Paul Before Agrippa - Part 4 — Joshua Daniel

God's Provisions in the Christian Witness

I will put out my begging bowl. And then they will give. Listen, my dear friend. You have no need of a begging bowl. In the Christian witness is embedded the provisions of God. And I say, after all these years, how little of God's provisions I have used.

The Poverty of Shallow Love

How little of God's power I have employed. Just a beggarly amount of this and that. Beggarly love. I don't know how anybody can be satisfied with a kind of meager, not long-lasting, shallow love. Suppose our marriage vows went something like this.

Marriage Vows and the Need for Constancy

Actually, they say, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, for better or worse. All right. Suppose they went like this. As soon as you get unemployed, until you lose your front teeth, until you have a nice flowing hair, I will be faithful to you.

Will you marry under those circumstances? And your husband will come home drunk in one day. Once wife and the front teeth fall. I am free. I am free from my vows. Let me look around for some pretty face.

Not with somebody with dentures. No. We want stability. We need constancy. We need to be assured that in tough times, our family will hold together. You see, that's the natural longing of every sane, balanced person.

Faithfulness and the Restraint of Sin

But, if Christ had not been born, if the word of God had not testified against your sins, if the word of God had not testified against your sins, we would have been a bunch of ravaging beasts. There wouldn't have been one virgin.

Faithful Witnesses and Deliverance to Captives

Might we are producing such a scene again? Why? Because we are not faithful witnesses. Because we are not declaring deliverance to the captives. It has become a kind of habit today, in some quarters. What is it?

Dependence on God Rather Than Missionary Sponsors

You find sponsors if you want to go for missionary work. Go around the country. Tell them how wonderful a person you are. And you will do this and you will do that. And some rich people may give you some assurance of support.

And on that basis, we will permit you to go. Jehovah Jireh does not exist on the scene. The God of Abraham is dead. The one who said, I am the same yesterday, today, forever, is no more. What false kind of basis on which we are basing Christian missionary work today?

No, make no mistake. Very often the governments of this world make this mistake.