It's Time: Wake Up to Be a Witness for Christ

Introduction

For this Christmas service at ICC, Donnie McCLURKIN doesn't preach the manger. He preaches urgency. "I'm not your typical American preacher," he warns from the start, before opening his Bible to Romans 13: "It is high time to awake out of sleep." His message fits in one sentence: it's time. Time to shake off our drowsiness, to put off the works of darkness, and to get back to our post. The world is waiting for an answer, and God has chosen to deliver that answer through you.

Outline of the message

1. Every Christian is a witness, not a spectator

• Jesus says it in Matthew 24:14: "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world." The assignment is global, and it's entrusted to the body of Christ.
• You are the living advertisement of grace: when people look at you, they should see how God delivers, cleanses, saves, and transforms.
• Every one of us in this room is a former sinner saved by grace. We forget too quickly where God pulled us from.
• You don't need a collar or a certificate: God has called every Christian to be a witness, to point toward Jesus whoever is searching for the light.

2. It's time to wake up (Romans 13:11-12)

• "Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep." Paul is writing to believers, not to unbelievers.
• Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.
• The believer must cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. There are things to set in order to be a credible witness.
• Today's Church has developed an appetite for prosperity, Bible knowledge, music, and ministry, but has forgotten its main assignment: to go into the world and preach the gospel.

3. The power received is power to witness (Acts 1:8)

• Jesus tells his disciples to go up to the upper room and wait for power. Not power to speak in tongues or to make people fall down. Power to be his witnesses.
• The problem with the Church: it speaks loudly in God's house and falls silent in the street, at work, in the marketplace.
• Your mouth carries the word of life for people who are dying. That's exactly why the enemy doesn't want you to open it.
• Don't think for a second that everyone living in sin wants to stay there. Many are dying while waiting for an answer.

4. Stay alert: God is sending your decisive encounter

• On a flight to France, a flight attendant wakes him from sleep: "Pastor, can you pray for us?" He gets up, goes to the galley, and prays for her and two stewards. One of them cries. They leave with his card.
• On the streets of San Francisco, a visibly possessed man recognizes him and points at him. Donnie McCLURKIN commands him, in the name of Jesus, to come out. The man falls, gets back up free, and the preacher buys him clothes before feeding him.
• At the White House, invited to sing before President George W. Bush, he ends up praying with his hand on the president's chest, then spends three hours with him.
• In 1996 in South Africa, President Nelson Mandela has him kneel down, and the Zulu chief lays hands on his shoulders and gives him a name that means "anointed."
• Each of these encounters begins with one thing: being available. Not running from the person God places in your path.

5. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37-38)

• After Matthew chapter 9, where Jesus multiplies miracles without pause, he looks at the crowds and tells his disciples: "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."
• More than eight billion people live on this earth, and most of them are lost. Your assignment isn't comfortable, it's sacrificial.
• Imagine if, at the end of the service, every Christian went out into the streets and avenues to tell people about this wonderful Christ. Imagine how many lives would be changed.
• It's this same gospel that saved Donnie McCLURKIN's drug-addicted, drug-dealing mother and made her a preacher, that delivered his alcoholic father, that pulled his three sisters out of drug trafficking and restored his brother's sanity. It's the same gospel that can save your family.

Key Takeaways

• The Christian is not a consumer of the service: he is a sent witness, a living advertisement of the grace he received.
• Waking up (Romans 13:11) means putting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light before going out into the world.
• The power of the Holy Spirit isn't given to impress but to bear witness to the saving power of Christ (Acts 1:8).
• Stay alert: God sends the flight attendant, the man on the street, the neighbor across your path. Don't run from these appointments he has set.
• The harvest is plentiful. Your testimony can be the first link that saves an entire family, just like the preacher's.

Personal Application

1. At what "post" has God placed me this week (family, work, transit) where I stayed silent?
2. What works of darkness do I need to put off to become a credible witness again in the eyes of those around me?
3. When someone around me is visibly looking for help, do I stop, or do I keep walking?
4. Who in my family or among my loved ones has perhaps been waiting for years for me to dare talk to them about Jesus?
5. Am I living as if Christ's return were near, or as if it will never come?

Verses Cited

• Matthew 24:14 · LSG
• Romans 13:11-12 · LSG
• Acts 1:8 · LSG
• Matthew 9:37-38 · LSG
• Mark 16:17 · LSG

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "it's time" mean in this message?

It's time to wake up. Donnie McCLURKIN quotes Romans 13:11-12 to remind us that time is short: the Christian can no longer stay asleep while the world waits for an answer. It's time to shake off your drowsiness and step into the assignment God has given every believer: to be a witness.

Do you need to be a pastor or evangelist to share the gospel?

No. The preacher insists: you don't need a clerical collar or a diploma. God has called every Christian to be a witness, a living billboard for the grace that saved them. Your voice matters, your story matters, what God has done in you matters.

How can you combine evangelism with everyday life?

By staying alert. Donnie McCLURKIN tells how a flight attendant woke him up mid-flight to ask him to pray. Witnessing doesn't always come by plan: you seize it when God places someone in your path. Be available, take the time to stop, your presence can transform a life in an instant.