Watch and Pray 3-6 WED 1996

3-6 WED 1996 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Matthew 26. And also, would you pick up Luke chapter 22? Matthew 26. And Luke chapter 22, if you would. You having a good week? One week closer, amen. Matthew 26 and Luke 22. That might be just a little bit loud, guys. I don't know. You can hear it better than I can. Matthew 26, Luke chapter 22. As a pastor, I'm supposed to once in a while stir up to remembrance the what? The former things, even though you already know them. Hebrews says that every once in a while we let some things slip. And tonight I just want to stir up something that many of you already know about. But every once in a while, this is one of the areas that can slip if we're not careful. Look, if you would at Matthew chapter 26, and notice what he says in verse 36, if you would. You're holding your place in Luke chapter 22. Verse 36 of Matthew 26. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called what? Say it. Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and what? Pray where? Yonder. Amen. That's a good word. Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. From my understanding, he wanted them to be there, awake. But if you read it down a little bit farther, and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, and began to be sorrowful and very what? Heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here, and would you say the next three words with me? Again, please, watch with me. So he said, Sit ye here, you disciples, you got you all sit here. I'm going to go over and pray, and I want you to sit here and I want you to watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face, and what? And he prayed, saying, Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from thee. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Hold your place there and look at Luke 22, please. Luke 22. There's an insight scripture here that we need to look at real quick to focus in on what's going on. Luke chapter 22. So he says to the three, Peter, James, and John, y'all sit here, watch with me. I'm going to go over there and pray a little bit. But it wasn't just a casual prayer. The Bible says his soul was exceeding sorrowful. Look what he says in chapter 22, brethren, and look at verse 44 in the same context of where he's at. Here is God in the flesh, verse 44, and being in what? Agony. He prayed more earnestly. And isn't that true when we're in agony, we pray more earnestly. Is that right? Come on, yes or no? When we're in trouble, it seems like we pray the more earnestly, and he was in agony. It wasn't so much at this point in time, I guess would you say he wasn't yet taken physically, he wasn't yet beaten, his beard had not yet been pulled out, the thorns had not been placed on his head yet, but he knew what was coming, and he was in agony, and I'm going to tell you this there was probably a lot of mental anguish going on at this point in time. But remember, brethren, this is God in the flesh, in agony. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Brethren, there's no doubt that this anguish and this pressure, and I understand the medical terminology and all that, and I don't want to get into that. I'm more interested in the fact that while he was out there praying at a time when it was all coming on him, he asked those disciples to sit over there and watch with him. Is that right? Come on. Look what he says then, if you would, back in Matthew 26. Matthew 26 again, he was in exceedingly sorrowful. He was in agony. He asked those disciples, if you would, those three chosen ones, to sit over there with him and watch with him. And look, if you would at Matthew 26 and notice verse 40, brethren. Verse 40. And he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them what? Asleep. And saith unto Peter, What? Could you not do what? Watch with me one hour? And then verse 41, I want you to say those three words with me. Ready to begin? Watch and pray. That ye enter not into temptation. I don't think it was just applying to them at that point in time. Brethren, that's certainly applying to us right now. We ought to be watchful and we ought to be prayerful that we don't enter into temptation. Wouldn't you agree? The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And if you ever think your flesh is strong, you're only deceiving your own stuff. Amen. He went away. Verse 42 again, the second time. And what, brethren? Pray. Now remind you, he came out there. He knew what he was going to do. He says to those three which he chose, the inner circle, if you would, he said, I want you to just sit over there and I want you to pray with me. I want you to watch and pray with me. And he went over and he fell on the ground and he was in earnest, it says, in agony, and he was praying in earnest in agony, and he comes back and he finds him asleep. But he doesn't stop what he's there for. He goes back over to verse 42 and prays, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them what? Say it. Sleep. And then that next word? Again. I I don't know if he I don't know when he comes over if they're asleep and he wakes them up. It's very possible, I guess. It doesn't say he woke them up, but he he does speak to Peter, and he says, Couldn't you pray with me and watch, couldn't you watch with me for just one hour? And then when he comes back over again the second time after he plays, he sees them asleep again. Their eyes were heavy. Verse 44. And he left them and went away again. In what? Say it, brethren. He prayed. And the third time saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith them, Sleep on now, take your rest. Behold, the hour's at hand, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. The idea behind this, brethren, if you've ever studied the life of Christ, Jesus spent time in what? Prayer. Now listen, I know some of y'all have been at this church ten years, twelve years, five years, four years, even Christians twenty years. I already know you know about prayer. If you're new in the Lord, you've got a new exciting realm to explore. It's called prayer. But I just want to say to some of y'all, I've been at it for a few years now, if we're not careful, when we should be praying. We fall away. We slip. And by the way, brethren, please look up here. I'm not scolding you. I'm reminding you. I have a job that way, amen. And don't you understand when I remind you, I remind myself? I remind myself of the need that, just like he said to these three, why don't you y'all just sit over there and you watch and pray with me, and I'll go over here and pray, and he comes back and he finds them what? Say it, brethren, asleep. He goes over and prays again, and he's in agony, is in earnest. The thing is coming upon him. And he comes back and he finds them asleep again. And then he goes and prays. You know, Jesus, uh, as you study his life, and we won't look through all the scriptures tonight. Some of you already have them. Maybe it's been a while. You ought to just take a little time and stir yourself up and myself up again in the prayer. Uh Jesus a few times rose up early in the morning and went into a solitary place to do what? Say it, brethren. To pray. He uh spent uh all night sometimes on the mountain. What was he doing? He was praying. Um he was in the he went to the wilderness once to do what? To pray. And that was our example. You remember the disciples came to him one time and said, Teach us to what? To pray. Uh, brethren, prayer is important. If nothing else, draw nigh to him and he'll do what? You know, one of the ways we draw nigh to him on a on a regular basis is through our prayer. We talk to him, we communicate with him. And prayer ought to be more than just five minutes at the end of a message. Amen? I'm not trying to scold you, but wouldn't you agree? And I'm not even gonna be be unkind to you tonight or anything like that because, hey, you know what? On Sunday night I talked to you about getting the seed out of the barn. You know what we're doing? We're taking root downward. Don't forget that, what we said we're gonna do at the start of this year. Taking root downward that we may bear fruit where? Upward upward. And the idea, brethren, we every once in a while we need to go back and we can just say, okay, what's my prayer life like? Because we let things slip. Look at Luke 18. Stay with me. Luke 18. And you don't have to go out of here feeling, oh, I'm ready to quit. No, no, go out of here and say, Yeah, okay, back to it, Lord. I need to get back to it. Look at Luke chapter 18. That's why maybe you ought to pick up that power through prayer with E.M. bounds and read a chapter every once in a while. It'll fit in your pocket, fit in your purse, guys. I mean, ladies, I'm just kidding. But it'll fit in the dashboard of your car. You could put it in an armrest, you could throw it on your desk at work or whatever. Just every one once in a while pick that little book up. Look at Luke 18. Look at Luke 18. Look at verse 1, brethren. And he spake a parable unto them, and here was the end. He said, uh, to this end. Would you agree when he says to this end? He was talking about here is the purpose of this parable. To this end speaks about the purpose. That men, ladies, I think we can include you in there too. That men ought always to what? To pray. And not to do what? Faint. That's why he put that in there, because every once in a while he knew us and he knew we had faint in this area of prayer. And then he goes on and he says, here's the purpose of this parable. The purpose of this parable is that we always ought to pray and not to faint. We know the scriptures. Pray without ceasing, be instant in prayer. We know those things. Verse 2. There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while. Remember, the purpose of this parable is that men always ought to do what? Pray, and not to do what? Faint. And afterwards, uh, and he would not for a while, but afterwards he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard men, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her. Lest by her what? Say it, continual coming. The continual coming, remember the parable to this end, the purpose was that men always ought to pray and not to do what? Faint. And he talks about this continual coming, she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him? Though he bear long with them, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find what's the next word, brethren? Faith. Now, the continual coming and the faith go hand in hand. The end, the purpose of the parable is that men always ought to pray and not to faint. And brother, may I say this to you? Our continual coming is directly proportional to where we're at in our faith. Let me say it again. Our continual coming to Him in prayer is directly proportional to where our faith is. Wouldn't you agree that our faith, if it's strong, it seems like prayer is on our mind? But if our faith's a little bit weaker, our continual coming becomes less frequent. Amen. It's true. Well, you say, put it in other terms. Okay, I'll put it in other terms. If we walk in the spirit and our faith is strong, it seems like our continual coming is more fervent and more consistent, and our prayers are there. But if we walk after the flesh and get in that old man, it seems like our continual coming becomes less, and our faith faints a little bit, and our prayer life faints a little bit too. I didn't say prayer was easy. I think prayer is one of the most difficult things to be continual on. You know why? Nobody sees it. Nobody uh applauds us for it. Nobody knows what we're doing if we are. And brother, nobody knows we're doing it not if we're not. Nobody would know if you haven't prayed in a while. Just you and God. Your husband wouldn't know, your wife wouldn't know. Your children wouldn't know. Hey, brother, you wouldn't know what my prayer life's like. Well, after a while you would. The fire would go out of the messages, the meat would go out of the messages. It'd just be words on a page, and I'd just be quickly getting through the next sermon, believe me. See, if you've been here for a while, you'd know if my prayer life started getting off track. Because prayer, brethren, draws us nigh to God. And wouldn't you agree with this? If sin enters in, it affects our prayer life. If we're presumptuously doing things that we know we shouldn't, if we got those little secret faults we're letting getting in, I'll guarantee it affects our prayer life. Sure it does. Why? We don't want to go to him because we know we're guilty. It affects our prayer life. I know you all know about prayer. But every once in a while we let it slip and we faint a little bit. And it has a direct proportion with our faith. You know, there's certain things that God reminds us to pray about. For example, uh he says, uh, pray ye that the Lord of the harvest would send what? Say laborers into the what? I mean, that's it, that's something he says. Here's something you I don't know what to pray for. All right? Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the church. I know a few ministries that could use some. So pray that the Lord of harvest send labors into the harvest. Hey, we're supposed to pray with all supplication and prayers for kings and those in authority over us, that we can live a what? Godly and a peaceful life. That's something we're supposed to pray for, is that right? Come on, talk to me. Yes or no? I mean, there's things we we can, we he gives us some things that uh we are supposed to pray, like we said in 2 Thessalonians 3, about that the word would have what? Free course. Nothing wrong with praying that way. Um, hey, here's a good one. We're supposed to pray for those that despitefully use us.

unknown 14:50

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

That'll give us something to pray for, won't it? I don't know, I don't know what I should pray for. Take a look around at your work or your job or your neighbors or somebody and find someone that despitefully uses you and pray for. Because the Bible commands us to in the book of, well, in the gospel's a couple places. Amen? I uh I know in James chapter 5 it says that we ought to pray for one for the other for healing. And by the way, I still believe God can heal. Sure. So, brethren, there's some certain things in here that, oh, I hear here's a good one. I wrote this one down. Psalms 122, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Paul said his prayer was that Israel might be saved. I don't think there's anything wrong with we Gentiles praying that, amen. So there's certain, there's a lot of things we can pray about. Let me give you an Old Testament example. Look at Nehemiah, would you with me? Nehemiah. And nothing earth-shattering tonight, just a general reminder, if you would, uh kind of a slap on the hand just a little bit to say, let's get back to our prayer if we've not been doing as we should. Nehemiah chapter 1. You shouldn't go out of here and go, well, man, you know, I just feel terrible as a Christian. Don't necessarily, if you if you get convicted about something, go away, feel that guilt, and then just do something about it and say, okay, I'm getting back into my prayer life again. Nehemiah chapter 1. Nehemiah chapter 1. Now, by the way, there's a lot of examples in the book of Daniel. Uh, it's probably a good idea if you're a scheduled person to schedule prayer. It's probably a good idea if you're not a scheduled person to schedule prayer. Let me say that one again. It's probably a good idea if you're a scheduled person to schedule prayer. It's probably a good idea if you're an unscheduled person to schedule prayer. Amen. Daniel did. Three times a day. He prayed. Hey, it would be even good this. It it might even be good to have a prayer partner. Now you say, who could that be? Well, just pick someone, and it's not like you have to get on the phone or you have to come over and everything. Maybe just a phone call and say, how's your prayer life? Just to be accountable. Because why? We have a propensity to faint in prayer. Why? Because nobody sees us. And we don't we don't always see the results of it right away, do we? Somebody says, well, why should I pray? It doesn't seem like I get any answers to prayer. Because he said to. Because he commanded us to. Doesn't matter whether we see any answers or not. He said to do it, we just ought to do it. Amen? Just like tithing, we don't, we don't, we don't pray about it. We just do it because he said to. Is that right? Yes or no? Reading our Bible, we don't we don't pray about it and say, should I today or not? We do it. Just like attending church. Most of you didn't think about should I go or should I not go tonight. You just, it's it's duty. You come. Amen? Prayer is not something really that we decide, okay, you know, should I? It's something that he just says to do it. Even if we don't feel like it, even if somebody says, Well, I don't want to pray until my motives right. Pray if your motives wrong, just pray. Even if it's vain repetitions, do that for a while. You'll get into something that gets sweeter than that. I mean, after you say me now and lay me down to sleep long enough, you know, you'll get something else to say. That's the way I started, amen. You gotta start somewhere. You see, we we have all these kind of different reasons and excuses that we we we feel bad about it, but brother, there's comes a point in time, you just gotta say, throw those all aside. I'm just gonna get back to it again. Amen. Five minutes, ten minutes, a couple times a day? Look at Nehemiah chapter 1. Yeah, it's just it's not really trying to be hard preaching, it's just a Bible study. Nehemiah chapter 1. Uh, you know Nehemiah. Uh Nehemiah, what I, and I'm just going to say this, Nehemiah was a leader that was given to prayer. Nehemiah chapter 1, uh verse 2. Hananai uh comes to them and tells them about the Israelites that are left back in Jerusalem. And he says, uh, verse 3, that the remnants that's left there, they're in affliction, and there's great reproach. Look at verse 4. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted in what? He prayed before the God of heaven. When he prays, and you can see his prayer there, we won't read through the whole thing, starting with verse 5, but look at verse 9. He's praying during this period of time, and he says, he's talking to God, he says, If you turn unto me and keep my commands and do them, though there were of you cast out into the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from hence and will bring them unto a place that I have chosen to set my name. He's reminding God of his scriptures, if you would. And God doesn't need to be reminded, but probably God's reminding Nehemiah to remind God to remind Nehemiah. Did you get that? Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us a scripture while we're praying, and while we're praying, we'll quote God a scripture, but it's not for God, it's for us. Come on, you ever do that? God, your word says, God already knows what his word says. But the Holy Spirit's telling us to tell God, and in essence, we're telling ourselves, and we're verbalizing it, amen. Sure it happens that way. And if you look, verse 11, O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to hear thy name, fear thy name, and do what? Prosper. In uh chapter 2, uh, look if you would, and we'll just quickly go through something. He gets before the king. And look at verse 4, brethren. Verse 4. The king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? Look what he does. So I pray to the God of heaven. Did you ever do one of those? The idea here is be instant in prayer, and that's what Nehemiah did. He goes before the king, and the king sees his countenance, and he said, You know, what's going on? Why you why why do you look that way? And he said, Well, my people, the place where they, you know, my father's the it lieth waste in verse 3. And the king says, Okay, we'll make your request. So he throws up a quick prayer. And he asks the king if he can go and build it. And the king gives him favor. I don't know about you, brother, but when our prayer life is not what it should be, we don't throw up those quick requests like we should. We're not instant in prayer like we normally are. Sometimes I find that if I'm not in the right prayer life in the prayer frame, if you would have mind, sometimes my decisions are more in the flesh than in the spirit. Amen. We okay tonight? Just a it's just a quick reminder on prayer. Last Sunday night we talked about getting the seat out of the barn. Tonight we'll just remind ourselves our need to pray. Because our men always ought to pray and not to faint. If you would, uh, he says, uh Look at uh chapter four real quick. Chapter four. And brethren, you know there's so many things in the Bible in prayer. I just thought we'd take a look at a couple things in Nehemiah as a leader. Chapter 4. And you know when he gets into opposition, Sambalot in chapter 4 comes up and Tobiah. Verse 3. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, even that which they build, they're building the wall. If a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. He's trying to intimidate him. Verse 4, Nehemiah begins to pray again. Hear, O our God, for we are despised. And he begins to pray for these enemies, if you would, that God would neutralize them. And they come out again in verse 7, Sambalat and Tobiah and they come out and they begin to, if you would, uh uh chide with him a little bit and they conspire to fight against him. And look at verse 9. Verse 9. Nevertheless, what's the next word there, brethren? Say it again. Say it one more time.

unknown 22:59

We.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

We. Brethren, if you have a home and a family, it's good when the we start praying. If you're in a ministry, it's good when the we start praying together. If you're in a church, it's good when we start praying together. Prayer is great for unity. Look in the book of Acts sometime. Nevertheless, we made our what? We made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. They put feet to their prayer, amen. They prayed and then they set a watch. And they had it all ready to go. My point is that Nehemiah was a man given to prayer. Look at Nehemiah chapter 9 and pick up one other verse of scripture, 2 Kings 19. Stay with me, brethren. Nehemiah chapter 9 and 2 Kings 19. There's a lot of examples, and we won't go through many of them in the Old Testament, just as a reminder tonight about our need to pray. It's in the new, it's in the old. Nehemiah 9, you're holding your place there, and you're looking at real quick at 2 Kings chapter 19. And by the way, I'm not scolding tonight, just reminding. 2 Kings 19. We are Bible believers, amen. If we believe the book, we ought to be hearers and doers and get back to it again. And make sure we're just not telling our children to go to pray before they go to bed. We ought to be doing the same. Amen. 2 Kings chapter 19. This is old Hezekiah. Hezekiah gets some problems. Verse 8. Verse 8, he gets a letter from Rab Shekha. If you remember, Rabshekah is the one that comes and all the Israelites are on the wall, and he says, Don't believe Hezekiah, don't trust Hezekiah. Hezekiah's going to lead you the wrong way. And Rabshekah, he writes a letter. And uh when he when Hezekiah gets this letter that tells about what the Assyrians are going to do, look at verse 14, what Hezekiah does. And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messenger, and what did he do? He read it. Man, and when he read it, it shook his mind. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it. What'd he spread? That letter before the Lord. So he spread that letter out there in the house of the Lord. And Hezekiah did what? Verse 15. He prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwelleth between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. You know what? God knows all that, but he likes to hear it. Amen. Lord, bow down thine ear and hear. Open, Lord, thine eyes and see. Hey, the Lord wasn't asleep. You know what Hezekiah was saying? He said, Look at this letter. Look what they wrote. Look what they're trying to do. They're trying to put me in fear and they're trying to stop your work down here. Look at this letter, and he's praying. Amen. I've done that a few times. You say, What have you spread out? I've done it a few times. I don't think my wife even knows. I spread bills out before. Man, my children are getting older now and everything. And you know, it's it's it's uh, I'm not complaining or anything, but every once in a while I spread those bills out and say, oh God. Now, I'm not trying to live in luxury or anything like that, and if I need a decrease to my lifestyle or something like that, then I'll do that. But oh Lord, here I am. And if I've messed up, I got myself in a mess, and oh Lord, look and look look and see. Nothing wrong with that. Not trying to mock anybody. Hezekiah did it. Why can't Doug Fisher do it? Why can't you do it? He says, uh, Lord, bow down thine ear, verse 16, and hear. Open, Lord, thine eyes and see. And hear the words of Snacherib, which has sent him to reproach the living God. You know what he's saying? God, this letter isn't against me, it's against you. That's a good way to do it. I like that. God, these are not my bills, they're yours. I'm yours. You brought me, you paid for me. This is your family, you've blessed me, you've given me all those children. Look down thine eyes and see. Nothing wrong with that. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations of their in their lands, and have cast their little g gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone, before they have destroyed. Now, therefore, Lord, our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kings of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. Hezekiah is praying pretty fervently here. Look at verse 20. Usually it doesn't happen this quick for me. Then Isaiah comes in and says, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, that which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard. Just sometimes it's good when you pray and you get an answer quickly. Doesn't happen to happen all the time, just once in a while. But here when Hezekiah prays, just seems like he's got a direct power or you know, direct line to God, and he prays, and Isaiah walks in. Happens again over in verse 20. I'm sorry, chapter 20. Look over there real quick. Chapter 20. You're reminded to pray, brethren? Come on, chapter 20. In those days was Hezekiah what? Sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah comes in and says, Thus saith the Lord. You know what? There's certain times you want the preacher to show up, and there's certain times you don't want him to show up. And this is one of those times that probably he wasn't that happy to see because the preacher comes in, Hezekiah is sick unto death, and Isaiah comes in and says, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Thanks. But at least he's getting the truth. Hezekiah does this. Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed on the Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah did what? He wept sore. You know why? Brethren, he believed what that prophet said. That prophet comes in and he says, Set your house in order, you're gonna die, you're not gonna live, and he doesn't say, Ah, get out of here. He begins to weep sore. Why? He believed every word that prophet said. He believed it as the word of God. Verse 4, and it came to pass before Isaiah was going out into the middle court. He couldn't, Isaiah didn't even get away that the word Lord came to him, saying, Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people. Thus saith the God, the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy what? Tears. It's a humility, it's a humbling thing he did. Behold, I will heal thee on the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years and will deliver thee in this city. Hey, brother, Isaiah walks in and says, Set your house in order, you're gonna die, bud. Right away, Hezekiah turns to the wall and he just breaks down and he begins to pray and he begins to cry in the Lord and he weeps sore, and before Isaiah could get out of the house or out of the courtyard if they would, God says, Isaiah, now turn around and go back and tell him, I'm gonna add 15 years to your life. It's good when we get answers to prayer that way, but they don't want, they don't always come that way. But that doesn't mean we still shouldn't pray. Watch and pray. Be sober, watch under prayer. Look back at I, if you would, at uh look back, brother, at Nehemiah 9, and we'll finish Nehemiah chapter 9. Men ought always to pray, and sometimes, brother, we faint just a little bit in that area, and I'm not asking you to go out and pray for three hours or four hours. I know some of our men and some of our ladies have good prayer lives, and those of you do, stay with it. But those of us who may have fainted just a little bit in that area, let's pick it back up again again. If you say, well, I've never been good at praying, well, pray for five minutes or ten minutes and and then go later on in the day and pray for another five minutes. Get that book on prayer, read some scripture on prayer, pull out your concordance and get some things, get it a get an accountability, get a time frame that you're gonna pray. Look at chapter 9 of Nehemiah. The leaders here are talking and they're telling the people, and then they pray. Verse 32. Look at it. The leaders here are doing it now. Now, therefore, our God, verse 32. The great, the mighty, the terrible God, who keepeth covenant and mercy. Look at this next little statement. These leaders are saying, let not all the trouble seem what? Little before thee that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes. Why they they quote to God some of the things that's happened in the in the history of Israel, and now they're in some trouble, and they say to God, Lord, don't let our trouble seem small to you. And may I say this, brethren, whatever trouble you're in tonight, it's not small to God. Let your request be made known. Sometimes we have not, why? Because we ask not. We think, oh, I don't want to bother God with that. Why not bother him? Oh, we think, you know, I'm a terrible person, you know, I've been a Christian. Man, I haven't been faithful in this, and I haven't been faithful in that, I haven't been faithful in this, I've been doing this. Boy, I don't want to go up to God and bother him right now. You know, he's got people that are probably much more spiritual than me. Bothering. He'll take you just like you are. I mean that. His mercies are new and fresh every morning. He's got forgiveness at the readiness. You say, well, how could he? You don't know. Hey, listen, how quickly do you forgive your children? And we're flesh. Amen. How quickly do you forgive your child after they do it and they do it and they do it and they do it and they do it again, and finally get tired of being mad at him, you just say, Here, come here, I want to hug you. If we do that and we're flesh, how much more God? So, so don't don't be careful, brethren, about coming up with an excuse why you don't want to bring it to him. He wants to hear. Principalities and powers will get us all twisted on that. I think I heard a word this uh, I wrote it down. Uh a preacher uh was preaching on uh Tuesday afternoon. He's from uh Tucson, and he he said a word that I haven't heard in a long time. It's a Midwestern term, I think. He said the word cadywampus. I haven't heard that in a long time. Uh brethren, even if you're caddywampus with God, amen. You know what caddywampus means? Yeah, just get somebody from the Windwest and they'll they'll tell you what it means. Cadywampus is a good word. It means you're it's kind of like uh there's caddy cornered and then there's cadywampus, amen. And cadywampus means when you're all twisted up and messed up, and it's it's just a big mess. And even if you're cadywampus with God, he'll hear you. Especially if you're his child. Amen. That's a good word, isn't it? I've looked for it in the Bible, it's not in there. And looking strong is it wasn't in there, amen? Yeah. So the idea is, brethren, uh, be careful about Prince of Powers because you know what? Hey, hey, listen. Uh we got work to do yet. We got we got a life to live yet before God, and we're still breathing, so he's not done with us. We got something he wants us to do this week, and Principal's and Powers would love it that we don't do it. And I'll say you this sweet hour of prayer is what's necessary. Take your hymn book. And uh turn in your hymn book to 321. In the old days, they used to come to church, and everybody would carry their Bible and their hymn book. 321. You know it, just pick it up. 321. Oh, you didn't lose your place in Nehemiah, I hope. Well, you can find it again. 321. Look if you would at 321 and notice what that first stanza says there. I think it's just one of those songs we sing sometime and we like it, but maybe we ought to think about a little bit what the writers were saying. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care. That could stop right there. It's good to be called away once in a while. And bids me at my father's throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found what relief. And oft escape the tempter's snare. I'm sure we have so many times that we don't even know about it. By thy return, sweet hour of prayer. He goes on thy wings shall my petition bear. What, sweet hour of prayer? To him whose truth and faithfulness and gauze the waiting soul to bless. And since he bids me seek his face, believe his word, and trust his grace, I'll cast on him my every care. Somebody's read their Bible here. And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer. May I thy consolation share till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise to see the everlasting prize and shout while passing through the air. Somebody's got a vision of what's going to happen later on, amen. Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. Won't be much praying going on in heaven, just a lot of shouting, amen. And people are around the throne. Look at Nehemiah. Hold your place in your songbook. Hold your place in your songbook. We're going to sing that in just a moment. Just as a reminder. Nehemiah chapter 12. You say, now how am I going to do this whole thing? I don't know. Use your knees and your elbows or whatever. Nehemiah chapter 12. It's easy when you got a pulpit, amen. You spread it all out. Nehemiah chapter 12. Look what happens now, please. Nehemiah chapter 12. One of the things that Nehemiah is a leader recognized, one of the things about prayer that he didn't let go by. Right after they got their job done for the Lord. Look at Nehemiah 12 and notice verse 27. Verse 27, please, in Nehemiah 12. And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they finished their job, their task. They sought the Levites out of all their places to bring them to Jerusalem. To keep the dedication with gladness, both with what? Thanksgivings. Part of prayer, brethren, ought to be thanksgiving. And you say, I don't know what I could pray. You ought to know, just sit down and write out a list of what you got to be thankful for for the Lord. Because if you would, look at verse 38. Verse 38. And by the way, Nehemiah, this wasn't original. David had set this up many years before. Moses had done this when they crossed the Red Sea. Miriam got everybody together, those ladies, and started giving thanks to God. Verse 38. The other company of them that gave what? Thanks. Went over against them. There's a reason for this. Verse 40. So stood the two companies of them that what? Gave thanks. Verse 46. For in the days of David and Asaph of old, you'll see his name in some of the psalms. For in the days of Dasaph and Age of old there were chief of the singers. And songs of praise and what? Thanksgiving unto God. Part of prayer, brethren, is giving thanks. And I'm going to ask you to do two things. Brother Miracle, if you'll come up here just for a moment. I'm not going to leave this singing. This is a little bit unusual. I just want you to be seated. I want you to pick up Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4. And Philippians chapter 4. And also have your song book open. Getting our money's worth tonight, amen. Use whatever you need. Colossians 4, Philippians 4. And we're going to finish it this way tonight. Colossians 4. Philippians chapter 4. And here's what we're going to do. Just to remind us, it's a general reminder. We're going to sing a stanza of sweet hour prayer. We'll just sing it without the music. And uh then I want to show you a scripture. We'll sing another stanza. I'll show you a scripture. Then we'll sing the third. I'll do the scripture. I'll let Brother Do uh Brother Do. Brother Miracle do the singing. I wouldn't want to butcher a song. I only do that in the shower. Amen. Hey, brethren. Men ought always to pray and not to what? Continual coming. Why? Because she had faith that her continual coming was going to change that judge's mind. That judge maybe not so much changed the mind but caused the judge to act. Now may I say this, brethren? Our continual coming. We don't back God into a corner. I guarantee you, you can do everything you want, and you won't be able to back God to a corner. But I think God wants his children to continually come to him in prayer. Otherwise, Jesus would have never done it. You know what Jesus said one day? Father, I know that thou hearest me. Thou always hearest me. You know what he said? Father, I know you hear me. I know you always hear me. He never doubted for a minute. But he says, because of these others here, I said that. The Lord prayed for our example. And we need to be Bible-believing to pray to the people. Amen. So, Brother Miracle, you sing the first verse. And why don't you turn to Colossians 4? And I'll give you a verse of scripture. Brother Miracle?

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Or remain seated. But number 321 in your songbook, sweet hour of prayer. Let's sing together.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care and bills me and my father's throne know my ones and wishes alone. My soul has often found relief and often escaped the tempters never thy return.

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Look at verse 2, brethren, of chapter 4 of Colossians. He says this continue in prayer. And what? What's that word? Remember what he said to Peter? Couldn't you not watch with me for one hour? Continue in prayer and watch in the same with what? Thanksgiving. I want you to turn to Philippians chapter 4. Brother Miracle, you come, let's sing the second verse of this song.

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Sweep hour of prayer. Sweep hour of prayer. Thy wings shall mark the two shall to um scrub. And wood for the sweet hour of prayer.

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In Philippians, would you look at chapter four? And look at verse six.

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Be careful for nothing.

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Why? Well, verse 5 says, Let your moderation be known unto all man. And then it says this the Lord is at hand. Then he says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by what saith prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be known unto God. Why? Because the Lord's at hand. Watch, brethren, just