 Amen. So we've taken a break for a few weeks from the Good Habit series. We're going to be back in it this evening. And this evening we're talking about the Good Habit, the subject of prayer. We're going to talk about prayer this evening. So of course we're talking about Good Habit. It's the last sermon. We're talking about spiritual habits, church attendance we talked about. We're going to talk about prayer this evening. You know, I don't think, turn to James chapter 4. Keep your place in Nehemiah chapter 1. We're going to be going to Nehemiah chapter 1 for the most of the sermon. But let's talk about prayer this evening. Now I don't think, just an introduction, I don't think, and I'm just going to make this assumption of everybody in this room. I don't think we pray enough in our lives. That's my thought. That's what I think because it's something that constantly has to be, you know, on the front of our mind. We constantly have to be making time for. You know, we're busy in our lives. But look at James chapter 4 and verse number 2. The Bible actually tells us, you know, here in James, James, you know, of course a great book about, you know, how to do your religion, how to be religious. What does it mean to follow the Bible to actually work out your religion? That's what James is talking about. In James chapter 4, verse number 2, James is talking to us about what our problem is about why we don't have things, why, you know, why things aren't going right for us. And look at verse number 2 where he says, you lost and you have and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. So the Bible here is telling us in James chapter 4, basically there's two reasons why we don't have what we want. And the first one is that we don't ask. We don't ask for things. James is saying, look, we don't pray enough. We don't pray. I mean, it's stupid on its face when you think about it. Why don't we? Why don't we pray more than we actually do? The second thing is look at verse number 3. The second reason why we don't have what we want or what we need is because we ask amiss, the Bible says. What does that mean? What does that mean we ask amiss? We ask for things that are not right. We ask for things that are inappropriate. That's what that means. We ask amiss. We ask for things that we should not be asking for is what the Bible is saying here. So first of all, we don't ask in the first place. And then when we do ask, we ask for the wrong things. You know, it's like, so this evening, let's look at prayer. Let's look at the model of prayer. First of all, because God lays out a model for us. He tells us actually, I mean, not only does God give us all the answers in the Bible, but he actually tells us, hey, when you need things, you need to ask for things, you need to ask for the right things. And then, oh, by the way, when you do ask, use this model to ask. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. Turn to Matthew chapter 6. So first of all, let's look at how to pray. Let's look at how to pray this evening. And then maybe we can start once we understand how to pray. Maybe we can understand and start to pray in our lives more than we do. So Jesus gives us a template on how to pray. I mean, it's nice. But in the first thing in Matthew chapter 6, verse 5, the template starts out this way. He first starts out, he's going to tell us, here's how you approach God. And you know, the Bible says in James 4, he's like, you're not asking and you're asking for the wrong things. And then Matthew chapter 6, Jesus himself is telling us, here's how you pray. But he starts off by saying, here's how you don't pray. Here's how to not do it. I mean, that's kind of nice. He tells us how to not do it. And then he's going to go in and tell us the details of how to do it the right way. Okay? Look at Matthew chapter 6 in verse number 5. He first tells us what not to do. He says, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corner of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, he's saying, but you, but thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. When thou shalt the door, pray to thy father which is in secret. And thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. He's talking about, he's talking here about having a lone time with the Lord, about having a lone time with God. Verse 7. But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore alike unto them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. So first of all, we learn a couple things here. The main thing that we learn, the first thing that we learn, I'm sorry, not the main thing, is that you shouldn't pray to be seen of men. You shouldn't pray, you know, as the hypocrites. Who are the hypocrites Jesus is talking about? It's the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees. But basically, he's talking about these people that would just stand out on the corners and just be praying and, you know, trying to be, look all spiritual. And look, prayer, God is saying, you need to be, if you want to ask me for things, go in a closet, go in secret, and have some alone time with your heavenly Father. That's what he's saying. Come to the Lord. Look, come to the Lord, because why were they going out, why were they going out in public and praying? Because they were just prideful, they were just filled with pride, they just wanted everyone to just look at them. Just look at me, how religious I am, how, you know, righteous I am on the outside. But look, you need to come to the Lord in humility, is what the Bible is saying. And you should have private prayer time. Okay? And the second thing is this, you know, don't use vain repetitions. What does that mean? Don't just, it means, don't just chant words over and over again. Don't just be chanting, you're like, who in the world would do that? I don't know, like a lot of people in the world today. You know, I mean, if he's saying, if you use vain repetitions, he's saying that the words lose their meaning. And he's like, God's not going to listen to you. He's not going to hear you just because you're speaking over and over again, because it's vain repetitions. Once again, it's vain. It's for yourself. God doesn't value this. God doesn't value the Hail Marys. God doesn't value the Our Fathers. God doesn't, I mean, Catholics today not only do this, like they're just one religion that does it. I mean, Islam does it, you know, Buddhism does it. I mean, all these different heathen religions, it says as they heathen do. This is a common heathen practice to just chant things over and over again. Look, Catholics not only do this, but they do it like for atonement for sin. I mean, it's crazy. It's actually shocking how people's, how false religions misuse or understanding of the Bible is so off. It's surprising. People should know better. I mean, the show of the Catholic mass, if you've ever seen that, with the outfits and the ornaments and all the rituals and the chanting, I mean, it's ridiculous. It's all vain. It means nothing. I mean, let me tell you something. If somebody that grew up in a Lutheran church, which is similar to Catholic, it's like diet Catholic. It's like Catholic light. Let me tell you something. The vain repetitions are torture. They are torture. I can still remember like divine service to like in my mind, just they just chant the things the same thing over and over and over again every single Sunday. It's it's absolutely insane. Psalm 51. Psalm 51, one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible, talking about David like repenting and just turning his heart after his horrible sin, turning his heart back to God. Psalm 51 was like wrecked for me for my entire youth because we would we would chant it at the end of every service. And it would be creating me a clean heart. Oh, God. And renew a right spirit within me. And all I'm thinking is this is always at the end of the service. It means we're almost done. I'm just like cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me. That's that's how it went. And I'm just like, this means church is almost over. But it's terrible. That's a great verse in the Bible. But we never got to verse 13, by the way, where David says, then I will teach transgressors thy ways. Where he's David says, he repents to the Lord. He says, you know, restore the joy of my salvation, create in me a clean heart. He's like, clean me from my sin. Bring the joy of my salvation back. And then I'll go convert people to you. I mean, it's one of the most beautiful things. But vain repetitions can ruin it. They can ruin even a beautiful, you know, the beautiful word of God is wrecked. If people just turn it into these vain with vain for myself chantings. It's crazy. The our fathers, I mean, it's Matthew chapter six. We're ruining the words of Jesus by vainly repeating them. But of course, they didn't repeat verse 13 because you know, anyway, it seems like it took hours to get through service. Go back to Matthew chapter six. So we know not how not to pray. We don't know now how not to pray. But now Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter six, he says he tells us how we should pray. He tells us how we should pray. Look at Matthew six nine. And the Bible says after this manner, therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven, how would be thy name? Look, he says after this manner, he says in this pattern, in this way, he doesn't say repeat these exact words. As a matter of fact, it was just a couple of verses earlier where he said, don't do vain repetitions. But he's saying, Hey, here's the model for prayer is what I'm about to give you. So I want to step you through this model. I want to step you through this model for prayer in Matthew chapter six by Jesus. And then I want to look at Nehemiah's prayer and see if Nehemiah's prayer matches this model in this matter, in this in this manner, in this pattern, in this fashion. The first thing is this, our father, which art in heaven, the first step of this pattern is to approach God with respect. Our father, which art in heaven, how will it be thy name? He's saying, he's saying, you know, our father, he's acknowledging that God is the father. He's saying, God, you are holy. He's just giving the uttermost respect and title to the Lord. I mean, that's a little different than, you know, hey, God, you know, second, look at verse number 10. So approach God with respect. That's the first one. Second, look at verse number 10. The Bible says this. It says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Second, and this is super important, turn to Isaiah chapter 55. The second one, the first one is approach God with respect. You know, acknowledge that God is the God of the universe. You know, give him that respect when you start off your prayer. And verse number 10, the second thing that we see from this pattern is that we need to acknowledge that it is God's will and not ours that is sovereign. So we're coming to God and we're asking him for something, but we always need to acknowledge God's will. And why? Why do we need to acknowledge God's will? Because God's will is better than our will. That's why. Look at Isaiah 55. Look, this one is huge. And we understand, we need to understand that he understands better than us. Isaiah 55. Look at verse number 8. The Bible says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways. Who's this guy? Say in this, sayeth the Lord. God is telling us that my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. Sayeth the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts than your thoughts. God is telling us here is that, hey, you know, I'm not on the same level as you. You're not on the same level as me. God is telling us that his ways are better than ours. His thoughts are better than ours. That is why we need to always acknowledge God's will whenever we pray. Whenever we pray. Don't pray and just say, God give me this. Always bring God's will into it. Because God's will is higher than your will. Go back to Matthew chapter 6. Go back to Matthew chapter 6. And look at verse number 12. Look at verse number 12 of Matthew 6. Verse number 12 says, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So we're going to approach God with respect in our prayer. We're going to acknowledge that God's will is higher than our will. We're always going to bring God's will into our prayer. And the third one is this, every single prayer that you make to God, you should confess your sins. You say what? Confess your sins. We're not talking about, I mean, this is one of those good things, remember? This is one of those good things that it doesn't have anything to do with salvation, but you should confess your sins when you approach the Lord in prayer. You should, you should, I mean, look an important part, look folks, an important part of any relationship is apologizing for wrongdoing. Just think about a relationship between brothers and sisters or family members or friends or whatever. I mean, forgive, I mean, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Now, forgiveness, we understand in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 that forgiveness as us as individual Christians is to be a one-way street. It doesn't have to be a two-way street. If brother so-and-so has wronged me, I am to just forgive him. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6 in verse number 7. The Bible says, now therefore is utterly, now therefore there is utterly fault among you because you go to law with one another. These people, these were Christians suing each other. They were suing each other with the law. He says, why do you not, why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? So, if someone has wronged me, if a brother in Christ has wronged me, it's, it's my command. It's just to suffer myself to be defrauded and to just forgive that. Whether or not they apologize to me, whether or not they come to me and want to make that right, I'm supposed to just forgive and I'm supposed to just have mercy. I mean, how many times have we talked about this? It's to be a one-way street. It's to be a one-way street. But look, that doesn't mean that the relationship is going to be a whole trusting relationship again. There's not supposed to be, you know, resentment and things that, you know, you're holding in your heart against that person, but it doesn't mean that, you know, if you've borrowed $20 from me and I've just suffered myself to be defrauded, you know, 50 times that I need to borrow you $20 again. I mean, it's just, it's not going to fix the whole relationship unless both sides are, you know, fixed, even though you as an individual are supposed to forgive in that one-way direction. The point I'm trying to make is that if you want that relationship to be whole and you've done someone wrong on the other side of that equation, you need to apologize. You need to get right with that person. And that's where confessing your sins comes in because you need to get right with God. I mean, think about this. What child, what kind of child would ever come to their parent after they're just being a disobedient, rebellious child and then go and ask something of their parent while they're being rebellious? What are the odds that it's going to be successful in that ask, no matter what that ask is? You must get that relationship right. You must, and look, we have wronged God. We wrong God every day. You say, oh, what am I going to confess my sins about? You're a liar, the Bible says. You have sins to confess every day and you know it. Every single time you pray, confess your sins. Get right with God. Confess your sins wholeheartedly. Ask God, and not only confess your sins, but ask God to create in you a clean heart. So, you know, you can get right with the Lord before you even ask for anything. And that brings us to Matthew chapter 6 verse 13. And I mean verse 11 as well, verse 11 says, give us this day our daily bread. Verse 13 says, and lead us not in the temptation, but deliver us from evil. So, number four in our model of how to pray is this, make a good ask. Ask for something good. Ask for something that is not amiss, as James would have said. And lead us not in the temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Forever and ever, amen. So, what is the ask here? The ask is, in Jesus' model, the ask is daily bread. I mean, that's a decent ask. God says he'll provide you with food and raiment. Lead us not in the temptation. Keep me from sin, oh Lord. Give me strength, you know, against sin, against temptation in my life. Oh Lord, deliver us from evil. Deliver us from harm. Keep us, I mean, keep us safe. That's another good one. Keep us safe so we can serve you. Look, these asks in the model of Matthew chapter six are in line with God's will. They're in line with God's will. So, you've got good, you've got good odds in this case. That's why Jesus is giving you this pattern. That's why Jesus is giving you this method. So, what, let's look at another example of this pattern turned to Nehemiah chapter one, the chapter we just read. Let's look at an example of this model in action. And you'll notice, I mean, the Lord's prayer, this model of the Lord's prayer as it's called in Matthew chapter six, is, it could be, I mean, the words are going to be completely different, no matter what the prayer is, but the model should be the same. That's what Jesus was saying in Matthew chapter six. So, let's look at, I shouldn't even say the Lord's prayer. Let's look at the Lord's model of a prayer. Let's look at a proper prayer. Let's look at Nehemiah chapter one. So, what's going on in Nehemiah chapter one? So, Nehemiah gets a report. Look at verse number three. And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity. So, who's Nehemiah? So, Nehemiah, of course, is, he's a man that he's now under the Persian empire. We had the Babylonian empire that took Judah into captivity. They've been in captivity for, you know, over 70 years. And they went back to build the temple. Zerubbabel went back to build the temple. Of course, the chapter or the book before this was Ezra. The priest went back to rule over the temple. So, we have Zerubbabel and Ezra back there for the temple. And Nehemiah is still, you know, in the, he's not back there. And he's asking for a report of how things are going. And they said unto me, verse three, the remnant that are left of the captivity, there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. That means they're, they're just, they're having, they're in a very bad way and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. And then his prayer begins. Now, I mean, he certainly has been praying for days. This is an example of the prayer that he's been, he's been giving the Lord. But look, this is an example of what Nehemiah is asking God for. This is an example of how Nehemiah is praying to the Lord. Let's read it, verse five. And said, I beseech thee, O Lord. That means I humbly come to thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou may hast hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now. Day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Both I and my father's house have sinned. Are you seeing the pattern? We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant, Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant, Moses, saying, if ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather them from hence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are the servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by the great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thy ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name, and prosper I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer. So first of all, look at verse number five. Nehemiah approaches God with great respect. In verse number five, he says, O Lord God of heaven, he says, the great and terrible God, meaning the great and powerful God who is able to bring judgment on people that keepeth the covenant and mercy. He's saying, O Lord God of heaven, you're sovereign over everything. He said, you keep the covenant of mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. He's like, I know that you're still the God of mercy even though we've been under judgment. Nehemiah, look, he gives a great title to the Lord here. He gives a great introduction in addressing the Lord. He doesn't say, hey, God, you know how you address somebody at first, by the way, can just define the entire direction of a conversation? You know, if you're asking anybody, kids, talking to your parents, I mean kids, when your parents call you, when your parents call you and say, Jacob, you answer and go, huh? Do you go, what? Do you go, you go, ah? Do you grunt? I have taught my kids since the time they were this tall that when I say your name, that means get over here right now and say, yes, sir. Now, do they do this every time? No, but they get corrected. Look, I don't answer, this doesn't work. Yeah, no. Not my house. Kids, address your parents with respect. Address your parents with respect. Don't grunt at your parents. It's going to get you nowhere with your parents. I mean, talk about, you know, brother so-and-so at church. Don't walk kids, don't walk up to adults and say, hey, Bob, you know, don't interrupt adults in conversations. Kids, address the adults as brother so-and-so, as Ms. Heidi, Ms. Viviana, Ms. Crissol. I mean, have some respect in the way that you talk to even the adults in church. I mean, I remember when we moved down south, there was such a relief to hear how kids were just like trained from the south to just call you, you know, Mr. Jared or Mrs. Heidi. And I mean, just, I mean, all, it was like, it was weird. Like all the kids were like super respectful, but it was kind of a culture there. It's a good culture. It's a good culture. We need to have that same culture here, but it's super important with God. It works the same way with God. Approach God with respect. And Nehemiah did that. Second of all, look at verse six and seven. Look at verse six and seven. Nehemiah says this. Nehemiah says this. He says, Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel. He confesses the sins of an entire nation in his prayer, which we, and he doesn't say, let me, let me confess the sins of these people, these wicked people that I've been, you know, over. I don't know why they do these things. No, he lumps himself in. He says we. He says we have sinned against thee, both I and my father's house have sinned. And he blames him and himself and his family and the entire nation. He gets everybody specifically. And then in verse seven again, he says it. We have dealt very corruptly against thee. You ever heard like a politician that gives a speech and like somebody counts how many times they said the word I, you know, and they say like, they say the word I like hundreds of times. It's kind of like a Freudian slip that they keep making because all they care about is themselves. And they're just talking about their I'm going to do this and I'm so great and I'm going to give you this and I'm going to give you money. I'm going to give you more money. I'll give you more money. That's basically what politicians say today, right? But anyway, he's Nehemiah saying the opposite here. He's saying we have done wrong. He's saying we have done wrong. We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgments which thou command its thy servant Moses. So he does a good job of completely confessing to the Lord. And don't make your confession, you know, something like, don't make, look, don't make your confession in your prayer of vain repetition. Don't just throw that in is a, oh God, just can just forgive my sins. No, get specific. Think about what you've actually done against the Lord. Let your conscience convict you and then confess those things to the Lord. You're like, that's going to take a long time. Well, take the time. Take the time. You sit there and you spend so much time sinning against the Lord and you can't come up with five minutes to just sit down and just confess your sins? I mean, give me a break. Think about it. You've broken the law. You spent all day. You spent all week breaking the law. Just going against God, you knew you were breaking the law. He gave you a conscience. You're in church. You know what your conscience says and you're violating it. Just spend five minutes and confess it in detail. Verse number nine, what's the next thing that Nehemiah does? Verse number nine, he remembers God's will. He remembers God's will. But if he returned to me and keep my commandments, he's reminding God of his will for his people. He's reminding God. And God said, if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them, though there you were cast out into the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather thee from hence and bring them under the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Verse number eight, verse number eight, what's he talking about here? What's he talking about? What is he reminding? Did God just tell him that yesterday? Did God just tell Nehemiah this yesterday that if you get right with me, that I'll gather you up? Because God, what he's saying here is he's reminding God that God said that if you turn back to me, that I'll gather you again. I don't care if you're scattered to the uttermost parts of heaven, I'll find you and I will gather you back again. No, God told, look at verse eight, God told this to Moses. He's reminding God of what he told Moses. He's reminding God of God's will for his people. And look, God's will doesn't change. That's the beauty of the Bible. That's the beauty of God's word. God said it in the Old Testament. He still means it. He doesn't change. I am the Lord. I change not. So he's reminding God of God's own very will for this people is what he's doing. And then look at verse number nine through verse number 11. What's the last thing that Nehemiah does? Verse number 10, we just read verse number nine. He says, Now these are thy servants and thy people, who now has redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name. So he's back to the first one, back to the last one, reminding God of his will. Hey, he's like these servants now we desire now to fear your name. He's like we're there and prosper. I pray thee thy servant this day. Look, he's asking to prosper after they have fulfilled the prerequisite that God had told Moses. That's what he's asking for, to fear him. And he's asking for mercy here and not for himself. He's asking for the people who turn back to the Lord. And what ultimately is he asking for? Look what he's asking for and in the sight and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Well, what's that all about? He's asking God. He's about to go ask somebody something, Nehemiah. Nehemiah is about to go ask somebody something specific. And you know what? I mean, this is beautiful because Nehemiah is asking. He doesn't even ask for God. He doesn't even go to God and say, you know what, God, give me this. Give me, let me go back and build the walls. Nehemiah says, just grant me mercy in the sight of this man, the king, who I'm going to go talk to. And in chapter two, he goes and he talks to the king. And I mean, that's exactly what God does. I mean, we're not going to get into the whole story, but the king's basically just like, whatever you want. He's like, whatever you want, whatever resources you need, you go. God granted him this mercy. So Nehemiah's prayer was answered. He made a good ask. He asked for mercy in the sight of the king. And before he did that, he confessed all the sins. He approached God with respect. He confessed all the sins of the entire nation, including himself in those sins. And then he kept, he reminded God of his will for his people. And then he makes a good ask. He makes a good ask. I mean, what are bad asks? Think about that. You know, God, can I have a bunch of money? God, can you make me rich? You know, those are, these are bad asks. Just worldly things that we think in our lower ways are good. And that is what we need. That God knows in his higher ways are, will actually hurt us. Those are bad asks. Those are bad asks. So the first thing we see the model in Matthew chapter six, we see the model put into play in Nehemiah chapter one. So what are your habits here? Have you thought about that? You know, you know, a lot of you maybe at the first couple of sentences, you know, of the sermon where I was like, Hey, you know, do you pray? Oops, done. You know, you can't have a model. Look, you can't follow a model for a prayer and make a right prayer if you never pray. You can't do it the right way. If you never, you know, take time out of your busy day, you know, where you'll take time to sit on your phone and just waste all kinds of time, but you can't take time to get aside and get in a closet with the Lord every single day. So first of all, do you pray? That's why it's part of the habit series, because it needs to be a habit in your life. Because guess what? You're like, I don't know why things aren't going right. I don't know why things this and I don't know why this. Well, you ask not because you know, you have not because you ask not. And then, and then, you know, you ask a miss. That's the first thing. You need to pray. You need to make some time to pray. You need to make praying a habit in your life. And then, you know, you just follow on getting positive responses. Look, I want to be efficient. I want to get positive responses from God. I don't know about you, but we just follow this model both in Matthew 6 and in Nehemiah. There's a prerequisite. And the prerequisite, I'll read it for you again in Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 9. It says, but if you turn to me and keep my commandments and do them, that's a prerequisite. That's a prerequisite for prayer. You need to be right with God. You need to be right with God. Don't expect to just be living this life against God, to just be disregarding, you know, God's law and just, and then pray and just have God just grant you mercy. I mean, what in the world? It doesn't work that way. Look, here's the thing. Your works matter here. Your works matter here. Works, look, works are good things. They have nothing to do with salvation. Works, works for the soul winner can tend to get a, you know, a bad name. But here's the thing. Works aren't going to get you to heaven. They're never, you know, they're never going to be good enough to cover your sins. We know that has nothing to do with salvation. But look, your works matter here. James chapter 2 talks about how your works profit others. And look, your works matter as far as getting your prayers answered. They'll be considered when you pray your works. Yeah, I mean, it's the fool that uses eternal security to just for a past to sin. I mean, it's the fool that knows nothing of the Bible. I mean, that's all that is. I mean, you know, I'm going to use eternal security as a past to just sin in my life. I mean, you know, I wish I had a road sign for you, you know, miserable life ahead, you know, ruined family this way. And you know what? Unanswered prayers ahead for you. So remember to pray. You have not because you ask not. Remember how to pray. You know, Jesus says, you know, confess your sins. Approach God with respect. Consider God's will. How do you know God's will? How do you know God's will? This is kind of a double-edged sword here because the thing is, if you consider God's will, how do you know God's will? Well, you read God's will. How do you know God's will? You read the Bible. And if you know the Bible, here's the thing. So if you consider God's will, you're going to have more successful prayers. But if you, you can't consider God's will unless you know God's will. And if you read the Bible, you're going to make better prayers. You're going to ask for things that are not amiss. So the more you know God's will, the more you're going to ask for God's will. And it's just going to keep snowballing upon itself. And pretty soon you're going to have some decent prayers. And then finally, make a good ask. God isn't going to grant you your stupid things that will hurt you. I mean, he's just not going to do that. I mean, especially, look, especially, I mean, just consider maybe you know God's will so well and you're really in the Bible and you're right with God. And then you ask for something dumb. I'm glad that God would not give it to me then. Because God wants to protect you, even from yourself. Even from, because you know, your ways are, you know, way down here. So if, if, look, and here's another thing, if all you find yourself asking for is money, cars and houses, I mean, you know, you probably don't know God's will very well. You're probably not as mature as a Christian as you think you are. You know, so look, just follow the biblical pattern for prayer. Cut some time out of your day. This is a pretty simple, pretty simple lesson. But I mean, I mean, finding time to pray is something that not a lot of people do. And I'm talking about a lone time with God. I'm talking about a lone time with the Lord. I mean, you know, I have a lone time with God. And you need to have that. And you need to have a lone time with God, like you need to be praying for, you need to be praying for, you know, I don't know, like if I was a dad, what would I pray for? I don't know. Ah, who, oh yeah, my kids. Maybe you should pray, find some alone time with God and pray for your children. And pray for your children to grow up godly and not fall into sin and just help you be the right parent that you need to be. I mean, these are all pretty good things. I think, I think these are good. I think these are in line with God's will. I mean, we pray, my wife and I just hang on, we pray for you. We pray for you. We were just talking about how we need to do it more. Not because you're messed up or anything, but it's just something that we always are just reminding ourselves to do more and more. As being in charge of this ministry, if I'm not praying for you, look, I'm not doing my job. I need to be praying for you. I need to be advocating for you. I mean, what was Nehemiah doing for the nation? He was advocating for the nation. What was Moses constantly doing? I mean, Moses was the greatest advocate in the Bible. Whenever God wanted to wipe those people off the earth, how many times? And Moses is like, no, stop. It's like, don't do it. He's constantly advocating for the people. That's what a good leader does, is he advocates for the people. He prays for the people. That's what Nehemiah was doing. That's what a leader needs to be doing. That's what you need to be doing for your families. Dads and moms, you need to be putting aside time. You need to be praying for your children. I mean, you need to be praying for their future. You need to be praying for their spouses. You need to be praying for everything in their life that God would protect them, grant them daily bread, grant them safety, keep them from temptation, all of these things that were in Jesus's model. You're leading your families. Moms, be praying for these kids. Dads, be praying for the families. Look, I'm telling you, folks, one thing that I've noticed, one thing that I've noticed just on closing with this ministry is I've noticed something that I didn't notice when I was sitting in the pews. And that's when we have prayer lists here. And when we pray for things, I'm noticing the answered prayers. And I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't really notice answered prayers as much as I should have. But we have prayer lists here and we go through that prayer list and these prayer lists, the vast majority of these prayers, they end up coming off the list and the vast majority of these prayers are answered. And we can't forget this. We can't forget this. I mean, we need to pray. And if you make this time, I'm telling you, if you make this time and you pray for your family on a regular basis, it will change your life. It'll change your life and it will change the future of your family. And guess what? If it becomes a habit for you, it will become a habit with your kids. And it'll change their life. That's part of these habits. We're going to pass these habits down to our families. We want to pass this on. You know, I don't want to pass being a drunk onto my kids, but I want to pass being just to get on my knees and where's dad? He's just praying. What is dad doing for two hours in the morning? Well, he's studying the bible and praying. That's the kind of habits that you need to send down to the next generation. It'll change your life. It'll change your family for generations to come. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.