In his sermon at Burnet Bible Church, Pastor Steve Hopkins discusses the parable of the sower and the importance of private prayer. He emphasizes how the Word of God can be choked out by the cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, and lusts, urging believers to self-examine if their spiritual life is being hindered by these factors. Pastor Hopkins highlights the destructive impact of lust, particularly internet and media-related lust, on young people's spiritual lives, and stresses the importance of setting boundaries to prevent it. He asserts that true believers cannot stay away from the Bible for long and calls for a return to regular Bible reading and prayer. The sermon further explores the significance of private prayer, stating that God rewards those who pray in secret. Pastor Hopkins encourages believers to have a 'when you pray' mindset rather than 'if you pray,' assuring them that God will reward their private prayers openly. The message concludes with a call for the church to become a praying church, emphasizing the transformative power of prayer in personal lives, families, and the broader community.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. This week, Pastor Hopkins will turn his attention to the parable of the sower and the Lord's Prayer. His sermon is entitled, The Word Choked by Lust and Secret Prayer rewarded by God. Good morning, barely, but good morning once again. We're going to be taking a break from our exposition of the book of Romans this morning.

Not something we do very often, but if you would turn with me first in your Bibles to the book of Mark. We're going to be going through Mark chapter 4 verses 1 through 19. I'm just going to read through those. We won't stand and read through these, so I'll just read them myself. And then actually the message today is going to be on Matthew 6, 5 through 9, but this is about a 10-minute pre-message message, something that I shared with my family this past week in our family time at the supper table that I wanted to share with the congregation today.

So before we look at praying the Lord's Prayer in the first of a kind of a mini-series on Praying the Lord's Prayer, which will be a pre-message message in the coming weeks before our exposition of Romans chapter 5. This morning I want to share something, as I said, that I shared with my family this past week on the Word of God and how the Word of God is many times removed from our lives and something else enters in. You know, I've been encouraging my family and I've been encouraging the church that if any are not reading the Word of God every morning, and if any are not praying every morning and hopefully every morning and every evening, if any have gotten away from that or If any have gotten away from that or if any have gotten away from that daily scheduled times of prayer and Bible reading, I've been praying that there would be and encouraging that there might be a turnaround in your life. And I read the parable of the sower to my family at the supper table this past week of the sower, you know, that went out to sow seed and I focused on one part of that parable and I want to focus on one part of that this morning Which is going to be this afternoon and I want to read through this first to hopefully have that impact, but just focus on this portion as we come up to verse 19 and how the Word is choked out.

How the word is choked out. Just ask yourself, has anything choked out the word in my life? And I understand here, and I want everybody to understand here that The word being choked out here, we're talking about in this parable, the difference between people who are converted and people who are not converted, I understand that. But it starts somewhere, okay? The word of God being choked out in your life begins somewhere.

It starts somewhere in the life of every person who has the weeds kind of things in this life choking out the Word in their life. So I'll begin reading, you can follow along with me, in Mark chapter 4 beginning with verse 1, and we'll just remain seated here as I read. And he began, this is Jesus, and he began again to teach by the seaside. And there was gathered unto him a great multitude so that he entered into a ship and Sat in the sea and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land And he taught them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine Harken Behold there went out a sower to sow, and it came to pass as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up, and some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth But when the Sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root it withered away and some fell Among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it And it yielded no fruit some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth some thirty and some sixty and some a hundred. And he said unto them, He that has ears to hear, let him hear. This is what Colton was talking about earlier. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

Some have ears to hear and some do not have ears to hear. Do you understand what I'm saying? Please listen to me everyone. Some of you have ears to hear and some do not have ears to hear. Some have ears to hear and some do not have ears to hear.

And when he was alone, some are taking this in, drinking it in spiritually, and they have ears to hear, they have eyes to see. God has given you ears to hear and eyes to see, and some are just sitting here going whatever. And it's going in one ear and out the other, and it's just parables. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know. Unto some of you it's given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, you're outside the kingdom of God, all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and not perceive.

Do you Understand the terror of the words right here? Are you listening? Is everyone grasping this? The terror of these words and seeing they may see and not perceive, not get it, not grasp it, and that hearing they may hear and not understand. Are you one of those that right now is seeing but you're not perceiving it, you're not really getting it, you're hearing but you just don't understand any of these things, lest at any time they should be converted, less that any time you should hear these things, understand these things, and be converted, be saved.

Instead, you hear these things and you're not saved. They don't have any impact on you. They don't pierce your heart. You don't get it and you don't care. And their sins are not forgiven them." You see the terror of the words that Jesus is speaking here in the eternal ramifications of it?

And He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? What about you? He's saying. Do you not understand? And how then will you know all parables?

These that be by the wayside where the word is sown are they that when they have heard, Satan comes immediately and he takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on the stony ground, and when they have heard the word immediately they receive it with gladness, and they have no root in themselves, and so they endure but for a time. And afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sewn among the thorns, and this is where we're going today. These are those that are sewn among the thorns, such as hear the word and the cares of this world, number one, and the deceitfulness of riches and lust Of other things enter in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful and It's the last verse 19 that I focused on with my family this past week.

I wonder, I said, has the Word been sown among thorns in your life? Has the Word been sown among thorns in your life? Has the Word of God been choked out of your life? Has it been choked out of your life? I'll ask you the same thing this morning.

Has the Word of God been choked out of your life? Has it been choked out of your life? I'll ask you the same thing this morning. Has the Word of God been choked out of your life? These things we see here, there's three of them here, that choke the Word.

There's the cares of this world, And it doesn't even say evil cares. It could even be good cares of this world that just overtake and choke the word out of your life. The deceitfulness of riches that's making money and then lust. And with my family I was coming from the standpoint of, if you're not in the Word of God, okay, when you once were maybe, what choked the Word of God out of your life? Because for something to go out, typically something else has got to come in to choke it out Okay, the Word of God something comes in and the Word of God goes out Something has to come in for something else to go out.

Something else has to come up for something to choke it out. Why are you not in the Word of God anymore? Why are you not in the Word of God anymore? Did the cares of this world, maybe even good cares, enter in? Something entered in.

Maybe the pursuit of making money took over your time in the word. And I know, again, that text is dealing here with converted and unconverted people, with people who once displayed some interest in the Word of God, but at some point in their life other things entered in like thorns. It choked out the Word. I understand that. But again, it started somewhere.

It started somewhere. Somewhere it started, and little by little, incrementally, it choked out the Word. And the Word went out when the other things came in. Maybe there was a time when you read your Bible and it had an effect on your soul, but at some point you began to set it aside because incrementally something else came in and took its place. Cares of this world, maybe?

Is that you? Cares of this world? Or the pursuit of making money. Maybe that's you. Or that third one, that third devastating one, maybe lust, typically more with young people.

And that's the third one that I want to focus with mainly this morning, and I'm going to focus with, and I focused with my family. I dealt with mainly with my family this past week. Okay? Why? Primarily because it's the primary means of the destruction of the souls of so many young people in our culture today.

It is the destruction of so many souls of young people in our culture today that you can't even keep up with the body count in the churches of America. You can't even keep up with the body count. The spiritual corpses are just strewn everywhere. You can't even keep up with the body count. The spiritual corpses are just strewn everywhere.

You can't even keep up with it. Now I want to talk about lust entering in. Maybe internet lust, okay? Pictures, videos, yeah, even stuff that some people think, oh that's not a big deal, I'm not talking about pornography, I'm talking about lust entering in. It Doesn't even have to be what people call pornography.

You're already into pornography. You're already over the hill. You're already finished. Very few people ever go to pornography and ever get back out. Some do, And if you're there, I hope that you get out and God rescues you and you can and you can come to me in private And I can help with it Okay, very few ever get out of once they're there once they're into pornography.

They're out there almost never get out But I'm talking about I'm talking about country music videos rap videos that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Instagram, I'm talking about TikTok, I'm talking about surfing the internet, that's what I'm talking about, okay? All this stuff, it's all the same. Whatever it means, it doesn't matter. The devil has a thousand avenues to enslave men and women to lust.

But lust comes in, and it comes in, and the Bible went out. The Bible goes out. And you know it. And you know it. And I want to focus on that third one primarily.

Now in the Hopkins household, and I can tell you how to do this if your parents and You want to know how to do this, but in our house, our children are not given open access to the Internet. We use what they call whitelist and lockdowns. You can only do it with iPhone, you can't do it with the others. But you can do whitelist and you can do lockdowns, app lockdowns and everything gives the codes to mama and she can monitor everybody and know everything that's going on and you can use program that takes captures of screen, anything on the screen and sends it directly to mama right when it happens. Total X, someone's looking over your shoulder every single minute of the day me too.

Okay, she gets mine, too. Okay But none of these until they're like 19 or 20 and even then their internet activity is monitored electronically But I know Stuff can still get through and of course if someone is dead set on going to hell they can find a way to pursue their lust and they can get there. They can get to hell if they want to. You can go to hell if you want to. You can get to hell if you want to by the means of your lusts.

Someone can get around, you can have all these things for your kids You can have it all set up for your family members or whatever and they can go to hell if they want to They can make Satan their Lord if they want to make Satan their Lord Okay, But if that's your case, I fear for your soul. Because as I said before, few ever return again who go down the path of lust. And one of the telltale signs is they begin to look and to act different. Many times they begin to take on a new identity that models their lust. You start to see a different person, they start to act different, they start to act differently.

You see little signs, they just begin to act a little different. The husband begins to act different. The children begin to just kind of act different. They just begin to act differently. The way they act with you, the way they act around you, the way they begin to look and act and even dress like the people that they're looking at in the music videos that they're watching.

They take on new identities and they're just gone, their heart is gone and they deceive themselves and they flatter themselves but lust has entered in and in church their eyes begin to wonder when the preacher is preaching. Their eyes just begin to wonder why because there's no more conviction when the word is being preached and now Church is just boring. They can't wait to get out and get somewhere else. They're usually still looking at their iPhones even when they're in church. Church is now boring.

Satan is Lord of their life and they will permit no competition. If that's you, I plead with you to repent and believe the gospel. And get off the highway to hell. Find a place to get alone with God and repent. Or determined to stay on the present course and perish.

If that's you, your GPS is set for eternal destruction. Set a new course. Lust entered in, it choked the Word of God. You're not in the Word of God. You're not in the Word of God.

Lust entered in and you're on a new course. You're on a new course. And the Word of God was choked out and revealed that you were never truly saved. You see, because that's what the passage is dealing with, the truly converted and truly unconverted. And I'm not saying here, If you got away from your Bible reading for a time, you're on your way to hell.

That's not what I'm saying. I've gotten away from my Bible reading for a time. Many of us get away from our Bible reading for a time. We've got to get back on the path. Got away from your Bible reading for a time.

But a true believer can't stay away from the Bible long. Right? We have a longing to be in the word of God. We have a longing to be in prayer. The true believer will hear a message like this and choke out the things that are distracting him from the word rather than permit the word to be choked out by distractions like the cares of the world or the pursuit of money or God forbid any lust in it again and all by God's grace but the unbeliever will give up Bible reading the unbeliever will give it up and he'll give a private prayer he'll give up getting alone with God and he will leave this place today and keep getting alone with his iPhone and his lust and eventually go all the way down all the way down as I said before one of the early signs warning signs is that the things of God will become a bore or a chore to him.

He can't wait till church is over and a sermon like this is over so he can go back to the world with his arms wide open to embrace the devil's kingdom and the less of this world. Remember this as I close on this portion. Jesus told the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil. And what did he say next? Who remembers?

He told the Pharisees, he told them, they were church-going people. They were still sitting in church. He said, you're of your father the devil, and the lust of your Father you will do. So, in effect, every one of us has already chosen our Father, haven't we? Right now, every person in this room is either embracing their Father in Heaven and saying, Dear God, I'll have nothing to do with the lust of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, or they're rejecting everything I've said, and they've already made the conscious decision and determination to go on in the pursuit of the lust of their father Satan.

Everyone has. And I'll just be as direct as I can be. And remember, in this parable before us, only the last one in the parable that Jesus spoke of, only the seed that fell in the good ground and yielded fruit depicts a saved person. All the rest, All those above are all headed for hell. Every single one of them.

Every one of the other seeds are all headed for hell. Only the last one that's sown on good ground, it's headed for heaven. Should be sobering to every one of us. Don't curse the darkness, light a candle. Whatsoever things are pure.

What should we be thinking on? Philippians 4.8. What's whatever things are pure? What's whatever things are true? What's whatever things are honest?

What's whatever things are just? What's whatever things are pure? What's whatever things are lovely? What's whatever things are a good report? There be any virtue?

If there be any praise, think on these things. You want some good movies, good music, good things to think on, you can't find me in the world, come ask me sometime. I can give you lists and lists of some good stuff to think on. Now if you would turn with me in Matthew chapter, That's a pre-message message. I know we're going a long time today.

Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 through 9. And this time I will ask you to stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord. We're not going to go through all the way verse 9 because I've gone so long in my pre-message message. We'll just go through, oh, probably verse 7 or 8. Matthew chapter 6 verse 5 through 9.

We've been talking about prayer, and I want to talk about praying the Lord's Prayer and this is going to be very encouraging. Just a snippet here on praying the Lord's Prayer. Matthew six, verses five through nine, if you would read aloud with you the word of the Lord and When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of The streets that they may be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their reward But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Lord, we do thank you for your word.

We ask the Lord that you would continue to speak to us by your word, oh God, and impress these things upon us by your spirit. For we ask it in the name of your son Jesus, amen. Let's be seated. So again, I've been encouraging the congregation to a life of prayer. Those who have never had a prayer life and those who have maybe gotten off track and left off scheduled daily prayer time.

But I wanna come from a different angle this afternoon, not from the angle of, hey, I'm your pastor, I really want you to have a prayer life, but from the standpoint of Jesus saying, when you pray. Look at this, because what we just read in verses 5, 6, and 7, look what he says right here, when you pray, or in the King James Version, when thou prayest, verse 5, verse 6, when thou prayest, verse 7, when you pray, Jesus isn't making a suggestion here, is He? Look what He's saying here. He's not making a suggestion. Jesus doesn't say here, listen brothers, if you pray, then, you know, let me make some suggestions here.

You know, He's saying, When you pray. Do you see that? When you pray. When you pray. Jesus is assuming a prayer life amongst His followers.

Not an if you pray prayer life, but a when you pray prayer life. Everybody got that? Not an if you pray prayer life. So if you pray, you know, if you decide to pray, you know, here's what I want you to consider. No, it's when you pray.

When you pray. And then he tells his disciples first How not to pray. Don't pray like this. Don't pray like the heathen. Don't pray to be seen by men.

Don't pray to be seen by others. There's a tendency to do that, isn't there? There's this tendency to, well, I'm going to pray, you know, when there's public prayer, and we're supposed to pray publicly also. We have that example and instruction in scripture To pray for the ears of others. Well prayers not to be between you and other people prayers between you and God Don't pray when you're praying publicly in the corporate prayer times of the church for the ears of those who are praying with you, but for God.

Again, there's examples throughout the Old Testament, New Testament of corporate prayer where the people of God are gathered for prayer. Don't pray in those times to be heard by those present. Pray to be heard by God. Everybody got that? Ministers, ministers are guilty of this a lot, alright?

Ministers who pray should be careful to be representing the people and their prayers before God, not preaching under the guise of praying, right? Sometimes we do that. We start preaching under the guise of praying. Sometimes we do that, we start preaching under the guise of praying. That's not what we're supposed to be doing.

And then Jesus says, don't use the Lord's Prayer or any other prayer as a recitation. We don't do that, that's what the heathen do. Don't just pray the words. You have memorized and repeat them, thinking God's impressed, God's really impressed because I memorized some words and now I'm repeating those over and over again. That's what the heathen do.

Even to this day, that's what the heathen do. That's what the heathen do. The Christian is to pray with understanding. So we look at the Lord's Prayer, we look at the elements in the Lord's Prayer and we pray with understanding. When we pray the words of the Lord's Prayer, we're to pray with understanding and understand the words as a model.

It's a model for prayer and a manner in which we're to pray. And each petition in the Lord's Prayer is to be looked at as an element of prayer that's acceptable to God, that's pleasing to Him, and it's beneficial for us. And then Jesus deals specifically with private prayer. And there's something here that I think is overlooked, and this is what I'm going to deal with mainly in this message. There's something here that I think is overlooked, and this is what I'm going to deal with mainly in this message.

There's something here that I think is overlooked by Christians to a great degree in our time. Y'all ready? Here it is. Here's the message. Here's the message on prayer today.

There is a reward for private prayer. Got it? Do you see it? When you pray, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, that's the secret place, and when thou hast shut thy door, when you got into a place where you're alone with God, pray to thy father, which is in secret, that is, your father who hears you in secret, and your father which seeth in secret, he sees what you're doing privately, here's what you're doing with him privately, shall reward thee openly." Anyone ever heard of a message where the pastor or the preacher focused on, shall reward thee openly? Don't think, as many are tempted to think, well, what's the use in me getting alone with God?

Think again. I want us to drink this in. There is a reward for getting alone with God in private prayer. Look what he says here. Pray to your Father in a secluded place, here's my paraphrase, and your Father who takes note of what you're doing and your Father who hears what you're praying outside of the ears of others will reward you openly.

He shall reward you. Amen? Sounds alright to me. He will reward thee. God will reward you.

Wow, he sounded like a charismatic. He will reward you. If you are taking notes this morning, please write down these words. God shall reward you openly. Okay?

There's no getting around it. You can't get around the fact that If you engage in private prayer with God your Father, that He will reward you openly. You can't get around it. You're not going to be able to escape it. You're not going to be able to escape the reward of God.

How about that? That's a blessing. And of course, the opposite is also true. If you don't, He won't. If you don't, He won't.

Opposite is also true. Don't expect things to change in your life. Don't expect things to change in your marriage. Don't expect things to change in your family life. Don't expect things to change in your marriage.

Don't expect things to change in your family life. Don't expect things to change in your workplace if you're not spending time alone with God in prayer. Got it? We think, oh, things are going to change. You know, things are going to be alright.

Things are going to get better. You know, you don't do anything different. Who wasn't once said that? You don't do anything different. Things are never going to be any different.

Alright? Don't expect things to change in your life, in your marriage, in your family life, in your workplace, if you're not spending time alone with God in prayer. But do expect things to change in your life. Do expect things to change in your marriage. Do expect things to change in your family life, in your workplace, and in all the world, in all the world, in our community, if you are, you have God's promise on it.

You know, I was preaching the wedding message yesterday, and I got to one point in the message and I was saying, I was giving this, how many were there? How many heard the part where I was talking about the music video where the couple is arguing? Anybody hear that part? So there's this couple in this music video. It was an old country music video.

And there's this couple that's arguing. They have a child that's watching and the child is crying. And the child is just distraught because the parents are arguing. And the parents are basically fighting, you know, they're back and forth, They're raising their voice at each other. They're pointing each other.

They're all right. It's awful. It's awful and I'll just go through the video real quick and then I'll go back to what I said and and and what I was shocked at by the response and in this in this video it cuts to a scene of 50 years later and this same couple are now still together 50 years later and the husband is spoon feeding his wife on her dying bed and love had conquered all. And it was just a blessed scene. They had overcome.

They'd overcome. They'd overcome. But the thing that shocked me was that when I said to the those that were assembled there, I said, and this couple was arguing. And I said, Can you imagine that? Could you imagine a Christian couple arguing and 123 people in the congregation laughed as though that were a funny thing.

They laughed like, of course, we all argue, don't we? No. It's something that should never take place in a Christian marriage Because we are to be modeling Christ in his church And there should never be arguments going on in Christian households ever ever ever And and and I've had people say to me, but, but, but, but, but, but there's no buts. Okay? There's no buts.

When there is a modeling, you are to model Christ in his church. Man, you are Christ. You are Christ modeling Christ to your wife. You're in the position of Christ to your wife. And wife, you are modeling the church to the world and modeling the church to Christ in your marriage.

There is no place at all for arguing. And if you say, well, I don't understand that. I can't understand that. I can't comprehend that. And I don't agree with you.

And I think there should be a place for arguing in marriage. Come sit down with me sometime and I'll better instruct you in the Word of God on it and show you that no, this is not something that should ever be. Now, is this something that can be? Yes, it can be. And there needs to be repentance.

And there needs to be a change of heart. There needs to be repentance and it needs to stop. And it needs to stop. And if it happens again, then it needs to be repented of it needs to be repented of, but there should be no arguing ever in Christian marriage, because you're modeling Christ and his church. And when you move away from modeling Christ and his church, you need to repent.

And what a blessed thing it is, right to move more towards modeling Christ and his church right? What a blessed thing. I didn't expect to go there but we went there so where are we here? But if you expect things to change in your life, your marriage, your family life, your workplace, if you're not spending time alone with God in prayer then you're not going to be able to expect things to change. But do expect things to change in your life, your marriage, and your workplace, and all the world if you are.

You have God's promise on it. How's your prayer life? Do you want to see God reward you openly? That is, do you want to see God answer prayers? Then pray and pray to him in secret.

Get alone with God. God keeps His promises. James 5.16 says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Do you believe the Word of God? I do.

I believe the Word of God. If we pray, we can expect to be rewarded. It's exciting. Isn't that exciting? If we believe the Word of God, we can expect to be rewarded, and that's exciting.

Now again, if anyone says, you know, hey, he's starting to wax charismatic on me, He's saying that we get everything we ask for. No, it doesn't mean name it, claim it. It doesn't mean that we command God or any such nonsense as we see coming out of the Word of Faith. No, we're not rewarded in the sense of debt. Okay?

The only thing God owes us, right, is for our son dead as hell, right? No, God doesn't owe us anything we ask for. But he deals with his people of his free grace, and he answers his people in accord with his perfect will, and he rewards us with that which is best for us in our situation, and he knows what that is. He knows what that is. He knows what is best for us in every situation of life.

But again, if we don't pray, what can we expect? We need to be in prayer. In Luke 18.1, we hear Jesus encouraging his disciples that men ought always to pray and not to faint. That is, we are not to grow weary if at first our prayer seemed to not be answered in the affirmative and it's an admonition to keep on praying and keep on praying and keep on praying and we're to pray in faith, right? Hebrews 11.16 says, without faith it is impossible to please God.

Pray in faith, pray in faith and pray believing and keep praying and keep praying and keep praying. Pray for those unsaved children in your family and keep praying for them and pray in faith. Pray for those unsaved relatives. Pray for those wayward family members. Pray for your marriages.

Pray for more obedient hearts, for more holy lives. Pray for your families. Pray for your health. Pray for the health of others. And pray expecting God.

Expecting God is going to do what is best for you. And pray in faith. And pray for your needs. Pray for the conquering of besetting sins and lusts. As I said earlier, pray that God will lead you not into temptation, but in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Pray, pray, pray, pray for God's glory in everything. And realize God already knows your needs before we ask. But He wants us to pray. He wants us to pour out our hearts before Him in prayer that he might receive the glory in answering them, and by rewarding our secret prayer openly, publicly, and by increasing our faith thereby. And I'll end with this.

I've been thinking of late, what if every member of Burnet Bible Church was a praying member? You look around, this is a small congregation, but how powerful it could be. We've got a mailing that just went out, what, two days ago. Now, it takes a while because we've got a slow postal system, right? They're not known for being too fast on their feet.

But it could be going out all week this week. It could be going out for three, four, five, six days. We got a mailing going out, gospel mailing going out to 5, 000 people. 5, 000 households are getting a gospel mailing from this little bitty church right here. 5, 000 people.

Pray, pray, pray. Pray that God causes them to, every one of them to get into a household, none of them to be thrown away until they're red, all of them to be spread around in that household, to be passed around. Pray that people take them and take them to their churches and go, hey, let's do the same thing in our church and saturate our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray and expect that God will do a great and wonderful thing, work with it. Pray for the souls of people to be saved and pray that God does a mighty work for the glory of the name of Jesus Christ his son.

Amen. Oh, the Glory that God might receive. If our church becomes a praying church, what God might do in our families, in our marriages, in our church, in our community, in our nation, it's exciting to ponder the possibilities. Oh the glory that God might receive. And don't grow weary and remember to thank God for answered prayers.

Thank him for every prayer answered and every petition fulfilled. He's a great God. He's worthy of all praise and all adoration. Oh that we'd be a praying church from this day forward looking to Christ, looking to Christ always, praising Him and thanking Him, who suffered and died for our sins and rose again the third day. Amen and amen.