The Casuality of Prayer

Mark and the fourth chapter please. Verse 20 tells us these are they which are sown on good ground the word falling on good ground such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit some thirtyfold some sixty and some a hundred.

You know friends to have a prayer meeting is a tough job in the society in which we live today to have prayer there's so many contending forces.

You know if you happen to have children or even if you're a grandmother grandchildren you know they have to go one fellow has to go to the basketball practice and the coach will not pardon any failure or delay in turning up and one fellow has got to go to the soccer the practice and if you happen to have some piano or violin or some such thing well then of course the father or the mother have to go rushing up and so on and so forth it goes and so what is the casualty prayer meeting old business prayer meeting has died so in this country we see that getting a few people for a bible study does not seem to be that difficult oh people say oh yes well to come for the bible study i don't know the study never leads to any practical results though i very often the case that people feel

intellectually satisfied and so i begin to wonder how many of these people are just intellectual christian no there's a vast difference between naturally you say has anybody ever attempted to you know erase a poor shape with a mach 2 fighter plane no comparison a fighter plane a plane takes off breaks the sound barrier and heads off what's your poor Porsche doing struggling through the traffic well there's a vast difference between a spiritual christian and a carnal or inter christian and an intellectual christian who may not even be a converted person it shows up in the fruit you know we can live and go on with this humdrum religion without bringing forth fruit the kind of ministry in which we are at the present is very varied for instance some of you are using christ is victor and the

christ is victor is going out and as i heard recently in an art fair with a lot of people coming in to the to view the arts or whatever was presented in that fair one of our brothers was giving out some christ is victors we do not know the outcome because you are sowing that seed in faith it is amazing how just one little story of some divine intervention god's intervention has turned out to be a lifesaver you know and has had tremendous consequences you know that one book fox's book of christian martyrs it was very difficult to write that book the man had to flee england finally because they wanted to get hold of him and burn him up i suppose such a great book it influenced so much in history fox's book of christian martyrs that's a book which you must have handy now go back to the

prayer meeting you know prayer meeting becomes a talking meeting you know somebody takes over and gives a long account of backache headache some other ache and it is the that's the prayer meeting so finally when the time is over with this long narration there's no time for prayer see and also in prayer meetings your private prayer must be long pastoral prayer is different a pastor or a leader has to pray for various burdens but at a normal prayer meeting our prayers should be focused pray for a burden these are the burdens five minutes to tell the burdens and if there is any short message to be read another 10 12 minutes get on to prayer now when we started praying as college students in that fashion no waste of time no talking things began to happen all kinds of fellows began to be

touched so our prayer meetings should be more powerful and 30 fold 60 fold and a hundred fold there should be fruit so if there is one real christian family and we soon have a few people meeting there for prayer the influence and the blessing will spread i know some of those that used to join us in these retreats wonderful people they have gone home to heaven now you know i do miss them wonderful people but this is our turn now they used to be so faithful in prayer homer candle was a store owner owner of a store in a tiny place called berlin not very far from here that was the only store in the village one day i asked him hey brother homer when you lock up you leave the fruit and the apples and stuff outside your store and lock up and go home yes that's how i do it he said and then your

gas pump your gas pump also you leave unlocked yes i do i only had one fellow who took gas didn't leave the money and he sent it back after some time saying i took gas and left but here is the money you know not very far from here just about an hour and something there god granted us to see a mighty revival in that area now of course brother homer is gone home and some of those young fellows who were touched in that revival went as missionaries to various places and so on and so forth but i don't know the whole story but i know that there was a prayer meeting and also the drinking places in 10 miles radius kind of drinking places had to shut down i would tell brother homer homer you go and leave the prayer meeting and oh to his amazement he would see how the people would be broken tears

cleansing of conscience putting things right you see many years have passed since that time i preached in that area but you know unfortunately in the united states people live in small pockets communities and i went in as a total stranger because i was invited and the people found it hard in the beginning to totally accept me but how they would come people of all sorts and how the word of god took hold of people now dear people so don't lose heart don't say hey we're not making much headway no when two or three of us started praying together there didn't seem to be much happening and today when i see you know the list of all the popular channels on which our television broadcast goes out i say who is paying for all this i don't know the lord is paying for all this it's simply i don't ask

for money and they all know it and getting one television program ready can be quite expensive the equipment is very expensive the tapes are very expensive and so on the work that has to be put in has to takes people night and day and that in so many parts of the globe that the little radio broadcast which began in minnesota and in indiana that and in sri lanka has spread is just the lord's doing they shall bring forth 30 fold 60 fold 100 fold but just about that we are told 18 and 19th verses these are they which are sewn among thorns such as hear the word and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful so the bible tells us the deceitfulness of riches so you we are seeing today that even going

to a retreat is becoming very difficult very difficult you know in one place uh the prayer hall fell down there was a heavy breeze and the prayer shed fell down i found out i said were any hurt they said no one is was hurt but one woman received some scratches i said who is that woman they told me she had been grumbling about going to the prayer meeting and the prayer shed came down on her so well i didn't quite say serves her right i that would sound very rude but you know you see folks even having a retreat is becoming very difficult people can't take that loss of money loss of this that and the other they feel in other words what is cheap christ is cheap eternal things are cheap and these thorny bushes grow up and in families we can see one fellow drags his feet and the other fellow

says i have no time oh and so on and so forth now just about that what do we see these are they likewise which are sewn in stony ground who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness and have no root in themselves and so endure but for a time afterward when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake immediately they're offended so you we see that there is a stony ground then there is no fruit it means there are hidden rocks hidden sins right there and we must get them out resentments you know hurt feelings the devil uses these little things you know what begin as little things they grow up into fruit destroying things there will be no fruit why you allowed the root of bitterness over what you know brother jesse told me last night i said i cannot

understand brother jesse you talk about people getting hurt or splits i can't understand and how does that jibe with holiness he said of course it does not jibe with holiness it does not go together but the trivial things over which these splits take place he said to me last night here would make the devil himself laugh so trivial the devil tricks people like that and then they feel some kind of hurt some kind of resentment what is the net result no root no root and no fruit let's pray loving father we don't want to make the devil laugh lord hey what mad caps are these fellows how i easily i can fool them lord i pray i'm not here to make the devil laugh hell has to go into mourning and heaven into jubilee while we rejoice in the lord our god and triumph over all these things that reduce

and remove our fruitfulness oh my father the deceitfulness of riches how it has taken people by the throat and how many are the sad people today at re at the recession at the loss of job at all kinds of sadness and worry oh my father won't you come to such people too lord do not allow them to commit suicide or things like that oh let not these crooked wicked people say hey you're not bringing in the money so i don't want you i'll divorce you lord we we are so saddened by divorce lord running away from wives running away from the family abandoning children oh my father we pray and ask you that all these dear people may breathe freely save them from spiritual asthma and tuberculosis that they may their lungs our lungs may freely cry to the lord come lord help us that we may be effective in

our prayer and see your works give us thick skins when people speak evil of us let us not bristle let us not get back with some hard words fill us with love lord come to us we beseech you if you could love us on the cross if you could say father forgive them they know not what they do give us love give us that kind of love in jesus holy name amen