Donnie Bell had a good article.
I'll email it to everybody. Speaking about a man who had
a Bible school, teach preachers how to preach. And he said, no
matter what you preach, someone will believe you. And they'll go out into eternity,
facing God, believing what you preach to them. It's sobering. Sobering thought. If you would open your Bibles
to Genesis 32. I cannot express to you How much
this is not hyperbole or fancy talk or something that just sounds
good. You've heard men say it. You've heard faithful men you
all respect say it. This might be the last time I
preach. With what I'm under, God kill
me and take me home now. We might just have this first
service this morning. This might be the last time you hear me
preach, Mike. Deanne, might be the last time you ever, in this
county, had me stand up in front of you and preach. God help me. Dawn Fortner wrote, you listening? Preaching from the heart. When
I hear a man preach, I want to hear a man preach from his heart.
When I preach, I want to preach from my heart. Let no one mistake
my meaning. I do not suggest or imply that
doctrine is secondary. It's not. Doctrine is vital. The gospel must be preached from
the heart passionately. I've read this so many times
years ago. Big grandiose idea is me preaching. I've known God's
gonna call me to be a preacher since I was a little kid. And
I hope it was him doing it, not me. John Rusk wrote, I want an
experimental preacher. One who, when he has had one
meal, is tried how he shall get the next. One who is tormented
with devils fit to tear him limb from limb. One who feels hell
inside of himself and every corruption in his nature stirred up to oppose
God's work. One who feels so weak that every
day he gets over, he views us next to a miracle. That sounds
so religious and good, don't it? Oh, no thing to live. being made a minister. Paul said,
I've made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power. God had
called Paul to preach the gospel, and he knew it, and he was humbled
by it. And he rejoiced in it, but he
trembled because of it. Only God can make a man a preacher.
That's what Don wrote. And I say to which I say, if
you want to be a preacher, if God makes you one, God help you. You want internet ministry, God
help you. You want a book ministry, God help you. You want to draw
cartoons for Jesus, God help you. If he's going to use you.
I'm preaching on crying out to God this morning. I had to live
that to tell you about it. And I pray earnestly of a heart
in this room would cry out to God today. and you by yourself. Cry out
to God, not cry out to me, not cry out to those that offended
you, not cry out to those you've offended. Cry out to God. Genesis 32, praying while distressed. Are you distressed? I've worked on this all week.
Is this a surprise? We're at Genesis 32 this morning.
We're going to be in Psalm 36 if God don't strike me down between
now and next hour. That's where we're at, isn't
it? That's what the text is coming to. I've been reading Psalm 36
for two and a half weeks. Praying while, are you distressed?
I am. And I'm just going to preach
to me today. Are you distressed? I am. Genesis 32, verse one. And Jacob went on his way, and
the angels of God met him. And Jacob saw them, and he said,
this is God's host. And he called the name of that
place, Mahanaim. Jacob sent messengers before
him to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, the country
of Edom. And he commanded them, those
messengers, saying, thus shall you speak unto my lord, Esau.
Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and
stayed there until now. This whole time, this 27 years,
wherever it's been, I've been with Uncle Laban. And I have
oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants,
and I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy
sight. Jacob just saw two heavenly hosts
worth of angels. One one thousand two. Last week,
buddy, I could have moved mountains. And immediately he saw, no, here
comes Esau. Take everything we got, go tell
him about all the goods he can spoil. He's going to take these
things, he might keep from killing me. Maybe if I give it all up,
I won't die. That ain't going to do, is it? The messengers returned to Jacob
and saying, we came to thy brother Esau, verse six, and also he
cometh to meet thee of 400 men with him. We went and told Esau,
he's coming. And he ain't got 318 men like
Abraham did, he's got 400. And Jacob was greatly afraid
and distressed. Esau wouldn't come and have a
family picnic. He meant business. Jacob was
greatly afraid and distressed. This is something for somebody
that's greatly afraid and something for somebody that's distressed.
He did something about it. He divided the people that was
with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two
bands. He said, if Esau come up to one company and smite it,
then the other company, which is left, shall escape. Y'all
sit over there, half of you, another half of you sit, I'm
gonna take one wife and all my kids with her over here. Leah,
you go over there, Rachel, you go over there, all my children
over there. And if God kills one of you, the other one's running
the other way. That's the game plan. That was wise of Esau. He was
using means, he was trusting the Lord. He knew that the Lord
must do the protecting and the preserving and it's his business
to keep him. But he also understood this may
be the means that God gave him to do it. He didn't just throw
up his hands and roll over and show his belly and say, well,
God will do what he wants. No. He had means put in his hand,
he used those means put in his hand. That's what Paul was saying. Somebody's going to ask, well,
who's resisted his will? God's sovereign. Oh, hush. Man, who art thou that replies
against God? And he brought such a great gift,
didn't he? He was going to be a peacemaker. Sons of Jacob are peacemakers.
They're peacemakers. Take everything I got. Jacob had been through a whole
lot of trouble, hadn't he? He's got more trouble to come. All
those things with Esau from decades ago, he took a birthright. Worked hard for seven years for
Rachel. Then that night, found out it wasn't Rachel. That's
a long time, isn't it? Seven years. Then he worked another seven
years. That's 14 years total for one woman. That's love, isn't
it? Laban changed his wages 10 times.
He said to him, any cattle that come out, you have all the pure
ones. You're watching mine. Any cattle that come out that's
spotted, you get it. And then every cattle, every,
every sheep come out with spot. And he said, well, not, no, no.
Okay. I said spot, I meant speckled. The rules kept changing. And
then the Lord moved it to wherever they come out with speckled.
That thing was ring straight. It was brown, whatever, whatever
the terms were changed to. That's what God blessed to Jacob. His wife couldn't have children,
the one he loved. And she was harsh to him. And
he was harsh right back at her. And then Laban pursued him, didn't
he? Ran to him in perfection, pursued him, tracked him down.
And Jacob ran because he was afraid. These are hard times,
isn't it? He saw two hosts of the Lord.
God spoke to him and promised him. This is Jacob's whole life. Up
one minute, down the next. Is that you? Is that me? One second so strong, the next
second I can't get my head, God make you believe his words, off
my wet couch. Know what David said? I've wetted
my couch. How are we to pray during times
like that? That's distressing. Is that distressing to you? That's
distressing to me. Now, pray to God. Not get up
and say a prayer. Not get up and quote some old
English things that dead men said. Pray to God. How we gonna do that? You got
a fancy set of words to say to Him? God's gonna teach us something. If this is the last time I preach,
and this is the last thing you're ever gonna hear, I'm gonna teach
you how to pray before I leave this place, because I'm gonna tell you what God says
about it. You know how to cry out to him.
You might get distressed. I pray God makes us distressed, too.
That's the only time we will cry out to him. I don't mean
sit down and, well, it's time to eat. Bless this to my body.
No. Pray to God. Pray to the God. He'd just been freshly reminded
of the promises and the power of the Lord, and now he's facing
400 men led by his angry brother. And he was greatly afraid. Jacob
divided that family into two camps, two bands. And I just
thought, you've been divided in two camps? Ever? Have you ever had two minds
in you? One wanting to serve God and
one wanting to run for the hills? Not cry to God, cry that he goes
away. Not cry that he's revealed, cry
that the mountains fall on you. Here's how Jacob prays. He's
in a penchant. I hope I can learn something
about praying this morning too. Genesis 32 verse nine, and Jacob
said, oh God, That's all over this place. OMG.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And then hottie,
pottie, pious little Pharisee said, well, now that's blasphemous.
Well, maybe so. Maybe so. We just flip it, don't
we? Jacob prayed, oh, God. Oh, God. He wasn't, that's who
he's praying to. That's who he's praying to. People
pray to a God or a little g God or some dude named Jesus. Jacob
prayed to God and he prayed, Oh God, not to Jude, not to Peter,
not to Mary. That won't do you any good. Not
to another person, not in front of a whole lot of people. I'm
the one that prays in front of everybody. I'm the one that leads
us in prayer. He prayed to God. Jacob prayed
to God. Oh God, our father. Our Lord
taught us that in Matthew 6. He said, when you pray, don't
you be like him hypocrites who love to pray standing in the
corners of the streets and the synagogues that they may be seen
of men. We will now worship our God in
prayer. Ah, Mr. Ahmed, incense slinging all over
the place, putting on a show. They got their reward. That's
what he said. You want that? That's what you
got. God said so. He said, I'm gonna teach you.
My children, my Jacobs, you sorry sons of Jacob. After this manner,
you pray, our Father, that's how you start, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. You're talking to a holy God.
Talking to a holy God. This is a prayer to God, but
it's in desperation, isn't it? We call to him to praise him.
Thank you, Lord, this is a great day. Now he's in distress. He calls to him in distress.
David cried a lot too, didn't he? And he cried to the Lord.
He says he cries over and over and over, out of my troubles,
didn't he? Psalm 18 says, in my distress, Jacob was in distress. I'm in distress. You in distress?
In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. The Lord did cry. He cried. John Reeves called me this morning
to check on me, and I couldn't talk. It's not going everywhere. And I said, just pray for me,
brother. He said, I will. He hung up. He cried. I was crying. What? That ain't no good. That ain't
religious. They didn't teach us that in the Reformed church,
did they? They didn't teach us in Catholic church. They didn't
teach us in Southern Baptist church or Armenians or whoever. Mommy
and daddy didn't teach me that, and they were just good people.
No, God teaches it. You can fast all you want to,
God gives a fast. That's when he can't eat. Our
Lord went in the wilderness for 40 days and did not eat. Why?
He was tempted to Satan the whole time. He gives a fast, that's when
he approves of. It's approved, it's got his stamp, he gave it. We cry unto him. David said,
in my distress I called upon the Lord and I cried unto my
God and he heard my voice out of his temple. And my cry came
before him and into his ears. Child of God, you have the ear
of almighty God. What are you going to do with it? Wouldn't that be enough though? I've said that to you a bunch
of times. I never heard anybody say it before. I had a lot of people agree with.
I had a grown man that retired from the prison system. He's
about six foot two and scary looking. He's got a flat top.
Some of you old people know what a flat top is. Come up to me
after a service one time, tears streaming down his face and just
went and hugged me. He said, my God, what a God.
That's all I said. Would that be enough? We just
cried out. Oh God. Oh God. Our Savior said we are not heard
for our much speaking. We are heard by the sincerity
of our hearts. We don't have to inform the Lord
of anything. Did you know that? He knows. He knows everything. He knows
everything, but we cry unto him, don't we? He knows all. He sent the distresses and he'll
deliver us from those distresses. He knows my heart and he knows
everybody else's heart involved too. That's who we're crying
to. Second, what's the basis we're
to pray on? What right do you have to talk
to him? What right do I have to talk to him? Look here at
verse nine. And Jacob said, oh God of my father Abraham and
God of my father Isaac. It ain't just something we say,
you pay attention to it, man. He's praying to a covenant God.
He's praying to a covenant God. He's not dependent on our promises.
He isn't concerned about us keeping our word. He keeps his word. He gave his word to my grandpa. He gave his word to my daddy.
That's who I'm talking to. I don't want to talk to another
one. I don't want to talk to a God that can't save. Won't gonna
do me no good. I don't want to talk to a God that tries to do
something. Ain't gonna help me. If that's who you're praying
to or you used to, you wasn't saved, you ain't saved. I can't
make it no plainer than that. Oh God of my father Abraham,
the God of my father Isaac, he's a covenant God. Jacob's not calling
out to God for pity or emotion on his behalf. Or maybe God feels
sorry for me. Maybe I'll solicit a response.
I'll get him, I'll get him crying. Then I'll do me some good. No,
he's crying out on the only grounds he has in those covenant of mercies
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That seed promised to Abraham. That seed promised to Isaac,
that seed promised to Jacob. That's one seed, Christ. That's the foundation of it.
That's what right he has. And it's right to call out to
the Lord. Jacob's not some frightened cow. He's not some falling sparrow. We'll see maybe next time. He's a son of Abraham. He's a
son of the Lord. He's a spiritual member of Israel,
and he hasn't been called Israel yet. He's God's child. Look back
here in Genesis 28, verse 11. This is when God came to him. Genesis 28, 11. Genesis 28, 11. And he lied upon
a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was
set. And he took of the stones of that place and put them for
his pillows. And he laid down in that place
to sleep. Jacob wasn't seeking God. He wasn't doing something
sweet and holy. He was running. And God came
to him. And he dreamed, and behold, a
ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven,
and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God
of Abraham, thy father, the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. Sing with me
right now. What promises did he make to
you? I'm gonna bless Christ in you, your mind. and that one
that dwells in you, I'm gonna bless him. That new man I put
in you, I'm gonna bless him. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and
to the east, to the north, to the south, and in thee and in
thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And
behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places, whether
thou goest. and bring thee again unto this
land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which
I have spoken of thee. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said,
surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was
afraid and said, how dreadful is this place. This is none other
but the house of God. This is the gate of heaven." Right here's the house of God.
Where was that at? Was that a fancy building with
gutters? He's on a pile of rocks out in the middle of nowhere.
He cried out to God, but only based on the promises of God
to him. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate them, he also called. He called Jacob,
didn't he? Did he call you? Come where you are. And whom
he called, he justified. Whom he justified them, he also
glorified. What shall we say to these things?
You got a lot of people against you. You got 400 men coming with
your angry brother. If God be for us, who can be against us? He's not worried about us changing. He never changes. That's all
we are. Wishy-washy, ups and downs, flippy-floppy,
left and right, whatever you want to call it. Hot and cold,
soft and hard, and anything in between, ain't we? He never changes.
And the Lord gave his word. The God gave his promises. He
said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, because of that,
ye sons of Jacob, not everybody, sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Our father, how's he our father? By his choice, by his power,
by his covenant of grace. That's how he's our father. That's
how we're his children. Everyone that's a son of God
is a son of Abraham, the son of promise. Thirdly, we speak
on the foundation of his promises and his words, what he said.
Look here in Genesis 32, verse nine. And Jacob said, O God of
my father Abraham and the God of my father Isaac, the Lord
which said this unto me, you said it. Return to thy country and to
thy kindred and I will deal with thee, deal well with thee. You
said it to me. Lord, I remember. I had sleep
through it. You said it to me, I heard you.
Verse three, chapter 31, it says, the Lord said unto Jacob, return
to the land of thy fathers and thy kindred, and I'll be with
you. I'll be with you. You told me to go home, and you
said you'd be with me. Verse 12, and thou saidest, I
will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as a sand to the
sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. You said these
things, Lord. That's a good way to pray. Not
declaring our promises, but declaring God's promises. They are sure. They're sure. I can, I can give
you my word and do the best I can to keep it. I might not be able
to. If the Lord don't allow it, it
ain't gonna happen. He says it, take it, as dad said, take it
to the bank. That's money. You can live on that. If he says
it. and it's right to call on the
Lord. I need to learn this in a mighty way. I struggle so much
with this. My self-righteousness thinks
it knows what's right to ask for and what's not right to ask
for. And my self-righteousness thinks I know what's wasting
God's time. I ain't gonna bother him with that. That's not humility
and that's not wisdom, that's stupidity in me. I need to learn
it. What'd he say? I say that. I don't want to bother the Lord
with those things. On the inside, that's how I verbalize it. I
don't care if you take that twist however you want to. The Lord's will be done. He'll
be right, right? No, I just don't want to face
it. What'd he say? Ask and ye shall receive. What'd
he say? Lord, you said it. You said knock
and it shall be open. Seek and ye shall find. He said
it. Don't matter if I said it, he
said it. That's what he said, wasn't it? Isn't that what the scripture
says? He also said, if then, if you, you be it, he's telling
his disciples, this is a fan to you, you being able, you're
able, my evil, are you evil? He said, if you being able, you
know how to get good gifts to your children. I question that
often. I've seen a lot of old people
be mean to little kids. But to those that have children,
their own children, good parents, you know how to give good gifts
to your own children. How much more so shall your father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? Ask him? I mean, this is serious
as cancer. Somebody said, well, the drought's
bad. And I said, they're about to turn the power off up there
at Lake Mead. It's horrendous. He asked God
for rain? Feet of rain came. Feet of rain
came. And somebody said, well, the
rain won't soak into the ground in the Central Valley and this
and that. We've depleted the aqua for so long, we need a snowpack
like nobody's ever seen. I said, did you ask God to pray
for snow? Did you ask him? Lord, give us some snow. Your daughter's house has seven
feet of snow on top of it, don't it? Ask him. He knows how to get good things.
I don't ask. Why don't I get? I don't ask.
Know what James said? If God promised it, it's right
for me to ask for it to come to pass. I don't mean to make
it snow, but provide, right? We'll learn how to here in a
minute. We'll learn the spirit in which we ask. You children,
I gave you my word. Whenever you turn 16, I give
you a vehicle. Some things have changed since I gave you my word,
hasn't it? I'll do everything in my power
to honor my word. You come to me on your 16th birthday
and you said, daddy, you gave me your word. He's going to buy
me a car. I'm going to do everything in my power to get you a vehicle.
I'll work my fingers to the bone. I'll sling pizza all over this
County. I'll do whatever it takes. That's right for you to ask me
that. I gave you my word. How much more so to our heavenly
father, the things he said, I'll be with you. Lord be with us.
I'm gonna do you good. Lord, I don't know what that
looks like, so I'm pretty dumb. But do good. Be nice today if you'd
let me see some of it. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much, doesn't it? I'm in a mess. Jacob's in a mess. And the Lord said, I'll never
leave you or forsake you. You said it. You said it, Lord. He's praying to the Father, oh
God, in desperation. He's praying on the grounds of
that covenant of God in Christ to his people. And he's praying
what has already been revealed to him by the word of God. Not
what he doesn't know, not what he wishes would happen, he knows
what's said. That's what he's praying. He's telling what he
knows. He said, you said it. Fourth, all of this is in a humble,
undeserving attitude. That's the attitude of it. Verse
10, I'm not worthy of the least of all thy mercies. This proudest man on earth. This
man, this proudest man on earth has to be made. I can read that.
I'm not worthy of all your mercies. It's nothing to cry and mean
it. What I'm not worthy of all the
least of your mercies, not even the least of your mercies. Oh,
preacher said anything on this side of hell is a mercy for the
unregenerate. Everything is it? You pick any mercy of God that
I have. Breathing, seeing the sense of taste. A roof, food,
clothes on my back, anything I have, a child of Jacob is not
worthy of it and they know it. I don't deserve nothing. I don't
deserve any of it. I don't deserve, I haven't earned,
I have not merited anything, not even to know your truth.
Not even to know your truth, Christ. I don't deserve, I haven't
earned to know him. Verse 10 says, I'm not worthy
of the least of all the mercies and all the truth which thou
hast showed unto thy servant. Let's be the God and father of
our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ. According to, after
the manner of, he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. I ain't worthy of that. He is. I ain't. If you think you are, repent. Bow to God now before you meet
him. I'm not worthy of the least of
all thy mercies and of all thy truth, which thou hast shown
unto me, thy servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and now I'm become two bands. I ain't worthy. I come out here with nothing
but a walking stick. I crossed this joint, that's
right, what'd he have? Nothing. Clothes on his back
and a shepherd's staff. He said, that's all I've got.
That's how I came here and I got two bands now. I got two whole
clean families. If Esau kills one of them, you
gotta, I mean, I got an abundance. Six sons and a wife and a help
maid. He said, now look at all we have.
Look at what we have here. Look at the word and truth of
God that we have here. Look at the mercies that, it's
not just the tangible possessions. Look at the mercy God's given
us. That's what, well, where two or three are gathered in
his name. What's the context of that? I talked to that last
week, didn't I? Brethren, forgiver, and brethren. And they said,
you guys, you got a dispute among you? God's here. What if somebody
ain't dressed right? Who cares? Somebody asked Henry
about dinosaurs one time. He said, do you think dinosaurs
are real? He said, who cares? What if the government's putting
stuff in the sky that's gonna fall down on us? Who cares? God's
here. Do we know that? A man will build his life around
the gospel if he meets God. He will work to provide for his
family as God taught him to. He'll set a little bit aside,
as in that message I sent y'all last week. He'll set a little
bit aside for the furtherance of the gospel in this area. And
then as Lord grows him, he'll set a little bit aside for the
work overseas. It'll change him. He's a servant
now. Finally, the petition. I'm not
worthy. Are you worthy? I'm not. And look, look what the Lord
gave us. Maurice said, we got all this in Christ too, buddy.
That's amazing. Finally, the petition. He's praying,
he's going to ask God for something. Verse nine, Genesis 32, verse
nine. And Jacob said, O God of my father
Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said unto
me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal
well with thee. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies, of all the truth which thou hast showed
unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and now have become two bands. I'm nothing, I ain't
got nothing. So he's gonna ask God for something.
Deliver me, deliver me. I pray thee from the hand of
my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he
come and smite me and the mother with the children. Deliver me,
Lord. I'm afraid he's gonna kill me
and kill my whole family. You pay close attention to it.
You pay close attention to this. He doesn't tell God what to do. Pay close attention to this.
He doesn't tell God what to do. He just says, deliver me, Lord.
That's a petition. That's a cry. Deliver me. I've heard idiots. I've raced that five times. I
chose my words carefully. I've heard idiots. My good friend
says they're stupid. I've heard idiots pray an insane
amount of detail. So I had cancer one time that's
prayed about and I said, Lord, remove the outer layer of the
skin and go in there and get into the small intestines. Lord,
it's his intestines. You don't think he knows where
that cancer is? He put it there. What's wrong with you? Telling God what,
like with the snow. Well, he might screw up and give
us rain and we needed snow and we all die. Good night. He doesn't tell God how to handle
it. I don't know how to handle it. Mercy beggars don't know
how to handle it. I don't know what to do. That's
a good place to be. It don't feel good. Get backed
in a corner and you're made to bow. You say, God, I don't know
what to do. Deliver me. Deliver me. People think that's
so deep. Just pray in these grandiose
ways, isn't it? Just sounds so good to have all
the right words. No, that ain't deep. The hardest
thing this flesh can do. The hardest thing this old man
has to endure, I'm guessing. I don't know which side's which.
There are two men in me, and both of them's named Kevin. The
hardest thing this flesh is to watch that new man pray, Lord,
your will be done. Take everything from me but Christ. Sounds good, don't it? And then
you realize real fast how hard your hands cling to this flesh,
to this world. I know it's right. The Lord chastens who he loves.
I've said this for a week or two now. Solomon, he's the wisest
man, I say it every time, born of Adam. He knows what he's talking
about, shut list to him. God's writing through it. He
said, you beat your son with a rod, he shall surely not die. It ain't gonna kill him. And
that's for us, that's not gonna beat your kids. You whip them,
get you a good switch. This whole nation needs to have
a switch hooked to it, needs to bend over somebody's knee. I think there's a rod beating
me. My Lord was beat with a reed. I ain't got no rod. I'll live, but I'll be all right. Whenever you get chastened, you
cry. I ain't from this culture, so
I'm just gonna speak like I know what I know. You raise kids and
you whip them, and you make them mine the first time. They're
the child, you're the adult. Make them mine, unless they're
50, or like Jacob and my mama's boy, spoiled rotten at home,
and do, well, okay, mom, whatever you say. Then God's gotta whip
him, but you spank him. And if I spank my children, and
there ain't a tear flowing, I ain't whipped them hard enough. My dad went, last time he whipped
me, I was 15, I dropped my pants, he took his belt off, he grabbed
my back, and he hit my legs about this hard. And I went, just to
laugh. And I thought, oh, buddy, if
I laugh, he'll kill me. He'll turn that belt around. When the Lord comes to his child
to teach him, because he loves him, he's a faithful father. His lessons are gonna get drove
home. There's gonna be some pain involved. and he'll make his
child say, Lord, you will be done. You deliver me as you see
fit. Deliver me, Lord. I'm in a mess. You have to get me out because
of Christ, because of who you are, because of that covenant
you made in him for me. You said it. You said it. Verse 12, and thou saidest, I
will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. and he lodged
there the same night. He went to bed. I don't know
if he slept. It doesn't say slept, does it? David, he may have waited on
his couch all night long. I don't know. But he went to
bed, he closed his eyes, went to his lodging, taking his burden
to the Lord and leaving it there. Oh, what pain we suffer. What needless pain we bear simply
because we do not take it to the Lord in prayer. And I need
to be taught how to pray to you. Might be painful when we get
taught, but it's right. And I won't forget it. I won't
forget. Let's pray. Father, glorify your
name. Your namesake, Christ. Make us decrease and him increase. It hurts, Lord. But you said it's for my good. I believe it. You said you're
with me. I believe you. Show yourself
to me, Lord. Speak comfort to the hearts of
your people. Be with us and never leave us
to ourselves. Forgive us for what we are. Forgive us for not
asking. Forgive us for not believing enough to ask, Lord. Save your people. It's in Christ's
name that we ask. Amen.