WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.466 Well, good morning, Valley View. 00:00:02.466 --> 00:00:03.565 It's great to be with you today. 00:00:03.565 --> 00:00:07.900 As I've been hinting at for weeks now we have a guest speaker today. 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:09.833 I want to comment just a little bit about that. 00:00:09.833 --> 00:00:25.132 I wrote in the midweek update about what a rich season of growth for me and for the church it was in the late 90s when we were without a pastor, and we had a series of interim pastors come in and I was talking about that this week with Larry Peercy. 00:00:25.132 --> 00:00:31.233 He and I were sitting at an event here at church, and he started to share with me more of the background of that. 00:00:31.233 --> 00:00:34.100 He said, John, our pastor had left. 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:35.133 Our church was struggling. 00:00:35.133 --> 00:00:36.066 We had no staff. 00:00:36.066 --> 00:00:42.633 And him and Randy Fluhr went to Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary, and sat down with him and said, we need help. 00:00:42.633 --> 00:00:44.200 We've got nobody that can preach. 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:45.332 We don't know what to do. 00:00:45.332 --> 00:00:47.000 Would you help us? 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:50.299 And so Al connected him with a guy who was the interim. 00:00:50.299 --> 00:00:54.000 And then that guy connected us with Hershael York, who came. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:01.899 And that led to what I believe was a foundational moment for our church that laid the foundation for years of growth and joy and excitement to come. 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:05.500 So if you would, would you welcome up Hershael York to speak with us now? 00:01:10.733 --> 00:01:12.233 Thank you, brother. 00:01:12.233 --> 00:01:15.233 Thank you. 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:23.033 I can't tell you what a delight and a joy it is for me and my wife, Tanya, to be with you today. 00:01:23.033 --> 00:01:26.500 I have never been one to struggle with decisions. 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:28.766 I'm not making this up. 00:01:28.766 --> 00:01:34.400 Tanya and I went out on our first date, and 13 days later, bought the rings. 00:01:35.832 --> 00:01:38.099 So I've never been one to struggle with decisions. 00:01:38.099 --> 00:01:47.965 I make a decision and then live with the decision and implement the decision, and and, Jesus said, if you put your hand to the plow and look back you're not fit for the kingdom of God. 00:01:47.965 --> 00:01:49.766 So I've never been one to look back. 00:01:49.766 --> 00:01:52.465 But in 1996, I struggled with a decision. 00:01:52.465 --> 00:02:00.000 And that was I was pastoring really, the church that the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky was my family's home church. 00:02:01.165 --> 00:02:03.332 My mom and dad had been saved in that church. 00:02:03.332 --> 00:02:05.033 My dad had been ordained in that church. 00:02:05.033 --> 00:02:06.832 My grandfather was a deacon in that church. 00:02:06.832 --> 00:02:10.800 So much of my family was there, and I had been trained there myself. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.099 I was on staff for seven years. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:20.866 They called me back as pastor, and we had bought 47 acres for a complete relocation. 00:02:20.866 --> 00:02:29.165 I mean, the things were hopping and Al Mohler and I started talking about the possibility of me coming to Southern Seminary, and I struggled with that. 00:02:29.165 --> 00:02:32.165 It was like, man, I'm a pastor. 00:02:32.866 --> 00:02:37.566 And he was asking me to come teach pastors, teach preachers. 00:02:37.566 --> 00:02:40.566 And it took months. 00:02:41.133 --> 00:02:47.932 Finally, March of 1997, I accepted, but I feared. 00:02:47.932 --> 00:02:50.932 I cannot tell you. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.599 The fear I felt of the first Sunday not standing in a pulpit preaching. 00:03:02.466 --> 00:03:13.532 And it was like three weeks before my time had actually ended, Carroll Hatcher called me. 00:03:14.066 --> 00:03:32.133 And he said, hey, I'm on the committee, Valley View Baptist Church, and our interim pastor is leaving, and he recommended we talk to you and we'd like you to come maybe talk to us about being our interim. 00:03:33.932 --> 00:03:41.233 And my first Sunday as interim here was my first Sunday out of the pulpit at Ashland Avenue. 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:47.665 You have no idea. 00:03:47.665 --> 00:03:50.665 You have no idea. 00:03:50.832 --> 00:03:53.832 What a difference it made in my life. 00:03:54.265 --> 00:03:56.199 It's hard for people to understand this now. 00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:02.832 1997, I was persona non grata, at Southern Seminary. 00:04:02.832 --> 00:04:07.300 I mean, Southern Seminary had come out of a really very different time. 00:04:07.300 --> 00:04:15.532 I couldn't-- I would not have been asked to lead in silent prayer at the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 1997. 00:04:17.165 --> 00:04:18.466 Now, the Lord changed all that. 00:04:18.466 --> 00:04:20.833 By his grace. You know, I ended up. 00:04:20.833 --> 00:04:28.365 I could not feel more loved and affirmed and respected by my tribe than I do in the Kentucky Baptist Convention today. 00:04:28.365 --> 00:04:37.165 But my point is, Valley View took an incredible leap of faith on a guy named Hershael York. 00:04:37.266 --> 00:04:41.865 And you allowed me to come here when I desperately needed you. 00:04:41.865 --> 00:04:48.899 And it just turned out that in the providence of God, you desperately needed me at the same time. 00:04:54.033 --> 00:04:55.932 Isn't God wonderful? 00:04:55.932 --> 00:05:16.932 And isn't it incredible the way in his sovereignty, he's weaving together all these different threads of our lives with his beautiful sovereign grace and making a tapestry that he is weaving, that ultimately is going to picture Jesus. 00:05:16.932 --> 00:05:18.533 What is our destiny? 00:05:18.533 --> 00:05:21.466 To be conformed to the image of His son? 00:05:21.466 --> 00:05:23.333 He's making us look like his son. 00:05:24.365 --> 00:05:30.266 Now, along the way, he wants us to take as many people with us as we can take, doesn’t he? 00:05:30.266 --> 00:05:34.100 I wonder if you have people in your life that you are praying for. 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:41.500 Now let me say, if today you're here and you've never put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, I want to plead with you to do so. 00:05:41.500 --> 00:05:49.800 I'm telling you, as your friend, it is the absolute best thing in the world that can ever happen to you to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:56.899 And, I want to point you to him, but I suspect most of you have already done that. 00:05:56.899 --> 00:06:03.766 And maybe your great concern is that there are people in your life that, you know they've never trusted Christ. 00:06:03.766 --> 00:06:09.833 Maybe they're family members, people you work with, maybe your children, somebody you're married to, but you've got a burden. 00:06:09.833 --> 00:06:20.699 I want to encourage you this morning from Luke chapter 11, that Jesus said something to us about interceding for those around us. 00:06:20.699 --> 00:06:22.466 Let me put it like this. 00:06:22.466 --> 00:06:25.466 We're asking for a friend, aren't we? 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:32.533 Jesus wanted his disciples to get this, so read with me, beginning in verse one of Luke 11. 00:06:32.533 --> 00:06:44.365 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. 00:06:44.632 --> 00:06:51.000 And he said to them, okay, when you pray, say, father, hallowed be your name. 00:06:51.466 --> 00:06:53.100 Your kingdom come. 00:06:53.100 --> 00:07:00.865 Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who's indebted to us. 00:07:00.865 --> 00:07:03.865 And lead us not into temptation. 00:07:04.033 --> 00:07:13.033 And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. 00:07:13.033 --> 00:07:17.800 For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. 00:07:19.033 --> 00:07:22.432 And he'll answer from within, do not bother me. 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:24.333 The door is now shut. 00:07:24.333 --> 00:07:26.132 My children are with me in bed. 00:07:26.132 --> 00:07:29.132 I cannot get up and give you anything. 00:07:29.432 --> 00:07:34.932 I tell you though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend. 00:07:34.932 --> 00:07:42.033 Yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 00:07:42.333 --> 00:07:45.333 And I tell you, ask. 00:07:47.865 --> 00:07:50.865 And it might be given you. 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:55.199 Did I read that right? 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:59.165 Ask and it will be given. 00:07:59.165 --> 00:08:03.500 You seek and you will find. 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:12.365 Knock and it will be opened to you for some people... 00:08:12.365 --> 00:08:14.266 Is that what it says? 00:08:14.266 --> 00:08:24.132 ...for everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 00:08:24.132 --> 00:08:31.100 For what father among you, if he has a son ask for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a serpent? 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:36.166 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion. 00:08:37.033 --> 00:08:52.466 Now if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? 00:08:53.500 --> 00:09:00.732 I think the most frightening sound you'll ever hear is somebody banging on your door in the middle of the night. 00:09:00.732 --> 00:09:09.232 Yeah, I'm old enough, like many of you, that I can remember when we used to have landlines and, you know, you couldn't really turn them off at night. 00:09:09.232 --> 00:09:11.066 If somebody called you the middle of the night, they woke you up. 00:09:11.066 --> 00:09:15.500 But anymore, man, we all got cell phones, and it's got Do Not Disturb. 00:09:15.500 --> 00:09:21.100 In fact, mine just automatically a certain time of night, it goes on sleep and then 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:24.865 00 the next morning, you call me during the night. Guess what? 00:09:24.865 --> 00:09:26.932 I don't even hear it. 00:09:26.932 --> 00:09:32.299 So if you really need me, if you really want me, you call me in the middle of the night I don't answer. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:33.932 You're going to have to show up at my door. 00:09:33.932 --> 00:09:35.765 And that would be very disconcerting. 00:09:35.765 --> 00:09:37.832 Nobody shows up at your door 00:09:37.832 --> 00:09:42.066 00 in the morning to tell you they got a raise. 00:09:44.299 --> 00:09:46.000 They're not coming with good news. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:52.732 I mean, if they're there in the middle of the night, there's an urgency, and they need you to do something. 00:09:53.133 --> 00:09:57.332 Well, this is precisely what Jesus is talking about here. 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:01.166 Jesus, you know that the disciples, Jesus has taught them how to pray. 00:10:01.166 --> 00:10:05.399 If you read the Sermon on the Mount, there Jesus teaches them how to pray. 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:10.100 He gives them what we call the Lord's Prayer, a model of prayer. 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:13.500 But here again, you know, they keep hearing John the Baptist. 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:18.066 He's teaching his disciples a lot about prayer, and we don't think we know enough about it. 00:10:18.066 --> 00:10:19.399 Jesus, teach us how to pray. 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:22.232 Jesus says, okay, I'm happy to teach you how to pray. 00:10:22.232 --> 00:10:26.066 And so he gives them here another version of the model prayer. 00:10:26.066 --> 00:10:31.399 But notice the model prayer is largely about asking God to do stuff for us. 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:36.100 Now, it's not wrong to ask God to bless you, to meet your daily needs. 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:41.133 I mean, Jesus teaches us that, that's a good thing, but notice he does not stop there this time. 00:10:43.232 --> 00:10:48.166 Now he wants to go beyond the give us this day our daily bread. 00:10:48.932 --> 00:10:52.732 He wants to talk to you about the other people who need bread. 00:10:54.232 --> 00:11:08.133 And so he says, now which of you who has a friend and, you know, somebody comes to you in the middle of the night and they're asking, you know, they come to you, by the way, you know, you've got to set something before them. 00:11:08.133 --> 00:11:16.000 Now, understand, in a middle eastern context, over there in the middle East, they take hospitality to a whole nother level. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.000 I mean, I cannot describe it to you. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.000 Tonya and I have eaten with families on the West Bank. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:30.899 Arab families who I'm talking cooked a lamb and like the way Hawaiians do a pig in a luau, they do that with a lamb. 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:35.732 They bury it underground, with hot coals, and cook it all day. 00:11:35.732 --> 00:11:36.799 And we sat there. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:42.332 I mean, the the father of this family just ripped that meat off the bone and put it on our plate. 00:11:42.332 --> 00:11:49.399 I'm talking pounds of this stuff, and you're shoveling it in, and the mom is going, eat Hershael, you're not eating. 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:50.332 Why are you not eating? 00:11:50.332 --> 00:11:51.166 Is it not good? 00:11:51.166 --> 00:11:52.666 And you know, I'm eating, I’m eating. 00:11:52.666 --> 00:11:53.765 Oh, please. 00:11:53.765 --> 00:11:55.700 Oh, do you need me to make something else? 00:11:55.700 --> 00:11:56.566 Is this not good for you? 00:11:56.566 --> 00:12:00.765 I mean, you're shoveling it in as fast as you can, and they're like, oh, bring this, bring that. 00:12:00.765 --> 00:12:04.765 I mean, there's food all over the table and they're big about it. 00:12:04.765 --> 00:12:09.365 And they take great pride and delight in feeding you. 00:12:10.332 --> 00:12:15.700 So it would be a shameful thing for somebody to come to you in the middle of the night. 00:12:15.700 --> 00:12:24.832 Some family member stops in, someone from, let's say, up north in Galilee, coming down to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. 00:12:24.832 --> 00:12:27.299 00 at night. 00:12:27.299 --> 00:12:28.633 Hey, I'm here. 00:12:28.633 --> 00:12:31.432 Man, it's your duty to give them food. 00:12:31.432 --> 00:12:34.133 But you've not been to the grocery store. 00:12:34.133 --> 00:12:35.533 You don't have anything. 00:12:35.533 --> 00:12:40.265 And so what do you do? Man, I got a friend down the street. 00:12:40.265 --> 00:12:41.832 They've always got something. 00:12:41.832 --> 00:12:44.332 I'll go there. 00:12:44.332 --> 00:12:46.533 And you go there. 00:12:46.533 --> 00:12:48.765 Now you bang on the door. 00:12:48.765 --> 00:12:54.100 It's a shame you can't turn away this person who's come to you in the middle of the night. 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:55.533 And so what are you doing? 00:12:55.533 --> 00:13:01.666 You're asking someone to give you bread to give to another person. 00:13:01.666 --> 00:13:03.500 Now right there. 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:04.100 Jesus. 00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:08.732 In that one three way triangle, as all triangles are. 00:13:11.299 --> 00:13:11.765 Right there. 00:13:11.765 --> 00:13:14.299 That's what intercession is. 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:20.166 It's one person going to another person to get bread for a third person. 00:13:21.566 --> 00:13:24.799 And Jesus obviously wants us to get this. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:30.033 Now, let's not lose sight of the fact that Jesus himself is an intercessor. 00:13:30.566 --> 00:13:35.966 The Bible talks about Jesus interceding for us in the Gospel of Luke. 00:13:35.966 --> 00:13:37.600 Luke will give us several times. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:41.600 Jesus intercedes, most famously when he's on the cross. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:43.633 What does he pray? 00:13:43.633 --> 00:13:46.765 Father, forgive them. 00:13:46.765 --> 00:13:47.966 They know not what they do. 00:13:47.966 --> 00:13:48.865 Man, I love that. 00:13:48.865 --> 00:13:51.332 I love everything about that plea of Jesus. 00:13:51.332 --> 00:13:54.166 It's just such a beautiful prayer. 00:13:54.166 --> 00:13:54.600 He's not. 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:58.166 He doesn't say, father, forgive the soldiers, though he certainly means them. 00:13:58.166 --> 00:14:01.166 He doesn't say, father, forgive my murderers. He's... 00:14:01.166 --> 00:14:03.832 there's no word of accusation in his prayer. 00:14:03.832 --> 00:14:06.066 And yet he certainly includes them. 00:14:06.066 --> 00:14:15.100 He doesn't say, father, forgive these these Jewish leaders who have abandoned Moses in order to attack and kill me. 00:14:15.332 --> 00:14:21.533 Though his prayer is big enough to embrace them, he simply says, father, forgive them. 00:14:22.832 --> 00:14:28.966 Now that that's a pronoun I can crawl into, can you get in there? 00:14:28.966 --> 00:14:35.166 Can you see that Jesus prayed for you when he said, father, forgive them? 00:14:35.265 --> 00:14:36.365 They don't know what they do. 00:14:36.365 --> 00:14:40.566 He interceded on the cross the night before his crucifixion. 00:14:40.566 --> 00:14:45.932 You remember, see, Simon Peter is saying, I'll never deny you. 00:14:45.932 --> 00:14:48.932 And Jesus said, Simon, Simon. 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.466 Now I'll put it in in Southern English, so you understand exactly what's going on. 00:14:54.466 --> 00:15:02.932 He said, Satan has desired y'all to have y'all to sift y'all as wheat. 00:15:02.932 --> 00:15:05.133 He uses all plurals there. 00:15:05.133 --> 00:15:08.365 But then he says, but I have prayed concerning you. 00:15:08.365 --> 00:15:13.200 Singular that your faith fail not. 00:15:14.332 --> 00:15:21.566 And when you have returned, strengthen your brothers. 00:15:21.566 --> 00:15:23.133 And I love that prayer. 00:15:23.133 --> 00:15:27.633 That when Jesus says that to Peter, he's not saying, notice what he doesn't say. 00:15:27.633 --> 00:15:39.133 He doesn't say, if you return because Jesus knows if he has interceded for Peter, will God hear and answer that prayer? 00:15:39.432 --> 00:15:45.666 If Jesus intercedes for us, will God the Father answer the prayer of his precious son? 00:15:45.666 --> 00:15:51.865 It is unthinkable that God would ever hear Jesus pray for anything and say no to it. 00:15:52.533 --> 00:15:58.500 So when Jesus says, Simon, I've interceded for you, I've pleaded for you. 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:02.265 I've prayed that your faith won't fail. 00:16:02.332 --> 00:16:04.332 Your courage is going to fail you. 00:16:04.332 --> 00:16:07.000 Your good sense is going to fail you. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.666 But I'm praying that your faith won't fail. 00:16:09.666 --> 00:16:14.000 And when, not if, but when you've returned. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.832 You strengthen your brothers. 00:16:16.832 --> 00:16:19.166 And that's precisely what happened. 00:16:19.166 --> 00:16:20.432 Simon. 00:16:20.432 --> 00:16:26.466 He denies Jesus, but because Jesus has interceded for him, Jesus doesn't let him go. 00:16:26.466 --> 00:16:27.166 He returns. 00:16:27.166 --> 00:16:36.932 And man, just 40 days later, you know, on the day of Pentecost or 50 days later, he's preaching and God uses him, and 3000 people are saved. 00:16:36.932 --> 00:16:43.399 And Peter's never the same again, because when he returned, he strengthened his brothers. Why? 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:46.200 Because Jesus prayed that his faith wouldn't fail. 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:51.732 Now here's Jesus, the great intercessor, teaching us a lesson about intercession. 00:16:52.133 --> 00:16:58.600 He wants us to see that we're one person, but we we don't have anything. 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:04.799 We go to the one who has the bread in order for us to share it with the third person. 00:17:06.266 --> 00:17:14.066 Now, if there's anything this this parable teaches us about intercession, it's how we ought to do it. 00:17:14.066 --> 00:17:17.799 First of all, you need to intercede by praying boldly. 00:17:18.665 --> 00:17:20.066 Pray boldly. 00:17:20.066 --> 00:17:25.532 I mean, look how bold, audacious, daring this guy is. 00:17:25.532 --> 00:17:29.766 He goes in the middle of the night and bangs on the door. 00:17:29.766 --> 00:17:32.766 I mean, he is ... 00:17:32.833 --> 00:17:41.500 he doesn't care that the lights are flipping on and neighbors dogs are barking and and the guy inside is denying him. 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:44.500 He's just going to keep praying. 00:17:45.099 --> 00:17:57.299 You know, you might remember those of you who had children when they were little, and man, you'd have those nights where you just couldn't get them to sleep, and you did everything in the world to get them to sleep. 00:17:57.299 --> 00:18:02.465 You, you know, trot them on your knee and you'd sing to them and pat on them and do everything you could. 00:18:02.465 --> 00:18:06.133 And just when you get them to sleep, then something happens. 00:18:06.133 --> 00:18:08.432 It wakes them up and you just feel all that. 00:18:08.432 --> 00:18:11.066 Can you imagine? Here's the guy in bed. 00:18:11.066 --> 00:18:13.532 You know, back then they didn't have multiple bedrooms and all. 00:18:13.532 --> 00:18:15.932 They had sort of one family bed. 00:18:15.932 --> 00:18:25.333 And and he's got his kids there tucked the baby and the toddlers and the, the little older children, they're all in there around him in bed and he's just got them asleep. 00:18:25.333 --> 00:18:28.865 And then here's this guy, hey, I need bread. 00:18:28.865 --> 00:18:31.566 He's like, man, I... go away. 00:18:31.566 --> 00:18:33.532 I just got the kids asleep. 00:18:35.932 --> 00:18:38.599 Man, this guy didn't care. 00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:40.465 He's bold. 00:18:40.465 --> 00:18:41.932 He just keeps asking. 00:18:41.932 --> 00:18:43.133 Keeps pleading. 00:18:43.133 --> 00:18:46.532 You look at the great, the great intercessors in the Bible. 00:18:46.532 --> 00:18:48.333 They all have this characteristic. 00:18:48.333 --> 00:18:50.432 They plead boldly. 00:18:50.432 --> 00:18:54.566 Think about Abraham in the book of Genesis. 00:18:54.566 --> 00:19:01.799 When Abraham, when learns that God is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, what does he do? 00:19:02.099 --> 00:19:04.566 Listen to what he says to God. 00:19:04.566 --> 00:19:09.266 Will you destroy the righteous with the with the unrighteous? 00:19:09.266 --> 00:19:13.432 Will not the judge of all the earth do right? 00:19:13.432 --> 00:19:14.500 Oh, I hear that. 00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:19.665 And I go, Abraham, do you know who you're talking to there? 00:19:19.665 --> 00:19:25.900 I mean, it sounds almost disrespectful, but does God rebuke Abraham? 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:26.833 No. 00:19:26.833 --> 00:19:29.833 Abraham says, will you destroy it if there are 50 righteous people in there? 00:19:29.833 --> 00:19:31.500 And God says, no, I won't. 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:34.232 He says, Will you destroy it if there are 45? 00:19:34.232 --> 00:19:37.200 No, for 45 I will spare it. How about 40? 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.133 Will you spare it if there are 40? 00:19:39.133 --> 00:19:46.232 I mean, Abraham keeps pressing God to show grace and mercy to Sodom. 00:19:46.232 --> 00:19:47.700 He gets goes down to ten. 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:55.566 Now Abraham himself stops at ten because then he's going to get down into the number of his own family that are in there. 00:19:55.566 --> 00:19:58.532 And I think he's afraid of the answer to that. 00:19:58.532 --> 00:20:01.865 But God never says, don't talk to me that way. 00:20:01.865 --> 00:20:04.900 God is pushing Abraham. 00:20:05.333 --> 00:20:07.032 He's testing Abraham. 00:20:07.032 --> 00:20:10.232 Do you really want me to spare Sodom? 00:20:10.532 --> 00:20:13.900 And Abraham boldly pleads for Sodom. 00:20:14.032 --> 00:20:27.032 How about Moses? In Exodus, I think it's 32 where, Moses is up on Sinai and God, says he tells him, he says, get out of my way. 00:20:27.032 --> 00:20:30.633 My people down in the valley, they're they're in sin. 00:20:30.633 --> 00:20:36.766 The Bible euphemistically says, the people sat down to eat and rose up to play. 00:20:36.766 --> 00:20:40.066 They're engaging in all kinds of sexual sin and idolatry. 00:20:40.066 --> 00:20:42.932 They've they've erected a golden calf. 00:20:42.932 --> 00:20:44.599 And God says, get out of my way. 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:47.400 Your people who you brought up out of Egypt. 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:49.266 He said, they they have fallen into sin. 00:20:49.266 --> 00:20:53.465 And I'm going to destroy them and listen to the way Moses pleads for them. 00:20:53.465 --> 00:20:57.465 Moses says, Oh, God, turn from your fierce wrath. 00:20:57.465 --> 00:21:00.633 Relent from the harm to your people. 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:04.665 Now if you catch that God called them your people to Moses. 00:21:04.665 --> 00:21:10.032 Moses reminds God, oh no, they're your people, they're yours. 00:21:10.032 --> 00:21:13.000 And in his intercession, Moses. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:16.000 Moses makes two really bold statements. 00:21:16.133 --> 00:21:21.099 He tells God, if you destroy them, it will ruin your reputation. 00:21:21.099 --> 00:21:26.465 The Egyptians will say, you could get them out of Egypt, but you couldn't get them through the mountains. 00:21:26.465 --> 00:21:32.700 And then he says, you'll be breaking your own promise and violating your own word. 00:21:32.700 --> 00:21:42.400 He says, Remember Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom you swore by your own self that they would inherit the land forever. 00:21:45.165 --> 00:21:50.732 Wow! Moses, don't forget who you're talking to, man. 00:21:50.732 --> 00:21:53.599 Does God rebuke him and say, don't talk to me like that. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:54.799 No. Why? 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:55.432 Because. Listen. 00:21:55.432 --> 00:22:00.200 Now get this Moses isn't asking for a new Mercedes. 00:22:00.500 --> 00:22:03.365 He's not asking for fame or fortune. 00:22:03.365 --> 00:22:05.732 What's he pleading for? 00:22:05.732 --> 00:22:08.732 He's pleading for God to spare sinners. 00:22:09.299 --> 00:22:11.766 He's pleading with God based on two things 00:22:11.766 --> 00:22:18.633 God's Word and God's character. 00:22:19.232 --> 00:22:28.500 God never gets upset with you when you plead his character, who He is and His word, what he has said. 00:22:28.500 --> 00:22:32.932 And in both cases, Abraham and Moses are praying based on that. 00:22:32.932 --> 00:22:44.432 And this is exactly what Jesus is teaching us to do, because the character of that guy is, first of all, he's his friend. 00:22:44.566 --> 00:22:48.032 And secondly, his word is he has bread. 00:22:48.532 --> 00:22:49.932 And this guy knows he's got bread. 00:22:49.932 --> 00:22:56.133 He goes to him and he's pleading his character, Hey friend, give me three loaves. 00:22:56.133 --> 00:22:59.000 I know you've got it, I need it, give it to me. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.365 He prays boldly, but it's not only bold. 00:23:01.365 --> 00:23:06.532 Secondly, when you intercede, you got to pray stubbornly, stubbornly. 00:23:06.532 --> 00:23:09.932 The most critical part of Luke 11 is verse eight. 00:23:10.266 --> 00:23:17.133 He says, I say to you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend. 00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:25.865 Yet because of his impudence, his persistence, the old King James word is his importunity. 00:23:26.133 --> 00:23:29.532 What it simply means this guy won't quit. 00:23:29.532 --> 00:23:38.133 He won't stop because he is stubborn, that guy will finally rise and he won't just give him three. 00:23:38.133 --> 00:23:41.465 He'll give him as many as he needs. 00:23:42.665 --> 00:23:53.599 Now, I got to tell you, Luke's gospel is different from the other gospels in that he gives us certain parables that are strange to us. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:24:01.000 They're parables that sometimes it makes it sound like Jesus is comparing God to a bad person. 00:24:02.665 --> 00:24:08.400 He'll say like, here's an unjust judge. 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:15.400 He won't he won't give justice to this widow because he doesn't care about God or man. 00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:17.833 He's he doesn't care about justice. 00:24:17.833 --> 00:24:20.766 Yet because of her persistence, he'll give it to him. 00:24:20.766 --> 00:24:23.133 Or here's a steward. 00:24:23.133 --> 00:24:24.532 He's a bad guy. 00:24:24.532 --> 00:24:26.266 He steals from his master. 00:24:26.266 --> 00:24:29.799 But when he learns there's going to be an accounting, what does he do? 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:33.932 He calls all the guys that owe his master money, said, hey, how much you owe? 00:24:33.932 --> 00:24:35.333 We'll cut that in half. 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:43.032 And Jesus tells parables like that in Luke and we go, Is Jesus glorifying bad behavior? 00:24:43.833 --> 00:25:00.900 And no, the point he's always making is, look, if a bad guy, an evil guy, has enough sense to do this kind of a thing, how much more like, if a bad guy knows there's going to be a day of accounting, there's going to be a reckoning. 00:25:00.900 --> 00:25:05.532 How much more should the Children of Light prepare for the accounting we're going to have? 00:25:05.532 --> 00:25:15.000 If a bad father, an evil father, knows how to give good gifts to his kid, how much more will your good Heavenly Father know to give you the Holy Spirit? 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.232 And this is what he does here. 00:25:17.232 --> 00:25:41.133 If this guy won't get up and give him something because he's his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will if your heavenly father and he's like, if this guy will reward persistence, how much more will your heavenly Father who loves you and wants you to have exactly what you need for your friends to have the Bread of Life? 00:25:41.133 --> 00:25:44.133 How much more will he? 00:25:44.333 --> 00:25:52.566 But make no mistake about it, Jesus is telling us we need to be bold and stubborn in our praying, isn't he? 00:25:52.566 --> 00:26:01.532 Because not only does he do it here, he does it in Luke 18 when he tells that story of the unjust judge and he says that widow just she's persistent. 00:26:01.532 --> 00:26:04.532 She just won't stop asking for justice. 00:26:04.833 --> 00:26:08.266 How much more will your heavenly father give justice? 00:26:08.266 --> 00:26:17.932 So here she's determined to get bread and she's he's persistent until he's answered. 00:26:18.266 --> 00:26:23.799 Yeah, this word, translated impudence. 00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:27.032 It means a lack of shame, a shamelessness. 00:26:27.032 --> 00:26:29.133 Most of us, you know, we went knocked on the door. 00:26:29.133 --> 00:26:40.099 Hey, hey, we we'd be, you know, I mean, how would you knock on the door in the middle of the night asking for bread? Most of us would be Billy Bob. 00:26:40.099 --> 00:26:43.799 Hey, Billy Bob, are you in there? 00:26:44.833 --> 00:26:48.766 And Billy Bob said, man, my kids just went to sleep. 00:26:48.766 --> 00:26:50.066 Come back in the morning. 00:26:50.066 --> 00:26:53.066 What would we do? 00:26:53.133 --> 00:26:58.200 We'd slink off a little bit embarrassed that we disturbed him. 00:26:58.200 --> 00:26:59.900 Not this guy. 00:26:59.900 --> 00:27:01.500 Right. 00:27:01.500 --> 00:27:02.299 Go away. Man. 00:27:02.299 --> 00:27:03.633 My kids just got to sleep. 00:27:03.633 --> 00:27:04.700 They're in bed with me. 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:06.633 He's like, I don't care. 00:27:06.633 --> 00:27:09.333 I need bread. 00:27:09.333 --> 00:27:19.099 And the the whole picture here, the story Jesus gives us is two stubborn guys, one determined to get bread, one determined not to give it to him. 00:27:19.099 --> 00:27:21.665 And it is a battle of wills. 00:27:21.665 --> 00:27:25.532 And the guy on the outside is not going to leave without it. 00:27:25.532 --> 00:27:28.833 And he just he just stubbornly asked. 00:27:29.833 --> 00:27:33.465 That is precisely the way Jesus wants us to pray. 00:27:33.465 --> 00:27:41.365 Sort of like Jacob wrestling with, really who is Jesus in the in the Old Testament in Genesis 32. 00:27:41.365 --> 00:27:52.532 Remember when Jacob wrestles with God all night long and he keeps going, and Jesus, in this pre incarnate existence, he says to Jacob, let me go, let me go. 00:27:52.532 --> 00:27:55.232 And Jacob goes, no, I'm not going to let you go till you bless me. 00:27:56.465 --> 00:27:58.333 Now let me ask you something. 00:27:58.333 --> 00:28:09.066 If Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, is wrestling with Jacob, is that a fair fight? 00:28:09.066 --> 00:28:14.232 Do you really think Jesus wants him to let him go when he says, do you think Jesus needs him to let go? 00:28:14.232 --> 00:28:17.232 Is Jesus pleading with him like, oh, I hope you let me go? 00:28:17.232 --> 00:28:20.232 No, you see this frequently in Scripture. 00:28:21.032 --> 00:28:24.032 God tests us, doesn't he? 00:28:24.732 --> 00:28:26.932 Do you really want this? 00:28:26.932 --> 00:28:29.532 Do you really want that person to be saved? Do you? 00:28:29.532 --> 00:28:32.400 Do you really want me to act on your behalf? 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:35.400 Are you willing to wrestle through? 00:28:36.133 --> 00:28:46.833 And finally, toward the morning, the this, this unknown man who, as the story unfolds again, we know it's God. Jacob learns. 00:28:46.833 --> 00:28:47.700 He figures out. 00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:49.665 I've been wrestling with God all night. 00:28:49.665 --> 00:28:58.566 He touches the I don't remember the King James Version, the hollow of his thigh, and he walks with a limp the rest of his life. 00:28:58.566 --> 00:29:01.532 But he walks better than he's ever walked. 00:29:01.532 --> 00:29:02.633 Why? 00:29:02.633 --> 00:29:06.865 Because now he knows he has an utter dependance on God. 00:29:06.865 --> 00:29:09.865 And he's he's received a blessing. 00:29:10.465 --> 00:29:12.932 See, you and I have to do like that. 00:29:12.932 --> 00:29:16.465 Sometimes it feels like God's not answering, but God is. 00:29:16.465 --> 00:29:18.032 God is answering. 00:29:18.032 --> 00:29:21.032 He's just strengthening us along the way. 00:29:21.099 --> 00:29:25.299 He just making us see how desperately we are. 00:29:25.299 --> 00:29:30.400 Because it’s not merely praying boldly and stubbornly, it’s praying desperately. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:35.165 Only desperate men and women, propelled by a sense of urgency, truly intercede. 00:29:35.165 --> 00:29:39.032 I mean, a cry of desperation sounds throughout this parable. 00:29:39.032 --> 00:29:47.400 It would have been easy to convince a casual host to wait for a more practical hour to go banging on his neighbor's door. 00:29:48.465 --> 00:29:51.465 Unconcern always finds an excuse. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:55.400 Deep concern always finds a way. 00:29:55.833 --> 00:29:57.665 And this guy is deeply concerned. 00:29:57.665 --> 00:30:01.766 Only desperate men and women take desperate actions and prevail. 00:30:01.766 --> 00:30:10.133 The problem is the situation is desperate and we are not. 00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:15.532 I mean, people in our life that don't know Jesus are truly lost. 00:30:17.032 --> 00:30:20.032 They have no hope. 00:30:20.266 --> 00:30:28.133 And when we realize how desperate that situation is, it changes the way we pray, changes the way we think. 00:30:28.133 --> 00:30:33.333 I mean, this this parable teaches our inescapable responsibility. 00:30:33.932 --> 00:30:38.333 A friend of mine has come to me on my journey. 00:30:38.333 --> 00:30:52.599 A lot of Baptists, you know, man, they they their idea of evangelism is memorizing the pastor's phone number, saying, hey, preacher, I got this a friend, I'd really like you to talk to him. 00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.232 You know, I think maybe he's open to the gospel. 00:30:55.232 --> 00:30:56.732 Would you. Would you talk to my friend? 00:30:58.133 --> 00:31:01.299 Hey, that person didn't come to the pastor on their journey. 00:31:01.299 --> 00:31:03.365 They came to you. 00:31:03.365 --> 00:31:06.000 You sit by him at school or at work. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:08.299 You live by them in your neighborhood. 00:31:08.299 --> 00:31:09.665 They're in your family. 00:31:09.665 --> 00:31:13.566 God, had you born in that family to reach that person. 00:31:13.566 --> 00:31:16.766 It’s not your pastor's family, it’s yours. 00:31:16.766 --> 00:31:22.833 And he gave you the knowledge that he has the bread. 00:31:22.833 --> 00:31:25.833 It's our inescapable responsibility. 00:31:26.165 --> 00:31:28.599 It also teaches our inadequate resources. 00:31:28.599 --> 00:31:33.333 I mean, they've come to us, but we just need to admit I don't have bread for them. 00:31:33.333 --> 00:31:35.465 I've never argued anybody into salvation. 00:31:35.465 --> 00:31:37.133 I've never saved anybody. 00:31:37.133 --> 00:31:44.000 I've never so intellectually dominated them that they just said, oh, you're just so much smarter than I, I know now I need Jesus. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:45.165 That's not how it happened. 00:31:46.133 --> 00:31:48.700 You know how it happens? 00:31:48.700 --> 00:31:49.865 We plead with God. 00:31:49.865 --> 00:31:50.665 We plead with God. 00:31:50.665 --> 00:31:56.833 We plead with God until he gives the good gift that only the father can give, which is the Holy Spirit. 00:31:56.833 --> 00:31:58.566 Amen. 00:31:58.566 --> 00:32:00.965 And it's the Holy Spirit that opens their heart and their mind. 00:32:00.965 --> 00:32:03.333 We have inadequate resources. 00:32:03.333 --> 00:32:06.766 Lord, this man who sits beside me at work came in. 00:32:06.766 --> 00:32:09.165 He's lost and I don't have anything to give him. 00:32:09.165 --> 00:32:13.599 Lord, my teenage daughter is facing such great temptation and I don't have anything to give her. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:21.532 Lord, my my, my uncle, he's lost and I don't have anything to give him. 00:32:21.532 --> 00:32:24.532 Yeah, but you know who does. 00:32:25.232 --> 00:32:30.333 And when you begin to just, man, the ramparts of heaven, I'm... 00:32:30.865 --> 00:32:33.400 I'm going to just assault heaven with my prayers. 00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:35.965 I'm going to plead, and I'm going to plead, and I'm going to plead. 00:32:37.900 --> 00:32:42.665 Then it brings you to the very last thing in this parable, and that's our inevitable reward. 00:32:42.665 --> 00:32:46.932 Jesus says, though he won't give him because he's his friend. 00:32:46.932 --> 00:32:55.232 Yet because of his persistence, his stubbornness, he'll arise and give him how much? 00:32:55.432 --> 00:32:56.032 As many. 00:32:56.032 --> 00:33:00.165 And I mean, once the guy is up, why stop at three? 00:33:00.165 --> 00:33:02.266 Here. Take four, take five, take six. 00:33:02.266 --> 00:33:05.000 Take everything. Just go. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:11.133 When God responds to our prayers, he always responds in abundance. 00:33:13.932 --> 00:33:16.932 My whole life. 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:18.232 My whole adult life. 00:33:18.232 --> 00:33:21.200 I told you, Tanya and I met... 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:24.200 we met in 19... 00:33:24.333 --> 00:33:25.465 1980. 00:33:25.465 --> 00:33:28.465 And we were both PKS. 00:33:29.032 --> 00:33:33.599 I was a preacher's kid, and she was a pagans kid. 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:40.000 I mean, you talk about two radically different lifestyles, backgrounds. 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:42.133 We had it, man. 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:49.833 Her dad-- how do I say this delicately?-- was the meanest man I think I ever met. 00:33:50.633 --> 00:33:55.266 He was, he was, he was harsh. 00:33:55.266 --> 00:33:56.133 He was abusive. 00:33:56.133 --> 00:34:01.700 I mean, he had his own code, but, man, if you crossed him, you were on the bad list for forever. 00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:08.233 And he really had very few boundaries that, I mean, he he didn't worry about boundaries. 00:34:09.099 --> 00:34:16.032 Well, when I fell in love with Tanya, you know, men suddenly he's in my life. 00:34:16.032 --> 00:34:20.800 And I got to lead Tanya's mom to the Lord, to baptize her. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.865 But her dad, he wanted nothing to do with Jesus. 00:34:22.865 --> 00:34:25.800 Now I will tell you, he he he grew to love me. 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:27.300 And he respected me. 00:34:27.300 --> 00:34:32.032 When our sons came along, he loved the way we reared them. 00:34:32.132 --> 00:34:33.300 He was proud of that. 00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:35.233 And he would say, I'm glad that worked for you all. 00:34:35.233 --> 00:34:37.233 I'm glad you’re raising my grandsons the way you are. 00:34:37.233 --> 00:34:38.965 But man, he wanted nothing to do with the Lord. 00:34:40.565 --> 00:34:41.800 Through the years. 00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:44.632 We would be, you know, we try to be subtle. 00:34:44.632 --> 00:34:45.266 That didn't work. 00:34:45.266 --> 00:34:47.400 We tried to be absolutely direct. 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:53.099 We’d go over to his house and we would just cry and plead with him and try and share the gospel. 00:34:53.099 --> 00:34:54.500 That didn't seem to work. 00:34:54.500 --> 00:34:57.500 We'd have other people stop by the house. 00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:00.599 I mean, we we schemed for his salvation. 00:35:00.599 --> 00:35:03.166 We plotted for his redemption. 00:35:03.166 --> 00:35:08.733 We did everything we knew to do that he might one day trust the Lord. 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:10.865 No interest whatsoever. 00:35:10.865 --> 00:35:12.132 I'm glad it worked for you. 00:35:12.132 --> 00:35:13.099 I don't want that. 00:35:13.099 --> 00:35:15.233 I mean, decades of this. 00:35:15.233 --> 00:35:21.932 And frankly, the older he got, the more I dreaded having to preach his funeral. 00:35:23.733 --> 00:35:26.233 Her mom died in 2009. 00:35:26.233 --> 00:35:27.333 I preached her funeral. 00:35:27.333 --> 00:35:32.699 And of course, man, I filled it with the gospel because he was there and he had to hear it. 00:35:34.532 --> 00:35:40.532 And it was, soon after that, her dad was a big fisherman. 00:35:40.766 --> 00:35:42.932 And, I go to Brazil a lot. 00:35:42.932 --> 00:35:44.132 My dad was a missionary in Brazil. 00:35:44.132 --> 00:35:47.132 And I go down there and I fish for peacock bass. 00:35:47.132 --> 00:35:50.666 They call them tucunaré in Brazil. 00:35:51.365 --> 00:36:06.199 And we had asked him if he wanted to go to Brazil to go pick up bass fishing. Now, my best friend, pastors a church, a really large church there, Manaus, Brazil. 00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:15.333 And we thought, we'll go down and we get if we can get him to Brazil, he can't talk to anybody but us, right, because he didn't speak any Portuguese. 00:36:15.333 --> 00:36:19.365 And we'll just talk about the gospel the whole time. We'll get him out there. 00:36:19.365 --> 00:36:22.599 I'll get him out there on a boat for three days up the Amazon. 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:26.266 He can't talk to anybody but me and we'll just pour the gospel into him. 00:36:26.266 --> 00:36:28.699 And so he he was game. 00:36:28.699 --> 00:36:31.632 I said, yeah, let's go to Brazil and go peacock bass fishing. 00:36:31.632 --> 00:36:33.032 And he's like, let's do it. 00:36:33.032 --> 00:36:36.032 And at 80, I think he was 83 years old. 00:36:36.432 --> 00:36:40.833 We took him to Brazil and man, we did. 00:36:40.833 --> 00:36:43.465 We pulled out the the stops. 00:36:43.465 --> 00:36:45.365 We talked about Jesus around him all the time. 00:36:45.365 --> 00:36:46.699 We I'm not making this up. 00:36:46.699 --> 00:36:52.166 We'd be at the table and we talk about the Lord and the gospel with our friends David and Penny Hatcher. 00:36:52.166 --> 00:37:01.432 He pastored that really large church, and then her dad would break out the most inappropriate story you can imagine. 00:37:01.432 --> 00:37:03.465 And, you know, we all just went with it. 00:37:03.465 --> 00:37:08.632 I mean, he you don't get upset with a lost guy for acting like a lost guy. 00:37:09.532 --> 00:37:11.666 But we made sure that he heard it. 00:37:11.666 --> 00:37:13.766 Well, sure enough, we go up. 00:37:13.766 --> 00:37:19.766 David and I took him fishing up, up north of Manaus, and and we had the best time. 00:37:19.766 --> 00:37:24.699 And it's just incredible being in the jungle and seeing God do stuff in nature. 00:37:25.233 --> 00:37:33.932 And when we talked to him and I just said, I just flat out asked him, I said, Gene, why won't you trust Jesus? 00:37:34.432 --> 00:37:38.565 And he said, what kind of a man would I be? 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:42.632 What kind of a man would I be to live my whole life for me? 00:37:42.632 --> 00:37:45.233 And now I'm old and about to die. 00:37:45.233 --> 00:37:48.233 And now I say, oh, Jesus save me. 00:37:48.465 --> 00:37:51.032 He said, what kind of a man does that? 00:37:51.032 --> 00:37:54.032 I said, A saved man. 00:37:54.833 --> 00:37:57.365 I said, here's what you're not getting. 00:37:57.365 --> 00:38:17.099 It takes as much grace of God to save me as a seven year old boy from all my future sin and even potential sin, as it does to save you as an 83 year old man from all your past sin, it's still grace we all desperately need. 00:38:17.099 --> 00:38:18.965 Grace. This is what you're not getting. 00:38:18.965 --> 00:38:20.032 Now I will tell you. 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:29.132 My wife, his daughter had was probably the only person in his life who just relentlessly showed him grace. 00:38:29.800 --> 00:38:31.833 He knew what kind of father he'd been to her. 00:38:31.833 --> 00:38:34.500 He knew the things he had done to her. 00:38:34.500 --> 00:38:39.365 And yet she just loved him and treated him as though he had been the best dad in the world. 00:38:39.365 --> 00:38:41.465 And she just showed him that kind of relentless grace. 00:38:41.465 --> 00:38:45.233 When we came, we came back from, you know, up in the jungle. 00:38:45.233 --> 00:38:47.065 We came back to announce on Sunday. 00:38:47.065 --> 00:38:47.932 We took him to church. 00:38:47.932 --> 00:39:00.932 Now it's all in Portuguese and I understand anything, but there's just something powerful about watching about 3500 bouncing Brazilians around you, praising the name of the Lord. 00:39:00.932 --> 00:39:04.400 And he sat right on the front row watching this, and he looked at Tonya. 00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:07.132 He said, these people really believe what they're singing. 00:39:07.132 --> 00:39:08.500 And she said, they do. 00:39:08.500 --> 00:39:11.500 And he looked up at the screen and it's all in Portuguese. 00:39:11.500 --> 00:39:14.333 But he said, there's only one word up there I recognize. 00:39:14.333 --> 00:39:15.266 And she said, what's that? 00:39:15.266 --> 00:39:17.132 He said, Jesus. 00:39:17.132 --> 00:39:21.132 She said, well, daddy, that's the only word you need to recognize. 00:39:23.266 --> 00:39:27.233 I'm going to tell you there was something in him on that trip that softened. 00:39:27.233 --> 00:39:28.833 He didn't trust the Lord. 00:39:28.833 --> 00:39:41.400 But when we came back to the States Tonya’s niece met us at the airport and took him back to his house, and she said on the way, he didn't once mention the fishing, the very thing we'd gone there to do. 00:39:41.400 --> 00:39:44.733 He talked about our friends David and Penny and the kind of people they were. 00:39:44.733 --> 00:39:51.166 He talked about the church a lot, what he saw there and these Brazilians and the way they worshiped. 00:39:51.166 --> 00:39:54.166 And and he talked about that. 00:39:55.099 --> 00:39:58.233 It was a few months after that working out in his garden. 00:39:58.233 --> 00:40:02.099 One day, he fell, his legs just gave out on him and he never walked again. 00:40:02.099 --> 00:40:03.833 We didn't find him till the next morning. 00:40:03.833 --> 00:40:13.266 He was out there all night and, something had happened in his body and he required round the clock care. 00:40:13.266 --> 00:40:16.032 We had to put him in a nursing facility. 00:40:16.032 --> 00:40:19.465 And so, you know, it was a really big man and really proud man. 00:40:19.465 --> 00:40:25.599 And to be honest with you, we had always worried if we got to that point that he would have no will to live. 00:40:25.599 --> 00:40:29.733 I mean, he was just like, if I can't do it on my terms, I don't want to do it. 00:40:29.733 --> 00:40:32.565 And so we went to visit him. 00:40:32.565 --> 00:40:34.900 Those first few days he was in the nursing home. 00:40:34.900 --> 00:40:36.766 They couldn't even get a TV in his room. 00:40:36.766 --> 00:40:41.132 We had all kinds of red tape he had to go through and all that, and he just it's just him and four walls. 00:40:42.300 --> 00:40:50.132 And when we walked in, we were stunned by how happy he was, cheerfully so, even. 00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:56.500 And he was doing remarkably better than we anticipated. 00:40:57.500 --> 00:41:05.432 We talked to him, and when we got up to leave, he looked at me and he said something unlike anything he'd ever said to me in. 00:41:05.432 --> 00:41:11.733 But at that time, 35 years of knowing him, he said, preach to me, Hershey. 00:41:14.833 --> 00:41:19.166 I thought, he's confused. 00:41:20.032 --> 00:41:23.032 I thought he meant pray for him. 00:41:23.532 --> 00:41:26.532 But he'd never, ever asked me to do that. 00:41:26.900 --> 00:41:31.699 So I walked to one side of his bed, Tonya to the other, we took a hand and I began to pray for him. 00:41:31.699 --> 00:41:35.166 Now I will tell you, I prayed like this guy. 00:41:35.166 --> 00:41:38.632 I prayed, Lord, I prayed for the Lord to save him. 00:41:38.632 --> 00:41:41.800 I prayed for the Lord to give him repentance and faith. 00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:44.932 I said, Lord, he's had his way long enough. 00:41:44.932 --> 00:41:46.900 Would you have your way? 00:41:46.900 --> 00:41:48.932 Jesus deserves praise from his life. 00:41:48.932 --> 00:41:50.400 Lord, if you would just save him. 00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:54.199 And and then I prayed for him physically as well. But I prayed. 00:41:54.199 --> 00:42:01.132 And when I said Amen, he looked up with the biggest smile on his face and he patted my hand and he said, I've done that. 00:42:11.365 --> 00:42:12.333 Though you got more faith. 00:42:12.333 --> 00:42:17.132 And I had at the moment was I looked at Tonya and I went, I mean, we looked at each other. 00:42:17.132 --> 00:42:19.632 I was as confused as I could be. 00:42:19.632 --> 00:42:22.500 Isn’t it a crazy that you plead and you plead and you plead with God? 00:42:22.500 --> 00:42:26.400 And when he says yes, you go like, what just happened? 00:42:27.565 --> 00:42:38.266 We looked at each other and I said, Gene, are you telling me you've repented of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus alone for eternal life? 00:42:38.266 --> 00:42:41.266 He said, yes, I've done that. 00:42:41.865 --> 00:42:45.465 I said, now don't mess with me Gene. 00:42:45.465 --> 00:42:48.032 I said, I really want to spend eternity with you. 00:42:48.032 --> 00:42:52.132 He said, well, you will, because I've done that. 00:42:52.132 --> 00:42:58.400 I think they could hear our shouts and our cries three counties over from Fayette County, where he was in the nursing home. 00:43:00.333 --> 00:43:04.065 We went outside and sat in the car for 30 minutes. 00:43:04.065 --> 00:43:07.132 We couldn't drive because I couldn't see to drive. 00:43:07.132 --> 00:43:14.199 And I'm going to tell you something, two years, the last two years of his life, he was a remarkably different person. 00:43:14.300 --> 00:43:18.599 Old hatreds and prejudices and things that were just gone. 00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:20.199 They were gone. 00:43:20.199 --> 00:43:23.965 And he had a kindness about it was there was a joy in him. 00:43:23.965 --> 00:43:25.432 It was a different guy. 00:43:25.432 --> 00:43:33.365 And when I preached his funeral, it wasn't it wasn't one of the saddest moments of my life. 00:43:33.365 --> 00:43:36.932 It was one of the most glorious moments of my life. 00:43:36.932 --> 00:43:39.266 Why? 00:43:39.266 --> 00:43:48.032 Because when God got up and gave me the bread, he gave me as much as I needed. 00:43:55.365 --> 00:44:00.833 Now look, everything in me wants to back off, what Jesus says here. 00:44:02.266 --> 00:44:13.199 I wanted to put in caveats, and I want I want to say maybe now, maybe this won't work for everybody. 00:44:13.733 --> 00:44:16.733 But I just can't get away from the words. 00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:20.400 Everyone. 00:44:20.599 --> 00:44:25.132 Everyone who asks receives. 00:44:25.132 --> 00:44:27.500 Now he puts it in that present tense. 00:44:27.500 --> 00:44:33.733 So the point is, in the context of the parable is you got to ask and you got to do what? 00:44:33.733 --> 00:44:35.632 Keep on asking. 00:44:35.632 --> 00:44:39.300 You got to seek and you got to keep on seeking. 00:44:39.300 --> 00:44:43.532 You got to knock and you got to keep on knocking. 00:44:43.532 --> 00:44:47.599 But Jesus said, everyone who asks receives. 00:44:47.599 --> 00:44:49.166 Everyone who seeks, finds. 00:44:49.166 --> 00:44:51.800 Everyone who knocks, it will be open to him. 00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:54.333 Your heavenly father knows the thing you need. 00:44:54.333 --> 00:44:55.365 And what is the thing you need? 00:44:55.365 --> 00:44:59.432 What's the good gift he promises he will give? The Holy Spirit. 00:45:03.032 --> 00:45:05.800 Are you bold enough? 00:45:05.800 --> 00:45:08.032 Are you stubborn enough? 00:45:08.032 --> 00:45:14.599 Are you desperate enough to trust God for what he said? 00:45:15.532 --> 00:45:18.532 Would you bow your head right now? 00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:24.199 For whom are you praying? 00:45:24.500 --> 00:45:28.965 Who's the person that's come to you on their journey? 00:45:29.865 --> 00:45:34.199 That you need to pray, plea for right now? 00:45:34.199 --> 00:45:38.733 There might be more than one, but there surely ought to be at least one. 00:45:39.032 --> 00:45:47.199 Who's the person you've been tempted to give up on, and to quit pleading and praying for and asking God to save? 00:45:51.032 --> 00:45:54.900 Can you be bold and desperate and stubborn? 00:45:54.900 --> 00:46:00.065 And can you do it for years and years and years if need be? 00:46:00.065 --> 00:46:18.465 Can you have enough trust that you know your Heavenly Father has what you don't have, that he can give the Holy Spirit, and that you're just going to keep on asking and seeking and knocking until he rises and gives you as much as you need? 00:46:19.766 --> 00:46:26.233 It might be that this morning you realize that you're the one who needs the bread, not for someone else, but for you. 00:46:26.233 --> 00:46:29.000 You've never put your faith and trust in Christ. 00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:32.000 And today. 00:46:33.065 --> 00:46:43.500 You're ready to put your trust in Jesus, repenting of your sin, accepting what he's done for you on Calvary's cross that he alone is the bread of life. 00:46:44.333 --> 00:46:47.333 And today you’ll trust in him. 00:46:48.599 --> 00:46:52.065 Whatever your business with God. 00:46:52.333 --> 00:46:56.699 I know Jesus will answer with all the grace you need. 00:46:58.365 --> 00:47:02.233 Father, you know the cry and the need of every heart here. 00:47:03.132 --> 00:47:14.833 You know precisely the name of every person that needs the bread of life that some in this room are praying for right now. 00:47:14.833 --> 00:47:17.833 You know you know their need. 00:47:18.032 --> 00:47:39.932 Lord, I'm asking that you give us the kind of stubbornness that made Jacob wrestle all night, the kind of boldness that made Abraham and Moses both plead based on your character and your word, the kind of relentlessness that made that widow keep pleading for justice until the judge gave it. 00:47:39.932 --> 00:47:42.965 Jesus himself highlighted this. 00:47:42.965 --> 00:47:44.266 He gave us this story. 00:47:44.266 --> 00:48:04.599 So, Lord, we want to let it have its full impact on our lives that we will be bold, stubborn, and desperate, knowing our inadequate resources, knowing our inevitable reward. 00:48:04.599 --> 00:48:11.865 Because you are the one who has the Holy Spirit whom we need. 00:48:11.865 --> 00:48:14.865 Lord, may your spirit move right now. 00:48:15.333 --> 00:48:17.900 In Jesus name we pray. 00:48:17.900 --> 00:48:18.333 Amen.