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that his house shall be called a house of prayer it's not at the exclusion of preaching it's not the exclusion of evangelism it's not the exclusion of every other commandment that God gives us in the New Testament regarding his church you know the Bible tells us if I tarry long that thou mayest know how the oddest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth and then he says in chapter number four first Timothy to give us to reading to exhortation to doctrine so obviously we need to be preaching God's word in God's house obviously it's a place to train and equip people for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ that's what the Bible tells us but here's the thing another thing that needs to be added to that another factor that's very much important is prayer that we should be a people of prayer okay now you say why are you preaching on this today you know obviously we know that we need prayer and obviously we know that you know the Bible tells us we should pray and we should be praying a lot today but what inspired you to preach the sermon well the inspiration for the sermon came when the city of El Monte you know that that that wretched place over there that wants me kicked out and by the way it's not the people it's not the citizens of El Monte it is the leadership of El Monte it's mayor Anaconda and these other people who literally want me kicked out of El Monte they are making a mockery of God let me tell you why they're making a mockery of God yesterday they held a prayer meeting with a bunch of sodomites Buddhist okay and and you know whatever else other denominational so-called Christian there is out there they held a prayer meeting with them for you guys a call to unity okay and here's the thing they didn't invite yours truly they didn't invite the guy who got the church bombed the church building bombed you know you would think oh you know we should invite that one you know the pastor that you guys violated and and he blew up his building and all these things we probably should have him come pray as well but you know why they don't want me to come pray they know i'm going to be praying some curses some imprecatory prayers and we'll get into that just a bit and here's the thing i would even if they invited me to go i still wouldn't go because it goes against my biblical convictions okay El Monte had a prayer meeting for unity you know because they're trying to gaslight the community into thinking that it's my fault that i got my church building blown up somehow you know oh it's your fault you're not the martyr you know these other people the sodomites they you know they could have been hurt or something like that you know they could have been hurt if they blew up the bill you know when they blew up the building i like what brother ray says he says well no because they they're the ones who are holding the button don't press the button and then it doesn't blow up let me just remind you of something okay proverbs 15 verse 29 says the lord is far from the wicked but he heareth the prayer of the righteous so what is the bible telling us you know people can join hand in hand they can get together in unity and kumbaya and do this display as though they're praying to the god of heaven but here's the reality they shall not go and punish the bible says yeah okay god is far from that in fact the bible tells us that his face is against them to do evil amen so it doesn't matter if they're trying to do this for pr purposes you know they want people to see oh you know they're just trying to reconcile this whole situation and you know the city of omani is in turmoil and we're just trying to bring unity you can say whatever you want you can have your little unity little ring but the reality is it's not going to change anything god's face is still against you god's not going to hear your prayer amen why because he hears the prayers of the righteous and when it says the prayers of the righteous referring to safe people yeah okay you know we're righteous not because of our own works yeah we're righteous not because you know we we serve god and because you know we read the bible we're righteous because we have the righteousness of jesus christ yeah right and so that is the inspiration for this sermon here is the fact that they made a mockery of prayer in the city of omani yesterday through zoom and they prayed with zoom or whatever to try to bring unity well let me just teach you what prayer really is okay and so and by the way you know one of these articles these um journalists called me and they're like hey did you know they're having a prayer meeting tomorrow gonna be on friday i said yeah i heard about it he's like why weren't you invited to i'm like i don't know you know but even i thought even if i was it goes against my biblical convictions because i'm not supposed to touch the unclean thing what what fellowship has price with belief yeah so go with me if you would to go to hebrew chapter number four if you would hebrew chapter number four first of all let me give you some practical teaching on this subject of prayer okay and i want you to take this serious this morning prayer is very much a serious topic it's a serious discipline and often people neglect prayer because they don't have the faith that what they're praying for will be answered they think well you know praying yeah but we need to make sure we do our part and that's absolutely true but we can't neglect this matter of prayer there's power in prayer folks now let me just answer this what does it mean to pray let me just get practical here well in its simplest form to pray simply means to ask okay it means to entreat and means to ask someone for something and in fact when you read the bible you often see people telling others i pray you you know do this or i pray you give me this or you know paul says we pray you in christ stead he's basically saying we are asking this of you that's what that means when he says pray but when it comes to praying to god obviously it involves asking god for things but it also encompasses for example praise it encompasses thanksgiving it encompasses supplication and intercessions and encompasses fellowshipping with god in order to obtain favor with god or just to get peace with god or just to praise god thank him for the things that he has done you know the bible tells us in psalm 100 verse 4 enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name folks let me just tell you this when you go to god in prayer don't just start off talking about the things that you need enter into his gates with what with thanksgiving amen come with gratitude you know if you you know your wife or your daughter comes to you and you know just says hey can you just buy me this you know you're more likely to actually get them that gift or that thing that they want they say you're so handsome dad you know honey did i ever tell you are you losing weight you know hey that keto is going well with you why you look good by the way can i get this you know so what are you doing you're kind of buttering them up a little bit okay well you know what this is that's a biblical principle that's what the bible says to enter into his gates with thanksgiving and the insinuation there is prayer when we come before god the throne of grace to obtain mercy to help in a time of need we have to come with thankfulness right lord just want to thank you for my salvation thank you so much for the food on my table the clothes on my back i'm thankful for a home family church thank you so much for everything that you've done everything you're going to do be thankful unto him look at hebrew chapter number four it says in verse 14 seeing then that we have great a great high priest that is passed into the heavens jesus the son of god let us hold fast our profession but we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy to find grace to help in a time of need so prayer is us coming before the throne of grace to ask god for mercy okay you know we come to god because we're going through a difficult time or maybe god's punishing us for maybe a specific sin you might have in your life and what do we do we pray that god is merciful unto us we pray that god would be gracious unto us and that's simply what prayer is is going to god coming to before the throne of grace coming to the gates with thanksgiving asking for these needs petitioning for them turn to philippines chapter four if you would philippines chapter number four now why should we pray why should we pray well first of all because it's commanded you know there's not a command that says you know thou shall pray but you know the bible does say pray without ceasing right you know and here's the thing the reason there's no command that says thou shall pray is because it's a given you should just pray yeah and everyone in the bible knows that that's why when jesus you know was telling the disciples hey when you pray because the insinuation there's like obviously you guys already prayed let me just show you how to pray okay so we should pray because it's commanded we should pray because we want to obtain mercy from god we should pray because it's an act of faith you know requires faith to pray yeah why because you're going to god whom you have not seen to ask for something that you do not have with the faith that he will give it to you when you ask him of it so prayer is definitely you exercising your faith you know a lot of reason a reason excuse me the reason why a lot of people don't pray is because they don't believe that god will provide that which they want that which they need okay well you know i don't think god's gonna provide this for us so therefore they don't ask but you know what the bible says he have not because he asked not right okay hebrews 11 verse 6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him so god is saying hey you need to make sure that when you come to me in prayer you have faith and realize that when you diligently seek me through prayer then i'm going to reward you for that because it's an act of faith let me ask you something what's something in your life that you stop praying for is there a person that you stop praying for to be saved is there a specific need that you have that you just lost faith whatever happened again you know obviously there's certain times when god closes the door but other times it's not it's not that god has closed the door it's that you stop praying right but it's an act of faith when we pray but let me also say this is that why should we pray well because it maintains our sanity it keeps the same okay you know there might be some psychological thing to that but for sure it's a spiritual thing look at philippians chapter number four you see prayer prayer reminds us that though we walk after the flesh we do not war after the flesh right you know reminds us that the things which are seen are temporal because here's the thing we're physical beings we have to we feel pain we have afflictions we go through trials and heart aches here in this world but when we enter into prayer we're basically breaching that realm between the physical world and the spiritual world and we're going to god whom we have not seen to ask for certain things and you know what it does it creates sanity it helps us to maintain our sanity it helps us to realize you know what as bad as it gets down here it's still not really bad because of the fact that i have heaven i'm safe i have eternal life these things are getting really hot huh are they getting really hot you guys want to turn those off i feel the heat so can someone throw a bundle of sticks into those things please no i'm just kidding you know prayer helps us to set our affections on things above not on the things of the earth it reminds you that there's a heaven it reminds you that there's a millennial reign it reminds you that there's a new heaven and a new earth it reminds us that we are pilgrims in this world we're not going to be here forever okay the bible tells us that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on d wouldn't you say that a lot of people lost their minds in 2020 right a lot of people just completely lost their minds they're just going crazy may not may that not be said of you though because we're christians we have access to something we have access to a peace that passes understanding look at philippians chapter 4 verse 6 says be careful for nothing now this doesn't mean be reckless right yeah you don't have to be careful drive on the wrong side of the street and do whatever just you know just do whatever you want you're fine when it says be careful it's saying you shouldn't be full of care careful full of care he says be careful for nothing you know don't stress out don't worry but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto god so what he's just saying look instead of being careful worried what's going to happen what does the future hold what's going to happen you know i just don't know what's going to what's going to take place next week god is saying well just give your request to god here's the solution to your stresses here's the solution to your worries here's the solution to your cares you cast your care upon him for he cared for you yeah amen and look what it says in verse seven what is the result of that and the peace of god which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through jesus christ through christ jesus so look he says look instead of being worried and stress over that which is unknown pray be thankful have supplication with thanksgiving give your request to god and what does god do does he just completely just take away problems no does he remove your financial woes no does he fix your health maybe not does he fix the situation no but you know what he does do is he gives you the peace of god the past that's understanding now that's not to say that he's not going to answer that specific prayer but while you're waiting for that prayer to be answered he gives you peace and you know what sometimes that's really all we need if we can just have the peace of god the past with understanding you know the world can be falling apart around us to the left and to the right of us but you know we're like i don't really care you know i'm i have peace you know i have you know um the peace of god i have tranquility i'm not really worried about anything i'm just kind of living life waiting on for him to answer these prayers you know and if you feel yourself if you feel like you're going crazy this year or if you've gone crazy last year you know it's probably a lack of prayer you know because the bible says that he did not give us a spirit of fear but of power love and what sound mind that's right a sound mind means you're you're saying you're just fixed you're just kind of like you know and i've talked to people i've talked to family members and they're like are you okay what's going on i'm just like yeah i'm just you know just kind of hungry right now and they're just like you're not like stressing out i'm like why why would i stress why would i stress out right why stress out over things that i can't control what are you gonna do for sunday preach what are your people gonna do come hear me preach what are you guys ended up today and then on sunday now where are you guys gonna go back to go preach i mean it's just kind of like you know i rather live like that than have everything i need and go crazy right right so it's the peace of god so prayer maintains our sanity you know david was under a lot of persecution throughout his life and he said in psalm 109 verse 4 for my love they are my adversaries but i give myself unto prayer okay go to james uh chapter four if you would james chapter number four actually go to matthew seven go to matthew seven why else should we pray well because we have needs that we are incapable of meeting ourselves that's why we pray we pray because we have specific needs that we can't meet ourselves that is beyond our capacity beyond our ability beyond our finances beyond our wisdom and so we pray for those things and in fact god says if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god who giveth to all men liberally and abraighteth not you know obviously if we're young we haven't been around the block very often we don't have much experience we can fall prey to a lot of woes in this world but that's why we pray for wisdom and we ask god lord please give me wisdom in this area help me to know what decision i ought to make and god says he'll give to us liberally which means generously he doesn't abrade you for it he doesn't say get out of here stop asking me for this no he says he gives to us liberally okay but we pray because we have needs that we are incapable of meeting ourselves the bible says in matthew chapter seven and verse number seven says ask and it shall be given you that's pretty simple seek and he shall find knock and it shall be open unto you and by the way when you get ask seek and knock you get the word ask that's what prayer is god is saying look if you just ask it's going to be given to you if you seek diligently you're going to find it if you keep knocking on the door god is going to answer okay for everyone that asketh receive and he that seeketh findeth them that knocketh it shall be open and then he says in verse nine or what man is there of you whom if his son ask bread will they give him a stone like which which of you who have kids if your son comes and says dad i'm hungry you're like well take this rock just chew on this for a little bit you know no one would or if you ask a fish will you give him a serpent or if you ask for raising canes would you give him del taco i'm just kidding i have to throw that under i see some people are not laughing at all the service shall be cut down tonight to just a few people if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him so he's basically saying like he's saying like use common sense instead of doubting whether i'm going to provide something for you just think about you and your kids you give them good things and here's the thing he's saying like you're you're you're sinful you are corrupt you're in your sinful flesh you're not perfect how much more me you know god saying who's the lord who's righteous who is perfect how much more is he willing to give good things to them who ask him yeah and what he's emphasizing there is this ask me just ask but here's the thing a lot of people the reason why they don't want to ask or they stop asking is because we put a deadline to the things that we want or the things that we need say god we need this like today and god didn't say you know you know ask me now and i'll do it like immediately everything is beautiful in his time amen yeah turn with me if you would to luke chapter 18 luke chapter 18 i'm sorry i keep doing this go to nehemiah chapter 2 actually my notes are all kind of mixed up here so we're talking about prayer here what is praying it means to ask to to make supplication to for thanksgiving you know it's praise unto the lord it's communing with god it's fellowshiping with him okay why should we pray well we went through a whole list of reasons why you should pray um you know it's obviously beneficial to us in the long run but not only that you know you get to know god more through prayer when should you pray when should you pray you know here's the thing the bible obviously says pray without ceasing but this doesn't mean like you just like get on your knees have a drop of a hat and just start praying you know because obviously we think of prayer we think of getting on our knees and you know going into our closet and praying unto god which obviously that's part of it but really what it should be is that we just have a prayer life we pray throughout the day now i will say this is that i believe every everyone every christian should have a prayer time and what i mean by that is you know sometime in the morning or in the evening where you get alone and whether that's reading the bible and then praying you know you have a prayer list of things that you need you're praying for your family members salvation you're praying for the church you're praying for church leaders you're praying for souls to be saved praying to be filled with the spirit you know you go through that list you should have an isolated time that you do that and the scripture that i point to when thinking about that is luke 22 verse 39 where it talks about jesus it says that he came out and went as he was wont to the mount of olives and his disciples also followed him now this is referring to him going there to pray and the bible says that this is basically his custom so this is something that he would do on a regular basis this is a discipline that he consistently had where he would go into a place alone to pray okay and therefore we see that example i think we should follow that you know you should have a time when you without distraction without social media without you know youtube without anything and and just get alone and pray for a while okay look at nehemiah chapter 2 now aside from that i think you should pray throughout the day and look if you if you pray in the morning you're setting yourself up to pray throughout the day because you're putting yourself in a state of mind that you are heavily minded you're praying unto the lord and you know what i mean throughout the day i'm saying as you come across needs or names come into your mind of people that you know you pray for them there i'm not saying like you're talking to somebody like yeah lord by the way you know i really ray needs help i'm saying you could actually pray silently you know unto the lord okay let's give an example of that look at nehemiah chapter 2 verse number 1 it says it came to pass in the month nissan and the 20th year of artaxerxes the king that wine was before him and i took up the wine and given him to the king now i had not been before sad before time sad in his presence wherefore the king said unto me why is i counten and sad seeing that are not sick this is nothing else but sorrow of heart then i was very sore afraid and sent him to the king let the king live forever why should not my countenance be sad when the city the place of my father's sepulchres lieth waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire then the king sent it to me for what does thou make request so i prayed to the god of heaven so the king's like all right you're going through a tough time what do you want that's a pretty cool situation to be in because he's the king yeah he's like what do you want and so what does nehemiah do he's like oh man i don't want to blow this i don't want to just ask for something stupid you know so what does he do he prays to the god of heaven verse 5 and i sent him to the king if it please the king and if thy servant have found favor in his sight etc so what do we see this doesn't mean he like drops on his knees and starts praying as he's being asked of the king what do you want what is your request he prays and it says thus within himself unto the lord for wisdom for knowledge or whatever it was that he was asking for so i think this is a good template to see that like when you are in a bind or you're out in public and you run into a situation you just pray unto the lord silently you know you're just praying throughout the day asking for specific needs asking for certain things go to roman go back to roman chapter 12 so once you've been praying always the bible says men aren't always to pray and not to faint okay and let me say this you should pray before the trial comes because there's a certain guilt that people carry that like once the trial comes they start praying they're like man i haven't i haven't been praying up until now obviously that's a good time to start praying if you're not praying but it's better to have a prayer life and go into a trial already having that discipline of prayer already set in place because you know like well i already know how to pray i commune with god i know i have god's favor etc look at verse number nine of roman chapter 12 i'm sorry verse 12 rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer so this is a good three-point outline for our church right now hey we need to rejoice in hope because you know the things that are temporal the things which are seen are temporal we don't have a church building to meet in okay well let's just rejoice in hope then the fact that we have mansions in heaven the fact that maybe one day i'm going to be the mayor of elmani you know in the millennial reign you know i'm rejoicing in the hope that is set before me okay so rejoice in that rejoice in heaven and look tribulation should cause you to think about heaven that much the more amen i know it seems a little distant away but you know what it's coming and it should cause you to say man this world is not my home you know he says there be patient in tribulation endure it and what is the final thing you need to continue instant in prayer so what does that mean well you think of when the bible says be instant preach the word be instant in season out of season that means you preach when you when it's popular you preach when when the subject is not popular you are urgent you are fervent when you're preaching well in like manner when it says continuing instant in prayer it's saying hey pray when you have needs pray when you don't have needs be urgent in season be urgent out of season pray with urgency pray with fervency continue instant in prayer okay turn with me if you would to go to matthew chapter 21 matthew chapter 21 prayer is very much important we need to continue instant in prayer and i would hope that a situation such as what we're going through right now has increased your prayer life you know now you pray with your family more i hope that you pray alone more i pray i hope that you would pray throughout the day that much the more that it would increase your prayer life because you know maybe that's something that god wanted from us in the first place you say why is it that we haven't found anything well maybe because he wants us to pray more that's good maybe because he wants us to increase our disciplines a little better it's not that he can't you know the arm of the lord is not heavy you know that it cannot save his ears not short his arms aren't heavy here's the thing is that maybe he's just preparing something for us and he wants us to to create a discipline of prayer okay right and don't leave it up to someone else don't say well a bunch of other people are praying you know i'll just do my little five minute thing going on and you know you know just kind of pray over just confess my sins and that's about it no maybe now's a good time to become fervent in prayer urgent in prayer to cry out unto the lord for the needs that we have as a church or you have as an individual what should we pray for well obviously we should pray for you know our daily bread okay but we should never pray for our daily bread in the sense that you know that's all we care about because god knows that we have need of those things he knows that we have need of raiment and clothing you know that's why the bible says but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you you know if you're serving god if you're soul winning if you're living a life that's pleasing unto him you really don't have to worry about those things too much yeah because god will take care of you okay but we should pray for our needs hey we should pray for people make intercessions for others okay pray for your lost loved ones you know instead of labeling them reprobate or whatever and say they're they're done with you know because they rejected you or something like that why don't you just pray that god softens their heart pray that god will soften their heart pray that god would remove the barriers and the strongholds that would cause that individual to not listen to you you know pray that they would go through some you know trial in their life that would cause them to seek the lord pray that god would just remove the carpet out from under them to humble them and then say man maybe i do need to seek out for god and then you're there to give them the gospel get them saved etc so we should pray for those things make intercessions for people pray for the people in our church hey here's a good prayer uh thing for you to pray for a building right yeah and pray specifically you know parking lot gates rottweilers on every corner i'm just kidding you know nice big building and you know that can facilitate our growth you know pray for some millionaire out there who just like likes my preaching and says hey we'll just buy you a building how about that hey i mean it sounds funny but it's like mcdonald's it can happen yeah you know if it's not specific it's not dynamic we need we need to pray specifically for these things pray for that okay how should we pray how should we pray well you know what we should pray with humility first of all prayer just in and of itself is a humbling thing to do that's right yeah because you're going to god for something that you can't provide for yourself so you need to pray with humility not with pride not like we're just some like spiritual giant or something like that and god's so privileged to have us pray or something you know we're just we're just like the best we're just the boss as christians ever no we need to pray with humility you know and and help as god to help us to recognize how frail we really are you know that we are incapable we don't have the power that we need we don't have the wisdom we don't have the resources we need god yeah pray with humility the bible says but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith god resists proud and giveth grace into the humble amen so in order for us to obtain grace in order for us to obtain mercy in order for us to obtain the petitions for which we're asking for we need to be humble okay but not only that we need to pray with faith you see you say well that's that's obvious pray with faith but you know what here's the thing sometimes we pray doubting yeah god wants us to pray believing look at look at verse 18 of matthew 21 it says 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 believes only and said unto it let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever and presently the fig tree withered away now there's a lot going on in this particular story right here but what this is specifically representing is judaism or the old testament i'm trying to say the fact that that tree was not bearing fruit there's supposed to be a light unto the gentiles they were not and when jesus came into his own his own received him not just just as he came to the tree to find fruit he found nothing and therefore he caused it to wither away and that's why the bible says in hebrew chapter number eight that the old covenant is ready to vanish away yeah it's withering no fruit no leaves no nothing verse 20 and when the disciples saw it they marveled saying how soon is the fig tree withered away so i believe this is like a very miraculous thing where he's just like looks at it says no fruit growing henceforth and then it automatically just begins to die the leaves begin to turn brown it begins to wither and just kind of fall apart and all the disciples are like whoa this thing like died like right before our eyes look at verse one jesus answered and said to them barely i say to you if you have faith and doubt not ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree but also if you shall say into the mountain be thou removed thou cast into the sea it shall be done now let's be honest here folks you know that you've read that and said well not a mountain yeah right yeah i'm sure everyone in here you know myself included i've read that and said well not a mountain though but here's the thing yes a mountain amen now i'm not gonna pray for a mountain to be removed because i have no need for him you know but he's he's using and that's said multiple times in the new testament yeah and you know what he said if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed now how do you know how big a mustard seed is it's extremely small he says if you just have that much you can't remove a mountain and you know what i haven't seen any mountains removed as a lately and you know why because sometimes we don't have even that much faith and what god is trying to emphasize here is that it doesn't take much faith to move mountains and if it doesn't take that much faith to move mountains how much faith does it take to do just the basics of life the basic needs the emphasis that he's trying to put here is that when you pray you gotta pray believing yeah not doubting look what it says in verse 22 and all things what sir you shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive that is a powerful promise from god's word right there isn't it he says all things whatever you ask for in prayer believing you'll have it look folks i mean that is an amazing promise right there where god says look if you're willing if you're willing to pray but not doubt just believe 100 percent that it's going to happen you can have it you will receive it so what is what should we pray for we should pray or how should we pray we should pray with faith okay pray that god can provide pray that god can protect pray that god will accomplish his will look at first john chapter five first john chapter five now here's the thing don't pray to win the lottery i'm gonna pray believing i'm not gonna doubt you know they got don't they got that like 70 million dollar lottery thing or whatever i mean you bought a lottery ticket now i'm just kidding you guys seen that right they have like a powerball something it's like 70 million dollars or some ridiculous amount of money you know that's not for this okay that's not saying well if you if you just pray believing you buy that lottery ticket you know you're god will provide it for you well you know lord i'll tithe off of it you know i'll buy the church of building you know i'll get everything no i'm i'm gonna explain to you why look at first john chapter five verse 14 and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us so here's the thing in order for us to get the petitions for which we're asking for we need to pray in accordance to his will so not lottery because that's sinful it's wicked to do that it's not for sinful means it's not something for you to consume upon your own lust you're supposed to pray according to god's will yeah okay and look he's saying here if you pray according to my will i'm gonna hear you you got my attention yeah because you're not trying to do your own thing you're not trying to consume it upon your own lust you actually want to fulfill the will of god and he says this is the confidence that we have if we're asking according to his will automatically we know we already got his attention yeah look what it says in verse 15 and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desire to him so he's saying look if you are praying according to his will just it's good as done you already have it because he's saying look all you have to do is make sure you pray according to his will he hears you and if we know that he hears you then we already have the petitions for which we've asked for it's amazing but here's the thing you got to make sure that you pray according to his will right you know not like well you know i think god's leading me to to divorce you know false that's not according to his will right yeah well i think god's leading me to just not go to church at all false that's not that's not god amen okay that's not according to his will he said well how do i know what god's will is well read the bible read the word of god you know study it memorize it find out what god wants you to do and pray according to that okay by the way the bible says delight yourself you know in the lord and he shall give you the desires of thine heart and the reason he gives you the desires of your heart is because of the fact that he is giving you the right desires when he gives you the right desires you pray for the right things okay go to matthew 17 matthew chapter 17 now look folks you know prayer is definitely an essential part of the christian life but it it's also can be described as spiritual warfare when you're in prayer it's like you're doing spiritual warfare okay and we can point to a ton of scriptures in the old testament daniel where he prayed and the angel came and there's a spiritual battle in the spiritual realm between demons and angels to come give him the answer to what he was asking for i mean it's it's a spiritual battle so when you pray for something it doesn't come right away don't think that god is just not like not listening don't think that god is just completely ignoring you you know there's a spiritual warfare taking place in the unseen realm okay but here's the thing another thing is this sometimes there's certain things that are taking place in the spiritual realm that requires us to put a considerable amount of effort into our prayer life yeah so it's not just like well i'm just going to pray for five minutes ten minutes look what it says in matthew chapter 17 verse 14 and when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him saying lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic and sorvex for oft times he falls into the fire and oft into the world and i brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him then jesus answered and said oh faithless and perverse generation how long shall i be with you how long shall i suffer you bring him hit up to me now keep in mind jesus had already given the disciples the ability to cast out devils yeah right they they're the only ones who have that ability other than jesus christ but here we see an isolated incident where they could not do it to this specific individual look what it says in verse number 18 and jesus rebuked the devil and departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour then came the disciples to jesus apart and said why could not we cast them out so you know this could be a little discouraging for the disciples like hey we tried why couldn't we do it is there something wrong with us you know like to is am i out of power or something do i need to recharge or you know you need to lay hands on me again what's going on why can't why couldn't we do it verse 20 and jesus said unto them because of your own belief for verily i say to you if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed you shall say to the mountains remove hands to yonder place and it shall remove and now nothing shall be impossible to you but look what verse 21 says how be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting now what is fasting means going without food and he's saying look there are certain kinds there's certain problems there's certain you know uh challenges that requires prayer but just like another level of prayer right prayer and fasting is what he's saying so coupled with obviously our faith and our belief but sometimes it's not just prayer that's needed sometimes it's fasting as well that's right now this is not a sermon on fasting obviously you know there's different templates in the bible to fast the most common one would be just to do a one-day fast type of a thing where you skip a meal skip two meals three meals some people obviously i've known people to do it for a week two weeks a month or whatever but there's a commandment to say well this is how much you need to fast the important thing is is that you couple it with prayer yeah right and fasting is basically you going without food because the need that you have is so great that you're willing to neglect the necessities of life to pray and ask for that specific thing he said why haven't i have god answered my prayer well maybe it's this kind why hasn't god you know helped me in this area well maybe you got this kind of a problem why hasn't this happened or why provided this or well probably because it's this kind of need and this kind this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting okay now don't let fasting be like a sin word simple word to you or something like whoa fasting going without food what in the world you know well yeah i mean this is a spiritual battle and if you want the mountain to be removed if you want the need to be met sometimes it's not just prayer you need you need to couple it with fasting as well let me just say if you fast don't tell anybody you know don't make sure you know your face and don't come on what's wrong nothing so hungry it's like are you fasting oh man how'd you know you know take some vitamin b b12s or whatever drink water you know annoying your face and don't tell anybody okay because then you lose your reward now go to luke chapter 11 if you would luke chapter number 11 how should we pray well this is these last two points are important okay everything's important but especially this when we pray we need to be able to endure in prayer now what do i mean by that when i say endure in prayer that means keep praying just keep praying and in fact the bible calls it importunity it means persistence okay look at luke 11 verse 1 and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased one of his disciples sent him lord teach us to pray as john also taught his disciples and he said unto them when you pray say our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done as in heaven so on earth forgive 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 now obviously the catholics would like to say well this is you know this is the only prayer we should be saying but here's the thing uh you never see this prayed by any of the disciples of the apostles thereafter like there's there's multiple examples of people praying in the new testament and they never say this why because it's simply a template of what you should be saying or you know mentioning in your prayer life he says in verse number five 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 this journey has come to me and 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 so he's saying look you know if you had a friend come to your house and you're it's midnight you're already asleep and he's like hey can you give me some bread you know i've got some people coming over i don't really have any food to put before them you know can you can you cook it up looking for some rate i say unto you though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because what importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needed so he's saying look even though he doesn't want to get up it's midnight he's tired he's already asleep his kids are with him in bed he's just it's a no because the guy keeps coming back and asking he's like all right fine take it here's four loaves here's five just leave and what he's saying is because of his persistence and what is it in context of prayer yeah he's basically saying you need to be persistent in prayer with me keep asking that's right amen he said well it's just it's been so long keep asking amen i say it to you ask and it shall be given to you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you so what do we do when we pray we're just knocking on heaven's door that's right can i have this can i have this can i have this can i have it can i and he's just not answering it's just like lord please have it i need it can you give it to me i need it you come you come in the morning lord i need it you come at night lord i need it can i have it can i have it and you know what he will not abrade you for it good he will give to you generously amen because persistence in prayer and being importuned in prayer is an act of faith as well yeah amen you just say i'm just gonna keep coming back if he hasn't said no i'm just gonna keep asking but it requires endurance amen and it requires for you to have enough faith to say well you know you know because some people will be like well he's not giving to me so i guess i'm just gonna stop praying for it no maybe you just need to keep be persistent turn to luke 18 luke chapter 18 now as i mentioned the the inspiration for the sermon was that ungodly union the fellowship that was taking place in omani the prayer meeting that they were having for for unity there and let me just mention this so i'm going to mention a a specific element of prayer that isn't really talked about today okay because it's so controversial you know but the problem is is that the reason it's not talked about because pastors don't study their bibles right right okay and when we pray we should pray with imprecatory prayers what is an imprecatory prayer it's a prayer to curse the enemies of god yeah i thought what okay folks it's all over the bible yeah and by the end of the sermon if you don't agree with that by the end of the sermon i guarantee you you will because you're not going to argue with jesus okay and he said well hold on let me just and he said well hold on a second i thought the bible says bless them which persecute you bless and curse not well yeah obviously the bible tells us that we cannot curse those whom god is not cursed right you know you have balaam you know balaam going to balaam to curse the children of israel and balaam told balaam i can't curse whom god is not cursed right if they're not cursed of god i can't curse them you understand here's the thing when it comes to the people who are haters of god you know what the bible literally calls them cursed children that's right these people who are already twice dead plucked up by the roots they're beyond the hope of salvation it's never going to happen that's who the imprecatory prayers are for yeah but people who are just you know like for example let me just let me say this you know i guarantee you there's people at the protest who were not sodomites i'm sure of it i'm sure there's people there who are not sodomites they're not reprobates but there's they've been so you know infiltrated in their minds by the public school system and society that they think it's you know they're doing a righteous thing yeah you know i'm not gonna i'm not gonna you know curse them that's right my prayer and my hope is that that person would wake up they would get saved and they get their life right you understand and look if any of those individuals ever came to me and said i'm really sorry for what happened to you i would forgive them right away yeah that's right because my my beef is not with them my they're not my enemies i mean they're they're my enemies in the sense of they made me their enemy but they're not my enemy my specific enemies are those who are enemies of god yeah which is a different element it's a different category folks okay we ought to love our enemies we ought to bless them that curse us you know and and bless them and try to and heap coals of fire upon their head and not take vengeance upon ourselves and here's the thing whether it's the the cursed children or it's the ones who are just carried about with their the simulation and their foolishness we should never take vengeance upon either group yeah right i've never taught that we don't take vengeance for ourselves you know we don't try to avenge ourselves we don't try to you know go to people and and say well you know you bomb my church therefore i'm going to bomb you or something that's not our place right never taught that the bible says vengeance is mine say the lord i will repay amen amen but here's the thing in pregatory prayers against wicked ungodly haters of god is so biblical yeah yeah and let me just say this is that christians this needs to come back yeah amen yeah this needs to make a serious comeback right man okay because you have pastors who are being persecuted sometimes or you know by these haters odd and they're like blessing these people they're trying to bring them into the church they're trying to kowtow to them and and you know help them whereas the bible specifically says shouldest thou help thee ungodly and love them they hate the lord therefore wrath is upon thee from before the lord it's actually counterproductive yeah because they think well we should bless our enemies you know these bunch of reprobates bunch of sodomites god saying if you bless them then i'm my wrath is upon you you understand so what do we do if we can't take vengeance upon ourselves and we can't avenge ourselves for what these people have done to us if we can't do those things what should we do we pray in pregatory prayers that's right we pray that god destroys them yeah oh man i don't know man that sounds kind of like that's a little uncomfortable i agree with you on the other stuff but man this is pray that god would destroy something that would god like like do something to your enemies like that sounds a little harsh that what would jesus do well let's see look at luke 18 verse 1 and he spake a parable unto them he being jesus to this end that men not always to pray and not to faint so this is how he starts off this parable so what is he saying he gives a statement now he's going to give a story or a parable that relates to the statement that he just made now keep in mind he's saying look you should pray and not faint why is he saying that well because sometimes when we're being persecuted and reviled because of what we preach or because of what we believe you know we can grow a little weary yeah we can become faint so he's saying no don't grow faint just pray pray for what well look at it says in verse 2 saying there wasn't a city of judge which feared not god neither regarded man and there was a widow in that city and she came into him saying avenge me of mine adversary so this woman's coming to this unrighteous judge doesn't fear god doesn't regard man this guy just doesn't care and his widow comes and says i need you to avenge me of mine adversary he says in verse four and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though i fear not god nor regard man yet because his widow troubleth me i will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me so how did this woman get the judge to actually execute justice because she kept coming back to avenge me my adversary avenge me of mine adversary avenge me avenge me avenge me and the guy's like i don't care about you your adversary i don't care about god i don't regard man but just because you're just annoying just because you're just like you're just a thorn in my flesh you just keep coming back i'm just gonna do it to get you off my case he says lest by her continual coming she weary me he's like okay all right go kill the guy go execute bounty hunters go get that guy and execute him or something you know he's like i'll do it just just stop bothering okay but i want you to notice he makes a specific uh he he says there that he is an unjust judge does not fear god does not regard man it's not a man of morals the principle that he's giving here is that because of her continual coming he gave into it verse six and the lord said here what the unjust judge saith and shall not god avenge his own elect which cried day and night into him though he bared long with him he said look if some unrighteous judge was willing to avenge this lady of her adversaries how much more the god of all the earth who will do right he's like if this guy who doesn't even fear me is willing to execute righteousness just because of her continual coming how much more shall god whose righteous perfect just avenge his own elect yeah it doesn't just say answer the prayers what does it say avenge his own elect yeah we cry day and night into him look what it says though he bared long with them and what does that mean means he's not answering right away right yeah right and we come to him lord please avenge us avenge us avenge us please lord avenge us avenge us and if nothing happens what is he doing he's bearing long that's right and he's saying look if this guy's willing to do it how much more am i willing to avenge you verse eight i tell you that he will avenge them speedily now this sounds like a contradiction because he just finished saying though he bear long with them and then he says i will avenge them speedily well here's the thing from our perspective it seems long yeah right but to god a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day right so from his perspective he does avenge speedily and in fact some people he avenges so speedily that he sees them as though they're already in hell because they're twice dead plucked up by the roots he's blood out of their names out of the book of life yeah he has judged them so fast that like from eternities perspectives those people are already in hell right they can no longer be safe that's right no it says here i tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth so what is he saying when i come back will i find any baptist pastor with this kind of faith that i'm going to avenge but what do we hear today no that's not what god wants jesus wouldn't do something like that you know what that means they don't have faith yeah who what would jesus do though well read luke 18 no i don't i just don't see that yeah because you don't have any faith that's why you think that god is just going to allow you know the enemies of god just to trample over you just to blaspheme his name he's just this barney in the sky you know barney the dinosaur in the sky he's just this kind and loving god with no righteousness and no justice you have no faith yeah and he's saying look i'm telling you if you just come to me day and night crying to be avenged of your adversaries i'm gonna avenge you yeah but when i come back shall i find anybody who has that kind of faith folks let's be a church who has this kind of faith yeah amen cry day and night lord avenge us of our adversaries go to psalm 109 this will be the last portion of scripture so people who say well no jesus wouldn't do that yeah you're proving what jesus is saying right here he's like he's gonna find no faith on the earth because you're not even willing to believe what he's actually saying right here people read this and they have this gandhi christianity they read this oh well that's not what he meant you know that's not what he really means he meant something else love your enemies yeah but the thing love your enemies so we just you should we just take out luke 18 out of the bible then or what you want us to just ignore everything that the bible says in this respect folks if you ever find something in the bible that seems to contradict this doesn't contradict right we just need to reconcile both passages and this is how you reconcile when he says love your enemies bless them to curse you it's not referring to cursed children and when he talks about these deprecatory prayers asking god to avenge us of our adversaries this is obviously referring to a specific category of people that are haters of god yeah look at psalm 9 verse 1 this is probably the best imprecatory prayers in the bible and i was reading this last night and i'm just like man he couldn't i could not have said it better hold not thy peace oh god of my praise for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue ellie times they can pass me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause for my love they are my adversaries but i give myself into prayer they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love this is how i feel about the city of omanti right now yep set thou oh man okay see everyone wants to they like verses one through five oh man david poor guy you know well let's let's re-keep reading right set thou wicked man over him and let satan stand at his right hand when he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin you know like that prayer meeting they had yesterday yeah man that's right become sin amen in fact those people would have done better if they would have not had a prayer meeting right their condemnation would have been less if they did not pray amen they still would have been condemned god still would have judged them but because they made a mockery of god by praying unto him now their prayers become sin amen when he shall be judged let him be be condemned and let his prayer become sin let his days be few and let another take his office mayor that's right let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow man whoa hey man i thought you left a sweet psalmist of israel hey this is sweet i read this i was like sweet yeah oh he's not done either let his children be continually vagabonds and beg let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor let there be none to extend mercy unto him neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children let his posterity be cut off and the degeneration falling let their name be blotted out don't even let them be remembered let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out oh man he's even going out to the mama talk about your mama jokes this is your mama in precatory prayer let them be before the lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth he's like how do you don't even let them be remembered yeah right when someone asks you like who mayor who because that he remembered not to show mercy you know why you shouldn't remember these people because they forgot to show mercy but persecuted the poor and the needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart as he loved cursing oh you oh you love faggotry oh you love the the sodomites oh you love reprobation okay as he loved cursing so let it come into him as he delighted not in blessing oh you didn't like the blessing of a local new testament church preaching the gospel into god's word in the city of omante right you want you don't want a delight and blessing so let it far from him amen folks don't see us getting kicked out of omani or getting our building blown up as a cursing upon us actually god's cursing omante by removing that light from that city as he clothed himself with cursing as with the garment you know with the rainbow flag so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones let it be into him as the garment which covered him and for girdle wherewith he is girded continually he's basically saying if that's what you love i'm just going to give you completely over to it's kind of like you know being given over to a reprobate mind let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the lord and of them that speak evil against my soul but do thou for me oh god the lord for thy name's sake because thy mercy is good deliver thou me men folks and prerogatory prayers are biblical yeah i guarantee you after david was finished writing that he's put his pen i feel a lot better i'm sure he pulled that out and look folks this is the psalm so so the israelites would sing this yeah yeah they would sing this this where's eric okay we need to come up with a tune to this they would sing this and look is david saying i'm gonna go avenge myself as he's saying i'm gonna i'll make sure i'll facilitate that blogging their names out of the book of life he's asking god to do right because he's pouring out his heart like water and he's not just talking about just any regular sinner folks he's talking about wicked haters of god and in fact in context it's actually a prophecy of judas is scary yeah so what's what am i saying about prayer today hey folks we should pray for all these things but don't forget to pray being pregatory prayers it's important if you're frustrated if you're just like man how can these people just get away with this stuff you know like is the fbi gonna catch anyone are they gonna make any what's is any justice gonna be brought like you're just vexed like i don't know about you but i i've vexed i've been vexed at times just like man no justice yeah but then i go to this i said lord avenge me of mine adversaries lord i try to be a blessing to this community i try to be a blessing to the city of oman that's what we want to do and they rewarded me evil for good you know what god is saying when he hears that i will avenge them speedily i will avenge them speedily don't neglect the power of prayer let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and uh lord we're thankful for the power of prayer and all that you've taught us through the word of god when it comes to prayer help us to pray not to faint and we have a lot of needs lord we need ability we need you to provide for us we need you to protect us we need you to deliver us we want to keep serving you we want to keep preaching the gospel we want to keep preaching the word and being a blessing to to people all around the world lord may you give us the ability to do so and lord i pray against your enemies lord that you would deal with them speedily lord avenge us of our enemies these people who have just slandered us and lied about us and just are making a considerable effort just to kick us out of the city and so wicked lord so evil i pray that you would render them according to their works and lord may you may you punish them for that lord and i pray that any individual who is not necessarily reprobate who maybe is helping their cause that the judgment of the wicked will wake them up and may they recognize you know who they're fighting against not me not our church but they're fighting against god and i pray god that you bless the soul wanting and all there is in jesus name we pray amen we're gonna sing song number 43 again we're marching to zion song number 43 that last song song number 43 see it on that first come we that