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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church,

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Speaker 1: and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe so

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Speaker 1: we can get you these new sermons every week. I

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Speaker 1: hope you're blessed today. Praise the Lord. Come on up, Graham,

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Speaker 1: and pray one more time before the people are seated.

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Speaker 1: Y'all give him a hand as he comes. Get this

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Speaker 1: young man a microphone, Daniel. 30 seconds. Let's pray as

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Speaker 1: we get into the word. Jesus, we just thank you

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Speaker 1: for this day. We thank you that.

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Speaker 2: You inhabit the praises of your people. We thank you

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Speaker 2: that you are in this place with us right now. God,

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Speaker 2: we ask that right now, would you just open up

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Speaker 2: our hearts to hear what you want to speak to us, God.

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Speaker 1: Lord, would you give us ears to hear.

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Speaker 2: And God, we just pray that you would just speak

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Speaker 2: through our pastor and through my dad right now in

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Speaker 2: this moment. God, we pray that none of his words

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Speaker 2: would fall to the ground. And we pray that you

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Speaker 2: would use him in a powerful way, God, we pray.

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Speaker 1: That this message would.

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Speaker 2: Have a ripple effect that goes throughout the entire nation

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Speaker 2: and throughout the entire world, Lord. God, we pray that

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Speaker 2: we would not leave this word here, but we would

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Speaker 2: live it out in our everyday lives. We love you,

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Speaker 2: we thank you, and we exalt you.

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Speaker 1: In your name we pray. Everyone said. Amen. Everyone said.

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Speaker 1: That did 30 seconds. I think about 38. You earned it.

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Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. Hey, Graham, come here. I'm going to

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Speaker 1: take a church vote right now. I finished my series

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Speaker 1: last week, week six. I know that voice. How about

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Speaker 1: a bonus week? Would you be interested in a bonus week?

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Speaker 1: All in favor say, aye. All opposed? Oh, well. Week seven.

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Speaker 1: Y'all be seated. Hey, give seven hugs on your way

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Speaker 1: to your seat for seven weeks. Come to the living room.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, worship team. Clap your hands and thank God

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Speaker 1: for all of our musicians, our singers. Come on. All

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Speaker 1: of our sound engineers, all of our ushers, all of

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Speaker 1: our eKids volunteers. Come on. Aren't you grateful for people

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Speaker 1: who've served in the house of the Lord? All our

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Speaker 1: eGroup leaders. Praise the Lord. All right. I don't normally

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Speaker 1: choose my sermons this way, and I normally don't ask

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Speaker 1: people and poll people on what they want to hear

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Speaker 1: me preach about. Henry Ford once said that if he

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Speaker 1: had asked people what they wanted, they would have said

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Speaker 1: a faster horse. They wouldn't have known to ask for

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Speaker 1: a car, so … I try to ask the Lord

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Speaker 1: what to preach because we don't really know what we need,

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Speaker 1: do we? So I'm running around asking you, what do

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Speaker 1: you need to hear from the Lord? Well, if I

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Speaker 1: knew that, I'd do your job, buddy. You know what

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Speaker 1: I mean? But this week, I thought it was appropriate

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Speaker 1: to just take a week, and before we just move

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Speaker 1: forward into some brand new topic, I asked a few people,

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Speaker 1: what did you want to hear that you didn't get

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Speaker 1: to hear when we were talking about hearing God? One

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Speaker 1: of my church members sent me this text. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to read it directly like he wrote it. He said,

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Speaker 1: I was praying on the porch this morning and thought

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Speaker 1: how much I'd love to hear you talk about prayer.

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Speaker 1: We did a series called I Know That Voice, and

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Speaker 1: I thought how I'd like to hear what to say back.

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Speaker 1: He said, I was praying on my porch this morning,

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Speaker 1: but my prayer felt raw. I didn't feel like I

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Speaker 1: was doing it right. It came from a deep place

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Speaker 1: of gratitude, but I felt like I didn't do it

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Speaker 1: right or enough, like I was leaving something out. I

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Speaker 1: want to preach today about the prayers you're not proud of.

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Speaker 1: Have you ever prayed a prayer you weren't really proud of?

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about it in a minute. Flip over to

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Speaker 1: James chapter five, verse 16 through 18.

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Speaker 3: Now, I knew.

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Speaker 1: Exactly which scripture to use when I thought about preaching

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Speaker 1: the prayer that you're not proud of or the prayers.

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Speaker 1: We got more than one, don't we? Most of us.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I've done workouts that I wasn't proud of before.

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Speaker 1: Holly would say, did you get your workout in? I said,

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Speaker 1: I got it in, but it wasn't anything to brag about.

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Speaker 1: I'm not posting about that one. I've definitely... written songs

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Speaker 1: I wasn't proud of. That's the way you write a

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Speaker 1: good song, is write a ton of songs that you

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Speaker 1: never show anybody. Then one day, hopefully, something will show

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Speaker 1: up that's worth showing somebody. My phone is full of

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Speaker 1: songs that you can't hear, and we will not be

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Speaker 1: singing on a Sunday at Elevation Church, and you ought

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Speaker 1: to praise the Lord for that. Come on, praise the

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Speaker 1: Lord for that. But when we talk about the prayers

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Speaker 1: you're not proud of and what my church members said

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Speaker 1: to me because I know we all can relate to

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Speaker 1: what he said. I thought of James 5, 16 through 18,

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Speaker 1: where the Bible says, therefore confess your sins to each

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Speaker 1: other and pray for each other so that you may

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Speaker 1: be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful

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Speaker 1: and effective. Now, if you went on Facebook, you would

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Speaker 1: think that verse said the post of a righteous person

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Speaker 1: is powerful and effective. but it doesn't heal anybody for

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Speaker 1: you to post about me if you haven't prayed for me.

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Speaker 1: I'm throwing that in for free. This is a bonus week.

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Speaker 1: Everything is cherries and gravy, and it just doesn't really

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Speaker 1: go together. Let's go to verse 17. He gives an example.

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Speaker 1: He says, Elijah … Remember we preached about Elijah in

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Speaker 1: the cave a few weeks ago? The echo, echo, echo

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Speaker 1: of Jezebel's voice that drove him into isolation. He said,

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Speaker 1: Elijah was a human being, even as we are. That's

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Speaker 1: like you went to play basketball, and it's like, LeBron

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Speaker 1: is a man just like you are. It's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but he's a much better person at this particular thing.

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Speaker 1: He's talking about prayer, and it escalates quickly. He's like,

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Speaker 1: pray for each other like Elijah, the greatest prophet who

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Speaker 1: ever lived. Watch what Elijah did when he prayed. He

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Speaker 1: was a human being even as we are. He prayed

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Speaker 1: earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not

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Speaker 1: rain on the land for three and a half years.

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Speaker 1: Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the

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Speaker 1: earth produced its crops. So he prayed that it wouldn't rain,

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Speaker 1: and it didn't rain. Then he prayed that it would rain,

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Speaker 1: and it did rain. I thought your neighbors would say,

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Speaker 1: you must be praying wrong. I think we're doing it wrong.

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Speaker 1: That's what he said. He said, I prayed on my porch,

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Speaker 1: and I felt gratitude, but it felt raw. It felt

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Speaker 1: like I was doing something wrong. Sometimes I know I'm

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Speaker 1: praying wrong. Sometimes in the middle of my prayer, I

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Speaker 1: have to laugh at myself how ridiculous. I can usually

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Speaker 1: tell that I'm not going to be proud of this

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Speaker 1: prayer when I'm praying. Let me see what I could

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Speaker 1: call it. Have you ever prayed an it's-not-fair prayer? Maybe

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Speaker 1: you don't even call it a prayer. Maybe it's just

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Speaker 1: somewhere in the realm of thought and justified jealousy, like

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Speaker 1: Jesus-oriented jealousy. Like, Jesus, I follow you more than her,

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Speaker 1: and really she's getting married, but okay, Lord. I know

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Speaker 1: you'll send my Boaz, but Lord. Even as you're praying

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Speaker 1: for the thing you want, you know it's driven by envy,

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Speaker 1: not necessarily from an internal place of trust. I'm not

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Speaker 1: proud of those prayers. Sometimes I'm not proud of my

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Speaker 1: prayers because, let's be honest, my prayers can be very …

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Speaker 1: I don't want to say ADD. I'll just say distracting.

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Speaker 1: How did I end up … I was praying. Now,

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Speaker 1: why am I checking the Clemson football schedule? Because I

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Speaker 1: was praying for Dabo. That's why. No, I'm just distracted.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing to justify. I'm not proud about that. It's

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Speaker 1: just my mind is wandering everywhere. Oh, I'm praying. I'll

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Speaker 1: read a Bible verse. I'm going to need to look

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Speaker 1: that up. There's a text. Yeah, I never did order that,

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Speaker 1: did I? How am I over here out of my

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Speaker 1: anointing and into my Amazon cart just that quick? I'm

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Speaker 1: not very proud of that. I did pray a prayer yesterday.

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Speaker 1: I prayed one yesterday I'm not proud of. I ended

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Speaker 1: up in the comments section of one of our worship

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Speaker 1: videos with our young people worshiping God, and it was awesome.

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Speaker 1: The kids were jumping around worshiping God. You know how

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Speaker 1: they give you cardiac arrest just watching them. You'd just

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Speaker 1: be envying them, like, Lord, you're praying, Lord, do work

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Speaker 1: in my knees. Do work in my hips that I

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Speaker 1: can praise you like this. Restore the years, Lord. They

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Speaker 1: were jumping around, and then some internet prophet … was

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Speaker 1: in the comments, and they called our kids that were

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Speaker 1: praising God a bunch of clowns jumping around. I prayed

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Speaker 1: about that. I said, Lord, let me meet this person,

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Speaker 1: username 746, loser head, basement living. Let me meet him, Lord.

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Speaker 1: Not in the church. I want to meet him somewhere

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Speaker 1: that's far away. Come on. You know you pray some prayers.

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Speaker 1: Let me meet him somewhere, Lord, far away from the church.

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Speaker 1: Let them not be bigger than me, Lord. Let me

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Speaker 1: just talk to them for a minute. Just give me

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Speaker 1: five minutes. Just five minutes with them, God. Just five

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Speaker 1: minutes far away from the church. While I'm talking to them, Lord,

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Speaker 1: I don't even need you to stick around. You can

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Speaker 1: just drop me off. You can go visit one of

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Speaker 1: the other preachers. You and Joel Osteen can go hang

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Speaker 1: out for five minutes and just leave me with this

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Speaker 1: person for five minutes. Give me five people, five men

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Speaker 1: in the church … who are saved, but barely saved,

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Speaker 1: to go with me. I mean, like, just got saved

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Speaker 1: last Saturday. I'm not proud of that, but I prayed that.

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Speaker 1: I call that the God-get-em prayer. I was comforted because

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Speaker 1: I found this psalm over in Psalm 58. Now, we

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Speaker 1: probably shouldn't write a song like this for Tiffany to sing,

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Speaker 1: but show them what I found in Psalm 58. You

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Speaker 1: thought the psalms were devotionals, but this one sounds like

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Speaker 1: a diss track. One time David prayed,' Break their teeth

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Speaker 1: in their mouths, O God.' See, you were about to

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Speaker 1: leave when I said I wanted five minutes with an

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Speaker 1: internet critic. I wasn't going to break their teeth. I

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Speaker 1: was going to let somebody else do that. But David said,

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Speaker 1: break their teeth out of their mouths, O God. Not

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Speaker 1: the front one, just one over there in the back.

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Speaker 1: Tear out the fangs of those lions. Let them vanish

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Speaker 1: like water that flows away. When they draw the bow,

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Speaker 1: let their arrows fall short. This is the one that

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Speaker 1: got my attention. May they be like a slug. You

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Speaker 1: didn't know that was in the Bible. Make them like

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Speaker 1: a slug, Lord. I don't think anybody could make that

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Speaker 1: sound psalmy. Most ways move them. A stillborn child that

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Speaker 1: never sees the sun. Something out the Bible? That's in

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Speaker 1: the Bible. So, what it showed me was the prayer

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Speaker 1: you're not proud of is better than the prayer you

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Speaker 1: won't pray. My church member said, I think I'm doing

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Speaker 1: it wrong. Doing it wrong? You said, I'm doing it

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Speaker 1: with a grateful heart. Do you think there's a wrong

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Speaker 1: way to be grateful to God? If David is smashing mouths,

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Speaker 1: if David is praying to Mike Tyson from 1992, 1992

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Speaker 1: Mike Tyson, I reckon you can come to God. The

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Speaker 1: prayer you're not proud of, the distracted one, the distract one,

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Speaker 1: all of them, you have to start where you are

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Speaker 1: and then get where God is. But you have to

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Speaker 1: start where you are to get where God is. Oh, great.

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Speaker 1: Just pray like Elijah. Just pray like Elijah, the one

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Speaker 1: who controlled the rain. Dude, I can't pay my rent,

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Speaker 1: and you are up here telling me, pray like the

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Speaker 1: guy whose prayers affected rain cycles and weather systems. I

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Speaker 1: can't even pray and get my wife to be nice

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Speaker 1: to me. And you talk about weather systems. And then

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Speaker 1: there's verse 16, right? That one can really trip us up.

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Speaker 1: At least I think it can trip us up because

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Speaker 1: he said, therefore confess your sins to each other and

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Speaker 1: pray for each other so that you may be healed.

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Speaker 1: This is the part. The prayer of a righteous person

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Speaker 1: is powerful and effective. And now you're like, well, I'm out.

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Speaker 1: I'm not that kind of person. Righteous. I don't have

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Speaker 1: that kind of power, and it doesn't produce that kind

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Speaker 1: of result, so I'm out. Don't ask me to pray. Well,

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Speaker 1: this is where we need a little 92nd New Testament

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Speaker 1: lesson in what righteousness is. See, the righteousness that comes

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Speaker 1: from the law is by works. You earn it. So

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Speaker 1: the righteousness that comes from the law comes from being sinless.

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Speaker 1: But the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ

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Speaker 1: is not from being sinless. It's from being forgiven. It's

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Speaker 1: not something that you did. It's a gift that you received.

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Speaker 1: So now when we see that the prayer of a

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Speaker 1: righteous person is powerful and effective, you realize that The

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Speaker 1: condition on forgiveness is confession. That's it. God is not

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Speaker 1: answering your prayers or not answering your prayers, hearing your

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Speaker 1: prayers or not hearing your prayers. I served under a

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Speaker 1: leader one time who taught that God will not hear

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Speaker 1: your prayer if there's sin in your life. I had

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Speaker 1: a good mind. I couldn't afford it at the time,

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Speaker 1: but now that I have some money, I want to

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Speaker 1: put a private investigator on him. I want to see,

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Speaker 1: how are you so sinless that you could say something

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Speaker 1: like that? The condition on God hearing my prayer isn't like, man,

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Speaker 1: it's been three weeks since I looked at that on

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Speaker 1: my phone. Man, it's been a month since I drank.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't yelled and blown up and lost my temper

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Speaker 1: since yesterday when I was reading the comments on the

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Speaker 1: internet for the Elevation Rhythm video. I can pray now, right?

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Speaker 1: It must be this holy to ride sign. No, no, no.

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Speaker 1: The question isn't, are you holy enough? It's, are you

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Speaker 1: humble enough? I said the question of how to pray

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Speaker 1: and what to bring to God … I'm not just

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Speaker 1: talking about prayer. I'm talking about the situations that create

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Speaker 1: our need for prayer. See, sometimes it's not like we're

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Speaker 1: embarrassed about how we pray. We're embarrassed about what we're

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Speaker 1: still having to pray about. Because if I was a

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Speaker 1: good parent, I wouldn't have to be praying this for

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Speaker 1: my kid, because I would have set a better example.

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Speaker 1: Because if I was a good husband, I wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: to be praying this about my marriage, because I probably

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Speaker 1: would have done a better job with my wife. Have

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Speaker 1: you ever had a situation and you didn't mind praying …

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Speaker 1: But you didn't want to pray about that situation, at

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Speaker 1: least not with anybody else. And so what we do

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Speaker 1: is we all run around like we're these professional prayer warriors.

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Speaker 1: And then we go home and we're professional warriors. And

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Speaker 1: we isolate to the point that we just keep ruminating

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Speaker 1: on things that we regret, things that we can't resist.

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Speaker 1: And then we call that prayer. So I want to

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Speaker 1: say this. I'm going to stay right down here for

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Speaker 1: a minute. It's not are you holy enough for God

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Speaker 1: to hear you. It's are you humble enough to ask

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Speaker 1: him to. I can still sense some of you don't

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Speaker 1: believe me. You're like, yeah, but if I'm not living right,

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Speaker 1: I can't pray to God. If you're not living right,

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Speaker 1: you better pray to God. He's the only one who's

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Speaker 1: going to help you straighten this out and live right.

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Speaker 1: Who else are you going to ask? Who else are

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Speaker 1: you going to run to? Who else are you going

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Speaker 1: to turn to? Jesus shared a story one time. I'll

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Speaker 1: give it to you from Luke 18. Maybe you believe

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Speaker 1: Jesus if you don't believe me. Maybe if you just

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Speaker 1: believe the Devil telling you all the time, you don't

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Speaker 1: have the right to praise God or to pray or

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Speaker 1: whatever because you're not righteous. I understand that, but Jesus

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Speaker 1: was righteous. So, since I accepted Jesus, I received his righteousness.

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Speaker 1: Jesus told a story one time in Luke 18, verse 9.

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Speaker 1: Do you know where I'm going? to some who were

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Speaker 1: confident of their own righteousness, and looked down on everyone else.

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Speaker 1: Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the

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Speaker 1: temple to pray. One a Pharisee, that's the professional prayer,

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Speaker 1: and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by

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Speaker 1: himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I am

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Speaker 1: not like other people. What a start to a prayer.

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Speaker 1: I thank you I'm not like other people, gets worse, robbers. evildoers, adulterers, Democrats, Republicans.

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Speaker 1: Put whatever you want in there that's not you. That's

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Speaker 1: what he's doing. I get to pray, and they don't

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Speaker 1: get to pray. I get to come to God. They

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Speaker 1: don't get to come to God. I get to have

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Speaker 1: a relationship with God. They don't get to have a

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Speaker 1: relationship with God. I get to be a preacher. They

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Speaker 1: don't get to be a preacher. I get to worship.

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Speaker 1: They don't get to worship. He said, I thank you

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Speaker 1: that I'm not like robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like

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Speaker 1: this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give

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Speaker 1: a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector

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Speaker 1: stood at a distance, and he went out on his porch,

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Speaker 1: and he started praying. He didn't feel like he was

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Speaker 1: doing it right, but it came from a deep place

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Speaker 1: of gratitude. But he felt like he didn't do it

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Speaker 1: right or enough, like he left something out, because the

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Speaker 1: tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even

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Speaker 1: look up to heaven. He's not proud of his life,

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Speaker 1: but he beat his breast and said, God, have mercy

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Speaker 1: on me, a sinner. So Jesus, which one did it right?

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Speaker 1: I tell you, this man rather than the other, the

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Speaker 1: one who went like this, not the one who went

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Speaker 1: like this. The one who prayed without pointing went home

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Speaker 1: justified before God. For all who exalt themselves will be humble,

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Speaker 1: and those who humble themselves will be exalted. It's not

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Speaker 1: how holy you are. It's how humble you are that

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Speaker 1: determines whether God hears your prayer. You come to God

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Speaker 1: listing all the things you did for him. You come

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Speaker 1: to God giving him all the reasons he ought to

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Speaker 1: be doing things in your life that he's doing in

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Speaker 1: other people's lives. God resists the proud, but he gives

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Speaker 1: grace to the humble. Do I have anybody in the

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Speaker 1: room who is humble enough that you don't even care

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Speaker 1: what the person on your row thinks about you or

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Speaker 1: the person in your room thinks about you or the

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Speaker 1: person in your dorm thinks about you, but you would

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Speaker 1: just take a few seconds to say today, I need you, God,

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Speaker 1: and I need you to have mercy on me, God.

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Speaker 1: because I'm not really sure about this God, because I

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Speaker 1: can't be confident in my own righteousness. So, I plead

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Speaker 1: the blood of Jesus. Hallelujah to the man on the

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Speaker 1: middle cross, the one who owed no debt, the one

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Speaker 1: who was without sin, the Lamb of God without blemish.

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Speaker 1: That's the one I'm pointing to. So, for all who

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Speaker 1: feel like you can't pray, shouldn't pray, don't know what

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Speaker 1: to pray, pray anyway. Pray anyway. Pray anyway. If you

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Speaker 1: can't pray out loud about it, just mumble a prayer

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Speaker 1: to God. The other day, Chandler sent me through a

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Speaker 1: song idea, and it was him mumbling a little idea

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Speaker 1: into a song. Do y'all know my friend Chandler Moore?

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Speaker 1: We wrote some great songs together, man. Jireh and Wait

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Speaker 1: on You and More Than Able and God I'm Just

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Speaker 1: Grateful and Praise. We wrote some great songs together, and

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Speaker 1: I played the thing he sent me, and Holly just

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Speaker 1: started laughing. because I'm listening to it in the bed.

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Speaker 1: He's going, He's not saying no words. He's just expressing

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Speaker 1: like Romans 8.26 with groans that the Spirit only understands.

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Speaker 1: You ever read that in the Bible? Holly laughed, and

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Speaker 1: she said, I wish people knew how many mumbles turned

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Speaker 1: into the songs that got them through the hardest season

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Speaker 1: of their life. I'm here to say today that God

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Speaker 1: can turn a mumble into a miracle. It doesn't take

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Speaker 1: much for God to move, and it doesn't take long

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Speaker 1: for God to do it, and it doesn't take perfection.

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Speaker 1: All it takes is prayer. If you will humble yourself

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Speaker 1: under the mighty hand of God … I need somebody

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Speaker 1: who hasn't had much to say lately to give God

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Speaker 1: the best praise you can. If it's not a shout,

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Speaker 1: it can be a mumble. A mumble. One woman had

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Speaker 1: an issue with blood, and she started coming to Jesus.

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Speaker 1: She said to herself, If I could just touch. If

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Speaker 1: I could just touch. If I could just touch. If

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Speaker 1: I could just touch.

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Speaker 4: Everybody there would have judged her, but she didn't want

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Speaker 4: them to judge her, so she just mumbled under her breath.

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Speaker 1: If I could just touch. If I could just touch.

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Speaker 4: She got down low, low enough not to touch Jesus,

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Speaker 4: but to touch the.

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Speaker 1: Hem of his garment. When she touched the hem of

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Speaker 1: his garment … She was healed. I'm saying pray anyway,

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Speaker 1: drug addict. I'm saying pray anyway.

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Speaker 4: Pray anyway, absentee father.

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Speaker 1: Pray anyway. High five your neighbor. Say, pray for me anyway.

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Speaker 1: Pray for me anyway. Put it in the comments. Pray

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Speaker 1: for me anyway. I know I'm jacked up. Pray for

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Speaker 1: me anyway. I know I've got problems. Pray for me anyway.

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Speaker 1: I know you can talk about me. Pray for me anyway.

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Speaker 1: Reach around in five, seven people. Five, six, seven, eight.

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Speaker 2: I don't care.

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Speaker 1: Tell them, pray for me anyway. Pray about it anyway.

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Speaker 1: I know it looks hopeless. Pray anyway. I know it

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Speaker 1: seems too late. Pray anyway. I know you don't see

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Speaker 1: how it could happen now. Pray anyway. I know the

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Speaker 1: doctor told you the same thing three times. Pray anyway.

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Speaker 1: I know fear got you by the throat. Pray anyway.

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Speaker 1: Open your mouth if it's nothing more than a mumble.

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Speaker 1: How many mumbles has God turned into miracles? Not just

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Speaker 1: that prayer you can't pray out loud because you're walking

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Speaker 1: up to them while you're praying. You know we teach

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Speaker 1: about praying in tongues in church? I do that, but

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Speaker 1: I also pray in mumble. Mumble is when I'm like, Lord,

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Speaker 1: would you take over my fingers before I get on

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Speaker 1: this keyboard and bring our whole ministry down to the ground?

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Speaker 1: I don't type it. I just use it for my

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Speaker 1: sermon illustration. We all win. Thank you, Lord. The Lord

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Speaker 1: answered my mumble. I do want to give you a

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Speaker 1: few things that are very practical before we go. This

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Speaker 1: is my outline. Everything I just said, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what that was, but here we go with point number one.

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Speaker 1: If you look at Elijah's life, it's going to show

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Speaker 1: you three things. One is that when you pray honestly

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Speaker 1: and humbly to God … Look at what the Scripture says.

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Speaker 1: Confess your sins one to another. That doesn't mean you

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Speaker 1: go out in the parking lot and find the first

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Speaker 1: person you can find and tell them, like, hey, you

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Speaker 1: see my wife right here? Let me tell you. She

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Speaker 1: needs prayer, and I need prayer. As a matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: we fought coming in here today. We're going to fight

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Speaker 1: back home. We're sleeping in separate beds. This is in

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Speaker 1: the context of community. You understand that. When he talks

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Speaker 1: about sin, he's using Elijah as an example, not because

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Speaker 1: Elijah sinned but because Elijah struggled. He says something about

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Speaker 1: Elijah that sounds like an insult. He says he was

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Speaker 1: a human. Ask any man in the room, that's the

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Speaker 1: last thing you want to be called. Think about it.

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Speaker 1: When we compliment a man, what do you say? He's

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Speaker 1: a beast.

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Speaker 2: What else?

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Speaker 1: He's a machine. He's an animal. Anything but a man.

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Speaker 1: That's the last thing we want to be. I get it.

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Speaker 1: There were some times where I never asked Holly to

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Speaker 1: pray for me because I didn't want her to see

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Speaker 1: me as weak. So what I would do is shut

425
00:26:33,350 --> 00:26:37,350
Speaker 1: her out. I didn't even know the help Holly could

426
00:26:37,369 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: bring me if I let her in. I thought I

427
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,680
Speaker 1: needed to be hero enough, but what I really needed

428
00:26:44,700 --> 00:26:44,980
Speaker 1: to be.

429
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:47,580
Speaker 3: Is humble enough.

430
00:26:50,420 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: So, when you look at Elijah, man, he has a

431
00:26:54,100 --> 00:26:57,370
Speaker 1: lot of heroes. Remember he called down fire on Mount Carmel? Lord,

432
00:26:59,170 --> 00:27:01,730
Speaker 1: take this wet wood and burn it up. Cocky, too, man.

433
00:27:01,790 --> 00:27:04,270
Speaker 1: He told them, wet the wood before. They're in a drought.

434
00:27:05,609 --> 00:27:07,750
Speaker 1: He said, bring me the water, and pours it on

435
00:27:07,770 --> 00:27:11,420
Speaker 1: the wood and goes, now do it, God. That's a

436
00:27:11,410 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: good way to get killed, but God answered him. And

437
00:27:15,609 --> 00:27:17,669
Speaker 1: And I was surprised James didn't use that example. He

438
00:27:17,690 --> 00:27:19,650
Speaker 1: didn't use the example of the fire where Elijah prayed.

439
00:27:19,890 --> 00:27:23,820
Speaker 1: He used the example of the rain. Now, it was interesting,

440
00:27:23,859 --> 00:27:25,619
Speaker 1: verse 17. Elijah was a human being, even as we are.

441
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: He prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And earnestly

442
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:34,540
Speaker 1: don't mean loud. Earnestly has nothing to do with the

443
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:36,740
Speaker 1: volume of his prayer. It has to do with the

444
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,159
Speaker 1: sincerity of his prayer. It has to do with the

445
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,370
Speaker 1: energy of his prayer. He prayed that it would not rain,

446
00:27:42,530 --> 00:27:44,230
Speaker 1: and it did not rain on the land for three

447
00:27:44,250 --> 00:27:47,210
Speaker 1: and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens

448
00:27:47,230 --> 00:27:48,930
Speaker 1: gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. Now, that's

449
00:27:48,970 --> 00:27:54,109
Speaker 1: so great, but it's a summary. It's a summary. You

450
00:27:54,130 --> 00:27:56,490
Speaker 1: have to be careful about summaries, whether it's AI or

451
00:27:56,970 --> 00:27:58,690
Speaker 1: Google or whatever. You put something in Google, and it

452
00:27:58,710 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: gives you the summary. But don't trust the summary. There's

453
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 1: more to what you're searching than the summary. Sometimes you

454
00:28:10,300 --> 00:28:17,270
Speaker 1: summarize other people. Sometimes you believe the slander you hear

455
00:28:17,310 --> 00:28:21,670
Speaker 1: about somebody, and you trust the summary about someone that

456
00:28:21,690 --> 00:28:24,409
Speaker 1: came from someone else. You know what that's called? Sin.

457
00:28:26,050 --> 00:28:27,619
Speaker 1: I am going to do a series, and it's going

458
00:28:27,630 --> 00:28:29,060
Speaker 1: to be the least attended series I've ever done in

459
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: the church. It's going to be called The Sin of Slander.

460
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,260
Speaker 1: Stop it, y'all. That's the title of the series. All

461
00:28:34,300 --> 00:28:36,220
Speaker 1: these other sins we love to preach about, and we

462
00:28:36,260 --> 00:28:44,660
Speaker 1: run around in that one. We're just slanderholics. We're asking

463
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,260
Speaker 1: God to deliver us from anxiety and fear. God, deliver

464
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,340
Speaker 1: me from slander. See, what we have to stop doing

465
00:28:51,740 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: is stop just praying about our situation and start praying

466
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:59,820
Speaker 1: about our sin that creates the situation. But you have

467
00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,810
Speaker 1: to be humble to do that. That's a humble prayer.

468
00:29:02,830 --> 00:29:04,380
Speaker 1: That's when you go to your men's group and you

469
00:29:04,420 --> 00:29:06,990
Speaker 1: be like, man, not, I need you to pray for

470
00:29:07,030 --> 00:29:09,490
Speaker 1: my son. He's an idiot. You go in and be like,

471
00:29:09,770 --> 00:29:12,300
Speaker 1: pray for my son. I'm an idiot. and I was

472
00:29:12,340 --> 00:29:15,120
Speaker 1: an idiot when I was his age. Now I'm taking

473
00:29:15,180 --> 00:29:17,850
Speaker 1: out all my disappointment and frustration on my son, and

474
00:29:17,870 --> 00:29:19,940
Speaker 1: I need y'all to pray for me because I'm humble enough.

475
00:29:20,220 --> 00:29:22,750
Speaker 1: I'm not proud to tell you this, but I'm not

476
00:29:22,810 --> 00:29:29,050
Speaker 1: too proud to tell you that I need prayer. Do

477
00:29:29,090 --> 00:29:32,270
Speaker 1: you want my points? I don't even know what to

478
00:29:32,330 --> 00:29:35,209
Speaker 1: do anymore. If you look at Elijah's life, there are

479
00:29:35,490 --> 00:29:37,390
Speaker 1: three things you will learn. I'll put them up on

480
00:29:37,410 --> 00:29:38,950
Speaker 1: the board for you. You can write them down, and

481
00:29:38,970 --> 00:29:41,170
Speaker 1: we can talk about them on High tomorrow and in

482
00:29:41,310 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 1: e-groups this week. Number one, when you call on God

483
00:29:45,300 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: with a humble heart, there are three things you can expect.

484
00:29:47,820 --> 00:29:53,500
Speaker 1: Number one, expect provision that you can't predict. Put that

485
00:29:53,540 --> 00:29:58,190
Speaker 1: in the comments, please. Provision you can't predict. Isn't that

486
00:29:58,210 --> 00:30:01,010
Speaker 1: the truth? When you pray to God about one thing,

487
00:30:02,010 --> 00:30:06,310
Speaker 1: it not only creates provision that you didn't expect, it

488
00:30:06,350 --> 00:30:10,690
Speaker 1: creates problems that you didn't expect. I've used the example

489
00:30:10,730 --> 00:30:13,800
Speaker 1: before of a job. Lord, give me this position in

490
00:30:13,820 --> 00:30:17,620
Speaker 1: the company. Well, the position is going to come with problems.

491
00:30:17,660 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: Now you've not only prayed about the position, but now

492
00:30:19,060 --> 00:30:21,260
Speaker 1: you have to pray about the problems that the position

493
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: opened up to you. Now you're going to wish you

494
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: were nicer to your manager, because now that you are one,

495
00:30:27,450 --> 00:30:31,490
Speaker 1: you understand it must have been hard to manage me too.

496
00:30:32,010 --> 00:30:35,130
Speaker 1: In the process of prophesying about a drought, Elijah is like,

497
00:30:35,450 --> 00:30:38,150
Speaker 1: it's not going to rain except in my word until

498
00:30:38,210 --> 00:30:41,420
Speaker 1: I say so. You know what's crazy, y'all? The Bible

499
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,340
Speaker 1: doesn't even say he prayed about it. James does, but

500
00:30:44,380 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: if you read 1 Kings 17, he just spoke what

501
00:30:47,060 --> 00:30:49,420
Speaker 1: God told him to speak, and it happened. It doesn't

502
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,719
Speaker 1: say that he prayed that it would stop raining, but

503
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,230
Speaker 1: he prayed that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain

504
00:30:55,350 --> 00:31:01,990
Speaker 1: for three and a half years. Now that God has

505
00:31:02,070 --> 00:31:06,150
Speaker 1: answered his prayer, he has a problem. The drought isn't

506
00:31:06,210 --> 00:31:08,350
Speaker 1: only for the nation to bring them back to Yahweh

507
00:31:08,810 --> 00:31:10,820
Speaker 1: and away from Baal, who was said to be the

508
00:31:10,900 --> 00:31:14,380
Speaker 1: rain god. It put Elijah in a tricky spot too,

509
00:31:15,380 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 1: because now that God made it stop raining, which is

510
00:31:19,540 --> 00:31:22,570
Speaker 1: the thing I prayed for, I don't have anything to drink.

511
00:31:23,670 --> 00:31:25,270
Speaker 1: If I don't have anything to drink and the land

512
00:31:25,310 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 1: doesn't have anything to drink … then I'm not going

513
00:31:28,140 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 1: to have anything to eat. Now God did what I

514
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,180
Speaker 1: asked him to do. Have you ever had God do

515
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:36,240
Speaker 1: what you asked him to do, and it created a

516
00:31:36,300 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: problem you didn't know you were going to have? God,

517
00:31:39,220 --> 00:31:43,020
Speaker 1: I want to have influence. God, I want to have inconvenience.

518
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 1: You know those are the same prayer, right? Influence is inconvenience.

519
00:31:51,050 --> 00:31:54,180
Speaker 1: Y'all wish we'd stopped at week six, right? Come on.

520
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,020
Speaker 1: You told me don't stop on six. Y'all voted for

521
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: a bonus week, but the good news is don't just

522
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:08,260
Speaker 1: expect the problems. Expect the provision, and expect for God

523
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,770
Speaker 1: to give you provision that you can't predict. What do

524
00:32:12,790 --> 00:32:14,930
Speaker 1: you mean? Look at 1 Kings 17 for a minute.

525
00:32:15,790 --> 00:32:19,790
Speaker 1: Elijah prophesied a drought. Interestingly enough … I don't know

526
00:32:19,810 --> 00:32:22,930
Speaker 1: if you like this kind of thing. Interestingly enough, I

527
00:32:23,010 --> 00:32:26,870
Speaker 1: noticed that there was only one verse in the Bible,

528
00:32:26,870 --> 00:32:31,350
Speaker 1: 1 Kings 17, 1, about Elijah prophesying a drought. You

529
00:32:31,390 --> 00:32:33,430
Speaker 1: would think that would get at least a chapter. Nope.

530
00:32:33,790 --> 00:32:35,750
Speaker 1: One verse. It's not going to rain. It doesn't rain.

531
00:32:35,970 --> 00:32:39,310
Speaker 1: Verse 2. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah,

532
00:32:39,390 --> 00:32:43,370
Speaker 1: and Elijah said, I know that voice. Then the word

533
00:32:43,390 --> 00:32:45,790
Speaker 1: of the Lord came to Elijah. When? In a drought.

534
00:32:46,130 --> 00:32:49,650
Speaker 1: By the way, God will direct you in the drought.

535
00:32:50,590 --> 00:32:54,420
Speaker 1: God will direct you. in the drought. If they're laying

536
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 1: everybody off in your company, don't lay down and die

537
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,270
Speaker 1: about it. God will direct you in the drought. If

538
00:33:01,310 --> 00:33:03,610
Speaker 1: you are broken up with, it is a sign from

539
00:33:03,670 --> 00:33:06,370
Speaker 1: God that there is something else that needs your attention

540
00:33:06,410 --> 00:33:09,150
Speaker 1: right now. Don't go chasing them down, trying to win

541
00:33:09,170 --> 00:33:12,110
Speaker 1: them back. God will direct you in the drought. Who

542
00:33:12,130 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 1: am I preaching to? God will direct you in the drought. So,

543
00:33:16,220 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came to him, verse 2,

544
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,550
Speaker 1: and said to him, very specifically … Leave here, turn eastward,

545
00:33:22,790 --> 00:33:25,410
Speaker 1: and hide in the Kareth ravine, east of the Jordan.

546
00:33:25,430 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: I'm going to show you something really fun now. You

547
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:33,360
Speaker 1: will drink from the brook. I have directed the ravens

548
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: to supply you with food there. Let's talk about this.

549
00:33:37,090 --> 00:33:41,070
Speaker 1: Did Elijah pray for food? No. He obeyed the Lord,

550
00:33:43,150 --> 00:33:48,370
Speaker 1: and the Lord gave him food. Seek ye first his

551
00:33:48,430 --> 00:33:54,130
Speaker 1: kingdom and his righteousness, and And all these things will

552
00:33:54,150 --> 00:33:56,670
Speaker 1: be added to you. If you seek the kingdom, the

553
00:33:56,730 --> 00:34:00,290
Speaker 1: things get thrown in. If you seek the things, you

554
00:34:00,330 --> 00:34:04,930
Speaker 1: miss the kingdom. And so Elijah doesn't pray for God

555
00:34:04,970 --> 00:34:07,110
Speaker 1: to feed him. And you know what? If he had

556
00:34:07,210 --> 00:34:09,770
Speaker 1: prayed for God to feed him, he wouldn't have prayed

557
00:34:09,830 --> 00:34:12,290
Speaker 1: for God to do it like this. Look, you will

558
00:34:12,330 --> 00:34:16,330
Speaker 1: drink from the brook. I have directed the ravens to

559
00:34:16,410 --> 00:34:21,010
Speaker 1: supply you with food there. Verse 5 is the important one.

560
00:34:21,219 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: It says, So he did what the Lord had told him.

561
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:26,140
Speaker 1: He went to the Kerith ravine east of the Jordan

562
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:28,529
Speaker 1: and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat

563
00:34:28,550 --> 00:34:30,529
Speaker 1: in the morning and bread and meat in the evening,

564
00:34:30,810 --> 00:34:38,950
Speaker 1: and he drank from the brook. From the ravens. Hey, Lord. Lord,

565
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:45,540
Speaker 1: thank you for this encouragement that you are going to

566
00:34:45,739 --> 00:34:48,700
Speaker 1: feed me in the famine of oh, I appreciate it

567
00:34:48,940 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 1: so much. God, I'm just grateful for you. I'm just

568
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:57,049
Speaker 1: grateful for you. But Lord, it sounded like you said ravens.

569
00:34:57,930 --> 00:35:03,270
Speaker 1: And you and I both know that ravens are forbidden

570
00:35:03,850 --> 00:35:09,630
Speaker 1: in Leviticus chapter 11, where it says that the ravens

571
00:35:09,969 --> 00:35:15,590
Speaker 1: are unclean birds. And so Lord, I appreciate you offering

572
00:35:15,670 --> 00:35:18,129
Speaker 1: to feed me, but I'm going to need you to

573
00:35:18,150 --> 00:35:22,110
Speaker 1: do it some way other than the ravens. See, ravens

574
00:35:22,270 --> 00:35:27,160
Speaker 1: are unclean birds, and I don't touch unclean birds. And so, Lord,

575
00:35:27,300 --> 00:35:33,420
Speaker 1: I appreciate the ravens, but I prefer pigeons, Lord. Pigeons

576
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,390
Speaker 1: are pure, Lord. I would prefer a pigeon, Lord. Would

577
00:35:36,430 --> 00:35:38,250
Speaker 1: you send a pigeon? And the Lord's like, you don't

578
00:35:38,270 --> 00:35:46,390
Speaker 1: get to pick whether it's a pigeon or See, you

579
00:35:46,450 --> 00:35:49,270
Speaker 1: can expect God to move, but you don't get to

580
00:35:49,330 --> 00:35:56,610
Speaker 1: tell him how to do it. I'm on fire now.

581
00:35:57,230 --> 00:36:00,890
Speaker 1: I'm in the bonus round now, baby, because God said,'

582
00:36:00,820 --> 00:36:03,020
Speaker 1: You can't pray for me to provide your needs and

583
00:36:03,060 --> 00:36:06,930
Speaker 1: then chase away the ravens that I send.' So, if

584
00:36:07,010 --> 00:36:09,990
Speaker 1: I want to send you something you tend to avoid,

585
00:36:10,590 --> 00:36:13,629
Speaker 1: are you willing to embrace what I give you even

586
00:36:13,690 --> 00:36:16,210
Speaker 1: if it comes through something you would prefer to avoid?

587
00:36:18,450 --> 00:36:22,940
Speaker 1: That's what I mean about a provision you can't predict.

588
00:36:22,980 --> 00:36:25,239
Speaker 1: We get so busy telling the Lord when we want

589
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,020
Speaker 1: our kids to be married by and what college we

590
00:36:28,060 --> 00:36:29,980
Speaker 1: want our kids to go to. I know I preach

591
00:36:30,020 --> 00:36:32,419
Speaker 1: about being a parent all the time, because you either

592
00:36:32,460 --> 00:36:34,739
Speaker 1: have one that's on your nerves or you are one.

593
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,879
Speaker 1: So we all need this, right? I get it that

594
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,359
Speaker 1: you want pigeons, and I get it that you want

595
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,510
Speaker 1: your kid to turn out like this, and you see

596
00:36:43,550 --> 00:36:45,930
Speaker 1: other kids, and wouldn't it be nice? But God said,

597
00:36:45,969 --> 00:36:50,290
Speaker 1: you don't get to pick what I send. You don't

598
00:36:50,330 --> 00:36:55,390
Speaker 1: get to pick. Now, you can pray that I'll provide

599
00:36:55,450 --> 00:36:58,290
Speaker 1: for you. You can pray that I'll raise them up.

600
00:36:58,510 --> 00:37:01,029
Speaker 1: You can pray that it will come, but you do

601
00:37:01,110 --> 00:37:03,790
Speaker 1: not get to say who it comes through. You do

602
00:37:03,870 --> 00:37:06,489
Speaker 1: not get to say when it comes by. You don't

603
00:37:06,510 --> 00:37:08,840
Speaker 1: get to give God a deadline. You don't get to

604
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:11,580
Speaker 1: give God a stipulation. You don't get to give God

605
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:15,419
Speaker 1: terms and agreements that must apply. He is God. He

606
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,270
Speaker 1: is Yahweh. He makes it rain. He shuts the sky.

607
00:37:19,590 --> 00:37:23,040
Speaker 1: He brings the manna. He does the work. He gets

608
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:30,489
Speaker 1: the glory. It is God's job. And then, after he

609
00:37:30,510 --> 00:37:32,790
Speaker 1: got settled into the brook and the ravens are coming,

610
00:37:32,810 --> 00:37:34,690
Speaker 1: he's like, okay, ravens aren't so bad. Okay, I'm sorry, Lord.

611
00:37:34,910 --> 00:37:36,549
Speaker 1: You're right. The ravens are good. Look how they do

612
00:37:36,570 --> 00:37:38,570
Speaker 1: their job. They're very dutiful. They're very punctual. Maybe we

613
00:37:38,590 --> 00:37:40,989
Speaker 1: could revise Leviticus 11. Maybe they're not so bad. And

614
00:37:41,010 --> 00:37:43,040
Speaker 1: then verse 6 says, and sometime later the brook dried up.

615
00:37:43,250 --> 00:37:43,450
Speaker 5: Why?

616
00:37:43,469 --> 00:37:45,509
Speaker 1: Because there was a drought. Why? Because he prayed for it.

617
00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 1: Now the thing that he prayed for is becoming the

618
00:37:47,540 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 1: problem that he's got to pray about, and now the

619
00:37:49,219 --> 00:37:50,420
Speaker 1: thing that God led him to has dried up and

620
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: he's got to go somewhere else. Verse 7, where's God

621
00:37:52,700 --> 00:37:56,819
Speaker 1: going to send him? Expect unexpected provision. Some time later

622
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:58,060
Speaker 1: the brook dried up because there had been no rain

623
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,660
Speaker 1: in the land, and the word of the Lord came

624
00:38:00,700 --> 00:38:04,030
Speaker 1: to him. See, what never stops happening is God speaking,

625
00:38:04,350 --> 00:38:07,969
Speaker 1: because everything else is a resource. He's the source. So,

626
00:38:08,010 --> 00:38:11,150
Speaker 1: no matter where it moves to, God will always provide

627
00:38:11,190 --> 00:38:23,339
Speaker 1: for you as you fulfill his purpose. You don't even

628
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,469
Speaker 1: have to pray about some stuff if you'll just obey

629
00:38:25,510 --> 00:38:29,870
Speaker 1: what he gave you to obey. The Lord came to

630
00:38:29,910 --> 00:38:32,470
Speaker 1: Elijah again, and he said, this one is real trippy.

631
00:38:33,030 --> 00:38:34,170
Speaker 1: Go once to Zarephath.

632
00:38:35,150 --> 00:38:35,790
Speaker 3: Zarephath?

633
00:38:36,210 --> 00:38:45,920
Speaker 1: You mean between Tyre and Sidon? That's Jezebel's hometown. So,

634
00:38:45,940 --> 00:38:46,980
Speaker 1: the Lord said, I'm going to move you on. I'm

635
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,500
Speaker 1: going to keep bringing you bread, but I want you

636
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,450
Speaker 1: to go to Zarephath. I have directed a widow there

637
00:38:52,489 --> 00:38:55,190
Speaker 1: to supply you with food. God said,' Now I'm going

638
00:38:55,210 --> 00:39:03,850
Speaker 1: to give you bread in Baal's backyard.' God put you

639
00:39:03,870 --> 00:39:07,790
Speaker 1: in a tough place, and now you're praying like,' God,

640
00:39:07,830 --> 00:39:10,570
Speaker 1: get me out of here.' Have you ever just prayed a,' God,

641
00:39:10,610 --> 00:39:13,770
Speaker 1: get me out of here' prayer?' You're not praying one

642
00:39:13,810 --> 00:39:17,210
Speaker 1: right now, are you? Don't pray it right now. It's

643
00:39:17,230 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 1: going to happen in a few minutes anyway. But the

644
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:23,610
Speaker 1: Lord's like, no, no, I got a widow there to

645
00:39:23,630 --> 00:39:27,300
Speaker 1: feed you. I'm sorry, Lord, you said widow. Wouldn't it

646
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,790
Speaker 1: be better for you to provide a wealthy benefactor? a

647
00:39:30,830 --> 00:39:33,790
Speaker 1: woman of means? No, because she's got a son who's

648
00:39:33,830 --> 00:39:35,790
Speaker 1: going to be sick sometime from now, and I need

649
00:39:35,810 --> 00:39:37,650
Speaker 1: you positioned in the house to heal him. So I'm

650
00:39:37,670 --> 00:39:39,390
Speaker 1: going to meet your need through someone whose need you're

651
00:39:39,410 --> 00:39:48,739
Speaker 1: going to meet later. This is what Elijah did. I

652
00:39:48,780 --> 00:39:51,010
Speaker 1: can't even find yet where he prayed about any of it.

653
00:39:55,020 --> 00:40:01,899
Speaker 1: Write this down. Sometimes obeying is praying. Remember when Jesus said,

654
00:40:01,940 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 1: don't use all these fancy words standing in the marketplace. Oh, God,

655
00:40:06,739 --> 00:40:11,900
Speaker 1: I thank thee. My grandfather was a great man of God.

656
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,779
Speaker 1: He was a Methodist minister. In the Methodist church, they

657
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,740
Speaker 1: would write out their prayers and read them from the pulpit.

658
00:40:16,590 --> 00:40:18,009
Speaker 1: So my mom made me a copy of a book

659
00:40:18,130 --> 00:40:19,710
Speaker 1: of all of his prayers from one church that he

660
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:22,580
Speaker 1: served at. It's one of my treasured possessions. And it's

661
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 1: called Papa's Pulpit Prayers. But as beautiful as they are,

662
00:40:31,540 --> 00:40:34,790
Speaker 1: if he was alive today, I'd be like, can I

663
00:40:34,830 --> 00:40:37,110
Speaker 1: see your, not your pulpit prayers, but just your pit prayers?

664
00:40:41,570 --> 00:40:46,130
Speaker 1: Because the ones you said out loud and I'm, They're beautiful,

665
00:40:46,170 --> 00:40:49,140
Speaker 1: and they're real, and they're amazing, and I treasure them.

666
00:40:50,900 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the pit prayers, isn't it? The ones you're

667
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 1: not proud of. The God, are you there prayers. Don't

668
00:41:02,500 --> 00:41:05,820
Speaker 1: look at me like that. I thank you that I

669
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:10,750
Speaker 1: am not like this other man. If you never asked God,

670
00:41:10,790 --> 00:41:15,330
Speaker 1: are you there, you never stepped out in faith. That's

671
00:41:15,370 --> 00:41:19,370
Speaker 1: what Peter said, Lord, if it's you. Are you their prayers?

672
00:41:20,219 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: Have you prayed those? I like those God get them prayers,

673
00:41:23,700 --> 00:41:26,580
Speaker 1: and I like those God are you their prayers. I

674
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,779
Speaker 1: wrote a book years ago called Sun Stand Still. It

675
00:41:29,820 --> 00:41:31,560
Speaker 1: was my first book. It was out of Joshua 10,

676
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:34,100
Speaker 1: where Joshua needed more time to defeat his enemy. How

677
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:35,500
Speaker 1: many of you need a little more time to defeat

678
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,970
Speaker 1: your enemy? How many need a little bit more time

679
00:41:38,010 --> 00:41:39,830
Speaker 1: to pay these bills off? How many need a little

680
00:41:39,850 --> 00:41:43,180
Speaker 1: bit more time to work on this? And the Lord

681
00:41:43,219 --> 00:41:44,839
Speaker 1: made the sun stand still. And that's what the book

682
00:41:44,860 --> 00:41:47,520
Speaker 1: was about. Audacious faith, sun stand still prayers. And I

683
00:41:47,540 --> 00:41:51,940
Speaker 1: believe in those. He spoke to the sun. Oh, sun

684
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:57,219
Speaker 1: stand still over Gibeon. Oh, moon over the valley of Ayalon.

685
00:41:58,120 --> 00:41:59,819
Speaker 1: And there's never been a day like it before since

686
00:41:59,860 --> 00:42:02,520
Speaker 1: the day when the Lord listened to the man. And

687
00:42:02,540 --> 00:42:07,200
Speaker 1: that was awesome. A sun stand still prayer. Almost as

688
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:13,319
Speaker 1: awesome as Elijah's make it rain prayer. But There are

689
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,620
Speaker 1: other prayers too. The second thing I want you to

690
00:42:16,700 --> 00:42:27,660
Speaker 1: expect is a process that isn't pretty. When you read

691
00:42:27,700 --> 00:42:31,020
Speaker 1: the summary of Elijah's life from James, it sounds so nice.

692
00:42:31,780 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: He prayed that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain,

693
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,509
Speaker 1: but he had to go eat from ravens and widows.

694
00:42:38,930 --> 00:42:41,009
Speaker 1: You don't get that in the summary. You think God

695
00:42:41,030 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 1: just answered his prayer. He did, but there was provision

696
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,080
Speaker 1: you couldn't predict. That's why you have to be careful

697
00:42:48,100 --> 00:42:56,140
Speaker 1: when people share their praise reports around you. It's their summary.

698
00:42:56,489 --> 00:43:01,930
Speaker 1: Don't judge your struggle by their summary, because they'll tell you,

699
00:43:02,210 --> 00:43:07,270
Speaker 1: and all of our kids serve the Lord. They serve,

700
00:43:08,290 --> 00:43:14,860
Speaker 1: and they swerve. But the swerve don't make the summary.

701
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,419
Speaker 1: So now you're judging yourself. Well, my kids don't all

702
00:43:18,580 --> 00:43:22,700
Speaker 1: serve the Lord. It's the summary. And when he says

703
00:43:22,739 --> 00:43:25,970
Speaker 1: that Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain,

704
00:43:26,010 --> 00:43:27,589
Speaker 1: and he prayed that it would rain, and it did rain.

705
00:43:27,870 --> 00:43:30,330
Speaker 1: But look at it. Graham was preaching about this last week.

706
00:43:30,430 --> 00:43:32,790
Speaker 1: I pictured you while I was preparing, too. He got

707
00:43:32,850 --> 00:43:35,110
Speaker 1: up here on this stage, y'all. He was preaching to

708
00:43:35,170 --> 00:43:37,130
Speaker 1: our young people. And by the way, you can come

709
00:43:37,180 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 1: to the living room tonight and most Sunday nights, and

710
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,340
Speaker 1: I'm throwing that in for you. because I'm about to

711
00:43:42,380 --> 00:43:45,360
Speaker 1: make fun of you. He was up here preaching, and

712
00:43:45,410 --> 00:43:48,850
Speaker 1: it was so powerful. He preached fire down from heaven.

713
00:43:48,969 --> 00:43:51,670
Speaker 1: I was offended, because Holly looked at him afterwards, and

714
00:43:51,690 --> 00:43:53,930
Speaker 1: she's like, that's one of the best sermons I've ever heard.

715
00:43:55,330 --> 00:43:58,310
Speaker 1: I looked at her like, that's his 20th sermon ever.

716
00:43:58,350 --> 00:44:00,770
Speaker 1: He gets best ever? It's like Hall of Fame. It

717
00:44:00,790 --> 00:44:06,489
Speaker 1: was good. Whatever. I'm proud of him. I'm proud of him.

718
00:44:08,230 --> 00:44:13,570
Speaker 1: That's a prayer I'm not proud of, right? Oh, man.

719
00:44:15,340 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 1: He was reading how when Elijah prayed for rain, he

720
00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:19,940
Speaker 1: calls down fire from heaven, and then he goes up

721
00:44:19,980 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: on a mountain, and he tells his servant to go

722
00:44:22,100 --> 00:44:24,380
Speaker 1: tell Ahab, go eat and drink. There's a sound of

723
00:44:24,420 --> 00:44:27,700
Speaker 1: a heavy rain. Look at verse 42, and Graham acted

724
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:30,690
Speaker 1: this out. Ahab went off to eat and drink, but

725
00:44:30,750 --> 00:44:33,509
Speaker 1: Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to

726
00:44:33,530 --> 00:44:37,830
Speaker 1: the ground, and put his face between his knees. Why

727
00:44:37,870 --> 00:44:39,790
Speaker 1: I'm going to make fun of Graham is because he

728
00:44:39,850 --> 00:44:42,029
Speaker 1: preached it great, The way he did it is the

729
00:44:42,070 --> 00:44:44,650
Speaker 1: way I always pictured it too, his face between his

730
00:44:44,690 --> 00:44:48,770
Speaker 1: knees like that. But this is not the way Elijah prayed.

731
00:44:49,050 --> 00:44:54,270
Speaker 1: I'm not correcting you, because I preached it the same

732
00:44:54,290 --> 00:44:56,310
Speaker 1: way before, but I studied it this week, and I

733
00:44:56,350 --> 00:45:02,430
Speaker 1: found out that some prayers aren't pretty. There is no

734
00:45:02,489 --> 00:45:04,140
Speaker 1: way for me to do this in front of you

735
00:45:05,020 --> 00:45:14,359
Speaker 1: and not lose aura. There's no way. That's about all

736
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:15,600
Speaker 1: of what I'm going to do in front of you, too,

737
00:45:15,620 --> 00:45:17,160
Speaker 1: because I don't know what happens next. I don't know

738
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: how long I can stay that way. I don't know

739
00:45:20,020 --> 00:45:21,380
Speaker 1: if I can get back up. I don't know. We

740
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,239
Speaker 1: have to get Graham to come close the message. Maybe

741
00:45:23,260 --> 00:45:25,540
Speaker 1: his way was better, but regardless of how you look

742
00:45:25,620 --> 00:45:29,890
Speaker 1: at it, his head is between his knees. What? I'm

743
00:45:29,910 --> 00:45:31,690
Speaker 1: not saying you need to pray in that position, but

744
00:45:32,290 --> 00:45:39,650
Speaker 1: that was the Hebrew birthing position. When you're praying for something,

745
00:45:39,670 --> 00:45:43,370
Speaker 1: don't be surprised if there's pain in the prayer. Now, see,

746
00:45:43,630 --> 00:45:45,730
Speaker 1: if you only ever pray about situations, you won't feel

747
00:45:45,770 --> 00:45:48,670
Speaker 1: any pain, but you won't get any change either. But

748
00:45:48,690 --> 00:45:52,529
Speaker 1: if you start praying, God, work in me. God, do

749
00:45:52,550 --> 00:45:54,989
Speaker 1: a work in me. God, I want to pray about

750
00:45:55,030 --> 00:46:03,630
Speaker 1: the drought in me. There can be pain, and the

751
00:46:03,670 --> 00:46:06,009
Speaker 1: process doesn't have to be pretty for the prayer to

752
00:46:06,050 --> 00:46:11,710
Speaker 1: be powerful. Some of the pit prayers, the push prayers,

753
00:46:12,530 --> 00:46:17,069
Speaker 1: the distracted prayers, the distract prayers, the prayer you're not

754
00:46:17,150 --> 00:46:20,930
Speaker 1: proud of … See, James gives us two prayers Elijah prayed.

755
00:46:20,969 --> 00:46:27,100
Speaker 1: He said, Pray fervently like Elijah. Pray effectually like Elijah.

756
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,500
Speaker 1: Pray with the kind of faith Elijah prayed with. He

757
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:34,959
Speaker 1: was a man just like you. He mentions two prayers.

758
00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:37,360
Speaker 1: He says he prayed that it would not rain. It

759
00:46:37,380 --> 00:46:39,819
Speaker 1: did not rain. He prayed that it would rain, and

760
00:46:39,860 --> 00:46:43,210
Speaker 1: it did rain. There's provision you can't predict. There's a

761
00:46:43,250 --> 00:46:45,989
Speaker 1: process that isn't pretty with your head between your knees.

762
00:46:46,350 --> 00:46:49,690
Speaker 1: Sometimes you're praying, and you're scribbling things, and you're having

763
00:46:49,710 --> 00:46:51,799
Speaker 1: to lock up the notebook you wrote the prayers in,

764
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:54,860
Speaker 1: because these are not pulpit prayers. These are pit prayers,

765
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:57,400
Speaker 1: and those are okay, because the prayer you're not proud

766
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,580
Speaker 1: of is better than the one you won't pray. Anyway,

767
00:47:00,820 --> 00:47:04,890
Speaker 1: there's provision you can't predict. There's a process that isn't pretty,

768
00:47:05,150 --> 00:47:07,750
Speaker 1: and there are prayers you're not proud of. That's my

769
00:47:07,810 --> 00:47:11,089
Speaker 1: third point. There are prayers you're not proud of. Those

770
00:47:11,150 --> 00:47:16,299
Speaker 1: are the most important ones for you to pray. James

771
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:21,299
Speaker 1: gives us two prayers, and he's not lying, but he's summarizing.

772
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:27,080
Speaker 1: There was another prayer Elijah prayed that James did not

773
00:47:27,140 --> 00:47:30,240
Speaker 1: hold up as an example to the class. See, he's

774
00:47:30,300 --> 00:47:34,060
Speaker 1: teaching Christians who are under persecution and who are scattered

775
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,340
Speaker 1: about the 12 tribes that are scattered about. He's preaching

776
00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:39,939
Speaker 1: to them about perseverance and prayer, and he's saying, pray

777
00:47:39,980 --> 00:47:42,399
Speaker 1: for each other, man. Get beside each other. The devil

778
00:47:42,460 --> 00:47:44,740
Speaker 1: is busy. He's trying to pick off that person. Stop

779
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,540
Speaker 1: judging them. Stop criticizing everybody who doesn't do it like you.

780
00:47:47,940 --> 00:47:50,640
Speaker 1: Stop telling everybody else everybody else's business. Come to God

781
00:47:50,860 --> 00:47:52,990
Speaker 1: and deal with your own business and pray for your

782
00:47:53,030 --> 00:47:56,550
Speaker 1: brothers and pray for your sisters like Elijah who prayed

783
00:47:56,850 --> 00:47:59,310
Speaker 1: that it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain, who prayed

784
00:47:59,330 --> 00:48:01,589
Speaker 1: that it would rain and then it did rain. But

785
00:48:01,630 --> 00:48:05,739
Speaker 1: there is a prayer that James did not mention. It's

786
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:10,430
Speaker 1: a prayer that Elijah probably wouldn't have been proud The

787
00:48:10,489 --> 00:48:13,109
Speaker 1: day after it rained, he prayed that it wouldn't rain.

788
00:48:13,130 --> 00:48:15,450
Speaker 1: It didn't rain. Three and a half years. He prayed

789
00:48:15,489 --> 00:48:17,990
Speaker 1: that it would rain, and it rained. The next day,

790
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:23,839
Speaker 1: Jezebel sent a messenger to say, I'm going to kill you.

791
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:29,780
Speaker 1: Verse 3 shocks us, because it's not a pulpit prayer.

792
00:48:31,020 --> 00:48:35,460
Speaker 1: It's a pit prayer. It's a prayer that Elijah would

793
00:48:35,500 --> 00:48:38,660
Speaker 1: not be proud of, but he prayed it. It's in

794
00:48:38,710 --> 00:48:43,620
Speaker 1: verse 3. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

795
00:48:43,989 --> 00:48:46,310
Speaker 1: Make a note. I don't think he was really running

796
00:48:46,370 --> 00:48:50,440
Speaker 1: for his life. He was running from it. It was

797
00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:54,259
Speaker 1: too much. It was too hard. Remember a couple of

798
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,680
Speaker 1: weeks ago about it is enough? That's what he said.

799
00:48:58,020 --> 00:49:01,050
Speaker 1: He said he left his servant, he ran for his life,

800
00:49:01,340 --> 00:49:03,790
Speaker 1: and he went himself a day's journey into the wilderness,

801
00:49:04,090 --> 00:49:07,010
Speaker 1: and he came to a broom bush and sat down

802
00:49:07,210 --> 00:49:11,650
Speaker 1: under it and prayed. We didn't see him pray when

803
00:49:11,670 --> 00:49:13,810
Speaker 1: he went to the brook. We didn't see him pray

804
00:49:13,830 --> 00:49:15,470
Speaker 1: when he went to the … He just obeyed that.

805
00:49:16,130 --> 00:49:20,220
Speaker 1: But now he prayed. This is the prayer. James doesn't

806
00:49:20,260 --> 00:49:24,180
Speaker 1: include it. The very next day, after praying for rain,

807
00:49:24,620 --> 00:49:28,299
Speaker 1: he prayed that he might die. I've had enough, Lord,

808
00:49:28,340 --> 00:49:34,360
Speaker 1: he said. Take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors.

809
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:37,250
Speaker 1: The man who prayed a prayer called, Make it rain,

810
00:49:38,690 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 1: prayed a prayer called, I give up. You ever pray

811
00:49:43,620 --> 00:49:47,799
Speaker 1: to I give up prayer? Man, I love to tell

812
00:49:47,820 --> 00:49:51,040
Speaker 1: you about my son's standstill prayers. When I prayed and

813
00:49:51,060 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 1: we went on the loading dock of Matthews and we

814
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:55,980
Speaker 1: prayed that God would give us that building and that's

815
00:49:56,040 --> 00:50:00,980
Speaker 1: our Matthews campus today. I prayed for that. We prayed

816
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:05,439
Speaker 1: for that. Put that in James chapter 5, 17 and 18.

817
00:50:05,440 --> 00:50:09,919
Speaker 1: Tell you about the time that I prayed for God

818
00:50:09,940 --> 00:50:11,820
Speaker 1: to give me a word and he gave me a word.

819
00:50:12,670 --> 00:50:17,040
Speaker 1: I spoke into somebody's situation, and they started crying. Put

820
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:21,620
Speaker 1: that in James 5, 17, and 18. But God, don't

821
00:50:21,660 --> 00:50:28,320
Speaker 1: tell anybody about the time. Don't tell them about the time.

822
00:50:28,340 --> 00:50:33,330
Speaker 1: I had to drag myself to the car. When I

823
00:50:33,390 --> 00:50:36,090
Speaker 1: had to put my hands on the wheel and tell Holly,

824
00:50:36,130 --> 00:50:38,549
Speaker 1: I'm shaking. I can't drive to church tonight. Will you

825
00:50:38,570 --> 00:50:41,919
Speaker 1: drive me? I don't really want that. in the book.

826
00:50:41,940 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 1: You can cut off verse 18 right there at the

827
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 1: make it rain prayer, but I'm standing here today because

828
00:50:49,940 --> 00:50:52,489
Speaker 1: I didn't just pray make it rain prayers. I prayed

829
00:50:52,510 --> 00:50:57,730
Speaker 1: some I give up prayers. If you're going to be

830
00:50:57,790 --> 00:51:01,530
Speaker 1: like Elijah, he wasn't a machine. He wasn't a beast.

831
00:51:01,950 --> 00:51:04,950
Speaker 1: He was a man. He was a human. You are

832
00:51:04,989 --> 00:51:08,830
Speaker 1: a human. If you can humble yourself enough just to say,

833
00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:13,600
Speaker 1: I give up, Lord, God says, I can use the

834
00:51:13,660 --> 00:51:17,980
Speaker 1: prayer you're not proud of. I need us to clap

835
00:51:18,060 --> 00:51:23,420
Speaker 1: our hands and thank God he hears prayers we're not

836
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:28,670
Speaker 1: proud of. Put all three points on the board. That

837
00:51:28,710 --> 00:51:32,529
Speaker 1: there is provision you can't predict. Zigs and zags and

838
00:51:32,630 --> 00:51:35,950
Speaker 1: swerves as you serve. That there is provision you can't predict.

839
00:51:36,210 --> 00:51:38,630
Speaker 1: That there is a process that isn't pretty. There's the

840
00:51:38,710 --> 00:51:41,310
Speaker 1: six times you go and look and there is no cloud.

841
00:51:41,630 --> 00:51:44,549
Speaker 1: There's the embarrassment and the humiliation of saying, I'm going

842
00:51:44,570 --> 00:51:46,509
Speaker 1: to turn it around, baby. I promise. Just give me

843
00:51:46,550 --> 00:51:49,469
Speaker 1: another month, and now it's been three. There's the humiliation

844
00:51:49,489 --> 00:51:51,890
Speaker 1: of having to check yourself in another time. There's the

845
00:51:51,950 --> 00:51:54,930
Speaker 1: humiliation of a process that isn't pretty, but if you

846
00:51:55,030 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 1: humble yourself and pray the prayer you're not proud of.

847
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:03,640
Speaker 1: You can even humble yourself just enough to say, God,

848
00:52:03,700 --> 00:52:09,230
Speaker 1: I give up. I like to imagine that at the

849
00:52:09,270 --> 00:52:13,690
Speaker 1: moment Elijah prayed, I give up, I want to die,

850
00:52:13,710 --> 00:52:18,750
Speaker 1: that maybe an angel moved at that moment, because the

851
00:52:18,850 --> 00:52:24,029
Speaker 1: angels were used to doing whatever Elijah said. The angel said,

852
00:52:24,110 --> 00:52:26,860
Speaker 1: You heard what he said, Lord. I'm going to go

853
00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:33,100
Speaker 1: down there and Take him out. And the Lord said, wait, wait, wait,

854
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:33,799
Speaker 1: hold on, hold on, hold on.

855
00:52:35,060 --> 00:52:35,279
Speaker 2: Uh-uh.

856
00:52:37,600 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 1: I'm not done with that one yet. So here's what

857
00:52:43,100 --> 00:52:48,200
Speaker 1: I want you to do. Even though he said I

858
00:52:48,219 --> 00:52:54,940
Speaker 1: give up, verse 5, even though he slept under a

859
00:52:54,980 --> 00:52:57,460
Speaker 1: broom tree, even though.

860
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:03,860
Speaker 3: He had had enough. All at once an angel touched

861
00:53:03,900 --> 00:53:07,150
Speaker 3: him and said, get up and eat.

862
00:53:10,330 --> 00:53:15,290
Speaker 1: He looked around and there by his head was some

863
00:53:15,430 --> 00:53:20,230
Speaker 1: bread baked over hot coals.

864
00:53:22,100 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 3: And a jar of water and he ate and drank

865
00:53:27,700 --> 00:53:28,319
Speaker 3: and lay down again.

866
00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:33,919
Speaker 1: I imagine the celestial confusion of the angels speaking to

867
00:53:34,540 --> 00:53:38,239
Speaker 1: their host, the one in charge, when he.

868
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:41,680
Speaker 3: Hands them the bread to take to Elijah. And the

869
00:53:41,820 --> 00:53:44,719
Speaker 3: angel says, no, no, no, no.

870
00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:53,950
Speaker 1: He said dead, not bread. And the Lord said, this

871
00:53:54,010 --> 00:53:56,810
Speaker 1: time I'm not going to give him what he asked for.

872
00:53:58,420 --> 00:54:11,450
Speaker 1: I'm going to give him what he needs. I'm not

873
00:54:11,469 --> 00:54:14,250
Speaker 1: going to kill him. He said, take my life.

874
00:54:15,070 --> 00:54:16,030
Speaker 3: Hey, come here, angels.

875
00:54:16,969 --> 00:54:22,089
Speaker 1: You get your apron on, and you get into the

876
00:54:22,150 --> 00:54:27,390
Speaker 1: door dash chariot of heaven. and take him some bread. Yeah,

877
00:54:27,610 --> 00:54:30,109
Speaker 1: but he said, take my life. Yeah, but we're going

878
00:54:30,130 --> 00:54:35,310
Speaker 1: to make him lunch. Had you ever had God when

879
00:54:35,350 --> 00:54:38,480
Speaker 1: you said, I give up, but God said, get up?

880
00:54:39,700 --> 00:54:43,819
Speaker 1: Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up.

881
00:54:44,460 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 1: Get up. I hear the word of the Lord today

882
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,520
Speaker 1: for someone who has been praying an I give up

883
00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:54,290
Speaker 1: prayer The good news is that even as you have

884
00:54:54,310 --> 00:54:57,520
Speaker 1: been praying this I Give Up prayer, you have been

885
00:54:57,560 --> 00:55:01,870
Speaker 1: praying to … I'm going to say it like this.

886
00:55:02,630 --> 00:55:06,250
Speaker 1: You serve a get-up God. Even when you pray a

887
00:55:06,469 --> 00:55:11,490
Speaker 1: give-up prayer, you serve a get-up God. Now I'm going

888
00:55:11,530 --> 00:55:15,660
Speaker 1: to need 300 people to stand on your feet. If

889
00:55:15,719 --> 00:55:18,940
Speaker 1: you have been saying to God, I give up. I've

890
00:55:18,980 --> 00:55:22,940
Speaker 1: had enough. I can't do this. God is saying, check

891
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,819
Speaker 1: your head, because I am not going to give you

892
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:28,759
Speaker 1: an escape. I'm going to give you what you need

893
00:55:28,820 --> 00:55:32,480
Speaker 1: to make it through this trial. Who am I preaching to?

894
00:55:32,940 --> 00:55:35,739
Speaker 1: God said, I'm not going to take your life. I'm

895
00:55:35,780 --> 00:55:39,049
Speaker 1: going to feed you and lead you and give you

896
00:55:39,130 --> 00:55:45,029
Speaker 1: what you need for the next season. I'm preaching to

897
00:55:45,090 --> 00:55:49,070
Speaker 1: somebody who's in prison. I'm preaching to somebody who's in college.

898
00:55:49,630 --> 00:55:52,700
Speaker 1: I'm preaching to a single mom. I'm preaching to a

899
00:55:52,739 --> 00:55:58,260
Speaker 1: lost child. You've been saying, I give up. God says,

900
00:55:59,060 --> 00:56:07,920
Speaker 1: Get up. There's bread by your head. You prayed, I

901
00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:13,090
Speaker 1: give up, and God said, Get up. There was a

902
00:56:13,130 --> 00:56:16,950
Speaker 1: time when I was hurting so badly in ministry that

903
00:56:17,050 --> 00:56:21,190
Speaker 1: all I could pray was, God, make it stop. Have

904
00:56:21,230 --> 00:56:25,410
Speaker 1: you ever prayed a make-it-stop prayer? The Lord spoke back

905
00:56:25,450 --> 00:56:27,370
Speaker 1: to me in my heart, and I know that voice.

906
00:56:28,690 --> 00:56:32,930
Speaker 1: He said, I can make the pain stop, but if

907
00:56:32,969 --> 00:56:35,860
Speaker 1: I make the pain stop, the purpose will stop with it.

908
00:56:39,640 --> 00:56:44,060
Speaker 1: Listen to me. He showed me this. I'm not going

909
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:46,440
Speaker 1: to make it stop. I'm going to make you strong.

910
00:56:49,620 --> 00:56:52,600
Speaker 1: Such three people say there's bread by your head. There's

911
00:56:52,660 --> 00:57:01,250
Speaker 1: bread by your head. What kind of God is this?

912
00:57:01,969 --> 00:57:04,610
Speaker 1: A God who you will pray, take me out.

913
00:57:04,670 --> 00:57:06,270
Speaker 4: God says, I'm not going to take you out.

914
00:57:06,710 --> 00:57:08,930
Speaker 1: I'm going to raise you up. I'm going to feed

915
00:57:08,969 --> 00:57:12,370
Speaker 1: you what you need in this season.

916
00:57:12,530 --> 00:57:15,649
Speaker 5: I'm not done with you yet.

917
00:57:16,190 --> 00:57:24,310
Speaker 1: I am in need of you. Jesus said one time

918
00:57:24,350 --> 00:57:27,950
Speaker 1: in Matthew, chapter 7, which one of you, having your

919
00:57:27,990 --> 00:57:33,220
Speaker 1: own child, if your son asks for bread, will give

920
00:57:33,260 --> 00:57:36,440
Speaker 1: him a stone? Verse 10. Or if your child were

921
00:57:36,460 --> 00:57:38,640
Speaker 1: to ask you for fish, will give him a snake?

922
00:57:39,320 --> 00:57:42,860
Speaker 1: Verse 11, please. If you then, though you are evil,

923
00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:46,480
Speaker 1: know how to give good gifts to your children, how

924
00:57:46,540 --> 00:57:49,260
Speaker 1: much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts?

925
00:57:50,020 --> 00:57:56,630
Speaker 1: Good gifts. good gifts, baked bread over hot coals in

926
00:57:56,700 --> 00:58:01,680
Speaker 1: a land of famine under a broom tree where you tried.

927
00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:09,510
Speaker 5: To die, but God said, not dead, bread instead, purpose instead,

928
00:58:09,890 --> 00:58:15,970
Speaker 5: future instead.

929
00:58:16,030 --> 00:58:20,300
Speaker 1: I saw that God is so good that not only

930
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:22,930
Speaker 1: will he not give you a stone when you ask

931
00:58:22,970 --> 00:58:26,430
Speaker 1: for bread, he'll give you bread when you ask for

932
00:58:26,450 --> 00:58:39,530
Speaker 1: a stone. There's bread by your head. You're praying that

933
00:58:39,590 --> 00:58:43,230
Speaker 1: make-it-stop prayer. I know there are some things you're not

934
00:58:43,290 --> 00:58:46,640
Speaker 1: proud of, and I know there are some mistakes you

935
00:58:46,680 --> 00:58:50,240
Speaker 1: can't move past, I know you might have been praying,

936
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:54,020
Speaker 1: not that I would die, but, God, I give up.

937
00:58:54,060 --> 00:58:59,440
Speaker 1: God says, just about the time you're giving up, you

938
00:58:59,460 --> 00:59:05,010
Speaker 1: find out I'm the God of getting up. So, I

939
00:59:05,050 --> 00:59:14,100
Speaker 1: declare this day a getting up day. How does an

940
00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:20,370
Speaker 1: alarm clock sound? Ding, ding, ding. Get up! Get up!

941
00:59:21,270 --> 00:59:26,300
Speaker 1: Fresh bread! Get up! High-five everybody you can reach. Say,'

942
00:59:26,190 --> 00:59:27,530
Speaker 1: Get up! Get up! Get up!

943
00:59:29,270 --> 00:59:32,790
Speaker 5: Hide behind your neighbor and say,' Get up!

944
00:59:32,830 --> 00:59:37,120
Speaker 1: I smell bread by your hand. I see water.

945
00:59:36,820 --> 00:59:41,740
Speaker 5: By your hand. I declare a cloud the size of

946
00:59:41,880 --> 00:59:43,760
Speaker 5: a man's hand is.

947
00:59:43,760 --> 00:59:45,180
Speaker 1: Beginning to swell.

948
00:59:45,700 --> 00:59:48,540
Speaker 5: Let's give God the greatest praise.

949
00:59:49,860 --> 00:59:51,520
Speaker 1: Come on, the greatest praise!

950
00:59:53,010 --> 00:59:56,360
Speaker 5: The Greatest.

951
00:59:57,060 --> 01:00:08,560
Speaker 1: Prayer! I'm getting up! Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast.

952
01:00:08,620 --> 01:00:11,180
Speaker 1: And if you did, make sure to share it and

953
01:00:11,220 --> 01:00:13,760
Speaker 1: subscribe so we can get you all of these new

954
01:00:13,820 --> 01:00:16,800
Speaker 1: messages as soon as they're available. I also want to

955
01:00:16,820 --> 01:00:18,820
Speaker 1: take a moment and thank all of you who are

956
01:00:18,840 --> 01:00:22,320
Speaker 1: a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially or

957
01:00:22,540 --> 01:00:26,080
Speaker 1: serve with us or just share these messages, it's because

958
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:28,640
Speaker 1: of you that we're able to reach people all around

959
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:31,680
Speaker 1: the world. And if you want more information on how

960
01:00:31,720 --> 01:00:34,440
Speaker 1: to be a part of Elevation, Click the link in

961
01:00:34,460 --> 01:00:37,200
Speaker 1: the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave

962
01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 1: a review, share the message, and subscribe. God bless you.