"He Prayed Again" - Scott Graham

would you lift your hands please and your voices to heaven unless asked God to sanction these next few moments together feel an unction of the Spirit of God that wants to do something wonderful among us tonight that your voice out of your mouth right now call out the heaven Jesus we need a sovereign touch of your glory to visit this place highboy a sign and I me old kotoru Omaha we need the glory of the Lord to touch us tonight Jesus speak to the discouraged this evening Lord touch the weary haha hallelujah I pray the strength of your spirit would operate among us tonight and change us that your word built faith in this house and that lives be changed tonight do your work among us O God do your work among us O God hallelujah hallelujah now would you transition into praise now and begin to magnify and exalt the great name of the Lord Jesus Christ hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah bless your name Oh God hallelujah it's wonderful to be in the presence of the Lord with you tonight and there is a singular touch of his presence that is resident here we should never be surprised we use strange statements sometimes we preachers say funny things we do we're guilty I'm guilty you know we'll say things like let's all stand to our feet is there another option standard gall bladder I mean nothing makes sense I was preaching one night my wife broke me this I was preach one night night I said if you have your Bibles I'm gonna read from Matthew chapter 12 she said so if we didn't have our Bibles where you going to read from Isaiah 16 I mean what's it's a good point it's a good point we say things like let's let's invite the presence of the Lord into this place now please tell me when the psalmist said where can I flee from your presence if I take the wings of the morning until all the uttermost parts of the sea here there I make my bed in hell even there he said your hand will uphold me there is no inviting the presence of the Lord into this place he was here before we got here you can't invite the omnipresent one anyplace he always is and was and is there we don't invite him anywhere the presence of the Lord is everywhere the glory of the Lord is localized his presence is everywhere his glory is not manifest everywhere what we want is the demonstration of the glory of the Lord in this house and I feel a nearness of that tonight I'm going to read tonight from first Kings 18 and and this evening I think the principle that I will preach will be applicable to all but it will be immediately pressing for some okay don't get nervous wow it got tight right then is he talking about me make me the word of the Lord tonight will be presently applicable for some who are at a point that this word needs to speak to you and please be open to that tonight first Kings 18 and verse number 41 the word of the Lord says and Elisha said unto Ahab get the up eat and drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain so ahab went up to eat to drink and he lied you up to the top of carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and he put his face between his knees and he said to his servant go up now look toward the sea and he went up and looked and said there is nothing anybody ever been there prayed your best prayer I mean you use King James and everything you put in some thousand these and Dynes and willeth and woloson and and and you got up from prayer and you look toward the heavens and there is nothing oak quit looking religious and some of y'all trying to actually think about like we think the water parts when you get ready to take a bath okay we know better all right just relax and let's be real with one another take our masks off for just a minute do you know what I'm talking about you pray your best prayer and you look and there is nothing some of you there right now you've been praying for backslidden child and they're no closer to God right now than they were the day they left there's nothing you prayed for revival in you're sitting in your church you've preached truth it stayed faithful and you've knocked doors and passed out tracts witnessed and there's nothing what's uncomfortable for us to admit that isn't it you you prayed got the diagnosis no what's wrong have called on the one that said by my stripes are healed and in spite of all that when you were looking for healing there's nothing and he said go again seven times and it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold there arise of the little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand and he said go up say they have prepare thy chariot get thee down that the rain stopped they not it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds when and there was a great rain and they have rolled and went to Jezreel on the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel I will preach tonight from three words he prayed again thank you for two Presbyterians and one Baptist nod when he saw nothing in answer to his prayer you know what he did he prayed again amen you can be seated the Lord bless you the Danish comedic genius and classical musician Victor Borga tells a delightful story about his grandfather he explains he's a humorist he explains that his grandfather was an inventor of sorts and none of his ideas in his lifetime really panned out became successful never gained him any notoriety nor fame nor wealth so mr. borghi says that late in his life his grandfather decided that he could make a name for himself in the soft drink industry decided that he would make a new soft drink now everyplace even within the boundaries of the United States every place called soft drink something different some referred to a mistletoe some refer to him as pop some places Coke is the generic thing to mean all I don't know what y'all call it pop is it pop okay well very good we leave mom out of it just talk about pop it'd be alright so he decided he could you know I threw a y'all out right there a minute ago did you notice that I don't know what y'all call it and you knew what I meant very good you're so much smarter than us he decided to make a name for himself in the pop industry sounds so funny to me to say that speaking Canadian all the sudden hey oh there you go he mister borghi said he began to experiment mix and work on things in his lab and he thought it might be his ticket to success and so he mixed sugars and flavors and syrups and got it all perfect and he debuted he bottled it he marketed he took it to the stores and he said my grandpa called it for up he said regrettably nobody liked it nobody bought it so he went back to his lab he worked on it some more experiments more study revise the recipe just a little bit came out brought it to the stores called it five up no success back to the lab more trials more testing more tasting another version released to the public called six up nothing so mr. Bourg has said my grandfather was discouraged and quit he said he died a broken man never knowing how close he came now while that story tickles me a little bit particularly when mr. borghi tells it it speaks to me to the word that God has committed to me for this night because it humorously points to a danger that we've got to avoid the trap of stopping just before the battle is won the danger of quitting just at the threshold of when God was about to do wonders in my life I have to wonder how many breakthroughs have been abandoned just before they arrived I have to wonder just how many answers to prayer we're surrendered just before they were given I have to wonder how many spiritual victories were forfeited on the eve of their unveiling I have to wonder how many revelations were relinquished at the dawn of their arrival how many revivals have been sacrificed how many miracles have been given back how many healings have not come how many signs and wonders what was lost because weariness battled against consistency what has been sacrificed because discouragement overcame faithfulness but I'm telling you I've made up my mind tonight whatever God has for me I'm not stopping until I see everything that God has for my life I won't quit praying until I see the revival God has for my church I won't quit praying until I see the revival in my family I won't quit praying until backsliders are coming in the door I wish somebody felt what I felt I won't stop I'm sorry I'm gonna keep asking until the answer comes I'm gonna keep seeking until I find it I'm gonna keep knocking until that door is open unto me devil you thought I'd get tired and quit you thought I'd get discouraged and quit you thought I'd get weary and just decide to give up but devil you're gonna be so disappointed because there is a revival out there with my name on it and I'm gonna keep praying until that revival how wish somebody would just rise up in your spirit and say there is still a healing with my name on it he our boy is hotter IATA your Voki there is still a night that my bachelor loved one he's gonna pray through the altar and I won't quit praying until I see it happen somebody needs to grab that word of God and pray right now I refuse to go to my grave wondering what might have happened if I'd have just gone to the intercession one more I will not go meet Jesus wondering what kind of revival my church by the head if I'd have just prayed one more time hi we'll pray again in the annals of God's kingdom Elijah has to be one of the most prominent heroes of the faith his exploits for God are legendary to this day man he must have been something to see when a aziah questioned his servants say his servants came back saying we ran into this prophet and hey as ayah says describe him to me this is what they said second Kings 1 and 8 and they answered him he was a hairy man and Girt with a girdle of leather about his loins he said that's logic I want to tell you what when they can describe you your hairy and wearing a leather girdle you're an odd-looking rascal ok I'm not terribly versed in Canadians but I had seen anybody look at ones yesterday I'll have to admit to you but then again I've seen a bunch of them down too but I mean when you say please say give me a description well he's hairy and wearing a leather girdle they're going to pick that guy to line up pretty quick they described him to his eye leather girdle hairy Alijah odd-looking rascal he burst onto the scene this mighty prophet unknown and unannounced he marched on to Scripture stage in front of the wicked King Ahab declaring that until he said otherwise there would be neither rain nor do on the land and so it was for over three years but this was just one of the incredibly powerful moments that Elijah witnessed and in which he participated time will never allow me to discuss them fully with you tonight but if we wanted to trace his steps we would go down by the brook Cherith and there you would find little bird footprints in the sand where Ravens brought him bread and flesh morning and night from there we would journey to Zarephath and find an old barrel that gave new meal every day and a cruise that dripped oil every morning when they turned it over and then we'd go find a room where when the child in that house died where Elijah prayed over him it was a sign of resurrection where the dead were raised back to life and he gave him back to his mama we would leave Zarephath and we would go on to the Bunga onto the face of mount carmel where in the face of 852 one public-opinion odds in spite of that fire fell from heaven at a sixty-three word prayer and he consumed the sacrifice and the altar and the stones and the water and it looked up the very dirt underneath that sacrifice we would go over there to a cave in a distant and remote place where he experienced a strong wind a mighty earthquake a roaring fire but then he heard the still small voice of God from there we would go down near the shore of Jordan and we would see on the ground the burn marks of wheels of a chariot of fire and the swirling sand of a whirlwind that caught Elijah up into heaven and yet for all of these glorious moments it is one other thing that God chose to Chronicle when talking about him in the New Testament if I have those experiences in my life you would think when my life was done that is what you'd talk about Chariots of Fire dead being raised but that is not what God chose to honor in the New Testament because after talking about the three-and-a-half year drought James 5 and 18 makes this declaration and he prayed again are you ready cuz I'm just about to preach he didn't Ryan did not note that the dead were raised it did not note that meal and oil came every it did not note the bird delivery service it said if you want to know what makes him notable it's when nothing was going good he prayed again when he didn't see an answer he prayed again when nothing happened he prayed again I would to God that at the end of our life God would say I'll tell you what I noticed about that child of God in the Atlantic District it didn't matter what they saw or what they didn't see they just got back on their knees and they prayed again I read it to you tonight at the start of my time in this pulpit and I'm gonna shock you at how brief I'm gonna be tonight I read it to you at the start tonight he had just slain the prophets of pale and the prophets of the Grove and he tells Ahab you better get you a snack because you're gonna need the energy you're gonna be busy outrunning a rainstorm that's just about to hit and then he goes up to the top of Mount Carmel and he prays he prays for rain he prayed his for miraculous he prays for an answer and people of God this is Elijah I'm expecting it to rain now I pray you might go well let's wait and see what the forecasters I don't even know you but if it's been a three-two have your drought you Selma prayed for rain tomorrow I want to believe you would you help thou mine unbelief I might get up in the morning and wait and see if it's fair to partly cloudy before I get my Merle out of the closets been there three and a half years you understand but this is he like he likes her praise men I'm I'm getting out buckets the roofs gonna leak he likes your praise for rain I'm just I'm figuring let's get the gutters cleaned out it's gonna rain this is Elijah and he prays and you can believe what you want he sends his servant to look out over the sea I have to think that he lied to absolutely expected that servant to come back and go wow man you ought to see the storm clouds rolling over the her why wouldn't you expect that every other time he prayed it happened bring that boy to get up he got up he said you give me you make me a cake me and all be there every morning everything he'd ever prayed Lord send out fire show him who's got everything he's ever prayed has happened at the very first request and I have to believe that he lied you fully expected that serval was going to come back and say you won't believe it there's boil and storm clouds coming over the horizon I mean lightning is flashing like a un press conference the waves of the sea are tossing Thunder is shaking the very foundations of the earth and instead that servant comes back that says there is nothing the same prophet that prayed 63 words in English now prays and there is nothing now are we honest at this point anybody ever been there anybody not going to raise your hand no matter what I ask anybody ever been there you prayed your best prayer and there is nothing you did exactly what you knew to do and there is nothing you ready inbounds and Leonard Ravenhill books on prayer and there is nothing you listen to best of Mangan until conviction gripped your heart and a burden was streaming down your cheeks but there is nothing you preach with passion and there is nothing you followed God's call and there is nothing you believed God and there is nothing now what he lied you now what are you gonna do you made your boast - hey have you told I have it's gonna rain and you prayed and nothing happened now I just hi we'll pray again that's all I got I got nothing fancy for you tonight I'm just reaching to somebody The Devil's trying to tell you well it must not be God's will for you you need to just buckle down and say hi we'll pray again the devil's telling us give it up there's no revival in your city I will pray again you're backslidden children are never coming back hi will pray I can't you're unsafe spouse in looking this way hi we'll pray again come on somebody there you're in a battle right now and it feels like you're on equip and I tell you don't quit knock one more time seek one more time ask one more time pray again I am a hot dogger we are your book pray again Elijah I know nothing's happened yet pray again Elijah I know the sky still clear pray again Elijah there's nothing well then I'm gonna pray again I'd see that servant well Elijah how about if we how about if we pray again well why don't you why don't I just pray again you know you could I could just pray again and so he did the second time pray again look again nothing third time people are starting to talk pray again look again nothing fourth time now they're starting to make fun pray again look again nothing fifth time I really believed it would have already happened by now pray again look again nothing six times I'm getting weary it'd be easier to just quit pray again look again nothing seventh time discouragement pain confusion questions other people saying just give up pray again look again but this time Elijah I don't know if it means anything but there's a little cloud coming up out of the sea he don't look like much but it's more than used to be there and he lied you jumped up and said you better get ready the house shut up let's see it's rapid waiting on that's a miracle I've been looking for I just kept praying until it came come on somebody you may not see it yet but keep praying it may not be visible yet be keep praying one of these days there's gonna be a little cloud here by us at Aria coming up out of the sea you feel that that's something on top of Mount Carmel say it I don't see it yet but I'm still gonna pray Elijah jumps up you still a.m. put down his fork you better get moving that is what we've been waiting on you tell Eli you till they have I want him to get in his chariot I want him to take the curse control off you tell him to drive in the middle of the road cuz I'm gonna be passing him on the shoulder when I outrun his horses what you're so excited about what happened what changed I prayed again and so centuries later in the New Testament when God gets ready to put a bouquet on Aon Elijah's testimony he doesn't say this was Elijah that raised the dead he didn't say this was Elijah the Prophet the providing meal at all this was Elijah that circumstances could not describe this was Elijah that what he saw would not stop him this wasn't Elijah that negative reports could not could not shake his faithfulness this wasn't Elijah but no matter how discourage others might have gotten he just kept going back to the altar he just kept going back to the prayer room he just kept praying again I really wish I had something profound to tell you tonight but I really don't the word of the Lord to somebody tonight is pray I can I know you're weary but pray again I know it hasn't happened like you thought it would but pray again I know you expected that church would grow more quickly but prayer again I know you thought healing would already be here but pray again I know you believe that lost child would already have come back to the altar but pray again I know hell tells you it's no use but pray I can I know others have shaken their head are you and say just give up but I tell you pray again I know some of you might feel like Wynton but I plead with you to dig down deep tonight and say God until you answer until I see it until the cloud comes up I will pray there is something unbelievably powerful about persistence our seventh US president was named Andrew Jackson I'm kind of a history buff from everything I've ever read about his life every authority every biographer would tell you that he was never the one you would have expected to be President kind of like the two we got runnin right now re it came out before I could stop it Michelle you're supposed to stop me from doing stuff like that what's she just shakes her head said I'll just pray again that's all chance she's got everybody says that he wasn't the most talented man he was never the smartest man put him in any group of people he was not the most gifted everyone was assumed he would not be the one to be selected Jackson became famous general the war of 1812 he became our president served for two terms and one of the biographies of him that I read a boyhood friend was asked what allowed this man who was less talented than others to ascend to such Heights and his boyhood friend of course called him handy and he said and pardon the poor grammar I'll explain in a minute and he said this companion of his youth just wouldn't stay throwed now you're going to think that's a common word down south since I talked about throat rolls last night but it's really not he said Andy just wouldn't stay throwed he said we used to wrestle his boys and he said you grapple I'm the first one to throw the other guy to the ground well if you throwed him three times as that little country boy I said that was a match you get throwed three times it's over he said Andy to wrestle some guys a lot bigger than him and he'd throw him down once he'd throw him down a second time he added get back up that big old boy throw him down again he said he was supposed to be Oliver but ol Andy didn't know any better he just wouldn't stay throwed he get back up and come out and begin that big old boy throw him down to fourth time roll in the gravel pick the dirt out of his teeth and he just could up come at him again he wouldn't stay throwed he'd knock him down the fifth time six time he said finding that big old boy just get tired and Andy knock him down he said see Andy secret was he just wouldn't stay through I would to God there'd be some prayer warriors in this house that just won't stay through I don't care if the grammars bad when the enemy knocks you down just get back up and come at him again when you don't see anything just get back up and come again when the heavens see my brass just get up and come again when the enemy seems to have the upper hand and he knocks you down just get back up and say rejoice not against me on my enemy when I fall I'm gonna get back up and you just count on it I'm gonna be back in church next Sunday worship of God I'm gonna be back in church next Wednesday worship of God you can't get rid of me I just won't stay throat I'll get up and pray bye dad James recognized Elisha not because he prayed the first time but because he prayed the seventh time Jericho's walls didn't fall because they circled it on the first day they fell because they circled at the seventh time on the seventh day naman won healed because he came up out of the muddy Jordan the first time he was healed cuz he came up the seventh time I hope you'll hear me right now prayer is not an initiative prayer is a finish ative you gotta finish it you know we love to beat our kids over the head with this verse of scripture I mean we love to flog them with this one God is not whatsoever a man soweth you're gonna like that is the most ominous threat in scripture I will grant you that it is absolutely true that he that sells the fleshly flesh reap corruption but I will also stand here flat-footed look you right between your eyeballs and tell you that God was not threatening in that verse he was promising hello that wasn't a threat saying if you do bad stuff sooner or later it's going to catch up with you it was a promise that if you keep doing good stuff and sooner or later it's going to catch up with you don't be weary in well-doing he said if you just keep sewing and don't think you're gonna read the promise was if you just keep praying the answers gonna comment if you just stay faithful the answers gonna come here that thing about resoling and reaping was not a threat about bad deeds it was a promise about faithfulness that if you just keep doing it God is finally gonna come through Jesus taught us this in Luke 11 he tells about a man that goes to his neighbor at midnight explains he has an unexpected guest arriving he has nothing to feed him so he wants three loaves of bread it's midnight the man says man hardly got the kids in bed to wash her feet ain't getting up The Doors bolted it he refuses that guy outside just keeps on knocking and pester him and says you've got what I need and I'm not leaving til I the Lord said finally that God tired or not feet washed or not even if he wakes up the kids just to shut that up outside the door he's gonna go get him some bread well that Jesus didn't say that that was the Scott Graham version of that verse I wouldn't quote it or consider what he said these words of Jesus in Luke 18 and he spake a parable unto them in this end that meant not always to pray and not to what not to quit saying there wasn't a city of judge that feared not God nor regarded men but there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying avenge me and my adversary and he would not for a while but afterwards he said within himself though I fear not God no regard man yet because this Widow trouble with me I will avenge her less by her continual coming she weary me he said I'm getting so tired of that old battle-ax coming up beating on my door and I'm gonna give her what she wants just to shut her up don't ever buy the Bible I publish okay don't you understand me very clearly right now our Lord is not an unjust he was talking about a wicked man that did not fear God and he said you can even overcome that guy's reluctance if you just keep knocking on his door sooner leave and sooner or later even the unkind unrighteous guy is going to come through if you just keep our God is not unrighteous our God is not an unjust judge our God loves us but he was teaching us this principle you just gotta keep coming back and knock again and say well I don't know why God didn't do it the first time I didn't either I'm not God and neither are you your job is not to figure him out your job is just to come back up and knock again your job is just to say I want that again god I'm just bringing that prayer request to you again your job is not to explain why God did or didn't do what he should do your job is to do what you're supposed to do I charge somebody in the Holy Ghost pray again even if you're weary pray again even if you're discouraged pray again even if it'd be easier to quit pray I don't know why because look at what the Lord said next Luke 18 and 6 and the Lord said hear what the unjust judge said and shall not God avenge his own elect look what's it say which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth I'll tell you how I know if you have faith let's go get ugly right here faith is not asking God one time and walk it away you wonder what great faith is it's not asking God once and see it happen it's asking God 10 times when you don't see it happen faith is not the guy that could just say it once it boom it happens faith is that faithful little gray headed Widow mother of Zion that has prayed for her children and grandchildren for years and just prays again greatest faithless manifesting those who pray again when they don't see me journey with me if you would please and believe it or not I am nearly done journey with me if you would please at the home of Isaac his younger son Jacob is walking in to him to steal the blessing that was destined freestyle musician come help me on almost night Jacob is fixed to walk in and steal the blessing that was supposed to be Esau not just stay with me it's the most amazing thing in the world to me I've preached for a few years now you have them people come up here and the entire congregation stops listening to me and watches them like I wonder if they can find the instruments yes they can watch me I have the mic I'm the out of town guests pay attention to me right now they'll be fun if they're still wandering around a few minutes I'll go help him myself just stay with me challenge Isaac his eyes are failing him can't see Jacob and his conniving mama figure out a way to pull this off you know the story they take the goat meat they savor it up with spices so that it it'll taste like the venison and Esau killed it put hair skin of goat back his hands his neck that's another hairy critter and when you when you cover yourself with goat hair and you feel like your brother that's a hairy rascal right there cousin Elijah apparently put the goat skin on his hands instead I want you to notice with me that Isaac every one of Isaac's citizens were fool he couldn't see him the taste tasted like the venison he even said read it yourself the Bible he said you smell like feet he reached out and touched him and said you feel like he's up he said but the voice is Jacob's because all my senses may tell me one thing but what I've heard tells me something else and I can choose like Isaac to be deceived by what I see I can choose to trust what I've heard so what's gonna govern your prayers what you see what you've heard I'll tell you why he lied you prayed again you can find it at chapter 18 verse 1 give me my last verse up there on the screen chapter 18 verse 1 and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord oh the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying go show yourself to a hab and I will send rain on the earth you want to know why you lied you got back down and prayed again cuz he had heard God say it's gonna rain but there's nothing to see I don't care I know what I heard but there's no clouds I don't care I know what I heard but I don't see anything I don't smell any rain in there it doesn't matter to me I know what I heard stand with me right now I preach to somebody in the fear of the Lord that sometime in the past God gave you a promise and you know what you've heard and you may not see it yet but you know what you heard you may not have witnessed it yet but you know what the Word of God said to you you can't taste any raindrops on your lip just yet and you haven't seen anything that God promised but there is a promise echoing in your ears that send your children train out of the way they should go they won't depart from it there's a promise out of your spirit that God said if you go to that City and you preach the gospel I'll give you great revival you know what you've heard and tonight hi oh boy shots and somebody needs to lift your voice to God right now tonight I don't care what I see I will pray again I don't care what I feel I will pray again I don't care about the taste of bitterness in my mouth I will pray again I don't care if the fragrance of failure is all around me I will pray again because I hear the sound of abundance of rain I don't see it yet but I've heard something from God I want everybody in this place to lift your heads and voices of God and cry aloud no no no I want you to cry loud keep that record keep that prayer going pray again pray again praying in pray again now keep don't stop don't stop where is the person that I preached her tonight there's probably 20 25 people in here right now and you've been discouraged because you haven't seen the answer I plead with you now to respond and come marchin boldly to the front of this house that's thank God I just want to renew my commitment I don't know why you haven't already done it but I've got to pray again oh man there ought to be people moving already here snow edge going mission rock back slid you haven't sinned you're just in that season where you haven't seen what God promised yet we all go there at times I want you to come and throw your hands in the air and with faith in your mouth say cut I will pray again I don't know why you haven't done it yet but I will pray again I will I will I pray again I'm going to ask a harder thing I'm gonna ask some of you that may not be in this season right now and we're not all there would you come down to the front and join one of your brothers or sisters down here around the front some of these people who are old enough to come out first and come right up here to the altar we need some of you to come and just put her arm around the shoulder and say let me pray with you please I'm talking to you would you please come up and minister one to another come up and put her arm around some bodies sister I need your help there's lady walked right up here to the front and she's broken because she hasn't seen it yet she needs somebody to pray with her and since this I join you and we'll pray again this was the first man to the altar somebody come pray with him put her arm around his shoulders say I believe with you my brother hi we'll pray

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: scott, graham, preaching, sermon, preach, upc, upci, atlantic, district, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, capital, community, church, ccc, apostolic, united, pentecostal

Id: TGqTwcIQuII

Length: 43min 2sec (2582 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 07 2016