In your Bibles, the book of Philippians chapter 4, the kids are dismissed. If you follow Mrs. Barbosa, you're going to have a wonderful time with her today. In the meantime, let's look at Philippians chapter 4. It's way in the New Testament. Let's look at verse 6 and 7. The Bible says in Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 and 7, the Bible says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the privilege that we Christians have to approach the throne of grace. and talk to you. Lord, sometimes we talk about the heaviness of life. Sometimes life hurts and hurts deep. Sometimes nobody understands us, just you. Sometimes you're the only one that can listen to our cries and our pain and understand the sorrow of our hearts. Thank you, Lord, for never, never closing the door when we approach you. Thank you, Lord, that you're always there, loving and caring for us. Life is not easy. It hurts at times. Lord, I pray for each person here this morning. Lord, I don't know what's going on in their hearts. You know. I don't know what they're facing in life, but you know. Console their hearts this morning, those who are here, those who are online watching us. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. You may be seated. So let's go to the Word of God this morning. We're talking about going back to basics. I think prayer is a very basic thing. Here's my thing to you this morning as we start this in the sake of introduction. Do you pray? Do you talk to God? Or you have memorized prayers that you just quoted and without thinking? Because your mother or your father or your grandmother taught you? and you just say five Our Fathers and 20 Hail Marys and you feel good. Oh, do you really put your heart to God and talk to Him? You know, God is not just something out there. God is real. He is real. And we will see Him face to face. When we pray, we're talking to the Creator of all things. If you look at the Bible, many men in the Bible talk with God. They honor His name so much some even lay flat on the ground as they pray. They talk to Him. Moses talked to Him. Jacob talked to Him. Israel talked to Him. Abraham talked to Him. Paul talked to Him. Matthew talked to Him. You know, you go through the Bible and you see over and over and over people who really talk prayer seriously. Even Jesus in His humanity, we find Him praying to the Father. When life was hard for Him, which was in His humanity, He prayed. Folks, let me tell you this way. We live in a broken world. Society is decaying day after day. What was done behind closed doors is open doors. There's no shame anymore. There's no respect anymore. And we see all this and we say, oh, where are we going with all this? Where's God in the midst of all this? God is always there. My thing is, did you found God in the midst of your life? Did you met Him? Did you met Jesus along the way? Or you just push Him out of the way? Here's the thing, do you pray? And if you pray, how long do you pray? How often do you pray? You just pray like, you know, just doing your little thing? Just, oh Lord, bless me and go on, not even thinking about what you were saying. Imagine, imagine if I would talk to you in this regard, like you were next to me and I blabbed some words you were going to say to me. What did you say? Most people like us to pay attention to them when we talk to them, right? If you talk to them, they say, well, don't talk over there looking that way. I'm over here. More than likely, when we talk this way and the person is over here, the person can't even hear what we're saying. Unfortunately, that's the way we talk to God many times. We talk like God is insignificant. But you know what? Prayer is a basic thing, like it's food for our bodies. In the end of the day, when all the fancy food goes away, God gives us water and bread. Isn't it? You say, oh, I can't eat bread because there's a lot of carbohydrates. In the end of the day, comfort food. Water and bread. In the end of the day for Christians is what? Prayer is basic, very basic thing. So we are going to continue our series. Back to basics is going to be all year round. I want to teach you the basics of Christianity. Okay, we learned this morning what's a Christian, what's not a Christian. If I'm a Christian, I'm a follower of Christ. I believe in the Word of God, the Bible. So is the Bible that complicated? No, it's not. People complicate everything. You follow that? People complicate everything. The Bible is very basic. I love the gospels. You know what? Because Jesus is very simple in his teachings. So we come to the process of the thing of prayer. Do you pray? Do I pray? So we're going to look at this the entire year about basics of Christianity. We keep on going. So this morning we're going to talk about the subject of prayer. Prayer is simply a basic thing that Christians do or should be doing. You should be a Christian who prays and you will see a strong spiritual walk with the Lord as you pray. But you don't understand. I have prayed a thousand times. It doesn't come to be. Why should I pray? Continue praying. But God is not listening to me. Yes, He is. I'll give you an example. When I was a kid, when we walked in public, my dad used to say to me and my sisters too, put your hand in the side of my pocket. Because my dad, you know, Portuguese people, when they talk, they use their hands a lot. They're always moving their hands. And I know, because I do the same thing. So he tell us to walk in the hole in his pocket. And many times I would go, daddy, daddy, try to get his attention. And I'll pull his pants down. And daddy, daddy, and daddy would not even look at you. You don't just just ignore me the whole time and he was talking with these guys and daddy that I was there persistently. What was I doing? I want to get his attention. Don't you think when you're a child of God, when you pray faithfully believing, don't you think God listens? I think we're grateful when God doesn't answer immediately. There are prayers that God answers immediately. Others that God takes time, months, years sometimes. Don't lose hope. Don't lose hope. So for some Christians, prayer is something on which they spend a lot of time on it. But for some others, it's more like a foreign thing. They just almost never pray or no pray at all. So prayer is exercising your faith in the Lord. You put it that way. Prayer is we exercising our faith in the Lord. Because when I talk to God, most of the time our prayers are petitions. Lord I have this need, Lord I have that need. Why we go to the Lord? Because nobody else can help us. You follow that? Our fate drive us to our knees and to the Lord because nobody else can help us. All right. So you go to the doctor tomorrow because you're not feeling well and doctor said you have terminal cancer. Who can help you? When the doctor tells you that it means I can't do nothing for you. I'm sorry. And people pass out of the scene, you know why? Because nobody can do anything for them. But what? God can help. I'll give you something you say. You say, well, but I don't... Listen. God still does miracles today. And there's a miracle that I keep in my heart for the longest time. And I share with you here before. There was a time a young man just married. He had a little girl. He was in his early 20s. He come down with lung cancer. That's a big monster right there. It came to a point that his lungs were filling up with fluid. He went to see the doctor. He had an appointment with the doctor. And the doctor said to him, if I were you, I'd go home. Say goodbye to your daughter and to your wife, because you probably won't make any talk tomorrow. He said, that's the worst news I ever got. He said, he got in my car. I was so overwhelmed. I found myself in New York City. That's how far he drove from home. Then I told the Lord, Lord, I'm, he said, I prayed. I told the Lord, Lord, I want to live. I want to raise my child. I want to be there for that, for my child. When she gets married, when she has her grandkids, I want to be there for her. Lord, will you spare my life? And he came home and still living today. He said, does God hear? Yes, he does. Does God do that for everybody? No, because God knows better than we do. Why did my daughter-in-law lost her baby? I don't know. Do we pray for that baby? Yes, we did. I prayed every day for that baby that she would grow, she would be born and would grow. I prayed that she would be a healthy baby. But God choose to take her home. You see, but does God listen? Yes, He does listen. So prayer is a petition, most of the time it's a petition, but prayer is a conversation with God. Prayer is a devotion, a petition, crying and sometimes rejoicing. That is, simply put, prayer is talking with the Lord. And yet, many Christians struggle with prayer. If you pull a group of Christians together, you'd be surprised how many Christians don't even pray at all. as Christians we have been called to pray and so I want to take sometime this morning look at the subject of prayer and how important is prayer in our lives you know you can you can quote memorized prayers that somebody taught you all your life but I tell you what when a robber meets the road when life hurts those prayers we forget and we talk to God like I'm talking to you Listen, God is not just a thing upstairs on which we just afraid of Him or afraid of us. God is a God of all creation. He knows us. He knows how free we are. He knows our needs even before we ask. But when we ask, He wants us to ask in faith. Did you ever pray something you have in your heart? And when you pray, it's like you and a little voice telling you, this is what I want for you. Ever been there? and you say okay lord i just have to accept this that happened to me you know like you just just you just you feel that peace in you the lord is actually telling you you know this is what i want for you so let's look at prayer this morning from several points okay number one what is prayer prayer is a privilege just imagine this you say a privilege yes it is a privilege It is a privilege that God give us to pray to Him directly. I don't need a priest. I don't need anybody. I can go to the throne of grace and take my petition and talk to my Heavenly Father. Wow, that is good. You see, I'm telling you. Listen, I don't have to say, Okay, Shari, I need to talk to you, but I have to talk through Chrissy. You know, because you don't listen to me. You see, that's not prayer. If I want to, I go directly to that person. See, that's what happened to God. I can go to the throne of grace and talk to Him. So, prayer is a privilege. Just imagine this. If you want to speak with the President of the United States, or some other important popular person, more than likely you have to make an appointment with them. And maybe, just maybe, you will be able to talk to them. Follow that? You go ahead and make an appointment with the president and see if you really can talk to him. The odds are very next to nothing. You see, but if you come to that point of talking to him and meet the president, you say, what a privilege. I was able to actually sit down and talk to the president of the United States. Wow. don't have that privilege because I didn't make an appointment with them but anyway you see what I'm seeing here now for this to happen it might take months probably years with that in mind think about the privilege that you and I have to be able to approach the king of kings bigger than any president ever lived the lord of lords the creator of everything and the one that created you and sustains you What a privilege to talk to God, Jehovah, God Almighty. Isn't that a privilege? I believe so. And you guess what? You don't need an appointment. He's available all the time. Call me at two or three o'clock in the morning, see if I can answer. My phone is on what? Non-disturbed mode. think most of us are like that right most of us but with God if it hurts at three if it hurts at four if it hurts at two in the morning you know what he's there and he's listening to you you're laying in the hospital bed and you have nurses back and forth can't sleep all night and now what you can access the throne of grace and say Lord I want to sleep give me some peace here So, what a privilege. Let's go to the basic definition of prayer. Prayer is a conversation with the Lord. Stop and think about that for a moment. Let it sink in your mind. You are talking with the one who gave you life. Prayer is conversation with God. That's one statement that should overload and overwhelm us in our brain and say, wow, what a privilege I have to talk to the God who created me. Isn't God good? God is always good. He's always good. Prayer. When we pray, we converse with God, God the creator, God the almighty, God is all-knowing, God is in his majesty, God in his supreme being. I tell you what he says, talk to me. Is that sinking in? Do you see the privilege? We should never cease to be amazed that God, the Creator of all, wants us to talk to Him and Him with us. What a privilege. What a privilege to open a Bible and read God's Word. You know how many people don't have access to a Bible in our world? And we get to the end of the Bible and say, I already read it, I know the whole thing. Read it again. Because you know what? It's the Word of God. read it again what I already did read it again you see what a privilege letter a the a new outline the our privilege to enter into God's presence praise the privilege first of all because through prayer we enter into God's presence look what it says in the book of psalm chapter 84 verse 1 how amiable are thy tabernacle oh lord of hosts for my soul longeth. Look what it says. Yea, even fainted for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. You see how overwhelmed is the psalmist right here? As he enters the presence of the Lord, he's overwhelmed. Is that us? We just pray, Lord bless the food. Thank you for it. We already think about the last bite. We forget about it. You know, Lord bless this day. We don't even think about the words. And God says, why are you going so fast? Slow down. Talk to me. If you live with somebody in the house and you just get out of bed and out the door and you talk to people, what are people going to say? Hey, stop! Talk to me. What are you doing? Am I just an object or a human being? You know what God says to you and me? Stop, slow down, talk to me. I am your creator. And the psalmist says right here, that he's overwhelmed as he come to the presence of God. You see the privilege? It is a privilege to come to God's presence. Wow. Listen, folks, God is more important than the President of the United States. You follow that? God is more important than all the politics that we see and talk with. Somebody said something this week. I thought it was not due with a lesson, but because politics. Let me say something. They say all of our politicians should wear a jacket just like the NASCAR drivers use. They have all stickers. So we know who can own them. I thought it was hilarious. I said, yeah, there will be less corruption, that's for sure. So anyway, so God is holy and we are sinful. And so we were separated from God because of our sin. But you know what? He allows us to come to His presence without any appointments. Wow! Look at the way the book of Hebrews puts it this way. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says, Do we need God? We do all the time. And when we need God, what should we do? Go to Him! Talk to Him! Lord, I'm disappointed today. Lord, life didn't go the way I wanted today. Lord, life hurts. Lord, my foot hurts. Lord, my knee hurts. Lord, you know we can't go. You say, God doesn't listen to that. Yes, He does. And sometimes He tells you your knee is going to continue to hurt. You see, May we approach God's throne boldly and with confidence. Why? Because in Jesus Christ we are no longer going to the throne of judgment, we are going to the throne of grace. Jesus had opened the way to God so that we can come freely to his presence without any fear. Why are people so fearful of God? Why people think that God is just a man upstairs that he doesn't know on this or don't understand what's going on down here? No, God understands everything and knows exactly what's going on in this world. He knows what's going on in your life particularly. Will you tell me how many hairs you have in your head? You know what the Bible says? God knows them all. Try to count your hairs. Some people might be able to. But not everybody. You see, Yes and no, we are always in the presence of God. Yet, it seems to me that those who pray are in the presence of God in a very different sense than those who don't pray. Unfortunately, some Christians do not pray. Let it be our privilege to address Him as Father. Look what it says in Matthew 6, 9. After this, pray ye our Father. You see some people memorize the Lord's Prayer and they quote the words without even thinking. You know the Lord's Prayer starts with our Father. God wants us to call him our father. In the book of Romans it says Abba, daddy. What a sweet word. You know how wonderful it is to go, it talks about a sweet relationship with the God of the universe. God says call me daddy. How many kids don't call their parents daddy, their father daddy? They call their father by their first name and there's chaos in the house. You know these days the kids don't even have respect for their parents. Might as well call them them daddy. you see what a sweet name daddy and God says call me daddy Galatians we see the same word in a book of Romans we see the same word and here in a book of Matthew chapter 6 verse 9 Jesus said one you pray start this way our father which are in heaven hallowed be thy name Jesus said call him father you can call God anything. Talk to him in prayer for all you want, your trouble, even your awareness, when you're discouraged, when you're encouraged, or when you're about your failures, about your goals, talk to him. You can talk to God about your victories, your dreams, your accomplishments. You can talk to him about that the road is hard ahead. You can talk to him when life hurts. You can talk to him when you are ill. God says, call me daddy. Why people are so fearful of God? If He's my father, if He's my daddy, why am I fearful of Him? Do you fear God? I don't fear God. I respect Him for who He is. I reverence His name. You know, I said this Wednesday night, today's church is, God is my buddy. You know how disrespectful is that? God is my buddy. So I'm going to teach God like he's my buddy. He's another guy that I play with, I do things with. No, no, no. God is my father. I never call my earthly father, buddy. I call him daddy. Hey daddy, hey father. I call him my dad, my father. I respect him. And today, unfortunately, Christians disrespect God. We had to look at who he is. And when we approach him with reverence and respect for who he is, and we talk to him, and we can start saying this way, Daddy, I'm hurting. You ever been there? Daddy, life is not being good to me right now. It's one obstacle after the other, Daddy. You took my mom, Daddy. You took my aunt, Daddy. Then you go, you took my granddaughter. Then now you took my cousin? Daddy, I'm hurting. Are you listening? Life hurts sometimes, folks. It's painful. You see the pain of others that, in your family, they have no hope. You say, Daddy, what's the matter here? Why these things are going on, Daddy? You see, life hurts sometimes. And if you talk to anybody, they don't understand what's going on in your heart. They have no idea. It's not by mistake that the Bible says he's the God of all comfort. When nobody understands you, when the pain is so intense, when you can't go anywhere, you don't find nobody to console, the long is over your heart, he says to you and me, I'm the God of all comfort. Come to me. I'll give you rest. Even though you don't understand, child, trust me. You know what I'm doing right now? Trusting him. Even said this morning, Lord, who's going to be next? Is that me? You're taking everybody, a lot of people that I love a lot. Talk to Him. Let us see our privilege of being invited to ask. John chapter 16 verse 24 says, High birth have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be Just imagine this, the God of the universe invites you to ask Him for anything that you need. That is amazing. You say, okay, if He wants me to ask for everything that I need, I need money. So today it's all about money, God. Really? Don't ask anything outside the boundaries of the Bible. You follow that? Because that's what we fall into danger. God wants to ask him in the boundaries of his word. so number one in our outline prayer is a privilege all right don't think prayer is a we have given a wonderful privilege and that privilege is prayer to approach the lord of lords and the king of king king of kings you know what the one who created you and me is a privilege that we can approach him and pray we don't need an appointment all right we can approach him anytime number two prayer is a discipline So if prayer is such a wonderful privilege, why don't we pray more? Why do we struggle so much with our prayer life? We struggle because prayer is not only a privilege, it's a discipline. All right. Which one of you made a commitment to go to the gym this year and work out and have a better diet in the beginning of the year? That did, okay. So, you know what, I'm going to the gym, I'm going to eat a better diet, salads from now on, and water, nothing else, no meats, no carbs. I'm going to be nice and skinny, I'm going to be nice and healthy. Healthy people die too, you know that. So, my mom used to say, might as well die with a full belly and a sweet belly. My mom used to say that. She's with the Lord today. But anyway, some people say, you know what, healthy people die too. Everybody's going to die. But anyway, prayer is a discipline. You know what? You know how you continue with your diet? You have to discipline yourself. You know how you continue with going to the gym? You discipline yourself. Why? Otherwise you won't do it. It becomes the same old same old. Oh I don't know today I'm too tired. They're like oh Oh, I'm going to eat that grass again. I need a piece of meat, you know. Oh, that chicken looks, you know what? It takes discipline. Why people don't pray? Because they're not disciplined. They're not disciplined to approach God. So if prayer is a wonderful privilege given to us, then why don't we pray more? Letter A, on your outline, our sin nature gets in the way. Our sin, unfortunately, I would love when we got saved that sin nature was gone and our new nature would be in. Unfortunately, our sin nature gets in the way. Look what it says in Romans 7, 8. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to do will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I have, that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. You follow that? Even Paul, the great apostle Paul, struggled with this. You know why? Because we have that sinful nature. And we say, our sinful nature goes like this. Really? You really need to pray to God? Because God doesn't know that you're going through this. Why do you want to pray for it? You prayed yesterday. You want to pray again today? You see, that's our sinful nature. doing that to us so our sinful nature says to you you do not need God so when you think in your own mind your sinful nature tell you don't need God guess what happens you do not pray you try to fix things your own way you see we do not pray because a lot of times there's our sinful nature gets in the way and you know why it gets in a way a lot of times I have a desire to do good, but I don't. Why? Sinful nature gets in the way. I have the desire to talk to the Lord about something. I don't because sinful nature gets in the way. That'll be. We don't always see results. You know, our society is like this. We say, we say, jump and they say, aha. So we say to God, God jump. And God says, oh hi. That's not the way it works. But that's the way we think sometimes. Lord, jump. And God says, oh hi, you want me to jump? I'm already higher than you. It's not the way it works, folks. See, we live in a society which you want to live here now. You know what? If you go to a restaurant, you wait 10 minutes for your food, you're already screaming, what kind of restaurant is this? I want it right now. Be patient. You know, God says, be still, I know that I am God. Sometimes what we need to do is just stand still and wait. But Lord, I already prayed for months on end, why don't you answer? Because He knows best. Listen, our prayers, God answers immediately. you ever prayed like last night we were going to this restaurant and we called before we got there and the guy said plenty of parking spots we have about three tables available just come in we got there there's no parking spot so what do you do lord give us a parking spot you say you pray for that yeah what's wrong with that god can take a car out of the way right God can take a car out of the way and you go and you're oh he's right here next to the door right in thank you Lord that's immediate answer your heart was in the right place you asked the Lord and he answered oh it's just coincidence I don't believe in coincidence and luck I just don't God can do the impossible but sometimes you can drive around for minutes and minutes and half an hour and an hour and it's not a parking spot why because God doesn't want to give you one and if you don't pray more than likely you'll find one either You see, there's prayers that take a long time to answer. There's prayers that God answers immediately. Why? Because He's God and we're not. You say, but Pastor, I have this disease. I go to the hospital over and over again. I pray to God that He doesn't listen to me. Don't you know God wants you to be a testimony to the people in the hospital that don't know Him? I was dealing with my cancer. I walk in the room and they give you this uniform, you feel like you're totally destitute of clothes, if you know what I'm talking about. I said, this is awful. And I'm in there and look at this guy in the other side of the room, he's reading his newspaper and I have never met this guy in my life. And he looks at me and he says, I don't have time for this, I have a business to run, I'm here, this guy told me I have cancer, I'm just gonna go. I said, you what? Don't you know you're on the losing side if you leave, right? You need treatments, right? Where is God in the midst of all this? Why I have cancer? Can you put the newspaper down and I'm going to talk to you about the God that I know? You see, God put me there for a reason. So I could tell somebody about His love. Listen folks, a lot of people sometimes God uses our infirmities, God uses our problems, God uses our obstacles and he let it linger in our life for sometimes, sometimes a lifelong. You know what? With a purpose so he can be a light to somebody else and you say but I'm suffering. Yes, Jesus suffered too many others did too. You know what? You already saved, you're going to heaven. But it's not fair I'm hurting. Yeah, Paul did too. You see that sometimes you know the problem is we are so self thinking. It's all about us, not about anybody else. Sometimes our pain can be the light and the blessing to somebody else. So I wonder why sometimes God does not answer our prayers. He answers, but different way we don't like it. We don't like it. We don't always see the results. So we don't see the results. We don't like it. I'll tell you what. I prayed for my mother for 11 years. My father, I'm sorry. He said, for what? That he could give his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? It took him lung cancer. It took him the doctor to say, nothing I can do for you. So he could see where he was and where he was going. And I said to my dad in the hospital bed, dad, why don't you make peace with God? And he said, show me how. God has to break his heart. but I never give up on praying and asking God for a soul. You see, we don't like the results. Let us see. We are called to persevere. The third reason prayer is disciplined is because we are called to persevere. Look what it says, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says this in Matthew 7, 7, Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receive it. Any that seeketh, find it. To him that knocketh, it shall be opened. You know what, this was my verse when I was dealing with cancer, right here. Ask, and I was asking the Lord, Lord can you please take this cancer from me? He took it. I'll praise his name for it. You know what my doctor told me? You have to understand, Mr. Barbosa, that I'm not God. I said, I never put you in the place of God. I would never do that to you. I know the God that I serve. But I believe that God put him there. I'm going to tell you what. When I came down with cancer, ironically, this doctor came out of retirement. He told me, he said, I came out of retirement. And soon after he said, you're cancer free, he retired again. Coincidence? I don't know. One day when I get to heaven, I'll find the truth. I believe God was in it. We are called to persevere. If you don't persevere, you give up on your diet. If you don't persevere, you pay for one year membership in a local gym and you never show up. If you don't persevere, anything that you do don't last. Right? We are called to persevere in our prayers. Lord, I already prayed a hundred times for this. Keep praying. My mom used to say, as long as life, there's always hope. Well, that's hope. That's hope. Is it true? Life is, we're called to persevere. We ought to persevere. Seek, knock on God's heaven doors. Just go over there and ask the Lord. Seek His face, knock on His door persistently. Don't give up. Don't give up. You know, there's people that say, Oh, this is my cross. I must bear it. That is old saying and it's baloney. You follow that? That's old saying. Oh, it's my cross. I must persevere. That is not true. God can heal. God can heal broken hearts. Can he? Yes. God can heal pain and sick people. Yes, he can. Sometimes you think, oh, poor me. No. We need to look at God. So number three, prayer is a responsibility. And then finally, prayer is a responsibility. We are called to pray not only as a privilege and a discipline, but we have to We are responsible to pray as Christians. You know, Christians are known to be people of prayer. So if somebody asks you to pray, what do you do? Do you? Do you? Somebody say, could you pray for me? Do we pray? It don't take a humble heart to ask another person to pray. Believe me. Think about you. I mean, something goes on in your life, you go ask somebody else to pray for you. It's like asking somebody to ask for money. How hard it is to ask someone, can I borrow $20 from you? You know how hard it is to do that? Pride gets in the way, isn't it? Prayers like that. But God says it's our responsibility to pray. What kind of relationship do you have or I have with God if I don't talk to Him? Do you follow that? If I never talk to Him, what kind of relationship with that? Do I know Him at all? Do I care about Him? Do I love Him the way the Bible says I had to love God with all my heart, mind and soul? Do I really love Him enough or I really don't care? See, prayer is a responsibility. We are Christians. We are people. We are people of prayer. We are Christians and we are known for people who do pray. Prayer is a responsibility that we have before the Lord. He wants us to talk to Him and to go and to do that through prayer. Letter A, prayerlessness is sin. Prayer is a responsibility first of all because God commands us to pray and therefore not pray is sin. The prophet Samuel recognized this. When the people of Israel asked Samuel to pray to them he responded this way. Look what it says in 1 Samuel chapter 12 verse 23. Moreover as for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease it to pray for you. But I will teach you the good and the right way. He says, you know what? God forbid that I would cease to pray for you. You know what? It's our responsibility to pray for others. When you see somebody in an accident in the highway, what do you do? You pray for the first responders to see gross things and they have to go to all kinds of stuff because it sticks in their minds. You pray for the people that are hurting. You see there's all kinds of prayers, there's all kinds of things that we should bring to the Lord. Do we pray for the person that is gossiping about us? Do we pray for the person that's talking trash about us? Do you pray for the people, the person that tried to take your job away from you? Do you pray for the family member that doesn't like you? You follow that? God says pray for your enemy. You say, but it's hard. Of course it is. Don't you think it was hard for Jesus to hang on that cross? And Jesus said, Father, forgive them. Wow. Can you imagine that? Father, forgive them. Humanity nailed Christ to the cross. And God says to you and me, yeah that person hurt you, that person robbed from you, that person took all kind of trash from you, that person continued to do evil to you and I want you to pray for them. Prayer is a responsibility, so responsible, guess what God says, pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send laborers into his harvest. See what God says? You want missionaries to go tell about me? You pray to me. You ask me. Talk to me about it. You know why? Because He wants us to be involved on that. Oh folks, a lot of times we have not because we really don't believe in the power of prayer. Prayer is expected of you, let it be. Christians are people of prayer. Christians are people who are known for their prayers. You know how many times I work in the workplaces like you do. The people that make fun of you because you're a Christian, the people that mock you because you have a Bible, the people that laugh at you because you have a shirt that says Jesus, but they have all these shirts with profanity all over their shirts. They are the people that come to you and say, would you pray for me? And what are you going to say? After all you've done to me, you want me to pray for you? No. You know what we say? I'll pray for you. Folks, we all experience those things. Is it hard to pray for a person that has been putting your name through the mud? Is it hard? Yes, it is. Is that hard when you pray for a person that caused you to cry? Caused you to lose sleepless nights? Is that hard to pray for a person that put you in a hospital? Yes. But you know what? God says pray. And you know what? We pray. We give it to the Lord. You know what? Our natural way is to say, I'm going to get even with you. And God says, no, no, no. Vengeance is mine. I'll repay it. Say to the Lord, leave it to me. Pray. Prayer is expected of us. Let us say, I'm almost done. Prayer causes God to move. Finally, prayer is a responsibility because God works through our prayers. Look what it says in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1, And now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us and it says in verse 21 unto him be glory unto the church by christ jesus through all ages world with our end amen well what a great verse never doubt god's power to answer prayer god can move mountains for us god can do the impossible for us that's what the bible says he's the god of the impossible You say, Pastor, you don't know what's going on in my life right now. I have not one mountain. I have several mountains ahead of me. How I'm going to do that? I'll tell you why you start. Pray. Give those mountains to the Lord. Give it to the Lord. You say, Lord, no way I can climb the first one. Might as well the second and the third. Lord, give it to Him. You can wake up one morning and the mountains are gone. And you say, wow, God is good. And so what if you have to claim the mountain? So what if you have to come down to the valley, go up to the next mountain? So what? God is with you through that effort. How many people, what they do is they're in the deep valleys constantly all the time. Did God forgot you? No, He did not. I conclude with this, folks. As Christians, we are called to pray. Let me encourage you to pray. Begin the day with prayer. Close your day with prayer. Pray throughout the day for anything and everything. Pray together with your family, if you have one around you. Pray with your friends. When you get in small groups or fellowship or Bible studies, pray. Every Wednesday night, we pray together here at the church. Why don't you join us on Wednesday nights for Bible study prayer and fellowship? Prayer is an amazing privilege. Think about it. We got to talk to Daddy. See the privilege? He say, honestly, pastor, I don't pray. Thank you for your honesty. Start today. Follow that? Start today, so Lord, man, I've been away from you for a long time, Lord. I wanna talk to you, Lord. I'm gonna close with this little story. There was a little boy named John. This boy was just a terror in a little town. Fist fight everybody. All the other little boys, he just keep banging on them, and he was all this guy that come out on the top. Everybody was afraid of him. Go to school, he's always involved in fights. One day, he passed by a little church and The pastor walking up and start talking a little John sit him down on one of the things and John Give his life to Jesus that day And John and The pastor told told a little John that that you knew what he was I said John Jesus gonna help you not to fight anymore He goes. Yes. Yes Well, it didn't take a little to make the story long the next day. He comes down the street. He's going to school and And this other boy comes up the street, and little boy, the boy pushes John all over the place and says, John, today I'm going to beat you. And everybody knew that John was going to beat him. But John got a beat that day. Running nose, black eye, all roughed up. And he walked on the streets, you know, trying to clean his wounds and his blood coming out of his nose. And he looked up and said, Jesus, we won today. I ask you. They keep me strong. I was not gonna lift my hand to my enemy could John beat him He prayed that the Lord would change his heart That's what God can do to you and me He can't change you you can't change me, but you know what don't ever think that God does not answer prayer he does He listens to you. You know why? Listen to this because he loves you You can't say nobody loves me, nobody cares about me. God loves you unconditionally. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this basic word, prayer. Pray for God's people today that they take this seriously, take it to heart, that you care when we go to you and say, Daddy, I'm hurting. Daddy, I have nowhere to go but you. Please help us, Lord, especially when we are discouraged and beat down. Help us, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. If you could stand, please. We have a song of invitation. I have no clue which one it is. What was it? 14, you said? 214. Page 214. Page 214. OK. All the way. No, I don't have the wrong slide. Oh. Yeah, it is 14. I'm in 212. I need another pair of glasses here. All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide? Heav'nly peace, divinest comfort, in my faith in Him to dwell. For I know what hath before me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what hath before me, Jesus doeth all things well. Let me tell you this morning, are you saved here this morning? What I mean, if you were to drop dead right now, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? That's a good thought isn't it? What about prayer? Do you pray? Do you take prayer serious or how's your prayer? Do you really put time into it? Do you when you pray you mean what you pray? You know God is listening to you or just like a little thing that you do without even thinking? You know what God wants to hear from you. the struggles of your heart, the pains of life, even about those who hurt you. God wants to hear from you. Talk to Him. What a good way to do it. Start your day with prayer. Lord, thank you for a new day. Lord, thank you for giving me a good night's sleep. Thank you that I have a job. Thank you that I have clothes to wear and food to eat. Thank you, Lord. Lord, I don't know what the day may bring, but Lord, guide me. Help me to stay close to you, to have my mind on you. Not to go around and do all kinds of evil. You see so many things we can pray for. Lord I'm lonely. Give me someone. Let's sing verse number two. All the way my Savior leads me To each windy path I tread, Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, In my soul a torch may be, Gosh he found the rocks before me lower spring of joy I see Gosh he from the rock before me lower spring of joy I see Amen, thank you for being with us this morning. What a bless. Thank you for your attention I know you folks who are really paying attention, but I just want to I invite you to be here tonight, but let me remind you, prayer is a privilege. We have a wonderful privilege to pray not only for us, but for others as well. God gave His children that privilege to approach the throne of grace at any time of the day and talk to Him. And sometimes we really need to talk to Him, don't we? Sometimes life hurts, discouraged, beaten down. We need that. Not only a privilege, it's a responsibility. and also a commitment. If you don't commit yourself, more than likely you will quit. Be committed. Schedule your time. I saw a movie one time, a Christian movie, and this man lost his wife. It was in the pioneer times in America. He lost his wife. He moved to a new land, and as soon as he got there, the wife fell off her horse and hit her head on a rock and she died so he's by himself but from that day on when he got there he used to go in the back of his house and sit on that bench it didn't matter if it was raining snow and cold wind he met with God every day in that spot he always spoke to God and you see in the movie like he was beating wind and snow and he was there he said Lord thank you for the wind you know but he was committed to meet with the Lord You know, it's good to pray throughout the day, but we should have a place in which we meet with the Lord. You ever see the war room, the movie, the war room, you know, and that lady used to meet inside a closet with the Lord every day. Sometimes that's what we need. We need to go to the closet and meet with God. A spot and just us, us by ourselves with him. I'm not going to preach to you again. So anyway, let's pray we'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for this morning. Thank you for these dear people that took time to be here with us. Go with them. Bless them. Encourage them in their walk with you. Bring us back again this evening. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.