A Call to Prayer

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Bill Smith; 2 Chronicles 7:14 A Call to Prayer

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. I got to go to a conference with some others, well, lots of other pastors down in Louisville, Kentucky.
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So to be at a conference and prepare a message, well, here
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I am, you're stuck with me. How about that? Sorry. Anyway, I am thrilled to be here and I believe that God put on my heart a really crucial message for the church today.
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I've been praying over this for weeks, and I just pray that God will really, really speak to us through his holy word this morning.
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Just open your heart to what he has for you today. So as Linda said,
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I do get to serve with Youth for Christ and Recast, you are one of my supporting churches. So thank you for supporting what we do.
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I've already preached twice this morning at the juvenile home. So every Sunday morning and Thursday night,
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I do two services for the young men that are there. So this is my third message this morning.
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So think about these times we're living in right now.
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We're coming off a two crazy years of what
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I never thought I would see in my lifetime, this thing they call pandemic, and we're still dealing with that, and the aftermath of that, and how it's affecting our economy, and just really the impact it's had on our nation in so many ways.
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If you watch the news, it's depressing. Crime has significantly increased in this nation.
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Law and order seems to be crumbling. There's so much division and political unrest in our nation.
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Russia invading Ukraine is scary. Potential of a
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World War III beginning. These are some difficult times that we're living in.
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Drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed. Suicide rates have significantly increased.
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You're probably thinking, wow, Bill, thank you so much. You're really depressing me. I came to church to get encouraged.
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No, I'm not trying to depress you. I'm trying to help you understand how much our world needs prayer more than ever.
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The world desperately needs our prayers because the world desperately needs the healing and transformation that the gospel brings, and our prayers can usher that in.
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When World War II started in Europe, and Hitler was doing his atrocities across Europe, and Japan was trying to take over Asia, and America remained neutral at the beginning of that, until Japan bombed
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Pearl Harbor. And it was said that after that, that Japan had woke up a sleeping giant, and America entered into the fray, and it was the beginning of the turning point of putting both of those horrible regimes down.
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Well, I think the church is a sleeping giant when it comes to intercessory prayer.
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I think our prayers can be so sadly self -centered, and we do need to pray for ourselves, but think of your prayer life and the circle of your prayer life.
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How far -reaching is it? I think the Lord wants to challenge us in this today.
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What if the church was to rise up to its full potential of intercessory prayer?
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What difference would that make in our world? I want to say that it will make a tremendous difference, because God moves through the prayers of His people.
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You know, I hear so many people complaining today about COVID, complaining about the politics of our nation, complaining about the state of our nation, complaining about the moral decline of our nation.
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What if we turned all those complaints into specific prayers for God to work and move?
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What difference could that make? How sad it is, for the most part, that the church is neglecting the power and blessing of intercessory prayer.
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I want you to look at Ezekiel 22, verse 30 with me. Back in Ezekiel's day, his nation was not doing well at all.
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In some ways, it makes our nation look not so bad with what was going on.
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And we come to verse 30, and we hear these words of God.
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So we're in Ezekiel 22, verse 30. God says,
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God was looking for people to stand in the breach in intercessory prayer and begin to pray for the nation of Israel and for it to turn, and for the revival would come back to the nation.
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And He couldn't find any. How sad was that? One more in Isaiah 59.
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Turn with me to Isaiah 59. Verses 14 through 16.
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So Isaiah, another prophet of God. Again, terrible things going on in the nation of Israel.
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The whole moral fabric of Israel was crumbling. They were worshiping false idols.
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And God comes through Isaiah, the prophet, with this word, verse 14, chapter 59.
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Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away, for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
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Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. I think those words could be said of our day.
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And then look at, in verse 15, the end.
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The Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede.
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Again, He was looking for His people to get serious in their prayers for the revival of the nation of Israel.
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God works and moves through the prayers of His people. The prayers of God's people have power, and I want to look at that component of it.
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This morning, I entitled this message, A Call to Prayer. We're going to look at a call to prayer and repentance.
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A call for prayer for the advancement of the gospel. That's the hope of the world. A call for prayer for governing authorities.
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And we're also going to look at prayer as a weapon. So that's kind of where we're going this morning with this message.
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And I just pray that God, through this, calls us to go deeper.
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Deeper in Him. Deeper in our prayers for this nation. Deeper for the prayers of the surrounding nations, the nations of this world.
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For our neighbors. For our families who don't know Christ. We don't want to be that sleeping giant.
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We want to rise up, church, and plead before God more than ever before. Let's pray.
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Father, just thank You that You are an ever -present help in times of trouble.
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You see us, You hear us, Lord. You hear every word that we speak. You even know every thought that we think.
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And so, when we approach
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Your throne of grace, when we call on Your name, Lord, You are attentive to the prayers of Your children.
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And, Lord, I pray that You would show us the difference that can make in our families, in our communities, in our nation, and the nations of this world.
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And so, Lord, just talk to us about prayer today. And I pray, as we leave today, that we would want to go deeper in the ministry of intercession.
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And thank You that every person in this room can be part of that ministry. And, Father, thank
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You now for some beautiful worship. And I pray You would help us to sing with understanding.
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Just thank You for Dave and all of the team that ministers to us through music every week,
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Lord. And I pray You will bless this time and all of our time together this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.
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So, if you were to come to my office and see my desk and my bookshelf, you would see that I have a number of commentaries and things like that.
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But in my book collection, I have one entire shelf that is just books on prayer.
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And I've learned from them. They're good. But nothing has taught me to pray like the book, the
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Word of God. This is the best prayer manual of all.
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This book teaches us how to pray very clearly. This Word teaches us why to pray.
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This Word teaches us what prayer can do. So it helps us understand that prayer is powerful.
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This Word even teaches us what to pray. The Bible is full of prayers.
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And God put those in there to teach us the things that He is ready to do in our lives and through our lives.
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Praying the prayers of the Bible has transformed the way I pray.
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If God is telling us what to pray for, and He even gives us the prayer to pray,
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I would say that that is a guarantee that He is ready to answer that prayer.
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Amen? He put that in there because He wants us to pray and He wants to answer our prayers.
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The first prayer I want to look at is a prayer of relationship and repentance.
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And it all has to do with our relationship with God. And that's where true prayer begins and true intercessory prayer begins.
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This is an ancient prayer. It's over 3 ,000 years old. This is a prayer that I pray over my family every day.
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I pray it over my own personal life. And I pray it over believers everywhere in every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.
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This prayer is found in 2 Chronicles 7 .14. Turn there with me, if you will.
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This may be familiar to you. I would really encourage you to use this prayer in your own prayer life.
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Chapter 7, verse 14. God says, If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then
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I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
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In this prayer, we are instructed to do four things. The first thing is to humble ourselves before God.
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We need to realize who we are, how weak we are, how flawed we are, and how much we so desperately need the
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Father in our lives and the work of God in our lives. Secondly, we need to know who
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He is, that He is the Holy One, that He is the Sovereign One, that He is the
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Ever -Present One, and that we come humbly before Him. I'll just say,
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Lord, You know how desperately I need You. How desperately
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I need You. Come to Him humbly. Secondly, we come to Him in prayer.
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So we humble ourselves before Him and we pray. We need to come to His throne of grace daily.
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And I would say hourly, we need to continue to come to that throne of grace, pouring out our hearts before Him, talking about all that's going on in our lives and around us and keeping this conversation up through the entire day.
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Hebrews 4 .16 says this, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need.
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There's God's invitation. He says, Come, my child, come to my throne of grace. It's the throne of grace and mercy.
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I know you struggle. I know all about you. I'm the one who can heal and transform you.
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I'm the one who can change this in your life. And I love you with an everlasting love.
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Thirdly, it says that we need to seek His face. David of old was called a man after God's own heart.
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But when you read David's life story, wow, he had some major failures, some major falling.
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And yet he continued to repent and come humbly before God. Well, David said these words.
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In fact, God said them to him in Psalm 27, verse 8. I love this verse.
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David said, When you, God said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face
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I will seek. God says, If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face.
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Face, that's the very presence of God. God is our greatest need, hands down.
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God is our greatest blessing. Learning who
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He is is the greatest and most powerful knowledge. And He says, Come, my child, come into my very presence.
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Seek my face, seek who I am. Be in my word,
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I'll show you my beauty and my glory. And then fourthly, we are called to repent.
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If my people are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.
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This is repentance. With this comes honest confession of sin.
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I've learned to keep very short accounts with God and I've learned to be very honest with God in prayer because the reality is, we're not hiding anything from God.
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He knows our sin. He knows our failing. He knows our struggle. And He's the one who can heal it and transform us.
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He wants us to come to Him in confession of sin. I will say this, if you are not daily confessing sins to God, that's probably the reason why you're not growing in your nearness to God.
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Repentance is such an important part of this relationship. And Jesus Christ shed
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His blood on the cross so that we can be forgiven. And I pray about my struggles.
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I say, Lord, show me the way, help me. What do I need to do? What am I doing wrong?
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And because of that, I'm making progress in sanctification because He is really good at showing us things in our lives that need to be changed.
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And we often have blind spots. If we do these four things,
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God promises He will forgive our sins and He promises that He will bring healing and transformation to our lands.
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Does not the United States of America need healing and transformation? Does not the nations of the world need healing and transformation?
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And it's the Lord's will. I'm praying that one great revival before His coming will sweep this earth, that there will be a turning to Him that this world has never seen.
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You see, prayer starts with us in our relationship with God and getting our hearts right.
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Once that's established, then we can move into the ministry of intercessory prayer.
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To neglect this, to neglect humbly to Him in repentance, this has the opposite impact on us.
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We're the ones that will suffer because we're neglecting the life giver. And I will say this too, those around us in some way will suffer if we're not getting our hearts right with the
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Lord every day. It's going to affect people around us, even in a negative way.
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There's a book, a classic that's been around for a long time. It's written anonymously, so they're not even sure who the author of the book is, but it's called
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The Kneeling Christian. Really good book on prayer. I want to read a few quotes this morning.
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The first one says this, Why are many Christians so often defeated?
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Because they pray so little. Why are many church workers so often discouraged and disheartened because they pray so little?
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Why do most Christians see so few brought out of the darkness into His marvelous light by their ministry because they pray so little?
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Why are not our churches simply on fire for God because there is so little prayer?
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The Lord Jesus is as powerful today as ever before. The Lord Jesus is as anxious for sinners to be saved as ever before.
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His arm is not shortened and it cannot save, but He cannot stretch forth His arm unless we pray more and more really pray.
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We may be assured of this, the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer.
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I believe that. I believe that prayer is crucial in our walk, in our life.
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You know, prayer is powerful, and I want to look at that for a moment with you. Turn with me to James chapter 5.
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We're going to read verses 16 through 18. James chapter 5, starting in verse 16.
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Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.
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Chronicles talked about that healing, and here again it says that healing can come through confession and through prayer.
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And then it goes on to say this, the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
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Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
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And he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
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The testimony of verse 16 is that a righteous person's prayer have great power.
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And this word great power here in our text is from a
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Greek word that we get our word energy from. It's energeo, and I'm probably not saying that right, but the definition is to be active, efficient, effectual, mighty.
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So it's a power word. The New American Standard translates it effective, that our prayers are effective, that they're going to have an effect and an impact in our lives and on those around us.
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The NIV uses the word powerful. Look at verse 16.
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Therefore confess your sins to one another, pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person, they've gotten their heart right with God, they've come humbly in repentance, they've asked that forgiveness, and they're cleansed.
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This righteous person now has great power through their prayers, and it's working.
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And this word working is another word for power. It's kulo, and it means to have or exercise force, to be able, to avail, to have might, to prevail, to be of strength.
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You see, our prayers, the prayers of God's children, release the power of God.
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God works through the prayers of His people. Do you think your prayers are powerful?
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Think about that for a minute. Every time I leave for chapel, if I leave from the house,
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I always ask Cheryl to pray for us, because I know she will.
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And sometimes I'll just remind both of us, and I'll tell her as I'm leaving, your prayers are powerful.
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Your prayers are powerful because they move the heart in the hand of God. He's the mountain mover, not us.
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But as any good father, he listens to the pleas of his children. R .A.
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Torrey said this, Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's infinite grace and power.
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Wow. Some years ago, I was invited to be the featured missionary at a daily vacation
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Bible school, and the children were collecting money for Bibles for the kids in the juvenile home, and I give away a lot of Bibles.
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That's, I think, why the young people nickname me Bible Bill. And so they wanted me to come every morning at the beginning of the vacation
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Bible school and share a little bit about my work and then give the children a specific prayer request for that day.
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And so for that entire week of their daily vacation Bible school, I came in every morning, first thing, and I shared prayer requests with these little children.
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The last day of the Bible school was on a Friday, and I was driving to the church, and I was reflecting on my week, and it suddenly occurred to me that that week had been the most fruitful week of my ministry up to that point.
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And you know, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I know two plus two equals four, and I knew that those children praying those prayers had an impact on the ministry that happened that week, that God was working and moving through these precious little children as they prayed.
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That was a tremendous lesson for me about the power of prayer, how
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God moves through even the prayers of a child. The second prayer
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I want to look at is a prayer for the advancement of the gospel. What is the hope of the world?
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It's Jesus Christ. It's the gospel. No true change is going to come anywhere without the change of heart, and Jesus is the heart changer.
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We need to be praying daily for the advancement of the gospel.
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Turn with me to Matthew chapter 6 to a very familiar prayer. After the disciples saw the importance of prayer when it came to Jesus, and as they saw the marvelous works that Jesus worked, the disciples said,
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Lord, teach us to pray as you pray, and as a result of that, we have what we call the
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Lord's Prayer. In this prayer, beautiful, are seven requests that we can pray every day to the
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Lord. When I discovered how to use this prayer as a model, as a blueprint for prayer, it transformed my entire prayer life and the way that I pray for people.
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I was able to go deeper in my prayers for my family, for my neighbors, for young people that we're ministering to.
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And I want to look at the first two prayer requests. So we'll read the prayer.
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It's a beautiful prayer. Matthew 6, starting in verse 9. Very familiar. Pray then like this.
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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
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Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. I pray these seven requests over each member of my family, my grandchildren, my son -in -laws, my daughter -in -law, my brothers, my sisters,
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I pray this prayer over people that I want to see the work of God in their life.
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And it's a powerful prayer. The first request is, hallowed be your name.
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That is a prayer that God's name will be sacred to us. It's as if we're saying,
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Father, please work in my heart in such a way that I will reverence your name.
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And I pray hallowed be your name over the nations. Every day
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I pray, Father, hallowed be your name in every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.
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May your name, may the name of Jesus this day be proclaimed, taught, written, published, broadcasted.
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May your name be heard, tuned into, read of, dreamt of, believed in, desired, sought after, called upon, worshipped, and served by those in every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.
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I pray this over my family every day, that God would show us his beauty and his glory, that we would know more of who he is.
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I pray it over the young people. I say, Lord, just help them to want to know you.
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Help them to want to hear of who you are. Change their hearts. Soften their hearts.
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The second request is, your kingdom come. And this speaks of the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
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And Jesus taught us that his kingdom here on earth is in the hearts of his people whom he has saved out of this world.
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And I pray, I pray, Father, your kingdom come. I pray your kingdom will spread upon this earth into every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.
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I pray, Father, that you will save lost souls today in every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.
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May the gospel spread freely throughout the nations. I'm praying that prayer every day.
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I pray your kingdom come. And I'll start naming someone. And I say,
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Lord, reign in us. Reign over us. May such and such know you as king.
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I pray, in Jesus' name, you will free them from the hand of the enemy. Because the kingdom, when it comes, it frees us from the enemy.
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Tear down strongholds of sin and unbelief in this person's life. Destroy the works of the devil, the works of demons and unclean spirits.
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And these are all prayers from the Bible, these words, most of them that I'm saying. As you begin to use this prayer, it grows.
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I pray all kinds of things using this prayer. The next request, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
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I pray every day, Father, be exalted over the nations. Be exalted in the lives of your people everywhere.
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Be exalted in my family. May the knowledge of who you are cover the earth. Your will be done,
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Father. Keep the nations from World War III. Are you praying about that? Are you praying about what's happening in the
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Ukraine? I pray that every day. Lord, keep the nations from World War III.
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Keep the nations from nuclear holocaust. Scatter and defeat those who delight in war.
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And then with that, I pray things that I know are the will of God over my loved ones, over people that I'm praying for.
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It's a powerful way to pray. Don't minimize the power of prayer when it comes to the advancement of the gospel.
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Many years ago, I went to a funeral of one of my neighbors where I grew up as a child.
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And so some of the people from our old neighborhood were there at this funeral. And I ran into Mrs.
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Hamminga. And I was good friends with her son, Bob. And Bob and I, Bob was a rascal and I was a rascal with him.
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And his mother, well, I told her, Mrs. Hamminga, Jesus has come into my life.
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I'm changed. He set me free. And she was so happy to hear that. And here's what she told me.
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She said, ever since the time I met you when you were a little boy, I prayed that you and Jerry Baker would one day come to know
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Jesus. In 1978, at the age of 20, Jerry Baker and I both came to know
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Jesus. Prayed every day.
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I had a neighbor, his name was Mike. And he was pretty rough around the edges.
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And he cussed like a sailor. And I began to pray for Mike and his family.
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And every day, his house was at the end of my driveway. And I was challenged by someone.
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Pray every day for three people you know that don't know Christ that they'll come to Christ. And I started praying for Mike.
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And it wasn't too long after that that he told me that he had discovered that he had cancer in his nose from snorting so many drugs as a young man.
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And that cancer was spreading through his body and he had trouble eating solid food.
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So Cheryl started making him quiches. And we just continued to pray for his salvation and continued to love on our neighbors,
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Mike and Vicki. And one day Mike came over to my house and he had a
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Meyers bag in his hand. And he had a pot roast and some potatoes and carrots.
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And he said, I just wanted to come over and bless you guys. And then he told me this morning the
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Lord did something amazing in my life. He said, I was in my basement and something just came over me.
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And I got down on my knees and I cried out to God. I pleaded with God for him to save me and come into my life.
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Well, that very morning at that time or right near that time, I was praying for Mike's salvation.
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You see God works and moves through the prayers of his people.
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Oh, how we need to learn to intercede in a deeper way to expand even our prayer beyond just our families.
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Oswald Chambers said this. He said, prayer does not precede the greater work.
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Prayer is the greater work. And I'm telling you, it is work. Okay? I mean, you have to be proactively setting aside time for intercession.
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Now, with this prayer for the advancement of the gospel, I want to show you something else that Jesus said.
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Turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter nine verses 36 through 38.
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Chapter nine, verse 36, it says, when he, Jesus, saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were rast and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
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Wow, isn't that a description of our culture, of our neighbors who don't know the
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Lord, of our family members, our loved ones. They're like a sheep without a shepherd.
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Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the
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Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest. We're told to pray that.
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So after I pray, Lord, save lost souls in every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. May the gospel spread freely throughout the nations.
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I say, Lord of the harvest, raise up labors to proclaim your name, the good news of your salvation.
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Raise up labors from every tribe, tongue, and people. Cheryl and I were having lunch in South Haven and I had a
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Youth for Christ t -shirt on and our waitress noticed that and commented and was smiling,
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I could tell she was a believer. And she said to Cheryl and I, she said, I'm getting ready to go on a missions trip this summer.
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And we're like, that's great, what are you doing? And she told us. And I said to her,
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I said, Lord, I have been praying for you every day. And she looked at me like,
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I don't know you. And I told her that every day I pray that the
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Lord will raise up labors and send them forth into the harvest and that she was an answer to prayer.
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You see, the harvest is plentiful, but the problem is still the labors are few.
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We need to be praying to the Lord of the harvest every day about that.
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The third thing I want to address here as we wind this up is the importance of prayer for our governing authorities.
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A number of years ago, I used to listen to talk radio in my car. And, you know,
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I would hear, you know, these hosts complaining, complaining, complaining about our president, our leaders, about the country.
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And I didn't realize the negative impact it was having on my life until one day
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I was driving and this little still voice inside of me said, shut that off.
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And I shut it off. And the Lord spoke to me within my heart. It was very clear.
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He said, Bill, instead of you listening to all this complaining about our nation, spend that time praying for our president, praying for our leaders.
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My car became one of my most special places of prayer, especially when
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I'm by myself. I just talk to the Lord everywhere I'm going, praying through the
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Lord's prayer, praying for our governing authorities. And I want you to see this in the Word.
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And I knew this, and I would pray for our leaders to some extent. Turn to 2
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Timothy, or verse Timothy, chapter 2. I'm so glad God put this in His Word.
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He says, first of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, in Godly and dignified in every way.
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This is good and is pleasing in the sight of God, our
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Savior. God just comes right out and says, pray for those who are in positions of authority.
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I hear many people complain about our president and our government.
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And if I know that person, and I have a relationship where I feel like I have a right to speak something into their life, after they're done complaining,
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I will simply say, do you pray for our president? Do you pray for our congressmen and senators?
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And usually the answer is, not really. What if we turn those complaints into prayers?
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And you know, this is saying, when you pray for those in governing positions, it's going to impact our culture, our society.
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He says that you may lead a quiet and peaceful life. Interesting verse in Jeremiah 29, 7,
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God told his people who had been taken into captivity, he said this, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the
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Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. He's saying, pray for the rulers of that city, because it's going to impact the way your life is lived in that city.
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In other words, your prayers have power to impact governing authorities.
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I had a friend, and they were watching Fox News all the time, and they were getting so angry about what was going on, and stressed out, and I said to him, why don't you shut that off and spend that time praying for them?
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Paul said, I urge you to pray for kings and those who are in authority.
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Do you know who the king was when he wrote that? The emperor was
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Nero. Nero was known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery.
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But Paul said, pray for him. Why? Because God can save a
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Nero. Verse 4, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
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I've prayed over presidents, vice presidents. I've prayed for their salvation.
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I pray for our leaders every day. Paul knew the first -hand power of prayer.
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He was an enemy of the church, and I'll guarantee you those believers were praying for Paul while he was attacking them.
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And you know the story. Paul miraculously came to Jesus, the very one that he was persecuting.
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I was at a conference, Youth for Christ conference, and the speaker was talking about all our political unrest in our country, right?
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And he said this. He said, you know, when I'm flying anywhere on a plane, I don't really necessarily care about the pilot's politics, or really necessarily what that pilot believes.
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There's one thing I want that pilot to do. I want that pilot to succeed.
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I pray that this pilot flies this plane and lands this plane, okay?
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And then he was saying, you may not agree with the politics of some of our leaders, but instead of wanting them to fail, which so many people do, they want them to fail.
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Pray that they'll do good for this nation while they're in their office. Wow, if God's people would seriously start praying for our leaders, what a difference this could make in our nation.
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I pray it like this. I have to say, Father, thank you so much that you said that we are to pray for kings and those who are in authority over us.
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I pray for President Biden. I pray for Vice President Harris. I pray for their cabinet members, their counselors, their advisors, joint chiefs of staff, our congressmen, and our senators.
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I pray, Lord, that you will help these leaders to want to do that which is good, right, just, and noble, to know what those things are and to do them, that you will help them to know the things that will cause harm and help them to turn from that and do good.
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I pray this for the governors of our states. I pray this over Governor Whitmer.
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I pray, Lord, help our governors, help our state lawmakers, help the mayors of our city, our city council members, our county council members, those who are leading our criminal justice system, our judges here in Kalamazoo, in Van Buren County, throughout the state, all the way to the
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Supreme Court, help these leaders to want to do that which is good, right, just, and noble.
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And I pray this, I pray, Lord, those who are corrupt and evil and will not repent,
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I pray you will remove them from their positions of authority and that you will raise up good leaders in their place.
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I pray that prayer every day. I challenge, if you're not doing that, to do that.
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Oh, there's a battle going on for this thing called intercessory prayer. It's so important for the spread of the gospel and the healing of individual lives and even nations.
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And our enemy knows and strongly opposes prayer in the believer's life.
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It says in Corinthians 10, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
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That's talking about prayer, power to destroy strongholds. God works and moves in powerful ways through the intercessory prayers of his people.
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And the enemy knows this more than ever. Just one more quote from the kneeling
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Christian. Do we realize that there is nothing the devil dreads so much as prayer?
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His great concern is to keep us from praying. He loves to see us up to our eyes in work, provided we do not pray.
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He does not fear because we are eager and earnest Bible students, provided we are little in prayer.
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Someone has wisely said Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.
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All of this is so familiar to us, but do we really pray? If not, then failure must dog our footsteps, whatever signs of apparent success there may be.
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Let us never forget that the greatest thing we can do for God or for humanity is to pray.
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For we can accomplish far more by our prayers than by our work. Prayer is omnipotent.
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It can do anything that God can do. When we pray, God works. All fruitfulness and service is the outcome of prayer, of the worker's prayer or of those who are holding up holy hands on his behalf.
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We all know how to pray, but perhaps many of us need to cry as the disciples of old did.
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Lord, teach us to pray. Oh, the enemy will fight us on this. Try to get us discouraged, doubting, busy, not taking that time.
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We need to find times for intercessory prayer. You know,
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I pray the Lord's Prayer, all seven of those requests. I'll pray them throughout the whole day. I may get through the first three in the morning on my way into Kalamazoo to my office, and then the next time
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I'm in my car, I'll pray through three more of them or all of them, but I continue that prayer.
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In closing, what if we as believers came humbly to God every day in true repentance with the commitment of seeking his face and turning from sin?
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What if every believer prayed daily for the advancement of the gospel upon this earth and that the
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Lord would raise up labors and send them forth into the harvest? What if every believer got serious about praying for the lost and for the work of God among the nations?
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What if every believer began to daily intercede for governing authorities and those in our own circle of life?
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Think of the healing and transformation we could see in our world and in our lives.
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Will you step up and be a kingdom intercessor? We all can go deeper, can't we, in our seeking of God, deeper in our crying out for the spread of the gospel.
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And I pray these verses have impacted me, and God has brought me, he's teaching me to be a faithful intercessor.
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And I see the difference that it makes in my family, in our ministry, and I believe in the world.
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And so, church, let's not be that sleeping giant. Let's rise up more than ever before and cry out for the spread of the gospel and the transformation of lives and nations, because we know that God can do it.
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Jesus made this healing and transformation when he sacrificed his life on the cross.
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And we just got done reflecting on Good Friday, the crucifixion, Easter, the resurrection.
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And Jesus, when he introduced the communion, he said, Take this bread, this represents my broken body for you.
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Take this juice, it represents my blood poured out for you for the new covenant. Do this in remembrance of me.
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And I love that here at Recast, every week we celebrate as we close our service in communion with what some people call the
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Lord's Supper. I wouldn't quite call it a supper, but it's a remembrance. And so, if you're new and haven't been here, we have the communion tables here and here and then also in the back.
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And if you're a believer, if you're a follower of Jesus, this is meant for you to partake. Just simply grab the cracker and the juice, come back to your seat, and talk to the
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Lord and thank him for what he did. And just reflect, and Dave will come up and lead us in a closing song.
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So, let me pray, and then we will partake of communion. Oh Lord, I know
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I tried to say a lot, and I know I went longer than I should have,
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Lord, but this is just so important for the welfare,
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Lord, of those all around us, lost and searching souls, Lord, that need to know you, that need to be forgiven and saved and be in your eternal kingdom forever.
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Lord, I know you're teaching us, your children, you are teaching every one of us to pray. I ask that you will teach us to not just pray, but to take up the ministry of intercession, to understand how powerful you work through prayer.
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And so, Lord, just continue by your Spirit to work and move in your people, the church,
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Lord, and every nation to rise up and pray. I pray that you will pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication upon your people.
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And Lord, now we thank you for your body that was broken for us and your blood that was poured out, that we might be forgiven and become children of God.