Why Are My Prayers Not Answered? (Pastor Josiah Shipley)

Whitten Baptist Church iconWhitten Baptist Church

3 views

0 comments

00:00
Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military size.
00:05
It wasn't the type of people they were going to be. We almost don't need to preach.
00:18
You know, before we get into our sermon, by the way, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 7, if you would turn your
00:23
Bibles there, Matthew 7. Real quick, I want to talk about what we just sang. One of the scriptures we read a moment ago was
00:32
Acts 17 .29, which says, He commands all men everywhere to repent.
00:40
So often, I think we miss this, in our genuine heart's desire, and some of y 'all listen to me on this, in our genuine heart's desire to see the lost saved, we'll say something like, well,
00:53
God really just wants what's best for you, and He's just trying His darndest to reach you, and you're just not responding, but that's okay.
01:00
You take your time. God will be there when you're ready. The scripture we just read in Acts 17 .29
01:07
doesn't say He's suggesting all men everywhere to repent. It doesn't say He's begging all men everywhere to repent.
01:14
Acts 17 .29 says He commands all men everywhere to repent. Repentance is a command, not a suggestion or a plea.
01:23
And it comes to bear when we sing songs like that. When you recognize the glory of an angel, when you read the scriptures and how one of them can destroy whole armies, when we see in scripture a million of those creatures groveling before the
01:40
King of kings and Lord of lords, it gives you a taste of the majesty of Jesus, because those creatures continually sing
01:46
His praise. Those creatures that can wipe out entire armies, millions upon millions will bow before Jesus just when
01:53
He walks in a room. That's the power of Jesus. And I beg today when you hear His word to recognize that you are not reading the word of an eight and a half pound baby
02:05
Jesus in a manger, but the King of kings that's coming back. And this time, He's not coming back as a lamb.
02:10
He's coming back as a lion. Matthew 7. Verse 7 -11.
02:19
And I open by asking this simple question. Why are my prayers not answered?
02:27
Why do we not have that which we pray for? His scripture says, you ask anything in my name and I will do it.
02:35
So what's up with that God? Where are we at on that? Why are my prayers not answered?
02:41
And that is the question posed today. Seven reasons, but first let's read Matthew 7. Verse 7 -11.
02:47
And hear the word of God. Ask, and it will be given to you.
02:53
Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives.
02:59
The one who seeks finds. And the one who knocks, it will be opened. Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
03:08
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
03:18
Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask of him? I want to read very quickly these seven reasons.
03:28
But before I do, on your handout, I want to note. This is about the 12th or 13th time the pastors of this church have done this this year.
03:36
On the back is homework. So, for those of you who always say,
03:42
I want to study the Bible, I just don't know where to start. There you go.
03:51
And for those of you who will ignore it, go ahead and ignore it and continue to not pray with your wife, continue not to study, continue not to grow, and continue to not be fed by the word.
04:01
You do whatever you want to do. But for the rest of you who want to grow in the Lord, there is a starting place and a suggestion for you.
04:08
Seven reasons. Number one, you haven't consistently asked for it. Number two, you have a lack of faith that God can or will do what you've asked.
04:17
Number three, you haven't asked for it with the right intentions. Number four, you have unconfessed, unrepentant sin that you're holding on to.
04:25
Number five, you haven't worked for it. Number six, you don't need it. Or number seven, you don't need it yet.
04:33
And I thought deeply about this, and I don't normally do topical sermons.
04:38
I normally go verse by verse, but this one was on my heart. And these are, I think, biblically, the seven reasons why we do not have that which we prayed for.
04:48
Okay, so this is not a sermon about the mechanics of prayer.
04:54
This is not a sermon about how you should pray. I'll let Cynthia Barber take care of that in her prayer class.
04:59
This is a sermon about why does it seem my prayer is going unanswered. This is a sermon about why does it feel like God never answers my prayers, at least not with a yes.
05:12
Number one, you have not consistently asked for it. And I put there in Luke, Jesus tells them a parable to the effect they ought to always pray and not lose heart.
05:25
Will not God give justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay over them long?
05:31
I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Do not lose heart when you pray, ladies and gentlemen, in what you see as a delayed answer.
05:43
Do not lose heart in what you see as a delayed answer. Second Peter says he does not delay.
05:50
And just as for you parents, you know there are reasons why you do not give the gifts to your children when they ask.
05:56
There are reasons for that. The all -sovereign, almighty God can have those as well. However, the scripture says to continually ask, continually seek.
06:08
One of the reasons why some of us do not have what we pray for is that we do not consistently ask for it.
06:14
Number two, you have a lack of faith that God can or will do what you have asked of him.
06:20
I want to read real quick from James chapter 1. And there's a lot of scriptures we're going to get to today, but I'm just going to read this one for you.
06:27
This is James 1, 5 through 8. And by the way, if you want to start memorizing scripture, let me encourage you that your first one be
06:38
James chapter 1, verse 5. James chapter 1, verse 5. And here we go. Let's read. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach.
06:53
And it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting.
06:59
For one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the
07:07
Lord. He is a double -minded man, unstable in all his ways.
07:16
On the Puerto Rico mission trip last year, we didn't have enough room for all 70 of us, 65 of us, however many it was, to worship inside, so we had to worship outside every night.
07:33
Well, being on an island and on the coast, the weather app called for rain every night.
07:39
So we prayed, God let it not rain on us while we're worshiping you. And not one time, not one time did it rain on us while we were worshiping.
07:51
Before, after, but not while we were worshiping. That was our prayer. In the same way, when we went to do communion outside, the weather app called for rain.
08:04
And our simple prayer as a staff was, God, let the rain hold off until we're done with our service.
08:11
And we finished our service, and as I was driving home, it started raining on my windshield while I was driving home.
08:17
And I said, thank you, Lord. When we had trunk retreat and it was raining all day long while we were setting up, all of our workers prayed,
08:28
God, when our guests get here, let the rain stop. And wouldn't you know, not a drop until we were done.
08:37
Not a drop. Yesterday when we were handing out sleeping bags and coats, we started to feel a little rain, and Tasha and Johnny and Pastor Christian and Pastor Maya prayed,
08:49
Lord, let the rain hold off until we're done serving our guests.
08:55
And yet it did. But somebody in this room, and I actually have forgotten who it was, the day of trunk retreat while we were setting up,
09:05
I said, hey man, we rented these tents because, and here's why.
09:13
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What'd they say? God's gonna deliver us from the fire.
09:20
But even if he doesn't, I'm still not worshiping that statue. Lord, we're gonna pray that you hold off the rain.
09:26
And if you choose not to, we have a plan B. And I was telling somebody, you know, we all prayed at staff meeting
09:35
Monday that it would not rain when our guests get here. And he said, well, you need to get past that idea, it's gonna rain.
09:42
And I said, do you not pray? You believe in a God that from eternity past can save your soul from damnation, but he can't stop water from falling from the sky?
09:55
One of the reasons we don't have what we asked for is because you lack the faith that he can or will do what you've asked for.
10:02
And ladies and gentlemen, if you believe that the almighty, all -sovereign
10:07
God has already spoke the world into existence, if you believe that God became man and died for sin, raised himself from the dead, and will bring all people to him, then what are wind and waves to him?
10:23
Ladies and gentlemen, the winds and the rains still obey God. When he was on that ship, and he said to the winds and waves, peace be still, it's as if the wind and the waves remembered the voice of the one who created them.
10:40
When he said, let there be, and created them to come to being, they had heard that voice before.
10:46
And when he said, be quiet, they stopped. Let those examples be a testimony to you of where God has let this little place serve him before.
10:58
And for those of you in your brain right now who are thinking those must be coincidences, I ask you to have a little faith to remove that doubt and walk forward and obey anyway, and see how he can do it in your life.
11:14
Number three, reason. And we'll probably spend more time on this one than any other. Why do I not have what
11:20
I prayed for? Because you haven't asked for it with the right intentions. And I put this on your paper in James, again, chapter 4, verse 2 -4.
11:30
He says this, You desire and don't have, so you murder.
11:35
You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You don't have because you don't ask for it.
11:43
You ask and do not receive it because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.
11:52
You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
11:59
Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Dear friends, you say what?
12:05
No, it's not, but it is kind. You do not want to be in the position where God is your enemy.
12:12
You will lose. Whenever my children, and I'm correcting them, and they want to rebel against that,
12:18
I make them say the words every time, Daddy always wins. And I make them say it.
12:23
And when I say make them, I mean physically make them. And we're not going to be done until they utter the words,
12:29
Daddy always wins. Ladies and gentlemen, God always wins. He will get what
12:35
He wants. How painful it will be for you is up to you, but He will be getting what He wants. He's God.
12:42
If the difference between my child and I is this, the difference between me and God is immeasurable.
12:49
He says, you asked, and you don't have it because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.
13:04
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you today, especially for those of you who ask, Josiah, I want to want the things of God more than the things of the world.
13:16
Now, if you don't, then you haven't even begun the process. But if you're one of those saying,
13:23
I want to want the things of God more than I want the things of the world, how do I do that?
13:29
And I said this months ago, do you know that your desires are malleable? Tyler, what's malleable mean?
13:38
They can be changed. They can be molded. If you've ever said you've heard someone say you can't help what you like, that is a lie.
13:47
We have a phrase called an acquired taste. That means you didn't like it at first and you made yourself like it.
13:54
Yes? Yes, some of us have done that with things we shouldn't. You can change your desires.
14:04
And let me tell you how. I read this recently and it's so true.
14:10
Your will, that which you desire, has a stopgap before it acts. Your mind informs your will how valuable something is.
14:21
Your mind informs your will how valuable something is and tells your will what is to be desired and what is not.
14:30
If there is nothing in your mind to tell you what is valuable and what is not, then it will be all natural instinct.
14:38
And what's the problem with our natural instinct? Evil. Jeremiah 17 .9
14:44
says what? The heart is desperately wicked and incurable.
14:51
Sometimes well -meaning Christians will say, well, yeah, he's not a
14:57
Christian yet, but he has a good heart. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't.
15:04
He may have an ethical heart. He may have a moral heart. He does not. And neither do
15:09
I. And neither do you. Until Jesus has taken that out and put it in a heart of flesh. You can change your desires.
15:17
Your mind informs. And I'll give you a couple of examples. When I was a kid, my parents would give me an option, let's say.
15:25
Josiah, we can throw an ice cream party for all your friends or we can all go to Longhorn Steakhouse.
15:33
And I would 100 % of the time choose Longhorn Steakhouse. I'll see my friends next week.
15:39
That's a steak, right? That's food. And that was always my favorite restaurant, wasn't it?
15:48
That was always. When Rachel and I first started dating, that was still my favorite.
15:54
I loved Longhorns. And the recipe never changed.
16:00
It was always the exact same. And I'm one of those that I normally go to a restaurant and order the exact same thing the exact same way every time.
16:07
And I get mad at myself because I want to try the whole menu, but I can't because I know this is so good, right? Well, when
16:15
I got a little older, my father took me to a place called Butcher Shop.
16:23
And they have this thing called Georgie Style where you can pour eight ounces of garlic and butter on top of your steak.
16:35
Do you know what I'm talking about? Now, gluttony is a sermon for next week.
16:42
We'll get to that later. All of a sudden, Longhorn just didn't taste as good to me.
16:50
Now, the ingredients hadn't changed. What happened? My mind was informed there was something more valuable.
16:58
Well, then a few years later, Donovan took Pastor Jeff and I to a place in Germantown called
17:04
Southern Social. And then about a year later,
17:14
Tim Nichols says, Hey, Josiah, me and Teresa want to take you and Rachel out to dinner. I'm like, all right, let's go to Huey's.
17:19
Let's go to Central. And we drive to this place called Folks Folly. And that steak that was put on my plate was that thick.
17:32
And it was charred, but rare on the inside. That's how you're supposed to eat a steak, by the way. And I got done.
17:39
I couldn't even get to the mac and cheese and the mashed potatoes or whatever else I ordered because it was so much. And all of a sudden,
17:46
I looked back and it had been eight years since I've been to Longhorn and no desire to go back. Nothing on the menu of Longhorn ever changed.
17:57
What changed? My mind informed by will there was something more desirable, more valuable.
18:09
I am not a very, I would say, maybe this is a positive, sometimes negative.
18:17
I'm not a very materialistic guy. I can do without very much. I don't need a whole lot.
18:23
Some of my friends in here would call me cheap. I just use the term. I like what
18:29
I have and I don't need anything else. There is one giant exception.
18:36
Gentlemen, have you ever been this? You're perfectly happy with your tools and then you learn there is a tool you didn't know about.
18:44
And all of a sudden, what you have, you don't even want to do another job with it. Now that you know that exists, you're like, why am
18:52
I messing with this for five years? Exactly. How did I do it?
18:57
And all of a sudden, it's not valuable to me anymore. Well, I am that way with one thing only and that is flashlights.
19:03
I have never fallen for an infomercial my whole life except for flashlights.
19:12
I'll be like, babe, look, they ran over it with a Humvee and it still works. And yes, my shop is filled with flashlights and here's why.
19:22
I will love my flashlight and then we'll go on a hunting trip and Parker, Brian, and Hunter Chapman will show up.
19:30
And then, don't get me started with Jake, that's coveting. That's what that is.
19:36
They will shine their flashlight on the 300 foot mountain and it is 300, and it is much brighter than mine.
19:46
And all of a sudden, I don't really like my flashlight anymore. All of a sudden, the budget, when
19:54
I talk with Rachel, includes a line item for flashlights. And then
19:59
I go hunting and I've got my flashlight and then Evan shines his and we can see a deer in the dark. And then
20:04
I need that. Do you know that my flashlight that I had previously can still shine the exact same amount of lumens?
20:13
It's still the exact same product. It did not change. What changed? My mind received new information that made that less valuable and something else more valuable.
20:26
And this can be a horrific thing and a beautiful thing. Let's start with the horrific thing. There are some of us in this room, that's how you are with the things of this world.
20:37
Not just with silly flashlights. It is never enough for you. Sin is never enough for you.
20:44
You always need more. You spend so much time, effort, and money on things that will pass away, on your bodies, on the rental
20:57
God has given you for 70 years, and you don't think about the thing that's lasting in eternity, and you waste your life never being satisfied and always needing more.
21:13
And you will look back and realize that is a wasted life. So let me give you an alternative.
21:22
How do I desire the things of God more than the things of this world? You must feed your mind the necessary information so that you can finally see how valuable
21:38
He is. How worthy He is. That word worthy, worth it.
21:45
When you see how valuable Jesus is, in comparison to all these other things that don't matter, that will rot in the ground.
21:55
You will realize and wake up and realize you've been living in the matrix, and you have been spending your whole life chasing something that doesn't matter and won't last.
22:07
But until you receive the necessary information that will properly let you value how much something is worth, you will keep valuing the pig slop more than you will the meal inside.
22:21
You will be the prodigal, outside on your face, eating after the pigs and saying it tastes good, because you have no idea what's inside the house, because you won't go in.
22:34
If you feed your mind the necessary information in God's Word, if you just get to know
22:42
His Word, you will finally be able to wake up and value things for what they really are.
22:50
And you will love God more than you love the things that are passing away. But until you receive the information from the
22:59
Word, until you get to know God the way He told you to get to know Him, you will keep devaluing Him.
23:06
And our job as Christians is to magnify God. Not like a microscope.
23:12
A microscope makes little things appear bigger than they really are. But like a telescope that makes things that are huge really look like the size they really are.
23:22
I want to magnify God by making Him appear as big as He really is. And valuing
23:28
Him appropriately for how much He is worth. You know, we sing all glory and honor, wisdom and power to you alone.
23:37
But in our own lives, some of us seem that we value everything else more than that.
23:44
Everything else. And until you receive the proper information of how valuable He is, you're never going to be able to even realize what you're doing.
23:52
The reason to feed on the
23:59
Word is so that your mind can make influential decisions and tell your will how much something is worth.
24:09
And then, you will quit eating the ramen bricks and you will finally realize the feast that is before you.
24:16
And valuing Jesus more than anything else. One of the reasons you did not have what you prayed for is because you asked for it with the wrong intentions.
24:25
Because your passions are still set on valuing things more than Jesus. Does that make sense to everybody?
24:32
Would this altar be full today? Because there's some of us in this room right now that are still valuing everything else more than Jesus.
24:42
And you will continue to give those other things more of your attention, more of your money, more of your time, more of your thoughts, more of your dreams, more of everything than Jesus.
24:53
Because you do not value Him because you don't have the proper information. You are the guy walking into Pawn Stars with a watch and you don't know how valuable it is and you'll trade it away for a trinket.
25:04
You're that guy. Because you don't realize how valuable it is. Reason number four.
25:12
You have unconfessed unrepentant sin that you are holding on to. Isaiah 59 .2
25:18
says, Your iniquities have built a barrier between you and your God so He does not hear you.
25:24
And I'm afraid some of us just heard me quote that wrong. Not so He cannot hear you.
25:31
He does not hear you. Let me read that again. Isaiah 52, excuse me, 59 .2
25:37
Your iniquities have built a barrier between you and your God so He does not hear you.
25:43
Not He can't. He chooses not to. Is Lucy Burkhead here? Man, that was my example.
25:52
Okay, I'll think of somebody else. We all can picture Lucy. We all know Lucy, right? We love Lucy. Let's say that Lucy walks up to Marissa and slaps her in the face and says give me $20 right now.
26:10
Just smacks her in the face and says hurry up and give me the $20 you owe me. Marissa, how would that go over?
26:17
At least not for her, right? Some of us have unrepentant sin before God Almighty.
26:26
Like you're just smacking them in the face and then you ask Him for $20. And then you complain that He hasn't answered your prayers.
26:38
Is that your attitude towards anybody else or anything else? Now, here's the difference.
26:46
I didn't say with any sin for none of us could ever pray for anything. I said with unrepentant unconfessed sin.
26:54
You have not even begun to lay that at the altar of Jesus and say God, I don't want to do this anymore. I want to value you more than I value it.
27:02
Some of us are comfortable in our sin. And let me tell you, that scares me.
27:08
That scares me. And we've been over it so many times. Pastor Jermiah, Pastor Jeff, have been over this so many times.
27:17
My fear is not for people that are struggling with sin. Remember, what does struggle mean?
27:25
To fight. My fear is with those that are swimming in it and are at total peace with it.
27:32
I fear for your soul. I fear for your soul. That is not the marker of a
27:39
Christian in the Scriptures. And that would include, unfortunately, I think some in this room, that if your life ended today, you would drop forever in the abyss of hell because you love your sin more than you love
27:52
Jesus. And here's the difference between a follower of Jesus and that. Oh, they still have their sin.
27:59
But you know what? They hold on to it a little less tightly than they did five years ago.
28:06
They do it a little less because they've surrounded themselves with the Scripture, with prayer, and with people that will hold them to a standard.
28:14
And all of a sudden, it's starting to not taste as good anymore. All of a sudden, they're leaving it behind a little more and loving
28:20
Jesus a little more. And we can see a progression in that heart and that mind, and Jesus says,
28:26
I'm pleased with that. Do you know the Scripture says that you can please the
28:32
Almighty God? One of the most comforting phrases in the whole Bible to me is that creature is made from dirt.
28:44
We have nothing to offer Him. Nothing He needs or wants.
28:50
And yet, can please Him with our measly efforts to obey Him. Make Him happy.
28:57
Make Him joyful. He'll say, well done. Good job.
29:05
We can please that God. That's amazing to me. And that is absolutely wondrous to me.
29:15
Unconfessed sin. David prays, God, forgive me of the sin
29:21
I know about and of the sins I don't know about. Forgive me of both. And make me aware of them so I can get rid of them.
29:31
If anyone else had that wrong against you and asked you for money, you would want that made right first, wouldn't you?
29:40
It is the same with God. Before I pray for petitions,
29:46
I first pray for forgiveness. Number five, you haven't worked for it.
29:53
Let's look again in Matthew. Let's look again. He says, ask and it will be given.
30:01
Seek and you will find. Maybe some of us are asking and enough of us are seeking.
30:08
You've asked for something and haven't gone and looked for it yet. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.
30:15
Knock and the door will be open. We can do more on that another day. I need to have enough time to do the last two points.
30:22
Would you turn with me please to Psalm 84? Psalm 84. This is reason number six.
30:27
You don't need it. Now you say, Josiah, I feel like I need what
30:33
I'm praying for. Well, sometimes we may feel that way, but in reality we don't need what we're praying for.
30:42
Let's read Psalm 84. This is one of your homework questions for all of us that will be doing this this week.
30:49
What homework questions? The ones on the back I told you about in the beginning. You can do this here.
30:55
Psalm 84, 10 through 12. There are many of you that I have read this with for a few weeks now.
31:03
I love this passage. For a day, I'm in verse 10 of Psalm 84, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand somewhere else.
31:16
Let me read that again. For one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I'd rather be a doorman in the house of my
31:24
God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For Yahweh God is a sun and shield.
31:31
Yahweh bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk in integrity.
31:42
Yahweh of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. Let me read that again. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk in integrity.
31:53
Now, walking in integrity, seeking first the kingdom of God and his, not second, not third, not fourth, seeking first the kingdom of God, not
32:01
Josiah, not Robert, not Mike, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things will be added.
32:10
But for those who are walking in integrity, read it with me, he withholds no good thing from them.
32:19
So if I don't have it, it's not good yet. Now, it may appear good to me, but for a reason known to God alone, it's not good yet, and I can accept that.
32:31
I can accept that a sovereign God knows more about what I desire than me. And I can accept that it will happen when he's ready.
32:39
But until it does, we do not serve a God who does not want us to be satisfied in him.
32:47
We not serve a God who wants to withhold things that we desire. We serve a
32:53
God who loves to give good gifts to his children. We serve a
32:59
God who loves, delights in giving good gifts to his children. So if I don't have it yet, it's not good yet.
33:09
It's not good yet. And I am satisfied that the almighty God can know that better than I.
33:17
And I don't have to know why. The God who created all things also governs my life.
33:23
And I can be satisfied in knowing that it will happen when he's ready. And our last passage, 1 Peter 5, if you would please.
33:30
Almost at the very back of the Bible. We have been going through 1
33:35
Peter in Sunday night Bible study. We've been at it for three weeks, which means we're at verse 12 of chapter 1.
33:42
So, chapter 5 we'll get there in a few months,
33:47
I'm sure. 1 Peter 5, verse 6.
33:55
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
34:09
Some of your Bibles will say in due time, at the appropriate time. Maybe this is how some of us read it.
34:19
Maybe this is how some of our attitudes are. Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God so at my time he can lift me up because he lives to serve me because I'm really
34:33
God and he's the get off the throne that I created. Maybe that's how some of our attitudes are towards God.
34:41
But what the Scripture says is humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God and in due time, at the proper time, at the appointed time, at the time that is most necessary for my sanctification, at the time where he is working all things up to the counsel of his will, at that time he will lift me up.
35:09
At that time. And I trust that when the Scripture says he works all things according to the counsel of his will that includes what
35:18
I'm praying for. Why do
35:24
I not have my prayers answered? Number one, we haven't consistently asked for it. Number two, we have a lack of faith that God can or will do what we've asked.
35:35
Number three, we haven't asked for it with the right intentions, the right desires.
35:42
Number four, we have unconfessed, unrepentant sin we are holding on to. Number five, we haven't worked for it.
35:47
Number six, we don't need it. Number seven, we just don't need it yet. It will happen when he wants us to.
35:54
In summary, I ask that when we all pray, we get our desires right first.
36:01
Maybe some of you, that mindset of I don't know how to desire the things of God.
36:10
I beg you to remember what the Scripture says. When it says grow in the knowledge of him.
36:18
Philippians 1 9, I'll just quote this here. It says,
36:24
I pray this, that your love will keep on growing in blank and blank.
36:31
Now, we're going to fill in the blank today. You ready? Philippians 1 9 says, your love will keep on growing in two things.
36:38
In two things. Now, if I were to give a pop quiz to every Christian on this planet today, and I said, the
36:43
Bible says your love grows by these two ways. I wonder how many would get this right.
36:51
Your love grows, Bible says, Ricky, do you know? No, but that's an excellent thing to do and I love you.
37:03
The Bible says, your love grows by knowledge and discernment.
37:11
Knowledge and discernment. And some of you, especially those of us who have only an emotional view of love, cannot understand how it can grow by knowledge.
37:24
Brandon taught a marriage class, a communication marriage class this last year.
37:31
And one of the things he pointed out, quite rightly, is that one of the reasons he loves
37:37
Sarah now more than he did when they first got married is because he knows her better now. His love has grown by more knowledge.
37:46
You see, the Bible says, our love grows by knowledge and every kind of discernment.
37:52
Maybe for some of us, the reason that your love for God is not growing is because you don't really know Him. Or you haven't gotten to know
37:58
Him any better since the day He called you. This is how you know who He is, what
38:04
He loves and what He hates. This is how you know what He desires. Your love grows by knowledge and discernment.
38:12
And that's how your desires change too. Alright, we're about to wrap up.
38:18
The music people may come, Carla or whoever's doing that, Hunter. But I want to end with a challenge for some of us.
38:26
I said this a couple weeks ago and I don't think I said it right or I think it fell on deaf ears or whatever. But in the mindset of prayer and in the mindset of the election that Pastor Jeff brought up,
38:37
I want to end with this. The Scripture says in 1
38:43
Timothy chapter 2 to pray for your leaders. The Scripture says in 1
38:50
Peter chapter 3 to honor the Emperor. While our
39:04
President has fallen short quite a bit these past four years. Is that a fair way to put it?
39:11
When Peter wrote that, Nero was the Emperor. One of the most egotistical, blood thirsty people to ever rule
39:22
Rome. And Peter said of them, honor the Emperor. 1
39:28
Timothy 2 verse 2 says pray for your leaders. How many of y 'all obeyed that the past four years? Now how many of you feel no conviction about that?
39:39
There are some of you lying right now. The good news is the altar is wide enough that today when we repent, you can come up here and repent of that as well.
39:47
And here's why. Ladies and gentlemen, our current President, quite frankly is kind of an embarrassing representative for us amongst the nations.
39:59
Yes? But he is by his physical and cognitive abilities, quite close to meeting his creator.
40:11
He will be meeting him much sooner than most of us in this room. Yeah? He has a lot to answer for.
40:20
I would see him saved. Our current new
40:26
President, may we never be a people that loves what he can do for my wallet more than where his soul is going.
40:40
May we never be a people that cares more about what he can do for me financially, which is great, than where he will spend eternity.
40:51
And for the two or three of you that still make a case for that man being a Christian, I would just simply point out this.
40:57
If he were a member of this church, he would be under church discipline and probably removed from membership. Now, that doesn't make somebody a bad
41:05
President. But I want his soul to come to know the
41:11
Saving Lord. And if we had a church praying for that more than we did what he can do with the economy, what could
41:19
God do with that man's repentance? You ever thought about that? Probably not, because you're more worried about what he can do for your 401k.
41:28
What could God do with that man's repentance? With for the first time in his life, him being,
41:36
I don't think he knows how to spell this word, humble. I challenge all of us, this time around, let us pray for our
41:48
President more than we make fun of him. Yeah? Now, if you have failed in that the past four years, which since only four people raised their hand, that would be almost everyone, today is the day of repentance.
42:03
Today is the day of repentance. If that offends you, then you have two things to repent for.
42:09
One of pride and one for not praying for him. I, myself, have been guilty of that.
42:15
I have corrected course the past few months. Our nation, yes,
42:22
I want to see our nation become prosperous again. I want to see our nation become safe again.