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[0:00] I want to tell you a very wonderful story, a true story about this old lady who prayed about everything. And in a particular church, I don't know where the church was, there was this particular church, they were having a sale of work on a Saturday.

[0:16] And people were gathering in all the different things for sale. And there was this old lady who had spent a long, long time, in fact she had spent some months, preparing and making a patchwork quilt.

[0:29] And of course it was full of all different kinds of colors and looked very, very grand. But when the ladies were getting everything ready at the sale, this quilt arrived in a partial, they opened it up.

[0:41] Each one was wondering, I wonder what stall will put this at. And in a sense the patchwork quilt looked so old-fashioned, really beside everything else that they had, and they didn't really know. Each one was saying, well, I don't think I'll have it at my stall.

[0:54] And another one would say, well, I don't think it should be at my stall. But eventually somebody took it. And the sale went on. Lots of things were bought, but people, when they were passing the patchwork quilt, many of them, there was a wee smile on their face saying, well, whatever I buy, I won't be buying that.

[1:13] And so it went on, and the sale was about finished. And the minister of the congregation felt rather sad, because he knew that this lady was a lovely Christian lady, an old lady, that she had spent so long preparing this quilt.

[1:27] But just then a missionary walked in. And this missionary was going to speak the next day in the church. And he looked at the quilt, he said, oh, that very thing that I'm looking for.

[1:40] He said, I'll take that. And he bought the quilt. And sometime after he spoke there, he set off for Africa, because he was a missionary in Africa. And the quilt went out with him to Africa, and over a good while after that, maybe about a year later, one day he was clearing out in the house.

[1:59] And he took a lot of things that were in the house, and he put them out in the veranda to air. And one of the things he took out was the quilt, this patchwork quilt, and he hung it there to get the air in it.

[2:11] And when it was hanging there, a chief, an African chief of the village next to them, not the village that he was in, but the next village, the chief was passing by. And the chief stopped, and he said to the missionary, oh, he said, I would love to buy that quilt.

[2:29] Now, a lot of the Africans say, they love bright colors. And that patchwork quilt was full of lovely bright colors. He said, I would really like to buy that quilt. And the missionary said, oh, I'm sorry, it's not for sale.

[2:40] Now, that missionary had been trying to buy just a little bit of ground in that chief's village for a long time, so that he could build a little church there and start a work.

[2:56] But the chief wouldn't let him. And the missionary said, well, he said, I'll tell you what. He said, I'll give you this quilt, he said, if you let me buy a little bit of ground in your village.

[3:07] But the chief said, right, you're on. And so, the missionary gave him the quilt, and he gave him some money or whatever for the ground, and he built a church.

[3:18] And a great Christian work began there, and many people came to faith in Jesus Christ. And the missionary then wrote the minister to tell him the story about the quilt. And the minister then went to see this old lady who was, at that time, she was confined to the house.

[3:34] She couldn't get out at all, at all. And the minister was telling the story about the quilt and what had happened, and that through that quilt that many people had really come to trust the Lord Jesus. And the lady said, oh, she said, that's wonderful.

[3:47] But she said, I'm not surprised. Because she said, every day when I worked on that quilt, and every little bit that I did, I prayed over it. And I asked the Lord as I was putting it together, I said, Lord, I want you to bless this work, and use even this little color that I'm putting here, use it for the spread of the gospel.

[4:09] Now, you may say to yourself, if you were doing something like that, how on earth could a quilt be used to spread the gospel? And yet it was. Because this woman trusted the Lord in everything and prayed about everything.

[4:22] And see how God used even a quilt to start a great work. Maybe some of the little things that you do, you think, oh, what good would prayer do? But you know, Jesus loves you to come to him and to pray to him.

[4:37] So you remember that, that even something as simple as a quilt, God can use wonderfully. So you cover everything in prayer. Now the following of the intimations to prayer meeting in the hall.

[4:55] Let us turn now to Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 7. And I'm reading there from the beginning. Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

[5:10] And a certain centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

[5:23] And when he came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this. For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them.

[5:35] When he was not now, not far from the house, his centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself. For I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof.

[5:46] Whenfore, neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. But say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers.

[5:58] And I say unto one, Go, and he goeth unto another. Come, and he cometh unto my servant. Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at them, and turned them about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith.

[6:15] No, not in Israel. And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. Now, you probably noticed when we read in Matthew's gospel, the same incident, that it indicated that the centurion himself had come to Jesus.

[6:33] Now, when we read in Luke's gospel, we see that he sent Jewish elders, and he sent servants. And I think just the simple thing there is, Luke gives greater detail to this, that sometimes when, for instance, when the queen would go to meet somebody, certainly she doesn't go herself, but she sends representatives, she sends somebody in her place, and that is attributed to her, as if she herself went.

[7:00] And I believe that that is simply what happened when Matthew says that the centurion went, and Luke says that the servants went, that is where that, what we might call for people who are looking at it and saying, well, these things don't balance up, that that is the explanation to that.

[7:16] Now, Jesus, we were just in the last couple of weeks looking at some of his teachings in Luke chapter 6, and it is very obvious that Jesus was an extraordinary teacher.

[7:30] Well, he wasn't only an extraordinary teacher, he was also an extraordinary person. And of course, so he should be, because he was the son of God in our nature. But when you look at Jesus in this chapter, you see that Jesus had a wonderful gift for dealing with people, with people's particular needs, people's particular worries, people's dilemma, people's concerns.

[7:57] He seemed to be able to get right down to the very heart of the matter, right to really what was troubling them. And you and I know that sometimes we might go to somebody and try and explain how we feel to somebody.

[8:13] And part of the problem is that maybe we just cannot explain it. We know in our heart how we're feeling, but sometimes we can't even get the words out to explain just how we're feeling.

[8:24] Sometimes we can, we explain it, but the person that we're sharing it with, we know, well, I'm afraid they just don't understand, they're not able to help. Well, it's never like that with Jesus.

[8:35] Because Jesus so identifies himself with us that he understands right what the problem is, he gets right down to the heart of the matter, and Jesus, in a way that nobody else is, is able to deal with these problems.

[8:51] And we see that in this chapter. And let us remind ourselves that nothing has changed. That although Jesus is not physically walking in this world now, he is still in our nature in heaven in glorified state.

[9:04] And his tenderness, and his compassion, and his ability to deal with your needs and my needs, is as great as it was 2,000 years ago.

[9:15] Now, one of the things that really distinguished Jesus from the other people round about him, was his tremendous sense of compassion.

[9:28] Compassion has been beautifully defined, and I've never come across a better definition of compassion than this. Your pain in my heart. Not wonderful. Your pain in my heart.

[9:40] That's compassion. Where a patient so identifies himself or herself with the other patient, that they begin to feel their pain.

[9:53] They begin to feel the anguish that they're going through. That they feel just something of what they're going through. That is real compassion. Your pain in my heart.

[10:05] And that's the kind of man that Jesus was. It is very obvious from his journey through this life, that Jesus was a compassionate man. You know, Jesus didn't assess the various situations and say, well, I'll attend to this person, and that person, well, I'm just going to leave him alone.

[10:25] You see, justice may look at the merits of a case. Compassion doesn't. Compassion doesn't look at one case and examine it against another case and say, well, I'll look at that one, but I won't look at that one.

[10:35] But compassion takes each one. And that was the great thing about Jesus. And in this chapter, Jesus is confronted by four different cases. And the first we have here, there's a dying servant.

[10:49] In the next case, Jesus meets a grieving widow. And then the large part of the chapter, he is dealing with a confused prophet, with John the Baptist.

[10:59] And in the latter part of the chapter, he is dealing with a repentant sinner. And in each one, he gets right to the very heart of the matter. And he helps in each case.

[11:13] And so there is this tremendous sense of compassion in Jesus' ministry. May I remind you again today, you go to this Jesus, and pour out your heart to him.

[11:24] Because, you know, he wants you to do that. And maybe, you know, you might even feel, to a certain extent, stupid doing it. But no, don't. Tell him how you hurt.

[11:35] Tell him your pains. Tell him your problems. Tell him your difficulties. Doesn't matter in what area or aspect of life that you have problems. Go to Jesus.

[11:46] He wants you to do that. And he wants you to be honest with him. And pour yourself out to him. Because he's ready. He's listening. He's there. And he will deal with your problems.

[11:58] He has never, ever, ever turned away any who have gone to him. So here we see, in this chapter, and I want to look in these first ten verses, at the first character, or the first incident here, is the dying servant.

[12:12] And this dying servant, although we don't know very much about the servant, the person who really takes center stage here, along with Jesus, is a Roman centurion. Now, as we know, the centurion was just a Roman soldier who was in charge of a hundred men.

[12:26] But he was a unique Roman soldier because he was a man of great faith, and he was a man of deep humility, and he was a man who loved the Jewish people. And I'm sure that a Roman soldier of that kind, in the land of Israel, in the land of Palestine at that time, was very, very raised.

[12:44] A Roman soldier of deep faith, of deep humility, and of great love to the Jewish people. Now, normally, the Jews and the Romans, they hated each other. But this soldier was different.

[12:56] We're told that that he loved the Jewish nation, and that he had actually built a synagogue for them. Out of his own money, he built a synagogue for them.

[13:08] And so he had a kind, and a tender, and a loving heart. Not the kind of qualities that we would readily assume that a hard Roman soldier would have. But it is obvious that God's grace had touched this man's heart and life.

[13:23] And the kindness that was in this Roman soldier is very evident, because his slave, his servant, this is a slave, is dying. And again, that's one of the things that Roman history teaches us.

[13:38] Life was cheap. They didn't think anything of taking their own lives. They didn't think anything. Life was cheap. You just look at the way these great big arenas and the gladiators.

[13:50] People would just gather to watch just in the way that people would go to a boxing match today. They used to go and see people putting each other to death and being put to death. Life was cheap. But here's this Roman soldier, and he was really worried about his slave.

[14:05] Remember a slave who had no rights? Now, I would imagine that most Roman soldiers, if their slave or a centurion, their slave was dying, they would be, they might even aid him in his death so they would get another slave.

[14:16] But not this man. The grace of God had touched his heart. There was a deep love in his heart. And he's going to find remedy, to find cure for this man. And so he knows of Jesus.

[14:28] He has heard of Jesus because we don't know how he came to faith, but obviously he had heard Jesus. And this centurion does something quite remarkable. He doesn't go himself to Jesus.

[14:40] He sends some of the Jewish elders as his representative. He doesn't go himself. Why? Well, I think that the great reason why it's evident here is because of his deep sense of unworthiness.

[14:54] For a start, he would be very conscious that he was a Roman. And he would be conscious that he was in a land that didn't want him. And he was conscious that the Romans were oppressing the Jews.

[15:06] And he would be conscious of all these things that he was representing a country that wasn't wanted in the land. And maybe he was saying to himself, Jesus won't want anything to do with me.

[15:20] But I think his sense of unworthiness was much greater than that. And you know, it's a strange thing because the Jews, in verse 4, they say, he is worthy. When the Jews came to Jesus and told about this centurion, they said, he is worthy.

[15:35] They're saying to Jesus, if you're going to help anybody, Lord, help this centurion because he is worthy. And yet the centurion's assessment of himself is, I am not worthy.

[15:48] I'm not worthy. Now it's interesting that the word worthy in verse 6, you notice, he says in verse 6, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof.

[16:00] And then in verse 7 it also says, wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. Now the word worthy is actually a different word that is used.

[16:10] in verse 6 and in verse 7. In verse 6, the word worthy there has the idea of sufficient. I am not sufficient.

[16:22] I am not deserving that you should come because I have not sufficient in my home that I can give to you the kind of honor and hospitality that you deserve.

[16:33] that is what is that word worthy in verse 6 is really getting at. If you were to strip it down. I am not deserving that you should come because I don't have, I don't, my home is not sufficient to give to you the hospitality that you deserve.

[16:52] you see this centurion had such a high view of Jesus that he felt that he just couldn't give to Jesus sufficiently. Now he had already built a synagogue, do you think of that?

[17:05] He had already built a church in Capernaum for the people but no, so obviously he was quite a wealthy man but he felt he just didn't have enough that he couldn't give to Jesus what Jesus really deserved.

[17:21] He had a high view of Jesus. Can I ask you today what do you think of Jesus? What kind of view do you have of Jesus? Do you give to Jesus what doesn't cost you?

[17:35] What's easy to give or do you give to Jesus what costs? Because in a sense what we give has a great bearing upon what we really think of Jesus.

[17:48] And I'm not just talking about money, talking about everything. What we give of our time, what time do you give to Jesus? What time do you give in a day, in a week, what proportion of the week do you give to the Lord?

[18:01] How much of your energy, the energy that you expend in the day, the energy, the strength that God has given to you, how much of that do you use for his sake? Of all the gifts and the abilities and the talents that he has given you in life, how much of it do you use for his glory and for his sake?

[18:20] You know, these are very challenging questions that we have to ask ourselves because they arise out of this particular thing that this man, he felt that he just, he was felt so unworthy.

[18:30] He had already done a tremendous amount in building a synagogue for the Jews and he still felt that he hadn't sufficient to give Jesus. Now let us remember this, that God is expecting from us.

[18:45] He's expecting us to give sacrificially of our time, of our talents, of our gifts, of our money, of all these things. And God doesn't like to see us withholding.

[18:59] That was one of the great problems facing the church in Malachi's time. Remember in Malachi's time, the people were giving to the Lord, they were sacrificing to the Lord. And the Lord said, I'm not happy with what you're doing.

[19:11] And they thought they were doing very well because they were taking their lambs along and their bullocks along to the temple and they were sacrificing and they thought that God should be pleased with them. And God is saying, no I'm not. Because what were they doing?

[19:23] They were looking around the flock for the animals that were sick. And they were looking around the flock for the animals that had broken legs and the animals that were withered and useless. And they were taking the blemished things, the things that didn't cost anything.

[19:38] And that's what they were sacrificing to the Lord. And the Lord was displeased with them because of that. You know, there's always a danger that we think, oh well, any other thing, any old thing will do for the Lord.

[19:49] And remember, we told this story before, the children's story of General Booth's wife, you know, General Booth of the Salvation Army, of the time that they had five children and they had a big, big, big bath in the house, one of these huge baths.

[20:06] And the children had a model ark, a Noah's ark, and they used to love playing with the Noah's ark. It's one of the favourite games, they used to fill the bath up and they would float the big ark in the bath.

[20:19] They had lots of little toy animals. And one day, they were playing away there and this was a serious game of the ark and the flood. And after a while, they thought, oh, the forty days after, then the waters began to subside.

[20:35] And of course, the flood comes out and they were letting it out slowly back and forth. And eventually, all the water had come out. And then they thought, what's the next thing? Oh, yes, after Noah came out of the ark, he built a sacrifice.

[20:47] So they ran outside and they got a few twigs and some leaves and a little grass. They thought, we'll make a little five. And then they thought, oh, that's got an animal to sacrifice. And they thought of their toys.

[20:59] And one of them thought, oh, well, there's no way, Dumbo, the elephant is going on there. And one of them said, nor Jack or the monkey, no way. And then one of them thought, oh, yeah, remember. There's an old sheep, remember the wee toy sheep.

[21:12] It's only got one leg left and the head is off. And all that's inside, all the stuffing is falling out. We'll use that one. And away up they went to get that one and put it on.

[21:24] And that was going to be the sacrifice. And when Mrs. Booth was telling that, she saw it. And she was saying, that's so like so many people. That they go through all the other things that they could give to the Lord.

[21:35] And no, it's going to cost, it's going to cost, it's going to cost. And then the one thing that's not going to cost anything, then they're going to give that to the Lord. Now remember the Lord says about following, that it's going to cost.

[21:48] And he's talking about leaving father and mother and leaving brothers and sisters and leaving homes. And he's talking about taking up a cross and denying ourselves.

[22:00] There's going to be a cost involved in following the Lord Jesus. Jesus. And you know, the greatest antidote to counting the cost is love.

[22:11] You know, if we really love the Lord, we don't count the cost. Part of the problem, and I believe it's a great problem that faces us. And I'm not just saying, I'm not just saying us when I say here.

[22:24] I believe it's a great problem that faces the church worldwide. It's that if our love was as it ought to be, we wouldn't be sitting down and saying, that costs.

[22:35] I can't afford the money. I can't afford the time. I can't afford the energy. I can't afford to give to the Lord in this way. Remember Mary, when she anointed the feet of Jesus, she didn't count the cost.

[22:48] She had that special box of alabaster ointment. And it cost her, remember, that women used to save up to buy this maybe for their wedding day or even for their own burial.

[22:59] And it was very, very, very costly Mary. It tells us that it could have been sold for 300 pence. And a penny was a labourer's wage. So we're talking in today's money of thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds.

[23:13] And she took that, the most precious thing, it was like all her savings, and she broke it open and she poured it upon Jesus. And the people in the room were saying, what a waste.

[23:24] Wasn't that dreadful? But not to the Lord. Jesus praised her. He thanked her for her love, for her faith, for what she did. You see, love doesn't count the cost.

[23:37] And on that very point today, our own, our own church, at this particular time, is facing a deficit again. And I believe that the problem, it's a spiritual problem.

[23:49] That is because people have lost their love. that we will give quite a bit beyond the percentage that we've been required to give.

[24:24] And I thank the Lord for that. And I believe that that comes because people have a sense of love for the Lord. And I believe that if everybody did, then we wouldn't be counting the cost and saying, oh, can't afford that.

[24:36] The problem, I believe the financial problems that are in the church, come because people are not loving as they ought. But that maybe we're beginning almost to digress a wee bit here.

[24:48] But that really is coming from this idea that the centurion would say, I am not sufficient for you to come. So this, he felt that he couldn't give to Jesus.

[24:58] I'm not deserving that you've come under my roof. But there's one other thing that I want to say here before we move on. And you see how quickly the Jewish elders were ready to respond to the request of this Roman soldier.

[25:11] Whenever the Roman soldier centurion said to these Jews, will you go to Jesus for me? Because my servant, my slave is dying. You would think in normal circumstances that the Jewish elders would say, no way.

[25:27] You crowd, you Roman soldiers, I wish you weren't in this land. And their attitude would be, I hope he dies, it will be one Gentile less in the land of Palestine. But that's not their attitude.

[25:39] They went straight off to Jesus. Why? Well, I believe here we have a very clear example of that, law, the law of return.

[25:50] Here was this Roman centurion and his life was a life that was filled with doing good. He was a man who loved. He was a man of kindness. He was a man who gave.

[26:04] And when he was in trouble, what happened? It came back to him. You know, there is a law in this universe. It is God's law. As God made this world, he set, and it's part of the thing, there are these laws that cannot be changed.

[26:20] The law of return. What you are will come back to you. It's something that we cannot change. What we are in our manner, what we are in our attitude, what we are in our way, what we are in our words, it comes back.

[26:36] If you are kind to people, people will be kind to you. If I'm angry with people, people will be angry with me. Whatever you do comes back.

[26:47] It's like going into the cave. You shout out, whatever you shout comes back. If you shout out, I love you, that's what will come back to you. If you shout out, I hate you, that's what will come back to you.

[26:59] And so it is in life. Everything in life comes back. The Bible tells us that. We reap what we sow. Remember Jacob. Jacob was a young man.

[27:10] He was one of these, you just couldn't trust him. He was so fly. And he got his brother's birthright from him. And then he got his brother's blessing from him. And he tricked his brother and he tricked his father.

[27:24] Ah, but the law of return, one day it was pay back time. And the night that Jacob was going to get married, he got tricked. And he ended up not marrying the girl he loved, but her sister. And then his own sons tricked him into believing that his favorite son Joseph was dead.

[27:40] And for years Jacob believed that Joseph was dead. You see, it was payback time. And it will be the same. You sometimes, you meet people. And sadly, as you know, the vast, vast, vast majority of people are lovely people.

[27:55] But occasionally you meet a person and their attitude in life is not very good. And they're the kind of people, you know, they're not very nice people. And then something happens to them.

[28:07] And nearly everybody says, it was coming to them. Isn't that what they say? It was coming to them. You see, it was payback time. It is a law that exists.

[28:18] We cannot alter it. And the greatest example, I suppose, of that, and the most solemn example of it all, is God is saying to us, in Jesus Christ, God is saying, I've sent my son into this world.

[28:34] And what you do with my son is very, very important because a payback time is going to come. I sent my son into this world to die.

[28:45] And if you accept my son and believe in my son and trust in my son, then my son will accept you and he will take you to be with him forever. But if you reject my son and push my son away, then the time will come when my son will push you away forever and ever and ever.

[29:06] It is the law of return. Well, the law of return was operating here for the centurion. He was reaping the good that he had done. And then we find that as Jesus is making his way to the centurion's house, to the request, the centurion then sends friends to Jesus, telling Jesus, he doesn't even need to come to the house.

[29:31] And we see that this centurion, he has an incredible sense of his own unworthiness. In verse 7, that word unworthy is just the way that you and I would use the word unworthy. This centurion has such a sense of his own sin and his own uncleanness and the depravity of his own heart and he's genuinely feeling himself to be such a sinner that he doesn't feel right that the Lord would even come close to him.

[29:58] And do you know that? That is how many of God's people feel. They are every so often they're given such a sense of their own uncleanness. It's like Peter, remember Peter?

[30:09] Peter was so brash and then all of us moment, when he, it was as if his own heart was exposed to him and the beauty and the perfection of Jesus and we find him falling down at Jesus' feet and he's saying, oh he said depart from me for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord.

[30:26] On the one hand Peter wanted Jesus to be with him but on the other hand he was saying to him I'm just so, so sinful. And that's how we find this centurion here.

[30:38] And we see that there's a tremendous link between humility and faith because where a person has come to discover their own unworthiness and the deceit of their own heart and their own filthiness and their own nothingness before God.

[30:55] That is where there is great faith. Faith is in operation there you see. People sometimes think great faith and you must feel, if you've got great faith you must be feeling good. Oh no, not always.

[31:07] Sometimes you can have great faith and you can be feeling the greatest wretch in the whole wide world. The two go together. And that's what this man had and it's wonderful he said his faith says comes to Jesus and he gives this message.

[31:24] And he said just say the word. Just say the word. You don't even need to come to the house. Say the word and my servant will be healed. And the centurion says to Jesus the message I understand what you're all about.

[31:41] And he spoke about himself and he said I'm a centurion. And he said I've got men under me they're under my authority. but he said I am under the Roman Empire.

[31:52] I am under the whole authority of the Roman Empire. I'm under that. So when I say to a man go that man goes because I am a representative of the Roman Empire and they are obeying the authority of the Roman Empire and they go.

[32:09] And likewise when I say come they'll come. And he's saying to Jesus I know that you have authority and that you're under authority. you are under the authority of the Godhead and all power is yours.

[32:20] And all you need to say is to a word to that deceased go. Now that is tremendous faith. You remember what Jesus said about our faith?

[32:33] That according to our faith so it will be. I'm afraid our faith is often very very limited isn't it? Our faith is often very very limited.

[32:45] Now having said that it doesn't mean that the Lord and we have to be very careful here it doesn't mean that when we meet disease and death and we have prayed for healing it doesn't mean that if there isn't healing that we haven't faith.

[33:00] That's not what the Lord is saying. Because the Lord is sovereign in all these things and he is Lord over life and of death. But you know our faith so often so so often our faith is weak.

[33:17] Our faith it's little faith. So often we want to believe but somehow we can't believe. And so often I'm sure we find ourselves going to the Lord and saying Lord I believe but help my unbelief.

[33:31] You remember that this Roman centurion didn't have the privileges that you and I have. He didn't have a complete Bible. He probably had the Old Testament scriptures had been given to him.

[33:41] Maybe even they hadn't been given to him. Maybe he had only heard Jesus once or twice. His knowledge would be very limited. But oh my he had great faith. Wonderful faith.

[33:54] And you know God's word is full of promises. Absolutely full of promises. The great question is are you daring to trust the Lord entirely?

[34:07] It's one of the hardest things for you and for me to do is to trust the Lord entirely. But God wants you to. And he wants you to have that childlike faith. You know the little children.

[34:17] The little little one now is just coming near seven months. And you say to her come on now. Obviously she can't get herself up or anything like that.

[34:29] But the little hands go up. She cannot do anything for herself. She can stretch out her hands and she knows that you're going to lift her. And that's in a sense that is faith.

[34:42] And that's what God is wanting us to do. Because we can't do ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. But he's wanting us to come. And it's like that. You come to say well Lord here I am.

[34:53] I can't save myself but here I am. Take me. Well do you know this? If you come like that. Because he's saying him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. You come.

[35:04] Arms outstretched. And I guarantee you with the authority of God's word that he'll take you and he'll lift you up and he'll take you to himself. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.

[35:16] You take these words. Believe them. Go to him and discover the reality of them. Let us pray. Oh gracious God we pray that thou will bless this word to us today.

[35:30] Lord increase our faith. Help us to live in absolute dependence upon thee. sometimes it's so difficult for us to do. Sometimes we want to trust ourselves and we want to trust what we believe in so often rather than to trust thee.

[35:47] Lord give us that faith just to cast ourselves entirely upon thee because thou alone knowest what is best for us. Oh Lord we pray thy blessing upon each one of us.

[35:58] Bless us in our homes and our families. Be with us at home. Be with us wherever we go and in whatever we do. Take us home safely and pardon our every sin for Jesus' sake.

[36:09]  Amen. Amen.