WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:01.125 Please get your Bibles out. 00:00:01.125 --> 00:00:03.708 Let's wave them around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad. 00:00:03.708 --> 00:00:07.807 Let's say this together Say heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here today. 00:00:07.807 --> 00:00:10.124 I'm a covenant person. 00:00:10.124 --> 00:00:19.670 I have respect for the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the Word of God and the Holy Ghost. 00:00:19.670 --> 00:00:26.463 You've given me all things that pertain under this life and to Godliness. 00:00:26.463 --> 00:00:30.725 Through the knowledge of Him and the Lord Jesus, call me to glory and virtue. 00:00:30.725 --> 00:00:34.828 I'm receiving revelation of God, the Father today. 00:00:34.828 --> 00:00:38.908 I wanna know Him, not emotionally. 00:00:38.908 --> 00:00:47.926 The only way for me to know Him is to know Him through His Word, because God and His Word are one. 00:00:47.926 --> 00:00:52.362 In Jesus' name, amen, praise God. 00:00:52.920 --> 00:01:06.778 Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to James, chapter five, and last week we had a message on the baptism of the Holy Ghost and I trust that anyone that missed that was able to hear. 00:01:06.778 --> 00:01:07.058 It's still up. 00:01:07.058 --> 00:01:08.915 I think it's on our website. 00:01:08.915 --> 00:01:14.280 And then I want to share some messages on prayer. 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:24.552 I don't really know how many it's gonna take, but how many of you received an email concerning our greatest year? 00:01:24.552 --> 00:01:24.753 Yet? 00:01:24.753 --> 00:01:32.819 You know we made an effort to get that out to all of our members, and so we have a lot of new members that may have heard. 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:37.188 They see these red envelopes up here and wonder what that's all about. 00:01:37.209 --> 00:01:38.715 Greatest year yet. 00:01:38.715 --> 00:01:39.399 What does that mean? 00:01:39.399 --> 00:01:46.769 Well, it came from a word of prophecy that God delivered to us back last September on Rosh Hashanah. 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:49.996 The evening happened to be Sunday night and it was a powerful word. 00:01:49.996 --> 00:01:56.799 It went about 20 minutes that night and then the next Wednesday night was power hour and we continued. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:00.742 So we sent both of those links to you, please for everybody. 00:02:00.742 --> 00:02:05.079 Just get yourself familiar with that word and what we said about it at the time. 00:02:07.114 --> 00:02:12.699 But it's by faith, and look what the devil has done to stop that word from coming to pass. 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:17.680 I mean this whole thing that's gone on with the COVID overstatement. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:25.400 I mean, yes, it's a real virus, but it's been politicized and overstated infinitely. 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:32.520 The politics of fear, division have been ruling, and it's one reason why the church needs to wake up. 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:38.574 Quit being so compliant, and thank God, the book of Acts, the apostles were not that compliant to the law. 00:02:38.574 --> 00:02:41.159 They rebelled. 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.699 They said well, if this is illegal, you'll just have to look into that. 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:47.854 But we cannot help but to teach and preach and that name. 00:02:47.854 --> 00:02:48.548 So you just deal with it. 00:02:48.548 --> 00:02:50.250 If whatever you got to do. 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:52.997 You got to do, but we got to do what we got to do. 00:02:52.997 --> 00:02:55.360 Well, I haven't heard that very much out of the church. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:01.795 You know, somebody needed to come out and go, boom, how about kick, all right. 00:03:03.348 --> 00:03:04.758 So James, chapter five, the power of prayer. 00:03:04.758 --> 00:03:07.579 Today that's what we're talking about, the power of prayer. 00:03:07.579 --> 00:03:39.419 And in James, chapter five, verse 16, I would read it in the King James first, it says that the last part of that verse, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man or a righteous person availeth much, but listen to the amplified, the earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man or woman makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. 00:03:39.419 --> 00:03:42.159 So, the power of prayer. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:45.780 And James, the book of James, is what we call an end time book. 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:49.560 It deals with the end times and what's going to be happening in the end times. 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:58.259 And if there's ever a time for the church to take its place in prayer, it's right now, because the devil knows his time is short. 00:03:59.331 --> 00:04:00.099 We know the signs are there. 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:04.599 You know we see the wars, the famines, the pestilences. 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:10.180 We see the nations roaring, rising up, one nation against another. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:18.232 One nation against nation means people, group, ethnos, one ethnos rising against another. 00:04:18.232 --> 00:04:20.668 See, the church is not an ethnos. 00:04:20.668 --> 00:04:23.007 The church is the body of Christ. 00:04:23.007 --> 00:04:29.684 We don't have any black Christians, we don't have any white Christians, we don't have any brown Christians, we just have Christians. 00:04:29.684 --> 00:04:34.067 So there can be no division in the church. 00:04:34.067 --> 00:04:36.161 So that's why it's. 00:04:36.161 --> 00:04:38.550 You can see why we're in such a mess. 00:04:38.550 --> 00:04:40.307 Because the church is gravitated that way. 00:04:40.307 --> 00:04:41.122 We've got division. 00:04:41.122 --> 00:04:43.161 Are you with me now? 00:04:43.161 --> 00:05:09.708 And so the tremendous power available through prayer and sometimes I like to go from the other direction and you know, I know sometimes people say I'm too negative, but I like to look at the other side Then that implies that when we don't pray, there is what A tremendous power vacuum, a power. 00:05:09.747 --> 00:05:11.372 You ever heard the term power vacuum. 00:05:11.372 --> 00:05:13.206 That's what we're in right now. 00:05:13.206 --> 00:05:19.245 We have a power vacuum created by the lack of prayer by the church of Jesus Christ. 00:05:19.245 --> 00:05:21.142 I can't believe. 00:05:21.142 --> 00:05:28.545 No, I'm talking about America, but also the world, because the things go here, it pretty much goes everywhere else, and the church has been weak. 00:05:28.545 --> 00:05:29.281 Let's face it. 00:05:29.281 --> 00:05:30.586 We've allowed abortion. 00:05:30.586 --> 00:05:32.545 We didn't rise up against it. 00:05:32.545 --> 00:05:43.579 We didn't turn people out of office, we didn't get up in our pulpits in 1973 and say this is an abomination, the Supreme Court has gotten out of order this. 00:05:43.579 --> 00:05:47.023 There's nowhere in the Constitution that allows this and there's not. 00:05:47.023 --> 00:05:56.165 It's one of the worst decisions in the history of in fact, it is the worst decision in the history of this nation coming out of the Supreme Court, and they've had some real lulus. 00:05:56.165 --> 00:06:03.642 They are not perfect, this country's not perfect, but it's still head and shoulders above anything else on the earth. 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:06.040 So let's quit talking about the trouble, let's talk. 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:07.526 Let's talk about the solution. 00:06:07.526 --> 00:06:14.386 Well, one of the solutions for the church to start praying and get rid of the power vacuum, because the devil is taking it. 00:06:14.386 --> 00:06:21.067 That's what happens in your life personally, you wonder why some things happen in your life. 00:06:21.067 --> 00:06:24.430 Well, you know, things happen to everybody, prayer or not. 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:28.963 But at the same time, a lot worse things happen to people who don't pray. 00:06:28.963 --> 00:06:36.064 There's a power vacuum, and now the devil is going to always try to occupy that place that you're not occupying. 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:45.904 And so John Wesley the great you know he was a Methodist and originated the Methodist revival. 00:06:45.904 --> 00:06:50.384 He said God, it seems, as God does nothing but an answer to prayer. 00:06:50.384 --> 00:06:56.769 And Kenneth Copeland said one time all failure in Christian enterprise is a prayer failure. 00:06:56.769 --> 00:07:06.629 And brother Hagan, kenneth E Hagan, said that all failure is a failure of faith. 00:07:06.629 --> 00:07:10.848 So those both are exactly right, because a prayer has got to be based on faith. 00:07:10.848 --> 00:07:14.843 So if your faith is false to your prayer is no good Right. 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:17.786 So failure is usually a result. 00:07:17.786 --> 00:07:19.726 In fact, it always as a result. 00:07:19.726 --> 00:07:21.487 It's not because God wanted you to fail. 00:07:21.487 --> 00:07:25.987 He gave you the ability to have tremendous power available. 00:07:25.987 --> 00:07:38.201 But then when we choose not to pray or we pray wrong in fact, in James, chapter 4, it says that that there's two reasons that any person lacks. 00:07:38.201 --> 00:07:43.035 You have Not because you ask not. 00:07:43.035 --> 00:07:43.836 That's number one. 00:07:43.836 --> 00:07:45.682 You have not because you ask not. 00:07:45.682 --> 00:07:50.161 Or you have not because you ask but you ask amiss. 00:07:50.161 --> 00:07:52.975 You ask without faith. 00:07:52.975 --> 00:07:56.577 You ask for the wrong thing, the inappropriate thing. 00:07:56.577 --> 00:07:58.783 You ask according to the flesh. 00:07:58.783 --> 00:08:01.783 So you can't have faith in the flesh. 00:08:01.783 --> 00:08:03.129 Faith is a spiritual force. 00:08:03.471 --> 00:08:14.684 I'm gonna teach a series on faith here, coming up pretty soon, because many of you come from different backgrounds and you need a good, a good foundational understanding of what faith is. 00:08:14.684 --> 00:08:18.201 A lot of people, when they you talk about faith, they think you're talking about their denomination. 00:08:18.201 --> 00:08:19.189 What faith are you? 00:08:19.189 --> 00:08:20.053 Well, I'm a Baptist. 00:08:20.053 --> 00:08:20.999 What faith are you? 00:08:20.999 --> 00:08:21.701 Well, I'm a method. 00:08:21.701 --> 00:08:23.209 No, we're not talking about that kind of faith. 00:08:23.209 --> 00:08:24.894 We're talking about the Bible. 00:08:24.894 --> 00:08:29.362 Faith is the substance of things, hope for the evidence of things not seen. 00:08:29.362 --> 00:08:33.600 Bible faith is calling the things that be, not as though they were. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:40.374 That's, that's the faith we're talking about and we've all been given the measure of faith Romans 12, 3. 00:08:40.374 --> 00:08:44.153 So we got had to have that kind of faith to get saved, amen. 00:08:44.153 --> 00:08:50.360 And so then and then faith can grow after that, faith coming by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:55.721 Jesus said in Luke 18 one men ought always to pray and not to faint. 00:08:55.721 --> 00:08:59.716 Men ought always to pray and not to faint. 00:08:59.716 --> 00:09:00.879 So prayer, pretty important. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:08.863 Jesus put it at the top of the list and he said the word faint there means to turn coward, lose heart or give up. 00:09:11.511 --> 00:09:17.879 Smith Wigglesworth if you've never heard of him, you need to get yourself Acquainted with his writings and stuff. 00:09:17.879 --> 00:09:19.282 We've got some material out there. 00:09:19.282 --> 00:09:22.817 Smith Wigglesworth was a powerful preacher. 00:09:22.817 --> 00:09:40.509 He died the year that I was born, 1947, and he had 23 people raised from the dead in his ministry, so that that means he was called by many the apostle of faith and he, he was a powerful man of God. 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:51.283 I mean, you know, he would have a little pocket New Testament and he was out and about, you know, preaching in some church or something and we go out to eat and there'd be a group of people at the table. 00:09:51.283 --> 00:09:57.009 After eating he would pull back and open his Bible and teach a little message on faith. 00:09:57.028 --> 00:10:08.495 I Mean he was always teaching and preaching on faith and One of the persons that he rose, that he raised up, had already been embalmed, was that the funeral home. 00:10:08.495 --> 00:10:13.009 He pulled him up out of the casket, leaned him against the wall and that guy lived. 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:24.586 I Don't know how that happened, but I do know that's a miracle, right, that's the gift of faith, the working of miracles, the gifts of healing, because he had to get healed of what he would had he died of. 00:10:24.586 --> 00:10:27.437 I Mean, you know that makes you scratch. 00:10:27.437 --> 00:10:28.259 Talk about a wonder. 00:10:28.259 --> 00:10:32.197 I Don't know if the funeral home got the charge. 00:10:32.236 --> 00:10:46.649 They, they kind of short changed on the funeral service, but anyway, he said that his experience most Christians give up before the answer comes, say they, they, they don't, they faint, they give up. 00:10:46.649 --> 00:10:51.859 I mean, they pray and they, but they're praying right, they're praying according to the word there. 00:10:51.859 --> 00:10:53.566 They're believe, they receive when they pray. 00:10:53.566 --> 00:10:54.590 Mark 1124. 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:59.081 Therefore, what so thanks, whoever you desire when you pray, believe you receive him, you shall have them. 00:10:59.081 --> 00:11:00.514 When do you receive them? 00:11:00.514 --> 00:11:02.793 When you pray, not when you have them. 00:11:02.793 --> 00:11:04.458 You believe you receive them. 00:11:04.458 --> 00:11:06.062 When you pray, then you shall have them. 00:11:06.062 --> 00:11:08.700 So there's a time between the amen and that. 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:09.302 There it is. 00:11:09.302 --> 00:11:11.791 Amen says I have it, now it's mine. 00:11:11.791 --> 00:11:13.335 Well, do you actually know? 00:11:13.335 --> 00:11:15.259 Not yet, but you will have it, it will come. 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:16.383 And so what do you say? 00:11:16.383 --> 00:11:18.716 Oh, thank you, lord, I believe I received that. 00:11:18.716 --> 00:11:20.520 I believe I received my healing. 00:11:20.520 --> 00:11:25.461 I believe I received $500 before the end of the month to pay that extra bill that came in. 00:11:25.461 --> 00:11:28.796 Do you actually have the 500 yet? 00:11:28.796 --> 00:11:31.022 No, but you're thanking God in advance. 00:11:31.022 --> 00:11:35.054 Are you with me now? 00:11:35.054 --> 00:11:37.152 So he said. 00:11:37.231 --> 00:11:40.078 Most Christians in his experience give up before the answer comes. 00:11:40.078 --> 00:11:49.317 They, they, they lose their courage and so they might go to, you know, one of these title loan deals or anything. 00:11:49.317 --> 00:11:53.715 Put up the title or your car and get a thousand dollars and have to pay $2,000 back in a week. 00:11:53.715 --> 00:11:57.317 It's just legalized loan sharking is what it is. 00:11:57.317 --> 00:12:03.563 We ought to fire anybody that allows that, because I'll tell you who gets hurt, or poor people get hurt. 00:12:03.563 --> 00:12:06.956 I Know one guy that I know very well. 00:12:06.956 --> 00:12:10.539 He started off doing this about ten years ago and he never could get his head above the water. 00:12:10.539 --> 00:12:18.352 I mean, he just couldn't ever get, get and they chased him all over the state till they finally took that car Because he never could pay it by. 00:12:18.352 --> 00:12:20.616 I mean the interest was astronomical. 00:12:20.616 --> 00:12:25.952 I mean this hundred and two hundred percent, 400% interest. 00:12:25.952 --> 00:12:27.677 You can't pay it back. 00:12:27.677 --> 00:12:29.724 It's loan sharking legalized. 00:12:29.724 --> 00:12:36.696 Every one of those places down 1960, every one of those ought to be shut up and closed Because poor people are getting victim. 00:12:36.735 --> 00:12:42.433 Anyway, I'm off my subject, but let's trust God, amen. 00:12:42.433 --> 00:13:07.889 So as we begin this series or there, and again I don't know how long, I'll Share this, but I want to get an understanding and those of it that are new and I do know that we have Folks that are new and are not used to how we do church and so we want to help you to get along With things and join in with us on every aspect of it, as you can. 00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:17.942 So there's two things that prayer is not, and one that is Prayer is these three truths that you need to, these foundational points that I want to share. 00:13:17.942 --> 00:13:21.440 First of all, prayer is not trying to get God's attention. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:26.735 You know, remember that old cell phone commercial Can you hear me? 00:13:26.735 --> 00:13:28.475 Can you hear me now? 00:13:28.475 --> 00:13:30.068 Can you hear me now? 00:13:30.068 --> 00:13:37.130 You know, remember that he's going, going down trying to trying to get a signal and a lot of people think God doesn't know where they are. 00:13:37.130 --> 00:13:38.918 You know, god knows exactly where you are. 00:13:38.957 --> 00:13:45.321 Hebrews chapter 4 says that all things are Naked and open to him, with whom we have to do. 00:13:45.321 --> 00:13:47.909 He knows everything about your circumstance. 00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:49.553 He knows everything about you. 00:13:49.553 --> 00:13:50.677 There's nothing. 00:13:50.677 --> 00:13:53.163 You're totally transparent to God. 00:13:53.163 --> 00:13:55.416 You think you're gonna hold something back? 00:13:55.416 --> 00:13:58.932 He's already seen it and guess what? 00:13:58.932 --> 00:14:04.104 The Holy Ghost lives on the inside of you if you're saved, so he really he's got an up-close and personal look at you. 00:14:04.104 --> 00:14:09.780 Amen, and so you don't have to get God's attention. 00:14:09.780 --> 00:14:11.692 That's not what prayer is. 00:14:12.754 --> 00:14:16.624 And then, number number two prayer is not trying to get God to do something. 00:14:16.624 --> 00:14:19.740 God, if you just do, I mean I need you to do something. 00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:20.403 God doesn't. 00:14:20.403 --> 00:14:21.990 This pain is about God. 00:14:21.990 --> 00:14:22.893 What are you gonna do? 00:14:22.893 --> 00:14:25.581 This pain is just how come you're allowing this place? 00:14:25.581 --> 00:14:26.962 See, you don't even know what you're doing. 00:14:26.962 --> 00:14:27.690 That's not prayer. 00:14:27.690 --> 00:14:28.432 You don't even. 00:14:28.432 --> 00:14:32.269 This is not based on any knowledge of the word, we're gonna teach you better. 00:14:32.269 --> 00:14:34.375 You're gonna teach you better. 00:14:34.375 --> 00:14:37.203 First of all, you don't have to beg God for what he's already given. 00:14:37.203 --> 00:14:40.692 Jesus himself took our sicknesses and Carried our infirmity. 00:14:40.692 --> 00:14:44.562 So if you've got symptoms, that's not God's will for you to have them. 00:14:44.562 --> 00:14:47.857 So it's not a matter of you praying to get rid of them. 00:14:47.857 --> 00:14:55.163 It's a matter of you standing your ground and demanding pain to leave, demand your body to line up with the word of God. 00:14:55.163 --> 00:14:58.374 Not even prayer that's needed. 00:14:58.514 --> 00:15:03.004 We, you know so many times we've gotten in the church, the church in general. 00:15:03.004 --> 00:15:08.859 They, they've lost the revelation of what it means to pray and why to pray. 00:15:08.859 --> 00:15:17.101 And so really, one of the great things about prayer, what prayer is, is, it is a dialogue or a communication with God. 00:15:17.101 --> 00:15:20.437 In other words, you talk to him and he talks back. 00:15:20.437 --> 00:15:26.320 It's not oh God, give it to me, give it to me, give it to me right now, god, give it to me, give it to me, give it to me right now, right now, God. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.619 No, that's not prayer, but there's people who pray like they go. 00:15:32.619 --> 00:15:33.583 God, give it to me, give it to me. 00:15:33.583 --> 00:15:37.975 He is already giving you, he's already. 00:15:38.216 --> 00:15:39.724 Did Jesus leave anything out? 00:15:39.724 --> 00:15:44.190 I Mean see when you just need to get into what Jesus did on the cross. 00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:48.125 He did everything on the cross, not just, not just your sins. 00:15:48.125 --> 00:15:54.702 He took care of your sicknesses, he took care of everything that could possibly come against you. 00:15:54.702 --> 00:15:57.480 You don't have to fast and pray to go on a trip. 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:59.889 Oh God, please protect me on my trip. 00:15:59.889 --> 00:16:02.754 Oh, my god, no, I'm praying for traveling, mark. 00:16:02.754 --> 00:16:04.317 You don't have to pray for traveling. 00:16:04.317 --> 00:16:05.640 Mercies, you, just you. 00:16:05.640 --> 00:16:07.183 Just you just claim it. 00:16:08.331 --> 00:16:11.662 When I'm walking on the plane, I just slapped the plane door jam. 00:16:11.662 --> 00:16:18.158 As I go in, I said, huh, in Jesus name, thank God, angels are all around this plane. 00:16:18.158 --> 00:16:19.259 It's on each wing. 00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:21.323 They're on the nose or on the tail. 00:16:21.323 --> 00:16:25.500 There in those jet engines we're gonna pass over to the other side. 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:27.591 That's what I say. 00:16:27.591 --> 00:16:28.654 I say let us pass. 00:16:28.695 --> 00:16:30.679 I don't pray a bit, I don't even pray. 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:35.000 I just say Faith works by saying and it faith works by praying. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.759 So don't ask God to God. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:43.798 It's communicating with God, believing and receiving what he has already given to us. 00:16:43.798 --> 00:16:49.057 It's not, it's not about trying to get his tension, not, it's not about trying to get God to do something. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.613 When you pray, you're gonna know. 00:16:51.613 --> 00:16:53.116 It's not about hearing voices either. 00:16:53.116 --> 00:16:53.859 There's another. 00:16:53.859 --> 00:16:58.528 Another something I'm gonna start teaching here pretty soon how to be led by the spirit. 00:16:58.528 --> 00:17:06.963 A Lot of lot of Christians go through their entire life and they never learn to be led by the spirit. 00:17:06.963 --> 00:17:10.150 You know, we ought to be born of the spirit that's getting born again. 00:17:10.150 --> 00:17:15.623 We ought to be baptized in the Holy Ghost that speak in another time and we ought to be led by the spirit. 00:17:15.623 --> 00:17:22.084 Those three things are vitally important for every believer to have, and some people have only one out of the three. 00:17:22.084 --> 00:17:25.377 Some people don't have any of the three, so they're going to hell. 00:17:25.638 --> 00:17:26.500 Sitting in a church. 00:17:26.500 --> 00:17:32.722 Sitting in a church can't take you to heaven and make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage can make you a car. 00:17:32.722 --> 00:17:40.853 You can sit in the garage all day long, and the last few days you'll sweat a lot too less is air-condition all right. 00:17:40.853 --> 00:17:57.654 So so these foundational points, and the other thing I wanted to mention is that the earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of the righteous person avails much, brings much power to bear, dynamic and it's working. 00:17:57.778 --> 00:17:59.348 Continued prayer what does that mean? 00:17:59.348 --> 00:18:00.434 You may have to pray all day. 00:18:00.434 --> 00:18:02.605 We're gonna have prayer meeting all day and all night. 00:18:02.605 --> 00:18:04.434 No, it means consistent. 00:18:04.434 --> 00:18:13.513 Really, it means walking around with the consciousness that God is on the inside of you, god inside, minding, leaning on him. 00:18:13.513 --> 00:18:22.582 I mean you might be at work and you may be called to the boss's office and you don't know why you start leaning on the Holy Ghost on your way down there. 00:18:22.582 --> 00:18:28.670 You say, well, thank God for the Holy Ghost, he's leaning, he's in me to give me wisdom, he's in there to give me favor. 00:18:28.670 --> 00:18:35.304 Thank God, he's the answer, he knows the answer before I and say you quail any nervousness, you quail any panic. 00:18:35.304 --> 00:18:36.374 You know by what? 00:18:36.374 --> 00:18:36.976 By leaning. 00:18:36.976 --> 00:18:38.220 See, keep the channels open. 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:39.933 Keep the channels open. 00:18:39.973 --> 00:18:44.031 It's not about hearing a voice like God's gonna talk to you, the Self-alarm. 00:18:44.031 --> 00:18:50.532 No, it's about knowing on the inside more about that when we start teaching, about being led by the Spirit. 00:18:50.532 --> 00:18:52.778 But it's all part and parcel of your prayer life. 00:18:52.778 --> 00:18:58.617 Everybody say my prayer life, I'm developing my prayer life, all right. 00:18:58.719 --> 00:19:04.140 So the, they, the early church, continued in prayer. 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:07.750 I acts 242, they they continued in prayer. 00:19:07.750 --> 00:19:16.316 They continued in in fellowship, in the teaching of the apostles and Fellowship, breaking of bread and in prayers. 00:19:16.316 --> 00:19:17.258 They continued, they. 00:19:17.258 --> 00:19:18.642 They were consistent. 00:19:18.642 --> 00:19:26.037 They didn't just pray for a couple of days and then, a couple of months later, they decided oh, we haven't prayed in a couple of months because we ought to pray? 00:19:26.037 --> 00:19:31.273 No, prayer is something that you do on a Very consistent basis. 00:19:31.273 --> 00:19:35.663 Every day, you have a time of prayer plus, you keep the channels open all the time. 00:19:35.663 --> 00:19:42.415 Keep the channels open, always leaning on the Holy Ghost that lives on the inside of you. 00:19:42.415 --> 00:19:42.757 Are you? 00:19:42.757 --> 00:19:43.538 Are you with me now? 00:19:43.538 --> 00:19:58.079 So these, these are really momentous times, and when you come to church on, my job is to is to load your, your weapons, with the kind of ammo that it takes. 00:19:58.971 --> 00:19:59.634 You know this. 00:19:59.634 --> 00:20:06.239 You know the Bible talks about being good soldiers of Christ, and we're, we're, we're in a war. 00:20:06.239 --> 00:20:08.250 I said we're in a war. 00:20:08.250 --> 00:20:08.631 What? 00:20:08.631 --> 00:20:09.855 What would you take? 00:20:09.855 --> 00:20:14.309 Would you take a soldier and send him out to battle without, without any weapons? 00:20:14.309 --> 00:20:18.730 Or, if he had the weapons, would you not have any ammo for the weapons? 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:24.874 I mean, here he's got, you know, he's got one weapon, it's got the wrong ammo, or he doesn't have enough ammo. 00:20:24.874 --> 00:20:30.647 Listen, my job is to fill your weapons, I, with ammo, amen. 00:20:31.084 --> 00:20:31.960 And so what are the weapons? 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:33.124 Well, the name of Jesus. 00:20:33.124 --> 00:20:36.365 See, all prayer is to the Father. 00:20:36.365 --> 00:20:37.489 In the name of Jesus. 00:20:37.489 --> 00:20:40.969 If you're praying to Jesus, you're not praying correctly. 00:20:40.969 --> 00:20:42.380 You're asking a miss. 00:20:42.380 --> 00:20:45.785 Jesus is your Lord, he's your Savior, but God is your Father. 00:20:45.785 --> 00:20:49.229 So all prayer is to the Father in Jesus' name. 00:20:49.229 --> 00:20:54.912 So the name of Jesus, the Word of God oh, what a weapon. 00:20:54.912 --> 00:20:59.691 Without the Word of God, your prayer life is gonna be deficient. 00:20:59.691 --> 00:21:04.069 It won't be powerful without the Word. 00:21:04.069 --> 00:21:09.088 You need to be able to pray the Word, and last week we talked about praying in the Holy Ghost. 00:21:09.088 --> 00:21:13.327 Praying in tongues that's also important, but you can't just do that. 00:21:13.327 --> 00:21:14.782 You need to be able to pray the Word. 00:21:14.782 --> 00:21:17.730 You need to claim the Word, you need to speak the Word. 00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:18.553 You need to pray the Word. 00:21:18.553 --> 00:21:19.986 Amen, the Word of God. 00:21:19.986 --> 00:21:21.584 And then, thirdly, the Holy Ghost. 00:21:21.584 --> 00:21:27.788 Those three things, and when you keep those in mind, you've got all the ammo you need. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.386 The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they're mighty through God. 00:21:32.386 --> 00:21:41.589 They're mighty through God so we can face any situation, any particular attack that we have. 00:21:41.589 --> 00:21:48.306 As I said before, the devil has unleashed every kind of an attack to stop this from being the greatest gear. 00:21:48.306 --> 00:21:53.686 Yet how many of you know that's true, but yet he hasn't been able to stop it. 00:21:53.686 --> 00:21:56.488 There's still a number of weeks left. 00:21:56.488 --> 00:21:56.721 What? 00:21:56.721 --> 00:21:57.670 Five weeks left? 00:21:57.670 --> 00:21:58.819 Six weeks left, however long? 00:21:58.819 --> 00:21:59.563 No, it's more than that. 00:21:59.563 --> 00:22:13.410 And so we're hey, listen, we've got a lot to be done right here between now and then, and so whatever adjustments we need to make, we're gonna make them, and the result is tremendous power. 00:22:13.410 --> 00:22:16.163 Think about the power. 00:22:16.163 --> 00:22:18.446 We get fixated on the power of the devil. 00:22:18.446 --> 00:22:20.768 He has power, but we have greater power. 00:22:20.768 --> 00:22:25.290 We have greater power than that of the devil. 00:22:25.290 --> 00:22:27.405 God is greater than the devil. 00:22:27.405 --> 00:22:29.766 The church is greater than the devil. 00:22:29.766 --> 00:22:33.769 Isn't it a shame that the church has not acted like it? 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:35.702 So that's part of what I'm. 00:22:36.285 --> 00:22:38.961 My task is to wake up the church and rally them. 00:22:38.961 --> 00:22:43.814 Do all I can by precept and example. 00:22:43.814 --> 00:22:45.506 We're setting an example in this church. 00:22:45.506 --> 00:22:51.849 I mean, you know, just Tuesday night we had a Harris County Republican meeting. 00:22:51.849 --> 00:22:54.407 I mean, this was the Harris County Republican. 00:22:54.407 --> 00:23:06.244 First of all, it's the biggest group of Republicans in the state and so, as it goes in Harris County, it pretty much goes across the whole state, and that meeting was here. 00:23:06.244 --> 00:23:09.767 It was an organizational meeting, and I don't know how many people I talked to. 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:12.970 I wish we could get our pastor to open our church up. 00:23:12.970 --> 00:23:16.367 I said well, if you can't get on over here, we're open. 00:23:16.367 --> 00:23:19.288 Well, you don't understand. 00:23:19.288 --> 00:23:20.250 I live in Pearland. 00:23:20.250 --> 00:23:21.965 I said Pearland, pearland's nothing. 00:23:21.965 --> 00:23:25.906 We got people coming from Sealy, we got people coming from Galveston. 00:23:25.906 --> 00:23:31.586 We got you ought to see their eyes, their eyes, what tilt, tilt, tilt, dang, dang, dang, dang. 00:23:31.586 --> 00:23:39.048 No excuse, how bad do you want your church to be open? 00:23:39.048 --> 00:23:40.646 Well, leave there and come to where it's open. 00:23:40.646 --> 00:23:46.221 Praise God, it's been open for out on Allen, praise God, all right. 00:23:46.221 --> 00:23:55.708 So we opened our doors and thank God, by precepting example, we're leading, by precepting example that we have no business being afraid. 00:23:55.708 --> 00:23:59.209 We've got tremendous power available. 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:06.067 And so there's three truths that I want to begin with, let's look at Ephesians, chapter one, please. 00:24:06.067 --> 00:24:10.028 This is a powerful Holy Ghost prayer. 00:24:10.028 --> 00:24:15.705 There's many of them and I don't have time to preach on all of that this morning, but I'll just wet your appetite. 00:24:15.705 --> 00:24:16.903 Ephesians chapter one. 00:24:16.903 --> 00:24:24.167 And chapter two is Paul is praying and he tells the Ephesians what prayer he's praying for them. 00:24:24.167 --> 00:24:28.929 So I have prayed these prayers I don't know how many times, endlessly. 00:24:28.929 --> 00:24:32.565 Since I got saved 40 years ago, I've been praying these prayers. 00:24:32.565 --> 00:24:46.361 Praying them every day is my custom, and you may not pray them every day, but you ought to pray them for at least a few months every day and see if you can tell a difference in what the Bible means to you when you get through praying Cause. 00:24:46.361 --> 00:24:50.808 Listen to what he prayed for the Ephesians, and we can pray for each other and pray for ourselves. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.465 Ephesians, chapter one, verse 16,. 00:24:52.465 --> 00:24:56.506 I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers. 00:24:56.506 --> 00:24:58.044 And what is he praying? 00:24:58.044 --> 00:25:06.368 He's praying that the God of our Lord, jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. 00:25:06.368 --> 00:25:15.588 See, we just need to know God the way he is, and we can pray that we can have that revelation, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:17.826 Another version says beak flooded with light. 00:25:17.826 --> 00:25:25.307 We need to be illuminated about God, our Father, and all about him, and what he stands for and who he is and what side he has. 00:25:25.307 --> 00:25:26.484 We need to get on his side. 00:25:26.484 --> 00:25:34.023 He always has a side and we may know, not guess no. 00:25:34.023 --> 00:25:35.449 What is the hope of his calling? 00:25:35.449 --> 00:25:39.143 What are the riches of the glory, of his inheritance and the saints? 00:25:39.143 --> 00:25:43.344 You know, a lot of times we talk about our inheritance, that God has for us. 00:25:43.344 --> 00:25:43.967 But did you know? 00:25:43.967 --> 00:25:45.566 God has an inheritance in us. 00:25:45.566 --> 00:25:51.865 He wants us to accomplish something and that is his inheritance in us and we accomplish that thing. 00:25:51.865 --> 00:26:02.528 One of the inheritances he has in me is for me to wake up the church and to the degree that I accomplished that, that'll be God feeling really good about my life. 00:26:02.528 --> 00:26:03.009 You know what? 00:26:03.009 --> 00:26:04.061 And I feel good. 00:26:04.061 --> 00:26:05.385 That's my inheritance in that boy. 00:26:05.385 --> 00:26:07.884 He had the guts to do it. 00:26:07.884 --> 00:26:09.950 He had the guts to do it. 00:26:10.019 --> 00:26:13.183 You know, tuesday night this place was filled 400 plus people. 00:26:13.183 --> 00:26:20.548 You had no room, there was not a seat available, the lobby was full, there was not one parking place available in the parking lot and the overflow was packed. 00:26:20.548 --> 00:26:23.125 I love to see that. 00:26:23.125 --> 00:26:24.904 That made me very happy. 00:26:24.904 --> 00:26:25.883 It's a picture. 00:26:25.883 --> 00:26:28.210 It's a preview of a coming attraction. 00:26:31.548 --> 00:26:36.199 We've had 11,000 people through this church since 2003. 00:26:36.199 --> 00:26:36.741 Did you know that? 00:26:36.741 --> 00:26:41.065 So thousands of people sat where you were and didn't like what they heard? 00:26:41.065 --> 00:26:46.065 That makes the point that they needed to be awakened and they didn't get awake. 00:26:46.065 --> 00:26:48.344 But I'm not gonna stop. 00:26:49.220 --> 00:26:51.127 It seems to have cost us a lot. 00:26:51.127 --> 00:26:51.741 But you know what? 00:26:51.741 --> 00:26:53.742 I know it costs a lot more to disobey God. 00:26:53.742 --> 00:26:55.944 It pays to obey God. 00:26:55.944 --> 00:26:58.949 So he's praying these things. 00:26:58.949 --> 00:27:00.726 These are prayers you ought to pray for yourself. 00:27:00.726 --> 00:27:03.707 The eyes of your understanding be flooded with light. 00:27:03.707 --> 00:27:14.867 You may know what his hope is calling, where the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe According to the working of his mighty power. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:18.429 And then it describes what that power is. 00:27:18.429 --> 00:27:19.744 What power is it? 00:27:19.744 --> 00:27:27.586 The power to turn on the hose, the power to turn on the spigot, the power to turn on the light snow? 00:27:27.586 --> 00:27:31.586 It's what he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. 00:27:31.586 --> 00:27:39.146 Resurrection power, the kind of power that Smith Wigglesworth used on that man that was already in bond. 00:27:39.146 --> 00:27:53.542 Same kind of power, and not only raised him from the dead, that set him, set Jesus at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion. 00:27:53.583 --> 00:28:05.166 And every name that's named, not only in this age but in that which is to come, and has put all things, or all he's put all, see things there is italicized. 00:28:05.166 --> 00:28:15.846 So it's all, all means, all, all people, all words, all actions, everything, creatures, storms. 00:28:15.846 --> 00:28:22.099 We put that storm under our feet on Friday, when the news media were just calling it on Houston. 00:28:22.099 --> 00:28:22.983 Oh, it's gonna come to Houston. 00:28:22.983 --> 00:28:24.144 No, it's not coming to Houston. 00:28:24.144 --> 00:28:29.128 No, well, they messed up. 00:28:29.128 --> 00:28:47.585 See, none of their projections are ever accurate anyway, especially when we're praying Far above all principality, power and might and dominion, every name that's named, both in this age of that which is to come, put all under his feet when are the feet, by the way? 00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:54.549 They're in the body and given him to be the head over all to the church. 00:28:54.549 --> 00:28:56.424 Well, I thought Jesus was that. 00:28:56.424 --> 00:28:58.066 Yeah, and he delegated it to us. 00:28:58.066 --> 00:29:01.279