Sowing Seed with Sore Feet

Somebody just rest in him for just a moment. Will you just rest in him for a moment? God, I love you. God, I love you. God, I love you. I didn't earn it. I sure don't deserve it. But God, I love you. God, I just love you. I feel your love, but God, I love you. Would you just rest in it? Would you lift up your hands with me? Would you would you just open your heart to him for just a moment if you haven't already? God, I just love you. Let the peace that passes all understanding, let the love that encompasses all of our beings.

Let him wrap your arms his arms around you today. Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. unmmerited, undeserving, unending love. I don't know, it may just be me, but man, I feel like the love of the Lord is in here. And I hope that you that came searching for some love today that you felt like, if I may, you've dug your own grave and you sat in it and you felt like this is just where I'm going to die at. I hope today you feel the love of the Lord pull you out of that. That you feel God calling you out of that. Would you lift your hands with me one last time?

Jesus God, I thank you for your love. God, I thank you, Lord, for the presence that we feel in here today. I thank you, Lord, for the mercy and the grace that you've shown us. I thank you, Lord, for the kindness that you've had unto us, God. I thank you, Lord, for the peace that you've allowed to set in here. And I pray, God, that as your word goes forth, that you would empty me of me, remove Samuel from Samuel, and you would allow me to speak your unadulterated word of God today. and let the word heal. Let the word feel.

Let it change. Let it transform today. That's why we're here, God, for you to change us. If appropriate, would you hug someone as you're finding your seat? Would you tell them how much you love them? Would you would you find Everyone in here needs a hug today. Every Don't let someone go without a hug. Sister Sherry Sarah's trying to escape. She's from up north. She's not familiar with hugs, but church, thank you, praise team. Thank you, musicians. Herb, I thought you were going to play some blues during offering time, man.

I was getting pumped. Yeah, we got some got some Peterson playing over here. Yeah, with the C jam blues. If you haven't YouTubed that, you need to. Killer killer piano player. Herb. He Herb taught him how to play. I thank you. Praise team, tech team, greeting team, security team, teaching team. I'll just tell you, I know I know that the the Sunday school department we used to do and I I'll tell you guys, I'll confess to you before the whole church, okay? Uh we we would do uh fifth Sunday and we wouldn't have Sunday school.

And I hated it. I hated it because everyone comes in, we're all over the place and service just isn't the same because we haven't consumed the word. Hated it. So eventually it worked out logistically that it went away. But I'm so glad it went away that we we I I value Sunday school. If you if you if you haven't made it to an 11:00 hour uh Sunday school time, it's important. It it's it's the meat and potatoes. Now we now now look around. We eat a lot of meat and potatoes. But it's good for us. I mean, you can you can live real good.

Yeah. Meat and potatoes. I'll get you through and nothing else will stick to your bones. If you guys can't tell, I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Y if y'all hadn't noticed that just by my accent, it's it's an odd one. I I try I honestly I don't even know how to change an accent, right? If I took those coaching lessons. Yeah, she feels Yeah. If I took those, they'd be like they just give up. Uh but I I I look at it and I think about it and the more I think about it, I was so privileged. Um I lived All right, so I was two miles from our town of like a thousand people.

All right. But I was You had to drive through a sawmill to get to my house. Now, I don't mean just like by a sawmill. I mean through a sawmill. You had to dodge uh fortlifts all the time. And this is this is a normal road. That's just to get to my house. You had to you have to drive through the sawmill. And so like the church was out there. I lived out close to the church. anytime we would have a a a guest minister, we'd have to tell them, "Look, I know it looks like you're not supposed to drive through the sawmill, but you are now."

That's just that's just where I grew up now. And then on that, we had there was there was a farm that was cut out of it. It had been, you know, that that ridge had been cleared a little bit. Uh if you don't know what a ridge is, it's a hilltop. Um it had been cleared a little bit, but it was surrounded by 20,000 acres of just woods. I mean, a deer hunter's paradise. Vandy, you you didn't have to you didn't have to try. I literally would just take a bucket and go sit down in the woods and wait for a deer to walk by.

That was that was the extent of my deer hunting expertise. And everyone hunted because, well, what do you do when there's nothing but woods, right? I mean, you cut the trees down, you harvest them, but then there's more trees you can harvest. They're growing back and you you hunt deer. that that's just about it. I wasn't even a good deer hunter. Uh but just because it was a deer hunter's paradise, I could just go in and I'd just walk in and shoot a deer and walk out. You know, it was frustrating for some people. They got mad at me.

Not saying I'm good or anything, but whatever. That brag doesn't do well here, but in Colinwood, it would kill. All right. uh on that on that ridge there was a farm that that we bought and uh on that farm or on that land there I say farm you know cattle cattle farm type thing. Uh there there was a I actually called my grandparents this morning just to just to get the story straight a little bit and there was there was a house there that was as old as man apparently because that house was there before my grandparents were there and this was like 50 years ago.

All right. So it was old 50 years ago. Around that house there had been an orchard planted. Now we think Mr. Pitts may have planted it and it may have been before Mr. Pitts. God only knows. When your grandparents refer to someone as Mr. Pitts, they don't know his first name. He was just Mr. Pitts. You know, he was really old when they were young. So, God only knows how long this place had been there. And the orchard, the small little orchard, the pear trees. Oh, Sister Renee, you would have loved it. Uh, the pear trees, the the orange trees.

Uh, no, not orange trees, the peach trees, the apple trees. I mean, beautiful. And then someone saw fit to plant blackberries. Tame blackberries. Have y'all ever picked blackberries before? Anybody ever picked blackberries? We got one. Two. Oh, okay. All right. So, I'm I'm in familiar territory then. All right. All right. Good deal. Now, let me just tell you now, if you've picked wild blackberries, they're terrible. They're real tart. They're sire. Not sire. Sire. All right. Sire. Just all you California people. sire.

They're they're real tart. They they they they're not there's not a lot to them. Um in fact, you'll starve to death trying to eat them. They're just they just don't there's just not a lot of meat on the berry, so to speak. But someone had planted uh tame ones there. Now, this is my theory. I don't know because I've never seen this anywhere else. But on that ridge, if you just didn't bush hog, does anyone know what that is? No one knows what that bush hog. If you didn't mow the field, that's the thing you pull behind the tractor is the bush hog.

And it's spelled exactly the way it sounds. Don't know why. Maybe that was a brand. Who knows? Uh but that that's that's just what it is. A bush hog. All right. It I can't get it. I'm going to get off track. There's We're going to be lost today. me trying to explain all this vernacular, aren't we? Uh, and so if you just didn't mow, if you didn't cut the field, how about that? If you didn't cut the field at the right time, um, I mean, these blackberries would grow. I And by grow, I mean like they would really grow like thicket, thicket of them.

They would just spring up and they about the end of June, 1st of July, best I listen, if you want to know what it's like to live in the middle of nowhere, a kid remembers picking blackberries. That was what I look forward to. If you wonder why I am the way I am, brother Rob, now you know. That was the entertainment for the summer, okay? Going to pick blackberries. Now, some people would go and pick a whole bunch of blackberries and make blackberry pie. I wouldn't I was no I ain't doing that. I'm I'm I'm too impatient for that.

I would just eat them and I would just drive through and eat them and I would just drive through, you know, and and here's the thing with blackberries is like they would there would be thickets as big as this stage here. All right. They would I mean massive. Oh, and they were good. I'm telling you, these were not just wild blackberries. These were like tame mixed with wild. I don't know how that got. But I'm telling you, they were as big as your thumb. They weren't like the grocery store blackberries you buy at Aldi or something that are like just big but they don't have any taste to them.

No, those are greenhouse ones. Those are terrible. I'm I'm sorry to tell you like one batch a year might be good. All right, but these these had these were the real deal. These blackberries were sweet. Sorry y'all. I'm I'm going back. Oh, it's good times. Good times. Now, I was scared to death of snakes. And if you don't know anything about blackberry patches, blackberry patches, uh, snakes love them because birds come and then they can eat the birds. And it's that's their whole thing. It's the cycle of life, right?

How do we do how do we do that song? The circle of life. Is that what it is? We're going to get copyrighted today. Dylan just mentioned something about Disney and all of a sudden uh and and so I would ride my foiler. I mean, these things were massive. I would ride my foiler. And I would just like run it up on there because I was scared to death of snakes and I would pick blackberries. I would just keep going. That was it was it was a wonderful thing. But uh that that has its own connotations, right? I mean you you may or may not have done that.

I I feel very privileged to have had that experience. But there was something about that that that kind of that kind of sprung a thought in my mind. And and you hear Jesus talk about a parable. It was it was the parable of the swer. He talked he said the same in Matthew chapter 13 if you have your Bibles if you have your or if you want to make a note of this chap Matthew chapter 13 Jesus talks about a parable of the sewer it says that same verse one says that same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea down by the seashore seashells down no it doesn't say that I was just saying and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down.

And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And when he and when he told them many things in parable, saying, "A sewer went out to sew." That's this guy in a skirt. It's a robe. It's a robe, right? Sewer went out to sew. And as he swed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. The other seeds fell on rocky ground, but they did not have much soil. and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched and since they had no root, they withered away.

Verse seven says, "Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. And other seeds fell in good soil and produced some grain and produced grain, some 100fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear." Verse 7 says, "Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them." Ver if if you same chapter, if you skip on down to verse 18, Jesus Jesus has a whole discourse with his disciples and he talks about this and he says uh he explains to them why why he's talking in parables, but then he explains the parable.

So they're like, "These guys were fishermen. They weren't farmers, so they didn't understand it." He said, "Hear then the parable of the swer. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. That what is s was swn along the path. This is what was sown along the path." And then verse 20 says, "As for the what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word immediately and receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but he endures for a while when tribulation or persecution arise on account of the word.

Immediately he falls away. And then verse 22 says, "As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. And for as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeeds bear fruit and yields and in one case 100, another 60, and another 30." You know verse 22 he talks about the thorns. This is the one who hears the word but the cares of the world. The deceitfulness of the riches choke the word.

What are the cares of the world? You know we we look at it and we kind of brush that over because we're trying to get to the good soil. And so we look at it and we say you know the one who you know we we all want to be the hundfold. We all want to be the 60 or we all want to be the 40. Sometimes there's thorns. Interesting thing about thorns. Now, I got I went and uh butchered one of the rose plants outside. Didn't put any water on it, so um it's showing. They're drooping a little worse. Um this is the good soil. This is a plant.

Now, I want y'all to know if you touch this, my wife will shank you. She has a sniper set up. anyone that gets anywhere near it. I mean, Israel took his life in his own hands when he brought it up here. She's nursed that thing from a a sprig. It's good soil. It's going to grow and it's going to produce another plant. It's going to produce another plant. But here's something about thorns. Here's something I learned from the blackberries, if I may. as they grew, as they weave together, uh you could get you could get some good fruit from them, you get blackberries.

I mean, that's good. One time a year, woo, that's some good stuff. Or roses. You get you get really good roses. They're beautiful. Just don't prick yourself. Here's the thing, though. As I noticed, as as as time goes on, uh we didn't we didn't keep those those blackberries all the time. We didn't keep them cut back. We didn't keep them where they were supposed to be. And the fruit got harder and harder to get to. I would have to literally drive my foiler on on them sometimes. One because I just was chicken. Other they were thorns.

I would have to I would have to drive my foiler up on them and just and just reach and grab and and I was getting some fruits, but I nothing else was growing there. The cares of this world. You see, it's not that that blackberries are bad. It's not that roses are bad. It's not that the cares of this world are bad. But what are they? If I may ask, what do we worry about? Because what we worry about is in danger of becoming our God. It's it's it it can what we keep on the center of our minds and our hearts, our top priority, our focus, they can become our idols.

It's very easy for us to to get caught up in money. Can I say too little or too much? It's real easy for us to for for us to to demonize the the person that that is, you know, we we can all talk about the one that's accumulating too much money and the greed that goes with that. But what about the envy that we get eat up with because we're always looking around for more? Oh, I need that. Well, do you? I I don't know. Maybe you do. Can we Can we talk about our careers or the lack thereof? Come on. Do you know laziness is just as bad as workaholicism?

It It becomes our idol. It becomes what we What are you doing? Oh, nothing. Oh, I dare you to tell me. I dare you to tell me you ain't got nothing to do. I dare you. Our health. Good or bad. Oh, it's real easy. It's real easy for us to I'm be careful here. It's real easy for us to to look at the the person that's eat up with pride in themselves and and you know they're working out 10 hours a day and all that good stuff. But what about the other way? It's real easy for us to get so focused on our relationships that we forget that we prayed to God to send that relationship.

It's real easy for us to get so focused on our children. Ag, you better act right. Today's the day the preacher's kid gets a beaten, right? It's real easy for us to focus on our children, but we forget how many prayers we had to pray for God to to bless us. The children, the the child- centric family is not the will of God. The the the spouse family is not the will of God. The stuff centric life is not the will of God. Hang Hang on. I I got some more here. Ministry. Y'all done Y'all Y'all trying to get me Y'all trying to get me riled up.

Sister Penny, you trying to get me riled up today. Ministry is the fruit of the relationship we have with God. It is not the relationship. It's not It's not the will of God for us to sacrifice. Come on. Our families on the altar of ministry. It's not the Oh, I I Hey, I I'm I'm a preachers's kid here. I know several of you have been raised in pastor's homes as well. I know what it feels like sometimes. And I know we have to be careful. And I'm going to preach about that later this month. Don't you Don't you better believe it.

I know we have to be careful and but here's the thing. Sometimes we get we oh well they sacrificed me so I'm not going to do any ministry. Guess what we just did? We just went all the way over here. Come on. We don't we don't make the ministry is the is the results of the relationship. We build our relationship with God. Can I encourage you? Those that are ministering and serving, bring your kids with you. do ministry with your family because you're going to sacrifice something. They need to know why it's being sacrificed.

They need to understand that maybe their need for a a play night at McDonald's or maybe Chick-fil-A has play pins now or whatever Chick-fil-A. They need to know that they sacrificed a night at Chick-fil-A playing in the jungle gym so that someone could get their life straightened out. They need to know that that teaches them. But if all it is is you're just talking about the sacrifice and them not seeing the fruits, it hurts. It hurts a lot. Can I can I can I touch on this singleness? We will put the idolatry of singleness so focused on what is not there that we miss opportunities that God has placed right in front of us.

The same with her children. The same with the relationship. The same with anything. We we we take our eye off the ball. It becomes that's not the point. That's not the picture. God is the cares of this world. They look it's very easy for us to look at our hobbies. Now, if you've checked the score of whatever NFL game's going on today, I'm preaching to you. All right. All right. I'm just going to preach right here then. Talking to you, Seth. He's sick today. He's at home. All right. I'm picking at Seth. Now, we'll know if he watched it or not.

He'll text me. Fishing, hunting, shopping. Come on. Hobby Lobby crocheting. Well, I'm just kidding. I don't know. I don't know anybody. That may be y'all. I don't know. Reading. Did you know in the 1800s that they complained about people reading the way we complain about kids playing on their phones now? Yeah. Really? The the the the writings where they just sit around. They're no good. They're no good use because they're just filling their mind with fantasy land. I was like, "Well, that's fair. That's a fair critique."

Reading. Sorry, sir. I'm so sorry. Distractions. How quickly do our distractions become our coping mechanism? You see the worries of the life, they often feel like these necessary things. They are. They're not bad things. I haven't I'm not I'm not even talking about sin. You haven't you haven't mentioned it, have I? Oh, I forgot to mention gambling over here with the the hobbies. Hey, believe it or not, uh the the biggest form of like there's been a huge increase of online gambling with sports. Something something to think about.

But the distractions, what are we choking out? Have you found yourself unable to hear from God? Have you found yourself feeling a little disconnected? God, I'm not doing anything wrong. Good for you. But what what's springing up? What's what's taking over some good ground that was in your life? What what what kind of thorns are are are are weaving themselves through that? That what was good ground is now turning into thorny ground. Because here's the thing. I didn't have to go plant blackberries. Those bad boys can grow like nobody's business.

I had to take care of them. Had to keep them in the right place. I can enjoy the fruits of them. If they're taken care of, if they're manicured, if they're if they're pushed over here where they're supposed to be, I this listen, this is real practical here today. How have you found yourself unable to see through the fog? Have you found yourself unable to You're like, "Well, I mean, I just got to get this done. And I just got to listen. Favorite thing for everyone to say. And I hate saying it, but sometimes it's true.

Everyone says, "I'm just so busy." Maybe you are. I don't know. But maybe there's been some thorns growing. Maybe there's been some things that that you've allowed, you know, you, if I may, not bad things. They're just springing up. How easy is it for us? Can I Can I Can I draw draw a lifespan picture here for us? How easy is it for us as a as a teenager to feel the call of God and to know and to know that God's called us? To know that God's pulling at us, that he's got a purpose for us. and and and in the very next step of our life, we get so uh we get so distracted by the the care the cares of this world.

Doesn't mean they're not real. It doesn't mean they're not right. It just means that we we we we get so distracted by them that all of a sudden the the call of God on our life, the purpose that God's given us that we feel so, oh well, you know, that that just won't pay the bills, so it's just going to fall on the back burner. How many of us have have started out with good soil? How many of us have started out a good plant and and because of neglect, we we kind of we start growing some thorns and sure it looks good.

It looks great. It looks so I I had I had a conversation with a friend not long ago that and and it was it was very surprising to hear because I've I've watched this guy. He's a very successful man. He's very he's very driven. is very go, you know, he's just he's just a very good he's a good guy, but he's a very successful guy. And and he told me, he said, I looked up and it was like I woke up. I was like, "What in the world just happened?" It'd been 10 years and I'd forgot about my call. I'd forgot about my ministry.

He he said, "I I looked up and and all those things that I felt God was dealing with me on that that that that I wanted to I I know I just took a detour here, but I was I was if I may, he was dealing with a little bit of hurt. And so he he maybe threw himself into something to deal with that hurt and get past it." And 10 years later, his family's growing up. His wife is is there and and his family's good, but he's like, "I I I missed it. I missed the call. He said, "Now I've got to work on these things." And he was coming from a point that that the fog had cleared just a little bit.

He could see past the thicket. It could see past the things that that he was and and it had choked out some things. Now, here's the point. A lot of us have gotten to that point. We've realized it. And if I may, I'm going to use this. We've dug our own grave. We can't see our way out of it. We can't see the daylight for the darkness, for the thorns, for all the things growing about us. We can't even reach the fruits of our labor anymore. And we've dug our own grave. And you know what? We have said, we've taken account.

We have taken account for it. God, I did this myself. This was my fault. I'm just going to lay here. And it may have been I'm not meaning that drastically on ourselves and in talking to ourselves. God, I've done this to myself. I'm just this is this must be just where I'm going to be. That call that I had on my life, that purpose that God had put in me. God, I messed it up. We feel like we've ruined it. You see, there's a point here. There's there's a point that we have to get to. We have to understand that. But Paul put it like this.

1 Corinthians 12:7, he says, "So to keep from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelation." Well, if you stop right there, you'd be like, Paul, you really like yourself. He said, 'A thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me, can I just come to you for a moment.

If you've dug your own grave and you feel like you're sitting there and you can't see your way out and you can't Oh, you can't you you thought, "God, you're done with me. I' I've already I've messed up what you've put in my heart. I've I've lost the purpose for my life. I can't even see it. Can I just tell you, plead the blood over it? Allow God to come in and apply some grace in your life. Allow him to come in and grab some mercy in your life. Allow him to come in and pull you out of the grave you're in. You see, that grave will no longer be your grave.

It will be the hill and the testimony you stand on. It will be the place that you say, "This is where I was supposed to die. This is where it was supposed to be choke choked out of me. My ministry was supposed to end here, but you plead some blood over it. God, I need your grace. God, I need your mercy. God, I got to have I can't do it on my own. You see, God had a purpose and he had a plan. There was something I I in researching this, only a preacher would research this when he's looking for a point for a message.

I found out that the the ground where that where those blackberries grew was probably about a 6.5 pH level. If you know what that is, that's that's the acidity or the alkaline. It's it's the it's what would grow in the ground best. It's about a 6.5. Boy, it grow some real good red potatoes. I mean, just bushels of them. 6.5. that that that was like the ideal climate for or the ideal ground and nutrients for that to grow. And then I was like, I wonder what the offset to that is because if you have a s you're neutral, if if I may, I'm going to go back to like it's probably like 10th grade science over here, maybe seventh grade, I don't remember.

Acidic is like from it ranges from 1 to 6.9. Neutral is seven. That's that's water or good water. Alkaline is 7.1 to 14. This is this is the preacher part. All right. I got to looking. I was like, I wonder what the offset to that is. I was like, just for a preaching point, I wonder what blood is. Come on now. I wonder what the pH of blood is. That's a weird Google question, isn't it? I wonder. Do you know what the pH of blood is? It's 7.5. Can I just Can I just preach on that for a minute? When you got some when you got some thorny ground and and and it's producing all the wrong things, it's producing all the bad things because that's the environment that it's made to grow in.

If you just put some blood in it, just plead the blood over it. Just say, "God, I need you to change my ground. I need you to make this new ground. I need you to change what I'm producing and make it into something good. I just need to plead some blood over it. Can I encourage you today? Plead the blood over it. You may not can fight your way out of a paper sack. You may not can see your way out of a rainforest. God, plead the blood over it. I need you to change my Come on, somebody. I need you to change my being.

I need you to change what I'm producing. I need you to change me, God, inside and out. I need your blood. I wanted to tell somebody, God's not done with you yet. God's God's going to change the ground that you're growing in. And it's time for you to sew some seed with some sore feet because you know what? Those thorns are still going to be there. And it's going to hurt it. Those thorns are going to poke you and it's going to feel like ah I'm condemned. I can't do this. But sewing some seed with sore feets what God called you for.

It's what he purposed you for. He c he put you where you're at right now. I wish somebody would believe me today. He's got you where you are right now. all the questions, all the issues, all the all the problems in life, where you are right now to produce the seed of the next revival. You see, when we're surrounded by all the thorns, we get all up in ourselves. If I may, we get all up in ourselves. I can't do that. Guess guess who's in ourselves? Us. We make it about who? About who? Us. But God said, "My grace is sufficient for thee."

Your problem, your failure, your issue is no. It's Oh, it's Do you think it's bigger than God? Come on. It's It's nothing in the hands of a mighty God. Where you're at right now, you are not past saving. Do not lay down in that grave and start covering yourself up. God, I need out of here. I need to plead your blood over me. God, I need you to move in my life. I need to plead your blood over it. God, I need you to change my situation. I need you to change the soil, the fruit, the fruit that I'm producing. You see, when you mix the blood in, when you get past yourself and it hurts a little bit and you got some sore feet, maybe then you know what you're doing.

Then you know what God, if I may, it's real easy. It's real easy to pray on a padded carpet or a carpet. It's real easy. You know, it's real easy to come to a church that's got the temperature set on 66 and feels real nice in it. We can cover up we can we can cover up a lot of Well, oh, my my feet are sore. It's all right. We got padded seats. It's real easy for us to get to get comfortable where we're at and get comfortable and and oh well, you know, I I I'm surrounded by all these thorns, but but there's a little comfort.

I'll go to church and I'll get a little reprise. If you're waiting on me or pastor or the pastoral team to clear out the thorns for you, you're you're waiting on the wrong thing. You might get some reprise in the house of God, but God's calling you to plead the blood over your life, over your situation, and to change what you're producing. Oh, ministry is hard. Serving's hard. Producing's hard. But let me tell you, when you dig in and you've got the blood of Christ mixed in and it hurts you just a little bit, then it's just a little more precious.

Then it means just a little bit more. I've been preaching too long. Herb, you going to save him? You going to save him? He's got a long walk. We're good. All right. Should have been running. herb. You see, I've been I've been I've been praying, been wondering, been observing a little bit because I felt I I listen, you guys, it wasn't nothing to you, but I'm going to tell you as a preacher, July turned me upside down, turned me inside out, and rung me through and through. And it changed me. It left a mark on my life.

I know because I can't stop thinking about it. And I've been praying about it, wondering. And then then as as Pastor Dan was preaching through August and and you know him and I we we had we're a lot alike in some ways and we like to teach and sometimes we're a little slower, but what he was dealing with was was some intense stuff. I was like, "All right." I was like, "We need Okay. All right. Maybe we need an evangelist." a pastor. He's he's a he's a he's a little more excitable maybe than Dan and I, you know. I don't know if y'all met him or not.

Uh but I was like, he's going he's going to do that. I don't know if you listen to his messages or not, but from what I can tell, he's dealing with the same thing. and and and I was praying for revival. I was praying, God, we need a wind of revival. We do. And can I just tell you what I felt in my spirit. I felt God holding it off. Now, I'm I'm not a prophet. I'm not I can't God didn't come to me in some storm and say, "Thus sayith the word of God." I'll just tell you what I felt. Because I don't know if you've ever experienced a revival, but it turns everything inside out, upside down, over and over.

I'd liken it to having a baby. And you guys know more about that than I do. We're all looking at you. It used to be her, but you didn't beat him. You you ran you out ran the race there. I didn't know it was a competition, but okay, little Richard. When a baby comes into the house, you better have it prepared. I didn't. I found out that was not the thing to do. I was in the middle of remodeling. Okay. I was I was trying. What's it do? Stretches the relationship. It stretches you past your max. The things that you are used to working on yourself and having time to work on, now there's no longer time for you to work on them.

Now, we're never ready, right? I mean, I was almost 50 years old. But revival will do the same thing to a church. Can I just tell you I feel like God's trying to get us ready because the line that I saw and what I felt in my spirit was that God's God's God's being merciful to us right now because as soon as we have to turn around and take care of a hundred souls, is our house going to stand? Is our relationship with God going to stand if you'd stand with me for just a moment. I do feel like God's sending revival, but he's not going to send it without a warning.

And he's given us time. I don't mean this fatalistically. I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to walk in the in the vein of fatalism here, but it's mercy. It's mercy. Because when he turns the church upside down and inside out, those services that you come to and and the worship clears away the the thorns and allows you to to grasp a hold of God, that's going to go away. And you're going to have to clear the thorns away for someone else. You're going to have to be prepared to intercede for someone else, not yourself. Right.

Amen. And so I feel like the mercies of God has been shown to us and he has been doing his best to communicate to us, clear out some ground, fix the soil, maybe do some weeding, maybe take care of some things. Maybe maybe you've got some distractions that are distracted you too far and now they're more than just distractions. They've become what you think about and focus on. I am so hungry. I am so ready to see the revival that I know that God has for us. But I would hate and and and and I will say the mercies of God have have been stayed to allow us a moment to get some things in order.

So if you would today, would you find a place? Would you everyone in the house if it's where you're at, if it's if it's around the altar, it wherever you can, I want to implore of you, weed some things out today. Sure, those blackberries may taste good, but you know what? They'll take over. You got to watch out for them. Those roses sure are pretty, but man, if they ever go off, you may not feel like you're qualified for it, but I beg of you to plead the blood over your life today. God, I need your blood to change me.

I need to change the composition of who I am, of how I'm made up. I need to change the competi composition of how I think of what I'm producing. I I I need to change the ground that I'm throwing seed in. Jesus, I need you. But everyone, if you can find a place to kneel, find a place to stand, whatever. This is you and God. God, what have I allowed into my life that I know I've been saying I need to fill you, God? I know I've been saying I I I I I I just need some direction, God. I know I can't feel you right now, God.

What am what's what's between me and you, God? What am What am I missing? What's allowed to to grow up and maybe choke out some of the sunlight, some of the seed of the word?