This study was first taught on November 1, 2020

Topic: The Potential Results of Effective Witnessing

(use the audio to study)

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Background
Our last three meetings have focused on “<strong><em>The Essentials of Witnessing</em></strong>”. We defined witnessing as what happens when someone tells another what they know, have seen, heard, and experienced of the Lord Jesus, which is true, with a view to bringing the listener to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Thus, we noted that the essentials of witnessing is that our witnessing:
 Must be in the power of the Holy Spirit; not in our own strength;
 Must focus on Jesus Christ; not on anyone or anything else;
 Must spotlight the sinfulness of the listener, which is why we are talking to them;
 Must highlight the death and resurrection of Jesus; a very crucial truth in bringing man to repentance and salvation;
 Must encourage the listener to genuine repentance based on a heart conviction, leading to a mouth confession and a soul conversion.

We also noted that our witnessing should let the listener know that through true repentance, their sins are cancelled and times of refreshing from the Lord is theirs—spiritual renewal and soul revival. We observed that witnessing is largely opportunistic and as such we must be ready to witness any time and any where!

Finally, in our last meeting, we spoke of the practicality of witnessing—making the Lord known through parables, story-telling, making Bible events more relatable to the listener, etc. May the Lord help us to be effective witnesses unto Him!

Scripture Text(s)
Acts 4:1-22
The witnessing of Peter and John lasted for quite sometime (9 a.m. to about 6 p.m.). at some point in time, what they were saying was unsettling to the leadership of the Jewish people, and they had them arrested and kept in custody overnight. The next day, they were brought before the full Council—the Sanhedrin—where they gave their defence. Try as they could, the Council couldn’t find anything to hold them on, so they eventually let them go.

Obviously, there are lots of issues to discuss from these verses, but we shall focus on the outcome of Peter and John’s witnessing, which witnessed good and bad outcomes for the human perspective; but from heaven’s perspective, it was all in a witness’ day!
When we witness effectively, there are effects or impacts that trigger possible outcomes. We shall look at the effects/impact of effective witnessing, and through that, we shall then discuss the potential results—both negative and positive.
Acts 4:1-2; Matthew 22:23; Acts 17:32; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Hebrews 4:12-13; Matthew 27:62-65; 28:1-4, 11-15; Psalm 19:7-8; 119:9-11, 104, 105, 111, 130; Acts 4:17-21; 16:16-23; 4:7-12; Luke 21:10-15.

Conclusion
Effective witnessing impacts listeners by:
 Challenging, confronting, confounding, and crushing, the lies, falsehood and deception they have believed for so long;
 Exposing, unravelling, and making bare false religion, wrong doctrine, deception, etc.; and,
 Opening their eyes to the blessings of faith in Christ.

With such impact, perpetrators of falsehood, lies, and deception seek to silence the witness and their testimony, which may result in threats, arrests, physical assault, incarceration, and even death to the witness. On the positive side, however, there could be souls saved as well as more opportunity to bear witness to people higher up the echelon of power and authority.

Thus, the gospel message and the messenger are always likely to be attacked when they bear witness of Christ—He is reason for the attack (<strong>John 15:18-25; Matthew 5:10-12</strong>). Having been warned, therefore, we ought to be unwavering in our witnessing and not allow fear—a weapon of Satan—have dominion over us. Hence, we must speak the truth at all times—it is a powerful witness on its own!

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