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[0:00] But if you've been engaged with the series thus far, three weeks have gone by and we're in the fourth week. So I want to remind us of where we've been so we know that where we're going.

[0:11] The first week we spoke about how prayer changes things. We started with the foundation of the implications of prayer and how that relationship intertwines and intermixes with the sovereignty of God and God's omniscience.

[0:27] And that He knows all things and we're still called and commanded to pray. The second week we spoke about a little axe guide, A-C-T-S.

[0:38] It's an acrostic axe that is derived and rooted within the Lord's Prayer. And so we spoke about the A being adoration, giving adoration to God.

[0:48] The next sort of checkpoint in our prayer is to give confession to God. And the T represents thanksgiving to God and the S represents supplication.

[0:59] Also the things that we ask for of God. And how often we can almost get to our prayer closets and immediately start just unloading all these things that we want. And we haven't even confessed our sin.

[1:10] We haven't even given God the proper time of adoration and thanksgiving for His great mercy in our lives. So that is a little acrostic axe, A-C-T-S, to help us guide ourselves in our prayers and make our prayer time very, very nourishing for our souls and honoring to God.

[1:31] And then the week three last week, thank you Rick for preaching a great message on the Lord's Prayer. And you connected all these themes, the adoration, thanksgiving, confession.

[1:41] And I really liked how you combined the confession and thanksgiving because it's almost like something that is so intertwined with one another. Because in our confession, we're thanking God for being able to confess and Him wiping our sins away.

[1:56] And so last week, Rick preached on the Lord's Prayer. So today, I'm going to focus in on one thing that I believe is very, very vital in understanding when we're going through the Lord's Prayer as He tells the disciples how to pray.

[2:17] There's a moment of confession. Forgive us our debts. And I want to focus in on that a little bit today. And I want to refer to this as something called sealing prayers.

[2:29] You're familiar with the sealing prayers, right? The sealing prayers that barely seem to leave the ground of which were bowed down before the Lord praying to God. It's those prayers that seem like they're not moving any higher than the sealing.

[2:45] But in doing so, I want to take a trip back to Psalm 66. The first week we opened up Psalm 66. But I didn't read the whole thing in its entirety for a certain purpose.

[2:55] But today, I want to read Psalm 66 in its entirety this time around. So please join me in a word of prayer as we go into God's Word. And we ask God for help in navigating and changing us through His Word today.

[3:10] Please join me in a word of prayer. Father, we are thankful for a beautiful Sunday. The sun is out. And we are just, we can almost just, almost feel like live streaming right now and watching church and being cooped up in our house with such nice weather is a waste of time.

[3:32] But Father, I pray that we are convicted in this mentality. That we feel obligated. That we feel motivated and changed by a time of coming together in Your Word.

[3:45] And seeing what David wrote in his psalm and the implications that it means for not only the readers of the psalms, the first readers of the psalms, but also us today. And Father, we pray that this Word changes us.

[3:58] That we leave different than the moment that we came to Your Word. And Father, help us through the power of Your Holy Spirit to see this. To allow maybe some sharp words today in this sermon to help to refine our hearts and to refine our minds as Your Word does.

[4:19] It cuts to the core of our being and our souls and it's for Your glory and Your glory alone. So help us this morning, Jesus. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen, you too.

[4:31] Amen. Let's read Psalm 66. I'm assuming that everyone had some time to pull it up. It says, Shout for joy to God, all the earth.

[4:45] Sing the glory of His name. Give to Him glorious praise. Say to God, how awesome are Your deeds. So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing to You.

[5:01] All the earth worships You and sings praises to You. They sing praises to Your name. Come and see what God has done. Come and see what God has done. He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man.

[5:15] He turned the sea into dry land, then passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in Him.

[5:25] Who rules by His might forever. Whose eyes keep watch of the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Bless the Lord, O peoples.

[5:38] Let the sound of His praise be heard. Who has kept our souls among the living and has not let our feet slip. For You, O God, have tested us.

[5:49] You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net. You laid a crushing burden on our backs. You let men ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water.

[6:01] You have brought us out to a place of abundance. I will come into Your house with burnt offerings. I will perform my vows to You.

[6:12] That which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to You burnt offerings of fattened animals. With the smoke of the sacrifice of rams, I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

[6:26] Verse 16. Come and hear all you who fear God. And I will tell you what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth.

[6:38] And high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would have not listened. But truly, God has listened. He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

[6:51] Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me. Man, such a beautiful psalm. The stanzas of this psalm are broken up in a certain way that reveal sort of a thematic praise.

[7:14] The first stanza between 1 and 4 talks about worship to God, praising God, declaring to God, singing to God. There is a lot of motion, a lot of noise and sound.

[7:26] And then in the second stanza, verse 5 and 7, it is almost as if David is calling people to look at the past of what God has done for them. Look and observe all that God has done.

[7:38] And it actually continues through the third stanza, in verse 8 through 12. More blessings and provision for Israel. The fourth stanza, 13 through 15, worship, talks about worship through offering sacrifices to God.

[7:56] And then the interesting place where we will rest today is in stanza 16 through 19, the exhortation to the readers. Saying, I encourage you to look at what God has done and look how things could be different.

[8:15] And then with one final praise of exhortation, David closes the 66th psalm. There's a vital portion of this psalm, which I believe we should take great care and understanding.

[8:27] A little bit deeper than just glazing over it and moving on with our Sunday. Because just as we spoke of God's sovereignty and omniscience during week one, we spoke about this same verse, but we kind of expanded upon it.

[8:44] But I want to hone in on a certain section. Because David actually addresses the issue that we face today. Sealing prayers. He speaks about it in this psalm.

[8:55] Look at with me what he says in Psalm 66, verse 18. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

[9:12] I want to talk about that verse and dig deep into that verse. Because a Hebrew word for cherished in this, if I would have cherished iniquity in my heart, is raw, meaning to see.

[9:26] That David is actually saying, communicating something to be understood here, as if I look at my life and see sin and nurture it, cherishing something, you nurture things that you cherish, my prayers are a useless exercise.

[9:47] Sealing prayers. This is something that, something we have to examine in Scripture, because David is communicating a sort of condition which leads to effective prayer.

[10:00] In essence, David was talking about sealing prayers. And now, before you accuse me of legalism and talking about conditions and preparing ourselves and going through ceremonial washings and everything before we approach the Lord, before you accuse me of legalism here, I want to also preface that this is not saying that God refuses to hear prayers if sin is present.

[10:27] Because if this was true, then all prayer is useless. Because how does one come to faith in God confessing our sin to Him? So I'm not saying that at all.

[10:39] I'm not talking about works-based justification. And I'm going to kind of intermix that I'm not saying this in the sermon today. But there is a condition that he talks about.

[10:49] We see, when we expand Psalm, this Psalm 66, we see these 17 verses prior to verse 18 containing joy, containing praise, containing recalling all the deeds of God in the past.

[11:06] And then we reach Psalm 66, verse 18. And it's almost as it pivots with a drastic reminder of how those 17 verses of praise, adoration, provision could have been extremely different if he would have cherished iniquity in his heart.

[11:29] We should see something clearly as God calls us to approach Him in a specific manner. Not legalistically. Not saying you have to be in this super Christian to approach the throne of God.

[11:44] We are all broken. We're all sinners in need of grace. But there's also not a casual sense of approaching the throne of God. You don't want to be legalistic, but you don't want to be too casual like we mentioned in the first week.

[11:57] Like we come to God and say, Hey God, what's up man? I'm just, you know, struggling again. Yeah. Yeah. I know you're going to work this out. So whatever, you know, it is, you know, what it is.

[12:09] You know, being too casual, but you don't want to be too legalistic. So we're going to find that happy medium today. Because there's something vital that David is communicating here that we don't want to pass up.

[12:20] And especially if the Lord Jesus, think about this, if the Lord Jesus Himself in the Lord's Prayer commands His disciples to pray in this way, forgive us our debts, how often we can approach the Lord and totally miss that completely.

[12:34] And David is talking about that right here in this psalm. So let's go into the first point today. If we were gathered today, up on the screen would be point one. So in your notes is point one today.

[12:50] Point one is heart work prepares us to pray. See what I did there? Gotcha. Heart work prepares us to pray.

[13:02] Heart work. Often when we're fighting the prayers that hit the ceiling, we've all been there, I believe. If there's anybody that hasn't been in that place of ceiling prayers, let me know after the sermon because I want to know what you do differently.

[13:19] We've all been in this place of prayers hitting the ceiling. It is easy to become discouraged at the sense of that ineffectiveness in our prayers. Like, man, I'm wasting my time on my knees.

[13:31] I don't even feel as if these prayers are hitting or penetrating through the ceiling. However, this sensation, when we sense it, when we are discerning this sensation, regardless of our feelings, because we know that if we pray in faith, we know that God hears us.

[13:49] So I'm not talking about your feelings, but I'm talking about discernment brought by the Holy Spirit. If this sensation is experienced that our prayers are hitting the ceiling, this should drive us to look in the mirror potentially, to search our hearts, to inventory our lives, to search our lives, to look at our relationships, to inventory those relationships.

[14:15] I mean, after all, David is constantly confessing sin in the Psalms, isn't he? Look at Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is a huge confession in David's life.

[14:27] But Psalm 66 actually gives us insight as to why he upheld this consistent confession in his life. David knew something that we often neglect, church.

[14:40] Confession conditions our hearts to not only ask, but it also conditions our hearts to receive for that which we ask. This is heart work.

[14:54] Confession is normal in the Christian experience. This should be normal. 1 John 1.9 says that without confession of sin, there is no forgiveness. Remember, we went through a series not too long ago in 1 John.

[15:07] It says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And now, knowing the context of 1 John, we know that who he's writing to are Christians.

[15:23] So we understand that he's speaking directly to believers, telling them to take heart in confessing your sin to him. This should be natural to you. And that there's a battle that must be waged upon our flesh daily.

[15:39] But, you know, on the flippity-flip over back in James, James tells us that prayers of a righteous man accomplish much, right?

[15:51] James 5.16 says, therefore, what? Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

[16:04] Yes, we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Our righteousness is nothing that we can attain on our own power. It doesn't matter how many times you pray throughout the day.

[16:16] It doesn't matter how many good deeds you do. It doesn't matter how many old ladies you help across the streets. We are clothed in something that's given to us the righteousness of Christ.

[16:28] And so we understand that our ongoing confession is not a means of progress in our justification, of being justified.

[16:39] However, this progress is in our sanctification. So we're justified and it's an expression of that sanctification in our life from going here to there.

[16:51] Think, it also involves confession in James 5.16. R.C. Sproul mentioned a story about his mentor.

[17:04] His name was John Gerzner. And he told on an occasion his mentor, Dr. Gerzner, spoke about an occasion with a woman that he had in one of his meetings who announced that she hadn't sinned for 20 years.

[17:20] 20 years she hasn't sinned. And so this doctor felt sorry for her because that could only mean that she has not prayed for 20 years.

[17:33] Especially not praying as the Lord has commanded his disciples and us today. How we're to confess in our prayers. And at times we allow sin within our lives.

[17:45] Don't we? We allow things to kind of take captive and fill our minds and our hearts at times. Sometimes we're not aware of it. Sometimes we're just sinful creatures in rebelliousness towards maybe a situation that we're mad at God for.

[18:04] That we at times sometimes live unyoked with the righteousness which has clothed us. Hypocrisy with the righteousness that has clothed us.

[18:15] Serving the God of our flesh and our desires rather than the God Almighty revealed in Scripture. prayer. So church what I'm trying to say today is that what we do with our sin qualifies our prayers.

[18:32] What we do with our sin qualifies our prayers. Confessing sin asking for forgiveness of our debts is integral part of the practice of prayer as prescribed from the Lord Himself.

[18:47] Prayer that is shaped in confession confession draws us so close to the heart of God by cleansing us of our sin and preparing us to ask the Lord and with a cleansed heart also being able to receive properly from the Lord.

[19:08] And so as we draw closer to God the more we realize the gift and the privilege we truly have in our prayers don't we? This leads me to my second point today.

[19:22] The closer we are to God the clearer our sin. Point two. The closer we are to God the clearer our sin. When we were when our family was going through a little rough season with our our two twin daughters and the girls were in the NICU out in McGee Hospital McGee Women's Hospital out in Pittsburgh and you can only imagine the the driving the amount of driving we took we had within those within the two months that my wife was admitted to the hospital for one month and the girls were in there for another month trip after trip now can I just say that Pittsburgh roads don't make any sense?

[20:16] Can I just say that publicly? I just I gotta say I just don't understand it's like like somebody designed it with a sheet of paper and a dartboard let's put an off ramp here and an on ramp here and make this road curve around here and then come back around.

[20:33] Pittsburgh driving is very interesting and the curves and the complexity of the roads doesn't make sense to me but there's this one curve in particular where from about 10 miles away you can see you can see the skyline of the city but it's kind of like hazy it's so far in the distance and you can see these mountains from a distance about 10 miles away and this was always my favorite part of driving there if I took 50 trips driving there I always was ready to see this part you would go around the corner of this big bend of the interstate and then right upon the opening of these trees you just see this city so clear on this route into Pittsburgh those mountains that seemed so small were just gigantic you really get a perspective the closer you are the bigger you realize they are and the same is true in our perspective and relationship with God especially when we realize and consider the reality and existence of our sin even as Christians the closer we are to God the clearer our sin becomes it's a natural response this is actually a Christian complex the more devoted that we are to the

[22:06] Lord the more we become painfully aware of our sin and our shortcomings and then when the Lord graciously answers our petitions that we bring to him after confessing our pride after confessing our doubts or anger and then when the Lord graciously answers those petitions that we wait for we become awestruck that we sinners like us receive anything from the Lord who is man anyway in comparison to the Almighty all we are is based all we have is based on God's grace right we're an undeserving man and this is the reality as Christians we the more we know who God is the more we should be humbled by who we are maybe your awareness of sin has become dull maybe it's become apathetic you're just like whatever you know

[23:10] I'll work on it you know I'm sinner saved by grace okay you know that's a get out of conviction card right no if you reverse engineer that experience of being dull to sin the existence of sin and dig deep into that you'll find a heart that delights in the world and the things of this world of distracting yourselves with the new technology maybe having this this is the problem since Genesis 3 right how could we not grieve the sin that ripped Jesus Christ flesh sin and we play these little games with God and I'm a sinner saved by grace I know I'm not perfect no grief no conviction of sin how can we as Christians not grieve the very sin that put Jesus on a cross that drove a nail through his arms that ripped his flesh if there is no grief over sin there has to be a reckoning of coming to God asking him for forgiveness for that very sin

[24:26] David is not saying sin disqualifies us from the privilege of prayer that we're wasting our time no I'm not saying that but it does affect the effectiveness of our prayer if we allow that sin to abide in our lives going unconfessed and as Christians there is freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ there is freedom in that in having faith alone in Jesus Christ and that freedom doesn't on one side reduce the severity of sin but it also doesn't remove the existence of sin we're not antinomians that live lawlessly with no rules and we're just free let's just keep sinning and live life our own ways so that grace may abound that's what God's all about grace it's love man this is a love revolution right no not at all freedom in Christ doesn't remove the severity of sin it increases it because if you looked at Jesus on the cross you would understand very clearly what it took instead it is a message of freedom from sin for the freedom of access to a holy righteous perfect

[25:52] God almighty it's not about what we get as far as our parameters of how much we can get away with but it's about who we get and that's Jesus Christ that is the freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ the point is the closer we are to God the more the slightest sin in our lives will cause us deep sorrow even though the victory has been won which leads me to my final point point three understanding the victory versus the battle of sin point three understanding the victory versus the battle over sin I hear it often Brent forget that religious talk forget religion you know don't be enslaved to this to your sin don't even waste the time of talking to talking to your church and directing your church to confess their sin you're wasting your time there's victory we're free let's jump around you're released from the guilt just say it declare you're free and you'll feel the freedom

[27:06] Brent you're you're missing something well I'm sorry if you sin in your life and you don't feel guilty for it it would call into question if you truly know who God is which also casts a shadow of doubt on the validity of your sonship sonship in Christ I know that's harsh to say but we need to look and understand the reality of our sin especially this holy week season time of year if you don't feel guilty over your sin it would call into question if you truly know who God is yes there is no condemnation for those who belong in Christ yes there is no condemnation but there should be an ongoing conviction as we make progress in this life and this is not again I'm going to preface this this is not an expression of justifying ourselves this isn't an expression of justification this is an expression there from in our sanctification coming to

[28:18] God confessing our sin to him we are constantly in a battle of the flesh and we constantly sin daily don't be ignorant to that fact that one woman who claimed that she didn't sin for 20 years you're lying to yourself and you don't know God to sweep those battles on account of the victory leads to lawlessness saying that we're free I know I I forgot to I I I I slipped here in my life and and and and peaked at this and I know I shouldn't have but I was tired and everything I know but but the victory is won so I'm not going to feel convicted of that sin that I committed come on church the victory is won and that should encourage us in our battles against sin as we prepare as a church to receive the inheritance of that victory that was won by Jesus

[29:20] Christ the inheritance that lays forward for us at the end of our lives but while we're in the sanctification process we have to wage war upon the sin in our lives and hearts bringing them to God daily because we know we are sinners in need of his grace every minute every hour every moment of this life in one of Spurgeon's sermons on the first beatitude it says blessed are the poor in spirit and he said in his sermon quote the proud sinner wants Christ and his own parties Christ and his own lust Christ and his own lawlessness waywardness the one who is truly poor in spirit wants only

[30:23] Christ and he will do anything and give anything to have him catch that church the proud sinner the proud sinner wants Christ and his own parties wants Christ and his own lust wants Christ and his own lawlessness his own waywardness but the one who is truly poor in spirit wants only Christ and he will do anything and give anything to have him man doesn't this go against western civilization Christianity that's rampant in our culture today want the things of Christ but you don't want Christ isn't this precisely what psalm 66 is all about the expectation that God has no reason to give ear to our words if we cherish sin in our hearts we can't serve two masters you've heard it often we can undermine our battles with a focus upon the ultimate victory that lays ahead and our lives are governed by a false doctrine filled of apathy of just being okay saying that

[31:35] I'm a sinner saved by grace and this false assurance in our lawlessness that we look no different than we are from the world I want to spend some time today I want to spend some time today and evaluate our hearts in various areas of our lives and see how they directly correlate with psalm 66 verse 18 thinking about those sealing prayers okay thinking about those sealing prayers and for anybody who is married joining us on the live stream and with us today 1st Peter talks about something about sealing prayers and marriage 1st Peter 3 7 it says likewise husbands love your love with your wives in an understanding way showing honor to the woman as a weaker vessel since they are heirs with you with you of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered and the word in verse 7 here in 1st Peter hindered means literally cut off so for those who are married if there are marital issues that you have not dealt with that is just kind of sweeping under the rug just maybe maybe a new car will help help compensate for the lack of intimacy maybe she'll love me more if I do this or he will love me more if I do that if there are marital issues that have not been dealt with your prayers should be expected to be cut off doesn't this echo the warning in Psalm 66 18 looking at

[33:31] Psalm 66 in light of our relationships now now holding holding aside you know being married now this is for anybody single widowed maybe divorced even Matthew 5 23 says so if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you leave your gift there before you go before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift a little contingency here so if there's any unresolved conflicts that extend outside of your marriage or maybe outside of your home maybe you're single divorced or widowed you should expect your worship to God to be quenched sealing prayers Jesus is simply stating now there are some cultural differences that we have to take into account but what he's stating is a simple principle and I want to see that principle we have to give great attention to discord in our lives with other people and then once that condition is met we are to come and offer our worship to Yahweh isn't this a picture of communion

[34:50] I can't wait till we're back together and take communion yes prayer isn't specifically mentioned in here worship is but the principle striving for unity and reconciliation is ever present and that principle applies to those sealing prayers think of how absurd it would be to petition to God with unconfessed sin lurking in your heart after you just destroyed somebody else to a family member or something or you went on social media and posted this with the sin lurking this unconfessed sin lurking in your heart or discord among believers who are we to expect God to handle our petitions in a manner of grace and charitability when we ourselves are lacking that very charitability and grace in our own lives towards our fellow family vanity church doesn't this echo the warning of psalm 66 verse 18 and I don't want to go too long into it but there's also a personal self-evaluation your own emotions and everything

[35:52] I thought of Colossians 3 5 where it says put to death therefore what is earthly in you remember this church we just went through this not too long ago in our series sexual immorality impurity passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry list all these things out are we a victim of these and Paul goes on to say but now you must put them all away anger wrath malice slander and obscene talk from your mouth do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and you have put on the new self which he gets into as you continue in chapter 3 of Colossians if we are unrepentant in our own lives of sin the moment we ask God for certain petitions it's almost as if we're cursing him with the same breath God is not about to honor our requests made out of sinful hearts that we're not dealing with living with this hypocrisy earthliness and sinfulness now the flip side is true just because your prayer isn't being answered in the way that you desire it doesn't mean

[37:04] I'm not trying to put this ultimate guilt trip that you have some secret sin in your life that's abusive in Christian lives Christian lives or saying that you lack faith in your prayers I'm not saying that as well but what I am saying is that the condition of your heart must be taken into consideration by the counsel and the guidance and the conviction of the Holy Spirit or else we should expect our prayer lives to be detrimentally affected that is what I'm saying today doesn't this echo the Psalm 66 verse 18 church as we come to the end of our gathering today cherishing sin despises God cherishing your sin despises God a heart which truly cherishes God leaves no room for sin to dwell maybe we could take a lesson from the book great themes of the

[38:09] Bible where Banks tells of a story of D.L. Moody visiting a bunch of men in prison and this prison was called the tombs and he went there D.L.

[38:20] Moody went to these tombs to preach to the inmates and after finishing speaking Moody talked about a number of men in their selves and he asked each prisoner a question what brought you here what brought you here D.L.

[38:37] Moody would say to the prisoners and again and again he received replies like I don't deserve to be here man locked in a cell other men would say I was framed or they'd say I was falsely accused or I was given an unfair trial not one inmate would admit that he was guilty not one but finally Moody found a man with his face buried in his hands he's weeping in a cell and this is out of the book great themes of the bible it says and what's wrong my friend he inquired the prisoner responded my sins are more than I can bear D.L.

[39:29] Moody relieved to find at least one man who recognized his guilt and his need for forgiveness the evangelist exclaimed thank God for that thank God you realize that your sins are more than you can bear Moody then had the joy of pointing him to saving knowledge of Christ a knowledge that released him from those shackles of sin what an accurate picture of what Spurgeon had in his sermon of the beatitude of truly being poor in spirit what an accurate picture of Jesus parable the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke chapter 18 God isn't calling you to Christ out of your fear of your sin or the fear of the consequences and a trite confession he's looking for contrition he's looking for you to be grieved by your sin to be broken over your sinfulness he's not looking at you to be fear of the consequences of your sin which is hell but he's looking for a love of Christ alone who saved you and brought you out of the pits of darkness we know that where there is love for

[40:45] Christ there is utter disdain for sin there is no mixing the two it is oil and vinegar this prisoner understood that well and where the abiding love for Christ exists sin has no place church no place so as we close if you are a Christian in this live stream and joining us today I hope you feel the weight of challenge in your life in your sanctification because your prayer life reveals a lot about you your prayer life reveals a lot about your marriage your prayer life reveals a lot about your relationships your prayer life reveals a lot about what you believe of God and what you believe of yourself God I'm going to ask you to come clean of anything that is not of

[41:46] God today and embark and wage this war in this battle in our sanctification well together not all sin is the cause of unanswered prayer I don't want you to think that if God's not responding to you maybe it's because of sin and you've inventoried and you're racking your brain you're going insane over what Brent told you to start doing I'm not saying that all sin is a cause of unanswered prayer sometimes God molds us and refines us in times of silence to get us to listen but if your prayers are hitting the ceiling I encourage you to search your hearts search your life search your relationships and confess those sins to him maybe this is the Holy Spirit calling you to repent and this is a time for you Christians me as well to come up with less excuses and more grief and if you are not in

[42:53] Christ today and you are listening to this and you are like I thought I was perfect I thought I was okay I am not as bad as my neighbor is that doesn't matter if you are not in Christ today your self evaluation of your goodness and who you are and comparing to other human beings means nothing what the standard is written in God's word and there is a great opportunity when you ask something specifically of God for you and through this prayer can remove the shackles and the sin in your life that holds you down there's something that can bring you hope that can bring light into your dark life to bring understanding in your confusion that can bring a dead life and revive it this is a prayer that changes everything for you this is a prayer of forgiveness a prayer of pardon simply asking

[44:07] God to forgive you of your sinfulness maybe for the first time in your life understanding that Christ paid it all for you and you're not confessing your sin out of a fear of hell but out of a bankruptcy of self that only Christ has paid the debt for to be found you must first understand that you are completely lost I ask you to be found today if you're not in Christ the prayer of forgiveness the most important prayer of your life be found today so let us all be encouraged as we close to be challenged in our prayer lives knowing that that these conditions of prayer are not a means to justification but they're an expression of sanctification it is a healthy exercise for us to embark in confession in our daily routine of coming to the Lord in prayer lest our prayers be unheard and unanswered as David said would have been so with the 17 verses that came up before verse 18 please join me in a word of prayer as we go into a time of singing together and then we are going to join in on a little

[45:32]  Q&A panel as usual PIL shit coming to the week Harris who is like some who are and oh we have it