Last week, a radio preacher mentioned in passing Luke 5:1, “And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him (Jesus) to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret.” It is amazing to think of crowds of people pushing and shoving to get near to hear Jesus speak. In 1990 I visited Romania for the first time. They had only been free of communism for eight months. As we arrived, we were invited to a church service that was already underway. When the church came into view, we saw that the building was full, with people standing outside at each open window just to hear the preacher inside. As visiting Americans, we were ushered in to the front of the church and invited to sit down. Four dear Romanian people had to leave in order for us to have seats. How humbled I was to see their fervor and eagerness to hear the Word of God preached! How wonderful it must have been to see the crowds in Capernaum and Gennesaret as they thronged to see the Rabbi from Nazareth! Oh, how we need revival in our cold churches in America! We need to cry out to the dear Lord for His mercy and cry out for His power. II Chronicles 7:14 says, “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.”
