OPENING LINES. 1 John 1:1-4.

Can you name these novels by their famous openings?

“Call me Ishmael.”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”

“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”

“It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

The Bible also has great openings, perhaps the two best being Genesis and the Gospel of John. But John’s later book, the letter of First John, also opens with a nice piece of what amounts to both poetry and a solid defense of the faith:

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life—that Life was revealed and we have seen it and testify and proclaim to you also so that you may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write so that our joy may be made complete” 1 John 1:1-4.

Bravo, another piece of lovely writing from John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” But this is also a great testimony. In fact, John begins here as if to say:

“Look. I am an EYEWITNESS. I saw Jesus. I walked with Him. I went to the Cross. I saw Him after He was resurrected. I am a witness! Trust me.”

There is nothing more persuasive than the testimony of an eyewitness. And John assures us that he is that. Look at the verbs: What we have

HEARD…

SEEN…

LOOKED AT…

TOUCHED…

SEEN…

TESTIFY…

PROCLAIM.

That is the key to evangelism: tell your friends what you have SEEN, TOUCHED, HEARD, and EXPERIENCED. Bear witness to what God has done in your life, in your experiences. Share what has become your eyewitness testimony.

What have you seen God do?

Start there. Talk about it.

ΑΩ

The novels: 1) MOBY DICK, by Herman Mellville, 2) A TALE OF TWO CITIES, by Charles Dickens, 3) OLD MAN AND THE SEA, by Ernest Hemingway, and 4) PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, by Jane Austen.