of energy tonight. I hope it's in the air. They're going back to school. They're just so excited. They can't stand it. But praise God for the kids. Glad that they're here. And they can head to their class. All right. Ezekiel chapter 36. You want to hear what I was going to say about it, I guess. Actually, here's an illustration of that. We'll get there. All right? Just a little teaser. Just anticipating the message, the saving. Have you ever watched a child try to do something? They get kind of frustrated about it. I mean, they're just really kind of going about it the wrong way and trying to force it. Or maybe they got the wrong attitude. Maybe it's because you told them to do it. And so it's made it just a little bit more difficult for them. And they're too proud to come and to ask and to say, can you help me out with that? And they may get really angry and complain about it. But you know, if they come to mom and dad and they say, you know what, would you please help me? If they just humble their heart, mom and dad are there to impart grace, you know, and just help them with that or give them the wisdom and knowledge they need to do it right so that it's easy. You know, we're there for that. We want them to make that decision to come and ask for help. You know, our text this evening, as we're reading it here tonight, It is a list of things that God says I will do. And so as we study it tonight, just think about the statement. God's saying, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this. And I'll put in you a clean heart. I'll give you a heart of flesh. I will make your land prosperous again. And though God says it, we gotta ask God for his help to see it actually take place. And so if you look at the text, it's Ezekiel chapter 36. And the second part of the verse, it says, I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. Okay, I will do it. What a great promise, right? You say, and a lot of times we'll come to something like that, and the Word of God says, God will do it, God will do it, right? We know that, and yet there's a condition, and the condition is that we ask God to do it. You look at verse 37, it says, thus saith the Word of God, it for them. Okay inquired means to diligently seek or to pursue. This past Thursday night we had a prayer meeting. We're going to have a prayer meeting again this Wednesday night. I know normally midweek is prayer meeting and you call it prayer meeting but in actuality it is a prayer meeting. That's what we're going to do is take it maybe 10 minute devotional and then as we did this past week just spend time in prayer. And you know we had a focus prayer meeting. We prayed about the church and because that's a need that our church has right now. We have focused prayer about that. During that, I shared how God brought revival to Charlotte Street Baptist Church there in Edinburgh 115 years ago. Charlotte Street is 215 years old. about 215 years old, and God has had that evangelical center there by God's grace in the center of Edinburgh for two centuries. We praise God for that. And it's interesting, I read the history of what God did in the past in that church. But you know, I mentioned they had a 7 a.m. Sunday morning prayer meeting. That was well attended. and when revival came they had it every day. I mean they diligently sought the Lord. They earnestly pursued after God. They were desperate to see God work. You know it's what the Bible speaks about in James chapter 5 verse 16 when it says the effectual fervent prayer of You know, I took a speech at Bob Jones University. I was a speech minor. I tell people not because I wanted to, but because God led me to, and I'm thankful that God had me do that. But because of that, I had to take acting class, and that's kind of way outside my comfort zone, not something I desired to do at all. But if I were you, if this was acting class, and I said to you, what I want you to do is come up here and act out fervent, fervently, you know, that idea, fervent, Okay, so you come up, well if you're a librarian and everything's going well, you know, the books are there on the shelves and everything's calm, quiet, sedate, everything's fine, right? That's not fervently. Fervently is all the stacks of books just got knocked over and at the same time the building went on fire, you know, and that is fervently, right? I mean, I get the idea there is something bad going on and we gotta get active and do something. That needs to be our attitude when we think about this idea of pursuing God, or inquiring of God. It's not just like, okay, Lord, if you see fit to do that, that would be great. It's that idea of God, we have got to have this. You promised us, you said this in your word. And so I'm going to pursue you for this. Let me give a historical context of the passage just to help us kind of understand what's taking place at this time. Obviously, the book is Ezekiel. It's the prophet Ezekiel. book. He's a contemporary of Jeremiah. You might remember Jeremiah's ministry was saying to Israel, give up. The Babylonian captivity is coming and yield to that and go into captivity and it's going to be okay. But they wouldn't submit to that. They continued to resist, even though it was God's will that he was bringing this judgment upon them because of their sin. So they enter into the Babylonian captivity. And so Ezekiel is speaking about the fact that eventually God is going to to bring them out of that. And they're gonna get back into the land. There's gonna be days of blessing again. It's very similar to what Jeremiah says as well, speaking about the 70 years that they're gonna be in captivity. It's also promising ahead to what isn't even taking place yet. That is the millennial reign of Christ, that Jesus Christ is gonna bless the land, he's gonna be there in authority over the land, and there's gonna be incredible prosperity under him in the future as the Messiah. Well, Daniel, also a contemporary of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, read the promise in Jeremiah about the 70 years, and it was up. And he said, I'm going to pursue God for this. And it says, in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes, and I prayed unto the Lord my God. What did Daniel do? Daniel took that truth, yet I will be wired of them for this that we find in Ezekiel. And he took it to God and said, God, it's not. self before God to seek God about that you know a century later as the exiles are still seeking to see the city of Jerusalem rebuilt there's another man his name's Nehemiah and Nehemiah got worded about the state The remnant that are left in the captivity there in the province are in great affliction or reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. It came to pass when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. And I said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God that came And again, this man, Nehemiah, gets burdened about what God has said that he'll do, and he gets on his knees, and he begins to seek God and say, God, we need to see him. Remember, his promises are, I will do it, yet I will be inquired again for this. And I want us to consider that tonight with regard to what God desires to do. that we need to also inquire of God. What God desires to do, we need to enter into it and participate with God and say, God desires to do this for us as believers as well. These precious promises, these precious truths that you see in this text are truths that certainly apply to us in the church. Promises that we can claim, yet we need to go to God and inquire of God for them. And so tonight, are you earnestly praying for God to do what God has said to do. And I pray tonight, let's hear you guys stir us up about this area of interceding for these ideas that we see in this text. Let's pray, ask God for this. Father, we're thankful for the grace that you give. And Father, I think it's very interesting that you read the text and it's you saying, I will do it, I will do it, I will do it. Yet I will be inquired of for this. Father, I pray that tonight the Spirit of God will speak to our hearts. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God will give us a spirit of intercession. Father, revival has come in the past, but revival has always come in answer to believing prayer. And Father, I need revivals, Pastor, we need revivals of people. Father, it's what we talked about in Sunday School, full of good words. Father, I just pray the Spirit of God will come upon our assembly. We need it. Father, we need it. I'll bring your spirit. And Father, we can say with David tonight, our soul thirsted for thee, our flesh longed for thee in a dry and thirsty land where the water is. Father, these aren't the glory days of the church. These are the days of dryness. They're the days of endurance. Father, it's not the easy days, but Father, we pray that those days would come again, the days of prosperity in the house of God, the days of blessing and fruit bearing. So Spirit of God, help me as I bring these truths before us tonight. I can't preach without your enablement. I pray, God, that you'd help me to preach vividly. Father, help me to preach practically. Help me to preach lovingly. Help me to preach powerfully. Father, I pray that we'd have ears to hear. I pray that the Word of God would have free course. Lord, we want to pray for the kids as well. Thank you for each one of them. They've got a lot of energy tonight, and Father, we're glad. We're glad they're enjoying themselves at church. Lord, we pray that they would sit and be obedient and listen. Father, I pray for a holy hush in the hearts of those children as they listen to the Bible story tonight. Father, we pray that they get saved at an early age, that they'd understand the gospel and be born again. So Father, we just commit ourselves to you. Thank you for the grace that you've given and your guidance. Now it's in Christ we can pray. Amen. All right, so diligently pursue God. To see God do what God has said, I will give. And so again, Ezekiel 36, verse one, I the Lord have spoken it, I will do it. Thus said the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. Now, if I was back in the day and I read this and I thought, right, God said he'll do this. but I gotta ask Him to do it, I would go back in the text and say, what do I need to ask God to do, right? If He's promised to do something, but it's dependent upon me asking, what are the things that God desires me to ask about? And so, diligently pursue God or inquire, first of all, for God's glory, okay? Inquire for God's glory, because the truth tonight that we need to understand, first of all and foremost, and really the whole message is about this truth, is it's not about us. It's not about us, it's about God. It's about God's glory. Ezekiel 36 verse 22 says, therefore, saying to the house of Israel, thus said the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel. Now it's kind of sad to say that, but that's it, isn't it? I mean, it wasn't about Israel, it was about God. And it's good for us tonight to stop and think, you know, what we desire to see God do, what God desires to do, it's not about us primarily. Now, there's benefits to us. We're going to talk about all benefits to us. There's wonderful benefits to Israel. There's wonderful benefits to us. But we need to understand tonight, it's not about us, it's about God. It's not for your sakes. You might have seen in the news that the SNP is seeking to form a coalition. going to turn out. I don't know if that's been decided upon. They're having some kind of rush meetings here tonight. They have to have everything formalized, I think, by the end of this month. The SMP right now is a minority government, so they're not a majority. So they need additional help to be able to put through their programs or whatever they want to do, their legislation. So if the Greens get to do this, this will be the first time that the Greens are part of a national party. you know, a majority party, and they would be by coalition. But should that take place, it's not really about the Greens, you understand. I mean, they're kind of in addition to the SNP. It's about the SNP. They're the majority of that. They got there, the Greeks didn't invite them, they invite the Greeks. It's maybe a poor illustration tonight, but to consider, God is the majority. It's about God. It's about God's programs. It's about God's things. It's about what God desires to do. It's never been primarily It's about God receiving the glory that God deserves. That's good for us to realize. You know, we're gonna go to prayer, and we're gonna ask God to do something. We need to be asking God, God, for your glory. God, it's not about us. It's about you. It's about God's holy name. It's about God's holy name. We'll look at scripture about that here in our text, but I remind you of the Lord's Prayer. As Jesus said this, he said, our Father which is in heaven, It's to consecrate, it's to venerate, it's to make it so that that is exalted, so that is worship. It's about God's name being glorified. Ezekiel 36 verse point two says, therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the word God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake. which he hath profaned among the heathen, whether you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which he hath profaned in the midst of them." God's name had suffered. Why had God's name suffered? Because God's people were disobedient, got into sin. God sold them into captivity. And in doing that, though it was of God, yet God's name suffered because God's people You know, there have been generations where, by the grace of God, they've been burdened about God's name being profane. I like to read these histories. I'm reading this history of Charlotte Street Baptist Chapel, and I've read what I've read elsewhere. That is, in William Bernstein and Thomas Chalmers' time, mid-1850s, 1860s, they brought into Edinburgh Sunday training. trains a big thing no big deal right in our in our life everything's going on on Sundays it's just another day and we don't we don't howl at as previously, stop and thought about it, and thought God is being mocked, God is being, this world is acting as if there is no God, this world is just working on the Word's day and making it another day of really kind of the biggest party day of the week is becoming Sunday. You know, again, as believers, there ought to be a little bit of grief in our heart that stops and looks at that thing and thinks, no, that's not right, God's name is being profaned. And tonight, we're on praying ground. If we get burdened about God's name being profaned and everybody's just acting as if it's just another day, and God, you're not getting glory out of the Lord's name, we're on praying ground when we begin to plead for the glory of God. The great men of prayer of the past, I'm talking Bible, sought God along these lines. Remember Moses, when God's people were being disciplined, he said this in Numbers 14, verse 15, He said, now if thou shalt kill all his people as one man, then the nations which have heard the theme of thee will speak, saying, because the Lord was not able to bring his people into the land which he sweared to them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. Moses wasn't pleading for our sakes. He wasn't pleading for the people's sake. He was pleading for God's glory. He says to God, God, what are they, heathen, going to think if your people are in such judgment by you? They're going to say, God, if you couldn't take them to the land that you promised to take Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants, which is shed. Why should the heathen today mock God? Why should my neighbor that I spoke to, I was speaking about, we're trying to find property and whatnot, and asking her, she had some good ideas, by the way, about property. But I said to her, I'm trying to find something that would see at least 150. And she's like, I don't mean to be cheeky or rude, She said churches are getting smaller. Listen, our world looks at that. They see a little God. They see a diminishing God. They see a God that is disappearing from society. As God's people, we ought to be burdened about that and say, God is not getting more in God's name. I don't want my neighbor to have an idea of God that God is small. I don't want God to be mocked, laughed at. We gotta get burdened to say, no, no, God is, God can fill a building with 150 people and He can provide a building. You know, I mean, those are two things that we're gonna consider tonight, but the thing is, when we pray about it, what are we praying about? We have to be praying for God's glory to again be seen, that this world again realize that there is a God in heaven. And so what it's about, it's not about us, it's about God's glory name, and it's about God's plan for his glory. And as we look at this text tonight, I see two main ways that God gets glory in his text. He gets glory in you, and he gets glory through you. So he gets glory in us, and he gets glory through us. So first of all, God's plan is to glorify himself in you. Notice what it says at the end of that verse there, I think verse, It might be verse 23. The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, sayeth the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Okay, tonight, are you ready for the heathen? And by the way, the Bible's just speaking about people that are godless, people that do not believe in God. God is not their God. But don't you desire God to be glorified? in their eyes. But notice it says that it's gonna take place in you. You know, Jesus, if you understand this tonight, Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords that the Bible speaks about in Revelation 19, verse 16, but God has to be sanctified in the eyes of the world by his people. And so the Bible says even in Matthew 5, verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. God desires that we're talking about something so full of goodness. Why? So that people look at that and they say, hey, I see something different about those people. It's real what I see in their life. They've seen religion. This world has seen people that are hypocrites. This world has seen people that profess something. It's not genuine. God wants to do something in your life, God wants to do something in my life that is a testimony to the fact that he is God, that brings glory to him through what takes place in us. But then secondly, again, God's plan is to glorify himself through you. Verse 24, it says, for I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Okay, so now it's no longer what God did in them, But it's what God would do through them. Because God's gonna work a work that the world is gonna look at and say, God did that, there's no way that could've happened without God. And there ought to be things in our, not just in us, we got saved, we got changes from the inside out, but in our circumstances. You know, tonight as we come to this point, it's not about us, it's about God. It's about God's glory. So when I pray and I inquire of God, I'm praying, I'm saying, oh God, glorify your name. How? Well, first of all, in us. Secondly, through us. Okay? And so that ought to be the focus of our prayers and really the What God desires to do in us and what God desires to do through us. So we're praying primarily for God to be glorified. We're inquiring for God's glory. But secondly, inquire for God's people, okay? Diligently pursue God for God's people. Again, this is the idea of God glorifying himself in us. You know, the song says it this way, there's been a great, great change, change since I've been born again. That's the way it ought to be. It ought to be that people look at us and say, I see a difference in the life of that person. Since they profess a faith in Christ, there has been a great change that has taken place. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are. See, it's not just a profession. It's a life change. When somebody has God at work in their life, God is gonna be doing the work that we talked about in Sunday School, where he's putting that goodness into them. Why? As a reflector of his glory, so that the world has a witness, so that the world sees something. That is unusual in our day that somebody holds that position, has that testimony in our day. And so how does God do this? Well, we're praying about, we're asking God, we're gonna pray for God to do great work in God's people. We need to pray for God's people to be sanctified. They need to be sanctified. It says in verse 25, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. What an awesome verse. I'm going to come. I'm going to cleanse you. I'm going to take those idols out of your life. It's a great, great verse. I said I had an illustration about Thomas. Here it is, right? Thomas rides in my car. I collect him every Sunday, drive over and pick him up. He's a lot of fun. He's a very conversational type lad, and it's great. You enjoy yourself. And so I tell him sometimes, I say, hey, buddy, tonight I'm singing. I'm playing my horn. And I just want you to be. super good and he has he struggled tonight he has done super well at times i'm up here i'm playing my horn i'm singing i look down at him and sure enough i mean he's sitting there it almost made me smile you know i'm up singing uh just looking at him do so well so we get in the car and we're driving down the bray and i said to thomas he's back behind me i say thomas i said buddy i am proud of him you did so well you just did so well i looked i said i looked at you when i was I'm proud of you. He said, well, I'm proud of me too. And I said, well, you shouldn't be proud of yourself. You should just say, thank you. We're trying to help him out a little bit. Just say, thank you. He's proud of himself too. And he goes, I was just looking at you. And he said, I was just thinking how beautiful you were. You sang beautifully. And I'm just flattering myself here, because he said it. And I said, thanks, Thomas. And he goes, by the way, you're going to have to clean your car. And I said, I said what? I said, he goes, if you really need to clean your car, I think he said it that way, you really need to clean your car. And I'm like, what? Well, he had opened a bubble gum packet, that's like this powdered bubble gum, and when I picked him out of his chair, I told him not to move, don't push yourself, you know, that they spray paint when people die in the road, you know, it's all around us. It's like one of those on the chair, you know, and he had bubble gum kind of stuck kind of all over him as he went in. I didn't know that I needed to clean that backseat until he let me know. You really need to clean this back here, all right? You know, the thing is, it's like what we looked at in Sunday school. Sometimes we can kind of be ignorant of the fact that we've got a robber. Right? It's there. The Holy Spirit comes along and says, hey, I can help you take care of that. I can help you get clean. I can help you get that idol out of your life. Listen, we live in a very idolatrous world. I saw that since the COVID-19 took place, that's the third time tonight. Third time's the charm. Just let me shut this. The easy fix, right? Shut the door and that'll stop. Since COVID-19 took place, people are spending 45 minutes more on the average in front of the telly. You know what that brings us to? Six hours a day for the average hour. Okay, let me ask you, does that person have an item in their life? That's idolatry. Idolatry is anything taking the place of God, anything that I serve, anything I bow down to. Listen, it has its place. I'm not saying you can never turn on the telly, never watch something, by the way, good, something that is edifying, something that is fine, that's fine. It is placed, but six hours a day is idolatry. Do you know what else that person has in their life? Filth. Because there's no way you can sit six hours in front of the telly and not have the world just pouring into your life. They have pitched their tent towards Saddle and they felt it's coming. He wants to take away the idolatry that's in our life. We ought to get on our knees before God. God, glorify yourself through us. How? God, sanctify us. God, help us have a church that isn't idolatrous in this world. Sanctify us. Secondly, regeneration. Regeneration. Regeneration is God bringing a person to new life. It's that being born again, being born from above. It's that work of life-giving that God gives. Verse 25 and 26, when you read them in the Bible, if I just, I wish I would have tested this, but I think tonight, if I were to read verse 25 and 26 and ask you, does this come from the Old Testament or does it come If you didn't look in your Bible or look it up, you'd think that's a New Testament verse. I mean, think about it. If you're speaking in terms of the New Testament, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, you shall be clean. See at the end of verse 26, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Again, if I read that, I think you'd think, that's New Testament, that's gospel, that's surely what our experience is in the New Testament. You know, I'm again reading a memoir by a preacher by the name of David Sandeman. He died early, right around the age of 30. It's his memoirs, and he was a very godly young man in the 1800s, and he was at a farm here And there was a woman there that was a sermon on the farm. She'd been working there for three years. And she never showed, the book said, the smallest concern about her soul. On the 12th of June, she was at evening worship, indifferent and dead of stone. Next morning, she entered the room as uninterested as before, but as Mr. Sanderman was giving out the psalm for praise at worship and was reading Psalm 73, 22, which says this, So rude was I in ignorance, and in thy sight, a beast. The last word struggled like an arrow. She sobbed and wept during prayer, continued all day in a very tender state. And then he prays about it and speaks with her. And she said that she used to think of herself like others, but now she was as a beast before God. He prayed, and on asking her to pray, she tried it, but she got no further than, Lord, her to read, which she did, sobbing in almost every word, especially at the filthiness and the new heart-like alien, and taking away the stony heart. The errors of the King of Kings seemed to sink deeper and deeper as she read, and in the course of the day, coming to the servant table when the blessing was asked, she was again overcome with emotion, but the shepherd soon found this lost sheep. She had suddenly just had a cold heart to God, a stony heart. The spirit of God convicted her. She was as a beast before God. And then God used this text. I will give you a new heart. I will give you a heart of flesh to bring this woman to safety. We look at that story and we say, glory to God, right? Which is exactly what regeneration does. We ought to pray as a church and say, God, please, we pray that you'd be glorified in us. God, we need to see people saved. We need to see people that had a heart of stone against God have a heart of flesh for God. regeneration, you don't pray about it, sanctification, then obedience. Obedience, verse 27 says that I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. Look at verse 26 again, it says this, a new spirit The Old Testament believers, this is 600 years, 500 years, 600 years, I think, before the coming of Christ. And so they didn't really get this like you and I get this. We understand when we got saved, the spirit of God indwells us. It's what we talked about in Sunday school. I can't obey God by myself. but the Spirit of God within me is the enabler to help me obey God. If I do what I do in dependence upon God, I can, by the grace of God, because I've received the Spirit of God. Peter, preaching at Pentecost, said in Acts 2, verse 37, the men were very convicted. They cried out, men and brethren, what shall we do? That the man he was preaching to. The Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you. in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call and said this for every future generation in the church age. When somebody gets saved, the Spirit of God comes inside. Listen, we ought not be people that say, you know, have you received the Holy Spirit since you've been baptized or whatever, we ought to not be somebody that says, we wish not that there was a Holy Spirit, as some said in the book of Acts. We ought to say, yes, I've experienced the new birth. I understand today that the Spirit of God is within me, if I'm saved. The Bible says in Romans chapter eight, verse nine, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he has none of this. If anybody doesn't have the Holy Spirit living in their heart, well, since then, that person's not saved. Now, I'm a person that believes this. I need help more in my house with this. But I believe in having a clean house. And we do that to honor the people that come into our house, to honor the people that live in our house, that we do our best to keep it tidy. Why? Because God's given me that. I'm a scorer of that. I make it as best it can be. There's a difference between poverty and uncleanness. You get it? I mean, just because I may not have all the great things that I desire to have doesn't mean that I can't have nice things that I keep clean. That shows respect for my guests, and it shows respect for my family. OK? The Holy Spirit. in my heart. He's come inside me. You know, as he comes in there, should I have a messy heart? Should I have a heart that has defilement, that is compartmentalized, that I say, Holy Spirit that can live in everybody, but everywhere, but not there. That one's off limits. I've got stuff in there I don't want you to see. I think that we can kind of separate that thing. We can't. And so any defilement that's in my heart, guess who gets to put up with it? I ought to say, by God's grace, I want to obey. The Spirit of God is the one that can clean it out. He's there. He's resident. He can help it be right. He can help me obey. So what? I want to get that thing right for God. Does that bring glory to God? It does. It brings glory to God in you, in us. And so we're praying, we're praying primarily for God's glory, we're praying for God's glory in us, and through sanctification, and through regeneration, and through obedience, and then lastly, through fellowship. Verse 28, it says that ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. Okay, again, it's an awesome reaching out by God, saying, I want you to be my people. and I wanna be your God. That's fellowship. After we got saved, God brought us into that relationship. He brought us into his family. And God desires us as part of his family. I heard a very sad story this past week. It's about a little girl that we know. She's five years old. She's a foster child, and they thought they found a permanent home forever for her. But she went, and it was a respectable person within the community. It was somebody that, it should have worked, but after two weeks, this lady, That little girl was old enough to come back to her foster care parents and save dads. I don't know why they didn't want me. Okay, that touches our hearts. I pray for this little girl. We have to pray for her that God can provide a permanent home for her. But that's a very sad thing. A child desires a home, desires to be a part of that, but that person says no. Listen tonight. Praise God. God does God does not say, hey, we're gonna try this out for two weeks, if it works, great, if not, hey, I'm just gonna say goodbye. God says this, to them give you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And so tonight, does that bring glory to God, the fact that we're brought into that relationship as a son of God? The answer is yes, praise God. He also makes us part of the family of God, the church that God has given to us, and praise God for that as well. And so, we wanna inquire of God for these things. We wanna say to God, God, please, it's not about us, it's about you, it's about your glory. God, it's about you being glorified, first of all, in us. And so, God, as we pray about your glory, we're gonna pray that God work in our church. And this is what we prayed about, isn't it? On Wednesday night, we prayed about our church. Say, God, we desire to see you work in our church, but not just in us, but then secondly, through us. to the last point here, it's really the third point. Diligently pursue God for God's blessing, that God would glorify himself by his grace through us. Now, when God sold them into Babylonian captivity, that diminished his glory. But in the same way, when he brought them out of that and began to work in and through them, it would bring great glory to his name. What I want to emphasize, just our church, as we pray on Wednesday nights, what this has to do with is what we're praying about secondly. That is, God, we need a building. God, we need a location. God, we need that structure that you can give for us, because this has a lot to do with those kind of ideas about God working through us. And so what you see here is prosperity. It says in verse 29, it says, I will also save you increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and increase of the field, and ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. The heathen looked at him and said, you got a God? You're in famine. You got a God? You're in drought. I mean, everything's failing. And so God says, I will take that away. It'll no longer be famine. It'll no longer be drought. You'll be in prosperity. So that the heathen will look down at that anymore as a reproach to you. Do you know the church buildings out here in Scotland? We're praying, you know, about a church building. But there's a number of church buildings in Lone Head. There's a church building that is flats. There's a church building that's two that are flats. There's another one that's a gym. But those buildings testify to what God had done in the past. That in Lone Head, I mean, God, they were days of prosperity. Those were all Three evangelical churches. All of them. But they're no longer there. They don't bring glory to God anymore. But there was a day where God was at work. You know, we ought to look at that and say, God, do it again. God, do it again. God, give us these churches that are filled with people that love God. Days of prosperity. We find as well that they would be days of mercy. says in verse 31 it says then shall you remember when God begins to work like this then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings which were not good and shall loathe yourself not for your sins do I just say the Lord God be anointed to you be ashamed and confounded for your own way oh house of Israel okay God say I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do this inquire of me I'm gonna do this but remember when this happens there's gonna There's gonna be a sense of shame. There's gonna be a sense of looking back and thinking, why oh why did we get to that point of disobedience to God that we lost His blessing? It's only because God is merciful that God has done this. I was reading about the revival that took place at Charlotte Street, and they said this about a primary feature of the revival. They said there was a deep conviction of sin, even where the outward life appeared blameless. So even in the life of somebody that looked like a good Christian, they looked like they had it together in obeying God, that there was an intense understanding of their sin. Tonight again, as we pray, we're gonna ask God, God, glorify yourself through us. As God's blessing begins to be poured out upon us, I don't know about you, but I look at the money that God's put in the bank for us to purchase a building, and I'm humbled by it. You know what I say? God, we don't deserve it. And if God sees fit to give us a building, Every time I walk in that building, I think, God, we're so unworthy. And when we begin to understand that God's working in us and through us, and that God is doing something, it ought to take us to our knees and say, you know what? It's only because of the mercy of God. We ought to loathe ourselves and our sight and realize There will be establishment, as God went through them, there will be establishment, verse 33, it says, thus saith the word of God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities that the waste shall be wielded." All right, it's gonna go up again, it's gonna happen again in 58 days or whatever it was, Nehemiah's gonna go back, the walls are gonna be rebuilt, the temple is gonna be rebuilt, the houses are gonna be rebuilt, they're gonna be filled. Again, as we pray about this, when's the last time you saw a church built in Scotland? When's the last time you passed a building site I know of one church, by the grace of God, had a building project this past year. It's an in-baptist church, a pre-baptist church in Einhell. They built a sanctuary. Praise God. The community ought to look at that and say, that is so unusual. Churches are diminishing, but your church is growing. They ought to see that. We ought to pray for that as a church. We're in the process of praying about that. Is it going to happen you know in the past you go to the cemeteries it's reverend reverend reverend you see it here in scotland you see it there in wales again you see the church you gotta pray again and say god do it again god make us need a cemetery make us need a bible college because the young people are getting so burdened about serving god we need somewhere to train god give us a christian Give us a place, a property that we can use for God, where people come and get put in perspective. We're in the days of shame, we're in the days of embarrassment. We gotta get to the days where it's the glory of God, where we understand it's not because of us, it's because of God and it's for God's glory, but God is working. That's what we're praying about, establishment. And then fruitfulness, verse 34 and 35. It says, the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass by. And they shall say, this land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities become thins and are in heaven. Again, they ought to come back and they ought to go, I just can't believe what God's doing there. It was dead. It was like that fallow field that's down there at the end of the road, and now it's made. I remember in my youth as a child, I didn't understand how good I had it growing up in a church that was vibrant. We had a church, it wasn't probably any bigger than this, but we had pews going back, which were tied together. The pews were back, the loft balcony was packed. Chairs were set up down the aisle, and people were sitting in the chairs down the aisle. That's something that was at Charlotte Street 115 years ago. to open the back door of the church which was on the pulpit and or behind the pulpit of the platform and we have the windows open because we didn't have air conditioning in the summer and our church would be singing and I wish I could go back in time and I could walk by that place as they're worshiping God and they're singing and the sound of that reverberates down that street. Do you know when revivals happen? They say, you know what? In China, in the Lisu villages, when James O. Fraser was there, after the service, they would hear the songs being sung in houses all over the village. What a testament. Again, we gotta pray for that. We gotta say, God, that's what we desire. Not for us, not for our glory, but God, for your glory. Do it again. God, establish the church again. God, give us a work of God that by the grace of God is a testimony to people that they look at and they go, I don't understand. Churches are dying, but your church is growing. By the grace of God. We gotta get on our knees and say, God, do it again. Why? For your glory. through us as we testify to what you did, because that's what it is, it's a testimony. Look at verse 36. It says, then the heathen that are left formed about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken and I will do it. I said to the church on Wednesday night, They had three people at a prayer meeting. They had 12 people at a prayer meeting. These are things we can relate to as a church. We're not a big assembly. We're not a massive group, but there were men in that ministry that had the eye of faith that said God could do this, that took a position of faith, that got on their knees, they prayed, they saw the face of God, and within five years, back in that time period, they added over 500 people. Not through dubbing down the word of God, not through making God's word anything less than it is, but through getting on their knees, seeking the face of God, and God in his mercy, and listen, whether God does it or not, it's only ever gonna be because God is a merciful God. But God established the church in such a way that the world looked at it, and the Edinburgh newspaper said this. The redeemed drunkard's van gave short-pointed testimonies The life stories of some of these men is simply marvelous and is proof positive that the day of miracles has not yet passed. A religion that can change such men and make them loving husbands and respectable citizens is a religion worth having. I would change them. I would say a God who can change men like this is a God worth having. But they looked at it and they said, God did that. When the Welsh Revival took place, in 1904, 1905, the world looked at it. It was in all the newspapers. They saw God do something. I don't know about you, I'm tired of this world, mocking God, laughing at God, saying there is no God. And there's not an example before them of what God can do. I feel bad for people that don't know anybody that's born again. They don't know anybody that's saved. There is no example of a life change, a transformed life when God did something. There's no example of a church that's on fire for God. And I would say this to us in the church. You know what? I believe these promises are promises of things that God will do. I believe it says right here, I will do it. I believe we ought to go as a church to God and say, okay, God, we're gonna inquire of you for your glory. God, do it in us, God. Sanctify us, God. Regenerate us, God. Make us fellowship with you and know the sweetness of fellowship with you in us. And then God do it through us. God establish us. We're praying about it, aren't we? God's given us a bank account. It looks like there's nowhere for us. It looks like that. But Jeremiah 33.3, call unto me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which thou must not. God's got it, I believe God's gonna do it. I'll tell you as a pastor, I believe God's gonna do it. But we gotta stand on our knees and say, God, we're gonna do it. Do it in such a way that this heathen world looks at it and says, I don't get it. That was a battlefield! But it's fruitful. I didn't think they'd give me a building that big! For the grace sake, give. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God give His grace to His people to look at this in the Word of God. See what Tim got in his knees. He said, God, you're gonna do it. Ezekiel got in his knees. He said, God, you got this. will give us grace to understand that our God is the God of heaven. That our God is the God that said, I will do it. I will cleanse you. I will take away your idols. I will give you the spirit of God. I will be your God. You'll be my people. I'm gonna plant you again in this land. I'm gonna establish you and I'm gonna prosper you. And the heathen that mocked you and mocked me are gonna be amazed. Father, I just pray in our hearts tonight that you challenge us in this area of prayer and faith. Lord, we gotta ask ourselves, we're probably a lot more like a librarian, that everything's fine. No urgency, no real desire, no canning. Father, we gotta act like the house is on fire. I just pray tonight in our hearts, Lord, that we'd examine our hearts and say, you know, am I really, How much time do we spend in prayer? Do we really desire to see the work of our lives in our church? Father, just pray right now. I pray the Spirit of God have your way. I pray that you put us in a difficult position. You've pushed us out of our area. You've not allowed us to have Sunday morning or midweek, except on a Sunday. You made it so we have to have a building. There's no way to get a building, even though you provided the finances. Father, you put us in a place, I believe, to make us cry out. Father, the scripture that you've given me with regards to the promise of God is in the next chapter, chapter 37. And Father, before it speaks about, I will put you in this land, in a very confident statement of that in verse 14, maybe that revival has to come before we get the blessing of the property that we need. I don't know. But I pray, I pray that it would. Father, because what we need is revival, not for us. We don't deserve it. Father, we don't. I just pray as a people, we bow before you today and say, you know what? We do not deserve our bank account. We do not deserve a building. We're not righteous enough. We're not obedient enough. We're not servants enough. Father, I'm right there in the minutes. I'm not excluding myself. Father, we don't deserve it. But Father, would you praise God for your glory? Would you do it? God, for your glory, would you just revive us as a people? God, would you revive this church? And then, Father, would you meet the need that has to do with the second part, that you glorify your name through us? God, would you do that? It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen, we're saying a hymn of invitation, all right? And I wanna do that tonight.