Keys To Earth Shaking Prayers

Keys to earth shaking prayers. Keys to earth shaking prayers. Initially it was six keys, then it went to eight, then it went to 10, now it's at 12 keys to earth shaking prayers.

And we're gonna have to get to part two next week because as I put this together and send the slides in by Friday morning, a lot just kind of, more comes. And it just, I wanna get it down. I realized it was nine pages, so I had to shorten it up a little bit.

And how I've always prepared sermons is I have the text and just every morning, God has given me this, his grace to get up really early. And those first couple hours in the morning, putting on worship, putting worship on rewind, praying, looking at the scripture and verses come to my mind. And then sometimes like, he'll just download the message within 30 minutes.

Not everything, but the points, this, this. And then I just come full of what I wanna share. And so sometimes it gets too much and you've got to kind of bring it in and part two will be next Sunday.

I would encourage you to be here for that because there's a lot of stuff I wanted to share that I just don't know if I'll get to. But last week, in case you're new, we are going through the book of Acts. The book of Acts.

Last week, I talked about being filled to be bold. So we want to be bold in this culture, but you have to be filled with the spirit. Because I don't know how many of you know this, but void of the spirit, I am a coward people pleaser.

You know, that's good, okay. Anybody relate? Oh, I don't want to stir the pot. I don't want to say anything in the workplace.

I just want to get paid and show up and closet Christian. But something happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You just can't do that anymore.

His word is like a burning fire. You can try to hold it back, but at some point, it's going to come out. And those of us who are bold have to be careful because there's a fine line between boldness and arrogance.

Boldness must flow first from the reservoir of a broken humble heart, lead of the spirit and not the flesh. Because that flesh can come out, can't it? Boy, let me tell you a funny example. I'll just tell you this so you guys can relate.

I don't go to the Tuesday night men's study very often because I've got all kinds of stuff going on in sports. And so I went Tuesday. An older guy, gentleman, he goes, oh, I don't see you here much on Tuesdays.

I said, well, I don't see you here much on Sundays. Like, oh, like, don't you just want to catch it before it goes out? I like text my wife. I'm like, man, the flesh got me again.

So if I see him, I don't know if I see him this first service. But isn't that funny how that works? Like, okay, tough guy, I can play this game. Can you relate? Abram, Tim, you guys, okay.

Well, I don't see you on Sundays. Where are you at? So it's a constant battle. It's refreshing to know pastor's struggle, isn't it? But I do have to hold my tongue.

Like a lot of you sometimes, especially right now in where our nation's at and just everything. But I've noticed what I'm filled with is what's gonna come out. And that was, Monday was, Tuesday was a challenging day.

I was not prayed up. I was kind of like, felt kind of like, I got to do this. I won't go into the reasons why, but I wanted to go Tuesday.

I was actually brought somebody to encourage them to go. And it was like, it was just funny how that hit. But filled to be bold is what we talked about last week.

And I want to remind you as we're talking about holiness and things like that, to be holy is also to be happy. Should we unpack that for a minute? Because we have this view sometimes, and I don't know if you've been there, but man, when you're holy, you're intense. You're not smiling.

There's the jokes are not funny in church. Now, I don't think the pulpit should be full of jokes and kidding. I mean, it is a very serious endeavor, but I kind of find sometimes humor in Jesus's words, pull out the plank in your eye.

I'm sure they kind of laughed about that a little bit or just things. And when you're filled with the Spirit, you're also filled with joy. So you can be holy and still have fun.

Amen. You can be holy and still watch the Superbowl, just not the commercials. Okay.

When that comes, you know, that's when you gotta go to the restroom. Let's see what else is going on. But I just, that really just stuck this morning because sometimes I think maybe it's my own, can people be like, like Morgan, how can you live with that guy? Isn't it intense? I mean, it's like, golly, I don't walk around like this.

We have fun. We do things, you know, and tricks and play. I want the kids to know the joy of the Lord.

But there are seasons to be serious. And being filled, you'll know when that season is. And so we're actually not gonna get to it, but I was planning on getting to Acts 4.31. It says, after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.

And they were all filled at the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. And I mean, I've never been in a place like that, but wouldn't that be awesome? I truly believe God can still do those things. Actually reading books on revival, you'd be amazed at how many times God did that in little small prayer meetings.

They felt like the barn shook and the presence of God came upon that place. They lay prostrate on the floor all night. And let's see, people are lying? I don't think so.

And so we believe God can shake a place and really get us to, we're experiencing God. But what really stood out to me as well is they prayed, it was shaken, and what happened? They were filled with the Spirit. They were just filled with the Spirit.

Days or weeks ago, what's going on with this? Right, there are subsequent feelings of the Holy Spirit. And I wasn't filled Tuesday night. But wasn't that bad? Okay.

Will, wasn't that, did you hear me? Okay. Well, it's kind of funny, at least. Okay.

But you know, it's kind of like you get slapped, you slap back. And so, thanks a lot, that encouraged me though. But isn't that true? And I've, I mean, I've came here before and you get out of morning worship and out of prayer, I'm ready, I'm ready.

But if I had just, I just left home and were kind of, well, you take care of it. You do this and you, and the kids, anybody have kids that have, like, the demons come out Sunday morning? And it's like, it's hard. And then you get here, you just barely got here.

You don't need somebody telling you, where have you been all week or all month? And you just, and you need that filling of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that's why Paul said, when he said, be filled, it is a conscious choice to take our thoughts captive and focus on the thankfulness and the goodness of God, repent of sin. God, I want more of your spirit because the flesh is winning this week.

And I want to be full of you. But also when you do spiritual disciplines, God honors those spiritual disciplines and the Holy Spirit came upon them because they were praying. And I love this.

They didn't pray not to be persecuted. They prayed for boldness to share the truth. And as we'll see, persecution often follows a powerful, powerful move of the Spirit.

Doesn't it? The name of Jesus was actually forbidden. I'm going to look at Acts 4. Can you imagine living in a time where they said, don't ever speak about Him again? Okay? I mean, I've got challenges like many of you with the things Washington does, but there's a lot of exciting things happening in our nation as well. Things I think we should be thankful for.

And I'm not going to apologize for saying this because I'd rather have at least God being honored in some way and back to the things that bring insanity and policies that represent His Word than we are like hanging on the abyss. I won't get into different things, but you see what's coming out. It's like, anything else, Lord? We've been paying taxes to these organizations that actually are using it against us and weaponizing certain departments and from the media, from everything.

And it's just, it's so alarming. But what I'm cognizant of is the church needs to stay humble and broken because more persecution would have brought out maybe more of the true church and more of that feeling because the harder it gets, sometimes the deeper you have to dig in. And I can take you to Israel.

And when they broke up in Isaiah, when Isaiah was writing and Jeremiah were writing, they were actually writing at a time where Israel had experienced 50 years of financial success. And their apathy had become their downfall. Because when you feel successful and everything's going good and your cryptocurrency's up 100% and everything's just, oh man, this is, we tend to just drift from God.

That's why you have to anchor in your heart even more to what God is doing and be thankful, thankful for what He's doing. His name is not forbidden right now. It's being elevated and exalted in many areas and many churches.

But let's look at Acts where we left off. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, I should probably back up a little bit, a man was healed at the gate called Beautiful, something ugly at the Beautiful Gate. I taught on that a while ago.

And so Peter now is healing. Peter and John were there. This man was healed and it raised a commotion.

I mean, if you see somebody who was crippled from birth or born this way and they carried him as a little boy and now he's an adult and it stirred the crowd and now the Pharisees and the religious leaders are questioning them. How did this happen? We've never seen anything like this. And I've noticed that when God begins to move, the Pharisees will question the church.

See, God can't be kept in a box. And anytime powerful move of the Spirit, modern day Pharisees with a critical heart begin to question, is that really God? And we're actually supposed to discern what Spirit, as an elder team, we're called to do that. But the difference is you're open to what God is doing.

You're not already closed off because hardness of heart. And so they said, how did this happen? You're pretty bold about this. And we perceive that you're uneducated and untrained.

Let's camp out on that one for a minute. Believe it or not, they actually were not uneducated. They were more educated than the religious leaders.

They had the Holy Spirit upon them. They walked with the Savior. What they meant is they didn't go to our schools.

They weren't taught by our rabbis. How, they're fishermen. How did this happen? And God loves to use the simple, the humble to confound the wise.

However, since we're on this topic, I think it is important for believers to educate themselves. And you can go down a very dangerous road. And I've heard people tell me this, I don't read books, I listen to God and God alone.

I don't read commentaries, I don't read books. The Holy Spirit is my, and okay, but you're getting off track here. You're getting pretty weird because God uses godly counsel.

He uses commentaries. He uses iron sharpening iron because if you're like most people, what you think is the Holy Spirit is not. It's what you want, what you desire.

Your pride is elevating you. And nobody can come alongside and sharpen that iron, and sharpen your iron, and cut off that pride. And again, we don't put the Bible above books and commentaries and things like that, but God has given us a wealth.

I mean, wouldn't you want to see what Spurgeon wrote about on this? Or George Whitefield's sermons? Or what does Geisler, and MacArthur, and Wayne Grudem, and Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, what do they say about this topic? And I'm telling you, from commentaries can come just, the Scriptures come alive. They come alive to a believer. And so, but we do have the seminary wars that go on.

What seminary is best, because they have a certain school of thought they teach. Predispositional, amillennialism, post-millennial, gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today. And so different seminaries produce those who graduate based on how they teach and how they believe.

And so if God gives you that desire and puts on your heart, stay humble. Many times He will do that. And then there's others that I answer to, and people ask, I never went to seminary, or a structured seminary.

But I read tons of books and audios, and I explained, I think, to the men. When I came back to the Lord, I devoured all types of books. I would actually look at what seminaries were reading, and I would go read those.

Spurgeon's lectures to my students, the Puritans on grace, and pneumatology, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, and I would just devour and devour and devour. I'd listen to all kinds of tapes and education. And so my views are a little different because I wasn't raised in one type of... I listened to the Calvinists, but I also listened to the Armenian.

I listened to Charles Hodgson's Semantic Theology, but also Norman Geisler. They're different. And you have to educate yourself.

And then from that reservoir of information, you're able to rightly divide the word of truth. I think it's good to know what the other views believe, don't you? Because we can get so hard on the non-essentials. We don't want to know the views on the non... We don't want to differ on the essentials.

But on the non-essentials, it really is good to look, okay, I can see where the... Because then you're teachable. You have respect for them. You're gracious.

And you understand that people view even the end times a little bit differently. People view the operation of the Holy Spirit a little bit differently. People view the government of a church differently, how the church should be set up structurally.

And it's just good to be able to bounce things off of people. But they said they have not been through our institutions. And so they marveled.

Who in the world can know about God without going through our classes? And they realized, though, wait a minute, they'd been with Jesus. I think that could be one of our keys. Don't you? One of the keys to earth-shaking prayer.

And they saw the man who'd been healed standing with them and they could say nothing against it. And again, they were educated and trained, but by the Master. And that's why you'll sometimes hear me say I'm not as concerned about a Master's degree as I am a degree from the Master.

And how you get that is you spend time in His Word. You spend time in commentaries and reading. You don't let it puff you up.

You let it humble you. And as you're worshiping and praying and keeping a short account of sin and apologizing to people you offended maybe on Tuesday night, things like that, you keep that just, Lord, I want to be used by You. And now you're educated by the Master.

I believe Scripture comes alive in a vessel that is willing to listen and understand and to be teachable. And that is the key. They'd been with Jesus.

See, so many times the world is pushing for our time. It's screaming at us. I don't know if you've ever seen, but there's different things out there like how many years we'll spend on social media.

Years of our life will be gone. I think it was something like, I don't know, but by time, like from 80 years old or something, it's like six years of your life is gone to Instagram, Facebook, things like that. Teach us to number our days.

Wednesday, quick promo. But if you want, and what I mean by earth-shaking prayers is there are prayers, and it's called pressing in. It's called travail.

It's called, you know, there's a passion. There's a fervency. And you know, God, you're hearing my prayers.

It might be yes, no, or maybe wait. We don't know. But if there's no time with Jesus, because out of that time with Jesus flows the words of your heart.

That's why you don't have to necessarily say words. Your heart speaks. Oh God, oh God.

So you have to have that time with Jesus, whatever it is for you. If it's the morning, if it's the afternoon, if it's the evening, if it's, you know, I've got to cut my schedule down a little bit. I'm too busy.

I'm too busy. And I know people, they've been coming here and they don't come much anymore because work. They're too busy.

And sometimes that can be valid. As somebody who's worked seven days a week back when I had to, I understand. I'm not judgmental at all.

But where's your heart at? Where's your heart at? I've got to get more of God. I've got to get more of God. And then when your heart's in the right spot as you're commuting, you'll listen to worship.

You'll listen to the Word of God. You'll turn off Howard Stern. Is he still on? I don't know.

But see, you'll make, when God's a priority, even when you're busy, you'll make time for Him. You'll make time for Him. I share with them, man, it's kind of a funny story.

I don't know if I can get in trouble for it. So I don't think it's illegal. But I was over in Palmdale by American Indian, baseball park, that park there.

And I was working for a company that when a water line is really old, we have to, what's called a remain. And we go in and we dig next to it. I was the guy who found the gas lines and all these things.

And we had to, we have to tunnel under. It's a hard work, trust me. But for some of the job, I had to hold the darn sign.

You try standing for eight hours, nine hours a day. Stop, go, hold on. No trap, okay, we're good.

I'm just, but I eventually brought a whole bunch of scriptures on index cards. So I just thumbed through those day after day after day after day after day. And had them all down, thousand probably.

Just down, down, down, down. I had them in order, I just saw the first word, boom, boom, boom, and use that time. Obviously if it's a high busy traffic area, but it wasn't.

You could see there's nobody coming for a mile. And I'm just standing there. And you can't stand, have you ever tried standing very long? I mean, and you can't move.

It's like if I had to go to the bathroom, the porta potty, I'd had to like call and say, guys, come on. It'd be about 20 minutes, we gotta finish this up. And it's like, you just had to, your lunch was like, scarf it down and get back to work.

But those opportunities, that God will give you those opportunities. Again, I don't recommend that if you're in an active area, a lot of traffic, you know, you gotta stay on it. So time with Jesus, then what? Then flows boldness.

And boldness looks differently, okay? Let me encourage you. Many of those, some of you who knew my mom, she was very bold. Don't let her sweet demeanor fool you.

But nobody would really think that. There was a different kind of boldness. But I saw her like, just listen to me.

She grabbed somebody's knee and she'd shoot him right straight in the face. Like, whoa, I wouldn't even do that. Once you push her to, but there was just a gentleness, always erring on the side of grace that drove me crazy.

But there was a boldness that's different. It's how God has wired you. Say, well, I'm not like Pastor Shane.

You don't have to be. You don't have to be. It's a different makeup.

It's a different DNA. When God needs me, He's gonna get the sledgehammer. When God needs somebody else, He's gonna get the little pink hammer in my wife's drawer to put the little nail in, right? It's doing the same thing, just differently.

So look to God for boldness. Boldness could be a soft, gentle response. It doesn't have to be loud.

If it calls for, I mean, so it's just, it's lead of the Spirit. Sometimes boldness is silence. Isn't it? You wanna say something, but you're like, this is not gonna go over well.

I'm just holding my ground. They're not pushing you. They're not forcing you, but you're holding your ground, but you're bold.

And then they saw the boldness, and remember, boldness is contagious. Boldness is contagious as well as convicting. Isn't it? I mean, I, like many of you, I saw the different pastors staying open during COVID, and that was contagious.

That was contagious. Rob McCoy and what he went through, staying open at Easter. Man.

And these guys, and Jack Hibbs, and others, and even MacArthur stance. I'm like, let's go. Right, and then we said, let's go, and then other churches, let's go.

And so it feeds. Boldness is contagious. And that's one thing I love about, let's say political leaders and things like that.

If they're bold, and they're not a wishy-washy, you know, what did they just say? That word salad is pathetic. Give me somebody who's gonna do what they say. Right, there's a boldness there, and that is contagious, and I think that's why you're seeing all these appointments in our nation, and the boldness of all these appointments.

It's convicting, all kinds of things are happening. But her silence is deadly. When boldness is silent, it's deadly.

Bonhoeffer, the church was silent in Germany when she should have cried out. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said he was hung by a piano strand for defying Hitler. I could probably find it if I looked, but I couldn't really, it wasn't too easy.

I don't know of any other, there's a few, I don't remember, any other pastors in Germany at that time other than him. The cowards aren't listed. And so another key to earth-shaking prayer is don't back down from boldness.

Have you ever been there where you know what God wants you to do, but my flesh gets the best of me? And when you say, Lord, I want to be bold for you, and those prayers that are prayed in boldness, because when boldness is removed, we become timid, and there's no such thing as a timid prayer warrior. Praying for your prodigals. Praying for different things in your life, in your heart that you want to happen.

There has to be a boldness about it too. Boldness to go and engage. It's spiritual warfare.

That's why prayer's so hard. Have you ever thought about this? Why is the most important thing in the Christian arsenal the hardest? Have you ever thought about that? I mean, I can put on worship and YouTube and stay in my bed and sleep. That's not very hard.

But when it comes to, I mean, I'm talking prayer. And I want to be sensitive, but real life-shaking, life-changing prayer takes some time. It takes some work.

Because your flesh hates it, and the Spirit is willing. And you've got to press in. That's why I mentioned fasting, it's so important.

It starves that fleshly appetite for a season. And I've tried it. I've tried it.

Okay, I'm going to have this big dinner, read and pray. It's like, never works, ever. Ever works.

Because I've just caved in to this flesh which can be a good thing in the right context, right? But now, this has overpowered my desire to seek God. And it's a struggle, it's hard. I said, I'm actually doing it right now.

I want to fast from Friday until this morning. Lord, please make a way that my wife pulls out three pounds of ground beef last night, lasagna for the family. It's like, whoa.

That's good, right? But it was so hard for that 30 minutes. It's like, Lord, I want more of you tomorrow. I want to, and it's not legalistic.

It's like wanting to feed the people, wanting to, I'm not being spiritual. I'm admitting my brokenness, saying I need more of God. Because if I give in to King's stomach, I probably wouldn't make morning worship as early.

And just being able to starve the flesh. I want to be careful. I know it's not about legalism and rules, and oh, it's all we, it's not.

But there has to come a point, guys, when you say, you know what? There's a lot on the line here. My kids are prodigals. My kids are prodigals, many would say.

This is happening in my life. This is going on. I've never been in a worse situation.

You need to get back to prayer and fasting. There's no other weapon. And we like to negotiate with the flesh, don't we? I do, I love negotiating.

How about 800 calories? At what point do I start to lose muscle? Well, I'm gonna stand to that count. See, wrong focus. It's not about that.

It's about what God wants to do in your heart. Don't back down from boldness. Boldness is not popular to the lukewarm church or to the world.

And that's why it's so hard. Isn't it? It's hard because it's not popular, and we like to be liked. Oh, I don't wanna share too much, but no matter where I go, sometimes people say, oh, I haven't seen you in a while.

Oh yeah, my husband just doesn't like you. He doesn't like what you're saying. Or my wife just says, you're too bold.

I love it, I know we need it, but he's not ready. Like, okay, we'll find a place where he's ready. It's fine, I understand.

But I understand that like sandpaper, the wood doesn't like it. And it used to bother me, and now it doesn't bother me as much. It's like, well, yeah, I'm not gonna apologize for how God created me.

Now, if there's arrogance in it, and actually right after second service, I have a meeting with the elders. I'll say, hey, is there anything you guys see I need to work on? Is there something coming out in the preaching? I'm open. Because that iron sharpening iron.

This was said of A.W. Tozer. His call to repentance, holiness, and strict reliance on God made him both a popular and unpopular speaker and teacher. Those who desire to go deeper in the things of God loved him dearly, but those who were happy to settle for second best or to be entertained, they did not find him too appealing at all.

And I'll never forget the day this happened. I remember where we were at, the restaurant, and this pastor just, he didn't like me because he was on the polar end of, you know, it was a different, let's just leave it there. Right, just, and so we had lunch, and he's like, well, I'm trying to understand, like, what books do you read? What do you, like, who influences you? I'll never forget, oh, well, right now I'm reading A.W. Tozer, Ian Bounds, Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson.

He goes, oh, that makes sense. Now I see what the problem is. Because in his church library, he had the emergent church type, like Rob Bell, Doug Pagent, Tony Jones, Brian McLaren, all these names you don't know, but they were false prophets and still are.

It's a smooth, like Rob Bell's book, if you take away the virgin birth, you can still bounce on the trampoline. It's like taking a spring out of the, that's in your bookstore? And no wonder, you see, it's not, these things aren't popular. And they don't, and I'll never, oh, that explains, I'm like, well, what's wrong with me? Isn't that, those are good books? Not to somebody who doesn't want to be convicted.

Not to somebody who doesn't want to go deeper. You want to be convicted? Put the eight minute video in. When you get home, A Call to Anguish by David Wilkerson.

That's what we need. Not all the time. Sometimes we need a Max Lucado, I think.

I don't know if he's still, but some, I'll probably hear back on that one. But sometimes we need, that's why God has different ministry, different callings. And once you say, you know, I'm not gonna apologize for who I am anymore.

You begin to walk in what God has called you, is again, as long as you stay humble and not excuse arrogance. And it continues in Acts 4.13, but when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, so now they said, okay, Peter, John, get out of here. We don't want to see you right now.

And then they begin to talk among each other. They conferred among each other. What are we gonna do with these men? For indeed, a notable miracle has been done through them.

It's evident to everyone here in Jerusalem. And we can't deny it. So instead of saying, you know what? God, are you doing something here? This is amazing.

They said, instead they said this, but so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them. And from now on, tell them to speak in no other name. Do not mention Jesus ever, ever again.

Okay, that's our plan. How's that gonna work? It'll silence many in the church who are not filled with the Spirit, who are not filled with boldness. And even those that are, sometimes they struggle with fear and doubt.

And you know what, I don't want, and I tell people all the time, we have public school teachers here, law enforcement, firemen, that why do I have to put this gay pride thing up in my computer? Not anymore, probably, praise God. But I'm like, you know what? Just take it, because I can't tell you. I can't say, yeah, I'll just do this and lose your job next week.

God's got you. Now, it might cost a job. I don't know, because see, God's doing, God's like, no, I want you to be here for a little while.

I've got a purpose for you. I want you to pray through this. I want this to work on your character.

I want this to humble. Or maybe other people say, you know what? I'm taking a stand. And I'm not gonna, and Lord, and maybe it costs the job.

But it's because God is, I can't just tell a person to defy this and do this. Like, I don't know. You've got kids, you've got a family, but we should never cower back.

And a good way to know that, if God is prompting you and you know, but you're ignoring it, that's the deal breaker. And so it just takes a lot of prayer. And I think a lot of things are shifting.

Pride blinds, pride blinds. These people are so prideful. Jesus called them stiff-necked, arrogant.

He said, you draw near to my words, but your heart is far from me. We can give people examples of incredible fruit, yet they still deny it. Isn't that amazing? Incredible fruit.

Look at all this fruit. Oh yeah, but. Oh yeah, but.

West side's going in a bad direction. Well, look at the fruit. What bad direction are you talking about? Is it convicting you to go deeper? Maybe that's the problem.

And so you look at the fruit, of course, and you humble yourself. And the enemy will always try to silence the truth by intimidation, won't he? That's usually what the enemy, he'll use. Intimidation.

Intimidate you. He doesn't want you to witness to your family or your friends or others. And again, be strategic.

Be prayed up. I think when we witness it, it should be sometimes often a, I've never got ups like, ra ra ra ra ra, you brood of vipers. You know, it's like listening, and what have you thought about this? Have you considered, okay, a good point, I can see why, but have you, and you're engaging, you're staying humble, and you're pointing them to the truth eventually.

They might not get there then. But it shouldn't be, you know, standing up on eight cartons, all of you are going to hell. All of you.

North Hollywood, you're all going to hell. And there's just this arrogant, mean spirit about it. I guarantee, well, I might get in trouble, but I guarantee you can walk around North Hollywood, have you been in there on their sunset and different things.

And I saw this because when I was with 24 Hour Fitness, one of our top producing clubs with my dad, was West Hollywood actually. And lots of huge gay community. And just talking, you know, hey, I understand, and you talk, walking down the street, and you, hey, do you need prayer? I see you're, and you could get a lot more accomplished.

Because you're filled with boldness, but you're also filled with love and compassion and understanding. And you build those relationships. I'm just, just want to be careful when we go out and do something for God.

We want to make sure that God is in it. We want to make sure, because there's nothing, I like what Ray Comfort does. I like what Charlie Kirk does.

I like what those guys who stand on the box and say, but it's got to be seasoned with some type of grace. You know, it's got to be, as you bring the truth, you're also bringing the love. They know that you love them, because they can sense that.

That's really the key. And a lot of people don't street preach because it's hard. And so I'm not against that.

I think there's a time and a place for it. We just have to make sure, maybe it's me, but most of those guys I've met, 90% of the time, they're not very nice. I wonder where their marriage is at.

And I, golly, you're a mean dude. And there's just, they're missing that brokenness. Acts 4.18-22, so they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Isn't that so true? So they called them. Come here. Do not speak at all, or teach in the name of Jesus.

Intimidation works for cowardly Christians who quench and grieve the Spirit. So, next verse. But Peter and John answered and said to them, okay, that sounds good.

We want a nice, relaxing life. I don't want to get upset here in Jerusalem. That just didn't sound right, did it? But Peter and John answered and said to them, you can see when he says both of them, you're assuming they're both engaging.

Hey, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God, you judge. But we cannot, for we cannot but speak the things we have seen and we have heard. Man, that was just a nice way to say, sorry, we're not following your law.

And this is kind of a key verse many used when they stayed open during COVID. Hey, you take that up with the Lord. We've got a church here to lead.

But we have to speak the things we have seen and we have heard, and I love that about God. The boldness just didn't come from some intellectual knowledge. And you'll notice that, and you'll notice that in every type of, just about, unless it's terrorists trying to kill you because they think that's their, but in most religions, there's no boldness.

There's a few exceptions, of course, but when was the last time you saw a bold Mormon bishop give a powerful message? Or a bold Jehovah Witness leader? Or a bold priest? Every memorial I've been to in the Roman Catholic, it is boring. Oh, Spiritus Sancti, go back, let's read Latin, and I was raised in that, so I know, it's not this void of the Spirit of God. And I want somebody to hear me and get so upset that they investigate it.

The boldness comes from seeing and experiencing God. If I didn't experience God and see the things, I wouldn't be as bold. Because like, is this right? I mean, I had a burning in my bosom 18 years ago.

I guess this is all true. That's why so many cults lack boldness for the truth. Because what are you anchored on? My mom told me this, I hope it's right.

Whereas believers have the Holy Spirit. And that Spirit is the wellspring of living water. That's where the bold, I've seen, I've seen, my eyes have seen the King of glory.

The prophet will cry out, I've seen the King of glory. There's something powerful to that. And when you're filled with the Spirit, it overcomes fear.

That's why they said, you know what? And I bet they might have struggled. I don't know, it's like, well, this is not gonna go over well, but here we go. Because the flesh was restrained and the boldness of the Spirit came out.

I don't know that. Maybe they're so full of God, they didn't vacillate. But this is where we get our render unto Caesar.

Render unto Caesar in the Bible. Until Caesar tells you to break God's law. Render to Caesar, you know? And that's why the Bible actually says, obey the government.

Oh boy, here we go. But with the understanding that the government, Romans 13, is to be a tear to those who do evil. And you obey the authorities because they're supposed to have the best interest of the community in mind.

And so you submit to the governing bodies. The Bible says that. But at the same time, we see that when those governing bodies tell us we can no longer do what God has called us to do, there's a higher authority.

There's a higher authority. And that's why a lot of the churches did open. Well, not a lot.

There actually weren't that many. But that was one of our things. We said, okay, you know, a couple weeks, and we give it some time.

Like, what is this? Is this the Black Plague? And then you see all the shenanigans. Correct? You guys saw, you know, I drive by, oh, the donut shop is open. Planned Parenthood's open.

He just bought a pound of skunk, bud. And he's, what am I? Hello? Costco's open. Hundreds of people.

Right, home, yeah. I'm walking to Costco. Sir, get your mask on.

My mask, oh. This look, cloth? And I wanted to lecture them, so it was a really good learning process for me as well. But see, when you say, listen, we're gonna meet, and we're gonna have church, because that's what God's commanded.

We see, see, it's one thing if it's a Black Plague, and you're just being, you're being, you know, dangerous, and you're hurting people, and this, you know, but when you know the truth, and God calls you to do those things that are somewhat challenging. I'll share it again, because it fits. Many of you know this, but many years ago, when it was Antonovich, I got a call from his office.

He said, hey, can you come open our city council meeting in prayer? So I drove down, went to LA, and the guy got me. He's this little guy, he's got his latte, and he goes, okay, just pray, just make sure you just don't pray in Jesus' name. Like, did you research me at all? Like, did you, who told you to call me? Like, what, is this a joke? So I'm like, okay, all right, thanks, and of course, you know, at the end of prayer, I did it, and never been asked back, but I mean, like, what, oh, our abundant Mother Earth, let us thank, I mean, what are we supposed to pray? And when you also know, many of you don't know this, and that's why it's, we love to get the information out there, but with all the flaws, and the sin, and different things, our nation was actually built on God's Word.

It was even the judicial system. God said, I will be your judge, your lawgiver, your king. The founding fathers built in on that.

The Bible is quoted four times more than any other source when putting together the Constitution. Many of the founders sought God. I think half of them, of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were ministers of the Gospel.

Well, what about this, what about this? Yeah, there's some things they need to work through. But all of our legal system was built on something called William Blackstone's Commentaries of the Laws of England, our legal system. So if you did this, according to the Bible, this is what's gonna happen.

Wonder why rape was way down, rape and violent crime, because you would be killed. You harm a child like that, there's a death penalty. And it really eases up, eases up crime when the penalty fits the crime.

And so we look at how far we have drifted. Did you know, this is gonna blow your mind, you could not even run for office in many of the colonies unless you profess the faith in God, the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Oh, that's mean, that's discrimination.

No, the nation was honoring God. They're honoring God. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise thereof.

That doesn't mean you can't acknowledge God in everything you do. It just means you can't force people to go to one church. And so we see this throughout our nation.

We see just how far we've drifted and God's grace is still there and thanking Him for that. And so we were to render unto Caesar until those ideas begin to conflict and I've gotta obey this law, but I'm gonna break God's law. And it does get very interesting and deep and that would be maybe a whole nother sermon.

But I wanna, this point is so important. God wants us to know, which is to hear, and experience Him, which is to see Him. Now, He's not audible.

I mean, He's not audible. I mean, there's been a few times where I know, okay, I mean, this is, God's not playing games anymore, where you just have that deep impression. But what I mean by that is you hear the voice and it's hard to explain to people who don't spend time in His Word and worship.

You hear, I hear, I'm more certain of that and His truth than I am the sun coming up, to be honest with you. And once you hear His voice, once you experience Him, that's why no matter how many people, you guys love it, I'm sure, but there are people who put this church down. Yeah, it's too emotional, oh my goodness.

But if you saw the fruit, you would shut your mouth. Not you guys, maybe those listening later, I don't know. But right there, I've experienced God, I've seen God.

I've seen His power, I've seen His might. And we can't but hold that back. That's my passion for revival.

I've seen God break a church and humble a group of believers and draw them and bitterness is gone and they worship together. It's a beautiful thing and you've gotta fight for it. So another key to earth-shaking prayer is knowing and experiencing God.

When you know and experience God, that will lead to earth-shaking prayer. Because if not, what is it? If prayer's not based on knowing who He is, it's just based on, oh, heavenly dear Father. Ritual's a good word.

Graciously and abundantly cover our nation. And Lord, bless our families. It's hard to do, isn't it? And it's hard, you think my prayers are always on fire? No, but you do it regardless of how you feel.

And then the fire sometimes comes. But Lord, I remember what you did. I remember what you did.

We remember what He did at this altar. We remember what He did in our own prayer lives. We remember what God did in answer to prayer.

It's amazing. And if you're not careful, critical Catholic can start coming in the mind and you forget all the wonders of God. You gotta kick her to the curb and get back to experiencing and knowing God.

And then it continues. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go. There's no way to punish them because of all the people and they glorify God.

For the man who was healed was over 40 years old, been crippled since birth. And so I wanna remind you, we the people can make a difference. We the people can make a difference.

I think it's the next screen. Yeah, there we go. Well, maybe I don't have it on here.

I just did it for my own. Oh no, I think she was on the right one. Sorry, Sarah, you're probably on the right one.

So when they had further threatened them because of all the people, because of all the people, and that's why I said we the people can make a difference. The voice of the people can make a difference. Your voice and millions others are shifting the direction of our nation right now.

I don't know how you, we were on the abyss. We almost hit the point of no return. And God in His mercy and His grace for now has allowed us, and I believe He wants us to steward this gift.

You can make a difference. And then another earth-shaking prayer happens when you submit to God's lead. When you submit to God's lead.

Because now, okay, Lord, wherever you want to lead me, wherever you want to lead me, Lord, I'll go. And then your prayers come alive because you're not fighting God. You're not fighting against His will for your life.

Use me, Lord, use me. Then Acts 4, 23 through 26, and being let go, they went to their own companions. So they went and they reported back everything the elders had said to them.

And so when they heard that, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God. You have made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Lord, you have done this.

Praise and worship should follow persecution. Praise and worship, but what do most of us do? Instead, ugh, why me? Grumbling and complaining, why am I going through this? But praise and worship should follow God honoring persecution. So I want to just stop here for a minute.

I think we can cue up the video if we have it ready and hit the lights in just a minute. But we need to meditate on how awesome God is. That will shake your prayer life, won't it? Because I'm going to forget he's up there somewhere.

This God, this God is awesome. And when you get your prayer life, when you get your prayer life around that concept, what is too strong for God? The problem is nothing is weak. Sometimes we align our heart with the wrong things.

And just meditate on how awesome God is. Luke, do we have it or do we need to wait until next week? Okay, be here next Sunday, because I want to show you guys this. It was basically, it was pretty cool.

It was from Earth, like here we are standing here and it zoomed out and Earth got smaller and smaller and then the different stars and different things and all this crazy light and everything. And then it's just this Milky Way galaxy out in the universe. And then it's just this Milky Way galaxy and it just keeps expanding.

And do you know how many of those galaxies they are found now? David, you know, right? Any idea, any guesses? Well, it was millions and then it became billions. And I think it's like that, that God is who you're petitioning. That God is who you are asking for direction.

See, there's nothing impossible for God. We just need to position ourselves again. I believe the universe is just probably expanding.

There's not like a wall they're going to find. And it drives me crazy when we trust all these scientists. You're a speck on what just drifted away.

And you know, well, no, this is how far light travels and this is how many and we're going to get to the Big Bang and we're going to find out. You're not going to find out anything. Science keeps changing.

God is stable. God is the only stable factor. And I love that verse with God, this awesomeness.

To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare him? Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits on the circle of the earth. And the inhabitants here are like grasshoppers who stretches out his hands like the heavens, like a curtain. And he spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

He brings the princesses to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless. That's powerful.

That is our God. And I'm going to close up here. There might be one more screen.

Acts 4, 23 through 26. And I haven't gotten to the good stuff. It's coming up still next Sunday.

Who by the mouth of your servant David has said? So basically, they're in this prayer meeting and they're saying, remember Lord, remember what you said to David? Why are the nations raging? And the people plotting vain things. The kings of the earth, they took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and His Christ. When David had written this, there was no Christ at that point.

They're waiting on the Messiah. Now the Christ is here and they're saying, this is a fulfillment of Scripture. The nations rage against Christ.

They hate the name of Jesus Christ. They will kill people because of Jesus Christ because no other name shakes the heavenly realm, the name of Jesus Christ. That's why every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord.

He sits on the edge of eternity and He holds everything in the palm of His hands. So you must pray according to God's Word. Remind yourself that it is written, it is written, it is written.

You can bank on that more than the stock market. You can bank on that more than the sun coming up. It is written according to God's Word.

Pray according to His Word. And when you pray according to His Word, that brings life-shaking, life-changing prayer. From a small booklet called When God Stepped Down from Heaven, a young man in a prayer meeting stood up and he said, Lord, You made a promise and are You going to fulfill it? This guy's bold.

We believe that You are a covenant-keeping God. Will You be true to Your covenant? You said, You said that You will pour out water upon him that is thirsty. You will flood him who is dry and barren of soul.

Lord, I do not know about these others here, but I know my own heart and I'm telling You right here and right now that I am thirsty. And I'm thirsty for a manifestation of the presence and power of God. And Lord, before I sit down, I want to tell You that Your honor is at stake because it is written.

We would normally never read that had it not been for the fact that that movement of the Spirit in that prayer meeting ushered in a powerful revival. I believe it was New Hebrews or Welsh or Scotland. Because he got to that point of desperation.

I'm so thirsty. Oh, that the promises of God, if you pursue Him, you will find Him. If you call on Him, He will answer.

If you come home, prodigal son, He will restore you. Or wayward daughter, He will restore you. If you're thirsty, He will satisfy you.

If you're broken, He will mend you together. The prayer that shakes earth begins in heaven. We must position ourselves accordingly.

So next week, I'm gonna talk about that a little bit more. There has to be a yearning, a desire, even if you don't feel like it. Even if you don't feel like it.

Isn't that so important when we remember about God? Because when we remember, we return. When we remember the goodness of God, we turn back to His grace. When we remember the holiness of God, we turn from our sin.

When we remember what God has brought us through, we turn back to thankfulness. Remembering is so important. And then as always, I want to remind those who might be listening who don't know God.

This is so serious about being a coward and not filled with the Holy Spirit. So much so that there is a verse, there is a verse in Revelation 21.8. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. See, here's the bottom line.

Even good people have a bad problem. Good people have a bad problem. God is love, but He's also holy.

He's also just. The only way to get to the Father is through the Son. And I thought as I was watching this video this week, I'm thinking, what can a beggar bring to the King of Kings? As a speck of earth just floats away, there I am on it, hello, hello.

You feel small? What can a beggar bring to the King of Kings? God actually says, a broken and contrite heart I will not turn away. I'm drawn to the sound of prayer and worship. I hear the cries of my people.

Humble yourself before the Lord who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy place. He who has clean hands, a pure heart, and has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor has he sworn deceitfully, give me a broken and contrite heart that I will not despise. Isn't that amazing? The beggars can give the King of Kings something.

We can give Him our heart and watch the Lord work through us. So the greatest earth-shaking prayer for many is Lord, I repent and I turn to You. I repent and I turn to You.

And then like all the rest of us, you can sing, it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Guys, you know, isn't that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful? I don't have to come up here and put on my acting face and let me say these things and let me collect a paycheck.

Like it is truly well with my soul. And many of you can attest that it's well with my soul. Doesn't mean life's easy.

Actually, it gets difficult. But no matter what hell I go through, I know who brought me through. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear that evil.

When the floods come over me, when the floods come over me, I will not be destroyed. And when I walk through the fire, I will not be scorched because the Lord God Almighty holds us up. And that's why I can pray it is well, it is well with my soul.

All hell is breaking loose. All your finances are gone because of a cyber attack. It is well, that stinks, don't get me wrong.

But it is well, it is well with my soul. Oh, this is happening. You're getting terminated.

You're getting, you have no job next week. Oh, oh, but it is well, it is well with my soul. Lord, my kids are not walking where I want them to be walking.

But it is well, it is well with my soul.