Let's open our Bibles again to
1 Thessalonians. It's just possible I might have prepared
this message at a time that would perhaps
influence it over much. I prepared the message on the
plane returning to 13th Street from where I'd been preaching
in Australia. And my heart was here, and my
thoughts were here, and my appreciation was toward you, and my love was
toward you. And as I prepared the message
thinking about our relationship over these years, perhaps I may
have salted it and seasoned it a little too much with sentimental
emotionalism, perhaps, I don't know, but I preach this message
to you this morning because the whole situation is so applicable
and relative to our relationship. I thought to myself, I'm so thankful
for that church, I'm just going to go home and make love to them
and not going to scold them for anything for a long time. But
the Thessalonians were especially beloved to Paul, especially beloved. Now he came to Thessalonica,
there was no church there, he came there unknown, without friends,
and when he was in a most lowly condition. He had preached at
Philippi, had been beaten, you know the story, Acts 16, he'd
been beaten with many stripes, he'd been cast into prison, been
mistreated, and he fled the city, and he came to Thessalonica.
And many of these people heard the gospel and they became, well,
you hear him say, beloved, beloved, beloved. They became most beloved
to him. In fact, this is his first epistle. I think that's correct, isn't
it, Jay? The first Thessalonians. You say it's not in that order.
Romans, no, Romans was not first. I don't know why they're in the
order they're in. I can't tell you that. I doubt anybody can. But this book is the first epistle
the Apostle Paul ever wrote to a church. And he just empties
his heart toward them. And he says in verse 1, he says
the latter part, grace be unto you. Grace from God and peace. Peace results from grace. It
follows grace. No man has peace who does not
have grace. It's the grace of God that brings
peace. There'd be no peace in my natural heart. But my peace
is because of God's grace, and that's what he's wishing for
them, every one of them. Grace, the grace of God, to abide
in, to be found in, the grace of God. And as a result of that
relationship, then there's peace in your heart. My peace I give
unto you, Christ said. Not as the world giveth, give
I you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
I'm with you always, even to the end of the earth. God's grace,
Paul said. God's grace and peace be upon
you. And then in verse 2, he said,
I give thanks to God always. Not just occasionally, not just
when you're good to me. Not just when we're on friendly
terms. I give thanks to God always. Always. And not just for some
of you, not just for the old friends, but for the new friends.
Not just for this one or that one, but for all. He says, I
give thanks to God always for every one of you. Sometimes the
least esteemed member of a congregation is the most important. Sometimes. Those who pray for us, those
who hold up our arms in prayer, those who are so faithful and
loyal. Give thanks for all of you, he
said, and I make mention of you. I make mention of you in my prayers.
I pray for you. I pray for you, he said. And
then he says in verse 3, I remember your works of faith, I remember
without ceasing your work of faith, and I remember your labor
of love, and I remember your patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. I remember.
I thought about this, I thought of through the years we've been
together, 30 years now, it will be 30 years this month. I was
called as pastor in 1951, the last part of September. And I
remember your work of faith. I remember your labor of love.
I remember your patience with me. I told those people in Australia,
I've come through some traumatic experiences in my ministry. They've
all been teaching experiences, and they've all been beneficial
experiences. But the people who have supported this ministry
have patiently done it, and we've grown by God's grace together. And then in verse 4, he said,
brethren, beloved, I know you're one of God's elect. I know you're
God's elect. How did Paul know that these
Thessalonians were God's elect? Now that's a powerful statement
there. That's an unusual statement. He didn't say that about too
many people. But he said, I know, brethren, beloved, brethren's
family. Brethren's family. I don't think
we ought to use that word brother so carelessly and meaninglessly. It's family. And there's no family
so close as God's family. And there's no family permanent
like God's family. This is family. And actually,
it is the only family. The other relationships are going
to be dissolved. But our relationship is eternal.
Knowing brethren beloved Brethren, your election of God. How did
Paul know they were elect? Well, he gives us in six statements
the evidence of their election of God. He says in verse 4, For
our gospel came not to you in word only, it came to you in
power. Now, some of you have been experiencing
this. Just these past few weeks and past few months, God has
sent into our congregation a movement of his spirit in the revelation
of Christ to the heart. I verily believe that people
can come to a knowledge of doctrine and theology in the head. They
can know the facts of the gospel. I've known the facts of the gospel
since I could just barely talk. Jesus loves me, this I know.
That Christ was born in Bethlehem's manger, we celebrated Christmas
when I was a kid. I knew the facts of the gospel.
that the Bible is God's Word, that Christ died on a cross,
was buried, and He rose again. We hunted eggs every Easter.
You know we're bound to bleed in the resurrection. I don't
know what chickens and eggs got to do with ducks with the master
paganism of what it is. But I believe the facts. But
one day, one day, I met him in the heart. And some of you, you've
been writing me notes, you've been writing letters. And you've
been given testimonies. Next week, another one of our
men is going to give us a testimony. I want to share a letter with
you. This is what I'm talking about. This is Hart. This letter
says, I've been listening to two of your messages, one entitled
Wood, Hay, and Stubble, the other, The Fashion of This World Passeth
Away. I need to listen to these messages often because it seems
I need a constant reminder of how short this life is and how
foolish we are. I need to remind myself that
my roots are not here in this world, but they're in Christ.
This world will burn and so will all my good works, just like
wood, hay, and stubble. I do not want my hope and joy
to be in the frivolous, foolish things of this world. I want
my hope and joy to be in Jesus Christ and my works to be works
of love because of his love for me. I want to grow in his grace
and knowledge and let the world grow less and less important
to me. I get so tangled up in the world, in my family, in my
home, in my walks, and it seems in anything that I can find which
will make me too busy to read, pray, and meditate on God's Word. It's so easy to put other things
before our spiritual needs. Our hearts are so deceiving we
don't know ourselves. I get so unhappy with my priorities. The most important person and
relationship in my life is so often pushed aside and I take
time for him only when it's convenient. This cannot be. I must always
put Christ first. Pray for me that I may see my
total need to entirely commit everything I am, I have, or ever
will be to Jesus Christ without reservation." That's a good sermon. It's a good sermon. And I carry
a few notes like that that I've gotten from some of you. And
you know what it does? It encourages me, Walter. Somebody's
hearing what I'm saying. Somebody's hearing what I'm saying.
Somebody's hearing what God's saying, and I'm repeating. But
that's what Paul said. Our gospel didn't come to you
in word only. You're not possessed with a bunch
of facts in your head. You've got a Lord and Master
and King in your heart. And Brian, that's a white horse
of another color, isn't it? And then he said in verse 6,
you became followers. Followers of us and the Lord. Put the word in action. in your
relationship to Christ, to one another, to the things of this
world. You became followers. Having
received the word in much affliction, sure, it's no easy journey, it's
a battle, it's a race. No race is run without perspiration
and effort, trial, much affliction. But I'll tell you this, even
with the afflictions, it's full of joy of the Holy Ghost. Sure
it's difficult, it's a battle. It's a battle, it's a warfare,
it's a race, it's a fight, it's a conflict, the flesh against
the spirit. And then in verse 7 he said,
you were examples. I know you're God's elect because
you heard the gospel in power, in the Holy Ghost. I know you're
one of God's elect because you became a follower of what you
said you believed. And I know you're one of God's
elect, you are God's elect because you became examples in your conduct
and conversation and attitude and spirit, adorning the doctrine. I've had people come here, and
like I say, I just may say too much this morning about God's
grace manifested, but I've had people come here and go away
and say, Spirit of Christ is in that place. People love one
another. There's not the backbiting and
criticism and fault-finding, is there, Walter, that you find
in so many? He visits churches all over the world, all over
the country, and he'll tell you that so many of them are anything
in the world but a place of fellowship, which is fellowship here. And
I say it not to your credit, but to God's glory. God's taken
a bunch of rebels and made sons out of them. God's taken a bunch
of selfish, self-righteous people and saved them. And they love
each other. They love Christ. You became
examples. And he says in verse 8, you became
missionary people from you, from your church and from your congregation,
sounded out or went forth the word of God, not only in your
area, Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place. You sent the
gospel out. Brother Walter is here this week.
We've been associated with his work since 1970, 11 years. You've
given generously, I want you to give again. You have an offering
for Walter this week, put it in the pink envelope, put an
offering tonight, Wednesday night or Sunday. You support these
missionaries. Not only support them financially,
which is an essential, necessary thing, but you support them with
your love and prayers, your gifts, your concern. And when Walter
goes and preaches, we preach, don't we? When I preach somewhere,
this church preaches. When he preaches, whoever you're
praying for and supporting, it's your ministry too. We can't go
everywhere, but we can help those who are going. From you, I'll
tell you this, somebody said he's a witnessing Christian,
there's no other kind. You shall be my witnesses. You
are my witnesses, Christ said. You are my witnesses. Brother
David Adkins got a friend here with him this morning because
he spoke to him about Christ, didn't you? Dale there. Witness. Witness. Working side by side,
turn and talk to him about the Lord. From you. That's a mark of God's
grace. I tell you this, if you love
Christ, you want to tell somebody about it. And if you're not a
witness, it's a good evidence. that you don't have anything
to say. And when you love somebody, you
like to call their name and talk about them, proud of them. And I'm not ashamed to own my
Lord, nor blessed to speak his name, are you? And then he said
in verse 9, they themselves show what manner of entering in we
had unto you and how you turn from your idols, you turn from
your idols to serve the living God. What were your idols? flesh, gain, fame, you turn from
those idols to serve the living and true God. Now, what's this
last thing? And this is what I want us to look at for a few
moments. And to wait. Here's the foundation of all
that Paul said in this chapter. In case anybody might be inclined
to be a little perked up, well, I heard the word, George, or
John, didn't. I followed the Lord. I became
a different person, an example in my conduct and conversation
and attitude and behavior. We're a missionary church. We
send missionaries. You don't. In case anybody is
inclined to boast a little, this is the foundation of the whole
thing. This is the foundation of the whole thing. It's a relationship
with his son that makes a difference. Who maketh thee to differ? What
hast thou that thou didst not receive? All this is because
we are waiting for his Son from heaven, read it, and to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. That's the
reason we are what we are, because of his Son. That's the reason
we have what we have, because of his Son. Here's the gospel
which we received in one word, his Son. Here's the object of our hope
and our faith in one word, His Son. Here's the motive of our
works and love, if we have any, His Son, for Christ's sake. For
Christ's sake. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. If Christ
is not your motive, you have no motive. Here's the subject
of our witness. Yes, we're missionary minded.
Yes, we're witnesses. What's the subject of our witness?
One word. His son. That's my message. Paul said, I'm determined to
know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's
my one message. One of the ladies down in Australia
played a cello. You know, that's that instrument
that you do like this. Big Biley, and I told him a story. She played it during the service,
and I told him a story about an old fellow that played the
cello in the church, and he'd just stand there, and his cello,
it just went plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk. And the
new pastor came to him, and he wasn't used to that plunking
on that one note. He came to him and said, say,
Floyd, he said, Have you ever noticed that people who play
those instruments move their left hand? Did you ever notice
that? He said, yes sir, I have. But
he said, tell me what that is. I said, them fellas are looking
for the note. I found it. And Jerry, I found it. I know
the note. I know the message. It's Christ. It's his son. I know the message.
Let men preach what they will. They're looking for it. Through
no credit at all to myself, I found it. God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of Christ. I found it. I never get somebody
said one time, when you hear me, and one time you've heard
him. That's right. God helped me. Put it on the tombstone.
He had a one-note sermon, played a one-string violin, and had
one Lord to glorify. I believe that'd be a good thing
to write. One message, Christ. Here's our body of divinity.
Our creed is Christ. Our rule of life is Christ. Our
delight is to serve him. Our desire is to be like him,
and our blessed hope is to be with him. That's the sum and
substance of the whole thing. Here's our body of divinity,
the Lord Jesus, he says, and to wait for his summons. And
to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come." Now
here are five points that I want to leave with you. You can jot
them down if you want to, but I think they're important. Number
one, the deity of our Redeemer. The deity of our Redeemer. He
says here two words, and to wait for his Son. His Son. to wait for His Son. When I talk
about the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm talking about His Son. When
I talk about Jesus of Nazareth, I'm talking about His Son. Almighty God has but one Son
in the highest sense of the word. And that's Jesus Christ. I know
every Christian is a son of God. It says, to as many as received
him, to them gave he the right privilege to become sons of God.
But in this sense, he's just one son of God. It's his only
beloved, his only begotten, his precious son. In this sense,
Christ alone is the son of God. The angel came to Mary. and said,
that holy thing which is conceived in you shall be called the Son
of God. His son. At the baptism of Jesus
Christ, when John put him under the water and brought him forth,
John bore witness and said, I heard a voice from heaven saying, this
is my beloved son. This is my son. In Luke 9.35,
when the disciples Peter, James, and John went to the top of the
Mount of Transfiguration with our Lord, and he was transfigured
there before them, and Moses and Elijah appeared, the Law
and the Prophets, to talk to him about the death which he
would accomplish at Jerusalem, the voice from heaven said, This
is my Son. Hear him. In Hebrews 1 verse
5, unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son. In John 17, our Lord prayed the
Lord's prayer and said, Father glorify thy son, his son. Who is this king of glory? Who
is this prophet, priest and king? His son. His son. Our Lord gave a parable and the
Pharisees perceived that he was talking about them. He said there
was a householder who had a large vineyard and he lent it out to
some people and he went to a far country. The time of the harvest
came and he sent his servants to inquire about the crop and
they mistreated them and persecuted them and killed them. He sent
other servants to these bad men to whom he had lent out his vineyard. And they did likewise to his
prophets, his servants. And then he said, I will send
my son. Surely they will reverence my
son. But they took the son and murdered
him. And the householder was filled
with wrath. And he came down upon those wicked
men and destroyed them all. Rather, we're not talking about
sweet little Jesus boy, we're talking about his son. We're
not talking about the superstar who didn't know who he was or
where he came from, what he's doing here or where he's going.
We're talking about his son. His son, the heir. Surely, he
said, surely. Surely they reverence my son. And then notice the second thing.
To wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead.
Hear these other words. Even Jesus. Even Jesus. Now we've seen the deity. His
son. Now, here is the incarnation
or manhood of our Redeemer. His name shall be called Jesus.
Jesus, the Son of Man. God's Son, and he called himself
the Son of Man. Who is this well-begotten, only
begotten, eternal Son of God? In what form did he come? Even
Jesus. That's right. Even Jesus, who
was born so humbly and lowly of a virgin and laid in a manger,
even Jesus who had to flee for his life from Egypt to escape
the wrath of Herod, even Jesus who labored and toiled in a carpenter's
shop in Nazareth, even Jesus who in the flesh was tempted
and tried in all points as I am, yet without sin, even Jesus who
was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Even Jesus, who was betrayed
and denied by his own disciples, who walked the winepress of God's
wrath alone. Even Jesus, spat upon, slapped,
mocked, crucified between two thieves. Even Jesus, whose dead
body was taken down from the cross and laid in a tomb. God hath made this same Jesus
whom you have crucified Lord and Christ. When Paul was on the road to
Damascus then Saul of Tarsus in ignorance and rebellion and
religion and orthodoxy and tradition and custom and lost as he could
be, God appeared to him The Lord appeared to him in a bright light
and spoke to him, and he said, Who are you? Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus. He didn't say, I'm God. He didn't
say, I'm God's son. He didn't say, I'm the Lord from
heaven. Because if he had, Saul of Tarsus still wouldn't have
known that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. He would have said,
I'm right, that Jesus is a phony. That's who he hated, Jesus. Those
are the people whom he hated, the people of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. And when that voice spoke to
him from heaven, he didn't say, I'm the Lord of heaven, I am
the King of all creation, who art thou Lord? Jesus. Jesus, bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh, numbered with the transgressors, understand this,
I cannot believe it, I do. God was in Jesus Christ. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He made the world, He was in
the world, and the world knew Him not. Surely, surely, if God
walked in that door. Now come on, preacher. Surely
if God walked in that door, we'd know him. If you had eyes to
behold his glory, you'd know him in any garb. But human eyes don't see his
glory. Had they known who he was, they
would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. He said to Peter,
whom do men say that I am? And they said, well, they say
you're a pretty good preacher, great prophet like John the Baptist
or Elijah, maybe Elijah come back from the dead, they think
that of you. Well, he said, whom do you say that I am? Peter said,
thou art the Christ, the Son of God, the Son of God. Not a son of God, the Son of
God. And he said, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but
my Father, which is in heaven, blessed are your eyes. They see. They see. All right, thirdly,
it says to wait for His Son, even Jesus. And here is the work
of our Redeemer, whom He raised from the dead. You say, how do
you get the work of our Redeemer out of that? Well, before a man
can be raised from the dead, he has to die. He has to die. Why did he die? Why did Jesus
of Nazareth die? Why did he die on a cross? Why
did he die such a humiliating, agonizing, shameful death? Well, number one, the Father
decreed it. That's the first cause of all things. That's where
we start believing the Bible. I had a young man come to me
down in Australia, an Armenian, not an Armenian, an R-M-E-N-I-E-N,
Armenian, you know, big bushy black hair, black eyes, and chic,
you know. That's what you think about an
Armenian, Saudi Arabia and all that. And he'd been listening
to me preach. You heard him talking to me,
he was asking me all kinds of questions about, well, he said,
are the heathen lost? They never heard of Jesus Christ,
how can they be lost? Questions like that, all kinds
of questions. Good. A friendly fellow, an inquiring
man, he said to me later, he said, in his accent, I'm just
an infant, I'm less than an infant, I know nothing, he said. Write
to me, say, send me some literature, send me some tapes. There's no
place to hear anything where I live in Melbourne or where
it was. But I said to him, I said to him, the first thing for us
to do is not to submit the Bible to our human wisdom, but to submit
our human wisdom to the Bible. I said, friend, that's where
you start. Now if you're going to say, If God knew a man was
going to fall, why did he create him and why did he let him fall?
If Jesus Christ died on the cross and God knew all of these things,
why this and why that? I said, you don't start with
why God, you start with God dead. When you start asking, when you
put why before God, you're already in trouble. It's not why God,
it's the Father decreed his death. How do I know that? The Bible
says he's a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
Peter stood on Pentecost and said, you crucified the Lord
of Glory and you did what God determined before to be done.
That's right. You carried out the decree of
God. You carried out the design of God. You carried out the determinant
counsel of God. You did what you wanted to do
and doing what you wanted to do, you did what Almighty God
willed to be done. Why did he die? God decreed it.
Secondly, the gospel demanded it. Without his death, you have
no gospel. As Moses lifted up the serpent
and the wheel, and it's even so must, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up. He said, I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer these things. The
Son of God must be lifted up from the earth. Thirdly, why did he die? In order
to forgive us of our sins. For without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sin. Turn to Isaiah with me,
chapter 53. I want you to do something, not
openly, not aloud, but if I'm scratching where you're itching,
you could grunt once in a while as that fellow said. Isaiah 53 verse 4, I want you,
everywhere you see an hour or a wee, put in your name, your
name, put in your name. Kathy, put your name right there
when I read this, will you? Jim, put your name in there,
both Jim's, don't leave out either one of them, put your name in
there. Read Isaiah 53 verse 4, Surely he hath borne Henry's
griefs, carried Henry's sorrows, We did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for Henry's transgression.
That's what he was doing on that cross. That's why he died. He was bruised for Henry's iniquities. The chastisement of Henry's peace
was upon him. With his stripes, old Henry got
healed. That's effectual redemption.
You know, he was arguing about it. He's healed. Henry, like a sheep, went astray,
and he turned to his own way, and the Lord laid on Christ his
iniquity. That's why he died. Whom God
raised from the dead. But now look at this, the resurrection
of our Redeemer. It says God raised him. Who raised
him? God raised him from the dead.
Well, let me tell you this. Two things about the resurrection
that will be more help to you than any two things you can learn.
You can hear these orators talk about how every particle and
Atom and all is going to be brought together and height can be and
all these things. But there's two things about
the resurrection that you need to learn. And the first one is
this. That when God raised him from
the dead, God accepted all the work that he did. That's right. Christ came down here as a representative. There are two men, in Adam we
died, in Christ we're made alive, Romans 5, 19, by one man's disobedience
we were made sinners, by one man's obedience we were made
righteous. Christ was a representative person just as Adam was. He represented
a people. Christ represented those whom
the Father had given him. He said, all that my Father giveth
me will come to me. And him that cometh out of nowhere
is cast out. He said, this is the will of
God. that all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
raise it up at the last day." Representative person. So what
he did, he was doing for me. What he did, he did for you who
believe. Now when he was buried, like the scapegoat of old, if
he'd stayed in that tomb, it would have indicated that the
father refused what he did. Isn't that right Cecil? But when he came out of that
tomb, that's the reason it says he was raised for our justification.
In other words, Christ justified us by his blood, justified us
by his obedience, justified us by his sacrifice. But if he had
stayed in the tomb, you could have no assurance of any justification. He was raised as the evidence
of our justification. You see that? As Paul said in
1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be not risen, we've lied on God.
If Christ be not risen, you're yet in your sins. If Christ be
not risen, we're false witnesses. If Christ be not risen, those
that sleep in Christ are perished. If Christ be not risen, you are
of all men most miserable. But now is he risen from the
dead and become the first fruits of them that sleep, which brings
me to the second thing about the resurrection. Because he
lives, I live. Not because I'm a preacher and
a poor one at that. Not because I'm a good little
boy. I'm not. Not because of any works
of merit I've done. I live because he lives. I'm
accepted in the beloved. That's the gospel, the resurrection
of our Redeemer. And then notice the next thing,
the results of his resurrection. It says, even Jesus who delivered
us from the wrath to come. I've been delivered past tense.
He delivered us. There is wrath to come. There
is wrath to come, God's wrath. Now you can run around talking
about God's too good to send a man to hell, and God loves
everybody, and all this sort of thing if you want to, but
there's wrath to come. And the only way to be delivered
from the wrath to come is to be delivered by his Son, whom
he raised from the dead. Deliverance is in Christ Jesus.
And then, last of all, number six, here's the second coming
of our Redeemer. Notice this, and I close. Every
one of the five chapters in 1 Thessalonians ends with the return of Christ. Chapter 1, verse 10. And to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. And then he
writes verse chapter 2, chapter 2. And he closes verse 19, chapter
2. What is our hope? What is our
joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus at his coming, at his coming. And then chapter
3, he winds it up with verse 13. To the end, he may establish
your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. And then
in verse 4, he talks about, I wouldn't have you ignorant concerning
those who have died in faith. But verse 16, The Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first, and then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord." Now, comfort
one another with these words. His return. And then chapter
5, verse 18, and everything give thanks, quench not the spirit,
prove all things, and verse 23, And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the foundation of the
whole thing. And when we get carried away
with what we have and what we are and what we know and what
God done for us, let's bring it all back to this foundation.
It's because of His Son. That's our password, His Son.
That's our creed, Christ. That's our message, Christ. That's
the object of our faith and hope, Christ. That's the subject of
our witness, Christ. That's the motive of our dealings
with others for Christ's sake. Our Father
most grateful, we're most grateful And you measure not the words,
but the thoughts. We're not heard far much speaking.
And we're most grateful for thy son, even Jesus, whom you raised
from the dead, who delivered us from the wrath to come. And for this fellowship, and
for each believing heart, for each Brother and sister in
Christ, for those who are interested in what we're trying to preach,
Lord, we give our thanks and praise. And for thy mercy to
us in our sins, undeserving of your grace, but grateful for
your love. In Christ's name, amen.