What The Laodiceans Taught Me
by Dan MacLeod
January 7, 2026 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Revelation 3:14-21, Isaiah 6, Mark 11, Psalm 90:14, Psalm 16:11, 1 John 2, Psalm 27:4, 1 Timothy 2:1, 1 Timothy 2:4

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--what-the-laodiceans-taught-me
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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verse 14. The Bible says, and under the angel of the church of the Laodiceans right, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that were cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Verse 17, he says, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold, tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, now mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. Verse 19, as many as I

love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. To him that over cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and him set down with my father in his throne. Obviously, many of you are probably, in some measure, familiar with this text and passage of Scripture. It comes in John's writing, the book of Revelation, and this particular passage. He is writing to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The one I highlight tonight is the church of Laodicea, and there's much that we have to consider. Obviously, the voice of the spirit, the admonition of our pastor to this house and this season is one of prayer and fasting and consecration, and that is the

directive given to me tonight. From these verses, I think there's much that we'll find fitting for this time. So back to verse number 14 through 16. I want to begin to work through these passages that we've read tonight. He said in verse number 15, I know thy works. Simply put, nothing is hid from the Lord. He sees all and he knows all. At this moment, he is watching us, and he is evaluating us. He says, I know thy works, and thou art neither cold nor hot. He was measuring the temperature of the church. And while the analogy is one of water and temperature, the concept is simply that God is consistently taking spiritual evaluation of the body, trying to help us identify where we are, what he is doing, and what we must do. This is important that we know this tonight because the challenge of the Lord is

to produce positive change in our lives. It's his intention that his word yield fruit in our lives and in our church. And so, as we work through these verses tonight, you will find that God challenges them, and by extension, he challenges us because he believes in them. And so, he is pressing them to see the potential that exists in that church. I know your works, he says. I know what you're doing, and I know what you're not doing. I know what you're not doing that you should be doing, and I know what you are doing that you should not be doing. I know it. You are neither cold nor hot, so he begins to speak to them of the emphasis of a decision in their lives, of the necessity of making positive change, of movement towards his will, for he says, I would, I would

desire that you were cold or hot. He's calling them out of a place of indecision, and he continues in verse 16 by identifying them with this word. He said, because thou art lukewarm, lukewarm. I would explain this to us tonight. We understand what it means. Literally, it means you're not cold or hot, but I would explain to us, and perhaps our more modern vernacular, to be lukewarm simply means you have enough religion to soothe your conscience, but not enough to change your life. And so, the Lord begins to speak to the indecisiveness of this church in Laodicea. I want us to understand this because these are not people that have outrightly rejected God and his word in its entirety, but neither have they surrendered their lives and fully aligned to his will. We could describe the church of Laodicea as being a people that believe the word, but do not fully obey the word.

And you know, partial obedience is still disobedience. What's interesting as you consider these opening verses to the church of Laodicea, and we read in verse 14 as the Bible actually says to the church of the Laodiceans. And this stands in contrast to the other six churches which are identified only by their geographical location, to the church of Smyrna, to the church of Philadelphia, to the church of Ephesus, but to the Laodiceans, the Lord said it is the church of the Laodiceans. Further revelation is given when you consider the meaning of Laodicea, it actually means the rule of the people. Simply put, Laodicea was a church that believed they were a democratic assembly and not a theocracy. They were not a consecrated church. They were a people that lived by their own ambition. They were governed by their own will. So much that when Jesus addressed them, he put the ownership of the

church back in their hands. They love God. I don't want you to misunderstand me. These are not bad people. They love God, but they've just not surrendered to him. They lack spirituality and consecration. And so in verse number 17, Jesus begins to speak to them. He's conveyed his displeasure. He's called them to a place of action. I would that you were cold or hot, that you would make a decision and I will spew you out of my mouth, he says. He speaks to his frustration and his displeasure again, not because he has no desire for them, but the contrary. He sees the potential in them. In verse 17, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, poor, blind and naked. Because thou sayest, he speaks to the laodiceans concerning their opinion of themselves. This is

what you say about yourself. But really, what we say doesn't matter. Because while sometimes we feel like it's our church, it's not really our church. It's his church. And the opinion of our lives and our assembly really is irrelevant unless it aligns with his opinion. Because the mark of success is not to be determined by our metrics or our opinions. The measure of God's church is the word of the Lord. We have to be a people that are hungry for the approval of God on our lives. We could consult the opinion of a thousand people this Sunday, but really, we only need the opinion of one. And what I've learned is everybody has one opinion and some people have many opinions. But if all those opinions do not come into alignment with the word of the Lord for our lives, none of them matter. And Jesus

says, you are a church that says this about yourself. You say, well, I'm rich and I'm increased with goods and I have need of nothing. They had come to the belief that material gain and monetary wealth was somehow a mark of spirituality. And so I caution us tonight, as I've said many times before in this pulpit, materialism will suffocate spirituality. You wonder why it happens in Africa and it doesn't happen here? I can tell you it's not because God loves them more. It's not because they have some favored position by virtue of the unfortunate circumstances of life. It is this simple fact that the lack of materialism in their lives has allowed spirituality to flourish in their lives. Jesus said this. He said, take heed, be aware, be on guard because your life is not merely the possessions that you have. Why would he speak to this? He knew it was the battle

of human nature. The very disciples whom he has called and are following him and he has provided for time and time again. Even in the midst of a sovereign display of God's power, provision and miracles day after day, they're troubled about where they're going to sleep, what they're going to wear and how they're going to eat. And he says, why are you thinking like this? That's how the Gentiles live. It was a completely different value system. He was telling them, you are not to be governed by the anxiety that comes with the pursuit of materialism. There should be a peace that you walk in that you know when you follow your Father. Your Father will provide. So he said, seek ye first the kingdom. And he speaks to this church that has an opinion about themselves that believes that the notoriety that has come by

material gain and earthly wealth has somehow caused them to think they have need of nothing. I say tonight, we always have need of God. There is no amount of money. There is no square footage or there is no brand of vehicle. There is no measure of bank account that removes the necessity of the spirit in our lives. However, they do have a way of deceiving us, manipulating our feelings and messing with our thoughts to somehow make us think things about ourselves that are not true. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who live in a continual state of awareness or acknowledgement that we have need of him. I know we all recognize need of God when we lack earthly security and when we lack funds and when we lack possessions. But you need God just as much in a big house as you did in

no house. And you need God just as much as driving a fancy car to church, as walking to church. We all have need of him and he said, you know it's not that thou are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. You don't even know what you really like because you have looked at material blessing and not even realized that material blessing has blinded you to your own spiritual condition. If there was ever a word for the North American church, this is it. Simply put, God was telling them, you don't see yourselves like I see you. You don't see yourself as you really are. I would like to tell us tonight, a lack of consecration in our lives will change how we see. Excuse your filter. Messes up your priorities. It alters your value system. Here is a church full of prophecy and potential birth by the outpouring

of God's spirit just like this church. But they thought themselves so rich that they had no need of God. Life became so comfortable they stopped seeking him. They believed themselves to be well when they were anything but and Jesus said, you don't see yourself as you really are. You have been blinded to your own self-awareness by the blessing that has come into your life. I would like to tell us tonight that if you don't see God right, you won't see anything right. At that first and foremost perspective of your life on which everything must be built as skewed, nothing else will be clear. So it's necessary evidence by Jesus word to them that they have to come to a place of decision. Something has to change. Isaiah shows us this truth in Isaiah 6. He said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting

upon the throne. He was high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. I saw the Lord. He was high and lifted up. He was high above every ambition of my life. High above every pursuit in my earthly career. High above every dream that I've ever dreamed. My greatest success is still fall at his feet. He was so high and so lifted up and his train filled the temple. His victories were too great to number. He said above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings and with twain he covered his face and with twain he covered his feet and with twain he did fly and the one cried to the other and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. The posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried

and the house was filled with smoke and this was not a smoke machine. It was the glory of the Lord. And then said I, Isaiah, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. When he saw the Lord then he saw himself how often we tried to judge God based on what we see in ourselves. When in fact we can't see ourselves correctly until we first see him. But he saw the Lord high and lifted up and he heard the voice of the seraphim, Holy, Holy, Holy and he feels that call to consecration, that Holy Spirit that draws and entices you closer. But he can't help but see himself as he really is and he lifts up his voice, woe is me. For I'm undone. I have nothing to boast of. I have nothing

to be proud of. I am but a man of unclean lips. I'm dwelling among a people of unclean lips. See, when you see him as he is, you'll see yourself as you really are. I prayed to God that in 2026 we would see him. Does anybody have things you'd like God to answer in your life? Questions, prayers you're still waiting on? I got a whole list. I was in a hotel room on Saturday afternoon wondering God why haven't you answered? Why haven't you done this? Why haven't you done that? I'm telling you the spirit of the Lord moved in that room and God began to speak to me from his word. God began to show me revelation from the pages of Job. For 37 chapters Job had questions that God wouldn't answer. And then God said, alright, now let me ask you some questions. And in four chapters,

seventy-something questions are asked of Job of which he has no answer. He just realizes how small and how finite he really is. And then at the conclusion of Job he says my ears had heard but now my eyes had seen. And the Lord spoke to me. I'm telling you, it changed me. And God said, you've been looking for answers and sometimes I give them but sometimes I just choose to give you an encounter in my presence and it's not the answer you get. But when you experience who I am it just takes away the question. I'm telling somebody you can have an encounter with God that when you see him as he really is you don't get all the information and you don't get all the answers. But the encounter of his presence will take away the need for a question. He tells them I'll counsel you verse 18

by of me gold tried in the fire that you can be with rich white raiment that you can be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness would not appear and your eyes would be anointed that you could see what he's telling them are all the things you've looked for in the world but you could not find because if you could have found them you would have stopped searching. If money could have made you happy you'd have stopped a long time ago. But you got the raise, you got the new car, you got the bigger house and ambition kept driving you for more. It's the spirit of layer to see you. Never content with the world but you keep on looking in the world believing the lie that the world can satiate that hunger for the spirit and Jesus tells them I counsel I beckon you I call to you

ask for me come for me buy for me that which you cannot get from the world. He said as many as I love I rebuke and chase and be zealous therefore and repent you have to understand this his correction is motivated by his love. The Greek word for love in this verse is phileo. It means a close friendship or to have close communion or fellowship one with another. Simply put Jesus does not desire correctness of them for the sake of correctness. He wants correctness so he can have fellowship. He desires relationship with them and he's calling them to a place of action a place of decision he says be zealous and repent he calls for positive change for righteous action in order that he can have fellowship with them. Now verse 20 this is really where it gets good behold I stand at the door

and knock that sound right there that means he's not in the house and that is a scary thing but it also means he wants in the house and that is an exciting thing I remind you we're looking at the church in Laodicea and what we're learning is it is a church without consecration see you can have church without him but you cannot have consecration without him. The call of the spirit at the onset of this year is that we would let him into our lives it calls to memory that day Jesus is in the city of Jerusalem he walks into the temple to the amazement of the crowd he starts flipping tables driving out the money changers interrupting the temple workers whose duties fulfill the sacrificial system he quotes Isaiah in Mark 11 is it not written my house shall be called of all nations

the house of prayer but you have made it a den of fees they had raised the price of sacrifices high beyond reason they had removed the element of sacrifice from the house of worship they had made it convenient and profitable simply it was the same spirit that it infiltrated Laodicea they had robbed the house of its purpose by turning it into profit and Jesus said not the prophecy of old tell you my house is to be a house of prayer so I say if we are defined by anything other than the definition of scripture we are not living to the standard of the scripture of all the things that this house may be identified by and certainly by friends and family and guests and new believers they'll speak of many things I hope to God they'll speak of how they were loved how they were welcomed

how they found mercy and forgiveness and healing let this be the reputation of this house but among those who comprise the family who make up this church we could say a lot of honorable things we could speak of this beautiful building we could talk of the new and ever improving technology and the cameras and the sound system we could speak of the quality of musicians and singers and I thank God for all of it but none of these things meet the standard of scripture Jesus said that this house was supposed to be a house of prayer and here at Laodicea a church that should be defined by its consecration and by its prayer this means and the construct of their lives and what they call church and the systems and the traditions that they likely filled on a weekly basis he wasn't in them he wanted to be

but he wasn't his house has to be a house of prayer if he is knocking it means he's not in but he wants in meaning this God can be locked out of your life by prayerlessness God can be locked out of this church by prayerlessness you say but we're here I know we're here you say but we had a band practice I know we did you say the choir was here at 830 I know they were but if we don't pray the home that he is knocking on is the home that doesn't pray the church that he is knocking on is the church that doesn't pray I come tonight with this simple point that what the Laodiceans taught me about living for God is that God is not content with the church and with the people that do not pray I thank God for plans

and I thank God for programs we need them we will use them but they do not bring revival they are tools of administration that help us steward people and steward the revival God gives us but they themselves do not bring revival revival is not the construct of human strategy it is not the result of planning meetings revival is the result of men and women who humble themselves and seek the face of God and pray with passion and fervency and separate themselves from the world in pursuit of the Lord time doesn't permit us tonight but we could talk about Azusa street we could talk about the Welsh revival the New York Times wrote about it bars closed shopping malls closed entire towns would shut down businesses for one hour prayer meetings in the middle of the work day and you know where it began it began with the little man

a little teenage boy in Welsh his name was Evan Roberts who on his lunch break would cross the street and find a stump and he would pray and he would cry out to God bend me Lord break me Lord and one teenage boy preached a message after church was dismissed of a midweek Bible study Evan Roberts preached a little sermon on a midweek Bible study at the conclusion of church and they said within a matter of weeks lines by the tens of thousands were lining up outside of the churches in the country of Wales how does that happen it's not planning it's not strategy it's the result of people that realize the world cannot satisfy the hunger that God put within us for him God's not content with the people that don't pray the call of the spirit is clear the word has been evident

pastor preached it two weeks ago he preached it again Sunday night and the Lord was bearing witness to this truth I just come tonight to echo that and to offer some insights that there is a world of opportunity available to us if we'll pray as you said I want to stay in the vein of prayer and consecration so I begin to think well you know what practical things could I teach about you know prayer and prayer habits and disciplines and the Lord kind of took me another direction when I ended up here in Revelation chapter three and I thought you know what out of all the things that the Laodiceans did wrong and out of all the practical things that I could offer tonight for our consideration the root of the issue was this they aired and seeking satisfaction and something other than God they were driven

by the very same desire that lives within each and every one of us and because they could not find it they just kept looking in the same place that's why he spoke of the deceitfulness of riches because it promises you something it can't give you and when you try and you don't get it you try again and then you want more and you want better then you get more and you get better and you still don't get enough then you want more and you want better I'm telling you tonight this is the battle of the American church and so I want to I want to speak to the individual and then I want to speak to the church here's my word of the individual he has to become your pleasure Psalm 90 and 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice

and be glad all our days the new international version says satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love perhaps you've heard it said the quote is not original to me but if you can win the morning you can win the day so I would like to build on that and tell you if you will meet God in the morning you will be ready to meet anything and anyone one in your day so my practical challenge for you tonight is let 2026 be the year where you establish consistent morning devotion in your life you say well I'm not a morning person well become a morning person I don't care if you do it at 5am or 7am or 8.30am just give God first but I will caution you you can't approach this with a sense of obligation looming in your mind or you will rob yourself

of the joy of relationship what kind of marriage would you have if you treat your spouse like that I'm just going to interact with you on the basis of my obligation you might stay together for the sake of the covenant but you'll be one frustrated person you have to learn to pursue him on the basis of the pleasure you find in him and when you get that you don't need motivation because you've fallen in love with him Psalm 16 and 11 said you will show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures forever more in your presence is the fullness of joy fullness speaks of of volume of a measurement meaning if we are not made full by him we will inadvertently seek fullness elsewhere if we don't rise at the first of our day

and fill our hearts to the full by him we will waste our days trying to satisfy the longing of our hearts with the things of the world you wonder why your days are long and weary and frustration gets the best of you and anger overtakes you and you're drawn back into bitterness and fear wreaks havoc on your mind it's because you didn't win the morning because if you'd have won the morning you'd win the day because when you get filled up with him there's no place for anything else at your right hand at the place of your power there are pleasures forever more this is what Eli Hernandez said to me many years ago he said you have to find the dimension of pleasure he said a lot of people serve God on the basis of their need they want to be delivered they want to be healed

they want to be saved he said all of that is good and all of that is necessary but there'll come a day when your needs diminish and you've been saved and your life is blessed where if you've not learned that place of pleasure in the Lord then you will become blinded by your own blessing I'm not just seeking him for what I have need of I'm seeking him for the pleasure that I find in him the fullness of joy he gives me and now I go through my days and yes I face problems and yes I have trials and circumstances but because I'm full of him there is no place for those things in my thoughts there is no place for those things in my heart because I have been filled with him and so when we talk about consecration tonight sure I could offer you a list

of seven practical tips and we could reason together we could come up with seven lessons on practical insights of prayer and how to be a consecrated individual I could give you 512 rules and if your heart doesn't learn to be fulfilled by the presence of the Lord none of those will matter but I must also consider he can't fill me if I'm already full of other things that's why John wrote in 1 John 2 he said love not the world neither the things that are in the world because you can't love him and the world so if you've been filled up with the things of the world he can't fill you up until you empty your cells of that that's why we're fasting now a biblical fast I know we kind of do all kinds of modern things a biblical fast literally means to cover your mouth

it means to not eat and thank God for a pastor who preaches that and leads us in that but I would challenge you that while we are not eating we should also give us some consideration to the other elements of our mental and emotional diet cut out the binge don't binge on junk food but don't binge on Netflix don't binge on worldly music don't binge on media that's full of values and concepts the bible says I will set no wicked thing before my eye I will not take pleasure in evil I will not be entertained by an action that I would not fulfill these are the things that dilute the purity of the church and the power of his spirit among us so if he's going to fill me up I've got to empty myself of everything else see the cry of a heart that has

discovered the dimension of pleasure I serve God because of the joy he fills me with this is the cry of that heart Psalm 27 and 4 one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to get what I want to be healed in my body to be blessed in my finances no to behold the beauty of the Lord oh David knew he knew what it was to need mercy he knew what it was to need saved and forgiven he knew what it was to need mended and put back together but that was not the singular pursuit of his life he was not chasing God simply for what he could get or what he even needed he said the cry of my heart the one thing

I have desired and that I will seek after is to press my way into his house to behold his beauty to see him that's really what I want I just want to see him I want to know him because I've got a long list of questions and unanswered prayers just like you do I'm telling you when his spirit moved in that hotel room on Saturday afternoon it was like the need for an answer was taken from my heart ooh I just I felt him I was so satisfied in his presence that that all the things I thought I needed to know and figure out and to make sense of just diminished from my sight he was enough so yes you need to push the plate away turn off your television step away from media give your mind a break clean your thoughts allow your heart to be renewed

but in all of that what you really have to do is find out what it's like to serve him and be pleased in him to get to the place where you don't need anything else but him that's my admonition to the individual but now let me give a charge to the church pastors charge to us need to be a people of prayer this kind some things only come by prayer and by fasting 1st Timothy 2 verse 1 this is the apostle Paul's writing to Timothy in particular chapter 2 is his instruction for public worship and this is what he says I exhort therefore that first of all say first first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men first is not meant to be understood as time only I've touched on that earlier but really what Paul speaks to is

the importance or the priority of a thing what he's telling Timothy is in the gathering of the believers first of all meaning prayer must be our priority amen I went home last night a little bit stirred I know Tuesday night there's men's and women's prayer they came together in the sanctuary last night and Hailey had text me I just landed or was on my way back flying home from Maryland she said sister Tammy mentioned the prayer groups are coming together in the sanctuary tonight Hailey said I think we should go I said okay I don't know but I'd have trouble sleeping if I got invited to prayer and didn't go and didn't have a legitimate reason well I guess we should go remember the rights will get up here and start talking a little bit and leading us through focused prayer and sitting over here

sister Wright so she's sitting over here and we're praying and I can hear her praying I'm thinking hmm these people tapped into something and then I'll confess to you a little bit here tonight I got wondering why haven't I been here in the past and I've been to our Saturday night Sunday night prayer but there was a little something moving in here I knew what I was going to be talking about tonight I knew what pastor's challenge for our church is and scripture is so clear Paul said Timothy you're assuming a role of pivotal leadership and you're overseeing the assembling of the believers but first of all this has to be the priority prayer must be our priority first you know what I know is if we don't get the first thing right then the second thing can't be right and if we miss the first thing

then not only the second thing but the third thing and the fourth thing and every following thing can't be right so I was telling Timothy you have to establish this precedent in the assembly of the believers that first of all the thing of highest priority is that we be a people of prayer and he speaks cause he knows the looming temptation is we can go through the construct of church, the tradition of church we can gather, we can have our biscuits and gravy, we can drink our coffee we can fellowship, we can sing we can play, we can do it all and we can never pray and we can end up just like the Laodiceans I've preached in churches that were built by our elders who were defined by lives of prayer, whose stories were saturated with sacrifice but what they left is not what lives now

and it is not because God has changed, it is not because the prophecies have been retracted it's because the American church has become so blinded by its own blessing we think we don't need God anymore we don't have to pray like that anymore and I'm telling you as a preacher in this house, I went home last night, disturbed that I've not been here as much as I need to be here yeah, we're gonna have church yeah, we're gonna have a band and yeah, we're gonna have a choir yes, we're gonna do evangelism but oh God above all things that we would pray first of all, there is no room for dispute with the word of the Lord it was true then and it is true now my house shall be a house of prayer first of all, before you plan before you practice prayer is always in order

I've been some places that challenged me I preached in some churches I'm gonna tell ya, when I first got connected with brother Nichols and we had a very close mutual friend we were talking one day and he happens to be Bishop Nichols best friend as well and I said man, it seems like they've got quite a thing going on there and he said yeah, he said let me tell you what they've done, they've just prayed their way into some stuff and I preached there, I'm gonna tell ya they didn't have to pray I I've preached at a church of a dear friend of mine in Northern California, I'm telling ya it was a Saturday night they had a lady in their church she was backslidden for many years prayed back through, God was doing a work in her life and all of a sudden she was diagnosed

with cancer, a couple young children, we were finishing up fellowship on Saturday afternoon and pastor said to me we've got some people that are gonna come to the church tonight we've got a lady that's diagnosed with terminal cancer, they only expect her to live a few weeks and we're just gonna gather and pray when I walked in the exterior doors of the church, it's a sizable sanctuary, it seats probably close to a thousand people, when I walked in the foyer of the church I could hear the sound of prayer roaring out of the sanctuary we walked in there, I don't remember if it was 6 or 7 o'clock on Saturday evening there was probably 150 people in the sanctuary I mean it was roaring we left the sanctuary had about quarter after 9 and people were still praying that shapes you I'm not advocating

every time we gather to pray, we've got to be here 3 hours, Paul even said making mention of you and sometimes there's a place for short prayer what I am advocating is that we kind of set the sale of our life and catch the wind of the spirit and say okay God, where do you want to take us first of all prayer must be our priority there's nothing that can make amends for prayerlessness and the life of a believer or in God's church no building no message no program, no person no personality no talent no amount of practice can make amends for prayerlessness and the beauty of this most important ministry is that you don't have to be musical you don't have to be able to sing play an instrument you don't have to be able to teach or preach all you need is your voice

I remember reading a story years ago of Charles Spurgeon of course we would have some theological differences but a man's consecration is to be honored in fact one of the churches he pastored in London is now owned and pastored by United Pentecostal church minister at the height of his revival in London England crowds are amassing by the thousands as you might expect it was making its way through the news he approached the doors of his church early one Sunday morning and there were two young men there come to find out they were Bible school students who had heard of the great things that God was doing and he greeted them they did not recognize who he was and he said well, men how can I help you the sun was rising early in the morning he said they told him well we've just heard of what God is doing

we're here to see we want to be eyewitnesses of this we've heard of the revival of the crowds in fact the crowds were so great that the balcony in one building collapsed in the middle of a revival so many people were packed into it he said okay he said young men I'd like to show you if you'll permit me the reason this church is having revival he said okay and he walks them into the building and to their surprise he walks them down a dark set of stairs into a dungeon basement downstairs in that old building in London England was the furnace room and at the crack of dawn it was filled with 700 men on their knees Charles Spurgeon looked at those two young Bible school students and said my name is Pastor Charles Spurgeon points at the 700 men and says but that's the reason

this church is growing new life we've got a dynamic church we have a deep bench gifted leaders we have so much blessing a hope to God we don't get blinded by it first of all prayers should be made he said I want you to pray for all men so when you pray who you're praying for for all men you want to see this in practice brother writes will be here next Tuesday night and he'll walk you through it and show you just how to do it there are people in this room tonight you were prayed for last night I'll tell you it stirred me pray for all men you have never met somebody that doesn't need prayer good friend of mine he's a missionary overseas that pastor speaking at his home church this week I'll be there this Sunday very good friend of mine several years ago he told me a story

he said I was just a boy driving down the road with my grandmother he said we were stopped behind a big yellow school bus over the back seat a popped a little head the boy started waving he said my grandmother waved and then all of a sudden started praying speaking in tongues he said I remember looking at my grandmother saying Grammy Grammy why did you pray for that boy you don't even know him she looked at him and she said Lionel I pray for you every day but who knows maybe that boy has never had anybody pray for him in his entire life he said it it stirred me he said so I started doing it he became a missionary he was on deputation he said I was driving through a little town in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma and saw a man walking down the street

with a Santa Claus hat on he said something about that hat caught my attention so I did for him what I'd seen my grandmother do so many times he said Lord I pray you touch that man God I pray you'd send somebody to show him the truth and as a car carries on 40-50 miles an hour he said it was only a mention he was out of my sight that afternoon he was sitting in a laundry mat doing his laundry a group of young men walked in one of those young men was Asian which is the continent of his calling he began to talk to him witness to him began to use the Chinese word for boat to witness to him about Noah's Ark and the Bible began to share the gospel with him he said it was just a very fulfilling experience knowing you are trying to reach somebody

with truth conversation ended a group of young men leave he said just a few moments later the door to the laundry mat swings open again he said that young Asian man comes back through the door and says oh I forgot my coat and he picks up his coat and throws his jacket on reaches in his pocket pulls out a Santa Claus hat and puts it on his head who would have known but God you say what are we praying for for 106,000 people for all men I'm praying for the ones that are morally corrupt and confused I'm praying for the drug addict and the alcoholic I'm praying for the backslider that's been to see we are praying for all men and he goes on to tell you why we pray in verse 4 he said who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth

Timothy the priority of the church has to be to pray and when you pray pray for all men and the reason why we pray is because God wants everyone to be saved new life we got to be a people a prayer and when we pray we're praying for 106,000 people to be free to be delivered to be healed and to be saved we are praying for all men every color of skin every language every socioeconomic class why because God wants every man every woman every boy every girl to be saved would you stand with me and lift up your voice come on the point is simple tonight we pray so they can be saved