Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ out Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ
Romans 1:1-6
Paul was always trying to tell others about the Lord, and he used whatever means and methods he had available. In this example, he was able to tell all about Jesus in the opening of his letter to the Romans.
He told who Jesus was, what He did and how that affected him personally. He was able to say all of that in an introduction to a letter. There are a couple of things that we can take from this introduction.
First, we need to always be ready to talk about the Lord Jesus. Being ready to say something about the Lord Jesus involves wanting to say something about Him and it involves having something to say. Every Christian should have both of those things.
Second, we need to be mindful of opportunities that arise to speak of the Lord. Most people wouldn’t think that an introduction to a letter would be a good place to do this. Paul could have just as easily said “Hello, Romans, this is Paul.” But he saw the opportunity and used the opportunity to be a witness for the Lord.
We need to learn to recognize these opportunities in our own lives and we need to be prepared to take advantage of them!
Posted by joseph elon lillie on February 28, 2014 at 10:28 am
Amen! we always need to be ready to give an account of the Lord for the sake of those perishing in darkness. I think we fear it sometimes thinking that no one wants to hear it; But I am finding that those who are hungry for a good word are in the majority.
Posted by justifiedfreely on March 1, 2014 at 6:57 am
I used to think about “witnessing” as a formal thing in which a Christian would go through the entire plan of salvation with an unsaved person. But the more I think about it, and the more I study it in the Bible, the more I am coming to understand that it’s really just a matter of talking about Jesus whenever and however you get the chance, to whomever wants to hear.
Posted by joseph elon lillie on March 2, 2014 at 12:03 pm
Amen and being Jesus to whoever will give us an open door.