Jesus doesn’t say, “You should try to be my witnesses.”
He says, “You will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

In this first week of our new series, You Will Be: Here • Near • Hard • Far, we begin where the disciples begin—waiting, wondering, and asking the wrong questions.

What does it actually mean to be a witness?

Before we apply it, we step into the world of Acts and learn how the people who first heard that word would have understood it. In the Jewish world of the first century, a witness wasn’t an expert or a debater. A witness was someone with proximity—someone who had seen something and was willing to tell the truth about it.

Witness carried responsibility—but not control.
Credibility—but not perfection.
Calling—but not performance.

And it started right where they were: Jerusalem. Here.

This message invites us to become more aware of what God is already doing around us—and to recognize that witness begins not with going far, but with being present.