"The Three Levels Of Prayer" - The Apostolic Connection

invite your attention to the book of Acts Acts chapter 16 and we will read a few verses here acts 16 and verse number 13 and on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a Riverside where prayer was want to be made we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted fither verse number 16 and it came to pass as we went to pray PR a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us which brought her master which brought her Masters much gain by S saying the same followed Paul and us in Christ saying these men are the Servants of the most high God which show unto us the way of Salvation this did she many days but Paul being grieved turned and said to the spirit I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out the same hour verse number 25 my final verse and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang Praises unto God and the prisoners heard them for a few moments this morning I want to speak on the three levels of prayer three levels of prayer you may be seated today in Warfare the enemy knows his objective that if he is going to win he must separate the command center from the foot soldiers on the ground he must separate the men that are on the front line from the men who are giving the orders if they can separate Communications then they put the foot soldiers into a condition of uncertainty what are we to do now what should we do Advance Retreat hold our ground we don't know because communication has been severed I really believe with all of my heart today that one of the greatest objectives that our enemy has is to separate us in a prayer life if he can separate us from talking to our chief in command Jesus Christ if he can somehow sever that relationship that daily relationship then doubt begins to rain and rule in our lives we come into situations to where we don't know do we Retreat do we stand do we advance we don't know because the communications has been severed in the 16th chapter the book of Acts is found three wonderful steps there and uh it begins by Paul going to the city and going to the Riverside this city did not have enough Jewish people in in it to Merit a synagogue uh if there was a certain number of Jewish people in a city they would build a synagogue so evidently this city didn't have that many and uh so when the people wanted to pray they would go out by the river side and there they would have prayer meetings it was in this surrounding that the church was founded it was there that Paul went out to the City by Riverside and had prayer with the people but he not only had prayer with the people he also preached to the people it was there that a woman by the name of Lydia whose heart God had open God had opened her heart by prayer prayer is that that that great that that that great opener of the Soul prayer opens up our heart to hear from God it was there that her heart was open it was there that she was converted it was there that the church got its first converts it was there that Lydia and her household was baptized and I like to refer to this first step is in the getting started prayer the getting started you know anything you do you got to get started at it you you just got to take the step and you have got to get started and there's no better time and day to get started in prayer like today there's just no better time because we have suffered in the body of Christ great defeats only because of a lack of prayer a lack of prayer has rendered the church powerless a lack of prayer has caused all kinds of things to rain in the lives of men and women a lack of prayer so I just come today for a few moments to try to tell you that there's no time like the present there's just no day like today if if not now if not now when if not here where if not you then who now in the field and I hope I practiced this and I made one mistake of not writing it down but if many of you have been uh in a meeting to where someone has come and spoke to you about uh management uh about uh um how to get more out of your employees and about management skill and such as that a lot of times you'll hear them say if you always do what you've always done you'll all then you will always get what you've always got right did I say it right great should I chance it if you always if you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always always got all right and that's all always said that's all that that's 90% of the time you've heard that statement John Maxwell it and sister Whitney 99% of the time when that statement is made it's made in a negative way in other words if you always do what you always done then you'll always get what you've always got well if what you're doing is not working that's a good statement but if what you're doing is working why quit if we've always getting an answer from God by praying then I say let's keep on praying if you always do what you've always done then you always get what you've always got so if prayer has all always work let's keep on praying Church why did we stop praying why did we put prayer on the back burner let's get get started praying today First Apostolic let's get started praying but do you know that anything that gets started it runs into the second level you see Paul and Silas had started the church they they had the prayer meeting they' had the getting started prayer meeting and they had got a convert and then the Bible says in verse number 16 and it came to pass as we went to prayer now this ISS as we went to prayer that's the what I like to say the second level is the keeping going prayer see because once you get it started you got to keep it going and a lot of times we get started but we don't keep going and so Paul and Silas they just didn't get started praying and get them a convert they kept on going they they just kept on going to prayer time after time after time again and then all of a sudden something happened a young girl that had the devil in her she had a demon spirit in her she be to follow Paul and Silas in the prayer meeting and she be to call out to people along the streets and say these are the men uh these are the men that show us the way of Salvation these are the Servants of the most high God that show us the way of Salvation now the Bible says that this grieved Paul and the reason that it grieved Paul was that this devil was trying to attach itself to the Church of Jesus Christ he was trying this devil was trying to say hey I'm in I I I'm in with these folks here that little girl that through the spirit of the devil was able to to to to to pretend to read the uh uh future she only God can tell the future but she would pretend to be able to do this and uh evidently she had brought her owners uh much gained by this uh fortunetelling business here she she must have been some more uh uh ability because that people own stock in her she wasn't just owned by one person she was owned by by several people they brought her master's much gain by S saying it and she followed because if if there's ever a place now the devil would would love that nobody start praying now that's what he would really like he would like for nobody to be inspired to pray today he'd like for no one in this building to give this message a second thought he would just like for you to let this be like water off a duck's back he he would just like for you just to just all just another pretty sermon on another pretty Sunday morning and let's go on our way but by chance there's one here today that says you know what I'm tired of living powerless I'm tired of living in this defeat mode I'm tired of being the tail and not the head I'm tired of the way that I've been living I'm tired I'm going to start praying today you got to get ready because as you keep on going the devil fears that oh he would like for you to have never visited the First Apostolic church but when he really gets upset is when it's your fifth time to return back the devil would like you never to have gone to the prayer he'd like for you not to remember that prayer time is 5:30 tonight at the church he'd like for you to dismiss that from your mind but by chance you make it out and then you make it out the next Sunday and the next Sunday and the next Sunday I'm telling you you show up on the devil's radar you show up because that enemy knows what you need to know is if you keep on going to God Time After Time After Time if you've always done if you always do what you've always done then you always get what you've always got and if our forefathers had fire of the prayer answering God come down if our forefathers got healed if a way was made in the wilderness if God come down and answer the prayers of our forefathers then God's going to come down and answer our prayer don't stop praying Church don't give up praying church just keep on going Paul being grieved in the spirit turned and said and I made the mistake years ago as a young real fiery evangelist I got really fired up on this verse and I said Paul turned and said come out of that devil you woman and that's not how you read that verse there there was some lady straightened me out after the service that night come out of that woman you devil come out of that woman you devil and in the same hour that devil came came out of that woman and that woman was unable to tell read palms pretend to tell the future well boy this upset the men they arrested Paul and Silas you see when you keep on going to prayer sometimes it looks like it's not doing any good come on now they arrested them and they beat their backs and they put their feet in stocks and and and and and bonds not stocks and B like you're thing they put their feet in the stocks and bonds and they thrust them into the inner prison they put their hands together and their feet together and they beat their backs sometimes when we keep on praying if you ever been here you you keep on praying like the preacher preaches but seems like things are going from bad to worse right man is this what I'm going to get for praying we've been going to the prayer meeting daily and now we're in the county jail we're down here in the jail house but they knew something that we need to know is that is no matter how dark it gets prayer will always bring you out I don't care how down you are today saying to God look up and pray and God will hear your prayer and God will pull you up and this is the confidence of God's people today you're set back if you'll let your setback give be a prayer meeting then your setback can be a great comeback and you can get back up again because you pray so I had my I had my getting started prayer and I had my keeping going prayer but now I'm in prison you see the the the devil he not all wise because he should have if he really had any chance at all separated Paul and Silas but he kept them together and the Bible says at midnight in the inner prison feet hands tied the Bible says that Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately the doors were open and everyone's bands were loosed I'm telling you something Elvis you were not the originator of the Jailhouse Rock the first Jailhouse Rock didn't come from Memphis it came from Paul and Silas because at midnight Paul and Silas although they were beaten although they were blooded although they were hurting they knew that their only hope was in prayer and they started praying and prayer always leads to a merry heart do you notice how it did it didn't say see we get it backward today we want to have a good praise service and have a good prayer meeting in that order it don't work in that order your praise isn't praise if you didn't first have prayer and then Praises you got to have prayer and then Praises do you know what anoints this Sanctuary choir prayer anoints this Sanctuary choir now I don't know if you think about things in the Bible like I do but I often hear stories in the Bible and I often think well God Peter was in a prison and you sent an angel down to the prison and the angel delivered Peter remember that story in the book of Acts and I was reading this scripture some time ago and I closed my Bible and I meditated on it and I just asked the Lord I said Lord why didn't you just send the angel didn't he do a good enough job and the Lord spoke to my heart and said what I sent was symbolic to what they were in so I begin to study it he sent them an earthquake that's what he sent them the Bible said and suddenly there was a great earthquake do you know that an earthquake is caused when pressure way way down the Earth surface begins to shift the platelets begin to shift something you can't even see way down below there's pressure that shifts and when that pressure within becomes greater than the pressure without the result is an earthquake when the pressure within becomes greater than the pressure without the result is a great earthquake oh let me get a scripture on my mind greater is he that is within you than he that is in the world so when the pressure to have Victory is greater than the pressure of bondage look out now you're going to have freedom you're going to be set free