July 24, 2016
SUMMER SUNDAY
Can’t Wait to Tell
Your testimony is your eye-witness account of Jesus in your life. It is irrefutable, indisputable, undeniable.
There is absolutely no doubt that our faithful God wants to be known by His people; He wants His character and His identity to be known; He wants to have an intimate, personal, forever relationship, daily fellowship, each one of us. And, we must answer the question and teach our children to answer the question…”How will we respond to Jesus…What Do We Do With the Good News?”
Can’t Wait to Tell…
When our daughter Christie was very young, she absolutely loved surprises…little treats, a small toy, her own package of gum, you know…a surprise! In fact, she not only loved her surprises, but she loved everyone else’s surprises, so much that quite often she personally, would take care of the element of surprise, regardless of the occasion.
I remember one Mother’s Day in particular when Bill had taken our two children shopping for my gift. They spent the afternoon at the mall, and Bill later told me, that he spent the twenty minute drive home, reminding her that she and Adam needed to keep the surprises a secret for Mother’s Day–just a few days away. He knew that he needed to remind her again, and again, and again because we had repeatedly experienced her enthusiasm and her love of revealing surprises, too early…birthdays, Father’s Day, Christmas… She just could not wait to tell…She was so excited that she could not wait to share the good news…
In her child mind, perhaps, Christie thought that the thrill she received when we brought a surprise gift home for her was so wonderful that she wanted everyone to experience the same feeling…Or, maybe, she just liked to be the one to deliver the valuable, delectable information. Although I’m not sure of her motive, our precious, precocious daughter would say, “I just Can’t Wait to Tell…” And, through the years, I have learned a great deal from her enthusiasm and her willingness to share wonderful news…we just improved on the timing!
So You Can Be Certain
“Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you have been taught.” Luke 1:3-4 NLT
I love the heart of the Almighty God for many reasons. I love that He divinely called and inspired a Gentile physician, the only Gentile author in the Bible, a man of science, to meticulously investigate and to accurately report the events which pertain to the life of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Luke sees through the eyes of compassion those with the greatest of need, the women and children, the impoverished, the ill, the broken-hearted, the outcast…those in desperate need of Truth and of Hope, the Hope of a Deliverer, of a Redeemer. His Spirit inspired words speak to the same needs today…hearts desperate for a Savior. And he carefully, with great medical and historical accuracy, presents the humanness, the flesh and blood life of the Son of God.
No greater credibility is given in the courtroom than the eye-witness accounts of an event. In the Gospel of Luke, Dr. Luke details the accounts of people who walked with, and who lived with Jesus. He reports from those who ministered through the authority and the power of Jesus of Nazareth. And in second part of his account, The Acts of the Apostles, he communicates his own experience as a witness of the power of the Holy Spirit, in his own life and the lives of thousands of believers, as God established and preserved the Christian Church.
Luke clearly states his purpose for writing… “So that you will know with certainty the things you have been taught.” (NIV) The heart of our loving God is for His people to be assured, to be confident, to be certain of and to be securely fastened to faith in the LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God inspired and directed the Gentile physician, to record the events so that you would know…so you would be assured and confident. So that you would know His story…the most important history…So that you could teach and tell your precious ones this wonderful Good News!
And we ASK…How will we respond to Jesus? What Do We Do With the Good News?
OUR JOB DESCRIPTION…
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere…” Acts 1:8
Jesus gave this instruction to His disciples, and Luke recorded His words for the future readers…for you and your precious ones, for me and for my family…clearly giving us our job descriptions as His people. From the record of the Gospel according to Luke, and his report of the establishment of the Church, we are given credible, eye-witness accounts of confidence and assurance, in order that we become His witnesses…everywhere we go, telling all people the Good News…the Good News of Jesus Christ!
On this Summer Sunday, I pray that we would become people who absolutely “CAN’T WAIT TO TELL”…people who become His witnesses, who wholeheartedly and passionately pursue opportunity to tell the Good News of the wonderful gift God has for each one of us. With a child-like heart, eager to share the surprise…to run toward people…thrilled to share the Good News of our Jesus!
This summer, take time to reflect on your own account of Jesus in your life. Encourage your children to talk about the things God has done for them…to record their testimony. Your testimony is your eye-witness account of what the Almighty God has done in your life and through your life…of Jesus in your life. Your testimony is irrefutable, indisputable, and undeniable.
May we become people who just “CAN’T WAIT TO TELL” the GOOD NEWS!
Blessings,
