1 00:00:37,699 --> 00:00:38,075 It was a good. 2 00:00:38,099 --> 00:00:38,891 It was a good one. 3 00:00:38,995 --> 00:00:40,075 It was a good one. 4 00:00:40,227 --> 00:00:41,051 There's also. 5 00:00:41,155 --> 00:00:43,611 I know I've talked about that before because it was also the most 6 00:00:43,635 --> 00:00:46,999 scared I've ever been on the boat ride back into Texoma from there. 7 00:00:47,379 --> 00:00:50,107 Well, if you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter number 18. 8 00:00:50,243 --> 00:00:51,131 We'll jump right in. 9 00:00:51,155 --> 00:00:51,579 Thank you, Ms. 10 00:00:51,619 --> 00:00:52,555 Silvester, for that song. 11 00:00:52,587 --> 00:00:53,931 That was the first time I've ever heard it. 12 00:00:53,955 --> 00:00:55,413 But what a good song. 13 00:00:55,571 --> 00:00:57,825 We've had the opportunity in Sunday school in the youth department 14 00:00:57,897 --> 00:01:01,793 to do a really a bird's eye overview of the book of Revelation. 15 00:01:01,921 --> 00:01:04,081 And I've mentioned it probably 10 or 15 times now. 16 00:01:04,105 --> 00:01:07,041 I've told the teens, I said, look, you're giving your script in 17 00:01:07,065 --> 00:01:09,681 heaven right here in the book, so if you don't know it by the time 18 00:01:09,705 --> 00:01:11,073 you get there, that's on you. 19 00:01:11,241 --> 00:01:12,289 And that is really. 20 00:01:12,329 --> 00:01:15,009 That chorus there is exactly what we'll be saying over and over 21 00:01:15,049 --> 00:01:16,401 and over again for eternity. 22 00:01:16,465 --> 00:01:18,817 And man, what an exciting time that is. 23 00:01:18,953 --> 00:01:20,829 Well, Genesis chapter number 18. 24 00:01:21,149 --> 00:01:23,701 Tonight we're going to start reading in verse number 20. 25 00:01:23,805 --> 00:01:29,285 We'll give you a little bit of context before we, before we jump 26 00:01:29,317 --> 00:01:29,889 in. 27 00:01:30,189 --> 00:01:33,329 The Bible says in Genesis, chapter 18, verse number 20. 28 00:01:33,869 --> 00:01:38,769 And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, 29 00:01:39,069 --> 00:01:44,229 and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and 30 00:01:44,269 --> 00:01:47,253 see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of 31 00:01:47,261 --> 00:01:51,173 it which has come unto me, and if not, I will know. 32 00:01:51,341 --> 00:01:55,605 And the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom, 33 00:01:55,717 --> 00:01:58,805 but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 34 00:01:58,917 --> 00:02:02,165 Let's pray and then we'll talk on the topic of intercessory prayer 35 00:02:02,197 --> 00:02:02,773 tonight. 36 00:02:02,901 --> 00:02:04,485 Dear Lord, thank you for this day, Lord. 37 00:02:04,517 --> 00:02:06,261 Thank you for the opportunity to be here, God, thank you for the 38 00:02:06,285 --> 00:02:07,813 opportunity to preach in your church tonight. 39 00:02:07,861 --> 00:02:11,733 God, I pray that you would help me to say what you want me to 40 00:02:11,741 --> 00:02:11,909 say. 41 00:02:11,949 --> 00:02:13,613 God, I know that you've laid this on my heart. 42 00:02:13,741 --> 00:02:16,685 Lord, I pray that you would just hide me behind the cross, Lord. 43 00:02:16,717 --> 00:02:17,677 Fill me with your spirit. 44 00:02:17,773 --> 00:02:19,357 Lord, I pray that you would help something. 45 00:02:19,413 --> 00:02:21,933 I say be of something to help of someone tonight, Lord, in Jesus 46 00:02:21,981 --> 00:02:22,813 name I pray. 47 00:02:22,941 --> 00:02:23,729 Amen. 48 00:02:25,189 --> 00:02:28,429 A few years ago, actually, it was right outside of the end of college, 49 00:02:28,509 --> 00:02:32,369 I bought a white Volkswagen Jetta. 50 00:02:32,949 --> 00:02:37,149 Now you can say whatever you want, brother Clay, but I love, love, 51 00:02:37,189 --> 00:02:38,301 love, love this car. 52 00:02:38,405 --> 00:02:40,614 It's got a little turned twin turbo on it. 53 00:02:40,716 --> 00:02:42,258 It's got a little get up and go. 54 00:02:42,378 --> 00:02:43,090 It's fun. 55 00:02:43,194 --> 00:02:44,066 I like it. 56 00:02:44,202 --> 00:02:45,154 And it was my car. 57 00:02:45,226 --> 00:02:45,778 I bought it. 58 00:02:45,818 --> 00:02:46,866 Like, I bought the whole thing. 59 00:02:46,922 --> 00:02:48,802 I went to the car dealership. 60 00:02:48,850 --> 00:02:51,394 I ripped them off because my other car was literally billowing 61 00:02:51,426 --> 00:02:53,970 smoke, and they still gave me money for it on trade in. 62 00:02:54,154 --> 00:02:55,078 Awesome. 63 00:02:55,498 --> 00:02:56,914 I bought it out in California. 64 00:02:56,946 --> 00:02:57,490 I drove it here. 65 00:02:57,514 --> 00:03:00,786 I've had it my entire adult life. 66 00:03:00,922 --> 00:03:03,358 And I've had one problem with it. 67 00:03:03,898 --> 00:03:04,638 One. 68 00:03:05,098 --> 00:03:07,558 And it was on a Tuesday night at visitation. 69 00:03:08,019 --> 00:03:11,051 Me and my wife, we got in the car and we left from here, and we 70 00:03:11,075 --> 00:03:12,859 went and visited someone's house. 71 00:03:12,899 --> 00:03:16,411 And this doesn't happen very often, but it would just by chance 72 00:03:16,475 --> 00:03:17,579 happen this night. 73 00:03:17,699 --> 00:03:19,675 We knocked on the door, and we're like, hey, we're from Heritage 74 00:03:19,707 --> 00:03:20,507 Baptist Church. 75 00:03:20,603 --> 00:03:22,683 Just wanted to thank you for coming by and visiting. 76 00:03:22,811 --> 00:03:24,571 And they said, wonderful. 77 00:03:24,635 --> 00:03:25,839 We're not interested. 78 00:03:28,659 --> 00:03:29,483 Okay? 79 00:03:29,611 --> 00:03:33,301 So we went back and got in the car, and I started and in the car, 80 00:03:33,325 --> 00:03:34,049 and it went. 81 00:03:35,949 --> 00:03:39,621 And it died right there in front of these people's house, of 82 00:03:39,645 --> 00:03:41,329 all places in the world, right? 83 00:03:41,789 --> 00:03:44,357 And so I'm sitting there, and I'm not a car guy. 84 00:03:44,533 --> 00:03:49,061 I don't know anything about cars except for, you know, you put 85 00:03:49,085 --> 00:03:49,461 them in the key. 86 00:03:49,485 --> 00:03:51,269 You put the key in, you turn it on, and then you. 87 00:03:51,389 --> 00:03:52,837 You can go, right? 88 00:03:52,973 --> 00:03:54,101 Well, I did that. 89 00:03:54,125 --> 00:03:57,249 I put the key in, I turned it on, and it didn't go. 90 00:03:58,679 --> 00:04:00,527 Hence the problem with the car. 91 00:04:00,583 --> 00:04:01,183 Right? 92 00:04:01,351 --> 00:04:05,599 Anyways, I had this problem, and it would turn on, but it just. 93 00:04:05,639 --> 00:04:06,463 It wouldn't really go. 94 00:04:06,551 --> 00:04:07,983 It was running real bad. 95 00:04:08,151 --> 00:04:11,871 It maxed out about 15 miles an hour. 96 00:04:12,055 --> 00:04:16,191 And so I finally got it going, and we, like, hobbled around the 97 00:04:16,215 --> 00:04:16,463 corner. 98 00:04:16,511 --> 00:04:18,815 So I'm not sitting in front of these people's houses. 99 00:04:19,007 --> 00:04:20,655 And I started calling all the car guys. 100 00:04:20,687 --> 00:04:22,079 I know, right? 101 00:04:22,119 --> 00:04:23,615 Because that's what you do if you're not a car guy. 102 00:04:23,647 --> 00:04:24,395 You call. 103 00:04:24,567 --> 00:04:26,179 You call a car guy, right? 104 00:04:26,299 --> 00:04:28,755 And so I start calling, and they're like, yeah, it could be this, 105 00:04:28,827 --> 00:04:31,079 it could be that, it could be, you know, whatever. 106 00:04:31,419 --> 00:04:36,291 And so I called brother Chad, actually, and I think you guys had 107 00:04:36,315 --> 00:04:38,931 either just left the church or maybe you're coming that direction. 108 00:04:39,075 --> 00:04:42,067 Anyways, and so he came and got the car, and we decided to Drive 109 00:04:42,083 --> 00:04:45,059 it to O'Reilly's right over here off of Avondale Hazlett. 110 00:04:45,139 --> 00:04:46,659 And so we get in the car and we start going. 111 00:04:46,699 --> 00:04:47,923 And my car has a manual option. 112 00:04:47,971 --> 00:04:50,227 So he's trying to, like, manual mode it, thinking maybe it's 113 00:04:50,243 --> 00:04:51,261 the transmission. 114 00:04:51,435 --> 00:04:54,457 And it's just the entire way we went 10 miles an hour, probably 115 00:04:54,473 --> 00:04:57,737 the whole way annoyed Everybody in the entire city of Hazlett, 116 00:04:57,833 --> 00:04:58,469 right? 117 00:04:59,409 --> 00:05:01,705 Well, we get to O'Reilly's, and they put in the little code, 118 00:05:01,737 --> 00:05:05,129 and we check it, and it turns out it's actually the throttle body, 119 00:05:05,169 --> 00:05:05,897 if you know what that is. 120 00:05:05,953 --> 00:05:07,561 And that was the only issue I had. 121 00:05:07,745 --> 00:05:10,389 Well, we made the decision, really. 122 00:05:10,929 --> 00:05:13,033 Brother Chad made the decision, because I'm sitting there 123 00:05:13,041 --> 00:05:15,145 in the front seat, like, man, I don't know what I'm gonna do. 124 00:05:15,297 --> 00:05:18,105 You know, last time I had a car problem, I just traded it in. 125 00:05:18,177 --> 00:05:20,265 You know, there's smoke out on the outside. 126 00:05:20,337 --> 00:05:21,721 I don't know what I'm going to do. 127 00:05:21,825 --> 00:05:24,041 And so we park it in O'Reilly's, and brother Chad said, 128 00:05:24,065 --> 00:05:25,945 well, hey, we'll come back in the morning with the church trailer. 129 00:05:25,977 --> 00:05:26,601 We'll load it on here. 130 00:05:26,625 --> 00:05:28,229 We'll take it to Brother Clay's house. 131 00:05:28,849 --> 00:05:32,393 I was like, all right, well, the conclusion of that story is we 132 00:05:32,401 --> 00:05:35,641 get to Brother Clay's house, and he said he determined it was 133 00:05:35,665 --> 00:05:39,017 a throttle body by unplugging the throttle body and nothing changing. 134 00:05:39,193 --> 00:05:40,201 And so then, while Ms. 135 00:05:40,225 --> 00:05:43,561 Janae made his lunch, Brother Clay made some phone calls to find 136 00:05:43,585 --> 00:05:45,373 out how much it would cost me to get fixed. 137 00:05:45,481 --> 00:05:48,197 This isn't relevant to the illustration, but it's a good conclusion 138 00:05:48,213 --> 00:05:48,821 to the story. 139 00:05:48,925 --> 00:05:51,109 He comes back and he goes, hey, you got a warranty on the car? 140 00:05:51,149 --> 00:05:52,209 Do you want to use it? 141 00:05:53,229 --> 00:05:54,769 Sure, why not? 142 00:05:55,149 --> 00:05:56,373 Why not, right? 143 00:05:56,461 --> 00:05:59,029 I've only spent 15 hours on this so far. 144 00:05:59,069 --> 00:06:00,969 I guess we'll go ahead and take it to the dealership. 145 00:06:01,469 --> 00:06:03,621 Well, as I was sitting here and I was thinking on the topic of 146 00:06:03,645 --> 00:06:07,637 intercessory prayer, which is really what Abraham does for his 147 00:06:07,693 --> 00:06:11,173 nephew and really for the whole city of Sodom, I started thinking 148 00:06:11,221 --> 00:06:13,529 about what is intercessory prayer? 149 00:06:13,979 --> 00:06:17,971 And the best definition I could think of is when we make others 150 00:06:18,075 --> 00:06:20,979 problems, our problems, right? 151 00:06:21,099 --> 00:06:24,291 And we can think of so many situations in our life where physically 152 00:06:24,355 --> 00:06:28,787 we may help other people and we take their issues and make it 153 00:06:28,843 --> 00:06:29,587 our problem. 154 00:06:29,723 --> 00:06:31,171 Like my car, right? 155 00:06:31,275 --> 00:06:34,691 They had someone who decided it was their problem, too to help 156 00:06:34,715 --> 00:06:36,119 me get my car fixed. 157 00:06:36,539 --> 00:06:38,451 And there's many times that we can look at that. 158 00:06:38,475 --> 00:06:41,027 But here in this passage, I want to look at verse 23. 159 00:06:41,083 --> 00:06:45,379 As we start to dig in here, Charles Spurgeon said, no man can 160 00:06:45,419 --> 00:06:48,959 do me a truer kindness in this world than praying for me. 161 00:06:50,459 --> 00:06:52,515 And that is really where we're going to set the stage. 162 00:06:52,547 --> 00:06:54,079 Look at verse number 23. 163 00:06:55,179 --> 00:06:57,395 Remember, Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 164 00:06:57,427 --> 00:06:57,971 Verse 23. 165 00:06:57,995 --> 00:07:03,859 And Abraham went Drew near and said, wilt thou also destroy the 166 00:07:03,899 --> 00:07:05,799 righteous with the wicked? 167 00:07:06,219 --> 00:07:10,729 Peradventure there be 50 righteous within the city. 168 00:07:11,109 --> 00:07:16,189 Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous 169 00:07:16,269 --> 00:07:17,341 that are therein? 170 00:07:17,485 --> 00:07:20,989 I want you to notice first off this evening, the position of the 171 00:07:21,029 --> 00:07:21,933 intercessor. 172 00:07:22,061 --> 00:07:24,045 The position of the intercessor. 173 00:07:24,077 --> 00:07:27,693 You see, here we have Abraham coming before God rather boldly, 174 00:07:27,741 --> 00:07:28,461 by the way. 175 00:07:28,565 --> 00:07:30,173 And he comes before God. 176 00:07:30,301 --> 00:07:34,173 And that is first off, it requires to be an intercessor, you 177 00:07:34,181 --> 00:07:37,459 have to have a relationship with the Lord, A relationship with 178 00:07:37,499 --> 00:07:38,083 him. 179 00:07:38,251 --> 00:07:41,507 You see, I don't think maybe this would be taken quite as well 180 00:07:41,563 --> 00:07:44,759 if this was the first time Abraham had ever spoken to the Lord. 181 00:07:45,419 --> 00:07:45,875 Right? 182 00:07:45,947 --> 00:07:48,883 If this is the first time he had ever just had a conversation 183 00:07:48,931 --> 00:07:51,059 with God through prayer, I don't know if it would have been 184 00:07:51,099 --> 00:07:53,123 nearly as effective as it was. 185 00:07:53,291 --> 00:07:56,163 But yet Abraham had a pre standing relationship. 186 00:07:56,211 --> 00:07:59,987 In fact, earlier on in the verse, if you have a Scofield study 187 00:08:00,043 --> 00:08:02,147 Bible earlier on in the chapter, this chapter is actually 188 00:08:02,203 --> 00:08:04,599 labeled Abraham the friend of God. 189 00:08:05,529 --> 00:08:09,889 He's already well known at this point as having a deep relationship 190 00:08:09,969 --> 00:08:11,489 with God the Father. 191 00:08:11,649 --> 00:08:15,281 And now through this relationship, he has a position where 192 00:08:15,305 --> 00:08:19,409 he can come to God and plead for the city of Sodom on their own 193 00:08:19,449 --> 00:08:20,229 behalf. 194 00:08:21,129 --> 00:08:24,273 So we see a relationship for the Lord, but also to be an intercessor 195 00:08:24,321 --> 00:08:26,189 requires a regard for the lost. 196 00:08:26,809 --> 00:08:28,669 A regard for the lost. 197 00:08:29,609 --> 00:08:33,105 You see, Abraham's looking at this city and you gotta think, obviously 198 00:08:33,137 --> 00:08:35,857 when he's hearing this news from God that he's gonna go and destroy 199 00:08:35,873 --> 00:08:41,729 the of Sodom and Gomorrah, surely he is thinking about his nephew 200 00:08:42,069 --> 00:08:44,461 and his family that lives there in that city. 201 00:08:44,645 --> 00:08:45,181 Right? 202 00:08:45,285 --> 00:08:47,529 Clearly that's the thought process here. 203 00:08:47,989 --> 00:08:51,517 But what's interesting is he's not asking God to just spare Lot 204 00:08:51,573 --> 00:08:52,889 and his family, is he? 205 00:08:53,349 --> 00:08:57,981 He's saying, would you save the whole city if there be 50 righteous 206 00:08:58,045 --> 00:09:01,613 in the city, just 50 people in the entire city, would you spare 207 00:09:01,661 --> 00:09:02,569 the whole thing? 208 00:09:03,658 --> 00:09:06,706 Now you can read many commentaries and hear many different 209 00:09:06,762 --> 00:09:09,438 opinions on why he threw out the number 50. 210 00:09:09,978 --> 00:09:13,838 I think Abraham thought awfully highly of his nephew Lot. 211 00:09:14,858 --> 00:09:16,994 He probably thought, man, Lot's been living there for years. 212 00:09:17,066 --> 00:09:21,158 He's got kids, their kids are married, maybe some grandkids. 213 00:09:21,978 --> 00:09:26,114 50 doesn't seem like that big of a number, right? 214 00:09:26,266 --> 00:09:28,786 I mean, we have families in our church that are nearing almost 215 00:09:28,842 --> 00:09:30,246 50, probably in total. 216 00:09:30,362 --> 00:09:30,927 Right. 217 00:09:31,063 --> 00:09:35,519 It's not that many people when you consider everything that's going 218 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:36,095 on. 219 00:09:36,247 --> 00:09:42,591 So Abraham asked for 50 people to spare an entire city, an entire 220 00:09:42,655 --> 00:09:43,967 city from God's wrath. 221 00:09:44,143 --> 00:09:46,619 It takes some care for the lost. 222 00:09:48,359 --> 00:09:51,967 We see here this position of the intercessor, by the way, we're 223 00:09:51,983 --> 00:09:53,007 commanded in the New Testament. 224 00:09:53,023 --> 00:09:57,409 The Bible says, look, not every man on his own things, but 225 00:09:57,449 --> 00:09:59,469 every man also on the things of others. 226 00:10:00,169 --> 00:10:02,481 You see, we're not supposed to, as Christians, just have our 227 00:10:02,505 --> 00:10:06,513 eyes solely here on Heritage Baptist Church, solely on the King 228 00:10:06,561 --> 00:10:10,689 household, solely on those that I care about that are close 229 00:10:10,729 --> 00:10:11,233 to me. 230 00:10:11,321 --> 00:10:15,105 But we're supposed to have our eyes and our mindset on those around 231 00:10:15,177 --> 00:10:16,273 us as well. 232 00:10:16,441 --> 00:10:19,841 If you remember the geography of this area, you remember that there 233 00:10:19,865 --> 00:10:23,511 was a decision made earlier on in the story, in the narrative where 234 00:10:23,535 --> 00:10:26,903 Lot decided to go place his house and his. 235 00:10:26,991 --> 00:10:29,383 His people and his sheep and everything towards the cities of 236 00:10:29,391 --> 00:10:33,159 Sodomorra, Gomorrah, and Abraham went off to the other side, 237 00:10:33,199 --> 00:10:34,819 off into the plains, right? 238 00:10:35,759 --> 00:10:41,143 Yet he's not just concerned about this plain area, maybe a village 239 00:10:41,191 --> 00:10:44,259 or local watering hole or something that's over there, right? 240 00:10:44,879 --> 00:10:49,569 Instead, he's concerned about the whole region, everybody around 241 00:10:49,609 --> 00:10:49,953 it. 242 00:10:50,041 --> 00:10:50,669 Right? 243 00:10:52,009 --> 00:10:55,269 If you could put it this way, he wasn't just concerned about Hazlett. 244 00:10:55,769 --> 00:11:00,961 He was concerned about Keller and Saginaw and Newark and even the 245 00:11:00,985 --> 00:11:02,469 rednecks up in Justin. 246 00:11:02,889 --> 00:11:04,881 He was concerned about all of them, right? 247 00:11:04,985 --> 00:11:07,949 I can say that I have chickens in my backyard and I live there. 248 00:11:09,129 --> 00:11:11,185 So here we see the position of the intercessor. 249 00:11:11,217 --> 00:11:13,633 But I want you to notice secondly this evening, the plea of 250 00:11:13,641 --> 00:11:14,477 the intercessor. 251 00:11:14,593 --> 00:11:17,349 Look at verse 24:25. 252 00:11:17,389 --> 00:11:18,213 Excuse me. 253 00:11:18,381 --> 00:11:25,461 That be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous 254 00:11:25,525 --> 00:11:29,125 with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked 255 00:11:29,237 --> 00:11:32,309 that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do 256 00:11:32,349 --> 00:11:32,929 right. 257 00:11:33,389 --> 00:11:34,981 That's bold, isn't it? 258 00:11:35,165 --> 00:11:38,981 Remember, he's talking to the God of creation, and he's essentially 259 00:11:39,045 --> 00:11:43,599 saying, if you were to destroy the righteous with the wicked, is 260 00:11:43,639 --> 00:11:45,179 that the right thing to do? 261 00:11:48,599 --> 00:11:50,379 Buddy, do you know who you're talking to? 262 00:11:52,199 --> 00:11:52,559 J. 263 00:11:52,599 --> 00:11:53,631 Vernon Green, put it this way. 264 00:11:53,655 --> 00:11:56,175 He said, whenever we look at something and we think God is wrong, 265 00:11:56,207 --> 00:11:57,951 the real answer is we're wrong. 266 00:11:58,095 --> 00:11:58,687 Right? 267 00:11:58,823 --> 00:12:01,887 Whatever God wanted to do here, he was completely just to do 268 00:12:01,943 --> 00:12:06,361 so because he is the just and holy creator, and thus he reserves 269 00:12:06,425 --> 00:12:09,869 the right to deal with humanity as he wishes. 270 00:12:10,689 --> 00:12:16,985 But here Abraham comes boldly to God and he makes a clear and concise 271 00:12:17,097 --> 00:12:22,377 argument for exactly why he thinks God ought to spare these cities. 272 00:12:22,553 --> 00:12:23,721 I want you to see letter A. 273 00:12:23,745 --> 00:12:26,089 This is a petition based on God's justice. 274 00:12:26,249 --> 00:12:28,089 It's a petition based on God's justice. 275 00:12:28,169 --> 00:12:29,785 You see, he's making a plea. 276 00:12:29,817 --> 00:12:32,441 He's making a request of God. 277 00:12:32,505 --> 00:12:35,579 And he's saying, hey, I know you are a just and holy God. 278 00:12:35,729 --> 00:12:39,031 And this doesn't really seem like it's really just to me. 279 00:12:39,215 --> 00:12:40,739 He's making a plea here. 280 00:12:43,039 --> 00:12:46,935 It's really interesting to me just how bold this is. 281 00:12:47,087 --> 00:12:52,759 I don't know if I ever quite realized this before, but not only 282 00:12:52,799 --> 00:12:58,103 is this petition based on God's justice, man, he's persistent, 283 00:12:58,151 --> 00:12:58,979 isn't he? 284 00:13:00,159 --> 00:13:01,939 Look at verse number 26. 285 00:13:02,299 --> 00:13:08,371 And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the 286 00:13:08,395 --> 00:13:13,427 city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes, the sakes 287 00:13:13,443 --> 00:13:14,627 of the 50 righteous. 288 00:13:14,803 --> 00:13:19,011 And Abraham answered and said, behold, now I have taken upon me 289 00:13:19,035 --> 00:13:23,239 to speak to the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. 290 00:13:24,059 --> 00:13:28,849 Peradventure there shall lack five of the 50 righteous. 291 00:13:29,429 --> 00:13:32,569 Wilt thou destroy all the city for the lack of 5? 292 00:13:33,189 --> 00:13:37,449 And he said, if I find there 40 and 5, I will not destroy it. 293 00:13:38,549 --> 00:13:44,125 And he spake unto him, yet again, peradventure, there shall 294 00:13:44,157 --> 00:13:45,369 be 40 there. 295 00:13:46,149 --> 00:13:48,769 And he said, I will not do it for 40's sake. 296 00:13:50,309 --> 00:13:56,159 And he said unto him, o, let not the Lord be angry, and I will 297 00:13:56,199 --> 00:14:01,659 speak per venture, there shall 30 be found there. 298 00:14:02,199 --> 00:14:05,539 And he said, I will not destroy it for 20's sake. 299 00:14:06,599 --> 00:14:10,259 What an interesting conversation between God and Abraham. 300 00:14:11,319 --> 00:14:16,335 See, God, and I think we almost make this, like, reading into 301 00:14:16,407 --> 00:14:19,439 the passage or maybe reading into the story, because the Sunday 302 00:14:19,479 --> 00:14:24,033 school version that I remember is Abraham prayed for 50 righteous, 303 00:14:24,081 --> 00:14:26,177 and then God went and didn't find 50 righteous. 304 00:14:26,353 --> 00:14:29,153 And then they come back, and then Abraham asked about 45, and 305 00:14:29,161 --> 00:14:31,469 he went and looked for 45, but there wasn't 45. 306 00:14:31,929 --> 00:14:35,149 But that's not the passage here. 307 00:14:35,609 --> 00:14:38,081 You see, Abraham makes this prayer request to God and he says, 308 00:14:38,105 --> 00:14:41,313 okay, if you find 50 righteous, will you destroy it? 309 00:14:41,321 --> 00:14:44,017 And God says, nah, I'm not going to destroy it If I find 50 310 00:14:44,073 --> 00:14:45,505 people paraphrased. 311 00:14:45,617 --> 00:14:51,259 And then Abraham goes, okay, I am nothing. 312 00:14:51,999 --> 00:14:53,539 But what about 45? 313 00:14:54,399 --> 00:14:57,911 And it's like this constant, almost like negotiation back and 314 00:14:57,935 --> 00:14:58,471 forth. 315 00:14:58,615 --> 00:15:00,299 It's really quite interesting. 316 00:15:00,959 --> 00:15:04,311 There's a book that is out of print. 317 00:15:04,455 --> 00:15:05,703 You can't find it anymore. 318 00:15:05,751 --> 00:15:07,079 I actually looked for it. 319 00:15:07,119 --> 00:15:09,179 It's $400 on Amazon. 320 00:15:09,679 --> 00:15:11,415 It's worth it if you want to get it. 321 00:15:11,487 --> 00:15:12,587 I do recommend it. 322 00:15:12,703 --> 00:15:14,019 It's Effective Prayer by J. 323 00:15:14,059 --> 00:15:14,931 Oswald Sanders. 324 00:15:14,995 --> 00:15:17,939 It's just a tiny little book like 58 pages. 325 00:15:18,099 --> 00:15:21,091 I want to read this little chunk from it. 326 00:15:21,275 --> 00:15:27,239 He says, the processes of prayer and answer are not irrational. 327 00:15:27,739 --> 00:15:31,879 Indeed, God encourages argument in prayer. 328 00:15:32,539 --> 00:15:38,195 While he requires submission to his revealed will, he is not pleased 329 00:15:38,227 --> 00:15:39,399 with passivity. 330 00:15:40,229 --> 00:15:44,493 We are invited to muster and present the strongest possible arguments 331 00:15:44,541 --> 00:15:48,289 for our petition and press it with logic and vigor. 332 00:15:51,349 --> 00:15:52,889 Have you ever thought about this? 333 00:15:55,109 --> 00:16:01,261 The concept of praying so intently to God that we're actually 334 00:16:01,445 --> 00:16:03,849 arguing for what we want? 335 00:16:06,639 --> 00:16:08,459 What a weird idea. 336 00:16:09,999 --> 00:16:12,759 And I gotta be honest, this is something that's captivated me over 337 00:16:12,799 --> 00:16:15,639 the last few weeks and I've had to think about it over and over 338 00:16:15,679 --> 00:16:16,659 and over again. 339 00:16:16,959 --> 00:16:21,991 Because if you're like me, probably the extent of your intercessory 340 00:16:22,055 --> 00:16:25,239 prayer has been, would you pray for so and so? 341 00:16:25,279 --> 00:16:28,439 They have a problem, or Lord, I pray for blank. 342 00:16:28,519 --> 00:16:31,489 That blank would happen, whatever it may be. 343 00:16:31,529 --> 00:16:37,029 And that's probably the extent of my intercessory prayer. 344 00:16:39,129 --> 00:16:45,633 That's not what Abraham's doing though, because his family 345 00:16:45,721 --> 00:16:48,389 is in this city that God is planning on destroying. 346 00:16:49,849 --> 00:16:55,169 Honestly, I probably would be like, yeah, pray for my family, God. 347 00:16:55,249 --> 00:16:56,997 Hope they find safe passage out. 348 00:16:57,193 --> 00:16:59,709 Pray that you would deliver him and bless his food. 349 00:16:59,829 --> 00:17:00,525 Amen. 350 00:17:00,637 --> 00:17:01,149 Right? 351 00:17:01,269 --> 00:17:04,781 I mean, that's kind of the extent of prayer. 352 00:17:04,845 --> 00:17:07,249 But it's gotten so shallow. 353 00:17:08,069 --> 00:17:11,533 The way that we communicate and converse with God has gotten 354 00:17:11,581 --> 00:17:12,529 so shallow. 355 00:17:13,029 --> 00:17:17,517 Yet God invites us and in many times in scripture, even rewards 356 00:17:17,613 --> 00:17:21,969 those who boldly ask what they want from God. 357 00:17:22,559 --> 00:17:27,259 And what's funny here is this is mixed with logic and argument. 358 00:17:27,679 --> 00:17:31,575 As Abraham is looking at God, he's saying, God, you're a just God, 359 00:17:31,687 --> 00:17:32,779 you're perfect. 360 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:37,019 It's not really super just to destroy the righteous with the wicked. 361 00:17:37,439 --> 00:17:39,239 So how about 50 people? 362 00:17:39,279 --> 00:17:39,911 Would you save them? 363 00:17:39,935 --> 00:17:41,447 And God says, yes, I would. 364 00:17:41,583 --> 00:17:44,855 And then they continue on this whole conversation because then it's 365 00:17:44,887 --> 00:17:45,271 logical. 366 00:17:45,335 --> 00:17:49,715 Well, if God would save it for 50 righteous, maybe he would save 367 00:17:49,747 --> 00:17:51,039 her for 45. 368 00:17:51,899 --> 00:17:53,411 Hey, God would save her for 45. 369 00:17:53,435 --> 00:17:54,319 What about 40? 370 00:17:55,259 --> 00:17:55,875 This is cool. 371 00:17:55,907 --> 00:18:00,531 And then he goes, hey, God, if there is 30 righteous people, would 372 00:18:00,555 --> 00:18:01,599 you save the city? 373 00:18:02,139 --> 00:18:03,959 And I love this answer. 374 00:18:06,539 --> 00:18:10,723 He said in verse 31, Right at the end, per venture shall there 375 00:18:10,731 --> 00:18:11,999 be 20 found there. 376 00:18:12,539 --> 00:18:16,031 And he said, I will not destroy it for 20 sake. 377 00:18:16,175 --> 00:18:17,935 We work all the way down here. 378 00:18:18,087 --> 00:18:19,583 And it finally comes to the conclusion. 379 00:18:19,631 --> 00:18:22,895 God says, I'm not going to find it if we find just 20 righteous 380 00:18:22,927 --> 00:18:23,499 people. 381 00:18:24,039 --> 00:18:28,143 As he works his way down logically arguing with God all the 382 00:18:28,151 --> 00:18:31,407 way down here, he comes to this number where like, hey, that's 383 00:18:31,423 --> 00:18:33,647 the number I'm not going to find and we're not going to destroy 384 00:18:33,663 --> 00:18:34,379 it there. 385 00:18:36,279 --> 00:18:37,359 And then he keeps going. 386 00:18:37,399 --> 00:18:38,859 Look at verse number 32. 387 00:18:39,639 --> 00:18:45,909 And he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak peradventure 388 00:18:46,409 --> 00:18:47,537 or I will speak yet. 389 00:18:47,593 --> 00:18:53,825 But this once it is interesting how humble, how humbly 390 00:18:54,017 --> 00:18:55,829 Abraham is approaching God. 391 00:18:56,489 --> 00:18:58,721 He's being super bold, right? 392 00:18:58,825 --> 00:19:01,761 I mean, he's asking God to withhold his righteous judgment on 393 00:19:01,785 --> 00:19:05,309 an entire city for really just a few righteous people. 394 00:19:07,699 --> 00:19:15,119 But then he's mixing it with also, by the way, I am nothing. 395 00:19:15,779 --> 00:19:16,875 I am nothing. 396 00:19:16,987 --> 00:19:20,199 And please don't be angry with me for saying this. 397 00:19:20,899 --> 00:19:24,635 The humility there as he's looking at it and approaching God. 398 00:19:24,667 --> 00:19:28,507 See, he's boldly asking for what he wants, yet he is doing it 399 00:19:28,563 --> 00:19:30,279 with humility as well. 400 00:19:31,949 --> 00:19:34,409 He said, I will not destroy it for 10 sake. 401 00:19:35,309 --> 00:19:38,789 So not only do we see the position of the intercessor here, 402 00:19:38,909 --> 00:19:42,085 even the plea for the intercessor, but I want you to notice 403 00:19:42,117 --> 00:19:43,849 the power of the intercessor. 404 00:19:44,349 --> 00:19:45,249 The power. 405 00:19:45,869 --> 00:19:50,729 You see, we have this whole conversation, this whole prayer. 406 00:19:51,549 --> 00:19:53,685 You start working all the way down logically. 407 00:19:53,877 --> 00:19:55,649 Look at verse number 33. 408 00:19:56,349 --> 00:20:01,017 And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left. 409 00:20:01,073 --> 00:20:01,977 I love this word. 410 00:20:02,073 --> 00:20:04,749 Communing with Abraham. 411 00:20:05,089 --> 00:20:08,309 And Abraham returned unto his place. 412 00:20:11,249 --> 00:20:13,549 Kind of an odd end to the conversation. 413 00:20:14,769 --> 00:20:17,669 You would think maybe given some of the context, you would think 414 00:20:18,289 --> 00:20:21,449 maybe Abraham would have received acknowledgment of whether 415 00:20:21,489 --> 00:20:24,379 or not there were 10 righteous people, right? 416 00:20:25,639 --> 00:20:28,859 No, we just end the conversation, we're done. 417 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:34,335 It's so interesting, maybe the most powerful picture of intercessory 418 00:20:34,367 --> 00:20:36,019 prayer in the entire Bible. 419 00:20:36,519 --> 00:20:38,419 And Abraham doesn't get an answer. 420 00:20:40,679 --> 00:20:41,779 So interesting. 421 00:20:43,079 --> 00:20:45,647 Now ultimately God answers his prayer request, right? 422 00:20:45,703 --> 00:20:50,229 Lot is saved, his family is spared from the city, but it's just 423 00:20:50,269 --> 00:20:51,493 Lot and his family. 424 00:20:51,661 --> 00:20:55,061 As far as we know, there's no other recorded people that are spared 425 00:20:55,125 --> 00:20:56,049 from this event. 426 00:20:59,709 --> 00:21:04,649 The model intercessory prayer went unanswered to some extent. 427 00:21:08,189 --> 00:21:13,829 See, I think many times we think that an unanswered means that 428 00:21:13,869 --> 00:21:14,969 prayer is not heard. 429 00:21:16,989 --> 00:21:21,621 But Lot and his family being saved is evidence that God heard 430 00:21:21,685 --> 00:21:23,449 and answered his prayer. 431 00:21:23,789 --> 00:21:25,529 Not in the way Abraham wanted. 432 00:21:26,429 --> 00:21:28,489 Abraham wanted the whole city spared. 433 00:21:29,149 --> 00:21:31,541 You can't help but think maybe there is some selfish reasoning there 434 00:21:31,565 --> 00:21:31,909 too, right? 435 00:21:31,949 --> 00:21:34,529 Maybe that's where he got like the cheap hay for his sheep or something. 436 00:21:35,389 --> 00:21:40,133 But either way, he wanted the whole city spared, but God spared 437 00:21:40,181 --> 00:21:41,369 his family instead. 438 00:21:42,209 --> 00:21:45,561 Which I bet if Abraham were standing here, he'd probably say 439 00:21:45,745 --> 00:21:48,345 that's a fair compromise with me, right? 440 00:21:48,497 --> 00:21:50,789 That's probably what he really wanted out of it. 441 00:21:53,889 --> 00:21:55,865 Oswald Chambers said it this way. 442 00:21:56,017 --> 00:21:59,641 He said, prayer does not fit us for the greater work. 443 00:21:59,825 --> 00:22:01,989 Prayer is the greater work. 444 00:22:03,649 --> 00:22:10,131 And this is where this whole study took turn for me because I 445 00:22:10,155 --> 00:22:12,099 started thinking about everything that I had learned about 446 00:22:12,139 --> 00:22:14,531 prayer, this little booklet, effective Prayer, that I had just 447 00:22:14,555 --> 00:22:15,987 read in the last couple weeks. 448 00:22:16,123 --> 00:22:20,719 And I started thinking about all these things, and I thought, 449 00:22:22,779 --> 00:22:24,559 prayer is the greater work. 450 00:22:26,939 --> 00:22:30,319 Abraham's job was done. 451 00:22:31,179 --> 00:22:34,149 He had to pray and commune with God. 452 00:22:34,309 --> 00:22:37,089 And then there was nothing more he could do. 453 00:22:41,469 --> 00:22:45,093 Now, if it were me, I would have said my shallow little, you 454 00:22:45,101 --> 00:22:46,549 know, Lord, praying for my family. 455 00:22:46,669 --> 00:22:48,597 Pray to keep him safe, bless his food. 456 00:22:48,653 --> 00:22:49,525 Amen, Right? 457 00:22:49,597 --> 00:22:52,261 And then I would have rented a U Haul and went to go meet him, right? 458 00:22:52,285 --> 00:22:53,809 Because I'm going to go get them out. 459 00:22:54,989 --> 00:22:56,769 But Abraham doesn't do that. 460 00:22:57,149 --> 00:22:59,011 He lives across the plain from them. 461 00:22:59,125 --> 00:23:02,583 In fact, many times in the story of Abraham and Lot, they interact 462 00:23:02,631 --> 00:23:05,095 with each other or go between the two places. 463 00:23:05,287 --> 00:23:07,219 It's not like he lives forever away. 464 00:23:08,799 --> 00:23:12,023 But Abraham was able to pray this prayer for Lot, his family in 465 00:23:12,031 --> 00:23:15,703 the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, and then be at complete 466 00:23:15,751 --> 00:23:19,699 rest and ease and not take any more action. 467 00:23:20,559 --> 00:23:22,859 Let all the rest of it be in God's hands. 468 00:23:24,889 --> 00:23:28,225 That is so difficult, right? 469 00:23:28,377 --> 00:23:32,241 Because if you're anything like me, your first instinct is to 470 00:23:32,265 --> 00:23:36,833 pray a prayer for a specific request and then make and take actionable 471 00:23:36,881 --> 00:23:39,629 steps to make that happen, right? 472 00:23:40,649 --> 00:23:43,489 Lord, I want to be a millionaire Please bless this. 473 00:23:43,529 --> 00:23:45,105 Buying a bitcoin I'm fixing to do. 474 00:23:45,177 --> 00:23:45,789 Right? 475 00:23:47,049 --> 00:23:49,505 I'm only going 10 cents in, but I'm going to take out a million, 476 00:23:49,577 --> 00:23:50,217 right? 477 00:23:50,393 --> 00:23:52,009 Or whatever it may be that time. 478 00:23:52,049 --> 00:23:55,433 And we take little actionable steps after we pray, when the reality 479 00:23:55,481 --> 00:23:58,229 is prayer is the work that we ought to do. 480 00:23:59,569 --> 00:24:02,121 There are so many things in our lives that are completely and 481 00:24:02,145 --> 00:24:05,561 totally out of our hands, and there's not anything we can do about 482 00:24:05,585 --> 00:24:07,389 it except bring it to God. 483 00:24:07,809 --> 00:24:10,649 And that's all that he requires and asks us to do about 484 00:24:10,689 --> 00:24:11,269 it. 485 00:24:13,569 --> 00:24:22,339 This is the model intercessory prayer, but that's not prayer as 486 00:24:22,379 --> 00:24:23,239 a whole. 487 00:24:25,019 --> 00:24:30,291 I want you to notice intercessory prayer is who we pray 488 00:24:30,355 --> 00:24:32,563 for, okay? 489 00:24:32,691 --> 00:24:34,639 It's who we pray for. 490 00:24:35,019 --> 00:24:41,039 In other words, I may pray an intercessory prayer for one of you. 491 00:24:41,589 --> 00:24:43,997 Whenever we get up here and we have a prayer request, we say, hey, 492 00:24:44,013 --> 00:24:44,429 pray for Ms. 493 00:24:44,469 --> 00:24:46,173 Schmidt, pray for Brother Peters. 494 00:24:46,221 --> 00:24:50,045 Pray for whoever it is we're asking for intercessory prayer from 495 00:24:50,117 --> 00:24:52,301 you to God for them. 496 00:24:52,485 --> 00:24:55,409 Okay, that's intercessory prayer. 497 00:24:55,829 --> 00:25:00,557 But there's one word here that I believe, really it's only found 498 00:25:00,613 --> 00:25:01,809 once in the Bible. 499 00:25:02,309 --> 00:25:07,569 But I have become persuaded it is the key to prayer as a whole. 500 00:25:07,939 --> 00:25:12,359 And Abraham expressed the idea, while the word is not used, 501 00:25:12,659 --> 00:25:14,559 the word is importunity. 502 00:25:15,219 --> 00:25:16,283 The word is importunity. 503 00:25:16,331 --> 00:25:18,679 It's found in Luke chapter 18. 504 00:25:20,579 --> 00:25:22,043 Sorry, Luke chapter 11. 505 00:25:22,211 --> 00:25:23,211 Butchered, that one. 506 00:25:23,315 --> 00:25:26,359 It's found in Luke chapter 11 with the parable of the widow woman. 507 00:25:27,619 --> 00:25:30,399 And Jesus here teaching on prayer. 508 00:25:30,979 --> 00:25:40,501 He talks about this really interesting story where a man who 509 00:25:40,525 --> 00:25:45,569 was traveling comes and knocks on the house of his friend at night. 510 00:25:47,869 --> 00:25:50,613 And the guy says, go away. 511 00:25:50,781 --> 00:25:54,929 We're all in bed, we're asleep, go away. 512 00:25:55,789 --> 00:26:00,959 And the man just keeps knocking and he just keeps asking 513 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:05,099 over and over and over and over again. 514 00:26:05,799 --> 00:26:09,615 And Jesus says, the man is going to arise and feed him. 515 00:26:09,687 --> 00:26:13,339 He's going to give him what he wants, not because he's his friend, 516 00:26:14,279 --> 00:26:16,579 yet because of his importunity. 517 00:26:19,399 --> 00:26:22,619 Intercessory prayer is who we pray for. 518 00:26:23,239 --> 00:26:26,569 Importunity is about how we pray. 519 00:26:27,389 --> 00:26:29,765 And that's what we see here with Abraham. 520 00:26:29,957 --> 00:26:36,133 He prayed an intercessory prayer with importunity over and 521 00:26:36,221 --> 00:26:38,929 over and over and over again. 522 00:26:41,229 --> 00:26:44,789 I used to laugh at people foolishly. 523 00:26:44,869 --> 00:26:45,717 I don't know what I'm doing. 524 00:26:45,773 --> 00:26:48,517 I'm just going to stop laughing at people and stop having 525 00:26:48,573 --> 00:26:49,093 these thoughts. 526 00:26:49,141 --> 00:26:50,853 Because it all comes back to bait. 527 00:26:50,901 --> 00:26:53,045 I used to laugh at people who told me that you're never more tired 528 00:26:53,077 --> 00:26:54,467 than we have a newborn infant. 529 00:26:54,653 --> 00:26:56,819 Like, okay, whatever, right? 530 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:02,887 Oh my goodness, man, this kid doesn't sleep how you would think. 531 00:27:02,943 --> 00:27:05,059 The less you sleep, the more tired you are. 532 00:27:06,799 --> 00:27:09,367 That's what I've learned in all of my experience in life. 533 00:27:09,503 --> 00:27:13,539 Yet it is not true with this little tiny human that we have. 534 00:27:16,239 --> 00:27:18,407 I am a fairly light sleeper. 535 00:27:18,583 --> 00:27:19,367 Always have been. 536 00:27:19,423 --> 00:27:21,059 I assume I always will be. 537 00:27:21,519 --> 00:27:23,383 I wake up at just about everything. 538 00:27:23,471 --> 00:27:28,375 Every little noise she makes, I wake up before Mrs. 539 00:27:28,407 --> 00:27:28,919 Keene does. 540 00:27:28,959 --> 00:27:31,911 Usually bassinet's on her side. 541 00:27:31,935 --> 00:27:35,179 So I just, you know, get the baby. 542 00:27:37,839 --> 00:27:40,739 But once I get asleep, maybe you're like me. 543 00:27:41,199 --> 00:27:44,583 It's hard to move, you know what I mean? 544 00:27:44,751 --> 00:27:46,775 You get woken up at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. 545 00:27:46,847 --> 00:27:53,629 It takes a lot of concern for me to actually get out of bed for 546 00:27:53,669 --> 00:27:54,449 anything. 547 00:27:56,229 --> 00:28:01,165 I've heard my gate open on the side of my house before and I woke 548 00:28:01,197 --> 00:28:06,077 up and heard it and went, there's Nothing really important 549 00:28:06,133 --> 00:28:07,089 in my shop. 550 00:28:08,949 --> 00:28:11,769 It'll be all right, right? 551 00:28:12,069 --> 00:28:14,141 It takes a lot to get me moving at night. 552 00:28:14,165 --> 00:28:18,221 Well, last night, about 2:30 in the morning, we're sleeping and 553 00:28:18,245 --> 00:28:22,125 all of a sudden this baby starts crying like she had been attacked, 554 00:28:22,157 --> 00:28:22,349 man. 555 00:28:22,389 --> 00:28:24,157 I mean, she's screaming her head off. 556 00:28:24,213 --> 00:28:26,141 I know you guys don't believe it because she was all smiling and 557 00:28:26,165 --> 00:28:30,237 happy for every single one of you this morning, but she's screaming 558 00:28:30,253 --> 00:28:30,701 her head off. 559 00:28:30,725 --> 00:28:31,645 She's crying. 560 00:28:31,757 --> 00:28:32,701 She's crying. 561 00:28:32,845 --> 00:28:35,245 I mean, just on and on and on and on it goes. 562 00:28:35,357 --> 00:28:39,069 And I'm laying there and Jessica got up and she changed her 563 00:28:39,109 --> 00:28:46,039 diaper and all this, but she's still just crying over and over and 564 00:28:46,079 --> 00:28:46,439 over again. 565 00:28:46,479 --> 00:28:48,979 And it's not ending now. 566 00:28:51,839 --> 00:28:53,223 This is wrong of me. 567 00:28:53,311 --> 00:28:54,299 I'm aware. 568 00:28:55,279 --> 00:29:01,191 But typically I lay there and keep my eyes closed and I kind of 569 00:29:01,215 --> 00:29:05,751 just wait a minute, right? 570 00:29:05,935 --> 00:29:08,579 Baby stops crying, Mama takes care of her. 571 00:29:09,779 --> 00:29:13,319 That's my freedom to turn around and go back to bed, right? 572 00:29:14,259 --> 00:29:18,267 Well, last night she's crying and she's crying, and then, I don't 573 00:29:18,283 --> 00:29:19,547 know, there's not. 574 00:29:19,603 --> 00:29:21,707 I don't know, this is my term for it. 575 00:29:21,763 --> 00:29:23,371 She puts it into overdrive. 576 00:29:23,515 --> 00:29:25,515 She found that fifth gear, right? 577 00:29:25,667 --> 00:29:29,919 Like, she's not just upset now, she's like really upset. 578 00:29:30,419 --> 00:29:34,719 And she's full fledged top of her lunge, screaming. 579 00:29:36,359 --> 00:29:42,383 And so I reluctantly pulled back the COVID got up and walked 580 00:29:42,431 --> 00:29:42,623 to her. 581 00:29:42,631 --> 00:29:44,783 And my wife picked her up for a minute. 582 00:29:44,831 --> 00:29:46,351 She was still crying, by the way. 583 00:29:46,535 --> 00:29:51,311 Put her here, did nothing, looked at her, put her back to her 584 00:29:51,335 --> 00:29:52,539 mom, right? 585 00:29:53,399 --> 00:29:54,671 That was a failed mission. 586 00:29:54,735 --> 00:29:56,139 Did not do my part. 587 00:29:58,279 --> 00:30:05,359 What's interesting about that, my baby cried with importunity over 588 00:30:05,479 --> 00:30:07,739 and over and over again. 589 00:30:08,839 --> 00:30:10,139 And I got up. 590 00:30:10,839 --> 00:30:17,007 Not because I love her, which I do, not because she wanted me, 591 00:30:17,063 --> 00:30:18,179 which she didn't. 592 00:30:19,879 --> 00:30:23,951 Not because I had anything that could fulfill her needs in that 593 00:30:23,975 --> 00:30:26,819 moment, whatever it was she wanted. 594 00:30:27,399 --> 00:30:27,967 Probably. 595 00:30:28,063 --> 00:30:31,119 I don't know, she probably wanted to like, watch TV or something. 596 00:30:31,159 --> 00:30:31,599 I don't know. 597 00:30:31,639 --> 00:30:32,383 It's weird. 598 00:30:32,511 --> 00:30:33,539 It's kids. 599 00:30:35,319 --> 00:30:36,539 Kids these days. 600 00:30:38,199 --> 00:30:41,423 I don't know what she wanted, but it's not because I had anything 601 00:30:41,471 --> 00:30:44,819 that I could actually do to fix the solution. 602 00:30:45,799 --> 00:30:51,979 Yet because of her importunity, it drove me to action. 603 00:30:53,809 --> 00:31:00,069 Importunity is prayer that pushes the Father to action. 604 00:31:01,569 --> 00:31:05,609 You see Abraham here, he's praying an intercessory prayer, but 605 00:31:05,649 --> 00:31:13,465 he does it with importunity, consistently, over and over, making 606 00:31:13,537 --> 00:31:16,829 his petitions known unto God. 607 00:31:19,099 --> 00:31:24,003 So we could sit here and say, man, we all could be better intercessory 608 00:31:24,051 --> 00:31:24,595 prayers. 609 00:31:24,707 --> 00:31:27,039 And we could, there's no doubt about it. 610 00:31:28,779 --> 00:31:30,279 But this is really cool. 611 00:31:31,419 --> 00:31:35,539 In Hebrews 7:25, it's talking about Jesus. 612 00:31:35,619 --> 00:31:39,395 It says, wherefore he is also able to save them to the uttermost 613 00:31:39,427 --> 00:31:44,335 that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make enter 614 00:31:44,507 --> 00:31:46,579 session for them. 615 00:31:49,359 --> 00:31:54,087 Even in our weakness of intercessory prayer, the Bible says 616 00:31:54,143 --> 00:31:57,139 Jesus prays intercessory prayers for us. 617 00:32:01,999 --> 00:32:05,419 And then you start to realize, yeah, I am truly capable of nothing, 618 00:32:06,879 --> 00:32:07,619 right? 619 00:32:07,919 --> 00:32:10,823 The one thing that I feel like I can do, which is talk to God and 620 00:32:10,831 --> 00:32:11,995 bring petitions to him. 621 00:32:12,127 --> 00:32:15,171 And the Bible says, hey, don't worry about that, because even then, 622 00:32:15,195 --> 00:32:16,771 you're not really all that good at that. 623 00:32:16,875 --> 00:32:18,719 Jesus is going to do it for you. 624 00:32:19,099 --> 00:32:21,519 He can make intercessory prayer for you. 625 00:32:24,059 --> 00:32:24,959 So what? 626 00:32:25,339 --> 00:32:26,879 What does that mean for our lives? 627 00:32:28,299 --> 00:32:29,679 I don't know about you. 628 00:32:30,139 --> 00:32:32,119 I want my prayers to be effective. 629 00:32:33,499 --> 00:32:39,111 I want my prayer life to mean something not just to me, not just 630 00:32:39,135 --> 00:32:43,059 a notch on my Christian belt that I do, right? 631 00:32:43,519 --> 00:32:48,979 But I want it to be something that has power, something that. 632 00:32:50,639 --> 00:32:51,991 Let's not be coy. 633 00:32:52,055 --> 00:32:56,899 We all know those people that we want to pray for us, right? 634 00:32:57,279 --> 00:33:00,727 Like, we have our prayers and then like, usually there's someone 635 00:33:00,783 --> 00:33:01,159 we know. 636 00:33:01,199 --> 00:33:03,447 It's like typically a grandma or something, you know, and we're 637 00:33:03,463 --> 00:33:08,889 like, I want them to pray for me because when they pray, God listens. 638 00:33:10,269 --> 00:33:11,809 I want that in my life. 639 00:33:14,109 --> 00:33:15,609 Do you want that in yours? 640 00:33:17,229 --> 00:33:19,009 What does your prayer life look like? 641 00:33:20,269 --> 00:33:22,821 What kind of intercessory prayers are you praying for those 642 00:33:22,845 --> 00:33:24,329 who are hurting in our church? 643 00:33:25,309 --> 00:33:27,329 Is it a line item on a list? 644 00:33:28,189 --> 00:33:33,053 Or are we praying with importunity for those not just in 645 00:33:33,061 --> 00:33:36,329 our church family, but for the lost around us? 646 00:33:37,269 --> 00:33:39,689 See, Abraham wasn't just concerned with his family. 647 00:33:39,989 --> 00:33:44,169 The immediate concerns that directly impacted him. 648 00:33:44,869 --> 00:33:49,053 His prayer was for the whole city, for Sodom and Gomorrah. 649 00:33:49,181 --> 00:33:53,165 Lord, if you find just 10 righteous people, would you spare 650 00:33:53,197 --> 00:33:54,089 the whole city? 651 00:33:54,869 --> 00:33:58,487 Intercessory, it's who we pray for. 652 00:33:58,623 --> 00:34:00,859 Importunity is how we pray. 653 00:34:02,159 --> 00:34:03,539 How's your prayer life? 654 00:34:07,119 --> 00:34:13,799 What can you do to make your prayer life deeper and more effective? 655 00:34:13,959 --> 00:34:29,537 Pastor, I've had several conversations with our church family 656 00:34:29,593 --> 00:34:31,569 as we go to hospitals and make visits.