 Amen. Keep your place there in 1 Kings chapter 3. We'll be looking at this story throughout the sermon this evening. We're talking about Solomon's prayer tonight. We've been looking at famous prayers in the Bible and seeing what we can learn from these prayers. So before we talk about the topic of the sermon tonight, let's just look at the beginning of the story here. Look at 1 Kings chapter 3 and look at verse number 5. So here we see Solomon. He's just taken over the kingdom from his father David. And we see Solomon has a dream where the Lord appears to him at night. Look at verse number 5. It says in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. So here God basically comes to Solomon in a dream and he says, What do you want? He says, Ask me and I will give you something. You know, and yet you're thinking, you know, it must be nice. I mean, whenever you read this story in the Bible, you know, a lot of times you'll think, Oh, it must be nice to just have God, you know, come to me and just be like, Hey, ask me whatever you want to give me. You know, that's what a thought that comes into people's mind. I mean, there was a game that we used to play when we were kids. I don't know if kids these days play it. Maybe I saw too many cartoons or something when I was a kid. But there's a game that we used to play when we were just little kids. It'd be like, What would you do if you had three wishes? You know, what would you ask for? Do you ever play this game with your friends? You know, and you know, the first thing, of course, is, you know, everybody would always say, Well, a million dollars, right? You know, you asked for a million dollars. That's the first thing, right? You probably need more than that now, right? But anyway, I mean, you know, you asked for money and all this stuff and you know, I was I was a smart one, right? I was like, No, of course, the first thing I would ask for is more wishes. Then you just have as many wishes as you want, you can do whatever you want, right? But look, God actually comes to Solomon and this actually happens to him, right? I mean, he comes to Solomon says, What do you want? You know, I'll give you I mean, implying that he will give Solomon whatever he wants. You know, he's playing playing that game with Solomon and we sit there and we say, Well, it must be nice. But guess what? In Matthew chapter seven of verse number seven, God says, Ask what? Ask. He says, He says, Ask and it will be given to you seek and you shall find. He says to us says to us knock and it shall be opened unto you. So God has said the same thing to us before we even begin the sermon that he said to Solomon. Okay, so we're not anything. Solomon's not anything unique. The difference though, is that Solomon was very smart in the way that he talked to the Lord and what he actually asked for. So that's what we're going to look at this evening. But just laying the groundwork there. Just remember, you know, the wish game that God gave Solomon, he plays the same game with says and I shall give unto you, you know, he says, Ask me just ask me. You know, this is the problem with us. This is why we're having a sermon series on prayer in the first place. Go back to first Kings chapter three, look at verse number six. So God says to Solomon, he's like, What do you want? Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon says, look what he says in verse six says thou has showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy. According as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee, and thou has kept him with this great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. And now Lord my God, thou has made thy servant king instead of David my father. But I am and I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Has he asked for anything? I just read you three verses in the Bible. God says, Ask me what you want. And look what Solomon does. What does he do? What was some of the first things that we learned in this sermon series? Address God with respect. He doesn't just say, Give me this. He goes and he addresses God with respect. He tells God, You're a God of great mercy. You've been great to my father. And then look what he says in verse number eight. He says it twice. He says it in verse number eight. And he says it in verse number nine. He's the king. Think about this for a second. He's the king of the nation right now. Solomon is the king. And he says in the midst of who? He says in the midst of thy people. He literally addresses the nation that he rules over as God's people. He acknowledges to God, these are your people. And in verse number seven, he's like, I am nothing. He says, I'm just a little kid. I'm just a little child. He's like, How am I supposed to rule your people? He says to God. He's getting great respect to God. He's asked for nothing at this point. Look at verse number 12. Behold, I have done, I'm sorry, verse number nine. Therefore, give thy servant. And how does he address himself? Give this powerful king of this nation. He says, Give thy servant. He's like, Lord, I'm your servant. Just listen to how he speaks to the Lord. Listen to how he comes to God here. Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge who? Again, thy people. He's saying to God, that means your. He's saying, God, help me rule your people. Not my people, not my kingdom. He's not claiming, look, what have we learned from all these men and all these women? You give credit to the Lord. You give credit to where credit is due. Daniel's same thing. He was very good at just giving all glory and all credit to God all the time. And Solomon is doing that here. This is a pretty smart little kid right here. This is a pretty smart young man. He says, Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people. Now he asks. He makes the ask in verse number nine. He says, Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people. That I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, thy so great a people? He asks for something that will benefit something that belongs to the Lord. You see that? What he does? He doesn't ask for anything for himself. He asks for something that will help what? What was another philosophy that we learned? How is your prayer? How is the thing that you are going to ask for? How does that benefit God's kingdom on earth? Didn't we learn that a couple of sermons ago? How does it benefit? You should probably try to make that case. And look, if it doesn't, you just can't think of anything. Oh, you know, maybe we have a problem here. But look at what Solomon does. He says, Give me an understanding heart so I can judge. He's not saying, you know, I mean, judge everyone's like, Oh, don't judge. He's saying, So I can like rule properly is what he's saying. So I can rule fairly. These people look at verse number 10. And the speech please the Lord. That Solomon had asked this thing. And verse number 11, he says, And God said to him, This is this is the school kids playing the wish game right here. God's like, I figured you were going to ask me these things. Because now I'd asked this thing and has asked not for myself. You know, what were the, what were the wishes that the kids play in the playground? They're like, I want to live forever. Right? I want to have a million dollars. You know, I want to be the most powerful person in the world. Those are the answers that the school kids gave. And that's what God said he was expecting right here. He said, And has not asked for thyself a long life, neither has asked riches for thyself, nor had asked the life of dine enemies, you know, just this big, to be this big powerful ruler, but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. He literally instead, God was so pleased because he literally just asked for help with God's kingdom on earth. That's what Solomon asked for. So we see, I mean, we see, before we get started here, we see the exact pattern that we've been talking about throughout these prayers. Just the respect given to the Lord. We see that he went and he made a case. He made a case. Not only did he make a case, he just asked directly for something that would directly benefit the Lord. So this is a very good prayer. Look at verse number 12. How does God respond to it? Is God going to grant this? Is he going to say, okay? He's like, you know, what does he do? Look at verse 12. He says, behold, I have done according to thy words. He says, yes, I'm going to give you that. Lo, I've given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there is none like thee before thee. So, God goes further now. God goes further. He doesn't just say, yes, I'm going to give you good judgment. Have a nice day. Good luck. He says, I've given thee a wise and understanding heart. That's what he asked for. But so that there was none like thee before thee. Neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. He said, I've given you the wisest judgment that has ever been before or ever will follow after. Look at verse 13. And I also giveeth thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. Verse 14. And now this is super important right here. Verse 14. And if thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. So it's kind of like, it's kind of like the covenant with the land with Israel right here. He says in verse number 12, verse number 13. He's like, I'm going to grant you what you asked for plus all this other stuff that you didn't ask for as long as you obey me. Because I mean how long could your days be according to the Lord? What did you know? What did we find out today? Some kids told us today. Our days could be tomorrow. That's it. Your days could be over now. Your days could be over today. So this all had, you know, this was a contract. God says, if you obey me, you know, this is what I'm going to give you. So basically he says yes to Solomon's prayer plus all this extra stuff as long as there's obedience that comes with it. So we're going to talk tonight about things that you should pray for. Things that you should pray for that God will answer positively. I mean, don't we want to pray? I mean, who wouldn't want to say that, you know, when I pray, God says yes. You know, when I pray for something, God answers me in a positive way. Who wouldn't want to say that? So we're going to look tonight using Solomon's example, especially the first part of his prayer and then verse number 14 from the Lord. We're going to look, because look, James chapter 4 says, if we ask but we, but it's not answered right, we ask amiss. That's why. So if God doesn't answer our prayers in a positive way, it's because we're asking for the wrong things. So we want to ask for the right things. Look, prayer is very simple. The answers to our prayer are yes, no, or not now, or wait. Okay, so if the prayers, no, if we're asking for something and it's just no, we're not asking for the right things. God's actually doing us a favor by not, you know, by not letting us hurt ourselves. Okay, so let's look at some things that we should pray for tonight. So, I mean, who wants to waste God's time? You know, praying for a bunch of things we shouldn't be praying for. Who wants to waste our own time? Solomon asked for a very smart thing here and we should ask for things that are good for us spiritually and good for God. Okay, and then God will answer in that same positive tone that he answered Solomon, because look, God gave us in Matthew chapter 7, he gave us the same, just ask me, that he gives to Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 3. Okay, so let's have that, that same mentality of what to ask for that Solomon had. So what is the first thing? So, here's the first thing, let's just look at the things that Solomon specifically asked for. Okay, a lot of people think that Solomon asked for wisdom. He didn't ask for wisdom. Okay, let me just give you two things specifically and then I'll kind of give you a methodology of how to ask for right things in your life. The first thing that you should ask for in your life is this, good judgment. You should ask for good judgment in your life. Sometimes I think that this is maybe all the Christian needs right here. It's just good judgment. And Solomon didn't ask for wisdom. You hear people misquote this story all the time. Solomon asked for wisdom, he didn't ask for wisdom, he asked for judgment. He asked for good judgment. You know what he wanted to know? He wanted to know when I'm ruling this people, when I'm ruling, when I'm leading this this nation, I'm going to be put in all these situations and he's like, God I want to know what the right thing to do is in each one of those situations. And then we see an example at the end of First Kings chapter 3 of him putting God's answer in you know into practice with these. I mean because look as a leader, as a leader you get all kinds of weird stuff put in front of you. And I mean you as a leader you want to have good judgment with all these situations. I mean look that's a weird situation that we just read about First Kings chapter 3. Some woman steals another woman's baby and claims it's her own baby and nobody knows whose baby it is. I mean that's weird. That's weird that somebody would do that. And Solomon has good judgment and how to get to the bottom of that situation. Okay so that's the first thing. He asked for good judgment. So take this, we should ask for good judgment. Specifically you should be asking and praying for good judgment in your life all the time. As a Christian, as a Bible-believing Christian you should be asking, Lord help me have good judgment. Help me understand the Bible, how to apply that to my life and make proper decisions in my life. That is a prayer that God will answer positively. Okay but look here's what people do though. You should ask for good judgment. You shouldn't necessarily pray for specific outcomes in your life. Okay does that make sense? I mean it's a much better prayer to ask God to give you discernment and judgment like Solomon did than for you to make prayers in your life like God give me this job. God please you know please Lord just just just give me this one specific job this is what you know look that's what we're that's what we want to do in our lives. But instead you should pray for discernment. You should pray for just the judgment to know you know what the right opportunities are that we should take in our lives. You know I mean that's where we end up saying you know we're like God give me this opportunity or God give me this job or God make this happen or God you know help me this work out like this with this person or whatever that's where God says no and we're like why did he say no? It's like look it says we need to just pray for for judgment. We need to pray for good judgment and then let God you know you know put things in front of us that we can have okay but God show us what the right path is just like he showed Solomon in this first example how Solomon could figure out who's son it was right I mean I'm sure that when Solomon had that idea that very creative idea by the way to figure out who's baby I'm sure that wasn't hard to figure out who son it was I mean he's the king he could execute anybody he can do anything he wants and he says you know divide the child in half and I'm sure he was looking at both of their faces at that moment and I'm sure at that moment it was very easy to see the horror on the the real mother's face in that situation so look a better prayer is to God give us judgment give us a discerning heart as Solomon asked for help me God help me to know what is right I mean you're in a difficult position in your life something's going on there's that you can go this way or you can go that way God help me to discern what's right not God help me go this way because we don't know his way is higher than our ways God use your higher ways to help me discern which way I should go guide me in your wisdom not my own is a prayer that we should use look there's gonna be all kinds of important decisions in all of our lives you know where I mean it's not just where to work it's it's where to live where you know how raising kids just we need we're going to be put in all kinds of weird situations outside of church inside of church we just need to be praying for judgment we need to pray this probably more often like like I said at the beginning of this this topic if we asked humbly for good judgment why would God not say yes to that prayer is what you have to ask yourself okay so look what he did does the Solomon he not only grants him that judgment that discerning heart but he gives him all these extra things okay God was so happy with that ask we need to learn from that example alright this is something I pray for this for myself a lot I pray for this for other people a lot just that people would have good judgment okay because look nobody wants to make wrong decisions nobody wants to make wrong decisions in your life look men men especially men leading families the leader your decisions your decisions they affect other people other than just yourself you know I mean it's been said that that everything rises and falls on leadership that is so true but everybody likes to look at the rises part of that you know everything rises on leadership like whoa you know what a great leader and everybody is going to be you know all this and look if you're a husband and you make the wrong decision look your family falls with you and look you're going to see this okay you're going to see this and it's something that unfortunately you just going to kind of have to get used to that everything rises on leadership there's a good side of that but if wrong decisions are made people fall with the leader as well it's sad to see I don't like seeing it any more than anybody else lights seeing it but look it's just a hard reality of the Christian life I mean you know your your marriage is a thing you know it's like your your marriage is like an entity think of it that way your marriage is like you know you have the husband you have the wife your marriage is it's a thing it's like an entity and decisions can be made they can break that thing you know I remember you know I've heard this many many times from men in the past but you find some man that's that's been divorced and I've even heard this from a saved Christian man many many years ago he had a failed marriage and anytime that the term even close to marriage was brought up this guy just launch off on his ex-wife on how she was you know unsaved and she was a promiscuous woman and all just this strong language against like how everything was wrong with this woman and look all that may have been true I have no idea I never met her but what he was doing and he he would even bring this up to the point where he was diverting all the blame for his failed marriage on this evil wicked demon woman but here's the thing his marriage was a ship it was a thing it was a vessel and he was in charge of that thing and he's in that thing sunk you know this is why the captain he goes down with the ship right I mean it's it's just you're responsible you are responsible as the leader of that entity driving that bus driving that ship the man's responsible you need good judgment men fathers leaders need to be praying for this all the time because a bad decision by you is the leader will hurt way more people than just one of the individuals in that family making a bad decision you know you're you can bring others down with you so judgment judgment that's that's a that's a great prayer to just pray for all the time both you know specifically and just in general you know say you have something specific that you're thinking about in your life that you're facing pray for judgment pray for God to guide you down the right path but guess what you got to be obedient you got to be you know living an obedient life having a good relationship just like verse 14 said you know for God to respond to you the same way he responded to Solomon okay what's the next one here's another example here's another example how about this one what did God grant on top of the judgment here's something that we should pray for wisdom turn to Proverbs chapter 4 Proverbs chapter 4 now obviously the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as the Bible says in Proverbs 9 10 the fear of the Lord at the beginning of wisdom look at Proverbs chapter 4 Proverbs chapter 4 look at verse number 5 so obviously wisdom you know we have God's wisdom in front of us look at Proverbs 4 in verse number 5 the Bible says get wisdom get understanding forget it not now here we see we see in this proverb we don't see opposites we see something that's reinforcing the first part of the proverb so it says get wisdom get understanding good things to pray for the Bible saying get these things forget it not neither now he's going to tell you how to not forget it okay at the last part of the proverb that's a problem is so brilliant problem is so brilliant look at get wisdom get understanding forget it not neither decline from the words of my mouth so how do you not forget it he's like get wisdom well how well don't forget it how don't don't go away from my word he says you know don't decline from the words of my mouth what do you mean well these are the words of his mouth this is the words of God's mouth that he's preserved for us why would God preserve his word it's so we have the words of his mouth it's so we have those words and that's how we get wisdom we get understanding and we don't forget it because we have it right here okay but we have to do what we have to read it we have to study it we have to look at it we have to learn it okay you can't ask God for wisdom and this is never pick up your Bible look at verse 14 again you have to be obedient in these things I mean that's not something that God is going to respond to well you're like he's saying the wisdom is in the Bible so you know yes it's your great thing to pray for understanding of the Bible if you're reading some things and maybe you're reading something in the Bible and you're like boy that's a really deep passage that's a great prayer God I pray for wisdom that you can just give me understanding of this passage you can just keep reading it and keep studying and God will grant that to you you can just be like God just make me the wisest person in the world you just never touch the Bible he's like you have like he's like you have all my words like right there is like many people in history couldn't even didn't have what you have you know you have everything right there and you don't even look at it I wouldn't expect a positive response in that case so obedience is a nice prerequisite to any prayer by the way look at James chapter 1 look at James chapter 1 verse number 5 we're looking at wisdom looking at wisdom so we see we should we should ask for judgment we shouldn't ask for specific outcomes in our lives if we're faced at a you know if we're to crossroads in our life we should pray for judgment not for God to send us left okay we should pray for judgment the second thing is we should pray for wisdom and God is telling us in the Bible that my wisdom is right here he's like if you don't want to forget you know the wisdom he's like study my words look James chapter 1 and verse 5 it says if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God God is literally telling you so with wisdom God literally tells you specifically he says he says ask me for things in Matthew chapter 7 he's like you don't ask me ask seek knock God is saying come to me more God is begging us to pray is what he he's literally begging us to pray and then in James chapter 1 and verse 5 he's literally telling us that we should pray for wisdom I mean so this one thing he's saying you should pray for this specific thing and then it says that you know let him ask of God that give it to all men liberally and upbraid if not and it should be given unto him so God is literally telling us here ask for wisdom specifically and I will give it to you liberally all right but we need to be in the Bible as Proverbs 4 says we need to be in the Bible you know you know making an effort to learn God's word to learn what he's already told us so we see some pretty good examples here from Solomon we see we should ask for judgment we see we should ask for with them now let's just kind of put this into a pattern a methodology in our lives and and just say this you should ask for things that you know God wants for you think about that you say how would I know well if you never read the Bible you won't know so when you read the Bible what you will find in the Bible is you will find things that God wants for you and not only will you find the things that God wants for you he gives you very specific directions on how to obtain those things in the Bible you know I mean just a couple examples I mean like a strong marriage we just talked about that right turn to 1st Peter chapter 3 1st Peter chapter 3 you know I mean but the first thing you need to do you say okay I should pray for a strong marriage but the first thing you have to do is be obedient to what the Bible says you should do to get a strong marriage be obedient verse 14 remember God says if you obey me you know you'll live long in this situation that I'm going to put you in so what you can't be you can't ask just pray for a strong God just help me have a strong marriage and then you know be this guy that just doesn't love your wife that just doesn't you know show sacrificial on real I mean like the real definition of love not what the world tells us okay this sacrificial love that the Bible says we should have for our wives you know you can't be ladies you can't be are you at 1st Peter turn to 1st Peter chapter 3 1st Peter chapter 3 let me turn there myself so ladies you can't ask for a strong marriage and then you know just be like just not submit to your husband does not obey your husband just be like you know I'm not going to do that part it's just it's not going to work obedience must be a prerequisite look at 1st Peter chapter 3 look at verse numbers I mean look at verse number one likewise you wives in subjection to your own husband so you can't be a wife it's like God my marriage is a mess and I want you to fix my marriage and they're just like you're just like running and you refuse to submit to him and you just refuse to let him lead your home and you're not listening to what the Bible says at least it's not going to work out it's not going to work out look at verse number seven men it's really interesting that God actually ties this to prayer with the men look at verse number seven it says likewise he husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that what that your prayers not hindered God is literally saying look husbands you better listen to what I'm telling you on how you are to be towards your wife to love your wife as Christ loved the church to sacrifice for her you can just be living this life or is this self-centered selfish leader this is driving over I like I'm in charge I get everything not thinking about anybody else and then just ask God to fix your marriage it's not going to work obedience must be first obedience must be first and what God literally ties it to him answering your prayers in first Peter chapter 3 and verse number seven you know don't use that I mean women could use that against their husbands like you better be nicer to me now I'm just kidding but I mean the point is the point is obedience needs to come first you can't ask for these look God wants you to have a strong marriage God wants you to have a strong marriage but he tells you specifically how to do that so you go and you work towards those things and you pray for God to give you that strong marriage and it's going to work out it's going to work out how about this one strong Christian children I hope you're praying for your children look I hope that you pray for your children because if you're not praying for your children that's a huge tool you left in the toolbox right there but how about this one how about I'm going to pray for my kids and like my kids are going off the deep end and things aren't working out in my family I'm going to pray for my kids but I'm going to listen to nothing that the Bible says about how to raise my kids it's not going to work out it's the same thing it's the same thing as verse 14 in first Kings chapter 3 I mean look he that spare the rod hated his son yet you'll find people you'll find Christian parents that just won't spank their kids just like I'm just not going to do it was not going to do that part it's too mean or whatever no the Bible says you hate your son you don't spank him or her or whatever but you can't not follow God's clear direction and then expect him to answer the pre-me he's like what I mean God's got to be like I told you how to do it you know I mean you first get obedient then you pray and it's going to work out that's how it goes this is that this is what we see with Solomon how about this one how about this one strength against temptation strength against temptation I mean look you can't pray to God to have strength against temptation in your life and then just do nothing that has anything spiritual to do with it in your life just be you're just walking in the flesh you're just doing whatever you want you just don't have any interest in coming to church you know whatever soul winning none of that and then just expect God to answer that prayer like God give me strength against temptation it's not going to work out how about this one you know success at my job how about this one for the men you know you know but you go to work and you're late and you're lazy and you know it just you don't even you know maybe you don't even have a job I mean whatever I mean but Lord make me successful I mean what in the world I mean God's got to be looking just it's not going to work out the obedience comes first the obedience comes first you look you go to work you work hard you put in the effort behave accordingly you be a good testimony you be a good testimony and then you pray for success in that endeavor it's going to work out that's how it goes you don't look here's here's another good one pray for pray for creativity I mean these are good things to do God give me creativity you have a job that requires creativity they requires ideas pray for those things you have to pray specifically for God help me do this one thing you pray for ideas creativity and then put in the effort and work toward what work like you're working for Christ like the Bible says that you're supposed to I don't care who your boss is work like you're working for Christ and then it's going to work out because guess what God wants those things for you God wants you to be successful I mean you're starting a new job maybe you're learning new things pray for understanding look it's maddening starting a new job or learning a new trade or whatever I get it it's you can go to work I went I remember out of college and I started my first job at college I thought I was an idiot for two years my wife can testify this I come home from work I only I don't think I'm smart enough for this I can't get it it's too complicated just when I think I got it it's more complicated there's like another layer of complication it's just super complicated stuff pray for those things pray for understanding these are things like pray for things that you know God wants you to have because it's in his word it's in his word so look we just need to ask for things that are in line with God's will does that make sense and we will get positive results remember how will this affect the kingdom of God how will this affect the kingdom of God I mean Solomon did that here he says help me to lead your people properly I people properly Lord when we ask for these things God will respond positively to us now there's a problem here though there's a problem here because you could say turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 let's just look at this there's a problem there's a problem because a lot of people say you know I just don't really want spiritual things so what do we do what do we do there look at 1st Corinthians chapter 2 in verse number 12 so we're talking about asking for spiritual things and God's gonna God's gonna obviously like that you ask for those spiritual things but what if you just like I just don't really want spiritual things look at 1st Corinthians chapter 2 look at verse number 12 I mean you should I mean we'll get to that in a minute look at verse number 12 it says now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit of God which which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us to us of God which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches but which the holy ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual see these are spiritual things here the difference between this book and any other book that you would ever read is that this is a spiritual book so when you read this book when you read this book it's it's when you sit down and you have bible time it's you and the holy spirit and God's word just working things out together that that's what's happening it's a spiritual book look at verse 14 so but the natural man received it not the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned ran into a guy just yesterday and he was he was a Mormon and he this guy was like full blown Mormon he was in his 50s full blown Mormon knocked on his door and we were out there and this guy like he was just like really bothered that I was there at his door he was like really like his lips were quivering and he was all like you know he was really bothered that and look I was nice I didn't say goodbye I didn't wish him well because I just I didn't say have a nice day because he's a false prophet so I went to his door I found out he was a Mormon I asked him if he wanted to know the truth from the bible and how the bible is different from what the Mormon church teaches he said no and he wanted to argue with me and I said I didn't come to your door to argue with you and I walked away and he got in a truck and he followed me and he found me walking and he pulls up and rolls down the window and I walk up to him again and I I'm not even sure where I'm going with this story but it's an interesting situation because the guy I'm like I'm like I'm like can I just show you the gospel how do you know that how do you know that that you're interpreting the bible right well the gospel is very simple see it's to the natural man he doesn't understand it and especially somebody that says deep off the deep end is him who's in false prophet land okay look if he would have been like okay could you show me look we could have got him saved but that's not where his heart was he's like well you know I'm like I could explain it to you in in just a few minutes it's it's very simple it's it's even as a young child can understand the gospel and I can clearly point out as I'm explaining the gospel to you I could clearly point out where it's different and the things that it says different about Jesus about how to get to heaven about you know having your own planet then then the Mormon church teaches no interest no interest it is a problem with his heart it's a problem with his heart but you see the thing is he doesn't think that you can understand the bible because he can't understand it this is what first Corinthians chapter 2 is talking about he can't understand it because the natural man can't understand these things he's he's been so twisted up and because it's a spiritual book even the simple thing of the gospel he can't understand it you know he's so far down that path bolivar verse 15 but he did a spiritual judge with all things yet he himself is judged of no man the point is is that we are we are spiritual we have the holy spirit in us this is a spiritual book so we should want spiritual things turn to first Corinthians chapter 14 first Corinthians chapter 14 so look he didn't he didn't I was trying to get a couple words in edgewise since he did take the trouble to get in his vehicle and drive down the street and talk to me again but and look I mean he was generally nice but I could just tell how he was just shaking his lips were quivering and look I have nothing to hide I'm an open I'm an open bible so whoever wants me to explain it to him but he had no desire he wanted to tell his stuff to me okay so I mean he he didn't understand it he didn't understand even the simplest thing in the bible they're like there's complicated things in the bible the gospel is not one of them the gospel is very simple I mean this is why this is why we can get like a seven year old saved or an eight year old saved I mean this is why kids that stay in church and listen to bible preaching they'll get saved when they're six seven years old you know out on the street we'll get kids that they're not even church kids we'll get them saved when they're 10 11 years old easy it's easy to understand but the natural man can't understand what he's reading okay if people let us explain it to them let us preach it to them we can get them saved look at first Corinthians chapter 14 so the bible says that we are spiritual beings if we're saved okay we've gotten that down payment in us we've gotten that seal of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's in us that's why the Holy Spirit is grieved when we're not doing what we're supposed to do look at verse number one of first Corinthians chapter 14 it says follow after charity and what and desire spiritual gifts isn't that interesting so God is saying God is saying through the the whole first part of the sermon I'm just like we should ask for spiritual things God is begging us ask me for things talk to me seek knock he's like ask ask for things he's like begging us and then we're seeing examples with Solomon how he asks for this great spiritual thing that benefits the kingdom of God and then God tells us he's like we should also desire those spiritual things we should desire those things but rather that you may prophesy he's like God wants us to desire those things okay but you're just like I don't desire those things though like why why you're like oh I desire you're like but I don't all I desire is like I think about what I want and I want cars and I want houses and I want hundred dollar bills and I want look and you can you can spiritualize those things too you can spiritualize those things too there's many people look there's been many a Christian who has chased money in his life just because wow I mean God wants me to support my family so he's made all these decisions based on money in his life or based on things and stuff you know I mean but they don't desire any spiritual things turn to Galatians chapter 5 so what if we don't desire spiritual things why is that and how do we fix it I'm going to show you that now so you're saying I get it I believe you we should ask for spiritual things and God will answer those things positively I just don't desire spiritual things look at Galatians chapter 5 in verse number 16 the bible says this I say say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh we see a super interesting thing here for the flesh lust is against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh you see that right there in verse 17 you see how these two things are after each other how these two things they don't go together these things are like oil and water so to speak and these are contrary to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would so these things these things of the flesh it's not like it's not like hey you know I'm gonna this is this is what messes people up in the Christian life because it doesn't work like hey I want to have this great life outside of my spiritual life and I also want to have a spiritual life see because one destroys the other the bible is saying one is contrary to the other one eats the other they both eat the other so you say I just you know I really want to just desire this this life you know outside my spiritual life but I also want to have a spiritual life doesn't work that way because that life of the flesh will eat and it will consume the spiritual life so if you don't desire spiritual things this is the problem it depends look what the bible here is saying is if you don't desire spiritual things it's because of how you are living it's because of what you are doing because look it's not about our works to get to heaven it's not about works it's no works no works all this stuff we got it we got salvation down but guess what if you want to start desiring spiritual things that depends on your works it depends on how you're living your life it depends on what you're doing if you are living in the flesh you will literally not want spiritual things that's what the bible is saying here this is super important that you understand Galatians 5, 16 one will kill the other the life of the flesh will kill the spiritual life you're not going to get unsaved it's not going to kill your soul it's going to it's going to destroy your spiritual life and you know it's going to we can go into generational problems after that with the kids and everything but look if you say all I want is cars all I want is stuff all I want is worldly success and worldly things people can make those spiritual too God wants me to be successful you have some success in your life and when God's blessing me look at me people can make these things spiritual as well which is kind of scary but notice notice how humble Solomon was though because you won't look at worldly things as spiritual things if you're a humble person if you're a humble person you know you can take blessings and just be like I don't deserve any of this and I'm glad that you know I have a car that doesn't break every five seconds and I'm thankful for that you know but you won't get puffed up about those things if you stay humble like Solomon's just like I'm just a little kid so don't don't forget the humility you know that's why so many people fail at the Christian life right here so look I mean just think about the things let's look at Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16 think about this contrary contrary thing think about things in your life that can destroy your spiritual life just think about things like we were talking the other day about things that you just I mean things that I mean we're living separated lives but you just can't get away from think about this I was at the dentist I had a root canal hopefully you don't have to have one of those again but I was at the dentist and they play music there what am I going to do they're playing music and I'm getting a root canal and they're playing music and unfortunately these songs are like stuck in my head they're like tattooed in my brain it's like I can remember the words to most of these songs but guess what if you just immerse yourself in that music and you just go that way to that music guess what you know what it's not that you know what I used to say here's what I used to say before I say ah I just like the tune I just like the tune I just like the you know the the harmonies and all that kind of stuff but you know it's much worse than that because not only are you listening to that music but like what are the words of that music when you start listening to the words you're just like ah as a as a Christian it's crazy you know the words in these songs but you know what that'll do it's not just that you're filling your head with that stuff it's not just that you're filling your head with that material you know what it'll do it'll kill your desire to hear hymns it'll kill your desire to hear spiritual songs it's crazy but that's what it'll do because that's what Galatians 516 what Galatians 516 is telling you that's what's going to happen if you listen to all this worldly music it's like it will take away your desire for spiritual music so you can't be like oh I just like to have my worldly music on the side but I also like to sing hymn it doesn't work that way one eats the other one eats the other but you start getting into spiritual hymns and listening to spiritual music and just like it just opens up a joy in your life but if you go down those roads it eats your spiritual life think about other things just think about other influences think about like media and movies think about think about that I mean I don't know what the last numbers I've looked at like some people are watching TV like seven eight hours a day I don't even know how you can fit all that in but people are watching all these movies watching all this media on TV I mean first of all I mean forget the fact that you're just wasting your life but what is the content what is the content that you're filling yourself with you wonder why people are accepting of every unnatural perversion that we could possibly think of today and it's because they're feeding themselves with seven eight hours a day of garbage but you know what you know what it'll also do it will rob you of your desire to read it'll rob you of your desire to because like watching things is lazy washing things you're just receiving you're just like you know it but but reading you gotta actually think you gotta actually put some effort into reading guess what it'll rob your desire to read especially the bible like oh man now it's much more serious because the non-spiritual the flesh will eat your spiritual life that's what Galatians chapter five is talking about so I mean just I mean those are just a couple examples I mean you just have to ask yourself you just have to ask yourself tonight do you enjoy spiritual things in your life you know do you I mean think about it just church I mean you know soul winning look here's the thing I love soul winning I'm not going to tell you that every single time I go out soul winning I'm feeling the greatest everybody gets sick or it doesn't feel well or whatever but in general I love soul winning it is like the best adventure there's always exciting things happening we didn't get it me and my partner didn't get anybody safe today but we ended up just in the best conversation you know and then and then this like adventure happened over across the street with the ladies let me let me just I'll tell you about an adventure right now here's the power of women's soul winning by the way so all the ladies here's the power of you out soul winning we pull up to go soul winning today and immediately there's three kids right on the sidewalk right where we parked the car and these kids are like from 11 to 14 years old at my best guess and I walk up to these kids and I walk up and I give them some church invitations I'm kind of you know feeling out if they'll listen or not and right away they're kind of like alright strange guy talking to me strange and likewise they should be you know so I go up and they don't really want to talk I give them some church invitations but then I walk across the street with my soul winning partner brother Victor and brother Victor says given the gospel in Spanish to this guy and I notice these kids they're just like locked on us and they're watching us for like 10 minutes so I send I send Jacob across the street to like tell the ladies hey make sure that the ladies talk to those those kids because guess what the ladies especially you know young ladies and you know well-dressed ladies walking down the street and a bunch of dresses you know just like that's like the least intimidating thing there are people look at that and they're just like there can be nothing but good here and guess what the ladies end up giving the gospel to like five kids and they wouldn't talk to you know a guy which is which is great but here's the thing this is just a great adventure out soul winning something cool happens all the time and why because it's God working with us that's why it's God working with us we're out there doing things and just these great miracles happen all the time these these divine appointments happen all the time so I mean that's just I mean do you love doing that do you like coming to church these are tests you need to give yourself these tests every now and then you know here's the importance by the way here's an here's an important thing of like Bible daily Bible time daily prayer time daily Bible time it's so important to have that daily time with the Bible with the Lord when you're praying because you know obviously we should learn the Bible we should be reading the Bible I mean so that's the first benefit but the first thing the next thing is this it's kind of like a line of defense it's kind of like a first line of defense in your life all of a sudden something starts happening in your life just like you start skipping Bible time you start skipping that personal time that you have with the Lord you start not doing that as much anymore that should set off red flags in your head something's not right here maybe hey maybe you just got busy maybe there's a a crazy day or two at work or whatever happened and all of a sudden you just kind of maybe got into something else and you start skipping that time it's kind of a first sign of trouble in your life because let me tell you something you don't want to get to the point where like you don't like coming to church you don't want to get to the point where you're like man I got to go to church because pastor says I should go to church three times a week boy I hope that you're never you know nobody gets to that point I mean look I love if you come to church every single time the church doors are open I love that but you shouldn't be coming here for me you shouldn't be coming here you know to make me happy I'm just here to tell you what the Bible says and and you know you should come you know you should go soul winning out of obedience that's the first reason I go soul winning and but look I really enjoy it even when it's 105 degrees on the harder days even the days I've even gotten to the point where even the days where I don't really feel right if I get up and I go and I'm tired or whatever I'm like I still I'm going to go because something good is going to happen and I've noticed that when a lot of when it when when I was being attacked or maybe I wasn't feeling right or something you know it's kind of doubting whether I should go and and I just go anyway those are really really cool things happen and you'll see that in your life as well but here's the thing you got to have that personal time with the Lord because you should be reading the Bible you should be reading God's wisdom so you don't forget it as the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 4 but it's also a good first line of defense that you start skipping that stuff you need to start realizing the minute you get in that mode where you start just even just a little bit start not liking the spiritual things as much you need to figure out what's going on because it's a serious thing look it's a serious thing get to the point where you don't like church there's probably major trouble there if you get to the point where you just like I don't like going to church okay so look you have to actively manage this Christian life yeah that's what you have to realize you know you have to actively manage this Christian life if you're in a place where you don't desire spiritual things start walking in that direction start walking in the spirit and let the spiritual life take over the flesh life and then you will desire those spiritual things and then stay in those spiritual things and guess what pray for them pray for those spiritual things and that'll keep you once you're in the spirit you're in that spiritual life you're walking in that spiritual life and then you're praying you're obedient and then you're praying for that spiritual life it'll lock you in it'll hold you in that spiritual life because guess what there's all kinds of stuff trying to pull you away from this spiritual life there's all kinds of people trying to pull you away there's all kinds of stuff there's all kinds of career things things that could be like pretty tricky stuff like look God just wants to bless my career God just wants to bless me financially. God doesn't want me having all this debt, so I just need to work some more. God's given me this opportunity. Look, the devil's putting as many opportunities in front of you as the Lord is. You have to remember that. Anything that goes against your spiritual life is not of the Lord. So get in that spirit. You'll start to want those spiritual things and then you just have to pray for them. That's it. It's as simple as it is. It's something that we get tripped up on in our lives. And God will give you these things. Look what he gave Solomon. He didn't just say, okay, here's some judgment. He'll give to you liberally when you're asking for these things correctly. He will give to you liberally, James says. So look, ask for the right things. So what do we see? Let's just recap this whole sermon series in a couple of minutes here. What do we see from all these people that we saw praying? From Hezekiah, from Hannah, from Nehemiah, from Solomon. What do we see from these people? We saw that they came to the Lord with respect. It was like, hey, God, and I have this now. They came to the Lord with respect. They gave God credit for everything. They never took a blessing that they didn't just dump the credit on the Lord. They gave the Lord glory for everything. They were super thankful, Hannah. They're super thankful for everything that the Lord did in it. And they were always very careful to put in their prayer what was in it for the Lord. What was in it for the Kingdom of God. Because look, I got news for you. Your career doesn't matter. Your success in this life outside of your spiritual life, it doesn't matter. What matters is the Kingdom of God. What matters? Look, you're supposed to do things. You're supposed to support your family. You're supposed to work hard. But you are supposed to live this life for the Kingdom of God. So why would God want to increase anything in your life that didn't further that goal, which is the Kingdom of God on earth? That is what we are after. That's what God's after. We need to be in line with him with those things. And then we ask for those things and everything will be great. And look, that's how you become a prayer warrior right there. You get these things straight and you just start asking for God to help you just plow harder and harder and harder. For the Kingdom of God in this life. And he's just going to, he's going to give to you liberally. He'll give to you, he'll give to you more than you would even have thought to ask for. Just like you gave to Solomon. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.