It's Quite Obvious Prayer Works

there is no doubt in my mind today none whatsoever that god desires in this house for you and i and i'm including me in that you and i that we walk out of here free these songs that have been sang here today and that we've worshipped the lord have been absolutely orchestrated by god amen come on i read something recently that if the only time that a person can really worship is when they have a microphone in their hand they're a performer but this has not been performance today all over this house we have lifted our voice with one accord and i'm here today to tell you in the holy ghost that hand and glove what's happened here today god wants to set you free why don't you put your hand on your chest and say god wants to set me free today come on somebody in the name of jesus and then he wants to do and pastor has said it and i don't know why we sometimes shy away from it but miracles signs and wonders i i pray it's funny the pastor said that because i prayed the same thing this week i said god i don't i this is what this is what i need to see this is what i desire not because of who i but because of the needs that are right here as my calling i i feel like god has called me to inspire faith in churches to go and inspire faith that revival can break out but let me just tell you when i'm here preaching and i'm inspiring faith do you understand that my wife and i that are right here we have issues too we got things that we face that we need god to operate in our family amen turn to your neighbor and say god's going to do it this morning say he's already doing it and so let me just while you're turning to first thessalonians 5 17 hey who who's in charge of passing out the little thingies you know what i was going to do that uh before we don't need to be interrupting service whoever is doing that just go ahead and do it right now because i don't want to i don't want there to be distractions later but uh with that being said pastor's talking about inviting somebody there is let me just tell you how important that is doesn't matter who what where when or whatever turn to your neighbor and say let's invite somebody say let's invite somebody february the 20th a way over in arkansas 475 miles from here i was raise your hand over there buddy i was in church with this man i invited him to this revival isn't that amazing and i looked over there today and saw him sitting over there i went and greeted him so why are you doing that because you never know who you're going to bump into in town who you live by who you work with that just might and even if you don't you're going to reap somewhere you're going to reap somewhere amen praise god how many wants to hear from the lord today i need somebody to just now your ho that's not a little umbrella for your margarita drink i know that's what some of you might have been thinking but just kind of hang on to that because i think you're going to know about the time we get there where this is going to happen but just hang on to it because i know today that god desires i feel it's already been confirmed to me from the first prayer the second person leading prayer the first song god wants to set somebody free today now if you want to be free you can be in jesus name first thessalonians first thessalonians 5 17. i mean i'm going to need my water there sister hewling glad my wife's here again with me today she fed me in case she was wanting to know so you're in trouble one guy i was preaching for he said just make sure you turn the lights out when you leave anyhow we'll try not to do that first thessalonians 5 17. this is a long lung versus scripture okay this is my text everyone say it with me pray without ceasing there it is pray without ceasing now this scripture i am i'm not going to lie to you at times in my walk with god i really didn't understand this now but i did hear an old elder say years ago he's gone on now to meet his reward brother t.f tenney he made this statement he said very rarely he said do i go when i'm praying he said do i pray over 15 minutes at a time said he followed it quickly up with the fact he said but very rarely do i go 15 minutes without praying so with this scripture in mind i want to preach on this subject today and i'll tell you how it came about later it's quite obvious prayer works lift your hands and say it's quite obvious i mean he's here today as a result of prayer huh it's quite obvious prayer works lift your voices lift your hands let's ask the lord today to help us mighty god we're thankful right now we love and praise you jesus we give you glory and honor mighty god and thanks pray right now your will be done mighty god in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus ah mighty god in the name of jesus hallelujah in the name of jesus praise god i'm so thankful to be here today love your pastor and wife this church you do things around here with excellence but the lights are not just turned on and music is not just done for us to show up here and shake hands and go home and leave and say we were there today god desires to do something i desire god to do something in me today i desire that in jesus name amen praise god if you're going to agree with me in this service why don't you just lift your hand right now and say do it jesus come on somebody this is this is why i was stated at the beginning of prayer about the fight and the faith thing is this right here because the adversary does not want preached here today what's going to be preached he doesn't want that in jesus name you may be seated today in jesus name everyone say with me pray without ceasing say it with a little bit of unction turn and shout at your wife your neighbor don't i mean some of you gonna act like you at home right now say pray without ceasing let me tell you what that says in the new life version and the jb phillips and the new living translations they all say it the same way never stop praying the message says it this way pray all the time the good news translation says pray at all times you know the connotation of it is is that you and i are going to get a little bit discouraged you and i are going to reach a place well god i've prayed for that person many many many many times and i've not seen anything uh turn to your neighbor and say pray see i haven't seen any results even when i don't see him working i know that he is working tell somebody pray anyways in spite of what you see and in spite of what you hear luke chapter 18 and we may visit this later in verse 1 says and he spake a parable unto them to this sin that men ought to always to pray and not faint and the amplified the classic edition it says that jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward to faint to lose heart and to give up the good news translation says that then jesus told his disciples a parable to teach them that they should always pray and never be discouraged the contemporary english version said it this way he told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up i'm laying a little foundation here hold on so the god's word translation says it this way he used this illustration with his disciples to show them that they need to pray at all pray all the time and never give up can i tell you this morning i i feel that i've walked in a few people's shoes here in this church the last probably month and a half because even when we knew we were coming i didn't wait till that week to start praying about chattanooga the lord started dropping the weight of some things on me way before i even got here and i started feeling a little bit of the frustration and the pain and the things that you've been going through as a church and as a family but can i tell you today god has heard your prayer god sees the prayer and and and i'm here today to tell you it's not time to give up on praying it's not time to lay it aside it's time to keep on praying i'm convinced this morning more than ever in my life that there are miracles in this room before we leave here today i'm convinced of that i'm convinced of it i'm really convinced of that let me tell you how this was born in me and how this happened i was at my job and i am one of those persons that frequently have kidney stones and so i was working on this particular day at work and i went in there for my break and i think i was on lunch break and i'm sitting at my job and and if anybody in this room has ever had kidney stones they really are no joke and so i was in quite pain and uh evidently it was very noticeable because the gentleman that was across there when we the buzzer signing for us to go back to work he looked at me and he said are you okay buddy and i said not really i said i've got a kidney stone evidently moving and i'm in quite a bit of pain and he said he said i'll tell you what i'm going to do he said i'm going to pray for you now at that point in time i don't care if they're atheists i don't care if they're i don't even care what denomination i don't care if they believe in prayer i'm like pray this thing out of me bro pray this thing out or whatever if it's more than one pray them out and he said i'm gonna pray for you and i said all right and so we went on to work and the next night or the next day at break he saw me in there and we was headed back to work and he bumped into him and he said uh i need to ask you a question he said how is your kidney stone and i said bro i said you're not even gonna believe this i said but last night i got home from work and i said around midnight and i passed those stones and he said wow that's great that's awesome and this is what he did on the way by me he just kind of like bumped me and he said this to me he said it's quite obvious prayer works he said it's quite obvious can i tell cornerstone today it's just quite obvious prayer works can i tell you you're not praying in vain those times that you've prayed for your neighbor that you've prayed for the lost you've prayed for miracles or you've prayed for somebody can i tell you it's just quite obvious today that prayer works it works let me give you a scripture the word of the lord says this right here to us in the book of mark chapter number 11 and 24. the bible says therefore i say unto you what things soever ye desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall receive them because it's just quite obvious that when you pray it works can i tell you somebody will get healing here today somebody will be delivered here today somebody will be set free here today somebody is going to find peace today how do you know brother julie because it's quite obvious that prayer works it's really obvious and how many is in here beside me just glad it's an obvious thing there's a i heard this story in fact i probably heard it preached from brother c.w milam some in this room may remember him he was one of our old elders here in the state of tennessee pastored a number of our churches around here in the district and he now this is where this is going to come into play at what you're holding in your hand he uh he told the story about years ago in the 70s he said tennessee was in a drought especially he said west tennessee he said we had farmers in our church and he said we'd been about a month and a half without rain and he said their crops were dying and he said it was getting really bad really really bad fast and he said so is pastor he said i just told my church he said men he said i want us as the men to show up an extra day here this week midweek he said i forget what night it was that's not really important tuesday or thursday whatever it was he said let's show up here men and pray he said and we're solely going to be praying for rain he's that's what we're going to be praying for he said so how many men will join with me and he said there was a number of them that just agreed they'd be there and sure enough he said they showed up and he said man he said we had a slew of men showed up and he said i'm there at church and he said i'm as pastor he said i'm milling around he said get the lights on make sure the air is going he said then all of a sudden my dad comes in the back door of the church carrying his umbrella he said my dad was an elderly man and brother c not in highland with what young himself he said so my dad was really i thought oh my god he said my dad's finally flipped his lid lost his mind he's embarrassing me going in and nobody else had got there and so brother madame thought well i can i can kind of head this off real quick before they get there and he runs over to his dad and he says dad what in the world you what are what are you doing what are you you've got an umbrella and he had his waiters with him and he thought my god dad you know we we ain't had rain in six or seven weeks and here you are bringing in this umbrella and your waiters you're bringing that in there and and he's like dad what are you doing he was trying to get him take it back to the vehicle you know and his dad looked at him and he said well didn't you say we were praying for rain how many here been praying for revival been praying for god to do something in your life do something in your family do something in the church how many in here been praying for that listen to me he said we get in there we prayed for our hour and a half and he said we're praying and praying praying for god to give us rain he said we finished the prayer and he said we're getting ready we're dismissing he said we're getting ready to head to our vehicle and he said it is absolutely coming a flood outside now listen to me coming a flood outside and he said my dad is sitting over there on the front seat of the church putting his waders on and uh undoing his umbrella and he's he's like walking to his vehicle you say well what are you saying brother i'm telling you this it's quite obvious prayer works i don't know what it is you came in here today needing i don't know what it is you came in here desiring but can i tell you in the holy ghost it's obvious prayer works the book of mark didn't say if you pray it said when you pray when you pray believe now i know that umbrella you're holding it's not going to keep you from getting wet it's just to give you an object lesson here today i remember we moved back here over 15 years ago to tennessee we had a need my wife cornered me was living on odom street she said babe she said the boys was homeschooling them at the time she said we need a little bit of money hey get all their curriculum i think it's gonna cost around four five hundred dollars by all this stuff i didn't have it my wallet didn't have it wasn't there i told her i said well let's just go in here and kneel down and pray let's ask god about this talk to him so we kneel in our living room we begin to pray brother robinson funny thing was in the middle of that prayer my wife gets up and walks out of the house i'm thinking it's kind of rude bust up a prayer meeting like that i'm like seriously i just kept on praying i knew there was a need all of a sudden the door opened she came back in there and she walked up to me while i was praying i'm like seriously you're gonna interrupt the man of god while i'm connected to the throne i'm trying to get us some help here seriously she she taps me on the shoulder she said look what we got in the mail now this is cool but but i want to share something i opened it up and i want to think it was around a little over twelve hundred dollar check unexpected but get this this is gonna fire somebody up right here the lord spoke to me said you didn't even get it did you i said help me out lord but i did not get he said you started praying about 15 minutes ago that check didn't just show up out there in the box today he said that was put in the mail about three days ago it come from way out in jersey somewhere he said that was put in the mail like three days ago and you just now got it and the scripture came into my mind that he knows what you and i have need of before you and i even asked him he knew three or four days prior to that we were going to be kneeling in our house asking god to take care of our family and before we started praying he put the answer in the mail three or four days prior to that so can i tell somebody here at cornerstone today no your prayer hasn't been answered right now but can i tell you god has already made a deposit of maybe a thousand miles away from where you and i live can i tell you the answer is on the way the answer is making its way to your abode because it's quite obvious prayer works you know we look for cute songs today cute sermons to preach you're right pastor we grew up in this brother the old-timers they didn't have a lot of things down pat i was watching them sing while ago this is a bunch of mess as far as i'm concerned computer over here i don't know if they're playing or seeing who won the game i couldn't tell you the first thing about this if i got in that booth i'd probably beat myself to death maybe you're like me so brother healing i'm lost i can't help the church can't help anybody when it comes to this or that but every single body in this room can pray it doesn't take a it doesn't take a college education it doesn't take some special degree turn to your neighbor say everybody say everybody to the youngest to the oldest can pray and it's quite obvious when we start joining together with our faith and our prayer it's obvious i got a bunch of scriptures i don't know what we're going to do but let me just i'm sharing stories with you my wife can vouch for this too we live there in smithfield where we're living now we had a little widow woman in our church and i remember being with our pastor many times she was on a fixed income she made literally nothing five hundred dollars a month one time he was driving through town to check on her he was having a little dry spell ourself right there in smithfield he said let's go check on sister pollard so we drive down that street where she lived and we get to approach her house and right above her house straight down on her garden it was raining there wasn't a drop of rain across the street wasn't one down the street it was just right there over her garden little bitty house it would fit it would fit little kitchen would be living room i think one bedroom you'd be pouring down rain and her house would be just the roof would be leaking like somebody turned a faucet on and she'd have pans set out everywhere because she had no money to fix the roof and she said i would just lay in bed and cry when it would start raining and she said i didn't want to get up in the morning she said because i'd have to wade through water she said up to my ankles in my own house sister pollard was a woman of faith in prayer she's laying there in bed one night and it's just coming in mortal flood and she's like lord please she said could you fix my roof could you just take care of that for me she's not gonna have the money and she's faithful in her tithe pastor told me she gave more than anybody in the church says she said lord could you just take care of the roof and fix that for me she said i just and she dozed off and fell off to sleep and when she woke up the next morning it was pouring down rain and she was so dreading to get out of bed and but she knew she had to and so she throw her feet over on the floor and she was getting ready to get out of bed and as she took a step or two she noticed that the floor was dry and and she walked on in the living room not a drop of water anywhere she goes on into the kitchen no water in there and she went and checked all of her pans that she had set out all through the house and there was not one drop of water in any of those pants and she said before they'd be so full she couldn't even hardly carry it to the kitchen sink and she said there she said until the day she died she never had to call a roofer she never had to have anybody repair that roof god fixed it because it's just quite obvious prayer works i feel this morning that that i'm preaching to people in this room that you're facing situations that you don't see a way out of bankers can't fix it attorneys can't fix it i was kind of looking at that situation in the word of god acts chapter 12. peter was in prison that killed his brother when herod saw it please those people the bible said he proceeded to take peter also and he put peter in prison now this is what fired me up because this was the first song out of the shoot this morning peter's there in prison notice what the word of god says there in acts chapter 12. verse 5. we'll skip down to verse 5. peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made notice how prayer was made everyone holler at me without ceasing that reminds you of our text today everyone say without ceasing of the church unto god for him and when herod would have brought him forth the same night peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains can anybody remember back to the first psalm situations that you and i are facing right now let me tell you what god let me dream last night i try to avoid these things especially when in revival but i dreamed about prison last night and i woke up this morning and i said okay god what's the deal with that he said well do you remember in the notes you wrote about this today about prison so he let me know i'll be preaching to people today in this room that you feel like that you're locked in a situation that you can't get out of not only in a situation but a guarded man i feel the holy ghost right now a guarded situation not only are you locked in a prison but they got guards around you and chains on you and so the church begins to pray and you know the story an angel was dispatched and sent to a place where they could not get to prayers can penetrate and go beyond walls you and i can't even get to they can un they can unlatch chains of people that are bound now here we are here we are christian people and we got people here if you don't have the holy ghost you can get it today but what really concerns me today too is those of us that are his children that are bound here today by things that keeps you some time even from lifting your hand i've asked god this week i asked him i said god here i am you're asking me to preach about prayer i'm not vest elaine mangan and i struggle with areas and things needing a breakthrough yes i wake up at one and two and three in the morning and lay there for an hour and talk to god but it seems as if nothing happens kind of like the text in luke 18 when the widow woman just finally just started pestering the judge she went to the judge and she started troubling i need you i need you to answer i need to avenge me you avenge me of mine and finally the judge even there in luke chapter 18 said look i'm not giving her this because of this whatever i'm just doing this because she just gonna keep on troubling me she's gonna wear me out by just keeping on and the lord made an analogy there he said like my children would they they they come after me day and night avenged me yeah avenged me of my adversary and the bible said finally he said i will avenge them speedily everyone say speedily can i tell you i feel in the holy ghost your prayer is on its way to you your answer to it just about as fast as it can get here fact of matter oh listen to me in the holy ghost in fact no matter what while they were gathered at the house praying without ceasing the one they were praying for in prison guarded by soldiers knocking at the door can i tell somebody you need to go answer the door right now you need to go answer the door right now because i believe the answer to your prayer may be standing right at your door because it's quite obvious prayer works i'm trying to mind the holy ghost i've got lots lots and lots of scriptures let me jump ahead here where i feel the lord help me go first kings chapter 18 verse 36. this is the prophet elijah it's a drought going on there three and a half years came to pass at the time of the evening sacrifices this is the account of when the prophets of baal had prayed and danced and prayed broke the altar down did their little two step and elijah began to mock him he said scream a little bit louder pray adventure your god's gone on journey somewhere gone down to florida to the beach it came to pass at the time of the evening sacrifice that elijah the prophet came near and said lord god of abraham isaac and israel let it be known this day that thou art god in israel that i am thy servant that i have done all these things at thy word hear me o lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the lord god that has turned their heart back again verse 8 verse 38 then everyone say then the fire fell now for your information to those of you that are not long-winded prayers that don't pray two and three hours a day i counted this for you i counted it for you sixty three words 63 turn to your neighbor say 63. say it with a little bit of auction say 63. did you get it could it mean and could it be very possible that somebody in this room right now is 63 words away from a miracle because it's quite obvious prayer works it works i'm one of those guys that was born in prayer my dad i went to bed at night with him praying and woke up with him praying now my sister ain't here today she was a lot of the fault of that i'll get told on yeah i was like really dead you got to pray that much it's quite obvious let me let me show you what god showed me this morning i didn't put this in the notes guys i'm sorry last night when i sent them but i read this to my wife this morning i've used this scripture lots and lots and lots of times in second chronicles 7 14. if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray seek my face turn from their wicked ways then will i hear from heaven forgive their sin heal their land everyone say great scripture say it's a great scripture it's quite obvious prayer works up there yeah fact of the matter i stopped too the next verse says now mine eyes shall be opened and mine ears a tent unto the prayer that's made in this place but that that that wasn't what got me this morning was i back instead of reading past i read prior to and the lord appeared to solomon by night and said unto him i have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice now first of all i'm gonna go to the next verse but first of all that verse of scripture there fired me up everyone say solomon prayed god heard him now solomon was pretty much a heathen 300 wives five i think 500 concubines he probably needed to pray sorry that didn't really come out good but but i think you get what i'm saying everyone say solomon prayed god heard him that's powerful but look at this verse here the lord said if i shut up heaven that there be no reign or i command the locust to devour the land or i send pestilence among my people everyone say he does that say god does that he said if i do all of that stuff he said if i shut the heaven up that there be no rain and if i command the locust to devour the land and if i send pestilence among my people he said if my people will which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray he said i'll turn all that around i'll turn every bit of that around because it's all quite obvious prayer works i'm gonna back up here and pick up a scripture in acts the fourth chapter that was another one i didn't put in there please don't throw anything at me acts chapter number four seek out here about the man being healed there in the book of acts the bible says and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and it says and they were all filled with the holy ghost and spake the word with boldness why don't we stand to our feet this morning why don't we just stand here can you imagine as i read that verse of scripture this morning can you imagine us being assembled here right now everyone say together and we literally start praying and this place starts shaking can i tell you very i feel this so strong in the holy ghost what this world is looking for today we got churches by the dime a dozen that can entertain people with worship they got preachers that can get behind the desk and the pulpit and preach good sermons can i tell you they're not looking for that they're looking for a god that can get them out of the situation that they're in my marriage is in trouble my children's a wreck and i need something to take place right now this is the and i don't mean it and i'm going to qualify but even when we come in here and we shake hands how was your week today brother hewley it was great brother now i don't know that god wants us to just unload on somebody well i felt like slapping my wife this week i feel like beating my kids i actually might have did that i don't have them at home but i think you get what i'm saying but the truth of the matter is the adults in here if we're not careful we hide the pain we hide the hurt and what god has worked me over with is we've learned to worship god and lift our hands and hide behind it all we come with the pain we worship with the pain and we leave with it but i wonder what would happen today the fears that you've got let me just tell you something i'm going to confess pastor can correct me later but i'm going to confess in the last six months maybe i have almost been overcome and overtaken with fear i have literally reached a place a time or two where i thought i might have even been having a panic attack of some kind and i literally stopped and i said in the name of jesus i take authority over this right now no we don't like raising our hands and saying and so that's why this is going to be a deal today but can i tell you in the holy ghost god wants to set you free today before you so brother huelian you got to hurry up it's about lunch time well according to scripture i'm going to take about 63 words if somebody if you need the holy ghost and you're in this room and you've never spoke in other tongues as a spirit gives to the other why don't you be the first to step out and come and just stand down here around if you're one of those and then if you're here and you need god to do something in your family you got a prayer that you really want god to do why don't you by just with boldness step out and come line up around the front maybe put your toes there on the front of the altar the same job the same job that i was there the dude bumped into me i hated working overtime but they'd make it mandatory they said the only way that you can get out of it if somebody else will come up to you and volunteer to take your four hours i'll never forget it my my my four hours overtime it was coming up about five minutes before me to clock out and i was gonna have to stay over and a guy come walking by me and we did some small chat i was way back in the back of that building way back in the back and i said god help me out this will come walking by me and i said dude are you staying over tonight he said no he said i can't find anybody that'll give me their hours i said you found him now you can say that's accident all you want but just prior to that i asked him and evidently where i was at that boy was already enroute he was already in route making his way back there he knows what you have need of today before you even ask him so why don't you lift your hands right now you don't have to count the words but i believe that when your faith connects with him it may be just 63 it might be 50 it may be about 10 and you're gonna feel the power and the presence and the unction of the holy ghost come upon you right now leave it here today give it to him why don't you be sensitive right now so hallelujah come on somebody let faith grow right now that's right let your faith grow right now lord i'm coming to you lord i'm believing you for it lord i'm believing you for it yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah come on in jesus name jesus names we believe prayer works lord today we're going to believe you for great things oh that's right come on victory in the house of the lord there is victory in the house of the lord there is victory in the presence of the lord there is victories that's right there is victory in the name of jesus i need you jesus i need you jesus glorified come on that's right somebody needs faith right now just to reach the lord just to reach out to him lord i'm trusting you jesus i am trusting it to you lord i am trusting it to you jesus you know god you are very aware you are very aware lord jesus yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i love you jesus i love you jesus jesus oh yes it is very obvious that prayer works jesus it's very obvious that the lord knows what he's doing hallelujah hallelujah