Do you realize that your foes are many?
You have a lot of enemies.
I do too.
And they go by the name legion.
They enter that man, Jesus said, come out
of that man.
He said we are many, we are legion.
And this legion, our enemy, goes about as
a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
He doesn't sleep.
He doesn't slumber.
And I'm not trying to scare you tonight.
I'm trying to motivate you.
Because if you could see the demonic realm,
you would run to the prayer closet.
Do you know, as soon as we leave
here, the enemy is coming after us.
He says I'm coming after your daughter, I'm
coming after your son, I'm coming after your
husband, and I'm coming after you.
How do we protect ourselves?
Gene, you're making me worry.
No, I'm not.
I'm trying to point you to the one
who has the answer.
That's how important this is.
They are looking for prey to devour.
Shane, wait a minute.
You're not going to win a popularity contest
talking about this stuff.
I know.
But when I go home, I can say,
God, I did what you've called me to
do.
I edified your people.
I built them up.
I wanted to draw them closer to you.
If you don't believe that the enemy goes
about as a roaring lion seeking whom he
may devour, I can point you right to
that scripture.
The enemy goes to and fro throughout the
whole earth to devour.
Well, how does he devour us?
We open the door.
He goes, Oh, who's there?
Oh, it's you.
And we allow that to come in.
And prayer is the only weapon that keeps
him at bay.
And scurrying through a quick devotional isn't going
to cut it these days.
Do you realize that they're averaging?
I have to check it.
So don't, you know, hold me to this.
But I thought I read somewhere they've been
averaging some type of school shooting or something.
Was it like every week for the last
few years somewhere?
It's amazing.
The culture, what's happening in the church.
Denominations crumbling.
Presbyterians.
John Calvin would be turning in his grave.
Lutherans.
Martin Luther would not be happy.
Direction of some Methodists.
John Wesley would not be happy.
The direction of the church.
God needs to bring revival and awaken his
people.
And the only thing that's going to do
that is prayer.
So scurrying through a quick devotional isn't going
to cut it.
Reading the bible as if you're a NASCAR
driver is of little value.
Dead, cold, and formal worship only emboldens the
enemy.
Did you catch that?
Dead, cold, and formal worship only emboldens the
enemy.
He loves cold, callous, rigid hearts.
It's funny.
Anytime we sing songs like this, it hasn't
happened in a while, but we've had people
leave in the past.
I know it's hard to believe, but people
do leave West Side Christian Fellowship.
And sometimes it's funny.
It's like the worship, it's like break every
chain, break every chain, break every chain.
It's like brainwashing.
And I say, no sir, it's brain repairing.
It's not brainwashing.
It's brain repairing and it's exactly what you
need.
Your cold, callous heart needs to be broken
and feel the fire of the Holy Spirit
in your heart again.
The minute you start to critique worship is
the minute you better check your heart.
Now, do we need worship that's darkly sound?
Absolutely.
Do we need worship that glorifies Christ?
Absolutely.
But when we begin to pick apart and
when the word of God says meditate on
me, when the angels cry, holy, holy, holy
is our God, holy, holy, holy is our
God.
So much that the temple shook, the rafters,
the pillars in the temple shook.
Holy, holy, holy is our God.
So when we sing, if we might have
to stumble on a stanza and say it
twice, that's not a bad thing.
That's a heart being engaged with God.
As a matter of fact, it's a praying
heart.
When I'm praying and I'm petitioning God, I'm
saying break every chain.
Lord, break every chain.
Worthy is the Lamb.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain from
the foundation of the world.
God, I need you.
I'm a broken sinner.
That's a good thing.
That's the heart being engaged.
It's actually the people that want to scurry
through a song and move on to the
next one that I have concerns with.
Because worship should break the heart and penetrate
the heart.
Dead, cold and formal worship and prayer, they
only embolden the enemy.
But true worship and prayer will cause him
fleeing.
Do you ever wonder why all hell breaks
loose sometimes a couple hours before it's time
to go to church?
Why we have all kinds of malfunctions, especially
on messages like this.
This whole day was just unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
We almost didn't have sound.
We almost didn't have media.
We almost didn't have this.
Everything was just falling apart.
Why is that?
Because when a true church comes in and
worships and prays, the devil must flee.
The enemy must flee.
The demonic realm can't sit here in the
worshipful, powerful presence of God.
But he'll go sit in a cold, dead,
legalistic church all day long.
He'll say because you have the letter of
the law, but not the spirit of Christ.
You preach about the power of the Holy
Spirit, the fire of the Holy Spirit, as
if you're sitting on an iceberg.
He loves dead churches.
And he loves churches that worship this instead
of the one who is supposed to point
us to.
So be very careful on this topic of
prayer.
And I will tell you, this is absolute
certainty.
If this sermon is upsetting you, this is
exactly what you need to hear.
I'm convinced of that tonight.
The person that's upset by this is a
person that God's wanting to break your heart
down and soften it.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but
the filling of the Holy Spirit leads to
love, and joy, and peace, and contentment, and
long-suffering, and gentleness, and kindness.
So why are all these people saying they're
filled with the Spirit of God so angry,
and dogmatic, and rigid, and arrogant?
Modern-day Pharisees.
Because they know nothing about the prayer closet.
And the weapon of prayer finds its strength
waiting on the Lord and pressing in.
Waiting on God and pressing in.
See, I remember the old folks used to
say, these types of books, you'll read a
lot.
Books 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 300
years, you'll read a lot.
And we pressed in and we waited on
God.
We took a hold of God.
We didn't want to let go until we
found God.
We weren't in a hurry.
We sure didn't have Facebook.
We're not getting text messages.
We don't even know what a cell phone
is.
We're waiting on God.
We're pressing in.
The church doesn't know that anymore.
So we're a mile wide, but an inch
deep because we have no prayer.
Listen, this is the shoot you straight sermon.
This is going to radically change your life
if you embrace it.
The songs we sing, we serve an all
-sufficient Savior who was an all-sufficient sacrifice.
Just think about that.
We have an all-sufficient Savior.
All-sufficient for what?
You fill in the blank.
Everything.
An all-sufficient Savior who was an all
-sufficient sacrifice.
It's been done when Jesus said that King
James records that he gave up his ghost
and he said it is finished.
Do you know what that meant?
It's done.
Sin has been paid, eradicated.
The price has been paid on the cross.
That's why I get so passionate about this.
Because the sin debt has been paid.
And I've seen lives deliver from darkness and
into the glorious light of Jesus Christ.
He's an all-sufficient Savior.
That's why you can pray.
Oh, Jesus, help my marriage.
It's collapsing.
Oh, Jesus, help my finances.
They've dried up.
Oh, Jesus, my health is diminishing.
Oh, Jesus, my life is falling apart.
Oh, Jesus, my hope is gone.
Now, I know this isn't how tough guys
pray.
But it is how real men pray.
You realize that?
That's not how tough guys pray.
If I was a tough pastor, I'd be
in a suit and tie.
I would move from this pulpit.
My monotone would be consistent.
I would take apart a text and I
would exegete it.
I would bring in some Greek and some
Hebrew and some nuances and the verb tenses.
And this is a past-present tense, which
means this in the active form.
And I would be so polished.
But there's no spiritual life in it if
he's not a man of prayer.
If he's not a man filled with the
Spirit of God preaching the truth of God's
Word into the hearts of his people.
Oh, Jesus, I need you.
This isn't weakness.
It's realizing where our strength comes from.
I like to see men and women saying,
oh Jesus, oh God, if you don't move.
God says, that's the prayer I can answer.
See, now that you get out of the
way, that's the prayer I can answer.
You're too busy jockeying for position or trying
to pay it, trying to put on charge
card, trying to get your way, trying to
say bitter and angry.
But if you just get out of the
way and say, oh Jesus, I don't have
answers.
I can't get out of this.
No, it's just good.
I created the planets.
I created the universe.
I created the breath of life into Adam
and he became a living soul, a living
nephesh.
There's some Hebrew for you, scholars.
That God.
That God's who we're calling on.
That God.
Not the God of this book or that
book, the God, the true one and living
God.
Oh, Jesus, that's a very healthy prayer.
It's realizing where our strength comes from.
Think about that.
By the grace of God, the United States
right now has the most powerful military that
has ever existed.
Ever existed.
But guess what?
Even Navy SEALs call for support when they're
backed up against the corner.
Big destroyer out there 50 miles off the
coast.
Could you come visit us in about 10
minutes?
Guys, some of the toughest guys on the
planet call for help, support from fighter
jets.
Yet we neglect the one who created the
fire jets and the people to build them.
He's an ever present help in a time
of need.
My Bible tells me that he's an ever
present help in a time of need.
My Bible tells me where does my help
come from?
The government, the 401k, the gold, the stock
market.
Oh, God, help me.
My help comes from God, the maker of
heaven and earth, who holds Israel in his
hands.
The nation of Israel, he with a voice,
with the sound of his voice, he brings
one kingdom down and brings another kingdom up.
That God, that is the God I serve.
It's healthy to say, God, I'm backing in
a corner.
God, I'm backed in a corner.
And guess what?
Now he says, good.
Now I'll come in front of you and
your foes will go away.
Oh, you might have to go through a
little.
There might be some challenges.
There might be some difficulties.
I never said I would take you around
the storm, did I?
I said I would take you through the
storm.
Why do you do that?
Because now you know me as your captain.
Now you know me as your healer.
Now you know me as the one who's
delivered you instead of you delivering yourself.
The power of prayer.
If we could just get God's people to
pray as much as they're on Facebook, you
would see revival.
Somebody should post that on Facebook tomorrow.
Oh, man.
Just get passionate when I don't eat for
a while.
Actually, when you pray and fast, God's word
becomes alive.
It becomes active.
It becomes the brass ceilings of my prayers
not being heard.
Now the heavens are open.
Worship.
Worship doesn't sound like it used to.
Now worship is ministering to my heart because
deep repentance took place.
Now I got my heart in a position
to hear God.
That's what we need.
The very thing the church needs is the
very thing they're running from.
Brokenness, humility, prayer and worship.
That's where the power is.
I don't want the power.
I want to go to that bookstore and
buy seven steps to this and 10 steps
to that.
I just want a quick.
Can you give me a quick sermon excerpt?
Can I just get a daily devotional email
to me?
Trust me, God preached to me before I'm
preaching to you.
I remember a time when Elisha, he's one
of the Old Testament prophets.
He could see this army, this great army
was coming against the city.
And his helper was saying, Oh, my master,
Elisha, we're done.
He was scared.
He was depressed.
He was anxious.
He said, we're done.
And you know what Elisha said?
He said, God, open his eyes that he
may be able to see.
And it camped around the entire mountain range
was chariots of fire and the Lord's army.
Listen, one soldier in the Lord's army is
going to wipe out 185,000 Assyrians.
So Elijah just said, just open his eyes,
just open his eyes to see.
And that's what prayer does.
If you could see the spiritual battle you're
in, you would run for cover.
You would throw the television out in the
garage.
You would disconnect Facebook, let alone Netflix.
And you would get in there and you
would seek the heart of a father.
If you could see the spiritual realm, as
soon as you leave this building, you get
in the vehicle.
The voices are going to come.
Doesn't that hit sound good?
Doesn't that pill sound good?
Doesn't that liquor store sound good?
Doesn't that joint sound good?
Doesn't that hit sound good?
Doesn't it?
And it just draws you in.
The enemy goes about as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour.
This enemy never sleeps in slumbers.
He's not off on vacation.
If God could open your mind to the
spiritual realm, you saw the host of wickedness.
The host of wickedness?
Yes, in the Bible.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against powers, against demonic powers, against spiritual hosts
in the heavenly places.
It's not a tea party.
It's a wrestling match.
And if you could see that, you could
see the demonic realm that wants to crush.
You would see the demonic realm that wants
to destroy.
You would see the demons.
You think, oh, just a little devil and
a pitchfork.
That would make the exorcist look like it's
Choir Boy.
All these movies out now, they say, oh
my God, it's so evil.
You haven't seen nothing yet because that's fake.
This is straight Bible.
And when Paul talks about avoiding the wiles
of the devil, the trickery of the devil,
the deceit of the devil, and then he
goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom
he devoured.
Call me stupid, but this is serious.
This is serious.
And little 20-minute sermons just meant to
encourage aren't going to cut it sometimes these
days.
We need to penetrate the heart.
God wants our heart.
Because the enemy says, I'm coming after you.
And I don't like that.
Again, I don't want to scare you.
I know some people go, oh God, this
guy Shane.
He's too hardcore.
He's a Godzilla preacher.
But my point isn't to scare, it's to
motivate.
Because here's the truth.
Either what I'm saying is true, and we
better run to the prayer closet.
Or what I'm saying is false.
Then you have a problem with the inerrancy
of Scripture.
That's what the Bible says.
From Genesis to Revelation, the enemy is coming
in to deceive.
To draw us away from God.
And if you don't think he's coming after
your children, and your children, and your spouse,
and you, you've got another thing coming.
That's what he does.
That's his MO.
Modus operandi.
That's how he operates.
Do I like it?
Absolutely not.
I don't like having a spiritual 30-06
aimed right at my heart, walking around town.
He's just looking for an opportunity.
People say, Shane, don't you live in fear?
Absolutely not.
Because when you live in the shelter of
God's safety of protection through prayer and worship,
they can't touch you.
They're going to come into a worshiping, praying
heart.
They're going to try.
They're going to, they're going to, but they
can't touch that.
As a matter of fact, worship makes them
flee.
Preaching makes them flee.
They don't want to be here.
Three points, and I'll be out of your
hair for those who want to get out
of here.
Three points to hearing God's voice through prayer.
Number one, we need persistent prayer.
We need persistent prayer.
This is not going to sell a lot
of books if you talked about persistence.
See, they want quick things.
They want quick, quick, quick, quick things.
I told you guys, gosh, it might've been
four or five months ago now that last
summer a big, one of the big publishing
houses that I, approached me about writing a
book.
And when I sent them some examples, they're
like, oh, whoa.
We want to address the reader's felt need.
Okay, well, I'm trying to point them to
God.
How do you, and there's this big, you
know, it's a little negative.
Just, you just got to be positive.
Oh, tell them what they want to hear.
Oh, that's easy.
That's, that's called motivational speaking.
That's not called preaching.
But persistent, it's one of those things.
People aren't hungry for persistence, Shane.
People aren't hungry for discipline.
People aren't hungry for the truth.
No kidding.
That's why we need it.
We're pointing people in that direction.
Again, the old saints used to say, I'm
not letting go.
I'm not letting go until God answers my
prayer.
This doesn't mean they just laid in their
bed all day and didn't go to work.
Those types of people are actually the best
employees.
But they get up in the morning with
God on their heart.
They're praying to God on their way to
work.
They're praying to God on their breaks.
They're coming home and they're praying to God.
They're going out in the garage and reading
their Bible.
They're worshiping.
They're letting, they're holding on to God.
They won't let go until He answers their
prayer.
That's persistent prayer.
If you seek me with all of your
heart, you will find me.
See, we forget these, right?
If you seek me with all of your
heart, He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him.
And we might say, Shane, when are you
going to start quoting those verses?
As soon as we start obeying them.
Is that a good deal?
I won't mention those two scriptures again once
we start obeying that.
But see, we don't read the Bible as
a book of persistence and discipline.
Sometimes we just read it to get, oh,
God is love.
And God is graceful.
And God, oh, that's wonderful.
Let me go about my day.
But that's only one part of the story.
We need both parts.
The good news and the bad news.
How can you appreciate the good news without
the bad news as the backdrop?
We have to understand the whole nature of
God.
We wrestle.
We don't have a tea party.
We are wrestling with the demonic realm.
That's interesting if you think about it.
You are wrestling with the demonic realm.
Or you've lost and He's pinned you and
now He's taking control.
There's no middle ground.
Either you're wrestling and you're prevailing or He's
taking you down and pinning you.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
We'll train boxers to go 15 rounds, NASCAR
drivers to go three hours, and Olympic athletes
to train years for a medal that perishes.
But we won't spend time seeking God.
See, persistence.
The amount of time we spend with God
reflects the commitment level.
Or the amount of time we spend with
anything affects the commitment level, right?
Olympic athletes, committed.
NASCAR drivers, committed.
Committed, committed.
All that does, the amount of time we
spend reflects our commitment.
Great commitment, great amount of time.
Poor commitment, poor amount of time.
Commitment matters.
Perseverance matters.
Persevering in prayer.
When did God ever say, pray today, I'll
answer tomorrow?
But that's how some of us act.
I prayed.
I prayed that yesterday and two days ago
and last week.
It hasn't happened.
Oh, who's God?
You are God.
E.M. Bowne said, patience.
Patience has its perfect word in the school
of delay.
Delay just means that there's work to be
done.
So when God is delaying His answers, delay
does not mean deny.
Sometimes God answers yes, sometimes no, sometimes wait.
But it's in persistence.
Because here's the beautiful thing about persistence.
As you're pursuing Him, what happens?
A deeper relationship.
And actually, I've noticed that, oh, now my
prayer changes a little bit.
Now that I've been spending time in the
presence of God, what I thought was a
big mountain is now a little molehill.
Because He changes the heart.
But I hear many people on this point,
but Shane, I'm still bound.
I'm still bound.
I'm still addicted.
I'm still, it's been 10 years, it's been
5 years, it's been my whole life.
Shane, I want to believe that, but I
can't.
Well, two things.
The bondage, the temptation, I should say rather,
should drive us to our knees.
See, we forget that the temptation can be
used to show me my weakness so I
go towards Christ.
If He removed temptation and life was a
bowl of cherries, I doubt we would pray
very much.
Seriously.
It's when difficulty comes, it drives us to
the prayer closet.
So a lot of times that temptation will
stay there to teach us to go to
God and not, basically addiction is idol worship,
idolatry.
I know it's a hard thing to grasp,
but addiction is idolatry.
We're worshiping something other than God.
And when we worship God prevails, that's where
we're drawn to, God.
But it's in that persistent prayer and being
persistent.
And also strongholds are not easily broken.
Are they?
It's hard.
Break every chain.
You know how hard it is to break
a chain?
You get a big binder on that chain
and just crank it down.
Sometimes you've got to get a cheater bar
out.
It's a big old bar and you get
on it and you cheat, and then finally,
what happened?
The strength pulling was greater than the strength
in the chain.
Did you catch that?
Because that could change some of your prayer
lives tonight.
The strength pulling on that chain was greater
than the strength of the chain itself.
That's what persistence does.
Persistence.
Take a little hacksaw on a chain.
Just go over it three times.
What's going to happen?
But go by 20 Blaze at Home Depot
and just sit there for a few hours.
Now you can break that chain.
Persistence, discipline, diligently seeking Him.
I'm trying to make prayer warriors and soldiers.
That's what God's Word says, that we're soldiers
and we're prayer warriors.
So to hear God's voice in prayer, you've
got to be persistent in prayer.
That means falling forward.
That means probably everybody in this room is
convicted right now, including myself.
Because any time you can say, oh, I
pray enough, I'm good, then you're not good.
You're lying to yourself.
That's the good thing about conviction.
If even right now I'm preaching, I want
to pray more.
Good.
Get up in the morning when it's dark
out, when you wake up to go to
the restroom, get up and go pray.
Oh, I want to go back to bed.
See, that conviction draws me to the prayer
closet.
No conviction, no drawing.
So that's the thing.
People want to get rid of conviction.
But conviction is a wonderful gift of God.
And the next thing that we can't overlook
is passionate prayer.
Passionate prayer.
And what I mean by passionate prayer is
dead, formal prayer doesn't cut it.
You know the quick little prayers.
It's almost like as if we're doing God
a service or it's just a checklist.
I did my prayers.
Passionate prayer.
Think about this.
The God of the universe, not just America,
the God of the universe holds everything in
place.
He creates life and sustains it.
He is not a co-equal to the
devil.
Right?
You know that.
The devil and God are not equal.
We've talked about this many times before.
God sits on high and lifted up on
his throne and the enemy was just a
created being.
He created him by words.
He conquered kings and kingdoms.
God says, I will listen and I will
listen for hours.
Not only will I listen, I will lead
you.
I will direct you.
I will conquer your enemies.
I will devour your foes.
God doesn't look at the time.
He's not texting while we're talking.
He's not too busy.
You don't have to schedule God in next
week.
He's right here.
He's right now, right tonight.
As you call on the only name of
faith, he will hear you from the deserts
of Africa, to the Mojave Desert, to in
your house, to wherever you are.
It's a God who's here who will hear.
That's what's called an ever present help at
a time of need.
He's not too busy, ever.
Maybe it's me, but that amazes me.
Right now, right now, you could call upon
his name.
Lord, help me.
Help me.
That's right, you're off on Saturdays.
Boy, I know you're busy on Sundays.
I mean, just the God who created the
universe.
You know the initial big bang?
God said, bang, and the universe, billions, this
whole universe.
He says, would you come and spend time
with me?
Let me minister to you.
Let me build you up.
Let me restore you.
Let me speak into your life.
I'll listen.
I'll listen for hours.
I'll direct you.
I'll encourage you.
Just come to me.
If that doesn't excite you, then we need
to go back to Christianity Basics 101 and
talk about who the God of the Bible
is.
Now, granted, this isn't easy.
It's difficult, is it not?
We fight this because there's something in us
called the flesh.
And the Bible says that the carnal mind
is at enmity with God.
Enmity is a strong word.
It's not like an enemy, because enemies can
be reconciled.
Enmity cannot be reconciled.
It directly opposes God.
So I have something in me that hates
God.
Think about that.
Paul said to be carnal-minded is death,
but to be spiritual-minded is life.
The flesh is at enmity with God.
The carnal mind is at war with God.
So I've got something within me that's at
war with God, and I've got something within
me that's leaping for joy and wanting to
spend time with my Father.
So I've got these two opposing forces.
And Paul says, or the Holy Spirit's not
a force.
He's a person.
Don't get me wrong.
You know, theologians in the room will tear
me up on that one.
Gotta watch those guys, I'm telling you.
So you got two opposing.
You got the flesh, and you got the
Holy Spirit pulling.
Paul says, your choices are never free from
this conflict.
Therefore, be spiritual-minded.
Focus on the things that are of the
Spirit.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and honest
and noble and upright, meditate on these things.
Be not conformed to the world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Flee sexual immorality.
Make no provision for the flesh that you
might fulfill its lusts thereof.
That's how you fill up the Spirit of
God.
So the reason we don't want to pray
is because the flesh is dominating.
Let's just cut right to the point.
What inhibits a powerful prayer life is the
flesh.
It doesn't want to be dragged out of
bed.
It doesn't want to just sit there.
You've got to press through.
It's called pressing through.
The old folks used to also call it
travail of the soul.
Travail.
Watch a woman give birth.
That's travail.
Sometimes there's travail of the soul.
When everything in me wants to get up,
but Lord, I'm not getting up.
I'm pressing in.
I'm seeking You with all my heart.
And I believe it's time to recover our
passion for prayer.
I believe it's time to recover our passion
for prayer.
Well, you say, well, how do you cultivate
desire very easily?
You think about it.
How did you cultivate desire for your spouse
when you first liked them?
Now they say, I love you, but I
sure don't like you.
Let's go back.
Let's go way back.
Let's go way.
Let's just get real in the church tonight.
Let's go way back when there was something
called desire.
And you actually desired your spouse.
You want the good news?
That can be relit again.
How?
Right here.
Where do you thoughts go?
How do you cultivate desire?
You think about it.
I think about it all day long.
Who is looking forward to their wedding night?
Oh, call them that desire.
Fuck.
What?
Where?
Who's thinking about, you know, things, what they're
going to eat or watch.
They're thinking about it.
You see people want ballistic kicking a little
ball in the soccer field in Brazil.
I hope it's Brazil.
I don't know where it's played.
I think so.
But think about that.
That's how you cultivate a desire.
If you want to desire to pray a
desire for more of God, your mind's got
to go there.
And how does it go there with what
we feed our mind?
Why do you think I preach on this
point so often?
For as a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he.
I'm going to cultivate a deep devotional prayer
life by by focusing on God.
When I get up in the morning, I'm
focusing on God and reading his word.
I'm not looking to the L.A. Times
or this or all the acts murder this
or rapist out Lake Los Angeles or this.
You're all just feeding my mind and feeding
my mind.
The world's falling apart.
I have no desire for God.
Exactly because you're not cultivating a desire for
God.
You're cultivating a desire for fear and mayhem
and chaos.
That's why your life resembles those things.
This is why worship.
Let me just shoot you straight as if
I haven't already.
This is why worship is too emotional for
some people.
Their heart is disengaged.
Their heart has grown cold and callous.
They don't worship and they don't pray.
Worship is too emotional.
God help us.
You get a raise of work, you're emotional.
You get very angry.
Is anger not an emotion?
You win the lottery, you will be very
emotional.
I still don't have the words when I
held my four little kids.
Yet we're going to come into the house
of God and mock emotion.
Granted, emotions don't lead us, but they are
the caboose.
They're not the engine of the train.
They're the emotion.
They're the caboose of the train.
I mean, if I come in here and
we're singing, this I believe.
It was the Apostles Creed put into a
worship song.
I believe in the Father.
I believe in the Son.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
I believe in the communion of the saints.
I believe in his holy church.
The only church that will prevail the gates
of hell.
Isn't it interesting that Jesus said you might
prevail?
He said my church will prevail.
The true blood by church of Jesus Christ
that is praying and worshiping will prevail.
They won't shrink in attendance.
They'll grow in attendance.
The power of the Holy Spirit will be
there to change lives.
So you better get off your this is
too emotional kick and better start getting emotional
to God.
If he's changed your heart.
If he's changed your heart, why should you
not be emotional?
There are tears in Brazil.
I remember when the church prayed in an
upper room for days, then fire fell.
Remember that, Nacks?
And they were gathered in the upper room
for 10 minutes.
And after 10 minutes, the Holy Spirit fell.
Is that what it says?
Days, prevail, perseverance.
It cracks me up.
Sometimes I think some some Christians are look
at these early Christians.
All those poor pathetic Christians.
All night prayer meetings.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit flowing power of
God in their lives.
Those poor guys.
We got it down today, though.
We got it down.
No, we don't.
We need God now more than ever before.
I remember when the church prayed in an
upper room for days, then fire fell.
The manifest power presence of God falls on
an empty altar.
An empty heart that's looking to be filled
with the Spirit of God.
That's not a bad thing.
I remember when we weren't in a hurry.
Think about this.
I remember when we weren't in a hurry.
This is what I love sometimes about going
to African-American churches.
Sometimes I preach at those sometimes.
Man.
Three, four hour service.
They can worship God.
The choir is going.
There's worship.
That was an hour and a half of
worship.
Now it's a minute.
What?
Why?
They're not in a hurry.
We came to worship God.
That's what we do on Sundays.
Now I know if church is getting their
their services down to one hour, just just
one hour.
Why?
I said, why do you do that?
Because the culture, Shane, we got to reach
the culture.
No, you've got to reach God in prayer.
And then as that fire of God comes
from the pulpit, that's when the pew is
changed.
That's when the pew is changed, not conforming
to the culture.
Conforming to what God wants and allowing him
to build this church through the power of
the Holy Spirit.
But I remember when we weren't in a
hurry and sitting in the presence of God
was biblical.
Now it's called fanatical in churches that worship
the word.
Did you catch that?
I remember when we weren't in a hurry
and sitting in the presence of God was
biblical.
Now it's fanatical.
I'll never forget this.
This just struck me about three months ago.
I don't know, four months ago.
Some of you were here, but I couldn't
even preach during the second service.
We just we just worship the whole second
service.
Lord, you take over.
And I mean, we just I'm still hearing
from people how they're touched that night when
I got out of the way and just
let God do the worship.
And a guy leaves and gets upset and
said, I came to hear preaching.
He left never to come back.
I said, the very thing you need is
the very thing you're running from.
We don't worship the word of God.
The word of God points to Christ, and
then we worship Christ.
But I remember, don't you remember when prayer
drove the church?
Prayer drove the church.
Now we'll barely squeeze it in.
We'll fit in a few songs and then
we'll highlight the message.
I remember when you'd come early to pray
and stay late to lay hold of God.
It's amazing if I said, hey, after the
service, we're just going to stay for 45
minutes and just worship.
You know, people leave and go, man, this
guy's a little fanatical.
That's whoa.
Golly, don't they get hungry?
I don't know.
I don't know how you do that.
I, let me shoot you as straight as
I can with why what's happening.
You are not filled mightily with the Holy
Spirit of God.
Because when you're filled with the Spirit of
God, when you empty yourself and you're filled
with the Spirit of God, you have to
worship him.
You think I'm looking forward to getting home?
Absolutely not.
How can I talk to children's ministry and
staying an extra hour?
How can I let people lay hold of
God?
People on the altar turn around their chairs.
Well, that's a really that's a bad thing.
That's when lies are being changed.
Actually, in churches where lies are not being
changed is dead, formal and cold.
They come in.
Thank you, pastor.
They leave.
Nothing changes.
The heart is not engaged.
I remember when prayer was an asset, entertainment
was a liability.
I remember when people got excited about prayer
and worship.
I remember when prayer changed lives.
And guess what?
It still does.
Jesus said, my house will be called a
house of preaching.
Oh, no, I didn't.
Oh, we got the theology students shaking their
heads.
No, my house will be called the house
of VBS and men's studies.
No, my house will be called the house
of prayer.
And from that focal point of prayer, although
we don't get maybe a lot of corporate
prayer.
And now during the service, we try to
we want to get a lot of corporate
individual prayer.
That is really what is the cylinders that
fire our engine is individual prayer as well
as corporate prayer coming together.
You can't have one without the other.
If you're praying at home and petitioning God,
you come here, your heart says, I must
pray with fellow believers.
And if you want to pray here corporately
and you're praying, you'll go home and you'll
want to pray privately.
They're married.
You can't separate the two.
Many churches say, let's preach for an hour,
but scurry through worship.
Let's exegete the text, but not exegete my
heart.
Polish sermons, but there's no worn out knees.
Listen, the pew and the pulpit are both
responsible for the spiritual condition of the church.
On another note, I often ask critical people
to tell me about their worship and their
prayer life.
You can spot them, right?
Can you critical people?
They've been given the gift of criticism.
They're very critical about everything.
As a matter of fact, they probably picked
apart the service pretty good already.
Critical, critical people, critical heart pulses, rebuke a
divisive person for their unteachable.
Anytime I ask them, tell me about your
worship and your prayer life.
You know what they do?
They go to this.
No, no, no, not there yet.
Tell me about your worship and your prayer
life.
Oh, you don't have one.
That's why you're critical.
They're married.
Worship prayer in the word of God is
the threefold strand.
It's not easily broken.
We need all three of those.
And then obviously powerful prayer, powerful prayer, the
day of passive dead ritualistic prayer is over.
You realize this, the Pharisees prayed, the Pharisees
prayed.
The Pharisees on the road to hell prayed.
Jesus called them off.
You whitewashed tombs, you sons of Satan.
They prayed cults, cults, pray cults.
And Jesus said, and heathens pray with vain
repetition.
Heathens pray with vain repetition, going through the
motion.
Going through the motion.
There's no spiritual life there.
But Jesus said, but when you pray, go
and lock yourself up in the prayer closet
and pray to the father who hears in
secret will answer in public.
That's how you pray.
Go and pray.
There is a distinction.
There is a difference.
There is a power.
There is power in the name of Christ.
And I want to encourage you tonight to
pray as if God is listening.
Pray as if eternal destinies depend upon it.
Pray as if your marriage depends upon it.
Pray as if your spiritual life depends upon
it.
Because it does.
It does.
Everything.
Everything hinges on prayer.
You have to realize that your whole spiritual
life is built on prayer and the Word
of God and worship, the three strands there.
But you've got to pray.
When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to
live.
This is why the enemy seeks to destroy
it.
A kingdom divided cannot stand.
If a kingdom divided cannot stand, do you
think that a church divided can stand?
Or a home divided?
Here's what happens.
Prayer and worship breaks disunity.
And we're actually in two more days.
On Monday, we're having a worship night here
on Monday at 6 p.m. For those
who can make it, it's about an hour
and a half of just worship this Monday
at 6 p.m. I'm not really promoting
that, but I am.
But it's funny because all the little, you
know, bickering and disputes and, you know, things
like that that happen in any church because
there are sinners here, that all falls away
in worship night, prayer night.
Little issues, no big deal.
Disunity, gone.
When you're worshiping together, it breaks that.
With worship and prayer, arrogant Pharisees become humble
servants.
Prideful Bible thumpers fall on their face and
worship God.
Prodigals run to the altar.
Lukewarm believers are fully, they fully surrender their
lives because of the power of prayer.
That's how important this is.
If you're dying spiritually, and I know that's
many in this room, I'm not stupid.
Pastoring reveals a lot, and I can tell.
And I know, I'm talking to people, if
you're dying spiritually, if God seems distant and
depression is setting in, this is the only
tool, the only medication known to mankind to
set you free.
Isn't that interesting?
We're running to everything but the prayer closet.
We've tried everything but the prayer closet.
This is the only medication that God has
given mankind to truly set us free.
Read the Word of God in prayer and
worship.
That's how you'll be set free as a
believer.
But if you don't know Christ, then prayers
will fall on deaf ears.
Because He's the bridge.
He's what fills that gap so you can
cry out to the Father and He can
hear your prayers.
You can't call Him Father until you call
His Son Savior.
Did you catch that?
You cannot call Him Father, God, until you
call His Son Savior, Jesus Christ.
You can't pray to the Father unless you
go through the Son.
And you won't hear, He won't hear you
until you first hear Him.
Think about that.
He won't hear you until you first hear
Him.
The conviction, the drawing of the Holy Spirit,
drawing us to Christ, the conviction you're feeling
right now, drawing you to Christ.
You're saying, I know I need it but
I don't want it.
He's drawing you through that conviction.
For Him to hear your prayers, you must
hear that voice of conviction and repentance and
turn to Him.
And if you're a believer who's been drifting,
guess what?
The wonderful, gracious love of God says, come
home.
Come back.
My prayer life has been bad for weeks,
months, and years.
Guess what I love about God?
You can start again today and position yourself
again in the center of God's will.
Really?
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
God doesn't say, well, too bad.
I mean, there's consequences, don't get me wrong.
But He doesn't say, well, you're gonna have
to wait six months now.
Really, show me you're serious.
It's a loving, He's saying, come home.
Would you tell your kids that?
Daddy, Mommy, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Can I come home?
No.
They'll stay out in the grass for 10
weeks.
If they're truly repentant, right?
If they're truly coming home.
So some people just need to come home.
God says, would you come home and begin
to pray again?
Begin to worship again.
If this sermon has irritated you, that's a
good thing.
Let the heart break and cry out to
God and come home.
Come home.