Now verse number 1, the Bible says I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
The word extol means to praise, to laud, and he's praising God because of the fact that God had lifted him up and not made his foes to rejoice over him.
Look, if you would, at Proverbs chapter 4. Just go a few pages to the writing of your Bible, pass Psalms, and get to Proverbs.
You see, there are a lot of people out there that, and while you're turning, I'm going to read for you Psalm 11.
Psalm 11 says this, and the Lord put I my trust, how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain.
And listen to verse 2, for lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
So the Bible tells us very clearly in Psalm 11 that there are wicked people who already have the bow drawn, pointed right at you, ready to strike, ready to attack.
He said, of course, in Psalm 30 where we just read, that God had not made his foes to rejoice over him, to rejoice over his defeat, to rejoice over his destruction.
Look what Proverbs chapter 4 says, look at verse 14, enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away. And watch this, for they sleep not, except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
There are people out there, there are wicked people, there are evil people, and their goal is to make the righteous fall.
The Bible says elsewhere in Proverbs that the adulterous will hunt for the precious life.
It's a game for her to find the precious child of God that she can defile, that she can destroy.
And you need to be on your guard, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
And not just the devil, but wicked people who are doing his work are trying to devour and destroy those who are righteous.
They have the bow already drawn, privily, secretly.
And by the way, that's why I'm very careful about my children and don't let them out of my sight.
Because of the fact that I know that the devil has his sights on my children.
And he has his sights on your children as well.
That's why I don't put them on the public fool bus, you know, and send them off to whatever.
Because I don't want bad things to happen to my little young impressionable children.
I know that the devil would love to get his hands on his children.
But not just the children. Let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall.
The devil has his sights on me, even as a grown man.
He has his sights on my wife. He has his sights on those who are righteous, who are upright in their heart.
He wants to make them fall. Wicked people have a desire to make good people fall.
Look at Psalm 30.
You see, don't ever go to a party, young people, where people are drinking.
And then teens sometimes and young people will be invited to a party where people are drinking.
Because I promise you, if you ever go to a party where drinking is going on, people will try to get you to drink.
They'll try to force you to drink. They'll try to spike your drink.
Because they want to make you fall. They want to bring you down with them.
They want to bring you down to their level.
And wicked people hate those who are righteous and they want to drag them down.
It makes them look bad or something and so therefore they're out to get you.
And therefore you should never even go to a party like that where alcohol is being consumed.
So it says in verse 1 of Psalm 30,
I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
Because basically the foe would love to rejoice over him, would love to see him fall.
He says in verse 2, O Lord my God, I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me.
Turn to James 5. Keep your finger here and turn to James 5.
You see, God is a God that can heal.
And we're not talking about Benny Hinn.
We're not talking about this slapping people on the forehead and the charismatic, charismatic maniac movement.
We're not talking about that. We're talking about legitimate healing the God can do.
And this kind of ties in with what I was preaching on Sunday night about your health and everything like that.
I'm not the health and wealth preacher.
God's not always going to heal everybody.
But God does have the power to heal.
And the Bible says this in James 5, verse 14,
Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up,
and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
And so therefore, according to the Bible, prayer can cause you to be healed of an illness, of an injury, of a sickness.
God is not always healing everybody.
We're not going to have a healing line where everybody lines up and they throw down their crutches.
But every time I'm sick, I always pray for God to heal me.
Every time I have anything wrong with me, any kind of injury, any kind of a problem,
and when I know of others that are sick or injured, I'm going to pray for them.
And God has the power to heal.
And so David here said in verse 2 of chapter 30,
O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
God can heal the body.
And that's clear.
But look at verse 3, it says, O Lord.
So he's listing all the great things God's done for him.
He's praising God, he's extolling God because he caused him not to be defeated, not to fall, and that his enemies will rejoice.
He called out for healing, he was healed.
Verse 3, he said, O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave.
Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.
Now this is important here.
That last phrase, thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.
Because let me tell you, the pit is the place of death.
I was talking about hell.
The Bible talks about, you know, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
Speaking of death, there's a place basically saying,
Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them,
and they were judged every man according to their works in Revelation 20-13.
You see, the dead are in the pit.
The dead are in hell.
But thank God, Jesus said, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Get that? Shall never die.
We were out soul winning on, Ryan and I were out soul winning.
Remember the Jehovah's Witness that we talked to, Ryan?
We spoke to a few different Jehovah's Witnesses.
And basically they said that when I die and when they die and when any of us die,
we're just going to cease to exist, they said.
Because they don't believe in heaven and hell.
They said we're going to cease to exist basically when I breathe my last breath.
And even if you're a Jehovah's Witness or whatever they believe it means to be saved,
they're very confused. They're not really sure what they believe.
But whatever they believe about being saved, they say,
Well when we die, we will just be dead, we'll be in the grave, we'll cease to exist,
and then one day we'll be resurrected and brought back to life.
You know what? I will not be brought back to life because I will never die.
That's what eternal life means.
It means a life that never ends.
The word eternal, if you break it down,
E is the prefix meaning not.
The eternal is from the same root word as like termination, an end.
Not ending is what the word eternal really means.
And therefore, if I have a life that does not end, and if Jesus said,
I am the resurrection and the life,
he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, referring to the spirit.
Like we talked about in Sunday morning.
And he said that whosoever liveth and believeth in me, and by the way, that's me,
I live and I believe in Jesus Christ,
shall never die.
And so when I breathe my last breath, yes the body will die,
but Steven Anderson will not be dead.
I will be alive in heaven.
Jesus Christ said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
And so Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were alive in heaven.
He said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad.
So he was up in heaven, alive, looking down, rejoicing about Jesus Christ.
So therefore, there is no such thing as this soul sleep.
There's a sleep of the body.
The body sleeps in the grave.
The soul and spirit is alive in heaven.
The body is resurrected.
The spirit has already been resurrected the moment that you got saved,
and will remain alive for eternity.
It's funny, my sister was looking at churches in Texas.
She was on some websites, and she stumbled upon that church
about an hour from Fort Worth, and it's a cult is what it is.
It's supposedly an independent, fundamental Baptist church.
They literally believe that people who are saved Christians,
if they don't live right, will spend time in hell.
It's like a Baptist version of purgatory.
They literally believe that during the millennial reign of Christ,
and we're going to get to this in the chapter a little later in Psalm 30,
because it ties in again,
they literally believe that a believer who's not living right,
and where do you draw the line, right?
How good do you have to be to make this cut?
And you say this, that a believer who isn't living right
will not be a part of the millennial reign of Christ.
Instead, they'll be in hell for a thousand years.
But then they'll come out, and it's funny,
because my sister was just looking through churches,
and she was just going through the statement of faith,
and she didn't know that it was that cult of a church
with this strange and diverse doctrines.
Well, she reads the statement of faith and says,
we believe that people are saved by faith in eternity.
And she's like, why does he keep saying in eternity?
I haven't seen that in the Bible.
And the reason why is because they think there's a temporary hell,
and then in eternity you're saved.
No, if you go to hell for five seconds, then you die,
because that's where dead people are.
The Bible says death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
Did you get that? The dead which were in them.
And Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
And so if I'm dead for one minute,
then God was not telling the truth when he said I would never die.
Now Jesus was dead for three days and three nights.
But then up from the grave he arose.
He said, I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold I am alive forevermore, amen,
and have the keys of hell and of death,
but I will never experience death.
I'll never know what it is to die.
And if you're saved tonight, you will never know what death even means,
because you will never die according to the promise of Jesus Christ in John 11.
That's what everlasting life means.
That's what eternal life means.
He says, O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
Jesus Christ has conquered death.
He has abolished death, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6,
and has brought life and immortality to life through the Gospel.
He abolished death.
Death has nothing for the Christian.
There is no death to the believer in Jesus Christ.
That's what eternal life means.
It's not an eternal life where you die and then you rise again.
No, that's the body.
But the Spirit's already risen again and will never die and is immortal.
And so get that doctrine.
Anybody who's fooled by that, I mean, good night.
It's bizarre doctrine.
Nothing could be more unscriptural.
But let's go down the chapter here.
He says, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave.
Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.
You see that?
Staying alive as opposed to dying and going to hell.
Somebody said this, if you're born once, you die twice.
If you're born twice, you die once.
I don't agree with that.
If you're born twice, you die zero if you're born again.
You don't die at all.
And so that's what I believe.
But the Bible says here,
O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave.
There's the resurrection of the soul.
Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his,
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Aren't you thankful that God is holy?
I'm so thankful that I don't serve a God that's unholy,
that's ungodly, that's wicked.
Like, I'm glad I don't serve a religion that promotes polygamy.
That's not holy.
You know what I mean?
I'm just thankful that God's a righteous God
that's against lying and he's against stealing
and he's for honesty and truth and purity
and cleanliness and godliness.
I'm glad I don't worship a God that's telling me to have four wives.
You know what I mean?
And to do things that are wrong.
Oh great, I can get away.
Oh great, I can drink.
Oh great, I can...
Thank God for holiness.
And you know, none of us can live up to it like we ought to,
but thank God that the standard is there
and that he gives us the strength to overcome sin
and to do the right thing
and he tells us to walk in a path of righteousness for his name's sake.
Thank God for his holiness.
I'm glad I serve a God that's a holy God
and a religion that's a holy religion
that makes me want to be clean and pure and right
instead of doing the wrong things.
So many religions are unholy.
He said in verse number five,
For his anger endureth but a moment.
In his favor is life.
Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
His anger endureth but a moment.
Now, this is the same type of statement as when God said,
What is your life?
It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time
and then vanishes it away.
The moment there is obviously a figure of speech.
That's not really that fast.
He's using a figure of speech because in the realm of eternity,
if you look at it in perspective,
like when he said,
Your life is a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanishes away.
When you look at the scheme of things, millions of years,
and I'm not talking about evolution now
because this world has only existed for 6,000 years.
6,000 years, there's no evolution, none of this stuff, it's all false.
But what I'm talking about is just in the span of eternity,
in the future, our life of 70 years, maybe 80 years, is very small.
And so if we suffer for a short time now,
we're going to be glorified with Him for thousands of years,
or millions of years, billions of years, whatever,
because it's eternal, it never ends.
And he says,
His anger endureth but a moment,
and His favor is light,
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Keep your finger there and look over at Lamentations 3.
Go to the right in your Bible,
you can find the big books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.
Right between Jeremiah and Ezekiel is Lamentations.
Look at Lamentations 3.
The Bible says in Lamentations 3, verse 22, it says,
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not,
they are new every morning,
great is Thy faithfulness.
See, we all deserve to be just consumed in God's wrath,
because of all the things that we've done,
all the times that we've failed,
all of our inadequacies,
all of our sins and unrighteousness.
But according to the Bible here,
God gives us a new start,
He gives us a new chance,
His mercies are new every morning.
God does not hold a grudge against us
for things that we've done wrong in our past.
His anger endureth but for a moment,
back to chapter 30,
He says,
Weeping may endure for the night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
God does not hang over our head our sins,
that's why we shouldn't hang other people's sins over their head,
or even beat ourselves up about things that we've done in the past.
Because if they've been paid for,
and I've heard a lot of people say that
stuff you did before you're saved is under the blood,
don't worry about it.
Hey, stuff I did after I'm saved is under the blood.
Just as much.
And the bottom line is that
if we confess our sins,
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
if we confess and forsake our sins,
we find mercy.
Now I've been saved since I was six years old.
Nothing can ever take that away from me.
I have eternal life.
No man is able to pluck me out of God's hand.
I have passed from death to life.
I will never perish.
I can never lose my salvation.
My sins are gone as far as the east is from the west,
as far as my eternal standing with God,
and I will go to heaven no matter what.
And I've been saved since I was six years old,
but there have been a lot of times
that I've committed sin during that time,
and I have to confess that sin to God,
not in order to stay saved,
because I'll stay saved no matter what,
or God broke His promise,
but to restore the fellowship with God,
because if I walk in darkness,
I don't have fellowship with Him.
If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me.
So in order to keep the fellowship right,
I have to confess my sins and forsake my sins,
not once, but on a daily basis,
because salvation is not turning over a new leaf.
It has nothing to do with forsaking sin.
That's work salvation.
It's a daily process.
He said, if any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me.
So on a daily basis,
I should be confessing my sins to God
and forsaking those sins,
making a decision,
I don't want to do that again.
Not just doing the same sin over and over again,
just sorry God, sorry, sorry about that,
whoops, sorry.
We should be saying, I'm sorry God,
and here's what I'm going to do to try to change
and to grow and to move forward
and not be struggling with the same sins
over and over and over again.
We ought to be moving forward and growing
and getting past these things.
And so when we confess our sins to God,
the next morning,
His mercies are new every morning.
The next day, it's a fresh start.
He's not still angry about yesterday's sins
if we have confessed and forsaken those sins.
Now if we're still just living in sin,
God's wrath is going to build up.
But when we say, I'm sorry,
let me move on from this,
I'm going to do better,
I'm going to try to do better,
when we do that,
His mercies are new every morning.
Now, does that mean you're not going to have consequences?
No.
Unfortunately, many things that you do
set your life on a course
that can never be repaired in some cases.
And that's sad to say, but it's true.
It doesn't mean that God's mad at you.
He says, oh, God's mad at me.
I can't believe I'm still in prison,
10 years later from that murder I committed.
God's mad.
You're still suffering the earthly consequence
of what you've done.
Samson's eyes were punched out of his head
because of his sin.
He didn't ever get those back
until he passed away and went to heaven
and was able to see once again.
Obviously, once he got to heaven,
he could see again
because that's where the blind can see
and the deaf can hear
and the lame can walk in heaven.
But many people throughout the Bible,
look at David.
God specifically said that he forgave David
when David confessed the sin,
forsook it after he committed adultery and murder,
committed adultery with Bathsheba,
and then he slew Uriah the Hittite
with the sword of the children of Ammon.
Even though he didn't physically do the action,
he was called a murderer
because he slew Uriah with the sword
of the children of Ammon,
and yet when he confessed it to God,
when he prayed to God
and started Psalm 51 and said he was sorry
and then he fasted for seven days,
weeping and sorry about it,
God forgave him.
But yet, he suffered the rest of his life.
Four of his children died as a result
because you remember how he pronounced his own damnation?
When Nathan the prophet told him the story
about the man who had stolen the lamb from his neighbor,
he said he needs to be put to death
and pay back fourfold.
And basically God said he was merciful to him.
He said, you're not going to die.
You're not going to be put to death.
That is what you deserve,
but I'm going to show you mercy, David.
And he said, you will pay fourfold though.
And that's why he paid with four of his sons.
The first lamb that he paid
was the son that was born of the adultery with Bathsheba.
That child died at seven days old.
Then the next child that died was,
I believe, let's see, I want to get this in the right order.
The next one that died was Ammon.
Then the next one that died was Absalom.
And the next one that died was Adonijah.
So there's four of his sons that died
as a direct result of his sin,
and you can see how those different patterns emerged in his children
because they saw his sin and licentious behavior,
and that's what set it into motion
because Ammon committed a wicked sin.
David looked the other way.
As often people who are sinful themselves
can overlook other people's sins very easily
and say, oh yeah, that's okay.
We all do it, you know.
And whatever.
And that's a whole other sermon.
I've preached whole sermons on that story
about Absalom and Ammon and about Ammonijah and so forth.
But those four children died,
and for decades he was suffering from his actions.
Does that mean that God was mad?
God didn't love them?
No, it just meant that he had set something in motion
that could not be stopped.
And many times if you commit a wicked sin in your life,
you sow that seed, and it cannot be taken back.
Something is set in motion that will happen.
And God's merciful, and God can still use you,
and God can still bless you, and God still loves you,
and you can still live a life filled with joy,
unspeakable, and full of glory,
but be not deceived.
God is not mocked.
For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
That can be a very scary verse
if you're doing the wrong things,
and it's a blessed verse if you're doing the right things,
because you know that in due season you'll reap
if you fain not, and your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
But understand something, that you will reap what you've sown
and it could be the rest of your life or decade.
You can still rejoice.
You can still have a great Christian life,
but you have to pay for some of the things that you've done
just because there are earthly consequences.
Now, thank God when we get to heaven,
our sins won't even be mentioned to us.
Praise the Lord.
Praise God.
They're all forgiven and forgotten,
but in this life, what goes around comes around,
and it's amazing to me how I've seen in my life
people reap what they've sown.
I've seen this process over and over and over again,
and nothing could be more certain
than that you're going to reap what you sow in this life.
I mean, it's like clockwork.
It's amazing.
If anybody who's not a believer wants to know if God is real,
just look at how people reap what they sow.
And you can see that God is at work in this world.
But he says in verse number 5,
For his anger endureth but a moment.
In his favor is light.
Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
And so that's encouraging
that maybe you're going through a really bad time right now,
a sad time, a depressed time.
You're weeping, you're crying, you're upset.
Joy is out there.
There's light at the end of the tunnel, is what he's saying here,
when he says, Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
You're not going to be sorrowful and angry and upset forever.
There will be joy at the end of it.
Definitely when you get to heaven.
But even in this life, you can have joy in the morning.
He says in verse number 6,
In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved.
Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.
Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
And I was troubled.
Basically David is saying here that his security comes from God.
His mountain, his fortress, his tower.
He said, In my prosperity I shall never be moved.
But he's not just saying that in his own strength,
like, I'm tough, I'm this, I'm that.
He said, In my prosperity I shall never be moved.
Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.
Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
He said, When I felt like God was not blessing me,
or God was not pulling for me or fighting for me,
he said, That worried me, that made me nervous,
because I know that the only strength I have,
the only stability I have, the only foundation I have is God.
And God's favor means,
and he uses that word over and over here, his favor,
that means he's pleased with you.
Now, for example, in 1 John the Bible says,
And whatsoever we ask we receive of him,
because we keep his commandments,
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
If we do that which pleases God,
that means he has favor toward us.
He has a favorable attitude toward us, you could say.
And when we have God's favor upon us,
we know our mountain's going to stand strong.
I mean, we know that we're firmly standing,
we're not going to fall,
and so that's what's automatic to us the most, is God pleased.
Are we living in God's favor?
Or is he turning away from us?
Is he hiding his face from us because of, you know,
sin that we're living in, or whatever the case may be
that's causing his favor not to shine upon us?
That's why all throughout Psalms, you'll see that over and over,
cause your face to shine upon us, God.
He said, hear me when I cry, God.
Look upon me. Don't hide your face from me.
Show favor upon me.
Because God's blessing is the most important thing in your life.
I mean, how you do at work,
and again, it's not prosperity preaching.
God's not trying to make you rich,
but he will provide your deeds.
But if you want to do well at work,
don't worry as much about what the boss thinks as what God thinks.
Because the Bible says that every good thing that any man doeth,
the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
He said, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters,
according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart,
as unto Christ.
Not with eye-service as men-pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart,
with good will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men.
Doing our work, because God is watching,
because God is the one that will promote you.
The Bible says, promotion cometh not from the south,
or from the east, or from the west.
And what he meant there, promotion cometh from the north.
And the Bible talks about God dwelling in the sides of the north.
He uses that term to describe where he is in heaven.
And so therefore, we ought to be more worried about
whether God is pleased with us,
than whether the boss is pleased with us,
how we're doing at work.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Therefore, take no thought saying,
what shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
or wherewithal shall we be clothed.
He said, your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things,
but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Going into this economic recession or depression,
or whatever is going on,
and who knows what's going to happen.
Some people say it's going to get better.
Other people say it's going to get much worse.
I'm not pretending to know what's going to happen in the future.
But if anything, it doesn't seem to be getting any better.
I mean, it might get better for a little while,
but it seems like the way things are going,
a lot of things are being put in motion,
a lot of things that are being put in place,
are going to destroy this country financially in the long run.
And when I say long run, I'm not talking about very long.
You know, I mean like the short long run, okay?
Figure that one out.
But the point is that going into these uncertain times,
I think anybody would agree that this is an uncertain time.
Who knows? What's going to happen?
What's going to happen this year?
What's going to happen next year?
We don't know.
What should we do to be prepared to go into uncertain times?
You say, oh man, we've got to buy guns, we've got to buy ammo,
we've got to buy gold, nickels, right?
Rolls of nickels.
Yeah, amen, right?
You know, they're actually worth six cents each,
you know, the metal of them, you know?
So, you know, stock up on nickels.
I know they take up a lot of room.
But, you know, gold, silver, you know,
and we've got to get, you know, solar panels,
and our crisis garden, and our survival seeds,
and we've got to get, you know, all this stuff.
But wait a minute.
You know what I'd rather have than any of that?
I'd rather just know that God is shining on me with His favor.
That God looks down and says,
there's my servant in whom I'm well pleased.
There's a guy who's serving me.
There's a lady who loves me, who's winning souls,
who reads the Bible, who prays.
I'll take care of them because they're doing the right things.
They're seeking first the kingdom of God.
I'll take care of their food needs, their clothing needs.
Look throughout the Bible how many times there's a famine
and God's people were saved.
Think about it.
Remember when Joseph was brought down into Egypt
in order that much people could be saved alive
and that the 70 of his family members that were in Canaan
would be able to receive the food that they needed
to keep them going in the famine?
God provided for his people.
Remember when all the plagues were being poured out on Egypt
and the children of Israel were in the land of Goshen?
Their cattle was fine. Their crops were fine.
God can bless his people and feed them.
Remember Elijah when he was in the terrible famine?
Everybody's starving.
Everybody is trying to get water to drink
and he was always cared for.
He was always taken care of.
God miraculously provided his needs.
David said, I've been young and now I'm old,
but I've never seen the righteous forsaken
nor his seed begging bread.
I'd rather have that promise going into uncertain times
than to have all the stockpiled food, propane, ammo, whatever stockpiled.
I'd rather just know God's going to take care of me.
I'd rather have that promise.
Rather than just some kind of a promissory note in my wallet,
some Federal Reserve note that has a big number on it
that tells me that somewhere there's money,
you back that up or something,
I'd rather have a note in my wallet
that's really just a page torn out of the Bible
that just said, my God should supply all your need
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
That's like an unlimited line of credit right there.
I know the Federal Reserve has the same thing,
but unlimited, no limit.
But anyway, I'm just saying, unlimited funds.
And so many people today, they're not having children
because they don't know how they're going to pay for the children.
That's true.
They won't get married
because they don't know how they're going to pay for the children
or pay for their wife.
That's the real expense.
No, I'm just kidding.
The wife, the children,
and they're just,
I don't know what's going to happen.
Get married, have children,
God will provide.
And don't sit there and try to worry about it
and lean upon your own understanding
and say, I don't know how it's going to work out and everything.
I don't know how it's going to work out either,
but it'll work out.
Because so many times in my life,
I've gotten in a bad place financially,
God always stepped in
as long as I kept the focus on the right things.
God always stepped in and took care of it.
Because I walked by faith
and said, I'm going to have the children,
I'm not going to sit there and say,
well, I'll have children when I can afford it.
You'll never have them.
You're never going to be able to afford children
in today's world.
But you just have the children
and God will take care of it.
God will provide.
See, that's irresponsible.
Nothing could be more responsible than relying on God.
And I'm not talking about doing foolish things,
but you're not foolish when you do what God commanded you to do.
I mean, if you do what God commanded you to do,
how can you be called a fool?
That's wisdom to do.
That's the opposite of foolishness.
It's wisdom to do what God told you to do.
I'm not saying to do things God didn't tell you to do
and say God's going to provide
when I do this idea that I have.
But I think getting married and having children,
that's all part of God's program.
And I'm going to do that and God's going to provide.
Therefore, I'm not worried about it.
And you are not being worried about it.
Be careful for nothing.
But be careful.
Be careful, Pastor Anderson.
Be careful for nothing.
But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God.
And if you do those things that are pleasing in his sight,
if his favor is shining upon you,
he will provide, he will answer your prayers.
You say, but Pastor Anderson, this is bad stuff in my past.
I don't know if God's favor is shining upon me.
His mercies are new every morning.
Confess it, forsake it, his favor is shining on you today.
If you're doing right today, his favor is shining upon you today.
That doesn't mean you're not still suffering from consequences of yesterday,
things that you've said in motion,
but yet his favor is shining on you today if you're doing right today.
I believe that from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.
It's the truth.
God does not hold a grudge. He forgives.
His mercies are great and they're new every morning.
He said in verse 7,
Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.
Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled.
That's when you ought to be worried when God's favor is not shining on you.
He said, I cried unto the Lord, I made supplication.
What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth?
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me.
Lord, be thou my helper.
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing.
Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.
You say, what does that mean, that what profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth?
Basically, God has no pleasure, he said, in the death of the wicked.
He'd rather that the wicked turn from his way.
Now, some people get to a point where it's too late for them,
where they die without Jesus Christ, and it's definitely too late.
And they're going to hell. They're going to face God's wrath.
God's wrath will abide on them for all eternity.
But God would rather have people be saved.
I believe that God wants everyone to be saved.
I am not a Calvinist. I'm not a one-point Calvinist.
I'm not a half-a-point Calvinist. I'm not a three-point Calvinist.
I am a zero-point Calvinist.
So you are a Calvinist? No, I'm not.
Wait, I didn't mean that. I'm not a Calvinist at all.
No Calvinism.
Every point of Calvinism is false. Total depravity. It's false.
It's a false doctrine.
It's a doctrine that says that the unregenerate man is incapable of doing right.
And I don't believe that.
Because there are unsaved people who do some things that are right.
And they even teach in total depravity that the unsaved man is incapable of even believing on Jesus Christ.
That's why God has to do it for you.
God has to choose you. No.
Unsaved man is not totally depraved.
Is every unsaved person just totally depraved?
Just a monster? No.
And that's false.
Have you ever known an unsaved person that did something nice?
Come on. Get real.
Now every unsaved person has sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But they're not all totally depraved. Now some are totally depraved.
But no, I do not believe in the total depravity of mankind.
Unconditional election.
I'm going through the five points of Calvinism by the way.
Unconditional election. There's a condition.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God is raised of the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Now, Brother Dave is a computer programmer.
He knows about conditional.
It's an if dot dot dot then.
That's what conditional means. And there is a condition for salvation.
It's faith.
It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
That's a condition. Limited atonement is false.
The Bible says he is the savior of all men.
You say, wait a minute Pastor, that's just talking about those who are believers.
No, because he said he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
Therefore he's the savior of those who don't believe.
But it's not going to do him any good.
The Bible says, how be it, the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
But he's still the savior.
The Bible says, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Bible says, look at Romans 5. Romans chapter 5 is a great point on this.
Romans chapter 5 is a great chapter to defeat Calvinism. There are many great chapters to defeat Calvinism.
Another one is 1 Timothy chapter 2.
But it says in Romans 5 verse 15, but not as the offense, so also as the free gift.
For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift.
For the judgment was by one to condemnation, speak of Adam, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.
For if by one man's offense death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.
Therefore as by the offense of one, watch this, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. You get that?
The offense of one, the Bible says, wherefore as by one man sinned at the end of the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
He says here, by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men unto condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Turn to 1 Timothy. He said in John chapter 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jehovah's Witness. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the light was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
Did you hear that? The purpose of John the Baptist coming and preaching and bearing witness of the light was that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, but came to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
But I'm not sure if that really means everybody. I think it's just talking about the elect. Every man that cometh into the world!
I wonder if Jesus meant it when he said, among them that are born of women, there is not wisdom greater than John the Baptist.
Is he only talking about a certain group? No, he said everybody comes into the world. Everybody who is born of a woman. How could he be any clearer?
It's everybody! It's unbelievable to me that people believe in this stuff.
But look at 1 Timothy 2, verse 1, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men,
for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
Now, come on folks! It's everybody! Limited atonement! Unlimited atonement!
And what's the fourth one? Irresistible grace. Irresistible grace, he says, you know, if God decides to save, there's nothing you can do to stop.
Is that why Stephen said you do always resist the Holy Ghost? I thought it's so irresistible. Or I thought God just wasn't drawing them.
People say, we believe we're not Calvinists now. They say we're Baptist. Because Calvin was a Protestant and a Presbyterian.
They say we just believe in the sovereign grace of God. We just believe in the doctrines of grace. We believe in the sovereignty of God.
Can somebody show me the word sovereign in the Bible real quick? Somebody help me out? Oh yeah, it's not there!
But anyway, they say, we just believe in the sovereign grace of God. We're not Calvinists now, we just believe everything Calvin believed and put Baptist on our side.
But don't be confused, we're not Calvinists. And that's what they say.
I don't know if that's my change of thought. What was I talking about? I had a really good point. Irresistible grace.
This is what they'll say. What do they say? Jesus said, no man can come unto me except the Father draw him.
If he draws you, you just can't resist. You're just pulled like a magnet. Irresistible grace. But hold on now.
He said, no man can come unto me except the Father draw me. But then shortly thereafter, you know what he said?
He said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto me. He's drawing.
But many people resist the Holy Ghost, as Stephen preached. And so they take one verse out of context.
Or they'll take a verse where he looks at the disciples and says, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you should bring forth fruit and your fruit shall remain.
And they'll say, see, you didn't choose him, he chose you. I was taught that in a Baptist Sunday School class. They were promoting Calvinism.
He didn't choose you, you chose him. But then I take him and just a few pages over, he says, have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil.
So how is that salvation? He didn't say I chose you to go to heaven and not to go to hell. He said I've chosen you and ordained you.
Ordained you. That's when I lay hands on you and pray for you and send you out to preach, which is what he did to the twelve.
He said I've ordained you to bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. He didn't say I chose one to go to hell and I chose one to go to heaven.
And by the way, the God of Calvinism is a monster. It's like if I went down to the hospital, baby ward, and I don't think they do this anymore.
I don't know, my kids are born at home. But you know the thing that they used to do where you'd look through a window and there's a whole bunch of babies lined up?
It'd be like if we went down there and just said, you know, kill this one, kill this one, this one stays alive, kill this one. What are you basing that on? Nothing.
Random. It's just mysopathy.
Because that's what I say. Because you say, well what is it based on? What's the choice based on? Is it based on who believes? No. He's the one who makes them believe.
What's it based on? Is it either done or said or believed or what? No. He just has that authority to just pick one. He just randomly just picks one.
It's garbage, folks. Enough said on that. I guess we'll finish the last point. The P in TULIP. Perseverance of the saints. How about preservation of the saints?
Or how about perseverance of the Savior? Perseverance of the saints? Look at all the people in the Bible who did not persevere to the end.
Demas had forsaken me having loved this present world and is departed on Thessalonica. Did Lot persevere to the end and he was called righteous Lot?
Did Samson really persevere to the end? Did Noah persevere to the end? All these different people in the Bible we see that didn't necessarily persevere to the end.
And if we had to persevere to the end, then we wouldn't really know we were saved until we got to the end.
But Jesus said, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that's present tense, that you may know that you have eternal life.
So I can know right now that I have eternal life. I'm going to have to see if I persevere to the end.
And all that is is just works salvation. You've got to work all the way to the end in order to be saved.
That's what they're teaching, folks, is just work your way to the end. Persevere. And they'll try to say, well, perseverance of the saints, that's just eternal security. No, it's not.
Because neither Calvinism nor Arminianism teaches eternal security. Because eternal security, the believer, means that you can believe on Jesus Christ.
Get this. Here's a scenario. Here's what we believe. You can believe on Jesus Christ, come to church, get baptized, live for God, and then get backslidden, quit the church, go back into sin, and then die and you'll still go to heaven.
That's eternal security, the believer. The Calvinist doesn't believe that. The Calvinist will say, oh, they were never really saved. And the Arminian will say they lost their salvation.
But neither one of them believes that you can get backslidden and still go to heaven. They both believe that you'll lose it. One of them just tries to look at it from another angle, the same thing.
Like this is what a famous Calvinist said. Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Sick of Baptists having this hero. It was a big compromiser, liar, phony. And this is what Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the hyper-Calvinist, said.
And I'm not any kind of Calvinist, but he said, salvation's like a door. He said on this side of the door it says whosoever will. You walk through the door and you look back and it says, oh, you were already chosen and ordained before the foundation of the world that you would be saved.
Wow, that really helped me understand. Thank you. So this is two different things. It's just a big lie there. So the whosoever will was a lie. God lied then if he'd get over there and it's like you were damned from the beginning. You didn't even have a choice about it.
You know that whosoever will part? I lied. You think that's what God's going to say? God cannot lie. What a deceptive verse if Calvinism was true when he said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What a deception. That sounds like it's everybody. Nobody can walk away from that verse and say, well, it's only for certain people.
You see, you've got to read the Bible and just let it speak to you. Now let me explain something to you real quick. If you have a false doctrine, you can find verses in the Bible to prop it up. Truly, I mean, pick any false doctrine. I mean, pick any false doctrine. You can find verses in the Bible to prop it up, but you won't learn that doctrine from reading the Bible. You can put doctrine into the Bible and prop it up.
I mean, any doctrine. Like, for example, the pre-tribulation rapture. You know, we believe in a pre-wrath rapture, but not a pre-tribulation rapture. And the thing is, the pre-tribulation rapture, you can prop it up. And they have all these verses to kind of like, it's like they prop it up from all these different sides, but they don't have one verse that tells you the rapture's coming before the tribulation. There's no verse that says anything even remotely like that.
Well, but over here it kind of insinuates this, and over here it kind of says this, and it doesn't say this. And they basically prop it up. But that's exactly what every false doctrine does.
You know, they'll have all these reasons why Jesus isn't God. The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons will have reasons why. People will have reasons why. You know, baptism, sage, and they'll have all this logic, and they'll have all these verses that they can take out of context to prove that salvation's by work.
And even if you just read the Bible and just take it for what it says, it's just over and over saying, it's all Jesus. Jesus paid it all. It's a belief on Jesus Christ. You know, his death, his burial, his resurrection, the blood. You can always find verses to prop up a false doctrine.
I mean, I've seen somebody take a verse to prove that it's wrong to kill any animal. To even kill any animal. They turn to Isaiah 66. He that killeth an ox is an empty slew of man. And they just take that verse out of context. They don't know what it's talking about, they don't know what it means, they don't know what the chapter says.
If you kill a cow, it's just as bad as killing a human being. I mean, you can find a verse to prop up whatever false doctrine, but when you read the Bible, you're not going to get that from the context, from the book, from the whole thing.
So therefore, you've got to read the Bible and let the Bible teach you what to believe, not decide what you believe, and then say, oh, let's find some support for this.
It's like, man, I've got a really good sermon to preach, I just can't find the verses.
I've got this great sermon idea, but I'm just having trouble finding the Bible to back it up. I need to find some Bible to prop this thing up. I'd rather read the Bible, see a truth in the Bible, and say, that's what I want to preach.
So many times preachers are preaching one verse, but they're not preaching within the context of that chapter, what the chapter is even about.
They miss the whole point, and they just take one statement and make it mean what they want it to mean, instead of getting it into context. Here's a perfect example, while we're on Perseverance of the Saints.
They'll take this verse, totally out of context. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And say, see, there's your perseverance to the end. Get the context.
Turn to Matthew 24, let's get the context, while we're ripping on the pre-tribulation rapture and perseverance of the saints. Boy, this is all coming together.
But look at Matthew 24. This is so clear. And there's a so-called independent fundamental Baptist church. They were in Tempe, but Tempe was only big enough for one of us.
So they moved to Chandler. So as far as I know now, we're the only independent Baptist church in Tempe. Now I might be wrong about that, correct me if I'm wrong, but Tempe's not that big of a city, but there was one big old so-called independent fundamental Baptist church in Tempe.
Basically, the pastor wrote a book about why people who are King James only are false teachers. So that's fundamentalism today.
I looked on their statement of faith and they said, you have to endure to the end. He said, you're not saved. And this is where they're getting it from. But hold on a second.
If you just had that one verse by itself, yeah, okay, I see your point. But you can't take it out of context. You've got to get the story. Look what he says here. This is talking about the tribulation.
He said, in those days shall be great tribulation. Verse 21. He said, for then shall be great tribulation. It's talking about in the last days, in the end times.
They said, what shall be the sign of thy coming at the end of the world? And he starts talking about what's going to lead up to the end of the world.
He said, then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be, and watch this, and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
So are we talking about somebody's soul being saved? No. We're talking about a time when people are being killed, when there are famines, wars, pestilence, great persecution of God's people.
And he says, but for the elect's sake they shall be shortened. So who's the one's that's flesh is being saved? People who are already Christians, the elect.
The Bible says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies it. The Bible says, Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest will find it.
The elect are those who are saved, God's chosen people, not the unbelieving Jews who are on their way to hell whose God's wrath is abiding on them.
And so here we see that for the elect's sake, Christians, God's people's sake, the days of the tribulation will be shortened, otherwise no flesh would be saved.
Now it's being shortened. That's why flesh is going to be saved. That's why he said if you endure to the end, he said in verse 22, let's just keep reading, he says,
except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Where's the part about enduring to the end again? I'm sorry, I lost my place.
Verse 13, he says, verse 10, let's go back to verse 10, verse 9, verse 8, all these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. Do you see that? Shall kill you. I'm talking to believers.
And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, and then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
So we're talking about people being betrayed, hated, and killed for the cause of Christ.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. Who? Who's the he?
Who's the he that's going to endure to the end? Christians that are being betrayed, hated, and killed for the cause of Christ.
If they can endure that, if they can survive that physically, and make it to the rapture, they'll be saved.
Because for elect's sake, it's going to be shortened. The anti-Christ reign of terror will be shortened. It'll be cut short, and you'll be saved.
See, if you just take that one verse, you can make it preach something that it doesn't say.
But if you get into the context, it's about the flesh of people who are already believers being saved.
We're not talking about, you know, keep on staying in church, and you'll be saved. Is that the context? Is that what anyone would get if they read the whole chapter?
Oh, this is talking about me staying in church. This is talking about me staying on the wagon.
You know, did you fall off the wagon, or you fell off the wagon is when you start drinking, right?
You know, if you fall off the wagon, you must have never really been saved.
Unbelievable. But see, you can always find a verse to prop up your false doctrine.
If you take it out of context, the Bible says this, we are not as many which corrupt the word of God.
He said, not as many using the word of God deceitfully. People can use it deceitfully.
People say, well, they're preaching the Bible. Somebody showed me some false doctrine.
I say, well, but there's Bible verses here. It's being used deceitfully. It's being twisted. It's being corrupted.
The Bible talks about people who rest the scriptures. Resting means twisting.
People will twist the Bible. Back to Psalm 30. Let's finish up here.
But he says here, what prophet is there in my blood when I go down to the pit?
Verse 8, shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me.
Lord, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing.
Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.
To the end of my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent, O Lord my God.
I will give thanks unto thee forever. What does that talk about when we talk about dancing?
It's basically talking about when the Bible said in Luke 6, for example, rejoice and leap for joy.
It's talking about someone dancing because they're happy, they're excited, they're dancing.
This is not talking about country line dancing. People will say, see, country line dancing.
Okay, the country music is not praising God. It has nothing to do with Jesus.
This is talking about God making you dance. Is God making you dance at the country line dancing?
Or whatever dancing you're into. I don't know. What dancing do people do?
The disco dancing? Somebody help me out. What's the dancing that people do today?
Is it hip hop dancing? Is that the most popular?
Breakdancing. I thought that was in the 1980s, breakdancing.
Is it coming back? Is it coming back? What are you doing?
That's not what this is talking about.
It's not talking about dancing. It's not talking about worldliness.
It's not talking about music that has nothing to do with Jesus and you're dancing to music
and you're holding on to your belt buckle and doing all this kind of stuff.
Country line dancing, whatever. It's talking about dancing for joy.
And it's not talking about we all come to church and have a big, you know, dancing service or something.
You know, we don't have a dance team here.
We come to church and have a dance team. You know, a worship team and a dance team and a dance squad.
And all it is is just a bunch of worldliness. And again, trying to prop up something.
Propping up country line dancing. You know, if you play heavy metal music, you play it backwards.
You know, you get all this satanic, you know, Satan is good. You play country music backwards,
you get your dog back, you get your house back, you get your wife back.
And it's funny. Did you know this? And don't ask me how I know this.
Did you know that the odds of a top 100 country music song in the top 100 country music charts,
the chances of it having a reference to tears or crying is one in 3.23?
Did you know that? It's true.
The statistic, I mean, one out of three songs on that top 100 is all about crying and tears.
I'm glad we have something to rejoice about.
I'm not crying there's a tear in my beard because I'm crying for you, dear.
You know, that's not what I want to listen to. That's not what I want to fill my mind with.
I'd rather rejoice in the Lord. I'd rather sing songs of praise to God, not, you know, a tear in my beard or whatever.
But the Bible says here, Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing.
Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness to the end.
Now watch this. Why did God turn His mourning into dancing?
Why did God put off His sackcloth and girded me with gladness?
To the end of that, He's saying, because He wanted His glory to sing praise to Him.
He's saying, to the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee and not be silent.
So if God has done great things for you and then you're silent, it defeated the purpose.
God did great things for you to the end that you would not be silent, that you would praise God and sing unto the Lord.
He said, O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee forever.
Remember when Jesus healed the ten lepers and nine of them just, oh great, were healed and just left?
One of them came back and said, thank you, and glorified God. And Jesus said, where are the nine?
We're not ten claims and only this one stranger has come back to glorify God and to thank me.
Don't be the nine. Don't be the one that, you know, receives all the goodness that they had.
Never thanks Him. Never praises Him. Never glorifies Him. You just whine about all the things you don't have.
You know, you just complain about everything that's going wrong.
Instead, praise God for the good things. Thank God for all the wonderful things that He's done for you.
Bless God with your mouth. Sing unto the Lord. You know, sing praises to God, literally also.
You know, seven days a week you should be singing praises to God.
You should have a joyful noise, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
So it should be in your heart. It should be in your mouth. You know, you can praise the Lord through singing.
Praise the Lord on an instrument of ten strings or in your case an instrument of about two hundred strings.
You know this piano has over two hundred strings even though it only has how many keys of piano?
Eighty-eight.
Eighty-eight? It has eighty-eight keys but it has over two hundred strings because many of the keys have more than one string.
And so, you know, you're praising Him on a lot of strings over there, brother Chris.
But the point is that you should be praising and thanking God, not be silent.
Because God's done great things for you.
And that's why you shouldn't have time to just have your music filled with all kinds of just other things.
You know what I mean? Like, you know, you got your iPod filled with hip-hop and your country western or rock and roll or, you know, death metal or, you know, whatever.
You know, you ought to be, and music ought to be a part of your life.
It should be a part, and if music's not a part of your life at all, you need to change.
Because the Bible talks a lot about music and singing and praising God.
But it should be that you're spending your time praising the Lord through music.
Not just listening to even Christian music.
Not listening but praising God.
Not just listening to music but actually singing music, you know.
Or playing on an instrument of ten strings or all these other instruments that God lifts.
All of those things are good.
He says, uh, that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent to the Lord my God.
I will give thanks unto thee forever.
Let's pray as an important prayer.