SNT 1239 Our Commissioning: Opening of Rock of Ages ’84
We have been commissioned to be living epistles, to be witnesses, and to go forth and teach the greatness of God's Word.
Format: audio
Publication Date: 08-12-1984
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
Beautiful Ohio - Sue Watson
Star Spangled Banner
It's Good to Be Home Again
Opening; Prayer
Wierwille Road and Highway 29 - J.P. Wierwille
WOW Ambassadors - Brian Bliss
Ambassador Song - Vicky May
Tears of Thankfulness - Brian Bliss
Living Epistle
Mat 28:18, 20; Mar 16:15-20
Mar 6:7-12; Luk 10:1, 2, 16-18
Act 1:4, 8; 2:38, 39
Born Again to Win - Brian Bliss
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Our Commissioning
Opening of the Rock of Ages ‘84
Victor Paul Wierwille
– Sunday Night Teaching Transcript –
August 12, 1984
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your wonderful love and grace. Thank you that we can be living epistles for you. Thank you for your love, your grace, your mercy and your goodness unto us, through Christ Jesus. Amen.
I’d like for you to take your Bibles and turn to the gospel of Matthew chapter 28. And welcome to the opening teaching session of the Rock of Ages, 1984. It is good to have all of you here again.
This believers’ family gathering has to be one of the unique things happening in our day and in our time. It takes a voluminous amount of planning and work to make all of you as comfortable and as blessed as we can. Some of our staff are required to work from one Rock of Ages to the next, and then all of our in-residence and graduated Corps come in early to help. The Way Corps being responsible for the welcoming home of our WOWs.
It’s always exciting and thrilling to me. However, nothing is ever more exciting to me than when I have the privilege and joy of saying: God bless, and welcome to the Rock of Ages. It’s good to be home again.
It takes approximately 4,000 dedicated believers to help to take care the best we can for all of you. We wish we could do it better for all of you. But, you know, our workers and our believers are just fantastic. Maybe not everything is always to your liking, but there can’t be anything wrong with the Word or the fellowship that you are a part of.
Some of our believers have to be responsible for what the world considers menial tasks such as cleaning the toilets, hauling all the garbage, taking care of parking, bless patrol and so forth and so forth. But whatever needs to be done, people, if it is done with the love of God in the renewed mind, it is great and wonderful. And it is as great and wonderful as any other job requirement or fulfillment.
Tonight, I’m teaching. But in God’s sight I don’t feel I am any more important than all those who blessed your life in some of those other ways. And I personally want to express my thanks and appreciation to every worker, in every capacity they have and are serving you.
Tonight, I would like to serve you by teaching you the Word on the subject of reaching the World with the Word; living epistles, our commission.
Perhaps the most providential and truthful statement for this Rock of Ages is the University of Life reenactment of the older Burma-Shave advertisements.1 As I came from the east parking area – that parking lot and registration area – I noticed the following along the road; “Tell all the people what you have heard. Living epistles speak God’s Word.” University of Life.
In my heart and mind, people, the whole truth of this Rock of Ages is wrapped up in the words, “living epistles speak God’s Word”. The concept of reaching the world with the Word is still the primarily will of God, according to Matthew 28.
Verse 18:
Matthew 28:18-19: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,…
And then the corruptors of the text added the rest of that verse. So those words, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” are scratched.
And it reads, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”
And verse 20:
Matthew 28:20: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I [Jesus Christ] am with you alway, even unto the end of the world….
There’s also a record in Mark 16 that I’d like for you to look at; Mark chapter 16, verse 15:
Mark 16:15: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach [or herald] the gospel to every creature.
The word “creature” is the word one. It doesn't do much good to teach the Word of God to a German shorthaired pointer. A word. To preach the gospel, the good news to everyone, share it. To herald it forth.
Verse 16 says:
Mark 16:16-20: He [that you heralded forth to] that believeth and is baptized [not in water but with Christ in them, the hope of glory] shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 1 Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream, famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they [the sick] shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.[which is the hand of blessing]
And they [the believers] went forth, [they went as WOWs, people; they went forth] and preached [heralded] every where, [the truth of the greatness of the Word] the Lord working with them, and [the Lord] confirming the word [that they spoke, which was the Word of God, He confirmed] with signs following….
The key words for this Rock of Ages are the words “living epistles”, which are to be read of all men. It also means to send the Word to someone else. An epistle is generally a longer letter or treaties of explanation or injunction. You get a letter from a friend and it’s a half a page long, that’s a letter. But if that friend writes you seven pages, it’s an epistle.
Jesus Christ in his ministry, class, he first commissioned twelve; and then later on he commissioned seventy more. In Mark chapter 6 – listen to this wonderful record – in verse 7:
Mark 6:7-12: And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and [he] gave them power over unclean spirits;
And commanded them that they should [not take] take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip [no luggage as baggage], no bread, no money…
But be shod with sandals; and not put on two [shirts].
And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for [who?] Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
The commission that we have from the Lord Jesus Christ, from God, that we go forth to teach people and to share with people the greatness of God’s Word. In Luke chapter 10 – which was brought up earlier tonight already – but in verse 1 of chapter 10 we read the following:
Luke 10:1: After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and [he] sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few:…
Some of you know that I've been praying for years that we’d have 4,000 WOWs. We have never put 4,000 WOWs on the field. And again, it looks to me like this year we will not have 4,000. When you consider the need of the world, people, 4,000 moving out towards the need of the world, it’s such a small amount. We need to pray; we need to believe, we need to witness. We need to go back into the communities of our areas and get people to commit their lives to go WOW. The harvest truly is great.
What’s the worth of a soul? It’s worth more than all the wealth of the world. Outside of our ministry, I don’t know anybody who really believes that. They’d rather have the worth of the world than the accreditation before God.
One of the things I saw, or heard one of the athletes say that what’s competing in the Olympics is, “He walked in, but if he won a gold medal he’d be driving out a Rolls Royce.” See, that to me is about the lowest thing I can think of. He came in with nothing except his ability; but what he’s looking for is that he wins a gold medal, gets the accreditation, and then has plenty of money so he can buy a Rolls Royce.
You and I do not mind walking into the needs of the hearts of lives of people. The harvest is out there; all we need is the laborers. Those of you who had a successful WOW year – and not everyone had a successful WOW year, because we had of them leave the field; some screw up, cop out; but the vast majority did. Those of you who had a successful WOW year know that it’s one of the magnificent, wonderful things in your life. And that the harvest is out there; all we need to do is get the people, like Julie spoke about. We just need people out there like she witnessed.
Luke 10:2: … The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest [who is God almighty], that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
And that has been my prayer all these years, that God would give us more and more WOWs. But God cannot give us WOWs until people get their ears open. And ears are opened by WOWs speaking to people about going WOW. About Corps speaking to people about going WOW.
Look at verse 16, class.
Luke 10:16: [Jesus Christ said] He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you [or doesn’t like what you say] despiseth me…
In the early days of your WOW experience, I’m sure that many of you, when somebody would reject what you said to them you felt sorry on the inside. You felt badly. You wondered if you had really screwed it up. You wondered if you had said the wrong thing. Am I right, people? You bet your life.
But the Word says, don’t worry about it because he that despises you when you speak the Word doesn’t despise you, he despises God’s only begotten Son; Him that sent me.
Look at verse 17, “And the seventy…” And that’s not as many as we had on the field this year.
Luke 10:17: And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
And Jesus Christ said in verse 18:
Luke 10:18: …I beheld Satan as lightning [falling] from heaven.
Because those seventy went out and proclaimed the Word, Satan himself had to come down from heaven and intercede so his people would all screw up, drop out. And I believe some of you have experienced and have seen that great truth also this year in your life
Look at book of Acts please, chapter 1. Living epistles is one of our… is a commission to us; to be living epistles. In Acts chapter 1 – and I just taught this recently here at The Way International – in verse 4.
“And [he]…” – talking about Jesus Christ – “was salted with them” was the text. And after the covenant of salt with the twelve apostles…
Acts 1:4: … [he] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait [until] the promise of the Father,…
The word “for” is the word “until”. Waiting for something is not going to increase the speed with which it comes, class. You just have to wait until God’s time. Like the return of Christ; waiting for the return of Christ isn’t going to bring it. So we just wait until everything is fulfilled, and God will send back his wonderful Son.
He told them to…
Acts 1:4: … wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
And in verse 8, under this covenant of salt he said:
Acts 1:8: … ye shall receive power,…
You have to work the words “will” and “shall” grammatically in the Word, people. To will may be permissive, but when it says “ye shall” it’s not a permissive thing, it’s in an absolute, class. Don’t you understand? It said, verse 8:
Acts 1:8: … ye shall [absolutely] receive [and the word “receive” is the word “lambano” – manifest, evidence] power,…
You’re going to evidence the dunamis – the power of Christ in you, class. When that pneuma hagion…
Acts 1:8: …is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me…
You see, people, we’re commissioned to be witnesses. You went WOW for this year. But if you hadn’t gone to WOW, you still were commissioned by God in Jesus Christ to be a WOW – so why not go WOW? That’s right.
Some of you here tonight in the Big Top and the other places where you’re watching and listening, you haven’t signed up yet to go WOW. I know God is working in your heart, and if you allow God to work in your heart, then why don’t you still sign up and go WOW? We have a place you can sign up – I don’t know where it is, but if they won’t sign you up, you come to me; I’ll sign you up. That’s right.
He said you shall lambano this power when the Holy Ghost or Holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me…
Acts 1:8: … both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
And the uttermost part of the earth is Word Over the World, people. I doubt if hardly anybody has believed this since 70 A.D, about the Word Over the World until our ministry came along. People laugh at us to think Word Over the World. Well, let them laugh. I don’t care. They don’t pay the bills for this ministry. They don’t go WOW – you do. They haven’t stood on the Word like we have, so I don’t pay any attention to them, class. All I pay attention to is the Word. Okay?
Look at chapter 2, Acts. After Peter had been preaching that wonderful sermon, he comes to the conclusion of it after they ask him what they should do in verse 38:
Acts 2:38: … Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ…
Not baptized in water, but in the name. And what that name represents is the power, people, that’s in your life to be a witness for him.
On Wednesday night, when I get the privilege of teaching again, I will again show you that it’s Christ in you. We have never magnified the great truth, people, of Christ in you. If it’s Christ in you, then all the power that’s available from God in Christ is in you so we just need to renew our minds and take a stand. Because we’re commissioned, people, to witness and to hold forth God’s Word.
Verse 39:
Acts 2:39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Okay. Did he call you? Yes. Then the promise is to you and to all that are far off. And I love that the promise is unto your children. One of the great joys to me today has been seeing the wonderful little children that are here at the Rock of Ages; all the way from little babies on up. And I have just been so blessed today seeing this on the grounds of The Way International.
Acts 2:39: For the promise is unto you,…to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
So we have been commissioned, whether we like it or not, to hold forth God’s Word. And the rewards around eternity will be considered in the sense, in the light, of how faithful we were as stewards of God in witnessing God’s Word.
I’m going to close with a word of prayer tonight. And I think tonight’s a wonderful night for some of you to get to bed a little earlier because tomorrow will be a great, big, wonderful day and you’ve been up a long time today. Some of you stood in line a long time, and tomorrow will be a wonderful day in God’s Word. And I’m truly thankful and appreciative for the opportunity of teaching on this the opening night of the Rock of Ages, 1984; and I’m sure there’s no doubt in your mind of my love for you; for God, His Word and His wonderful son Jesus Christ.
And after I have a prayer, I’d like for Brain Bliss to sing, “You’ve Been Born Again to Win.” Because you’re born, the first time to have life; when you’re born again, you are a born-again witness, and you’re commissioned to witness the truth of God’s Word.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your love, your grace, your goodness. Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to open this wonderful Rock of Ages on this Sunday night, August the 12th, here at the Way International headquarters. And thank you, Father, for all of your people around the nations of the world this night. Through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.