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Dear God, in Jesus' name, we pray, amen. Now, I want to focus on the latter part of the chapter. It's a great chapter and so much I'd like to preach out of it, but I want to start reading in verse number 13 where the Bible reads, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to the like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. What I want to preach about this morning is this, the power of prayer. The power of prayer. Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter number 3 toward the end of the New Testament. Start at the end of the Bible and start flipping backward. You'll probably find it pretty soon. 2 Timothy chapter number 3, the Bible says this in verse 1, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. That's the second part, dangerous times. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. That's the day that we're living in. We're living in the latter days, according to the Bible, and all these things that are listed here definitely describe the time that we're living in America, but he said here that in these days people would have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Now the Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. He said pray for one another that you may be healed. He said pray if someone's sick. Pray if you have a problem, if you're afflicted, if you have financial problems or whatever the problem, pray about it and it's not just because praying will make you feel good or something, it's that God will step in and answer you and do what's needed. You see, prayer is a powerful thing and people today will deny the power of prayer and say well we're not living in the age of miracles. You know, this is a different dispensation. And I don't believe in any dispensationalism at all. You say, oh good, you're not a hyper-dispense... I'm not dispensationalist at all. I'm not going to follow the false doctrine of a man in the early 1800s who twisted and perverted and corrupted the Bible named John Nelson Darby who's burning in hell for tampering with God's Word, creating the NIV of the 19th century. I'm not going to believe in it. I don't believe in his doctrine. I'm not going to follow deployment brethren. I'm a Baptist and I believe in Baptist doctrine which is that every word of God is pure and I'm going to follow what the Bible explicitly says, not somebody's chart that they draw on the wall for me about dispensations. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. God worked miracles in the Old Testament. God worked miracles when Jesus Christ walked on this earth. And he said in the book of James chapter 5, he said the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. He said, pray! Pray! In the 21st century. Pray today! Not because it's just an exercise like we're Muslims that get on our knees five times a day and say a chance. But we pray because we want God to hear us. Let me prove that to you. Look at James chapter 4. Probably should have stayed there in the book of James, but back in James chapter 4, I'm going to show you that prayer actually accomplishes something. It's not just an exercise. It's not just a ritual. It's not something like the Catholics where we rub beads and go through 50 times this way and 50 times that way. The Bible says when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do. Did you hear that? That's what heathens do. They repeat things over and over. They chant. And they think that they'll be heard for their much speaking and God said, be not ye therefore like unto them. Look at James chapter 4 and it says here in verse number 1, from whence come wars and fightings among you. And by the way, there's a lot of war going on in this world, isn't there? This is why. From whence come wars and fightings among you, come they not hence even of your lusts that war and your members. So according to the Bible, the source of all warfare is lust. It's the love of money that's the root of all evil. It's covetousness. It's wanting what belongs to someone. That's all the wars that are being fought in the world right now. That's what you could boil it down to. One person wanting something that belongs to someone else. He said that's where war comes from. He said it comes from the war that's inside of you. Your own personal lust and then that's carried out in a broader scale among nations. Nations wanting to take something that belongs to another nation. That's every war. He said in verse 2, ye lust and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, and watch this last phrase, yet ye have not because ye ask not. So prayer is not just an exercise or a ritual. He says there are things that you could have if you would ask for them but you don't have them because you don't ask for them. And that's what prayer means. That's what it means to pray. A lot of people think that when they get on their knees and just thank God or praise God that they've prayed but you have not prayed unless you ask for something because the word pray means to ask. So if I were to say to you, you know, give me a cup of water, I pray thee. You know, we don't talk that way anymore obviously but I'd be saying I'm asking you for something. That's what the word pray means. And so a lot of people there are things that they could have if they would ask God, if they would pray. But if you don't pray you're not going to get it. You're not going to receive. He said you have not because you ask not. It sounds like praying can change something. Praying can help you receive something. He said ye ask in verse 3 and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. See, he says if you just ask me for something just to fulfill your lust, he said I'm not necessarily going to answer that prayer. But if we ask anything according to his will, the Bible says, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him. Look at Matthew 21. Matthew chapter 21. First book of the New Testament. Matthew chapter 21 and verse 17. You see, prayer is a powerful thing and if you don't pray, you're missing out on a lot of blessings from God. You're missing out on God's help. God stepping in and helping you. I believe that God answers prayer. I can name for you many many times when God miraculously answered my prayer. Many times. Or where he miraculously answered the prayers of other people that I knew were praying about something. So many times has God stepped in and answered prayer and if you don't know what I'm talking about it's because you don't pray. Or it's because you're praying the wrong things or it's because you're not right with God. Because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You know, if you're living for God, if you're doing the right things and you pray, God will answer you. And if God doesn't answer you, then something's wrong. I'm not talking about answering in an audible voice. I'm talking about you receiving the petitions that you desired of. I'm talking about the things that you prayed for coming to pass. Look at Matthew 21 verse 17. The Bible says this. This is Jesus and he left them and went out of the city into Bethany and he lodged there. Now in the morning as he returned into the city he hungered and when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing there on but leaves only and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee hence forward forever and presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away? Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. Jesus said, Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth and everyone that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened unto him. Or else what man is there of you whom if his son asked bread will he give him a stone? Or if ye ask a fish will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Look if you would at Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter number 11. Third book of the New Testament, Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter number 11. The Bible says this in verse number 1, it says, And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, so Jesus is praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Which of you shall have a friend? And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needed. What is importunity? Importunity is like persistence, just continually asking again and again and again. He says, If you were at home, and you're in bed, and the lights are out, and you're and somebody that you know comes knocking on your door, and says, Friend, lend me three loaves, a friend of mine has come to me in his journey, I have nothing to set before him. Even if you don't even like the guy, he said, even if he's not your friend, even if you don't, you know, you're thinking, I don't even know this guy that well, what is he doing banging on my door in the middle of the night? He said, You're probably just going to give him the three loaves just to get rid of them. You know, just so they'll leave you alone, just whatever, here you go, you know, get out of here. He said, It's the same thing with God. He said, If you keep being persistent and asking God, he'll answer you. There is another story in the Bible about where there was a lady who was a widow, and she was being defrauded and ripped off, and the judge in her town was a crook. Isn't that a shock? But, you know, a crooked judge, you know, there's no such thing as those anymore, but anyway, there's this crooked judge, this unjust judge, he's on the take, you know, he's taking bribes and all this, and there's nothing new under the sun, but he's taking bribes, and this lady comes to him, and she wants to get some justice, because she's been ripped off, and he just won't help her, won't do anything for her, and she keeps bugging him, and bugging him, and bugging him, day after day after day, and finally, the guy says, Look, I don't fear God, that's what the judge said, I don't fear man, he said, but this woman is driving me insane, so I'm just going to give her what she wants. And he finally just steps in and up, and this is what God said, How much more is your father, which in heaven, that loves you, going to step in and help those that cry unto him day and night, he said. We need to pray, don't go through life without praying, we need to be praying and asking God to help us, and a lot of the reason why we don't have some of the things that we need is because we're not praying for them, and we need to be on our knees praying, you look at Jesus, he prayed all night, in many cases, and he's the example that we should walk in his steps, look at Matthew 26, here's an example of Jesus telling his disciples to pray, look at Matthew 26. You know, by the way, God is a real person, you know, we don't believe in a God that's like a force or something like Star Wars, we believe in a God that's a person, and God in heaven is someone that you can talk to, and speak to, and he'll hear you, and he speaks to you through his word, he's a person, and the reason why most people don't talk to him is because they don't believe he's there, because if you believe that he's there, you believe that he hears you when you talk to him, and you can pray in your heart, you can pray out loud, in Nehemiah chapter 1, Nehemiah prayed in his heart, and God heard his prayer, and so forth, where did I return? Matthew 26, look at verse 35, this is Peter saying to Jesus, Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee, likewise also said all the disciples, verse 36, then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder, so he wants to separate from the disciples, he says, you stay here, I'm going to go over here and pray, you guys be over here and pray, okay, and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy, then sayeth unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, this is Jesus speaking, even unto death, tarry ye here and watch with me, and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt, and he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep, and sayeth unto Peter, what, could ye not watch with me, one hour, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, he went away again the second time and prayed saying, oh my father, this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done, and he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, and he left them and went away again and prayed the third time saying the same words, then cometh thee to his disciples and sayeth unto them, sleep on now and take your rest, behold the hour is at hand, and the son of man is betrayed in the hands of sinners, rise let us be going, behold he is at hand that does betray me. You see Jesus rebuking his disciples because they would not pray for one hour, and let me ask something, have you ever prayed for one hour? Have you ever prayed for one hour? And you ought to be praying not just a little 30 seconds, a little 15 second ditty, you know, dear Jesus thank you for this food, Jesus say amen, you know, type of thing before you eat, you should be doing some serious prayer, not just a chant, but where you actually pray in your own words to God for one hour, and if you say I've never prayed for one hour, that should be your assignment for this week, can you watch with Jesus for one hour, can you get on your knees and say I don't even know what I prayed, well then you need to learn to pray, that's why the disciples said teach us to pray, how did Jesus pray all night, how did David pray seven times a day, how did Daniel pray with his windows open of his house three times a day, and that was his habit, and everybody knew that habit that he prayed once in the morning, once in the middle of the day, and once at night, and you know what, even when there was a law made in the book of Daniel that said that any man who would make petition to any god except for to king Darius, if they prayed to anyone, they said they'd be thrown into the lion's den, and Daniel still went to the same place, opened all the windows like he always did, he said I don't care what the king's commandment is, I'm going to do this because it's right, and I believe that he opened those windows, not just because he's trying to show off or because he just had some kind of a death wish, he wanted to be thrown in the lion's den, I believe he opened those windows because there were so many Christians who were refusing to pray because they were following the government's edict not to pray, that he just said you know I want to be a testimony and show them hey there's one man who's going to do what's right in spite of what the king says, in spite of what anybody says, and I think he just wanted to show them openly I will do what's right, I will continue to pray, and I believe that it probably strengthened other people who looked at him and said you know what Daniel's still praying, he's not ashamed, maybe I should be doing the right thing too, and I bet you it would embolden others to do right, don't do right in the closet somewhere or hiding it, you know be openly about openly doing what's right and what you believe, don't try to hide it and there's so many people today who believe the right things but they won't say it because it's not popular or because they're ashamed of it and they don't want to be labeled as such, you know you're going to be labeled as a lot of things, I've been labeled as just about everything and I can prove that to you okay you think think of the dirt, I'll prove it to you, think of the dirtiest thing to call anybody okay and and I got my email account right here on my phone if we hit search I'll show you a list of emails that call me that, you name it, you know I'm not kidding, you know when you're a preacher that preaches the bible you'll be called everything okay Jesus said you'll be hated of all men for my name's sake and yet I'm not going to hide what I believe, I may say well I'm going to do the right thing but you know I'm just going to you know do it quietly so that there's no trouble, you know bring on the trouble if that's what it takes to wake people up you baby, stand up for what you believe and you know what if it was that important of Daniel to Daniel to get on his knees and pray three times a day, shouldn't it be important to us when it's not against the law to get on our knees three times a day, you say well do you have to get on your knees to pray, do you have to get on your face to pray, do you have to close your eyes to pray, do you have to speak out loud to pray, well let me explain to you you could pray in your head you could just pray to God obviously God knows your thoughts you know and that there's examples that throughout the bible you can pray driving down the road and so forth but let me tell you something you ought to and you see this throughout the bible hundreds of times there ought to be times when you get on your knees and open your mouth and pray audibly to God or get on your face and pray audibly to God because you can just say oh well here's one example where somebody's praying silently but hold on what about all the examples where people are on their knees what about all the examples where they're praying out loud what about all the examples where they're on their face before God you know you don't want to just take one example and just take that and just say oh that's all I'm going to do you know there's something about praying on your knees it's an act of humility it's humbling yourself before God when you get on your face when you get on your knees and when you speak out loud it helps you from getting distracted because sometimes you might be praying in your mind and then your mind just starts to drift off into whatever right but if you're on your knees and you're speaking that can help you pray more effectively and to stay focused on what you're doing because today our minds have so many things racing through them in the society we live in there's always music pumping into our head and and that everywhere you go there's tv screens and billboards and noise and and we live such a fast-paced life the bible still said look at matthew 6 you're in matthew 26 let's go back to matthew 6 see here's some good advice on praying and this is in the bible for a reason it says this in verse number five and when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men verily i stand you they have their reward take this literally look at verse six take it literally but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which see it in secret shall reward thee openly you see there's nothing wrong with praying publicly pray out in the open he said i will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and dying there's a public prayer but then there's also like daniel with the windows open and that's very scriptural we're commanded to pray publicly but then he said also there should be a private prayer time where you enter into the closet shut the door why would you do why would you have to go into a closet and shut the door to pray unless you're praying out loud because if it was just something going on in your head you could just sit on the lazy boy you know or whatever he's saying no you go by yourself somewhere he's not maybe talking about like your closet he's not talking about the american house where the closet's like you know you know you pull the thing over maybe you have a big walk-in closet or something i think that's more what he's talking about like a room basically he's just talking about going into a room going somewhere where you're by yourself and look i'll be honest with you i don't walk down the street praying out loud you know i don't necessarily just in a public place start praying out loud people think that you're crazy you know if you're walking on the street talking to yourself but that's why he says you know get by yourself and there i pray often out loud but it's when i'm by myself and i do what the bible says you know i go somewhere by myself i get on my knees and i pray and that's what the bible is talking about here he's saying get apart and pray pray pray with your you know with a friend pray in church pray outside but he said there ought to be times when you're praying in secret when it's just you and god you're not trying to be seen of man you're not trying for the glory and this is a prayer that only only you know about you know because nobody really knows that you prayed because it was all on your own look what he says next he says but when you pray verse seven use not vain repetitions as the heathen do he's saying don't just repeat things don't just chant some prayer out of the book you should be praying in your own words he says for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking be ye be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knows what things you have need of before you ask him after this manner therefore praise so he's saying pray in this way and then he gives this example our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done and earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen you know you want to know what's funny about this he tells them don't use repetitions don't use a vain repetition pray in this manner and then people say oh let's chant that i mean is that unbelievable and you go to church and the whole god father which art in heaven and there are people who chant this the cows will chant this prayer 25 times in a day when he just told them don't use repetitions pray like this oh let's chant what he just told us you know it's it doesn't even i can't even believe it but that's exactly what they do they chant the exact prayer when he told them don't chant no vain repetitions pray from your heart not just repeating words over and over again hey the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man available month now what does fervent mean well you you'll notice in the bible the term fervent heat the word fervent because the word fire fervent fire it's talking about passionate it's not talking about just a mod you know just blah blah blah sit down go through a chant you know this kind of stuff yeah it's talking about actually getting on your knees and praying with zeal and passion and fervency to god because you want him to answer you you know isn't there something that you need from god pray for it and pray for it like god can really answer you because he can't and so prayer is is is critical prayer is important let me give you an example there was a guy that uh there was a guy that was unsaved and his his his family was saved and they wanted him to get saved and so they prayed for him for you know 18 19 20 years for him to be saved but he didn't get saved but you know they were not effectively giving him the gospel okay and you know they're just it was just kind of like oh you know it was just kind of one of those things where just every single week at church they just so prayer prayer person so to get saved prayer person so to get saved just over and over again well a buddy of mine and i we decided we're gonna go get that guy saved you know and so we drove to his house we got out of the car we got on our knees right on the front lawn in front of his house we got on our knees and we prayed out loud for about 15 20 minutes we took turns praying that this guy would listen to us we prayed that he would be home alone we prayed that he would listen to us we prayed that there would be no distraction we prayed all these different things that we could think of and you know we knocked on the door with the wrong house that's right okay yeah so he hit in the car we drive down the street to the proper house okay i was like i knew this didn't look right so we go to the house and we're like well we're not gonna pray again you know we've already prayed god knows you know so you know went to the door he's home alone we walk in we sit out with him we get you know he's like what are you guys doing here you know it's kind of weird that we just showed up but we showed up we gave him the gospel okay uh he got saved you know and then we called and told his family they got saved they didn't believe us you know we did they really believe what they're praying you know when we tell them we prayed we went in we gave him the gospel he got saved it's like they don't believe us they didn't believe us and then you know well you know how do you know he really got saved you know well how do i know that you're saved you know what i mean is what i felt like saying yeah he said he believed in it he said he believed that he prayed and asked jesus christ to save him what else do you want you know and then you know he ended up going to church shortly thereafter and they're like well he's not going to church that often you know it's like man good night oh you little face you know i i won my brother-in-law the lord uh years and years back and it was the same thing nobody believed that he was saved we got to watch him for a while you know and then after a few years after a few years they're all saying yeah he's he's saved now that we see the change or whatever you know what salvation's not a change it's a new creature and it's the moment that they believe on christ just because they're walking in the flesh you're not going to see a difference if they're in the flesh it's the same flesh not until they put on the new man and walk in the spirit and if they're not going to church you're not going to see any growth until they get in the word until they get in church until they start to make some effort to do right and so so many times that the people sit back you know it's at least we're doing something for god you know then the people who just want to be the naysayer who are just i don't know you know these people are really saved you know they're still drinking or whatever you know you know i've known people who drunk for years after they got saved they're still saved you know and then eventually you know hopefully they get rid of it you know my brother-in-law is like a completely different person now but right after he got saved it wasn't overnight i mean they're a babe in christ the bible says they've got to grow it takes a lot of time for them to grow and and to take steps forward in the right direction to walk in the spirit to mortify the flesh it takes time it took me years to get where i'm at and i'm still i'm still working on it you know and same with you and so we were excited so we were on a roll so we said who else can we go talk we want to give the gospel to somebody else that we know you know we could have just knocked some doors randomly like we we do every week we're like no want to find somebody else so i called up uh i called up my sister and i said hey you know give us another relative that's not saved one of your extended relatives or whatever and she's like okay you know so we we drive to this guy's house we get there at like 9 45 at night okay didn't even know this guy never even met this guy i'm just like i don't care you know so we pray i knock on his door and he's like can i help you because i looked in the window first i could see they're all sitting around watching tv you know they're out of bed so i knocked the door same day and this guy comes to the door it's like can i help you i said yeah i said my name's steve i said you know my sister ronnie she's your you know second cousin once removed you know whatever it's i don't know i think it's actually let me think what the actual relationship is i think this guy was her husband's cousin that's what it was i said you know you know i said you know ronnie and bobby i said uh you know you know uh your cousin bobby you know ronnie remember they used to live by you 10 years ago you know i'm her brother and he's like okay i said hey i want to talk to you about something have you got a minute sure he steps out on the porch i open my bible gave him the gospel and guess what he's still saved you know isn't that shocking you know because the moment that he got saved the holy spirit moves in he has eternal life and you know my my sister or somebody just talked to him recently and said he was still talking about the fact that he was saved by believing on jesus christ alone yeah and the extended family is mainly catholic you know but he but he got saved and he knows he's saved to this day he knows he's saved because when somebody gets saved man they get saved right and if you don't understand that's because you're not a soul winner that's why you don't understand that and you think oh wow you know we'll see no you won't see only those of us who believe we'll see because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen there have been so many times when i was out soul and things were going bad and no nobody would talk to us nobody would listen where i just got on the knee i i i said to my soul department let's get on our knees right here in the street let's just who cares what people think let's just get on our knees right now and pray and we got our knees and prayed and asked god to to help us and to lead us and to fill us with his spirit so we can see some people say you know god answered our prayer many times see god has all the power to do anything in this world if we would have the faith to believe in a miracle working god that parted the red sea that that gave manna from heaven that made the walls of jericho fall down that did all these things and yet we believe that today it's like god is just in some distant place somewhere he doesn't hear us he won't do anything for us there have been so many times in my life where i don't know what i would have done it's like god just stepped in miraculously and helped me i mean i've made so many weird decisions in my life i mean if you look at my life like some of the things that i've done that just didn't make any sense and you wonder how am i still you know functioning how do i still how am i still doing okay financially you know how is this church even still around it's god you know i mean god steps in i'm serious and by the way this church's existence is just a testament to god answering prayer right here because i'll tell you right now i'll tell you right now only god can build a church like this because this church is everything if there was a handbook on how not to do it this church would be like figure one you know like a picture of our church you know every if you go get a book on how to start a church it's everything that i didn't do it's true because somebody gave me a book on how to start a church and i was like no that's not what i did at all i did the exact opposite you know because this is not what's popular this is not what people are into this is not what people want to hear they don't want to come and hear a bunch of hard preaching and sing a bunch of hymns and and and have all this kind of uh uh hard preaching and king james version and all these guys they want a rock band you know they want fun they want they want a 20-minute message a sermonette they want all the the things to be you know feel good compassionate and whatever they don't want a real uh bona fide soul-winning fundamental baptist church and that's why many fundamental baptist churches are dying across america you hear about all the time they're dying you know why they're dying because they have all the rules so called of the fundamental movement but they don't have the power that's what they're missing they're missing the power of god they're missing the love of god they're missing the seal of god and it's all just well this is what we're supposed to do you know sing these songs and read this book no you need to get some fire in your preaching you need to get some soul in your heart you need to go out and do something for god and you need to get on your knees and pray that god will do something not just be some tired dead uh church that's just following a certain format and that's what you got all over america dead churches yeah they're using the king james bible but to do what nothing the soul-winning has died maybe there's a few people going through the motions calling a visitation or something you know going through the motions you know everybody shows up and goes through the same tired old hymns you know praise the lord praise the lord where's the fire where's the power they have a form of godliness on paper they look great i mean so many churches when i look at the statement of faith looks great try going there try sitting through that service you know try taking those people out soul-winning try to get them fired up about something there's nothing there it's dead and they have a form of godliness but they're denying the power thereof let's never become like that where we're just going through the motions where we just think it's as well if we do this this will happen if we push the button the light bulb will come on no sir if you go out here young man that's thinking about starting a church someday you go out here and try starting a church and follow the exact model of what i did you'll fail unless god is with you you'll fail how many times guys let me just prove that to you how many times have you gone out and knocked doors for weeks and weeks and months giving the gospel to people inviting people to church and had nobody show up have you ever done that before put up your hand if you yeah all my hands up how many times i've gone out just weekly just knocking doors getting people saved and could not get one saved and could not get one person to come to church in that time you know that's true you go out and you work and you work and you work and you're preaching the gospel you're inviting people for hours and hours and hours and you can't get people to come because you know it's difficult to get people to come to this kind of a church and by the way it's easier to get people to come to this kind of a church when there's a building and a sign how about when we started out and it's just like oh we're meeting in my house you think people are excited about that and by the way there's only it's my family and two other people and you you know it's like that's not really necessarily what they want to you know it's not that easy to get people to come to that kind of a church we well we're just starting out you know oh man you know i want to go over here where i can put my kid in this class and this kid in this class and whatever but let me tell you something when this chart when this church started we we started full speed ahead we had people from the very beginning from the first week we had faithful people coming to our church it's true amanda who's sitting in the front row has been coming since the second sunday morning and she just happened to live in the subdivision where i lived and so did a whole bunch of other people that came in those early days live in that subdivision because god is the one who stepped in and believe me i was praying i was begging god and god answered my prayer because he right away we had a church start to develop we had people start to come we had we had a group start to to metastasize you know and i'm going to tell you something if you go out and just try to follow some formula from a book somewhere that's not how a church is built jesus said upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail that's why so many people are trying to start church they're failing because they think if i do abc then d is going to happen no it's done by god it's built by god now if you want to build one of these rock and roll mega churches you won't even need god because all you have to do is just bring in the right rock band grow grow a cool little goatee and kind of punk your hair out a little you know pastor steve you know get like a wine shirt on you know flip-flops and just kind of jam for 15 minutes every sunday morning and you know get in the music you don't need god to do that because it's entertainment and people will people will come to hear entertainment all kinds of tv and music and sports is popular for that reason i mean the sports stadiums have no problem packing people in this weekend no problem at all they don't get up do you think that that the manager of the california angels or whatever uh which is the baby i think that's the one that's just right down here right spring train do you think he got on his knees and said god please bring in the bags god we need your help no he just puts them on tv he puts them in a magazine and they come and that's the way people think they're going to build a church that's the way people think they're going to win souls just memor memorize pastor anderson's soul-winning demo and just and you're going to give people say it's not going to happen you need to get filled with the holy spirit yourself you need to breathe the bible yourself you need to pray you need to be righteous you need to fast and you when you're righteous when you're holy then god can use you not just a robot of me or a robot of some other preacher or a robot of somebody else who taught you but you personally because you are a righteous man and when you get on your knees and beg god god will answer you we need to get the power of god in our christianity in our church in our lives and not sit there and just think that it's all done in the flesh no it's done by the spirit not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the lord and so don't get into this dead as a doornail christianity where god is somehow in heaven and can't do anything when i need something when i'm in trouble and believe me i've been in trouble my friend and when i've been in trouble i pray and ask god i call upon the lord to help me to step in and i get i've got on my knees how many times with tears in my eyes begging god for help begging god not just chanting something but begging god i mean have you ever just begged god that's prayer that's what prayer really is and if you don't know what i'm talking about then you don't know what prayer is until you get on your knees and cry out to god it's the whole book of psalms he's saying he watered his couch with tears he said i cried out to the lord he's talking about shout i mean every time i'm praying i'm shouting up to heaven praying fervently and i'm not just trying to put on a show because nobody's there it's just me and god but i want god to answer me i want god to hear me and you ought to pray and and let god do things in your life and answer that prayer and when you pray you got to be asking for something or else you haven't prayed and then you ought to expect god to answer you now he may not answer you right away so many times i've prayed and and literally given up on it and then it happened two years later three years later it'll surprise you my sister is a great example is my elder sister she she had a she told me she had a book and every every several months she opens this book every several months and she just writes down everything she's praying for at that time she puts it away for months and months when she goes back and opens that book she said without fail she either can say god answered that she can cross it off as god answered it or she can pretty much say i don't even want that anymore you know it turned out i didn't even want that you know i i thought that's what i thought i wanted but now i see that that's not even what i needed and she can go through and she said it's amazing the fulfillment of what she prayed for either either god did it or else she realized why she didn't need it and so many things in my life that i haven't understood in the past looking back you do understand why things have to be a certain way why things were the way that they were but don't get this calvinist thing where well whatever happens is going to happen and this is what i was taught by these calvinist baptists you know i was a teenager they say well you know whatever's going to happen is going to happen but if if you pray it's like you get to have god have answered your prayer that he was going to answer anyway i'm just thinking myself like oh cool you know like this preacher said you know he prays before he turns the faucet on that the water will come out and then it comes on he says god answer this prayer come on that's so dumb see god just answered my prayer no when you pray you're asking for something to happen that wasn't already going to happen anyway or else what is the point of even praying but to them to these calvinists it's just like an exercise you know what i mean just it's no different than the muslims of the catholics chanting just oh yeah we get to pray and they say if you pray for somebody you can say they were going to get saved anyway you know but just at least you get to be a part of it well that doesn't sound that fun to me you want to have a barbecue or something you know can we go water skiing or something that doesn't sound very fun praying pray for something that was going to happen anyway and then you can say god answered your prayer that's ridiculous when i pray for something i pray for something that's impossible i pray for something that's hard i like what elijah said to elijah he said uh thou has asked a hard thing he said ask whatever you want elijah and it'll be given you and he said i want a double portion of thy spirit he said you've asked a hard thing nevertheless if thou if you're there he said you'll receive that i want to ask for something hard i like it when god said to king a has or i'm sorry yes uh king hezekiah to make the sun go either forward or backwards on the sundial 15 degrees to king has a kind of sundial they has and he said to him he said well it's easy to make it go forward 15 degrees i don't know how he figured that but he said i can kind of see how it could go forward 15 degrees but he said i want to see it go backward 15 degrees you know and he made it he made it go backwards 15 degrees okay because he said i want to ask for something hard you know and when i pray i pray that god will do something that i if i've already got it myself anyway then i don't need to pray and ask god you know what i mean if i already had it anyway i pray god for things that i don't have so that he can miraculously answer my prayer and so if you don't know what if you don't know what it means to pray if you don't understand prayer then what you should just start out you know because you say well you know i i don't pray or i don't pray like i should just start out by just thinking either either write down a list or just think in your mind make a list of things that you'd like to see happen and make sure it's not like i want a ferrari you know i want to i want to get a three-story house you know the love money is the root of all evil so i don't think god wants to encourage you to just lust and you're oh please give me this give me that yeah that's how much is this yeah but why don't you just make a list of things that you'd like to see that are righteous things that are right things you know things that things that you need that you legitimately need or that other people need or just things that you'd like to see happen good things you know and and just get on your knees by yourself you know get away from the crowd get away from your friends your family just get by yourself everybody wants to pray in a group you know get by yourself yeah and there's a time for public prayer but get by yourself okay get on your knees all by yourself somewhere and just out loud to god to help you stay focused get on your knees so that you'll be humble and just start asking god to say god you know here's what i need or here's what i'd like to see out here's what my friend needs i'm sure that if you've been in this church enough you know that there are needs of people in this church like if i were to ask you you could say oh yeah you know brother so-and-so he needs this she needs it you know what different people need pray that god will give them what they need and pray that i'll give you what you need and just watch as god will and god will start to encourage you because he'll if he sees you praying he'll say you know what i'm gonna i'm gonna answer you because i want you to keep praying you know and he'll he'll throw you a bone in the early days especially because he wants you to keep praying and i've seen god answer my prayers so many times and you know what you have not because you ask not let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much that you've said i change not i'm glad that you're the same god that moses had the same god that elijah had i love what elijah said after elijah died when he when he yelled out to god and said where is the lord god of elijah and god i'm saying the same thing today on on march whatever 2010 where is the lord god of elijah show us your power dear god help us to go out soul winning and preach your word with power help us never to become a dead dry church dear god but to be a church that's filled with the spirit and serving you dear god with faith with prayer with power and in jesus name we pray amen all right let's go ahead and sing a song before we go so let's just sing one verse only of 259 jesus saves 259 you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you 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