Bless the Lord. I was so proud of JJ. I mean, I was loud and alone. I was loud in my living room watching the live streaming. I was juiced. I mean, he memorized it, but the way he articulated it and delivered it, I was just blessed. So bless God for his accomplishment. So today I'm going to continue with part two of what I started last week on the privilege of prayer. The privilege of prayer, that's the way the Holy Spirit put it in my heart and I just want to define the word privilege just to kind of give a little bit more clarity. A special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all. So a privilege means that not everybody enjoys it. Not everyone has the benefit of doing it. And so there's a level of exclusivity to prayer that's going to be answered. Everybody nowadays is very, especially online, when someone's going through something, praying for you, praying for you, praying, praying, praying. But not everybody's prayer is going to be heard. And I'm going to prove it to you through the word of God. Now there is a prayer that God will listen to from everybody, and that's the prayer of repentance. He said, anyone who comes to me, I will no wise turn away. So if you're broken, and you're praying, and you're asking the Lord to have his way, he will hear that prayer from anybody. But a prayer to accomplish purposes in the earth, he will listen to his people. And I'm going to bear that out according to the word of God. So, I started in an unlikely place, but this is the place that I felt led to. I'm going to go over what I went through last week, because not everyone was doing it, but I'm going to go over it quickly. If I go too quick for you, go get the CD. Amen? Okay, so Mark 11, 15 through 17, that was my primary text. This is where I felt led to go. If I'm not loud enough, raise your hand or something, you know, dial it up and I will. Okay, it says, Mark 11, 15, 17 says, and they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you've made it a den of robbers. And so I went in and I talked about how, just to give you some backdrop in it, the chief priest Annas of the time, he was corrupt and vile, and he was selling concessions to make money in the temple. He was doing it in the outer court, the court of the Gentiles, and so he was trying to make money. And he was all about power and making money. So they were selling animals, resources for worship, but they were jacking up the prices. Okay? And they were also doing foreign currency exchange, because remember, the children of Israel were scattered throughout many places around the various nations, and they were coming back, so they had the currency from their place, and so they had to exchange the rate to make the purchase, and they were jacking up those prices. So everyone was looking at it as a lucrative opportunity, how to make money out of something that was supposed to be for God's glory. Amen? Now, I know I don't have to explain it to you guys, but that's going on today. They were using the outer court temple as a shortcut for deliveries, so there was nothing about sanctifying in their hearts the intended purpose for the house of God. And so they were stealing from the worshippers, they were stealing from God's original purpose, which was prayer, and meeting with him, they were stealing from the focus on God's glory. So to get through that, I went back a little bit more. Oh no, it's not in here, but it's all good, I'll read it. Okay, so I went back to Solomon's temple dedication, 1 Chronicles 7, 11 through 22. And before I started to speak on it, most of us know the prayer in 1 Chronicles because we quote it a lot in this church. If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves in prayer and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. And so in that particular passage, it was the time of the dedication of Solomon's temple, which King David got the blueprint for, but he couldn't build the temple, so King Solomon built the temple. At the dedication of that temple, the Lord spoke to Solomon and said, okay, I will be in this place. I will accept sacrifice from this place. I will meet with you in this place. His name would be there, and his eyes and his ears would be there. So it was a place where people could come and meet with God, and they could rejoice, repent, and experience renewal, restoration, renewal, and revival. Amen? So it was a house of prayer. Now, one of the things when I said before, going back to the Old Testament, because sometimes people read the Old Testament and the New Testament, and they think that it's two different, what is it? There is no continuity of thought. And that's incorrect. There is no disconnect. The thing that I said was the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. So the Old Testament has symbols, shadows, figures, and types, right? And they were temporary visuals, for lack of a better word, pictorial representations of what was going to be New Testament realities in Christ Jesus. So a lot of it is symbols and shadows and figures to point to Christ, but also other New Testament realities. OK, you with me? OK, so I went back a little bit further. because I like to go back sometimes. So Exodus 25, 8, and 9, to the building of the tabernacle. Now, you've got to remember, when Moses was in the wilderness, he went up to Mount Sinai. He met with God. He got the Ten Commandments, and he got the law. But he also got the blueprint for the design of a building. And this design was very specific. And the design for this temple did not allow for any creative license. or no input was desired. Build it according to spec. I'm going to tell you how to build it, I'm going to give you measurements, I'm going to give you resources, and I'm going to tell you build it according to spec. Okay, I'm going to tell you who to build, who's going to be used, and one of the things when it comes to giving, I'm going to throw this in there, He told the people to bring the resources. Think about the house of God now when we say, come bring your first fruits to the storehouse. He didn't say, OK, I'm going to magically make all the resources appear. He said no. He actually told them before they left Egypt to get the plunder from Egypt because he already knew what he was going to do when he got to that particular place. So they already had the gold. They already had the silver. They already had the fine linen. They already had all the resources needed to build the house. And so in the same way, we work in Egypt. We work in the world's systems. And what we do is we take our finances and take some of that money to help build the house. Amen? Okay, so sometimes if we coming up short, it might be because we are delivering short. You see what I'm saying? So, you know what I mean? Really, at the end of the day, it's our local assembly, it's our house. So we're responsible for it, amen? Anyways, so the tabernacle, and this is the key point, is a place where God meets man. God meets man. It's a place of sacrifice and service. Now, I'm going to tell you right off, because we did this last week, I'm going to take you to the picture, because we like pictures. At least I like pictures. We like you. Man, let me get you a picture, so I can get it together. There it is. OK. So here's the tabernacle. First and foremost, I said you, I said Old Testament, New Testament concealed. So the first thing about this tabernacle is pointing to Jesus. Okay? God knew. The Bible says, before the foundations of the world were laid, Christ was crucified. So this wasn't an afterthought. This wasn't like, oh my gosh, we've got to come up with plan B. It wasn't a contingency plan, because all of a sudden, I thought that the people were going to act right, and now they didn't act right. No, when he gave the law, he knew they were going to come short. So he had already created a sacrificial system, because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. So it was like, unless I give them the law, and then the law is going to show them that they really come up short, and then I'm going to have to kill them. Right? He says, I got to give them a sacrificial system so that that blood can atone for their sin. And so what he does is it's a temporary, but this one, remember, the Old Testament was temporary until the fulfillment of the New Testament reality. So the Old Testament sacrifices, the Old Testament priests, the Old Testament tabernacle, were only temporary until the New Testament perfect reality came into play. Amen? So if you think I'm lying, John 1.14 says, and Edna prayed this prayer over you before you guys went, and the word became flesh and dwelt. The word is, mess it up, ske no oh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld his glory, and the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So Jesus was the tabernacle that came in. He was the place where God and man will be meet. He was the place that was going to reconcile us back to the Father. Because there was a breach, and someone had to stand in the gap. Amen? There was a disconnect between us and God. Our sins separated us from God. And Jesus had to stand in that place. And so he became the tabernacle. So first things I told you, I said the white linen fence and the gold, I'm going through this quickly because this is not my, I'm just recapping. So the white linen fence and there was brass nails that held down the outer gate. That restricted everybody and anybody from coming in. The white linen symbolizing purity, holiness, the brass symbolizing judgment. We could not come in except through one door. Now, Jesus said, I am the door, right? He also said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. So we cannot come into God any kind of way. As academical as everybody wants to be, and everyone's every way leads to heaven, and everybody, we can all come, no. I mean, you can love the people, intercede for the people, pray for the people, be a light unto the people, preach the gospel to the people, but no, it's not true. Amen? So you come by the one dealer, and then you're immediately met with this bronze laver, which is used for sacrifice, okay? Now, I'm going to tell you two things. The priest is the one that offers up the sacrifice. So Jesus is our high priest, but Jesus is also the sacrifice. So even though we have the priest, who is a better priest, because he ever liveth to make the intercession for us, but we also have a better sacrifice. And so the blood of animals, goats and bulls and lambs, could not accomplish, but only a temporary annual thing. But now we are able to come by way of the blood of Jesus, and he is our high priest. So we really got a lot going on for us. The other word is altar, is defined as lifted up, or high, or ascending, the word altar. And Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I would draw him into me. And he's speaking of his death. So all these New Testament realities, that's why it's good to know the Old Testament, because it's echoed throughout the New Testament. A lot of these symbols in the New Testament realities are pointing back to Old Testament symbols. Amen? If you don't know it now, bless the Lord, jump in. I came in clueless. In 1990, I told y'all, I read it. I said, okay, I get some of it, but that's all right. You got to start somewhere. And I was like, well, Lord, you want to open it up to me? So I prayed and asked him to open my understanding, and he started to make a way. One of the things I love about this church is very word-based. They wanted to strip off all the glory of our former prior ways of doing things. No celebrity, no, you know, look at us, look at us, we're wonderful, you know, and no, the show, the center stage goes to the word of God. And that's what we need, is to be in the center stage is the word of God, and bless God for that. So you had to come by way of a blood sacrifice. That doesn't change, still today. You can't go any further unless you come by way of the blood. Without the shedding of sin, there is no remission of sin. Shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. So you've got to come by way of the brazen labor, which is Jesus Christ, the brazen altar. Then you come to the brazen levers, a big old wash basin, no measurements, and you had to look into it, you had to wash your hands and your feet because you were walking around, I told y'all, wearing sandals, so you were gonna constantly pick up dirt, and so Jesus is the one who washes us. 1 Corinthians 1 and 3rd, I'm gonna talk about Jesus first, and then I'm gonna circle back and talk about us. Okay, he is not only our redemption, but he's also our sanctification. 1 Corinthians 1 and 30 says, Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Ephesians 5, 26 through 27 says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he may present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it would be holy and without blemish. We pick up defilement all the time walking around this world. And so we have to, I said I wasn't gonna do that, I'm jumping ahead of myself, but he is the one that washes us and cleanses us. So he redeems us with his blood, but then he washes us with his word. Amen? The next thing you go into is the holy place. Holy meaning separate, right? Is it separate, unique, something distinct? And so it's holy unto God. So you come into this place. It's not just any place. It's a holy place. And you come into that place, and that place does not have any natural light. There's only gold and candlestick, but everything is gold plated with gold. So you can just imagine walking in there, you see gold walls, you see a table of shoe bread, you see a golden candlestick, and you see this golden altar of incense. So everything was blinging for real, extra. It was extra shine. So they walked in there, and only the priest that washed could enter in. OK? So Jesus is the golden candlestick. He said, I am the light while I'm in the world, while I'm in the world, while I'm in the world. I'm going to come back to that. Then there was the table of shoe bread, 12 loaves of bread. He said, I am the bread of life, right? 12 symbolic of God's government. You know, we had 12 apostles, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 foundations. So everything, I mean, you remember, God designed this thing. So he didn't half-step. He was like, I'm going to break it down for y'all. You're going to see this. I'm going to teach you through this symbolism. OK, and then you get to the altar of incense. which symbolizes prayer. I was talking to you about, from the book of Psalms, let my prayer be for you as, I can't remember right off, but as incense. Let me offer it up to you in incense. And I said, and that's echoed in Revelation too. A lot of this is echoed, again, in Revelation, so it shows that it wasn't just a past significance, it has present day and future reality. So Jesus is our high priest, whoever lives to make intercession for us. Then there was the temple, veil. You couldn't come into the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant, unless you come by way of the Holy of Holies. That veil is symbolized by Jesus's body. When he died and his body was ripped apart for our sin, right? He was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of peace was upon you. By his stripes we are healed. His body was ripped. When he died, the temple veil ripped. And that wasn't no cheap, you know, Walmart or Costco or Home Depot curtain. This was a big knit. It took oxen to pull it together. It was thick. So there was no way that it could naturally be ripped. And so God was even speaking through that, that, hey, look, I allowed my son's body to be ripped, so now you can enter in. You can now enter in. That veil prevented anyone from entering in. Now we can enter in. We can enter in. But if he opened it up and there was, we would still, we could still get in there and get zapped, right? You guys remember? So it was like, so what he had to do was put his blood over the mercy seat. So the Ark of the Covenant had a mercy seat over it, two cherubims facing each other. And on top of the Ark of the Covenant, which had the law, Aaron's rod, right staff, and then also the table of Shubra. So it signified God's holiness. We can't come into his presence. So the only way the high priest could go in once a year was if there was blood from a perfect sacrifice placed over the mercy seat. And so Jesus was that perfect sacrifice. He put his blood over the mercy seat. So now we can come boldly before the throne of grace without apprehension, without reservation, because his blood sacrifice was perfect. So we ain't got to worry about getting zapped. OK, but it also symbolizes the throne room of God. And I'm going to go back to that. I'm going to go back a little bit again. OK, so now, what does that mean for us in the New Testament? We can enter in, right? But also, God can be poured out. See, that was the only place, was the mercy seat, and I was reading several people. And that's why after Jesus did what he did, Acts 2, the fulfillment of Joel 2, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. He couldn't do that until the veil was rent and the blood sacrifice. So now, not only can we enter in, but he can pour out. which gives us hope for our people that we're praying for, which gives us hope for the gospel being proclaimed, not just with a bunch of words, but in the demonstration, as Jeff said, in spirit and in power. We want his Holy Spirit to come into the situation. So here's what the New Testament reality is. Believers in Christ can only come by the one way, only by the one door, and they have to be willing to He said, if anyone want to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow after me. If you want to be my disciple, so, and then based upon the theme of this particular church, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present yourself as a living sacrifice. What does that mean? Now you throw yourself on that altar. Living. You throw your whole life on that altar. Look, all my goals, all my ambitions, all my dreams, all my plans, it's all in his hands. I don't own my life. I've been bought with a price. Now my life is no longer my own. I belong to him. and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Know ye not that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit? So now he abides in us, but we gotta die to ourselves, for I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I liveth, nevertheless, not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in God who loved and gave himself for me. I don't have that kind of cut off. So now we live for him. So all the dreams and the ambitions that the world tells us that Satan has hijacked the Christian narrative and fused it with the world's narrative. So now people come to church and say, well, God is going to help me to live my dream. God's going to help me to have power, wealth, money, fame, fortune. God's going to help me to shine and bring glory to myself. That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. We live in service to God. We take a hit for God. Don't think Pastor Jamie coming here and changing the focus to the word of God, we took a lot of hits. We said, no, we're gonna consecrate this thing. Well, not, just like Jesus, the more he gave the requirement, he said, follow me, the more he started telling, this is what it means, this is what it means, people started walking away. Well, that's no different. The more you resolve to walk forward with God, the more, some people are just gonna be like, I ain't willing to do all that. Sorry, sorry, I'm too in love with the world. I'm not ready, I'm not ready. So what I'm saying is, is it costs. But he said, I'm the pearl of great price. So anything you give up, he says, I'm better than that. You follow me. I have an eternal destiny that's way better than anything this world's just gonna promise you. And there are things that you can reap in the meantime and in between time. Bless the Lord. So also we come by way of, now Jesus is sanctifying us, but we also participate in that, okay? Let me say, therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, the Lord says. Touch not the unclean, then I will welcome you and be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. That's 2 Corinthians 6, 17 to 18. We got to separate ourselves from the world to God. That means not everybody you can kick it with. And I said this last week. After a while, we ain't got nothing in common. I used to, what you talking about, I used to be with you, but now my mind is getting renewed. So what we used to do, I used to think it was good. Now I'm like, mm, it don't sit right. You know, I'm sorry, but we can't roll like we used to back in the day. Yeah, exactly, I'm a new creation. He's renewing my mind. So you're talking about stuff that I know is death now. You know, there was a point in time when I thought it was the life. But now I'm like, no, that's nothing but death. So I can't go there with you. Now, it doesn't mean I can't love you. That doesn't mean I can't intercede for you. That doesn't mean that I can't be around you from time to time to let my light shine. But that means we ain't going to be on the same page. We ain't going to be where we used to be. It's a new life in Christ. Amen? So then you go, so you're separated, and also, too, we confess our sin. Elder Boxon was talking about this before we came, which I thank him. He's been helping me with this technology thing. I'm giving honor to whom honor is due. I'm telling you, I had roadblock after roadblock after roadblock, and I appreciate what he did. So bless the Lord for him. So, but we also confess our sin. That's the beauty of this thing. It's like now we can, he said, if you confess your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. But you don't understand, I keep making the same mistakes. I'm trying and I keep making, Jesus said, how many, Peter, I think, asked him, he said, how many times I should forgive him, Lord? Seven times, you know, said 70 times seven. That means God's mercy endures forever. He's merciful. Sometimes it takes us a while, especially when we're living in paganism, to come out and start learning how to walk right. But that doesn't mean you sit up there and you chill. And talk about God's gonna make me right. No, you get up and you follow Him. Amen? The one thing about it too is that water is symbolic of the Word of God. So you're washing yourself against the Word of God. You cannot stay ignorant of the Word of God. Now the blessing is you come here to this church, you gonna hear the Word. You're going to hear the word. So just that and enough, you're going to get the word. So bless God. Come here and hear the word. But also start to crack that book and start to learn it. And there are going to be more opportunities that this church we're going to create so that you can come and you can learn sound doctrine. Because the other thing, too, is you can take a text and hijack it to make it say what you want to say. And that's going on prevalent now here. So you have to learn how to read it and read it right in context of the whole. so that you're not hijacking it to say what you want to say. In any event, so now we're royal priesthoods, we're a living sacrifice, and we're the temple of God, okay? Then you come in. We feast on the word of God. Jesus is the bread of life. He becomes our priority, our focus, right? And then he said, I'm the light of the world while I'm in the world. But now he's in heaven, seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So guess who the light is. For first and foremost, the candlestick is also symbolized by the Holy Spirit, Zechariah for insects, where it talks about him being the golden candlestick fed by the olive branches. And so also, and I think it's echoed, he's the sevenfold nature of the Holy Spirit. So there's all these symbolisms about the golden candlestick being symbolic of the Holy Spirit. But it's also symbolic of the church. When he's standing in Revelation and he's speaking to the seven churches in Asia, those were golden candlesticks. But he also said something to each individual believer, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. So the people who are feeding on the word of God and praying and communing with the Holy Spirit are the ones going to shine forth the fruit. of God's life, the fruit of the spirit. Love, peace, joy, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faith, temperance, meekness. You can't get there if you're not reading the word, you're not praying, you're not confessing. I have to do it all the time because I know what the standard is, the word of God tells me. You know, love them that hate you, pray for them to despise you, bless them to curse you. Well, my flesh, my whole nature don't want to do that. It's all right to read it, it's all right to quote it, but to live it is a whole other thing. So I got to ask him. I'm like, Lord, I don't want to turn the other cheek, but I'm going to do it. Why? Because I'm doing it for you. I'm doing it for your glory. I'm doing it for your representation. We're ambassadors for Christ. I want you to see the continuity of thought. We were going to break these things down as messages go, but I just felt led to do it at a high level. So now we're that light. But now I'm going to come to the main point, which was us being consecrated. Now we're positioned before the holy of holies at the altar of incense. So he is, what was that? Oh, thank you, sir. Okay, so now one of the things we're called to do and we're privileged to do is pray. He consecrates us and now we can pray. We have access to God and we can pray. So let me see what else that I wanna say. I think, let me just jump into. I'm gonna jump right into the next part, where Jesus basically said his disciples, the one who said that my house should be called a house of prayer was asked, well then how do we pray? Now we're supposed to be this house of prayer. How do we pray? So I want to go into how do we pray? And we all know the Lord's prayer. And so it's a model, right? So we're gonna read it. Matthew 6, 19, 14 says, pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. So first things first, I want to talk about this. Our father in heaven. And Maya already touched on this before we came in. The fact that we can call God our father is, beyond words, incomprehensible. When you know that God is the same God that created all things, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. This God that spoke all of creation into existence, now you can call him father. You can call him father. He's in heaven. You can call him father. He could have just said, I forgive your debt. Now get out of my face. You know what I'm saying? All right. Get out of my face. I don't care. I forgave your debt. All right. Get out of my face. But that wouldn't have gave us eternal life. That just meant, okay, you won't have to pay the consequences, get out of my face. And he could have said, well, I'm gonna let you be slaves to me. Now we do, we are servants to God, but we're not only servants, we're sons and daughters. We're adopted into the royal family, we're heirs and joint heirs with Christ. He didn't have to do it. Now you are a son and a daughter of God. He didn't have to do it. So the fact that you can call him father is nothing but the mercy and grace of God. Especially if you know what you did what you did, and you didn't act like nobody's son or daughter. You didn't represent, you know how in certain Asian cultures it's like, well, most cultures, don't go out there and mess up my name now. Don't go out there and act a fool, because you're making us look bad. Well, in the same way, God could have said, because of what we went through, He could have said, you know what? You made me look too bad. I don't want to have nothing to do with you. But he allowed us into the house. Now we have the ability to act right. So he says now, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Well, first of all, let me backtrack to that hour. Hour is not individualistic. R is not me-minded. So now we've abandoned the kingdom of self, which the world system does. It's all about me, my grind, my hustle, me getting to where I'm going to, and if I step on a couple of toes along the way, oh well, this is what you gotta do. That's the price you gotta pay for success. And nowadays we put people on pedestals that we know got jacked up character, but it don't matter because we put success at such a high level. I don't care how many people you ran over to get there. I want to sit up, celebrate you. We read people's biographies and you see how many friends they kick to the curb. That's all right. You got to where you were going to. I want to be just like you. And we want our kids to be like them. Bill, I did that thing on Steve Jobs. He dogged and stole from so many people, but that's all right because look what he did. He got paid too. That's the world standard for success. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Holy is your name. Holy, and notice we ain't even got to the knees yet. We're just talking about, I'm gonna reverence your name. I want your name to look good in the world. Hallowed be your name. I want your name to be exalted in the earth. I want your name to be magnified in the earth. Not just by the fruit of my lips, but the fruit of my life. How do I, do I make his name look good? When I'm out in the public, when I'm around people that don't know the Lord, do I make his name look good? Am I hollowing his name in the midst of the people? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I'm not going to be long, y'all. So anyways, but let's talk about his name first and foremost. Adonai, the great God. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Jehovah Mekadeshem, the Lord who sanctifies. Jehovah Siknu, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is peace. Jesus, the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory, honor, and praise of the Father. We represent that name. We want that name to be exalted in the earth, even above our own comfort. We're sold out. The name also, a name was much more than just a title. It was, it reflected the character and the works of that individual. It represented that person. So when we say we ask things in the name of Jesus, we're not just saying slap that at the end of your prayer while you asking for everything and anything under the sun that have nothing to do with Jesus. It has to be in accordance with his character and in accordance with his works. Bless the Lord. Your kingdom come and your will be done. The rule and reign in the hearts and minds of men against the backdrop of hostile, angelic, demonic, and human rebellion. The spread of the gospel. He will answer our prayers according to his will. Okay? So we want to see his kingdom come and his will be done. We want the spread of the gospel to go across the earth. We want our family members to be saved. We want our friends to be saved. We want his kingdom to come and his will to be done. Not only in earth, we want to come under greater dominion on him. I've made a lot of growth, but I still got a long way to go. You know what I'm saying? When the standard is Jesus Christ, there's always a high calling which is in Christ Jesus. So I have to grow and be more like him. I want his kingdom to come and his will to be done more in me, but I also want his kingdom to come and his will to be done on the people around me. Okay, now, I think this is where I'm gonna talk about strange fire and strange incense. Nabed and Abihu, some of us know about in the Old Testament. They came, after their father offered up a sacrifice, the fire came down from heaven, showing that God was pleased with the sacrifice. He burned up the sacrifice. They went and tried to do the same thing, but they were supposed to bring fire from the tabernacle, the brazen laver, which is where the sacrifice was made, but they brought in fire from another source. So our prayer has to be rooted and grounded in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Strange instance, we have to pray according to the will of God. He's not going to answer every prayer. He's going to pray according to the will of God. I'm going to read you a couple of scriptures so you know what I'm talking about. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. So we also have to make sure we're cleansing and asking God for forgiveness. We don't make a breach between us and God. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he hears him. Okay? James 1, 6 and 7 says, So you can hear the consecration that I was talking about in the Old Testament, people who separated themselves to the Lord, people that We're cleansing. First of all, you had to come by way of the brazen labor. Then you had to come by the altar. Then you had to come by way of the brazen labor. So you had to come by the blood of Jesus. And then you have to regularly wash because our unconfessed sin can cause a breach between us and God. And so that's why we should be some confessionist people. I told y'all that before. And doing that helps you, too, because the more you confess, you're renouncing it. Okay, I used to cuss people out and laugh about it and like it and celebrate it. Now, if it comes out, forgive me, Lord. And the more I do it, the more my mind is renewed according to the standard of His word. So, Lord, help me. I'm inviting Him in. I'm letting the word be a standard to me, and I'm praying and asking to fix me according to His word. We also pray without doubting. We're asking God. We're asking him according to his character. Sometimes I have to pray, Lord, fix my unbelief. The situation, I'm fixated on the situation. Help my unbelief. Help me to fixate on you and your will. Okay, James 4, 3 and 10, most of us know this. You ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions or your lusts. You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is the enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he yearns jealousy over the spirit that he made us to dwell in us? But he gives more grace, therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourself, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. This is a, look at what he's telling the people that are believers. Cleanse your hearts. you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you." If we're too worldly and too carnal, what we need to do is repent. That's what he's saying. You know what I'm saying? Repent. My value system is all the world. All I'm thinking about is me, me getting mine, and we've all been there. But what we have to do is we, and usually we'll end up getting broken in a way that God will bring us to a place of humility, and that humble place is where he exalts from. Bless the Lord. Okay, then... Before then, give us this day our daily bread. Now meet all of our needs. Comes after praying for his name to be exalted in earth, his rule to increase in the heart and the lives of people, the spread of the gospel. We prioritize him, then he meets our need. Matthew 6, 33 and 34, and this is what it sounds like. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, For tomorrow will be anxious of itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. I'm coming down to the wire, you guys. So what I'm trying to tell you is, he should be our priority in our day. He has to be a priority in the day. In the Old Testament, they had to go in the morning and the evening, they had to go light that golden candlestick, they had to put out the table, the bread, and then they had to also burn an altar on the incense. Day and night. So men should pray, how often? Without ceasing. Men ought to always pray and not think. So we should be praying regularly. So that means we're prioritizing and we're focusing on it, we're fixing on it. Okay, now this is the hard part for a lot of us if we really come down to it. And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And then you jump down and he talks about if you don't forgive, then I won't, you know, your father won't forgive you. Now one of the things about those that are born again, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. We forgave as he forgave us. When we understand the magnitude of our sin and how much we sinned against him, the more it becomes possible to forgive others. When we assess that, when we realize how much we violated him. Now, I'm going to tell you this because I just had to pray for my family member on this, but some things are harder to forgive than others. But you can ask the Lord. There are some things where I was like, Lord, I just can't. But you can do it if I ask you to do it through me. I'm going to agree with you. Help me to genuinely let it go. And that might be a prayer that you have to pray over and over again. He talked about the prayer of importunity, right? The woman that just kept asking the judge over and over. Sometimes you gotta pray some prayers over and over again, especially if you got a repeat offender. Because most people don't just come at you once. And it'd be one thing if they were repeat offenders in your past, but sometimes they're repeat offenders in your present. So they don't, exactly, they mess with you, you getting over it one, okay, okay, okay, I let it go, but then you up in my face again, and I gotta let go, and I gotta go, okay, Lord, how many times you forgive me? 70 times seven, I gotta forgive this person 70 times seven, and I gotta pray 70 times seven. Because I want this thing to be genuine. Because otherwise I'll be fake in their face. I'll be fake. You know, that doesn't mean we can't have clear-cut boundaries. It doesn't mean I got to be up in your face 24-7. You know what I'm saying? That's what that doesn't mean, okay? It says I have to forgive. And the reason why I'm forgiving is because he forgave me. Not because you all of a sudden decided to act right because you still ain't acting right. And sometimes they get worse over time. You know what I'm saying? And so it's like, this is something, it's like, I'm doing it for you, Lord, and you alone. Because I don't want to do it. Now, let me help you with this a little bit. Romans 12, 19 through 21 says, Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will be heaping burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Say that isn't something that you need God to do. Tell me you can do that without praying. Tell me you can do that without, and genuinely do it. And some of y'all are saying, I'm praying and it's still hard. And that's real. But you're crucifying that flesh. You're doing it not because you're trying to, not, well, you're doing it for God. And Lord, hopefully the person will repent. And I'm not talking about just a quick hit prayer. Some people say, well, I'm just going to wait until my deathbed and I'm going to pray. Well, how sincere is it going to be if you just sit around and wait until your deathbed? And you're talking to a God who reads hearts and minds. So you can pull the okey-doke on everybody else, but don't think you're going to find a loophole on him and he's going to sit up there and think it's real. You know how you're looking through a contract to try to find out, OK, how can I get him now? OK, I'm going to get you, Jesus. I'm going to wait till the last minute. I'm going to pray this prayer, and you're going to have to honor it. No. He's looking for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Amen? So this is what he says. Vengeance is mine. I will repay. So we don't have a right to vindicate ourselves anymore. We have no right to vindicate ourselves. So we give it to him, but he will repay. Well, that doesn't necessarily only mean your eternity. Sometimes the way he repays is not necessarily through the person. Sometimes what he does is he repays you with spiritual things. Sometimes it could be material things. But he can repay you with something spiritually. You're growing and maturing. You all of a sudden got peace that surpasses all understanding. You got the joy of the Lord. You get things that in a, and I'm saving that for last. Okay, so all these things, like I said, is seek ye first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Okay, I'm gonna come back. I'm coming down to the wire, y'all. I'm for real about this. Well, we're at the last verse, so. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, or deliver us from evil. All this stuff is happening in a war zone. all this is happening, and you got a hostile spiritual adversary, and he's not solo, right? He took a third of the angels with him. And he's allowed to have temporary influence over this world system for a point in time. So you're in a hostile territory. You're on enemy territory. Right? There is going to be a point in time, that's where we're pilgrims, right? So we're pilgrims in hostile enemy territory, but the Lord, and that's why we have to pray this prayer, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. I need the Lord to overcome evil. I need the Lord to crucify my flesh when I got an adversary around me that is also dangling carrots, and he know I like carrots. You see what I'm saying? Lead me not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now, there's times when he will allow times of testing, but even in those times, and I read the scripture, submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. I have to lean on him in those times. I can't sit up and just say, what I know, I need to not only know, but I need to pray. Lord, Lord, Lord. And then if I need to, I need to flee. especially this fornication, in this day of fornicating, in this day of where it's just heavy, everything around us is just bombarded. You're getting commercials after commercial after commercial, through the music, through the movies, through every avenue, every arena, we're constantly bombarding. Feed your flesh, feed your flesh. Are you like this? Let me give you another thing to feed your flesh with. We got, what is it, Baskin-Robbins 51 flavors? We got 51 flavors of fleshly indulgences that you want to see. Pick a flavor. You want double scoop? You want triple scoop? You want sprinkles? You want whipped cream? Bless the Lord. Ephesians 6, 16, 20, in all circumstances, taking up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that the words may be given to me in my opening of my mouth, boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Paul asked for prayer to preach. And that was what he was called to do. That was what he was gifted to do. But he didn't rely on his own ability. He knew his life. Look, I need this body life. I had to call some saints this week. And the Lord put on my heart certain women because I was dealing with a situation, and we're hitting some crisis situations. I'm telling you all, it's crisis after crisis after crisis. And you're going to pray. You're going to pray. You are going to pray. Because if nothing else, look at the weather. Look at the weather across the globe. Earthquakes. But everything is supersized. Everything is extra, and we're only getting the local news. Unfortunately, I try to expose my stuff that's going around the globe. Animals are washing up on the shore in unspeakable numbers. Birds are flying out of the air in weird ways. Earthquakes are happening in weird ways. Tsunamis are now happening in large numbers. Red flags are going up. Even so, come Lord Jesus, I told you, for I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the creation earnestly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. Earth is crying out. Even so, come Lord Jesus. But they're waiting for the sons and daughters of God to step up. Step up. Step up. Wake up. Step up. Wake up. Step up. Come from among them. Step up. Rise up. And there's going to be a time where we're going to get caught up. Keep stepping up, because you're going to get caught up. You're going to get translated. In the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, you're going to take off corruption. You're going to put on incorruption. And that's when the thing is all done. We won't have to deal with all this craziness no more. And the crazy is getting crazier. Up is now down. Left is now right. Inside is now outside. They're redefining everything. Everything is being redefined that you should already know. This is what it is. No, it isn't what it is. You're wrong. This is not this. This is now this. And it's like, anyways. So we are a privileged people. We are a privileged people. We have access to the throne room of God. And this is where I was trying to go and I said stop. This is a blessing that we now have access to the throne room of grace at a time when men's hearts are failing them for fear. Depression is at an all-time high. Anxiety is at an all-time high. Suicide rates are at an all-time high. People are losing hope, right? And so Philippians 4, 6, and 7 says, be careful for nothing but in everything in prayers and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. And he said, if nothing else, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, would guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. If you read Ecclesiastes, I'm going to go here real quick. Solomon was allowed to have everything and anything, and he had wisdom, right? After he said, I did what I wanted to do, had what I wanted to have, experienced everything I wanted, he said all of it was empty. The ear could never get enough hearing, the eye could never get enough seeing. It's an insatiable appetite. When was the last time you bought a new car and you were happy and now that thing is old and you ain't happy no more? Right? When was the last time you got an increase and you was like, I was juiced, look it, I got this increase now. And then all of a sudden now that increase don't mean nothing. Right? Everything is temporary. Yesterday's good meal don't mean nothing today when you're hungry. So you can't fill an appetite that never is satisfied. And the only thing that he said that's satisfactory is to serve God, especially in your youth. That's where gratification comes in. The kingdom of God is neither not meat nor drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. He will keep us in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on him. In his presence is joy everlasting. We have the opportunity to experience peace and joy that is not conditioned upon our circumstances. That's not afforded to everyone. You are privileged. You are privileged. So we have the privilege of collaborating with the Lord until he returns to judge the inhabitants of the earth. Revelation 8, 1 and 5 says, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Then I saw seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets was given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense with all the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angels. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. And there was peals of thunder, rumbling, slashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Our prayers are going to rise up before God in the judgment. So your prayers not only have momentary purpose, but they're going to rise up before God and the judgment. And every wrongdoing that was done to us, that's going to come before his nostrils. And so it's going to be a sweet savor into the nostrils of God. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. We're living in an unjust system. We know racial injustice, political injustice, all kinds of injustices, and there is a time of judgment. But in the meantime, and in between time, my house shall be called a house of prayer. Bless the Lord.