I'd like to pray before I begin my message and ask you to bow with me and ask God to help me and to come and make these few minutes in the word powerful.

Father, as we pause now to focus specifically on the truth that you have revealed in your word about your son Jesus, would you come and make your word healing, make your word restoring, make your word convicting, make your word saving. And I'm sure I couldn't even begin

to think of all the needs that were brought into this room of every sort, but

you, Father, in your omniscience, know everything.

Every hair on every head is numbered. everything. is known. Would you be pleased to minister to every need miraculously in ways that I could

have anticipated when I put down on paper the ideas that I wanted to share.

Into your hands now, Lord, I commit these moments.

Come, meet us as you have already in Jesus name.

Amen.

Do you think that the major communications media

of our culture, our society,

offer you sober, earnest counsel and insight about the most important questions and issues in the world.

I mean questions like how can I as a sinful human being get right with a righteous God.

How can I have peace with my maker when I know I have not lived

as I ought to live?

Or questions like, is there life beyond the grave and if there is, is there a heaven and is there a hell? if there is how can I be sure that I find life beyond the grave rather than destruction or punishment?

Or questions like, where can the deepest longings of my heart be satisfied?

And I don't mean those superficial desires that relate to comfort and prosperity that all the advertisements on TV appeal to,

I'm talking about the deep, deep heart cries of the night.

Where can I find answers and satisfaction to those deep things in my life?

Or questions like, can I know an omnipotent, all-powerful, great God personally? Can I know him in a way that it would

be like walking with a friend? Or questions like, is there a power to love?

...