God said, amen. Now, the story of the prodigal son is perhaps one of the most familiar in all of the New Testament. However, we should never let familiarity breed any form of contempt for the word of God. It'd be wrong to say, well, I've heard it all before. I trust tonight that it will come with power. It will come with freshness and clarity to your soul. Robert Smith in a little book called Handfuls of Purpose is a great little volume. He literally said that this was the prince of all the parables unquote Archbishop Trench and his commentary on the book of Luke. He had this to say about the story of the prodigal son. He says it is the peril and it is the crown of all the parables in scripture. I think how many there are He says it is the pearl and the crown of all the parables in scripture unquote. Charles Dickens, we know that he has written many volumes. Charles Dickens said of the story of the prodigal son, I quote, that it is the finest short story in the English language." And it remains to this day the finest short story in the English language. And it has all the ingredients, doesn't it, to make it a memorable and inspiring story. You think a happy home is suddenly plunged into turmoil. as an unhappy son breaks away from parental authority and the influence of what we would term in that home a stable environment. He wants his own way. It must have been a sad day for the father when he saw his son pack up his goods I don't know how he carried them, whether on a stick over his shoulder, or whether in a bag, or on a mule, or a cart, we don't know. Or whether he headed off into the distance, into the horizon. But the father watched with tears in his eyes. I have no doubt that he begged the son that day not to go, not to leave home, but to stay with the family. It must have been a tragic day when that young boy broke away from his mum and dad and he headed off into the far country. We're convinced when we see that when the father saw him that he was waiting every single day for his boy to come home. Time after time he longs and he watches for his homecoming but nothing. The prodigal is too busy enjoying himself with his so-called cronies or mates to think of home, to think of his father, to think of the hurt and the pain that he has caused them over many years. No, he's having a ball. He's got money, you know. And with money, he's got friends, and he's got cronies, and they're all about him. And he's throwing his money all around him. For the Bible says he wasted his substance with riotous living. He's master of his own life. There's nobody looking over his shoulder, nobody telling him what to do. He's now master of his own life. He's living it up. And that's what many young people are doing today. They're living it up. the party spirit is present here in the chapter for he's wasting his substance with riotous living sinful wicked living and he thinks that life will continue so long as he has the money and the friends and the pleasure and all the women and girls all running around them and all that that brings he will never think of his father he will never think of But things begin to turn sour. His money runs out. And along with that, as is always the case, his so-called buddies, they're only there for his money, not his friendship. He's left alone. No one is willing to help him. No man cared for his soul. And yet, many, many miles away, there's a loving father. and a caring mother who longs that this young boy would come home. There is a place for him. There is food at the table for him. I want to tell you, there is money there for him. There's everything that he would need for life and for living. And if that wasn't enough, that his money ran out, the Bible tells me that a famine breaks out in that very area in which he was living it up. And he had no prospects of recovering his money, or even pursuing his pleasure now. And penniless, and hungry, and in desperation, he seeks employment. And remember, he's a Jew. And he seeks employment with a farmer who really mocks him. Really mocks him, knowing he's a Jew. He's a Hebrew. maybe even knowing the dietary laws of Israel, and he sends him to work with the swine, the unclean animal. And the Bible says he was that hungry when he fed them that they were better fed than him. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine were feeding on. Yet all the time there was a father who was willing to travel even to the far country and to bring this young boy home. Thoughts of home now came flooding back to his memory. He realizes what a fool he has been. He realizes that he has sinned against God, against heaven. And he has sinned against his father and mother and his brother and his friends as well. And so he determines in his heart to return home again and to beg forgiveness from his father. And if his father would forgive him, then he would accept a lowly place among the servants in his household. He didn't even want to be a son, just a servant in the father's house, because I perish and my father's servants have enough and to spare. However, his father never gave up hope of his son's return. And what a sight must have met him that day when he was looking that morning, late that evening, perhaps, and we don't know, Maybe every morning, the first thing the Father did every morning was look on that horizon and look for the shadow of His Son. He would have known His very shape in the distance. He may have even known the way He walked, the way He carried Himself. Because the Bible says when He was yet a great way off, the Father saw Him. He must have been looking for Him every day. And maybe last thing in the evening, before the sunset, Perhaps in that western sky, the father went out for the last time in the silence of the evening. And that little yellow light of the lamp in the house and the mother and the elder brother there having something to eat. The father goes out for the last time in the evening and he looks into the shadows of the night to see if he could see the form of his boy coming home again. Can I tell you there are many parents tonight who are watching at the window. They're pulling across the blinds and they're looking for the shadow and the movement of a son or daughter to return to the family again. And there'll be many pillows wet tonight over the waywardness of our children and the longing and the desire we have to see them brought to our heavenly Father and to heaven their eternal home. I want to tell you penniless, hungry, famishing, the young boy struggled home. The father's heart ran to meet his boy. And what a, what a blessing that must have been. What a joy and a privilege that was for the father when he saw after so many years, we don't know how long, we don't know how long. The Lord doesn't tell us. All the privileges that this young boy lost were fully restored again to the prodigal and both father and son lived happy ever after. You know, a happy ending to a story makes it a good story, doesn't it? They're individuals who are prolific book readers. My wife is one of them. She's a prolific reader and I mean that. She could read a book every single day and I think she does. She has hundreds of books, although I threw a lot of them out, I think, whenever we moved, which is still a bit of a contentious issue, but she has now an Amazon Kindle or an iPad, and she's able to buy the books now, and I furnish her all the books that I threw out. She has now the digital copy, and she reads and rereads. She never stops reading, but I'll tell you this, I'm not a reader except I'm studying, but a happy ending makes for a good story, doesn't it? I'm sure you've watched many a film and you've enjoyed it and you got to the end and the end was terrible because it just blew up in their faces and it was a terrible ending. There's some people who read books and they'll go to the last page before they read it to see if it does end well before they would buy the book. But I tell you, the story of the prodigal son ends well. That's why it makes, has all the ingredients, doesn't it? To make it a memorable story. And it has a good ending. Tonight, with the help and power of the spirit of God, I want to preach on the story of the prodigal son. Firstly, I want you to consider from this story, and I don't believe it's a parable. I believe it's a true story. I believe the young man existed. I believe the father and the mother and the elder brother all were present on planet earth and they had an existence. And this young boy was just one of many young boys in Israel that the Lord could have told a story about. Some were tragic, some were good like this one. But I want you to think first of all of his demand. And you have to see that in the story. That's what it's all about. That's why he left home. Look at verse 12 of Luke 15. Look at the verse 12. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me. How do you speak to your dad like that? There's not even please. There's no sincerity. It's a demand. Father, give me. Now think of that. I know the Lord doesn't go into all the detail, but he gives us enough. There's no respect for his dad. Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And I think he did it every day until he literally caused his father to despair. I can't keep this young fella here. There's nothing I can do with this boy. I'll have to give it to him. He's tormenting me every day. Father, give me, give me it. I want it now. He couldn't wait until his father was dead. Know what that tells me, friends? Listen to me. You say, well, you're reading into the verses. I don't think I am. That would not have come to him until his father died. And when he says, I want it now, he more or less said, I wish you were dead so I could get it. What a wicked thing. That's what's implied there. That did not fall to him until he had passed away. And he says, give me. I want it now. I don't want to wait until you're dead. In other words, if you died now, I would get it. So just give it to me. Why should I have to wait until you die? And who knows how long you live? Think of it, how wicked is that? What a demand. It's not unusual. And many homes will have young people to cry out in a demand like that. I want to tell you the parable begins, the story begins with a selfish and a foolish and a carnal and essential, wicked demand from the youngest son. I want you to think of the pride in this demand. You see in verse 12 it says, give me. The entire demand in the parable was wrong because it was aggravated by arrogance of a young man living and walking in the flesh He exhibits the spirit of self-will here. He has an insatiable desire for independence and he wants it now and he can't wait and there are things out there he wants to do and he wants to get at and he's restricted here in this home and there's many a young person, many a Christian home has been broken up. by a young man or a young woman or young people who have drifted and got away and are in the flesh and have never been saved and never been converted and they don't want the restrictions of God's house so they stop coming to the house of the Lord and then they don't want the restrictions of a godly home and when they get a few pound, they get their own place and they clear away off and then they live their own life, sadly, many of them. many of them make shipwreck. Not them all but sadly, many of them make shipwreck. I told you, there are other stories could have been told and if young people prosper in their sin, they'll never come to the lord. I know it sounds cruel. I know it sounds in your eyes harsh. Maybe you even say there's no compassion here. but I've been praying for young people like that that god would turn their never repent and believe and come to Christ and they'll die in their sin as those that have prospered. Those who have succeeded. Those who have done well in life and we want our children, our young people to do well. But not at the expense of their soul. I won't tell you tell your friends we need to pray and pray for our young people in this way that God would turn their life sour. so they might think about eternity. I have a family member, and I was praying just that for that family member. I prayed, Lord, turn this person's life sour, and there's one night I went round to visit them, and they said these words to me, and they called me Tam, that was my old name. They says, Tam, you know what, I'll tell you something. I says, what? This is what the person said. I am sick, sore, and tired of the life that I'm living. prayer. I felt like saying, praise the lord for that. Cuz I prayed. God would make you sick, sore, and tired. Of the life you're living. Praying for this meeting tonight. Thinking of the town of Cumber in the surrounding area. I said to the lord the same. There's got to be. people who are sick, sore, and tired, and unhappy, and discontent, and miserable, depressed, suicidal, because of sin and their life they're living. they need to be thinking about heaven and Christ and coming to the Lord and we need to think about going with to them with the gospel. Pray that those calendars that go out in the postal drop in a vast area of some 12,000 homes in this area will be visited with the glorious message of the gospel. Pray God will prosper that. Give it good success. and the outreach that we will do with the rest of those calendars, God will use, and God will bless, and sinners will come to know Christ as their Savior, for there are individuals who are sick, sore, and tired of the way they're living in this time, and we need to get to those people, and we need to get past people. Those that oppose us. Those who tell us you're not wanted here. Those who tell us don't come back. We don't want your gospel. Keep your preaching to the four walls of your church. We need to get beyond those people. And forget about them. And go to those who need the gospel. And we need to reach them for the Lord. I tell you friends, there are many young people in this town of Cumber in the church and in society and this is description of their life. They make a demand because they're proud sinners and they want their own way and nobody will rule them or tell them what to do and no one will tell them to repent and the Bible says pride cometh before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction. God resisted the pride but give us grace unto the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves. The Bible says in the And this young man would have been lifted to the heights of glory, yes, and sins forgiven and peace with God if he had dealt with his sinful pride, making a demand of his father. Not only do I see the pride in his demand, but look at the priority in this demand. Look at verse 12. Underline the words, give me. that which befalleth me. Give it to me. Give me. It's all about me. You could write the words over this young boy's life at this juncture in his experience. It's me. It's me. It's me. It's all about me. It's not about you, dad. It's not about you, mom. It's not about you, my elder brother. It's all about me. Give me what I want. I want it now. Give it me." The pride in that demand, the priority. He was thinking of no one but himself. He didn't think how much this would hurt the father, how much this would break the heart of his mother. He didn't think of the impact it would have on this house and this home. He didn't care. It's not about you, or him, or her, or them. It's about me. I want. It's me. It's my life. I want this. I want to tell you. No, he was proud and selfish. And soon he would learn that there's no more miserable and hateful life to live than that which is lived in sin. Does this describe your life tonight? Your life at present? You're just living to please the flesh and to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of this world and what this world can give you. It's all about people giving you and even God, he must give you. It's not about you giving your heart to Christ. It's not about you giving glory to God. It's not about you repenting and getting right with God. It's about everyone else putting things right with me. I tell you, friends, he cared more for for his body than his soul. Such a life is the ruination not only of character but tragically, it's a ruination of the soul in hell. I tell you, hell is filled with prodigal sons and daughters tonight who perished in the far country. I could give you now tonight. I could do it. You know, sometimes I actually think only would cause offense to putting up on the screen here a photograph of my school year, and just circling the faces of the prodigal sons in Lurgan Boys Junior High School, and the nights of drunkenness, and in the morning they were found dead because they choked on their own vomit, and I apologize if I offended any children. Some were run over because they fell on the road in a drunken stupor. They were found dead, a car hit them. Some were done to death in fights and stabbings. One of my best friends that I grew up with and we shared the same love of football and we shared the same football team taught them hot spurs. One of my best friends, he was the last one to be shot in the street of Belfast in the UVF, LVF feud. and there are others who were killed on a motorbike, others were killed on bicycles, some took cancer, some because of drink, they took cancer in the liver, some because of cigarettes brought cancer to their body. I want to tell you I could draw so many circles around those young people and I want to tell you I can't remember ever any of them going to church. I cannot remember any of them going to gospel meetings. I grew up with them all. They died before even I came to Christ. I remember one young girl, she played for Northern Iron Ladies. A young girl we run about with. I remember being in prison and I heard, did you hear that Wendy was killed in a car accident coming from the coach, the nightclub? To this day, it still haunts me to think, where is she? Heard of another friend of mine just recently. My brother rung me up and he says, did you hear about this girl? And I says, no, she's dead. I, what? She's dead. I don't believe she ever went to church. These are individuals who perished in the far country. And where are they? I can't say for sure they're in hell because I don't know how they died. I don't know if they had time to repent and believe. They could be in heaven if they have called at the last minute. But for some of them, I don't think so. I dread to think that any young person or any adult from this house and from our family members would perish in the far country. And I told you, just like the coin in this chapter of lost things, That coin was lost in the house. It wasn't like the sheep lost in the mountains wild and bare. It wasn't like the sun in the far country. I tell you it was a coin that was lost in the house. And you can be just as lost in God's house as those that are lost in the public house in Cumber. And don't think because you're in God's house that will save you. It won't. You're privileged, that's for sure. If you go to an evangelical church that does preach the gospel, that does warn you to repent and believe and take Christ as your savior. I think not only of his demand, but I want you to think secondly of his decline. verses fourteen through sixteen. We've already read them but we will look at those verses as we come to some sub points but his decline, you see, those who practice and promote sin often portray sin. Those who practice and promote sin often portray sin as something that lifts you up. Have you seen it? Now, coming up to Christmas, you will see it. All the drink adverts. They All the drink adverts will show you the party atmosphere. All the men and women together laughing and joking and enjoying themselves, but they will not show you someone now who's in the dregs of alcoholism. They will not show you a home that is broken up and the children that are starving because the mother or the father, if he's even there, has spent all their money on alcohol today. And those children have never had anything to eat. I want to tell you, I was one of those children. And for years I was starved of food. and clothes because my father spent every penny on drink. He never bought me a thing, not a thing. And it's all because of alcohol. I want to tell you those who practice and those who promote will always portray the better side, they say, of drinking and gambling. And they ban now from advertising smoking and vaping But I want to tell you scripture and experience itself shows that sin does not lift up men and women. Sin lowers you in the dirt and in the dust. Isn't that what happened to the coin? It was lost in the dirt and in the dust of the house. For she took a candle and she took a broom and she swept the house. gathered the dust together and then searched through the dirt of the house to find the coin. Where was it? It was in the dirt and in the dust. It wasn't up on the shelf. It wasn't placed on a cupboard. It fell in the dirt and the dust of the ground. And that's exactly what sin has done. It has taken man to the heights of fellowship with his maker, and it has plunged him into the dirt and dust and corruption and pollution of sin. And sin damns the soul, my friend. And sin shuts you out of heaven. And sin will sentence your soul to hell. And I want to tell you, sin does not lift you up. Sin may be a pleasure for a season, but at the end, it will bring forth death and eternal death at that. Pursuing sin and self is life's biggest waste of time and energy. Did you know that? And here in the life of the prodigal, we see what sin did to this young man. His demand, I want to live. I want to be free. I want to be full. But look what sin does to him. Look at verse 14. Sin emptied him. Do you see that? Look what it did. It emptied him. And when he had spent all, it's gone. There's nothing left. When he had spent some, when he had spent most, when he had spent all. Do you see that? Sin emptied this young man. He went out full, oh, full of dreams, full of hope, full of life. full of expectation. And the Bible says he spent all. And he had nothing left. And no one gave him. And no one helped him. And he had no return for any of the money that he had wasted on riotous living. You see, the life that went out filled with expectation and promise was now emptied and robbed by sin's terrible sting and deadly nature. Sin and sinful living friends will empty the soul of true peace and happiness. It will rob you, sinner, of contentment and pleasure in this life and in the life to come. And at last, it will destroy your soul in hell if it's not washed, cleansed, and forgiven through the precious blood of Christ. You see, sin will take you farther than you want to go. Did you know that? Young person, listen to me. sin will take you farther than you want to go. Slowly but wholly, taking control. Sin will leave you longer than you want to stay. Sin will cost you far more than you want to pay. face up tonight to the problem of sin in your life and the need to have forgiveness of that sin through the finished work of Christ and the shed blood of the lamb and come and surrender your life to Christ and have your sins washed in the blood of Christ and have your soul saved because sin will lower you and bring you down to hell. He not only was sin emptied him, but sin endangered him. Look at verse 14. Look what it says. Sin endangered this young man. I want to tell you what it says. It says, a mighty famine in that land. There was a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want. In other words, this man was starving. I know a young man, he's in one of our free churches now, married with about three children. But I remember talking to that young man. I went to his house. and he was a wild, rebellious young person. I went to his house. I don't even tell you some of the things that he did. It broke his parents' heart. But I remember going to that house, and here's what he said to me. He says, Thomas, I'm gonna tell you a thing. He says, I know my mom and dad don't know about this, but I was in a nightclub just the other night, and when I was in that nightclub, I began to get scared. And I looked at him, he's a big, big tall fella, he played rugby. I said, scared? What were you scared of? He says, I actually realized there and then that if I even looked at someone, the way they were, they were crazed people. If I looked at someone, they might say, what are you looking at? And I feared for my life. I was afraid to move, literally. In case I stepped on somebody's toe, in case I shoved someone, I was afraid to look at someone's girlfriend. Lester partner would come and challenge me and I feared for my life and here's what he says and I stood frozen in that nightclub and I couldn't get out. I couldn't get out of that nightclub. I want to tell you God saved that young man. God delivered him and I want to tell you sin endangered that man's life. and he could have lost his life in that nightclub. He will tell you if I brought him to this house to testify, he will tell you that night he said that he feared his life was going to be taken in that nightclub. He says the atmosphere was evil and wicked and I knew I don't look at anybody, I don't move in case I nudge into someone. I remember him telling me and I want to tell you he told me as a big strong man, as if he was only a little boy trembling. But I want to tell you, God saved that man. He's now married, and he's now got a young family, and I see him now and again when I go on to certain church, and I look at their webcasts, and I can see him there, and when I go to that church at the times, even to preach, I see him there. I often think how God saved him. You see, this young man endangered his life, and friends, listen to me. Sin kills. The Bible says, sin when it's finished, run its course in your life, bringeth forth death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin is death. The Bible says, is appointed unto men, wants to die, and it's because of sin, and after this, the judgment. And you know, friend, in the place where the prodigal looked for life's pleasures, he found life's pains. In the place where he pursued sin, he found sorrow. In the place where he sought fame, he found famine. You see, in the land of promised hope in the far country, he found permanent heartache. No joy, no satisfaction. Is that you tonight? No joy, no peace, no contentment, anxiety, worry, concern about your soul and your sin, and about getting right with God, and you never put it right. Tonight's the night you need to get saved and come to Christ. Sin not only endangered him, sin not only, we believe it also entangled him, And verse 15, look what it says. Verse 15, remember he was looking freedom, remember? The demand, give me. That's what he said, and then he took his journey into a far country to get freedom. But look at verse 15, and he went and joined. It's very interesting. The lord uses that word. Here's a man who wanted freedom. He didn't want to be under authority. He didn't want to be working for any for his father in a farm. He didn't want anybody telling him what to do but look at verse fifteen and when he went and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him, he told him what to do and here's a man who's looking his And here's what sin, the wages it pays. It brought him into a greater bondage than he thought he had at home. The bondage of home was the bondage of love. The submission to his father was respect and honor according to the commandment. But the bondage he has now is a master who cures nothing for him. And that's what sin does. That's what the devil does. It's a picture of sin and the devil. This man, this citizen of the far country is the devil. That's who he is. And he joined himself to that person, and the devil made life miserable for him, and he sent him down into the very pig swill to feed and look after those unclean animals. And I want to tell you, the pigs were fed better than the prodigal son was feeding. You see, happiness and contentment and joy and peace is only found through the blood of the cross, through the finished work, the sacrifice of Calvary, the agony, sorrow, and pain of the substitute and the cross. because he has dealt with the cause of sin and misery, which is sin itself. And he has broken its power, and he can set you free tonight, free from sin's bondage, sin's presence, pollution, sin's very punishment and penalty itself, death and hell. He can set you free. And friends, rather than join yourself to your sin and join yourself to the things of the world, I tell you, you can be in union with Christ. You can, by faith, join to the son of God and the prince of life, and you can have life tonight. and peace and contentment. I want you to think finally, not only of his demand and his decline, but I want you to think of his deliberation. Notice what it says there in verses 17 through 19, although we haven't time to read them all, but we think of his deliberation. He begins to think now, and he realizes the enormity of what he has done, because here's what he says, I have sinned against heaven. That's where he said, you see, sin is not against our fellow man. Did you know that? sin is against god and god alone and his first thoughts were this and christ in the story gives us the first principle i have sinned against heaven have you ever got to that place young person have you ever been to that place will you acknowledge now i have sinned against god i have an offended and holy god I want you to think of the madness of his sin. Verse 17. It tells us there that he, I perish with hunger. Not only was he perishing with hunger, but his soul was unsatisfied and full of guilt and he was ready to perish in hell if his body died by starvation. Did you know that? Sinner, it's utter madness to cast off God, to reject Christ and the salvation he has purchased for lost sinners, and that he offers you every Sunday night in this meeting house. Better to come to Christ and join yourself to the Savior and live the madness of the sin. And then it's the magnitude of the sin, verse 18. He recognized not only had he sinned. Will you do that tonight? Will you recognize that you are a sinner, lost and undone? But will you do something more than that? Will you acknowledge that you've sinned against God? sin and you have nothing to offer God, nothing to give God to even atone for that offense of your sin and will you now repent of that sin and when you believe that God has done something to deal with your sin and that is he has sent his son to come into this world by virgin birth and to die upon the cross and to suffer as a endure the wrath of God upon his own body when your sins were laid upon it and then he rose from the dead and he's alive forevermore and if you'll come to him and trust in him and repent and receive him as your savior he will save you he will save you now do not spend another night in your sin knowing that God will punish sin in hell. And I tell you how big is sin, how enormous is the debt that we owe. It took God Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth, God Almighty. to deal with sin. No church, no sacrament, no person, no sinner can deal with our own sin. You can't do it. Such is the enormity of sin, such is the vastness of the debt that you owe to God and the offense you have caused him, that God himself sin. In the person of Christ, his son had to come by virgin birth. Live a sinlessly perfect life for us. Then die for those sins. God the father had to punish God the son who became a man. To deal with our sin. Don't treat sin lightly. God doesn't. And when it was found to have met on the sinless you think he'll spare you? When your sins are found to have met on your body and soul at the judgment day or a death or the coming of the lord. Oh, listen to me. Learn the story of the prodigal son well tonight. He said, I will arise. Will you do it? I will go to my father. Will you come to Christ? Will you arise from your sin? Will you say, father, I have sinned will you repent and then will you believe tonight that Christ died for you because he loves you and that he suffered untold agony and sorrow on the cross and in repenting, will you say, forgive me my sins, cleanse me in your blood, save me by your grace, fill me with your spirit now to live the Christian life. Will you do it? Will you come to Christ? If you need help tonight, if you need further instruction, listen, there are many here who are willing to help. Just as the father waited in compassion and love for the son, so Christ is here tonight and he's waiting. and he has waited for a long time, longer than the father did for the prodigal son, and he's here tonight again, and he's looking, and he's waiting for the homecoming of the prodigal son or daughter. May God in mercy, love, and grace bring your soul to Christ. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we do thank thee for thy word tonight. We thank thee for what's written in the book. We don't have to go to storybooks. We don't have to make it up, Lord. We don't have to every week, Lord, to imagine a story or tell some tale. Lord, we can come to the book of God that's filled with preaching material. And you brought us to green pastures tonight. We've got rich pickings here in this story of the prodigal son. Blessed Lord, to not only the young people, but to the senior people. Grant, Lord, that adults and children and youth will all know and realize that it's really a message for me if I'm not saved. And may you bring the prodigal home tonight. May you call them to repentance and faith. will you receive them, pardon and forgive and save them. And Father, we will be very careful to give all the praise, the honor, and all the glory to thee, because thou and thou alone art worthy. We ask these things, believing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior and Redeemer of God's elect and the people of God said, amen.