- Hey, invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter seven, Acts chapter seven. We're gonna pick up our study of the book of Acts, where we see that Jesus in Acts 1:8 has called every follower of Christ. If you are here this morning, and you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are a follower of Jesus, and as a follower, you are his witness. Every believer in Christ, every born again person is a witness of Christ 24/7. The only question is what kind of witness are we giving? Is it helpful or hurtful? Is it wooing and winning people to Jesus or are we tending to push them away? Because of the choices that we make, the kind of aroma and attitude and atmosphere of life that we give as a witness of Christ. But we are his witnesses. Now, last week, we were introduced to one of these witnesses, his name is Stephen, and we saw that Stephen was chosen as a servant, as a deacon and as a servant, he also lived as a witness of Christ, and as a witness of Christ, he also shared his faith. Now let me help you understand the dynamic biblically, 24/7 I'm a witness of Christ. Once in a while I get to evangelize. Once in a while I get to share the gospel, the good news with someone, right? It is not my responsibility to share the gospel with every person on this planet, but it is my responsible to live as a witness for Christ 24/7 in my lifestyle. Once in a while, the Father gives us an opportunity to share the gospel, to evangelize or to share the good news with individuals. We see Stephen was doing that and because he did that, he got in trouble, right? He got in a lot of trouble, he got arrested and he gets brought into this council and the thing I want us to see is that Stephen does this in a way that brings glory to God. Now, the place I want us to end this morning is with these two verses, First Peter chapter three, I want to to end our time together with this realization, this ownership that the Father has called me at times to give a courageous apologetic or defense of the gospel. Not very often will that happen, once in a while I get to share the gospel and in doing such I'll have to give a defense or apologetic of this truth, this message of the gospel of life in Christ, right? But 24/7, I'm living as a witness, all right? I just want you to see that difference in there. So where I want us to end is when we are asked to give an apologetic, this is how the Father wants us to do this. First, Peter 3:15, "sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense." Or apologetic, that's the word, right? The Greek word apologetic. So we talk about apologetic as someone who gives a defense, Stephen's gonna give a defense of the gospel in just a moment in Acts chapter seven, "to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you." So people should be going like, man, John, why is it that you love Jesus? Tell me why you love Jesus, right? And we give an opportunity as people ask us that, "yet we do it with gentleness and respect and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ, they will be put to shame." You won't be put to shame, they will be, when they see the reality of Christ lived out in you. The second verse, I think it speaks well to this idea of giving a courageous apologetic as Paul in Second Timothy chapter two, when he says these words, "the Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wrong, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, that leads to the knowledge of the truth." That's where I want us to land, all right. When you walk out of here this morning, I hope that you sense as a witness of Jesus, once in a while, I'm gonna be asked to give a defense of the gospel. This message that life is found in Christ, and in doing so I hope these qualities are reflective of your defense, compassion and courage. Now this morning, we're gonna see, we saw Stephen's character last week with Seth, gave us introduction to Stephen. We saw that he was full of the Holy Spirit, he was full of power, right? He was one who was full of grace, who was testifying the reality that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Three things that mark Stephen's character. Number one, Stephen lived loved. Stephen lived loved, what I mean by that is he not only loved Jesus and Seth last week talked about how we have an opportunity to love Jesus. But I have found in my life, I only love Jesus when I am living from his love of me or for me, I cannot conjure up a love for Jesus. It's only when I'm experiencing his love for me, his delight in me as his son who has been bought by his precious blood. When I experienced and receive his love for me, it creates a powerful, energetic response in my heart to him, that of love. Does that make sense? That's true of Stephen. You would just poke him, he just poked the Father's love in his life. You poked him, he would bleed this idea that Jesus deeply loved him. Therefore he loved the Lord Jesus. Second of all, Stephen was characterized by in his character, a commitment to Jesus' glory, not his own safety or wellbeing. The glory of Christ was paramount, was of utmost important to Stephen rather than his own reputation or even his own safety or his own life, as we'll see in a moment. The third thing to characterize Stephen's life and his character was he was marked by God's word. You would ask Stephen a question and he'd give you a biblical answer, right? He would quote a verse. That's what he does for a whole chapter, for 53 verses he basically just keeps on telling this biblical story. He was marked by the word of God. You want to be a witness for Christ that is a winsome to those around us, around you allow the word of God to penetrate your heart, be saturated by it, be conformed to it, allow it through the Holy Spirit, to do his work in your heart, through this book. That was true of Stephen. All right, we saw last week that he was charged, he was charged based with blasphemy, pretty serious charge, you blaspheme God, you blaspheme Moses, chapter six, verse 11. You're also telling this thing about Jesus, that he would destroy the temple, which was a total misunderstanding of what Jesus said in John chapter 2:19, right? And so he's charged and he's brought before the council in Jerusalem, before the high priests. Now we're ready for his defense. Stephen's apologetic basically was a very purposeful biblical history lesson. He goes through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and the time of apostasy in these 53 verses, right, in doing so, his basic message goes something like this. If I'm just summed up all the verses, it goes like this. Guy's a high priest, the same guy who charged Jesus, who eventually condemned Jesus to be crucified, the same high priest that Stephen is giving his testimony to guys, this is not about me, this is not about Moses, this is not about the temple, this is not about all these things that I'm soon gonna get into that you have accused me with, this is all about Jesus and what you guys did to him, that's what it's all about. The testimony, the defense, the apologetic that Stephen gives is very courageous because the context, the audience to whom he is giving it are a bunch of religious PhDs who killed the son of God. Now, the people that you and I give witness to, give defense to are usually not that. So I'm not gonna say, Hey, Dave, you know what? You killed the son of God, as we'll see in a moment, no, Stephen does that 'cause that's the context. So jump over to chapter seven, verse 51, I just went to see the end of the story before we get to the beginning. He ends his defense by saying this, "you stiff necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears." Now, again, don't say that to your neighbors, don't say that to your coworkers, right? That's given to people who are antagonistically hating the way of God, who killed Jesus, that's who you would say that to. Jesus was the most winsome person on the planet. Everyone loved Jesus except who? The religious leaders, it was to them that Jesus said, "you brood of Vipers." Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, right? Stephen is in that same vein, right? Compassion to everyone else. A little bit of courage to those who are resisting. "You resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so do you, which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You who received the laws delivered by angels and did not keep it. You murders of the son of God." And now, by the way, you're ready to almost murder me, one who's given witness to of the son of God, is implied in that statement. Now we know next week, Pastor Roy will finish the story with Moses and the apostasy, and then what happens, but you know the rest of the story, right? They gnash their teeth and go, I hate you, and they drag him out of the temple, and they throw him in a place where they begin to stone him to death, where he dies. He dies because he loves Jesus. All right, so let's look at the defense. Two themes that come in this passage, the whole chapter, but especially the ones that we're looking at this morning verses one through 16. The Father is always wooing us and he's always warning us. The father always woos you, He invites you, He doesn't whip you, He woos you, He invites you, He looks at you with His compassion in His grace and He invites you, He woos you with His patience, and we see Stephen leaning into those themes of his patience and his grace, as he talks with these guys through Abraham and Joseph's life. But the Father also warns us. There are times when the Father will warn you, Kevin, if you keep walking down that path, it will not end well. How many of you love to be disciplined by your heavenly Father as a child of God, when you are walking out in left field? How many you just love that experience? None of us do, except we do love the consequences, and I know core that's what you were leaning into. We love the fruit of that. 'Cause I know if the Father didn't discipline me, man, I would be out in left field, in fact, I'd be out of the ballpark so quickly it wouldn't even be funny, right? I need that Father's warning and disciplining hand in my life, encouraging me not to say no, but to say yes to him, unbelief does have its consequences. So we see these two themes, Abraham and Joseph, follow in your Bible as I begin reading Acts chapter 7:1, "and the high priests said to Stephen, are these things so?" These charges and so Stephen said, verse two, "brothers and fathers," PhDs, religious leaders, "hear me, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Heron and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. Then Abraham went out from the land of the Chaldeans, and got stuck in Haran." All right, it doesn't say that but he lived in Haran, but that's literally what happened when you go back to Genesis, "and after his father died, God removed Abraham from there into this land in which you are now living, yet he gave him no inheritance in it, nor not even a foots link, but promise to give it to him as a possession into his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be sojourners in the land, belonging to others and would enslave them and afflict them for 400 years. God said, but I will judge the nations that they serve, said God and after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave them the covenant of circumcision, and so Abraham became the father of Isaac who circumcised him on the eighth day, and Issac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs." So the first main character that Stephen uses to make his defense is Abraham, and basically says, God chose Abraham for a relationship, God chose us to have a relationship with himself first and foremost, through Abraham, all the PhDs in the room that Stephen was talking to, say, yup, yup, good point, I agree with that, right on, of course there. And so he goes into some of the detail, he does so purposefully in verses two and three, he points out God's grace. God appeared, God chose Abraham, not because he he's smart or wise or handsome, he chose him because he just chose him. He appeared to him, He said to him, go and Abraham starts to go, but Abraham gets stuck, and if you're familiar with Abraham story, he gets stuck in Haran, and the father, his patience is revealed when literally his dad Abraham's dad dies in Haran, and now Abraham is finally freed to really follow the Father's leading in his life. And so from the beginning, Stephen is saying, the Father is gracious, but he's also patient, and he dealt with Abraham's unbelief. Abraham is known as the father of what? The father of faith, right, and Abraham just had great faith always, right? No, no that guy was a loser as far as faith, in some ways, just like you and I, right. He learned to live by faith. He learned to trust his father's promises, right? The best example is my sister, I love my sister's story, right? Abraham's got a wife named Sarah, two times they're going to the enemy territory, that the way and the territory was to kill the husband of a beautiful wife, and he says to his wife, you're beautiful, they're gonna kill me, so, plan, gotta great plan, not gonna trust God, just gonna do my own thing, tell them you're my sister, 'cause you are my half sister, and twice he puts Sarah, the one who's gonna give the promise son, in danger of being impregnated by another man and ruining the promise of God, twice Abraham does that. What kind of great man of faith does that anyway? Yeah, right. But he did and God still worked with him, 'cause he chose him and God still works with me, he still works with you and I. So there's a dual threat, no child and this whole deal of sojourning, and you're gonna have, your descendants will be sojourners, they'll be enslaved for a hundred years, big problem, all right. So what do we see? God's promise, He says, I will judge that nation, and then he gives them this covenant of promise, this covenant of circumcision. So the Father gives grace, he's patient in the context of a threat and danger, and the hard decisions of life, no child, enslavement, the Father's promise comes to bear. I will do something on your behalf. That's what the Father does in your life and my life. He's gracious, He's patient, and yet we're in the midst of dual threats or conflicts in our life, struggles, hard decisions, right? And he comes to us in the midst of that, He says, I will do something for you, will you trust me? Right? He does that, Abraham trusts, he learns faith. We know in Genesis 15:6 he believed God and he was reckon him as righteousness. So how does Abraham touch us? God chose you, God chose me. His promise is sure, His promise is sure. His promise is sure to you, the gospel is sure, if you're here this morning and you don't know for sure that when you die, that you will not go to heaven, you might go to hell, who knows what's gonna happen, you don't know for sure you're going to heaven. There is a promise, there's good news for you. Someone was just sharing earlier this morning, I was talking to, that so-and-so was fearful of dying because of COVID. That's not necessarily a bad thing as I told my friend, I mean, it's at the point, not because I have COVID but fearful of dying. That's a good thing. And if a person's in a place of being fearful of death, that's not a bad thing. There's a way of a solution for that. And it's called the gospel of life in Christ. And so I encouraged my friend that's an opportunity for you to share, to be that witness, to not only to be a witness, but to evangelize, to share the good news that Jesus died for you, and he rose again for you and if you trust him, you will receive forgiveness of all your sins, have eternal life and know that the moment you die, if you die from COVID probably won't, but if you were to, you would be immediately in Jesus's presence. That's good news, right? That's a promise that is sure. My faith grows stronger when I keep my eyes and my focus on the faithfulness of God, not on my feelings or my behavior or my choices or what others say about me or think about me, right, when I put my focus on any of those things, my faith dwindles, but my faith grows when I'm focused on the Father's faithfulness, his sureness, I can trust Jesus, I can't trust myself, can't trust you, can't trust anyone, but I can trust him because his promise is sure. All right, Abraham's life, he's the man of faith. Romans 4:18-21, 4 verses encourage you sometime to read them, just a great statement about faith. Faith grows as we are dependent upon the faithfulness of God. As I trust in the faithfulness of God, my faith grows, and as my faith grows, I'm inclined to obey. All right, obedience is an outworking of depending, confidently trusting in the faithfulness of Jesus, and the working of the Holy Spirit in my life and heart. I'm encouraged to trust him. And from that place of growing trust in him, I am enabled and courage to obey, right? That's Abraham. Let's go on to Joseph. God called Joseph to save the world. God called Joseph to save the world. God called Jesus to save the world through whom? How do you finish my sentence? God chose Jesus to save the world through you, me, us, right, is the really the point that Stephen makes in this next paragraph. God used Joseph to save the world. God is using Jesus to save the world through us as his living witnesses, right? Look at verse nine. "And the patriarchs jealous of Joseph sold him into Egypt, but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction and our fathers could find no food, but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit and on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh, and Joseph verse 14, sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred seventy-five persons in all, and Jacob went down into Egypt and he died and he and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem to this land, and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem." Who is Stephen giving this history lesson to? A bunch of PhDs people, right? I just find this hilarious, I just love that, just how Stephen goes like, you guys think I'm a loser, right? And I'm just this low, I am kinda a lone nobody, I'm a nobody, but I know my Bible, and he just starts telling them this biblical story and they're all going like, yeah, I've heard that, I know that, I could quote a better than you, I have a lot more, you know, but he's just tells a story for a purpose. Let's see what that purpose is. Verse nine, we see this dual threat. So Joseph goes, Stephen says Joseph had, God had given Joseph a dream, right, two dreams, right? That he, God would use Joseph in a pretty miraculous way. Joseph didn't know what that meant when he was a 17 year old boy, right? And he got the little funny colored coat, right, I would be totally embarrassed to wear, but he loved to wear it, was a big thing then, right? The multicolored coat. And he had these dreams and his dad loved him, and his brothers hated him, and they were jealous of him, right, they hated his guts and they sold him, instead of killing they decide to sell him, there's a threat. The one that God was gonna do something special to was in danger of being killed. But eventually he just got sold. So what's gonna happen to the father's purpose? Verse nine, the second part, it says, "but God, but God was with Joseph." Everything good that happened in Joseph's life, all the good things that happens in Joseph's life was because of this one phrase, "the Father was with him." The father was with him. The father was with him, anything good that happens in your life. Anything great that happens in your life is only a result, not because of your talent, your skill, your education, your money, your opportunity, it has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with the fact that the Father he is with you, he is with you. Joseph ascends from one of the darkest places on the planet to the second top dog position on the planet in some fashion at that time, how does that happen? Explain that one to me, how does God exalts you and I, common Joe's and Sally's right, into these places where the Father does miraculous things through our lives, it's because he's with us. He's with us. Well God's grace was with him. He rescued him not only was his presence, but he rescued him out of all these afflictions, and he gave him favor, I love that, gave him favor and wisdom. So that before, what was the wisdom? He could interpret dreams, oh, this is like a special thing. God gave Joseph certain skills to do something, to elevate him in the context in which he lived. God has given you and I certain skills and capacities to do amazing things beyond you might think humanly speaking, so that he would receive glory, so we can be a really good testimony of who Jesus is. You see that? That's the purpose of the Father's working in your life and my life and it was in Joseph's life. So Joseph was made the top dog, well, it's not done, the purpose in verse 11, so he gets the favor, he's elevated, the purpose is what? God is after redemption and reconciliation. He's after redemption and reconciliation, and what does he use? He uses a famine, in our biblical theology class that I teach this hour, right now, we were learning as Bible students to speak precisely in a precise way of saying this is the Father brings, uses, causes at times, adversity in our lives to bring forth his purpose, that is unknown to us or we're unaware of in our lives, for his glory and for our joy in him. That's what happened to Joseph. God bought a famine and God used the famine to take the little kid out of the dungeon. Actually 22 years later, he's no longer a kid, 17 he's now what? 22 is 39, he's almost 40 years old, right? Midlife crisis is happening and he's finally elevated to this place and God uses him. So what was lost in this story? The dream, Joseph I'm sure at this point had lost at that setting in the Dungeons and the baker, I forget the cup bearer and the baker, one of them forgets him, right? And he's just left there to rot for two more years the text in Genesis says, I'm sure at some point he loses the dream. God is gonna use me, I don't know how, but in some special, cool way for his glory. At 39, he's going like, man, I lost that dream. What dream has the Father given to you? What purpose has the Father given to you? Maybe at some point, he said to you, I wanna use you to win people for Christ in your workplace or in your neighborhood or to be that person in your family that starts a new legacy, a new lineage of faith in your family, and maybe hard things have happened, difficult things have happened and people have rejected and I've been open to what God is supposedly wanting to do, and you've lost the dream, that's where Joseph is, God doesn't forget, God wants to redeem that which is lost, He wants to bring back into life that which you may have lost and given up on, what is the dream the Father's put in your heart that you've lost, that he wants to resurrect? He wants to bring back online, work in and through you. Maybe it is that legacy thing, maybe you raise kids and they're out in left field right now, and maybe they're having kids and they're out in left field and you're like, God, what happened? I can no longer lean into this, no, you can lean into it. Or maybe it's your workplace, you've shared the gospel one time and someone goes, ah, shut up and so you're like, okay, I guess I'll shut up, right? No, no, no, God uses hard things to bring redemption of that which is lost. But he also wants to reconcile, what needs to be reconciled in Joseph's story? Relationships, absolutely. The brothers hate the kid and he probably a little ticked off at them too, right? And so God does that. God's, we'll see that in a moment, but God's purpose in your life and my life is singular. I wanna put before you a dream, I wanna encourage you to own a dream, a purpose for your life. I wanna encourage you to own purpose of your life of living loved, multiplying disciples. I would encourage you to own the dream, the passion, the vision for the purpose of your life is to live loved. I didn't say love Jesus, I said live from his love, experience his love, receive his love, focus on him, make Jesus the subject of every sentence of your life. Not I, I, I, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, no, Jesus is the subject, he's the actor, he's the worker of every good thing in my life and in your life. And just receive the fact that he delights in you. So Bob, as you guys take on a new journey, the Father delights in you my brother, he just loves you, you're one of his favorites, and that's true for you too, Sherry. And that's true for every believer in this room. He just delights in you. He loves you, receive that bask experience. The reality that Jesus Christ thinks you are everything, he died for you, he loves you, receive that, live loved from his love so that you can be a multiplying disciple, right? You see the flow? Being and then doing from the context of this overflow of the Father's love for me as his kid, though I totally am undeserving of any good thing that he would have toward me, yet he does that, that's how he loves me as I received that and live in that, as I live love, I had the capacity to multiply disciples. I wanna share that love with my neighbor, my coworker, this last week, the snowstorm I got back and I had some neighbors do my drive thing, I thought, you know what? I got this crazy snowblower, I'm gonna go literally around our whole neighborhood. And I literally spent, I mean, plowing the sidewalks. And I stayed the whole time as I was freezing my tail off, I'm doing this because maybe someone, they kind of know who I am, maybe they'll go like, yeah, maybe that Jesus thing isn't so bad, just a stupid little thing, I'm just plowing their snow, no big deal, right? And yet that was my purpose for them, that was my intention. I have nothing may never come of it, I don't know, it doesn't need to be, but I thought, I'm gonna do that intentional for that reason. Oh, that all of my life, more of my life would be like that. Oh, that all more of your life would be like that way. Intentionally living loved so that we can be a multiplying disciple of Christ, 24/7 a witness, once in a while we get to share the good news. All right, so Joseph's life, forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness, Joseph probably was embittered in his heart toward his brothers, y'all agree with that? Probably, yeah, I don't really like those guys. I've had a hard time praying blessings for them, right? And yet you go to Genesis 45 and this whole couple of times the brothers show up, the Father used the famine, right? Hardship famine, famine, no bread, they have to come to him, right? The dreams are being fulfilled, even though Joseph totally forgot them, God didn't forget. Brings that to pass, the brothers come to him, he gives them food, doesn't show, come second time and in Genesis 45, what an amazing story read those verses in Genesis 45, where Joseph says, I can no longer hold it in, he is weeping, he's wailing, in fact, everyone in the kingdom, here's Joseph wailing as he reveals to his brothers, I'm Joseph the one you sold to Potiphar, to these vagabonds, I got sold to Potiphar, you sold me, but God sent me here. Forgiveness happens because we believe in the sovereignty of God. Did you hear that? I am enabled to forgive those who offend me when I really believe in the sovereignty of God, he will use people sin against me for his glory and for my growth and benefit. Did you hear that? Forgiveness is a gracious thing that happens when we lean into not their offense or what we deserve or what we don't deserve but we live from this place of God's sovereignty over our life, he allows, he permits, sometimes really hard things to happen to us, then and only then can we release the offense. And I'll talk about how to do that just in a moment. But reconciliation, reconciliation can only happen, so Joseph forgives, has reconciliation happened just because he forgave him? No, what has to happen for reconciliation, for the brothers and him to get back together? They have to do what? They have to repent, right? They have to acknowledge, yeah, we did a wrong thing, we shouldn't have sold you, that bad on us, right? We wanted to kill you so hey, it's better than that, but yeah we're wrong, right? Genesis 50, finally, the brothers get to that place, they go like, yeah, we screwed up, sorry yeah, we sold you, it was wrong, would you please forgive us? Dad's gone and now you might like kill us, 'cause you're like the top dog. So there a measure of, I don't know, there's a measure of stuff in it, but they were repentant because they're repentant again in Genesis 50 verse, I think it's 20, it was just an amazing, where Joseph says, guys don't worry about it, God sent me here through your screw up sinfulness to save the world and I forgive you, and I will provide for you. That is a miraculous work of grace. Reconciliation happens deeply when forgiveness is given and repentance of the wrongdoing, acknowledgement of wrongdoing is acknowledged. So forgiveness is not, I know people always talking about forgiveness and they always think it's certain things. It's not pretending it didn't happen, right? That's not forgiveness. It's not forgetting that it happened. It's not a feeling it's actually an action or a choice. It's not deserved, we don't deserve to be forgiving, yeah that's the whole point of forgiveness, it's not deserved, right? It has to be given as we'll see in a moment. And lastly, it's not the same as rebuilding trust, just because I forgive you doesn't mean I'm gonna to trust you. Trust takes time, man, I mean, you've sinned and I don't trust you, but I forgive you, trust takes time. Lastly, forgiveness is a gift, it's a gift, it's a gracious thing. The Father forgave you because you're a wonderful people, right? No, he forgave us because of his grace. It's a gift, undeserved. It's a choice not to get even, it's a choice to not execute justice. So Joseph's life tells us this, when God's dream for you becomes reality, usually the reality of this dream is often different than what you thought it would be. Its pathway is usually harder to get to, Joseph provided, yeah, 22 years I have to go through all the stuff I went through, no way, that's a lot harder than you thought it would be. It's usually takes longer, 22 years, so God has given you a dream, maybe you're not gonna see that legacy of faith in your family until maybe after you die, I don't know, but lean into it 'cause God is able to still work, and yet it's usually better than what you dreamed it could be. In the context of that reality, the Father wants you and I to live this as witnesses, to live as witnesses for Jesus 24/7, sorry guys, you're on the clock 24/7 as a witness for Christ, if you're a follower of Jesus, no time off, at home, you're a father, you're a witness for Jesus, I can just take and relax, no, you're a witness to Jesus to your wife, your husband, to your kids, your grandkids, whatever context you have, 24/7 we live as his witnesses. May we become better witnesses so that people want to engage us on spiritual conversations so that we can give a defense, we can articulate the good news of Jesus. I am the way I am because of what Jesus has done for me. You can have that too. Do you see how easy that is? I used to think I had to share the gospel with every person on the planet, that is not true. I'm to live as a witness to every person on the planet. I only have to share, I only get to, I wish I had more opportunities, but I only really get to share the gospel with those that the Father brings in my life who are spiritually sensitive to my witness of him in my life and we can engage on it, just a healthy, compassionate, low key conversation, hardly ever have I had to get pointed and courageous. So Father, thank you so much for loving us this way, for inviting us into relationship with you, and like this, that we would be those individuals who even though we may have lost that dream, that vision for what you want to do through our lives, as your witnesses, we would lean back into that, Father we would trust you that you are still at work, Father you have called us into relationship, you have called us to be used by Jesus in the lives of people all around us, use us to that end, Father for those who have given up hope, I pray that you would give them hope again in you. We asked this Father in Jesus name, amen.