So we're going to go ahead and get started if you would find a seat grab a hymnal our first hymn is number
180 isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful
180 180 0 isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful
180 we'll sing they're starting right there on the first
There's no
Heavenly Father, we just thank you for another opportunity this evening to gather together.
I pray that you would be with those seeds that were planted this afternoon, that those would
eventually germinate into just a saving faith that we have done glory and honor in sowing the seed of
It can be watered, but ultimately,
that you will give that increase, Lord,
these things we just pray.
I also pray for the safety of the weather coming in,
that each of us going our separate ways,
you would have your hand of protection on us.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, for our next hymn this evening,
it is 197, Singing I Go.
hymn number 197.
1 9 7 singing I go we'll sing they're starting right there on the first
If you need one, raise your hand.
We'll have one of the ushers.
Brother Zach, if you'll pass those out for me, please, sir.
Raise your hand.
If you need a bulletin, I think it's basically
every body's here that was here this morning.
So I've got nothing new to add.
I know our group did not have any salvations, any luck.
OK, so no salvations today, but hey, that seed was planted
with, I'm sure, a bunch of people.
I know we talked to a few people.
Hopefully that seed was planted.
Just continue to be in prayer for the ministry efforts,
Everything in the bulletin is basically the same as this morning.
The one update would be that in the Signal Group,
Pastor has posted an update from Evangelist Fur,
so the exact location time and, well, meet-up location
for the Durant soul-winning marathon is in that Signal Group.
So if you want more details, just check that there.
I would tell you the address right now,
but I don't know that anyone's just scrambling to write it down,
and I think everyone in here has the group chat anyway,
so let's just save us all a bunch of trouble.
If you want that info, grab it.
from the chat.
Of course, I'll go through the upcoming events
in case anyone's kind of forgotten where we're at
or what's going on.
Next week is the Durant, Oklahoma Marathon.
June 28th is going to be the Tinker Airshow event
as a church family.
We're going out there and it is actually totally free.
It's free to the church and it's free just in general
to show up.
So if you're interested, go out.
Probably take like earplugs or something though,
especially for the little kids because I live close to this
and it's loud at my house.
So you probably don't want, your kids will hate it
like ear protection, or they'll have a really good excuse to not listen to you for the next couple days
because they'll say, well, I didn't hear you. I don't know.
So, the day after that, so we have the Tinker Air Show, June 29th,
where there have been Naim will be up from Steadfast, Fort Worth,
well, the only Steadfast at this point,
and he'll be preaching both services for us that Sunday.
Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship will be, excuse me, August 27th through the 31st.
And I know on this too, Pastor Shelley has just recently posted
all of the preachers that'll be there. I don't know that I can remember them all
just off the rip. I believe though it's Pastor Anderson, Pastor Shelly,
Pastor Reyes from Springcrest Baptist in Houston, so that'll be awesome. He's a great preacher
and it'll be really fun to have him up for it. Pastor Oz will be preaching and Pastor Russell.
from Straight Paths Baptist Church in Flagstaff?
I don't know exactly.
He's kind of South Arizona.
I can't remember exactly where.
I think it's Flagstaff area, but I could be wrong on that.
But those updates, Pastor Shelley posted those online.
So he kind of has that lineup there.
I'm not sure who corresponds to what day necessarily,
but there's an idea of who will be there.
October 6th through 11th, of course,
is the Bahamas Mission Strip coming up.
Visitor card there, information for giving on the back,
and our prayer list.
from that nothing else I've got so we'll go to our third hymn. Our third hymn
this evening will be number 262 the light of the world is Jesus hymn number
262 262 the light of the world is Jesus
262 will sing there starting on the first.
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin.
The light of the world is Jesus.
Thy sunshine and dune day is glory shown in.
but now I can see the light of the world in Jesus.
No darkness have we who in Jesus have.
That's done done
turn if you would to Nehemiah chapter 13 Nehemiah chapter number
that he should curse them, albeit our God kind of
occurs into a blessing. Now it came to pass
when they heard the law that they separated from Israel
all the main multitude and before this
Elijah, the priest, having the oversight of the chamber
of the house of our God was allied unto Tobiah.
And he had prepared for him a great chamber where a foretime they laid the meat offerings,
the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the
oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the porters, and
the offerings of the priests.
For in the two-and-thirtieth year of Art Exerces, King of Babylon came I unto the king, and
after certain days obtained I leave of the king.
And I came to Jerusalem and understood of the evil that Elijah did for Tobiah in preparing
and it creeped me soar, therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tomiah out of the chamber.
Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers, and then there brought I again the vessels of the house of God with the meat offering and the frankincense.
that did the work were fled everyone to this field.
Then continued I with the rulers and said,
why is the house of God forsaken?
And I gathered them together and set them in their place.
Then brought all Judah the tide of the corn
and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries.
Shalamaya, the priest, and Zedok the scribe, and of the Levites, Hedaya, and next to them
was Haman, the son of Zekor, the son of Matanaya, for they were townish faithful and their office
was to distribute unto their brethren.
Remember me, oh my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for the offices thereof.
In those days, Saul I and Judah, some turning wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves and lading asses.
as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem
on the Sabbath day.
And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals, their dwelt men of Tyre
also therein which brought fish, and all manner of wear, and sold on the Sabbath unto the
Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, what evil thing is this that you do and profane the Sabbath day?
Did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city?
Yet he bring more wrath upon Israel by profanning the Sabbath and it came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath
I commanded that the gates
should be shut and charged that they should not be open until
After the Sabbath and some of my servants said I at the gates that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day
So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wear lodged without Jerusalem once or twice
Then I testified against them and sent to them while lodging about the wall if you do so again
I will lay hands on you
for that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath.
And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves
and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, oh my God, concerning this also
and to spare me according to the greatest of thy mercy.
In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashton and Amnon and Moab.
And their children spake happiness speech of Ashton and could not speak in the Jewish language but according to the language of each people.
And I continued with them and cursed them and smoked certain of them and plucked out their hair and made them swear by God saying,
You shall not give your daughters unto your sons or take their daughters unto your sons or for yourselves.
Do not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
Yet among many nations was there no king like him who was the love of his God, and God made him king over all Israel.
Now, nevertheless, even him did language women cause to sin.
So, we didn't harken unto you to do all this great evil to transgress against our God and marrying strange wives.
The son of Elijah, the High Priest, was son-in-law,
which he sent ballot, the Heronite.
Therefore I chased him from me, remembered them, oh my God,
because they have defiled the priesthood
and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
Thus cleansed I them from all strangers
and appointed the lords of the prisons.
the wards of the priests and the
and for the wood offering at
and for the first priest,
remember me. Oh my god.
for this day, our safety out
and our church and our best.
We ask that you would bless
the pastor and his family while
we're traveling back and
Amen.
So we're here this evening in Nehemiah chapter number 13, Nehemiah chapter number 13, and
to kind of give you an idea of the context of where we're at right now in the Bible is
back into Jerusalem basically and realizing that a lot of things are not being done the way that God outlined them.
So we kind of get through this whole chapter where he's talking about all these problems.
And I like how Nehemiah at one point is like,
hey, why are you lodging about the wall?
If I see this again, I'm going to lay hands on you, okay?
So it just proves that, like, even in the Old Testament, God's prophets were like,
Hey quit playing around like I'm gonna bet the lay hands on you, you know, like we're gonna fix this problem
So you see that he's coming back Nehemiah is coming back
And he has this this attitude of wanting to fix the things that have fallen down to restore the things of the Lord
But three times here in Nehemiah chapter number 13
He he has this prayer
Unto God and I want to focus on that starting in verse 10 Nehemiah 13 verse 10
It says, and I perceive that the portions of the Levites had not been given them.
So again, this is talking about the context of what had kind of fallen through.
It says, for the Levites and the singers that did the work were fled everyone to his field.
Then I contended with the rulers and said,
Why is the house of God forsaken?
And I gathered them together and set them in their place,
then brought all Judah, the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil under the treasuries,
and I made treasures over the treasuries,
Shalomaya the priest and Zadok the scribe,
and of the Levites, Padaya,
and next to them was Hanan, the son of Zaker, the son of Matiniah,
for they were counted faithful,
and their office was to distribute unto their brethren."
So this is kind of explaining.
All right, I come back.
This stuff is not going well.
but I'm fixing it, and here's what I did to fix it.
Here are my works.
Nehemiah is detailing what he's done,
and he's kind of showing,
hey, look, I came back, I'm putting some work in.
It was falling down, I'm putting the work in to get it back right.
And that's important because look at verse 14.
He says,
Remember me,
oh my God,
concerning this,
and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God
and for the offices thereof.
Now three times in this chapter he says this or a variation of this phrase,
remember me, oh my God.
Look at verse 22.
Jump down if you would.
Nehemiah 13 verse 22 says,
And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves
and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, oh my God, concerning this also,
and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.
Jump down to verse 30.
Verse number 30 says,
Thus cleanse thy them from all strangers
and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites,
everyone in his business,
and for the wood offering at times appointed,
and for the firstfruits,
remember me, oh my God, for good.
My sermon title this evening is this,
Lessons from Nehemiah's Prayer.
Lessons from Nehemiah's prayer, because I think we can learn a lot.
We're getting all of this context for what Nehemiah did,
but we think about it, who is he detailing this to?
It's written in the Bible for our admonition, for posterity, for sure, so that we could read it and we could see it.
But I believe that the context here is Nehemiah is actually bringing all this up to God.
He's telling this to God. That's kind of why he interjects multiple times.
Hey, God, remember me for this. Remember that I did this.
Like, just remember, keep this in mind.
Now, there's three lessons this evening that I want to pull from Nehemiah's prayer.
The first lesson is this, and this is something that's...
fairly basic, but that has come under attack recently,
is that God rewards your works.
God does reward our works, and our works are important.
This idea of once sanctified, always sanctified,
yeah, for salvation, sure,
but as far as the life that we live
and how pleased God is and whether or not
he wants to continue blessing our carnal life,
it's not true, we have to continue putting in the work
to receive those blessings, and this is evident,
in Nehemiah's prayer. I want you to hold your place here, but turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
number 17. Jeremiah chapter 17. The first lesson this evening is, God rewards our works. God will
Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 10, the Bible says this,
I the Lord, search the heart, I try the reigns,
even to give every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruit of his
doings. Now God looks upon our works and rewards us
accordingly. Now,
There's a general concept. There's kind of two concepts here.
I think Christians most times are familiar with one, but not the other.
So I kind of want to break these two down.
There's a general concept of, if you're living for God,
if you're following God's commandments, doing the right thing,
a general blessing and a general hand of protection,
God will put on your life.
And this is true, that God has a hedge of protection.
We pray to ask God for His hand of protection, for that hedge of protection.
It's generally true that if I'm going to church three times a week,
I will be blessed and benefit in some other area carnally of life.
There's this umbrella promise from God that He's faithful to those that seek Him,
that want to serve Him, that seek after Him.
Just as general, do for God, He will bless you, is true in the Bible.
But he also, God also does this very specific type of blessing as well.
So in addition to this just umbrella of like, I'm living for God, God will bless my life.
True. Amen. 100% accurate.
God also will specifically reward specific works.
For example, think about, turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 25.
While you're turning to Matthew 25, I actually just thought of this.
Think about the promise that He that goeth forth in weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall what?
Doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing His sheaves with Him.
Now, this is not just saying, hey, if you go out, if you go soul-winning,
generally your life will be blessed.
Although I believe that that is true,
but God is specifically saying,
he that goeth forth in weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with what?
Rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
God will specifically reward us for soul-winning by what?
Us getting salvation.
Obviously, you're not going to get salvation by not going soul-winning,
but...
bringing those sheaves with you, that is a reward.
Because when we get to heaven, we're gonna be rewarded
for those that we got saved.
We're gonna be given jewels and things
to cast at Jesus' feet, right?
Matthew chapter 25.
So I'm talking about specific rewards for your works.
So I think we all understand.
God blesses us for being godly, for being Christians,
for living for God, we understand that.
But I want you to understand that God looks
and considers specifically what you're doing
to give you specific blessing.
And this is really encompassed in this, God cares about you, God loves you.
And look, I am someone that have struggled in the past with depression,
with feeling down before I was saved, right?
And look, even after I was saved, there are a lot of things that can be rough in your life.
There are times where you can feel like, man, this kind of sucks, you know?
But I want to encourage, because when I read this, I read through this in my Bible reading a few weeks ago,
and it just resonated and really encouraged me.
And so if nothing else, what I want you to get from the lessons from Nehemiah's Prayer
is I want this to be a great encouragement sermon for you
that I don't know all the ins and outs of what's going on in every person's life here.
We have our prayer list, and I think that every single person in here has been going through something in the last weeks, months, year.
That's frustrating, that's difficult, that's scary, that we don't know, but I want you to know that God loves you and he cares about you,
and I'm not just saying that as like a Baptist church, kumbaya, hold hands.
I'm just proving to you that one of the lessons we can learn from Nehemiah is God cares to
reward your works, not only just as an umbrella blanket statement, but he is watching you
very closely and intently.
He knows specifically what you're doing in your life, and he'll reward you specifically
for your works.
And that's a great comfort for me to know that God's not forgetting us.
Matthew 25, I had you turn, Matthew 25 verse 21.
This is, of course, the parable of the talents, the men that were given the talents.
Matthew 25-21 says this,
You know, if you're faithful over what God has blessed you with in your life,
He will give you more.
You know, if you're faithful with the job that God has given you and the employer that God has given you,
even under the fro-word the Bible says,
to just serve them, to be faithful, to go to work.
And this is hard. I've had fro-word bosses.
This is not easy, but God's watching.
And God's going to see if you're faithful with that, because if you're not and all you do is just complain and everything's always bad,
then this promise is not going to apply to you because you're not going to have been faithful in little for God to be faithful in much.
Same thing is true with money.
amount of money that they live their life by.
And look, the Bible says we should not ask for riches nor poverty.
We should just be content with the things such as we have.
We should be happy in the middle.
But God does bless people to become rich.
Abraham, Solomon, David.
I mean, you look through the Bible, there are many men that had a ton of riches.
but they were faithful in the little that they had,
God saw that and specifically gave them more.
This relates here to this parable of the faithful servant
having a few things that were given to him.
He was faithful in them, rather, and got many more.
God's not looking to you.
How silly of a prayer would this be to say,
like, God, I know I'm not making it work on,
and I'm just going to use made-up numbers.
I know I'm not making it work on $1,000 a month.
I can't tithe on $1,000 a month, but if you give me $2,000 a month, I definitely can't tithe.
God's not going to reward that.
He's not going to bless that.
Because He's looking for someone to be faithful in little, to then be faithful in much.
And while the umbrella statement is true,
Hey, I make $1,000 a paycheck, I'm not tithing, but I go to church, I'm living right, I'm doing all these things.
Yeah, God could bless you in many aspects of your life, but there are specific areas where God looks to see if you are being faithful
and can choose to bless or limit you in those areas.
So we should always realize that God is looking at the things that we're doing.
Now that can be discouraging.
if we're not specifically following the Lord
in a certain area, sure.
But I want this to be encouraging,
because look, the difference between a Bible verse
being encouraging or discouraging
is whether or not we're right with God.
Frankly, the balls in our court
to make these either sad verses for us
or happy verses for us.
We've been given the control of the opportunity.
We should be faithful.
We should work for the Lord.
Because God's watching and He wants
to specifically reward our works.
Proverbs chapter number 19.
Proverbs chapter 19, if you'll turn there with me, I brought up money.
Here's a verse on money.
Proverbs chapter number 19.
And there is a caveat to this verse, and we will apply it.
But Proverbs 19 verse 17 says this.
Proverbs 19-17 says,
And that which he had given, will he pay him again?
You know, this reminds me of the verse in the New Testament where God says,
hey, you didn't give me to eat or drink or visited me in my affliction.
And they're like, Lord, when did we see you in need of food or drink?
And he's like, well, if you've done it under the beliefs of these, you've done it unto me.
He's talking about saved brethren and obviously considering the cause of the poor.
Please do not leave tonight.
and give money to the guy that throws his shoes in the highway on Northwest Expressway
that I think we all know who I'm talking about.
Like, sometimes I feel like it's a Mario Kart track
where I'm trying to avoid obstacles in the road
because he straight up just throws his shoes at cars driving by.
That's not who the Bible is like.
If I lend unto him, I'm lending unto the Lord.
Like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Consider the cause.
Oh, you're methed out of your mind?
No, I'm not going to lend unto you.
But look, if we were to see someone else in the church struggling,
area to lend unto them, to reach out unto them.
It's as if you did it unto the Lord.
And what is Proverbs 19 promise?
And that which he hath given, will he pay him again.
Notice again, this is outside of this general umbrella of I'm living for God, God will bless me just indiscriminately, generally, kind of somehow, I don't know.
No, no, no, God is saying, hey, specifically when you lend to someone else that's saved in church, you're reaching out to someone else that's godly on having a hard time,
it's as if you're lending unto the Lord and the Lord will make sure you are repaid. It is specific.
Why? Because God is watching every single one of us.
He sees everything that we do, and that is not to scare you.
That's a positive for all the times that you think,
man, did God see me do that?
Did God know that I'm doing this?
Is this just going to go unanswered forever?
I think Nehemiah kind of had that same feeling because he's like,
remember me, oh my God, for this.
Remember that I did this.
Remember. And we'll get into what remember means.
It's not that God forgot, okay?
It's that he's asking him to act upon those things that he has done.
James chapter number four, James chapter number four.
Again, what's this first lesson from Nehemiah's prayer?
God rewards your works.
Very basic.
I think we all understand this point.
I have one last verse I want to look at at this first point here.
James chapter number 4.
Some of these things are hard, though.
It's hard to sometimes have the faith with finances
because without money, none of us can really make a living.
We can't feed ourselves or our families, our wife.
We don't know how we're going to get to and from church.
We don't know where we're going to live.
I mean, if money were eliminated from all of our lives,
it would be a drastic change.
You know, I think there's a saying that's like,
America is like three lost meals away from just descending into chaos.
because there are some things that we just get a normalcy bias for.
We're just kind of used to, it's going to be good tomorrow,
it's going to be good tomorrow, it's going to be good tomorrow,
but here's the reality that we can all probably apply to ourselves,
is that it's not always great tomorrow, is it?
It's not always great today.
Life is hard, life is rough,
but it's not because God doesn't want to bless you,
it's not because God is trying to make you upset
or trying to just give you the worst time ever.
Sometimes God is going to let us go through things so that he can specifically watch what we do
and we can be tried and come forth as gold. We can be tried by that fire and come forth as gold,
but he's watching and the balls in our court, but God wants to reward us for our works. I don't
have children, but I imagine it's the same as kids. Those of you that have children, a parent
And you're like, don't.
Like, I want you to do the right thing,
but like the kids don't know that you're there.
And look, you want them to do right.
You want to reward them, but you're
kind of going to leave the ball in their court for a second.
see what happens and that's what God's doing with us on a spiritual level
pretty much every day of our life. God is our Father in heaven, he's watching, he's
like don't do that, I'm gonna whoop you if you do that, but what's the alternative
because the ball's in our court, he's watching us and he wants to specifically
reward us when we succeed, when we are tried, and we come forth as gold and
that's encouraging to me to know that God is watching, waiting, and wanting to bless
And that helps Nehemiah too because think about the context from Nehemiah where we started.
He's come in, all this stuff is basically, it's like the meme where like the dog or the guy walks in
with the pizza and like everything's on fire and he's like, this is fine, like what is going on here?
It's kind of rough sometimes to walk into a dumpster fire, whether that be, let's just get real specific.
Your marriage, your kids,
your finances, your church attendance, your soul winning, your Bible reading.
It's rough to start from everything's on fire,
but sometimes we just kind of ignore the fact that it's all on fire.
You know, Brother John preached about Adam hiding in the garden
at the soul winning rally the other day. It was a great message
about how sometimes Adam just wants to hide.
Doesn't change the fact though that you ate the fruit and you're naked.
Now, you can fake that you're not, you can pretend that that's not the case,
but God knows, and God just wants you to get it right.
And there might be a dumpster fire in your life right now, whether it's your fault or not,
this is not Nehemiah's fault necessarily, but God's going to watch how you handle it.
And I'm telling you that he's watching because he wants to reward you.
He's put the ball in your court so that you can fix some things,
and then he can say, well done, my good and faithful servant.
James chapter number 4, look at verse 10.
James 4-10, this is a hard one for any man.
I would, maybe I'm speaking out of turn. It's hard for me.
But the Bible says in James 4-10,
humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.
You know, I think every guy struggles with pride to some extent,
and let's be honest, I think every person struggles with pride to some extent.
And the Bible's saying to humble yourself and he'll lift you up.
We almost think if this is like a paradox or an oxymoron,
like, wait, how is humbling myself going to lift me up?
Well, look, it's the same thing as like how is lending to somebody going to get my money back?
I should just keep on to my money.
No, no, no.
God wants you to lend so that you could be repaid again.
How is tithing my 10% going to increase?
I can live off 100% better than 90%.
No, you can't, is the reality,
because God is putting the ball in your court
to watch you and reward you, and He wants to reward you.
Now, if you don't, then, yeah, the whooping's coming.
That could be encouraging or discouraging, but I want this to feel encouraging because, again, the ball's in our court to do right.
Humble yourselves, and God will lift you up.
You know, you lift yourself up, you try to be prideful, you think you're better than everybody else,
and then your church shuts down in six months because you're a prideful jerk,
and you don't accept learning and you don't accept the teaching.
But you know what? The ball was in your court.
It was your choice.
versus, like, our church is succeeding, why? Because we have a humble pastor.
And then we just grow and grow.
And Pastor Shelley is a humble pastor.
And look at how many great things have happened.
And Pastor Anderson, look, if you've ever interacted with these people one-on-one,
It's not like the same person that's preaching behind the pulpit.
They're very humble. They're very meek men.
They are for peace, but when they speak, you know, the others are for war.
I'm saying they.
It's like the Bible says, I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Like, apply that to them as well.
And it's interesting to see what happens through humility.
Men of God are lifted up.
But again, it's your choice.
It's your work that God wants to reward you specifically.
Four, be humble, be lifted up, lend, it'll be given unto you again.
Faithful in little, you'll be granted much, promotion, whatever, more finances.
God rewards your works.
Now the second lesson from Nehemiah's prayer is kind of...
What we see Nehemiah bringing up all three times turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 38
Isaiah chapter number 38 the second lesson from Nehemiah's prayer is this ask God to
Remember your works
Ask God to remember your works
Isaiah 38 verse number one
Isaiah 38 verse one I'm gonna turn there myself
The Bible says, 38 verse 1, here we go.
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.
And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him and said unto him,
Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord,
and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth,
and have done that which is good in thy sight.
And Hezekiah wept sore.
Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah saying,
Go and say to Hezekiah,
Thus sayeth the Lord,
The God of David thy father,
I have heard thy prayer,
I have seen thy tears,
Behold, I will add unto thy days,
Fifteen years.
So this story about Hezekiah,
He gets later on in his life. He gets sick.
Hezekiah has not walked in the ways of the Lord perfectly.
Matter of fact, God's mad at him.
That's why he's telling them,
bro, you're gonna die like I'm done with you.
Hezekiah takes this, gets upset, prays unto God,
but he asks God what?
He says, remember, oh Lord, in verse 3,
how I've walked before thee in truth
and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight.
So he's asking God, hey, remember my works, remember what I did.
Now, here's the tip.
Asking God to remember your works only works if you did the works.
You can't ask God, hey, Lord, remember my works, and it's like, what works?
Like, I don't have them.
Okay, well, that's not going to work, pun intended.
But if you do the works, you can ask God to remember the works.
Now, the word remember...
We kind of use it only with one definition today.
Remember, we usually mean like cognitively recall.
like, oh, I forgot in the sense that I no longer have that in my memory right now,
but something happened, now I can recall it, I remember.
But that's not what the Bible is using when it says remember.
Remember has another definition.
And this is why you need to be careful when you read the Bible to make sure that you understand
that words have multiple meanings, like repent does not always mean of your sins, right?
People get mixed up on repent.
Remember doesn't always mean cognitively.
recollect.
Remember has another definition.
It means this, to act upon or to respond to.
The word remember means to act upon or respond to.
So when Hezekiah, Nehemiah, and you'll see this throughout the Bible,
people say, Lord, remember me, remember thy covenant.
If you read through Exodus, the children of Israel,
actually, they don't, I don't even know that they ask to have the covenant remembered.
But they come under affliction and it says, I think it's in Exodus 3,
that the Lord God remembered the covenant that He made with them.
It wasn't like God's like, whoa, oops, I forgot.
It's God's acting upon the covenant that He made with them.
He's remembering, kind of like how He says, like,
I will remember upon them their deeds.
He's like, it's not like I'm going to remind you what you did.
It's like, I'm going to act upon what you've done.
And that is a negative context in there.
But when Hezekiah says, Lord, remember,
my works, he's saying, God, I've done these good things.
Reward me for that.
And I think Christians, I know myself,
This is kind of a hard concept, my first couple times reading through the Bible.
I didn't really understand this because it can feel prideful
to like ask God to reward you for what you've done.
It's almost like a taboo like,
ooh, I don't know if I want to do that.
Like, is that right?
Am I right in asking this?
But the Bible says yes.
This is a right thing to ask God to do
because what it's showing is that we remember God making a promise to us.
And we're just saying, Lord, I did this.
I know God knows that we did it.
He knows everything.
Lord, I'm asking that you would reward that in my life.
I'm asking that you would act upon that.
And it's like, oh, if this was not right,
and people will say this, like, oh, you can't,
you shouldn't ever ask God for anything.
You know, God wants, I've heard this growing up in the Church of Christ.
Like, God wants to bless a doer, not an asker, or something like that,
Basically, work salvation, that's how they get around that.
They're like, he doesn't want you to just ask for it, he wants you to do.
Well, look, God does want us to do, but he also wants us to ask.
And those with children, it's like, yeah, if they followed your commands,
and then they're like, hey, I did this, this, and this, will you reward me for that?
You know, the right thing to do, God's idea is to, yes, reward them for that.
He's looking for reasons to bless us, he wants to do that.
Now here's the thing, if people would say this doesn't work,
this is not biblical, riddle me this.
When Hezekiah is sick and God's like, you're gonna die.
And Hezekiah goes, Lord, remember the good things that I've done.
And God goes, all right, here's 15 more years on your life.
That sounds like it worked.
That's a lot of work.
I mean like 15 years in our life, that's a big portion.
Even today, that's like a lot of years.
Maybe not for like Bethuselah, but for us,
it's like, man, that's a lot of time, you know what I mean?
Look, it works and God wants to remember that.
Notice this, Hezekiah had already done those good things.
He's not saying, Lord, give me 15 more years and I will do all this.
He had already done them.
But God hadn't yet rewarded them, rewarded him for that work.
Are you following what I'm saying? He had already done it.
Hezekiah had done this.
He's confronted with the fact that he's going to die.
And Hezekiah goes, Lord, remember the good things that I did.
And God goes, all right, 15 more years.
Why you have not because you ask not and sometimes I think God is just waiting like you've been doing the works
You're at Anchor Baptist Church. This is a Sunday night sermon with people that are three to thrive.
They're going soul-winning. They're doing works.
They're like doing extra biblical things.
People here are participating in the ministry, whether they're Bible readers, accompaniment,
you know, singers, whether they're running the AV, they clean the church.
I mean, like, we're not in the congregation tonight of do nothings.
But sometimes you have not because you ask not.
And, you know, it's this, my aunt, my mom's sister used to do this, where...
and this is a pet peeve of mine, and I feel like God probably has the same pet peeve reading these verses,
where if you ever had that person that'll come to you and they're like,
man, money's really tight right now, I don't know how I'm gonna make it,
but they just won't like ask you for help.
They kind of just like hint around it a lot.
It's like the co-worker who's like,
bro, I don't know how I'm going to get home like the memes,
and it's like, dang bro,
you roll up your window and drive off.
They want to ask you for a ride home,
but they just won't ask you.
You know, it's kind of like frustrating.
They just like hint around it.
They like dance around it.
And it's not that you wouldn't help them.
It's that it's really frustrating sometimes
when people won't just ask.
Like just ask.
You have not because you ask not.
I didn't write that. God wrote that. It's in the Bible.
So sometimes you've done the work.
Look, you've done all the work, and you might feel like,
why is God not blessing me for the work that I've done?
Hezekiah could have had a different attitude here and thought,
why is God going to kill me? I thought I did all this work.
Well, I'm just going to get depressed then and die.
But Hezekiah was like, hey, I'm going to ask him.
Lord, remember, act upon me for these works that I've done.
And God's like, all right, here's 15 years.
That's a huge blessing.
We should remember to ask God for our works.
It's not a prideful thing to do.
The Lord wants to bless us and you have not because you ask not.
Psalm chapter number 20, Psalm 20, turn there if you would, verse number one.
Psalm 20 verse 1, the Bible says,
the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble,
the name of the God of Jacob defend thee,
send thee help from the sanctuary
and strengthen thee out of Zion.
Look at verse 3,
remember all thy offerings
and accept thy burnt sacrifice.
See you later.
Now, what's being brought up here? The Psalmist is like,
God, help us. We're in trouble.
Remember, act upon, right?
All those sacrifices that we've done, all the offerings that we've given you, Lord,
we have served you faithfully. Help us now in our time of trouble.
And it's saying that the Lord is going to send help from the sanctuary,
He's going to strengthen the out of Zion.
But what are they doing?
They're asking God for help in their time of trouble.
A lot of Christians today just get in times of trouble and they just sit there.
And it's like that example of, I don't know how I'm going to get home today, dang, roll
the window up.
Because the Bible even says that there are people that Jesus, when he's on his ministry,
would have passed them by.
But they called out,
Now, son of David, have mercy on us.
The Bible says he would have passed them by.
Why?
Because the ball is in your court to ask for help.
And God wants you to ask for help.
And I don't know how many times I can quote this, but you have not, because you ask not.
But it has to be quoted over and over because people won't ask.
I don't know whether we think it's, me included, I don't know whether it's just like,
it's hard to conceptualize that we should have to ask,
or that we think that God would just automatically do this, but that's not a biblical concept.
The biblical reality is that God wants to reward us according to our works,
but he wants you to ask for the help because he wants you to lean on him.
He wants you to trust him.
He wants you to know and have faith and be confident and come boldly under that throne of grace,
like it says in the book of Hebrews, and ask for help in the time of trouble.
And look, it's okay to say, God, I've been soul-winning for X amount of time.
I just did this mission strip.
Whatever it is that you've been doing, help me now, and God will bless you.
For that he wants to bless you Hebrews chapter number four. I just referenced this verse. Let's just go there Hebrews chapter number four
Again we're on the second lesson
From Nehemiah's prayer and it's this ask God to remember your works
You need to break this mental block that it's bad or we shouldn't do this or that you don't do this
You need to ask God to remember your works Hebrews 4 verse 15
The Bible says this, Hebrews 4, 15,
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Verse 16,
It's one of the best set of verses in the Bible telling us that our high priest, Jesus Christ, in verse 15, it says,
hey, we don't have this high priest that doesn't understand what it's like to feel what you've been going through.
And look, everyone in this room is, has recently, or will very soon, go through something hard.
That's a pastor Jimenez
Quote, I paraphrase it a little bit, but it's absolutely true. You either just got out of a storm
You're in the storm or you're about to go in the storm
Those are the only three options and it's just cyclical my friend and God wants you to ask for help in that time of trouble
Now look if you don't then the window's rolling up and he's driving by Jesus would have passed them by
Because it's given to us this high priest. Why?
Verse 16,
let us, the ball is in our court,
let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace.
Man, that sounds like what Hezekiah did.
Lord, remember, I know you said I'm gonna die,
but Lord, remember that I live for you.
I walked up rightly this, you know, for whatever time that he's referencing that he walked up right,
because he's not perfect.
Remember that on my life, Lord.
That's bold.
And God rewarded that boldness.
Psalm 20, hear me in the day of trouble,
remember the sacrifices, deliverance.
Ask for God to remember your works.
Jesus knows your afflictions.
He went through every emotion possible on this earth.
That's why it says we don't have a high priest
that can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He knows what it's like to feel betrayed,
to feel like you're going to lose your house.
He had nowhere to lay his head.
He's born in a manger.
To feel like everyone betrayed you,
I mean, like the disciples are just fleeing when he's being persecuted.
They can't stay up and watch with him even an hour,
and he kind of rebukes him for that.
He's like, could you not watch one hour?
I mean, like, come on, bro.
He knows what it's like to feel let down,
but because he's experienced all those things in the flesh of man,
we can come boldly and have faith that when we ask,
it's not like we're experiencing something that Christ has never experienced.
Hey, he had the family problem.
Now look, there's this stupid commercial,
what it like, he gets us or whatever,
that like, it makes me sick to even see that
because it's really like promoting phagotry.
But like, if you were to take all the stupidity
out of that commercial, it is kind of true that like,
he does get us.
Like, Jesus Christ is our High Priest
that understands how we feel,
and that does love us,
and that does want to bless us,
and that does want to reward us according to our works,
but you need to ask for it.
You've got to ask for it.
Now, the third lesson I want to end with this evening from Nehemiah's prayer is one that we kind of skipped over when we read through.
So turn, I know I had you hold your place, turn back to Nehemiah chapter number 13.
Nehemiah chapter 13, maybe...
And this is probably not always the case.
We should focus on our problems that are all our fault first.
And that was kind of the first two points.
Do the works so that God can remember them
and ask God to remember our works
if we're feeling like we're going through a bad time.
Two-thirds of this was focused on us, our problems,
what we could do to fix it.
But it is true that sometimes the problems in your life
are not your fault.
Sometimes there are problems in your life
that are someone else's fault.
And, for example, if our church were to get like massively protested or something,
like, it's not my fault that someone else hates God.
Right? As a general example.
But there's a solution to those problems.
It's Nehemiah 13, verse 29.
Look at Nehemiah says, verse 29, he says,
Remember them, oh my God.
So he's like, oh, remember their works.
Now, is this positive or negative?
He says, remember them, oh my God,
because they have defiled the priesthood
and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
Now, this is not Nehemiah asking them to get some blessings.
Nehemiah is not, hey, remember all this messed up stuff that they did?
Be really nice to them.
Nehemiah is like, Lord, remember these people and what they've done to us and reward them accordingly.
This is another version of imprecatory prayers from the Old Testament.
Now, imprecatory is just a fancy word basically of praying for the destruction of someone or something
or that God would render unto someone
Evil, right? Evil not meaning sin. Evil just means harm many times, right?
So here's the thing. It's okay to ask God to remember our works.
It's also okay to ask God to remember someone else's works.
Now you can apply this positively. Lord bless such and such family because they're really serving you.
Now that's not Nehemiah's position here. He's asking for the negative and it's okay to ask God
for negative affliction on a group of people.
Now, what's the context here?
It's not like they took my water hose, Lord nuke them.
It's Lord, remember their works, what have they done?
They defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
I mean, this sounds like false prophets.
This sounds like people that are like destroying the work of the Lord.
And that's when it would be appropriate to be like,
Lord, I pray that the Pope would just die.
That's a that's a valid prayer and you can pray that you know in the same way that some Christians are scared about asking God to
Remember their works some Christians are scared to pray in pregatory prayers, too
But men have gotten the Bible did both
They did the work they asked God to reward their work and they asked God to basically nuke those that were destroying the work of the Lord
This is the recipe for being godly
Is these three things from Nehemiah's prayer?
So look, we have to break this conditioning,
whether it's the second or the third lesson,
because again, I think we all get,
God rewards us according to our works.
But there's a lot of conditioning in people
where they either don't want to ask for rewards for their works,
or they don't want to pray for destruction of the false prophet,
or both.
But here's the thing,
if we feel like something's right or wrong,
but the Bible just shows us a man of God doing it
and receiving that reward,
and it's working out for him,
then the Bible is right and our conditioning is wrong.
And we have to just put the Bible and what the Bible teaches first.
Psalm 137, turn if you would, Psalm 137.
And again, he said in what? In verse 29 of Nehemiah, you're turning to Psalm 137.
But what did Nehemiah say?
Remember them.
It's not like God forgot that they're doing all this wicked stuff.
Again, he's saying, act upon this.
Destroy them.
Destroy these people that are defiling the priesthood,
the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites.
Psalm 137.
Look at verse 7, Psalm 137 verse 7.
The Bible says,
Now, this is not Sunday morning, you know, friendship, Baptist church's first verse that they're going to read to you is Psalm 137, 7 through 9.
Happy is he that dashed at the little one on the stones.
Look, this is asking for wicked nations, those that hate the Lord, they're going against God, to be utterly destroyed.
This is a biblical Psalm.
If this makes you cringe, if this makes you feel a certain type of way, you're the one that's not right with God's word.
Now, look, again, we have this conditioning, I get it, but we need to fix it.
We need to fix in ourselves the reality of going, yeah, I am going to pray for their
destruction.
I am going to pray that every Pride Parade that happens this month just gets run through
by a van.
I'm going to pray that.
I'm going to pray that someone just shoots up every Pride Parade.
Now look, I'm not saying we should do it, I'm not saying anyone should go and do it,
but if God uses the wicked to destroy the wicked, I rejoice.
And that's a biblical prayer.
And if that makes you uncomfortable, you don't know how you feel about that?
Nehemiah prayed it, David prayed it, the Psalmists are praying it.
A man of God is supposed to pray these things to not be afraid of the faces,
to set your face like a flint and say what the Bible says.
I'm not going to be terrorized by faggots in June.
I'm going to pray for their destruction.
And when it happens, I'm going to be happy.
I'm going to jump for joy.
I'm going to cheer, and I'm going to sleep like a baby,
knowing that less children are being abused,
that less people are being scammed and ripped off.
If the Pope dies, which I pray for,
I wish that whole convocation of cardinals would have burnt to the ground
and all of them in there would have died by fire.
Wow, you want them all to burn?
I mean, God literally burned up all those that came against Moses by the fire of the incense, right,
when they had their strange fire.
That stupid little smoke that you're letting out of your pipe,
you know, put that in your pipe and smoke it or whatever.
They should have been the ones that got smoked, alright?
Look, this is biblical,
but the conditioning of this world will tell you
That's hateful.
That's wrong.
That's rude.
But then, by the same token, the conditioning of this world will tell you
that's prideful to ask God to reward you for your works.
I've just just proven both of those.
We should work for the Lord.
We should ask Him to reward us.
We should ask Him to help us in our time of trouble.
And sometimes, June is the time of trouble, folks.
We should just ask for it.
You have not because you ask not.
Maybe we start praying and we're going to have a lot in Oklahoma.
Amen.
That's what I'm going to be praying this year that comes up quick.
You are there in Psalm 137.
We read that. Turn over if you would to Psalm 109.
Psalm 109.
Again, the third lesson from Nehemiah's prayer is asking the Lord to remember the works of
Now, again, this is not like your personal vendetta with Brother Joe Bro at church.
We should be long suffering and forgive others.
We should not be just at the drop of the hat praying in precatory prayers to just any person,
especially not those that are saved, even those that are unsaved.
You should not be praying in precatory prayers unless someone's like going against the Lord,
like, hey, the Lord rebuke you, the Lord correct you.
Go for it because they're in this to be burned. They're in this to be destruction. They're vessels created unto destruction
Psalm 109 verse 14 we just need to make sure that we have the right balance
We need to make sure that we don't misconstrue
This because the world is already gonna misconstrue what said we need to make sure that we understand what the Bible is teaching
Psalm 109 verse 14. Let's see if this sounds like a nice prayer
Let the iniquity of his father's be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out
Verse 15,
Let them be before the Lord continually
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Man, that's a prayer that I like coming into June.
Just destroy them.
I don't even want to remember them.
And that is talking about cognitively remembering.
Hey Lord, remember, act upon their deeds
so that we don't have to remember in our mind these people.
That is a real prayer.
Look, this...
We'd get you canceled. This will get you canceled.
Don't post this on Facebook.
This verse, like literally this Bible verse, is going to get you canceled.
But look, it's not that...
Remember what Hebrews 4 said.
It's not that we're coming timid.
Well, Lord, I just...
I think that maybe you could destroy these people if you wanted to and, like, if you think that that's right.
The Bible says boldly.
Lord kill every faggot in Oklahoma City. That's my prayer
Destroy every pride parade. That's my prayer kill every false prophet. That's sending people to hell. That's my prayer
You know why I'm gonna boldly come before the throne of grace and ask I'm not gonna be timid and
Christians need to stop being so timid
Why are we so weak today?
Look, I want to encourage you.
I want you to know that God's watching you.
He wants to reward you.
He wants to bless you.
Be bold.
Ask for that.
Because you have not, because you ask not,
but we have a bunch of limp-wristed Christians today
or effeminate people posing as Christians,
trying to tell Bible-believing Christians what the Bible is?
No, bro. I'm gonna be bold. I'm gonna preach what the Bible says because when I'm given an opportunity to preach
That's my job. I'm not scared of what the online people think
I'm not scared of what the social conditioning of anyone in this room might think
I'm not scared of what my feelings think because my heart's not always right
My mind is not always right, but the Bible is always right
So, I have to check myself, I have to check my feelings as a man, I have to check my wife.
That's my authority.
Why could you say you have to check your wife?
Because I'm the head of my house.
And the day that I have children, I have to check my children.
It's my job as a man. It's your job if you preach the gospel to preach it boldly
Well, I mean, I mean it kind of says that you know, you could go to heaven if you believe but but maybe you're right, too
And and and you know, I don't I don't want to make you feel bad
No, you're going to hell like you believe something wrong. You know how to be that hard, but sometimes I am
I'm just like look if they're really obstinate you're wrong
What you believe is not right.
I'm saying that because I love you and I want you to go to heaven,
but I'm gonna be bold and I'm not gonna be afraid of your face.
And there are a lot of faces today where they're just like,
you know, I preach at the nursing home,
sometimes I think that's a medical face,
but I'm just like, I don't know if they're like, I don't know.
I preach out of the doors and people are like, you know,
sometimes all I see is like this much of it squinting at me
and that's enough of a sign to leave too.
I'm not gonna be afraid.
I'm not going to be afraid if my job comes to me and asks me what I believe.
And this has happened to me years ago.
I preached something very similar.
Actually, it wasn't even necessarily me that preached it.
I just said, I said, at the time, it was just Brother Oz.
I was like, I stand with Brother Dylan Oz.
Boy, that got a lot of hate.
My work got contacted, HR got contacted, and they came to me.
But I had already purposed in myself. This is what the Bible says. I'm gonna be bold.
I'm gonna be confident because as soon as you give up an inch,
that's when they're gonna take the restroom you and I just determined in my mind. I don't even care.
I'm gonna be bold. God will provide for me. I'm doing the right things for the Lord.
I know I can ask him in my time of trouble and I like purposed and I'm like ready for the fight
and then they contact me and they're like, we don't have any problems with what you believe.
Just don't post it like in relation to a work account or something and don't be on social media at work.
And I was like, I wasn't when I posted it.
And they were like, good, that's all.
We don't have any problems with what you believe.
You're good.
Because resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
But you know, I guarantee if I had been timid, oh, man,
I'm going to lose my job.
I got to recant that.
I got to go take that sermon down.
I got to take that post down.
I got to retract what I said.
Yeah, then I'm going to lose my job.
then I'm gonna, I believe, then I'm gonna lose my credibility, and then I'm not gonna have favor with God or men.
But because I'm bold, I have favor with God because I'm following what the Bible says, and then I still have my job.
I have favor with men. And then I got promoted, like, seven positions since that happened.
When I know that HR knows what I believe, I literally received a phone call from the police department.
Someone associated with the police department in the hometown I grew up and they said,
just FYI, the FBI has contacted the chief of police and they want everything about you.
Me?
I didn't even preach it! Like, Pastor preached it years ago.
All I said was, I stand with it.
And then they're like, we're gonna get you, but you know what happens? You're just bold.
No, I'm not gonna back down.
That's what the Bible says.
I come boldly to the throne of grace and if I'm in a time of trouble, I'm asking God and then nothing happened.
It's amazing, but then the people that are scared and then everything falls apart,
it's almost like they're their own self-fulfilling prophecy of like,
oh, I knew it was going to fall through.
I knew I was right. I'm so black-filled.
I'm just like, bro, your life sucks because you suck and you're not just being bold and going to the throne of grace
because if you do, I'm happy every day of my life virtually,
not saying there aren't hard times,
but the balls in your court on how you're going to handle it.
And I think Nehemiah had this down.
He's like, what are y'all doing? We're fixing this.
And he's like, God, remember me for good, remember them for evil.
That's a confident prayer.
And I'm glad to know I'm not perfect,
but if I keep striving in the Word and doing what God wants me to do, I can have the same prayer.
Man, this is a dumpster fire, God.
But remember me for good, remember them for evil.
Let's keep moving on.
Let's keep going.
And I hope this encourages you, but look, it's a two-fold token.
One is to salvation and our blessing, and the other side of the token is perdition to those that either aren't saved or reprobate,
or even those that don't want to apply this, that don't want to break that conditioning.
Look, you're only hurting yourself. You are your own worst enemy.
So, I want to end in Psalm 106.
Turn to Psalm 106, if you would.
In conclusion, what are the three lessons that we learned from Nehemiah's Prayer?
Lesson number one, God rewards your works.
Pretty basic. I think we understand that, although that is under attack.
Lesson number two, ask God to remember your works.
God will reward you, and you have not because you ask not.
And lesson 3, ask God to remember others' works.
And again, you have not because you ask not.
If you come to me and complain about how debased the world is,
you're lucky if I don't go like,
well, what's your prayer life like on God addressing the world?
Are you praying for more labors?
Are you praying for God to destroy false prophets and reprobates?
If you're like, no, then I'm like, well, then your life is filled with that stuff
because you're not asking God to fix it for you.
Does that make sense?
I started a new position at my job a couple years ago,
and there was a sodomite on the team.
And I was just like,
man, Lord, just get this person out of here.
I kid you not, two weeks later,
they got transferred to another team, not by their choice.
Oh, that's just a coincidence.
No, no, no, bro.
I have confidence that I can go to the Lord and ask,
and He'll give me what I've asked.
That's what the Bible says.
And you have not if you have not because you ask not.
Psalm 106, verse 4 will end on this verse.
The Bible says,
Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people.
O, visit me with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen,
that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation,
that I may glory with thine inheritance.
Hey, are you asking God for a happy life to reward you for those works?
If the answer is yes, then I almost guarantee you, if you're praying that, you have a good and happy life right now.
Now, if you are not praying for that, and then you're going to come up to me all depressed and sad about your life,
then I'm just going to say, why aren't you praying what the Bible says to pray?
You have not because you ask not.
And look, sometimes it takes a little bit of time for God to answer your prayer.
But that just makes it all the better when it finally does.
It's like hitting print on a printer.
Eventually, all those copies print.
And like, you keep praying, praying, praying,
and that printer, it seems like it's not,
oh, it's queuing up those pages.
God's queuing up those prayers.
That's how I feel about having kids sometimes.
I'm like, quintuplets are just gonna pop out at some point.
But I'm like, for prayers, same thing.
Come on, come on, here's the thing.
I know that connection with God though is not broken.
That printer's probably always broken.
I hate printers.
As an IT guy, no one likes printers.
But you keep praying, you keep hitting that print,
use confidently, hit it, cue it up, cue it up, cue it up.
Because the Bible says even our unanswered prayers,
God has bottled up in heaven and will cast them down as fire in the end times.
So like one way or the other, my prayer is going to be lit, like literally.
Like either it's going to come true because I'm confident,
or God's bottling it up has a different plan for my life.
And then in the end times, He's literally going to take my bottled up prayer
and cast it down as fire and kill people with it.
Sounds like praying is awesome like sounds like praying is lit fam. I want to encourage you
Hope those lessons from DMI is prayer or encouraging to you
Let's end in a word of prayer this evening heavenly father. We thank you for this day
I pray that you would just break that social conditioning that we spoke of that you would have us set our hearts on your word that you would help us all
To just have the confidence to come to you and to ask you in boldness and faith and to receive those blessings that you want to give
Us these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen
All right, for our last hymn this evening, number 100, day by day, hymn number 100, day by day, hymn number 100, day by day, we'll sing their starting on the first.
Ain't I fine to meet my trials here?
Trusting in my father's wise miscomand,
I've no causes for worry or for fear.
Each day what he eats fast, lovingly, it's part of pain and pleasure, mainly torn with peace and rest.
Every day the Lord himself is near me with us first.
show mercy for each hour.
All my cares, if they would bear and cheer me.
He who's named his counselor and her,
Strange shall be in measure.
It's the pledge to be made.
Help me then, in every tribulation,
so to trust that comic's is the word.
God may speak consoling
Amen with that you are dismissed