So, how do I get started, brothers and girls, you're talking this big talk about we need
to pray more.
Okay, you got me.
Jesus Christ was a prayer warrior like no one else.
We get it.
He went up to the mountain.
He broke away.
He did whatever he had to do to get the Lord's attention, to get his Father's attention and
get his Father to help him.
You know, he was trying to constantly have the Father on his side, constantly in communication
with the Father.
How do we start?
Well, like I said earlier, like we always recommend, like pastor tells people, hey,
aim for multiple times throughout the day.
Aim for multiple times throughout the day.
We already went through the scriptures where it says evening and morning and at noon I
would pray and cry out loud, aim for it.
You miss the morning, you miss the afternoon, hopefully you get the night time.
And if you miss all three, try it again the next day.
Keep perfecting your skills, your prayer skills, amen, just don't give up on it because God
will reward you openly.
He will.
You know, so keep it going.
He will reward you openly.
Psalms 119 and 164 says this, seven times a day do I praise you because of the righteous
judgments.
I'm not asking you to do that.
Not even close.
But man, this guy did.
He wrote it.
That settles it.
It's God's word.
Seven times.
Wow.
Man, that's good.
And another thing I recommend, another tip, hey, do it in the morning as best you can.
Do it in the morning.
Seek ye first.
Matthew 6, seek ye first the kingdom of God.
How long?
Well, look, we all have different goals in life, you know, but I just try to aim for
at least five minutes of prayer, at least five minutes of Bible if I'm that bad on time
before I even start my day.
That's pretty much a chapter in five minutes of just thanking God, praising God, confessing
to God, asking God for help, and asking God for protection.
Usually it's about five minutes.
So aim for 10 minutes.
And then we'll get into some other tips as well.
But how do I, you know, start?
It says right there, Matthew 6, 33, if you can't, but seek ye first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.
Some people, they walk and pray.
I think that's great.
Jesus did it.
You know, they go out for 30 minutes, they come back for 30 minutes.
They pray for an hour when they start their day.
That's great.
You can do that, do it.
You know, some people run and pray.
You know, they jog and pray.
I'm sure they're not sprinting in prayer.
That'd be kind of hard.
But, you know, sometimes they can jog pretty slow to the point where it's kind of like
speed walking.
Hey, some people do that.
You know, they jog for 30 minutes, get a little bit of exercise, you know, trying to cut some
weight, whatever the case may be.
You know, just go for it.
Do something.
You know, you have to climb a mountain or get an elliptical to wake you up.
I don't know.
You know, but starting out, just pray about everything.
Look at this, Mark 11, 24, therefore I say unto you, what things shall you desire when
you pray?
Believe that you receive them and you shall have them.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be
done unto you.
Psalms 37, 4, thou light thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart.
Philippians 4, 6, be careful for nothing but in everything, by prayer's supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Just pour your heart out to him.
Anything that's bugging you, any issues you've got going on, whatever problems are affecting
you, unleash it on God, amen.
Just let him have it.
Lord, this is what's bothering me.
Just let it all go.
Tell it to the Lord and you'll be done with it and I'm sure you'll have the peace of God
like it says right there and that will help you out.
Tip number four, the title of the sermon is paid to pray but I'm not really talking about
Matthew 6, 6, even though you will get paid like it says, whatever you do in secret, God
shall reward you openly.
That's not really why I call the sermon paid to pray.
Here's the bottom line.
We can all, if we want to, get kind of paid to pray in a sense.
Here's what I mean by that.
I was talking to somebody else and I was just asking, hey, do you get breaks at work?
Yeah, I get breaks at work.
Raise your hand if you get breaks at work.
Looks like the majority of people get breaks at work.
Wives, come on, you can take a break too.
You know, stay at home wives.
You can take a little break here and there, you know.
But here's what happened when I started working at age 13.
They gave me breaks.
You know, I started working at a sports camp.
They gave me a 15-minute break, a 30-minute lunch, and a 15-minute break, pretty much
an hour.
You know, and then pretty much I just go home after an eight-hour shift.
My second job was working at Safeway.
I was working at Safeway.
You know, not even as a cashier.
I didn't have skills to do that, you know, just pushing carts.
But they gave me a 15-minute break and they gave me a one-hour lunch and a 15-minute break.
The next job after that was the military.
Even in the military, they gave us breaks.
In the non-training days, they give us an hour lunch, right, brother Nate?
Right?
You just go to the barracks and take a nap, correct?
Isn't that what we usually did?
No?
Oh, man, that was only me?
I was 18, you know.
I figured, what am I doing?
I'll just go home and nap.
You know, and then I'll be back in formation.
True or false?
Even during training, they gave us breaks, did they not?
Lots of breaks during training.
All right, guys, take a break.
We're going to eat right now, bust out an MRE, meal's ready to eat, and start chewing
on it, right?
Even in combat, they gave us breaks.
I'm in Iraq.
We're guarding schools with bombs and ammunition and everything else, and we went 50 percent
during the day, meaning half of the squad is on security, half of them are relaxing
and eating their meals.
Nighttime, we go to 75 percent.
Midnight till 4 a.m., we're 100 percent, everybody's up.
Even during combat, we got breaks.
What am I getting at?
Here's what I'm getting at.
Use some of those breaks to pray and read your Bible.
Just use one, you know?
Use one or use two.
When I worked over here at Fry's Electronics, you know, five minutes from here, they will
give us a 10-minute break and a one-hour lunch, then a 10-minute break.
And they didn't include you walking to the break room.
They'd be like, hey, once you get to the break room, it's just integrity.
It's an integrity game.
You get 10 minutes.
Once you walk to the break room, just sit down for 10 minutes, relax, because we were
on our feet the whole time.
You know, I was on my feet from like 7 a.m. all the way to 11 p.m.
So they would say, hey, just relax, do whatever you want to do, get something to eat, whatever
the case may be.
I just read my Bible and prayed.
I'm not trying to be holier than thou, but I'm just telling you, hey, I just took the
advantage because I wanted to get through the Bible so many times a year.
And guess what?
You had the same opportunity as well.
And they paid me for that break.
Now you're starting to see the message, paid to pray.
Now you're getting it.
Paid to pray.
Some people give 15-minute breaks.
True?
That's like two chapters.
Knock out two chapters and five minutes praying.
Bam.
Easy.
I don't think it'll be that difficult.
Now, you're like, well, brothers and girls, I don't like hearing my Bible everywhere I
go.
I don't even own a Bible.
This Bible is Pastor Anderson's Bible.
I do all my Bible reading off my phone.
And now that the phones are getting bigger and bigger, it's a lot easier to read.
My kids have these little smartphones on their wrist.
None of them have SIM cards, so don't panic, all right?
None of them have SIM cards.
But they can beef up the font.
See, look at that.
Look at that.
They got their little watches because I was sick and tired of them leaving their tablets
behind, and I'm trying to get them to read their Bible and pray every two hours while
they're getting homeschooled.
I'm like, okay, stop every two hours and just read for five minutes, pray for five minutes,
just to get them in the habit of doing it.
Because guess what?
Once again, we need more prayer, not less prayer.
That's just a fact.
The world's getting crazier and crazier and crazier.
And you know what?
If you want to be like Stephen, standing strong with a face like an angel, being tough, filled
with the Spirit, it wasn't just by reading his Bible, my friend.
I guarantee you it was through prayer as well.
The whole package, like Job, being complete, being perfect.
Job knew how to pray, I guarantee you that.
And the apostles were like, wow, we want to be like our Savior.
You know, it's like, hey, teach us to pray.
Am I doing it right?
Well, let me tell you what you need to do.
Praise God, thank God, ask for protection, ask for your needs, your daily bread, and
forgive others.
You need to be a forgiving person.
They say, man, forgiving people is hard because you don't have a habit of doing it.
Imagine if you're praying three times a day, morning, night, and noon.
Lord, forgive me for being such a wicked person.
You're going to be like that guy that says, Lord, be merciful unto me a sinner.
You're not going to be like the publican.
Lord, I'm glad I'm not like this church member.
Did you just see that church member?
You see what he's wearing, you know?
Did you see that shirt he brought in?
What?
You know, Joe Biden, really?
At our church?
Somebody needs to go talk to that guy.
Friends and girls, Joe Biden, really?
You want to warn that guy?
I mean, wake him up a little.
What are you talking about?
Trump is just as bad, you know?
Some people say maybe less, maybe more.
I don't care, he's unsavory, he's prideful, he never commands every day.
All ruining this country, amen.
That's why I don't worry about any of that.
But that's what you have to do is just, hey, try to do your best to just read through the Bible.
You know, and I use the Olive Tree app.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
A little green one.
It has many Bible plans, amazing Bible plans.
You know, it has a 31-day Bible plan.
That's intense, you know?
But it also has a one-year Bible plan where it's just four chapters a day.
Four chapters a day.
Well, if you get up in the morning, boom, you knock out one.
You do it for your first break, you knock out two.
You do it for the lunch, you knock out three.
You do it for your last break, boom.
You just knocked out your Bible reading for the day so you can get through it in a year.
Well, just continue it.
Every two hours, what's the big hurt to continue it and do another day?
Now you're going to finish it twice a year.
In 10 years, that's 24 times.
You're not going to be a dummy.
You're not going to be easily deceived.
And it's not easy to mentally enslave somebody who knows the Bible.
It's very difficult.
People try to say X, Y, and Z.
You're like, please, that's not what the Bible says.
I know the truth about the sodomites. Amen?
But all I'm trying to say is, hey, I don't think it's hard to just take one of your breaks and read the Bible.
True?
And I think we're going to get to heaven and realize how much time we wasted when we could have been reading our Bible.
I'm included. I'm guilty.
I don't want to kind of end that as best I can.
In my life, my kids, everybody, we all know that, hey, we can take a little bit more time.
We can cut one of those breaks and use it during my lunch, whatever.
Just have a war plan. You'll have more success.
What I do is I take out my phone.
In fact, I just got to show you guys so you see I'm not just making stuff up.
So every two hours, I just click it, got my stopwatch, and I got my Bible.
After 10 minutes, back to work. Back to work.
Because after two hours just focusing on videos, man, it's like, oh, man, it's a mental whatever.
Then when I read my Bible and I do my 10-minute break, it refreshes me.
It refreshes me.
And everybody gets a break, do we not, guys?
You guys get a break?
Hey, why can't I have a break, too?
Can I get a break, please?
Pastor Anderson obviously doesn't.
He's not our taskmaster whipping us here and there.
But I do want to pray for you guys as well.
I do want to take a little bit of time to pray for you guys.
Yeah, we're busy. He's busy.
He knows what I'm talking about. We're busy.
He's like, how'd you get everything done?
I'm doing your job and I don't know how you did it.
I don't know either, but we made it happen, right?
And now that I got a good team member, we're going to get a lot more done.
For the Lord, for you guys.
Hopefully we allow you guys to get heavily rewarded.
But once again, Matthew 6.6.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which is in secret.
Shall reward thee openly.
That's in this life and the next. Amen.
In other words, you're getting paid to pray.
But, ladies, stay-at-home moms, come on.
You guys as well.
Got to do it.
The kids will get you busy.
You guys got to cook.
I'm talking to the stay-at-home moms.
You guys got to cook.
You guys got to clean.
You guys got to teach the kids.
It's hard.
Stay-at-home moms, that's a real job, believe it or not.
Even when we were trying to get our house, the loan officer is like,
write down your occupations.
Whatever, cashier, at Fry's Electronics.
My wife's like, unemployed.
The lady, the loan officer, literally took the paperwork and says,
uh-uh, no, no, no.
You need to put stay-at-home mom.
That's a real job.
This is the loan officer.
Scratch out unemployed and put stay-at-home mom.
Remember that?
Where's my wife?
Can I get an amen?
You know, a loan officer, unsafe, worldly loan officer said,
hey, you're a stay-at-home mom.
That's a real job.
You need to write that down.
You have a real job, not unemployed.
Because my wife figured, she's not going to understand.
I'll just put unemployed.
She's like, oh, no, no, no, no.
Scratch that.
In fact, here's a new sheet.
Please put stay-at-home mom.
That is a real job.
That's what she said.
I'm like, well, that's what's up.
So I know even the ladies are working 12, 16, 18, 20-hour days sometimes
because their job is never done.
You know, their job is cooking, cleaning, homeschooling,
educating themselves.
But you have to stop, separate yourself,
and you've got to read your Bible.
Ladies, you've got to read your Bible.
You've got to pray.
It will benefit your family.
It will benefit your marriage.
It will benefit everybody.
You know, because righteousness and salt is the nation.
And how are we going to make America great again?
By getting right with the Lord.
That's how you really make it great.
Not by voting for Trump.
There, I said it.
Not by voting for Trump.
By you getting right with the Lord as best you can.
That's how God's going to bless this nation.
Not voting for him or whoever.
That's how we get this nation to be exalted by righteousness.
And all God's people say?
I'm glad you're backing me up a little bit.
I know, I know.
Politicians shouldn't talk about it.
But either or the Lord.
The last tip.
So quickly, my tips.
My tips.
Really quick tips.
Once again, hey, got to be careful being too sinful.
Got to be careful being an unforgiving individual.
Got to be careful, you know, improper wife, improper husband-wife relationship.
Got to be careful getting sick of listening to Pastor Anderson preach, or me, or whoever.
Got to be careful of that.
Because people in other nations are like,
Man, what I will give to go to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
And then you're here like, Man, brother said,
Girl, really?
If I knew pastor was sick, I would just stay home safe from gas.
Well, let's just say you better, your prayers ain't going to get answered.
That's a fact.
Like, whoa, that's not a humble spirit.
I'm telling you, whoever gets up here,
Brother Corbin, Raymond, whoever, you know,
people will give anything to be in your shoes.
To know that they're going to a church that's a real, legitimate, bona fide,
not these fake, you know, apostate Christianity churches
all throughout Africa, all throughout Mexico, all throughout the whole world.
You know, they're like, Man, what I would give to be part of Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Man, Lord, when is it going to happen?
Well, it might happen in the next life for some people in other nations.
And you're here, and you're just like, Really?
Brother said, Girl.
All I got to say is be careful, despite seeing God's Word, whoever's preaching it.
And the tips, multiple times throughout the day, aim for three.
Once again, start in the morning.
Pray about, unleash on God.
Pray about everything.
Even if I offended you, pray that God forgives me.
And if you can, hey, get paid to pray, right?
Get paid to pray.
Get paid to eat, get paid to pray, you know, skip it and just pray.
And my last tip, do it every day.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 17, pray without ceasing.
Let's pray.
Dear God, thank you for everything that you've done.
Thank you for your Word.
Thank you for these people.
Thank you for your faithful ones, dear Lord.
We know that life ain't easy.
It's very tough.
The devil's going to try to destroy us.
You know, but we ask you to give us the power, the peace, the patience,
everything we need to get the job done and help us to be victorious, which you know we will.
And Father, we ask you to just bless everyone here, keep them safe as they go home.
Help Pastor Anderson to be 100% by Wednesday.
Father, we know that being sick is a terrible thing and I pray that him and his family, you know,
they're dealing with the corona right now, loss of their smell and taste.
I pray that you get that all back really soon and that you help us to get back to normal
so we can continue to fight for you.
In Jesus' presence, amen.