Psalm 138 tonight. Psalm 138 is a great revival psalm. It is one of the psalms that uses the word revive. And in the Old Testament, the word revive and the word quicken are synonymous. Psalm 119 has several references to the concept of quickening and Psalm 71 has a reference using the idea of quickening. And that that word is found throughout the Old Testament. But the idea of reviving and quickening is taught in the scripture. And we're going to see it here in Psalm 138 tonight. Let's read. It's a short Psalm, only eight verses long. But let's look at it tonight. I will praise thee. with my whole heart. Before the gods," that's little g gods, will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. In the day when I cried, Thou answer'st me, and strengthen'st me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord." Verse 6, Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. But the proud He knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of thine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands." Let's pray together. Father in Heaven, I sense Thy leading here and I am trusting that I have not sensed in vain. I am trusting that Thou wilt use the Word of God tonight. That the Word of God will be a balm and gilead to those who are broken. It will be the strength of those who are weak. That tonight the Word of God will be a comfort to those who are in sorrow, and it will be a joy to those who have experienced discouragement. I pray that tonight the Word of God will help us. The Word of God will strengthen us. The Word of God will indeed meet the needs that people have tonight. I pray that we would be quick to respond to Thee. We would be quick to obey Thee. We would be quick to rest in thee. And may the Lord Jesus Christ be lifted up. Amen. This psalm begins with what I would call the background for revival. And the first five verses talk about what we would consider some very important parts of the Christian life. this early part of this chapter or this psalm. Notice, I will praise thee. It starts right off with praise. And if you look down, verse 2 talks about worship. And then verse 4 talks about praise again. And verse 5 talks about singing. And so we see here that there is a particular focus on the music and the praises and the singing of the people of God. And as we consider the background for revival, we have to understand that revival takes place in the hearts. Of a singing people. I want to say that again, revival takes place in the hearts of a singing people. You have a song in your heart. The songwriter said, I have a song that Jesus gave me. It was sent from heaven above. That's a song that is there. We we we read in the Psalms about, oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. It's not it's not the song of the old life. It's not the it's not the sad bluegrass twanging songs of somebody driving off with your truck and and dragging your wife out of town. And, you know, you know what you get when you play country music backward. You've probably all heard that. You get it all back. Yeah. That is not the song of the people of God, I don't tell you what people who feast on the wrong song. Don't have revival. You just can't have it. Because it is not a song that lifts up the name of the Lord. It's not a song that creates a background in your heart where the Word of God can take root and where the truths of God can lodge and where the Holy Spirit is at home and where you can actually let God give you something. It isn't the music of the rock and the rap and the hip hop world. You know, if we are going to let the world that is absolutely running as fast as possible away from God. Tell the church how to sing. We are not going to have what God wants to give us. We're just not going to have what God wants to give us. You know this music did not have its origin. In the church. This music had its origins. And I don't want to be unkind, but it had its origins among pagans. The music that is being sold to the churches today by the world had its origins among pagans. Just a little anthropology here tonight, a little study of man. It's very interesting that that the major scientific. Talking heads are doing a lot of investigation into what they call indigenous peoples. In fact, we just had Indigenous Peoples Day the other day. Yeah, that is, you know, if you actually don't want to offend anybody. That used to be called Columbus Day when I was a kid, and my birthday is October 12, and it was a national holiday. It didn't matter what day it fell on, and I never had to go to school on my birthday. So there you have it. The whole country shut down just so I could have my birthday. But these indigenous peoples are interesting because many of them are in isolated places in the jungles of Brazil and the jungles of the Congo and and in the outback of Australia and in the jungles of of Indonesia, the island of Borneo and the island of Sulawesi and and some of these places that the the Maldives have have have primitive and and indigenous people groups. You know, it's very interesting. Some of those indigenous people groups live to the north of us. We used to call them Eskimos, now we're not supposed to use that word anymore either, and I don't even think they know what we call them and I don't think they're upset about it. But whatever you whatever name you call, you know what? You know what's interesting about these groups? They all have different diets based on where they live. They all have different rights of manhood. depending on where they live. They all have different traditions. They all have different, different hunting methods. They all have different ways of dressing or undressing as the case so often is. They only have one thing in common. It doesn't matter where you go. Their music is the same. You can study the music. of some indigenous people group in the tundra of northern Canada. And this and the music of people on the island of Borneo and the music of the people in the outback of Australia and the music of the people that are isolated in the jungles of Brazil, and it's the same music. How is that possible, because none of these indigenous people groups know that the world exists. outside of their jungle. They don't know that there is a culture known as the United States of America. They don't have contact with the outside world. How is it that all their music is the same? I'm going to tell you how. Because every one of them is a group of people that is described in Romans 1 where they profess themselves to be wise and became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and to four footed beasts and creeping things. And God gave them up to the lusts of their own hearts. And these people groups are vile, immoral, wicked, idol worshiping pagans. And the devil. Has taught them all the same music. Because when you worship an idol, first Corinthians tells us. you worship the devil or you worship a devil. And the devil teaches people this music and all the music is the same. And when you try to tell me that that kind of music belongs in the Christian home and that kind of music belongs in the church, you're telling me that we need to take our lessons from the pagans. No, you see, there is something about revival and it takes place in the heart of a people where there is the praise music of God. Where there is hymnology, where there is spiritual singing, and when God says speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, the indication there is that there must also be unspiritual songs. And there certainly are such songs in our culture. The background for revival is good music. I'm glad for the music of this church. I'm glad we can sing songs that elevate the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ. Don't lose sight of that. There's something else in the background of revival. Notice it's God's word. Verse two, he says, I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness. And for thy truth, for thou has magnified thy word. Above all thy name. God's word is part of revival, part of the background, part of part of the foundation, part of the groundwork for having revival. It's not just the right kind of music. It's the word of God. The word of God is part of every revival that has ever been experienced on the face of the earth, just like godly music is part of every revival that has ever touched this planet. And we need the word of God and we need it preached and we need it read and we need to meditate upon it and we need to soak ourselves in it and we need to steep ourselves in it like a teabag until we come out looking like the word of God and smelling like the word of God and tasting like the word of God. God has magnified his word. Above his name, and that's an interesting thought, because the name of Jesus is above a name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow of things in heaven of things in Earth of things under the Earth, and that every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God is elevated the name of Jesus above every other name. There is no name higher than the name Jesus Christ. But the word of God is higher than that name. And the reason for that is simple. If the word in which we find the name of Jesus. Is not elevated. Then the name of Jesus won't have any value at all. We must understand that this book is the very word of God. And I do not hesitate for one moment to say that the authorized King James Version is the infallible, inerrant record of God in the English language. It does not need to be retranslated. It is not a matter of making it easier to understand. Because if you talk to the author, he'll teach you his Word. And the Holy Ghost is the author. You just talk to God about it. You say, well, do you know everything in the Bible? No, I don't know everything in the Bible. It's an infinite word. But I can tell you that there have been many passages that I didn't understand. And I prayed and asked God to help me understand them. And over time he did. Just recently, I've been reading this book for almost forty nine years. Two weeks from now is my spiritual birthday. I'll be forty nine. I prefer to use that number. Sixty six isn't as much fun. I tell people, don't worry, it's only two sixes. It's not free. But you know what, I've been reading this book for all these years and just about a month and a half ago, a verse of scripture that has absolutely stumped me all my life. All of a sudden came as clear to me and I'm like. How have I been so dense? Not to see that before. I want you to know something. Part of the background for revival is right here. I don't know how much time you spend here. I don't know if you spend five minutes a day in the word or two hours a day where I don't know. But I guarantee revival. Has a background right in this book. Bible tells us here in this song that part of the background is prayer. Notice verse three, in the day when I cried, thou answer it's me and strengthen it's me with strength in my soul. Again, part of the background for revival is not just praying for revival for two weeks before it comes, but praying often and regularly and faithfully for revival and praying often and regularly and faithfully for things and actually having a prayer life. Not just a prayer time. But a prayer life. You know, everybody can have his little five minute devotional in the morning, you know, where you open this devotional book, days of praise or, you know, moments with the master or, you know, seconds with the Savior or whatever you want to call it. It's kind of like when we had the lockdown, everybody said, wow, this is cool. We can worship God in our pajamas. We just sit around on the couch of Christ in the recliners of the Redeemer and watch it on YouTube. And you go to church and you find some of them just didn't change out of their pajamas even to come to church. Oh, you see, prayer is part of it. And we need to generate a prayer like we need to have that and, you know, people want to come and they just you know, there is this unwritten, unspoken. Well, preacher, we came for the performance. Are you going to revive us or not? And the answer to that is no, I won't revive you. Because I can't do that. I can't save a sinner and I can't revive a saint. Because you see, before there's revival, there's a background. And praying is something that we are short on in the United States of America. We talked early this morning about being rich and increased with goods and having need of nothing. Part of the reason that Americans are not a praying people is we subconsciously translate the fact that we have everything in the physical world to think that we have everything we need in the spiritual world. And we are in desperate need of God in this country today. We are in desperate need of God in this country today. And it's not just them. Who need God? It is we who need God and we need to develop a prayer life. We need. Listen, most adults, most adults are awake 16 to 17 hours a day. And what that means is if you pray for one hour in a day. You have given God 6% of your life. If you pray for 30 minutes a day, that's only 3%. What if you pray for only 10 minutes a day, that's 1% of your life. devoted to prayer. And I don't mean to misrepresent God in any way, but when God looks down and sees that he is that unimportant to his children. I don't mean this in a wrong way, but his children kind of become that unimportant to him. And God is answering the prayers of desperate people. And he's watching people that take him for granted Struggle. And when you don't pray, when you don't generate a prayer life, you're taking God for granted. I hear people say, well, God has always been there for me. That is a terribly self-centered statement. God isn't anywhere for me. I happen to be here for him. And that is the outlook that we need. And we need to understand that there is a God in heaven who longs to have communion with His children. There is a God in heaven who prays for us. He makes intercession for us. You ever thought about that? You ever thought about what might be on His prayer list for you? That's a compelling thought to me. He makes intercession for me. Well, what's He praying for me? That's a shocking thought that God in heaven The Savior, the high priest of the New Testament church, the high priest over this priesthood of believers is making intercession. Read Romans 8. It's there. What's on his prayer list? And part of the background of revival is worship and praise, and part of it is the Word of God, and part of it is praying. A praying people. A people who get on their face and talk to their father, a people who shut out the world, Jesus said, enter into my closet. And when that was shut, I door pray to my father, which is in secret and my father, which see it in secret, shall reward the openly. We sing the song sweet hour of prayer if the only people singing were the ones who actually spent an hour in prayer, would it be a solo? Would it be a duet? Would it even be an instrumental solo? We need to be people of prayer. That's all in the background. And I could say more there, but I need to get into the rest of this psalm. So we see the background of revival. But I want you to see the battles in revival, because there are two verses here, verses six and seven, that begin with the word though, T-H-O-U-G-H. And they both present what look like paradoxes And they are battles. They are they are things that that we that we battle through if we're going to have revival. And notice the first one in verse six. Though the Lord be high. Yet have he respect unto the lowly. But the proud. He knoweth the far off, the first battle in revival is a battle against pride. A battle against pride. Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall, a man's pride will bring him low. There's nothing good you can say about pride. Nothing good you can say about pride. I made a rule in my life years ago, I'm not going to tell people I'm really proud of you. I'm not going to use that word because it's never used in a good way in the word of God. And the minute I say that I'm proud of you or I'm proud of your accomplishments, what I'm I'm taking on some sort of credit there. Like I had something to do with it, like it somehow connected to me, like somehow my very presence in your life created some victory or some some help or whatever it was. I don't say that. I can say I'm thrilled for you. I can say I'm happy for you. I can say I rejoice with you because the Bible says rejoice with those that rejoice. Pride is always a gateway and a doorway to sin And we have to battle it And notice what God says here though the Lord be high Yet hath he respect unto the lowly This battle with pride has kept thousands, yea, tens of thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands, yea, millions of believers down through generations of time from having ever even a hint or even a little vestige of revival. Because we won't humble ourselves Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. Why did he may exalt you in due time? Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Why? And he will lift you up. Listen, humility, just as much as pride is the gateway to sin, humility is the gateway to revive. I want to read you a verse from Isaiah. If you want to look there, you may. It is the only verse in the Bible that contains the word revived twice in the same verse. Isaiah 57 and verse 15. And it is a parallel verse to verse six in Psalm 138. It's a parallel to what I just read. If you want to look at it, it's Isaiah 57, 15. Notice these words. For thus sayeth the high and lofty one that inhabited the eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive..." Who? The spirit of the humble. "...and to revive..." Who? The heart of the contrite ones. God has respect to the humble. And one of the battles that we face is our own pride. One of the battles that we face is I'll get by. I've done OK up to now. I'll get by a little longer. You know, the way I'm doing things, it seems to be OK. And and I'm not running into something I can't handle. And and, you know, God's promised he'll never give me anything I can't handle, which is not true at all. Show me a place where God says I'll never give you something you can't handle. No, God does give us things we can't handle so that we will come to Him. Paul said he was pressed out of measure above strength. Sounds to me like he couldn't handle it. And some of you tonight are pressed out of measure above strength in so much that you despair even of life for whatever situation is going on. And the bottom line is God is seeking, always seeking, always bringing things into our lives to break our pride. Because we're so willing to depend upon ourselves, and we are so willing to consult with ourselves, and we are so willing to depend upon our own resources, and our own righteousness, and our own ideas, and our own intelligence. We're so willing and so ready to depend on our own training, and our own talents, and our own good looks, and our own whatever it is. And we are a self-dependent people. and a self-dependent people never sees revival. You know what Paul said? You know what the testimony of Paul was? Paul's testimony was, and who is sufficient for these things? And five verses later, his testimony is, our sufficiency is of God. And several chapters later, his testimony is that he went to the Lord three times about a thorn in the flesh. And God said, No, Paul, I'm not taking it away from you, because if I take it away from you. You will boast in your own strength. So I'm not taking it away. My grace is sufficient for thee. Where is our sufficiency? It's not in the fact we grew up in a Christian home. That is not our sufficiency. Our sufficiency isn't in the fact that we are making top dollar at the office or the or the factory. Our sufficiency is not in the fact that we just got a new car or or, you know, we're just upgrading the house or our sufficiency is not that. You know what I have? I'm at the top of my game and, you know, I just got this degree. I just got this new training. No, that isn't our sufficiency. And we'll find out. Very quickly in this life that God is not interested in our. Abilities. That just isn't of interest. God is interested in working in and through us where we are weak and broken, where we are vulnerable, where we find that we're helpless. where we find that we can't. And as long as we are going to bull through. He will step back. And let us. No more does God invade the life of a believer than he invades the life of an unbeliever. God doesn't force people to be saved. Does he? If he did, everybody would be saved. God does not force people. And God doesn't force believers and God won't force you, he will let you do what you are choosing to do, he will let you do what you've determined to do, and that is the reason so many people end up. In the second half of life, regretting the first half. Because God does let you do what you've made up your mind you're going to do. You know, we think that God is this God who, you know, we can get on our knees and say, Lord, stop him from doing this and stop them from doing that. Well. But you don't want him to stop you from doing what. You want to do. We aren't robots, we are creatures of will. Created in the image of God. And one of the battles of revival is to lay our pride aside. Because God. Doesn't give revival. To arrogant people. He just doesn't look at it again, though the Lord be high. Yet have he respect unto the lowly. But the proud he knoweth the far off, and when we stiff arm God. And tell him. I don't need you. I got this, Lord. We're going to find very quickly that He stiff arms us. But He watches. He watches for the broken heart. He watches for the lowly. He watches for the contrite. You know what David said this morning? We saw it. What are the sacrifices of God? A broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart. O God, Thou wilt not despise. David was a believer. And David came out of that time of sin in his life and had a marvelous revival. Why? Because he humbled himself again. Because he battled through. Because he said, enough of this pride. Enough of covering things up. Enough of bullying through and trying to do it my own way. Enough of this David stuff. We need more Jehovah stuff. I, many years ago, was friends with a man a pastor. His first name was Gary, and that's all I'll tell you about him as far as identifying him. And Gary's father-in-law was a well-known preacher in this country. And Gary was the new pastor. He'd been installed in this church as the pastor, head pastor, and he was all excited. And one day his father-in-law said, well, you know, your mother-in-law and I are coming to visit you. And boy, he planned a day to outdo all days. He thought my father-in-law is coming. I've got to put on the dog for him. And I mean, the choir special was the greatest number they'd ever sung. And and the sermon was polished till it shined like a breath door knob. And I mean, it was just everything that day was set up. To impress his father-in-law. They're sitting around the dinner table on Sunday afternoon and. Finally, Gary spoke up and he said, So, Dad, what did you think of the church? He said, too much Gary. Yeah. And you know what that man said? He told me later, he said, those three words, too much Gary, changed my ministry. Because he said it broke me. that I had done so much in the flesh to impress my father-in-law. And he said what that translated into was, Lord, how much am I doing in my flesh to impress you? And he said that put me on a path of brokenness and humility, and it was on that path that I saw revival. It was on that path that I saw God work. It was on that path that I saw God intervene. It was on that path that I saw miracles take place. He said it was on that path that our church began to grow and people began to get saved and lives began to be changed and revival began to lay hold in our church. There's way too much. Of any of us in our own lives. The first battle of revival. Is the battle of pride. Notice the second one, verse seven. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me. The second battle in revival. Is the trouble we're in. Because the devil wants to come along and say, well, if God loved you, you wouldn't be in this trouble. Well, if you had just done this and this and that and that, you wouldn't be in this trouble. Well, if you had and if you and the devil's an accuser and the devil's a liar. And we have to remember that when we're walking in the midst of trouble. We have to remember that the devil is the author of every lie and every accusation. He is behind it all, and we need to close out the devil. We need to rebuke the devil. We need to say what the prophet Zechariah said in Zechariah 3, 2, and what Jude the apostle said in verse 9 of his epistle. We just need to say, and the merits of the blood of Christ, and in the authority of His resurrection, the Lord rebuke thee. Get out! Because the devil is a liar! When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. He's the accuser of the brethren. And one of the battles of revival, when we're in the midst of trouble, David said, when I am in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. God, you're going to bring me through this. But we don't get through those times when we're so focused on the devil's lies. That we can't see the Lord's truth. Revival. Is born in the environment of trouble. Revival is always born because of trouble. You know what? When we're not in trouble, we don't seek it because we don't think we need it. And so God brings trouble. You know, you know what's happening in the United States of America? We're in the state of Michigan. Do you realize some of the laws that are being passed in your state? Are you are you listening? Are you watching? Are you hearing? Preachers are going to be in jail for saying things in this state pretty soon. And preachers are going to have to make a decision. Am I going to stand up for God or am I going to weasel out? And revivalists like me, I'm going to have to make my decision. Am I going to stand for God or weasel out or just cancel all my meetings in liberal states? Well, you know, Christians who live in liberal states need encouragement, too. And the Bible tells us here that though we walk in the midst of trouble, God will revive us. And God wants you to know tonight that God does care enough about you, even in the midst of your trouble, even in your difficulty, even in your testing, even in your brokenheartedness, even in your. Anger. Over the injustices. And the needless cruelties of our world. Don't tell me you don't get angry when you hear the news. Don't tell me you don't get angry when you hear some soft, corrupt judge let some creep off the hook. Don't tell me that doesn't bother you. Now, we may not react like the lost world does. We don't go out and shoot up an office or shoot up an airport or whatever just because we're mad. I'll tell you what the things happening in this world. They'll make you. Angry. Though we walk in the midst of trouble, God has a revival plan. And I want you to see. Not just the background of revival in the battles in it, but the bonus from it, look at verse eight, the Lord will perfect. That. Which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever, forsake not the works of thine own hands. What the Lord wants to do, he wants to perfect you. He wants to change you. All perfection requires change. Anytime something is perfected, that means something has to change. I often use the illustration of the first few times I played golf, which happened also to be the last few times. The last time I played golf, I got a 27 on the front nine. And that was the first hole. And the last hole. I chased that ball around the green. And I thought, I have better things to do with my life. If you're a good golfer, praise the Lord. I'm not. Because I was told I must have dropped something here. Did this come off of me? Oh, that's the Pope. Oh, OK. I was told by a preacher friend that was with me, he said, well, you've got to you've got to put your feet this way. And you've got to point your toes differently, you've got to you've got to move your feet and you've got to you've got to hold your back different. Oh, the way you're holding your club and oh, you've got to you've got to do this with this arm and do that with that arm. And and I'm like. I can't focus on 78 things at once. I'm a man. I'm not a multitasker. I can't do this. But you know what would be necessary if I were going to be a good golfer? A lot of change. If I'm going to perfect the golf swing, If I'm going to perfect my stance, if I'm going to perfect my contact with the ball or whatever, it requires change. And you and I must understand that revival, the bonus of it is that God changes us. But not against our will. God's not going to force you to change, but some of you. God has attitude changes he wants. in your life. You have to be willing for Him to change that. Some of you, He has habit changes that He wants you to make. He wants to perfect your life by getting you to change your habits. Some of you, God wants to perfect your life by getting you to change your friends. Because the wrong friends bring you down. Some of you, God has this change in mind, he wants you to change places you go and don't go. Some of you, he wants you to change your priorities. And make spiritual things more important than. Temporal things. But he won't force it. The bonus of revival is that God makes changes in your life and all the changes he makes, all that perfecting makes you better, not worse. I don't know how many times we listen to Eve. As she reasons in her head. Oh. So God is keeping something good back from me. Why can't I have that fruit? Do you think that the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, is a God who is keeping good things from you to make you miserable and unhappy? Do you think the God who commended this love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, is the God who is up in heaven saying, I'm not going to ever let them have a good time? I'm always going to make them unhappy. Is that the God we serve? No, God wants to perfect us. He wants to make our lives better. And the bonus of revival is that after we have settled all those background issues of the Word of God in our prayer lives and our singing and our music and our praise and our adoration of God and our worship, and we get through the battle of pride and we get through the battle of troubles, God's going to use all of that. To make us better. The eyes of the Lord. Run to and fro. Throughout the whole Earth. To show himself strong. On the behalf of them. Whose heart is perfect toward him. No, God's looking for. He's not looking for someone to be strong for him. He's looking for someone to be weak so he can be strong. That's what Paul said, when I am weak. Then. Am I strong? My strength. Is pretty puny. I used to be able to take a bathroom scale. I grew up on a dairy farm and I had a pretty good grip. I could take those old-fashioned bathroom scales and just press out 205 and hold it. And I mean, I could hold it for quite a while. Then I got to be 50-something, and my daughter marries a guy who is about this wide, and he holds every weightlifting record every high school weightlifting record in the state of Indiana. To this day, he still holds them and he's 36 years old. That means 18 years of other weightlifting seniors have not surpassed him. He bench pressed 405 in high school. He leg lifted over 800 pounds. Now I feel like a weakling. 205, yeah, yeah. There is a funny story, but I don't have time to tell it, but it just. You're going to ask me after church, so what's the funny story? So I'll tell you now. When he was first courting my wife, they went to a family gathering or something and. And there was a guy there, my daughter. It's late, folks, I just turned 66. I do that to see if you're listening. My daughter and her boyfriend went to a part of a friend's house, it was some cookout or something, and they walked in and my daughter looked across the room and there's a guy that she had dated years before. And so she told her boyfriend this. The Hulk. And so he went over to the guy. And he said, I just want you to know I'm with her now. Just keep that in mind, turned around, walked away. Well, a little while later, my son in law now, not then, he wasn't yet, looked over and saw this guy and he could tell that he was kind of backing my daughter into the corner a little bit on some things. And he went over there and he just he just grabbed him in one hand and put him right up on the wall and held him there. legs dangling. Had a few words with him, let him down gently, and the guy left my daughter alone. But you know what? I say all that to say this, I don't care how many weights you can lift and neither does God. God instructs us in the Bible, Pastor Ruck, on something that has bugged me for years. Because we we kind of back away from things in the Bible because we don't want to be identified with the wrong people. And this matter of lifting up holy hands. It's in the New Testament. It's in First Timothy, chapter two, one of the pastoral epistles. I'm like, OK. What is this all about? Why does God say I will that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. How does God say that? Well, first of all, it's not so we can stand in church and sway like wheat in a Kansas breeze so that people will know how holy we are. No, he says, I will that men pray everywhere lifting. You know what? When we're praying, most of the time our eyes are closed. It's not for show, people. The lifting up of holy hands is not for show. I'm going to tell you what it's for. It's for us to realize how helpless we are. Because that's as high. As I can reach. Beyond that, I'm helpless. I can't reach any higher than that. But God can reach me. And it is a demonstration of our utter, absolute dependence on God. And that's where we are tonight. I will tell you this, God wants to make your life better than you ever dreamed it could be. He wants that. He won't force it. There needs to be some background in your life. Background of worship. Background of the Word. Background in prayer. Background in seeking God. Background in actually wanting God in your life for more than just the free salvation that you get out of Him. You have to work through the battle of pride and the battle of problems. and walk into the perfecting process of God. Let's stand tonight. Our heads bowed. Our eyes closed.