The Desperate Need To Intercede

The title is, The Desperate Need to Intercede. The Desperate Need to Intercede. What I mean by that is, how many of you don't know what intercession is? Maybe you don't want to raise your hand, that's okay.

Intercession has always been God's method to turn a person as well as a nation back to Him. Okay, remember that. I'm not gonna stick to my notes too much, but intercession has always been God's method to turn a person as well as a nation back to Him or to pray for safety and protection.

I don't quite understand it, but God uses you and me to intercede. Now, it can turn a nation around. It can turn, I believe, LA County around.

It can turn your prodigals around. And I don't quite understand it, but I see it throughout Scripture. I mean, Abraham interceded.

Sodom and Gomorrah, you see Moses interceding on behalf of the people. How many prophets interceded on behalf of the people? Daniel said, we have sinned. Nehemiah, before he rebuilt the wall, went and interceded.

Jesus interceded. The Holy Spirit intercedes. I think you're getting the picture here.

And normally I wouldn't come up because I just want to keep worshiping, but I think this is so important because this could change the trajectory of your prayer life even tonight. And interceding, when you look at it as interceding, at least when I do when I get up in the morning, I'm going to say this, but it's not exactly what I mean. It's like, okay, I've got a job to do.

And it's more than a job. It's a responsibility. It's a commitment.

It's a burden to intercede for our families and for our nation. And God has called us to do it. It's simple.

It is so simple. But as we all know, it's not easy. How many of you think real prayer is easy? Then you probably haven't really prayed.

Those who sow in tears, reap in joy. Remember that as we go into worship here in a little bit. And this type of intercessory prayer, it's been called laborious.

Pressing in, laying hold of God, and persevering in prayer. And that's what it is sometimes. It's not just a quick little prayer on your way to work.

And I love those. I do them all the time. But something takes place in your heart, in your life where the phone's off, the distractions are out, you're on your knees, you're on your face, you're sitting, I don't know, but you are... How many of you know it's wrestling? You get more exhausted than when you started.

And you feel like you're fighting against principalities in the wickedness in the heavenly realm. Nehemiah, how many of you know the story of Nehemiah? He was called of God to rebuild the entire wall around Jerusalem. And it opens up, I actually had the verses in there and in different things, but I didn't want to make the message too long.

But he says, he asked the Jews, how's it going in Israel? And they said, it's not good. The walls have been torn down. It lays in desolation.

And it says his heart actually broke. And can you imagine if he would have just said, oh man, that stinks. I'm good here, I'm the cup bearer.

I'm doing good, but we'll pray for you. Complacency. Complacency never ushers in that powerful intercessory prayer.

What about if Paul was passive or if Esther was indifferent or if Moses was unmoved or if David was docile? And believer, you've got to get something fired up in your heart about the things of God, about the condition of our nation, because I truly believe what is the burden on your heart, if you take that to the Lord, you will see Him make a difference in that area. Maybe not in the scope that you think or that I think, but even when we started, when we planted the church, we had no idea it would turn into this. Interceding on behalf.

How many people have been saved and set free? Thousands over the years. It's amazing. And watching our kids pursue God, and even though there's challenges and they rebel and just interceding and wrestling.

Real prayer is really wrestling. It's warfare, because you're wrestling not only against the enemy, but against your flesh. I don't want to get up.

I've got things to do. That's why I have to turn my phone off, because I'll start, oh, I've got to do this, I've got to do this. I've got to email this, I've got to... And we get so busy.

And it's wrestling against the flesh. Gene easily said something very important. I think we have his quote up there.

Someone has to have a broken heart if we are to see revival. Bible sells are up, but broken hearts are down. A broken heart cannot come from a bitter one.

And a contrite heart cannot come from a divisive spirit. Folks, we want to intercede so bad. I know we do, but there's so much arrogance and bitterness in our hearts and a divisive spirit.

This is the biggest thing we have to work for in this church more than just about anything else. It's trying to remove the divisiveness. The offense.

People get offended. They get hurt. They say this or this or, you know.

It's just this divisive spirit. Why is so-and-so on the worship team? Why is Shane doing this? Why is this? And I don't know about this. Why is that? It's like they just come in the negative Nellies.

That's why I coined that phrase. Judgmental Jerrys, negative Nellies, critical Cathies. And doesn't it just zap? It just completely annihilates a powerful worship service.

Because you go from just praising God and thank you to disgruntled. And I don't really want to be here. I don't want to run it.

That's not church. We've got to, that's why I'm glad Maddie said that about our attitudes getting here. Anybody, did that help anybody? Oh, I think more than that.

It helped me. I'm having one of those days. I was trying to think how I could have Pastor Abram cover.

All day. And that's, I have it here. Nehemiah said, so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and I wept and I mourned for many days.

I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. There must be a yearning for change. There must be a burning for His presence and a burden for the wayward.

Guys, I'm telling you, this is a secret to prayer. It can't be, yeah, I'll pray tomorrow. And yeah, everything's going good.

And I'll try this and I'll put on some Christian music on my drive. And again, all those things are great, but to really go deep in prayer, there's got to be a yearning for change. There's got to be a burning for His presence.

There's got to be a burden for the wayward. And the guy who just announced Steve Hilton that he's running for governor, I sat down with the homeless people and just holding them and praying with them. And I'm like, that's what we got to do.

Like, I don't know where he's at spiritually, but I mean, there's a burden. And we see the homeless. We see the meth capital of California there, and of course, just to the east of us.

And we've got our problems here with Department of Child Services and not only trafficking, but childhood. It's just like, it breaks your heart, but you've got to feel that. You've got to desire that.

You've got to yearn for change because here's the amazing thing. Throughout all of the biblical texts, there's exceptions, but God just chose one man or one woman. All I need is Esther.

Oh, I just need David. I'll use a Gideon, I'll get him up. And then he had thousands and thousands and God said, get him down to about 300.

300? I just need one. Just give me Ezekiel. Give me Jeremiah on fire.

I just, just Abraham, Noah, Moses, because, oh, I can't do much. I'm not in the majority. We want big numbers.

Oh, voting blocks. You plus God is the majority. But in order to really be an intercessor and watch the prodigals come to church, and sometimes we just have our heart burst because we see people at the altar who've been praying for a long time with people in the prayer room and their spouses and their kids and people coming to know the Lord that you would have never thought and you've prayed for them and you see that, but there has to be a yearning for change.

Guys, and we have to remove a lot of the distraction of the world because the more of that world that goes in the YouTube and the Netflix and the whatever, you know what it is, the more of that, I've noticed this, have you? That it pushes out the godly things. I don't really yearn for change. It's like, oh, well, I become indifferent.

No big deal. And we've got to have that desire and that burning. God, we burn for Your presence.

We want more of Your presence. And I have a burden for the wayward. Now, here's what happens if you're like most Christians.

I've been there. That sounds great, but I don't yearn, burn, or burning. I'm not burning or burdened.

I hear it, but I don't feel it. Can you relate? Oh yeah, that makes sense, but I could really care less about anything right now other than my job and my appetite and my sleep and my girlfriend. I can't relate to these things.

And that's actually part of the Christian life because it's the flesh dominating. That's what comes out. And so that's why we have closing worship.

That's why we're not in a hurry. We have the prayer room. You've got to say, God, I want those things.

I do the same thing. I don't yearn for and burden for like I used to with even where our nation, how far it's drifted with abortion. You guys, I'm not going to share it again, but it was the whole story, but it was down in 2008, I believe.

It was at the LAX Hilton near there with wall builders. And I just went to a conference and they're showing videos on partial birth abortion. And I went back to my hotel room.

I've not wept that hard in a long time. Long time. And I prayed, God, give me a voice.

Give me a burden. I'm digging ditches. I'm running heavy equipment.

What am I going to do? Talk to people on construction sites. Oh, they really want to hear that. But something has to break us.

Maybe go to the pregnancy resource center for half a day. Go to the homeless places and walk around and be careful, of course, but if you're not out there seeing it, you're not experiencing it. And we've created this bubble that we have to really break through and say, God, break me in order to remake me.

I want to read something. I quoted Gene Easley. He's got four books out that I know of more probably, I'm sure.

This one is Rebuilding from Rubbish, Nehemiah's Cry for Revival. He said, a small church sits almost unnoticed along the side of a city street. This little church has seen no converts for so long that such memories of better days no longer linger in the mind of her people.

And the people really don't expect anything anymore. There's no weeping around the altars of prayer. No one cries out for the perishing.

It's just the same small group meeting together week after week, month after month, year after year. The Spirit of God isn't moving. The joy of salvation no longer pervades the atmosphere.

That church will never see revival. Their case is hopeless unless God raises up an intercessor, someone to stand in the gap. God, that's what we need, folks.

I mean, I'm sure if you're like me, our families all around us are a mess. I've got loved ones in rehab. Others trying to take their life.

Divorce. Physical abuse, emotional. It's downright discouraging.

But God has called us to be intercessors. And I wonder how much breakthrough we don't see because we don't grasp it. We don't have hold of God and press in like never before.

It's all about positioning. It's all about positioning. And that comes from prioritizing.

If you guys are sensing, okay, I need to get a little bit deeper in my prayer life, it's all about positioning yourself. It's prioritizing. Prioritizing.

If God could give you a glimpse, I'm talking a five-second glimpse of the power of prayer, you'd be on your face tomorrow morning all day. You would cancel your appointments if we could just see that glimpse. We have to prioritize it.

This happens here, and I try not to share too much. I pray a lot about things. But I run into people all the time.

I just talked to somebody on email. I haven't seen in probably since last year. And they're just so busy.

Sixty hours a week. I don't say it, of course, but I know if you really wanted to be here, you'd be here. Maybe they'll listen.

I don't know. But I see it all the time. And mainly men pursuing more money.

And sometimes, I know, I've had to work seven days a week. I've had to provide. I'm not lecturing.

But when something's a priority, you make it happen somehow. Somehow. You gym rats, you make time.

You got your favorite show on Netflix or whatever it is, you make time. We make time for things that are priorities. So you've got to say, God, I want that priority of prayer back in my life, back in my heart.

Something I've been looking at for about two weeks. I was going to talk about Sunday. I might talk about some of this.

But something that's so interesting is in the temple area, you know the altar. You've heard about the altar. But on the altar, they had horns.

Horns on the corner. And often, the Bible would say people would go and they would lay hands on the horns of the altar. They would go in, they would grab those horns, and they would lay hold.

And it's almost this picture you have of with one hand God and with one hand the person you're interceding for. Laying hold of the horns of that altar. God, I want Your presence and Your power, and I'm interceding.

I'm that bridge between where that person needs to be and where they're at now, and I'm interceding. And that's why He told Ezekiel, I sought for a man from among them who would intercede on behalf of me and the land. And just I'm looking for that person who would lay hold of God.

See, that's first, they have to lay hold of God. They've got to be anchored in God. Lay hold of God.

Then they intercede and they reach out to, whether it's a wayward spouse. Anybody have any of those? Wayward children. I mean, I'm shocked and I try to be loving and I don't want to upset and I try to shut my mouth sometimes, but I can't believe the amount of parents who when their children are caught in terrible things and it's like, oh, well, I don't know.

Have you prayed and fasted for a day? Oh, honey, I don't have time for that. You know, what? Hello? What? Is King's Stomach that strong? Is that series on Netflix that great? Are you really that busy when the very soul of your child lays in the balance? I mean, where's that holy fire saying, not my child? Mm-mm. They're leaning towards sexual orientation.

Lord, I am going to war. I went to war in 24. I'm not taking a dive in 25.

I don't know about you. You'll get down your way home. But that's what intercession is.

Laying hold of God and laying hold. It's hard, though, because you might be laying hold of the spouse who you don't like anymore. Anybody have those? I don't, so it's okay.

But I relay kids that are rebellious, employers, a nation. I mean, our nation drives me nuts. I mean, literally.

I can't watch much of the news. I don't know who these liberal renegade judges think they are. But like, if I could communicate with them, it would not be nice.

Because they're destroying what we're leaving for our kids and grandkids. What about the crime? It's like, Lord, the only answer is lay hold of the altar. Lay hold of the altar and intercede.

What about Jesus on the cross? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The Holy Spirit is actually given as an, do you know the Bible says something interesting that we don't, Paul says, I don't even know how to pray. Sometimes, have you ever been there? But the Spirit, it's funny, the Greek language is, they interpret it as groans.

But it's really, it's a deep reservoir of burden. And the Holy Spirit groans with things we don't even understand. But the Spirit is interceding.

Does that happen when I'm at home doing things, watching things, the movies, the internet, the news? And again, I think that's okay and balanced. But you have to see, the things of the world are gonna push out the yearning of the Spirit. To really get into deep prayer, let me just tell you a few tips.

Don't eat for a little while. How many of you ever felt, I don't know how it works, I don't like it. I don't like it.

Anytime I preach or teach or if I eat, if I feed one appetite, which isn't bad, but I don't exchange it for a greater appetite for God, it weighs me down. And I know why, with the digestive food and L-tryptophan and L-theanine and all these. But there's something about saying, Lord, I'm starving this little fleshly appetite to seek You.

Have your coffee or your tea or whatever. But I'm just saying, there's gotta be a starving of one thing in order to press in deeper with God. And then a prioritizing, I'm turning my phone off for a little while.

Lord, maybe a good devotional book, maybe open Your Word and God, I'm just gonna sit with You and I'm gonna hear from the Father. Intercession must cost us something. Oh, there's a cost.

Look at what God has been doing at this church on Sundays and Wednesdays. There's a cost. There's a cost to the worship team and myself and others.

David said, I will not give God that which cost me nothing. I will not give God that which cost me nothing. Here's the cost.

It has to be prayer over comfort, fasting over feasting, worship over entertainment, and seeking God over solace, over relaxation. What's good though is all these things in moderation are fine, comfort and fellowshipping and entertainment and quiet and relaxing, those are all great, but sometimes those pull us more than prayer. And that's where we get off course.

I mean, parents hear me. I know you pray, obviously, but do you press in? Do you press in? Because that's where the veil is rent and heaven is open. That's when you press in.

You begin to, I mean, all those verses, I'm not gonna go into all the different ones, but you've heard me talk about them before. The more you seek me, the more you find me, the more you crucify the flesh and He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And you can see there's a travail, there's a pressing in, the old saints used to call it, I prayed through.

I prayed through. What does that mean? Well, go talk to somebody who has. And it wasn't a microwave prayer time.

They pressed through. And there's something, I've been there, there's something, and I don't wanna put time limits on it, we're all busy, some of you have more time. But there's, I mean, sometimes when a few hours go by and you're worshiping and the Word comes alive and you're pressing in and you pull down heaven, you get your heart right and you begin to do business with God and the Holy Spirit cries, Abba, Father, intercedes and you get, I mean, there might be a little sweat.

There might be, I'm kinda tired, but oh, I got through to God. Because there's a point where you get to where that pressing in turns into a breakthrough. And it's hard to get a breakthrough without a press through.

How many of you have experienced a breakthrough? Did it come easy? Worship is often connected with intercession. Worship is connected with intercession. So the next time we have a call to worship, look at that as a time to intercede.

That's one of the reasons we have 6 a.m. on Sunday. Tell your flesh you're getting up, drive to the church or Wednesdays and you come and you begin to worship and as you're worshiping, you're interceding. I don't know about you, but I can't worship without praying.

Really, I don't know what that looks like because the heart's engaged. So I'm just gonna put these verses up there and then we're gonna go back into worship. It's where we would've been tonight anyway.

Psalm 95. Check these out. Just look at these.

Let these just minister to your heart. So powerful. Come.

Oh, come. Look at the cry of the psalmist. And I guarantee there's a little volume on these.

Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. It's really a call. Come to the assembly.

Come to the congregation. Come and cry out to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

Do you know worship shouldn't always be just boring? That's why we often say the frozen chosen. Have you ever, have you been, you know, you've been there. The church is just kind of, turn to page 32.

Okay, I mean, there's just no life. There's no excitement. And I know because there's some weird churches out there and anytime you get a little, but it's biblical to shout.

Get a little excited, get joyful. Because I don't know, but if your son or daughter was on drugs and crystal and meth and fentanyl or whatever and heroin shooting up and now they're delivered, now they're here. Yeah, I don't know.

You might get a little excited, wouldn't you? Right, there's a joyful shouting to the Lord. Oh, if God, you knew where I used to, where I came from, where I should be. Oh, if I went back 20 years ago, I should never be here.

I don't even know if I would know you. Oh, you might get a little loud during amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

When you sing that, can you experience? I was blind, but now I can see. I was lost, but now I'm found. There's a joy.

Nothing else should excite us more than that relationship with God. It's exciting to pursue God. For the Lord is great.

He is our God. He is the great King above all the other gods. Oh, see, if you just read this in the morning, it will set the stage for the rest of the day.

In His hands are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the hills are also His. The sea is His.

He made it. He made it. Who makes the Atlantic and the Pacific and the Indian and Mediterranean? Who makes the oceans? I mean, is that just an awesome thought? Who can tell the waves here and no further? Unbelievable.

We get excited about everything else. Wow. Oh, come, let us worship.

And what? And bow down. That's where we get it from. And let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.

It's what it is. I get it. It's sad.

I just tell people you might want to find a different church if you think we're too emotional. I don't know what to tell you. But I mean, there's an expression.

I mean, when you're worshiping God, you're not a statue. You are a created being made in the image of God. You're a saint, but you still struggle with sin.

And the emotions are, oh God, thank you for bringing me through that. Thank you for this. And sometimes, you know, there's an emotion.

Oh God. You get up and all your money's out of your 401k. You're going to get, oh God, what happened to my 401k? Where's all my money? What's going on? What's the difference? Emotions can be good and God-given.

It's how we express ourselves. And it sacks people. You guys are just too emotional during worship.

Well, what should we look like? The cemetery on Lancaster Boulevard? Hello? Yeah, there's a living God doing incredible things. Of course, there's going to be a little excitement. But we're all wired differently.

That's why you can't put how you worship on someone else or on someone else. I mean, my best spot of worship is sitting down, just remembering what He's done. I'm not worried about people looking at me, what they think.

I'm just worshiping. At home, sometimes I just kneel or just fall on my face. I sit on the ground and put on worship and just express it and sometimes just get up and say, oh God, God, thank you.

That was a close call with my kiddos. That was a close call. Or others I'm interceding for who are not in a good spot.

For we, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in rebellion. I don't know, I've read this.

I try to get through the Bible every year in the New Testament more and I've read this so many times and I've always thought what a spot to stick that in there. Isn't it? We're doing great. Let us bow before the Lord, our Maker.

Let us worship in the Lord and the beauty of holiness and seek Him. Let all the God who created heavens and earth and worship Him and bow down. And oh, by the way, today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart as in rebellion.

Now, I don't want to speak into what the author was saying. I don't know exactly. Other than what happens, a lot of times people go through a form of worship and they're convicted and God convicts them of things.

Have you ever been convicted during worship? So when you hear that voice, harden not your heart. Get back to a position of worship. It can be anything from anger and control.

Anger and control. Men, can you relate? You can, you're just not shaking your heads. I know.

Bitterness, women, jealousy, envy. Spend too much time on Instagram, you're gonna get real jealous. I even have a hard time, like why are these people always on vacation? They're always eating perfect.

Do they have a chef? The refrigerator like looks like a salad bar. They're at this place or that place. Oh, my husband just bought me this for my, look at, it's like, don't let Instagram define your marriage or your life.

But today, if you hear that voice, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart as in rebellion. So what that tells me is when God's prompting, God's conviction, we know we need to apologize or get things in order. And if we keep ignoring that, your heart can get hard.

Have you ever experienced that? How many of you have poured concrete before? Oh, it's not bad the first few minutes. Just mixing it up. I gotta shove, well, I can put it where I need it to go.

It's too high, I can move it over here. Too low, I can bring some in. This concrete's looking so nice, so good.

Come back the next day and try that. What happened? Hard, hard, hard, hard, because it's set. And the more you continue to sit in your sin or sit in bitterness or these things, do not harden your heart.

That's why I love closing worship. Open your heart in worship. God, listen, I have to tell you this.

I've been avoiding it sometimes when it comes up, but I've lived here all my life. As you know, I wasn't a worshiper. I was a rebel until I was about 29, 30.

And so, planning the church, knowing so many people around town, so thousands coming through our doors, right, I've watched this many times before. I've seen it more times than I can count. Those who are not worshipers are often hard.

And they have Bible knowledge. Maybe they know more Scriptures than me. They've got head knowledge, but there's no heart engagement.

And I've seen these men, I've seen these women, just legalistic, arrogant Pharisees. Hard, hard, hard. They don't worship.

They're not into worship. Worship keeps you pliable. Again, worship is, and here's what they say to me, well, Shane, worship's a lifestyle.

See, they'll come up with any excuse, any excuse. I challenge them, come to morning worship, come to worship, come to the altar. Oh, I can do that at home.

I can do that at home. I'm not a worshiper. Can you imagine telling Jesus that? I'm not a worshiper.

I'll read your word, but I'm not a worshiper? Really? I truly believe that worship is the priority. And then from a heart of worship, those who worship God will worship Him in spirit and truth. From that heart of worship comes study.

From that heart of worship comes service. From that heart of worship comes apologetics and theology and all these things. And from that, that's the reservoir of life.

Out of that flows, that's where everything else comes from. But if you just build on a hard, hard foundation, that's why I often say, straight as a gun barrel theologically, but just as empty, void of the work of the Spirit. And of course, do they want to hear that? Absolutely not.

Absolutely not. And then Psalm 96, oh, here's another oh. I love these ohs.

Because you know it's there for a reason. It's like, what am I going to begin the sentence with? Yeah, oh, h. Let's begin it with oh, h. You can imagine the Hebrew scribes, right? He's writing it. How else would you, can you, I mean, just imagine that ink, right? He's getting the ink out of the quill or whatever they call those things in the little, and just that, oh, wow.

Can you imagine? I just, sometimes I just, what was there? Oh, worship the Lord. Worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness. Let me add an exclamation point.

Let me, oh, worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness. Do you know there's something beautiful about holiness? Men, women pursue holiness. It's not weird.

It's not legalistic. Holiness just means I'm going to have to live a little bit different because I value my relationship with the Lord so much. I've got to be holy and set apart.

You don't want to give your heart to another. And then tremble before Him all the earth. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns.

Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad. Let the seas roar in all its fullness. Let the field be joyful in all that's in it.

Let all the trees rejoice before the Lord, for He is coming. He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and people with truth.

So as I close on this topic, let me give you a tip. Tip, three words for intercession. And we said it earlier.

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. If you say, Lord, I hear all that, but I don't feel it. But I'm going to prioritize you.

I'm going to put you first tonight before I go to, or tomorrow morning. I'm going to seek you even when I don't feel like it. Guys, here's the secret to the Christian faith.

It really is. Seek Him despite how you feel. The feelings come later.

Do you know how many times I've came here on Wednesday or Sunday and I didn't feel like it? If I could have got out of here, I would have. But I have to fight through, Lord, this isn't You. This is the enemy.

This is discouragement. God, I want to press through. I need to hear from You.

God, and the more you seek Him and the more you begin to open up and repent and worship comes alive in your heart, then now here comes the feelings. Oh, here they are. Here they are.

Now there's joy. Now there's freedom. Now I'm excited.

Where were you an hour ago? That's how it works. That's the enemy's plan is to get us discouraged and disgruntled. That's why many people don't come to church.

They don't really worship. They just stay stuck and neutral. I mean, look at all those Scriptures.

Again, I'm not going to quote them, but when it says, seek me, you'll find me, do you think the writer felt like it? Rejoice. Well, sometimes I don't feel like rejoicing. It doesn't matter how you feel.

Sing to the Lord a new song. I don't want to do that. It doesn't matter what you want to do.

Here's why. You're telling your flesh to be quiet and you're pursuing God. As you do that, the flesh's voice begins to silence itself.

And the Spirit of God begins to take over and lead your life. Ask for agony. Ask for agony.

Not tons of agony, but Lord, give me that. Because I'm telling you, oh, when you get a burden, when you get a burden and that agonizing for your spouse, your children, or our nation, or our state, and it's a good agonizing, I guess. It's not the world's coming to nothing and my stocks or whatever, and you're agonizing over this or that.

It's like, Lord, I've got to give you this weight. I've got to give you this burden. Turn your TV off and begin to intercede.

Unplug your phone and call heaven to your home. Again, tell King's stomach he's no longer in charge. So we're gonna put up some prayer points.

Anytime we do something like this, how many different opinions are in here? We don't know exactly how God would want corporate prayer to go. There's models, of course, a little bit in the New Testament, how they sing psalms. But all we know is the Bible talks about pressing in.

The Bible talks about praying. The Bible talks about coming in agreements together. So we can pray for these things.

Not necessarily individually, and I can have different people come up, but you can come forward. You can come to the altar. You can stay seated.

You can stand. And we're gonna pray for healing. I'm not afraid of that topic.

I don't know why so many people are like, oh, because they see some weird guy on TV throwing his coat at people. I'm never gonna let somebody's actions deter me, stop me from pursuing God. Okay? Pray for healing.

Maybe you need it yourself. It's okay to intercede for yourself. Maybe God will convict you about something.

Harden not your heart. Harden not your heart. Salvation, anybody know friends or family that need to be saved? Just think, we are praying to the God of the universe who created the galaxies, who raises up kings and demolishes kingdoms like that with the breath.

His whisper cracks rocks like Yosemite. And we're going to that God. And don't get discouraged because often God is pressing in.

And I begin to thank God for prayers that haven't quite been answered yet. That really helped. Do you know why? Because that kept me close to His feet.

I begin to realize if the prayers were answered, I'm good, I don't need to pursue God. But that burden for your spouse, that burden for maybe your own spirituality, that burden, Lord, why isn't this being answered? Why? It's okay, son, it's okay, daughter. Let it lead you to the cross.

And maybe I'll get to the end of my life and not see a prayer request. But thank God it kept me close to the shepherd. Again, if God could just open your eyes for five seconds and see.

Do you know that sometimes He would show people the spiritual realm? Remember the prophet that had his servant with him? And he said, God, just open his eyes. Because he was worried the Assyrian army or one of the armies was encamped. And he's worried.

He said, God, just open his spiritual eyes. And he looked and he could see the angels and the armies of heaven. That's who's really on the throne.

That's who's, so many things are coming to my mind from Sunday, but I want to share this with you. How many times we read Joshua, Moses, I mean, the disciples, you could keep going. And how many times does the Bible say, fear not.

Don't fear that person. Don't fear that person. Don't fear that.

And I realized not once did God ever say, you know what, yeah, fear that person. Be careful there. You know, you want to be careful.

Never. Never once. Fear not.

I don't care if it's an entire Assyrian army. 185,000 soldiers. Do you know what God did? Hey, death angel, can you take care of this? Can you maybe just open our eyes for five seconds? Have you prayed for sons and daughters and you see no progress? How do we know? How do we know? Because without faith, it's impossible to please God.

The best prayer request is believe in God, even when you don't see. So pray for that salvation. Safety and salvation for our children.

We need to cover our children like never before. Gosh, even when I was growing up, can you believe how far it's declined? God help our children, our nation, our leaders. Again, you can lift them up individually.

Unity and forgiveness. Guys, if you really want to see revival, awakening in this church, in your homes, you have to be focused on unity and forgiveness. I realized this week, you know, man, I haven't seen in a divisive church, God move, ever.

In divisive relationships, never. They stay divisive. Friction, bitterness, offense.

It's like the Spirit of God just lifts. But when people begin to say, I'm sorry, I don't want to carry this bitterness in anymore. I've been wrong too.

Yeah, how healthy is that? Wouldn't you just love people say, you know what? Let's just move forward. I could have handled things better too. I could have did things different.

I own some of this. Can you imagine? No, but we all walk in like this. No, no, no, no, hey, what's up? I'm not saying nothing.

They know what they did to me. They know what they said. They had their attitude.

I'm not dealing with this. Why even come to church? If he hung naked on a tree. You know the Bible says that? That we have to forgive others because He first, I mean, just let that sink in.

What can I hold against anyone? And I know it's hard. I know it's hard. Of all the couples at this church, who do you think gets hurt the most? Just guess.

Yeah, you know, all the time, all the time. Do we hurt people? Oh yeah, I'm good at that too. But we work hard to let it go, move forward.

And here's a good thing. Paul says, as much as it depends upon you, live at peace with all men. You can experience revival while the person is still just bitter on the second row.

No, I don't want to see them. It doesn't matter. You're going to joyfully worship the Lord.

You're done. You've done all that you can do. You don't need Sarah.

Yeah, was it Sour Sarah? Or Sour... I'm trying to think of names of people I don't know. So, let's see. Olga.

What rhymes with Olga? Angry Olga. But as much as it depends upon you, that's been freeing for me. Because I can't control these different offenses.

People are mad at me every week. But as long as we get our hearts right, God will do amazing things. Unity and forgiveness.

Maybe there's something in your heart that's stifling the work of the Spirit. Because as Christians, we're really good when we know the Word. Oh brother, sister, that's 2 Peter.

That's 1 Corinthians. That's Jude. That's Mark.

Mark said that. James. But if your heart is arrogant and hard and bitter, man, even talking to you, we can become hard as a rock at home.

And you'll hurt your spouse. And then finally, missionaries. Lift up those you know.

We have some in Mexico, Philippines. White Cliff Bible translators putting wells in Africa. A lot of that is out on the electronic bulletin from time to time.

But lift those up in the persecuted church. How do we know? How do we know they're praying for the Christians in Syria? Do you follow what's going on in Syria and Africa? You think you're having a bad day. Like, they're light.

They're watching their kids be killed. Beheaded. Hundreds sometimes.

It's, I can't comprehend this. Pray for them. Lift them up.

Pray that God will give these terrorists visions and dreams of the Messiah, that they will come to know Him.