so Good evening and welcome to our Wednesday evening prayer meeting. Good to see everyone here. Obviously, I am not pastor. He is, I know, it's crazy. Here we go. Get a little bit taller there. He is on a trip with Christopher, and so they're taking a trip the next couple days. He will be back on Sunday morning, but we'll pray for him and Christopher in a little bit, pray for safety traveling and safety on their trip. But again, it's good to see everyone. It's good to now have, you know, I think the conference went well, but it's good to be post-missions conference and be able to relax a little bit. Amen. But can we go ahead and stand together as we open the service? We're going to sing the song Seekers of Your Heart. ♪ We are seekers of your heart ♪ ♪ Lord we want to know you ♪ ♪ Live our lives to show you ♪ ♪ All the love we owe you ♪ ♪ We are seekers of your heart ♪ Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be here this evening, allowing us to come and have a service where we emphasize prayer and, Lord, we emphasize, Lord, communing with you and, Lord, being able to come into your presence, Lord, being welcome in your presence. I pray, Lord, that as we meet together this evening, Lord, that everything we do will be honoring and glorifying to you, Lord, that it will be Christ-centered, Lord, that you will be the one lifted up, you will be the one to be praised and to be glorified. And I do pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn your attention to the screens again or turn your handbook to hymn number 21. Hymn number 21, O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing. We're going to sing all five verses. Hymn number 21. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer, ♪ The glories of my God and King ♪ ♪ The triumphs of His grace ♪ ♪ Jesus, the name that churns our fears ♪ ♪ That bids our sorrows cease ♪ ♪ Tis music in the sinner's ear ♪ ♪ Tis life and health and peace ♪ He breaks the fire of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the palace clean, His blood availed for me. Hear Him, ye deaf, His praise ye dumb, Your lucent tongues employ, Ye blind, behold your Savior come, And lead ye lame for joy. ♪ My gracious master and my God ♪ ♪ Assist me to proclaim ♪ ♪ To spread through all the earth abroad ♪ ♪ The honors of thy name ♪ Good singing tonight. Turn now, if you would, to hymn number 143. Hymn number 143. This is My Father's World, 143. This is my father's world, and to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me rings the music of the sphere. This is my father's world, I rest me of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, his hand his wonders wrought. This is my father's world. The birds, their carols raise. The morning light, the lily white declares. This is my Father's world He shines and all that's fair In the right dress I dare Him pass He speaks to me everywhere This is my Father's world Oh, let me wear your gown Take a few moments and show yourselves friendly. We've got a great group here tonight. Thank you so much. so All right, thank you so much. As you're getting back to your seats, if you turn your hymn book again to hymn number 70, I don't know if it's 76 or 78, I gotta look again. It's hymn number 76. Hymn number 76. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. And he's just the same as his lovely name. And that's the reason why I love him so. Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know. We'll sing it again. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. And He's just the same as His holy name. And that's the reason why I love Him so. Lord Jesus is the sweetest name I know. Amen. You may be seated. All right. A couple announcements for this evening before we pray for the tithes and the offerings. The fall breakout sessions start tonight. And so I hope you're ready. If you're planning to go to How to Help Hurting Hearts, that's with Aaron Petrie, he'll be in room 101. And then the ladies group, What Do I Know About My God, will be with Miss Melanie Wiesner in room 203. So that's all the way at the end of the hall, we will dismiss those after prayer time tonight. I'm saying this so that if I start going and introducing the speaker after prayer time, you know to stop me and have me dismiss people, okay? But we'll dismiss those right after the prayer time. There's a new members class starting this Sunday morning at 9 a.m. If you have any questions about that tonight, you can see Brother Frank Wiesner, or you can see Pastor Wynn, he gets Home? Doesn't it seem like we're just constantly having new members classes? Amen. We're also seemingly constantly having baptism service. I talked to a pastor today. He says we're going to have another one soon. And so praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord for souls being saved. I talked to Sam Mendoza right before the service, and he said he had a chance to talk to someone today that was working at his house and lead him to the Lord. And so praise the Lord for God doing a mighty work in our area. Next, we have a baby shower for Baby Griner. This is Saturday, October 12th. You can RSVP with my wife, Kayla Kaufman, or on the church app. And so, I do know that a couple of you already have RSVP'd on the church app, so you can make good use of that. And just a note here, Tiffany is registered at Target and Walmart. Next, Pastor always loved this when we announced this. October is Pastor Appreciation Month. And so to take this time, listen, Pastor does a lot. It's a lot of nights when someone goes to the hospital or something happens and he spends all night out and then he's still here the next morning. He's still at church the next morning. He's still preaching the next Sunday. There's a lot that you don't see that he does and he spends a lot of hours doing it. Listen, our pastor is worthy of our appreciation. and we have a pastor who loves our congregation, and let's take this month, and as God would just have you to show your appreciation, show your appreciation in that way, let's make sure that our pastor knows that we love him, all right? And then last but not least, the new church directory. You can sign up in the foyer or you can sign up online Monday through Friday. So in the foyer on the weekends, on Sunday, and then online Monday through Friday. The new dates for that, again, are November 22nd. From 3 to 8 p.m.. Or november 23rd. It's a friday and a saturday from that so the saturday is 10 a.m.. To 4 p.m.. Now if there's some of you who have already talked to me and the first dates didn't work and the second dates don't work well if That is you Let me know, and we'll get you on a list, take your picture, and I'll do some nice, fun Photoshop work, and we'll make it look like you still got your picture taken, okay? And so we will get that, we'll get you in the photo directory one way or another. But you need to, if for some reason you can't just expect us to know to come to you, you need to come see me. And we will take care of that and make sure that you still get into Now, here's one thing I will say, if you come to me and you say, listen, I don't have any hair, can you add hair? I'm not adding hair to people's heads, okay? Sorry, sorry, sorry, okay? But I'm excited, listen, I'm excited to have a church directory simply for the fact that Four years ago, most of you weren't here. And so it seems like there's a lot of people who have come recently. And as we've talked to many of you already, it's hard to know the names of so many people who are new. And so this is a way for us to really get to know people, even just like, OK. I have a face to the name and a name to the face. And so it'll really help us to get to know each other, know people's names, and really become even more like a family. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and, Brother Barry Halstead, can you go ahead and stand and pray that God would bless the tithes and the offerings that are given this evening? I pray that God would bless the tithes and the offerings that are given this evening. I pray that God would bless the tithes and the offerings that are given this evening. I pray that God would bless the tithes and the offerings that are given this evening. of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We ask this in the precious name of Christ Jesus. Amen. You. I love you, Lord. Amen. What a great song and a great reminder. Lord, we need to lift our voices and let it be a sweet, sweet sound in the ear of the Lord. Listen, last week, and we're going to come to our time of prayer in just a moment, so if we can get our microphones ready. Last week was a big week. It was a full week. But it was a week, I think, that truly honored and glorified the Lord. If you look behind me, you can see the Bibles in front, the Bibles and the flags in the back. Listen, all of this that you see in the auditorium, on Sunday, It's not going to be in the auditorium anymore. We're going to move beyond the conference. But at the same time, moving beyond the conference does not mean we're moving beyond missions. The missions conference is the start of the year. Now, at the end of the conference, we are able to share, and I want to share this as a praise for the missions conference. At the end of the conference, we were able to share the goal for the Missions Conference for Faith Promise was $108,000. And praise the Lord, at the end of the Missions Conference, as far as Faith Promise was concerned, the congregation had pledged and had promised to give, and praise the Lord for this, $111,000. And so I want to give a praise that as of this moment, because I can't say as of an hour ago, because I was given two cards before the service started, but as of this moment, the faith promise is at $121,431.20. And so praise the Lord. Listen. I guess I'm lacking faith because I remember setting the goal and thinking, you know, we set the goal. The goal last year was 102. We ended up getting 106. And so I prayed about what we wanted to do, and so it landed us up at 108. I'm thinking, whew, I'm really pushing it this time. Man, owe me a little faith. But praise the Lord, praise the Lord for that. Does anyone else, we'll go ahead and do this for a moment. Does anyone else have something to praise the Lord about before we get to prayer requests? Miss Maggie Pope, we'll go with you first, and then if there's anyone else, you can go ahead and raise your hand for the next one. I think Miss Maggie Pope has a pretty big one. So this past weekend, I went home for a completely unrelated event, but on Sunday night, my mom trusted the Lord as her savior. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord for that. And keep praying for her and keep praying for the rest of your family as well. But praise the Lord. That's a big one. Yes, sir. Last week, before the missions conference Tuesday, I was driving in a semi. almost hit me, like two inches. Wow. And he curved back over, but it was a little scary. But I just want to know and let you know that you don't always have time to, I only had time to throw up a prayer and just barely even think about God. that it's happened so quick and you know some people who are not ready they're just they're going to be out of time and they don't have time to even ask for Jesus you know. Yeah. So it's important. It is and praise the Lord for the safety that he gave you. Yeah. Praise the Lord for that. I'm still thanking him. Yeah, no. I've been in a situation like that, and I remember thinking the same thing. So praise the Lord that you're able to be here tonight, and praise the Lord that he protected you. Anyone else this evening? Brother Halstead up front. And then Mrs. Holmes on this side. I was just considering in my mind what was going on on the East Coast with North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. And those folks, need more than our prayer. I mean, there's 10 feet of mud. What do you do with it? There's simply nothing left. So while we're praying for them, we should also be praising God for us, that we didn't have to go through that. But God's going to get this country's attention one way or the other. You know, at the same time, with everything going on, what I feel is that there is a good portion of the population that is really becoming more open and open and open to the things of the Lord. And here's the charge. We have to be ready. We have to share. You know, because people can be open to things of the Lord, but if we don't tell them, listen, Satan's going to tell them something. And so we have to be ready to tell people when God opens their hearts. We have to be ready to tell people, willing to tell people, and just telling people. You wonder, why don't I ever see people saved? Because you're not trying to. You're not trying to tell them. You wonder why. The word of God doesn't return void. So yes, Mrs. Holmes. I just want to praise God, because we, for the last two weeks, have had a kid at Good News Club from the school. And for the first two weeks, we didn't have anyone. So she was a surprise. We didn't even have her permission slip. We showed up, and it was there, and she came. So I just want to praise God for her and just continue to pray that we can reach more. As I tell many people, sometimes with a ministry, you have the times where There just isn't anyone coming, or when there's not many. And in those times, you be faithful, because God will increase. The Sunday school class I teach on Sunday mornings, I'll put a plug out there, okay? Sunday morning, 9 a.m. in the gym, been going over soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, what the Bible says about salvation. And for the longest time, just going through, there's been 13, 14, 13, 12. It just never seemed to grow. But in the last three, four months, we've now been having, what, 25 to 30. And so praise the Lord for that. God rewards faithfulness. And there's nothing in me that's with it. God just rewards faithfulness. It's God that does it. And someone over here. We'll let this be the last praise for this evening. So if you want to praise when you give a prayer request, we'll never stop you. But we're going to switch to prayer requests. Go ahead, Dr. Griffin. I have a friend named Lisa Hammons, and she's going to have an aneurysm surgery, I think, tomorrow. She asked me to mention her in prayer. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So we switched to prayer request now. That's perfectly OK. Can you give me her name again? Lisa Hammons. OK. All right, now with a couple prayer requests just for the congregation that we would just like to mention, we would ask the church just to lift up the wolves in a special way. They're definitely in need of prayer right now and so if you can just add them to your prayer list. and just pray for them. They're in need of prayer. And so we do want to lift them up. Also, Ken Posey. Ken Posey has been battling cancer for a long time and got some news this week that wasn't what they wanted. And so he is in absolute desperate need of prayer. So pray for him. And then also if you could pray for my mom. As you know she broke her legs and she still cannot put any weight on her legs. She still obviously can't walk since she can't do that. And the insurance company called on Thursday and said we're sending you home. Obviously that cannot happen. And so we think we're getting things in line if if she can't stay there. We think we're getting things on where she'll be able to still go somewhere else, but we're praying that for now she'll be able to stay there, that they'll be able to get an appeal in and get an extension. But obviously, it's not good, because tomorrow is the day they said that they'll send her home. And so if we don't get that sorted out, then whether we like it or not, she can't stay any longer. And so please pray for that. I would much appreciate prayer for that. Any other prayer requests? Yes, Mrs. Wiesner. This is a first of all praise my aunt in August the week of her grandson's wedding She had to have an emergent emergency surgery to have part of her intestines removed because they found a big mass and so they were pretty sure it was cancer and we just got a text before church, and she said they spoke with the oncologist and She's cancer-free Amen, and so she's praising the Lord. We're praising the Lord and She just has to have follow-ups over the next several months, and then slowly spread it out. That's a praise. They've been through a lot of health issues this last year, and they were unable to come for my mom's 80th. My mom had a really good month in September, just unbelievably, and I praise the Lord for that. We were able to celebrate and do different things. But her pain has returned this week. And so she was sick last week, and then this week the pain has come back. And so if you could just remember her, she's supposed to go in to get a certain kind of treatment. She always has to go to a pre-visit before they'll do it. So if we could just pray for expediency. OK. Definitely. Yes, Brenda. I have to say that for the people who almost got hit by the car, I'll tell you what, I've been, for 17 years, I've been on this outfit because I was hit by a truck. And it was not good. It's not good. And it was many years in the hospital, many years in people. And I have people who daily sit with me, OK? So I get, so he can sit with me, poor guy. Well, we pray for him all the time. Yes, yes. And I get other people. So I pray that. But I need to thank the church, because they really helped me. When I came, I sat over there. And they go, what are you doing? And they helped me and everything. So I really appreciate what they're doing. So it's a really good church. Whatever you're doing with people who have accidents and stuff like that, it's very good. Thank you. Amen. We love you guys, and we praise the Lord. You know, just thinking about Matt and, you know, the selflessness that you show in helping to be there and take care of her, and we praise the Lord for that. What a great example that you set. Praise the Lord. Yes, Mr. Pastor Belcher. I want to say again, thank you so much for everyone for praying for Susan and continuing to lift her up. It's been kind of a busy week for her. She has had blood tests done. They want to do more x-rays. They want to do more CAT scans. It's just about every day this week. And she is making some progress. Her blood numbers came back and they were improving. We thank the Lord for that. But then she's having other things that the doctors don't really understand what's going on. And so they're going to, that's why the additional testing is being done this week. So I appreciate your prayers for her. Let's continue just praying for wisdom for the doctors and pray for healing. God's touch. God's touch. Listen. If you pay attention to different people who've had different things happen in their life, I think we've truly seen God touch people's bodies many times in this church. And let's pray for God to touch Mrs. Belcher in a special way. Who else? It's Mrs. Jenkinson. They've been monitoring George's lungs, and he had another CAT scan today. And I just pray that they don't find anything bad. Definitely pray for a good report there. And then on this side, yeah, Steve. Yeah, I need you to pray for my wife, Marion. We don't know for sure what's going on, but she just doesn't have any energy or whatever, and any little thing she does seems to wipe her out for quite a while. So I'm going to try to get her into a doctor this week and find out what's going on. So just keep her in your prayers, if you would, please. Definitely. Definitely. Love you guys. I always tell people that Steve's my favorite deacon. He's not a deacon anymore, but when I got here in the interview process, right after I shared my testimony, he just asked, like, can we just end the interview now and just say yes? And so he's my favorite deacon. Yes, Ronette. I'd like to ask if you could remember Randy in prayer. He's been sick the last four or five days. He's cough congested and just can't seem to shake it. And another one is for my son, our son, Wade and his family. They live in North Carolina and they're about 45 minutes from Asheville. And he said it got pretty scary and rocky, but their house was spared and the family is safe. But he said, just as you go up their driveway, there's a big tree that had crossed. He said, nothing's really moving right now. They're in the midst of helping cut down trees and stuff. He said, with all the rain, there was a lot of cattle and horses that had passed. They died because of that. And he said, really, as far as any relief, they said that if they wanted to try to get to a Walmart, which was like 45 minutes away from him. He said, how we would get there. I don't know if that was open. It had power, but they just got their power turned back on yesterday morning, but they lost all their food. They lost all that kind of stuff, but praise God they're safe. And their home was totally missed, you know, praise the Lord. So you just remember that whole area. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Then yes, Mrs. Weirich. Would you please pray for a young lady named Andrea? There is a divorce going on in her situation with her family, and that is very, very rough on her. And it's not a good situation, which it never really is. And we just need to uplift this young lady in prayer. She's reaching out to me. And I prayed with her, but I would just ask for you to pray for the family. Definitely. And praise the Lord again that you're able to be there and able to be an influence. And praise the Lord again, I think KK, you know, trusting Christ. And that's been a long time. How many years has she been coming to church with you? Two years. Two years. You know, it seems so many times that if someone doesn't trust Christ from the first five minutes, we give up. Listen. It's worth the long haul. It's worth it. It's worth to keep trying, to keep pushing, to keep loving. And so we'll definitely pray for Andrea and continue to pray for KK. And again, what an awesome testimony there. And yes, Dave. I know I'd mentioned this before, but there was an incident with Danny several months ago. And ever since then, he's just not been the same. And he is really, really struggling. So if we could pray for Danny, it is part of something that's kind of ongoing with him. But of course, Nancy's blind and she's doing everything she can. And she has a lot of great people in the church to help her out. And she so appreciates that. But if we could just lift up Danny in prayer. Danny's a great guy. And, you know, I would just like to see the Lord heal him. It truly would be a miracle if he could kind of turn things around. Truly great people. Truly great people. And yes, Alicia. I'd like to ask the church to pray for me. It seems like that's all I do, and sometimes I don't know if I even should ask. But I spent a couple of nights in the hospital this past week, and I'm having mild strokes. And I'm not sure what all that means, what all I'm going to have to go through. They've done testing and scans, and they're going to do more tests and more scans. But if you could keep me in prayer, I'd really appreciate it. If we could have some ladies go ahead and stand, and let's go and gather around her. One thing I want to say is, listen, when God allows you to go through things, there's sometimes He allows you to go through many, many, many things, and we should never, ever wonder whether or not we can share our needs for prayer with the church. We can definitely, definitely share. And so, I'm gonna ask if we could get, Lynette, can I give you a microphone? Could you lead us in prayer? Father, we thank you for this evening that you've given to us. And Lord, we thank you that we can come together as a group of ladies. Lord, lifting our voices up to you that you would touch Alicia. Lord, once again, we're just asking that you give her strength. Lord, she's asking for her body to do what it needs to do to be healed and learn her mind and emotionally just that physically that she would be healed or the way that she needs to God you know her in and out. Lord I pray that you would help them to know why she's having these these strokes. and small strokes, I don't know exactly what they are, but Lord, you do, and I pray that it would be revealed, and Lord, I pray that her strength would be uplifted to you, that she wouldn't lose hope, but Lord, that she would just call out to you in her time that she feels like she's doubting the most, that she would stop and just say, thank you, Lord. Lord, you have the answer, help me just to rest in you. Lord, we're uplifting our sister tonight, and by the grace of God, give her what she needs, Jesus. Wrap her in your arms. We know that you love her. Lord, you love us with such an everlasting love. And God, what would we be without you, Jesus? We ask all of this in your name. Amen. Amen. We love you, Alicia, and praying for you. And please keep us updated. Keep us updated. We want to continue to be able to pray for you. Anyone else this evening have a prayer request? Yes, Mr. Brown? I can give you an update now on Tony's dad. Tony did go to Shanghai, and that's why we hadn't been able to get in touch with him. But he did call us last week and said that they did the biopsy, and then they went ahead and did the surgery right away. The cancer was on the inside of his lung, attached to the inside of his lung. So they say that they got it all, but he's going to have to go through chemo and radiation, obviously, at this point. So I believe that Tony is probably still there. He was able to go and spend that time with his family. And so I continue praying for Tony's dad. His name is James. And again, I am just so thankful. Yeah. Definitely pray for his dad. I'm so thankful that we had an opportunity to have all these exchange students in our school. The mission field, it just came right to us. And Tony accepted the Lord. while he was here, and he understands prayer, the power of prayer, and the need for prayer. And I am just truly thankful for that. Amen. And again, I appreciate your testimony and being willing to be a testimony. Praise the Lord for that. Anyone else this evening have a prayer request before we go to prayer? I don't want to miss anyone. Yes, up front here. My mind's drawing a blank. Can you remind me of your name again so I can write it down? My name is Patricia. Patricia, OK. I'll get you a microphone real quick. First, I'd like to give a praise because on the Jewish calendar today is the day we celebrate the creation of the world. And though we're not Jewish, I think we should be glad God created our world. Amen. And it's a time for repentance and looking for what we need and for us to go inward and look to do better. And then I want to challenge everybody since that is the day. And I want to challenge them based on what the lady said. I've had a lot of calls. I talked to the pastor that's going to preach tonight about it. There is desperation in Western North Carolina, Northwestern South Carolina, Northeastern Georgia, and parts of Tennessee. They have hundreds and hundreds of people. They're only saying a little bit on the TV. But there's many, many people missing, children missing. There's no water, no electricity. I'm so glad her family got their electricity. They still don't have any in most places. But the greatest thing is that we don't know where all these children and people are, and they're probably not alive. But we need everybody to pray. And I want to challenge everybody to pray every hour of every day. Maybe you can get your Sunday school class or something in the church to pick an hour, and everybody here pray until We get some answers about where the people are and what's going on in these areas. because they need our prayer. We may not know these people, but they need our prayers. And they will maybe, if they live through this, have the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ. And they'll be looking for those answers. So we're going to be able to try to provide a lot of stuff. I've got a company that makes the Bibles. It's a Christian company in Shelbyville, Tennessee. They're going to provide us a whole lot of Bibles to take so that we can do that. We're going to need anybody that can volunteer here that's in the medical fields. We're going to need people to be coming down here for maybe they can come a week at a time or a few days. But they need a lot, because even a small, simple cut can turn into septice and kill somebody when there's no water and no way to be clean. And I'm sorry I took up so much time, but this is really important. We seriously need to pray and be thankful to God that no one here had to go through that. Be thankful to God that he spared that from us. And listen, here's one of the great things I love about our God. I don't have to know a person in order to pray for them. I don't have to know or have any connection to a town, to a place, in order to pray for them. When God puts it on our heart, if God puts it on your heart, pray for it. pray for it, ask God, listen, why are you putting it on my heart? He might have it on your heart simply for you to pray, but he might also have it on your heart to do something, okay? But in all these things, let's follow the Lord and listen. One of the best things to do, but also one of the least things we can do is pray. And so, Brother Stinson. Yes, we shouldn't forget Israel. They have three different fronts they're attacked at now, with Hamas, Hezbollah, and then Iran itself. So just let's not forget the country of Israel. Yeah. If you're not aware, I think it was yesterday or the day before, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel. And praise the Lord that no Israelis died in that. So praise the Lord for God's protection. But listen, again, there's a lot going on there. They need continued prayer. Anyone else this evening? If there is no one else, we're going to go ahead and get some music on. And I encourage you, stand up and let's move to another place and pray with people that we can't pray with at home. And let's join one another in prayer. th th th th th th th Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you so much for allowing us to come to you in prayer, allowing us to come to your throne room, Lord, allowing us to come to the one Lord who did create all things. And I pray, Lord, that we will live our life knowing, Lord, that we serve the creator God. And, Lord, we thank you so much for allowing us to hear about all the different praises, Lord, about what you did in Missions Conference and, Lord, what you did with Saving Souls and, Lord, what you've done in protecting And Lord, help us to never forget the good things in our lives, Lord, and help us never to focus on the bad. But Lord, focus on what you are doing that is good. Lord, I do pray for those who are sick. I do pray for those who are hurting. I pray for Alicia. I pray for Ken Posey. I pray for the Belchers. I pray for George and Marion. Randy, Lord, so many people who are sick and hurting, I pray, Lord, for your healing touch on their lives. I pray, Lord, that you will reach down and you will touch them and give their bodies strength. Lord, I pray that you allow them to be back with us. I do pray, especially for Mrs. Belcher, that you will reach down and put a special touch on her life. Lord, how much we would love to be able to see her in church again soon. Lord, I do pray that you will. Just be with Israel. Lord, I pray for your protection on them. I pray, Lord, for those who are in the destruction area for the hurricane that recently came through down south. I pray, Lord, that you will, Lord, allow help to get to them. Lord, allow electricity to be restored, allow roads to be to be able to be navigated. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you will be with those who are missing loved ones. Lord, I pray for be your will that they will be able to find some. I pray, Lord, that you will give grace. I pray, Lord, give mercy. I pray, Lord, that through this that people will have a chance to hear about who you are. They'll have a chance to hear about what you've done for them. I pray, Lord, that through this evil that you will bring good. And Lord, I do pray for our country and pray that we will turn, Lord, from our wickedness and turn toward you. I pray, Lord, as you bring people and you convict people that, Lord, we as Christians will be ready to be a light and to share the gospel with them and to show them who you are. And Lord, I do pray that you will be with each of these prayer requests. And I pray, Lord, as we look at each of these, Lord, we know that these things are not things that we have the power to solve, that we have the power to handle on our own. But Lord, we know that you have more than enough power. to solve and to work through each one of these. And I pray, Lord, that as, Lord, we are here on earth, that we will trust your will perfectly. And we will trust that you are good and trust that you are in control. And Lord, allow you to lead us, allow you to guide us in our lives. Lord, may you increase our faith through these things. And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, if you are one of the people who are going to go to the Breakout sessions you are dismissed again how to help hurting hearts will be in room 101 and then the ladies group What do I know about my god will be with miss Melanie Wiesner in? room 203 that is all the way down at the end of the hall and on the right. Amen. What a great group of people. Praise the Lord for that. And so at this time, I don't guess I really don't need to introduce the preacher, but I will. If you don't know him, you should. He's our principal, a great man. But let's get our Bibles open and get our hearts ready for what God is going to give to us this evening. And brother, come on up. All right, well, before I begin, I need to park on this helping the bald with photos. I mean, Larry, you think with modern technology, they could put some hair on us, right? You would think. I can, I just don't want to. Why are they always picking on us, Larry? We're kindred soul. Ken, join the club. I mean, we're all like, it's not right. the glory is really around here. But no, I remember I was in ninth grade and my biology teacher, I went to a public high school, but he had a sign on his door and he was very bold too. And it said, bald is beautiful, God only created so many perfect heads. And so I live by that statement today. So there is still hope for us. No, we're gonna be in Matthew chapter five, in Matthew chapter five. If you can join me there within your Bibles, I want to look at one of the first beatitude that we find in Matthew chapter 5. It's blessed are the poor in spirit. And I want us to look at this beatitude tonight, a very hopeful passage, the Sermon on the Mount. Really, the beatitudes kick off the Sermon on the Mount. But if you can join me out of respect of God's word, let's stand as we read Matthew chapter 5. verses 1 through 12, but we're going to really be parking on verse 3 this evening in our time that we have. The Bible says in verse 1, chapter Matthew 5, 1, And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Let's pray. Father, we come before your presence. We ask for your help now as we open your word. I pray that you would challenge us, speak to us. Father, fill me with your spirit. I need your help tonight. May we be challenged from this first beatitude about being poor in the spirit. We'll be careful to thank you for what you'll accomplish in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. So, the Sermon on the Mount, probably Jesus' most popular and familiar teaching from it. We get the golden rule, we get the model prayer, we get the wise man and the foolish man. And I know that because I have to put my hands together about building on the rock and then building on the sand. But that's how Jesus closes up the Sermon on the Mount, is the wise man and the foolish man. And there's many other popular, well-known teachings that Jesus gives in this sermon. But it does not come without its controversies. Martin Luther once said that the Sermon on the Mount was called the masterpiece of the devil because there are so many different ways people down through the ages have interpreted the Sermon on the Mount. Some like to say it's a way to be saved. Others believe it's just a great moral code to live by. Well, tonight, I want us to look at the Sermon on the Mount from the vantage point of how a disciple should live. Because, after all, Jesus calls the disciples. Now, at this time, it's not the twelve. It's actually, people have just been following him early on in his ministry. They follow him, he brings them together, and he preaches to them this message. Now, we have to understand, why did Jesus give this message? Why did he give this sermon? Well, a couple of things. First of all, Matthew was written to Jewish people. Jewish people were looking for their king, were they not? Matthew portrays Jesus as the King of the Jews. And so the primary purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to reveal the character of those who would be accepted in his kingdom. In other words, he's given this message to a group of disciples or followers and he's pointing out to them the internal qualities needed to enter the kingdom he was offering. Consider Matthew 5.20. I believe it's up on the screen. Matthew 5.20. Jesus says this, Now, those that were following Jesus at this time, when Jesus were to say something like that, they would be taken aback. After all, there's no way My righteousness can exceed... I mean, the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, they're the religious leaders. They're the religious elite. There's no way I could get above that. And that was the point. That was the point of the entire... of Jesus saying that. Because not even a few verses later, He's going to expose the false righteousness of the Pharisees. But when He says this, it's to get the people's attention for a specific reason. Namely, as people listened to him reveal these righteous standards that were required to be a citizen of the kingdom, they would realize that they were unable to meet that standard, to exceed that standard. It was impossible. And the only way they could get there was through the king. It was to get the righteousness that the king was offering. And that came by repentance and faith in Christ. That's the primary interpretation. Let me say it like this. You must believe on the king before you can enter his kingdom. Should you not? The secondary application, that's the primary interpretation, but there's also a secondary application here, is that the Sermon on the Mount shows how a person with a right relationship with God should live their lives. If I were to ask you tonight, to write down eight goals you would want to pursue as a child of God, and you had to write down, I'll give you some time, and you were to write down eight things. Be honest with yourself, because I'll be honest with myself. I don't know if I would list eight of these beatitudes that I'd read to you tonight. Now, I would say my list would probably be noble. I want to be a good husband. I want to be a good father. I want to be a good principal. I want to be a good friend. I want to be a good co-laborer. Those things are all great and wonderful, and they're not wrong. But when was the last time we asked God, God, I want to be merciful. I need to be merciful. Lord, I need to be a peacemaker. Lord, help me to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We don't think about that too much, but Jesus, as he lists out these beatitudes, these attitudes fit for a citizen of the kingdom, I want us to park on the first one tonight. I would love to talk about all of them. It's a great series, a great passage to really park on. But I believe number one, the first one, blessed are the poor in spirit, really set the stage for the rest of them. And so I want us tonight to look at blessed are the poor with the time that we have tonight. Number one, to be poor in spirit requires an honest admission. To be poor in spirit requires an honest admission. We see, first of all, the terminology. The term poor speaks of one who is absolutely destitute. The word literally means one who shrinks or who cowers or who cringes. During Bible times, it was not uncommon to find beggars in the street. a sign of unfavor, they were not necessarily like, oh, I'm destitute, give me money. No, they would literally be ashamed to beg for money. They would cringe and they would just kind of hold their hands out in hopes that someone would be generous to them. And so to be a beggar in the Bible was not something to brag about. It was something that was quite embarrassing. Now, a person could resort to begging because of hardship, perhaps they lost their job, a physical ailment. We have individuals like Blind Bartimaeus and the lame man in Acts chapter three at Gate Beautiful who, because of their physical ailments, they were resorted to begging, or really because of the oppression of others. Listen, a beggar in the Bible was often a beggar by circumstance, not by choice. But Jesus is not advocating here that we find God's blessing by simply just selling everything we have and becoming destitute. That's not how we find God's blessing. Having wealth in and of itself is not wrong. Jesus himself speaks of using our money wisely. The idea there is that we spend our money wisely and we are wise stewards with what God has given us, but money does not become the all-encompassing pursuit or the God of our life. So we don't have to become a destitute hermit to procure God's favor. So when Jesus is speaking about blessed are the poor in spirit, He's not speaking about the size of our wallet, rather He's speaking about the condition of our spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. I'll also add this, to be poor in spirit does not mean that we are poor spirited either. It does not mean that we walk around in self-defeat, feeling sorry for ourselves, not showing any physical drive or enthusiasm for life. Listen, the Eeyore spirit of woe is me is not porn spirit. Actually, it's a deeper version of pride because we want the attention upon us and upon our miserable state. The Bible speaks highly of Taking initiative, working hard, and possessing a God-centered enthusiasm for life. So he's not talking about selling everything we have. It's not about just being a poor-spirited person. What is Jesus talking about? When he talks about the poor, the beggarly, the one who shrinks and covers or cowers or cringes. What he's talking about here, to be poor in the spirit is simply this, it's an honest admission of my personal spiritual bankruptcy before God. Being poor in the spirit is not something I do, rather it is something that I am. Just as a beggar is utterly dependent upon the mercy and generosity of people, you and I as children of God must understand that we are utterly dependent upon God for everything. That's what it means to be poor in spirit. It requires that we view ourselves as spiritual paupers in His sight. It is us recognizing that apart from Him we're nothing. It recognizes the more I try to live independently from God, the more hopeless I become, the less valuable I begin to esteem myself, and the less of myself I truly become. We need to be poor in spirit. And that's utter dependence on God. Isn't it true that in this world, we have a God-shaped hole in our culture? The further people try to distance themselves from God, whether purposely or not, the more of a mess they truly become. They become more hopeless, they esteem themselves less, and they truly begin to lose themselves. Why? Because we're trying to find our worth and our value in anything and everything other than what God has provided. But see, that's the point. What makes God so great? What makes God so powerful? What makes God so full of mercy and grace? Is that when we come to Him as spiritual beggars, He provides us exactly what we need. That's why blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. I love this, you know what, when you came to Christ for salvation, that's exactly how you had to come, was poor in spirit. Because you realized there was nothing I could give God to merit his grace. It was simply an act of his grace, his gift of salvation. Consider Romans chapter five, verse six, it says this, for when we were yet without strength, we had no ability to get to God, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. This attitude is echoed by the psalm in Psalm 34 verse 6. It says, This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. So when we came to Christ for salvation, we were poor in spirit. We were spiritually bankrupt. We had to depend fully upon Christ for our salvation, our justification, our redemption, and our forgiveness. And guess what? As Christians, that shouldn't stop. It shouldn't. Again, Jesus is talking to people who want to follow Him. So Christian, are you living in utter dependence upon Him? Yes, we're accepted. We're accepted in the blood, the Bible says. Yes, we are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. But do you still come to Him for spiritual dependence? I mean, that's what prayer is. Ask, seek, and knock. That's us coming to Him in dependence. But it doesn't just happen in the sanctuary during prayer time. It's every single day. Every single moment. we recognize our need of Him. So, blessed are the poor in spirit. Number one, to be poor in the spirit is to have, it requires an honest admission. Number two, to be poor in spirit reflects a humble attitude. So if I had to honestly admit that I am a spiritual beggar in God's sight, it would follow that I would have a humble attitude about life. Listen, humility is foundational to a life of blessedness. Psalm 29 verse 3 says, a man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Listen, I've heard it said like this, humility is that one quality that once you think you possess it, you have indeed lost it. Being poor in the spirit humbles me because I'm wholly dependent upon God in all things. And listen, this beatitude, and that's why I love blessed are the poor in spirit, because this beatitude sets the stage for the rest of them. Here's what I mean. Without being poor in the spirit, I won't properly mourn. I won't be meek. I won't hunger and thirst after righteousness. I won't be merciful. I won't see the need to be pure in heart. I won't promote and practice peacemaking. And I definitely will avoid scenarios where persecution for Christ's sake would be possible. That's why the pour in the spirit is so foundational. It gives life and breath to the rest of the beatitudes. Because guess what? Humility is foundational to a life of blessedness. I need to have a humble attitude because I'm desperately dependent upon my heavenly father. But humility is also favored by God. Humility is favored by God. So Isaiah 66 verse 2 says this, but to this man will I look. Oh, did I wrong one? Sorry. That's not it. Let me read it. Was that the last half of it, David? Did I jump into the middle part of the verse? There it is. Isaiah 57 verse 15. For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in a high and holy place." And indeed he does. But he also dwells with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the hearts of the contrite one. Guess what? God favors the humble and he vehemently opposes the proud in heart. I love this is illustrated in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, this is a story that Jesus tells about the Pharisee and the publican. So in Luke chapter 18 verse 9, he speaks a parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. So you got the religious man, you got the tax collector. You got the holy guy, you got the guy that no one likes, because he's a tax collector. None of us like taxes. And if you know anything about tax collectors in the Bible, they basically extorted you. If your bill was, if Barry owed me $100, or he owed the government $100, I would say, actually, Barry, you owe me $110, and I'm gonna pocket the $10 and still send the other $100 to Rome. Would that make me Barry's friend? No, Barry hated me because I took advantage of him. And so you got the holy man and you got the tax collector. The divide could not be greater. And so he went up, verse 11, David, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, those adulterers, even as that guy over there, the publican. Verse 12. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican. So we'll stop there. So he's up there sharing God his resume. God, I thank you that I am not like Dan Yingling. I do all these great things. I fast twice a week. I give all my tithes of everything that I own. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm not like that guy. And then Jesus shifts to the other guy. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Which guy in that parable do you think is the poor in spirit? Is it the Pharisee? Thank you that I'm not like him. Or is it the publican? It's the publican, right? Because while this man is over here sharing his resume with God, thinking that he is impressive and casting his eye against the publican, the publican realized real quick who he was compared to God. He saw himself as unworthy to be in God's presence. He saw for the need of God's intervention, God, I need mercy. The publican was busy living out being poor in the spirit. And sadly, many of us can quickly fall into the trap of the Pharisee. We can deceive ourselves by inwardly boasting about our spirituality while casting a critical eye at other Christians who might not be up to par with our spirituality. In doing so, we've lost sight of the fact that we are spiritual paupers in his sight. I am spiritually bankrupt before a holy God, and I need Him. But guess what? That requires some humility. It requires some humility. Christ is calling us to be something that our pride fights against every single day. Christ is calling us to be something we are powerless to achieve on our own. On our own, I cannot be humble. I want to be better than you. I want to elevate myself above you. But God says, no. You're not gonna be blessed that way. You need to be humble. You need to realize that everything that I have is not because of what Josh Middall did growing up. It's not the college that Josh Middall went. It is not the position that Josh Middall holds in this ministry. It is simply everything that God has graciously given me. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. James 4.10 says it like this, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Let's stop lifting ourselves up and let's let him lift us up. Consider Jesus for a moment, Philippians 2.8, and being found in fashion as a man, Jesus, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus was humbled to a cross so that he could bring us to God. Christ himself sets the example for us that humility brings blessing to our lives. Exaltation comes through humility, and it's always in that order. It is never exaltation first. It is always humility and let God do the lifting up and not ourselves. So if we want God's blessing upon us, we must reflect a humble attitude. To be poor in the spirit is to reflect a humble attitude. So we see number one, blessed are the poor in spirit. To be poor in the spirit requires an honest admission. It reflects a humble attitude. And then number three, to be poor in spirit results in an honorable attainment. We can basically boil down every single one of these Beatitudes with a precept, what Christ wants us to do, coupled with a promise, what He promises to those that do these things. But the promise of the Spirit is interesting. It says, What does that mean? What is that talking about? I would love to sit here and discuss what the Kingdom of Heaven is, but it's 745 and I'm supposed to be done here any moment. So, here's what we're talking about. Here's what Jesus is talking about. It's important for us to recognize Jesus not only as our Savior, but He is my Lord and my King. He should have the rule in my life. We serve a glorious and wonderful king, do we not? He has great things in store for us. And so when we talk about this honorable attainment, we need to understand two things. First of all, there's a present fulfillment. If I want to be the best representative of my king and his kingdom, I must live with a humble attitude that without God, I am nothing. If I want to be a disciple or one who follows and wants God's blessing upon me, I must recognize I am completely dependent upon Him. Being poor in the Spirit means I don't elevate myself above others. I'm not condescending to people who may disagree with me. It radically changes how I view myself and how I view others. Let me ask it this way. Does my attitude toward myself and others reflect the righteous standard of my King? Second Corinthians 10.18 says, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Whose approval are we seeking today? If I want God's blessed approval upon me, it starts with being poor in the spirit. It starts with me recognizing that I'm utterly dependent on him, and because of that, I'm going to live in humility. That's the present fulfillment. Be humble. Admit, I'm utterly dependent on him. But then there's a future fulfillment. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I believe, and some may disagree, and that's fine, that I believe the ultimate fulfillment of this beatitude will be enjoyed in the millennial kingdom. Those that are poor in the spirit will have a greater place or role in the millennial kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. How this all plays out is a mystery, and we'll have a thousand years to figure it out. However, it is a promise that we can claim and eagerly wait for its fulfillment. Let me say it like this. Those who are poor in spirit have a glorious future awaiting them. And 1 Peter 5, 6 reminds us of this. Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. What are those last three words? In due time. It may not be in this life, But child of God, you have a glorious future awaiting you. And we'll get to enjoy that. We'll be with the king forever. We'll be in his kingdom. We'll rule and reign with him. It's going to be a glorious day. But in the meantime, we look for the sweet by and by, but guess what? We're stuck in the nasty now and now. So what do we do? Be poor in spirit. Recognize it requires an honest admission I'm simply a spiritual beggar dependent upon a great God who will provide for my needs. Listen, I mean, we've seen beggars. We see them all the time. And you see a lot of people pass by the beggars, right? You know, if you ever drive and you see someone out holding their sign, let's be honest, are you like me and you're like, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact? Be honest. But there's a lot of, there are people who have legitimate needs today. And guess what? They're not always getting their needs fulfilled. Guess what? When you come to God with the need that I am utterly dependent on him, God does not pass us by. And what a beautiful truth about that. God doesn't say, oh, Barry Halstead, here he comes begging again. I don't have time for Barry. Edgar's taken up all my generosity today. I don't have any more. I'm not gonna be able to supply Barry because Edgar took it all. I'm glad God's not like that. I'm glad God's not like that, right? Because the generosity that he shows upon Edgar, man, he's got even more for Barry because he needs every more. But regardless, God does not, when we are cringing and we are utterly dependent on him, God does not pass us by. Because he's a good God. He's a great God. He's a bountiful King. But I need to be at the point. Yes, we can recognize, yes, God's all bountiful. Yes, God's all awesome. Yes, God can take care of our needs. But are you on the side where you realize, I need His grace, I need His bountifulness, I need His help. That requires some humility. That requires some humility. It requires us admitting that, you know what, I don't have it all figured out. I don't have all the answers. I wanna try, I feel like I have all the resources to get me through this, but I realize I still come short. I need to ask, I need to seek, and I need to knock, and guess what? He'll provide. But that requires some humility. And then finally, there's an honorable attainment. Spiritual beggars who live with humble hearts have a great reward of heading ahead of them. Don't miss it. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Let's all stand. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed.