Hear And Obey

Let's get into the word of the Lord. I'm going to be teaching preaching from Luke chapter 5 today. But before I read any verses, if it would be okay with you, I just want to provide some context leading up to where I will be teaching through today. Luke chapters 1 through3 are primarily dealing with the birth of Jesus, the birth of John the Baptist. Chapter 3 of Luke goes into the beginnings of John the Baptist's ministry and really lays the groundwork for everything that is going to be the ministry of Jesus. And all of these prophecies, all of these Old Testament prophecies are being woven together. And what was just in pieces across those 39 books of the Old Testament, they're now they're coming together and they're forming. And now we can begin to see this picture that God has been trying to paint or has been writing about for thousands of years. And Luke 4, there's a little bit of a transition that happens. So the groundwork has been laid and now we move into Luke 4 and Jesus is going through the temptation in the wilderness. And this is very important. And this is very monumental for everything that Jesus would do, would be, and all of his ministry. And the Bible says that he's led by the spirit into the wilderness. And there's so much depth and truth in that statement alone.

But the Bible says that he comes out in the power of the spirit because there's just something about those wilderness journeys that we don't always care too much for. but nothing produces the power of God quite like a wilderness. Quite like a place where you have no other options but to just hold on to that all powerful hand. And so Jesus comes out of that temptation experience in the power of the spirit. And now things are really starting to ramp up now. Now things are really starting to get momentum. A lot of groundwork has been laid. And Jesus makes this proclamation in Luke 4:18 and 19. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. and God manifest in flesh can't start making statements like that without the whole climate and atmosphere and ecosystem start to change. And so, things begin to move and his ministry begins and he's healing and he's preaching and he's teaching and there's all this momentum and word is spreading across these towns and villages about this man who's not teaching like every other man before him.

and he's doing things that other people have not been able to do up to this point. And so you end Luke 4 with this ball of momentum. It's this general feel of excitement. There's this surge of passion and energy of something news happening. Something's unfolding and everyone wants to be a part of this new thing that's taking place. It was time for the kingdom of God to come. Oh, what a beautiful time to be a part of the kingdom of God. And so with that context and with that setting, I want to teach to us today on this subject. Hear and obey. Hear and obey. Luke 5 and verse one. Again, after all of that context that we just were given, it says, "And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God." If there is anything that we need in this day and in this hour, it is that there would be a holy revival of desperation to hear and to know and to be a part of what saith the word of the Lord. They pressed upon him to hear the word of God. And in 2025 and going in to 2026, we have everything pressing in our lives against the word of God. We have work and we have entertainment and we have schedules and we have technology and we have social media and it seems like everything is pressing against us and you want to know why the enemy fights so hard for you to come to church?

It's because there is nothing that he wants less than for you to get to the house of God and to hear what saith the word of the Lord. >> And I'm going to tell you a little secret right now. The enemy fights in the places that are undecided in our life. That's where he fights. The enemy fights me. And I'm not going to tell you all the ways he fights me, but I noticed a little while ago he doesn't really fight me all that hard to come to church anymore. And it's because he's seen year after year that it's not a negotiation. it's not something that I wake up on my mind. Am I going to go to the house of the Lord or not? It is settled. I will go unto the house of the Lord. Don't leave those undecided places in your life. And I'm talking about if we want a revival in America, if we want revival in the White House, if we want revival in our city, it doesn't start out there. It starts right here. Judgment begins at the house of God. And there has to be a holy revival, for a hunger for the word of God. A holy revival. There are seven report cards that are given in the book of Acts. These are just they're statements. They're summaries that Luke writes to give us the state of the church, so to speak.

You see it in Acts 2:42 or it's really 238-42. and several others. I'd like to read three of these for us this morning. Acts 6 and 7. One of the report cards given says, "And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts 12:24. But the word of God grew and multiplied. Acts 19 and 20. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. The church is in a moment where we need this kind of revival for the word of God to grow and to multiply in our lives for 2026 as we approach this year. And I man those words were so beautiful from pastor this morning. I'm thankful for that moment of pause for that call to consecration because it's exactly what I have felt in the spirit for today is that God is calling us away from some things because he's trying to put some things into our lives through the word of God and prayer and fasting. Jesus does not confirm man. I love this church. I love the United Pentecostal Church International. I love so many things. But God does not confirm an organization. He doesn't confirm a church. He doesn't confirm a building. He doesn't confirm a group of people.

God confirms his word. >> And it's only as much that we entangle our lives and our existence with his word that we receive the confirmation of God on our lives. It's only as his word is built into the fabric of who we are. Mark 16 and 20 says, "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. He confirms his word." You know, I'll talk about a personal thing, okay? I personally in times past have shied away from Psalms 119. Really long. A lot of words, Wesley. So many words. Just the words keep coming. They don't stop. The words don't stop. You know, and it's like you kind of like Psalms 119, you know, you got to break it up in your Bible reading. You're like, "All right, I'm going to read 300 verses today. I'll read 29 tomorrow, and we'll get through this in a few weeks." But do yourself a favor. Go sit down in one 30 minute setting. Start in Psalms 119 and one and read to the end. I don't know there's like 400 of them and you will hear and see and understand that the writer of Psalms 119 had a clear understanding in their life and in their perception of the value of the word of God. Everything in that person's life was built around and upon the word of God.

And I love there's so many we could talk about, but I want to read Psalms 119 and 19. It says, "I am a stranger in the earth. Hide not thy commandments from me." Here is the truth in that. We get to decide which world we'll be a stranger in. We get to choose and to pick which world will be strange to us. And I'm sorry, I've just got to say a few things and then I'll move on. I just got to say a few things. But if we can recite every single statistic in the stock market and we can record and recite all of these NBL and NFL and all this other stuff and we can talk about all of these things at work, but we can't quote a few scriptures of the Bible. And you don't know what the 66 books of the Bosatah. One of the worlds is going to be strange to you. It's going to be this earth or it's going to be the word of God. Listen, if you want to see the word of God in color, you have got to pick other areas of your life that are going to be black and white. If you want to see the word of God come alive on the pages, you've got to turn some things off. Well, pastor pastors gets kind of boring on Sundays sometime.

Listen, you watch five and a half hours of Netflix on a Saturday night and you come in here and say, "Pastor's boring on a Sunday morning." He ain't the problem. Ain't nothing wrong with the word of God. >> The word of God is just fine. And if we'll turn off some entertainment and we'll get off some social media and we'll stop allowing our senses to be overwhelmed and overloaded by the things of this world, the word of God becomes alive. >> It's a holy consecration to understand and to see the word of God for everything that it is. And it came to pass as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God. He stood by the lake of Guanessireet. The first part is we have to hear the word of God. We have to hear the word of God. And listen, this definitely speaks to reading the Bible and this definitely speaks to listening to the Bible and it speaks to all of those types of things. But it absolutely does mention, reference, or allude to you've got to be in a place where you're hearing the word of God declared over your life, into your life, around your life. We've got to hear the word of God. Well, why do I have to hear the word of God, though, Taylor? why is all this church stuff, you know, coming here?

why is all this matter? I'll tell you why it matters. Because without faith, it is impossible to please him. Okay? Okay. The subject that is being discussed is pleasing God by faith. Please God by faith. Okay. Well, how do I get faith then? Where does faith come from? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. >> Talking about pleasing God. We're talking about faith and we're talking about the word of God. Here, listen. This is scripture. I'm not quoting from the minister's book of this is the Bible in Romans chapter 10:14 says how shall they hear without a preacher >> in a world that's coming against the preach word of God it's not about elevating a man it's not about elevating a pullpit it's about declaring the truth of God's word that he has set in place to redeem his people don't let people come against the pull pit by preaching By hearing the word of God, Jesus taught the parable of the soils. I have studied the parable of the soils for myself because I want good ground. I really do. I really do want good ground. not because I do this, but I want to hear from him. And I want good ground. And I try. I pray fast, read the Bible. I want that good ground.

And Jesus teaches in Luke chapter 8 about the parable of the good ground. It's not exhaustive quite like Matthew. It's more of a summary. But at the end, he begins to switch his teaching. And if you're not careful, you'll think that he's moving on to another topic or another subject, but he's not. And he makes well, I'll tell you what he talks about. He talks about the candle, hiding it under a bushel. You don't light a candle and then put it away. And really what he's talking about is when you have good ground and God speaks to you and it begins to bring forth 30fold, 60fold, 90fold, 100fold. He said, "Don't go put that in a corner." When you get to work and your co-orker starts talking about the struggle they're going through, take that 30-fold word that God just spoke to you. Don't put it under a bushel. That's the word of God. That's life. and share that with them. But this is what he says at the end of this parable. This is how he summarizes the parable of the good soil in Luke 8:18. Jesus speaking, "Take heed, therefore, how ye hear." We have got to take a responsibility for how we hear the word of God. We've got to take ownership in our lives and how we consecrate and how we set our minds on things and how we hear the word of God.

Going back to our story and I'll just read in verse one. I'm going to read a few more verses here. It says, "It came to pass people pressed upon him to hear the word of God. He stood by the lake of Guanessat and he saw two ships standing by the lake, two boats. But the fishermen were gone out of them washing their nets. And he entered one of the ships which was Simon's and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And Jesus sat down and begin to teach the people out of the ship. So now this story is unfolding with purpose and a person. We see Simon is introduced to this story. And so here we have this crowd of people and they're they're pressing on Jesus. They want to hear the word of God. And Jesus is seeing this need from the people. And so he begins to assess his surroundings and he's seeing what he needs and he says there's some boats I'm going to push out from these boats and I'm going to begin to teach the people the word of God. Hear me. Anytime the word of God is going forth and it is being heard and it is being received, what should be happening is the faith of the hearers is being elevated. And here's why that's important is because hearing the word of God and believing the word of God is the groundwork for the miraculous and the supernatural power of God to come in and to work in our lives.

And so here Jesus is teaching this crowd. Simon's the one mentioned in the story. Here's what here's a little Sunday school. We didn't have life class today. So, I'm gonna do a little life class lesson. Let's call it five minutes of life class. the New Testament has two expressions in the Greek language for word of God. And they are very very very important. The word of God is expressed in the logos and the rama. The logos is the full revelation of God's truth. It is the forever settled word of God. The Rama is the spoken word that is applied in a moment. Logos is eternal. It's complete. The logos never changes. It's what we preach. It's what we teach. It's what we study. It's what we meditate on. And the first time we read about the logos word of God is in John 1 and1. In the beginning was the word, the logos, and the word, the logos was with God, and the word was God. The word is forever settled. The logos word of God is forever settled. And you can do your own study on where you see the logos word of God at. Another good passage is James 1:22 says, "But be ye doers of the word, the logos, and not hearers only. But the Rama, the immediate word, the direct word of God, it always flows from the logos." The Rama always is the logos is the platform and the Rama is stands on that platform.

And that's why scriptures like this were written in Galatians. Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. There ain't no new vision coming from God. There's not some new word that God's going to speak to you that's going to go outside of what has been written. >> The Rama flows from the logos. And so this is what we see here in Luke 5 and verse one when it says the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God. That is the translation logos. They wanted to hear the teach the taught word. They wanted to hear the forever settled word of God. But logos has set a stage for the supernatural. The logos has laid a foundation where God is ministering to the 90 and nine, but he's about to leave the 90 and9 and he's about to transition to the one with a rama word from him. Verse four says, now when he had left speaking, this was Jesus. Okay. What's about to happen is we are about to elevate from one dimension of the word of God to another dimension of the word of God. He said unto Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draw." God withholds words sometimes because sometimes we want to be called to the shallow.

But God is always looking to draw us to the deep. God's always going to look to push you outside of your comfort zone just a little bit. God God's always going to take a way that you've been set and that you've been established and he's going to speak to you in a way that's going to push you just a little bit beyond where you're at and where you've been before. He's going to say go some go somewhere deep. So let down your nets for a draw. Here we go. >> >> And Simon answering said unto him, "Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing." [cough and clears throat] Here's what I know. Everybody, everyone has somewhere in our life, an area that we feel like we have toiled all the night. the nights that we toil in are the places that when we think about them or when we go there or when we begin to allow our minder mind to wander there, we begin to feel exhaustion. We begin to feel fatigue. We get really vulnerable about these nights that we've struggled in and about these situations that we've toiled in. We don't really want to talk to anybody about it. you might not even talk to your spouse about it. It's something you keep deep down because it's something nobody can re how can someone understand the night that you've toiled in?

How do you adequately express or put into words your trauma or the situations and the names and the people and all? How do you explain that to somebody? you know what? You really always just can't. And so you just keep it in and you keep it to yourself. And here is what the Lord told me to speak to someone today that someone has had a night that you have been toiling in 2025. And the Lord has commissioned me on this last Sunday to let you know that what you need is not another podcast. You don't need another Netflix binge. You don't need a new job. You don't need a raise. You don't need to smoke it. You don't need to drink it. You don't need to lay around with it. What you need is a word from God. Simon was comfortable fishing, but fishing wasn't going to solve his problem. >> And that's what happens. The enemy gets us all discombobulated in our trials and tribulations. He gets it to where we can't think straight. We can't look straight. We don't know which way's left. We don't know which way's right. And so, in those days, we just, you know, I'll just put this up for today. I don't need that. It's not going to speak to me. God God's not concerned with what I'm going through.

And then one misday of devotion becomes a week of misdevotions. And then now you're in your night seat in your toilet and you're tired and you're vulnerable and then you come to church and nobody cares about you at church cuz if God doesn't care about me, nobody here cares about me and you look at me the wrong way and you say something to me the wrong way and now it's went from I've just missed my Bible reading. So I don't know if I want to go back to Sunday. I don't know if I want to go back to church. that preaching doesn't do anything for me. that worship stuff, that church, it doesn't really and it starts to spiral and it spirals and it spirals and the enemy is lying to somebody in this place because what I'm telling you need for 2026 is a word from God. For the word of God is quick. It's powerful. is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Forever, oh Lord, thy settled thy word in heaven. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against you.

Job said it this way. He said, "Thy word have I esteemed above my necessary food. It's a word. It's a word from God. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. I want to be successful in 2026. I want to have success. I want success in my family. I want success in my health. I want success to come upon me. I want it to overtake me. I want it to find me in every area of my life. Joshua 1:8 says this, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate on it therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." If you want success in your life, don't toil after all the other things of this world. Get into the word of God. >> The Rama, the now spoken word. This is what we fight spiritual warfare in. A lot of people get it mixed up and think that you fight spiritual battles with the logos word of God. And here's what they do. They go to Jesus being tempted and they say, "Jesus quoted scripture." Jesus absolutely quoted scripture. That's what he did. He did quote the logos. But there's a layer to that because this is what Jesus said in Matthew 4:4.

This is the first mention of Rama. This is the first mention of Rama that we see. Jesus said, but he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word rama that proceedth out of the mouth of God. God wants you to fight the battles that you fight and that you face by giving you a today word. God wants you to go headlong into the battles of this life, not with just what's been written in scripture, but he wants you to be able to come out of your prayer closet and say, "God has spoken to me today." And when you go into those same situations and you go into those same battles and you get those text messages and you get those phone calls, they don't defeat you like they once did because I've got a word from God. He's spoken to me. He's spoken to his servant. You don't fight with the logos, my friends. Well, that ain't biblical. No, it is. I'm telling you. Ephesians 6:17 take the helmet of salvation. This is the armor and the sword of the spirit which is the rama of God. It is what is God speaking to you today. Faith is a great defense. Faith is an amazing shield. Faith will keep you safe from all of the fiery darts of the enemy and it'll hold the enemy back.

But if you want to march into the situations that you fight in life, if you want to take an offense to what the devil's been doing in your family, if you want to take an offense to that depression you're tired of dealing with in your mind and those things that when you wake up tomorrow, you know they're going to be there. If you want to take a sword to those things, you don't need more faith today. Woo! You don't need more faith today. What you need is a word from God. Can we all just lift our hands right now? Come on. Can we just begin to lift up our voices for just a moment? [panting] Come on. Can we begin to let our hunger rise to Jesus Christ? >> >> Come on. You know, they terried on the day of Pentecost. They didn't rush past a moment. They waited for the spirit to come. Come on. Why don't we be apostolic for just a moment? Let's not perform. Let's just wait on the spirit. Let's just see what God will do. Come on, submit your senses to him. That overwhelming need you feel right now for us to move on, push past it. Lord, Fore! Foreign! Foreign! My name is If you believe in a holy God that still speaks, I would that we would just lift up our voices unto him in gratitude.

Come on. He's the God that answers by fire. As that word was going forth, I felt in my spirit [panting] to remind this congregation that when God sends forth his ministers, and that's not just talking about preachers of the gospel, it's talking about angelic ministry. It says he sends them forth as flames of fire, which is symbolic of power. And the enemy has convinced somebody in this place that God has lost his power in your life. And I'm telling you right now in the Holy Ghost that God's sending a ministering spirit to you today. And he is going to remind you that he is the God that brought thee out of Egypt. He's the God that has led thee through the wilderness. And yay, he is the God that leads you into the land of promises. Samuel, that great Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. There is something divine happening all across this place right now. It's not fire. It's not all that. It's just a still small voice is speaking right now. Samuel. When we first read about Samuel in the Old Testament, prophet in training, learning to hear the voice of God, learning to hear what it feels like to be moved on by God's presence and God's spirit. And Samuel's laying there in that bed and God has called out to him.

He didn't understand it. God calls out to him and he didn't understand it. And it took three times and understanding began to work in Samuel. I pray that a holy understanding would begin to work in all of us this morning. Holy understanding begins to work in Samuel and God begins to call out that third time. Samuel says, "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth." Now, here is what we cannot capture well in the English language. That word heareth is the word shama. It's the same Hebrew word in Deuteronomy 6 and4 here. Oh Israel, shama Israel. It's here. But it is a it's an urgent type of listening. It here's how we could equate it in our context. If my kids are upstairs and I need them to clean up the kitchen, I say, "Kids and if they have any sense about them based off the tone of my voice, they going to understand when they get in that kitchen, they're looking to hear to obey. Dad, I want to hear what you've got to say. Not just because I want to listen, but I want to obey what you're saying. And Samuel said, "Speak, Lord. Your servant Shama, your servant is positioned to hear with the intent to obey. I don't want to just hear what you've got to say. God, don't forget he's a king.

Please don't forget he sits on a throne. And yes, he's surrounded with mercy and he's surrounded by love. H he's surrounded by forgiveness and all of those other things, but he does not get off his throne. He did that one time and then he ascended and he's there forever more. And when the king desires to speak, he's looking for someone who wants to hear and obey. to obey what saith the Lord. I'd like to go through the rest of this story and I feel like God's going to do something powerful in our altar in a moment. Verse six, Simon says, "Nevertheless, at thy word, at thy rama, what you have spoken to me currently, what you have presently given me to fight this battle currently, at thy word, I will let down the nets." Verse six, and when they had done this, you could put all of that into one word. And when they had obeyed, when they had obeyed what was spoken, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. You ready for this? And their net break. What was breaking Simon? A word from the Lord turned it. And now it began to break at Simon's feet. Sir, I don't know what you've been facing, ma'am. I don't know what's got you in the middle of a nervous breakdown. I don't know what you were battling as you walked into those doors today and you thought to yourself, "This might be the last day I can wake up and fight." But I've come to tell you this morning that God is desiring to send a word.

And that situation, all of the dynamics might not change. But I promise you this, once you've heard from his holy mouth, everything that's been coming against you in your life, when you've got that word from God, it will begin to break at the power of the word of God. Obedience took them from toil to spoil. Chat GBT didn't give me that neither. From toils to spoils. I'm gonna preach it that way one day because I like that title better. Y'all ready for this? This is all just from obeying. This is all just from hearing and obeying the word of God. Says, "Then they beckoned to their partners which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. And they came and they filled both their ships so that they began to sink." in the apostolic church, look, I'm a minister of this thing. I've given my life to this thing. And so sometimes I just speak on behalf of the apostolic church. Okay? >> >> sometimes God speaks to us to push us outside of ourselves a little because maybe your net is already overflowing. But there could be somebody sitting on your row who their net has been coming up empty for a long time now and God's trying to speak for you to do something and to obey. Y'all remember the days of Pentecost?

Look, now I'm not Listen, don't say more into what I'm saying than what I'm saying, but all I'm saying is they found this thing by running laps. That's all I'm saying. They found this thing by rolling around on the floor. And everybody's like, "What are you doing rolling in the floor?" I'll tell you what they were doing. They were actively hearing from a god whose voice had been silent for a very long time. And they had been battling fire. And they had been battling hell. And they had been battling chaos. And they were molested as a child. And they were abused. And they were showing out on drugs, but a holy God was speaking. His desires in 2025 is not for us to have empty nets. It's to come into this place next Sunday as our pastor leads us into a time of holy consecration. And we're not going to come in with our swords and our she. We're going to come out with our swords of the spirit and our shield of faith and we're going to look at 2026 as a church. I'm going to tell you what the word of the Lord is for this church. It is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. >> Don't you like that when you go to Chick-fil-A? You know, makes you feel real important, doesn't it?

When they hand that little cheeseburger with chicken sandwich back and they say, "My pleasure." And you're like, "Oh, man." Makes you fix your shirt a little bit, you know? It's like, man, I'm somebody. Well, you know what the king of the universe said? It's his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You want healing? It's his good pleasure. You want victory? My pleasure. [panting and sighs] You want to walk out of here differently than you came in? My pleasure. My pleasure. It's his good pleasure. >> >> Everybody could stand. Could you put verse eight up there for me, please? The subject of the story up to this point has been Simon. And the only thing that has changed between verses 1-7 and verse 8 was obedience to the word of God. Because when you obey what he speaks to you will have identity change. There will be palpable tangible things that will begin to shift and to change in your life if you will obey what God is speaking to >> >> you. If you have never been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit by evidence of speaking in tongues and been baptized in Jesus name, I'm telling you, God's got a word for you today. You can leave here with a completely new identity.

Everything that has scarred you, everything that has marred you, everything that has changed the way that you speak, the way that you walk into rooms, the way that you walk out of rooms, the way that you interact in social circles, everything that has messed your life up, you can go down in that watery grave up there. And the Bible says that when you come out of there, you are a new creature. You will see colors differently. You will smell fresh air differently. You'll be someone completely and entirely new if you will obey what sayaeth the word of the Lord. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." He was astonished, and all that were with him at the draw of the fishes which they had taken. And so was James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, "Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men." Here we go. This is the altar call today. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. I just want to give everyone an opportunity today to do what they did then, to forsake it all. Forget about it all. I don't know what the night has been in 2025. I don't know what has wearied you.

I don't know what has exhausted you. I don't know what social circumstance is happening right now in your life. And the cry of your heart has been, "Oh God, can this ever change? Oh God, will this ever change?" "Oh, God, when will I see something new?" Here's what I want you to know. He's desiring to speak to you today. And if you're willing to forsake all and to follow him, he's not a man that he should lie. The promises of God in Christ are yes and they are a man. He will never send someone away. If you being an earthly father and your son comes up and asks for a stone, are you or a piece of bread, are you going to send him away with a stone? If your child came up and said, "I need a fish to eat," are you going to send them away with a scorpion? And if we know how to do that, being earthly, how much more does our heavenly father, when we come down to this altar with our hearts open and say, "God, I don't even want to talk about it, God. It hurts too bad, God. I've prayed about this time and time again, Lord. but here I am one more time, God. and if you say you want to speak, Lord, I'll listen. Come on.

Can we make our way to this altar today? >>