Prayer, Calling Upon God

When my wife and I began, since she couldn't read or write music, and I then never went to seminary or Bible school, it was either God was going to help or the thing would go under. There was less than three dollars in the checking account and the first offering was 85 dollars was the total tithes and offering. I remember all those days because it reminds me how faithful God is. How many have found in your own life that God is so faithful, right? And He's especially faithful and His plan to pour good things into our life, the conduit for that, He's chosen to be prayer. We didn't make that up, we didn't think it up. God just laid it down in the Bible, this first principle, you have not because you just, it's incredible. You can miss out on what God wants because you just don't take the time to come before Him like a good child would be with their father and just say, God, this is what we need. This, I'm bringing my needs to you. And throughout the Bible, starting in Genesis when religion began, when men began to call on the Lord, that's the first people who ever belonged to God were not called Jews, they were called people who call on the name of the Lord. And the Bible follows that word all the way through onto the New Testament, He's rich in mercy to everyone who calls upon Him. And there's encouragements all along the way where God keeps saying to us, like, ask and you will receive, not scolding us. Come on, you got to pray you're a Christian, not that at all. But it's like, come to me, come unto me all you that labor in a heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive mercy and grace to help us right when we need it. And I know in an audience this big, underneath the exterior, because it's always been that way in my life, there's all kinds of needs. In your own life, in your family, decisions that have to be made, financial, direction from God, strengthening, running out of spiritual energy. You know, all these things are true. You know, you get fatigued. That's why the Bible keeps saying, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Why? Because you can get weak, you can get just eking out a spiritual existence. That's not what God wants. He wants the best for us. Amen? He wants to give us everything we need to live lives that will glorify Him, fulfill His will for our lives. So that's why God has called His house a house not of preaching, and I'm trying to do that right now, and not a house of singing, and they're great, not a house of even worship, although worship is always involved in what I'm about to say. But He says, my house shall be called what? A house of prayer. Why? Because you've got to come where the action is. Come to the throne of grace. I would make an argument that any sermon that doesn't lead people to the throne of grace has missed its mark. I don't care how eloquent the guy was. I don't care how doctrinally sound. If it doesn't lead you to make contact with God and receive from God, what's the purpose? We're not Jehovah Witnesses. We're not Mormons who just have lectures. We're Christians, aren't we? Come on, somebody say amen. We're Christians, and we come to God, and that's why you see all through in times of trouble in the Bible, what did they do? They had an instinct. Trouble, call on God. In the day of trouble, God invites us. In the day of trouble, call upon me, and I will answer you. I'm not going to frustrate you. I'm not going to hurt you. In the day of trouble, call upon me. So you see it in Moses' life. You see it in David's life. You see it all throughout the Bible. You see it, how did the church begin? In a prayer meeting, in Acts chapter 2. No one was preaching. There were no outlines, no PowerPoint, no anything, but they were gathering for prayer, and boom, God came, and the church was born. And Peter preached the first sermon, and then thousands were added to the church. And God has not changed, and I don't care how tough America or any place else seems, how many believe still radical that with God, nothing is impossible? Lift your hand up high, okay? And God wants us to believe that and to step in to this plan of His fulfillment of our needs. So I'm going to read one of those little stories that are in the Bible to encourage us, and then we're going to pray, because every time I come here, I just, it's midweek service, and my instinct is always on the midweek service, not to do a lot of complicated teaching, but to exhort you so that we can come to the throne of grace. Because right there, behind there, there's needs. Those choir members and out there, I know there's needs. And we want God to meet those needs tonight. I want God to draw us, create faith in us. So here's one of those stories that are in the Bible to encourage us, how the early church responded to emergencies, and sometimes it's quite different than what we call church. You know, the American concept of church is not exactly biblical in all of its ways. And what we have to do is escape church culture so that we can live a life pleasing to the Lord according to His word. Amen? You know, there's white church culture, black church culture, Baptist church culture, Assemblies of God, charismatic this, that, and the all. But none of those should be our goal. Our goal should be, what does the word say, and let me appropriate it so that God can be glorified through our lives. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, this is Acts 12, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. And when he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, Peter, he put him in prison, listen, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. I mean, Peter was obviously a seeming threat when you have 16 guys watching one former fisherman. And they were on rotation, four at a time, watching him. Herod intended to bring him out for a public trial right after Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Look up here for a second. That Greek, the sentence in the Greek original, sometimes it's translated, and a steady stream of prayer kept going up to God for Peter. How would you feel if the pastor was taken away from you? And he was facing death from a madman who had already killed James, the brother of John? You know, there's a time for everything under the sun. There's a time to sing. There's a time to study the Bible. But there are other times in life. All of those are inappropriate. It's time to pray. And when you mingle the wrong at the one thing at the wrong time, you miss the power that God has available for us. They shut down everything. Why? Because Peter is in the slammer, and he is going to be killed. And they have no influence with government. They have no influence with the Roman government. They have no influence with the temple and the leaders of the Jewish establishment. They have no influence with Herod. He hates them. And they have no money, and they have no influence with the media, and they have zero. But they have everything, because they have God on their side. Sometimes we are counting all of our pieces and all of our advantages, and we line it up, and we think like the corporate world thinks. How do you solve a problem? You get this, and you get that, and you get this, and you get that. Well, they had no things to get together. They had zero, nada, nothing. And they got Peter in the prison. But they remembered the words of our Lord. Men ought always to pray and not give up. With man that's impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. And there is a growing movement in Christendom today in America. Pastor Steve knows about it very well. It's anti-supernatural, anti that God still does these things. We just study doctrine and fill your head with truth. But actually believe God to intervene in a situation and turn the whole thing around. Oh, a lot of people are like, that's too emotional. That's too fantastic. It's liable to abuse. But I'm telling you what the Word of God says. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Can we put our hands together and say amen to that? So the church shuts everything down. We've had times like that in Brooklyn. I shut everything down. When you have people who are mostly poor and you need five, six million dollars. Well, there's a time for everything. But a couple times we just started the first service on Sunday. When we were having, let's say, three back then. We have three now. One time we're having four. Started the first service, dismissed the people at the end of whatever their time was. But never left the auditorium. Just people would wait and pray and call on God. Why? What are you going to do when you face an emergency and there's no way out? Except God. And look at me everyone. God ultimately, inevitably will leave all of us in situations where we have nothing but Him. He'll remove every crutch, everything you lean on. Even friends won't understand you and your money won't help you. You'll be put in a situation where God, because He loves us so much, is just waiting for us to look up and say, God, you're my help. You're my only help. I have no plan B. You are plan A, B, C, and D for me, God. It's you or us. And He loves that because He loves to supply for His people. And He loves for us to look to Him in faith. For without that kind of faith, it's impossible to please God. So the church is praying. Peter's about to die. The night before, Herod was to bring him to trial. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains. And centuries stood guard at the entrance. My goodness. Chains. Chains bound to people between two soldiers, I should say. Another guard at the entrance. And suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said. And the chains fell off of Peter's wrist. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals. And Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. And Peter followed him out of the prison. But he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. And they passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself. And they went through it. And when they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating. And that's how Peter kept on keeping on. And ministering and traveling and being an apostle. Because when it seemed like he was doomed, I'm going to say it. The church prayed him right out of that prison. There's no other moral to that story except that the church prayed. God heard. God answers. Listen, there's a lot of mysteries to prayer. I don't pretend to understand it all. But in this story, we know one thing. They prayed. God answers. Peter was delivered. And God's name was glorified. Notice what happened here, ladies and gentlemen. Because I want to just be brief. And then let's get to praying for the things that face us. You know, Pastor Steve, what challenged me was, see in America, we have it so easy. We're spoiled. But I went with my friend Ravi Zacharias some years ago to Hong Kong. And someone with money brought in about 700 or 800 underground church leaders in China, from China, from mainland to Hong Kong. Actually, we had the conference in an ark. Someone built an exact replica of Noah's Ark. Hello? Noah's Ark in the water, but moored, not able to sail. And it was a conference center. It was, people could visit and look at it. And it was wild driving up every morning and going into Noah's Ark with the exact dimensions that are in the Bible. So here were these people from mainland China. Some of the provinces, the government doesn't help you. But it's like not too heavy persecution. Other, other provinces, oh my goodness. Just in jail, who knows what could happen. And half the people I was speaking to had been in jail for Christ's sake. I felt unworthy, felt I shouldn't even speak to them. They've been in jail for Christ, and here I'm in Brooklyn eating a pastrami sandwich and now going over to Hong Kong to try to minister to them. But I did, and I fell in love with them. And see, that's how they live. They, did you know that the fastest growing Christian church in the world, you know what country that's in? It's in China where it's illegal. The church is growing fastest where it's been banned. Why? Because they're down to basics. The Bible, God, prayer, Jesus, the gospel. Be brave, trust Him, pray, then pray more. And that's how they live. And when you hear them worship and you hear them sing, it'll take your breath away. It'll take your breath away. And I'm reminded as I read about Peter's escape about how those people pray and all the great things God has done there for them, continues to do. So notice what happened. The church is praying and Peter's in the prison, being guarded, chained, and everything. But that stream, this is the mysterious part of prayer. Prayer mounts up before God and it almost like gains pressure and breaks through. You don't see the answer right away. And sometimes you have to pray through, keep on praying, keep on believing. And then the breakthrough comes in answer to that prayer. Some prayers are answered just with one sentence. You pray and the answer's on the way or it comes within 48 hours. Others, you just have to mount up in prayer, keep on praying. Well, as they kept on praying, here's what God did and He still does this today. The Bible tells us, suddenly from heaven, an angel was sent. When we pray, when churches pray, every revival in the history of our country and the world, the Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Welsh Revival, any revival that you read about and study, of which I've done a lot of reading and studying, every revival begins this way. People can't take it any longer and they begin to pray. And when they pray, listen, God sends something from heaven. It's not man-made. You can't create it. You can't organize it. You can't manufacture it. It's something supernatural from heaven. In Peter's case, it was an angel. In other cases, it's been a deep sense of his presence. Sometimes he comes and people now who are unconcerned about their soul get convicted of sin and everyone's wondering, why is everyone so broken and convicted of their sin? Someone's been praying. But when people pray, God responds and sends something from heaven. I don't know about you, but I'll tell you about my own life. I need something from heaven like regularly. I need something from God. I need something that only God can do. You do what you can. You try to figure out things, but then you get in a spot where you realize, you know what? God has to come. God has to come. Notice, something was sent from heaven and then Peter was woken up by the angel, slapped him upside the head and said, wake up, get up quickly. That's another thing that God does when people pray. He wakes other people up. Do you have someone in your family tonight? Do you have someone in your circle of friends? They are sleeping, not physically. They are spiritually sleeping. They're not awake. They're comatose. They're not concerned about anything. You can talk to them, argue with them. You could cry over them. But when we begin to pray intercessory prayer, God can come and wake them up. My daughter's with Carol out in California. She was as far away from God as you could get. God woke her up. I tried everything, money, crying, screaming, you name it. I tried it. She got worse. And then when God just let me run out of energy and we did nothing but pray, God actually came one night and woke her up and gave her a dream where she realized, what am I doing with my life? How many believe God can still do that? Lift up your hand. He can do it for your daughter, your son, granddaughter, grandson. He could do it in whatever situation. And you can't give up. Satan's going to say, nah, that's just emotionalism. That's just religious hyperbole. And that's just extravagant talk. I'm telling you, God has not changed. He can wake people up when we pray. Wake them up. That's why Luther said, whoever prays well, studies well. Because when you get up to preach, unless you've prayed and the Spirit is working with you, people can hear a good sermon and remain absolutely the same, unchanged. But then God comes and he can wake them up. Last thing I want to just say. Something came from heaven. Peter was woken up. And the Bible says, what a beautiful metaphor. It happened literally, but what a picture. And the chains fell off. Did you know that when we pray, God can make chains come off? I don't know how it is here. But you know, in New England, I was just up in New Hampshire. And I was in Boston. And I was then out in Pennsylvania near Harrisburg. But I've been reading these articles. There's a great article called American, I'll think of the last name before I'm done here. It's all about, it's all about the opioid disaster that's happening. I was in Pennsylvania speaking somewhere. And there's Amish farms and trees and everything nice. And then I get to these pastors and I talk to them. And they said there's overdoses. It makes the heroin epidemic that was in the 50s and 60s in New York. And then crack and cocaine and crack in the 70s, 80s, 90s. Makes it look like child's play. And it's not some poor minority person in downtown Brooklyn sticking a needle in the arm in an alley. It's everywhere, all colors, all races, all everybody. So empty. And they get hooked and they can't get off. We need something supernatural from heaven if we're going to see that broken. Do I get a witness here? You think that, listen, we're going to offset that just by nice teaching and nice music by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir or this great choir? No, it's going to take something from God. It's going to take something from heaven. It's going to take some power from God to break those chains. And I've seen that happen so many times. Before I close, let me just, I'm thinking of one right now. I could tell you so many that I know God answers prayer. Carol has seen God answer prayer. She just had a great answer from prayer. I was sharing with your pastor and his wife. I once needed six million dollars so bad and God gave it to me in 10 minutes. Someone came up and said, the project can't go on. You're six million dollars short. I had no way to get six million dollars. And oh, we prayed and I cried to God. And then I came back from where I was. And in 10 minutes, at 12 noon and 10 after 12 on my first day back from Argentina, I opened two letters. And one was a donation for a million dollars from a man I met once. And the other one was a gift of five million dollars from a woman I still have not met. And it's exactly the amount that I needed. It wasn't seven million or three million. I'm telling you, God answers prayer. Can you say amen with me here? God answers prayer. So I'm not talking about something here that just a verse in the Bible to me. This, oh, God is so faithful. So one day, let me get done here. On one day, I'm in church on a Sunday. Years ago in our previous building. And I'm preaching. And what I don't know is that a ministry in our church was going to what was called then on the west side, the salt mines. It's changed now. And it's become a very kind of bougie kind of place, expensive now. But it used to be called the salt mines because the Department of Sanitation stored their salt there for bad weather, snow. So who was living in those salt mines in that area was a colony of male prostitutes who were living in total degradation, total mess. It's the sickest subculture you could ever possibly think about. So I didn't know that that ministry, they've been going out on Saturday, bringing them blankets, feeding them, talking to them, sharing the gospel. But on this Sunday, they brought about 12 of these guys into one of the services on Sunday. And they were there somewhere because the church is supposed to be a Holy Ghost hospital. I don't care if you don't say amen. I'll say it again. The church is supposed to be not a nice place for the family. That is nowhere found in the scripture. It's supposed to be a Holy Ghost hospital where emergency cases are dealt with and Jesus shows himself mighty. So anyway, the service ends and the people are praying at the altar and now we're kind of get done with the service. And I'm walking down and I'm in the front and I'm backing up and Carol's playing the keyboard and I'm backing up and I bump into this blonde lady, short blonde hair, thin as a rail, black dress, black stockings. And I go, oh, excuse me, ma'am. And suddenly a voice comes out and says, no, that's okay, ma'am. And I looked immediately for the Adam's apple and it was a guy. I'm not talking about a sloppy transvestite. I'm talking about looking good as a woman. The whole deal, the whole thing. I went up to my wife. I was in shock because I've seen all kinds of things, but this one just took my, just blew my mind. I went up to Carol and I said, see the blonde? She said, yeah. I said, that's a guy. She said, no way, don't say that. I said, no, you go over and you just talk, right? So his name was Ricardo, Ricardo Aparicio. But his name in the street was Sarah and he was a male prostitute. He had been raped when he was 10, 11, 12 by uncles, cousins, all kinds of stuff. You don't want to know. I wouldn't go into it here. But I learned his story because we became friends. And Ricardo ended up, to support his drug habit, he just was out there prostituting. So he would wait out and there would be limos coming in from New Jersey and other places, fancy cars. They stopped, he would get in or the other guys. He was obviously dressed and looking like a woman. Not all of them were like that. I thought to myself, I say Ricardo as I got to know him. So how do you live? I mean, what is it? He's no, I said, man, it's hard out there. He said, I always go out with razor blades hidden in my sleeve because I don't know where I'm going to end up. And if I have to slash my way out, I'm going to slash my way out. But no one's going to put a hurt on me. Meanwhile, he's destroying his life. So lo and behold, Sarah comes again to the church and he gets saved. Wait, he receives Jesus as his savior. People loving on him, crying all over him. He comes up dressed like Sarah and he gets saved. But I mean, totally saved. The chains break off. He comes awake. He realizes what in the world am I doing? He didn't know that before because only God can show you that. You can talk until the cows come home. Only God can show you that those things. So he asked to get baptized. We said we're going to baptize you. So we line up the date and then I know there's a Tuesday coming up. So I pull him aside and I said, listen, Ricardo. I want to introduce you to the church and you're going to get baptized. He said, OK. I said, but not like that. Not dressed like that. You got to come Tuesday night. I want you in men's clothing. God made you a man. You're a man. You're not a woman. If he wanted to make you a woman, he would have made you a woman. He made you a man. He said, but pastor, what am I going to do? I have no, I have no clothing. I've been doing this for years. I said, OK, we're going to figure this out. I'll get you clothing. So on a Tuesday, got his hair cut. And looking good as a man now. And I introduced him to the church as God is my witness. He's listening to me now. I said, ladies and gentlemen, I want you to meet Ricardo. He's Cubano. He's from Cuba. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to meet someone getting baptized this week. Ricardo Abericio. And he walks up with a sweatshirt on. And just jeans. And he puts his hand up like this. And he starts to praise God and cry. And we all cry. And the church is going crazy. You would think the Queen of England had just walked into the building. That's how happy people you were. Because that's what Christianity is about. Seeing God change people. Do I get a witness here? Come on. Do I get a witness? So, so, so now we get close. And he's telling me about his life and all this stuff. So he comes to me one day and he says, pastor, I got to tell you something. I met someone. I said, who'd you meet? A girl. She love God? Yeah. I want to introduce you to her. Okay. So now, Sarah, Ricardo Abericio, the chains are so off. He is so awakened. Light is shining on him in his soul. He gets married. I know when I say that it doesn't mean anything to you. But if you would have seen him, you'd be running around this building doing the Jericho march. He got married. Do you realize what that means? He got married. So the next year, we rented Madison Square Garden. We wanted to start another church. And we use these big outreaches to start churches. So we got 2000 people who are homeless in shelters. We brought them in. I got some corporations to supply food that we could hand out to them when they left Madison Square Garden. We sold the rest for tickets just to cover these exorbitant costs to use the garden. And we had this rally because they couldn't put people behind Carol's Choir because of sound problems. So there was maybe 15,000. But we could have filled it with 18,000. There were 15,000 people there. And I showed a video of the old Sarah in the street, pictures of him. And we went with a film crew from CBN back where he used to hang. And he met the people he used to hustle with and run around with. And one dressed like he used to be dressed, but nowhere near looking like a woman, broke down crying and said, Sarah, Ricardo, is that you? I can't believe that's you. And there he is with his wife. So at the end of the event at Madison Square Garden, we showed this video. Carol sang a song. I think it was called I'm Clean. I'm Clean. I've been washed in the blood. My sins that were so many have all been taken away. And they saw the before and after. And then I said, I know you didn't expect this audience. I want you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo Aparicio. And they walked up on that stage. That place went nuts. They went crazy because they realized there's no chain God can't break. There's no darkness God can't shine his light in. There's no, there's no anything that's impossible to God. So this is the power that we see. Peter was awoken. And for someone here, I just want to add this. You're trying to get a door open. And maybe that door isn't supposed to be open. Because what's interesting is when they came to the final gate, the gate opened by itself. When we pray and God intervenes gates, doors open by themselves. The angel and Peter didn't have to get a big piece of lumber and say, come on, let's get this thing open. It opened by itself. Remember what Paul says in another letter? Pray for me for a wide and effectual door of ministry has opened for me. He said, God opened that door for me. And when you have open doors, you got to follow them. You got to go there. But God opens those doors. So how is it with you all here tonight? Anybody here got faith in their heart that you want to pray for someone that's not present? The church was praying for someone that was not present. Intercessory prayer is like this. Look, and I'm done. With one hand, you touch God. And with the other hand, you touch that person, that situation. It's not praying for yourself. They weren't praying for themselves in the church. They were praying for somebody else that they love, Peter. And they touch God and they touch Peter. They were the conduit. And look what God did. Sent something from heaven. Woke them up. Chains came off. Set free. Our God is an awesome God. An awesome God. Let's give God just one more. Close your eyes with me. We are standing unholy. Sing. And that there are angels all around. Let us pray. Jesus now. We are standing in his presence. Every eye closed. Lord loves us so much. He wants to meet every need. He wants to go to that person that you love. That situation you're concerned about. He does not want us to worry. He says over and over again. Double negative in the Greek. Don't worry. Not even about a single thing. Don't worry. Stop worrying. But in everything. By prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving. Tell God what you need. He'll work it out for you. And he'll give you a peace while you're waiting for the answer to come. Peace that passes all understanding. Before I turn it back to the pastor. Is there anyone here like me? I got some situations happening right now in the church. I am at my wits end. I'm trying to help two people. It there is no human answer. And I realized that this afternoon. It's going to take a divine intervention. It's going to take God doing something only God can do. So I want to reach out in prayer for that person that I'm praying for. Satan is just working overtime in this person's life. I got to stand in the gap. Because he he doesn't know enough to pray for himself right now. He's deluded. Anybody here want to just get out of your seat. And come up and stand with me here in the front. Before we close and. And just say pastor I want to pray with you. I want to agree with you for the situation I have in my life. Just get up out of your seat. Anybody want to come? Just come up representing your son. Your daughter. Your grandson. Your granddaughter. Whatever the situation might be that needs. Someone needs prayer. Just come. We are standing on the whole angels all around. Let's pray. Let us pray. Jesus now. We are standing in his presence. Before we pray. Can you lift your hands up with me. Whether you're standing or sitting. Sing it. We are standing. On holy ground. And I know that there are angels. All around us. Keyboard just going to play that through again. Don't sing. Let's just talk to God. Everyone just talk to God as he plays. Father God we bring every son. We bring every daughter. Every granddaughter. Every grandson. Every family member might be chained. Might be asleep. In prison of their own making. Satan just has them locked up. We pray that you will break through Lord. Break the chains. Get in there God and get them out. Wake them up. Send something from heaven. Something that they'll know. This is not somebody talking to me. This is God touching my life. Let them know that. Isn't that the way you change soul of Tarsus Lord. In the Paul the apostle. We're praying. We believe. We believe that nothing is impossible to you God. So God we pray in these situations. And things that only the people and you know about. That you know we're facing God. We pray. We lift up a steady stream to you tonight. We are holding on to you God. We have no plan B. You are plan A, B, C, D. God you have to do this. You got to do it for us God. Didn't you tell us to come? Now do as you said. You said if we would call you would answer. So we're calling. Now come and answer. And be faithful to your word. You said if we asked we would receive. That if we would knock it would be open. If we sought we would find it Lord. So we're digging in the ground Lord. Putting a stick in the ground right now. And drawing a line. We will believe God to answer this prayer. We will believe God to change the situation. We're believing you God. We're not just saying a prayer. We're praying and believing. And we're going to expect. And we're going to worship while we're waiting for you to turn it around. And when you turn it around we'll give you all the praise and honor and glory. It won't go to any pastor, no church, denomination. Jesus you will receive all the glory and honor and praise. Do it again what you did for Ricardo. Do it again in these all these different situations. We love you and we praise you. Just stop playing for a second brother. We're going to go to acapella here. And just every eye closed in the building. Everyone stand please whether you're in your pew or not. Just stand everybody. Let's pray with our eyes closed that God is going to use us this week. To talk to people about Jesus. And to be used by him to fight this epidemic. The opioid epidemic. American epidemic. That's what it is. And it's not just in the form of those Oxycontin and all that stuff. It's just sin running rampant. And we're the light and we're the salt. We got to ask God to use us. Spirit of the living God on me. Spirit of the living God on me. Lift your hands and sing break me. Keep where we're playing. Break me, melt me, fill me, fill me, use me, use me. Spirit of the living God on me. One last time. Sing break me. Let's all sing together loud to him. That's our prayer. Break me, melt me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God on me. Break me, melt me, fill me, Lord, and use me.