Prayer

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(upbeat music)

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- Springhouse family events of the summer,

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so take note of those.

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If you're joining us on live stream,

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thanks for being here today.

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Guys, it's a good day to be in the house.

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And like Shari said,

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Thursday will be our last midweek gathering.

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Did you enjoy Father Ray Kasch last week?

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Yeah, just such a timely, wonderful word,

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and God is always seeming to lead

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to be in the business of saving the very best for right now.

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And so we're gonna continue our series,

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His Church, and Pastor Justin's gonna bring the word.

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Would you welcome Pastor Justin.

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(congregation applauding)

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- Thank you guys.

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Thank you, kind sir.

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Good morning.

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How's everybody doing today?

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Good, good?

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It's a lot of energy right here, so.

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Just get ready.

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If you came in and you're chill, introvert,

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I'm gonna give you all you didn't know you needed today, okay?

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Or wanted, that's what you get, okay?

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I got a couple of announcements

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that I would like to personally make.

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This is a continued family fun.

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What a great day to be in the house of the Lord, is it not?

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My gosh, what a rich day, man.

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This is exactly why I'm like, I'm gonna come to church

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'cause I have no idea what's gonna happen today.

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I have, and I'm preaching today.

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I have no idea what's gonna happen.

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That worship and baptism and prayer,

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that could have tarried the whole time.

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And I just close this book and we go home.

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But the Lord has something to say through me today,

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so we'll do that too.

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Couple of things I wanna announce,

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if you can go ahead and put that first slide.

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This Saturday, yes.

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June 1st, this is the real kickoff this summer, okay?

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This is for the guys, Pursuit Men's Ministry.

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This is our fourth annual Whiffle Ball Home Run Derby.

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It is exactly what it sounds like.

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It is a Whiffle Ball Home Run Derby, okay?

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And we have our very own Brian Wellsant,

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who's going for a three-peat this year.

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And I need, nah, ain't no woo, okay?

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(congregation laughing)

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Well, I'm tired of putting, look, we just go to the place

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and be like, same name as last year,

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just put it up there, change the date, right?

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He's going for a three-peat this year.

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And it's 10 a.m., two p.m.

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You don't even have to swing a bat.

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You can come and make fun of the people

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that think they can swing the bat, okay?

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There's gonna be food, everything,

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all the main dishes gonna be provided if you come.

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If you're a guy and you wanna come,

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then just bring a side dish or dessert.

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We'll have drinks, burgers, all that stuff.

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And also, don't bring your kids, okay?

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Just bring, I'm serious.

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Some people are like, can I bring my son?

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Is your son 18?

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Then you can bring him.

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(congregation laughing)

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And then this next thing, so Saturday at my house,

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see one of my leaders, or you can get on the app

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and get my information about where I'm at, I'm in Smyrna.

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This is the big one I'm really excited to announce.

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I don't remember us having a men's retreat

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since I've been here.

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And it's not a slide at the church.

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It's just this is where we're at.

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We have been praying and seeking God for the last four years

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and we're finally ready to do a men's retreat,

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a men's weekend, and we're gonna do it this year.

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So it's gonna be August 16th through the 18th.

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We're going to Pisgah, Alabama.

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You have to register via the church app

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and the cost is $250.

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I'm inviting you personally, every man that's in here.

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I want you to honestly, if you're a wife,

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poke your husband, okay?

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I really think that God wants to continue to do something

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with the men of this church.

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I can give you statistics from here until,

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we can just close this and I can give you statistics

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about what happens when men start leading in the kingdom,

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how it affects children, how it affects wives,

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how it affects the community

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when men embrace the kingdom of God and advance it.

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So money's never gonna be a reason why you don't go.

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So if money is your reason why you can't go,

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then you come see me or one of my leadership team.

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We have funds set aside so that finances

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is never an excuse for you not to be able to go.

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Registration's gonna be up in the app

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August 16th through the 18th.

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I'm really inviting you guys to come.

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Now, let's get into the word that we have for this morning.

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Are we ready?

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Okay.

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We're continuing our series.

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If you would, go ahead and stand with me if you're able.

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And we're just gonna read a short passage.

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Are we ready, James?

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Okay, here we go.

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Together.

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And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching

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and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers.

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Father, we thank you for your word.

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We thank you for the life that it brings.

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God, I ask that your anointing would rest and reside on me,

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that through the power of the Holy Ghost,

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I would convey your message clearly to your people today.

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I pray for our hearts to be open to an encounter with you,

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that the name of Jesus would be magnified

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and glorified through the Holy Ghost

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and that your kingdom would be advanced here in earth

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as it is in heaven.

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Father, we love you and we consecrate this time

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for you today.

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It's in Christ's name I pray, amen.

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And amen, you can be seated.

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We're continuing our series, His church,

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and it's an examination of the first century believers

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and how the things that we understand

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about the first century church apply and carry over

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and transcend and we're a continuation of that.

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And we've been specifically looking at Acts 2 42

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for the last few weeks.

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Last week was not a one-off.

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It was not just like, oh, here's Father Ray.

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There's some things that he really said that resonated

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and it shows me that God knows what he's doing

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when he sets things in place.

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I'm gonna share something about,

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something I posted on Facebook,

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but you had to promise not to go back

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on my personal Facebook and look,

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because it don't matter who said what they said,

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so I don't want you being nosy.

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Besides, you're gonna have to weed through

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a lot of playoff basketball posts and Tennessee baseball.

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You'll give up long before you find this post, okay?

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Long before you find the post.

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Look, I swear, I guarantee there's gonna be three people

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that go on my page, he's lying,

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and be like basketball, basketball, basketball, basketball.

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Jesus, basketball, basketball, basketball.

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It's the playoffs, I get a game every day.

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So what he said was I posted on prayer,

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you know, and I feel like this sometimes,

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I posted, I said, you know, sometimes you feel like

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that the dumb questions your kids ask you

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are the dumb questions that you ask God.

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And I know they say there's no stupid questions, right?

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But my kids ask me things like this,

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Dad, is this a weird dance?

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Right?

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And you know the answer before you ask me the,

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yes, that's a weird dance, right?

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I got another kid to ask me obvious questions.

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He says, I'm cooking eggs.

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He's like, Dad, what are you doing, cooking eggs?

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Flip, you a fish.

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What do you mean, am I cooking eggs?

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And sometimes that's how I feel when I'm talking to God.

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What are you doing, am I cooking eggs?

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Yes, Justin, I'm cooking eggs, right?

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So I posted this on Facebook and somebody responded

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and they said, if you're asking things for God

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when you pray, you're doing it wrong.

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And I was like, what?

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That's what I said, what?

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I'm like, where do you get that?

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Okay, and it wasn't so much that I'm saying this guy's crazy

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and although it is something biblical,

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where have we gone that this is what we think about prayer?

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Where have we gone wrong that we think that we can't come

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and ask things of God?

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Now, the Bible will tell you, hey,

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sometimes you're asking for the wrong thing

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or you're asking in the wrong way

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or you're asking with the wrong motive.

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But what he was saying was,

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you shouldn't even be asking things of God.

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And I'm like, absolutely not, disagree.

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There are, it's true, there's around 650 prayers

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that are recorded in the Bible.

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There are 25 recorded prayers of Jesus.

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The ESV uses the word pray or prayer 322 times.

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The first mention of prayer is in Genesis 4 26

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and it says this, to Seth also a son was born

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and he called his name Enosh.

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At that time, people began to call upon the name

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of the Lord.

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Before this, all other dialogue was initiated by God.

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So Adam's grandson is technically the founder

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of public prayer in the line of Adam.

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And so the believers in Acts chapter two

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that devoted themselves to prayer

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are the amen to these original petitions.

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Now, it doesn't say that they prayed,

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but I don't know what you would call prayer

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if not calling upon the name of the Lord.

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(congregation murmurs)

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The other church was no stranger to prayer.

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It wasn't like, now we have a church

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so we need to start praying.

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That's not the case.

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But something was different now.

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Something was different with these believers

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and through Jesus our high priest,

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we have been granted access to commune directly

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with the most high through his indwelling Holy Spirit.

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This is a game changer.

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I heard a story and I guess it's like a little story

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or joke that the guy was like, when we get to heaven,

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we can't wait to talk to all the old heroes of the faith

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and ask David, man, what was it like to go up against a giant

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like a real life Nephilim?

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Or Moses, what was it like when you split the sea

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and then a million people started complaining

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30 days later, you know?

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Like, what was it like?

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Right, and we all these heroes of the Bible

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and the Old Testament, he said, and I'll say back to you,

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what was it like to have God's very spirit

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living inside of you?

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What was it like?

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What was it like to have the spirit of God inside of you?

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This was a game changer for the people.

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So the prayers at the first century church were praying,

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were prompted by an indwelling Holy Ghost that was different.

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This was new, this was fresh.

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But if you really think about it,

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there's always been some level of access to God.

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The main difference other than the Holy Spirit

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indwelling the people was now we have the opportunity

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to apply the blood directly to our lives.

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Whereas before, the priests would make

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an atoning sacrifice for you,

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but our Passover lamb, Jesus, has died for once,

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once for all our atoning sacrifice.

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The Old Testament's full of stories

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where men and women have cried out to God and he answered.

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Think about the priestly prayers of Moses and Aaron.

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Think about Hannah's prophetic prayer over Samuel.

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I read Hannah's prayer the other day,

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hadn't read it in a long time, and this was transcendent.

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This is full of prophecy.

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You're like, that lady's not praying in her own accord.

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Gideon's fleas, here's another opportunity

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where you see stupid questions, right?

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My kid's doing stupid questions.

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God, listen, I believe what you said, kinda,

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but if you're really telling me this,

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then make the ground dry and my fleas wet.

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And then make the next day, you say,

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okay, you answered that prayer.

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Well, make the fleas wet and the ground dry.

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Did I say that backwards?

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It's in there, okay?

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You know what I'm saying, okay?

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God's like, yes, I'm cooking eggs, Gideon, okay?

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And then you have stories like this.

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This one really trips me out.

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This is in 1st Kings, I'm gonna set the stage, okay?

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Elijah has been in a showdown with the prophets of Baal

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and these prophets are arguing against whose God is greater,

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Baal or Yahweh and Elijah's by himself

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and there's all these prophets and they're worshiping Baal

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and they're cutting themselves and bloodletting

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and screaming out to their God

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and Elijah's making fun of him

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and he calls down fire from heaven

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and it licks up the water around the altar and burns it up

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and then Elijah goes on a killing spree

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and kills all the prophets of Baal

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and then this lady gets word of it and says,

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I'm finna kill you and Elijah just has to come apart,

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right there, ah, gosh.

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That's what happened.

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And here's where we're at, read it.

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I just read my Bible and it's in there, okay?

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It says, "Then he was afraid and he arose

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"and ran for his life and came to Beersheba,

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"which belongs to Judah and left his servant there

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"but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness

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"and came and sat down under a broom tree

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"and he asked that he might die saying,

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"It is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life

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"for I am no better than my fathers."

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His prayer was, God, I just wanna die.

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Please, I wanna die now, God.

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I don't wanna live no more.

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And this is what God says to him.

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You're gonna love this, this is what he does.

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And he lay down and slept under a broom tree

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and behold, an angel touched him and said,

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arise and eat.

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Basically, he woke him up and said,

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eat a Snickers, Elijah.

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(audience laughing)

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You've seen the commercials where you're not yourself

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when you're hungry.

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Where do you think they got it from?

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Next time you see a Snicker commercial,

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you're like, that's biblical.

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That is biblical.

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You're gonna start carrying,

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you're gonna start carrying them in your pocket

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for benevolence, right?

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You're gonna pray for somebody and hand them a Snicker bar.

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Look, you need a Snickers, lady.

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And look, look, and it says,

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and he looked and behold, there was at his head a cake

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baked on hot stones and a jar of water

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and he ate and drank and lay down again.

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I love it, I love it.

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Pastor Jonathan has a little sign in here

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for his worship team.

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You guys don't get to see the backstage stuff,

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but there are snacks and waters and a sign

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that has this exact Bible verse that says,

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never underestimate the power of a snack and a nap, okay?

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Never underestimate the power of a snack and a nap.

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This guy was like, I wanna die.

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And guy was like, shut up and take a nap and eat something.

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(audience laughing)

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You're acting out of your flesh.

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You need to rest, you need to rest and replenish, okay?

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So with all the wit and humor that's involved in this,

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see what God's saying.

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Sometimes my answer to this prayer

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is you need to stop doing too much.

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You're crying and whining about the wrong thing.

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I just moved in your life.

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Who do you think set the fire

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that you called down from heaven, right?

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You called it down and I obliged and now you're tripping

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'cause this lady's trying to kill you.

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They're always gonna be trying to kill you.

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The enemy's here to steal, kill and destroy.

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So why should it be a surprise that you run into adversity?

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And sometimes the answer to your adversity is calm down,

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sit down, take a break and have a snack.

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Praise God, I love, I love it.

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So many types of prayers.

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So many types of prayers that we see in scripture, okay?

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If you look at all of the different prayers

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that have been uttered and given and recorded in scripture,

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you can kind of start to group them together a little bit.

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So if you're taking notes here,

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some types of prayer that we see in scripture.

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The first one is we see,

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and these are not like in order of appearance, okay?

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These are just like, these are the types.

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The first one is a prayer of faith.

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And this reaffirms our faith in God's sovereign will.

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And every time I talk about God's will,

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I also talk about the difference between his sovereign will

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and his desired will, because there is a difference.

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If you say God's will,

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you should really specify what that means, okay?

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Because God's desired will gives you a choice in the matter.

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Okay?

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It is not God's will that any should perish,

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but that all come to repentance

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and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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Well, guess what, that's not gonna happen.

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It's his desire that you wouldn't perish,

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but you would repent, but he gives you the choice in that.

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The beautiful thing about God's sovereignty is

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he knows the chess game,

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but he gives you the ability to move to pieces.

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He knows it, but you still get to move to pieces.

Speaker: 00:16:14

That's his desired will.

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His sovereign will, you don't have a choice in the matter.

Speaker: 00:16:19

God said it and it's gonna happen

Speaker: 00:16:21

and you don't get to complain about it

Speaker: 00:16:22

'cause it's gonna happen anyway.

Speaker: 00:16:24

Prayers of faith, prayers of faith,

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what they do is they say,

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"God, even if this don't turn out the way I want it to,

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"I'm trusting you."

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What happens when you pray and you don't get healed?

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When you pray and you still lose your job,

Speaker: 00:16:44

when you pray and it still goes against you,

Speaker: 00:16:47

can you trust in God's sovereignty?

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That's a prayer of faith.

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That's a prayer of faith.

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Then we have prayers of agreement.

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This is more than one person believing together, okay?

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Perfect example, right?

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Pastor Kevin said, "Stretch your hands out.

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"I'm gonna pray you're gonna agree

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"that what I'm praying we're gonna petition God for."

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We all just participated in prayers of agreement.

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We agreed, yes, Lord, we're all on the same page

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with this prayer.

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Then you have petitions, bringing a request to God.

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If I've ever prayed with you down front here,

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more than likely you've heard me share Philippians 4.6.

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It says, this is one of my favorite verses

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and I don't come down like,

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"This is what I'm praying and this is what,"

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it just happens.

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It's like one of those when you know the word,

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you can go back and stand on it, okay?

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And this is one of those where I'm like,

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"I can't get away."

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I'm like tethered to this word,

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which I think is a good thing, right?

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The word says that, his word is an anchor for our soul, right?

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An anchor, the boat can still float a little bit,

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but it's got a point it's tethered to, okay?

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And so if we're tethered to the word,

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I may be able to drift a little bit,

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but my anchor and my hope is in this

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so I don't get too far, so that I don't get out of bounds,

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so I don't get up against the rocks,

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so I don't end up drifting places I'm not supposed to be.

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And so this word Philippians 4.6 basically says,

Speaker: 00:18:24

this is Justin speak,

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"Be anxious for nothing, be anxious for nothing,

Speaker: 00:18:32

"but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving,

Speaker: 00:18:36

"make your requests known to God."

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And here's what it says will happen.

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"And the peace of God that passes all understanding

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"will reign and rule in your hearts and minds."

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He didn't say nothing about I'll answer it

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the way you want it to go.

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He didn't say anything about I will hear you from heaven.

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He says, "You bring your request to me

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"and what I'll give you in exchange is a peace

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"because you'll know I'm in control.

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"You're offering your petitions to me with thanksgiving."

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Thank you God on this side of the Jordan,

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on this, we need to cross over,

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but I'm thanking you on this side

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and asking you to help me cross over this.

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And even if I never get to go over, thank you now

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and God's peace resides on you.

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That's a prayer petition, okay?

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With thanksgiving, who knew I would put that in that order.

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Thanksgiving is gratitude for God's hand upon us.

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This could be provision, this could be protection,

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this could be wisdom, this can be any number of things,

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right, that you're thankful for.

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What are you thankful for?

Speaker: 00:19:45

I'm doing a challenge with the men's group

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and part of the challenge is every single day,

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you have to write down three things you're thankful for

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and they can't be the same as what you were thankful for

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the day before.

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You think you know what you're thankful for

Speaker: 00:19:59

till you gotta get challenged every day.

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And then I even go a step further,

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it's never I'm thankful for my wife, I'm like for what?

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No, we're not gonna listen.

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What are you thankful for in your life?

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Why can't you write it down and tell it to God

Speaker: 00:20:18

and share it with somebody else?

Speaker: 00:20:20

And in your prayer time, instead of us coming with a need

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or a petition or request all the time,

Speaker: 00:20:26

what about prayers of thanksgiving that we pour out to God?

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God, thank you for waking me up today

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and keeping me in my right mind.

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And then I wonder, am I crazy the way the day goes on?

Speaker: 00:20:37

And then I remember, no, right?

Speaker: 00:20:40

God has not given me a spirit of fear, but what?

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And a sound mind and I'm tethered to that word.

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So no matter when I drift, I'm like, I'm crazy.

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Why would you say that to a person?

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God's like, no, you're not, you're not crazy.

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You're acting crazy, right?

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Your behavior is following your belief,

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so get your mind right.

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That was free.

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It ain't in here, I swear.

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Then there's prayers, don't laugh, I get tickled.

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Then there's prayers of worship.

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This is recognizing and acknowledging God's power

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and His greatness.

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Recognizing and acknowledging God's power and greatness.

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When we were here and we were singing and praising together,

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we are speaking phrases of adoration,

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recognizing God's power and His greatness.

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This is an act of prayer.

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This is an act of prayer.

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Then we have consecration.

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Consecration is when you set apart something

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for holy use and service unto the Lord.

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The priests in the temple will often pray

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for the tools and the things that were to be used

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that they would be consecrated, set apart for holy use.

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Joshua said to his people, consecrate yourselves today,

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for God will do amazing things among you tomorrow.

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He didn't say, consecrate yourself today

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'cause you got a lot of stuff to do today.

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He said, consecrate yourself before you even know the task,

Speaker: 00:22:12

before you're even used.

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God will often give you things that you did not know

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you needed way ahead of time before you knew you needed 'em.

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And I'm gonna take it a step further.

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God will give you things that are not even for you

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half the time.

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Perfect example.

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If I say I have the gift of healing, okay,

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and James needs healing and I pray for James

Speaker: 00:22:38

and he gets healed, who was the gift really for?

Speaker: 00:22:40

- James.

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- Thank you, Mary Sue.

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It was for James.

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The gift was for him, it was not for me.

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I am a conduit and sometimes we like to claim the gifts

Speaker: 00:22:51

as our own personal possession.

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When it was not for you or about you,

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I gave that to you not because you needed it,

Speaker: 00:22:58

but you needed to give it to somebody else.

Speaker: 00:23:01

A gift is meant to be what?

Speaker: 00:23:03

Given, not hoarded, put up on a shelf.

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Intercession, prayers of intercession.

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This is on someone else's behalf or well-being,

Speaker: 00:23:17

God's intervention.

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There's been many times where people have,

Speaker: 00:23:20

we've come to these altars and we've prayed on behalf.

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We pray for you.

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We've interceded on your behalf.

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There's been many tears back there in that back corner

Speaker: 00:23:28

from my life.

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Pastor Ronnie's interceded for me and Barbie

Speaker: 00:23:33

and Hal and I've interceded for other people.

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Anytime you go to God on somebody else's behalf,

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you are interceding.

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Jesus interceded for his disciples

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while he was sitting at the table with him.

Speaker: 00:23:44

Talk about an awkward moment,

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but a beautiful one as well

Speaker: 00:23:49

to get to hear somebody praying for you.

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What if you could be a fly on the wall

Speaker: 00:23:53

to hear all the prayers that somebody's prayed for you?

Speaker: 00:23:56

Man, that just hit me, dude.

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That just hit me right now.

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I mean, think about, you might not even be a believer

Speaker: 00:24:09

and there's people that's been praying for you.

Speaker: 00:24:11

What if you could hear all the phrases and blessings

Speaker: 00:24:16

that have been given to God on your behalf?

Speaker: 00:24:19

What would that change in your life?

Speaker: 00:24:21

How would that humble you and make you feel loved

Speaker: 00:24:26

and important and seen?

Speaker: 00:24:28

I know it make me feel good, right?

Speaker: 00:24:30

Got me crying right now.

Speaker: 00:24:31

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:24:34

And then there's prayers from the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:24:36

and these are prayers when we don't know what to pray,

Speaker: 00:24:40

when we don't even know what to pray.

Speaker: 00:24:42

Some of that, sometimes it looks like tears.

Speaker: 00:24:45

Sometimes it just looks like sitting with your friend

Speaker: 00:24:47

when they cry and y'all are praying

Speaker: 00:24:50

and you don't even know it.

Speaker: 00:24:51

Sometimes it just looks like, ah, ah, ah, right?

Speaker: 00:24:54

Anybody ever been there?

Speaker: 00:25:00

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:25:01

And I'd rather you do that than say a whole bunch

Speaker: 00:25:04

of cuss words and then you're gonna be praying

Speaker: 00:25:06

about what you just said.

Speaker: 00:25:08

I know God would rather you do that too.

Speaker: 00:25:11

Prayer language, tongues, private tongues.

Speaker: 00:25:16

Romans 8, 26 and 27 says the Spirit helps us

Speaker: 00:25:20

in our weakness when we don't know what to pray.

Speaker: 00:25:23

I know what I wanna pray about but I don't know

Speaker: 00:25:25

what I need to be praying about sometimes, right?

Speaker: 00:25:28

So the Holy Ghost is like, I know what he said.

Speaker: 00:25:31

I know he said he wanted to die but what he really said was,

Speaker: 00:25:34

he's hungry and tired.

Speaker: 00:25:36

(audience laughing)

Speaker: 00:25:39

Y'all didn't see that earlier.

Speaker: 00:25:40

You see it now, don't you?

Speaker: 00:25:42

You got, that went right over your head

Speaker: 00:25:44

but now you're like, ah, here we go.

Speaker: 00:25:46

The Lord's Prayer, as we commonly refer to it,

Speaker: 00:25:50

I call it the disciples' prayer, that's just me.

Speaker: 00:25:53

I can't change it.

Speaker: 00:25:54

But in Matthew, at the very beginning,

Speaker: 00:25:58

his disciples say, hey, teach us how to pray

Speaker: 00:26:01

and this is what Jesus said and he pretty much encompasses

Speaker: 00:26:04

all of these types of prayer into this one prayer.

Speaker: 00:26:06

So if you're ever looking for a model,

Speaker: 00:26:07

it's a disciples' prayer and here's what Jesus tells them.

Speaker: 00:26:10

This is how you should pray, guys.

Speaker: 00:26:12

Our Father in heaven and that is such an important phrase

Speaker: 00:26:17

to start with because two things happen.

Speaker: 00:26:18

If you're calling somebody Father,

Speaker: 00:26:20

that denotes a father-son relationship,

Speaker: 00:26:22

father-daughter relationship.

Speaker: 00:26:23

You're starting off by acknowledging,

Speaker: 00:26:25

I have a relationship with you.

Speaker: 00:26:27

I have the ability to talk to you and speak with you

Speaker: 00:26:30

and commune with you.

Speaker: 00:26:31

Father in heaven, it also says you're somewhere

Speaker: 00:26:34

that is high above me in my understanding.

Speaker: 00:26:37

There is an awe and reverence in a relational aspect

Speaker: 00:26:41

with the opening line of that prayer.

Speaker: 00:26:42

Our Father in heaven, holy is your name.

Speaker: 00:26:46

Your name is above every name.

Speaker: 00:26:50

Your kingdom come, your will be done in earth

Speaker: 00:26:56

and on the earth as it already is in heaven.

Speaker: 00:26:59

God, I'm asking that whatever you have planned,

Speaker: 00:27:03

bring it here.

Speaker: 00:27:04

Give me this day my daily bread and God,

Speaker: 00:27:08

if you're gonna have your kingdom walked out here on earth,

Speaker: 00:27:10

I need the carbs, fats and proteins

Speaker: 00:27:12

that are gonna sustain me to do this every day, right?

Speaker: 00:27:17

That's my daily bread, what is that?

Speaker: 00:27:19

Carbs, fats and proteins, okay?

Speaker: 00:27:22

God, I need you to sustain me,

Speaker: 00:27:24

take care of my physical needs

Speaker: 00:27:26

so that I can fight this spiritual battle.

Speaker: 00:27:29

Provide for me, take some of the worry off my back, God.

Speaker: 00:27:34

I don't wanna be focused on this temporary

Speaker: 00:27:36

but necessary need so that I can have my eyes fixed

Speaker: 00:27:40

on your kingdom.

Speaker: 00:27:42

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth

Speaker: 00:27:44

as it already is in heaven.

Speaker: 00:27:45

Give us this day our daily bread

Speaker: 00:27:46

and forgive me my trespasses

Speaker: 00:27:48

as I forgive those that have trespassed against me.

Speaker: 00:27:50

That is a proper perspective.

Speaker: 00:27:52

Understanding people have wronged you

Speaker: 00:27:54

but guess what, big boy, you have wronged people too.

Speaker: 00:27:57

So put some grace in your pocket when you get up today.

Speaker: 00:28:01

That's what that says is God, look,

Speaker: 00:28:04

people are gonna tick me off

Speaker: 00:28:05

but I remember I have ticked people off too.

Speaker: 00:28:07

So let me get a couple of pocketfuls of grace

Speaker: 00:28:09

and walk around with so maybe I don't respond so quick

Speaker: 00:28:12

and so sharp and have a little bit more understanding.

Speaker: 00:28:15

But you don't just get that in and of yourself,

Speaker: 00:28:17

you're going to God and asking for it in prayer.

Speaker: 00:28:20

Forgive us our trespasses, love us your trespasses.

Speaker: 00:28:23

And lead us not into temptation, right?

Speaker: 00:28:25

That's a specific, hey, please God,

Speaker: 00:28:27

keep temptation from me and deliver us from the evil one.

Speaker: 00:28:30

I recognize there's an enemy and I'm in a battle

Speaker: 00:28:34

but please let temptation not creep all the way up

Speaker: 00:28:38

on my doorstep, protect me.

Speaker: 00:28:41

Give me a hedge of protection.

Speaker: 00:28:43

For yours is the kingdom, yours is the power,

Speaker: 00:28:46

yours is the glory forever and ever.

Speaker: 00:28:49

This is a prayer of faith, agreement, petition,

Speaker: 00:28:51

thanksgiving, worship, consecration, intercession

Speaker: 00:28:55

and the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:28:56

This is all this, this is a great model.

Speaker: 00:28:59

But also we see some postures

Speaker: 00:29:03

and a posture is how you position your body.

Speaker: 00:29:07

There's several postures, okay?

Speaker: 00:29:09

And they denote reverence and awe.

Speaker: 00:29:11

Prayer is a mighty vehicle for us

Speaker: 00:29:13

and where are my postures?

Speaker: 00:29:14

I think I put it somewhere else.

Speaker: 00:29:15

That was a different note.

Speaker: 00:29:17

Postures, okay.

Speaker: 00:29:22

I'll just go through them here.

Speaker: 00:29:24

Sitting, okay?

Speaker: 00:29:28

Second Samuel 7, 18 describes Daniel

Speaker: 00:29:32

as sitting before the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:34

He changes his posture, right?

Speaker: 00:29:38

In Exodus, Moses' reference is bowing before the Lord, right?

Speaker: 00:29:43

In Daniel, Daniel knelt three times a day

Speaker: 00:29:46

in prayer to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:48

He changed his posture, okay?

Speaker: 00:29:51

He changed his physical body and knelt in reverence

Speaker: 00:29:55

and awe of God as he petitioned him.

Speaker: 00:29:57

In complete rebellion to the king, by the way.

Speaker: 00:30:00

Lifting hands, Paul talks about lifting hands to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:30:04

And finally, Nehemiah, Ezra was mentioned

Speaker: 00:30:07

as laying prostrate.

Speaker: 00:30:08

This is putting your body face down on the Lord.

Speaker: 00:30:11

So I want you to see these.

Speaker: 00:30:12

So if you see this in a worship service

Speaker: 00:30:15

or a corporate setting, don't be alarmed.

Speaker: 00:30:17

This is a biblical opportunity

Speaker: 00:30:18

and we don't know where everybody's at

Speaker: 00:30:20

or the reason for it, okay?

Speaker: 00:30:22

It was right here in front of me the whole time.

Speaker: 00:30:26

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:30:27

So dumb.

Speaker: 00:30:28

Prayer is a vehicle for us.

Speaker: 00:30:32

It can increase our faith and ministry.

Speaker: 00:30:34

It can boost the harvest, heal the sick.

Speaker: 00:30:36

It can drive out demons.

Speaker: 00:30:37

We pray so we can lead, so we can work,

Speaker: 00:30:39

so we can find freedom, preach the gospel

Speaker: 00:30:41

and accomplish God's desired will in the earth

Speaker: 00:30:44

as it is in heaven.

Speaker: 00:30:45

We pray to commune with God and so we can hear from him.

Speaker: 00:30:48

All right, I'm gonna say something right now.

Speaker: 00:30:50

So go ahead and get your ears ready.

Speaker: 00:30:52

This is a trigger warning.

Speaker: 00:30:53

Okay, and I'm gonna give you a side note, okay?

Speaker: 00:30:57

There's a difference between saying something offensive

Speaker: 00:31:00

and being offended by something somebody said.

Speaker: 00:31:02

There's a difference between saying something offensive

Speaker: 00:31:07

where you're intending to hurt somebody

Speaker: 00:31:08

and being offended because there might've been some truth

Speaker: 00:31:12

that you're not walking in, okay?

Speaker: 00:31:15

So now I'm not saying what I'm saying

Speaker: 00:31:17

is about to be offensive, so don't get offended.

Speaker: 00:31:19

I'm just saying, if this bothers you,

Speaker: 00:31:21

I'm just saying, I'm just saying,

Speaker: 00:31:26

if it bothers you, don't get offended

Speaker: 00:31:28

and then pray, God, why am I offended by this?

Speaker: 00:31:30

Okay?

Speaker: 00:31:33

It is not prayer or a life of prayer that bring us power.

Speaker: 00:31:38

It is a God to whom we pray who has all the power.

Speaker: 00:31:43

And here's what I'm saying.

Speaker: 00:31:45

Last week, Father Ray said, "Is your trust in your trust?"

Speaker: 00:31:49

Is your faith in your faith or the fact that you have faith?

Speaker: 00:31:54

Or is your faith in the God of heaven and earth?

Speaker: 00:31:58

When I pray, is it the fact that I'm praying

Speaker: 00:32:00

or is it fact of who I'm praying to?

Speaker: 00:32:03

What about all those prophets of Baal

Speaker: 00:32:04

that was over here cutting themselves and praying?

Speaker: 00:32:07

Did their prayers amount to anything?

Speaker: 00:32:09

And they were a lot more intense with their acts of worship.

Speaker: 00:32:12

Some of us are in here like statues every day.

Speaker: 00:32:15

Okay?

Speaker: 00:32:17

And this ain't a shot at you.

Speaker: 00:32:18

I'm not saying everybody's needs to be demonstrative

Speaker: 00:32:20

in their worship because a head bowed

Speaker: 00:32:24

and a quiet and sincere heart in reverence

Speaker: 00:32:27

to an almighty God is a lot of times more powerful

Speaker: 00:32:32

than somebody running down in the altar.

Speaker: 00:32:33

So that's not what I'm talking about.

Speaker: 00:32:35

It's a heart that is still a stone.

Speaker: 00:32:39

Okay?

Speaker: 00:32:40

Is it the God?

Speaker: 00:32:41

It is not prayer or a life of prayer that changes anything.

Speaker: 00:32:45

It is the God to whom we pray

Speaker: 00:32:47

that has the power to change things.

Speaker: 00:32:49

We really don't have any idea how prayer works.

Speaker: 00:32:53

Okay?

Speaker: 00:32:54

You can read the Bible and not know how this works.

Speaker: 00:32:57

But I wanna share two stories with you.

Speaker: 00:32:59

Okay?

Speaker: 00:33:01

A lot of times it don't make sense.

Speaker: 00:33:03

A lot of times this don't make sense.

Speaker: 00:33:04

Okay?

Speaker: 00:33:05

But prayer somehow works.

Speaker: 00:33:10

So there was a study that I came across

Speaker: 00:33:14

in the National Library of Medicine.

Speaker: 00:33:15

Don't ask me why I'm there.

Speaker: 00:33:17

I know I shouldn't be studying

Speaker: 00:33:19

the National Library of Medicine archives,

Speaker: 00:33:20

but I was perusing.

Speaker: 00:33:22

Okay?

Speaker: 00:33:23

And there's a study that I came across concerning prayer

Speaker: 00:33:26

and people who had a blood issue such as sepsis.

Speaker: 00:33:31

So here's what they did in this study.

Speaker: 00:33:34

It was a double blind randomized study.

Speaker: 00:33:39

Okay?

Speaker: 00:33:40

So what they did was they took almost 4,000 sepsis patients

Speaker: 00:33:43

and they randomly divided them into two groups.

Speaker: 00:33:46

Okay?

Speaker: 00:33:47

Are we with me?

Speaker: 00:33:48

Group A, group B.

Speaker: 00:33:49

Then they flipped a coin

Speaker: 00:33:51

as to which group would get prayer.

Speaker: 00:33:53

Completely random.

Speaker: 00:33:55

Okay?

Speaker: 00:33:55

There was a group of people who were the prayers

Speaker: 00:33:58

and they were given a sheet

Speaker: 00:34:00

that only had a first name on it.

Speaker: 00:34:02

Okay?

Speaker: 00:34:03

And they prayed a simple prayer.

Speaker: 00:34:04

God, would you heal this person?

Speaker: 00:34:07

Would you bring comfort in their life?

Speaker: 00:34:09

Would you minimize the effects

Speaker: 00:34:11

that they are feeling right now?

Speaker: 00:34:13

Their symptoms?

Speaker: 00:34:13

Would you work in their life and heal them in Jesus' name?

Speaker: 00:34:15

Would you be with Susan?

Speaker: 00:34:16

Would you be with Thomas?

Speaker: 00:34:17

Whatever it was, right?

Speaker: 00:34:18

And what they found was that the group

Speaker: 00:34:21

that had been prayed for showed significantly,

Speaker: 00:34:25

significantly less symptoms and hospital stay

Speaker: 00:34:29

than the group that had not been prayed for.

Speaker: 00:34:32

And their conclusion was that prayer

Speaker: 00:34:35

should be applied as medicine.

Speaker: 00:34:38

(audience murmuring)

Speaker: 00:34:40

No, we knew that right.

Speaker: 00:34:42

Here's where it gets trippy.

Speaker: 00:34:44

The people had sepsis in the 1990s.

Speaker: 00:34:48

The prayers were offered up in the year 2000.

Speaker: 00:34:52

Are you following what I just said?

Speaker: 00:34:56

These people had either been sick and recovered

Speaker: 00:35:00

or sick and died anywhere from four to 10 years

Speaker: 00:35:03

before anybody even prayed for him.

Speaker: 00:35:05

Now why is that crazy to understand

Speaker: 00:35:09

that a God that is outside of space and time

Speaker: 00:35:14

can know a prayer that's uttered now

Speaker: 00:35:17

and go back into the past and bring healing

Speaker: 00:35:19

so you can have peace in your present

Speaker: 00:35:22

and hope for your future?

Speaker: 00:35:24

There's a story in the Bible where Joshua says,

Speaker: 00:35:26

"God, please let the sun stand still,"

Speaker: 00:35:29

he prays, "Please let the sun stand still

Speaker: 00:35:31

"until I kill all my enemies."

Speaker: 00:35:33

And God says, "Done."

Speaker: 00:35:36

And if the 24 hour day is based on the cycle of the sun,

Speaker: 00:35:40

right, and the sun stands still, does time stop?

Speaker: 00:35:44

I'm just saying, does time stop?

Speaker: 00:35:47

No, because Joshua kept fighting in real time

Speaker: 00:35:50

and they killed their enemies

Speaker: 00:35:52

and then the sun started moving again.

Speaker: 00:35:54

What?

Speaker: 00:35:55

This is in the Bible, okay?

Speaker: 00:36:01

What I'm saying is, why is it so crazy

Speaker: 00:36:04

to believe that God doesn't know a need

Speaker: 00:36:06

and finds a way to meet it long before a prayer

Speaker: 00:36:08

he knows is gonna be uttered is lifted up to his ears?

Speaker: 00:36:12

Why is that so wild to believe?

Speaker: 00:36:13

Anytime somebody comes down to the altar, right,

Speaker: 00:36:16

and says, "I have so much in my past

Speaker: 00:36:18

"I need to be set free from," right,

Speaker: 00:36:20

we act like everything up until this point

Speaker: 00:36:22

is just magically gone.

Speaker: 00:36:24

Wrong.

Speaker: 00:36:25

God has the ability to go back and fix things

Speaker: 00:36:30

so that your now and forward are different.

Speaker: 00:36:34

We don't understand how that works.

Speaker: 00:36:36

And here's the beautiful part, you don't got to.

Speaker: 00:36:40

You don't have to.

Speaker: 00:36:41

I'm not supposed, I don't, I have no,

Speaker: 00:36:43

it's in the National Library of Medicine.

Speaker: 00:36:46

Why, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:36:48

But it's there and it shows that God is sovereign

Speaker: 00:36:51

over all space and time.

Speaker: 00:36:53

So the first and most important aspect of prayer

Speaker: 00:36:56

is faith and trust and listen,

Speaker: 00:36:58

ha, ha, I don't know what's happening

Speaker: 00:37:01

but I'm trusting you, God.

Speaker: 00:37:03

I don't know what it's gonna look like

Speaker: 00:37:05

but I'm trusting you.

Speaker: 00:37:07

And it's also not crazy to ask him to do something crazy.

Speaker: 00:37:10

Every now and then he might wanna roll up his sleeves.

Speaker: 00:37:14

Let him cook, as the kids say, right?

Speaker: 00:37:17

I hope that's not irreverent, please Lord,

Speaker: 00:37:19

don't let that be.

Speaker: 00:37:20

I'll get an email.

Speaker: 00:37:22

I'm telling you right now, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:37:25

I don't know if it's irreverent.

Speaker: 00:37:27

Second story from my personal life, okay,

Speaker: 00:37:29

me and my dad go on a fishing trip

Speaker: 00:37:30

and I like to bring buddies with me and stuff

Speaker: 00:37:32

and we went down several years ago

Speaker: 00:37:34

and there was a lady on the boat, okay,

Speaker: 00:37:37

which might seem a little weird

Speaker: 00:37:38

but she's on a fishing boat and she's the deckhand.

Speaker: 00:37:42

Okay, not that ladies can't do it.

Speaker: 00:37:44

I'm just saying it's not like something you'd normally see.

Speaker: 00:37:46

You get on a bunch of dudes on a boat

Speaker: 00:37:48

and there's a girl say, hey, here I got the bait

Speaker: 00:37:50

and she's cutting bait and rigging lures

Speaker: 00:37:52

and we're like, fine, you do your thing.

Speaker: 00:37:53

We don't know what we're doing.

Speaker: 00:37:54

We're from Tennessee, okay.

Speaker: 00:37:56

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:37:58

We have a fantastic time.

Speaker: 00:37:59

She loves us, we're praying for people.

Speaker: 00:38:02

We're just having a big old time, right.

Speaker: 00:38:04

Well, then we go down the next year

Speaker: 00:38:06

and she's not on the boat.

Speaker: 00:38:07

We're like, hey, where's our girl at?

Speaker: 00:38:09

And the captain said, oh man, something happened with her.

Speaker: 00:38:12

She was gonna captain another boat

Speaker: 00:38:13

but some things happened and she didn't get to do it

Speaker: 00:38:17

and so she's not here and was, oh dang, man.

Speaker: 00:38:19

We texted her and let her know, we were asking about her.

Speaker: 00:38:22

So we go back into the dock and she's standing on the dock

Speaker: 00:38:26

like Forrest Gump waving, okay.

Speaker: 00:38:28

Waving at us and she's got her camera.

Speaker: 00:38:31

She's filming us as we come in, right.

Speaker: 00:38:35

And she's got her camera up and we get into the dock

Speaker: 00:38:38

and we're talking for a few minutes.

Speaker: 00:38:40

So what happened, why were you on the boat?

Speaker: 00:38:41

She said, man, so I was gonna go out

Speaker: 00:38:44

and captain a boat with a guy and he tried to buy

Speaker: 00:38:47

a silencer for his pistol from Russia and the FBI,

Speaker: 00:38:52

I don't, I'm just telling you what she said.

Speaker: 00:38:56

And the FBI flagged him and chained his boat to the dock

Speaker: 00:39:01

for 45 days while they investigated, okay.

Speaker: 00:39:05

He didn't, it wasn't illegal.

Speaker: 00:39:07

They was just like, this looks sketchy.

Speaker: 00:39:09

We're not doing this, right.

Speaker: 00:39:11

So they chained, I'm literally chained the guy's boat

Speaker: 00:39:14

with a lock to the dock like you,

Speaker: 00:39:17

it's like something you'd see in a movie.

Speaker: 00:39:19

And she said, and because I had already declared

Speaker: 00:39:22

with this guy, all the other boats filled up

Speaker: 00:39:25

and so I don't have a spot, I can't even work.

Speaker: 00:39:27

I don't have a boat, this is what I know how to do.

Speaker: 00:39:30

All the spots have already been filled.

Speaker: 00:39:32

This was my only hope.

Speaker: 00:39:34

And we're like, dang, that stinks, can we pray for you?

Speaker: 00:39:37

And so we huddled around her and we prayed for her

Speaker: 00:39:39

and we said, God, we just asked that whatever happened

Speaker: 00:39:42

45 days ago back here, God, that you would do a work

Speaker: 00:39:47

back here so that she would know your power now

Speaker: 00:39:53

and that moving forward, she would be able to walk out

Speaker: 00:39:56

the plans that you have for her.

Speaker: 00:39:58

We prayed for something way back here that will affect now

Speaker: 00:40:02

that she would be able to then walk into.

Speaker: 00:40:04

Simple prayer, wasn't dramatic or anything, demonstrative.

Speaker: 00:40:08

We just prayed for her and believed in God.

Speaker: 00:40:10

We interceded, we came into agreement,

Speaker: 00:40:12

we petitioned God with thanksgiving

Speaker: 00:40:15

and put our faith in Him, simple.

Speaker: 00:40:17

That's what we just walked through.

Speaker: 00:40:19

She texts me 30 minutes later and says,

Speaker: 00:40:21

you're not gonna believe this.

Speaker: 00:40:22

I said, I bet I would.

Speaker: 00:40:24

And I'm like, try me.

Speaker: 00:40:27

I'm like, you don't know my guy.

Speaker: 00:40:28

I got stories, lady.

Speaker: 00:40:30

I got stories.

Speaker: 00:40:31

She said, the owner of the boat just called me and said,

Speaker: 00:40:36

the FBI emailed him at nine o'clock on a Friday night.

Speaker: 00:40:42

The government, when does the government work

Speaker: 00:40:46

at nine o'clock on a Friday night?

Speaker: 00:40:50

And she said, they were releasing his boat.

Speaker: 00:40:54

They're sending an agent down to unchain it.

Speaker: 00:40:57

I'm going on my first charter tomorrow morning.

Speaker: 00:41:00

And I've got men in here that'll testify to God's goodness.

Speaker: 00:41:06

Now, why am I telling you that?

Speaker: 00:41:07

I don't know how that worked.

Speaker: 00:41:09

But I know we prayed for something in the past

Speaker: 00:41:12

that would be affected in the present

Speaker: 00:41:14

and give them a hope and faith for the future.

Speaker: 00:41:16

We have no idea how prayer works,

Speaker: 00:41:19

but we don't need to.

Speaker: 00:41:21

We just need to know that it works

Speaker: 00:41:23

because it's communing with God.

Speaker: 00:41:26

We are talking to and with and listening to

Speaker: 00:41:30

the creator of the universe.

Speaker: 00:41:32

And the first century church grabbed a hold of this.

Speaker: 00:41:35

It says they devoted themselves to prayer.

Speaker: 00:41:39

Pastor Kevin said a few weeks ago,

Speaker: 00:41:41

devotion infers priority.

Speaker: 00:41:44

When you devote yourself to something,

Speaker: 00:41:46

that means it's a priority in your life.

Speaker: 00:41:50

They devoted themselves to breaking bread and to prayer.

Speaker: 00:41:54

It was important.

Speaker: 00:41:55

It was a part of their life.

Speaker: 00:41:56

Got one more thing I wanna say though,

Speaker: 00:42:00

and you guys can play, but I have to say this.

Speaker: 00:42:03

If we're gonna be praying and believing together

Speaker: 00:42:09

at the church, I'm gonna need a rota.

Speaker: 00:42:10

I'm gonna need a rota.

Speaker: 00:42:13

Some of you don't know who rota is,

Speaker: 00:42:15

but you're gonna find out.

Speaker: 00:42:17

Acts chapter 12, 12 through 16, okay?

Speaker: 00:42:21

James had been martyred.

Speaker: 00:42:22

Peter is locked up.

Speaker: 00:42:23

He's fixing to get killed.

Speaker: 00:42:24

And they all get together like they had in Acts two

Speaker: 00:42:28

and they start praying.

Speaker: 00:42:29

And guess what?

Speaker: 00:42:31

God's answers their prayers.

Speaker: 00:42:34

And Peter shows up knocking at the door.

Speaker: 00:42:37

And the only one who went and answered the door

Speaker: 00:42:42

was a servant girl named rota.

Speaker: 00:42:44

And she went back and told everybody,

Speaker: 00:42:46

hey, Peter's at the front door.

Speaker: 00:42:48

And they said, get out of here.

Speaker: 00:42:49

You're tripping.

Speaker: 00:42:50

That's his ghost.

Speaker: 00:42:51

And she went back and said,

Speaker: 00:42:52

I'm telling you, he's knocking at the door.

Speaker: 00:42:55

And finally they go let him in.

Speaker: 00:42:57

They're like, Peter, right?

Speaker: 00:43:00

Here's what's so important about that story.

Speaker: 00:43:04

I hope the answer to my prayer knocks long enough

Speaker: 00:43:07

for me to go answer it.

Speaker: 00:43:08

The answer to the prayer, they're praying.

Speaker: 00:43:12

God, please let Peter out of jail.

Speaker: 00:43:13

Please save him.

Speaker: 00:43:14

And Peter's at the front door and they don't believe it.

Speaker: 00:43:17

So when I say I need a rota,

Speaker: 00:43:20

if we're praying and believing together,

Speaker: 00:43:22

which one of y'all are gonna believe

Speaker: 00:43:24

in the hope that we're praying for?

Speaker: 00:43:26

Cole, are you gonna act on what we're praying about?

Speaker: 00:43:29

Are you gonna go to the door and check on it?

Speaker: 00:43:31

And when Cole come back and says,

Speaker: 00:43:32

hey, God told me this.

Speaker: 00:43:34

I know we've been praying about this.

Speaker: 00:43:35

Here's what God was revealing to me.

Speaker: 00:43:36

Am I gonna say, come on rota, let's go.

Speaker: 00:43:39

I'll go answer the door.

Speaker: 00:43:41

If we're talking about they, they, they

Speaker: 00:43:45

devoted themselves to prayer.

Speaker: 00:43:49

There was an individual aspect and it was a corporate aspect.

Speaker: 00:43:52

But if we're gonna do this together, I need a rota.

Speaker: 00:43:56

I need a rota.

Speaker: 00:43:56

Are you gonna be that rota?

Speaker: 00:43:58

There is so much to prayer

Speaker: 00:44:01

and it's sometimes hard to understand.

Speaker: 00:44:03

We usually treat it like a tool.

Speaker: 00:44:05

If we need prayer, we go get our prayer hammer

Speaker: 00:44:07

out of our toolbox and we go use the hammer

Speaker: 00:44:10

for what the prayer hammer needs to be done

Speaker: 00:44:12

and then we put the prayer hammer back in the toolbox.

Speaker: 00:44:15

But what if prayer is not the vehicle

Speaker: 00:44:18

that brings us to our destination?

Speaker: 00:44:19

What if prayer is the destination?

Speaker: 00:44:23

Let me say that a different way.

Speaker: 00:44:24

Prayer is not just a step in our journey.

Speaker: 00:44:29

Prayer is the journey.

Speaker: 00:44:31

Communion with God, that is the journey.

Speaker: 00:44:38

Every single day.

Speaker: 00:44:42

It's not just an item I go grab when I have a need,

Speaker: 00:44:45

although there is occasion for that.

Speaker: 00:44:49

It is a part of our every day lives.

Speaker: 00:44:53

From our waking, our sleeping, our coming, our going,

Speaker: 00:44:57

our eating, sleeping, walking around lives

Speaker: 00:45:01

laid before God as an offering in communion.

Speaker: 00:45:05

So I'm gonna ask my prayer people

Speaker: 00:45:06

to come down here this morning.

Speaker: 00:45:09

I don't know what better day to come for prayer

Speaker: 00:45:13

than a day where we're talking about prayer.

Speaker: 00:45:16

You might think you don't need nothing.

Speaker: 00:45:20

And you might get down here to agree with somebody

Speaker: 00:45:23

and the Holy Spirit get all over you and say,

Speaker: 00:45:25

"You know what?

Speaker: 00:45:26

"You think I don't see you.

Speaker: 00:45:28

"You think you're alone.

Speaker: 00:45:30

"You feel like you're not enough.

Speaker: 00:45:33

"You feel like I don't think you're enough,

Speaker: 00:45:35

"but I wanted you to know I love you and I see you

Speaker: 00:45:38

"and I haven't forgot about you."

Speaker: 00:45:40

You might come down here and say,

Speaker: 00:45:41

"I don't know what I'm supposed to pray for."

Speaker: 00:45:42

And the person that's praying with you

Speaker: 00:45:44

knows what to pray for.

Speaker: 00:45:46

There's been many occasions.

Speaker: 00:45:47

I used to be scared to go to Fred Jones.

Speaker: 00:45:49

He'd tell me everything that I didn't wanna hear.

Speaker: 00:45:53

There's an opportunity here for us

Speaker: 00:45:58

to come and commune with God in joy and laughter

Speaker: 00:46:01

and tears and sorrow, standing and kneeling,

Speaker: 00:46:04

bowing, sitting, you ain't even gotta get up.

Speaker: 00:46:07

You ain't even gotta get up, but what I ask is,

Speaker: 00:46:10

wherever you're at, if you need to come, come.

Speaker: 00:46:12

If you need to sit, sit.

Speaker: 00:46:13

If you need to stand, if you need to lay prostrate

Speaker: 00:46:15

in that back corner, let's do it.

Speaker: 00:46:18

They're gonna worship as an act of prayer.

Speaker: 00:46:21

They're gonna agree as an act of prayer in faith

Speaker: 00:46:24

as you bring your petition to God with thanksgiving,

Speaker: 00:46:27

trusting that His sovereign hand

Speaker: 00:46:30

that knows the answer you need,

Speaker: 00:46:33

regardless if it's the one you want,

Speaker: 00:46:35

will hear you and meet you in this space.

Speaker: 00:46:39

Let's pray.

Speaker: 00:46:39

[Music]