activity. And such is the danger again of rooting it in the wrong places. But then when you root it here, my identity is by the Spirit. I am a witness of Jesus Christ. It informs everything. And especially this, and this is what we want to highlight, witness especially is by our spoken word. It's what we say. It's how we talk. And that's always true too. When you talk about identity, when it is the job that you're always living for, or the sport that you're always living for, it's always what you want to talk about. It's everything to you. And so you just want to talk about it. All the time. With anybody who would be a listening ear. Well, tonight we see that's not what it's about. But this, this, this is what I want to talk about. Because this is who I am. And this is everything to me. And this touches the whole of my life. So that the witness, the activity of the witness, the giving testimony, the making known Jesus Christ, what is most precious to me is what I want every opportunity to do with anyone that God gives me opportunity to do such with. Now to flush this out and explain this, let's look at three passages. that help us wrap our minds around this, encourage us in this. Because part of these passages, I think, are an encouragement, because we do need an encouragement. We need that courage and that boldness, not to be ashamed, but to have that activity flowing out of our identity in the bold witness of the truth of God. Three passages. We'll start with Acts 2 verse 11. So after the Spirit was poured out upon the disciples and the 120, we read this in Acts 2 verse 11. Beloved God has done so many wonderful works. Part of our life as Christians is to dwell on them, meditate upon them, read about them, hear about them. That's what preaching is in part. There are so many. The key here, when you attach this to what we're talking about, identity and activity, is the wonderful works as they arise out of and speak to the everyday life that we live as Christians. So that we're always those who are taking on our lips as we live in this world the wonderful works of God. Not the least of which is this. Every day you wake up as a sinner. And every day you live your life knowing that you have a Savior. And therefore, in this very day, and it doesn't matter what day, I have a wonderful work to talk about. It's the most important work that touches my heart and soul to the core every single day. I'm a sinner saved by Jesus Christ. And every time my sin comes rising up, and every time I need to deal with my sin with others, I have the wonderful works of God's grace and mercy in Jesus to talk about because it is most precious to me. wonderful works when you're living your life out in the world. And when bad stuff happens, when hard stuff happens, when the things that everyone naturally can just lean into to complain about and to be bitter about and to be angry about in the work setting, in the world in which we live and everything that we have to face, we as Christians have wonderful works. Wonderful works that in that moment we can talk about, and those wonderful works are, I have a God that's over this. And yes, this is hard. We're not mitigating the reality that this is hard, but we don't need to approach it with anger and bitterness. And we don't need to lash out in response to it, because I have wonderful works of God on display in this. And his wonderful works are the God of providence who's going to use this, no matter what, in order to serve his purposes. So that in the moment, when everyone else may be very angry and very bitter, it may be a little thing, it may be a big thing, we can testify of wonderful works. When we go to the hospital and we get the diagnosis, we still have wonderful works to proclaim. The wonderful works of God by His Spirit to always be with us. When we face the grave and death, there are so many wonderful works that can come out of our lips. the wonderful works of the Lord Jesus in conquering that grave and giving us the hope of heaven. As witnesses of Jesus Christ and as those who are continually meditating upon the wonderful works of God, may they be so precious to us and may we love them so much that we want to, in the moment, in the moment, to our children, to each other as spouses, to each other as friends, and to anyone who will hear, speak the wonderful works of God. Passage number two, 1 Thessalonians 1, 6-10. 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 6-10. Paul reflecting on what was true of the saints in Thessalonica, We read this. It's a few verses here, but we'll read them all. Sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything." We'll stop there. That word sounded out in verse 8 means echoed forth. It's beautiful. From these saints in Thessalonica, they went out. And the Word of God says here, from them went echoing forth, reverberating out, the Word of Truth. So much so, so much so, that we need not speak anything. So much did that word go forth that Paul says we didn't even at some places have to speak anything because they knew from that echoing forth word the truth of God and the truth of Jesus Christ. And that's what we want. We want, yes, we know these were special times when the Spirit was poured out in the first century after Christ. We want this to be the case as well that from us echoes forth in a very real way. There's reverberations from this sanctuary. They're going out. And what's going out? That word of truth so that others know of the faith of the members of the Protestant Reformed Churches and this congregation in particular, Granville PRC. They know the faith of these people because of what they say. and because of how they live as bright lights in this world of darkness. Passage number three, 1 Peter 3.14-18. 1 Peter 3.14-18. Again, we won't read all of it, but just a couple of verses here. But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. I read this passage for two reasons. The first is that part of our witness is always a defense. Be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you. That word answer is really the idea of a defense. When we witness of the truth, we often are giving a defense of that truth, and particularly when we experience the opposition of those who hate the kingdom of God and the church of God. And we know that that can be the case in the workplace, in the neighborhood, in the college campuses and universities where there's hatred for God's truth. Where there is a pluralism which requires the defense of the truth of God so that we say, no, all other religions are false religions. This is the one true religion, the Christian faith. All other ways of salvation are paths that lead to damnation. There is one in whom there is life, forgiveness of sins, and the hope of heaven, and that is the Son of God come into the flesh, Jesus Christ. A defense. of the Word of God and the truth of the Scriptures. That is an important part of the witness of God's people throughout history and may be an important part of our witness one day as the Church. The second reason that I read this is that often times our witness will be in the occasion of suffering. Suffering at the hands of those who hate God and hate his church. I recognize right now that that is not the case physically for us. It is the case for God's people throughout the world, but not for us. We pray that if it be God's will, we would continue to be able to live quiet and peaceable lives in all honesty, publicly worshiping without fear, if it be God's will. But we don't fear when that changes. We don't fear that because the Spirit who dwells in you is going to be the Spirit that gives you the power and boldness to give a witness, even if it means the laying down of your life. And I call attention to that because the word witness in our text in 1.18 of Acts, elsewhere is even translated as martyr. So that the idea of witness, right in the very word witness itself, is the idea that maybe even one for that witness will give up their very life. And so the hope and the prayer is that right now, when we're not worried about storming in our worship services, those with handcuffs and weapons, in order to shut this down. While that's not the case now, we need to use that opportunity now to prepare for whatever may come, so that we remember, this is my identity. I am a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm never going to hide that. I can't hide that. And that identity is going to shape my action, especially my word. So that I will stand before any man. I will stand before any weapon. I will stand before any torture device. I will stand before any prison cell. And I will say, Jesus Christ is Lord. And Jehovah God is the one true God in the scriptures. are the only truth. I will say that in defense of the faith once delivered unto the saints. And I will say that even if I lay down my life for Christ's sake. May God prepare us now for what we know may be the reality for our children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren in the future. Let's end this sermon by considering where Text tells us where, where this goes. Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. One of the interesting things about this verse is that this verse is really the entire book of Acts. You have in one verse the whole book. Because immediately after this verse, in chapter 2, you have the Spirit poured out. And when the Spirit's poured out, you have the immediate witness in Jerusalem. Not that long after, it expands into the region of Samaria. And then we read about the Apostles, and especially the Apostle Paul, who has that same spirit going out into the uttermost parts of the earth. So that really, in Acts 1 verse 8, in summary form, you have the entire book of Acts. Where? The answer is the world over. And that's what God continues to do today. But one of the things that we need to be on guard against in this regard is that we don't only think big and broad. One of the dangers that I think we can face is that when we think about the spread of the gospel throughout history, where our mind goes is to these grand men and these grand events. And that's natural because when you study church history, when you study the book of Acts, you go to those grand people and grand events. They really governed the course of history and governed the course of church history. Paul. Three missionary journeys. The gospel spreads. Calvin. Luther. Reformation. Grand event. The gospel is revitalized. And then spreads. Our minds go there. And then the difficulty with that can be that we only stay there and forget that in reality, this truth to the uttermost parts of the world isn't through just very significant individuals that God uses every so often to do great things for the Church of God. And it's not just these grand events that pop up in the church history. But really what it is, it's the local church. And really what it is, it's individual families. And really what it is, it's the individual believer. That's how this happens. And that's how it happened all throughout history. That it was the local church in the community of that church, and it was the believers in that church going out and living their faith and speaking their faith that brought others to a knowledge of the truth of God and brought others into the church of God. And that has never changed. And that is true for us as Granville Protestant Reformed Church in Granville, Michigan. That it's right here, locally, in our families and in our lives as individuals and everybody that we're able to touch in our life that God is pleased to do this, to bring it to the four corners of the world. And so the danger that we have is to forget that. The danger that we have is to always think inward. God's purpose for us is not just inward. It's not just believers and their children. We're very strong with that. We emphasize that. The covenantal blessing of God of believers and their children, but it's also to all that are afar off. And God has always worked through the local church and individual believers and families, sharing their faith in order to bring others into the knowledge of the truth of God. And so we pray that God would give us that spirit and that mindset, which we believe is consistent with the teaching of God's word. And that God would kindle in us what does need kindling at time, a zeal, in order to live out our identity as witnesses of Jesus Christ. And we pray that God will prosper that, that He will bless that, that He will use it in order to lead those who are in darkness into the light. Yes, we may be living in the day of small things, we say. Yes, it may only be an individual here or an individual there, but we pray for that. Because those are individuals that God has chosen from all eternity and Jesus Christ redeemed in time. And individuals that God is pleased to use you as individual believers to lead to a knowledge of the truth. And when we care about those around us, when we truly care about them, we're not content just to always leave it on the surface. But the people that we know and have a sense of relationship with in this world, we care about them. We want to share with them what God has given to us. So that if God is pleased, he would use our witness of Jesus Christ in order to lead them to the knowledge of the truth. And so the prayer is this. Prayer is that God would kindle this in us. Give us a zeal for this. That it would not wane in waiver, but that we would be faithful in living out our identity by the power of the Spirit who dwells within us. The Spirit whose main purpose is always this, to testify of the one who is the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Father in heaven, we pray for that same powerful Spirit to be at work now in our hearts. so that we are a people who understand the truth that was expounded tonight, and then also live it in this week to come. Go with us, help us, and strengthen us. For Jesus' sake, amen.