Dreams and Visions — John Rhys Watkins

This message is part of the Bethel Pulpit Ministries series, recorded at Mountain Ash. This tape and all other Bethel Ministry tapes can be freely copied and distributed. For more information, email bethelministries at btopenworld .com.

Pentecost, Dreams, and Visions

Acts chapter 2, beginning at verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.

For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. May the Lord bless the reading of that word to us tonight.

Amen. Dreams and visions, that's what we're looking at. Pentecost, we know that, that's the context. The day of Pentecost has come. Christ has returned to his church in the power of the Spirit. You have to know the context of this before we get there.

You know that as he walked with those disciples in the Gospels, he was training them, that was their discipleship. Three and a half years. But he's preparing them for this time. You know when John 14, he spoke to them, if I go away, I will come again to you.

The final realization of that will be at the rapture. But now for these men, Christ is returning in the power of the Spirit. He's come to them. This is the meaning of Pentecost. Christ coming to the church.

Christ is the power in the church. Christ coming and being what he says he'll be in that church. He'll be the comforter. He says, I'll not leave you, nor will I forsake you. I will come to you. So he's come to this church.

This church that is frightened. This church that is afraid. This church that is tired and run down and worn down. Because they're master of the Lord. He's died. Some say he's been resurrected. They said they've seen him.

But they don't know what's going to happen. They know that out there, the enemy stands. There is the Jewish religious system. And there is the whole of the Roman garrison. Everything is against them. They have a gospel.

They have a witness. There is a testimony. But God has come in power now. He's come to them. And he's filled them with the Spirit. This is enabling them. Empowering them to preach. To preach the gospel.

It says what we've just read. That the young men will see visions. The old men shall dream dreams. And they shall prophesy. And this is what the church has been waiting for. This, Christ said, would be the promise of the Father.

To who then? To who shall the promise be? Well, very simply, it's to all that believe. All of the church should and must receive the promise. The promise is the Spirit of Christ. It is the empowerment of Christ.

It's the endowment of power from on high. Power that comes from heaven. This is power that the church needs. Not power that can be taught from a front. Not power that can be taught from a book. Not power that you can get from a DVD or from a message on a cassette.

This is power from on high. Power from God Almighty. This is what the church needs. But more than that, it is the promise of the Father. It's God's promise to the church. If it's the promise, then it's not something to be begged of.

It's not something that we can barter for. It's God's promise. It's God's purpose and God's privilege to pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. The church would receive this power to be the witness. To be the witness of Christ.

Christ Revealed Through the Gifts of the Spirit

In that church then, Christ would be seen again. As though He's walking in flesh again, Christ should be seen in the church. Now, this is the context of Pentecost. You know that before that, there's no power there.

But when He comes in the power. When He comes in the Spirit. When He comes in that tongue of fire. Everyone that will witness the church. Everyone that listens unto Peter. Has a revelation. Has a manifestation.

They see something that they cannot explain. They have to know that this is Christ again. The one whom they have crucified has returned. The one whom they said is dead and will die forever has returned.

Not only do the disciples know that He's raised from the grave. The whole of Judea. Whether they bow the knee to Him or not. They know that Christ has returned. This is the foundation from which the gifts operate.

All of the gifts operate from that foundation. That it is a promise. And the only reason that gift is given. That Christ might be seen again. That is the only reason that God would give a gift. He gives a gift.

He gives a blessing. That Christ would be glorified in that gift. Fire is always a symbol of the actual presence of God. It teaches about God. It teaches about the Lord Jesus Christ. Especially these people who only had the Old Testament.

They knew that fire reveals something of God. In the Old Testament what did it mean? Separation. Moses walking across those mountains. He saw a burning bush. Well he's a bit nosy. He went to the bush.

He heard that bush speak to him. And the first thing the bush said was. Take off your shoes. Don't come any further. I'm holy. You are not. He was separated from that fire. In the fire was the oracle of God.

Was the angel of the Lord. Was the power of God. But in the Old. He was separated from it. In Exodus 19 the same thing. It says that the Lord came down to Mount Sinai. He came down in a pillar of fire.

And the first thing God said in that fire to Moses. Was Moses tell the people. Don't come near the fire. Because if they do. They'll be burned to death. Many of them will be destroyed. It spoke of separation in the Old.

But in the New. When the fire comes in the New. It means acceptance. And it meant union. Union with God. You see on the day of Pentecost. What they saw. They heard that mighty rushing wind. That's the power of the spirit.

It's not an ordinary wind. It's not a natural wind. Not a hurricane or a whirlwind. It's the power of God. It's the spirit moving through the house. Then they saw that pillar of fire. There's 120 in the room.

So it might be a room about this big. They saw hovering in that room. The pillar of fire. The same pillar of fire. As they saw in Egypt. The very same pillar. Now these men must have been afraid. Because they knew the Old Testament.

But as they watched that fire. Something strange and wonderful happened. That fire broke up into 120 pieces. And settled upon their heads. There was no separation from God at all. God was accepting these people.

As he had accepted his son. It meant acceptance. And it meant union. God had come to them. Not just to the one man Moses. Didn't come just to Peter. But come to all of them. All of the church. This was the promise.

The Church as God's Temple

God in Pentecost. Established into the church here. As the new temple. And the sanctuary of the divine presence. This is what God was revealing to the church. Forget out in Jerusalem. Forget those stone walls.

Forget the brazen altar. Forget all of those things. My temple. My sanctuary. Is now the 120. You people. That have believed in my son. You are the temple of God. You are the sanctuary. And in you. The power of God almighty shall dwell.

He shall live. And have his being within you. This is what the church knew. From the day of Pentecost. Well they went around telling every Jew. They told everyone they could. But not all would believe.

They went to the synagogue. And they still went to the temple. But they knew. According to the revelation of Christ. That they were the temple. We've prayed tonight. We've prayed for the house of God.

But we are the house of God. Every one of us is a temple. And a sanctuary of God almighty. Christ dwelleth. Christ liveth in me. Christ lives in me. That is the power of God. This is the promise of Pentecost.

We have to come back and understand. That in the church. There is a sacredness of that church. That is dismissed today. In the modern evangelical Pentecostal church. Those Catholics. Those religious orthodox people.

They have more reverence. For what they see as the house of God. Than evangelicals and Pentecostals. Well we know it's not a building. We know it's not old bones and things like that. We know it's not a cross.

We know it's not a stained glass window. But still. There should be a sacredness. Of reverence for the house of God. None of those orthodox people. Not one Catholic man. Would go to that building. And throw a stone through a stained glass window.

They wouldn't do that. It would be sacrilege for them. To desecrate that altar. They wouldn't do those things. They see those artifacts as being sacred in themselves. But evangelicals, Pentecostals. They have no respect for the house of God.

All we see today. Is a chopping down. A cutting up. A backbiting. A backstabbing. In the house of God. When these things are not to be so. It cannot be in Pentecost. It cannot be then. In a healthy church.

If those things would happen. In a healthy church. We see that the church is a sacred thing. God didn't give his spirit. God didn't give his blessing. To a people. For those people. To disintegrate. To fight.

To become fractious. He didn't do those things. He said. I'll give you my spirit. That you might be witnesses of me. We are there to manifest. The love of Jesus Christ. If you cannot manifest it to one to another.

Pentecost Is Empowerment for Witness

You'll never manifest it out there. It is impossible. The fire then. At Pentecost. Had nothing to do with cleansing. Absolutely nothing to do with cleansing of those believers. It was only for believers.

They were already cleansed. How? Through the death of Jesus Christ. They were already clean. On the day of Pentecost. There was no demons. There was no souls there. That had to be stretched. Pulled out.

Or tormented. There was nothing in them. Everything according to the mind of God. Was right and perfect. For salvation. In that house. They were already justified. They were justified before God. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

They were already according to Luke 24 and 52. In a state of joy. They were already in ecstasy. They were already worshippers of Jesus Christ. Before Pentecost. So Pentecost didn't come for that. And according to this book.

The book of Acts. They were already in union. They were already in one accord. Before the spirit fell. It didn't come for any of those reasons. Didn't come to clean them. Didn't come to justify them. Didn't come to make them better worshippers.

And didn't come to unify them. It came because they were already unified. It came because they were already joyous in the Lord. It came because they were already justified. And it came because they were already clean.

Not in what they were. But in what Christ was. They were already clean. That's why the spirit came. It came for that reason. To make them witnesses. According to Christ. The promise and the power were there for one thing.

Listen to what he says in Luke 24 and 47. That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name. That's what Pentecost is for. It's for the preachers. It's for the proclaimers. It's for those that will be his witnesses.

His martyrs. Those that have to do only with the sanctuary and the temple of God. The difference between the gospel ministry in the gospels and the book of Acts. Was in the witness. That was the difference.

In the gospels you see that they have a gospel. They have a witness. They have a ministry. But it's not the same experience as after Pentecost. You understand now. In the gospels they go out. They proclaim good news.

The dead are raised. Blind eyes are opened. Sick people are made well. But they don't have the experience of knowing that Christ died. And Christ rose again. What am I saying? Well their witnessing. Their ministry was of more effect after Pentecost.

Because they knew that Christ had died. Christ was risen. And Christ had come to them. Christ had come to them to empower them for ministry. We're going along now at a steady pace. This is the difference.

The same spirit then they knew. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Was the same spirit that worked in them. They knew it by experience. This is not just theology. Not a book. Not a tape.

They knew that Christ raised from the dead. Everything that he said was true. The same spirit that raised him from the dead. He promised would come to them. And for them. Well in Pentecost it's come to them.

It's living inside them. Well there's an expression of joy. And in the streets of Jerusalem. They began the ministry that he began. The very same ministry. But now it's in a state of power. Now it's on fire.

Now it's ecstatic. Now it will draw a crowd. Because they believe. They believe that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is in them. They believe now. That the very ministry that he began.

They will finish. They will finish that ministry. They will use the same things that Christ used. He used one thing. The power. The knowledge of God the Father. He used those things. So Peter says to everyone around and about them.

According to the book. According to this book of Acts. Now what they were seeing. What they were hearing. He said. This is that. This is that. You have to understand. We're not talking about just dead people on the outside.

We're talking about religious people. People that believe that they write in the kingdom of God. And Peter exhorting them. This is that. You see Israel. It's in a very peculiar condition at this time.

For 400 years. They'd waited for a prophet. And now through the obedience of Christ. God had restored the ministry of the prophet. They were waiting. And now they were bewildered. Prophecy was coming.

Their gifts were in operation. Everything that the Old Testament had prophesied. They were seeing these things come to pass. The Jews had a saying. The ancient rabbis said this. When Moses laid his hands upon Joshua.

God said. In the time of the Old Text. Each individual prophet prophesied. But the ancients go on to say. In the times of the Messiah. All the Israelites shall become prophets. That was something that they knew for sure.

And this was an exact fulfillment. This is that. What Peter is saying. They're waiting for one prophet. But the scriptures had revealed to them. That when the Messiah would come. Everyone would be a prophet.

Everyone would be in that prophetic ministry. Why is that? Because everyone has a gospel to preach. You see there's no limits for prophetic ministry. None whatsoever. Having said that. All ministry must be subject to the written word.

Peter says. This is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. He points people first to the word of God. This is important that we learn this in the gospel. This is important that we learn this in light of the gifts.

He points people to the word of God. He's not pointing to an old book. He's not pointing to an old prophet. Because he goes on to say. God says. He goes beyond Joel. He goes beyond the written word. And he says.

God says. God says I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. And your old men shall dream dreams. In a sentence he says.

They shall all prophesy. All of them shall prophesy. Every one of them will have the gospel of Christ to preach. If the scriptures are ignored. Then dreams and visions are nothing more than vain imaginations.

Testing Prophecy by Scripture

We're coming down today to modern Pentecost. We're coming down today to what they call dreams and visions and prophecies. Those who ignore. Listen. Those who ignore the written word. Those who ignore these principles.

Will cause the ruination of sound testimony. And unfortunate the destruction of Christian life. We know this to be true. I can testify here today. The people that claim to speak for God. People that claim to prophesy.

Those that preach and prophesy. Wrongly and falsely. They destroy people's lives. I know of couples. I know of people. I know of one man in particular. That God had said to his pastor. That he was to marry this woman.

According to the word of the pastor. The pastor comes along and says. God has shown me. You two must be married. Well they got married straight away. And they had a child straight away. And when things didn't start to work.

Difficult. When difficulties came into that marriage. The same preacher that said. God said to get married. Said to them. God has said you must now get divorced. What is going on in that? Is that God?

It cannot be God. And more you have there. You have destroyed lives. You have a man. You have a woman. And you have a child torn apart. That is not just wrong. It is wicked. And it is evil. It is a destruction of Christian life.

It is a destruction of all that God holds dear. God has sent the prophetic. God has sent dreams and visions. God has sent them to a people. That will apply it to Christ and Christ alone. To people that will glorify him.

To people that will lift up his name. And not themselves. It is an awful thing. We have another example. Of people prophesying. Telling people. Well you will be wonderful for God. Patting people on the back.

We have had an experience here. Of a young man. That went to a meeting. Somewhere along the way. And a man laid hands on him. And said well. God has shown me. That you are going to be the greatest evangelist.

This world has ever seen. You will be running on the walls. You will be running on the ceilings. You will be in this country. In that country. You won't be able to slow down. Because you will be preaching the gospel.

Well the man became very disturbed. Where is he a year later? He is cold. He is flat. And he is dead. Hates the church. And he hates God. But what about the man that prophesied? He said he saw God. Said he heard God.

But he could not. He could not. Because he is a blind man. And a blind man cannot see the things of God. A blind man. Not only blind to God. But he will be deaf to what the spirit is saying. What is he left?

Ruination. What about those? The prophesied every other day. Every day. Every hour of the day. I heard of a man that was in a meeting once. A prophetic meeting. Where they are all having dreams and visions.

Everyone has their own dream. And they give that interpretation of their dream. And this meeting is going on for a couple of hours. Until the pastor, the leader, gets up and says. God is giving me a vision.

He says. I see a square thing. It is white and it is square. And now I see liquid being poured onto it. And brown stuff is coming out of this white bag that I see. And then he gives the interpretation.

God wants us to take a tea break. Do you think God is that trivial? I know that we all laugh. I laughed when I heard it myself. I laughed when I heard it myself. I heard this first hand. It is wickedness.

It is evil. God isn't involved with the trivialities of this life. They needed a tea break because they were tired. That's why. If they needed that man to tell them when it is time to have a tea break.

They better take him home. So that he can tell them when it is time for breakfast. And have him there at lunch time as well. And have him there when you are ready to go to bed. It is an absolute disgusting thing.

These things are not the giftings of God. Having said that. God still empowers his church. He empowers his church to be that witness. To be a factual witness of Christ. When these things go wrong. When people have no regard for the scriptures.

When they take it upon themselves. And preach out of the soul. And out of the flesh. Then all they do then is crown the head of Satan. You listen now. It's crowning the head of Satan. He collects that for worship.

This is his power and his authority. That is his hand. That is his toehold. That is his stronghold in the church. If he can get unrepentant people to say. Thus saith the Lord. And it's of the devil or of the flesh.

It's a crown upon his head. It's glory to the devil. Not only must people when they get things wrong. And preach and prophesy out of the flesh. They must repent of it. If they speak it forth publicly.

They must repent publicly. And they must learn the obedience of the word. They must be brought into discipleship. And say you cannot divorce the spiritual giftings. From the word of God. When they are divorced.

The word will always be true. It will always be true. And everything that we say and do. Will be measured by the word of God. Why do people claim then to speak for God. When it's obviously not God who is speaking.

Why would they do such thing? Well I think there's two reasons. Maybe more. First is to gain favor with people. It's to flatter them. How many people have told me. I'm going to be the next Evan Roberts.

How many people have told me. I'll be this and be that. Go there. Go here. Do this and do that. Why do they say such things? It's to flatter. And it's to puff up. It's to blind you. It's to make you think of them.

That they are more highly than what they actually are. Jesus warns the church. He said woe unto you. When all men shall speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the false prophets. Oh he connects that very well for us.

He says that we have to be careful. When people flatter us. When people say such and such. Especially when people are going to lay their hands upon you. And tell you how wonderful and how beautiful you really are.

There was a story once. Of a prophet that came into the church. Preached the gospel. After five minutes he didn't know what he was on about. So he starts walking around the church. Prophesying over her.

Prophesying over him. Telling everyone how wonderful they are. And then he becomes the matchmaker. And she's a young couple. Sitting close to one another. Lays his hands on him. And said God as you showed me.

You're going to have a wonderful marriage. And you're going to raise beautiful children. And they'll be ministers of the gospel. Well nobody said anything to that man. But someone should have. Because the heads that he laid hands onto.

Were brothers and sisters. They let him walk out of that church. Believing that he had spoke for God. What was the result? They still paid him. And they had him back again. It's absolute wickedness. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.

Secondly, they draw attention to themselves. They do it because they want to be seen. They do it because they want to be heard. They do it because they want to be seen as someone who is gifted. We're all called.

And we're all told that we should desire the giftings. But the giftings are there. I'll say it again and again. I'll say it till you were sick of hearing me say it. Those things are there that we might reveal Christ.

That we might exhort Christ. That we might glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not to draw attention to ourselves. In Paul writing to Timothy says. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.

God was manifest in the flesh. That's what we should see in the church. Any operation of the giftings. Is it God that is being manifest? Is it Christ that is being glorified? Great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifest in the flesh. Justified in the spirit. Seen of angel. Preached unto the Gentiles. Believed on in the world. Received up in glory. We stop there but the Bible doesn't stop. The Bible doesn't stop.

It goes on. Now the spirit speaketh expressly. That in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. Giving heed to seducing spirits. And doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy. Having their conscience seared with an aught iron.

He doesn't stop. Every gift. Every utterance. God must be seen in that utterance. The true visionary. The true dreamer. The true prophet. Will always reveal the person. The glory. And the majesty of Christ.

As revealed in the gospels. Oh it must be the Christ at this point. Any other revelation of him. Anything that is outside external. It has no place in the church. It has nothing to do with the sacred vessel of Christ.

Rejecting Gnostic and Apocryphal Revelations

One of the Gnostic gospels. I don't know which one it was. Might be Thomas. Or it might be Magdalene. It talks about Jesus when he was a boy. Said that he could take clay from the ground. Form this clay and fashion it into the shapes of birds.

And he'd throw that clay into the air. And it would turn into a pigeon or a dove. And fly away. And all of those things sound lovely. And we all want to think that maybe Jesus could have done that. But he goes on to say that as Jesus was playing in the streets.

Any child that came and took away his ball. Or took away his sweeties. Jesus would curse them. And that little child would drop dead where he stood. You see his wickedness to go beyond that which is written.

If it's not from this book. Don't accept it. It is from the devil. All the books being written today. None of them. I'm talking about those that are in the movies and things like that. The Gospel of Judas.

The Da Vinci Code. Has nothing to do with the Bible. May give a reference. But the devil knows the scriptures as well. What he doesn't know. Is the anointing of God. He doesn't know the power of God. He doesn't know the indwelling of Christ.

He can counterfeit the false. He can be the false. He cannot produce the real glory to God. Hallelujah. God is the almighty. Christ is the almighty. He is the almighty God. He is God almighty. Very God of very God.

When Christ died on this earth. He died as a man. When Christ was raised on this earth. He was raised as a man. When he comes again. He'll come as a man. But when we are home in his home. We'll see him as God almighty.

We'll see him as the living God. John the one that had the revelation. Says that when he saw him. He said I dropped dead at his feet. Couldn't look at him he said. His eyes were burning he said. His hair was white and brilliant.

His legs were like burnished brass he said. He had that golden girdle around his chest. He said I couldn't look at him. All that I could do was die before him. When we see him. We'll see him as God almighty.

If you want to be the visionary. Preach Christ and Christ alone. If you want to be a dreamer in this church. Then preach Christ and Christ alone. If you want to be the prophet of the church. Preach Christ and nothing else.

Make Jesus central and supreme in everything. Christ says to us to the church. Christ says blessed are you. For yours is the kingdom of God. For the church. For those that believe. Yours is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is for me. All the riches of ministry. They belong to us. They already belong. God is investing in that church. The glory of ministry. Nothing that we can educate ourselves into. But God in this book.

In the Bible. He used. Listen. He used fishermen. On the day of Pentecost. There's a fisherman there. There's a broken down tax collector. There's a widow woman from Nazareth. There's an old prostitute from Magdala.

He used the least of everything. He used those people that are supposed to be insignificant in this world. But great in the gospel of Christ. Because the kingdom of God belongs to them. He invests that ministry.

They are the ones that are going to come out in the street. They are the ones proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. But there in the market. There stands the mockers. The mockers will never accept the word of God.

They cannot. In order to suppress and pervert the nature and the purpose of ministry. They have to redefine its meaning and application. That's what they do. Some teach that the disciples were drunk. Despite the fact that Peter says.

These men were not drunk. The modern teaching says that they were drunk. But Peter. Listen to what he says. He says. For these men are not drunk as you suppose. Seeing that it is the third hour of the day.

Well it wouldn't. That would be nine o 'clock in the morning to us. It might not be too unusual to see someone. Nine o 'clock in the morning. Burned out of their skull. But in those days. There's a higher morality in those days.

People didn't get drunk nine o 'clock in the morning. Not only that. It talks. The word is sweet wine. New wine. The word is glucose. In the Greek. Now the only thing I know about glucose. Is stuffed in a Mars bar.

And just take a bite of that. And it helps you to work. Rest and play. All day. Nobody ever got drunk in a Mars bar. Nobody ever will get drunk in a Mars bar. It's sweet wine. It's new wine. Fruit juice.

The best. You see these mockers. They were not only mocking them for being drunk. They were mocking them saying. You're drunk on non-alcoholic wine. You're drunk on grape juice. You lot. They'd say. Would be drunk on a wine gun.

You see what. Not just mocking. It goes beyond mocking. It goes beyond the mocking to derision. And contempt. They had contempt for everything. That was being preached. Ultimately. They were mocking the word of God.

Proclaiming Christ as the Substance of Prophecy

The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If these men there. Were not drunk. What were they doing? How can they encourage us today? Well these men. They were dreaming dreams. They were seeing visions. And they were prophesying.

To all men. In short. They were proclaiming. The divine message. In Acts 2 .32 -33. This Jesus. Peter says. This Jesus hath God raised up. Whereof. We all. Are witnesses. He doesn't limit it to him. And the other 11.

It's all of us. Are witnesses. All of us. Are proclaimers. Therefore. Being by the right hand of God. Exalted. And having received of the Father. The promise of the Holy Ghost. He. Hath shed for this.

Which you. Now see. And hear. What were they seeing? A manifestation. Of prophecy. A manifestation. Of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one that they witnessed. For three years. The one that they nailed on the cross.

The one that they knew was buried. They were seeing the same. Miraculous. Oh. Inspiring. Ministry again. Everything that was in Christ. Was now. In the 112. The prophet. The dreamer. The visionary. Is a person that continues.

In the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not something for myself. Nothing sadder. When you hear people saying. Well I've got my ministry. And you've got yours. None of us have a ministry. If it's not Christ's ministry.

Then you need to put it down. Leave it alone. And look for something else. You need to get in this book. You need to seek God. And you need to know that there is a ministry for you. Some people here. You might feel useless.

You might feel that you don't do anything. Well I can't do anything about your feelings. But I can say this to you. That there is a ministry for you. You are. And should be. A proclaimer of the gospel.

You don't have to be out there on the streets. And in our tracks. But everywhere you go. There should be a manifest presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. There should be an aura about you. There should be a tongue of fire that angels can see.

Hovering over their head. There should be something within this heart. That only God can see. But people on the outside should be affected by. They should know that there is something different. It's not the perfume they are wearing.

It's not the clothes. It's not what they do. It's not what they say. It's what they are. They can't put a finger upon it. The gospel began with Christ. And it ends with Christ. It didn't begin with me.

It won't end with me. If I die today. The church will still be here on Sunday. If I die tomorrow. The ministry will go on. It doesn't begin with man. And it won't end with man. It began with Christ the son of God.

And when he comes back. He will wrap it up on this earth. But until then. We are to be faithful. We are to expect the promise of the Father. And we are. We should be looking forward to it. Being endued with power from on high.