Acts chapter one someone asked me this morning what happened to the last minor prophet Malachi and then I was glad somebody noticed. The answer is I'm saving that. I want to preach through Malachi verse by verse and that'll happen sometime in the next year or two. Should remind you if you are typically a first service Sunday worship attender next weekend that service will begin at 8.30. 10 minutes earlier than we've been so slight adjustment will be worshiping at 8.30 and 10.30 on on Sundays beginning next week. Acts chapter one will be studying together the book of Acts between now and Christmas time. Let me ask you to stand as we read God's word the first 11 verses of the book of Acts. The first account I composed the opulence about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together Jesus command them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the father had promised which he said you heard of from me for John baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit and not many days from now and so when they had come together they were asking Jesus. Lord is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? Jesus said it is not for you to know times or epics which the father has fixed by his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem all Judea, Samaria even to the remotest part of the earth. Now after he had said these things he was listed up while they were looking on and the cloud received him out of their sight and as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was departing two men in white clothing stood beside them and they said men of Galilee why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. Amen. May God bless this reading of his holy and fallible and inspired word. The grass withers in the flower fades but not the word of God. Know the word of God stands forever. We bow your heads and pray with me. Father when all said and done when they put us in the ground and folk are standing around talking about what kind of life we led. We want them to say on that day he she was a witness. They knew God and their life showed it and they told others and they were fruitful and productive. Lord if folk wouldn't say that about us now then we ask you to change us and make us witnesses. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. You see it please. You might ask what what an astronaut what would a mountain climber what would a marine what would a CPA what would a football team all have in common. They certainly have this in common that if they weren't thoroughly prepared for their endeavor they would fail royally. If a mountain climber didn't know how to repel if an astronaut didn't know how to function in a weightless environment if a marine didn't know how to make a stealthy insurgency if a CPA didn't know the tax code and if a football team couldn't block his own blitz then none of them would be successful at all. Preparation you've got to be well prepared to be successful. Now I just happen to know why everyone in this room was born. I just happen to know why you exist. Very often people will experience a traumatic event in their life some horrible traffic accident and a car will be mangled and they'll be standing on the other side of it looking at this mangled car and what will they say fully healthy fully alive they'll say God must have a purpose for me. I mean for me to endure that being the other side of it God must have a reason for me to be alive and to say something. He does and he did before the accident as well. You just realize it now you're awakened to the fact that God has a purpose for you and I just happen to know what your purpose is every one of you to be ambassadors of the king to be royal representative to be witnesses in this world of Jesus Christ that's why you exist every one of you. Now the question then isn't so much are you ambassadors because you are you see children can't help but reflect their parents and you'll reflect your heavenly father so the real question is an are you ambassadors but what kind of ambassadors are you just how effective are you. I heard this week that that waitresses say that they like the Saturday evening crowd much better than the Sunday afternoon crowd. The Saturday evening crowd is a little looser their friendlier warmer they they're more tolerant they're patient and they're more generous they tip better. The after church crowd is uptight critical impatient in a hurry and they're stingy. You see the question is an are you an ambassador but what kind of ambassador are you. There's a red this week of a non-Christian family who had Christian neighbors and the Christian neighbors have given them bibles and tapes and invitations to various church events and somehow another they weren't really particularly attracted because they were getting very tired of every time they leave for church and we're out exercising or working in the yard on Sunday morning we see them glaring at us out their car window. We're getting tired of these drive-by shaming. It said a matter of fact we got a letter just recently from our Christian neighbors attorney warning us that we had better do something about the tree that is hanging over their property line or they'll be forced to take action. This non-Christian said of the Christians you know they could have come and talked to us about it we'd have been glad to fix it. You see the question is an are you an ambassador it's it's what kind of ambassador are you and possibly if you look at your life and you say I'm afraid I'm not a very effective ambassador witness well we might want to go back to your training maybe you haven't been adequately prepared that's what we hope to attack in the next few minutes together preparation to be effective ambassadors for Christ. Now before we start take a sermon outline we're going to talk about a few people preliminary matters related to the book of Acts in the message of its author Luke what I want you to notice first is Luke's method we ought to gain great assurance from the method employed by the author of the book of Acts he wrote another volume in the Bible the Gospel of Luke Luke is a physician Luke is highly cultured highly intelligent highly educated one of the ways we know this is that the style of Greek he employees in writing his book to the Bible is a very high cultured refined style his language his vocabulary indicates that this was an extremely intelligent well educated man now turn to Luke the Gospel of Luke the first chapter we're going to look at the first four verses and you'll see what I mean by the assurance we gain from his method Luke chapter one he writes and as much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word have handed them down to us it seemed fitting for me as well having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order what's Luke saying he's a consummate historian he has gathered together eyewitness accounts to form this record of the life and ministry of Jesus he has investigated them carefully and thoroughly he has used all the techniques that historians of old and historians today would use to produce an accurate historical record and all to one end look at verse 4 so that you might know the what you might know the exact truth about the things you have been taught listen if you're gonna go out and die for somebody if you're gonna go out and be a witness for somebody you better know the exact truth you better know precisely what's true we have people with a lot of egg on their face and our nation's capital don't they because they've been out witnessing faithfully for somebody haven't they they've been out proclaiming his integrity only to discover that they didn't know the exact truth listen if we're gonna be witnesses we want to know that what we're giving witness to is true true true true thoroughly true it's been checked it's been investigated because not one of us saw Jesus die on a cross not one of us saw him resurrect from the dead not one of us saw him raise Lazarus or divide bread and fishes to feed thousands we are utterly dependent on eyewitnesses and the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit we want exact truth and when you look at the method method employed by this historian Luke it gives even the most jaundice among us the greatest encouragement that these are non mere fables this is a historically faithful rendering of actual event now second I want you to notice Luke's message and we'll look at that by looking at the first couple verses of Acts chapter one the message of Luke he says now he wrote two books okay two volumes you know scrolls could only be like about 36 feet long and that kind of dictated how much how long a book could be okay and and he's written one scroll he's written one book and that's the gospel of Luke what was the gospel of Luke about it's right here in the first and second verse the first account I composed was about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up okay that's volume one we call that the gospel of Luke what do you think volume two is about volume one was about all the Jesus did and all that he taught before he was taken up what's volume two about what's volume two about it's called the book of Acts and what most would say is it's about the it's about the apostles it's about the church not exactly volume two is about volume one is about all that Jesus did and taught before he was taken up here's what you need to understand volume two is about all that Jesus continued to do after he was taken up okay now you might look at your Bible and say it says in my Bible this is about the Acts of the well you need to know that the titles in the Bible aren't inspired they were added just like the verse verses did you know that where it says verse three verse four those were added to make the Bible easier to read so when I tell you that maybe this book is mistitled you're not shooting me sitting there saying oh he's changing the Bible when it says the Acts of the apostles that's a title that men have a fix to this book but I would suggest you a much more accurate title would be Luke's second volume is the Acts of Jesus Christ the Acts of the resurrected Christ not executed physically and personally as his earthly ministry was but the Acts of the resurrected Christ executed through the power of the Holy Spirit and through the agency of his church now let me tell you what that's important you get a great picture of it when you see the ascension Jesus goes out of sight up into the clouds and we get this almost humorous picture of the disciples standing there and there's stun and their mouths are hanging open and they're frozen they're fixed as if something awful has happened and suddenly there are angels there telling them what close your mouths and get to work you're acting like it's the end of the world you're acting like this is the death of Jesus all over again you're acting like something traumatic and catastrophic has happened in fact just the opposite because now Christ is resurrected now Christ is ascended he is at large in the universe and now the fun is really gonna begin and that's exactly what happened right I mean in Christ earthly ministry how many followers had he gathered how many people would swear allegiance to Christ as Messiah and Savior of the world in those three years of earthly ministry how many you know West people that are in this room a couple hundred people that's all three years of his personal ministry would have yielded a following less than the people sitting in this room with you once he ascends to the right hand of the Father and the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church in a matter of days how many are followers of Christ thousands upon thousands upon thousands what's the message then of the author of the book of Acts what's he saying he's saying the ministry of Jesus hasn't ended with the ascension it's just begun a whole new chapter and it's a chapter of incredible fruitful advance of the kingdom of God all about the world and you should know no other world religion makes a claim anything like this if your religion is built around the writings of Joseph Smith Joseph Smith ministry extended to his death and then he was dead if your religion is built around Muhammad Muhammad ministered until he was dead and when he was dead he was gone that's it only Christianity is adacious enough to claim that the ministry of Jesus Christ never ended that the ministry of Jesus Christ is active in the world today he is a living Lord and he is carrying out the advance of his church as the head of the church is the superintendent of it all right so this day just like he always has you ought to know that now this is where the church makes a mistake they often say you know what wouldn't it be great if our church could be just like the early church wouldn't it be great well there's a problem with that there's quite a few but one problem is that there were events happening that we read about right here in Acts chapter 1 that are not repeatable we couldn't duplicate them in our time then never happen again I'll give you for example the first is something called the crucifixion of Jesus it's a one-time event this happened right in their city in their lifetime in their time there were numerous eyewitnesses it's not gonna happen again secondly is the resurrection of Jesus it's not happening again thirdly is the ascension of Jesus it's a one-time event and the fourth event is Pentecost Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father the Holy Spirit therefore is poured out on the church that will not happen again there are one-time events in in salvific history okay and the fact that there were people present who actually saw this happen and could give testimony to it well there aren't people today who have seen it happen and I'm very concerned if you think you have and I'm not listening to anything you say okay that's utterly distinct that's back there that can't be replicated so what do we learn from all this I'll tell you what we learn I'll tell you something that is for us today and that is before these followers of Jesus men and women could be effective witnesses they had to be thoroughly prepared by God and so do we here's first in your outline successful mission depends on education you know Jesus had these apostles with him for three years and yet for much of those three years they were absolutely clueless weren't they I mean whatever he taught they just didn't get it I mean if he multiplied loves and fishes they you know they'd be arguing about something that was completely off I mean it was like a veil there was there was like cataracts over their eyes they just didn't get it successful mission depends on education here it is Jesus has died and now he's resurrected and he's got 40 days crash course education to prepare disciples whose eyes are beginning to open up like never before look at Acts chapter one is what it says the first account I wrote was until the day Jesus was taken up after he had by the Holy Spirit given what given orders direction instruction to the apostles whom he had chosen to these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God what does that tell you for 40 days Jesus taught them of the kingdom of God for 40 days he explained for 40 days you do you realize that did you know that did you think after his resurrection Jesus kind of showed up see I'm alive gone again did you not know that he lived with the apostles for 40 days did you not know that again and again and again he met with them instructing them teaching them did we get it just one picture of those lessons in Luke chapter 24 verse 44 if you give it your attention it says this that Jesus and the disciples that eaten a meal together and when the meal was over Jesus said verse 44 Luke 24 these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled and Jesus opened their minds to understand the scripture what did they go over Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy that's the law of Moses they went over the song in Proverbs Ecclesiastes song a Solomon they went through the prophets just like we spent the summer doing Jesus took them book by book by book through the Bible explaining the scriptures to them why because how in the world can you be a witness if you've got no idea what you're talking about these are the founders of the worldwide church the church these are the founders of seven rivers church and every other church of Jesus Christ ever in the world and for 40 days Jesus fills their mind with theology and with Bible survey and Bible truth and ministry skill he opened their minds to understand and he said to them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning with Jerusalem you are witnesses of these things listen when you're hanging upside down across being murdered for what's coming out of your mouth you'd better know the God you're dying for you'd better know him really truly personally and friends can I tell you why most Christians don't witness is it because we're cowards well there's a measure of that is it because it's costly I don't think that's it you know why most Christians don't witness you see if you try to work on being a better witness you're probably starting at the wrong spot most Christians aren't witnesses because they don't know God you see unless you know him personally passionately thoroughly then you'll not be much of a witness because you have nothing to witness to or about I don't know people who knows something rich and deep that has changed in revolutionary lies their life that they don't talk about it I've never met that person if we don't talk about it it's because we don't know him if you know him you talk about him you can't help it so the answer is okay I've got to be more of a witness no no the answer is get to know him get to know him and all his glory and his majesty you see I know Shaquille O'Neal many of you don't know that we struck up an intimate relationship I was standing in the bowels of the Orlando Arena when he came out of the locker room I extended my hand and he touched it and I said hey Shaq and he responded he said you see you could say to me do you know Shaquille O'Neal tell me about him what kind of witness would I be I could tell you about his statistics and you could say I don't want to know that I want to know what he's like I want to know who he is I want to know about his character what would I be clueless would not how many people out there are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and they can tell you the stories and they can tell you a canned presentation of the gospel truth but they don't know it they don't know I'm like a father like you would sit down and tell somebody about your granddad or your dad and what they meant to you and what they'd done for you and how they were there for you and how you admire them and you respected them and you love them and you would be a witness for your family when I was in college I was wrestling with what career I'd pursue thought I might be a coach or a teacher attorney you know I really didn't want to be a pastor because most of pastors I knew were geeks most of pastors I knew I didn't like to be around them I didn't a lot of them were I just thought they were weird and and then I met a man and he was a professor of all things and he was a pastor and his name was Ralph Davis some of you have met him and when he would teach with his back to us he'd be writing on the board and he would stop and he would lean against the board and not a not an inappropriate way but he would be so overcome with the truth of what he was saying that he couldn't go on and I met somebody who wasn't just teaching me religious information he was telling me about his father his father his heavenly father Ralph Davis knew God and I wanted to know God like that you see the question isn't are you an ambassador it's what kind of ambassador are you how intimately how personally do you know God if you look at your life if you hold up the mirror and you say I don't see much witness coming out of me much witness of graciousness much witness of kindness much concern for the poor and the needy well then I ask or I admonish don't work on your witness get to know God and how will you best get to know him because you cannot go down to the village square and see Jesus perform his miracles you cannot go to the auditorium and hear him teach the only way you can get to know him is what through I witnesses through his word it's the only way and let me tell you something these educated these educated men were not scholars were they these early apostles were what common folk fishermen tax collectors and the like if they could be educated enough to know Jesus and present him accurately friends so can you if you can't read listen to the radio if you can't read you can get tips there's books in the bookstore there's libraries there's classes and I pray that a hunger would grow in you not just to get biblically literate but to know God so that you could witness of him to others we have rampant anti intellectualism in the church of Jesus Christ we think buns of steel will make our life better we're all about how we look and what we eat and we've been swept away by a culture that is exercise and body and health and diet obsessed it's time for the church of Jesus Christ to be concerned about brains of mush and say I will love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my my friends there are many people who believe that what the church of Jesus Christ needs is holy spirit fire but I am here to tell you that the fire did not fall two thousand years ago on Pentecost until the disciples were educated and the fire will not fall today until there are hearts soaked in the kerosene of God's word second mission success depends on education secondly it depends on clarity if you don't know what the mission is you just will not be successful at it Florida State University used to have a football coach named Bill Peterson Bill Peterson almost single-handedly made the term athletic scholarship into an oxymoron
you can chuckle if you're inclined Bill Peterson was known to give directions like this to his football players I want you to pair up in threes and line up in a circle that's the hard directions to follow Bill Peterson was heard to say things like I want you to line up alphabetically by height and so the apostles of Jesus Christ gathered for final instructions have to have clarity what is it he wants them to do and they say to Jesus Lord is it time is this it you trained as you work with us and now it's time for the kingdom isn't it and now Israel is going to be raised to its right position of authority the Romans are going to be cast off and you're going to call down the power of heaven and you are going to crown yourself as the king and you are going to sit in power and authority among us as a living ruler of the world and of course we'll be your deputies and we've gotten past that that awful mess with that crucifixion thing now it's time for your kingdom to come that's what they say I think it's verse 6 isn't it and what does Jesus say you don't understand the mission at all because my kingdom is not territorial and it's not national and it's not now my kingdom is spiritual and my kingdom is international and what what the Jewish people have failed to do and what you are still feeling failing to realize is that is that you are to be my witnesses do you know that there are still people and there's a great deal of the North American church that still thinks the establishment of the nation of Israel is that they are God's people and this is God's plan of working out his coming of his kingdom and you know who is more scratching their heads at this more than anyone else is Palestinian Christians who are still wondering how these people who hate God and oppress God's people like them are God's people it makes absolutely no sense at all Jesus couldn't say it much more clearly than he does throughout the word that the kingdom of God is not territorial it is not about raising up the nation of Israel to be a great nation upon which Jesus will sit as a king over a national people but that the kingdom of God is spiritual that the kingdom of God is international and that the Jews were called to be what a light to the Gentiles that all the Gentiles would stream in and be a part of this international kingdom of God and yet the Jews failed to do it and Jesus says now to these followers of his you will be my witnesses to Judea yes Jerusalem Judea Samaria to the end of the earth and that's the commission given to us that's why you exist that's why the church is established to be witnesses to the end of the earth you know what I don't think most Christians today have a clue how well it was established how well the church did under tremendous persecution and sword they spread throughout the entire world where did the Apostle Thomas go who knows who went to India thanks nobody the first service knew not one hand most people do not even know that the Apostles went to the end of the earth with the gospel Tertullian said by the year 200 there was nothing left for the pagan that Rome was a Christian city that the Roman court was filled with Christians though all every level of the Roman government was filled with Christians there were Christians at virtually every town in Hamlet he said the only place left for the pagans is their temples their idol worshiping center so pervasive and effective had been the the Christians going out to every place as witnesses but we forget don't we it's called mission drift we forget why we exist and last week I stood in this very place instead of seven rivers church god called us to establish a beach head in this community god called us to build a church at a school and we have spent an an ordinent amount of we spent a tremendous amount of of money and time and effort to build a church but more and more we will stop asking this question how do we make seven rivers church better because it's the wrong question well how do we make seven rivers church better hands could go up all over the room well I think we need more decap you know I think the cute communion bread is not handled quite honestly we could go on and on and a lot of your suggestions would be you could say I think we have to do this on the nursery I think our youth program I think our children I think admissions do you know what there's no end of trying to perfect the church and no matter how hard we work on it it'll never be what bunch of centers like us it's never going to be perfect it's the wrong question how do we make the church better because we want it to be better for us the right question is how do we make our community flourish that's what we need to be asking what's broken in citrus county and how can the people of God move out to fix it in his name and I'll tell you what's broken in citrus county more than anything else and if we had hands raised around the room again we could list all sorts of things that need to be fixed in our community but I'll tell you what our community needs more than anything else they need saving knowledge of Jesus Christ they need personal relationship with Jesus Christ and how are they going to get it except for you go and be his ambassadors and it will be costly it always has do you know that Jesus said you shall be my and you know what the word is you shall be my maturas you shall be my martyrs every one of those men saved the apostle John died because they were witnesses the gospel of the kingdom spread around the world with their blood I saw a picture in the paper a couple weeks ago bomb explosions in Africa at our embassies right I saw a picture of the United States ambassador to Kenya her picture was on the front page of many us newspapers did you see it what was what will you remember about that picture her face was covered with blood shrapnel glass had hit her and they led her away covered with blood it's costly to be an ambassador of the United States it's costly to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ but friends this is our calling we must not drift into lives obsessed with ourselves obsessed with our kingdom obsessed with the stock market obsessed with our retirement accounts obsessed with the advancement of our business and our aims die kingdom come that's my passion we're witnesses go make disciples that's why you exist in 1866 a Mexican boat made its way up the the the titan river in Korea towards Pyongyang Korea was a totally closed country any foreigner found in Korea was to be killed this Mexican freighter made its way up the river on that freighter was a Welsh Welsh missionary named Robert J. Thomas he wanted to get the gospel to the Korean that freighter ran a ground crowd gathered on the shore began to throw spears shoot arrows whatever they had the ship caught on fire everyone on it had to swim for the shore and there they were greeted with people with axes and spears and knives and guns every occupant of the ship was killed years later they spoke of one man a strange man who didn't come to the shore defending himself but he struggled through the waters of the river with a stack of books and even as he was being stabbed to death he flung those books towards the shore
Samuel Moffitt is the first Christian missionary to Korea Korea is the most Christian nation of the earth you know that Samuel Moffitt's first convert the first known Christian in Korea said he discovered that this first Christian had a Bible how could it be and the man said I got this Bible from my father he plucked it from the bloody waters of the Taitong River 30 years ago we stand in big shoes don't we folks men women and children who went to the ends of the earth to be witnesses and I want to tell you something I'm so proud to see Linda Connor stand up here and say she's a witness to the Renaissance Center where she gathers for prayer morning after morning with other staff praying for their school I am so proud of many of you who are valiant warriors in the fight and if you never see any fruit in your neighborhood and in your family don't you quit don't you be weary of well-doing Robert Thomas died in the water of that river never seen a convert did he go to Pyongyang you could worship in the Thomas Memorial Church to this day where people are still coming to faith in Christ because of his work he never saw one convert
witnesses don't you quit and the last and finally and most important is this to be a successful witness you must be empowered the disciples could not leave Jerusalem until they had what the Holy Spirit but they could not get the Holy Spirit until what what had to happen before they got the Holy Spirit Jesus had to ascend to the right hand of the Father and only then only with the advocacy of Jesus before the Father would the Father send his Spirit only when Jesus returned to glory and in a sense presented the righteousness his righteousness on our behalf would the Spirit be sent out to endure men and women does that still have application today my friends it does here it is you will never be an effective joyful witness for Jesus Christ until you understand that the Son of God stands at the right hand of the Father as your righteousness as your surety as your advocate so that when the Father looks at you when the Father looks at Melanie Vistab when the Father looks at Bruce Emberley and Bill Haine the Father sees someone who is righteous and he says I am pleased with you my beloved because of the advocacy of Jesus you will not witness with joy you will not witness with boldness you will not witness with authority we need to go no farther in the Bible in Acts chapter 7 that tells us that Deacon was apprehended and he was accused of being a follower of Jesus and they began to kill him his name was Stephen and when the stones rained down on Stephen's head he radiates in fact God allowed him to see what he already intellectually knew to be true the Bible says the heavens opened up and Stephen looked up and he saw Jesus not seated at the right hand of the Father but standing and what do you suppose Jesus was doing as Stephen was dying Stephen condemned by an earthly tribunal Stephen condemned to death even them suffering their blows saw Jesus arguing his case before the Father telling the Father this is one of mine this is one of my beloved this is one his righteous and Stephen emboldened by the fact that the Father was looking on him with delight and pleasure suffers a martyr's death with joy in fact Stephen's last words are what Father forgive them you know we look at our lives we can't forgive the checkout clerk because she messes up our order we live lives very often with no grace we have our attorney send letters to our neighbor our non-Christian neighbor because they're treasoning over our line the only way we will ever be a gracious people is if God by his spirit allows us to see heaven opened up in Christ witnessing on our behalf before the Father so that the Father looks on us with the light and pleasure and says you are my beloved child in you I am well pleased if that is true and I know that's true my life will be filled with joy and power it's the most essential thing to witness I know do you have a vision of the ascended Christ as your advocate there was a very rough crude movie may just a few years ago called sleepers it had some very disturbing material of young boys who are horribly abused in a children's home they grow to be adults and as adults a couple of them take revenge and they execute one of the guards from that home that had so sorely mistreated them they're arrested and they're tried and you know what they're guilty they are completely guilty they have no defense unless their childhood priest will come and lie for them he will make up an alibi that they were with him that night they could not have committed the murder because they were with him and so the tension of the movie is whether the priest will lie on the stand or not Robert De Niro lies and they walk free friends you are guilty before the eternal judge of the universe and you have a high priest named Jesus who stands between you and the wrath of the father he does not lie he dies he dies for you and by his death he doesn't have to lie he can offer himself as your substitute so that you walk scotry you see I long for my life and your life to be witnesses I long for seven rivers to fill up every empty chair in this play
to rise up church but that will never happen until we realize we will never be effective witnesses until we realize that hour by hour day by day Jesus is our witness before the father amen