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Once again, good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 8. We'll be looking at the whole thing this morning, Lord willing. Revelation chapter 8. I want to be talking to you about the fruitfulness of praying to God and the futility of opposing Him. And that will come from Revelation chapter 8.

Go ahead and read those. Verse 1. When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar, which is before the Lord.

And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth. And there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. The first sounded, and there came hail. And fire mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died. And a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

The name of the star is called wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters because they were made bitter. The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened, and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. How many of you woke up this morning and said to yourself, you know, I think I will go and get scammed today.

How many of you woke up and said, you know, I'd really like to be a victim of identity theft today. Or I really hope that the time and effort and energy that I have poured into this relationship will come to nothing. How many of you decided you just go out today and were hoping that you would lose something very valuable?

I'd almost venture to say that none of you did. None of you. You see, there's nothing worse than a bad investment, whether that be an investment of time, energy, money. We hate fruitlessness. We hate it when we lose something precious. We hate loss. The question becomes: what are you doing with the strength that God gives you?

How are you investing what you have? Are you a good steward of it? And I'm talking everything about you, your strength, the days that God gives you, your mental capacities, your resources. What do you do? Doing with them. There's nothing more tragic than wasting a life. None of us go out looking for a bad deal, and yet many of us are lured every day into making bad investments.

And it's a spiritual issue, it really is. There are things that are worth investing in, and there are things that are not. There are things that always be fruitful, and there are things which will always be futile. And the Bible has much to say about these categories. Our passage this morning gives us an answer in each of these categories.

Our passage that we just read tells us of something that is always fruitful. Praying to God is always fruitful. And opposing God is always futile. And so, I want to walk through these concepts with you this morning, just as they come to us in the text in Revelation 8.

I want you to look and see the value of prayer. I want you to also see the futility of opposing God so that you will be a good steward of the life that God. Has given you so that you will learn biblical wisdom, so that you will always be about that which is fruitful and always be shunning that which is futile.

Listen, God loves fruitfulness. The reason why you and I love fruitfulness, the reason we want a good return, is because we're made in His image. And even though we're fallen, we still bear that image. God desires fruitfulness, and so do we. But it is the designs of the great enemy of your soul to tempt you into that which is futile.

Listen, the devil is not our friend. He hates, he destroys, he hates the image of God. He hates us because he hates God. And so his plan is to lure you into that which is futile. But there is that which is always profitable. And so the title of this morning's message is my outline.

I'm going to be looking at the fruitfulness of praying to God, and we're going to look at the futility of opposing him. Now look at, we'll just jump right into this. Look at verse 1. When the lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for a A half an hour.

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. So, if you'll remember where we've been, we have been looking at the seals. This big scroll sealed up. Look at the first seal: the rise of a Christ opposing regime, dominion over the whole earth.

Second seal is a worldwide discord on macro and little minor levels. But on all levels, there's a discord, there is worldwide depression, the world is never seen, there's a worldwide death in the fourth seal. You can see that there is in the fifth seal, we see this altar and the souls, there's great martyrdom, crying out for justice before the Lord.

And then we have in the sixth seal a darkening of the heavens and cosmic disturbances that indicate the day of the Lord has come. And so, now, after an interlude of chapter five, chapter six, I mean, in chapter seven, I'm sorry, chapter seven, we now come to the opening of the seventh.

Seal. And when the seventh seal is opened, we have seven trumpets that now come on the scene. And so, what's going to happen, we really get the trumpets, tell the contents of this scroll, what is coming. And so, we're going to go from the seven seals, and the seventh seal becomes seven trumpets.

And then we'll walk through each of these seven trumpets as the trumpets are blown. We'll look at four of them today. We get this fruitless seal, I want you to, as we look at the first six verses, look at the fruitfulness of praying to God. It's always when the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, an ominous silence, a silence of foreboding of what's coming upon the earth.

In the first four seals, you remember, there was the loud, thunderous come of the living beings. They would loud noise after the seals opened, boom, come. In the fifth seal, when it was opened, boom, here all these cries from the martyrs crying out to God for justice. And in the sixth seal, when it was opened, boom, an earthquake.

But when the seventh seal is opened, silence. It's a foreboding. It's an ominous. An ominous silence of what is about to come upon the earth. Seven angels who stand before God, seven trumpets were given to them. They took their stand, or they took their stand that was designated for them.

They took their stand. Their place is before the Lord, and they were given trumpets. A lot of questions: who are these angels? A lot's been suggested. They're seven angels. We'll just call them the trumpet seven. That's what the text deals with them and all kinds of ideas, but all John is trying to depict here is that they're the angels that are going to blow the seven trumpets.

But the importance of trumpets are throughout the Bible. Trumpets were used to summon, trumpets were used to sound an alarm, trumpets were used to announce news, trumpets were used to call people to worship, to begin celebrations at the feast. Trumpets were also used in Zephaniah 1:14 through 16 to describe the day of the Lord.

It is a day of wrath, but it is also a day of trumpet. And so that is how it is being used. Used here. It's a day of announcement, a day of, but it is a day associated with the day of the Lord. The trumpets are associated with the trumpet of the Lord.

But before they sound, another angel steps on the scene. And that angel is going to greatly inform us about the value of the prayers of the saints. Your prayers and my prayers. And so I want us to walk through the next few verses, and then we'll just comment, we'll stop and make some observations about prayer.

But look at verse 3. Another angel came and stood at the altar. He took that place assigned to him. He was holding a golden censer, that is an incense pan, a pan that was to put incense upon the altar. We're there at that altar that's right before the throne, the presence of the Lord.

It's not the sin offering. It is the incense offering right there, incense altar, right before the throne, which was historically before the veil. And much incense was given to him. It was given to him. This incense was given to him, is certainly ultimately given to him by God, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints.

On the golden altar, which is before, which was before the Lord. So it's clear that he's come to offer more prayers. Now, this isn't an angelic mediator here. Prayers were given to him, or the incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of the saints so that they would go up.

So he is not. We're not talking about angelic mediation here. This is an offering. It's being prayers and incense given to him. But it's clear that the prayers of the saints are important to God. He keeps track of his people's prayer. And it's also clear, as we keep going, that God acts in response to his people's prayer.

He's about to judge the whole world. He's about to usher in the day of the Lord. It's going to begin right here. But it's going to happen in response to the prayers of his people. And remember earlier in chapter 6, verse 9, when the fifth seal was opened, the martyrs who were at the base of this same altar were crying out.

Let me just read to you verses 9 and 10 of chapter 6. When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had. Been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

How long? The question is, how long? How long will you refrain from doing two things? Number one, from judging and from avenging? How long before you will make a decision about the unjust ways of those who are dwelling on the earth and condemn them for their actions? How long are you going to let this go on?

How long innocent blood has been shed and you have promised you are the one to take vengeance? How long before you deal out your retribution? What they are doing is clearly wrong. How long are you going to allow this to go on? As I commented back then, this is not a personal vendetta that these people have.

It's an honest cry to set things right. Lord, we know your character. You're holy. You're true. How long are you going to let this go on? Well, the answer comes in chapter 6, verse 11. And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a while.

Little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had been, would be completed also. Now, how about that for an answer? There's more that are going to be killed just like you. And so I'm not going to avenge the blood.

I'm not going to judge the world until that full number comes in. Well, by the blowing of the first trumpet, the number is in. The day of judgment is about to begin. And so, God is about to begin it in response to the prayers. The number is in.

And now more prayers are being lifted up. But it's also clear, as you look at this, that the prayers of the saints have the attention of heaven. The thoughts, the cries, and the pleas of God's people rise up to the throne in a very graphic public display. Look back at verse 4.

And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angels' hands. Seems to be a picture here of what the Holy Spirit's ministry of this rising up. There's an audio and a visual. The audio, the prayers. The prayers are audible.

The smoke of the incense is visual. I don't know to what degree all of heaven knows our prayers, but there certainly is indicated in this passage. He wants heaven to know the prayers of his people. It is going to be on that basis that judgment is going to come.

And we already know what the prayers have been. How long are you going to allow this to go on? How long before you judge our case, before you make things right, bring vengeance upon those who are dwelling upon the earth? So, in some way, God makes known these prayers to all of heaven, certainly at least part of them.

All the prayers. But notice that these prayers move God to action. Look at verse 5. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar. So the same censer that comes up after he pours out, after he empties the incense, he scoops up the coals, filled it with the fire.

The altar, and he threw it to the earth. And there followed peals of thunder, and sounds, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. You see, this is a very graphic scene. Prayers going up, incense going up before the Lord, and then that angel who's just offered these up takes up a scoop of fire and throws it to the earth.

And then the angels ready themselves to blow. There's making a clear connection between what happens on the earth and the prayers of these saints. God does not want his people to be people of vengeance. It makes that very clear. Vengeance belongs to him. In Leviticus 19:18, it says, You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord. God says, Look, you guys are not in the business of taking vengeance. You'd get it wrong anyway. And you wouldn't know what to do. He says, You leave that up to me. I will avenge. You love. You love your neighbor as yourself. And if you are mistreated, You let me set the record straight.

Deuteronomy 32, 35, God says this, Vengeance is mine and retribution. In due time, their foot will slip. For the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them. It's like, look, what God is doing through all these judgment scenes and through the people that he has put before the world to be mistreated because of the truth.

He is doing so because he wants to draw them to himself. And that was the result of this great multitude. It's because of this unflinching testimony to the truth. People who love them in spite of their mistreatment. But in due time, God promises their foot will slip. It's coming.

And woe is that day. So woeful that no matter how bad you are treated in this world, no matter how much injustice is shown to you, it is nothing. Compared to what's coming upon them. And so, you should not go through this world despising those who have harmed you, but pitying them.

And if you have truth, you know what's coming for them. And this should alleviate any hostility because of what is coming. And we get a picture of that today. But just a few observations about prayer. Number one, the prayers of God's people are important to him. Number two, God hears, he remembers, and he treasures his people's prayers.

It's like sweet-smelling spiritual incense. He cares, he treasures them. And there is a connection between what happens on earth and our prayers. Sometimes we fail to make those connections, but prayers go up. Graphic, don't let this picture escape your mind. The angel offers up the prayers and then scoops up the coals and casts it down.

And the vengeance in the day of the Lord begins. To turn to God in prayer is to draw close to him. And God draws close to those who draw close to him. There is a closeness of God to our prayers. When you pray, you can't help but be close to him.

Because he draws near, you draw near. It's a place of fellowship. All prayers will ultimately be answered. And pity those who do not turn to him. Their life is futile. Number six, God accomplishes good things through unanswered prayers. God knows what he's doing. And he postpones, sometimes he postpones answering our prayers because he's bringing something about.

The whole scene of this great multitude coming out of this great tribulation is because God is postponing, answering the prayers of the martyrs. So that through their testimony, a great multitude will turn to him. Sometimes God accomplishes great things through unanswered prayers. Finally, number seven, the prayers of God's people are important to him because his people are important to him.

There's a lot on prayer here. But not so are the prayers of those who oppose God. Their prayers are very different. The prayers of those who oppose God are not spiritual incense. God does not hear the prayers of the wicked. He will not advance the cause of wickedness.

Listen to what Psalm 66, 18 says: If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear. You want to know why God doesn't answer some of your prayers? It's because you're regarding wickedness in your heart. He doesn't hear that. He's not going to advance your cause in wickedness.

Proverbs 15, 29, the Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous. You want to know how to approach God? He's not going to hear. You approach him in repentance, in a way of turning away from your wickedness, not protecting it. He's not going to advance your wicked agenda.

That's why he doesn't hear the prayers of the wicked. You see, God does not like the prayers of those with the Selfish agenda. He does not like the prayers of those with a selfish agenda. Matthew 6:5, Jesus said, When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the streets so that they may be seen by men.

They pray with the whole selfish agenda and any form of it. Don't expect your prayers to be heard if you're about advancing your own agenda. God's message is not to be self-serving, but to be God-seeking, God-serving, not opposing God. James 4:3 says, You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Don't pray with a selfish agenda. Don't pray with a self-serving motivation in mind, but put a God-serving one. See, God's message to you who are opposing God today is simply this: turn to Him in prayer and say to Him, Hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Such prayer will be met, will be very fruitful. But if you want to stay on the throne of your own life and Order God around, you can be sure that your prayers will continue to be futile. So, we've looked at fruitfulness of praying to God, the first six verses.

Now, I want to spend some time looking at the futility of opposing God. The futility of opposing God in verses 7 through 13. And what these first four trumpet blasts tell us or show us is just how futile Earth's war is with his creator, with its creator. It's not only insane, why in the world would you take your creator on?

But it's futile. It's going to come to nothing. So, I want us to walk through these four trumpets and then make a few comments as we go and afterwards. Look at the first trumpet, verse 7. The first sounded, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

Hail, fire, and blood. The verb there is mixed together, blended together as one element. Now, you can imagine a third. Earth burned up, third of the trees, third of the, and all the green grass. You can imagine with the black horse, you remember a depression that depicted a time of famine that the world had never seen.

Well, imagine this. This is not the same famine. This isn't just a reiteration of what happened with the black horse. This is an advance. What's happening with the trumpets is an advancement. It is God drawing near in judgment, and the stakes get more and more severe as they go.

They're not just restating what he stated earlier. There is advancement. There is movement. And you can imagine what this would do to Earth's food supply, livestock, everything that's dependent upon. This is going to result in a far more severe. Well, that's the Earth's vegetation. Look at the second trumpet, verse 8.

The second angel sounded, and something like a great. Sorry, I got a picture for that. First trumpet, sorry. You get this hail, fire, and blood mixed together, burning up vegetation of the earth. Second angel sounded, and you have something like a great mountain. Something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

A third of the sea became blood. Is that to be taken literal or blood-like? I think it could go either way. But keep in mind, there was a point at which the magicians of Egypt could no longer imitate the disasters. And there's going to be a parallel. There's differences, but there is a similar pattern.

There, was the water turned into blood, or was it a dirt spill? I'd take it as blood. Literal. But at some point, the magicians in Egypt learned we can't imitate this anymore. This is definitely the hand of God at work. Literal blood is certainly something only God can bring about.

In fact, look at chapter 16, verse 6. We're going to see again in the bold judgments. In verse 6, it says, This, God, you are righteous for what you've done. You've turned the waters and rivers and springs into blood. And in verse 6, it says, Why? For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.

They deserve it. Blood poured out. Yeah, this is God doing something. Now, it's an interesting to point out. Third of the creatures which were in the sea that had life, had life breath, died, had life, they died. Third of the ships were destroyed. So you see an impact to the whole commerce, shipping vessels.

This is a huge catastrophe. Vegetation first is struck, and then the sea is turned into blood. Trumpet number three. Look at verse 10. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven. A very large star fell. The word is collapsed or fell earthward. It collapsed from heaven.

It fell from heaven, burning like a torch. And it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of the water. Now, think about that for a second. If I throw a rock, I might land in a creek. But to throw something that's going to hit a third of the rivers and a third of the springs of water, yeah, this is a great star.

And it's probably disintegrating over the earth as it is collapsing. It is massive. That's what it says, a great star. It is massive and it is disintegrating over. I mean, how else do you hit a third of the earth? It is massive in size, but it also spreads as it collapses to the earth.

And in verse 11, it tells us the name of the star. The name of the star is called wormwood, literally bitterness. And a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters because they were made bitter. Wormwood. This is a very potent, bitter-tasting shrub.

In fact, one expert says one ounce of wormwood is so bitter that it can be tasted in over five gallons. 500 gallons of water. So, if you have one ounce, you pour it into 500 gallons of water, you can still taste it. That's how bitter this wormwood is.

So, this whole star is collapsing to the earth, disintegrating as it falls, is touching a third of the earth's freshwater supplies. The God, if you remember in Exodus 15:23 at Mara, is the God who can take bitter waters and make them sweet. He is also the God who can take sweet water and make it bitter.

And many men died from the waters because they were made bitter. It's important to note that the primary goal here isn't death. That's going to come. Primary goal here is warning, but death happens because the water made bitter. Look at trumpet number four. Verse 12: The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be dark.

Darkened, and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Think about that. Think about what happens when a third of the sun. I don't know how you actually depict it, but think about the sun. A third of the sun being darkened.

Well, think about the earth's orbit around the sun. Think about what that's going to do. There are going to be periods of darkness coming upon the earth. And see the relationship between the moon. The sun is darkened, the moon's not going to give its light. There's going to be this period.

Days are going to be shortened. In fact, Jesus said the days are going to be so bad that if the days were not shortened, no one would survive. The darkness. And this here is an act of mercy. You think about it with the scroll and the sixth seal, the sky being pulled apart.

Certainly, some major catastrophic, atmospheric events are taking place. The sun going dark for a period of the day may protect the sun from beating down, but for whatever reason, you have a darkness. And this isn't reiterating what is said in the sixth seal. It is. Advancing it. A third, the one who cuts off a third of the light has the capacity to cut off a hundred percent of the light, and you need to be paying attention.

The day of the Lord has come near, and that's the message. But it also shortens the opportunity for evil and evil scheming. This is something that Jesus speaks about, and we'll spend more time about that on that later. But just make a, not today, but in the evenings, but just a few observations.

The first four trumpets are expressions of God's judgment upon Earth's ecology. If you notice, all of these impact Earth's ecology. Now, the next two are going to deal with human beings. Next will be upon the inhabitants. But what you have a depiction of is Earth under siege by its creator.

You know, one of the judgments that God brought against Israel was the devastation to a city caused by a siege. And what is a siege? Where the armies surround the city, cut off food supply, cut off water supply, cut off commerce going in and out. And you have this same kind of event happening.

Here, you have devastation to the food supply, cutting off of the water supply, devastation to the water supply, devastation to trade. Kind of accomplishes the same thing, bringing people to the end. The idea is: surrender, surrender. But there is a futility of Earth's war with this Creator. God created it, God knows it.

God has a purpose for the earth. He controls the elements. Why in the world would Earth want to take Him on? But it's futility. Futility is seen in just how quickly God can render Earth helpless. But also, notice: God does not destroy the Earth all at once, He destroys a third.

You see that theme: a third, a third, a third, a third, a third. And what He is doing is He's drawing near for judgment, even in the day of judgment. He is giving time to the stubborn heart to turn to Him. Listen, God is giving your stubborn heart time to turn to Him.

Let us get rid of every vestige of stubborn. Stubbornness to God in our life. It is futile to oppose Him at any level. It is not our prerogative to do so. And it's certainly not going to ever be fruitful. And God does this because He knows what's good for us.

And He is good, and He is the ultimate servant of good. He is the ultimate one who serves up good. The foolishness and futility of opposing God cannot be overstated. But all of this, He darkens a third, a third, a third. He's drawing near. But all this is in His grace.

He gives people time to respond so that they too will be like those of the Great Tribulation, that the Great Multitude that come out of the Great Tribulation. He doesn't destroy it all at once. But more is coming. Look at verse 13. Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven that is between earth and between heaven, an eagle flying, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell upon the earth, the ones who are currently dwelling upon the earth.

It's a present. Woe, woe, woe to those who are currently dwelling upon the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. It's very clear that the first four trumpets serve to warn. Even as they judge, there is a service of warning, a herald, a warning, an alarm.

But they are for punishment, not to kill just yet. But these should be enough to cause widespread repentance, a widespread surrender. You cannot take this one on. It's not good to do so, but it doesn't. Earth is going to continue in its rebellion and it's going to double down.

Surprisingly, there is an insanity in opposing God, and there is a futility of being at war with God. This is what Psalm 2:1 opens up. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? Why in the world would you take your stand against your Creator?

What are you thinking? That is not the way of blessing in your life. That is the way of futility. Let me ask you: where are you on this? Do you oppose him? Are you opposing him? One of the very first things that awakened my soul to God was the utter futility of what I was engaged in doing.

I was doing things that were completely unprofitable. This much I knew. God put me on the earth for a reason, and it wasn't just to squander my life away. And yet, you who are opposing God, you who are excusing sin, are doing just that. But oh, how profitable it is when you come to that point of complete surrender and growing surrender.

Come to the point of surrendering and growing in that surrender to Him. Turning to Him in prayer. Instead of opposing Him in mind and thought and deed, turning to Him in prayer. That is the blessed way. Always fruitful. Opposing Him is always futile. Well, there is certainly a futility in opposing God.

2 Peter 3:9 says this: The Lord is not slow about his promise. Some are saying, well, it's been too. Thousand years, why in the world haven't you come back? Peter's addressing that. The Lord's not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

That's why God strives with you and me. It's why he is going to strive with the world, the days ahead, because the heart of God is, he doesn't want to bring any of this upon any. He doesn't want any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

The futility of being at war with your Creator just simply cannot be overstated. And so my call to you today is to remove every thought or a vestige of opposing God. Even if you've already come to Him, there are areas, there are places. Quickly, quickly, quickly, lay them down.

Surrender, surrender, surrender. It is not the way of blessing. It is certainly the way of futility. But the fruitfulness of praying to God, oh, of turning to Him in prayer, always fruitful. James 5:16 says this: The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. The fruitfulness of turning to God in prayer cannot be underestimated either, even though we routinely underestimate it.

That's why there's so much prayerlessness. And even people who have been Christians a long time, we tend to be a prayerless people because it boils down. We think they're not important, or somehow they really don't matter. But I hope as you've seen the fruitfulness of these saints, God does remember them.

He does treasure them. They are sweet aroma to him. And he is doing something with them. It is fruitful. Even if we can't see it, I don't know if these martyrs ever saw the great multitude coming out of the great tribulation until later. It's irrelevant. You serve him.

And even as you're agonizing through things and you're praying through things, God is accomplishing something even if you don't see it. Prayer is valuable. Opposing God is futile. Be a good steward of the life that God has given you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to be engaged in that which lasts.

Help us to invest our time, our energy, our efforts into that which endures forever. Forgive us of opposing you at any level. Help us to grow up and out of challenging you, opposing you. Father, and I pray for those today who've never been born from above, that today they would turn their heart to you and cry out.

Say, God, forgive me, a sinner. God, I want to walk in your ways. Father, we turn to you in prayer. You know the needs here. You know things that are going on that we don't even communicate to others. Father, you know them all. Father, and so we turn to you in prayer.

We turn to you now. You know what's going on in all of our hearts, and we ask you, Father, to accomplish your work in us by your Spirit, according to your grace. In Christ's name, amen.