They were around in the days of Jesus here on earth, and they are still to be found: teachers of the law who know how to captivate people with their impressive learnedness. Yet all their knowledge of scripture does not enable them to change the hearts of people.
The people in those days were amazed at Jesus’ teaching, because He taught as One Who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matthew 7:29). There is so much preaching of the gospel that people listen to eagerly because of the rich language, the beautiful thoughts, while it is powerless; there is no divine authority.
The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Corinthians 4:20). We can - of course - say that the words of Jesus were so powerful because He was the Son of God, but Jesus said, ‘Whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these’ (John 14:12). So, our testimony will be just as powerful as that of Jesus, if only we will testify of what we have seen ourselves and not of what we have derived from hearsay.
When an accident happens on the road, there are always people who have seen it. They are witnesses of the accident. Often they do not want to testify, because of the consequences that may have. But they ARE witnesses, because they have seen it. Others see the wreckage and reconstruction the accident in their minds. They are eager to testify, but their testimony is of no value.
If we simply bear witness to what we have really seen and experienced of the love of Christ, our testimony will have more power than the most beautiful sermon.