Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / It s A Battle, Are You Ready For It_- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:41Speaker 1: Thank you.
- 2:23Speaker 2: We pray this in the name of Jesus. And all
- 2:27Speaker 2: who agreed with the prayer said, Amen. The Orlando shooting
- 2:32Speaker 2: is an unwelcomed, unsolicited, yet undeniable reminder that we live
- 2:37Speaker 2: in a fallen world. And as we struggle to maintain
- 2:41Speaker 2: faith in a society that seems to have increasingly less,
- 2:46Speaker 2: we turn to scriptures for comfort and hope. Scriptures like
- 2:50Speaker 2: this one. Our fight is not against people on earth,
- 2:56Speaker 2: but against the rulers and the authorities and the powers
- 3:04Speaker 2: of this world's darkness. Against the spiritual powers of evil
- 3:09Speaker 2: in the heavenly world. That is why you need to
- 3:12Speaker 2: put on God's full armor. Then on the day of evil,
- 3:16Speaker 2: you will be able to stand strong. And when you
- 3:18Speaker 2: have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing.
- 3:22Speaker 2: So stand strong with the belt of truth tied around
- 3:28Speaker 2: your waist and the protection of right living on your chest,
- 3:32Speaker 2: on your feet, where the good news of peace to
- 3:36Speaker 2: help you stand strong and also use the shield of
- 3:40Speaker 2: faith with which you can stop all the burning arrows
- 3:44Speaker 2: of the evil one. The Bible speaks directly Of the
- 3:49Speaker 2: real foe, the real enemy of our land and our faith.
- 3:54Speaker 2: His name is the devil. The word devil actually traces
- 4:00Speaker 2: its origin back to a verb which means to divide.
- 4:05Speaker 2: Because the devil is a divider. He divides homes. He
- 4:09Speaker 2: divides friendships. He divides people from their relationship with God.
- 4:16Speaker 2: What he did with Adam and Eve in the garden.
- 4:18Speaker 2: He has sought to do with every person who has
- 4:21Speaker 2: entered life since. And that is drive a wedge, split
- 4:26Speaker 2: the relationship, separate them from their heavenly father. Satan exists
- 4:32Speaker 2: to populate hell and Satan exists to make life hell
- 4:38Speaker 2: for believers. For that reason, though we walk in the flesh,
- 4:45Speaker 2: we do not war according to the flesh, but For
- 4:48Speaker 2: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
- 4:51Speaker 2: in God for pulling down strongholds. Since we recognize that
- 4:56Speaker 2: the real battle is not against other people, but against
- 4:59Speaker 2: the devil himself, we take up spiritual weapons of prayer
- 5:03Speaker 2: and of worship and of scripture. This is really the
- 5:07Speaker 2: message of the 10th chapter of the book of Daniel.
- 5:10Speaker 2: And I think you could argue that's really the message
- 5:13Speaker 2: of the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel reminds
- 5:16Speaker 2: us that age after age comes and age after age
- 5:20Speaker 2: is contaminated by cruel and bloodthirsty and evil leaders. But
- 5:26Speaker 2: in the end, Jesus wins. And in the end, good
- 5:31Speaker 2: will triumph. This is the message of the book of Daniel.
- 5:36Speaker 2: And also the message of the book of Daniel is
- 5:38Speaker 2: be prepared because before the end comes, conflict will arise.
- 5:43Speaker 2: It did for Daniel. So we open in Daniel chapter
- 5:46Speaker 2: 10 by looking at Daniel's heavy heart. Excuse me. Daniel's
- 5:51Speaker 2: heavy heart. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
- 5:57Speaker 2: a revelation was given to Daniel who was called Belshazzar.
- 6:01Speaker 2: Its message was true and it concerned a great war.
- 6:05Speaker 2: The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
- 6:09Speaker 2: At that time, I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I
- 6:12Speaker 2: ate no choice food. No meat or wine touched my lips,
- 6:16Speaker 2: and I used no lotions at all until the three
- 6:20Speaker 2: weeks were over. You'll remember Daniel was taken captive out
- 6:25Speaker 2: of the city of Jerusalem as a young man. In
- 6:27Speaker 2: 605 BC, he spent his entire life in Babylonian captivity,
- 6:33Speaker 2: but he was elevated to serve several kings and serve
- 6:36Speaker 2: in several throne rooms. Here we are at the end
- 6:39Speaker 2: of his life. Daniel is well into his 70s, maybe
- 6:43Speaker 2: his early 80s. And he is given another vision. This
- 6:47Speaker 2: vision will be revealed to us in chapter 11. But
- 6:51Speaker 2: before we see the details of the vision, we are
- 6:54Speaker 2: told the impact of the vision. And that is it
- 6:57Speaker 2: wearied Daniel. He saw a wearied and wounded world and
- 7:03Speaker 2: it left him sad. It left him troubled by what
- 7:07Speaker 2: he saw. A person cannot long live in Babylon and
- 7:13Speaker 2: not be troubled by what they see. I wonder what
- 7:16Speaker 2: you see that causes you to feel troubled. The Orlando shootings.
- 7:21Speaker 2: That's troubling. Russia has set up camp in Syria. That's troubling.
- 7:30Speaker 2: Drug addiction is on the rise. That's troubling. More men
- 7:37Speaker 2: are hooked on pornography than ever before. That's troubling. In
- 7:43Speaker 2: the midst of it all, courts tell students they can't
- 7:47Speaker 2: pray at a school or keep a Bible on their desk.
- 7:50Speaker 2: And that's troubling. Now, if you feel troubled as you
- 7:55Speaker 2: read the headlines and watch the news reports, if you
- 7:58Speaker 2: feel troubled, then Daniel shows you how to react. Look
- 8:02Speaker 2: what Daniel did. He chose prayer over Over despair. He
- 8:08Speaker 2: chose prayer over despair. He didn't get bitter. He didn't
- 8:12Speaker 2: get cantankerous. He didn't grow sour. He didn't become a recluse.
- 8:17Speaker 2: He didn't grow cynical. He chose prayer over despair. And
- 8:23Speaker 2: according to verse 4, he chose prayer at the Tigris River.
- 8:27Speaker 2: Now maybe he went to the Tigris River for prayer
- 8:30Speaker 2: because he had heard that old song, I went down
- 8:32Speaker 2: to the river to pray. I doubt it because it
- 8:34Speaker 2: hadn't been written yet. But maybe he went to the
- 8:39Speaker 2: Tigris River because it was convenient. It ran right through
- 8:42Speaker 2: the city of Babylon. Maybe there was a quiet place
- 8:45Speaker 2: there where he went to pray. Or maybe he knew
- 8:47Speaker 2: the symbolism. Historians believe that the Garden of Eden was
- 8:51Speaker 2: somewhere around the Tigris River. And so maybe he went
- 8:54Speaker 2: there thinking that God would meet him as God met
- 8:57Speaker 2: Adam and Eve and they would walk in the cool
- 8:59Speaker 2: of the evening. For whatever reason, he went away. He
- 9:03Speaker 2: got away from his work and he went down. For
- 9:05Speaker 2: a deliberate time of prayer. And he didn't just pray once.
- 9:09Speaker 2: But he prayed every day for three weeks. Three weeks
- 9:13Speaker 2: he prayed. Long enough for him to wonder. Is anybody
- 9:17Speaker 2: listening to my prayer? Long enough for him to look
- 9:20Speaker 2: into the heavens. And sense that heaven was silent. Long
- 9:25Speaker 2: enough perhaps even for him to shake a fist. At
- 9:28Speaker 2: heaven saying what's going on? He wondered if anyone was listening.
- 9:33Speaker 2: You've been there. not to the Tigris River, but you've
- 9:36Speaker 2: been to the hallway of a hospital or even to
- 9:40Speaker 2: your living room or even to a courtroom and you've prayed.
- 9:45Speaker 2: And you've prayed not once but twice, not twice but
- 9:48Speaker 2: four times or five times. Maybe you've been praying for weeks.
- 9:51Speaker 2: Maybe you've been praying for months. And maybe you, like Daniel,
- 9:56Speaker 2: are doing your best to live a life of faith
- 9:58Speaker 2: in a world that increasingly has less. And you've been
- 10:02Speaker 2: praying and you're not sensing an answer to your prayer.
- 10:06Speaker 2: If that's the case, then the story of Daniel in
- 10:10Speaker 2: chapter 10 presents a message from God to you. And
- 10:15Speaker 2: that is God has heard your prayer. Look at Daniel's
- 10:18Speaker 2: heavenly messenger. On the 24th day of the first month,
- 10:23Speaker 2: as I was standing on the bank of the great river,
- 10:25Speaker 2: the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was
- 10:28Speaker 2: a man dressed in linen with a belt of fine
- 10:31Speaker 2: gold from UFOs around his waist. His body was like topaz,
- 10:36Speaker 2: his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his
- 10:41Speaker 2: arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, his
- 10:44Speaker 2: voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was
- 10:47Speaker 2: the only one who saw the vision. Those who were
- 10:50Speaker 2: with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed
- 10:52Speaker 2: them that they fled and hid themselves. So I was
- 10:55Speaker 2: left alone, gazing at this great vision. I had no
- 10:59Speaker 2: strength left. My face turned deathly pale and I was helpless.
- 11:04Speaker 2: Then I heard him speaking. As I listened to him,
- 11:07Speaker 2: I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.
- 11:10Speaker 2: This was an angel, an angel sent by God, an
- 11:14Speaker 2: angel sent by God to Daniel. And the angel had
- 11:17Speaker 2: been dispatched, not that day, not the day before, not
- 11:20Speaker 2: a couple of days before, not two weeks earlier. God
- 11:23Speaker 2: commissioned the angel the moment that Daniel began to pray.
- 11:28Speaker 2: Then he, speaking of the angel, continued. Do not be afraid, Daniel.
- 11:33Speaker 2: Since the first day that you set your mind to
- 11:35Speaker 2: gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your
- 11:39Speaker 2: words were heard. And I have come in response to them.
- 11:44Speaker 2: But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days.
- 11:48Speaker 2: Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help
- 11:51Speaker 2: me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
- 11:55Speaker 2: Now I have come to explain to you what will
- 11:58Speaker 2: happen to your people in the future for the vision
- 12:02Speaker 2: concerns a time yet to come. These words invite us
- 12:07Speaker 2: to peek behind the veil and see clearly the real
- 12:11Speaker 2: source of all the struggle in the world. These passages
- 12:15Speaker 2: grant us a rare glimpse into the real conflict of
- 12:20Speaker 2: the world. And we are reminded that our struggle is
- 12:23Speaker 2: not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
- 12:27Speaker 2: the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against
- 12:31Speaker 2: the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The
- 12:34Speaker 2: root cause of your trouble is not your grumpy spouse.
- 12:41Speaker 2: The wellspring of your anxiety is not the bills you
- 12:44Speaker 2: can't pay or the job you can't get. The source
- 12:48Speaker 2: of our struggle as a country is not the moguls
- 12:52Speaker 2: who make movies or the politicians who make laws or
- 12:56Speaker 2: even the shooters who shed blood. They may be consequences
- 13:01Speaker 2: of the cause, but they aren't the culprits. trace the
- 13:05Speaker 2: misery of this world upstream to its source. And there
- 13:09Speaker 2: you will see the fallen angel, the devil, Satan, the
- 13:16Speaker 2: slimy snake of the garden of Eden. He has broken
- 13:21Speaker 2: a billion promises, hearts and homes. He has never ever
- 13:26Speaker 2: spoken a word of truth in the new kingdom. There
- 13:29Speaker 2: will be nothing but truth and nothing but light. But
- 13:32Speaker 2: until then, There is, as a result of Satan, an
- 13:36Speaker 2: onslaught of deceit and lies. He is the father of lies.
- 13:42Speaker 2: He has never, ever, not once uttered anything that was true.
- 13:47Speaker 2: His mouth is a veritable sewage pipe of deceit, dishonesty,
- 13:54Speaker 2: and hurt. He has no goal except to do you harm.
- 13:59Speaker 3: None.
- 14:01Speaker 2: There's not been a moment That he has looked for
- 14:04Speaker 2: an opportunity to do good to anyone. He comes only
- 14:07Speaker 2: to steal and to kill and to destroy. He steals hope.
- 14:13Speaker 2: He kills dreams. He destroys the future. And he has
- 14:17Speaker 2: a battalion, a battalion of angels who serve with him.
- 14:21Speaker 2: The prince of Persia was one of them. He would
- 14:24Speaker 2: have fallen from the heavens with the devil in the
- 14:28Speaker 2: great rebellion of He fell with the third of the sky,
- 14:33Speaker 2: as the scripture says, with all of the other angels.
- 14:37Speaker 2: And he was given an assignment, and that was to
- 14:40Speaker 2: oversee the territory of Babylon. What a critical assignment that was.
- 14:44Speaker 2: Babylon was the city out of which Satan headquartered his
- 14:48Speaker 2: attacks on Jerusalem. And so this particular city, fallen angel
- 14:56Speaker 2: called the Prince of Persia was given this choice assignment.
- 15:01Speaker 2: And it was he who spurned the arrogance of Nebuchadnezzar.
- 15:08Speaker 2: It was he who convinced Nebuchadnezzar to build a 90-foot
- 15:12Speaker 2: statue in his own honor. and to try to convince Shadrach, Meshach,
- 15:17Speaker 2: and Abednego to bow down before it. It was this
- 15:20Speaker 2: prince of Persia who was behind the utter sacrilege of
- 15:25Speaker 2: Belshazzar when he convinced Belshazzar that it wasn't enough to
- 15:29Speaker 2: have a drunken orgy, but he had to use the
- 15:32Speaker 2: very utensils that had been stolen from the holy temple
- 15:37Speaker 2: as his wine goblets. It was the prince of Persia
- 15:43Speaker 2: who convinced an otherwise advanced society to worship a stupid idol,
- 15:51Speaker 2: man-made wooden golden idols. To a certain degree, he was successful.
- 16:00Speaker 2: I mean, he caused people to turn away from God.
- 16:04Speaker 2: But don't you know, he is known right now in
- 16:09Speaker 2: the caverns of hell as an utter failure the prince
- 16:13Speaker 2: of persia ended up a flop a flop he was
- 16:20Speaker 2: given the simple assignment of taking the faith away from
- 16:23Speaker 2: those four boys who were being transported from jerusalem to
- 16:28Speaker 2: babylon who couldn't do that daniel and shadrach and meshech
- 16:33Speaker 2: and abednego they're just kids who couldn't distract them the
- 16:37Speaker 2: prince of persia could not And as it turned out,
- 16:41Speaker 2: his territory, his district became the staging ground for one
- 16:46Speaker 2: of the greatest stories in the Bible. Daniel did not
- 16:52Speaker 2: lose his faith. Daniel ended up growing in his faith.
- 16:56Speaker 2: Daniel was not demoted to a marginal role in society. Daniel,
- 17:02Speaker 2: much to the chagrin of the prince of Persia, was
- 17:05Speaker 2: promoted and was a side-by-side servant of and advisor to
- 17:10Speaker 2: several kings. And when Daniel was told he couldn't pray,
- 17:14Speaker 2: certainly an edict that had come from the prince of Persia,
- 17:18Speaker 2: Daniel prayed anyway. That prince of Persia, what a failure
- 17:23Speaker 2: he was. He couldn't even keep God from writing on
- 17:28Speaker 2: the finger, writing with his finger on the wall in
- 17:31Speaker 2: the banquet hall of Belshazzar. He couldn't even convince hungry
- 17:36Speaker 2: lions to eat Daniel. He was a flop because ultimately
- 17:43Speaker 2: every servant of Satan fails before a faithful child of God.
- 17:52Speaker 2: And ours will too. You can be sure that if
- 17:56Speaker 2: Babylon had a prince of darkness, America has one too.
- 18:02Speaker 2: You can be sure that if the prince of darkness
- 18:06Speaker 2: set his eyes upon someone like Daniel and He would
- 18:10Speaker 2: set his eyes upon someone like you. His goal is
- 18:14Speaker 2: to bring down any person who seeks to be a
- 18:17Speaker 2: Daniel or a Daniela, a person of faith during a
- 18:21Speaker 2: difficult day. Maybe you felt his bad breath just this week.
- 18:30Speaker 2: Maybe you sensed an unusually difficult sense of discouragement. Maybe
- 18:37Speaker 2: for whatever reason you just couldn't shake that mood or
- 18:40Speaker 2: that sense of darkness. Maybe there was a wave of anxiety, unanticipated,
- 18:50Speaker 2: that just came over you. But here's what you need
- 18:53Speaker 2: to know. You're not alone. You're not alone. And that
- 18:59Speaker 2: the same God who sent help to Daniel has sent
- 19:02Speaker 2: help to you. And the same God who has watched
- 19:05Speaker 2: out for Daniel is watching out for you. And I
- 19:08Speaker 2: would encourage you. In fact, I think the story of
- 19:11Speaker 2: Daniel begs you, don't give up. Don't give up. And
- 19:16Speaker 2: what the angel said to Daniel, God says to you.
- 19:19Speaker 2: Since the first day that you set your mind to
- 19:22Speaker 2: gain understanding and humble yourself before your God, your words
- 19:27Speaker 2: were heard. Some of you have been praying a long time.
- 19:31Speaker 2: You've been in your own version of the Tigris River
- 19:33Speaker 2: for a long time, praying for that son, praying for
- 19:36Speaker 2: that marriage, praying for that job, praying for this country,
- 19:38Speaker 2: praying for peace. What this story tells you and what
- 19:43Speaker 2: this story tells me is that your words have been
- 19:45Speaker 2: heard in heaven. Your words have been heard in heaven.
- 19:50Speaker 2: Please repeat this phrase after me. I have been heard
- 19:54Speaker 2: in heaven. I have. What do you think about that?
- 19:59Speaker 2: You have been heard in heaven. And the minute you pray,
- 20:03Speaker 2: the moment you humbled yourself to seek the will of
- 20:06Speaker 2: God and to pray, God dispatched strength. He released power.
- 20:12Speaker 2: He answered that prayer. But there is a war in
- 20:15Speaker 2: the heavens. In the unseen, there is a conflict. And
- 20:21Speaker 2: sometimes it takes a day. Sometimes it takes a week.
- 20:23Speaker 2: Sometimes it takes 21 days. Some of you have been
- 20:26Speaker 2: praying a long time. Please raise your hand if you're
- 20:28Speaker 2: somewhere between an offered prayer and an answered prayer. Raise
- 20:31Speaker 2: your hand. I just want to see. Most of us are.
- 20:34Speaker 2: Hang in there. Don't give up. God is fighting for you.
- 20:38Speaker 2: God is fighting with you. And it's just a matter
- 20:40Speaker 2: of time before that prayer is going to be answered.
- 20:43Speaker 2: God has said, I will contend with him who contends
- 20:46Speaker 2: with you. You're not left to fight this fight alone.
- 20:49Speaker 2: The answer to your prayer is imminent and a breakthrough
- 20:52Speaker 2: is coming. All you need to do is what Daniel did.
- 20:54Speaker 2: You remain before the Lord. Those who wait on the
- 20:57Speaker 2: Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with
- 21:02Speaker 2: wings like eagles. And they shall run and not be
- 21:06Speaker 2: weary and they shall walk and not be faint. This
- 21:09Speaker 2: is the message of Daniel. Daniel's hopeful message is simply this.
- 21:15Speaker 2: Just keep praying. You find your spot on the Tigris
- 21:19Speaker 2: River and you don't abandon it. You go there every day.
- 21:23Speaker 2: You remind God. You beseech God. You shake a fist
- 21:27Speaker 2: at God. You bow your knees before God. You stay
- 21:31Speaker 2: in communion with God. Don't you get bitter. Don't get out.
- 21:34Speaker 2: Don't bail out. Choose prayer over despair. You be a
- 21:38Speaker 2: person who prays in a difficult time. And when your
- 21:41Speaker 2: prayer is answered, you just keep praying. You call upon
- 21:45Speaker 2: God to send his angel. You invite the Lord of
- 21:48Speaker 2: life to give life to you. Yeah, I know what
- 21:51Speaker 2: you're thinking. Yeah, but that was Daniel. Super Daniel. Super saint. My,
- 22:02Speaker 2: he saw visions. He helped write the Bible, for heaven's sake.
- 22:09Speaker 2: Of course God would send an angel to him. He
- 22:12Speaker 2: was Daniel. I'm just, well, I'm just measly, old, regular. ho-hum, common,
- 22:26Speaker 2: moody me with allergies and bad breath and a hangnail.
- 22:36Speaker 2: I'm just me. Really? Huh. I read something different. I
- 22:53Speaker 2: read that when you gave your heart to Christ, Jesus
- 22:58Speaker 2: gave his heart to you. And he took up residence
- 23:00Speaker 2: within you. And that he is a pulsating, living God. breathing, growing,
- 23:06Speaker 2: expanding presence. I read that your body is a temple
- 23:11Speaker 2: of the Holy Spirit. I read that you're an ambassador
- 23:14Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ. I read that you're a son of
- 23:18Speaker 2: the living God and that you're an heir of Christ
- 23:20Speaker 2: and that you are a co-heir with Christ. Why? I
- 23:24Speaker 2: even read that greater is he who is in you
- 23:28Speaker 2: than he who is in the world. I read that
- 23:31Speaker 2: you are the salt of You are the light of society.
- 23:35Speaker 2: I read that you belong to the living God. I
- 23:38Speaker 2: read that your name is written in the book of
- 23:40Speaker 2: life and that no one can erase it. I read
- 23:43Speaker 2: that you have been purchased with the most precious commodity
- 23:47Speaker 2: in the history of the world. I read that you
- 23:50Speaker 2: belong to God and what love the heavenly father has
- 23:53Speaker 2: had that he has called you his son, his daughter.
- 23:59Speaker 2: I read that no one can snatch you out of
- 24:01Speaker 2: your father's hands. That's what I read. Consequently, when you pray,
- 24:14Speaker 2: heaven listens. When you pray, you have clout. I went
- 24:22Speaker 2: with my wife to run some errands a few weeks ago.
- 24:24Speaker 2: She needed a calendar, so we went to an office
- 24:26Speaker 2: supply place. I was just tagging along. I didn't know
- 24:30Speaker 2: where we were going. We went to the parking lot.
- 24:32Speaker 2: We got out of the car and we looked up
- 24:33Speaker 2: and wouldn't you know, that particular office supply place was
- 24:38Speaker 2: named after me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
- 24:45Speaker 2: I didn't know I owned an office supply place. I said,
- 24:49Speaker 2: Dean Lynn, look, office supply. I said, honey, I own
- 24:59Speaker 2: this place. Welcome to my store. And I ran up
- 25:04Speaker 2: to the door and I opened it and I said,
- 25:06Speaker 2: please come in to my store. And she rolled her
- 25:12Speaker 2: eyes at me. I have come to see that when
- 25:15Speaker 2: a wife rolls her eyes at her husband, it's a
- 25:19Speaker 2: statement of respect. And awe. It must be because Dean
- 25:27Speaker 2: Lynn does it to me all the time. I mean,
- 25:30Speaker 2: I get it a lot. And so I took her
- 25:33Speaker 2: into my store. And I said, can I show you
- 25:36Speaker 2: some of our paper supplies? Can I show you some
- 25:39Speaker 2: of our new computers? Let me show you the most
- 25:45Speaker 2: recent calendars that we have. How can I help you?
- 25:48Speaker 2: And she was just continually admiring me. That little gesture.
- 25:54Speaker 2: She didn't say much. I think she was awestruck. I
- 25:57Speaker 2: really do.
- 25:57Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 25:58Speaker 2: So when we got it to the cash register, I thought, well,
- 26:01Speaker 2: I need to greet my employee. And I noticed her
- 26:05Speaker 2: name was Alice. She had my name on their office,
- 26:09Speaker 2: Max and Alice. And so I said, hello, Alice. My
- 26:14Speaker 2: name is Max. Well, she didn't quite, I guess she
- 26:20Speaker 2: was having a busy day because she didn't quite make
- 26:23Speaker 2: the connection and so I said my name is Max
- 26:27Speaker 2: as in office Max Max she looked at me and
- 26:33Speaker 2: she looked at Dean Lynn and Dean Lynn did that
- 26:35Speaker 2: worshipful thing with her eyes I was a little embarrassed
- 26:39Speaker 2: right there so Dean Lynn hold it and then I
- 26:46Speaker 2: said I'm I'm Max as in office Max and so
- 26:50Speaker 2: I own this place And Alice looked at me and
- 26:54Speaker 2: she didn't quite know what to say. I understand that.
- 26:57Speaker 2: I said, Alice, you look tired. Why don't you just
- 27:05Speaker 2: take the afternoon off? Because I am Max and this
- 27:10Speaker 2: is office Max. And since I own the place, when
- 27:13Speaker 2: you get home, just tell everybody, well, Max gave me
- 27:18Speaker 2: the day off. And she looked at Dean Lynn and
- 27:22Speaker 2: Dean Lynn looked at her and then Alice looked at
- 27:24Speaker 2: me and she said, sir, you may have the name,
- 27:30Speaker 2: but you don't have the clout. Well, she was right
- 27:36Speaker 2: to say that about me, but no one can say
- 27:38Speaker 2: that about you. I really want you to hear this.
- 27:41Speaker 2: When you took on the name of Jesus Christ, when
- 27:46Speaker 2: you were born into the family of God, By the
- 27:50Speaker 2: grace of God. When you were placed into the family
- 27:56Speaker 2: of God, you were put into the very DNA pool
- 28:01Speaker 2: of God. You took on the family. And so when
- 28:05Speaker 2: you pray, when you pray, it's kind of like the
- 28:09Speaker 2: daughter or son of the king walking into the throne room.
- 28:13Speaker 2: Everybody else gets quiet because you have absolute access to
- 28:19Speaker 2: not because of anything you've done, but because God in
- 28:22Speaker 2: his great and limitless mercy has said, I'm going to
- 28:26Speaker 2: lavish my love upon that child. And I'm going to
- 28:29Speaker 2: take up residence within them. And when you pray, when
- 28:34Speaker 2: you pray, when you talk to your heavenly father, your
- 28:37Speaker 2: heavenly father listens because that's what a good father does.
- 28:43Speaker 2: And he will listen to you. And he will respond
- 28:47Speaker 2: in the right way At the right time. Always victoriously.
- 28:53Speaker 2: Because that's what a good king does. Now these are
- 28:57Speaker 2: difficult days in which we live. We're the most anxious
- 29:03Speaker 2: nation on the planet. And it's easy to see why.
- 29:07Speaker 2: We've got headlines that are telling us the world is
- 29:10Speaker 2: going over the deep edge. And that collapse and catastrophe
- 29:14Speaker 2: could happen any moment. And that's true. It could. But
- 29:16Speaker 2: you have what others don't have. You have the presence
- 29:19Speaker 2: of the living God. You have an almighty father. You
- 29:22Speaker 2: have an understanding of how God loves you. And through
- 29:25Speaker 2: the study of a book like Daniel, you even have
- 29:27Speaker 2: an understanding of what's going to happen in the future.
- 29:31Speaker 2: And the world is just as Jesus said, you will
- 29:34Speaker 2: have tribulation, but be of good cheer because I have
- 29:38Speaker 2: overcome the world. My challenge to you though today is
- 29:41Speaker 2: to respond in prayer, not despair to whatever it is
- 29:48Speaker 2: that you're facing. Would you do that? Could I encourage
- 29:51Speaker 2: you to make more trips to the Tigris River? Could
- 29:54Speaker 2: I encourage you to give more and more burdens to
- 29:56Speaker 2: God and carry less and less yourself and be a
- 30:00Speaker 2: person of faith? In this faithless world. Amen. And I'm
- 30:05Speaker 2: going to go to Remax next. Let's pray together. Heavenly
- 30:12Speaker 2: Father we bless you. We thank you for stories like this.
- 30:15Speaker 2: That tell us that really the cause of all of
- 30:18Speaker 2: our trouble. Is not where we thought it was to
- 30:20Speaker 2: begin with. And all of these conflicts. And all of
- 30:24Speaker 2: this wrangling. All of this anger. We all thought that
- 30:31Speaker 2: their problems were the fault of another person. But they're
- 30:37Speaker 2: the fault of the devil. And so we stand against
- 30:39Speaker 2: him in Jesus name. In our lives, in our homes,
- 30:43Speaker 2: in our work, in our society. We stand against him.
- 30:47Speaker 2: And we lean toward you Lord Jesus. Our brother, Lord God,
- 30:51Speaker 2: our father. And we ask you to let your kingdom come.
- 30:56Speaker 2: Your will be done. Through Christ we pray. And all
- 31:01Speaker 2: the church said. so so.
- 32:35Speaker 4: So so.
- 33:44Speaker 5: Everything I used to live for Faded slowly out of
- 33:49Speaker 5: sight Now my days just circle around you Like I'm
- 33:55Speaker 5: lost without a light All.
- 33:58Speaker 3: The noise just turns to silence when your memory comes through.
- 34:04Speaker 3: And the world I once was chasing now feels small.
- 34:10Speaker 2: And shaped like you.
- 34:13Speaker 1: My whole world is only you Every thought keeps breaking
- 34:19Speaker 1: through You're so close inside my mind But so far
- 34:25Speaker 1: in real life I can feel you everywhere.
- 34:30Speaker 5: In the things we never shared All this love I'm
- 34:35Speaker 5: going through.
- 34:37Speaker 2: Never reaches you.
- 34:44Speaker 6: Every image feels so real now like you're standing next
- 34:49Speaker 6: to me. But the truth is in the silence you
- 34:54Speaker 6: were never.
- 34:57Speaker 4: Meant to see.
- 34:58Speaker 1: My whole world is only you.
- 35:03Speaker 7: Every thought keeps breaking.
- 35:05Speaker 1: Through You're so close inside my mind But so far
- 35:12Speaker 1: in real life I can feel you everywhere In the
- 35:17Speaker 1: things we never shared All this love I'm.
- 35:22Speaker 7: Going through Never reaches you If you felt it for
- 35:29Speaker 7: a moment Would it change the way you stay Or
- 35:34Speaker 7: would I still be the shadow that just fades away?
- 35:41Speaker 4: My whole world is only you But your world's a
- 35:58Speaker 4: different view I'm.
- 36:01Speaker 1: Just someone passing by In your open sky Still I
- 36:07Speaker 1: hold on to.
- 36:08Speaker 7: What's true Every heartbeat calls.
- 36:12Speaker 1: For you All this love I always knew Will never
- 36:18Speaker 1: reach you.
- 36:21Speaker 4: Hmm Hmm Hmm