Happy New Year 2021! The word for this year is “testify for Christ. This is what should guide our lives this new year, we’re talking about being a witness. The Lord has been dealing with us very strongly on this point. It’s not enough to meet the Lord. We must be those through whom others meet the Lord!

How do you become an effective witness?

1 You need to desire to be a witness

2 You receive the Holy Spirit

3 You choose to be dedicated

We pray that God will fill you with boldness as you watch the video or read the verses, excerpts and quotes below.

Excerpts from the teaching:

We live in cities that are unreached with the Gospel. We live with neighbours who have not heard of Jesus. We hear about their pains and their afflictions, and yet, we don’t even do so much as offer a prayer. “Oh, yeah, they’re going to think. Who cares what they think? What does the Lord think about our own unwillingness to stand up for Him?

Quotes:

“It’s not enough to meet the Lord, we must be those through whom others meet the Lord”

“The greatest thing you can accomplish for your existence is to testify for the Christ, to be a witness for Jesus, to be one through whom men will be connected with Him.”

“Not only does the Holy Spirit testify but the Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses.”

“In this year 2021 I pray that you will become an effective, willing and committed witness.”

“Who cares what (people) think? What does the Lord think about our own unwillingness to stand up for Him?”

“I pray today that boldness will come upon you, that you will testify for the Lord in 2021 with absolute boldness, total audacity, confidence and assurance!”

“If you think about the indignities (Jesus) suffered just to save you, you will forget that you cannot speak…that you are timid, that you are incapable…”

“If you think about the million of people who don’t know Him, then you will forget that you are weak.”

“I pray that this year you will be given utterance to say things that will draw people to Him.”

“Even as John (the Baptist) was sent to the earth, even so we have been kept on the earth after our salvation for the sole purpose of being witnesses.”

Verses:

John 1

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word ([a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [b]Himself.

6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 This man came to witness, that he might testify of the Light, that all men might believe in it [adhere to it, trust it, and rely upon it] through him.

8 He was not the Light himself, but came that he might bear witness regarding the Light.

9 There it was—the true Light [was then] coming into the world [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] that illumines every person.

10 He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him [did not know Him].

11 He came to that which belonged to Him [to His own—His domain, creation, things, world], and they who were His own did not receive Him and did not welcome Him.

12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—

13 Who owe their birth neither to [c]bloods nor to the will of the flesh [that of physical impulse] nor to the will of man [that of a natural father], but to God. [They are born of God!]

John 1:26-27

John 8:18

I am One [of the Two] bearing testimony concerning Myself; and My Father, Who sent Me, He also testifies about Me.

John 4

42 And they told the woman, Now we no longer believe (trust, have faith) just because of what you said; for we have heard Him ourselves [personally], and we know that He truly is the Savior of the world, the Christ.

39 Now numerous Samaritans from that town believed in and trusted in Him because of what the woman said when she declared and testified, He told me everything that I ever did.

John 20:31

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John 10

24 So the Jews surrounded Him and began asking Him, How long are You going to keep us in doubt and suspense? If You are really the Christ (the Messiah), tell us so plainly and openly.

25 Jesus answered them, I have told you so, yet you do not believe Me [you do not trust Me and rely on Me]. The very works that I do by the power of My Father and in My Father’s name bear witness concerning Me [they are My credentials and evidence in support of Me].

26 But you do not believe and trust and rely on Me because you do not belong to My fold [you are no sheep of Mine].

27 The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.

28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. [To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.] And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand.

29 My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all [else]; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.

30 I and the Father are One.

31 Again the Jews [d]brought up stones to stone Him.

32 Jesus said to them, My Father has enabled Me to do many good deeds. [I have shown many acts of mercy in your presence.] For which of these do you mean to stone Me?

33 The Jews replied, We are not going to stone You for a good act, but for blasphemy, because You, a mere [e]Man, make Yourself [out to be] God.

34 Jesus answered, Is it not written in your Law, I said, You are gods?

35 So men are called gods [by the Law], men to whom God’s message came—and the Scripture cannot be set aside or cancelled or broken or annulled—

36 [If that is true] do you say of the One Whom the Father consecrated and dedicated and set apart for Himself and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, I am the Son of God?

37 If I am not doing the works [performing the deeds] of My Father, then do not believe Me [do not adhere to Me and trust Me and rely on Me].

38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe Me or have faith in Me, [at least] believe the works and have faith in what I do, in order that you may know and understand [clearly] that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father [One with Him].

39 They sought again to arrest Him, but He escaped from their hands.

40 He went back again across the Jordan to the locality where John was when he first baptized, and there He remained.

41 And many came to Him, and they kept saying, John did not perform a [single] sign or miracle, but everything John said about this Man was true.

42 And many [people] there became believers in Him. [They adhered to and trusted in and relied on Him.]

John 15

27 But you also will testify and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

John 19

35 And he who saw it (the eyewitness) gives this evidence, and his testimony is true;

John 15

26 But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.

Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.

John 9

14 Personally I am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are rich in goodness, amply filled with all [spiritual] knowledge and competent to admonish and counsel and instruct one another also.

15 Still on some points I have written to you the more boldly and unreservedly by way of reminder. [I have done so] because of the grace (the unmerited favor) bestowed on me by God

16 In making me a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I act in the priestly service of the Gospel (the good news) of God, in order that the sacrificial offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable [to God], consecrated and made holy by the Holy Spirit.

17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have legitimate reason to glory (exult) in my work for God [in what through Christ Jesus I have accomplished concerning the things of God].

18 For [of course] I will not venture (presume) to speak thus of any work except what Christ has actually done through me [as an instrument in His hands] to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed,

19 [Even as my preaching has been accompanied] with the power of signs and wonders, [and all of it] by the power of the Holy Spirit. [The result is] that starting from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel [faithfully executing, accomplishing, carrying out to the full the good news] of Christ (the Messiah) in its entirety.

20 Thus my ambition has been to preach the Gospel, not where Christ’s name has already been known, lest I build on another man’s foundation;

21 But [instead I would act on the principle] as it is written, They shall see who have never been told of Him, and they shall understand who have never heard [of Him].

22 This [ambition] is the reason why I have so frequently been hindered from coming to visit you.

23 But now since I have no further opportunity for work in these regions, and since I have longed for [b]enough years to come to you,

24 I hope to see you in passing [through Rome] as I go [on my intended trip] to Spain, and to be aided on my journey there by you, after I have enjoyed your company for a little while.

25 For the present, however, I am going to Jerusalem to bring aid (relief) for the saints (God’s people there).

26 For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make some contribution for the poor among the saints of Jerusalem.

27 They were pleased to do it; and surely they are in debt to them, for if these Gentiles have come to share in their [the Jerusalem Jews’] spiritual blessings, then they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

28 When therefore I have completed this mission and have delivered to them [at Jerusalem] what has been raised, I shall go on by way of you to Spain.

29 And I know that when I do come to you, I shall come in the abundant blessing of the Gospel of Christ.

Acts 26:17

Romans 15

Personally I am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are rich in goodness, amply filled with all [spiritual] knowledge and competent to admonish and counsel and instruct one another also.