Let's open our Bibles to Luke,
the eighth chapter. The gospel of Luke, chapter eight. Verse four. When much people were gathered
together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by
a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed,
and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden
down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon
a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because
it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell
on good ground and sprang up and bear fruit a hundredfold. And when he had said these things,
he cried, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples
asked him saying, what might this parable be? And he said,
unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God but to others in parables that seeing they might not see
and hearing they might not understand now the parable is this the sower
or the seed is the word of God those 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. They on
the rock are they, which when they hear, receive the word with
joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns
are they, which when they have heard go forth and are choked
with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring
forth no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are
they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word,
keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. No man, when he
hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth
it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which
enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall
not be made manifest, neither anything hid that shall not be
known and come abroad. Take heed, therefore, how ye
hear, for whosoever hath, to him shall be given. and whosoever
hath not from him shall be taken away that which he seemeth to
have. Take heed how ye hear. That's my subject. Friday evening we will have the
privilege of getting to hear the gospel of God's grace from
eight faithful, gifted gospel preachers. The conference involves a great
deal of expense, a great deal of labor. And you may wonder,
why do we do this? We host these conferences for
the benefit of God's church at large. I hope for the glory of
God. But my primary concern is for
you. for your souls, and I trust that
concern is for God's glory. I want you who are yet without
Christ to hear the gospel of God's grace, the power of his
spirit. Oh, that God might have mercy
on you. Oh, that God might cause you
to hear the word. I want you who are gods, you who believe
to be confronted with your own sin, your unbelief, your hardness
of heart, reproved, corrected, edified, comforted, and encouraged
by the preaching of the word. I pray that God will be pleased
to grant us a time of refreshing in his presence for a little
season that we might be greatly blessed of God in the outpouring
of his spirit. I want you as a congregation
to know, become as intimately acquainted as possible with every
faithful gospel preacher I can introduce you to in our generation.
I want you to know them. I want you to know their ministries.
I want you to love them, to seek out their friendship. And I want
you to be able to turn to them in time of need. And so I try
to bring men in here Some come regularly every year and then
every year I try to bring a new face whenever it's possible to
do so. So I want tonight to talk to you about hearing the Word
of God as you prepare and I do for these three days of meetings.
The Scriptures tell us many things about how we are to hear God's
Word. Turn to the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12. When you found that passage,
turn to the book of James, James the first chapter. How shall we hear God's word? Ecclesiastes, I said chapter
12, I meant chapter five, excuse me. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse
1. The wise man says, keep thy foot
when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to
hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. Be more ready to hear
instruction than to give it. Be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. There are a lot of people who
never shut up long enough to learn anything. Don't be that
way when you come to the house of God. Be ready to hear rather
than to give the sacrifice to fools. Be not rash with thy mouth. Don't speak hastily against what's
heard or about what's heard. And let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven and thou
upon earth, therefore, Let thy words be few. Turn to James chapter
one. James, the first chapter. Verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth. This is how
God saved us, by the hearing of the word of the gospel. Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my
beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath. Swift to hear God, Swift to hear
the message God gives, swift to hear instruction from God's
word, slow to speak in response to it, and very slow to be angered
by it. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word. God speak. and calls me to hear. Receive with meekness the engrafted
word, watch this, which is able to save your souls. Now let's turn back to Luke chapter
8. The Lord Jesus is here addressing his disciples, both those who
were his true disciples and those who were his disciples only by
profession. Knowing that a great multitude
of people were gathered to hear him out of every city, and knowing
that most of them would be hearers only, only audible hearers, not
hearing with the heart, not hearing in faith, not mixing what they
heard with faith in him. Our Lord Jesus spoke to them
a parable. He used the similitude of a farmer
who went out to sow his seed. And in this parable, the Savior
plainly tells us that there are few in every place where the
gospel is preached. There are few in every place
where the gospel is preached. Please hear this. There are few
in every place where the gospel is preached who receive the word
with any saving benefit to their souls. What an astounding, sobering
declaration. Three things are evident in this
parable. The preaching of the gospel is sowing the seed of
life. Only those whose hearts are made
good by the regenerating grace and power of God, the Holy Spirit,
receive the word with saving benefit. Only only those whose
hearts are made new by grace. Only those who are born again
by God's spirit receive the word with benefit to their souls.
And yet it is our responsibility. Once we've received the good
seed of the gospel into our hearts to take care that nothing chokes
out its influence. You who are my brothers and sisters
in Christ and your pastor, hear this word. Beware of the cares
and the riches and the pleasures of this life. Ron the Lord's not talking there
about ungodly things. He's not talking about things
that considered in themselves are evil. He's talking about
the cares and the riches and the pleasures of this life. I'm old enough now and got two
grandchildren, so I can talk like an old man a little bit.
When I think about cares and pleasures, I think about those
grandchildren. All the things involved with seeing them, entertaining
them and making them happy and being happy in their presence.
Be careful. That the cares of providing for
a family. The riches that men earn by their
hands and by their labor and the pleasures, the simple pleasures
of life in this world. Be careful that those things
do not choke from you. the influence of God's word.
Take heed, therefore, how ye hear. If we would profit from
the ministry of the gospel, if we would profit from the ordinance
that God has established, this means of grace God has established
for our souls, we must take heed how we hear. And in this message,
I want to do just two things. First, I want to show you that
you ought to seize. You ought to seize every opportunity
God affords you to hear the preaching of the gospel. Second, I want
to make some suggestions as to how that hearing may be made
more beneficial to you. All right, here's the first thing.
You and I ought to seize every opportunity God gives us to hear
the gospel. Now, when I talk about these
things, I'm not talking about those religious organizations,
these circuses that people call churches in our day that we see
everywhere. In those places, in most of what
people call churches, they hardly give people time to breathe for
fear of losing them. They've got something for them
every morning and every night, let alone time to hear the word.
I don't suggest that we should simply go to church. Not at all. Not don't suggest that we should
simply entertain ourselves in hearing sermons and in the pursuit
of religious activity. Those things will profit your
souls. Nothing. However, there is a
trend in our day, even among people who believe the gospel
of God's grace and where the gospel is faithfully preached.
There's a trend to have less preaching. Not more. I know many
places where folks meet just twice a week. I know a good many
where they meet just once a week. And the only reason is that people
have other things to do. It's not because the pastor couldn't
give himself time to prepare or devote himself to that, but
just have other things to do. We want people to have more time
with their family. Mark Henson, best time you'll
ever have your family is right where you have them tonight.
Best time for them and for you. There's not better time for your
family. The people squeeze preaching down and worship down to as little
as they can comfortably, consciously fit into their lives. Let us
not be guilty. We ought to cherish the preaching
of the word, hearing the word of God, gathering with God's
saints to worship him. We ought to have more of it,
not less of it. Now, I recognize God doesn't
tell us anywhere in the book that we're to meet three times
a week. He doesn't tell us we're to meet on Sunday morning, Sunday
night, and Tuesday, or Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday,
or Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Thursday. It's not told anywhere
in the book. And we dare not impose on others
rules and regulations that God hasn't imposed on them or our
own way of doing things. We dare not do so or set any
judgment over them. But I'm saying to you as a congregation,
Let us make the worship of God the priority of our lives, not
something secondary, not something that's just somehow we managed
to squeeze it in. Make this the priority in everything. Worshiping God with his people,
hearing the word of his grace. And let's take care that nothing
chokes out the influence of the gospel in our lives. Like Simeon
and Anna, I want to be found in the house of God, beholding
God's salvation, speaking the praise of my Redeemer and learning
of him. Like Mephibosheth, let me be
found always sitting at the king's table. Like Mary, I want to always
be found at his feet, hearing his word. Make certain that in
hearing, you hear the gospel. Don't ever delude yourself. I would think that by now this
is almost a redundant statement here, but I know it's not. Don't
ever delude yourself into thinking that religion is good. Only gospel
religion is good. Only gospel religion is good.
All other religion is deadly and damaged. It's not going to
church that profits your souls. It's not hearing sermons that
profit us. It's not religious chatter that
benefits us. It's the preaching of the gospel,
the declaration of our God in his greatness, the greatness
and glory and grace of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's
the thing that profits our souls. It's from this place. this assembly
of God's saints, this place called in the book of God referred to
repeatedly as Jerusalem. We have some friends in other
parts of the country that talk about coming to Kentucky here
where God has so blessed us with gospel preaching and gospel churches.
And we are greatly blessed in this area. You can't imagine
how much more so than others for whatever reason in God's
purpose. But our friends from California said, well, we're
going to Kentucky. The conference is going to Jerusalem.
And they say it in jest a little bit. But God's church is frequently
referred to as Jerusalem. Turn to Psalm 122. Psalm 122. No wonder David sang like he
did. It is from this place, the house of God, that God commands
His blessing upon His people. It's from right here. From right
here, God commands His blessing upon you. David said in Psalm
122, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord. I was glad there was a place
to go. I was glad somebody asked me to go. I was glad I went. Our feet shall stand within thy
gates. Oh, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built
as a city compact together. Whether the tribes go up, that
is where God's elect go up. The tribes of the Lord, under
the testimony of Israel. In the Old Testament, the symbolic
picture, the type was the Ark of the Covenant, the testimony
of Israel. That's talking about Christ,
redemption, atonement, the mercy seat. Where the tribes go up
to Christ, our Redeemer. Read on. To give thanks unto
the name of the Lord. For there are set the thrones
of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem. That's not talking about praying
for peace over in Palestine or over in that city in Israel. It's talking about praying for
the peace of God's church. Pray for the peace of God's church. They shall prosper that love
thee. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and my companions'
sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the
house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. I will seek your
good because this is God's house. This is the place in which God
commands his blessing. He said, A day in thy courts
is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Now,
if you will look at Psalm 68. Psalm 68. This business of hearing the
word preached is so important. It's so important that this is
one of our Savior's chief ascension gifts to his church. The preaching
of the word. This is one of the chief ascension
gifts of the risen Christ to his church. Look here in Psalm
68, verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou
hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. And the Spirit of God tells us
in Ephesians 4 that these ascension gifts are pastors, teachers. men who come to you with the
word of God, with the message of God, gifted of God to declare
his word. You see, God has always, throughout
history, gifted specific men, chosen men for the work of the
ministry to serve the souls of men whom he has specifically
called to this great work of preaching the gospel. Remember,
Jude said that Enoch prophesied. Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of Christ and His coming. Not just His coming in
His first advent, but His coming in a glorious advent at the second
coming. His coming to redeem and His
coming to gather His redeemed. Peter tells us that Noah was
a preacher of righteousness. Noah preached the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. God has never left Himself without
a witness. Even in those earliest times,
But in sundry times and in divers manners, that is in different
ways, he spoke to the fathers in times past by his prophets,
giving them his word. And after giving the law at Sinai.
The Lord God continually sustained in the nation of Israel an order
of priests and prophets to speak to, to instruct, and to pray
for his people, offering sacrifice in the name of God as the representatives
of God and the priests being themselves pictures and types
of the Lord Jesus. The Jews, though they went through
various times of captivity and low times, at all times God sustained
for them men to proclaim His Word. In the darkest of days,
men like Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Elijah and Daniel prophesying,
giving out the Word of God, calling men to faith in Christ and to
repentance toward God. Great as those days were, Great
as the days of the apostles were. Great as days past that we read
about in history have been. We live in a greater day with
greater privileges, with greater opportunities than the world's
ever known. We stand on the shoulders of the history of God's church,
of faithful preachers, and have the benefit of the light of all
these thousands of years of instruction by the word. I have in my library
Lot of books of sermons and I read them. I read some every week
and I read them from the earliest first century writings right
down to modern time and I'm going to tell you something You will
have the privilege this next week of hearing some of the best
preaching the world has ever heard men gifted of God, gifted
to proclaim the gospel of God's grace, proclaiming the word,
having received instruction from these men of the past and living
in the light of those things so that the gospel is passed
on to us clearer and clearer generation after generation.
In our day, in spite of the rampant heresy of this apostate age,
we have the clearest, fullest preaching of the gospel the world's
ever known. Our Lord Jesus Had redeemed us
when he had by the sacrifice of himself obtained eternal redemption
for us as he ascended up to heaven He promised us that God had given
all power into his hands and he said now I'm with you I'm
with you always to the end of the earth Go now and preach the
gospel to every creature. That word given to the apostles
was given to us as preachers of the gospel and given to you
who believe the gospel of the church of God. It is my responsibility,
the responsibility of every God called man to preach the gospel
of God's free grace. And as it is our responsibility
always to preach it, it is yours always to hear it. Most people
utterly are insensible of the great gift of an established,
regularly maintained gospel ministry. You imagine, just imagine what
this building would look like tonight if folks were sensible
of the value of a gospel ministry planted in their midst. You couldn't
get in the door. You couldn't get in the door.
But most people despise the spirit of God and despise the blood
of Christ and they show it by contempt for the preaching of
the gospel. How terrible will the end of
such men be? How tormenting it will be? that
light should come into the world, and the glad tidings of salvation
be so frequently proclaimed in this place, only to be trampled
underfoot in contempt. The spiritual manner of the gospel,
this angel's food, is despised as a worthless thing. George
Whitefield made this observation. We may, though at a distance,
without a spirit of prophecy, foretell the deplorable condition
of such men. He said, behold them cast into
hell, lifting up their eyes, being in torment, crying out
how often would our ministers have gathered us as a hen gathers
her chickens under her wings, but we would not. Oh, that we
had known in that our day, the things that belong to our everlasting
peace. But now they are forever hidden
from our eyes. Thus wretched, Whitefield said.
Thus inconceivably miserable will be such as slight and make
a mock of the public preaching of the gospel. Hear the word
every time you have opportunity. Arrange your life to worship
God. Arrange your life to meet with
God's saints. You, uh, young people going off
to school, going off to colleges, look for a career. I say this
to you personally. I want you to hear it from the
pulpit. I want to hear it. I want you to hear from your
mom and dad if they've got enough sense to tell you, but you're
going to hear it from me and hear it repeatedly. Don't even
consider a career. Don't even consider a career
where you can't hear the gospel of God's grace with God's people
in God's house. Oh, but brother Donna. I could
go over here and earn tons of money. If I stay here, I've got
to collect garbage, collect garbage. I'm as serious as I can be. Don't
even consider going somewhere and spending your life where
you cannot worship God with his people under the sound of the
gospel. Say, well, God will take care of that. You better take
care of it. You better take care of it. All right. Let me give
you some suggestions as to how you might more profitably hear
the word. Number one, never come to the
house of God just to gratify curiosity. Never. When we come to the house of
God, let's come seeking to know Christ. to see Christ, to hear
from Christ, to worship Christ, not just to have our curiosity
satisfied, not just to answer curious questions about religious
things. Paul speaks of those who have a form of godliness.
That is, they go through the bodily exercise of religious
practice. They go to church, and they read
the Bible, and they say their prayers, and they sing the hymns,
and then they talk. They have a form of godliness, but deny
the power thereof. They have a form of religion,
but they deny the power of God, the preaching of the gospel.
He says, of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead
captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust,
ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth. Flee religious curiosity like
you would flee the plague. Come to the house of God with
humility, ready to receive what God says from his word. Lord,
speak, for thy servant heareth thee. Number two, listen carefully. Listen attentively to the message
God sends his servant to deliver to your soul. Give earnest heed
to the things that are spoken from the word of God. Take great
care to hear what God says. I love the story. I read Spurgeon
one of his sermons many, many years ago. There was a young
man, six or eight years old, sitting right on the front pew,
right in front of Spurgeon where he's standing to preach. And
little boy would, after the song of hymns and Spurgeon got up
to preach, he would lean forward and put his elbows on his knees
and cupped his hands behind his ears. Spurgeon got a little concerned,
and he asked him after the service one morning, he said, son, are
you having trouble hearing me? He said, oh, no, sir. No, sir. He
said, well, I just noticed how you sat with your hands cupped
behind your ears like that, and I thought maybe you're having
trouble hearing me. He said, oh, no, sir, pastor. He said, mama told
me that if God speaks to me, he'll speak through you. And
if God speaks, I don't want to miss what he says. God teach
me to come to the house of God, anxious to hear what God says
by his servants. The word we come to hear is the
word of the king. It is a word like a criminal
coming to hear someone pronounce his part. Someone described the
preaching of the gospel like the reading of the wheel. I'll
guarantee you if you if you thought someone had had died and left
you a billion dollars in his will, you would come on time
and anxious to hear your name read when that will was read.
When God descended at Sinai, the children of Israel, trembling
as God thundered and the lightning flashed on Sinai, the children
of Israel trembled and yet were anxious to hear what God had
to say. Moses, you go speak to God for
us. Come tell us what he said. How
much more are we to anxiously await the message of God? Oh, to hear of free pardon, free
salvation, everlasting life, perfect atonement, perfect righteousness,
all by the gift of God's grace. I've not been sent here to deliver
a dry and sippid lecture on moral philosophy. legal duty, religious
history, or creedal accuracy, God Almighty has sent me here
to unfold to eternity-bound men and women the wondrous mysteries
of His grace, the wonders of His works of redemption and grace
in Jesus Christ the Lord. That ought to demand of you earnest,
anxious hearing of His words. Number three, don't allow Satan or any by whom
he is served to prejudice your mind against faithful men sent
of God to preach the gospel to you. Now that's an important,
important, important, important message. Don't allow Satan or
any by whom he is served to prejudice your mind against any man who
sent to preach the gospel to you. God's servants are men like
yourselves. They are fickle, frail, fallible,
sinful men. Those things I acknowledge of
myself readily and I acknowledge of all my brethren. But don't
allow any of those things to create in you a dislike for God's
messenger to your soul, for those whom the Lord has made to be
rulers over you in his kingdom. If a man faithfully preaches
the gospel, receive him like the Galatians received Paul before
the Judaizers got to them. You remember how the Galatians
received Paul? As the angel of God. You received
me, Paul said, as an angel of God before these Judaizers came
and prejudice your mind against me. Let's look at a couple of
passages. First Thessalonians five. First Thessalonians five. Now, what I'm saying here, I
say with regard to those men who are going to be preaching
to you next week with regard to myself, my soul. I'm Overwhelmed at your esteem for
me. I'm overwhelmed at the way you
treat me and your Comments concerning me. I say this not for me I'm
saying this with regard to those men who are coming to preach
the gospel to you and to all other faithful gospel preachers
Look in first Thessalonians 5 verse 12 We beseech you brethren to
know them which labor among you. I And are over you in the Lord
and admonish you to esteem them very highly in love. Watch this
now for their works sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
If I could convey that declaration, that admonition to churches everywhere
I go. Oh, how blessed those places
would be. Churches want to know how to
function in peace, how to enjoy peace and the joy of sweet fellowship
together. Much of it depends upon that
congregation's attitude as a whole toward the man who preaches the
gospel to them. Esteem them very highly in love
for their work's sake and be at peace among you. Turn back
to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians 4. Paul says in verse 1, let a man
so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God. That's just as high as any esteem
that can be given to a man. Account us ministers of Christ,
the servants of Jesus Christ, and stewards, caretakers of the
mysteries of God. And so esteem such men. With
that in mind, overlook anything else. Overlook anything that
Satan might use to cause you to think ill of someone. Ministers of Christ. stewards
of the mysteries of God. For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, Paul said. But as of sincerity, as
of God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. All right, here's
the fourth thing. As you ought not be prejudiced
against God's servants, you must be careful not to depend too
much on a preacher. Or think more highly of him than
you ought to think. Now here I speak to you about
your pastor. God's servants are just instruments
in God's hands. That's all. That's all. At the backside of my garage
back yonder. I've got sprinklers and hoses and rakes and pickaxes
and hatchets and shovels and post hole diggers and about everything
you'd want to work out here on this place. And if anything gets
done by them, I would never think about going out there and bowing
down to one of them and commending them. Oh, what a wonderful shovel
this is. What a marvelous plow this is.
What a great tiller this is. What a wonderful hose this is.
No, they're just instruments. And the instrument is totally
useless unless somebody who knows how to use it, uses it to produce
something good. And God's servants are just instruments. That's all. Just instruments.
Bob Estes, I can't say or do anything for your soul's good. ever. No matter how well I study,
no matter how earnestly I prepare, no matter how much I pray, unless
God Almighty speaks by me to your soul. Understand that. Don't make more of a preacher
than what he is. He's just an instrument in God's
hand. That being said, pray for God's
servants. Always seek grace from God to
personally apply the message to yourself. When you come here,
our tendency too much is to say, boy, I sure wish my old brother
Larry Brown had heard that. Man, he's sitting over there. I hope he paid attention. I hope
he listened to that. He needed to hear that. No, you
ask God to speak to you and expose your sin. Speak to you and reveal Christ
to you. Speak to you and draw you to
the Savior. Speak to you and warm your heart
by the gospel. Speak to you and break your hardness. Speak to you and call you to
love and believe and worship our Redeemer. And one last thing,
if you would receive a blessing from the Lord when you hear the
gospel preached, you should do something before the sermon,
during the sermon, and after the sermon. Before the sermon,
set things in order in your life so that you come to the house
of God prepared to hear. Well, I just, I was up so late
last night, go to bed earlier. Solve that problem quick enough.
Well, there was a good movie on last night. Don't start watching
it. I was just so tired today. You're coming to hear the word
of God. Coming to worship God. Well, I've got this, that, and
the other come up. Bill Raleigh, just what do you
think might come up when you stand before God that you'd like to say, now this
is the reason I neglected you and your word, your gospel? Anybody got something they'd
like to present like that? Well, brother John, we don't have to
worry about that. We're saved sinners. Does that make this
more contemptible to you? Does that make the hearing of
the gospel to be less important to you? Pray for the preacher,
for your brethren. Pray for sinners, pray for yourselves
as you come to hear the word. And during the message, listen
attentively. Constantly asking God to speak
to you. When I'm sitting where you are
and I try to listen, I have so little opportunity to hear the
gospel, man publicly preaching the word, me sitting out there
listening. And when I do, I have a terrible time focusing my attention
on the one speaking and what's being said. Have trouble with
that? I do. I have a terrible time
with it. I had to constantly ask God,
Lord, direct my mind to you, to your word, to the hearing
of your word. I try to take notes, I try to follow along, anything
to help me focus on what's being said. And then when the message
is over, talk about Talk about it to one another. I get done
preaching here tonight. Please don't just start immediately
talking about the ball game or hunting or the hurricane or something
else. Talk to one another about the word. Push the word into
one another's hearts and one another's minds. When you go
home, talk to your family about it. Make the word that which
you soak up in your souls. Finally, brethren, pray for us. that the word of the Lord may
have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. Who knows
what God might do for us if he'll give us grace to seriously to
apply our hearts to the hearing of his word. We may yet again
see Satan cast out. We may yet again find God the
Holy Spirit working in us and with us and in our midst. We
may yet again find the Word of God running swiftly and running
well from this place into all the world. We may yet again see
God work wondrously. He changes not. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. God Almighty is he with whom
nothing is impossible, with whom all things are possible. I remember
reading over the book of Acts where there were some folks gathered to worship
Christ. And suddenly that little band
of disciples had gathered with them 3,000 people or more. Suddenly, there had just been
120 of them meeting in secret. And suddenly, there's thousands
of folks gathered with them. And you know what God did? Peter
preached, and God Almighty added to the
church that day 3,000 souls. But we can't expect that today.
How come? How come? God hasn't changed. His word hasn't changed. He says,
I'm not sure. He cannot say, oh God, speak
by your word and make me hear. Amen.