things. We pray for your will to be done in the services this morning and ask for your help right now in Jesus' name, amen. Well, the interesting thing and the reason I stood up here and just started praying is that we got married almost 37 years ago next month and I've got to tell somebody we're starting, so. I rewrote that song to sinners saved by grace, and it was sang by her sister at our wedding. I don't know that you know that, right? Have I ever mentioned that? Oh, I have. Not to this crowd. What? Not to this crowd. Oh, not to this crowd. Right. Okay. Anyway, so I'm back there listening to it, and I'm just listening to it, and I got my eyes closed some, and then it goes, and I looked up and looked at her, and she goes like this, two sinners saved by grace. And that was our song at our wedding, because that's what we were. Then I had another friend of mine who, my mom wasn't saved, and he knew German fluently. And he sang a song, and then he sang it in German for her as a witness. So, just flashing memories coming right now. I'm going to cry, but you'll be all right if you see me sobbing. It really did move me. So, thankfully, I don't have this heart that's just stone yet. And you might mention, I did not look at the title of the message when I picked that song out. Okay. That's unique in and of itself. Yes. Turn to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18 talks about prayer and I think, unfortunately, we don't avail ourselves of prayer like we should. Prayer changes things. And, you know, I know if you are one of these, what will be, will be type people, you don't think prayer matters. I'm not one of those people. I've seen prayer change. I had a, well, I wake up sometimes jumping out of the bed, kicking, screaming. I don't know, it's becoming more prevalent. And so the other night, I just prayed a little differently and really, you know, asked God, you know, not to let that happen. And it didn't. And so it didn't happen last night. So I'm two nights in a row. But it just happens. You need to pray for Judy, really. So what I'm asking you to do is pray for her because she's within swinging. One time I knocked the lamp off the, off of the, but I mean, it's real. I mean, it's real to me. I feel like I got my eyes open and there's somebody attacking us. And it's pretty surreal, I've got to tell you. But two nights in a row after the prayer, two nights ago, you say, well, didn't you pray before? Yeah, I think I did, I suppose. But it was specific and it was right before bed and so on. So anyway, I'd appreciate your prayers on that. But prayer changes things. If I didn't believe that, man, what type of person would we be? God wants you to pray for Him, but He's got it all settled what's going to happen. So how does your... It just doesn't, you know, it just doesn't mesh. Now, watch what we're going to read here in Luke 18, verse 1. And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. But here comes the parable, saying... Now, that's not part of the parable. Men ought always to pray and not think. That's not... The parable starts in verse 2. Saying, the Bible says. In other words, it's a fact in verse 1. It's a parable in verse 2. There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And by the way, they should never be judges. Lost people should not be judges. You know what the problem is? We're training people to be lawyers and judges without salvation. And without salvation, you have no wisdom. You've got worldly wisdom, but without God... I was in a meeting with Judge Maney. Friday night, maybe? On Friday night, and he was getting an award, 1% of the Eagle Scouts in the world, there's 2 million Eagle Scouts, and 2,000 of them have ever gotten this award, he's one of them. Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. And he talks about God, and we have a very close relationship, and he talks about God and just, you know, I just couldn't believe the things that he'd accomplished in his life and how God had used him. He got blown up in Afghanistan as a general. He got blown up and spent 18 months at Walter Reed Hospital with a broken, you know, 32 teeth cracked, etc., etc. But I mean, the guy, when you heard the people talk about him and you heard what he'd accomplished in his life, I'm just looking at it going, man, that's amazing. But he talks about God. He was a judge until they retired him at 70 years old. That's the judge you need. That's the judge who's now a state legislature representative, one of the best, got more bills passed than anybody in the legislature this year. An amazing man, but that's the judge we're talking about, a godly judge that puts God first. Very important. Verse 2, saying, There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. Verse 3, And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenger, lest by her continual coming she weary me." So ladies, it's okay to be a pain to get what you want as long as it's of God. Men, it's okay to be a pain, just don't be a pain with me. Just kidding. Verse 6, and the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? You know, sometimes we think, well, I should be able to pray and then God answer my prayer like that. Do you know, it talks in the book of Daniel about the 21 days delay that Satan, the prince of Persia, hindered the answer to prayer. He said, Daniel, we heard your prayer 21 days ago. but he had to fight through to get down here to bring the prayer to fruition. So what I'm saying is there's a spiritual battle going on all the time, and we just don't understand it. We have no clue. When you look at the young man that was with, I think, Elijah or Elisha, and he said, well, there's more that be with us than be with them. It was only the two of them. And then he said, Lord, open up his eyes that he may see, and there was chariots of fire everywhere. I can't imagine the sight that he saw, but it's a real story. What really happened, he saw the spiritual battle that's going on. It would scare us to death, I've just got to be honest with you. It would just petrify us. But what's the point here? The point is, don't pray and quit. Sometimes you pray, well, God doesn't answer my prayer. He answers every prayer. I've told you that over and over again. How does He answer prayer? Well, the answer to prayer is always peace. It says, "...let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." When God answers prayer, He gives you peace. So you say, well, I want something. And then He gives you peace about not wanting something that you don't need, that He doesn't want you to have. You're actually getting peace, but we don't recognize it because we're saying, well, we're praying for a specific thing, whether it's healing or direction, whatever it may be, we're praying for things and outcomes and we're not praying, let thy will be done like we should. So we sort of miss the answer. But if in every prayer you say, Lord, not my will but Thine be done, and you want God's will done, you'll find out that your prayers are answered every time because you're praying them within the will of God. The Bible even says the Spirit maketh intercession for us, because we don't always understand how we need to pray. But if we'll pray the right way, and then God will give you peace about a matter, I mean, there is no greater thing in this earth than to have peace. Think about it. You talk about relationships. What's one of the most destructive features in a relationship is not having peace in the home. What is it in friendships? What is it in employer-employer relationships? It's not having peace. It's always, you know, you're going into work, you're like, oh my gosh, I gotta go into work today, and it's always all this turmoil, and it's like you can cut the air with scissors, and it's just so terrible. Listen, the peace is fantastic. That's what prayer is all about. Prayers about getting the peace of God in your life, which passeth all understanding. Here is this judge, he says, I don't fear God. I don't fear man. I don't care about anything but myself. But because of the importunity of this widow, I'm going to answer her prayer to make her go away. And then God just makes the point. He says, look, he says, you know, the Lord wants to hear us from us. And he says, shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? He doesn't want to spoil you. If God answered the prayer the way that you wanted it answered every time you prayed, we'd have the easy life. We would get spoiled, rotten. We would. We would be useless. I'm telling you that the way that God does it is the best way. He doesn't just say yes. You know, Jesus is praying. He says, Lord, if it be Thy will, take this cup from me. How many times did He pray? Three times. Three times he prayed, he prayed, he prayed. He came back thrice, the third time, and they were asleep. And the first time he came back, he was very agitated, you could tell. The third time he came back, he said, sleep on, they're here, they're here, they're going to betray me. What did he get? He got peace. How many times did Paul pray? Let me just do this. How many times did Paul pray? Three times. I think it's in 2 Corinthians 12, he prayed three times, and then, well, let's look at it, because this is so appropriate for what we're looking at. I think we need to read it. In 2 Corinthians 12, in verse 6, For though I would desire the glory, I shall not be a fool. Verse 7, And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. Paul was given an abundance of revelation and God didn't want him to be exalted above measure where he couldn't take it and he had fallen to the condemnation of the devil, which is pride. He said, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. So why do some things happen in your life? Keep you humble. That's what it says right there. Do you realize as blessed as we are and knowing that we have a relationship with God, knowing that He saved us, knowing our future, knowing how much He loves us, do you realize if you really knew how much He loved you, you'd probably be full of pride? He loves me that much? And so what He does is He, and I'm being facetious to some degree, but He gives us things to keep our feet planted on the ground. He allows things to come in our life to keep us focused on the fact that He is God. Look at verse 8. For this thing, this thorn in the flesh, Paul says, I besought the Lord thrice, thrice is the three times, that it might depart from me. And He, that is God, said unto me, to Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul concludes, Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong." You remember Gideon? The thousand, what, 32,000? He gets it all the way down to 300. Now he says, alright, now you can go win the battle. If he won the battle with 32,000, he would look at it and say, look at what I did! Look at it with my great army! No, God says, we're going to take it down to 10,000. Still too many. Still too many. We're going to take it down to 300. Who could, with that big group, and not having a plan, and then God gives them the plan, and He works out the plan, and it works, how does He take glory in that? He can't take glory. He knows God did it. You know what God has to do in our lives? Sometimes He has to allow things to come. So we'll focus on Him. Do you realize how much more you would pray if you had a problem in your life that you thought really needed God to intervene on? By the way, you know you ought to not have to think that way. You ought to pray, I ought to pray, we ought to pray in such a way that it doesn't take a calamity in our life for God to get our attention, for the devil to get our attention, or the devil to get a foothold. What we've got to do is we've got to say, you know what? I need to pray because I need to pray. I need to pray because God wants to hear from me. I don't need to be like this widow woman that's just badgering and badgering. No, just pray. But in essence, That's what we're doing. You pray every day, and you pray all the time. You pray without ceasing, the Bible says. When do you cease praying? You cease praying when God gives you the peace in the answer to the prayer. That's when you cease, but you don't cease until you get the peace. That probably needs to be the title, Don't Cease Until You Get the Peace. No. Paul said there was a thorn in the flesh. He prayed three times. And then he said, man, I'm much better in weakness that God can be strong through me. Jesus prayed three times and he came back and he saw the apostles asleep and he was agitated by it. And he says, what, could you not watch for one hour? I could just sense the agitation. You say, that's God. Yes, that's God the Son who's going to be separated from God the Father, because when He takes our sin upon Him, He becomes sin for us who knew no sin. When He takes our sin upon Him, there's that separation. He didn't want to go through that. He said, if it be possible, as much as lieth in thee, take this cup from me, but not my will, but thine be done. And He's praying to the Father, and then He prays one time and He comes back, and He prays a second time and He comes back, and there's sleep again. He prays a third time and comes back, there's sleep again, but you can see His demeanor's changed. He's got peace. You know what Paul got? He got peace. You know what you can get? You can get peace. Prayer changes things, but prayer can give you a peace that passeth all understanding. There's nothing like it in this earth. If you'll hold your place here and look at Luke 11. Luke 11 verse 5. And he said unto them in Luke 11 verse 5, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. And I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, pressing urgency, He will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. That's prayer. You say, well, and listen, all this stuff you see on television about, you know, name it, claim it, and you're gonna demand from God. You don't demand anything from God. You can't look out there and say, well, I just claim that you're not sick with cancer. I just, you know, I make this pronouncement. You can't do that. A person that's got cancer's got cancer until God says they don't have cancer, basically. But your pronouncement doesn't make it so. Your pronouncement doesn't make it that it's so or not so. We need to make sure that when we look at prayer, we understand the need for prayer and the necessity of prayer. Go ahead and look back at Luke 18, verse 8. I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? He's asking, hey, will He find faith on earth? You know what it takes to pray without ceasing? You know what it takes to pray whenever you're in the depths of despair? You know what it takes to pray whenever things just don't seem like it's going to go right or will ever go right? You know what it takes to pray? Perseverance, love, care. Verse 9, And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up unto the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Humble himself. Exaltation. He's praying, I, I, I. You remember when the devil fell, he said, I'll be like the Most High. He says I five times. That's what the devil said when he fell. I, I, I. Now it's okay to say I. Paul writes in one of the greatest verses to me is, I am who I am, and he uses that word I in there a couple of times. Something else I didn't mention, I mentioned John, but I want you to pray for Joanne too. Joanne's got some... Well, we really don't know what it is. Do you remember anything much about it? Just that she's got a racing heart and things like that too, but that's Joanne also. So pray for John and Joanne. They hadn't figured out Joanne's, but they did figure out what's wrong with John. He'll be going to UAB for that. But I meant to mention her also when I was talking about that. Pray for them. Pray for others here in the church. Pray for your family members. I've told you, my dad got saved at 85 years old. Call me up one day and say, I just want to let you know I accepted Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Did your daughter tell you that we listened to your recording when you called me, Bill? Okay, so the other night I still have your voice recording where you called me. And I played it up here for the church on Wednesday night. Just because I was going through, I had too many voicemails and people weren't able to leave them. So I was just going through and I came across one. I look at it and I went and I played it and it was your voicemail telling me that you'd gotten saved that morning at 3.30 in the morning. He got saved at 85 years old. You know what you do? You pray. What? She did tell you, okay. Hey, it's like my wife. I won't tell you the story this morning. She was right, I was wrong. That's all you need to know, right? Well, go on back to verse 11 of Luke 18. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. He prayed thus with himself. You know what 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12 says? Go ahead and turn there. He said, listen, I'm not like this publican here, and I'm not like others. I do this, and I do that, and I give this, and I give that, and I possess this, and he's just beating his own chest. Well, in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12, The Bible says, for we dare not make ourselves of the number, compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves, comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. You know what? If you compare, you can compare yourself with others and you can feel like you're doing pretty good. Compare yourself with Jesus Christ. If you compare yourself with Jesus Christ, You will always come short. You will never be like this Pharisee. Look at me. Look at me. And he's sitting there going before God and he doesn't see the problem in it. You know, that's what religion will do to you. Religion will blind you. If you go like I did, I traveled Europe for a little while after I graduated from college and went to Switzerland and spent a month in Germany and Austria and so on. My grandmother who was raised Catholic, she was with me for one round trip. We were on the Audubon going a little over 100 miles an hour. The guy says, ''Yeah, go ahead.'' He had a Mercedes. ''Go ahead, kick it in, kick it in.'' I'm thinking, Okay, so you know, Audubon. And I'm gonna tell you what, when I slowed down one time, man, there were cars coming past me, beeping at me like, you idiot. You're going 80 miles an hour, get off the road. It's insane over there. But we went into these cathedrals. And she would say in her broken English, she says, oh, so beautiful. And I was just like, They build this cathedral and they say, God's in here. Look. Look. I mean, this is a very simple building. We keep it nice. But God's not in here as in He dwells in here like He did in the temple in the Old Testament. God isn't in here unless you bring Him in here with you because those that are Christians have the indwelling spirit. That's when God comes in. God isn't in here until we come in. And then whenever it empties out, God's not in here, so to speak, anymore. But they look at all this and religion just says, look at the beauty, how this must be God. This must be the blessings of God. And what does it do? It starts to play on their psyche to where they're just proud about this thing. I think my grandmother got saved. I'll tell you the story of her because I think it's important to tell. She, you know the chick tracks are in German also. I went over there and my niece or whatever she was, her mom died, my aunt died in a car wreck. So she was living with my grandmother, taking advantage of her. Well, I was four years military, three years at Penn State, accounting degree. And so I wasn't just, you know, I mean I'd been around a little bit and I was saved. And I went over there and I listened to her banter with my grandmother, and my grandmother was a charming lady. She was husky, she was a German. And anyway, I got fed up, so I talked to my uncles or cousins, whatever, I said, hey, come on, and we wrote down this long thing in German, you know, pronunciation, and I just memorized the whole thing. She came in there one time blowing off at my grandmother, and I said in probably broken German, and it was coming out in German. And you can imagine, I mean, her eyeballs got that big. Well, what it did was it really made my grandmother and I very close from then on. I had protected her and so on. So she was dying and she was visited by the priests. And they said, you know, my grandfather died many years ago. If you just sign the house over to us, we will say mass for you and mass for, your husband. You know, the Bible talks about that, you know, that they steal widows houses and for pretense make long prayer. And so she had a falling out with a priest. That's all I heard was she had a falling out with a priest because she wasn't going to church anyway. And so, uh, but he came to get the house. And so I, so I sent her a bunch of chick tracks. And then I wanted to go over and visit with her because I wanted to talk to her and try to witness to her one more time. And I was trying to set up some friends of mine that were in Germany that were, you know, missionaries, and they would go to the house with me. Well, people in the family got upset. Why would I need to go over there and see her? And so I didn't go, but I sent her those Chick tracts. And one day she tells my mom, oh, I'm okay. I got Jesus in my heart. And in my heart, I believe that came from her getting saved through those Chick tracts. Because you don't just say that. That's a thing that comes from understanding that when you get saved, He moves in. And so she said that, and about two months later, she passed away. So that's the story of my grandmother. But when I'm talking about religion, see, religion, what it does is it just gets in the way. It muddies the water. Here you got this Pharisee. He's praying with himself, the Bible says. What a terrible thing. Revelation 3.17 says, They knowest not that they are wretched and poor and blind. You start thinking that, man, I'm somebody and I've got it made. Listen, you've got to get back down on earth and plant your feet where they need to be. You need to get real with God. and not allow yourself to be deluded because that's what it is. Look at Luke 22. Luke 22. And this is typical with man. Look at verse 25. He said of them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth, is not he that sitteth at meat, but I am among you as he that serveth. Jesus Christ's example to us is someone that serves. I mentioned Representative Maney a little while ago. One of the things that I see about him is he's very humble. He's always asked to move up a seat. He just comes in, he'll sit down at a table and they're like, no, no, no, we want you over here. He's just that way and it's natural. Listening to what all went on in his life and everything, it was like the devil wanted to kill him in Afghanistan by blowing him up. No doubt about it. And this guy, I mean, he cares. He cares about veterans. He's the one that started Veterans Court. They named a street called Maney Way down there in Fort Walton Beach. They've named bills after him. Do you know why somebody like that gets that done? Because they're like Jesus. They serve, they serve, they serve. You know what's hard? It's hard to serve others the way that we should. Because as soon as you start serving, somebody takes advantage of you. And as soon as you start thinking your press releases are right, man, I deserve, I deserve, I deserve, and then you forget to serve. You know what? Service ought to come first. We ought to want to serve, and not to serve to be recognized, but to serve because of love. Like the publican. He beats his chest and he said, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. What a way to look at yourself. Do you look at yourself as a sinner? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Or do you look at yourself as deserving? Well, you know, I trusted Jesus Christ, I gave up so much, and now, you know, I deserve, I deserve. No, serve. Everything about life is service. I told you about Lucifer. That was in Isaiah 14 verses 12 through 16. He says, I, five times, just like this Pharisee, I thank Thee that I am not as other men. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. You know that nothing that you have is your own according to the Bible? So he says, well, look at what I possess. You don't possess anything. God lets you keep 90% of what you have. It's a good way to look at it. So all the tithes, the Old Testament law, it doesn't matter, it's a principle. The principle is, and by the way, if they gave 10% of the blood of bulls and goats, what ought you and I do? Give less? And by the way, you give willingly and you give cheerfully. I just say to people, I say, look, give willingly, give cheerfully, but if you can't give cheerfully, you might as well just sin once. Don't be cheerful when you're giving, but give. Don't sin twice. I'm not cheerful and I don't give. And listen, the Lord takes care of us here. Don't get me wrong, but sometimes you gotta say what you gotta say for whoever needs to hear it. Whatever it is. But he's looking at this thing and look at Matthew 23. Let's look at these Pharisees a little bit deeper before we close today. Matthew chapter 23. He's talking to the Pharisees. Boy, he's a little rough on them. In verse 2, they love to sit in Moses' seat. Verse 4, they love to put heavy burdens on others. He says, verse 5, but all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. Man, I'm glad all I've got to do is wear a suit and tie every now and then. Man, I'd hate it if I had a turned around collar and robes and purple and red and scarlet. Oh, man. I'm more like a gray or a blue or a black suit. And you say, well, they wear black ones too. Yeah, they still turn that collar around. Look at verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise, and come and have omitted the weightier matters of the law." What are the weightier matters of the law he says they need to do? Judgment, mercy, faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Then he goes on, he calls them blind guides. They strain in that, swallow a camel. And listen, it just gets worse. But he said, you neglect, you omit the weightier matters of the law. The things you can't see, the things you can't monetize, you can't put your hand on and calculate. You know what's important? In the New Testament, what he tells us? Charity. Charity never faileth. We need to have charity in our lives. and try to help other people in ways that it isn't for self-acclaim. One more verse I want to give you. He says, Be merciful to me, a sinner, back there in Luke chapter 18. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. Look at chapter 16 of Luke. You've got the rich man in hell and Lazarus, he can see him across the great gulf in Abraham's bosom. And he speaks to Abraham across the great gulf, and this is a real story. And in hell he's lifted up his eyes, he's in torment, and you see he learns something, but it's too late. Look at verse 24 of Luke. chapter 16. And he cried, this is the rich man in hell, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. It's too late to have mercy. What I'll tell you is, it's too late once you die. You have a chance in this life to make a decision for Christ. And that's it. You don't have an opportunity. Somebody's planting signs out front there. I don't even know who knew. Anyway, they're putting those vote no on four out there. Look, what makes a difference is understanding who you are and who God is. God is merciful, God is gracious, God is long-suffering. But after death, the mercy is gone, the grace is gone, the long suffering is over. Make sure you know that you know that you know that you're saved. Because if you leave this earth without Christ, you will regret it for eternity. Let's all stand together. All right, let's pray. Lord, we do pray for Your will to be done. We thank You for being such a merciful, wonderful, gracious God. We pray this in Jesus' name. With your head bowed, eyes closed, the music plays.