Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
[Music] so what we're going to do today is we're going to talk about prayer and um and and how that precedes Revival there's an old quote old saying and I'd have to look it up and I think it may be I can't even remember it may be John Wesley or Charles Finney or uh one of the great revivalists it could have been Leonard Ravenhill but somebody said when when God when God is getting ready to move among his people one of the things that he does is he he sets them to praying he stirs starts stirring them up to pray now when we say pray all Christians know that they should pray okay so we're not talking about the normal type of Prayer of just kind of maintaining your relationship with God you know here and there and a little bit of this and a little bit of that um he's talking about really moving into seasons of deep intercession Seasons where you go from praying maybe an hour a day to praying two or three hours a day um but every time there has been a great move of God every single time there has been a season of how would you say a season of increased or unusual prayer that preceded it um you'll see that when you when you study as you read through this you'll be reading about the Welsh Revival that happened in 1904 you'll see what happened there was a stirring especially among young people to really get on fire for God and spend a lot of time in prayer and intercession and there was a lot of burden and groaning for lost souls so uh that groaning and that intercession is what Paul talked about travailing in birth until you brought forth he was he talked about that in the book of Galatians how he travailed in birth to bring forth you know these uh these new converts in these churches to you know to I mean Paul would go in and new churches were birthed out of prayer and preaching the gospel and he talked about how it was like travail it was it was the type of prayer I'm talking about again it's not 15 minutes Lord bless me and my family and heal my toenail and make me feel better and you know take care of this and that and all this and there's nothing wrong with praying for any of those things nothing's too big or too small to pray about but what I'm talking about is when we get into really a burden um a burden and not a bad burden but a burden for God's presence to be in our midst a burden for God's power to be in our midst a burden for people to encounter him so they can be saved and delivered and healed and so it takes a special kind of prayer and intercession and
listen there's no substitute I can tell you this right now there's no substitute in the life of a Christian especially the life of a minister for prayer you you can give yourself to study you can give yourself to learn the scriptures like like no one else before you but if you are not a man or woman of prayer and I'm talking about true prayer and intercession where you spend hours in prayer um you're not going to have very much power or very much success in either winning Souls seeing true converts made seeing the power and presence of God in your life and Ministry and your preaching you're not you're not just not going to see any real success you you may you may convert some people simply through intellectual arguments or you know scriptural arguments and don't get me wrong the word of God has power I mean so just speaking the word of God has power but I'm talking about long-term success making converts and making true disciples seeing them grow seeing them mature seeing them learn how to overcome the attacks of the of the devil and demons seeing them overcome attacks of sickness and disease seeing them overcome you know these things it just there's there's no substitute the church is supposed to be a Praying Church and we're supposed to be praying people that's why ever since you know I I started the first church that I ever um planted was in we really kind of started a little bit in 1993 and then there was a season I stopped for a season because I had a lot going on with you know my my family life and work and so I kind of stopped uh doing it for a little while then the Lord spoke to me I did some college campus ministry and traveled around with a big campus ministry and did that for in 94 and into 95 and then the Lord spoke to me in 1995 and said I want you to start a church in Montgomery Alabama so I did that in um in the summer of 1995 but you know very early on I knew especially being in my 20s my mid-20s at that point I knew that I wasn't going to um convince a lot of people with my uh preaching my eloquent preaching or my limited Bible knowledge that I had I knew no and don't get me wrong I knew God wanted me to preach and teach the word in fact a lot of the things I'm teaching you now I was teaching back then I haven't changed on uh 99 of what I preach and teach but the point is is that I knew that to be anything for God to see anything happen to see any true fruit lasting fruit it had to be birthed and watered and conceived and everything brought forth through prayer
and intercession um I thank God and I'm just gonna I'll share this with you guys I thank God that you know very early on he taught me that he taught me uh you know the the old-time Pentecostals I remember I don't know if I remember hearing David Wilkerson said or Jimmy Swaggart when he was in his Heyday of ministry but they used to say the old Pentecostals used to say and these old these you know David Wilkerson Leonard Ravenhill and um Jimmy Swaggart they were Pentecostal ministers and they would always say the old Pentecostals used to say little prayer little power a lot of prayer a lot of power I mean there's just no substitute um I think it was and I'm pretty sure this was and I'll find these quotes later but John Wesley said that God will do nothing in the earth except through answer to prayer and it was a whole theological um and reason for that because God works through men um he always and I say that men he men and women but God works through mankind to bring his will in heaven on the earth that's just the way it happens and so everything that everything that's accomplished let me just say this anytime you see some God do anything Save Somebody heal somebody deliver somebody or you see somebody getting strong and growing or overcoming something anything you see from that happens in this world and we got to get this fixed driving me crazy anyway anything you see in this world happen through prayer it's an answered prayer the lord loves it he wants us to ask he wants us to ask and keep asking knock and keep knocking and seek and keep seeking he wants us to join with him so we're going to look at some a lot of scriptures this morning on prayer but just so you know if you go back and you look at the Welsh Revival like I said 1904 to 1905 a true season of prayer preceded that uh and and the the leader of that Revival let me just say this the leader of that Revival was a young man by the name of Evan Roberts and he and a bunch of young people got on fire for God but really he had been on fire for God from the time he was like 12 years old and he worked in the coal mines because that was the main employment there where he lived in Wales at the time and he worked in the coal mine even as a boy I mean really 12. and they said that what he would do while he worked in the coal mines is he'd find a little Nook in the side of the tunnel and he'd set his Bible in there and whenever he could get a little break and he could break away from work he would walk over and read his Bible now that tells you the kind of young man he was he loved the Lord
and so by the time he gets into his 20s he feels called to the ministry he goes to Seminary that's that just he went to Seminary and it just didn't feel right for him he he knew that something was wrong so he went back to his hometown to his church and asked you know just had a tremendous burden but if if you read back and again I don't even know I don't even remember if all of this is in because I've read some different books about the Welsh Revival so if it's not in this one don't don't think it's not there you just have to pull from different sources but I know that Evan Roberts he got really burdened for prayer the young people around him there were some ministers that got on fire around and they were praying and it was out of one of these deep seasons of intercession uh of prayer with him and the Holy Spirit that he had a vision and he said he said I saw all whales lifted up to God and the Lord told him in that time of intercession and groaning in the spirit of true deep deep intercession that a hundred thousand Souls would be saved and that's exactly what happened and you think about this you know it's God when a 26 year old young man starts a meeting in a church that's pretty much dead that has I think they had 19 people in the first service in that church and within six weeks later 10 000 people were saved and then another six weeks goes by in ten more thousand people are safe I mean truly converted we're talking about hardcore unsaved rough and tough coal miners said so much so many of them got saved and quit cussing quit using foul language that the donkeys didn't know their commands anymore that is transformation there was such a transformation in Wales from the Revival people repenting giving their lives to Jesus getting right with God that uh that there was a period where the judges we're talking about the Civil judges had no criminal cases to try and so they would wear white gloves on the day that they had no cases to try now you think about that Revival true Revival and repentance an outpouring of the holy spirit in a city in a region or whatever will change the complexion of that entire region and sometimes the revivals are mainly in church just kind of localized sometimes it affects the city sometimes it can affect a larger region sometimes even affect the whole nation but it's awesome when God pours out his Spirit the same thing happened with the Azusa Street Revival the the beginning
of the Pentecostal movement and we're we'll talk you know a little bit more about that later but as you read about it in winky Pratt in his book and you read about it Azusa Street one of the things you'll see is Frank bartleman who wrote the Azusa Street Revival as an eyewitness account mainly from his perspective um he was he was a great man of prayer and intercession and he was just he was given to prayer and intercession like nobody's business and the man that God eventually used to be the kind of the pastor and the leader of the Azusa Street Revival William Seymour the Blind and one-eyed black man uh he he was praying he got to the point where he was so burdened and so hungry for God to move in power and for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be restored to the church and um you know for to see he would he was just so hungry to see what was in the book of Acts happen in his life and his time that you know he started praying and praying and praying and he prayed for five hours a day now let me tell you something too you know I'm going to tell you why God used him and instead of the instead of Charles Parham the white man let me tell you why because William Seymour was a humble man see let me tell you I'll tell you this a little bit of History Charles Parham it's kind of recorded that there was some people that spoke in tongues in the in the late 1800s but the one that got the most notoriety is this guy named Charles Parham started a Bible School in Topeka Kansas and they were talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidence by the gift of tongues in Acts 2 10 19. and that wasn't really that wasn't really discussed it wasn't really prayed about talked about or anything like that so he starts this little bible school and so I think it was January the 1st 1901 one of his students Agnes Osmond and they were in a prayer meeting received the baptism Holy Spirit and began speaking in other times well William Seymour this African-American you gotta think of remember the time we were in 1905 1906 right I mean you want to talk about just uh the the race racism and Prejudice and all that issue even among Christians was still prevalent well so William Seymour is so hungry for God that he's willing to go to this Bible School and they made him sit outside the front door he couldn't be in the classroom with him right see this is later on you'll find out there was a big stink that ended a big division that began to end up happening between Seymour and Parham but you got to understand the history they had between each other and Parham got off back so he got far off base now God did God use him some in the beginning yeah but Parham got off base
but I I love how God does it's like oh you're going to make this guy sit outside the door to listen to the lessons the Bible school lessons uh I tell you what I'll take him to Los Angeles from Topeka Kansas to Los Angeles and he's going to lead my Revival and that's what happened the first will be last that's right and but he was he was such a humble man such a humble man and uh so he's in Los Angeles and he goes and first starts preaching in a Nazarene church and he starts preaching the Nazarene Church about the baptism the Holy Spirit and the gifts of tongues and other gifts of the Spirit working in the church he doesn't even have the baptism in the holy spirit yet so he preaches on Sunday morning he comes back to preach again Sunday night and they'd lock the doors locked him out not because he was black but because he preached about the baptism the Holy Spirit the gift of tongues so does he get angry and bitter and upset nope he just moves on God speaks to him and he was praying at this point he got to the point where he's praying five hours a day for the for for God to move he wanted to see the power of God move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and he wanted to see Soul saved he want to see people healed he want to see people delivered you know there were people back then there were Christians there were there were preachers that said that was that wanting those things that was evil that was bad you know and we got him like today like Noel Hadley and some of these others that Pentecostals it's you know hungering for the presence of God and the power of God and the gifts of the holy spirit that that's somehow bad um but anyway he uh he's praying five hours a day and see most Christians would think that that he was just crazy and he was being excessive right so he's praying five hours a day he's seeking God he's crying out to God he's fasting praying asking God to move to pour out his Spirit to save souls to heal bodies to let the gifts be restored to the church and then the Lord speaks to it and you know what the Lord tells him good job nope pray more see most Christians would think that was the devil talk at that point all right what are you talking about pray more so he started praying eight hours a day well you know what happened you had a group over here at praying for Revival bartleman in his group and then they heard about Seymour and his group and then they finally they started they Seymour came and started talking about this baptism Holy Spirit and the and the meeting got too big for where they were and so they moved to Azusa Street there in Los Angeles and the rest is history God poured out his spirit in such power in that place that Azusa Street Mission that literally they said people would be walking down the streets and would get within
two blocks of the place and fall down on the sidewalk into the power of God and then find their way to the meeting the meetings went 24 hours a day seven days a week for a while people were saved people were healed people were baptized in the Holy Spirit they said for the most part William Seymour the leader rarely preached that his pulpit were two egg crates nailed together and that for the most part of all the meetings he could be found on his knees with his head inside the bottom of the egg crate pray the Holy Spirit was there so powerfully and that birth the I believe what God Said and we'll read it in a minute in the Book of Joel he said there would be in the last days a former rain and a lot of rain an outpouring of the Holy Spirit the former Reign was the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. that's why Peter stood up and said this is that which is spoken by the prophet Joel the latter rain I believe began in in power widespread for the last of the last days uh in 1906 at Azusa Street but remember what we talked about it's in your uh winky patney book there was a move of God from 1857 all the way up to then that's re-stirred prayer and the the truths of the need for true intercession and prayer for Revival and for repentance and Holiness and that led to the outpouring of the holy spirit in 1906. 1906 the the Azusa Street Revival carried on from 1906 into 1910. and people came there from all over the world all over the United States and were baptized in the Holy Spirit and not just baptized in the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking of the tongues but many of them were anointed called by God to become ministers missionaries pastors teachers evangelists prophets Apostles I mean one of the most notable that visited there was a guy by the name of John G Lake who left a very lucrative Insurance business I mean he was a wealthy man in the early 1900s he left all that he was hungry for the power of God he goes out to Los Angeles to the Revival he's baptized in the Holy Spirit the anointing of God comes on him to to bring healing he said to the Nations and God sent him to Africa and he had probably he was probably one of the most powerful Pentecostal missionaries that ever lived he came back there were just hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people that were healed and saved through his ministry and he actually came back from Africa and stayed in out on the west coast somewhere he may have been in Washington or Oregon he was somewhere
there and they would just see they saw thousands of people healed um there's great so you can read about John G Lake but what I'm getting at is uh is the the power of God now this is this is historical back and I know there's a lot of Pentecostal haters out there right it's a lot of haters and there's always but see there's always been do you know that one of the most famous preachers at the time of the Brownsville Revival kind of like we have these famous TV preachers like John MacArthur right one of the one was this uh G Campbell Morgan right he was one of the most well-known Baptist preachers in America and when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened at Azusa Street he called it the last vomit of Satan upon the Earth so the opposition to the power of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and hungering for those things it's been here with us since the beginning the devil hates it and so the devil hates it but think remember this the devil hates it but he knows what brings it and he knows that it's prayer and intercession unusual prayer deep prayer lots of prayer he knows that if ever the church gets a hold of that gets hungry enough to see the power of God in the presence of God and to really get a burden for lost souls and and to see people healed and delivered he knows what will lead up to it so that's why the devil and his his demon Spirits this is why they fight you about your prayer time because they know he knows if I can keep him or her away from getting into deep long fervent you know Holy Spirit you see listen a lot of times you've got to get in prayer until you get in prayer you understand what I'm saying I hope you understand that statement you got to get in prayer until you can get in prayer sometimes the first the first hour your prayer is just getting through your flesh and all the distractions in your mind to really be able to pray remember Jesus made the statement to the disciples could you not tarry one hour I mean he was like what you can't even hang with me for an hour we got people who can't hang 15 minutes right the Lord wants us to move into prayer and understand that any church that or Christian or Minister that's going to have any amount of power from the Holy Spirit you better believe they they are a man or woman in prayer okay you cannot just ride on your gifts alone your calling alone okay um I I was thinking about it in this sense too um everybody's got one of these right maybe
not an iPhone but we all got these phones now these cell phones um you want this thing to have power right you want it to last all day you have to leave it on a charger for a certain amount of time am I right that's what I'm saying I I have two different well I have a charger that's got a like a six foot cord on it for some reason I guess maybe it's old I don't know but for some reason I can put my phone on that charger and it can sit there for two hours and it'll finally be 50 charge right I can put it on a different charger and it'll charge but the point of the thing is is this if I don't leave it alone until it's fully charged but I can take it off at any time I can use it when it's 50 and I can use it when it's 20 and I can use it when it's 70 percent but see isn't that what we do with our prayer lives we'll we'll plug it in a little bit oh I got it I got I'm I got 25 I'm good let's go this is where the church lives we got enough prayer to get to get us by oh if I got 25 that'll get me to lunch this is where we live we we don't spend enough time in the place of Prayer to ever get full power if we did we would you hear what I'm saying if I put the phone on the good charger and leave it and don't unplug it what happens I come back and it says 100 percent in fact my wife Giggles whenever she sees that see that's rare for your phone that it ever reaches 100 because I'm always snatching it and going right it's important yo that we understand that prayer is is is what charges us with God's power and his presence all right so let's look let's look at a few verses this morning go to Acts chapter 2. wow just flip right to it man thank you Lord that works flip your Bible open and there we are all right Acts chapter two everybody there and in fact I'll tell you what let's back up to chapter one first right before the right before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit we we tend to forget what Jesus told them he says here and being assembled together with them this is Jesus with them he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saithy you have heard of me for John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence he said and when they were come together they ask him saying Lord without this
time or story again the kingdom to Israel and he said it is not for you to know the times of the Season which the father has put in his own power but that ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria to the uttermost part of the earth and when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of the sight and while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven they went up and two men stood by them in white apparel which said you men of Galilee why stand you gazing up into heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount of olive which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath Day's Journey and when they were come they went into an upper room where Abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew and Philip and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew and James the son of alphaeus and Simon zelotis and Judas the brother of James look at verse 14. and these all continued with one Accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his Brethren now this is immediately after Jesus ascends right so they're there in this place waiting we're in Jesus told him to go wait but what are they doing while they're waiting they're praying right they're praying in one Accord they're praying in agreement now what do you think they're praying for well what did Jesus tell them you're going to receive power so you know what they would do I believe they were there praying God let it be so we want to be filled with your Holy Spirit we want to be filled with your power we want to be we want to have that that power that annoy so we can be your witnesses to the world I believe they're just agreeing together and they were praying and worshiping now it was 10 days 10 days you hear what I'm saying before the answer came 10 days later so let's go to Acts chapter 2. and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one Accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing Mighty Wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared to them cloven tongues like as a fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance so here you have it boom they're praying for 10 days what precedes an outpouring A Move of the Holy Spirit a season of unusual constant prayer if you go on down after Peter preaches and three thousand souls are saved he says they that gladly received his word this is Peter's sermon he preached that day the first sermon of the church then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day were
added into them about three thousand souls in verse 42 and they continued steadfastly in the apostles Doctrine and fellowship and in Breaking of bread and prayers prayer was vitally important let's keep going you see them constantly going back to the place of prayer go to chapter four so they get threatened told not to preach and teach in the name of Jesus so after they're out preaching they go through a season of persecution they come back to the place of Prayer and this was their prayer now Lord behold they're threatenings and Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word by stretching forth on hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy Child Jesus and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the word with boldness so here they pray again and God moves again fills them baptize them again I'm telling you the Lord wants a hungry people he wants a thirsty people he wants a people that understand where their power where the power of His Spirit comes from he grants the power of His Holy Spirit to those who pray and I mean really pray and gather with other believers and pray it's a priority all right let's go to Acts chapter 12. I want to show you something here Acts chapter 12. Peter is put in jail let's read this verse 1. now about the time Herod the king stretched forth his hand to Vex certain of the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword this is a sad day right here this is James the brother of John this is one of the sons of thunder one of the twelve this was this was not a good day for the church the the infant baby new church he killed James with the sword and because he saw it please the Jews he proceeded further to take Peter also then were the days of unleavened bread and when he had apprehended him he put him in prison and delivered unto him for quadrons of soldiers or whatever that is to keep him intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people Peter therefore was kept in prison but but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him now I'm not going to read the rest of the story but I want you to see that again prayer was made without ceasing you know what happened
I believe the church realized we can't just sit back with a with a passive attitude and think that Satan's not going to move to destroy us Satan moved to destroy their leadership remember Satan understands the principle Smite the shepherd and the Sheep will be scattered that is a principle it wasn't just about Jesus it's the devil always goes in the church especially always goes after leadership you you get rid of good leadership and guess what happens the Sheep are scattered about so the devil's principle he knows try to take out the I mean this has been in every war I mean I remember even remember the Patriot Target the officers remember that's what he told them his his snipers Target their officers because he knew the British troops would be lost without getting commands right they would be lost so they would Target the officers principle basically the chop the head off right the body a lot of the snake will continue to Slither around for a little bit but that's what works the best but the church realized that wait now if we sit back he he just killed James and you know he's going to kill Peter we better get back to prayer and it wasn't just all right everybody let's gather at Jim Bob's house and pray for about 15 minutes and then go back to our TV shows it says prayer was made without ceasing they got serious they got desperate it was a life and death situation now remember I believe the Holy Spirit moved them to understand the seriousness of this moment why because what does an apostle represent let me let me tell you we're going to get into the fivefold ministry gifts in the day's head but Apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers I remember years ago and in fact I remember when I was pastoring that first church in the in the 90s there and I was studying this and the Lord spoke to me one day while I'm reading this passage about Peter and about this this type of unceasing Prayer and he uh he laid it on my heart I heard the Lord speak to me and he just basically said he said it wasn't just about Peter and it wasn't just about the fact that Peter was an apostle except for this what Satan was after was more than just Peter he was after the gift of the Apostle on him and what is one of the gifts of the Apostle a person who who finally reaches that point where they have the ministry called him an apostle they will have an influence and effect upon thousands of people they're not unknown Joe over here or or Jack or you know nothing wrong with being the unknown Christian
but I'm telling you there's a difference once God once God's matured you and taught you and put you into a place where you have that level of authority and influence and experience what what Satan was after was to remove he removed one apostle he was ready to he was trying to remove another one and that that that what he was after was the effect of an apostle to affect thousands of people's lives can you imagine what the church if you read the rest of the book of Acts especially when the acts Council came together to ask the question do we have to keep the law of Moses to be saved what if Peter was gone what could have happened you get what I'm getting at well God is Sovereign he wouldn't let Peter be killed he let James huh later on yeah yeah but I'm saying then right then if he'd let Peter be killed at that time we're talking about you know this was 30 years or so before Peter was martyred he did a lot in those 30 years um but this is why it's so important to pray this is why it's so important to pray for your pastors and teachers and evangelists and Prophets and apostles because Satan wants to kill them he wants to remove them he wants to hinder them and to hinder the church and to hinder the progress so vitally important let's go just having read that let's go to um first Thessalonians chapter 5. foreign there let me remind you I'm just going to say this the most important thing the most valuable thing you can do as a Christian is to pray to spend time with God to intercede for other people for yourself for the church for your leader or leaders for the Lost and I've said this many times over the years if you're too busy to pray you're too busy John Wesley's mother Susanna Wesley was a Godly woman she was a woman of Prayer she had 19 children so I imagine she was a busy woman she was definitely busy having babies pretty regularly right I mean you got to realize that if she did it as fast as possible she was
having babies for 20 years right laughs yeah but but John wrote of his mother that every day even though she had 19 children and she had a house and a husband to take care of which let me tell you something any woman that has one child in a house and a husband to take care is a busy woman I overthink that woman is not working all right but let me tell you she was a busy woman but every day of her life John said she would go and get alone in her room and pray for at least an hour so I don't want to hear I'm too busy to pray I used to preach it for years I used to tell people I guess I have to modify it now since Technology's changed but in the 80s I used to tell people you need to write on a three by five card I'm too busy to pray I said and then take that on your television or tape it on your phone and your YouTube app oh studying the Bible important witnessing and being a light to others very important prayer and time with God most important Facebook down here somewhere first Thessalonians 5. let's just read from verse 12. and we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you wait a minute we're supposed to have a leaderless church right just have to throw that in there and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves now we exhort you Brethren warn them that are unruly Comfort the feeble-minded the feeble minded I know a few of those support the weak and be patient toward all men see that none render evil for evil unto any man but ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and to all men verse 16 Rejoice Evermore 17. pray without ceasing the word pray there is a present tense Greek verb what does that mean
and present you know the great Smith Wigglesworth I've mentioned him a minute ago in fact you want to read a great book read the Apostle of Faith about Smith Wigglesworth great book he was a true man of God he was a soul winner buying the stories of his life the stories of you know just the story let me just say this just the story of how he got saved his wife was on fire for God love God going to church helping at the Salvation Army and it's heyday when it was real when it was a real Ministry when it was a real Church and and Smith hated it so she goes that he told her not to go to church one one Sunday what does she do that's one command ladies you don't have to obey from your husbands for sure and she went to church anyway now it was cold it was winter in in England and she comes home and he's locked her out of the house at night in the cold keeps her locked out all night now there are women now even Christian women they would kill you while you sleep if you did this they would at least have you arrested or divorce you but you know what this Godly Christian woman who was a woman of prayer would do she was praying for her husband all the time but she got up off that cold front porch after being locked out of her house all night long didn't say a word and went and cooked that man breakfast before he went to work did somebody say ow that was the worst thing she could have done to him he ends up getting saved he becomes a man humble he would just started serving and helping in the Salvation Army but he became a man of Prayer and he became a man of the word and once God anointed him and filled him with the Holy Ghost in power and he started seeing just hundreds and hundreds of people saved and then people getting healed and delivered from demons somebody asked him one day they said Smith how long do you pray and he shocked him because he said I never pray longer than 30 minutes they thought what but he said I never go 30 minutes without praying see what Smith was saying is my whole life is spent talking to God they said he would sit with his Bible wherever he was he'd sit with his Bible he'd read a little bit and he'd see him looking up to him and pray
that that's just how he lived whether he was on the the trolley or the or the train or even working in his plumbing job that's what he did I'm saying he was a man of prayer now now he was making a point I'm sure there were Seasons he prayed more than any any man of God that's that has his ministry the size of his will have to have seasons longer than that but he was just making a point it's like what are you talking about it's a lifestyle something I do all the time it's unceasing I don't have you know I don't pray and go a week or two and I'm not praying like this but that's where most Christians are maybe we have a day or two where we really pray and then and let me just say this I've I've had 31 years of experience with this when church is all over America trying to get Christians to come together and pray the prayer meeting is the least attended service of the church in any church any denomination across the board I remember when I used to try to get people to pray together at a about a 1500 member Church in Montgomery and there was they already had a Monday night prayer meeting and you go now and you think about out of 1200 people there wouldn't even be 10 people there to pray so I started having all night prayer meetings and still when I'd have all night prayer meetings every other Friday night not even trying not do it every Friday night just trying to start some prayer some serious prayer where we get into intercession and warfare and have time and not be in a hurry not trying to run home still I think the most we ever had out of a 1500 member Church was 20 to 30 people at those most most of the time it was 10 or 12. in that pitiful it's sad but he says here pray without Cece the great success we mentioned last week I talked about Charles grandis and Finney Charles G Finney the spearhead the leader the Evangelist the pastor I really believe the apostle of the Second Great Awakening a man that they said that his preaching was like machine gun fire a man that they said saw more converts and more converts stay faithful probably than any minister in America ever and they said that of course he was a man of Prayer but that he had a guy named father Nash an old man and another brother who would get together and pray for him and for his ministry in 12-hour shifts now let me just ask you a question do you think that Finney's success was because Finney was a great preacher that he had a great mind that he was bold
that he had a gift or that he had a secret weapon or two secret weapons he had father Nash and this other brother who would pray in shifts he would say gentlemen I feel like the Lord wants me to go to such a city and begin holding Revival Services Evangelistic services they would start praying one guy would pray 12 hours the next guy would take up to pray the next twelve and I imagine that some of that time overlapped and they prayed together but sometimes they slept and sometimes they had to go eat but they said they would pray in 12-hour shifts can you even imagine this I I don't know any Christians that do this or have even done it in their life but they would pray in 12-hour shifts until they felt in the spirit that they had prayed through the opposition of Satan the hindrances and everything until they felt like they broke through so that's another term pray until you break through that's the old Pentecostals used to say that what does that mean until you feel the burden lifted until you know you have fought through the demons and the devils and the plan of the enemy and tell you no you've secured the answer and he said they would pray in these 12-hour shifts and they would tell Finney we broke through God will move and Finney would go and start preaching and sure enough God would move you hear what I'm saying look as my wife said if we prayed like Muslims five times a day and witnessed like Jehovah Witnesses we'd see a Revival think about that for a minute you guys need to read about a guy by the name of John Hyde h-y-d-e John they call him John praying hi the man prayed so much that they said when he died his heart had moved from one side of his chest to the other that he would pray sometimes for 30 days without leaving his prayer room and he was a missionary in India we just we we've lost oh well you know God will just do oh God is Sovereign and he'll just do it
whenever he wants doesn't matter what we do where's that come from Calvinism in fact Finney Finney hated that idea he was like you know what his his belief was about Revival because we're talking about prayer and Revival he was an expert on and he had the fruit to back it up he said a Revival is no more of a miracle this is in your chapter three of Revival lectures by Charles D Finney he said Revival is no more of a miracle or a sovereign Act of God than is a crop of corn he said the farmer prepares the ground plows the ground clears the ground the farmer plants the seed fertilizes the seed and then praise for the blessing of God the rain and what happens if all is done correctly what do you get crop of corn and that's what Finney said is a Revival is not a miracle he said if you do what God says to do to bring it it will happen that's why Leonard Ravenhill said we don't have Revival because we're satisfied to live without it and we let ourselves get too busy and too distracted and we don't understand What It Takes and so we just don't do it and we don't see it I want to tell you guys something like these guys got together on Saturday night I'm just going to say that these guys got together Saturday night to pray for me and for our church service the next day and immediately that night I even had a better night's sleep than I normally do on Saturday nights I got up that morning I could feel the peace of God in the presence of God and even before I got up to preach I could feel the presence of God in here and I had to confront a pretty serious matter what I'm saying is is that when we pray like we should when we get together and pray whether it's two of us or three of us or 20 or 200 it doesn't matter when we get together and we pray and we understand that it's not just five minutes and run back out the door God will start moving he'll start answering he'll start doing powerful stuff I mean this is just the way it is every move of God everything successful that happens is because Somebody Prayed it through now don't get me wrong it's a process prayer and intercession sometimes it takes fasting with that but it also takes planting seed that's the preaching and teaching of the word and that takes a crop of a crop of corn takes time it doesn't just pop up overnight that's why I think what we're do what
we've been doing here the Lord's been telling us it for our church from the beginning that the Revival would come but it it hadn't been overnight it was 10 years and we're just beginning to see because you know what I had a lot of ground to plow I had a lot of seed I had to plant had a lot of of things that had to had to transpire before we could even get to the place where we were ready I don't even know if we still are fully ready yet but God is moving people are getting saved people are getting healed people are getting delivered from demons like never before in this little church here but I believe it's just the tip of the iceberg because you know what I think I'm gonna be honest with you got you students I believe part of the reason the Lord wanted me to start this school is not just for you not just for you to learn but he told me a long time ago he was going to send me Sons and Daughters from afar and what does it say in Psalm 127 about Sons and Daughters now he's talking about you know your children but I believe there's physical children and spiritual children what does he say about them he said they'll fight with the enemy in the gate blessed is the man has his quiver full of him see I'm getting older I can't do what I used to do energy wise time wise but I can tell you this much the last few days I can tell people have been prayer for me and I can I can tell the joy of God is stronger in my life the peace of God stronger in my I feel stronger physically mentally emotional in every way even though I have many battles on many fronts I fight I believe God sent you guys here not just to learn but to serve in the area of prayer and intercession so that we can go to the next level because you know what Paul listen it's it's not a pride thing in fact it's admitting I need people to pray for me Paul always begged he begged he begged his uh fellow Christians and churches that he had started and planned please please pray for me I need your prayers what was he saying I'm up against the all kinds of battles and attacks I need you I can't do it on my own I don't see any pride in that when you say I can't do it on my own and really let me let me just say that about prayer too do you know the moment that you bow your head or you kneel down or you get in your place of Prayer by praying the first thing you're saying to God is even by just beginning to pray as I know I can't do this without your strength but when you don't pray you're basically saying to him I got this I got this I'm good men and women of Prayer in the church will pray
for hours upon hours upon hours upon hours it's needful amen the Hebrides revival you know what I believe the Hebrides anybody have any of you heard of the Hebrides revival anybody heard of that oh y'all need to read about the Hebrides Revival exactly Duncan Campbell Hebrides islands are in Scotland he's a British I mean his Scottish accent is so strong it's almost hard to understand it see this was in the 1950s so there's still some there's some recordings of this man preaching but I'm going to tell you right now though Duncan Campbell was a man of God he was an anointed preacher um powerful he'll tell you immediately that the great Revival in the Liberties and it was an outpouring of the Holy Ghost power he will tell you that it had nothing to do with him there were these two old ladies in their 80s one was blind totally blind who spent years together in intercession for Revival and God to move and to save the Liberties the people living in the liberties and when God when the prayers got enough when the prayer alter a fire in heaven got full for the Hebrides they begin to get stirred and they they the lord gave one I think he gave the Divine woman the vision of Revival think about that why didn't he open her eyes I wasn't concerned about that she could still see she saw what was important didn't she maybe had she had her sight she wouldn't have been the woman of prayer she was but she prayed and she had this vision and God showed him call the Elders that are left in the island called the Elders of the church and they need to start praying with us God's Gonna and they need to go find a man named Duncan Campbell and bring him here [Laughter] oh the praying Saints I'm going to tell you right now the Lord I remember when my great-grandmother was dying I knew she was dying she's 89 years old and it was her time this was in the summer of 1991. and we're getting ready to take her to the hospital but I knew I was sitting beside her
because I asked the Lord to be there when she was passed away because I I just wanted to spend that and it was through a series of events of course you know you don't know when somebody's gonna die but a series of events made me end up back here for about I don't know about two to three weeks and I was here and got to be with her and take her to the hospital I was sitting beside her in the chair she always sat in and the Lord was speaking to me and he said you know this is the last time you're gonna be with her here and then he said this to me he said you are with me you are where you are as a Christian as a man of God as a Believer as a minister of the Gospel he said you are here because of her well we don't like we want to hear that do we a lot of times in our minds we think we get where we get because of us and he said these women that prayed for you from the time you were in your mother's womb they from the time they knew your mother was pregnant with you they've been praying for you every day of your life my great-grandmother Pauline my aunt Zola my aunt norly my great aunts women of prayer holy women who ate pork in every dish but I know that any fruit that comes from me and this ministry and all that God does is on their account you know it's funny and you know I don't know maybe I'm getting a little sentimental today I don't know but yesterday or a couple days ago when one of the posts about the this whole battle with the ski bites uh the guy that led me back to the Lord commented he's never on Facebook never I mean he's he's he has a Facebook Pro but I'd never see him on I never see him post anything I never and and he and I had kind of lost contact and he commented and we had a little chat for a minute and I'm going to tell you uh I was just thanking him for being faithful to God because the moment he met me he said the Lord spoke to his heart pray for this young man and witness to the show and he hired me now think about this I walk in to get this job I didn't really care whether I got the job or not because I already had a job so this was going to be a side job so I didn't even care I saw the sign I was riding my motorcycle it's right I was riding my motorcycle flip-flops and shorts my my 650 right in Yamaha uh
650 Yamaha and shorts and uh I don't know some kind of Hawaiian shirt and and I walk in there with long hair and didn't shave that morning and yeah I'm here to apply for the job he said he told me later he said you know he said I would have never hired anybody like you coming in there like you did he said but the Lord told me to hire you and to pray for you and to be a witness to you and he did he was faithful to do that and I told him I said David I said I think about you often and you know it was amazing he said he said you just don't know he said I think about you and your ministry and what you're doing often and I was like you know anything anything that the Lord accomplishes through me in my life was because of him it's going to go on his account too because he was faithful he was faithful and he didn't just too he didn't just lead me back to the Lord but he prayed for me and he gave me stuff that I needed he's the one that gave me David Wilkerson stuff and Leonard Raven Hill stuff and Keith green stuff he set me on the right path he set me on the right course I'll always be thankful to that brother for being faithful and he's had struggles over these last few I mean his wife left him and he's been through hell but I haven't changed he was faithful and I thanked him for being faithful but that's the power of being of being a person of prayer and being a witness and being faithful to God it's fruit remember he said the people who abide in me abide in the Vine how do you abide in the vine it's not by keeping the law it's not by making little tassels to hang on your belt you know I wish Mr skiba would harp on prayer and intercession more than not eating pork in his tassels you see how this distracts from what's important it's absolutely ridiculous we need people praying and fasting for the power of God I never see him talk about the power of the Holy Spirit getting demons out of people getting people set free getting people healed no it's all about the law it gets it's just a distraction we need people that are going to get with God spend time with God pray until they pray through let me show you this verse go to First Timothy chapter 2.
I knew the Lord wanted me to come in here today in fact see even I have to do this I'm in my office yesterday I'm busy all the time now I'm busier than I've ever been in my life preparing you know classes studying things restarting things that I need to restudy and refresh on so I can even do these classes dealing with questions and from all over the world emails and questions and trying to help people and it can get overwhelming but in my office you know I got my desk and my chair and then but I got some chairs on the other wall opposite and I just got up I said you know what I mean I can sit there and think of a hundred million things I need to do I need to address this person I need to answer this person I got emails stack it up I need to answer and all this stuff going on I got classes I need to prepare classes for next week I need to pray I got all this stuff I got to do but I have to make myself go you know what no Lord I'm I'm sitting here and I'm about to go crazy I just and then it just dawned on me set the phone on the desk go sit in those chairs over there and pick up your real Bible and just pray and I went and did that for the next hour and a half got all of that just all of that that Martha's stuff aside and became married for a minute okay sit down and pray until and do you know it was during those moments when I I felt myself being strengthened God started speaking to me the stuff in the work told me some stuff I needed to know you get what I'm saying even though and I did that even though I knew that was like from five to seven last night even though I knew at seven we were going to have prayer meeting here so really I ended up having prayer from five until about whatever time we quit last night that's what makes a difference go to where did I tell you first uh First Timothy two yes I want to tell you something too absolutely I don't say those things to make you guys think that I'm begrudge or anything or preparing I know God wanted us to do
this school and I love coming here and teaching these classes and doing this um it's just a lot of work right now the first year is more work than I even anticipated but don't get me wrong I don't hate it I'm just telling you I'm busy I'm actually loving it it's actually been good for me to go back and refresh things that some of it I learned 30 and 25 and 20 years ago and going back and looking at it all again so it's been it's been very good for me you know it's always good to continue to educate yourself and sometimes you have to you know refresh that education um let's go to uh First Timothy 2 verse 1. you know there's only a few times in your Bible where it says do something first now remember the word first could mean this listen to me the word first can mean first in order like chronologically or it can mean first in importance or rank priority can mean either one just a matter of context so you know we have Jesus saying first twice he says seek ye first right Matthew 6 33 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you then in Matthew 12 29 Jesus says first bind the strong man and you'll spoil so wait a minute which do I do first seek the kingdom by and astronomy again it's not about order chronologically it's about these are priorities okay these are should be your top priorities understand to seek God his kingdom his righteousness first and then he says first you need to bind the devil that's how you're going to win the battle against the enemy that's why that's why we had so much teaching against binding demons right even in seminaries and churches but here he says this through Paul the Holy Spirit through Paul I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men first and I love this because guess what he says supplications prayers and intercession your homework tonight is to look up those three words Define them and explain them what they mean because those are three different kinds of Prayer supplications prayers and intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and Peaceable life in all godliness and honesty
then he says for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior another God our savior Jesus being God there you get that who Wills or desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth what is he saying there God wills and desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of Truth so what should be a priority in the life of a this young pastor and in the life of Christians that first supplications prayers and intercession be made for all men for kings and for those in authority that should be our priority seeking God his kingdom his righteousness praying for lost men and lost Kings you hear me praying interceding what is intercession I'm going to look at that first just a second go to Romans 8. great book by Kenneth E Hagin yes I said Kenneth E Hagin you Hagan haters don't know what you're missing was he a perfect man no was he a man of God yes was he a great teacher on many subjects yes he was one of the best he has a book called The Art of intercession you ought to get it great book let's read this we're in Roman Romans chapter 8 go down to verse 26. he says here likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit itself or himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth and the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God now hear what I'm about to tell you this is this is something I want to explain prayers are simply you're going to look this up you're going to find out prayers are simply requests okay hear what I'm about to tell you because I'm going to give you my definition you can look up the strongs and all that and I want you to dig into it but I'm going to give you my definition of these things prayers are simple simple requests supplications are more pleading begging God just just pleading and making your case
see there's a difference prayer you look at it request a request of God I could pray you know um I don't know somebody needs a you know somebody needs a job somebody needs a house somebody needs a car Lord bless Stephen with the car or if you need a car you know what his name or one that's not so dented um or with bullet holes in it um that's a request but maybe I know Steven's struggling with a problem it's an ongoing problem and I could say when I start saying Lord please help Stephen with this problem and Lord you know that it comes from this pain or this issue or whatever see that's supplication okay but intercession intercession few ever reach this place now we may reach it in the technical sense of the word of standing in the gap between the Lord and somebody is this this is really where you're talking about praying for the lost the unsaved the enemies the god haters or just the deceived um and we can stand in the Gap and ask God to have mercy and plead with him so you could say that supplication as well but intercession really goes deeper and I've had this happen to me on numerous occasions where I'm praying I'm making my request that's why he gave that order prayers supplication and intercession it's a reason it's in that order you usually start out in prayers making requests then you get into supplication pleading with the Lord and getting you know please do this help them and then you get into groanings that cannot be uttered and this is usually where the tears begin to flow this is a place sometimes you you run out of words but you know you need to pray more this is why praying in tongues is so important but there's also a deeper level than tears and a deeper level than praying in tongues the gift of tongues that God wants all of his children to have there's a level when the spirit is so the Holy Spirit within you is so burdened that you can't hardly speak and I have had this happen where all you can do is lay on the floor in a ball and groan and in your mind you know that something you're you're in the middle of something that's either gonna that's that's that it's if if there's not God's intervention it's going to be terrible the results and truly this is what Paul talked about that travailing in birth until Christ is
formed in you this is the kind of prayer Charles Finney spoke about it he said there were in me when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit he talked about these unutterable gushings that came out of it I remember one time and I'll I'll tell you all this story because it's true I was at the Brownsville Revival and and even the Browns will Revival I'll say this they had a special season of prayer two years beyond the norm of that church they God moved them to pray like they had never prayed for two years before the Revival happened and um I remember I was there and I'm pretty sure it was August of yeah it was August of 1997. I remember where I was sitting and I remember the service and it was Steve Hill revisiting his first sermon that he preached when the Revival began and um do you have the uh the bagpipes with uh Amazing Grace not just not the Steve just the bagpipe part if you got it just look it up there's one yeah I'll we'll play it though yeah Amazing Grace in the bagpipes um Steve Hill was sharing and we may get I don't know just bringing we might we may play it in a second to play what he said there but he was he was talking about remember the deeds and the wonders of the Lord from Psalm 77 that was about how we should remember what God has done we should always bring that to back to our minds and thank him and praise him and ask him to do those things again even in greater power and he was talking about that about how the Revival began and he was talking about how hungry how how even as a minister now listen to this even as a minister brought up and trained under David Wilkerson close friends one of his mentors Leonard Raven him he knew Keith Green personally worked with him I mean this guy rubs shoulders with some of the most anointed holy men of God of of of my lifetime that was still alive you know uh he was Steve Hill was seven years a missionary working down in Argentina with Carlos anacondio and Claudio friedson who saw the great Argentine Revival that lasted for 15 years he was in the midst of that and Steve Hill said I came back from Argentina I've seen Revival I've seen everything you can imagine in Revival the power of God falling in Argentina and I've I've met Carlos anacondio Claudio fritson both of them laid hands on my head these men of God just Giants of the faith we're talking about
Steve Hill got to hang out with he comes back from Argentina and of course you know this is in the late 80s and early 90s and he's talking about how you know the Iron Curtain has fallen Russia's falling apart the doors have opened so many Ministries were going into Russia and the uh you know the old Soviet Bloc countries like Latvia and Czechoslovakia and Ukraine and all these places so he said man he said Ministry is is just exploding you know he said I'm planted we're planting churches all over uh Russia and different places and um but he said I got as a minister he said it can happen Ministry can be going great he said I just began to get spiritually dry and he said he said I finally realized how thirsty and hungry and empty that I was he said deep down with him he said I've been getting to cry out to God to do something in me now think about this man planting churches and I mean having open-air meetings in Colombia South America because he's fluent in Spanish and he's having meetings and and drug lords are getting saved you know I mean uh we're not talking about you know a lukewarm American Christian here right but dry he said he said I got hungry because you know what you can't live off what God did in the past that's the principle of the manner you don't you can't live off yesterday's matter you got to go out today and get fresh man and so he said I realized I was living off of yesterday and I'm in this service he brings up a guy that got saved you know in one of their open air meetings and and I'm I'm sitting on the Pew I had pews in the on the floor I'm sitting in the Pew and the Holy Spirit the burden the Holy Spirit burden for Revival for God to move in power so Souls can be saved and disciples made and this burden comes on me and then he has to go and tell the story he said I I read he said I opened a Time magazine or something and ripped about how God was moving in England at this church called Holy Trinity Brompton now of course there's been all this hoopla about the Toronto blessing and the Toronto Revival and the Sunderland England Revival and all that stuff yet they got off finally I I understand that but the beginning of it all was the Holy Spirit moving and he can move among any group of people these were anglicans
you want to know about dead Church there will be dead Church in the dictionary anglicans right here okay so he sees this God's moving she's like hmm he said I'm on my way to Russia planting some more churches I thought I'll fly through London England I want to visit this church and see if it's real so he says he's he gets to England and he's on a ferry and he says about that time he's on this Ferry go ahead and play it for him he said I'm on a secular boat he said people are drinking partying talking he said it's not a Christian boat and he said this comes over the loudspeakers right here [Music] said the power of God came all over him he knew he said God's about to do something [Music] and he's playing this in his church service that I'm in and that was it man especially when we hit this part [Music] foreign [Music] foreign so the Lord the spirit the Holy Spirit moved me into a place of intercession I began to weep and groan in the spirit to the point I was about to fall into the floor and the Lord began to speak to me about
a Revival in the future that would exceed [Music] Brownsville and I remember I could not say words out of my mouth [Music] that was in 98 and I remember well 97 I mean I remember getting home from the Revival that was on a Saturday night I was there and I remember getting home and sharing what had happened to me and when I started sharing it at home I was sitting on the love seat in my living room and the spirit of intercession Holy Spirit began to move upon me and I began to weep and groan and fell in the floor for the next 30 or 40 minutes all I could do was weep and groan in the spirit I couldn't even say words that's intercession but can I tell you you're never ever ever gonna have that unless you spend enough time in that you've got to listen it's a weird thing God says he's going to fill the hungry and the thirsty but he actually wants us to make ourselves hungry thirsty you know how sometimes when you're you may not even be you may not even think you're hungry but then you see a commercial or you walk or or you ride by a restaurant with your window down and you smell like a nice juicy you know ribeye steak cooking or you see the commercial and you're like oh man I didn't really realize it but I'm hungry let me tell you when you get start getting a whiff of the presence of God from heaven and you know what he can do you'll get into that place a prayer and intercession until you move into the spirit you'll learn to pray until you prayed you hear what I'm saying until you break through it I'll be the first to admit that I am not where I need to be not where I used to be in that realm of Prayer and it's not that we got to go out here and say okay I'm going to pray for five hours you know what if you can pray for an hour and get to that place of prayer supplication intercession where you really care about lost people
let me tell you one of the biggest aspects of that type of groaning in the spirit and intercession is for the lost the deceived those blinded by Satan those being destroyed by the devil it's when you finally get to the place and you go you know what I care about them but I realize I can't reach them with just words I can't reach them with just sermons I can't reach them with just crafty memes I've got to have the power and the presence and the anointing of God to break through all of this satanic crap that's in this world and it's holding these people in bondage and it's that kind of Prayer that will break through and brings masses of people to repentance and conversion and I believe I truly believe we are on the verge of it I truly do believe and I'm not talking about just us as firing Grace Church I'm talking about the church is on the verge of it again and the devil wants to stop it but I'm just telling you right now if we begin to pray until we prayed if we begin to to really take the time to get back to what's important to True prayer supplication intercession we will see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit like we've never seen God spoke to me in that service and he told me you will see this again and you will be in the midst of it and I knew then that I would be an older man I was in my 20s I knew I would be an older man when it would happen so let's just stop with the distractions if you can spend hours and hours and hours on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube it's time to set it down at least for a little bit until you become a person who's an intercessor we've had enough yeah have some listen you ask most people have you prayed today the end of the day have you prayed today well I pray that when as I drove to work well that's nice that's wonderful that's good you charged it to about 15 percent that's good at least you got something but will it die when you need it by the end of the day yeah this is where the church is 10 15 5 percent
do you know what survey was done of pastors Across America this has been pretty consistent over the years too that the average Pastor in America prays five minutes a day five minutes I would be dead you know I said physically dead and in the grave if all I prayed over the years was five minutes a day I would be a dead man the devil which is okay we kill him now because he's stupid he doesn't understand the battle is in now maybe some of these guys who don't preach the truth they can get away with that because the devil's like well he's kind of working for me so I let him live praying five hours a day but this Joker over here that's preaching the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit and Revival and casting out demons oh no no no he won't live if he prays five hours five minutes a day no no he won't survive you know people people still Mock and laugh at Jimmy Swaggart but I'm going to tell you something Jimmy Swaggart was and still is a man of God I watched him every Sunday morning for in in 87 and 88 before it right before it all went down his fault and let me tell you the presence of God the anointing of God would be so powerful on his preaching and on his especially on his Services when he would go and do an Evangelistic crusade in South America or Central America or Africa or whatever and I'd see those people running to the altar with tears running down their face the man LED three million people to the Lord not too shabby right the man prayed every day minimum because he said that that he felt that he should at least tithe 24 in a 24-hour day he should give the Lord a tithe of his time the man prayed over two and a half hours every day read his Bible through every six months studied the Bible all the time godly man love oh Pastor Dean why did he end up falling into sin well I'm going to tell you why he ended up falling into sin because he was molested when he was a child and he never got delivered from those demons and he fought them with everything he had but he didn't know about casting out demons because his denomination and his Theology and his his Assembly of God teachers and
preachers said a Christian can't have a demon so Jimmy simply by sheer force of will and a prayer life and a disciplined life held those beach balls of of those strongholds of lust in his life he held them underwater for a lot of years until finally he had a weak moment and he fell and I remember everybody knew I loved Jimmy Swaggart I didn't mean I grieved with everything I didn't agree he believed pre-trip Rapture I didn't agree with him on everything but I remember when all the people around me you know oh look one of your Heroes basically what they're saying look at him he fell you know what I said it was as simple as this I think he's just a man he still puts his pants on one leg at a time just like I do any of us can fall does that negate what he preached how he lived because he fell because he messed up did not David commit adultery and have a man killed and yet he repented deeply and God forgave him does that negate that he was a man of God the man after God's Own Heart does that negate he was a great king does that great he was anointed does that negate the fact that God used him to write part of the Bible part of the scriptures God didn't even remove him from from being you know from him came Christ after the flesh the Messiah is known as the son of David Thank God It's Not Over You know what I was thinking about that song There we were playing on the bagpipe Amazing Grace I love the fact it's not amazing Torah it's not amazing at all God I'm grateful for Amazing Grace we don't deserve it we can't earn it with our little tassels and what we eat or don't eat or what we do or don't do on Saturday God I thank God we're not bound to that anymore that it is amazing yes it is Amazing Grace we don't deserve it we don't earn it but do we want it do we want him to run the heavens and step down here and do something powerful in our lives even though we're all Sinners and we all fall short of his glory and we none of us deserve it and if he does anything for us it's Mercy can y'all feel it today man oh man God's Gonna Move
prayer and Revival the function of the church when we get dry when we get empty when we get too busy it's time to get back to what's important yeah you're nothing unless you're a man a woman in prayer I don't care how many pieces of paper is on your wall no matter what school you went to how many choir robes you have if you wear the dog collar just tell everybody you're a minister if you're a cleric you know I'm going to tell you right now Charles Finney said this in Revival lectures he said whenever Christians start focusing and decorating the outside of Christianity usually shows that it's dead and empty on the inside so whenever they beautify the altar of Christianity it's usually because they can't attract people with the power of God they've got to put on that's why Rome built the big cathedrals that's why we have all these big pretty churches and no power because they depend on that that's why the ski bites have got to focus on the tassels yeah oh he's got a whole video little tassel parties gotta make this eats eat so we can keep the law I could just hear the the parrot keep the law all right keep the law right it's it's empty it's powerless you make me choose which you choose Pastor T trying to keep some laws so I can look down at everybody else that doesn't do it or Amazing Grace yeah exactly Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound saved wrench like me once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see you know I posted it this morning I'm gonna say this the word Justified Justified that's a good word Torah heads hate that word testify Justified let me see let me get back to you here's the picture so I I pulled it up in my my strongs there this morning there we go so we are not justified by the law but by faith it's amazing grace the word Justified means to render
righteous or such as he ought to be and this passage from this passage in relations to that no man is justified by The Works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ no man see I'm not going to frustrate the grace of God you know is Grace a license to sin no but do we get anything from God by keeping the law of Moses nope it's amazing grace be men and women of prayer or you're nothing spend much time with him and he'll be with you amen remember what the Pharisees said they took note of them what that they had been with Jesus is who you hang out with what's on them rubs off on you right you know why the apostles were so anointed because they spent those days walking 20 miles and 30 miles and 50 miles and 70 miles they spent those days sleeping out under the stars and campfires and talking with Jesus traveling from City to City by foot they spent those days so it's about being with Jesus and then that's prayer all right tell you what we're gonna do your assignment Define First Timothy in first Timothy chapter 2 prayers supplication intercession Define it according to the Greek dictionary and what you heard today man doesn't have to be long I don't care if it's one page but Define it thoroughly as you can all right this is prayer well one of the church history and function we'll call this one prayer and Revival you're dismissed