The Calm Before The Storm

I invite you to turn in the Bible this morning to the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 8. Revelation chapter 8. As sort of a follow-up to last week's message on the parable of the soils and the wheat and the tares. As you come toward the end of the year, there are a lot of themes that come to mind and Revelation 8 is one that stood out to me so I thought it would be appropriate at this time of year to consider Revelation 8. Let's give our attention this morning to God's Word. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before god from the hand of the angel then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth and there were peals of thunder rumblings flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood and these were thrown upon the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed the third angel blew his trumpet and a great star fell from heaven blazing like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water the name of the star is wormwood a third of the waters became wormwood And many people died from the waters because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet and a third of the sun was struck and a third of the moon and a third of the stars so that a third of their light might be darkened and a third of the day might be kept from shining and likewise a third of the night. Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead. Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow. And there ends the reading of God's word. Last week, we looked at the parable of the sower and the wheat and the tares. and we saw in that study that Jesus was explaining for them why the struggle was so great on the earth. He was giving them parables to explain that and to help them through discouragement, help them through why there was so little response to his word. These were parables that were immensely helpful for looking at things that way. And that workers in his vineyard, workers in his kingdom, like the Apostle Paul, have to share the very mentality that we bear all things for the sake of the elect. God has children that are coming in. God is saving to the ends of the earth. What's hard about that is the hardship that the believer will face in the interim until the Lord comes with the tares. It's a struggle. It's hard to understand that often when we look around and we see things that are happening and we think about what jesus described there in matthew chapter 13 that there were tares planted among the wheat and that these are children of the devil shocking stuff and that these children of the devil wreak havoc in the kingdom they persecute the righteous they martyr well jesus says that persecution is going to continue but one day the righteous will shine like the sun i love the ending of that well what does jesus expect of us in the interim then of you of his people as we face opposition that was a lot about kingdom workers and a lot about those who who sow the word and preach the word and give the word and how you are to hear the word that was one uh application to that we are to be good hearers of of god's word well what does he want the christian to do though in the midst of all the struggle that's going on in the midst of the struggle that everyone knows is intensifying right now everyone knows that i mean what are the leading issues of our day well i i prayed them the destruction of marriage the slaughter of millions of unborn babies the destruction of the family people given over to vile desires and pushing those vile desires on us so one pastor said the sinner's not even holding together anymore anarchy seems to be loosed upon the world The blood-dimmed tide has been loosed, he says. What are we to do? It was in this context of the coming judgment and the struggle on earth that Jesus said something very directly to his disciples and to his people about what they are to do. He said in the midst of all of this, men should always pray and not lose heart. You should always pray and not lose heart. Is prayer really powerful? Is it really? Is anything really going on when we pray? Does God act upon prayer? The big question this morning is this. does all of this chaos really demonstrate that god is even hearing how do you process that how do you process a world spinning what we think is out of control does that mean god's not hearing does that mean god's not answering if we're honest our prayer to the lord has been make all this evil go away hasn't it well sure but with that has been give us back a time in the u.s where morals were good where it was easier to live when things weren't so complicated and evil when our children weren't exposed to so much evil that mentality has has caused christians to be all the more discouraged because of the utopia that we once had is kind of being ripped away and we don't know how to process this well that's revelation that that's what revelation is given to help you understand that struggle this was a real problem for the early christians in the early church there was a real spirit of enthusiasm for years for roman rule there was a real spirit of enthusiasm i mean roman had rome had consolidated power they had this powerful empire many individuals were doing so well in rome economically prospering and they they had they had what was known as the the pax romana the peace of rome and guess what that promised for you exactly what the u.s promised for you peace and security that's what the pax romana promised rome was the gift to the world in providing for people those two things within the borders of the roman empire prosperity prevailed merchants made all kinds of money but the christians all of that for christians in as we come to the book of revelation all of that was beginning to be stripped away all of that because of their faith in other words christians were becoming more and more incompatible christianity was becoming more and more incompatible with being Roman persecution was impending they had taken stands as Christians and this is what Jesus dealt with with the churches in the first section of Revelation I'm calling them to take stands against idolatry and and pagan worship you can't do those things to follow through with the exclusive claims of Jesus and what was known now as the second great persecution was upon them in the roman empire peoples were expected to worship the emperor as god there were a pantheon of gods but listen his was the sole right of worship was claimed by the emperor domitian was one of the worst persecuting emperors in fact we know that he claimed divinity and was addressed as God and Lord. Can you imagine if President Obama wanted to be called that? Imagine that. Our president claimed to be divine, cast down Christ, demanded our worship, and said, if not, you're going to Guantanamo. Well, that's where John is. John's at Patmos. He was banished. He was booted out. He was a troubler to them. Well, I haven't known that. I haven't known anything like that. I haven't struggled like that. You know, that has not been my struggle here in the United States. What do you think might start happening if we Christians started facing things like that? Is it that far off? Well, if you were able to be Christian in Rome without any opposition for a long time and enjoy prosperity, believing Jesus is king, and then all of a sudden you're starting to see this be ripped all away, immorality's being praised, Caesar is exalting himself over Jesus with apparently no consequence, with apparently no consequence to doing that in the face of your Lord, that's greatly discouraging, isn't it? Sure it is. Well, welcome to the book of Revelation. Here it is. It gives an answer to that struggle. The purpose being that the Lord wanted to encourage a persecuted church not to lose heart. You want to know why Revelation probably hasn't been preached much in our day? It's because we haven't been a persecuted church in the United States. Revelation is going to take on a whole new meaning if that starts happening. Well, that's exactly why the book was put here. To not lose heart in what seems to be a great failure. In what seems to be a losing battle. Boys and girls, you could sum up. If you wanted to sum up what Revelation is all about, let me give it to you really clearly. Jesus is going to win. Write that down. That's my brilliant point today. He's going to win. That's what this book's about. Well, when we come to this answer in Revelation, He wants to encourage the persecuted church, especially now in chapter 8, not to lose heart. And so what he does in chapter 8 is give John a vision. And in this vision, heaven's door is open. And he gets a glimpse, an understanding, a vision of what the Lord is actually doing for his people. I believe the message of Revelation 8 is simple. Don't lose heart in whatever's happening and in whatever is going to come he's going to make everything right real soon so what we have in front of us this morning is the seven seal if you will the seven seals that are described back in chapter six uh you'll notice here if you turn back to chapter six are god's judgments on the earth and it's leading up to a final judgment to to describe the anticipation of that so what we have described is a is a picture here as we get to the seventh seal of revelation eight is jesus's readiness to come in judgment but everyone look at chapter six i want you to look at verse 12 of chapter six as we come to the sixth seal look what we read look what's there when he opened the sixth seal i looked and behold there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand? What a section, huh? What an encouraging section if you're being persecuted. But then we come to the seventh seal. Here's what we read in verse 1 of chapter 8. When He opened the seventh seal, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. What is that? What is that? Back in chapter 4, John described in this vision, was given this vision, It was a throne fixed in heaven. And there was one seated on the throne, the Lamb. And you'll know some of the favorite sections in Revelation to preach are Revelation 4 and 5, where it describes what's going on in heaven. What's going on in heaven is all this noise. It's all this noise going on right now in heaven around the throne and around the throne. All the angels are up there, the cherubim and the seraphim, they're flying, and they're gathered around the throne, and they're saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Noise, noise, noise in heaven. Praise, worship in heaven. All of a sudden, silence. Can you feel what that must have been like? Before a great storm strikes, you know how calm everything becomes. Not even leaves rustle. In fact, this phenomenon was so known, the phrase, the quotation, calm continueth not long without a storm was coined in 1576 before one of the greatest natural catastrophes that century had known. Calm continueth not long without a storm. You know this. Animals get really nervous before something big is about to happen. Don't they? You can see it on an animal. The imagery here is really powerful. Noise, praise, holy, holy, holy. The myriads of myriads are singing to the Lord. What just happened? Why'd they stop? Well, here's where the Old Testament helps us. Here's all of the struggle that had been presented to us throughout the Old Testament of a church in struggle on the earth and a church in pain and persecution and suffering and misery. For this brief period in heaven, silence. If you were to read throughout the Old Testament, what were the constant cries of God's people when they were in times of distress and pain? there was always one great struggle that God's people had to endure, one great mystery to them they didn't understand, one great confusion, one great discouragement often that they didn't understand most of all. And you see this in the Psalms. The Psalms pick this up. Why, oh Lord? How long, oh Lord? It's amazing how many times those questions are inspired in the Psalm. What it seemed to be was that God was not doing anything. The struggle being, why is He silent? Where is he? Why would he allow this stuff to go on? It had seemed for a period of time that God had abandoned them. I mean, listen to the cries. Do not keep silent, O God. Do not hold your peace. Do not be still, O God. Psalm 109. Do not keep silent. Notice how this keeps being emphasized. O God of my praise, For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me. They have fought against me without a cause. But I give myself to prayer. Why are you silent? What are you doing? This has always been a real struggle of God's people. Is He even doing anything? Is He even hearing us? haven't you struggled with the silence of God and as these awful things are are happening on the earth we're under attack here revelation in the midst of this opens up a vision for us and it gives us a interest into heaven and it shows us what the silence really means and you see the old testament was constantly showing that just before God was ready to break out of heaven just before God was ready to come out of His holy habitation, everything went silent. Everything. Zechariah 2. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation. Be silent, Zephaniah 1, in the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He's invited His guests. And it shall be, in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, I will punish. So think about the moment here. They're worshiping, they're singing, they're praising, and all of a sudden, hush of silence comes over heaven. And I'm thinking, what just happened? God's getting up. Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord. He's coming. What we feel as silence on earth is something that heaven itself experiences as it teaches us patience, as it's a preparedness, it's preparing for the Lord to come. And the vision here in Revelation 8 is designed to encourage us that our struggle of silence from God on earth, that God is not hearing us, that God's not doing anything in the midst of what is a world spinning out of chaos and what seems to be, as was described, blood martyred everywhere and people shedding and killing and just vile behavior and people giving over to all kinds of vile passions, that God's not doing anything about that. This is the answer to that. What I believe happened in heaven when everything went silent for a moment, for a half hour, is that God was being aroused out of his holy habitation. It's the way the scriptures describe it. He just stood up. We get a good picture of this from the life of Stephen. We celebrate his resurrection and his session on the throne where he takes his seat. Do you ever think of Jesus not seated? Remember what happened to Stephen in Acts 7? He's being stoned. Yeah, he's being stoned. He's being martyred for the faith. Unjustly. For speaking the truth. And he's crying out in prayer to the Lord. And do you remember what happened? Here's what he said. Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing. at the right hand of God. Jesus got up. As His saint was dying on earth, the imagery is He got up in heaven to receive Him in. That's remarkable, isn't it? One of His saints, one of His lowly saints, He stood up for. That's the effect of the silence. Everyone went quiet as He was aroused from His throne. what stirred him up? Why did he get up? Why the silence? What caused all this? Look at verse 2. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, with a golden censer was given with much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Seven angels are standing there and they're given trumpets. And you know what trumpets signified, didn't they? What was the history of trumpets in the Old Testament? Well, verse 6 tells us they had seven trumpets and they're about ready to sound. You know a lot about this, boys and girls. You know what this means. When Joshua led Israel into the land, what was the first obstacle, what was the first enemy they had to confront? Jericho. And God commanded them. He said, I want you to march around the city one day for six days and I want you to blow the trumpets when you do that and when you come to the seventh day you are to circle that city seven times and on the seventh circle remember what are you to do you are to blow the trumpet sound the trumpets and as they did that everyone shouted and the walls tumbled over of Jericho the purpose of the trumpets were to sound the alarm god's coming in judgment he's coming soon get ready says the lord i'm coming the trumpets were an announcement of that announcement of the impending judgment joel 2 blow a trumpet in zion sound an alarm on my holy mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming sure it's very near now I've gone through that here's the ultimate goal I have this morning here's where I hope it motivates you for what the Lord wants you to be doing John is seeing what is bringing this about in other words why is the Lord stirred up why are trumpets ready to blow why did everything go silent what does john see another angel comes having a golden censer he comes and he stands at the altar again all you understand revelation by its use of all the language of the old testament it's all put together and if you remember the tabernacle structure the altar was put right before the door to the entrance to the most holy place. Its incense would burn and it would fill with smoke the most holy place. And remember, into the curtains, we'll get to this when we get to Exodus, are woven cherubim all around. It was a mini replica of the throne room in heaven. And there were all the cherubim woven in and this altar of incense and the priests would come in and they would burn and it would flow right on into the throne room. Well, what is that? The smoke are your prayers. What is the Lord showing us here? The angel takes a censer full of incense and he mixes the prayers of the saints with the incense and it all ascends into the throne room. What just happened? all of your prayers imperfect as they are are here of course pictured as being um receiving intercession being incensed if you will and that smoke those prayers are going right on up into the nostrils of your lord if you will and the scriptures use that language it enters he smells it he hears it he receives it what is the lord showing you he's showing you the most encouraging thing you could ever be encouraged with in your struggle. Let me tell you what it is. Every single prayer, every single cry of his saint on the earth, of his elect that happens from his people in the struggle, in the fight, all the sighs that go on, all of the groanings that go on in your hearts over the abominations that are happening on the earth, all of the hurt, all of the injustices, all of the evil that you recoil at, all those sad things that we see all the martyrs all the hatred all the rivers that flow from your eyes because people hate god's law when you cry out to him he hears it the cries of 70 million martyrs since the day jesus went up into heaven that's how many are collected right now 70 million martyrs, 70 million people who have been put out by these tares in our midst. I receive it. I'm hearing it. All of the prayers of the saints are pictured, are represented here as entering into the throne room. I know intimately your cries he's saying. I hear them. I know your sufferings. I know your sorrows. I know your pains. Dear children, I hear. I see. And I want you to know something. The silence that you're experiencing on earth, all of that is preparation for me to come. The feeling that I'm not hearing, the feeling that your prayers don't get past the roof, the struggle that you feel that I'm absent, it's not true. Isn't that awesome? I hear you when you pray to me. It comes right up on in to my throne. You, individually. Think of the exodus. 400 years God's people cried out. You think they ever felt that God had abandoned them? You think they ever felt that God had given up on them? You think in all of their toil when they were hurting and in pain and in struggle and they just kept inflicting more pain on them and their children that they felt like giving up hope? And yet you come to Exodus, which we're about ready to go through. God tells Moses, I have heard. I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel. First thing he says to Moses, I've heard it. Whom the Egyptians hold in bondage. And I've remembered my covenant. It's the covenant of grace. so god heard their groaning god remembered his covenant with abraham with isaac and with jacob god looked upon the children of israel and god acknowledged them as soon as that happens so here's what we have everything went silent all the worship going on silence smoke goes up as soon as god received the prayers this is where it gets really exciting What does he do? Verse 5. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, splashes of lightnings in an earthquake. In the very place where your prayers were heard and received, he takes that censer, and he fills it with fire from the altar. Remember, God in his holiness is surrounded by fire. He's on fire. It's what the burning bush told you. So that even the angels, when they're in heaven, and you remember Isaiah 6 in the description, when they're wings, they have these three sets of wings, three to form a firewall around the throne so no one can see God, because if any of that glory got out, he would consume everything outside of it. The angels are pictured as forming a firewall around the throne. They have to cover their own faces and their own feet. Fire. He's on fire. In the very place where your prayers made it up in there, God just told you He heard them and then He answered. And He answered by taking fire and right back down on the earth. That's the imagery. You ever thought of it that way? god's not transforming the world god's judging it think of the first century there's this powerful roman empire and they're persecuting them and you've got emperors claiming to be god and here they don't know what to do roman society is facing all kinds of problems and all of a sudden now in rome they're starting to break down already What's going on? Scandals in the Senate. Monetary issues are starting to plague Rome. Their empire is starting to crumble already. Barbarians would sack it one day. And the Lord wanted Christians to know that all the problems that they're experiencing on earth, famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places, All the mess is the result of fire coming back down on the earth. From your prayers. He gets angry. And he fires back. And this is not just the world. If you've ever struggled with the state of the church, if you've ever wondered, you know, what in the world is going on? Well, if you have tares causing a lot of problems among the wheat and they're prevailing, judgment begins in the house of God. And if it begins here, it goes there. That's why the state of things are the way that they are. You have to look at this differently. We've got to reframe our thinking differently about what's going on right now. This is Psalm 18. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him. Notice, I'm praying, and he heard it. It came up to his ears, Psalm 18. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils. I think that's your prayers, by the way. devouring fire from his mouth, coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew. He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place. His canopy around him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire he sent out his arrows and scattered the flow the foe lightnings in abundance and he vanquished them and then he picked me up and he drew me out of those waters the lord reigns and is delivering us his people and revelation follows all this up by saying that there were these noises and thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes. These were the storm theophanies of God coming in judgment on this wicked world. That's the imagery here. And that's the perspective Revelation wants to give us through our struggle. Listen, God is calling us to see economic woe that we're experiencing. Dangers of worldwide turmoil. The present distresses are answers to your prayers. Jesus said this much in Matthew 24. Famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places. I want you to consider all of these like birth pains. You know what birth pains are like. They're hard. They hurt. Well, I don't know what they're like, but women know what they're like. They hurt. And that's his jealousy for his people. You ever notice how the kingdoms of the world and the U.S. has been the most guilty of this has done nothing but trying to build an everlasting kingdom? Of what? Peace and prosperity. And they can't do it. I mean, it's just one thing after another, and they just can't accomplish it. And no king ever throughout history has ever remained on the throne very long. They just keep getting toppled over and over. If you ever were to study the Roman emperors, these guys got toppled over left and right. No one ever stood because Jesus was judging kingdoms. And thousands and thousands of years of church history have told us of nothing but struggle in the kingdoms of this world. And they've shown you kingdoms toppled and kings toppled over. No one ever will ultimately last forever. And these are your answers. This is God preparing things for the ultimate judgment when the true king comes and the white throne is set in place. Now that message is hard for us if we're too tied to here. I understand that. It's hard for us, you know, it's not hard for a martyred people, but it's hard for us right now because we've been in this wonderful place of prosperity and blessing, which comes from Him. It's all from Him. But as you see it stripped away, you begin to struggle and it becomes a hard pill to swallow. But if we realize He is the one building us a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and that's not the United States, and you've come to grips with that and you've accepted that, it's a welcomed message. This is the most exciting news that the Lord has announced. And He wants you to know that He's protecting you. And the wickedness we see on the earth, He wants you to know it's under His judgment. And He's beginning to punish. All He has to do is pull up the restraint. What you've all enjoyed is a time of real restraint. And if He pulls it up, He pulls it up. If He puts the restraint back on and we have another time of real peace and prosperity, wonderful! But He's hearing your cries. and we need to remember that Revelation 8, it just assaults a post-millennial view. It assaults a certain view that he's going to, well, we'll get into other issues later. Here's what he's after. Moses, you tell those Egyptians, let my people go. That's what he's after. And the plagues that preceded that, or the plagues that would then follow that, remember all those plagues on Egypt? That's what the rest of Revelation 8 is here describing. These plague-like judgments that fell on the world of that time, the most powerful empire of the world at that time. Pharaoh's kingdom, he plagued it and he judged it. And there was God's people where? In Goshen. not one of them was lost not one of them was was was lost he protected them he loved them he cared for them he heard their cries he he had planned to deliver them he was getting off the throne and about ready to come down himself and put a canopy around them and pass them through even though pharaoh would come after him look what's the worst thing that could happen to you well you're martyred and then jesus gets up and you get to go to be with him so why do you fear that kind of perspective gives us a lot of hope and the greatest amount of encouragement not to lose heart and always pray i close with this you now understand why jesus said men ought always to pray and not lose heart. There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now, there was a little widow in that city. She came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while. This is not a nice man, not a good leader. But afterward, he said within myself, within himself, though I don't fear God nor regard man, yet because this The widow troubles me, I'll avenge her, lest by her continual coming to me she wearies me. And the Lord said, did you hear what the unjust judge did? He did it only because he was getting bothered by her continuing to come. And shall not God avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he bears long with them? Won't he do that for you? When you cry out, but he's bearing long, he's letting the bud grow, he's letting you flourish. I tell you, he will avenge them speedily. You're not bothering him when you talk to him. You're not making his heart burdened by troubling him. In other words, by just continuing to weary him. No, come to me, he says. I receive your prayers. Talk to me. I'll act. I tell you, he'll avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? That's a challenge. It's not going to be good before he comes. What a reason for you to pray and not lose heart. Don't be shocked at what happens to this sad world, beloved. Your history tells you that. God's always saved his people. God's always delivered his people. He's never lost one of them. And people have been through some pretty bad things throughout history. Think about how it all ended after God plagued the Egyptians. They get to the sea. Pharaoh comes behind with all of his mighty chariots. The children of Israel lift up their eyes. And what do they say? Behold, the Egyptians marched after them, so they were very afraid. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still. You don't have to do anything in this fight. I'll save you from all this stuff. See the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. Let my people go. And he pulled them out with a strong arm and a mighty hand. We need to long for that. And when we do, your prayers are going to be a little bit more transformed to say, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Men ought always to pray and not lose heart. I will avenge speedily. I will deliver you. Don't ever think that your prayers to me that come out day and night, I don't hear. I hear them. I will deliver you. Let's pray. What a treasure it is to pray to you, Lord. And to think that right now, all the angels in heaven that sing holy, holy, holy who have an interest in your salvation of your people here on earth who are amazed that you're even doing this. Go silent when they see you aroused in holy jealousy to deliver your people. We need this perspective and it encourages us to pray because we've been so negligent in this duty. We pray that you would save us. we pray that you would deliver us and our children. We pray that you would give us faith. We ask and pray today for a martyred church around the world that you would arise out of your holy habitation and save all of your people. And in all the injustices of this world and all the sad things that are happening and all the hatred of you, that you would act. We also know that in asking that, it means that a day is coming where we will see this sad world and the people in it no longer forever. And so we pray that while we still have to endure all of these things, that you would continue to save. That's why we're here. That you would bear long with your elect. That you'd bring them all in. And that you would encourage us to always pray and to not lose heart. thank you for hearing us and delivering your people in Jesus name we pray Amen