How To Pray For Your Country Without Worshipping Your Country

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Let's pray together.

Uh Lord, we uh we we acknowledge, we always want to stop and acknowledge that there's something about your name.

The Bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, that the righteous run in and find strength.

In the book of Acts, it says there's no name given under heaven whereby which men should be saved except the name of Jesus.

And so, Lord, we want to just acknowledge the sufficiency of your name and your nature.

Uh, Holy Spirit, illuminate the word today as we open it up.

Uh it's cold outside, and so warm us on the inside.

So when we walk to our truck here in a little bit, we don't really notice the cold.

What we understand is that we are being warmed on the inside by fresh understanding, fresh revelation that comes from your word.

And so, Holy Spirit, we ask you to do what Jesus said you would do.

Lead us into the truth today, because the truth is what sets us free.

Everything else is just our preferred form of bondage.

And we were not created for bondage, we were created for freedom.

So set us free uh by your word, Lord.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You could have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Daniel chapter nine.

If you're our guest, we're preaching through the book of Daniel.

Uh we go, we start in chapter one, verse one.

We go all the way through.

Uh, and so Daniel chapter nine, we'll talk to you today about how to pray for your country without worshiping your country, how to pray for your country without worshiping your country.

And you say, what do you mean?

I I hear a lot of asking on behalf of our country these days, without much acknowledging uh things about our country.

Now, by the way, I'm not one of those guys that thinks America is a horribly racist nation and all that kind of stuff.

I think there are racist people that live in America, just like there are in every other country.

So let me just say this: if America's, if you're one of those people who think America is really terrible, I got good news for you.

You can leave.

There are other countries you can go to.

Flights depart daily, okay?

And so I'm not here to pile on.

I'm just the book of Daniel, Daniel uh he's a prophet of God that has a burden for his people.

The last two chapters, chapter seven and chapter eight, he had these prophetic dreams where God showed him what the future is gonna be like.

And he was just like, Oh, God, I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds.

This makes me so sad on the inside.

Uh and so what does he do?

He doesn't get depressed, he doesn't crawl in the bottle and go on a four-day bender.

No, he begins to pray in Daniel chapter 9, the first part of the chapter.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

I'm just gonna read the first 19 verses, and I want us just to see from the Bible how to pray for your country without worshiping your country.

And he doesn't do, he does a lot, see, we do a lot of asking and hardly any acknowledging.

He does a lot of acknowledging and hardly any asking.

So if you're joining us in uh online this morning, if you're sitting there in your house in front of a toasty fire, take a picture and send it to me so I can know who to hate.

Amen.

Uh, and so just follow along online if you would.

Daniel chapter 9, verse 1.

Daniel 9:1

It says, in the first year of Darius, the son of Hosweris, by descent of Mead, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.

In the first year of his reign, I Daniel perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years.

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

I prayed to the Lord my God and made confessions, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant with steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame.

As this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all of Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.

To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we've sinned against you.

To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness.

For we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

Verse 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice.

And the curse and the oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him.

He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity.

For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem, as it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity that is brought upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.

And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for yourself, as at that day we have sinned, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers.

Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.

Now, therefore, O God, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy.

And for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.

O my God, incline your ear and hear.

Open your eyes and see our desolations in the city that is called by your name.

For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

O Lord, O Lord, hear our Lord, forgive, O Lord, pay attention and act.

Delay not for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

Now, this is uh coming on the heels of God revealing things to Daniel that were overwhelming, left him feeling heavy and sad.

And so, what does he do with this burden?

He turns to God and pray, and he prays for his country without worshiping his country, which means he does a lot of acknowledging and not that much asking.

And I think there's things we can learn about how we pray and when we pray and what motivates us to pray.

So if your prayer life is kind of flat, it's kind of like, yeah, I kind of say the same thing.

Hey, God, I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

I'll never do it again.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

If you get stuck in a rut when it comes to prayer, Daniel chapter nine can help kind of give you some perspective and some places to begin to pray to God in a different way.

And so let me just point out four or five things that are in the text that we see.

Number one, we see the motivation for prayer.

This is verse one and two.

Notice the motivation.

Uh, what motivates Daniel to prayer is not need or desire or fear.

What motivates Daniel to pray is one simple thing.

It's just understanding.

It's understanding.

He is reading in the book of Jeremiah, and he understands, he kind of senses, hey, you know what?

I think I see what God's doing.

He says, way back in Jeremiah, you're gonna be in this Babylonian captivity for 70 years.

We're kind of getting towards the end of that.

And so Daniel doesn't get fatalistic like a lot of people do when they get understanding.

Like Daniel's like, oh, 70 years, okay.

He doesn't say, notice what he doesn't do.

He doesn't say, well, you know, it's gonna be 70 years.

It doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't matter if I pray or don't pray, I just don't care because God's sovereign.

Sovereign means that God has the ultimate authority and that he does what he wants, okay?

And that's absolutely true.

God is sovereign.

But instead of for a lot of people, they just have this fatalistic posture, they're like, Well, if God's gonna do what God's gonna do, why pray?

No, no, no.

No, no, what he understands is that God is sovereign.

So when I pray, I'm talking to the most powerful being in the universe.

Why would I not pray?

So instead of an excuse for not praying, the fact that God is sovereign ought to motivate you and I to pray, okay?

Because Daniel understands and he's like, whoa, and he begins to pray.

Now, let me give you an example of what I mean about the God being sovereign ought to motivate you and I to pray instead of making a shrug and go, it doesn't matter.

God's gonna do what God's gonna do.

No, God is moved by the prayers of his people.

Uh, years ago, a friend of mine and I went to a golf resort in Austin called Bartoner Creek for three days to play golf.

It was great.

We got there, we checked in.

My friend flew in from Tennessee.

We checked in, played golf, ate out, had a great time, uh, got ready to go, and and because he flew, and I just had a slip cover, but he had a nice travel bag over his clubs, and they lost it.

And this is not like a municipal course, this is like a nice that this is, I mean, we're walking in, like, hey, there's Pat Green, the Texas musician, right there.

Hello, Pat, like your music.

Wave on wave, you and me.

Uh, and so it's nice.

And so we're like, hey, we gotta, my buddy's gotta fly, we gotta go.

And he said, Man, we gotta get going.

I gotta stop somewhere and buy another travel cover for my clubs.

And so we did.

And so the guy said, I'm sorry, I'll look into it.

I called back the next day.

Uh, we still haven't found them.

I called two days later.

We still haven't found them.

I called about three days later.

Well, sir, I'm sorry, we have searched our entire facility.

And so I said, Listen, I'm calling you guys back in a couple of days.

You better have some answers, or I'm driving to Austin.

I remember the way because I cannot stand injustice.

I was so angry.

I was like, I was all excited.

I tell my buddy how great this was, and then this is our experience.

So I called back in a couple of days.

Now my wife is like, Nebe, you're a little bit frustrated.

You want me to make the call?

Get behind me, woman.

I'll do the talking here.

So I called, I had me a thing.

I don't know about you, but I had it all kind of planned out what I was gonna say.

I called, and the guy says, uh, I said, uh, by the way, I'm calling to check on my, and the guy said, uh, Mr.

McClendon, I recognize your voice.

I said, now we're talking.

He goes, let me put you on hold just for a second.

Don't put me on, click.

I was like, oh, and so I was on hold.

And so I just look at him, almost five minutes.

Like four minutes and 48 seconds.

Not that I wasn't timing it, I was just like, whoo, and the whole four minutes and 48 seconds, I was like that little car.

You put it on the ground, you pull it back, it goes, whoop, whoop, whoop, whip, after four minutes, I was like, I'm ready to go.

All of a sudden, this different voice, I hear the phone pick up.

I inhale to let him have it.

He's like, hello, Mr.

McClendon.

My name is Derek.

First of all, let me apologize for the length of the way I was looking into the situation, uh, but I have I've I've found out what I need to know.

And again, my name is Derek, and I am the last person you'll have to speak to concerning this matter because I have the authority to resolve this to the level of your satisfaction.

And I just smelt it.

I mean, it's just like what'd you say?

I have the authority, sir, to resolve this to the level of your satisfaction.

You did not have the Barton Creek experience over that.

I apologize.

And so, as a starting point, I am going to FedEx overnight you uh a complimentary one-night stay with two rounds of golf for you and your friend.

And he, I said, Well, my friend lives in Tennessee.

That's not gonna do him any good.

He said, Well, uh, I said, What if I came and I played one afternoon, stayed the night, and played the next day?

He goes, That would be fine.

We'd be honored to have you as our guest.

Give us an opportunity to earn your business again.

And all of a sudden, I was like, I don't care about them golf bags.

You can throw them things in the trash when you find them.

Now, am I saying that God's like the bellhop at a golf resort?

Not at all.

I am saying when you finally talk to somebody that has the authority to do something, it changes the way you talk.

And Daniel's talking to somebody and he's like, hey, God is sovereign and we're gonna be in captivity for 70 years.

He doesn't shrug and become fatalistically negative.

He's like, All right, you're in charge.

You're just the person I want to talk to.

What motivates Daniel's prayer is understanding.

Ask yourself, what most often motivates me when I pray?

Is it need?

Is it fear?

Oh Lord, I don't want to get to coronavirus, or is it understanding?

Secondly, you see the ingredients of prayer there in verse three.

He simply says, I turn my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and please for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Prayer is this inward posture, this outward humility, and these upward words.

It's this inward posture, this outward humility and these upward words.

Prayer.

Look at this prayer, uh, sackcloth.

Oh, excuse me, fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Fasting is just simply doing without food for the purpose of focusing on your spiritual life.

I I I it's not punishing myself.

It's not I'm doing penance for my sin.

It's you know what?

I I want to just abstain from food so I can be awakened in my spiritual sensitivity to the things of God.

That's what fasting is.

And then he says, with fasting and with sackcloth and ashes, sackcloth is now stay with me because you're like, dude, this is like 20.

We don't do any of that stuff.

Yeah, you do, you don't use his leg.

Sackcloth is just what it sounds like.

It's basically like somebody wearing a feed sack.

It's kind of, it was this rough material.

People wore it as a sign of mourning.

Externally, they would do things to indicate to God, this is the way I feel internally.

And ashes, they would take ashes and throw them up in the air.

And it was called dusting yourself with ashes.

You see somebody covered with ashes, you were like, that cat's having a bad day, okay?

Let's just leave him alone.

Now, think about it like this: if you were dating a woman, all right, today's Valentine's Day, amen.

If you were dating a woman and you're all excited, you've been dating about eight months, and you're like, ma'am, this is so exciting.

I'm gonna take you here, we're gonna go there, and we're gonna, and it's gonna be romantic and sexy, and woo-hoo! Put on your best ready, you're like, Oh, I'll pick you up at 5:30, and you're like, ah, you get to her house, you ring the doorbell, and she she opens the door, and she's standing there with no makeup on, got her hair and a ponytail, and she's got on gray sweats.

And you're like, uh, today's Valentine's Day, right?

And she's like, Yeah, I just wasn't feeling it.

I'm kind of sad, I'm kind of concerned about our relationship.

Can we just stay home and talk?

You're like, uh, because what you see externally makes you realize something's going on internally.

And you're like, I uh okay, let me turn my truck off.

Yeah.

This is what people did.

They in the in the Bible, they didn't just talk to God, they they assumed an outward posture that communicated to God, hey, this is what I feel like on the inside.

I have burned my life to the ground.

That's why I'm just covered with ashes, and I'm wearing this gunny sack because I don't feel sexy, I don't feel pretty, I feel like I'm pretty jacked it up here, God.

And so when I say the ingredients of prayer, this is what I mean is fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

I don't want you to see that in the Bible and kind of go, I don't know what that is.

Keep going.

No, no, understand that.

Because every once in a while, when you get sideways with God, you need to stay home, not put on makeup, put on some sweatpants, and just be sad to the glory of God.

Stop self-medicating and let yourself feel what your sin makes you feel.

Here's a third thing we see in the text, the starting place of prayer.

The starting place of prayer is verse 4.

And by the way, uh it's confession.

He says, I prayed to the Lord God and made confession, saying, Oh Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

This is where Daniel starts.

He just says, Hey, let me just tell you all the things that we've done wrong.

Can you imagine your kids ever telling you that?

Can you imagine your kids ever blatantly disobeying you?

And you go, hey, son, what's this about?

You know what, Dad?

You are consistently gracious to me.

You're hard working.

The way you love mom is convicting because I want to be married and love a woman like that one day.

And you you always provide well for our family.

And despite that, I went out and did exactly what you told me not to do.

You'd be like, Have you seen my son?

Uh what?

But this is what Daniel does.

He starts at this place.

Now, by the way, confession begins with the nature of the being that you've sinned against.

Let me say that again.

Confession begins with the nature of the being that you sins against because it highlights the heinous nature of our sin.

That's why he begins in verse four, and he says, Oh Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

And then he says, same sentence, we have sinned, and this is the way we've sinned.

We've done wrong, we've acted wickedly, and we've rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

God, you keep your commandments to us, you keep your word to us, we don't keep our word to you.

This is the starting place of prayer, okay?

Uh, here's the fourth thing you see the nature of confession.

The nature of confession.

And this is where I would just want to pump the brakes and just kind of focus just for a little bit.

The nature of confession is verses five to 19.

It's basically a three-part process.

This is what we've done, this is what we deserve, this is what we're asking you to do.

This is what we've done, this is what we deserve, this is what we're asking you to do.

What do you mean?

This is this is what we've done.

It's verse five and six, we just read just a minute ago, where basically he says we've sinned, we've done wrong, we've acted wickedly, and we've rebelled.

Uh, two things when it comes to what you've done, I just want to encourage you to keep in mind.

Um, when you say you've sinned, are you aware of what you're referring to?

Uh, in other words, because we have this kind of a real blanket thing going on nowadays.

Hey, you know, I I I've kind of I'm not all I'm not perfect.

I hear this a lot in counseling.

Well, I'm not perfect, and I'm like, oh, uh, okay, okay, now that we've established the most obvious statement in the world, let me just join you.

Neither am I.

Uh but but but but but tell me, tell me why you're here.

Because, see, when you have this general sense of your sin, then you have this general sense of God.

He's the big man, he's the man upstairs.

You know, you know, when you when you when you talk to the big guy, I'm like, what?

But when you have a specific sense of your sin, you have a specific sense uh of who God is and what he's done about your sin.

And so that's why I say, when you say you've sinned, are you aware of what you're referring to?

Like when you it's it's one thing to say to your wife, I'm sorry.

It's another thing to say, you know what?

Uh I'm really bothered by how selfish I am in our marriage, how I don't help you with the kids and around the house as much as I do.

And so I'm sorry for the way that I've been that way.

That is sinful, and I want to, I want to I've confessed it to God, and I want to confess it to you and ask your forgiveness.

That's a whole lot different than I I know I could do more, I know I could be a better husband.

The first one, your wife was like, wow, that's revealing, that's helpful, that gives me joy.

The second one of this general, oh, well, you know, I'm I'm gonna do better, try harder.

She's heard that so much, she don't even believe you anymore.

See, this is the difference in a general sense of sin and a specific understanding of sin.

Secondly, it helps when you think about what you've done.

Is it who did you sin against?

Who did you sin against?

Talking to a man not long ago and he kept saying this phrase, Well, I've done things I'm not proud of.

I've done things I'm not proud of.

And I said, uh, tell me what you're telling me with that, because what I hear is that is that your standard is your own opinion and approval.

You've done things you're not proud of.

Have you done anything that God's not proud of?

Well, I'm sure I have.

Well, I said, Well, let's talk about those.

Because, well, what's the what's the difference?

I said, Well, if you're anything like me, you will give yourself, you'll let yourself off the hook for some things.

As a matter of fact, there's some things you can do them so often for so long, you just start thinking that's who you are.

And you can say the rest of your life, well, I've done things I'm not proud of, versus, hey, you know what?

I've transgressed God's law and and I feel conviction for that.

And this man, to his credit, said, I've never felt that in my life.

And I said, That's interesting and it's revealing.

It's very helpful.

First of all, thank you for your honesty.

I said, Can I pursue you some on that?

And he said, What do you mean pursue you?

I said, I want to kind of go down that rabbit hole and just pursue that.

Because what you just told me is that you basically have lived in sin your entire life and you never had a moment of conviction and awareness.

And he goes, Well, I mean, I've done things I'm not proud of.

I said, That's what I hear.

I said, Here's what I want to do.

Let's take that sentence out of the dialogue.

And for the rest of this 60-minute session, you cannot say, I've done things I'm not proud of.

And he looked at me and he goes, I guess I don't know what to say.

I've said that a lot, haven't I?

I said, Yes.

Yes.

And I said, Here's what I'm on.

You sinning against you, you'll never change.

But when you understand you're sinning against God, it's convicting and it feels terrible, but it's actually hopeful because you can change.

And he said, uh wow.

Can you explain that to me?

Absolutely.

So living right here in Fort Bend County is at least one man who's lived his up to that point his whole life just saying, I've done things I'm not proud of.

And when it dawned on him, wait a minute, you mean when I do this, this is a sin?

Absolutely, it's sin.

Yes.

Yes.

And there's always a consequence for sin.

And after 60 minutes, he said, I don't feel better.

And I said, Yes, in this process of spiritual formation, sometimes we have to feel bad before we feel good.

And he said, I I I appreciate you pointing out how I use the phrase, I've done things I'm not proud of.

And I said, Yeah, sinning against yourself is one thing.

Sitting against God is a totally different thing.

You have to learn to think of yourself in relation to God.

And I said, Can I give you one other thing from the Bible?

He goes, please.

Actually, this has been enjoyable.

I said, Shh, don't tell anybody.

And I said, There's a guy named David in the Bible.

You ever heard of him?

And he goes, No.

I was like, this is so refreshing.

I said, David was a godly man and he did some really goofy things.

And one of the things he did is he had an affair with a woman, got her pregnant, and he's he he he so wanted to cover it up.

He had her husband killed, and then he looked like he's such a wicked sinner.

He wanted to look noble.

He took the woman and married her, like, I'm gonna take in this grieving widow.

And the guy's like, shut up, that's in the Bible.

I said, Oh yeah.

And he thinks he's getting away with it.

Because he probably said things like you, I've done things I'm not proud of, God, but you know you love to forgive and I love to sin.

That's why I love this relationship.

And God sends a prophet named Nathan.

And Nathan tells him a story.

And the story is about David.

And when David realizes it, he's like, Oh my gosh.

And he writes these two Psalms of Confession, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51.

And in them he says this, he says to God, again now, he's killed, he's ordered a man to be killed.

He had sex with a woman with his wife, got her pregnant, and he has this false sense of nobility.

He's just a wicked man.

And in this, does all these things affect all these people?

And in his prayer of confession, he says this to God, against you and you only have I sinned.

And I said, because see, as long as you're horizontal in your sin, like right now, our country is horizontal in our sin.

We think if we apologize to everybody for being racist or not being woke enough or whatever, that's gonna be okay.

Let me love you enough to tell you you can make amends with everybody in America and still be deeply offensive to God.

And we're just falling over ourselves to apologize to the last person we offended.

And we don't think a thing about God.

And it sounds like, oh, oh, oh, um, canceled culture, oh, we're gonna get you.

Apparently, the guy that hosts the bachelor, I didn't know the show The Bachelor was still on.

Uh, but apparently the world's full of really pretty people that can't find mates.

There's a reason.

You're obnoxious, you're vain, go away.

But I digress.

But the host of The Bachelor said something about the woke police, and they, oh, you've got to now go on and not be.

I'm just like, really?

We got it, but again, we're being taught that we got to apologize to everybody and learn to agree with everybody.

And you can fit in this world all you want and still be horribly offensive to God.

So the nature of confession, this is what you've done.

This is what we've done, Daniel says.

And secondly, he says, this is what we deserve, starting in verse 7.

And I I don't want to read the whole thing, but I just do want to jump in in verse 13.

He says, That it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us.

Hear that again.

Because we've done this, the Lord, it's like God has this little pot of calamity.

The Lord has kept ready.

Look at this, verse 14.

The Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us.

Hey, does anybody said about the coronavirus?

Hey, maybe God's kept ready the calamity and he just poured it out on our whole world.

Can you imagine the director of the CDC getting on TV tomorrow and going, hey folks, we got vaccines rolling out, we got two out and we got more in the pipeline, but there is no vaccine for this disease called sin, okay?

And God is just, we've done the research and we've come to the conclusion that God has poured out this calamity on a global scale because we are so sinful and we've disregarded God's laws and we just ask for your prayers.

Can you imagine?

It'd be like, ah, talking about cancel culture.

That person would be fired.

No.

You see, we live in a culture that just teaches you to depend on man to a deeper and greater degree.

Depend on man, fear man.

You're gonna say something and we're gonna have to get you.

No.

No.

I don't want to live in that world.

This is what we deserve.

Why?

Because we've broken God's law.

He says that is his written past tense.

It's not like they didn't know.

It's written in the law of Moses.

One thing I want us to see today is that we need to reclaim the responsibility of actually living like God's people, not just claiming the privilege of forgiveness.

This is happening to them because there's a responsibility to being in a covenant relationship with someone, especially God.

And he goes way back when he says it's written in the law of Moses in Daniel 9.

What he's talking about is that don't turn there, but in Deuteronomy chapter 27, starting about verse 9 down to verse 26, there's this great scene in the Bible where God says to the people, keep silence and hear, O Israel.

Deuteronomy 27 · chapter mention

That's Bible talk for shut up.

Everybody shut up.

Keep silence and hear, O Israel.

This day, hear this.

This day you've become the people of the Lord your God.

Now, how would you celebrate that fact?

Keep silent and hear, O Israel, because this day you have become the people of the Lord your God.

You know what God did?

Because they're fixing to cross the joy, they're fixing to head into the promised land.

I mean, years of the promise of, hey, we're going to a better place.

And God says, now, all these unbelieving generations, I just had you wander till I just killed them off because I don't like people that cast aspersions on the veracity of my character.

Now we're ready to go into the promised land.

Keep silent.

Zip it.

Stop your yammering.

Put your hand over your kid's mouth.

Because today you've become the people of God.

And what does God do to celebrate that?

There's 12 tribes of Israel.

Amen.

He put six of them over here on Mount Gerizim and says, When the people pass by you, I want you to speak on them all the blessings that's going to come on them if they keep covenant.

And he put the other six on Mount Ebal and said, When they pass by, I want you to warn them of all the curses and the calamities going to come on them if they violate this covenant.

And so the people are walking in.

On one side they're hearing, oh man, keep faith with God and God's going to bless you.

And over here on this side, you got a bunch of guys going, you better not screw this up.

Because God's got a big old vat of calamity, he's gonna pour it out on you.

Can you feel what's in this room right now?

We don't like to think about a God that has calamity and pours it out on people.

We're more comfortable blaming China.

Because if you say, Now wait a minute, uh now God works to corrupt governments.

I'm not letting anybody off the hook.

It'd be like, let me give you a, it's hard for us to envision that, you know, blessing and cursing.

It'd be like going to a wedding and it gets to the point, and all of a sudden the music changes, everybody's walked in, the music changes.

The doors open, all rise, everybody stands up, and then when the bride comes down the aisle, on one side they're going, man, just keep faith.

God's gonna bless you and your children and your grandchildren.

And on the other side, people are like, hey, you cheat on your husband, God's gonna get you.

As the bride comes down the aisle.

Would that not be don't you want to go to a wedding like that?

At least once before you die.

I mean, on this side over here, the pet the the the the the groom's family kind of going, God is a God of faith.

And son, you get off the reservation, God's gonna lay the wood to you, okay?

We have demonstrated you, we've raised you right, you got no excuse, so don't be a moron.

Oh wouldn't you be so refreshed by that?

I guess not.

Maybe that's just me.

But this is what happens.

These people are walking down the aisle into the promised land.

On one side, God's going, Hey, because you're the people of God, there's a responsibility with being the people of God.

There's not just the possibility of forgiveness, there's the responsibility of acting like the people of God.

And however, they couldn't keep their responsibilities, they couldn't live up to the covenant, none of them.

And by the way, neither can you, and neither can I.

This is why Jesus comes and he raises the cup at the last supper, and he says, as he celebrates Passover with his disciples, he says, This cup is the new covenant and my blood.

The new covenant.

We changed in the room.

No, no, no.

He's fulfilled all the demands of the law for people who can only break the law.

And now, part of this new covenant is that God comes to live inside of.

When you come to faith, God comes to live inside of you by his spirit.

And now you have the capacity to live out the gospel.

All these people in the Old Testament, they they looked forward to faith in God.

Christ has come and we look back and say all that he's accomplished.

And we are now empowered to have faith in God.

The third part's process is this is what I'm asking you to do.

This is if you pray through the lens of you, then it sounds kind of feels preposterous after a while, and you eventually just give up.

However, when you see through the lens of God, it opens up this whole new realm of possibilities because he has basically said, Hey, this is who we are, this is what we've done, and this is what we're asking you to do in verse 15.

Look at what he says.

He says, And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for yourself, at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

When he says you brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, he's talking about the Exodus.

He has a frame of reference for what God's capable of.

And so he says, when he thinks about this, what I'm asking you to do.

Hey, you've you've done this.

I I know you've done this before, so I'm appealing to the fact that you've done this.

I know what you're capable of.

So this is not out of the realm of your character, God.

You have acted in mighty ways in history.

So I'm asking you to act in a mighty way right now, not just by what you do, but what you don't do.

You should and could wipe us off the face of the earth with more calamity, but I'm asking you, God, for mercy.

And guess what?

God loves it when people pray to him who have an understanding of his capacity.

Which brings us to the last thing is just the motivation of God.

The motivation of God.

Verses 16 to 19.

You can read it on your own.

It's just over and over.

Daniel says, Your name for your sake.

And for your sake, oh Lord, make your face shine on us.

Delay not for your own sake, oh my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

God is not motivated by sentiment, he's motivated by principle.

And there's no greater principle in the world than God.

Said differently, what motivates God?

Let me tell you what doesn't motivate God.

What doesn't motivate God is you and I saying to God, I'm gonna stop doing what I've been doing for years and I'm gonna start doing what I've never done.

It's not because God is cold and distant and unmoved by that.

Like I'll give you a confession, today's Valentine's Day.

Today's Valentine's Day, and I'm gonna do absolutely nothing for my wife.

She ain't getting a card, she ain't getting flowers, she ain't getting dinner.

Matter of fact, she's cooking dinner.

The stove is not broke.

Now, there's two things happening in this room right now.

You guys are going, dude, you're my hero.

And you ladies are like, You're a pig.

I cannot believe you're saying this.

You don't understand the nature of my wife.

My wife said to me years ago, hey, by the way, I think Valentine's Day is just a made-up holiday by Hallmark.

I don't need you to get me some artificial expression of love.

I need you to love me 365 days a year, not just one day.

So I said, Okay, what does that mean?

And she goes, I don't want to call, I don't want anything on Valentine's Day.

So my buddies are like, hey man, you what are you doing on Valentine's Day?

I'm gonna watch the last round of the Pebble Beach Pro Am on my couch.

I might clean the kitchen as a gesture of goodwill, but beyond that, I'm doing nothing.

Now I'm not if you're doing something, great, wonderful.

I I know my wife, I know her nature.

If I got her something, she'd be like, what are you doing?

I told you I don't want this.

See, when you understand what moves and motivates somebody, you act accordingly.

What moves and motivates God when it comes to prayer is God.

That's why Daniel says, for your sake, for your sake, for your sake.

He doesn't talk, all he talks about is their sin.

But he says, for your sake, for your name, for your city, your people, this is what motivates God.

And I just wonder this morning what whatever the biggest thing in your life is right now, instead of praying about that through the lens of you, what would happen if you just turned it around and you begin to pray about that through the lens of God, his nature and his capacity, and what motivates him.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We'd like to teach the Bible, and then we'd like to give you some space just to think about it.

It's all voice of prayer.

Some questions come up on the screen for you to think about.

And let's just kind of marinate in these juices for just a moment.

Holy Spirit, thanks for the truth.

It sets us free, it makes us think, it convicts and it conforms.

But it never condemns.

You're not a God of condemnation.

And so, Holy Spirit, just brood over us as we think about these things, about what motivates you.

So, Lord, we want to uh pray in keeping with who you are and how you are.

We're tired of making half-baked empty promises to God that we know we're never going to follow up on.

So, Lord, reform the way we pray.

So, we just think about these things now.

Father, there's not a one of us in this room that hadn't just burned it to the ground before, just put it in the ditch, knew better, and did it anyway.

And so it helps us to understand when we've screwed up how to talk to you in this thing called prayer.

We don't want to be ruled by our fear or our needs.

We want to get to that place of understanding because when we're ruled by our fear and our need, then we avoid you.

We don't enjoy you.

And we were created to enjoy you.

And so, Lord, increase our capacity to enjoy you in this thing called prayer.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest, again, let me say, thanks for being here today.

You're always welcome.

If you have any questions about anything you heard today, we'll be available down front.

If you have any questions when you're dismissed, here in just a second.

Uh, all we ask of you, if you're our guest, if you'd pull one of those guest cards in the seat back pocket in your row and just fill it out on your way out, drop it in one of those wooden boxes by the door.

Okay.

Uh, that's all we ask of you.

For the rest of us, if you consider this your church, if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you would take care of that as well.

We have a few things coming up in the life of our church, we want you to know about.

So let's check out our announcements today.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's a few things we want you to know.

On Friday, we were able to celebrate our honored guests with a night to shine here on our campus.

Thank you to everyone who gave their time, resources, and love to make it happen.

D Now is happening this weekend, February 19th through the 20th.

Students will meet for worship and discipleship here on our campus.

Join us in praying for our students by picking up a bracelet at the front of the stage.

Starting point is happening this Sunday, February 21st.

If you would like to learn the story of our church, or you are ready to join as a member, then Starting Point is for you.

Register at grandparkoy.org slash events.

If you're new, we would love to know that you're here.

Please find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Uh, that's what these little bracelets are down here.

Uh, so I'd encourage you just to come and grab one, just put it on your wrist.

It's got a name on there.

Uh, and we want you between now and next weekend just to pray on a consistent basis for the name on your on your bracelet, okay?

So as soon as you're uh dismissed here in a second, come and grab one of those on your way out.

Stand to your feet.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So hold your hands out.

Prayer is not about perfection, it's not about doing it right or doing it wrong.

It's about understanding the heart of your father, what motivates him.

Because what motivates him is intended to motivate you.

Be motivated today.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.