Greg Laurie - Three of the Hardest Words to Say

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All right, let's grab our Bibles and turn to Daniel Chapter 9, Daniel Chapter 9, and the title of my message is Three of the Hardest Words to Say, Three of the Hardest Words To Say. Let's pray.

Now Father, as we open your word, we know it is true, and we're gonna read a story about a man who was impacted by reading Scripture. It changed his life. Would, Lord, you work in our lives and could we be impacted by reading your word as well? So speak to us in this time we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Heard about a man named John who was in the hospital. He was very sick. In fact, he had an oxygen mask on. He really couldn't even talk, so the pastor was called out, and John was a believer, so the pastor went to encourage John, and as the pastor was with him, John's breathing grew more labored. The pastor was concerned, and so the pastor dropped to one knee, and began to fervently pray that God would help John, and suddenly John was gesturing wildly, wildly. He needed a piece of paper and a pen. Waving, gesturing for paper and a pen. The pastor grabbed a piece of paper, gave him the pen, and John wrote something down, and then died, sadly.

And by the way, this is gonna be a joke, so I'm gonna tell you this now. 'Cause when I told the first service, they were like, what? And so, this is a joke, so just know I'm coming to a punch line. I'm gonna change the way you're listening, all right? It's gonna be funny. Get ready. So John died, and the pastor took the note of John's last words with him, put it in his coat pocket, and then a few days later they were doing John's memorial service, and the pastor remembered he still had that note, and he never took the time to open it and read what John's last words were, so he went out to the people gathered for John's service, and said, "Now I know that we all loved John, and he always had an inspiring word to say, and I happen to have his last words here that he wrote to me," and then, "Here are the last words of John. Pastor, you're standing on my oxygen tube".

So, that's... They didn't laugh that much first service either, so I don't know why I tried it two times. I just thought, maybe I can make it better. Clearly, I did not. But you know, one day we will give our last words, our last statement. It could be in a hospital bed. It could be at a meal, or some other place, and we don't know they are our last words. It might be when we're having a conversation with someone, and suddenly Jesus calls us home to heaven, in the rapture of the church. We talked about that last time. So we don't know when it's going to happen, but just for the sake of a point, let's pretend we did.

Now I know no one knows the day or the hour when Christ will come back. But for the sake of a point, let's pretend we did know the day and the hour. Let's pretend that it was revealed to us somehow that Jesus was gonna return on December 25th of this year. Christ was gonna return on Christmas day. So wow, you could count it down. In fact, when you started seeing Christmas decorations in the stores. What is it, in August now, usually? And it's like oh, it's getting closer. Christmas is close, but the coming of the Lord is close as well. Now let me ask you a question. Would you live any differently than you're living right now if you knew he was coming back that soon? If you were living sinfully, would you continue to live sinfully? If you were complacent as a Christian, would you kick it into gear? Some would say, yeah, probably late November, I think. No really? Hey, if you weren't a Christian, would you become a Christian? Well, I think it would impact you, in the way that you live.

Now we don't know when Jesus is coming back. He could come back on December 25th. He can come back on August 25th. We don't know when he's gonna come, but we need to always be ready and live in anticipation of that. It was Martin Luther who said, and I quote, "There are two days on my calendar. This day, and that day". This day and that day, the day before me, and that day, the day of the Lord, and one day, he will come back. Well, we're now in Daniel 9, and this is a story where the prophet is reading the Scripture, and a certain passage just jumps off the page for him. Have you ever had that happen to you? Where you're reading the Bible and all of a sudden a verse or a series of verses just come alive and speak directly to the situation that you're facing in that given moment? Or maybe it's in a message, that's something is said and it's almost as though it were scripted for you?

That's what happened to Daniel. Now Daniel didn't have a Bible like we have. It was still being put together at this point, but he did have something of great value. He had a scroll of the prophet Jeremiah. So as he's reading through Jeremiah, it suddenly occurs to the prophet Daniel that this prophesy that Jeremiah gave is happening in real time. The prophesy Jeremiah gave is happening in Daniel's lifetime. He's gonna literally see the fulfillment of a prediction that Jeremiah made and it impacted Daniel, and he experienced a personal revival. So if you want a personal revival, listen very carefully to what happened. Let's read it together. Daniel 9, starting at verse 2. "I Daniel learned from reading the word of the Lord as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem must lie desolate for 70 years, so I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him with prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes". We'll stop there.

So, what's the background of this? Israel is living in Babylon. They're captives there because they kept turning to false idols and false gods. They were warned by prophets like Jeremiah and others to turn from this rampant idolatry, or a time of judgment would come upon them, but they ignored it and blew it off, and finally that judgment came, and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came and conquered Israel, and took them back to Babylon. So they'd been now in Babylon for 69 years. And Daniel realizes, wait, God said 70 years. He counts, he counts it back. And he says, we've been here 69 years. That means we're getting out of here in one year. This prophesy is gonna be fulfilled in my lifetime. Now, I'm sure that as he read through Jeremiah, he read this very familiar passage, Jeremiah 29, where the Lord says, "Thus says the Lord, after 70 years are completed at Babylon, I'll visit there, and perform my good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place," and then the Lord says, "for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope".

Recognize that verse? Jeremiah 29:11. So the context of that statement is God is speaking to the Jewish people living in Babylon as captives. God's saying, you're gonna go back home to Jerusalem again, and by the way, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Some would say, well that only applies to Israel. It doesn't have any application to us. Well I beg to differ. In principle it does apply to us, because maybe you're in a Babylon of sorts right now. Life is not going the way you hoped it would go. Your situation has actually gone from bad to worse. You don't know if it's ever going to improve. So I have good news for you. Better days are ahead for you. I am certain of this.

Now some of you are saying, well how do you know? It might get worse. Yeah, it might. I'll acknowledge that. But ultimately better days are ahead. Why do I say that? Because Romans 8:28 is still in the Bible, right? And you know what that says. "We know that all things work together for good to those that love God, and that are called according to his purpose". What I'm saying to you is, ultimately, God is gonna work out whatever you're going through for your good and his glory. Let me say that again. Ultimately, I didn't say immediately. Ultimately, God is gonna work out whatever you're going through for your good and for his glory, and the better days ahead I am certain of are the days of heaven. And the days when we'll be in the presence of the Lord, so it is going to get better. So Daniel understandably was deeply moved by this discovery, and in the same way our hearts should also be moved when we read certain things.

Let me take a quick poll. How many of you believe the afterlife is real. Raise your hand if you believe the afterlife is real. How many of you believe there really is a heaven and a hell? Raise up your hand. How many of you believe that Jesus could come back in your lifetime? Raise up your hand. All right, one more thing. How many of you shared the gospel with someone this week? Raise up your hand. Okay, some of you. Quite a few of you. God bless you. But not all of us, and the reason I bring this up, is because there's cause and effect, you see. If I say I believe something, it should impact me in the way that I live. And if it does not impact me in the way that I live, do I really believe it? I mean, I say I believe in the afterlife. I say I believe there's a heaven and a hell. If that is the case, why would I not wanna leave my comfort zone and enter into someone else's world and engage them with the gospel? So, we should take tangible steps if we believe these things to be true.

Now here's Daniel. He understands that. The reason they're in Babylon is because of their sin. He admits that they brought this on themselves, so here's now what Daniel does, that brought personal revival in his life, and if you're taking notes, here's point number one. We have to admit we're part of the problem. Again, we have to admit we're part of the problem. Look at Daniel 9, verse 7. "Lord," says Daniel, "you're in the right, but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel scattered near and far, for you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. Oh Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we've sinned against you, but the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him". We'll stop there.

So he owns it. Notice in verse 7, he says, "We're covered with shame". You know what, this seems to be something that's really lacking in American culture today, shame. You know, we celebrate the things we used to be ashamed of. Everything is upside down. Right is wrong, wrong is right. The Bible says, "Whoa to those who say evil is good and good is evil, and dark is light, and light is dark, and bitter is sweet, and sweet is bitter". It seems like no one wants to be held accountable for their actions anymore, because now we're a nation of victims. It's never our fault. It's always somebody else's fault. And we have no shame over things that we do, when they're wrong.

I read an interesting article from Teen Vogue. By the way, I don't subscribe to Teen Vogue. I want you to know. And I hope you don't either. And I hope your children don't. And you'll understand why I say that when you hear what they have in this article. It was an op ed, and it's an article about some activists who wanna use art, "to raise awareness about the erosion of reproductive rights, but their emphasis is on humor, and their message is, yes, abortion can be funny". Really? Is that where we're at now? Abortion can be funny? Taking the life of an innocent unborn children is to some people funny? Yeah, that's the culture we're living in right now. It just seems like we keep moving the goal posts, and it gets worse and worse, and when you think it can't get any worse, it gets a little worse. And I think we get jaded by the barrage of social media we're exposed to every single day.

As one writer said, "From violence-glorifying graphics on the big screen to incessant headlines of perversion on our news feed to the latest appalling video on our cell phone, we have become accustomed to the extreme, to the twisted, to carnage, and to gore". Very true. The Bible warns that we could lose our sensitivity, in Ephesians 4:13. The Bible warns that you can have your conscience seared as with a hot iron. But the good news is Christ can resensitize your conscience. I was with Billy Graham years ago in Portland, Oregon, of all places. Ever see the TV show Portlandia? You know, they're very liberal in Portland. Not a church-going city, shall we say, and Billy had one of his best crusades I've ever seen in that city, and thousands were in attendance and thousands coming to Christ. It was incredible.

So, on the last night, we're driving out. I was in the car with him, and as we're pulling out, he was in the back seat, and I was in the front seat, and I wanted to compliment him, so I turned around over the seat and I said, Billy, that was a great message tonight. I loved your point when you said, Christ can resensitize your conscience. Billy looked at me and said, "Well he can". I know. I was just trying to compliment him. But I found out Billy didn't really like to be complimented all that much. Which is kind of a good thing, isn't it? But you know, I think the point was really true. Christ can resensitize a conscience. If you get jaded, if you get hardened, you need your conscience resensitized.

You say, how can that happen? Very simple. Just start by spending at much time in God's word as you spend on social media. Just start there. I'm not gonna get into binge watching and stuff on Netflix and all the other things we do, all the television. Not gonna get into any of that. I'm gonna just start with social media. If you spend as much time taking in God's word as you spend on social media, it would probably bring a spiritual revival to you. Because some people live on their cell phones, right? They look at them constantly. I need a cell phone for a prop. Who has a cell phone? I'll give it back to you. Thank you very much. Oh, wait, you're getting a text. "Still listening to that stupid preacher"? Who is this? No, no, so we have the cell phone. And we carry it with us everywhere. It's almost like it's attached to our hand, right? Just cell phone, have the cell phone. And every time it buzzes, it's... oh, I got a text. Someone just updated their Instagram. Oh, there's something new on the news.

So we carry it with us, and so we're standing in line, and we look at it. Never, forget talking to someone, just stare at it, stare at it. And then we cross intersections now. Have you noticed this? People will go across intersections. Now granted, they have the green light, but there are cars everywhere. People sometimes run red lights, right? And they're just walking across the thing like this, just looking. I think, are you insane? You see somebody swerve out of their lane. They're either drunk, or they're on a cell phone. So we're really attached to these cell phones of ours, and then, oh man, when you forget your cell phone. Has that ever happened to you? You're like three blocks from your house and you realize, I left my cell phone at home. You're going through withdrawals. You're shaking, you're shaking. You turn the car around. You grab it. Yeah, what if we loved this as much as we love this?

You say but Greg, I have a Bible app on this. Okay, I'll concede that for you. And when I say getting the word of God, thank you very much for the use of your phone. I hope I didn't drain your battery too much. When I say getting the word of God in your life, I mean yes, reading it. But listening to it. You can get the Bible on audio, and then listening to worship music, and listening to good Bible teaching. Just getting God's truth in your life. If you would just start by getting as much of this in your life as you spend on getting that in your life, I'm telling you it would turn you around, so number one, he accepted responsibility for what he did. Number two, God is right, and if we don't agree with it, we are wrong. How's that for a blunt point? No delicacy there. God is right, and if we don't agree with him, we are wrong.

I was doing a Q and A one time, and someone asked me the question, what do you do when you come to a Bible verse you don't agree with? I said, change your opinion. You're wrong. Now sometimes we don't understand Bible verses, and it helps us, someone can explain what it means contextually, or from original languages, or whatever, but the point is, "Let God be true and every man a liar," the Scripture says. This is the standard we measure all other truth by. It doesn't matter if you agree with it or not. Okay, so that brings me down to the three hardest words to say. What do you think they are? The three hardest words to say? Ready? Write them down. No more dessert. No, that's not them. That's not them. The three hardest words to say. I have sinned. Oh those are hard. Oh I can say you have sinned. Sometimes I can even say, we, in a broad sense, in our own way, but me not as much as you, have sinned. But for me to say, I have sinned, those are hard words to say. But Daniel said them. Verse 5, "But we have sinned and done wrong. We've rebelled against you, and scorned your commands and regulations".

Now you know this is interesting because Daniel did not excuse himself or point a finger at others. Yet as you study the life of Daniel, can you really find an instance where Daniel sinned? Now I know he did, because he's part of the same race we're part of, but yet there's no illustration of it. Now, David's life, oh yeah. Simon Peter's life, yep. Samson, oh yeah. Lots of sins. Daniel's life, I can't really find one. I mean, Daniel, he was so godly. You know, not eating at the king's table 'cause he saw it as a compromise, probably because the food was offered to idols. Daniel speaking truth to power, to King Belshazzar, to King Nebuchadnezzar, to King Darius, he was not intimidated by anyone. Daniel who still got down on his knees and prayed when a law was passed that no one could pray to any god for the next 30 days. Yeah, but he said, we have sinned, so he knew he was culpable. He knew that he was responsible as well, so we'll say, well yes, you know, but I don't really know that I've sinned.

Well look, when we say sin, there's a lot of things that meet that standard. Don't forget sin not only means to cross a line. It also means to miss a mark. So I might say, well I might say, I'm not sinning like them in immorality or stealing or lying. How about harboring unforgiveness? You know, I'll pride myself on the fact, man, I'm so spiritual. I love God so much. I love God more than anyone around me, and that person over there, I hate their guts. Oh really? That's sin, my friend. And here's what Jesus said about things like that. He said to each of us, if we do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. Jesus is not saying, we must forgive in order to be forgiven. Really what he is saying is, if you understand anything of the forgiveness of God, you of all people, I of all people, should be a forgiving person. Forgiven people should be forgiving people. And if you're not a forgiving person, you need to know more about forgiveness. That can be sin as well.

As I've told you before, there are sins of commission, breaking laws and committing transgressions, but there are sins of omission, not doing what God has called me to do. So this is very important. Point number four, if you want a personal revival, you must intercede in prayer for others. You must intercede in prayer for others. Look at verse 20. Daniel says, "I went on praying and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord God for Jerusalem his holy mountain". You know, pray for your forgiveness, but pray for others too. If only we would spend as much time talking to God about others, as we spend talking to others about others. You know, you see someone compromising spiritually. Maybe you see someone who's fallen away.

So you talk about it, to everybody. You know what they're doing? Do you follow them on Instagram? Did you see this photo? Can you believe this? And you know, and okay, fine, not fine, but okay, yeah, they have a problem, so what are you doing? I'm gonna talk to everybody I can talk to about them. So when we see them we'll give them the evil eye. How about praying for them? How about interceding for them? Well why should I do that? Because my friend one day it could be you. Oh yes, you. Me. Us. Any of us have the capacity to fall, right? So we pray and we intercede. We stand in the gap for them. And this is something we all should be doing. And we're asking you right now to be praying for non believers that you know, that they would have their spiritual eyes opened and that they would come to Christ, and you could bring them to the Crusade. We're praying that God will open their eyes. We're praying that God would open your mouth to share the gospel with them. You know, it's interesting.

If there is a sin that the church as a whole is guilty of, I would say it is this. Prayerlessness. Let me illustrate. If we announce a Bible study, attendance will be good. If we announce a guest speaker people like, attendance will be even better. If we announce special music or some artist people like to listen to, attendance might even be stronger. If we announce a prayer meeting, what happens? Attendance goes down. Why? Well we don't need to pray, right? Do we need more Bible studies and more worship? And listen to more artists? Yeah, maybe there's a place for that. Of course it's helpful. But are we above prayer now? We don't need to pray? The Bible says, "You have not because you ask not".

How important is prayer? It's time to intercede for others in prayer. When's the last time you spent time not praying for your needs? And there's a place for that, but praying for somebody else? Interceding for them? Have you given up on your marriage? Have you prayed for your husband or your wife that God would change them? And change you? Have you given up on your kids? What if that father in that video we saw just a few moments ago had given up on his daughter? He never gave up praying, and look how God answered his prayer. And how beautiful it is now. Now his daughter is number one, alive, number two, walking with Jesus, and number three, helping other people to come to Jesus. God can turn things around like that. But we need to pray. We need to pray. God is not gonna answer a prayer you don't pray. You have to pray about it. And so we need to be interceding for others.

There's a story in the gospels of a man who had a child, and the child was dying, so he came to Jesus, and he bowed down, and he asked Jesus to touch his son and heal him. And so Jesus says this. You know, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe". You know, what? A guy comes with a dying child, he bows down in reverence and respect. Lord, could you heal my son? Yeah, you know what, unless you people see signs and wonders, you won't believe. That almost seems like he's blowing the guy off, doesn't it? Well here's what was really happening. Jesus wasn't blowing the guy off. In fact, Jesus wasn't even addressing his words to that man in particular. He was talking to the others that came to be entertained. He was just testing the man because he wanted the man to overcome a hurdle.

See, sometimes in prayer we pray for something, and the Lord allows a hurdle because he wants you to press in. He wants you to keep praying. He wants you to keep praying, keep seeking, and keep knocking, and then the door will be opened. So Jesus finishes his talk, the guy waits patiently, and then when Christ is all done, the guy comes back to Jesus, and says, "Lord, would you come down before my child dies". Jesus says, oh buddy, listen, your son lives. You're good. You can go now. You see, he... Okay, whatever, I'll just wait. I'll wait till you're done, Lord. And then when the Lord is done, the Lord says, oh, your son's healed, 'cause you know what, you passed the test. You kept praying. Don't give up so quickly in prayer today. Keep praying. In fact, pray a whole lot more. Point number five. God wants to bless you even more than you want to be blessed. Let me say that again. God wants to bless you even more than you want to be blessed.

How many of you wanna be blessed today? Raise up your hand. You're crazy if you're not raising your hand. I wanna be blessed. Don't you? Guess what? God is not stingy with blessings. The Bible says, "It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom". God loves to bless you, and he wants to bless you, but he's waiting for you to pray. Check this out, Daniel 9, verse 21. Daniel says, "As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. He explained to me, Daniel, I've come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given, and now I am here to tell you what it is for you, for you are very precious to God". I love that. I love that it says that he came swiftly.

Are your prayers heard in heaven? Yes they are. Well why aren't they all answered quickly? 'Cause God has his timing, but sometimes he'll answer your prayers so quickly it'll make your head spin. You ever had that happen? You're so used to waiting, waiting, waiting. Lord, I just pray for this. Done, happened. Whoa, wow! Now you want it to be that way all the time, right? But sometimes the Lord says, yes. Sometimes the Lord says, wait. Sometimes the Lord says, no. Sometimes the Lord says, grow. Sometimes the Lord says, go. He has his answers that are appropriate, but pray about it, and that's what he did, and who is dispatched from heaven but Gabriel? And you know something is a big deal when Gabriel shows up. There's only three angels mentioned in the Bible by name, Gabriel, Michael, can you guess the other? Lucifer. No, there's no Raphael, sorry. That's tradition. Lucifer, Lucifer. Also known as the devil.

Now he is a fallen angel, so we don't really count him as an angel in that sense, but the two highest ranking angels are Michael the archangel and Gabriel. Maybe Gabriel's an archangel, I don't know. I know he's a high ranking angel. He's sort of like a five star general angel. So when Gabriel shows up, something big's coming down. So Gabriel shows up when? To tell Mary, you're gonna be the mother of the Messiah. Well that's a big announcement. I bet the angels all clamored to get that one. But Gabriel got it, and now Gabriel shows up and says, man, while you were praying, I was dispatched by God to you with an answer quickly, and God wants to bring a message to you as well. And I love what Gabriel says to Daniel. He says, and I want you to know something. "You are very precious to God".

Did you know that you're very precious to God? No I'm not. No, actually you are. But I'm not worthy. No, you're not worthy. You're not even close to worthy. In fact, you're the most unworthy sinner ever. Just like me. This is not about worthiness. This is not about merit. I wish we could move beyond this. That we don't approach God because we deserve to. We never deserve to approach God. We never will deserve to approach God, but God loves us, and we are beloved to him. You are loved by God. You're loved by God when you worship him. You're loved by God when you read his word. You're loved by God when you share the gospel. You're loved by God when you don't worship. And when you don't read your Bible. Even when you sin.

Now you're disappointing to God when you do that, but you're still loved by him. Our father who longs for fellowship, friendship, and relationship with each and every one of us. He doesn't want anything to sever or separate that communication even for a moment. We're beloved to God. Let me take it a step further. God the father loves you as much as he loves Jesus Christ his own son. Well I don't know about that. Where's that in the Bible? Okay, I'll tell you exactly, John 17, "And Jesus said," in John 17, to the father, "Father, may they know that you love them as much as you love me". It's true. He loves you as much as Jesus, because he loves you because of Jesus. He loves you because Jesus died in your place, and transferred his righteousness into your account, and you stand positionally righteous before God, not because you live a perfect life. You don't, I don't. But because Jesus did this for each of us.

You're loved by the father, and know this also, nothing will ever separate you from the love of God. Nothing or no one. Not height, nor depth, not angels, not demons, not any living creature, not our fears for today or our worries for tomorrow, nothing will separate us from God's love. Point number six, and this is my last point. If you wanna see a revival, let it start with you. Let it start with you. Oh it's so easy to point fingers. You know, if only the church did this more, and the pastor, if he would change that. You know, and here in America, the President this, and the Congress that, and the Senate over here, Hollywood, and if only, you know, how 'bout you? How 'bout let's just start with you? Yeah, maybe all those people need to change. But you know what, you pray about that. Start with you. Let revival begin with you.

Daniel said, I have sinned. I wonder how many of us would be honest enough to say this to the Lord today. I have sinned. You know, it's so easy, well they've sinned. We might even say, in the broad sense, we all have sinned, yeah, but how 'bout just I've sinned? Sins of commission, doing what I should not do. Sins of omission, not doing what I should do. This is where it all starts. This is where I say, I have sinned, and here's the good news. If you will confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive you your sin, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Coming back to an earlier point. We have to understand that God is right, and if we don't agree, we're wrong, right? Okay, what does the word confess mean? It means to agree with God. Agree with God, so if God and I are standing here right now and we're looking out there together at the sunset, and the Lord says, that's a beautiful sunset. I say, it sure is, Lord. You did an awesome job. Beautiful. See, we agree on something. And God says, I don't like what's happening over there, and I say, I agree, Lord. I don't like it either. I'm agreeing with God. That's what it means to confess. So God says, you've sinned. You've fallen short. I agree. I don't make up excuses. I don't blame it on the person next to me. 'Cause we're so quick to do that. It's my husband, my wife, and the dog, it's the cat. Always the cat, you know. It's you, it's you. It's me, it's me. It's us. Let us start with you. I think we should close in prayer. And I'd like to lead you in a prayer. I'm gonna ask you to pray a prayer with me. But don't pray it if you don't mean it. Let's all bow our heads.

Father, thank you for loving us. Thank you for the doorway to you through prayer. That's wide open through Jesus. Help us to walk through. And Lord, we want your forgiveness. We want revival, yes, in our country, yes, in the church, yes in our church, but Lord it needs to start with us. We want personal revival, so we're praying for that now.

Now I'm gonna ask you to pray a prayer, folks, and I'm gonna ask you to pray it out loud. And I'm gonna ask you to only pray this prayer out loud if you mean it. If you don't mean it, please don't pray it, but if you do, please do. If you want this revival we've talked about today. If you need to get right with God today, if there's some sin you need to confess today, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Just pray these words.

Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I confess my sin. I agree with you about sin. And I turn from it, and I repent of it, and I'm sorry for it. Lord I want to be an intercessor. I wanna pray for others. I wanna share the gospel with others. I want personal revival. So would you send it to me now? Revive me, Lord. Fill me, Lord. Use me, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Oh Father, you've heard those prayers. Your word tells us that our prayers rise like incense to heaven. They're pleasing to you. I pray this was pleasing to you. And Lord, I know you will answer this prayer, 'cause you've told us to call out to you. Answer this prayer, Lord. And bring this great awakening and revival to each of us, for we ask it now, in Jesus' name.