House of Prayer
by Kevin Allen
December 4, 2020 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 21:13, James 5:16-18, Jeremiah 29:12-13, Psalms 10:17, Isaiah 30:19, Isaiah 55:6, Ephesians 6, Acts 12, Acts 12:1-4

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--house-of-prayer
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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thank you for worshiping god you make your way back to your seats appreciate you being in service with us today on this sunday after thanksgiving we still have many families that are traveling and we are happy that they are traveling and got to be with family and friends and we pray that god keeps them and brings them all home safely but i'm glad you're here today i hope you're glad to be in the house of god are you glad to be here amen amen amen and i'm glad all those are tuned in online and watching now pray that you feel the presence is god as strong in your home as we feel him here today for we have no doubt that our god is here with us we're going to go to matthew chapter 21 and then also over to james chapter 5 to read a few verses of scripture as

we start into our message today the end of the year is rapidly approaching and for many they are thankful for that it's not been a year that we desired not one that we had planned but it was nevertheless a year we got to live through and we should be thankful that we got to live through it i know it wasn't ideal no it wasn't what we wanted see i don't believe that god does anything that he is not aware of even though you and i may not have understood the reason behind all that has taken place this year my god is good he has been faithful to me and i trust that he had a plan and a purpose behind all these things and we'll talk about that a little bit more in just a minute but thankful for the christmas time the advent season that is here and if you've never been around center point for our december services then i hope you'll be here with us next sunday i'll be preaching my christmas message and then the sunday after that is family christmas

one of my favorite services of the year we didn't get to have it last year because we were in the throes of trying to get into this building but we are excited to have family christmas back and then of course christmas communion anytime you go before the lord's table it is always a very special event we're excited about that but we're here today and i know that god has something special for us in this service today matthew chapter 21 verse 13 it's a familiar passage jesus is speaking he says this it is written my house shall be called the house of prayer say that with me say house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves james chapter five any time you go to the book of james you have to prepare yourself because james he just puts you in your place he doesn't beat around the bush he doesn't sugarcoat anything he just punches you right in the mouth so here we are everybody ready james chapter 5 verse number 16 confess your faults one to another i love how he

doesn't assume that you don't have fault if you notice that he didn't say he did just in case no he says go ahead you have fought and what you need to do is confess that confess your faults one to another and pray one for the other that ye may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much elias was a man subject to like passage as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit we see here in the scriptures james gives us an example of the power of prayer the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much jesus turns to those who were listening those who were following and he makes this statement my house shall be called a house of prayer and today for just a few minutes i'm going to preach on that subject a house of prayer jesus i love you and i'm

so thankful that you are here with us today lord i pray for the next few moments that your presence would overwhelm us in this place god that we would be anointed to receive your word open our hearts and our minds that we can be fed by today and draw closer to you in jesus name we pray and amen house of prayer it's not to be known as a house of mercy not according to jesus it's not to be known of a house of miracles no that's not what he said he didn't say that it was to be known as a house where blessings are poured out that's not he didn't mix his words he was very straightforward he was very plain that if his house was going to be known for anything it was to be known as a house of prayer see he knew something that you and i sometimes are a little bit slow to the game understanding that if a house of prayer is truly established all the other things that we really desire will come along if we can make it

a house of prayer scripture goes on and i'm going to read through kind of shotgun fashion to some verses that i did not give them in the booth and it's okay but i'll read them to you jeremiah 29 12 says that you will call upon me and come and pray to me and i will listen to you you will seek me and find me when you seek with all your heart listen to these promises that god says if you will seek me you can find me but he gives you the way you do it you do it on your knees you do it in prayer psalms 10 17 says you hear o lord and desire of the afflicted you encourage them and you listen to their cry the psalmist is saying god i know how you operate and work that you listen when we cry out to you in our prayers isaiah 30 19 the lord will hear your crying and he will comfort you when he hears you he will help you isaiah went on in chapter 55 to say seek the lord while

he may be found call upon him why he is near i know his presence is in this place i felt it already i dare say you also have felt the presence of god here and when i read this word it lets me know that we are instructed to call upon god why he's close by hello he's close by if you have a need in this place i'd be crying out i wouldn't wait till the end i wouldn't wait until things got better so to speak that when i feel the presence of god and something's going on in my life cry out to him that's what the word says the need of our hour here the need of the hour here at center point is powerful persistent passionate prevailing prayer we need to be a church that's known for prayer the need is far greater than most of god's people realize all that has transpired not just in this last year it's hard to even look at a year and really compare and see all that has taken place in some ways it seems like 2020

has been five or six years in the making even though we know it hasn't been that long and in other ways it seems to have went by so fast here we are the sunday after thanksgiving already but when you look at what goes on in your life most experts will tell you it's hard to see a real trend or pattern without looking at 10-year blocks of your life if you go back in the last 10 years i'm going to ask you a question this is a rhetorical question this is meant for you to evaluate yourself are you better off now than you were 10 years ago are you spiritually better off now than you were 10 years ago do you have a closer relationship with god better now than you did 10 years ago and if the answer to that question is no i'm going to ask you are you really praying are you really in a relationship with god for to be in a relationship with him it is a must it is a have to you cannot have a relationship with god if

you don't pray i don't care how many bumper stickers are on your car how many t-shirts you have i don't even care how many bibles you own i don't care how many verses of scripture you have memorized i don't care how many church services you attend i don't care how many camps you go to i don't care how many books you've read about god and his name none of that matters if you're not praying knowledge itself does not bring you into a relationship with god but at some point you have to get down to the serious business of having a conversation with him it's important the moral fiber of our nation has eroded it has crumbled real love and compassion have become almost non-existent confusion and turmoil have swept across this country like a tidal wave even the religious community itself has been shaken at its core according to barnard research the people who are experts at surveying christians and church-going people there's a minority of born-again adults and an even smaller portion of born-again teenagers who even believe in an absolute truth anymore what

has happened to us ladies and gentlemen what has caused us to be in the situation that we're in and now i'll tell you the problem we don't have a relationship with god in prayer we only have a relationship of convenience if every center point needed to learn to prevail in prayer it is now if ever we needed to reach out to something bigger than ourself to change something that is beyond our reach it is now it is time for us to understand that we should be people of prayer if we're known for anything let us be known for prayer not for our music not for this building not for always having apostolic truth there but i'm telling you those things are important but if we miss out on being people of prayer it's all for nothing it's just a show we have seen and we know that there are many things that go on inside a church to say and that go along we laugh and smile at them seven days without prayer makes one week we've done all that we can now it's time

to pray i want to know why is that that prayer is not always our default first response why isn't it our first response when something happens in our life that we pray why do we push it down the road a little bit why do we wait to things get really bad why is it that it has to be completely out of control and then we say well i guess i better pray why is it not our default automatic response then when something goes on in my life i go down on my knees in prayer you see when prayer fails satan prevails the demons of hell rejoice when the child of god is prayerless because the enemy knows this that a prayerless christian is a powerless christian if you need power in your life you're only going to get it through having a time of dedication and prayer to god when you and i are involved in the one of the most heated and holy battles of all time we go into it unarmed when we go into it without prayer in our life ephesians chapter

6 talks about the rulers and the darkness in this world and what's going on this place we shouldn't be surprised by what's going on we shouldn't be taken back by what's taking over and going on inside our country this is just a sign of the times and things that are come to play i'm going to tell you what that bothers me in some level but the other side there's something inside of me that starts to get a little bit excited because when things seem to be spiraling out of the control those are the moments when god shows up and does the most amazing things oh it's not time for the church to set back but i'll continue to make this statement this is the church's finest hour but it's only going to work if it gets somebody on board to pray with me we need to understand our place in the kingdom the souls of lost men and women literally hang in the balance and while lost souls teeter teeter-totter on the brink of destructions it seems as though we seem to be unconcerned with

what's going on because we don't have the prayer going forth in the prayer rooms you know when i was thinking about moving over into this building i was reminded back over on the other side over there in that first building how you couldn't come in the front door without hearing the prayer room you could hear it when you came in how many of us remember those prayer services in there how many of us remember people receiving the holy ghost in the prayer room before church ever started it was going on there was something powerful going on back in their prayer room and i love this build and i'm so thankful for it but it seems that there's very few people that ever make it back to the prayer room anymore we have a room that's all it's for nothing else goes on in this room right back here it is simply dedicated to prayer but often times the room remains silent before service that bothers pastor at his core at the very very foundation of what i believe that we have great music and i'm

thankful for the sloanes and their team i'm thankful for their practices and their dedications but ladies and gentlemen if we don't go to the prayer room we're starting off at the wrong place yes god moves yes we feel his presence but we still have so much to overcome to get to where we need to be for every service where if you and i would make our mind up and i'll come in the front door i'm going to say hello i'm going to say hi how you doing i'm going to be nice and cordial but i'm going to do all that on my way to the prayer room because if i don't get my prayer life right it all matters for nothing oh we're to be known as a house of prayer that's what jesus said we are to be we need to remember and understand how powerful prayer is in our life i was thinking about stories that went on trying to think something through to bring this point together you guys know i love using stories that remind the story that paul harvey told

about the little boy who was grocery shopping with his mom they're going up and down the aisles and those of us are parents who had kids in the cart we know inevitably you end up passing the cookie aisle and oh he went down through there and as he was looking at all the varieties of oreos and chips ahoy and all the varieties of cookies he began to say oh mom can i just have that can you please get some cookies mom can you put some chocolate chip no some we're not getting any cookies we don't have money for cookies right now that's not on our shopping list and he went on down the island little boy's heart was broken he was so upset because he couldn't have a cookie and lo and behold as we know as parents this happens fate landed that they had to go back down the cookie all because mom forgot something so he got a second round to pass the cookies and oh he began to plead oh mom please can we just have some chocolate chip cookies can't you

just pick up look they're right there look mom i see the yellow tag they're even on sale buy one get one mom can we just get some chocolate chip cookies set out and be quiet we're not buying chocolate chip cookies she finished the rest of her list and she makes it her way up to go to the checkout line he knew his time was limited and at the top of his voice he says in the name of jesus well somebody give me some chocolate chip cookies and when they left the store that day they had 23 bags of chocolate chip cookies and a round of applause from everybody around who thought it was hilarious that the boy was praying there's power in prayer now let me say this that's a funny story but just because you declare something in jesus name does not mean it's going to happen now why did i bring this up for the simple reason you have to have a relationship with the god of the name it's not just a magic formula that if i just say it in jesus

name and you've heard me do this before as if somehow i have leverage over god to wield him to do what i want him to do it doesn't work that way i'm going to give you a little secret a little hand you ready for it god will always do his will so you've heard me say this before that if you want your prayer answered 100 of the time then pray the will of god because that prayer will always be answered they may say well pastor kevin what do you mean well i mean in your time of prayer while you're praying about your circumstances and situations and you need to pray about your circumstances and situations but when you get to the end of what you think it should be i highly recommend you say god nevertheless not my will but thy will be done he gave us that example in the garden when jesus the man was struggling with what was going on he didn't want to go to a cross and die he didn't want to be tortured he didn't want to be punished

he didn't want to be whipped he didn't want to be beat he didn't want to be spit on he didn't want a crown of thorns but nevertheless not my will but thy will be done i'm telling you something powerful that only tends that only transpires in a prayer room in a prayer closet where you can get you will alignment it's not about your desires it's about his but you have a way of god understanding where you are and when you get yourself in the right position he has a way of elevating you unlike anything else you will experience in your life but it only happens in prayer there's great power and great deliverance made all possible through prayer moses prayed and god spared israel from judgment joshua prayed and god calls the son to stand still samson prayed and god gave him back his strength hannah prayed and god gave her a baby boy solomon prayed and god gave him wisdom elijah prayed and god sent fire down from heaven elijah prayed it didn't rain for three and a half years he prayed again and

the rain came back elisha prayed and god gave life back to the dead child jonah prayed and he got out of the belly of the well the thief prayed on the cross and god gave him eternal life paul and silas were bound they started singing and praying and god shook the entire place because i'm telling you there's something powerful in prayer the book of acts is all about a praying church acts chapter 12 verse 1 about that time king herod agrippa began to persecute some of the believers in the church he had the apostle james john's brother killed with a sword and when herod saw how much it pleased the jewish people he also arrested peter this took place during the passover celebration then he imprisoned him placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each herod intended to bring peter out for public trial after the passover sounds pretty bad for old peter it doesn't look good for him he's being held captive herod even took extra measures he didn't want anything to slip through the cracks so what he decided

to do is i'm gonna put four guards around you i'm gonna do shifts i don't want you convincing them about this jesus stuff so i'm not gonna give you a chance to convert them so every all so often we're gonna swap those guys out this is bad this looks like it's an overwhelming circumstance the church was being positioned amidst people who were hard-headed and hard-hearted they were killing members they were stoning people they even killed jesus we knew when this was taking place and now the disciples are supposed to go and continue the work continue to start churches and this was a hard road to walk but the church prayed through its problems you ought to turn and tell somebody today whatever your problem is you can pray through it that was weak we have a thanksgiving hangover turn to somebody and tell them you can pray through your problems there you go you can pray through them you don't have to live with this why would you live with this why would you live with that junk why would you live with that stuff

holding you back why would you do you like living in a depressed state do you like living oppressed do you like living less than what god has for you i'm asking you to think about this do you like this way do you like always having those thoughts do you like always being bound by those addictions do you always like that stuff that causes darkness in your mind do you like living with fear then pray your way out of this situation pray your way out of this situation don't settle for it don't put up with it don't learn to live with it isn't it amazing what you can learn to live with but why do you settle down why do you settle for less why do you accept that this is just the way it's going to be and it's never going to be any better that's not what the book of acts church did they didn't just accept it as status quo said or if you're going to persecute me the more you do it the harder we're going to pray see here we are

in acts chapter 12. they were praying they all had problems herod was trying to put him out trying to make them quiet but he had already done three things he he'd put forth his hand to persecute individuals that were in the church not all the church take note he didn't say everybody in the church but there were certain ones there he began to afflict them imprisoned them finding them spoiling their houses and their goods tormented them and even killing them all because they belong to jesus christ i need to tell somebody here if people are persecuting you it's probably because the devil's mad and he wants you to be quiet but it's not time to be quiet it's not time to sit back our hour is now it's our finest hour it's our time to be the boldest we've ever been but you can only be that way if you have a relationship with a god who empowers you don't quit just keep praying we need to count it all joy when you fall into divers temptation knowing this that the trying your faith works

patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and tired wanting nothing how do you get that way through prayer not through setting back not through just enduring but getting down to the serious business of having a prayer life here it killed james the brother of john with a sword james is one of the first three of jesus's disciples he was the one there on the mountain transfiguration he's seen all that was taking place i want to encourage somebody today if you're being aggravated by the devil your persecution may be evidence that you are closer to god than you can imagine maybe your persecution is the fact that the enemy's worried that if you ever fully comprehend all the power that is available to you when you get down on your knees you don't have to put up with that stuff anymore oh i'm trying to tell somebody i'm trying to encourage somebody you don't have to live this way anymore but if you could learn to tap into the power of prayer if you can learn to tap into the

power when you get down on your knees oh i'm telling you there's a devil who's upset right now he's upset he's afraid that you're going to really figure out what it is you can do if you get where you need to be with god and i'm here to tell you i'm going to encourage you pray pray pray pray pray if you do anything pray whoo you don't have to put up a status quo you don't have to put up a living life that way you don't have to say this is just how it's going to be but you can get down on your knees and say god i need you right now in my life herod locks up peter the one who would become the head of the church the one who would go on to preach the sermon that would result in 3 000 peoples being filled with the holy ghost the enemy always attacks the head the devil knows that if he can kill the head the body's going to fall that's why you need to pray you need to pray for leadership

you need to pray for your pastor you need to pray for the leadership of this church every day it's not because i'm just trying to get blessings in my life no i'm telling you the enemy fights and he fights dirty but there's something powerful when we unite together in prayer there's something that is an overwhelming force that the enemy is afraid of peter was in prison peter was in prison peter was in prison the one who's heading it all up the head is in prison guess what the church started to pray they didn't go well it's over they didn't run away they did the only thing they knew to do they called a prayer meeting they call it a prayer meeting why because prayer changes things despite the outward attacks despite the internal tension they got down to the business of praying why because this wasn't a time to quit this wasn't a time to throw in the towel it wasn't a time to run and hide it wasn't a time to leave the church it was a time to pray the night before peter

was put on trial he was asleep he's bound up in chains soldiers guarding him on each side soldiers outside the interest of the jail but suddenly whoo but suddenly god showed up whoo do you know why god showed up because there's a group of people praying they went and said in the back weeping and crying about all that had happened their way no they were down to the serious business of praying they went back there sucking their thumbs no they're saying god we know you're still in control we don't understand the circumstances we don't know how this is going to work out but i know you're god and i know you're on the throne and i know you've never lost i know you're always victorious so even though i can't see away i know you have a way he told me where's that microphone i'm about to lose my voice sorry justin i can preach now i got one in my hand anybody ever been in trouble i mean in real trouble i mean like you're going to get a whooping kind of trouble i

mean like your mama's done got it out your granny you don't talk about them kind of whoop and anybody get a whoopin i didn't say a spanking i said a whooping there is a difference a vast difference in a spanking and a weapon whooping borderline's beating and depending on what decades you grew up in it was beaten when i was a kid been in trouble but then god showed up god's trying to do something right now jesus i cement myself for the next few minutes god every way in this place i know he desires to be a deliverer today in this place holy ghost child be sensitive to what god's doing right now anybody ever been in trouble and god showed up i'm looking for a witness to scream out anybody ever been in trouble and god showed up anybody it's been dark i mean it's been dark and it looked like you were surrounded all around there was going to be no way out but then you prayed you said jesus and jesus showed up does anybody know what i'm talking about has anybody

been about to spin out of control run off the road into a ditch and you said jesus and he showed up i'm looking for a witness to stand and say i know what you're talking about pastor because in the crowd all of a sudden there becomes empowerment to those that maybe don't understand what i'm talking about see there's something about a child or god who has a relationship with him and calls out on his name and when you call out that name he steps into your situation because i feel like there's a few people in this place today that need jesus to step into your situation but it's only going to happen when you in faith believe and cry out into that name oh come on come on yes yes yes yes yes yes yes it was dark he was in prison he didn't know what was going on the church was down the street praying he's bound up in shackles and all of a sudden jesus walks into his situation things begin to shake those that were trying to kill him ended up falling

over dead peter woke up because an angel said hey buddy it's time to get out of this place and i feel to tell somebody today it's time to get out of where you are that isn't where god wants you to be he doesn't want you bound by that stuff he doesn't want that on your mind he doesn't want that fear there he doesn't want that depression there that's not from him he is here in this place and where the spirit of god is there is liberty where the spirit of god is there is freedom in this place who i wish somebody would break in tap into the power and what's being preached across this pulpit today you don't have to stay in that prison cell anymore but if you believe if you really believe if you cry out he is here to deliver you don't stop don't stop don't stop keep praying i can preach over you just keep praying in the middle of all was going on in his life in the middle of what seemed like the end the church was praying down

the street and because the church was praying down the street peter was delivered out of that i'm telling you we don't realize how powerful we are as a church if you understood the real power that we had i wouldn't have to ask you to go to that prayer room i'd have to go in there and tell you i need you back in the sanctuary so i can preach we have an example acts 12. they were in a prayer meeting and what they were praying for was being delivered how many of you have lost loved ones yeah look around how many got lost loved ones when's the last time you prayed about them how many you got loved ones that are bound they're addicted they're hung on stuff they're on meth they're on crack they're on alcohol they're addicted to pornography they're addicted to all kind of broken things come on so why don't you say we want a sugar coat they're just in bad stuff all right it's real stuff that's going on but i believe in the power of prayer i believe in the

power of deliverance i believe in the power of jesus christ i believe that resurrection power is there for a reason and a purpose jesus said my house shall be known as a house of prayer why because it's through prayer deliverance happens peter's there nobody can imagine a way out but all of a sudden the angels show up and walk him down the street right out of his situation and problems he goes to the very house where they're praying they can't hardly hear because they're praying i love this story there you know holy ghost shout down inside there peter's at the door he's banging on it finally rhoda hears it she goes over to see what's going on she opens up the front door you can read this acts 12. she opens up the door and there sends peter and guess what she did she slammed the door in the holy ghost fit whoa she's in there trying to calm everybody down hey hey hey hey hey hey hey just hush for a minute what wrote it we trying to pray peter's at the door what

girl you crazy you better get an altar and repent i'm telling you peter he's still standing out there like i'm telling you deliverance is on the way it's going to happen so quick you're not even going to believe it you're not even going to believe it you're going to still think you're bound when he's already why don't you make your mind up right now before i go out those back doors god's going to deliver me and when i walk out of here i'm a free man i'm a free woman oh there needs to be one more besides tim remember taking a lap i'm telling you this is a house of prayer this is a house of prayer and where we pray everything is possible y'all don't believe it if y'all believe it every more people shouting there'd be more people going i'm telling you there is deliverance into i don't care what you're bound by i'm not asking you to confess your faults and your sins i'm saying why don't you step out and say god today is my day all you can see is

an end you're like peter he's just sitting there with chains on him guards all around him but i'm telling you there was a church that was praying oh you think it's hopeless you think it's over let's just deploy the enemy he's trying to convince you don't you dare believe this but i know a god who is able i know a god who is faithful i know a god who does it time and time and time again listen listen real quick listen real quick listen real quick wait wait wait wait wait just a minute wait a minute listen to me one this is powerful if what i have preached about has happened in your life listen don't move yet but if you were addicted and you've been set free if you were bound and now you're loosed if it was broken and now it's healed i want you to raise your hand just raise your hand now look around this room don't tell me god doesn't move don't tell me god doesn't operate and now that you're around a great cloud of witnesses i'm asking you

what's causing you to struggle right now you've got hundreds of people around you saying i was lost but he found me i was bound but he set me free i was broken and he healed me this altar is open any time you want to come god is here and he has troubled the waters i don't know what you're dealing with i don't want you struggling but i wouldn't sit where i am this is a house of prayer you need your relationship to be mended how to get down he needs your body healed i'd find my way to a halter you need chains to fall off of your mind i would find me a place up here in the front here come on come on push on through push on through push on through right now god is moving in this place in the name of jesus christ and the authority that's in that name as the pastor of this church i release the authority the operation of the gift of the spirit right now come on come on man of god come on a woman

of god the spirit is moving be sensitive to what he's doing come on pray your way out of that thing pray your way out of that doubt pray your way out of that depression come on come on come on come on yes yes yes yes in jesus name in jesus name i'm not gonna stay in this prison cell anymore somebody needs to step up you got a lost loved one a lost family member a friend that's you know who i'm talking about step out in faith right now come down to the salsa bring their name god you're gonna deliver my brother you're going to deliver my sister you're going to deliver my mother you're going to deliver my father you're going to deliver my coworker you're going to deliver my neighbor