Thank you, Jerry. I like that second verse. It's a golden casket, or that
means ark, where gems of truth are stored. It is a heaven-drawn
picture of Christ's living Word. That's good. All right, back
to Luke 8. Let's read the first three verses
again. Luke chapter 8. Afterward, you remember what just happened. We just studied how the Lord
went in to eat with this Pharisee, and this woman came in. After
that, he went throughout every city and village preaching and
showing the gospel of the kingdom of God. And twelve were with
him, the apostles, and certain women, which had been healed
of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary, called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils. Joanna, the wife of Chuzza, Herod's
steward. Each of these is significant.
We don't have time to look into each, but that's Herod's steward's
wife, the wife of Herod's steward.
That's unusual. She was a disciple. And Susanna
and many others which ministered unto him of their substance. Now in chapter 7, we saw how the Lord was most
certainly singling out men. And we stated some of those reasons. And then immediately afterward,
I remember he had been preaching to those Pharisees, those men
at Sanhedrin, you know, where they didn't believe him. And
he said, what am I going to liken the men of this generation to?
And then immediately after that, he went in to eat with a bunch
of those men. Ladies weren't allowed to sit
around the table. Just a bunch of men meeting. Here he barged
this woman in. A woman barged in, the men's
meeting. And a sinner, a sinful woman
at that. She's the only one that ended
up justified in that matter. And in chapter 8 now, you understand
the context here. Right after that, in the first
three verses, he makes a point. The Holy Spirit records this
about these women. It makes a point in commending
or telling us about the women followers of Christ. Do you see
that in the context? And it says they ministered to
him of their substance. That means, what that means is
they cooked for the Lord. The Lord had no place to lay
his head, he said, no home. He may have stayed in some of
their homes. I'm sure he did. He had one garment. They sewed it for him. They cooked
for him. Can you imagine that, ladies?
Fixing supper for the Lord? You remember the story? There
were two of them. One of them was just a little too busy fixing
supper. Martha was her name. While Mary sat and listened to
it. Well, you think about that, though. Washing the Lord's clothes. And the fact is, if you've done
it to any of the saints, If you've done it to any of the
saints, Christ said, you've done it to me. You've done it to me. Well, and men, we noticed, us
men now, this is for us, we noticed an important lesson how the Lord
singles out men for rebukes and then he honors all these women. And think about this now. The
role of the woman down through time has been what? servant and an abused one at
that. It's still the case. And most
often women have been servants tirelessly and thanklessly and
even suffering abuse while doing it. And in this, the form of a servant,
the role of a servant, Isn't this characteristic, isn't this
the place of the believer? Isn't every believer, male or
female, a servant to Christ our husband? And then too, women,
the general characteristics attributed to women are that of a weaker
You ladies don't. Surely you don't. That's what
scripture said. You don't mind that, do you?
Well, that's what it says. It's so. Dependent. Getting less and less so, but
basically dependent, needing protection and provisions and
so forth. And doesn't that describe the church? Doesn't that describe
every believer? Every believer is female. They're
the bride. They're called the bride of Christ. Right? We're sheep. There's only
one ram. And he was caught in the thicket.
But we were sheep. Are you a sheep? All right. So this is no coincidence. No coincidence. This is, in keeping
in the context, the Lord is teaching us a lesson here. And it's no
coincidence either that there were more women that followed
the Lord than men. And it's so. Even in this, well, you know,
tonight, that's a strange thing, usually. It's about half and
half tonight. I'm glad. Men, you did good. But you know, nearly every Grace
Church I know, there are more women than there are men. It's
about twice, two to one in this congregation. That's just in
keeping with the characteristics of, and we noticed how, you know,
that, well, women, little more receptive. Well, in our women,
gospel women, that's a good name for them, gospel women, the Lord's
disciples, and not silly women. Now, religion today is run by,
headed up by, and filled with mostly women, silly women, led
captive, Paul said. Our women aren't silly women.
They're wiser than the men of this generation. Not our men,
but the men of this generation. I was thinking earlier how that,
thinking of some of you ladies, how you could, if it were lawful,
you could preach the gospel. You have to me. All right. So that's the lesson for us. Paul said, let me close this
out. So he got two messages tonight. This is the first, and the parable
of the sower is the second. I wanted to deal honestly with
every verse. And why was this just in there, just to tell us
who was there? No. Well, if we would be Christ's
bride, then we must receive the Word as a weak vessel in meekness,
poor, needy, dependent. Paul said we need to be men in
understanding, but children in malice, or that is, not having
it. Parable of the Sower. Parable
of the Sower. And this follows, now listen,
look at verse 18. Do you wonder why I read verses
16 through 18? You think that's another, a different
thought? No. Verse 18. He says, Take heed. Now he sums up everything. And this goes with what I was
just saying about women being receptive and so forth, and how
we're to receive the Word as little children. Because in verse
eighteen he sums it all up by saying, take heed therefore how
you hear. Don't be like those wise men, those Sanhedrin who
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Be like these women
who sanded his feet and just soaked it up. Take heed therefore
how you hear because whosoever hath Him shall be given, and be given
more. And whosoever hath not from him
shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have." All right.
So that's the purpose of the parable. To tell us, watch how
you hear now. And here it is Wednesday night,
and this is a mighty important time. Our Lord says, take heed
how you hear. All right, verses 4 through 8.
Now, when much people were gathered, and I'll not read this again,
but he gives the parable of the sower, all right? The seed fell
on different types of ground, and he cried out. It means he cried out. He that hath ears
to hear. Now without going any further
with it if we didn't hadn't read the rest of that could you have
told. Could you have explained to me
the spirit. You. If the Lord had not revealed
that, would you have known what it meant that the seed fell by
the wayside and was trodden down the fousy air? Could you? Look
over at Mark chapter 4 with me and look at this gentle rebuke
of our Lord to his disciples, the men. And I don't know if they've been
preaching yet or not, But he gently rebuked him for not knowing
the meaning of this. Mark chapter 4, look at this,
verses 9, now this is the same parable. And he said in verse
9, unto them he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when
he was alone, then they that were about him, with the twelve,
asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, unto you
it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto
them that are without, or that is outside the kingdom. All these
things are done in parables. That seeing they may see and
not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should
be forgiven them. Now look at this striking verse
right here. And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable?
How then will you know all parables? If you don't know this one, how are you going to know the
rest? Now that jumped out at me. I
never noticed that before. So it seems to be that apparently
this one is the first step in knowing all the parables. That's what He said, didn't He?
If you don't know this one, how are you going to know the rest?
It starts right here. Alright? Back to Luke. Luke 8. And I'll tell you why I said
that. Because whether or not you hear
the Word depends on whether He gives you ears to hear it. If he doesn't give years to hear,
if it falls on stony ears or stony heart, you're not going
to know that parable. You're not going to know any
parable. You see? If it's a heart, in other words,
if it don't have a good heart to receive it, you're not going
to receive any of it. Do you see what he's saying? If the heart is not good, As
he said of a good heart. Then not going to receive any
of the word will turn away the ears. That makes sense. So it starts here. This is where
it starts. With the hearing of the ear.
The Lord must give us ears to hear. A heart to receive. All
right. And all who have been given ears
to hear and a heart to love. They have the words revealed
to them. And they, like Paul said, they know all mysteries.
Right? That's what he said. And they
know all mysteries. After it's shown to them. But it's all plain. That's the paradox in Proverbs
8 where he says it's all plain to them that find knowledge. It's plain when somebody teaches
you. But he does. He teaches us. That's
what he said. It's given to you. You can't
find it out, but it's given to you. It's revealed to you. It's
hidden from the rest. All right. Now, here's the meaning
of the parable. Verse 11. The seed is the Word
of God. Now, stop right there. Let me
test your ears and your heart a little bit more, whether you're
tuned in. The seed is the Word. What is the seed? The Word. What is the seed? Christ is the seed. Right? These are two terms used for
Christ throughout the Scriptures. It began. In the beginning was
the Word. What's that? In the beginning,
God. And in the beginning, the Word, it says the woman's seed.
the woman's seed. That's what Genesis means, the
beginning. It begins, the gospel begins in speaking of the woman's
seed. All right? So the word is what? Seed. Christ. It's all Christ. And for anybody to understand
this book, any of them, they've got to know Christ. They've got
to see Christ in them. You see? You can even explain,
I mean, and there are Bible scholars, so-called, all over the land
who can quote vast portions of Scripture. That fellow, you know,
that wimpy fellow on TV that's supposed to be a walking Bible,
I've heard him. He can't even quote vast portions
of Scripture. But he doesn't see Christ in
every portion of Scripture. He's blind. The seed had been
planted, right? Seed is a word. You see that? Right there's a key. The seed
is the word of God. Christ is the seed. Christ in
you. The hope of glory. Christ in
you. All right. In the beginning was
the Word. And it says here, the seed, those
that fell by the wayside, verse 12, those that fell by the wayside,
Are they that hear? Then cometh the devil, and taketh
away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and
be saved." Back in verse 5, he says, it fell by the wayside,
and it was trodden down. Fouls of the air devoured it. Trodden down. So what this is,
or rather who this is, is someone who hears the gospel. Hears the
gospel. The Word. More specifically,
Christ. His person. His work. And they trod it underfoot. And
that's what the Hebrews talks about. They who trod underfoot
the Son of God. They reject it. They have foul
thoughts. Foul thoughts. They pick at it. What's a foul? I was driving
home the other day, Rick, and there was a big old buzzard sitting
up in a tree. Shocked me. You know how big
those things get. Bald-headed, buzzard-looking,
ugly thing. Buzzards, they feed on dead flesh,
don't they? And they just pick at it. Pick
at it. That's what dead people do to
the Word of God, don't they? They come, they hear it, they
don't receive it and soak it in and say, Oh, I love that.
I love that. Oh, yes, I see Christ. No, they pick at it. Pick at
it. I remember a young man coming
here, and he was like this stony ground hearer. Man, he got so excited when he
heard the message about a friend, about his mother. And I distinctly remember a message
that I preached on. Do you remember the message on
David playing the harp for Saul? Huh? The hand of a fit man who's
able to play well. Well, I got a thrill. I was just thrilled to see Christ
in that. You see, Christ is all and in
all. Well, that young man, he did
not like that. He thought, I guess he thought
I was saying that Saul was a saved man or something. That wasn't
the point. The point was to see the picture of Christ and all
that. Well, he's never been back since. got a fin today and picked
that," he said. You see, Christ is... Adam's
a picture of Christ. The fall of man is a picture
of Christ crucified. I'll never forget the first time
I saw that, how that Adam was not deceived in the transgression.
He willingly was made sin for that bride who had fallen. Now,
if that ain't a picture of Christ, One of the greatest types of
Christ in all the scriptures is Esau. Remember how Jacob had
to smell like him and feel like him and bring what the father
liked that Esau had? That's a beautiful picture of
Christ. Well, if these buzzards want
to pick at it, let them pick at it. God's Word, they see Christ
in everything, right? These foul fellows do. They pick
at the Word. They pick at it. They're of their
father of the devil. Because if God were their father,
he is of God. Here is God's Word. And especially,
Christ said, if God were your father, he said, you love me.
Remember that? Christ said to those Pharisees,
if God were your Father, you'd love me, because I proceeded
forth and came from the Father. And if God were man's true Father,
they'd love to hear of Christ crucified, and they wouldn't
want to hear anything else. Right? They wouldn't want to hear anything
else. And then when they see fresh
pictures of him, they just get beside themselves. All right,
here's a stony ground hearer. Stony ground hearer, verse 13.
They on the rock are they which, when they hear, they receive
the word with joy. And these have no root, though,
in which for a while they believe, and in time of temptation fall
away. These are people or persons who
hear the gospel and seem to receive it and rejoice in it. Like that young man I was talking
about, and there have been many others in our midst, Stephen.
And they're enthusiastic about it, and they're zealous for it,
even argue concerning it. It says in verse 6, back in verse
6, he says, here's the key, they sprung up just a little too fast. sprung up. Now, you gardeners
and you farmers know that plants that just too rapid growth is
not good, is it? You understand what I'm saying?
It's not good. Too rapid growth outgrows the root, right? And, you know, the things like,
let's take taters. What grows first? What grows
first in a tater? Roots. From the eye. Roots start growing out of a
tater, don't they? Before long, before you see it
sprout. But these hearers, they just sprung up in quick conversions,
overnight changes, funeral confessions, hospital decisions. revival convictions. They don't
laugh. My pastor, who's been in the
ministry for, well, about forty-five years, said he's never, not once,
seen somebody truly converted as a result of sickness or the
death of someone. Never. That's generally, that comes
from an emotional experience, right? Everybody starts thinking
about life after death when somebody dies, right? Don't they? And
they get a little bit serious for a while. Or sickness, you
know. They think, hey, I might be on
shaky ground here. I better get right with God,
you know. Well, they spring up and it usually doesn't last because
he said there's no root in them. No root. You remember what God said about
Job? He said, the root of the matter
is in him. Remember that? God said that about Job. He said,
Job, the root of the matter is in him. And so what happened? Our Lord talked about when these
trials come, temptations come, and they will come. That's how
faith is tried. Whether or not somebody is true
or not, they're going to find out by trials. That's the only
way you can find out. That's the only way. Not by what
they say, not by trial. And Job, boy, what all hit Job. And Scripture
says, yet in all this, Yet charged he not God with foolishness."
Why? The root of the matter. What's
the root? Huh? What's the root? The root
of David. A root out of dry ground. Isaiah
53, Christ. Christ is the root. And back
in verse 6, it says it lacked moisture. And that's where roots
suck moisture out of the dirt, don't they? I dug up a willow
tree in my yard. I've never seen so many roots.
I've dug up many trees before. I'd always heard that, you know.
We were down in, when I was in Louisiana, what's the town where
Ken Wymer lives? Where? Of course, Ken Wymer lives. Shreveport. Shreveport, thank
you. We were down in Shreveport and they were looking for land
to build a church house on and we were out driving around and
there was an old country boy named Clarence. Some of you girls
ought to get no clearance. Fine fellow, red-headed boy,
loves the gospel, single, country boy. And we were riding around,
and he's kind of quiet. And we looked at a piece of ground.
Brother Ken and I said, hey, that's good ground. That looks
like a good spot. We were going on and on. Yeah,
look at the location, all that. It's level and all that. And
Clarence says, boy, no. Can't build there. I said, look
at all those trees. You know what those are? Willard
trees. Willard trees. Willard trees
means water. Can't build there. That's a swamp. And wherever water is, moisture,
you know, roots, plenty of roots. And the picture here is that
Christ is both the root of the matter and the water of life.
Right? And Christ in you, the water
of life, moistens everything. Moistens everything about you.
And the Word. Makes the word, motions the word
to you. All right, Job, and Job said
this, when the trials came, Job said, though he slay me, yet
I'll trust him. See, Christ is the root of the
matter, though he slay me. He didn't, Job didn't attribute
all his problems to circumstances, this and that and the other.
He said, the Lord did this. See, the root of the matter was in
him. See that? Paul said, in prison, I know. Or Job said, I know my Redeemer
lives. Paul said, in prison, I know
whom I believe. I am his prisoner. He put me
here. See, the root of the matter was
in him. If the root wasn't in him, he'd have cursed God and
died. Eli even said, it's the Lord. The Lord
did it. No matter what comes, if the
root of the matter is in you, you say, the Lord did it. You see? That's how you find
out. And verse 13 says that for a
while. You see that? They received it
for a while. For a while, they believed. How
long? It doesn't say. I've seen some 30-year stony
ground hearing. I mean it. I've seen some people
seem to believe and receive the Word and sit for 30 years and
leave. It just says for a while. It
doesn't say how long. So let that be a warning to all
of you. Lord, may the root of the matter
be in me. Trials, you see? Abraham, what to say? Abraham,
after these things, then the hardest trial of all,
you see? Don't think when you get older, you know,
that now you've gone through the tough part of it. After these
things. It's the final, one final weaning. We have to continually be weaned. Right before you, when you're
just really ready to leave this place, they wean you from it. Well, and it'll tell us, and
that's what he meant by nothing secret. It'll all be made manifest,
whether they are of us. And no doubt we'll remain with
it. Well, and let me say this. It needs
to be said. Trials come in many forms, and
it doesn't have to be adversity. And many, if not more, people
leave from prosperity. All right, here's the good ground.
Here's the good ground. Verse 14, I left this out, didn't
I? They that fell among thorns are they which have heard and
go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures
of this life and bring forth no fruit of perfection. That's
what I was just talking about. Prosperity. Prosperity will choke
out the word Maybe even more so than adversity. So be aware. Brother Henry, you've had it
all. Had a lot, lost a lot, right? Had a pocket full of money, and
no money. Nice car, break down. It's all
the same. It comes and it goes. Treat it like that. Write everything
sentence of death on it. All right, verse 15. Now, let's
end this with this good ground. Now, they on good ground are
they which in an honest and good heart, an honest and good heart, receive
the Word. You got a good heart? You got a good heart? Now we know there's none good,
don't we? No, not one. The Scripture says the natural
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Then how is a heart good? How is a heart made good? All
right, let's take soil. The soil is the picture here. Good soil. What's the best kind
of soil? It's not this red stuff. It's
the blacker the soil, the better. You know that? Oh, yeah. Go out
in the woods and, you know, move aside some leaves and dig up
some of that humus, you know. Well, I'd grow in that. Yes,
everything grows. It's teeming with life. The blacker
the soil, the better. Now, this is a paradox, isn't
it? The blacker the heart, the better. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. The better soil. Good soil is the soil that's
been absolutely busted to pieces. Right? It's not that smooth. Boy, it looks good, doesn't it?
It's all flat and nice. The best soil is the soil that's
been plowed, disked, tilled, raked, rocks removed, roots removed. Right? That's the best soil. It's just been ground to powder,
practically. And this is what the great husbandman
does, the great landowner. God does the plowing. It breaks a heart. See, a good
heart is a broken one. The best heart is the most broken
one. To this man what I look, it's got a good heart. What kind?
A broken and a contrite heart. That's the best. That's paradoxical.
The world says that, you know, the better you are, the more
God will take you. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Uh-uh, Joe, the
worse you are, the more he'll take you." Now, this is a faithful
saying now. The Lord came to save sinners.
Paul said, Now, I'm a chief. The greatest is the least. The cleanest is the blackest. Remember the leper over in Leviticus
13? The one that was clean was the
one that was covered all over with leprosy. You remember that? One fellow
came in and he just had one little spot and the priest said, unclean. Another fellow came in and he
had about half, half of his body covered and he said, unclean.
Another fellow came in and he had He had one little good spot,
you know, one that covered all over, he said, one good spot.
And the priest said, unclean. One fellow came in, he was covered
from head to toe. In his flesh is no good thing,
no sound that's in him, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. And the high priest said, clean!
You remember that? If you don't, let's go back. So good soil. All right. Christ is the heart. He's the
chief surgeon and a great physician. The whale don't need a physician. Let's say I go to I think I'll
go visit the heart surgeon this week and I go there and he does
a test on me. He said, you've got a hundred
percent, I mean, you don't have no blockage whatsoever. Your
cholesterol's squared all day. Your what's, every, all those
other figures. Everything's just fine. You don't
need me. Get out of here, man. Send somebody in here who's got
a broken heart. See? The worse the heart, the more
glory the physician gets. Huh? And he has to do multiple bypasses
on us. Yea, a transplant. So you see,
good soil is the worst. Good soil is the blackest. A
good heart and an honest heart. What's an honest heart here?
He says a good and an honest heart. Well, we looked at that
last week. Anywhere it said the common people
justified God. Remember that? They justified
God. That is, an honest heart, whatever
God says about them, they take an honest look at themselves.
When the Word of God says, there's no soundness in you, no goodness
in you, in your flesh dwelleth no good thing. A good heart,
a broken heart over sin. An honest heart takes a good,
honest look within and says, that's right. Well, what does soil think of
soil? Dirt. What's a shootle-knight maiden
think? I'm black. Call it like you see it. See,
an honest heart. And an honest heart is one prepared
by God to receive the Word. They receive the Word. They don't
pick at it like those fowl. whatever God says, they take
an honest look at it and say, well, it does say that, doesn't
it? You see that? An honest heart, a believer approaches
the Word of God honestly, in an honest fashion, not trying
to disprove it, not with preconceived notions, not saying, well, I
have my theology, and this is what my denomination believes,
and this is what my mother taught me and daddy, and now I'm going
to try to prove it. I heard a person say that one
time, actually say that. He said, if you can show me in
the Word of God where that is, I'll believe it. No, I'm not
going to do that. The Word of God is not out to prove you right or prove you wrong. Whatever
God says is right, whether we understand it or not. And see,
an honest heart takes a look at it, and it says election,
and we say, well, yeah, God elected people. I don't understand it.
I don't have God elected a people, yet we, you know, if we don't
choose Him, we get the blame. But there it is. Right? You don't try to explain it.
You just don't believe it. So that's an honest heart. And it
says, and read on, and I'll quit. It says, And a good heart, having
heard the word, keeps it. doesn't reject it. Good soil, the best soil, soaks
up the most water, doesn't it, brother Henry? Hard fan, it just
runs off. Good soil just soaks it up, soaks
it up, soaks it up. You get that potting soil that's
full of vermiculite and all those nutrients and all that, and you
just keep pouring the water on it, pouring the water, pouring
the water, and you think, how much is it going to hold until
the cup runs over? till it goes all the way down
to the root. And this just permeates, saturates
the soil. It keeps it, retains the Word.
Lays hold of Christ, the seed, the Word. Lays hold of Christ.
Keeps it. Holds on to Him. And brings forth
fruit. That's faith. Faith is the fruit
of the root. And the root is the root of faith.
Right? Christ is the root of faith.
And look at this. You've got to note this. With
patience. He said it brings forth fruit,
that is faith, with patience. In other words, we see the Word. We see the Word. God shows us
something from the Word and we say, yes, I believe that. But
how we really believe it is when we patiently wait on the fulfillment
of it. We don't really believe it until
experience that teaches us that. You see? And that's what James
and Peter both talk about. Trial your faith, bring patience. Experience. Experience hope. Good hope. You understand? With
patience. You receive the Word and say,
yes, I believe that. And then you wait. And you might
not really, you know, You might not really have taken it all
in yet, but then you wait. No, you just wait. You'll know. You'll find out. He said, I'm
a very present helper in time of trouble. And you say, well,
I believe that, yes. He's the Lord our helper and
our strength and all that. Well, you're going to have to
wait. And then when you get in trouble, then he's a very present
helper, you see, and with patience. You find out the truth of the
matter. And he says there, you say, how
does this go along with it? Well, no man when he has lighted
a candle covereth it with a vessel. We are the candle. Remember the
candlesticks in the churches called the candlesticks over
in Revelation? We are these candles whom God has illuminated with
the gospel. He sets it on a candlestick that
they which enter in may see the light. In other words, that's
us being put out in the world. Christ said, You're the light
of the world. Remember that? He said, I pray not to take them
out of the world, but put them in it. If the believers weren't
in the world, there'd be no reason for the world. And that's what's going to happen
when God removes all believers from the world. He's going to
destroy the world. So they're put out in the world.
But nothing's secret. It'll all be made manifest. And
if anything's hid, it'll all be known and come abroad by trials. Remember back in 1 Peter, in
the day of visitation. See that? They will glorify God
through you, by you bearing up on these trials. Like that brother
I was telling you about, the doctor said, whatever he's got,
I want. He said, life, in the face of
trial. Now, so take heed. Therefore,
how you hear, those who ever have, Whosoever hath a good,
honest heart, receptive faith in Christ, is going to grow in
grace. It'll be given. They're going
to grow in grace. And trials bring about this growth
too. And they'll stand against trial. But, whosoever hath not, who really
doesn't have the rue of the matter, Him, it's going to be taken away.
Eventually, they're going to be taken away. It'll be taken
away, what they seem like they have. So what do we do? Take heed how
we hear. If you hear this word tonight,
if you're unsure, ask the Lord. Plant this incorruptible seed
in my heart. I want the root of the matter
in me. I want Christ in me. Ask Him. He'll do it. He'll do it. All right. Let's
stand. Our Heavenly Father, what a bountiful portion of your Word this is,
full of grace and truth as it speaks of Christ as Christ spoke. This is the Word of God incarnate. Christ spoke and warned us, take
heed how we hear, and O Lord, give us ears to hear. a heart to receive. Work on these
hard hearts, we pray. We feel our hearts to be all
of these, to have all of these maladies. Lord, we feel at times
the foul taking away, taking away the Word, the fouls. We
feel the cares and all choking it out. We sometimes we don't
receive the word that our ears are stopped. Our minds are elsewhere. Our hearts are hard. We beg your
forgiveness. We ask that you would continually
break our hearts to receive this engrafted word, to see Christ. Oh, may Christ be in us a higher
hope of glory. I pray this for myself and all
who are here tonight. In Christ's name, amen.