The Bible Truth about Prayer | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

Join me in the book of Luke, chapter number 11, verse number one. Luke, chap 11 and verse number one. And tonight, our subject is going to be the Bible truth. The Bible truth about prayer. The Bible truth about prayer. Say first Wednesday was today in the month. And what a wonderful crowd of people that we had here pray. As a matter of fact, I love this. We not only had people from our church that heard the announcement in our church, but we had of our we had we had one from our community that watches online and was here with us worshiping and praising God and praying. And so that's a wonderful thing. After all, did Jesus not say that my house shall be called the house of singing? Oh, I didn't say that right, did he? He said that my house shall be called the house of preaching. What did he say? His house was to be called. House of prayer. We can be known for one thing in this city. Let it be known for prayer. Amen. Verse 11, chapter 11, excuse me, verse number one. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. As in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. We also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The Bible truth about prayer. A precious God tonight as we take from your word, we take from your word and we read and we preach and we teach tonight. Oh God, may our hearts be open. Lord Jesus, you said that if I would feed the sheep, that that was a way that I would show that I love you. Lord, tonight, not only of feeding the sheep, but you said that if I preach that I would not only save those that would hear me, but I would save myself. Lord, help us tonight to comprehend the concept of prayer. In Jesus name we all pray. Amen. And amen. You may be seated tonight the Bible truth about prayer. They had witnessed church. They had witnessed, the disciples had witnessed the powerful positive impact that prayer had on their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was something about his prayer. It was something about getting up early in the morning and Jesus had already got up. Jesus was already gone. And they would go and find him. They would find him at a place of prayer. They would find they would find him praying. It had to have a an impact upon the disciples because they made the request, "Lord, teach us, Lord, teach us how to pray." Which tells me one thing about prayer. Prayer is not something that you naturally have. Being able to pray is not something that's just a natural. You're born with it. You're not born with it. No. Prayer is much like writing, reading, and arithmetic. There has to be a teacher. They knew that he could teach them that he could teach them the art, the concepts of prayer because they too wanted to have in their lives what Jesus had in his. As a matter of fact, he not only said they not only said they not only said, "Lord, teach us to pray, but it wasn't anything new for leaders to teach their disciples to pray because they not only said,"Lord Jesus, teach us to pray," but they said this as John also taught his disciples. As I've often said, if you're not praying, you're not staying. An experience with God is one thing, but communion and prayer with God is totally something else. He said, "Lord, teach us to pray just like John taught his disciples." You see, throughout the Bible, we see the progression. We are first a believer. We are first a believer. We become a believer when we hear the word of God. When we're born again of the water and the spirit, we are if we fall under the category, I am a believer, but we don't stay a believer. They were soon to be identified as disciples. That means a learner. That means someone that is wanting to learn, someone that's wanting to be taught. I'm more than a baby believer. I'm more than hanging on an experience. I'm now wanting to sit down and I'm now wanting to be taught the concept, the precepts of living for God. But watch this. Not only do we start off as believers, we then go into discipleship. Brother Snitzer said tonight he he came walking up the uh the the hallway here just uh 30 seconds before church started. He's ever so happy because he is in a disciplehip class. He is teaching and he said it's standing room only in there. Isn't that wonderful? People are coming to church about an hour before to go up and this is actually their second Bible lesson tonight. I think all of those people in that class deserve a big hand right now. But would you please notice something with me? It was way on over in the book of Acts. They went from believers being identified as believers. They went to being identified as disciples. But it was way on over in the book of Acts that it says and they were first called Christians at Antioch. That's some years later. It wasn't called Christians on the day of Pentecost. They were called believers on the day of Pentecost. They wasn't called It wasn't called Christians in the third chapter when the miracle of the lame man happened. They were called disciples. But then finally, you're a believer. You're a disciple. And then you begin to model Christ likeness. It begins to come out of you. You begin to That's what the word Christian means. It means Christlike. And so they said, "Lord, teach us to pray." But let me give you a little thought tonight for you to underline. You have to have the hunger before the request. You see, there was a hunger. It was a hunger in their hearts. There was a hunger there that made them have the request. If we're going to make the request, if we want to know how, if we want God to teach us to pray, if I'm sitting here tonight on a Wednesday evening Bible class and the Lord teach me to pray, I got to tell you something has got to go before that. And that is a spiritual hunger. It's vitally important. Vitally important. It is essential that you maintain a hunger for God and the things of God. You see, the body, the church, the spiritual ecclesia, the body, the church is likened to a human body. It's likened to a human body. And we understand one thing. If we lose our appetite, and that goes on for days, we just don't have an appetite. We just don't want to eat. Can I tell you that something is wrong with your body? That's not natural. That's not natural. It's not natural not to want to have an appetite. God gave the human body the ability to have an appetite to keep it to keep it living, to keep it going. And so, if you don't have an appetite, if you find yourself just just without an appetite day after day, something in your body is wrong. Now, I'm going to flip that around because the church, the ecclesia, is likened to a human body. And if we lose our appetite, if we if we lose if we lose our appetite for the things of God, I just got to tell you tonight, something is wrong with the body. Something is wrong. If you if you if you find yourself without a desire to pray, if you find yourself without a desire to be in God's house, if you find yourself without a desire to worship God, without a desire to walk to the altar, listen to pastor tonight, something is wrong. And the only thing that can correct that, that can restore that appetite of wanting the house of God and wanting the things of God is a thing called prayer. Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter 5 and verse number six. Look at it with me. Matthew chapter 5 and verse number six. Jesus said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Blessed are they. That word blessed there means fortunate. That word blessed there means happy. It means well off, fortunate. He says well off, fortunate, happy are those who have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. Why? they shall be filled. If you want to live for God, God wants you to live for him. And so you produce the hunger and he'll give you the substance to live for God. But you got to be hungry. Let's go to the Old Testament for a little bit. The book of Psalms, chapter 42, verse number one. Verse number one is going to tell us the author of this song or this psalm. It says to the chief musician Michel for the sons of Kora. Now it means Kora. The sons of Kora are the ones that wrote this. Let's see what they wrote. As the heart a h a r t. It's not talking about my heart. It's talking about a deer. It's talking about an animal. They'd call it a heart. As the heart panteth after the waterbrooks, so pantth my soul after thee, oh God, my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Now these these uh sons of Kora, these descendants of a man named Kora, they wanted to describe they wanted to describe what they felt like in their heart toward God. And when they saw a deer that was possibly and I've read I've read a lot of things about what they may have saw. They they may have seen a deer being chased by a pack of dogs. They may have saw a deer, but but but this deer was panting. This deer was panting after the waterbrooks. This this deer was thirsty. This deer was panting to get to the waterbrooks. And the sons of Kora said, "As as the heart as the deer pants after the waterbrook, so pantth my soul after thee." Oh church, let's maintain a healthy thirst for God. Let's maintain a healthy thirst of God. There's something called the touch of God. And you you you shouldn't go very long without feeling the touch of God. There there's something called I know we walk by faith and not by sight, but there is a spiritual experience that you can have that's just a touch from the Lord. It's just a it's just that thing that that that God comes by my my my heart. I'm I'm panting after the waterbrook. But what's important here is where it says they are the sons of Kora. They are they are the descendants of a man by the name of Kora. And I'm going to go ahead and invite you and please nobody fall out tonight, but I'm going to invite you to one of the most ugliest chapters in the Bible. It's an ugly chapter. It's filled. It's filled. I believe if I counted today, if I counted properly today, 16 16th chapter of Numbers has 50 verses. It's just ugly. It's just ugly. It's an ugly chapter. Everything Everything just about everything in the chapter is an ugly thing because you know what? When God's people who know to pray fail to discipline their lives and pray, it turns out ugly in our lives. It turns out to be an ugly thing. Things happen to us. Ugly things. Things that were never God's will. Terrible things. They happen here in the 16th chapter. Let's start verse number one. Now Kora the son of Isar the son of Kohath the son of Levi and Dayan and Byron the sons of Elab and on the sons of Pel the sons of Ar the sons excuse me of Reuben took men. They rose up before Moses was certain of the children of Israel. 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown. They gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. And what this is, this is nothing more than rebellion. It is rebellion. This man named Kora with others rose up in rebellion against the leadership against the leadership of Moses and against the leadership of Aaron. They gathered about 250 men of renown and they came and they publicly confronted Moses and Aaron and they said to them that you take too much. You have lifted yourself up into a position that you shouldn't. For all of God's people are holy. Verse four. When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. Because I'm going to tell you something. Rebellion is always something that turns out ugly. I've never seen rebellion ever turn out good. Rebellion always turns out ugly. That's why Moses fell on his face. Why? He knew how it was going to turn out. He spake of decor and to all the his company, saying, "Even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his and who is holy, and will cause him to come near unto him. Even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him." This do take ye sensors. It's interesting. Take your sensors. That these sensors was to hold coals, hot coals, and incense was to be placed on these sensors. These sensors is the Old Testament type of prayer. It's the Old Testament type of prayer. They were told to bring incense. They were told to bring incense and they were told to have live coals, hot coals, and you would put the incense on the hot coals and the the the hot coals would explode the incense into a aroma and into a cloud that would ascend into God. And God said that is likened that is likened into prayer. And Moses says to Kora, he says, "I want you to take these sensors. I want you to take a sensor." Verse seven, "Put fire therein and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow. This shall be that the man whom the Lord chose, he shall be holy. Ye take too much upon you, you sons of Levi." And so Moses begins to tell them, "Tomorrow, you take these sensors. There'll be 250 of them." and we'll go down to the front of the tabernacle and there we'll stand and the Lord will the Lord will show the Lord will reveal to you who is his and and who's not. And let me just see. So I I'm not going to read the entire 50 verses of this tonight, but it goes on down and let's go to verse number let's go to verse number 15. Moses was very wroth and and said unto the Lord, "Respect not thou their offering. I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them." Moses said unto Kora, "Be thou in all thy company before the Lord, thou and they, and Aaron tomorrow. Take every man his sensor and put incense in them. And bring ye before the Lord every man his sensor, 250 sensors, and thou and also and Aaron, each of you his sensor. And they took every man his sensor, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron. Kora gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the cong of the tabernacle of the congregation. The glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses and said, "And and unto Aaron, saying,"Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." Now, watch this. This is God. Here they come against Moses and Aaron, 250 men, and here they come. And and and God just simply says, "Moses, stand back and just let me consume them." God ju just stand back and let me just just just let me take care of let me consume them. Now watch what happens here. He said, I'll consume them in a moment. They fell upon their faces, that's Moses and Aaron, and said, Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will thou be wroth with all the congregation? And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speaking of the congregation, saying, "Get you up from about the tabernacle of Kora, Dayan, and Abram." So look what happened. Can I tell you something? That prayer will not only change rebellion that's in our hearts. But prayer of someone else has actually kept judgments of God from falling on us. God said, "I'll consume them." Just just Aaron and Moses, step back a little bit. I'm just going to go ahead and consume them. And Aaron and Moses fell on the face said, "Oh, God, will you will you will you kill them all because of one man? Will you do all of this?" You see, it was the prayer. They they didn't know it. People that are rebellious, they're they're unaware of the fact that somebody is praying for them. Somebody is praying for them. Then God said to Moses, he said, um, speaking to the congregation, saying, see, see, it's it's it's just an ugly it's such an ugly chapter. Everybody's quiet tonight. They're kind of like like, yeah, I don't want my life to be this way. God says, speaking of the congregation, saying, God saying to Moses, get you up from about the tabernacle of Cora, and Abra. Moses rose up and went unto Dayan and Abram and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, "Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men. Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins." So they g up from the tabernacle of Kora, Dayan, and Abram on every side. And Dayan and Abram came came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives and their sons and their little children. Now follow this real closely. And Moses said, now he's got here's Aaron and Moses, the rebels, the rebellious on this side. And Moses says these words. Just I want you I want you to get that in your mind. And Moses says in verse 28, "Hereby ye shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own hand of mine. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me." In other words, he says, "If these men die of natural causes, I am not a prophet of God. If they die of natural causes, I am not a prophet." Verse 30. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. He said, if they die of natural causes, I'm not the man of God. I'm not a prophet of God, but said God is going to do a new thing. The earth is going to open up and swallow them, and it shall understand that they have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground cle that was under them, the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that pertained in the Kora, and all their goods. They and all that pertain to them went down alive into the pit. The earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation, and all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them. Well, they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up." Can you see this tonight with me? It's a true story. It was a true event and it's an Old Testament warning to us about the horrible effects of rebellion. Church, I'm telling you tonight, you don't want to ever allow rebellion to be in your heart toward God nor the things of God. You never want to allow that rebellion. As a matter of fact, you not only don't want it to get in your heart, you want to keep a distance away from anyone else that has rebellion. Amen. The earth shook. Can you imagine them? Can you imagine them standing there that day and the earth shakes and cracks open and Kora and these men and their children and their wives and their livestock. The Bible even indicates that you could hear the streams of them as they went down into the earth and the earth closed up its mouth. Can I Can I tell you something? There has been enough judgment on rebellious pe people in the church of the living God. There is enough tombstones and shipwrecks that you and I can learn from that we ought to look at that and say, "I'm not going down that path. I'm not going to go down that path. It didn't turn out good. I I know they stood up and defied leadership. I know they stood up and defied the word of God. I I I know they walked out. I know they stood up and defied the word of God, but it just didn't end too good for them." You want to keep a safe distance away from that. Can you say amen? The earth swallowed them up. The earth swallowed them up. And just in case there's anyone sitting here today saying, "Oh Testament, Brother Carpenter, Old Testament, Old Testament, Old Testament. God doesn't do that anymore in the New Testament." Uh, news flashash. Don't tell Ananas and Safar that. Let's go on. Verse 34. and all Israel and they that were round about them fled at the cry of them. For they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up also." And there came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speaking to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the sensors, and out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder, for they are hallowed. And the sensors, these these containers that hold incense, these containers containers, pots that hold coals, that represent prayer, the sensors of these sinners against their own souls. Let them make them broad plates for a covering of of the altar, for they offered them before the Lord. Therefore, they are hallowed, and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel. I'm going to stop right there. He said, I want you to take these sensors and I want you to take a hammer and I want you to beat them flat and then I want you to go to the altar and I want you to nail them to the altar. And when they come to the altar, the altar is changed. Now, it was just brazen, but now it's got these little plates all over it. And I want it to be a reminder of the ugliness and the destructiveness of rebellion. Can I tell you, saints of God, tonight, that all of us should be on guard against rebellion. All of us should be on guard against allowing our flesh to rule and reign in our life. And there's only one thing that can tame our flesh. There's only one thing that can tame our spirits. There's only one thing that can cause us not to go down that road. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer can keep us in the right spirit. Join me in the 26th chapter. the 26th chapter of Numbers, verse number 11, because it's going to go through that same genealogy of Kora. It's going to go through that same story of the earth opening its her mouth and swallowing them up. It's going to go through that same story of the ugliness that happened in the 16th chapter. But something interesting is here in Numbers 26 and verse number 11. It says, "Notwithstanding, the children of Kora died not. Somehow someway, the sons of Kora were standing at a safe enough distance that they witnessed their father go into the pit. They witnessed their father be destroyed, but they didn't go into the pit." Now, let me ask you tonight. You get to choose your response to the things that happen in your life. You get to choose how you respond to the ugliness that happens in your life. You get to choose the way you respond when you see someone lose out with God. You get to choose the way that you respond when you hear the story of of this one that that rebelled and this one that didn't want it and this one was Mr. Big God, Mr. Tough God, and and and this girl that that that shunned off the word of God. You get to decide. You You get to decide that. Someone asked me, and it happens often. It happens often. You may not know it. You may, if they're sitting in your section, you may know it. But there's times when you're preaching the word of God that it offends people and they just get up and walk out. Well, doesn't that bother you, Brother Carpenter? It it does, but it doesn't bother me because I'm embarrassed. It bothers me because I know what their end's going to be. You see, you get to choose how you respond. Sons of Kora, do you get bitter toward God? I mean, after all, that was my daddy that went down in the pit. Sons of Kora, do you get bitter toward the Israel, the people of God? Do do you get bitter? Evidently, the sons of Kora didn't get bitter. The sons of Kora will go down in the Bible is being some psalmist that wrote many psalms. Matter of fact, the one I read you tonight was written by the descendants of Kora and how it affected them. And that's why they said, "As the heart panteth after the waterbrooks, my soul panteth after thee, oh God, can I tell you? I will not by the help of God be another story of another pastor that fell in sin. I will not by the help and the grace of God be another pastor that they said, "Oh man, look what he did. Don't you know tonight, church? Wouldn't you agree with me tonight? I've got a bullseye on my back. Wouldn't you agree with me tonight that if the devil could bring somebody down, he would love to bring the pastor down? What's holding you up? Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Every father in this room tonight has a bullseye on their back. Every father that's in this room tonight, Satan would like to take you out. Every father, every mother that's in this place tonight, Satan would like to take you out. And the only thing I'm sorry being faithful to the house of God. I applaud you. I'm thankful for it. But it's going to take more than just being faithful to the house of God. You've got to have some prayer inside of your life. You've got to look. Hey, we've all got friends that are not here tonight. I wonder, could you wave your hand? Is there somebody you used to set beside and they're no longer here tonight? Don't you know that if it happened to them, it can happen to you? That's why we got to be people of It's the ugliness. But the sons of core, sons of course said, "No, it's not going to happen. We're going to write songs. We're going to write songs." As a matter of fact, it's interesting to me, Brother Hammond, that the Hebrew word kora means ice. Ice. Could it be possible that his name was indicative of his spiritual nature? Cold, callous. And I tell you tonight, nothing's wrong with God. Nothing wrong with God. If we're not feeling God like we should, it's not that God has lost his power. It's that we've allowed calluses to get on our soul. But I'm here to tell you, if you can find a prayer room and a prayer time and a prayer life, all of a sudden that oil keeps on soaking them calluses and soaking them calluses and soaking them calluses and it may not come in a week and it may not come in a month, but you just can't soak yourself with prayer. All of a sudden, you're going to begin to feel God. All of a sudden, you're going to begin to feel him again. You're going to get the appetite back again. Where's my Bible? I I can't go to bed without reading my Bible. Oh, where's my Bible? I I got to read my Bible before I go to work. Oh, it's church time. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go. Come on. Don't you want that tonight, church? Don't you want that in your life tonight? Prayer. Prayer. The sons of Kora illustrate a powerful narrative of redemption and transformation within the biblical text. These sons of Kora represent you can have a father or mother or best friend or brother that do an ugly thing, but you don't have to go down the same path that they go down. You don't have to go down that same same ugly path. Let's keep talking about Let's keep talking tonight about prayer and about the incense. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 30 and verse number one, God said, "And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon, of shidam shall you make it." You do realize that in the tabernacle there was not only a labor of water and an altar of sacrifice, table of shoebre, the candlestick was also a small piece of furniture. My I could stand to be corrected here, but I believe it was one of the smallest pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. It was called the altar of incense. All it had no no sacrifice, no lambs, no blood. Only on the day of atonement was blood ever put on this altar. No, no, no drink offering was put on this altar. Coals, live coals that were taken from the altar of sacrifice were brought inside and put upon the incense. And there in that in that incense golden altar, they would bring incense that was made of four different ingredients. Four different ingredients made the incense. Four is the number of balance. Hear me now tonight. There were four ingredients that God told them this is what you make the incense out of. There were four ingredients. The number four is a number of is a number of balance. North, south, east, and west. The number four is balanced. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Come on, somebody. The ark of the covenant could have been carried with one ring on both sides, but it would not have been stable. It could have been carried with one ring on both sides, but God said, "Put a ring in each corner of the four corners and it gives balance." Do you know something? Some people get discouraged because they try to pray hot prayers all the time. They pray they they they they they you know, this got to be a hot prayer. I'm all for hot prayers, but it takes hot prayers. It takes prayers of determination, and it takes prayers of devotion. I want to tell you tonight, and I want to be transparent, be your pastor, be your leader tonight, and I'm going to tell you, every prayer I pray is not necessarily shaking the raptures. And every prayer I pray is not necessarily lifting my voice to the top of my to to the top of my lungs. Sometimes I'm just talking to God like I'm talking to you. Father, I love you. Sometimes I just start off to keep me on track, to keep my mind on track through prayer. Because prayer is not taking up time. Prayer is holding a conversation with God. It's not just getting in a room and saying over and over again, "Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God," for 30 minutes and say, "Okay, I paid my dues today, God. I'm gone." Prayer is a conversation that you have. Sometimes to keep myself on the conversation, I've memorized the prayer. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. God, I praise you. God, I worship you. Hallowed be thy name. Lord, your name. And then I attach scriptures to it. Neither is there salvation any other name. There's no other name, Lord, given among men whereby we must be saved. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be. And I talk about the kingdom. give us this day our daily bread. And and then I I I go into all my prayer, but sometimes it's just a devotional prayer. And can I just tell you this tonight? Can can I just help help the sheep out tonight? If I was putting percentages to hot prayers and devotional prayer, I probably pay pray 90% of my time a devotional prayer and 10% of my time a hot prayer, a prayer of desperation. Can I tell you that if you'll pray prayers of devotion, you won't need prayers of desperation near enough. He said, "I want you to take I want you to have an altar of incense. Look at verse number seven, chapter 30 and verse number seven, verse number eight. And Aaron shall burn thereupon what kind of incense? Could we all say it? What kind of incense? Sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. Verse eight. And when Aaron lightth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it for perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Now, who's it sweet to? Who's it sweet to? And and we're just being very transparent with you tonight. Who's it sweet to? It's sweet to the Lord. It's sweet to him. When we, his children, manifest our faith and give him daily times of prayer. That's why you, you know, people ask, well, how long you think I ought to pray? I know what the Bible says the length is. The Bible says pray without ceasing. All right? But now don't take that and say, 'Well, that doesn't mean, no, no, there needs to, you know, I can pray without ceasing driving down the road. I can pray without ceasing walking into the hospital. I can pray without ceasing going through the day. But that personal prayer time, I'm not driving a car. I'm not walking in a hospital. It's just me and God. And he says, it is a sweet incense unto me. It's a sweet aroma. Oh church tonight, hear me. Please hear pastor tonight. God loves you and God wants to hear your voice and it's a sweet it's a sweet incense. I did some research too, Sister Carpenter. Not only did God want the incense to represent prayer, but you have to remember the entrance into the the entrance into the temple or the tabernacle wasn't a pretty one. It was an altar, the brazen altar. It was where live animals were brought. I told you it's ugly. It's where live animals were brought. That altar had four horns, one on each corner. That animal who could sense the previous blood of other animals would begin to kick buck and they would have to bind that sacrifice to that altar, that horn, that horn. When that animal was good and tied and its neck was brought up, that priest walked out with a long knife, injected it into the juggler veins of the animal. Blood began to spill when the blood was put into basins. And I'm telling you, it's ugly. It's ugly. It's ugly. It's ugly. Blood would go into basins. Flies would begin to gather. But you just got started. Now the animal's taken. He's skinned. And the odor, the odor of the flesh of the animal feels the entrance of the tabernacle. But wait a minute, something else is going to happen. The odor of the boughels, the odor of the animal as it was as it was spread out there at the gate. Now the animal is taken and he's he's thrown up on the altar. the burning flesh and the burning hide and the horrible smell of the sacrifice. And so God said, "I want to counteract the horrible smell of flesh with the present pleasant aroma of the incense. I don't care who we are tonight, rich or poor, you don't take care of your natural body. It doesn't have to do with your education. It doesn't have to do with how much money you got or you don't have. You don't bathe properly and your body begins to emit an unpleasant odor. That's it. It takes bathing and deodorants to keep our bodies smelling pleasant. I came to church tonight to get a a lesson on hygiene. No, you came to church for me to use that. We stink when we don't pray. I don't care how pretty your dress is and how high your hair is. I don't care how long your tie is. I don't care if we can see your socks you've got the latest designer socks on. I don't care what kind of car you're driving. I don't care what kind of tune you can sing. I don't care what kind of instrument you can play. I don't care what kind of business you have. We are going to stink if we don't have prayer. We're headed to an ugly place. We're headed to a place I'm going to tell you something. Marriages dissolve because somebody's not praying. Children go astray because some Well, I think I got two or three here in the house tonight, but I think I got some contenders and I think I got a few pretenders tonight. But your life is going to end ugly if you don't pray. Oh, we somebody lift our voice up right now and pray. Oh, that flesh is saying right now, "Oh, don't you lift your voice up. Oh, don't you get caught up into this. Oh, he's going to dismiss us in a few minutes. Yeah, your flesh is hoping you don't pray right now because it's got a road of destruction to head you on. But somehow someway, I'm not going to be another statistic. Somehow someway, my marriage is not going down. Come on, lift up your voice right now with me. Come on, lift up your voice right now with me. Come on, lift it up. Would you stand with me right now? Come on, lift it up with me right now. Lift it up with me right now. I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. You're headed to an ugly life if you don't get a prayer life. You're headed to an ugly deadend road if you don't have a prayer life. Come on. Let's pray for a moment. Let's pray for a moment. Oh, let's pray for a moment. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. I'm going to dismiss you tonight. I'm going to dismiss anybody wants to leave right now, but for the next five minutes, and I'm stopping a little early tonight, but for the next five minutes, we're going to pray. And I'm going to tell you what pastor's not going to do. pastor's going to pray, but I'm not going to lead you in prayer because I think two things are happening here at this church. I think that we're letting pastor pray and I think we're letting our music drown out the fact that we're not praying. So, we need to really hear what we're like. So, I'm not calling any musicians right now, brother Hammond. Not calling any musician. No, no music or nothing. We're going to pray for five minutes and we're going to hear the sound prayer. If you'd like to join me in the altar, we're going to pray. It's it's it's about um 8:48 right now. We're going to pray for at least five more minutes. We're going to pray for five minutes. God, I love you. Oh, God. name. Glory today. Come on. Come on. bless. Bless. stand. Thank God. Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Come on. In the name of Jesus. Let's subdue our flesh right now. Come on. Let's show our flesh who's in charge right now. Come on. Let's show our flesh who's in charge right now. This is what I want you to do. This is what I want you to do. I want you to pray the next 60 seconds. I want you to pray out loud. I want you to pray like it's a matter of life or death because it is. I want you to I want you to show your flesh tonight. Yeah. God. Hallelujah. Jesus, we need your power. Jesus, we need your anointing. Jesus, we need to overcome our flesh. God, we need to overcome the rotten, stinking flesh. Lord, we need to overcome rotten attitudes. God, we need to overcome rotten spirits. Oh, God. Come on. Come on. Lift it up. Lift it up. Lift it up. Lift it up. Your flesh are going to tell you you don't have to do this. Your flesh is going to tell you this is this is not needful. But you need to put your flesh in subjection. You need to lift up your voice tonight. Come on, tell him you need his help. Come on, tell him you need his help right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on. Get desperate. Get desperate. Get desperate. Get desperate. I will not die. I will not allow this to take me down. I don't know when's the last time I had an appetite for the things of God, but it's changing tonight. It's changing right now. right here. I want my hunger back. I want my thirst back. I want I want I want it back. I want it back. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I want it back. I want it back. I want my hunger back. I want my hunger back. I want my hunger back. I want my thirst back. That's the sound. That's the sound of somebody got their flesh under control right now. Jesus, I love you, Jesus. Jesus. Hallelujah. Jesus. Hallelujah. You ever notice your flesh doesn't have a problem you yelling in a ball game? You ever notice your flesh doesn't have a problem you yelling at secular things of this world? Because a ball game can't help you. A sporting event can't help you. But if you will yield your flesh to God, God can help you right now. That's right. That's right. God can help you right now. Come on. Break out of it right now. God can help you right now. My God. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Thank you. Oh Lord, here we are, Lord. Here we are, Lord. We're waiting on you, God. We're not going to go anywhere, God. We're waiting on you, God. We're waiting on you, God. We're waiting on you, God. We're hungry for you, God. God, I'm more hungry for you right now than I've ever been in my life. God, I want to see this church explode in revival. God, we've been living way beneath our privilege of power. God, we've been trying to fight the enemy with our weapons, but I'm going to bring out prayer right now. I'm going to bring out prayer right now. Oh God, we've been living way beneath our privilege. We've been living way beneath our privilege. We've been living way beneath our status. That's right, brother. That's right, right? That's right. That's right. break right now. Don't you feel that whale beginning to break right now? The true story. The true story. A family bought a house prior to the Great Depression. They bought a house. The Great Depression hit. Starvation was running rampant. Banks had closed. That family sat in that house withering away. Withering away. He sat in that house for months. and starvation. Cattle are dying. Children are hungry. Babies are waking up in the middle of the night crying for milk. And one day, for whatever reason, other than God, the father decided to go up in the attic of that house. For whatever reason, we don't know. And up in that attic of that house was a small chest. And it was filled with all kind of costly diamonds and jewels. Imagine that. Living life with hungry babies crying out in the middle of the night. You're unable to buy meal when just right over your head is wealth. I feel that way about us tonight. I feel in the Holy Ghost tonight to tell us tell tell somebody your prayers are coming when your voice begins to talk it when you begin to reach out of your own power and reach up into heaven by prayer. God is going to do something. God is going to do something. I felt it. Brother Ericson preached on the Holy Ghost the last time he was here. Brother Nolan Carpenter last Wednesday night, what'd he preach on? The Holy Ghost. Brother Zack Hammond, what did he preach on Sunday night? The Holy Ghost. But the Holy Ghost is like gunpowder. You can have all the powder in the world, but you got to have a wick. And prayer is the wick. We can have an explosive miracle summer. You hear me? When everybody's getting ready for summer, we can have one of the most miracle summers in the history of FAC if we'll just learn how to pray. If we'll just learn how to reach up. Now, the answer, and I've thought about it, I ought to just call prayer every day at the church. I call prayer every day. But I've had the spirit kind of lead me away from that. You need to take it upon yourself respons the responsibility of yourself to take this message and wake up in the morning and pray and wake up Friday morning and pray and wake up Saturday morning and pray and come here early Sunday morning for church and pray. And if we'll do that, you don't have and I speak as the Holy Ghost gives me words tonight. You don't have a situation in your life that prayer cannot turn it around. That prayer there's not a drought. There's not a situation in your life. You hear me? Keep a praying. Keep a praying. Keep a praying. Keep praying. I love you tonight, church. I love you tonight. I thank you for responding the way that you have responded tonight. I love you. Why don't we just one more time lift our voices and our hands and let's love God. After we do that, shake hands with three or four people. You be dismissed tonight. I love you. I worship you. I thank you. I praise you. I want to get rid of my stinking flesh. God, I want to get rid of my stinking flesh, God. God, I want the aroma of your spirit to be all over me, God. God, I want to bathe