Wake Up: The Essential Call to Prayer

um I'm going to start off by reading from Psalm 73: 25 whom have I in heaven but you and Earth has nothing I desire besides you my flesh and my heart May Fail but God is the strength of my heart in my portion forever as we um live on this Earth and we get older and older we start to realize that a lot of these things in in life they really uh start to lose meaning you know all this Earthly stuff is just like it's it's vanities and just like in in Proverbs as well Solomon was saying vanities of vanities that's how you kind of start to think the older you get and you see the the seniors you know they they really don't care about anything anymore they just want to go to heaven and um that's kind of what it reminds me of in this verse and also um our flesh and our hearts May Fail as we see there's a lot of different things that we can go through in this life and with our own strength we will not be able to do it but with God's strength we can so uh with that being said let's stand up and pray Lord God we thank you for this day that you given us Lord we ask you Lord to come into this place God and bless the service Lord holy spirit guide us and lead us in this service may your word uh fill us and give us strength God we ask you Lord bless the singing Lord bless the preaching God we ask you Lord open up to us what you want us to learn Lord in Jesus name we pray amen amen and today Church we're going to be singing a song called give [Music] thanks give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the holy give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his [Music] son let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us give thanks give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the Holy One give thanks because he's Liv Jesus Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the holy give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am am rich because of what the Lord has done for us and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am because of what the Lord has love for us [Music] give I worship you you almighty God there is none like you I worship you oh Prince of Peace that is what I long to do I give give you praise for you are my [Music] rightousness I worship you Alm Mighty God there is none like you I wor Worship You Alm Mighty God there is done like you I worship you oh Prince of Peace that is what I long to do I give you praise for you are my [Music] rightousness I worship you oh mighty God there is godone like you I worship you Alm Mighty God there is none like [Music] you I worship you oh Prince of Peace that is what I long to do I give you praise for you are my rightousness I worship you Alm Mighty God there is none like you [Music] praise God brothers and sisters like we heard from the worship I worship you almighty God praise God that we can all be in his house today house of worship and I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to preach today um and so I'd like to start off um uh if you guys all want to maybe pre open your Bibles to Matthew 5:14-15 um and while everyone's opening up there um I'm going to just start with my topic today most people as we know at some point were afraid of the dark at some point in their life and the dark was probably yeah their greatest fear whether they were a kid you know how it was probably very scary to wake up in the middle of the night needing to use the restroom and you're laying on your bed and you're like ah I don't want to get up cuz there's a scary monster there or or something's out there to get me uh I don't I'm not I'm just going to hold it and you know um if maybe the older cousins know I had a really great habit of having a lot of uh nice wet dreams in my life um and unfortunately um I didn't uh I couldn't hold it all the time in but I myself were very afraid of the dark when I was a little kid um but even some grown-ups they're even Afraid of the Dark when they think about like a dark forest or they think about swimming in the dark ocean for them that seems unsettling And when they see that even a dark part of the lake they're like oh I'm not going to go that far or I'm not going to go there and it's interesting because a psychologist say that actually there is a meaning to that you know being in the dark it helps us or makes us feel like we're losing control like there's something out there to get us we might know like if we're entering into a dark alley we feel unsettled because our mind it plays tricks on us it OV exaggerates the situation uh that there's something out there to get us and so we start to lose stability we start to lose self-control and we start to allow our mind to create all these things and that example is most known among Sailors when sailors would go out to um long Journeys on the ship and they would be dehydrated you know and back then in the 18th century uh water wasn't really uh taken on ships I mean they would take water but if it got warm it would easily spoil there' be bacteria in it and it was very unhealthy to drink and actually a lot of sailors would drink beer and they would drink um alcoholic drinks because that's uh that was the clean the most way they could get hydrated but they would write in their journals you know saying like when they were on these ships if they were ever to crash they would write how this sea creature came out of nowhere then it took and destroyed our ship and so if you read any of their journals they write a very interesting types of creatures that would appear in the ocean and later we see the lighthouse is created the lighthouse is created it's built and a lot of these sea creatures turned out to be just Rocky Cliffs these massive Cliffs that you would see in the fog and if you had no context you would probably think they're a sea creature um but they once they could see that they could see oh okay we're going to avoid going over there or when they were getting to shore there were a lot of Rocky shorelines um and so it was a very specific place where they could really park or host their ship in and so with the creation of the lighthouse um a lot of these things these scary stuff um because of just light it got revealed and if we turn of course our Bibles to Matthew 5 the basis of my sermon is being the light and it says here from verse 14 to 16 you are the light of the world a town built on a hill cannot be hidden neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on a stand and gives light to everyone in the house in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in Heaven the idea I want us to think about the two questions I want us to ask is are or the two questions I want you guys to consider today is are we a lighthouse bringing laws at Sea to ourselves or are we a lighthouse bringing LW ships at Sea to towards the safe Shoreline and you might ask well what is the difference you know for those who don't know what how a lighthouse works or where it was built typically they would build lighthouses on Rocky Islands um away from the actual Shore and if a boat or a large vessel were to ever try to park there it had a high possibility of actually sinking and so ligh houses were never really intended for large vessel to park and unload they would obviously do that at the at the island that they would go to and so um with the creation of course of the lighthouse many of the ships were saved that could be brought to um the island but brothers and sisters something for us to consider today is when we let our light shine before others that they may see our Good Deeds we have a choice to guide that person today we can guide that person to ourselves and what we think we understand as wisdom and knowledge and Truth or we can guide that person to the ultimate truth to the ultimate wisdom and the ultimate knowledge that which we can probably call the safe Shoreline today and so let's not look at the other Christians around us the other churches around us the other denominations around us let's look at ourselves today number one do we let our light shine before others others and that is important to ask ourselves because when the first part of this verse 16 it says when do we let our light shine before others it's actually a warning call a warning call for the LW that see who cannot see what is around them who cannot see the Rocks around them who cannot see the obstacles and sin in life and where it actually leads people to and so when the Bible calls us to be the light of this world to let our light shine we are supposed to show people that where they're headed there's a cliff down there don't go there you'll fall off or your ship's about to crash where are you going our light that God gives us allows them to see that their sin ultimately leads them to death and number two the second part of the verse that they may see your good fruits it's important brothers and sisters for us to then show the example what it is like to live a lifestyle that Christ calls us to live and is it worth it to live that lifestyle a lot of people are asking that question is it worth it and if we don't show people the light if we don't guide them to the truth and show that their their lifestyle is leading them to death all what they're going to say is you're just living your lifestyle and I'm just going to live my lifestyle and so we're supposed to shine our lights and show show them that their lifestyle leads them to death and then show them the example showing them that this is how you're supposed to live by these principles the gospels show us how Jesus told us to live and you are to do likewise and lastly number three one of the probably the most important part of the verse is that they may glorify God in your father in Heaven the first question I asked at the start of the sermon was do we lead people to us or do we lead them to Christ because at the end of the day we know that the Bible says all glory will be whose it will be only Gods we will not take any glory for ourselves and we will not take any credit for leading people to Christ Christ gets all the glory he gave us the free gift and so when these lost ships at Sea these large vessels at Sea are lost people are trying to feel their way through an empty room and there's many obstacles we can think of but if there's no light there they're going to keep crashing they're going to keep uh um not following the right path they'll keep probably going in a circle in a circle and so our light is supposed to shine our light is supposed to guide these people to safety into the uh safe Shoreline away from the rocks and the cliffs and so to end my sermon I'd like to read once more verse 16 of Matthew 5 uh of Matthew 5 let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify Your Father in heaven and let's with that let's pray amen e and the second song we'll be singing today it will be in Christ [Music] Alone In Christ Alone My Hope Is found he is my light my strength my song This Cornerstone the Solid Ground firm through the fiercest Dr and so what Heights of love what depths of Peace when fears are still when striving cease my comforter My All In All here in the Love Of Christ I Stand in Christ alone who took on flesh fullness of God in hell with F this gift of love and righteousness scorn by the ones he came to say till on that cross as Jesus died the rock of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ I live there in the ground his body way Light of the World by Darkness slain then bursting for in Glorious Day up from the grave he rose again and as he stand in victory since Cru has lost his GP on for I am his and he is mine B with the precious blood of Christ no guil in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from lies forri to final breath Jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of men can never PL me from his hand till he reur or calls me home here in the power of of Christ I'll [Music] St amen good afternoon praise the Lord everybody amen I I I pray that every everyone is is uh having a great afternoon everyone is is blessed awake I don't know about you but I am I feel the Lord in this place so I want to challenge you guys Amen to uh start to feel the Lord uh we know that he is everywhere and there is no problem too big no problem too Grand that he cannot solve and for us to to be in the Lord to get to know the Lord there's one thing that is important that is evident that we have to get to know who he is and the only way we can do that is through his word not only that is through prayer and I want to touch this subject today because a lot of Christians think that uh prayer is not essential but uh prayer is key it's key for us to live a successful Christian Life um it's our form of communication to God how many you guys have ever tried to call somebody without a phone it's impossible right you can only yell so far your voice can resonate so far until that person on the I can't hear you you're going to get frustrated and say forget it walk to that person but today I want to I want to challenge you guys let us focus on on prayer and what God is asking of us and I want you to go ahead and open uh your Bibles to the Book of Matthew chapter 26 verse 36 and to some of us these verses are familiar and to some of us we're probably just opening up the Bible to that page and you're saying wow this is new because you don't read your Bible I know who you are but it's very important for us remember this is the love letter that God gave us this is our directions and the only way we get to know who who he is is through this word amen so let's let's go ahead and read you I'm going ask if you please pray for me please forgive me uh I I need a pair of new glasses but you know everything I'm going through um with my eyes I I have to wait until this gets resolved by faith it's going to get resolved by prayer it's going to get results when the doctor gives me the green light I'm at I'm at the yellow light but when he gives me the green light then I'll invest in a new pair of eyeglasses but right there where you're at in evidence to the word of God let's go ahead and stand and we're going to read at it's it's 10 verses so grab a hold because you're probably saying wow we've never read 10 verses and a preaching before where I come from he used to read chapters talk about standing uh but I'm right there where you're at uh then cometh Jesus unto them into a place called gamine and saith unto his disciples sit here while I go and pray Yonder and I want you guys as I'm reading these verses I want you to point out a keyword that's very important all right we see pray and he took with him Peter the sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy so as I read this verse my question was why did he pick pet Peter and why did he pick the sons of zebede were they his favorite were they uh walking were they right in his path as he was walking that way he said you you and you follow me were they the nosiest disciples they wanted to know all the Jesus movements where he was going because they were his protectors but he picked them but then as we read the end of the verse it says he began to be sorrowful and very heavy then saith he unto them my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death Terry e here in other words wait here and watch with me there's another version that says and pray with me but today for the sake of it we're going to say and watch with me and he went a little further and he fell to his face and he prayed saying oh my father if this be possible let this cup pass from me now just hearing that we already know what's going on right he said let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou will and he cometh unto his disciples and findeth them how did he find them asleep a lot of people are asleep right now I'm not going to say physically or spiritually because I don't want you to get offended but a lot of people are asleep and he found them asleep and he said unto Peter what could ye could ye not watch with me one hour watch and pray that he enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak the spirit is willing but the flesh is what weak the spirit is willing but the flesh is what weak he went away again a second time and he prayed saying oh my father if this cup not pass pass away from me except I drink it thy will be done and he came and he found them what asleep I don't know about you but if I was Jesus I would have went there took him my Bel wake up get up he found them asleep for their eyes were heavy some of us instead of going home after the first service we went we walked around we probably went and ate we hung out now we come to the second service and some of us are just we didn't play it all of you that laughing are guilty huh he found them asleep for their eyes were heavy and he left them he didn't say anything this time thank God because when God when Jesus disciplines right he didn't say anything and he went away and he prayed a third time saying the words then cometh he to his disciples and he said to them sleep on now and take your rest behold the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed unto the hands of sinners rise let us be going behold he is at hand he that doth betray me Heavenly Father God we thank you because you are so wonderful Lord we pray that at this moment your word penetrate Lord to the depths of our heart speak to me Lord use these lips of clay Lord so I can portray this message to my brothers and sisters Lord we know that it is not coincidence that we're here it was your Divine Purpose father that You' have called each and every one of us Lord we ask that you bless the pastor the ministers the deacons Lord everyone that takes part in this service all the young people Lord everyone that's here today in your precious and holy name in the name of Jesus we pray amen amen you may be seated I want to entitle this message today wake up turn to your neighbor nudge him and say wake up man some of you are wake up wake up how many you guys have I remember the mornings uh when you had to go to school school's out thank God right now for the for the for the summer you know how many of you guys parents walk into the room and say wake up loved ones get up the bus is coming you're going to be late get up you know today I want to say wake up you know and I want to take you to uh for a moment to the edge of the garden where Jesus and the disciples were and I want you to remove your shoes in a spiritual sense don't take them off now please I want you guys to dive in spiritually because where we're going to go is it's it's it's Holy Ground it's the beginning of of what was to come Jesus knew that his time was very limited but we see that in all of Jesus's Journeys one thing always stood out he took the time to pray he took the time to speak to his heavenly father and once again he said the words not I but your will be done not my will but your will be done he understood that without prayer we cannot do the will of the father that without prayer without prayer he could not go any further you know he was Jesus God In the Flesh but he was man he felt like you and I have felt and he knew that something was coming but the disciples didn't understand at the moment it could have been because they were with with Jesus they were with their Rabbi and he saw they saw the power he had they saw the Miracles he did did so what happened they got comfortable Jesus the Messiah the one who they've preached about they prophesied is here Bible says that for God so Lov the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth shall not perish but have what everlasting life something had to happen there was that they say a lamb to the SL slaughterhouse and we see that Jesus had asked them pray could you pray the first time he found them asleep the second time he found them asleep the third time he found them asleep but the second time he said something interesting he said pray you not find yourself in what Temptation you see the key to this life the key to Walking In Christ is not just knowing your stuff but also Al having communication with the father himself we're here not by our will but by the will of God he called each and every one of us so I want to ask you today how important do you think prayer is in your life I want the first Brave volunteer to give me an answer very important anyone else important is prayer for you clean my children's mess in prayer is important how important is wow right here that would that would have been one of the disciples I would have called right there pray with us somebody else how important is prayer anybody come on young children I know you guys know the answer those were the ones running around they're tired they're fall asleep it's fresh it's important it's important okay so the second question is what has prayer done for you in your life it's important that we understand why we ask these question question because they remind us that the pastor uh preached earlier you know we have to go back to those moments right when we when we're reminded what God has done for us where he has brought us out of what he did when we were in the desert when we're in the eye of the storm we guys remember those moments anybody want to share something real quick 30 seconds what prayer has done for your life man everyone's quiet they're like it's just prayer has silenced me so I can hear the voice of God anybody what has prayer done for your life I have an instance that it saved me from Wow prayer save my brother from an accident anyone else com in hard times you can say wow I never thought you had Hard Times anyone else anyone else anyone else know I can remember a time in my life when I was so so down and so low yes my dad has been a pastor for quite so many years now I knew who he was I knew who who Jesus was but I I didn't have a relationship with him you remember I recall a moment in my life when I said all right if you're real I'm going to pray but if I don't feel you I even I think I challenged God at that moment and I lost miserably but I said if I don't feel you if I don't see you and if I don't hear you I'm done I won't talk to you no more I'm not going to talk to you no more you need to get my attention and yes I my dad we had gone to church I lived the part you know I played the part I could remember this was one of my first encounters one of my of my several encounters with Jesus Remember after I said that prayer you I started walking and I didn't see it but there was a little Pebble and a little Pebble caused me to to fall and I probably rolled like three blocks I'm not exaggerating it was a steep incline but by the time I was done I woke up you know I got up and I wasn't hurt but I said I thank you Lord because I didn't break my legs I know you're real because you protected me you're here with me it was one of my my my my first time first time really really really didn't know he was you know and we see we see Jesus he knows what's coming every human fiber in his being was shuttering in horror why because he was man remember yes he was Jesus the son of God at the very thought of what what was coming his way something cruel something agonizing torture the the Lord had invited three of his disciples to share this crucial moment but three times he had to wake them up and tell them to pray these sleepy eyed followers that he had called out these followers of of Christ they didn't understand the gravity of the event the urgency was lost upon uh upon them this was without a doubt the most momentum uh moment uh most Monument mental uh moment in history in a few short hours the Battle of Ages was going to be uh was going to begin and was going to be decided very soon listen Redemption would be won and the world would be reconciled back to God all creation Stood Still millions of Holy Angels watched in all as demons trembled why because even dead Jesus was powerful all eternity was focused on this moment on this one man who would give his life for you for me for the loss but for them three it would pass them by they didn't understand what was going on one because they hadn't prayed as he had instructed them to listen we all Jo they were disciples they were tired the fact was they hadn't prayed you know I want to take you to a couple examples number one they weren't tuned in many you guys remember the old Ham radios or the old knob radios everything's digital nowadays you go you probably get in your car and you say go to 89.5 FM ktsy and automatically your car will go there but a couple years back young children you had to manually I many you remember those of you that are are are blessed like I am you know you had to manually roll down the windows you had to manually crank your car you had to manually turn the knobs on to the air conditioner to the heater you had to do everything manual now everything's it's done for you but they weren't tuned in they didn't understand why because for that brief moment they weren't in communication they weren't connected with him and that is why it's so important it's so important that we pray without ceasing it's so important that we remain connected because at any moment when the Lord needs us most we can find ourselves asleep when the Lord needs us most not because he needs us like like someone would need help he doesn't need us in that sense you know because of lack of spiritual alertness you know some of us we come to church and we're like zombies you know we're like The Walking Dead He's gr uh when your parents weren't watching you turned on the movie The Walking Dead zombies and all you see is come to church we sit down we get up it's just repetition and at the end of the day uh and we leave we have no connection we have no connection because all week all week we were never connected with Christ some of you some of you understand some of you are probably thinking right now he's that brother's talking to me who told them was it you oh we we weren't even connected with the father and we come to church and we want to feel what our brothers are feeling we look at the pastor and he's just worshiping God why can't I feel what he's feeling we look at brother so and so sister and so and so and they're just worshiping God why can't I feel that you can but you got to connect yourself with the Lord three times he told them you know when we're not tuned in with Christ we need to be careful they were in insensitive to his voice just the tone alone of Jesus should have should have clued them in they should have heard they should have understood that something was going to happen they should have understood at that moment apparently they must have thought well Jesus invited us to prayer it's just another prayer session but let me tell you in Jesus there is no such thing as another prayer session when we pray to this living God that we serve things happen I don't know about you but I serve the Lord that out of nothing he did something that when I was lost he found me when I was sick he healed me and as brothers Tim said when I was dying he saved me they were just so insensitive you know in Revelations 2 and 3 we see the phrase over and over again he that has ears ears to hear Let Them hear what the spirit is saying to the church they did not attend to his needs at that very moment he woke up he W uh he woke up out of his sleep for them listen closely he woke up out of his sleep for them how many remember that moment when the disciple deciples uh were were in the sea and the storm came right and they were on that boat uh and a lot of preachers say they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off they didn't know what to do until one of them dawned oh we have Jesus with us they went down uh where he was sleeping listen Jesus I don't know about you but if you're in the middle of the sea and there's a storm I don't think you're going to be asleep he's going to see give rope I'm your older brother but we see that when they go and they wake Jesus up father father we're going to perish probably woke up what's going on he goes out we know the rest of the story right he goes out and he Cals the se he tells that shh I'm sleeping calm down see Jesus was there for them but at the moment that he needed them most they couldn't comfort him in his most difficult hour they couldn't feel what was on his heart they couldn't shed a tear like he was shedding tears when they fell asleep they couldn't have been more unkind to him ignorant of the times again they seemed to be aware of what was going to happen at that very moment they were overwhelmed by their weakness you know some of us we've been coming to church how long have you been coming to church all your life how old are you 10 12 21 hey your look young all their lives the time that the master was with his disciples should have been sufficient enough right but if we're not careful all your life won't count for one one moment of sin all that you can lose it if you're not in tune with Christ are you guys following me for one moment of pleasure we can lose it all that's why the word invites us to pray without ceing we're in this world but not of this world because when we think on our behalf guess what happens we push Jesus aside and we say Let me let me drive my life and throws us warnings you're not going to make it you need to be in contact with me don't worry I know I've done this like many of us that have to our parents I've been here let me drive dad and we go and get the car and a and a pople dad can you please help if if we don't take the time to pray look at what happened he told them on the second time pray so that you don't fall into temptation and they didn't they didn't heave the voice of the Lord what happened Peter how many of us know who Peter is not Peter from this church everyone here his Nam Peter when I'm starting to grasp a lot of Peters here a lot of Henry's but Peter in a specific was one of them if he would have prayed those three hours maybe the outcome would have been different we see when they came and we see the disciple Judas right he said that's him right there when and gave him a kiss they arrested him what's the first thing that happened to Peter what did he do you remember he jumped out of his Holiness right he jumped out of his Holiness he grabbed the sword and the first year piene that we see in the Bible when we see that the Lord told him no put that away those who live by the sword will what By The Sword so Peter jumped into his carnal man instead of praying first thing he did he jumped into his flesh P out that sword that's Jesus said no then what else happened as they're taking Jesus away we see that you other disciples run off Peter stays but Peter was different how was he following Jesus he wasn't the same Peter that was I'll give my life to you Lord you know I'm just paraphrasing if anyone come at you they'll have to come through me and the Lord was saying yeah right I know you I know you I know you no Lord no I will give my life for you cuz Papa was close right when dad's close I don't know about you but I remember when we would go evangelize when we go knock on people's door back in the 99s brother gady Pastor gady that was popular have you heard of Jesus don't come anymore yes I remember those days now it's digital have you heard of Jesus Block it's digital yeah and I remember I would I would tell my dad would be like go go in the fence knock on the door and i' be like Dad there's a dog there my dad would say do you do you trust me or do you not trust me I'm like Dad but there's a d don't worry about it the Lord is with you but Dad it's cuz my dad had I already knew that the dog didn't bite he had gone many times a child and we get to the door have you heard of Jesus don't bother me slam the door and we'd walk out you know when dad's close you know we get Brave he knew that things were going to get harder from there so we see Peter follows them from afar he follow was the Messiah the one that he saw do Miracles the one that he had professed in many occasions confessed Lord I will follow you to the ends of the Earth nothing will will will rock me nothing will shake me even after Jesus said I your name will long no longer be signning it'll be Peter which means a rock Peter probably got a big head and said yeah on the Rock You and here he is the rock following from behind like of heaven and as he gets close take Jesus in wherever they take somebody says Hey ain't you one of his followers what's the second thing that happens so I don't know him you're crazy I don't know who this Jesus was he begins to no yeah you're Peter you were the one that was was right behind him no that had to have been him yeah you see when we jump out of prayer We Begin to Fall follow into Peter's First Step the flesh begins to overtake the spiritual at the end we see I don't know him and we hear we hear the wi grow right how did Peter feel at that moment when he remembered that Jesus told him that this was going to happen and he swore to the lord it's not going to happen I can imagine when we read the word of God we take it into human context that what the Lord telling me when I'm feeling brave and when I'm full of the spirit Lord it will not happen it can happen no weapon formed against me shall prosper I can do all things through you Lord I become biblical and I and I quote scripture but when I'm In the Heat of the battle in the eye of the storm where are you God I should have never left he denies it we jump out of our spiritual into the carnal you know we cannot last that is why it is very important to not let us be overwhelmed by our weaknesses we can only do things through Christ everything that we do should be through him praying fasting reading getting to know him you know there's going to come there's going to become a a time I'm how many of your parents still come to church here your parents of all of your parents well one day the Lord's going to call your parents home and you're going to have to walk this Walk Alone your uncles your aunts your cousins they won't be able to help you only one person and his name is Jesus and as the brother said he helped me in my time of is closer than you can ever imagine closer than you can ever think but we must pray without CeCe it ain't no rubber duub du thanks for the grub type of prayer you guys have ever prayed thank you Lord you wonder why you got food poison yeah you know I think and I want to end this with this because time is coming by real quick T told me 6 or you're no longer invited and I want to honor that I'm going to go 601 but I want to tell you something prayer takes effort it takes effort because one of the things that we don't like to give is time we have time for everything else we don't have time for the things that matter most you know in Christ there's no such thing as a vacation in Christ there's a song that says I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back we cannot turn back this is forward in Christ there's no such thing as reverse you know as the Apostle said not I but Christ that lives within me we must die to the world die to ourselves that is the only way and if you want this church to grow then you need to pray if you want to become you know why do you think and I heard this and I'm and I'm and I'm going to Ste this but why do you think they call these these chairs these benches pews because they weren't meant to just sit there you know they're pews PE you know they're why do you think they're not they're not comfortable because it's just something temporary we're not supposed to be sitting down all the time we have to get up and do something for the Lord not for pastor Gennady not for brother Tim but for the Lord and when we can honor the Lord we can honor those around us can you imagine if Pastor Gennady one day says wow my youth group I'm so proud of them because they started evangelizing without me having to tell them they started bringing people without me having to tell them you know God has called us for a reason and it's time it's time to wake up tell your neighbor one more time wake up wake up nudum said wake up you know and I'll end it with this you know prayer is key prayer is key listen prayer is key for your spiritual life if you can't pray then you ain't going to make it in the things of the Lord you'll never understand why why your parents told you to do what they what they asked you to do if we can't pray and understand now I understand why my dad made me do the things he made me do I remember you guys have it made I remember in our church we'd come to prayer when we had prayer no one was allowed to sit and the Hispanic culture Pastor everyone had to come to the Altar and everyone had to get on their knees no one was up here everyone was down here praying and you can ask Pastor V the next time he comes here I remember one time the prayer got so hot everyone was praying and all of a sudden you hear banging in the back doors of our church because the doors were in the back bo bo uh the Usher gets up I mean we were everyone was just praying the Lord was blessing and the Usher opens the door next thing you know the fire department comes in someone called and said the roof was on fire when the fire department entered they you right away and some of them firemen you can ask Pastor when he was here started crying because they understood all we were don't our battle is I need prayer because I need to cut Facebook I said Lord this is the wrong message for me to give he said this is the message I need you to give because I need to speak to you last week in my last week I'm just so busy at work normally I when I get to work I take 15 20 minutes I close my office and I pray but I've just been so hammered with work and when I asked this question how many you prayed for for more than an hour that's why I didn't raise my hand but thank God there are still prayer warriors here you know Prayer Changes Things Prayer Changes Things it helps us draw closer to the Lord it helps you understand what you don't understand right now why do I have to do this why do I have to go through this with prayer the Lord gives you that answer you know and I think if we want to prosper as a church we need to have prayer it can't be something that's automatic something you know that we do because our parents because it's born of us we need to communicate with him pray without ceasing that is our form of communication with the Lord and I challenge each and every one of you some of you have to make big choices some of you have to make big decisions but remember before all you I don't remember a lot of you but there are a lot of young people that I do remember and I pray that some of them still come to church but the others there are a lot of young people that went to my church brother they sat there they raised their hands they played the part but when it was time for them to make the decision remember I leave you with this many are called but only few are chosen and in this time that we're living in I'm going to say many are called but very few were chosen Pastor Tim or oh let us pray right there where you at let us pray e and I'll be reading from Deuteronomy 8:18 remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth if the Lord has put on your heart to give today may it be uh all for his glory the last song we'll be singing is The Old Rugged Cross [Music] on a hill far away stood an old ruged cross the emblem of suffering and shame and I love that a cross where the the dearest and best for a world of L Sinners was [Music] slain so I'll cherish the old ruged cross till my trophies At Last I lay down I will cling to the old Ro with cross then exchanges someday for a ground to The Old Rugged Cross I will ever be true it shame and reproach flly there then he'll call me someday to my home far away where is Glory forever I'll share so I'll cherish the old ruged cross till my trophies At Last I lay down I will cling to the old ruged and exchange it someday for a crown to that old ruged cross I will ever be true in shame and reproach gladly bear then you call me someday to my home far away where is Glory forever I'll share so I'll cherish The Old Rugged Cross till my trophies At Last I lay down I will cling to the old ruged CR in exchange it someday for a [Music] CR thank God for this day you know I think the Holy Spirit was speaking to all of our hearts because I'm the first to say I need to pray more you know and these are reminders to all of us that if we want to be those Warriors then that's part of our spiritual life I think this part is probably the hardest part in our spiritual life to read the Bible it's easy you know to to withhold yourself from like for half a day you know from Instagram or something to eat it's not that hard but praying for some reason it's so hard you know and so this is a reminder to all of us that this week we need to set our time set our time where we spend that time with God In Prayer you know and may God bless each one of us that we take this message into your heart the youth us and our kids also may we take that time in our day and spend it with God In Prayer um so like suana and Tra they they're going to be flying in this week uh Saturday and so they they asked if we can pray for them so we're going to pray pray for them but um does does anybody else have any needs yes brother we're going to pray Amen brother yes okay let's pray Lord God thank you so much thank you so much for this message God that was spoken today reminding us God what you expect from us Lord the communication Lord God you want to talk with us Lord God help each one of us Lord God to take that time Lord to to to spend it with you on our knees Lord God that we can know your will Lord God that we can be strengthened Lord God when the hard times come Lord bless each one of us God that we take that time in prayer with you Lord we also pray for our needs God we ask for uh protection on uh Sana and re and the kids that are going to be coming here Lord God may may you send your angel to to make sure that everything goes well and protect them Lord God we also God ask for healing Lord on Joel Lord God you see this eye that he has Lord God it it has some issues Lord God God but we know God that you Lord God you are a Healer Lord God and we ask for the blood of Jesus Christ to come over him Lord God and may you heal his eye Lord God and Lord if you want him to go into this surgery Lord God may you bless the hands of the doctors Lord God and may you and may you God uh strengthen him Lord thank you for everything in Jesus name we pray amen Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for your kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen