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I heard a story this week, but when I investigate it, I always like to check out and make sure

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a story actually happened, because sometimes you hear stories and it's questionable whether

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it actually took place.

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I heard it this week, but it was actually back in 2021.

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And it was about a mountain in Colorado, which apparently is the highest peak, the highest

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mountain in Colorado, Mount Elbert, the highest peak there.

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And it happened one morning that someone set out to hike this mountain.

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And apparently it's not a challenging hike.

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You don't necessarily need ropes or things like that.

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But as you can imagine, there is a great elevation change.

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And so the hike should take about seven hours for an average hiker.

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And so the hiker set out in the early morning to hike up this mountain.

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And about eight o'clock that night, so 12 hours later, the search and rescue team got

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called.

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My husband hasn't checked in.

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He hasn't returned.

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We're not sure where he is.

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And so the search and rescue gathered their personnel and they sent out a team of about

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five people to hike that trail.

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They saw where his car was.

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They hiked up the trail.

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They called out the name.

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They went to the top.

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They came back at about 3 a.m.

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So basically all night they're like, okay, we're going to rest and we'll start again

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in the morning.

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And so the next morning the sun came up.

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Those five plus others begun the search process for the missing hiker.

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And it was probably about nine or 10 that morning that here comes the hiker down the

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trail back to his car, back to the parking lot.

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And it turned out that he had got disoriented on the trail.

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He had found a place to sleep overnight.

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And in the morning he was able to find the trail and get, thankfully, safely back to

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his car.

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That probably happens more often than we might imagine.

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But the reason that this story kind of stood out is because over the night this missing

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hiker had received numerous phone calls from the search and rescue personnel.

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They'd called him.

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They'd reached out to him.

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But he did not answer because he didn't recognize the number.

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It was an unknown caller.

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It was an unknown number.

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And so he didn't answer the phone.

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He made it back safely.

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But the Lake County search and rescue team, they posted, they said, if you're overdue

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according to your itinerary and you start getting repeated calls from an unknown number,

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please answer the phone.

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It may be the search and rescue team trying to confirm that you're safe.

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This story had a good ending, a happy ending.

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But sometimes we think we know the big picture.

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We think we know everything that's going on.

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And yet perhaps there's a detail.

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It may seem small.

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It may seem insignificant.

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And yet if we don't heed the call, if we don't answer, we're missing out on something very,

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very vital.

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So if you're lost, answer the phone.

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And if God is asking you to do something, answer the call.

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So we're going to begin today in the book of Revelation.

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We're going to go to Revelation chapter 5.

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And I just want to prepare you the first little bit.

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We're going to go through several Bible verses.

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They'll be on the screen.

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But as always, I encourage you to look them up.

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But we're going to be kind of tracing a theme through scripture.

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So we may be looking at a few more Bible texts than we normally do.

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But we're going to start in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 8.

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Revelation 5 and verse 8.

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Now this is a, we don't have time to get into all the details of Revelation.

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But Revelation and Daniel, which we've been studying on Wednesday night down at the hub.

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So if seven o'clock on Wednesday you're free, come down and join us.

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We're studying on the 3 this week.

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There'll be some amazing snacks from the Weiser family.

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So come out, bring somebody with you.

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But Revelation and Daniel often look at the big pictures.

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They look at, you know, the dragon.

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They look at prophecies.

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They look at the second coming.

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They look at three angels message.

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But also in Revelation and Daniel, they talk about some maybe smaller things within those

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books.

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But within the Christian life, it's something very vital.

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So I want to read here Revelation 5 verse 8.

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It says, now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders

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fell down before the lamb, each having a harp.

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And here's what we're looking at today.

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And golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

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The prayers of the saints.

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And if you turn over just a page or two to Revelation chapter 8, it's a similar theme.

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It says, then another angel, this is Revelation 8 verse 3, another angel having a golden censer

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came and stood at the altar.

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He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon

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the golden altar, which was before the throne.

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And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the

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angel's hand.

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So what's going on here?

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Well, this is kind of an image, a symbol, which looks back to the Old Testament as much

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as of Revelation does.

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And in this case, it's looking back to that Old Testament sanctuary that the children

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of Israel set up under God's commands in the wilderness.

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And later also the temple that was built.

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And if you were to go into the sanctuary, you would see the altar there where the sacrifices

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were made.

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And then you would see a bowl, a basin of water, the laver where the priests were cleansed

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as representing the cleansing we get from God.

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Then if you go into that first room, it's called the, what is it called?

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The holy place.

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And you would see a table of showbread on this side.

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You would see an altar or excuse me, a lamp stand over here.

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And then in front of you, there would be another altar.

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And this would be called the altar of, anybody remember?

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Of incense.

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And so in Revelation, we saw at least two different verses which are referencing this

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altar of incense, which stood in the sanctuary, in the temple.

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And back to Revelation, it says, the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints

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ascended before God from the angels hand.

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And so in the temple, in that sanctuary, as the priest would sprinkle that incense, which

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had a very specific recipe, they weren't supposed to use it for anything else except for in

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that sanctuary, that incense would burn and the smoke would go up over the veil.

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What was on the other side of that veil in the most holy place?

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The park of the covenant, which symbolizes the throne of God.

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And so in that show and tell plan of salvation, that incense represents the prayers of the

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saints going to the very throne room of God.

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And so in this book of Revelation with all of its beasts and pictures of the second coming,

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it also references this idea about the prayers of the saints.

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Now I'm going to admit something right now.

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I don't know everything.

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I can't fully explain how prayer works.

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I can't write down an equation or a magic formula or certain words that we say that

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is going to guarantee a prayer is answered in the way that I want it to be answered.

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I don't necessarily know why some sick people that we pray for get better and some sick

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people that we pray for don't get better.

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I can't explain exactly how prayer works, but I can say that Jesus has asked us to pray

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and Jesus has asked us to bring things to him in prayer.

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And in fact, our scripture reading from 1st Thessalonians 5, it said, rejoice always,

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pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks for this is the what?

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Is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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I don't know exactly how prayer works, but what I do know is that Jesus has asked his

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people to come to him in prayer and to pray always to rejoice always to pray without ceasing

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to to bring things to him.

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Concerns, thanks and everything else.

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In fact, one of the things Jesus did was to teach people to pray.

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You can think of the story in the Gospels where where Jesus is praying and his followers,

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his disciples see him praying, hear him praying, and they want to experience the same thing

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that he's experiencing.

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And they say in Luke chapter 11, let's turn to Luke chapter 11.

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It's also in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shares the same thing.

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But in Luke chapter 11, as these followers come to Jesus, notice what happens.

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It says, now it came to pass as he, Jesus was praying in a certain place when he ceased

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that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us, teach us to pray.

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We want to pray the way that you have prayed.

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Teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.

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And the next verse says, so he said to them, and you can notice what comes next, the Lord's

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prayer.

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That's a prayer probably many of us, most of us have have memorized at some point in

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our life and probably most of us have said that Lord's prayer at some point.

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And so when they Lord teach us to pray, the way that Jesus taught them was to share the

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Lord's prayer.

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Now, that's a great prayer to memorize.

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It's a great prayer to say.

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But I think also it's a great pattern for what prayer is about because within the Lord's

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prayer, there's praising to God.

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There's forgive us our sins, confession of sins.

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There's asking for needs.

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Give us this day our daily bread.

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There's a plea for forgiveness.

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Forgive us as we forgive others.

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And so the disciples wanted to learn to pray and Jesus shared with them the Lord's prayer.

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And so prayer is an important thing.

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Jesus said, pray without ceasing.

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Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

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And then in Hebrews chapter four, Hebrews chapter four, there's another reminder of

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just how incredible prayer is.

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Hebrews chapter four, it says in verse 16, let us therefore come.

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What's that next word?

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Boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our

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time of need.

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We can come boldly before the throne of grace.

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How incredible is that?

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That altar of incense with the prayers ascending over the veil to the throne of God.

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We don't have to wonder if God's gonna hear.

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We can come boldly before the throne of God.

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And if you're like me, there's been times when there's been something to pray for, but

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maybe you're not exactly sure what to say or you're not exactly sure how to say it.

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And we wonder, you know, does God even hear a prayer like that?

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Turn over to Romans chapter eight.

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I told you we were going through several verses here today.

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Romans chapter eight and verse 26, because it reminds us that even when we don't know

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what to pray, it's okay.

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Romans eight, verse 26, it says, likewise, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses for

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we do not know what we should pray as we ought.

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But the spirit himself, the Holy Spirit, makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot

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be uttered.

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Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes

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intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

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Even when you don't know what to say, even if you are weeping over a situation in your

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life, even if you're groaning and your heart is breaking and aching and you don't know

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what to do next, God hears that.

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And the Holy Spirit knows your heart and he knows the situation and he's able to take

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that to the Father, take that to the Son and to make that prayer what it needs to be.

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And notice it says according to the what, the will of God, because that's sometimes

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maybe where we think we fall a little bit short, because we could look at something

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like 1 John chapter five, and this is just one verse of many that says something similar

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to this.

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1 John chapter five and verse 14, it says, now this is the confidence we have in him,

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because we can go boldly before the throne of grace.

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This is the confidence that if we ask anything according to what?

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His will, he hears us.

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So that's the caveat.

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And we sometimes add that to the end of our prayers if we're praying for someone.

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Well, you know, your will, that's what Jesus prayed in the garden, if it's possible, take

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this cup, but your will be done.

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And I think we're doing that because that's what Jesus asked us to do.

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But maybe sometimes we add that because maybe, maybe we're not expecting that prayer to be

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answered the way that we're praying.

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And so we're we're letting God off the hook.

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You know, I want this to happen.

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But according to your will, it be done.

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And so sometimes that's the challenge.

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We don't know.

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We don't think we know what God's will is.

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We don't know what job we're supposed to take.

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We don't know what major we're supposed to take in college.

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We don't know what direction we're supposed to go with this decision that we've been struggling

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with.

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And so sometimes we don't know God's will.

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And that's true.

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We don't always know.

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So today I want to look at three different things that many people have looked at.

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There's probably more three different things that we could say.

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Yes, for certain, this thing is God's will.

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This is always God's will for this to happen.

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So the first thing I think that we can agree on that it is always God's will to save the

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sinner.

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That makes sense.

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It's always God's will to save the sinner.

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So that might be me.

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That might be you.

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And if you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, today is the day to do that

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because it's always God's will to save the sinner.

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But assuming that we have accepted Jesus, there's people we know that haven't.

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There's people we know that are having struggles, that are having challenges, that are having

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issues in their life.

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And we can look at 2 Peter chapter 3 as a reminder that this is always God's will.

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2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, it says, then, oh, I'm not finding, oh, there we go.

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I was looking at the wrong place.

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2 Peter 3 and verse 9.

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I was looking at 1 Peter.

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The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering

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or is patient toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come

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to repentance.

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That's God's will, that everyone comes to repentance.

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This is the message of the Bible.

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This is the mission of Jesus that all people would come to repentance.

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You can think of Peter as he's walking on the water.

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Remember that story?

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He sees Jesus out on the water, and he begins to walk out, and then he does something.

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Where does Peter look?

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He takes his eyes off of Jesus, and he starts to sink.

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And he doesn't say, Lord, if it's your will, please help me to fall.

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No.

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It's just like three words.

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Lord, save me.

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Because it's God's will to save those who are falling.

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In Peter's case, he was sinking, he was falling, and he could just cry out that prayer, Lord,

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save me.

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You can think of 1 Timothy chapter 1, same theme here.

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Now it's Paul writing, Paul sharing the story in 1 Timothy chapter 1.

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And we recognize that Paul was one who had a history of going against God.

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And he says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus

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came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

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And so we can pray that prayer starting with myself, starting with ourself.

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Lord, I know that it's your desire to save the sinner.

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Lord, save me.

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Be merciful to me, the brokenhearted.

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But we can also begin to pray for someone else.

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We can also begin to pray for others that we know.

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We can pray that lives will be changed, that things will happen in the life of someone

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else.

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You may or may not realize it, but we are, we're doing a Daniel series right now.

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And in about seven weeks, we're going to do another prophecy series.

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It's going to go for about two weeks and it's going to be several nights a week.

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We're going to mail things out.

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People in Ringgold will get an invitation to come here and to hear the gospel preached,

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to learn about Jesus, some for the very first time.

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We may not realize it, but even here in North Georgia, there are people that don't go to

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church.

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There are people that don't know Jesus.

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There are people that are desperately in need of a savior.

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So starting October 10, I believe it is, a Thursday night, we're going to be inviting

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people to come and learn about Jesus.

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And so my challenge for you, seven weeks out, is to start praying because it's always God's

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will to save the sinner.

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So take your bulletin, take one of those little cards in front of you and start writing down

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a name or two or start writing down three names.

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Or here's the goal.

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Think of five people, five people that you know.

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Maybe it's a family member.

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Maybe it's somebody you work with.

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Maybe it's the neighbor across the street that you see, but you've never really known.

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Start writing down people that you can start praying for right now because we know it is

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always God's will to save the sinner.

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There's a story about a gentleman named Zalindo.

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I'm going to assume I'm pronouncing that right, but he's from the country of East Timor, which

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is kind of between Australia and Indonesia over in that part of the land.

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And he had begun studying the Bible and began to learn some new things.

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And he and his wife were married.

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They owned a little store that sold different little groceries and things like that.

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And he started to study the Bible.

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And as he learned new things, he learned, OK, maybe on one day of the week, I need to

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not be selling things at the store.

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And so he started to close his store on Sabbath.

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And his wife's like, what are you doing?

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Why are you closing the store on this?

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We need the money.

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We need to get that income.

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And here you are shutting down the store because you're reading that Bible.

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There you are reading that Bible.

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And then as he continued to read, Zalindo said, actually, I'm thinking, he says to his

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wife, I'm thinking of joining this Adventist church, the Seventh-day Adventist church.

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And his wife's like, what?

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First, you're closing down the store.

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Then you wanted to join this other church.

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And she said, if you do that, I'm out of here.

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I'm going to leave you.

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And so this marriage was not going very well.

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And one would go to the store.

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And then the other would go to the store to work.

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And so they were working different shifts to keep this store open.

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And there was not a lot of communication going on.

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And Zalindo began to pray, God, I don't know what to do in this situation.

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I'm confused.

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I thought I was following what your word said.

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But I don't know.

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God, I need a miracle.

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And it was a few days later, a little bit of time after this prayer, that he went into

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the store to take his shift.

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His wife was in the store reading the Bible.

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And she did not have a happy look on her face.

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And he looked and he saw that she was reading from Revelation 12 and 13, where it's talking

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about remnant and beasts and dragons and different things like that.

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And he said, if you want, I can try to explain some of those things to you.

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And she just slammed her hand down.

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And she spoke gruffly.

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But it wasn't about him.

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But it was to him.

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And she said, I can't believe they've been lying to us all this time.

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I can't believe they've been hiding these things about who God is, about what God wants

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to do.

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I can't believe that no one has taught me this in my whole life.

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And it was a short time later that both of them were baptized, that both of them gave

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their heart and life to Jesus and decided that they wanted to serve God and they wanted

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to love him and to follow him fully.

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It is always God's will for the sinner to be saved.

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And that's something that we can pray for.

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Here's a thought here.

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It says, select another and still another soul.

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Fully seeking guidance from God, laying everything before him in earnest prayer and working in

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divine wisdom.

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As you do this, you will see that God will give the Holy Spirit to convict and the power

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of truth to convert the soul.

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Select one and still another.

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And then it's God that is going to be convicting.

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It's God that's going to be converting.

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It is always God's will to save the sinner.

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And so I just want to throw another ad out there.

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In October, we're going to be doing a forecasting hope series here.

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So write down how many names are you going to write down?

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Five names and be praying for that.

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So there's another thing that it's always God's will for.

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It is always God's will to bless and revive a church.

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That's always God's will.

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That's what God wants.

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Yes, that's our church here if you didn't recognize that.

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We can look at some verses because it's God's will to revive the church at large, but it's

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also God's will to pour out his Spirit and to revive this church right here in Ringgold.

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So Psalm 85 is just one of the many verses that we could look at.

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Psalm 85 and verse 6, it says, will you not, God, revive us again that your people may

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rejoice in you?

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Amen.

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It is God's desire to revive the church with ringtones, with whatever is needed to revive

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us.

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I didn't put it on the screen, but if you look at Psalm, what's the longest chapter

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in the Bible?

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Psalm 119.

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If you were to read those many, many verses this afternoon, just circle every time it

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uses the word revive because over and over in Psalm 119, it says, revive me in your righteousness.

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Revive me according to your word.

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Revive me for this.

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Revive me for that.

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Over and over in Psalm 119, it talks about being revived through God, being revived by

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his word, that God might revive the church.

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In 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15, it describes to us a little bit about what this church

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is.

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1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, it says, talking of the church, the church is the house

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of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of what?

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Of truth.

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So as we gather together, as we open up God's word, as we pray together, as we seek God's

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truth in his word, God wants to pour out his spirit and to revive.

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I want to point us again to the back of your bulletin here.

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It says the mission of the Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church is to reflect the love of

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Jesus through a spirit-filled life which seeks to serve and lead others closer to God.

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Then a vision for us, the Ringgold Adventist Church will be a biblical, spirit-led, faith-filled,

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family-focused and growing fellowship.

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God wants to revive this church.

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God wants to use this church to reach families.

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God wants to use this church to reach individuals, to make a difference in the world around us.

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There's a story to share by a gentleman named Joe Kidder.

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He's a professor at Andrews University and he tells the story about when he was pastoring

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00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:34,520
years ago and he had a church that he was in charge of and it had nine members.

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It was a very small little church, nine members.

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They tried this and they tried that and the people didn't really want to do anything.

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They weren't very receptive.

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I'm talking about the nine members, you know, didn't want to try to reach the community.

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And finally something happened and one of the members, an 80-year-old named Eileen, decided

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that she wanted to pray.

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So she began to pray for her neighbor.

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Her neighbor's name was Phoebe.

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Her neighbor was 25 years old and Phoebe was into alcohol and drugs and promiscuous

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lifestyle and just looking at Phoebe, she would be the last person that you would anticipate

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would make a decision to follow Jesus.

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But Eileen, 80 years old, was praying for this one person, praying for this neighbor

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of hers.

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And then they decided, this little church decided that they were going to have a prophecy

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seminar.

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They were going to invite people in and the pastor said, if you do this one thing, if

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it doesn't work, I'll never ask you to do anything again.

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So they agreed to that and the first night, guess how many people they had?

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They had 10.

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They had the nine members and Phoebe.

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And what had happened was Phoebe earlier in the week had been hunting under the influence

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of something and had accidentally shot her mother, shot her own mother.

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But the mother survived.

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So that sounds like a bad story, but it was good.

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The mother survived, but Phoebe was so distraught that she went to her neighbor who she knew

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had been praying for her.

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And she went to seek some kind of comfort.

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And as Eileen was comforting this young Phoebe, she invited her to come to hear the Bible

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00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,000
preach, to hear the gospel shared.

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And so that first night there were nine members and Phoebe.

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And Phoebe heard the story of the gospel and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

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And so then they had the second night of the seminar and guess how many people were there?

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So there was nine members, there was Phoebe, and then there were 50 other people.

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Because Phoebe was so excited that she called all of her friends.

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She called all of her family members and she said, you've got to come and hear this thing

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that I am learning.

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You've got to come and hear this message that's being shared, that's being taught.

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And by the time that seminar had been over, 10 of them had been baptized.

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So the church doubled in size starting from one person praying for a neighbor, one person

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praying for revival, one person praying to make a difference.

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And that's exactly what happened.

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What can we be praying for?

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Who can we be praying for?

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Will we pray for a revival in our church?

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Will we pray for revival in our family?

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00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:48,800
Will we pray for revival in Ringgold and our community?

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00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:53,200
Because it's always God's will to bless and to revive a church.

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There's one more.

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It's just one verse, this next one.

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It's always God's will to glorify His name, that God's name will be glorified.

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In John chapter 12, Jesus prays and He says, Father, glorify your name.

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And there was a response as He prayed.

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A voice from heaven came saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

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And this is the time that is just before Jesus goes to the cross.

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And this is the time when Jesus says, if I am lifted up, I will draw all people unto

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myself.

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And so when Jesus is talking about glorifying God, it's not about boasting.

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It's not about pride, but it's about capturing this divine character of God's love.

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When God's name is glorified, that means Jesus is lifted up.

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That means Jesus is glorified.

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00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:05,160
And so when we as individuals live out our life for Jesus, when we as a family gather

472
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:13,400
together and live out a character of God, when we as a church reach out and say, Father,

473
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:19,600
and bring people to know the saving grace of God, what a difference that makes.

474
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,860
And that is what glorifies God.

475
00:33:21,860 --> 00:33:24,780
And that is what makes a difference in this world.

476
00:33:24,780 --> 00:33:29,040
You can think of the early church in Acts chapter one and two.

477
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:33,520
They prayed, they gathered together and they prayed.

478
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:40,600
And it says that the Holy Spirit was poured out and the place was shaken and world changing

479
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:42,920
events began to happen.

480
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:48,580
Because that day 3,000 were baptized and from that the gospel went to the whole world as

481
00:33:48,580 --> 00:33:51,400
people prayed, as people were united.

482
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:58,400
There were baptisms, too many to count, and the name of Jesus was boldly proclaimed.

483
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:03,320
And so the question is, could it happen today?

484
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:07,320
Can we pray that sinners will be converted?

485
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,400
Because that's God's will.

486
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:11,280
Is there somebody that you can pray for?

487
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,440
Maybe it's yourself, but maybe it's somebody else.

488
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:20,800
Could we pray for revival to come into a church because it's always God's will for a church

489
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:22,180
to be revived.

490
00:34:22,180 --> 00:34:25,720
We can pray that the Holy Spirit will be poured out.

491
00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:32,720
And is it possible that God's name will be glorified as we each and every day lift up

492
00:34:32,720 --> 00:34:35,040
Jesus to the world around us?

493
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,840
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

494
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:42,800
Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you do.

495
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:48,080
And Lord, we start to think of individuals that are desperately in need of you and we

496
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,600
know that we all need you.

497
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:54,560
But Lord, many of us have accepted you as our Lord and Savior and we recommit ourselves

498
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:55,560
to you.

499
00:34:55,560 --> 00:35:00,080
But Lord, maybe there's somebody here who has never truly accepted you.

500
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,560
Lord, they're lifting up their hand right now in their heart and saying, Lord, save

501
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:06,120
me.

502
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:11,240
And there's others that we know, Lord, family members and friends and neighbors and spouses

503
00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:16,360
and children that we're lifting up because we know that they've drifted, that they're

504
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:20,360
far from you, but you love them even more than we do.

505
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:25,140
And Lord, we pray for this gathering here, this group of believers as we've gathered

506
00:35:25,140 --> 00:35:30,080
on this Sabbath morning, that may this place be revived by your Spirit.

507
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:35,960
May we go from this place and lift up Jesus so that your name may be glorified everywhere

508
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,600
we go this week and guide and bless in all that we do.

509
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:40,600
In your name we pray.

510
00:35:40,600 --> 00:36:06,440
Amen.