A house of prayer
Category: Prayer
Key Passage: Matthew 21:12-13
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Matthew chapter 21. We are leaving Matthew, the book of Matthew, Matthew 21. We are leaving the subject of David for just a Wednesday night. We’ve been on David for almost two years now. But it was Sunday, so it’s such a special day service on the hill. It would be our third time doing it, and dinner on the grounds and the park and all, just a different day.
I want us to focus on prayer. I’m just going to tell you up front. I’m going to try to be short, and I like for our church family to have a time of prayer. I’ll explain it to you at the end. It’s been a while since I’ve done this. But prayer—this is the beginning of the fall, many would say, September 1st—and I’m excited about the fall, and I want us just to be in prayer.
That God would move in our church, and souls will be saved, lives to be changed. By the way, it’s been a while since we’ve had a baptism, and since we’ve had the baptistery water stirred. I want us to pray those things happen. Yes, we’re working, but because someone’s praying. And for just a little bit, I want to focus on this thing of prayer, and then we’ll have a time of prayer. I want us all as a church family to go to the Lord in prayer.
And Matthew chapter number 21. If you’re there, would you say, “Amen?” Good deal, good deal. And I just want to say this also before you’re going: I’m so proud of you for being in church on Wednesday night. And God’s very happy, very proud of you. And you’re right where you ought to be.
Don’t look around and say, “Well, you know, not that many people go to church on Wednesday night or whatnot.” Don’t worry about all that. Don’t let that discourage you. Praise the Lord, you’re where you ought to be. God’s pleased with that. And that’s just a way to build a good, strong Christian life. And you stay faithful with that. Sometimes we glamorize it, but part of being a great Christian is just Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.
And I appreciate you being faithful to the house of the Lord. What an awesome thing it is. Matthew chapter number 21. Would you please stand as I read God’s word together? Matthew 21. We’ll start in verse number 12. Matthew 21 and verse number 12 of God’s word. And the Bible says, “And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves. And he said unto them, ‘It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.’”
Would you pray with me that God would just stir us—all of us, me too—just to be men and ladies of prayer? Would you do that as I pray? Father, Lord, we come to you tonight. And Father, I do ask, just in your Spirit, giving every individual here a vision of being a prayer warrior for you. Father, we’re all at different levels. So at the level where each individual is, would you challenge them to go, Father, grow closer to you and seek you more in prayer? Would you use tonight to that end, Father, please? Well, thank you and praise you, Bradley, for what you do. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Of course, this is when Jesus went into the temple, and there were money changers there. There were ones that were selling sacrifices—the poor folks, doves, turtle doves, and things. And he calls it—actually, he did it twice. He did it one time very early in his public ministry. I believe that’s found over in John that time. And actually, that time he made a scourge. Jesus did not—well, he lost it. He didn’t lose it, friend. Was he angry? Yes. Be angry and sin not. You can do that.
But he was doing what he did on purpose. It wasn’t by coincidence. He made a scourge the first time, and he went in there and drove them out. The second time he did not make his scourge, but he went in there and drove them out. Now, three times—it’s very interesting, very few times there’s something found in all four Gospels; very seldom—the feeding of the 5,000 is in all four Gospels. This is also in all four Gospels. Three of those times, he said, “…of thieves.”
That leads us to think that it was more than just that he did not want them selling those things there. They were really just—oh, they would have maybe coins from different places, and they would come; they wanted to give Jewish coins, and so they exchanged money, making them think that was what that was. And they were traveling a long distance. It would be very hard for them to bring their sacrifices all that way.
So when they came there, they would buy their sacrifices. But here’s the thing, man, they kind of had a racket going. They knew they had them over a barrel. They needed to get these things in order to worship Jehovah the way they had talked to do it by Leviticus and so on. And so, man, they just jacked the prices, and they were making a lot of money off them. That’s why three times the Gospel said, “den of thieves.”
But then one of the times, he doesn’t use the term “den of thieves”—one of the times, and John actually also—he says, “Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” You just don’t want all this buying and selling in the temple, maybe outside, what not. You know, there’s a need, and you’re not ripping people off, but make not my house a house of merchandise. You don’t want to. By the way,
We’ve tried to be careful down through the years. We don’t like a lot of buying and selling in the church. Now you say, “Well, that was a temple, a little different.” Then there’s some truth to that. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Ghost, but it calls it “My Father’s house.” 1 Timothy 3:15 says, “the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” So there are some similarities there.
And the house of God. He’s talking about My Father’s house here. And so we’ve tried to be careful. I remember years ago when we wanted to—back in the day, we had cassette tapes at church. Can you believe that? And then it kind of went to CDs. And nowadays you’ve got so much YouTube and Facebook and all that, you really don’t need all that. But even then, we didn’t want a lot of buying and selling going on in the auditorium. So we just gave it away, and praise the Lord for that.
You know, and maybe sometimes a missionary or whatnot. But just want to stay away from that inside the house of God—a lot of buying and selling. But let me kind of just, for a second—this isn’t the heart of the message—but let me just say a word or two. If we’re not careful, we’ll get this professional businessman in churches, that is like a business. Now, I understand I must be about my Father’s business.
But it’s a church, see? And when we care for us just about how we can make money and pay bills and make a career out of it, make a good living… For the young folks that are thinking about going into the ministry, the ministry is not a career. It’s a calling God gives you.
Some of the young people just think, “Well, I can make a good career. I can get in a good church, make a good amount of money.” Friend, if that’s what you’re doing it for, you might as well just sit in the pew and work somewhere else and tithe somewhere. It’s a ministry to God. And I’m not going to be about money. But if we’re not careful, well, man, you know, we’ve got the system working pretty good. And we can get a lot of people to come in for an hour or two on Sunday morning, and, man, we’re doing something.
And it almost can become a business, see? And God said, “No, I don’t want my house but a house of merchandise.” I don’t want it to be just a system that you plan to get somebody in, get a little money out of them, and you make them feel a little good and send them home. No, we want where God’s working in God’s house, and we’re praying and seeking God to do something in people’s lives.
That’s what the ministry is all about. But we’ll all be held responsible for just becoming professional businessman Christians. Now, that’s just a little side note. The real thing I want to just for a little bit talk about: Did you notice he said His house should be called a house of prayer?
Actually, Luke words it this way: “It is written, My house is the house of prayer.” Mark words it this way: “Is it not written, My house should be called of all nations a house of prayer?” So His house, according to Jesus—by the way, it’s very rare that Jesus is just there flipping tables over and kicking people out. He wouldn’t not even let them walk through with the merchandise.
Twice Jesus did that. And all four times the Bible records this thing, he says, “Hey, My house shall be called a house of prayer.” God wants His house to be known as a place where people pray. That’s Jesus talking here. Everybody, all the nations should know My house is a place where people pray there.
Sincere prayers. Sometimes it’s easy to fall into just a ritual. It’s to be more than that. It’s to be called—it’s to be known as a house of prayer.
You know, it’s funny, sometimes in America, our churches—if we have food, you know, how do you get people to come? Have food, they’ll come. And we had dinner on the ground, and I’m not saying these things are wrong, but some people will show up because I always think, how in the world do they know when we have food? Somehow they know they’re here, you know.
Praise the Lord, they’re here, though, you know. I’m not against these things, but food or have a concert—man, some churches are packed out, sometimes even charge, you know, for concerts. And I’m not saying everything here is bad, but then you have a prayer meeting. “We’re not going to have anything; we’re just going to pray.” Man, where’s everybody at?
And maybe we have Americanized Christianity so much, and we’ve kind of flipped it. Or God is saying, “Hey, churches ought to be known.” It ought to be a big deal that churches that pray—they’re called by all nations, he says—they’re called the house of prayer.
And maybe we’ve almost flipped it. We put the emphasis on things when maybe we ought to put more of an emphasis on praying, a praying church. You look at the early church over there, that 120. We preached about it here recently over there in Acts 1 and 2. But this 120, this young early church, and they’re in the upper room—what were they doing? They were all in one accord in prayer. And praying.
You know, they had that ten-day prayer meeting, and boy, that’s when God just sent His Spirit down in power. And, well, they had about 3,000 saved and baptized. And then, Acts chapter before—God had used Peter and John to do some miracles—and persecution started coming. They kind of got their hand slapped a little bit. And, well, persecution was coming. You know what they did? They didn’t go out and protest and say, “We need freedoms and we need to…” Now, I’m not against some of that stuff, but how long they prayed!
I said, “Man, we need to have a prayer meeting.” And they got together, and they didn’t decide ways to change the government. And I’m for us being involved in politics, you know that if you’ve been around here very long at all. But I’m just saying they said, “Man, persecution is coming. Let’s pray.” And, “Lord, would you give us some boldness?” That was all boldness; we preached the name of Jesus. And remember what happened? God came down in a special way, and the place was shaking again.
And they went out and they spoke boldly. But prayer—they were known as a church of prayer. In the book of Acts, we’re studying in Sunday school right now. Most of the Sunday school classes are about Paul in his missionary journeys, and we’re on the third missionary journey in my class. But remember Paul before he was Saul of Tarsus? Remember that?
Man, he was very much involved in persecution. He held their coats while they were killing Stephen. I can imagine, “Yeah, bring your coat over here so you get a good hit on him,” you know. And that was Saul of Tarsus, and they made havoc of the church daily. And you remember that? He saw the Lord on the road to Damascus, the bright light. You know the story.
And then, praise the Lord, he got saved, and he went over to the city of Damascus, and God told Ananias, “Now, you need to go talk to Paul.” And Ananias said, “Lord, I’ve heard a lot of things about this guy. He was Saul, and he came here just to lock up Christians and put them in jail.” And you know what the Lord told him? He said, “Ananias, it’s almost like this was the big sign.” He said, “Hey, go see, Brother Paul, for he prayeth.”
Like that man is known; he’s starting to pray. And that was a big sign of that early church. Well, if somebody’s praying, there’s something real about them. If they’re a prayer warrior, they must be the real deal. That’s what he said about Paul: “He prayeth.” Just talking about the early church, how they’re known as men and women of prayer. Paul writes that…
…book through the inspiration of God. He pens it—1 Timothy. And in that chapter number two, verse number one, he said, “Look, Paul, Timothy,” that young preacher said, “let me talk to it, Timothy.” He said, "First of all, I exhort that first of all, prayers…
…intercessory supplication has been made for all men." Then he starts talking about politicians, kings that are in authority. But I mean, this older preacher—who this priest is—God is a teacher to the younger preacher, he said, “First of all, you need to be a man of prayer. Praying.” Just talking about the emphasis…
…on prayer in the scriptures, this early church, and the church being founded. Then in verse 10—a little bit later on the same chapter, verse number 18—let me read it for you, verse number 8, excuse me. He says, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands.”
Before those verses, he’s talking about ladies and dressing modestly because it’s so important. Men are sight-oriented; it’s very important for ladies to dress modestly. “Modest apparel” is what he says. But then he talks to the men; he says, “Hey, men, you ought to be known. Everywhere you go, you’re men of prayer,” lifting up holy hands—not hypocritical, but you’re living right—but you’re known everywhere you go, just you’re praying—men of prayer.
I’m talking about the early church was known as being a praying church, even over in the book of Revelation when you get the 24 elders over there. And they’re worshipping the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and he says this—the Lamb: “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials, like bowls, if you will, full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Here’s the thing: When you pray, God just doesn’t say, “Well, they pray; that’s good.” He stores your prayers up. The 24 elders, I believe, represent the church age, the saints of this age. And your prayers, He’s been storing them up, and it’s a sweet odor to the Lord—your prayers.
And in Revelation, when they’re worshipping the Lamb and they bring out these bowls, these vials—and this odor, what’s that? The prayers! Just about the prayers. I wonder if the church of Jesus Christ—I’m talking about worldwide here, or even in our country—would not be better off if we would make more emphasis on prayer.
Sometimes we just get a system and techniques and all these mechanics that we’re forgetting about prayer. And the Bible—they put a great emphasis on prayer. This church, God built this church from day one, but we’ll say we’ve tried to emphasize prayer and soul.
We were looking for where God wants us to start a church, of course, almost 22 years ago, 22 years ago now. And we didn’t know where. And the plan I worked at was we were going to have two weeks shut down. You know how a lot of these big companies will close down for two weeks? And we thought, “Surely God’s going to show us where to start a church out in those two weeks.” And can I be honest with you? During those two weeks…
We probably ought to do it more often, but there in those two weeks, my wife and I prayed together more than ever in all our life. I was off for two weeks, and so we would pray hours and hours in the night. “Lord, would you show us where? Would you show us what?” And just more than any time in our life, as far as I was praying again, just hours and hours and hours begging God.
Now, I’m not saying we are all that; we’re not. We don’t do it as much as we ought, but I’m just saying this church was started with prayer.
And friend, if we’re going to go forward, it’s going to be prayer. I thought about buying when we were trying to buy that 15 acres. Many of us were trying different angles just to get our foot in the door, and nothing seemed to be working. We were kind of just spinning our wheels. And, you know, the bank—a bank owned it at that time, another bank—and they thought, “Well, that little church, they can’t do anything.”
And you started praying every night at 7 p.m. Maybe you had reminders on your phone. And your phone would go off at 7 o’clock a day. And, boy, our people started praying every night at 7 o’clock, wherever you were at. Let’s just stop and pray. Now, it’s wonderful. Boy, you really got into it. It’s amazing. I can imagine around the throne of God at that same time, all of our people, wherever they were, just started praying. And, boy, it just seemed like that’s when we began to gain traction.
Miracles began to happen, and just—just, we could go on for so long about all the things God did to give us that property. But it started really working, clicking, if you will, when people started praying. Let’s talk about praying. The church is seeking God and praying together. By the way, I thought about this preparing this message; I just felt like God wants us to go this way tonight.
I remember for our election, and we prayed 24 hours. We had the prayer meetings leading up to a Monday night. And then that 20 minutes came in—I don’t know, 3 a.m. or something in the middle of the night—and one of our men was here already on his knees over here praying. And before I left, there was the next person, another man was coming in, just praying during that 24 hours. Can I just say this, friend? God heard all those prayers. Those prayers aren’t in vain.
I don’t know; it may be God will hear those prayers next midterm or the next presidential election. I’m not sure, but those prayers weren’t in vain. God’s people when they pray… Look, friend, the devil’s not afraid of me and you at all, but he doesn’t tremble when we get on our knees. That’s when he trembles. And the church praying is such a key thing. Lou Rossi, he used to preach for us—he’s pastor now up north—but Lou Rossi used to tell me his story. He had pastored Curtis Hudson’s old church.
And that man after him, a man or two, and then Lou Ross took the church. But he said some of those older people were there back when it was kind of the glory days when God was blessing that church in just an amazing way, and people getting saved, lives being changed, just growing as fast as a growing church in Georgia, maybe more for several years. And God just put His hand on that church. But he said there was a stump out behind the church.
And he said the men—some men—would just gather around that stump for hours. I remember right, Sunday morning, maybe before the sun even came up, they’d meet out there in the dark just around the stump. They’d just stand kind of in the back; nobody could see them. They’d just pray. And they’d just pray, just kind of going around until the point where somebody said, “We’ve got to leave. We’ve got to go home and get ready to come back to church.” And he’s prayer…
Brother Bobby, I mentioned him another night, Brother Bobby Robertson, Walkertown, North Carolina. And God blessed that church in a great way. I remember Brother Bobby talking about that—that sometimes on Saturday night, they would have all-night prayer meetings. Just men would gather around, and he was praying. God blessed it. There’s an amazing church. How many ever been to that church? Gospel Baptist Church, Walkertown, North Carolina? A couple of us. It just kind of feels remote; man, you pull down a country road, boy, you see a huge church. God just blessed and used it in a great way.
And God built a great work there, but people praying. “My house should be called a house of prayer.” You know, maybe we have flipped this thing. We have no right because it’s not our house; it’s His house, My Father’s house. And He said, “My Father’s house, it will be called a house of prayer.” If it’s God’s church, it ought to be known: “Hey, that church over there, that’s a praying church.”
Let me give you just a couple of thoughts. I know it was a little different, just trying to get a little appetite in our hearts and in our minds for prayer a little bit tonight. Me too, preaching it to myself. But let me give you a couple things about us, our church emphasizing prayer. Can I just say this: when we pray, whether before all three or when someone’s reading prayer requests and leading us to pray, I said this often over the years, but don’t just listen to them pray.
It’s not time to say, “Well, let me see. Let’s see if Brother Kevin’s got a good prayer in there today or not,” you know. It’s when they’re leading us to pray; that’s what they’re leading us. And we’re kind of following them to the throne of grace. And when they say, “Now, Lord, would you meet with us today?” you’re like, “Yeah, Lord, you do that.”
And sometimes we just get ritualistic. We don’t want that. Sometimes I love it when Christians—real young Christians in the Foundations class—used to often get somebody to pray for the first time out loud in front of people. You know, some of the sweetest prayers because they don’t know all the clichés. It’s just sincere praying. And it’s not about somebody praying a good prayer, but it’s about them praying and us following them.
And when they say, “Lord, would you bless Keith Dixon? He’s had this heart attack.” And all of us—I don’t know how many are here, 70, 80 people—you say, “Yeah, Lord, would you touch Keith?” And we’re all going with that man who’s leading us, but we’re all following him to the throne. There’s power when God’s people pray collectively.
But sometimes we’re just kind of, “Well, it’s time to nod off.” And all of us, I’ve been guilty of it. But I’m just saying, can I encourage you tonight? This is a church family. Let’s take this thing of prayer seriously. Sunday school classes…
In our Sunday school class, we’ll just have a list. People give their prayer requests, and then we’ll read that list. And as we’re reading that list, we’re asking, “Hey, would you just stop where you’re at and people pray over that?” Well, God has answered a lot of prayers in that class. And wow, we’re just trying to get people to pray. Then someone will kind of close it out, but we’re all praying together over something.
There’s power in the church. See, see, so look, I’ve given it the keys, see, the kingdom. And when the church—local churches—pray together, there’s power there. So can I just encourage you in meetings, whether it be in church time or Wednesday night or offerings: hey, let’s be serious about this thing of prayer. We’re not just listening time for our minds to drift off. It’s time we’re praying with that person whoever’s leading us, see?
Then let me say this: Would you continue? Many of you have been doing this, and just emphasizing again, reminding us all, when you ride by that property over there, every time you ride by it, would you pray over that? And pray that God would do it in such a unique way that He gets glory out of it. Pray that souls be saved on that property over there.
I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it’s just an amazing story about Brother Dylan. He’s not here tonight; his health is not always so good. But when we were—I don’t know if he had purchased it yet or not—you understand the sacrifice. Brother Dylan was here on this property way before we were here on this property. But we’ve talked about it. Brother Dylan said, “Look, for the church to grow and God to do more, I understand we’ve got to move, and I’m okay with that.” And that’s the sacrifice of that man.
Who were debating about it all and trying to buy that property, Brother Dillon, he wanted to go pray on that property before the grass was—because it was very high—before our first service on the property. And Brother Dillon went out there at nighttime praying on that property. And honestly, in the high grass, he got lost. He had to call somebody; he couldn’t find his way. I’m just saying, that man, God’s used him all these years, and he’s a man of prayer, and he wanted to pray on that property.
And I’m saying, “Hey, let’s just make this thing a serious thing.” When we ride by, let’s pray. Every time you ride by, “Lord, you see those two acres. Would you do something unique where everybody knows you did it, or we can tell a story about how you did it for years and years to come to brag on you?” Just pray. A unique way to get our people to pray. Can I say this as far as our church? I’ve learned this—I’m still learning this—but it’s so good for you to pray with people.
We’re about to start our visitation, soul winning on Saturday, back up for the fall. And if you find someone and they’re sick, hey, stop and say, “Well, can I pray with you right now?” It means something when you pray with them. A real estate agent and another real estate agent—we’ve been dealing with a little bit on the property; they’re building a convenience store or a cross or whatnot—and he just had COVID.
He mentioned he wanted our prayers. And I told him I was—I prayed with him back—I think on the phone at the time. Pray with people over the phone. Just pray with people; it means something to them. You meet someone at the grocery store—nothing wrong with stopping in the middle of the grocery store with a friend and bowing your head and praying there.
Just praying with people—it means something. Pray with people often. “His house should be called a house of prayer.” I praise the Lord, my truck connects to my phone. But often, if you ever see me driving that truck and I have one eye closed, I don’t know why. I can’t close both eyes when I’m praying with somebody on the phone, and I’ve got to close one eye. I don’t know why. I’ll probably wreck when they’re doing that, you know. “What happened to him?”
“…while I was driving,” you know. But I often—my family knows—I often, we’ll just stop and pray while we’re driving down the road with someone on the phone. But pray with people; that means something to them. And we ought to be known as men and women in prayer. “My house should be called a house of prayer.” Pray with people a lot.
Men, we’re going to—and we’ve done it—the pastor just kind of got away with the cope and all that. We’re going to get back to 5:20. Men, if you’re able to, 5:20 Sunday afternoon, we’ll meet in the office. Just have a quick prayer meeting, and whatever men can come, we’ll just [meet at] 5:20 Sunday afternoon. We’ll have a prayer time, just praying for the church. Then I want to ask you if you’ll do this: We’re going to have a Saturday night prayer meeting this Saturday night, 7 o’clock here.
On the tent, and from time to time, we have men’s prayer meetings on Saturday night. I try to send out or announce it ahead of time or send out a text to those that are interested in it. But I’m going to ask you if you’ll do this for our church family on Saturday night: have a special time of prayer for our church for God to bless the next day.
The Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s, a great revival. Our country has seen several great revivals that shaped our country. But the Second Great Awakening—the Western Frontier. Now, the Western Frontier back then was Tennessee and Kentucky. And many say that the Second Great Awakening started in the Western Frontier, according to who you talk to. But one of the things they did: many people in that area entered into covenants.
This is what their covenants were: Christian people entered into covenant to spend a whole day each month in prayer, plus a half an hour every Saturday night and every Sunday morning. That was part of the beginning of God working in the Second Great Awakening. Now, I’m not going to go that far. If you’d like to do that, it would be wonderful. What I’m asking is if you would, as close as you can, on Saturday night, wherever you may be, just stop at 7 o’clock.
And spend at least—at least a quarter of an hour. You may want to say, “I’ll spend a half an hour.” It would be wonderful for husbands and wives and families just to get together at 7 o’clock, or maybe something’s going on, and you have to postpone it to 7:30. But on Saturday night, let’s just say, “Hey, we’re going to pray for God to do something at Rutherford County Baptist Church.” Friend, you say, “Is it too late?” Yes, it’s been too late for years and years and years, but God’s still working in the end times.
God’s still saving souls and changing lives. And God’s still an almighty God that can do anything. Is anything too hard for God? But we plug into that power through prayer. It’s amazing—the prayer promises all over the Bible that God gives us, just so many, so many invites. For God says, “Look, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The next verse is amazing, amazing: “For everyone that asketh, receiveth.” That’s amazing. “And he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened unto you.” Matthew 7:7 and 8.
What about that verse, Jeremiah 33:3? It was Brother Fontaine’s verse: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee.” And so, the great many things would say—I know these are things you don’t know about—all this power, omnipotent God. And God says, “I want you to get from me; no good thing will he withhold.”
That’s interesting. “Withhold from them that walk uprightly.” It doesn’t say “give” there; it says “withhold.” It’s like, “You come and you try to get it from me; I’ll give it to you.” Withhold. “No good thing will I withhold.” See? The prayer promises—God’s amazing. Romans 8, it’s an amazing verse. He says, look over there, if you would please. Romans chapter number 8, just a couple of prayer promises. Just amazing the prayer promises in the Word of God. God’s inviting us.
“You have not because you ask not.” And God says, “I’ve got so much I want to give to you, but I want you to come in prayer.” Would you look over in Acts—excuse me—Romans 8 in verse number 32? Romans 8 in verse number 32. I think maybe this is the greatest prayer promise in all the Bible: Romans 8 and verse number 32.
You there? Amen? Verse number 32: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Prayer. Maybe we put the emphasis on other things instead of prayer. Maybe if we would have just put the emphasis on prayer…
Maybe God would bless even more. We’re going to stop and have a regular invitation like we typically do. And then if you’re able to, I want you to hang around. We’re just going to divide up and pray a little bit as a church family. After that, we won’t be long. But that may be a good time just for us to start praying tonight during the invitation. Would you please keep your heads bowed and eyes closed? And we’ll have just a quick word of prayer. And I want to invite you to pray. Then we’re going to ask our whole church family to pray in just a moment here, just a little different way.
Tonight, I understand it will be different. Let’s just be men and women of prayer. Father, thank you for the invitation you give us all over your Word to pray. Jesus, you told us, and Father, it sounds like it’s called the house of prayer. Help us to truly live up to that. Father, forgive me; sometimes I put emphasis on things that aren’t as important. Help us put the emphasis on what you wanted: on prayer. Help us tonight, Father. Would you give us a true, sincere…
…prayer time. And Father, to thank you for what you do. We’re asking with that, Lord, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. As our instruments play, would you spend some time just praying? You’re seeking the Lord; would you do that? And we have a time for the church family to pray.
Amen. I’m going to ask you to do this. Some of you are praying right now, and you stay at it; I don’t want to interrupt that. But I’m going to ask us to do this. I’m going to ask you to find a partner. It may be husband and wife; it may be two men, two ladies. But I’m going to ask—we’ll be dismissed—and I want you just kind of spread across the auditorium, if you would.
If you have to leave, of course, we understand that. Maybe just leave out quietly. Let’s take five, ten minutes if you need that, and let’s just spread out across the auditorium. I want to ask you just to pray. And when you’re done, of course, you can slip out. But we’ve done this several times; there’s something special about seeing God’s people all across the auditorium just praying. And we won’t have any music during that time. Let’s just pray.
And I’d say two or no more than three. If you get more than three… But just spread out. Let’s just pray a little bit tonight. It may be for your neighbor to get saved; it may be for someone that has COVID; it may be for a wayward child or grandson.
But I’m going to ask you, if you see someone alone, they don’t have a prayer partner, would you go and just go to them? And let’s just take some time and pray. I’m just going to ask you to spread across the auditorium, just kind of get along wherever you can. And let’s just go to the Lord in prayer. And let’s do our best to make it a house of prayer. Would you do so? I’m going to have just a closing prayer, and we’re going to ask you to just find someone. Let’s just pray together tonight. If you have to slip out, we understand that. But everyone, everyone—just all of our folks…
Yes, and everyone, just take some time and pray. Would you do so? And we will pray. I’ll pray, at least in the closing prayer. And then would you just spread out, and we’ll have some prayer time here tonight? Father, thank you so much that you hear. I’m amazed, Lord; I don’t deserve that. Thank you, Father, for the privilege. Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible. Lord, again, I do ask, would you give us a spirit of prayer tonight?
Original File: Prayer - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Wednesday PM 9121