Does Prayer Really Work? — Three Honest Questions About Prayer

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Wednesday evening service, September 9, 2026 Prayer · James 5:16-18 · Ezekiel 36:37 · James 4:2-3 · Numbers 23:19 · Jonah 3:10 · Isaiah 38:5 · Psalm 66:18

► Watch this lesson on video (50:50)

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Now I gave you a little bit of a teaser this past Sunday. The written part of this - the transcript, however we want to look at it - is already on the church website, and there are twelve more lessons behind it, scheduled one a week. The printed part is coming out first . . . the preaching, I think, is due to start sometime after Thanksgiving. So tonight is kind of a teaser for what those lessons are about - does prayer really work? We are going to talk about three honest questions about prayer, and what the Bible tells us.

Every one of us that has ever knelt down and offered a prayer - if you are like me - has surely wondered these three things. First of all, preacher, does prayer REALLY work? And secondly, well, if prayer does work . . . HOW does it work? And thirdly - and I had to think about this one - when I pray for something to change, do we really change God’s MIND?

Now these are not questions that mean we are weak in the faith. They are the questions of people who actually PRAY . . . and there is no reason to shy away from a single one of them.

The one point of our lesson tonight is this - and how many times am I going to say it? Three times. And what is the significance of saying a thing three times? Well, back in Bible days, when a teacher said something three times it meant the thing was PERMANENT . . . you could write it in stone. So here it is the first time:

God has put the blessing on the other side of the asking . . . and the blessing has to be unwrapped.

Question One - Does Prayer Really Work?

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” - James 5:16-18 (KJV)

Elias, it says - that is the New Testament spelling for Elijah. Now notice what James did NOT say. The Bible does not tell us that prayer helps. The Bible does not say that prayer comforts. The Bible says that prayer AVAILETH MUCH (accomplishes much - has real force) . . . Elijah prayed, and the sky shut down for three and a half years - he prayed again, and the rain came back. Three and a half years of a whole nation’s weather hung on one man’s bent knees in prayer.

Now I want us to notice WHO James picked to talk about prayer. It says Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are . . . and the idea there is that Elijah was not some spiritual giant, and that is not why God heard him. Elijah was just like you and I. The same Elijah who out-prayed the weather is the same man who ran from a woman named Jezebel and asked God to just kill him - went and sat down under that juniper tree and said, “What is my life worth? Just take me on, Lord.” You can read about that in First Kings 19, verses 4 and 5.

And there is one more thing in this verse - and it is something we quote right on past. James did not say the effectual fervent prayer of ANYBODY availeth much. He said the effectual fervent prayer of a RIGHTEOUS MAN availeth much. Now I am not going to open that up tonight - it will not fit - but Part One of the written series takes those four words apart, and I think it will surprise you what is there.

A church that prayed. We have talked about a man who prayed . . . now let us look at a church who prayed. And bear this in mind - this was not some giant of a church that already had one foot in heaven, and that is why God answered them. This church was extremely NORMAL. By normal I mean they probably resembled you and I a great deal.

“Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” - Acts 12:5 (KJV)

Peter was in prison, scheduled - I think - to be executed the next morning, with a handful of soldiers in there with him to keep him from escaping . . . and the chains fell off of Peter that same night. Now here is the interesting part. The prayer meeting that had gathered to pray for Peter was so surprised that it left Peter standing out in the street knocking on the door.

“And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.” - Acts 12:13-16 (KJV)

“You are mad - you are losing your mind” . . . and Peter just kept on knocking. Now do not overlook the sequence Luke wrote down here. The church prayed - and THEN the angel came to lead Peter out of the prison.

Another church that prayed - Antioch, when they sent Paul and Barnabas out on the missionary trip.

“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” - Acts 13:2-3 (KJV)

This church at Antioch was in the process of WORSHIPING - not planning what to do next - and the call came during their prayers. And twice in these two verses they fasted. Now I am going to gloss over fasting really quickly and then leave it, because I deal with it directly in a later lesson - lesson eleven of the thirteen, I think. But fasting is not a hunger strike against heaven - “God, I am going to quit eating until You answer my prayer.” That is not what fasting is at all. God’s mercy and God’s patience cannot be bought with good works, and they cannot be bought with skipped meals either. Briefly, fasting is simply the appetite set aside so that prayer can have the whole plate. We sat down to eat - oh, that looks good - and instead we set the plate aside, and instead of spending that time satisfying our appetite we spend the meal time praying, because we are that concerned about whatever the issue happens to be. It is the body being told to WAIT while the soul does business between our heart and God. And notice Jesus said WHEN ye fast . . . He did not say IF ye fast - Matthew 6:16. We will not go there tonight, but sometime in November it will show up on the website, covered thoroughly.

So back to our first question - does prayer actually work? We have seen three prayers tonight that did work. A prophet’s prayer for the weather . . . a prisoner’s chains dropped off . . . a church sent out missionaries. And the Bible’s answer is not “well, prayer works SOMETIMES.” The Bible’s answer is that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So yes - prayer really does work.

Now if prayer availeth that much - accomplishes that much - what does it say about you and I when we reach for prayer pretty much as a LAST resort? We jump in there and try to take care of business ourselves . . . “well, this is not working - I guess I can always pray about it.”

Question Two - How Does Prayer Work?

This is where most of us get tangled up. If God already knows what we need - and He does - and if God has already decided what He is going to do - and He has - then what is my praying actually going to DO?

The plainest answer in the Bible comes out of what God tells us in Ezekiel 36. God had just finished promising Israel a new heart and a restored land. It was decreed. It was settled. It was certain - it was going to happen. But then look at verse 37:

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.” - Ezekiel 36:37 (KJV)

God had ALREADY promised the blessing . . . and He still required the asking. So the prayer was never going to change His plan - it turns out the prayer WAS His plan. Prayer was the appointed pipeline, if you will, that the promised blessing would travel through.

Think about a well. We have used a well and a bucket in several of our last few lessons. The water is down under the ground the whole time . . . but the BUCKET is what brings the water up. No bucket, no water. If we do not ask, there will be no blessing. That is how prayer works without changing God one bit - God ordains the ends, and He ordains the means to get there . . . and praying is the means God set in motion.

There are blessings that God has purposed to give ONLY through the asking. And those blessings sit undelivered over an un-prayed people - like mail sitting in a PO box down at the post office that nobody ever comes to pick up. The mail has the proper postage on it. The rent on the box has been paid. It is sitting in that box tonight, waiting on us to use the prayer KEY. I have a key I use to unlock my PO box down at the post office - well, that blessing is in there waiting on us to use the prayer key, unlock the box, and get the mail that already has our name on it.

“Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” - James 4:2-3 (KJV)

Ye have not, because ye ask not. Now everybody remembers that Elijah prayed for rain - that is what pops into our mind. But almost nobody looks at what came FIRST, before his prayer was ever offered.

“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” - 1 Kings 18:1 (KJV)

Elijah had not prayed for rain yet . . . and God says, “Go tell Ahab it is going to rain.” The rain was PROMISED before the prayer was ever prayed. The mail was already in the PO box. And even so, Elijah climbed Mount Carmel, put his face between his knees, and prayed seven times until a cloud like a little hand rose up out of the sea. The promise AND the praying were both God’s plan . . . the rain came THROUGH the prayer.

Now in the original Greek, “effectual fervent” is not two words but one - energoumene, and our English word energy comes right out of it. It means IN-WORKING . . . prayer that is operating, prayer that is engaged, prayer that is energized. There are religions where prayer is a chant recited over and over - this is not a prayer that is chanted, and it is not a prayer that is recited. This is prayer that is ENGAGED . . . when our whole self, everything we are, leans into the asking.

Just a brief touch of that fasting idea again. If I am watching TV with a burden on my heart - “oh, I will pray when a commercial comes on” - then I must not be very concerned, if I am putting the appetite of my flesh to watch that show ahead of taking my burden to God. Satisfy self-first and give God the leftovers . . . that is not our whole self-leaning into the asking. We will talk a great deal more about that in the fasting lesson.

So here is something to slow down and ask - and wait on the answer. What has God set aside for us, His church, this week . . . that is still sitting in the PO box because we have not taken out the prayer key yet? Ye have not, because ye ask not.

And that is the one point of our lesson, the second time: God has put the blessing on the other side of the asking . . . and the blessing has to be unwrapped.

Question Three - Do I Change God’s Mind When I Pray?

Now this one is a little more difficult, and I am not going to dodge it - I am going to hit it head on. When I pray for a sick child . . . when I pray for a wandering son, a wandering church member . . . when I pray for a job, or for a good diagnosis from the doctor - am I talking God into something He was not going to do anyway?

Well, let us take the Bible and use two hands. Figuratively, pick it up in two hands . . . I say that because the Bible says two different things here, and BOTH of them are true. First of all, the Bible plainly says that God does not change:

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” - Numbers 23:19 (KJV)

God does not have better ideas at nine o’clock than He had at eight o’clock. That is not the way it works. Now the same Bible also says the Lord REPENTED:

“And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” - Exodus 32:14 (KJV)

That is the golden calf. Moses stood in the gap - he interceded, he prayed - and God relented. And here is another one:

“And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” - Jonah 3:10 (KJV)

So which is it? Does God not change . . . or does He sometimes repent? Well, actually, it is both - and here is the key that opens both of them. The Hebrew word translated repented is nacham (to relent - to be moved with pity). It does not mean God changed His mind about what is right and what is wrong. It means He RELENTED in terms of judgment . . . He turned away from the thing He announced. Why? Because He was moved with pity.

Now think about this, preacher. When I was lost, I was under the condemnation of God - headed straight for hell. That judgment had been pronounced against me. It was decreed, it was sure, it was a done deal. But when I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, what happened? That judgment went AWAY. God repented, if you will, of the judgment He had pronounced on me as a lost man. Why? Because I put my faith in Jesus Christ. So God did not change - He did not change His idea of right and wrong one bit. He relented . . . He extended mercy because of how this preacher repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ.

Picture a man in a small boat out on the water. He throws a rope around a big rock on the bank, and he pulls on that rope. Now watch what actually MOVES. Depending on where we are sitting, it looks for all the world like the rock is coming toward the boat . . . but the rock does not move an inch. The rock is God. The BOAT is what moves. Judgment is pronounced, repentance is practiced, and that judgment is put off.

In Jonah 3, Nineveh is the boat. “Forty days and you are going to perish” - God announced judgment on a wicked city, and that city turned in sackcloth from the king all the way down to the cattle in the field. God did not change. NINEVEH is what changed - and God’s unchanging character met that city right where they stood. He met them AFTER repentance had taken place . . . He did not meet them in the middle of their rebellion. Nineveh cast the rope of repentance around the Rock of Ages and began to pull, and the Rock of Ages did not move an inch - it was the repenting city that moved, and every pull on that rope brought them closer to the Rock. When we repent - when we lasso that big rock on the shore and begin to pull - our repentance moves US closer and closer to the Rock of our salvation. The Rock is not what changes. We are what changes . . . and the consequence of that change is that judgment is set aside. That is not God changing His mind. That is God being CONSISTENT with His love and with His character.

And notice this. If God had kept His plans for judgment a secret, Nineveh would have had no motive at all to repent. If God kept His judgment against the sin in our life a secret, what motive would we ever have to repent - to change, to throw that rope around the Rock of Ages and pull ourselves closer to Him? And if God had spared an UNREPENTANT Nineveh, THAT would have been God changing His definition of right and wrong. But God did not change. He was simply being consistent with His character, with His love, and with His desire to show mercy and forgiveness.

Hezekiah. A thought came to me while I was working on this - King Hezekiah. You remember Hezekiah was told flat out, no bones about it - set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. And the Bible says Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and he wept, and he prayed . . . and God sent the prophet back.

“Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” - Isaiah 38:5 (KJV)

Now this is not symbolic. These are fifteen REAL years - a real answer to a real prayer. But listen to this, and it will help us understand that God does not change - the rock is not what moves, it is always the boat. The God who gave those fifteen years knew about that prayer, and knew about those tears, before Hezekiah was ever born. I have heard men preach on the radio who did not believe that . . . but God knows the end from the very beginning. He knows how many hairs are on my head and on yours. He knows what my attitude is going to be tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. Hezekiah’s prayer did not AMBUSH God - it did not catch Him off guard. The prayer was the road those fifteen extra years traveled on.

And do not miss the tenderness in it - “I have heard thy prayer; I have SEEN THY TEARS.” God is not some unfeeling force off somewhere in the heavens. God is a Father who, in every sense of the word, literally LOVES His children. God has tied real outcomes to real asking . . . which means our prayers do not carry pretend weight. Our prayers carry REAL weight.

Now the effectual fervent prayer - the energized prayer, the engaged prayer - availeth much IF it is prayed by a righteous man. Well, are we righteous? The Bible says there is none righteous, no, not one - and we will touch more on that later - but we ARE righteous if we are hiding behind the righteous blood of Jesus Christ. So the idea is not “if you misbehave, preacher, your prayers will not be answered.” We will go into depth on what hinders prayer in later lessons . . . but it is not my behavior that hinders my prayer. It is my ATTITUDE - it is pride - “I am depending on my own righteousness and not God’s.” That is just a little tease for what is coming.

What About When the Answer Is No?

Now somebody is already asking the next question - and it really is a question we have all asked. Preacher, what about when the answer is NO? What about the prayer that was prayed and prayed, and the little child died anyway? What about the prayer that was prayed and prayed, and the son or the daughter never did come home?

I have a lesson dedicated specifically to that question, and I am not going to handle it in two minutes at the end of a lesson - it deserves a great deal more than the time we have left. But let me say this much tonight, and I will make you a promise. When the answer is no, it does not mean that “nature” out-muscled God. Nature answers to God just like you and I do. It means that a Father - a heavenly Father, “I have seen thy tears” - a Father who loves us said no to a good thing for a BETTER reason . . . a reason we just cannot see from where we are standing.

When we get to First, Second, and Third John - and I have lessons prepared for that - you will find that John talks in spirals. It is like a spiral staircase inside a lighthouse. Down on the first floor there is a window, and I look out of it - no big deal, I see what I see. Go around the staircase and I am looking in the SAME direction, only a little bit higher, and I can see a little bit more. Well, that is the idea when God says no. He says it for a reason we cannot see down here on the first floor . . . which, if we were up on the third or fourth floor, we would be able to see plainly. But once again - our responsibility to God is not to understand. It is simply to OBEY. And if we have faith in God we really will not need to know why . . . the why will be “because God loves me.” He never has and He never will do one thing that will harm me - everything God ever has done or ever will do is for my betterment. And if we really believe that, then God’s grace (the influence of God on our heart - that is what grace is) will hold us up when the answer is no. Now if we do not believe it, we get bitter, and we get angry . . . and you know what anger and bitterness do? They move a person right out of the faith.

So having said all of that - do we change God’s mind when we pray? No. We do not change God’s mind. And if we think about it, we really would not WANT to . . . because a God I could talk into something is a God Brother Kenneth could talk right back out of it - or somebody more eloquent than Ken and me put together. What we change is not God. What we change, by God’s own appointment, is what HAPPENS. And remember, there is one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all - just ONE truth. If God is light, if God is truth, if God is love . . . then if we could change God’s mind, what would happen to the truth? It just would not work.

How Do We Pray This Week?

Three things.

One - ask God. Ask by name, on purpose - out loud, and when I say out loud, I mean in your mind if need be. You know, unclaimed mail is a sad thing to think about - like a tax refund sitting in a PO box. “That three-thousand-dollar check has been in that mailbox forever . . . I wish I had known - I would have gone and gotten it.”

Two - ask according to His will. Ye have not because ye ask not . . . ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. “I want that three thousand dollars to buy a boat” - that is desiring it to consume it on our own lusts. “I would like to have that three thousand dollars because I have got a neighbor who needs some help” - you see the difference?

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:” - 1 John 5:14 (KJV)

“Oh, all I have to do is ask for that new Cadillac and it will happen.” That is not what this means - no more than the man in the moon. Even Jesus in the garden, before He was crucified, prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” I really do not want to do this . . . nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will. That is not weakness. That is actually the STRONGEST kind of prayer there is - giving up our desire so that God’s will can take the place of it.

Three - keep the line clear.

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” - Psalm 66:18 (KJV)

Now this is something else I learned here. That does not mean if I say “doggone” when I stump my toe Saturday night, my prayers are hindered on Sunday. To regard iniquity means to CHERISH it - to long for it, to have a sweet spot for unconfessed sin. “I treasure this sin . . . I value this sin . . . I cherish this sin.” That is regarding iniquity in the heart. That is not stumbling, and it is not a mistake. It is “I am not going to go steady with the truth, because I have got a secret love affair over here with an error I just cannot let go of.”

The water is still on at the faucet. “Hey, I thought the water was on!” Well, it is . . . it is just not coming out. Why? The hose is KINKED. The faucet is still on, but the blessing never arrives, because we kinked the hose. Settle the debt in our heart now - confess it - and do not let things pile up and block the hose. That attitude is what keeps the line clear. And once again, let me be very clear - it is not a mistake, it is not a doggone, it is not “well, I tripped and fell.” It is a cherished attitude toward something God has forbidden . . . and THAT will hinder our prayers just like that.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Tonight was just one lesson, and one lesson is not enough to cover the whole subject of prayer. We have talked about questions tonight that I did not finish - and I did not finish them on PURPOSE. On our preaching schedule we have the Route 66 series, we have the Give Thanks lessons, all lined up straight through to Thanksgiving. But the written series on prayer - BEHIND THE ASKING, thirteen parts - has already started. Part One went up this past Sunday, and some of you have already read it. A new part is scheduled every Sunday morning at seven o’clock, straight through the end of November . . . and when we get to the end of November, I will take those written lessons and turn them into sermons, and we will do it like this. It is on the Bookshelf on the website - the link says PRAYER.

So tonight is not the end of a lesson on prayer. Tonight is the front door. The PO box is FULL of mail. “I will yet for this be enquired of . . . to do it for them.” There are things God has purposed for this church and for every one of us - things that, if we were honest, are sitting in the PO box tonight waiting for the prayer key to open the door and get the mail.

Elijah prayed, and the heavens gave rain. The church prayed for Peter, and the chains fell off of him in the prison. Hezekiah prayed, and God said, “I have seen thy tears.” And not a single one of those prayers changed God’s mind. Every one of them received what God had put on the other side of the asking.

Now, for the third time - what was the one point of our lesson tonight? God has put the blessing on the other side of the asking . . . and the blessing has to be unwrapped.

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” - James 5:16 (KJV)

So let us go home and ASK. Whatever the desire on our heart is - use the prayer key. Open the PO box. Why? Because the mail is already in there, and it already has our name on it. All we have to do is ask. And do not ask for a Cadillac - that is not what it is talking about. Ask for God’s will to be done . . . and ninety-nine percent of the time God’s will is not the same as His preacher’s will. “I want stuff, I want this, I want that” - when we pray with that attitude we are not praying according to God’s will. We are praying according to our own.

Scripture Used

James 5:16-18 · 1 Kings 19:4-5 · Acts 12:5, 13-16 · Acts 13:2-3 · Matthew 6:16 · Ezekiel 36:37 · James 4:2-3 · 1 Kings 18:1 · Numbers 23:19 · Exodus 32:14 · Jonah 3:10 · Isaiah 38:1-5 · Ephesians 4:5-6 · 1 John 5:14 · Matthew 26:39 · Psalm 66:18 (all KJV)

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Every lesson is kept on the Lessons page.

One Book, One Author, One Story

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday evening service, September 6, 2026 Route 66 · On-Ramp 1 · Luke 24:27 · 2 Timothy 3:16 · 2 Peter 1:21 · Proverbs 9:10

Watch this lesson on video (28:12)

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This morning we learned that the God who made everything has the right to make the law . . . and this evening we are going to begin a rather lengthy series - we are going to look at the Book - where He wrote that law down. Now this is going to take, oh, about two years. We will do other things off and on - so it will not be a steady diet of this and nothing else . . . but tonight is the start of it - and the one point of our lesson this evening is this:

One Book. One Author. One story - and the story is Jesus Christ.

Why We Call It Route 66

I have named this series Route 66, and the reason is simple . . . there are 66 books in the Bible.

Now some of us are old enough to remember when Route 66 was THE road. They called it the Mother Road, according to some articles I read. One highway, Chicago to Los Angeles . . . eight states, three time zones, a little over two thousand miles. It ran through farms and deserts and mountains . . . through little towns with one stoplight, and through big cities that never went to bed. You could stand on that road in Illinois or stand on that road in Arizona - SAME road - different scenery - depending on where you were . . . but no matter where you were standing on it - that road led to the same place.

Well - what I am leading up to is this - we hold Route 66 in our hands EVERY service. Sixty-six books . . . written across fifteen hundred years - on three continents - in three languages - by some forty different writers. There were kings and shepherds - King David was one of them. Part of it was written by a doctor - remember Luke was a physician. There was a tax collector - Matthew. There were fishermen - most of the disciples made their living that way - and a tentmaker - the Apostle Paul. There was Daniel - one of the big wigs in Babylon . . . and does anybody know who the fig picker was? I learned this one myself . . . Amos. The man who wrote Amos made his living picking figs.

Genesis does not look like Psalms. Leviticus does not read the way Luke reads. But this Book is ONE ROAD - and every mile on this road is going to the same place. Brother Ken touched on it this morning. No matter where you are - no matter what the scenery looks like - no matter what book you are in - it all points where? To Jesus Christ.

So here is the plan . . . starting sometime in October, we are going to drive the whole highway. On Sunday mornings - not every Sunday morning, but every six weeks or so - I will have a sermon that introduces a particular BLOCK of books. I have divided them up . . . the history - the poetry - the gospels - the letters - blocks like that. And then on Sunday evenings - just about every Sunday evening - we will actually get down into one of the books that morning introduced. Morning gives us the MAP of the block - evening gives us the MILES.

So what is the one point of our lesson this evening? One Book, one Author, one story . . . and the story is Jesus.

One Author Behind Forty Writers

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” - 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)

Now think about what we have said so far - forty writers, fifteen hundred years . . . put that in perspective. Fifteen hundred years ago from today would be the year 526 . . . a long time ago . . . a thousand years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. The point is - most of the men who wrote the Bible NEVER met each other . . . Moses never read Matthew - and David never heard of the Apostle Paul. You have a shepherd somewhere around 800 BC and a prisoner in Rome around 60 AD - and they could not compare notes - they could not coordinate their stories - they could not agree on a plot.

And yet we have ONE story. One unbroken story that tells us in Genesis about a paradise lost - and tells us in Revelation about a paradise restored. A promise made in the Garden of Eden - the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head - Genesis 3:15 - and that promise was kept on a hill outside Jerusalem some four thousand years after it was first penned. Then there is the picture of a sacrifice - the ULTIMATE sacrifice - running all the way through . . . the coats of skin God made for Adam. The ram caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah in Abraham’s day. The lamb whose blood was spattered on the lintel and the doorposts in Egypt. Every one of them a picture, and every one of them pointing to the DAY John looked up and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

No committee wrote that . . . no group of men sat down and put that together. Forty men across fifteen centuries kept one story straight - and they did not do it by accident. There is one AUTHOR behind all the human writers.

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” - 2 Peter 1:21 (KJV)

So - the unity of the Bible is one of the standing proofs - if you are looking for proof - that this Book really is what it claims to be. It is not sixty-six books that men collected over the years - it is ONE Book that God gave to reveal Himself to mankind.

Now we talk about landmarks in this church a lot - those things most surely believed among us - and there are twenty-one of them. If you have them numbered - I believe this one is the second… We believe in the infallible, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible, and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. There is nothing else NEEDED . . . we do not need some new program to supplement what God has already given us in the Book.

Somebody will say - “Well, what about the Old Testament? We don’t do the sacrifices anymore.” It is not that the Old Testament is no longer valid - and the OT is certainly not some afterthought tacked on to the New. The Old Testament - like Brother Ken was saying this morning - is FULL of pictures. The Bible calls it a shadow of good things to come. The Old Testament way of worship is NOT what we practice today . . . but the pictures the Old Testament gives us of what worship looks like - those are still good.

And that is one of the reasons I thought it proper to preach through all sixty-six books. A church that believes the Scriptures are the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice - ought to know SOMETHING about all sixty-six of them. So let me ask - no show of hands - how many of the sixty-six books have each of us actually read? By the end of this series - if the Lord does not come back first - this whole church will be able to say - “Well - I may not have read every one of them front to back . . . but I have at least read part of every one.”

The Story Is a Person

Now the story we are talking about is not just a story . . . it is a PERSON. You go down the highway and you pass the mile markers, and every mile marker on this road points to the person Jesus Christ.

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” - Luke 24:27 (KJV)

This was on the road to Emmaus. Jesus had been raised from the dead - and two of the disciples were walking that road - about seven miles, I think – discouraged - and Jesus fell in beside them and they had no idea who He was. And what did He do for seven miles? “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in ALL the scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF.” ALL the scriptures - things concerning HIMSELF. Jesus Himself testified that this whole highway – Moses - the prophets - all of it - is about Him.

Jesus is the seed of the woman in Genesis. He is the Passover lamb in Exodus. He is the offering in Leviticus. He is the brazen serpent in Numbers - and the prophet like unto Moses in Deuteronomy. He is the kinsman redeemer in Ruth. He is David’s greater Son . . . He is Job’s living Redeemer. He is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the Sun of righteousness in Malachi. And then Matthew opens - and the shadow of the Old Testament becomes FLESH - flesh that can be seen and touched.

We are going to fit another little series in betwixt and between all this - First, Second, and Third John. John testifies that he has seen and touched this Christ. There was false doctrine going around in his day that said anything holy could not be made flesh . . . if God was perfect and holy - He could not be flesh and blood. That is one reason John says - “I have seen Him - I have touched Him - I have handled Him” - and the rest of those three little letters chase that error down. We will get to that LATER.

So - on Sunday evenings we will have sixty-six lessons - but not sixty-six subjects. One PERSON - seen from sixty-six different angles. Every lesson - and I have most of them at least roughed out - takes ONE key verse - a particular verse in that book that unlocks the reason the book was written. In the gospel of John it would be, “these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” That is the key that unlocks John . . . you find that verse - and it explains the purpose of everything else in the book. And we are going to do that sixty-six times.

When those two disciples got to Emmaus and found out who had been walking with them - they said, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he opened to us the scriptures?” Well - that is the goal . . . my hope is that as we go through these sixty-six verses - we will have that same kind of burning in our hearts - as we open the Scriptures and see things we never really noticed before.

Let me say it again. One Book. One Author. One story - and the story is Jesus.

The Trip Rules

You go on any trip and there are usually a couple of rules. “We are not stopping every ten minutes for the bathroom” - that kind of thing. So here are the rules for this one.

Rule number one - every lesson stands on its OWN. They are connected - but you do not have to hear this Sunday’s lesson to understand next Sunday’s. You can miss a Sunday and not be lost. Every book has its own key - its own verse that opens that particular book.

Rule number two - the morning lessons and the evening lessons work TOGETHER. October the 4th - I believe - is the first of what I am calling the landing sermons. That Sunday morning introduces the first block of books - and then that evening - and the evenings after it - we actually take the trip through them. Morning says - “Here is Matthew - here is Luke - here is John.” Evening asks, “Now what was the purpose of Matthew? What was the purpose of John?”

Rule number three - bring your BIBLE . . . sixty-six books means one Sunday night we may be in Obadiah. Anybody ever read Obadiah? Another Sunday we may be in Nahum - or Philemon - books a lot of us have never really read. And when we are done - there will not be a book in this whole Bible that we have not opened together - and gotten something out of.

Now here is one thing I decided while I was laying this out. I thought, well - do we just start in Genesis and drive straight through to Revelation? And I thought - no . . . we are not going to drive it in that order. Remember the staircase in Second Peter? Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance . . . all the way up. We are going to take these books in STAIRCASE order - following the tools we need to climb that staircase. So - it will not start in Genesis and end in Revelation.

What do you suppose the first lesson will be, then? Think about Proverbs. If we do not have wisdom – knowledge - and understanding - we really do not have anything - do we?

Closing

Our first REAL stop on this road is going to be Proverbs.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” - Proverbs 9:10 (KJV)

You see, Genesis shows us where the WORLD began . . . but Proverbs shows us where WISDOM begins.

“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” - Isaiah 40:8 (KJV)

So - you have one Book - one Author - and one story. And who is the whole Bible about? It is about Jesus Christ.

I hope I have whetted your appetite a little . . . it will take a long time to get through sixty-six books - and there will be some pauses along the way so it does not get stale. But if the good Lord has laid anything at all on your heart this evening - I encourage you - while you have the time - to take advantage of it.

Scripture Used

2 Timothy 3:16 · 2 Peter 1:21 · Luke 24:27 · Proverbs 9:10 · Isaiah 40:8 (all KJV)

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Every lesson is kept on the Lessons page, and this series has its own home on The Route 66 Journey.

How to Read the Bible — Lesson 4: Let the Bible Define Its Own Words

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 4 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks

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Last Time

Last lesson you took Proverbs 9:10 home:

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." — Proverbs 9:10

We asked three plain things. Where does wisdom begin? Right there — the fear of the LORD. Not a school, not a degree — the fear of the LORD. Read the whole verse, and the second half adds to it: to know the Holy One is understanding. Then, who is this wisdom for? Read the three verses just above it (9:4-6), and Wisdom calls out to "the simple" — the untaught, the beginner. That is good news: this wisdom is not held back for a few — it is for whoever will come.

And that word fear — hold it once more. It does not mean God will turn on you; you are held by a gift you cannot lose. It means reverence — standing small before a great and holy God, and that reverence is where all real learning starts. Now, one more tool.

The Verse

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." — Hebrews 10:25

The Question

Most of us have heard this verse used one way: do not skip church. That is not wrong. But look at the word it turns on — FORSAKING. Is that just missing a Sunday? Let us do something new: let the Book tell us what its own word means.

The Tool — walked together

Bring the tools you already have, and ask your five questions — all five, every time. WHO? The writer of Hebrews, to Hebrew believers. And since this is a command, the last lesson's tool speaks up — every command has an address. Who is it spoken to? Look at the words: "the assembling of ourselves together." The writer counts himself in. It is spoken to believers — the gathered body, the church. WHAT? A command: keep meeting together, and stir up one another. WHEN? The verse gives no clock time, but it points ahead — "as ye see the day approaching": more and more as that day nears. WHERE? Here the verse does not say — and an empty box is our shovel. Scripture digs it up: the saved gathered in real places — the church we met last lesson. WHY? Because that day is coming, and we need one another more, not less.

You have now brought every tool you own to this verse — you read it whole, to its last word, and because it is a command you asked its address, and found it: the gathered body, the church. Only three tools so far, and all three fit; none rests yet. And the whole sentence leans on one heavy word: forsaking.

So here is this lesson's new tool. TOOL #4: let the Bible define its own words. When you hit a word you are not sure of, do not reach for your own idea of it. Find where the Bible uses that same word somewhere else, and let Scripture set the meaning. The Book is its own dictionary. Let us do that with forsaking.

ONE WORD

The word behind FORSAKE is a strong one. Watch how the Bible itself uses it.

Paul, near the end of his life, writes: "Demas hath forsaken me" (2 Timothy 4:10). Demas did not miss a meeting. He abandoned Paul — walked out, and left him alone.

And from the cross, the Lord Himself cries: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). There is the word at its heaviest — utterly left, deserted.

So "not forsaking the assembling" is not a small rule about a missed Sunday. It is "do not abandon the gathering — do not desert the body." That is a bigger and a warmer thing than attendance.

And here is the sweetness. The very same word comes back one chapter over, in a promise: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). He will never desert you — so we do not desert one another. One word, and the verse grows a whole size larger.

Try It This Week

Here is your verse. It has an odd word in it. Bring your questions, and read the whole thing to its last word:

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." — Matthew 6:24

Read it to the end, and the two masters are named: God, and mammon. Now — what is mammon? The King James kept the old word as it stood, rather than turning it into English. Do not guess at it. Ask what the verse sets it against: God. Whatever stands opposite God here — one master against the true Master — that is mammon. (Hold that word; we will dig it up in a later lesson.)

Your Toolbox So Far

1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY.   2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word.   3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to.   4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary.

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Next lesson, in two weeks: when one verse is hard, stand a clear one beside it, and let the plain light explain the deep.

‹ Lesson 3 — Every Command Has an Address  •  The Course Index — all lessons

The Authority of God to Make Law

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, September 6, 2026 God’s Law, Lesson 1 of 4 · A3 D9 · Genesis 1:1 · Colossians 1:16-17 · Ezekiel 18:4 · Romans 14:11

Watch this lesson on video (43:51)

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This morning we start something NEW. Over the next four lessons - just a little short four-lesson series - we are going to look at something most people think they already understand . . . but most people have never really thought it through carefully. We are going to talk about God’s LAW. Now when I say God’s law, I do not mean just the Ten Commandments, and I do not mean just a list of dos and don’ts . . . because before we can understand WHAT God has commanded, we need to understand WHO is doing the commanding - and why God’s word carries the kind of weight that it does. In other words, the most important words we know of are what? God’s words. So the one point of our lesson this morning is this:

The God who made everything has the right to make the law.

In the Beginning God

The Bible opens with four words - “In the beginning God” - and that is the FIRST and the most important fact we will ever come across.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1 (KJV)

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” - Colossians 1:16-17 (KJV)

Now the first sentence in the Bible starts with a FACT - and it is actually the most important fact in the entire universe... We talk a lot around here about wisdom – knowledge - and understanding . . . so which one of those three does a fact fall under? “God created everything” is classified as KNOWLEDGE... We always say them in that order - wisdom, knowledge, understanding - but that is not necessarily the order they come in - because we have to have knowledge of a thing - before we ever gain wisdom or understanding about it. So - the most important piece of knowledge we will ever learn or hear is this . . . in the beginning God.

And notice the Bible does not say God created SOME things… It says all things - visible and invisible… He made the trees and the rocks that you can see… He made the stars . . . He made the wind - anybody ever seen the wind? We see what the wind does - but nobody has ever seen the wind… God made that… He made gravity - you cannot see it either - but you can sure see the effects of it - and magnetism - and all these invisible things… They are not just freaks of nature… God created every single one of them.

Then Paul says all things were created by Him and FOR Him - and that by Him (through Him, because of Him) all things consist... What does that mean? It means God is HOLDING everything together… The universe is not holding itself together . . . God is the power that holds the universe together… Now I understand the laws of physics - and gravity - and the earth going around at just the right speed so it does not fly off into the outer parts of the universe… I understand it is all put together- like a fine watch… But that is not by accident - and it is not holding itself in one piece… It was DESIGNED that way by a Creator - and it stays in one piece by design…

Think about a man who builds a house - a carpenter . . . the man who builds the house has the right to set the RULES for that house… A builder does not have to walk up to a 2x4 wall and explain why he is putting a door here instead of there - or a window here instead of over yonder… He owes that building no explanation at all . . . because the building did not exist until the carpenter built it...

Well - God built EVERYTHING… God is CREATOR - He brought everything into existence - literally from nothing… It was spoken into existence - not evolved into existence - and I am not going there this morning - but if you stop and think about it - believing in evolution actually takes more faith than believing God spoke it… God is SUSTAINER - He holds all things together by His power… And God is OWNER - everything that exists belongs to Him.

Now I have heard all kinds of explanations… “Okay preacher - I will compromise a little bit - God spoke everything into existence - and then He just sat back and let the chips fall where they may…” No . . . God is not some politician making rules so he can look important... This is the God who MADE us - who SUSTAINS us - and who KNOWS us - better than we know ourselves…

God’s Authority Is Not Assumed . . . It Is Absolute

God’s authority is not something that is assumed... God’s authority is absolute - which means no argument allowed.

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” - Ezekiel 18:4 (KJV)

Every person who has ever drawn a breath - belongs to God - by right of creation . . . and that means God has rightful authority - over ALL of our lives.

“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” - Romans 9:20-21 (KJV)

Do we not think God has the right - to put a door or a window wherever He chooses? He is the one putting the building together . . . a lump of clay does not NEGOTIATE with the potter - and the clay does not have the right to question the potter’s decisions.

Now some of you kiddos may not know what a potter is… A long time ago you could not go to Walmart and buy a vase or a glass or an ashtray… There was a man called a potter - and he had a wheel that he pedaled with his foot - and he would take a lump of clay and set it in the middle of that wheel - and as it spun around - he would wet his fingers and form that clay into a shape… He actually MADE the vase . . . that is a potter. And the potter is the one who decides what that lump of clay is going to be . . . the clay does not get to say - “Now don’t make me into a commode - make me into a cereal bowl.” One vessel unto honor and one unto dishonor - and the potter decides which.

That is our relationship with God - we did not make ourselves… And the Creator who made everything has the right - the absolute - unquestionable right - to define the terms under which His creation operates.

Somebody might think at first, “Well - that seems a little harsh . . . a little narrow-minded.” It is not harsh . . . it is JUST - and we are just being honest... The potter looks at this lump of clay and says - “That one will not make a very good chair - and it will not make a very good bowl . . . but it will make a perfect vase.” Do we not believe God loves us enough to give us ONLY the things that are best for us? And are we naive enough - to think WE KNOW what is best - better than God does?

Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God - and faith requires us to humble ourselves before Him - and accept the decisions He makes - because if He loved us enough to die for us - He loves us enough to say NO when a thing is going to hurt us in the long run… I have said it before . . . He does not ask for our understanding - He simply asks for our obedience.

So - when God makes a law - when God says “this is right, and that over there is wrong” - God is not overstepping - and He is not being controlling - He is simply exercising His rightful authority as Creator - as Sustainer - and as Owner of all things - He is putting the doors and the windows where He wants them... After all - it is HIS house.

And here is something to slow down and think about . . . if God made us - and if God is the one holding us together this very minute . . . what claim could we possibly have to run our own lives?

Now freedom is a WONDERFUL thing - one of the most precious blessings God has given us - but let us not push that idea of freedom further than it ought to go... It is true we have freedoms - and I suppose we even have the freedom to rebel . . . but that is not a wise thing to do. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap… We can let our freedom run right up to the edge of God’s will and stop there - and that is a good thing. Or we can push a little further - “I am going to set God’s will aside on this one - because this is important to me - and I am going to do what I want regardless” - and yes - we have the freedom to do that... But understand there are CONSEQUENCES when we take our freedom further than it was meant to go.

A Law Is Not a Suggestion

God as Creator is a fact - that is KNOWLEDGE… How we USE that fact is what decides whether we are walking in wisdom - or walking in foolishness. And connecting ‘pride and disobedience’ with the consequences of rebelling against the laws of our Creator . . . that is the beginning of understanding. Understanding is basically knowing there is a price to pay for a particular action - connecting the dots. “Oh, THIS consequence is tied directly to THAT behavior.” Knowledge is what we should do . . . understanding is knowing what is going to happen if we do not do it.

A law is NOT a suggestion... A suggestion is something we can take or leave - and nothing much happens either way… A law is a rule that carries consequences - and the consequences come - when the law is ignored - when it is forgotten - when it is disobeyed - or when it is rebelled against…

Think about driving on the interstate . . . the speed limit is 75 I believe. Now that speed limit was not set by US… Nobody ever called this preacher up and said, “Preacher - what do you think the speed limit on the interstate ought to be?” Anybody ever call you and ask your opinion on it? No . . . so if we are running 90 or 100 and the blue lights come on - what happens when we tell the officer - “Well - I never did agree with that speed limit anyway”? We still get the ticket - because our agreement was not required. And what happens when we say, “Oh, I am sorry – officer - I did not know it was only 75”? We still get the ticket - because ignorance is not a defense against the law. A law does not need our awareness or our agreement to be valid. A law requires our OBEDIENCE.

God’s law works EXACTLY the same way . . . “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” That is not a guideline and it is not a suggestion . . . it is a LAW. The law has a rule about sin - and the law has a consequence when sin is practiced - and that consequence is death. And this law applies to every person in every nation in every generation - whether they have heard it - agreed to it - or believe it… The law is not going to change - and the consequences are not going to change either… That is God’s PRIMARY law - universal and unchanging - and every other law God ever gave - is built on top of it.

Now to die in sin is to be separated from God in hell for all eternity - that is another fact of knowledge - and a pretty important one - would you not agree? So let us connect the dots again… Knowledge says, “If I die in sin - my eternal destiny is hell.” Understanding says - “Then I need to avoid that - and let Jesus save my soul.” A man who is void of understanding - will never make that connection - and he will never turn to God and ask forgiveness of his sins.

Go back to the traffic stop . . . we are pulled over for speeding - and here comes Jesus - who was NOT speeding - and He pulls in behind us - and agrees to pay our ticket for us. That is what it means when we say Jesus paid for our sins. To keep us from the consequence of spiritual death - God sacrificed His Son as payment for our sin.

The Garden - Where Authority and Consequence First Met

Let us go back to where authority and consequence first came together - the first time knowledge and understanding ever met.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” - Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV)

The first law God ever gave a human being was SIMPLE - it was clear . . . and you would have to admit it was generous. God said - “You can eat from ANY tree in this whole garden . . . except one.” One boundary - one rule - one consequence . . . and the consequence was stated plainly - in advance - before anything ever happened. God told Adam exactly what the rule was and exactly what it would cost to break it.

That brings up a property line. When you buy land they put up survey markers showing exactly where your ground ends - and the neighbor’s begins. The line is clear - the boundary is set - no problem . . . UNTIL the day somebody decides that line does not apply to them. “I am going to plant my corn across that line - because the dirt over there does a little better than the dirt over here.” Put the fence up on the wrong side. Claim ground that was never his to claim. And that is when the conflict starts - not because the line was unreasonable - but because somebody decided to cross it.

The Garden of Eden had been surveyed . . . God set the markers - and God told Adam EXACTLY where the line was. And Adam crossed it - not by accident - but by DECISION. And the consequence was real because the law was real.

Let me say it again. The God who made everything has the right to make the law.

“It Seemed Right to Me” Is Not a Defense

Now this next part has human logic written all over it.

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” - Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)

I sat and thought about that - and I believe that this is one of the most DANGEROUS ideas we will ever run across - the idea that every person has the right to decide what is right for himself. That was the ORIGINAL sin back in the garden. “Don’t you want to decide right and wrong for YOURSELF?” That was Satan – and that is basically what he told Eve.

Here is why it is so dangerous . . . the Bible says the soul that sinneth shall die. Well - who decides what sin IS? If God has pronounced death on the soul that sins - then it stands to reason - that God has to be the one who defines sin. Because if I were allowed to define right and wrong - I would look at my own life and - naturally - everything I do would be right. Then I would look over at Brother Kenneth and say - “Well - you do most of what I do - and that part is right . . . but you deviate here and there - so you are wrong. You are going to die and I am not - because I am right.” If God did not define sin - every man would define his own righteousness - and draw his own boundaries. Nobody would ever sin . . . and there would be as many “right ways” as there are people.

Last time I checked - how many truths are there? “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” One truth - not many . . . seems right is not the same as IS right. That IS WHY God does not let man define righteousness . . . because every man would declare himself righteous - and every man would be wrong. We could all be driving at different speeds and every one of us think we were right - but only one speed would actually BE right. God defines the speed limit - God defines the boundary - God defines SIN. And “it seemed right to me” will not hold up in a court of law in this land - and it will not hold up in the court of God’s law either.

So - let us get PERSONAL . . . I do not want anybody thinking about Brother Ken right now, or about Sister Annie Mae. Think about SELF - Where in my life am I still driving at a speed - just because it seems right to me?

The X-Ray Shows the Break - It Cannot Set the Bone

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” - Romans 3:23 (KJV)

“The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.” - Proverbs 24:9 (KJV)

Paul hands down a universal verdict - ALL have sinned . . . not most of us - not just the bad ones - not just the ones in this country - ALL. And then Solomon goes further… We usually think of sin as bad behavior - but Solomon says even the THOUGHT of foolishness is sin - not the act - the thought - an attitude we should not have - a leaning toward something God does not approve of… Even THAT is sin . . . which tells us God’s standard is set so high - perfect holiness – sinlessness - righteousness in God’s eyes – set so high that nobody can reach it alone. If that kind of perfection were a physical height - we would not need a ladder - we would need a SPACESHIP. That is how far out of reach it is for every one of us.

Now think about an X-ray . . . if I break my arm - we go to the emergency room and they take an X-ray - and that is a wonderful thing - it shows exactly what happened. “Preacher, there is your crack right there in the bone.” But nobody ever healed a broken arm with only an X-ray. The X-ray shows the break . . . the X-ray does not heal.

God’s law is the X-ray - the law shows us EXACTLY where we are broken . . . but the law cannot set a bone any more than an X-ray can. That is why God gave the law - not to make us righteous - but to teach us two things. ONE - where the boundaries are - so we know what sin actually is. TWO - that we cannot keep those boundaries on our own - so we know we need His mercy and His grace - and something a good deal taller than a ladder.

The law is not the cure - the law is the DIAGNOSIS . . . and the X-ray points us - to the only Physician who can heal what the X-ray reveals. The Bible says plainly - that no man is justified by keeping the law . . . by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law shows us where we are broken . . . have we ever THANKED God for the X-ray? Have we ever thanked Him for loving us enough to show us - where we are broken?

Four Things God’s Authority Settles

As we come to the end this morning, there are four things God’s authority ought to settle in our minds and hearts.

One - God has the right to make laws. He is the Creator - the Owner - and the Sustainer. In the beginning God.

Two - God’s laws have consequences. Let me say that again. God’s laws have CONSEQUENCES. They are not suggestions and they are not guidelines. God is not mocked . . . whatsoever a man soweth - that is exactly what he is going to reap - and maybe worse.

Three - we have ALREADY crossed the boundary. Do not sit there and pat yourself on the back - “Well - I got close a time or two last week – preacher - but I never went over the line.” That is pride… If we say we have no sin - we make God a liar - and His truth is not in us. We have crossed it - not because we are especially bad people - but because we are human. The Bible says straight up - there is none good, no, not one.

Four - the law points to God’s GRACE. God did not give the law to condemn us and leave us lying there . . . “You are broke - too bad.” He gave the law to show us our need for a Savior - to show us we need more than a tall ladder - and more than a set of rules. The X-ray leads to the Physician - and the Physician is Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son - to heal the broken bone - the law shows us is there - in every one of our lives.

Closing

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” - Romans 14:11 (KJV)

Every knee WILL bow . . . that is not negotiable, and it is not a maybe.

God’s law is not His way of being cruel to us. God’s law is His way of being HONEST. He tells us the truth about who He is – Creator – Owner - and Judge. He tells us the truth about who we are - sinners who have crossed the line. And He tells us the truth about what He offers – mercy – forgiveness - and a Savior who has already paid what we owe. The authority of God to make law - is not a burden. That authority is a gift . . . because a God who tells us the truth about our condition - is a God who loves us enough to point us to the cure. God made the law - God revealed the sin - God provides the remedy . . . because that is who He is.

So the one point of our lesson this morning was this: the God who made everything has the right to make the law. Are we willing to submit to His authority?

I have been guilty of this - BIG time. I will submit to about 97 or 98 percent of what God says . . . but there is this one little corner over here - I want to keep for myself. Willing to submit to ALMOST everything - but not quite everything . . . well, that does not count. God wants all or nothing. I am not talking about salvation - we are not going to lose that. I am talking about our relationship with the God who made us - and serving Him after we are saved. God wants TOTAL commitment. And if it is not total commitment . . . it is not commitment at all.

Scripture Used

Genesis 1:1 · Colossians 1:16-17 · Ezekiel 18:4 · Romans 9:20-21 · Genesis 2:16-17 · Proverbs 14:12 · Romans 3:23 · Proverbs 24:9 · Romans 14:11 (all KJV)

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Every lesson is kept on the Lessons page.

Does Prayer Really Work?

Taking James 5:16 apart a piece at a time . . . including the piece we usually skip.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

Nobody asks this question who has never prayed.

I have never had a lost man walk up and ask me whether prayer works . . . but I have had church members ask me – and I have asked it myself. This is the question of a man who has knelt down beside a bed at two o'clock in the morning . . . and then got up and went to work and wondered on the drive over whether anything at all happened while he was down there.

So let us be honest about it . . . and let us start where the Bible starts – which is not with how we feel about prayer, but with what the Bible says prayer actually DOES.

James 5:16 — “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Now I want us to take that last sentence apart a piece at a time . . . because there are three things sitting in it and most of us only ever notice one of them.

“EFFECTUAL FERVENT”

In our English Bible that looks like two words . . . but in the Greek it is only ONE word – energoumene – and we already own a piece of it, because our English word energy comes right out of it. It means in-working . . . operating . . . engaged . . . running. So this is not prayer that is recited out of habit while our mind is somewhere else . . . this is prayer that is turned ON.

“AVAILETH”

The word behind “availeth” means IS STRONG . . . it has force, it prevails – it is a wrestler's word. This is not the language of a wish that we send up and then hope over . . . this is the language of something that pushes against a thing and gets somewhere.

Put those two words back together and James is telling us that prayer which is actually engaged is prayer that actually prevails . . . and now notice what he did NOT say. He did not say that prayer helps . . . he did not say that prayer comforts . . . he did not say that prayer is mostly good for the man who is doing the praying – and every one of those three things is true, and not one of them is what James wrote down. What James wrote down is that it AVAILETH MUCH.

“OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN” — the piece we skip

Now here is the part of the verse that we quote right on past. I have preached “availeth much” for years . . . and I do not know that I have ever once stopped on the four words sitting in front of it.

Because James did not say that the effectual fervent prayer of anybody availeth much. He said the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much . . . and that ought to stop us cold, because of what the Bible has already told us about three chapters into Romans:

Romans 3:10 — “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

So how can James turn around and promise anything at all to the prayer of a righteous man . . . when the Bible has just finished telling us that there is not one of them anywhere on this earth?

The answer is that the Bible uses the word righteous in two different ways . . . and we have got to keep those two separate or we will get this wrong in one of two directions. We will either decide that prayer is really only for the spiritual giants and that we might as well not bother . . . or we will decide that how a man lives has nothing whatsoever to do with his praying. And both of those are wrong.

The righteousness that is GIVEN to us

The first one is the righteousness that gets put to our account. We did not work it up . . . and we could not have:

Isaiah 64:6 — “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 — “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Philippians 3:9 — “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”

Paul says it about as plain as it can be said – not having mine own righteousness. Whatever Paul is standing in, somebody handed it to him . . . and this is the righteousness that gives a man the right to open his mouth to God in the first place.

The blind man in John 9 had a hold of this before the scholars in the room did:

John 9:31 — “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”

A lost man is not standing on any ground at all at the throne of God . . . and he has exactly one prayer that God has promised to hear, and it is the publican's prayer:

Luke 18:13 — “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

And God heard THAT one . . . the very next verse says that man went home justified. So let nobody read this and go away thinking the door is shut, because the door is NOT shut – but a man has to come in through it before he can start asking for things inside the house.

The righteousness that is LIVED

The second one is the righteousness of a man's walk . . . how he is living, today. And this one goes up and down:

Psalm 66:18 — “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”

Proverbs 15:8 — “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

1 John 3:22 — “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

The first kind of righteousness never moves . . . it was settled at Calvary, and how we behaved on Tuesday does not add one thing to it and does not take one thing away from it. But the second kind moves all the time . . . and it is the second one that James has in mind here.

And we know that – because of the first half of the verse

Look at where James put this promise. He did not set it out by itself somewhere . . . he hung it on the back end of a verse that starts out like this:

James 5:16 — “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Confess your faults. James put the confessing and the praying in the same breath . . . and he put the confessing FIRST. So the righteous man of James 5:16 is not a man who HAS no faults – he is a man who has DEALT with his faults . . . because if this promise had been written for men with no faults, James would not have opened the verse by telling us to go confess ours.

Then James settles it for us in the very next verse

And here is where this ought to quit being frightening to anybody, because James turns right around and gives us his own example of a righteous man . . . and he gives it in the next breath:

James 5:17 — “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

Let the Bible define its own words. When James wrote “a righteous man” he did not have some rare saint in mind that none of us have ever met . . . he had ELIJAH in mind – and then he went out of his way to tell us that Elijah was subject to like passions as we are.

James knew exactly what we were going to do with Elijah. We were going to file him under “great men of faith” . . . admire him from a good safe distance . . . and then quietly decide that whatever that man had, we do not have any of it. So James shut that road off before we could get very far down it.

And if we doubt him, all we have to do is read what Elijah did about one chapter after he called fire down out of heaven. A woman sent him a threat and he ran for his life:

1 Kings 19:4 — “But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

The man who out-prayed the weather sat down under a juniper tree and asked God to kill him. Same man . . . very nearly the same week.

Now let me guard this

Because this will go bad in a hurry if we are not careful with it. Righteousness does not BUY the answer . . . because if our righteousness bought the answer then the answer would be wages and not a gift, and we already know better than that:

Titus 3:5 — “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

Righteousness does not purchase one thing from God. What righteousness does is CLEAR THE LINE.

The water is still on out there at the faucet . . . the hose is just kinked. And that is not God being stingy with us – that is us standing on our own hose and then wondering why nothing is coming out the far end of it.

So who is the righteous man whose prayer availeth much? A saved man . . . standing in a righteousness that was handed to him and not earned by him . . . who is keeping short accounts with God about his sin. That is the whole list. There is not one thing on it about how long a man has been saved, or how well he prays out loud in front of other people.

NOW LET US LOOK AT THREE PRAYERS THAT WORKED

The Bible does not make a claim like “availeth much” and then walk off and leave us to take it on faith. It hands us cases.

A prophet's weather

We have already met Elijah. Three and a half years of a whole nation's weather hung on one man's knees . . . and then he prayed again and the rain came back . . . and that man had the same passions we have.

A prisoner's chains

Acts 12:5 — “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”

Peter's execution was set for morning . . . sixteen soldiers were assigned to him . . . and he was sleeping between two of them, chained to both. That night the chains fell off.

Now do not miss the order that Luke wrote down, because he wrote it down on purpose. The church prayed – and THEN the angel came. Luke could have told that story either way . . . and he put the praying first.

But the part of this that ought to encourage us the most is the part we usually laugh at and go on past. Peter, free, walks over to the house where the prayer meeting is going on . . . and knocks on the gate:

Acts 12:13–16 — “And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.”

They were praying for Peter to be let out of prison . . . Peter's release knocked on their door . . . and they told the girl she had lost her mind and left the answer standing out in the street.

Now think about what that means for us. Their answer did not hang on how well they were expecting it. They prayed better than they believed – and God honored the praying anyway . . . because if God only answered prayers that were offered up with perfect faith, then Acts 12 would have ended at the execution. That is not permission to pray careless . . . but it is a good reason to keep on praying when our faith felt awful thin while we were doing it.

A church's missionaries

Acts 13:2–3 — “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”

The greatest missionary campaign in the history of this world did not get started in a business meeting . . . it got started in a worship service. They were not planning – they were MINISTERING TO THE LORD – and the call came while they were doing it.

WHAT “AVAILETH MUCH” DOES NOT PROMISE

Now I have to be careful right here, because a half-truth about prayer will wound somebody. “Availeth much” is a promise about the weight of praying . . . it is not a promise about the shape of the answer – and the same Bible that tells us prayer prevails tells us some other things just as plain.

It does not promise that we get what we name.

James 4:3 — “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

A father who hands a child every single thing that child names is not a good father.

It does not promise our timing.

Luke 18:7 — “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?”

“Though he bear long.” The Lord put the waiting right into the promise . . . and Elijah himself sent his servant to go look toward that sea SEVEN times before there was ever a cloud out there the size of a man's hand.

It does not promise that we will understand it.

Isaiah 55:8–9 — “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

And sometimes the answer is a NO that turned out to be better than the yes would have been.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9 — “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Paul asked three times and God told him no three times . . . and then God told him why, and told him what he was getting instead of what he asked for. And Paul spent the rest of his life glad about it. Whatever that thorn was, the no was the better gift – and Paul could only see that afterward, looking back at it.

So we keep both halves of this thing together. Prayer prevails . . . and the One that it prevails with is a great deal wiser than we are. Take only the first half of that and the first answer that does not come our way is going to crush us . . . take only the second half of it and we will quit asking altogether.

Part Four of this series is given entirely over to the hardest form of that question – when the answer is no and the loss is real. It is not answered here because it deserves a great deal more than a paragraph.

WHY THIS ONE HAS TO BE SETTLED FIRST

Everything else in this study is leaning on the answer to this one question.

If prayer is mostly just something we do to look religious – something to settle our nerves down before we go handle the real problem ourselves – then we are going to keep right on doing exactly what most of us already do. We will work it ourselves . . . run clean out of options . . . and then pray about it when there is nothing left in this world to try.

But if prayer AVAILETH MUCH . . . then reaching for it last is not being humble. It is waste.

So before you go on to Part Two, sit with this one a minute. Not “do I believe prayer works” – every one of us would say yes to that one without even thinking about it. The better question is this one:

If prayer availeth that much . . . then why is it the last thing I reach for?

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

The Bible's answer to the question in the title is not that prayer works sometimes . . . and it is not that prayer mostly works on the man who is doing the praying. The Bible's answer is that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man AVAILETH MUCH – and then it hands us a man who wanted to die the week before, and a church that would not open the door when the answer knocked on it.

And the righteous man in that promise is not a better man than you are. He is a saved man who has kept his accounts short with God . . . and that is a door standing wide open. God has put the blessing on the other side of the asking.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Two things.

ONE. Get the line clear before you ask for anything at all. Confess what you already know about . . . because James put that first for a reason.

TWO. Then pick out one thing you have been handling all by yourself – not the biggest thing, just one thing – and ask God for it out loud, by name, on purpose, before you do anything else about it.

Then write down the date somewhere. We are going to be at this for thirteen parts . . . and it helps to have a mark to look back at.

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NEXT — Part Two: How Prayer Works, the Appointed Means. If God already knows what we need, and He has already made up His mind what He is going to do, then what is my praying actually doing? The plainest answer in the Bible comes out of God's own mouth in Ezekiel 36:37 . . . and it is not the answer most people expect.

Daniel 11 and the Ships of Chittim

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Bro. Ken — Wednesday evening service, September 2, 2026 Daniel 11:30-45 · Ezekiel 37–39 · Genesis 10:2-5

► Watch this lesson on video (37:10)

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Bro. Ken brought the lesson this Wednesday evening. What follows is his lesson written up from the recording — his order, his words, and the places where he offered a thing as his own reading are marked as his.

What the Lesson Was About

Bro. Ken worked straight through the last half of Daniel chapter 11, verse by verse, and tied it back to Ezekiel 37, 38 and 39 — with the whole evening hanging on one phrase in verse 30 that most folks read past without stopping: the ships of Chittim.

He opened by saying he hates to think about doom and gloom, and then said plainly that this is not doom and gloom — “we should anticipate that with much longing . . . the time we will go and be with the Lord, and His coming back.” That set the tone for everything after it. He talked about the flood the church had all seen on the news that week, and about how a wall of water can take out a five-story building, two bridges and a dam, and no man can stand in front of it. Mankind is puny. We can build an atomic bomb, we can build a hydrogen bomb, we can make a big show — but nothing we make is going to compare with the power of God when the Lord Jesus Christ turns His wrath loose in the seven vials. He read that against the Lord’s own words, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22), and asked the question flat out: what flesh? His answer, offered as his own reading and not as settled doctrine, is the flesh living on the earth under the wrath of God at the end time — and the elect for whose sake the days are shortened is the remnant of Israel driven into the Negev.

Ezekiel — The Bones Live, But They Have No Breath

From there he went to Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones, where God tells the prophet plainly, “these bones are the whole house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:11). Ken’s reading of it is that the bones came together and stood up as an exceeding great army by physical means — the act of the United Nations in 1948, and then in 1967 an army strong enough to retake Jerusalem — and that the nation stands today with a mighty army and no spiritual life in it. Physical life in the sinew, he said, but no breath. That comes on the day of atonement, when “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10) and the whole nation is born in a day.

He allowed here, the way he usually does, that there are men who know a great deal more Scripture than he does who think all seven of the feasts of Leviticus will yet be kept, and he does not — he thinks what remains is the feast of tabernacles, and said he would come back to Zechariah to make that case.

Then Ezekiel 38, and the prophecy against Gog. Ken pressed hard on the wording: Gog is not the chief prince of Magog. “Set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2). Where are Meshech and Tubal? Western Turkey — Asia Minor, where the seven churches of Asia stood, and where Pergamos was, which is where the seat of Satan was, and the seat of Satan is given to the antichrist. And it is God who moves him: “I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth” (Ezekiel 38:4). He read on into chapter 39 — “I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand” (Ezekiel 39:3) — and marked Ezekiel 39:14 to come back to next time.

The Clock

Back in Daniel 11, Ken laid out how he understands the timing. The antichrist is the king of the north. The king of the south pushes at him, the king of the north finally overruns the king of the south and pushes him into the Negev. The division of the Greek empire into four pieces is where the kingdom of the north and the kingdom of the south come from in the first place. He comes down, he goes back, and when he comes the second time God puts the hooks in his jaws and drags him down. He will have no choice.

His count, if a man could ever set his clock at the right moment: 1,335 days to the end of the seventieth week (Daniel 12:12), the abomination set up on the temple mount, then 1,290 days (Daniel 12:11), then Israel pushed into the Negev with 1,260 days left — forty-two months, three and a half years — which is the span of the seven trumpets, and the same span the Gentiles tread Jerusalem underfoot.

He said the honest thing about all of it in the middle of the count: “I don’t know how I’m going to get out of that if I don’t die. I’m either going to live through that or I’m going to die.” And then that he has believed since he was twenty-five years old that he will see it happen.

Exploits — And Who Sides With Him

Reading verses 31 and 32 — “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” — Ken took exploits in its plain sense: heroic acts. When that thing is set in a fixed position where it ought not be, some of the Jews will fight it. Others, the ones that forsake the covenant, will side with him and be drawn in by flatteries — and the word, he said, carries the sense of special treatment.

He turned that on the room without softening it. We know exactly how flatteries work, he said. Vote the right way and we keep what we have; vote the wrong way and we are cast aside. He left the application where he found it — “I’ll leave it to you what to decide to do. But we don’t need to vote the wrong way” — and then went after the price we are willing to pay: it bothers him greatly that a nation will walk away from what is right over thirty or forty or fifty cents on a gallon of gasoline.

Verses 33 through 35 he read as the furnace: they shall fall by the sword, by flame, by captivity and by spoil; they shall be holpen with a little help; and some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge them and to make them white. That is what fire does. And he pointed to the early church for the pattern — the more they were killed, the more they were persecuted, the more they stood fast, and their persecutors were flabbergasted.

Which brought him to the part of the evening that had the least to do with Daniel and the most to do with the people in the pews. When we get under dire straits and turn to God, we can stick it out. If we trust our own faith and our own words, down we go. He said God knew before He ever spoke the earth into existence that we would be sitting in this house in Dardanelle, Arkansas, on the second day of September, 2026 — He knows what happens in the morning, and we do not. “What I got to do is trust Him.” And then, on whether he would rather be taken early or stay: either is all right, “because what Jesus will do, He will give us the strength to go through what we need to go through, if we avail ourself of His strength.”

He put his own praying into it, and this was the sharpest thing he said all evening. He used to pray get me out of this. Now he prays, “Lord, how long is this going to last? Help me endure. Help me get past — not get me out.” If we know the time, we will know how long it is going to last, and we will not be scared to death when things start coming undone. He was honest about which man in him wants which prayer: if he lets the flesh man overrule, he will run like a scared jack rabbit and bail out so fast you would not know what happened.

Verses 36 Through 45 — Where He Ends Up

The king does according to his will, exalts himself above every god, speaks marvellous things against the God of gods, honours the God of forces with gold and silver and precious stones, and divides the land for gain. At the time of the end the king of the south pushes at him and he comes like a whirlwind. Edom, Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon escape out of his hand — which is modern Jordan, Ken said, and he bypasses it going south. Egypt does not escape. The Libyans and the Ethiopians are at his steps, protecting his flanks.

And then verse 44: “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him.” Ken has heard people say the antichrist turns north to tear up Russia and China. But look where he is standing. He is in Egypt. What is north of Egypt? The Mediterranean. Not Russia, not China. And straight east of Egypt is the nation of Israel, bottled up in the Negev. North is the sea — and the ships of Chittim.

The Ships of Chittim

Here is where he spent the most time, and where he clearly most wanted the church to think.

“For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant . . .” (Daniel 11:30). Ken traced the word — spelled with a C or a K, an old word hardly used, denoting Cyprus, the general meaning being an islander, i.e. Greeks or Romans on the shores opposite. And he made no secret of not knowing which it is. Is it a group of ships out of Cyprus, which has a treaty with Israel? Is it the Greeks or the Romans? Or, as he put it, is it “a flotilla of American warships that finally got their act together and sent some warships into the Mediterranean”? He did not say. What he said was that whatever it is, it grieves the antichrist, and that the antichrist’s answer to being grieved is indignation against the holy covenant.

What is the holy covenant? Ken believes with all his heart it is the covenant — the one God made with Abraham, that in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:3), and confirmed at the cross. It was made long before, but it was not confirmed until the death of the testator. God could have backed out, and He would not have; God held Himself to His own standard, and when Jesus Christ died the covenant stood confirmed forever.

Then he asked the question that the whole lesson had been building toward, and asked it about the man’s character rather than his politics: who made that covenant? God did. So why would any nation set itself against it? “Bless your heart. He doesn’t serve the God that we serve.”

For the source of the word itself he went back to Genesis 10 and read the table of nations: “The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands . . .” (Genesis 10:2–5). There is Chittim, and there are the isles of the Gentiles — and Japheth went north and east, and most of the Gentiles alive today, if not all of them, came out of Japheth.

Where He Plants His Palace

Verse 45: “And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”

He is not setting up a temple, Ken said. He is setting up a command post on Mount Moriah — whether the stronghold is the Dome of the Rock or a statue standing there or some combination of the two, he does not know. But between the seas is between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, and he tries to run his war from up there, and he comes to his end, and nobody helps him.

Why can nobody help him? Because God is going to destroy him. Ken went to Revelation 19:11 and the white horse, and the armies of heaven coming out with Him to make war on them that dwell on the earth — the ones of Revelation 6:16 crying for the mountains to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. He put that in the vials, and his own view is that the pull-back to Mount Moriah happens between the sixth and the seventh. He marked the fifth seal to go with it, where the souls under the altar cry “How long, O Lord” (Revelation 6:10) and are told to rest yet for a little season — and then the seventh trumpet, where the angel swears “that there should be time no longer” (Revelation 10:6). Judgment is not delayed past that.

He is coming back to Ezekiel 39:14 next time.

The Close

He ended nowhere near Daniel.

“Let’s pray our country does not turn his back on Israel.” I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee (Genesis 12:3). He said he wants to be on the side that loves Israel, because that is God’s side — they are the apple of God’s eye, they are God’s chosen people, and He will come and fight for them as when He fought in the day of battle (Zechariah 14:3). He named the error he was pushing against without dressing it up: if a man preaches that Israel has been replaced by the church, he needs to go back to the Bible, and study, and pray, because he is not preaching the truth from the Bible.

And then he turned it on the lost man sitting there, and the last three minutes of the lesson are worth reading exactly as they came.

He said he used to tell the Lord, this is Wednesday — I’m going to play Thursday and Friday and Saturday, and I’ll serve You Sunday. It won’t happen. “I can’t do anything about yesterday, and I may not have tomorrow. What I have is right now. That’s all we have is right now. The only time you could do anything with the Lord, for the Lord, about the Lord, is right now.” He may not have 8:30 that night, when he was planning to be at home eating beans and taters.

“Well, preacher, I’m going to get right with God tomorrow.” Do you know whether or not you’re going to have tomorrow?

“Preacher, I know I’m lost. I’m going to get saved tomorrow, or next week.” Do you know you’re going to have tomorrow, or next week? And if you’re not willing to do it today — what is going to change to make you willing to do it tomorrow?

“Even if you do survive — if the Holy Spirit’s dealing with you at all, right now is the time to take advantage of that.”

He gave the invitation on number 399.

Scripture Used

Daniel 11:30–45 · Daniel 12:11–12 · Ezekiel 37:10–11 · Ezekiel 38:2, 4 · Ezekiel 39:1–3, 14 · Genesis 10:2–5 · Genesis 12:3 · Matthew 24:22 · Zechariah 12:10 · Zechariah 14:3 · Revelation 6:9–11, 16 · Revelation 10:6 · Revelation 19:11 (all KJV)