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  3-MINUTE CALL TO PRAYER
  by George Verwer
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer and spiritual
warfare in the church, highlighting the consequences of prayerlessness
and calling listeners to recommit to prayer and spiritual warfare.

Duration: 2:53 Topics: "Need For Prayer"
Scripture References: Matthew 6:33, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Ephesians 6:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Timothy 2:1, James 1:22, 1 Peter 5:8

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of prayer in the
church and the consequences of neglecting it. He highlights the decline
of prayer meetings in America and attributes many societal issues, such
as divorce and immorality, to the lack of spiritual warfare and prayer.
The speaker urges the congregation to recommit their lives to God and to
be obedient in wearing the whole armor of God, including the shield of
faith and the sword of the spirit. He also acknowledges the presence of
men and women of prayer, but expresses his concern that there are not
enough individuals who take prayer seriously.

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CONTENT
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I want to be honest. I've looked across the world for 50 years for men
and women of prayer. Men and women who take verses like this seriously.

And I have not found many. Again, I'm sure many of them just keep it
secret, and there are men and women of prayer that I have met that I
wouldn't know. I'm sure many of you are men and women of prayer.

I wouldn't just know that through talking to you for a few minutes. So
bless every one of you who are men and women of prayer, who are praying
on all occasions, who are praying for all kinds of people, all kinds of
situations. I'm reminded of Thessalonians, pray without ceasing.

And many of the setbacks in the American church, and there have been
many, even in these great famous churches, have been ripped apart by
every kind of sin, every kind of transgression. And I believe much of it
is linked with prayerlessness. It's linked with the fact that thousands
of pastors threw the prayer meeting out the window 30 years ago, when a
theologian in a famous book said, anything in the church you have to
push, like the prayer meeting, forget it, it's not worth it.

And 1,000 prayer meetings across America, from Maine to California, were
canceled. And today we are largely a prayerless church. And then we
wonder why our young people are in such a mess.

And so much, so much unnecessary divorce, so much immorality, so many
people, even leaders, caught up into the world of pornography. We are
paying a bitter price in our country for the laying aside of spiritual
warfare and the ministry of prayer. I know these words are strong.

I don't say them lightly. Let us pray. Our God and Father, we thank you
for your holy word.

Like a two-edged sword, it cuts in to the very inner being of our heart.
And we come, we come in brokenness and surrender, realizing we have
failed, realizing at times we have not worn this whole armor. We've left
the shield of faith to one side and left the sword of the Spirit back in
the closet.

And we come to you somehow to recommit our lives, to be your men, to be
your women, to go where you want us to go, to do what you want us to do.
And Lord, even as we receive this, we're still vulnerable. We're still
very human.

We may not even know what to say to one another throughout this day
because there's been a strong word to our hearts. But, O Lord, enable us
not to be hearers of the word, but doers. For we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/12/SID12008.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/george-verwer/3-minute-call-to-prayer/
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