SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, welcome to Pastor's Corner, Place Debatist Church, Brother Jesse Adams, Enrique Hunter, Brother Whaley Meister Bryson, and we have a new uh voice, face, character, staff member. How are you gonna add to it? Uh, on the podcast now. Mr. Chris Catledge, who is our Minister of Children, is gonna be joining us in the podcast room. So he is here today. Chris, say good morning.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Good morning, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Now you got a little enthusiasm. Good morning, everyone. There we go. There we go. Yeah, he's good. He's good now. And uh so we're grateful that he's here. Of course, you remember when Chris Terry's with us several years ago, and Brother Chris went on uh as a Lord Mood Demon. So Chris Catledge is gonna be joining us on the podcast now. And so we got another voice, another viewpoint, some more scripture. Good night.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

My goodness. He's gonna read it all that. We're just gonna listen to that. We're going to look man. I'm just kidding. I just had to look over there like my we ain't never had that many notes in here, but but we'll uh we'll take it.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

And today the subject is how do you pray believing that God is gonna answer? Uh that is a great question and a great topic. And so uh I know many of you probably listen today, whether you yourself, a family member, dear friend, whatever the case may be, uh someone that you're praying for and you just feel like God's not answering is not gonna answer, you feel like you're on an island and you've just been dropped off there, and and all of us in our spiritual walk go through those times. And so that's kind of gonna be the topic today. I have to be honest with you, that is probably one of the hardest things. And if you guys want to chime in and if you think I'm off kilter, you can let me know. But sometimes I believe in our Christian walk, that is one of the hardest things that we deal with is wondering when God is gonna answer.

SPEAKER_06 2:06

Yeah, exactly. Because sometimes it's a long, drawn-out process. So that can be hard.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah, especially when the your timeline and God's timeline doesn't line up. Um, especially when you are you have hope, you have faith, um, believing God's gonna answer, um, and then it doesn't happen when you think it's gonna happen, and then you you lose that hope. You you know, your faith wanes. Um, it can be a very um a very drawn-out thing, as as um as Rick just said. And so hopefully today um we can um offer some encouragement um to to to some of you listening today on the podcast, um, and um hopefully offer some hope. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

I I think a a a lot of it kind of depends on your on where your faith is at. The uh as a as a child, it's it's easy to believe some things that that God can answer because you hadn't been through trials and tribulations and found out and seen things. And as a as a senior, you've been around and you've had people uh uh you've had God answer some of your prayers, so you you kind of that increases your faith that He can. I think where we're that that middle area is where we kind of we kind of get lost, we pray and and uh and then we try to pick it back up on our own uh and try to handle it on our own.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

You know, you mentioned that brings up a good point. You know, um we talk about childlike faith, and if we could accept things like children, we'll be a whole lot better off. You know, you don't hear kids going around hollering, why ain't God answering? It's it's like whatever you tell them, they believe it. And so it's like when the it's like the older we get, I guess you say we get more antsy. And I'll be honest with you, I think it's worse in our day and time now. I think it's worse in the last 10 years because every invention that comes into our life makes our life more convenient.

SPEAKER_06 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

And we, you know, everything now is instant. I mean, we got uh what they call this a fiber optic. We got, you know, fast online internet. We go through a drive-thru, everything's quick. So everything in the world is geared to be quick.

SPEAKER_06 4:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Well, there's only one problem with that. God's timeline is not quick. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 4:10

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

His ways are not our ways.

SPEAKER_06 4:12

Yeah, he exists outside of time, so right.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

So I think culture creates us to want everything now, and that's not how God functions. And so there's there's a lot that plays into that. And I'm gonna let these other guys go first. I'm gonna go last, because uh the scripture I want to bring up, I think, is is one that nobody wants to talk about, but I think it's one that we must swallow in order to understand how our prayer life works. And so I'm gonna we'll just I'm gonna start with B. B, you're gonna lead us off this morning. Okay. And then B's got the Crossroads Club Marathon shirt on. And uh I got the shirt on.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

I don't know if I'm following it. Rick, Rick needs to be the one wearing this shirt. But um, anyways, um, you know, kind of talking about prayer, I I'm not sure if it I didn't I'm not sure if it exactly, I guess I guess that's the best word, um, goes with what we're um, I guess talking about today. But the first um piece of scripture, I guess book, um, I may maybe even person in the Bible um that that comes to mind talking about prayer um that that jumps off the page to me is Nehemiah. Um and if you're a student of the Bible, um you know um the book of Nehemiah, you know the person of Nehemiah. Um and it's always fascinated me as I started studying Nehemiah a couple years ago, preached through the book of Nehemiah with our student ministry here a couple years ago as well. Um and Nehemiah chapter one is rather interesting because in Nehemiah, a lot of great things take place, a lot of great things happen, but I think it's important to understand that in Nehemiah chapter one, the first thing that takes place is Nehemiah praise. And so let me let me just make this statement, whether it goes exactly what we're talking about or not, I think it'll preach to um the people and anybody listening on the podcast today. Any great thing begins with prayer. Any great thing begins with prayer. And I think in Nehemiah chapter one, Nehemiah gives us um kind of a formula to prayer. Now, I don't think there's an exact method of prayer. I think there's some things that need to be included when you pray. Um, and I know we're talking about today when God doesn't answer, um, but I think you know, you got to start sometimes with with how we pray, right? And so I've maybe this is kind of taking it from a different angle um than all of you guys will, but let's take it from this kind of setup to start because Nehemiah kind of gives us um an example here because he's gonna do great things, God's gonna take him um on a journey. Um, it's gonna include some opposition, it's gonna include some some rejection, it's gonna include some people um coming his way, um, it's gonna include a lot of different stuff. And if you read the book of Nehemiah, you will see that take place. But it starts with prayer, and it's prayer includes a a couple of things. It includes praise, it includes confession, it includes humility, it includes um him joining the people, it includes uh a lot of different things um in this in this prayer, and so um I I just think that that's an important thing to notice in Nehemiah chapter one, but um I would just say this, I would just say this. Um we're talking about waiting on the Lord, we're talking about when God doesn't answer. Um look let me just say this I think oftentimes we can get so caught up in how to pray or like this formula or method of prayer when oftentimes I think God just wants to hear our voice. That's good stuff. I think God just wants to hear the voice of his children. And so I I know that's probably a different angle than than you three are gonna take it today, but I just wanted maybe to open it up in that light. Um just saying sometimes I think God just wants to hear hear your voice, um, waiting, like like it's not just it's not just lounging back and saying God's gonna take care of it. I mean, there there's a posture of waiting, and and the posture of waiting, um, it requires prayer, and there there is a there is this, there's some there's just some things, uh a formula of prayer, um, and it includes some it includes praise and confession. It includes you um doing some things while you wait on the Lord um and while you wait on him to answer.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

You know, I think you're I think you you hit something that's important. I think a lot of times, and don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with good books, there's nothing wrong with commentaries, and nothing, there's some great Christian writers out there, but I think sometimes we try to make prayer more theological than we do logical. You know, I don't have to come up with some kind of perfect format. You don't have to pray in King James language. Yeah, exactly. Or, you know, I ain't gotta, you know, and don't get me wrong, there's no substitute for prayer without ceasing. I want to be the first to admit that. But uh, if I'm not mistaken, when Elijah prayed down fire from heaven, he said 66 words and that was it.

SPEAKER_07 9:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

So sometimes I think we look at it as so holy of holies, and it is. We're we're talking to the Father. But sometimes I think people read books and they they think they make it more theological than it is logical.

SPEAKER_06 9:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Prayer is just a conversation between me and God. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:23

Yeah. And it's awkward. I think that's why prayer is so so much neglected, because you're you're sitting alone talking to somebody that's not in the room, not knowing that they're hearing, can't see them, they're not going to respond audibly to you. And you you gotta just believe that they're here and listening. And it's just awkward. And until you get used to praying to the Father.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

And um And the other thing is, uh not trying to interrupt you, you said it's awkward, it's also not natural.

SPEAKER_06 9:48

It's not natural.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Your flesh don't want to pray. Yeah, it's something that you gotta do and make it a priority walking in the spirit. Yeah. That's right. That's that's our that's our power. That's where our power comes in. That goes back to the busyness.

SPEAKER_06 10:01

That's exactly right. So, yeah, it's just awkward to pray, and uh, especially when you're desperate. Uh you you you pray and you need something, it's not just something you want. It's something that you're is it maybe a health issue, maybe a family problem, it may be something going on in your life, and you need God to show up now and to just get into the uh we're getting into prayer, and you think, you know, God's not his and he's not answering, I need this now, need this to happen, need this to take place. Sometimes we give up. And I think that's why Jesus said in Matthew, he helped us understand praying a little bit more. Because if you read it for just the words in Matthew 7, 7 and following, if you read it just for the words, you might say, Well, I've asked, I've sought, I've I've prayed for it. But the original language doesn't our our language in translation doesn't bring out what the original language is really saying. Because he says, Ask and it will give unto you, seek and you will find, knock, and it will be open for you. And we think, well, I've asked, I've sought, and I'm not. But this is consistency.

unknown 10:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 10:57

Keep on asking, keep on knocking, and keep on praying, and keep on seeking. So you you do it until God lets you know that no, or God says yes, but you cannot stop in between because you may stop right before God's getting ready to answer. And so it's the persistency of prayer, and that's what's hard about it, because when you need God to answer, and he seems to not be answering and not showing up, that's not a time to quit. That's to kind of to lean into God to pursue God and cry out to God even more.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

I think kind of back to what Pastor Bryson was talking about just a minute ago, kind of touched on was uh, you know, you praying, and I think that's kind of where he hit a little bit on what there's a lot of times we we we pray for things, but then we think that God is just gonna automatically just gonna handle it without us doing our part in it. I mean, yes, we we're voicing our prayer, and he he knows our heart, he knows what we're gonna pray about before we pray about it, but he wants that relationship with us, he wants us to have that conversation.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

But I talk to the children about uh things like so, well, if you pray for a test, you know, you can't just pray for something and expect that God's gonna answer that prayer if you haven't done your part in working for it. You know, so you can't expect God to hold, Lord, help me pass this test and you haven't studied, or maybe your marriage is in shambles and and things are going wrong, and you pray ask God to save your marriage, but then you turn around and you're still doing the same things you've always done and you haven't put into work to try to to make your marriage better. Or the same thing with your finances, any area of your life, when we pray for it, that God still expects us to I guess to hold up our part of the deal and and and uh to to to put the work in to make things right.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, kind of like those saying, don't pray for a hole while you're leaning against a shovel. Sometimes you gotta make some things happen. I totally agree with that. And the scripture that I want I want to use this morning is found in 1 Peter 3. And I actually I thought about this verse of scripture on this topic today because I use this verse of scripture when I do premarital counseling. Uh, when I do premarital counseling, I talk about, you know, the spiritual life of a husband and wife. And 1 Peter 3 says something that nobody ever talks about. And I want to incorporate this into the subject, and this this is what he says. He says, You husbands, dwell with your wife according to knowledge, give honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life. But listen to the last statement that your prayers will not be hindered.

SPEAKER_07 13:26

Uh-oh. I Rick just felt a dagger in his heart.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

I think many times, and and please, I'm I'm I'm just I'm not being mean, I just want to be simple because we need to understand prayer starts way before you open your mouth. If we live in a wicked life, we can't expect God to answer. If things aren't right with our spouse, we can't expect God to answer. If we got unfinished business with our family, we can't expect God to answer. If we got turmoil with people in the church and we don't want to fix it, we can't expect God to answer. So many times we feel like, you know, how do we pray believing that God's gonna answer? Well, the first thing we gotta do is do our part. Our part is to make sure relationships are right.

SPEAKER_06 14:07

That's right. We're standing in the way of our own blessing.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

So I'm about to we're standing in the way of our own blessing. I like that. That's a good that's a good quote. But I think many times people say, well, man, God's just not answering. Okay, well, then let's do what James said. Let's look in the mirror and not walk away. What is it that we're standing in the way of our own blessing of? What is it that we're hindering? You know, I'm I'm I and I I I use this every now and then, but you know, like people come to church on Sunday morning. Uh, you know, half of them done had an argument before they left home, and then they come to church thinking God's gonna move. I mean, you done you done chewed your wife out.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

Coming smiling.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Yeah, you done smacked the kid three times and kicked the dog on the way out the door, and you think God's gonna show up today. And and that's what Peter said. Peter said, your prayers will be hindered because of the relationship with your spouse if it's not right.

SPEAKER_06 14:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Nobody wants to talk about that.

SPEAKER_06 14:59

No, because you don't want to. You don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I mean, really.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Yeah. Well, I I think that the big thing, like I said, I got down here, Psalm 5110 says, create me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit in me, is that we got to search ourselves first and make sure that we're not doing anything that's hindering our prayer that think that we have things right.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yeah, if my heart's right and my relationships are right, and I know I've done everything in my part to make sure I've settled anything that counts undone, and and and I pray, I can stand there saying, Lord, I've done everything I can pray with a clear conscience, clean heart, clean hands, and I can say, Lord, I don't know when you're gonna answer, I don't know how you're gonna answer. But in my heart, I'm coming to you because I know on on my behalf, I can do it with a clear conscience. I think that's a big thing.

SPEAKER_06 15:49

That's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

I think a lot of people don't believe God can answer because they know there's things in their life that's not right.

SPEAKER_06 15:55

And then, yeah, I mean as hard as that is, that that has to come first. Absolutely. And God's not gonna bypass uh problems and troubles and sin in our life, and then answer prayer like that never even happened. We gotta go back and deal with it. So that could be a problem, an issue.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

It can, and I also think one of the I think one of the obstacles to prayer is humility. I mean, think about it, nobody wants to humble themselves because in the world in which we live, everything, you know, social media and everything else makes you put your best foot forward. You know, everything's gotta be good. But think about it. Praying, the first step to prayer is humility. I'm admitting that I have a problem that I can't fix, and I'm gonna take it to the Lord and leave it with him. That takes humility. Yeah. Because all of us are me and when we got a problem, what's our first reaction?

SPEAKER_00 16:44

How can I fix it? Fix it.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yeah, how can I fix it? So prayer is humility admitting that I have a problem or I have a situation or there's something outside of my control, and Lord, I want you to fix it. And I think the other problem with prayer is, and and all of us are guilty, including myself, we ask the Lord to fix it, but then we won't take it back.

SPEAKER_06 17:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

We don't want to leave it with him. Bryce and all eyes are on you. We see the wheels turning.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Okay. Let's let's talk about how let's talk about this, okay? Let's can we do this? Let's let's talk about how we let's talk about how we are guilty of closing our eyes and worrying and calling it prayer. So let's talk about how let's talk about how a lot of times we we call things prayer, but instead we're we just worry. Do you guys get the sense that a lot of people think they pray, but they just worry about things?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Yeah, and I think that goes to a whole nother subject. Because the Bible is very clear that if we pray unbelieving, we shouldn't expect nothing. Yeah, yeah.

unknown 18:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

So that opens a whole nother dilemma in our life.

SPEAKER_07 18:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Because I just get the sense that I just get the sense that so many people are because because like yeah, yes, God can God can answer at any point, any time. He is God. But I think I think that that so many times, like we think, we think we're we're praying or we think we're believing when really we're just we're just worrying about stuff. Um and I know we're we're all you know, we all fall fall in the fall in that trap and and you know are guilty of it as well. Um but but I think going back to it, I think, I think really I I think really, Rick, you hit it on the head earlier. Um and the thing I keep coming back to is the the persistency of of the prayer. Um because I think so many times we whatever problem, whatever, whatever, whatever thing it is in life, because and this has happened to all of us at some point, and if you're listening, it's happening to you, it's happened to you. And if it hasn't happened, it will happen, or it it it it maybe it is happening, where you have faith that God can answer a certain prayer, but then it doesn't happen in your timeline, and then at some point you lose hope, or the faith begins to wane, and then you stop being persistent in the prayers, you stop praying like you like you were praying, and then you lose that hope, and then and so I I guess like I guess the question that I have, or if I was listening to the podcast um today, or if I was in this position, maybe maybe this would be a question that that I would have. Maybe we can talk about this is what do you do when you get in that like pit or in that valley where you have lost all hope that God can't answer that prayer? Um like like how in the world do you get out of a place where you feel like stuck, where like God is far, like so far away, like you you feel like like He is completely distant. Um because you know, we we've all been there at some at some point. Um, and I'm sure there's people listening out there that um that that's where they are. Um they they they have once had faith, they have once prayed persistent prayers, but um maybe maybe God just hasn't answered um in in the way they thought or in the in the time in which they um in which they had in mind and they're just in they're just in a place right now where God just feels completely far away and they're just in in the pit of despair, if you will. Chris?

SPEAKER_03 20:40

I think just listen to what he said. I I think I mean I've heard Pastor Jesse talk about this from the from the pulpit. You know, sometimes God answers, you know, answers three ways yes, no, and not right now, and and it's hard to accept that no and not right now. But the uh God knows our heart and and and we're his children. And I and I think one day when we get to heaven, it it'd be nice to know, you know, you you you think you're probably not gonna be worried about that at that time because you're you're there is sometimes the answer to a prayer is answering no to us, and we don't we us as uh in the fast food generation, we don't want to accept no for an answer when we pray for something we want it. But sometimes the biggest answer God can give us is not answer a prayer that we're praying for. Because He know He knows we're not most of the time we're praying for sets we're self we're selfish people. So we pray for things and it's a selfish motive sometimes. But God, but we don't pray in God's will that that it be God's will. And a lot of things we're truthful truthfully deleted that we pray for is not God's will for our life.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Yeah. I I'll tell you, um a and I'm gonna answer this kinda in a unspiritual way, but I'm just gonna tell you. Because everything you said, I've been there. Even as a pastor. I've been in that dark place where you wonder what's God doing and why. But what I realized was, and and some of you may agree, you may not, but what I realized was every time I've ever been in that place, it's because I allow my emotions to control me. And emotions are a dangerous thing because number one, they're powerful, but number two, you can't trust them. Because emotions change every 10 minutes. And usually when we get to that dark, deep pit where we feel like God's not going to answer or don't care, I think it's because we're so overwhelmed with our emotions and discouragement that we allow our, and let's be honest, you know, what leads to a person to chronic depression or even taking their own life is their emotions.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

And but your emotions can't be trusted because they change too much. And so what I had to do was realize, okay, you can either place your faith in your emotions or you can get your mind back on the Lord. And you got to do one of those two. And I think a lot of times people find themselves in that place because they're not really spending time walking with the Lord. They're allowed, they're allowing their emotions to dictate every choice in their life. That makes sense? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:15

And what you're living in the flesh, you can't you can't combine the two. Right. You're either walking in the spirit or you're walking in the flesh. So once your emotions rule, then I mean, that's where you're kind of stuck. You see everything physically.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Oh, yeah. And even as a pastor, I've been there. I mean, there's been times in my even in my ministry where you feel like, man, God's put me in this tunnel and forgot where I'm at. No, I allowed myself to get there because either somebody aggravates you, or either things aren't going the well as you think they are, or either you're having a spiritual battle, and all of us know we can begin to open that door to a dark place ourselves.

SPEAKER_07 23:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

And when we start allowing our emotions to dictate our spiritual life, man, we're in a dangerous place because your emotions can take you down a long road. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:59

And usually they lead to a prayerless life.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 24:02

Because you you you let your emotions rule.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yes. And and that I think that brings us to another thing. Uh uh let's let's just be honest. When I was when I was a kid and even as an adult, the people that I talked to the most are the people that I have the closest relationship with. Whether it's my wife, my daughter, you know, when I was a kid, all the boys in the neighborhood, they were my friends. They there's the one I spent time with. We talked all the time. You know, we were in the woods from time school out to dark. And and I say all that to say this. I think a lot of people, their prayer life, spending time talking to the Lord may not be where it needs to be because their relationship with the Lord is not where it needs to be.

SPEAKER_06 24:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

If your relationship's not right, you're not going to talk to that person. You're not going to want to give anything to them because there's something that's, there's, there's a barrier there. I mean, you know, if you got uh issue with a friend, a person that used to be a close friend, and there's issues now, y'all don't talk every day.

SPEAKER_06 25:00

You see what I'm saying? And when you do, it's limited.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Right.

SPEAKER_06 25:04

It's kind of surface level. Right. How's your one? How's your day? Nothing deep anymore.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

That's right. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_06 25:13

Man, I'm just thinking we've been we're all exhausted.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

This one them, this one them podcasts, we've just been everywhere. And we and here's the thing we just skin the surface.

SPEAKER_06 25:23

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Yeah, we just skin the service. If you want, you know, and if you want to talk about Jesus, I mean, prayer and emotions all wrapped up into one in the Garden of Gethsemane, which we're celebrating this week.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

So, you know, and and and don't get me wrong, emotions are part of a Christian life. We get excited when the Lord does something. We have services where our spirits are stirred, but we got to be able to separate the spirit and the emotions because they're two different things.

SPEAKER_07 25:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Well, speaking about the service and getting emotional, I I thought this past Sunday was a real very just just the way it booked in to having the baptism and the and uh the children's dedication. That was just an awesome awful service. If you had if you haven't watched that service yet, you need to go back and watch it.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yeah, new life both ways.

unknown 26:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Absolutely.

unknown 26:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Rick, you got any more scripture? You had like seven readings. Man, I got it. Chris has just finished page one. He's still got four books. Y'all picked off a lot of bottom.

SPEAKER_06 26:20

You're not coming here with a note card, Chris comes in here with a three-ring bottom. I don't want to I don't want to open up anymore. There are just a few things because I know we talked about prayer, and uh, we might have to, I don't know, we may have to do this again, sec part two, maybe. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Maybe, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 26:39

I'm just thinking about, you know, how how do we uh understand all this now? And I I just want to say if you're in a point now to where something's going on in your life, you need God to open up a door, close a door, heal something, take care of something, whatever the case may be, and it's been going ongoing and it hasn't happened yet. I just want to encourage you to keep praying and don't give up. Because a baby learns to walk not because their parents hold their hand. A parent will step away and let that child fall down, and during that fall down, they learn how to balance and learn how to walk. Sometimes God pulls away from us so that we can learn how to walk. And during those times that he pulls away is very difficult because we don't know if God's around, we don't know if he's listening. We don't know if he cares. And God just may be stepping back so that you'll step deeper toward him and walk deeper. So keep praying, keep believing God, and make sure that your sins are confessed up to date. Because you could be praying the right thing, but the Holy Spirit is trying to say, you need to get this relationship right, you need to confess this sin, you need to change this about your life because God's saying I can't answer that prayer because of the sin in your life. And number three, you always have to be obedient. Because if you're walking in disobedience to something God's already commanded, there's no use praying for nothing else. So you have to make sure that your your your sins are confessed up to date, you're continually praying and asking God, trusting by faith that he will answer. And also, if God has ever told you to do something, you need to start doing it. Or God is not gonna continue to open up doors for you when you haven't walked through the window he opened up.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Yeah, some things you ain't gotta pray about.

SPEAKER_06 28:11

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

All right, Chris, you got any closing comments?

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Or closing pages right well I I'm just gonna get to what scripture I told you about from the beginning. I was gonna that's just really set on me this week when I was studying this, but said it's first John uh five, uh, verse 14 saying this is this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he will hear us. And I think that's a lot of time with us we don't we don't pray with confidence because maybe our faith is not where we it needs to be to to to pray in confidence. It's easy it's easier to pray where you're you're with your church family and when you're here and you got other believers and you're around a a good support system. But to be honest, most of us don't have that support system and and especially uh Pastor Bryson can kind of attest to this too. I mean, these children, when it's when they're here and they're at church and they're the youth and they're here at church, it's easy for them to believe and to have faith. But when they go home, they just don't have that support system and and uh that that's that's gonna uh be an accountability partner to help make sure they stay it, you know, stay in the word. And um uh that's that's that's pretty much the biggest thing on my heart right now.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Okay, Rice? Yeah, and just to piggyback off that, I even think about like some of the ones that were even baptized Sunday, like, you know, they're like a lot of those, they're here on Sunday, but like family's not, like parents are not, and like just encouraging those guys and and um being there for them. But just like uh on prayer, you know, I think the biggest thing today that just encouraged me um is just that persistency in prayer um and just just keep going and keep believing because we're serving a God who can and will answer. Um if he's done it before, he can do it again. That's that's the kind of God we're serving. Um and then another thing um that just just to serve as a closing comment, um, something that encouraged me, um, and just the season of life that I'm kind of in right now is just and just maybe that the season of life that somebody listening might be in as well is this maybe what in in your life right now, maybe what could be out there that that you need to be obedient in that that you're maybe that you maybe haven't been that maybe preventing God from answering or or fulfilling um um the the prayer um right now. And so um maybe there's something that God's tried to teach you in the middle before he answers. Um and so that's my encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Amen. And I would just say in closing, I thought about this a while ago when Rick was speaking. You know, let's let's go back to the beginning. And how did how did the devil get Adam and Eve to quit talking to God? He made them think they got a raw deal. He knows that your eyes will be open and you'll be like God.

SPEAKER_07 31:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

And if if the devil can convince us that God's not doing us right, or the devil's convincing us God's not giving us what we need, or not giving us everything, and the devil works through our flesh. So many times if we're not careful, the devil can just make you begin to doubt, is God really, does he have your best interest at heart?

SPEAKER_07 31:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Does he really care? You know, you're getting a bad deal. And through that, and you know, people say, well, how you know they got how you know God quit, how you know that mate don't quit talking to him? When God came on the scene in the scripture next time, what'd he say? Hey Adam, where are you? Yeah. You and I ain't talking for a while. Yeah, where you where you at? Yeah, where you at? Wow. So we have to go back to the original. The devil wasn't dumb. Just make you doubt what God said. That's right. Make you doubt that God don't have that God's God gave you the short end of the stick, so to speak. You know, and and that can be easy because a lot of times you can look at the evil lost world and think, man, they got it better than I got it. Well, they do on the surface, but when you get below the surface, you got something that they would give everything they own to have. It's called peace. It's called peace.

SPEAKER_06 32:17

I want to mention one thing before you go close. Because I know some people are readers, and I just want to mention the greatest book I ever read on prayer, in case somebody out there wants to grab this book. It's from the 1800s by E.M. Bounds. E.m.bounds. Uh Edward Mackenzie Brown, uh, The Power of Prayer. The Power of Prayer, and it's written back in the 1800s, and he that's when he lived in the greatest book I ever read on prayer.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Okay. E. Um bounds. E. M. Bounds. Got it. And uh thank you guys for tuning in today. We've been 32 minutes, so we had to upgrade our program this morning because we almost ran out of ran out of time. Uh we, as I said, we of course we ain't got to tell y'all. Y'all know we've been off this thing for a while. Been back on now for the week. Four weeks in the week four. We have week four. Four weeks in a New Year's resolution that we started two months later. But uh, thank you for tuning in today. Man, uh, we're uh looking forward to celebrating Easter Sunday morning. If you're listening and you attend a church, be faithful to be there. If you're listening and don't attend a church, our worship service will be here Sunday morning at 8 a.m. We'll have breakfast at 7. You're more than welcome to join us. If you have children or youth not involved in the church, Pastor Chris, Pastor Bryson, both on staff here, would love to be able to talk to you and find a way to connect your kids and love on you guys. So thank you for tuning in. And uh in closing, 16 year old bus driver. It's 1982. How would he even remotely know that God still answers prayer? He hadn't killed him yet. You took the words up.