Lord, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart this day to your service and to your glory. Show us great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty, but accomplish that purpose for which you are sending it out and for which you have gathered us together. Protect us from Satan who will snatch your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Protect us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests which enter in and choke your word, making it fruitless. Rather give us good soil, O Lord. Plow now the hard ground of our hearts, that your sown word would send roots downward, and then bear fruit upwards. Unsheathe now the sword of your Spirit, O Lord. cut to the dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intention of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you thy words were found and I did eat them and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart for I am called by thy name O LORD God of hosts O LORD we live in a dark and a wicked age Broad is the way and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and then go away and then promptly forget. But make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your written word. O Lord, because of our fealty to you, Because of our undying love and devotion to you, your Son, our resurrected Savior, we pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word, and we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay, Dr. Arnold. We'll be able to do some serious Bible study. This is good. Now the first thing we ask ourselves about supplication. What do people want to know? when it comes to how we can get God to get up off his throne and go to work for us. That's what we always want to know. You do a prayer workshop, oh, praise, yeah, yeah, Thanksgiving, yeah, yeah, confession, well, that's helpful, intercession, yeah, yeah, but supplication. How do we get God to go to work on our behalf? And people don't realize how selfish they are when they think about supplication. So the question is, will God do our will if we pray? And the short answer is no. We pray that we might do His will. We come before Him to do His will, not to get Him to do our will. You don't go to your ophthalmology class with questions about how the professor can take your test, how the professor can perform your experiments, how the professor can do your work, how the professor can give you things, just give you a good grade even though you haven't studied it. No, you come with questions to the professor concerning how you can be a better physician, what he expects of you, what he wants you to study, what he wants you to be prepared for with the exam. And that is the same with our Heavenly Father. If that's true for an earthly professor, how much more true for the God of the universe? So how do we pray? Well, first, in Matthew 6 times, Jesus teaches, pray then in this way, our Father who is in heaven. So the first thing we do is we are praying to God the Father. We are praying in the name of God the Son. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1st Timothy 2.5. So we're going to God the Father in the name of God the Son. And we're doing this by the guidance of God the Holy Spirit who has given us his word. 2 Peter 1.21, For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. We have the word of God as a result of the direct inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 3.16 All scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God might be adequate and equipped for every good work. So the Word of God is what we need, and so that the Word of God then guides us in our prayers. Now, there are three levels of this. Question number one, does God hear prayers? Well, we can contrast this with, does God receive prayers? Well, we can contrast this with, does God answer prayers? So first, does God hear prayers? Well, God hears and sees all men, their actions, their thoughts, and their words. In Genesis 6-5, the word of God is very clear. Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart were evil continually. God could not only hear and see what was going on, He knew what was going on in their hearts. Dr. Arnold, turn with me to Psalm 33, 13 please. I noticed that I left the house in a hurry and left my Bible home. Oh, that's alright. I'll just preach to you. Sorry about that. No, no, no. That happens. That's no problem. You take notes. I'll talk. Every once in a while I'll get you to read a verse off the screen. Can you see the screen okay? Okay, now, Jesus 6.5, Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, in Psalm 33.13, we see this repeated. Psalm 33, 13, The Lord looks from heaven, he sees all of the sons of men. From his dwelling place he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. He who fashions the hearts of them all, he who understands all their works, So God sees and God knows all that man says, all that he does, even his thoughts. So of course God hears everything. But simply because God hears people who are praying, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, that doesn't mean God is receiving their prayers. God only receives the prayers of Christians. Acts 4.12 For there is no other name given among men under heaven by which we may be saved. Acts 4.12 Jesus alone gives us access to salvation, John 14, 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. Now, people can pray all they want, but there is prayer, and then there is prayer that God receives. He only receives those prayers given out by Christians in the name of Jesus. 1 Timothy 2.5. There is one God and one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. So in that sense we are all equal in our access to God the Father through Jesus. the so-called bishop who is going to be a mediator between God and you and give you a gift The so-called man of God who is going to tell you God's will and you need to do it because he is God's man on earth, his representative, his mediator. The Roman Catholic priest who is going to hear your confession, give you absolution, and provide you with acts of contrition. All of those are man's imaginations and have nothing to do with reality. The reality is that Christ is the sole mediator between God and man. God only answers in the affirmative those prayers which correspond with his will. Now, in 1 John 5, 14 and 15, this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him. John 15-7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. Now, this is what people hear. We know we have the request. We have asked for Him. It will be done for you. But that's not all Jesus said. If you say to your child, if you clean up your room, then you can have a piece of candy. Your child can't come to you and say, you said I could have a piece of candy. Well, it's true you said that, but that's not all you said, is it? And that's true in our relationship with God. People pick and choose verses on prayer which say the things they want to be true rather than studying all of the verses in prayer so as to understand what is true about prayer. And we, God, answers the affirmative to those prayers which correspond with His will. and God's Word is His will. So we have the most confidence when we are praying over the will of God. Now a lot of people they have a whole list of promises. Now whether those promises God is going to bless them with or not, I don't know. When I say we're praying over the will of God, I'm not talking about the promises, I'm talking about the commands. The command was, clean up your room. The promise was, if you do keep clean it up, you can have a piece of candy. and you find your son having memorized, you can have a piece of candy, and walking around and constantly repeating that to you. I want my candy. You said I could have candy. I want my candy. Praise daddy, I want my candy. No, what you want him to do is clean up his room. And when we talk about praying over the word of God, we're not talking about throwing into God's face his promises, but rather asking God to enable us to conform to his commands that we might experience his promises. Matthew 6.33, Seek first His kingdom, His righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. You promised Jesus all these things. I can have all these things. We know that we have the request. It will be done for me. I claim these promises. No, you can't cut and paste the words of God the Holy Spirit when it comes to prayer. You have to accept the entire counsel of God, the entire teaching of God on this area. Now, my children, when they were growing up, heard me say many things. Let's go out in the backyard and play ball. Would you like some dessert? What would you like for your Christmas present? Here's your birthday cake. Here's your birthday present. They heard many things like that from my lips. But they also heard, I will obey mommy quickly the first time. Repeat that to me. They also heard, put your hands on your cheeks and lie on your bed. You were disrespectful. They also heard, eat all of your greens. They also heard, do your homework, clean up your room. And they don't just get to pick the commands and choose to, they do not just simply get to forget the commands and choose the blessing. They come hand in hand. They cannot just cut and paste the things I've said that they like and then say, now you have to do all these things again this year. This is the only thing I'm going to do. Get birthday presents, get Christmas presents, eat cake, play in the backyard, go for walks with daddy. That's all. No, because there are commands also that I have for them. And most Christians are very eager to pray over the promises of God without praying over the commands of God. What we do is we have the commands of God in our prayer notebook and let the promises take care of themselves. You see, God only answers in the affirmative those prayers which correspond with His will. Now in 1st John 5, 14 and 15, this is the confidence which we have before Him. That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know we have the request which we have asked for Him. So notice this phrase, it says, according to His will. Then we know that we have the request. If you abide in my word and me and my words abide in you, then ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. But what we want to do is we want to take hold of this. Anything. We have the request. It will be done for us. but what God wants us to do is obey Him and leave the blessing to Him. Now many people will say to me, and this is not uncommon, why pray if God is only going to do His will? he's going to do Israel. Since he's going to do that anyways, why bother praying? Well, Hebrews 4.16 says, therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. If prayer is only about giving, then there's no reason to pray if God is just going to do His will anyways, if that's all it is. However, if prayer is spending time with God, then there are many reasons to pray besides giving, which we leave in His hands. If praise and thanksgiving were the only prayers allowed by God, would you still pray? No, God doesn't have to hear our confessions. He doesn't have to hear our supplications. He doesn't have to hear our intercessions. What if when Moses was on Sinai, he said, this is prayer. Thank me, praise me. That's it. Many people go through the motions of praising and thanking and confessing so that they can qualify for getting. They're going to witness, they're going to be active in church, they're going to do Bible study, they're going to praise, thanksgiving, and confessing. Now let's get down to the reason we're doing all this, and that's the getting. But that's not how prayer works. Prayer is spending time with God. Think of this exchange. The father says, would you like to spend the day with me running errands? You say to your son when he's a little older, would you like to go into the hospital today and watch me? Would you like to see what I do? The child says, Will you do whatever I ask you to do while we are running these errands? What would you say? No. Then the child says, well, then no, I don't want to spend time with you. Why would I want to spend time with you if you are not going to do whatever I ask you to do? That would be a selfish child. In fact, if Eleanor Overhood heard me say to the children, would you like to go into town with me, and them say no, she would come and spank them. She would say, don't be disrespectful to your father. Do you realize how few fathers there are? who will take their children out when they run errands. That's a blessing. Now go give daddy a hug and a kiss and tell him, yes, I want to go with you. The father says to his child, would you like to go in the backyard and play ball? The child says to the father, will you give me a Mercedes? The father says, no. And child says, no, then I don't want to go play with you. In fact, I'm not even sure you're my father. Because if you were, you would give me the Mercedes. In fact, I'm not even sure you're a good person. In fact, I'm not even sure you exist. Now that would be nonsensical, wouldn't it? But how many times have I heard a Christian say, I prayed and prayed and prayed and God didn't answer. I was wondering if I'm even a Christian. And you know, I wonder if God is even a loving God. I wonder if God even exists. All because God did not do what they told him to do. The issue is not, will God do what we tell him to do? The issue is always, will we do what God tells us to do? Well, I have Matthew 6.33 in my prayer notebook, but I don't throw, all these things will be added unto you in God's face. Rather, I pray, Lord, help me to seek your kingdom and your righteousness, and I stop there. You tell your son, when I come home from work, if your room is clean, you can have, we'll go out and get some ice cream. You come home from work and your son's ready to go and get ice cream. You say, well, we're not going to be able to go get ice cream today. He begins shouting at you, I claim your promise of ice cream. You said we could have ice cream. Are you even a good God? If you're a good God, you have to do what you said. Well, after you receive your spanking for being rude and dishonoring to your father, he will explain to you that grandmama fell and broke her hip. She's in the hospital, and that we all have to go pray and minister to Grandmama in the hospital. Well, people ask things from God, and they claim these promises from God, not knowing the implications. Jesus said to the disciples, do you have any idea what you're asking to be on my right and my left? Do you realize what you're saying? First place, if you're talking about in heaven, where is God the Father sitting? How about Moses and the prophets? Secondly, if you're talking about here on earth, which thief do you want to replace on the cross? So no, we present our requests to God, but we trust His sovereignty. And the requests which we have confidence in are those that are God's will for our life, not God's promises. The first verse I ever put in my prayer notebook is Psalm 119, 125. I am thy servant. Give me understanding that I might know thy testimonies. And that's God's will. Since then, I've collected over 50 commands concerning knowing the word of God that I work my way through every month. See, are we consistent when weighing our prayers against God's will? And you know, when we say our prayers, will God answer my prayers, what we're really saying, will God do my will, aren't we? That's what we're really saying. It's my will that this happens. Will God do my will? our blessed Savior in Luke 22 42 saying father if you are willing remove this cup from me yet not my will but yours be done and that is always the prayer that God will answer the in the affirmative don't do my will God do yours What if Jesus had said, well, if God's not going to remove this cup from me, why do I even bother submitting to God? I'll just take Satan up on his offer. Where would we be? We would all be going to hell. We say we want to do God's will. We say we want to walk with God. We say we want to make Jesus Lord, but then we become bitter when God does not answer our prayers. There are two prayers that if unanswered will cause you to be bitter, then you will end your Christian life in bitterness. And these two prayers are, yours or someone else's life, yours or someone else's suffering. If you are praying for someone not to die, and if they die anyway, if that is going to make you bitter, your wife, your child, your pastor, your mother, your father, then you are going to be a bitter Christian because they will all die. Every single person in your every single relationship, every single person on the face of the earth is going to die. And if Satan can get you to the point where if someone is dying and you pray they don't die and they die anyway, that you are going to be angry and bitter at God, then you are going to be a bitter Christian because it's going to happen. Hebrews 9.27, and is as much as it is appointed for a man to die once. and after that comes judgment. We all have an appointment with death, this body. Job 14.5, Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, his limits you have set, so that he cannot pass. We have an appointment with destiny, the eternal fate and destiny of our souls. and it is set in concrete. And so does everyone we know, and nothing can thwart that. No amount of prayer can stop that. Now we all die by organ failure, don't we? That's trauma, disease, or wear and tear. It's trauma. We're in a car accident. Our aorta is cut and we bleed to death. Disease. We have arterial sclerosis. We have the hardening of the arteries. We have plaque buildup. Then all of a sudden, it is a hundred percent blockage on one of the major arteries. We have a heart attack and we die. or it's wear and tear. When I took a science course at the university, it wasn't a medical science, but it was a biology course. Part of it was the study of the human body. I remember the professor gave us how many times the heart beats every minute, and then he extrapolated that out over 70 years. It was a phenomenal number. And then he said, is it any wonder that that heart finally fails? And that's true, it will. And our lungs, how many breaths do we take in? Our kidneys, how many hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of gallons of fluid do they purge and expel? over a lifetime. I'm sure thousands of gallons. Our liver purifying all sorts of impurities that we take. You know the list goes on and sooner or later those one or more of those organs will fail and we go to heaven. That's the objective. When my mother had pancreatic cancer, these women in her Sunday school class would come up, we're praying, we're praying for you, Jessica, we're praying for you. And they meant healing. She would say, oh, please do pray for me. I will either get well, or I will get better. What does she mean? God will heal her and she will be sentenced to live another year in this fallen world or God will lift that sentence and she will have her entrance into heaven, which is the objective. But we live in an era of upside down Christianity. where by faith you stay out of heaven because God heals these organ failures and those who don't have faith to heal their organ failures go to heaven that's upside down it is by faith that we go to heaven and Dr. Arnold you'll be fighting an uphill battle with this because we are inundated by this false teaching and the airwaves, Christian music, other people. So it would be very important that you cover this aspect of supplication with your wife to protect her from bitterness. Because Satan will whisper in her ear just like he did Eve. Hasn't God said He will heal us. Hasn't God said He bore our infirmities? And now look, your mommy, your child, your husband, your best friend is dying. And you have to prepare her to be able to say, I rebuke you, Satan. I praise God. I will miss them. But I praise God they're going to heaven. And we don't worry about talking about death as if by talking about death we're going to die. How are we going to teach the Bible if we don't talk about death? How are we going to teach Hebrews 9? How are we going to teach 1 Corinthians 15 and 16? How are we going to teach about Lazarus? How are we going to teach John the Baptist's martyrdom? James's martyrdom? Stephen's martyrdom? if we hold to this silly superstition that if we talk about death, we'll die. No! God has freed us from the fear of death, Hebrews 2 teaches us. Hebrews chapter 2. You're making me work, Dr. Arnold. That's good. There's no rest for the righteous, right? Hebrews 2, verse 14, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who is the power of death, that is, the devil. How are you going to teach that passage if you can't talk about death? and might free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery." No, we can say death. We're not afraid of saying that word. And we embrace it because by dying we lay aside this body of flesh and enter into our blessed reward. So it would be important that you teach these truths to your wife and your children. Otherwise, Satan, as he deceived Eve, will deceive them. and they will become bitter. It's very important. If yours or someone else's life comes to an end, if that is going to make you bitter, you are going to be bitter. Many people have children who pre-deceased them. We need to prepare ourselves for that. We don't know the number of months that have been determined for our children. Now, when they die, we will weep. Jesus wept. That's not a sin. But we don't despair. We can grieve the separation, but it doesn't lead to bitterness. Number two is suffering. If you believe by faith you are not going to suffer, that would be in the area of health, in the area of wealth, in the area of freedom, in the area of happiness. If you believe that by faith you will lead a healthy, wealthy, free, happy existence, and that if you don't, that something is wrong with God, or and you believe that for your friends and your neighbors and your loved ones then you are going to get bitter because Philippians 3.10 says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection haven't you ever heard people say I want to be experience resurrection power have you ever heard that yeah and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. What about those two? No, when we sign up for the Christian life, we sign up for the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. That's why when we do our Thanksgiving section, we have that section on all the things that Christ suffered and was humiliated for. We thank Him for that. and then we anticipate those same things in our own life. 2 Timothy 3.12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That's a fact. So, if in yours or someone else's life you experience suffering, you experience an incurable disease, you experience the loss of all your wealth, You experience imprisonment. You experience periods of unhappiness and grief. If when God brings those things into your life, you are going to become bitter, then you are going to be bitter. And Dr. Arnold, you need to prepare your wife for this. You need to prepare your disciples for this. In Job 1, And this, this is in my pro notebook. I think I've, I've located an online Bible. So if you want me to read it. Oh, that's all right. I'm on a roll. Yeah. Okay. Read Job chapter two. Job chapter one. Verse 21 and 22. Job chapter 1, verse 31 and 22 reads, and said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised. Yes, are we prepared for that? Now stay in Job and go over to Job chapter 13 verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Job, chapter 13, verse 15. Now that phrase is in my prayer notebook. See, if we are conformed to the sufferings of Christ in Philippians 2, it says, He was obedient unto death. And we rejoice that He did that. What did God say to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12? Nine, when Paul kept saying, take this suffering from me. It's like a thorn in my flesh. It never leaves me. Day and night, night and day, it's there. It's relentless. Give me relief, Lord. and God said my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected and weakness and Paul said therefore I am content with my thorn with this constant pain people say well my thorn in the flesh is a rude businessman that I have to do business with. No, no. A thorn in the flesh is a source of physical pain and it is constant. It's a constant throbbing. And Paul embraced that when God did not take it away. If we are unwilling to accept the deaths, physical deaths of all people and the suffering of all Christians then we are going to end our Christian lives bitter. Because we are going to take the request before God, may this person not die, or may I not die, or may this person cease in their suffering, heal them, deliver them from prison, and God doesn't do it. we're going to be bitter because that is God's will for the Christians. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So if you're not experiencing it now, it's coming down the train track towards you. It's rumbling down the road. this long dusty road but it's cut it's the missile has been fired it is a heat-seeking missile and it is looking for you and it will find you so the question is not will we suffer the question is how will we behave when we suffer the question is not will we die the question is how will we behave when we die The Anglican priest challenged John Wesley on how poor the Methodist ministers were. And he said, this doctrine of grace has not done well for them. And Wesley replied, my ministers die well. And that's what we want, is not to panic. Not that we are blessed in this life, but when we enter glory, that we die well. Well, that's something we have to help our children with. It's something we have to help those with whom we minister to. There's this teaching in Nigeria that godly people, of course they have to die sometime, but they will die peacefully in their sleep. I asked the woman who challenged me on this, my teaching that I'm giving you right now in one of the student meetings, and I said, okay, let's think about that. John the Baptist, Jesus proclaimed him the greatest prophet ever to live. Did he die peacefully in his sleep? No. Stephen, the great martyr, did he die peacefully in his sleep? No. James, he wrote a book of the Bible. Did he die peacefully in his sleep? No. In fact, according to Revelation, there is a special area of heaven reserved for the martyrs, none of whom died peacefully in their sleep. So, we do not make up doctrines to suit our desires, but rather submit to the holy, eternal, inerrant written Word of God. The prayers concerning God's will, those prayers concern us doing His will, not Him doing our will. May God add His blessing to His holy Word. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.