I can invite you to take the Word of God, please, and turn with me tonight to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's Gospel in the chapter number 13. Matthew's Gospel in the chapter number 13. We want to begin our reading at the verse number 1, and we'll read down to the verse number 17. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 13. I'm beginning to read the verse number one. And let us hear the word of the Lord. The same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell among stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seen see not. And hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand. And seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax gross. and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desire to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. I trust the Lord will bless the reading of his word to our hearts. I invite you to take your Bible again, please, and turn with me to the same chapter, the Gospel of Matthew, and the chapter number 13. Matthew's Gospel, and the chapter number 13. I want to continue on with our reading from the verse number 18 down to the verse 23. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 13, beginning to read at the verse number 18. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while, for in tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word. By and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. We trust the Lord will bless the reading of his word to our hearts. Let's bow together for a moment's prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the privilege that You've given to us tonight to preach Your Word. We pray, O Lord, that You will carry us along, bear us up, and give us eat and help. We pray that, O Lord, that Thy truth might be preached tonight in the demonstration of the Spirit and of the power of God. We pray, Lord, for an outpouring. We pray, O Lord, for a refreshing tonight. We pray that the hearts of the unbeliever might be challenged. that they might come to Jesus Christ and confess and know him as their own and personal Savior. Lord, speak to us tonight, for we ask these things in thy precious name. Amen. In the work of evangelism, there are various responses that are often given when the gospel is preached. Not everyone who hears the gospel responds positively to its message. But on the contrary, when the gospel is preached, commonly as what we will see, many people reject the gospel message. But that's not really the thing that is strange to us. We know when we go out to preach the gospel, there will be those who will accept, and there will be those who will reject. But what is strange is this, whenever you would have a group of individuals who perhaps grew up in the same family, or they grew up in the same town, or the same environment, and they received the same gospel opportunities, and yet inside that nucleus of people, there will be those who will accept the gospel, and there will be those who will reject. To give an illustration, you could have a family, and in that family you could have, say, four children. Those children are brought up the same family, the same environment, and they're given the same opportunity. So why is it that out of those children, some will accept Jesus Christ as Savior, but others will reject the gospel? In Matthew chapter 13, The Lord Jesus Christ tells us a parable. And the reason why he tells us and his disciples this parable is because he wants to show us how people are going to respond to the gospel message. But not just how people are going to respond, because we know that people will accept or reject, but he goes a step further and he tells us why people respond in such a way. Why people will accept and why people will reject. Now in this parable there's really four major components. The first one is found in verse number two, or verse number three. And it says, went forth to sow. And that's the first component. We have the sower. And the sower we find in verse number 37 of the same chapter. It says there, He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the primary one who sows the gospel seed onto the hearts of men and women. Although it is the preacher, the sower is what will come to see, is the one who will physically do that. He'll physically preach the words. or verbally speak the words. Yet it is the Spirit of Jesus Christ that carries it to the heart. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is the sower. But we are also the sowers. Every single one of us in this meeting tonight has a responsibility to be the sowers of the seed. To go around with gospel tracts or with a gospel message and tell people the gospel of Jesus Christ. So there is the sower. But then secondly, there is the seed. A sower went forth to sow, and he sowed his seed. And over in the corresponding account of this, in Luke chapter 8 and verse 11, it says there, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. And so the sower or the evangelist goes out, and he carries with him the gospel seed. And the seed which he is sowing in the hearts of men and women is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So there's a sower, There's the seed, but then there's the story itself. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he is speaking to this congregation before him, and he tells them the parable of the sower in the form of a parable. Now, a parable had a twofold application. It, first of all, was a means of judgment. A parable was a means of judgment. Because the Lord Jesus Christ in those verses from 10 to 17, we read how He says to His disciples, And He pointed to the congregation, He says, And the reason why Christ spoke in parables was because only the people that He gave the revelation of the parable, or the meaning of the parable to, only them people would know what He was speaking about. But He would withhold the truth from others as a means of judgment. And so, a parable is a means of judgment. But it is also a means of revelation. Some would not understand. And they would not understand the parable simply not because they couldn't find out the truth, but because they didn't want to understand. But to those that did want to know the truth, in this passage primarily his disciples, Christ would give the meaning of the parable. And in telling them the meaning of the parable, it would be to them as a means of revelating truth, of revealing truth to that individual. So we have the sower, we have the seed, and we have the story. But really the focus of this parable tonight, and this whole parable, it's not the sower, it's not the seed, and it's not the story. But the main component or the central focus of this parable is the soil. It's the soil. And this parable has been traditionally known as the parable of the sower. And so that is why oftentimes when it's preached upon or when it's thought about, the emphasis is put on the sower. But really the emphasis of this parable is on the soils. You see the soils here represent the heart of man. The soil is a picture of your heart and of my heart. And the soil represents man's heart. And because of the condition of the soil, The condition of the soil then determines what will happen to the seed. And what the Lord Jesus Christ is showing us tonight is this, that it is the condition of your heart that will produce the response to the gospel seed. If your heart is not prepared tonight, you will reject Jesus Christ. But if your heart is changed and your heart is prepared by the Holy Ghost, you will receive Christ. You know, sometimes the unbeliever will come and they will say, well, I thought about getting saved. I thought about getting right with God. I know I need to be converted, but I'm not getting saved because I don't like the preacher. Or I'm not getting saved because I don't like his message. Or I'm not getting saved because I don't like his style of gospel preaching. And yet I want to remind you tonight. that the reason why you are rejecting Jesus Christ is not because of the preacher who is the sower. It's not because of the message which is the seed. It's not because of a style of preaching which is the story. It's because of the condition of the soil. It's because of the condition of your heart. Tonight I want to focus on the soils. And the four types of soil that we will find tonight. And not just will we find four types of soil, but we will find four outcomes that those four types of soil produce. And as we will go through this, we will see that depending on your condition of your heart tonight, that will produce the response from your heart. I want to first of all look at the hardened soil. Notice with me there in verse number four, verse four, And when he sowed, that's the sower, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Now we need to understand here what is meant when it's speaking about the wayside. The land of Israel was a very agricultural land, and the fields in Israel would have been divided up into rectangular fields. And in order for the sower to get from field one to field two, he would walk along what they had called the wayside. The wayside was a path really about two or three feet wide. and it was uncultivated, it was never ploughed, it was never sown upon, and so it was just bare, hardened soil. And you can imagine in the land of Israel, a place where there's very little moisture in the air, or very little rain, if a farmer or the sower was walking over that wayside time and time and time again, and not just the farmer, but also travellers as well, that soil being compacted down would become as hard as concrete. become like a concrete footpath. The farmers would go into their fields, they would ply up between the wayside, but they would leave the wayside untouched. And so, the farmer would take his bag of seed, he would go out to the field, and he would sow the seed. And as he's standing on the wayside, sowing the seed into the wayside, sometimes some of the seed fell and landed beside him onto the wayside. And the seed would just sit there. It wouldn't go into the soil. It couldn't penetrate it because of the hardness of that soil. And the Lord Jesus Christ, tonight, He gives us this parable as a means of showing us, a means of revealing to us the condition of our heart. And we have the revelation before us. In verse 19, this is what He says. This is the interpretation. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, And understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receives seed by the wayside. Now we have to understand that phrase there, understandeth it not. It's not like they were sitting in a math class and the teacher was doing algebra or long division or long multiplication and they didn't understand. But rather this is speaking about they didn't know what Christ was speaking about. They didn't know what he was meaning, but they didn't want to know. That's why they didn't understand, because they didn't want the truth. They didn't even want to understand it. They didn't want to search for the meaning of the truth. And that's why they do not understand. They become hardened, you see, to the gospel. A person that does not want even to understand the truth is someone that is hardened to the truth. And here, the wayside presents to us a picture of a sinner with a hardened heart. A sinner that is indifferent and unresponsive to the gospel. a sinner that has met the evangelist or the sower time and time again, and the more the sower has walked over their heart and sowed the gospel seed, the more hardened they have become to the gospel. Whenever they perhaps would come into a meeting where they hear the gospel being preached and the seed is sown in their heart, their hearts are that hardened that the seed cannot penetrate. Their heart is that hardened that the gospel has no effect on them. Oh, they hear about hell, they hear about the wrath of God, they hear about judgment that is to come. But it has no effect on them because they're hardened to the gospel. But that's not the only thing that happens to a hardened heart. We also notice there that the fire of the air comes. In verse 19 we are told that the fowl of the air is the wicked one who swips down like the bird and he catcheth away that which was sown in the heart. And just in case Just in case the seed would happen to penetrate through the hardened soil. Just in case there happened to be any chance that the sinner might receive the gospel in spite of their hardness. The devil is always there to make sure that the seed is stolen away. And tonight there is a fight for your heart. Tonight there is a war for your soul. Because as I am preaching the gospel, and perhaps you've heard the gospel time and time and time again. And you've become hardened to the gospel. Be you very sure that the devil is here. And the devil is trying to catch away the seed. He's trying to steal the seed. Now how does the devil steal the seed? He doesn't do it in a mystical sense. By trying to enter into your brain. or into your heart in a mystical way or spiritual way. We've noticed here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, we realize how the devil steals the seed. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, "...in whom the God of this world," that's the devil, "...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 onto them. The devil steals and takes away the seed by blinding the individual to their need of Christ. The devil blinds them with false evidence. How often we have heard people when presented with a gospel, they say, well, I just can't bring myself to trust the Bible. I just can't bring myself to trust Christianity because they've received some false evidence that would make them think otherwise. Or perhaps you'd present the gospel and someone would say, well, what part of Christianity am I to follow? There's the Mormons, there's Jehovah's Witnesses, there's all these other cults. Do I follow them or do I follow you? The devil uses false teachers, the blind individuals, but he also uses the fear of man. What will friends, what will family say? And the devil comes and he steals the seed off the heart of individuals by blinding them to their need of Jesus Christ. Now I wonder tonight, am I describing your heart? Am I describing someone here and over the years you've become hardened? You've become hardened to your need of Christ. You've heard the gospel time and time again, and yet it has no effect. You're unresponsive, indifferent, careless over your soul. But I want to remind you tonight that the problem is not with the sower. The problem is not with the seed. The problem is not with the story. When you arrive at judgment and you confess, I have lived a life of constantly rejecting Christ, you'll not be able to blame anybody else but your own heart. The blame and the guilt will lie on you. You see, it was the hardness of the soil that did not allow the seed to penetrate. And it is the hardness of your heart tonight that is shutting out Jesus Christ. And then we have the second type of soil. Notice with me there in verse number five. And some fell among stony places where they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. Now whenever we think about stony places, so often we can think about what we commonly see in our own farming industry here in Northern Ireland, when the farmer would go out with a plough and he would plough up the field and then it's harrowed down, it's flattened out, what is left? The stones. Stones are often left on top of the soil. And I don't know if any of you have ever had the great job of going out and picking up the stones. It's very, very hard work. But that's not what this parable is actually speaking about. Rather, it's speaking about shallow soil. If you were to go out, as what this text is describing here, if you were to go out to this type of soil, and you were to go down only about a foot into this soil, you would find that you hit a rock bed. It says there that there is no, they had not much earth. It was shallow soil. And the seed would then, the sower would go out, he would sow the seed, the seed would land in this type of soil, and it would begin to grow. But the roots would go down. But because the soil is shallow, the roots would immediately hit the deep, or the rock bed. And because the plant can no longer go down, all of its energy goes into shooting up. And that's what it means there when it says forthwith, they sprung up. Because they couldn't go down, so all the energy went into going up. And they actually grew better, and they grew larger and bigger than all the other plants around about them. And if the farmer was standing at the side of the field, everything looked as if it was going good. But there is a problem. There's not much earth. What happens whenever there's shallow soil? There's no moisture. The plant can't get the moisture from the soil to feed itself. In verse number six, and when the sun was up, they were scorched because they had no root and they withered away. And because the roots could not go down, because there was shallow soil, the plant could not get moisture and it died off in the heat of the hour. You see, shallow soil produces short growth. And the Lord gives us the interpretation of what is meant by that type of soil in verse 20. But he that receiveth the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and in all much joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself, but jereth for a while, for in tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by. He is offended. You see, this shallow soil is a picture of a shallow heart. And I'm sure that every one of us have met a shallow individual. Perhaps they have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. And immediately there's great joy. Oh yes, I want to become a Christian. And they jump onto the bandwagon without any true thought, without any careful consideration, and at the start everything goes well. They spring up as a Christian. They're enthusiastic, they're energetic, they're involved within the work, and everything seems to be going well. But then the sun comes out. What is the sun? for when tribulation or persecution ariseth." The sun here is a picture of persecution and tribulation. And whenever that shallow individual begins to be put under the test for their faith, it shows the shallowness of their heart. What does it say there? By and by, he is offended. He leaves the faith. He forsakes his original decision to follow Christ. And he leaves. You see, what that person possessed was not true religion. What that person possessed was not a true work of God. It was a false convert. It was a shallow response. It was an external show with no internal reality. And I wonder here this evening, is this a picture of your heart? Are you a shallow individual here this evening? I'm not talking about are you shallow in the things that you want, material things or anything like that. Or you're shallow about the way you look. I'm talking about your spiritual heart. Is there a shallowness there? Have you simply come to Christ because you want to be a member of a church? Or you've come to Jesus Christ because you want to be involved and you want to do good in society? And yet you know very well if the pressure was to come on your life, you would forsake the faith, or else you already have. There are those who make those quick and hasty decisions. They just get saved. Maybe a family member or friend gets saved, and they receive the Word as well, but they never truly took up the cross. You see, the true disciple of Jesus Christ takes up the cross, and they follow Christ. The cross, a picture of the hardship. The cross, a picture of the weight and the burden of the Christian life. You see, true commitment to Christ is marked by perseverance, not by profession. Let me say that again. True commitment to Christ is marked by perseverance, not by profession. Tonight I have no interest in whether you have made a profession. Tonight I have no interest in whether you will say I got saved at four or seven. I have no interest in that. Tonight I want to know are you walking with Christ? Are you walking with God? For that, my friend, is the true test of salvation. Not just that you profess to be saved, but that you persevere in your salvation. That you continue on. If you made a profession, but you have failed to persevere, let me say to you that your heart tonight is the shallow soil. It is the shallow soil. But the third type of soil tonight, they're in verse number seven. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them. And here we have a very simple, very simple. Here the sower goes forth to sow. He's standing in the wayside and he takes the seed and he sows the seed onto the soil. And this soil looks very good. Everything looks to be okay. And the seed goes into the soil and it begins to grow, but something grows alongside the soil. The thorn grows. And the thorns will grow quicker. The thorns will grow better because the thorn is in its natural habitat. The thorn is in its natural environment, so it outgrows the seed. And after a while, with these two, the thorns and the seeds growing together, the thorns eventually choke the seed. They strangle it, they break the stalk, that it cannot grow. And the Lord gives us the meaning or the interpretation in verse 22. He says there, He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word. and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. You see, this is a heart that has never been weeded out. This is an individual's heart who has made a profession of faith, but there has never been a change of heart. They've never had their heart changed. They've never been born again. The work of the new birth has never taken place. How do I know that? Because the thorns are still there. The thorns are still there. The thorns here are described as the cares of this world. They still have a love for the world. And it's not just a love that would pull him back, it's an overwhelming love. It's an overruling passion. We as Christians know that the old man is still there, the old flesh is still there, but these thorns were stronger than the seed. The thorn here was a picture of the dominant nature within that soil. It was the love of the world. What does it say in the Scriptures, if any man loved the world? The love of the Father is not in him. It's the cares of the world. But it is also the deceitfulness of riches. Those who have been deceived into thinking that their treasure in this world is vital, cannot do without it. And I wonder, is there someone here tonight, and your heart is full of thorns. Your heart is full of the love of this world. You have taken all the insignificant things of this life and you have made them idols. You know, man is great at taking insignificant things and making them idols. Man takes his car, that which will rust and decay away, and he makes it an idol. A man can take his home, the house that he has built, and although it will crumble and eventually fall and deteriorate away and be outdated, he makes it an idol. A man can take his family, knowing that someday every one of them will leave this world and he will leave this world as well, and yet he makes it an idol. He puts it before God. My friend, are you here tonight and have you idols in your life? In your heart, is there the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches? This soil gives us the example of a false convert. It was someone who made that profession But they never truly were born again. Their soul was never truly changed. And they remained in their sin. And I wonder, is this you here tonight? Is this you here? Oh, your heart is still full of sin. You might be walking the walk and talking the talk and trying to act and live like a Christian in this church, but truly you know you've never been saved. because your heart still belongs to the world. But finally this evening we come to the fourth type of soil. Notice with me there in the verse number eight. But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some 100 fold, some 60 fold, and some 30 fold. Now here we have the good ground. I want you to notice, it's very simple, the good ground brought forth good fruit. None of the other soils, the hardened, the shallow or the thorny soil, none of the other soils brought forth fruit. Why was that? Because they were bad soil. They were bad soil. And it is only the heart of someone who has been supernaturally changed by God, who has been prepared and worked upon by the Holy Ghost, it is only that heart that can produce good fruit. It is only that heart that is the heart that can show the signs of someone who has been born again of the Spirit of God. Now it's important for us to understand that this soil or this heart was not naturally like that. No farmer anywhere has ever went to a country and went up to an open space or field and not had to do anything with it. Any farmer has always had to go to that soil and work the soil, plough the soil, bring out the stones out of the soil, make sure the earth is deep, take out the weeds and the thorns. The soil has to be prepared. And tonight if you would be saved, your heart has to be prepared. Tonight if you would know your sins forgiven and you would enter in, or you want to enter into a relationship with God, you have to have your heart prepared. You can't do it yourself. The Spirit of God has to do it. Only the Lord can change your heart. You see, the soil has been cursed. In Genesis 3, verse 17, we read there how the ground was cursed. But not just was the ground cursed, man also was cursed with sin. And every one of us tonight has the problem of sin. And sin produces the hardness. Sin produces the shallowness. Sin produces all the thorniness of the heart. And you may be asking the question tonight, dear sinner, how can I receive a heart? How can I have a heart that is ready to receive the gospel seed? How can I have a heart that has changed, that has been renewed by the Spirit of God, You simply ask Him. You simply come to the one who can change you. You simply cry out to the Holy Spirit, the great ploughman. And keeping it in the context of this parable, you cry for the Holy Spirit to plough out the hardness, to plough deeply to remove the shallowness, to weed your soul out of the love of this world, to change your heart. And dear sinner, tonight God is able to do it. The Lord is able to change your heart. You know, our hearts would never naturally receive the Word. We need the Holy Spirit to cultivate the heart to make us willing and able to receive the seed. Now notice there is a produce that comes from the good soil. The good soil always produces good fruit. And there is no such thing as someone who claims to be saved and does not produce fruit. There will always be fruit from the life of a Christian. We have those fruits listed for us in Galatians 5 in verse 22. You can go through them in your own time, their love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and so on. But notice as well, there in verse number 23, notice as well the amount of fruit that is produced. But he that receiveth the seed into good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, he understands it because he wants to, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, listen to this, a hundred, sixty, and some thirtyfold. Now in the land of Israel at that time, at the time of Jesus Christ, an amazing harvest to a farmer would have been tenfold. That would have been an unbelievable harvest at that time. But here the Lord Jesus Christ, he goes to the extreme measure, and he goes to the extreme proof, and he says, listen, this soil produced 100 fold. You know, the farmer walking out to that field and seeing 100 fold return of fruit and produce, it would have been undeniable. He would have said, that was good soil. That is good ground. Why? Because I have the fruit to prove it. If you're a farmer here tonight, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You go out to your storehouse and you can see how much you have and you can say, that's good soil. That's good soil. But I wonder, is there someone here tonight and you're deceiving yourself? Because you have no good fruit to show. There's no love of God in your heart. There's no peace of the spirit in your soul. There's no long suffering and dealing with one another as your supposed brother or sister in the Lord. And the problem tonight is if there's no good fruit, there's no good soil. You've never been converted. There will be in a Christian's life clear and visible fruit. No buts, no maybes, not even just for a short time. There will be clear, visible fruit. And tonight, that is the test of salvation. Tonight, that is the examination that every one of us ought to do within our hearts. Is there fruit? Is there fruit? In conclusion, there are various responses that are going to be given to this message tonight. Some people will be hardened to the gospel and rejected. Some people might even make a shallow decision to leave here tonight and to endeavor to follow Jesus Christ. Some tonight might even make a profession, but they will only ever be a false convert. But I want to remind you that whenever you come to the judgment, that you will not be able to blame the sower, who was myself. You'll not be able to blame the seed, which was the message preached to you tonight. You will not even be able to blame the story, the style of preaching for here tonight. But the reason why you have rejected Jesus Christ is because of your heart. It is because of the condition of your heart. And my friend tonight, if you would be saved, you need to have your heart changed. You need a changed heart. And I exhort you while there is time, while there is opportunity, to call upon the great workman of the Holy Spirit. to call upon Him and He will come and He can change you. He can prepare your heart to receive the Word of God that you might be saved. For to receive Christ's Word is to receive Christ Himself. My dear friend tonight, you can receive Christ tonight. you can receive Him. If you'll ask the Lord to come and deal and change your heart. Let's bow together for a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, O Lord, we confess. Lord, we confess that we need the Lord to move. We confess, O God, that we need the Holy Spirit to come. And Lord, move upon hearts. We acknowledge, O God, that there is sin within our hearts and sin within our lives. We confess, O Lord, that this sin keeps us from Christ. Lord, we pray, O Lord, that you would tonight would work upon hearts, change the hearts of individuals that they might come and put their faith and trust in you. Lord, I pray for this congregation that you will bless them. I pray, O Lord, that you'll keep your hand upon them. We ask that you would bless their homes and their families, save everyone, bring every last one to Christ. And we ask, O Lord, that you'll take us home in safety until the next time that we would meet again. We pray these things in thy precious name. Amen.