[0:00] Thank you, brother. Well, this morning we continue in the book of Daniel. We've made it to chapter 9, and we get a chance to glimpse the prayer life of Daniel.
[0:14] And we will look this morning at why he prays and how he prays and what he prays. And I would ask, if you will, in honor of the Word of God, if you would stand as I read Daniel chapter 9 through verse 19.
[0:36] In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent Amid, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years.
[1:04] Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer, and pleased for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.
[1:27] We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
[1:48] To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us opens shame. As at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, and all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you, to us, O Lord, belongs open shame.
[2:14] To our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness.
[2:26] For we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servant, the prophets.
[2:39] All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him.
[2:58] He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our rulers who ruled us by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.
[3:15] As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, and we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.
[3:29] Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all his works that he has done.
[3:40] And we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly, O Lord, according to all your righteous acts.
[4:00] Let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
[4:17] Now, therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy.
[4:28] And for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations in the city that is called by your name.
[4:43] For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear.
[4:54] O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention. O Lord, act. O Lord, delay not. For your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.
[5:11] Let's once again pray. God, I pray that the words, the powerful words of Scripture here will touch our heart deeply this morning. I pray that you would move us to seek after you.
[5:25] You would move us, God, to be humble before you. Father, open our spiritual ears and our spiritual eyes that we might hear and see from your word this morning.
[5:35] I pray in your name. Amen. You can have a seat. Amen. Notice, and I do hope you all have your Bible open before you.
[5:53] We will turn a couple of places and I will be pointing to several portions of the text. Notice how this chapter starts in the first year of Darius.
[6:04] You know that's different than chapter 8? If we looked at chapter 8, verse 1, we see that there was a different king.
[6:15] It was Belshazzar. Belshazzar was the king, one of the latest king of Babylon, the kingdom of Babylon. Now we have here, Darius is the king, who is a Mede by birth.
[6:29] He is part of the Medeo-Persian kingdom. So some time has passed between the visions of chapter 8 and what we see here, the prayer of chapter 9.
[6:41] Do you remember the end of chapter 8 after Daniel had seen this vision, after he was full of dread and sorrow and heaviness?
[6:53] You remember in the previous chapter, in verse 27, it says, I, Daniel, was overcome and I lay sick. The vision that he saw, as we heard preached last week, was a vision that pointed forward and what he saw were beastly kingdoms that would be ruling as time would progress.
[7:20] And each of those kingdoms progressively would persecute the people of God. And he was overcome with sorrow, so much so that the word of God said he was sick for some days.
[7:35] But a point that was made last week was this, but after that time, the word of God says, then I arose and I went about the king's business. He stepped back into life.
[7:48] He stepped back into his responsibilities. But it's my belief that the sorrow and the vision would not leave him. And so here we are, at least a year or two, maybe just a year, maybe less than a year, it's hard to know, removed from the visions that certainly are still in his thinking.
[8:12] He hasn't lost the picture of what God showed him and explained to him. And I love what we can discover by looking in the word.
[8:25] We see this beautiful prayer of Daniel. We want to spend time looking at why he prayed. We want to look at how he prayed. And we want to look at what he prayed.
[8:37] Why, how, and what he prayed. Why did he pray? I believe that part of the reason is he has this ongoing sorrow for the people of God.
[8:49] But if you look at verse two, listen to what the word of God says there. In the first year of his reign, that is Darius' reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books.
[9:05] Perceived in the books. What is he talking about? He's talking about the scrolls. He's talking about the word of God and he even refers to Jeremiah. A passage out of Jeremiah.
[9:18] I love the word perceived because what does it share with us is that the word of God spoke to him. He read the word of God. Where do you go personally when you're overcome with sorrow?
[9:33] Where do you go when there's a heaviness that won't leave? When life is difficult, where do you go? I believe Daniel went to the word of God to read.
[9:46] You know, the word of God ministers in a powerful way. The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirits. It's profitable for instruction, for correction, for training and righteousness.
[10:02] The word of God, church, is where we should also go. And it's beautiful how the word of God speaks to us. So Daniel perceives in the word of God this truth that comes out of Jeremiah.
[10:19] We'll read it in Jeremiah chapter 25. But I want you to hear that he has hope. After the visions, there seems to be no hope.
[10:32] But now he reads in Jeremiah and hope surges within him. So I'll read from Jeremiah chapter 15 starting in verse 3.
[10:46] And I just ask that you would listen. If you want to turn there, you can, but there's no reason to turn. Just listen to the word of God in the book of Jeremiah that perhaps is the section of the scroll that he read in reference to the people of God in this time.
[11:02] Now remember, Jeremiah preceded Daniel. Jeremiah was around at the time when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, captured Israel and took them captive.
[11:17] And the word of God says, starting in verse 3, for 23 years I have spoken persistently to you. Who's he talking to?
[11:28] The people of God. The nation of Israel. For 23 years I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. You have neither listened nor inclined your ear to hear.
[11:41] Although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets saying, turn now every one of you from his evil way and his evil deeds and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.
[11:57] Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands that I will do you no harm.
[12:08] Yet you have not listened to me and I just want us to remember that phrase because we're going to hear it multiple times this morning. You have not listened to me.
[12:25] The children of Israel refused to listen to the prophets. As a matter of fact the New Testament declares that they killed them. They killed the prophets because they didn't want to hear the message that the prophets had.
[12:41] And what was the message? Repent. Serve the Lord your God. Honor Him. Obey His commands. They didn't want to do it. They wanted to go their own way.
[12:53] And what is true here as Jeremiah shares it is exactly what they've done. We continue. Yet you have not listened to me declares the Lord that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
[13:11] Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts because you have not obeyed my words behold I will send for all the tribes of the north declares the Lord and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror a hissing and an everlasting desolation doesn't sound real good you notice he declares the reason that they're now a desolation why was it they wouldn't listen to the voice of God they wouldn't respond to the voice of God they hardened their hearts they turned away from him they served other gods they went their own way verse 10 moreover I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp this whole land shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of
[14:30] Babylon 70 years we look back at Daniel and we see what he says here as he's stepping into prayer he says this as he shares it with us I Daniel perceived in the books the number of years that according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem namely 70 years do you see why he might have had hope the declaration of Jeremiah was that it would be 70 years they would be desolate and I believe Daniel reads Jeremiah the prophet and hope springs up within him because he sees the declaration the truth of God and what God said that it will be 70 years and Daniel probably goes okay 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 we're almost there we're almost there
[15:36] God would you free us God would it be possible for you to do a work that would give us freedom to take us out of this place of slavery and we see here as we look at his prayer he says then then meaning in response to what God showed me in the perception of God's word in the book of Jeremiah then I turn my face to the Lord God seeking him by prayer and please for mercy with fasting and sack cough and ashes does that sound passionate to you let me ask this when's the last time you prayed like that when is the last time you were so struck by your sin and the offense that it is to
[16:47] God in this case it's demonstrated by him sending the enemies of the people of God to destroy the city to destroy the nation to send the people of God away from the city and the nation of Jerusalem and Israel the offense was great the sin was great do we see our own sin do we recognize the rebellion of our own sin are we ever disturbed by our sin do we allow sin to reside in our life and just stay there and have a home there you have a room there you put flowers in the room you allow it to stay you allow it to run its course do you even get excited by sin do you chase it do you pursue it church do we see the offense that it is against the holy
[17:54] God when is the last time that you've been on your knees weeping before God in confession of sin you know what God's call to us his church repentance yes we're in the kingdom many of us are Christians many of us are born again but do you not see that sin is still rebellion against the holy God we don't lose our relationship but we miss out on the intimacy we miss out on the blessing that God declares in his word and we'll see that here in a couple minutes but I want you to hear the passion with which Daniel prays and hear his prayer so we see why he prayed the desperation the desolation of the people of
[18:56] God we see how he prayed with incredible passion with hope because he knew about this God what did he know about this God we're getting ready to see look at how he begins his prayer and inside of this prayer I see four distinct elements of this prayer four distinct elements of this prayer and the first one is this look at verse four I prayed to the Lord my God and I made confession saying O Lord the great and awesome God you know that refers back to Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 21 verse 9 also talks about this great and awesome God who's able who's worthy of praise he declares from his heart I know who you are you're the great and awesome God you're my God who keeps covenant you know if you read the
[20:00] Old Testament you can't help but know that God is a covenant keeping God every single promise that he's ever given he has fulfilled every promise he has or will there are some promises that are future every promise he's a covenant keeping God and steadfast love who keeps his covenant and who keeps steadfast love with those who love him he is a God of steadfast love his love never fails his love never ends we sneak down as Daniel in his prayer he declares who God is out loud he's not praying for my benefit and your benefit he's praying personally to God he's recording it for our benefit but he's praying to God and he's declaring who
[21:00] God is he's worshiping God he's recognizing the sovereign God is able and he's worshiping him he's adoring God he says in verse 7 to you oh Lord belongs righteousness he is a righteous God in verse 9 to you oh Lord belongs mercy and forgiveness he is a God of mercy he is a God of righteousness he's a God of forgiveness he is a holy great and awesome God he is the one who keeps covenants he is the one who has steadfast love that's the God to whom he prays do we pray like that you know the Lord's prayer starts like that too doesn't it anybody know the Lord's prayer I'm going conveniently forget it somebody tell me the Lord's prayer our father who aren't in heaven what hallowed be thy name our father who aren't in heaven hallowed be thy name you know that when we go to prayer it would be beneficial if the focus is not on us the focus is on him and
[22:19] Daniel does just that and I want you to see what he does next as he focuses his heart on a holy God and he understands who he is and based on who God is he says God I confess to you he doesn't say they have sinned he doesn't say my fathers and my cousins and my brothers and my uncles and all those leaders those sorry leaders he doesn't say they've sinned he doesn't say the nation sinned he said we sinned he acknowledges that he's part of the whole thing we as a whole nation he prays on behalf of a nation and he says we have sinned not only does he say this one time but if you read the text he says it four times we have sinned verse 5 we have sinned verse 8 we have sinned I can't find the verse number verse 11 over and over and over and over he acknowledges the sin of the people who were called by God's name and what type of sin does he acknowledge
[23:29] I want you to listen to what he says and I want you to remember what we just read in Jeremiah he says this in verse 5 we have sinned and we have done wrong we have acted wickedly we have rebelled we have not listened verse 9 he says we have not obeyed we have transgressed we have turned aside we have refused to obey your commandments we have not listened we have not obeyed we have not listened we have not obeyed we have sinned and to us belongs open shame why listen there was one nation on the planet that God had revealed himself to this nation of Israel he had shown a mighty hand on their behalf he had given them promises that were shocking the blessing that
[24:33] God chose to declare that he would pour on his people he would fight on their behalf and what did they do they turned their back on him they went their own way they worshipped false gods they spit in his face figuratively and Daniel's acknowledging this is who we are this is what we've done brothers and sisters how do you view yourself do you view yourself in a similar way when you think about who you are do you see yourself in this sinful way you know the word of God declares that there's none righteous no not one there's no one who understands there's no one who seeks God that all together in and of our self left to our own ways that we're worthless you know sometimes we read this and we think we tend to think yeah man they were bad good grief
[25:41] I'm glad I wasn't a part of that crowd you know I'm not like that I just can't imagine they did that stuff why would they do that stuff if God's right there I mean he's in their midst he's shown miracles he's done all these crazy things why would they do that you know we tend to walk in the same way and somehow our eyes are blind to our own sin do you realize that gross immorality and what we view as slight immorality is both immorality do you realize that God views both as sin and their rebellion against him do you realize that both are in essence absolute refusal to honor and obey and follow God I just fear church that we don't see the depth of our own sin I think sometimes we think that we cleaned up our life a little bit and we are in better place as far as our sin and honestly if the
[26:44] Holy Spirit is within he is genuinely doing a work in our life he is genuinely changing us through sanctification he's generally giving us more and more and more of a desire to honor and serve God we have a new heart if we're a Christian that new heart desires to worship and honor God you know what God does over time he keeps showing sin and showing sin and showing sin and showing sin how do we respond to it when God shows us our sin it's my prayer and my hope church that we say oh God God forgive me it's my hope that we're grieved over our sin so much so that we turn away from it and we say God by your mercy please forgive me please forgive me pour your grace on me give me strength I can't honor you on my own on my own I need you I need your strength God would you do a work in my life I repent I confess God I recognize it thank you for showing me do a work so that
[27:47] I don't walk that I don't live there and that's what my hope is for all of us but that wasn't where the people of God were the people of God were in a place where they were in this different geography they've been taken out of their homeland taken away from everything they knew they're in captivity they're in slavery in this other nation and he's praying God would you do something amazing and mighty God would you forgive us we are going to see as we walk through this but notice I just want us to hear that the grief that Daniel feels in his heart spills itself out in prayer and confession so we see the adoration or the worship of God in this prayer we see the confession of sin in this prayer and I want you to see in reference to sin this verse
[28:52] I don't want you to miss this in verse 11 it says and the curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out upon us the curse what curse Daniel what curse are you talking about you know I think he's talking about Deuteronomy I think he's talking about the message of Moses you remember Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery out of the land of Egypt through the wilderness for 40 years and they're poised to walk into the promised land across the Jordan River which we know ended up God providentially miraculously held back the water so they walked across on dry land but you know what Moses said to them before they entered before they took possession of the promised land I'm going to read a section I want you to listen to what Moses says and declares and I think it's true for you and I too he says and I'm just going to skip around a little bit no way you're going to follow me but in chapter 27 and 28 says this then Moses and the
[30:01] Levitical priests said to all Israel keep silent and hear O Israel this day you have become the people of the Lord your God you shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord there it is what did Jeremiah say you hadn't obeyed you hadn't listened but here's Moses declaring you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God keeping his commandments there it is to listen and to do to listen and to obey the call of God through Moses chapter 28 if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth and all the blessings shall come upon you and overtake you all these blessings and you'd have to go back and read more this is a summary all these blessings he does share some blessings here blessed shall you be in the city blessed shall you be in the field blessed shall the fruit of your womb be and the fruit of the cattle the increase of the herds and the young of your flock blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out the
[31:26] Lord will cause your enemies who will rise against you to be defeated before you do you hear what the Lord is doing here do you hear all these blessings do y'all hear that attached to hearing the voice of the God and obeying the word of the God is blessing the Lord will make you abound in prosperity the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of the ground the Lord will open to you his good treasury the heavens to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands but but listen to the promise of God related to listening and obeying the word of God but if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God to be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today then all of these curses there's the word all of these curses shall come upon you and overtake you cursed you shall be in the city cursed you shall be your basket cursed shall be the fruit of your womb the fruit of the ground the increase of the herds cursed you shall be when you come in cursed you shall be when you inflammation fiery heart drought the lord will make the rain of your land powder the lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies the lord will strike you with the boils of
[33:04] Egypt the lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion the lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known and Daniel says in he's remembering the truths that he's learned from the book of Deuteronomy he's recognizing where the people of God have gone how they've walked away from this honor of God this listening to God this service to God this obedience to God and the curse has been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him Daniel 12 he has confirmed his words what we just read he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us by bringing us this great calamity do you realize
[34:05] God creates calamity boy I'd love to go down that road and talk about it but I would be off on a rabbit trail I don't want to do it for under the whole heaven has it not been done has not anything been done like what's been done to Jerusalem Jerusalem the city that received the blessing of God and the presence of God the temple of God the power of God the presence of God turned away and what happened exactly what God said would happen he destroyed it and he scattered his people to multiple nations he calls them to be in slavery because they wouldn't listen and they wouldn't obey brothers sisters you realize that even as Christians when we don't listen and we don't obey that in essence we separate ourselves from the intimacy that God so desires for us to enjoy the blessings that he desires to pour on us are far greater than you can imagine and we by our choice to walk in sin we isolate ourselves from the presence of God and from the blessings of God because we choose to allow sin in our life church can I just say to us would we become more serious about obedience would we become more serious about our sin and turn away from it
[35:42] I long for the presence of God to so pour on this place that we don't want to leave I long for the presence of God to be so present here that we don't want to leave you couldn't pull us away to be in the presence of God is the most powerful thing on earth in the universe and I fully believe if we would be serious about our sin you know how revivals start you know what a revival is is when our heart begins to be serious about turning to God you know how revivals start when people get on their face and they start recognizing and confessing of their sin when we are real about repentance and we're real serious about not allowing sin in our life you know what happens the incredible power of God is present in ways we can't imagine we don't manipulate it it's not because of what we do it's the promise of God his blessings will be poured on those who choose to honor him and listen to his word we continue what is the foundation of the prayer of Daniel does he pray for God's blessing because of himself and what he's done and how he's achieved what does he say in his word here he says it's your people he twice says it in 15 and then again in 16 he says it's your people called by your name notice how he
[37:31] I'm skipping a little forward here but he ends in verse 19 for your own sake for the sake of your name you know how God made a name for himself he declared these are my people and you know what he did he made a name for himself he took them and delivered them out of slavery through the sea that he calls to stand still in a heap and his people passed through and they when they got through the Egyptians seeking to enslave them chase them and what did God do he calls the water to recede and to drown the army of Egypt and the people stood on the other side and what did they do look what we've done they're like praise be to your name oh God almighty God almighty God look what you've done the one who delivers the one who's able to deliver from slavery the God who is able to deliver his people from slavery he made a name for himself the whole world knows about that
[38:37] God do you think that word spread oh Lord according to your righteousness not according to anything we've done we have nothing to offer God Daniel's saying I don't have anything to bring we don't have any reason you would bless us there's no reason the only thing I have to lean on and call on is your righteousness and your mercy and your name and your honor that's all I've got to call on your character and your promises and your name and what does he say look at if you will it says as is written in the law of Moses all this calamity has come upon us yet we have not repented we have not entreated the favor of the Lord can you believe that the people 70 almost 70 years into captivity have not repented so he repents on behalf of the whole nation and he calls out to holy
[39:48] God and he says righteous God holy God who brought your people out of the land of Egypt and made a name for yourself that all the world knows how great you are God would you deliver your people who are called by your name we have we're full of sin we're full of iniquity but God you're merciful listen to what he says make your face to shine upon your sanctuary incline your ear and hear open your eyes and see oh Lord forgive us oh Lord forgive you know what the book of first John declares if you will confess your faults he is faithful and just and will forgive you for your sins if you confess your sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins the declaration is there repent you know what the message of Peter after Pentecost was repent and believe you know what the message of
[40:48] Jesus was repent and believe you know what the recognition of Daniel was God we repent we know who you are we know you're the great God we know you're merciful God have mercy on us and forgive us do you think God did you know very soon after this even though we don't have the exact date you remember he raised up Cyrus and you know what Cyrus did for the people of God he said go anyone who wants to go back go how is that tied to this prayer I can't answer that question but isn't it powerful to think that the heartfelt prayer of Daniel and we see I'm not going to cheat and go into chapter 10 but we'll see in chapter 10 that God heard his prayer immediately this heartfelt prayer for the sake of the nation and God did an amazing thing for the sake of his people because of his mercy I want you to see one thing do you see the gospel in this and I'll close with this do you see the gospel in this story what do I mean what is the gospel the gospel is this picture of salvation what is
[42:02] Daniel praying for isn't he praying for salvation he's praying God save us from this slavery save us from this place you've sent us save us from this separation from you God we repent notice he didn't have anything that he could rely on there's nothing that he could bring before God and say God look what I've done for you look at all these good things God you should deliver me save me because of what I've done you know that's not the gospel and that's not here what Daniel ultimately says is God we're guilty we're sinners we don't have a hope we're in the right place it's righteous what you've done to us to send us away from your presence it's righteous but God we're crying out for mercy do you know that the gospel is exactly the same do you know that each of us apart from Christ are in our sins you know that we're slaves to sin according to Romans chapter 6 that we're slaves we can't do anything but sin we're slaves to sin apart from the merciful act of
[43:14] God on our behalf we have no hope you know God provided that for you and me when we really when God opens our mind to understand our sin and our rebellion to him you know what he does he provides his Holy Spirit to bring that clarity to us and recognize our need for repentance you know that every genuine prayer of repentance God hears every prayer of repentance he hears and you know what he provides for those who genuinely see their sin and genuinely confess their sins and generally reach out to him you know what he provides every time he provides salvation he provides deliverance you know speaking this morning many of you are in the kingdom many of you are Christians but I wonder if there's anyone here that's not I wonder if there's any person here that's still seeking to understand what does the Bible mean what is it saying what is the truth well let me just share this truth is that every person apart from forgiveness is eternally separated from
[44:19] God we have nothing to offer him we have nothing we can take to we can't be good enough but God provided a way a means of deliverance through Jesus Christ that he sent his one and only son to die in our place we deserve death because of our sin but God is willing to send Christ on our behalf in our place that's the reason he died on the cross if you've ever wondered why in the world is this thing about the cross it's just weird why would they hang the guy on the cross and he be I mean he's God's son why would why would God you see the confusion I mean it doesn't make sense that God's son would be hung on a cross because our sins deserve the cross our sins deserve death and apart from Jesus being on the cross in our place we have no hope but God's provided a way that through faith in that act that is Jesus dying for us that he will forgive us and this morning if there's someone here who doesn't know him as
[45:22] Lord and Savior if you've got questions please come after the service and ask or call me or write it on that collection card that you have and hand it to me or hand it to Jonathan we would love to just have conversation and answer any questions let's pray father would you reveal our sin to us as individuals and as a church and God would you give us the humility to admit that we have allowed things in our life that don't belong and God would you give us the strength to turn away from those things and to confess them and to repent and to draw near to you God we desire all that you are we desire more of you God I'm afraid that our sins keep you at bay in some ways because father we choose to walk away from you God but do a work in our lives where we want more of you where we're hungry for your word and we're hungry for your honor and we're hungry to worship you because you're worthy of
[46:28] God I pray in your name amen to instantly