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Moment Of Celebration-Bold Witnesses

July 16th, 2014 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Moment of Celebration reflects on the steadfast, bold witness of the apostles.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He did not keep it a secret from His friends. According to First Corinthians 15:3, “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,…he was buried,….he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures….and he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.” Here was a group of men who followed Jesus to Jerusalem, where they saw His suffering at the cross and the triumph of His resurrection. Brave souls will stand for the truth even in the face of persecution, but very few would die for a lie. Each of Jesus’ followers who saw Him alive again faced some type of persecution for their witness. Most of them died for their faith in Jesus.

In the life of the early church, the disciples went their separate ways, but they remained faithful to the mission of spreading the good news wherever they went. In their courageous witness for Jesus, they said to the governing authorities, who tried to silence them, “We must obey God rather than men.”

The steadfast, bold witness of Jesus’ followers is a reason to be glad in the Year of Celebration.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com