you
Welcome to Faith Award Baptist Church. It's so nice to see you all here for our Sunday morning service. Find your seats now. Grab a hymn. They'll go to hymn 410. We'll begin this morning. Hymn number 410.
4-0-10 or 410-4-1-0. Faith is a victory. Hymn number 410.
And let's sing it out on that first verse now. Hymn number 410. Faith is a victory. Sing it out.
Ye crish, then soldiers rise. And press the battle there. The night shall veil the glowing sun.
The years are full. It veils below. Let all our strength be hurled. Faith is a victory. We know that it overcomes the world.
Faith is a victory. Faith is a victory. A glorious victory that overcomes the world.
We stand together over us is love. Our soul are the word of God. We tread the road that saints above with shouts of triumphant.
By faith they hide the whirlwind's breath swept under every field. The faith by which they conquer death is still our shining shield.
Faith is a victory. Faith is a victory. A glorious victory that overcomes the world.
On every end a foe we find caught up in dread of rain. Let dance of ease be left behind and onward to the fray.
Salvation's down and on each end with truth holgered about. The earth shall tremble in our tread and echo with our shout.
Faith is a victory. Faith is a victory. A glorious victory that overcomes the world.
The wind that overcomes the foe. Wide rain it shall begin. Before the angels speak shall know. His name confessed in hand.
Then onward from the hills of light our hearts will love the flame. Will languish all the hosts of night.
In Jesus' conquering name. Faith is a victory. Faith is a victory. A glorious victory that overcomes the world.
Father in heaven, we pray God that you please bless all aspects of this service. Help us God to praise you Lord in singing hymns and psalms to you Lord and we pray God that you please bless Pastor Anderson with the spirit as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen 364. Number 364. Standing on the promises of God. Hymn number 364. We'll sing it out on that verse now. 364. Standing on the promises of Christ my King. Let's sing it out. 364.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King. Through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest high shall we sing. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing. Standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing.
Standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail. When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail. By the living word of God I shall prevail. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing. Standing on the promises of God my Savior.
Standing, standing. Standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord. Bound to him eternally my love's strong core. Overcoming daily with the spirit's sword.
Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing. Standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing. I am standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fall. Listening every moment to the spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all in all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing. Standing on the promises of God my Savior.
Standing, standing. I am standing on the promises of God.
All right at this time we'll go ahead and go through our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in 2 Chronicles chapter number 24.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms. Congratulations to the Jeffrey family on the birth of baby Abigail Evelyn Jeffrey.
October 14th, 2024 at 10.06 a.m. 6 pounds 6 ounces measuring 19.75 inches. Man these are some really precise statistics today.
Please pray for Mrs. Jeffrey's speedy recovery. And we'll be taking portraits for the yearbook every Sunday through November 3rd. That's getting pretty close here.
So just a couple more weeks to go to get your yearbook picture taken. There's a sign up over here to my right. This is for everybody. Singles, couples, families, whatever your situation we want to make sure that everybody gets photographed.
You get a beautiful portrait. You get the high quality electronic image sent to you and then you're also in the yearbook and then we all get to enjoy the yearbook when it comes out in a few months.
All right. And then below that, the annual chili cook off is coming up on Thursday, October 31st. So next Thursday and all chilies must be made from scratch and they have to be entered.
If you're planning on competing by the 5 p.m. cut off, if you're not competing with the chili cook off, then if you have no family member or relative that has entered a chili, you can also put your name in to become one of the judges.
So that's right here from 430 to 730 on October 31st on the back. We've got the detailed schedule for the missions conference is going to be awesome.
I'm really looking forward to this. I love this thing every year. And so we're going to be emphasizing a lot of great countries.
Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Dominican Republic, Columbia, Germany and Armenia. These are all places that we've done soul winning in the last 12 months. So we're not talking about the glory days and we're not talking about some future that may or may not happen.
We're talking about real life missions and soul winning that's current, that's fresh, that's from 2024. And so I'm looking forward to hearing a lot of great preaching and also going out and doing some fun activities.
There's going to be soul winning. It's all right there. And so make plans accordingly. Or if you just want to go about your normal schedule as usual, our Wednesday and Sunday services will be the same.
You can always pop in for an evening service or whatever you have time for. And then that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us.
All right, you should find the answer in front of your head noble. It's Psalm 11.
If you don't have an answer, you can raise your hand and we'll sing it on that first.
Psalm 11 of the Lord put on my trust.
The.
Yeah.
They should be.
Yeah.
Am I good singing everybody going your him those down to him, 12, him number 12.
Blessed Redeemer him number 12.
Sing it on that first now him number 12 of Calvary's mountain one dreadful worn walk Christ my Savior him number 12 singing out together now.
Of Calvary's.
Yeah.
That they may have glory of men barely I say to you they have their reward.
But when thou do is alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand do with that.
Thine alms may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward the openly.
And when thou prays thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men barely I say to you they have the reward.
But thou when thou prays enter into thy closet and when thou as shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward the openly.
But when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not you therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you.
But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
Moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness.
No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment.
Behold the fouls of the air for they so not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them.
Are you not much better than they which of you by taking thought can add one cubit under his stature and why take you thought for raiment consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin.
And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven.
Shall he not much more clothe ye you oh ye of little faith therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed.
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that you have need of all these things but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the moral for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient under the day is the evil thereof.
Lord thank you for allowing us to gather here to hear your word today and Lord ask that you would be with Pastor Anderson and fill him with the Holy Spirit that he may preach boldly things that we need to hear and Lord let it enter into our hearts and let us do what your will is Lord in Jesus name Amen.
Men this morning we're continuing to talk about the sermon on the mount and in chapter six there's kind of a theme that goes throughout this chapter about how some of the things that people care the most about in this life are the things that ultimately end up not mattering at all in the scheme of things and the things that have no eternal value.
The Bible says there in verse number one take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven.
Now alms has to do with giving unto the poor right.
This is not talking about coming to church and putting money in the offering play giving your tithes and offerings and things like that.
Obviously throughout history churches have passed offering plates and people can see you throwing money in the plate or not throwing money in the plate.
Nobody's looking around some people have misinterpreted this and said hey we need to make sure that the offerings all done secretly and that we kind of put the box somewhere where nobody can see it and just kind of slip over and put it in.
Obviously in the Bible we see them putting money and laying it down at the Apostles feet passing the offering plate is a normal practice that is not alms tithing is not alms giving an offering is not alms.
I've had some people say that they will not write a check to the church because they want it to be secret you know and so they'll basically just only give cash make it all anonymous.
Look there's nothing wrong with doing that but I just want to make sure that you understand the context here we're talking about alms giving which is talking about helping poor people.
That is what it means to give alms.
The Bible says in verse two therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward.
Now this sounds kind of extreme doesn't it giving to the poor and literally sounding a trumpet.
Hey look at me everybody I'm giving to the poor right now but what's funny is that today we have people doing something even more extreme than sounding a trumpet.
We have people literally videoing themselves giving alms and then uploading it to the internet so they can be seen not by 15 people or 20 people or 50 people but so that thousands of people can see them and they hey look at me everybody.
And there are YouTube channels and Facebook videos and things just of people giving money to the poor not for the right reasons but rather to be seen of men to be glorified and this is contrary to scripture it's unchristian right.
When we help the poor it needs to be something that we do privately secretly we don't brag about it we don't talk about it.
And in fact the Bible says in verse three when thou doest thine alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth you know make it so secret that your left hand doesn't even know what your right hand is doing.
Obviously that's an exaggeration but the idea here is don't go around telling people about your charitable giving right do it for the poor don't do it to be seen of men do it for the Lord.
The Bible says in verse four that then alms may be in secret and thy father would see it in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
And when thou prayest thou should not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men barely I say to you they have their reward.
So we see this pattern here at the end of verse two the people who give their alms so that everybody can see them being charitable it says they have their reward.
And then when it talks about people praying publicly and making a big show about their prayer life it says again they have their reward.
And the idea here is that if you go through this life doing righteousness is to be seen of men you have your reward right now God's not going to reward you your reward is those accolades that you receive from other people.
Now here's the thing about that that is very empty reward indeed to receive accolades from other people one of the other themes in this passage is the temporary nature of things on this earth like money and the things that we care so much about amassing on this earth the treasures that we lay up on this earth.
And it's kind of interesting if you think about laying up treasures on this earth in the form of money.
Another thing that people like to rack up our accolades and and getting people to like them and getting people to think that they're wonderful not just money but also fame prestige and things like that.
And if you stop and think about it just like the money Jesus is going to later tell us is not permanent and that if you lay up your treasures on the earth moth and rust will corrupt them and thieves will break through and steal.
Let me tell you something having fame and popularity is just as temporary and just as impermanent as those things and it's just as insecure.
What do I mean by that I mean think about how many people were super famous in their time or super famous when they were younger and then just nobody knows who they are now nobody cares and I'm not even talking about a hundred years later.
Sometimes even just two years later five years later ten years later how many people have been that flash in the pan where they were just the big thing super big thing super popular and then it's like what who nobody cares.
Not only that even if we step outside the realm of celebrity and just talk about normal people living their normal lives how many people have you seen in your life go from being really popular to not being popular at all.
And having everybody like them to have an everybody dislike them I mean you could even see this just in elementary school junior high or high school in your own lives but let me tell you something it's very fickle this thing of popular opinion.
Right how many presidents become the president United States with a super high approval rating and then their approval rating just goes down and down and down they go from being the most popular to the least popular right people's opinions of you.
Are all over the place they don't matter okay and especially as preachers of God's word we cannot go through life wondering what people think about us or caring what people think about us we have to preach the word of God and let the chips fall where they may.
And it doesn't matter if people like it or they don't like it if it's popular or not because the Bible says to the preacher to be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine and so if you're going through life.
Trying to just rack up accolades and praise and popularity and fame it is a fool's errand because there are two reasons why number one it's temporary you're not going to be able to hang on to it you're not going to be super popular forever.
Okay that's number one but number two it's empty simply because it's just per se empty right because if you've ever achieved anything in your life and if you've ever received those accolades and if you've ever received those praises you know that you have kind of an empty feeling.
Because it's never quite what it's cracked up I guarantee you that a lot of Olympic athletes have felt this when they got that gold medal that a lot of you know singers or actors and actresses when they got that little golden idol handed onto them or whatever that they probably got that and thought oh this is going to be the greatest moment of my life and then they realize it doesn't really satisfy.
Okay praise from other people is vain it's empty okay fame of popularity being loved by this world is empty and so I would much rather receive the reward that God has for me because I guarantee you that whatever God rewards you with is going to be something meaningful something genuine.
Something that's going to last he's going to give you real joy and real rewards that have eternal value and even the rewards he gives in this life are far more meaningful than just oh hey I get my 15 minutes of fame because like I said those things are temporary anyway.
Just think of so many people who were so big and now nobody cares you know famously John Lennon from the Beatles said we're more popular than Jesus Christ right now.
And he said 50 years from now people won't believe in Jesus anymore but they'll still be listening to the Beatles and yet here we are in 2024 and if you talk to young people they don't know who the Beatles are they don't care who the Beatles are and if you talk to young people they say
yeah I heard some Beatles songs and they were total trash and I don't even understand what all the hype is about.
That's what that's what I'm hearing from young people.
Okay and yet churches are packed today across America churches are packed with people worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and there are far more people in 2024 singing blessed assurance Jesus is mine then are singing I want to hold your hand or something like that.
Nobody cares and by the way every decade that goes by the Beatles are going to become less and less relevant they're not going to matter and John Lennon is burning in hell right now a blasphemous wicked sinner who did not put his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's not popular down there he's at burning he's just suffering and so do not go through life seeking to be popular or to be looked at as great by this world and here's the thing when you do good works do them because they're the right thing to do.
Do them because you love the Lord and God will reward you for those things and God's rewards.
Remember they take place in this life and in the next life because Jesus said that whatever you give up for him in this life if you give up houses lands if you give up brothers sisters you know mothers sons dot whatever you give up for him he says he'll give to you a hundred fold in this life.
With persecutions and in the life to come everlasting life and so you've got the rewards in the future but even on this earth right now God's going to give you meaningful rewards meaningful blessings now that are far more meaningful than everybody liking you.
Everybody thinking that you're great whatever that's even worth which is very little and for a very short time and so the Bible says in verse five when thou prays thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say to you they have their reward but thou when thou prays enter into thy closet and when thou shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father would see it in secret shall reward the openly the Bible here is telling us that prayer predominantly primarily is something that we do alone by ourselves when no one is looking now this is not to say that that public prayer is never appropriate.
First Timothy chapter two says I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting and so there's nothing wrong with praying anytime anywhere being in a restaurant praying for your food praying in a group whatever praying in church of course but remember that the Bible warns about people who all their righteousness is they do for to be seen of men.
Matthew twenty three and he talks about how they love to make long prayers now here's the thing long prayers are something that you do by yourself alone public prayers should not be long and drawn out.
That's just showy when you go publicly and you got to preach for her excuse me you can preach as long as you want a man you know pray for five minutes straight pray for 10 minutes straight pray for a half hour straight pray for 45 minutes straight you know obviously that's not the point of prayer to put on a show for other people right.
God does want us to pray publicly but mainly are praying is done privately enter into the closet shut the door pray in secret because if you're just praying publicly all the time then you have your reward because people are looking at you say oh man look how super spiritual this guy is with his long prayers and by the way this is another reason why these people who have the pre written prayers are not legit men of God.
You know they show up at some political event or some kind of a charity event or whatever and they have like a speech that they pull out and read they're praying off a teleprompter they're praying off a piece of paper or something like that.
You know we need to pray from the heart praying is just speaking to God is talk to God we don't need to have some kind of a scripted prayer we're going to get to that in a moment because it says in verse seven when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not you therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him and so what the Bible saying here is that it's not just about the quantity of time you spend praying that actually get your prayers answered it's not just about putting in minutes or hours or time and just saying things over and over again.
Now obviously we do again have examples in the Bible of people praying for a long time praying for hours praying through the night there's nothing to say that that doesn't take place but if you are going to pray for a half hour if you're going to pray for an hour if you're going to pray through the night.
You should be saying different things the whole time like for example if I stayed up late talking with my wife and
We just talked for hours
Yeah, I'm just like I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you
I love you. I just like shut up
But then we have people today praying for hours, and it's you know Jesus Christ son of David have mercy on me the sinner
Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me the sinner Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me said four hours
Of doing that in these in these Greek Orthodox monasteries. They'll chant something like that for four hours straight
This is not Christianity my friend
This is more like Buddhism or Hinduism where it's some kind of a weird emptying of the mind and chanting and
Transcendental practice of meditation or something like that that is not biblical Christianity
Biblical prayer has to do with talking to God
Speaking to God just as Moses spoke to God as a man speaks to his friend
So you're talking to God and so look yeah, I may talk to my wife for several hours, but we're gonna be saying different things
I'm not gonna be chanting chanting is irritating. I mean think about how kids sometimes will chant to you
Does it make you want to give them what they want when they chant?
Mom can I have cereal mom can I have cereal mom can I have cereal mom can I have cereal mom
Can I have cereal you know and that's how some people's praying is?
20 our fathers and 50 hail Mary's and all these different hail Mary's praying to the wrong person of course
But just all of this chanting is
Irritating and it's not biblical. It's what the Bible calls a vain repetition
He says look you're not gonna be heard because if you're much speaking
You know just because you talked a lot just cuz you asked 20 times doesn't mean I'm gonna give you what you want
Okay, the Heavenly Father
Knows what things you have need of before you ask him the Bible says in verse 8 so he already knows
What you need so you don't need to sit there and go on and on and on and repeat the same thing over and over again
And chant the same thing over and over again you tell God what you want you speak to God
You let your request be made known unto God
Okay, and then the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
Sometimes we have a lot to say to God sometimes we have a little to say to God
but at the end of the day everything we say to God should have meaning and
Not be vain not be empty not be simply an exercise in
Letting words come out of our mouth, and this is what prayer is in heathen religions. That's why he says
Be not like the heathen he says in verse 7 use not vain repetitions as the heathen do
They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. That's what the Buddhist guy thinks that's what the Hindu thinks chanting
That's what the Muslims think with their chanting with their five times a day vain repetition toward a God that doesn't even exist
Because it's not the God of the Bible because if you don't have the son you don't have the father
And it's not the father the son in the Holy Ghost
It's not the true God and they sit there and they chant and the Roman Catholics will chant
Through their rosaries and chant through their prayers and they are using vain repetition
They think that they'll be heard because they did it 20 times
Because they did it 50 times
That's what they think when in reality you do it one time and you mean it and it's from the heart and God will hear you
I mean think about Elijah, you know Elijah gets up and prays
I think it's like 53 words or something that he prays and God sends fire down from heaven and consumes the sacrifices on Mount
Carmel why?
Because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
you see we know that we have the things that we asked of God because we
love him we keep his commandments we do those things that are pleasing in his sight and so the effectual fervent prayer of a
Righteous man availeth much right if we pray
passionately fervently and we're praying from the heart and
We are following God's commandments in our lives
And we fear God and love God and we pray according to his will you know that's powerful and it could it could take just a couple
Minutes doesn't have to take hours and again. I'm not against praying for hours
There are examples of that in scripture, but not chanting for hours
It would be an actual real pouring out of your heart to God for hours
That would actually make sense and so the Bible says here be not ye therefore like unto them
Verse 8 for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him after this manner
Therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name now of course pay attention after this manner
Manner is style
Fashion in this way he's saying pray like this after this manner therefore pray ye
And here's the thing about this is that people will then take this exact prayer and chant it
He just said don't use vain repetitions. You're not gonna be heard for your much speaking
Don't be like these heathen weirdos pray like this and then there's oh chant this prayer
Got it. I mean isn't it crazy that they literally chant the prayer that he gives them as an example
When he just finished telling him not to chant okay?
He says after this manner therefore pray ye and of course. It's not a super long prayer is it?
It's not a super long prayer, but it's a pattern prayer. It's the type of things that we should pray
It's the type of prayer that we should do
After this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name
You know the first thing that we see here is that we're praying to God the Father
Okay in the name of Jesus Christ we pray to the Father through the Son and
So we pray to God the Father and we speak to him
respectfully
Right we should have respect and reverence for the God of the universe and we should not have this
disrespectful
Casual attitude toward God we should treat him with respect and what does that mean?
I mean, it's not taking his name in vain not throwing his name around hallowed be his name
Not just throwing it around and by the way, that's why I'm not for these cheesy t-shirts
That basically make a mockery of the Lord
You know this bloods for you or something like take a beer slogan and turning it into a Christian thing like
Instead of this buds for you. It's this bloods for you or or you know he is risen you riz
Oh, it's not first of all. It's not funny number one stupid and number two
It's blasphemous and it's not respectful toward the Lord Jesus Christ when we're sitting there and saying, you know
Oh the Lord's gym his pain your gain and you got Jesus lifting weights or something, you know again
This stuff is blasphemous. We need to be respectful in the way that we treat the name of the Lord and
By the way, let's not have images of the Lord Jesus Christ since no one knows what he looked like and there's no physical
Description in the Bible and the long-haired hippie painted by the Renaissance painters is a figment of their own
reprobate imagination
Much as sodomites
Seriously, I mean these these Renaissance painters a lot of them were homos
Let's face it if you don't believe me just look at some of their artwork. It's kind of faggity stuff
But he says after this manner therefore pray our Father which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name. So we start out by acknowledging God's greatness
By acknowledging his lofty position his magnificence and again if you want more
Teaching on how to pray the book of Psalms is
Replete with prayers unto God, right and we see all kinds of examples of prayers
this is one example that Jesus gives us but it's not the only example because we can go back to the book of Psalms and
a lot of those Psalms are
prayers
They're obviously meant to be sung but many of them are in the form of prayers the prayers of David
And so when we see these Old Testament Psalms, what are they doing? They're talking about God's greatness
they're praising him for his magnificence and often when I pray I will talk about some of the great things that God has done in the
Bible and praise God for his wondrous works and all the wonderful acts that he has done
Praise him for his power praise him for his greatness. That's what this first portion here
Represents our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name and then verse 10 says this thy kingdom come
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven
Now this is a very important component to our prayer life is that we should be praying according to the will of God
According to the will of God, you know, the Bible says you have not because you ask not
So first of all, we need to be praying if we want to get blessings from God
He said you have not because you ask not but then he said you ask and receive not
Because you ask a miss that you may consume it upon your lusts
So not pray the best way to not get your prayers answered is just not to pray
Because then you just have not because you ask not if you're not praying you're not getting anything
But he also says that some people are praying and they're not receiving because they're praying selfish prayers
they're praying for things to consume upon their own lusts, so they're just praying for money and praying for
possessions and praying for wealth and fame and all these things that are vain and
When they just pray those kind of prayers, you know, it's not gonna do anything
God's not gonna sit there and answer that the Bible says if we know that he hear us
Whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him
But what about the previous verse he said if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us
And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him
So if we're praying things that are contrary to the will of God God's not up in heaven just saying oh well
I got to do this because you asked me to do it
Not if it goes against his will, okay
You have to pray according to God's will if you want your prayers to be answered
Now some people will twist this concept and get kind of a Calvinist
fatalistic kind of a point of view that says oh well if we're just praying according to God's will anyway
Then what's even the point of praying praying doesn't really change anything because God's gonna do his will no matter
What and us praying isn't gonna change anything
Wrong that is false
Because here's the fallacy of what I just said the fallacy is the belief that God's will is always taking place
God's will is not always taking place all throughout this world
We have people living and things taking place that are contrary to the will of God
It's not all God's will unless you're some kind of a Calvinist that just believes everything's predetermined and whatever well
Then you're in the wrong church is a Baptist Church is not a Presbyterian Church
And so the point is that no we do not believe that everything that happens is God's will because guess what the Bible says
God's not willing that any should perish
But that all should come to repentance and yet we see people perishing all day long
The Bible says that God will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth
Do we see all men being saved and come into the knowledge of the truth? No
God's will is
Constantly not happening because God desires all kinds of good things and nice things and wonderful things and
Humans are carrying out all kinds of sinful ungodly wicked things
Contrary to the will of God
This is the will of God even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication
Does that mean every Christian abstains from fornication?
But yet it's God's will that every Christian abstain from fornication and yet Christians partake of that
Why because they're not doing God's will
Because God's will is constantly not happening
What God's wants doesn't automatically happen if you believe that it does then you believe God wants some weird stuff
Because there's some weird stuff going on in this world all the time
And again, that's why a lot of Calvinists who take this really all the way and the people who are really extreme in their Calvinism
They end up with a really weird sick and twisted view of God. Like he's behind every weird thing in this world and
He just isn't
God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions
You know, it's it's it's man's sin the foolishness of man perverted his way and he fretted against the Lord
Can't blame God for the wicked things that are going on in this world. Those are due to the sinful
Humanity that dwells in the world
And so the point here is that when we pray we pray according to God's will
Okay, this does not mean that prayer is a useless exercise. Let me give you an example
Okay, let's say that it's God's will for us to do a certain missions program or a certain, you know
Small town soul winning trip and we need to reach these people on the Indian reservations or take a mission trip over here
And let's say we just don't have the money to do it, right and then I prayed and said dear God
Please help us to have the money to do this trip
I know you want these people to be saved. We want to get them saved
Please provide if it's your will that we do this provide what we need to get there
If it's not your will then we'll just do something else
We'll just keep someone in here in Phoenix or whatever
But if it's your will that we do X Y & Z give us the funds to do it and here's the thing
God would then bless with the funds to do what we need because we're praying according to God's will
Okay, where is let's say I just never prayed that prayer then the funds just don't show up and the work
Just doesn't get done because we just didn't even think about it or talk about it or even ask God for help
Did anybody understand what I'm saying?
I mean think about what what about even even you think about like imprecatory prayers or imprecatory psalms or something and you know
obviously God is
Willing to destroy some super wicked people and so if we prayed those psalms and then God carried that out
It's cuz we prayed
It's not like oh that was just gonna happen anyway
And you know it's so irritating to get around Christians where you tell them
Hey, we prayed for X Y & Z and it happened or hey
I prayed for this blessing in my personal life and and God blessed me in this way and then oh that was just gonna happen
anyway, and
You know what that is. It's not giving God the glory for things and just thinking that we achieved everything
You know look it's God's will that you be able to feed your family and that you be able to feed yourself
It's God's will that you have what you need your daily bread and that you can provide
For the people in your home, right?
I mean God wants you to be able to provide for the people in your home, right?
Does that mean it's meaningless to pray and say God, please help me to provide this week
Please help me to make the money I need to pay my bills this week
No, because here's the thing. Let's say you're not praying at all and you don't have what you need
You have not because you asked not
But you're not praying to consume it upon your lust you're not saying oh God give me steak and lobster every day
You pray and give us this day our daily t-bone steak. No, you're saying give us this day our daily bread
and
So if you're praying God, I don't have the money to pay my bills
I don't have the money to feed my family. I don't have the money to do what I need to do
Please God give us this day our daily bread. Help me out God. I'm working for you
I'm working hard and I want you to help me provide for my family
You're praying according to the will of God God wants you to be fed. God wants your family to be fed
That's a legitimate prayer. You're not saying oh God give me a new Corvette, but you might be saying oh God
Give me transportation to work
Give me transportation to church. Well, look it's God's will that you go to work
It's God's will that you go to church
Those are the kind of prayers that God's gonna help you out with right giving you the transportation that you need
Giving you the food and clothing and housing that you need. There's nothing wrong with praying things for yourself
Okay, but not to just consume upon your lusts with excess and extravagant things
But praying according to the will of God and of course, it's God's will that we have what we need and it's God's will
That we do his work and that we provide for our families
And by the way, I don't think that God wants us to live in poverty either
you know, I think that what the Bible teaches is that we should strive to be neither poor nor rich and
That that middle way of finances is what God would have for most of us
Obviously some people he's gonna bless with riches for whatever reason other people
He's going to make go through poverty and difficult times for a season in order to try them and test them
But of course in Proverbs chapter 30, he said give me neither poverty nor riches
Lest I be poor
Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my
God in vain
So what is he praying? We know he's praying according to will of God because it's in the Bible
It's a spirit-filled proverb Proverbs chapter 30. It's a prayer from the man of God to God saying
Give me neither poverty nor riches. This guy's not trying to just consume it upon his lust
He's not trying to have a Lamborghini in a circular driveway with a big fountain in the front. He's he's just trying to
Not be poor and struggling to feed himself and he also is not trying to be rich and extravagant
He just wants to have what he needs
Feed me with food convenient for me neither poverty nor riches
That's God's will so there's nothing wrong with praying for yourself
But we don't want to pray for things that are just excessive or selfish or self-serving
So he says thy kingdom come
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven
You know, we should want what God wants and here's the thing. Let's say we want to pray something that's not according to God's will
You say well, I want God to answer me anyway
Even though it's not God's will this is what I want. But here's the thing
you know what you're basically saying is that my agenda is more important than God's agenda and
That's never true at the end of the day God's agenda is the most important thing about our lives
And sometimes our agenda has to suffer
Sometimes our agenda has to go on the back burner so that Christ's agenda can go forward because at the end of the day
It's God's kingdom and the gospel of Christ that is the most important
He must increase and I must decrease right and so that's why we want our prayers to all be
According to the will of God and so let's say we pray something that's not according to the will of God
Well, then the Bible says the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us
He knows the mind of God and so when we pray the Holy Spirit will take our parents sort of translate it
So let's say and this is why it's better to pray something stupid than to not pray at all
It's better to pray wrong than not to pray at all because a lot of the what does the Bible say in Romans chapter 8?
We know not how to pray as we ought
We've all prayed stupid things. We've all been at a loss and sometimes we just go to pray. We're just like ah
Because we don't even know what to say
Because our situation is so messed up or someone else's situation is so messed up
We don't know what to pray and so we don't know and so then the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us
And he takes our little our groans and our weeping and our crying and he translates it into something intelligible for God
Or if we pray something stupid like how about this Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, you know
That's not really exactly what this guy wanted
This guy doesn't actually want God to go ahead and just let him die
Let him go to hell and then when he comes into his kingdom, he'll be like man. I remember that guy. I
Remember that guy
Guy that was crucified with me. He spoke up for me. No what here's what he really meant Jesus saved me
Jesus give me eternal life
You know and this is why when it comes to getting saved it's not praying some magical word that saves you
Right. It's not saying this thing or not saying this thing
What it really comes down to is believing in your heart and then you express that with your mouth
It's not all you didn't say it, right?
You're not say, you know, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom, you know isn't necessarily literally what this guy was after
But you know what?
Jesus gives him an answer different from what he asked because he says remember me when thou comest to thy kingdom
That's a future time and what does he answer today?
Today he answers him
Differently than what he asked. He said remember me when you come into your kingdom and he said no today
You'll be with me in paradise today. And so you see how when we pray even if we don't pray exactly, right?
We get the right answer
Because God knows our heart. He knows the heart of God and he knows what we really need
So sometimes we might pray and say something stupid like oh, you know
Give me well, I feel like if it's if it's too stupid though, you might just not get anything
You know, like like if you say like give me the Lamborghini. He's probably just gonna be like you ask and receive not
Because you ask a miss that you may consume it upon your less, but let's say something a little bit less extreme
Let's say that you're praying. Oh God
Give me this motorcycle so I can get to work and then God says well
I'm actually give you a car instead of a motorcycle or something
You know what I mean?
Like like he kind of knows what you need or you might think like oh God, please do this for me and he's like, okay
I'm gonna do that for you, but I'm not gonna do it for you now
I'm gonna do it for you two years from now
And he's got a reason why you need to be without those things for the next two years
Learn some lessons go through some things and he's gonna give it to you
Maybe later even though you're saying do it in the next six months. He's like I'll do it in the next six years
Or you might even say do it by the end of the year and he says I'll do it today
You don't know right?
But at the end of the day we should want what God wants and we should strive to pray for things
That are according to God's will and at the end of the day, I'm constantly saying when I pray
I'm constantly just saying Lord let your will be done in this situation. Whatever it is. That's your will
I just want you God to get involved in the situation
And again, don't get mixed up by this foolish Calvinistic notion that says oh, well, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen anyway
Praying is just an exercise
Praying is not an exercise prayer changes things and so therefore what you want to do is
You want to pray and say God get involved in my situation. I don't even know what to say
I don't even know how to explain it. But just get involved in this situation
Just act just show up just do something and God will know what to do
That's better than not praying at all and it will change the outcome
If I didn't think praying change the outcome, I would stop praying if I didn't think soul winning change the outcome
I would stop soul winning
Just being honest
But I do believe that soul winning changes the outcome praying changes the outcome
Everything that we do in our lives is changing the outcome for ourselves and others
Our lives matter our actions matter the things that we say and do matter
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven verse 11. Give us this day our daily
Bread and again, the idea here is that we don't know what the future is
We don't know
What the future holds later in the same chapter?
he's gonna say sufficient under the day is the evil thereof take no thought for tomorrow and
Sometimes our lives can be overwhelming
Sometimes they can be overwhelmingly difficult and sometimes we might look at the next week or the next month or the next year and think
Like I don't think I can get through I don't I can't do this for another six months or year or decade
But but here's what God's asking us to do just one more day
Can you do it today? I've talked to people who said oh, I'm at the end of my rope in my marriage
Okay, stay married for one more day and then another day and you know, don't try to think about the next five years of marriage
Get through one more day
But constantly when people are making bad decisions, this is the kind of stuff they're saying I can't live the rest of my life like this
But but you don't know what the rest of your life is gonna be like
Think about when David makes a bad decision to leave Israel and go hook up with the Philistines
What does he say? What does David say? He says well, you know what someday someday? I'm gonna perish at the hand of Saul
I need to just go hook up with the Philistines
But again instead of David thinking about someday he should have just thought well God kept me safe today
God kept me safe every single time. I'm safe now
That's all that you know tomorrow. We'll figure it out
Tomorrow we'll keep moving forward instead of this attitude that tries to look at your whole life and plan your whole life
No, we may not know what we're gonna eat tomorrow. But do we have food today?
We got food today. We're gonna make it we're gonna get through you got to hang in there
weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning and
Think about how the children of Israel they're out in the wilderness and they're not having food and not having water and they don't have
What they need and they're starving and thirsty, but then they murmur they complain they get in trouble with God
And then just literally right after that they show up and there's just a huge oasis
With a bunch of palm trees and springs of water and if they would have just hung in there for literally less than one day
They would have gotten there and God would have provided for them. So we need to just kind of hang in there another day
That's why he says give us this day our daily bread
we're not necessarily gonna have our retirement plan all planned out for the rest of our lives and
financially secure forever with no
Question, but God will give us our daily bread and he said I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread
God will provide give us this day our daily bread and
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Okay. Now debts here. We're talking about probably more like sins, right?
Debt here is is just what we incur we owe and so I think that probably obviously this could be like a
Financial debt as well. I'm not saying that that's not an application because it is, you know
There there are examples in the Bible where people fall on hard times
They can't pay back and you're supposed to be merciful unto them, right?
And so I get that but in general if we jump down to verse 14, it says if you forgive men their trespasses
Right. What is a trespass? It's when someone, you know, literally someone crosses you
Okay, it's when someone sins against you. It's when someone does you wrong
Okay, I always jokingly say whenever we're so winning in an apartment complex and they kick us out and say we're trespassing
I always just say hey, forgive us our trespasses, you know
But the point is that when people trespass against us
When people sin against us the Bible says if we forgive them, then our Heavenly Father will also forgive us verse 15
But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses now in order to be able to say
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
You'd have to be a good forgiving person because imagine if you're the unforgiving type and then you prayed to God God
Please forgive me my debts the way I forgive other people their debts
You'd basically be saying God, please kick my butt
God, please punish me severely for every little thing that I do wrong because that's how I treat other people in Jesus name
Amen
I mean it'd be a stupid thing to pray if you're sitting there just
Raking everybody over the coals for every little mistake and you're bringing up stuff from five years ago ten years ago
Then God's like well, I got something on you from ten years ago that I could do for you. Oh
You want to talk about 15 years ago? Well, I got something on you from 15 years ago, buddy
If you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you now just to be clear
This is not talking about salvation
Salvation is a one-time thing you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You're saved your past from death to life
You become a child of God. You have eternal life. That's a done deal
But here's the thing my children will always be my children. My parents will always be my parents, right?
But here's the thing about that though. Okay, is that when we have children in our home that disobey
We can either come down on them pretty hard or we could show mercy
Okay, and here's the thing about that if we see our children
Forgiving one another and being kind to one another right then we're probably going to be more forgiving and kind with them
Whereas if they are vindictive and spiteful toward one another well, then we might come down on them much harder
Because of the fact that if you are merciful you will receive mercy
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
The point is that when we have children we discipline them and we forgive them and we let things go
But here's the thing about that though is that God also disciplines us and he also can either
Give us the maximum punishment or he can forgive us and again
We're not talking about salvation when it comes to salvation all our sins are forgiven
From you know in the eyes of God as far as the sins as far as the East is from the West so far as God
Separated us from our sins and so forth. We're we're fully
Forgiven when it comes to like an eschatological view, you know, we're totally forgiven when it comes to our salvation
Okay, you know when it comes to like heaven and hell, okay
You know, we're gonna be saved from wrath through him
But when it comes to what about the fact that God is constantly chasing and chastising us
We want God to go easy on us then we better go easy on other people
Everybody understand what I'm saying?
That's what he means when he says if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you
It means that if somebody does something wrong to you and you're just like hey man, no big deal. No problem
It's okay, and you let it go then when God sees you messing up. He'll be more likely to let things go
Whereas if you're super strict on other people God's gonna be super strict on you
And I guarantee you that this exact analog does take place in people's homes when you see one kid
Really raking another kid over the coals for a mistake that they make you're probably not gonna be
Overlooking that kid's mistakes because you want to show him what that's like to be super critical and super
Picky about other people's behavior. Also, it's very hypocritical
To be not forgiving others and then expecting God to forgive you and by the way, just while I'm on this point
Let me just go off on a little tangent here and say this okay
Bringing stuff up from a long time ago is garbage
Okay, and and let me tell you why
First of all the Christian virtue of forgiveness involves forgiving and forgetting
Okay, forgiving and forgetting is what the Bible teaches
You say well, where do you get that? Well, how about the book of Hebrews their sins and iniquities will I remember no more I
Will be merciful to their own righteousness and their sins and iniquities while I remember no more
The Bible says that God is cast all of our sins behind his back
He's not thinking about it. He's not dwelling on it. He forgives and forgets
Okay, but you have people that hang on to bitterness and grudges for years and years and years
And let me tell you why it is unfair to bring up something from years and years ago because it is
Impossible to defend yourself against accusations years later. This is why in the criminal justice system
You have the statute of limitations
You can't just be like, oh, well this guy stole from me 20 years ago, and then it's like okay
Well, where were you on the night of February 23rd?
2008 and you're like, what the heck like how do I know I?
Mean think about like if somebody asked me. Hey, where were you last Tuesday night?
Then I could probably figure that out
You know might not be easy
It might take a minute and you know
I have to look at my calendar or look at things and and you know look at stuff on my look at text messages or emails
Or whatever try to piece it together
But you know what?
I'd probably be able to piece together stuff from this month last month or whatever or if somebody brings up some incident that took place
Three months ago. I can be like, okay, I remember that and here's what actually went down
But when someone pulls out some story from 10 years ago or 15 years ago and you're like what in the world?
Like how can you even defend yourself against that because it's impossible for anyone to produce the evidence years later
You know, and let me just bring up one specific
Accusation that's been made against me recently
And just how stupid this is to be bringing this up 18 years later
This stupid foolish accusation that I was never sent here to start this church
Right. This is the new accusation is that is that pastor Nichols and Regency Baptist Church never sent me here to start this church
And then I'm a self-proclaimed pastor, you know what? But here's the funny thing about that is that I already dealt with this
Lie this stupidity back in 2015 and I produced physical evidence
And I gave all the details and just completely destroyed this stupid lying false narrative
And even at the time pastor Nichols himself even texted me and I have that text message where he says well
Yeah, that is what happened but and admitted that he was not telling the truth about the way things went down
Okay, but that it was just that after the fact he regretted
Sending me to start this church because I preached against his precious little preacher of rapture
Okay, that's what actually went down. But here's the thing back then
It was a lot easier to defend myself back then first of all would have been easiest to defend myself
You know 16 17 18 years ago
But it was easier to defend myself in 2015 than it is in 2024 and in
2034 it's gonna probably be even more difficult
Why because there were about a hundred and fifty people there when he got up in front of the church and said we're sending
Pastor we're not he didn't say pastor. We're sending Steven Anderson to go start this church in Phoenix. And then he said we're also
Going to find a way we're struggling financially right now
But we're gonna find a way to support him financially
Okay, and there were 150 people there to hear him talk about how he's sending me to start a church in Phoenix and that
We're gonna find a way to support him
Financially, but now he has this lying story of oh
I told him not to start the church and he just wanted to do it anyway and just kind of went rogue and went on his
Own, but yet I produced in the video that I made in 2015 the bulletin
Where I where he prints my words where he prints my letter saying thank you for your godly counsel. I
Went to Phoenix and started the church and here's all the success
We're having all the stuff the letters that he wrote to me and all these different just all this actual physical evidence plus 150
eyewitnesses
Okay, and you know, thankfully I even had that stuff ten years after the fact
But here's the thing I guarantee you that if I would have asked people ten years ago or 15 years ago
Hey, do you remember being there that Sunday morning when that happened? They'd be like, oh, yeah, of course
I was there and a bunch of people in 2015 were like, yep. I was there. I remember it
But you know in 2024, I wonder how many people even remember and it's kind of a stupid example
But the point is that the longer that goes by these false accusations become more and more difficult to defend against
When people are bringing up crap from 15 10 5 years ago, how do you even defend yourself against that?
You know what I mean, it's and look now let's make application for you that was from my personal life, okay
How about you?
You know when you're bringing up stuff that your wife did ten years ago or your husband did five years ago
You know, first of all, what is wrong with you move on?
Okay, do not live life carrying around this bitterness and grudges from your childhood
From when you were a teenager from five years ago from when you first got married
Oh remember when we first got married and you did this jerk move. It's like what we've been married for 20 years
We've been married for 30 years and you're still talking about the things that went wrong on our honeymoon
Let it go
It's stupid and it's unchristian and it's the best way to get God to come down on you like a ton of bricks every
Time you make a mistake
when you want to just harbor all this bitterness against other people and be all mad at other people and
Bringing up and look accusing people of something. Oh, oh, you know, I got raped 25 years ago. Shut your mouth
Because you know what you should have been screaming and yelling the day it happened. That's what the Bible says
And if you weren't screaming and yelling the day that it happened then shut up
But you bring out these false accusations and you bring out this crap years later
It's impossible for people to defend themselves against and just to be clear
I've never been accused of raping anyone because I've been accused of everything else under the Sun, but that's not one of them
Because I've only had sex with my wife and it's impossible to rape your wife idiots out there online
You can't rape your wife. That's not even possible because she belongs to you. Amen
Anybody who didn't say amen is suspect
Because that's what the Bible says
I'm just saying it's what the Bible says the woman has not power over her own body
But the man the husband has no power over his own body, but his wife does
But let me tell you something the best way to not get accused of raping somebody is to not commit fornication
You know, you got a bunch of guys today saying oh man, we're constantly being accused of rape by feminists
Well, here's the thing quiz quit fornicating with feminists quit fornicating period and then you can't get accused of rape
Except by retards like Tommy McMurtry and Dave Berzins and Jason Robinson. They're the only morons that will ever accuse you of that
The idea here is that you could not bring up stuff 5 10 15 20 years later except expect to be taken seriously
You got a problem with somebody bring it up now
Because you know what the human memory is so fallible. The human memory is so
Unreliable even a week later even a month later people remember things totally wrong and then you're bringing up stuff from 5 10
15 20 years ago. It's impossible to prove I mean pastor Nichols said that when he met my wife she could barely speak English
Here's the funny thing about that. My wife taught English in his Christian school within a month of showing up
I'm not kidding. She literally was at his Christian school
Literally tutoring English to native speakers correcting their English a month after showing up
But then you know decades later. It's just oh, yeah, she barely even spoke English
You can say whatever you want 20 years later because nobody even knows or remembers nobody can fact-check you it's garbage my friend
You need to forgive and forget and if something wicked happens if something bad happens if there's a problem
You know what you better call it out right here right now instead of saying oh, I'll wait seven years
Let me wait ten years. Just kind of pull this out
12 years later when it's impossible to defend and by the way, maybe you know, let me just
You know go off a little bit here on something unrelated
This is why these this is why these these traffic cameras are such baloney
The ones that give you a ticket
Let me tell you why because if I supposedly broke a traffic law and the cop pulls me over it just happened
Two minutes ago. I know exactly what happened. I can defend myself and say well
Here's what it here's where I was here's how fast I was going. Here's what happened. Here's what I did
How can I defend myself when something shows up in the mail two months later two months later?
It's like you were speeding at this time and then they're like, oh you can go to court and fight this
Well, I'm gonna go to court and be like, well, you know, I just I remember
At 5 36 p.m. Driving down that road and here's how fast I was actually going and here's what I was actually doing
It's like it'd be literally impossible to defend
Everybody understand what I'm saying who's ever been pulled over in your entire life for doing something wrong
And you were actually not at fault put up your hand if you feel like you've been pulled over and given a ticket and you
Weren't at fault. No. No, you're all lying because the police never make a mistake and everything's always yeah
the point is though that I
Hope you're getting the concept how it's literally impossible to defend yourself about things way later
And that's why things need to be dealt with right away, which is why the Constitution of the United States actually guarantees us a speedy trial
a
speedy trial
right because of the fact that the longer that goes by the less likely you are to get justice because everybody's
Memories are fading
Evidence is going away things are being deleted things are being forgotten
And so trying to bring up something that somebody did 10 15 20 years ago is
Ungodly because of the fact that you're not practicing the Christian virtue of forgiveness
it's also
Unbiblical because you're supposed to bring up crimes right away and you can't just pull things out way later and
Also, it's just not fair to the defendant to be
You know tried for something that they can't really effectively defend themselves and by the way
This is why the statute of limitations exists some people they get upset and be like man
Why does this crime have a statute of limitations?
And and you know what a lot of crime statute of limitations is one year
Right. I mean who knows a lot about law
That could tell me some crimes and some statutes of limitations anybody have any examples just right off the top of their head
Anybody got something nobody nobody cares. All right. Wait, we got something
Okay
Okay, so you have to file a wrongful death lawsuit within one year of the date of death right
Wrongful death lawsuit. You got one year to file that thing and I guarantee there are a ton of other things like that
And that that's pretty serious, right? I mean wrongful death is a big deal
Guess what the smaller the crime the shorter that statute of limitations tends to be
You know typically only things like murder or something first-degree murder might have no statute of limitations
Or something like that. Okay, but the vast majority of things they have that one year two years
Whatever so that you can't just be bringing stuff up
Years later, that's impossible to defend impossible to prove. It just makes it too difficult
And so there are a lot of good reasons not to bring up the past
Okay, because our memories get distorted. We tell ourselves these stories in our mind. We exaggerate things in our mind
We beef things up in our mind. We we talk to other people and mix their stories with our story and at the end of the day
You need to just stop bringing up stuff
That your wife did or that your husband did or that your kids did or that your parents did or that your friends did
Or that so-and-so did or you know, oh, well, you know 15 years ago. I saw something
What the heck and?
You're bringing it up now
Because you're a slanderer, that's why
The bottom line is you speak now or you forever hold your peace
You know and people who actually have a real crime to report they actually report it
People who don't they just sit on it and get all sour and bitter and gall inside of them and then want to bring it
Up years and years later
Well, if you want God to forgive you you better forgive other people and we need to get back to the Christian
virtue of forgiveness
Letting things go and especially if people tell you that they're sorry you have to forgive them
It's not even an option if somebody comes to you and apologizes you have to forgive them
the Bible demands it and
So if you're gonna be able to pray the Lord's Prayer or something like the Lord's Prayer
you're gonna have to be able to pray forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and
It would take a forgiving person to be able to pray that prayer
We'll just quickly finish these last couple verses of the Lord's Prayer here
It says lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever
Amen notice bookending this prayer with great respect
for God's magnificence
Praise for God and then in between asking for what we need our daily bread
Forgiveness we want things to go according to God's will we don't want to be led into temptation and we want to be
Delivered from evil. These are the type of things that we should be praying and where do we do that praying in secret?
Right most of our praying is just between us and God
Not for show let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word
Thank you so much for
This great passage of scripture the sermon on the mount Lord
Please just bless us as we go our separate ways now Lord and in Jesus name
We pray man
Let's take our him knows together go to him number one him number one
Jesus I my cross have taken him number one
We'll sing it out on that first verse now him number one
That
Spies
I
Me
I
(upbeat piano music)