Oh, silence is golden. So are my thoughts as I sink into my Lazy Boy, after our grandsons, who spent the nights at Mama and Papa's house, are sleeping upstairs. Now, don't take me wrong. I dearly love my two oldest grandsons, Joshua and Sammy. I wouldn't trade them for anyone else in this world. They certainly bring me great joy. But from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night, they are constantly on the move. They are constantly busy. Our oldest grandson, when he gets up in the morning, Joshua, he comes down talking. And he usually seeks out Pop-Pop, and he wants to talk. Sammy wakes up a little bit slower, but he too likes to find Pop-Pop and tell me what is on his mind. But they don't stop. They talk all the day long. And neither of them have developed quote-unquote inner voices or indoor voices. So they talk loud as if Susan and I are hard of hearing. And when they play together, they also like to talk loud to each other. So I'm grateful at night when they finally are in bed and I can sit in my Lazy Boy and hear nothing but silence. Silence, indeed, is golden. But you know, silence is not always golden. For example, the boys are playing together in another room and they are loud and so on and suddenly they are quiet. It moves us to look for them to see, first of all, if they're all right or if they're doing something which they know they should not be doing. Silence is also unnerving when your doctor comes into the room with your test results in his hands and he just stares at his notes and says nothing at all. Silence is unwelcomed. When you hop into your car, you turn the key of the ignition and you hear nothing at all. Unless you're driving a hybrid or an electric car, silence spells trouble. Silence can be exasperating. When you ask someone a question and they just look at you and say nothing. or when they completely ignore you and act as if you're not in the room, giving you the silent treatment. Silence is also foreboding. When you see a storm approaching and then suddenly everything is still. The wind stops blowing. The trees no longer are rustling. It is absolute silence. The calm before the storm. Now there are certain places in this world where we expect silence. For example, if you visit a library, they usually have rules about not talking. And so it's usually a place where it's relatively quiet. But other places we expect to be noisy. A restaurant. a banquet hall, and even in churches before we begin the service, it tends to be a noisy place. But when a noisy place suddenly becomes uncharacteristically silent, one wonders what is up. What's happening? Why? What causes the silence? And then what breaks the stillness and the silence? Now the Apostle Paul, in his vision recorded in the book of Revelation, discovered that, not Paul, the Apostle John, in his vision recorded in the book of Revelation, discovered that heaven is ordinarily a noisy place. For emanating from God's throne were lightnings, thunders, and voices. Revelation 4 verse 5. He saw the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. He heard the four living creatures and the 24 elders worshiping around God's throne saying, you are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. He witnessed Jesus Christ taking the seven-sealed scroll from his Father's hand, the title deed to the earth, and the kingdoms of this world. He heard the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a new song, saying, You are worthy. to take the scroll, and to open its seals. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. He also heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the numbers of them was ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessings. And He heard every creature which is in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and such are in the sea, and all that are in them saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever. Before Jesus opens the first sealed judgment, releasing the rider on the white horse, the Antichrist, and begins the period of time known to us as the Tribulation Period, John heard one of the four living creatures saying, with a loud voice, a voice like thunder, come and see. You talk about loud, thunder aloud. And when Jesus opens the next three sealed judgments, war and bloodshed, famine, disease and death, they too were announced by a living creature with a voice like thunder. With the opening of the fifth seal, John heard them saying with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Later in the interlude between the fifth and sealed judgment and the sixth judgment, John saw a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, people, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. I think you can see here that heaven is going to be a noisy place. It's a noisy place with every created creature loudly praising and worshiping God continually. When Jesus unrolls the sixth seal, the noise moves from heaven to earth. As the day of the Lord, the last half of the tribulation period, the time of Jacob's troubles, the great tribulation begins. And it begins with a giant boom, for God shakes the earth and the heavens with a massive earthquake. The sun becomes black like sackcloth, the moon like blood, the stars in the heaven or meteors or asteroids are going to pummel the earth like ripe figs falling off a fig tree when shaken. The sky will appear to be rolled back like a scroll and every mountain and island will move out of its place. There's going to be a lot of noise here on earth as creation groans. But heard above the rubble are the cries of the men and the women, huddled in caves and in the rocks of the mountains, crying out, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Men and women, the rich, the poor, they will finally realize that what God's servants had been warning them about, that judgment was coming, that the day of the Lord is at hand, that God is going to pour out his wrath upon unbelieving mankind. They will finally realize that they are, as I like to say, in deep weeds, in big trouble, because the day of the Lord has begun. and there is no place to hide from God's wrath. No one will be able to stand in that day. Now, when Jesus Christ opens the seventh sealed judgment, a unique response occurs. For note what our text says, beginning at verse one, Revelation chapter eight. Revelation eight, verse one. It says, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. and the smoke of the altar, with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake." There's silence. Absolute silence. For about a half an hour, 30 minutes, nobody said a word. All of the heavenly anthems and music stopped. Stunning silence. Everything is still in heaven. Activities have ceased. For with the opening of the seventh seal, the occupants of heaven see for the first time the fullness of God's fury and wrath. For the final seal contains the full sweep of the remaining divine judgments of the time of the Great Tribulation. For the seventh seal contains the seven trumpet judgments. And the seventh trumpet does not describe a judgment, but rather contains anticipation of heavenly rejoicing over the judgment to come, which leads to the final destruction and the establishment of the rule of Jesus Christ in his kingdom here on the earth. According to Revelation 10, verse 7 says, in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God will be finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophet. The seventh trumpet, which finishes the work of judgment, contains the final fury of God's wrath, with the pouring out of the last seven plagues. Revelation 15 verse 1 states, Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And then John heard a voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of wrath of God on the earth. And so when the seventh trumpet blows, the bowls of God's wrath are going to be poured out on the earth. And then there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom, kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord. and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Now all of these judgments, the seven trumpet judgments along with the seven plagues or the bowls of God's wrath are all contained in the seventh seal. And the response of those who surrounding the throne of God when the seventh seal is open, it is dead silence. in anticipation of the grim reality of the destruction that is to come upon the earth. It is the silence of foreboding of what God is going to do in judging the world. May I say to you, silence, by the way, is the only proper response to divine judgment. The psalmist says in Psalm 76 verse 7, he says, you yourselves are to be feared. Who may stand in your presence when once you are angry you cause judgment to be heard from heaven the earth feared and was still When God arose to judgment to deliver all the oppressed of the earth Zephaniah states in Zephaniah 1 verse 7 be silent in the presence of the Lord God for in the day of the Lord for the day of the Lord is at hand and For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has invited His guest. Or as Zechariah commands, Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, For He has aroused from His holy habitation. Zechariah 2.13 Habakkuk says, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Silence. The earth is to be silent before him, but so will all heaven too. The half hour of silence, I believe, is like the calm before the storm. It is the calm before the storm. Now, while there is no marking of time in heaven, For heaven is a timeless eternity. Time is meaningless in heaven, in God's sight. The half hour is for John's benefit, who is still living where time matters. But each minute of that half hour of silence must have increased John's sense of agonizing suspense. The hour of God's final judgment has finally come. The hour when the saints will be vindicated. Sin is going to be punished. Satan is going to be vanquished. And Christ is going to be exalted. And all of heaven waits in silent suspense for the unfurling of God's wrath upon mankind. Now that half hour, it seems as if everything is stopped in heaven. No activities going on, everyone's still and silent in God's presence. But after the half hour of silence, activity resumes. For note what it says in verse two. The first thing that John sees is seven angels before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Seven angels. Now these seven angels are distinct from the other angelic beings John previously saw, for they're described in our text here as those who stand before God, or who live in the presence of God. The Greek word for stand is in the perfect tense, Indicating that they were in the presence of God in the past and continue to be so in the present time Some have called them the presence Angels the present angels and these seven appear to be high-ranking angels among God's host of angels Gabriel who appeared to Zacharias and Mary and in Luke chapter 1 may have been one of them and For he is identified in the text, he identifies himself as Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. Now, to each of these present angels, we're given trumpets. Trumpets. Now, trumpets will play a significant role in end time events. We know a trumpet is going to announce the return of Jesus Christ for his church at the rapture. Paul reveals, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, talks about the same event. He says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, but we shall be changed. Now some equate the last trumpet here in 1 Corinthians 15 with the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11 And thus they teach that the rapture of the church does not occur until the end of the tribulation period when Jesus Christ returns to set up his kingdom here upon the earth. It's what we would call today the post-tribulation rapture position. We need to note here that in Revelation 8, the trumpets are angels' trumpets, whereas when Jesus returns with us, it will be the sound of the trumpet of God. Different trumpets. Different uses of the trumpets, too. For when Jesus returns for us, the trumpet will be used to signal his coming and to call us home, whereas the trumpets of Revelation 8 are trumpets signaling God's wrath and judgment. for trumpets are associated with the day of the Lord. Zephaniah writes, he says, the great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter. There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities. against the high towers. Now each of these seven trumpets will unleash a specific judgment of greater intensity than the first six sealed judgments, but they're not as intense as the last seven bowls of God's wrath. We're going to look at each of these trumpet judgments in more detail in the coming weeks, but let me just say here this morning that the first four trumpet judgments are focused on the earth and creation. They will create havoc on the earth's environment. A third of the earth will be burned up. A third of the sea will become blood. A third of fresh water will be poisoned. A third of the sun, moon, and stars will cease to shine. It's going to be quite an ecological nightmare for those living here upon the earth. The fifth and sixth trumpet judgments are going to produce demonic harassment and destruction of mankind. In fact, a third of those alive at that time will die at the hands of demons. And the seventh trumpet unleashes the final seven bowls of God's wrath, the most severe judgments that man and this earth will ever experience. But while these seven present angels received their trumpets, they did not immediately blow them. They had to wait for two more important things to happen in heaven before the trumpet judgments come. Now the first one is found in, because the second thing John saw in heaven is found in verse three. where he says that another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angels' hands. Now the writer to the Hebrews makes much of the fact that the prototype for the earthly tabernacle built by Moses is in heaven. He writes this in Hebrews 8 verse 1, he says, now this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. Concerning those who served in the tabernacle here on earth, he goes on to say in verse 5 that they served the copy, and the shadow of the heavenly things. As Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain. And so the heavenly tabernacle was the pattern. It was the prototype. And like the earthly tabernacle, it had two compartments, a holy place and the Holy of Holies, plus it contained the fixtures that the earthly tabernacle had, the golden lampstand, table of showbread, the golden censer on the altar of incense, and the Ark of the Covenant over which the mercy seat dwelt in the Holy of Holies. Now the exalted Christ serves today as our heavenly High Priest. The writer to the Hebrews remarks that in all things he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation or the satisfaction for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. as our high priest, Christ came as the high priest of the good things to come. With the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place, once and for all having obtained eternal redemption. for Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands which are copies of the true but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another but now once at the end of the age he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself so So the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ, he entered the tabernacle of heaven, the prototype of the earthly tabernacle, and he offered on the altar his precious blood. for your sins and mine, one sacrifice for sins, once for all. And as our high priest, he paid in full the penalty for our sins and fully satisfied the righteous demands of his Holy Father. One sacrifice for sin, once and for all. The writer to the Hebrews exclaims, by this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10, 12 through 14. Today, Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is there interceding on our behalf. The writer to Hebrews writes, therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. But as our high priest, he also makes it possible for you and I to come boldly into the presence of God and to bring our petitions, our prayers directly to God the Father. For is the writer of Hebrews right for seeing then that we have a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God? Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So today we can come to God the Father, through God the Son, Jesus Christ, that one Mediator between God and man. We don't pray to saints. We don't pray to Mary. We don't pray to angels. We pray directly to God the Father through Jesus Christ, our High Priest, in the power of the Spirit of God. And when we pray directly to God, we find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. Now John, in his vision of heaven, caught a glimpse of this heavenly tabernacle that was made without hands eternal in the heavens. And he saw another angel having a golden cursor. He came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angels hands. John saw another angel, another angel. Now, because of Christ's high priestly work, some want to identify this angel as the Lord Jesus Christ. Many today, and I agree with them, many believe that the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. It's what theologians call a Christophany. And therefore, the angel here could be Jesus Christ. But may I say to you, Jesus is already identified in heaven, in the heavenly scene, as the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God. And while the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament might be the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, Jesus is nowhere identified in the New Testament as the angel of the Lord. The reference in verse two to seven angels, actual angels, I believe defines the meaning of the term in this context. For the angel of verse three is another angel. And the Greek word has two words that are translated another in the English text. heteros I would get heterosexual which means another of a different kind and then there's alas Which means another of the same kind the angel of verse 3 is an alas Angel and another one of the same kind as the angels of verse 2 so this is not the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather an angel and like the other seven. Now this angel was holding a golden censer. In the Old Testament tabernacle, censer was made of copper, probably heavy to handle, and was used to carry coals from the brazen altar outside the tabernacle into the tabernacle to the altar of incense. Later in the temple, Solomon used censers that were made of gold. The altar of incense, by the way, in the tabernacle and the temple was the nearest thing to the Holy of Holies where God's glory dwelt. It was separate from it because there was the veil that was between it, but it was the nearest place. And in the Old Testament at times, the priest would twice daily, in the morning and in the evening, take hot, fiery colds from off the brazen altar outside where the sacrifices were being offered and would place them in the censer and take them inside along with another vessel holding incense. and would place the burning coals on the altar of incense and then would sprinkle the incense over the coals. The smoke from the incense, which rose towards heaven, symbolized the prayers of the saints. Now we find a New Testament illustration of this in the story of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Luke 1 records, so it was that while he was serving as priest before God, in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the tower of incense. So the people were outside, they were praying, Zacharias was inside burning the incense, symbolizing the ascending of their prayers to God. Now God here, I believe, gives the angels much incense. Much incense. And I think it symbolizes the multiple prayers of God's people. The angel was given the incense so that he might add to the prayers of all the saints that were already rising from the altar. We know from Revelation 5 verse 8 that the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lord, each having a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Bowls full of prayers. And we also know what the saints were praying for Revelation 6, 9 records, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? How long? When's judgment gonna come? When will it be? How long will Satan... When will it be until Satan is destroyed, sin is defeated, our deaths are avenged? How long? Oh Lord, before you come and set up your kingdom here upon the earth. I mean, we've been praying all along, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How long? But it's not only the prayers of the martyrs around God's throne, but it's the prayers of all believers from all times who have been persecuted down through the centuries, who are waiting for God to avenge, for God to get even, for God to punish those who have wronged Him. So it is much incense that the angels offered. Now their prayers affirmed by the heavenly incense that God has provided, assures them that God the Father is in agreement with the cries of the saints that have come into his presence. God is about to answer their prayer. God is about to answer their prayer. The seven trumpets are about to blow. God is about to pour out the full fury of his wrath upon the earth dwellers, upon those who rejected his offer of grace and forgiveness, who have refused to believe the gospel, who have persecuted and even killed genuine believers of Christ. Their incessant cry has been heard. God is ready to act. He is ready to answer that request of how long. And to prove that he's ready to act, the angel with the golden censer does something that is absolutely stunning. For verse five states, then the angel took the censer, filled it with the fire from the altar, and he threw it to the earth. and there was noises, thunderings, lightning, and an earthquake. The silence of heaven was shattered, and judgment resumes as this angel hurls a divine firestorm upon the earth. The censer filled with the fire from the altar is usually linked with the prayers of God's people, but here it becomes the means of God's judgment and wrath. The angel's act of throwing it to the earth reveals that God's judgment will come in direct response to the prayers of his people. And the immediate effect of this firestone of wrath that burst upon the earth are peals of thunder, sounds and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Now we're not given details as to the extent of this earthquake, but I'm sure that it shook the earth perhaps on the same magnitude as the one associated with the sixth sealed judgment. And I'm sure it shook more than the earth. I'm sure it shook the people that were living here, especially the earth dwellers. Those that, you know, because it appeared, it appears that while there was silence in heaven for a space of a half hour, there was also calmness here on earth. The judgment associated with the sixth seal had ended. the rich and the famous, the politicians that crawled out of their caves, out of their hiding places, out of their fallout shelters, and that during this time, life begins to return to normal. The sky was no longer falling. The earth was not being bombarded by asteroids. The earthquake and the aftershocks had stopped. The sun was shining. The moon was out again at night. Life had returned to normal. And then, boom! Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and the earth moves again, signaling that God's not finished judging this world. In fact, the worst is yet to come as the seven angels prepare to sound their trumpets and then open up the seven bowls of God's wrath on this world. Now in the coming weeks, we're going to look at the trumpets and then the bowl judgments. But as I close this morning, what's in here for us today? What is the application? What can we take away from this heavenly scene? First of all, let me say to you, I think it's important at times for us to be still, to be silent in God's presence. Yes, it's true that we are to make a joyful noise to the Lord and to come into his presence with singing. Yes, it's true that we're to enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. But may I say there's also times when we need to be still and silent before the Lord as we wait on God to work on our behalf. The psalmist encourages us to come and behold the works of the Lord who has made desolation in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth. There's a time for us just to be still and to know that He is God. Be still in His presence. Times we need to rest or to be still in the Lord and wait patiently for him Do not fret because of him who prospers in his ways Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass cease from anger forsake wrath Do not fret it only causes harm Times we just need to rest in the Lord wait for him to do his work of avenging and the wrongs that we've suffered. God will judge one day those who may seem to be prospering today. He's going to bring the wicked schemes to an end. We need to rest in the Lord. But may I say, while it's important for us to be still and to wait patiently for the Lord, it's also important for us to speak in God's presence, to speak in God's presence. We are commanded to come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We're to come boldly. Jesus in Luke chapter 18 spoke a parable to them that men, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. The story that he told, the parable that he told is one about the unjust judge who did not fear God nor regard man. But because of a widow's incessantly bugging him for justice, he finally gives in and avenges her, lest in his own words, by her continually coming, she will weary me. Now Jesus applies this story to his listeners. For he says to them, beginning at verse six, hear what this unjust judge said, and shall not God avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? My friends, God hears the cries of his children. He wants us to come. He wants us to speak in His presence and to do so over and over and over again. We ought always to pray and not give up. Now sometimes God's answer is yes when we pray and we immediately receive what we ask for. Other times God answers no when we pray especially if we've asked for something that's contrary to his will or something that we think we really need but God does not deem necessary for our spiritual well-being. And then sometimes God's answer is wait. It's not the right time. God may have other things he needs to do in other people's lives, our lives or other people's lives before he answers our prayers. But our Heavenly Father always answers one way or another, the cries of His children. Unlike the unjust judge, our judge is just, our God is just, and He will. answer our prayers. And so may I curry just this morning in the words of Jesus, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask Him? Our Heavenly Father loves to answer our prayers. He loves to give us good gifts. He wants us to come. He wants us to speak in his presence. He wants us to trust him, that in his time, he will answer our prayers. And so, my friends, we need to come. We need to ask. We need to seek. We need to knock. And God will answer our prayers.