Our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ is to bear witness of Him before a watching world. Our enemy doesn’t want us to do this, and if we do, he doesn’t want us to be effective at it.
Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8 that after His ascension, they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them; and they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This should be translated – “You must be witnesses to me” (Williams Translation).
Depending on your relationship with the Holy Spirit and your dependence on Him you will be either a positive and effective witness or a bad or ineffective witness.
Paul knew this very clearly as he went into the city of Corinth. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”
When writing 1 Thessalonians 1:5, Paul reminded them that “our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”
A verbal witness is important, but without the anointing of the Holy Spirit it will not have power nor bring deep conviction in reaching people for Christ.