Last Sunday I stood here in this very pulpit and I prayed publicly that God would that morning give us 1.4 million dollars in pledges towards freeing the future, that is debt elimination and beyond on this building so that we would have all that money that goes into the mortgage for ministry in 1997.

I didn't have any particular divine authority for in this regard and a couple said well just that we go over the top I said fine fine but I find that cloud you know the cloud in numbers that kind of hovers over the tabernacle and when the cloud moves you move and when the cloud stays you stay.

I found the cloud hovering over 1.4 million dollars in my mind, my fallible mind, and it still hovers there this morning.

Hovers right over $1.4 million. And so as long as the cloud is

hovering there for me, I'm going to keep praying for that number. And when the cloud moves back or forward or sideways, I'll pray otherwise.

God's response last Sunday was to give us $850,000 in pledges. That's what it is now after a few

more came in. $850,000, which means that between now and October to pay off this building, we need another $250,000 in pledges.

We're not taking anybody's money until it's all in, until there's enough money to pay off the debt.

We're only collecting pledges. And when there's enough money to pay off all the indebtedness of this church, we'll ask for the money.

I mean, when there's enough pledges to do that.

So we need $250,000 more than what hear from last week.

Now my sense this morning is that what we need to hear from the Lord is a word about this. Here you got your pastor standing in the pulpit praying

for 1.4 million dollars and hundreds of people probably praying for 1.1 million dollars, which is what we needed to pay it off, and the Lord answers

with $850,000 in pledges.

And I want to hear from the Lord about that. I want to hear it. Give me a word

about what went on last week and what's going on now. And so that's what we're going to listen to this morning.

By the way, just another little piece of information that is interesting and encouraging, I think, is that we have 702 cards.

That is, 702 pledge cards came in as of Wednesday, I think, or Thursday.

Now that's amazing.

There are only 600 giving units in this church.

That is, a unit is like a couple if they have one income and one box and a single person, one box.

So we got 700 cards and 600 giving you, which means mainly that the children did exactly what we ask them to do.

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