In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of truly hearing and understanding God's word. He points out that many people in the church may physically be present, but they are not truly listening and receiving what God is saying to them. This lack of attentiveness and understanding hinders their ability to grow in their faith and disciple others. The preacher also highlights the need for believers to be skilled in using the word of righteousness, so they can discern between good and evil and live according to biblical standards. He shares examples of the power of prayer and the impact of a spiritual father in producing spiritual children.

...things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing. For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. And are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is obeyed. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. A good translation of that word perfection is maturity. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, and of doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. He said, let us go on unto maturity. Now, the title of my message tonight is simply this, it is time to grow up. It is time to grow up. A. W. Tozer in one of his books said, what the church needs today is a baptism of seeing clearly. And I feel like my dear friends and brethren, that what we have done today, we have compared ourselves to each other, and reached such a low level of spiritual immaturity, that if somebody ever comes along and tries to tell us we should be mature, we get upset with them. Get stewed, and mad, and puffed up. Well, here is a phrase in this text that I want to take a little poll tonight. You don't have to go along with it, but it would help if you would, just to be cooperative. But it says in verse number 12, for when for the time you ought to be teachers. Now, the better, I guess, translation should be, from since the time you got saved to now, some of you ought to be able to disciple others. Now, I want to take a poll. Has anybody in this building been saved one year or less, raise your hand. Great. How many of you have been saved between one year and five years, raise your hand. Amen. How many of you have been saved between five years and ten years, raise your hand. Amen. How many of you have been saved between ten and fifteen years, raise your hands. How many of you have been saved fifteen years or more, raise your hands. Amen. He says here, as long as some of you have been saved, you ought to be able to teach others. You ought to be able to disciple others. You ought to be able to lead others. But who do we think in the church is the one that ought to lead us all the time? Fine, okay. I'll go yell anyway, but if I'm hearing myself, I might not get too loud. Amen. The preacher. Why? Because we pay the preacher. So whenever everybody has a problem, who do they usually go to? The preacher. Do you know what a healthy church should be doing? The preacher is the one who equips the saints to do what? To do the what of the ministry? The work of the ministry. But we pay the preacher, that's what we're paying for. No, you don't pay the preacher anything. God uses you to meet His needs, but if He's a good preacher, He's equipping you to do the work of the ministry and minister one to another. Do you know why we can't minister one to another? We're too immature to help each other. We've got babies, and when babies try to minister one to another, they'll bite on each other's toes. They'll get to saying, goo goo ga ga, and go, wah wah wah wah. Do you see what I mean? And you see, in this text it says, some of you ought to be more mature than others. Now, briefly, I want to talk about some levels of spiritual growth. Quickly. And all of us start at this level. It's really not growth, but it's a good place to start. Every person in this world is born lost. What does it mean to be lost, preacher? That means you're dead in trespasses and sins. You're blinded by the God of this world. You walk according to the prince of the power of this air. The devil's your father. That's right. Every lost person that's lost, the devil is their father. But I go to church. I read the Bible. I do good works, you can still be lost as a goose. And in order for somebody to get saved, somebody has to be awoken to the fact that they're lost. And who's the only one that can wake them up so they're lost? The Holy Spirit of God, as the Word of God says, you're lost. That's where all of us start. All of us start at that level. The second level's this, a baby in Christ. Now, a baby in Christ is someone who has come to the conclusion they're lost. They've been birthed into the Kingdom of God by the Spirit of God. Their name has been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They received the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit. And babies in Christ know they've been forgiven. They know they're a new creation. They know that the Bible makes sense for a change. They love coming to church, don't they? If somebody's really been saved, you don't have to get them to come to church. They come because they love it. Yes, they're enthusiastic, they're thrilled, they're excited, they love Jesus, they're emotional. I mean, I'll tell you, when I got saved and got in church, I didn't know the hymns were so wonderful. I didn't know that preaching was so good. I didn't know this Bible had so many secrets. I didn't know that you could come to church and give to God. You know, babies are wonderful to have. But you don't want your child to be a baby all their life. You want them to grow up. You know, when you have a bunch of babies in the church, it is exciting to have a bunch of new converts. We had a couple rows of new converts that came in and, you know, they began to grow together. They're old street people. Girls have tattoos, you know, old harlot girls and dopers and mean, wicked people. You mean you take people like that? Yeah, I'd love to have a choir full of them. Why? Because they know where they came from. They appreciate Jesus. It's this crowd coming and think they're doing God a favor by joining your church. Amen. You know, I'm doing you a favor, preacher. I'll tell you what, I've got a wad full of money and great talent. Most of those people don't know God if He showed up in a ten-acre field. Amen. But when you have babies, it's exciting to have them because they stir up emotion. But it's not good to have them babies all the time. The second level of growth is a child in the faith. And if you want to find a scriptural reference, it's over in 1 John chapter 2. It says, little children, I write unto you because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. A child in the faith is someone who's grown to the place where they love to please their father. They have hard obedience. They've learned the principle of faithfulness. They've learned that the Bible's the plan to live life. They've learned that they must try to please God at all costs. They have no problem tithing. Preacher, when did you learn to tithe? Second week, I say. Did anybody preach on it? No. How do you know? God told me. How much money did you make? I made 70 bucks that week and I gave $7.50 just to let the devil know I was going to go overboard. Love Jesus. Amen. Was it a problem? No. I wish I could give it all to God if I could afford it. Why? Because I was so grateful for what God did for me. Preacher, do you have a problem coming to church every time the door's open? No. I wish they had it every day of the week. Why? Because I loved it. What do you think about hard preaching? Son, I loved it. Why? Because it always brought me to the altar. Almost the first couple of years, I got saved. Every service has it at the altar. Why? Because I thought the preacher followed me around. Because he preached on my sin every time I came to church. Amen. But did it make you feel bad? You'd better believe it made me feel bad. But I felt good once I got cleansed. Amen. See, some people don't understand it. Because they want to feel comfortable in their sins. Well, God's always going to discomfort you when you live in sin. And a child loves it. And a child, you know, loves to tell people about their daddy. You ever seen a child that's proud of their parents? So let me tell you about my daddy. He does so and so. Listen, somebody that's a child of a faithful boy, they'll go around bragging on Jesus. They'll witness the squirrels and trees if they get saved. Amen. Do you understand what I mean? I mean, a child is someone who... And you know what children do? They have growing pains. When you have children in your church that are growing normally, they'll say, preacher said, I'm having trouble getting rid of this sin. Man, I'm having problems and bumps and grinds. See, when a child goes through adolescence, they're learning how to mature. And you know what a child begins to see? A child begins to see they're worse enemies than themselves. They got an old, selfish, self-centered nature that must be crucified with Christ. And they must be filled with the Holy Spirit. But they have struggles. See, children have struggles. But that's normal. You know what the problem is? People have been saved 40 years having struggles when they should have got victory a long time ago. The next level is what I want to call young men in the faith. And that's found also in 1 John chapter 2. And it says here, young men, I have written you because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. I want you to notice something about a young man in the faith or a young woman in the faith. They have come to the place where they are absolutely strong in spiritual might. That means they've learned how to consistently be filled with the Spirit of God and live the crucified life. No longer I but Christ Jesus lives through them. And they also are so involved with the Scripture that the Word of God is not in their mind, it's in their soul, but it's lived through their lives. They've learned such lessons that they don't have any problem loving their enemies. That's no big deal. That's settled. The Word of God is so abiding in them, the minute somebody, you know, ruffles their feathers, they'll go through their emotions and get all riled up, and then the Word of God will grip them, and the Spirit of God will grip them and say, Oh, I love you anyway, brother. You can be mad at me all you want to, I love you in Jesus. Rather than going, snorting like old Bill said, Ah, rah, rah, rah, rah. You know what I mean? Amen? Hey, listen. If somebody's strong and the Word of God abides in them, the Bible tells me exactly everything ought to do, and I don't have any problem making decisions in life. God's already made them for me. Amen? I don't have to worry about praying. I don't have to worry about giving. I don't have to worry about witnessing. I don't have to worry about loving. That thing's settled because the Word of God has so been ingratiated in my life. The life of Christ lives out the Word of God. That's somebody that's a young man. But here's the good thing. He's overcome the devil. Somebody that's a young man in the faith can whip the devil. I mean, I'm not talking about just saying, You demons, get off this city. Anybody can pray there. I'm talking about backing them off. That's right. I'm talking about understanding how they operate too. That's why Paul said, We're not ignorant of the devil's devices. Ignorant of the devil's devices. Most people are. Why? Because he's got them in a monkey wrench and they don't know it. Most church members I meet cooperating with the devil, Brother Neal. I'm thinking they're cooperating with God. Can't see the devil's plans. Why? Because until you get mature enough to see the devil and know what your weapons are, the Word of God, the blood of Jesus, the legal victory of Calvary, I mean, the command of faith, and son, you've got yourself an arsenal of spiritual swords. If the devil comes out, son, you can rip his head off. I mean, how many warriors, Brother Preacher, you've got, son, they've got fresh swords hanging out all over them, you know, like commandos when they come in church, ready to take the devil on a few steps in the service. You know what I mean? I mean, they've got a fresh... God gave me this one, devil be gone, devil be gone, rather than sitting out there and... Well, I wonder why the service is so dead. I guess the preacher didn't have a good week. I wonder why I'm not enjoying the church service. I think I'm going to move down to Ichabod Baptist Church where I feel bad at. You know what I mean? Rather than saying, Preacher, I'll let you know if a demon walks in here, son, he's got to deal with me. I've got a fresh sword. And sense him when he comes in. By the way, he can get in the service real quick. He usually comes in with people that's giving him ground. With bad attitudes and unrepentant hearts. And when they bring him in, I wonder why. You can't be blessed, folks, until you get your lives clean. Don't ever expect to get blessed in the house of God until you mean business. That's why David hung his harp on the willow tree for a year. And every time he went to the temple, he complained about how bad the music was and how bad the reading of the Word was because he said, I couldn't even hear God for a year because he's out of fellowship with God. But a young man said, That old boy... Now listen, that's not all of it. There's a father in the faith. A father in the faith is somebody that's grown enough. And here's a Scripture about the Father. It said, I have written you fathers because you have known Him that is from the beginning. A father in the faith is someone who has so grown that he has such an intimate, personal relationship with God that God reveals His secrets to fathers. His purposes. And a father is so intimate with his Heavenly Father that he absolutely has the ability in prayer to change circumstances. Praying Hyde was a father in the faith. He could walk in a church service in England that was dead when Wilbur Chapman was preaching. He said it was like everybody were stoned Indians. His words were bouncing back to him. And he noticed a man roll on the back row and drop his head. And somebody slipped him and put a note on his Bible and said, Praying Hyde is here. And he wanted to let us know that he's praying for the service. And the minute that man dropped his head, he said, it's like somebody turned the light on and the warmth of God fell on that thing. And 50-something people got saved because a father walked in and started praying. Wilbur Chapman said, he asked Praying Hyde, could he pray with him? And Hyde said, let's pray. And for five minutes, Praying Hyde didn't say a word. And then when he got ready to say a word, he said, Oh my God. You know what happened? Praying Hyde said, when Praying Hyde started praying, Wilbur Chapman said this, he said, I dare not open my eyes lest I see God. I'll tell you something else about a spiritual father. A spiritual father produces children. What do you mean? Through their life, through their ministry, through their prayer life, through their giving, they are reproducing after themselves where they have mature children come out of it. Now, what level are you at? What level am I at? Now, first of all tonight, I want you to notice this. And let us have a word of prayer and just ask God to open our eyes and remove any distractions, okay? Lord, we simply ask You, as You already are speaking, to remove any distractions, any noises, any movement. We can all settle in and focus in on God. And I pray as we move into the meat of the text, that there be a special anointing, a special moving. Even with the children out there, Lord, playing, that that would not hinder anybody from hearing from God. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. First of all tonight, I want to talk about the fruit of spiritual immaturity. The fruit of spiritual immaturity. We find the first fruit in verse 11, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. The first fruit of somebody, the spiritual immaturity, they are dull of hearing. That word dull is an interesting word in the Greek language. It actually is symbolic of a numb limb of a dying animal. Several years ago in Maryland when I was pastoring, my kids came running in the house and said, Daddy, Daddy, there's a raccoon laying next to this tree breathing hard. Daddy, Daddy, I don't know what he's going to do. It's a great big old about ten pound raccoon out there, turned over on the side, breathing. So I got about a five foot pole. You mean, preacher, you weren't going to go up there and pet it? No. He might have rabies. He could bite me. He'd be playing possum. I wanted that dead raccoon. I punched him back away and that raccoon didn't move. I punched him again and I punched him again and I punched him again. That raccoon could not respond to the plugs because it was eaten up with disease and by the next morning it flipped over and died. Do you know there are many Christians who become so dull and numb to God that God can't talk to them. We have people that like going to a cafeteria. They look at God's Word like a smorgasbord and they like to pick out the comfortable truth. Heaven. Everybody wants to hear about heaven. Salvation, if you say it, salvation doesn't bother you. Amen? Unless you preach like one I did Sunday morning. Amen? God's love. God's love doesn't bother you. But what if someone preaches about taking up the cross and following Jesus? Giving sacrificially. Dying to self. Letting God break your rocky heart. And see, when people are dull at hearing, they won't hear what God is saying to them. And I tell you, there are folks that can go to church and they can sleep. They can nod out. They can run all over the place in their mind. They can daydream and they haven't for years heard what God's been saying. Number two, they're not able to disciple others. Verse number 12. For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracle's God. Now, the word teacher there actually means discipler. That means somebody that's a spiritual baby and spiritually mature cannot with their life teach others how to live. In other words, we ought to be so full of life that when somebody comes to the church that's a baby in Christ, we all may say, and watch me, friend, and you'll learn how to walk with God. Amen? That means you're so confident that you're walking with Jesus, whether you be a child or a young man or a father, that your life has such life, this supernatural life, that somebody gets around you and gets spiritually warm. Some people get around you, you got to backslide. You know, there's some people actually in order to have them being your friends, you had to backslide to start talking to them. That's why some of you have never grown. You've chosen the wrong friends in the church. But I like them. How can you like somebody that doesn't love Jesus? I'm talking about not loving them, but like to be around them, where you'd love to be around them and hear what they had to say and do what they like to do and listen to their nonsense. Because the devil will yoke you up with somebody negative. I know you don't have any people like that around your preacher. Everybody's positive. Loves and growing. And I had a crowd. The devil had them hanging out in the hallways, far could preach, trying to pick me off with negative things. You can't disciple others. Also, you can't restore the fallen. Ye which are spiritual, restore such one with the spirit of meekness. That word means restore, means like setting a broken bone. You know, there are some people who have been so injured by the devil that it takes special surgery to get them back into the body of Christ and get them spiritually fit. You know what we do? We take a stick and whack them. You know, and we've got sin in our life. If you've got sin in your life, you can't restore the fallen. You know the best way to restore the fallen? Tell them how bad you've been the way they have. Tell them how you fell, how you got victory, and how you can identify with them and pick them up and say, listen, I know where you're at, but I'll tell you where you can go. Get up. Can't disciple others. Number three, you have a diet of spiritual baby food. Verse number 12, D, and are become such as have need of milk and not strong meat. Everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Somebody that's spiritually mature has to receive from others. They can't feed themselves. I want to ask you a question. When your little kids were little, could they get up in the middle of the night and get themselves a bottle? No, and when you got that bottle, what? You had to test it, make sure it's just warm enough. If it's too hot, they wouldn't drink it. Too cold, they wouldn't drink it. You had to get it just right. Once you had to get that old baby in. Stick that bottle in his mouth. Man, that sucked that thing. Now, what you do after you start sucking that bottle, you had to get him on your shoulder and burp him. Then if it wasn't enough, you had to get a little more. My boy could suck down a bottle of eight ounces like a vacuum cleaner. He'd just suck it down. He'd burp, boop, and get all over me. You know what I mean? You know, there are people in the church, pastor, you know what you have to do every Sunday? Walk from one to one, make sure their bottle's just right, and get old Miss Immaturity up and say, come on now, baby, suck on this milk of the Word of God. Burp him. Go over here and get this one burping. Listen, if you are grown at all, you can get in that book and get yourself a meal easily. And after a while, the milk... My boy got dissatisfied with milk. He had to have cereal mixed with milk. And after a while, he didn't want a bottle. He wanted some Gerber baby food. He liked meat sticks when he got two big chompers up here and two big chompers right there. So he was pumping up. Then he started to like some of our food, especially that stuff that was soft and had flavor. He didn't want Gerber baby food. It's too plain. So he wanted to buy my chicken. Right. And before you know it, he wanted to buy my beans. And before you know it, son, that boy didn't want you to feed him. He wanted to do it himself. He'd put all his hair, you know, and stick it around his ear, you know. But he was trying to eat quiet because if you grow normally, you'll want to feed yourself because you don't want to be dependent on others for your growth. But most people, what you got to do, pastor, is keep them. Birth them. Give them baby food. Pet them up. Say, oh, I'm sorry you're upset about that sermon. Oh, please don't leave the church. We can't do without you. That's what most pastors do. Now, I know yours doesn't. Amen. He's too much like me. He's like the rest that make me feel good. I want to ask you a question. When your baby was first born and got in that high chair, did you give them a fork and knife and T-bone stakes and have at it, baby? No, because they probably stuck themselves with a fork and cut themselves. See, a lot of people need help, but after a while, they got to learn to feed themselves. Number four, they're deficient and skillfully using the word of righteousness. But strong need belongs to them who are full of use, who even by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. That means they're so deficient in using the word of righteousness that they can't discern what's good and evil. You know, somebody that's immature can't figure out what's right and wrong, so when somebody lifts up a big biblical standard, they argue with it. That's why when you tell young people not to date unbelievers, they get upset. And the parents can't see it. They can't see that there are certain things in the world you don't need to monkey with. That means when somebody says you need to be faithful to church, you won't say, well, I'm busy. It's settled when you get saved. God makes decisions, you don't. Time is never a choice, it's an act of will. God's already made the choice, He told me to do it. I mean, I figured that out quick. That means that the world couldn't be my friend. That means I lost every friend I had after I got saved. Did it bother you for a while until I realized I had a friend that stood closer than a brother? And God raised up new friends that helped me walk with God. Amen. I began to find out my home is in heaven, not this earth. I'm a pilgrim walking through this world, and I began to discern there are traps of the devil, that I need to walk holy and in a straight line, and there are certain things that the worldly crowd could do that I couldn't do anymore. Did it bother you? No, because my Jesus knew better than I did. I lived too stupidly for years. I had to trust Him for a change. But there are people in the church, brother pastor, you begin to talk about standards, you begin to talk about living right, you begin to talk about living holy ghost living, you begin to talk having biblical separation, and they whine like babies. Why? Because they're spiritually immature and they've never grown up. And let me tell you, folks, we didn't join a country club, we joined an army when we got saved. We didn't join a place where babies... Listen, all the churches have become is a pleasure center for people to be pampered. And when somebody talks about being in an army and having spiritual warfare, and going out and reaching your city for Christ, and seeing the Spirit of God break people, people say, that's too ridiculous, it's too intense. Hey, folks, everybody look in the Bible, Paul was in the middle of hell taking hell on! That's how that Bible was birthed, when a man walked with God in the middle of hell. And yet when somebody talks about warfare and conflict and living right and sacrifice, most people say, well, I can't have a good time. God never said you'd have a good time, but He said you'd have peace in the middle of hell. And that's the fruit of spiritual immaturity. What's the frustration of spiritual immaturity? What happens when you have a bunch of spiritually immature people in your church, or around Christians that are spiritually immature? Well, number one, there's a communication problem. Have you ever gotten around a baby? Have you ever seen grown adults around a baby? How do grown adults talk to babies? Well, whenever a baby came through harvest, you know, and leaving, I'd say, hello, young man, what do you think about the political scene? Do you really believe that Bush is going to win? Or so and so? What do you think about the situation with the economy? Do you think the interest rates are going to fall? What's that baby going to look at me and go... Look at me? How do you talk to a baby? You go... I've seen grown, sophisticated adults. You know why? Because babies only understand baby talk. Do you know what happens when you have a bunch of babies in your church? You can't talk about the deep spiritual things of God. They get disinterested and frustrated and want to go over here where somebody talks about sports or politics or whatever because they can't understand what you're talking about. So that's why when you have a pastor that feeds his church meat, they get upset and say, I don't like what I hear. Hello? Phone's ringing. Isn't that right? He began with somebody and said, Brother, what's God doing in your life? What? How's your prayer life? What? What's God been teaching this world? What? But I'm a member of Elias Baptist Church. I'm faithful. I'm a tour. What? You can't even find that crowd this week and say they write with God. They don't even know you. Let me tell you something else about a baby in communication. If you don't talk to them just right, they get feelings hurt. You ever seen babies when you don't talk to them just right, Sunday they'll pitch a squall and see it and want, Mom, I was trying to get one last night, trying to come to me, give me the look now. Clinging on, you know, Come here, baby. Come here, baby. If I had picked that baby up, she would've... You know, been kicking, you know. If you don't treat babies and talk to them just like a church preacher, they'll get mad and pout and go and take the ball home with them. And the money too. That's the first thing. Well, let's tell you one thing, I'll show them, I'll hold my money out. Number one, it's not their money. Number two, it's not them to decide where the money goes. Let me give you something to help me with giving. My old friend Manly Beasley said, Son, you obey God and give where He tells you to give it. And if they flush her down the commode, you're safe. That'll help you with your giving because, see, we want to give where we want to give and want them to spend it the way we want to. And what we're saying is, I want to be Lord over what's mine. I'm going to get my fit inserted. I don't like that young revivalist. I don't like the way he carries on. That's nothing but emotion. Folks, God's been talking it, and this is the way I am. I've worked through it. That's the way God blesses me. And if I was one of these stiff-necked teachers, you know, I'm not saying they're all wrong, this would appear and talk in these wonderful tones and tell you how God loves you. And I just want to let you know, you're such wonderful people. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that's within me, bless His holy name. And we don't need revival, we're in Christ. Phony baloney. And God's been talking to you, but some of you have stuffed your ears up with cotton, don't want to hear it. Number two, there's a problem when you have a bunch of babies, there's a problem with caring for them. Why? Because babies can't feed themselves, so you had to feed them. So the pastor has a pacifier for Miss Flapjaws and a sucker for Mr. Hardhead. And you have some toys for Mr. Dooflunky over here that just can't understand. And you know, he's got to pacify them every Sunday to keep that crowd. Got to brag on them at least once a month and thank God for the fliers they put in the church. And recognize that pew was bought by them. And thank God that when they miss, when they come back after two weeks, you had to recognize that you missed them for two weeks, even though they were mad at you. I had this lady, she was mad as a horn at me for a month. Somebody run up and said, Preacher, please recognize so-and-so, she's finally back out at church. And if we recognize her, we might keep her. What did you do? I didn't recognize her. I'm the only person I want to talk about Jesus, amen? Can't feed themselves, so therefore when you try to give them a good meal, they get choked on it. You know, you feed them one good meal, it's good for a month, that's why they never come back. And we're worried about that crowd, we miss them. I guess we miss them folks, but after a while, let them go and get a new crowd. They don't want to get a new crowd that wants God, amen? If you had to pamper them and beg them and whine with them, they're always bucking up and fussing and carrying on and pitching against the preacher. Let them go on down the road, somebody else can handle that crowd. How do you handle them? Give them what they want. What else about a baby? You've got to watch babies, they're going to get in trouble. You ever seen a baby, first thing they get crawling in, they see a light socket? Get a knife, zzzzt. You see, when they learn to crawl, when they're climbing on top of everything, you know, about ten feet off the ground, saying, you know, you're running after them. Why do you put light sockets? Because babies had to be watched, they're going to get in trouble. And if you've got a bunch of babies in your church, the preacher and the deacons and all the others, you've got to watch that crowd or they'll cause trouble all the time, running their mouths and biting on people and getting in trouble. How do they get in trouble? They come with no sorry attitude, sitting there like they dare you to mess with them. You know, everybody else can be laughing and be like this. That's not very funny. You know why you're not? You don't have any joy in your heart, friend. I had a crowded harvest, they sat on my left-hand side, about three rows of them about this far over, and all, birds of a feather flock together, usually sit together, you know, and act the same. All of them right together. Sit together. I'd be preaching the Law of the Son of God just getting on the place, and about four or five of them right there with me in that crowd sort of like this. How did they walk down? Good as he passed down. Why? You had to watch that crowd. We had to put the blood of Jesus all over them, bind demons off of them, cut off negative blood. Isn't it a shame you had to fight warfare with the people that were on your army? You can't concentrate on lost people. You're too busy trying to keep the crowd from stirring up a mess, to keep the church from breaking up, so you can't reach lost people. You've got to watch out for the spiritual babies in the church house. They used to pout because they didn't get their way twenty years ago when they put down red carpet rather than blue. Let me tell you something else about spiritual babies, about the care. If you don't give them a constant attention, they get puffed up. Isn't that true? You've got a bunch of babies, you've got to be recognized. How do some people get recognized? They want to have their say-so all the time. Or want to get up and have a say-so in church all the time. You know what happened to me one time at my church? When I was a spiritual baby, my preacher didn't ask me to pray for two months. And when I did, I got mad at him. Why? Because I thought he was slighting me? No, he probably sensed I wasn't right with God and knew if I prayed, I couldn't get through to heaven. Isn't it a shame you had to call on people, preacher, to keep them in church? And I've been so guilty until God got me free of the fear of man one time. Why I quit calling on certain people? Why? Because I knew they couldn't hit heaven because they had sin in that. Why do you want to call somebody to pray you know they're not right with God? Huh? Well, he gives to the church. He's a good man. You can be just as good and give them a chance and be wrong with God. But when you don't pay attention to them, they get mad. They don't appreciate me down there anymore. Preacher, you sound like you pastored a Baptist church. You better believe it. I had a whole sack full of babies. That thought they were mature. And that's the worst kind you'd have because they had a bunch of knowledge up here, but they act like a bunch of devils half the time. That's the crowd that's hard to deal with, preacher. A bunch of them have been in church all and God all up here, but they never learned the flesh after living Christ's life. And when you try to tell them, they say, baby, you're a young old buck. You're only 40 years old. I'm 60 and been saved 40 years. I know more than you. Do you know how you can tell somebody's mature? They have a teachable spirit and anybody can teach them. Let me tell you something else about babies. I'm not quite through at this point. It costs you to keep babies. Have you ever seen the cost of a pack of Pampers now? Semilac and Infamil and Gerber baby food. Son, it costs you a fortune to have a child. And let me tell you something. When you have children in your church, you'll have to compromise to keep them. I'm not talking about normal growth period, but after about a year, son, that crowd ought to be out of babies. I'll be out of Pampers, spiritual Pampers. They ought to have at least the training to be crawling around the church, preacher. I'll be at least crying for some Gerber baby food from the pool pit. Amen? But you got a bunch of babies. You know what you're going to have to do? You're going to have to give them exactly what they want to keep them. And then when you do that, you stunt the other people's growth. Let me tell you something that's costly about having spiritual babies. They're always fighting with one another. Have you ever gotten two babies together and left them in the room alone? I was about two years old. I had a friend of mine. A friend of my family's had a little girl. Her name was Marsha Ford. Marsha grew up to be one of the most intellectual doctors in America. Just a year ago, she made the highest score on the medical test in her field in America. Brilliant lady. But when we were growing up, we played together. I know Marsha got her two chompers. And she was crawling around the floor and took a look at my big tub. And needless to say, she had a feast on it, my brother pastor, and chomped on that. And what did you do? I didn't say, praise the Lord, hallelujah. That feels good. I was laughing at her and stuff. Man had bite prints. You know why? Because babies will chew on one another. You know how you can tell the maturity of a church? Who is immature? Who's chewing on one another? Who's talking? Who's running their mouths? Who's on the hotline of hell around here talking about this meeting? But they don't like it. Folks, Sunday morning, I preached a baby food message on salvation. That choked the crowd. That's baby food, friend. You ought to know a sheep follows a shepherd. You all know the sheep hears his voice. You all know the sheep that loves to be in the flock. You all know if you have good seed, it's filling a hundred folks. You don't know the devil that can fool you. Why is that crowd running? Because they're showing their colors, friends. And some of you are showing your colors tonight because you don't like this summer. Well, preacher, how in the world can we get out of being babies? I'm glad you asked the question. Oh, you didn't ask it, did you? I did. Right on, son. Right on. I want to talk about the freedom from spiritual immaturity. We've had some fun, but it's been serious, honestly. And the reason I have a little bit of humor, because sometimes if you hit both barrels, you couldn't handle it. But it's pretty heavy. Because this is true, because a lot of us act that way sometimes, folks, even though we don't laugh about it. Four steps to be mature. Number one, leave the baby food alone. It said, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ. That means getting them down pat and going on from them into maturity. What are the baby food? Knowing why you're saved, what salvation means, what the blood means to you, what propitiation, sanctification, atoning work of the cross means, and know that Jesus Christ is one with you and you're one with Him, and that you're secure in Him, and know salvation up and down, and how to get folks saved. That's baby food, Dr. Folks. Know about eternal judgment. Know that you're supposed to serve God. Know that you're supposed to walk with the King. Get the basic things down, and then from there, go on in maturity. But leave the baby food alone. You don't have to have baby food every Sunday. I know a church's brother pastor. If the pastor didn't preach a salvation message every Sunday morning, they'd get mad. And they're preaching to the same crowd every Sunday. Why? They want to hear salvation. It doesn't get them under conviction. Isn't that right? I rarely preach salvation sermons Sunday morning. Why? Because I want the lost person in to get saved. In fact, the Bible never told the world to come in the church. It said for the church to go in the world and win. And until a church gets revived, you're not going to get a bunch of lost people in here because you won't have enough spiritual power to pray them in. Number two, listen to the teacher. Who's our teacher? Well, the Holy Spirit. I enrolled in the University of the Holy Spirit. First day I got saved. He gave me a textbook, the Word of God. He sent me to school. What? The local church. And every time... Listen, I want to ask you a question, parents. If your children decided that they didn't want to go to school but twice a week, what would you say to them? You're going. Why? Because if you don't go, what? You're going to flunk out. I wonder what God thinks when His dear children go to school. His dear students in the University of the Holy Spirit won't go to the spiritual classroom Sunday morning, Sunday night, Sunday school, Wednesday night. And He said, go to school. I said, I don't go. I've got enough Sunday morning. No wonder we've got a bunch of spiritual babies preaching. Well, I don't like the teacher. A bunch of them I didn't like, but that's the ones I learned under the most, the ones that were the toughest. Amen? Yes. Listen to the teacher. Who? The Holy Spirit. Can the Holy Spirit at any time of day tell you what to do? I was walking up the street the other day. I told you a preacher. I was walking along and the Spirit of God said, kneel right here on the sidewalk and pray. One block off Main Street. And I kneeled like this and got to pray. Well, an old fellow walked by me and thought I was sick. Tapped me on the shoulder and said, young man, are you okay? I said, sir, I'm just fine. My God told me to pray. He said, oh, walked on off. Why'd you do that? I had to obey God, folks. How do you know who God's talking to? I've known Him for 17 years. I know the voice of my God. Don't you? You know what our problem is? We've already programmed our minds to dictate to God what He can tell us to do. I really didn't want to come out to Nebraska. I'll be honest with you. I didn't want to come out here to Nebraska. Why? He knows that and he had to pray me out here. I was ready to back out. I didn't want to come out here. Why? Because I was missing my family. I didn't know what was going to go on out here. Amen. I was worn out and tired. Why'd you go? My God told me, go, son, go. And when I got peace, I told the brother. Here's what I feel like God... He said, brother, I can live with that too. We hooked up with the Holy Ghost. Yes. Listen to the teacher. Have you been listening to the teacher this week or have you been an F-minus student? Trying to tell the teacher what the lesson is. If you know so much, friend, show me your fruit. If you know so much about being spiritual, why don't you write a Bible that's better than the one I got? If you're so spiritual, how's your family? Is that good for you? Number three, long for maturity. You know what's going to get you mature? You're never satisfied where you're at. You've got to get on, on, on, on. Oh, I'm perfectly comfortable with where I'm at. You're backsliding, slidding in, and you make God vomit. Because lukewarm people makes God throw up. Have you ever had a human person walk up to you, Brother Neal, and say, Listen, this lick of you makes me throw up. And had somebody vomit in front of you? Wouldn't that be an awful thing to live through? Talking about rejection. Do you know something, folks? There's a lot of people that turn to God's stomach every time they come to church. Why? Because they're lukewarm. Preacher, I want to ask you a question. How many people you know that want God so bad, they're willing to absolutely do anything to go further with God? And when you get around them, you think they're rare birds. No, they ought to be normal. Have you ever seen... Remember, my boy is ten years old. He told me the other day, he said, Daddy, I'm getting hair on my face. And he said, Daddy, I think I'll be shaving pretty soon. And he said, I said, Joel, are you noticing the girls? He said, yep. Ten years old. I said, oh, God. And why is he doing that? Because he's not satisfied being a little boy. He knows he has to grow up. You know what I've done in my life to keep me satisfied? I've got around people that are so far down the road with Jesus that when I get around them, I feel like a baby. All because God's... There's a three-fold lesson, and I'll close this thing out. Number one, the first lesson you've got to learn, have the right purpose for living. Now, I want to ask you a question. Help me out. What's our purpose for living as Christians? Somebody tell me. Amen. You've been taught right. Now, I want to ask you this. If that's settled, and that's the lesson you've learned, then that settles every decision you make in life. Because can this glorify God? Can staying home on Sunday night glorify God? Can holding your money out on God glorify God? Can sinning glorify God? Can being angry glorify God? So, that's settled. So, I've settled that. Everything I do ought to bring honor to God, not me. You know, when I told God before I came here, Brother Pastor, I hadn't told you this, so I better tell it if God did it. I said, God, if you send a full-fledged revival that swept that town, if the newspapers came there, I say, I don't want you to put my name in that thing. Just say, there was a revivalist. And don't put my name. And I'm going to keep that if it did happen. Why? Because God says, are you willing to get so far back in the background nobody knew you had anything to do with? By the way, we don't have anything to do with it. We're just hooking up with God. Amen? Is that your purpose for living? You want most people's purpose for living? Have a good time. Feel good. Make some money. Go on vacation. Be popular. Be cool. Be good looking. Be handsome. Have a nice car. Have a nice home. Have wonderful children. Have a nice home life. That's not it. Does it glorify God? Most churches don't function to glorify God. They function to please themselves. What can I get out of it? I thought it was what I was supposed to give into it. You know what worship is? When I lay on the altar everything that's precious and let God have it. That's worship. Because Abraham, when he took Isaac up there, said, we're going to worship him. He laid his precious possession on the altar, willing to kill him for God. That's worship. Out of worship comes praise. You've got to have the right premise in life. What's that? The Scriptures. See, if you've made that a priority, then every decision in life is made. Isn't that wonderful? Don't have to try to figure anything out. It's already said. See, that helped me choose my friends after I got saved. I couldn't hang around lost people anymore, except to win them to Jesus. I couldn't go to parties anymore. I couldn't date lost girls anymore. I couldn't spend my money the way I wanted to anymore. Because God owned everything. I suddenly realized every cent I had in my pocket, God owned. So, if God owned it, out of it was simply the dispenser. Isn't that wonderful? I hope you don't look at it. That's narrow, preacher. Yes, it is. It narrows the way that leads to eternal life. And if there be fit in there. Preacher, you know why people buck up the narrow way? They never got in it. They're on the broad way, you try to get them in the narrow way, they're like this. They're just showing their colors. They're not born again. Real born again crowd, they're on the narrow way, and they get out. You know what God's going to do? Whomp them back in it. Put them under conviction. That's the kind of wife I picked. God said get a saved, on fire, God-loving girl, that I picked, and God even said, she might be ugly. I didn't like that part. I really got afraid about that. I like pretty girls. Amen? I saw one ugly girl looking at me, she said, no God, no. When it settles, that you need to be spirit-filled. It's settled. Got to be. If you're not, you're not right. Then the right priorities in life. The right priorities in life. So you got to grow. If you don't have priorities, you don't grow, do you? What's my priority? There are threefold. Number one, I got to be the right person to God every day. That's a priority. Is that a priority to you? That before you walk out of your house, nothing between your soul and your Savior. You spent quality time in the Bible. You've gotten before God with your life, and you're His completely, and He's filled you, and you're going to walk according to His, let Him order your steps that day, even if it doesn't make sense to you. Is that a priority? That's a priority. If that's a priority, you're going to grow. Why? Because God talks to me out of His book, and then He's going to bring other things in my life to help me grow. What's going to help you grow? He's going to put me in the middle of pressure to form truth. You know what's going to happen to some of you that met God this week? God's going to put you in a hornet's nest about two weeks down the road to see if you're going to live up to what you said. Don't go, Oh, that's wonderful. Why? Because God's ordering you to put things in your life to show you if it's really real. You know why we short-circuit growth? We want to have tiptoe-to-the-tulip kind of Christianity. Nuh-uh, son. God puts me in a trial and makes me live the Word of God, and when I get it down to trial, son, it works all the time until a bigger one comes and God says, I'm going to drive it deeper in your soul, preacher, until it becomes a part of you, my word. I'm the right person to God. That's why I like to get around hot places, what you mean, where the preaching's hot, the praying's hot, the life's hot, the commitment's hot. I know your pastor, when I met him, I said, he's about one of the few men that burns me out. What you mean? He's intense. Do you like that? You better believe it. Can you want God to show me? I said, preacher, turn the heat up. I thought everybody ought to be on fire. I thought everybody ought to be in love with Jesus 100%. I thought everybody ought to be just absolutely so enthused about Jesus that you'd get out on the street corner and say, glory, glory, glory, I'm saved. I can't stand it. But preacher, that's ridiculous. That rock and roll crowd that go up and down the streets of your city, those boom boxes going, ahhh, party boogie all night long, baby, and shout at you. And then your preacher gets there and says, hey, come to church to get saved, and you go, that's not my preacher. Amen? And you say you're full of God, and you all say, yes, come, I want you to come too. We're ashamed of Jesus. You know why? Because we love ourselves and our reputation and our sin more than we love our God. We don't have a priority of being right with God. We want to be right with what we won't feel like is being right. Some of you may, if you mind, you're right with God. After this week, you know you're not. And then I've got to be the right partner to my mate. That's my second priority. That's where we flunk out. See, my wife needs to know that I love her the way Christ loves the church. That I'm her partner, her protector, and her purifier. And she knows that I am her leader, not her boss man. That word head doesn't mean spiritual gear sergeant's lady when he comes in. Where's the breakfast? Yes, sir! The breakfast is right over here. It doesn't mean that in the Greek. It means to be a conductor of a symphony. In other words, you have such confidence that his walk with God is so right that as he leads him in the music in the home, you can follow the music because he's walking it, living it. You know what starts most of my family's problems? Me, when I get out of contact with God. That means I had to read my wife's spirit. What do you mean? I don't read her mind or her lips or emotions. I read her spirit to see where she's at with God. My wife's gone through a difficult period of time of moving from Hagerstown, living in the Airstream for four months, having her get sick, moving with her mama in Georgia, and you start homeschooling in the middle of the year, as a lady, without really preparing, with two kids that are about as violent as I am. Can you imagine that? Once you've got a will like this, God's going to have to save her and break her to keep our sanity. What was her problem? She had a hard time adjusting. What was mine? I had to walk her through it. I walked in from one revival meeting and sent out a song, Glory. God moved through that. She came in and said, Do you think we made the right decision doing this? And for ten minutes, told me all the things she thought was going wrong. How are we going to make it financially? The church we left is doing real well. And here we are, the kids are acting like the devil. And I'm under depression. I feel awful. Here you are running around the country and we're running apart like this. And for ten minutes she did that. What did you do? I didn't respond because I wanted to get right with God later. That's what I wanted to say. God says, You walk her through this, preacher, and take the Word of God with care and tenderness because she's part of you. And get her where she can at least start believing a little bit and trusting Him truly. How long did it take? One hour. One hour. What did she do? She said, Thank you for being patient with me. And just this week she said, You know, God has shown me I've been full of unbelief. Did you tell her? I suggested it and I said, I don't really know but it could be you're not believing God. What's happened? She saw that I want to leave her, not drive her. That means my children ought to know that when I'm there, I'm there with them. Ladies, you know what two things you need from your husbands. And husbands, you know two things our wives need from us. Number one, she needs to know that when she talks, we're listening to her. Not just listening at her but we're giving her full attention because when you listen with your heart and ears, that knocks a home run with her. Rather than get in the paper and say, Honey, let me tell you this. Okay. Uh-huh. Oh, what did you say? Uh-huh. Number two, they need to know they're an eight-cow woman. What do you mean by that? Over in a West Indies island, ladies are not courted, they're just bought. And the most somebody ever paid for a woman was three cows. And that was top dog, good looking. And this Christian missionary came on the island and found out there's a Christian man that paid eight cows for his wife. He said, Man, I don't see that gal. She's probably intelligent, a knockout, you know. He said, She's probably one of the most vivacious women. When she met the woman, she was a plain looking woman, didn't have much on the ball. But there was vivacious glow coming off her face and a servant's attitude. You know why? Because the lady knew how much the husband had paid for her. And she acted accordingly as what he thought of her, she acted. Number two, wives, if you're the right partner to your husband, you're to be submissive. And I understand what the Greek word means. That means to get in proper rank and don't be a boss lady. Every time he makes a decision, you second guess him and boss him, criticize him. If you criticize your husband, you'll kill his spirit and he'll find somebody he won't. That means you'll set up an atmosphere at home that when he comes in, he doesn't have to fight hell when he gets in. There's a place of worship, a place of rest, and a place where he can be the man he should be. Rather than saying when he comes in, well, there's a bunch of mess around here, help me get this straightened out. Then, when I'm the right person to God, the right partner to my wife, then I've got to be the right parent to my child. That's my priority. That means I raise my children in the nurture and admonition of God. I've got children that are honest and quite often, you know how you're going to check up on yourself as parents? Just ask your kids to be honest with you. And one day I said, son, did you see anything in my life you don't like? He said, yeah, daddy. I said, what bothers you about me and your mom? He said, you and mom fuss too much. You know what I did? I pulled off the road and broke down by the pastor and went. I said, son, does that bother you from seeing Jesus? He said, daddy, it hurts me when you and mom fuss because I thought you were Christians. There have been times I've gotten angry at my son and whipped him in anger. And I've seen the hurl on his face. And I've had to go back and say, son, will you forgive me? I whipped him in anger. That was not right, the way daddy whipped you. Why do you do that, preacher? Because I want my son to grow up and say, my daddy is a man of God. I asked my son one day, I said, son, do you think your daddy is as good a preacher as Manly Beasley? Now, Manly Beasley was a... He's a man of God, wasn't a preacher. You heard him on video the other day. Wasn't he full of God? A man that suffered for God, saw great revivals. He said, daddy, no, you're not nearly the preacher Manly Beasley was. I said, why, Joe? He said, because daddy, Manly Beasley saw angels and God would tell him things that would happen before they happened. God hadn't done that with you yet. I said, son, do you think God could do that with your daddy? He said, maybe, daddy, if you get a little older. He said, you're not ready for it yet. There was a boy that was dying of leukemia. Twelve years old. He was saved. And his daddy had the bad fate of telling his son he was dying. He had three months to live. He told his son, and his son cried. Then his son asked him a question. He said, daddy, is Jesus anything like you? And the daddy thought, he said, no, son, Jesus is a much better man than I am. He said, well, daddy, then I'm not afraid to go to heaven. And then we invest our life in people. See, if you're the right person to God and it works in the home, then people might listen to what you've got to say. One of our problems is we're going out here half-cocked, half immature, and wonder why the community doesn't come. We don't have a life message they can see lived out in the home. Fragmented families, the wife being the spiritual leader, the husband being the dead head, or the wife holding it out. Listen, you know why? Because somebody along the line has short-circuited their maturity and can't trust God to keep things straight. Can I tell you where I'm at in my spiritual growth as I close this message? Can I tell you where I'm at in my spiritual growth? And I may be over-exaggerating it, so you tell me if you think I'm a little further down the road than what you see, because I need help. But I think I'm being honest. I'm between a child and a young man, and I'm more of a child than a young man. I have heart obedience. I can be faithful. I want to give, but I cannot tell you that I consistently am strong in the Lord and the power of His mind. I cannot tell you that the Word of God so abides in me that consistently I live the Word of God. I can't tell you I have victory over sin every day. I can't tell you that every time the devil sticks up his head, I recognize him and I overcome him. But sometimes I can, and I know where I'm at. But praise God, I know where I'm going. And I met a few fathers and mothers in the faith, and when I got around them, they had such a deep, abiding peace. This Miss Harvey, 80 years old, she's so mature that, ladies, if you got her presents, you'd get embarrassed. She's so mature, plain, simple lady, living on nothing, living by faith. She said, Charles, the older I get, the more childlike I get in my faith. I had to pray about everything. You say, that's a sign of sinality. No, that's a sign of spirituality. She's helpless about Jesus. She said, the ground of spirituality is the ground of nothingness. Now, put that one in your pocket smoking. The ground where you're so nothing that He has to become everything. But I'm a child. I'm glad you put it with this child-ish thing. But I think I'm eating the right food. Some good food over there. Y'all get some of it. You can usually tell how mature a church is, how quick to go over there and get in that stuff and bite. I'm just being honest. Where are you at? It's time to grow up. You know where growing up begins? By you having an honest confession that you've been stunned at some point in your growth. And say, now Lord, I can't do anything about what happened in the past, but praise God, I can have the right purpose, the right premise, and the right priorities. I'm longing for maturity. I'm going to listen to the teacher. And I'm going to get anything out of my life that's here and you can feel me. Now, this crowd tonight, brother pastor, went to the prayer room. We just might have a flat breakout. But you know what's going to keep you so you can go down there? Your pride. You're a lot more spiritual than you think you are. Your pride says, if I go down there, what's people going to think? That just shows how immature you are. See, the lower you get, the higher God lifts you up. I'm the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, and I dwell with them that are broken in contrite spirit. You know the only sacrifice God accepts is a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, they will not despise. When's the last time you've been so broken before God that you absolutely were embarrassed that God had found you out and you said, God, I agree. I'm just as immature as you say I am. This way you grow. I've been saved for 17 years. I'm still a child, and I think my growth pattern has been pretty normal. If I lived to be about maybe 90, I might be heading toward fatherhood, brother pastor. I don't know. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Be about 90, and somebody comes to see you and God just whispers something in your ear that's so true that when you tell that person that, it meets the knee of their life. You know why we don't grow? We're giving everybody information rather than revelation. And you can trust God. That means you have no problem with authority if you're spiritual. Amen? I was telling the brothers, I was on staff at the church in Greensboro, and I told the pastor, Pastor, I'm letting you know that if anybody talks about you, I'm going to jump on them, even if they're right. Amen? As a preacher, if you tell me to jump, I'm going to say, ha ha. What do you mean? Heal is my spiritual thought. It doesn't mean that I'm a boss man, that I'm a robot. That means I'm simply obeying God, and I trust God through Him. He won't tell me anything stupid to do. You know what He did? He called me at 5 o'clock one evening and said, would you preach for me this Wednesday? Now, isn't that awful to call a preacher up one hour before the service and force him to let me preach twice? He said, Brother, I haven't prepared. Now, that's enough to make me want to jump on him. He said, Brother, why didn't you prepare? That was none of my business. My business was support my preacher and make him look good. I said, Brother, if you tell me to preach one minute before the service, God will give me the grace to do it because you're my leader. He went and did it, and God gave me two hot sermons and ministered to the preacher. He thanked me, and He went and did it, opened me, opened His heart to my heart, and we became closer in Jesus. You know why some of you have never grown? Because you've never learned the principle of authority. Because when you rebel against authority, you're rebelling against God. God said a whole lot to my people. Do you think it's time to grow up? Why don't you leave your pacifier on the seat and go downstairs? Leave your suckers in the seat and go downstairs and say, God, I'm absolutely a spiritual ninja. You know the hardest ones to get to go down there and preach? Those that have been saved for about 20 or 30 years think they know it all and argue the whole time a man like me is preaching because they already know it all. It's time to grow up. Let's bow together and pray. Father, take the message. Drive it home. Don't ever let us get away from it. Oh God, drive it home. Open our eyes, Lamb of God, to where we're at before You. If we're one step further than where we really are, may we count that as sin and get to the place where we're willing to want more of You than ourselves. As heads are bowed, eyes are closed, as our pen is placed, the prayer room is available. The prayer room is available. Amen.