The Hour Has Come | Let Us Pray

[Music] [Music] Throughout the Old Testament period of time, the Bible tells us that God had given, for example, Moses the instruction to build a tabernacle. We don't relate in that terms as a tabernacle. We would say today in our modern age, attempts that God told Moses to build a tent in the wilderness. Now, granted, it was a very elaborate tent. The, the design of it had come from God above, and the makings of it was very specific, and the book of Exodus is all about that. It's remarkable the detail. And yet, God said, "I'll meet you in this place in the wilderness, as I call you out of Egypt. It, it's at this place, it's in this setting that I will meet you."

And it's interesting because the book of Numbers tells us that when God would tell the children of Israel to leave their encampment, that the tent was to be broken down and to be carried by the priesthood until God said, "Stop here." And they would then re-establish the tent. And if it was for a day, a week, or a month, the criteria for how long they stayed in the campsite was the glory of God. When the glory of God ascended and began to move, the priests were to break down the tent, the people were to break down their own tents, and they were to get on the move and follow God. Very portable.

Then we see where David is in Jerusalem, and the Bible tells us that David went up on the north side of Moriah, interestingly, because that's where Abraham would have previously offered up Isaac. So David goes to the north end of Moriah, which if you're watching the news today and you see the Dome of the Rock Mosque, and then the, the ancient empty lot of where the temple once stood, if you look to the far right of your TV screen as that hill ascends, actually where you're at, it would be going this way. Dome of the Rock is over here, and you've got this vacant land where the temple once stood, and then you've got the high ground where Jesus was crucified. It's where Stephen was stoned, uh, it's, it's where Isaac would have been offered up. David went up there, and David made a little tent, and David worshiped the Lord there. It was his own little private place, and you can read about that in the Old Testament. It's kind of awesome. Off away from the crowd, off away from the people, David had his meeting place with God.

And then remember, it came into David's mind, "I'm gonna build God a house, an awesome house that's worthy of God." And remember what God said? In my paraphrase, God basically said to David, "Um, you can't build me a house for a couple of reasons. Number one, David, if you were to build me a house, I don't live in a house. There's not a house that can contain me." David, it's kind of sweet too when you read it, but God kind of capitulates or kind of surrenders to David's sweet heart and he says, "However, a house can be built for me." The only problem is, David, you are a bloody, bloody warrior. You love me with all your heart, and I dig that, and you've written me some awesome songs called Psalms, and I love them, David. But your hands are too bloody, David.

David did the next best thing. Do you remember what he did? David pulled out, so to speak, his pocketbook, and he began to fund the work. I mean, David spent zillions of his own dollars to fund the work. But who built the house? His son Solomon built the house. Solomon built the house, and it was a permanent place, so to speak. So permanent in the minds of the Jews that they believed that the temple would stand forever. God never intended that temple in Jerusalem to stand forever. In fact, it was God's prophet Daniel who said it would not stand forever, but it would be, in fact, torn down. And you know your Gospels where Jesus said, "You see these stones? I tell you now, not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down to the ground." And that shocked the disciples. "How can the place of God's meeting of his people be torn down? Surely, if God's house goes down, how can we ever meet with God?"

That's a fallacy that was in the minds of the first century at that time in Judaism. If the building goes down, how can we meet with God? I told you guys before, in the early days of us, as soon as the, uh, Iron Curtain came down, we were on the ground there in Russia, in all over Russia. But when we were leading Russians on the street to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they had been conditioned. They would tell us, "We can't pray here. We've got to go into a church. We've got to, let's go find a church because if we get to the church, then we can pray and I can accept the Lord." That's so foreign to you and I. And I thank God it's foreign to you and I. Amen. You don't go into some building to meet with God. God's not limited to a building. He's everywhere. And it was very hard for them to understand that concept. But they were like the Jews of old. They were bound to a geographical spot. A pin drop on your GPS, that's where God is.

The truth of the matter is, Jesus now comes, and in His earthly ministry, as He's approaching the latter end of His earthly ministry, Jesus comes to the temple, and He fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, and He announces, as He looked around, He was disgusted because the, the temple had become a place for marketeers, for profit religion, for money. And if it wasn't for money, it was to exercise power over people. And Jesus, in pert, listen, we don't get this. Jesus, in perfect anger. You and I do not have perfect anger. We don't know what that's like. You and I lose control when we're angry. Not, not God. God has holy anger. It's pure. Jesus looked around, and He saw the merchandising of what should have been faith, but prostituted faith, made into religion, organized by man. And Jesus said, remember, He took a rod, He, He built a, a switch, a, a rod or a scourge. And Jesus, boy, I tell you, a mild man or Jesus, right, kind of blows our minds. He goes into the temple, He turns over the tables. You can hear money on the floor, you can hear animals being released, He opened up the cages and let the animals go, and He just made havoc of all this stuff. And He cried out and He said, "My Father's house shall be a house of prayer, but you've made it into a den of thieves." And He drove them out.

I'm wondering if the people who wanted to connect with God at that moment, perhaps you could hear a little quiet applause going somewhere in the alleys and in the back ways near the temple. "Thank you, Jesus, for making it real. Thank you, Jesus, for reminding us what it's all about. Thank you, Jesus, for driving out religious hypocrisy. Thank you for reminding us."

And so today, we pause from our normal study. We would have normally been in Peter today. We look at, just, I don't want to call it a message. I wanted to call, I want to call this an exhortation. But if I had to put a title to it, it would be this: "The Hour Has Come." The hour has come. Church, today might be especially for those who are visiting. You might think, "Well, this is a little dramatic, isn't it?" But I want to remind you that those words, those four words, "the hour has come," was spoken 2,000 years ago. Not only has the hour come, we're on the verge of the hour having been passed.

And so, where are we as a church? When I talk about a church, I'm not just talking this church. I'm talking beyond the walls of this church. I'm talking about the church that makes up the body of Jesus Christ on the earth, for that matter. This is not a message to Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, although it is. It is not because it's the word of God. It's beyond. And so, I want to read you some selective scriptures because we're going someplace today. Because Jesus has said, "My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer." But we want to be careful about this because, listen, church, don't think for a moment that this structure is the house of prayer, and this is where we're to pray only. Yes, this place should be a house of Bible study. Yes, this should be a house of mercy. This should be a house of encouragement and a house of love and a house of care. Yes, of course.

But I want to say that the hour has come, like never before. The hour has never been this late in the history of man, let alone the history of the church, that now is the hour for this place to be a house of prayer, not only here, but in your homes. And we need to elevate, we need to turn up our fervency to pray. Now, maybe today, prayer is just a, a formality, uh, in your life. Maybe it's just the thing that you know you should do. So, I want you to be listening if that's you. And then there's some of us, life is so difficult and challenging. For the rest of us, prayer is something that we have to do, or we're not going to make it. Whatever the issues are of life that are coming against us, we have to pray, or we're not going to make it. That should be reason enough. But there's an overriding greater reason. The overriding greater reason of it all is the fact that God desires to interface. He desires to connect. He desires to talk to His children.

I'm sad to announce this, but in a church this size, there's a high probability of this being true with someone. And that is, there are those who claim to know God, who call themselves Christians, they own a Bible, they go to church, but they will have no stomach for what's being said today because prayer is not important to them. And I seriously do not understand how, how you can be a believer without wanting to talk to the one that you claim to believe in. I'm not talking about perfecting prayer to the point that you're a beautiful prayer person who whacks on eloquently in prayer. Have you ever been around people like that? The kind of people who pray, and when they pray, you just don't want to pray because you must not know how to pray because they're amazing. And it's like, "I'm sorry I even came to this prayer meeting because I must be some sort of a subterranean believer." You know those people? I mean, you know, God bless those people, but yikes. I like the way Peter prayed, "Lord, help." Did you know Peter's prayer is recorded like that? "Lord, help." The Bible says when you pray, you should come before God and keep your words few. God sees what's on our hearts.

And as a church, I, now I speak specifically of this church, we must be careful, and it must be an urgent, urgent announcement that as a church, that we be careful that we do not become self-sufficient and self-reliant. And the evidence of that is prayerlessness. Some people will hear the call to prayer, "We need to be praying. We need to pray more. Let's pray. The hour has come to pray." And their response is, "Is it that bad?" No, God wants to talk to us. We all belong to a family. The quality of that family relationship may be one, one end of the spectrum or the other. Regardless, all of it deals with communication. You either talk in your family or you don't talk, or some form of talk. Well, talking to God and God talking to us is that area of prayer.

John chapter 16, verse 32. I just read to you. It says, "That time is coming, and in fact has come, when you will be scattered, each to your own home." Jesus speaking to His disciples. "You will leave me alone, yet I am not alone." Listen to this. "So, you're going to leave me, everybody. I'm going to be alone, but I'm not going to be alone. Why?" He says, "For my Father is with me." I want you to think about that for a moment, Christian. Jesus says, "You guys are all going to run for me soon. That would imply my hour of need, you're going to run. I'll be alone. But for the record, you guys, I love." He's telling them in advance. "For the record, I'm telling you right now, you may leave me, but I will not be alone." Christian, all may leave you, but you will not be alone. How is that connecting to God in prayer? It's a horrible day when we are alone, and as a believer, we do not go to our knees or open up our hearts in prayer, because God says, "You're not alone." But how do we sense the presence of God? How do we know the presence of God in prayer?

And you and I live in a culture that is constantly pulling on us, constantly trying to distract us. And if you have doubts about that, set a moment apart to pray. I don't know how it happens, but you can even turn your phone off, and somehow it will come up. It will come back on you. You go to pray, and here's, listen, for those of you who pray, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, you do not know what I'm talking about. You, nobody will knock on your door for a week. You want somebody to come and visit you. Get on your knees and pray, and all of a sudden, Amway, Amazon, uh, you know, everybody will show up. What is with that? It's a spiritual experience. And the Bible tells us that prayer connects us with God. Every time Jesus had a decision to make, and every time Jesus had someone to, for example, select regarding disciples, how did He spend the night before the decision? In prayer. Praying.

John chapter 16, verse 33. Jesus says, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." John 17:1. After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed, saying, "Father, the hour has come." Notice what follows this request. "The hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You." Verse 20, "I do not pray for these alone, the disciples only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory, listen, the glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one, just as We are one."

You see what's happening here? Jesus is getting ready to go back to heaven, and He's saying this amazing prayer. Church, listen, John 17 is Jesus's high priestly prayer. And He says, "Father, basically, listen, Father, I'm coming home. I've been faithful to what You've asked me to do. The glory that You've given Me, the glory that You and I had when I was in heaven, I've turned and I've given them. I've shown them that glory, and I'm coming back to You now. They got it. They're going to carry on the message. They're going to carry on the Gospel." But church, Christian, listen, it's all wrapped in the fact. Christian, please listen. Everything from this moment on, in this church, and in this nation, and in this world, for us as believers, Jesus says, "I have prayed for you, and I have given you My glory."

What is the glory? Is it riches? Is it, is it popularity? Is it, uh, perfect health? Is it no? It's the revelation of who God is. "Father, I have told them and given them Your word, and they have believed, and I've given them Your glory." The glory that You and I have enjoyed, Father, for all eternity. Can that sink in for a moment? Are you a Christian today? According to Jesus Christ Himself, there's a glory that surrounds the believer, and that glory comes from the word of God, and that relationship is that you know God, and God knows you. And our strength in these days is to know Him in an intimate way.

We're going to go through some things today that I hope ministered to all of us as a church. And the result of today, this is what I trust God wants to get out of today, is that we would renew our commitment as a church to pray, because there's a lot to be praying about. Not just who's running for school board. Our children are being swept away in our culture by suicide, drugs, this ridiculous, godless, ignorant decision to be made by politicians to legalize, for example, the use of pot, that leads to kids now leaving pot already into, into drugs that take them to deeper places. And everybody who's normal saw that coming. But the politicians that we've put into power turned their back on logic and reason, and it's almost like they've taken stupid pills. I would, I, I could explain them taking stupid pills. I cannot explain if there's a hostile agenda out to destroy our children. That I cannot explain.

How do we combat such things? There is a world of collision. The Bible speaks clearly that you and I, though we live in the physical realm of this world, you and I are warring in spiritual entities, invisible things. Is the Bible believe that? The church is standing in an hour, and that hour has come. And I believe that California is a textbook picture of the fact that the church is standing in a moment and in a place of time right here, right now, that if there's going to be any redemption for our culture, we have all learned, God has allowed us to see this, it will not come from any other place of influence or power, but from the true house of believers. It is the only hope for America. It's the only hope for our city, for our county. We seem to be on a path toward destruction, and the church is standing, I believe, right in the middle of the traffic. And I believe that the church is starting to wake up. I think she's starting to come up out of her coma. And I'm praying that the Lord might give the church strength enough in her apathy to raise up her hand and say, "Stop. Stop." And to put forth the things that preserve a culture in our nation. Exactly what our founding fathers talked about when John Adams and Ben Franklin talked about how our Constitution has been designed for a moral and a religious people, and it is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other. And America has slipped. We've become the number one international producer of pornography. America. That's sad. Actually, you're standing in the state where it's all happening. In fact, just north of here is a town called Northridge, which is the epicenter of the pornographic industry of the world. I say that with a broken heart.

God says, "You walk with Me, you obey Me, and I'll bless your land. Your crops will explode. You listen in Deuteronomy, He says, you'll be able to feed the world. Your, your women will conceive and bear children. Your enemies will be fearful of you, and they'll leave you alone. And all that you put your hands to do will prosper." God says, "If you just follow Me." He says, "If you don't follow Me, your women will miscarry, your enemies will surround you, your crops will fail, and rain will not come, and I will walk away from you." No one can turn to God and say, "Why have You done this?" We've done it to ourselves as a nation. We've outlawed God. He's not allowed in school, so He doesn't go to school. Kids are on their own. We've outlawed Him in our military, and so our military goes it alone. Outlawed God in many of our state capitals, and so the states go it alone. How do we recover? God says to us through the scriptures, "If My people who are called by My name," He doesn't ask others to pray and repent, He asks the church. "If My people who are called by My name would humble themselves, seek My face, and pray, turn from their wicked ways, then I will heal their land."

And some people want to argue with that. I got an argument on Thursday night with a news reporter because she said, "What are you doing here?" I said, "We're here to protect children from what?" So I told her, "From wickedness." And she didn't like it, not one bit. And, uh, that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. We're to do the right thing. So, just a few things. Listen. Notice that when Jesus prays, He, He, in a sense, prays for both Himself and us. When He says in John 16:32, "The time has come and now is that you'll be scattered, each to your own home. You'll leave me alone, but I will not be alone. The Father will be with me." This is indicative of the life of the believer. Jesus is our example. God is with us.

Secondly, in verse 33, that there's the fact that the issue of us and the sense of unity that Jesus is making it clear that He has a family, and it's a spiritual family. And all of you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, this way, please listen. This way, I guess I should say it this way. All of you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the scriptures, not according to this church or the church down the street, or the Baptist, or the Lutheran, or the Catholic, or the Methodist, are you with me? Everybody? All those man-made things? No. What? By what the Bible says, how to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? What does the Bible say regarding belief in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what you and I must match our faith up against. Do we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, come from heaven, born of a virgin? Do we believe that He is God revealed in flesh to mankind? That He is perfect because God is perfect? That He died on the cross for all the sins of the world, but He calls all to come and believe in Him? But those who do believe in Him, He says that you will never perish, but you will have everlasting life. How does that happen? Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and being resurrected from the dead, the Bible says death could not hold Him because He was perfect. He broke the power of the grave. Hallelujah! That's good news for those who are nearing the grave. Think about that. You mean, what, what Jesus broke the grave? Yep. He busted it. Broke it forever. That if you put your faith in what He did, not what you're doing, but what He did, the Bible says you shall be saved. It's all of Him. And when that happens in your life, the Holy Spirit moves into you, and He goes to work, and He changes your life, and He makes you a true follower of Jesus. And that's not necessarily a member of a church or some denomination. No, not at all.

Jesus desires to share His glory with His people. And there's a, there's an exchange that takes place when we pray. The glory of God affects our lives. Church, when we pray, we don't go into the building anymore. We don't go to the temple anymore. Listen up. I'm going to ask you a question, Bible student. We don't have to go to any church or any temple anymore. Why? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God lives somewhere. Where is that place, church? In us. The Bible tells us Paul said it to the Greeks in Corinth, that "you are now the temples of the living God." He moves in. God, the Holy Spirit lives in every true believer. And that affects your life. And in all of our weakness, and all of our frailty, we realize, "You know what? By Jesus Christ, I'm connected to the God of all power, and all grace, and all hope." And I come and I surrender fully to Him in prayer.

Listen, if we are not praying, we are a proud people. If we do not pray, we're proud. If we're not praying, we are self-sufficient. Jesus warned the church at Laodicea. He warned them. He warned all of those churches that needed rebuking. There's only one He encouraged. One, and the other one He said nothing negative about, and that was the church of Philadelphia. All those areas, by the way, those churches are in Turkey today, the country of Turkey. But Jesus said, "You know what? You say that you're rich and you have need of nothing." "I say that you are poor, miserable, to naked." He said to one of those churches. Isn't that a tragedy? To think, "Well, look at us." For those of you who are visiting, you have no idea, but we have brand new carpet. So you may, you didn't even think about it, but we're like, "Ooh, no more concrete. We have brand new carpet." Oh, we don't have any, uh, any more walls that were just primer white for 11 years. We have painted walls, and we even have some little lights up there, and there's some little stone over there, and there's some wood over there. Look at us. Really? No. You see, it's, it's very different than that. Prayer. It's not the place. It's the person. It's the people.

Okay, I want to show you a video clip. Many of you are going to recognize this from, from the movie War Room. I was reminded of this. So, can you guys screw that up?

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"You've done it again, Lord. You've done it again. You are good, and You are mighty, and You are merciful, and You keep taking care of me when I don't deserve it. Praise You, Jesus. You are Lord. Give me another one, Lord. Guide me to who You want me to help."

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"Raise up more that will call upon Your name. Raise up those that love You and seek You and trust You. Raise them up, Lord. Raise them up, Lord. We need a generation of believers who are not ashamed of the Gospel. We need an army of believers, Lord, that hate to be lukewarm and will stand on Your word above all else. Raise them up, Lord. Raise them up. I pray for unity among those that love You. I pray that You open their eyes so that they can see Your truth, Lord. I pray for Your hand of protection and guidance. Raise up a generation, Lord, that will take light into this world, that will not compromise when under pressure, that will not cower, Lord, when others fall away. Raise them up, Lord, that they will proclaim that there is salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. Raise up warriors, Lord, who will fight on their knees, who will worship You with their whole hearts, Lord. Lord, call us to battle that we may proclaim You King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I pray these things with all my heart. Raise them up, Lord. Raise them up."

That woman's old in this clip, but you notice inside the spirit of her, the spirit within you knows no age. You know that? You may be getting old on the outside. That's just your body. The inside of you is never old. It's only experienced. That's the, that's the prayer of an experienced warrior child of God. So, my question to you today, church, those of you who are visiting, we're glad that you're here, but today's not a normal day. I addressed this church this morning, so I believe that when Jesus said, "The hour has come," His words are eternal. And so, I, I believe that until the hour has passed, the hour always is when He says that. "The hour has come" means the gate has swung open. It's not closed. The hour has come. And for 2,000 years, the church has had opportunity to pray. It's our greatest strength. Charles Spurgeon said that the prayer meeting is the lungs of a church. Now, I believe the hour is now, like never before. The hour has come for us to pray.

Listen, for ourselves, in the spirit of what Jesus said, we need to pray for ourselves that we too would be glorified. The word "glorified" is that we would reflect the grandeur of God. Christian church, this church here, this place, we need to pray for ourselves that we would reflect the glory of Jesus Christ, as He prayed in John 17. That prayer alone, dear God in heaven above, that You'd be glorified in us. We'd pray that first. And by praying it, we're saying, "Lord, get all the junk out of my life. Get the stuff out of my life." Starting today, Lord, the hour has come for me to lay aside whatever derails me from drawing closer to You. Christian, you've got to tell God that yourself. "Lord, remove," I pray now, Lord, that You'd remove from my life things that are holding me back from drawing closer to You." Can you pray that right now silently for a second? And I'll move to the next point. Can you just right now, right where you're at? I'll take a second or two. God will hear you.

The hour has come for us to pray for our children and our grandchildren. You know, they're the next generation of believers. They are the church to come, are they not? And we pray that we'd be good examples to them. You know, listen, listen, this children's ministry program here, I've had people often ask, as you can imagine, "Pastor Jack, you know, we're visiting here, we brought our kids here, we wanted them in the main sanctuary." Uh, but we were encouraged to go to the children's ministry. And we grew up with our kids in the main sanctuary. I understand that. And my wife grew up like that, and she understands that. Um, but I got to tell you something that you may or may not know about that. Number one, when kids come into the main sanctuary, they get bored to death, and they think that church and God is boring. The next thing is, which should be the first thing, is that you ought to take your kids to our children's ministry because there's people who come to this main sanctuary as adults to tolerate the boredom because their kids are being so incredibly well taught in the children's ministry. They take doctrine and the Bible so seriously. Your kids will probably grow more, faster, bigger than you. And every time we have a Super Swordsman event up here on the stage, and you see hundreds of kids quoting not verses, but chunks, passages of scripture, we're in awe. But we need to pray for our kids and our grandkids. Not all of them are walking with Jesus. Not all of them know the Lord. What do we do about it? We pray. Can we pause now and pray for them? Let's pray.

I believe the hour has come. Jesus is saying for us to pray like never before, that not only would God be glorified in our own selves, our own lives, in the lives of our grandchildren and children, but in our marriages. This is that God would be glorified in our marriages. Now, I thank God for the marriage, uh, the marriages that are represented here. I thank God for our church's marriage mentors. These couples that love the Lord, they've been married, they've had, they've had at least 10 years of marriage under their belt, they love Jesus, and they're dedicated to helping others redeem their marriage. I think that's awesome. I think if there's one thing that is doing more good or bad for the church and for the nation, it's the marriage. We have a young generation now of people who refuse marriage like never before in the history of this nation. Ladies and gentlemen, it breaks my heart. They're not stupid. They're not weirdos. These young kids, when you meet with them and ask them why they're not interested in marriage, they say, "Because I've watched my parents' marriage." Are you kidding me? Or, "Pastor Jack, what would you say if I'm on my third set of parents?" No, sir. Marriage is a joke. Did you know that our failure at maintaining our own marriages has led to a generation of people rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ because they think He's too weak, too incapable? Now, you and I theologically know He's not, but what we have displayed is that He is. And so we have young people today, we have Christians today that will not marry. They refuse. Can you imagine in the next decade or two what that's going to produce? How do we fix this? Prayer.

How many of your husbands in the house? Raise your hands. Husbands, if you're not doing it, do it now. Start today. Start now. Today. Mark your calendar. Today's the day. We're not having church today. This is a special service. If you're visiting today, today is not normal. Those of you who are husbands, I want you to stand over your wife. If you leave early in the morning, stand over her. Don't wake her up. Just stand over her and stretch out your hands and pray for her. God will see that. God will hear that. Just pray for her. You know how hard it is for her to be your wife. Look, I've been married, coming up, it's coming up on 40 years. I know how hard it has been for Lisa to be my wife. If you get the chance, you know, listen, if you get the chance, by all means, just grab her hands and pray for her. She doesn't have to pray back. Just grab her hands and say, "Lord, bless her day. Keep her safe today. Lord, cause me to be the man I'm always praying this, and this is between us. Lisa's not here right now, so she'll be at second service. I always pray, Lord, cause me, you know, the man that Lisa needs to have, make me that man, Lord. Whatever her needs are, because honestly, listen, let's be honest, only God knows our real needs. We don't even really know what our real needs are. So I am not going to say, "Oh God, you know, send me to a five-step program on how to meet Lisa." No, Lord, You know who she needs. Make me that man. Do I fail every day? Do I pray that same prayer every day? Listen, is God tired of me praying it? Nope. Am I tired of praying it? Nope. Lisa may be tired of hearing it, but I'll never stop praying it because I can't do this. It's impossible. Marriage is a miracle, and marriage was created by God to make you holy. Did you know that? It's a ministry. All of you who raised your hands a moment ago, you're in the ministry. Family first. Other than God, family first. Can we pray for marriages that God would revive them and redeem them? Let's pray.

We can't easily leave that topic. When God had Nehemiah instruct the people to build the walls of Jerusalem, to strengthen and to revive Jerusalem, God had Nehemiah put every man in front of his own house, the wall. Build the wall in front of your own home. Brilliant. Brilliant strategy, is it not? It's one thing to pray for the marriages of others, but don't overlook your own. Build the wall in front of your own house. And with that, all of us could get in line to give excuses and reasons, and some of them very justifiable, mind you, as to why we can't pray, or how difficult it's going to be to pray for our spouse, or the hurt, the damage that was done, the things of the past, the, the drama of it all. And you know, God just doesn't listen to that. He wants to change things starting now. And so He wants to be glorified in our marriages.

I believe that the hour has come for us to pray for our community to be glorified. So, what do you mean by that? Look, this is a, this is the most unique nation on earth. It was founded by those who believed in the Bible. John Winthrop and William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers produced the Mayflower Compact. And if you have any doubts about the vision statement of the United States of America, it's very short, two paragraphs. Just read the Mayflower Compact, and you know what I'm talking about. It started with a little community. Here's the beautiful thing about America, if you know this or not. The Christian founders of this nation understood that not all people are Christians. That's why this is not a quote Christian nation. It was a nation founded by Christians. There's a big difference. And I love it. You want to know why I love it? It's because these founders who loved the Lord and cited the scripture understood that not everyone believes in God. And so they created a nation where believer and non-believer alike would have the exact same rights. You know that's never been done in the history of man. Hey, are you guys awake right now? Are you listening? I thought you all died, or thought I died. Not in the history of man. No other nation in the history of mankind had the confidence in God to create a nation that even the atheist would have all the same rights as everybody else. That's awesome.

Listen, no matter who you are today, this is a free country. People talk about rights. They're always crying about rights. "We need rights for this. We need rights for that." "If people, I'm not allowed to say this." My grandkids will rebuke me, but if people would shut up and look at the law, they would discover that it doesn't matter what color you are, what flavor you are, what height you are. Listen, it doesn't even matter what you choose to live like. The, we have all absolutely the same representation, same equality under the law. Here's the deal. This nation established a rule of law to propagate peace, and that those of leadership in the government would serve the people. Did you hear what I just said? Shocker. Sounds like a new revelation. That those who are in power are to be our servants. That they're supposed to do what we tell them to do. A representative form of government. They get elected, and then they shout down to us from Sacramento as to, "Well, I don't care what you want. I'm going to tell you what I want because of my personal life's experience." This is now the law of the land, ladies and gentlemen. That's a very slick 21st century way of talking despotic or tyrannical talk.

We need to pray for our community that God raises up people, listen, believer or non-believer, that are good people. As you guys know, I have very, very, very amazing inside information at least once a week to happenings at the White House, and even in the Oval Office. Donald Trump is not a born-again Christian. Donald Trump believes in God. It's a big difference. He believes in God, but he's not born again. But the amazing thing, I think God is answering the prayers of God's people for this reason. Forget about Donald Trump. You could put in, put in anybody else. I don't even care. I don't care who they are. Just when God's people pray, God touches leaders. Does He not do this in the Old Testament? He touches leaders to bring about His will on the earth. Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar. And God says, "That's My servant to do My will." Are you kidding? The Jewish people could have said, "Excuse me, God, I did not vote for Nebuchadnezzar." And God says, "I did. I have a plan." Listen, I didn't vote for Barack Obama, but God had a plan for Barack Obama in office. I don't understand it. God didn't ask me to understand it. Did He? He had a plan. Donald Trump's in office today. God has a plan. The Christian gets to relax, by the way. We don't chew our nails and freak out about that. Hey, you know what? I didn't freak out last president. I'm not freaking out this president. Why? Because God, God says, "I put in kings and I take kings out." But God does call you and I to pray for our leaders. So for our community, I'm talking locally now. Can we pause for a moment? The Bible says that we're to pray for those that are over us. So can you pray right now for those over your community, wherever you're from, right now?

And I believe the hour has come for us to pray not only for our local leaders and for our state, but for our nation. It's not too late. You know, there's a strange thing happening in the world, which I say strange, I, I don't mean unexplainable. There's a strange thing happening in the world today that is of Bible prophecy. Don't think that, for example, the border issues in the United States is unique to America. There's a global issue right now, and it's been going on for a while regarding national borders. You see, what does it have to do with anything? It has a lot to do with it with things the Bible tells us in the last days. There's going to be a man who will arise out of the ancient Roman Empire, which, by the way, has never been defeated. To this moment, the Roman Empire has never been defeated. As of a quarter to nine this morning, isn't that interesting? Every empire of antiquity was defeated by another invading army, but the Bible prophesied in the book of Daniel that there would be one empire that would never be conquered. It would only fragment and come back again in the last times. Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 11, chapter 9. Isn't it interesting that the Roman Empire was never defeated? It is officially still in existence today. Isn't that wild? Just as God said in the ancient prophets. It's awesome.

So, what's my point? The Bible says that there's going to be a man who will arise in the last days, just before Christ returns. In the last days, there'll be a man who will rise out of the heap of that mess, and he'll unify the world. He'll make it a one world. The Bible says that he's going to bring everyone together. This is a 3,000-year-old prophecy. Isn't everybody talking about "come together"? Huh? This thing about borders, this is a demonic plan of the last days. It's global. It's not just California. There's one country right now standing in the way of globalism, and you're sitting in it. This thing called American Exceptionalism. Very few people even know what it means. A lot of people want to talk about it, but they don't know what it means. American Exceptionalism means because we have a Judeo-Christian foundation, we're different. Because God's enthroned in heaven, we don't give up. Because God created you in His own image, you can invent the internet. You can make cars on a manufacture on an assembly line plant. You can make spaceships. You can invent GPS and put men on the moon. And now we hear all kinds of talk, "We need to remove the American flag from the moon." And we need to take the American flag off the International Space Station now. And all this stuff about, "Well, whatever." Here's the deal. We got to become one. Got to become one. I understand that. That's the direction things are going. But isn't it interesting to this date? I'm going to give you one chance to answer this. Out of all the nations in the world, what nation in the world has more people immigrating to it legally, just legally, every year? Anybody guess? How about this? If you combine all the nations of the world and their annual immigration numbers, what nation in all the world each year has more people coming to that nation, more than all those other nations combined? You're sitting in it. Why is that happening? Why do I have a friend whose family fled Lebanon and made a home in California, and the freedoms and wealth that they have since attained, who's a Muslim, mind you, who clearly understands that he's enjoined the Judeo-Christian blessings of the God of the Bible, and he'll die for America? Is that awesome? That's American Exceptionalism. It doesn't mean we're better than anybody else. It means that God gave us something better than everything else. And it's easily lost if we don't love it. And we live in a dangerous day, my dear friends, where people are attacking the very nation that feeds them.

Jesus said, "In the last days, many will depart from the faith. The days will come when people will deceive you, saying, 'There is the Christ' or 'Here is the Christ.' Do not believe them, for many false prophets will arise in My name and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that your heart is not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and pestilence, incurable diseases. And because of lawlessness, men's hearts will fail them for fear, and because of the love of evil, men's hearts will grow cold with love." Jesus says, "That's how it's going to be at the end." How close are we, church?

Can I ask you to stand and would you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth, as a church family here today, we rededicate our lives to You, Lord. Lord, unless we have forgotten, I want to have angels be reminded that in various locations of these three buildings on this campus, when those companies were pumping concrete into the footings and foundations of this building, some of us were out here throwing Bibles and pages of the Bibles into the wet cement. I remember that day like it was yesterday, Lord. Can I remind heaven and angels and ourselves that beneath my feet here, down some ten feet from where I'm standing, in a massive concrete pillar, are old worn-out Gideon Bibles that were retired from being around the world? They've come home to be placed under the feet of me or any person teaching the Bible, standing on the Bible. Some of us might remember that beneath my feet in that same hole with those Bibles are those stones we brought back from Israel. And we put those down in there because Jesus, You said, "If we should ever cease to worship, the very stones will cry out." So we have the word of God beneath our feet. We have the testimony of the stones. If we don't worship, they will. And Lord, I remember how we had it all wrapped up too, in a prayer shawl from Jerusalem. And we said that day on October 5th, 2002, Saturday morning, in this place, the prayer shawl was being dropped into that hole of cement because Jesus said, "My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer." And so we're asking You, Father, in the midst of this work, to renew it. We do not want to be a church of popularity. We do not want to be a church of relevance. We don't want to be a church of hype. We don't want to be a church that's a spectacle. We don't want to be a church, Lord God, for any other reason except to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, to glorify Him, to honor Your word, to be faithful to the end, to be fearless of darkness, to speak, Lord, when no one else is speaking, to be quiet when everyone else is noisy, to follow You with all of our hearts, to not be involved in any way, shape, or form with religion, but to personally know the living God and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, as our soul's lover, the One who heals, the One who saves, the One who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, the end, the first and the last. Lord God, we pray. We dedicate this church to You in prayer. May all of us, Lord, take up the mantle of challenge today. Create altars at home today, like we saw that woman in that movie, bow in her little closet and turn on the light and meet with God. Lord, I pray for every single person here that they would designate a place in their house or in their apartment, condo, in their room, as an altar. Any married couple here, God, that there would be an altar there. Grandma, Grandpa, an altar in their home for their family, for their loved ones. Father, may we today heed this message and receive it, Lord, as though You were speaking it to us, and that, Father, we would be able to ascend to a mountaintop and be able to say in prayer, "It is good, Lord, for us to be here." We ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

Now we will sing this song of worship. Right, and we will go out with joy and be led forth with praise and singing in Jesus' name. God bless you guys. We'll see you Wednesday night together.