A Praying Church part 3

A Praying Church part 3

Series: A Praying Church

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so He could lay His hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering Him.

But Jesus said, "Let the children come to Me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children."

And He placed His hands on their heads and blessed them before He left.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning Southpointe, we are very excited about what God is doing in this place, last Sunday morning was awesome, God moved so strong as we came to altar and got down on our knees and God moved in so many people lives.

So this morning, I want to talk to you about extending our hands in prayer.

Rick Warren, several years ago, wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Life. It became the bestselling Christian book of all time. Let me remind you of the very first sentence of that book: “It’s not about you.” “It’s not about you.”

We all have this tendency to always want to make everything about us, and this selfishness can even reveal itself when we are praying to God.

Rick Warren, several years ago, wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Life. It became the bestselling Christian book of all time. Let me remind you of the very first sentence of that book: “It’s not about you.” “It’s not about you.” And perhaps one of the reasons the book was so compelling is the fact that we all have this carnal tendency to always want to make everything about us, and this selfishness can even reveal itself when we are praying to God. Dear God in heaven, watch over me. Keep me healthy. Lord, I don’t need to get sick with all that’s going on at home and work. And, Lord, help my house to sell. And, Lord, when that promotion is talked about at work, may my name be right in the center of the discussion. Give me safety on my trip tomorrow, and, Lord, help my fantasy football team to dominate today. In Jesus’ name, amen. I call those “Me, myself and I” prayers. Not even a mention of anyone else.

Prayers like this: Dear God in heaven, watch over me. Keep me healthy. Lord, I don’t need to get sick with all that’s going on at home and work. And, Lord, help my house to sell. And, Lord, when that promotion is talked about at work, may my name be right in the center of the discussion. Give me safety on my trip tomorrow, and, Lord, help my football team win tonight. In Jesus’ name, amen.

I call those “Me, myself and I” prayers. Not even a mention of anyone else.

Have you ever been guilty of praying a prayer that’s all about you and fails to take into account the needs of others?

Our new vision is to be a praying church who reaches out and challenges everyone to follow Jesus completely.

So in this series we are trying to look at the early New Testament church to learn from their emphasis on prayer.

We’ve learned that we can pray with open eyes and bent knees, and today we’ll see that we can have extended hands.

In our text this morning, Jesus actually did this in a physical way. He extended hands.

But Jesus actually did this in a physical way. He extended hands. Look at :

Children were brought to Jesus that He might lay His hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and He laid His hands on them.

In Acts chapter 9 Ananias came and laid hands on Saul and prayed for him.

But let’s don’t look at this just as a physical expression of prayer; instead let;s see it as an expression that our prayers extend beyond ourselves and that they stretch to others.

So if you get anything out of this message today may it be this: We should intentionally pray for others.

Let’s take a break from our self-focused prayers that we offer and let’s put the attention on someone else.

The early church was a church that did that and they excelled in so many different ways.

The first area is that of fasting and praying.

The church at Antioch in the book of Acts was an example of this. When they sent Paul and Barnabas off on a mission trip to share the Gospel, they were a praying and fasting church with them.

The first area is that of fasting and praying. The church at Antioch in the book of Acts was an example of this. When they sent Paul and Barnabas off on a mission trip to share the Gospel, they were a praying and fasting church with them. Luke writes in , “Then after they had fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off.” When we fast we are denying ourselves of something that is common, something that is normal and necessary, and God can fill that time and that void by doing a work in our hearts. If I were to give you a very simple definition of fasting I might say, “Fasting is the abstaining of food with a spiritual goal in mind.” So it’s not taking a break from food in order to diet or to lose weight—although that’s good. It’s not when you’re sick and you have the flu and you can’t keep any solid food down so you don’t eat any solid food for a couple of days. It’s not that. It is abstaining from food with a spiritual goal in mind, and that way every hunger pang drives us back to God, the One on whom we are dependent.

One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them."

So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

When we fast we are denying ourselves of something that is common, something that is normal and necessary, and God can fill that time and that void by doing a work in our hearts. If I were to give you a very simple definition of fasting I might say, “Fasting is the abstaining of food with a spiritual goal in mind.” So it’s not taking a break from food in order to diet or to lose weight—although that’s good. It’s not when you’re sick and you have the flu and you can’t keep any solid food down so you don’t eat any solid food for a couple of days. It’s not that. It is abstaining from food with a spiritual goal in mind, and that way every hunger pang drives us back to God, the One on whom we are dependent.

When we fast we are denying ourselves of something that is common, something that is normal and necessary, and God can fill that time and that void by doing a work in our hearts. If I were to give you a very simple definition of fasting I might say,

“Fasting is the abstaining of food with a spiritual goal in mind.”

So it’s not taking a break from food in order to diet or to lose weight.

It is abstaining from food with a spiritual goal in mind, and that way every hunger pang drives us back to God, the One on whom we are dependent.

You see, I believe that prayer and fasting leads us to a life of obedience. It allows us to have a breakthrough in areas of disobedience.

God responds to the heart that desires more than anything to please Him.

When we fast we’re saying “no” to things that we typically say “yes” to.

We are surrendering ourselves completely over to total dependence on God.

Surrender means we must be empty before we can be filled. We must die in order to live. We must give it all up to gain. For His kingdom to come, our kingdom must go.”

And my own personal experience has been the times that I have fasted, I don’t really enjoy it. I love food. I admit it.

I’m always looking forward to that next meal. Yet every time that I’ve fasted God always teaches me something and I always walk away closer to Him than when I came.

In Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus is fasting and praying for forty days and Satan came to Him with the temptations of pleasure and power and prestige, but Christ overcame every one.

Satan thought that He was physically weak and He was but He wasn’t spiritually weak. He was spiritually strong, and He got stronger and stronger through the power of God.

Throughout the Bible fasting was a practice. We already saw it in Acts chapter 13. We see it in the next chapter as well.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

So understand this: You’re not supposed to advertise it when you fast. You don’t wear a sign. You don’t have a badge…a fasting badge. You don’t come walking into church and say, “Oh, boy, on my way to the balcony. I think I better take the escalator or the elevator because I’m a little light-headed. You know, I haven’t had anything to eat in a day and a half.” Well, if you do that you defeat the purpose of what fasting is all about. It’s between you and God.

Well, how do you get started? Well, maybe you say, “I’m going to fast one meal a week and I’m going to use that time to totally commit to praying and reading God’s Word.” Or maybe you stretch yourself and you say, “I’m going to commit to fasting one day every month or one day every week.” You may decide to still drink water or juices, or maybe you go on a longer fast for two or three days and you say, “I’m just going to have soup or I’m just going to have fruit. I’m just going to have juices.” You can set it up any way you want to. There is no right or wrong when it comes to fasting. That is up to you. Your heart is what matters. And if you pursue a fast of more than a couple of meals, I would strongly suggest that you consult your doctor first. You know, it’s interesting because in the New Testament whenever it has a phrase like, “When you worship…” or “When you pray…” or “When you give…” we preachers love to point that out to you; because it is always written in the present tense in the Greek language, and it brings forth the idea that it is continuous action. We should always be giving. We should always be worshipping. We should always be praying. But we don’t call a lot of attention to this verse. Jesus says, “When you pray…” He just assumes that a fully committed follower of His is going to choose to pray. They’re going to choose to fast. They’re going to choose to say, “Lord, I’m going to say ‘no’ to some things; I’m going to say ‘yes’ to you.”

Christ expected His followers to fast. The early church fasted and He expects us to at times.

Throughout the Bible fasting was a practice. We already saw it in Acts chapter 13. We see it in the next chapter as well. In Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.” So Paul and Barnabas are fasting. Many people think that the whole church was fasting here as well. Christ expected His followers to fast. The early church fasted and He expects us to at times. You determine how often that is. You see, fasting is giving up something that is an important part of your day and replacing it with time with the Lord. If sacrifice is giving up something that you love for something that you love more, then maybe for some of us food is at the top of that list. It’s the paradox of Christ’s upside-down kingdom. The weak become strong. Surrendering to God is abandoning all that we have so that we can receive all that God possesses. Jim Cymbala writes, “I have discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him.”

You see, fasting is giving up something that is an important part of your day and replacing it with time with the Lord.

If sacrifice is giving up something that you love for something that you love more, then maybe for some of us food is at the top of that list.

The weak become strong. Surrendering to God is abandoning all that we have so that we can receive all that God possesses.

Jim Cymbala writes, “I have discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him.”

But I want to get back to extending your hands, you see to be able to extend your hands to help other than you must be spiritual strong.

You see extending your hands is what I want to call intercessory prayer. Now I know that’s a really big word. It just means that you’re praying for others.

Intercessory prayer is when you intercede on behalf of someone else.

We repeatedly read in the book of Acts of hands being extended in prayer to those who are in need.

Let’s look at three different categories.

1. One way we can intercede is for physical health and for physical safety for people.

Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.

Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

There’s so much to these scriptures, and we have discuss them many times but what I want to key in on this morning, The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Sometimes people say, “Well, you know what? I pray for people who are sick all the time. And you know what happened last month? I prayed and this person…they didn’t get well.”

Well, prayer isn’t some hocus-pocus exercise where God gives you everything that you want.

You are submitting a request to the Great I AM. Not everyone gets well.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Rather than someone getting well, sometimes God chooses to make them perfect and to take them to heaven.

You are submitting a request to the Great I AM. Not everyone gets well. Rather than someone getting well, sometimes God chooses to make them perfect and to take them to heaven. And if you think about it, if every time someone gets sick, if they pray and then they always get well…then think about it. No one would ever die! We would have people walking around who are 600, 700, 800 years old. Can you imagine that? “Hey, who’s the old guy playing volleyball?” “He’s a real prayer warrior.” “Oh, okay, ya…” “Not much of a driver.” “Oh, all right.”

And if you think about it, if every time someone gets sick, if they pray and then they always get well…then think about it. No one would ever die!

Rather than someone getting well, sometimes God chooses to make them perfect and to take them to heaven. And if you think about it, if every time someone gets sick, if they pray and then they always get well…then think about it. No one would ever die! We would have people walking around who are 600, 700, 800 years old. Can you imagine that? “Hey, who’s the old guy playing volleyball?” “He’s a real prayer warrior.” “Oh, okay, ya…” “Not much of a driver.” “Oh, all right.”

So what is an answered prayer?

Well, what is answered prayer? Sometimes if we pray and don’t get the answer we want, we mistakenly think, “Well, you know what? God didn’t answer my prayer.” Do you ever hear people say that? “You know, I prayed and I prayed but God just didn’t answer my prayer.” Well, God answered your prayer. He just didn’t answer it the way that you wanted Him to answer it. Sometimes God answers prayers by saying “no” or by saying, “That’s just not best for you.” Bob Russell used to say that God answers prayer in one of four different ways. He answers it, “No,” “Wait awhile,” “Yes,” or “You’ve got to be kidding.” But every prayer is still uttered in accordance with God’s will. It’s what He wants.

Sometimes if we pray and don’t get the answer we want, we think, “God didn’t answer my prayer.” Many times He just didn’t answer it the way that you wanted Him to answer it.

Sometimes God answers prayers by saying “no” or by saying, “That’s just not best for you.”

I believe God answers prayer in one of four different ways. He answers it, “No,” “Wait awhile,” “Yes,” or “You’ve got to be kidding.”

But every prayer is still uttered in accordance with God’s will. It’s what He wants.

We learn so much from the church back in the book of Acts. They are a good model for us in praying for others.

See, there is a point in history where the early church began facing intense persecution, and by that I don’t mean that there were rude things being said to them.

I mean that they were being killed for the faith. They were being put in jail because of their faith.

You may recall in Acts chapter 6 Stephen is stoned to death. Soon after that James is put to death—one of the disciples of Christ.

And right after that Peter is thrown in prison.

Now here is what I want you to notice. The early church could be thinking, “Well, you know what? This prayer stuff really doesn’t work out really well for us.

I mean, we prayed and Stephen is stoned to death. We prayed for James and while James is in prison James is put to death, and now Peter is in prison. I don’t think I want to pray anymore.”

But that wasn’t their attitude. Instead they continued to pray making bold requests. And Simon Peter…while he is in prison the chains fall off of him. He walks past every guard. The doors open up for him and he goes straight to the house where they’re having a prayer meeting for him and he says, “Guys, thanks for your prayers.”

I don’t think I want to pray anymore.” But that wasn’t their attitude. Instead they continued to pray making bold requests. And Simon Peter…while he is in prison the chains fall off of him. He walks past every guard. The doors open up for him and he goes straight to the house where they’re having a prayer meeting for him and he says, “Guys, thanks for your prayers.” You see, the early New Testament church didn’t quit praying just because they didn’t get what they wanted with every prayer. They realized that prayer is powerful. So pray for the physically struggling.

You see, the early New Testament church didn’t quit praying just because they didn’t get what they wanted with every prayer. They realized that prayer is powerful.

2. Pray for the spiritually unsaved.

We have got to become more intentional in this particular area of our prayers.

Remember the vision that God gave to them back in Acts chapter 1…to the early Christians?

The Jews are over here. You have the non-Jews (or the Gentiles) over here, and they weren’t exposed to this Gospel message just yet. You have to understand there was real animosity between these two groups and they were always butting heads with one another because their belief systems were so different. Remember the vision that God gave to them back in Acts chapter 1…to the early Christians? In Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and then in Judea and then in Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth.” Okay? Well, they were doing a pretty decent job at covering Jerusalem early on, and then they started to stretch out a little bit into Judea. But wait a second. Now you start talking Samaria and some other places. Those are our enemies. Those are people who don’t believe the same way we do. They have a higher concentration of Gentiles than they do of Jews. So the Holy Spirit begins to move the church outside of Jerusalem, and do you know how He does it? By persecution. Persecution was what caused the Christians to expand and to leave their safe areas. That’s why in chapter 8 of Acts Philip goes to Samaria. In chapter 9 we see the conversion of Saul where God tells him he is going to be a messenger to these Gentiles. So in order to capture the vision and continue to be the praying church that God wanted them to be, something big is going to have to happen, because He’s going to have to help them realize that everyone can be saved. And that’s what happens in Acts chapter 10. There is this dude. His name is Cornelius. He is a ruler. He is a leader. He is a Gentile—not a Jew. And he is praying and, all of a sudden, God appears to Cornelius in a vision and tells him his prayers and his acts of faithfulness have been noticed by God. And he says, “Go send for a man named Peter who is in Joppa.” Now Cornelius is in Caesarea; Peter is in Joppa. Joppa is an area of Jewish people; Caesarea is an area of a high concentration of Gentile people. But it goes beyond that. I had the privilege of being there this summer in both of those places, and there was hatred and intense animosity between these two groups but it went deeper than that. There was hatred and animosity with these two places. Yet God lays on Simon Peter’s heart to go to Caesarea. That was major, a miracle in itself. So Peter comes and these two guys, Peter and Cornelius, meet face to face and they set aside their intense prejudice because of a vision that God has given to both of them. And in and 35 Peter says, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” This is when the Gentiles come to salvation, at this particular moment. Do you realize the significance that it has for every person in this room who did not grow up with a Jewish heritage? He is saying, “You can be saved now. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection truly was for everyone. Christ meant it when he said, ‘For God so loved the world’—not just the Jewish people.” It was a hard thing for them to accept so God had to supernaturally intercede.

Remember the vision that God gave to them back in Acts chapter 1…to the early Christians?

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Well, they were doing a pretty decent job at covering Jerusalem early on, and then they started to stretch out a little bit into Judea.

But wait a second. Now you start talking Samaria and some other places. Those are our enemies. Those are people who don’t believe the same way we do.

So the Holy Spirit begins to move the church outside of Jerusalem, and He did by persecution.

So the Holy Spirit begins to move the church outside of Jerusalem, and do you know how He does it? By persecution. Persecution was what caused the Christians to expand and to leave their safe areas.

Persecution was what caused the Christians to expand and to leave their safe areas.

That’s why in chapter 8 of Acts Philip goes to Samaria. In chapter 9 we see the conversion of Saul where God tells him he is going to be a messenger to these Gentiles.

So in order to capture the vision and continue to be the praying church that God wanted them to be, something big is going to have to happen, because He’s going to have to help them realize that everyone can be saved.

And that’s what happens in Acts chapter 10. There is this dude. His name is Cornelius. He is a ruler. He is a leader. He is a Gentile—not a Jew.

And he is praying and, all of a sudden, God appears to Cornelius in a vision and tells him his prayers and his acts of faithfulness have been noticed by God.

And he says, “Go send for a man named Peter who is in Joppa.”

And God lays on Simon Peter’s heart to go to Caesarea. That was major, a miracle in itself.

Peter and Cornelius, meet face to face and they set aside their intense prejudice because of a vision that God has given to both of them.

Then Peter replied, "I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.

In every nation He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right.

He is saying, “You can be saved now. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection truly was for everyone. Christ meant it when he said, ‘For God so loved the world’—not just the Jewish people.”

Do you realize the significance that it has for every person in this room who did not grow up with a Jewish heritage? He is saying, “You can be saved now. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection truly was for everyone. Christ meant it when he said, ‘For God so loved the world’—not just the Jewish people.” It was a hard thing for them to accept so God had to supernaturally intercede.

Do you realize the significance that it has for every person in this room who did not grow up with a Jewish heritage? He is saying, “You can be saved now. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection truly was for everyone. Christ meant it when he said, ‘For God so loved the world’—not just the Jewish people.” It was a hard thing for them to accept so God had to supernaturally intercede.

My question do you pray for those people that you can not stand, do you have this attitude: “My family is headed to heaven; my neighbors and coworkers are headed to hell and I don’t really care.”

“My family is headed to heaven; my neighbors and coworkers are headed to hell and I don’t really care.” I love the way Joe Aldrich puts it. He says, “Remember non-believers are not the enemy; they are victims of the enemy.” But for us to reach them it begins with prayer. We ought to talk to God about people before we talk to people about God. And in your prayer time, when you talk to God, take the focus off of yourself and place it on others who may not yet belong to Christ. Pray that God will move in their hearts and in their lives and their hearts will be softened and that they will be open to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. If we prayed for souls to come to Christ one-tenth as much as we pray for people to get well when they’re sick, we wouldn’t have enough space in this auditorium in twenty services each weekend to hold the people.

Remember non-believers are not the enemy; they are victims of the enemy.

But for us to reach them it begins with prayer. We ought to talk to God about people before we talk to people about God.

And in your prayer time, when you talk to God, take the focus off of yourself and place it on others who may not yet belong to Christ.

Pray that God will move in their hearts and in their lives and their hearts will be softened and that they will be open to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.

If we prayed for souls to come to Christ one-tenth as much as we pray for people to get well when they’re sick, we wouldn’t have enough space in this building.

If you don’t believe that God is all-powerful, though, then your prayers will lack power.

God doesn’t want lip service from people who don’t have confidence in His power.

God is looking for people who want to talk to Him (and) have a conversation with God on behalf of others, on behalf of your own needs as well, but who believe in His power.

The truth is there are some Christians who believe in God but they don’t believe in the power of prayer.

There’s so many things to pray about but we must be believing praying people extending our hands out to does that are in need and hurting.

Greg Raschell concludes, “The truth is there are some Christians who believe in God but they don’t believe in the power of prayer.”

And we need to understand that prayer most of time includes action on our part.

Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." But I say, "How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds."

When Adolf Hitler was taking over the minds of Germans, he did so by deceiving them into thinking that allegiance to God was best demonstrated by allegiance to the state. In other words, “Hey, do what the government tells you to do.” And at first the Christian preachers united and they put up a fight, but eventually, through a variety of different things, Hitler wore the preachers down until finally there were just a couple of preachers who refused to give in. Erwin Lutzer in his book When a Nation Forgets God shares of an eyewitness account, an interview with a church member and how he reacted to the Nazi intimidation during those years. This is the actual interview:

I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because we thought, “Well, what could we do to stop it?” There was a railroad track that ran behind our small church and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then we could hear the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews. It was carrying them like cattle in the cars. And Sunday after Sunday, week after week, the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us. We knew the time that the train was coming each week and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams we sang more loudly, and soon we heard them no more.

Then the eyewitness shared with Pastor Lutzer:

Although years have passed, in my sleep I still hear the train whistle. God, forgive me. Forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians and yet did nothing to intervene.

I am worried about our country. I don’t see another Holocaust ever taking place, but I see a lot of other things and I think it’s time for us to intervene. And I think it would be really easy for us just to lay all the blame on the shoulders of the politicians, but I think a lot of it needs to rest upon ministers and on church members and on Christians. And I could tell you this: this is going to take a lot of prayer, because the church isn’t winning when it comes to our nation, when it comes to ethics, when it comes to values, when it comes to moral behavior. While the number of Bible-believing Christians are increasing, the warning signs of fading commitment are everywhere. In the area of alcohol abuse, in the area of divorce, in the area of sex outside of marriage, in areas in which the church should be distinctive, the statistics among church goers is just about the same—not quite, but just about the same—as the world. So while attendance grows, commitment weakens and fades. Evidently, overall, the church just hasn’t been effective in being salt and light. And the sad reality is we haven’t been effective in changing the culture; instead we have allowed the culture to change us. But I am certain of this: The restoration of a nation will come from people who have experienced a spiritual transformation. And I am also convinced that it is going to take a miracle. It will take the hand of God changing our hearts, changing our churches, changing our cities and states so that our nation can be changed. But the only way it will happen, the only way that God will smile upon us, is if we pray and if we repent. And if we don’t repent…I don’t know how much faster the moral decay can take place, and I warn you, Christians, do not get caught in the current. It is time to stand up, to be honest, to be holy, to be righteous and to be distinctive. But here is my fear. My fear is that Christians will take the easy way out and that we will just simply sing louder. We’ll just sing louder in order to drown out the sound of the Holy Spirit that is saying to each and every one of us, “Repent! Pray! Turn from your wicked ways. Turn to Me.” Make no mistake. Both personally and nationally revival must begin with prayer. The answer isn’t to sing louder; the answer is to open our eyes wider, to bow lower and to extend our hands further. For too long the world has seen what the church can do, but when we pray the world can see what God can do. Pray with me.

If you have never turned your life over to Jesus Christ, maybe today is the day. We invite you to respond, to swallow your pride and to say, “Okay, Lord, I am depending on you. I am counting on you.” There are others of you who have already turned your life over to Christ and you need to say, “I want to be a part of this church family.” We’d love to have you be a part of this praying church and to learn from you and to grow with you. If you have a decision to