Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes that true freedom, as intended by God, is liberation from sin and self-will, enabling us to love Him fully. He contrasts worldly freedom with the divine freedom that allows Christians to be free from the bondage of sin and to forgive others, highlighting the importance of cultivating a heart of forgiveness. Beach illustrates that unforgiveness can lead to spiritual torment and that true liberty comes from embracing God's grace and forgiveness, as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross. He encourages believers to seek this freedom and to be vessels of God's love and compassion, ultimately leading to a life of prayer and service to others. The sermon calls for a deep introspection of one's heart to ensure it is free from bitterness and ready to share God's love.

Beloved, I want my freedom. I want my freedom. And you know, God is not against freedom. God is for freedom. But the kind of freedom that God is for is exactly opposite, Kevin, of the kind of freedom that the world is for. God wants us to be free. God doesn't want us to be slaves. But the kind of freedom that God is wanting to bring us is the kind of freedom that enables us, listen closely, the kind of freedom that enables us to be free from everything and anything that prevents us from loving Him with all of our heart, mind, strength, and soul. The liberty that Christians are called into, the freedom that Christians are called into is not a liberty or a freedom that enables us to say, I'm free, I'm under no law, I can do what I want, praise God. God loves me anyway. No, that's not the freedom that God has called us to. As Christians, we are called to be free from the slavery of sin, the slavery of self-will, the slavery of being obedient to the devil. This is the freedom that God has called us to be. Free, free from going the way of all flesh. Free. I have a cousin who just quit AT&T. He quit AT&T because he couldn't handle the corporate pressure and struggle. He doesn't know the Lord, but he just couldn't handle it. It is such a hard taskmaster. It is such a hard life when you are addicted to and in bondage to the world and that you are a slave and you have to go the way the world goes and you have to strive and try and make yourself something for yourself and for your own interest, for your own glory. Oh, it's such slavery. God said to Israel that they were slaves and here the Jews said back to Jesus, we have never been a slave to any man. Boy, they miss the whole thing. They miss the whole thing. First of all, they were slaves to a lot of people. They were slaves in Egypt. They were slaves in Canaan continuously, but really what Jesus was getting at is you are a slave to sin. Sin is your master, but you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. So what kind of freedom are you looking for today? What do you think of when the word freedom comes before your mind? What do you think of when the word liberty comes to your mind? What do you think of when, if you could imagine a scenario where God would come to you and say, you are free, my son, do whatever you want. What comes to your mind at the thought of doing whatever you want, free from anything that would hinder you from doing what you want? I say at 12 o'clock noon, which is in about 20 minutes or 15 minutes, at the stroke of 12, you would be free by a sovereign move of God, free in a moment's time. You would be free from any hindrance and you can have exactly what you want. Liberty, freedom, emancipation, how challenging. See, this is the kind of freedom that God wants us to enjoy. The first thing that should come to every Christian's mind, if such a scenario would happen, is, Lord, if you are going to make me free at 12 o'clock, I am going to make you free at 12 o'clock. I am asking you to make me free from every sin, every work of the devil, everything that is working in me that is bringing dishonor to your name. Lord, if you want to make me free, I want freedom from being compelled, being forced, being driven to follow the voices in the world and the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Father, if you are going to announce a proclamation of emancipation, a proclamation to freedom, Lord, I am asking you to free me from everything, O God, that causes me to fall short of the mark, that mark being a vessel fit for the glory of God to be revealed. And, Lord, if you want to make me free, make me free that way so that in that place of freedom, in that place of total liberty, in that place of complete emancipation from all that binds me up, I might be able, through the love of God, through the spirit of God, with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul, pour myself into you, following you whithersoever you go. That you might bring glory to your name and that I might be a vessel of honor, fit for the master's use, prepared unto every good work. That should be the essential desire that is growing in the heart of every redeemed child of God. Lord, I want you. Now, the fact of the matter is, Calvary was the proclamation of emancipation. The Lord really did do what we were supposing would happen at 12 o'clock. The Lord did do it. He said, it is finished. It is finished. The debt has been paid for. I'm wondering how many of us are after the Lord with pursuit and intensity and passion because we have seen that because of Calvary, theoretically and legally, I have been free. And now, my life's goal is to come in to the enjoyment and good of that freedom, moment by moment, day by day, in everything that I do. A people whose hearts are free. Now, I'm going to read several scriptures this morning. And I'm asking the Holy Spirit to speak to us, to communicate to us His heart, to communicate to us His thoughts, to speak to us, to strengthen us. I'm asking that He will change our lives today through the word that is quickened by the Spirit of God. There are several points in the heart of the Lord that I believe He wants to communicate to us this morning. And so, we are just going to look to the Lord to communicate these points to us. First of all, I'm just going to give it to you as the Lord gave it to me, alright? First of all, in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. I'm praying through this that the Holy Spirit will impart to us the grace of forgiveness. Matthew chapter 18. The grace of forgiveness. Let's hear the word of God this morning. Let's let God speak to us the word of God this morning. Because the Holy Spirit knows that forgiveness is an essential quality that must be cultivated in the heart of the Christian if the Christian is expecting God to answer their prayers. Unforgiveness will most definitely prevent you from entering into the highest that God has for your life. I'm asking the Holy Spirit now to search our hearts as we read the word. And if there is unforgiveness in our heart toward any person, that we would confess this unforgiveness to God. And that we would come to Him and pray that He will give us the will. Give us the power to ask to be free from unforgiveness. The power that comes not from ourself, but from the Christ who lives within us. Who, when nailed to the cross, before He gave up the ghost, looked up to heaven and said, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. I tell you, there is power in Christ to forgive anyone anything that they've ever done against you. And He demonstrated it at Calvary. And that power is your power this morning. Father, we pray the word of God will minister life to us. We pray, Lord, against the spirit of unforgiveness. We pray against it. We acknowledge it, Lord, as a work of the devil, a work of the fallen human nature. We absolutely desire, Lord, that you will grant us the conquering power in Jesus Christ against the spirit of unforgiveness and that we would never fall prey to it. Lord, I think about the beautiful lesson of Corrie ten Boom, who had to confront, in your sovereign way, a man who was responsible for the very persecution and death of her own sister. And how there she stood, face to face with this man, and she suddenly became aware that she had, in herself, the potential to become dreadfully unforgiving and bitter and hateful toward this man. But in a moment's time, she breathed out to you, Lord, and you filled her heart, you filled her being with that incredible, unbelievable, divine, forgiving love. And she spoke that love. She spoke based on not who she was as Corrie ten Boom after the flesh, but she spoke as who she was in the person of Jesus Christ and said, Can I forgive you? Hallelujah to God. Even as Paul prayed that he forgave such a man in the person of Jesus Christ. What liberty. Lord, do it this morning. Reveal in us, Lord, anything that might be there. Let's deal with it now so we can go on with you. Verse 21, Matthew chapter 18. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down on his feet and besought him saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. And his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wrath and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. Listen carefully, beloved. So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. And his Lord was wrath and delivered him to the tormentors. Now just for a few moments, listen carefully. The tormentors. Many of God's children are being tormented because of unforgiveness. God has delivered them to tormentors. Many different ways that God does this. But God is saying, forgive from your heart and you will be delivered from tormentors. Forgive from your heart. Even as your Heavenly Father has forgiven you. Jesus, teach us to forgive. Teach us to be moved with heavenly compassion. Teach us, Lord, to guard against unforgiveness and bitterness and resentment. Oh God, teach us to forgive. We acknowledge, Lord, that we live in a mean world, a tough world. And we acknowledge, Lord, that there's a lot of opportunities given to us whereby we can hold grudges in our hearts towards people. People have failed us. People have hurt us. People have disappointed us. People have even abused us and lied against us. And Lord, unless we are filled with your love, we will become unforgiving. So we ask that you would grant to us the forgiveness in thine own heart toward the one that sinned against us. And make that forgiveness our forgiveness in our hearts. So that we, from our hearts, might forgive everyone, his brother, their trespasses. Hallelujah to God. Thank you, Lord. Now, if God has shown you anybody that has sinned against you, that has resulted in you becoming unforgiving, you might not even know if you're unforgiving toward a certain person. And all I can say is this. Ask. Ask Father in Heaven. But if you are feeling challenged by the Word of God this morning, I want to say from the Lord, this challenge is coming so that you might see where sin abounds much more. Does God's grace. Ask. Beloved, I beg you by the mercy of God, do not ever, ever allow unforgiveness to live in your heart. If it's there, pray. Find someone that God has joined to you that you can trust. Confess it. Pray together. Unforgiveness is an evil cancer. Gangrene. It'll destroy. It'll eat you up on the inside. It'll affect your attitude and your words. Guard against unforgiveness. I know in the workplace, bitterness and unforgiveness prevails among colleagues. It prevails. Don't let it come in to the church. Luke chapter 11. Now, it's very important that we deal with this issue of unforgiveness because we can't talk about prayer if there's unforgiveness in our heart. Did you know that? Jesus emphatically taught that unforgiveness will hinder us from receiving the full bounty of what Father wants to give to us. So, therefore, a little lesson on forgiveness before we look into another lesson that Jesus would want to talk to us about this morning. Luke chapter 11. You see, Jesus is so interested in these things and he wants to talk to us about it. He doesn't want us to be unforgiving. He wants us to forgive our brothers and our sisters when they fail us. Think of somebody who has failed you. Think of just one person. Forgive them. Forgive them. Have compassion. Just think about how you failed the Lord and he forgave you. But you don't understand, Phil. This person... Have compassion. Yeah, but Phil... Have compassion. You owe me a million dollars and I loosed you of your debt. This fellow owes you ten cents. No matter how bad the scenario is, the Lord says it's a ten cents debt and you've got a million dollar debt. And I had compassion on you and I cancelled it. But, Lord... Have compassion. Oh, my Lord. Oh, my Lord, the liberty, the freedom, the weeping, the forgiveness, the flow, the fullness of the Spirit that would come, the joy, the healing that would come. Oh, not from some great theological revelation. The book of Ezekiel finally revealed. No. Compassion. Compassion. Baptism of compassion. Jesus was moved with compassion. Profound. So, let me tell you something, beloved, from the Lord. Listen. If you get interested in prayer, and you start feeling the Lord is moving your heart to where you want to enter into prayer, the life of prayer, you want to start coming into a place where you're praying and you're praying and you're interceding and you're asking God to move. Ah, you need to make sure that you let Him search your heart all the time because God says, my intercessor must have a clean and a pure heart. God says, my intercessor must be like me, like himself. You say, well, that's strange. Jesus said, be ye therefore what? Holy. For I am holy. He said, be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father. You know, that's a simile. Even as. You know, there was something then. Listen. There was some kind of quality in God himself that Jesus saw. And he said, gotta be in you. Wow. It's like, God is so different from us, but yet, hallelujah, through the new birth and through becoming partakers of the divine nature and through inheriting Christ's life, there is that which God is that he is making me. Not God. But he's making me what he is in what? Nature. Character. There is a quality in God that forgives his enemies and he wants that quality in us. There's a quality in God that blesses those that curse him. He wants that quality in us. What do you think the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places do when they come around with their stinking plan to try and mess up God's work and they see a Christian here and a Christian there and a Christian there blessing them that curse them, doing good to them that despitefully use them and who are forgiving those who have sinned against them? Do you think that that frustrates the devil more than anything? I say it does. Oh, he gets so angry when he sees the qualities of that Christ that they can't stand start shining through these earthen vessels. It torments them. They go back to hell and they have a meeting and they say, There's trouble going on in Hackettstown. There's trouble. And the devil says, What can be the problem? We have a great plan in Hackettstown. We have great tools. We have great devils and demons that are working in Hackettstown. And they say, But you don't understand. We see Him living in them. And the devil goes, Who? Him. Don't mention His name. You mean our enemy? And they say, Yes. We see these qualities that we don't know how to cope with. What kind of qualities do you see? We see them blessing those that curse them. I moved on somebody to slander that brother. And you know what he did? He went down to prayer and he started crying for that person and started praying that God would bless him, that God would help him. What do we do? And the devil's silent. And the devils are silent. And there's silence in hell. The devil says, You better do something because if this keeps up, we have lost the battle. Do you believe that? It's real. It's real. When you start becoming through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit like God, that's what power is. Several weeks ago while driving, I share this with a couple of brothers. The Lord comes to me and says, Son. Yes, Lord. It's a good response, isn't it? Yes, Lord. You want to say something? Just begin to think in your mind about my power. Wow. It's all right. So I start in Genesis, Gary. I start in Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And in my mind, I start going through the Bible book by book, book by book, and recalling all of the accounts that, in my opinion, in my opinion, showed forth the power of God creating the heavens, creating man. Oh my God, to Noah. Awesome God. Brings rain. Hallelujah. Then to Moses. And all the power that God worked through Moses. And I started going through the New Testament. And I started recalling the miracles that Jesus did. And all the incredible, what I perceive to be, the demonstrations of God's power. And I got to the end, and I sort of said, There you go, Lord. I just thought of all these things, Lord. It's awesome. And there was silence. And I knew the Lord was just about to talk to me. And he said to me, Son, you haven't really seen my power yet. And I said, Oh, Lord. I said, What did I forget? Fire coming down from heaven. I remembered Elijah, Lord. Lazarus. I remembered Lazarus. What great power, Lord. It's going to raise someone from the dead. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit comes to me. And opens up my spirit. And the eyes of my heart are enabled to look and see God and see into his heart. And I saw, for a moment, what God was. Not what he does. And the perfection of his character. That power. That is what makes me powerful. Not what I do, but who and what I am. And oh, how I began to weep as I saw the Lord and his heart. And then, I saw, in a moment's time, all the prayers of so many Christians. God! God! We want to see your power. We want to know your power. We want to be filled with your power. And I saw, and I heard, and I perceived what God was seeing, in a moment's time, as he beheld the earth and all the cries of his children. And I saw in the heart of the Lord a sadness. And that being that so few of his children are praying for that power. The power of being made like God. Being conformed into the likeness of the Savior. Beloved, the true power of God is Christ. Christ is both the wisdom and the power of God. It is a demonstration of God's power. The scripture says in Proverbs, a man who masters his own spirit is more powerful, more mighty than a man who takes a whole city. There's God's estimation of a man of power. You want to be a man of power. You want to be a man of power, a woman of power. Beloved, seek to know God. Seek to be made like God. Bless them that conform those who sin against you. Do good to those who despitefully use you. Pray for those who persecute you. Be compassionate. Be filled with tender mercies and love and kindness and gentleness. There is the power of God, beloved. And when God can find a people who know His power in that way, then, beloved, believe you me, it's from the Lord, it's from the scriptures. You won't want to be knowing the power of God's works. They'll just happen when God wants them to. When God puts it in your heart to believe Him for it, you'll just ask Him and God will do it. But God cannot do the things He wants to do because we must first know His power. Let me tell you the first and foremost reason why God has given us the power of the Spirit that's talked about in Ephesians, the power that's working in us, the strength, the might, all the words the Holy Spirit used to describe it. He just exalted the known vocabulary back then, strength, power, might, ability, competence, everything gathered together. All these words trying to describe the truth of this mighty awesome power that's working in us. The first and foremost reason why God has given it to us is not that we might do something but that we might become something. We might become sons of God, mature sons of God, perfect even as Father in Heaven is perfect. Demonstrating that quality that God alone has in Himself, that He demonstrated in His Son and that His Son is seeking to see in us. That's what God is after. That's the chief reason why the Holy Spirit has come to live with us, that we might be transformed and changed and transfigured into the image of God Himself, but yet remain human. And there is the Lord Jesus Christ, human. God, but human. But in His humanity we see what God is like. And in His body, which is one with Himself, not distinct, but one of the same womb, Christ now seeks to realize in His living stones all of those qualities that are found in Himself through His power working in us. Luke chapter 11. We're going to talk about prayer. Jesus talks about prayer then He tells a story and then He talks about prayer again. It is very important that we understand this and we're probably going to have to close after this and we'll just continue this as the Lord enables. Remember, unforgiveness. God is dealing with the heart. The heart must be right if we are going to be intercessors for God, if we're going to pray, if we're going to believe God, if we're going to ask God for great things, for big things, our heart must be right. And Jesus begins. And it came to pass that as He was praying in a certain place, ooh, that must have been a sight to see Jesus praying. Here Jesus was praying, a man whose heart was perfect before God, a man in whom there was no sin, a man in whom there was no guile, a man in whom there was no rebellion. Wow! Incredible prayer. But He was praying. When He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught His disciples. And He said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now, it's remarkable that Jesus was talking about prayer and all of a sudden He starts telling a story. Let's read the story. And He said to them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity. That word importunity means reckless audacity. Reckless audacity. So let's read it like that. Yet because of his reckless audacity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. Now verse 9, he gets what? He starts talking about prayer. Now listen, beloved. Jesus starts out talking about prayer and then He starts telling a story. Here's what Jesus was doing. Jesus was basically saying, Friends, He wants me to teach you about prayer. That's a wonderful thing. And He gave them a little model prayer and then He stopped. Because Jesus being the master of all hearts knew that their desire to want to pray and their effectiveness in prayer was not really going to happen until they recognized a lesson that this parable teaches. First of all, this parable teaches several things. Friend, lend me three loaves. First of all, the parable is teaching us that this friend came to his friend because he knew what? He didn't have any bread. But the second lesson is this. The bread was not for himself. It was for someone else. Our prayer life and our importunity and our reckless audacity becomes very pleasing to the Lord when the focus of it is off of myself and on others. That's a quality that is in God that He wants to see. A quality that He demonstrated in John 3.16. For God so loved the world that He gave. Oh, when the Lord sees the heart of His children weeping and bleeding and seeking and crying and asking because they want to. The Father is very pleased. I think Jesus looked at His disciples and loved them so much but sort of knew they were pretty preoccupied with themselves. And so therefore He was nice enough to give them a little model prayer and then He threw in, but let me tell you a story. When you all get to the place where you're begging me for bread because your nets are full and you've caught so many fish and you're overwhelmed at your own spiritual poverty and you see that people are in need and you come to me begging me for bread because you've got to give life to others. He said then you're going to plug into something. That's really wonderful. Now watch this. Not only did they recognize they had no bread, not only were they coming to God that they might have bread to give to others, but number three, they couldn't get the bread based on relationship alone. Friend, friend. Jesus Himself even calls us friends if we do those things that He commands us. But there's a place in God, there's a place in a walk with God where simply because of who we are in Christ, simply because of that is not going to move God's heart to give us what we're asking for. Now it's always because of that, but that alone, this is what Jesus was talking about here. They didn't appeal simply because He was a friend. The Lord wanted something to grow in them that resulted in a reckless audacity, a longing, an asking, a desperate, not because of who I am, but it's because of Christ. I'm a child of God. I don't earn anything. All of this is so true, and it's the foundation, and if we don't have this foundation, we get into a lot of trouble. It's all so true. Every word of it is true. We are friends of God. But beloved, Jesus said here, and I say to you, though He will not rise and give Him because He is His friend, there is a time in God's dealing with His children, and only God knows the time because God must have a history in our life. When God does not rise at our beckoning simply because we're His friend, He waits, and He watches, and He sees reckless audacity. Reckless audacity, boldness, importunity, hunger, craving, grow in us. And then what? Though He will not rise and give Him because He is His friend, yet because of His importunity, He will rise and give Him as many as He needed. And then verse 9, and I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that is asking receiveth, and he that is seeking finds. And to him that is knocking, it shall be opened. Now, you see the scenario now? The Lord has taught them on prayer, but has turned the whole thing around into a scenario where He is teaching them about a prayer that is being birthed out of a need for others, not simply based on being friends, but it is coming from a desperation, a cry, a craving, a reckless audacity, and it's in that scenario that God says, I will arise and give you everything that you need. That's what the Lord wants to do in our life. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will He give him a stone? Now, remember in the scenario now, the son is not asking bread. If we stay true to the parable of the lesson now, not that we can't apply it to ourselves, but the parable was, why were we asking bread? For someone else. So, see, we always come here and say, Father, I need bread. And that's all right. We all are in that place where we need bread from Father. But what about when we come to Father because our hearts are broken because we want bread to share with others? It's in that context that Jesus is trying to teach His disciples. And it's in that context, and this is very encouraging when we find ourselves in that situation. Many of us have faith. Oh, I know that when I need bread, God will give it to me because He knows I'm a needy person. But we can find in God the same faith because I tell you, beloved, that's going to happen to us. And it's not too far off. We're going to suddenly become desperately aware of our need to have bread from other people. We're going to go to this scripture, and we're going to say, If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give for a fish a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall Heavenly Father give? The Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Oh, there is volumes that we could spend here. Let's keep the same principle. Let's stay within the frame of mind of this little story. Why would we be asking for the Holy Spirit now? Beloved, God has a ministry for you. If I have any job as a preacher, it's simply this. I heard one preacher say, I read recently where a preacher, there's a tremendous gathering of believers, over 10,000. And so many times people will come and say, Oh, brother so-and-so, what a successful work you have done. And he says, Oh, no, he says, you misunderstood everything. He said, I'm nothing but a cheerleader. He said, people have done it through Jesus Christ. I haven't done nothing. He said, all I do is get up and just tell them what God says. And just get them to where they believe what God says. And once someone believes God, let them go. Set them loose. They'll set the whole town on fire. He's literally seen this happen. He says, I'm only a cheerleader. Beloved, I'm only a cheerleader. All I want to do is say, listen to what God's word says. Every one of you have a ministry. Every one of you is called into works of service. This right here is what must be quickened to us before the ministry that we've been called to engage in can truly become real. God has called us to be made whole so that we might share in the passion of Christ. Luke 5, 27. I close. And after these things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, follow me. And he left all rows up and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house. And there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, why do you eat and drink, publicans and sinners? And Jesus answered, said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I am not, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mark 2, verse 14. And as they passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom and said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, how is it that he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners? Then Jesus heard it and he said, they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And beloved, all that we have been taught, all that we have received from the Lord, from our history together, and we have all pretty much had the same history together, is going to end up bringing us into the reality of these scriptures right here that we spoke of this morning. This is from the Lord's heart. God is preparing us for the ministry. The ministry of bring a vessel, not a fume. The words of the prophet to the widow woman. Bring a vessel, not a fume. And how long did the oil pour? As long as there was an empty, and once there was no longer any empty vessels, the oil stayed itself. Stopped. I tell you, many places are drying up because the motives of the heart have gotten messed up, and we want more and more and more from God, but it's not for others. It's for ourselves. We're getting spiritually proud and distorted, and oh, look what I am, but God says, I want to fill you so that you might give. May God help us to hear His word this morning, and may God challenge every heart this morning to consider the words that were spoken. Deal with unforgiveness, and then start coming to Father about prayer. Prayer so that you can begin to share life with others. Now, Lord said, He's going to fill your auditorium. Let's not suppose that we're going to go home. You know how He's going to do it? He's going to do it because Joel is going to go to Eckerd Drugs. He's going to keep letting his light shine, and Lucy's going to let his light shine, and Carrie's going to keep working with those people in his neighborhood. I've got these Muslims now at Dunkin' Donuts reading the book that I wrote because he asked. We're getting him the book, I Dare to Call Him Father, by a converted Muslim. I come walking in there, and this is what they say. Oh, oh, please tell me about Jesus. You Christian? Tell me. He says, I read your book, and I'm highlighting everything I don't understand. Will you come in and explain to me all the things that I don't understand? Brothers and sisters. Yeah, yeah. They're being drawn by God. Listen. God's going to fill the house when we go out and compel them to come in. Compel. You say, oh, but we're so small. But God doesn't need anything big. He'll take what you are, just the littleness of what you are, and if you share it, it'll multiply. Do you believe that God can fill this for His glory? I do. Let's make sure we understand He's going to do it through selfless giving of bread to empty vessels. Let's bow. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the move of the Holy Spirit this morning. Thank You for freeing us, for healing us. We stand upon Your Word. I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that Your Word will prosper, that it will accomplish the purpose for which it was intended. I pray through the Word that that vision was born this morning, the vision, Lord, of the ministry of the Son of Man who has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Lord, I pray that You will reveal to everyone that is hearing the sound of my voice that they are called into the ministry, the ministry of being a minister of life, a steward of the bread of God, to be able to give it to people who are in need. God, I'm praying that everyone here will believe in what You are and who You are in them and that they will be enabled to share with others. And Lord, I'm asking for a miracle in the house, a miracle, Lord. Everything we have need of is already right in our midst. It is You. You are here. Take the little and multiply it, Lord, for Your honor and glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Hallelujah. It's 1235, so we've got 25 minutes to put things together, but the Lord bless you. And remember, keep praying, beloved. Keep expecting God to bring you opportunities to share life. And you watch what God will do if you but believe His Word.