Minister to us, I pray, Lord, that you would use me as your unworthy servant in order to speak your word to your people, and I pray, Lord, that you would instruct all of us through your word, and that Lord, by your grace, you would help us to embrace what it is that you might have for us, that you would help us to receive and that Lord, you would transform us to some degree, Lord, through your word, Lord. we ask that you would make your presence felt, that your glory would be manifest, and that, Lord, you, at the end of the hour would truly be exalted. Lord, we do come before you, confessing the fact that we do fall short of your glory and acknowledging our need for you. And we thank you, Lord, that in you we have provision for our need, that Lord, through the shedding of your blood, our sins have been atoned for, and that Lord, you have given to us your spirit.
We are sealed by your spirit and therefore empowered by your grace to minister. So, so Lord, I just, commend this time to you. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
I'd like to begin by asking a question of all of you, everyone from the old to the young and in between. the question is this, do you want to be great? What a question is that to ask, at the beginning of a sermon, but, but still, do you, do you want to be great? do you aspire to greatness?
I would submit to you that there is nothing at all, intrinsically wrong with the desire to be great. None of us wants to be a failure at things. We all want to do things, well. There is nothing wrong with the desire to get an A in a difficult college course....
