Revival Requirement (Ezekiel 2:1-7)

This morning we're going to be in a sermon. As

many of you know, I was away last week. I

had the opportunity to speak at a church in Rock Hill,

South Carolina, and do a series, a revival series with them.

They had a revival meeting, so starting on Sunday morning,

Sunday night, and then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's been

the first time I've done that in probably eight years

plus years, and so I was led to be able

to be there. And so this morning I'm going to

share one of the messages I shared with them. And

I just believe the Lord will use.

That this morning. So I'm glad you're here. You know,

one thing as we're thinking about.

Revival and revival is the idea of thinking about, Lord,

we're dry.

And maybe even spiritually we're dead.

And, Lord, maybe we're struggling with that maybe as a

church or a community or a state or even a nation.

we're dry spiritually, and we're even spiritually dead as a nation.

And God, we're asking you to revive us.

And so as you think about that for a minute,

have you ever thought about in life, it just seems

like everything comes with requirements, right? There's not anything that

we kind of face in life that there's not something

we need in order to get the job done. If

you go to school, you know there's requirements you must have.

Just a few months ago, as we're starting our academy

here that we the teacher sent out a supply list

right these are supplies these are things that your student

needs in order to to go to school this year

so there's requirements to go to school there's requirements that

you need for your job you need maybe a degree

in order to get your job you may need a

certain test that you got to go through or some

training to go in order to start your job there's

even requirements for just getting our license right we have

to have certain paperwork as we go into the DMV

to get our license we We have to, we have,

we need, there's requirements. Brandy's a good cook, and I

cook a little bit. She does really good at baking, right?

And if you're going to make a good pound cake,

you need certain things. If you want to know what

those are, ask Brandy. All I know is you need

sugar and flour. I don't know what else you need.

If you're going to work on your vehicle, there's certain

things that you need. If you're going to have a

good football team, and we're still working on that at UNC.

There are certain things you need, like a quarterback and

a defense. There's requirements for everything. As we come to

this passage today, Ezekiel is showing God's people and us

what's needed for revival. If we truly want God to

revive our country, if God to revive our community, our state,

our church, there are certain things we need. As we

come to this passage, I think it's important for you

to understand contextually what's going on in this and why

does Why does Israel need revival? Ezekiel is a prophet.

He's one of the major prophets. There's many major prophets

in the Old Testament. He's one of them. This comes

to a time period, if you read in your Bibles,

you want to read up at some point, you can

go to 2 Kings 24, and you'll see what's happening

in this. There's two instances in Israel's history where the

nation of Israel had so rebelled against God that God

brought another country to bring judgment upon the nation of Israel.

There's two instances. The first instance is Syria.

God raised up a pagan nation, Assyria, to come and

strike Israel and destroy them.

He had actually attacked.

The northern Israel, destroyed the northern part of Israel, and

carried them into captivity. The second time that God does

that is Babylon. Babylon was the second world power at

the time. And not only Assyria had already taken captive

northern Israel, And God raises up Babylon as his instrument,

as a pagan nation, to destroy Jerusalem, to destroy Judah,

which is the southern part of Israel. And so as

we come to this passage of Scripture, that's where we are.

Israel has turned from God. They've become a country who

has rebelled against the Lord. And God raises up Babylon

to bring judgment upon them. What happens if you go

to 2 Kings 24, you'll see that Babylon came against Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel. The king Nebuchadnezzar

is the king at the time. God raises him up,

and he comes and attacks against Jerusalem. And when he comes,

the king of Jerusalem, or Judah at the time, he

actually surrenders. He knows that Babylon is too powerful, and

he doesn't want people to be defeated.

So he surrenders.

He surrenders, the king surrenders to the king of Babylon,

King Nebuchadnezzar, and he also surrenders and he surrenders all

of his officials and many of his family. And the king, Nebuchadnezzar,

actually takes the king, his family, and 10,000.

Officials and even priests to captivity.

It's roughly from Jerusalem to Babylon, the capital of Babylon,

was roughly 900 miles. So he carries them all the

way back. Can you imagine that today? Imagine today we,

and I believe we as America, we've turned from God, right?

We as a country are not following the Lord anymore.

And imagine God raising up and says, you know what,

because of what? The sin of America, I'm going to

come against them, and I'm going to raise up an adversary.

And just say, just hypothetically, say it's Canada. And God

raises up the prime minister of Canada, to attack D.C.

And then imagine the president saying, you know what, I

don't want this for the people of America. It would

be best for me to surrender. And imagine him surrendering,

him and his wife. And then imagine all the Senate

and the representative in the Senate and all the House

of Representatives also surrendering and Canada carrying all the officials

and the president to Canada, Ottawa.

For them to live in captivity there.

I paint you that picture because that's exactly what's happening

at this time. There's still people living in Jerusalem, but

the nation has surrendered to a foreign nation. And they've

done that. And all this is happening. All that happened

as a result of what? God's judgment upon Israel. And

so here in this passage this morning, God wants to,

because of their sin, the nation's falling apart.

It's full of sin. It's full of immorality. It's full

of false worship.

But despite of their rebellion, despite of their false worship,

God is calling the nation back. God's wanting to revive

the nation. And can I tell you today, listen, America

is turned from God. America is a nation full of sin.

It's full of immorality. It's full of false worship. And

I believe today God knows the sin of America. And

God knows how we've turned back from him. But just

as God desired to bring revival to Israel, listen to

me today. I believe God wants to bring revival to America.

And where does that start? It starts when God speaks

to one man and to one heart. Do you know today,

as you think about God wanting to bring revival to America,

and I believe that just as he wants to bring

revival to the nation of Israel in 1 Kings 24,

God wants to bring revival here. And listen today. It

starts with one person who hears the voice of God.

And so let's look at what does revival require. He

outlines this in this passage of Scripture. So let's look

at revival requirements. Number one, revival requires God's intervention. Look

at verse 1 and 2 of Ezekiel chapter 2, as

Ezekiel 2 · chapter mention

Jake just read a few moments ago. This is what

it says, Revival requires God's intervention. If you go to

chapter 1, God's working on Ezekiel again. Ezekiel's the prophet.

Ezekiel has these visions all through Ezekiel. He has this

vision in chapter 1, and In this vision, he sees

two different things. First, I think he sees four living creatures,

and the four living creatures he describes that he sees

have four different faces, and they have wings, and they

sparkle like bronze. And so he sees these in this vision,

these four living creatures. It's kind of hard for him

to imagine what they look like, but he sees this

vision of these four living creatures. And then beside these creatures,

he sees these wheels and And these wheels are turning,

and they shine like jewels. So he sees these living creatures,

and then he sees these wheels turning. And then above

the wheels and above the creatures, he sees the throne.

He sees the throne, and the throne's like sapphire.

And he sees the one seated on the throne. The

one seated on the throne is described in verse 28

of chapter 1. The one seated on the throne has

the likeness of the glory of the Lord. He sees

the glory of the Lord. He hears the voice of God.

And the Bible tells us Ezekiel falls on his face.

It reminds you as you read chapter 1, it reminds

you of Isaiah 6 when he saw the Lord high

and lifted up and he fell on his face before

the Lord and says.

Woe to me, I'm a man of unclean lips.

Ezekiel hears, he sees this glorious creature, his glorious wills,

and then he sees the glory of God's throne. He

sees the one who's seated on the throne. And when

he sees that, but it's not only seeing the glory

of God, it's hearing.

God's voice speak to him.

When he encounters the presence of a holy God, Ezekiel's

only response is to fall on his face before the Lord.

But I want you to notice, that's what leads up

to chapter one, I mean chapter two, in verse one.

And that's why it says, and what does he hear?

He hears the God speak, and look what God says

to him, Son of man, stand on your feet, and

I will speak with you. And as he spoke to me,

listen to this, verse 2, the Spirit entered into me,

and he set me on my feet, and I heard

him speaking to me. You see, God's requirement requires God's intervention.

If we want God to move, and we want God

to revive our creation, country, our city, our state.

We really need God to intervene.

It's interesting in this passage of scripture, as we think

about what God is doing in Ezekiel, it happens when

God moves in Ezekiel, when God reveals himself to Ezekiel,

when God speaks to Ezekiel. But look at what it

says when God feels Ezekiel, right? He sees the glory

of the Lord. He falls on his face before the Lord.

But his Holy Spirit, what, fills him. And the Scripture

says he, what, he set him on his feet. You see,

the Spirit of God.

Moved in Ezekiel. You know, let's be honest, right? We

want revival to move in us.

And in order for God to do something in us

and in our state and in our country, We need

something that only God can do. You know, I tell you,

he called me, the pastor called me to do this

revival probably six months ago and asked me.

To do it.

And I'll be honest with you, I was very nervous

about it.

I was very anxious about it. I had done that

in probably eight years or so.

And so I was really nervous about it. And so

I've been preparing and all that. And one of the

things that really, really bothersome bothered me or really concerned

me or had, like, anxiety over is that here they

were planning this. They were putting it on their calendar, right?

They were praying, like, a week before I came. And

what did they want? They wanted God to revive their church.

They wanted God to revive their community. They want God

to revive their state. And who are they calling to

start that?

Me.

Me. And I'll be honest with you, I've been to seminary.

I went to school for seven plus years. I know

how to write a sermon. I've done that a few

times in my life. I've planned services. I've been a

part of revival services. I know how to plan a service.

But there's one thing, even though I can't preach a

sermon physically, right? I can't do that. I can mentally

do that. I can plan. I can do the things

what's required to plan a service. There's one thing I

cannot do, and I cannot revive a heart of man.

I can't revive a church. I can't revive our state.

I can't revive our community. If that is going to happen,

that takes the movement of God. And I tell you

that because, listen, you can come here today and you

can say, you know what, God, I want you to

move and our country needs you and our state needs you,

our city needs you. And you can hear this message

today and never be moved by God. And revival says, God,

we need you to intervene. We need you to move

in us. And God, we know that we cannot do

this in our power, our strength. God, we need your intervention.

And listen, I need your intervention in me. I don't

want to just hear words and leave the here unchanged. God,

I need your spirit to speak to me today. Revival

requires God's intervention. I want you to see secondly here,

revival requires God's word. Notice in this passage scripture, and

as he spoke to me, the spirit into me and

he set me on my feet and I heard him

speaking to me. and he said, listen to this, to me,

son of man, I send you to the people of Israel,

to the nation of rebels who have rebelled against me,

and they and their fathers have transgressed against me to

this very day.

Revival requires God's intervention, but it requires God's word.

Notice Ezekiel, God's starting revival, and it's starting in This

one man named Ezekiel, and it starts when God's spirit

moves in him, and it next happens when he, what,

he hears God's word. And notice throughout this, he continues

to say, God is speaking to what? Me, to me,

to his heart. See, revival doesn't begin with my message

as I was talking about it. It begins with God's message,

God's word. Revival begins when God starts speaking to one

person's heart.

I told you before, Dr.

Wade, who's at Faith Baptist in Youngsville, he's a professor there,

and I was a professor with him. He talks about

how God changes a man. You ever thought about how

does God change? How does God change an individual? How

does he change his actions? How does he change his behavior?

How does he change his life? He explains it this way.

God brings change upon a man, how he changes one man.

He does that by his spirit, right, just as we see.

The Spirit of God moved the Ezekiel. And then secondly,

he does that, what? Through his word and in community. See,

when God starts changing us, when God wants to change us,

when his Spirit moves in us, and when his Spirit moves.

In us, then he gives us what? His word.

His word is his instruction on what we are to do.

Romans 10 says this, right? 10, 17. So faith comes

from hearing and hearing through the words of Christ. You see,

if we want revival, revival happens when God's Spirit moves

in us. God's Spirit moves within our hearts. It moves

within our church. It starts moving in our community. It

starts moving in our state. It starts moving in our nation.

It also continues when we, who the Spirit's moving in,

start hearing how God is speaking to us, to me,

to us as individuals. I heard of a pastor. He

actually led a revival in Welch. Or Wells, I'm sorry.

Welch. That's the answer. Jelly. Welch's Jelly. It's been a

long week.

So he was in Wells. He brought a revival there.

He was praying for revival. He was praying that God

would bring revival upon his land, Wells. He'd been praying

for like years. One day he was in a revival.

He was in a meeting. An evangelist was speaking. The

evangelist's name was Seth Joshua. On September 29, 1904, the

pastor who was speaking that night prayed.

And he prayed these words, O Lord, bend us.

Here, Roberts had been praying for years that God would

bring revival to Wells.

And that night, he.

Says, God used those words to speak to him. And

all along, he'd been thinking, God, revive Wells. Revive my country.

Revive my city. Revive my town. And he realized that

if revival was ever going to start, it had to

start in him. And so that night, Robert prayed, Oh, Lord,

bend me.

Bend me.

After that, he began speaking. And God brought revival to

the country of Wells. You know, one of the things

I love to do after in the service is I

like to stand and greet you as.

You leave and speak to you as you leave.

And I think one thing that's funny is as people

come by, they'll talk about how God spoke. But there's

times where I hear people say, you know what? Preach

out was a good message today. I sure wish such

and such was here. They sure needed to hear that one.

Or how many times I see, I'll be preaching and

I can see people looking around. They're looking for that person.

Are they here? They really need to hear that. You see,

revival says, God, I need you to intervene. But God,

if I really want revival in America, in my county

or in my state, God, it starts when you start

speaking to me. And God, revival starts with It doesn't

start in D.C. It doesn't start in our state capital.

Revival starts in my heart. Ezekiel, the revival started in him.

And it started when he heard God's word. I ask

you today. How's God's going to speak to you today?

How are you listening for him to speak not to

someone else to you? How are you saying, oh, God, today?

Speak to me. Lord, I need revival. I need your word.

Revival requires God's word, but revival requires man's recognition. In

this passage of scripture, look at what he begins. He

begins speaking. through his spirit, right? The spirit moves in Ezekiel.

God's word comes in Ezekiel. But look at verse 3

and 4. It says, Now he's talking about sending Ezekiel

to Israel who need revival, right? God's going to revive

Ezekiel that he might bring revival to a nation. Look

at this. He says, Look at verse 4. It says,

He begins saying, hey, I'm going to send you to

these people. And I'm reviving you. My spirit's moving in you.

My word's coming to you. But I'm reviving you that

you might bring revival to a nation. And I want

you to recognize just how much this nation needs me,

how they've turned against me. He describes them in several

different ways. They're a nation of rebels, right? They've transgressed

against me.

They're impudent. That means they're disrespectful. They're stubborn.

They're They're stiff-hearted. You see, the nation of Israel had

a sin problem. And the first step of addressing the

sin problem is recognizing we've got a problem. You see,

for us today, if we truly want revival in our world,

in our city, in our state, in our country, It

starts with us recognizing we have a problem. We have

a sin problem. And in the eyes of God, we've

rebelled against him. We've transgressed against him. We've disrespected him.

We've been stubborn against him. We've been stiff-hearted like David who,

after sinning the Bathsheba, right? In Psalm 51, he says,

I alone have sinned against you, God. It starts with

us saying, God, we have a sin problem, and we

sinned against you. I think the tendency for you and

I is to say, you know, our nation needs revival.

Our community needs revival. Those people out there need revival.

But notice in this passage of Scripture, who is he

talking to? He's talking to Ezekiel. He's talking to Israel.

Who is Israel? Israel is God's people.

You see, who has turned against God and has brought

God's judgment? It's not the unbelievers. It's the people who

know God who have turned against him. And judgment is

because God's people have turned to sin.

God's people rebelled and transgressed against him.

And so therefore, God's judgment has come against the nation.

Have you ever thought about that?

So many times we think our world is such a

mess today because all the sin that's in our world today.

Instead of saying, you know what, our world's where it

is today because God's people are not living the way

they should for God. And the reason why God's judgment

is coming up, listen to this, God's coming against America,

it's not because of the problems in the White House

or in our culture or what's in the media or

what the celebrities are doing. God's judgment coming to America

is because the church has a sin problem. God's people

have a sin problem. You ever had, you know, there's

a kind of a slogan or slang term lately, you know,

I'm fine.

Everybody's fine. Everything's fine, right? This is something you see

T-shirts made.

You ever been that way, right? You say, I'm fine,

I'm fine, I'm fine, but really you're not fine. I

tell you, yesterday, this week has been a hard week.

It's been a great week. I had revival, but like

I said, when God's blessing, Satan's messing. And I came back,

and I tell you, most of you may or may

not know, my stepdad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. So

I spent a lot of time with my stepdad and

mom last week.

It was hard.

Came back, and I have some vehicle problems, and it

was a rough week. It was a rough weekend, a

great week, and then I came back, and it was

just a lot kind of all falling upon my plate

at one time.

Yesterday was just a bad day. I just had a

lot on me.

Had that from my family, had vehicle problems, and then

that Tar Heel game.

Just hit me over the top.

And Brandy, at one point, I was kind of stomping

through the house and a little upset, and she said,

is everything okay?

I said, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, everything's fine.

You know, and you laugh because you've been there, right?

And I was telling her I was fine, but it

was obvious with my body language it was not fine.

And I tell you that because many times, Listen, we've

got a mess of stuff going on in our lives

of sin, but we come.

Into church and we're saying, we're fine, I'm fine, I'm fine,

I'm fine, I'm fine.

The reality is, listen today, God knows how you've rebelled

against God. God knows the areas of where you need

to repent of some things. God knows the sin that's

in you today. And you can say you're fine, you

can say you're fine, but God knows your sin. And

revival starts, or revival requires for you and I to recognize, man,

these pet sins of pornography, alcohol abuse, affairs, whatever it

may be, gossip, whatever today privately you're hiding, and you

may say it's fine, it's fine, God, it's not fine

in the eyes of God. And revival starts when we

stop looking at how everybody else is sinning around us

and saying, God, you need to get them and start saying, God,

I need to do something about my sin. I need

to recognize that you're not happy with the things that

are in my life. And if I want revival, it

starts when I recognize, God, I need you to cleanse

me of some stuff that's in my life, that I'm

at like it's okay and it's not okay in your eyes, God.

Once you see fourth here, this morning revival requires God's intervention.

It requires God's word. It requires man's recognition, but it

requires man's obedience. You know, he recognizes the sin that's

in Israel, and then he tells Ezekiel that you need

to go and confront them of their sin. You need

to call them to repentance. Listen to this passage of scripture.

You You see in verse 3, son of man, I'm

sending you to the people of Israel, to the nation

of rebels who have rebelled against me. He describes them

with verse 5. He says, he talks about talking to

them and whether they hear or refuse to hear, for

they are a rebellious house. For they know, they will

know that a prophet has been among them. And you,

son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be

afraid of the words. Their briars and thorns are with you,

and you sit upon scorpions. Be not afraid of their words,

nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are rebellious house.

God begins reviving a man, a prophet named Ezekiel. He

does it by spirit. He does it through his word.

He helps him recognize the sin issues that sin to

his people.

And then he sends him. He revives him that he

sends him.

He might go and revive this nation.

He revives.

Notice he describes who he's sending them to and how

they're going to respond. He says, not be afraid of them, right?

He knew that Ezekiel was going to face resistance, right?

Briars and thorns talks about that.

It's going to be difficult. It's going to be hard.

Scorpions, they're going to attack you. They might bite you, right?

Yet God says to Ezekiel, what? Be not afraid of them.

Go.

We think about this passage and we think about God,

I want you to revive me. Maybe I hope today

as you leave this place, I hope that you don't think, God,

our world needs revival. I pray as you leave today,

you might say, God, I need revival. God, I want

your spirit to move in me in a way that

I haven't seen you move in a while. God, I

need you to speak to me in a new way.

I pray you recognize, Lord, what are some ways in me?

Search me, oh God, know me. How have I sinned

against you? And then as God revives you, I pray

that you'll see that God's reviving you because he's wanting

you to go to someone else who needs revival. I

wonder today if you just think about right now here

as you came together, who's someone in your family?

Who's a co-worker? Who's a neighbor?

Who's someone in your circle that you've contacted or that

is in your life today? Maybe they once were Involved

in church. Maybe they once did seek the Lord, but

there's been a long time since they really have sought

the Lord. Maybe they're not a believer. And today, who

is that one person? And as revival begins, revival what?

Spreads. It starts in one and it spreads to another.

And what if today revival starts in you and revival

continues as you go to that one person that God's

put on your heart today? But you say, but John, pastor,

I know that person that God just brought to my life.

You don't know how resistant they are to the things

of God.

If you say anything about religion, you say anything about

the God, they'll just shut you down. God's not sending,

he's not going to send me to them. They may

cuss at me. They may be ugly to me. It

might hurt a relationship. But God is saying you to go.

And you say, but pastor, I understand this is a

great message, a great one of the revival messages for you,

but I'm not a prophet.

Ezekiel was a prophet. I'm not a prophet. I'm just

a lay person.

You know, the Bible says in Matthew 28, as Jesus

is about to descend, he tells his disciples and his followers,

go ye therefore to all the nations, teaching them all

that I've commanded you and baptizing them. You listen, that

command is, The same command that Ezekiel received was the

same command that you and all of us receive as

followers of Jesus Christ, that we might go with the gospel.

So how might today God lead you to go, to

speak his word? I was talking to a teacher in

our school this week, and his dad was a pastor,

and he was talking about revivals that he could remember

as a kid and as a boy, as being a

preacher's son, and He says, I'll never forget this revival

at Green Sea. It was actually Brady's home church. And

she said, every night we packed out the church service.

And one night the pastor got a burden for a

lost man that was in the community. And so after

revival about 9 o'clock, he looked at the pastor and said,

you know, we need to go see. And I don't

know his name. I'm going to make up a name, Ned.

We need to go see Ned. So they went to

Ned's house. And that night the pastor pleaded with Ned

to come to know the Lord. Ned wouldn't receive the Lord,

so the pastor decided he was going to pray for him.

So he got on his knees there before Ned and

began praying. He said, Oh, Lord, Ned needs you. And

you know tonight Ned's not received you, and tonight Ned's drunk.

And about that time, he felt some hands on his face.

He looked up, opened his eyes, and Ned had both

of his hands in his face.

He said, Preacher? Preacher? Don't tell the Lord I'm drunk.

Just tell him I'm drinking a little bit.

Listen, you don't know what you're going to face as

you follow what the Lord calls you to do. But

I want you to hear that story, not the funny part,

but listen, the fervent call of God of a man

to leave at 9 o'clock to go to someone's house

and tell them about Jesus. Will you be the one

who says, Lord, revival happens when your spirit moves in me,

when you speak to me. I want to recognize how

some areas of sin I need to repent of. But God,

it's going to require me to go and be obedient.

Even when it's uncomfortable, even when it's hard, even when

it doesn't make sense, God, I'll be obedient.

Lastly, revival requires man's response.

Listen, and you shall speak my word to them, whether

they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a

rebellious house. He tells Ezekiel, Ezekiel, my spirit's come upon you.

I'm reviving you, Ezekiel, because I want to use you.

I'm reviving you through my word. I want you to

recognize the sin that's in others, and I want to

send you to go and speak to them, to be obedient.

He tells him, when you go and speak, I want

you to speak whether they hear or where they refuse

to hear. You see, he knows that as Ezekiel goes

and speaks, man is going to respond, right? Ezekiel is

to respond by faithfully speaking. Israel must respond to God's word.

And there's two responses that Israel will have to God's word.

They will either hear it and obey it, or they'll

hear it and reject it. Listen to me today. Today,

I pray the Holy Spirit spoke into your heart. I

pray today God's words moved today. I pray today that

God's maybe helped lead you to recognize some sin that's

in your life. I pray today that God's called you

to go to someone and share the gospel with. Now today,

you have a choice of how you're going to respond

To the Holy Spirit.

You have a choice today. How you're going to respond

to God's word. Today. You will respond. Either by hearing. And. Obeying.

Or today. You'll hear. And reject it.

But you will respond. If we want revival. Revival starts.

When we say God I want to hear your word.

But I want to obey it. Will you pray with me? Lord,

I thank you, Lord, for today. I thank you, Lord,

for this passage that you've led us to. God, in

your sovereignty, in your hand, God, you've led me over

the last week to speak, Lord, this word to a

church in Rock Hill. And Lord, I believe today in

your providence, you've led us to hear that same word.

Lord, I pray that as your spirit is moved in

this place, Lord, you've called us all. Your spirit's moved here.

And God, we will respond to your word. Lord, revival

requires a response. Lord, today, I pray right now, we

would be a people who would hear and obey. Amen.

Lord, we love you. We thank you, Lord, for this word.

I pray that as you speak to us this morning,

if you lead us to come pray at this altar

for that person that we know in our life that

needs revival, God, I pray you'd lead us to do that.

If it's to respond to you in our seats, Lord,

I pray.

That we were to respond, Lord, to your word. Lord,

however you call us to respond right now, Lord, I

pray we wouldn't reject you.

But God, today I pray we would hear and obey. Lord,

we love you. We thank you, Lord, for today. In

your name we pray.