Thank you, Choir, for that magnificent anthem. And let me add my welcome to that of Dr. Pollan, to all of you that are worshiping with us today who are visiting. If you're watching on radio or television and have just tuned in, you're worshiping with the First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas. A replay of these telecasts goes out at night on many, many television stations by way of cable and folk who write today watch us in a lot of different states, and Louisiana and Alabama and Tennessee and different places. And we hope that when you come to Houston and the time won't be too long, it's your worship here with us. This morning's message is entitled, The Witness of the Body. I'm going to ask you to turn to the 15th chapter of John, if you will, please. This is the sixth in a seven -part series entitled, The Body of Christ. And I want you to keep your Bibles open there to the 15th chapter, if you will, please. And we're going to be skipping back and forth in many places through the book of John in the next few minutes. Next Sunday morning, I will conclude the series with a study on the message entitled, The Fellowship of the Body, and begin a series on the cross which will take us to Easter. Next Sunday night, I shall begin a series on forgiveness from the 51st Psalm. And tonight, incidentally, at 7 o 'clock, not incidentally, this is supremely important. Mr. Steve O 'Kelley, our dynamic minister to young adults, is going to preach. And we'll have an incinillating and exciting service beginning here at 7 o 'clock. And so you dare not miss it. It's going to be an exciting day at First Baptist Church. And just keep your Bibles open there, if you would, please. And we'll come back to the study of the 15th chapter of John in just a moment. And the message, the witness of the body. As we have seen, God, down through history, has been attempting to reveal Himself and His nature redemptively to the world. For 33 years, He planted His likeness in a body and called the body Jesus Christ. But that man died on the cross for our sins and arose and went back to heaven. Now He is seated on the right hand of the Father. But when He went back to heaven, Jesus said, I am going to send the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes, He's going to create another body. A new body, exactly like my body, so that the world will have a perpetual witness of the likeness of God and the nature of the Father. This body is going to be comprised of many different bodies. And so collectively, all believers at conversion are given gifts, personality, characteristics, which are divinely Spirit -empowered to reproduce some characteristic or characteristics of the likeness of Jesus Christ. And all of us fit together, make up a composite personality, a new body of the Lord Jesus as a perpetual witness to the world. This body is a living organism. And it is God's testimony of Himself to the world. Now over in John, you don't need to turn. Yes, go ahead. We'll go back and forth through John. In John chapter 17, verse 20, Jesus says, I am not praying simply for my disciples, not those that are alive right now, but as well only, not only those, but for those who shall also believe on me through their word, through their witness and preaching, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. And what is the purpose of the oneness, the diversity, the mutuality, the harmony of the body? It is in order that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, that the world might believe that Jesus Christ came from God. Missionary evangelistic witness, then, is the purpose of the church. It is the ministry of the body of Christ. We are a body for witness. Now, the word witness is, of course, a legal term, and it comes from the Greek word martereo. To witness has with it the concept of a courtroom. And in the courtroom, we see that there is a jury and a judge. The judge, of course, the jury that is deciding the trial is the world. You say, who's on trial? Jesus Christ is on trial. Now, there is an accusing attorney. There is the, what's the word I want? Not the defense attorney. The prosecuting attorney. The prosecuting attorney is the devil. The prosecuting attorney is Satan. The defense attorney that is defending him and commending the Lord Jesus Christ before the trial of the world is, of course, the paraclysis, the advocate, the defender, the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus Christ is on trial. The world is the judge. The prosecuting attorney is Satan. Destroying the testimony of Jesus. Accusing Jesus. Condemning Jesus. Trying Jesus. Slandering him. Cursing him. Swearing him. The paraclysis, the paraclysis, the paraclysis, the paraclysis, the Holy Spirit is defending him. And in order to substantiate the testimony of the two trial lawyers, both of them call witnesses. Well, that's where you and I come in. We stand to give commendation and validity and testimony to the reality of Jesus Christ to the world. Now, in the witness that goes on, there are six things that you must understand regarding the nature of effective Christian witness. And I want you to look now, if you will, in John chapter 15, verse number 25 and 26. Let's make it 26 and 7. Verse 26 and 7. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which shall proceed from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. Now, I want to say these six things, and perhaps you'll want to write them down. The purpose of the body in its assembly, in its living reality, is to give testimony to the world in a court that Jesus Christ is come from God. That's no side issue. That is why we are here. Now, as witnesses, we are going to have to understand what it means to give an effective witness. Six characteristics of effective Christian witness. Number one, Christian witness is to the world. It is to the world. Now, the Bible says in verse 25, in verse 26, When the Spirit shall come, he shall testify of me. In verse 27, and ye also shall bear witness. Now, we are to bear witness, and the Spirit is to bear witness. To whom is the Spirit to be, the witness to be born? To whom are we to witness? Well, neither of those verses actually say. But the Bible makes it very clear in the context that the witness is to be given to an unbelieving, Christ -hating world. All down through the context, you see it. Go back in verse 18, if you will. Well, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Verse 19, if you were of the world, the world will love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Verse 21, but all things will they do unto you, for my name's sake. The world will hate you and destroy you, because they know not him that sent me. Verse 24, if I had done among them the world, the works which had no other man done, they had not had sin. He said, if I hadn't witnessed to them, they wouldn't be responsible, but I have. But now have they, the world, both seen and hated me and my father. Verse 25, but this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they hated me whom, the world, without a cause. Chapter 16, verse 1, these things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. They whom, the world, shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time will come that whomsoever whom, the world, killeth you, will think that he doeth God's service. Verse 3, and these things will they do, who the world unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. Christian witness, therefore, is to the world. The world is always judging Jesus Christ. Some judge him as a fake and a phony. Some judge him as simply a good man. Some judge him as the ultimate teacher. Some judge him as one of many revelations of God. But the world is going to be judging Jesus based on the commending witness of those who are witnesses in the trial. And that's going to be you and I. It's not a Christian witness when you sit around and talk to another Christian. Now, it's good to do that. It's good to discuss theology and discuss the things of Christ. But the Christian witness is not to be given to each other. The Christian witness is to be given to the world. They're the ones that are trying Christ. You and I have already tried him and found him innocent. We found him worthy of all acceptation. We received him. And now the world is still judging him. And whether they believe he is simply a phony or a good man or the Son of God, worthy of the lordship of their lives, is going to be determined, ultimately swaying the world by the witness of the believers. You say, what are you and I to do then when the world despises us and hates us? Are we supposed to crawl into a corner and complain? No. Are we supposed to be antagonistic and fight back at the world? No. Are we supposed to retreat into a small Bible study group? No. We are supposed to be consistent and persistent even in the face of death, even to the end of the age, no matter what it costs you. Jesus said, ye shall be my witnesses. Remember that the world is the target. The world is the object of the witness of the believer. Secondly, Christian witness is to the world and Christian witness is of the Son. Of the Son. Again, verse 26. The Spirit of God, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. Verse 27. And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me. Christian witness is about Jesus Christ. All of the New Testament sermons were about Jesus. I like what Dr. Toler said that Peter always took any occasion to burst into a sermon. And it was always the Prince of Glory that you slew. God raised him up with exceeding power. The witness of the New Testament is always about Jesus Christ. Acts 1 .8. Jesus said, then you shall be witnesses of me. Moo. Witnesses. Martyrose. Moo. Martyrose. You shall be my witness. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you for the purpose that you shall be empowered to witness about me. Christian witness is always directly centered in the person of Jesus Christ. I'm impressed that so much Christian witnessing today, supposed Christian witness, is merely an autobiography. How many times have people come in to give their testimony and they always talk about, well, let's see, when I was nine years old, I went to Sunday school for the first time. And when we were 14, we moved to, and on and on it goes, kind of a glorified autobiography to talk about Jesus Christ, not just to give the Roman road, not just to invite people to come to church, not just to say, come and hear our pastor preach, or not hear my Sunday school teacher teach, or the choir sing, Christian witness is a witness about Jesus Christ. You shall testify of me, he said. Revelation 19. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ. John, the author of this book, is saying in Revelation that even the prophets gave witness through their prophecy of Jesus. It is always about the Lord Jesus Christ. What a pity that so little of our testimony and witness really today is about the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Jesus when he preached. He is understanding that the magnificent power that transforms men is the power that is resident innately in his very being. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the resurrection. I am the life. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. They that have seen me have seen the Father. I and my Father are one. If any man come up any other way but by me, he is a thief and a robber. If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved. You see, Jesus, of course, had a good Christology about his preaching. It was Christocentric. It was always talking about the man. I read the manuscripts of the Beirut Youth Congress in Lebanon in the 19th, World Congress on Youth Evangelism in 1968. The theme of the messages, the theme of the entire week was a change in Christ for a change, a changeless Christ for a changing society. and most of them had far more to say about a changing world than they had about a changeless Christ. In my mind, that was a preaching tragedy. The apostle Paul is always getting himself in a corner and saying, not something happened, not something touched me, but somebody touched me. He was always going back to a literal, vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's very collegiate in this astute generation to talk about the Christian dimension and the Christian ethic, but I'm hearing very little preaching about the Christ and very little witnessing about the Christ. Listen, to depart from the reality of a personal Christ is to depart from biblical revelation. It is always about Jesus, the testimony, the teaching, the music, the witness that is given collectively by the church and individually by the soul winner is always about Jesus, who he is. In him resides the power to transform lives and in him alone. He shall testify of me, and ye also shall speak of me. Christian witness then is to the world. It is of the Son. And number three, Christian witness is by the Father. All witnessing emanates from the Father. It was his supreme desire to give testimony to the Son, to give witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is loved by the Father. He is the mark of the Father. He is the incarnation of the Father. And it is the Father who commends him, the Father who honors him, the Father who exalts him. All Christian witness is ultimately of him. Listen, the Father on high reverently is the ultimate witness of the reality of Jesus Christ in the courtroom of life to an unbelieving world. John 8, 54. Turn back to your Bibles, if you will, just for a moment, please. And then back to John 5. John 8, 54 and John 5. Let's thumb through here very quickly. John 8, 54. Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honoreth me, of whom you say that he is your God. Jesus said, the Father witnesses to me. The Father gives honor to me. Now turn back to John chapter 5, if you will, please. Look at verse 31 and 32. John 5, verse 31 and 32. Jesus says, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that bears witness of me, which I know, and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. Now who is that other one? Verse 36. He said, it's a lot greater witness than that of John. For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me and the Father hath sent me. He said, the works that I do by the Father are the Father's works in me, and this is his witness to validate that I came from him to the world. Verse 37. And the Father himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. Now you say, in what way did the Father bear witness to the Son? Well, in three ways, I think. First of all, the Father bore witness to the Son through the Old Testament. Jesus said to the disciples and to the Pharisees one day in John 5, verse 39, search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. The entire Old Testament was about Jesus Christ. How a man can read the Old Testament. I can read the Lamb slain for the foundation of the world, the Passover, the Feast. How I can see the Messiah, the Messianic passages, the exalted King, Isaiah 53, and not see Jesus is beyond me. Jesus was walking along the Emmaus road with the disciples. Luke chapter 24, verse 27, in that beautiful passage, and listen to what he says. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, that's the Old Testament Scriptures, the things concerning himself. So the Father bore witness to the Son in the Old Testament. And then the Father bore witness to the Son by enabling him to do the works which he did. In the works and words of Jesus Christ, John 10, 24 and 25. Turn back to John 10, please. Verse 24 and 25. John 10, verse 24 and 25. Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If you are the Christ, then tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you and ye believe not. So the works that i do in my father's name that doesn't just mean naming his name but in accordance with my father's will and power the works that i do in my father's name they bear witness of me but she believed not because ye are not my sheep as i said unto you then if you will turn over to chapter 14 verses 10 and 11 chapter 14 verses 10 and 11. jesus says you can't believe me you're finding it hard to believe who i am you see as i said last sunday the works the miracles that jesus did were the validation of who he was authenticating his messiahship from the father now look verse 10 do you not believe that i am in the father and the father in me the words that i speak unto you i speak not of myself but the father that dwelleth in me he says the father is doing these works and the father in me he doeth the works as well as the words believe me that i am in the father and the father in me and if you can't believe that then at least believe for the very works sake jesus said not only were the works which he did and the words which he spoke of the father but they were to validate the fact that he came from the father and so the father gave witness to the son through the old testament and through the words and works of jesus but there's another way the witness of the father the of jesus is by the father through direct verbal testimony you remember that when jesus christ was baptized the heavens open and the father said this is my beloved son hear ye in whom i am well pleased and then at the night of transfiguration the heavens open again and god said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased hear ye him so twice the father intervened in history to directly give verbal attestation to the reality of jesus christ number four now let's remember the world is the target the nature of christian witness is that it is to the world it is of the son it is by the father and christian witness is through the spirit now look again in verse 26 back here in john 15 our key verse but whom the comfort when the comforter is come whom i will send unto you from the father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the father he shall testify of me the spirit was sent of the father to give testimony to the son so all true witness all true christian testimony is centered then in the holy spirit you and i cannot witness apart from jesus christ your body is the temple of the holy spirit christ lives in you he is the paraclysis the advocate called alongside through your being to do the witnessing you can't convict a man about jesus you talk to a hundred people five of them respond and want to come to christ 95 of them turn you off and look at you like you're crazy what's the difference you did the same thing to all of them the holy spirit but through whom does the holy spirit work through the believer and if you do not give your brain and your mind and your heart to him to be a witness through then he has no way to speak listen john 14 17 turn back just a little bit if you will please john 14 17 the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither know of him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you the holy spirit man has no physical voice the holy spirit has no pulpit the holy spirit has no platform on which to stand the only way that the spirit can give witness to the testimony that jesus is christ is through your tongue and through your talent and through your brain and through your feet and through your body he has no other way in which to do it and the only thing that he is trying to do is to fill us and to hook us up to his power that through us the world might believe that jesus christ is come from the father oh that's the essence christian witness is through the spirit you remember the story of how abraham of the old testament sent out eliezer his servant to go find a bride for isaac his wonderful son the whole the father the father is abraham that's god the father eliezer is the one that is sent to seek out the bride the world the believers who are in the world who are to be wooed and one are the bride and isaac is the son now he sent him out and said i want you to go do one thing i want you to find a bride for my son and bring him back. I suppose I sent you out and you're my son and I say, Son, I want you to go to the store. I want you to be my servant today. I want you to go on an errand for me. And I want you to go down to the store and bring some bread and some milk. And you go to the store and you stay and you come back and I say, Well, son, where's the bread and milk? Did you bring it? You say, Well, Father, let me tell you what I did. I went to the store and I exhumerated so very much joy. Oh, I was the happiest one in the store. I lived in the store with all the people. And everybody saw how I bubbled, how enthusiastic I was. And they all looked at me and said, My, what a wonderful bubbler he is. How exciting, how impressive. Oh, that's fine, son. But did you bring the bread and the milk? Well, Father, you know, one of the fruits of the Spirit is that a man is long -suffering. And, Father, there were 38 people in one line and there were six in another line. And I only had a little bit to get. But I stood in that line with 38 people and I demonstrated long -suffering. Well, that's fine, son. I'm glad you demonstrated long -suffering. But did you bring the bread and the milk? You see, I could go on like this all day. We can teach and we can sing and we can demonstrate power and we can be long -suffering and patient. But, man, the name of the game is to bring home the bacon. I mean, that's the point of our existence. Oh, I played the piano so beautifully in the department. I gave out bulletins at the door. I helped to park cars. I counted the money. That's wonderful. Did you bring home the bread and the milk? Do you have any leaves? All only leaves. But do you have some fruit to lay at the Master's feet? The Holy Spirit, you see, is quenched in our lives, unable to bring fruit, unable to bring home a bride to the Lord if you and I don't give Him our bodies through which to work. He has no other platform. So it's through the Spirit. Number five. Christian witness, then, is in the members individually. The Bible says, ye shall be my witnesses. It's not an option. The Bible says, ye have committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. Look at verse number 27. He says, the Spirit of God is going to witness. He shall speak of me and ye also. He says, I'm not just talking about the Father's witness who sent the Son and the Spirit and the Spirit's witness. It is in you. He said, you also shall be my witnesses. And you say, oh, preacher, I can't go out and visit. I can't go out and witness. Oh, but you can. Listen. You know, so many people are afraid to try to witness. Let me tell you something. You are a witness. Now, you might be a bad witness. And some of us might live lives that are so poor that we're better off out of the courtroom because we're doing Jesus more harm than good. And sometimes that happens in the life of a believer when he gets so backslidden that he brings reproach in the name of Christ. And he says he's a bad witness and he takes him home prematurely to heaven. I believe that's the sin unto death. Other people live lives that are clean and they speak of Jesus and their life shows the love of Jesus. And they are commending him and supporting him and giving testimony to him. And they are blessing Jesus before the whole world. But you don't have a choice as to whether you will or will not witness. The only choice you have is whether you will be a poor witness or a good witness. But your life will bring testimony to Jesus of one nature or another, of some kind or another. That's the purpose of our existence. Is it a bad witness that you're giving? Is it a good witness? That's the purpose of the body individual member to give witness to the Son. Oh, you say, but I can't do it. I can't go out. Tomorrow night's visitation. I can't do it. Oh, hear me now. You say, I don't know what to say. Man, you don't have to know how to discuss the doctrine of the museo or discuss the theology of sublactarianism or to write a thesis and be able to argue about the pros and cons of the pseudoepigraphical writings. I can't do anything. All you do is talk about Jesus. If you had an experience with Jesus, you talk about what's happened to you. Don't turn. Let me read again to you from part of what John says over in 1 John. That with which he opens. 1 John 1 .1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled on of the word of life. He says, listen, I'm going to tell you about Jesus, man. I've seen him. I've touched him. I've handled Him. I've listened to Him. I've looked into His eyes. You don't need to worry about theology. Have you touched Jesus? Has He touched you? Do you love Him? Do you have something to tell? Have you had an experience with Jesus? That's all you have to do. That's what it means to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Christ, you know, that's a precious experience and a precious commodity, a precious possession. It ought to be the most priceless thing in the world to you. Your experience with Jesus that you can tell someone about. Of such value, was it, that the word martiriro, from which we get the word witness, witness became the word martyr because it was so consistent in biblical days that for a man to give testimony of Jesus that it cost him something. And it often cost him his life. And so a witness who told about Jesus and a man who laid down his life for Jesus were one and the same. What have you given up for him? How many of us come to visit on Monday nights? 30, 50, 80? Man, we've got twice that many deacons alone. You don't remember the night that you ordained and you gave your life in service to him. How many people have you personally told about Jesus? You say, well, I witnessed to one of my friends the other day. Oh, did you? What did you tell him? Well, I kind of let him know that I go down there to church some. Listen, man, it is a verbal attestation to an experience with the man of Galilee. That's a witness. And if you've had such an experience with him, then you ought to be able to talk about it. The last word I want to say is this. A Christian witness. Listen closely. Christian witness is to the world. It is of the Son. It is by the Father. It is through the Spirit. It is in the member individually. And Christian witness, lastly, is in the church collectively. Collectively. It is in the body unified. Collectively. Oh, if you and I were really one, if in humility and love and honor, preferring one another, that the world might know that we had been with Jesus. If you and I were such a perfect composite, exercising our gifts and love and honor to the world. I'll tell you, I'll tell you, the testimony of the church today would be devastating. Devastating to the world. But most churches, the church worldwide today is a Corinthian testimony. We're divided. We're split up a thousand ways. I'm not saying we ought to kiss doctrine goodbye and march arm in arm down somewhere to feed the poor. We ought to love and feed the poor. But I am saying to us that there is a centrality in the oneness in Jesus Christ. And I believe that that's one of the things that happens when an unbeliever walks into the church. That's what they sense that they can't explain. That's what they know has been happening these years. That we cannot express, man, we're coming to the presence of Jesus. The Spirit of God dwells not only in the believer individually, but also, Ephesians makes it very clear in the fourth chapter, in the body collectively, you are a holy church built up into oneness and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That's what it means to be a Christian. That's what it means to be a member of the church. To be a witness for Jesus. Now, where are we as a church today? How many have we won to Christ? How many have we baptized this year? We spent $100 ,000, $200 ,000, I don't know, $300 ,000 in this church year already since October. How many are under the water? How many converts have we put away? How many have been saved by our witness? Oh, church, I don't care how much we celebrate, or how much we give, or how beautifully we sing, or heartily we say amen. Alas, there is always the consummate reality of the total witness to who Jesus is. Missions and evangelizing that men are believing on Jesus, then there's very little purpose else for our existence. I'll tell you a little story, and with this I finish. Once upon a time, there was a life -saving station in a lighthouse along a shore somewhere off the coast of England. Through the years, hundreds and hundreds of people were saved. It's a wonderful little life -saving station, and people were blessed because of it. And every time there would be a shipwreck, they would send out a little sound and alarm on a bell that rang, and all the merchants in the city, and all of the farmers, and all the tax collectors, and the candle lighters, and everybody that worked around would just drop what they did and immediately rush into the battle of pulling people that were drowning from the life from the edge of the water and pull them to safety. What became a wonderful thing. So one day they decided well we could do a lot better job if we got organized and so they decided to band together and organize as a life saving organization. Well that was wonderful. They got a doctrine and a charter and they elected officers and became a great life -saving operation. Well then somebody said no what we need is a historical commission. We need to be writing up the history of all of these great life -saving ventures and so they hired somebody to write all that up it was all very wonderful and then they some of the men got to be kind of old they said I tell you what let's get us a full -time paid lighthouse director who's a real whiz at saving lost people that are drowning out there and let's give him a good salary and put him on the head roll as the head payroll as the head lifesaver. So they did and it was such a good idea it worked so well that they hired a big staff of associate lifesavers and boy every time people would drown the alarm would go up they'd drop what they're doing they'd rush in the boat they were pros they all had uniforms on life they all knew the lingo they'd all rush in the water at the same time it was it was a beautiful symphonic thing to see it happen and all the folks that were charter members of the life -saving station they thought it was so wonderful they just started sat back and let the professionals do it and it was a wonderful thing you know one day somebody said I tell you what we're doing such a good job let's start us a saving school and let's teach other folks how to do it and they came from far and near and the attendance went up and up and before you know it they had hundreds of folks enrolled in life -saving and they were kept paying these same few folks to do it everybody knew a lot how to do it they studied how to do it the greatest techniques the latest style in life -saving and somebody began to notice one day that they weren't doing quite as well in a percentage of how many people they were saving when the drowning started and the ship started singing and somebody got mad and they said I don't like it so I kind of like it like it used to be I think I'm gonna pull out and so he pulled out and went four miles down the road and started him a new life -saving station and this time every time the bells would ring he'd jump in himself and everybody'd go and it wasn't very long until there were so many life -saving stations up and down the line the whole thing began to happen they got together and organized a great life -saving denomination all there were hundreds and hundreds of them all up and down the coast they had a historical commission they had an educational commission they had high -powered people they had a school it was wonderful but through the years they began to notice that folks got wrapped up in the mechanics and the style and the music and and the publication and the techniques and all of what they were doing and the preservation and the training that they got more busy and learning about how to do it than they did in doing it and it began to turn out that every time there were wrecks and shipwrecks people were drowning more and more were lost and there were more lost people drowning around than there ever were and they got bigger than they'd ever been before and today you drive down that road and it has become a beautiful fantastic four -lane highway and as far as the eye can see gorgeous architecture beautiful landscape folks all over the place beautiful building it's a marvelous great functioning organization and everybody's an expert in life -saving oh shipwrecks yes they they still have them but now when they do everybody drowns once upon a time there was a church may we stand forgive us our father personally as a church as a denomination as a worldwide body for failing so many times to give more attention to the techniques and the statistics and being enamored with the sheer excitement of what it's all about sometimes we failed to do it we don't know if this is true of our church we sense very much that it could be and we ask your forgiveness and we've lord we can't really be responsible for the body worldwide and for the churches but oh god for this pastor's heart and for his people oh spirit of god we together pray give us a renewed commitment to what it means to be a church the ultimate purpose of all of its ministries of which are to give testimony to the lost world that jesus christ came from god help us in his name amen