Speaker 1: Well, happy 2026 to you. Can you believe it? I thought I'd have been dead a long time ago.
Speaker 1: But I think it promises us some excitement this coming year. Just looking at the headlines the last few days,
Speaker 1: you know, Putin vows to take all of Ukraine. I thought they were in peace talks.
Speaker 1: The U.S. arrests Maduro and his wife and says it will run Venezuela.
Speaker 1: That's going to be very, very interesting.
Speaker 1: Don't you think?
Speaker 1: And because of that, some think that China will think, well, hey, if they can do that, and we can do that in Taiwan.
Speaker 1: Or what about Israel?
Speaker 1: And the seven-front battle, they are.
Speaker 1: in continues to be very, very interesting. And Gaza, you know, is an absolute disaster, I believe.
Speaker 1: Lord knows what's going to happen there. So it's causing all kinds of anti-Semitic thought and
Speaker 1: turmoil. 2026 is shaping up to be a humdinger of a year already. But what do we do? We
Speaker 1: watch and we pay attention. Now, I must say that you must be very, very careful to who you listen
Speaker 1: to, right? You better have your Bible in one hand if you're listening to somebody talk and
Speaker 1: be careful if the people you're listening to is always trying to sell you something, right? Be careful
Speaker 1: of that. Lately I've been engaging Don Stewart. Some of you remember Don.
Speaker 1: you know, is very instrumental in the Blue Letter Bible, just an incredible theologian.
Speaker 1: He had a heart attack some years ago and has really slowed him down, but he does an update
Speaker 1: every year, or excuse me, every day, every single day, sometimes twice a day, and then he's
Speaker 1: doing some little vignettes on, I can't even remember what it's called now, something, but it's truth.
Speaker 1: untimely truth. And so that's one thing about truth is it doesn't change. Anyway, and Don
Speaker 1: doesn't try to sell you anything. Everything he presents is free and he can be trusted. He had gotten a
Speaker 1: text from Dennis Swick. Some of you maybe know who Dennis is. He's the owner of his channel,
Speaker 1: probably one of the largest Christian outlets in the world.
Speaker 1: And so Swick said these prophecy teachers today have lost their minds.
Speaker 1: They don't know their Bible, and the only Bible they know is a roadmap to hell.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: So be very careful of what you're listening to.
Speaker 1: We live in a time when we know where there's an expectation, right?
Speaker 1: We're expecting the Lord to come. We really are. And when you look through that through the lens of prophecy, we expect some other things. We feel like Ezekiel 38 and 39 could happen. And we know that's a last day's event. But we need to be just very careful how we go about listening to things or even saying things. Some people say the stupidest things. Right? And it just tips people over.
Speaker 1: it's best to not say nothing at all, right?
Speaker 1: It's best to not say nothing at all.
Speaker 1: Now, we know that if we're looking at Ezekiel 38 and 39, we realize who's the players, Russia
Speaker 1: in Iran.
Speaker 1: Do you realize what's going on in those countries right now?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: Russia is totally preoccupied with Ukraine, and Iran is about to implode.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just absolutely insane.
Speaker 1: And we know that both those countries are involved in Ezekiel 38 and 39.
Speaker 1: So we know that's not going to happen right really, really soon.
Speaker 1: We know that.
Speaker 1: And so that's what you need to be looking at and remember.
Speaker 1: Now, some say, well, that has to happen before the rapture.
Speaker 1: Who says?
Speaker 1: The Bible doesn't say that, that the rapture happens before or after Ezekiel 38 and 39.
Speaker 1: It might happen before.
Speaker 1: In fact, all of our church fathers over the years, they have all thought that they were the
Speaker 1: generation that was going to see the coming of the Lord. And there's good reason for that.
Speaker 1: Because when you believe that, right, when you honestly believe that in your heart,
Speaker 1: it affects the way you live your life. When you honestly believe that. And I do honestly believe
Speaker 1: that, that he can come at any time. And so we just watch and we wait. And we be very careful
Speaker 1: to read his word and put it in our hearts.
Speaker 1: The issue is to be ready, folks.
Speaker 1: Just to be ready.
Speaker 1: Just to be ready for your Lord to come.
Speaker 1: Be ready for your last breath.
Speaker 1: Be ready to die.
Speaker 1: And so it is very interesting times.
Speaker 1: I am very encouraged by the declaration of our president.
Speaker 1: back in September, he calls it America Praise.
Speaker 1: That's what it's called, is America Praise.
Speaker 1: And so I'll just read this little blurb that they put together from the president.
Speaker 1: President Trump, he says,
Speaker 1: as we prepare to celebrate two and a half centuries of freedom,
Speaker 1: I am inviting America's great religious communities to pray for our nation and for our people.
Speaker 1: From the beginning, this has always been a country sustained and
Speaker 1: strengthened by prayer. So important if we bring religion back stronger. Now, one thing you need to know
Speaker 1: when you look at history and when our founders talked about religion, they were talking about
Speaker 1: Christianity, right? Very specifically. Religion back stronger, you're going to see everything get
Speaker 1: better and better and better. You are going to see it get better and better. So as we chart our course for the next
Speaker 1: 250 years, let us rededicate ourselves to one nation under God. And then they ask is if one million
Speaker 1: Americans dedicated one hour a week to praying for our country and our people, will you join
Speaker 1: with at least 10 people to meet each week for one hour to pray for America? I mean, who can't do
Speaker 1: that? Come on, an hour a week? Really? That's just a few minutes a day, isn't it?
Speaker 1: Trump goes on and he says,
Speaker 1: as we celebrate 250 years of freedom,
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the principles that gave birth to this land of liberty.
Speaker 1: As George Washington famously said in his farewell address,
Speaker 1: of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
Speaker 1: religion and morality are the indispensable supports.
Speaker 1: In vain would that,
Speaker 1: man claimed the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars in human
Speaker 1: happiness these firmest props of the duties of men and his citizens and so we can pray right
Speaker 1: and uh trump had um when he did this uh a democratic senator came against him and um um um
Speaker 1: it says he says the need for this commission has never been more clear than it
Speaker 1: it was last week when the ineffectual senator from virginia a man named tim cane
Speaker 1: stated that the notion our rights come from our creator is extremely troubling to him
Speaker 1: is that trouble you it's the declaration of independence
Speaker 1: that proclaims we're endowed by our creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1: The senator from Virginia should be ashamed of himself.
Speaker 1: That's what Trump says.
Speaker 1: So we're to be people of prayer, and that's really what we're talking about here.
Speaker 1: It's the disciples' prayer that I didn't get very far in last time.
Speaker 1: But Luke, in Luke's gospel, he's focused on prayer.
Speaker 1: He has a heart for the people as a doctor, right? Luke was a doctor. He had a heart for people and no doubt
Speaker 1: realizing that the greatest medicine for the human spirit is to seek his God in prayer.
Speaker 1: Jesus was a man of prayer. John the Baptist, we see here in the first verse of this chapter, was a man of prayer.
Speaker 1: And intense prayer at that, just in chapters 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11, we see Jesus praying.
Speaker 1: And so that is definitely an example that we need to follow.
Speaker 1: He started off with our Father who art in Heaven.
Speaker 1: In fact, let's just read.
Speaker 1: We'll just read the prayer real quick, or the model real quick.
Speaker 1: Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done,
Speaker 1: on earth as it is in heaven, give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins,
Speaker 1: for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and to do not lead us into temptation,
Speaker 1: but deliver us from the evil one.
Speaker 1: Simple, many of us have recited it over the years, and it starts off with Father.
Speaker 1: We talked about that, that not everyone can call a God Father.
Speaker 1: Jesus does it here in the New Testament 167 times except one time.
Speaker 1: One time he doesn't call him Father.
Speaker 1: It's when he's on the cross.
Speaker 1: And he says, Elo, Elo, Eloy, Lama Sabakhani, or my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Speaker 1: And that's the first time that we don't see Jesus calling on God as his father.
Speaker 1: Because really he was in our place.
Speaker 1: And God is not naturally our father.
Speaker 1: Adam is the fallen one, right?
Speaker 1: Adam fell and got tangled up with the serpent and knew that he was naked and everything changed
Speaker 1: and this deadly disease spread through all of humanity through Adam.
Speaker 1: And Jesus came as the propitiation, the payment for that fall.
Speaker 1: and that's when Jesus, many believed that there was a separation between the father and the son
Speaker 1: on your behalf and mine.
Speaker 1: And so to call him father is to be born spiritually of him.
Speaker 1: Because in the Old Testament, when you see the term a son or sons of God, they were a direct creation of God.
Speaker 1: Adam is called a son of God, right?
Speaker 1: He was a direct creation of God.
Speaker 1: and then he fell, right?
Speaker 1: The angels are called sons of God.
Speaker 1: They are direct creations of God.
Speaker 1: But to be able to call God father is now requires that adoption.
Speaker 1: And he comes along and we're born again.
Speaker 1: And through his son, we can call him father.
Speaker 1: So he says, address him as father,
Speaker 1: and then he says, hallowed or holy set apart, be thou name.
Speaker 1: The Jews wouldn't speak the name of God.
Speaker 1: And when they wrote it, they would kind of be incognito about it.
Speaker 1: The name in antiquity stood for far more than it does with us.
Speaker 1: It summed up a person's whole character, all that was known or revealed about them.
Speaker 1: And you think about all the people that we see in the Bible in their names, and sometimes names were changed.
Speaker 1: but their names always meant something.
Speaker 1: Thinking of Abraham, right?
Speaker 1: Abram was exalted father.
Speaker 1: Abraham is the father of many nations.
Speaker 1: And so then you have Jacob, and his names changed to Israel,
Speaker 1: and it would really just profile their character.
Speaker 1: So don't name your son, Bonehead.
Speaker 1: He'll work on that enough on his own.
Speaker 1: You don't need to hang that title on him.
Speaker 1: But that we esteem the name of the Lord holy and set apart.
Speaker 1: I think when I read this, I thought of the Third Commandment,
Speaker 1: and I think I might have mentioned this last week,
Speaker 1: but there in Exodus chapter 20 when it says,
Speaker 1: that we shall not take the name of the Lord our God in vain.
Speaker 1: Don't take.
Speaker 1: And that word take in the Hebrew is it's pronounced Nassah.
Speaker 1: You know, it had a phonetic thing so I could actually pronounce it right.
Speaker 1: And it's Nassah, and it means to lift up, to magnify, to receive, regard, respect.
Speaker 1: Listen to this.
Speaker 1: To wear the name of God in an empty manner.
Speaker 1: In other words, if you say you're a Christian or living like hell, keep your mouth shut, would you?
Speaker 1: Don't mention Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you're not going to esteem him for who he is, don't be trying to tell people about him, right?
Speaker 1: Because if there's anything that turns the stomach of most people, it's hypocrisy.
Speaker 1: They hate it.
Speaker 1: I hate it.
Speaker 1: I look in the mirror and I hate it because there I am.
Speaker 1: And so, but don't do it in an empty way.
Speaker 1: There's a seriousness about it.
Speaker 1: And I love that when I saw that.
Speaker 1: That means to wear, to wear the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: When's the last time you're accused of being a Jesus freak?
Speaker 1: I love that accusation.
Speaker 1: Kiching, I'll take it.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: But be serious about it.
Speaker 1: So it's not really about vocabulary.
Speaker 1: Larry, taking the Lord's name in vain, though I believe that is sinful.
Speaker 1: But it's more about an ambassadorship, right?
Speaker 1: You're an ambassador to the king of kings and the Lord of Lord.
Speaker 1: So don't live in that empty way naming the name of Christ.
Speaker 1: Then he says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 1: This is the commission the kingdom.
Speaker 1: What is the kingdom?
Speaker 1: Your kingdom come.
Speaker 1: That's what Jesus, when he commissioned the 72 and the 12 when they went out, it was to proclaim the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: It's really asking for God's reign to be fully established on the earth.
Speaker 1: Just it is perfectly in heaven.
Speaker 1: Well, that's going to take some doing.
Speaker 1: signifying a desire for his rule in individual lives and the world,
Speaker 1: bringing his justice, peace, and glory both now and at Christ's return.
Speaker 1: It's a prayer for God to take his rightful place as king,
Speaker 1: not just in the earth, but in your life and my life personally,
Speaker 1: that his kingdom would come to our hearts,
Speaker 1: challenging earthly powers, which you and I have a lot,
Speaker 1: that kind of pull at us, right?
Speaker 1: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
Speaker 1: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Speaker 1: But when it comes and takes roosts and sets up in our heart,
Speaker 1: this spirit of the kingdom of God,
Speaker 1: or it could easily be described as the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: it changes, it changes us.
Speaker 1: And it needs to start with us, this desiring the kingdom.
Speaker 1: And ultimately, I think it fulfills the whole idea of Zion, where the Lord's going to rule
Speaker 1: and reign.
Speaker 1: And this is getting crazy now, right?
Speaker 1: Christian Zionist.
Speaker 1: Have you heard that one?
Speaker 1: There's Christian nationalists, Christian Zionists.
Speaker 1: I'm a Christian Zionist.
Speaker 1: I think I'm a Christian nationalist, too.
Speaker 1: That would probably disqualify me from running from any office.
Speaker 1: I don't know, because I think some people are like cool,
Speaker 1: and other people are like, you know.
Speaker 1: But one commentator out there is saying that Christian Zionism is a disease of the brain.
Speaker 1: Really? What is it even mean?
Speaker 1: Christian Zionism.
Speaker 1: Isn't Zionism just having God's reign?
Speaker 1: God's rule and reign?
Speaker 1: And specifically, it's connected to Israel, obviously, that God's going to set up where he placed the people of Israel.
Speaker 1: He's going to set up a throne there.
Speaker 1: He's going to rule and reign.
Speaker 1: that's Zionism
Speaker 1: I think he has his hand on Israel right now
Speaker 1: I think only a fool could say that he doesn't
Speaker 1: right
Speaker 1: but Jesus says something interesting
Speaker 1: in Luke 17 and I'm going to talk about it now
Speaker 1: because by the time we get to Luke 17
Speaker 1: everyone will have forgotten what I've been talking about
Speaker 1: and and in
Speaker 1: verses 20 and 21 in Luke 17, it says, now when he was asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God would come,
Speaker 1: he answered them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation.
Speaker 1: Nor will they say, see here or see there. For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.
Speaker 1: Think about that one for a minute.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: That's some heavy stuff.
Speaker 1: The kingdom of God is within us.
Speaker 1: Now, I got to tell you, I had to go to a commentator to get a little insight.
Speaker 1: Though I feel like I know what it is in my own heart.
Speaker 1: But Warren Wearsby says the word translated observation is used only here in the New Testament
Speaker 1: and means a classical Greek, in classical Greek, to observe the future by signs.
Speaker 1: Are we doing that now?
Speaker 1: Big time.
Speaker 1: In fact, I think people are saying there's signs out there that aren't even there yet.
Speaker 1: It carries the idea of spying or lying in weight and even scientific investigation.
Speaker 1: I think that's happening.
Speaker 1: I watched a little few-minute video the other day of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in Israel.
Speaker 1: Fascinating.
Speaker 1: And just like it's always been said, and just like all the atheists of the past who were going to prove the Bible wrong and they end up getting saved,
Speaker 1: You know, I know it's kind of the who's who, really, of atheists.
Speaker 1: C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel.
Speaker 1: The list goes on and on and on.
Speaker 1: Who are now believers in the Lord Jesus
Speaker 1: simply because a lot of the artifacts that they studied
Speaker 1: in their ploy to disprove Christianity backfired on them.
Speaker 1: And so that's what it means by observation.
Speaker 1: You're not going to just watch it come.
Speaker 1: Something, it has to, it's not out here.
Speaker 1: It's in here.
Speaker 1: The Pharisees' question was legitimate, but it was also tragic.
Speaker 1: For Jesus had been ministering among them for some three years,
Speaker 1: and these men were still in spiritual darkness.
Speaker 1: They did not understand who Jesus was,
Speaker 1: or what he was seeking to accomplish.
Speaker 1: Their views of the kingdom were political, not spiritual,
Speaker 1: Jewish, not universal.
Speaker 1: Jesus did not deny that there would be a future earthly kingdom,
Speaker 1: but he did emphasize the importance of the spiritual kingdom
Speaker 1: that could be entered only by a new birth, right?
Speaker 1: And he outlines John 3-1-8 when Jesus had the encounter with Nicodemus.
Speaker 1: He said, hey, Nicotemus, you must be born again.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: It's an imperative.
Speaker 1: It's not an option.
Speaker 1: You must be born again.
Speaker 1: The statement, the kingdom of God is within you, has challenged Bible translators and interpreters for centuries.
Speaker 1: And many explanations have been given.
Speaker 1: One thing can be sure of this, that he was not telling the unbelieving Pharisees that they had.
Speaker 1: the kingdom of God in their hearts.
Speaker 1: They didn't because they didn't believe.
Speaker 1: That's how the kingdom of God is in your heart.
Speaker 1: It's when you believe.
Speaker 1: And his spirit bears witness with your spirit
Speaker 1: that you are a son or a daughter of God.
Speaker 1: The Greek preposition can mean within among or in the midst of,
Speaker 1: Jesus was saying, don't look for the kingdom
Speaker 1: out there unless it is first in your heart.
Speaker 1: And I think that's so true.
Speaker 1: Paul's writing in Romans says that a person who is a Jew is one inwardly, right?
Speaker 1: That something has taken place in the heart.
Speaker 1: Romans 14, 17, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but right,
Speaker 1: righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: When you hear that gospel and it hits you, not here, but here.
Speaker 1: Right. It changes something going on in here. That's weird to me.
Speaker 1: But that's how, that's how he connects with us. He knows which button to push.
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying the fact that I am here in your midst is what is important.
Speaker 1: For I am the king, how can you enter the kingdom if you reject the king?
Speaker 1: Amen. A couple chapters later, Jesus rides into Jerusalem, right?
Speaker 1: and there's some people that have the kingdom of God in their hearts when he rides in there
Speaker 1: in verses 38 through 40 in Luke 19.
Speaker 1: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Speaker 1: And some of the Pharisees called for him to him from the crowd.
Speaker 1: Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
Speaker 1: But he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.
Speaker 1: The kingdom.
Speaker 1: The Pharisees were preoccupied with the great events of the future, but were ignoring the opportunities of the present, which was the presence of their own Messiah.
Speaker 1: And I see so many people like that, they get so twisted up about what other people are doing or not doing.
Speaker 1: Instead of just listen, God is called you and me personally.
Speaker 1: The kingdom of heaven is in our hearts personally.
Speaker 1: Let's do what God's called us to do.
Speaker 1: It's so simple.
Speaker 1: And it leads us to the next part of that.
Speaker 1: your will be done.
Speaker 1: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 1: Jesus prayed for this at Gethsemedy.
Speaker 1: You remember he said, Father, not my will, but thine be done.
Speaker 1: If there's any way this cup can pass, right?
Speaker 1: He wasn't afraid to ask.
Speaker 1: If there's any way this cup can pass, let it pass, but not my will, but thine be done.
Speaker 1: Not about you, but as I grow closer to the Lord, I do want the,
Speaker 1: God's will to be to be done in my life.
Speaker 1: But sometimes we're not sure, right?
Speaker 1: We're not sure.
Speaker 1: What is God's will for me?
Speaker 1: Well, I think there's some hints in the scriptures, right?
Speaker 1: First Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, rejoice always,
Speaker 1: and pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: So that's a good one, right?
Speaker 1: rejoice, pray, without ceasing, and give thanks.
Speaker 1: That's the will of God right there.
Speaker 1: Do you practice that?
Speaker 1: Some people are so hung up on doing the will of God,
Speaker 1: they forget to do these things.
Speaker 1: These are like the elementary things.
Speaker 1: These are the simple things that we can do.
Speaker 1: Hebrews 1010 says,
Speaker 1: by that will, the will of God,
Speaker 1: we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Speaker 1: God set us apart.
Speaker 1: He wants to use your life.
Speaker 1: So if you can rejoice and give thanks,
Speaker 1: you're well on your way.
Speaker 1: I remember being that one who,
Speaker 1: I didn't know what God's will for my life was.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what he wanted me to do specifically.
Speaker 1: But I was rejoicing.
Speaker 1: I was seeking the Lord.
Speaker 1: I was going to church.
Speaker 1: I was reading my Bible.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker 1: Doors start opening opportunities to go minister.
Speaker 1: scared me to death.
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can do that.
Speaker 1: I don't think I can do that.
Speaker 1: First one was teaching a third grade Bible study through the book of Ephesians.
Speaker 1: Third graders.
Speaker 1: They were a bit intimidating.
Speaker 1: First Peter 2.15,
Speaker 1: for this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Speaker 1: just do good do what's right before god you gotta go to you gotta go to god to find out what's right
Speaker 1: just do what's right before god faithful with a little he'll give you more faithful with a little
Speaker 1: he'll give you a little more faithful with a little that's just god's economy same chapter in first
Speaker 1: peter verse 21 for to this you were called because christ also suffered for us leaving us an example
Speaker 1: that you should follow in his steps.
Speaker 1: Oh, I was all hunky dory up till that one.
Speaker 1: Now I'm got to be willing to suffer.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Jesus suffered.
Speaker 1: Why would you be hesitant to do something that your Lord was willing to do?
Speaker 1: Why would we?
Speaker 1: And yet we do.
Speaker 1: Oh, no.
Speaker 1: I want peace, love, and brotherhood in a soft place to land.
Speaker 1: we'll get that in heaven right we'll get that in heaven right we'll get that in heaven
Speaker 1: we should be hungry for the will of god first peter three nine not returning evil for
Speaker 1: evil this is the will of god or reviling for reviling but on the contrary blessing knowing
Speaker 1: that you were called to this that you may inherit a blessing and some say well that's just being too
Speaker 1: I don't want to be that nice.
Speaker 1: Years ago, I read a book about a KGB officer in Russia that defected.
Speaker 1: And he was, I don't know who he was under, if he was under Gorvachava, or who he was.
Speaker 1: But they were adamant about persecuting the underground church.
Speaker 1: And he had killed several people, arrested them.
Speaker 1: kind of an apostle Paul type story.
Speaker 1: But the thing that rocked his world is when he had the butt of his gun
Speaker 1: above the head of a little old woman that he had taken captive in a Bible study
Speaker 1: and he was going to hit her in the head and kill her.
Speaker 1: And she looked up at him and she says,
Speaker 1: Oh, Lord Jesus, please forgive him.
Speaker 1: He don't know what he's doing.
Speaker 1: And it just rocked the guy's world.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: Just that little ounce of faith.
Speaker 1: that she mustered at that moment.
Speaker 1: And he defected from Russia,
Speaker 1: came, went to Canada,
Speaker 1: and then eventually came to the States
Speaker 1: and was a dynamic believer in the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1: Is it worth it?
Speaker 1: Because we,
Speaker 1: I think right now the church,
Speaker 1: in America,
Speaker 1: is kind of
Speaker 1: playing with this idea, do we return evil for evil?
Speaker 1: If they attack us, what do we do?
Speaker 1: And my answer is, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what we're to do.
Speaker 1: Folks, don't be surprised if there is a wave of Islam that comes across this country.
Speaker 1: right it started the trickle effect right we got a socialist in seattle and a socialist and socialist
Speaker 1: Muslim in New York and we're sandwiched in between which way do we turn just look up look up walk by
Speaker 1: faith show the character of Christ Jesus in our dealings on earth as it is in heaven the on earth part
Speaker 1: that's our part right on earth as it is in heaven because here we are right now we're just to live out
Speaker 1: god's will for us these things these good things that we've just read about not returning evil for
Speaker 1: evil rejoicing always praying without ceasing how good are we on that one i'm i need work i need work on
Speaker 1: that one i was so overwhelmed by looking at this message and this prayer model that jesus gave us here
Speaker 1: yesterday I just had to go for a walk in the mud it's not even it's not even froze up I had to find
Speaker 1: some shadowy spots to walk where I wasn't slipping all over the place but I just Lord I just got to
Speaker 1: come pray I don't even I don't even know what to pray about I mean obviously I lifted up my family
Speaker 1: and and the ones coming after me because I realize my time here on earth is is getting shorter
Speaker 1: by the day and I just had to go and walk and pray
Speaker 1: and seek the Lord.
Speaker 1: I never regretted doing that one time in my life, ever.
Speaker 1: What about you?
Speaker 1: You ever regretted praying?
Speaker 1: But I've regretted not a whole bunch.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever regretted coming to church.
Speaker 1: But I've regretted not.
Speaker 1: not going
Speaker 1: on earth as it is in heaven
Speaker 1: that's why it's so important
Speaker 1: for us to stay close to Jesus
Speaker 1: in these days in which we live
Speaker 1: get involved in some kind of a prayer group
Speaker 1: man come to the office
Speaker 1: we pray three times a week there
Speaker 1: Tuesdays
Speaker 1: Thursdays and Fridays
Speaker 1: and it's sweet
Speaker 1: and you learn
Speaker 1: you learn some of these
Speaker 1: these ways
Speaker 1: to pray.
Speaker 1: And then give us day by day our daily bread.
Speaker 1: Notice that would suggest no storing up.
Speaker 1: Not to store up a big storehouse,
Speaker 1: but a daily provision, a dependence on the Lord.
Speaker 1: The psalmist mentions this in Psalm 37.
Speaker 1: He says,
Speaker 1: The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
Speaker 1: and he delights in his way.
Speaker 1: though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the lord upholds him with his hand i have been young
Speaker 1: and now i'm old yet i have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread
Speaker 1: he is ever merciful and lends he and his descendants are blessed god takes care of those who just depend on him
Speaker 1: on a daily basis day by day it's a model that we're
Speaker 1: was modeled for us in the Old Testament when the children of Israel would go out day by day.
Speaker 1: Go get your manna. No storing any up, unless the worms come and eat it up.
Speaker 1: They could store up a little extra on the Sabbath day and that was it. No, it's a daily dependence.
Speaker 1: We're going to see that as we get further into chapter 11. Then all of this is man humbling himself before God.
Speaker 1: right our father hallowed be thy name your will be done your kingdom come on earth give us this day our daily bread
Speaker 1: this is man humbling yourself before god it's always easy to humble ourselves before god isn't it
Speaker 1: because he's a little he's a little easier to love than the person sitting next to you
Speaker 1: but then god calls us in this prayer he says forgive us as oh no as we forgive others
Speaker 1: brothers. This is a tough one. So this requires us to humble ourselves before God and then go humble
Speaker 1: ourselves before our brother or vice versa, right? Because it suggests that to experience God's
Speaker 1: forgiveness, you must first forgive your brother. Do I really? You know how many people I've
Speaker 1: talked to over the years and counseled with over the years? And they have told me I will never
Speaker 1: forgive that person.
Speaker 1: That doesn't fly, folks.
Speaker 1: That doesn't fly when it comes to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Because in more than one place, in my Bible here, it says,
Speaker 1: and forgive our sins, for we also forgive anyone who is indebted to us.
Speaker 1: We let it go.
Speaker 1: Don't we?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 1: We put on the brass knuckles
Speaker 1: and we're looking for our shot
Speaker 1: when they're not looking.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: We're going to get them.
Speaker 1: Don't get mad or get even.
Speaker 1: Listen, it's...
Speaker 1: Forgiveness is not optional.
Speaker 1: It's mandatory.
Speaker 1: It's not optional.
Speaker 1: it's mandatory.
Speaker 1: You say, but how can you do that
Speaker 1: when nothing in you,
Speaker 1: nothing in you desires that?
Speaker 1: You do it as an act of your will.
Speaker 1: Apart from what you feel,
Speaker 1: right?
Speaker 1: You do it as an act of your will.
Speaker 1: You just do it.
Speaker 1: Kind of like eating Brussels sprouts.
Speaker 1: You don't enjoy it.
Speaker 1: You just do it because it's good for you.
Speaker 1: it is good for you
Speaker 1: so in Matthew 6 when Jesus uses a lot of the same language it says for if you forgive men
Speaker 1: their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive men
Speaker 1: their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespass
Speaker 1: can somebody interpret this for me as
Speaker 1: there another interpretation that you can get away with not forgiving? No, there is not. You cannot
Speaker 1: get away with not forgiving. You have to. You say, I can't. You're right. You can't, but God in you
Speaker 1: can. And that's who does it. I know I've had it in my own life. People that I've hated actually
Speaker 1: had visions. I had this one vision of killing this guy. It was actually a dream and I was I was above him.
Speaker 1: I was I had him what are the the MMA guys called it? It was full mount. I was fully mounted on this dude with a knife and I was plunging it into his chest in my dream.
Speaker 1: It so freaked me out. This guy, him and I were roommates. It so freaked me out. I quit my job because I thought, oh no, I can't
Speaker 1: could do that. I hate that guy this bad. So I quit. I left. I went back to work at the same
Speaker 1: place, but I said, don't you ever, don't you ever put me with that guy again? I hate his
Speaker 1: stinking guts. And I did. But we had to start working with each other. And my, and I had come to
Speaker 1: Christ and the Lord started convicting me going, what are you doing? You realize your mind now,
Speaker 1: you can't hate anybody. You got to forgive him. In fact, go share the gospel with him.
Speaker 1: Great. Just great. But I began to pray for him by name before I shared the gospel with him.
Speaker 1: And then I just tried to live it out because we worked together quite a bit. And I, I just tried to live it out.
Speaker 1: I honestly learn to love this guy, right?
Speaker 1: I look back at his past and I thought,
Speaker 1: the reason the way he is,
Speaker 1: is the way he is the way he was brought up
Speaker 1: and he don't know no better.
Speaker 1: He don't know what he's doing.
Speaker 1: He's lost as a goose.
Speaker 1: And God changed my heart.
Speaker 1: But I had to meet him halfway.
Speaker 1: I had to decide, God, I know I got to forgive this guy
Speaker 1: and I got to love this guy,
Speaker 1: but I'm really struggling.
Speaker 1: that may be you start praying for them by name not only praying for them but pray god's blessing on them
Speaker 1: by name and all of a sudden it starts morphing your heart it may not do anything in their life
Speaker 1: but you're the one who needs to be set free but so often it's the thing that we struggle with the most
Speaker 1: jesus doubles down in matthew 18 verses 21 through 35 where he tells that he tells that
Speaker 1: that hair-raising parable about the unforgiving servant, right?
Speaker 1: And I'm running out of time.
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to go there.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to read a couple of the verses that are in that passage here in chapter 18.
Speaker 1: It says, then his master after he had called him, said to him, you wicked servant,
Speaker 1: I forgave you all that debt.
Speaker 1: This is a dude was in debt about 10 or 20 million.
Speaker 1: And God forgave it, or the master forgave it.
Speaker 1: You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
Speaker 1: Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant who owed you $40?
Speaker 1: And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
Speaker 1: So my Heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
Speaker 1: But it is truly freedom.
Speaker 1: When you consciously make that decision to forgive, seriously, forgive,
Speaker 1: it sets you free.
Speaker 1: It truly sets you and I free.
Speaker 1: Then the last two, help us to not be tempted.
Speaker 1: or do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I need God's help because I know that I'm truly in this spiritual battle that is constant.
Speaker 1: It never goes away, right?
Speaker 1: It's a fight to resist temptation.
Speaker 1: Proverbs 4 14 and 15 tells us to avoid the path of evil.
Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 2 tells us to flee youthful lust, pursue righteousness, right? Because you can't sit idle.
Speaker 1: You're pursuing something. You're either backsliding or you're pursuing the Lord. You're pursuing
Speaker 1: righteousness. And so keep moving, right? It's like pedaling the bike. If you quit pedaling,
Speaker 1: you fall over. That's the analogy there. But deliver us from the evil one. We know we have a
Speaker 1: an enemy. He's real. He's alive. He's benevolent. He's, he's horrible. He accuses us.
Speaker 1: And people look at him differently. Some are not even aware of his influence in their life.
Speaker 1: Others, they're so freaked out by him. They're paralyzed with fear. Well, I think both of those
Speaker 1: things were wrong.
Speaker 1: I just keep Jesus between me and Satan.
Speaker 1: That's just a good way to live.
Speaker 1: I just keep Jesus between me and Satan.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: And when I keep Jesus against me and Satan, there's no contest.
Speaker 1: Or excuse me.
Speaker 1: I wrote that's down wrong.
Speaker 1: if I keep Jesus between me and Satan there's no problem
Speaker 1: but if I try to take on Satan on my own there's no contest
Speaker 1: right he's going to destroy me every time
Speaker 1: but I greater is he the scripture says right
Speaker 1: that is in us than he that is in the world
Speaker 1: and so we just need to fight that good fight folks
Speaker 1: right dedicate some time
Speaker 1: to be alone with God. Read his word. Let him speak to your heart. Make your request known to him.
Speaker 1: Worship him. Be thankful. And really, it's not rocket science. It's just a matter of doing it and
Speaker 1: committing to it. That's the problem. We commit to too many other things, right, that just push
Speaker 1: God's out, push God out, a God's influence in our life out. And that's idolatry when we allow that to
Speaker 1: happen.
Speaker 1: So may 2026 be a year where you just focus in, just focus in on the Lord, right?
Speaker 1: Matthew 633.
Speaker 1: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Speaker 1: All these things will be added unto you.
Speaker 1: It's a heat we have outside and I'm sweating.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to pray now.
Speaker 1: Would you all stand with me?
Speaker 1: If you need prayer,
Speaker 1: this morning, the prayer team's going to be up here. The worship team's going to come up and do a song.
Speaker 1: But let's pray, shall we? And let's just dedicate this year to the Lord. And we can follow our
Speaker 1: president's lead on this one. Maybe not a lot. We can follow him on, but this one we can.
Speaker 1: And so to just commit to praying for our country, for our communities, our states, and our churches,
Speaker 1: our families. Father, we just come before you right now, Lord, and we know that you're able to do so much more
Speaker 1: than we could ever ask or think and in prayer because we're so limited. Lord, so would you just give us
Speaker 1: the gift of hungering for you, Lord, that you would put that in our spirits, that we would
Speaker 1: not turn away from you, not be led away by temptation or the enemy, but that we would, we would
Speaker 1: would fight this good fight and seek you in prayer, Lord, and ask you to direct our steps.
Speaker 1: Give us wisdom and vision for the future, Lord.
Speaker 1: And we know that time is short, especially according to your time clock, Lord.
Speaker 1: And so help us to keep lifting up our head, knowing our redemption is drawing near, Lord,
Speaker 1: and that we ought to be about your business, Lord, just as you were that example to us,
Speaker 1: even as a 12-year-old boy in the temple talking about the things of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Help us to have that on our lips, your word and your spirit.
Speaker 1: Lord, just emanating from our hearts as we walk with you and talk with you
Speaker 2: and are led by you to that place of abundant life.
Speaker 2: And we pray in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: Let's worship.
Speaker 2: Thank you.