← ArchiveFactsPrayerDateSeptember 8, 2020SpeakerJames BeachemText—Passages in this sermonEphesians 3:14–216:43Psalms 6215:58Philippians 418:29Psalms 24:2–322:15James 427:54TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music* *music*0:28*music* Praise the Lord. Glory to God. We are here this morning. I'd like for you, if you will, just everybody close your eyes and bow your head. I just want to go through the entire Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Let thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.0:56Give us this day our daily bread or forgive us for our debts or our trespass as we forgive those that are indebted to us or trespass against us.1:12Not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, power and glory forever and ever. Amen.1:28*music* *music* *music* *music* *music* *music* *music* *music* *music*1:57*music* The pastors have all preceded me in giving you heads up a word on practices that are pertinent to the worship.2:10Talked about relationships. Talked about hope. They talked about faith. But I would like to add one more that is pertinent to worship, and that is prayer.2:30Prayer is very important in our worship. That's our communication with God.2:55As we talk about prayer, I'm reminded of the day of King Solomon. What happened then is the same call that was made then is the call that's made now. If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive them their sins and heal their land.3:26The problem with that is we're not taking heed to that.3:50A lot of us still don't know which direction to take. But I'm going to ask you or try and impress upon you to build up your prayer life. And in order to build up your prayer life.4:15We have to go to the book of life to be inspired. One of the things that scripture tells us is that Jesus said that we have not because we ask not. And even when we ask, we ask a myth.4:42In other words, he's saying what you are calling for or crying about is not in my will. So it won't come through. Does anybody believe that? If we don't pray in God's will, it won't come through. I'd like to remind you that the entire word of God inspires us to pray.5:07The entire word, not just the Psalms, not just Ephesians, but the entire word. It ought to grab our hearts and cause us to pray.5:32We can pray for, we can give him a petition or we can give him thanks. Or we can give him a praise. But at the same time, we ought to be praying. If there's ever a time when we need to pray, it's right now.5:58Has anybody looked around, listened to the news or watched things that are going on in other places? Just right here in Alabama. It's time for prayer. Satan is trying to split us up. Satan is continually feeding us things that are not good for our diet. Hatred is not good for our diet.6:26It's not. Love is what's good for the diet. Bible says our God is love. I'm going to give you, I'm going to read to you rather the Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through 21, where Paul bears witness.6:43That the whole Bible inspires us to pray. For this reason, I bow my knees to the father.7:11Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family, heaven and earth is named. That he would grant you according to the riches of his mercy, of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love.7:40May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, the length and the depth and the height. To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all fullness of God.8:02Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus all generations forever and ever.8:25Amen. Amen. Paul bearing witness that the entire Bible inspires us. If I may digress for just a minute, I remember or reflect back on the days when I was a report writer.8:48When I say report writer, it's on my job that I had to do it. And anytime you wrote a report, that report had to be or had to contain the who, the what, the why, the when and the how. And it had to be concise in order to be complete.9:16Somewhat like the message I'm giving today has to be concise. Stand up, speak up and shut up. We, when we read the word of God, it is concise.9:42It is not always a long subject or a long reading, but it has to be complete. And everything that God does is complete. He never leave anything incomplete. So if you think that your life is over, you better start thinking again.10:10Glory to God. Now we got a witness in the testimony of pastor this morning. You see, we have finite minds. There's nothing infinite about our minds. It's finite. We judge quickly and we think that things are over when things are just getting started.10:33But it's going to take prayer to get us acclimated to what God really wants us to do. I mean sincere prayer. It doesn't matter how long it is, as long as it's sincere. I hope that by going through the scripture today, you will, I will answer some of the questions that probably out there.10:59You know, it's difficult. One of the reasons pastor gets up and, and throws the questions on the board is because he wants us to see that there are questions out there. There are people who are sitting among us right now, have hundreds of questions, but won't ask because they feel that they're going to be pushed in a place or a corner that they'll look like.11:25You understand me look like they don't know. Our concern should not be God is an audience of one. So when we pray, we pray to him and him alone.11:51It doesn't matter what the people on the side of us think. It doesn't matter what the people behind us think. God is an audience of one. And when we pray, we pray solely to him. Some people feel that, oh, I have a speech impediment or I don't say my words properly or I'm not sure how to conjugate verbs or whatever the case may be.12:12Don't worry about it. God already knows before you ask. He already knows. So if he already knows, why are we worried about what the person next to us is going to say? There's no need to worry.12:39He's still an audience of one right here in the midst of all you people. He's still an audience of one. So don't be afraid. Glory to God. Don't be afraid to pray. Some of the questions that are asked or one of the questions that are asked, well, what is prayer? And, you know, you could probably could have walked up to somebody that is going to church every Sunday and you could ask him, well, what is prayer?13:04Do you believe some people have not looked into that to see what prayer really is? They heard it, but they haven't looked into it to see what it is. So what is prayer? Now, Lexicon Webster says that prayer is defined as a petition, a solemn petition to a object of worship.13:30But all of my people sitting right here don't say that.13:53Is that not right? We don't say he's an object. It's our God. So we can't call him an object. What does the Bible say he is?14:21God is a spirit. And we must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's our God. He's not an object. Oh, he knows what to do with the objects, but he's not an object. We would say that prayer is the pouring out of our hearts to God.14:40We call him by name. We can call him Lord, Lord, God, Jehovah, but we call him by name. That's where our prayer goes. It sounds to me like Lexicon Webster's want to be politically correct.15:06And I want to tell you right now, being politically correct doesn't reach God's heart. It's one of the pastors talk to us about faith. Well, we believe that it is the outpouring of our hearts to God in praise, petition, confession of sin and thanksgiving.15:28Is that not right? Is that not right? Is that not right? Amen. That's what we do. We ask God for what we want, but we also thank him for what he's done. Glory to God.15:57I want to read Psalm 62 and it will bear witness to what I just said. Psalm 62. I'm only going to read verses five through eight. My soul waits silently for God alone, for God alone. For my expectation is from him.16:25He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times.16:51You people, we, us, me, you. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. God is a refuge for us. And you know what I, I, what I'd love to hear is somebody shout glory to God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord.17:19You're worthy. Bethel, can I hear it? I would love to hear that. It sounds like music to my ears. Glory to God. Glory to God. Thank you, Lord. You're worthy. Glory to God. We thank you. We thank him. COVID-19 ain't got nothing on us. Amen.17:48Amen. Amen. Okay. In our questions, another question I found was, to whom do we pray? To whom do we? Now you gotta, somebody gonna have to ring a bell or something because I didn't look up at the clock to see what kind of time I had up here. So if you throw something down here and hit me and I'll go on.18:12I want to read Philippians, just a portion. Philippians, I believe it's Philippians 4, 4 through 7. It says rejoice in the Lord always.18:38Again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. For the Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.19:06We are nowhere without Christ Jesus. We need to get that in our minds. We're nowhere without Christ Jesus. Oh, wow. We might have our big boy britches on, but we're not big yet. We're nowhere without Christ Jesus. Glory to God. Let me remind you that the Lord has supreme authority over all our lives, be it man or mammal.19:34God has the supreme authority. We don't go anywhere without him. You hide under the shade. He's there. You go to the top of a mountain. He's there.20:03He's there. You hide under a rock. He's there. There's no hiding from God. He has the authority. And we ought to bow down to him. And I mean literally bow down to him. I don't mean just use the words by that bow down. I mean, bow down to our God and pray. He's already said back with Solomon. If you go ahead and pray.20:32Call my name. Turn from your wicked ways. Seek my face. Then I will heal your land. Everybody in here ought to admit to me this day that we all know that we, our land needs healing. You only have to look at one place. What's that place called up there in Wisconsin?21:00Kenosha? Or whatever it is. And you're watching people set fire to somebody else's building. Stealing somebody else's things. Destroying somebody else's items. Our land needs healing. We need to pray for those that are doing that. At the same time, call the law and put them in place.21:29That's simple as that. It's simple as that. When you disobey the law, you need to be cared for by the law. That's my belief. I don't know if anybody else believes that, but there's nothing coming from burning and looting. There's nothing coming from that, except more burning and more looting, more fighting, more problems.21:57We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray. Psalms 24:2-3 bears witness. It states that the earth and all its fullness belongs to the Lord.22:20For he himself founded it upon the sea and established it upon the waters. It belongs to God. We belong to God.22:48So that's where our prayer ought to be directed. It is our faith that connects us with God. I think it was Pastor Josh brought that to us. It is our faith that connects us to God. It is our prayer that determines what his response is going to be to us.23:11And I remind you that Jesus said you have not because you asked God. So if we don't pray and ask God, then he's just going to allow us to go on and suffer the consequence of our own actions. Prayer should be a practice that we do every day, not every Sunday, every day.23:38If you don't need anything on Tuesday, just thank God that you have it all. If you don't want anything on Friday, praise God because you don't need it. Praise him. Praise him. So prayer is not only for petition, it's for thanksgiving.24:05And I would love to see somebody get excited and say, praise God. Do you really want to praise him? Do you really want to praise God? There's nobody here but us. There's nobody here but us. You can praise him.24:33Do you think that it would be ugly for us to praise God in the midst of the sanctuary? This is where we came to do it. At your house, it might be a whole lot of noise going on and things are not going right. But when you get over here, this is where you praise God. That's what I'm used to. And I've told Bud this many, many, many, many times or several times anyway.25:01Bud and I talk and I've told him that when I was out there in the street, I did everything I was big enough to do. And I did it all wrong. But now that I'm in the house of prayer, I want to do it all right. And I don't want to, I don't want to shy away from anything. I'm not going to be shy when I'm in the house of God.25:30The God that brought me out of that mess. I'm not going to shy away. I'm no longer in that mess. And I thank God that I'm not. And I thank God that you're not. We need him. So let's pray. Let's pray.25:56Let's pray. State of Alabama needs him. Let's pray. Our nation needs him. Let's pray. It can start right here. The fire can start burning. Don't you know that when you start a fire, it doesn't stay in one place. Start the fire here and let it burn right on out to the rest of the nation. Start it right here. That's what I want to see. I think Pastor Josh, before he came to us, he asked me, he said,26:25Brother James, what would you want to see for your church in the next five years? Is he up there? No, he's in 200. He would bear witness. That is what he asked me. And I said, I want to see Bethel Baptist Church stand like a beacon on a hill. And all of those beautiful people that were with me went into prayer.26:51And they prayed for a man that was going to take us to that hill. Got a witness over there and a witness up there. A witness right there. God is the reason we're here. Were it not for him, there would be no reason to be here.27:17We could be out doing our own thing. But this is what I want to do. I want to stay with him. Rejoice in the Lord. And yet your gentleness be known to all men. That states that the earth in all its fullness belong to the Lord. For he is who founded it upon the seas and establish it upon the waters.27:44And it is our faith. James 4, if you will allow me. James 4, verses 2 and 3. You lust and do not have.28:05You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive.28:30Because you ask amiss. That you may spend it on your own pleasures. God is not going to support anything evil. He's not going to support anything evil. He's not going to even allow you to go in that direction. If we continue in prayer, we won't even go in that direction.28:58We have not because we ask not. And when we do ask, we ask with the wrong thing in mind. We ask to build up my section of the house. Build up my, my. God wants us to be ours.29:24Ours. All of us are in this thing together. We're all in this thing together. When God created this universe, he created us male and female. Now, don't tell me my time is already gone. Oh, that's what you're about to tell me?29:53Oh, that's what you're about to tell me?30:00I've got to learn. My wife called me slow. She does. That's her name for me. Slow. Slow. But my friends, Tiffany and Jennifer, says I'm deliberate. So that's where I am. I'm deliberate, brother. I'm deliberate. I might not keep up with the rest of the clocks, but I'm deliberate.30:26I'm so sorry. But let me read this to you first. We all know that we're in a war. We know that there's a war going on. I want to read James 4, 2 and 3. Then I'll, I'm sorry, not James 4. Ephesians.30:57Ephesians. I'm sorry, it's Ephesians. And in Ephesians, it tells us that we're in a war. There's a war going on and that, well, we know it. We know there's a war. There's a war. But the war that we're talking about right now is not the war of any kind that's here on earth. We're talking about the war that started years and years and years ago. Many, many years ago it started. And now it's been going on so long till we've lulled us to sleep.31:23It wasn't. We were now sleeping because nothing's happened to us. COVID-19 brought it back to mind that we need God. We need Christ Jesus. How long?31:50How long? Not long. He's coming back. He's coming back. And he's going to gather the church. He's going to gather us. So where do we want to be? We want to be in place when Christ come back. Now, some of us won't be alive at the time. Some will be and some won't be. But Ephesians tells us that there is going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth and all kinds of things.32:18But what I want you to hear is God is getting us ready or Jesus for Jesus return.32:37God's trying to get us back to where we were or where we're supposed to be. We don't know it because we're just 28, 78. We don't know what it is God's got planned, how it's going to go. But because we don't know what happened before we were born.33:03But what we do know is that God already has it under control. He already has it under control. So let us let us remember that that war is going on and a war is not a carnal war. We can't use carnal weapons to fight this war. You know, America is smart.33:30Everything that comes up, they have a way on how to deter the wars or the enemy's advance. They have weapons for it. We've got one now that they just stand at the office up there wherever they is, wherever he is up there at the White House or so wherever. And fire a weapon into another country and do their bidding.33:55But even that's not enough. Because our souls are in the balance. And that's what God wants, our souls. Our bodies, he loves us, treats us, but he wants our soul. So if you, today, do not know Christ.34:25And I'm looking around and I can barely see anybody that might not know Christ. But if you don't know Christ. We're going to ask you today to come up to the front. And just stand here. And I'm hoping that our pastors will be back in here. Because I'm like four minutes into out of place.34:53But anyway, what I'd like for you to do. You've heard of the upper room where they went in and they prayed, they prayed and they prayed. And I'm asking you, if you don't know Christ, come on up, stand right up here. Or if you wish to be baptized, come on up, stand right here.35:22Or if you wish, you've already been baptized and you wish to join this particular congregation. Come on up here and stand. And before you leave, give our pastors your name and address or telephone number that they might be able to call you. To be in touch with you. To find out what it is you really want. So if that's you, I'm going to ask the whole congregation to pray right now.35:50The whole congregation to pray right now. Everybody in the building. We're asking you to pray. You don't have to move. You don't have to go anywhere. You don't have to stand if you don't want to. But I want you to pray right now. Pray for those that are lost. And pray that they come in without shame.36:18Let us not show them anything that will cause them to fall or fail or fall away. Let us pray. All of us. What we want to do is make the room shake with prayer. We want to shake with prayer at this time. If that's possible with you. Let's make the room shake with prayer at this time. Praying for the lost. Praying for the hungry. Praying for those that have not yet heard about God.36:46I didn't know that but there are some people in America right now who don't get any lessons or any messages about God. Some because they don't want to and some because nobody will do it for them. So let us pray at this time. Everybody in the room. Make a noise.37:15Make a noise.← Previous in FactsThe Facts of Faith
