These—a lot of so-called preachers like
to give an invitation at the end of the message, and they
make up a prayer and have people repeat it with them. And they
say, if you repeated that prayer with me, if you said that, then
whatever. But the fact is, if you sung
that song from your heart, if you sung that song from your
heart, that really somebody says, my spirit pants for thee, O living
Word. That's taken from Psalm 42, as
a heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God. Somebody really pants for God. They're going to find the water
of life. Someone that really longs, someone who wants the
bread open to them, who is going to find their peace when their
fetters fall. Someone who wants their eyes
open is going to see the truth concealed and have it revealed
within the Word. So, right there is your invitation
if you want one. You sang it. All right, Mark
chapter 4. How important is this parable? If Jesus Christ said it, that's
a ridiculous question, isn't it? It struck me as I read verse
one, he and he began to teach. Who was this teaching? God. God came to earth, opened his
mouth, But look at what he says in verse 13. I'll show you how
important this parable is in verse 13, if you want to see.
Verse 13 says, Know ye not this parable? How then will you know
all parables? So, in other words, to understand
any parable, let's start right here. Matthew 13 is full of parables. He said, if you want to know
all parables, You have to start right here. So how important
is it? What is a parable? What is a
parable? A parable is an earthly story
which illustrates spiritual things, heavenly things. This whole book
is a parable. You know that? This whole book
is a parable. from Genesis to Revelations,
parable, earthly stories, stories of men and women like you and
I, things that actually happened on this earth. Why were they
written? To show us spiritual things. And our Lord said to his disciples,
who said, why do you preach in parable? He said, because it's
hidden from people. It's hidden from some, but it's
revealed to you. It's revealed to you. It's all
hidden until he reveals it. Verse fourteen, he says, The
sower soweth the word. Who is the sower? Who's the sower? I am a sower right now. I'm a
sower. Preacher of the word is the sower.
That's who he's speaking of. What does a farmer do, a true
farmer? A true farmer, what is his business?
What is it that he does? A true husbandman is a biblical
word. Farmer, what does he do? Is he
involved in all sorts of social issues and all of this stuff? A true farmer is a man who gets
up in the morning gathers the seed, or the plow, whichever
he's doing first, and whatever he's doing, goes out and prepares
the soil, puts the seed in it, waters it, fertilizes it. That's
what he does. It's all about the seed. What
is a true preacher? A preacher of the Word. That's
what he does. A true preacher is one who preaches
God's word. Now, Peter said this, this is
the word. Many claim to preach it, but
Peter said this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you. One who truly preaches God's
word preaches the gospel. And go a little deeper than that.
The word is Christ himself. The Word, hidden in the Word,
is Christ himself. One who truly preaches the Word,
sows the Word, is one who preaches Christ's crucifixion. Look at
verses 12 and 13. Verse 11 and 12. The Lord said,
Under you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God. The mystery of the kingdom of God. What is this word all
about? What is this book all about?
It's a mystery. What's it about? The kingdom
of God. The kingdom of God. Is there a king? There sure is. God made him king. Psalm 2 says. He's right now. When's it going
to rain? What do you mean when's it going
to rain? He always has rains. A lot of people are ignorant
looking for some future rain. Who's raining now? Sherry, who's
raining now if Christ is not raining? There'll be chaos with
it. Christ the King reigns. It's
a mystery to most. They're still looking for him
to come and set up his reign on this earth. No, he already
came to this earth. And it wasn't to be made king,
was it? Remember, they wanted to make him king. You remember
that? A bunch of them wanted to make him king, take him to
Jerusalem, put a crown on his head like David, and he would
not let them. Why? He was born king. He always has
been king. The mystery of the kingdom, many
are, it's still a mystery to them. How you may get to God
in the kingdom of God, it's a mystery to most. How you may Be in God's
spiritual kingdom. Most people, it's a mystery.
How are you going to get there? If I want to go to the White
House and see the President and sit and eat at his table, how
am I going to get there? Come on, this is really easy.
Even a child could figure this out. How am I going to get to
go up there and have an audience with the President of the United
States and sit at his table? How? Only if he calls me. Right? It's a mystery to most. Only if he calls me. If he chooses me, a whole lot
of people in this country, he can choose anybody he wants to,
can't he? At any time. Pardon whom he will. Call whom
he will. That's just the president of
the United States. What about the king of the universe? It
sure isn't any little silly decision I make. It's all of the will
and purpose and call, choosing of the King of Glory. That's
how I'm going to get into heaven, is if he calls me. That's real
simple, isn't it? But I've got to get into this
parable. Look at this, though, verse 12.
It's hidden, that seeing they may see and not perceive, hearing
they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should
be converted and their sins be forgiven them. That's what it's
all about. A lot of people think heaven and all of this spiritual,
all this stuff is about who knows what, just things. Happiness,
joy, peace, call it what you will, that people are, they think
all this Religious stuff is about many things. It's about one thing.
It's about having your sins taken away. That's what it's all about. It's a sin issue. Jesus Christ
came into this world to save what? To do what? Save sinners. That's why he came. To put away
sin. That's why he came. That's a
mystery to most people. But not to you, who are sinners.
whom God revealed to you, your sinners. You come here now, you've
been coming here for a long time. Why? For the same thing, Barbara,
to hear about your sins taken away. That's what this is all about.
All right. How are you going to hear all
this? Only if it falls on good ground. The sower went to support the
sow. Now, I'm the sower of the Word, and I'm not a good sower.
I'm not even a sower if I don't declare Christ on the Word. Now, there's four
types of ground that he mentions here, four types of hearer, and
every one of them are in here this morning. I guarantee it.
I guarantee it. Every one of these hearers, four
types of hearers. Everyone are in here this morning.
The first one, verse 4, is a wayside hearer. Came to pass as the sower
sowed, or the preacher preached, some fell by the wayside. Verse 15 says, These are they
by the wayside where the word is sown. And when they've heard,
now they hear, everyone in here on the sound of my voice, aren't
you? is hearing what is being said. Heard the word read, is
hearing the word divided or expounded. Everyone in here, unless they're
fast asleep, is hearing it. All right? These wayside hearers
are those that are not in the way, but they're beside the way. They're not in the way. that
are off to the side, kind of like a side track, off to the
side, where the word is sung. They hear it, and people come
and sit and listen in here for various reasons, and they hear
the word. Everyone in here hears something,
but yet these wayside hearers, they don't hear it. They hear
it, but they don't hear it. Verse 15, our Lord said this,
when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away
the word that was sown in their heart. Satan cometh immediately. Immediately. Now, like I said
to begin this, who is this talking here? I'm just trying to repeat what
this person said here. Who is this? Who is this? Who
said this? Who gave this parable? Jesus
Christ. This is God's Word. This is God
Almighty's Word. It's not the words of a man.
This is God Almighty's Word. How important is it? It's life
or death. It's life or death. It's not
just sermon, it's God's word, it's life or death. If you don't
hear it, you'll die. If I don't hear it, I'll die
without it. If I don't hear what he said,
if I'm not a good ground hearer, I'm going to die in my sin. That's
just the fact of the matter. This is Jesus Christ talking.
You know, incredibly, he said Satan immediately taketh away.
Incredibly, while I was reading that word. I looked out and his
son was gone, gone. Incredible. It's incredible to
me. There's only one explanation.
Now, I know there are times when all of us, for the sake of which
you don't get serious, this is life or death. This is life or death. This is
Jesus Christ's word. If I'm a wayside hearer, I'm
a goner. If I'm a stony ground hearer, I'm a goner. If I'm a
thorny ground hearer, I'm a goner. If I'm not a good ground hearer,
if I don't fit the character described in this parable of
a good ground hearer, I'm a goner. Doesn't matter what I look like
to anybody or sound like to anybody or how long I've been looking
and sounding like. I'm a goner. That's how serious it is. This
is the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Not my word. Satan cometh immediately and
the word's gone. The word's gone. Didn't hear
a word of it. Didn't hear a word of it. And what he says, what he does
in the ears and the thoughts and the minds and hearts of these
wayside hearers is You've heard that before. Or, you don't need that, you
know that. Or, you're above that. Or, that preacher's just a preacher,
he's just another sermon. He's no better than you. On and
on he goes by suggesting these things. It's just, there'll be
another opportunity. Suggestions. Just like Satan
did to Eve. Not a figment of our imagination,
not some character in a fable, the real person, Satan, coming
immediately. Gone. If you're still listening right
now, you'd be thankful. You'd be real thankful. Maybe
you're not a wayside hearer. If you're still with me, if you're
still listening, be thankful. All right, there's another hearer.
A stony ground here, verse 5 and 6. The Lord said, Some fell on
stony ground where it had not much earth. He doesn't say it didn't have
any earth, he said it didn't have much. Stony ground doesn't
necessarily look like stony ground on the outside. Stony ground on the surface looks
like other ground. It's not. That's beneath the
surface. A rock. A stony heart. The Word can't
get through it. And on the surface, though, it
seems to have received the Word. Are you with me? Are we with
the Lord here? The Lord is the one that's saying
it. He says in verse five, it didn't have much earth, immediately
it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. If there's not
much dirt there, then of course it'll sprout quickly, won't it?
Henry, all of you that have done any planting know that. There's
some, there's some ground, I have some ground over near a ditch
that looks like Virginia red dirt, you know. For years now,
I've been trying. I keep throwing seed on it. I even put hay on it or straw
on it. For years, I've been trying to
get that seed to grow on that ground. We've lived there eight
years now. It won't do it. You know what
I'm talking about, Gabe. It's in that ditch up the road
there. It won't grow there. Why? There's no soil there. There's
just no soil there. I don't care what it looks like.
There's no soil there. right under the surface is rock. It's rock. But it grows up. When I threw
that seed on there, especially this year with all the rain we've
been having, I threw that seed on there, whew, man, look, I've
got grass. I did say, and I thought, finally,
it's going to grow. The sun came out, and it's gone. It's gone. Look at it. It says in verse
6, the Lord says, when the sun was up, it was scorched because
it had no root. It was scorched. Now in verse
16, withered away, verse 16 and 17, he says, Now these are they
likewise which are sown on stony ground, stony ground here, who,
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness.
I can't tell you how many people I've preached to in funerals
and And other men have done the same thing, preached at funerals
or even weddings. The last wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Holland's wedding, two
or three people came up to me and said that was the greatest
thing I've ever heard on marriage. I don't pay much attention to
what people say anymore. I really don't. And I'd rather
them say good things than bad, I guess. You people, I want to
hear you say something so I know you're hearing it, but really
I don't, I didn't say, oh wow, good, I'm so glad. I didn't say
that at all, I just said thank you. Did they come? Did they
come to the next service? No. Funerals, had a person attend,
I don't know what funeral it was, the last one, no it wasn't
Shannon's, it was somebody else's. that came up to me and said,
that is the greatest message I've ever heard. Someone who'd
never been here before. I said, thank you. They didn't come back. On and
on, I could give you illustrations of that. And other preachers,
everybody, give you the same illustration. Spring up, oh man,
that's wonderful. Wonderful. Enthusiasm born under trial,
or that is conviction born under trial. Enthusiasm that comes
from some kind of emotional, some kind of whatever, blessing,
if you will, miracle. Things, these funeral conversions. I never heard of a wedding conversion,
but hospital conversions, somebody gets sick and is made well and
so on and so forth, they don't last. They don't last. I knew a man whose best friend,
he was sitting playing cards with him, and he dropped over
dead of a heart attack, sitting right beside an old card-playing
buddy. long-time friend, dropped dead. I decided. And that man got real
religious. He was in the next service, you
know, in the next. Is he now? No. It lasted only as long as a memory
of that traumatic experience lasts. That won't do it. Just
a little bit of soil. A little bit of soil. A little
bit of soil. Stony ground hero. It says, verse 16, look at it,
they receive the word immediately with gladness and have no root
in themselves and so endure for a time, but for a time. How long? How long does it say? The Lord
says they endure but for a time. How long is that? A short time? It doesn't say. I've known stony
ground hearers sit and listen for 30, 40 years. And all of a sudden, gone. I'll give you an illustration.
There's a man named Holbrook. He and his wife and two sons. His son my age, another son,
and a daughter. We're at 13th Street. They moved
from Pollard with everybody else and started that church. And they were faithful in attendance
near every service. You look up like clockwork, they're
there, whole family. Grew up, that boy grew up under
the gospel like I did. Man, wife, children, all there
for thirty years. Thirty years. One morning, that
young boy, a boy my age, brought one of his friends to the Bible study that morning. And the faithful
pastor that was there, my pastor, a faithful man, said something
about Catholicism. He renounced these hidden things
of dishonesty, like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4. He exposed
the corruption that is that evil religion. This boy was a Catholic. He got offended. He got real
offended at that, and came up to this pastor of forty years,
this man of much experience, and proceeded to try to tell
him how wrong he was. Well, my pastor put him in his place,
as he should. Put him in his place. Well, the
boy, the friend, a member there whose friend he was, told his
mom and dad about it, that the pastor offended this little peanut, little impotent,
rebellious fellow who hated the truth. They quit. They've never been
back. You got offended. Over what?
The truth, Ron. Never been back. That's what
this says. Verse 17, look at verse 17. It
says, When affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake. It was a truth set. People, a
true preacher, and I started by saying a true preacher is
one that preaches the word. Because all he wants to do is
rightly divide the word of truth, and so he preaches the word.
He doesn't want to be an offense. He doesn't want to run people
off. But if the word does, so be it. And our Lord said, this
is what does it. This is what does it. Persecution arises for the word's
sake. Some are offended. by, well, something said, something
done, either from the Word or a member or whatever. Trials
and afflictions come. Son, trials and afflictions. Difficulties. A person gets religion
and a difficulty comes along, some trial, and the preacher
faithfully says, The Lord sent this. Why? I don't understand
that. I can't believe that. No, a loving God wouldn't do
that. Yes, God did send them. I don't
like that. I'm leaving. Hit the road. They leave the gospel. And trials
don't have to be difficulties. They can be prosperity. Prosperity
weeds more people out than anything. I can't tell you how many people
who have come here and all of a sudden get a new job, a new
house, a new mate, and they're gone. Not just here, but other
places. They're gone. And people leave
the gospel in search of a job. Very few people leave a job in
search of the gospel. Very few people leave the gospel
in search of a mate, like I said, a husband or a wife. People come
to hear the gospel in search of a husband and a wife. And
they find one, and they're gone. There you go. Stony ground here. Trials come. Trials come. Persecution for the truth's sake.
I can't tell you how many people have heard the gospel and get
excited about it and defend it tooth and nail, but then get
tired of defending it and hear all this talk by the world. The
world saying, you're not right and everybody else is wrong.
There's some truth in everything. These people are sincere. Who
are you to say that this is wrong and that's wrong? And they get
tired of taking a stand for the truth in order to get in the
favor of, and they're tired of being blackballed, so they give
in. They give in. Martin Luther stood alone. He
said, Here I stand. I can do no other. The whole
world—Noah stood alone. The whole world laughed at him
and scoffed at him. Paul stood alone, an apostle. He said, after the way they call
heresy, that's the way I worship God. That's it. Persecution for the truth's sake. For if there's not much depth,
they're not going to stay. Thorny ground here, the next,
verse 7. Some fell among thorns, and thorns grew up and choked
it, and yielded no fruit. Verse 18 and 19, the Lord explains,
These are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the
word. Again, these hear the word. And they seem to be growing.
He says the thorns grew. What does that mean? It means
the plant grew, too. The plant grew up, and it looked
like a plant. It looked like a plant. It grew
up. It actually grew up. Everybody
thought, this is a good plant. But there were thorns growing. Thorns growing. And look at what he says these
thorns are. Verse 19, the cares of this world. The cares of this
world. What are the cares of this world?
You know, there are legitimate cares of this world. If you are
a father, you better take care of your children, or you're an
infidel. You better spend time with your children, or you're
worse than a heathen infidel. That's just a fact. Any man that
doesn't spend time with his children is not fit to be called father. That's a fact. That's God's Word. Then he cares not for any—provide
not for his own, the scripture says. He's worse than an infidel.
Providing for your own means providing time, instruction,
health, love, everything that a father is to provide for their
children. He's a father in name only. That's a fact. Cares of this world, though—there
are legitimate cares of this world. Care for the things God has given
you. Your home. You ought to take care of it.
Don't let it run down. That's a bad testimony. Or whatever
it is God gave, we're to take care of it. But now, the cares
of this world he's talking about are when these things are foremost
in your mind. When they give you anxious care. A father or a husband. Right
now, there's probably a husband or a father. A thorny ground
here. Right now, as I'm speaking, a
father thinking about his job. Thinking about work he has to
do tomorrow. That's just so. Thinking about
how we're going to do this. Thinking about financial trouble.
Thinking about this. The cares of this world choke
out the work. A mother. A mother. Right now. She's thinking about
her home. Thinking about her children.
Maybe thinking about the food she's going to prepare today.
Thinking about the cares of this world. Check it out. Cares of
this world. Youth. Young people. What do
they think about? You name it. They're thinking
about it. Cares of this world. Choke it
out. Look at the next thing. The Lord says the deceitfulness
of riches. The deceitfulness of riches.
Thorns that choke out the deceitfulness of riches. Everybody in here
is rich. Starting with me. Rich. We live
like kings and queens. Yes, we do. Not compared to people
years ago, to people right now. Go to Mexico. People live on
dirt. floors and cook on open fire
with no plumbing. We live like kings and queens. Look in the parking lot and you'll
see. We have riches. We're rich and increased with
goods, every one of us, starting with me. And the Lord says the
deceitfulness of riches. He calls it the deceitfulness
of riches. And let me remind you, the Lord
Jesus Christ didn't have anything when he lived on this earth for
thirty-three years. Roberta, he did not have a home, or a
horse, or anything, at thirty-three years. And so, he's qualified to say
this, is he not? The deceitfulness of riches. In other words, riches deceive
us. What do they deceive us with?
Happiness. If I can just get this, I'll
be content." Oh my, Solomon told us about that, didn't he? No,
no, no, no. Solomon said, I had four thousand
horses, ten thousand. Solomon said, I had five thousand
vacation homes. Solomon said, I had seven hundred
wives. Solomon said, I had everything
and the most of everything anybody could have, and he said, I concluded,
it won't make you happy. It won't do it. What does it
do, Steve? Makes you want something bigger
or better. That's exactly what it does.
We're never happy with anything. Never happy with anything. It
deceives us into thinking, if I could just have that, I'd be
happy. Deceitfulness of riches. Look at the next thing. He calls
it the lust of other things. The lust of other things. Lust
is something that enters you, not just sexual lust, but lust,
or that is cravings and desires and passions after anything,
and it'll make you act like a fool. It will consume you. A lust is
something that consumes you. It won't be done until you have
it. That's what a lust is. Things. Things. Other things. Lest of
other things. What? Stuff. Stuff. Call it what it is. Stuff. A
bunch of stuff. Things that we have to have.
Years later, we're selling in garage sale and it won't sell
then. We haul it to the dump. We do, don't we? We're pitiful
people, creatures. Stuff. Lest of other things. Entering in. Oh, the day when
I leave here, I'm going Get my stuff together. Choke it. Choke it. So these things, all
of these things, choke the Word and it becomes unfruitful. All
right, but now look, here's the last. Oh, Lord, would you, I
hope you can say from your heart right now, Lord, I want to be
a good ground hearer. which fell among good ground."
Verse 8, "...other fell on good ground, did yield fruit." Verse
20, "...they which are sown on good ground, are those that hear
the word, and receive it." What is good ground? When we're not
good in ourselves, there's no such thing as good ground by
itself. It's got to be prepared. Who does the preparing? The great
landowner, the great husbandman, prepares the heart. We're talking
about the heart here. There's none good, no, not one.
But when God Almighty begins to break this heart, what is
it that a farmer does? First thing a farmer does to
plant the seed. What's he do? He goes out and
rips up jack. If it's ground that's been laid
fallow for years, you know, and And, man, it's got stumps and
logs and the hardest thing you've ever done is clear land in it.
Oh, my, they're hidden rocks bigger than a house under there.
Gotta get them out. Stumps you didn't know was there.
Wigs will pop up here and there, gotta be pulled. On and on it
goes. It goes out there and just tears
that ground all to pieces. Thousands. When the gospel is
preached, like we've said so many times, the object is not
to make us feel good about ourselves. No, the object of the gospel
is to first break your heart. Break my heart. Right, Dan? You thought you were a pretty
good fellow, didn't you, until finally the husbandman, the Lord
of the harvest broke your proud, self-righteous heart. Is that
alright if I say that in front of everybody? That's the way
it was one day. You didn't even know you were a sinner until
God opened and exposed the heart. Because this gospel is to sinners,
and only a sinner is going to hear it. Only a sinner is going
to receive it. So what has God got to do? Break
the heart of sin. Rip it open. Cut it like a knife. The Word of God is a sword, he
said, that pierces to the bowing of thunder the soul. You've got
to break the heart. Break the heart. God is the husbandman. He breaks. The stone's got to
be removed. We've got things ingrained in
us. We've been here, you know, some
of us were raised religious. We had our notions of God and
big old rocks, boy, that just were settled there, and you're
not going to move them. I believe this way, or God does. You know, I'm still taking rocks
out of my soil, aren't you? Henry, how long have you been
farming? A hundred years. Any stones left in your field?
Man, oh man, down the middle of my driveway, there's a big
old red rock started surfacing. In the middle of my driveway. I took my shovel, took me thirty
minutes. That's the thing about that tree.
It just raised its ugly head, you know. Another big old rock. And so it is with people and
their preconceived religious notions that we have ingrained
in us from children, you know. They're down there and they raise
themselves, surface, and be dug out, dug out. Stony heart removed. to receive
the word, we've got to be nothing so that we'll hear the truth.
If any man thinks he knows anything, my, my. The Holy Spirit is the
one that does this, and he continually does this. This whole, this work
of making the ground good is a lifelong work. God prepares
the heart to receive the seed. Good ground. And it says, and
I'm going to close with this, it says the good ground In verse
20, they receive it. They receive it. Last, well,
we had a visitor in here, an older man who'd been around the
gospel a while, a long time. And he came up to me afterward
and he said, you know, there's some people in here that actually
had tears in their eyes. I said, that's so wonderful.
He said, you don't see that much anymore. You must have received the Word.
The Word is designed to break these hearts. The Word is designed
to make us so glad with tears of joy. The Word is designed
to make us miserable, yet the happiest people on earth. The
Word is designed to depress us, yet make us full of joy unspeakable. Can you understand? Some of you
understand. The Word is designed to make
us want to weep bitter tears of joy, yet laugh loud laughter. That's what the Word of God does. The heart, good heart, swallows
it up. Swallows it up. You ever seen
a nest of birds, baby bird? Who's hungry? Which one's hungry? One's got his mouth open. That's
it. That's what Scripture says. And
God actually says, open your mouth. I feel it. Rest of the
day with hunger and thirst after righteousness. Thirst like a
plowed up ground. Needs rain. Soaks it up. Soaks it up. Keeps raining. Soaking
it up. Soaking it up. You're not going
to quit now, are you? Soaking it up. Receives it. What does it do? Brings forth
fruit. Brings forth fruit. What fruit? Love, joy, peace,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, long-suffering,
fruit, through the Spirit, chief of which is love, through the Spirit. They grow
in various different degrees. He says some thirty, some sixty,
some a hundred, but they do grow. All of them grow. Fruit, that's
the key. One plant looked good, it didn't
produce fruit. He looked good as an average
person, but one he knew was looking for fruit. Joy. Joy in what? Joy in Christ and the gospel.
Love for the gospel. Long-suffering. Gentleness, goodness,
meekness, temperance, peace. Fruit. That's how you know. And the Lord used another parable
one time. He said he came to a fig tree
and there was no fruit on it. He said, I'm going to cut it
down. Cut it down. But the other fellow said, Lord,
just leave it alone a little bit. Let's keep dunging it. Just
keep throwing the stuff to it. What stuff? Make you realize
how stinking and what a rotten, fruitless tree it is. Maybe the
Lord will have mercy on that thing and not cut it down. Maybe
it'll bring forth fruit. Let's hope so. Let's hope so. How important is this parable? If we're not good ground, we're
not going to know any parable. We're not going to hear any parable.
It starts right there, hearing. And you know, I used to know,
what was it, what's the hymn number, was it? I read one time,
listen to this, I read one time of an old preacher, an old true
preacher of the gospel, who would close every single message he
ever preached, every one, and he preached many, forty or so
years, with a prayer. Every single time, and it wasn't
just repeating a prayer. He prayed, Lord, don't let me,
don't let these people be wayside heroes. Lord, don't let this
fall among stony, hard-hearted people. Lord, don't let the thorns
choke it out. Lord, may we receive your word
as good ground heroes. He's my friend. Every message
he closed. That'd be good, wouldn't it?
We're going to leave here in just a few minutes. Well, I hope the Word had effect,
don't you? All right, if, Gabe, you'll come
up, we'll sing this in closing. Number 163, selected well. Open my eyes, open my ears, open
my mouth to hear and see and bear the Word. Let's stand as
we sing. So, Open my eyes that I may see,
glimpse in the truth Thou hast for me. Place in my hands the
wonderful key, that shall entwasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for Thee,
ready my God Thou wilt to see. Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit
divine. Open my ears that I may hear
Voices of truth bouncing in this blues And while the wave notes
fall on my ears Everything lost will disappear Silently now I
wait for Thee, ready, my God, I will to see. Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit
divine. Open my mouth and let me bathe. Let me love warm through everywhere. Open my heart and let me prepare. Love with our children was to
share. Silently now I wait for Thee,
Ready my God, I will to see, Open my heart and rumin' me,
Spirit divine.