{"id":18407,"date":"2017-08-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-032-praying-within-gods-will\/"},"modified":"2017-08-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T05:00:00","slug":"daniel-032-praying-within-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-032-praying-within-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 032: Praying Within God’s Will"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18407","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 032: Praying Within God's Will","sermon_date":"20170813","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4845,"sermon_slides":4846,"sermon_mp3":4848,"sermon_id":"81317101645","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"9:4-19","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nPraying Within God\u2019s Will\n\n8-13-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 9:4-19\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 32\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 9 and verse 4.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Praying Within God\u2019s Will.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you like to learn how to do that, pray within His will?\u00a0 A lot of times we pray, we don\u2019t know if we\u2019re being heard because we don\u2019t know if we\u2019re really in the will of God and yet this prayer that Daniel prays here in chapter 9 gives us the principles by which we can know that when we do pray we are within God\u2019s will.\n\nI want to thank Gabe Morris for filling in last week, I appreciate that.\u00a0 I trust you enjoyed his ministry.\u00a0 [clapping]\u00a0 And if you\u2019re visiting with us for the first time we are in the Book of Daniel. The message of the Book of Daniel is really about the times of the Gentiles. When these words were written in the 6th<\/sup> century the nation of Israel, the southern kingdom, in particular the tribe of Judah, was in a very difficult place having been removed from their homeland about 350 miles to the east to a place called Babylon.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that had happened to Israel despite 800 years prior to that they were resting comfortably in their own land, going all the way back to the time of Joshua.\n\nBut now something has happened, the nation of Israel, through the disciplinary hand of God has been removed from their land, they are in Babylonian captivity and so what is the plan of God, what is the program of God, what is the will of God during this difficult time?\u00a0 Well, we wouldn\u2019t know had God not raised up the prophet Daniel.\u00a0 Daniel basically is raised up to give prophecies that would occur in history, give history in advance that would occur during this difficult time period.\n\nDaniel is actually held out for us as an ethical role model, someone to imitate and emulate when you\u2019re living outside your comfort zone.\u00a0 How do you live for God when you\u2019re a Christian and your professor is not?\u00a0 How do you live for God on the college campus when you\u2019re a Christian and the majority of people you find\u00a0 yourself around are not Christians?\u00a0 How do you live for God if you\u2019re one of the few Christian members of your family and the rest of them think you\u2019re a little bit crazy?\u00a0 I just got back from visiting my family so some of these adjectives are on my mind.\u00a0 But you know, it\u2019s so easy to feel alone, to feel vulnerable and yet that\u2019s how the nation of Israel felt during this time. \u00a0So Daniel is a role model; he\u2019s showing us to consecrate yourself to God, live for God, don\u2019t compromise and leave the results of your life to Him.\n\nChapter 1 as we\u2019ve worked our way through it is basically an introduction to the book, it explains the captivity, it explains Daniel being taken into captivity as a mere teenager.\u00a0 Chapters 2-7 we\u2019ve worked through is organized in a particular literary structure that we\u2019ve talked about in depth.\u00a0 You might be assisted by pictures, that\u2019s one way to remember the contents of the Book of Daniel, associate a picture, a key picture with each theme of the chapter. We\u2019ve looked through all of these different pictures, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 And finally we got to chapters 8-12 which is really a shift in the book.\u00a0 Chapters 2-7 was a message to the Jews and the surrounding nations. \u00a0Chapters 8-12, the language shifts from Aramaic back to Hebrew.\u00a0 And so chapters 8-12 is understood as basically a message aimed specifically at the\u00a0 chosen people, the nation of Israel.\u00a0 It\u2019s highly prophetic.\n\nWe\u2019ve worked our way through chapter 8, the vision of the ram and the goat.\u00a0 And the last time we were together and I was with you we found ourselves in chapter 9 which is the famous prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.\u00a0 Sadly most people are so eager to rush to the Seventy Weeks prophecy that they skip everything else in the chapter which is a tragic thing because in chapter 9, prior to the deliverance of the Seventy Weeks prophecy is one of the greatest prayers in the entire Bible.\n\nIn fact, I\u2019m convinced that if we were to isolate some principles of prayer from this chapter and apply them to our prayer lives we would be astonished at the intensity and gravity and effectiveness of our prayer life.\u00a0 Prayer is something that is vital to the growth of the Christian; the expectation of God to His children is that we would be people of prayer.\u00a0 And yet how do you pray exactly?\u00a0 Do we follow just a rote formula?\u00a0 No, Jesus condemns that practice in Matthew 6.\u00a0 [Matthew 6:7, \u201cAnd when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.\u201d]\n\nBut He does say that there are principles to follow and Daniel 9 is one of those chapters that gives us tremendous principles of prayer.\u00a0 We have studied, have we not, the setting, chapter 9 verses 1-2.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:1, \u201cIn the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans\u2014 [2]<\/a> in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as<\/em> the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely,<\/em> seventy years.\u201d]\n\nWe saw the historical setting.\u00a0 Daniel begins to pray as the Persian Empire is now in power, the empire that overthrew Babylon.\u00a0 Daniel begins to pray this prayer about 538 B.C.\u00a0 That date becomes very significant because it\u2019s so obvious that Daniel is walking by faith in his prayer.\u00a0 He\u2019s praying about the temple.\u00a0 The temple (as I\u2019ll be showing you) wasn\u2019t standing at this time; Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it probably about 48 years earlier, and it wouldn\u2019t be rebuilt for another 23 years.\u00a0 So Daniel is in Babylon praying about a temple that didn\u2019t exist, so obviously this is a man who took God at His Word and walked by faith and the promises of God regardless of what was happening in the physical and the material world all around him.\n\nThis date of 538 B.C. would essentially mean Daniel is in his early 80\u2019s at this time.\u00a0 So he is a man who has walked with the Lord in crisis as a teenager, he has walked with the Lord in crisis as a middle aged person; he is a man who is continuing to walk with the Lord in crisis into his 80\u2019s.\u00a0 And we see in this book a full biographical sketch of Daniel; we don\u2019t just get a snapshot of him, we see his whole life.\u00a0 And it really shows what a walk with God consistently throughout one\u2019s life, throughout the seasons of one\u2019s life actually looks like.\n\nWe have seen, verse 2, the prophetic setting, Daniel apparently has been studying his Bible; he had been studying the prophet Jeremiah, I gave you the exact verses Daniel had likely been looking at.\u00a0 Jeremiah had prophesied just a little earlier, before the captivity; most of the prophecies anyway took place before the captivity took place.\u00a0 And because Daniel was a student of Jeremiah he knew exactly how long the captivity would last because that detail was only given in Jeremiah\u2019s writings.\u00a0 He knew that the captivity would last seventy years.\u00a0 And so Daniel could do the math, he could understand that they had been taken into captivity at a certain time, about 605 B.C.\u00a0 The seventy year captivity was about to elapse, there was only three years or two years roughly left on the prophetic calendar.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t know what the future is immediately for the nation of Israel but he begins to petition God, he begins to seek God because he understood the times, the signs of the times.\u00a0 He understood the signs of the times because he was a student of the prophetic Scripture.\n\nMost Christians today have virtually no idea what time it is on God\u2019s calendar. They just live from problem to problem, they don\u2019t understand the general season that we\u2019re in and the reason for that is they don\u2019t study the prophetic passages of Scripture.\u00a0 Or perhaps they\u2019re in a church environment where the pastor won\u2019t talk about and equip them concerning prophetic passages.\u00a0 Daniel was not like that; he was aware of prophecy and consequently he was aware what time it was on God\u2019s calendar and he knew exactly what to pray, when to pray, and how to pray because of his awareness of the prophecies given to the prophet Jeremiah.\n\nSo consequently verses 3-19, after we move out of the setting Daniel starts to pray.\u00a0 Now I am convinced that this prayer will make no sense to you unless you understand the covenant that God has made to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Daniel, all the way through this prayer is praying covenant language.\u00a0 He\u2019s praying about things that God articulated to the nation of Israel all the way back in the time of Abraham, 2000 B.C.\u00a0 And he\u2019s also praying things that God articulated through Moses given roughly 800 years earlier.\u00a0 It was his knowledge of this covenantal structure that changed Daniel\u2019s prayer life.\u00a0 The principle to take from that is this: the better you understand the Bible, the better you understand the revealed Word of God as given in the Bible the better you know how to pray.\n\nThe Book of James, as we\u2019ll be talking about today, talks about asking for things amiss.\u00a0 [James 4:3, \u201cYou ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it\u00a0\u00a0 on your pleasures.\u201d]\u00a0 We petition God for things that are outside of His will, which God is not obligated to honor and the reason we do that is we don\u2019t have an awareness of God\u2019s plan and program for history.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t really given a lot of attention or time to the revealed Word of God as given in these 66 Books and so we really don\u2019t know how to pray.\n\nDaniel is not like that at all.\u00a0 Daniel, when he prays is almost giving a Bible study, if you will, on the covenant.\u00a0 Of course, the Abrahamic Covenant is the foundational covenant that God gave to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 God, in Genesis 15 unconditionally promised to the nation of Israel three things: land, seed and blessing.\u00a0 And those three provisions are developed elsewhere in more detail in the Scripture.\u00a0 So the nation of Israel has and continues to be the owner of those three things.\n\nBut then God does something else about six centuries later, during the time of Moses. \u00a0He takes the nation of Israel out of Egypt, He takes them to a place called Mount Sinai and beginning in Exodus 19 He begins to articulate to the nation of Israel a completely different covenant called the Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 The Mosaic Covenant is very different than the covenant that God gave to Abraham, which is unconditional and unilateral.\u00a0 When God begins to articulate the Mosaic Covenant He says \u201cNow then, if will you indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples [for all the earth is Mine];\u201d\u00a0 He goes on and He says, then \u201cyou shall be to Me a kingdom of priests\u201d and so forth.\u00a0 [19:6, \u201cand you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.\u201d]\n\nAnd so it seems somewhat confusing that the Abrahamic Covenant is no strings attached but then all of a sudden you get to the Mosaic Covenant and strings are attached.\u00a0 So which is it?\u00a0 Well, the easiest conceptual tool that I can think of to explain these covenants is the difference between ownership and possession.\u00a0 Ownership means the blessings, land, seed and blessing are forever yours but whether\u00a0 you possess or enjoy your promises is a different matter; to enjoy those promises you have to comply with the Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 This is God\u2019s program for Israel.\u00a0 I could own a beach house in the Hamptons\u00a0 (I don\u2019t, by the way, I wish I did) but I\u2019m so busy working I can\u2019t really enter into the house and possess or enjoy what it is I own.\u00a0 See that?\n\nThe nation of Israel, because of the Abrahamic Covenant is the owner, forever, of land, seed and blessing, but whether a generation enters into those blessings is contingent upon their response, not to the Abrahamic Covenant but to the covenant that God made to Moses at Mt. Sinai, called the Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 The Mosaic Covenant, if you want a fancy name for it, is what you call a suzerain vassal treaty.\u00a0 I know that\u2019s a fancy name but it was a common form of treaty in the time of Moses where the suzerain, the superior, promised to the vassal or the inferior, if you obey the covenant text then there are going to be lots and lots of blessing.\u00a0 If you disobey the covenant text there\u2019s going to be lots and lots of what?\u00a0 Curses!\n\nAnd so if you look at Deuteronomy 28:1-14 for example, you\u2019re going to see articulated by Moses blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience.\u00a0 And as the nation was rejecting the Mosaic Covenant God was not severing the nation of Israel forever.\u00a0 After all, for God to do that He would have to violate what He promised through the Abrahamic Covenant, going back to 2,000 B.C.\u00a0 But as the nation of Israel went into disobedience it deprived that generation of the blessing which they could have had.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t cut Israel off forever but it deprives any given generation of the blessings they could have had and in fact promised them various curses.\u00a0 Daniel understood this whole structure and that\u2019s how he understood why the nation of Israel had gone into deportation.\n\nIn fact, when you go back and you look at Deuteronomy 28 just for a minute, Deuteronomy 28, given 800 years earlier, through Moses, God is very clear as to what would happen to the nation when she persisted in disobedience.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 28 and notice, if you will, verses 49-50.\u00a0 These curses are somewhat scary, they kind of roll up like a snowball and finally something would happen.\u00a0 Verse 49 of Deuteronomy 28 says, \u201cThe LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, [50] a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.\u201d\n\nGo over to Deuteronomy 28, look at verse 64, \u201cMoreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.\u201d God said through Moses look, here\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen when you dishonor the Mosaic Covenant and you move into idolatry; I will not cut\u00a0 you off as a nation but I will send you into discipline.\n\nIt\u2019s sort of like our own walk with the Lord in the church age.\u00a0 Did you know that once saved always saved?\u00a0 We\u2019ve taught very aggressively the doctrine of eternal security, we spent 58 lessons going through that, isn\u2019t that enough lessons to get the doctrine down; that\u2019s a lot of lessons.\u00a0 And if we\u2019ve tried to communicate anything it\u2019s this idea that you\u2019re saved by grace and kept by God\u2019s grace; nothing can take away your salvation if you have trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ on your behalf.\u00a0 But let me tell you something; you step out of line as a Christian \u201cwhom the Lord loves\u201d the Lord what? \u201cchastens.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:6]\u00a0 And sometimes the chastening of God can feel so severe that you feel almost as if God has cut you off.\u00a0 But God can\u2019t cut you off because of the doctrine of eternal security, once saved always saved.\n\nIt\u2019s the exact same in the covenantal program with Israel; nothing can sever Israel!\u00a0 Thank you Abrahamic Covenant!\u00a0 However, the Mosaic Covenant is very clear that the nation can go through extreme discipline which has been well testified throughout their history.\u00a0 I would even argue that they\u2019re even under severe discipline even as I speak.\u00a0 And even though they\u2019re going under discipline and are in discipline God will never cut off the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And this is the whole backdrop, this is the whole background, if you will, to Daniel\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 God was very clear, you continue on in rebellion against My covenant (and by did they do that, let me tell you).\u00a0 It got so bad that they were even offering their own children, just prior to the deportation, into a fire to satisfy a pagan god named Molech.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get much worse than that, can you?\n\nAnd so God did exactly what He said, I\u2019m going to bring a nation from afar,\u00a0 you\u2019re going to be scattered,\u00a0 you\u2019re going to be taken into deportation, the prophet, Jeremiah, is very clear exactly how long the deportation is going to last, seventy years.\u00a0 We gave\u00a0 you the background of that seventy year number and why that\u2019s significant the last time we were together.\n\nAnd so Daniel understands what time it is; he understands that God can\u2019t cut off the nation of Israel because of the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 He also knows that the nation has gone through extreme discipline and that time of discipline is about to end.\u00a0 He is aware of all of that because of what Jeremiah said and Jeremiah and Daniel are both looking at what God promised 800 years later through Moses in the Mosaic Covenant at Mount Sinai.\u00a0 That\u2019s the whole backdrop for this prayer.\u00a0 You can\u2019t understand Daniel\u2019s prayer unless you understand that background.\u00a0 Daniel was effective in prayer because of his grasp and belief in the revealed will of God as given in the covenants that I have briefly gone over.\n\nSo the prayer can be divided into three parts, confession of sin, verses 3-10; acknowledgement of judgment, verses 11-14; request for divine mercy, verses 15-19.\u00a0 Notice how Daniel begins with the confession of sin.\u00a0 What he is saying here is God, we got what we deserved because we\u2019re in deportation exactly like You told us You would put us into deportation if we disobeyed the covenant text.\n\nVerse 3, if I remember correctly we covered last time so we pick it up at verse 4, Daniel 9.\u00a0 \u201cI\u00a0\u00a0 prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, \u2018Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,\u201d\u2019 you\u2019ll notice that Daniel begins this prayer with a confession of sin.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t charge into the throne room of Grace demanding his rights; he basically acknowledges that God, You told us this would happen if we disobeyed; lo and behold it has happened and we are sorry.\n\nIn fact, you\u2019ll notice that he makes two references here to the word \u201ccovenant,\u201d at least one reference, \u201cwho keeps His covenant.\u201d\u00a0 What covenant is He talking about?\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about number 1, the Abrahamic Covenant, but more importantly the covenant which got them into the mess that they\u2019re now in, the Mosaic Covenant.\n\n1 John 5:14 says this about the Christian\u2019s prayer life.\u00a0 \u201cThis is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.\u201d\u00a0 God has no obligation to answer prayer requests that are outside of His will.\u00a0 In fact, you wouldn\u2019t want God to answer prayer requests that are outside of His will.\u00a0 God, make me the richest man in the world.\u00a0 Well, God says I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to answer that one because I know what that wealth would do to your ego and pride so I\u2019ll keep you in a different socioeconomic bracket than Bill Gates, for example.\u00a0 And you can pray and pray and pray all you want and God\u2019s hand is not moved at all because you\u2019re asking for some\u00adthing that He never promised, that is outside of His will.\n\nSo praise God that He doesn\u2019t answer prayer requests that are outside of His will.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t want that.\u00a0 As much as we throw tantrums and so forth, give me this, give me that, I mean, when we are raising our children or our grandchildren and they demand to eat ice cream sandwiches three square meals a day of ice cream sandwiches\u2026 I mean, does any sane parent grant that request?\u00a0 No, because you know what an intake of ice cream sandwiches for a week straight will do to a person.\u00a0\u00a0 My wife says you\u2019re going to end up looking like your father if you do that because I love ice cream sandwiches.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 So a parent doesn\u2019t grant any type of petition or request.\u00a0 Well, God is the same way.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t just grant things just because we ask and demand and so forth.\n\nDaniel understands the will of God because he understands the will of God because he understands the Word of God because he understands the covenantal structure of God and consequently he knows exactly how to pray.\u00a0 He begins with a confession of sin.\u00a0 We got what we deserved and he begins to shape his prayer according to what God has revealed in the covenant structure.\n\nTake a look here at verse 5 as he continues to pray; \u201cwe\u201d that\u2019s a very important pronoun there, first person plural, \u201cwe<\/u> have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from His commandment and ordinances.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 9:5] What \u201ccommandments and ordinances\u201d?\u00a0 The commandment and the ordinances that God gave to who?\u00a0 To Moses 800 years later.\u00a0 I am fascinated by this pronoun \u201cwe.\u201d\u00a0 Charles Ryrie, in the Ryrie Study Bible, in the notes at the bottom says this: \u201cDaniel associated himself with the sins of his people 32 times.\u201d\n\nIn fact, this prayer is not terribly long, it goes from verse 3 to verse 19, and\u00a0 yet Daniel uses the first person plural pronoun \u201cwe\u201d 32 times.\u00a0 If I look at Daniel\u2019s life I don\u2019t really see a lot of sin in it, do you?\u00a0 I mean, it seems to me like the guy, at least the excerpts we\u2019re given of his life, he\u2019s walking with God, growing in God, being victorious in God, and yet here Daniel is identifying with the sins of his people with such solidarity that he doesn\u2019t say they sin, they brought it on themselves, they got what\u2019s coming to them, he says \u201cwe.\u201d\u00a0 Let me ask\u00a0 you a question; in your personal prayer life is there more we in your prayers or more they, or them?\u00a0 Look at your people, God, look at those Christians, look at them, look at how they act, forgetting the fact that we are part of a body, the body of Christ, just as Daniel recognized that he was part of a nation.\n\nYou know, in pastoral ministry you get a lot of people and they\u2019ll come to you and say this: Man, I wish so and so were here today, they<\/em> needed to hear that.\u00a0 And my thought process is always well, what did you need to hear out of the sermon?\u00a0 And even as the preacher there are things God corrects me on\u2014what do I need to hear?\u00a0 And I think a lot of times it\u2019s all them, they, those, that, look at how they are acting, what about we, us, I, and you see this in Daniel; you see this solidarity with his own people.\u00a0 WE have rebelled against Your commandments and Your ordinances; in other words, what he\u2019s saying is we\u2019re getting exactly what we deserve because we\u2019ve rebelled against your Mosaic Covenant articulated 800 years earlier.\n\nNotice, if you will, verse 6, \u201cMoreover, we\u201d see the repetition, \u201chave not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 What is this business here about prophets?\u00a0 I mean, what is a prophet exactly?\u00a0 Probably the tightest definition I could give you of a prophet is this: someone who is interested in covenant enforcement.\u00a0 That\u2019s who prophets were.\u00a0\u00a0 The prophets showed up during times of rebellion, and there were many times like that in the life of the nation, during times when the kings were going against the covenant, the priests were going against the covenant, the people were going against the covenant, the prophet shows up and he says you know what, you guys keep doing this you\u2019re going to keep being cursed.\u00a0 If you go back to the covenant\u2026 Jeremiah, the way he articulates it, he says, \u201cSearch for the ancient past,\u201d go back to the beginning, go back to Sinai, go back to the revelation of God, go back to what God said He would do in terms of blessings and cursings.\u00a0 Go back to that and walk in obedience to it and you\u2019ll see the hand of God, not in terms of cursing but blessing.\n\nThe prophets filed what are called covenant lawsuits.\u00a0 The Book of Hosea, chapter 4 and verse 1 \u00a0\u00a0says this: \u201cListen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land.\u201d\u00a0 Hosea says I\u2019m filing \u201c a case.\u201d\u00a0 The fancy Hebrew word for this is rib<\/em>, (pronounced r\u0113b), it essentially means a covenant lawsuit; the prophet would show up and says you know what, wayward Israel, wayward kings, wayward people, wayward priests, here\u2019s the problem.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why you\u2019re crops don\u2019t produce.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why you keep going more heavily into debt.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why you keep fighting wars and losing.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why the Assyrians are on the horizon and after them the Babyl\u00adonians are on the horizon and after them the Romans are on the horizon, because you\u2019re violating God\u2019s covenant.\u00a0 What was that covenant all about?\u00a0 Deuteronomy 28, blessings and cursings.\u00a0 You want to be blessed?\u00a0 Obey the covenant.\u00a0\u00a0 You want to be cursed?\u00a0 Keep on going the path you\u2019re going and it\u2019s going to culminate in your own deportation and your own captivity.\n\nNow how were these prophets received?\u00a0 Let me tell you something; if you were actually called of God as a prophet during this time period not only did you have a short career, you had a very short lifespan, because the people did not want to hear about their own disobedience.\u00a0 2 Chronicles 36:16 summarizes it all just prior to the deportation.\u00a0 It says, \u201cBut they continually,\u201d notice that word \u201ccontinually,\u201d but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His truth and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.\u201d\u00a0 You go far enough in your rejection of prophetic voices of the captivity and the deportation can no longer be averted.\n\nJesus, in Matthew 23:34-35 summarized Old Testament prophets.\u00a0 He says, \u201cTherefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, [35] so that upon you may fall the guilt of<\/em> all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.\u201d\n\nIt was normal for the prophets to be persecuted because nobody wants to hear about the fact that they\u2019re in the problems that they\u2019re in because of their own choices.\u00a0 You can\u2019t blame it on something else.\u00a0 The prophet would say blame it on yourself; look in the mirror.\u00a0 And that message just doesn\u2019t go over well then; it doesn\u2019t go over well today does it.\n\nA far more popular preacher would be someone that promises you immediate wealth and prosperity, that\u2019s the church you max out in terms of attendance.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you get popular.\u00a0 You don\u2019t go around talking about sin and come back out of sin so consequences for simple choices can be averted.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation is the prophet was there for the good of the people.\u00a0 And yet the people didn\u2019t understand that; didn\u2019t accept that.\n\nQuoting that great theologian Jack Nicholson, \u201cYou can\u2019t handle the truth.\u201d\u00a0 Every time I hear that line \u201cYou can\u2019t handle the truth\u201d I think of the Bible.\u00a0 The prophets are there to help.\u00a0 You go to the doctor you don\u2019t want the doctor to tell you what you want to hear, necessarily, do you?\u00a0 The doctor is there to tell you what you need to hear.\u00a0 Now we understand that in the area of medicine; we understand that in the area of law, we understand that in the area of financial planning.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we understand that in the area of spiritual things?\n\nUniformly throughout history the voices of the prophets are rejected.\u00a0 I believe today that there are prophetic voices\u2026 now don\u2019t get mad at me for saying that, what I mean by prophets today is I\u2019m talking about preachers, people that are trying to direct the population of the United States of America back to God\u2019s truth.\u00a0 I believe God raises up people like that.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet how are they treated?\u00a0 Fundamentalist, narrow minded, bigoted, let\u2019s pass some kind of hate speech law to get their voices off of social media, off of the internet, off radio, off television. What is going on?\u00a0 People don\u2019t want to hear, just like in this day, the voices of the prophets.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet God sends them out of love.\n\nWhat prophetic voices are\u00a0 you rejecting as a Christian?\u00a0 What people has God put in your path to help you, whether publicly or privately?\u00a0 And yet you just don\u2019t want to hear what that person has to say so you drown them out, you change the subject.\u00a0 If you\u2019re honest with yourself and you\u2019re honest with your walk with the Lord God sends you prophets and He sends me prophets all of the time but many times we don\u2019t recognize them for the good that they can help us with because we don\u2019t like the message.\u00a0 The message is it\u2019s your fault, you can\u2019t blame your parents, you can\u2019t use the abuse excuse.\u00a0 I\u2019m not denying the fact that people come from very, very difficult backgrounds today but the bottom line is at some point you started making choices and\u00a0 you\u2019re in the predicament you\u2019re in largely because of your own habits and sinful choices.\n\nThe popular prophetic voices blame that on someone else. And accurate prophetic voice is look in the mirror, look at yourself.\u00a0 That\u2019s why prophets weren\u2019t well accepted in their day any more than they\u2019re accepted well in our day.\u00a0 And in fact, when a prophetic voice is stifled sinful humanity rejoices.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 The Book of Revelation, chapter 11 and verse 10 talks about two prophets in the tribulation period and it talks about them being murdered in the city streets of Jerusalem and it talks about the whole world watching this happen.\u00a0 It says in Revelation 11:10, \u00a0\u201cAnd those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.\u201d\u00a0 The prophets today are rejected; the prophets of ancient biblical history are rejected; the prophets of the tribulation period will be rejected.\n\nI don\u2019t know what you think about the late Jerry Falwell; I realize that you mention a name like that and you can have a mixed response; there\u2019s things you like and there\u2019s things you don\u2019t like, but I\u2019ll tell you something; I felt that he was a prophet of God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t agree with every little detail of his theology, all of his tactics, but he stood up at a time of national confusion and called the\u00a0 United States back to God.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a prophet does.\u00a0 Well how was he rewarded for that?\u00a0 Well, he was painted in a incestuous relationship in an outhouse with his own mother and sold by one of those\u2026 sold all over the world the picture of him, through one of those pornographic magazines.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I need to give you the exact magazine.\n\nI remember very specifically when Jerry Falwell died; there was an interview that came on with Christopher Hitchens; Christopher Hitchens was a well-known atheist.\u00a0 Christopher Hitchens has since died but I remember Christopher Hitchens being jubilant over the death of Jerry Falwell.\u00a0 And immediately my mind went to Revelation 11:10 which says, \u201cAnd those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.\u201d\u00a0 I even remember the interviewer interviewing Hitchens, the interviewer, not even a saved person, saying well shouldn\u2019t you, before you express jubilation shouldn\u2019t you at least give the family time to mourn?\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t everybody, even if you disagree with them, entitled to a decent burial?\u00a0 And I remember Christopher Hitchens directly saying no, this man was a demagogue, this man was a bigot, this man was narrow minded.\u00a0 And he started listing the sins of Jerry Falwell and as he was listing the sins of Jerry Falwell he said this: Jerry Falwell taught that Christians are going to be raptured to heaven before the tribulation period.\n\nThat\u2019s what I teach!\u00a0 That\u2019s what you believe!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize we had gotten so far in our rebellion against God that teaching the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture means you can rejoice at a man\u2019s death.\u00a0 You know, God help us understand this!\u00a0 And this is what Daniel is praying concerning these prophetic voices.\u00a0 \u201cMoreover, we\u201d Daniel doesn\u2019t say they, he says \u201cwe have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.\u201d\n\nYou know God is so longsuffering\u2026 do you realize how long Noah preached before the flood hit?\u00a0 Genesis 6:3 says 120 years.\u00a0 [Genesis 6:3, \u201cThen the LORD said, \u2018My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s a long time; that\u2019s half the length of the duration (roughly) of the United States of America.\u00a0 And let me tell you something about that crowd; that was the most God-hating crowd probably that\u2019s ever been assembled in the history of humanity, that pre-flood generation.\u00a0 And here is the patience of God, the longsuffering of God through the prophetic voice of Noah.\n\nLook at our country; look at the millions and millions of babies that have been killed in the womb through abortion.\u00a0 I understand when I say something like that there are people that have been involved in abortions, I\u2019m not trying to heap guilt on anybody, the grace of God is always available for any sin.\u00a0 But look at how this has just gone on and on and on.\u00a0 Look at how the Scripture has been totally thrown out of the public square for really what gets everybody\u2019s attention today is someone has the outrage to post the Ten Commandments on a schoolhouse wall; oh, that will get the dander up\u00a0 of folks, that would bring the lawsuits; here they come.\u00a0 That\u2019s what everybody is worried about.\n\nLook at how we\u2019ve treated God and look at how God keeps showing our nation grace after grace after grace after grace and prophetic voice after prophetic voice, and how we need to start praying the way Daniel prayed here in Daniel 9, \u201cwe have not listened\u201d to prophetic voices.\u00a0 That takes some humility to acknowledge that, doesn\u2019t it.\n\nVerse\u00a0 7, \u201cRighteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day\u2014to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.\u201d\u00a0 Unlike You God, whose character is perfect, we have royally messed everything up.\u00a0\u00a0 You can look for holiness in heaven, Daniel says, but you\u2019re not going to find it here amongst me and my people.\u00a0 When was the last time you prayed that way, rather than a self-centered demanding this and that from God?\n\nLook at the humility in this prayer, verses 8 and 9, \u201cOpen shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. \u00a0[9] To the Lord our God belong<\/em> compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;\u201d notice the repetition of \u201cwe\u201d and unlike the perfect character of God which cannot sin, we, as your chosen people are in gross sin.\u00a0 We are getting exactly what You said we would get.\n\nVerse 10 he brings up the prophets again, \u201cnor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cthe prophets.\u201d\u00a0 God gave the Law, that was an act of grace.\u00a0 Then God gave the prophets to remind the people of the Law which was an act of grace.\u00a0 And then God gave them another prophet, and another prophet, even after they had mistreated all the previous prophets.\u00a0 Is that not the longsuffering of God and the grace of God?\n\nBut you see, the problem is we think that because we\u2019re basking in the grace of God the grace of God is unlimited.\u00a0 You reach a point where your sin and rebellion is outside of God\u2019s reach, where God actually gives people over, the end of the Book of Romans talks about it, over to what they want to do.\u00a0 It\u2019s an expression that appears about three times in Romans 1:18-32.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the most frightening expressions I know of in the Scripture where it says \u201cGod gave them over.\u201d\u00a0 And I wonder with all of the blessings that we\u2019ve had in this country, all of the spiritual light that we\u2019ve had in this country, the various prophetic voices that we\u2019ve had in this country, I\u2019m wondering where we are on this continuum.\u00a0 I\u2019m wondering, are we at a point where God just says okay, do what you want, I\u2019m not going to bother you any more.\u00a0 God, help us understand this, may this type of thinking shape the way we pray and seek God and petition God.\n\nVerses 11-14 you have Daniel acknowledging divine judgment.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 11, \u201cIndeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse\u201d look at that word, you should underline that word curse, \u201cso the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of\u201d what? \u201cMoses\u201d Daniel is not talking about the latest trendy teacher that had appeared on the scene and there were a lot of them.\u00a0 He\u2019s going back to the ancient paths, he\u2019s going back to Sinai.\u00a0 Jeremiah 6, seek the ancient paths, go back to the beginning, go back to the roots, go back to the foundation.\u00a0 [Jeremiah 6:16, \u201cThus says the LORD, \u2018stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, \u2018We will not walk in it.<\/em>\u2019\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s why the 4th<\/sup> of July I love doing sermons on American history and most Christians have never heard information like this before, that the roots of the United States of America is to honor God and propagate His gospel. It\u2019s not a matter of personal opinion, it\u2019s The Mayflower Compact which predates the Constitution and predates The Declaration of Independence.\u00a0 They Mayflower Compact is the beginning of everything.\u00a0 And how we need to get back to those principles.\u00a0 And yet we\u2019re so busy and so deluded that we don\u2019t even have the capacity (in some cases) to even think in a clear way about the past.\u00a0 Daniel is all about the past.\n\nVerse 12, \u201cThus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything<\/em> like what was done to Jerusalem.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 13,<\/a> \u201cAs it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. \u00a0[14<\/a>] Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.\u201d\n\nHow could we expect God to do anything different than honor His Word?\u00a0 How could we expect God to do anything different other than honor the Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 That is God\u2019s nature.\u00a0 And when we live in flagrant violation to that covenantal structure we have brought the whole thing upon ourselves.\u00a0 It is very interesting to me where he says we have not given \u201cattention to Your truth.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0You know what the complaint today of the average Christian in the United States of America is?\u00a0 The preacher preaches too long.\u00a0 He commits the unpardonable sin by taking the service beyond 12:00 o\u2019clock.\u00a0 In our case a good half hour beyond 12:00 o\u2019clock.\n\nThe appetite for the things of God, the appetite for the Word of God is almost something that\u2019s an endangered species.\u00a0 And yet this is the very problem that got the nation of Israel into this mess; they would not give attention to divine truth and consequently they were unaware of this calamity that had come upon them.\u00a0 They should have been aware of the whole thing.\u00a0 Moses spelled out 800 years in advance exactly what would happen.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 28:15-68 spells it out as clear as it can be spelled out.\u00a0 If you want a parallel passage Leviticus 26:14-46.\n\nWhen was the last time you sat down and read those two chapters together?\u00a0 You read Leviticus 26 beginning to end and then you read Deuteronomy 28 from beginning to end?\u00a0 Do you know how much information you would grasp concerning the plight of Israel and why God worked in Old Testament times and today works the same way, just by understanding those chapters?\u00a0 It is amazing the light that will come into our minds when we give attention to the basics which are the fundamentals.\n\nThis prayer is all about the\u00a0 law of Moses; this prayer is all about the curse.\u00a0 What curse?\u00a0 Deuteronomy 28 is the curse.\u00a0 Leviticus 26 is the curse.\u00a0 Yes, there are some articulated blessings in the beginning of both chapters but the majority of those chapters deal with the curse.\u00a0 This prayer is all about disobedience and why we\u2019re getting what we deserve.\u00a0 He confesses sin, he acknowledges verses 11-14 that we\u2019re getting exactly what God said we would get.\u00a0 And then fortunately, aren\u2019t you glad, the prayer doesn\u2019t end there?\u00a0 Verses 15-19 is the request for mercy, God help, help us!\u00a0 We don\u2019t deserve it but be gracious to us one more time.\n\nVerse 15, \u201cYou know, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day\u2014we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.\u201d\u00a0 Now\u00a0 he\u2019s not going back just to Mount Sinai, he\u2019s going back to before Mount Sinai.\u00a0 He is reminding God, in a certain sense, of God\u2019s own faithfulness.\u00a0 You\u2019re the God that took us out of Egypt after 400 years of bondage.\u00a0 Exodus 2:24 says this: \u201cSo God heard their groaning; and God remembered His\u201d what? \u201ccovenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why the captivity and the release from Egyptian bondage happened, because of the covenant of God.\u00a0 And now Daniel is saying God, one more time, not on the basis of any merit we have but on the basis of Your grace.\n\nWhen you pray do you think about the faithfulness of God?\u00a0 Do you remember the times when everything was stacked against you, you had nobody to help you but God.\u00a0 And what did God do in your life?\u00a0 He showed up!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting, that God shows up when nobody else will?\u00a0 And what does God want us to do in those times?\u00a0 He wants us to remember those times.\u00a0 This is where the discipline of journaling or writing in a diary, or taking a photograph or whatever the case may be is so helpful, because in your crisis you can remember what God did.\u00a0 You can remember how He helped you.\u00a0 You can remember how He blessed you.\u00a0 If the details are foggy then you see it in written form, you see the date, you say WOW, you know, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, is He not.\u00a0 [Hebrews 13:8, \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.\u201d]\n\nAnd if God is the same yesterday, today and forever, if God helped me out of grace way back then what will stop Him from helping me now?\u00a0 And this is what Daniel is doing.\u00a0 This is the value of history.\n\nSkipping down to verse 18,\u00a0 (and don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll be doing verses 15, 16 and 17 but not today.\u00a0 Verse 18, \u201cO my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own,\u201d WOW, \u201cbut on account of Your great compassion.\u201d\u00a0 What a principle that is, verse 18, approaching God, not on the basis of any merit we have but on the basis of His provision of grace; for Israel\u2019s outworking\u2019s it was the covenant. Daniel didn\u2019t say hey God, I\u2019m a prophet, You\u2019re obligated to listen to me and after all, I\u2019m in the process of writing one of Your books.\n\nHe totally approaches God on the basis of the provision God had made for Daniel.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we\u2019re to pray.\u00a0 We don\u2019t go charging into the throne room of grace on the basis that somehow you know God, after all, I am the pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church and I did get some degrees at Dallas Seminary, so here\u2019s what I have to say.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how we pray.\n\nHebrews 10:19-20 says, \u201cTherefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, [20] by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.\u201d \u00a0How do you enter the throne room of God?\u00a0 His blood.\u00a0 How do you enter into the Holy of Holies?\u00a0 Via prayer, \u201cthrough His veil, which is His flesh,\u201d well, what if there was no bloodshed?\u00a0 What if His body didn\u2019t suffer on our behalf.\u00a0 You\u2019d have no basis to approach God; neither would I.\u00a0 And when we pray we need to acknowledge this; we\u2019re not standing here because we somehow deserve it because of denominational affiliation or loyalty or whatever.\u00a0 We\u2019re there because God has granted us provision to go into His presence.\u00a0 This is all over Daniel\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 And yet so many times we have become so accustomed to the grace of God (and thank the Lord for all of it) the mercy of God that somehow we think God is obligated to hear us, forgetting the fact that we wouldn\u2019t have any standing before God had it not been for His grace.\n\nAnd by the way, have you noticed what he\u2019s praying here for?\u00a0 Verse 16, he\u2019s praying for Jerusalem, he mentions the word \u201cJerusalem\u201d twice (and by the way, Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem). Verse 17 he is praying for the sanctuary or the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed.\u00a0 Verse 19 he is praying for the people of Israel that are in captivity.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see a lot of me, me, me, my, my, my, me, me, my, my type prayer.\u00a0 I see a lot of praying the priorities of God.\u00a0 He\u2019s praying the things that are on God\u2019s heart.\u00a0 He\u2019s praying the things that are on God\u2019s mind.\u00a0 What is God concerned about?\u00a0 Jerusalem, the sanctuary or the temple and the people of Israel.\u00a0 What is Daniel praying about?\u00a0 The priorities of God.\n\nIt\u2019s so convicting to read this and to compare my prayer life to this.\u00a0 So many times I\u2019m not praying about my lost neighbor that\u2019s on their way to hell that God loves so much that He sent His Son to die for.\u00a0 I\u2019m praying for comfort, I\u2019m praying for ease, I\u2019m praying for something narcissistic.\u00a0 And so many times our prayer lives do not reflect divine priorities.\u00a0 And one of the things that\u2019s so interesting about this to me is Daniel prays for Jerusalem, verse 16, the temple, verse 17, the people of Israel, verse 19, and how does his prayer get answered?\u00a0 The Seventy Weeks Prophecy, delivered by the angel Gabriel, verses 20-23 you have the Seventy Weeks Prophecy; verses 24-27 you know what that prophecy is about?\u00a0 Just take a wild guess.\u00a0 Number 1, the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Number 2, the temple.\u00a0 Number 3, the people of Israel.\u00a0 In fact, when you start praying divine priorities that\u2019s when\u00a0 you start getting answers to prayer.\u00a0 In fact, what it says here, we haven\u2019t gotten to it yet, it says \u201cwhile I was praying,\u201d at the beginning of my prayer an angel showed up and answered those three priorities.\n\nListen, you start praying the priorities of God and you start seeing rapid answers to prayer.\u00a0 You pray outside the will of God, you pray for things that are fleshly, selfish, the Book of James says you ask amiss.\u00a0 It\u2019s just amazing to me how this 6th<\/sup> century prayer functions as such a light to our prayers, telling us exactly how to pray.\u00a0 And may God help us to understand this.\n\nYou could be here today and you\u2019ve never actually entered into the provision of God.\u00a0 You don\u2019t understand your access to God; your access to God is based on what we call the gospel; we call it the gospel because it is good news.\u00a0 We call it good news because Jesus did all the work through His sacrificial death and His bodily resurrection from the dead.\u00a0 He did everything to bridge the gap between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.\u00a0 He came into the world to live a life in my place I couldn\u2019t live.\u00a0 He came into this world to die a death on a cross for my sins which I could never pay.\u00a0 That\u2019s called the gospel\u2014good news.\u00a0 And then He says to lost humanity do you want this gospel?\u00a0 And we say to God what do I have to do?\u00a0 And God says what do you have to do?\u00a0 I did everything!\n\nThere\u2019s nothing for you to do other than receive it as a free gift. You receive a free gift from God by trusting or believing in what He has promised.\u00a0 That is the single condition which unites us sinful human beings to a holy God and the Spirit of God has come into the world to convict the world of their need to do this.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Spirit does.\u00a0 He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement.\u00a0 And so no doubt one of the things that\u2019s happening right now as I\u2019m speaking people are under conviction.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because that\u2019s what the Spirit does, that\u2019s His job description.\u00a0 And if you find yourself under conviction then our exhortation to you at Sugar Land Bible Church is to respond to the convicting ministry of Jesus Christ by trusting in His provision.\u00a0 Trust is another word for believe.\u00a0 You receive what He has done.\u00a0 It\u2019s not necessary for you to walk an aisle to do it, join the church to do it, give money to do it.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where He places you under conviction and\u00a0 you respond to that the best you know how.\u00a0 And if the Spirit of God is convicting then please understand that today the Bible says is the day of salvation.\u00a0 The best you know how respond to what Jesus has done.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of privacy between\u00a0 you and the Lord.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you want more information on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we are grateful for this ancient prayer, how it corrects many times the shallowness of our own prayer lives, but Your Word Father just doesn\u2019t correct us, it moves us in the right direction.\u00a0 Make us people of prayer this week as we seek to implement the guidelines of prayer that you\u2019ve so accurately and faithfully given us here in Daniel chapter 9.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t