James Meehan - What It Means to be a Witness
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James Meehan: Well, hello and welcome to this week of Switch Uncut. Where we're talking about all things the Bible, faith and following Jesus. With me is our consistent recurring host and friend Kaitlin Caffery. Kaitlin, how are you?
Kaitlyn Caffery: I'm doing well. How are you today?
James Meehan: Wonderful.
Kaitlyn Caffery: Good.
James Meehan: What are we talking about?
Kaitlyn Caffery: So today.
James Meehan: Ooh, okay.
Kaitlyn Caffery: We just like finished the last week of our series, what difference do I make?
James Meehan: Come on.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And we talked about how the Holy Spirit has invited us to testify.
James Meehan: Yup.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And we're just gonna flip the lens a tiny little bit.
James Meehan: Ooh, okay.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And we're gonna talk about today, what it looks like for the Holy Spirit to empower us to witness.
James Meehan: Ooh, interesting.
Kaitlyn Caffery: So really similar lane. And how we're gonna look at that, is through the first church in Acts and this really cool story about this guy named Philip. But first we're gonna start off by reading Acts 1:6-8, which is where Jesus is talking.
James Meehan: Fantastic, so we read starting in verse six. "Then they gathered around him and asked him, 'Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' And Jesus says to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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, into the ends of the earth.'"
Kaitlyn Caffery: Yeah, so this passage is pretty cool. There's two imperatives that are happening here. Thing number one, you will receive power.
James Meehan: Yup.
Kaitlyn Caffery: Thing number two, you will be my witnesses. And both of these imperatives, both of these statements are contingent on the coming of the Holy Spirit.
James Meehan: Yup.
Kaitlyn Caffery: So you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes, and you'll be my witnesses in all the world when the Holy Spirit comes. But before we go any further, I kind of want to answer some of those context questions that we like to look at.
— Yup.
— So we can understand where we are in the biblical narrative as a whole. So we like to ask who's the author, who's the audience, and why is it that they're writing? So when it comes to the book of Acts, which is what we just read from, where do we start?
— Yeah, so we start with the author, Luke. Now, Luke is also the author of the Gospel according to Luke. And when we take Acts and Luke in context, what we're given is kind of like a two part story of Jesus and the early church. Luke is the story of Jesus, and then Acts is the sequel to it, which is the story of the early church. The audience that Luke is writing to is Christians spread throughout the Roman empire, to help them understand what all is going on.
— Yeah.
— Now specifically Luke begins with him saying he wrote this for his friend Theophilus, which means like someone who fears God. And so Luke is writing this specifically to an individual or a group of people that go by Theophilus. And also for later generations of Christians, that we would be able to know through the eyewitness account through a person, Luke, who investigated all of these things thoroughly, what actually happened.
— Yeah.
— Why it happened, and how that can change our lives for the future.
— Yeah.
— Now the specific purpose of Acts as the follow up to Luke is to show that the mission of Jesus didn't stop with Jesus, that actually Jesus commissioned his disciples.
— Right.
— He invited all of us today, and also the original disciples then, to carry on the work that he started.
— Yup. That would be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
— Yup, and that's literally exactly what we just read. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Jesus is inviting us to continue the mission that he started. But the great news is we don't have to do it alone.
— Come on.
— We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses. And so I wanna like, look at those words like witness and also the word that we talked about on Wednesday, which is testify, because those are kind of like words that we don't really use all that much.
— Right.
— And they're actually both legal terms.
— Yeah.
— So a witness is a person who is testifying.
— Right.
— So what does it mean to testify? Well, to testify is like to provide evidence or proof for something. And so it's like when a witness gets on the witness stand what they're doing, is they're testifying.
— Yeah.
— About something that they saw or heard and like corroborating the truth about what happened.
— Yup.
— And so what does that mean for us, that we've been invited to testify, that we've been called to be a witness? Well, I think it's pretty cool to think about how God chose us. Like intentionally picked you to provide evidence of his goodness to the world.
— Come on.
— To like share a story and corroborate the truth about what God did through Jesus. And like, that's what we get to do, to bring a testimony for the world to see, and to tell of like what we have seen and heard from Jesus, like how he has changed our lives. And so that just brings like a little bit of flavor to those two words that I don't think we use very often, but like to testify and to be a witness is simply to talk about the truth of what Jesus has done in the world and in your life.
— Yup.
— And he's actually given us the power to do that really well. And that power comes through the Holy Spirit. So we're gonna look at a story of when this happened in the book of Acts, which we just kind of introduced, and this story is about Philip. It's been one of my favorites for a long time because there is legit some real life teleportation happening in this story. But also I just really enjoy the way that like the Holy Spirit empowers Philip to turn this really normal interaction into like an opportunity for someone to meet Jesus.
— Come on, that's so good.
— So we're gonna start in Acts 8.
— So Acts chapter eight, starting in verse 26, we read. "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road, the desert road, that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian, a eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means "queen of the Ethiopians"). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, 'Go to that chariot and stay near it.' Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. 'Do you understand what you are reading?' Philip asked. 'How can I,' he said, 'unless someone explains it to me?' So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: 'He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.' The eunuch asked Philip, 'Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?' Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus".
— Yeah, I literally love this story. And we get to see Philip being like led by the Holy Spirit to faithfully testify about what Jesus has done.
— Right.
— The good news about Jesus. And while Philip is like a really beautiful example of what it looks like to do that, and like fulfilled a great commission, like be my witness.
— Yeah.
— This story really isn't as much about Philip as it is about what it looks like to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us power and to make us his witnesses. Because what Philip didn't do was preach a message.
— Right.
— Or prepare a sermon.
— Yeah, yeah, yeah.
— He had a normal conversation with a dude.
— Right.
— And he went where God told him to go. He ran up to the chariot. He heard what the guy was reading and he asked a question. This is all like super normal stuff. And that's really encouraging to me, because at the same time as he's having this super normal conversation with this random stranger, the Holy Spirit is working.
— Come on.
— And he's using that normal interaction to teach someone new about Jesus.
— Right.
— So he empowered Philip to seize this moment and help him connect the dots.
— Right.
— So again, what's encouraging to me is I don't have to prepare a speech. I have to follow the Spirit's lead.
— That's so good.
— And I just have to make this note. I absolutely love that he, like Philip opens with curiosity. He just asks a guy a question. He was obedient to the Holy Spirit who said, hey, go up to that chariot.
— Right.
— So he runs up to the chariot. He hears the guy reading the book of Isaiah.
— Right.
— And because he was right there where the Holy Spirit had called him to go. He heard what he needed to hear. So he could ask a question that opened up this conversation.
— Right.
— And this guy's answer to the question is like my favorite part of this passage. Phillip's like, hey, do you understand what you're reading? The guy's like, of course not. How could I possibly understand what I'm reading right now?
— Come on.
— And don't we often feel that way...
— Right.
— When we're reading scripture.
— Come on.
— But I think that highlights another really beautiful thing that the Holy Spirit does.
— Right.
— Which is like illuminate what the scripture means.
— Yeah.
— And show us how to find Jesus.
— Right.
— Throughout the story of the Bible. Right.
— And so I just love the guy's humility and honesty of just like, yeah, absolutely not. I don't understand this whatsoever.
— Right, and I think it's so important, because you may find yourself early in the morning or late at night or throughout your day opening up the Bible to try to learn more about who God is and what that means for your life. And you come across a passage of scripture, where you're like, I don't know what to do with this.
— Right.
— And I think it can be tempting to feel defeated or like you're not doing what you're supposed to do but this story shows us that there's two really important other characters involved in the eunuch being able to understand what the Bible's about.
— Yup.
— Number one is the Holy Spirit that empowers us.
— Yup.
— And then number two is another believer.
— Yeah.
— Who's there to go with us. And that's why everything we do in Switch is meant to be done in the context of community.
— So good.
— Because we absolutely believe that this journey of faith is meant to be something that we do together and not alone.
— Yup.
— Because I can be reading a passage of scripture and think this probably means this thing, but if I don't have other people around me to help, you know, me figure out if what I think it means is actually what it means, then I might be totally missing out on what it is that God has for me.
— Right.
— Or when I come to a passage of scripture that I have no clue what it means, the ability to ask other people what they think it means. And through that relationship, through that conversation, us being led by the Holy Spirit.
— Yeah.
— Practicing curiosity and humility can get a little bit closer to the truth that God wants for us.
— Yeah.
— The truth is gonna bring us to Jesus and help us become more like him. And I think all of that is so special.
— Yeah.
— To know that we're not meant to do it alone. We've got the Holy Spirit.
— Right. And we've got other people around us, because this whole story, the book of Acts, is about the early church.
— Yup.
— The people of God who are filled by the spirit of God.
— Yup.
— And this is just one beautiful example of what that looks like in action.
— Come on. And the other thing that you hit on is just like, what is the Bible? Well, it is this story that leads us to Jesus and invites us to become more like Jesus. And I think we get to see the truth of that, through the fact that it wouldn't have really mattered what passage of of scripture the guy in the chariot was reading, because Philip in verse 35, it says he began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. And I just love the beauty of the biblical narrative that like at any point you can jump in and you can allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through the scriptures, to Jesus in such a way that helps you become like Jesus,
— Come on.
— And we literally see that happening right here in this story. So yeah. The biggest thing that's standing out to me though, is kind of what I was talking about with, this was just a completely normal interaction.
— Right.
— That because Philip was obedient and he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, got turned into this really neat opportunity for this eunuch to meet Jesus. And what we didn't read is the conclusion of this story is, you know they're sitting in the chariot talking about the Bible. Philip shows him Jesus. And then the eunuch is like, hey, there's some water over there. How about I get baptized? So they jump out of the chariot.
— Come on.
— It's like pulling your car off the side of the street and like getting into that really dirty pond that you always drive by, and just getting baptized right there. And then what happens is that, the teleportation thing I was mentioning, Philip is just gone and the eunuch is just there like, that was absolutely dope. And that's how the story ends.
— Yeah.
— But again we're taking this normal every day interaction, this curiosity and this question, and the Holy Spirit is using it to lead to life transformation.
— Right.
— And I think that's what it looks like to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
— Yeah.
— Is to allow him to use the everyday moments that I am tempted to overlook, to actually like, as an opportunity to be a witness.
— Yeah, that's so good.
— Yeah, so the question that I'm asking as far as application goes, is what normal interactions am I discounting where I actually could be testifying?
— Yeah, such a good question.
— And so I'm like trying to analyze my day to day life, and the conversations that I have on a daily basis and trying to be more in tune with what the Holy Spirit is already doing in somebody else's heart and life. Because the beautiful thing is is this eunuch wasn't just like sitting in his chariot, taking a nap.
— Right.
— He was like engaging with the scripture, because God was already doing something in this guy's heart.
— Yeah.
— And how can I learn to look at people through that same lens of like, God, what are you already doing in their heart? And how can I partner with you and like bring my testimony to bear on the situation and what you're already doing in them.
— Yeah, yeah. I think one of the things that's helpful for me is to like actually pause at the beginning of my day and pray and ask God to lead me throughout the day.
— That's good.
— And it's like something so simple and practical but it's literally just a quick prayer of, hey God, use me today.
— Right.
— And I think that when we ask God to use us today, he's gonna help us see those opportunities.
— Right.
— When they show up, and he's gonna help us step into them when they present themselves. And so maybe for you, as you are wrapping up your quiet time in the morning, maybe it's while you're brushing your teeth or getting your stuff ready for school for that day, maybe it's just a quick prayer. God, use me today.
— Yeah.
— God, help me to see people the way you see them.
— Yeah.
— And help me to love people the way you love them. It doesn't have to be big or complicated or crazy because the Holy Spirit's inside of us, we just have to be reminded of it.
— Yup.
— And as you're going about your day, another thing that you can do, is like actually think through your day, like I know I've got school from this time to that time. I know that my lunch period is here. So God, like I really want you to use me at lunch. Show me somebody at lunch that I can talk to. Or I've got practice after school. God, I wanna be an example to my teammates about what it looks like to bring my best.
— That's good.
— So God, use me for that. Like one of the things that I try to do is look ahead at my day and see what's happening today. And how could these everyday normal interactions, actually be an opportunity for God to use me.
— Sure.
— To show somebody else his love. And I think if you just pause and look ahead, you're gonna be more open to what those might look like as you're actually there in the moment.
— Yeah.
— There's the whole idea of if you don't, or it's the saying that goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. And I want to plan to be used by God to make a difference.
— Yeah.
— And I know you do too.
— Yup.
— That's why we've been a part of this journey of exploring the question, what difference do we make? Because we know that all of us have been called by God to make a difference.
— Yup.
— To be led by his spirit to be witnesses.
— Yup.
— That's who we are. And what we do is we testify. We show other people how good Jesus is, and how he can change their lives too.
— That's so good. And I think the other thing that, it like comes to mind when we're talking about planning and preparation, like praying that prayer of God use me. I think that's awesome. I think another prayer that I'm also implementing in praying is like, God, you already have my unconditional yes. Whatever you ask me to do, I'm in. And it's like in the morning, setting up my day like that. So it's whatever God asked me to do. Yes, the answer is yes, I will obey what you ask me to do. And I love the example of Philip. He's like, the Holy Spirit's like, hey, go up to that chariot. And the dude runs.
— Yeah.
— I wanna be like that. I wanna be somebody who is like, so in tune with the Spirit but also I have already predecided that I'm gonna obey what he asks me to do.
— Yeah.
— And so it's just a natural embodying of that obedience. And it's just like, okay, here we go. Run to the chariot.
— So good. And so what does it look like for you to respond to the truth being revealed through this passage of scripture, to be a witness of Jesus.
— Yeah.
— To be empowered by the Holy Spirit to show other people that there is really good news out there.
— Yeah.
— The good news that they're loved by God and that they're invited into his family.
— Yeah.
— Maybe it's a prayer in the morning. Maybe it's looking for those opportunities. Maybe it's when you feel that nudging, that prompting, that pushing from the Holy Spirit instead of, you know, looking for an excuse, it's running to say yes.
— Come on.
— Whatever it looks like for you. We'd love to know so that we can be praying with you and for you as you go about this journey of showing other people, just how good Jesus is. So comment it down in the chat. And if there's other questions or things that you want us to talk about in the future, let us know, because we love being in dialogue with you.
— Right.
— Because we know that none of this is meant to be done alone.
— Right.
— But it's actually when we as the church come together that God can do some really special things through us.
— True that. I have nothing else to say. We'll see you guys next week on Switch Uncut.
— See y'all.