This sermon emphasizes the transformative power of understanding Jesus' teachings in a rabbinical context, particularly focusing on forgiveness and the care God has for each individual. It highlights the impact of realizing that God cares for us personally and how this can change our perspective. The sermon also delves into the significance of prayer as a direct line to God's throne room, inviting listeners to approach prayer with a deeper understanding of entering into God's presence.

OK, we're going to be starting. Can anybody hear me? One, two. I happen to promise this to somebody. And I remember, you know, there's a whole bunch of people around. This is the, what was the name of those two girls that wrote this? Anne Spangler, wasn't it? And Lois. And Lois. And what's the name of this one? I mean, the guys at the college had to read this. And it's not on here. Anyway, it's, is it, Jesus, it's not Jesus teaching like a rabbi. Sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus can really turn your head around. Anyway, this is, I promised this to someone about forgiveness. And we shared it, Paul shared it, went to the church, and went through the whole church. The pastor was thrilled with it. Because we don't understand how rabbis teach. Jesus was not teaching Americans. He was using, as they did, he was using a rabbinical form of teaching to teach. And there's another book I guys are going through. Before we get going, one of the things that recently changed my life, a number of things have, but one was listening to a CD from Ray Vanderlaan. Maybe some of you know who Ray Vanderlaan is. He is probably one of the most knowledgeable men of topography, historical places in Israel today. You can get some of his stuff from Focus on the Family. Well, Ray Vanderlaan really understands the culture in which Jesus taught. And he said this, and I actually sat in my chair with tears. I know you think I probably tear a lot, but I really don't. I mean, I did the other night, but that's, you know, I'm not morbid. Only to my wife. But he said, you know, all the disciples, you need to know this, all the disciples had memorized the Pentateuch. That was required for every single Jewish boy. You know, when they went through the bar mitzvah, they had to pass a test. So when Jesus went to the temple, they were not shocked that he knew the answers. What they were shocked is the insights he had about the answers. You know, it wasn't just yes, no, and, you know, spiel back, but he just really, can you come back, and here are the teachers, the wisest teachers saying, kid, a 12-year-old kid, kid, come back and talk to us. Wow, yeah, I'll be back, and he's sharing insights. And they go, wow, we never thought of the verse in this way and all of that. OK, now, if you wanted to sit under a teaching rabbi, then you needed to memorize the rest of the Old Testament. Remember Gamaliel? Gamaliel not only memorized the rest of the Old Testament, but to sit under, put your knees under his desk, you had to memorize the rest of the Old. OK, well, Ray Vandalon heard that there was a teaching rabbi in New York City, and he wanted to go and to see how they taught and all of that. And you listen to this CD, it's amazing. He goes in there, and here are kids in there, you know, 19, 20, and so on, and he shares a phrase out of Jeremiah or Isaiah. You know, the Old Testament doesn't have verse, verse, a chapter. These young men quoted before and after the phrase he gave them just out of the blue. And these kids are sitting under a teaching rabbi hoping to be a teaching rabbi. Remember what the Jewish people said about Jesus? They were very upset. He's teaching as one with authority, but he had no right to do so because he had never sat under what? A teaching rabbi. See, it wasn't that he was teaching, but he was teaching with authority, and teaching rabbis taught with authority. There were three structures of rabbis. But anyway, Ray Vandalon was in that classroom, and the teacher allowed him to come, a Gentile to sit in there as he's teaching these rabbis, these young men that want to be teaching rabbis, and he said this, and he's addressing it to Ray Vandalon. He never looked at him, he never acknowledged him. One other thing I need to tell you, if you want to understand a little bit of the New Testament. If you have been accepted by a teaching rabbi, if you fail him in any point, you're out. No matter how many years. You know, if you're a carpenter, you go back carpeting. If you're a fisherman, you go back fishing. Do you understand? That's it, you don't fail. What happened to Peter? When he denied his rabbi, I go fishing. Why did he go fishing? Well, that's what he did before. And he was shocked that Jesus took him back. Do you understand? When we can understand kind of the culture, you say, wow, when Jesus said, do you love me, Peter? And he was so embarrassed because he failed him. I mean, he really failed him. I don't know. So when you know the culture, and that's what we're helping our guys at IMI, to read books about the culture and topography and understanding all that stuff. Okay, so Ray Vandalon's sitting in the class, and this teaching rabbi said this, and this went to my heart. And he said to his Jewish students, he said, it's amazing to me that Christians call Jesus their rabbi, and they don't even read his words once a year. That was a knife through my heart. Most Christians know what Paul taught, but do you know what Jesus taught? I kind of think he's the founder of the whole thing. Do you understand what I'm saying? Maybe, but because I was so touched, I began reading the New Testament through. Now, I try to read the Bible through once a year. I'm not rushing, because I read an unmarked Bible in a different translation, and when I read that, I put it aside and I start another one. Because I don't wanna be, I want fresh insights, not warmed over ones that I found two years ago. Do you understand? I just wanna look, and I can't tell you all the stuff I get, and I use that in mentoring the men that I mentor. I'm always discipling. I was saved through the Navigators. If you're saved through Navigators, you're gonna disciple somebody or you miss the whole program. So I've always had, when I was in Bible college, I had guys, I was discipling at Calvary Bible College. Students would come and meet me early in the morning, and we would share Christ and all this stuff, because I'm, you know, the one-on-one is really wonderful. I mean, it's good to take a shotgun and shoot it all over you guys, but what gives me real joy is to talk to somebody. You know, one-on-one. It's just how God put me together. And so I began reading the New Testament when I got to the end. I mean, not New Testament, the Gospels, and I went back and I began to read. I can't tell you what it did for me. You know, after being a professor in three schools, it just opened up as I began to focus on the words of Christ. What's it say in Timothy? We base sound teachings on the words of Christ and that which leads to Christ-like living. If you hear teaching, is it based on the words of Christ? Number one, red flag, or at least a yellow light. I wonder if Jesus said that. He happens to be the founder. And this is in, you know, they're saying this in Timothy or Titus or somewhere. Jeff Bacone is younger, remembers stuff better than me, but it's in there somewhere. And the second thing, if I do this, will I be a godly person? If I follow this teaching, will it draw me closer to God? Will I be a godly person? That is the two signs of the right teaching. You got that? That's so important. There's so much teaching, always a new thing. There's been more new things since I got to be an old thing, I can't tell you. But, you know, what's the new deal going around right now? Whatever, whatever. Okay, now, I think, oh, and I gotta do this. I promised I would do this. A friend of mine is here, and I wrote the foreword for his book, Aaron Potter. You've probably seen his stuff. It's Psalm 91, The Dweller. Now, if you know Mark Bubeck, when he told me what he was writing, and I got the, you know, you get it all typed out and a bunch of pages, and I'm going, oh, no, I gotta read this thing. I hope it's good, you know, because I have to read it, and I have to read it honestly. Well, I read Aaron Potter's book. He asked me to write the foreword, and I did, and I thought this book was for the right time. Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High. You know, all that's going on. People need, where are they gonna go? I mean, I can run to my megalo, but I think maybe I ought to run to my secret place. You know, this is important. I love what Jim Cimbala says. We have a series of Jim Cimbala. In fact, oh, no, this isn't, the one you're gonna hear the prison story isn't from Jim Cimbala. It's from Jim Cimbala, but it's not the Jim Cimbala prayer thing he's got. It's phenomenal. It's just phenomenal. When I watched that, oh, thrilled me. It's a six-week prayer study you could do, and Jim Cimbala says this, you know? You can have, you know, orchestras. You can have jugglers. You can have, you know, set a clown on fire, you know, to get people out to church, but you call a prayer meeting and nobody will come. And God said my house should be what? House of prayer. And most churches have stopped having prayer meetings because nobody goes. There's something wrong, really wrong. You know, what God said is house, you don't, you know, he never called it first this or second whatever or 23rd whatever because this church has been around so long, it's now 23 splits. No, that's not what it was. Okay. I think I'll give you this right now. I had our guy, why, I was reading through the Bible and God said pile some rocks here. Then a little later, you know, stick them in the middle of a river. You know, and then stick a pile of rocks here. And I thought, our guys need to start a rock pile in their computer. Now, what were these rocks? Each rock represented some very special act in the person's life. You know, I know, and I tell you, I'm old. You know, either that or I was in the war, you know, or something. But when my wife and I look back, God has moved in our lives so phenomenal and most of it we've forgotten. You know, when you get down and you get discouraged or the situation's insurmountable, go back to your rock pile. Do you understand what I'm saying? God did this, God did this, God worked in a wonderful way. Keep track of what God did. And just have those rocks there. And it makes good reading at times because sorrow and stuff comes in everybody's life and disappointments and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I don't wanna be, you know, turn away from God when I say, look what God did before in all of this stuff. Okay, well, let's pray and then we'll get into worry. You worry and I'll pray, okay? And if you're a professional worrier, sign up because what we do is when we get all these worriers in the office, we tell them we got a professional that'll do it for them and they send all their worries to you and they feel great because someone who's a professional is worrying for them. Isn't that good? Father, we do thank you and I just ask the Holy Spirit to take charge. And Lord, that you would show us worry from the word of God. And we know it's not a new thing. And Lord, what'd you say to do about it? So we're just asking that the Holy Spirit might make it real and click in our spirits that this is what you're saying and this is what you're telling us to do. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I've read, I'm just about finishing the New Living Translation Study Bible and I read all the notes. I mean, after all, I paid a lot for it so I'm gonna read everything in there. You know, the contents, the table of contents, you know, all that stuff. I'm gonna get my money's worth. Well, I'm switching now in the New Testament into the English Revised Standard Study Bible, ESV or something or other. It's yay thick and it'll break your arm to carry it a lot but it's worth the money. If they sold it by the pound, it'd be cheaper. But I've been reading that and in that, I saw something I never saw before. And I'd like to share this with you. It's the bookends for the Gospel of Matthew. Go to Matthew. See, these bookends hold Matthew together. Now, how many times I've read the Gospels, how many times I've read Matthew in my life, I can't tell you but I didn't see it but when you got a blank Bible, you know what I mean, and no marking, I read it and I'm going, why haven't I seen this? It's right there. And I knew what the last chapter said. So let's look, just to show you, why is it a bookend? Matthew 1, verse 23, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel. I wonder what in the world that means. Emmanuel, I mean, around here, I don't know that by now. Emmanuel, which being interpreted as what? God with us. Starts out that way. That's the first bookend. Let's go to the last chapter. What's the last bookend look like? Matthew 28, all power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, teaching to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Lo, I am with you, what? Always. Always. Isn't that beautiful? What's the two things that hold Matthew together? The presence, the eternal presence of God. Starts with it and it ends with it. And what all falls between is a story about what? God is with me. I'll give you one more. This is all free. I have a young man at our Bible school, his wife's expecting a baby, she may have now his third child. Just, we could hardly do without Ryan, and I know there's a family here whose son goes to our school, and Ryan and his wife Theodosia, Theo, God, and Dosia, queen or princess or whatever. I wanted to get him something special, and I looked in CBD, and what they had in CBD was the Ark of the Covenant covered in gold. A replica that you could send. So I didn't know if it was gonna look crummy, cheap, you know, they got a nice picture, but the picture and what you get may be totally different. So I sent it to him as a gift, just thank you for being there, and how much your life has touched so many of the fellows in the school. And he told me it's really beautiful, it is really lovely, and it's on a copper thing and on a wood platform. So I got one for myself. And it's kind of expensive, like $66. Well, I set it in my secret place, and I love it. I don't bow down to it, you know, I don't kiss it. I don't cross myself whatever way you go, you know. But every time I look at that in the morning before I go to work, I look, what happened at the mercy seat? There's two angels, golden angels, looking down on the mercy seat. What was the significance of the mercy seat? That's where the presence of God was. So as I go off to the office, the very thing I have is a reminder of what? God is with me. God is everywhere present. When I get home at night and I'm going to go to bed, the last thing I see is that. Now, I know God is with me. Do you understand? But I want it more than that. I want to sense the presence of God in my life when I'm counseling, you know, with my wife, wherever I am. I want to sense the presence. He is there. But you know, I can go for a long time and never sense his presence. I mean, I can. Maybe you guys are way beyond me, but it's very easy. For me to all of a sudden not remember that. But that's just a little reminder. I was gonna put it on a chain and wear it around my neck, but it would be, you know. So I'm not telling you to buy something and it's not an idol. Do you understand? So don't walk in and say, Logan's in the idols. No, it's statues I'm into. But it's just, I needed it. You know, I just kind of need that extra thing because sometimes you wonder, is God here? Does God care? Does God see? Hey, hey, hey. You see what's going on. You know, I know some of you have heartaches. You got kids, you don't know where they are. And if you knew where they were, it'd make you sick. So you're glad you don't know. You'd worry more. That's what I like about the prodigal father. He didn't find out what his son was doing. He didn't want to know. But every day he'd look for what? He's going to come back. Why? Because he was praying. I believe he was crying out to God. Get him. Oh, I'll tell you this. I stayed in Maui, Hawaii. I've been there doing warfare. That's a wonderful place to go and do warfare stuff. You know, wah. Anyway, so I'm staying with the head of the mission. And the first time, he's got a son that's 12 years old. Oh, this is on VIMS. Oh, heaven forbid. I'll probably get hired for church banquets. So anyway, at the end of the week, I said to Curtis, he's 12 years old, and we shared a bathroom. I said, Curtis, I can't thank you enough. You've helped me more this week than you would ever know. And I want to express gratefulness. And he said, well, what did I do? I said, well, Curtis, I left my toothbrush at home. I've been using yours all week. He goes, oh, gross. Which wasn't true. So the next time I was there, he was 14. And I left, and he told his parents, in his teenage years, I ruined his life. He said, you know, Logan ruined my life in my teenage years. I said, what? Because I'm real good friends with his mom and dad. I said, what did he do? He said, when he left, he prayed and he sucked God on me. Just messed up all his rebellion, you know. Guys, love the Lord. See the importance of praying and trusting God and walking with God and so on. I put a bunch of scriptures. I was gonna go to all of them, but I think you can read, you know, in your notebook. And these are scriptures, as I was reading, and I just jotted them down. I didn't get a concordance out for worry. I just kept reading, and they would jump out. They'd just jump down. I said, oh, I'll put that verse down. I'll put that verse down. I'll put that verse down. See, am I supposed to worry? I mean, is that really what God has called me to do? There's all of these verses. And see, you say, well, look at 137. Luke, doesn't say worry. That's sure a good verse, but with God, what? Nothing's impossible. That's a good verse. You know, because what is worry? Worry is what we do to try to control the future that we can't control. But can God, right? Can God take care of the future? Can I give it to him? You know, casting all your care on him, he cared for you. You've heard me do this one. I was in, where was I? Oh, I was speaking to Westcliff Bible translators down in Guatemala. And I read that verse before I got on the airplane and I got stuck with it. And all, I'm fine, I'm going, God cares. Because I look up care and it was magic, object of concern. That I am an object of God's concern. Wow, so neat. I don't know, it just, it pushed my button. So when I got off the plane, the first thing I had to tell the Westcliff Bible translators is that God cared, you know? Hey, do you guys know that God cares? You know, he says he cares. And a guy came up to me and he had just translated this in the Mayan dialect. And this, how he translated this verse. What concerns you, concerns God. Isn't that beautiful? You ought to write it down. You know, that's just trying to put it so the Mayan Indians can understand God cares. There's so many, there's so much good stuff. But anyway, these verses are all about that kind of thing. You know, God gives me song in the night. Let me tell you, when you don't have a song in the night, you better ask why. Right? You lose your song, you better ask why. Look at, I don't know if your pages are like mine. The second page of mine, it starts with 1 Chronicles. Does yours start the second page of 1 Chronicles 2820? Good. Huh? Bottom of the page, we'll go to the next page. Anyway, the thing is, I love this. Jesus said, don't be afraid, it's me. Remember the most sacred place in the monastery is where the guy did the pots and pans? Because he practiced the presence of God. It is I. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Why are you pushing the panic button? See, Jesus is still amazed when he looks down from heaven, or with us, and sees us who are partakers of his life, who are followers of the prince of peace, and have rivers of living water flowing from them, living in anxiety. I'll tell you something else that's really exciting. Our guys are gonna find out this semester as they read this one book about Jesus' teaching. The guy teaches at Wheaton. He's written two beautiful, wonderful books. One on topography, one on Jesus teaching as a rabbi. It's not those ladies, it's another guy. Something I didn't know. There's two words for water in the Hebrew, back in Jesus' day, two words. They had dead water, and they had living water. I didn't know that. Dead water is water that comes from a well. Dead water comes out of a cistern. Living water falls from heaven. Rain would be living water. Or living water runs over rocks like a creek. So this lady offers Jesus dead water. You remember that? And he said, I know that you're giving me dead water. I wanna give you living water. And you know, there's not a creek in Samaria. Can you see how confused she was? How could he give her living water? Because you have to draw it out of the ground or out of the cistern. We don't have any, and it's not raining. And it's not dead water that's gonna flow out of you. It's what? Living water that's gonna come out of you. Coming from heaven. It's gonna come out of you. I just love that kind of stuff. You know, it just, it doesn't change my theology. It's just that, wow. I can see why this girl's going, I can't figure this out. You know, where's he gonna get this living water? And when he talks about water in a believer, he always calls it what? Living water. You know, why do you say out of you will flow water? But when he said living water, people understood, the Jewish people understood. They were listening to him, and they knew the two different words for the kind of water he was talking about. Okay. Look at John 14, 27. You don't have to use your Bibles now. It's right there, but we're gonna get where you're gonna have to use your Bible, because I want you to see it in the word of God. Because without the word of God, it can be an opinion, and opinion like noses, and everybody's got at least one. I don't wanna share my opinion about worry. I'm gonna share what the Lord tells you, and let the spirit of God show you what you can do, what he says you can do about worry. And all of us are gonna be in situations where we could choose to worry. Okay. Jesus said in John 14, 27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you. You can go in the woods and see a waterfall, you know, and the winds blowing through the pine trees. When I pastored up in the Seattle area, up in Tacoma, up in that area, gorgeous in the woods. You know, lakes, glaciers, nobody's around. You know, it's wonderful. If you can't have peace there, there's no hope for you. You know, I'll give you a razor blade the next time you go up there, you know what I mean? Because, you know, if you just can't get peace just from looking at all this beautiful stuff. Is that what he's talking about, that I've gotta go take a trip, you know, into the mountains and somewhere to have peace? No, that's the world kind of peace. And he said, that's not the kind I give. I give you peace in the midst of. That's what he gives. Peace in the midst of. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And you know what let says? I have personal responsibility. Can you see that? Well, I can't help it, you don't know my situation. Yes, you made a choice in this situation. And the choice you made was to be fearful. Now, the one thing that I try to be in touch with a lot in my personal life is peace. And when I don't have peace, I immediately ask the Lord, why don't I? Peace, I give you. It's my legacy, he gave it to me. I should be always have inner peace. If I don't have inner peace, I've let something what? Intrude. And I wanna know why. You're looking at a fellow who was a professional warrior for at least the first three churches he passed. When they asked me to teach at Calvary Bible College, I was scared to death. Because they have overheads. You know, the old days, the old fashioned overheads. You have to write on them, I can't spell. So I'm gonna stand before college students and write misspelled words. And it was interesting, I went out and flew and did what they called Ray Felt lectures in Kansas City. I left and the principal called me and he said, the student body has come to me and said, we want you to hire him. I said, you're kidding, said no. The students want you here on campus. But we don't have any money. This school may fold. We haven't got any money to pay you. Would you do something? Would you be willing to fly to Kansas City and we'll give you a week to raise your full support and then fly back? Well, no one told me that you couldn't do it. So I thought, well, this is good. If God wants me to end up at that school being a bad speller, somehow in a strange city, I'm gonna have to end up with my salary for this college. So I went down and four days I had my salary. You know, I thought, God, you could have taken six days and I wouldn't have been here. But even all of that, knowing God had provided from, I was an unknown in Kansas City, you know, at all. I didn't live there or anything. And all of a sudden, I got my support. Because we were gonna bring character into the college and people thought, hey, I'll support you. If you can take Christian College and have kids graduate with character, rather than cum lousy, you know, as far as a life goes, and cum magna as far as their smarts go, we'll pay you. So I mean, a lot of people thought, this is great. So they were paying me money to put character back in the kids that had none and are very little of it. So I went down there and it was really hard in class. You know what? Those nutty kids loved me anyway. You know, they just put up with my horrible spelling. I spell like it sounds, but that's not good English. You know what I mean? I thought, I was so nervous, but they liked me anyway. I thought I didn't have to be a great speller for the kids to love me and to have a real ministry on that campus for a number of years. And they just put up with my bad spelling. Well, of course, I gave the final grade too. Okay. But I wanted you to know I was a professional warrior. I'm not talking about something that I didn't experience. The first church I pastored out of nowhere, some of you know about that, 100 miles from nowhere. I had 55 funerals in five years. And everybody of the 480 people that lived within the whole valley, and there were cattle, ranchers, and loggers, came to the funeral. Everybody came. So I had 55 of the best funeral messages you ever heard. And having all those people caused me to worry. Because if I preached this rascal into heaven, the Christians would be mad and so would God. If I preached them in hell, the people in hell would die. The people in town would have been mad at me. And the only time I've been to church is when they rolled a mentee first. I mean, everybody was buried through the church. I'd be home, ready to throw up. My wife says, they're praying just as I am, I think it's the 100th time in the organ. Everybody's in the church, and you're not, and you're gonna have the service. I said, I can't. Every time, for 55 of them, I can't, I can't go. I didn't eat because I would throw up. I mean, can you imagine throwing up with somebody in the coffin? You think I'm kidding. I am not kidding. I was a wreck, an emotional wreck. And when the message got through, I wanted to say, would you move over? I need to lay down. You know what I mean? So I'm telling you, I'm not just preaching to the choir. You understand what I'm saying? I was a horrible warrior. My wife would pray and pray for me because I'd be so tore up emotionally, so much of my early life as a Christian and as a pastor. And I'll tell you, friends, that's not how God wanted me to live. But no one told me. You're not really, you know what I mean? You read a verse here and a verse there, but somehow I never made the connection, so I'm connecting it for you. Okay, look at Mark 4.19 and Luke 6.25 in your paper tells us the worries of this life can be involved with the lure of wealth, the desire for other things, that kind of thing, crowd out the attention to the spiritual blessings of peace. And Jesus talked about those things that come in, the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for stuff. And I've counseled some very wealthy, wealthy people. Wealthy, wealthy. And you know what? You know, we have a prayer meeting. Lord, lay our ministry on their heart. No, we don't. I'm not looking to wealthy people to give. They don't anyway. But that's not why I'm not looking. I'm looking to God to keep our ministry going. Most of you know, you get my prayer letter. In 20 years, I've never asked for one penny and we don't charge anybody. If God wants us to minister, he's gonna provide. If God is not gonna be in our office with these demonized people, and some have tried to kill me, I don't wanna be in there either. Right? If God's not there, I don't wanna be there. So we're just trusting God to meet our needs. And it's been interesting. Especially last year was really interesting. I could worry, right? We're in the hole for three months. $15,000 in the hole for three months. Maybe I should write a letter. Maybe I should get on the phone and call some wealthy people I know. By the way, why don't you ask us how our finances are? You bring it up, you know. That's getting my grimy hands on the ministry of God. Okay. You know, the question is, why did God choose you? I have a friend that is a hyper-Calvinist. He's a nine pointer. And I met, he's a doctor. I met him in a, I guess if he does a surgery and they die, it was appointed and the man wants to die anyway. You know, so, no big deal. But anyway, he's sitting in the waiting room. My wife and I are flying to Mayo Clinic for some treatment for her. He's sitting in there. Dr. Shandor knows this man really well that I'm talking about. And I knew where he was. My son had a real impact in his two sons' lives. And I said to him, Dr. So-and-so, you know this thing about being chosen by God before the foundation of the world? Yeah. And I said, you left Mark's church over this? Yeah, yeah, I understand. I said, it's simple. It's real simple. So how can it be simple? They've been fighting about it. You know, you had Calvin and these guys fighting forever over these issues. I said, it's simple. I said, God chose me before the foundation of the world. He never would have chose me afterwards. Come on, but he'd chosen you? I mean, why are there so many losers on the winning team? Couldn't God did a better job? Do you understand what I'm saying? I guess you don't get it. Anyway, he laughed. You know, we're fighting over stupid stuff and splitting. I know Neil got into that. I'm not gonna go where Neil went. Angels fear to tread where Neil goes, and so I'm fearful behind angels, you know? Okay, but God chose me to know him and to glorify him. Does worry glorify God? If you're a child of God and you name the name of Christ. Since God cremated me with an emotional part, we all have emotional part, right? We can love and hate and worry and have peace, all this stuff. You know, since worry is more than just a mental activity that also affects my emotional well-being, does the word of God address this issue? That's what's important, isn't it? What does God say about this? Before we go there, I want to show you a video clip from Angola Prison. Angola Prison is the, one of the most violent facilities of all prisons. The average, if you average out the sentences for all these prisoners, each prisoner is sentenced 88 years. Each one has 88 years, the whole thing. Now, this is a testimony of a murderer. And I want you to see, I saw this and I wept. Like this guy convicted me, this murderer. If these men who live in a very dangerous place, if you think prison is a safe place, then you don't know anything. We got some guys here that work in prisons. They have prison ministries. They're not safe places. And this man has peace. Why don't you? Do you understand? Remember he said, he's got peace in an unsafe place where he could die anytime, be killed anytime. One guy's gonna show you how he's gonna wipe out the whole prison, chopping people up with the stuff he'd saved. And God intervened. It's not a safe place. But I thought, man, if this, I had to show you this. If this guy in prison can have peace, as he's talking about, you can't see his face too good, but let me tell you, his face is full of peace. Not the picture when he was arrested. But if you could see his face even clearer at home, you'll see peace all over this guy's face in the midst of a terrible prison. Yes, ma'am? The actual title? I think it may be called Hope. But see, if you go on CBD, it's the part of the singers, not the choir, go and sing. So they're singing, and then they go to a guy's testimony. They sing, and they switch from what they're singing about to another guy sharing his prison experience and the Lord Jesus. The chaplain of this prison, where he takes you in the room where they kill people. You know, with lethal injection? The first guy that gave lethal injection, he didn't pray with him, he didn't share Christ, and he feels guilty. He said, maybe I send him to hell. Every other man, when they're on the table, he shares the Lord Jesus Christ. He shares a gospel with them and asks them, do they want to receive the Lord Jesus Christ? He holds their hand. This is the warden. He holds their hand while they're getting the legal, while they're getting the injection, and he says, look into my eyes, because the next eyes you see will be Jesus. Isn't that beautiful? I mean, this is quite a place. It's worth watching. Let me tell you, 350. I'll even guarantee you 350 back if you don't like it, okay? I can afford that. But, you know, you stumble on things sometimes, and you go, where was this hidden? You know, because it's the real people, you know, in the worst situations that the Lord really did something to them. Okay, let's go on with this thing of love. Unworry. Okay, let's go to a Bible study on worry. Let's go to Matthew 6. If God has given us everything for life and godliness, and it's found within this book, then he has to address worry, because it's a major issue with all of us. I don't know, any, I mean, if you've never worried, you're probably dead. You know, it is a natural emotion. If this building was on fire, and I don't care if it's your megula or chagula or whatever, you know, worry is gonna motivate me to find a door and get out of here. See, it could be a positive thing, right? I'm gonna get out of this place if it's on fire, okay? Now, but what happens when there's not a fire? You know, and I'm tense all the time, and all worried. What does Jesus tell us about this? Okay, we'll go to, start in verse 24. In the King James, you read it in some of the other translations, maybe it'd be a little easier. No man can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon, and some put in their money. Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought, and where there's thought, there is anxious thought. You gotta realize that. In the modern translation, you'll see, or if you look it up in the Greek, it's take no anxious thought for your life, what you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what shall you put on? Is not life more than meat? Isn't your body more than clothing? Behold, illustration, look at the birds. Look at the fowls of the air. They don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they? When we pastored our first church, I got $5 less in unemployment. I had three kids. We're out nowhere, and I qualified for welfare. There were times we had nothing to eat, and we'd pray, and someone was led by God to bring us some food over to eat. You ever seen God meet real needs in your life? We did. God wanted us to go through this training. I'm gonna live a life of faith, right? I'm gonna live a life of trusting Him. All of a sudden, we learned to trust Him right off the bat. I had the right wife. Most wives wouldn't have hung in there. She was, I'd be sometimes ready to leave, and I'll go back and get a real job, instead of sponging off of God. No, no, God's called you. We're gonna stay. We can go through this. But I'll tell you, I got the jewel. Some oysters have pearls. When she opened this oyster, it was empty. I got the pearl. Mike Shander, and some of you know my wife, and what a godly woman. And it has been our whole married life. Okay, now, let's go on. Which of you, by taking anxious thought, can add one inch to his stature? You can get shoe lifts and stuff. You know, that may help a little bit. But worry isn't gonna make you any taller, Jeff. But which, poor Jeff, picking on him. Okay, and why take anxious thought for clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow and toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you, even Solomon, all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of what? Little faith. You know what little faith is? Not enough faith not to worry. If you worry, you have little faith. Where we lived in that isolated nowhere place, 100 miles from a major superstore. I mean, that was not round trip, that was one way. 200 miles round trip for pennies or a supermarket or anything like that. My wife, we lived in Los Angeles where I went to Bible school for five years. She didn't have a warm coat and we had 15 below actual degree temperature. And she just had a little cloth, California coat. And we didn't have any money. I mean, in those days, a lot of things were cheap, but a good woman's coat was almost close to $100. $100, you know, with my $40 a week or whatever. Yeah, I got $40 a week. You know, how many weeks would it take? Then we wouldn't need it all to buy her a coat. And a widow lady in the church, not a widow lady, a single lady in the church shook my wife's hand and said, take this and buy yourself a warm coat. I mean a warm coat, not for the kids, but just for you. It was a $100 bill. We have seen, I mean, I could tell you story after story where we were against the wall, no money, and God laid on the heart of somebody without knowing, but they were sensitive to the spirit of God to give for a need that she knew she didn't have the right kind of coat. Maybe she thought we were saving up, but we didn't make enough money to save money. You know, you have to make something to save. I mean, it was impossible to save at that time. Okay, now let's keep going here. He goes on about this thing of faith. Therefore, you know, O ye of little faith, therefore take no thought saying what shall you eat or what shall you drink or wherewithal shall you be clothed. For all these things, now we're moving into all things. You're gonna have four all things here. All these things do the Gentiles seek. Who are the Gentiles? What's he talking about? The unbelievers. Worry is what unbelievers do. Do you see this? You've gotta see this. When you worry, you just stepped into the category that I'm an unbeliever. The other Gentiles or how other put it, these unbelievers. For your heavenly Father knoweth that what? You have need of all these things. He knows. He's aware. Okay. He says, first of all, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these things will be added to you. But what am I seeking first? See, what's first? You know, idolatry is anything you put first. Remember the 10 commandments, what's it say? What's first? And when I displace God, whatever I displace it with, worry, things, all of this, this becomes an idol. And God does what to idols? He destroys them. He tears down idols. Every time Israel got in trouble is when they displaced God with something. And it can be financial security. Well, if you have a lot of financial security, the stock market may have really given you a wake-up call. Do you understand what I'm saying? I mean, if you did lose money, I'm sorry, but I can't set my heart on what? 401ks, all this stuff. It may be gone. And if it's gone, what do you got left? Do you have God? Do you understand? If all of these props are removed, what's left? Nothing or him. But seek ye first, again, the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and all these things be added unto you. Take therefore no anxious thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. I heard a counselor, you guys, he's never spoken here, but it's a man that I admire so much. My wife and I have taken special courses and flew to California to sit under him and so on. And this man explained this verse, said sanity is learning to live a day at a time. There's enough troubles today. Why are you worried about what may come around tomorrow? Right? That's what he's saying. Learn to live what? A day at a time. I'm not saying you don't plan ahead, if you can. But he's not talking about planning. You understand what I'm saying? There's a difference in what he's teaching here than I'm buying groceries for a week. You know how we tried to save time in praying for the food? You know, when we put the sacks in the kitchen, I thank God for it. Then we didn't have to say grace for a week. No, I don't do that. Let's go to Mark four. We use this in counseling, Mark four. We don't use this other part in counseling, but we use Mark four a lot. You know, we know that in the Christian life, one of the most important thing or ingredients for a Christian life is faith. And I'll just give you my definition of faith. It's just pretty simple. Faith is simply believing what God has said. That's all God's asked me to do. So is your God credible? Is he believable? Will you believe what he said? It doesn't have to be some mysterious whatever. Do I believe what he said? The best illustration of this I like to share with my counselees is Mark four. Okay, let's look at Mark four here and go down to verse 35. We'll start there. The same day when even was come, Jesus said to his disciples, "'Let us pass over to the other side.' And when they had sent away the multitudes, they took him even as he was in a ship, they were also with him other little ships. There rose a great storm of wind and waves that beat into the ship, so it was now full. Jesus was in the hander part of the ship, asleep on the pillow. They awake him and they said, "'Master, carest thou not that we perish?' They hadn't read Peter, of course it hadn't been written yet. You know, isn't that what we do when something is not going, God, don't you care? You know, everybody needs a panic button, you know, on your desk or somewhere in the house, and everybody can run and push it, and then we all feel great. But you know, it's those things that we don't expect to happen. And Jesus arose and he rebuked the wind and he said to the sea, "'Peace be still.'" Those are two different things. Most of your theologians that believe in warfare believe that he did two things. The first thing is he rebuked. You go through the Gospel of Mark, every time Jesus rebuked, demons were involved. They were involved, rebuked the spirits in the board, rebuked the spirits here, rebuked. Many of them believe this storm was caused by demons to sink everybody. You'll get Jesus, the disciples, and the other disciples, you can sink the whole movement in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus rebuked them, and then he said what? "'Peace be still.' "'The wind ceased and there was a great calm. "'And he said to them, "'Why are ye so fearful? "'How is it that you have what kind of faith? "'No faith.' So he rebuked the wind and he rebuked the disciples. Doesn't seem very kind. And they feared exceeding and they said one to another, "'What manner of man is this? "'Even the wind and the sea obey him.'" Now, let me give you a little twist here. Why could Jesus tell his disciples they had no faith? Was it just out of the blue? No, it wasn't out of the blue. Remember we said what was faith? Simply believing what Jesus said. Well, let me quote this of the New Living, and you can look at verse 35. "'And the same day when evening was come, "'he said to them, "'Let's go out and sink in the middle.'" What did Jesus say? We're going to the other side. Let me tell you, friends, you may get water in your boat, there may be a storm or two, but you're gonna get to where? The other side, because he said so. See, will you believe him? Do you see how important it is that we will believe what Jesus said? Like Shander wants to do all these great things. I know Dr. Shander. I stayed in his house. And he said, "'One week with Logan is enough. "'Couldn't you go back to Kansas City?' "'Ha, ha, ha, ha.'" But you know, what he wants to do in Fiji, and I don't know if you've heard his story, and all this stuff, and there's a block, and a block, and a block, but God is still on the throne. God knows what he's about, and we can pray. If it's of the enemy, tear it down. Greater is he that is in me than he is in the world, and I come against any roadblock that Satan's trying to do to keep him from doing a marvelous work in Fiji, medical work in Fiji. Okay. But will I believe him? Can I believe him? I mean, if you can't believe the Lord, who can you believe? Now, if you can't trust him, who can you trust? Now, people are not worth your trust. People will let you down. Do you hear me? God never told you to trust people. Show me a verse that says, trust people. You know, my kids would say, "'You don't trust me.'" I said, you're right. I don't. I trust God to work on you, but I don't trust you. Don't trust me. Trust God to work in me. You know what I mean? I don't mean to fail my kids, but I probably have once at least. Once and a half, okay? I have to be careful, because some people over here know my daughter. Say, Cheryl, just tell us how wonderful your dad is, and don't tell us the other stuff. Okay, I want you to go to the whole key. The whole key is in Philippians 4. Simple. It's gotta be simple. God's truth and teaching is simple. If it wasn't, we can't do it. You know, I'm gonna give you these 44 steps, and I want you to remember all 44 steps. Man, I can hardly find my way home let alone remember 44 steps, you know? It's gotta be simple. God knows. It's so simple. Look at Philippians 4. Rejoice in your situations always. Oh, I'm sorry. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice, regardless of the situation. Let your moderation be known to all men. Paul was in prison, and he wasn't sure how they're gonna kill him. The Romans had a way of killing you by the inches, or quickly. He wasn't rejoicing in how maybe they're gonna torture him and all that. He was rejoicing in what? In the Lord, because the Lord was there with him in prison. The Lord is with me. Matthew, remember the two bookends? Well, he's always there. He's with me. That's why I'm glad for that little deal I got as a reminder. Because some days when you have demons manifesting in your office, you wonder, where's the Lord? Okay. Now, he said, be careful for nothing. That is, worry about nothing. If you are worried about something, you are violating scripture. Can you see that? What's the scripture say? We're to worry about what? Nothing, so as long as you worry about nothing, you're biblical. But most of the time, we worry about something. And that's wrong. I mean, on the basis of the word of God, it's wrong. Okay. Now, I wish you could have seen me in this church in Kansas City where I preached on Philippians 4. Beautiful church. One of the most beautiful churches in Kansas City. And they asked me to get up and speak. Here, I am a professor at the college. I reached down under the pulpit. I opened a large paper sack, and I put it over my head, and I stand behind the pulpit, and I don't say anything. Now, we have who's who in the zoo in this church. You know, the Christian ones. Really wealthy church. And they're going, where did you find this guy? I know he wasn't too good looking. Maybe that's why he's got the sack over his head. But that's not how God is telling me to live. That's a lot of people live. Oh, everything's wonderful. It's wonderful, wonderful. I mean, your kids are a mess. Oh, it's wonderful. Wake up, come on. This isn't Disneyland. You know, there's reality out here, and we gotta face reality and not say, oh, it's all what it isn't. So what am I to do? He says, first of all, worry about nothing. Okay, God, what am I supposed to do with this? You made me an emotional person, and I have more emotions than some. I think you figured that out. When I was in Bible school, they said, you know, you'll never be a good speaker. I said, why? He says, your hands, you know, you're supposed to do this. And this is supposed to be meaningful. And mine fly all over the place, like I just washed them, you know? That's just who I am. I'm sorry, you know, that, you know what I'm doing? I'm practicing for the rapture. I gotta have some excuse why my hands just go everywhere. You know that Elaine Pakala lady? She said, Jim, you would do a lot better if you had PowerPoint. I said, okay, Elaine, I will point powerfully. Okay. He said, worry about nothing, but in everything by what? Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Worry about nothing and pray about what? Everything. God said, give me those things. And what will he give me back? What's the next verse say? The peace that doesn't make sense. People can't figure out why do you have peace? You know, how could the prodigal father have peace? People love to tell you, I saw your son doing drugs. You know, the ladies in Proverbs? Dad, you read about that? Well, your son's with those ladies. You know, the loose ladies of Proverbs. Spending all his money. So the dad worried. You know, I think every day he looked in faith, God's bringing that boy home. And I'm so glad there wasn't any do-gooders there. You know, the ones would take the poor boy in, feed him, comfort him, all that. No, go feed the pigs. And the question is, why is a good Jewish boy feeding pigs? I mean, if you know anything about pigs and Jewish boys. I mean, he really got to what? The bottom. What happened when he got to the bottom? He came to the end of what? And back to God. And a lot of us stand in the road of someone coming to the end of what? Themselves. So they come back to God. Like this guy. What brought him back to God? A number of the prisoners remembered what their mother told them. When they were in prison cell, not knowing if they're gonna be killed or not. You know, they're gonna be killed by the government or not. And they remembered that, and they cried out to God, believed what they heard when they were little. That's why CEF is very good. Child Advantage Fellowship. Excellent, excellent. I was vice president of it. That's not why it's excellent. They got rid of me, okay? So they're more excellent now. But last year, over eight million children worldwide heard the gospel through Child Advantage Fellowship. Wonderful mission. And your kids can be involved in that. Learning how to lead others to Christ. Wonderful. Every state in the United States, every province, about 164 countries of the world, they're there teaching people how to lead little kids to the Lord. And it's a wonderful mission. It was hard for me to leave for ICBC. See, I left that, the vice president of the largest mission in the world, to come to ICBC to sit in an office no bigger than a closet with no clients. I'd look at the phone and I thought, I wonder if it's ever gonna ring. What'd you do today? Oh, I looked at the phone. I don't know. Do you think we should have come here? Said, I'm wondering. There's nobody. Even Dan didn't have anybody. You know, and he's in the next room. I said, Dan. You know, I'm having second thoughts. You know what I mean? How are you gonna have second thoughts? Good, it didn't go as you expected, but I knew that God wanted me there. And I began to question God. You know, are you sure? Maybe I did something in my former life. That's why he put me there. You know, why am I here and nothing's happening? I really don't believe in a former life. I don't know if anyone's gonna watch this video. I can see our support dropping like this. Okay, now this is important. It really is. What am I supposed to do? All right. All right. I really feel I made a horrible mistake that this screen should be over there. And I would like these two elderly ladies, if you would carry this screen over there. I know one of them really well. And I help her out over the phone when she has, you know, people climbing the walls and swinging on the drapes. She said, do you think they're demonized? I said, probably. But anyway, let's say these ladies are dumb enough to lift the screen. So when they lift the screen, what might they feel? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's a good thing. It says, let go of this or you'll do damage. Listen to this, beloved. Beloved, pain to your physical body is like worry to your spirit. God is saying, you can't carry this. How do I know what I need to pray about? You know, he says, pray about everything. What am I supposed to pray about? And to pray about the worries. I believe, I don't think worry is a bad thing. I think worry is God calling you to pray. How do I know what to pray about? I'm worried about this. Well, I can't give it to God. I don't trust him. Well, then hold on to it. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? See, I think every time you sense yourself going into anxiety, God is saying, pray about this. Give it to him. I love this. I'm gonna give you a statement. This is so profound, I wish I had written it. Every night when I go to bed, I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. Isn't that good? Here, God, you can have it so I can sleep. So what's worry? When you leave here, what can you remember? Worry is God's calling you to pray. And he said, if you'll pray and give this to me, I will give you my peace that doesn't make sense in the midst of what you're going through. But you won't give it to God if you don't know who he is. What time are we done? Five o'clock? Sick. I wanna jump to something else. And this is so true. Every single person that comes to our office for counseling, regardless of what they're into, there's one thing that they don't have, is a prayer life. Not one. I love teaching prayer. It was such a burden, we started having men's prayer retreats in the Northwood, giving men a 670-page notebook and meeting with God for a whole week in the woods of Michigan. Then we thought maybe now we could have a couple's prayer retreat. So Paul and I had a couple's prayer retreat in Dallas. We're husband and wife. In fact, a lady went to that, that's here. There she is. Look at her, wonderful. She was a nervous wreck. She was just all gray and burdened down. And she came and sat under Paul and Logan and look at her, hooray! Hooray! Let me tell ya, this was open to the United States. And we had what, 12 couples? There was only 12 couples in the United States that needed to get together and pray. At least the Catholics had it right. Families that prayed together, what? It's no wonder we're falling apart. You can't even get couples to give three days to meet with God and to be directed and guided. So you're not just saying, well, just pray, but it was good, it was wonderful, I loved it. And do you know, those 12 couples, 75% of the men were engineers, not on trains. I thought, well, maybe engineers are so logical they know they need prayer. I have no idea. I was amazed at all these engineers. Okay, I gotta, yeah, I hate this. Okay. Well, let me give you this real quick. In Genesis chapter one, in the Garden of Eden, God talked and walked with Adam and Eve. And you begin to read through Genesis and pick up, I went through the Bible, like three or four Bibles, and marked every single verse on prayer. Every time someone talked to God, and every time God talked back. I mean, I wanted to study prayer. I think probably the Bible's a good place to study it. And so that Bible's all marked in green, that's all it is. And you don't have anybody praying again until it is Adam's grandson. And he began to call on the name of the Lord. I think it's in Genesis 4, 26. Well, Abraham prays, and all these people pray, and Abraham don't have a whole lot of time. Okay. Now, I believe that God desires to talk to us. Started out that way, he created man to what? To talk with, to have fellowship with, and so on. Go to Psalms 36, a very interesting verse here. Psalms 36, seven and eight. Beautiful verse. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure. See, that's abiding, and I have a whole bunch of stuff on abiding and all the promises that if you abide, all the stuff will happen. But he says, if you will take refuge under his wings, if you will take refuge there, you will drink of God's pleasures or his delight. Do you know what those words carry in the Hebrew? I looked them up, I was shocked. I mean, it just, I got tingly, wow. I'm almost come, I carry a hoosie, close. I mean, I just got so excited about this, okay? In the Hebrew, pleasures and delight carry the thought of secrets. Also, it's the Hebrew word for Eden. And Eden was a place where God walked and taught with man. He shared his heart with Adam and Eve. Once, the last time you had your Garden of Eden experience, you know, you can have it today. I come to the garden alone, for he what? Walks with me and he talks with me. I believe God has been trying to talk to everyone here, but have you been listening? I got too much to share and too little time and I don't know what to say hardly. I got to worry about it. He's gonna go. Because see, my heart is on prayer, not on demons. You know, name of Jesus out of here. But if our guys don't leave with a prayer life, they're gonna be back. The dog to the vomit, all of that. And I don't know what it all is. I listened to these guys on the brain stuff and I get confused. So I went out and got my Bible and started reading. I know God put the brain together, so I know he understands all this stuff. I don't think he's getting clued in here. But God is in all of this. He created the brain, he told us to pray, he told us to have time with him. Be still and know. What's the purpose of the secret place? To meet with God where he can share his secrets with you. Oh, there's scriptures on that. I wish I could go. That's the whole thing of this school. Am I right, mom? IMI is her son will leave that school with an intimate relationship with God. Know how to get ahold of God. Know how to hear God. Know how to abide in God's presence. I want that for everybody. That's where I came to peace. I came to peace when I learned how to take all this stuff and give it to God and leave it there and let him give his peace in my heart. I'm a very peaceful man. If you knew me before, I'm still real hyper. You know, I am. I'm just wound up and it's bad, but I can't help that. I was a hyperactive kid and they didn't have any Ritalin to give me, so I stayed hyperactive. It was okay, because God said, you're gonna be traveling all over the world. You're an old man, you need some energy. You know, just don't worry about it as a kid, you know. If, I'll tell you, if there's one thing I could give you is the desire to know God. See, the righteous know him and they run into the strong tower and are what? Safe, the name of the Lord. See, that's K. Arthur stuff. I steal from everybody. I'm not anybody that says anything good. I'm for it. I read a book and it doesn't challenge me. Paul never hears about it. What's the point of reading a book that doesn't draw me closer to Jesus? I don't mean leaves me, oh, it'll never be anything. That gives me a good boot in the rear. You know, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna go, there's more. You know, I'm just like, I'm just on the outside looking through the window of the relationship I could have with the living God that wants to have it with me. I'm the one that's standing in the road. Do you understand that? He wants to have it with you. Okay. 1 John 5, 14, 15, wonderful verses on the secret place, Matthew 6, 5 through 8, all this stuff. Now, let's go here. And we got time to do this. When I pray, where am I going? Am I just talking to the air? Our school has 105 acres, is on a hill. And Mary was shopping at Walmart because she cooks for the guys, we eat good. And our guys are walking up there, talking to God, you know. You know, and people along ways, and they said, oh, where are you from? She said, you know, the hill. I said, oh, are you in a place where they have those mental disturbed boys? Ha ha ha ha ha, talking to God. She was close, this lady was close. You know, I think when you think a guy has a relationship with God, he's mentally disturbed, you know. Okay, go to Isaiah 6. We are going to go into God's throne room. Let's pull the curtain back and look at where we're going. Isn't that where you pray, where's your prayers go? You're going to the throne room of God. Isaiah 6 said he looked in the throne room and there were seraphims, each one having six wings. With twain they covered their face, with twain they covered their feet, with twain they did fly. One cried to another, and they said, this is a song they were singing in heaven. I think it was do Lord, oh no, I'm sorry. It's holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The earth is full of his glory. The posts are shaking at the voice of him that cried. And the temple was filled with smoke, and what did he say? Woe is me. You want to get more of a vision? Go to Revelation chapter five. I love, I have this printed out often when I'm having my time along with God in my secret place. I'll read Revelation four and five, just to remember where I'm going. You know, he really is an awesome God. And here, look at what the picture is here. He said, after I looked, behold, the door was open in heaven. The first voice spoke was there. It was a trumpet talking and said, come up here, there. I'll show you things that must come. Immediately I was in the spirit. Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and the one that sat in the throne, he that sat looked like Jasper. Look up these colors. The sardar stone, and there was a rainbow around the throne. The site like an emerald. Round about the throne, there were four and 20 seats. Upon the seats were four and 20 elders sitting clothed in white raiment. They had crowns on their head, and out of the throne proceeded thunders and lightnings and voices. And there were seven lamps burning before the throne where there were seven spirits. Before the throne, there was like a sea of glass under crystal, and in the midst of the throne, round about the throne were four beasts with eyes all over the place. The first beast was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third like a man, the fourth like a flying eagle. The fourth beast each had six wings about him, and they were full of eyes, and without, they rested not day and night, and what were they singing thousands of years later? Holy, holy, holy. Song hadn't changed. That's the song. Holy, holy, holy. The Lord God Almighty, which was, which is, and which is to come, and when those beasts gave glory and honor and thanks unto him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and 20 elders fell down before him, and they worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. They cast their thrones down and said, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power. Thou hast created all things for thy pleasure. They were created, and then you go to chapter four, and you have all the angels singing. How many angels? You can't count them. But can you see that throne with the smoke and lightning, the pillars all shaking, and all these angels, and as far as you can see, angels worshiping God. This is the throne room. Lightnings and thunderings and all this stuff going on, and when you part it back, you think, I don't think it's safe to go in there, right? Remember, Isaiah fell down and says, go to Hebrews four. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. What's grace? God giving me the desire and the power to make choices that would honor him. Unmerited. God giving me that desire and power to live how I ought to live. That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. Why are there so many defeated Christians? Because when I need to go there, I don't. You got it? I enjoy sin. I enjoy this. I enjoy that. All I have to do is what? Go there. Walk in amidst all of that thunder and lightning and all that stuff going on. Walk up and say, Father, can we talk? Father, I have a need. Father, I don't know what to do about this. Father, I don't know where my son is. I don't know where my daughter is. You know what I'm saying? I don't know what it is. But go before the throne. You can go in boldly with all this stuff going on, all this worship going on, and pour your heart out to him. And he loves you. And when you walk out of that throne room, you'll be changed because you'll walk out with peace. And you will know that God is really alive by experience. Not just you read it in the book. So remember, when you worry, what does God want you to do? He wants you to pray. That's all he's saying. Just give it to me. What do I do? I go on the throne to give it to him. But I can pray more about than what I worry about. I saw a beautiful, are we a bit done, almost? Yeah, we are. Almost, almost, okay. He said something opens up here, so I'm gonna hold on. But I saw something beautiful in the Psalms. And when people call, I would say this. And many times, the women that called me would cry on the phone. I never saw this before. And it was in, I think, the New Living Translation. It says, may the Lord bless you. And may the Lord bless your children. All in one verse. Never saw it before. They're calling, they're weeping. Mothers are hurting. Husbands have given up. You know, oh, they made their bed, you know. Husbands like to disown the kid. I mean, your kids, you're talking about, your son. You know, you had him with me. It's our son. Dads really don't like to, you know, like to get involved in all that stuff. You raise them. But you know, when you tell someone, God bless you and God bless your children. Isn't that beautiful? You're biblical. And when you pray, if you will fill your prayers with biblical truth, you will have answers. If the Navigators taught me a verse when I was first saved, when I was 19 years old, if you will pray according to God's will, which is revealed in this book, he will what? Hear you, and if he hears you, you will have what? The answer, because you're asking God to do what he said he what? Would do. He may not do it instantly like you want, but trust him. Remember, if you can't trust God, who can you trust? And those kids aren't yours. They're just long to you. You know that? They're long to you, and you do the best you can. The only problem is there's no such thing as a perfect parent. Now, I was close, but there's no such thing as a perfect parent. But as a parent, I wanna entrust my kids to God. And I wanna go to God on behalf of my kids. You know Dr. Rumberger? You know the guy that gets up here in Leeds and irons his shorts without taking them off? Okay, Dr. Rumberger, his office is next to mine, and my son was his daughter's youth pastor. He had two girls in junior high school. And my son asked my wife to pray for these girls. She prayed for those girls every day through junior high. She prayed for them every day through high school. She prayed for them every day through college. She's praying for them every day they're out of college now. And my wife told me, she says, you know, if I should forget to pray for them, God will wake me up at night and tell me I forgot. And my wife prays for every widow that was in any church we ever pastored. You get on my wife's prayer list, you better duck. You know what I'm saying? She's a godly, godly, she hates it when I say that. I'm not godly, you shouldn't tell people that. I don't wanna go to any of those meetings because they're gonna be watching me. Watch her bop me with a purse or something. Father, I just thank you so much for a godly wife and a praying wife. And Lord, it took me so long to become a praying husband. And Lord, I pray right here that maybe we would just get a glimpse of the marvelous, marvelous privilege we have of going into your throne room, walking up to you and saying, Father, I wanna lay this out before you. I wanna give it to you and I wanna walk away. And I'm gonna trust you. If you lay it on my heart to pray for them again, I'll pray for them again. But if you don't lay it on my heart, I'm just leaving it there because I believe the answers on the way. I love that little chorus. So Father, I pray you would bless all of us here. And Lord, I know you're gonna bless us tonight because Henry Blackley's gonna be here. And that man just blesses me. I've never met him. I've never heard him on anything. But anything he's written that I've read, I've been blessed. And I pray for this dear man as he comes, that the spirit of God would speak through him to our hearts. And we'd walk out of here saying, oh, it was so good to be here. In Christ's name we pray, amen.