SPEAKER_01 0:03

Good morning and welcome to Fresh Mercy Podcast, where God's mercy is fresh for you each and every morning.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Good morning and welcome to Fresh Mercy Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Donnie's excited today. If it's 7-8 in the morning, it's a disaster.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Your ears are busted. And I thank God because we have people that's here.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

We have an audience today.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

This is good. Usually you guys are audience. We thank the Lord for everybody. But you don't give us feedback right now. You give us feedback when we post the episodes. Over here, we're just talking to a camera, but now where we have the people here, it's a little bit more exciting in here. Yeah, it's good. That's why I'm screaming. I'm very, very happy. I thank the Lord for the men that came up. Sebastian, Sonny, John, they all did an amazing job. Yes, they did. Thank God for them. This is our brother Santino. This is Uncle. Chez is our little brother. Chochez, our little brother now. Barry and Bob is our best friends. Our best friends. And this is their little brother. We don't care for Brandon, Dano. Why, Brandon? Why don't we have it? Cherchez, thank the Lord for him. It's Uncle Johnny's baby son. He's my brother in the fate. He's my brother regularly, and I love him, and he's my favorite out of everybody here. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

So Sonny taught me what the ESV Bible is. Yeah, Chachez. I don't want to get into the story, but I want the boys to know that. I wanted to say that on the podcast. Thank you, Sonny, for showing me the ESV translation. Are you using that translation today? Uh no. Let's throw that. Was it so much? You blew it. Oh, you left that translation. Well, we thank God for Santino Bali. I like we're learning. He's one of the men that do the teachings in the church, the upcoming men, and we thank God from Sonny. Let it rip, brother.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Uh well, first of all, I thank God for uh Vinny and Donnie. These are like my big brothers. Uh the wrong guys. That's good, it's good, it's good. I got you. Off camera, but it's good. That's good. I thank God for them. They helped me so much uh with learning the Bible and and how to work in church. And I really such as I thank God for them. And I thank God for the opportunity for allowing me to share his word on fresh mercy. And today I'm gonna be sharing on prayer. But I want to focus a little more on private prayer. What do I mean by that? For an example, Sunday church, it's it's a gathering, everyone's together.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

It's a corporate prayer.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

It's a corporate prayer, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. Sure, it's good. Absolutely not, there's nothing wrong with that. But if that's the only time we pray, we need to strengthen our prayer life.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Sonny, that's all right.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

And I want to read to you what Jesus says about private prayer. This is Matthew chapter six, verse six. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your father in private. Then your father, who sees everything, will reward you. It's a beautiful thing that we can come to God and that one-on-one relationship with him. And whether it's in the morning, if you're having your coffee, or you're in your car, you're on the way to work, it's so important to pray to the Father in those times because you're letting God know that you're dedicating your day to him. That's right. And that you need his hand in your life today.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

And you guys want to know someone in the Bible who had private prayer with the Father? Jesus. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had private prayer with the Father. And this is Mark chapter 1, verse 35. And this is ESV, by the way. I forgot the original. This is what we do, baby. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place. And there he prayed. Jesus did this multiple times in the Bible. Uh he would often go away from the disciples, and he would go uh climb up the hills and uh mountains, and he would have that one-on-one alone time with the Father. If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had private prayer with the Father, how much more do we need to have that today? How much more do we need that one-on-one relationship with God? But we're human and it happens. Sometimes we make mistakes, we fall away, we get discouraged, we get out of it, we don't feel like praying. And I want to read a quote from Charles Spurgeon. This is a pastor, and this is what he says about private prayer. Nine times out of ten, falling away from God begins in the neglect of private prayer. Unbelievable. Read that one more time. Nine times out of ten, falling away from God begins in the neglect of private prayer.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Neglect means to leave, not to do it. Very good.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Something that you have access to, some that you could have, it's to ignore it.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Very good.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

And I want to talk about someone in the Bible that did this. And the biblical example I want to use is Peter in the garden. So Jesus is going to the garden of Gethsemane, and he brings along with him Peter, James, and John. Now, he's getting ready to be betrayed, uh, arrested, and he's getting ready to go to the cross. So it's a big night.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

What a powerful night.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

And Peter, James, and John, this is Jesus' inner circle, this is his inner group. So these guys, these need they need to be strong in this moment. Let's see what Jesus tells them. So he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, So you men cannot keep watching me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter in temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Hallelujah. Peter neglected the prayer in the garden. And what did that lead to? What was the result? He not only did he deny Jesus one time, not twice, but three times. The time that Peter was supposed to be the strongest for God, he was with him for three years. He walked on water with him. He failed because he was weak. When you neglect private prayer, when you neglect time with Jesus, you're gonna be weak. We need to be strong because we're failed people. We need the Holy Spirit to strengthen us.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

But dig, I want to leave on an encouraging note, and I want to tell you guys what happens with Peter and Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Come on.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Friday, Jesus died. Sunday morning, Mary went to the tomb and she went there to anoint Jesus' body. But when she got there, an angel appeared to her and said, I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, but he is not here. He has now go and tell the disciples, including Peter. Very good. Go and tell the disciples and Peter. Vinny, why was Peter so special? Why was he kind of like separate? God wanted Peter to know, he made sure. Peter, I know you neglected the prayer in the garden. I know that you deny me three times, but my mercy, my grace, and goodness is still here for you. Amen. So today, if you feel down and out, if you feel far away from God, Jesus did it back then and he can still do it for you today. God bless you.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Fantastic. And Santino, I want to add this, which nothing should be added. It's unbelievable. But what a beautiful, fine teaching we needed to hear about private prayer. A lot of people today that's watching, maybe you feel like an outcast. Someone that's neglected themselves, that they don't get a lot of love from people. Maybe the church really don't pay attention to them. Maybe no one really notices them. Well, I have to tell you, your name is included. When Jesus resurrected from the dead and he's alive today, he died for you. Your name, you was on his mind when he died on the cross, and you are not neglected, you are a part of the family of God. So today, as Santino encouraged us, we need to pray more. We need to get on our knees more. And the Lord showed me something, and I've been doing it. And that's the days I have the most power. When I get up and I run, I say, Oh, I gotta go to work. You I am late, I gotta go pick up parts, I gotta finish this job. I'm weak. But when I put everything aside, and it's early in the morning, I get on my knees, and I look up to heaven and I pray, Lord, I need you today. And I have that private three, four-minute prayer. And throughout the day we pray, I encourage everyone today, do that. Go to God in private. Start your day on your knees, raising your hands, surrendering to the Lord, believing in the Lord Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Uh, look how important prayer is that you started off with Santino, that the Lord Jesus, God Almighty Himself, he went to go pray to the Father. He needed spiritual prayer. He needed that prayer that one-on-one time. He needed that strength at one-on-one time with the Lord. He needed that, right? And then throughout Jesus' ministry, the disciples went up to him and asked him, Can you teach us how to pray? How important prayer was to them? Because they saw Jesus raise people from the dead, they saw Jesus preach, and people were amazed at his authority. They saw Jesus give eyes to a blind man, he made the deaf hear, he made the lame walk. Come on. He did all this stuff, but they asked, teach us how to pray. Unbelievable. Because they saw that the thing the strength and the way that Jesus performed all that, it started with prayer. Unbelievable. If you want to do anything for the Lord, if you want to start your life with the God with God, or if you just want to live a life or serve God, whatever you need, it starts with prayer. Hallelujah. Anything that is big as gonna happen, any movement that's great, anything that the Lord is gonna take you and use you for, it starts with prayer. Hallelujah. So, Tino, awesome, awesome topic. Close us out, brother. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Uh, to close us out, I wrote three things earlier that we could learn from this. Number one, when you pray to the Father, you're following an example that Jesus set. Number two, I wrote over two over here private prayer can strengthen your walk with God. And number three, if you feel far from God, don't be ashamed to go back to the Father. So with that, let us pray.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Lord, we thank you for this time, Jesus, that we could learn about you, Father God. Lord, we thank you because you give us, Father God, the opportunity, Father, that we could pray to you, Lord. And that we could be in fellowship with you, God. Lord, I pray for the viewer, I pray for me, Vinny, and Donnie, that we wouldn't neglect prayer, Jesus. That we would always pray to you, devil, throughout the day. I pray for this podcast. I pray that it would be used for your glory. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Amen. Amen and amen. Praise the Lord. We have no words to say. Unbelievable job. We thank God for everyone that watched today. Go and don't neglect prayer. Start your day with prayer in Jesus' name. We love you. God bless.