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A few extra copies of the lesson
for tonight. 

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Does anybody need a copy of 
that? 

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There he is. 
You're my lesson Pastor Robert. 

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Anybody needs going to raise 
your hand. 

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He'll he'll get you and raise it
high. 

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He's a little short. 
All right, I'm going to have you

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turn to two places tonight and 
we are on page 57 if you are 

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looking for that in your book. 
And that is the lesson on 

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prayer. 
And it's short, but boy, I tell 

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you what, there's so much that 
we could talk about. 

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We could literally spend a night
on every one or two points. 

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But turn to Matthew chapter 6 
and Luke Chapter 11. 

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We have a lot of verses that 
we're going to look at tonight. 

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But if you have a bookmark or a 
ribbon in your Bible, then put 

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those put put those in Matthew 6
and Luke 11. 

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Those are the ones that we're 
going to be kind of in the most.

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So anybody else need a copy of 
the lesson? 

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Good. 
All right, Chuck, got a couple 

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over here since you have some 
extra ones. 

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Macy, there you go. 
Everybody got one that needs 

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one. 
All right, Lily and Tori, we got

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a few extras. 
So all right, very, very, very 

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important topic. 
And obviously this is a 

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discipleship course. 
We are learning the importance 

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of the, the order of things in 
the Christian life and the 

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things that that are that really
matter. 

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And we've talked a lot about 
obviously, that the most 

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important thing in the Christian
life is salvation and making 

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sure that you know that you're 
saved. 

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And of course, the eternal 
security that comes along with 

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that, the baptism that comes 
after that to show people that 

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you are saved. 
And then, of course, the the 

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next steps is what we're going 
to be doing for the rest of our 

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lives. 
And that is our Christian walk, 

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that is, that is walking in our 
faith, walking and, and growing 

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in our spirituality, growing in 
our, in our, in our relationship

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with Christ. 
And we talked a lot about those 

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different things, But one of the
huge aspects that's going to 

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help us and, and really 
Christian growth and spiritual 

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victory. 
Those are the four lessons that 

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we went over. 
And there was so much in there. 

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And, and honestly, we could call
the rest of this book Christian 

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growth and spiritual victory 
because that's what all of it 

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is, you know, so these are just 
different aspects of that. 

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How do you have victory in your 
Christian life? 

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You've got to pray. 
You've got to pray. 

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How do you grow in your 
Christian life? 

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You've got to pray. 
But there's a lot of things in 

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our lives that are hindrances to
prayer. 

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There are a lot of things, 
obviously, that keep us from 

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doing that because the devil, 
the last thing that he wants is 

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for us to be talking to our 
Heavenly Father. 

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The last thing that he wants is 
for us to come boldly before the

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throne of grace and bring those 
requests for help with our 

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Christian walk and our spiritual
victory. 

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And those are all things that we
can do in prayer. 

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Nothing in the Christian life is
more important than prayer. 

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There are more than 500 
references to prayer in the 

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Bible, which is why I say that 
we could spend, we could spend 

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weeks talking about this and we 
could, we could spend a whole 

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year preaching messages on 
prayer and we still would not 

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exhaust everything that there is
in the Bible about prayer. 

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Prayer changes things and 
nothing is changed. 

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Without prayer, no one will be 
saved, no sermon will be 

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blessed, no marriage will be 
victorious. 

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No child is going to turn out 
right. 

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No church is going to stay in 
God's will. 

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And you could add 100 other 
things to that list without 

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prayer. 
It's, it is the key. 

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It is the key that unlocks 
everything in God's Word. 

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It's the key that unlocks the 
the door to that spiritual 

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victory in our lives. 
You can measure your spiritual 

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state, if you will, by how much 
you pray. 

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And only you know that really 
only you really know how much 

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you pray. 
But you can measure where you 

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are spiritually by how much you 
pray. 

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And you might consider yourself 
to be a spiritual person, you 

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might consider yourself to be 
right with God, and you might 

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have some spiritual victories 
from time to time in your life. 

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And you may not have spiritual 
failures the way that maybe you 

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used to have them. 
But you measure your spiritual 

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growth, you measure your 
Christianity by how much you 

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pray. 
And so we have to learn to pray.

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Luke Chapter 11. 
Well, let's, let's, let's go 

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there first and, and we're going
to be back and forth, like I 

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said, between Luke 11 and 
Matthew 6. 

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It came to pass as he was 
praying in a certain place. 

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Who is the he there? 
Jesus, right? 

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If anybody didn't need to pray, 
it would be Jesus. 

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He's God, right? 
He, he know, he knew what he was

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going to pray and he knew what 
the answer to his prayer was 

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going to be before he prayed it.
He was God, right? 

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If anybody did not need to pray,
it was Jesus. 

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The purpose of prayer is not to 
get things from God. 

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If the purpose of prayer was to 
get things from God, Jesus never

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would have needed to do it 
right. 

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If the purpose of prayer was to 
ask for God's blessing and to 

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get it, if it was to ask for 
God's power and to get it, then 

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why did Jesus need to pray? 
He had all of those things 

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already. 
He was 100% God, and yet he 

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still prayed and not just prayed
a couple times. 

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He prayed in agony. 
He prayed all night. 

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He he prayed in the wilderness 
for 40 days and 40 nights. 

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He fasted and prayed in the 
wilderness. 

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If if Jesus needed to pray, how 
much more do we need to pray? 

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And I've said this many times 
that that prayer logically 

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doesn't really make all that 
much sense if you're looking at 

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prayer as something that you do 
only to get things from God, 

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right? 
Prayer, the, the, the, the 

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blessing of prayer is not that 
we get a lot of things from God 

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when we pray. 
It's that we're made very 

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different people when we pray. 
That's the blessing of prayer. 

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And prayer is, yes, part of that
is asking God for things. 

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We need his power, we need his 
his presence. 

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We need the, the things that he 
can provide for us. 

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And, and we're going to look at 
that. 

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I mean, give us this day, Our 
Daily Bread is asking for a 

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request from God, right? 
But prayer is a relationship 

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with God, and prayer is a 
conversation with God. 

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And prayer is something that we 
do not just because we're trying

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to get things from him, but 
because we're trying to 

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fellowship with him. 
And that's the difference. 

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It came to pass that as he was 
praying in a certain place, when

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he seized, one of his disciples 
said unto him, Lord, teach us to

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pray as John also taught his 
disciples. 

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I think that's very interesting,
but we have to learn to pray. 

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Prayer is acknowledging our 
inability and casting ourselves 

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upon God. 
It is obtaining mercy and 

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finding grace to help in time of
need. 

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Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 says
that that we may come boldly 

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before the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find 

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grace to help in time of need. 
That's Hebrews 416. 

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So to be effective, prayer needs
to have the following simple but

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essential elements. 
And there's probably more that 

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could be added to this list. 
We're given 9 things in this 

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list here, and these are the 
ones that we're going to look at

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and discuss tonight. 
So #1 prayer must be Worshipful.

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We just read Luke Chapter 11 and
verse #1 And so Jesus after the 

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disciples asked him how to pray,
teach us to pray. 

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He says this. 
He said unto them, when ye pray,

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say our Father, which art in 
heaven, hallowed be thy name, 

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thy Kingdom come, thy will be 
done as in heaven, so in earth. 

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Now if you go back to Matthew 
chapter 6, we have almost the 

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exact it's not the exact same 
words, but it's the same prayer.

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And, and, and this was the idea 
of prayer being a Worshipful was

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emphasized by Jesus in the model
prayer. 

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Now I don't like to call it the 
Lord's Prayer. 

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This is the model prayer. 
He's not saying and, and how 

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many people, you know, they sit 
down and they, they clasp their 

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hands together like this and 
they say, our Father, which art 

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in heaven hallowed be. 
But it wasn't that Jesus was 

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saying pray these words when you
pray. 

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It's not, it's not the Lord's 
Prayer that he says pray this 

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prayer. 
He is teaching us how to pray. 

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And if you look in, in Luke 
Chapter 11, that's exactly what 

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they asked him to do. 
Lord teach us to pray. 

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And so he teaches them to pray. 
And there's a lot of elements in

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in this prayer. 
But I noticed this in Matthew 

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chapter 6 and verse #5 And when 
thou prayest, he doesn't say. 

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If he says, when thou prayest, 
thou shalt not be as the 

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hypocrites are. 
For they love to pray standing 

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in the synagogue and in the 
corners of the streets, that 

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they may be seen of men. 
Verily I say unto you that they 

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have their reward. 
But what thou, when thou 

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prayest, enter into thy closet, 
and when thou hast shut thy 

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door, pray to thy Father, which 
is in secret, And thy Father 

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would see us in secret, shall 
reward thee openly. 

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There's a place of prayer. 
You have to have a place, you 

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have to have a place where you 
pray and it could be in your 

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office, it could be at the couch
when the kids are at school, 

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could be in the car. 
Because many times, you know, 

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people have a commute and they 
have an opportunity and a time 

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when they can pray and they're 
alone with God. 

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And hopefully you're awake and 
hopefully you're not falling 

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asleep. 
You know, I mean, that's, that's

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one way to stay awake while you 
pray is to drive while you're 

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doing it, right? 
Either that or it puts you to 

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sleep while you're driving. 
So I don't know which ones 

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worse, but The thing is you have
to have a place to pray and if 

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you if you want to be a willing 
Co worker with God, then you 

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must pray. 
But notice this prayer must be 

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Worshipful. 
And if you go back to Luke 

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Chapter 11, he says, our Father,
which art in heaven hallowed be 

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thy name. 
Now obviously God is is in 

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heaven. 
It's it's where he came from and

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where he went back to. 
That's where Jesus is AT. 

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And we pray in Jesus name 
because those are things that we

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believe that that, that, that 
God the father. 

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And that's what the Bible says 
that we may come boldly before 

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the throne of grace to obtain 
help, to obtain mercy and find 

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help in time of need. 
But our Father, which art in 

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heaven now obviously that that 
automatically assumes that 

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you're his child, right. 
If I regard iniquity in my 

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heart, the Lord will not hear 
me. 

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Somebody who is not saved has 
iniquity in their heart that has

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never been forgiven. 
God cannot hear the prayer of 

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somebody who is not his child 
and it's it's not an act 

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everyone. 
I don't want to take time to go 

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through the entire thing 
tonight. 

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But and this what I'm saying, 
there's so much that we could 

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talk about when it comes to 
prayer, but this is the model. 

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This is the model prayer. 
These are these are all elements

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that we should have when we pray
our Father, that's relationship.

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Our Father, that's a 
relationship that we have with 

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him. 
Which art in heaven, hallowed be

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thy name. 
That's reverence. 

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That's reverence. 
That is that is beginning our 

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prayer with worship. 
Hallowed means holy, our Father,

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which art in heaven, holy is 
your name, right? 

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That is giving God the reverence
that is due to him. 

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That's praising God for who he 
is. 

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00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,720
That is exalting God for who he 
is and and what he's done for 

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us, right? 
But that's that's reverence. 

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Thy Kingdom come, thy will be 
done as in heaven, so in earth. 

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Give us this day or give us day 
by day, Our Daily Bread. 

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That's a little bit different in
Matthew, but that's that's a 

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request, right? 
And forgive us our sins. 

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That's repentance, for we also 
forgive everyone that is 

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indebted to us and lead us not 
into temptation but deliver us 

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from evil. 
That's restoration. 

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There's so much. 
There's so much in that prayer. 

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There's so many things there 
that we can that we can pull out

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and that we can that we can look
at when it comes to what our 

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prayers should be structured 
like. 

225
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And when you come to God, you 
recognize God for who He is. 

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00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:22,080
You recognize yourself for who 
you are, boy, A whole lot could 

227
00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,960
be accomplished if we would put 
God in the place that He belongs

228
00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,800
in, and we'd put ourselves in 
the place that we belong in. 

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00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:32,200
Many times we have far too low a
view of God, and many times we 

230
00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,920
have far too high of a view of 
ourselves. 

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00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,480
And we show up to pray, 
demanding that God give us these

232
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:40,160
things. 
You know, all these things that 

233
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,960
people are declaring. 
I declare this, I declare that. 

234
00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:47,560
Who are you to declare what God 
is supposed to do and what God 

235
00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:51,720
should do for you? 
We can ask Him, but we ask in 

236
00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:56,080
reference, we ask with, with the
idea that this is the holy God 

237
00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,080
that we are coming to. 
Which, by the way, you ought not

238
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:01,720
to make a joke about prayer, 
right? 

239
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,560
Prayer is not a joke. 
You are coming before the holy 

240
00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:09,640
God, the God of the universe, 
the thrice holy God, and you're 

241
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,560
coming to ask him for things 
and, and, and, and tell him 

242
00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,520
about things. 
But I think all of our prayers 

243
00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:16,920
should start off with 
Thanksgiving, right? 

244
00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,120
It should start off with 
recognizing who God is and 

245
00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,280
telling God that we understand 
who we are. 

246
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:51,800
Right. 
I mean, you would never. 

247
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,240
And we use the the idea of the 
president of the United States 

248
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:57,640
because many times we look at 
him as the most important 

249
00:13:57,640 --> 00:13:59,920
person, at least in the US, if 
not in the world. 

250
00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:02,880
How would you approach him if 
you were going to ask him for 

251
00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:06,360
something, You know, if you had 
a request, if you had something 

252
00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:08,680
that was very serious and 
something that was very 

253
00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,440
important to you and something 
that was very necessary. 

254
00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,360
I've got to have this answer. 
Well, I've got to see this come 

255
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,120
through. 
And if it, the only way that 

256
00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,240
this is going to work is if the 
president of the United States 

257
00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,520
come through and answers this 
request. 

258
00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:23,680
Do you think you're going to 
show up and just be half hearted

259
00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,000
about it, falling asleep while 
you're talking to him? 

260
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,680
Do you think you're going to 
joke about his position and who 

261
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:31,760
he is and all of those things? 
No, you're, you're going to 

262
00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:33,960
approach him and you're going to
say you're the president of the 

263
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,640
United States and you're the 
only one that can do this for me

264
00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:38,960
right now. 
And I need you to do this. 

265
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,920
Please understand that I, I 
cannot, we cannot make this 

266
00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,640
happen without you, right? 
I mean, that's what you would do

267
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,480
if you're approaching the 
president of the United States, 

268
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:49,320
right? 
And yet we approach the God of 

269
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,320
the universe. 
And many times we demand things 

270
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,560
from God. 
God, do this for me. 

271
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,960
You're God do this for me, 
right? 

272
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,000
Or again, we just show up half 
awake. 

273
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:07,360
Not, you know, not, not not 
engaged mentally or physically, 

274
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,400
right when we approach God, 
prayer must be Worshipful. 

275
00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,520
But then #2 prayer must be 
confessional. 

276
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:24,080
Psalm 6618, somebody quote it. 
If I, the Lord will not hear me 

277
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:27,560
right, if I regard iniquity in 
my heart, the Lord will not hear

278
00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:29,160
me. 
That's prayer must be 

279
00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:30,800
confessional. 
Let's turn over to 1st John 

280
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,120
chapter 3. 
Now you know, first John 19. 

281
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:38,880
Let's quote first John 19. 
If we confess our sins, He is 

282
00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:43,200
faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins and to cleanse us from 

283
00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,080
all unrighteousness. 
Now that's a great verse. 

284
00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,880
It doesn't necessarily talk 
about prayer or our prayers 

285
00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:52,440
being hindered, but first John 
chapter 3 does. 

286
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:57,280
So first John chapter 3, and I 
know you got a notebook in your 

287
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,320
hand and a pen, but turn to as 
many of these verses as you can.

288
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,400
First John chapter 3 and verse 
#20 For if our heart condemn us,

289
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:08,240
God is greater than our heart 
and knoweth all things. 

290
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,920
Beloved, if our heart condemn us
not, then we have count. 

291
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:16,080
Then have we confidence toward 
God, and whatsoever we ask, we 

292
00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:20,840
receive of Him. 
What is that prayer, right? 

293
00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:26,120
Whatsoever we ask, we receive, 
because we keep His commandments

294
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,440
and do those things that are 
pleasing in His sight. 

295
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:32,240
So how do you get the things 
that you want from God through 

296
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:33,440
prayer? 
How do you get them? 

297
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:40,520
What does this verse say? 
Keep His commandments and do the

298
00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:42,120
things that are pleasing to Him,
right? 

299
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,040
That is doing right. 
And so if we're going to do 

300
00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,040
right, then obviously that means
we have to confess the things 

301
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:52,080
that we've done wrong if we're 
going to approach God. 

302
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,120
Luke Chapter 11. 
Hopefully you have a bookmark 

303
00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,040
there and you can turn back to 
it quickly. 

304
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,960
Look at this is one of the 
elements of the model prayer, 

305
00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,840
right? 
Verse #4 what does He say? 

306
00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:11,119
And forgive us our sins, right? 
That is one of the aspects of 

307
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,040
the model prayer. 
We ought, man. 

308
00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:18,480
What's the point of praying if 
God cannot even hear your 

309
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,800
prayers? 
You could spend an hour on your 

310
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:23,079
knees. 
You could be alert. 

311
00:17:23,079 --> 00:17:26,920
You can be awake and you can be 
engaged, and you can be serious,

312
00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,200
and you can be begging God for 
things, and you can feel like 

313
00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,080
you're having a great 
conversation with God. 

314
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,960
And if you have iniquity in your
heart, guess what we say it 

315
00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,840
bounces off the ceiling. 
What we mean by that is it's 

316
00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,840
just the echo and that's it, 
right? 

317
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:43,800
It's only as far as your voice 
can travel. 

318
00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,480
If I regard iniquity in my 
heart, the Lord will not hear 

319
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,040
me. 
So that's why this is one of the

320
00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,880
aspects of the model prayer. 
And forgive us our sins. 

321
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,160
God, I want to be clean. 
I want to be right. 

322
00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,320
I want my prayer to be 
effective. 

323
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,640
So I'm coming to you and I'm 
asking you for these things, but

324
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,880
I want you to know that I want 
my heart to be right with you 

325
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,560
while I'm doing it. 
So we come to God through 

326
00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:11,640
confession of our sins. 
By this means we obtain mercy 

327
00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,520
and we can pray with a good 
conscience and our prayers can 

328
00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,160
have free course with God. 
This is such a huge aspect of 

329
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,600
prayer. 
Yes, we have to come recognizing

330
00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,960
who God is and who we're talking
to, but we have to be clean 

331
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,680
before Him. 
Could you imagine if you're a 

332
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,920
kid stole something right in 
front of you and you call them 

333
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,000
out on it and you punished them 
for it and they didn't feel bad 

334
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:35,960
about it. 
They turned around and they 

335
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,200
stole something out of the, you 
know, stole something right in 

336
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:39,800
front of you again. 
And then they come and they have

337
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,240
the audacity to ask you for 
something, right. 

338
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,200
Maybe I shouldn't tell you this 
story, but I'm going to anyway. 

339
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:53,280
We had a, we used to, we used to
sell candy and as a fundraiser 

340
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:55,960
for our school and, and we used 
to get out during school. 

341
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,720
We, they would give us a couple 
weeks of candy sale. 

342
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,800
And as long as you were selling 
candy, you didn't have to be to 

343
00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:02,600
school. 
So guess what? 

344
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,600
Everybody did, at least they 
said they were selling candy. 

345
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:07,160
I don't know if they did, but 
most of them did. 

346
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,280
And so we had, we had partners 
and we would go, you know, we 

347
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:12,880
would go out in groups with the 
teachers and things and they 

348
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,520
would take us out. 
And some of the guys were less 

349
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,240
than honest, let's just put it 
that way. 

350
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:25,040
But one, one of the one of my 
friends that was, he went into 

351
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,800
an office and we used to go into
office complexes and we would, 

352
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,520
you know, talk to the 
receptionist and, you know, see 

353
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,880
if she would be willing to go 
ask anybody else if they wanted 

354
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,360
to buy some candy. 
And so, you know, a lot of these

355
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:38,480
places and you go in and you see
them, they have a little candy 

356
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:40,200
jar sitting there on the on the 
counter. 

357
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:46,360
And so he asked the lady if she 
wanted to buy some candy. 

358
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:48,600
And I don't know if she bought 
any candy or not, but he said, 

359
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,160
would you be willing to just go 
back there and ask if anybody 

360
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,120
else wants to buy some? 
And she said, yeah, I'll go back

361
00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:56,360
there and ask. 
So she turns around and goes to 

362
00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:58,480
the back. 
And he took the candy dish and 

363
00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:02,600
dumped the entire thing in his 
bag and left two pieces in the 

364
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,600
jar. 
And she came back out and she 

365
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,800
said, yeah, unfortunately, 
nobody else wants to buy any 

366
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:09,120
candy. 
And he said, would you mind if I

367
00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:10,600
have a piece of candy out of 
that bowl? 

368
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:13,800
That's exactly what this is 
like. 

369
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,840
Right, You're going to sin and 
then you're going to come back 

370
00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,880
and ask God for something. 
And I mean, we laugh because 

371
00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,240
it's kind of a funny story, but 
it's wrong, you know? 

372
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:27,360
And then to have the audacity 
after you just stole everything 

373
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,240
to ask them for something else, 
right? 

374
00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,920
But that's what we do with God 
when we come to God with sin in 

375
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,520
our hearts, we sin, we sin, we 
sin. 

376
00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,720
And then we say, oh, I know we 
did that, but would you mind 

377
00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:40,960
giving me this? 
This is something that I really 

378
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:42,320
need. 
This is something that I've got 

379
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,120
to have. 
Can you please give that to me? 

380
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,400
Well, God knows that you took 
all of it already, right? 

381
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,160
God knows that you have sin in 
your heart. 

382
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,360
And he already said, if you have
iniquity, I'm not going to hear 

383
00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:55,960
you. 
And yet we have the audacity to 

384
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,040
pretend that we can bring our 
request before God and he's 

385
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,960
going to listen to them. 
The audacity that we have to, to

386
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,640
presume upon God in that way. 
And so one of the huge aspects 

387
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:12,400
of prayer is that we must come 
to God confessing our sins #3 

388
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,800
prayer must be earnest. 
James chapter 5 and verse 16. 

389
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:18,880
What is the last half of that 
verse say? 

390
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:27,960
The effectual, the effectual 
fervent prayer of a righteous 

391
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,400
man availeth much the effectual 
what prayer? 

392
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,440
Fervent prayer. 
Let's turn over to Colossians 

393
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,320
chapter 4. 
Colossians chapter 4. 

394
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,320
See, This is why it's important 
for you to memorize Bible 

395
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:44,000
verses. 
Colossians chapter 4 verse #12 

396
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:50,600
Epaphras, who is one of you, a 
servant of Christ, saluteth you.

397
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:56,480
Here's the here's the key here. 
Always laboring fervently for 

398
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,680
you in prayers, that you may 
stand perfect and complete in 

399
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,520
all the will of God. 
What does laboring fervently 

400
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,720
mean? 
That's agonizing in prayer, 

401
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,480
isn't it? 
Earnest, hasty, half hearted, 

402
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,480
distracted. 
Praying is not very effective. 

403
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:18,000
Do you know that the devil is 
going to do everything he can to

404
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,480
distract you while you're 
praying? 

405
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,400
He's going to make you think 
about everything that you have 

406
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,800
to do today. 
He's going to make you think 

407
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,440
about everything that happened 
yesterday. 

408
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,440
He's going to do everything that
he can to distract you while 

409
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,920
you're talking to God. 
So what do you do? 

410
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,960
Prepare for it, Prepare for it. 
You know he's going to do it. 

411
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,120
Be prepared for the 
distractions, right? 

412
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,760
One of the ways that or one of 
the things that I do when I 

413
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,400
pray, I have AI have a piece of 
paper with a pen right there, 

414
00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:56,680
because I've had it happen way 
too many times where I I'm 

415
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,280
praying and I think, oh man, I 
completely forgot about that. 

416
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,760
I've got to do that right now or
I'm going to forget again, 

417
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:05,160
right? 
No, I don't have to do it right 

418
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,240
now. 
I'm having a conversation with 

419
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,480
the God of the universe. 
What I can do right now is just 

420
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,000
take that pen, write it down 
real quick and completely forget

421
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,960
about it and keep going because 
now I know they're not going to 

422
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:17,360
forget it again. 
I don't have to do it right this

423
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:18,520
minute. 
I'm talking to God. 

424
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,720
All right, could you imagine? 
Again, let's use the president 

425
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:23,600
of the United States. 
You finally get an audience with

426
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,320
him and you're sitting there 
talking to him and you say, oh, 

427
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,960
you know what? 
I completely excuse me, I got to

428
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,280
send an e-mail real quick. 
I'll be right back, right? 

429
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,160
You're not going to do that to 
the president of the United 

430
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:34,280
States while you're sitting 
there with him. 

431
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,120
You've got an audience with the 
president, right? 

432
00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:41,400
And yet somehow we have such a 
low view of God that we don't 

433
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,040
have any problem interrupting 
our conversations with him. 

434
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,920
And we'll send an e-mail if we 
have to send an e-mail, or we'll

435
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:50,840
start looking through different 
things that we need to look 

436
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,040
through, or we'll go do this, or
we'll go do that. 

437
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:54,600
And, well, I'll get to my 
praying later. 

438
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,760
And usually what happens is you 
never get back to it. 

439
00:23:57,520 --> 00:23:59,240
The devil is going to try to 
distract you. 

440
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,840
Prepare for it. 
Whatever distractions you have 

441
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,480
while you pray, you know what 
those distractions are. 

442
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,880
That's the biggest distraction 
that I have is remembering 

443
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,760
things that I've got to do. 
So prepare for it. 

444
00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:13,600
Put a pen and a piece of paper 
there and just write it down and

445
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,400
come back to it when your prayer
time is done, right. 

446
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,520
So to be effective in prayer, 
that prayer must be earnest. 

447
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,640
And it's hard to have an earnest
prayer if we allow ourselves to 

448
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,720
be distracted over and over and 
over and over and over while we 

449
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:31,640
pray #4 prayer must be regular. 
Let's turn over to Romans 

450
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:36,200
chapter 1, Romans chapter 1. 
And this is, this is obviously 

451
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,080
Paul talking. 
And there's a lot of verses that

452
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,760
we're going to look at here that
are, that are all verses that 

453
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,720
are Paul asking for intercessory
prayer, basically. 

454
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:54,560
But Romans chapter 1 and verse 
#9 For God is my witness, whom I

455
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,160
serve with my spirit in the 
gospel of his Son, that without 

456
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:03,320
ceasing, I make mention of you 
always in my prayers. 

457
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,840
This is the Church at Rome, 
right? 

458
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,320
Do you think that he only did 
that for the Church at Rome, or 

459
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,200
do you think he did that for all
the other churches? 

460
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,000
Well, I know he did because he 
told them He prayed for them. 

461
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,880
And do you think he's just 
saying it? 

462
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,960
Do you think he says, oh, I'm 
praying for you and then didn't 

463
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,360
actually pray for them? 
No, he said very plainly. 

464
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,400
I am making mention of you 
always in my prayers. 

465
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,320
I'm praying for you without 
ceasing. 

466
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:33,280
That is regular prayer. 
And so the believer needs to 

467
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,200
establish a daily prayer time 
during which he meets with the 

468
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,200
Lord and prays for himself and 
others. 

469
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,240
Intercessory prayer is praying 
for others. 

470
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:47,520
Paul did it so often, right? 
You ought to have people on your

471
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,800
prayer list that you pray for 
every single day. 

472
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:54,000
People that you know, need to be
saved, people that you know need

473
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,600
to be strengthened, people that 
you know need that, that are, 

474
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,160
that are, that are even doing 
what's right and just, you know,

475
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:00,600
the devil is going to attack 
them. 

476
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:02,760
You know, the devil's coming 
after them. 

477
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,360
Pray for him. 
I have a list of of pastors, a 

478
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:10,400
list of churches that I pray for
almost every day because I know 

479
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,040
the devil's coming after him. 
And we don't need less churches.

480
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,080
It doesn't make me happy to find
out that another pastor fell. 

481
00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:19,880
You know, there's a lot of a lot
of people who love the gossip 

482
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,240
side of that thing. 
Oh, did you hear what happened 

483
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:23,960
to this guy? 
I can't believe he did that. 

484
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,320
And they love the fact that 
somebody fell because it gives 

485
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,080
them something else to talk 
about that doesn't help the 

486
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,240
cause of Christ. 
Pray for them that they don't 

487
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,000
fall, right? 
That's it's so important. 

488
00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:37,240
And, and by the way, when you 
say that you're going to pray 

489
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,960
for somebody, you better do it. 
Hey, I'll be praying for you or 

490
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,080
Hey, I've been praying for you. 
How many times people say that 

491
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,200
and never breathe the word and 
pray for that person. 

492
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,640
It's just a phrase that we say. 
It's a, it's a good Christian 

493
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,000
phrase to use. 
I'll be praying for you. 

494
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,320
All right. 
How many times have you said 

495
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,440
that and then not prayed for the
person you said you were going 

496
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,640
to pray for, All right? 
Or how many times have you told 

497
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,040
somebody, oh, I've been praying 
for you and you never prayed for

498
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:03,480
them. 
You just lied to them because 

499
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:04,600
you're trying to make them feel 
good. 

500
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,000
All right. 
But that's what intercessory 

501
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,160
prayer is. 
It's regular prayer for 

502
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,400
yourself, but for others. 
And that's what Paul is saying. 

503
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,000
I cease not to pray for you, 
always making mention of you in 

504
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,480
my prayers. 
That is regular prayer and 

505
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,440
that's effective prayer, right? 
That's that's prayer that's 

506
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,080
going to be effective. 
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 6

507
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,200
because #5 prayer must be 
watchful. 

508
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,760
Prayer must be watchful. 
Ephesians chapter 6 is the, is 

509
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:38,720
the chapter about what the armor
of God Chapter 6 talks about 

510
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:39,840
that a little bit at the 
beginning. 

511
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:41,560
Chapter 5 really is more about 
family. 

512
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,720
It moves into children in the 
beginning, but the armor of God,

513
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:45,320
right? 
That's that's put on the whole 

514
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,160
armor of God, that you can stand
against the Wiles of the devil 

515
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:52,400
and stand against the fiery 
darts of the wicked and 

516
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,200
everything else. 
But later on in that passage in 

517
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,960
verse #18 right after it gets 
done, talking about all the 

518
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:02,640
armor, he says this praying 
always with all prayer and 

519
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:07,440
supplication in the Spirit, and 
watching thereunto with all 

520
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,440
perseverance and supplication 
for the Saints. 

521
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,520
So prayer must be watchful. 
And again, it's kind of the same

522
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,480
point as what we just talked 
about in #4 but that refers to 

523
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,160
intercessory prayer because by 
prayer we can watch over the 

524
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,840
spiritual lives of others. 
You ought to be praying for your

525
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,240
wife. 
You ought to be praying for your

526
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,480
husband. 
You ought to be praying for your

527
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,000
children. 
You think that your kids are 

528
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,400
just going to grow up and 
magically live for the Lord 

529
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,480
because you're a great parent, 
because you have all the answers

530
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,360
and you know how to do it. 
I don't. 

531
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,880
They're only going to live for 
the Lord if you're praying for 

532
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:48,840
them and praying with them. 
We, we get together every 

533
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,440
morning before the, before the 
kids walk out the door and we 

534
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,360
stand together in a circle and 
we pray together and we do it at

535
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,440
night in our in our, in our 
family devotions. 

536
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,360
And many times it's my wife 
that's leading those because I'm

537
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,520
doing other things and I'm not 
there. 

538
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,120
It's, it's the wife has to do it
when the husband is not there. 

539
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,480
But you're, you're working 
together and you're praying 

540
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:11,360
together with your, with your 
spouse. 

541
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,160
You're praying together with 
your children, you're praying 

542
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:15,680
for those things. 
That's the only way that we're 

543
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,640
going to see God's blessing on 
those things. 

544
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,280
You know, it's just not going to
happen by accident. 

545
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:23,640
So we have to be watchful in 
prayer. 

546
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,120
And that that means that's 
referring to intercessory 

547
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:27,520
prayer. 
And that's the exact term that 

548
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,720
Paul uses, watching thereunto 
with all perseverance and 

549
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,280
supplication for All Saints. 
So then right along with that is

550
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,920
that prayer must be persistent. 
What is First Thessalonians 517?

551
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,480
Pray without ceasing. 
Pray without ceasing. 

552
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:46,640
Let's turn over to Colossians 
chapter 4. 

553
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:48,720
What is pray without ceasing 
mean? 

554
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,960
And I know we, we, you know, we 
kind of make a little joke about

555
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:54,920
it. 
And does that mean you got to 

556
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,640
walk around on your knees all 
the time and, and your eyes have

557
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,600
to be closed all the time 
because you're praying and you 

558
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,520
don't stop praying? 
Not exactly. 

559
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:09,640
But a form of that, you ought to
be having a conversation all day

560
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,040
long with God, right? 
We do it all day long with 

561
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,720
ourselves. 
You talk to yourself all day 

562
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:21,040
long, right? 
And sometimes you get caught. 

563
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,160
Most of the times you hope and 
you don't. 

564
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:25,840
You say something out loud and 
you start looking around to see 

565
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,160
if anybody heard you, right? 
But that's what praying without 

566
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,160
ceasing is. 
That's having that conversation 

567
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,760
with God. 
Everything that comes up in your

568
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:35,480
life, you ought to be praying 
about it. 

569
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,560
Everybody that God brings to 
mind, you ought to be praying 

570
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,360
for them. 
It's, it's, it's a habit that 

571
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,120
you have to develop. 
It's, it's not something, again,

572
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,320
it's not something that's just 
going to happen by accident, 

573
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:48,120
right? 
The same way that you don't even

574
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,440
have to think about how to tie 
your shoes anymore because 

575
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,120
you've done it so many times, 
right? 

576
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,400
There's a lot of things that you
do that you get done and you 

577
00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:00,080
just, you think, I don't even 
remember doing that, right? 

578
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,880
You ever been driving down the 
road and you realize that you're

579
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:04,920
pulling into your driveway and 
you don't even remember how you 

580
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,760
got there, right? 
Because you've done that so many

581
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:09,720
times that you don't even have 
to think about it anymore. 

582
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,160
You can space out a little bit 
and you still end up where 

583
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,160
you're supposed to be, right? 
That's the way that praying 

584
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,320
ought to be with us. 
Not, not that you're spacing out

585
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,960
and don't even realize you're 
doing it, but that it should be.

586
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,240
It should be something that you 
do so often that you don't even 

587
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:28,400
think about it, right? 
You just bring it to God, right?

588
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,960
And, and how many times do do 
you have things that come up 

589
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:33,600
during the day that you worry 
about? 

590
00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,160
Just give it to God, right? 
It's it. 

591
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:41,120
You're his, you're his child. 
He's promised that all things 

592
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:44,600
are going to work together for 
good to them that love God to 

593
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:46,680
them who are the called 
according to his purpose. 

594
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:48,760
Why are you spending time 
worrying about it? 

595
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,160
You wake up in the middle of the
night and you start thinking 

596
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,640
about all the things that you 
have to do or all the things 

597
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:57,360
that are crashing down on you 
give it to God and go to sleep. 

598
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,120
It's his right? 
I mean, and it is their habits 

599
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,240
that have to be developed. 
You wake up in the middle of the

600
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,000
night and you should start 
praying. 

601
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,520
All right, That's the easiest 
way to fall back asleep. 

602
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:13,120
Pray. 
I mean, it sounds funny, but 

603
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:14,640
that's, I mean, I do it all the 
time. 

604
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:16,680
I wake up in the middle of the 
night and I'm, I'm, I'm laying 

605
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:18,680
there, I'm wide awake and I'm 
like, why am I wide awake? 

606
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,200
I don't know. 
I'm just going to start praying 

607
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:21,480
for things that God brings to 
mind. 

608
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:23,320
And the next thing you know, I'm
waking up in the morning. 

609
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,040
You know, I don't know, I don't 
even remember falling asleep. 

610
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,760
I fell back asleep praying. 
All right, That's, that's, 

611
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,080
that's what praying without 
ceasing is. 

612
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:36,840
It's it's a habit that you form 
over the course of really of a 

613
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,840
lifetime. 
But just bringing everything to 

614
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,000
God, God brings your kids to 
mind, you pray for them. 

615
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,360
God brings a person in the 
church to mind, you pray for 

616
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,120
them. 
God brings a Co worker to mind. 

617
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:48,720
That's not saved. 
You pray for them. 

618
00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:52,960
God, somebody comes to you and, 
and needs some help and need 

619
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:54,920
some advice. 
And as they're talking, you're 

620
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:56,840
praying, you're asking God to 
give you wisdom. 

621
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,840
And the best way to answer this 
person that's talking to you 

622
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,600
about whatever it is, I mean, 
that is what praying without 

623
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:05,680
ceasing is. 
You should be in a constant 

624
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,200
conversation with God. 
And that's that's what we're 

625
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,440
talking about when we say that 
prayer must be persistent. 

626
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,600
Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2
continue in prayer and watching 

627
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,880
the same with Thanksgiving. 
It's one of the most important 

628
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,320
aspects of effectual prayer and 
it's often emphasized in the 

629
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,560
Scripture. 
And Jesus taught 2 parables to 

630
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,880
emphasize the importance of 
persistence in prayer. 

631
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,560
One is the unjust judge in Luke 
chapter 18. 

632
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,240
And, and we'll skip that one for
tonight just for the sake of 

633
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:34,800
time, but let's go back to Luke 
11. 

634
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,120
You should be close to that 
because you have a bookmark 

635
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,760
there. 
So right after Jesus gets done 

636
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,400
telling them the model prayer 
and what it should be, he moves 

637
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,320
into this story here and tells 
him of a parable. 

638
00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,640
He said unto them, verse #5 
Which of you shall have a 

639
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,080
friend, and shall go unto him at
midnight, and say unto him, 

640
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,720
Friend, lend ME3 loaves. 
For a friend of mine in his 

641
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,000
journey has come to me, and I 
have nothing to set before him. 

642
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,680
And he from within shall answer 
and say, Trouble me not. 

643
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,080
The door is now shut, and my 
children are in bed. 

644
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,880
Are with me in bed. 
I cannot rise and give thee, I 

645
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,360
say unto you, Though he will not
rise and give him, because he is

646
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,520
his friend, yet because of his 
importunity he will rise and 

647
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:19,000
give him as many as he needeth. 
And I say unto you, ask, and it 

648
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,480
shall be given unto you, seek, 
and ye shall find knock, and it 

649
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:24,480
shall be opened unto you. 
For everyone that asketh 

650
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,120
receiveth, and he that seeketh 
findeth, unto him that knocketh,

651
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,199
it shall be opened. 
That is what is importunity. 

652
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,239
It's persistence. 
It's just continually coming 

653
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,159
over and over and over and over 
to God. 

654
00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:39,560
He says, you know you, you, you 
go and knock on the door at your

655
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,280
friend's house and you say, Hey,
I need some bread. 

656
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,440
I've got a friend that I wasn't 
expecting and all the stores are

657
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,239
closed and I need some bread. 
He said, man, it's midnight, I'm

658
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:51,880
sleeping, come back later. 
He said he's not going to 

659
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:53,920
necessarily give you the bread 
because he's your friend. 

660
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:55,840
He's going to give you the bread
because you keep knocking and 

661
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,040
he's tired of hearing you knock 
and he's going to finally say 

662
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,360
take all the bread you want, 
right? 

663
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:02,960
Just leave me alone. 
I'm sleeping. 

664
00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,800
But it's the importunity, right?
I've said that to my kids 

665
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:08,720
before. 
They keep asking me and asking 

666
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:10,240
me, dad, can I have this? 
Can I have this? 

667
00:35:10,240 --> 00:35:12,560
Can I have this? 
Fine, Eat it and eat the box 

668
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,680
that it's in too. 
I mean, take it all whatever 

669
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:19,440
right, because of importunity, 
right? 

670
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,280
And, and and this is Jesus 
saying that exact same thing. 

671
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,280
He's given the illustration of 
keep coming. 

672
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,560
He's telling you how it come to 
him, right? 

673
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,800
You ask and you knock and you 
seek and you keep coming and you

674
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,760
keep coming. 
That's how you get what you want

675
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,840
from God, the same way that 
that's how you get what you want

676
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,920
from your friend. 
Keep coming to him and keep 

677
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,720
asking him. 
Keep begging him. 

678
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,280
That's what God wants from us. 
And how many times we pray once 

679
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,480
or twice or three times and we 
don't see an answer. 

680
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,080
We say God doesn't care about 
me. 

681
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,480
God doesn't even he's probably 
not even listening to me. 

682
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:57,120
He doesn't even know that I'm 
going through this. 

683
00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,240
He doesn't even care. 
No, he's waiting for you to be 

684
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,480
persistent and keep coming and 
keep coming and keep coming. 

685
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,880
And many times we probably stop 
the day before he was going to 

686
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,400
give us the answer, but we 
stopped. 

687
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,600
We gave up. 
You know, you've heard the 

688
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:17,720
stories of of praying hide. 
Now he's known for his prayer. 

689
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,080
He prayed for somebody for 50 
years to be saved. 

690
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,160
And that guy that he prayed for 
got saved at his funeral. 

691
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,480
Isn't that an amazing thing? 
Don't give up. 

692
00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:31,440
Don't don't give up. 
For everyone that asketh 

693
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:33,440
receiveth. 
And he that seeketh findeth unto

694
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,440
him that knocketh, it shall be 
opened. 

695
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,200
Make it a habit as much as 
breathing. 

696
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:45,080
Wake up in the middle of the 
night, pray you find yourself 

697
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,960
with some time in the middle of 
the day, pray, talk to someone 

698
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:50,360
about something that's going on 
in their life. 

699
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,720
You pray, you ask God. 
That's what persistent prayer is

700
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:57,840
number 7 and this is important 
and we could I, I would love to 

701
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,440
preach an entire message on 
this, but first Peter chapter 3 

702
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,440
because this is so important. 
First Peter, chapter 3. 

703
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,520
Prayer must flow from a sound 
husband and wife relationship. 

704
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:18,560
When a marriage is not working. 
And sometimes, probably many 

705
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,200
times, most people don't even 
know if the marriage is working 

706
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,400
or not, right? 
Because you're able to keep it 

707
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,360
behind closed doors. 
You're able to hide it from 

708
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,240
everybody else. 
Sometimes it's out in the open 

709
00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:29,120
and everybody knows that your 
marriage is not good. 

710
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,160
But when you have a husband and 
wife relationship that is not 

711
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,320
working, I can promise you that 
one or both are not praying. 

712
00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:40,880
You're not praying because this 
is exactly what the Bible says. 

713
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:45,880
First, Peter chapter 3 and verse
#7 likewise he husbands. 

714
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:50,120
And by the way, the 
responsibility to get all of 

715
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,040
these things right falls on the 
husband. 

716
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,600
Now the wife has to respond, but
it's, it's the responsibility of

717
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,680
the husband to be the one that 
reaches out first, right? 

718
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:01,120
You're at an impasse. 
Well, I'm not doing this. 

719
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,200
Well, I'm not doing that either.
So I guess we're just going to 

720
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,680
agree to disagree and we're just
going to go on with our life. 

721
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,880
And when neither one of us will 
pray and our relationship will 

722
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:12,240
not be right and nothing's going
to be right, right, Who's who, 

723
00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:15,520
Who's the first one to crack? 
Who's the first one to to to to 

724
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,680
say chicken right should be the 
husband. 

725
00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:22,800
It's a husband's responsibility 
to lead his wife. 

726
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,280
Likewise he husbands and this is
given to husbands. 

727
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,640
Now to talk about all the first 
Peter chapter 3. 

728
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,040
This is all about wives 
submitting themselves to their 

729
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,440
husbands. 
The whole 1st 1st 6 verses, 

730
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:37,400
right? 
Verse 6 even as Sarah obeyed 

731
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:41,320
Abraham, calling him Lord, whose
daughters ye are, as long as you

732
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:43,920
do well and are not afraid with 
any amazement. 

733
00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:46,960
But that's all about wives and, 
and how they handle themselves 

734
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,880
and, and verse #1 says that wife
should be in subjection to their

735
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:53,040
own husband. 
So it goes both ways, right? 

736
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,160
It's it goes both ways. 
The wife should be in subjection

737
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,120
to her husband. 
The husband says this is what 

738
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,320
we're going to do. 
The wife does not say no, this 

739
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:04,480
is not what we're going to do. 
I'm going to do this right? 

740
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,960
That's that. 
And that's why when you said 

741
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:10,240
your marriage vows, if you had a
pastor who was who actually had 

742
00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:13,760
a little bit of a backbone, he 
put to love, honor, cherish and 

743
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,880
obey till death do us part, 
right? 

744
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,400
There's I've seen videos of 
people who have done that before

745
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,400
to love, to honor, to cherish, 
to love, to honor, cherish and 

746
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:28,360
to obey. 
I'm not saying that right, but 

747
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:30,680
that's, that's the job of the 
wife, right? 

748
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:32,080
And that's exactly what the 
Bible says. 

749
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:37,280
So verse 7 though, is 2 
husbands, likewise you husbands 

750
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:41,480
dwell with them, your wife 
according to knowledge, giving 

751
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:46,120
honor unto the wife as unto the 
weaker vessel, and as being 

752
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:52,040
heirs together of the grace of 
life, that your prayers be not 

753
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,960
hindered. 
That's important. 

754
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:00,000
You don't have the right husband
and wife relationship. 

755
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:02,960
And you think that you're just 
going to waltz into the presence

756
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,400
of God and ask him for things 
and think that God's going to 

757
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,360
answer those prayers. 
Think again. 

758
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,440
The wife should be in subjection
to the husband. 

759
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:17,320
The husband should treat the 
wife with honor and respect or 

760
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:18,560
their praise are going to be 
hindered. 

761
00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:20,760
And that's an important, 
important part of it. 

762
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,360
The husband that does not treat 
his wife right after a godly 

763
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:27,080
fashion will not have power with
God in prayer. 

764
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:31,640
And I can say this, he is 
probably almost 100% not praying

765
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:33,520
at all. 
Not only is he not going to have

766
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,640
power with God in prayer, he's 
probably not praying at all. 

767
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,960
We could talk a lot about that. 
That's a very, very important 

768
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:41,880
thing. 
But we'll move on to #8 prayer 

769
00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:44,560
should be in association with 
others. 

770
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:47,440
And we'll just, we'll run 
through these verses quickly. 

771
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:52,480
Romans chapter 15 and verse #30 
and these are all, these are 

772
00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:54,120
all. 
I might skip a couple of these 

773
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:59,080
because they're all essentially 
the same type of verse. 

774
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:04,840
Philippians chapter 15 and verse
#30 Now I beseech you, brethren,

775
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,120
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake
and for the love of the Spirit, 

776
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:13,760
that you strive together with me
in your prayers to God for me. 

777
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,440
And 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 
and verse 11, Colossians 4, 

778
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:21,720
three First Thessalonians 525, 
Second Thessalonians 31, they 

779
00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:24,600
all are very similar to this 
verse. 

780
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:30,400
Paul constantly was asking other
believers to pray for him if 

781
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,600
he's, if he saw the need for 
that, being an apostle and 

782
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:36,800
having seen the Lord face to 
face, how much more do we need 

783
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:40,680
it? 
He said, brethren, pray for us. 

784
00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:42,560
That's what one of those verses 
says. 

785
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,680
Brethren, pray for us. 
In her conversations with me 

786
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,320
about prayer, my grandmother 
emphasized that having others 

787
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,000
pray with you about special 
needs is effectual. 

788
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,840
Why do you think we have a 
prayer list on Wednesday night? 

789
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,360
It's so that other people can 
pray for the needs that we have,

790
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:00,320
right? 
Why? 

791
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:03,320
Why is it important when you're 
struggling spiritually to pull 

792
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,040
somebody aside and say, hey, 
would you pray with me? 

793
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,640
I'm having the I'm struggling 
with this, or I have this issue,

794
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,160
or these are some things that 
I'm dealing with in my family. 

795
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:13,000
Would you pray with me about 
these things? 

796
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,520
Because there is power. 
There is power in, in mutual 

797
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,640
prayer, people praying together 
about those things. 

798
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:24,960
Turn over to Matthew chapter 6 
and we'll be done #9 Prayer 

799
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,600
should be combined with fasting 
at times. 

800
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:31,720
And most of you, if you've been 
here for any length of time, 

801
00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:34,760
have taken part in that. 
There's some things that that 

802
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,920
we're going to do in the area of
prayer that I think are going to

803
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,760
be very helpful for us. 
Some things that I'm going to 

804
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:45,120
introduce to you, but one of the
one of the things that we can 

805
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:48,240
and should be doing a whole lot 
more of is fasting and praying 

806
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:54,680
and, and Jesus is Matthew 
chapter 6 is what somebody tell 

807
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:59,520
me what Matthew chapter 6 is in 
Sermon on the Mount, right? 

808
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:04,480
Matthew 5-6 and seven. 
Jesus is just hitting almost 

809
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:06,240
every topic you can think of, 
right? 

810
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:08,520
He's just, it's like a shotgun 
sermon. 

811
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,080
It's, it's everything. 
Oh, and by the way, and oh, by 

812
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:14,800
the way, and by the way, and he 
comes to verse #16 and he says, 

813
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:18,720
moreover, when you fast, because
obviously Matthew chapter 6, we 

814
00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:22,280
were just, we just read some of 
those verses 5 through 15 is 

815
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:24,600
basically all part of the model 
prayer. 

816
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:29,600
And he says, oh, and by the way,
moreover, when you fast, be not 

817
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:31,680
as hypocrites. 
And now notice what He says He 

818
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:36,160
didn't say. 
If he says when, he just 

819
00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:39,480
automatically assumes that 
you're going to do it when you 

820
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,880
fast. 
Be not as the hypocrites of a 

821
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,760
sad countenance, for they 
disfigure their faces that they 

822
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:50,160
may appear on the men to fast. 
Verily I say unto you, they have

823
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:52,240
their reward. 
We'll read those verses in a 

824
00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:55,920
minute. 
But this reminds me when we were

825
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:59,320
working on this building and 
Josh was actually in the middle 

826
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:03,720
of doing the, the keto diet and 
he lost a lot of weight doing 

827
00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:05,920
it, but everybody knew that he 
was on the keto diet. 

828
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,040
We were, we had a bunch of 
snacks out here that we were 

829
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:14,280
eating M&M's and animal cracker.
I mean, we're here at 12:00, 

830
00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:17,200
1/2, 3:00 in the morning working
on this building because we only

831
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,560
had a certain amount of time 
and, and I was Josh here, eat 

832
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:22,560
something. 
You're making me feel, you know,

833
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,640
like, like, like I'm weak 
because he's walking around like

834
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,440
this. 
It was 2:00 in the morning. 

835
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,520
He's like, I have no energy. 
Yeah. 

836
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,720
And he wasn't fasting because he
was praying, but but he was 

837
00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:35,840
fasting doing the keto. 
This. 

838
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:37,480
That's that's what the Bible is 
talking about. 

839
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:41,480
When you, when you're fasting 
because you're praying, you 

840
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,080
don't walk around and let 
everybody know. 

841
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:47,120
Oh, I'm so hungry. 
I'm fasting right now because 

842
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:50,120
I'm having some things that I 
need to pray about, but I'm so 

843
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:51,680
hungry. 
I would love to eat something 

844
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:53,560
right now. 
Oh, that hamburger looks so 

845
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,160
good. 
I would love to eat that, but 

846
00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:59,200
I'm fasting right now, right? 
And that's that's you're not 

847
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:01,040
doing it because you're trying 
to get attention. 

848
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:04,080
You're doing it because you're 
trying to get God's attention, 

849
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,560
right. 
And that's that's part of the 

850
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:11,160
when you enter your closet and 
you pray, do those things in 

851
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:13,920
secret and you leave it up to 
God to reward you openly if 

852
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:15,760
that's what he wants to do 
right. 

853
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,600
But then he says this verse 17 
But thou, when thou fastest 

854
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:24,200
anoint thine head and wash thy 
face, that thou appear not unto 

855
00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:28,240
men to fast, but unto thy father
which is in secret, and thy 

856
00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:31,040
father which seeth in secret, 
shall reward thee openly. 

857
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:37,360
Boy, fasting is something that 
is so underutilized, I think in 

858
00:45:37,720 --> 00:45:40,120
Christianity. 
Part of it is because we're so 

859
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:44,480
fat that we can't skip a meal, 
you know, and we're so wrapped 

860
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:47,080
up in food that we can't skip a 
meal to pray. 

861
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:52,560
But this is what God is saying. 
You want to get God's attention,

862
00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:59,000
you go into your closet and you 
fast and you pray, and God will 

863
00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:02,040
reward you openly. 
He'll give you the things that 

864
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:05,440
you're asking for. 
Now we skip a couple of verses 

865
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:15,200
up to Matthew chapter 17 and 
verse #21 Jesus is talking to 

866
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,600
and the Bible says verse #14 A 
certain man came and said, he 

867
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,760
don't have mercy on my son. 
He's he's a lunatic. 

868
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:23,280
He's fallen in the fire, He's 
fallen in the water, all these 

869
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:25,880
different things. 
And Jesus cast the demons out of

870
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:27,240
him. 
And his disciples came to him 

871
00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:30,840
afterwards and they said, what 
did you do different? 

872
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:35,680
We tried he, this guy came to us
and we tried to cast the demons 

873
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:37,480
out of we couldn't cast the 
demons out of this guy. 

874
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:42,240
What, what did you do? 
Verse #21 Now actually verse 20 

875
00:46:42,240 --> 00:46:45,440
Jesus tells them, If you have 
faith as a grain of a mustard 

876
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,560
seed, you shall say unto this 
mountain, remove hence to Yonder

877
00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:52,000
place, and it shall remove, and 
nothing shall be impossible unto

878
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,800
you. 
Verse 21 Howbeit this kind goeth

879
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:58,400
not out, but by prayer and 
fasting. 

880
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:02,800
There are some things, some 
answers, that we are only going 

881
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:04,760
to get from God when we fast and
pray. 

882
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:10,440
And it takes a lot. 
It takes a lot to fast and pray 

883
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:14,600
instead of eating, you're on 
your knees begging God for 

884
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,400
whatever it is. 
You know, you, you have some 

885
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,720
kids that that may not be living
for the Lord you, you have some 

886
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:23,880
some things that you're dealing 
with in your own life. 

887
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:27,840
Fasting and praying is sometimes
the only way that you're going 

888
00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:31,360
to see an answer to that. 
And he tells a story here. 

889
00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:34,120
My maternal grandmother, Julia 
Pollack, was the first person 

890
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:36,880
that ever talked to me about 
fasting, referring to Matthew 

891
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:40,240
617 and 18. 
She told me that she had proven 

892
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:41,880
this promise several times in 
her life. 

893
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:44,280
On one occasion, her husband, 
who was a Deacon in a Baptist 

894
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:47,240
Church and who had not taken a 
drink of liquor since before 

895
00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:49,280
their marriage, got a job 
working on a roof with one of 

896
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:51,920
his old drinking buddies. 
He eventually allowed himself to

897
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:53,440
be talking to having just one 
drink. 

898
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,200
The one drink turned into many 
and they got so RIP roaring 

899
00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:59,320
drunk that they began singing 
loudly and throwing tools off 

900
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:01,880
the roof. 
The police were called in and 

901
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,880
they were hauled off to jail. 
Julia had to get Deacon Pollock 

902
00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:07,640
out of the slammer. 
He was deeply remorseful and 

903
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:09,840
promised her that he would never
do it again, and he stood before

904
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:12,760
the church and apologized 
profusely and was forgiven by 

905
00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:15,640
the congregation. 
She was deeply shocked by this 

906
00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:17,920
event, though, and was afraid 
that he might fall again, 

907
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:20,400
remembering that both her father
and her husband's father were 

908
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:23,440
drunkards. 
So she determined to fast and 

909
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,600
pray until she was assured of 
his complete victory over this 

910
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:28,400
evil. 
I don't think she told me how 

911
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:30,520
long she fasted, but it was many
days. 

912
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:33,200
She would cook her delicious 
meals and when it was time for 

913
00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:35,840
breakfast, lunch or supper, 
Monroe would say to her, come 

914
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:37,320
on, Juliet, let's eat a 
mouthful. 

915
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:39,280
And she would reply, don't worry
about me, Monroe. 

916
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:42,480
Finally she had peace in her 
heart that God was going to give

917
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:44,680
him the victory. 
And she ended her fast and he 

918
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:47,120
never touched a drop of liquor 
again in his life. 

919
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:49,360
None of her boys ever drank 
either. 

920
00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:54,120
That's one of those things that 
cometh not out but by prayer and

921
00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,040
fasting, right? 
I think it's one of the things 

922
00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:01,600
that that American Christianity 
has missed out on so much 

923
00:49:02,240 --> 00:49:07,360
because we, we've gotten so 
comfortable with, with American 

924
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:11,520
Christianity that we can just, 
you know, we don't need God 

925
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:16,560
unless we want him and we don't 
need answers to prayer unless we

926
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:19,320
want it because we have 
everything. 

927
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:23,520
You know, some of these people 
in, in, in these foreign 

928
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:26,880
countries that don't have much 
that I'll tell you, they know 

929
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:30,280
how to pray and you hear them 
get up and you can't even tell 

930
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,080
what they're saying because 
they're speaking a different 

931
00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:35,000
language a lot of times. 
But they are you can tell 

932
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:38,560
they're getting a hold of God. 
And it's, it's the people who 

933
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:41,360
have learned these things, these
principles that really know how 

934
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:43,760
to pray. 
Boy, I tell you just just just 

935
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:46,080
over the next couple weeks, 
right. 

936
00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:49,080
And the whole purpose of 
preaching is to is to not just 

937
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:52,320
say that we were here and that 
we talked about something and 

938
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:54,360
move on. 
It's to move you into action. 

939
00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:56,480
It's to try to get you to do 
something better, to do 

940
00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:58,280
something different in your 
life, right? 

941
00:49:58,920 --> 00:50:03,600
So how about let's take one of 
these aspects a day or one of 

942
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:06,360
these aspects every couple days 
and over the next few weeks, try

943
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:09,760
to incorporate these things into
your praying, right? 

944
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:13,040
It must be Worshipful. 
When's the last time you said in

945
00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:17,360
your prayer, God, you're a great
God and I'm so thankful that I 

946
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:20,760
have the privilege of being able
to serve you as the God of the 

947
00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:23,920
universe. 
I know who you are and I know 

948
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:26,200
who I am. 
When's the last time you prayed 

949
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:30,960
like that and went on about how 
wonderful and how, how majestic 

950
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:35,560
and, and how holy God is, right?
Add that to your praying. 

951
00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:37,800
Put that in there. 
Do it. 

952
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:40,240
Do it over the next couple days.
Confessional. 

953
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:42,920
When's the last time? 
I mean, it ought to be a habit 

954
00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:46,120
when you get down to pray. 
God, please forgive me for the 

955
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:50,840
things that I did yesterday. 
I don't want to do those things.

956
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,120
I don't want to. 
I don't want to lose my temper. 

957
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:55,960
I don't want to think those 
things. 

958
00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:59,920
I don't want to do those things.
Whatever it happens to be, God, 

959
00:50:59,920 --> 00:51:02,080
please forgive me. 
I want my heart to be right with

960
00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:09,280
you before I even begin to pray.
Earnest, regular, watchful, 

961
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:14,000
persistent husband and wife 
relationship and in association 

962
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:15,400
with others. 
When's the last time you pulled 

963
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:17,200
somebody aside and asked them to
pray together with you? 

964
00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:20,840
You know, I almost never, I 
almost never have a meeting with

965
00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:22,520
somebody without ending in 
prayer. 

966
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:26,400
I can't say never because I'm 
sure it happens, but I almost 

967
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:29,000
never have a meeting without 
ending in prayer and asking God 

968
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:33,800
to, to help the person that I'm 
talking to or to, to to bless 

969
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,480
the conversation that we had or 
to answer the things that we're 

970
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,720
talking about in that, in that 
conversation, right? 

971
00:51:39,720 --> 00:51:42,640
Those that that's what, that's 
what getting somebody else 

972
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:44,720
together. 
What does the Bible say about 

973
00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:49,520
two or three being gathered 
together in his name there? 

974
00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:53,360
Am I in the midst, right? 
I mean, you can have two people,

975
00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:57,080
two people get together and 
kneel down next to a chair and 

976
00:51:57,080 --> 00:51:59,160
pray together and God's right 
there in the midst of him, 

977
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:02,000
right? 
It's an amazing thing and it 

978
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:03,720
should be combined with fasting 
at times. 

979
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,960
You know, how about in the next 
couple weeks, how about in the 

980
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:11,760
next couple weeks you fast and 
pray about something that's on 

981
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,280
your heart. 
Fast and pray for your kids. 

982
00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:19,640
Fast and pray for your marriage.
Fast and pray for this church. 

983
00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:22,600
Fast and pray for souls. 
There's so many things that are 

984
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:27,360
of absolute importance that we 
need to be fasting and praying 

985
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:29,680
over. 
Even if it's just a meal. 

986
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,320
Skip lunch and pray. 
Skip breakfast and pray. 

987
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:37,400
Skip dinner and pray. 
Skip all three of them and pray.

988
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:41,080
Those are things that if we are 
serious about it, why do you 

989
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:44,080
fast? 
Because it shows God that you're

990
00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:46,080
serious, right? 
We need to eat. 

991
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:50,080
We like to eat, but we need to 
eat, right? 

992
00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:53,840
And when you skip something that
you like and need to do to show 

993
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,720
God that you're serious about 
the things you're asking for, 

994
00:52:56,960 --> 00:53:01,360
That's why these things cometh 
not out but by prayer and 

995
00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:06,120
fasting, because some things 
need to show God that we're a 

996
00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:09,600
little bit more serious about it
than just being persistent or 

997
00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:12,560
just showing up to pray about it
in our regular prayer time. 

998
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:17,280
But at the very least, just get 
consistent in your prayer, man. 

999
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,560
If you have to make a checklist 
and put a check mark next to it 

1000
00:53:20,560 --> 00:53:24,000
every single day and see if you 
can put seven check marks next 

1001
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:27,600
to it, right? 
That's that's one of the things 

1002
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:32,760
I think that we underutilize the
most. 

1003
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:37,040
We don't pray, we don't pray. 
If we had a whole church full of

1004
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:42,120
praying people, we could, we 
could reach the World. 

1005
00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:47,040
We really could because God 
would know that we're serious 

1006
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:51,800
and God would like this. 
Keep coming. 

1007
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:57,560
I'm going to have to answer it. 
Ask and seek and knock. 

1008
00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:00,200
Keep knocking at the door at 
Jesus feet. 

1009
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:02,200
All right. 
I mean, we sing that song. 

1010
00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:05,880
It's it's not just words, it's 
come straight from God's word. 

1011
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:09,760
It's important. 
And we if we could grasp this 

1012
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,960
idea of prayer, it would give us
it would it would help so much 

1013
00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:15,000
with our Christian growth. 
It would help so much with our 

1014
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,760
spiritual victory. 
It would help so much with our 

1015
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:21,320
our progression in our 
relationship with Christ. 

1016
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,280
I mean, you, you're, you can't 
not get to know somebody when 

1017
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:28,440
you're having a conversation 
with them all the time, right? 

1018
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:31,680
I mean, one of the best ways to 
get to know somebody is to go 

1019
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:34,520
with him on a trip somewhere and
you're just constantly together,

1020
00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:38,040
right? 
You want to know Christ that I 

1021
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:41,600
may know him. 
Pray without ceasing. 

1022
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:43,840
You have a constant conversation
with him. 

1023
00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:45,840
Guess what's going to happen? 
You're going to get to know him 

1024
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:48,440
pretty well. 
You're going to have the 

1025
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:50,400
relationship with him that he 
wants to have with you. 

1026
00:54:52,120 --> 00:54:54,720
So are you, are you, where are 
you at? 

1027
00:54:54,720 --> 00:54:58,560
Where, where is your spiritual 
level? 

1028
00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:02,360
Zero to 100. 
I'll tell you exactly where it's

1029
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:04,040
at. 
It's wherever your level of 

1030
00:55:04,040 --> 00:55:06,680
prayer is. 
Because when you're right with 

1031
00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:10,040
God and when your spirituality 
is where it should be, you will 

1032
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:13,200
be in an attitude of prayer 
constantly. 

1033
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:15,960
And praying is not something 
that you're just going to do 

1034
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,640
when you sit down to eat. 
It's not going to do something 

1035
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:21,120
that you do when you get put on 
the spot in the church service 

1036
00:55:21,120 --> 00:55:24,480
and I ask you to pray. 
It's something that you're going

1037
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:27,080
to do constantly. 
You want to know if you're a 

1038
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:30,440
spiritual person or not What's 
your prayer life like? 

1039
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:32,800
That'll tell you, that'll tell 
you. 

1040
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:37,960
And it's it's hard sometimes to 
come to grips with the fact that

1041
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,600
you know what, maybe I'm not 
really spiritual as I think I am

1042
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:43,760
because my prayer life is not 
where it should be. 

1043
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:46,680
But these are aspects. 
These are things that that are 

1044
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:51,680
one through 9 things that you 
can do to help you develop a 

1045
00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:56,600
prayer life that you should have
because 500 references to prayer

1046
00:55:57,240 --> 00:55:58,960
is enough that we ought to take 
it seriously. 

1047
00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:01,480
It's enough that we ought to 
take it seriously. 

1048
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:03,800
Let's pray. 
Father, again, we thank you so 

1049
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:05,880
much for your goodness to us. 
Thank you for the opportunity we

1050
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:08,640
have to to go through these 
things and understand the 

1051
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:13,040
importance of our walk with you 
and understand the importance of

1052
00:56:13,120 --> 00:56:17,120
a prayer time with you and God. 
May we be people of prayer. 

1053
00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:19,400
May you help us. 
May you help us to be what we 

1054
00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:24,160
should be in prayer, that we 
have the power with you that you

1055
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:27,600
want us to have because we've 
been in the prayer closet. 

1056
00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:30,440
And God, may you help us to grow
in this area. 

1057
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:34,000
Thank you again for all you do 
for us in Jesus name, Amen.