Showers of Blessing

I hope that we're live for the service — I can't guarantee it, because I'm not set up the way I normally am. I'm not sure if we're live here, but hopefully we're live online.

Welcome to Hurricane Sunday at Ohana Baptist Church. I've got one person here with me, but otherwise it's a pretty lonely place — we canceled church services on Sunday because of the hurricane.

But we're still going to have a message. I'm not going to sing for you, so I'll just give it to you straight, and you can have your own worship time afterward with your family.

I have to do this on my phone because we're having trouble with the livestream audio. Hopefully this is going through and working, and we'll post it later on as well.

I had a sermon prepared for this morning, but I decided not to do that. I thought it would be very appropriate, given all the rain we're having, to talk about droughts.

Joel 2:23–24 — "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil."

We want God's blessings in our lives. Let's turn to Psalm 63, verse 1. But sometimes it feels like there's a drought. Sometimes we wonder, where are the showers of blessing?

Psalm 63:1–7 — "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice."

Sometimes in our spiritual lives we go through a trial, a time where it just seems like — where are the blessings of God?

So, chapter 63, verse 1 again: "O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." It feels like a dry and thirsty land — what about the blessings of God?

Psalm 143:6 — "I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah."

We want to reach out to Him. We want the blessings of God. And when it seems like there's a spiritual drought in your life, that's when you need the blessings of God — especially when it seems like everybody around you is being blessed. Here in Hawaii, you can see rain over there, and it's not raining where you are. Sometimes you can see God blessing that person's life, but it's not blessing your life.

Amos 4:7 — "And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered."

Sometimes it seems like all the blessings are over there — where are they in my life? And sometimes we're missing out on the showers of blessing because we're in the wrong place.

Again, Psalm 63:1 — "O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." If you're in a dry, thirsty land where there's no water, you have to expect a drought.

If you want snow, you need to live where it snows — that's the place for you. If you want rain, don't live in the desert. If you want God's blessings, you need to live where the blessings of God are. You need to be in the right place — and if you're not being blessed, maybe it's because you're not in the right place in your life. You need to move to where the blessings are, and go where God is showering down His blessings.

One of the places you'll find the blessings of God is in church. Psalm 63:2 — "To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." One place to see the blessings of God is in church. When you're not in church, you're not going to get the blessings, because that's where God says He pours out His blessings.

Psalm 42:1–2 — "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"

You need to come where God has called you to come. He has called us to come together in church, called us to come together in the sanctuary. And if you're not in church, you're not going to get the blessings of God. I realize you couldn't be here this morning because of the hurricane, but you can be here — you should be here. You want the blessings — this is where you need to be.

Not only do you come to church for the blessing, you also come to church to be a blessing.

Psalm 122:1, 9 — "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD... Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good." And we ought to seek the good of God's blessings.

At church, that's where you're going to be blessed, and you need to come to church to be a blessing as well. You can watch church on the internet, but you can't be a blessing that way. There's something about being there in a sanctuary, something about being around other Christians. There's something about getting up out of your chair, out of your bed, and going to church that provides a blessing for you.

So if you want the blessings, be in church. And if you want the blessings, also be in prayer.

Psalm 63:3–4 — "Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name." We need to praise and bless God. We need to call upon our Lord. If you want the blessings of God, one place you'll find that blessing is in prayer.

Zechariah 10:1 — "Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field." You've got to ask God for the rain. It says to ask the Lord for rain even in the time of the latter rain — you see, we still need to ask, even when it's the expected time for rain. You know it's going to rain, but you still need to come to the Lord in prayer. Prayer is not just about getting answers to our prayers — prayer itself is a place of blessing. Prayer is a place where you're going to find that blessing from God. And when you have no blessings, it's often because you're not asking.

James 4:2–3 — "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

We don't ask, or the prayers we do pray are very shallow and self-centered — "Lord, please don't let it rain on my ballgame today," "Please clear it up for my picnic today." Now, it's not wrong to pray those prayers, but so often that's about the depth of our prayers. So we wonder why we're not finding blessings in our prayer life. You have not because you ask not — and you don't receive because you ask amiss.

So if we want to end the drought, we've got to ask God for His blessings. And you need to make sure that you believe.

Matthew 21:22 — "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

I think the reason we often don't get the blessing is that we don't expect the blessing. We pray for rain but we don't bring our umbrella. We need to come expecting the blessing of God — come looking for that blessing in your prayer. You'll find God's blessings in church. You'll find God's blessing in prayer.

And back in Psalm 63:6 — "When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches" — you'll find God's blessings in the Bible.

Psalm 1:1–3 — "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

If the showers of blessing are coming down, go plant yourself by the river — go where the blessings are. That's right there in the Word of God. You'll find the blessings in God's Word. Most people who tell me they don't get anything out of the Bible are people who don't read the Bible.

You've got to get into the Word of God. 1 Timothy 4:13–16 — "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee."

That confidence comes from being in the Word of God. If you're not having blessings in your life, if it seems like there's a spiritual drought, you need to get into the Word of God. If you want the showers of blessing, you've got to be where the blessings are coming down — and they come down at church, they come down in prayer, they come down in the Bible.

Turn to Jeremiah 5, verses 23 through 25.

Normally one of the easiest jobs in Hawaii is being the weatherman — most days you're just saying "mostly sunny" or "chance of scattered showers." But these last couple of days they've been busy; they've got a hard and important job to do. I don't normally watch the weather because I know what it's going to be, so I usually skip through it in the news. But these past few days I've been watching it, and a lot of times they talk about how this high-pressure system is blocking the trade winds, or this high is keeping the showers from coming. Sometimes there's a high-pressure system affecting the weather around us.

Jeremiah 5:23–25 — "But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you."

When we have sin in our life, it becomes like a high-pressure system that keeps the blessings of God out of our lives, and we need to deal with that sin. There's a hymn we sing called "Nothing Between My Soul and My Savior." It's so important that we keep that way clear — that there's nothing between us and God. When there's sin in your life, the blessings aren't going to come. You've got to get rid of that high pressure — that iniquity, that sin — so that the blessings of God can come down on you.

You and I need the rain. We need the showers of blessing. Another hymn we have is "There Shall Be Showers of Blessing" — this is the promise of God:

There shall be showers of blessing: This is the promise of love; There shall be seasons refreshing, Sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need: Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.

Ezekiel 34:26 — "And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing." He's saying, I'm going to make that place a place of blessing — and if you're in that place, right around it, that's where the blessings are going to come down. You and I love the showers of blessing. We've got to go to God and find them in Him — we need those blessings in our lives.

Go to Leviticus 26. Now, I don't know if they've perfected it yet, but I've read about this idea of seeding the clouds so that you get rain. I don't know if that's really possible, but I think it's kind of like the idea of priming a pump. You know those old farm pumps — you have to pump the water out, and sometimes you can pump and pump and nothing comes out. But if you pour a little water down the pump first and then pump it, the water comes right up.

Sometimes we need to prime the pump if we want God's blessings in our lives. We've got to seed those clouds. Leviticus 26:3–4 — "If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." When you and I are walking in God's statutes, keeping His commandments, doing what's right — that's when we're going to see the blessings of God. That's how you seed the clouds of blessing.

So if you're saying, "I want the showers of blessing," then start priming the pump — start doing the things that a blessed person would do. Seed those clouds by obeying God's commandments. So often I talk to people who ask, "Why isn't God blessing me?" but they're living a life of sin — living a worldly life, not going to church, not reading the Bible — and asking why God isn't blessing them. Because that's not where the blessings of God come from. You need to seed the clouds, prime the pump, and start doing what a blessed person would do.

You may also need to do a rain dance. We have a little song we do with the kids in Sunday school — you may know this one: "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes; head, shoulders, knees, and toes, eyes and ears and mouth and nose." That's what you and I need to do — our own version of that rain dance.

Turn to Deuteronomy 32. Aren't you glad you're not here in person? They'd make you stand up and do that! So, Deuteronomy 32, verses 1 and 2:

Deuteronomy 32:1–2 — "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass."

It starts with the head — you've got to listen. So many times I'm talking to people, telling them, "this is what you need to do," but it just seems to go right over their head. They don't listen, and they don't listen, and then they ask, "why won't God bless me?" You need to change that in your life — you need to move to the right place spiritually. We've got to listen with our head.

Then — shoulders. 1 Samuel 9:2 — "A choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people." (That's speaking of Saul.) He was head and shoulders above everybody else.

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 — "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity." We need to stand tall above this world. We need to stand up for God if we want the blessings of God. If you want the blessings, you've got to get up higher. It's like this — if you drive up into the hills while it's raining down here, you'll find it's pouring even harder up there. The higher you go, the more blessing you get.

Then — knees. We need to pray. 2 Chronicles 7:13–14 — "If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." You need to get on your knees and pray in repentance. You've got to get out and confess your sin and get right with God — say, "God, please forgive me. Please forgive my iniquity, please forgive the sin in my life" — and ask for God's forgiveness.

Head, shoulders, knees — and toes. Psalm 126:5–6 — "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." You need to go and witness to people. There's no greater blessing than leading somebody to Christ. When you get your focus off yourself and onto others — winning them to Christ, bringing them into church, helping them find the Lord — that's where the blessings come from.

Let's turn to Psalm 42, verse 4: "When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday."

Psalm 42:11 — "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

If you're saying, "I don't see God's blessing in my life," that's the time to start praising God. We often do it backwards — we praise God after He's blessed us. What we need to do is praise God before He blesses us. The more you learn to praise God, the more blessings you're going to see from Him as well.

One of the things we're going to miss this morning is our worship time. I hope you'll take time to worship the Lord — but it's not just in church; you need to worship the Lord every day. And if you don't take time to praise God every day, that's when you're going to miss the blessings of God.

James 5:7–8 — "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

You've got to be ready for the blessings. A farmer doesn't just sit in his house watching TV, waiting for the rains to come. He's out in the field every day — planting seeds, cultivating, plowing — doing everything he can to be ready when the rain comes. One of the things that gets in the way of the blessings of God is that we sit around waiting for God to bless us. It means getting busy, doing what you need to do, so you're ready to see the blessings of God.

But sometimes with the blessings also come storms. We saw that today — we got the rain, but we got a storm as well.

James 1:2–4 — "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

Sometimes with the rain comes the storm — it's not if it's going to come, it's when it's going to come. I wasn't even here in 1980 [uncertain reference], and this is one of several hurricanes we've had hit us directly. We've had other storms that do as much damage as a hurricane. We know it's not if it's going to come, it's when. It may not come this year, it may not come next year, but it's going to come — and it came this year.

The trials are going to come, and when those trials come it feels like, well, where is God in these trials? But God is there, trying to teach us faith, trying to teach us wisdom, trying to teach us patience. He's got a purpose in those storms that He's trying to teach us. And we always want what we want, the way we want it.

Romans 1:10 — "Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you."

I remember years ago, we were at [Koloa? — uncertain] Baptist Church, and we had a building there that needed a new roof, but we didn't have the money for it. So we were praying, saying, "God, we need You to give us the money to put a roof on this building." Then we had a hurricane come through, and it damaged the roof, and the insurance company came out — and even though we told them the roof was already bad, they said, "We're still going to replace it," and they paid to put a new roof on that building. We actually came out ahead financially in the process, as a church. And that was what we were praying for. We weren't praying for God to send a hurricane — we were praying for Him to provide for that roof.

Sometimes when you ask for one thing, you get another. You ask for patience, and you get a storm. You ask for a better marriage or family, and you get a storm. By the way, I like storms at my house, because when the thunderstorms come, my wife snuggles closer. If you ask God to help you grow closer to Him, guess what — He'll give you a storm. God will send storms to help us get what we're asking for — just not in the way we expect. And we have to be willing to take the storms and accept that as well.

Luke 8:22–25 — "Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him."

Another song we sing with the kids goes something like, "I can smile at the storm" [lyric approximate — song title unclear]. Even when the storms come, we can be confident that God is with us in that storm. Jesus can calm the storm — but He can also be the calm in the storm. We have to remember, He doesn't always calm the storm, but He goes with us; He is with us in the storm. Now the question is: do you have Christ in your vessel?

The disciples — Jesus rebuked them for not having faith, because He had promised them (remember, back in verse 22): "Let us go to the other side." He had promised, "We're going to go to the other side of the lake." He promised that they would get there. And you know what — God has promised that He'll take you to heaven if you'll trust in Him.

1 John 5:12–13 — "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

You can know that you're going to get to the other side. But the only way to know that is by trusting in Jesus and trusting His promise.

Romans 10:9–10, 13 — "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation... For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Today, that's His word to you — whoever will call upon Him, if you'll put your faith in Him, not in yourself. Those disciples were experienced fishermen, but they knew they could not get themselves to the other side.

Ephesians 2:8–10 — "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast... For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

We need to realize that you cannot get yourself to the other side — and in the same way, you cannot get yourself to Heaven. It's only by trusting in Jesus Christ, and trusting His promise, that you get to the other side, that you receive eternal life. If you don't have that promise today, put your faith and trust in Him — believe His promise to take you to the other side — and place your trust in Him.

John 3:16 — "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God wants you to have everlasting life today. He wants you to trust the Captain.

I preach this appeal — I plead with you — for this invitation. Let me use an illustration from years ago, when my girls were little. My mom came to visit us here in Hawaii and stayed about two weeks. We had a great time with her, and the girls fell in love with their grandma. But the day came when it was time for her to leave, and we went out to the airport to say goodbye. We tried to explain it to the girls — they were about three, four, and five years old at the time — how Grandma was going to get on the airplane and fly home.

That was back when you could still go out to the gate, so we went to the terminal and out to the gate and watched her board the plane. She was sitting in a window seat facing the terminal, so we were able to wave to her through the window, and watch as the plane pulled away from the gate, out onto the tarmac, and began to take off. We watched it climb into the air, shouting, "Goodbye, Grandma! Goodbye, Grandma!" We thought we'd done a pretty good job explaining it to those little girls.

About two weeks later, we were near the airport, and there was a plane taking off, up in the sky. One of my daughters looked over and said, "Look, Daddy — there's Grandma!" She thought Grandma was still on that airplane.

I was reminded, at the funeral later — Jane was her name — that the grave was just her transportation. She wasn't in that grave; she had already reached her destination. She was already in Heaven.

If you get on an airplane, you have to trust the pilot to take you where you're going. If you get on a ship, you've got to trust the captain of that ship to take you where you're going. That's what you and I need to do — trust Christ to take us to Heaven. We can't hold our breath and get there quicker. We can't flap our arms and get there. We just have to get on and have faith in that pilot to get us to our destination. Now, pilots don't always get us there safely, but Jesus will always get you to Heaven — you can trust in Him. Once you're on that ship, you've got to trust the captain to command the ship and get you where you're going.

Now, in the process of that, what are you supposed to do? Stay busy — keep working.

Ephesians 2:8–10 (again) — it doesn't mean you don't work; you just do your job and let Jesus do His job. Stay faithful to Him. He is with us in the storms, and He promises He'll get us to the other side.

We also need to stay under the umbrella. Go to Psalm 61:3–4 — "For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah." The psalmist is saying, "I know the shelter of Your wings — I'm under the umbrella of Your protection." When you're in God's will and walking with the Lord, you're under the umbrella of His protection. But when you step away from the Lord, out of His will, you're no longer under that umbrella. So we need to stay within the will of God, walking with Him faithfully, staying close to Him — we want that protection in our lives.

As we go through this Hurricane Sunday, let's also think about a drought. By the way, let me say one more thing: all the rain we're having right now, as much as it's been, isn't going to end a drought on its own. One rain doesn't undo a long dry season. That's what happens so often with many of us — we go through a drought, and then God, out of His grace and mercy, blesses us, and we think, "okay, everything's fine now," and we stop staying right with the Lord. We don't keep ourselves in that place where we can stay under the blessing. We need to keep doing these things in our lives — we need to make sure we're staying faithful.

I want to encourage you — right now it looks like the rain's going to stop, and it should be okay to come to church tonight, same time. If you miss out tonight, you'll miss hearing our special speaker. You should be in church, in prayer. Spend time in prayer to the Lord. Be in your Bible, reading the Word of God every day — not just on Sunday. Make sure that sin, that high pressure, is out of your life, because it's blocking the blessings of God. You've got to seed the clouds and do that rain dance. You've got to listen, you've got to stand up and hope in the Lord, and we need to do the right thing.

We need to realize that sometimes with the blessings come the trials, and we need to accept that and understand that the Lord has a purpose and a plan. There's something He's going to teach us and guide us with, and even though it's hard, it's a lesson we can grow through. I remember an earlier hurricane — it was a difficult time, a big hurricane, and it did a lot of damage — but God used it in so many ways beyond just that.

Make sure that you're in that place of listening, that you're in Christ Jesus, that you can say, "God, You are my Savior." Know that you're going to get to the other side. Make sure you stay under the shelter of God's blessing by walking with Him and staying close to Him.

Closing prayer:

Dear Father, we thank You for today. We thank You for providing for us, and we thank You for the rain that came. We pray for those affected by the hurricane — that You would help them go through those things, and just be with them. Father, we pray that You would rain down on us — we pray for the showers of blessing, we pray for Your blessings in our lives. And Lord, we know that if we want the blessings, we've got to do the things we've talked about — so we ask You to help us live out the rest of our lives that way. And if there's anyone here who does not know Jesus Christ, we pray they would be saved through faith and trust in Him. Help us to walk with You every day, so we can have the blessings of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Announcements

We've got a few announcements before we dismiss. First of all, as of right now, tonight's service is still on. If we have to change it because of the weather forecast, we'll email you — so if you don't get an email from us, you can call or text me and we'll let you know. As of right now we'll have that service, and we have a mystery speaker tonight, so that'll be a blessing to you as well. I hope to see you back here tonight.

There's a baby shower on the 22nd for the Freemans — you can contact [name unclear] for details.

There's also a Labor Day softball tournament coming up, so make sure you sign up. We'll have a sign-up sheet for that next Sunday.

Prayer requests: Marilyn's [uncertain] brother, Yasin, passed away. He wasn't saved — didn't know the Lord — but it's still a loss, so please pray for Marilyn and her family. We also want to pray for the Austin family [uncertain] — his mom passed away — so pray for his family as well. We heard he had a godly testimony, and we're thankful for that. Pray for the family in that loss.

Pray for the Gilbertsons — they had twins this week: a boy, [name unclear], 7 lbs 14 oz, and a girl, [name unclear], also around 7 lbs. We don't have the names yet, but pray for both of them. If you want more details, contact my wife.

Pray for Willie and Abraham's mom — they came over here from the islands, and she was just released from the hospital after some health issues. Pray for her.

[One sentence in the original recording about looking for a larger meeting place and an anniversary was unclear and has been omitted rather than guessed at — worth checking the original audio.]

Pray for James Salcedo, one of our teenagers. This last week, he was getting off the bus and all of a sudden couldn't walk — he collapsed. It turns out a growth plate [uncertain] had slipped, which isn't common but does happen to adolescents sometimes, and they had to reattach it with a pin. Pray for him — Dan [uncertain] flew back from San Francisco and has been working to get time off to be with the family. Pray for them; I know they'll appreciate it.

I think that covers all the announcements. I hope to see you tonight — since you missed out this morning, it's a good time to come back out and join us. We'll look forward to that.

Thank you for being here. God bless you.