SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you've got your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 18, verses 1 through 8. It says, And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him, saying, Give me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused. But afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says, and I will not give God and will not God give justice to his elect who care cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

SPEAKER_04 1:09

Cliff, listen. I want you to make a proposal for me to art and the finance team, the stewardship team.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

Right? A company car. A company car. Cliff, think about it. Been here a long time. I drive like village park, uh, South Campus, uh, Oxford. Oxford's a long way away. The mileage rate, not doing it for me. I need a company car.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

We just what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04 1:32

We don't do that here, company car. I want a company car. Think about it though. Think about it. I think I should get like a Bentley, right? Like a new Bentley. Hold on. Listen, I've been living a good life, right? I deserve a Bentley. God wants me to have the best. Think about all the people it will attract. He'll be looking at us like Pastor? Drive's a Bentley? God must really be blessing him. I want to get in on that. Company car cliff. Uh no. Company car. No. I need a company car.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

What? Company car. I wanna I need a company car.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Kidding me. What a day, man. Cliff! What? What are you doing? Cliff, get me a company car. Get out of my car.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

I will get out of my your car when you get me a company car.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Steven, okay, listen, we'll get you some kind of company transportation, alright? Finally. Drop it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Oh, Pastor Steven was persistent about that company Bentley, and we'll see a character in our story today who's uh in a similar way is very persistent. I heard a I heard a story recently about a guy who was uh going shopping at the mall. Now, you already know this is a made-up story because nobody shops at the mall anymore, okay? But this guy was going to shop at the mall and he pulled in the parking lot and it was packed. So he's driving circles around the parking lot, he can't find a place to park, and he's starting to get desperate. And so he prays to the Lord and he says, God, I know I haven't been very good recently about going to church and reading my Bible and tithing, but I'll shape up in all those areas if you'll just open up a parking spot for me right now. And just as the guy is finishing up his prayer, a car pulls out right in front of him, and a parking spot opens up. And the guy says to the Lord, he says, Never mind, God, I found one. Now that's a silly story. But don't we sometimes treat prayer in a very similar way? We don't pray until we're desperate. When we pray, we don't pray about significant things, we pray about trivial things. And when God answers our prayers, we fail to give him the credit. Now, don't get me wrong, I know some of you in the room are dedicated prayer warriors who pray all the time and you pray for significant things, and you always give God the credit. I know there's some of you like that in the room, but for most of us, maybe even myself included, sometimes, maybe we treat prayer like the guy shopping at the mall. We pray when we're desperate. We pray for trivial things and we fail to give God the credit. Well, here's the thing, Oxford Campus, God this morning, God is not calling us to pray better or to pray more often. Here's what God is actually calling us to do when it comes to our prayer life. God is calling us to start praying and never stop. God's exhortation to you this morning is this, Oxford Campus, don't stop praying. Don't stop praying. Now, where do we see this from God's word? If you haven't already, turn with me to the book of Luke, chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, and I'll meet you there in just a moment to hear a word from God where He's telling you, don't stop praying. Man, it is uh it is so good to be back with Oxford Campus today. Uh my family and I, we were at our our South Campus uh last Sunday, and uh we had an awesome time. I told some folks this morning we had a great time at South Campus last Sunday. The only thing that would have made last Sunday better is if we were here at Oxford Campus. We missed you guys. Uh and I mean it. Like we we have not missed a Sunday at Oxford campus since coming up here to provide some leadership at Oxford Campus, and uh we've grown very quickly to love you guys dearly, and we felt it on Sunday when we were driving away from South. We're like, man, we've had a great time, but we we miss our Oxford people, and so we're we're so I mean it. We're so glad to be back with you today. Uh, I heard some awesome reports about my friend uh Mike Jones, who uh who read the Bible for us this morning and who preached last Sunday. I got a chance to watch the recording of that sermon. And our church is so blessed to have so many skilled and qualified men who can preach the word of God so faithfully, and Mike being one of them. Just big, big thank you to uh to Mike Jones for preaching God's word last week. Hey, today, if you can believe this, it's our second to last Sunday in the Parables Sermon series. Next Sunday, we have one more parable, and then it's Easter Sunday. We'll tell you a little bit more about Easter Sunday here in a minute. But you've got two Sundays left in the parable series, including today. And today is yet another simple story with a powerful truth. It's the parable of the persistent widow. Or maybe your translation says the parable of the unjust judge. It's the same parable, but some English translations choose to emphasize one character over another, and some will title it the parable of the persistent widow, others will title it the parable of the unjust judge, but it's the same parable all about prayer. Now, the parable itself, the parable proper, if you will, begins in Luke chapter 18, verse 2. Our passage today is Luke 18, 1 through 8. And with the parable beginning in Luke chapter 18, verse 2, Christ does something somewhat unusual in verse 1. Now, you've all been studying the parables for several months now, and so you might notice something unusual in verse 1, and that is that Jesus tells us ahead of time what the parable is all about. I kind of wish he would do this with every parable, don't you? But in verse 1, he tells us, I'm about to tell you this parable, and here's why. Here's what it's about. And so, Oxford Campus, if you're taking notes this morning, number one on your notes is this because God calls us to persevere. Don't stop praying. Reason number one, because God calls us to persevere. Now, if you have kids or grandkids, maybe you've had an experience like this where you tell your kid or your grandkid to do something, and they say, why? And you say, Because I said so. Is it is that just my household? Has anybody else had that experience before? That's a little bit of what verse one and point one is like. We're saying, don't stop praying. And we're saying, reason number one, because God said, Don't stop praying. But when the God of the universe is the one saying so, when God's looking at us from heaven and saying, Because I said so, we might ought to take him seriously and continue praying. Look with me in verse one of Luke chapter 18, where God tells us to continue and to persevere in prayer. In verse 1, Luke says that Jesus told them this parable, that they ought always to pray and to never lose heart. Now that phrase, never lose heart, in English translations, it's uh it's several words, but in the Greek it's all one word. And this is the only time it appears outside of Paul's letters. Paul's letters, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Luke only uses it once. He uses it right here in Luke 18, 1. None of the other three gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and John, use this word. Never lose heart. This is a very significant moment and a very significant teaching of Jesus. Never lose heart. Now, who is he telling to never lose heart? Who is he telling to persevere? Well, Luke tells us in verse 1. He says, Jesus is telling them this parable. Okay, that helps us a little bit, but we still don't know who is them. If you look back in Luke chapter 17, verse 22, we learn that the them is the disciples of Jesus. In Luke 17, 22, we learn that Jesus has turned his attention to the disciples, and he's talking to the disciples, and that continues into chapter 18. In our English Bibles, we have chapter headers and verse headers, and I'm very grateful for those things because it helps me memorize Scripture and find stuff when I'm studying the Bible, but uh the original Greek didn't have these chapter headers and verse headers. And so even though there's a chapter break from Luke 17 to 18, Jesus doesn't stop talking. It's not a new moment and a new speech in the ministry of Jesus, it's one continuous speech. And in chapter 17, verse 22, he starts talking to the disciples. And in Luke 18, verse 1, he's still talking to them, the disciples. Now, this is important because several of our parables have been directed at the Pharisees recently. The parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, last week the rich man in Lazarus. A lot of these parables have been directed at the Pharisees. This one is directed at the disciples. This one is directed at you and me. He's talking to them. Now I find it really interesting that Jesus is telling his disciples at this point in history, don't lose heart. The reason I find that interesting is because they're just getting started. They haven't met a ton of opposition yet. Christ hasn't been crucified and buried and raised from the dead. All the persecution of the church in the book of Acts hasn't taken place yet. They're kind of just getting started. And he's already telling them, don't lose heart. A speech about not losing heart feels like a speech that a basketball coach would give to his team at halftime when they're down by 30. Hey guys, I know we've we've dug ourselves a really deep hole, but don't lose heart in the second half. Keep on shooting. We can do this. But it's not halftime in the ministry of Jesus. The game hasn't started yet. They're just getting warmed up. And he's already telling them, don't lose heart, don't give up. Why would he do that? Well, in chapter 17, verse 22, he starts talking to the disciples, and then the rest of chapter 17, all the way through verse 37, those 16 verses, Jesus is teaching his disciples all about how the kingdom of God is coming, but it's not here yet, and while you wait, you're going to suffer. The last 16 verses in Luke chapter 17, Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he's teaching them all about the kingdom of God, and how the kingdom of God is coming, but it's not here yet, and while you wait, you're going to suffer. And so it's on the heels of that teaching that Jesus says, Now let me tell you a parable real quick. Let me pause and tell you a parable about not losing heart and continuing to pray while you await for the coming kingdom of God. That's very important context to this parable. Do not lose heart, but instead always pray. This is why 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 16 and 17, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 and 17, Paul tells us to always rejoice and pray without ceasing. If you're not going to lose heart, if you're going to always rejoice, then you've got to always pray. You've got to pray without ceasing. Persistent prayer is the antidote to fainting, to losing heart, to quitting and giving up. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. Never lose heart. Always pray. Don't stop praying because God calls us to persevere. Oxford Campus, I wonder about you this morning. What's got you tempted to lose heart today? Maybe you walked into this room this morning and you're uh you're carrying the weight of a health struggle. Maybe with your own body and your own health or the health of a loved one, and you're tempted to lose heart. Don't lose heart, don't stop praying. Maybe you walked into this room with some kind of financial trouble today. God doesn't promise to give us everything that we want, but he promises to provide for us, and maybe you're struggling today. Don't lose heart, keep on praying. Maybe you walked into this room with some kind of relational struggle, relational trouble. You've been trying to reconcile a relationship for a long time, and no matter what you do, it's not working, and you're ready to give up. You're ready to lose heart. Don't lose heart. Keep on praying. That's what God is calling you to do today. He was calling his disciples to do that 2,000 years ago. He's calling you to do that today. Don't lose heart. Don't stop praying. God is calling us to persevere. God is calling us to persevere. Hey, Oxford Campus, number two on your notes is this. Number two, because God wants to hear from you. The second reason why we should continue in prayer is because God He wants to hear from you. Look with me in Luke chapter 18, verses 2 through 5. These four verses, these verses are the parable today. The parable of the persistent widow or the parable of the unjust judge. In verse 1, Jesus comments on the parable before it begins. In verses 6 through 8, Jesus comments on the parable after it's over. But in verses 2 through 5, we really get the parable itself right here. In Luke 18, 2, we are introduced to the first character in our parable. In verse 2, Jesus tells us that in some city, in a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. Now Jesus says that it was in a certain city. This is a made-up story with some realistic elements. But this could happen in any city. A judge that neither feared God nor respected man. Now we think that this judge was likely a Roman judge because of how he's described in verse 2. He's already broken the first and second greatest commandments. The first of the greatest of all commandments is to love God with all that you are. Well, he doesn't fear God. He doesn't care about God. The second greatest commandment is to love other people, love your neighbor as yourself. Well, he doesn't respect other people, so he's broken that one too. For this reason, we don't think he's a Jewish judge or a Hebrew judge, maybe a member of the Sanhedrin. We actually think he's a Roman judge. Now, what these Roman judges would do is they would go from city to city and town to town, and they would set up their portable tent courthouse. So the courthouse where this is taking place, it's not like a courthouse that you might be picturing in your mind. A courthouse today that is permanent and elaborate and indoor and air conditioned and private. Now, these courts with these Roman judges, they were portable tent courthouses. They would travel around. They were outdoor, open-air courthouses, and the proceedings were very public. So people would see the tent getting set up, and they would go and stand on the outskirts of the open-air tent courthouse, and they would kind of listen in on the proceedings, almost as a form of entertainment, if you will. And that's the setting, that's the scene going on here. In verse 3, we're introduced to another character in the parable, the widow. In verse 3, Jesus tells us that there was a widow who kept on coming to this unjust judge and asking him to give her justice. Now, Luke has a particular affection for widows. He's a great model for us. As the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we should have a particular affection for widows and widowers. Luke mentions widows more than the other three gospel writers combined. Matthew, Mark, and John combined. Luke mentions widows more than all of them. Luke is the only one to include the parable of the persistent widow in his gospel. We're confident that Jesus told the parable, of course, but he's the only one that makes sure to include it in his gospel. He has a particular affection for widows, and so should we as a church. But he says, a widow keeps coming to this unjust judge and asking for the judge to give him justice. Now, back then, back then, widows, uh really more so women, had no standing in court. And so women needed a man to represent them in court back then. Times have changed, but back then that's how it was. And we already know that by definition, this woman, she's a widow, so she has no husband to represent her in court. But the fact that she is going to this tent, portable, portable tent courthouse, she's going there for herself, it seems like she really has no next of kin. She doesn't have a father or a son or a brother, an uncle, a cousin who could represent her in court. She's really on her own and has to go to the courthouse for herself. But she has no standing in court. So she doesn't get to, she doesn't get to go into the courthouse and have a formal proceeding. What she's likely doing, this is why the portable tent is so important to this scene, what she's likely doing is circling the tent while there's a formal proceeding going on, almost like the Israelites circled the walls of Jericho. She's probably circling the tent while there's a formal proceeding happening, yelling at the judge, interrupting the proceeding, and asking him to give her justice. That's probably what's taking place. And the unjust judge, he's so bothered by it. In verses four and five, it says that for a while he refuses, but then he starts talking to himself in verses four and five. I like how in the parables of Christ he often includes a lot of uh self-talk. If you remember the prodigal son, when he was in the pig sty, he talked to himself when he came to his senses. Or maybe you remember the dishonest manager when the owner of the estate leveled some accusations against him. The dishonest manager said, What shall I do? He's talking to himself. And here in verses 4 and 5 of Luke 18, we have the unjust judge talking to himself. He refused for a while, but then he says, I know that I don't fear God and I don't respect man. Man, that's a hard heart. He has that reputation in the community, but he's also very self-aware of it. He says to himself, I don't fear God, and I don't care that I don't fear God. I don't respect other people, and I don't care that I don't respect other people. That is a hard heart. But he goes on to say, This woman is bothering me so much that before she beats me down, I'm gonna give her justice. I'm gonna give her what she wants. Now that phrase, beat me down, in your English Bibles, it's it's it's three words, but in the Greek it's one word and it's a boxing term. He's afraid of the woman beating him up. Not physically, but what he's afraid of is he's afraid of this widow putting a black eye on his reputation. That's what that phrase beating me down means. He's worried about his reputation. He says, I don't care much about God. I don't care much about other people, but I care a lot about me, myself, and I. And this widow is starting to tarnish my reputation, so before she beats me down, I'm gonna give her what she wants so that she will just please just go away. How awful is that. Now, this parable in verses 2 through 5 is what we would refer to as a parable of contrast. In a lot of the parables that we've studied so far, they've been parables of comparison. Where we might identify a character in the parable and say, that character represents me, and I should imitate the actions of that character. Or you might identify a character in the parable and say, That character represents God, and God is much like that character in the parable. Those are parables of comparison. This is a parable of contrast. You are indeed supposed to locate yourself in the parable as the widow, but you are everything that the widow is not. And you are indeed supposed to think about the unjust judge as representing God, but the unjust judge is everything that God is not. God is everything that the unjust judge is not. Think about it this way. If we are the widow in the story, but the widow contrasts what we are in Christ, Oxford Campus, you are not a widow. You are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are the bride of Christ. That's really important. Secondly, the widow had no standing in court, and she had nobody to represent her in court. She had to go to court for herself because she had no representation. We have an intercessor, we have an advocate, we have a mediator in Jesus Christ who goes to the courthouse on our behalf, and he doesn't just defend us in the courthouse, he stands in our place and says, Yeah, he's guilty, but punish me instead. We have representation in the court in Jesus Christ. We are to find ourselves in this parable as the widow, but we are everything that the widow is not. We are the bride of Christ, and Christ stands for us in court. Likewise, God is the unjust judge in the parable, but God is everything that the unjust judge is not. First of all, God is just. The unjust judge cared nothing about the word of God, about the law of God, but God has spoken his word and he means what he says. He cares a lot about his word. God designed human beings and created human beings. He cares a lot about the image bearers that he created. And he doesn't get annoyed when you cry out to him. He's not bothered when you cry out to him. Instead, he longs to hear from you. He longs to hear your cries and hear your prayers. God is indeed the unjust judge in this parable, but he's everything that the unjust judge is not. God wants to hear from you. In Psalm 55, verse 17, in Psalm 55, 17, it says, I cry out to God in the morning, in the middle of the day, at nighttime, I cry out to God. And when I cry out to God, sometimes I even complain to him. But no matter when I cry out to God, and no matter what I cry out to him about, he always hears my voice, he always hears my cry. Psalm 55, 17. God longs to hear from you. And for that reason, we should never stop praying. At my house, we um we own a bounce house, okay? So there's a little uh a little tidbit about the Haywood household. We own a bounce house. We it's a little toddler bounce house because our kids are small, they're like four, three, and two. We got it on Facebook Marketplace for a fraction of the cost, and we uh we bust out the bounce house for birthdays and sometimes just because. Uh Friday night, two days ago, was one of those occasions when we busted out the bounce house just because we wanted the kids needed something to do, and we had some friends coming over that have uh kids of similar ages to our kids. And so we set up the bounce house in the backyard, we had some dinner, and then the the kids were playing on the bounce house in the backyard, the parents were sitting on the porch talking, it was a great time. It was kind of organized chaos in the backyard, and it was a lot of screaming and laughing. But as parents of young kids, you kind of learn to just that that's just white noise to you, and you we're that's happening, and then we're we're sitting on the back porch having a great conversation, uh getting to know one another. Until um until Gunner, my youngest, so uh Gunner's two. Uh he's two and a half, he's he's my youngest, my only son. And so there's a slide attached to the bounce house. And what you're supposed to do is climb up to the top of the slide and then sit down on your bottom and slide feet first like a normal person. But Gunner, he stands up at the top of the slide, and he's standing on his two feet, and he jumps down the slide. He's still learning how gravity works, and he hits the bottom of the slide, and it launches him into the grass, and he just face plants in the grass. And he stands up and he starts crying, and we're talking on the porch, and I immediately know, I was like, I know that cry. That's my son. And so we get up and we go check on him, and he was more scared than he was hurt. I think the grass got hurt more than Gunner. He was just he was just freaked out by all the whatever his body just did. And he popped up and he went right back to playing. But the key part of that story is that I knew the cry of my son. There are millions and millions of children on the planet, and every child is a gift from the Lord. And whenever a child cries, it's meaningful. But there are three children that I unapologetically love more than any other child on this planet. It's my three kids, May, Piper, and Gunner. And I know their voice and I know their cry. In a much greater way, your father in heaven knows your voice. And he knows your cry. And he longs to hear from you. And when you cry out to him, he doesn't just long to hear from you, he wants to do something about it. He knows your voice, he knows your cry. And so, what about you this morning? Have you believed a lie from the enemy that maybe God is maybe God is too busy for you? There's some there's some conflict in the Middle East, and God has bigger fish to fry. If you could just wait on hold for the next available customer service agents. No, God is not too busy for you. He's never too busy for you, no matter what's going on in the world. He wants to hear your cries. Maybe you've believed a lie from the enemy that uh you didn't behave very well this week. You did too much sinning, and the enemy is just piling on guilt and shame and saying your pay your prayers have they have no power this week. That's not true. Maybe you do need to shape up, I don't know. But our the power of our prayers, the power of our prayers is never rooted in our own self-righteousness. The power of our prayers, it's always rooted in the righteousness of Christ. Don't allow the enemy to pile upon you guilt and shame and cause you to stop praying. God always longs to hear from you, no matter what you've done. He wants to hear from you. He's never too busy, you've never gone too far. He longs to hear from you, unlike the unjust judge. God longs to hear from you, and for that reason we should never stop praying. Hey, Oxford Campus, number three on your notes is this. Number three, because God always does what is right. Don't stop praying, because God, He always does what is right. Look with me in verses six through eight of Luke chapter 18. You'll remember that the parable was verses two through five, and here in verses six through eight, the parable is over, and Christ is commenting on the parable. In verse six, it's uh this is kind of how I read verse six. Jesus is like, Hey, that story I just told, remember the unjust judge? Well, can you believe what he said? Wasn't that crazy? That's kind of what verse six sounds like to me. Jesus says, Hear what the unjust judge said. Isn't that wild? Isn't that crazy? And then in verses seven through eight, he teaches us about our Father in heaven. He says, How much more will God in heaven give justice to his elect, to his children? He longs to give justice to his children. He will not delay in giving them justice. He will give them justice speedily. Verses seven through eight. Now, there's a few key words in verses seven through eight. One of them is justice. It's repeated twice. Based on that word justice, we believe that God always does what is right. It's interesting to me in the parable that uh the persistent widow, she's not asking for special treatment. She's not asking for the judge to go over and above, above and beyond. She's simply asking for justice. Someone is treating her wrong and no one's doing anything about it, and she's asking for justice. God always does what is right. God always issues justice. Some more key words, though, are those words God will not delay, and God will always deliver justice speedily. See, here's the thing, Oxford Campus. You can sometimes talk to a group of Christians and you can say, God always does what is right. And all the Christians in the room will nod, yes, that makes sense. That's not a hard thing to affirm. The hard thing to affirm is this, Oxford Campus. The word speedily does not mean immediately. God will not delay, God will deliver justice speedily, but that word does not mean immediately. I wish it did, but it doesn't. And here's the thing: God operates on a very different timeline from you and me. What may feel like a delay to you and to me is not a delay at all to God. He's right on schedule. And what may feel like slowly to you and me, to God, it feels like speedily, because he's right on schedule. Speedily does not mean immediately, but God is always right on time. God always does the right thing for the right reason, in the right way, at the right time. Let me say that again. God always does the right thing for the right reason, in the right way, at the right time. He'll always do it speedily, but maybe not immediately. Romans chapter 8, verse 28. In Romans 8, 28, Paul reminds us that God is working all things together for his glory and the good of those called according to his purposes. Now, if you've been a Christian for a little while, that might be a familiar verse to you. But the cool thing about God's word is that familiar verses hit us in a fresh way in unfamiliar seasons. And so maybe somebody needed to hear Romans 8.28 today. But God is working all things together for his glory and the good of those called according to his purposes. God is working all things in your life together for good. God always does the right thing for the right reason in the right way at the right time. You know, the other day my family stopped by the office here at Oxford campus. Hannah was helping with some things in the office, and uh, so I took the kids outside to play for a little bit. And one of the things about my kids is uh they love to um they love to look at cows. A cow is in a cow pasture, they love to look at cows. Now, I love to eat cows, but they love to just look at them, okay? And so uh you may not know this, but we've got we've got 20 acres here at Oxford campus. God has blessed us with some beautiful property, and the back 10 acres on the western border of this field out back, uh, there's a cow pasture. Now you you can't you can't quite see it from here because there's a big tree line, but if you walk into the field, there's a gap in the tree line and you can see into the cow pasture. So I was taking my kids out into the field to the gap in the tree line so they could see the cows, and I was I was telling them, they're like, I can't see them yet, Dad. I'm like, I promise there's some cows out here. And once we walked far enough into the field where the tree line opened up, there's like two dozen cows out there. Uh, Gunner just starts making a beeline for the cows. He starts running toward the cows. Now, I feel like sometimes some of my sermon illustrations always begin with Gunner in imminent danger, okay? Uh I promise he's a sweet kid. He just has a he has a wild side to him sometimes. And no, uh he he he was not harmed in the making of this illustration. But he starts making a beeline for the for the cows, and I I use my dad voice. You guys got your dad voice, your grandpa voice? I say, Gunner, stop! And he turns around, he looks at me, and he's he's kind of scared and upset a little bit. And I I run and I pick him up and I scoop him up and I say, buddy, you're not and you're not in trouble. I'm not mad at you. I know those cows look fun, but look at what's between you and the cows. There's a barbed wire fence. And if I had just let you keep running into that barbed wire fence, I would have been a bad father. And Oshra Campus, I wonder for you, I wonder what the barbed wire fence is in your life. I wonder what you're running toward, and God is saying, Stop. It's not gonna be good for you. And you're looking back at God thinking he's doing something wrong by telling you to stop, but God doesn't do anything wrong. God always does what's right. And so if you're running toward the barbed wire fence and he's saying, stop, we might ought to listen to him. God always does what is right, and maybe the barbed wire fence in your life, maybe it's something sinful. Maybe you're running towards something sinful. And God's saying, Stop, this will never be good for you in any season of your life. But maybe you're running towards something with pure intentions healing, financial stability, relational reconciliation. And God's saying, I hear you, I see your pure intentions, but not yet. Slow down, but not yet. And you're looking back at God thinking he's doing something wrong. Slow down, I want to speed up. And he's saying, Slow down, but not yet. God never does anything wrong, he always does what is right. And if he's telling you to stop before you hit that barbed wire fence, you might ought to, you might ought to stop. Hey, number four on your notes is this number four, because God, he's coming again. Don't stop praying, because we know that God, he's coming again. Now, I'll admit to you, it might be a bit odd to use the phrase God is coming again. In in many cases in the church, we would say Christ is coming again or Jesus is coming again. But while it's a bit odd, it is theologically correct. As Christians, we believe in the Trinity, one God and three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead and to establish the new heavens and the new earth. And Jesus being the second person of the Trinity, Jesus being the Son of God, it is theologically correct and just fine to say that God is coming again. And not only is it correct, it's good motivation for us to continue praying. Look with me in Luke chapter 18, verse 8, the second half of that verse. Jesus says, When the Son of Man comes again, will he find faith on the earth? Son of man, son of God, Jesus is talking about himself. He says, I'm here now, when I leave and come back, will I find faith on the earth? Now it's interesting to me, and more than interesting, it's encouraging to me, that Jesus says, When I come back. He doesn't say, if I come back, I could come back, I might come back. There's a certainty about the second coming of Jesus Christ, and I praise him for that. When the Son of Man comes back, will he find faith on the earth? The key word in the second half of this verse is that word faith. In English we have it as just one word because it flows better. But in the Greek it might say, When the Son of Man comes back, will he find the faith on the earth? There's what's called a definite article in the Greek, the faith. Jesus is saying, when the Son of Man returns, will he find the kind of faith that the persistent widow had in the parable? Will he find that kind of faith on earth? Will he find persistent faith, resilient faith? Will he find that kind of faith on the earth? That's what he's saying. He's referring back to the persistent widow in verse eight. But it's still, it's still quite interesting to me. This is a parable all about prayer, and in verse eight, Jesus does not say, When the Son of Man returns, will he find millions and millions of people praying to God all over the earth? He doesn't reference prayer in verse eight. He says, Will I find faith on the earth? Oxford Campus, might I suggest to you that faith is the fuel for prayer. Prayer is the effect, faith is the cause. Faith causes us to pray and pray without ceasing. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, we're told that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. If your hope is in Jesus Christ, the only worthy object of our hope, then you'll be motivated and you'll be fueled to pray without ceasing. But if you're placing your hope in something else, then your prayer life might suffer. Prayer is the effect, faith is the cause. Think about it this way. How many of you in the room have a water heater in your house? Okay? Everybody's hand should go up. You should probably have a water heater in your house, okay? I have a water heater in my house. Now, many of you likely enjoyed the water heater in your house this morning. Maybe you got up and took a shower and you took a warm shower. I took a warm shower this morning, okay? If you didn't, maybe hopefully you'll take one tonight. But I took a warm shower this morning. Now, here's the thing. When that water heater goes out, showers aren't as enjoyable anymore, are they? You say, ah, a shower could wait till tomorrow. And when you shower, it's fast, it's quick to the point you don't enjoy it at all. But when that water heater is working, you shower in the morning, be like, I might shower again tonight. That was kind of nice. You linger a little bit, it's nice and warm. It was kind of cold last night. You enjoy the shower. See, here's the thing. If the water heater is your faith and your hope, then the shower is your prayer. One causes the other. And when the water heater is broken, you don't shower as often, you don't shower as long, and you don't enjoy it. When your hope is in the wrong place, in the wrong object, you don't pray as often, you don't pray as long and you don't enjoy it. But when the water heater is working, when your hope is in Jesus Christ, the person and work of Jesus, the only worthy object of our hope, then you pray more often. Maybe you pray without ceasing. You pray longer, you pray deeper, you enjoy it more. And so if you're if your prayer life is struggling, perhaps you don't need a better prayer strategy. Perhaps you don't need to know more about what to say, when to pray, where to pray. All those things are good. But perhaps you need to reevaluate where your hope lies. Is your hope in the person and work of Jesus Christ? When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the earth? Because faith and hope, that's the cause and the effect is persistent prayer. Don't stop praying. Oxford Campus. Don't stop praying. Number one, because God calls us to persevere. Don't stop praying because God said so. Don't stop praying because God longs to hear from you. No matter when you cry out to him, no matter what you cry out to him about, God wants to hear from you. God always does the right thing. He does it for the right reason, in the right way, at the right time. And one day, God is coming again to restore all things, to make all things new. And in the meantime, while we wait on him to come back, we should pray. Hey, Oxford Campus, as we wrap up a Bible study all about prayer today, I want to remind you of some ways that our church prays together. The original intent of prayer was that we would pray together. That's what Jesus designed prayer for. That's what God designed prayer for. It's good to pray privately. I pray privately often. Hopefully you do as well. But the primary intent of prayer is that we would pray together. There's some ways that our church prays together. We gather in this room every Sunday morning, right here, right here on the floor at 8 15 a.m. There's about two dozen of us here this morning praying for you. Praying for Oxford Campus. We'd love for you to join us. Every Wednesday, right here at Oxford Campus, unless it's the first Wednesday, but every Wednesday at 4 o'clock, we pray for an hour in the fellowship hall. We pray for a list of prayer requests for an hour, and we'd love for you to join us at 4 o'clock. We pray together. On the first Wednesday of every month, we have something called First Wednesday prayer. All four locations gather at the downtown campus for an hour-long prayer service and we pray together. If you're struggling to pray, if you don't know how to pray, what they say is the best way to learn how to pray is to pray with a bunch of people that know how to pray. And so get around some other prayer warriors on Sunday mornings, on Wednesday afternoons, on the first Wednesday of every month. We'd love for you to come and pray with us. But hey, let's not just talk about prayer. Let's not be a church that just talks about prayer. Let's not even be a church that just promotes future opportunities to gather and pray. We're gathered right now. Why don't we pray right now? In just a moment, I'm going to uh close our time of Bible study. I'm going to ask God's word to take root in our hearts. I'm going to ask God that he would do that with his word. But when I say amen, we're going to sing one more song of response. And uh, you are welcome to stay seated right where you are and respond to God's word as you see fit. But I want you to know that as we sing this morning one more song of response, the altar is open. All across the front of this stage, all across the front of this altar, the altar is open. And if you're here today and you're not a Christian, uh you're like, I don't need to like not stop praying, I need to start praying. I need someone to tell me what to say to God so that I can become a Christian. Then grab somebody and ask them how to do that. But maybe you're here today and you've been a Christian for a while, but you brought with you something heavy on your heart. Would you bring it to the altar this morning? As we sing together, the altar will be open. You can come pray. And after a few minutes, maybe after a few verses, if you see somebody at the altar that you know and love, maybe you'd walk up and put a hand on them and pray with them. Let's be a church that prays together. We don't just talk about prayer, we pray together. Father in heaven, God, we love you and we praise you. We're thankful for your word in the Bible. It's a gift to us. It's clear and it's understandable. You've asked us to start praying and to never stop. And so, God, I pray that we'd be a campus and a church that never stops praying. As we pray right now, God, would you hear our cries? And if there's anyone in the room who does not yet have a relationship with you through Christ would today be the day of salvation for them. God, we give this Bible study over to you. We give this time over to you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. The altar is open.