Filled With All the Fullness of God — Jack Hyles

When I was in college, and this story is old to many of you, when I was in college I worked at the J .C. Penny Company selling men's clothing. There was a little girl, a 17-year-old girl, across the counter or across the store whose name was Jean Lambert.

If you understand the message, you'll have to guess the story first. Jean was in the ladies' hosiery department. One day Jean came across the store and she said, Jack, you're a preacher, aren't you? And I said, yes, I am.

I was pastoring a little church way up in the country, a hundred miles away, driving every weekend to the church. And Jean said, our church is without a pastor, but we're going to call one Wednesday night.

We've had a man named Mr. Jones, and that was his name, and a man named Smith, and that was his name. And we're going to vote between Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith Wednesday night, next Wednesday night. But we have no one to preach for us this Sunday.

Would you like to be our supply preacher this Sunday? And I said, look, I'm pastoring a country church up in the country, and I know, but she said, well, why don't you just let someone else go up there and you preach for our church called the Grange Hall Baptist Church of Marshall, Texas, about ten miles outside the city limits.

I said, okay, I will. I went out and preached, and the next Wednesday night they had their votes. Mr. Jones got 19 votes, and Mr. Smith got eight votes, 19 and eight twice. Dr. Towns, you taught in the seminary, what is 19, 27, 27, and I got 28 write-in votes.

You see, I've been calling all the members during the week, but the strange thing about it was that not a single man voted for me, and only one lady. I got one adult vote, that's all. The rest of them were the kids of the church, teenagers and children.

Now I'll never forget when they came over and told me, Mrs. Lambert brought a bunch of kids and said, you've been called to be our pastor, 28 to 27, with only one adult vote, and that's Mrs. Lambert, Jean's mother.

Telephone rang. It was the chairman of the deacon board. He said, is Reverend Hiles? I said, yes. He said, three of us want to see you. I said, when? He said, now. It was almost midnight. By the time I got out there, it was in the wee hours of the morning, and I walked in that little church out in the country, and no street lights, in fact, very few streets, and I walked in the church on a highway, Highway 43, outside Marshall, Texas.

The building was dark when I got there, and three men standing on the front porch, the chairman of the deacon board, Sunday school superintendent, and the church treasurer, who used to be a wrestler, and I felt led to pray a great deal and cry a song.

They said, come in. I came in. They sat me right here on the front row with this boy sitting this morning on the front row, and the three of them stood up, all three of them stood up in front of me and said, now, we'd like to say a few words to the deacon chairman.

We'd like to say a few words to you. He said, young man, you're not old enough to pastor this church. Well, good night. I was 21. How old can you get? And he said, we pay the bills. I own the biggest store in the neighborhood.

Most of the members rent from me houses that I own and work for me on land that I own. And this man is the Sunday school superintendent, and this man is a treasurer. He won't write your check if you walk in the pulpit.

He won't write. In fact, he said, that was on Wednesday night. He said, next Sunday, you won't walk in that pulpit. We'll see to it you don't. And I looked at the treasurer. He looked very qualified to see to it that I didn't.

And they said, you'll not do it. After they had given me the ultimatum and plenty of warning, they said, that's all. And I walked out and got in my car. And I drove around. And I had one of the sweetest nights of my life.

Five Vows for an Uncompromising Ministry

Somehow or other, I made God five promises that night. And I'll share them with you just briefly. Out in an old East Texas pine thicket on a sand hill of East Texas. In the wee hours of the morning, I said, dear God, I'll make you a promise.

I'll promise you that nobody will ever tell me what to preach or where to preach. And I made that vow to God, a holy vow. And I kept it, and God knows I have. One of the deacons in this church came to me when I first came here and said, about your preaching.

And I said, holy. If we paint the building, you get one vote. When we borrow money, you get one vote. We have a building program, you get one vote. When I walk in that pulpit, you don't get no vote. You don't get no vote.

That's a double negative. You don't get nary no vote. You don't get none nary no vote. And I made God a vow that night. The second promise I made, and I said, dear God, as long as I live, if you will help me, I promise you that money will never be an object of my ministry.

If you don't believe I accept that, ask the Hammond Times. Todd Pity, the fellow who wrote that headline. But anyway, I'm not mad. It's just funny that you could name an article like that with a headline like that.

But enough of that. I promised God I'd never make mention of money. Never. In fact, our deacons have tried to pay me $20 ,000 a year for years. And I turned it down about two years ago. Mr. Mitske got up and he said, I'll make a motion to raise our pastor $20 ,000 a year.

And Mr. Roush said, no use in trying. The pastor won't pay you. He'll turn it down. Just no use in talking about it. And I said, let him talk. Let him talk. And they said, you mean you'll take it? I said, no, I won't take it, but I won't talk about it for a while.

Loyalty to Friends, Principles, and Truth

And the third promise that I made God that night, I promised God that night. That I'd always be a friend to my friends. And I've not been what I ought to have been, but I've tried to be a friend to my friends.

The fourth promise I made God that night is I promised God that I'd be loyal to principles and not to institutions. Students of Hiles Anderson College, do not give your loyalty to Hiles Anderson College.

You give your loyalty to what we stand for today. And if tomorrow we don't stand for it, you withdraw your loyalty. Loyalty to principle. Loyalty to right. Loyalty to character. Loyalty to integrity. Loyalty to conviction.

Loyalty to truth, not loyalty to institutions. And the fifth promise I made God that night was I made God a promise that I would make the decisions of my ministry on the basis of what I thought was right, only.

Not on what it would mean to me. Not on how many people would come to hear me. Not on what fame it would bring to me. But what was right to do. And you know I've said to you kids time and time again, the thing to always do is not how is it going to turn out, it's what is the right thing to do.

And I made God that vow. But now wait a minute. The next Monday I became pastor of that church. The next Sunday I did. And Monday I walked in the little office. It was off, let's see, the building faced this way.

It was off to the left in a little room over here in my office. And you walked right from my office into the auditorium. And I walked in my office as pastor for the first time of a full-time church. I mean I had a telephone and a desk and store-bought stuff as Russell Anderson said.

And I was pastor for the first time of a full-time church. And I sat down and I said, Now, what should I be as pastor of this church? And I opened my Bible to Ephesians. As Brother John says, Ephesians.

Ephesians. I never want to preach out of Ephesians because John always goofs up the pronunciation of the word. He's been talking to this Canadian down here is what he's been doing. But I, my Bible opened to Ephesians chapter 3.

And I read these words. That you might be filled with all the fullness of God. I don't know what that means. I didn't then and I don't now. I can't explain it. I've checked it in the Greek. I've checked the commentaries.

And I'm still as ignorant today of what that verse means as I was 25 years ago. I don't understand it yet. But whatever it means, I want it. That you might be filled with all the fullness of God. And I get on my knees and I said, Lord, what does that mean?

And I said last night again, what does it mean? I don't know what it means. I'm not sure what the fullness of God really is. And I'm not sure what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God. But that verse began to burn in my soul.

And I think it means a little bit to be like Jesus. I think it means a little bit to be filled with God's love and God's goodness. I think it means a little bit to sell out for God and give God everything.

I'm not sure what it means and I still don't know what it means. But I said, Lord, whatever it means, that's what I want. And so I got the Scorpio Bible. Dr. Towns, I don't use the Scorpio Bible to preach in anymore because the print is too small and I can't see it to read.

And you'll be old someday and lose your hair and so forth. Like yesterday, for example. But I had a Scorpio Bible and opened the Bible to the concordance and looked up the word filled. And filled and full.

Because I figured that if you're supposed to be filled with the fullness of God, I figured that there must be something the Lord tells you to fill up. And so I turned to the concordance and looked up the word filled.

Being Filled With the Holy Spirit

And I noticed it says Ephesians 5 .18. And I turned to Ephesians 5 .18 and it said, Be ye filled. But it goes back further than that. It said, Be ye not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit of God.

And I'll never forget, I looked out through the door to my little pulpit. And where I preached the day before and where I was going to preach now every Sunday. And I did for three years and three months.

I looked at that little pulpit and with a fist I said, Wouldn't it be an awful thing if next Sunday I walked out of that pulpit inebriated. Inebriated, that's a Greek word that means drunk. And wouldn't it be an awful thing if I walked out drunk.

Wouldn't it be an awful thing if I walked out and the deacon chairman stood up and said, Let me smell your breath. And I breathed on him and he said, You've been drinking. And I said, Well just a little bit.

Just a few refreshments with a rosemary punch before the service is all. And he said, But you're not walking this pulpit drunk. And all of a sudden I noticed that that scripture says, Be ye not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit of God.

And it burned in me that it would be just as sinful for me to walk in the pulpit drunk as it would to walk in the pulpit not filled with the Holy Spirit. And I walked out in my auditorium. I got on my knees behind the pulpit and I said, Oh thank God for a pulpit.

Thank God for a place to preach. Let me never walk in that pulpit unless I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. And I started something then that I've kept up every week of my life since then. Every week of my life I walk in this auditorium and I kneel behind this pulpit.

And I say, Oh my God, they're my people. And they need help and they need strength and they need comfort. And they need cheering and they need courage. And they need encouragement for the Spirit of God.

May I be full of all the fullness of God when I walk the pulpit on the Lord's day. Oh to be filled with the Spirit of God. And as a kid preacher I said, Dear God, that's what I want. And I began to search what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Purity, Surrender, and Total Commitment

And I sought and I sought and I sought. And that's what I want for you. Oh my young people over here, my joy and my crown. My kids that I pastored for 13, over 13 years, many of you. I want you to be filled with the fullness of God.

That's why I preach to you. That's why I say be clean. That's why I say be pure. That's why I say give all to God. That's why I say hold back nothing. Be filled with all the fullness of God. Don't be half in, half out.

Don't be half on, half off. Don't be half hot, half cold. Be filled with the fullness of God. And give God everything that you have. Oh as a kid preacher I said, Dear God, that's what I have to have. And I thought this morning.

I thought this morning, I ought not to receive this plaque. I'm just a country preacher. And if I honestly, and I mean this. If there is aught that would make me merit this plaque this morning. It would be because of the blessed Holy Spirit of God.

I've tried to walk with Him. And every day of my life I talk with Him. And I talk to Him like I talk to a vineyard. I say good morning Holy Spirit when I wake up in the morning. And I say Holy Spirit what should I wear today?

I mentioned that the other day in a sermon here. I asked the Holy Spirit what I'd wear. And I walked in the office the next morning. And Brother Pierce looked at me and said, You didn't ask Him about that did you?

And I pay a fella. I pay guys to insult me. Not much, but I pay them. But I ask Him what I ought to wear. And I ask Him which way I ought to drive to church. And every day of my life I talk to Him like I talk to you.

I mean He's a person. And if there be any one thing why Jack Hiles ought to have a church like this. With a great people like you. It's because of the dear presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Oh I love to tell the story.

The Spirit of God Enables Ordinary Servants

And I know you've heard me tell it. About the little fella down in Waco, Texas. You've heard Dr. John Rice and Dr. J. Harold Smith and Dr. Lee Robertson. And he heard me. And I was about 25. And he walked up one day and he said, I heard Dr. J. Harold Smith and Dr. Lee Robertson and Dr. John Rice.

And he said, You did more for me than any of them. Well I said, Why? I said, What did you like best about me? And he said, I heard Dr. Rice. And I said, I never could be that smart. And I heard Dr. Robertson.

I said, I never could be that handsome. And I heard Dr. Smith. And I said, I never could be that dynamic. But he said, And I heard you Brother Hiles. I said, If he can do it, anybody ought to be able to do it.

Anybody can do it. Young men, anybody can do it. Young preacher, anybody can do it. Young evangelist, anybody can do it. Young pastor, anybody can do it. If you'll say, Oh my. All the fullness of God.

Not a part, not a half, not a little bit. All of it, all of it. And filled me with the dear Holy Spirit of God. And I recall, I was a kid preacher. Just a country preacher. Never dreamed I'd have over 150 or 200 in Sunday school.

I recall the day we had 260 in Sunday school, Dr. Towne. I told my Sunday school superintendent, I said, Get your camera and bring it up here. I want to have my picture taken beside the Sunday school board.

He said, Why? I said, Because I know I'll never have that many again in my ministry. And I want to prove to everybody I had it. 260 in Sunday school. And he came up and took my picture with 260. And I put it in my scrapbook and still got it.

And I kept it. Why? Because I want to prove to everybody that one day I had 262 in Sunday school. I got more than that now down in Goldblatt's trying to shoplift. You know how our church makes it financially?

Our bus kids are shoplifting at Goldblatt's. We have rummage sales on Monday. That's all I thought I'd ever have. I'm simply saying, That's the kind of preacher that God got when he got me. But thanks be to God.

He doesn't have to have a lot of talent or have to have a lot of prestige or dynamics or brilliance. God wants somebody who will say, Fill me with all the fullness of God. That's what God wants. I kept going.

Good Works and the Fruit of Righteousness

I got my Scofield Bible and looked at the concordance and noticed the word fill. Over in Philippians chapter 1, verse 11, it says, Fill with the fruit of righteousness. In Acts 9, 17, it said, Full of good works.

And I said as a kid preacher, Dear God, I want to be full of good works. And I'll never forget what I did. I got my bill folded out and it had about a dollar or two in it. I got more than that this morning.

Right after the offering every Sunday, I usually am a little flush. And I got what little money I had and I put it out on my desk. And I said, Dear God, I don't have much to give. That's all I have. And I only make 20 a week.

And they say they're not going to pay me. And by the way, it was eight weeks before they ever paid me anything. And my salary was only 20 a week. And I said, Lord, I can't do a lot on that. But the dear Lord said, You can give what you have.

And I got in my little car that day. And I drove down to the lady's house that was 88 years of age. And I gave her every dime I had. She needed it. And I said, Dear God, fill me with good works. Fill me with good works.

Fill me with the Holy Spirit. And fill me with the fruit of righteousness. Fill me, not just a part, not a little bit, all of me. Fill me with good works. Oh, my dear, beloved brothers in Christ, and my beloved sisters, and my dear people, ask God this morning to fill you with good works and the fruit of righteousness.

Living for Others in a Brief Life

You know, I'm rejoicing a little lately. I think some of our folks are getting the idea of what it means to be unselfish and to give and to sacrifice. I think of one of our bus kids back here. Boy, he came to our church on a bus.

One of our poor bus kids got him a summertime job. Making a few dollars here and there. And worked his way, his own way, through Hammond Baptist High School and graduated last year. And he came to my boy David.

And he said, Dave, tell your dad I want to pay another bus kid's tuition in Hammond Baptist High School this year. He's a bus kid. He's paying his own way in Howell's Anderson College. He's paying somebody else's way to the Hammond Baptist High School.

Ladies and gentlemen, we only have one life to live. We only pass this way one time. I was thinking yesterday that I flew back from Denver. I'm almost 46. I can recall when I was a kid. I used to say, let's see, I'm 11 now, and this is 1937.

I've got 63 more years till 2000. And if I live to 2000, I'll live to be 74 years of age. And I can recall when I got up around 30 and I thought, 35, I'll be half over. That was a few days ago. And now I'm almost 46.

It's over, half over, I think. And if they keep getting as fast as they have been, Dave, you used to have 1 ,000 days in them. And now they have about 150. Dave, we don't have long here. No, we don't have long.

Oh, while passing through this world of woe, and others your life shall see, be faithful, be pure without an end. Let others see Jesus in thee. Share with others. Give to others. Help others. Be filled.

What differs does it matter how much money you have or how much prestige you have or how much pomp you have or how much honor you have or how much fame you have? Live for other people. Bind yourselves in the needs of others.

Filling the Mind With the Word of God

And I said, Dear God, I don't have much. But I want to be filled with good work. I want to be filled with thinking of other people. And I looked at my concordance. And I noticed it said in Romans 15, 14, to be filled with all knowledge.

That's the only three fills I looked at. Fill with all knowledge. And I went to the altar of my church. I got on my knees at the altar of my little auditorium. And I said, Dear God, I'm going to fill myself with this book.

I'm going to fill myself with this book. Do you know I studied eight hours a day as a kid preacher? Eight hours a day I studied. And I have 80 outlines right now in my file that I outlined in my study when I was 22 and 23 years of age.

80! That I've never yet had time to use. You know why? Because I said, Dear God, I'm going to fill myself with this word. And I mean this. I fell in love with the Bible. Oh, this blessed book. Fill yourself with it.

What a comfort it's been. In hours of loneliness, it's been my companion. In hours of doubt, it's been my assurance. In hours of ignorance, it's been my truth. In hours of battle, it's been my sword. In hours of sin, it's been my center.

Sing them over again to me. Wonderful words of life. Let me more of their beauty see. Wonderful words of life. Words of life and beauty. Teach me faith and duty. Beautiful words. Wonderful words. Wonderful words of life.

Separation, Surrender, and the Fullness of God

And this morning, if there be any reason why that Dr. Jack Hunt, Brother Jack Hunt, has received on your behalf the plaque of the largest Sunday school, it's because of years ago I said, Dear God, I want to be filled with all the fullness of God.

And I've tried to be filled with the Spirit. And I've tried to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. And I've tried to fill my life with this blessed word. That's what I want for you. You know that's true.

I've never tried to get a big crowd at the expense of good Christians. I've never tried to get a big crowd of people by compromise. The message that's rung forth from this pulpit for 13 years and over has been a message of separation and complete surrender and total commitment and total involvement and complete giving everything to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's what I want for you. That's what I want for you. I want you to have be filled with all the fullness of God. I don't know what it means to this day. I wish I did. I wish some theologian sometime would explain to me all that means.

Be filled with the fullness of God. Young people, boys on the front, teenagers, college students, men, women, First Baptist Church people, if your pastor has one prayer for you, it's that you might be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Filled with good works and filled with the knowledge of this book. Or as the Apostle Paul said concerning his people in Ephesus, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Our country is about to go to hell.

A Warning From Cuba About National Decline

These little girls and boys on the front, you know they won't know anything about a church like this unless a miracle takes place in our country. That little Dr. Towns, I was on the airplane the other day, and I'll never forget the words of a little mother, 21 years of age.

She's sitting there with a little baby. Beautiful little baby. And the baby was, I have a grandbaby about that age. And I said, you have a pretty little baby there. I've got a grandbaby about that age.

And she said, oh, are you old enough to have a grandbaby? And I said, I like you very, very much. And she said, I said, where are you from? You look like, your accent, where are you from? And she said, Cuba.

And I said, how long were you in Cuba? And she said, until Castro took over. And then she said, I said, I asked her, I said, young lady, were you there under Castro? She said, my dad was one of Castro's cabinet members.

Castro was eaten in my home. He's held me on his knee. He's played ball in our yard with me. And I said, how did you get out of Cuba? She said, my mother who hated Castro smuggled my seven-year-old sister and me when I was nine out of, I think he said nine, out of Cuba.

She said we were smuggled, just the two of us, and went to Miami. And I said, how was it when Castro took over? She said, you're a reverend, aren't you? And I said, I'm a preacher. She said, reverend, you'll never know how it feels unless you've been through it.

To hear them lead your pastor down in front of your house toward the firing squad, and to hear them say, READY! And you know that the next word is going to be the word that'll command them to pull the triggers that'll kill your pastor.

And she said, I heard them do it, and I heard the shots, and I heard the screams of my pastor. And I said, little lady, how is it in America now? And tears began to stream down her cheeks, and she said, just like it was in Cuba right before Castro took over.

Prayer for the Nation and a Call to Commitment

We're about gone, folks, unless we have a generation of Christians who are filled with all the fullness of God. Let us pray. O God in heaven, save our nation, our kids, help our people to give everything, help us to hold back nothing.

May we not be satisfied to be half-filled, but filled with all the fullness of God. May we be filled with the Spirit, filled with the fruit of righteousness and good works, and filled with the knowledge of the blessed Word of God.

Our heads are bowed in prayer, every eye is closed in the house of thine. Are you filled? Are you filled? That's where in the world to keep from getting bad literature is to be filled with the Word of God.

That's where in the world to be emptied of a haughty spirit is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's where in the world to be emptied of bad deeds is to be full of good deeds, filled with all the fullness of God.

I'm talking to somebody this morning who's just a Sunday morning Christian. I'm talking to someone this morning to whom Christianity is a nice little seasoning occasionally. It's a spice to be on life, but it's not life.

It's a little seasoning for life, but it isn't all of life. Don't you feel a hunger to be filled with all the fullness of God? I wonder how our heads are bowed. Who would say this morning, Pastor, I'm not full.

I'm not full of His Word. I'm not full of good deeds, righteous, fruit of righteousness. I'm not full of the Spirit. I'm not filled with all the fullness of God, but I want to be. I want to be. Pray for me and pray with me.

Would you lift your hand quietly please all over the building? All over the building. Oh Holy Spirit of God breathe on our people. May this thing we preach be real and may it be worth everything we have and all we are.

May these dear ones be filled with all the fullness of God. Now our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. To some of you who are saved, that means that you ought to start tithing. To others it means you ought to live in the Word of God.

To others it means you ought to start living the other's life, the unselfish life. To others it means you ought to get baptized. That's the way you start maybe. To some it means you ought to join a church near where you live and get busy for God.

Baptism, Church Membership, and Conversion

I wonder this morning how many of you would say, Brother Howells, I am saved and I know I'm saved. No doubt in my mind about it. I'm saved and I know it, but I've not yet been baptized since I got saved.

Would you be honest enough to raise your hand please while no one is looking? Would you be honest enough to raise your hand all over the building? You know that you're saved but you've not yet been baptized since you got saved.

Would you lift your hand please? Thank you. Are there others? Thank you. Are there others? Thank you. Yes. There are others. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. All right. This morning when we give the invitation you slip out down the aisle and say, Brother Howells, I want to get baptized.

I want to be obedient to Christ. He wants me to do it? I'll do it. Whatever he wants that's what I want to do. And you come this morning and we sing down to the front. I wonder how many would say, Brother Howells, I'm a Christian and I know I am, but I don't even belong to a church near here so I live near here.

Would you lift your hand please? Be honest about it. Would you be honest about it? You know you're saved. I'm not going to embarrass you. No one's looking but me. Would you raise your hand all over the house?

All over the house? All right. God bless you. Now this morning you come down the aisle and say, Brother Howells, I want a church like this. I want a church that believes that everything ought to be given to God.

I want a place to rear my family that will teach them righteousness and honor and integrity and right. And I'm going to join the church by transfer. We'll write and get the membership for you. You don't have to take everything but coming and we'll be glad to write and get you transferred for you.

You come. But wait a minute. How many will say on the lower floor, Brother Howells, I don't even know that I'm saved. I don't even know that if I died today, I'd go to heaven. But I wish I did. I want to be a Christian.

God knows I do. I want to go to heaven, but I don't know that I'm going. I don't know, but I want to know. On the lower floor, lift your hand and say with the uplifted hand, pray for me. Way up high, would you lift it please?

God bless you, fella. God bless you. Who else on the lower floor? Pray for me. God bless you, fella. Yes, God bless you. Who else on the lower floor? Pray for me. I want to know that I'm saved, but I don't know it now.

Pray for me. Would you lift your hand please? On the lower floor, who else? God bless you. I see you. Yes, and God bless you. Who else on the lower floor? You say include me in the prayer. I want to be saved and know it.

Pray for me. Would you raise your hand please? God bless you. Little lady, we're back in the back. God loves you, and I do too. God loves you. Who else on the lower floor? Yes, God bless you, little fella.

Who else would say include me in the prayer? I want to know that I'm saved. The balcony on my left. The east balcony. You would say pray for me that I might be saved. Lift your hand, would you please?

Way up high. The east balcony. May I see your hand? The center balcony. In the center, who would say include me in the prayer that I might know that I'm saved? God bless you. All the others? All the others?

The balcony on my right. Say pray for me. I want to know that I'm saved. Would you raise your hand please? I'll pray for you. Back to the lower floor just a moment, and then we pray. Who else would say include me in the prayer?

Heads are bowed, and eyes are closed. Our Heavenly Father, in a wonderful way, speak to our hearts this morning. Don't let anyone leave without Christ. Don't let a one go not knowing he's saved. Bless these dear ones whose hands have been raised.

Now heads are bowed. In a moment we're going to stand, and the choir's going to sing all to Jesus I surrender. And as the choir sings it, slip out from your seat and down to the front, and let me tell you how you can be saved.

Someone here can take a Bible and show you how you can go to heaven when you die. So on the first stanza of the first invitation song, leave your seat and come toward the aisle and down the aisle to the front and let me know that you're receiving Christ.

Oh God, make it so today. Amen. Shall we stand please? The choir will sing and as the choir sings, if you need to join the church by transfer, or come for baptism, or come receiving Jesus as your Savior, you leave your seat, come toward the aisle, down the front, no one leaves, but would you come now while we sing?

Come on.