If you love someone, you talk with them. And if you love someone, you talk about them. If you love Jesus, you will talk with him. If you love Jesus, you will talk about him. I've lived long enough to know that some Christians Even some in the ministry are in love with the ministry but maybe not as in love with the Lord as they should be. Sometimes you can love theology. Sometimes you can love preaching. Sometimes you can love missions and even discipleship and somehow miss an intimate love relationship with Jesus. If you love somebody, you talk with them and you talk about them. So if you rarely pray, really pray, not just say a few quick prayers on the way to work. or if you rarely witness with all due respect, you need to check your love relationship with the Lord. How did the early church in 30 years take the gospel from Jerusalem to the entire Roman Empire, yea, to Rome itself? How in the world did that happen? Believe it's because everywhere they went they prayed and they witnessed they loved the Lord and so just naturally out of their lives flowed prayer toward the Lord and Evangelism and witnessing toward other people When you read the book of Acts, that's really what it's all about people praying and people opening their mouths and beginning from the scripture, telling people what the Bible says about Jesus. And they learned to pray from Jesus himself. The only thing they ever asked Jesus to teach them, that we have recorded in scripture, by the way, the only thing they ever said like that was, teach us to pray. There was something about his prayer life that not only enamored them, but they knew that He was God the Son, God in the flesh, and yet He spent so much time in prayer. And they knew that somehow, even though He was the Son of God, that prayer was so central in His life, it had to be central in their lives as well. And so they said, Lord, teach us to pray. Why is prayer so important? Why is it important that you not waste the day by not praying? And I want to say this to you, any day without prayer is a wasted day. And with all due respect, if you have not prayed today, thus far, you have wasted today. Prayer has to be our priority. Because when you love somebody, if you really love them, You enjoy talking with them, not just talking to them. If you want to stay married, don't talk to your spouse. Talk with your spouse. And if you want to really be in love with the Lord, talk with him. Listen to him speak to you through the Bible. and then pray those words that he speaks to you back to him. Talk to him and talk with him. And when you do that, you'll find out why it's so important to pray. I'm praying that the priority of the Southern Baptist Convention, I'm praying that we will become literally a house of prayer. I'm praying that when people think about the Southern Baptist Convention, the very first thing they will think of is this. That is the people. That's the group of folks. Those are the folks that pray. Those are the people that spend time with Almighty God in prayer. And out of that flows missions. Out of that flows disciple making. Out of that flows witnessing and preaching and everything else and theology. It all flows from that main thing that they do. If you show me a Southern Baptist, I know that I'm looking at somebody that really prays and talks with God. What happens when people pray? Turn with me quickly to Acts chapter 4, verse 23 and following. And I want to share with you a little bit about this praying church that we read about in the book of Acts. How did they take the gospel in 30 years from Jerusalem to Rome? They prayed. because they prayed God opened the heavens above them and did unique things. First thing that we see is this when God's people pray they overcome persecution. Look at verse 23, when they had been released, released from what? Released from prison. Why were they in prison? Because they had healed a man. beautiful gate. They had gone to the temple to pray in the afternoon at 3 o'clock. And there was a lame man there. He had just been placed there. That's a strange time to place a lame man there. I mean understand why you would put him there by the temple because those people would be more prone to give than anybody else at any other time coming out of the temple. That's how they thought they could be pleased into God by giving alms. But why would you wait until 3 o'clock? Well it was the time of prayer. But they had a time of prayer at 9 o'clock. didn't they put him there at Nautica? We don't know but at any rate I'll tell you why he was placed there because God wanted something to happen in his life and he knew that Peter and John were on their way at 3 o'clock that's why he was there. God works on both ends when He works. And Peter said, I don't have any money but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus rise up and walk. And he didn't know how to act in church. He had never been in the temple. He had never been allowed to be in the temple. He was always forbidden to be in the temple because he was lame. That's what the Bible said in the Old Testament. So for the first time in his life, no bitterness, nothing. He just goes in there. He's like everybody else, and he's walking, and he's leaping, and he's praising God. Don't you like it when people get saved and they don't know how to act in church? Bible says, he came out, there's a crowd, Peter preaches, repent therefore and return that your sins may be washed away. The times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that He might send Jesus the Christ to you. And many believed and everything was great, right, wrong, they got arrested, they got thrown into jail. And then they come the next day before the Sanhedrin and they are put there in that intimidating spot encircled by these people up there and they They say, by what authority? By what power? In what name have you done all this? And they didn't back down for a skinny minute. They said, rulers and elders, if we're on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how he has been made well, let it be known to you, all of you, and all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands before you in good health. then he starts quoting Scripture. He quotes Psalm 118, Jesus is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And then he lowers the boom in Acts 4.12, and there is no salvation. There is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And the Bible says when they looked at these guys and they saw the confidence, the freedom of speech of Peter and John they realized that they were uneducated, agrammatos. They were not people who had been schooled in their, in their schools of, of the rabbis. And they were untrained, idiotos. They were idiots. They were untrained idiots is what he was saying. They were men. They were amazed at them and they began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. They might have not gone to the rabbinical schools but they had been homeschooled by Jesus for three and a half years. And I've got news for you, He's a pretty good teacher. And they were delivered because they prayed. They called An emergency session, that's what you do when you don't know what to do. And they came up with this. They said, let's release them and tell them not to preach anymore. Good luck with that. Praying Christians, they were released. You say, well, what about those, those that get killed? Oh, they're released too. They're released into the glory of God. People are being killed all over the world right now But I want you to know when they pray even if they're not released from jail physically they're released spiritually their soul and their spirit immediately goes to be with the Lord and I want you to encourage you to pray because when you pray you overcome persecution secondly when you pray When God's people pray, they enjoy unity. Look at verse 23. When they had been released, they went to their own companions. They reported all that the chief priest and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices with one accord. Verse 32, the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. They went to their companions. They gathered together with the body of Christ. They gave a report of what had happened and what the Sanhedrin had told them. And they lifted their voice to God in unison with one accord. with one mind, one purpose, one impulse. They were a congregation, a plethos. You hear the word plethora there, a large number, multitude, a crowd, an assembly, a community, a gathering together, a fellowship, a church of those who believe. They had one heart. And I want to tell you something. Southern Baptists could use a little bit of that. We could use a little bit of being unified together around the Lord Jesus Christ. And it will not come unless we spend time talking to God together. We've got to talk not about one another, but we've got to talk with each other to the Lord. Something changes in your life when you start praying with other Christians instead of talking about other Christians. Unity comes not from divisive discourse, but from unified prayer meetings. When we lift our voices to God with one accord, with one heart, as a congregation, as an assembly, then we enjoy genuine unity. in the body of Christ. We have to lay down our personal agendas and we need to start crying out to God and say, Lord, we want to be about your business. We want to be about our Father's business. We want to be about the kingdom of God. We want to be about taking the gospel to the nations. And Lord, we want to do it as one. And as we pray about that, God works miracles. When God's people pray, we enjoy unity. Thirdly, when God's people pray, the Bible says when God's people pray, they depend on Scripture. Look at verse 24. And when they had heard this, they lifted their voice to God with one accord, and they said, O Lord, it is you who... And they start praying Scripture. who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them." That's Exodus 20, Nehemiah 9, Psalm 146, "'Who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David your servant said,' and they pray more scripture, "'Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things?' This is all out of Psalm 2. "'The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One.'" God's people gathered together. By faith, they started praying and claiming the promises of Scripture, and they were talking to God by praying the Word of God. You say, well, I don't believe in that. Well, Jesus did it on the cross. Three times he prayed. Two times he prayed Scripture. He prayed Psalm 22, verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The last thing he said on the cross was a prayer from Psalm 31, verse 5, Into thy hands I commit my spirit. There's nothing wrong with praying the Word of God. In fact, when you pray the Word of God, you pray the will of God. And 1 John 5 says when we pray the will of God, we know that God hears us, and when He hears us, we know what we have, what we have asked Him to give us. There's something about praying the Word of God that strengthens your prayer life like nothing else. Now, I want to encourage you to pray for lost people. Pray the Word of God. You say, what should I pray? How about what Paul prayed in Romans 10-1? My heart's desire and my prayer for them is that they might be saved. How about praying that John 16, 8, that God will convict them, a lost person, of sin and righteousness and judgment? How about the verse I quoted a while ago out of Acts chapter 3, verse 19, that they will repent and return, that their sins may be washed away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord? I was on an elliptical machine this morning praying that I've got about 20 lost people I pray for every day. And I pray for them to repent. I pray for them to come to Christ. I pray for God to convict them of sin and righteousness and judgment. I pray for them to have a contact that somebody, and I'm willing to be that contact, that somebody will tell them about Jesus Christ. praying for our churches? How about Acts 9 31 that they will enjoy peace, be built up. The one in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit they will continue to increase. How about praying for the President of the United States instead of talking? Who would want to be the President of the United States? Who would want that? Why don't you pray for that person? The Bible says that we can pray for them. I pray, Proverbs 21, verse 1, that his heart will be like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He'll turn it wherever he wishes. Now, some people say, you know, you really shouldn't pray 2 Chronicles 7, 14. nation here. That was just a promise for Israel. It is for the people of God. And with all due respect I still believe we ought to pray for revival in this nation. I think we ought to pray that if God's people we, I say God I pray that we your people called by your name will humble ourselves, praise, seek your face, turn from our wicked ways and that you will hear from Heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land. How about praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit because the Bible says that God wants to fill us. He said if you are Being evil know how to give good gifts to your children How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask if you will pray the Word of God? You'll pray the will of God. You can't manipulate God, but when you pray the will of God God hears you and when God hears you God Answers your prayer. There is something about praying the Word of God and there's just something about prayer depending on scripture number four when God's people pray they exude confidence and They exude confidence. Look at verse 26. For truly in this city, they're praying now. You see somebody's heart when you hear them pray. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. Prayer made them bold, not arrogant, not cocky, not egotistical, not smug, not conceited, not condescending, but bold and courageous. They understood The truth of psalm 31 15 lord my times are in your hands. They had confidence They were like david when he faced goliath Everybody else said that goliath was too big to hit David said he's too big to miss And so he goes after him. He said you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin But I come to you in the name of the lord god of hosts The art the god of the armies of israel who you have taunted and this day I'm going to take you down." And then he says, all those guys behind you, I'm coming after you too right after I finish this guy. Why? That all the world may know that there is a God in Israel. Where's that confidence? These guys had it. Why did they have it? Because when you stand in the presence of God continually, no man can intimidate you. When you stand in front of God, when you come before the throne of God and you worship Him and you realize how awesome He is, you're never going to be intimidated by another individual on this planet. Oh, they exuded confidence because they prayed. Number five, when God's people pray they offer strategic petitions. Notice how precisely they prayed. Look at verse 29, and now Lord take note of. Epidon, fix your gaze upon, look at, concern yourself with their threats. Grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence or boldness while you extend your hand to heal. Signs and wonders take place through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus. Strategic petition Lord take note of their threats, right? These things download record them in your eternal ledger. Oh Lord take note of their threat secondly Grant us your bond service that we might speak your word with all confidence. If you read verse 31, that's exactly what God did for them and then third petition while you extend your hand to heal signs and wonders take place through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus they knew that it was not their hands that were healing it was God's hand that had to heal and throughout the book of Acts the rest of it you see God Answering these strategic prayers every persecutors actions that were all written down in heaven the disciples spoke the word of God with boldness and confidence and as they went out God Extended his hand people were healed signs and wonders took place in the name of Jesus and when we pray God wants us to offer those kind of strategic petitions Sixthly, if that's a word, when God's people pray, they experience miracles. Look at verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken. Now, a lot of the commentators just go nuts over this, trying to explain it away. Well, it wasn't a literal shaking. How did they know they weren't there? You can be confident about something you don't know anything about. Just because somebody says something to you confidently doesn't mean you have to believe them, all right? I've met a lot of people that are seldom right, but never in doubt, all right? God not only healed people, but He performed signs and wonders in the days ahead. But He also performed a miracle. This place where they gathered was shaken. I just believe God looked down. Now this may be the worst exegesis in the world, but I'm a simple guy. I just believe God just hugged on them a little bit and shook the place. I got 10 grandbabies. I told you when you love somebody you talk about them. It's easy to talk about my grandbabies. When I walk in the room, they say, Papaw, what do I say? Stop making that noise and put your hands down. Is that what I say? No. I go over and I grab them, I shake them. And I believe that's exactly what... Do you remember what God did when Jesus died on the cross? He was so pleased with His Son, Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Herschel Hobbes used to say, from top to bottom, not bottom to top. Top to bottom, God tore it, man didn't tear it. And the earth shook and the rocks split. What was that except God saying, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And I think God was well pleased with that little group of Christians praying that day. And just to let him know he was there, he shook the whole building when God's people pray. I don't believe in a day of miracles. I believe in a God of miracles. And I believe we can still experience miracles if we will pray. Another reason we ought to pray is this, when God's people pray, they share the Gospel. Verse 31, and when they were filled, they were filled, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. What'd they do? They began to speak. How did they speak? The Word of God with boldness, with boldness. Verse 33, and with great power, Megalei Dunamai, the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. about people, they were talking to people about the Lord. They were wading out into the sea of lost humanity, hurting people and telling them about Jesus. Did you know that Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is crawling with lost people? Some of you all are looking at me really strange right now. I've gotten to witness to three of them and I haven't even been here but less I've been here less than 24 hours or gotten to share the gospel three times. I got to share with Rob last night, a waiter. I got to share with a donut guy this morning, guy that delivers the donuts. Who would want a guy that delivers the donuts to a seminary not to hear about Jesus? And so I stopped old Cliff and said, Hey Cliff, I've been over to work out. I said, I didn't ask for a donut either, by the way. I want you to know that. Talk to him about the Lord. And then after I ate breakfast coming back, it was really coming down rain and I didn't have an umbrella. And I saw a kid over there in a truck and the Lord laid on my heart to go. You say, how do you know that was the Lord? The devil didn't tell me to go witness to him. And it was raining and I was in my suit, you know. I believe every prompting like that is the Lord laying a person on your heart. And if you don't believe that, then you go the rest of your life thinking that that doesn't happen. But I'm telling you, let me say this to you. Every, every desire you have to tell somebody about Jesus comes from the Holy Spirit. Every desire. Went over there, knocked on the door. He rolls the window down. It's pouring down rain. I said, hey, I'm preaching here today. He said, good, great. He's a painter. He's a painter. They're looking for a dry place to paint. I shared the gospel with him. He couldn't have been nicer. We prayed together. He didn't receive Christ. But you know, what I'm saying is this. I'm not trying to brag. I'm not trying to bluff. There's people all around you. There are people everywhere. And when you pray and you talk with God, God just starts laying them on your heart, and you just go up, and all of a sudden, they'll listen to you. It's amazing. You just start talking, and you've never met them before in your life, and you're just, listen, if you'll be nice to people, hello, if you'll just be nice to, I'm not just talking to the choir. If you'll be nice to people, people will listen to you talk about Jesus. Wouldn't it be horrible for somebody to come on this beautiful, immaculate campus and not hear about the risen Christ? Oh, listen, you're not training for ministry. You are in the ministry right now. And if you don't do it now, you won't do it later. And you do it because you love Jesus. You can't stop talking about Jesus and you can't stop talking to Jesus. Why? Because you love him. You love him. I know I'm not supposed to talk loud like that. My wife tells me all the time. I can't help it. So just, I'm going to smile. Okay. You okay? Can you handle it? Okay. All right. Robbed the waiter, clipped the donut, delivered and branded the painter. If Jesus is in your heart, he'll come out of your mouth. You can't serve Jesus with a zipped lip. Spurgeon said it this way, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one person go there unwarned and unprayed for. Brethren, when God's people pray, they share the gospel very quickly. When God's people pray, they enjoy bountiful grace. Look at verse 38, an abundant grace. Megale, mega grace, literally, was upon them all. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson tide, whiter than snow you may be today. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin. When God's people pray, they enjoy bountiful grace. Believe it or not, number nine, When God's people pray, they become exceptionally generous. Look at verse 32. And not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. Verse 34, for there was not a needy person among them. Imagine that. For all who were owners of land and houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and they would lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. This is not first century communism. This is not socialism. No one is being forced to relinquish the rights to property or possessions. Rather, this is Holy Ghost prompting an exceptional generosity. This is cheerful giving, hilarious giving. That's exactly what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7. It's the Greek word hilarious. And it's cheerful giving. It's what The Bible talks about in Proverbs 22, verse 9, he who is generous will be blessed. He who gives some of his food to the poor. God gave his son. Jesus gave his life. The Holy Spirit gives us power and spiritual gifts. If you follow Jesus, you can't help but be a giver. You've got to be generous. Every prompting to give is from God. Every prompting to give is from God. You don't have to be rich to be generous, you just have to be obedient. God doesn't expect you to give what you don't have, but he does expect you to give what you do have. And I want to encourage you, every time you feel led to give somebody something, money, time, anything, whatever it is, do it before you talk yourself out of it. You and I are so selfish, we'll talk ourselves out of it. I'd rather get to heaven and God say, Gaines, you gave too much. I can handle that. I don't think I'm going to hear that. But I don't want to get to heaven and say you didn't give enough. And one more thing, when you pray, some become gifted leaders. Look at verse 36. Ah, Barnabas. Now, Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, translated means son of encouragement, who owned a tract of land, sold it. brought the money who had laid and laid it at the apostles' feet. They prayed and God raised up a man who would raise up another man named Saul and disciple him and he would write half the New Testament, raise up another man named Mark who would write the first gospel out of which you get the gospel also of Matthew and Luke. And God used Barnabas in such a mighty way as a leader. And when we pray, some become gifted leaders. So how about it? I can get up here and talk about prayer all I want to, but how about it, professors? How about it? How about it, students? How about it, trustees? What good is a prayerless preacher? What good is a prayerless church? What good is a prayerless seminary? What good is a prayerless president of a denomination? What good is a president? What good is a president of Southern Mass Convention if he doesn't pray? What good is any Christian if they don't love the Lord enough to talk with Him? If you will pray, It will amaze you what God will do. He talked a moment ago about me singing. He read Psalm 115. That was 17 years ago, Dr. Mohler. I remember what I sang. I sang Psalm 116. I love the Lord. Why? He heard my cry and pitied every groan. Long as I live, though troubles rise, I'll hasten to you. His throne. I'll hasten to Your throne. I'll hasten to Your throne. I'll hasten to Your throne. I'll hasten to Your throne. I love the Lord. He heard my cry, and he pitied every groan. So long as I live, 16. Though troubles rise, I'll hasten to, hasten to Your throne.