Worship is a thing that is difficult
to define. Very difficult to define. And I think perhaps maybe we, in church services today, perhaps
there's too much talk. and not enough meditation. I
was blessed while he played. I just was meditating and praising God. David talked about this often,
about praising the Lord on the organ and the harps and the timbrels
and the instruments of music. considering and thinking and
meditating upon his mercies to us. The most religion is just
gabbing, just yakking, just, you know. Entertainment's what
most of it is instead of meditation. I'm thankful for our musicians.
I'm thankful for the musical program. It's just, uh, y'all
don't know what a blessing y'all are to us, what, uh, how we appreciate
you. John chapter six. John chapter
six. And I try to tell our young preachers
in other places, I can't seem to, bless their hearts, hope
some of them listen to this, I can't seem to get it through
their head what an important part in people's lives is music. Music, music is important. Singing and rejoicing, it's a
vital part of our personalities and emotions, isn't it Mike?
And I need to encourage them to work on their hymn singing,
and their courses, and the special music. We just need special music
a lot. You people ministered us in singing
these hymns. It's a vital part of worship,
and it's so important. I wish I could get that across
to them. John chapter 6. Now, let me read beginning with
verse 28. John 6, 28. You know, let me say one more
thing here. Preachers say, well, let's get the music out of the
way and get to the message. Now, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. There's a message in this music.
These are great hymns. Actually, some of these great
hymns do a whole lot better than the preachers do. Say a whole
lot more. Some of them do. They really
do. I want to get rid of the message and get to the music.
So when I go hear some of them, let's do away. Just sing the
great hymns. And just leave the preachers seated. But when you
can have both, this one is a blessing. We need both. Or John 6, verse
28, Jesus answered and said unto them, well, verse 28, yeah, John
6, 28, Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent. that you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the work of God. They said, therefore, unto him
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. And Jesus said unto them, now
here's, I want you to hear this. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
truly, truly, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and
giveth life unto the world. And then said they unto him,
Well, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto
them, I am the bread of life. And he that cometh to me shall
never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Now
go over to verse 48. John 6, 48, I am, I am that bread
of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, and they're This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world."
It's quite clear to me how the Passover lamb pictures Christ. As I see from Exodus 12, Moses
and the people of Israel select the lamb without spot or blemish. I see how that Christ is without
sin. And they select the lamb that's
a year old. Our Lord Jesus Christ was in
the prime of life. He died in the prime of life.
And I see how that they slew the lamb and shed its blood and
roasted its body with fire, and our Lord was with the burning
fever under an oriental sun, dying for his people under the
fiery wrath of God, and shed his blood. That's clear to me. All of those things picture and
reveal Christ. And then the brazen serpent.
Our Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. I can see Christ so
clearly and plain in the brazen serpent. The people had been
bitten, and they were dying. And Moses, God told Moses to
make a serpent in the likeness of the serpent that had bitten
the people. Our Lord was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh. And Moses was to lift up, lift
the serpent up on a pole between heaven and earth, like a cross. And our Lord was lifted up between
heaven and earth on the tree. And the people were to look to
the serpent, and those who looked lived. And that's clear to me. And then it's very easy for me
to understand how that Jonah in the fish is a picture of Christ
in the belly of the whale, as in Christ in the earth three
days and three hours. Jonah in the fish. How that he was there
and he was thrown out on dry land and Christ arose. But how
is manna in the wilderness? Here's that manna in the wilderness,
and Christ keeps referring here in the sixth chapter of John
back to this manna in the wilderness and calling himself the bread.
Well, let's turn to Exodus chapter 16, and let's see if I can help
us to understand a little bit on this subject tonight, Christ,
the true manna. Christ, the true manna. Let's
read Exodus 16, 11 through 18. Exodus 16, verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses.
Now, the people, the children of Israel, had left Egypt. And
they're out here in the wilderness on their way to Canaan. They
were in the wilderness, and the Lord spake to Moses. And they
were traveling people. They were soldiers. There's no
time to plant crops. There's no stores to trade in.
God's got to feed them. And the Lord spake to Moses,
saying in verse 12, I have heard the murmurings of the children
of Israel. Speak unto them, saying, At even
you shall eat flesh. That's the quails. And in the
morning you shall be filled with bread. and you shall know that
I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass that at even
the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning
the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was
gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a
small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on
the ground. And when the children of Israel
saw it, they said one to another, It is manna, or what is it? What's
that? What's that? For they wished
not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This
is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the
bread. This is the thing which the Lord
hath commanded. Gather of it every man according
to his eating, and omer for every man. according to the number
of your persons. Take ye every man for them which
are in the tents," and that was for all your family. And as the
children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some gathered
a lot, some gathered less. And when they did meet it with
an omer, he that gathered much didn't have anything over. And
he that gathered little didn't have a need. They gathered every man according
to his eating. Now, skip over to verse 31. Verse
31, Exodus 16, And the house of Israel called the name thereof,
Manna, Manna. You know, the people said that
God gave them manna, manna from heaven. Over in the book of Revelation,
it says, To him that overcometh will I give the hidden manna.
And they call this manna. And it was like coriander seed. It was white. And the taste of
it was like wafers made with honey. Now, this is beautiful. How is Christ the true manna? Well, first of all, let me give
you four or five things, and you think about them. consider
them. Maybe God will bless them to
your rejoicing. First of all, this manna, the
very first thing, when they went out, and you think how much of
it there was. Some people estimate that two or three million people
left Egypt, went to the promised land. Two or three million. And
all of these people are going to be fed by bread from heaven,
by manna. And they went out there and looked,
and here it was, the dew had lifted, and there lay that manna. And they said, what is it? mysterious
and wonderful. What is it? And I'll tell you
this, nothing is more mysterious or wonderful than the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing is more mysterious. Look
at 1 Timothy chapter 3. This is what the Word of God
says about it. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, it says this, without controversy,
without debate or argument, great is the mystery of God. God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of the angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received
up in the glory. He was in the world, and the
world knew Him not. He was in this world. They went
out there, and this is the first thing I thought of when I read
this. They went out there, and they looked And here was something
they'd never seen before, something that had never been on the earth
before, manna from heaven, and they said, what is it? And when
we look at Him who is the God-man, something that's never occurred
before, God in human flesh, we say, who is He? That's what they asked Him. They
said, who is this that forgiveth sin? Pilate said, where did you
come from? Nicodemus said, now you're a
mystery, but you've got to come from God, because no man can
do the things you do except God be with him. And so this manna
is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, for here it is, without
the planting of men, without the planting of men, without
the reaping of men, without the aid of men, the bread lay on
the ground. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the gift of God. The gift of God. the Lord from
heaven. All right, let's look at another
point here. Now, that's the first way in which our Lord is the
true manner. He's the mysterious, strange,
and wonderful gift of God. Who is He? That can only be revealed
to the heart of the Holy Spirit, who He is. I know who He is. I've seen the Lord. But the Holy
Spirit has revealed who He is. All right, turn to numbers, if
you will. Chapter 11, Numbers chapter 11. And look at verse
9, Numbers 11, 9. Now here's the second thing about
this matter. First of all, it was mysterious,
strange, wonderful. They said, what is it? And the
second thing about it is this, it was prepared in heaven. It
was prepared in heaven, and it came down to earth. That's what
it says here, verse 9 of chapter 11 of Numbers. And when the dew
fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it and came
down from heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ came down
from heaven. The scripture said, In the fullness
of time God sent his Son. Just as our God Almighty sent
that bread from heaven, from heaven to the earth, the Lord
Jesus Christ was sent from heaven to the earth. He said this in
Hebrews, a body hast thou prepared me. Yes, that body of the Son
of God was prepared in the womb of the Virgin and born one day,
but that body was prepared in heaven. Christ is sent from heaven. Over in Isaiah chapter 55, you
needn't turn there because you know the scripture, but this
is one thing that I read. I read Isaiah 55 I read Isaiah
9, verse 6, so many times without seeing what it was saying. I
read the part about the government being on his shoulders, and I
read the part about his name being called Wonderful Counselor
of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. But there's a statement
made before that you get to that. It says, Under us a child is
born. And that's easy to understand.
But then it says, Under us a son is given. And I really, for a
while, thought, well, he's saying the same thing, you know, a child
and a son. But no, that's not the same thing. A child is born,
and bread is here. And we have bread at home in
our cupboard. But somebody planted a seed and grew it, and somebody
took it in a mill and ground it, and somebody baked it and
put it in the oven and cooked it, and somebody put it on a
bread truck and brought it to the house. I can sort of account
for that bread that I eat. But this bread that Israel is
eating came from heaven. It was prepared in heaven. Man
didn't have anything to do with it. Can you see that? Nothing
to do with it. Nothing to do. God saw that man had nothing
to do with the coming of his son. Nothing. Man had no part
in it whatsoever. No part in it. And that's what
it's saying unto us. A child is born, but a son is
given. He came from heaven. He came
from heaven. And all the nourishment and food
that these people needed was in that manner from heaven. And
all that a true believer needs is found in Christ, the bread
of life. We don't need to add anything
to it. He says in Colossians 2, 9, "...in Him dwelleth all
the fullness." In that bread dwells all the minerals and vitamins
and supplements and nourishment and strength. These people walked
forty years on that manna without any of them getting sick. Did
you know that? Forty years. They ate manna. The quail was
just a treat. The manna was the nourishment.
The manna was the bread. And they lived on it forty years.
And I'm saying this to you and to me. All I need is Christ. All I need is Christ. Mysterious,
wonderful Christ. He's made unto me wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Oh, here's the third thing. This
manna cost them nothing. This manna was a gift. It cost
them nothing. They went out of their tents
in the morning, and the dew had lifted from the ground, and there
it was. And they went out and gathered
it up. It absolutely cost them nothing. And Jesus Christ, our
Lord, is the gift of God. Now, the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Our Lord said to the woman throughout,
if you knew the gift of God, And who it is, it speaks to thee.
You'd ask of me and I'd give you, give you living water. I'd give it to you. I do want
you to turn to Isaiah 55. And this is something that the
natural man just cannot understand. He cannot fathom. He cannot bring
it in. He cannot lay hold of it. That
salvation, like Paul Edwards said a while ago, the free and
sovereign grace of God. It's the free and sovereign grace
of God. Grace is totally free. If you
add anything to grace, it ceases to be grace. Grace that depends
upon human doings is not grace. Grace that depends upon human
cooperation is not grace. Grace that depends upon human
merit is not grace. Grace is free, free and sovereign
grace. I'll tell you a fifty-five verse.
Oh, everyone that's thirsty, come to the water. He that hath
no money, don't bring any money. Come and buy. How do you buy
without money? All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need in him. Let not conscience make you lazy,
nor fitness fondly drink. All the fitness he requires is
to feel... You got a need? See, we've got a saying in this
world, well, nothing's free, there's a, nothing's free, there's
a catch to everything. Not to this. It's free. Without money, come and buy.
Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Our Lord Jesus, the bread of
life is free. I'll tell you this, as I was
looking at this point, grace is not costly. Sin is costly. Now that's what's costly. Rebelling
against His gospel, it's costly. It costs in so many, many ways. It costs a price that is difficult
to pay. The goodness of God, the grace
of God, the mercy of God, the love of God, the forgiveness
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is free. Lay hold upon Him by
faith is free. Everything else is costly. Every
effort you make to get to God is costly. Or to get away from
God is costly. That which we labor for is so
costly. All right, let's go back to the
text a minute. I want to show you something here. Over here
in Exodus 16. Now, this was so beautiful. And
I'm going to be doing this for a while. I'm making a study on
the different types of Christ. I'm living in the Old Testament
right now. But this manner here was given to all who had a need. All who had a need. It didn't
matter whether you were poor or rich. It didn't matter whether
you were old or young. It didn't matter if you were
male or female. It didn't matter if you were a leader or a follower.
You see, Moses, Moses didn't have a special table. Moses ate
manna, Charlie. Aaron didn't have a special table,
but Aaron ate manna. The poorest little child in the
camp ate manna. Everybody lived on manna, and
that's what I'm saying here. Everybody who lived, lived on
Christ. It's the same for all. We all
come the same way. We come empty, we come needy,
we come hungry, we come thirsty, we come to Christ. Is He not
the Savior and the hope of all believers? Now look at verse 18. This was
interesting to me, verse 18. And when they did meet it with
an over, he that had gathered much had nothing over. You know what I thought about?
I thought about, well, let me use myself, let me use the first
person. I do a lot of, I have, you provide me with a lot of
time to study. I study and stay in the Word
and study the Word I'm in services. When you're out working, I'm
in services somewhere. I'm preaching, fellowship with
people, talking to folks on the phone, writing to people, hearing
from them. I have a lot of contact with
spiritual matters, an awful lot of contact, an awful lot of contact.
I really have a need to pray more than the average person
because of the responsibilities. I have to keep calling on God.
When you're busy out in the in the factories and all working,
trying to get a bolt off of a screw, you know, or a nut off a screw,
and those things, I'm spending some time praying. But now, wait
a minute. Even with all this contact in the Bible with God,
preaching, studying, I have nothing left over. You follow what I'm
trying to say? I have nothing left I don't have
an abundance, an overabundance, but not an overabundance. I need
all the grace that I have and can give. Now wait a minute,
here's a man that doesn't have that much time. He doesn't lack
anything. Does that make sense? He has
Christ. Now don't you, don't you, I know
we're all, let's stand before God with fear and trembling.
Let's stand before God meekly and humbly. Let's stand before
God as the least of His saints, and I'm talking about all of
us, the least. But you and I who have a little more time in these
things, don't get cocky. You ain't got more than you need.
See what I mean? You don't have a nickel's worth
more than you need. But you who don't have that time
and privilege, Christ is going to see that you don't like plenty
of that. You see what I'm saying? That's just so. I'm 60 years
old. I'm learning. I'm getting old
too soon, smart too late. I'm finally learning some things.
That in the kingdom of God, there's none loved less or loved more. I run into people sometimes that
let on like folks are less spiritual than them. If you have Christ,
you are spiritual. And don't cow in the presence
of these holier-than-thou, arrogant, self-righteous religionists.
They don't have a bit more than they need. And the man that gathered
less, he didn't lack for anything. That's right. Here's a fellow
that spent more time out there than anybody. He was out there
in the bread. Bobby was out there in the manor all morning and
brought it in. But he needed every bit of it.
The fellow didn't have time to be out there for just a little
while, but he had sufficient. I'm just not a believer in mentions
in glory and captives. I'm just not a believer in five
crowns and one. I'm just not a believer in the
main straight and glory and the back alley. I'm just not a believer
in some people entering in triumphantly and others sneaking up the back
way. No second. We're all going to enter in triumphantly
with Christ. And he that has much has nothing
over, and he that has less doesn't need a thing. Christ is your
portion. You can't have a piece of Christ.
It's all of it. If you've got Him, you've got
all of it. That's exactly right. If you know Christ, you've got
all the wisdom God has for you. And all the sanctification and
righteousness of God. I'm telling you the truth. And
I'm tired of these self-righteous intellectual reform preachers
insinuating that some believer is a second-class citizen in
the kingdom of God. It is not so. They could learn
from some of the least ones. They could be stripped of some
of their pride and arrogance and intellectual nonsense. That's
exactly right. In fact, I'd rather hear the
humble, broken, weary, needy, faint, little faith. Mr. Little Faith. I love to hear
him talk. He got nothing to talk about but Christ. Mr. Big Faith used to talk about
what he did. This morning when I was having
my devotions with God, the Lord showed me something. Did he now? Strong faith or weak faith, it
matters not. Christ is the object of faith.
Is that clear? And I'll tell you, that big old
vine that's two inches in diameter is hanging on that pole, and
that little bitty teeny vine that's about a thirty-second
of an inch in diameter, if the pole falls, both of them fall.
And my little faith rests in Christ, Jerry. And whoever here
with great faith, that's all you got to is Christ. But that's
all you need. All right, I've got to hurry.
Listen to this. It was gathered, whoa, hear me, daily. Charlie, you brought this out
one time in the message. Today's manna didn't do for the Mardi.
If they tried to store it up, it stank with worms. Every day. And what I'm saying is this,
we feed on Christ daily. There's not one day without Him.
Grace is not stored up. Grace is a running fountain.
Grace is not a stagnant... This is what Rob used to say.
I just couldn't get this, what he first said. We were prepared
to learn things. He kept saying this to me years
ago. Repentance is not an isolated act. He says, I hear people say,
I have repented. They never did repent. The man
who has repented is repenting. He says, I've heard people say,
well, I believed in Jesus when I was 14 years old. He never
did believe in Jesus. Faith is a state of being. I
am believing on Christ. I am believing. I am repenting.
I am believing. I am feeding. To whom coming? Somebody brought a message here
not so awful long ago on coming to Christ. To whom coming? All
the time. And those people were constantly,
every day, going for bread. Going for bread. Going for bread. Going for bread. I'm coming back
in the morning. Coming back to the throne of grace in the morning.
Tuesday morning, right back again. Might slip out there Tuesday
night, too. To whom coming? To whom coming? Not one day without it. And then
look at verse 31 of Exodus 16. And I, you know, it says, it
says here that this, this manner in verse 31 of Exodus says it
was white. It was white. Snowy white. Showing the purity and perfection
of our great Savior. I'm not the snowy white. But
He is. He is. There's not a blemish,
not a mark, not a taint of sin. Not a mark of sin. He knew no
sin. Not only did no sin, He knew no sin. The perfection of
God Himself. The reflection of the very throne.
The image of the invisible God. White. And it says here that
it was round. Isn't that what it said back
in another verse? Yeah, back in another verse, it said it
was round. I looked around for something
different. There's a reason for everything God does. Did you
know that? It was not, you know, the snowflakes have all these
different, different designs and there's none, there's no
two alike, I'm told. You'll be surprised. I stood
by the window one time in my study, part of Baptist Church.
I'd heard no two snowflakes alike and I watched them hit the window
and I kept, glad nobody came in. I was trying to see if any
of them was up, but they weren't, really. They're odd-shaped, you
know. But this matter was round. And I found somebody that said
this. It shows that Christ has no beginning or end, Paul. It
wouldn't be this way. There's no beginning or end.
Perfect. Perfect. Without beginning or
end. And entire, perfect and entire,
wanting nothing. That's Christ. And then it said
this, it says in verse 31, that they tasted like wafers made
with honey. This manner was sweet to the
taste. And how sweet and satisfactory
is our Lord Jesus Christ to the taste. His word is sweet as a
honeycomb. And Psalm 34 says, O taste and
see that the Lord is good. I told my Sunday school class
this morning, I might have mentioned it in the morning service, when
I'm preaching the gospel of Christ, like I'm trying to preach Him
tonight in His glory and beauty and power, and I look into the
faces of people, I can see, almost tell, who has
really tasted, because they have an expression on their faces
of delight when you're talking about Christ Jesus. It's like Charlie Payne's eyes
light up when you mention banana pudding. One time, he was going to the
hospital to be operated on. Charlie was going to New Orleans
to be operated on, and Doris wanted to fix a special dinner
for him before he left. So she had him over, and she
knew he'd been dieting because the doctor told him he had to
lose some weight before he was operated on. And she figured
that this last meal before the operation, he'd just let it all
hang out. So she made a banana pudding
about that long, about 24 inches long and 12 inches wide and 4
inches deep. And she put that thing on the
table in front of Charlie. You talk about how you just had
to see that. He said, you know, he said, I
could dive in there and roll over and just go... And that's the way it is when
you preach Christ. Isn't that right? Eddie Robinette told me
when I went out this morning, he said, you're still preaching
the same thing and I love it. It's Christ. Isn't that right,
Eddie? Glad I love it. I just love to hear somebody
preach Christ. And that's why he's sweet to
the taste. Sweet to the taste. There's so many bitter things. How precious and sweet to the
taste is the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning I preached on Christ.
The night I'm preaching Christ. And Wednesday night, Gary will
preach Christ. Next Sunday, Tom will preach
Christ. And I hope the next how many years we have together,
that every time somebody rings the bell up here, it's Christ,
because he's sweet to the touch. You know, they never got tired
of that manner, really, not the ones that understood what it
was. Tasted like wafers and honey. All right, in closing, let me
get, in many ways, the manner and the wilderness does not picture
Christ. This is what I've been trying to get across to those
who preach and teach. You, if you labor too hard on
a type, you'll get in trouble. If you try to make a tight walk
on four legs, you'll get in trouble, because a tight winds up an anti-tight. It really does, because there's
nothing on the earth that can fully represent the heavenly.
It cannot do it. There's nothing on the earth
that can fully represent the heavenly. I'll just give you...
In other words, this manner was food to the what? To the outward
man. Christ is the hidden manner to
the inward man. You see that? I feed upon Christ
in my soul. When I take the bread at the
Lord's table and the wine, that's to the outward body, but
it represents that which feeds my soul, Him who feeds my soul. And I feed on Him, on Christ,
in my inner man. That's the difference. And then
the manna was eaten by those who perished in the wilderness. They all ate the manna, and they
all died. But Caleb Joshua entered the
farmer's land. But I'll tell you that no man
who truly eats Christ perishes. So it can't represent him there,
you see. They ate the manna and died. He said, I'm the true bread
from heaven, he that eateth me shall live. And I promise you,
I don't care who you are, if you can rest in Christ, believe
in Christ, trust in Christ, feed on Christ in your soul, you'll
never die. You have God's Word for that.
And then here's another thing. The manna, when it was left over,
it rotted. But Christ abides forever. And
then the manna was only found in the morning. Only in the morning.
Christ is found at morning, noon, or night. And then the manor,
when they entered the promised land, no more manor. It was over. But I'll tell you, when we entered
the promised land, Paul said, we're going to be with Him and
love and worship Him forever. Let me give you something here
that I thought was good. The whole creation can afford
but a faint shadow of my Lord. It all. leaves a lot to be desired,
whatever we compare him with. Is he compared to wine and bread?
Dear Lord, our souls would thus be fed. Is he a tree? Then we
receive salvation from his healing leaves. Is he a rose? Not Sharon
yields such fragrance in all her fields. Is he a vine? His heavenly root supplies the
branches with life and fruit. Is he a fountain? There I bathe
and heal the plague of sin and death. Is he a fire? He'll purge
my dross so that true gold sustains no loss. Is he a rock? How firm
he proves the rock of ages that never moves. Is he the way that
leads to God? There would I walk in lines of
blood. Is he the door? I'll enter in to feed on pastures
large and green. Is he the temple? I'll adore
the indwelling majesty and power of my Lord. Is He the Son? His beams are grace, His chorus
is joy and righteousness. But His beauty we can never trace
till we behold Him face to face. We try with these things, but
for the full revelation of His glory and beauty, you'll just
have to wait till the morning. have to wait till the morning.
Our Father, we do praise Thee for Thy blessed, precious Word,
every precious promise. And Lord God, how we thank Thee
that Christ is to us sweet to the taste, and a joy to the heart,
and pleasant music to the ear. He's our bread and water, He's
our life and hope. He is all things. We trust. We believe. We rest. Take this message. The messages
of the day. The music. The reading of the
Word. The prayers. Whatever contribution's been
made. The witness. The teaching in the classes.
The faithful word dropped here and there. make these things
effectual in the hearts of our children and our friends to bring
about an interest in Christ Jesus and an awareness of their need
of Christ Jesus and the freeness and the glory and the beauty
and the sufficiency of Christ Jesus Lord, we could talk on
and on and on But unless you anoint the Word with the Spirit
and prepare the ground in which the seed is planted, it'll just
be fallow ground that the birds will bear away. Or cast among
the stones and cast in the shallow dirt. Lord God, for Christ's
sake, for the glory of Christ, for the good of these, our beloved
friends, make the Word effectual. give us understanding and a love
and a part of faith in Christ Jesus. May it please Thee. We
wait upon Thee. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
of the righteous, the revelation of the gospel is of Thee only. And we pray, O Lord, make it
effectual. For Your glory and in the name
of Christ we pray. Amen.