Good morning Veritas. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet. My name is Matthew. I'm one of the pastors on staff here. And as we get started, the question I want to ask us is, how many of you were confident in the prayer you just prayed? How many of you felt like this prayer? God's doing it. Alright, we've got a few people. I'm good. I praise God for that. Right? And I want to encourage our confidence today or add to your confidence today if you feel like you already have some. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to the book of First John. Do we believe that God moves through our prayers? Do you believe that God moves through your prayers? Have you seen God move through your prayers? And if we believe that, why do we spend so much time worrying for people? Why? Why does that capture us? Why does that capture our heart and mind? So we're in First John chapter five because I think John talks about this and we're going to start reading in verse thirteen now. Thirteen isn't what we're going to cover today, but it's kind of a good introduction as it builds our confidence in prayer. So verse thirteen says this. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. So speaking of being confident in prayer, God doesn't just march us out to the edge and say, hey guys, be confident in prayer. No, he gives us reason to be confident in our prayers. And I want it like we do this thing where we're like, hey, let's circle up and pray for our team that's over there, and we do that. But that's a really big thing to do. We've just literally tapped the creator of the entire universe and said, go at it, go after it, work through these vessels. Literally talk to the King of the universe, creator of all things, and said, hey, work through those two people on that screen. Unleash your spirit through them. Use them for your glory. Right? And so that's one thing we did for them. But there are many prayers that we might be praying throughout the week. Or maybe we don't have confidence to pray. Do you believe that that prayer you say on Sunday afternoon or Tuesday morning has any anything, any power? Is it God? You awake yet? Are you you on the restroom? Like where? Where are you at? Are we going to do this? What? What's going on here? And I think the first thing that we need to remember is that confident prayer, trust God's will, confident prayer, trust God's will. If you look at those verses, we see this form of praying, and this is the confidence we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So he asks things according to his will. And that confidence comes from a relationship with God. If I don't know his will, I'm not going to trust his will. And so a relationship with God is something foundational to me, trusting what he might want to do. And again, that's why we started in verse thirteen, that sweet reminder of the work that Christ has done in our life before the foundations of the world. Revelations thirteen eight God wrote our life, our name in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. He wrote out our days in Psalm one thirty nine. Before the foundations of the earth, he created the earth. Sin enters the world. God says, I'm going to send a solution, and God keeps his promise and sends the solution, Jesus Christ. And then at some point, you were born Christian. If you are a Christian. God saves you and he begins to transform you. That's the work that he's done in your life. That is the foundation for the confidence that we can have when we enter into prayer. We have that intimate relationship with God, and he's not only saved us from the past, he's given us a future that is eternal. So confidence comes from our relationship with God, and confidence is conditioned by God's will. Okay, think about this when you pray. Did we pray? God, make our team awesome? God, make our team work. God make our teams things happen. Or or did we ask that God's will be done? Prayer. Confident prayer isn't anchored on God. Hey, I got an idea. I need you to like, make it happen. Make it happen for me. God, take care of me. God. Hey, I need this fixed. God. Go, go do it. You know, it's kind of genie in the bottle. God. Hey. I need you now. Got troubles? I need you to whip this in shape. Right. Is our prayer life based on our kingdom, our agenda, or our preferences? Right? Confident prayer is conditioned by God's will. And the scriptures talk about this a number of times. If you turn to Matthew chapter ten, it says this your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And this is Jesus Christ teaching his disciples how to pray. You guys might be familiar with the Lord's Prayer, our father, who art in heaven. That prayer ends with this line or one of these lines toward the end. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Do our prayer lives. Are they centered around our will? Are we so disappointed that God doesn't answer our prayers because we've only been praying for what we want, and not considering that he has a different will for our lives. It starts in the prayer that Jesus teaches his disciples. Your kingdom come, your will be done, not my kingdom. Alright. And then it's beautifully displayed by Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Let's go to Luke twenty two, verses forty one and forty two. Jesus Christ is here. You know, the last hours before his death are pretty significant. You think like Jesus, okay, you're going to die on a cross. What are you going to do in those last moments? And he goes with a few of his disciples to a garden, and he's like, I'm going to pray. I'm just going to lay myself out before my father and I'm going to talk to him. And so here this is what we see. And he withdrew from them, the disciples about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Our greatest example of living the Christian life, of trusting in God, trusting in the father, comes to this place in the garden before a tremendous time of suffering and says, hey, um, it'd be awesome if this passed, but this is the plan that we've had from the foundation of the world, not my will. Your will be done. This is a great text to consider as you think about your prayers. You pray for missionaries as you pray for your spouse. God, I want to make a request that God, could you do this? Would you do this? But God, I trust you, not my will. Your will be done. Your will is is the best for me. And Jesus Christ knew that his will was the best for us, that we would be saved through this. And when you think about what Jesus is saying there, you. You know the answer that the father gave him, right? My will is that you be crushed for their iniquities. My will is that you hang on a cross. My will is that you die for their sin. And Jesus Christ submits to that. I would say already in the garden. So prayer is not convincing God to join our plans. If you're trying to build confidence by how many times God has responded to your needs, to your kingdom, you're going to be sorely disappointed in God's responses. But prayer is an opportunity for us to mold our hearts around God's will. God, what is your will in this situation? God, what do I do with my spouse? What do I do with that child? God, how do I trust you in this when you accomplish what you accomplish? Help me, not. My will be done, but yours be done. So confidence is built and conditioned on God's will, but confidence also rests in God's character, right? I want this to fuel our prayers again. God hasn't demanded people of God pray. Yeah, he's invited us to pray. He's invited us to commune with him. He's invited us to talk with him, and he's given us a foundation with which to do that. It's not just a meaningless command out there for religious people to go praying, right? Confidence rests in God's character. God hears the Israelites were slaves in Egypt for four hundred years, and he heard the cries of his people and sent a leader named Moses to lead them out. David cries out to God a number of times for a number of scenarios. Peter, Jesus Christ heard him. When he starts to sink in the waves and says, Jesus, help me. So God hears and God answers. God heard the Israelites. God sent an answer. Moses. God heard. David preserved his life, preserved his kingdom, preserved his legacy. And God heard Peter as he was sinking, and he reached and pulled him immediately. I love how Mark says that immediately he reaches out and pulls Peter out of the waters, and God accomplishes his purposes. Right? So when you're coming saying, like, God, is God going to hear my prayer? This is what God did. God sent Jesus Christ. He made a promise in Genesis chapter three, verse fifteen and says, I'm going to send a Savior. And then he works through the people of Israel, the kings, the prophets, all the crazy people, and he sends Jesus Christ. There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Right? And there's little innocent couple comes to Bethlehem, right? And Jesus is born, and Jesus lives and he dies for sin, and he awakens the dead, right? That's that's the truth. That's the hope in God's character that we have fueling us when we pray. It's not separated from that. In fact, John reminds us in his gospel in John fifteen, verse seven, that if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Okay. It's not that. Hey guys, ask whatever you want. I want millions, I want success, I want that's that's based off of your kingdom. But when you abide and when his words abide in you, it changes what you wish for. It reorients you to the fact that there's a king and there is a kingdom, and it rules and reigns, and he will reign forever and ever. And it changes what we ask for. It changes what we think. But God is faithful to his promises. So confidence in prayer rests in God's character. Confidence in prayer seeks God's work in the lives of others. Now here's a spot where John really takes us on a ride. Are you guys ready? The first example John gives about prayer, I would say it's an example isn't like, alright, let me show you how this works. Like when you want a house. Okay, let's, let's show what it looks like to pray God's will and trust him for our new home. Or let's see what God wants to do with that, that that job. Okay. Or that, you know, promotion. All right. He doesn't pick like health. Like, let's talk about trusting God's will with health. Those would have been so nice. No. John picks spiritual issues to focus his example on. He chooses spiritual restoration to say like, let's look at how this looks. Let's look at how spiritual warfare or spiritual prayer, um, addresses real issues with with a person. Okay. So when you think about that, you consider all of the book of First John and the number of times John says, hey, Christians love each other. Hey, uh, Christians, Christians, they love each other. Hey, uh, you guys Christians, they love each other. Okay. Time and time again. So it kind of makes sense when we come to this text that his example is. Let's look at a brother cottencin. Okay. Let's just not talk about a house right now. The house we can rest with it, pray God's will and that. Let's talk about something that matters. Like another believer in Jesus Christ and a believer who's struggling. Let's read it. Verse sixteen. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask. And God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. Now, don't jump ahead there. Okay, let's stay here. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life. So in the Greek it says, if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin, okay, not leading to death, he shall ask. So we've got the opportunity to talk to God about the issue that we're seeing in that person's life, and God will give him life. God will give him life. So let's look at this. God's people notice one another. God's people notice one another. Christianity isn't isolated, and we're not walking together towards holiness alone. God's called us to something extreme. We live for a kingdom that's not of this world. Nobody else is doing it. But many of us in this room claim to be doing it. So when I see my brother sinning, it raises a flag in my mind. And one of the most powerful things I can do for them is bring them before the Lord in prayer, because I love the brothers. We know one another. Are you knowing like, do you have somebody in your life right now that if they saw you sinning would be like, I gotta go to the Lord? What's he doing? Now, certainly there might be confrontation and stuff like that. Sure. But right now we're talking about prayer. Do you know somebody who, if they saw you in sin, would be like, I'm going to the Lord. I'm concerned for my friend, my sister, my brother in Christ Jesus. Christianity is a thing that we do together. We fight for holiness together. We care for one another. At a deeper level. This is more about concern for your fantasy football team. This is concern for your soul. What? Where did that action come from? What are you doing? Do you have somebody close to you who would pray for you like that? Galatians chapter six, verse one says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on yourself, lest you to be tempted. This picture of Christians like we're not perfect. If you're visiting Veritas today and you're like, Those Christians are all hypocrites. Amen. Yes, you guys with me. Amen. A lot of the times we say things, we don't do it. That's me. I need a savior. But we're trying. If I'm going to call them out. I pray that they call me out. I mean, let's walk towards holiness. I'm not going to do this alone. They're going to restore me. They're going to pray for me. I'm going to restore you. I'm going to pray for you. Right. And then it seems crazy to say this, but another point would be that Christian people, God's people, they actually pray for one another. We're kind of talking about that now. But James five sixteen says this therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person has great power as it is working. Christians, when we go through life doing life, when we face stresses and trials of various kinds, we don't circle up to gossip about the boss, do we? We don't circle up to gossip about the brother or sister, or to vent vent. We don't circle up to nitpick. Or on the other side, we don't avoid like, oh, keep me away from that person forever. We circle up to pray, to pray for the situation. We lean in. Oh, you're struggling with this. Let's go to the creator who has your boss's heart in his hands. Let's go to the creator who has your enemy's heart in their hand, his hands. We. We pray together. And lastly, Christians, God's people. We trust God to restore the person. This is God's work. These are God's people. We notice one another. We pray for another, one another. But we trust God to do the work. Just like I can't heal somebody physically, I can't heal someone's heart. Only God can give their life meaning. Only God can change them from their deepest parts. Only God can change their hearts. Only God can bring repentance. So I trust God in my prayer. And now we come to the place. That's really confusing. Confident prayers. We take sin seriously. Confident prayers take sin seriously. It's not all roses. Sin happens. And at this point, John raises a question that everybody wants answers to. In verse sixteen, the second part, there is a sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that. So what is the sin, John, that leads to death? That is the question. And I want us to be careful here. When you think about this verse. And there are other verses like this in the scriptures that we just like, hone in on and like, oh my goodness, there's a sin that leads to death. Uh, doesn't seem like he's very clear there. He's not, uh, what is that sin? Right. And I kind of feel like to some of us, it gets to be this question of like, how many answers do I have to have, right? To just pass? Like, just, just let me get past, okay? I don't care if I get a D or a C C's get degrees. That's what my advisor always told me. I don't know. Anyways, I want us to be careful with that. It's like the couple that's dating that's asking like, hey, how far is too far? Well, keep your mitts off each other until you're married, okay? That's just number one, all right. But I want us to be careful with that. Because when you come to this, like, oh, my goodness, like, this is not the point of the text, the point of the text, I would argue all day long is the confidence we can have in prayer, both for the things of life, but also for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling. But it's a good question. Okay. He brings it up. So what? What is it now? There's a plenty of options. This is one of the most I had no idea. This is one of the most argued passages in the Bible. It's crazy. There are some old commentaries. You can study them. They just skip verse sixteen and I'm like, can't you help a man out here? Like, come on, I don't understand it, but I've got some ideas for us to study, right? First, the unforgivable sin. Uh, Matthew twelve talks about the unforgivable sin. It's the pure rejection of the Holy Spirit. Pure rejection of the Holy Spirit. I don't think it's this John doesn't mention the Holy Spirit in this book at all. Certainly subliminally it's present. He's there. I don't think that's the the issue here for option one. Secondly, he's talking about physical death, right? If you read the text, you can see there is a sin that leads to death. So is this talking about addiction or just being caught in some habitual sin that literally, practically could lead to your death? I don't think John is talking about physical death, because nowhere else in this book, this letter, does John talk about physical death like this. I think he's talking about spiritual death here. I think you can think of it as an example. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts five, they lied to Peter about their gifts. They lied to the Holy Spirit like, oh, we gave all the money. The Spirit's like, oh, none of that. He kills them immediately, right? And God is the righteous judge. He can take any one of us at any time righteously and kill us physically. But I don't think John is talking about that in the letter. First John the fake. This is where I think three and four are going to kind of combine them here. The fake. It's the person who may have had an emotional experience at church, accepted Jesus. I did it when I was eight on top of a bunk bed, because I didn't want my mom to die of cancer. Like I went into Christianity ready to manipulate the King of the universe. I'll do this. You do that deal. It's cloaked in religion, though. The fake maybe had an emotional experience. I don't know, but it didn't have a new birth experience. They attend church, they read their Bible. They can't figure out like, where is this freedom in Christ? Because this sure seems like a lot of work, a lot. They don't actually love Christ and they don't really desire to glorify him like I'll do church. I'm there. I like the songs. Woo! And this person kind of wants to stay out of trouble. I don't want to get in trouble. Like, I don't want to go to jail. I just want to be a good person. Right? Kind of like what John talks about, I think in first John chapter two verse nineteen, they went out from us, but they they weren't of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they are not with us. A skiff happens in the church, and a group of people leave the church and they're like, what are they doing leaving what I. We did Bible study together. What. And they just walk away, right? These people in option three are subtle. This was the story of this guy's life. And I know it's a story of many of you in here. And as your pastor, I'm greatly concerned for people in this category. You're duped. You don't find joy in Christ. You don't find freedom in Christ, but you sure do the religious things. Friend, there's freedom in Christ. The fourth option, and I don't want to talk about this one as much. It's just persistent, hardened rebellion with Christ. I am not going to follow, and I'm not always talking about those who make the news who hate Jesus. Okay? But those of you who still might be present in this room who are like, I'm doing it. My mom and dad said, we go, I guess I have to go. Woe to you. Wake up to the danger that you're in. Okay, so when I look at this text, I see the sin that leads to death, right? It's not a sin. There's no Greek article for the letter A. I think some of the confusion comes in translating there sitting a sin. And so some people say it's a sin. I'm not saying it's a sin. I'm saying that the sin that leads to death is persistent sin that has a hold in someone's life. The sin that leads to death is persistent sin that has a hold in someone's life. They keep on sinning. Okay, now the sin that does not lead to death is sin that is regularly confessed. The person that recognizes failure in their life and says, God forgive me. I've done it again. Two very different responses to sin. But these sins, the fake and the hardened heart, are a concern because of what John says in First John chapter three, verse fourteen. We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brothers, right? As a Christian, you love these people. I'm not talking about the whole world or the struggling person down the street. I'm talking about you love your spouse who claims Christ. Let's start there. I love my spouse. She claims Jesus Christ, I love her, I love the church. I love to be a part of the church. I want Christians to thrive. In fact, if I see them in sin, I'm going to pray for them. I want God to be honored as we engage and as we disagree, and as we walk through life. I want people to see Christ in them, right? But we love the brothers. But then the next line says, whoever does not love, they abide in death. Okay, so John starts this picture of what he's saying when he's saying death, okay? That these people that don't abide in love, they abide in death. This is a picture of the sin that leads to death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Everyone who hates his brother. This is why I think this is the picture of the sin that leads to death. Another point to when you look at verse thirteen, if you will, with me again, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know and have eternal life. It starts with this foundation of the gospel. You know and have eternal life if you're in Jesus Christ. And verse eighteen, which we're not going to get into today, talks about being born again. John talks about it in John chapter three. He says, that which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit is spirit. Okay, the spirit comes. We don't know where it comes from or where it goes. It's like the wind. So it is with the spirit. So John points this out, right? So somebody who's supposed to be in Christ is supposed to live differently. And remember that John is talking to Gnostics. They have this high My philosophical view of God. And they worship, but they sure live however they please. So they get their Jesus and then they do whatever they please. I love to have theological philosophical arguments about Calvinism or about free will, or about the holiness of God. I do whatever I please. That's that's Gnosticism. And that's who John is writing to. And he's saying, guys, the two, you're connected your heart and your mind and your body, like your body does what your heart wants you to do. It flows out of there. And he's saying that's concerning. And so he's working with people that are walking in darkness that are claiming they have no sin, that they don't keep God's commands. They love the world. They deny Christ. They practice lawlessness or sin. They hate their brothers and they refuse the truth of God. And those are the people in this room. There's some of you in this room. You're just not, of course. Maybe how you love Christ. Okay. Alright. But you walk in darkness. You're hiding stuff. You are hiding stuff. You're hiding addiction. You're hiding that text message to that person. You're hiding your your history on your phone. You're hiding your bitterness. You're hiding your anger. And teenagers, I'm talking to you as well. We're hiding stuff from spouses or parents that shouldn't be. We're not walking in freedom, therefore we can't walk in confidence. It's a challenge to our confidence and people who are caught in this sin that leads to death. There's no confidence there. And I certainly don't want you to leave this room feeling confident. Come clean. Come to the light. John isn't describing occasional failure, but a lifestyle of unrepentant sin. Unrepentant actions. Right. Let's go back to verse sixteen here and just get reoriented as we've been away from it a little bit. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he he shall ask and God will move. God will give him life to those who commit sins that don't lead to death, to those who aren't trapped in sin, to those who are malleable, to those who are confessing their sins. God will move and he'll give him life. There is a sin, though it leads to death. I do not say that one should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. So what does John mean when it says I don't? I'm not even telling you to pray about that. Great. John, I'm glad you asked another hard question. Let's let's dive in. Okay. Notice that John isn't saying, hey, don't pray for that person. Okay? He's not necessarily commanding people not to pray, but he doesn't give them the same confidence that he gives to the one praying for somebody whose heart is soft. You can tell by someone's fruit, somebody who's malleable. Somebody's heart is soft. And there's a point in someone's life where you might experience hardened rebellion that reveals an absence of the king. You might experience in someone's life. Certainly, they've prayed a prayer. They went to camp with you, but their heart isn't in the same place as you. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Jacob, I loved Esau. I hate it. God has a purpose and God has a plan in this. And John isn't necessarily saying this, but maybe John is pointing out the fact we've already prayed for him. We saw the brother that we thought was a brother. We saw him caught in sin. We prayed for him. This is reading into the text a little bit. Maybe we confronted him and we got no, no, no, no, no. That's a real hard heart. It's a really hard heart. It's not that they're struggling with sin, it's that they're just embracing sin. And so I think John is saying not he's not trying to discourage prayer. The whole text is about building confidence in prayer. If anyone's going to break hearts of stone, especially this guys, it's the Lord. Hope in him. He saved you. Hope in him. But he's reminding us of whose will will happen. That person is not outside the will of God and I need to trust his will. Okay. That's where I think John is going there. But John doesn't leave us with these two ominous categories. Right. In verse seventeen, he reminds us that all wrongdoing is sin. Chapter five, verse seventeen, all wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. And just for further clarity, there's a reality. I'm a counselor. I would rather have you addicted to chocolate than methamphetamine. Okay. The problem with an addiction to chocolate is at some point in your day, at some point with a stressor, you're saying, oh my goodness, I need peace, I need chocolate, right? And you're not far removed from the person that says, I need some meth. I need to get high. I got to get past this One is culturally a lot more acceptable but spiritually dangerous. The other one is not necessarily culturally acceptable and is very dangerous and spiritually dangerous. Right. But there are sins. They don't lead to death. There's there's there is a difference. Okay. There's a difference with that and how it plays out in the person's life and in the consequences that happen. All wrongdoing is sinful. Sin is an act against the Lord, whether it be stealing a Tootsie Roll or whether it be stealing a car. They're different. But but why aren't you satisfied with what God has given you? That's the tension with sin. It ain't the Tootsie Roll. It isn't the car. It's. Why aren't you satisfied with God? Okay, that's the tension that we deal with when we talk about sin. So sin is a problem in our lives, in all. Wrongdoing is sin, and we're a people that need to hope and find confidence in God. But sin tarnishes the hope and confidence. I just was on a road trip to Utah the last couple of weeks, and it's amazing. You're in a cluster of cars and you're all doing seven over. But we crown a hill and there's a cop there, and then everyone's going four under and you're like, that cop will never know what we were doing on the other side of the hill. He doesn't know we were going so fast. He's probably just sitting there and like, whoa, where did all these cars come from? And they're all going four under now. Those are great people. He knows. The cop knows we're all going over, but now we're really good, right? But I think that's how we we work with God, right? We don't have confidence before him. Like, we race and we do all this stuff. And then we come into his presence and we're like, I shouldn't be here. My son teaching him how to drive On first Ave we came around the corner, there's a cop and I'm like, there's a police officer over there. And he's like, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I'm like, we ain't doing nothing wrong. Have you done something wrong? What? We're innocent. There's freedom. I can come into the throne room of God, the greatest authority on all the earth. I'm free. I can even ask him for stuff. We're invited in. Sin tarnishes that relationship. Let us be a people that confess our sin and approach the throne with grace. And listen, folks, the issue with us and them like I don't want to do tears of sin. Like, oh, he's a worse sinner than I, or I only stole a candy bar. I only like chocolate. I don't like meth. To see it from God's perspective that it's a problem, right? Sin is a problem. The issue isn't that we haven't sinned. You've sinned, I know it. I've sinned. I've sinned this morning. But what are we doing with it? Romans three twenty three says that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But there's a couple ways that we can respond to this. First, John one nine says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Or a second way he found in James chapter one, verses fourteen and fifteen says this but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire from his heart. Then desires, when it has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. There's two ways to respond. We either confess our sins or we hide it. It's just me and my phone. It's just me. No one can see it. And it creates tension in our confidence before the Lord. So here's the point that I want us to take from this. Confident Christians pray and trust God's will. Confident Christians pray and trust God's will. This isn't a heavy message on the sin that leads to death. You who believe are in Christ. You can approach the throne. Father help me. Father, help my brother who's caught in sin. Father, change his life. We can even pray for people on the other side of the globe, because God's there working God's present and we as broken people, having been redeemed by the work of Jesus Christ, can approach in confidence and say, father, help me. Father, help my friend change their life. Help them be convicted of sin. Confident Christians pray God's will. God desires for Christians to follow him. That's a good prayer to pray. It's part of God's will and confident Christians can pray and trust God. God, I don't know what you're going to do, and I don't know if you're going to do it my way, but I know that your plan is better than mine. Your will be done. So a few questions for you this week in closing, as you consider your prayer life. And are you praying confidently? Is one are you praying according to God's will or merely asking God to bless your plans? How's it going in the war between your Kingdom and his kingdom? I hope his kingdom's winning. Second question for you to wrestle with this week as you pray. Are you responding rightly to your own sin? Are you trying to bring in your baggage? Like, I hope he doesn't see this stuff that I've done. Uh. Hey, God, um, I want to glorify you with my whole life. Well, what about the stuff you have? I don't want to talk about that. Let's just talk about your plan. Right? Are we confessing our sins to God? He knows you've committed them. Talk to him about them. Confess them to a brother in Christ. Let them know. Help! Gather the army to help fight sin. Third question for you. Are you praying for struggling believers? Who are you fighting for in your prayer life? That was a beautiful testimony that gal that they mentioned. Next day, God saves. Boom! How awesome is that? Who? Who are you praying intentionally for? Not praying that your will would be done in Joe's life, but that God's will would be done in Joe's life? God, unleash your spirit on them. God transformed their heart. God crush their heart of stone. Bring them to life. Who are you going to prayer for? Friends, remember this first John chapter two, verse one says, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He lived the life we couldn't live, died the death we couldn't die. And he rose again, which for us is impossible. And he sits at the right hand of the father, hearing our prayers and distributing them to the father. Pray confidently. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you've done. God, I pray that we would be growing in our confidence in who you are. God, that unlike slowing down for the policeman God, that we would come over the hill knowing that we're in a right relationship with you, that we would literally enter your presence with thanksgiving and into your courts with praise. You've forgiven us. We can pray. We can talk to you, God. We can lay out before you the burdens. So God, hear our prayers and get all the glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.