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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Morning we're in Matthew chapter number six Matthew chapter six the Bible reads Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them Otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven Therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets That they may have glory of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward When thou doest thou But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly When thou prayest thou shall 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 say unto you they have their reward But thou now prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door pray to thy father Which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly But when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do but I think that they shall be heard for their much speaking Be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him After this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done as it Is in heaven in 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 for if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses Wherever when you fast Be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to unto men to fast Verily I say unto you they have their reward But thou when thou fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast But until thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust of corrupt And where thieves do not break through nor steal for your treasure is there will your heart be also The letter the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness How great is that darkness? No, man can serve two masters rather He will hate the one and will love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and mammon Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life What you shall eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than Meat in the body than raiment Behold the fowls of the air for they neither so nor do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one Cuban under your under his stature and why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not and other do they spin and yet I say unto that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Wherefore if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven Surely not much more clothe you. Oh ye of little faith Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things to the gentile gentile seek through our heavenly father knoweth that you have need of these things But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Take therefore no no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Spread your Lord God. Thank you for this church. Thank you for our pastor I just asked that you would fill me the Holy Spirit now and please bless the preaching to our edification in Jesus name we pray Amen Okay, we're in Matthew chapter 6 this morning and I'm gonna read to you from Luke chapter 11 you stay there in Matthew chapter 6 Luke chapter 11 in verse number 1 says and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased one of his disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his Disciples and what I want to preach on this morning is Christ in the school of prayer with Christ in the school of prayer. I want to talk about prayer this morning and Essentially talk about or give an exhaustive lesson on the subject of prayer how to pray this actually came up A couple times throughout the week in conversations with various people regarding prayer And so the last time I actually preached a full-length sermon on The subject of prayer was a few years ago back at the old building So I think it's time to kind of revisit the subject once again now We obviously know that prayer is an important aspect of the Christian life And in fact, probably one of the most important disciplines spiritual disciplines that you as a Christian that I as a Christian can Have right that we can we can possess we haven't seen all that Bible reading is important So winning is important going to church is important Let me say this prayer is equally as important and in some cases even more important than some of those other Disciplines and in fact is one of those disciplines that probably goes out the window First before anything else if a Christian begins to backslide before they get out of church before they start reading They stop reading their Bible before they stop soul winning. I'm gonna tell you right now They probably stop praying first. Okay, but it's such an important and powerful Discipline in our lives. We need it in order to be led of God We need it in order to increase our faith in God We need it in order to be the kind of Christians that God would want us to be To be strengthened with might by his spirit and the inner man It's necessary in our Christian lives in order for us to grow in order for us to be knowledgeable about the things of God in order for us to just make any Decision in our lives whether big or small we need prayer but Sad to say that a lot of times this is probably one of the most neglected disciplines in the Christian life And I think sometimes one of the reasons why it's neglected probably the most obvious reason I'm just gonna be honest with you is laziness. Okay, some people are just too lazy to pray So how do you know because I'm one of those people, you know, I'm a sinner I make mistakes And sometimes in my Christian life There's been instances where I don't pray not because I don't love the Lord not because I don't believe in prayer It's just simply because I'm lazy Okay, so obviously we need to overcome this sinfulness of slothfulness and laziness when it comes to prayer and Discipline ourselves to do so but also I think another reason why people Neglect to pray and I think this is probably the bigger reason and that is because they don't know how okay They know prayers important they know it can do things they know it's the manner in which we get ahold of God They know it's a manner of which we can see Supernatural miracles in our lives and how to get God to help us in our Christian life But they just don't know how and so this morning I'm gonna give you a systematic sermon on the subject of prayer now first and foremost Let me start off by saying this let's talk about how not to pray. Okay, because chapter 6 of Matthew is probably one of the most Exhaustive lessons or chapters on the subject of prayer and Jesus here actually explains to us not only how to pray but how not to pray as well look at verse number one if you Would first and foremost we should not pray to be seen of men It says in verse 1 take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them Otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven Therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets Then they may have glory of men barely a saying to you. They have the reward. So what is he saying here? He's referring to alms. This isn't referring to tithing It's not referring to necessarily the offerings of the church But rather when you give to charity right a charitable gift you give to someone who's in need someone who is poor Someone who is lacking a specific necessity in their lives when you give to that need It's called an all and the Bible's telling us here that when you give alms when you give to charity when you give to someone's Necessity you shouldn't you shouldn't sound a trumpet and what is this referring to? You know, you shouldn't necessarily record it and upload it to Instagram or tick-tock Right as you see the poor person you're giving them a $20 bill and then once the cameras off you take it back Or so, I don't know they probably they probably do that But this is something that's very prevalent today in 2024 where people like to record their good deeds on Social media to have the praise of men. Is it because they actually love the people? It's because they want to help the poor is it because they're doing it out of sincerity the heart No It's actually to be seen of men the reward they're looking for is the recognition that they get from others by doing Good to people and the Bible's telling us here that we should not have this motive of being seen event Now obviously we're gonna do good works We're gonna do certain things that please God where men see those things, right? And in fact the Bible says that we should do good works that you know when men see them they glorify God in heaven But the motive should never be that I'm doing these things because I want the acclamations I want the praise of men you understand now this is regarding alms But it says in verse number five and when thou prayest thou shall not be as the hypocrites are For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets Why that they may be seen of men? Verily I say to you they have the reward so the Bible's telling us here that these Pharisees because obviously it's referring to Those in the synagogues. They're going to the corners of the streets and they're lifting up their hands. They're making a show they are Pontificating they're acting all hyper spiritual They want everyone to see how elegant and eloquent their prayers are and it's not because they love the Lord They're not praying because it's commanded of God They're doing it because they want everyone to have this perception of them that they are Spiritual and this is what second Timothy chapter 3 says when it says that they have a form of godliness But they deny the power they're up. Well, how do they have the form because they're out there praying in the corners of the streets You know making themselves out to be Spiritual people when they're actually not and so this is not saying that we shouldn't pray on the streets or Pray walking down the street or in our vehicle or any of that any of those types of areas What this is simply warning us about is doing it in order to be seen of men to receive the praise of man the acclamations Of man, that is the wrong reason to pray Okay, not only that but Jesus not only warns us to not pray in this manner to be seen of men But also not to pray with empty and mindless repetition He says in verse number 7 of Matthew 6, but when you pray use not vain repetitions as The heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking and this is obviously referring to Prayers that don't come out of the sincerity of the heart but rather are just a repetition of words thinking that they are spiritual because of the Volume of words right the amount the quantity of words that are being said. They think they're accomplishing something because of it and when I think of this verse Probably the most, you know obvious example today are the Catholics They are notorious for vain repetition praying the Lord's Prayer this many times praying hell marries this many times and You say well, yeah, but they're praying to God though, or they're praying to marry well, first of all, no where in the Bible does it say to pray to marry and Praying to anybody else other than the Godhead is considered idolatry That's problem number one. Well problem number two a lot of these persons are saying is just the repetition of the same exact things They're not necessarily putting any thought into what they're saying and they're actually this is an adaptation of Eastern mysticism practices of Eastern mysticism that places the person into an altered state of consciousness This is something that the Hindus do Buddhists do it's nothing new. This is essentially Buddhism and Hinduism Within Catholicism and so it's the same exact thing So he doesn't want us to pray in order to be seen of men But he also doesn't want us to pray with empty and mindless repetition I'll get into more of that later on in the sermon now Let's get into how to pray according to Jesus Christ. Okay based upon this chapter We're gonna hop around a little bit, but we'll mainly be in Matthew chapter 6 how to pray according to Jesus Christ Let me just say this is that if you don't typically take notes I would encourage you to take notes for this particular sermon because I'm actually gonna give you a lot of information a lot of practical tips on how to pray and I would encourage you to pay attention because of the fact that you know One of the things that you should renew for the new year is the discipline of prayer, you know Maybe you read through your Bible this year. Maybe you started going soul-winning you started going to church But this is one little area that's lacking in your Christian life and that is the matter of prayer. And so this can help you Kind of put into practice how to do so on a daily basis So number one how to pray according to Jesus Christ number one in private Prayer should be in Private look at verse number five again This is one out praise that shall not be as the hypocrites are For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men Barely I saying to you they have the reward 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 seeth in secret shall reward thee openly So it plainly tells us that when we pray it should be something that's in seclusion We should isolate ourselves from everyone else in order to be alone to commune with God, right? Now, let me say this is that this isn't condemning the practice of corporate prayer So what is corporate prayers what we do here right in the beginning of the service. You have a song leader he leads a song and Traditionally, what do we do after he leads a song? He opens up the service in a word of prayer. That is what's considered Corporate prayer when we complete the service we complete it with prayer corporate prayer Sometimes we gather together once a month to pray corporately for the needs of the church for the needs of individuals This is what's known as corporate prayer and the Bible does not condemn that at all You say well, how do you know? Well, because Jesus said it is written my house shall be called the what a house of prayer But you have made it a den of thieves. So the Bible Specifically describes the church the pillar and ground of truth the place where in the Word of God is being proclaimed Instruction is being given but it's also a house of prayer meaning that we are supposed to be praying people right when we gather together and The truth is this is that you know when we pray we're not when we do corporate prayer in church We're not just going through the motions, you know, brother John Brother Marcos or brother Ron when they come up in song lead, you know, and they open up the service with prayer It's not just the filling of the time You know, you know you said why do they pray we pray because we want God to be involved in the service We want God to have his hand of blessing Upon the singing the offerings the preaching of God's Word and the recipients of the message Right, so it helps everyone to have a focused view of the spiritual by saying Lord Please bless our service bless the preaching what's taking place here today is a supernatural occurrence It's a spiritual meaning that we're having here. You know, we want you to be in the midst, right? This is why we do corporate prayer And the reason we pray at the end of the service is so that you don't forget the spiritual truth that you heard That's important. Amen Pray Lord, you know help us not soon forget what we've heard today Help us not soon forget what the Spirit of God did in our hearts help us not soon forget what's going on Bless our people as we go on our way as we go sodding as we go to work We want God to be involved in what we're doing, right? And the reason we gather together corporately in prayer meetings, you know, the ladies do it on Saturdays with their prayer breakfast We do it on Fridays with pizza The reason we do that is because we believe That God can answer our prayers. And so we have necessities and we want to take those to the Lord in prayer We gather together the men gather together We break up into into pairs and we have a list of things that were praying for praying for you We pray for the needs of our church. We're praying for individuals We're praying for various things because we believe that God can answer prayer that is corporate prayer and that's very much something That is a practice in the New Testament and in fact the Bible tells us in Acts chapter 1 that they referring to the disciples continued daily in one accord in prayer Meaning they're together gathering together. They were praying together. And so Matthew 6 is not a condemnation of corporate prayer What is being condemned is public prayer for the sake of being seen? Okay People who make long prayers in public, you know have no interest in getting a hold of God and So, you know, this is something that should not be done and you know brother John or whoever whatever song leaders up here They're not praying for hours on end or for 15 minutes straight. But you know, there are certain churches that do stuff like that Believe it or not and that may be foreign to you because this might be the first fundamental Baptist Church You've ever been to but it's not my first rodeo. I've been to many fundamental Baptist churches both new IFP and old IFP and let me say this there's a lot of old IFP churches that are guilty of just making these long prayers After the service and you kind of wonder like okay, you know, we know you could pray We know you you're you're eloquent in prayer or whatever, but obviously that's something that they're doing to be seen of men It's something that's condemned in the Bible. Okay, you know according to Jesus the reward that they're looking for are the acclamations of Man Whereas the type of prayer where you commune with the Lord and speak heart-to-heart should be done in seclusion. Okay The instruction is that what we see Christians to be in public is actually a fruit of what they're doing in private Why because the Bible says if you pray privately God will reward you openly You see God's hand upon some person in our church. You see God blessing some person with biblical knowledge You see God blessing people with Salvations and at their job just mark it down. They are a byproduct. Listen to this of their prayer life Or they're a byproduct of someone else's prayer life Someone is praying for them because prayer works. And so what we do in private in prayer gets rewarded by God in public Now with that being said, let me say this is that every Christian Should have a specific place where they pray Okay Now look, I believe God wants us to pray everywhere lifting up holy hands praying everywhere and you know have this prayer life But let me just say this is that in order for you to have a prayer life It actually starts with you having a prayer time because what is the prayer life? It means you pray everywhere at all times You're just conscious of the fact that you need the Lord and that you pray into God for specific needs that arise throughout the day Or throughout the week, but in order for you to even have that type of discipline You actually have to discipline yourself first to have a prayer time at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day Okay, and in order for you to be effective in that area, you got to pick a place to do that it now notice what it says, but that one now pray is enter into thy closet what is that referring to a specific place right, I would consider a prayer life as the optimization of prayer and I would consider the prayer closet the place as the Standardization of prayer so in order for you to optimize your prayer life and pray everywhere You got to standardize that discipline first and pick a place Okay, pick a place and a time that you go listen to this to meet with God Okay, you go to your and look it could be various places in this case You know sometimes there's a closet, but maybe your closet is not big enough to do that I would say this you know I'm privileged as the pastor to have like a lot of areas that I can pray in But it hasn't always been that you know I got I got an office here I got an office at my house that I can just spend time in prayer, but it wasn't always like that I mean I remember being in Bible college, and you're living in a dormitory You're sharing a room with five other guys a small room with five other guys a very small room And one of those guys is brother Marcos. I mean you know Yeah, I can't really pray there You know they got a little dead we used to have like a little desk smaller than this pulpit And you just sit there, and you could read your Bible there But you can't necessarily Go to the Lord in prayer in that area for all your burdens and stuff because you got a bunch of guys around So what I used to my prayer closet quote unquote was walking around the block in the morning Just go in the morning and walk around the block and let me just clarify something though I'm not praying like a Pentecostal while I'm walking around Where is the God of Elijah you know just? I'm obviously walking and I'm essentially Whispering thus within myself praying unto the Lord, and you know just just praying under my breath That's what I'm doing when I'm walking That's my that was my prayer closet at the time And then I would have a specific room that I would go to when I was on staff where I would go and pray But the point is in order for me to be disciplined every single day to pray in my mind I needed a specific area to go to and let me ask you this. Where is your prayer closet? Do you have a prayer closet and look I know that you know it's not Some of our homes are not conducive to just being alone especially for moms Right you know moms. They got a lot of kids, and it's just kind of a Somewhat of a circus sometimes in the home I get that but you know be creative right sometimes you can be at your kitchen table You know praying there while the kids are playing and you're praying and you don't have to be all you know loud or anything And you know but you can pray silently within yourself at at the at the table or you can go on the couch You can go outside. You can stand you know in your backyard. You can you can do it in the restroom You know there are times in Bible college where I would go to the restroom not to use the restroom But literally to pray just sit on the toilet and just with my with my prayer sheet and just pray or believe it or not You know sometimes in the shower Okay now I couldn't pray very long because there's people waiting on the shower But you know that's what I would do the point is is that I always sought out a place to pray Because in order to be disciplined there needs to be a regimen There needs to be a specific thing that you do every single day And if you want to be consistent in your prayer life you got to pick a place Okay, he says enter into thy closet shut thy door and pray in secret We want to pray everywhere, but that will happen once we've built the habit of praying consistently in a particular Location now hold your place for in Matthew chapter 6 and go to Luke 22 if you would Luke chapter 22 When you standardize the prayer place you will optimize praying in different places So once you already have the habit every day of just going to that particular place to get a hold of God to pray Then at that point you know you can literally just pray anywhere at any time any given time because you've already You've already developed the discipline of going to your prayer closet on a consistent basis But let me just say this is that I do believe that this is a biblical practice of picking a place to pray okay I know that we should pray everywhere, but I do believe that praying in a specific place consistently is Biblical to do and in fact it's something that the Lord Jesus Christ did okay look at Luke 22 verse 39 it says and he came out and Went verse 39, and I want you to notice this as he was want To the Mount of Olives and his disciples also followed him and when he was at the place He said unto them pray the enter not into temptation and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast and kneeled down and Prayed verse 39 says that he went to the Mount of Olives as he was want now what is want that's an archaic way of saying as he was accustomed to do as his habit was as His manner was he would go to the Mount of Olives So he consistently went to the Mount of Olives to do what to pray and let me say this he was so consistent Going to the Mount of Olives he was so habitual about it that Judas had no problem finding him When he went to go be arrested because it actually tells us in John chapter 18 that when Judas was you know Leading the soldiers to go find him. He's like I know where he's at I Know where he goes you know you could set a clock to his prayer life because he knew that he was gonna be at the Mount of Olives because That's what he was accustomed to do. What are we saying here? We're saying that Jesus had a specific place He would go to to pray and obviously the places vary sometimes with our lives sometimes you got to pray in your car Maybe you don't have privacy in your home. You don't have privacy in your room. You don't have privacy in the kitchen You don't have privacy anywhere, but maybe you might have privacy on the way to work, right? Well, that's when I listen to my favorite conspiracy podcast though. Well, then I have to be sacrificed in order for you to pray. Oh Oh Man I but then what am I gonna do pray? Prayer is important. So, you know if it takes 30 minutes 40 minutes an hour to commute to work. Well, there you go There's your time you can spend time in prayer. Okay, and you know at that point you can be all like crazy Well, you know what I mean? Because you know people who see you in the freeway that it's the only time they're gonna see you and so It won't be too weird But as I mentioned Jesus had a specific place it says that he was want to go there and Judas said that he oft times resorted there. Where do you resort to often to pray? Okay, pick a place in order to do so So when it comes to the subject of prayer and needs to be done in private and more specifically You need to have a place. I hope that after the sermon this morning you would pick a place to pray Especially for the new year say you know what? I'm gonna Consistently pray in this location and in order to have this discipline and and that I maybe want to do this thing You know all the days throughout the year now in the new year We're actually thinking about Bible reading schedules And I think I mentioned this maybe last week or something where they're gonna be three different levels Okay The first level is gonna be a beginner level and that's gonna be for the children who can read and it would be the New Testament in one year The second will be intermediate which is just reading through the Bible in one year and the third will be advanced to read the Bible Twice so you can choose either one Although I highly recommend for all adults to not do the beginners do the intermediate and the advance But all of the and by the way by the at the end of the year We're gonna give out certificates to everyone who completes their Bible reading along with the gift card Okay, just a little carrot for you to you know, complete your Bible reading but on the schedule itself, you know It has a box that you can check for your Bible reading but next to that box is another box of prayer So like did I read my Bible today and did I pray and so hopefully by the end of 2025? You'll have all those boxes checked you like I prayed 365 times this year I spent time with the Lord in prayer and in order for you to succeed in that area though You got to do what find a place be in private. Okay, go back to Matthew chapter 6 if you would Matthew chapter 6 So, how do we pray number one we pray in private and a sub point to that is that you got to find a place Number two, how do we pray we pray with a plan? Okay, he says in verse 7 But when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking Be naive therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask them So vain repetition means empty prayers. We talked about that in the beginning Meaningless words sheer quantity of words mean nothing if you're just robotically repeating Words now this doesn't mean that we shouldn't bring a quantity of needs to God Okay, he doesn't want a quantity of words just to kind of clear your conscience He wants you to describe to him the quantity of needs that you have Okay to cast your cares upon him and he wants you to do it in sincerity Because when we pray to God, we're not just like speaking to a robot. He's not speaking to a robot we're speaking to a person and people like for people to talk to them in sincerity, right be genuine and By the way, this also shows us that even though God knows our needs. He still wants us to ask for them Because it says for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask them But notice it says when ye pray So he wants us to pray even though we know that God knows the needs he wants us to pray because prayer is an act Of faith in God that he is also able to perform that which he promised Now ironically the Catholics as I mentioned will use this command You know against vain repetition and proceed to vainly repeat the Lord's Prayer Right because this is in the same chapter It's just like Oh vain repetition Oh say less and then they begin to vainly repeat the passage that we're about to read right now It's just like goes right over their heads So we're gonna look at the Lord's Prayer what people would coin to be as the Lord's Prayer But I want you to notice that it's a manner of prayer meaning. This is a way you can pray He's essentially given you a system by which to pray. What are some of the elements that should be involved in your prayer life verse 9 Says after this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven heaven hallowed be thy name Now the first thing we see here is that God wants us to address the father in praise So when we begin our prayer life, we should begin with praise and Thanksgiving Right thanking the Lord Praising God adoring him for his attributes thanking him for the things that he has done and for who he is But it says that we should address them our father now sometimes people get into this navel-gazing type of questions Or it's just like pastor when I prayed who do I pray do I pray to Jesus or pray to the father? Do I pray to the Holy Spirit like well what yes? Okay, but here's a great phrase that I learned in the old I have beam and I think it's a great principle when it comes to prayer is that we pray to the father Through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ So don't overthink it okay You know if you accidentally say Jesus or something It's not like the prayer is not gonna get answered But obviously the the the system that we have here is that Jesus Christ is saying that we should pray our father Meaning that we should address God the Father Hallo his name meaning we should recognize that it's sanctified. We should praise him. We should thank him So we should address the father in praise look at verse 10 Thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven So aside from the fact that we address God the Father. He also wants us to approach prayer submitting to his will In other words we don't want to impose our will upon God We want to bring our petitions before the Lord, but as the Lord Jesus Christ said not my will but thine be done Right so approach the Lord. You know with the spirit of submission saying Lord. Whatever it is. Do you want? This is what I want, and I believe it's according to your will But regardless of what happens thy will and not mine be done, okay look at verse 11 So we want to address the father in praise submit to his will verse 11 says give us this day our daily bread What is that referring to what's referring to the fact that prayer should involve asking for things? Specifically our needs and yea may I even say our wants as well Did you know God is not only interested in giving you what you need, but he actually wants to give you what you want Now here's the thing is that he's not always gonna. Give us everything that we asked for regarding what we want Can someone help him find the door? Yep everyone looking over at him not a single person. I'm just kidding You know he also wants to give us what we want and Why does God give us what we want at times because he wants to increase our faith He wants us to know that the Bible rings true when it says that he's we only need one person to show the door by The way just one person that's all we need Sometimes there's always commotion outside, and then like ten guys get up you know and only one guy does something about it We just need one hey brother Good to see you The Bible also says that he's given us all things richly listen to this to enjoy So obviously that's just referring to the needs referring to the wants because richly is referring to what abundance When we overflow when we have an overabundance of things so we were to ask God for our daily bread But just for our needs in general So when you pray you should pray addressing the father submitting to his will and then bring your petitions to him ask God for things You know and you're like well I don't have any needs well then pray for something that you want or pray for the needs of others or pray for yourself to Get some needs So you can pray for and increase your faith if that's you, but I don't know anybody who doesn't have any needs okay? Now let me say this is that you know it says here give us this day our daily bread But then later on in the chapter. It says take no thought For food arraignment, so it may you know I face value may you may think that this is a contradiction But what the chapters teaching is that we shouldn't worry about these things because it says take no thought It's referring to don't think about these don't worry about these things don't be overly anxious about these things pray about them So what does prayer do prayer is us saying you know when I'm worried. I'm gonna pray You know I'm worried that I'm not gonna make ends meet then I'm gonna pray for my daily bread And then I'm not gonna take any thought for these things and what is the formula? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things referring to the needs shall be added unto you Here's the basic way of saying that put God first Put God first you know if you are overly anxious you're stressed out You're you're putting God and the things of God on the backburner it might be because of the fact that you're not seeking the kingdom of God first Because that would keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee the Bible tells us be careful for nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God and The peace of God the passive understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord So the Bible is very much against us being overly anxious Worried and the remedy to our anxiousness into our worry is what prayer You're worried about something pray about it. Well. I prayed it. It's just they're just not doing anything pray more You know or here's the great thing look if you're worried about something and you pray for it And it doesn't and you know God doesn't give you that thing that you need that will calm down your anxiousness Then this is what you pray for then Lord. Give me the peace of God the passive understanding Right in other words. You know sometimes. We just need to calm down We just need a little bit of tranquility in our hearts And you know sometimes even if our circumstances change and we get what we're asking for we're still we're still stressed out so sometimes just a heart problem and What is the remedy to that heart problem of being stressed and worried? It's just a lack of prayer, okay? So he says take no thought for your life What you shall eat what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is Not the life more than me and the body more than Raymond He goes on to say later on invert the last verse of chapter 6 Is this take therefore no thought for tomorrow? For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof now if you're anything like me. I kind of don't like that teaching there bothers me Just a little bit Because what he's saying here is that you're gonna have sufficient for today You're like yeah, but I only have sufficient today. I don't know what I'm gonna do tomorrow well then allow tomorrow to take thought for the things of itself and Sometimes the evil in this life is that we only have enough for today we only have enough for today and So you said what am I gonna do tomorrow? Well worry about cross that bridge when you get there And when tomorrow comes guess what you're gonna find if you're seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness you're gonna find do you're gonna have sufficient not for the week, but just for that day and There are instances in our life when we only have sufficient unto the day, and I'm sorry to tell you that's the evil thereof Okay, but it's in those moments that we can increase our faith in God knowing full Well that he'll provide for us every single day Even if he has to send a raven to come feed you if he has to drop if he has to drop manna from heaven Obviously I'm exaggerating here I'm saying he can do the miraculous and provide for you in a miraculous way So we see here in the Lord's Prayer that we're supposed to address the father submit to his will ask for our needs verse 12 We're also supposed to ask for forgiveness. He says and forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors and so part of prayer is that guess what you're supposed to be confessing your sins daily and Unlike the first point of finding finding a specific location, you know, this doesn't require any specific location You don't have to go to a Catholic Church in the booth With some dude with the band-aid around his neck Some pervert who wants to hear about all your sins You know, but the point is is that when we pray we're supposed to pray Asking for forgiveness. Okay for the sins that we've committed, you know He that covered the sins listen to this shall not prosper but who so confess it and forsake at them shall obtain mercy So one thing that we need to keep in mind when we pray we need to make sure we clear ourselves of any transgressions of any offense against the Lord because we want him to answer the prayer and If you're not confessing your sins and clearing yourself, you're just spinning your wheels Because you're not going to prosper in the thing that you're asking for because you're not cleared of Your offenses that make sense to everyone so ask for forgiveness when you pray and then verse 13 Part of the Lord's Prayer here. Is that we ask for his leading Says lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen, so obviously when we pray we should ask Lord lead me, you know, give me wisdom You know the Bible says trust in the Lord with all thine heart Lead not unto thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths We should pray for that direction right every morning you wake up say Lord Please lead me direct me help me to make the right decisions Lord. Give me judgment Give me wisdom and discernment every single day. We should pray for those things, okay Now with this being said regarding the model that we see here the manner in which to pray This is why I believe we should have a systematic list of needs In other words a prayer list. I don't think we should just kind of flippantly go to our prayer closet and it's like, alright What should I pray about? Mm-hmm. I Got an ingrown toenail, you know, it's just like just come up with random stuff You know, I think we should have a prayer book Okay write down a prayer book where you write down your personal needs the needs of others the needs of the church and And Let me just take you through This acronym that I've used throughout my Christian life and I think everyone should use this is an easy way for you to remember How to pray okay, because if you're like, well, I need to create a prayer list But I don't really know how to start like where do I what do I start with? Well, here's a good way to remember this. Here's the acronym acts okay, a CTS and let me take you through each of these letters Letter a is adoration and praise So when we pray the Bible says in Psalm 100, you know Thanksgiving says that we should enter into his courts with Thanksgiving and into his presence with praise Meaning that when you begin your prayer time, you should begin buttering up the Lord Right We should praise him Adore him, you know spend time talking about his wonderful attributes and how he's omniscient How he's omnipotent, you know take time describing his divine qualities and Take time to praise him for who he is Now let me say this is that I do believe that this part of the prayer shouldn't be written down per se because it should be of sincerity but I will say this if you're new to prayer and You don't really understand or can recall the qualities of God it'd be good to write some of them down I did that when I first got saved I had a list and I put you know omniscient omnipotent almighty or powerful strong You know just loving forgiving, you know from which comes my salvation just everything I could think of I would write it down and I would kind of just go through those Titles or those Attributes one by one until I kind of got familiarized with the attributes of God Where I can just pray and just it already comes to mind of who he is. You understand what I'm saying? So I'm not trying to make robots out of you I'm just trying to help you to address God and how to do it in a very optimal way So adoration and praise is how you should start your prayer life prayer time. Excuse me, and then Thanksgiving tea is for Thanksgiving Now this is a little different than adoration and praise why because adoration and praise is You praising God for who he is Whereas Thanksgiving is thanking God for what he's done You know thanking God for another day of life Thanking God for salvation Thanking God for the meals and the clothing and look One thing that will help you not to be so selfish if you struggle with selfishness is spending time in this part right here Thanksgiving Because then you list all the things that you're thankful for you're grateful for, right? You're like, well, I don't really have much to be grateful for though, you know I'm not I'm just kind of like, you know, I don't really have too much Well, it's cuz you're not my father-in-law used to say this you're not thankful because you're not thankful You don't think Sometimes we just need a thing Right and just think upon everything that we have the fact that we have jobs food on the table. There's shelter There's clothing. There's people that love us We have a church. We have a Bible. We have salvation. We have the forgiveness of sins I mean we can go through a slew of things spiritually and physically of things that we have and if you're like Yeah, but I don't have as much as you but I guarantee you have more than someone else in this world though And I guarantee you there's someone in this world who would give their right arm to have what you have So it's all about perspective sometimes so adoration and praise Thanksgiving letter C is confession This is a time where you confess your sins and your transgressions and by the way This sometimes takes a little meditation as well, you know Obviously, there's some sins that you probably readily recall Like I know what I'm guilty of I know what my weaknesses are But there's other times when you have to pray this Lord search me see if there be any wicked way in me You know because there might be some some sin Some presumptuous sin that you're guilty of and you want to be clear to that, right? So adoration praise Thanksgiving confession, and then lastly is supplication meaning Petitioning for your needs and the needs of others. Okay. So let me explain something here and you don't have to do it this way I'm just kind of giving you an example to go by Because you might do more than with this or you might do less than this and either case is just simply serves as an example My I have a prayer book that I've had for years and in that prayer book Obviously, I don't have the adoration praise and Thanksgiving I did that when I first got saved but regarding, you know the supplication aspect You know, I kind of start off praying for myself first believe it or not You know, I pray for myself first and I pray for my spiritual needs first, you know I pray for God to favor me I pray that he helps me to love him with all my heart so my new strength I love the Bible and just all the spiritual needs that I have and I even put on there Lord Help me to prosper and have good success today You know and I and I and I list specific things You know specific things that I want to prosper and have success in you know on Sunday mornings I pray Lord, please prosper the preaching and help me to be successful in my preaching today Sunday morning and Sunday night You know, there's times when I have you know a big lift believe it or not, you know, like 425 deadlift I pray Lord prosper me in that lift help me to get 425 up with without injuring myself and with might Because I don't want to struggle getting 425 up I tell the Lord Lord I want you to help me to lift it up with might I want to be strong give that to me Prosper me in that area prosper me at work prosper me in my marriage Help me to be kind to my wife and to pay attention to my children You know, I want him to prosper me and give me good success So typically that aspect is just me praying for myself Helping, you know Lord help me to have a greater burden for the loss increase my faith But then there's actually physical needs that I have Okay physical needs that I have needs that are temporary needs needs that are somewhat You know long-term needs and I list those so after I'm done praying for myself Then I pray for my family pray for my wife my children and the salvation of my children Pray for my wife to walk with God to love the Lord to guide the house You know pray for her to submit to me because she has that issue. No, I'm just kidding, you know to reverence me Pray for her walk, you know, I prayed that she loves the Lord, too I pray for my children to love the Lord that God will place the edge of protection. I pray for more children I pray for spouses for my children when they grow when they grow up Okay, then after I'm done with that I pray for the church for the specific the general needs of the church They got with favor our church If you bless her so one of you bless bless the preaching bless the offerings bless the new people You know bless the Great Commission in our church that we get a lot of people baptized that you know The church won't burn down, you know, and then we catch fires more readily and people will stop messing with the baptistry No, I'm just kidding. You know, I pray I'm specific about prayers Okay and then I just have You know people like in our church that I individually pray for him and it helps that we have teams because they're all listed so I pray for all of you and you know on a weekly basis, I'll pray for you and If I know of a specific need that you have I'll pray for that need to that end If I don't I just pray for God to bless you in general, okay, and I and I it's always safe to do this Lord you know what they need, you know, you answer their prayers, you know, and So that's generally how my prayer life works now a question I get asked a lot and it's really it's irrelevant is How long should I pray for? Okay if your season prayer a prayer Then you shouldn't necessarily have a time that you're keeping track of Okay But again, like the adoration and praise him right of those things down I do think it's conducive if you're not accustomed to praying to put a timer Just to make sure you pray for at least five to ten minutes because maybe you're not even accustomed to doing that You know, maybe you're not accustomed to praying for ten minutes or five minutes And so put a timer for ten minutes and fill that time up with prayer fill that time up with the supplications You like well ten minutes. That's a little too much. Okay, then five minutes do something though and Eventually you get in a groove of just knowing how to commune with God Because the the the practical tips that I'm giving you right now. It's just that kind of help you To learn how to talk to God Okay, and the goal is that you become So efficient at doing this that you just carry it with you throughout the day and throughout your life you know you're driving down the street and you're just like You know because we all when we drive we just have these intrusive thoughts of just like worries, right? We're just like man. I got this coming up I'm worried about this and then it was just like I need to pray about it And let me say this. It's a lot easier. Listen to me It's a lot easier to pray throughout the day to ask God for a big need or a small need if You know, you're not nine one wanting him I understand what I'm saying. In other words, you know, sometimes you'll pray throughout the day regardless. I'm like, oh man I didn't really pray in the morning and now I'm asking God to bless me in this area But if you did your due diligence just commune and fellowship with the Lord in the morning You can't approach him with confidence because you know the Lord in prayer you started your day off in prayer and Therefore that confidence kind of carries over throughout the day and you just you're just you're just picking up where you're left off in A conversation you understand what I'm saying? so my goal for you this morning is that you start off with a prayer time and maybe use this axe as a System whereby you can use on a piece of paper or on a book, you know picking a place to pray Go back to I don't know where you are right now, but if you're in go back to Matthew 6 if you're not So we're to pray in private We are let me go over this list real quick because I didn't get enough sleep so I don't remember everything I said Pray with the plan Praying private pray with the plan and then number three listen to this very important pray pardoning So we had mentioned in the previous one that we should pray asking for forgiveness. But let me say this that's not enough though According to the Bible you need to pray forgiving others, too Now that's a big one Look at verse 14 For if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you But if you forgive not men their trespasses Neither will your father forgive your trespasses? So think about this you have these needs that you need to be mad you're going to the Lord in prayer And you ask God for forgiveness, but he's not gonna forgive you and if he doesn't forgive you you don't get your prayers answered But the reason he's not forgiving you is because you're not forgiving someone else So here's a very important spiritual discipline. Is that when we go to the Lord in prayer, we forgive people of their transgressions against us Now don't get you know So hyper analytical about this point because sometimes people like yeah Well, what if I forgive them in this moment, but then tomorrow I don't forgive them or later on in the day I just get bitter against that person again. Well sufficient until the hour is the is the evil there of okay Just forgive them at that point Understand so you cannot prosper in your prayer life if you're bitter or you have a grudge against someone plain and simple and Look, I say this as kindly as I can. I don't care how severe the offense is Now obviously there's certain Offenses that God doesn't even require for you to forgive someone of you know pedophilia and all that reprobate nonsense But anything before that where it's just an offense against you God expects for you to forgive that person of that in your heart at least Okay, so, you know it goes without saying that when you go to the Lord in prayer You can't go, you know bearing grudges against people bearing grudges against your spouse bearing grudges against your children bearing grudges against me Bearing grudges against the church members bearing grudges against friends or family members It can't happen if you want to prosper and succeed in your prayer life You got to make sure you clear others of their offenses against you Because the Bible says be kind one to another tender tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you You know the biggest hypocrite listen to this the biggest hypocrite is the person who wants forgiveness, but will refuse to forgive others You're a hypocrite Pray Pardoning, you know your personal prayer time is a good time for your for reflection to clear yourselves of any bitterness anger resentment Malice you may have against someone else. That's important. Okay, and the last thing you want to be is a bitter Christian Angry and by the way, we're not just talking about bitterness against other Christians There's bitterness against people in general, even if they're not saved Okay people at your job your boss You're bitter at your boss. You're angry at your boss forgive them Father forgive them for they know not what they do okay, and You know forgiveness is such a lost virtue. I feel like in Christianity sometimes with Christians Bitterness is just so rampant sometimes and it destroys people a root of bitterness brings up troubles people and they carry with them All the days of their life and it makes them just completely rotten people resentful people unhappy people Miserable people folks the reason you're so angry and miserable. It may be because you're not forgiving people You know, what's it's it's hard it's hard yeah, if it was easy everyone be doing it But here's the thing though. It's commanded though And I'm not saying you have to go through every single offense But you know, you know who you're bitter at in your heart and when you go to the Lord and praise the Lord forgive me because I'm bitter at this person and I want to clear them of That and I forgive that individual help me to forgive them By the way, you can pray for God to help you to keep his commandments Sometimes we need that like I'm not strong enough to keep the commandments of the Lord Like I need help with this cuz you know, I can't stand this guy And He makes me angry. She makes me angry. They've offended me the Lord. I forgive them in my heart give me the grace to forgive them and Please forgive me for being bitter as well And then you know what carry on with your day and if tomorrow they offend you again, then do it again Okay But please don't bypass this point though Because you know if you don't get this they just forget the whole sermon Just get out right now Because nothing else is gonna help you All these other points and your prayer list and the praying and private and finding a place and praying in the shower It's all in vain if you're not willing to forgive people and clear them of the offenses that you've received, okay, and So pray in private You pray with a plan you pray Pardoning and then number four is that you have to pray with persistence Okay, now turn with me if you would go to Luke chapter 11 Luke chapter 11 if you would Now what does persistence mean well the Bible also calls this what? importunity it Means you have to constantly go to God every day consistently for a particular need that you have and I I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands, but I'm sure everyone here has prayed for something even for years And you still haven't gotten it. I Would gather the mainly many of us myself included. I pray for things for years I've been a Christian first. I prayed for things for 17 years and I still have not received it You know what's necessary? persistence in prayer importunity This is what this is how the Bible also puts this pray without what ceasing Meaning you constantly pray you're in Pertune you're persistent verse 1 of Luke 11 says and it came to pass as he was praying in certain place when he sees one of the disciples said It's him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples skip down to verse 5 He gives an illustration here of prayer and he said unto them which of you shall have a friend and shall go into him At midnight and saying to him friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him and He from within shall answer and say trouble me not the doors now shut and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee so he's giving this illustration. This guy comes in the middle of the night, by the way terrible thing to do, you know Middle of the night. He's just like I need some food. I got some visitors Can you give me three loaves and you know, the guy is just like you're bothering me. I'm already in bed the door shut You know, I can't I'm not gonna get up. So he's saying this from his bad apparently Now the spiritual application to this is when we pray to God Right. We're praying unto the Lord. Sometimes it seems as though the Lord is not willing to rise up and give us The loaves of bread that were there were inquiring about and in fact, sometimes it seems as though the door shut The door is now shut the opportunity is gone and yes in some cases some opportunities are shut They are gone forever, but in other instances, it's not Verse 8 says 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 listen to this as many as he needeth So he's just like because the guy's just like hey, I really need these come on I need the three loaves He just keeps knocking and knocking and knocking but there's two specific things That provoked the man to actually give him the bread. It's not just the persistence. It says because he is his friend Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I ask you command And you know what if we're to be importune with God and forgot to answer our prayers We need to make sure that we're right with God and we're serving God That way we can have the right to ask for these things praying according to his will right But he's saying there that he has importunity. He's just constantly coming to his friend. And this is a picture of you and me Constantly going to God for a specific need And you know what the door shut? You know what? He doesn't want it. He's not rising not the circumstances haven't changed you go to your bank account up still zero You go to the mailbox no checks, all right You keep going every single day Lord. I need this Lord. I need this Lord. I need this Lord, please answer this Lord Please answer this and it says if you're importune he's gonna give you what you need. Why because importunity in prayer is an act of faith All right It's like when the lady came to Jesus and then the disciples are like pushing her away and then the Lord's just like it's not Me to take the the bread and give it to the dogs I mean called her a dog and she's like, yeah But the dogs eat at the crumbs of the Masters table is like wow great is like faith. This woman is persistent She's importune She's not discouraged by the lack of answers She's not like all right. That's my stuff. All right. Dang a dog, you know She's just like yeah, I'm like a dog and you know what? I'm willing to eat the crumbs that fall from the table and obviously the Lord was testing her You know, maybe God hasn't answered your prayer because he's testing you to see what is in your heart To see if you serve the Lord to see if we read the Bible to see if you'll come tomorrow with the same exact request You just keep praying You know, we need a little endurance when it comes to prayer and not just give up. Oh, yeah I prayed all week though. It never happened Wow Wow a week Great man, you're just a martyr Try like a month try a year try years That's some endurance right there And obviously, you know, we can chase a rabbit with this and say, you know, sometimes you'll pray for something You don't get it, but maybe because God doesn't want you to have it and maybe you know God doesn't want you to have it because it'll actually be detrimental to you and then you know five years down the road You're like, well, I'm glad God didn't answer that prayer actually Because he brought something out of left field and now I'm happy that he didn't answer that prayer and amen But in either case it doesn't hurt for you to just be persistent in prayer And I it should go without saying that you should pray according to his will to by the way You can pray for the lottery. It's never gonna happen And like Lord help me to win those million dollars if I win those million dollars I'll give that building to the church. I will you know give to missions I will you know You could pray you could be importunous you possibly want the man for sure is not gonna rise up And give you any bread whatsoever for that because it's not according to his will But if you're praying according to his will you're forgiving others You have you're praying in private you have a place you have a plan and you're being persistent have faith That he will answer that prayer Look at Luke chapter 18 if you would Luke chapter 18 God wants you to be persistent and you know It might be that some of you will pray your entire life for a specific answer and it may not even come until after you die, I mean, I've heard of stories of people who have prayed for their family members to be saved for decades to be saved and The person ended up dying and their death brought about the person being receptive to the gospel name that we're getting saved Came Decades later, but because of their persistence and importunity that person got saved And I'm not saying that's gonna be for everyone But I'm just telling you the type of importunity persistence that God wants. So just get comfortable praying. How about that? You know and by the way, don't give God a deadline either. I Need this by and I look I'm guilty of this like it's just like a microwave. You're like two minutes He doesn't love me it's just like he doesn't love me I'm not gonna go to church that you know You know, we need to just kind of not give God a deadline and say Lord Not my will but thine be done and answer this whenever you'd like But if you could do it on Friday, I appreciate that but if not, not my will but thine be done But Friday would be great By the way, when you're a friend of God you can talk like that But If you are estranged from God if you're not accustomed to talking to God You know, you can't talk to God like that or at least you don't feel like you could But when you speak unto the Lord, you can you can divulge you can speak obviously we're not talking about irreverently But you can speak your heart the Bible literally says pour out thine heart like water referring to prayer Look at Luke 18 verse 1. He's fake a parable into this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint Always pray don't faint. What does that mean be be persistent be importune and he's gonna give it another story to illustrate the importance of not fainting in prayer being importune verse 2 saying saying there was in a city a judge Which feared not God neither regarded man and there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying Avenge me of mine adversary and he would not for a while But afterward he said within himself though I fear not God nor regard man yet because this widow trouble is me. I will avenge her less by her continual coming she weary me and The Lord said here with the unjust judge saith and shall not God Avenge his own elect which cried day and night into him though He bear long with them So he's saying, you know this woman who's you know, she this widow wants to be avenged of her enemies She goes to this judge. This judge doesn't love the Lord. He's not fearing God So he's not avenging her because he's a just judge He's avenging her because she's so persistent and quite frankly. She's annoying Because she just keeps coming and keeps coming. He's like, alright go send a bounty hunter to go get that guy Goodnight ladies annoying me and he's giving this illustration. He's like and shall not God who is just Who is righteous? Don't you think he will avenge you of your adversaries if you continuously come to him? now This is not the sermon but this passage is talking about in precatory prayers Praying against Adversaries who maybe hate the Lord who have wronged you, you know, the Bible says give place unto wrath Avenge not yourselves Vengeance is mine. Say the Lord I will repay and there are instances where we're so hurt So damaged that we go to the Lord and say Lord avenge me. I've been wronged Avenge me of mine adversary and you know what God wants us to go to him Consistently persistently with importunity. You're like, well, I just don't think you know It'll happen. Well, look what it says in verse 8. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? He's like am I even gonna find anybody who's still praying in pregatory prayers when I get back Cuz they don't have faith And you know what? I've fallen into that trap every once in a while, too There are times I forget to pray about those people in Omani. Amen There's seasons I go through you say you're still praying of course, I want to be avenged by an adversaries I was reproached. I was made a laughing stock. I was threatened My family was threatened our property was damaged. My car was stolen I mean we were made of I'm literally going to the building with my wife After the bombing and the buildings destroyed this police and there's people driving by Laughing at me giving me the bird me and my wife Multiple people driving by like laughing at me pointing at me giving me the finger You don't think I want to be avenged of that. I'm like, man, we're going through like a hard time right here I got to figure out we're gonna have church and then I got the city just driving by giving me the finger You know mocking me. I want to be avenged in my adversaries And obviously father forgive the people what they know not what they do the people who are just kind of mixed up in that But there's some wicked people there You understand there's some people who actually hate the Lord You know, I want to be avenged my adversaries those who came to me and my wife my pregnant wife with my children surrounded us while we're out soul winning and We're like threatening to like harm me and I got like my fan. I'm putting my family I'm like you guys are whips to like, you know, not even gangs don't even do that stuff For your family and stuff and just mocking me like reproaching me. I want to be avenged my adversaries So I need to pray that And I've liked faith in some instances where I just either I forget or I'm just like whatever but then you know I you know, I get zealous again I'm just like Lord punish those people and you know, I may not see it in my lifetime, but I know one day I will see it. I don't want him to find faith when he comes back and Said Bruce me. He he prayed. He's been praying for you guys, by the way The point here is that God wants us to be importune in our prayers He wants you said what if I'm praying against someone and they don't Merit that Well, here's the great thing about praying imprecatory prayers towards people who may not deserve it Maybe you're just being fleshly and carnal if God doesn't want to answer. He's not gonna answer it Right. So if anything is just good therapy for you You're like Lord destroy this person May they you know just you know, remove them from their law made another man take his office Let another man take his bishopric and you're just you're just you're waxing Eloquent with the psalm the psalm and pregatory prayers and it just never happens because God doesn't want that for their lives Well, at least you feel better Because I don't know about you. I feel a lot better every time I'm done praying in a purgatory prayer I'm just like who that feels good, you know, hey brother, you know, you go about your day But you know what there's certain people that I'm sure I prayed in purgatory prayers That God doesn't answer them because it's not his will but you know There's other people though that I've prayed in purgatory prayers and guess what God did destroy them You know, there's a guy back in the day who was stopping us from doing these conferences it was like literally we're just preaching we're soul winning in Ohio and He was adamant about stopping us and he we literally had to move like four different locations because of this guy He'd make constant videos about us mocking us He made that trip so arduous and difficult and I remember the Marcos was with me I mean, we're kicked out of hotels because of him. He sent people to come harass us and you know, I came home I'm like we're having a prayer meeting and we're gonna pray against this guy and we did and you know what two months later Believe it or not. He was brutally murdered under very questionable circumstances Very questionable circumstances and then we were like Bruce, but he had killed him Killed him with prayer That's all I did You know, but I had nothing to do with that situation You know, but when it happened, I was just like the Lord avenged me of my adversary and so it's a very it's it's it's a real thing, but that's outside of the scope of the sermon the point that I'm Making here is that God wants us to be importune in our prayers. Here's the last point that I want to make here Go with me if you would to go. Oh, no, you're in. Are you in Luke 11? Go back to chapter 11 if you would chapter 11 This is an exhaustive sermon on prayer, here's the last point that I want to make is that we need to pray persuaded What does that mean we need to be persuaded that what we're praying for God is able to perform in other words he that cometh to God must believe that he is and That he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him You need to make sure that when you go to the prayer closet you go your approach is saying I know They because God hears me. I'm gonna get the petitions from which I'm asking for. I Know God's gonna answer this in some form or another He is going to answer this prayer because he promised to answer these prayers. This is according This is according to his will I'm doing exactly the way he wants me to do it. I'm right with God I'm forgiving others. I'm asking for forgiveness Therefore I shall not stagger at the promises of God. I will be fully persuaded That's what we need to pray. We need to pray believing and that's not to say that it's in the absence of doubt Because all of us pray having doubt Lord I believe but help my down my unbelief Doubt is a normal part of the Christian life. It's when you pray in spite of doubt It's when you serve God in spite of doubt Okay You know the Bible tells us let us therefore come Boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy to help in the time of need What does boldly mean confidently you go to the throne of grace Lord? I'm here again. Can you? Save my family member, please Work in their hearts. They're a hard case. They're not willing to listen to me Please work in their hearts as the rivers of water You know, you can turn their hearts the heart of the Kings in the hand of the Lord So, you know their heart is in your hand you can turn it make them receptive to the gospel in Jesus name I pray amen and then the next day Lord, I'm back again. Please work in my son's heart Please work in my daughter's heart. They've gone astray Please Lord. Give me this race. Please. Give me this race come boldly And look the principles I'm giving you this morning are helping you to be bold in prayer because consistency breeds boldness You know why you're you know why you're bold when you're out preaching aside from the power of the Holy Spirit because you do it every week You've gained confidence You know why you're bold when you read the Bible, you know, you're gonna get something from it cuz you do it every single week We're bold in the things that we do consistently. We're we have confidence in what we do consistently So if you want to have confidence in prayer do it consistently look what it says in Luke chapter 11 verse 9 and I say it to you ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find Knock and it shall be open unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh It shall be open. What does this mean? It means that when you pray you will get an answer It's not always yes Sometimes this is a no, but guess what? No is an answer You don't get something like oh, okay. There we go. I asked for God to answer this bird. He did he said no Or sometimes it's just wait In either case we will receive an answer Look at verse 11 if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father. Will he give him a stone? Or if he asked a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent or if he shall ask an egg Will he offer him a scorpion? So what is he saying? He's saying look, you know, you wouldn't give weird gifts to your kids if they're asking you for things So don't don't bring that to me Don't think that God, you know has that same attitude or something, you know, obviously if we're asking God for good gifts We should expect a good gift in return He's not gonna you know He's not gonna shortchange you is the point here The blessing of the Lord and maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow to it Says in verse 13 if ye then being evil Okay, if you've been being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? He's saying look if you are a sinful person with a sin nature with the selfish sinful nature But yet you still have the capacity to give good gifts Give some sincerity give some goodness to those you love how much more a perfect God is able to give you good gifts to those who ask them ask for them in other words believe it The Bible says what's your whatsoever you ask for believing he shall receive The point that God is trying to make here is that hey pray Persuaded that he will answer these prayers okay, and That's it. You know I hope this helped you. I hope you apply these principles. I want our church to be a praying church You know I want to hear some people saying you know I prayed for this and God answered this prayer I'm praying for this specific need and God answered it, and you know what let me say this many of you have had prayers answered a Job situation a family situation a difficulty in your life. You know let me just say this repeat those things to your children Repeat those things to others You know I'm all for leaving a financial Inheritance to your kids if that's what you want, but more than that you should leave a spiritual inheritance to them as well Leave faith in your children to believe the Lord and his promises Talk about how God has entered your prayers, and how God can answer their prayers encourage them to say Lord Encourage your children say hey, you know pray unto the Lord ask God for these things. He's your God He's your Savior. You know he wants to hear you pray This can happen you need to pray for that increase their faith in that why because prayers is powerful It's necessary, and so I hope that helps. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word, and thank you for the For prayer Lord for the fact that we can commune with you Through words and that which is in our heart and even there are instances where we can't Fully articulate what we want to say, but even then the spirit makes intercessions with groanings Which cannot be uttered and so we're thankful for that Lord? I pray that you'd help us as your people to be a praying church that we would be Disciplined and systematic and have our prayer list and take these things to the Lord in prayer petition for the needs of our own our families our church Lord and If for anything Lord that it may increase our faith in you, and I pray Lord that you would Speedily answer the prayers of the people in our church just to kind of give them a head start a boost in their faith Knowing full well that you're listening to their petitions I pray that you'd increase their faith increase my faith and help us Lord to be a house of prayer We love you. We thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen