In this sermon, Brother Denny discusses a vision seen by the prophet Zachariah. The vision includes four horns, which represent the forces that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. However, the vision also reveals four carpenters who are sent to cast out the horns of the Gentiles and restore the land of Judah. The sermon emphasizes the importance of intercession and being vessels through which God can bring restoration to His people.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Let's pray. Oh, our Father, yes, we, our hearts say Amen to the glorious words of those songs and the beauty. We know, Father, that there is a conflict, there is a war, and we are in it. But thank you, Father, that we are victors, we are on the victory side. As long as we walk with Jesus, as long as we deny ourselves, we shall be on the victory side. Father, thank you for such encouraging words this morning already. I pray that you will open our hearts continually. Let the hearts of each one here be open, and I pray that your words would come forth, Lord, in such a manner and such a way that you would minister life to each one here. Father, each one of us needs life this morning. Each one of us needs bread. Each one of us needs that living water. Each one of us needs everlasting life through Jesus' name. And, Father, I thank you for that life in Christ. Thank you for giving us abundant life. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I pray for your anointing upon your messenger this morning, your servant, Lord. Take over, take charge. Take your seat amongst us, Lord, and speak now the words of life. We do love you, Father. Give you all the glory and all the praise. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Bring Christian greetings to all this morning. I've been richly blessed to be here already. God is good. He desires to give us life. He desires to see us walk in the power of His Spirit and victory. It's very interesting how sometimes God brings a message to our heart. Sometimes the burden on us as ministers is a burden on our hearts. And we desire to convey that burden to the congregation. It's interesting how sometimes when you're studying, God takes a little different course and different direction. And it's a joy to give oneself to study and preparation and just sense the Spirit of God ministering and sharing His grace and His truth and His word. By His grace, I would like to share this morning a message that's on my heart. I wasn't sure what to call it, but I did give it a title called Restoration, the Mercy of God. And a subtitle could be Lessons from History or His Story. When I think of the mercy of God, I think of what that does. We know that God loves mankind. And it is because of His love that He reaches out to mankind. Most of all, the greatest manifestation of God's love and mercy is through Jesus Christ that He would give His very best, His only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. But because God loved, He did something. And mercy is simply undeserved pardon. And that is the result of love. Undeserved pardon is a result of the love. Love of God and love of brothers and love of sisters. And when someone sins, then God, yes, He does chastise, but He also forgives. And when we are chastised by Him, then we repent, hopefully. And then there's restoration. God's mercy coming down to us, forgiving us. Simply what mercy is, it's God forgiving us. While we deserve eternal damnation and hellfire because of our sin, God's mercy, He overlooks that and He forgives when we repent. His mercy is so great, you know, that overshadows His judgment. Or He laid upon His Son our sin. Doesn't excuse sin, but He laid upon His Son our sin. And through that, He reaches out in mercy to forgive us. Restoration is a result of God's mercy to us. Not only does He forgive, but He also restores. He restores. Our God is a God of restoration. And God reaches out. His arm is not short. He is able to reach out. Even when someone is in deep despair, He is able to reach down and pull them up out of that miry pit and set their feet on a solid rock and give them life. And not only life, but He can also restore. And most of all, He wants to restore mankind back to Himself through reconciliation and restoration and salvation in Jesus Christ. So, this is the message on restoration. I want to look at just a few things here before we get into the Word of God. I want to be sharing out of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Haggai and Zechariah and Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther. It's about the restoration of Israel from Babylon and some of those things. I am intrigued with history surrounding the Babylonian captivity and the restoration of that. Some of you have heard me go through some of that before, but I still love it. I still love God's Word. But God does stretch out His hand in great measures to extend His mercy like He did when He gave His Son, Jesus Christ. And many times God uses chastisement before restoration. When God's people fall into sin, when God's people are proud and arrogant, then God allows chastisement. Sometimes He allows destruction, such as hardships, heartaches, death, desolation, or great difficulty. Some people go through bankruptcy financially and spiritually. He allows these circumstances, difficult things, to come into our lives. And then He uses those circumstances to humble us, to break us. But then He wants to restore us. Then He wants to restore us. His goal is restoration. Someday He will restore us all the way back. Those who walk by faith, we shall be fully made whole and restored and spend everlasting life, everlasting eternity with Him. That will be the complete restoration of mankind and of all things. His goal is restoration. I think of some of the pride of the nations of the day. Hitler, Germany. And God allowed destruction to come to humble them. I think of Japan in World War II and their arrogance and their pride. And the nations that they were taking over at that time, they forced them to worship their gods in their temples. They thought they were God. But their pride and arrogancy, God doesn't stand for that. And He brought them down through great destruction. Hiroshima and so forth. I think of Hurricane Katrina, the pride of the U.S. And God giving some learnings and touching her with some destruction, trying to humble her. Think of the Achenese, Indonesia in the tsunami. God allowed great destruction. Many, many deaths. Much loss of property. Totally wiping out whole villages. Why? I believe God wants to restore. And God is restoring. God has opened the door to restore those people back to Himself. He wants restoration. Are we going to be a part of it? Am I going to be a part of what God wants to do? Well, let's bring it a little bit closer home. What about our relationships in our midst? Broken relationships. Hard feelings. Unforgiveness. Grudges. Attitudes. God wants to restore all those things. Maybe you're sitting here this morning and there's someone in your life that you have a hard time forgiving. And you just can't forgive him. God wants to restore relationships. Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you have a hard time forgiving yourself. For what you've done. And how you've lived. I don't want to say that God is in the business of restoration. He longs for that restoration. Maybe your marriage is difficult. Maybe there's difficulty between parents and children. Husbands, wives. Our church. Or between churches. God wants restoration. Or he wouldn't pay so much attention to it. Or he wouldn't give us numerous books in the heart of the Bible surrounding the restoration of his own people. These books are written, I believe, for our examples. And the picture I see is God wants to restore his people. He wants you and I to be restored back to himself. He does. I'm going to take you through a little history here. Sometimes it's difficult for us preachers to know what to share and what not to share. But I'd like to give you a picture of some of these things out in the Bible. Maybe we can get some lessons from it. God wants us to learn some lessons from history. Wise are the people who will look at history and will learn from that. I'd like for you to turn to Deuteronomy for an opening scripture. We basically are going to be looking at the destruction of Jerusalem and then the restoration of Jerusalem today. But let's begin in Deuteronomy chapter 28. And basically God's word simply says, If you obey and keep my word, I will bless you. If you disobey and don't keep my word, I will curse you. Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy in verse 1, And it shall come to pass, this is spoken to Moses, If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command you this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Over to verse 15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. And then there had been a list of blessings there under the first and second verses, and now there's a list of curses that are given there. And I'd like you to turn to chapter 30 of Deuteronomy. God is giving the law of Moses, and Moses is giving the law to the people of Israel there again, before they enter the land of Canaan. Chapter 30, verse 1. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessings and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee. Simply what these words have said there, we haven't read all of them specifically, but if they obey, God will bless them, but if they disobey, God will scatter them to all the nations around them. And he's saying that these are things that will happen if you disobey. But if you have been scattered, he's saying, then he said, the Lord will still have mercy on them, and shall return to the Lord thy God, if thou wilt return, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, with all thy soul. If you have been scattered, if you have found the destruction, if God has been destroying in your life, the promise comes back again that God is still merciful, he still loves you, and he's still reaching out in mercy for you, and he wants to save you, he wants to restore you back to where you were before. Then, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the nations where the Lord thy God has scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out of the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee, and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. That's the mercy of God. And God is willing, no matter how far out his people go, no matter how far away from God they go, his great mercy, he says, I will yet restore you, if you would come and seek me with all your heart, I will come, I will bring you back, I will restore you, and I'll do more than that, I will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, so that you will truly love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thine soul, and that thou mayest live. That is simply God's heart for mankind. Mankind has strayed a long way from God. Adam and Eve fell into sin, and mankind has fallen away from God. And in a very general sense, God has reached out his hand through Jesus Christ and has drawn us back to himself. And now it's so clear that whosoever believeth in him shall have everlasting life. And God wants to restore us back. God wants to restore the relationships in our lives, every one of us. Do you have a broken relationship in your life that needs to be restored? That's the backdrop of the nation of Israel. They have this Word of God. They have the promises of God. And they have the warnings of God. It was right here. And they had this Word with them. But they became proud and obstinate. And God began to destroy them. God did destroy them and scattered them across the face of the earth. But he reached out and restored them again. That's the picture that we want to look at today. And so I pray that God would speak to our hearts today. There are several things I would like for you to look at to just remember as we go through this lesson, history lesson this morning. I would like for you to think about God's Word. Remember these three things. The Word of God. What was the third one? The Word of God. The place of the Word of God in restoration. And the place of the prophets in restoration. And the place of prayer in that. These three things I want you to think about. As we go through this lesson, I want you to look at those three things. Look at the Word. And how God used it. And look at the prophets. And look at the prayers. They're very important. Come with me now to Jeremiah chapter 26. I would probably think that most of you are familiar with Jeremiah somewhat. But as I studied through here, I realized afresh again how many times, I know I've read Jeremiah numerous times, but I've gotten so little out of it. Anyone else have that happen? This is a very interesting book. But Jeremiah does not go in consequential happenings. You may read in one chapter, and then two or three chapters later, it might be 20 years earlier. So, if you don't know that, you kind of get confused as to what is happening. But we want to walk through this this morning a little bit and get some pictures in our minds. Jeremiah, in chapter 26, he says, In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying, Notice that it was in the beginning of the king Jehoiakim. This was about the year of 610 B.C. And I would really like to make a timeline here this morning, if I could. And I'd like to do lots of writing on it, just to help you get a picture of it, but that may take some time, so I'm not sure exactly how it's going to come out. This is 610, and this is Jehoiakim. I'll just put down a few letters. Jehoiakim became the king of Israel, about the year 610 B.C. He was not a good king, and during his reign, there, is when Jerusalem was taken. Look now in chapter 25. Actually, I should read some of these words here. Let's look at some of these words of Jeremiah. Verse 2, Thus saith the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's house. All the words that I command thee to speak unto them diminish not a word. If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way. They that may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them, because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, If ye will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened, then will I make this house like Shiloh, and evidently Shiloh was a desolate place, and he says, I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. Then it came to pass, and Jeremiah made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. They did not like what Jeremiah was saying, and so when he had prophesied these things, and he had prophesied destruction upon Jerusalem in such a manner that it was clear to them that he was saying, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, and it's going to be leveled to the ground. They didn't like what he said, so they took him. He said, Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without inhabitation? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. And this is a picture that when someone walks away from God, and someone lives willfully in sin, their life will become desolate, like Shiloh, may I say. And when the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and sat down to enter the new gate of that Lord's house. Then spake the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with our ears. Then spake Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Well, those princes and priests were trying to decide, is this man of God or not? Then they used other examples. In verse 17, rose up certainly the elders of the land and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah the mother of sight prophesied on the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaped, and the mountains of the house as the high places of forests. Said Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put in at all to death. Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he pronounced against him? And he says in verse 20, There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord Uriah the son. So what they're doing, the elders, the old men of Jerusalem, are coming back in this in this assembly they have there concerning the prophecy of Jeremiah about the desolation of Jerusalem. And the elders were saying, We remember when Micah prophesied in the time of Hezekiah. He prophesied what was going to happen. Did we then put him in prison? No, they're saying we did not. We didn't kill him. And also there was a man, Uriah in verse 20, that also prophesied against the stealing of the land. And did the king put him away at that time? No, they didn't. The elders were pleading. They said don't mistreat Jeremiah. Verse 24, Nevertheless, the hand of Ahiakim, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him to the hand of the people to put him to death. Chapter 27, let's look at that a little bit. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, again the first year of the king, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Thus saith the Lord to me, make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck. And what's he going to do with them? Send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of Ammonites, the king of Tyrus, the king of Zion, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem under Zedekiah, king of Judah. And command them to say to their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to your masters. And what he's saying is, Jeremiah made some yokes, he put them upon his neck, and he was supposed to go to the king, these kings in neighboring countries around them, and simply tell them that Nebuchadnezzar, in verse 8, is going to come and is going to bring desolation and destruction and pestilence and sword, and everyone who does not surrender or submit or fall out to Nebuchadnezzar is going to be destroyed. And that's the word that was in Jerusalem. When Nebuchadnezzar comes, those who live in Jerusalem, if you will go and surrender and go out there, they'll save your life. But if you stay, you will be killed. That's what he says here. Then in verse 12, it changes this from verse 11, into verse 11, is basically a change of about 11 years. In verse 12 it says, I spake also to Zedekiah, king of Judah, the same thing, about this yoke, and about that he should listen to these words, and he should surrender to the king of Babylon. But he wouldn't do it. Look at Jeremiah 45. Jeremiah gave some very strong words to Baruch. The word that Jeremiah, the prophet, spake to Baruch, the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel, Unto thee, O Baruch, thou didst say, Woe is me now, for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sigh, and I find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus, Behold, that which I have built, will I break down. And that which I have planted, I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things thyself? Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord. But thy life will I give unto thee, for I pray in all places where thou goest. God is simply saying, I'm going to break down that which I have built because of the sins of the people. Jehoiakim, it was about in his fourth year that sometime there is when the Babylonians came. They took Jerusalem. And it was in this time that Jeremiah prophesied the 70 years of desolation. Look at Jeremiah, chapter 25, 1 through 14. We could read that all, but simply, he is giving a prophecy of what's going to happen. Warning them against the evil. Telling them to repent. And in verse 11 he says, And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. And it shall come to pass when 70 years are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans and will make it a perpetual desolation. Jeremiah prophesied 70 years of desolation. This is about, I would say, somewhere in 607. That's about when Jerusalem was taken the first time. That's when they took away Daniel and his friends and took them to Babylon. It was, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. Daniel and his friends were captured and taken to Babylon. Jehoiachin was, him was still allowed to be the king there in Jerusalem. They didn't really destroy Jerusalem, but Jehoiachin was there under the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. But after three years, Jehoiachin rebelled again against him and wouldn't pay his taxes anymore. And therefore, they came against Jerusalem the second time. The army of the Babylonians came the second time against Jerusalem in somewhere around 599. And at that time is when Jehoiachin died and his son Jehoiachin was made king. He was about 18 years old according to one of the references here. And he reigned for three months and ten days. And after three months and ten days, he gave up. Him and his mother and the wise men, they went out and they went out to the Babylonians. They did not try to fight it, but they went out to them. And the Babylonians came and they took away the gold and the silver and they transported thousands of people into Babylon. And he set up another king in Jerusalem. This is about the time that Ezekiel would have been taken as one of the captives to Babylon. Also, probably in Mordecai, which we read about in Esther. Jeconiah was now made king at around 599. In chapter 27 of Jeremiah is where we read about Jeconiah there. And also, let me see, in chapter 27 through chapter 29, if you read that portion of Scripture, you will find that Jeremiah was prophesying and was fighting against the false prophets. The false prophets said that they prophesied and there was many of them, and they prophesied good and plenty and blessing. And they prophesied and said that those that have been taken captive will come back again. And all the vessels of gold and silver that were taken out of the temple of Jerusalem, they'll come back also. And Jeremiah said it's not true. Those vessels are not going to come back. Those people are not coming back. But, he said, there's going to be more people taken over there. And Jeremiah told these false prophets, he said, well, he said, you're prophesying that they're going to come back, but I encourage you, you pray and ask God to keep more from going over there. And Jeremiah had a major issue with those false prophets. Those false prophets, they taught rebellion to the people. The false prophets caused people to trust in a lie. Sometimes I like to preach a message on the false prophets. There's a lot in there about it. That's in 599. 599 is about when Jeconiah became king. And he was an evil king and did lots of evil things. In the midst of much of those things, there was so many horrible things that these kings did one to another. Then 590 is when they came again. 590, this is all BC, if you remember that, before Christ. That is when they came against Jerusalem the second time. The Babylonians came. The third time I mean. I'm going to run out of room on this board if I keep writing. But, the Babylonians came and there's some dates I found here that it would have been 590 BC on January the 30th on a Thursday is when Jerusalem was besieged again. The 10th month, the 10th day. If you look at the two calendars, you have the Jewish calendar and you have the our calendar today. So there's conflict. It's called the 10th month of the 10th day which was the end of their season but it was the beginning of our January. The Jewish calendar year begins I think in March or April. So there's differences there. And I want to say that these dates that I'm giving some of them they are the dates according to one person or one study you might say. There's other people who have studied might come up with somewhat different dates but they're clear enough for us to get a picture of what is happening. That's the point. We're not looking at exact dates. They came on that day and they besieged Jerusalem and at the same time Ezekiel who was now about 10 or 9 or 10 years already captive in Babylon had a vision from the Lord and you could turn to Ezekiel 24 verse 1 if you want to. If you have a pen and paper you might want to write some of these down and draw your own timeline in due time. But we're going to look at Ezekiel a little bit here if we can. Ezekiel 24 verse 1 I told you we were getting some history here. Again the 9th year in the 10th month in the 10th day of the month you see it's the 10th day of the month in the 10th month and it's the 9th year that Ezekiel says in the 9th year. What's he referring to? He's referring to the 9th year as his 9th year of captivity. Okay? But it was the very same day that the armies of the Babylonians were encircling Jerusalem to lay siege to it the same day Ezekiel saw this vision. Son of man, right be the name of the day. Even of this same day the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem the same day. And he utters his prophecy there and that was 590. These dates are important because we're going to look at some things later on like the 70 years and what happens 70 years later and so forth. Also in Jeremiah 39 you can look at that. Jeremiah puts the date down too. Let's see what does Jeremiah 39 say. Jeremiah 39.1 In the 9th year of Zedekiah king of Judah in the 10th month came Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem. And in the 11th year of Zedekiah in the 4th month the 9th day of the month the city was broken up. About a year and some later is when they were there and there was such a famine in the land or in Jerusalem the Babylonians had already destroyed many of the Jewish cities all around in Israel and just Jerusalem was left and they were there for about a year and a half maybe until the there was such a famine there the people in Jerusalem there's stories in the Bible here of two women they were both so hungry and so they agreed one day they got together they were so hungry they looked at their baby and they decided we're going to cook your baby today and so they cooked the one lady's baby that day and they agreed together to cook the other lady's baby the next day. Well the second day this old lady hid her baby she didn't want her baby cooked and they cried out to the king and that's the extreme famine and hunger that was in the land and finally Jerusalem was opened up during that time during the time of the siege Ezekiel was laying on his side 390 days also during that siege Egypt came to help Jerusalem but the Babylonians drove away and came back and besieged Jerusalem again Ezekiel's prophecy there many things also during this time is when Daniel was in the land of Babylon and was known as the wise man there in Ezekiel 28.3 you can check that out but on the 11th year of Zedekiah in 588 B.C. is when the city was broken up on a Wednesday August 24th 4th month 9th day 588 B.C. some put it in 587 but it's close enough Jerusalem was opened up and the Babylonians entered the city and took charge of the city there and then a couple days later the 5th month and the 10th day they burned the temple and the city this was the total destruction of Jerusalem this happened about 420 years 3 months and 8 days after Solomon laid the first stone on the temple when they burned the temple down this glorious temple that was to be a testimony of the power and the grace and the glory of God amongst God's people was burned to the ground they took the stones apart to get the gold from in between them and they leveled the temple that same month the walls were leveled to the ground and the remaining people taken captive why did God allow such destruction to His people because of their sin why does God allow destruction to us why does God allow desolation to us why does God allow heartaches death difficulties in our lives to humble us to break us to break us from our pride and then we would get serious about our sins and when we do the promises are there I will restore you I'll restore, that's the heart of God Jerusalem was destroyed this was about 468 years after David began to rule and 388 years after the division of the two kingdoms Judah and Israel and Judah stood 134 years after Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians many years before the testimony of God has fallen God's people have fallen but God is willing to restore them and He gave many promises that He would restore them this King Nebuchadnezzar he continued on he besieged Tyrus there there was a prophecy that Isaiah gave that Tyrus would be 70 years desolate after 11 years Nebuchadnezzar overcame Tyrus and then he went home he also went to Egypt and defeated them but about 570 is when Nebuchadnezzar went back home again and that is where you would read in Daniel 4 verse 1 or chapter 4 about Daniel's vision of the great tree Nebuchadnezzar back in Babylon if you read Daniel 4 Daniel has a vision of the King has a dream and the King wants it interpreted and Daniel interprets his dream for him and it's basically a picture of this great man and the head is gold the shoulders down and so forth and then a stone is cut out of a mountain and destroys the King and that stone grew into a large kingdom a picture of Christ coming that was around the year 570 also about one year after Nebuchadnezzar came back is then also when he lost his mind as we said 12 months after that vision was interpreted is when he was walking in his palace in his grounds and he was looking around at the glorious beauty that he had accomplished and built there in Babylon this Nebuchadnezzar was a very high strung man may I say very proud and very arrogant and they said his wife was from a land where there was mountains and trees and hills but here in Babylon it was flat and so his wife wanted to see mountains and trees and hills and so he built what was called the hanging gardens there in his palace area it took at least a year that they built those things but it was very impressive what this man was able to do I also read that he built a wall around Jerusalem this wall was 40 some miles low and they built it in one year I don't know how thick the walls were but they were built around 200 paces a day and for 365 days they built that and in about one year it was basically built and that's about the time that Nebuchadnezzar strolled through his palace gardens and he said look at what I have built in great pomp and pride and it was at that time that the angel spoke from heaven and smote him and he became like an animal and he lived like an animal for 7 years 7 years this great man, this great king he ate grass with the oxen his hair grew like feathers, eagle feathers his nails became like claws and he lived out with the animals for 7 years God was humbling him after 7 years he received his mind back again isn't God merciful this proud king he regains his sanity somewhere around 563 if we can say it that way 563 and about that year is when he dies and his son evil Merodot reigns in Babylon for a year or two and then this man is murdered by his son or someone there and takes the throne around 599 is also a mark here Cyrus the king that was prophesied about that would turn the Jews back to their land and Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus I believe saying that he is the one who would bring the Jews back to their home country about that time is when he began to reign then we can just look at a few more things Daniel's vision of the four beasts around 555 and Babylon was taken by the Medes and Persians in about 538 put that here 538 is when you have the story there in Daniel how that the king there was feasting in his they had made a great feast and it was the same time that Cyrus the general or the Medes and Persians were surrounding the walls of their city and they were feasting with great feasts and they were not afraid because this king had built such a huge wall 43 miles in circumference around his city he was confident that no enemy could come in but there was a river running through the middle of this city they had this queen who had these hanging gardens built she had also done lots of work, I guess she was a powerful woman anyhow she had diverted the river and had built lots of brick walls on either side of the river and built beautiful bridges across that river so that they could go from one side of the city to the other but she had diverted the river to do that and so when the Medes and Persians came they likewise went and then after she had those walls built she brought the river back through there again but when the Medes and Persians came, they went and diverted the river and drained that river dry that ran through the city and that's how they came in that same night that Daniel at the hand of writing on the wall and they fell that night to the Medes and Persians and Cyrus began to rule and take country after country there turn to Daniel chapter 9 there are many, many scriptures that we could look through in Ezekiel Jeremiah in all of this but in Daniel chapter 9 verse 1 through 27 this is around the year 537 37 is Daniel chapter 9 and there we see that Daniel says in the first year of Darius who was Darius? he was the son of Ahasuerus I don't know some of these names, it's difficult to read through some of these things because the kings are actually given different names at different times history has different names the Bible has different names but Darius was the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes which made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem this is a part of the word of God that was given and this is the part that the prophet Daniel now does something with it he recognized that their 70 years are up since this time here 588 when Jerusalem was taken some put it 587 but this here if you look at this time from here to here now we have 70 years of desolations from 588 or 587 to 537 is 70 years of desolations Daniel understood that this is now 70 years since the first time wait a minute that's not quite right is it that's 50 years that's not the right one Daniel understood that from the first captivity and it was his captivity which was around 607 607 to 537 is 70 years of desolations and that's what Daniel figured and understood he knew the prophet of Jeremiah and when he was in captivity for 70 years this is what he did as the prophet of God he saw and he realized that something had to be done and this is where he prayed that great prayer and confessing the sins of his people his sins and his people's sins and by that things began to happen you would think that if God said in 70 years that there will be 70 years of desolations you would think that after 70 years the desolations would be stopped right this is the place of the prophet he sees that something must be done he sees it's the right time for something to be done and Daniel gave himself to fasting and prayer and Daniel may I say broke the power that was over God's people and a release was given at that point this is then we have then in 536 right around this time of 537 but in 536 is when Cyrus proclamation is given in Ezra chapter 1 you can turn there Ezra chapter 1 right after 2nd Chronicles now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing saying thus saith Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah who is there among you of all his people his God be with him let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel he is the God which is in Jerusalem and so this king Cyrus he was a healing king I used to think maybe he was a good king of some kind who somehow favored God's people but this Cyrus was a tyrant if you study his history he was a very wicked king but in the first year that he was king is when he proclaimed this proclamation he actually had been in the army or was this when he was born I'm not sure but Cyrus but he was a part of the army of Persians long before but this is when he actually became king in his first year he made this proclamation we notice this day this time happened right after Daniel's prayer time amen I want to get some lessons out of this when we're done so follow me through Ezra goes back around 536 is when they go back around 42,000 people leave and go back to Jerusalem and they come to this city that is lying desolate for 70 years and they begin to rebuild basically 535 is when the temple begins to be rebuilt and 534 the enemies came and they stopped the building of the temple somewhere and these dates may not be exactly right you would think that they had a decree and one of the decrees of the Medes and Persians was that the law that is given cannot be changed the law of the Medes and Persians could not be changed, could not be altered and so the Jewish people were given the right to build the temple and they went and they began to build the temple and when the foundation the first layer of stones laid all around the temple they had a great day of rejoicing and feasting but you know what it was around 17 or 18 years later before they began to build the second layer of stones on that temple why? The enemies came and they stopped them and that's exactly what the devil wants to do right at the time of restoration right at the time that you're starting back up, the devil comes against you again and he brings accusations against you he wants to stop you, he doesn't want you to go into the fullness of Christ the temple building will be stopped and Cyrus dies about a year later then there's a number of years there Artaxerxes or Darius called Ahasuerus and some of those names I don't know what they're all there for but in fact we go down to the year 520 which is quite a few years later is where Haggai and Zechariah the prophets in the Old Testament who were at Jerusalem, they began to prophesy, they sensed that God is saying it is time to rebuild the temple and the temple began to be rebuilt but around 520 is where those two prophets prophesied and I want to look at some scriptures there, turn with me to Haggai chapter 1 this is towards the end of the Old Testament Haggai chapter 1 in the second year of Darius the king, in the six months in the first day of the month came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet Undezirubal the son of Sheetal, governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Juzedek the high priest saying, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, this people say the time is not come, the time is, the time that the Lord's house should be built and the people there were saying it's not the right time to build and they lay lax for numerous years from 34 to 20 about 14, 15 years that they lay lax and didn't build but what did they do, they began to build their own houses, they began to build farming and so forth but then Haggai came and said, is it time for you, O ye to dwell in your sealed houses, means houses with ceilings, nice houses and the Lord's house lie waste, now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways you've sown much but bring in little, you eat but you haven't had enough you drink but you're not filled with drink clothes you but there's none warm and ye that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes you ever have a hole in your pocket and the money just seems to just drain out of it consider your ways he says, maybe there's financial sin in your life if your money just seems to just drain away maybe there's financial sin and sometimes it takes a long time to overcome those type of things even once you've repented you'll still have to reap the consequences of your sinful life but he says consider your ways, go to the mountains and get some wood and start building and also in Zechariah chapter 1 in Zechariah, in the 8th month in the second year of Darius came and were the word of the Lord to Zechariah, the son of Barakah the son of Indu, the prophet saying the Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers, and he prophesied that they should begin to build look in Zechariah 7 verse 14 1 to 14 we'll look at that in a little bit during this time of the temple building the people there, this is where Zechariah was prophesying and it came to pass in the fourth year of King Darius that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah in the 4th day of the 9th month, even in Chislew when they had sent unto the house of God Shezer and Remgemmelech and their men to pray before the Lord, and to speak to the priests which were in the house of the Lord and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the 5th month, separating myself as I have done these many years? Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying, Speak to this people of the land, and to the priests saying, When ye fasted and mourned the 5th and 7th month, even those 70 years did ye at all fast to me Now the question was, they were rebuilding the temple, but during those 70 years of desolation they had specific fast days They remembered the day that the city was taken, that was the 4th month on the 9th day and that was a fast day for Israel They remembered the day that the temple was burned, it was the 5th month and the 10th day, and that was a fast day for 70 years. They also remembered the 10th month and 10th day that was when the siege began at Jerusalem and they had a fast day on that day Now the temple is being rebuilt and they're coming on a fast day, and they come and they say, Does God want us to continue fasting and mourning on this day? And the prophet Zechariah says No I want you to stop fasting It's time for joy and mirth and gladness In Zechariah chapter 8 Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returning them to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country. I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and they shall be my people I will be their God in truth and righteousness. And this is chapter 8 is such a beautiful promises In verse 19, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, cheerful feasts, therefore love the truth and peace In verse 23 I can read on there, Thus saith the Lord of hosts in verse 20, It shall yet come in the past that there shall come people and inhabitants of many cities. What he's simply saying there's going to be Jerusalem even though it's lying desolate yet. The temple is not yet finished building. There's going to be old men here who are going to be walking around with canes and there's going to be old women here. There's going to be boys and girls playing in the streets. He's simply saying, he's promising, there is going to be rest, there's going to be peace there's going to be longevity here there's going to be people living here for many years Not yet, he's saying. Turn your fast days to feasting days The inhabitants of one city, verse 21 shall go to another saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come in the past that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a saying, We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Beautiful promises of the word of God The prophets are proclaiming, God is restoring his people. He wants restoration The temple is finished around 515 towards the end of the year and then they hold a Passover on their new year and then you can go on and look at 514 is where it opens up with Esther, Queen Esther and so forth and Haman and so forth and all those things and I could put some more dates up there but I want to take you down to this one here at around 454 We should look a little bit here yet at Ezra actually goes to Jerusalem around 467 is when Ezra goes to Jerusalem and then 455 is when Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem to build the walls and Jerusalem was built the walls of Jerusalem were built approximately 144 years after this time here something like that it seems like it was double 70 years later when the walls were built again God in His mercy restored His people back again turn to Zechariah chapter 1 also let's turn first to Nehemiah I want you to see this in Nehemiah yet Nehemiah around 445 446 the words of Nehemiah the son of Hagaliah it came to pass in the month Chislu in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace there came one of the men from Jerusalem this is 446 how many years since they went back about 90 years 436 to 455 80-90 years after the first group went back to Jerusalem is when Jeremiah is when Nehemiah stands before the king he hears about the desolations of the wall and there is a burden on his heart to go build the walls he finds grace with the king and the king sends him up there to rebuild the walls and we know he rebuilt the walls in what 53 days an incredible feat but I don't know if it could be done today with all our modern technology how could we rebuild walls like that in 53 days but he did it the hand of his God was with him but in this chapter of chapter 1 here he makes his confession this is a part of the word of God and a part of the prophet of God who recognizes what needs to be done he is again confessing and repenting the sins of his people repenting of them and through that the Lord opened the door for him to go back and make restoration for him to go back and rebuild the walls now I want you to turn to Zechariah also Zechariah chapter 1 here in this chapter Zechariah has a vision or several of those visions maybe he saw horses riding in chapter 7 and 8 he is wondering what they are and so forth and in verse 12 verse 11 the angel is standing there by the myrtle trees and in verse 12 the angel of the Lord answered and said O Lord of hosts how long wilt thou have mercy on Jerusalem how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten years I want to also show you that here at this time the temple the temple being rebuilt around 520 we can look at that date to 590 this date here is also 70 years and while 70 years of captivity were prophesied there was also 70 years of desolation prophesied excuse my spelling this is 70 years and as I understand it the 70 years of desolation went from the time that Jerusalem fell to where it was desolate until the time that the temple was rebuilt I like dates I guess but it is interesting but I want you to see this now if you look at verse 12 in Zechariah chapter 1 how long O Lord wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem you see the temple was not yet built in Zechariah chapter 1 and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten years here he is talking about a three score and ten years from this time on and it goes back to the destruction of the temple and now the rebuild of the temple again these are 70 years of indignation that God had against his people specifically looking at the temple the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words so the angel that communed with me said to me cry thou saying thus saith the Lord of hosts I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy and I am very sore displeased with children that are at ease for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction therefore thus saith the Lord I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies my house shall be built in it saith the Lord of hosts and a lion shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem cry yet saying thus saith the Lord of hosts my city through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem in other words he hadn't quite done it yet but I'm going to do it he says then lifted up mine eyes and saw behold four horns and I said to the angel that talked with me what be these horn what be these and he answered me these are the horns which have scattered Judah Israel and Jerusalem and the Lord showed me four carpenters then said I what came these to do and he spake saying these are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man did lift up his head but these are come to fray them to cast out the horns of the Gentiles which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it at this specific time Zechariah the prophet he sees a vision in the vision he sees four horns and he says to the angel that's there he says what are these four horns and the angel said these are the four horns that have scattered Israel and Judah and Jerusalem and then he said then he showed him four carpenters and he said what are these to do and he said they are come to fray them away these four carpenters are sent to chase away those four horns so that the blessing of God can come down and rest upon them and the temple would be rebuilt. Let's study a little bit on horns. Horns in the Bible depict strength and power and authority Job in the midst of his misery he said words something like I laid down in the ground and my horn lay in the ground. There's a picture of an animal, a wounded animal laying in the ground with his horn on the ground. But horns are depicted as power and strength Daniel saw visions of those horns growing up on that goat with one horn and all those other animals which had horns and Revelation has much to say about the horns and those horns are simply powers and rulers or authorities and here we have four horns standing there and the question I had was why are they still there because no one drove them away but the prophet said it is time to drive away those horns and here's four carpenters who he saw were there specifically to take care of those horns, to take care of those powers who are these four horns? I don't know except that probably it's the nations who destroyed Israel. Babylon would be one probably Ammonites and the other four nations around that destroyed Israel were the specific horns but God had sent them God sent them to bring desolation upon his people to humble his people but then in mercy God showed what needed to be done in God's mercy he showed Daniel what needed to be done and Daniel prayed and he fasted Nehemiah prayed and he fasted and here we see that someone needs to take care of these horns too and they did. These four carpenters were there for that I don't know what the carpenters specifically were but carpenters are ones who can fix things, right? They build they fix things, they repair that's what I saw there What can we learn from some of these things? I thought of we have some goats at home, we milk them and years ago I used to take their horns off when they were about two days old so that their horns wouldn't grow but I kind of stopped doing that and now when the goats grow up they have horns and they are pretty mean with horns they are just so mean and they have authority and they rule of course there is one that is the biggest the meanest and she just rules the rest but she does it with her horns it's her power, it's her authority it's her, she has it her way with her horns and that's what horns are for that's the picture of horns God promised that the glory even though the temple would not be as big as it was before God promised that the glory might be greater and this temple that was being built is where Jesus then also would have walked in what can we learn from some of these things? how do we see are there any horns that are hindering God's work in his kingdom I think of other nations I think of beginning a work in Indonesia what kind of powers we can read in Ephesians about the rulers of darkness the principalities and the powers and we are to pray and it is through God's word and understanding of these things that I believe that we as God's people God wants us first of all to be restored in all of our relationships and then he wants us to go out and begin to pray for those kind of people pray for the countries, pray for the nations that they also may come to know the Lord may God grant us the eyes of faith that we can see I know that going into a country like Indonesia there is a strong horn there there is a strong horn there how will that horn be brought down I believe God is beginning God looks upon a nation like that he sees them in their arrogance against God strong in their own religion deep in darkness and error and God in his mercy brings destruction to humble them and to break the power of that government there and to open up the doors that God's people can come in and begin to minister life begin to share Christ begin to preach the gospel the everlasting gospel to those people do we have eyes of faith do we see the need for the gospel there and not only Indonesia many other places we have God's word we have the examples of God's people we have so much we can glean from God's word if we understand the principles of God that are revealed there we shall be effective everywhere we go because God not only wants to restore us his eyes are on the whole world for restoration he wants to restore mankind back to himself and he allows them to go through difficult circumstances he allows them to go through destruction he allows them to go through brokenness, he allows them to go through heartbreak, hard situations, he allows them to get financially bankrupt spiritually bankrupt, he allows that to happen because of sin and because of pride but then he's right there with an open arm saying, I want to restore my heart is for restoration first of all be restored back to God be reconciled back to God the everlasting gospel the everlasting salvation and so if you're here this morning or you're listening to these messages I want you to know that God is in the business of restoration, if your marriage is falling apart and you're having a difficult time God longs to bring restoration there fathers if you're separated from your sons or mothers from your daughters or your children God wants restoration he wants our homes to be totally restored, he wants our churches to be totally restored, he wants all of his children to be fully restored back to him do you need restoration this morning? do you have a relationship that is broken and God is speaking to you that you're at fault you can make a move you can go back, you can make things right God is willing yes, when we sin he will allow us to be chastised but when we humble ourselves that principle is clear over and over and over in the scriptures, humble yourself when you humble yourself in the sight of the Lord he will lift you up he wants restoration it is his great mercy that he allows us to go through difficult times can we stand pray father in heaven your word is so beautiful so powerful so sharp you can search the innermost parts of our being you know every need and every heart here you know where we need restoration and father there may even be areas in my life that I can't see right that I need restoration oh father in your great mercy have mercy upon us forgive us our transgressions forgive us our iniquities forgive us our sins forgive us for our pride and our arrogance through the blood of Jesus Christ and in your great mercy father, you have reached down and you have forgiven all those who confess all those who confess their sins you are quick to forgive you are ready to forgive you are ready to release and let them go back to their homeland to freedom, to joy to blessing so father I pray bring restoration to our hearts restore us again as a church father we pray restore us lord I was thinking this morning of the glory of that temple and how the people wept because it was broken down and then lord I thought of the beautiful things that you've done in the times past here at this church at Charity Christian Fellowship oh god would you restore again your people would you restore us again back to those times of blessing lord bring once again health and life and strength to us for your glory and your honor in Jesus name amen I wonder if there is anyone that needs to respond this morning we just have a few verses of song just as I am opportunity to respond here this morning please come be restored allow god to restore your broken relationships just as I am without one plea but that was shed for all those relationships well is your heart restored may god add his blessings you may be seated all these things are written for our learning and for our admonition that we might not lust as some of them lusted that we might not murmur as some of them murmured they are for us they are given for our admonition examples for us I thank god he preserved for us his glorious mighty acts down through history with his people thank you brother Emmanuel for bringing us that beautiful message of god's heart of restoration there's a lot more we could dig into it was a beautiful message this morning of god's heart in restoration I don't know about you but I was encouraged to look into some of these things farther amen let's be students of the word and study some of these things out but I guess you know the whole theme through the message that really speaks to my heart is restoration god through christ reconciling men unto himself amen maybe someone wants to share this morning maybe you didn't feel it needful to respond to an altar call but you would like to share a testimony or a confession just raise your hand we'll get a microphone to you is there anyone that would feel like to share this morning there's a hand up front here on the brother's side others get your hands up so we can get a microphone to you this morning several years ago I did basically the same study that brother Emmanuel did here with all of these dates and times and some of that can be a little confusing but there was one principle that came out over and over again to me and that is you know god decreed the 70 years but these things did not happen automatically the promise was for restoration if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray you know when Solomon dedicated the temple and that the people were carried away but god needed an intercessor to enter in to open up the avenue by which he would send them back and I saw that numbers of places throughout that and I saw that this morning and I just want to encourage us that the lord is looking he says the eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth he's looking for those that will step up and become the means by which he can bless through and he's looking for somebody to step in the gap and if he reveals to you a certain need like in a church or in an individual there's a reason why he shows you that and sometimes when we become aware of needs then we become critical and we respond wrong but at that time when god gives you an awareness of a certain need is a call very well could be a call step up to a place of intercession that the power of god might be released to bring blessing and restoration in that moment rather than to respond wrong in that moment and I just felt like you know the invitation for restoration I praise god for what he's done in my life but I feel like that I haven't been as faithful in that area where the lord has brought the awareness that there is something specifically to pray about and I feel like that I've missed some pretty important opportunities to be used to minister in prayer to others and I just want to encourage us to be more aware the scripture says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and I believe what the enemy was doing when he was trying to get Daniel knocked out of the way and into the lion's den was he was trying to get god's intercessor knocked down because you know the it's there in revelation where satan is continually fighting against the fulfillment of god's purposes and if he could have dealt with Daniel perhaps he could have hindered some way the prayers that were going up three times a day so I just want to encourage us to be faithful and see the opportunities to stand in the gap and make up the hedge and release the powers of god to pour out blessings amen thank you brother Daniel anyone else this morning it's an encouraging message amen hand over here in the brother's side raise your hand high so the ushers can see you they got a microphone yes I thank the lord for today I thank brother Emmanuel for the message brother Marvin bless you for devotion this morning last week we had that gathering with my family and we asked for prayers and you all prayed for us to open the doors up my wife and I were able to go down with peace in our hearts to see him after many years we were pretty well received it was a blessing to be there god did prepare the doors prepared the way and opened the doors up for us to go down we had a meal with him we thanked those who prayed while we were there because there were a few that did it was a blessing we didn't get a chance to share much of the gospel with him or to speak the name of Jesus except for one time when we were gathering for the meal my father gave the grace asked my youngest boy to say grace it was a blessing to hear him just lift up the name Jesus at the end we rejoiced in that and may we not hold back on proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ in our lives because through that those who don't really know him and don't really give him the glory, see it in those who do and may that speak into their hearts thank you for the prayers amen you know I think of the simple so simplistic but you know Jesus said or the scriptures say I don't believe Jesus said these exact words but you have not because you ask not and how many times is that my case? because I didn't ask and I just confess that you know there's times I I know I don't have because I didn't ask and then when we ask and we ask in faith believing and we see the Lord answer prayer it's just such an encouragement to our hearts and a strengthening of our faith anyone else this morning who would like to share? up here in the front on the sister's side I too want to give a praise report from a family gathering we had an unexpected family gathering because of a death of my brother's wife and I thought a couple of specific points of praise I know from the prayer meeting last week different ones prayed tickets were very expensive and hard to come by because of the holiday season and some felt so bad that I had to go alone and yet you know God was so in control because everyone had a spouse except me but my brother did not have his spouse therefore it was me who sat in the seat next to him it was me who held his hand it was me who stayed up late the Lord allowed me to comfort in a way that I would not have been able to had Denny been able to go so I just rejoice in that and I want to praise the Lord for the grace that he carries us through in these difficult times I was repeatedly astounded comments like and this is funny to us but comments like you must be the wisest woman in the world and we know it's because of scripture I wasn't saying anything just saying well you know the scriptures say well you know God said in his word and how the Lord used so many opportunities to share over and over it is indeed better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of mirth so thank you for those who prayed I was so carried I so appreciate it praise God thank you for sharing that testimony Emmanuel left us with a question in the message here looking at Indonesia other nations those who are yet lost sitting in darkness how will that stronghold or that that horn be brought down my mind went to the scripture in Revelation 12 where it says and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death there we have what was shared with us in the first message they loved not their lives they lived a life poured out and their testimony the word of their testimony and the blood of the Lamb and I thought of the powerful body of Christ the purified body of Christ in the days of reformation in the 1500's and 1600's it was by a life poured out and a life so infused with the love of God in their hearts such a love for God such a such a devotion and commitment that no price is too high to pay they loved not their lives unto the death they died when they made the decision to follow Jesus because they knew it may well be their death of a drowning in a river burning at a stake theirs where the decision was made and so I just my heart just is sobered by those things but I believe that those strongholds will be overcome by love and by a life poured out yes prayers intercessions but a life poured out a life yielded totally to Christ brother Marvin Hallelujah anyone else want to share yet before we close the meeting here this morning Amen God bless you for sharing and you know no matter where you are this morning this is love that God would restore the wickedest and vilest offender it is just really almost incomprehensible the love of God so no matter who you are here this morning no matter who you are listening to the message of God God's love is stronger than death if you're still breathing and you can still hear oh God wants to restore you and lift you up out of the dregs of sin and bondage and make you a trophy of His grace the devil's a liar he'll tell you you've gone too far you've spurned the grace of God you've slapped Him in His face He won't have you but that's not true Jesus Christ died to save sinners and He loves sinners He went to dine with them and eat with them and share with them the love of God manifested through His life oh sinner friend Jesus died for you to save you maybe you say I have nothing to be restored to my life's always been a wreck oh He can create things new and make a new creation hallelujah one of the prophets spoke the heart of the Lord and he said I will heal thy backsliding I'll restore you hallelujah