Gerald Bessent gives a stirring sermon on how to have an effective prayer life. Packed with tear-jerking anecdotes from around the world, Gerald gives his listeners plenty to be enthused and encouraged by. Gerry recalls King George's National Day of Prayer, the Hebridian Revival and the fervent Welsh intercessions of Rees Howells and many modern-day equivalents.
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00:00Good evening, it's nice to be here in this crowded church.
00:11I'm sure it tells us that the angels are watching, doesn't it, the scriptures.
00:15I just wonder if there's a few gathered around us tonight.
00:19I'll just read a few verses to you from James 5, verses 13 through to 20.
00:33It's about prayer.
00:38Is anyone of you in trouble?
00:41He should pray.
00:44If anyone is happy, let him sing songs of praise.
00:49Is any one of you sick?
00:51He should call for the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
00:57And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.
01:02The Lord will raise him up.
01:04If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
01:08Therefore confess your sins each to another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
01:15The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
01:19Elijah was a man just like us.
01:22He prayed earnestly that it would not rain.
01:25And it didn't rain on the land for three and a half years.
01:29Again he prayed and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crops.
01:36My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this.
01:42Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins.
01:50I'd like to look at the subject of effective prayer tonight.
01:58And what that is, what it means to us and how we can be effective.
02:03But first a bit of Biblical history really.
02:09It was before the flood, God made a promise and a covenant with Noah.
02:14And you can read that in Genesis 6.
02:19Because God's covenant with the promise was that Noah, he'd given instructions to build the ark and he was given the promise that he would be in the ark.
02:28And God did this because his heart was grieved that he'd made man.
02:32Because the state of man's wickedness and his evil thoughts and the evil thoughts of his heart.
02:38And you know the story, the flood came.
02:41Mankind was wiped out except those in the ark.
02:45God saw Noah's sacrifice after they came through that and came out and Noah made a sacrifice.
02:53Took some of the animals that had come in with him into the ark and he made a sacrifice.
02:59And God saw the act of sacrifice and it says that he was pleased.
03:04And he blessed Noah.
03:06And he blessed Noah and his sons, Genesis 9.
03:10And he gave them authority over all the animals and the living creatures that moved on the earth.
03:18And he gave them for food.
03:20He gave them the authority to have the animals for food.
03:27So even when the government in their wisdom say that lamb and beef is abandoned or prohibited after 2029.
03:36I think I'd still like a joint of beef.
03:41But then God made a covenant with Noah and his sons.
03:45That he would never flood the earth again.
03:49A rainbow is the sign of that covenant and we're all familiar with that.
03:53We see it today.
03:55And that covenant remains.
03:58When God makes a covenant it will remain for his purposes.
04:04And this one was it would remain as long as there's an earth.
04:08So throughout our lifetimes we can expect to see the sign of the rainbow.
04:13And God's covenants are one-sided.
04:16It doesn't depend upon our input.
04:20God promises and he carries out his promises.
04:24There's no lesson in that for us but just the fact that God promises and that promise remains.
04:33But Noah had three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth.
04:38And from them came all the people that were scattered over all the earth.
04:44That was their commission.
04:46To go into all the earth and multiply.
04:49But Noah got drunk.
04:53And Ham came in and saw him naked.
04:57And I don't know whether he floated over that but he saw his father naked.
05:02And he went and told his brothers.
05:04And the other two they came in they walked him backwards and covered Noah with a garment.
05:10But then Noah cursed Ham.
05:15And he made a blessing over Shem and Japheth.
05:21And you can note here that out of Ham came the father of the ten Canaanite clans.
05:31Those people were scattered.
05:34They dwelt in tents and were nomadic.
05:37They had freedom, they were directed to go into all the earth.
05:41And the Canaanites, they were scattered in what became the Promised Land.
05:47From Sidon as far as Gaza and towards Sodom.
05:53And just remember what went on in Sodom, what sort of people they were.
05:58And the Canaanites were rebellious people.
06:04But the first city ever built on the earth was built by Cain.
06:10And he named the city after his son Enoch.
06:15But despite the fact that they'd been told to multiply and go and fill the earth,
06:21Cain decided instead that he would build a city.
06:26And so contained that spread.
06:30It was built by men in rebellion to God's word right at the very beginning.
06:35And it was the same after the flood.
06:38Man was rebellious or a good proportion of men were rebellious.
06:43You know the story of Babel in Genesis 11.
06:48They wanted to build a walled city whose tower reached the skies.
06:55It was probably built by a man named Nimrod who was reputed to be a mighty hunter.
07:02And we see there the motives of men.
07:08They were, just look at them for a moment, they were defiant of God.
07:13They wanted a big tower that might reach to the heavens
07:17so that they could be like the most high, a rival to him if you like.
07:22They wanted to make a name for themselves.
07:25They wanted reputation, a monument to our greatness they said.
07:31Something to be talked about.
07:33By future generations a memorial to their pride and their ambition.
07:39They built a city to prevent their dispersion.
07:42They wanted a walled city to bring them together, to keep them from scattering.
07:49To create power.
07:53But this was contrary to God's will.
07:55It was a rebellion of God's will.
07:57God had said in Genesis 9, go and multiply and fill the earth.
08:01But here they were doing something contrary to that.
08:06And so we have Babel.
08:09What we can see from there that they were the people of Babel.
08:12They were all in agreement together to do it.
08:14They said come, let us build.
08:17They were unanimous in effort and in purpose.
08:21Many together with a common purpose.
08:24And they could build greatness.
08:27And that's what they aspired to do.
08:30When you think about that, that same principle abounds today.
08:34All across our world.
08:36In so many different areas.
08:42Just think what man has accomplished when in agreement.
08:47In space, technological industries, medicine, commerce.
08:55There's nothing wrong with what they're doing and generating.
08:59But it's just seeing what man can do when they come together.
09:03And they're of one purpose.
09:06And it says that the people of Babel, they stirred each other up.
09:10They began to talk about construction together.
09:12They said let us make, let us build.
09:15And coming together and stirring each other up is quite a spiritual principle.
09:20We should be stirring each other up.
09:23Here in our small churches.
09:26In our bigger churches across the land.
09:28We should be stirring each other up to good works.
09:31To follow the will of God.
09:33To find the will of God.
09:34To search the word.
09:37In many churches I don't think that happens.
09:41But that's what we should be doing.
09:43Stirring each other up.
09:45Here, many were in agreement.
09:48They were resolute in their purpose.
09:52They overcame obstacles.
09:55There was no stone to talk about.
09:58Or mortar.
10:00But they made bricks.
10:02And they burnt bricks from mud.
10:04And they used slime to keep it together.
10:06And so they built.
10:09And the spirit of that is reflected in who the Babylonians became.
10:15They became a great nation.
10:18It was self-effort.
10:20And they were cunning as Babylonians.
10:23And you read about that in Daniel.
10:25How they came and defeated Israel.
10:29They had strength of purpose.
10:32Became a great nation, as I say.
10:35They just stumbled on a secret that has prevailed ever since.
10:40The Lord said,
10:42Indeed the people are one.
10:45And they have one language.
10:47And this is what they begin to do.
10:49Now nothing that they purposed to do will be withheld from them.
10:53Because they became one.
10:55And they pooled their energies.
10:57And they stirred each other.
10:59They were in agreement in unity of purpose.
11:02They shared a common language.
11:04So they built a tower.
11:07Men are building their towers today.
11:11In our society, they're building towers.
11:14The psalmist building his tower.
11:20Just think what that is.
11:23What that means.
11:26The good or the bad.
11:28Depending on the purpose of the group that's come together.
11:34I don't want to comment on our government.
11:37But it's...
11:42What can I say?
11:44I don't see it as a good, righteous government.
11:49With the things that they're planning.
11:51The things that they're doing.
11:52Things that they're allowing.
11:54The rules that they're passing in parliament.
11:59That's another story.
12:02But the reason I'm saying this.
12:04Just think what could happen.
12:09Christians were united.
12:14If all the churches in Chesham came together as one.
12:20Just think what you could accomplish in Chesham.
12:25With united spiritual prayer.
12:30Effective prayer.
12:32The trouble is we've been split up.
12:37Satan's principles are divide and rule, aren't they?
12:41And that's what's happened to the Christian church.
12:44But if we joined together.
12:46We would, I'm sure, if we came together in united prayer.
12:50Things would happen.
12:57Just let's for a moment compare the Christian motives.
13:02We want to be compliant with God's will.
13:07To see and do his will.
13:09And to go and to carry the gospel into this world.
13:14Two, we want to glorify God.
13:17Not to glorify ourselves.
13:19We want to see his name magnified.
13:22And upheld among the nations.
13:25We want to reach out with the gospel.
13:27And to see men and women saved.
13:31And the lost come to Christ.
13:34So we should be stirring each other up in these ways.
13:38I don't see that happening.
13:41In the churches that I have any contact with.
13:45Or have a view on.
13:50Just don't see it happening.
13:52All I see is division.
13:54From our leaders of our churches too.
13:57There doesn't seem to be any unity of spirit.
14:04We should be stirring each other up.
14:06Walking in unity of purpose.
14:08In accordance with the clear word of God.
14:11Seems to me that the church per se is turning away from the truth of the word of God.
14:23Psalm 122 says.
14:25Let us go to the house of the Lord.
14:27This is how we should be stirring each other up.
14:29Let us go to the house.
14:31We should be stirring in the same way.
14:33Isaiah said.
14:34Let us walk in the light of the Lord.
14:36That's adhering to the truth of the scriptures.
14:39The Bible as we have it.
14:41And not letting our own opinions.
14:43And the opinions of the cultures that we live in.
14:47Dictate how we should conduct ourselves.
14:51Jesus said.
14:53If two of you agree.
14:56Down here on earth.
14:57Concerning anything you ask.
14:59My Father in heaven will do it for you.
15:03For where two or three gather together because they are mine.
15:07I am there among them.
15:10Just think what two or three believers together in agreement can achieve.
15:19We are so separated in our society today.
15:25You can be in a community of people.
15:27You can be lonely.
15:30But just imagine.
15:32Had strong purpose about it.
15:34If two or three of us got together and prayed.
15:37What difference.
15:39We have the clear promise of God here.
15:41That if we ask.
15:44He would do it.
15:48So we should stir each other up to do that.
15:51To be together in prayer.
15:53To make a difference in the society.
15:56In our churches.
15:57In our families.
15:59Even in our nation.
16:04We have been called.
16:07You and I.
16:09Since our conversion.
16:11We have been set apart by God.
16:14To be a kingdom of priests.
16:17We are not just individuals walking about.
16:20Meeting together on a Sunday.
16:22We are called to be a kingdom of priests.
16:27I wonder what that conjures up in your mind.
16:30What you feel we should be.
16:32What the actions of a priest would be.
16:36A priest are intercessors I believe.
16:39They carry the word of God.
16:42They carry the word of the good news of the gospel.
16:47And we are called to be a kingdom of priests.
16:49A royal priesthood.
16:51We are called to pray.
16:53Effectively.
16:54And with fervour.
16:58Let's start praying in agreement.
17:01Twos and threes.
17:02In families.
17:03In fellowships.
17:04In churches.
17:05What a difference it could make.
17:07I am speaking to myself here.
17:09As well as I am to yourselves.
17:12If we were in earnest in these things, about these things,
17:15we would make time.
17:17We would make time to come together and to pray.
17:21Because the people that do that see a definite difference.
17:25They see things change.
17:27They see nations change.
17:31Things happen when you pray.
17:34Andrew Bonar, you will know the name I am sure.
17:37He will be serious about prayer.
17:39He says, we must continue in prayer if we are to get an outpouring of the spirit.
17:44Christ says there are some things that we will not get unless we pray,
17:48unless we fast.
17:49Yes, prayer and fasting.
17:51We must control the flesh and abstain from whatever hinders
17:55direct fellowship with God.
17:58That's Bonar.
18:00Tozer said, we need a baptism of clear seeing.
18:05We desperately need seers who can see through the midst.
18:10Christian leaders with prophetic vision.
18:13Unless they come soon, it will be too late for this generation.
18:16And he was right.
18:19Our generation, the generation that we grew up in,
18:22we needed these people to secure the following generation.
18:28This generation that's coming needs you and me.
18:33There's no reason why God should not raise us up as seers.
18:42But the thing is we need to come together.
18:45There needs to be that coming together of people in prayer.
18:50Not just to meet, but to come together before God and to pray.
18:57For example, I remember reading of that Korean church.
19:02I'm sure you're all aware of it, Yonggi Cho's church.
19:05In the 60s, it was about 10,000 members.
19:09But they covenanted to meet together to pray for growth
19:16and for the salvation of souls.
19:19And 10 years later, they had over 100,000 people.
19:24But they used to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to pray.
19:28Not just the pastor and a couple of deacons, but the church.
19:32The church came together.
19:34They had five services a day for it.
19:38That's prayer, isn't it?
19:40And look at the results.
19:42I understand it.
19:43I was reading last week.
19:45There's a church in India.
19:48Not Hyderabad.
19:51Can't remember where now.
19:53But over 300,000 people.
19:57And they're now praying to open another 40 megachurches.
20:05They're coming together to pray.
20:08And things are happening.
20:10We don't hear about this in the press.
20:13You only hear it occasionally when there's a report
20:15in one of the Christian papers or something.
20:17But God is at work.
20:18God is alive.
20:19And things are happening because people pray.
20:26I've got a note here, I'm sure many of you will know,
20:30of David Hathaway.
20:32He's 92, by the way.
20:35He's 92.
20:37He's been in ministry for 74 years,
20:40converted when he was 12.
20:41His father was a Pentecostal preacher.
20:45But he gave his heart to God,
20:47and he's been serving Christ since.
20:49He was the man that was put in jail in Siberia
20:53for taking Bibles into Siberia some 40-odd years ago.
20:58But I get his newsletter.
21:01I'll just read just a part of it.
21:04It says,
21:05We're not neglecting the urgent situation in Ukraine.
21:08Our day of prayer in Kiev in June was a miracle.
21:12Despite the constant Russian missile attacks,
21:158,000 people came into the sports palace in central Kiev.
21:21Every Christian denomination united
21:24in crying out to God for deliverance.
21:27The prime minister of Ukraine wrote a letter
21:30which was read publicly by his representative.
21:33The letter concluded,
21:35The united prayer of the Christian churches of Ukraine
21:38is a testimony of the spiritual unity of our nation.
21:42I am convinced that this all-nation prayer
21:45will become a symbol of our unwavering faith in victory
21:48and a bright, blessed future.
21:52And then he goes on to say,
21:54By the time you receive this,
21:56I got this two days ago,
21:58I should have been back in Almaty in Kazakhstan
22:02for the 20th,
22:04the 20th national day of prayer
22:07for the whole of Central Asia.
22:10There's more power in prayer than we can fully realize.
22:14He says, My life is a powerful witness to this.
22:17Two things have dominated the 84 years of my life
22:20since I gave my life to him,
22:22the power of prayer to change the impossible
22:25and the gift of faith to act and do those things
22:28that are impossible.
22:30Truly God's word says that with God,
22:33nothing is impossible.
22:37In Kiev, since the war broke out,
22:41he's conducted eight or nine,
22:44I'm not sure whether it's eight or nine,
22:46days of prayer.
22:48And each time he's had congregations
22:50of something like 8,000,
22:52from all the denominations.
22:54And he's had the support of the mayors of the towns
22:57and even the prime minister.
23:04Sorry, at my age, words go.
23:07The prime minister supports.
23:12So there are just some examples, really.
23:15And I remember, too, in the last war
23:19when King George, was it, called a day of prayer
23:22and the nation prayed.
23:25And what happened?
23:26The boats went across the channel
23:28like it was a mill pond.
23:31And then there was, at the same time,
23:33a man praying hide, I think his name was,
23:35a Welshman who prayed for things
23:39that were happening throughout the world,
23:42throughout the war.
23:44God answers prayer when we pray.
23:46You know that and I know that.
23:49But God says that when two or more come together
23:53in prayer, believing, then he will answer.
23:57He will hear our prayer and things will happen.
24:02I'm sure we've all got testimonies of things
24:05that have happened in answers to our prayers.
24:11But when I read that when men come together,
24:13they build effigies, they build towers,
24:15they build conglomerates and corporations.
24:21What more could the Christians do?
24:23If only we would come together
24:25with the same determination that those men
24:27who build corporations.
24:29If we came together to pray as they come together
24:33and deliberate and build,
24:36then our churches would be full today.
24:39We'd be a force for Satan to contend with.
24:44But we've given up, haven't we, as a nation?
24:47We've turned our back on Christ.
24:49There's no truth out there anymore.
24:51What is truth?
24:52It used to be called the gospel truth.
24:55Today, anything is truth.
24:57It's your opinion is truth.
25:00It's not what the Bible tells me.
25:03The Bible is my truth.
25:05The Bible is our truth.
25:07We need to put our trust in it.
25:09And if God says that if two to come together
25:11and they pray, he will hear and he will answer,
25:14that must be the truth.
25:17And he will hear us pray.
25:20So what is effective prayer?
25:23The Hebrew word for prayer is tefillah,
25:27and it encompasses petition, worship,
25:31thanksgiving, praise, confession,
25:34and communication, communing.
25:37At the root of tefillah, apparently,
25:39is the word palal,
25:41and it means to think, to judge,
25:45to differentiate, to clarify, and to decide.
25:52Prayer, therefore, is an introspective process
25:56that helps us examine ourselves,
25:59judge situations,
26:01differentiate between right and wrong,
26:03clarify our relationship with God,
26:06and decide on a course of action.
26:10That happens when we come before God in prayer,
26:14when we're led by the Spirit of God,
26:18not shopping list prayers,
26:22not that there's anything wrong with those,
26:24but it doesn't carry the intensity
26:26of the prayers that we should be praying.
26:32James 5.16 says,
26:34The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man
26:38avails much.
26:39That's the New King James Version.
26:42Another version says,
26:43The earnest prayer of a righteous person
26:46has great power and wonderful results.
26:50And we cannot doubt that.
26:53That's prayer.
26:55It's effective,
26:57and we need to find that for ourselves.
27:01Unfortunately, effective there,
27:02in this translation,
27:03is not perhaps the happiest of translations.
27:07It merely states that prayer is effective,
27:10and it avails much, it achieves much.
27:13We know that prayer is effective.
27:16Effective, the Greek word is ergonomini.
27:20I don't know if that's the right pronunciation.
27:23So the word effective would be better translated,
27:27energetic,
27:29which is derived from that word,
27:32ergonomini.
27:35The word, that word effective,
27:39it refers to that which has power.
27:44Our prayers should have power.
27:47The word, that which in its own nature
27:49is fitted to produce an effect.
27:52It doesn't actually produce an effect,
27:55but it will achieve it.
27:59Fervent, the other word,
28:01what does that mean?
28:03Well, I looked that up in the dictionary,
28:05and it said it was glowing,
28:07or ardent,
28:09or intense,
28:11or hot.
28:14Have your prayers ever been called hot prayers?
28:18You know, if you lose yourself before God,
28:20your prayers become very fervent.
28:25They have energy and power.
28:28That's the kind of prayer that's referred to there.
28:31It's not listless, it's not indifferent,
28:34it's not cold or lifeless,
28:37as if there was no vitality or power in it.
28:41And we should believe that our prayer has power.
28:47And I believe that we would deliver our prayers
28:49in a different emotion, a different way.
28:57The kind of prayer that was referred to here
29:01is efficient,
29:04it's earnest,
29:06sincere,
29:08hearty,
29:10and that means full of energy,
29:12and it's persevering, we keep on.
29:16One word to better translate fervent prayer
29:20would be energetic or earnest prayer.
29:23It expresses the force that James was trying to get across.
29:29Commentaries suggest that this kind of prayer
29:32is inwrought by the Spirit,
29:36in other words, praying in the Spirit,
29:40being led or empowered by the Spirit.
29:46Sadly, I find that prayer meetings,
29:49a lot that I've attended over the years,
29:52they've not been this kind of prayer.
29:56We've lost our understanding of prayer,
30:01and they were what I call shopping list prayers,
30:04I'm sure you've heard that term,
30:07and we come to the Lord with our petitions,
30:11and there's no energy in it.
30:14I think if we were,
30:16if your life depended upon prayer,
30:19I wonder if you,
30:21when I say you, I don't mean you personally,
30:24I mean, you know, the church per se,
30:28would you pray in the same way that you do
30:30when you go to an ordinary prayer meeting
30:32and you pray the shopping list prayers?
30:35I don't think so.
30:37I think if your life depended upon it,
30:39your prayers would be intense,
30:42there'd be a cry out to God,
30:45you'd be screaming before God for salvation,
30:48for healing, whatever it may be.
30:51We'd put a lot more energy into our prayers,
30:54we would mean what we prayed.
30:57Half the time I think that when we pray our shopping lists,
31:00we don't actually believe that God's going to answer those,
31:04or he may do in the course of time,
31:08but God says that anything that we believe,
31:11that we come together, two of us believe in,
31:15and ask him that he would perform it.
31:20I've got to believe that true,
31:22otherwise the Bible doesn't mean anything to me, does it?
31:25I've got to believe the promises of God.
31:30I have to say, Laura and I pray together,
31:35and we've seen some things happen in our lives.
31:40Other stories, I'm sure you have the same,
31:43but I know the truth of this,
31:48but we should be stirring each other up
31:50so that these things happen,
31:52so that when a prayer meeting is called, it's attended,
31:59so that people come with expectation,
32:03they believe what they're praying for,
32:06and they look for the answers to see God's hand at work.
32:12I believe that when we pray earnestly,
32:15whatever we're doing, whether it's petition
32:18or whether it's praise and thanks
32:20and these other types of prayer,
32:25that we should be done with our full emotion.
32:33We should pray believing, acting on faith,
32:37believing God's word, and we'll see things happen.
32:42But then the other thing in that verse is
32:47the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man.
32:52That's really the qualification, isn't it?
32:54A righteous man.
32:57If we're not righteous, then there's a barrier.
33:05If we're not righteous, we must prepare ourselves before God.
33:13In Exodus 19, God says,
33:16you will be to me a kingdom of priests,
33:19my holy nation.
33:24If you're a chosen people, you're a kingdom of priests.
33:28Reflected in Peter's letter,
33:31first book of Peter in 2.9,
33:34it's the same thing.
33:35You're a kingdom of priests.
33:37God's holy nation, his very own possession.
33:42And that's who we should be.
33:45We've been called to serve God,
33:47to be clean and fit for service.
33:50That's our responsibility.
33:53It's not the pastors,
33:56not the deacons or the elders.
33:58It's our responsibility.
34:00You and I, before God.
34:05We must examine ourselves.
34:08Being a priest doesn't mean we don't have problems.
34:13But character defects might disqualify us
34:17from authority and service.
34:20And I found this eye-opening, really.
34:27God said, or the Lord said to Moses,
34:29Leviticus 21 verse 16,
34:33God said to Moses,
34:35tell Aaron that in all future generations,
34:40is that us?
34:43His descendants who have physical defects
34:45will not qualify to offer food to their God.
34:50No one who has a defect may come near to me,
34:53whether he's blind or lame,
34:56stunted or deformed,
34:59or has a broken foot or hand,
35:01has a humped back,
35:03or is a dwarf,
35:05or has a defective eye,
35:07or has oozing stores,
35:09or scabs on his skin,
35:11or has damaged testicles.
35:13Even though he's a descendant of Aaron,
35:16his physical defects disqualify him
35:18from presenting offerings to the Lord by fire.
35:22Since he has a blemish,
35:24he may not offer food to his God.
35:34Disfigurement or deformity or disobedience
35:38in the priests rendered him unsatisfactory for service.
35:44He could not present offerings to God.
35:46He could still eat from the Lord's table, however.
35:50He wasn't put out of fellowship,
35:53but he couldn't serve.
35:59I think there's a lot of people like that in our churches.
36:04These physical ailments,
36:06they can be applied spiritually.
36:09When I thought about it,
36:10I could see blind people
36:14who are unable to see God's purposes,
36:18lame, once good,
36:22now useless in the Lord's work,
36:26stunted, no growth in them,
36:31deformed or twisted,
36:34a wrong view of God,
36:38broken foot or hand,
36:40serving men, not God,
36:46dwarf, smaller vision,
36:51smaller vision of God's will,
36:55defective eye or a squint,
36:58looking in the wrong direction,
37:01cross purposes with God,
37:05running sores,
37:08festering hurts,
37:10holding grudges,
37:13damaged testicles,
37:15no reproduction,
37:18no view of the lost.
37:22If any of those things apply to our lives,
37:26we're not fit to serve before the Lord.
37:31We would never appoint a man
37:34with a flaw in his character
37:37to be a pastor or an elder in our churches,
37:41and that's so with God.
37:45He was protecting the integrity of the priesthood
37:48when he made that declaration,
37:51and when he says that we should be righteous,
37:56that's what we should be.
37:59We can't expect our prayers to be effective.
38:02It doesn't matter how with fervor we pray.
38:07If we are not righteous,
38:10we can come to God,
38:12but there's a barrier,
38:13and we need to be cleansed and washed
38:16and covered in the precious blood of Christ
38:19and redeemed
38:22or transformed through the renewing of our mind,
38:25washed in the blood,
38:27cleansed of our sins.
38:30The onus is on us to get right before God
38:35and to deal with anything that our lives
38:37bring into that relationship with a holy God.
38:41God is holy.
38:45We've been set apart at conversion,
38:49but we must work at it.
38:51We've got to put off the old man,
38:56work at it so that our lives conform
38:59to God's view and to God's will.
39:03So many people today express their own opinion
39:06about the Word.
39:07They read it and say,
39:09oh, that doesn't apply to me.
39:10I don't believe in that bit.
39:15I believe that we've got to put on the mantle of God.
39:19We've got to be cloaked in the garment of salvation.
39:23We've got to be covered in the blood
39:25of the sacrifice of Jesus.
39:29Then as a royal priesthood,
39:31we can enter the very throne room of God,
39:33the throne room of heaven.
39:36And there we can present our praise
39:38and our petitions.
39:43And as a kingdom of priests,
39:45we need the covering of salvation,
39:47the anointing of his spirit.
39:51That's the spirit of Pentecost, I believe,
39:53to guiding and leading us in these days.
39:59We all need a Pentecostal filling of the Holy Spirit.
40:03That was the promise of Jesus.
40:07When we became born again,
40:09we were baptized then into the Holy Spirit
40:12because we were baptized by the Holy Spirit
40:15into the realm of God.
40:18We were cleansed, made whole.
40:22But Jesus' baptism is different.
40:26Jesus promised that if we waited,
40:29and we waited on him,
40:30and the disciples waited at Pentecost,
40:34and they were filled,
40:36they were anointed with the Holy Spirit
40:39and equipped for service.
40:42And I believe that's the same today.
40:45Jesus said,
40:47Behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you,
40:50but stay in the city until you're clothed
40:52with power from on high.
41:00If we are righteous,
41:03and we are led by the Spirit
41:04and filled with his Spirit,
41:06then we can do the things that Jesus authorizes us to do.
41:12He gave us his authority to act in his name.
41:15That's what the Scriptures tell me.
41:19And if the Scripture says it,
41:20and it's Jesus' own words,
41:21then I believe it must be true.
41:25You and I can walk in power
41:27that we've never dreamed of.
41:30I was at a testimony meeting only yesterday morning.
41:33A young girl, she was,
41:35I'm not sure if she was from Iran,
41:38but she was certainly from out that way
41:40in the Middle East.
41:42And she came from a Muslim family,
41:47and her father was a senior man in the local mosque
41:52and very well thought of,
41:54and she was brought up in a very strict environment.
41:59I won't go through the whole story,
42:01but she came to the UK when she was 20.
42:07She couldn't speak the language.
42:11She had no money.
42:13She went to Manchester to the Muslim peoples,
42:18and she'd become quite a worldly girl,
42:21smoking, drinking, dancing, all the other things,
42:24and they put her out.
42:27And so she went to the food halls,
42:29Christian food halls where they look after people,
42:33and they embraced her.
42:35They showed her love.
42:36They fed her.
42:37They clothed her.
42:38And so she gradually got on her feet,
42:41and then she said,
42:44I'm a Muslim.
42:47I can't do what, you know, go to your church.
42:51But they didn't argue.
42:52They just loved her,
42:54and they provided for, clothed her, as I say.
42:57And eventually she becomes a Christian.
43:00So this 20-year-old then,
43:02she went, in a few years,
43:04she went back to see her father,
43:06and he wouldn't accept what she'd become,
43:10but she talked to him,
43:12and he wouldn't think of it.
43:14But one night his father was asleep,
43:16and he woke in the middle of the night,
43:18and he saw in the corner of his room
43:22like a window appeared,
43:25and he said,
43:28through that there came a shining light,
43:31a bright, brilliant white light,
43:34and through that came a man and stood before him.
43:40And said, I'm the man,
43:44what your daughter's been telling you about.
43:47I'm the man of the book, man of the Bible.
43:51And he told his daughter,
43:53didn't know who this man was.
43:55So he asked her,
43:56she explained to him that this was God.
44:00Three days later the same thing happened.
44:04And he said,
44:06this is where it gets difficult
44:08because of my hearing.
44:09I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying.
44:12But I think that the second time,
44:16this, what he saw,
44:18the person that he saw,
44:19I am the man of the Bible.
44:23That was, she must be now in her 40s,
44:26or mid to late 30s.
44:29Two children, married now.
44:32She's a teacher up in Manchester.
44:36But the same thing happened to another.
44:40She met a woman in a hospital.
44:43This woman had been going to this woman's hospital
44:49for treating people who couldn't have children.
44:52And this woman had been coming to,
44:53this was in Iran.
44:55She'd been coming for 12 years
44:58and couldn't have a baby.
44:59She'd been told that day
45:01that she would not have children.
45:04So this young girl,
45:06she then was in her late 20s.
45:08She just prayed for this.
45:09She said, would you like to have a baby?
45:11She said yes.
45:12So she prayed for her.
45:14And they went their different ways.
45:16And three months later,
45:17this woman managed to contact this young girl
45:20through, because her husband was in the hospital,
45:23and through him she found out where she was.
45:26She said, I'm pregnant.
45:28Six months later she had another text.
45:30She said, I've got twins.
45:32She had twins.
45:33And she'd been told for 12 years
45:35that she was not going to have any children.
45:39If we pray in the Lord's name,
45:41these things happen.
45:43She prayed for another man who'd got cancers.
45:46He'd got cancer.
45:47He'd been told that there's nothing
45:50that they could do for him.
45:52And he was going back for his last sort of review
45:55or whatever it is with his doctors.
45:58And they took another X-ray.
46:03And they said, that's the one you've had today.
46:07And that's the one you had two weeks ago.
46:11And there was no cancers.
46:13They couldn't find any cancers.
46:17This is just a young girl
46:18who had an experience with God,
46:20filled with the Spirit,
46:22praying for people.
46:26These things can happen for you and I
46:29if we dare to believe.
46:32And if we come together
46:33as those people at Babel,
46:35if we come together as a community to pray,
46:38then things will happen.
46:40They will change.
46:42We can see churches growing.
46:45This country, as we've heard today,
46:47I sent a little YouTube clip around.
46:51Martin had it and some others.
46:56I can't remember the name.
46:57Anyway, he's a pastor.
46:59And his message was,
47:00the church needs house churches.
47:03Because all our major churches in the UK,
47:06they're all squabbling over LGBT
47:09and same-sex marriage
47:12and all these other things.
47:14We've lost the anointing.
47:15We've lost the authorities.
47:17If we come together in Jesus' name,
47:19the two of us together agreeing,
47:21or two more of us than two,
47:23then we can see God working
47:25and God acting
47:26and God healing
47:27and God delivering.
47:29We can see salvation come to our friends
47:31and our neighbours.
47:33But we need to pray about it.
47:35We need to come together believing.
47:39And so really in conclusion,
47:43if we wish to be effective for God
47:46in our prayer life,
47:47in our church life,
47:48and our walk with God
47:49as members of the royal priesthood
47:51that we are,
47:52and be effective in our prayers
47:54for our nation and our town
47:56and our family,
47:57firstly we must be clean
48:00and be set apart.
48:03We must be set apart in holiness,
48:06cleansed.
48:08We must come together
48:09and strive for that unity in the spirit
48:12instead of being divisive
48:14and seeing things and people arguing
48:17about where the church,
48:20what sort of chairs you have in church
48:22or those minor matters.
48:24That goes on in churches, doesn't it?
48:26There's argument about those things.
48:28We need to come together in prayer
48:30and the unity of spirit.
48:32There should be no division of purpose.
48:35Our purpose is to see,
48:37to be in agreement with each other
48:40and to pray for those things
48:41which are in God's heart.
48:43I believe that prayers should be in earnest
48:46and they should be energetic,
48:48praying as if our very lives
48:50depended upon it.
48:54Pray for the will of God.
48:56Not our own will,
48:57not our own shopping list,
48:59but praying for the will of God.
49:02And as we learn to pray in the spirit,
49:03our spirits will be stirred.
49:05The spirit himself will stir us
49:09and we'll do exploits for our God.
49:13Our lives won't be the same.
49:16Jesus reminded his disciples
49:20that Father knows what you need
49:22before you ask him.
49:24God knows.
49:26He emphasised that prayer is not just
49:28about saying words.
49:31It's about relationship with a living God.
49:35Do you have a relationship
49:38with the living God?
49:41And you can know that,
49:42you can have that relationship
49:43by inviting Jesus into your own lives,
49:47that your sin is cleansed
49:48and you're made anew,
49:50made a new person when Jesus comes in.
49:57In short, we must be right with God.
50:02We must be focused, I believe,
50:04on his will and not just on our own.
50:09And if we can live in harmony in this way,
50:11cloaked with the spirit of Pentecost,
50:14through prayer,
50:16we can do anything that Jesus did.
50:19After all, he gave us that authority.
50:24You remember when he got the 70 disciples together
50:28and he sent them off into the villages
50:30and they came back because they were amazed
50:32that the demons were subject to them
50:35and they healed the sick.
50:38That's what we should be doing.
50:41It happens for those that believe
50:44and there are lots of testimonies to that fact.
50:49God is alive.
50:54The thing is, we have to come together,
50:59believing and just ask.
51:09I trust that Lord will speak to our hearts
51:12to stir us, each of us individually,
51:14to stir us where we are,
51:17to what we do and how we behave.
51:20What is our prayer life?
51:24Let us get right with God.
51:26Let's see what he will do through us.
51:31Thank you for listening.
51:32Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
51:35than all we ask or imagine,
51:38according to his power that is at work within us,
51:41to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
51:46throughout all generations, forever and ever.
51:52Amen.