In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of coming to Jesus for rest, salvation, and to find solutions to our problems. He shares a personal story of a young girl bleeding and how he wished he had a pastor in that moment. The speaker encourages the audience to come to Jesus with their burdens, heartaches, and weariness. He also highlights the need for the Holy Spirit to invite people to God's supper and emphasizes that the way to receive God's salvation is simply by coming to Him.

Look at verse 17 again. He sent his servant at supper time. By the way, the certain man that made the supper, and if you'll follow very carefully, I think you'll get the line of the message earlier, the certain man who made a great supper is God the Father. So he sent his servant at supper time to say, Come, for all things are now ready. That is, as he sends the Christian in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the servant there is the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit has no body but our bodies. So, as we go in the energy of the Holy Spirit, we say, Come. Now, the supper is salvation. You see, the man who made the supper, that's God. The supper is salvation. The one's invited are the unconverted. The servant who goes out to invite the Holy Spirit as he goes with us and through us. Now, notice, he said, Come. The certain man made a great supper. He sent his servant at supper time and said, Get baptized. No, that's not the way you get God's supper. Well, let's see. A certain man sent his servant at supper time to say unto them who have bidden, Come, or pardon me, or join the church. No, that's not the way you get to suffer. Son, on the front row, I want you to sit up straight now. Look at me. You bother the folks behind you. Sit up straight. Put your feet down. Sit straight up now and look at the house while he's preaching. All right? And he sent his servant at supper time and said, Turn over a new leaf. No, you don't get God's supper or God's salvation that way. There's one simple word. Come. That's it. When a person knows he's lost and knows that Jesus is the Savior and comes in faith, that's it. Come. Now, why could he come? For all things are now ready. All things are now ready. You can't come till all things are ready. Did you ever stop and think? I don't know if you ever have or not, but think about this for a minute. God never says come till all things are ready. Never does. Now think with me for a few minutes. God didn't even make a blade of grass in creation until he had prepared the soil, the atmosphere, and the sun. God didn't say, First, let there be grass. He said, First, let there be light. For God did not even prepare a blade of grass to come in the world until he could say, Come, blade of grass, for all things are now ready. There was no cattle. There were no animals on the earth. God did not say to the cattle, Come to the earth. Till first God had made a meadow. He made the meadow, then he made the cattle. God did not make a bird till he made the trees. God didn't say to the birds, Come and inhabit my earth. Till first he had trees in which the birds could lie. Come, for all things are now ready. Not even an insect was created by God. Not even the minutest little insect was created by God until meat for that insect was already provided. God did not even say to a beetle, Come, till he got ready for it. All things are now ready. God said to the cattle, I now have a meadow. Come, for all things are now ready. God said to a bird, I now have a tree. Come, for all things are now ready. God said to an insect, I now have some meat for you. Come, for all things are now ready. God said to the blade of grass, I now have a sun for you, an atmosphere for you and soil for you. Come for all things are now ready." But God never invites anybody to do anything or go anywhere. Come, so that He can say, all things are now ready. There was no creature. God created no creature until He created food for that creature. God never created one living creature and said, okay, you wait until the grass grows and you have something to eat. God let the grass grow and then He created the creature. Come, for all things are now ready. God didn't say to the plant life, come, wait until the sun shines. No, the sun was shining when the plant life came. And so when God made anything He made, first He prepared. And God could say, check how beautifully the creation is. God made this for the next thing and He made the next thing for the next thing and He made the next thing for the next thing. And God never invited any living thing to come on this earth. So God could say to it, come, for all things are now ready. Before Adam and Eve were created, there was a garden, streams, the fruit was ripe, the flowers were in bloom, everything was all ready. And God could say to Adam and Eve, come, for all things are now ready. That's one reason why we know that human life is far superior to animal life. These humanists and these people that talk about man as being just another animal, they don't understand that. Because God made things for the next thing. And when God made His last thing, He was simply saying, everything that went before is for this one. Come, for all things are now ready. And so God is that way. When God invited folks to come in the ark, the ark was completely finished, and He could say, come, for all things are now ready. But you recall the story of Jacob and his son. God wanted Jacob and his son to go to Egypt for some strange reason. But a long time before Jacob and his sons were ever invited to go to Egypt, God had had Joseph down there in Egypt, getting ready for them and becoming a second in command next to the king himself, and having food and provender for his own children. And before God would ever let his own children go from Jacob's sons and Jacob and his sons go from the promised land, or Canaan, to Egypt, He had Joseph there, He had food there, He had somebody waiting for them. And now God could say to Jacob and his sons, come, for all things are now ready. When the Israelites went to the promised land, they came back and they said, what do you see? And the spies said, we saw a land flowing with milk and honey. God did not invite His own people to go to the promised land until God had the promised land ready. Listen, if a person could get this thing, it would settle works for salvation once and for all. If you could understand the very nature of God, you would never again think you had to do anything to get saved. God, when God says come, He always says everything ready. Come for all things are now ready. And if God would not invite a beetle to come on earth, by the way, I wish you'd never invited the beetles in London to come on earth. But if God, if God had never invited a bird to come on to fly in the sky, till He had a tree prepared for that bird. And if God never invited a blade of grass to grow out of the soil, till God had the atmosphere and the sun to shine. And if God never allowed a man to come, till God had a garden and a river and everything necessary for man. And if God would not let even a head of cattle come on earth, till God had the matter for that cattle. God never did say to anything, come and help me get it ready. It's always come for all things are now ready. The very nature of God is to finish and then invite you to come. And that'll take care of your baptismal regeneration. That'll take care of your working your way to heaven. God has prepared the supper. You don't, it's not a covered this luncheon. You'd like to bring your own, own dish. God prepared the supper. It's all finished. It's all ready. All you can do is take it. You don't have anything you can do to help God prepare the supper. All you can do is come. So when God says, come by the way, that's why our Lord said on the cross, it is finished. It is finished. Why? All things are now ready. It is finished. Those words were the words of the priest. As a priest would examine a lamb after it had been kept up for four days. Each family had a lamb and that lamb was kept up for the pastor for four days. And the priest would come and examine the lamb of each family. And he would be sure that lamb was without blemish. And then after he found the lamb was without blemish, he would cry. It is finished. A picture of Jesus, the lamb of God. It is finished. It's the term used by an artist in the Middle East. That artist would paint carefully a picture. And then when he finished the picture, the painting, he would say it is finished. He'd examine it carefully and exactly as he wanted. He would cry it is finished. It was the word that the high priest would use as he came out of the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement. After he had taken the blood of that innocent substitute and taken it through the veil of the temple and sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat on the seventh day of the month and the tenth day of that month. Once a year he would come out and as the people of Israel would listen for his voice, they would hear the bells ringing at the bottom of his garment as he walked out. The high priest, if he, if the sacrifice had been accepted by God, he'd raise his hand and cry it is finished. That meant there's nothing that you can add to it. God's accepted it. That meant there's nothing you can do. The lamb is all God wants. When our Lord gave his life on the cross, salvation's plan had been made. Salvation's price had been paid. Salvation's way had been made possible. How? Not by what we do, but by what he did. You know, there's only two letters that differentiate works and grace. Two letters. N-E. N-E. The gospel of Christ or the works crowd. False religion says do and be saved. And Jesus says done. That's the only difference. The works crowd says do and the grace crowd says done. That's the only difference. You're not saved because you do. You're saved because you come to the supper which is done. You're not saved because you work. You're saved because he worked. You're not saved because of what you do. You're saved because of what he has done for you on the cross. It's done. The great transaction's done. I am my Lord's and he is mine. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Come for all things are now ready. Now then, let's illustrate. You get saved for coming. That's the only way you get saved. You get saved for coming. Charlotte Elliott, who wrote that song, just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, O Lamb of God, I come. She was under conviction. A preacher was talking to her about her soul. Now, where I do not know. Maybe at the altar of a church. Maybe at her home. I do not know. But a preacher was talking to her. And finally, he told her how to be saved. And she said, well, how can I do it? And he said, you come to Christ. And she said, well, what does it mean to come to Christ? And he said, well, you know, you're a sinner. You know, you're lost. You know, Jesus paid the penalty and you come and trust him. She said, I can't understand it. How do you come? And he said, well, you know that you're lost. You know he died for you. You come to him. And Charlotte Elliott couldn't understand it. And finally, in desperation, she said, how can I come? And the preacher shouted, come just as you are. And she picked up her pen and she wrote just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, O Lamb of God, I come just as I am. And waiting not to rid my soul from one dark blot, to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. And that's the way you get saved. You come to God. You don't get saved because what you do. I'm a pretty good person. I think I'm going to go to heaven. You will die and go to hell if you're trusting your own goodness. Oh, you say I belong to a Baptist church since I was a kid. You will die and go to hell if you're trusting that Baptist church to take you to heaven. Well, I was baptized right up here in this baptistry. You will die and go to hell if you're trusting that baptistry is done. There's nothing you can do. Great man, man, met a great sufferer and bad many in city of servants at supper time to say, come for all things are now ready. Listen to me. When Jesus Christ lived on earth, he fulfilled every demand of the law. He fulfilled every demand of the old Testament ritual. He filled it full and he fulfilled it. And when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he presented to us a garment that he had made, that he had finished. And not a single thing we can do, but reach up and say, I surrender all. I come, I come. But here's the strange thing about the Christian life. It isn't only coming to get saved. Everybody, all folks understand that. Everybody here tonight, perhaps most of you have come to get saved. You realize you are a sinner. You realize you are lost. You realize you needed Christ and you came to Christ, but that isn't all there is to it. Did you know everything God has, you get it becoming. Now think for a minute. He said to the unsaved, come and see. He said to the saved, come and dine. He said to the unsaved, come and see. He said to the saved, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. He said to the unsaved, come and see. He said to the saved, him that is, come up to me. I would have no wise cast out. He said to the unsaved, come and see. He said to the saved, come, come, come. Now what do you mean? I've come to Jesus. Have I got to keep on coming? Not to get saved, but everything God has, you get it becoming to Him. Let me illustrate. I used to be a little baby many, many years ago. I was a boy. My mother said, son, you come to mother now. And I'd come to mother. But I just didn't come to mother because she was my mother. I came to mother when I was hurt. Maybe I'd have fallen and skinned my knee. My mother's pretty sharp. She used to say, I'd fall down and mama be over here. And she'd say, tell me, son, if you'll come over here, I'll pick you up. And I didn't think about it. All of a sudden I'd be crying. I'd get up, I'd walk over and lay down beside her and she'd pick me up. Oh, what a help my mother's always been to me. Come over here and I'll pick you up. I'd go over there and she'd pick me up. And I'd come when my knee was skinned. Or if I was hungry, I'd come to mama. Or if I was tired, I'd come to mama. Or if I needed some strength, I'd come to mama. Or if I needed some security, I'd come to mama. Or if I needed some help, I'd come to mama. Or if I needed some advice, I'd come to mama. You know, that's what the Lord wants us to do. Oh yeah, you got saved. You came to the Lord. Okay, that's, but that's not enough. You know, I'm 45 years of age now, be 46 September 25th. That's the 25th of September. That's 25th, two five S-E-P-T-E-M-B-E-R two five. But anyway, I'll be 46 the 25th of September. And that's the September 25th. And I wear a size 11 sock. But anyway, um, you know, there, there, there's still times in my life when I have to come to mama. Or I don't come to her now that, that I started to ask her for something to eat. I don't come to her now and I started to ask her to, to wipe my skin, shin. I wipe my own skin, shin now. And, uh, I don't fall as much as I used to. I ride a bicycle better than I could. And, uh, but I don't come to mother anymore for security because maybe I have to offer her more security than she offers me now. I'm not sure about that, but I still come to mother 13 years ago when I was 13 years ago this month. In fact, 13 years ago last Sunday. What is today? The 21st? 13 years ago, maybe it was the 19th of July. That's when it was. Uh, 13 years ago, the 19th of July, I came to visit this church. He didn't have a pastor. He still don't have much, but I, I came to visit this church as a guest. And, uh, I, I knew, I knew, I knew God was going to lead me here. I knew that, uh, that day I felt I didn't want to come. I was happy in Texas. I had everything just like I wanted. I didn't want to come. I was there for a lifetime, but somehow I knew that this was it. And I went back home and I drove around the city of Garland and I cried and I cried and I said, dear God, what can I do? And suddenly it dawned on me, go to mama, go to mama. I went over on Westchester street to mama's house. And I, I said, mama, I've got it. She said, son, you're not going to go, are you? You're not going to go, are you? And I said, mother, I've got to go. I know God's leading me. And she said, why don't you just sit it by me and put your head in my lap? And I cried and I cried and I cried till I couldn't cry anymore. And, uh, but I had to come to mama. That's what the Lord is saying. The Lord is saying, okay, are you lost? Come! Or are you hungry? Come and dine. Are you, are you sad? Come and get comfort. Are you weak? Come and get strength. Are you, are you unhappy? Come and get joy. Are you, uh, are you perplexed? Come and get wisdom. Are you eager of God's will? Come and get knowledge. Are you lost? Come and get leadership. Keep on coming. Now you need power. Come, you need help. Come, you need strength. Come, just keep on coming to God. And that's what the Lord is saying here. Now there are several things you come first. You come to get salvation. Tonight I'm talking to someone, some poor sinner, not saved. You know, you're not. And you wish you were, you want to be saved. I am. I just say the way you get saved. Do you know you're a sinner? Okay. Do you know that sinners are lost? Okay. Do you know that Jesus Christ went to Calvary and paid the penalty for your sin as your substitute? Okay. Now, if you know that you're a sinner and you know that you're lost, and if you know that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin, then all you've got to do is come to Jesus. That's it. Just come to Jesus. You say, how do you do it? Okay. Like you go to a doctor. Here's a fellow puts up a shingle and he says, um, okay, uh, uh, open for business. And maybe it'll announcement and the word gets around. The doctor has the medicine. He has the way to heal and you are sick. And so what do you do? You say, I'm going to the doctor. Don't you say, I'm going to the doctor. Dr. Streeter over here. I got a little, a little sore throat, a little sore throat, nothing. I almost died. I thought they put me to the doctor one night and I avoided it. I was, I was growing in and dropping all the way. And Dr. Streeter looked up my nose, looked through my ears, looked, looked through this ear and he said, not a thing in there. I can see all the way through. And, uh, he didn't say that, but that's true. And, uh, and then he said, you got a sinus drainage. And he said, what we got to do is pack your nose. Don't ever go to Dr. Streeter. Never. He tells you a bad thing. And he, he got a stick about that long. Well, actually about three or four feet, but I'm, I'm just long. And I said, doc, what's that? He said, I'm going to pack your nose. I said, what do you mean? He said, uh, this stick, he said, I'm going to put something on the end of it. I said, is that going up my nose? And he said, that's what's going to happen. Well, my nose is not that long. And I didn't, I know it's not that, I've measured it, but that stick went that far up in my nose. He got another stick. I said, what's that for? Other than up here, all right. He said, you got two holes in the nose, you know? And so he stuck the other one up my nose. And, uh, then he said, now just relax. Yeah, sure. Sure. And then he did all the talking then. And, uh, he had some things he didn't want to tell me for a long time. And so he got it all set. But, uh, you know, the strange thing about it, he also, he's, uh, he does, he gives you adjustments too. He's, uh, uh, has a degree in, what do you call that? Uh, osteopathy. And that's a Greek word that means they break the back and you go to, and he, he, so he put his knee in my back and he said, now, now, now take a deep breath in. And I thought I'd never breathe again. And he stuck his knee on the back. And, uh, so I went out and got in the car. It was all over with. David said, how do you feel? Well, I didn't feel at all. And, uh, but you know what? I felt better. I felt better. I really did. David said, I was a new man. I mean, just, just 30 minutes. What did you do? I went to the doctor. That's all it is. I didn't make the medicine. I didn't make those long sticks. And I never would. I wouldn't do that to anybody. Not, not, I wouldn't do that to my enemy, but let's not pastor. Maybe he wanted the same. I'm not sure, but, but I, but, uh, what was it? He, I didn't do a thing. All I did was just come and say, I feel terrible. Now bear in mind, I've tried everything. I got some of these band-aids and I took them and all in the world that did make me sleep while I drove. That's all, that's all it did. And, uh, then I got some aspirins and they counteracted the core band-aids and then I got some other kind of stuff. And then I, then I got, somebody said, if you'll get some salt and put it in warm water and up your nose, it'll, no, it won't either. I'd rather have a stick up my nose than that. And, uh, so I, uh, I, I tried that and I, I, I snorted like a bull. I always do. I snorted like a bull and, uh, and tried that. Didn't work. Core band-aid didn't work. Um, aspirins didn't work. Somebody said, if you'll, if you'll put mentholatum up your nose, that'll help. I got mentholatum, stuck this little finger in it. And that didn't help. You know, I didn't, I, I'd have died if I'd trusted myself and so were you. And so were you. The great physician now is near, the sympathizing Jesus. He speaks the drooping heart to cheer. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Sweetest note instead of song. Sweetest name on mortal tongues. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. He's the great physician. And that's where you get, you get saved. Exactly the way I got healed. How? You go to the physician. That's all. I couldn't make myself well. I tried all of it. I tried all the homemade remedies. I snorted and sniffled and sucked up the stuff in my nose and took the core band-aid and nothing worked. What'd I do? I went to the doctor. And that's all you can do to get saved. Quit trying to save yourself because you join a church or get baptized or get confirmed. You can go to every little booth in this county and you can go up there and whatever you put through that little booth and you can talk to that fellow there who ought to be confessing his sins back to you. And you can tell him all you've done that's wrong, confess all your sins, all of it. And then you can go to the Pope in Rome and confess your sins to him and get baptized here. Let the Pope baptize you and take the sacrament and all of it. But unless you come to the place to where you say, I cannot save myself. There's nothing I can do. I come to Jesus. Then you'll die and go to hell. Have you ever come to Jesus? You say, how do you come? You come like you go to a doctor. How do you come? You come like you go to a feast. Somebody makes a meal. And you may never try to cook for yourself. One morning I tried to cook breakfast. I decided to make some rice. And so I filled a pan full of rice and decided to cook some. And the pan filled the kitchen full of rice. You know, you make just as big a mess of trying to save yourself. The biggest enemy you've got in this town, that fellow that says you've got to get baptized to go to heaven. Biggest enemy you have in this town, that fellow says you've got to join a certain church to go to heaven. Biggest enemy you have in this town is that fellow that says you've got to come and take the sacrament to go to heaven. That fellow who comes to a dead body and does some voodoo and hocus-pocus and all that kind of stuff over the dead body. He's the biggest enemy you have in this town. Why? Because it's not what you do. It's what Jesus did. That's all that will save you. Oh, I think so often, and I say it so often because it's so precious to me. And that dear deacon Tudor was dying up there at St. Margaret's Hospital. The nurse came and said, you better call a priest, Mr. Tudor. Your family called you a priest because you're a very sick man. Mr. Tudor looked up and said, I am a priest. And she said, I didn't know you're a holy father. He said, I'm not a holy father. I'm a priest of God. And if you want to call my pastor and let him rejoice with me while I go to heaven, that's okay. But I am a priest and I don't need a priest and nobody else needs a priest either. The truth is a priest will go to hell if he doesn't get born again by complete faith in Jesus Christ. How do you get saved? You come. How do you get saved? You realize that he made the feast. He finished the supper. What do you do? You come. Like the little girl that went to church and she got saved and she came home and said, mommy, I got saved today. And the mommy said, did you get saved? What did you do? She said, I didn't do nothing. I just did the letting and he did the saving. That's all you do. You do the letting. You do the letting. You just present the sinner. You come tonight to this altar and realize that you're a sinner and realize that Jesus Christ took upon himself the penalty for your sin. And you look and see that he paid the price, all of it for you. And you say, dear God, I've tried to save myself. Oh, I've tried to save myself. And now I realized, I realized that you did it all. You paid it all. And I just come and trust you. And the dear great physician makes you well and forgives every sin. Write your name in heaven. How? You come to, you come to Christ. But once you come to Christ, then there's, after you come to Christ, okay, you say, I'm saved. Just keep on coming. Keep on coming for what? To get things. Don't you recall Hebrews 4.12? Huh? Hebrews 4.12 says, we can come boldly to the throne of grace. What? What for? To obtain mercy and find help. You get your help. How do you, how does a person get saved? Come to Jesus. How does a person get things from God? He comes to Jesus. I like that come boldly to the throne of grace. You'd have to tiptoe up. Dr. John Rice was praying one night out in Colorado. And he said, dear old father, bless this humble servant. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. Bless. Oh, come Holy Spirit. And after it's over, some guy walked up and said, you made some mistakes. Can you pray in the night, Dr. Rice? Dr. Rice said, how? He said, he said, you prayed to the Father and you prayed to Jesus and you prayed to the Holy Spirit. So you're supposed to come to the Father through the Son. Now that's for salvation. You're supposed to come to the Father through the Son. Dr. Rice said, if you knew the family as well as I do, you could just talk to anybody in the family. He said, we just sat around and talked. I said, Holy Spirit, help me. And Jesus helped me. And Father helped me. I said, I'll just talk to anybody I want to talk to. How do you get help? You come to Jesus. Are you weak tonight? How do you get strength? You come to Jesus. Are you lonely? How do you get companionship? You come to Jesus. Are you in need of food? How do you get it? You come to Jesus. Come and see, they said to the unsaved, but come and dine, they said to the saved. Here's the same thing about it, too. The mercy seat's all finished. The Lord didn't say, come and help me build a mercy seat. The Lord said, the mercy seat's all finished. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. What throne? The mercy seat. And notice, the mercy seat's all finished, the gold is all laid, and the cherubim are all beaten on either side of it, and the Shekinah glory is already above it, and the veil in the temple is already rent from top to bottom, and the blood's already sprinkled on the mercy seat, and all you got to do to get your prayers answered is just come. Just come. Come for strength. Come for help. Come for God's blessings. An old custom years ago was that on Christmas day, there was a rich man who would fill any basin that a person brought, any basin, no matter what it was. If you just bring a container on Christmas day, he'd fill it with good things. And all the folks in town heard about it. Folks got where they'd bring old wash pots. You know what wash pots are, do you? Anybody here ever wash an old black wash pot? Huh? You're dating yourself now. My mother used to wash, and Aunt Optie used to wash an old black wash pot. Just pour hot water in it, and you'd also get some hog soap. Anybody here ever make any hog soap? You know, it's amazing. Most of you folks don't know a thing about the modern things of life. You don't. You're so dumb. As Dr. Rye says, I can't preach to you because you're born too late to know anything. But your mother'd get a knife, and she'd start peeling the soap into the old black wash pot, black as midnight. And washing was a day-long chore, a day-long chore. And she'd stir, and stir, and she'd build a fire. Remember? You know, it's so hard to preach to folks who are so uneducated, but you should build a fire under the pot. And the fire, made out of wood and so forth, would make the pot hot, and it'd make the water boil, and you'd stir the washing. And she'd have an old-fashioned, you know, the old bonnet. Huh? You don't know? Let's talk about washeterias for a while. But she had no bonnet on, and she'd stir, and she'd stir, and she'd stir, and she'd stir. It was an all-day process. And so some folks would bring an old tub, or some would bring an old wash pot. And as big as the container could get, everything that, every body that brought a container would have this container filled. And that's what the Lord says. You know, God has so many things for you. We just don't trust Him. If God answered your prayer, and gave you something miraculously, it'd take, it'd take smelling sauce to wake you up. Did you know it? You'd be so surprised, and so shocked. God has so many things He wants to give us. Oh, He has blessings, and blessings, and blessings, and blessings. How do you get them? You come where you get salvation. You come, come and see to the unsaved. Come and dine to the saved. But that isn't all. The Lord gives, we get rest by coming. Matthew 11, 28. Just come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. How do you get rest? You come. How do you get prayers answered? You come. How do you get saved? You come. Are you weary? How do you get rest? You come. You come to Jesus. That's what Isaiah meant when he said, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. How do you get rest? Anybody here ever come to mama when you were tired, and you put your head on her lap, and mama rocked you? My mother used to rock me. We had all sizes of rocks. She had big rocks and little rocks, and she'd stone me. And so, but she used to rock me. And my mother couldn't sing. If mother's life depended on it, and she had to sing three words on key, she'd just have to die and go to heaven. That's all there is to it. She sings so bad, I could teach her some things about singing. That's how bad she is. But mother used to rock me and sing, and she'd sing, Bright in the corner where you are, bright in the corner where you are, someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar, if you're bright in the corner where you are. Now listen, when I heard bright in the corner sung right, I thought they had the wrong tune. I just knew it wasn't the same song. It was years before I found his mother was all goofed up. But I can still remember. I had an old-fashioned mother, and I can still recall coming to mother and mother's apron string, not tied to it, but leaning on it. If you get lonely, come to mother. Are you lonely tonight? Come to Jesus. Dr. Billings, for 20, 20, let's see, 25 years, for 25 years, I've not had a pastor. For 25 years, I don't tell my sorrows to anybody. If I got a burden, I don't, I don't, I don't tell anybody. Not a man on this platform's ever heard me share a burden with him, as far as I know. I don't tell anybody. You know what I do? I come to Jesus. I come to Jesus. I learned years ago, oh, in the arms of my dear Savior, there are 10,000 charms. Don't feel sorry for me. I've learned somebody better than you to go to, anybody better than you, but I've learned somebody better than you to go to. You know, I, if there was a house, one time, one time, I complained because I didn't have a pastor. I was out at Mercy Hospital in Dyer. Little Linda was about to die. She had a, in fact, you remember the story that, that Jim Vineyard told about his daughter, son, bleeding to death, uh, had a tonsillectomy. Little Linda had her tonsils out. She was four years of age, she's now 14, and the nurse came and picked her up, and she was in pool of blood, and the nurse began to scream, and ran down the hall with her, and she began to scream, doctor, doctor, doctor, she's bleeding to death, and I, I thought she was dying, and I went to a room, and I, I said to myself, I wish I had a pastor. I wish I had a pastor. That's all, and I've complained about it all these years, but I, I went along, and I, I just came to Jesus. I found it's true. Come unto me, all you that labor in a heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Somebody said, where do you take your problems? I just come to Jesus. Somebody said, where do you take your burdens? I just come to Jesus. Somebody said, where do you, where do you take your heartaches? I just come to Jesus, and don't misunderstand me, I want you to keep coming to me, you know, I, I want to keep, but, but me, and I'll tell you what I think is wise, and so forth, but you're going to have to learn someday to come to Jesus. I guess that's when you grow up. I guess that's when you grow up. Maybe when you realize that mama's not there anymore, and you can't come to her, and the first time you skin your shin, you're off in college, huh, off in college, and you say, hey mama, you know, when you gonna iron my dress? And there's no mama there. She's home going, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, iron your own dress, ha, ha, ha. No mama, and you grow up, and you grow up, and that a Christian sometimes, he gets to a place where nobody else can help but Jesus, and Jesus says, come to me, come to me. There's some people in this church right now I want to help. I've got the answer for you. I know I could help you if you'd come. I know I could. I know what you need. There's some young folks now in this church that I, I know I could help you. I won't bother you, and I won't, I won't, uh, force myself on you, but I know if you'd come to me, I could help you, and it's a frustrating feeling to know you know what the answer is, but nobody will come, and Jesus tonight said to the right hand of the Father, and he says, old Jack down there, I've got the answer if you'd just come to me, if you'd just come to me. You know, I got a sneaking suspicion that when I went to mama, when I, when I was going to come up here, I got a suspicion that mama enjoyed that. One day down in Texas, she thought she was dying, and she had a heart attack in the dentist's chair. She's nothing, nothing in the world, but she's just chicken, and, uh, but she's in a dentist's chair. She had a heart attack, and they called me and said, your mother's dying, she's having a heart attack, go out to the dentist's office. Well, any fool would have a heart attack if he went to the dentist's, and, uh, I went down there, and she'd just taken it. She didn't want to have a tooth filled or something, and she'd just pull a little silly thing, and, uh, but, uh, she went home, and she was recuperating from a little heart flare-up. One day I went to her house, and she said, uh, I'm just not worth anything to anybody. Christmas came that year, and she didn't have any money, and I, I didn't know it, and so she, I went to her house to see her before Christmas, Christmas Eve, and she said, son, I just don't think I'll have you over for dinner. I just don't feel like it, and I found out why she didn't have any money to buy a present or to buy them a meal. You notice I walked out of the house, I accidentally, uh, uh, twenty dollar bill slipped out of my pocket and fell on the floor, and by the time I got to the office, the phone was ringing, and she said, son, could you come? I feel better now. Well, a twenty dollar bill doesn't make anybody feel better, and, uh, I feel better now, but, you know, there's not a one of us that doesn't want those who need us to come. I went to my office, and there were twenty-four people lined up to see me, and I was so tired I could hardly walk, and I, I walked up there, and I, I, I walked around the, the corner there hoping, you know, the line will be short tonight so I can get to bed by two, and, uh, so I counted one, two, three, four, five, six, twenty-four people, and so the next Wednesday night, I went over there, and nobody was there, and I felt so hurt, and, and, and I, I waited for somebody to knock on the door, and nobody knocked, and I thought they don't need me anymore. You know, we're that way, aren't we, huh? Twenty-four there, that's too many, and if nobody's there, you wish you had a hundred of them. What is it? There's something to all of us. We want to feel needed, and our Lord looks down and says, I want you to come to me. I want to help you when you have troubles. I want to help you when you're lonely. I want to help you when you're sad. I want to help you when you're weak. Come. Keep on coming. Keep on coming. Every day, come to God. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Well, baby, I decided years ago, I was going to bring everything I had to God, everything I had. I wanted something I shouldn't have. I was going to bring what I wanted I shouldn't have. I wanted chocolate ice cream cone. I was going to bring a chocolate ice cream cone, asking for chocolate ice cream cone. I was going to bring everything, and I'll be honest with you. You've heard about folks being transparent. I'm transparent to God. He knows everything I need. Dr. Billings, did you know that before I put my clothes on in the morning, I asked God what I ought to wear? So don't blame me if I don't look good. It's his fault. He told me what to wear. I asked God what to wear. Years ago, I decided to ask God every day which way I ought to come to work, and I asked him every morning which way I ought to come to work. You know, I never sat down in a restaurant to order a meal without saying, Dear God, what does your child need today? What does your child need today? What am I saying? I'm simply saying God's concerned about everything. Come. Come. You're lost. Come. You're hungry. Come. You're weak. Come. You're sad. Come. God wants you to believe on him and trust him, and come to him, and God wants to help you. He knows he has the answer. But that isn't all. Come to him for power. Come to him for strength. Come to him for help. Come to him for wisdom. Come to him for leadership. Come to him. I was thinking tonight before the service, I was walking down the alley, and I was watching the people as they drove in. I have no greater thrill. To me, one of the greatest thrills I have is to watch you come to church. You know why? I dream so often you don't come. About once a month, I dream that nobody shows up. The other night I was dreaming. I walked out. The door opened over here. The organist wasn't even playing. I thought, good night. Why isn't Ms. Colston playing? I was all ready to ball her out. I walked in, and Ms. Colston wasn't there. The choir wasn't here. The men weren't on the platform, and you weren't out there. And I thought, oh my, where's everybody? And suddenly, I looked at the calendar, and it was Saturday. And I said, phew, praise the Lord. But worse than that, I dream about once a month that you walk out on me. About once a month, I dream while I'm preaching. You just get up and walk out. I don't do it now, please. I'm not dreaming. But I dream that. I dream you walk out on me. I love to watch as you come in. I love to watch the cars as they come. I love to stand up here in the baptistry on Sunday morning after I've said the closing prayer. I love to watch the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. And you know what I say? They came to hear me. They came to hear me. You think that doesn't put a load and a weight on you? They came to hear me. And I was walking down to Atlantic, and I was asking God for help. And I was asking God for blessing tonight in the service. I was asking God for strength and power as I walked down the alley. And I said, dear God, I'm willing to be to America Dr. Jack Hiles. And I'm willing to be to my people a pastor. But I said, dear God, I want to be a little boy to you. I want to be to you a little boy. And I want to be just one of your kids. I want there to be someplace I can go where I'm not Dr. Hiles. I want there to be someplace I can go where I'm not pastor of a large church. I want there to be someplace I can go where I'm not anybody special. You know, I can't walk down the street without folks saying that's him. You heard me tell about these three nuns up at St. Margaret's Hospital. Nuns don't wear what they used to wear, but they used to wear these big old white hats, you know, all crazy things. And one of my little kids in Texas said, what's them women doing wearing them cowboy hats? But anyway, three nuns met me at St. Margaret's Hospital, and one of them said to the other two as I passed by, that's him. That's him. I've told you about the family out here in shopping centers a bit on the other day. But that isn't, it isn't always that way. Sometimes, hello pastor. Oh, this is our pastor. I want to meet our pastor. Best Dr. Jack Hiles there. I just, I said, Lord, I'm glad there's someplace I can come and just be a boy. Just be a boy. And I'm glad that I can come boldly with a stone of grace. If I need strength, I can say, Papa, give me strength. And if I need wisdom, I can say, dear Papa, give me wisdom. And if I need food, I can say, dear Papa, give me food. And if I need encouragement, I can say, dear Papa, give me encouragement. Oh, the dear Lord wants us to come. He wants us to come. The night he has his arms outstretched, and he says, if you're tired, come unto me. I'll give you rest. The night he has his arms outstretched, and he says, if you're hungry, come and dine. All things are now ready. The night if you're lonely and discouraged, he says, come unto me. I'll be your companion. The night if you want the will of God, he says, come unto me. That's the word he uses, come. To the lost, come. To the weak, come. To the hungry, come. To the lonely, come. Now get this, all things are now ready. All things. If you come to God, you won't have to wait that long to get strength. You come to God and you're hungry, you won't have to wait that long to eat. You come to God and you need help, you won't have to wait that long. Fine. All things are now ready. Doc, if God looked down and said, I'm going to make a blade of grass. Now think about this, Doc. If God looked down and said, I'm going to make a blade of grass, and if God said, I won't do it yet, I've got to put the sun in the sky first. And if God put the sun in the sky on purpose, so he could say to that blade of grass, come, for all things are now ready. Don't you think God's ready to give you whatever you need tonight if you'd come to him? If God said, hold it, birds, don't fly yet, I'm not going to make a bird yet. Why? I've got to make some trees. And God says tonight, whatever you need, you will find by coming. I guess one of the sweetest songs, if not the sweetest ever written to me, is what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. I'll tell you this, and I'll close. When I first started preaching, I wanted my folks to know if I had a heartache or a sorrow, I don't have one tonight, it may sound like it, but if I had a heartache or a sorrow, I want my folks to know that. So I'd have a burden, I'd have a heavy load, I'd get up and I'd say to my people, I'd say, folks, I want you to pray for me. You've seen preachers do this. I want you to pray for me. The load is heavy. I want you to pray, God will give me strength for the week. You know what folks will do? They'll do that anyway. That's what they do. One day at dawn, you don't lead people by sympathy, you lead people by inspiration. You lead folks when you say, this is it, let's move, let's get the job done, let's get right with God. What do you say to the house? Where are you going to get your comfort, your sympathy? I'm going to get it when I'm lonely. I'm going to come to him who had no place to lay his head. When the foxes went to their holes at night and the birds covered their heads with their wings and covered their own little birdlets with their wings. I'm going to come to the one who had no place to lay his head. When I suffer in sorrow, I'm going to come to the one who was a man of sorrow. When I'm in pain, I'm going to come to the one who suffered like nobody ever suffered. Or when you get right down to it, nobody really understands but Jesus anyway. Come, come, come. Are you lost? Come. You're tired? Come. Weak? Come. Sick? Come. Hungry? Come. Lonely? Come. Just keep on coming. Come and see. Come and die. Him that cometh to me out of no wise cast out. Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The secret to the Christian life is everything you need. Just keep on coming. Just keep on coming. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, I pray that my people tonight shall understand that the answer is Jesus. The answer is Jesus. The answer is not in trying to seek sympathy from some person. The answer is Jesus. The answer is not trying to work up our own strength. The answer is Jesus. To come to Jesus. To come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Father, bless the people. Help us to find the great secret of coming. Our heads are bowed. Mr. Spurgeon said one time, Are you lost? Come to Jesus. Run to him. You can't run? Walk. You can't walk? Crawl. You can't crawl? Look. There's life for a Savior. I wonder how many tonight ought to say, Brother Hiles, I have a burdened heart. I know you do. So many hearts are burdened. And friends will say words that will help some. Maybe the words of a pastor will help a bit. But when the final analysis is all in, the final reports are all in, it's coming to Jesus that's going to help you. You have a decision to make? Come to Jesus for wisdom. Trying to find the will of God for your life? Come to Jesus for direction. You need something? Come to Jesus for blessing. Come boldly to the throne of grace. I wonder how many would say, Brother Hiles, I've been going to the psychiatrist and the psychologist and everybody else but Jesus. I've been going to the counselors and everybody else but Jesus. Now don't misunderstand me. God can use Christian counselors. God can use Christian psychologists. God can use faithful pastors. And I think God does. But God wants you sometimes just to come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Come and see, he says to the unsaved. Come and dine, he says to the saved. The entire day today has been wrapped around this theme. Spend your time with Jesus. Spend time with Jesus. Spend time with Jesus. Spend time with Jesus. I wonder how many would say, Brother Hiles, I've not been spending as much time with Jesus as I should. Yes, I'm saved. I know I'm saved. But I've not been spending enough time coming to Jesus. I know it's true. That's why I don't have the answers to my prayers. That's why I don't have what I need. That's why I don't have the strength. That's why I don't have the rest. That's why I don't have the blessings all to have. I've been trying to get them other ways. I've not been spending as much time with Jesus as I should. I'm going to ask God to forgive me tonight and I want you to pray with me. Would you raise your hand, please, all over the building. All over the building. Would you keep them up while they join us, please? Our Heavenly Father, bless these dear ones. May we learn what it is to fellowship with him who yearns for our fellowship. May we learn what it is to walk with him who yearns to walk with us. To be with him who yearns to be with us. To follow him who yearns to lead us. To feed from him who yearns to feed us. To ask from him who yearns to give to us. May we learn to walk with God. Our heads are bowed in prayer. Maybe tonight you ought to come and look at the altar and say, oh God, I've overlooked you. Not your work, but you. Ah, like what A. B. Simpson said, once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord. Once it was the feeling, now it is his word. Once his gifts I wanted, now the giver own. Once I sought for healing, now himself alone. All in all is Jesus. Of Jesus will I sing. Everything is Jesus and Jesus is everything. If you ought to come tonight and just say, dear Jesus, I've overlooked you. I've not overlooked your house, but I've overlooked you. I've not overlooked your work, I've overlooked you. I've not overlooked your church, I've overlooked you. I've not overlooked your school, I've overlooked you. I've not overlooked your business, but I've overlooked you. He wants you. He wants you. He wants you. What mother doesn't want a child to come when he's in need? He wants you to come to him. I wonder how many would say, well, the house, I'm not even a saved person. I haven't even yet come to Jesus for salvation. I do not know that if I died tonight, I'd go to heaven, but I wish I didn't know it. I'd like to be saved. Pray for me that I might become a Christian. Would you lift your hand, please? First on the lower floor, lift it way up high, and I'll see your hand, and I promise I'll pray for you. Lift your hand way up high. God bless you. Is there another? You'd like to be saved, then know it. On the lower floor, pray for me that I might be saved. And know I'm saved. Would you raise your hand? God bless you, son. All the others, please, on the lower floor. Lift it quietly, and I'll pray for you. May I see your hand, please? Up in the balcony, on my left, that's the east balcony. You'd say, pray for me, I'd like to be saved. God bless you. I see that hand, fellow. God loves you. I hope you'll come to Christ this evening. Who else on the east balcony? In the center balcony, you'd say, pray for me, I'd like to be saved. I need to come to Jesus. Pray for me. Lift your hand, please. The balcony on my right, you'd say, include me in the prayer. I'm not saved, but I want to be. Pray for me. Would you raise your hand, please? I'd love to pray for you. Our Heavenly Father, there are some, I pray tonight, they will say yes to Christ. May they come to Jesus, realizing that all things are now ready. Now our heads are bowed.