And I don't remember the page number. I'll give it to you here. 639. If you've got a church Bible, there's black Bibles back in the back table if you need one. And page 639 in the black Bible. All right? We've got some guests with us today. It's good to have a Brown family from South Carolina. And thankful that they're able to make it. They flew in yesterday. They're on holiday. It's always nice when people are on holiday. take time to honor God the first day of the week, and the first day of their trip, all right? As they're over here, so pray for them as they get settled in. The Loxleys moved to Scotland from South Africa about two months ago, all right? They settled in kind of on the other side of the country a little bit, but I imagine your mother-in-law perhaps drove this morning? So that's great that they're able to come. They got a new baby, okay? They got a, how many days old? Two weeks old, right? You got a new baby back there. Last time I saw him, the baby wasn't here yet. So that's great that the baby's here. And glad you're able to be here today. And we're looking at a passage about prayer this morning. Do you enjoy hearing of answers to prayer? And a lot of times on our Thursday night, we'll read prayer letters, you know, different things that go on in different places, different ministries. We pray for Ben and Lauren Childs. They're missionaries in Papua New Guinea. And serving the Lord there in a very primitive, location, and I mean, I think they're two hours from the nearest town, they're in a village, and they need a furlough replacement. I don't know about you, but it's hard to find somebody for a normal ministry replacement, let alone a jungle ministry replacement. But it was a joy to see God provide. There's a family, the Qumrayans, that they're not in ministry, but they're part of their local church. They've been over there to help them, with that ministry. God allowed them to take a year off of work, I don't know how they did it, and they went there and got into that ministry, God provided visas for them to be there. It's just a joy to hear of answers to prayer. Tom Britton, the Britton family is just now moving down to Market Harbor, England. Tom and his wife, Linda came to our church about a year and a half ago, presented the ministry, presented God's call. She's Thai, he's British. They got saved in Thailand, and God brought them back into the ministry here. But Lisa wasn't able to get her visa. Remember that, it's toward the end of their deputation time, raising their support. Brother Tom made a tough decision to come without his wife, anticipating that he would then be able to get the spousal visa that he needed. God worked it out, and last week, They got the spousal visa for her, she's coming. And the family, Maya, I think, still needs a passport, pray about that. But otherwise, God has met that need. That's a blessing to hear about. For several months, we've been praying for Mr. Wood's grandkids, that they could come to church. And we were praying this past week specifically for our Holy Bible Club, that God would reach families, working families. And his grandkids came several days through the days. and we thank God for that. That's the answer to prayer. There's a lot of things that we saw this past week with four children that were convicted in their own heart and at home asked God to save them and forgive them of their sin and told us at the Bible club that God had done that. Okay, we rejoice in that and praise God for that. It's just a joy to see God answer prayer. Prayer is such a privilege given to us by God. Psalm 65 verse two says, O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." What a blessing we have today. We've already enjoyed it today. That opportunity to go to God and say, we've got needs that we desire to see meet. Matthew 21.22 says, in all things whatsoever shall ask in prayer. believing we shall receive. John 14 through John 16, the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, he prayed for his disciples and he prayed for us before his departure. Six or seven times he makes a statement that is very similar, and here's just a sample of three of the ways that it's said in that passage. John 14, 13 says, and whatsoever shall ask in my name, That will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 15, verse 16. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. And whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. John 16, verse 23. And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give you. That's precious promises in the word of God. God has given to those that desire to go to God and say, God, I've got a need that I need to see you meet, that God is willing on his part to meet that need. So I'm gonna preach a message this morning from the prayer of man to the answer of God. David's gonna be the model for us of how God answers prayer. But we need to pray in a way that God answers. We need to pray in a way that God answers. I want to ask you the question this morning. Are you praying and seeing God answer your prayers? We need to pray in a way that God answers. Are you praying and seeing God answer your prayers? This is going to be a very basic message this morning on prayer. It might be a message on prayer primarily for somebody that's not yet a child of God. Somebody that's not saved. Alright? But certainly there will be benefits to us that are older than faith. as well, but a very basic message this morning on the prayers that God answers. So let's pray and ask God to work in our hearts this morning. Father, we're thankful for our opportunity now to enter into your presence in a preaching service. And Father, I thank you for the Word of God. And Father, we ask that the Word of God would have free course this morning. Father, it's likely that there's some here that if they died today because of their sin, and the punishment for their sin, they would go to hell. The Savior, thinking that you died for them, that you paid the price for their sin when he died on the cross, thinking that you didn't stay in the grave, but you rose from the dead, you showed us that you have power to forgive us our sin because it's been paid for. You showed us you have the power of everlasting life because you came out of the grave. And Father, I pray for that person today. Lord, teach them through this message how they could go to you today and ask you to forgive them their sin, to give them a home in heaven, to give them the gift of everlasting life, that they receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Lord, show them today how to pray that prayer. Those of us that have been saved longer, I pray Spirit of God, remind us of the privilege of praying, the privilege of answers to prayer, and the need to be praying. in a way that God answers. So would you guide me as I speak? I can't speak without your help, Lord. I can't declare the truth of the word of God without the spirit of God's enablement. I pray, Holy Spirit of God, please speak through me, guide me in my thoughts, in my heart, in what I say. Father, I pray that you would guide and direct fully in this time. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, again, very basic message on prayer. The points are not gonna astound you this morning, but the first point is, you need to go to God, all right? First thing to get answers to prayer is you need to go to God. If you don't bank at the bank of heaven, you won't get any of heaven's currency. You know, if you're not going to the place where God is to receive from God, you won't receive from God. And I wonder this morning, if that's you, why aren't you going there? Why aren't you going to God? Why aren't you seeking after God? I sold a gold coin this past week, and you might be surprised that I had one. I had one big one and three little ones. I bought them a few years ago, just kind of investment savings. My brother, he's into coins and stuff, and so I bought these coins and God allowed me to sell them this past week. But those coins are valuable. And the big one, that's the most valuable one. That's a one ounce gold coin right now will get you about 900 pounds. It's a valuable coin. And there was a guy with one of those on the street, I saw this video back when I was looking at buying gold, trying to figure out how to tell if it's real, whatever. And this guy on the street, he walked up to people he didn't know. There's people passing by. And as they're walking past him, he said, hey, you know, this coin, and it was like Canadian, and they were in the United States, or something like that. It wasn't the currency of that country, but it was like a Canadian Maple Leaf. somewhere in the United States, and he says to them, look, I'll sell you this coin for the value, you know, it's $20, okay? It's worth a lot more than that, but I'll sell it to you for $20. So you can go right over there to that kind of like pawn shop and go in there, ask them, they'll tell you that it's worth much more than I'm trying to sell it to you for. Everyone's just kind of passing by, like, who's the crazy guy with the guy with the camera with him? You know, they're walking past, and there's someone that's chewing some gum, and he says, look, if you're getting a stick of gum, I'll give you this coin. Every single person, is saying no, because it's unbelievable, right? What kind of idiot is going to give you a gold coin, a genuine gold coin for the face value? But he was. I wonder this morning, how many people God has incredible wealth spiritually. God has incredible riches spiritually. He's going along and he's saying, look, I'll give this to you. I'll give this to you. It's yours for the taking. It's a gift. You don't have to pay me anything for it. It's incredibly valuable. But because of unbelief, they're passing by and they're not getting anything from God. It's a very sad thing, isn't it? I mean, the wealth of God is available. And I think so often people don't go to God because they don't believe God. So David has an invitation. He has an invitation to come where God can speak. He says, come in here, verse 16. Come in here. Basically, get where God can speak. David had a testimony he wanted to share. He wants to talk to somebody about the goodness of God and what God is doing. So he's saying to that person, look, just come in here and listen. We talked recently, maybe last month, a message about the parable of the sower, and how the sower is sowing the seed. And remember, it starts with some fell on the wayside. The wayside is not where the sower is sowing. He's sowing in the field. The wayside is accidental. If seed gets out there, it's not purposely there, it's accidental, and the birds come, they have their way to take it away. And we talked about how it's important, if that's you, outside the field, get into the field. Get in a place, the church house, where the seed is being sown. Get in a place, maybe a godly friend that knows God, that can talk to you about the Bible. Get in a place where they can share that with you. So it's what David is saying, He's saying, listen, come in here. Come to that place where God can't speak. I witnessed a man last Sunday morning, I had to run and get some milk from the shop, and I went to Roslyn, I told you this story last week, and got there at Roslyn, and the shop's not open. It doesn't open until eight. So it's 10 till eight, and there's another man standing there. And as I spoke with him, and I witnessed him, he said, I don't have time. And he'd already told me that last Sunday, he had football for two sons. One was running up the hills, the sand dunes in Golan, the other had a football game in the afternoon. And I said to him, I said, how much time do you get to football? He said, oh, I mean, he basically said tons of time. He doesn't have time. I said, does somebody have a gun in your back saying, hey, you've gotta give all this time to football, you can't give any time to God? No. Listen, what's he need to do? Come in here. He's not going to hear about God. He's not going to get great answers to prayer. He's not going to get great souls needs met outside of seeking God. The lady inside the shop that went inside, bought the milk, came up to the counter. As I was giving the milk, I gave her one of our church tracts, or flyers, or invites, and said, I'd like to invite you to visit my church. I said, well, you might. And I said to her, you might be working every Sunday. And she said she is. How many people do you talk to and they say, I just don't have time. Why? I work every Sunday. I work, you know, we tell them, well, we got Thursday. Well, I work every Thursday night. I don't have time. Listen, they're not going to hear about God lightly at work. She did it, right? My guy's friends. Wayside. They're not going to get that great opportunity to really have your life impacted by God to the point where you're seeing God answer prayers about souls' needs. You're not going to get that. outside of the place where God is. And so David again says, come here. We can think this morning, as a lot of churches do, they think, change our methods. Coffee shop evangelist. Let's start a coffee house. Let's start a football team. Let's start all these things. We can think that way, or we can just think like David and say, come in here. Listen, come in here. We ought to be encouraging people and believers as we meet them. We ought to be saying to them, listen, come in here. Or sharing with them directly what God has done for us. It's what David's desire was. Come in here. It's like the parable that Jesus told in Luke chapter 14, verse 16. Then saying unto him, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. He sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make an excuse. The first said unto him, I bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excuse. By the way, excuses are all poor. Nobody buys a piece of ground without seeing it, okay? I bought a piece of ground, now I'm gonna go see it, and excuse me. Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen. I go to prove them. I pray they have any excuse. Another said, I married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servants, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it's done as thou has commanded. "'and yet there is room.' "'And the Lord said unto the servant, "'Go out into the highways and hedges "'and compel them to come in, "'that my house may be filled. "'For I say unto you, that none of those men "'which were bidden shall taste of my supper.'" It's like God has got the banquet ready, and if the banquet is answers to prayer, and coming is the way to get it, all they gotta do is come, and they can have the riches of God's grace. But they're not coming. They're making excuses. It's more than you think about your heart before God. The first thing to have God answer your prayers is you need to go to God. Go to the place where God can speak to your heart about His ability to answer that prayer, especially that great prayer about your soul's need. And so David's invitation. Secondly, David's qualification. His qualification, you need to be awakened to the authority of God. He says, come in here, all you that fear God. Yet this morning in your heart, you thought, God's a joke, and a lot of the world thinks that. If you think God's a joke, and you don't have any time for God, or respect for God, it's kind of wasted time to come. Somebody that comes like that, that is has that mindset about God. They're like the person that we talked about last week. We studied Proverbs chapter one, and wisdom is crying out and declaring a desire to impart wisdom, and impart knowledge, and impart understanding. But that person, as we talked about already in Sunday School this morning, that person rejects it. They turn from it. They turn away from it because they're a foolish person in their heart. They don't have a fear of God. And that's really our society this morning. Our society, Paul describes it in Romans chapter 3, in verse 10, as he says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They're together become unprofitable. And you know, our world is, our world is joined hands against God. The Bible says, though hand joined in hand, the wicked shall not be punished. And together they have united against God, and together they've become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. Our society, you talk to people about sin, and you ask them about lying, and they'll always say this, have you lied? Yes. Little white lies. Every single one. The poison of tongues is, are lies of asps under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Our family, for the last five years before this year, lived across from a pub and heard the speech of our world constantly. And who wouldn't agree this morning that our society is full of cursing and bitterness? That's just part of their speech. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." There's nothing in their heart that resonates with the message that will tell them and say, will say to them, look, God is the judge. And in their heart, they just go, I don't care. They don't fear God. If you say to them, look, hell is real. There is judgment. You know what? Again, they don't care. Why? Because they don't fear God. Listen, in your heart this morning, you have a fear of God. That's part of it. David's saying, hey, come in here, all you that fear God. We're gonna talk about answers to prayer, and primarily, the most glorious answer to prayer is a deep soul need that every single unbeliever has. But part of getting to the point of seeing God answer the prayer that we're going to talk about is you and your heart coming to the idea that, look, God is creator, God is judge, He is the authority, and there ought to be in your heart a little bit of caution when it comes to God. People blaspheme God today? They don't care. There was a man, his name was George Mensick. George Mensick attended Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Chicago. My dad was an assistant pastor there. Dr. Van Gelderen Sr. asked my dad to try to get testimony from George Vincic. Because George Vincic was in Al Capone's gang. He was a gangster. He was involved, I'm sure, in killing people. That was part of gang life, alright? I know it was part of George Vincic's life. And when George Vincic came home one day, his wife and his daughter had gotten saved. And they're praying for... husband, father, to get saved, he comes in to pray for him. He takes a gun, he puts it up to the head, I think of his child, and it so scared him, what he was about to do, that he ran down to the church house and asked the pastor how to be saved, and that's how George Mensah got saved. What happened in George's heart? All of a sudden in his heart that was callous, there was a bit of the fear of God. A realization of what he was almost going to do that and destroy his life and that opened his eyes to God. Paul called Saul before he got saved, the Apostle Paul, as he's on that road to Damascus, he's going there to kill Christians. He's gonna murder them and put them in jail, put them in prison. And on the way there, a great light shines from heaven and a voice says, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? And what happened to Saul's heart suddenly? A fear of God. that Saul didn't have before then. Saul had no time for Jesus Christ, but now as the fear of God opens his eyes, he cries out, he says, who art thou, Lord? Acknowledging master as Jesus Christ confronted him. You know, has your soul been awakened? This morning in your heart, is there a creeping in of a fear of God and awareness of who God is? Proverbs 9 verse 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You get to that point of being in awe of the Almighty, and all of a sudden, last week what we talked about begins to make sense, and all of a sudden you start to hear wisdom crying out. You begin to hear what wisdom is saying, because you've entered into the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 10 verse 27 says, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. Proverbs 14, 26. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge. Proverbs 14, 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. Proverbs 16, 6. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. You know, as we talk about going to God and getting answers for prayer, as you go to God and you come in here, that takes humility to come to that place where you're kind of starting to seek after God. It takes humility to understand, look, God is far above me. But it's absolutely necessary for us to understand who God is to come in the fear of the Lord as we go to God in prayer. So go to God. Go where God can speak. Be awakened to his authority. And then third, David's declaration. You need to listen to what God has done for others. It says, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. David's sharing testimony. Testimony service can be a refreshing time for us to speak about what God has done and to share what God has done. And that's really what David desires. David is saying, look, hey, come in the fear of God and listen to what God has done for my soul. God has met my soul. means. The hymn, It Is No Secret, says, it is no secret what God can do. What he's done for others, he'll do for you. With arms wide open, he'll pardon you. It is no secret what God can do. So you might have heard with a bit of envy and thought, you know, God is so real to that person. God is, I hear them pray or I see their life and they've got such a strong faith in God. I've had many unbelievers say to me, as I share the gospel with them, they'll say, I envy your faith. I envy your confidence in God. And yet, they need to understand that what we're trying to say to them is, look, the same confidence that I have in God is a confidence that you can have in God. And listen, I wanna just tell you, this is what God's done for me, and listen, this is what God can do for you. God can change your life as well. The Apostle Paul, I already mentioned, says in 1 Timothy 1.16, Paul said, God graciously gave me mercy so that everybody else could look at it and say, hey, if that Christ-hating, Jesus-hating apostle, Paul, could get saved, then I can get saved too. You know, sometimes we might go to the doctor and the doctor says to us, you know, you've got that, still say it was cancer. It is encouraging to us if the doctor says as well, but it's not the worst case I've ever seen. I've seen worse and they've been healed. That's comforting, why? Because if they were healed and it was worse, then the hope for me is that, hey, God's gonna, or the doctor can do something there. The hope for us this morning, as we look at our hearts and say, you know what, I'm bad, but I'm not as bad as that apostle that killed Christians and hated Jesus, but he got saved. And if God can save him, then God can save me. And so, listen. to what is being said about God's ability to meet a soul need. By the way, soul needs are great. Have you noticed in the news, especially over here, it's becoming very big, I don't know about in the United States, but you hear about mental health all the time. You got mental health nurses, which we thank God for, and especially Christian mental health nurses, right? And Rebecca can give you some insight into how the world thinks about this area of mental health. But can I say this this morning? A lot of what is described as mental health is soul meat. It's soul meat. It's that man puts on this bravado, they put on this outward show that everything's okay, but in their heart of hearts, they know it's not. And people are beginning to talk about it. They're talking about it humanistically to get the conversation going, because the end of unmet soul meat could be Suicide. It could be self-harm. It could be other things. Why? Because they're seeking something to meet a need and nothing's meeting a need. So what's the answer? The answer to the soul need is God. And what David is saying is, hey, God met that need in my life. I had that trouble, you know, and burden internally. And that is exactly what our world is struggling with and don't know what to do about. But God can meet that need. Is your soul troubled today? You can come to God. Have Him do for your soul what He did for David's soul. David said, I'm going to declare what He had done for my soul. We'll continue here looking at it. So first of all, you need to go to God. Secondly, you need to pray to God. Again, it's a very basic message this morning. You need to go to God and you need to pray to God. James 4 verse 2 says, you have none because you ask none. If you have been brought to the point of understanding, look, I've got a soul made, God can meet that need, understanding that Jesus Christ died in the cross for your sins, understanding that he rose from the dead and that he is alive and that God offers the gift of salvation to those that will humble their heart Confess and forsake their sin and say to God, God, only you can meet my need. If you've come to that understanding, what has kept you from taking the next step of going to God and verbalizing that? See, if in your heart of hearts there is that awareness that, hey, you know, I need to go to God. Okay, that's first. Secondly, I need to ask God to meet this need. Why haven't you asked? Why haven't you said something? I wonder how many of us have had a voucher, all of us, I'm sure, had a voucher that expired. It was great. I mean, it was this great voucher. You had it. You're so excited about it. I'm going to use that. I'm going to save some money. I've got that. Keep it in your wallet. Keep it in your purse. I'm going to use that. One of these days, I'm going to use that. One of these days, I'm going to use that. All of a sudden, it passes. It's used by me. What is it? It's no good. Listen, I wonder how many people are gonna perish in the fires of hell because they passed the use-by date of the gospel. They had the gospel, they had the good news. They knew that all they needed to do was go to God and say to God, God, I'm sorry, please forgive me of my sin. I pray that you'd save me. But they passed the use-by date, and it's no good. Listen, the gospel's no good in hell. It's not gonna save anybody that has entered into eternity without God. And so what do we need to do? You need to pray to God. And so we see David's vocalization. You need to speak audibly. Notice where he says verse 17. He said, I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. Okay, extolled means to be praised. We don't use that word, but it means to be praised. In both cases, David said, I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. I enjoy praying out loud, okay? Maybe you do as well. That might be something that you do as well in your prayer time, praying out loud. I encourage you to. I mean, that's what David's doing here. He's verbalizing it. He's going to God audibly and making it known to God. And I praise God, we can pray in our hearts. There's many times where people maybe think a bit strange if your mouth's moving and you're talking out loud and you're in a public place, right? It might be a little disconcerting for them. So there might be a time, and praise God we can, and those of you that are saved know what it is, in your heart, you can just talk to God, it's incredible. You have a conversation with God in your heart. There's something wonderful about verbalizing it, getting it out, and I think often that's the way our Lord prayed. It says in Matthew 26, verse 36, I was just thinking about the story of Lazarus. He says to God the Father, I thank you that you have heard me, but for the sake of these, I'm just gonna ask out loud so they all know that you heard me, all right? So there are times Christ is praying inside, internally, but I believe there's times where he's praying verbally, as in Matthew 26, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Why do I think that? Well, he went away by himself. You know, he, separated himself from the disciples to pray. And they came to the place of Gethsemane and said unto the disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further, and he fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. He comes up to the disciples, findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, this cup, may not pass away from me, except I drink it, I will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. See, as Christ prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, I believe it was verbal. I believe it was out loud. As he got on his face, he unburdened his soul to the Father. It was no more his desire to go to the cross and have the sins of the world put upon him and be separated from God the Father than it would be your desire or mine. He's God, but he's a God-man. He's facing the cross, and he went to prayer, and he saw his father. He saw him verbally. When's the last time you unburdened your soul to the Lord verbally? So I wonder if it's not as simple as this, in some regards, as far as humbling a heart. Could it be today you're not saved, because you've never gone back to your room and in a private place, bowed your knees and verbally said to God, God, please forgive me of my sin. I'm sorry. I've sinned against you. Your son died for me, but I'd like to ask Him to take away my sin and Him to come into my heart and save me. Something like that. Some of our kids this past week got burned about that. They came back to Bible school and they said, look, I prayed, I asked, to be forgiven. I asked Jesus to save me. Kids did it, but I wonder sometimes if adults were just a bit too proud to say it out loud to God. Romans 10.9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. See, if you confess with your mouth, verbally, I encourage you, if you wanna get saved, I encourage you to make it verbal. Say to God audibly, God, I'm sorry, please forgive me my sins. It's a great thing to pray out loud. We enjoy that as a congregation this past week in our Holly Bible Club prayer time, Holly prayed for the first time. That was great. Here, pray out loud. And ask God to help Emma's gran. Emma's gran had a stroke this past week. Pray for her, right? But we're audibly taking that need to God and saying, God, that's a need that you can meet. Have you prayed out loud? David's vocalization, you need to pray to God. David's consideration is you need to speak purely. You need to speak purely. Verse 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. To regard is to enjoy, it's to approve. It's not somebody that falls into sin, confesses, forsakes it, gets out of sin. It's somebody that has it in their heart and knows it's against God, knows it's something that violates God's word, but says, I'm just gonna keep that, and I'm gonna nurture that. My aunt worked for a pest control company in St. Louis, and she's got a funny story. She said this lady called, and she talked about all these mice that she had in her basement, but now they're getting up into the house, And so the pest control guys get there. And the lady says to them, yeah, they're in the basement. I thought if I just fed them in the basement, they'd stay in the basement. Seriously. What's happening? She's regarding vermin in her house. She's feeding it. She's not gonna get rid of the problem. She's not gonna have victory in her house if she's constantly giving to it. Listen, if we're constantly nurturing sin, there's no way that God can give us a victory that God desires to give us and set us free from it. And so if I'm in sincerity going before God, I have to say, God, I want my heart to be right. See, our society has stepped away from even kind of looking good on the outside. as far as dressing up, but other societies in the past have done that. There's an old man that lives here on the other side of Lone Head, and I saw him the other day, and I was telling the story to Kaylee. The first time I saw him, he's wearing his tie and his suit coat, and he's up on the ladder, and he's clearing out his gutters, all right? You know, it reminded me, you know, there's a time that it is right to dress respectfully. There's a time where it's appropriate to look good on the outside, but when you go to God, we're not talking about externals today. When you go to God, the most important thing is that you're gonna get right on the inside. Now you might be going to get right on the inside, but you're going there knowing that all that stuff that is dishonoring to God is gonna be something that is set aside. I tell our folks at communion time, You know, you can't come to the Lord's table and memorialize the Lord, and it's as if he's here, and his dead body is here, and he was killed by sin, and have a smoking gun behind your back saying, God, I'm so sorry that your son had to die for me. But we have to confess it and forsake it and say, you know, that's what put Jesus Christ on the cross. That sin of lying, that sin of stealing, that sin of fornication, that sin of gambling, that sin of disbelief and unbelief in God. It's what crucified the Lord. And so it's a very simple thing for us to understand this morning. If I really want to see God answer my prayer, I can't go to God and say, God, you know, I'm going to hold on to this sin, but I really hope you do something in my life. I have to come to the point where I repent, as the Bible said, and deal with that sin. Because the Bible says in 1 Samuel 16, 7, The Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. We talked with the kids this past week. God not always sees us, but God knows what I'm thinking. See, God knows what's in my tongue before I speak it. Everything's open. The Bible says, before the eyes of God. See, you're not hiding your sin today. You might be here thinking, well, nobody knows about it, and maybe God doesn't know about it either. So I'm gonna say to God, okay, I like that salvation thing, but I'd really like to hold on to this. We gotta be willing to say to God, God, that is what crucified Christ, that is sin. I don't know how you're gonna help me get victory over that. It's really a strong pull in my life, but I'm gonna turn from that. I'm gonna set that aside and listen. When people got saved in the Bible, they took their books of witchcraft and they burned them. They got rid of the sin. You see, that is New Testament Christianity. It says, God, this stinks in your sight, but your son died for me to set me free from that. And so God, I want that. Listen, believers, same thing. Don't go to God expecting God to answer your prayer. If there's any sin in your life that you know is there and you haven't dealt with it, deal with the sin. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So that's his consideration. But thirdly, and encouragingly, David's reception. David's reception, you need to speak confidently. Verse 19 is so refreshing. But truly, verily, God hath heard me. See, a lot of times I've quoted that verse, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But I haven't quoted verse 19, I should. But truly, God hath heard me. Listen, God is a merciful God, God is a gracious God. God's not holding our sin over our head and saying, hey, you're such a bad person, and you're so horrible, I can't save you. Listen, but God commended His love toward us. God demonstrated His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For seriously, for a righteous man wouldn't die, right? God is, if you're a sinner, you're in the same boat with everybody else. And God loves you, and God can set you free from your sin. And you can say what David said right here, truly God hath heard me. You can get down on your knees today as a sinner and get up as a saint by the grace of God and the power of God, and you can say, you know what, I know God. I know God heard me. Eddie Okofu, a friend of ours, he grew up, I think, in Ireland. Eddie's a black man and has an African ancestry, but Eddie Okofu. Eddie comes over and helps us through our football tournament. Eddie is a joy, because Eddie has just this vibrant walk with God. I remember when I first met him a couple years ago, what I loved about Eddie, he was just hungry for God and excited to talk about God. Eddie was a semi-pro footballer in Ireland. He was doing very well, kind of the dream of all the kids, you know, play in front of big crowds, have the money, have the nightclub, have the party scene. He had it all, but his life was empty. On top of that, he had a great burden, especially as he began to read the Bible, began to come into the fear of God, that burden became heavier and heavier. And so finally, as he got to the New Testament, and he read from the Old Testament to the New, and he said, finally in the New Testament, he said to God, God, if you'll take this burden away, then I give up everything. And he meant it. And God took the burden away. And Eddie walked away from football, and a career in football, that he could have done pretty well in. Eddie right now, he's burdened to go into Europe as a minister of the gospel. He's done a lot to develop in his walk with God. He's out of Les Hill Church now, a good friend of ours. But Eddie knew God had heard. Have you ever had your burden taken away? Have you ever had that heaviness of heart, that sin brings, that guilt that you lay your head on your pillow at night and you say, this is so heavy. Have you ever had that burden taken away? When God takes it away, you know it. You may not fully understand it. You may not pray a real clear salvation prayer. I don't know that Eddie did. Eddie just said, God, you gotta take the burden away and I'll give my life to you. And I know other testimonies like that even in this room, okay? Some of that turned to God, and God forgave them of their sin, took their sin away. 1 John 5.15 says if we know, then hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him. Do you know for sure? If so, have you been biblically baptized? Have you followed the Lord in believer's baptism? Kids that have gotten saved, you need to think about that. The Bible says you need to get saved by faith in Jesus Christ, but the Bible also says that you ought to testify to the fact that you've been saved by being biblically baptized, right? And have you done that? Do you have that desire like Eddie? Eddie just loves doing this stuff. Do you love to speak about what God has done for you? Do you know God has heard you? So you need to pray to God verbally. purely, confidently, you need to go to God so God can speak, understand His authority, understand how He's helped others, and then lastly, you need to watch for God. You need to watch for God. Are you seeing answers to prayer? I'll make this broader than just salvation. Are you seeing answers to prayer? See, I order things off Amazon at times. I know when those deliveries come. Because I have them, I can say, hey, my Amazon delivery came, here it is. Do you see answers to prayer like that? You're praying, you're asking God about very specific things. And you see God deliver what he's promised to deliver as you come to him in believing prayer. Colossians 4 teaches us continuing prayer and watching the scene with thanksgiving. When my wife and I were not yet engaged, I wanted to get engaged. And God had provided a ring. I shared this story with Holly last week. It was Holly's last Sunday with us, my cousin, that was our intern. And we gave her a love gift as a church. And praise God, I want to say thank you to the church for doing that. That's a great testimony to her. And it's good for us to do if somebody's served the Lord with us. But I said to her how God used what I was given at my internship to allow me to buy a wedding ring. I asked her if she was going to do the same thing. And obviously, she's not. So I had the ring. And I told her as well how I was burdened to ask my father-in-law. And I was praying. I was praying for an opportunity. And we went to, I can't think of the hill there on South Carolina. that everybody goes walking in. Paris Mountain. Not Paris Mountain, the other one. The open one, the rock face. Table Rock. Table Rock. Table Rock. We went to Table Rock, and we're hiking. My father-in-law's there. He's there for the graduation or something. And we're walking around, and I couldn't get him along. I think it was avoiding me. So the next day, Sunday, they're leaving. And I'm in tears, and I'm praying. Talk about soul meat. I'm in tears. I'm praying. Lord, I'm trying. I'm trying. And I can't get a second one with a man, all right? So I walked from the guy's dorms behind the girl's dorms. That's where the car was that I was getting into. They were taking us off campus to go to church. And lo and behold, guess who was in the car? My father-in-law. Mother-in-law was in helping my wife get ready. Now, I don't know if it was on purpose. I have no idea. I hope it was. I should ask them. But there he is. Very quickly, I said, I bought a ring. He said, any specific kind of ring. I said, well, any engagement ring. And I'd like to not only marry a daughter, but I'd like to ask permission to marry her before her senior year. OK, parents can understand this. It's a tough question. And that would be after my first year of grad school. And so I asked him that. Then my mother-in-law came out, and my wife. They weren't in that position yet, but you know what I'm saying. All right, get in the car. We can't talk anymore. I understood yes, but he didn't say yes. I got confirmation that night. My mother-in-law called and said, we just want you to know the answer is yes. And if it was Kelly, then tell her this. She can't get married before her senior year. That's Katie's older sister. But Katie, yes. And I kind of agree with them. Kelly's great, but I can understand what they're saying. So anyway, it was affirmative. I was watching, and I was waiting. and God answered and I saw it. Are you seeing that? Are you seeing specific answers to prayer? Here's some good things that David tells us about as we conclude this morning. If you're watching for God, you'll notice God's intention. You will know that God is heard. Listen to what David says. He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. God is there. You ever had prayer time like that? When you're on your knees before God and you go, I don't even need to see the answer to understand I've got the answer because God is there. God is there with me. That's a very precious thing. Those of you that go deeper in prayer than just praying, dear God, bless us food, and really begin to seek God, you begin to understand the presence of God, that God is there. We have a evangelist, John McElroy, he's coming to be with us next month. His ministry is preaching on the Bible. God is using that, I believe, to remind us as believers to be seeking God, and seeking the face of God, seeking the power of God, seeking to see what God alone can do, all right? There was a, Falls Baptist Church still has a conference called, I think the Victory Conference now, it used to be called the Holiness Conference. And in 2005, John was there, I was there, and like 600 people were there, right, it was a big conference. But we had a, a service, Charlie Kitchell was preaching, and I've told you about it before. Charlie Kitchell said if you've got tracks in your pocket, stand up. If you've witnessed one person every day this past week, stand up. If you've had your devotions every day this past week, stand up. And he's asking people, seeking revival, some very basic things that if you're really hungry for God, you'd be doing. And it was convicted. It got to the end, and we had a scheduled prayer time after that, but there was a break between. But they said, let's just go to prayer, because there was a real brokenness in the auditorium. And I mean, people had come forward in the service, and it was halfway back, a large auditorium, 600 people, a lot of people you could hear crying. And very unusual prayer meeting. Towards the beginning of the prayer meeting, this guy cried out like screaming, oh my God, oh my God, in the sense of the presence of God. I have no idea about the man's heart, and I'm not a Pentecostal, but I mean, the presence of God was felt. That prayer time continued for three hours, John will tell you, at least I've heard John say, it's the most powerful corporate pyramid he's ever been in. I'm telling you, you walked out of the place, and it was like God was there. On the property, God was there. Have you ever had a prayer time like that? There's in your heart that understanding, hey, God is her. God is here. Are you meeting with God in that way? And I'm not trying to be mystical this morning. God desires to manifest himself to us. Jesus said that. Jesus prayed that. John 14, 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. We've got hymns in our hymnal that speak about that reality of the presence of God and knowing that you're meeting with God. Hymns like, I come to the garden alone. While the dew is still in the roses, but what's it say? And he walks with me. And he talks with me. We have the hymn that says, you ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. It's what Paul prayed in either Ephesians or Colossians when he prayed and said that you may know the, have the knowledge of God, that passeth knowledge. What is that? What is knowledge that passeth knowledge? It's experience. Have you experienced that? You know, again, I'll tell you, I'm a believer, if you'll get saved, it's one thing to look at an apple and say, I don't know if that tastes good or not. And I, as a believer, I could eat the apple and say, you know, this is really good. But until you taste the apple yourself, you never know that it is true. Taste and you'll see that the Lord is good. Have you experienced that? Are you waiting on God? Are you watching for God, God's attention? Lastly, God's intervention. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Here's the main thing, he's come to God, he stole burden, he comes to God and says, oh God, meet my need, and guess what? He walks away from there with his burden lifted. The problem is gone. I heard it said at camp, when we were at men's camp, hey, get on your knees and don't get up until the problem's gone. That's a good statement. If you're gonna go to God and believe in prayer, stay there until God answers. Let God take that burden away. In 2008, Well, in 2006, Logan had major head surgery. And we don't talk about this all the time, but when he was six months old, he had an incision put around like that. His skull was taken out, reshaped, put back in because of a condition he had called craniosynostosis. A lot I could share about how God answered prayer with that. But our insurance company refused to pay. They said, pre-existing condition. I refuted that, and it was refutable. And I appealed that. I even went to Milwaukee. and stood before the insurance company and said, this is why you're gone. It was my last appeal to change the reasons, and denied paying any of it. $60,000 medical bill. I thought it was $30,000, but then I realized we had two matching bills and they were separate. $60,000. Back then, I mean, that'd be like, today, $150,000. This is back, how old were you? 12, 2006, right? Do you know, I got in contact with the Posada Foundation. He's a baseball player for the New York Yankees. They do grants before surgeries. I was in conversations with them for two years and saying, I don't want money. I want legal help because this is wrong. And they tried to help me. Finally, I wrote a letter to the hospital. We've been paying minimal payments on it for a couple of years, saying, and by the way, we couldn't come here with that. Our mission agency won't allow it. But saying to them, It's a hardship case. This is why the insurance company is wrong. This is what we have done. I'm explaining to you. Will you please forgive the dead? At the same time, the Posada Foundation goes to the hospital and negotiated with them. And they paid the Medicaid rate $13,000, and the hospital wrote the rest off. OK. I praise God. Why? Because the hospital heard me. And the hospital gave me mercy. But guess what? Primarily, God heard me. And everybody else that was praying, and God met the need, God provided. Have you seen God answer prayer? Have you seen God's intervention? You can look at your life and say, that's how he intervened. That's what David's saying. I wanna tell you what God's done in my life. We've got nothing to share with the world and we can't stop and say, look, this is what God has done in my life. This is how God's changed my life. I called unto him and he heard. Praise God. We have the privilege of prayer. We need to pray in a way that God answers. Are you praying in that way? Have you seen God answer prayer? Just a reminder this morning. It's very simple, isn't it? Go to God, pray to God, and wait upon God. And if God's filled your heart this morning, the thing to do, you know, we have an invitation time, we sing a hymn, but what that's about is if God's filled your heart, talk to God. Don't wait, don't say, hey, I'll do that when I get home. That's like having that voucher and thinking, I'm gonna use that, I see that, that's good, I wanna use that, and then wasting it. And so if the Spirit of God has spoken to your heart, just encourage it. While we're singing, if you want, sit back down. Ask God, God, okay, you spoke my heart about something. It may not be salvation, it may not be something big, but you spoke my heart, thank you, God, and I wanna do business with you, and I'd like to ask you right now to meet my need. Now, it might be salvation. It might be you sitting down and saying to God, God, I'm sorry for my sin. Please forgive me. I pray you save me. And if that's the case, please do that. Please do that even today. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God will take the Word of God and put it deep into our hearts. Father, I praise you for each one that's here this morning. But Father, I know that there's some that need to accept Christ as Savior. I know there's some that need to listen and fear God and humble their heart and pray out loud and ask you to save them. And Father, I pray they do that even today. And Father, I pray for us as believers. God, give us grace to pray in faith and to see you answer. Thank you for encouraging our hearts this morning and challenging our hearts this morning. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your help. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. In 422, take time to be holy, 422. I'm not sure. Does anyone know if that was recorded this morning? Not that I know of.