Well, welcome to 40 days of prayer. And if you'll take out your message notes. You know guys, we're living
in very unusual days. The economy is going really good, but nothing else is. I mean, the stock
market's at record levels, more people are in work
right now than in decades. The economy's humming
along, but I think we are experiencing material
prosperity and moral poverty. Because every week
there's another shooting. Another scandal or conflict or bigotry or opiod addiction epidemic. The news isn't very good. I was reading an article the other day, and one of the columnists said America needs a national healing. I agree with that. Of course Saddleback is
a multinational church and we have members in
Argentina and Germany. We have them in the
Philippines and in China. So we care about all
of those nations, too, because we have family there. But we do need healing in our nation, and we need healing in the world. But we need more than that. We need healing in our schools, we need healing in our businesses, we need healing in our government, we need healing in our
neighborhoods, in our communities, we need healing in our families. We need healing in our
lives, in our minds, in our hearts, in our bodies. And I just thought and
felt led by the Lord to this week for us in
the 40 days of prayer to be looking at how do you pray for healing and restoration. I'm talking about physical healing, but I'm talking about more than that, too. Healings of minds,
healings of relationships, healings of finances, and so many different areas
where there needs to be a restoration, there
needs to be a healing. What I wanna do is I wanna quickly explain how to pray for healing. Something you need to know. And then we're gonna pray for each other. About 3,000 years ago, God made a promise to King Solomon. And that promise still stands today because it's a promise
made to all his people. If you'll look at your
message notes, at the top of the outline, 2 Chronicles
chapter seven, verse 14, one of the very most important and well known promises in the entire bible. 2 Chronicles 7:14. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sins,
and I will heal their land. I want you to circle that word heal. I will hear from Heaven,
I will forgive their sins, I will heal their land. Now I wanna point out
a couple things before we actually tear this verse apart today in our study together. The first thing I wanna point out is that this is not a
promise for everybody. God didn't make this promise to everybody. But he says this, if my people, if my people. This is a promise for the people of God. Who are the people of God? Well, look up here on the screen. One day somebody asked Jesus that. And the bible says in Matthew
12 when Jesus was teaching the crowd, his mother and his brothers waited nearby to speak to him. By the way, some people don't realize Jesus had brothers and sisters. He was just the oldest. Now they were all half
brothers and sisters 'cause Joseph was the dad and God was the dad of Jesus. But it's very clear,
we even have the names of Jesus' brothers and sisters. So Mary had children. It's real clear, they're in the bible. In fact, one of Jesus'
half brothers named James became the leader of
the church in Jerusalem and wrote a book in the
bible, and it's called James. (congregation laughing) Hmm, his half brother. So Mary certainly had
kids, it's in scripture. Now let's go back to that. While Jesus was teaching the
crowd, his mother and brothers waited nearby to speak to him. So they're standing at
the edge of the crowd. Somebody told Jesus, your
family wants to talk to you. And Jesus asked, who's my family? He always turns everything
into a teaching incident. Then pointing to his followers he said, these people are my family. Anybody who obeys my Father in Heaven and does his will, does the Father's will, is my brother and my sister and my mother. So question. Have you done what the Father said? And the Father said
was to receive his Son. If you accepted Christ into your life, if you have followed him, if
you've become his follower, his disciple, guess what,
you're in the family. You're in the family. So this verse is a promise for you. If my people, you're his people. If you know the Lord, you're his people. It's not a promise for everybody, but it is for God's people. Now the second thing I want you to notice, he says if my people who
are called by my name. I wonder if you are ever
embarrassed to identify yourself as a disciple. Wonder if you're ever embarrassed
to say I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Jesus. I'm a disciple of Christ. If my people who are called by my name. You know, everybody else is
bold about their beliefs today. But a lot of Christians, they don't say a word at
the office, nobody knows. Everybody remember Lady Clairol? I don't even know if they
still have that anymore. (congregation laughing) But it was like one of the
original dyes for your hair, and it was the Lady Clairol,
only her hairdresser knows for sure. Do you remember that? If you do, you're incredibly old, go home. Okay (chuckles). There are no Lady Clairol Christians, only God knows for sure. There are no secret agent Christians. The bible says let everyone
who nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity, and the bible says if you're a believer,
then you need to be called by his name, you need to
stand up, you need to say I'm a Christian, I'm a believer,
I'm a follower of Christ. And he says if my people
who are called by my name. Look back up here on the screen. The bible says this in Mark. Jesus was talking, if
anybody's ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and immoral generation, I'll be ashamed of him when I return in glory with all my angels. I don't want that for you. I don't want that for
anybody in our church. That you are ashamed of Christ,
to be called by his name in this day and age. And Jesus said, well,
I'll be ashamed of you if you're ashamed of me. Now the third thing I want you to know, as we're just getting
started, it says if my people who are called by my name, and then he gives four conditions. And he says if you humble
yourself and you pray and you seek my face and you
turn from your wicked ways, then I'll hear from Heaven,
then I'll forgive your sins, and then I'll heal you,
I'll heal your land. The point here is that with
every promise there's a premise. There are conditions, and
there are conditions here. He says I'll do this, but
here are the conditions. Here are the premises before the promise. And there are four conditions
of healing and restoration. Now I don't know what you
need restored in your life. Maybe you need your marriage restored. Maybe you need your dream restored. Maybe you need your body
restored, maybe you need your health restored or
your finances restored. I don't know what needs
healing in your life, but the principles in this
passage apply to every area of healing and restoration. So if you'll do what he says
to do here and you fully understand it, you can expect,
God says if you do this, I will do that. So let's get right into it, okay? Number one, here's the
first condition for healing and restoration in any area of your life. Number one. I admit I'm not in control. I admit that I'm not in control. And what is that called,
that's called humility. It's saying God is God and I'm not. God is God and I am not. The first condition for
healing, for restoration in your life, if my people
will humble themselves. Humility is the first step to healing. What's he saying here? So you know, I don't
approach God arrogantly. I don't come to God proudly
or I don't come to God flippantly, I don't come
to God disrespectfully. Hey, man, how's it going,
man upstairs, big daddy. I don't make demands in prayer. God, you have to do this. God is not your genie,
God is not my genie. We've talked about this many times. I don't come arguing,
demanding, being arrogant. It says I come humbly. If my people who are calling me by name will humble themselves. By the way, did you know
that in the scripture, never are you ever commanded
to pray for humility. So you don't ever need to pray for it. The bible doesn't ever tell
you, God, please humble me. Really, you don't wanna
ask him to do that. It's humiliating. You are never to pray,
God, humble me, why? Because humility is a choice. Humility is something you do to yourself. God doesn't do it to you,
you do it to yourself. Humility is a choice. And so instead of saying
pray for humility, it just says humble yourself. It's something you do, and
over and over in scripture, it says instead of pray
for humility, it says humble yourself, humble yourself, humble yourself, humble yourself. It says it over and over and over in the Old Testament and
in the New Testament. Humility is a choice. You say, okay, well if
that's the first condition for something to be restored in my life or something to be healed in my life, I wanna know three things. What is humility? What does it look like? How do I develop it? How do I show God my
humility, how do I do that? Well, I'm glad you asked,
'cause I made a list. (congregation laughing) This is gonna surprise you. What is humility and how do you show it? You don't try to write all these down. If you like this list, write
me, pastorrick@saddleback.com, I'll mail 'em to you this week. Here's 12 ways to show humility, real humility every single day. Number one, confess your sin to God the moment you realize it. So you're sitting there and
you say something wrong. You're angry, prideful,
jealous, or whatever. You go, God, that was wrong, I'm sorry. That's humble, that's humble. That's humility. When you keep short accounts with God, you don't wait until the end of the week to have a pile of garbage,
you have to say, Lord, I got to take out the garbage now. No, you take it out the moment you do it. God, that wasn't right, I'm sorry. And you just say it to God. You confess your sin the
moment you realize it. Number two, humility is forgiving quickly. If you don't know how to forgive
quickly, that's prideful. If you carry grudges, that's prideful. Humility is forgiving quickly. You never hold on to a grudge. Humble people are forgiving quickly. Number three, when
you're treated unfairly, be quiet and patient and don't retaliate. That's real humility. You are most like Christ, I am most like Christ when I refuse to defend myself against false accusation. When people attack you,
when people say mean things about you, when people say
stuff that's untrue about you and you don't say a word,
the bible says that Jesus did this, he was perfect,
and yet he was maligned, he was misled, he was
accused of all kind of stuff. They put him on a cross
for stuff that wasn't true. And the bible says when they stood before the governor, Pilate, and others, it says he spake not a word unto them. I am most like Christ when I absorb the attacks. You are most like Christ
when you absorb the attack. That's humility. Number four, when you look
for ways to serve others instead of expecting to be
served, that's humility. When you accept criticism
and correction graciously, that shows God your humility. When you don't fight to get
the best seat or the best table or the best parking spot, that's humility. Intentionally being
friends, befriending people who have no status or who can't help you or who are overlooked by society. That's humility. Where you intentionally
build relationships and build friendships
with people who don't, can't, won't serve you. Maybe they're the unpopular person in the office or at school. But you do that, that
is a mark of humility. Humility is being respectful
to the authorities in your life, even the bad ones. This stuff's not easy, is it? I'm not giving you an easy list. Humility is when you pick up
the trash wherever you find it. Humility is when you
leave a public restroom cleaner than when you found it. The little things, the stuff
that nobody else will see, God sees that. That's humility. When you admit your
weaknesses and your sins to a few safe people. You don't have to tell everybody. But revealing your feelings,
the beginning of healing, we've talked about that many times. And when you're able to say,
you know, I'm not good at this, I'm weak at this, and this
is my sin, and here's where I'm struggling, and this is my temptation. If there was more confession
of temptation in small groups, there'd be less need
for confession of sin. It would get stopped sooner. That's humility, when you could admit what you're struggling
with in a small group or with a close friend. When you always speak well of others. You never use putdowns,
you never use putdowns. You never stoop to the level
of people who put you down. That's humility. When, number 12, you
pray for your enemies. Are you kidding me? Jesus said it. Those people you really don't like, the people you vote against, the people who you walk the
other way when you see 'em. Pray for your enemies,
bless those who hate you. That's 12 marks of real humility. Now why would anybody live like that? It's hard. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. Humility is you're so busy
focused on God and helping other people, you don't
even think about yourself. If I go into a party and I
walk in and I start thinking how do I look to everybody, who am I focused on, me. That's pride. When I walk into a party
and I go in here and I go who needs encouragement? Who could probably use a
word of encouragement today? That's humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, I'm bad, I'm no good, I'm
nothing, I'm zero, I'm zip. No, that's false humility. Humility is you're so busy
focused on God and other people, you don't just even think about yourself. You're natural, you're normal, 'cause you're focused on everybody else. Now that's a hard way to live. Why would anybody do that? Because of what God does when you do that. And God says if you humble yourself, there are many, many, many,
many promises in scripture. God... I'd just say it this way. Humility is a big deal to God. It's a lot bigger deal than you realize. Humility is not false. I'm nothing, I'm zero. You can be confident and
humble at the same time. You're just not focused on you. But God loves humble people. Let me give you five things
God'll do in your life if you'll work on this, write these down. If I'm humble, God will guide me. If I'm humble, God will guide me. You ever going, I don't know what to do. I don't know what step I should take. I don't know whether I
should get in or get out. I don't wanna hold on or let go. When you don't know which way to turn and you're confused, get humble. If I'm humble, God will guide me. Psalm 25:9, God leads the
humble in the right way and he teaches them his will. You wanna know God's will? God's will is not given
to prideful people, arrogant people, self-sufficient people. The humbler you are, the
more God will guide you, the fewer mistakes you'll make in life. That's a benefit, let me
give you a second benefit. If I'm humble, God'll not
only guide me, he'll bless me. He's promised this all through scripture. I just gave you one verse right there. Isaiah 66 verse two, I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts. God doesn't bless ego trippers. God doesn't bless prideful people. God doesn't bless people who secretly think they're
better than everybody else. No, he says I'll bless
those who have humble and contrite hearts. Number three, if I'm
humble, God'll give me the power to change. If I'm humble, God will
give me the power to change. You know what the power to change is? One word, it's called grace. Grace is the power to change. You need grace to make
changes in your life. And there's stuff in your
life you'd like to change but you can't, you've tried. You won't. The only way you're gonna get changed is with the grace of God. Well, how do you get the
grace of God in your life, the power you need for change? Well he says, James 4:6,
God opposes the proud, but God gives grace to the humble. The more humble you are, the
more grace God gives you. The more proudful you are,
the more on the opposite side you are, and you're gonna lose that battle 'cause your arms are too
short to box with God. God opposes the proud. Every time I'm prideful, I'm
on the opposite side of God. I don't wanna be there,
you don't wanna be there. But every time I'm humble,
God gives me the grace that I need, and what's that,
that's the power to change. He says I'll guide you, I'll bless you, I'll give you grace. Number four, if I'm humble, God says I will relieve your stress. When I am humble, my stress goes down. When I'm prideful, my
stress goes up, it's true. And Jesus says in Matthew
11:29, take the yoke that I give you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and I'm humble. See, Jesus is humble. And he says, and I will
restore the deep rest for your soul. The deep rest for your soul. Wouldn't you like that, the
deep rest for your soul? How do you get deep rest
for your soul when you think I'm all dried up, I got nothing to give, I've got nothing left in me. The faucet, I'm tapped out, it's gone. I'm at the end of my rope, I'm
ready to throw in the towel. All those expressions. How do you get the deep
rest you need, humility. Look at that, take my yoke, learn from me, 'cause I'm humble. And he says if you learn from me, he said, then it will restore
deep rest in your soul. So humility begins with
admitting I'm not in control. God, you're God, and I'm not. In just a minute I wanna sing
that song again, you guys, Lord I Need You, because that's
exactly what humility is. But write this down because
this is what that song's about. Number two, the second
key is ask God for help. If you need something
in your life restored, if you need something in your life healed, first, admit I'm not in
control, humble myself. I can't do it on my own. And second, I ask God for help. How do you do that? If my people will pray. If my people will pray. I ask God for help. And when I ask God for help, I realize I'm not waiting on God,
he's been waiting on me. You know, whatever you've
wanted restored in your life, have you been praying about it? Have you been asking God
for that kind of help? He says, I'll give it to you. And he says I'll give you the
kind of help that you need. Now the truth is, for
many people, healing, asking God for healing, God,
I need healing in my body, I need healing in my mind, I
need healing in my marriage. Healing is a scary thing
to a lot of people. So how do you do it, how
do you pray for healing? Let me just give you a couple tips. So write these down. Let me give you four
or five tips right here on how do I say, Lord, I need you. How do I say that? Well, you're first gonna need
some confidence to do this. So let's look at this verse. John chapter 16, Jesus says
this in verse 23 and 24. Jesus said, I tell you
the truth, my Father will give you anything you ask. My Father will give you
anything you ask for in my name. And until now, Jesus says,
you haven't asked for anything in my name, ask. I want you to ask. You know, over 20 times
in the New Testament you are commanded by God to ask in prayer. He says it over, ask and you'll be given, seek and you'll find, ask
anything, ask everything. Ask and you'll receive so that your joy will be the fullest joy possible. Now that verse gives us the first two tips in how to pray for healing. I hope you're writing this down. Okay, here's the first thing you do when you wanna pray for healing. First thing is remember,
Jesus wants me to ask. That'll give you confidence. Whatever you've got going on in your life, you know, well, I don't know
if I should pray for this. Jesus says ask, and
look what he says there, he says ask anything. Ask anything in my name, he says remember that I want you to ask, it's his idea. Have you ever thought about this? We've been talking about
prayer for over a month now. Why does God want you to
ask for stuff in prayer? Why does he do that? The reason God wants you
to ask for stuff in prayer is that's the only way you're
gonna learn how to trust him. It's like with a parent and a child. How's a child learn to trust a parent? The child has a need. Then the child expresses the
need, usually through crying. The parent hears the need. The parent meets the need. The child trusts the parent. And that's done thousands and
thousands of time growing up. That's how a child
learns to trust a parent. I have a need, I admit a
need, I express the need, parent hears the need,
parent meets the need, trust. Repeat again. Same is true with your Heavenly Father. If you're not asking go for anything, you're not learning how to trust him. If you're not asking God for anything, if you're not saying, Lord,
I need you, I need this, you're not asking him,
you're not trusting him. So in this verse he says first Jesus wants me to ask, and second thing, here's the second tip, ask in Jesus' name. He says ask in my name. In other words, on the basis of what Jesus paid for on the cross. Jesus paid for everything
you need on the cross. It's like if you were to
walk into a fancy restaurant and you'd have had no
way of getting in there and you didn't know anybody
but you knew the owner, and the owner said just flash
my name when you walk in. They say, I come in the name of Bob. Oh, come right in. I come in the name of Bob. There's some places you could use my name, it'll get you in. There's some places you use
my name, you get kicked out. (congregation laughing) But when you come in the
name of Jesus to the Father, you got instant access. So I realize Jesus wants me to ask, and I realize, so I
don't need to be reticent or hesitant to pray for healing of my body or anything else. He says I want you to ask,
ask anything in my name. Now I know what some of you saying. You've got an objection. Excuse me, Rick, I don't get everything I pray for. What's wrong with this verse? All right, let's just take
it one step at a time. First, you say I don't get
everything I pray for, what's up? Okay, look closely at
that verse right now. Do you see the word
everything in that verse? No, you see the word anything. What that verse says is
you can ask for anything. It doesn't say I'll give you everything. Big difference between
anything and everything. Does that make sense? Jesus says I don't want you worrying about is this okay to pray for or not. He says, you can pray for anything. I'll figure out whether it's legit or not. So if you trust God, you say, God, you told me to pray for anything. Okay, here, I'm gonna pray for this. God'll figure out whether that's
best for you at this time, it's part of his plan for this time. He doesn't say I'll give you everything. He says you can ask anything. I'll figure out which of these are legit, which of these should be done right now or not, so go ahead and ask. He says he'll sort it out in his plan. And the next verse there on your outline gives us two more tips. In James five he says, is
any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. We were doing that earlier. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. And the Lord will raise him up. And if he's sinned, he'll be forgiven. All right now, here's the
third tip about how to pray for healing based on that
verse, write this down. I'm sorry, I didn't give
you a lot of room this week. Third tip in praying for healing. Get other people to pray with you. That's important. Now it doesn't have to be
elders, here it's using elders. But anybody in our church
could pray for you. Any believer could pray
for you, for your healing. And by the way, we covered this when we covered he
anoints my head with oil. But there's no healing power in oil, but it is a beautiful
symbol of the Holy Spirit. And so it's fine. If you wanna anoint somebody
with oil, anoint 'em with oil. It's a symbol of God's
presence and spirit. There's nothing magical about it. You don't have to have an
elder, just get somebody to be with you and pray with you. After this service, there's
gonna be people out on the patio praying individually
and anointing with oil. We did this about a year ago. And the lines were long and
they went for about an hour. And thousands of people got
prayed for an anointed with oil. We're gonna do it again
every service this weekend. I don't know where you need restoration. I don't know where you need healing. But this is the time to
take advantage of somebody praying for you and
anointing you with oil. We're gonna do it after this service and every other service. Well, you say, do you
have to have a pastor, no. You have to have like 10 people? No, you could do it with one. Look at this verse up here on the screen. Jesus said, I tell you if just two of you on Earth agree together about anything, there's that word again,
anything you ask for, it doesn't say everything,
it says anything you wanna ask for, agree on it,
it will be done for you by my Father in Heaven. He says, oh, you only need two. You don't have to have like
50 people praying for you. Fine, get 50 people praying for you. He says you could have two
people, just one other person. That verse that we just
read in James where he says and the prayer of faith will
make the sick person well, that's the fourth tip,
believe and expect an answer. If you wanna pray for
healing for somebody, this is how you do it. Remember Jesus wants me to
ask, ask in Jesus' name, get other people to pray with you, and believe and expect an answer. He says the prayer of
faith offered in faith will make the sick person well. Then there's one other tip,
and it's in this next verse, Ephesians 5:18, and it says there pray in the spirit at all times with all kinds of prayer asking for all that you need. To do this, you must always be ready, never give up. Always pray for all God's people. Are you seeing all the alls in this verse? All the all, you might circle 'em all, all the alls and all the always. Pray all the time, all kinds of prayer for all you need, always
be ready, always pray for all God's people. Circle the alls and the always. That's tenacity, and that's the fifth key to praying for someone's healing. Keep on praying till
God tells you to stop. You don't pray one time and
then say, well, forget that. You just keep praying
and you keep praying, keep praying because
God's timing is perfect. You don't know when it is. Sometimes God does a
restoration instantly. Sometimes he does it in an
hour or a day or a week. Sometimes he takes years. God is responsible for the answer. We're responsible to ask, all right? So if you need healing
in any area of your life, you need restoration, first
I admit I'm not in control. And I evidence my humility
in all those different ways we talked about, and
then I ask God for help. And I'm not worried about it, I'm bold 'cause Jesus tells me to ask. 'Cause that's what he wants to hear. He wants to hear you say, God, I need you. He goes, I know, but I want you to say it because everything in the whole
universe I planned for you. And if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves. God, I am not in control,
you are, I'm not. You're God, I'm not. Will humble themselves and pray, God, I need your help. I need you, oh, I need you. Then we come to the third
premise for the promise. If my people will humble
themselves and pray, and number three, seek my face. Write this down, third key. Seek God, not a miracle. I seek God, I seek God's
face, not a miracle. It's okay to want a miracle, that's fine. It's okay to want healing and restoration. But that's not what you seek. If my people will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, not seek a miracle, not seek a sign, not seek a healing, not seek prosperity, not seek a thousand other gifts of God. Stop seeking the gift and
just go, God, I want you. I want you, I wanna know you. And when you seek God, you get everything else. But God is not a vending machine. And there are, unfortunately,
many millions of Christians today who spend all their
time seeking what God has to give 'em and nothing
in seeking God himself. If my people will seek my face. Seek him, not merely the blessing. If my people will seek my face, Lord. What does that mean, it means, Lord, whether I get the answer I
want or not, I wanna know you. Whether I get the healing
that I want or not, whether I get the
restoration I want or not, whether I get the answer I want or not, I am seeking you. And as I come to you, if I don't get what I
think is best for me, I'm gonna be satisfied with what you think is best for me, and out of this whole ordeal, coming out of my pain in the divorce, coming out of my pain
in the loss of a child, coming out of a miscarriage, coming out of being laid off or whatever, I'm seeking you, not the
blessing, not the gift, not the miracle, I'm seeking you. I wanna know you, God. Proverbs 8:17. God says, I love those who love me and those who seek me, they find me. Hebrews 11:6, God rewards
those who earnestly seek him, circle the word earnestly. This is not some casual pastime. It's not like I'm gonna seek
you in my spare moments. After three TV shows, I'll seek you. After I do my social media, I'll seek you. Like you're the low priority. No, this is a serious pursuit. Who earnestly seek him, it's
the primary focus of my life. God, I gotta know you 'cause you made me to know you. You don't become an Olympic
athlete in your spare time. You gotta seek it. You gotta earnestly seek it. Years ago, my brother played
golf, so I played golf 'cause he played it, I hate golf. (congregation laughing) It's the only game you
can play your entire life and never get any better at it. (congregation laughing) Why would I do that game, huh? People say, you play golf? Well, I played at it. A big difference. But you say, why did you play at it? 'Cause I wasn't willing
to invest the time. It's real simple, I just wasn't
willing to invest the time. And to be a pro at anything
requires intensity. You wanna be a pro at prayer,
you gotta invest the time. You wanna be a pro at knowing God, you gotta invest the time. I gotta earnestly seek him. What does God want from me? More than anything else,
what does God want from you? He just wants you to seek him. God, I really wanna get to know you. Look up here at the screen. The Lord, Psalm 14, verse two. The Lord looks down from Heaven
on the entire human race, and he looks to see if there's even one with real understanding, just one who seeks for God. What is he saying about that verse? He's saying, you know, the fact is, most of my children
really don't even seek me. It's really rare to find
somebody who's earnest about seeking God. We want just enough of
God to bless us, but not to change us. Deuteronomy, the bible
says this in chapter four. If you seek the Lord
your God, you'll find him if you look for him with all your heart, that's the key, and with all your soul. And when you are in distress and these things have happened to you, you will return to the Lord
your God and you'll obey him, for he's a merciful God
and he will not abandon or destroy you. If you're stuck in a cycle
and year after year after year you feel like I'm not getting any better, I'm just kinda stuck, I'm in neutral, and I wasn't any better
last year, I'm not sure I'm gonna be any better this next year. Same situation, relationship still stinks and my habits still are
not where I want 'em to be. You're stuck in that cycle. It's 'cause you're not
seriously seeking God. You gotta seek him with all your heart. And you know what, if you'll do that, it's kinda like humility. God loves the humble, but God goes overboard
for people who seek him. He will bless your socks off. We'll go to the next verse. Seek first his kingdom, his righteousness, and all these other things
will be given to you as well. There's almost nothing
God won't do for the woman or the man that are
genuinely seeking God first. Almost nothing. Everything else, he says,
I'm gonna take care of it. It's so rare to find somebody
who's truly seeking me. Other people are seeking
blessings from me, miracles from me, signs from me. But these people actually
just wanna know me. You say, well, how do I do that? Well, go back and listen
to the message last week where I talked about how
to pray throughout your day using the seven phrases
of the Lord's Prayer. That's a way to seek God. You can listen to it online
again, review those notes. Shows you how throughout the day, how to seek God throughout the day. If my people will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face, then he
gives us the fourth premise for the promise. And turn from their wicked ways. Now what in the world does that mean? I'll heal you, but you gotta, number four, turn from the wicked ways. Write this down, turn my attention, write this down, turn my attention from the world to the word. I turn my attention from the world to the word. Now I need to define two terms here, the word turn and the word wicked. Because I think we've got
a lot of misunderstandings about this, he says the
fourth premise for the promise is turn from their wicked ways. Okay, first let's start with
wicked ways, wickedness. Hmm, what do you think of
when I say the word wicked? You might think of the Broadway play. I wanna be popular. Wicked, what do you think of? What most people think of
when we say the word wicked, they think of evil,
really bad and evil stuff that other people do. Assassinations, that's
evil, that's wicked. Sexual rape and abuse, that's wicked. Genocide, that's wicked. Extortion, that's wicked. Murder, torture, that's wicked. And our idea of wicked is Hitler and the extreme of evil. Let me give you a little
bit different definition of wicked. What does the bible say? You might write this down, definition. Wickedness is forgetting God. Wickedness is just forgetting God. Anytime I forget God, that's wicked. 'Cause you were made to
be in fellowship with God. He loves you, he wants
you to love him back. He knows you, he wants you to know him. Wickedness is not all those other things, it's forgetting God,
and when we forget God, we do all kinds of other stuff. And when a society forgets God, society does all kinds
of other wicked stuff. But it's really about forgetting God. Look up here on the
screen, Isaiah 17 verse 10. You have forgotten. You've forgotten the God who saves you, and you have not remembered that God is your place of safety. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's your place of safety? What has been your place of safety? God says I'm your place of safety, but you've just forgotten that. And some of you, you
think your place of safety is your bank account. And some of you think it's your boyfriend, and some of you think it's
something else, whatever. But God says I'm your place of safety. I'm gonna protect you, you're my child, you're my son, you're my daughter. And what you've done is you've forgotten. I've got a message I been holding on. I was gonna do it a couple
weeks ago on prayer and memory. And I studied all through the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation,
every verse on forgetting and remembering, and
there are a lot of things God says I want you to forget. But there are a lot of things God says I want you to remember. And one of the things he says,
when you've forgotten me, that's wicked. Okay, now what about turn? Turn from my forgetting God. Well, the turn, that word in Hebrew, it's the Old Testament,
literally means return. It means bring back, it means repent, it's the word for repent. It says you don't just turn
away from the bad stuff, you turn to the good stuff. In the bible in the New Testament, it's the Greek word metanoia. Meta means to turn, and
noia is the Greek word for noose, which means your mind. It means to flip your mind, to change your mind. Repentance, that's the
word metanoia in the bible. Repentance simply means change your mind. I used to think about God this way, now I think about God that
way, that's repentance. I used to think about... I thought that was good,
now I think this is good. I used to value that, now I
value this, that's repentance. I used to think God was this,
now I think God is this. I change my mind about life. I change my mind about success, I change my mind about what matters, I change my mind about the past, my past, I change my mind about the future, I change my mind about love, I change my mind about what matters most. That is repentance. I am turning my attention. Now most people, they think
of the word repentance, they think of a negative word. When you say the word
repentance, you think of like a guy on the sidewalk with a street sign and he's got long
scraggly hair and a beard and it says turn or burn. You're gonna die and fry
while we go to the sky. (congregation laughing) No, no, that's not repentance. Repentance is not a negative term. Repentance is the most
positive term in history. When I repented, I turned from guilt to forgiveness, that was a good deal. When I repented, I turned
from darkness to light. I turned from no purpose to purpose. I turned from hopeless
despair to hope for eternity. I turned from bitterness to love. It was the most positive
change in my life. If I had known how
positive it is to repent, I would've done it years earlier. It's not like somebody who's
trying to give me cancer. I wish I had known it
and understood it sooner, to turn from darkness to light, from meaninglessness to meaningfulness, from a life that is shallow
to a life that is significant, that's repentance. It's the most positive
change you can make, to turn away from Hell to Heaven, from Satan to God. From no love to the love of the Father that will never, ever end. So when he says turn
from their wicked way, he's saying I want you
to turn away from that to turn over here, change your attention. Change your attention, metanoia. Let me wrap it up. Look up here at the screen, Acts 3:19. The bible says repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. Anybody like that? I like that part. And so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. I bet you probably need some times of refreshing in your life. You may need some times of refreshing in your career. Our nation needs a time of refreshing. How do we get it, repent and turn to God so your sins may be wiped out. Times of refreshing come from the Lord. Last two verses, Proverbs 28. If you hide your sins,
you're not gonna succeed. But if you confess 'em and you reject 'em, you're gonna receive mercy. What are you pretending
isn't a problem in your life? What are you pretending isn't a sin? Anything we've learned from politicians, and we haven't learned
much, but we have learned that coverup is worse than the sin. It just makes it worse. Just makes it worse. If you hide your sins,
you will not succeed. But if you confess and reject them, you're gonna receive mercy. Therefore, James 5:16, confess your sins to each
other, pray for each other so that you may be what? - [Congregation] Healed. Circle that word, healed. It all starts with confession. You might write down there, I need others to help me change. That's why we have support groups. That's why we have recovery groups. It's why we have small groups,
it's why we have every kind of possible group you could imagine, 'cause you need other
people to help you change. Confess your sins to each
other, pray for each other, and you will be healed. If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn, repentance,
from their evil ways, their wicked ways, I've
stopped forgetting God. Then three things, I
will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land. Let's bow our heads. Folks, this isn't rocket science. It's pretty easy to understand. God just lays it all out. The real issue is will we do it. Will you take these steps
right now, in your mind, in your heart? Would you start, if my people
will humble themselves, would you say, God, I wanna
admit I'm not in control. I've acted like it, but I'm not. I've tried to run the
shots and call the shots, and it just isn't working very well. And the harder I try to control things, the more out of control everything gets. And so today I humble myself, and I'm asking you to
guide me and bless me and give me the power to
change and relieve my stress and all of those things that come if I walk humbly before you. That list of humble actions
doesn't look very easy to do. So God, I'm asking you to help me to be quiet in the face of criticism, to pray for my enemies, to immediately confess my sin to you and all those other things. And you said, Lord, if
my people will pray, I'm asking for help. Thank you for thinking
up the idea of prayer. I don't even have to worry
about is this good prayer or not, you just said ask anything and you'll sort it out. I thank you that you don't put me down for saying stupid prayers. You just want me to talk to you. Teach me to pray all the
time, all kinds of prayer, asking all that I need,
to always be ready, and to always pray for all God's people. To be tenacious. And Lord, I wanna seek you. If my people will seek my
face, forgive me for the times I have not sought your face, I've just sought your blessing. You've said that those who
seek you will find you. I want to find you. And in this next year,
I wanna be closer to you than ever before. Help me to turn my attention
away from the world to the word. And as I do these things, I ask you to hear my prayer from Heaven. I ask you to forgive my sins. And I ask you to heal me, my heart, my body, my mind, my relationships, my fears, my bad habits, my bad attitudes, my bitterness. Heal my anger. Heal my impatience. I wanna be like you, Lord. You're humble. And I humbly ask this because
Jesus already paid for it. And I pray it in his name. Amen. Thanks for checking out this
week's message on YouTube. We would love to get you connected with our online community. There's three easy ways
to get you involved. First, learn about belonging
to our church family by taking class 101 online. Second, you can join an online small group or a local home group in your area. And third, check out our Facebook group to engage with our online
community throughout the week. To take these next steps,
visit saddleback.com/online or shoot me an email at
online@saddleback.com. I hope to hear from you soon. (upbeat music)
