Hey, I hope you are doing okay and holding up. And anyone tired? Anybody just a little bit tired? Okay, yeah, a few of you. Hey, so who was up, who went to bed by 10 o'clock? Who was in bed by 10 o'clock? Would you raise your hand? There's a few, okay, all right. Yes, sir. How many of you, who was in bed, let's say, by 11? Was anyone in bed by 11? How about, all right, let's change it. Let's change it to you were up till at least 11. Raise your hand if you were up till at least 11. All right, next. Up till at least 12. Up till at least 12, all right. How many of you were up till at least one? Oh boy, two o'clock? Okay, wow, what were you doing? Celebrating your incredible dodge ball win with your team and just, you know, spray around cans of Monster Energy drinks or something? Is that your way of celebrating? Well, great, I hope you enjoyed your celebration. Anyone up till three? Was anyone up till three? What were you doing at three o'clock? Like, what was there to do at three o'clock, you know? Just, yeah, just existing and all that. Okay, yeah, kind of existing. Four? Anyone, you guys weren't up? No. All right, well, what was your name again, I hear? Yeah. You, sir, up till four o'clock. Oh, that's right, Andrew, okay, yeah. All right, so anyone who can see him without being too awkward and obvious, you are allowed to hit him with anything you want. If he falls asleep, he looks like it. Just be careful of the gentleman who's been married 61 years next to him. Otherwise, if you hit the wrong person, something bad's going to happen to you. We might have to ask Reed about changing that rule about throwing people in the lake. Yeah, but Andrew is the one who is in trouble if he falls asleep, all right? Actually, I'm in trouble because I should be the one helping you stay awake, okay? Anyway, all right, so Ezekiel is where we're going. Let's go to the book of Ezekiel. Now, you'll notice, again, if you're one of those people that catches things like, Matt, you pulled off the one for session four. This is session three. I thought yesterday you said that the one that was session three was gonna be session two and two was gonna be three. And what's going on? Relax, okay? I made my own executive decision to change it again. And the reason for that is not because I had no idea what else to do, but because actually this verse we're going to look at is going to address prayer. And so I thought, well, you know, we have a prayer time right after this. And so this was going to kind of be our send off, like this is our last session. So, but since we have an actual set prayer time after this, I think this will be a great thing for us to look at right before we hit the prayer time. Okay. Does anyone have an extra handout. Does anyone have one of those extra ones? Thank you, sir. Just one. I just need one. Just so I can keep track of, make sure I'm doing the blanks up here. All right. All right. Very good. Okay. So let's go ahead. Ezekiel chapter 22 is where we are at. And we will, we'll go ahead and pray and then we'll jump into this thing. Lord, thank you so much for all that you've given us. Thank you for providing. Thank you for blessing. Thank you for being good. Thank you for just the fun we were able to have last night. I pray that you would help us now, that we would carefully hear your word and that we would carefully obey it, and I pray that you would bless. Now, give me the words to say, Lord, and just speak through me that we might be changed in quite a radical way. Lord, if anyone's still in this room who does not know you as Savior, would you convict them, show them their need of a Savior, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. We know, Men are sometimes notorious, or maybe stereotyped, as the ones who only go to the doctor when they absolutely have to, because who wants to pay some guy $189 so that he can tell you, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, take ibuprofen. I was doing that already, and we hate to do that. But sometimes things get serious enough, and we go and see, you go visit a doctor and you find out, You find out news. You know, one of the things, I don't know if you're this way, but if a doctor, if something's wrong with me, okay, and after a while you realize, okay, something is really physically wrong with me. I just want the doctor to give a diagnosis and I get to the point where I don't care. I almost don't care if it's a bad one. I just want to know what's wrong with me. Anyone ever been that way? in that way, maybe your wives are that way, that they get frustrated, you know, something's wrong with their health, and they're just, you know, they just wanna know what's wrong with them. You know, a doctor would not be your friend if all he ever said was just good news to you, and just all he ever told you about was, hey, you're just doing just fine, you're just doing fine, and it would be, you know, a doctor, if he's gonna have any kind of morals, is he's not only gonna tell you the good news, he's gonna definitely tell you the bad news. And so, and can I tell you this? Ezekiel 22, God had some bad news for the nation of Judah. And this is a very sad chapter. Look at chapter 22, verse 1. It says, The word of the Lord came unto me, me is Ezekiel, saying, now thou son of man. Son of man there, by the way, is not referring to Jesus, it's referring again to Ezekiel. So God says, Ezekiel, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? Wow. What a name for his city. And he says, yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations. So let me catch you up a little bit on history, where we're at. Now, I'm a guy, I love history. Every day I live, I find out I know less and less about history. Where's, oh my goodness, where's Waffle House, man? Where'd he go? He's hiding, I can't see him. There he is, thank you for pointing out. Yes, we learned some history about Waffle House at the table. Waffle House and atomic bombs. It may not be what you think, but anyway, with that, I love to learn about history, I really do, and that's my kind of thing. I'm not as much into, you know, some of you are good at math, and that is not me. I am of the firm conviction that math was one of those things created by hurting people to hurt people, and so I just don't do that. I mean, someone's got to get rockets to Mars, so we need you. But not me, but I love history. And so let me just kind of pull you in with a little bit of history. So where we're at in Ezekiel, so the nation of Israel, they had, after the reign of Solomon, the nation of Israel goes through a civil war. And it gets split between the north and the south. However, at the end of the war, the nation stayed split. And the northern kingdom keeps the name of Israel. Southern kingdom takes on the name of Judah. Northern kingdom really, honestly, just goes straight into apostasy and just never looks back. and it's not too long before the Assyrian Empire overruns the northern kingdom of Israel. The southern kingdom of Judah had times of good godly kings, certainly none of them were perfect, but they had times of godly kings, even had times of revival under kings like Hezekiah and definitely under King Josiah, some incredible revivals that took place in the nation of Judah. It was after, I believe it was right after, yes, it was after Josiah that honestly, the nation of Judah took a major downhill turn and went crashing down and never recovered from it. Because after King Josiah was King Jehoiakim. King Jehoiakim was a very ungodly man and it was during his reign that Nebuchadnezzar was, it was the first time Nebuchadnezzar, the emperor of Babylon, comes and invades the nation of Judah. By the way, did you know Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah not once, but three times? Three times he came into Judah. The first time, taking some captives back and he deposes Jehoiakim. Onto the throne then comes Jehoiakim's son Jehoiakim. Dad didn't have a whole lot of, you know... originality with his name. So let's change the last two letters. And Jehoiakim comes on. He's only reigning for about three months. And then Nebuchadnezzar does his second attack, and Jehoiakim is deposed. At this point, Nebuchadnezzar, honestly, he's the one who chooses a man by the name of Zedekiah to sit on the throne. And though Zedekiah is sometimes considered to be the last king of Judah, he was nothing more than a puppet ruler. And he really was controlled, and the strings were pulled by the Babylonian Empire. Though Zedekiah was technically on the throne for about 11 years. After 11 years, Zedekiah leads a rebellion, says, we're done with this, you know, Avalonian reign, we're gonna kick that guy out of here. And Nebuchadnezzar came back for a third time. And it was on that third time that Nebuchadnezzar wasted the land. It was then that he destroyed the palace, he destroyed the temple, he knocked down the walls of Jerusalem, burned the gates with fire, and King Zedekiah was deposed as well. And Jehoiakim, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah, all three of these men, I mean, they cared nothing about leading the people back to God. They were ungodly themselves, cared nothing for God, and were just as anti-God as they could be. And when we come into this book in Ezekiel, if I'm not mistaken, Ezekiel was taken captive, I think it was during either the first or the second attack of Nebuchadnezzar, that Ezekiel is taken as one of the captives. And it's several years into the reign of Zedekiah when we have this portion written. in Ezekiel chapter 22. The nation of Israel is in a bad spot. Sin is rampant and nobody cares. And God says to Ezekiel, Ezekiel get down there and I want you to call out the abominations that are in this city as you read through chapter 22. You find that the sins of the nation of Judah were included but were not limited to idolatry, there was a misuse of power, there was a lack of respect for parents, there was a neglect of the widows and orphans, there was a desecration of the Sabbath, there was sexual immorality, there was incest, there was bribery, and there was violence. And honestly, the main theme you find, at least in chapter 22, is you find There was so much violence in the land, even to the point that it honestly, it kind of sounded like the days of Noah. The violence was awfully bad. And the princes, the civil leaders, they weren't doing anything about it, all right? And so God says, look at verse 17. Look at verse 17. The word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, the house of Israel is to me become, what's that next word? Dross, you know what dross is? It's a useless scum that you scrape off and throw away. You don't have to like it. God says Israel is like dross, useless scum that you would throw away. Wow, that's a strong way to talk. Yeah, it is. You know why? Because men, our lives, when they're controlled by sin, are a waste. You're gonna live for sin, you are wasting your life, okay? You are wasting your life if you live it for sin. And so he says, it's just a waste. And so he moves on and says, because of this, he says, the leadership didn't do anything about it. The princes aren't, the priests aren't, the prophets aren't. Common people aren't, no one's doing anything about it. So judgment from God was imminent. I mean, King Zedekiah's on the throne, it's not going to be long. Nebuchadnezzar might come back, and the people didn't know. And so God says, Ezekiel, you've got to show the people their sin. And so God, we find out at the end of this chapter that God was on a hunt. For someone who would make a difference in that nation. Someone who would make a difference influencing the people of Judah that they would go back to God. And can I tell you, God is looking for men who would influence Other people, not just say, well, I'm an influence, I'm a leader, because people say leadership is influence, certainly, but not just influence just because I'm influencing, but to lead people back to God. Why? Because if we don't do something about our sin, God is obligated to punish us. You know why? Because he is not only loving, but he is holy and he is just. You know what justice, just, justice, you want justice in the United States, justice means A judge is being fair. You know what a fair judge does? A fair judge punishes crime. That's what a fair judge does. You know, if someone was to commit a crime against you, you'd want someone to, you know, you'd want the judge to pass a sentence down on them, put some kind of a penalty on them for committing a crime against you, against your family. But if he didn't, if he just said, you know, I'm having a good day, we'll just let you go. What would you say about that judge? You would say that judge is not fair. Well, God is very fair. And God is a God of justice. And therefore, he always must punish sin. Here's what he was doing. He was looking for someone who could make a difference. So before we jump into kind of the points there, your one blank there is God is looking for someone because of his love. God is looking for someone because of his love. In verse number 30, we'll read it and then we'll kind of dissect it. Chapter 22, verse 30 says, I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it." Okay, so at the beginning God says, I sought. Now pause and think on this folks. Guys, God, it makes perfect sense that God would punish these, would punish the people for these sins. I mean would you punish someone who's committing the sin of incest? Would you punish someone who was violent? If you were a judge, pretty sure you would. Why? Because that's what's fair. God knew he's gotta punish these people. Isn't it amazing, though, that God, the one who must punish the sin, he's the one who says, I'm the one seeking for someone to make a difference. It'll almost be like this. I want you to just imagine that some judge, he's sitting on the bench, and he's got some case going on in front of him, and he's listening to the case, and the evidence is stacking up against the defendant, but as he's listening to the case, he says, the defendant really doesn't have much for evidence to present, but as he's listening to this case, he realizes, okay, all the evidence is stacked against him, and it only makes sense that he should be guilty, but there's just some couple things that are just in his mind thinking, you know, let's just say it's a, I don't know, a murder, or let's say it's a mugging, you know, he said that he beat someone up, and stole something from her, or there was a murder, something like that. And judges thinking, man, something is just not adding up. There's a lot of evidence, but something does not add up. There's something in my mind that makes me think he may not be guilty. Could you imagine a judge that said, you know what we're going to do? We're going to take two hours for lunch, and we'll reconvene at 2 o'clock. And the judge, instead of going to eat, he takes off his robe, and this crime was committed on whatever street, and he goes down to that street, knocks on doors for two hours, and tries to find a witness and says, hey, on the night of such and such day, did you see anything? and he's out trying to find a witness who could come into his court and give him a reason not to say guilty to the defendant. What judge does that? Judges don't do that. God was. He was the one who was obligated to punish, he was obligated to punish, but you know what he was doing? He was looking for someone who would give him a reason that he could delay his punishment. Can I tell you something? That is very loving of our God. that God is not in heaven with a lightning bolt saying, come on, come on, come on, do it, do it. Yeah, I'm not trying to be blasphemous about God. I'm telling you, some of us get that idea that that is who God is, that he sits in heaven with a lightning bolt just hoping that someone will mess up so he can throw one at someone again. That is not our God. Rather, he sits and he looks for someone who will give him a reason that he can delay his punishment on deserving sinners. What a God. What a God that would do something like that for people who definitely deserve God's punishment. And so it says, and so who is God looking for? Who is God looking for? Well, number one, God was looking for someone who would be different. So that's your blank. God is looking for someone who would be different. So you wanna make a difference in this kind of a world where there is so much sin, and even amongst God's people where there is so much sin, God is looking for someone who will be different. So verse 30, God says, I sought for a man among them. That phrase, that little prepositional phrase is fascinating. The phrase among them, it has two sides to it. First, the phrase among them has the idea of I sought for someone who would come out from among them. So here's what God was looking for. He was looking for someone in their group who would stand up and do what was right. Someone who would please the Lord, someone who would live for God, someone who would direct the people back towards living for God. In other words, God was not looking for some awesome outsider to come in and just blast the people forward for God. Can I tell you who God would rather use in your town, in your city, in your church? You know who God would rather use? Not some evangelist. God would rather use you. He would. He would rather use you than me to make a difference in your town. I'm here just for a minute, and then I'm gone. But you're here to stay. You know who God would rather use? He'd rather use you. God sought for a man among them, someone who would come out of their own group and say, I don't care what everyone else does, I'm living for God, and I'm gonna holler at everyone else to do the same. That's what he was looking for. And also the word, the phrase, among them, doesn't mean just that I was seeking for someone to come out from among them in my group, but also someone from, he says, I sought for a man among them. It also, that phrase has the idea of someone who not only would come out from among them, but also someone who would look at and say, he's different, okay? So in other words, he's saying, look, it's gotta be someone who is not gonna be doing these sins that's here. He said, I'm looking for someone who has decided I am not going to be like the world. Someone who says, look, other people might be fascinated by sin. Other people might be fascinated by these wrong things, but not me. I am going to please God. Doesn't mean I'm going to be perfect, but I am setting myself that I want to seek, and I want to please God, and I don't want to be like the world anymore. God's looking for someone to be different. Number two, God is looking for someone to be a spiritual leader. He's looking for someone to be a spiritual leader, okay? Verse number 30 says, I sought for a man among them. He says, that should, now he uses an interesting metaphor here. He says, I'm looking for someone who would make up the hedge. Now, what does that mean? You know, someone who'd make up the hedge. Well, the idea there As I was looking at, as I was reading about it, the phrase there means, to make up the hedge, it means to build up a wall. Okay, so he says, I'm looking for someone to build the wall, you know, build the wall. And, but what was he meaning by that? Well, the idea here is this. The idea of why he used this phrase, what he was saying, it's using a metaphor, he's saying there's a wall that needs to be built, and so someone needs to take charge of making that happen. So you might describe it as spiritual leadership. In other words, God was looking for someone, you know, in the midst of whenever there's a spiritual crisis, God oftentimes looks to raise up someone who can make a difference. Maybe someone as simple as Noah. Boy, there was a crisis. The whole world was given over to desperate wickedness before the Lord. and Noah and nothing else. He preached and he built the ark, but he also was a preacher of righteousness and shared God's word with the people then. Someone like Moses, when the nation of Israel was in a crisis, God raised up a leader like Moses. And so the idea there is that whenever spiritual crises have gripped nations, God has sought for an individual who would be willing to be used. And God desired someone who would stand up, not caring about the popularity of sin, nor the mockery from the people, and would simply declare, follow me, we've got to get back to God. Follow me, we have got to get back to God. Now, and the reality is, as God, he's looking for this person who would be a spiritual leader, would lead Judah to repentance, and would lead them back to walking with God. Men, why is it that we are usually so good at being leaders at our jobs and not at church? Can I tell you something? Something wrong with us. When we are good leaders at our jobs, but we're horrible leaders and we don't want any leadership, we don't want any leadership part at church, something's wrong. Because out there in the world, out in the secular world, we can find a lot of, there's a lot of men that can be found who are motivated, who can get things done. But many men, and that's your blank there, is that many men will be leaders at their job, but not at church. Why is that? Here's what God's looking for. He's looking for leaders who are willing to stand up in their church, stand up in their families, and say, hey, listen, that, to say, hey, that TV show is wrong. Your neglect of the Bible is wrong. Hey, your neglect of church is wrong. Hey, that music is wrong. Hey, the way you snicker and laugh at sin is wrong. Hey, your unkind words are wrong. Your gossip is wrong. Your bitterness is wrong. God is looking for someone who will stand up on whatever God says is right and will not come off of it. That's what God is looking for. That is the person who can make a difference and who God will use. Someone will stand up and just say, hey, listen, I don't care how popular sin is, because sin was very popular in Ezekiel 22, I'm gonna stand up for God. God says, boy, if someone would stand up and be a leader, it's incredible what God could do. But then number three, God is also looking, number three, God is looking for someone to intercede. Boy, I'm gonna tell you what, I think this is the best one out of all three that are here. Who is God looking for to make a difference? God is looking for someone who would intercede. So look if you would, now at verse 30, notice he has a second metaphor here. He says, I sought for a man that would make up the hedge. He says, so that's the idea of a wall needs to be built and someone needs to lead it. But verse 30 he says, I sought for someone who would stand in the gap. Before me for the land someone who would stand in the gap all right, so here's the picture I want you to just um now let me ask this how many of you have a great imagination Any of you any of you men have a good man good good imagination lots of you. How many of you are boring? That's the opposite of it. Okay, just okay So anyway you have a great imagination. This is gonna. This is gonna kick in if you're boring just sit tight, okay So so I want you to just imagine in your mind imagine like let's bring up an ancient castle in our minds I want you to imagine that you are part of the defenders, you're part of the, I don't know, the archers that are on the wall. And there is an invading army coming to attack the walls of your castle, and you are holding the walls, of course, as the invading army, they come up, you're starting to take them out, there's rocks being launched over, you've got, I don't know, boiling oil, you've got all that stuff going on. Ladders are being raised on the outside of the wall, and it's your job, as you shoot an arrow, to get to the ladder before the men can get up and get that ladder knocked down, and to keep it going, keep knocking the ladders down, keep shooting down, to hold off the enemy. And you're holding the wall. Then all of a sudden, from what? Maybe it was a battering ram. Maybe it was a perfect shot from a catapult or something like that. Something hits your wall in just the right place and a whole section of the wall crumbles and comes down. What's going to happen? I'll tell you two things are going to happen. First, That invading army who has been kind of spread out, coming up that wall, trying to get up that wall, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. They are going to immediately funnel to that one spot. And they're coming to come in. Another thing's going to happen. You know what's going to end up happening? All the defenders on the wall are going to come down. And they're going to funnel to that one spot. And now that there's a hole in the wall, the defenders have to hold it. Because if they don't plug that hole, The invaders are going to come in, and the innocents are going to be murdered. So the men, the defenders, they stand in that hole, and they fight even though there's not, now there's, you know, there's not the official, you know, castle wall and all our system and all that. Doesn't matter. Systems have just passed. Now it's coming down to courage. And you just, and just simply staying in that hole and holding that hole and not letting the enemy through. That's the picture here. Staying in the gap. Now listen. Listen carefully. Oh, this is real simple, and it's in your Bible verse, so look at it. verse 30 it says he said I was seeking for a man who would stand in the gap before me for the land okay question according to the verse who is the invading army very good it's God Now does that seem kind of, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait. God should not be the invading army. He's the mighty defender, something like that. Folks, the verse in the metaphor God says, he says, I'm the invading army, which I'm telling you makes perfect sense here. Why? Here's what God is saying. God's saying, I have to punish and destroy my people for their sins. I have to. That is what my character demands. But he says, if someone will plug the hole Can we put it this way? It gives God a reason to delay his punishment. Someone who would stand in the gap and he says, and so the defenders, and who are they, the defenders, plug in the hole, who are they defending according to the verse? So he says, stand in the gap before me for whom? The land. So he says, all these people behind you, the land, the people who are not walking with God, these people who are far from God, these people who care nothing about God, here's what God says, I've got to get through that wall and I've got to punish them for their sins. But he says, do you know what will stop and slow down my punishment? Is if one of you men would stand in the hole on behalf of the people behind me. You know what that sounds like if you're not catching this yet? This is the spiritual exercise of intercession. You know what God says will delay his punishment on people who are not right with God? It will delay it. Do you know what he says? who will intercede on behalf, those who will stand before me on behalf of undeserving people behind them. He says, in essence, intercession, put it this way, intercession gives God a legitimate reason to delay his punishment. Hey, we got interceders in the Bible. How about Abraham? Genesis 18. What did Abraham pray for? He said, Lord, I'm asking you, would you spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if there's 50 righteous people there? What did God say? I'll do it. Then Abraham said, I have a bad feeling about that number. What if we brought it down to 45? What if we brought it down to 40? What if we brought it down to 30, 20? What? Lord, Lord, hang on. And every time God said, sure, I will. And Abraham said, Lord, what if there's only 10 righteous people in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Will you spare the cities? What did God say? I absolutely will. Why? You know why God said he would spare the cities for 10 people? You know why? Because Abraham asked him to. And folks, it ain't much deeper than that. Now, did God find 10 righteous people? No, he did not. But if there were 10, guess what? God would have spared Lot and the entire city if there were 10 righteous people. So which means this. God's heart is moved by interceders. about Moses? You ever thought about Moses? You know Exodus chapter 32? There's this you know there's all that you know the golden calf the people just seen God's power on Mount Sinai and now 40 days later they're building this golden calf the Bible says that they are They're dancing around it, they're getting themselves drunk, and they're committing sexual immorality acts in front, surrounding this idol with their neighbors, and it's just a gruesome, awful sight. And so Moses comes down, stops them from what they're doing, then returns back up the mountain to intercede for the people. Because you know what God said when Moses went back up that mountain? You know what God told Moses? He said, I'm going to kill them all. and I'm gonna start over with you. I'm gonna still have my people, but I'm gonna kill all them off, I'm gonna start over with you. And Moses, Psalm 106, verse 23 says, therefore he said, God said that he would destroy them had not Moses, his chosen, listen, stood before him in the breach. You know what that's another word for? In the gap. If Moses had not stood in the gap to turn away his wrath, God says, I would have destroyed them. Here's what I'm saying, guys. God loves to listen to interceders. Listen, as I study prayer, I'm telling you, in some ways, I find that prayer, in some ways, prayer has great depth and is somewhat complicated. And then as I also study prayer, I find prayer is also very, very simple. Can I give you something very simple? Because complicated kind of messes me up. is, listen to this, apparently God likes to listen to interceders. People who pray on behalf of someone who's not right with God. People who are not saved, apparently God likes to listen and to answer them. Hey, here's a question. Who's gonna stand between God and your unsaved loved ones? Who's gonna intercede on their behalf if you don't? Okay, so I'm going to tell you what, I'm sure you in this room, you love, some of you may have children, some of you may have a spouse, some of you may have Some of you may have grandparents some of you may have co-workers that you're just burdened for that They're not saved and they're all but they are storing up the wrath of God. They're all but almost tantalizing God and Teasing God to send punishment on them. And can I tell you something that will that holds back God's hand? God is God has a legitimate reason to stay his punishment upon the people that you love so much when you will pray for them When you will intercede and say, God, I am now here and I'm not letting you go. Listen, Moses, I'm going to tell you something. Abraham was very bold when he said, Lord, if there's 10 people, would you please spare the entire city if we got 10 people? God said he would do it. I think Moses was the most blunt, prayer I've seen in the Bible. He and God, when they spoke, was not disrespectful towards God. He just knew God so well. He was so blunt and just spoke bluntly. I like blunt. I like to hear things simple and blunt and make it really plain. I like to hear it that way. Some of you maybe like to beat around the bush for about two hours and then we don't know where we were at the end from where we were at the beginning. That doesn't get us anywhere, okay? I like simple and I like blunt, okay? And Moses was very blunt with God. And when he said, Lord, would you please think on your name, think how your name's gonna get drunk through the mud and think about these people. And he said, Lord, please, you can't do that. You know what God said? Okay, why? Because apparently God likes to listen to interceders. Hey, who do you have who's important to you? Who's not right with God or is not saved? Do you pray for them? Do you beg God to save them, to change them? I remember when I was in youth group, I was not the perfect teenager, but I remember we had this one teenager coming to our youth group and his name was Long. Okay, that was his name, Long. And Long was, he was not a nice guy. He was not nice at all. He was a little bit awkward. He didn't have a whole lot of friends, but he was also just downright mean. And it was kind of funny that he would come and he had no clue why nobody liked him. He just, he literally had no clue. He was mean to everybody. Then he had no idea why nobody liked him. And it's like. You wonder, you know? And he was just not a nice guy. But you know, our youth group did the best we could to be kind to him and to be gracious to him. And I remember this one time we had a Wednesday night and an evangelist was at our church. And he was there for that one Wednesday night. And I remember our whole youth group was going up to listen to him as he preached. I still remember going downstairs in the church, went behind the guy's bathroom. There was this little storage room. I went in there, I remember there being a wheelchair in there. I remember just getting down on my knees. I was a teenager, I didn't know much, but I knew this. Long was teasing God's wrath. And I remember just pleading with God, saying, Lord, save him. Lord, save him. Lord, save him. He did not get saved that night, but I'm gonna tell you, a few years later, he came back for a youth rally, long made a profession of faith at our youth rally a few years later. Why? Here's, not because I'm special, I'm telling you, God likes to listen to and answer interceders, people who pray on behalf of someone who is not right with God, someone who is not saved. God loves to listen to interceders. At our church, there was a couple that started coming somewhere around like 2017 or somewhere around there, And the wife was definitely saved. And her husband, we weren't sure if he was saved. As far as we know from his testimony, he talks about that he had been saved before, not right with God, whatever it was. We'll just say he was not right with God, OK? Whether it's salvation or not. And I'm going to tell you what. He came to our church because he loved his wife. He loved his wife very much. And so she wanted to come to church. He'd come to church, too. He just figured that we would be some kind of generic church that just, OK, sit there, get done, then get out. And he didn't realize that when we found out, she, you know, find out he's saved that we're going to pray for him. He didn't realize that we had a, we had strong preaching in our church, you know, and that we, the word of God was preached. And so, and so I'm telling you what God's word started to convict him. He started to get angry and he was, he was not happy. We had years where, I mean, just, I mean, it was a, it was a struggle for them at home. Because God was convicting him. I remember one time. I remember one time and evangelist was preaching at our church there and It was like 2019 and you know, he's there van just has preached the gospel And I mean we're standing at the invitation and I mean he's getting near the end of his invitation and this guy he's not moving Here's what I, can I tell you what I did? I didn't know much, but I did do this. One thing I prayed was I said, Lord, I am not much, but as best as I know how, right here, right now, I am standing here on his behalf, before your face, on his behalf, begging you, don't punish him. Give him another chance. I'll tell you what, God gave him a lot of chances. Why? Because I'm special? Nope. Because God likes to listen to and answer interceders. Three years later, I'm telling you what, God brought him literally to the end of himself. And God broke him. And he's now a member at our church. God likes to listen to interceders. I'm gonna tell you what, that man became, our church was probably about 50 people, that man became our church's prayer project. Whereas as a church of 50, basically, as a church, we were gonna stand before God in that hole, and we were standing in that hole on his behalf saying, Lord, have mercy on him again. And you know what God liked to do? Have mercy on him again. Why? Not because we were special or some super Christians, but because God likes to listen to and likes to answer interceders. Just last week, good night, last week, Sunday, well, that's six days ago on Sunday. I had three adults come up to me Sunday night. I'm just there for Sunday night service. I'm all ready to preach, and I had three adults come up to me and say, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. There's this guy here. There's this guy here. We can't believe he came. We can't believe he came. He knows you. I'm like, oh, shoot. You know? Like, oh, you know from where? You know, well, you were at a camp that he was at. And he like, he knows you. And I'm like, a camp? And he mentioned it. And they mentioned it. I'm like, I was preaching to juniors, like to kids that way. Yeah, he knows you. And he's coming to church service tonight. He is not right with God. He is so far from God. His parents are having such issues with him. He is so far from God. He's coming here tonight. I'm like, great. Pressure, you know? And I'll tell you what, I am, you know, I'm just okay. So, you know, praise the Lord. God had already given me the passage I was preaching on that night was Psalm 51, which is David getting his sin right with God and it's David being overwhelmed with the mercy and the forgiveness and the clean heart that God gives to people who will, God gives to people who get right with God. And it was a precious thing watching at the invitation. I'm not kidding you. Sometimes I had high hopes and sometimes I didn't. I gave the invitation. His hand immediately shoots up. I got something I need to get right with God. And I mean, he is one of the first people down the aisle. He comes up, he's hugging the preacher. They're crying, and the parents are crying, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness. And the next day, this guy wouldn't have told me. His wife told me. She said, yeah, when he finally came, one of those people who told me, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, guess who's here? He spent the whole service praying and stood between that young man and God and said, God, have mercy on him. Apparently, God likes to listen to and likes to answer interceders. So who you got? Your spouse, you have a spouse who's not saved? I'm telling you what, pray. You know why? Because God likes to listen to and loves to answer interceders. God can break hearts. Yes he can, and trust me, our church in Alabama believes that. We've seen God do it. He can change hearts. Pray. Hey, you got a child who's far from God? You got a child who's unsaved? You got a grandchild who is walking away from the Lord? Pray. and ask God to save them and tell, hey, listen, tell God, tell God, listen, I'm not much, but as far, as best I know how, I am standing right here in this gap. I know you ought to punish them and I know they deserve it, but I'm begging you to have mercy. Can I tell you what? God likes to listen to and he likes to answer interceders. He says, one of the greatest ways, men, that you will make a difference is not so much by you being like, oh, I just love to walk around and take a stand. No, you need to be a spiritual leader. We just saw that. One of the greatest ways you will impact other people's souls is if you will choose, if you will decide and say, I don't care what other people are going to do. I'm going to intercede. I'm going to beg God to have mercy on these people. God likes to listen to, and He likes to answer interceders. Because, you know, can I put it this way? If you don't do it, who's gonna do it? What if you're not, what if, if you don't do it, what if no one else does? You know what that means? God must punish them. You know, I think of, you know, in World War II, you know, there's so many, so many stories. There's the big stories, then there's, you know, you notice that over time, you just learn about all these little stories of acts of valor that sometimes you just don't hear about. I remember reading a story about a Medal of Honor winner, Audie Murphy. Anyone ever seen the movie, Audie Murphy? You know he was in World War II, probably a lot of you knew that as well. And Audie Murphy, World War II. And he was a, I didn't look up the details again on this one. He was some kind of an officer, but he had a very small group. I think it was like 20 men was in his company. I think it was B Company. You know why? Because as was very common in World War II, that's all that was left. That's why he only had 20 men. And they're supposed to, it was getting towards the end of the war, if I'm not mistaken, Battle of the Bulge, I think, okay? Getting towards the end of the war, and he's holding a ridge with these 20 men, and it's going to be attacked. And it's being attacked by a force way bigger than them. Something like somewhere between 50 to 150, somewhere around there of infantry is coming up the hill, and they've also got tanks coming in. Well, he's got these two anti-tank guns that are supposed to be mobile. But it said soon after they began this attack that the tanks shot and they took out both these things so they couldn't move them around. So now these guns are just kind of stuck, and they can't really do much. And so Audie Murphy organizes a little bit of an organized retreat, and they back up just a little bit. And then Audie Murphy goes in as the Germans are advancing forward. He goes in and he steps into one of these smoking guns, literally a smoking gun. Because on this thing, though it had the anti-tank artillery with it, it also had a .50 caliber machine gun. And so he steps into this thing and begins to just lay waste on the Nazis that were coming up that hill. And he lays waste, and they say that he stayed there for as long as somewhere around an hour, that he stayed there just firing the weapon, loading again, firing the weapon. And they said that his gun was hit multiple times with some type of artillery. And yet, he wasn't killed, he's still alive, he's still shooting. In fact, the thing was basically on fire in different spots, and it was smoking so bad, he said, that's horrible. Actually, it ended up working out great, because the smoke was so bad, the Nazis couldn't figure out where the shooting was coming from. And literally, he said, the closest guys to him were 10 yards away. They never knew where he was. And they were just being mowed down and then I of course the tanks are coming up and so he carries with them when he ran up to that um runs up to this this um this gun he runs there he brings one of those call boxes with him and he's calling in artillery strikes from people who were way back you know way back behind them he's calling in the hill positions of artillery strikes and Stuff's coming in, blowing up these tanks, and so the tanks are starting to be disabled. He's mowing down the German infantry. And finally, the Nazis turn around, and they retreat. Arnie Murphy's got shrapnel in his legs. He steps off the gun. By the way, it was right after he steps off the gun and starts to move away from it, that's when the gun explodes. Isn't that incredible? Goes back, instead of saying, I'm wounded, instead of yelling, medic, medic, instead he organizes his men, and they chase the Nazis down that hill, and they win a victory. It's a Medal of Honor for really from his bravery preserving the lives of B Company. Now if you were to ask him, and I'll tell you this, one thing I've learned as you listen to World War II veterans talk, and there were many of them in situations like that that you don't hear a whole lot about. If you were to ask them, these men were not They were not Captain America. They were not built like a superhero with some kind of serum in them that gave them superpowers. These were average, everyday Americans that just happened to do some training and were put in an awful spot. You know why they would do things like that? If you were to ask them, you know what they would say? Why would they do something like that? Because it was what we had to do. That's all they'd say. It's just what we had to do. Or they might say, well, if I wasn't gonna do it, no one else was. Men, if you don't pray, or you know who, who's going to, I'm telling you what, God will listen to interceders. He will, and you know what is sad? I mean, we've seen in the past, Abraham, Moses, and he said, I was looking for someone to intercede, because God said, man, I could hold off my punishment if someone would just step forward, intercede, be a leader, intercede. Boy, God says, I wouldn't have to punish my people. I could give them time to repent, and I could have given them time and delayed my punishment. But, verse 30, he says, I sought for a man among them, make up the head, stand in the gap before me for the lamb, that I should not destroy it. But I found none. Too many didn't care. Hey, listen, I wonder if some of those men were too busy. Maybe you're kinda like those men we looked at on the first, the opening illustration last night, who, oh, they waited until the bottom fell out. Then they worried about, you know, family members and their spiritual problems. Maybe that's you, that you're too, you're just, well, I'd like to pray more, I'd love to pray more, Brother Matt, but I'm just too busy. That's not right. That is not good. That is not good. If we're so busy that we don't have time for prayer. Look, you have time for golf. You have time for hunting. You have time for gaming. You have time for reading. You have time for shooting. You have time for hobbies. You have time for projects. You have time to pray. But we pick, don't we? We pick what we want. Amen? If we don't pray, who's going to? Because verse 31, so sad. He said, I didn't find any, so God said, therefore, I poured out my indignation upon them. I've consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I mean, God says, what else was I supposed to do? I could have delayed it if you would have prayed, but you didn't, so. I poured out my wrath. So men, when we go to this prayer time, would you take, let's be careful, I am not, I am not opposed to you praying for people's physical and health needs. I'm just gonna tell you this, men. There are gonna be times where we leave the medical list aside for just a day, and we plead with God to break people's hearts. Some of you never do that. Man, that oughta change. That really oughta change. Hope it'll change today. So when we go to prayer time, can I urge you to this? If every one of you would share, if you feel like you can, one name. If nothing else, just say, even if you're like, oh, I should not share that name, if you would just on your turn just say, I got a name, I just don't wanna say it right now, but I have a name. At least do that, okay? But I would love if every one of you would share a name and say, This is who I'm gonna start praying for. This is who I'm gonna plead with God for and start today. If you haven't done it before, then start today, okay?