The Morning Watch — Jim Cymbala

How many would like to have an absolute new 2016 but even starting like tomorrow. How many are looking forward to change positive change? I'll care for your deacon. I'm lifting my hand because I need it.

Faith Comes by Hearing the Word of God

So if we'll take in what I'm about to say Everything in your life will change. Oh, that sounds very boastful. No, no, no. Everything in your life will change everything. We're recommending something that will help you streams in the desert.

Why it drives you to the Word of God. Because you need faith. And how do you get faith more faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You don't got faith by trying to have faith. Faith is produced by the seed of the word.

You don't have to hope a rose bush will grow. You put the right seed in and it produces rose bush. But there's something else that goes with it. This is the missing element in a lot of Christians lives.

Salvation Through Faith in Jesus Christ

The Bible tells us that you don't become a Christian by being a Catholic or being a Protestant or coming to the Brooklyn Tabernacle or by buying the books of some favorite writer minister. The only way you become a Christian and Have your sins forgiven and know where you're going to spend eternity is by having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

You confess your sins. Because you be get convicted of them as you hear the gospel the good news. You realize you're undone that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus to die. Why. Because we needed an atonement we needed someone as a substitute to take the punishment.

That is do all of us for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When you put your faith in Jesus, you are born again. When you have that experience. When you draw a line and the sand in your life, it happens in a moment you pass from death to life spiritual life from darkness to light.

That's too humbling for a lot of us, but that's the way God has laid it out. You don't try to live a good life. People who live a good life don't go to heaven. People who have put their faith in Jesus go to heaven who have been forgiven and have mercy shown them.

The Peace, Joy, and Guidance Promised to God's Children

And then there's the promise of peace and joy the blessing of God the shalom of God. There's guidance promised by God to all his children not to everyone but to his children. He promises peace. Not like the world gives but a supernatural piece that no matter what's rocking and rolling around us.

He says I'll keep you steady. I'll give you peace. Movie stars athletes millionaires billionaires. They don't have peace automatically. They have financial security which can be gone in a second, but peace.

Only Jesus gives that he's the prince of peace. He promised us joy. Instead of depression instead of agitation anxiety. He promised peace instead of depression. He's promised us joy. He's promised to lead us and guide us.

So we make decisions in 2016 we won't be doing it by our limited intelligence, which never knows what's around the bend. You know life has a lot of surprises. God knows the beginning from the end. He can guide us.

Don't you want to be guided by God in the new year not make wrong decisions? Don't you want his blessing on you? Well, the fact of the matter is that a lot of Christians who go to church on Sunday are born again.

Living Below Our Spiritual Privileges

They have been forgiven their life has been transformed. But they're not living with one-tenth of what God wants for them. That's a fact. Some are lukewarm. Some are cold. Some are just filled with formalism go to church, but that early vibrancy they once had it's petered out.

So we live way below our privileges. We're the child of a king, but we live like paupers. We can have all the things that are promised us in the Bible instead of rivers. We're just got a little spigot and we're trying to wait for a drop to come on our tongue.

Why? Well Many of us are away from the Word of God. We don't read the Word of God. We don't study the Word of God. Thus faith fails. Our faith gets thin gets weak not vibrant not strong because we think well.

You just have an experience with the Lord receive him. Then you go to church whenever you can on Sundays and then and then it should all work out. But it doesn't because life isn't live Sunday by Sunday.

It's live day by day and Church is not a gas station where you go in you fill up and now you're you know. Total machando be in for the next week. No, it doesn't work that way. Now when you study the Word of God you find out that that great element.

Prayer and the Word as Means of Grace

That makes men and women stand out in the Bible and then carries on into church history. All the outstanding men and women of God they were from different countries different colors. Believed doctrinally a little bit different weren't agreed on every nuance of doctrine.

But one thing for every man or woman that ever influenced a lot of people was they were people of prayer. They were people of prayer. Nobody ever has been used by God who wasn't a person who practiced prayer talking to God and Because they did they drank in much more than the next guy down the block.

Because the word and prayer prayer and the word are the two Foundations once you become a Christian where you they're called means of grace. All the things that God has for us come through these channels the word and prayer prayer and the word and there to be mesh Together so if I recommended the book Streams in the desert to you, which we're going to read together, which will drive us to the Word of God every day.

Let's talk about the other. David of course is known as a great man of prayer because most of his Psalms are Prayers of some kind or another they're not teachings their prayers. He's talking to God. Paul's praise in the New Testament and the clincher of what I'm going to say is not though just that David prayed and Paul prayed and Dio Moody prayed and General Booth and mrs. Booth prayed and all these people that God has wonderfully used but Jesus prayed.

Jesus and the Disciples on Prayer

Jesus got up every morning and he prayed. Enough said the Son of the Living God with no fall in nature like you and me no selfish tendencies. Sinful tendencies that you and I have inherited all the way down from Adam Jesus the Son of the Father the one who God said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.

He prayed and the disciples never said to him. Lord teach us to preach. Teach us how to study the word. No, but what did they say to him Lord teach us to pray? They knew that something about his time with the father was the key to whatever was going on.

David's Morning Psalm

So now we're gonna look at a daily kind of prayer that I want to see us do every single day starting tomorrow. Starting tomorrow. I want us to open our hearts now and say just like the Word of God is important.

I want to take a departure now in my spiritual walk. Show me how to do it pastor Symbola from the Word of God because you need it to pastor Symbola. I do amen. So let's look at it. Psalm 5. I have it first in the Good News Bible.

Listen to my words. Oh Lord and hear my sighs. Listen to my cry for help my God and King. I pray to you. Oh Lord. You hear my voice in the morning at sunrise. I offer my prayer and wait for your answer.

This psalm is attributed to David and it's called a morning psalm. And it's also called by some versions a prayer for deliverance or protection. Notice the urgency that's in it. Notice how he talks now to God notice.

There's no preamble. There's no religious verbiage. It's let's get to the point. I listen to my words. Oh Lord and hear my sighs. Listen to my cry for help my God and King. I pray to you. Oh Lord, you hear my voice in the morning at sunrise.

Same word as in the morning. They just changed it for variety. You hear my voice in the morning at sunrise. I offer my prayer and I wait for your answer. Now look at the NIV same three verses. Listen to my words Lord consider my lament.

Hear my cry for help my King and my God for to you. I pray in the morning Lord you hear my voice in the morning. Notice that's emphasis in the Hebrew whenever a word is repeated. That means emphasis. Like we would put italics or put it in caps in the Hebrew poetry and language.

Repetition is for emphasis in the morning Lord. You hear my voice in the morning. I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. So let's see what the secret was. So we can learn for ourselves of this special man of God David.

Praying with Urgency and Sincerity

How did he pray? Just three things and we leave number one. Notice that he prayed with urgency. He prayed from his heart not from Sukha. Vesa from Sukha. That's own. He prayed from his heart. Notice the words.

I cry to you. Consider my King James has it poorly. Meditation. It means groaning or sighing. It's a Hebrew word. That means have you ever felt so overwhelmed by something that you couldn't even verbalize it.

You just kind of brooded over it. You saw your daughter in trouble or your son or a grandchild sick and it was so moving on you. You're just kind of like oh. So this is no nice neat. Clever presentation to God of some sentences.

This is from his guts. All prayer that's effective has to come from the heart when we pray with our heart. We reach the heart of God. Heart touches heart. I Sigh, I cry to you. Hear my groaning. I cry out loud to you.

You'll hear my words. Notice his whole being is into this. So This is important for us. When we pray it's got to come from our heart, too. But let's go on before we apply it to ourselves. He prayed with urgency.

Why if you read the rest of it people are after him. He has enemies. So as he goes before the Lord He kind of opens his heart and he searches and he says so what's really facing me today, you know. Every day is different some days.

Brandon has it's cool. It's fine. He's got needs. We all have needs every day. But then there's other days when the roof comes in the bottom falls out. Am I correct? We hear news that breaks our heart that's different that day but whatever the day brings David is before the Lord and he's looking at his priority needs and he's bringing it before the Lord and he feels.

What he's praying he's not making it up in his head. He's not going through prayer by rote. He's not copying how somebody else prayed. You can't copy anybody else's praying. You got to pray yourself. Number two.

Making Prayer a Daily Habit

Notice that he did it every morning. It was a habit. He's saying in the morning. You're gonna hear my voice in the morning. I'll order my requests before you. The word there is. The same word that's used for the priest who in the morning some commentators believe it's a reference to that in the morning in the tabernacle.

There would be the wood. Arranged early early why. Because the sacrifice was going to come the morning sacrifice which was prescribed by God. So that word the priest would order the wood and put it in a certain way like in Argentina where I've been 30 sometimes in my life they have something called the asado where they cook a half a cow or a quarter of a cow and They arrange the wood in a certain way the gout shows the wood is on.

The fire and they put sticks and now the meat is there and they turn it. It's like a science. You just sit there and drink mate and watch them cooking the beef for hours done that so many times. But it's all careful.

David is saying in the morning every morning not one morning every morning. I'm going to arrange my requests Before you because every day is a little bit different, isn't it? So he prayed with intensity and urgency.

About things that he really felt not just here number two. He did it every day. He made a habit of it. How do you make a habit? How do you break a bad habit? How do you make a good habit? Habits are part of forming character.

Listen and act. Repeated enough becomes a habit. Good habits combine change your character. How do you get a habit you do it once? Then you do it again. Then it's still a little strange you do it the third time.

Then you do it the tenth time then you do it the 20th time by the 30th time. When you wake up in the morning, you have to do it now. It's a habit. I Could no more make it through a day without opening the Word of God.

Then I could lay on a bed of nails. Why. Because I've developed habits over the years every single day I am in the Word of God. Why. Because at the beginning when I didn't have that habit I did it then you repeat it then you repeat it then you repeat it now.

It's a habit. Did you know I have the craziest habit? I just noticed it the other day lighting a candle for my wife. When I was in the fourth grade fifth grade or someplace. Someone showed a film. I can see myself as a little kid and They said that if you light a match and you don't make sure it's out and you throw it.

It could look like it's out. But then it could become combustible and change and then light get on fire in the garbage where you put it, right? So the person said the teacher said, you know when you light a match.

You should run it under some water. That thing got in me. That to this day I Can light a match and candles. I love nice smelling candles. I Can light a match? There's no way I could throw that in the garbage.

It could be out for 10 minutes. I still can't put it in the garbage. I'm gonna go to the sink and I'm gonna run water on it. I cannot physically do that. I have formed a habit and you can have bad habits.

How are bad habits form you do something? That's not good. Then you do it again. Then you do it again under the same circumstances still not a habit then you do it again and down the road now. It's a habit now.

It'll grip you for good or for bad. So David had this godly habit like Jesus said when you pray go into your closet make that a habit get alone. David is saying every single morning. You're gonna hear from me because I need you and I'm gonna lay before you what I need.

Daily Dependence on God

Lastly David says not only do we see urgency. Not only do we see habitual regularity every single day. Remember the Christian life can only live be lived on a daily basis. I don't care if an angel came to your house today sat down and had a meal with you.

The next day you're gonna need Jesus again. You can call all your friends tonight, I don't believe it an angel came sat with me. What an experience by the time you wake up the next morning you need the Lord.

That's why the Lord taught us to pray give us this day our what? Not our weekly bread. Many of us are weak and frail and miss out on blessings because we don't live daily. We live weekly monthly. Some people come to church twice a year imagine their life.

They never open the word they never but what happens if you did that to your body. What if you just ate once a week? None of us are gonna eat just once a week. Why. Because no I need my food today. Some people if you unless they have coffee in the morning, you don't not want to talk to them.

Am I correct? Why because daily we live daily. Last thing David says with urgency. I'll pray regularly and then I will look up. And I will be expecting the answer. How few of us do that? The word that's used there is the same word that was used for a prophet.

Who would go and get alone to wait to see what the Lord would say to him. Prophets were called seers s e e r s and they would get alone someplace and go and they would say no. I got to leave all the people.

I got to leave them. I got to go up and see what God will say to me. God's gonna say something to me. God's gonna help me. I got to look up and wait now for God. So David says every single morning. I'm gonna pray.

I'm gonna do it from my heart. Not my head only. I'm gonna pray regularly and then I'm gonna be expecting you that very day. To answer the thing I brought before you because Jesus said when you pray believe.

Have faith. Expected so let me close. Can't we start to do that? I Enjoy you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you want everything he has for you? Don't you want blessings and power and peace and joy?

Don't you want to discover callings and gifts that you don't even know are on your life. They're gonna come by this kind of practice that David gives us here. So tomorrow morning this is practical now, I'm gonna talk like a teacher Tomorrow morning.

Beginning the Morning Watch Before Other Activities

I'm not telling you when but you know what you got to do it first thing. You got to do it first thing. You know, there's a saying among people Great men and women of God. They always talk to God before they would ever talk to anybody else.

That's not a bad practice. How many are with me? Talk to God before you talk to anyone else because no matter what that person says to you won't be as important as what you talk into God about. Before you read the newspaper before you text anybody before you check your emails.

See everything in our world now works against the thing that I'm talking about because we get up ding ding. I talked to people that I read about people who are so addicted their phones. They sleep with them.

They sleep with their phone. Oh that got conviction here. Some of you're sleeping right with that phone right there, right? That's your little baby. No sleep with God don't sleep with your phone. So listen.

Before you check anything. What's more important than what we're talking about? I don't care who text you. I wouldn't care who emailed you. Let's take time. How much time? Well you decide that and It'll be decided by God if you'll just start to do it.

What do I mean by that? I'm not telling you that if you don't spend an hour with God, you're not praying. That's all legalism and fake spiritualism. Person has to do it with their heart. You can't do it just to do it.

Bringing the Day's Needs Before God

But you take time and what you do is you lay before God. Sometimes what I do and I I encourage you. What are you facing that day? Let's say there's no super emergency, but you're gonna have to face people go to work.

Do you need traveling mercies you're going on an interview? You got to make decisions. You got to get along with that co-worker who just drives you nuts. God give me patience. The other day I sat down for a dinner with someone within 30 seconds.

I want to get up and leave. That's the truth before God and there was such a bad vibe at the table. I said I am out of here because I was exhausted. The Lord reminded me love is patient. And I sat down.

I had to pray for his grace. But can't we all sit down and say or what's facing us. Do you have a wayward daughter. You got a wayward son. You're concerned about changing jobs. Have you lost your job?

You got a family member who's sick? What what are the things that affect you? What are the things on your heart? You got to take time and survey the land and not be rushing and just praying and Lord help me and our Father good.

Hallelujah. Praise God because you're on the throne. God praise God. Amen. That's not praying. That's just religious verbiage. Wait and talk plain don't copy anyone. Don't use thou. What is thee who inhabits that corridors of eternity?

Don't worry about that. Just talk to him. Come on. Are you with me? Can we put our hands together? We talked to God. We're gonna talk to him. How about your children, how about your grandchildren, right?

Come on who's in your heart. Who do you care about you care about a sick child you care about? Somebody who you know is in trouble. Oh my goodness just get quiet and Survey your life and then start bringing it to the Lord from your heart and talk to him.

And if you have nothing to say from your heart, then be quiet and just wait. He might bring something to your remembrance, but whatever it is. Tell him about it talk to him about it and you don't need a lot of introductory words.

Just God hear me today. I Praise you. I love you. I mean David prayed with confidence because he said you are my God and my king. That's all he could say, but we are able to say our father which art in heaven.

You're not just my God and my king. You're my father what father wouldn't care about his children. What father would not listen to his children. Well, I'm not in the place. I ought to be what father turns away a child because they've been naughty or disobedient.

No father no mother. In fact, you give them even more love when they've messed up. You have mercy on them. So don't let the devil get these ideas in your head to keep you away from the morning watch going before God and saying God.

This is what I'm facing today, or this is what's on my heart and it'll change these things change. I had a great friend who's a author and preacher and he used to tell me was president of a Bible school at one time.

And he told me every morning he would pray through his day. You know he had an agenda for the day who he's gonna meet how to raise money how to go here how to prepare that how to talk To the students and he would just pray through the whole day.

All right God. So this afternoon at 3 o 'clock Oh God, I got to speak at the convocation. Oh Lord. Help me there. Give me the word that you have. Listen, just Just talk to God about what you're concerned about.

Prayer Is Not a Desperate Gamble

Number two do it every day. Do it every day now, that'll be hard for some of us. But remember how a habit is made one act repeated another act repeated and act and act. It's still a little strange. It's still a little you know, then act and act.

I Remember I can see myself now in a gym. How old was I and I was the point guard and the coach would yell at me look up when you're dribbling. See who's free and I would sometimes it was little I'd be dribbling and I had my head down.

But the problem is when you're dribbling and your head is down. You can't see who's open all around you because you're looking down. So he say look up and he'd yell at me yank me on the sideline make me do push-ups.

I told you to look up then he actually got glasses. That were plastic on the bottom so you couldn't look down and He would make me dribble and the other guys dribble and we dribble up and we couldn't look at the ball because was blocked.

You Could only look up here and then you're going back this way with your left hand and you're dribbling and you're doing all of that. My goodness after doing that for a week. I never looked down at a basketball again in my life.

Why. Because you make a habit. A Repeated act over and over becomes a habit and then the first thing in the morning. You can't wait to get along with your father. Oh father. Do I have to talk to you about a lot of things this morning?

That's all it is talking to your father about what you need. Not you gotta pray. No, we have the privilege. How many counted a privilege that we could talk to our father? And He's the one who invites us as I close.

He's the one who says call upon me in the day of trouble. Listen ask and you shall receive. Seek and you'll find knock. It will be open in the day of trouble. Call upon me. And I will show you great and mighty things that you've never heard.

Jesus said men ought always to pray and not give up. Do it each morning. Talk from your heart. And then I'm telling you just this week I have seen God as I was preparing for this message. I said God you got to take me deeper.

I've been looking up and expecting now God you're gonna do what I'm asking. You know in football at the end of the game. They throw a pass and they call it disrespectful really to people of a Catholic faith.

They call it a Hail Mary. In other words, you just throw a pass and you hope maybe somehow. You know you throw it 60 yards and maybe something good will happen, but prayer is not supposed to be Hail Mary.

Let's hope this works. It's supposed to be father. Thank you for hearing me. I know you're gonna help me today the very things I've talked about now. I'm waiting to see what you're gonna do and Then peace and joy and guidance and blessings that you've never known.

Pass simple. I'm not sure about that. Thank you for being honest. Then why don't you do this? Try it. You'll like it. Try it. If you think I'm full of hot air, I've given you God's Word. Try it tomorrow.

Spiritual Opposition to a Life of Prayer

And if the devil fights you for sure, I told you the right thing. Because if anything the devil hates try it in your own life. He didn't like when we read the Bible, but how many know when we make up our minds?

We're gonna talk to God all hell breaks loose. You'll be distracted tomorrow. You'll sit down and you'll have thoughts come in your head that you hadn't had for a week. How many have ever had that happen right distracting thoughts.

The phone will ring just shut off everything just mush it all up. And just say I'm gonna get alone. I'm gonna get alone and I'm gonna talk to my father. Close your eyes with me. You know what some people can't wait till tomorrow.

Inviting the Burdened to Pray

I'm gonna dismiss you now, but for some you can't wait till tomorrow because you got some heavy things on you. Robbing you of peace and joy. You got to talk to Jesus right now. I must tell Jesus. I Must tell Jesus.

If you would like as I dismiss this meeting to just spend a few minutes here in the front with me. Just get out of your seat right now. There's one person two people five people just pastor. That was for me because I'm carrying this thing and it's too heavy for me.

Just absolutely too heavy. It's too heavy. Just get out of your seat and come here to the front. Thank you. Come down from the balcony, I just want to say a prayer over you then we'll dismiss together.

A Covenant to Begin Each Day with God

But we're all gonna make a covenant here with the Lord today by his grace everybody in the building stand and Because we all need this join hands with the person next to you just reach out left and right.

First I want to pray for everyone in general for all of us starting with me. Let's pray together father God. I ask you today To take these words in Scripture and put it in our hearts. That we might imitate those who imitate Jesus.

Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. You got up to pray. You laid your needs before the father you looked up with expectancy. You walked with confidence and peace and spiritual Equilibrium because You had spent time with the father nothing could rattle you because you had been with your father.

Prayer for Strength, Burdens, and Godly Habits

I Pray that you'll help all of us Lord that starting today tomorrow new habits will be made this special habit of Starting the day with you. Laying out our needs to you praying from our heart. Giving you the hard things.

Giving you the big things the little things all the things. Give us grace to do that. We know we're in a spiritual battle warfare is going on but even in Ephesians Lord You told us after all the armor is put on and then pray at all times with all kinds of prayer and pray in the spirit.

So that we can be strong in you and in the power of your might. I pray for my friends that are in the front. I Reach out my hands over them and I pray in the name of Jesus that you will meet their needs.

They're laying it out before you now. They're telling you what they need right now Lord. You know that main thing that they need that heavy burden thing Lord that thing that breaks their heart and weighs them down.

I Pray now in the name of Jesus Father. That you will lift that burden and begin to make a way where there's no way open the door that nobody can shut and Shut that door that should not be open. Get rid of it.

Get rid of those people that pull them down get rid of that wrong relationship. Get rid of that break that habit now in Jesus name. We ask that bad habit to be broken and for you to instill in us by your grace godly habits godly habits.

Now we ask your blessing on all of us this last Sunday of 2015. Thank you for all your blessings, but boy God we are looking forward to the new year. We're looking forward to today tomorrow what great things you're gonna do we're looking up.

We're not looking down. We're not depressed. We're optimistic. We're full of faith. For the best is yet to come in all of our lives. If you believe that put your hands together. Let's clap them real loud.

I Love you all. Turn around and hug somebody and say Happy New Year to them. Would you right now? God bless you.