1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,200 This is a real story, and for me personally, it's one of the most 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,400 incredible testimonies I've ever heard. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,960 In December 2023, I was speaking at an evangelistic meal and a 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,760 man came up to me and said, would you mind if I shared my 5 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,520 testimony with you? The guy, he was quite a big guy, 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,960 quite a tough guy. And I said, of course, I'd love 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,280 to hear it. Anyway, Dave told me that he was 8 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,960 one of these guys who had lived quite a a wildlife. 9 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,520 He was a a motorbiker and he travelled all around. 10 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,280 He'd been to Amsterdam, he'd done all kinds of things, got 11 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,360 himself into all kinds of trouble. 12 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,000 And he said during the lockdown in 2020, he was in his man cave 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:45,640 surrounded by his motorcycles, and he felt a certain dread, a 14 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,880 fear of God just fall on him. And he found himself just just 15 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:54,240 crying on the floor, just crying and, and and, you know, couldn't 16 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:55,760 get up. He just felt like he was 17 00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:00,360 overwhelmed by by God. His wife came into the room at 18 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,320 that time and and saw him that what's wrong with you, Dave And 19 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,120 his all he knew is that God had met with him and he'd been 20 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,600 forgiven in some kind of way for for what he'd done all the wrong 21 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,520 things he'd done. That was Saturday night. 22 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,360 On Monday nights, okay, he didn't know which God it was who 23 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,600 had spoken to him, but he knew God had met with him. 24 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,080 Monday nights. At 16 minutes past three, Dave 25 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,480 is woken up, looks at his phone 16 minutes past three and tries 26 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,400 to go back to sleep. The next night, at 16 minutes 27 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,560 past three, again Dave is woken up and he looks at his phone. 28 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,800 The next night, again, he's woken up, looks at his phone. 29 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,320 What time is it? 16 minutes past three. 30 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,000 On the 4th night, he said. It's almost as if God was 31 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,040 saying, boy, this man is really, really slow. 32 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,880 He's not getting a hint. At 16 minutes past three, Dave 33 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,360 was woken up again and just decided to get up, go on his 34 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:00,600 computer and he typed in on his computer Bible 316. 35 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,600 And what verse did he find? John 316 For God so loved the 36 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,120 world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 37 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,040 believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting 38 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,560 life. It is incredible, isn't it, how 39 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,680 God can speak to us in the middle of the night. 40 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,040 And if you're an atheist and you're listening to this right 41 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,720 now, you explain to me that coincidence, how Dave was woken 42 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,840 up four nights on the trot at 16 minutes past three. 43 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,880 Now, if you just joined us and you've never seen one of these 44 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,960 videos before, my name is Jo Kirby and I've got another 45 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,480 channel called Off the Curb Ministries where I make sort of, 46 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,280 how can I put it, shall we say, out there content, you know, big 47 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,400 sort of content. The videos that you'll see on 48 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,720 Off the Curb are completely different to the videos you'll 49 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,040 see on this channel. It's almost as if two different 50 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,360 people are filming the videos. But on this channel, I just want 51 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,480 to go through the Bible with you, share a few thoughts of 52 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,600 you, and have a nice cup of Joe because my name is Joe. 53 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,160 So please do stop the video right now. 54 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,360 Get yourself a nice coffee, a cup of tea, whatever you want to 55 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:12,360 drink. And we're just going to slowly 56 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,280 go through the scriptures and think about this idea of when 57 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,440 God wakes us up in the middle of the night. 58 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,880 This is particularly on my mind at the moment because actually 59 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,840 last night God woke me up at 3:00 AM. 60 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,360 So, you know, last night I, I went to bed quite late. 61 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:38,920 I was very, very tired. I'd actually been walking for 62 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,040 four hours with my wife. It was her birthday. 63 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,120 We'd been up in the mountains walking and walking. 64 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,320 We didn't even have a baby carrier on for our for our 65 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:48,840 little baby. So we're carrying our baby. 66 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:50,600 We're taking it in turns on our arms. 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,280 We're exhausted. So I was really tired last 68 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,200 night. I stayed up watching Little 69 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,920 House on the Prairie because I like to live life on the wild 70 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,720 side. So we're up till midnight last 71 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,600 night, me and Emma, and I'm really tired. 72 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,480 And yeah, after all this tiredness, I got woken up at 73 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,720 3:00 AM in the morning. I've been praying about a 74 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:13,840 certain issue that's been going on. 75 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,800 I'm not going to go into details, but when I was woken 76 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,800 up, it was almost as if I got an answer to prayer on this 77 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,000 particular issue. It was almost as if God was 78 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:29,240 saying to me, Joe, this is a season of pruning. 79 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:33,040 This is a season where you just need to lay aside all of these 80 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,960 different things. And with much that is given, 81 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,160 much will be required. Now, other Christians, other 82 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:42,480 people, they might be able to do these things. 83 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,520 They might be able to have these situations in their life. 84 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,440 But I know in my life at the moment, where I am in the season 85 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,840 I'm in, I need to lay aside some of these things, cut them out, 86 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,160 and have this season of pruning. And I do believe there was no 87 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,920 accident that I could not get back to sleep at 3:00 AM this 88 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:03,480 morning. It was on my mind. 89 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,680 I was thinking all of these things through and I was praying 90 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,880 to the Lord God. And it is interesting because 91 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,080 God didn't make an accident when this happened. 92 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,400 So on Sunday now I was preaching at another church and it was 93 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,000 kind of a modern church and they were singing the, the, the song 94 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,240 You're a good, good father. Have you heard of that song 95 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,280 before? So we're singing that away and I 96 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:31,040 begin, I begin crying. I know I'm about to get up and 97 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,240 preach and I'm like, Joe, pull yourself together. 98 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,320 Stop, stop crying. And I thought that that song is 99 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,480 beautiful. It's a bit like that, you know, 100 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,120 yes, Jesus loves me for for adults. 101 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,440 So I decided to buy the CD now. Just let me know in the comments 102 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,520 section if you are old school like me and you still listen to 103 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:50,600 CDs. I'm not one of these who has it 104 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,680 all on their phone and connects it to the to the car through 105 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:56,720 Bluetooth. I listen to CDs still, so I 106 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,680 bought the CD and me and Emma are listening to it and I want 107 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,040 to quote some lyrics from the song. 108 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,480 It goes like this. But I've heard the tender 109 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:11,480 whisper of love in the dead of the night and you tell me that 110 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,680 you're pleased with me and that I'm never alone. 111 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,120 And I said to Emma, I wonder, is that theologically correct? 112 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,760 You know, we've got to be careful, haven't we, That, you 113 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,600 know, all these people who are saying, God told me this, God 114 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,200 told me this about this president or God told me this 115 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,760 about this month, or God told me that. 116 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:33,400 We've got to be careful, haven't we? 117 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,040 Because we do know that there have been false teachers in the 118 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,440 past who have said, you know, for instance, Joseph Smith said, 119 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:45,360 I prayed to God and I wanted to know which was the one true 120 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,560 denomination. And so God told me to create my 121 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,120 own, the Book of Mormon. And so I wrote out this book 122 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,600 that contradicts the Bible in many places. 123 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,880 And he also Joseph Smith, if you look at his life, he was also 124 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:02,120 said that God told him to leave his wife and marry another. 125 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,560 You see, people can say God told me this, God did this, and God 126 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,440 spoke to me in this way. But it's very hard to discern to 127 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,480 know whether this person has really heard the voice of the 128 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,000 Lord. Now, one thing you can be sure 129 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,600 of, God speaks to us through scripture. 130 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,320 But I'm not going to say that God doesn't speak to us 131 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,520 personally. You know, like Chris Tomlin says 132 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,000 in this song that we can't hear that whisper. 133 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,160 So I'm saying to Emma, should we even listen to this song? 134 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,880 Is it theologically correct? And then here I am the very next 135 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:37,200 night at three AMI get woken up and I really did feel like it 136 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:41,240 was the Lord saying to me just answering a prayer that wouldn't 137 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,000 necessarily have been answered if I was in the busyness of 138 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,600 daytime doing all the things that I'm doing. 139 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:50,960 So we know that nothing is by accident. 140 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,560 We know that God is sovereign. But I want to ask you a 141 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,920 question. Does God wake you up in the 142 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,440 early hours of the morning? Does he wake you up at midnight? 143 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,760 1:00 AM, Two AM, 3:00 AM, four AM, 5:00 AM. 144 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,760 Is it an accident or is the God who's sovereign over all things, 145 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,680 is he trying to say something? Sometimes, there's no doubt 146 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,400 about it. Sometimes we might have had too 147 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,560 many cups of Joe in the day and that's why we've been woken. 148 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,200 Sometimes we're just not a great sleeper. 149 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,480 Or maybe you, you sleep next to a railroad or a, you know, on a 150 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,080 train or a bus or a busy road and that wakes us up. 151 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,880 Or sometimes you might have a little baby and they don't let 152 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:35,000 you sleep. Do they? 153 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:40,480 It could be that, but sometimes, sometimes God does speak to us 154 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,840 in the night. You see, spiritual things happen 155 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:45,960 in the night. Watch. 156 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:47,920 That's something I want us to think about and I'm going to 157 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:50,520 give you some proof of it in the Scriptures now. 158 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,360 So please, if you've got a Bible, please would you just 159 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,320 turn to Genesis 32 verse 26 with me? 160 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:06,480 Genesis 32 verse 26 So here we have in the middle of the night, 161 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,000 Jacob is woken up by the Lord himself. 162 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:13,480 He sees the Lord and what does Jacob do? 163 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,600 He laid hold of him. He begins to wrestle with him. 164 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:25,120 The Bible says in in Genesis 32, verse 26 and he said, let me go 165 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:26,960 for the day breaks. This is the Lord. 166 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:28,760 Or some would say it's the Angel of the Lord. 167 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,280 I believe it's God himself, but he said I will not let you go 168 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,360 unless you bless me. So what's the lesson here? 169 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,840 Sometimes the Lord God can wake us up so that we might be 170 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,880 blessed in the night. Sometimes he might wake you up 171 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,080 in the middle of the night so that we might have a blessing 172 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,320 that we can tap into. We might be able to find 173 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:56,040 something great in scripture. There might be a time to just be 174 00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:00,200 still and know that I am God. It's been a busy day, but just 175 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,000 know as I, I lie down on my bed, God is with me. 176 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,200 I'm saved, I'm washed in the blood of the Lamb. 177 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,840 I know that I'm forgiven and a blessing can come upon us. 178 00:10:18,550 --> 00:10:21,990 Another example of something spiritual that happened in the 179 00:10:21,990 --> 00:10:25,110 night is in Acts 12. You know the story well. 180 00:10:25,430 --> 00:10:29,550 Peter is in prison and the Saints, they're worried about 181 00:10:29,550 --> 00:10:31,710 him. Oh, we want you to be free, 182 00:10:31,710 --> 00:10:34,430 Peter. So they decide to organise a 183 00:10:34,790 --> 00:10:37,080 prayer meeting. They're, they're in the night 184 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,920 watch, they're praying. Lord, God, please free Peter. 185 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:44,880 What does the Lord do? He sends an Angel to come and 186 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,520 set Peter free. And Peter's amazed. 187 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,120 I've been set free. So he decides to go to the 188 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,520 brethren. And there he, he knocks on the 189 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,760 door and a young girl called Rhoda. 190 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,600 I love that name, Rhoda. If there's anyone called Rhoda 191 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,560 watching, just please let me know. 192 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:06,440 But Rhoda, Rhoda answers the door and she sees Peter, or she 193 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,240 looks through a hatch. I can't remember exactly. 194 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,080 Maybe someone will correct me. But she looks through and she 195 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,760 knows it's Peter. And instead of opening the door, 196 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,040 she leaves Peter outside. And she goes into the Saints and 197 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,160 says, Peter's here, he's been freed. 198 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,800 And what do the Saints do? The Christians start saying no, 199 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,000 no, no. Maybe it's a, a, a version of 200 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:27,960 Peter. Maybe it's Peter's Angel. 201 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,280 Or maybe it's, it can't be Peter. 202 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:32,480 There's no way he'll be freed from prison. 203 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:35,920 And yet they're praying for Peter to be freed. 204 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,320 In other words, they're lacking in faith for the very things 205 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,920 they're praying for. And eventually they do answer 206 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:44,640 the door. They do bring Peter in. 207 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:48,400 And the word in the Scripture, it says they are astonished 208 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,440 there Peter is. So what can we also have in the 209 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,000 middle of the night? Sometimes the Lord can free us 210 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,320 in the night. Sometimes there, there are 211 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,680 shackles there there are bonds, there are things that that hold 212 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:04,720 on to us. And the Lord might wake us up in 213 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,080 the night to pray about a particular sin, about a 214 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,480 particular thing that's got a hold of you, a grip of you. 215 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,160 And tonight you need to pray for that. 216 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,080 You need to pray. Set me free, God, let this not 217 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:21,360 hold me anymore. And who knows in the night 218 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,440 watch, that might be the very night that you've been set free 219 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:26,720 from this sin that's held you for so long. 220 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,280 You must forgive me. As you know, this is very 221 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:35,480 unscripted, these messages and I'm full of allergies at the 222 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,520 moment. So please forgive me for my my 223 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,200 blocked nose. But here's another example. 224 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,960 Joseph, which Joseph am I talking about? 225 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:51,880 Joseph who was married to Mary. Joseph was warned in a dream, 226 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,480 you need to take your child, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you need 227 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,480 to take him to Egypt because Herod has got a plan that he 228 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:02,840 wants Jesus. He does not want there to be 229 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,880 another king in town. He wants to be the only king and 230 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,280 he's coming for the Lord Jesus Christ. 231 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,640 And not only that, if you remember the wise men as well, 232 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:14,680 they also heard a dream in the middle of the night. 233 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,960 They were going to go back to Herod and, and tell Herod all 234 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:20,640 about this Kingdom where they could find him and, and where 235 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:25,480 Herod could come and worship. But Herod, again, he was being a 236 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,000 bit crafty because he wanted Jesus. 237 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,760 He wanted to take Jesus out and remove him from the scenes that 238 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,200 he would be the only king. So he was warned in the night. 239 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:38,880 And that could be exactly the same for us, that there may be a 240 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:43,080 warning for you and I that we are to be warned of something. 241 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,960 Maybe it is a person that doesn't have the best interest 242 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:49,680 for us. Or maybe we're just to wake up 243 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:52,320 and read the scriptures and remind ourselves of the coming 244 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,760 judgement and that we are to to tell as many people about the 245 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:57,560 gospel. I don't know what it is, but 246 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:01,080 sometimes God does wake us up to to warn us of something. 247 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,680 So just to recap your mind, sometimes the Lord wakes us up 248 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:10,360 to bless us in the night. Sometimes he wakes us up to free 249 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:12,680 us in the night from a particular sin. 250 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,520 Sometimes the Lord wakes us up to warners in the night. 251 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,960 What's the fourth thing he does? Sometimes the Lord wakes us up 252 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,880 to be persistent in the night. Jesus Christ tells a very 253 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,920 interesting parable that is a picture of why we should pray 254 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:32,680 and not give up. One day one of a neighbour in in 255 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,920 town, he's woken up in the middle of the night by another 256 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,080 neighbour who says, our old friends, please, please wake up, 257 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,840 please wake up. I've got a friend coming over to 258 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,720 stay and we've got no food in the house. 259 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,280 Could you just lend ME3 loaves of bread? 260 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,560 No, this neighbour, he's saying it's the middle of the night, my 261 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,720 children are sleeping, the doors locked, no, go away. 262 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,120 But this neighbour doesn't give up, he keeps knocking. 263 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,160 Does the man get out of bed just because he's his friend though? 264 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,480 He gets out of bed to give him the three loaves, just basically 265 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:07,800 to get rid of him. Because the man is so 266 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,800 persistent. And God is telling this picture 267 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,040 that even a nuisance of a neighbour, if that person will 268 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,440 get what he wants, will not the Lord God who's good in all of 269 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,760 his ways, if we are persistent in prayer, will he not give us 270 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,520 what we ask? Sometimes the answer's no, but 271 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,360 He will answer prayers if we're persistent. 272 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,840 And sometimes, sometimes, why might God wake you up? 273 00:15:38,620 --> 00:15:40,620 The answer is he might wake you up. 274 00:15:40,620 --> 00:15:44,860 So you have a bit of extra time to be persistent in prayer, a 275 00:15:44,860 --> 00:15:48,340 bit of extra time to seek His face again because you've been 276 00:15:48,340 --> 00:15:51,380 busy in the day. He wants that extra time for you 277 00:15:51,380 --> 00:15:56,060 to lean into Him and let Him speak to you that that quietness 278 00:15:56,060 --> 00:16:04,240 in the dead of the night. If you've got a Bible there, 279 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:09,280 please would you turn to Acts chapter 16, verse 25, because 280 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:27,960 I've got another one for you. Acts 16 verse 25 But at 281 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,920 midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to 282 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,640 God, and the prisoners were listening to them again. 283 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:39,160 We find 2 precious Saints, Paul and Silas. 284 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,040 They're in prison. And instead of being, you know, 285 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:46,240 down and and sad and thinking, woe is me God, why have you 286 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,080 allowed this to happen? We were just trying to be your 287 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,120 faithful servants. What are they doing in the 288 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,480 middle of the night? They're rejoicing. 289 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:55,560 They're singing hymns to the Lord God. 290 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,680 They're they're calling out the Lord's mighty name in the prison 291 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,120 and all the prisoners can hear, the prison guards can hear. 292 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,640 And what does the Lord God do? He shakes the ground and 293 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:08,880 suddenly their shackles are broken free. 294 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,880 The the prison door is open and Paul and Silas are free. 295 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,280 So why do you think? What do you think I'm going to 296 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,119 say next? Why does God wake us up in the 297 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,040 night? Sometimes He wakes us up so that 298 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,599 we might worship him. Can I ask you a question? 299 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:29,240 When was the last time you sang a song of joy to the Lord? 300 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,200 When was the last time you put on a worship song? 301 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,360 Or you sang one that you know of by heart and began singing a 302 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,920 hymn to the Lord God? And I'm not talking about when 303 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,360 you're at church, just you on your own, in private. 304 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,360 You see, we're commanded to be singing every day, and yet so 305 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,560 often we neglect this joy because it is a joy. 306 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,440 So maybe God might be waking you up in the middle of the night. 307 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,560 If you don't know what the reason is, maybe it's just 308 00:17:55,560 --> 00:18:00,360 simply to get up, say a prayer, sing a hymn, and then maybe go 309 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:03,200 back to sleep. They do say as well, I have 310 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,240 heard this before that and you know, the, the professionals, 311 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,280 the experts, they say if you can't sleep, instead of just 312 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,000 laying there trying your best to fall back asleep, if it's, you 313 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,480 know, been 5-10 minutes, get out of bed for 20 minutes, just do 314 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,120 something and then go back to bed and you're more likely to 315 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:23,640 fall asleep. Well, could it be in those 20 316 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,080 minutes that you just read a few scriptures, sing a little hymn, 317 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,040 not too loud, so that you wake up the rest of your family and 318 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,320 then go back to bed? Maybe that's just a little 319 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,760 thought, a little tip for someone today who might struggle 320 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,920 with with sleeping. And then also, can we also just 321 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,600 flick a little bit further into the New Testament, into Matthew 322 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:52,320 13, please? Matthew 13, And we're going to 323 00:18:52,320 --> 00:19:02,760 read verses 24 to 25, another parable he put forth to them 324 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,640 saying the Kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed 325 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:12,640 in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed 326 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,280 tares among the wheat and went his way. 327 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,680 Can you hear that? Does that make sense? 328 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:25,040 What is Jesus warning us of? He's warning us that sometimes 329 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,080 when we sleep, that's when the enemy comes. 330 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,400 That's when the enemy comes to to sow discord. 331 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:35,480 The adversary comes. And sometimes we might be woken 332 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:40,160 in the night because something bad has happened to us perhaps. 333 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:44,000 Or sometimes while we're sleeping, if we stayed up and 334 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,360 prayed, we could pray that we would be kept safe from the 335 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:52,840 wrongdoings of the evil one who is trying to take us out, who is 336 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:57,840 trying to to hurt our faith. So what might we be called to do 337 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,920 in the night? I say this very gently because I 338 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,360 do not know the situation you're going through, but some of us 339 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,560 might be called to to grieve in the night, whether it's the loss 340 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:14,080 of a job, the loss of a business, or perhaps the loss of 341 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,880 a loved one, someone we're dear and. 342 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,960 Dear and near to us who we miss greatly, perhaps God's calling 343 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,480 you to to just pray. Just pray and seek His face for 344 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,000 comfort after losing such a precious one to you. 345 00:20:37,570 --> 00:20:41,720 So what am I trying to say here? The goal of this video is not to 346 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:45,520 turn everyone into, you know, night owls and to say you must 347 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,880 all stay up late and you must all, you know, never sleep 348 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:52,080 because the holy man of God, he's he never sleeps because we 349 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,960 know that's not true. The Scripture talks about sleep. 350 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,760 What a precious gift it is. The Bible says that God knows 351 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,320 our frame, that we're made of the dust, we're weak. 352 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,640 And if you believe that you do not need sleep, which some 353 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,240 people rather proudly do, there is a generation that's saying is 354 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,080 all we do is we work really, really hard. 355 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,120 We work so hard. We bring up our own success by, 356 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:15,680 you know, getting up early and staying up late. 357 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,760 Actually, you're being arrogant there and you're pretending that 358 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,640 you're like God, that you, you have endless reserves of energy. 359 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:28,280 But actually, no, the truth is we're made of dust. 360 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,200 We need to humble ourselves and we need sleep. 361 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,920 And actually one of the disciplines, I would argue, of a 362 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,760 godly man or woman is someone who goes to bed at a reasonable 363 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:41,040 time and rises early because they've had enough sleep before 364 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,640 midnight. As you know, that's not 365 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,440 something I manage to do often and it's something I long to do 366 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,960 is to just go to bed at 10:00 every night. 367 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,040 But very chaotic and and very disorganised at times. 368 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,200 I don't manage that. But the point is this, the Bible 369 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,040 says that He gives his beloved sleep. 370 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:05,040 So sleep is a precious gift from God and we ought to think that, 371 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,600 you know, we can build our own house. 372 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,960 You know, unless the Lord builds a house, the workers labour in 373 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,040 vain. So we must make sure that we 374 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,880 lean into Him and seek his face and get proper sleep. 375 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:28,600 So what am I trying to say? What I am saying is there are 376 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,560 times, there are seasons where God may, like my friend Dave at 377 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,400 the beginning, wake us up every night or just one night. 378 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,440 But he wakes us up for a very specific reason. 379 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,680 He wants to speak to us. So how should we react if we're 380 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:46,360 woken up in the middle of the night? 381 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,800 What is the biblical, the godly way to act? 382 00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:51,600 Well, you're probably thinking, Joe, why have you not turned 383 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,320 here yet? Well turn with me to One Samuel 384 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,600 chapter 3 and we'll finish with this thought. 385 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:05,720 One Samuel chapter 3 and verse 10, verse 10. 386 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:13,040 Now the Lord came and stood and called other times, Samuel. 387 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:18,520 Samuel and Samuel answered, Speak for your servant he is. 388 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:23,640 You know the story. Well, Eli is an old priest, and 389 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,080 he's brought under his wing a young priest, a young prophet, 390 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,960 Samuel. And Samuel hears a voice in the 391 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:37,760 night saying Samuel, Samuel, and he thinks it's Eli calling him. 392 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,200 And so he keeps going into Eli. Eli, what do you want? 393 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,160 I'm here and Eli doesn't realise what's happening at first. 394 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:49,560 And as the night goes on, suddenly Eli realises it's the 395 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,000 Lord who's calling Samuel's name. 396 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:58,920 And he says, next time when the Lord calls Samuel, Samuel say 397 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,520 speak Lord, for your servant hears. 398 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:07,920 And that's what we are to do. If perhaps you can hear the 399 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,400 voice of the Lord, not saying audibly necessarily. 400 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,040 It wasn't audible for me last night. 401 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:16,800 I just had a sense that this was a real answer to prayer because 402 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,120 I've been so confused about this situation. 403 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,040 But when we sense that the Lord is speaking to us, let's just 404 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,680 say speak, Lord, for your servant hears. 405 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:30,600 Let's be quiet and think, what is the reason why God's woke me 406 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,320 up? Is it to bless me in the night? 407 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,360 Is it to free me from a sin? Is it to warn me? 408 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,720 Is it so that I might be persistent, have a little bit of 409 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,960 extra time in prayer? Is it so that I might worship in 410 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,280 the night? Is it so I might grieve? 411 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,680 Whatever it is, let's just have all of our ears open to hear the 412 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,960 voice of gods. So as, as you know, these 413 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:56,520 videos, they are unscripted. I just sort of talk from my 414 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,520 heart. I write a few notes that don't 415 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,880 take me very long versus the other videos that I make on Off 416 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,760 the Curb Ministries. But I hope you found it helpful. 417 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,080 And if you are new to the channel, I'd really appreciate 418 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:09,800 it if you did consider subscribing. 419 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,520 And I am hoping to try and get more and more of these videos 420 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:15,520 out. At the moment, we just do them 421 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,560 every two weeks. Today it's a little bit early. 422 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,560 It's come on a Wednesday, but normally we do it every other 423 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,400 Thursday at 4:00. I, I release a video on this 424 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:29,200 channel, but I'm hoping in the future we'll be able to go every 425 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,840 week, but we'll just see if the Lord grants time. 426 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,960 If I am disciplined with sleep so I can get up earlier, then 427 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:37,720 maybe we'll be able to do those things. 428 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,120 But thank you so much for listening and I really do 429 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:44,080 appreciate your fellowship. And if you'd like to see another 430 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:48,800 video where we sit down and have a nice cup of Joe, just click 431 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,200 here. God bless you all and thank you 432 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:51,880 for watching.