Living on a Prayer

This is the day the Lord hath made. A lot of people say, "I will rejoice and be glad in it." But it actually says we will rejoice and be glad in it. Will somebody just rejoice for a moment? And that's a beautiful scripture that we cite often or maybe you're walking down the aisles of Hobby Lobby. Um usually forced to go there and you might even see that painted on a sign. But when you consider the context and what it's actually referring to in the book of Psalms, it's a a prophetic messianic promise to when Jesus would triumphantly enter into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and would declare publicly that he is the Messiah. He is hosana. He is bringing miracles and healing and provision. And when you say this is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice because that duration of time wasn't limited to just one single day, but it was a dispensation that would carry on to today with no diminishing power of his love and his grace and his healing. So when we say this is the day, this is the day that healing can take place, this is the day that provision can take place, this is the day that before you exit the doors here this morning, you can receive a text that answer you've been praying for this entire week that you got an answer to. So would you make that declaration with just the words that exit the lips of your mouth and pray that prayer? Lord, you made this day. I'm finding strength in it. I'm finding joy in it. And I know you're going to do the work. Now, would you turn that into a loud hand clap of praise and keep that same spirit as you make your way back to your seats? I welcome each and every one of you here this morning to the last day of Strong Tower Youth Camp. And what a tremendous time that we have been having. Every single sermon, every single song, every single table discussion, and you can be seated, has been just a beautiful tapestry weaved together just everything in line. And as I was preparing for this week and this day, so many ministers begin to touch on the topic that I have and uh Pastor Ham and I even text me say he's been reading your notes. And I finally am like, "Thank God." Because at home we have an AM and a PM service. And uh my brother-in-law, Pastor Whitley, and my my dad, we we rotate out the AM and PM service. And it seems like every time they both get up on a Sunday, they're like, "Oh, Pastor Mcool didn't know what I was going to preach tonight." And it was right there. And then, uh, my dad will get up that night if Pastor Whitley preaches in the morning. Oh, Pastor Nate didn't know what I was going to was what I was going to preach. And it's just like we're right in line, just like we're sharing notes. And they've kind of got this camaraderie. And if I'm preaching on the AM or PM, if my dad's preaching that morning about holding on that night, I've gotten my notes about letting go or uh Pastor Whitley's preaching that morning about reconciliation and and bringing peace in a situation, I got to scratch out my title about cut those people out of your life. You don't need them. It's just God's calling. People are going to come and I got to change all that around. So hopefully hopefully today uh I'm in line. I I I pray I pray I pray. So that's my soloulless this morning. But in all in all sincerity, there is no greater privilege and honor that I could have in my ministry as to preach, teach to the strong tower students, my my my district, my my home, East Tennessee and western North Carolina and uh eastern North Carolina and Georgia and uh Louisiana, West Monroe. I mean, am I missing any states? Okay, good, good, good, good, good. So, I I I honor all of you and we we celebrate this great name of Jesus together so many times throughout the year, whether it be youth conference, general conference, camp, and it's just uh it it it it's a high honor to be with you all. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Exodus, chapter 17, and we're going to read verses 8 through 16. And you can go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word. We'll begin reading at verse number eight. And kind of read read with me because I I might stutter around. Then came Amalecch and fought with Israel in Refiddom. And Moses said unto Joshua, "Choose us out men and go out, fight." Everybody say, "Fight." Oh, wow. Y'all are ready. with Amalecch. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalecch. And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. So you can see what's happening right now. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And when he let his hand down, Amalecch prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and her stayed up his hands, one on one side, one on the other side, and his hands were steady all the way until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomed. That that word means embarrassed Amalecch and his people with the edge of the sword. They went out to to fight. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Write this for a memorial. Remember it in a book. Write it down. Rehearse it in the ears of Joshua the next generation. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalecch under heaven." And Moses built an altar and named it Jehovah Ni. For he said, "Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalecch from generation to generation." Write it down so you know what to do because this war is going to keep happening from generation to generation. I want to preach to you for a few moments this morning on the topic entitled living on a prayer. Living on a prayer. Could we just lift our hands and our eyes and our heads to heaven as an acknowledgement of where our help comes from. Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for every single sermon, for every single table discussion, for every song, for every testimony, for every student who's stepped up and stepped out and led praise and worship within their student groups. Lord, I thank you for every chaperone, every youth pastor, every van driver, all the staff here on this campus, all of our technical staff that we can all come together to lift up your name and to spread out your gospel to a great extent. We thank you and praise you. Put this word deep into our hearts that we put it into practice. In Jesus' name we pray. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise and you can be seated. living on a prayer. Pictured behind me is an early Christian fresco uh from second half 3rd century in a catacomb in Rome, Italy. This is a posture of prayer in the early church standing with hands and eyes upraised to heaven. This was a common posture of prayer in the early church. And this imagery allows us to envision what it would have been like for the worshippers in Jerusalem following Christ's resurrection as they would gather around the holy sites as they had this distinct privilege. and they would lift their hands and their eyes up to heaven and their voices acknowledging a risen savior. And this gives us some imagery of what it would have been like to see all of the hundreds and the thousands of hands lifted high. I'm grateful for I'll say it like Bishop Woodward because you can come in here feeling like a total failure and the way he kind of has that side smile and encourages you and he says, "I am grateful for apostolic students who it is not difficult for you to imagine thousands of hands lifted high." I know that didn't have the impact of Bishop Woodward, but just pretend he's got that kind of smile and that comforting tone in his voice when you've come in here felt like a failure and you're like, "Man, thank you, Bishop." But we as apostolics, it's not difficult for us to imagine the scene of thousands of hands lifted high. And I'm so grateful to be in the presence of students and a congregation who do this practice lifting up your hands. And and in fact, just as you're seated, if everybody would lift up your hands just if nothing else, just to to stretch. You got to be careful in this setting cuz some don't get carried away just yet. But lifting up your hands and we we begin to look into heaven. And we can't really do this very long without saying, "Oh God, the the very same power that created this world is alive in my situation. and the same power that parted the Red Sea. Oh, when I lift up my hands and I look to heaven, I I begin to think of these things. And Lord, you aligned the galaxies and you hung the stars into place. But I also know that you have the hairs on my head numbered. And when I lift up my hands to heaven, there's just such a power to it. the lifting of our hands. And this posture of prayer goes all the way back to the book of Genesis 29:35 when Leah lifted up her hands in praise to Yahweh naming Judah. God's word is filled with hand raising. It's filled with our hands being raised in praise and prayer. And it's always been demonstrated physically as well as verbally. Oftent times it's even religiously oppressed. But going all the way back to Genesis and then we can go to Exodus. So when as we look at Moses having his hands held up, when his hands were up there were victory. When they came down there was defeat. And Nehemiah when Ezra blessed the Lord the great God, the people answered and said, "Amen. Amen." while lifting up their hands. Then they bow down and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground. We move to Deuteronomy. Indeed, I lift up my hands to heaven and say, I will live forever. We get to the Psalms. So, I will bless you as long as I lived, and I will lift up my hands in your name. Moving on to Psalms 119. and I shall lift up my hands to your commandments which I love and I will meditate with your statutes. Again in Psalms, hear the voice of my supplication when I cry for your help. When I lift up my hands in your holy sanctuary, may my prayer be counted as an incense when we begin to pray to you, oh Lord, with my hands lifted up as an evening sacrifice. It's a Roma that gets in the nostrils of God when you lift up your hands and you begin to pray even in lamentations. Arise, cry aloud in the night at the beginning of the night watches. Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands for him, for the little ones who faint in the hunger of at every head of the street. Lamentations. We lift our heart and hands toward God in heaven. Moving into the New Testament, First Timothy, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up what? Holy hands. Holy hands without wrath and doubting. From Genesis to Revelation, scripture resounds with this powerful act of lifting up hands in prayer. Lifting up hands and praise. Whether facing conflict as Mo Moses did or whether you're blessing the Lord and God's greatness like Ezra did. The gesture embodies the connection as we did previously as we've done this whole week to the divine. Everybody got that? Good. Okay. You lift up your hands if you're prevailing through intercession. You lift up your hands if you're giving off affirmation and acknowledgement to God. If there if you're making a solemn declaration, you lift up your hands. If you're giving him blessing and praise. Anybody got the answer? What do you do? Man, you guys are You guys got it. Uh, if I'm going to love God's law, lift up my hands. Supplication, hands sacrifice, hands lifted. Pray everywhere, hands lifted. Pouring out our hearts, sorrow, hands lifted. This is this is uh I think this is a pretty sound and logical and rational and reasonable conclusion. Don't you think? I mean, even if there was one who didn't necessarily prescribe to the word of God and didn't believe if if they were able to read this book comprehensively and and scroll through it with with without any prior notion with without having being influenced by any particular creed or or church dogma, it's a reasonable conclusion. It doesn't take any uh interpretation uh gymnastics to come to the conclusion that if you read this book and if you follow this book that in every circumstance and in every situation of your life no matter what you're facing that you should respond by you know there's not a secret code that has to be broken. Um, this isn't my speculation. You know, I I'm not taking a lot of latitude in scripture or or pulling some scriptures around to make my point like I normally do. I'm just kidding. Whether but whether you're translating from ancient Aramaic or you're in biblical Hebrew or or or Greek, it's it's talking about whatever circumstance, lift up your hands. I mean, if it's KJV, NIV, ESV, NASB, UPC, ALJC, no, I mean, it don't matter. You just you need to lift up your hands. Every event in the believer's life should be met with the lifting of Don't walk out of here and say, I I don't really even know what he preached about today. I mean lifting up your hands and every season whether you're ascending to mountaintop triumphs or you're wrestling through life's valley lifting our hands has biblical precedent. If you're grasping for spiritual breath in the depths of despair or or if your ears begin to pop because you're at such a high elevation in life and you're on top of the mountain, you're supposed to lift your hands. When you're overwhelmed with sorrow, when you're pouring out your hearts and you're facing a calamity and a tragedy in your life, the response is lifting up your hands. joy or despair, triumph or trial, lifting up hands shows the unwavering faith in God's presence and power. So, as we talk about living on a prayer, we turn our hearts back to our key text where we find the Israelites locked in a fierce battle with the Amalocites. The story is not just an ancient account. It's a profound allegory. And everything that we look at in the Old Testament is pointing ahead. Every covenantal promise, every prophet, it's pointing ahead to a Messiah to come. It shows us the comparison and the allegory of battles that we will face in our own life. battles against as Pastor Grizzle so mightily preached last night about doubt and despair, temptation, frustration, adversity, even losing our focus by being entrapped in our comfort zone and war overall war in the arena of life. In this narrative, we encounter Moses and Joshua, each playing a vital role in securing victory for for Israel. As we've said, the then came Amalecch and fought with Israel and Rifidom. The Amalachites were a nomadic tribe. No particular organized governmental structure. They were nomadic and they were ruthless. They uh they didn't prescribe to any type of rules of engagement or any rules of war. They were they they were ruthless and they would attack on military or armies or whatever groups vulnerabilities. Their assault on Israel was not just a physical attack but it was also a spiritual one. testing the faith, testing the resilience, testing the focus, as Bishop Carpenter so eloquently put it in our altar call last night, the the focus and the plan to the promise. For refum means the place where they were engaged in battle translated is a place of rest. this place of peace, this rest, this blessing, this comfort, this this time of comfort. You know, they had just escaped from one of the most powerful empires ever to exist in human civilization in Egypt. They had not yet made it to Jericho. They they had not made it to the Jordan River. This was supposed to be a time of rest, a time of peace. This was a time of comfort. And if we're not careful to this generation, and I preach to myself first and foremost, the most dangerous times in our life spiritually are not when all hell has broken loose in my life or when I'm facing a calamity and a uncertain circumstance. But it's when everything is going good, when everything's peaceful, when everything's comfort. My grandpa used to tell a story when they started the church in Knoxville on 123 West Columbia. They had 11 congregation members. So he said, "If if one of them wasn't there, you go check and you know, see where they're at." He said they he had this gentleman in the church and the gentleman lost his job. But he said that didn't stop him. Sunday morning he came up and told my grandfather he said I I've lost my job bishop or at this time they'd call him brother Billy. And my grandfather said well you know what you need to do. And that that man began to praise and he began to worship in spite of the loss in the lack of his life. That Sunday night he came back and did the same thing. Midweek what's just Bible study. Uh he he was worshiping. that next Sunday, he was bringing the intensity together and he he really began to set the atmosphere in the church. Like even though he had lost his job, he was still going to give God praise. He was still going to worship. He was going to fast and he would give those spoken prayer requests. God's going to give me a job. God's going to give me a job. God's going to provide. It get everybody fired up. And that's what you're supposed to do. Next Wednesday came along and the gentleman was not was not there. He's probably sick. His stuff comes. Sunday morning kind of came in late. Not the same enthusiasm. Sunday night wasn't there. So my grandfather said, "I I'll give one more service before I check on him. I don't want to be too intrusive. You know, people things come up that Wednesday night. Not not there. So my grandpa said, "When you got 11 people, you're going to go find out where that one was lost, you know." So he, my grandpa drives to his house. He says as he got out of his car and begin to walk up, there was just kind of a blue glow in the front window. And my grandpa walked to the door. He said he looked over at those blinds and there's just a huge eyeball, looked out that window. My grandpa, you know him, he's going to knock again. And that man comes to the door and my grandpa sees him and says, "Oh, my brother, my brother, we've been missing you. Is everything okay? Are you sick, my brother? Is there something I can do for you? And he said, "Well, well, brother Billy," he said, "I God provided me and I I I got a job." And he said, "I I've been working so many hours that I've just been too tired to make it to church." And my grandpa got on his knees right then and said, "Oh, mighty God of Israel, God of Jacob, take this job." And the guy said, "Brother Billy, Brother Billy, get up. I'll be a church Sunday. Often times our blessings can be the very vehicle that drive us right out of his presence. Sometimes it's not when there's uncertain circumstances. Sometimes it's not when everything's going astray and I I build that prayer room. But when everything's going good, when when I've got all the resources and and everybody's in good health, I can just kind of incrementally get in my comfort zone. And when you get in that place of rest, when you lose focus, that's when the enemy, the Amalachites are going to attack you. Oh, that could never happen to me. Just ask the disciples. And Jesus asked him, "Can you pray with me one hour?" Oh, and before this, oh, Jesus comes and you you know the story. He finds him asleep. You know, no big deal going on right here, right? You know, they had just had the last supper, you know, not not the second to last supper, but the last supper. And he'd already told them, "One of you, one of you guys is going to betray me." You'd think that would get their attention. Oh, and then then Peter so so bold Peter. Oh, at the the last supper, I mean, the last one, okay, where we we derive our our our uh worship of taking communion, you know, you're you're sitting there with the Messiah. No big deal. the the last supper and Peter so boldly, "Oh, even if the occasion calls for me to die for you, Savior, oh, I'll die for you." And an hour later, Peter's asleep when he asked him to pray for an hour. You know, this is packed in between the last supper and and then the crucifixion, you know, where, you know, we were our our whole calendar in human civil civilization is centered around. That's a bad time to get too comfortable and and fall asleep. You think about it for a moment. Jesus asked them, can will you stay awake and pray for one hour? And he comes back and they're asleep. And like Jesus does, he gave them a second chance. Comes back again and they're asleep. A third time and they're asleep. The disciples, the the guys that had walked hand in hand with the creator of this world manifest in flesh. They had seen uh uh uh bodies be raised from the dead. They had seen blind eyes opened and vision and uh they had seen water turned into wine. They had seen uh food miraculously dispersed for hungry crowds. Miracle after miracle, God manifest in flesh. The last supper, he's about to be crucified. But can can you pray with me an hour and what happened? The disciples were so used to being with Jesus. They were so comfortable. So they had such a distinct advantage that the words of Christ no longer called them to attention. Imagine being so close to Christ, seeing all of these great things. Yet when it was time to fulfill an hour-long prayer meeting, it's a bad time. our comfort, our comfort zone, our blessings, our resources, if we're not careful, as brother Jennings preached about, can become an idol. And they can be the very thing that prevents us from fulfilling what God has called us to do. I'm talking to people this morning. We're blessed with so much insight to Christ. Jesus has blessed us beyond measure. We have the greatest the greatest of music and I'm for it. We have the greatest of facilities. Just just look around. We have the greatest media, the the greatest musical equipment, the the greatest praise teams. Most of the preachers this week are good except Friday morning or Thursday morning. every resource at the tip of our fingers. Live streams. We can connect with each other across the world. We've got entrepreneurs and collegiate students getting their bachelors and their masters and all these things working at Denzo and Y2 and and missionaries that go out across this world from this group. We've got it all. But I invite you this morning to every single individual because I'm not somebody that wants to get up and oh just beat up the young people because you're here on a Thursday morning in the middle of the summer. So I applaud you and I acknowledge you. I I invite you preaching to myself first and foremost this morning that we cannot allow the resources in our life to be a stumbling block for what God has called us to do. Refum presents a time of peace, a time of rest, a time of prosperity. But Amalecch represents the forces that can come in and attack us in our most vulnerable areas. It can be the despair of the whispers as we heard about last night that I'm not good enough. The doubts that question God's promises. The frustrations that we've all faced of Lord, I'm faithful. I'm doing everything you called me to do. But why am I having to deal with this right now? So, we must recognize that there is a physical enemy and also a spiritual one. Moses and Joshua represent the dual pillars of victory. If I could get [name redacted] to help me this morning. Just come right there. And I need a Moses. I need a Moses. I need a volunteer. I need a Moses. [name redacted]. All right, [name redacted]. I want you to put these on right here. Those are 14 ounce. And Moses, why don't you go up there? I'll give you this rod in a second, but I like kind of holding it while I preach. Excuse me. You know what I mean? These are 14 ounce boxing gloves. Snake skin. These were Conor McGregor's when he was training to to to to fight uh Mayweather. [name redacted] here. [name redacted] face a crowd. This is a middle linebacker here at uh Highest Division High School. his high school sometimes is on ESPN playing football. I mean, he when he goes to to bench that that or or or squat, he's one of those guys that there's so much weight on it that the the bar is just pulled something. The the bar is bent when he's working out. Okay, give us give us this right here. Look at that extension. I don't think you're you're going to want to step into the the ring right here with uh [name redacted], but uh [name redacted] is an athlete. He He's smart. He He's driven. And he he he's going to represent Joshua today. He represents the fight. The fight that is in every one of us. The fight the application that we've been hearing at the the round table that you're all called to do. the the the the this is Joshua and he represents the fight. Give us just like a like that good night that performance polo stretching that thing out. Moses, you you come right here, buddy. Moses, you're you're you're overlooking. Let's let's read what the word of God says. It says, "Choose out men and go out and fight." That's that's our Joshua right there. The dual pillars of victory. He represents fighting. And Moses says, "Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill." This is your time. With the rod of God, hold. What did you feel right then? Did you feel that? Good. With the rod of God in my hand. There we go. There we go. Here we see the division of labor. Joshua leading the physical battle. Moses leading the spiritual one. Now take your other hand because we read that when Moses has his hands lifted high, there's what? Victory. When he lets him down. Okay. Victory. Now we got Joshua here, buddy. We got Joshua who would go on to, you know, be associated. We heard that song uh last two nights ago about Jericho walls falling. I mean, this is Joshua the warrior, the fighter. Joshua with that extension. Joshua going out onto the battlefield. There's no greater warrior there. There's no greater person than to go out on the b who's going to stand up. Uh Pastor Grizzle spoke about it last night. We'll step into there and defeat the giants. We're talking about Joshua. a fighter. The bars bent when he works out. He's got all this armor on that Brother Woodward was talking about. Who's going to defeat Joshua? Well, the word of God says that he's only going to have victory, though. If there's also prayer, as long as the hands were lifted up, there's going to be victory. But as great a warrior as Joshua is, as strong and mighty as Joshua is, if there's not prayer, if there's not hands being lifted high in the on the battlefield, if there's too much peace, too much comfort, or you're sick and you're mad at somebody or or the situation so overwhelming that you just can't get your hands up, then there's going to be defeat. Everybody with me? All right. So, Joshua is the physical. Moses the spiritual. Joshua is the action, the fight, and Moses is the mediator with God. Joshua represents the the music and voice lessons that you go to and the practice times and the rehearsals, getting there hours before the service starts. That's the fight. It's the getting up before the the sun shows its face to prepare for work. That that's the the fight. It's going out to get your education. It's the the late night study. It's the the financial planning and the strategy for Bishop Carpenter to get up and say, "Hey, we're not taking a loan out to build this building. We're going to build it by faith." But it takes some fight and it takes some action and it takes some planning. And uh, Pastor Thornton, I know y'all have a big missions conference and you you raise hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars to go out across this world to to to build schools and churches and and give and give and give. That's the fight. That's the action. It takes some planning. That's the I got to go to this government in this country and get this approval. I got to disperse this money here and I got to get all these logistics together. that that's the that's the fight out on the battlefield. That's the the action. That's the it's the the individual that hey, I I've gone through a situation and and I've got to better myself. I'm I I might have to go to I'm going to go to counseling and make sure make sure I get back on the right track or that's the that's the Joshua. That's right. Maybe you don't have a mom or dad that wakes you up for church, but you you got to set your own alarm clock and and get up. There's no excuses. It's the It's the Joshua. Give me a Give me a My God. If there was an enemy right there, but but and there's a Joshua inside of every one of you. But my question for us this morning is that I believe that we've got the fight down. I I think we're very very strong. We got the resources. We got the singing. We got the streaming. We We got it. We got it all. Give me another punch. We got that. But what this generation cannot forget is as much strength as we have on the battlefield, as much as we can lift in the in the proverbial weight room, as good and polished and seminared and camped and conferences and educated and eloquent words and studied and everything that we are. And I'm 100% for those things. The Bible said you got to go out and fight and apply. So don't don't purposely misinterpret what I'm saying. You got to know how to fight and you can't be lazy, but you're not going to have victory unless you know how to pray, unless you know how to get your hands up. Because I think we got it. I think we know how to fight. But I'm asking a generation if they know how to get their hands up. If they know how to praise, if they know how to pray, [name redacted], I wonder for a second, you could take the gloves off. [name redacted]'s dad and his uncles. I mean, they're the that's who you want to be like. Growing up, I wanted to be a cold boy just and have those muscle. That's just they're they just got it. And his granddad also. But back home at church on Indie Sunday, if you look back down the the back center aisle where his granddad sits, big man, strong man, man of action, a father, a dad, a hard worker. He's got those hands lifted high and he's got tears flowing down. And that's I remember when your mom and dad were praying for you, praying for you to be here. And they know how to pray. your your your dad's the same way. Lift up his hands unashamed to worship. But I got to tell you something. That's great to have a heritage. That's great to have that example. But there's going to be a day when granddaddy's not there to intercede for you. There's going to be a time where mom and dad's not there to pray on your behalf. And [name redacted], are you going to be able to take the gloves off in the arena of life and lift up my hands and say, "Uh, God, you blessed me with a lot, but I need you right now. I've gone as far as I can go." Get those hands up, Moses. Get that rod up. And to know that only when I got my hands up, there's going to be victory. Only when I got my hands up, there's going to be provision and victory on the battlefield. Musicians, come. Joshua, you can go, but Moses, you stay. Keep the keep those hands up both until the sun goes down. All right. Even in prayer, Moses was not immune to human weakness. This same rod that was turned into a snake and ate another snake and the the court of Pharaoh turned the Nile into blood. No big deal. Get Moses. We got to have victory. He sent the plagues of frogs and the locust and parted the Red Sea and got water from a rock. No big deal. Right now we're getting victory on the on the battlefield. As long as those hands are lifted, then we got victory. Oh, this is where the beauty of community comes into play. Oh, when you see a brother or sister that's struggling, but you see them praying, we got to have a community that's not uh knowing details of the situation. And well, I'll screenshot what's happening. to spread a little gossip here. Bully them a little bit here. But no, is there a group of students that can get the arm held high of another one. That's another sermon alto together. I'm coming to a close. But Joshua defeated Amalecch with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Write this down." through the combined efforts. It takes both Joshua and Moses to receive true victory. And at the conclusion of the battle, stand with me. At the conclusion of the battle, Moses built an altar and named it Jehovah Ni because the Lord hath sworn that he will have war from generation to generation. As I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, in the fullness of time, God revealed himself to humanity through many compound names of Jehovah. Keep those hands up, Moses. I'm watching you. I got to have victory. Each exciting revelation of his name disclosed another characteristic and facet of his character. Progressively throughout the Old Testament, God revealed himself to his people as their banner, shepherd, righteousness, everpresent one, provider, healer, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Rafa, Jehovah Ni, Jehovah Gyra, all those compounds names, sanctifier. His His name in nature is also Lord of hosts, the Lord most high, the Lord our maker. We know these things. Each compound name of Jehovah served its purpose in illuminating the character and the majesty of God. I'm watching you, Moses. and every attribute, all power and all authority of God would be summed up and embodied in a name. Every prophet, if you ever go into the cyine chapel and see all these artistic renderings of the prophets, every one of them are painted either with their hands or their eyes looking forward, pointing forward to when the Messiah would come. So every story that we have, every every characteristic of God through the Old Testament is being unfolded and revealed, every prophet, every poet, every singer where for God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is high above every other name, that at this name every knee should bow, of things in heaven and earth, and things under the earth. This name embodies every characteristic. Stay with me. Every trait described. And we get to the book of Matthew in the New Testament. And she shall bring forth a son. And thou shalt call his name. Say it like Joshua would. And thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people from their sins. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So when your hands are lifted in prayer, you're raising the banner of the name of Jesus and every covenantal promise, every description of Christ, every single miracle in the lids of this Bible is available to you. I want to do something right now. I want everybody to step forward. We're going to have a sixinut altar call. So he asked the disciples to pray one hour. So we're going to tithe on that hour and do six minutes. Okay, that took some interpretive gymnastics indeed. But we're going to do a six-minute altar call. Now that if this works, I want this marketed and I want this copyrighted. Okay, a little bit of kickback. But I believe through the word of God and the example that has been set before us, the messianic prophecy that we look at this morning, knowing that when we lift our hands, if you would lift your hands across this house, that you're raising the banner of Jesus, and when you do so in every circumstance of life, if you put six minutes on the clock, we're going to take this first minute and we're going to pray with the scriptures that we first read. So, would you pray for this first minute? Lord, as we got into your word this morning, your infallible inspired word of God, every word of the prophets and the poets that told us to lift up our hands without wrath, without doubting, we do so. Father, we know that when we lift up our hands, when we lift up our hands in every situation of life, whether I'm on the mountaintop or whether I'm down in the valley, whether I'm achieving success or whether there's failure in my life, oh, I know that the appropriate measure based on your scriptural precedent, based on your word that you gave us, is to get my hands lifted high. Oh, no matter what any student is going through this morning, we know that the response should be lifting up our hands. Moses still has this that when you're far gone from strong tower that you know when you're in the fight of life that you cannot forget to pray. Oh mighty God, as we come before your throne this morning. Lord, any circumstance that a student is currently facing, we know that we just need to get our hands up. As Pastor Thornton challenged us, we have every resource in the world, but can we build a prayer room in the face of adversity? Can we build a prayer room in the shadow of a giant? We know how to fight, but does anybody know how to pray? When you're on top of the mountain or down in the valley, do you know how to pray? Oh, somebody that's still dealing with shame and guilt, can you get your hands up? Oh, can you get your hands up? Oh, can you get your hands up? Maybe you stopped praying because you thought a situation was dead, but Pastor Grizzle told us last night that there is some breath that can be breathed into these dry bones. Can you get your hands up? Oh, if you got your hands up, I want you to know that you still got a chance. If you got your hands up, you're calling out on every covenantal promise. If you got your hands up, everything available in this book is available to you. Let me see this rod. Moses, keep that clock going. Is there anybody listen to me for just a second? Is there anybody that needs a miracle here this morning? Would anybody be so bold as to say, "I personally need a miracle to take place this week?" Is there anyone that would come up here and stand right here and say, "I have a need that I need a miracle to take place." Is there anybody? I want you to stand right here and I want you to look out to the crowd. Would you hold this? And I wonder if there would be a support staff that would come help her. on each arm. We're going to pray till the one minute mark. Keep that. You can keep that clock going. Now, would you reach over to the person next to you and symbolically with this rod lifted high and the support around her, whatever you have need of, both spoken or unspoken, I believe we serve a right now God. Oh yes, we celebrate the miracles of yesterday. Oh, we plan for the future. But I believe God can perform a miracle right now. Cuz when I got those hands up, I'm getting into that divine realm. When I got those hands up, there's a mediation between God and man. When those hands are up, there's victory. Oh, I stand in the gap right now for a prodigal. I stand in the gap right now for somebody in the hospital. Oh, as long as those hands are up, there's going to be victory. As long as those hands are up. Oh, don't put your hands down. Don't put your hands down. If the hands go down, there's defeat. But when the hands are up, there's provision. There's healing. Would you pray right now? As Pastor Thordon gave us these names the other night, would you speak out over them right now? God, you know the need and the specifics and the details of every prayer that's going up right now. Lord, we carry them into your presence. We lay them down at your feet, the master's feet. God, we call on the same power that created this world to be alive in this situation. Lord, we call on that resurrection power. We call on the power that parted the Red Sea. Do a work right now, God. Make a way right now, God. Healing, provision. I think I can hear some change. Get your hands up. Get your hands up. There's still a chance. All right, everybody listen for just a second. Praise team, come on out. Let's stop it at the one minute mark. Bishop Carpenter at General Ministry Conference challenged us. He said, "The thing that shouldn't happen in an apostolic church is for the music and the singing to ever be louder than the prayers of the people." Now, they got a a nice little head start with the amplification and the state-of-the-art sound system. Is that going to keep you from being louder than them? No offense, guys. It's not a competition, but you know where I'm coming from. So, I want to invite the praise team to go ahead and do their thing. Start singing. Start playing. The enemy's voice is loud, but we got to be louder. The world around you is loud and heard, but we got to be louder. Pure pressure is loud, but you got to be louder. Self-doubt is loud, but we got to be louder for this last minute. Would you be louder than the amplification? Would you be louder than the music? Would you be louder than the singing? Would you get your hands up and know there's going to be victory? Oh, we got the fight. We know how to fight. We got the resources, but do you know how to pray? Oh, I believe I see some students who know how to pray. I see some students who know how to get their hands up. I see some students who know how to intercede. I see some students who know how to get a hold of God and build a prayer room. This generation's in good shape. We're going from glory to glory to glory to glory. This generation knows where I go. This generation knows what to do. I wonder if you turn that into a dance. Turn that into a dance. I'm determined to pray. I'm going to pray when everything's good and when everything's bad. When I got success, when I got failure, I know where to turn. I know what to do. I'm going to get my hands up. Get loud. Get loud. Get loud. I still hear the music. I still hear the music. Get a little louder. Heat. Heat. Heat. I trust in God my savior. Oh, I trust in God. He will never fail. He will never fail. See, I s the end. I That's why I trust God. That's why I trust I trust in you. Do I have anybody from Western Carolina, Newland area? That's what I'm talking about. Y'all know where the Rock Creek Church is, right? You've been there before. My great-grandfather started that church. As Pastor Thornton preached to us, there's going to be some things that only take place through prayer. My great-grandfather and his family, his wife was in a particular denomination, church, not encouraged in any capacity to lift up their hands or show any type of expression in their worship. in the mountains of North Carolina. But through sincere prayer, through sincere scripture reading, no evangelist came through. There was no conference or camp meeting or there there wasn't a televangelist that got their attention over the radio or anything like that. But through prayer, God filled my great grandmother with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in another tongue. And when this happened, her own family voted the entire family out of that denominal church. My greatgranddad, who didn't have the Holy Ghost, believed in it so strong he built the church in Rock Creek. And he would get up and preach about the Holy Ghost and not even have it yet. But he would preach and he'd be the first one in the altar. Well, one night he preached about the Holy Ghost and he stepped up. He was his first convert and God filled him with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And that church is still there today. What am I saying? There's going to be some things in your life. I love camps. I love conferences. I love resources. I love education. I love all those things. And I'm for them. But there's going to be some things in your life that God's only going to do and reveal through you when you hit your knees or you get your hands up in a closet in a prayer room. It's going to take that's what's going to be victory for us. We got the fight. But one last time, could you lift your voices and say, "God, I'm committed this week." Oh, if God ever told us that we needed to develop a prayer life or take another step, he's definitely told us this week. God, I'm committing myself to prayer. I'm not setting aside of time. It's going to be my Pentecost, Brother Nolan. It's going to be my first fruits that I set and I'm going to pray and lift up my voice to God. Oh, you're going to give me the inspiration of your word. You're going to give us visions. You're going to give us the ability to prophesy. Lord, we're going to see your miracles take place in an unprecedented manner. And Jesus, I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I saw the Lord. Yeah. Heat. the Lord anyone any that's why I trust him that's why I trust him in this place today as some of you are praying just spend just a couple more minutes here because I believe God's continuing to work and I want you to understand you've heard such a powerful word today. And many of you stand here today and you represent families, communities, churches, districts. There's nothing more powerful in this picture than the fact that one that prayer could be happening in one location and victory can be happening in another. that I could be praying in this room and victory can be happening in a valley somewhere. That I can be praying today, Parker, and God can be touching Jacob wherever he's at today. That I know that there's problems represented within families. I've been stirred this whole week. Parker's brother lived with me for some time, went to high school. He was in a wreck this week out on the West Coast working for a moving company. They took him to the hospital at 4:00 a.m. Thought something was terribly wrong. Thought he had broke his neck. Thankfully, God had his hand of protection upon him. But in the midst of all of that, he knows he's not right with God. He's back slid at the moment. They do a CT scan on his head and he's got a tumor in the front of his head. Said that they don't know really how long it'll be, but it could take his vision. It can mess with his cognitive thinking. You say, "What? What is that?" We've been praying. I've been praying. God, whatever it takes to wake that boy up, wake him up. That's that's prayer being lift. You say, "Well, my that don't sound good. That sounds like a tumor." No, that sounds like God working on somebody. That sounds like God opening up a door, Brother Thornon, to a prayer room, to a conversion. that he's a If you've got a lost loved one, I want you to think of them right now. If you've got somebody lost in your family, you got somebody lost in your church, you got a friend that's left the church, whatever, what whoever comes to your mind, it might be multiple people, might be your whole family. I want you to lift your hands up and I want you to grab the hand of somebody next to you, there's a Aaron, there's a her next to you right now. And we're going to pray for our communities. We're going to pray for our families. This is going to be our final prayer today. God, go to that valley. God, go to that problem. Go to that sickness. God, let it be a testament to your glory that draws them back. Come on, pray. Call that name out as loud as you shouted a moment ago. Would you shout that name out? God, touch Jacob right now. Come on, call that name out. Touch that young man today. God, touch that family today that's dealing with turmoil. God, touch that family today that's dealing with this situ. Bring them back, oh God. Come on. That's it. God hears your prayers. God sees that problem. God hears the the heart and the cry in the name of Jesus. Lord, let us when we walk back into church this Sunday, let there be somebody that meets us there. Lord, because of this prayer in this moment right now, God, touch that family. Lord, touch that church. Lord, touch that community. Lord, let us see a harvest of souls. Lord, let us see healing, oh God, in that situation. Lord, we thank you for the power and we thank you for the privilege of prayer. Lord, you hear the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous for it ath Lord. We thank you for what we've heard today. Lord, we thank you, God, that you are still answering prayers. You're still working miracles. And if you believe that in Jesus name, would you clap your hands to him this morning? Lord, we bless you in this place today. Lord, we thank you for your presence in this place today. For the Lord is great and he's done great things in this place.