Participants:
Series Code: HC
Program Code: HC230004S
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00:01 >> Just 50 days after Jesus resurrection with his teachings
00:05 in Ascension still echoing in their hearts. Believers from 00:08 everywhere gathered in Jerusalem 00:10 as the cost on the United Nations in this pivotal moment, 00:16 define fire was 00:18 through their faith movement. Wasn't night forever. Changing 00:22 the course of his join us as we explore the use of you shall 00:26 receive power. 00:28 [MUSIC] 00:30 >> Good morning and welcome back to 3. A B n's fall. 00:34 Homecoming can't meeting. We're so glad you're able to 00:37 join us via television or radio. But we're so glad to 00:40 have an in-person audience. How was your arrest last night? 00:46 It was good, OK? So we're talking to your home. How was 00:49 your arrest last night? I don't know how your breakfast was. 00:52 Hopefully have some breakfast here at camp meeting, the 3ABN. 00:55 We had a good breakfast anyway and then so we've been fed 00:58 physically. We're getting ready to be sped fed spiritually in 01:01 this morning. I have the privilege of introducing Pastor 01:05 Davidson 01:06 hit. We're laughing backstage. I almost told them. I said, 01:09 you know, David, I was introduced to this morning as 01:12 the old friend. Then I said, you know, I'm not going to do 01:15 that. Let's forget that part of this, a long time friend. 01:18 We have known Pastor David Shinn for almost 30 years. 01:21 Joe and I went to school with him. So he's been a long-time 01:24 friend of ours personally. But of course, the ministry of 01:27 3 ABN, he and his wife to new. They have 2 children, ages 3, 01:33 6, So I so David, I said, man, you guys had a busy household. 01:37 He said, oh, yeah, we do. Haha, but just great parents. 01:41 He is a course loves being in the classroom. And his position 01:45 has changed a little bit here recently. He's now a professor 01:47 of religion at the we our universities. So they're out in 01:51 California right now. And he said, man, I just enjoy being 01:55 in the classroom with all the young people. He's a student of 01:58 the word. He's a humble man that loves the Lord Jesus 02:02 Christ. But before he brings the message today in tidal 02:06 power to pray, we're going to be blessed with some special 02:09 music by TSO esteem Dickens and the title. The song is on my 02:14 Knees. 02:15 [MUSIC] 02:20 [MUSIC] 02:25 [MUSIC] 02:30 [MUSIC] 02:35 [MUSIC] 02:39 >> To Wilhelm II, 02:46 he's really needs to be in their tent. 02:53 [MUSIC] 02:56 And it's all morning long time. 03:00 >> Gustave to. 03:07 [MUSIC] 03:12 [MUSIC] 03:17 [MUSIC] 03:21 [MUSIC] 03:26 [MUSIC] 03:29 >> See. I saw 03:33 when I'm on mom. 03:35 [MUSIC] 03:40 [MUSIC] 03:45 I can too. 03:48 >> The crowd all by myself. 03:53 >> You know, has 10. 03:56 When I see you 03:58 [MUSIC] 04:00 to Tom, 04:03 we see you. Wow, when. 04:07 >> I was not not to 04:10 [MUSIC] 04:15 [MUSIC] 04:20 [MUSIC] 04:25 [MUSIC] 04:30 [MUSIC] 04:31 [MUSIC] 04:36 [MUSIC] 04:39 the nebula 04:41 [MUSIC] 04:46 [MUSIC] 04:49 one. I'm on 04:51 [MUSIC] 04:56 [MUSIC] 05:02 [MUSIC] 05:07 [MUSIC] 05:12 [MUSIC] 05:15 [MUSIC] 05:20 [MUSIC] 05:23 one on mom. 05:25 [MUSIC] 05:30 [MUSIC] 05:35 [MUSIC] 05:40 [MUSIC] 05:45 [MUSIC] 05:49 [MUSIC] 05:54 [MUSIC] 06:00 >> Gray Sky 06:02 payment. Praise God. Thank you so much for that 06:05 beautiful special music. 06:07 Well, good morning. 06:10 So good to be here at fall camp being praise the Lord. Let's 06:15 bow our heads as we pray. 06:18 Our father in heaven. 06:20 That is the prayer of our hearts. 06:24 Lord, we need you. 06:26 And we pray that 06:28 at every moment 06:30 we may not be able to always be on our knees. Folk. We pray 06:34 that our hearts would be uplifted to you in prayer. 06:38 We pray that you bless us this morning as we reflect on your 06:42 word 06:43 as we 06:44 think about prayer lowered, my feet are paid of clay 06:49 a week vessel 06:51 and I claim the right just this of Christ today that you would 06:54 use me 06:56 for my glory, but for yours. 06:59 So, yes, he sings in the precious name of Jesus Christ. 07:03 [MUSIC] 07:07 Well, there was it's waiting to get into a room, 07:13 but it wasn't any room. It was the room of John Wesley. 07:20 I was visiting England on a speaking appointment and my 07:23 friend Adam told me, look, let's stop by Oxford University 07:26 and see where we feel preached. 07:29 John Wesley preaching, he said, look, we might be able to get 07:31 into John Wesley's room. So we stopped by 07:35 the college where John Wesley was and we got to the front 07:40 receptionist 07:41 and the person said no way 07:44 you can't get in 07:46 and then he stopped and he said, are you Methodists 07:51 and my friend Adam so quick on his feet. He said we're the 07:55 sons of Methodism. 07:59 >> And the man took a step back. He said I've never heard 08:02 of that 08:04 in a tweet go in his eye and he said, hurry up, come with me. 08:07 Got his keys. I looked at him. I said, oh, this is really 08:11 happening. So we said, hurry up. We walked up there. The 08:13 opened it up. It was locked up like Alcatraz. You know, 08:16 I'm talking about is like all you got in there, opened it up 08:20 and we went into John Wesley's room and walked around. 08:26 He said, hurry up before I get shot 08:30 in his British accent. 08:33 And that was the place 08:35 where John Wesley 08:37 began a small group 08:40 for me 08:41 at Oxford University. 08:44 And the rest is history. He changed the world. 08:48 Born was Methodism and a whole movement that changed the 08:52 landscape of Western civilization. 08:57 One historian said 08:59 Wesley wore plainclothes. He preached 40,000 sermons 09:04 during his lifetime. That's a lot of servants traveled 09:07 250,000 miles on horseback preaching. 09:10 He married at 48. 09:12 You work with 15 different languages. 09:15 At the age of 83. He was angry because his doctor would not 09:18 let him preach more than 14 times a week 09:23 at the age of 86 09:25 written in his journal. Are these words. 09:28 Laziness is slowly creeping in. There's an increasing tendency 09:32 to stay in bed after 05:30AM, in the morning. 09:37 What a man, 09:40 John Wesley, who love the Lord was driven for him 09:43 and he had quite a mother. This is a quote from says, 09:46 Ana Wesley's mother. She says whatever weakens your reason 09:51 impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense 09:54 of God takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever 09:58 increases the authority of the body over the mind that thing 10:01 is sent to you, however, innocent. It may seem in itself 10:07 when she raised by the grace of God to spiritual giants, 10:11 John Wesley, the reformer and Charles Wesley, the hymn 10:15 writer. 10:17 I look at my library. It's out of print. 10:19 It's called England before and after Wesley 10:25 don't ask me how much I paid for it. 10:28 But in the book, 10:30 it talks about England before Wesley 10:33 and England had fallen to a point that had never been known 10:38 before of any Christian country, 10:41 moral depravity. 10:44 Wesley begins a movement by the grace of God that begins 10:51 in a prayer meeting. 10:53 And this is what happened. 10:54 England was revived. Prisons or reformed slavery was abolished. 11:00 Christian ethics were reestablished in the society in 11:03 industrial England was emancipated. It seems there was 11:07 not a segment of society that was not touched by the 11:11 influence of John Wesley. 11:17 Great controversy says this page 5.30, 11:21 to 64 11:23 at the close of John Wesley's long life 11:26 of more than Fourscore years. 11:30 A century 11:31 spent in itinerant ministry. His I doubt it here and it's 11:36 number of more than half a million souls. 11:39 But she says this. But the multitude 11:42 that through his labors have been lifted from the ruin of 11:45 degradation of sin to a higher in pure life. And the number 11:50 who, by his teachings have obtained to a deeper and richer 11:55 experience will never be known until the whole family of the 11:59 redeemed Shelby gathered into the kingdom of God. 12:03 In other words, she says we won't know until we stand on 12:08 the sea of glass, 12:10 countless individuals that have been impacted by the life 12:14 of one man, 12:18 the ripple effect 12:19 of his life 12:22 that you want to make an impact like that 12:24 by the grace of God. 12:27 I don't want just live 12:30 my SUV 12:32 live in the suburbs. Have 2.5 children 12:35 have a nice. You know, that's a statistic. 12:39 Have a nice nest egg 12:41 401 k retire 12:44 and die. 12:47 I want to live for more than just that. A man by the grace 12:50 of God. I want my life to count for something to make an impact 12:55 like John Wesley, by the grace of God, 13:00 this story and says 13:03 that John Wesley 13:05 would rise up 13:06 at 04:00AM 13:09 to seek. Got for the first 4 hours of the day. 13:15 In his latter years, Wesley was known to spend up to 8 hours a 13:21 day in prayer. 13:23 You can go to John Leslie's house today and there's a 13:25 prayer room that is dedicated just for his time on his knees. 13:32 And my thesis 13:34 this morning, 13:35 it's very simple. 13:37 Every revival 13:39 is late. Tweet radical prayer life. 13:44 Every revival 13:46 is linked 13:47 to a radical prayer life. 13:49 Look at the life of Jesus. A chapter one verse. 35 now in 13:53 the morning. 13:54 Having risen a long while before daylight, he went out 13:59 and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed. 14:06 It says a long while before daylight. 14:09 And they say that this is that first watch of the morning 14:13 between 03:00AM to 06:00AM. So Mark wants to clarify that 14:18 this is not at the latter part of that watch of 3 to 6, 14:23 0, most likely Jesus is waking up between 03:00AM to 04:00AM 14:28 to pray. 14:29 Now, the interesting thing about this verse is the verse 14:33 right before it. 14:34 Jesus is casting out demons, healing lepers and having up 14:38 powerful public ministry 14:42 right next to that. Hers is this window into the private 14:48 life of Jesus? 14:51 We live in an age today 14:53 where there is a dichotomy 14:56 between the public and the private life. You following me. 15:00 In other words, people have their public life all manicured 15:05 in looks great on social media. If you haven't noticed that 15:09 stick your rated version, 15:12 they're having this wonderful life is just all manicured and 15:16 perfect. But in reality, 15:18 the private life is is falling apart. 15:23 We in the 21st century have grown comfortable 15:27 with a dissonance between our public person and our private 15:32 life. And I have the privilege of teaching university Students 15:37 Gen Z, 15:39 I'm like 15:40 Doctor Me, guys. 15:42 How is it possible 15:44 that you can live with this types, these types of 15:48 contradictions? You know, you have this public person and 15:52 then your private life is totally 15:55 in contradiction to your profession 15:58 and their students. That Common Council with me 16:01 and one of them 16:03 not in the school that I'm at. But previously 16:07 he would sit in my office and say 16:10 I'm having issues 16:12 with with pornography. 16:15 It is destroying my life. 16:17 Well, just so happens. 16:19 The 74. He gave a powerful message, 16:23 quote, on quote. 16:25 But the night before that 16:27 he was been DJing on porn. 16:30 And I said, my brother, 16:32 how can you live 16:34 with this type of dissidents? 16:36 One night, 16:38 the sting your eyes 16:40 on something that is deplorable and the next day going up in 16:44 preaching a sermon. We can't have this type of descendants, 16:51 praise God that he had the 16:53 42 to come forth and seek out by the grace of God. 16:58 And if one for the grace of God, 17:03 a situation that would be dire, 17:07 you can see the public life of Jesus 17:11 and the private life. 17:12 There was a powerful prayer life that Jesus had in his 17:18 earthly ministry. 17:21 This is from patriarchs and prophets Page 509. 17:25 The man who commanded son 17:28 stand down. Still upon give Ian 17:31 and now moving in the Valley of Action Lawn is the man who for 17:35 hours lay prostrate upon the years in prayer in the camp of 17:40 killed call. 17:41 And she says the men a prayer 17:44 are the men of power. 17:47 Remember that story 17:50 stand still. 17:54 24 hours, 17:56 pictures and profits says 17:58 that public person 18:00 was because that meant have been prostrate before God, 18:04 the night before 18:05 the man of prayer, 18:07 the men of power. 18:09 Let's go to the reformation, 18:10 Martin, lose it, nails a piece, a paper. You're talk about the 18:14 reformation 18:18 and and from that, 18:21 95, the says 18:23 on the door of the Wittenberg Chapel, there's like this 18:28 explosion that takes place in Western year. The Protestant 18:33 reformation, 18:35 one historian who secular who doesn't believe in God says, 18:39 look, 18:40 he can't believe he 18:42 how a simple act 18:44 can foster such a revolution because it just was not a 18:48 religious idea. He says it was that transfer of power in 18:53 Western Europe, from Catholicism to Protestantism as 18:57 these powerhouses like Germany 19:00 and these other countries like England stood with the 19:05 reformation. 19:08 Great controversy says this 19:10 from the secret 19:13 of prayer 19:14 came the power that shook the world in the great reformation. 19:19 The moves there did not fail to devote 3 hours each day to 19:23 prayer. And these were taken from that portion of day, 19:28 most favorable to study. 19:31 Now, if you're like me, 19:33 you listen to this like Wesley 19:36 8 hours, 19:37 Jesus 03:00AM Martin loses 3 hours. I'm like 19:44 that's kind of demoralizing. 19:48 You know, I'm talking about 19:49 I'll be honest. There been times that I prayed twice for 19:53 my food at a meal, you know, talking about 19:56 because I forgot I'm just being real. 19:59 And so 20:00 we listen to this. And we're like, oh, this is these are 20:04 spiritual Giants, 8 hours a day. I mean, what do you even 20:07 say now? Here's the thing. I don't believe that God is up 20:09 there with a timer saying click all right. You filled your 3 20:15 era quota, I guess lack right now. 20:18 This is not meritorious. You following me. It's not as 20:21 though we get points with God based on a stopwatch. 20:25 But there's something that happens in prayer. 20:28 By the way, you don't have to be on your knees. Prayer is 20:31 conversation with got 20:33 okay. So we should be 20:35 in communion with God throughout the day. Anytime you 20:38 have a moment you can you can talk with God and sometimes I 20:41 don't even know what to say. But I praise God that the Holy 20:44 Spirit is a translator. Imagine if the Holy Spirit was in the 20:47 translator. Is it? I'm sorry. I thought you meant this. 20:50 Okay. But praise the Lord raise. Look, he understands our 20:54 hearts and sometimes I'm praying to God said, Lord, 20:56 I know how to articulate this, but you can read my heart and 21:00 you understand. And so it's not about the time, 21:04 but it's the posture of the heart and you can be in 21:07 communication with got throughout the day. 21:10 Now there was a husband and wife. 21:13 Now we're having this typical conversation 21:16 and the wife was always want to talk about the relationship. 21:20 You have been there before 21:22 the wifes like can we talk about relationships and the man 21:25 being a typical man's like 21:27 what we have to talk about our relationship? Can't we just be 21:30 in a relationship, please, right. And so she's like, 21:34 no, we need to talk about this. And so he's getting frustrated. 21:36 And finally, it clicked with him 21:39 the conversation, 21:41 the relationship, 21:43 no conversation, no relationship. And we talk about 21:48 a relationship with God. What is that? It's the 21:51 conversation. 21:52 Yeah. People in your life that you never talk to again, 21:55 the relationship is over 21:58 our lives change gradually. Then suddenly one conversation 22:05 at a time. I think back on my life there are pivotal 22:08 conversations, one conversation in particular that changes the 22:12 trajectory of my life. And there's one conversation with 22:15 God that I had a number years ago and I said, Lord, I'm a 22:18 mess. 22:20 Take my heart 22:21 because I can't give it 22:23 my relationship. And I've been talking with them ever since 22:27 now. Prayer is the opening of the heart to God 22:31 as to a friend. 22:34 Now he's not our boyfriend or a buddy. 22:36 He's our heavenly father. We should have respect. 22:40 But the reality is 22:42 there should be an off its authenticity to our prayers. 22:46 You think God doesn't know. You can go to gun, say Lord, 22:49 I'm a mess. This is destroying me. Help me. 22:53 I have an addiction that I love help me to hate it. That's the 22:57 type of authenticity that you can have with God. 23:00 Now, here's the reality. 23:02 When I was dating my wife, 23:04 she was in Africa 23:06 and back then don't let this baby face fool you. By the way, 23:09 back then 23:12 we had will be called calling cards for those of you there in 23:15 that, 23:16 you know, younger generation. Look it up. It's in the museum. 23:19 You can find it. But anyways, OK, these things 23:22 called calling cards that that I had to buy at a special 23:26 place, the punch to your number and so forth and get paid by, 23:29 you know it to pay like a dollar, something ridiculous 23:32 for minutes. So I would I these calling cards like and I would 23:35 run out of them and be like here. You only have one minute 23:38 left on his calling cards. So I would spend hundreds of 23:42 dollars. 23:44 But he's calling cards 23:46 to call 23:49 my future wife, praise God 23:51 in Africa. 23:54 It wasn't a drudgery 23:56 and I'm talking about 23:57 it was a joint. 23:59 I treasured every moment of that community. And here's the 24:05 way it works. Skies. 24:07 This is God talking to me. 24:10 Prayer is me talking to God. 24:14 Look, I don't know where we're my prayer begins and God's 24:18 conversation with me. You know it in terms of Bible studies. 24:22 So as I open my Bible in the morning, I journal and it 24:26 becomes this conversation, 24:28 this conversation has gone talks to me. I talked back to 24:32 God in my prayer and I write my journal in my journal. I write 24:36 it down because I find if you're like me, my mind starts 24:39 to wander 24:40 all right. You start, you start to go everywhere. You know, 24:43 you're like praying to God and said, Lord, please be with Mary 24:46 Mary 24:49 O Lord. I need to get married, you know? And so it just it 24:52 just tends to transition all over the place. But but when 24:55 you are writing it down, it keeps your focus. And I 25:00 recommend something 25:02 when you get up in the morning, 25:05 don't check your phone, 25:07 you know, talking about that thing. It's it's a tool, 25:11 but this could be a lot of people that are lost because of 25:13 their phones. I'm sorry. 25:16 And that thing is, is those people spend a lot of money to 25:19 get you addicted. 25:21 And if you're like me, once I turn on my phone, it's over. 25:25 It's like the black hole. The vortex that I never get out 25:29 as a coach 25:31 just s**** you in. So what I do, 25:34 I put my phone on airplane mode 25:37 and I put it out 25:41 the living room 25:42 in a location that's kind of difficult for me to find. 25:46 So when I get up, 25:48 I reach for my bubble. Crazy guy. 25:52 Your morning starts the night before 25:58 that night. They recommend screen time that blue light 26:02 they recommend is the principal 3 to one. It wasn't. It was in 26:05 the Wall Street Journal, OK, 3, 2, 1, 3 hours before you go to 26:10 bed at no food. 26:12 2 hours before you go to bed. No work. One hour before you go 26:16 to bed. No screen 26:19 that screen messes you up. 26:22 Park your phone out there. I lay my clothes out for the 26:25 next day because it's my most important appointment of the 26:29 day. Look, if you're going to die tomorrow, 26:32 what's your most important activity today 26:37 and talking with got? 26:39 Well, it's the most important activities. So you need to 26:41 prepare for it the night before. And park your phone out 26:45 there. Some of you need to put it under combination lock. 26:49 So it's like, oh, what was that thing? Yeah. So so do what you 26:53 need to do because that's the most important the appointment 26:55 of your day. Time with God and it's conversation this is got 27:00 talking to me. I talk back to God in prayer and you can do it 27:05 all throughout the day. So don't be discouraged by the 27:08 spiritual Giants. 27:11 Start somewhere. 27:13 And I tell people look starts with 15 minutes 27:17 and let your relationship with God just grow from there. 27:21 It's the posture of the heart. It's not right. Just this by 27:24 minutes 27:27 by faith. But your conversation with God 27:33 go to the book of Acts. 27:34 Mister Michael Green, 30 years that changed the world. 27:38 3 crucial decades in world history. That's all it took 27:42 in the years between 80. 33 in 80, 60 for a new movement 27:46 was born. In those 30 years. It got sufficient growth in 27:50 credibility to become the largest religion in the world 27:52 has ever seen and to change the lives of hundreds of millions 27:55 of people. And it spread to every corner of the globe and 27:58 has more than 2 billion adherence. It is an indelible 28:02 impact on civilization, on culture and education, on 28:05 medicine, on freedom and the course and of course, the lives 28:08 of countless people everywhere and the seabed for all this. 28:12 The time when the took decisive route, it was in these 3 28:16 decades, it all began with a dozen men and a handful of 28:20 women. And then the spirit came 28:24 no education, 28:26 no resource, 28:27 no money, 28:29 no plants. 28:31 You realize 28:33 the upper room was a prayer meeting. 28:37 It was a prayer meeting. 28:39 These individuals poor as they were 28:43 knew where to go and from that place sparked the greatest 28:48 revolution in human history. 28:51 W tells are says this. 28:53 If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church 28:55 today, 95% of what we would do would go on and no one would 29:01 know the difference 29:03 if the holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New 29:05 Testament church. 95 1% of what they do with stop and everybody 29:11 would know the difference. We don't need more formulas 29:14 when you need more feeling. We do not need more plans. 29:17 We need more power. We do not need more strategies. We need 29:22 more spirit. 29:25 We're told that by your fervent prayers, you can move the arm 29:31 that moves the world. 29:34 When my son was born. 29:38 Something about naming your your child, you're stuck with 29:41 it for the rest of their life. And so my wife and I first 29:45 child, 29:47 we know what the name. 29:49 And so he was nameless for like 3 days. 29:54 And finally, the people come by. You have a name for your 29:56 son and we're like finally, we got it. 29:59 We named in huts 30:01 after the great missionary to China, Hudson, Taylor, 30:05 his middle name, Michael, after my father last name. Shin, 30:09 of course, its initials just happened to be H M S no 30:13 pressure, no pressure. 30:19 Hudson, Taylor, 30:20 great missionary to China of a book in my library called 30:23 Hudson Taylor's spiritual secret. 30:26 And there's a 3rd person account in that book of an 30:29 individual that watched Hudson prayer, Hudson, Taylor lead out 30:34 in a prayer meeting 30:36 and this is what it said. 30:37 Mister Taylor opened the meeting by leading out in him. 30:43 His appearance did not impress me. He was slightly built and 30:46 spoke in a quiet voice. But when he said let us pray and 30:52 proceeded to lead the meeting, my ideas underwent a change. 30:57 I never heard anyone prey like that. 31:02 There was a simplicity, a tenderness, a bonus, a power 31:07 that hush and subdued me and made it clear that God had 31:12 admitted to him to the inner circle of his friendship. 31:16 Such spring was evident in the outcome of long tearing in the 31:20 secret place and was as the dew from the Lord to hear Mister 31:24 Taylor plead for China was to know something of what it meant 31:28 by the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. 31:32 The meeting lasted from 4 to 6 o'clock, but it seemed one of 31:36 the shortest per meetings I ever attended. 31:40 And the eyewitness goes on to say the only person she heard 31:44 prey like that was Charles Spurgeon. 31:49 The impact of Hudson Taylor 31:52 in 18 65 31:54 Hudson. Taylor founded the China Inland Mission. 31:57 The organization would have no guaranteed salary nor could 32:01 they solicit funds except from God. People thought that Hudson 32:05 Taylor was crazy in 18. 76. 52 missionaries joined the 32:10 China Inland mission in 18 87. There were 102 missionaries in 32:15 1900 when Hudson Taylor retired. There were 750 32:20 missionaries. The mission continued on and by 1932, 32:24 the number of missionaries grew to over 1200 from 18. 65 to 32:29 1900 Hudson. Taylor had asked God alone for funds and 32:33 received a total of 4 million dollars during that time 32:39 with the China Inland mission. And these are 4 million dollars 32:43 in the 18, 100's, 32:48 a man of prayer 32:50 transform the work by the grace of God. 32:54 Doctor Wilbur Chapman says this revivals are born in prayer. 32:59 When Wesley prayed, England was revived when Knox Parade, 33:03 Scotland was refresh when the Sunday school teachers of 10 33:07 and Brooke Parade, 11,000 young people were added to the church 33:11 in a year. Whole nights of prayer have always been 33:14 succeeded by whole days of still winning 33:21 the privilege of being a Bible worker 33:24 in South Central Los Angeles, 33:27 back in the 90's. 33:30 And if you know about South Central, 33:34 it's the place where the LA riots took place after the 33:39 Rodney King incident 33:41 and we pitch a tent 33:44 on Florence and figure and was known as prostitution lane. 33:50 And I remember being on the pay phone talking to my parents, 33:53 5 feet away from me was was a prostitute on that corner. 33:56 It was it was it was a setting that I'd never been in my life. 34:01 It was around July 4th, like July 2nd. And I'm there. 34:04 And by the way, the state in Compton, 34:08 South Central and I'm outside of the facilities where we're 34:11 at. And there's these like things going off like 34:14 firecrackers on July 2nd. And I turned to my friend and I 34:17 say why in the world in Compton, do they celebrate July 34:20 4th on July 3rd. So what are those firecrackers going off 34:23 for you today? But those aren't firecrackers or gunshots. 34:28 I said, oh, 34:30 our other territory. 34:32 I was in Watts 34:34 and remember the Watts riots in the 70's and so territory, 34:38 Watson, South Central 34:40 and we went door to door in that community and it was a 34:43 beautiful thing. 34:45 It was very simple. Knocked on the door. I said with such and 34:47 such a ministry, we hear to minister to the community and 34:50 we believe in the power power of prayer. 34:54 Do you have a prayer requests and these people are like, 34:56 yes, pray for my own. Go pray for my son. Pray for my phone 35:00 and we write down every single prayer request on the seats. 35:05 By the end, we had liked 200 prayer requests and we were 35:09 like the mailman. We go back and visit these people and 35:12 every other night during that summer 35:16 and this is descriptive, not prescriptive, meaning this is 35:19 just what happened. I'm not recommending it was part of the 35:22 program, but this particular program every other night, 35:26 we pray 35:28 night 35:29 Lord have mercy. I can do that now. But 35:31 Lord knows 35:33 every other night we prayed all night 35:37 for every single 35:39 contact and their prayer requests. 35:42 It was something else because when I walked those streets, 35:47 I was prayed up 35:49 and I knew if a stray bullet hit me, 35:52 I was ready to go. 35:54 And that summer, 35:55 I some miracles. 35:58 700 36:00 to 1000 people coming to that tent in the middle of south 36:03 Central. 36:05 No man out just 36:09 knocking on the door, praying for the individual and then 36:12 eventually be dropped off these Bible studies and then brought 36:14 him to the series. 36:17 And that summer, 36:18 I saw people 36:20 from the door 36:24 to the meetings 36:26 the Baptist 36:28 Price got. I was just an instrument. 36:31 And I remember 36:33 standing by the side of the back to street 36:37 watching 36:38 my contact, the person I've been the first one 36:43 go down into the watery grave and be baptized. Remember his 36:46 crime by the side of that by the side of the pool 36:50 and us a lot. I want to do this for the rest of my life changed 36:56 as a miraculous experience 36:59 and the thing that transform the entire thing, 37:05 this power 37:07 in prayer 37:09 in the chapter 11 runs 9 to 13 Jesus as this site to say to 37:14 you ask it, will be given to you seek and you'll find knock 37:19 and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and 37:24 he who seeks fines and to him, who knocks will be open 37:28 if the person asked for bread from any father among you with 37:31 a given the stone he asked for officially given the serpent 37:35 instead of a fish or if you ask for an egg will be offering the 37:37 scorpion. If you then being evil, know how to give good 37:42 gifts to your children. How much more with your heavenly 37:45 father give the Holy spirit to those who ask him? 37:51 We use this for us 37:53 for everything else. But what for its intended 37:58 and I'm not saying it doesn't apply. I lost my keys. You said 38:01 ask 38:03 okay. And then we go up and for me is a praise. God, I prayed. 38:06 Lord gave him my keys and I'm not saying we shouldn't ask for 38:08 those types of physical blessings but notice the 38:11 intention of this for us. 38:14 What does Jesus telling us to ask for? 38:17 No, the spirit, 38:19 the Holy Spirit and we're told and book desire of ages 38:23 that the Holy Spirit received by face brings all other 38:28 blessings in its train. In other words, you receive the 38:33 Holy Spirit. You receive every scene outs. 38:38 And this is what I call. 38:41 Yes, prayer. 38:45 You know, I'm talking about 38:46 you asked for Ferrari. 38:49 It may not be yes. And most likely it snow 38:53 want to keep you humble guy. So so here's the answer so 38:56 late. And I'm not saying we shouldn't ask for physical 38:58 blessing, we should. But but there are certain prayers that 39:02 are yes, prayers. In other words you can ask for and you 39:05 know that you will receive it. And one of them 39:09 is the Holy Spirit 39:11 forgiveness is the other one. You asked for forgiveness, 39:13 gotten up there and say maybe not today. It's always yes. 39:17 And it's always immediately. You asked to be like Jesus. 39:20 It's always yes, for wisdom and strength to do is work. It's 39:24 always yes, the holy Spirit. 39:27 Yes, 39:28 yes. And you get up off your knees, 39:32 but as eve it regardless of the way that you may or may not 39:36 feel. 39:37 Now, here's the thing about this verse. 39:40 It literally says in the original language 39:45 asking, 39:47 keep on asking. 39:49 Now before this, 39:51 there's another 39:52 a story that Jesus tells 39:55 he tells the story of the friend. Remember that he's he's 39:59 has a guest at his home and he doesn't have any bread. And so 40:02 he goes over to the other friends house and keeps on 40:05 knocking. Now. I lived in Alaska 40:09 for about 5 years. 40:11 Oh, man. Last goes a different experience. 40:17 It gets dark hair. Dark is an understatement 40:21 one and we lived in Anchorage which they called last 40:25 Anchorage. Little that I find out that a lot of the games 40:27 from LA came up to to increase increase is one of the crime, 40:30 highest crime rates in the nation. Top 10. I didn't know 40:32 that before I moved there. 40:34 They didn't tell me that in the fine print, but anyways. 40:36 So I'm there 40:37 and and street over 40:40 that they're one of the houses had been shot up the street 40:43 over. And so we're kind of on ice. And 40:46 it was like 02:00AM. And I hear this knocking 40:54 02:00AM in Los Ang Rich. 40:58 I was hoping 41:00 that they got the wrong home. So we're just in bed and sing 41:04 to hear that. Yeah, Sunny, let's just let's just pray that 41:06 it goes away. Okay. 41:08 But it just kept going and going and going just just kept 41:12 on knocking. 41:15 I tiptoed out to the living room 41:18 and there was this large man. 41:24 I like me, big guy 41:27 at the window 41:29 at the window 41:31 of our living room 41:32 tapping on the window on us that this is crazy. What is 41:36 this man doing? You know, any just kept going find that 41:39 tiptoe back. I said, is this large man at our window 41:43 and she said, oh, it is going on and look in Anchorage, 41:47 they're locked and loaded. Everyone's caring, 41:50 except me. And so 41:53 I said this place is crazy. And so this man's knocking on 41:55 the window and the man would not go away. He persisted. 42:00 Finally, we discovered his identity. 42:02 He was a friend, 42:06 a former friend. And he would say he was a friend. And so, 42:10 but but he evidently had, you know, we we had his car there 42:14 and he came in an hour. We didn't suspect and we needed to 42:17 skis is very anticlimactic, praise God. 42:21 But the man kept 42:23 persisting. 42:25 And so the story goes in relationship to asking for the 42:29 Holy Spirit. 42:30 The man kept knocking. 42:32 And finally, the man inside says, look, I'm going to give 42:36 it time 42:37 now. The moral of the story is not that God is reluctant to 42:42 give us the holy spirit. 42:44 The moral of the story is something called persistence. 42:49 Persistence. You ever want something so bad. You're like 42:54 I'm not going to let you go 42:56 until you bless me. 42:58 Jesus is saying that with that same tenacity, 43:03 that same desire 43:05 we are to ask for the whole the spear. 43:07 The question is 43:12 why does God want us to keep on asking for one thing we need 43:15 we'd like mates. Not one's field always filled. We need to 43:18 be daily filled with the Holy Spirit. But there's something 43:21 else. This is from Christ Object Lessons. Page one. 43:23 45 God does not say asked once and you shall receive. He bids 43:29 as ask and we're hearing Lee persist in prayer. The 43:34 persistent asking brings the petitioner into a more earnest 43:39 attitude and gives him an increased desire to receive the 43:44 things for which yes, did you get that? In other words, 43:48 prayer doesn't change, got 43:51 it, changes it. 43:53 And there's something about the posture of prayer. The very the 43:57 very nature of prayer is that we need help. 44:01 Why pray if you have all the answers? 44:04 But when you pray, 44:06 the very nature of prayer is indicating I need help. And 44:11 until we come to the place where we recognize that I'm 44:15 nothing and God is everything. 44:18 Prayer changes us and that persistent asking 44:22 change is our attitude and our spirit. 44:26 The other thing about prayer 44:28 you ever wonder? 44:30 Well, I asked God for something, 44:33 particularly the salvation of your loved one 44:37 because we all have people in our lives that if they were to 44:39 die today, they would be lost. 44:43 Why pray for them 44:44 if God loves them more than I do. 44:47 Is it all the sun gods like, OK, I guess I love them to know 44:50 he loves them more than I do so. So what is it about 44:53 Intercessor e prayer? 44:55 This is from Roger Moore. No in his book on Prayer and I 44:58 knew exactly where to find the power to help such people in 45:03 prayer and supplication to got who waits for our request for 45:08 help so that he will have legal right in the sight of the 45:12 universe to move with power in to Satan's domain and rescue 45:17 his captives. 45:19 In other words, there's rules in the great controversy. 45:22 There's parameters rules of engagement and one of the rules 45:27 is that got can go to a certain 9 that he cannot cross without 45:32 our consent. 45:34 You know, when you go to the doctor, you signed the consent 45:36 form and so God can go this far. But he cannot go any 45:41 further. 45:42 And if he does, Satan will challenge him and say, look, 45:45 he didn't ask for this. Why are you moving above and beyond 45:49 what you are normally able? But there's something about 45:52 prayer, 45:53 particularly for yourself. That's primary consent, the 45:57 most powerful consent that you can give. And I pray that every 45:59 day you get got primary consent say Lord, I give you permission 46:04 to move in my life. 46:05 Most powerful thing you can do. 46:08 But there's something called secondary consent. 46:11 In other words, when you pray for somebody else, your side 46:15 that is lost and you say Lord, 46:18 whatever it takes to save him, 46:22 that's a powerful prayer that you can pray 46:24 for yourself and for others, 46:27 whatever it takes, 46:31 got his eye. 46:33 We've got the papers. 46:37 You notice in March after 2 46:39 in regards the paralytic, the 4 friends that brought that 46:41 paralytic to Jesus. Notice what the Bible says when Jesus saw 46:45 their faith. In other words, you cannot pay for somebody 46:47 else that's called Intercessor e prayer. So when you pray for 46:51 your mother, your son or your daughter, your brother, your 46:53 loved one that is out of the church. If they were to die 46:56 today, they would be lost 46:59 God's like Gabriel gone 47:01 and the Gabriel's molding circumstances events in their 47:03 lives so they feel the need for God. 47:07 The Devils like what are you doing? He didn't ask for this. 47:11 Gabriel says step aside. 47:13 He didn't ask for this but his mom just 47:19 intercessor e prayer. So keep rain. Gay men don't give up. 47:23 Your prayers continue to exist before God. I believe even 47:26 after you die 47:29 and God will remember your prayers 47:31 and by the grace of God, he will save our children because 47:35 I want to be alone at the resurrection. Amen. 47:38 I want my family 47:40 to be with me. 47:45 The chapter Sixers, $0.13. 47:47 It was at this time the Jesus went off to the mountain to 47:50 pray 47:51 and he spent the whole night in prayer. 47:56 I don't believe that Jesus spent every night in prayer, 48:01 but there were particular times 48:03 that he did 48:06 before he selected the 12 disciples. He spent the entire 48:10 night in prayer and before the cross 48:14 the entire night in prayer, 48:18 the imbalance is this. 48:21 It was a time 48:22 when we gave whole nights to chambering in wanting this to 48:26 dancing and the world's referee. We did not higher than 48:30 we were chiding the sun that rose so soon and wishing that 48:33 the hours would last a while that we might delight in 48:36 Wilder, merriment and perhaps the person. 48:39 Why do we then weary in heavenly employment? Why do we 48:43 grow weary? When asked to watch with our Lord. 48:47 I remember when I was in the world, 48:49 I would spend on night 48:52 for that chance. 48:56 I hope you don't. All right. 48:59 You spent the whole night in foolishness 49:05 and you get up in morning. You're like all we had a great 49:07 time and suddenly you become a Christian. He joined the church 49:10 and someone asks you to spend an extended time in prayer and 49:13 you're like, oh, 49:15 I can't do it. 49:17 That's legalism. 49:19 Talking to God is legalism. 49:22 Now, look, 49:24 this is a unique aspect. Is that when you want God to 49:29 move above and beyond what is normally able sometime it, 49:34 he asks us to spend sacrificial time in prayer. 49:40 I was passing in East Lansing 49:42 this 2008. 49:44 If you member 49:46 in Michigan, in particular, 49:48 the when the economy 49:50 bottomed out, 49:52 it was bad in Michigan. The automobile bailout. Remember 49:56 that? And I was in the Lansing, the Rust Belt and I was passing 50:00 a church there and members are losing their job. It was 50:05 it was terrifying. I looked at the church budget and we are 50:08 bleeding money 50:10 because and called an emergency board meeting. We slash all 50:13 their budgets was a new pastor in that district. And I thought 50:16 to myself, this church is about the clothes on my watch. 50:19 And so I was at prayer meeting on Wednesday night. 50:22 You know, it's like your typical 50:24 prayer meeting 50:26 of the 200 member church. There are 6 people there, 50:30 including myself. 50:32 So I'm sitting there. 50:33 I have my little humble prayer meeting which is really a Bible 50:36 study. 50:37 My members told me, pastor, this is not a prayer meeting. 50:42 This is bible study 50:44 and so will welcome to your average. Haven't is permitted. 50:48 This is what we do. He said this is this is fine. We want 50:51 to keep doing this but we want to pray. Sacrificial. 50:55 I looked at them. I said you really want to play sacrificial 50:58 Lee said, oh, yes, passed. We do. So I'll tell you what, 51:02 this Sunday at the church at 04:00AM. See you there. 51:07 You should see their eyes 51:12 to myself. There's not going to be anyone there. 51:15 We're going to prayer meeting by myself and I'll see you at 51:17 the next meeting of the lake. Where were you? So tonight I 51:20 got up at 3 51:22 to be there at 4, expecting to be mice by myself, open up the 51:25 doors and settle down, have miler per meeting by myself at 51:28 04:00AM on Sunday morning. 51:30 A few minutes before for our doors open 51:34 and in walked 51:35 a line blood shot. I church members with disheveled hair 51:40 never saw before like that in my life. They came in. 51:45 They said, pastor, where here, let's do this. Praise God. 51:49 I said, all right. Let's do this. And so we pray 51:53 for one thing, the holy spirit. 51:55 And we said, Lord change the world and let it begin with me. 52:00 But it begin with me. And it was a beautiful time and we 52:02 prayed like that for 6 months. We eventually moved to 07:00AM. 52:06 we remember that time and for the entire duration there, 52:10 we would pray for the Holy Spirit and revival in that 52:13 community of faith from 79 am every Sunday morning for the 52:17 next 7 years. Now is there's past year 52:20 and I and I saw the Lord's work. Their hearts. 52:26 One of them was was this 52:28 Chinese student that came over as an atheist from China. 52:31 Just a bus stop 52:33 met. One of our students have gotten fire for the Lord. 52:35 Jesus got a Bible study card. Long story short. She was 52:39 baptized. 52:41 Baptize came to this came to 52:44 that that church as an atheist 52:46 and went back to China as a 7 day Adventists Christians 52:50 praise God glory be does name. I didn't know anything. I know 52:53 what I was doing. I just knew where to get the bread. That's 52:56 it. That's it. 52:59 Those another student 53:00 that started coming to church. He was a jazz musician 53:04 and the son of a Baptist preacher. 53:07 And it's a Bible study. And Daniel to from one of our 53:09 students, he says, and your Bible scholar, he says I've 53:12 never heard anything like this starts coming out 53:15 except the 7th 53:17 because the stat he scared. He says, Dad, 53:20 I feel impress, joins 07:00PM in the church. 53:23 Is that for his lawyer says I want you to follow your 53:26 convictions. 53:28 He becomes baptized. 53:30 He says my office a little while later. 53:32 He says, Pastor, I can't do this anymore. I can't be a jazz 53:35 musician. 53:38 But he said if I if I leave this program, I lose 53:42 everything. 53:45 I said, well, just pray about it. All the convictions. 53:48 He walks over the university drops out of the program. 53:51 I feel responsible. 53:52 The church 53:54 Ayers him as a Bible worker. 53:56 He's now a pastor in the Pacific Northwest. 54:00 7 families preacher praise be to his name 54:04 and I saw something else. The Lord puts his money where 54:08 his mouth this 54:12 after that 54:14 every year, the church and did with the surplus in the church 54:19 budget and we were able to hire locally an associate pastor Web 54:23 pastor, I mean, who has a Web pastor Web pastor, a Bible 54:26 worker all locally hired and we were ending the year $30,000 in 54:32 the surplus. After that, 54:35 the Holy Spirit given by fate brings all other blessings in 54:40 its train 54:41 and all glory 54:44 to God. 54:46 A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and 54:50 most urgent of all their needs to seek. This should be our 54:56 first work. 54:59 Those pastor, 55:01 the sun was out of the church 55:04 and as the sun is going out to go to the club's one night, 55:07 he heard a voice in the other room. 55:09 So before going out, he tiptoed over 55:12 to listen to that voice. 55:14 You know, as the voice of his father praying, 55:18 his father's voice is saying 55:21 if you my son, 55:23 I want my son back. 55:25 >> Lord Save my son. Please save my son. Give me my son. 55:35 Touch the side of that. Touched the heart of that young man 55:38 with tears in his eyes. He said, look, I can't go out 55:40 there anymore. He went back in 55:43 and then go clubbing that night. 55:45 Later on, he would give his heart to the Lord. Jesus 55:50 became an evangelist for the Lord. 55:53 There is power 55:57 and we can see Kim's every single day. Great controversy 56:02 for 64 says there will be among the people of the Lord, such a 56:05 revival of primitive godliness as has not been witness since 56:11 at hostile at times and that day. 56:17 And we can say Lord 56:18 change the world 56:21 and let it begin with 56:23 let it begin with us. 56:25 And there's a prayer that we should pray every single day. 56:29 We're told the book steps to Christ Consecrate yourself to 56:32 God in the morning. Make this your very first works. Lord 56:36 take me is wholly died. I lay on my plans at your feet. 56:40 Pray that prayer every single day and we can pray prayer and 56:44 say Lord, help me willing 56:46 to be made willing. 56:48 We can pray that for too little give me the desire to desire. 56:53 Repentance is a gift and we can go before got every single day. 56:57 Pray that prayer of surrender and say, Lord, take my heart 57:01 because I can't get it. 57:04 You have that desire here today. How many would say Lord 57:07 help me with my prayer life by the grace of God. Let us pray. 57:10 Father in heaven. 57:12 Thank you 57:13 that you give us the desire to desire. May you work in our 57:17 lives, both the will and to do of your good pleasure, helpless 57:21 father by your grace. The spirit is willing, but the 57:24 flesh this week, we thank you that your grace covers us 57:28 help us to have a deeper desire for you. 57:30 >> We asked the 6 in the precious name 57:33 of Jesus Christ 57:35 [MUSIC] 57:40 [MUSIC] 57:45 [MUSIC] 57:50 [MUSIC] 57:55 [MUSIC] |
Revised 2023-12-07