SPEAKER_01: Scripture reading this morning is taken from Philippians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 4, verses 4 through 9.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 4 through 9.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I would say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
SPEAKER_01: And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
SPEAKER_01: What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.
SPEAKER_01: Practice these things.
SPEAKER_01: And the God of peace will be with you.
SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we ask that you would, by your Holy Spirit, speak to my heart and through my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And give me the words that will bring new life, words on the wings of a morning.
SPEAKER_01: The dark night will fade away.
SPEAKER_01: Father, you speak to our hearts this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, that's what we're asking you to do.
SPEAKER_01: We're asking that you would speak to our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: You know the condition of every heart in this building right now.
SPEAKER_01: And we're asking, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would come and take his word as the master physician and apply it to each of our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Give us what we need to hear.
SPEAKER_01: Give us hearts that will respond in obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray, Lord, that as we leave this place, we would be able to say, Oh, it's been good for us to be in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we commit ourselves to you, Lord, and we ask that you would indeed have your way.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray with Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, I'd like to focus and speak to us on this issue of prayer with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: We've had the joy and the privilege of our Thanksgiving service this past Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: It was just so joyful just to hear the gratitude that was expressed from the beloved of the saints of God, how God has been moving and had been moving on behalf of our brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_01: And not everyone got an opportunity to share, but I know that if we would, we would have been here all night long.
SPEAKER_01: Just listening to the good hand of God and his mercy and his kindness towards us.
SPEAKER_01: It was so encouraging.
SPEAKER_01: I'd just like to continue that just this morning and another Sunday and look at the role of prayer and the role of worship and gratitude and thanksgiving in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: This role of worship and gratitude and prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And our text this morning talks about that.
SPEAKER_01: It talks about rejoicing, and then it talks about offering our petitions to the Lord, and it talks about with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: So I want us to see what does thanksgiving, what does gratitude, what does worship, what does joy have to do with our prayer lives, and how does that help us in our journey as the children of God?
SPEAKER_01: There are three categories of people that I pray will be encouraged this morning through the word.
SPEAKER_01: There are those here this morning where praise and prayer and worship aren't a problem for you because things are going well.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to thank God when things are going well.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to say hallelujah when there's no problems in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: There's one preacher who said that the Christians are either in trouble, they're coming out of trouble, or they're headed for trouble.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe you might be out of trouble right now.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's easy to rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: But hopefully the words this morning would be of an encouragement to you to help you to realize that when you get in trouble, you'll know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: God is so good at preparing us for when things come our way.
SPEAKER_01: That's one category of people that I'd like to speak to this morning and pray that God's word would minister to this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Another category of people that we'd be thinking about are those of you who have been praying, and you have been praying and asking God to do things for you.
SPEAKER_01: You have been asking God to open doors and to close doors and to handle situations, and yet it seems like God's not moving.
SPEAKER_01: Seems like God's not working on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're not careful, then if we're not careful, then what can happen is that a sense of resentment can grow, disillusionment.
SPEAKER_01: Does this stuff really work?
SPEAKER_01: Does God really love me?
SPEAKER_01: That all these things can creep into our prayer lives.
SPEAKER_01: Is it worth me praying?
SPEAKER_01: I've been praying for this for the last four or five years, and and God hasn't done anything anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Why bother?
SPEAKER_01: Pray that as we look at this passage of scripture, we might we might be able to deal with a heart that might be on the way of becoming resentful, hardened towards God.
SPEAKER_01: And then also I would like to speak to those who are in it right now.
SPEAKER_01: You're in it, you're in the fire.
SPEAKER_01: You're in the fire.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes when you hear these sermons about thanksgiving and worship and praise and and you're in the fire, sometimes you want to say, preacher, that's easy for you to say, I'd like to see you handle what I'm going through.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a real thing.
SPEAKER_01: But your God is indeed still faithful, even in the midst of it.
SPEAKER_01: And and hopefully for you, those those words in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 28, where he says that he talks about the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He says this, he says, The Lord is an everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.
SPEAKER_01: He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no mighty increases strength.
SPEAKER_01: Even you shall faint and be weary, and young men shall walk, shall fall, shall shall fall, shall fall exhausted, but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
SPEAKER_01: They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall walk, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk in our faint.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you who are in it, and we're talking about rejoicing, and it's hard to rejoice, and it's hard to give thanks, that that hearing the truths of God's word might give you the stuff you need to stand up.
SPEAKER_01: In Philippians begins with rejoicing.
SPEAKER_01: He says this, he says, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is a bookend.
SPEAKER_01: He tells us to rejoice on the front end of offering our request before the Lord, and he tells us to give thanks on the back end.
SPEAKER_01: So so joy and thanksgiving are to encompass our praying.
SPEAKER_01: Now, understand the man who's telling us to rejoice, things aren't going well for him.
SPEAKER_01: He is currently, Paul, when he writes this, he's in prison.
SPEAKER_01: He is aware as he writes this that there are those as he is doing ministry who are doing ministry for selfish reasons.
SPEAKER_01: They're trying to hijack the work of Christ on his behalf in the area where he is.
SPEAKER_01: There are things that are going on that are problems and they're difficulties.
SPEAKER_01: He's faced with the possibility of death.
SPEAKER_01: There are interpersonal conflicts within the church that he's ministering to.
SPEAKER_01: And false teachers are trying to infiltrate the ministry and infiltrate the church.
SPEAKER_01: He says, rejoice in the midst of all of that, that it is possible for us and for you and I that when we are in the midst of trials, that there can be a true lasting joy.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't a painted smile on your face thing that Paul is talking about here.
SPEAKER_01: This is a deep-seated, soul encouraging thing that God gives that keeps us rejoicing even when the wheels are falling off.
SPEAKER_01: I can rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Then he tells us also in verse 6 of this chapter, verse 4, chapter 4, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: So he says to rejoice on the front, and he says, Don't be anxious about anything.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say something about this.
SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes we think Paul didn't struggle.
SPEAKER_01: Paul would in the same book say that he was anxious about Epaphras and he wanted to get Epaphras back to the saints of Philippi because they heard that he was sick and he was concerned about them worrying about them.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul wrestled at times with anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, even in the midst of my trials and my testings, I shouldn't be anxious.
SPEAKER_01: I should bring them before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He says, be anxious, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, everything.
SPEAKER_01: What are you struggling with this morning?
SPEAKER_01: What's your concern this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Is it a refrigerator that ain't working?
SPEAKER_01: Is the car broken down?
SPEAKER_01: Are there children that aren't acting right?
SPEAKER_01: Is there health issues that are going on?
SPEAKER_01: What is is is is causing anxiety in your soul this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, tell me.
SPEAKER_01: He's not just concerned about the rough stuff that's going on, he's concerned about all of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that matters to us matters to him.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that causes you to have anxiety matters to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Bring all of it to me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, understand what Jesus actually wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: And we say this, but but I don't think we always recognize that he actually wants to have a relationship with us.
SPEAKER_01: So that so that what bothers you, and you know, we all have good friends.
SPEAKER_01: You when your friends are not doing well, that matters to you.
SPEAKER_01: When there are troubles that are going on in your friends, our friends or families' lives, it matters to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says to us, he says, Look, tell me about it.
SPEAKER_01: I really do care.
SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing that goes on in your life that is too simple, the way God Jesus says, Really, you you bother me with that?
SPEAKER_01: I've got other things to do.
SPEAKER_01: No, any anything that causes anxiety or pain or fear or or restlessness within you, He says, He says, But in everything, don't be anxious about anything, but everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known unto God.
SPEAKER_01: Tell me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just learning how to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I've been praying for a long time, and then the Spirit of God has just been refixing this raggedy prayer life.
SPEAKER_01: I'll put it just plain and simple.
SPEAKER_01: Fixing it.
SPEAKER_01: Because there would be things that I wouldn't tell God.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, but he didn't, well, I'll figure that one out.
SPEAKER_01: I just need him to do this.
SPEAKER_01: But I got that.
SPEAKER_01: I can handle that.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: He wants all of my cares, all of your concerns.
SPEAKER_01: He says, bring them before him.
SPEAKER_01: But then he uses this phrase, with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I want to focus on, really, the the rest of this sermon, with Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why with Thanksgiving?
SPEAKER_01: Why doesn't he just say, pray and let me know and then go on about your business?
SPEAKER_01: But he he adds, with Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: What does Thanksgiving have to do with prayer?
SPEAKER_01: And I want us to understand that Thanksgiving is not just some token thing that he wants you to throw on at the end of your prayer where you say, Well, Lord, do this and do this, and I thank you for your goodness towards me.
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
SPEAKER_01: No, that no.
SPEAKER_01: What he's talking about with Thanksgiving, he's talking about a way of life.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about a mindset.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about you and I, that our lives are just filled with Thanksgiving, even as we're bringing our requests before the Lord, that they are filled with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And thanksgiving is just all throughout the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Take a listen to these passages of the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of them.
SPEAKER_01: So just listen.
SPEAKER_01: And I figure I said, well, you know, I can't read all of these.
SPEAKER_01: But I said, well, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: God's word is a whole lot better than my stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So I just let the Spirit of God let these words wash over you.
SPEAKER_01: Colossians chapter 4, verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Colossians chapter 1, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: We give thanks always to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 1:16.
SPEAKER_01: Do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
SPEAKER_01: All of these passages of scripture speak about thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: He says, we give thanks concerning thanks to God, always concerning all of you, making mention of you constantly in my prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks after thanks after thanks.
SPEAKER_01: It's just the that's who we are.
SPEAKER_01: That's to be the driving force of us as believers.
SPEAKER_01: Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to these Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms chapter 9, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.
SPEAKER_01: I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 28, verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is my strength and my shield in him.
SPEAKER_01: My heart trusts, and I am helped.
SPEAKER_01: My heart exalts with my song, and I give thanks to him.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 30, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Sing praises to the Lord, all you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 30, verse 12, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent, O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 33, verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre.
SPEAKER_01: Make melody to him with the harp and of ten strings.
SPEAKER_01: It's all throughout the scriptures that the heart of the children of God ought to be filled with thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for all that you have done.
SPEAKER_01: And so he tells us that even in our praying, as we are bringing our request before the Lord, that we ought to be grateful and we ought to be thankful.
SPEAKER_01: Now the question is: what happens when we're not thankful?
SPEAKER_01: What happens when you and I pray but we don't give thanks?
SPEAKER_01: What happens when we have a develop a habit and an attitude where gratitude and worship and praise doesn't surround our prayer lives?
SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
SPEAKER_01: When I am ungrateful, I begin to question the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know how it works.
SPEAKER_01: It happened in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what the enemy said?
SPEAKER_01: And to Adam.
SPEAKER_01: Does God really have your best interest at heart?
SPEAKER_01: Does it raise up in you as it has at times in me?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't really know if God cares, and why won't he answer my prayers?
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if he's good.
SPEAKER_01: He knows I really need this, and he just won't seem to move on my behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And and and why pray and all those things.
SPEAKER_01: What happens is when we don't give thanks, when we are not grateful, when we don't have an attitude and a mindset of worship and thanksgiving, then we give space for the enemy, space for our flesh to become in and to begin to question the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, God is good.
SPEAKER_01: All the time and all the time, God is good.
SPEAKER_01: But when you and I are praying for things that you really want and you really need, and it seems like God's not moving, then the enemy slides in and says, Man, what are you doing that for?
SPEAKER_01: How long have you been praying for that?
SPEAKER_01: How long have you been asking God to do that?
SPEAKER_01: And this is how he treats you.
SPEAKER_01: He seems to answer their prayer, but he won't answer yours.
SPEAKER_01: And when we are not giving hearts, having hearts of gratitude, when we don't praise God, when we don't worship God, then the enemy in our own flesh begins to question the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 1, verse 21 says it shows us that an ungrateful heart is the beginning of rebellion against God.
SPEAKER_01: And Romans 1.21 he says, For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.
SPEAKER_01: But they they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were dark.
SPEAKER_01: And when you and I fail and we refuse, or we stop, or we don't give thanks, we are on the road to becoming rebellious against a good and a holy God.
SPEAKER_01: Numbers 14, 27.
SPEAKER_01: The children of Israel are in the wilderness, and they're crying and they're complaining.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, How long shall this wicked congregation, God is speaking, grumble against me?
SPEAKER_01: When you and I grumble, when you and I complain, when we're we're complaining against God, you you might say, Well, it's a situation, it's a circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, God rules over all circumstances and over all things.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I don't do that, I'm grumbling against him.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I have heard the grumblings of this people of Israel, which they grumble against me.
SPEAKER_01: And so prayer, that's why when Paul starts this, he says, Rejoice, and then he he backends it with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're gonna offer up his request, but understand who you're talking to.
SPEAKER_01: You're talking to the good God of the universe who has wisdom beyond the measure that you and I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: So you say, okay, all right, preacher, so I'm supposed to give thanks.
SPEAKER_01: What am I supposed to give thanks for?
SPEAKER_01: How am I, what am I supposed to be thankful for?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me just give you some, some, give us some foundational things that that when you and I are praying, and when you and I are going through, and when you and I are wrestling, that you can hang on to to remind you that when the enemy whispers in your ear that your God is not good, you can remind yourself, oh no, no, he is good.
SPEAKER_01: And his mercy endures forever.
SPEAKER_01: You can remind the enemy of your soul, you can remind your own soul.
SPEAKER_01: No, that's not true about my God, because this is what he has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to name a few things that he's done for you and for me.
SPEAKER_01: I deserve death.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that's a hard thing to say on a Sunday morning after Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, most of the time we say, I ain't come here to hear anybody tell me I deserve death.
SPEAKER_01: But beloved, you remember the scriptures?
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures are clear and plain.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_01: And if you and I have accepted Christ as our Savior, you and I have been rescued.
SPEAKER_01: We have been snatched from the grip of death in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: I should not be here today, but for the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: You and I woke up this morning, and the reason why we're sitting in these pews this morning is sheer grace.
SPEAKER_01: Saw that is it's not because your car worked, it's not because the alarm went off this morning.
SPEAKER_01: God in his grace tapped you and I on our shoulders and said, Get up.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: You and I have eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: We have been rescued from the grips of hell, not because of how good we are, not because of anything that you and I have done.
SPEAKER_01: We have been rescued because of grace.
SPEAKER_01: So I thank God for that while I'm praying and the air prayers aren't coming.
SPEAKER_01: Because I can say, well, at least I'm not going to hell.
SPEAKER_01: At least I've been rescued from the grips of hell.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But not only that, not only has he done that for us, but but he's able to make all things work out for the good and is conforming me to the image of his son.
SPEAKER_01: We know the verse, Romans 8, 28 and 29.
SPEAKER_01: It says, and we know that all that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't say all things are good, so that as you are going through, there is some stuff that is bad.
SPEAKER_01: He's not calling cancer good, he's not calling dementia good.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Those are bad things, those are things that result from the fall.
SPEAKER_01: But the good thing is that in the midst of it, somehow, God in his wisdom, and I don't understand it, I can't explain it, but somehow he causes all of that to work for good, for his glory and for your good.
SPEAKER_01: He's able to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And not only that, is he causing those things to work together for good, but in the midst of that, the thing that you and I need the most of, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, he's getting that work done.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, beloved, to understand, I I this this life, if you know me, you would you you might not want to hang around me, but by God's grace, he's using all the mess to conform me and to shape me and to change me into the image of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can be grateful for that.
SPEAKER_01: So that when I'm going through, when I'm praying and when I'm waiting for him to move, I don't I don't think and stop and say, Well, God can't be good to me and He Must not love me and I mustn't be a second rate Christian because he's doing no no I'm I'm I'm being redeemed and conformed to the image of Christ even through the stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So I can be grateful.
SPEAKER_01: I can be grateful because and I can give thanks and I can rejoice as I'm praying, as I'm waiting for God to move, and as I'm waiting for his hand to come and deliver, I can give joy and be grateful because he has so much more in store for me.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, a lot of times I'm praying about stuff that's down here, and God is like, well, you know, I'd really like to do a whole lot more for you.
SPEAKER_01: Notice this here, this passage of scripture, this is familiar.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 11, verses 11 through 13.
SPEAKER_01: What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asks for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion.
SPEAKER_01: If you then who are evil know how to give good goods to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
SPEAKER_01: I'm asking for this, and he says, I got much more that I want to give you.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't understand how he's going to give it, and I don't understand how he's gonna work it out, but I do know he said that I have so much more.
SPEAKER_01: You're asking for a fish, and then if an earthly father will give good gifts to his children.
SPEAKER_01: How much more, beloved, do you think God's gonna do for you?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, really?
SPEAKER_01: You think God is like I'm tapped out, I ain't got no more.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you're his children.
SPEAKER_01: He sent his son to die for you and I.
SPEAKER_01: He gave Jesus to sacrifice his life so that you and I might have life and live eternally.
SPEAKER_01: Do you actually think that he's just gonna let you and I just languish in this world?
SPEAKER_01: He will take care of us.
SPEAKER_01: He has taken care of us.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, some of you know the story.
SPEAKER_01: You know the things that have gone on in your life, you know the nights you've laid up in your bed, and you've said to yourself, I do not know how I'm going to make it through.
SPEAKER_00: And you're here this morning to tell the story.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because somehow, some way, he got you through.
SPEAKER_01: There were times when you thought you were gonna lose your mind.
SPEAKER_01: And you're here in your right mind because he has kept you.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this passage in Romans chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: He says, for verse 6, for we were for a while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_01: You understand what he's saying here?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Look, what you know, why would he why would he invest so much in us and then just leave you hanging?
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know how he's gonna answer the prayers.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know when he's gonna answer the prayers, I don't know which way he's gonna go around.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's gonna answer the prayers, but that has nothing to do with who he is, his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: And when he does what he does, he does it because he knows more than you and I know.
SPEAKER_01: So we rest in a God who is good, we rest in a God who is faithful, we rest in a God who is who loves us.
SPEAKER_01: And and and and beloved, oftentimes when I pray, when I'm asking God for stuff, I want him to make life comfortable.
SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: But beloved, understand this.
SPEAKER_01: He's pressing for so much more.
SPEAKER_01: He just doesn't want to make me comfortable, he wants me to know him.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what he said eternal life was?
SPEAKER_01: Eternal life wasn't the streets of gold and and the pearly gates and all the various things.
SPEAKER_01: He says, and this is eternal life that they might know me.
SPEAKER_01: And somehow, when God has us in those spaces, he wants to teach you and I what it looks like to know him and to experience it to have, as it were, eternal life even now.
SPEAKER_01: The most important thing is that the pressure doesn't come off, the most important thing is that this doesn't get done, that this gets done or this doesn't get done.
SPEAKER_01: The most important thing is that I know him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what matters, that's where life gets real good, that's where life gets rich, that's where life happens when I know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.
SPEAKER_01: That's when life gets good.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what matters to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So I can be grateful.
SPEAKER_01: I can say thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And but I also can be grateful and I can also say thank you, because even while I'm waiting, even if it doesn't seem like God's gonna do it, even if there doesn't seem to be any change, I know this that nothing can separate me from Him.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love this passage of Scripture, Romans chapter 8, verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: What then shall we say to these things?
SPEAKER_01: If God is for us, who can be against us?
SPEAKER_01: He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear what he just said?
SPEAKER_01: He said to me, repeat that again.
SPEAKER_01: He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
SPEAKER_01: What's that song saying, Be not dismayed, whereer be tide, God will take care of you.
SPEAKER_01: God will take care of you through all the day, all the way.
SPEAKER_01: He will take care of you, God will take care of you.
SPEAKER_01: So so as one song shows, old gospel song says, Don't wait till the battle is over, you can shout now.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Because you know in the end you're gonna win.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to wait to shout, you don't have to wait to say hallelujah, you don't have to wait to say thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You already know how the story ends.
SPEAKER_01: He continues on.
SPEAKER_01: He says this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Who then shall bring a charge against God's elected is God who justifies who is it who is to condemn?
SPEAKER_01: Christ Jesus is the one who died.
SPEAKER_01: More than that, who is raised, who is at his right hand of the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
SPEAKER_01: Not only that, you praying, he's praying.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get no better than that, folks.
SPEAKER_01: While you and I are praying for that stuff that you and I we need, Jesus is praying.
SPEAKER_01: And the Holy Spirit is praying, and they know what to ask for.
SPEAKER_01: They know what to ask for, that the Father will hear and say, I'll do that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we have so much to be grateful for.
SPEAKER_01: What a salvation we have, that even as we pray and our prayers are are we we're wavering, we have a God who's praying for us.
SPEAKER_01: We have a Savior who's praying with you, we have a spirit who's taking your prayers and offering them up to the Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so much to be grateful for, so that if I get it wrong, which is most of the time I do with my request, he'll get it right.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm asking for the wrong stuff, and and most of the time I am, he'll get it right.
SPEAKER_01: And and then God comes and he moves and he works in our lives and on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.
SPEAKER_01: We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
SPEAKER_01: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
SPEAKER_01: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things in present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, I think that encompasses everything you and I pray for.
SPEAKER_01: I think that encompasses everything that you and I get fearful over, everything that we become anxious for, everything that we worry about.
SPEAKER_01: I think that encompasses all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus just told you and I, none of that is gonna separate you from him.
SPEAKER_00: Glory be to God.
SPEAKER_01: Not kids that are acting crazy, not a husband that's acting crazy, not a wife that's acting crazy, not not a boss that's acting crazy, not a not a not a not a witness from the doctor and a report from the doctor, not not a job, not a boss, none of that, none of them, nobody, anyone, because of who I am in Christ Jesus will be able to separate me from the love of God in him.
SPEAKER_00: So I rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray with thanksgiving because it doesn't matter if I get the prayers wrong or the requests wrong, if I'm trusting in him, he's gonna make it right.
SPEAKER_01: But let me close and let me hasten on.
SPEAKER_01: He says this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, not only do we rejoice in that, but we can rejoice in the fact that I have access to the throne of grace.
SPEAKER_01: And I have someone who can help me as I'm going through whatever it is I'm going through.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he says here in verse in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet with our sin.
SPEAKER_01: Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.
SPEAKER_01: That we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, with when Paul in this prayer he says, you know, to bring all your requests and your anxieties before the Lord, he he he brackets it in rejoicing and thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And he and he's telling us, he says, when you get on your knees, when we get on our knees, when we when we whisper up those prayers to God and we bring those requests before him, when we do that and we rejoice on the front end because we know that the God we serve is a good God.
SPEAKER_00: We do it on the back end because I know that he has secured me in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray with confidence.
SPEAKER_01: And then what's the result?
SPEAKER_01: And the result is, he says, in the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard.
SPEAKER_00: Put a garrison about your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You want to go to sleep tonight in peace?
SPEAKER_01: Tell Jesus about it.
SPEAKER_01: You wanna, you wanna, you want to go through what you're going through with with a with a quiet confidence?
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean that that there might be things that cause you to get shaken, but there's a stability there.
SPEAKER_01: You want that stability, tell him about it.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, when we do that, he says, the peace of God, which surpasses all.
SPEAKER_00: See, folks will look at you and they'll say, How are you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: How is how is he living like this?
SPEAKER_01: I know what's going on in their world.
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: Peace.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, dear ones.
SPEAKER_01: He desires to do so much more for us.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want you to settle down here.
SPEAKER_01: He he wants you to know him in a deep and a real way.
SPEAKER_01: And as you pray, fight against the enemy of your soul that will say that your God is not good, that your God is not faithful, that if he loved you, he would do this or that.
SPEAKER_00: Look at all that he has done and is doing for us.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him, that he's worthy of our trust.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we are grateful that you are such a good, powerful God.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for loving us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for providing us with all that we need that pertains to life and godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, would you take our fretting hearts?
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, there there are real cares.
SPEAKER_01: And no one's making light of the cares.
SPEAKER_01: There are real cares, there are real physical pains, they're a real heartbreak.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, would you, as we're in the midst of it, would you show us what it looks like and feels like to have peace?
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, would you guard us from the attacks of the enemy who would say that you're not good?
SPEAKER_01: That you don't love us, that you can't get the job done.
SPEAKER_01: Oh Lord, would you give us a quiet and a strong confidence that my God will supply every single thing I need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, quiet our hearts and turn our eyes to you.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.