Gospel—R. Thonney
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#33 nothing either greater small, nothing Sinner. No, Jesus did it, did it all.
Long, long ago. It is finished. Yes, indeed. Finished. Every jot. Senator, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not?
#33.
Nothing, neither great or small.
Nothing.
Did it all.
Here we're so thankful that we know that the work of salvation.
Is finished and that there is full and free salvation to everyone that believes.
But Father were concerned tonight about those present in this room in a very special way. We come to thee to ask that those who still may not be saved.
May be convicted of their sins and brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus. We confess our own weakness in doing this, but we count upon.
The work of Thy Spirit in our midst. We thank Thee for His presence here and would ask that there might be His constraining power to bring souls to Jesus. We ask, blessing gracious Father, because of the worthiness, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I'd like to sing another hymn too in our Little Flock hymn books that I think everybody probably has it #3 in the appendix.
Am I enjoy very much and it's a gospel hymn.
The wanderer no more will roam the lost one to the full have come. The prodigal is welcomed home.
O Lamb of God, to thee.
Long wanderer no more will roam, love.
Like to speak from the 15th of Luke tonight, but before we do so I'd like to start with a verse from Second Corinthians chapter 4.
Actually 3 or 4 verses.
In Second Corinthians chapter 4 and verse.
Three.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach, not ourselves.
But Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
Hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
God has revealed Himself.
God is so great a being, there is no way that you and I.
As finite creatures.
Could ever comprehend him? In the book of Job there is a question, Canst thou by searching find out God? No way you and I can find God out ourselves.
Someone years ago challenged Daniel Webster, the statesman.
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How he could believe being an intelligent, educated man? How he could believe in a God that he could not understand?
He said if I could understand God, he would be smaller than my human brain.
And that would be no God at all.
No, my friend, God is so great that if you and I are going to know him, he must reveal himself, and that's exactly what he has done. In the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, God became flesh and dwelt among us, and the apostles say we beheld.
His glory, glory as of the only begotten full of the Father full.
Grace and truth. God has revealed himself in the person of the Lord Jesus. And as I mentioned, I'd like to go over to the book of Luke chapter 15. A very well known chapter, but one that thrills my soul every time I read it.
In this chapter, the Lord Jesus is speaking a parable.
Let's read it from the first verse.
Luke chapter 15 and verse one then drew near unto him. That's Jesus.
All the publicans and sinners for to hear him and the Pharisees inscribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying.
What man of you having an 100 sheep if you lose one of them?
Does not leave the 90 and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it.
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders.
Rejoicing, And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them.
Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one Sinner that repenteth more than over 90, and nine just persons which need no repentance either. What woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a candle and sweep the house?
And seek diligently till she find it. And when she hath found it, she calleth their friends and her neighbors together, saying.
Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost.
Likewise they send to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one Sinner that repentant.
And he said a certain man had two sons, the younger of them said to his father.
Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto him his living. Not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
Anyone and joined himself.
To a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. No man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bred enough, and despair, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father.
I have sinned.
Against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
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Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose.
And came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion.
And ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the sun said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight in him no more worthy to be called thy son. But the Father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring either the fatted calf.
And kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found. And they began to be married. Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come.
And thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound, And he was angry, and would not go. In therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, Lord, these many years do I serve thee. Neither transgressed thy at any time thy commandment. And yet Thou never gave us me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.
But as soon as this thy son was come, which had devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, in all that I have is thine. It was meat that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found.
You know, we live in a world, dear friends, tonight that is extremely man centered. It's how it affects me. That's the way people think of everything. But tonight I would like to put a different focus on what we're going to have to say tonight. We're not going to focus so much on what man is and his need. We're going to focus more on what kind of a God we're talking about in the gospel.
What kind of a God is the God that we proclaim in the Gospel?
Yes, He has to do with us in all our need, but what kind of a God is He? I really, truly believe that many times there are young people, maybe older ones too, who grow up in our assembly meetings who have not very much knowledge of God.
Sure, they have some head concept, but they've never really had to do with God as He truly is.
And that's a different matter, friend.
You can fool me. You can fool the brethren that are around you, no problem. But there's one you cannot fool. It's the God that made you who knows every thought you think, the one before whom all things are naked and open.
You cannot, you will not fool him. You have.
To do with God. What kind of a God is he?
In this chapter the Lord Jesus meets up.
With two glasses of people.
All the publicans and sinners came to hear him and there's a complaint filed against him.
By another class, the Pharisees and scribes, the religious people.
I suppose this may characterize people present here tonight.
Some who know that they, yes, are sinners. Others who think I really never have gotten off into the messy things of this world. I'm not that bad. I remember myself when I was growing up, hearing the gospel from week to week, having those thoughts. I lived in a protected home.
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My folks took care where I went and.
I didn't think I was that bad.
Is that where you stand now before God? I truly fear that there are some present here.
That fit into that category. I don't know where you are, but you know you're sitting there. You know exactly how you stand before God right now, trusting in the fact that you're not that bad or with a true sense of realization. I've messed, I've sinned, I've lasted. I don't have a chance.
Those are the kind that came to Jesus. Oh, to me it's tremendous, the complaint they filed against Jesus. It thrills my soul. Let me say it to you again, this man.
Receiveth sinners, and eateth with.
Glory to God, He received sinners like me.
And so the Lord Jesus begins a parable. Beautiful how he gives this parable. It is a parable that has three parts. 1 parable 3 parts. The first part is about a man that had 100 sheep.
And he lost one of them. Doth he not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost?
Until he find it. You know in today's business world, a 1% loss isn't that bad. You hear of losses that are 50%?
Sometimes even greater. 1% isn't that bad. Can't you be satisfied with 99 is not enough for you? Is it worth the trouble going out after that one sheep that's lost?
Oh, my friend, what kind of a God do we have? Is he a God that's going to say that?
I might say that yes, with my business interests, but the God that we're talking about tonight.
Does not say any such thing.
They're just one 1%.
God's interested in that and the Lord Jesus is seeking.
That 1%, wherever you're sitting out here in the audience tonight, he's interested in saving you tonight.
Whatever your condition, whatever your need, whatever your possession, if you're lost, he's interested in saving you.
You know, it's interesting the way we think that way in our American Society down in South America. Remember being out in the high Altiplano of Bolivia in a little place out on the countryside called Adi Kochi. It's not even a town. It's what they call a probably an estancia out in the countryside, a few houses there. We were out there to have some meetings with the brethren that lived in that area one time.
And I remember in the evening, one of the sisters, the place she had quite a few animals, she had between sheep and yama, she had almost 300 animals.
And she would sit at the door of the corral where they went in. At night. They all came in by themselves, and she would watch as they went in, one after another. And it would take quite a long time for them all to get in to that corral. But when they were in, she knew which ones were missing. It was a marvelous thing to me to see. I don't know how I would ever learn to know 300 animals well enough to know which ones were missing.
But she could tell that, and that's the kind of a God we have. He knows if you're missing, He knows if you're lost.
The Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is the one who gives his life for the sheep. He's interested in you. Wherever you are sitting in this audience tonight, I don't know you.
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But you know, if you're lost and the Lord Jesus is interested, he's searching for you, searching for you. Notice how it puts it. I think it's so beautiful. He says He goes after that which is lost.
How long does he go after it? Until midnight? Doesn't say such thing. Such a thing. How long he goes after it? Until he finds it. Let me tell you, friend, of how long the Lord Jesus had to go to find his lost sheep. It was an awful journey. The Lord Jesus was God's son.
Ever in the bosom of the Father, but he was sent into this world to be.
The savior of the world.
And.
He came during his 33 1/2 years of his life. Here he manifested ever the love of God.
Especially during his 3 1/2 years of public ministry, he showed the love of God on every side, healing the sick.
Giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, and preaching the gospel to the poor.
The end of those 33 1/2 years, he went up to Jerusalem. It was his last time to go up to Jerusalem, and when he was there he was betrayed by one of his own apostles.
And taken before.
The religious council first of all and condemned.
And then taken before the political authorities of that day, Pontius Pilate.
And condemned to death, his innocence was evident.
But to please the people.
Think of our friends to please the people. Pilate allowed them to take the Christ of God and to condemn him to the death of a cross. And they took Jesus outside that city. The soldiers took him, they beat him. Pilate scourged him. It says His face was so marred more than any man's.
They hit him in the face with their fists. They beat a crown of thorns into his head. That's how far the Good Shepherd went.
To save his lost sheep. And yet farther he went. To that cross they nailed his hands and feet. To that cross they hung him up there, they jeered him.
They mocked him. Those religious leaders who were to defend the innocent were the ones who passed before him, mocking him, jeering him.
They said if he be the Son of God, that God deliver him and we will believe on him.
Did God deliver him?
No answer there, he says. Reproach is broken my heart, and I'm full of pity. And there is none to take pity. None.
That's how far he went. And yet further, after three hours of that mistreatment from the hands of men, God clothed the earth with darkness. And in three awful, awful hours of darkness.
Something happened that never has taken place ever before or ever since.
Isaiah the prophet says it so clearly.
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed all. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. According to that prophecy. We know that during those awful hours of darkness.
God took the Lord of my sins and laid them on Jesus.
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That holy spotless Lamb of God took.
My sins and God poured out upon him the fury of His judgment that I deserved to bear.
In eternal hell, he bore it all before he died, he said. It is finished. Every ounce of judgment that was against me as a guilty Sinner, Gone, gone, gone forever.
And Jesus bowed his head in time.
Soldier came up with a spear and opened that blessed side and out poor blood.
And water. The price was paid in full by the blood of Jesus.
That's how far the shepherd went to find his sheep, my friend.
Nanny's searching for you tonight. Are you going to keep running away from him? Is that the way you are? Let me tell you, he's going to keep searching for you. That's the kind of God we're talking about.
He's not just interested in having the 99, he wants that one. Wherever you are sitting tonight in the audience, he wants you to be saved.
Second part of this parable is about a woman.
And she has 10 pieces of silver. She is in a house. And when she loses one of those pieces of silver.
She lights a candle and sweeps the house.
And seeks diligently until she finds it. This to me, is very solemn. We're talking about a house.
And there is such a thing as called.
The great House of professing Christendom, that is.
All those who profess to know, even if it isn't in a mere outward sense, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Did you know that in this House there are people who are lost?
Lost in the house?
Yes, you say you're a Christian. That means nothing. You say you're baptized. That means nothing in relation to your soul's salvation. You say you break breath.
That means nothing if you're not saved.
Lost in the house, I fear that there are too many here.
Who are lost in the house?
Plus.
The Spirit of God is present tonight. You know where you are.
I don't have to point my finger at you individually.
Spirit of God is pointing his finger to you. You know where you stand if you're lost in the house. My friend, I want to tell you, the Spirit of God is searching for you. She lit a candle. We have the precious light of Scripture open before us. We have the full revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The light is shining.
Spirit of God is searching diligently.
That's the kind of God we have. She didn't say, well, I just still have nine pieces. That's enough. 90% is enough. No kind of God we have is not satisfied that way. He's interested in saving your soul wherever you are tonight. He's interested in it. But notice when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors.
And says, Rejoice with me, for I found my peace, which which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you, There is joy. Notice the way it puts It doesn't say there is joy amongst the angels. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God.
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Whose joy are we talking about?
God's joy Oh how God rejoices 11 Sinner repents.
Was that word repent me?
I suppose we've talked about it before, but I think it's important to understand it comes the word pandas from a root word that means to think.
Repent means to rethink, to change your thoughts, to have different thoughts than what you have right now. I don't know what you think of God.
But people think that God is as severe and austere man.
That's their thoughts. Many times God just wants to kill us. Having any good time?
That's people's thoughts of God. I want to tell you, if that's the thoughts you have of God, repent. That's not the kind of God the Bible talks about. Kind of God that Bible talks about is a God that rejoices in blessing, a repentance soul. That's the kind of God we're talking about.
So we have the Lord Jesus figured in this man first of all, then the Spirit of God.
Searching as well for the lost and then the last part of this chapter.
I like to call it the story not merely of the prodigal son, The story of two prodigal sons.
One that repented and another that thought he was good enough. And as far as we know, no repentance is ever recorded of him.
I don't know where you stand in relation to these two categories.
But let's speak a little bit about these two sons that the father had.
One the younger says Father give me.
The portion of goods that falleth to me.
Isn't God good?
He just keeps right on a given.
I can't imagine how good he is to this country.
Giving crops like he does in such abundance, tremendous crops.
Living down in Bolivia.
Pitiful, the crops that sometimes they have to put up with.
Remember being down there and visiting one home.
And they had a bowl on the table.
Of potatoes the size of peas.
They had to get that minute to make things, make a go of things. They had a good crop of quinoa. That's a small grain on the altar, Plano, this last year, thank the Lord, but this year doesn't look like it's going to be a very good crop. Maybe they'll get a good crop one in four years.
But in this country, I just marvel as much as this country has turned away from God, God keeps right on a giving and a giving and giving abundantly. I marvel at you young people sometimes, the tremendous facilities that you have, the intelligence, the strength, the energy. I wish I had half the energy, some young people.
What are you doing with it? The Father divided to him His living. Oh, how he gives, and he just keeps right on a giving. He gives his reign to the just and to the unjust. That's the kind of God he is. He's a giving God. He's not a God that's requiring that you give something to him.
Sometimes people have that idea.
Because preachers preach.
To give to them so much that people have the idea that that must be kind of the kind of God they have.
The God that needs some money. Is that the kind of God you think God is? I want to tell you the God that we're talking about here is the God that gives and gives and gives again. That's the kind of God we're talking about. He gave this Son his living. I don't know if I would have been that way, but that's the way God is.
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And not many days after, the young younger son gathered all together.
And took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Get as far away from God as possible. That's what people like to do.
Any thought of God is a restraint on their sinful desires. Get a fall as far away as possible from it. Get out of here. Let's leave every restraint behind.
That was his thought.
You know, as long as you got money in your pocket, you'll have a plenty of friends. When the money runs out, your friends are going to run out pretty fast too. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land.
Oh, thank God for the famine that he brings into the lives of people who are running away from God.
Says in Psalm chapter 90 he brings man to destruction, and says, return ye children of men.
God, if He has allowed some catastrophe in your life, it's because He wants you to return to Him.
That's the kind of God he is. He doesn't want to ruin you. He wants to fill you with blessing. He wants to give. He wants to continue to give.
But you and I have a nature that loves sin, a nature that is at enmity with God.
By nature, every child of Adam has that tendency. Enemy of God, naturally speaking, cannot please God. And so we run from God.
And so.
God allowed.
This mighty famine that arose.
And this poor man's life, there he is.
Hungry, he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country.
And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
You know you're going to have to work for your money. It's tough business in the world today. If you don't have any money, you're going to have to really slave it out. And that's what this poor fellow found out.
Neath would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. There is plenty of food for the pigs. There is no food for him.
Poor fellow.
He wanted to even eat that pig food.
Sometimes in South America.
I see lines of people.
Lined up to go into the theater to eat pig food.
That's what it is.
Pig food.
I've stood outside sometimes and watched him come out to see if there's people that look satisfied after having been in there eaten pig food.
Don't see very many satisfied people coming out of there. It won't satisfy you, it'll just make your hunger that much worse.
And he says here in verse 17, I want you to notice this carefully.
When he came to himself.
Isn't this wonderful? Here's a change. He's still sitting there with the pigs, but there's a change. Here's what repentance is. He's changing his thoughts now. He's not thinking and going farther away from his father, getting as far away from his father as he possibly can.
Rather, he's thinking other thoughts, new thoughts.
He says how many higher servants in the in my father's in the of my father's have bread and enough despair and I perish with mine I will arise. There's been a change in his thinking.
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Oh, how we long to see in the lives of some who are running away from God this change in your thinking.
Running away from God. Here's a man.
Who is repented?
And then it says in verse 20 he arose.
That's conversion turning back to God.
And came to his father.
You know, he made-up a little prayer that he was going to say when he got home.
Verse 18 I will arise and go to my Father, and will stand to him. Father, I sinned against heaven, and before thee, and him no more worthy to be called thy Son, make me as one of thy hired servants.
Here he comes home with his prayer, ready to say to his father, and he gets close enough to where the father sees him.
Father runs, falls on his neck and embraces him and kisses him.
Oh, how God wants you to come back. How it longs for you to come back. That's the kind of God you have. That's the kind of God I have. He longs for. You say I've made such a mess of things. I don't dare come back now. It would be cheap to come back now. I say come back anyhow, Fred.
He is waiting for you. He longs to have you. He's just waiting for you to come.
Right there where you're sitting, turn back to God in your heart. He will embrace you. He will kiss you.
That's the first thing the sun comes out with his little prayer. Notice it in verse 421. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight in them no more worthy to be called thy Son.
You forgot about the last part.
You know you get to know God.
You're going to find out.
That he's not needing more servants. He's got millions of angels to serve him. What he wants is sons in his house to share his thoughts, his mind. That's what he wants. He doesn't need any more angels. He doesn't need any more servants. He's got millions to serve. Oh, it's a privilege to serve him in any measure that you and I can. But I say.
He doesn't need any more servants. He wants sons. That's what he's looking for. Come back to him tonight. And then there are four additional things. There's five things that the prodigal son received when he came home. First, the father's kiss.
Secondly, the Father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.
There he was in those filthy clothes.
That he'd been wearing when he was feeding the pigs.
You know when you're with pigs how you smell when you come away.
Couldn't go into the father's house in that condition.
Absolutely not. You cannot go into the Father's house with those sins on you. No way.
Impossible.
There has to be a change in force.
There has to be a glance. There is nothing that can bring you into the favor of God. There is nothing that can cleanse like that Precious, precious blood of Jesus cleanses from every stain of sin. But this best robe is the righteousness of God in Christ that God himself puts on the repentance Sinner that.
That's what it is. There was.
A prodigal son who was a religious zealot in the third chapter. Philippians.
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Who had a righteousness that was to be coveted? He said. As to the righteousness which is of the law, I was blameless. Pretty good Paul, pretty good Saul, good Saul of Darcy's at the time. But he says.
When he saw what he could have by faith in Christ, he said he counted all that. But done.
That I might be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God. By faith, that's what God clothes the repentance Sinner with you, and I can go directly into the Father's house.
Because we are clothed with God's own righteousness, which is by faith in Christ Jesus, that road of righteousness.
Second thing put a ring on his hand, the sign that he belonged. Oh, how many people in this world long to be long?
Young persons want to belong to a group.
Of young people.
Everybody likes to belong.
When you come to God, you're going to have a seal put on you that you belong to God.
The Spirit of God is the seal that He gives to the believer in the Lord Jesus.
Third thing or the fourth thing?
Shoes on his feet.
A lot of people have said to me, sometimes, you know why I don't come become a Christian. I don't think I could walk the Christian life. I said, do you want to know something? I never have been able to walk the Christian life. It's not a question of my capacity. It's God that has given me the capacity. He's given me a new life that wants to walk the Christian life.
So don't stay away for that vain reason.
And then the fifth thing is spring. Hit her the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. There's death here.
There was death that you and I could rejoice in. The presence of God was the death of God's own Son and all the feast of joy that awaits you when you simply repent and turn again.
To that Father, that of which they began to be merry, it says never talks about them. And this is a feast that begins here on earth and will continue for all eternity. Oh, the joy you can experience if you simply come in repentance to repentance to God. There's this other.
Prodigal son. He's prodigal too. He never got off in the messy life his brother did.
He lived close to home, he said. I never disobeyed your command.
But the father besought him to go in, and he would not. What did he want? He wanted a kid so he could make Mary. Not with his father, but with his friends. He was just as bad as that other son.
Who went a long ways off and celebrated with his friends.
This sun didn't go that far off, but he didn't want his father at his party. He wanted his friends excluding his father.
That's the way you are, my friend. If you think you're good enough, you're excluding God from your plans. And I ask you to repent too, if that's the case, to change your thoughts, to turn around, to come to this Father that is waiting for you. Oh, my friend, what a God We have a God that's interested in the 1%.
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That is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. One more word before we close.
You cannot escape doing with God.
You must come sooner or later.
Face to face with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you refuse to have to do with Him as Savior, you will have to meet Him as your judge. He will sit on that great white throne.
That day, that final judgment day when there will be no mercy.
And you will have to bear your sins forever in the lake of fire in that place. The Lord Jesus said that worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.
You cannot escape. I plead with all my heart, together with every other true believer who's present here, if you have not come to Jesus.
Right where you're sitting, you know where you are.
Open your heart.
Turn back to God.
Repent of your thoughts.
And come to Jesus tonight.
Let's just pray.
Gracious God our Father, so thankful for.
The way thou hast revealed thyself. Oh, what a God thou art, gracious Father.
Oh, how wonderful to know thee Father. There must be some out here in the audience.
Still don't know me.
We plead for them.
That right now, where they're sitting, they might be convicted and brought to Jesus.
In simplicity of faith, we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.