The Power Of Prayer | The School of Prayer Series P1 | Steven Francis

praise god isn't god good we want god to move but when he does we can't keep up because we think he's slower than us god is never slow in fact we won't be able to keep up with what god is doing amen you know when i walked in into the sanctuary the fear of god was so strong it's like the head there was a hand that was pressing on my shoulder kneel and when i did a bowl of fire came and surrounded me and surrounded my neck the burning ball of eyes i knew i know that god is with us the holy spirit of us and we are so afraid to say god we want to say the holy spirit only but the lord wants to manifest the way he wants to manifest amen amen tell your neighbor get used to the holy spirit because people find it strange that god showed up in the church what he came he's supposed to be there he will be there whether there are any people in the church or not do you know that because that's his church his place his fire dwells in his sanctuary in the old testament whether the high priest or the priests though they have to go every day and meant to the oil and the weeks and all of that they have to keep up the high priest only goes once yet the bible says his presence is inside he's dwelling in whether people go in or not amen do you think when you leave the house that god is still watching over your house why is that it applies to the house and not the church when people are not there he is still watching we are not used to we are not accustomed to such open presence of god you see and he is here with us amen and it's more scary when he's here because then he's he's got something to say about that in it i want to encourage all of us we are the conference is coming and uh the youth is the 50 is a special for our church youth only for those from outside that are coming it's going to be 69 that'll be a difference of 10 and then we are working things out and so please pray as we are trying to work many things out today we also been busy this morning and afternoon talking with the techie guys how to bring it into zoom internationally it's a quite a big technical jargons you know when you're sitting down with all these guys and talk but god will do something for us amen amen we have to believe don't we have to receive small-mindedness okay one amen thank you anybody two wow it's two we have to receive small-mindedness oh amen to think big is something but to keep resisting small-mindedness is important if not the small-mindedness will bring us back into the whole you see it will keep us small and there's nothing wrong in being small but let's remain small in christ and do big things for christ jesus said let me decrease let him oh you see if you don't understand that the exchange that being decreased by itself means nothing the exchange was i must increase so that he might increase in me so there was that divine exchange and we must get used to and submit to that divine exchange if not decreasing inside and becoming smaller by yourself means isolation and depression it means nothing means you are isolated person you just have low self-esteem but when i decrease and christ increases me it becomes a divine intention which god approves and seals it then life by itself takes a meaning in our lives amen and sometimes perhaps we have never seen that kind of a church maybe can god use that kind of church is there such a church because so many people are telling me the same thing we have been in the ministry for so many years we have been around for 40 years we have never seen this we have never seen that then let us pray god before i die help me to see what the book of acts is all about let it be at least once let it see i don't want to die without seeing who you are and what you can do when one person commits themselves to god remember the famous saying god the world is waiting to see a man who's totally surrendered to god and what god will use out of him one statement like that brought giants of faith it brought jordan wesley up he brought bonke up many just on that one statement the world is just yet to say what if it's a whole church we have not seen it before but does it mean we always must remain that way but we can change it some of us are not used to deep penetrative worship we are used to once in a while the worship will be good once in a while the holy spirit will stumble upon the service but what if it's an everyday every moment encounter with god what if once in a while oh exceptionally the sermon was good what if it's an everyday moment where the lord shows up and speak and layer by layer he's tearing our hearts up with his word page by pitch where the word becomes afresh and anew amen let's get used to him not used to ourselves but used to him and i pray that god will inspire and pour a fresh oil and his spirit not upon us only upon all the churches that are around here we must become an open portal it must become a prayer from the day we came till today we are praying only the same thing that god is not just about us because if it's about us then you want to become famous you see if it about us then you want everybody to flock to see something is going on but when they come nothing is going on it's the same ordinary people worshiping god in an intensive way they are looking for some acts but what they are seeing is lives changed by the power of the holy spirit but the whole process of god is not in that two hours that we are with him but what happens when we step out of this place with our hearts and our attitudes and our actions bear the change that god is bringing within our environment amen i want to draw your attention to the book of acts and we are talking about the power of prayer and as i said that if you have been a student of prayer if you are if you are in the lord for the last at least 30 years you have read pretty much good books on prayer over and over again and we have a idea of what prayer is all about but it is not the treaty so it is not about the theoretical foundation even though it is important but it's the experimental experience that we need to have the depth of how much god can bring amen some are called to prayer some are called to prayer i remember david livingstone when he went to south africa to do ministry and he wrote an appeal to his missionary organization send as many people as you could because now is the open door to change south africa and a group of missionaries wrote back we want to come but these are all the hurdles and they wrote everything that is negative don't have electricity and don't have water and don't have these and don't have that and do not face would you be able to get us all these things because we want to come in with our families and serve together and then he wrote back please don't even come if you are coming for god come expecting nothing that god will use us for his glory amen many times we do say god is all that i need but is it true if he would test our hearts is that all that i need and so sometimes god allows us to go through and so the lord has shown us and then you know the word of prophecy that came through this year that we need to have a this is a very critical year uh for america as well as the nations of the world and some of the prophecies that a pastor just wrote to me a text last wednesday while the service was going on i was uh speaking to another church in tennessee uh online and the lord gave me different words of prophecy for different people and i was speaking through and the lord said in just few days now three of the all the prophecies already come to pass and the church is excited because god does things are you with me and i want to get encouraged because the lord is doing something amongst us and so this is a critical year every time listen every time god wants to do something in your life you got to start and finish with prayer and that is why we don't see the continual or the continuity in god in our lives because somewhere along the line we stop everything starts and finishes with god everything starts and finishes in prayer it is a law of heaven it is a law of god when god is involved prayer becomes the air that you are breathing it becomes pardon puzzle it cannot be a strange thing that people should pray have you ever heard when people say for example give an example for you to think about suddenly you have a friend in church say mata i don't think so there is any martha now in our service martha let's go for uh uh let's go for a cup of tea oh cup of coffee i i got to go back to pray okay maybe yeah it's tuesday thursday martha are you free for no i'm i'm praying sunday after service martha let's go for lunch no no i need to go back and pray so then it becomes your concern you tell to your friend i wonder what's going on with martha because she's all the time praying you see i think she's going into some trouble some emergency that we don't know about do you realize that when a person wants to be consistent in prayer it has been associated if you have problems it is no longer we think it's normal anymore i know this lady is just not that tithe but if you should really pray something must be going on wrong and so the one who wants to pray and fast usually will end up lying are you hungry no i'm not hungry would you like to have lunch no i don't think so why don't you just simply say fast i'm fasting and people will let you leave you alone you know if not they will persuade you just have a drink just have a snack just have that i just have this how much of that holy spirit activity so we want to place a foundation of prayer because anything that god wants to build in our lives like a prophecy coming to pass and if a big things that god wants to do the foundation is always it starts with prayer we are waiting for the fulfillment of prophecy while god is waiting for his people to pray without prayer there is no fulfillment of any prophecy are you waiting for are you listening oh we are pray god that that man of god spoke then that is going to come to pass we are waiting eagerly for prophecy to come to us because someone who is very anointed said it but god is looking whether you are kneeling down and you're praying for that prophecy to come to pass prophecies can be left on in the air because what you have not taken in the buds of the air will come and pluck it out mark chapter 4 tells us that and the only way to secure our destiny in our call and what god is about to do in our lives is to have a foundation of prayer a foundation of prayer is like entering into a cave that you have all the secret and the treasuries of the law inside our lives and the church no matter how small we can be but we must be deep in god we can start small but we cannot start shallow are you listening because people somehow relate small means let's be shallow so that we can attract people more is that what we are all the time doing is that the goal of a church is to attract people no it's to attract jesus is to have god involved because the bible says when i am lifted up i will draw all man drawing all men is god's work and what he is supposed to do i don't have to do it my job is to honor him to walk with him to do evangelism that's all i'm doing i'm doing evangelism not to attract people to the church but because of what jesus did on the cross okay that's a very weak amen you you can have been convicted we'll heat up the water there boom we'll baptize you again the fire will come back are you with me yes that's not our job you see the moment attracting people becomes our job then we must be so busy in theatrical acts of the church the whole church looks like a theater it's full of drama it's full of actors and they fulfill they will fulfill what shakespeare said the world is full of actors we will do the best song the best thing and the best to attract people to give a best picture of who the church is and what the church is but is that what we want to do not exactly it all could be true but those things usually don't last because those are the cosmetic effects but god wants to bring authenticity in our lives he wants to bring the real deal if you want to test the church it's not what you see in the sunday you got to see them in the porch what they're doing you got to see them outside what they're doing you got to give them a call once in a while to see what they're doing bring someone for a cup of coffee and you see how they are talking are you with me because that's the church on sunday and all the days that we come together we are in our best behavior we can control ourselves for two hours speak the right thing do the christian act or when we step out when our natural selves comes back then the question is which is my natural self so i pray that we will die to our natural and not get let god reign in our lives amen so we want to investigate a little bit talking about prayer the church has an important influence in establishing a foundation of prayer in the life of the church which is the people that means the praying people makes a praying church a praying church makes praying people isn't it then who's the church if the people are not that means a praying pulpit when we teach prayer when we impart prayer when we leave an example of prayer then that becomes contagious it is impossible to have a prayerless pulpit and a praying church it's impossible it starts with the hate it finishes with the tale or it starts with the tale and it finishes with the head whichever we are one body in christ jesus amen but what is prayer without the influence of the holy spirit what is prayer without finding where god is doing and what he's doing and so i want to bring your attention to acts chapter 1 we want to investigate in the couple of weeks as the lord also told us that we need to have a school of prayer and a lot of people were writing and asking when will you do this would that be in the weekend can we drive from somewhere we are living far apart and my commitment is only one line my first commitment is to our flock you can watch through the video by the usb or whatever not that's our first commitment is prayer going to be so strange that what i don't know not necessarily whatever you already know is what we're going to talk about because it's in the bible but our experiences define us our experiences are different the only thing different about talking about prayer is consistency many of the giants of prayer learn how to pray when they did not have the the modern challenges or destructions of the modern life i remember when i was young younger i read john wesley's biography autobiography it was that thick thicker than the bible man i tell you and he wakes up three in the morning to pray he will bring his kerosene lamb out to the farm born and he'll be there on his knees praying before god and i remember a brother came and told me i'm trying to wake up at three in the morning and pray nothing happens because i can't even wake up so i told him do you remember what time he goes to bed you say no i said seven in the evening there was no electricity no cable tv no cell phones somebody say amen no wife was there but no wi-fi half of the evils comes because of wi-fi man nothing was there when it was dark there is no electricity to keep you awake boom they went to see god today the modern man has got a lot more distractions but heaven's requirements have not changed he gives you the choice to wake up he gives you the choice to switch off he gives you the choice to seek the lord amen so we want to investigate the holy spirit and prayer you see in the book of acts you take away prayer in the book of acts the church dies you take away the holy spirit he dies in acts chapter 1 verse 1 in the first book o theophilus i have listen carefully i want you to listen carefully in the first book of theophilus i have dealt with all that jesus began to do and to teach now the writer was dr luke who wrote the luke's gospel and now he's writing about the book of acts in the gospel of luke he wrote about all that jesus had done so it was jesus and prayer the word prayer appears more in the book of acts than any other gospels put together now john is not a gospel by itself it's a book it doesn't come under the gospel description it comes as a book but even if you would put matthew mark and john together three the word prayer is mentioned more in the gospel of luke than any other three of these books so is the book of acts somehow like a doctor with investigative analytical thinking he wants to know the lifeline and the reason behind the power of the church he investigated the reason behind the power of jesus and he found it was prayer so he paid attention to every time jesus prayed at all times jesus prayed and then now after investigating the gospel of luke about prayer and jesus now the gospel the book of acts here he found the holy spirit and prayer gives them the power to do what jesus did before and the shocking description of all of this more than 60 over years have passed gospel of luke was written 69 years after jesus was crucified the book of x was much more even though the documents were all put together by the time the whole book was ready it was much more later but you know what they found the power was the same they found the holy spirit was as the same they could not find a difference between the disciples in fact the disciples were more anointed than before the holy spirit took over the presence of jesus because in john chapter 16 he said the same kind another one will come another one will come the another comforter will come the counselor will come the teacher will come he's another but the another is of the same kind that means he represents me he will take whatever that i've said and will come into you amen so whenever that people will say that the holy spirit is active in our life how do you differentiate that because they are looking for the power of god so rather than we introduce to anybody that the holy spirit is active people who come to our church must see the holy spirit is working amongst us because the holy spirit is more than a shadow is more than a fragrance it's more than just a light feeling he's just more than a tear he's the power and the presence of god even if you say he's my shadow even shadow can be seen so where is the holy spirit you see he cannot be saying we are just saying the holy spirit is that have you been in a service have you been in a church where it's more it's more cold than ice because the holy spirit is not there and so we have to hold him closer worship him and honor him praise him humble our hearts before him honor the word because whenever jesus is honored and lifted up through his word the holy spirit is manifesting that is why today one of the things listen my brothers and sisters if all that is true that we can only preach for 20 minutes and that's what the holy spirit wants to do in the end if it's so little and among the 20 minutes of preaching sometimes people quote one or two scriptures and all about is the la la land stories keep you happy keep you strong be this and be that all that is good but everybody else is already doing the big good stories but the church must be filled with the scriptures of jesus amen people who honor god so now this guy the dr liu god selected dr luke for that reason he said until the day when he was taken up and you know the story and now he's saying when the holy spirit came something happened so let's investigate a little bit the emphasis of the holy spirit in the book of acts cannot be denied every page every chapter everywhere you turn the spirit the spirit the spirit is mentioned everywhere now paul takes a little bit of a center stage after the chapter 9 because he comes into the story so the book of acts is basically the stories of the disciples and whichever book which paul wrote the epistles that he wrote was the stories and the experiences of what is going on in the book of acts are you with me in fact it will be very interesting if you will trace some of the problems that he was going through at different locations of paul's ministry and the revelation he got at that point became the epistles that he wrote to those churches so sometimes it is now you see no revelation will come without some kind of a pressure that is taking place in your life that is why sometimes pressures are good when you are going through pressure get on your knees god will speak to you but the thing is we have forgotten how to get onto our knees we got into google we find out for solution instead of finding out for a revelation god what are you speaking to me if you will just take a moment to allow god to speak and then usually through those circumstances of of life he reveals himself to us you see god's no reason god is going to reveal himself as a healer if you're not a sick if you're not sick there is no reason for god to manifest his abundance if you are not in need there is no reason for god to show he's a compassionate god if you don't need his compassion that is why the work of god the walk of a child of god with jesus is a life of discovery discovering him at all the different moments of our life and therefore as a church we must discover because my brothers and sisters it is not about having a great vision it's about having god in the midst of that vision people are coming for jesus and they want to see jesus in our service they're not looking for us they are not looking for great preaching they are not looking for great worship and that's what happens when we invite people well come into our church that's a you know great worship it's not like the singers are so good you can tune in to the radio if you want great worship come to our church the preaching is so good you can tune in oh my goodness the amount of preaching we have on the tv just have your credit card ready man it always ends up with that nothing wrong but the manner is being done the man in which it's being done do you understand what i'm saying people give generously when their hearts are moved by the holy spirit em bound says is only god moves the heart of men remember george muller he prayed he prayed when he had the orphanage he prayed that god will provide milk for the children he prayed that god will provide bread for the children he prayed that god will provide apples for the children and every morning there will be the bell that will be hit or ring somebody will pull the bell he will open the door there will be crates of milk from 10 children 20 it became 90 it became 100 the bigger the need the bigger god's miracle was the prayer was to say trusting god in a god who provides i pray in the name of jesus that we will come to that dependency on god dependency on god is not based on our bank accounts it is not based on how much the church we have money or how many people we have this bible says blessed are those who are poor in the spirit for this is what oh my goodness you can have everything around us we can be the most well supplied and blessed church but there must be a spirit that is so poor before god that without you all this means nothing amen the depth that we want to have the closeness and i pray it must all we must all be on the same page so if you extract the holy spirit's role from the book of acts it becomes a book of history you take away the holy spirit from the apostles they become just mere ordinary men you cannot admire man without admiring the god that is using them but today the world is different it spins off differently you see we admire the person that much more than admiring the god that is working through him if god can use him god you can use me corey ten boom i hope you know your your history the moment i say this kind of history if you are shaking your head you must be somewhere between 45 and above only because nobody introduces these books to our young children anymore i like to introduce all these books and as our youths to read mission biographies heroes of missions amen corey ten boom people ask how you know how will you present yourself to god she took an empty plastic bag she said i'm like this plastic bag if the lord doesn't put his hand into it i'm just nothing story finishes there men and women were giants in god what was the outcome they had no interest in that the hardest thing in life is to be full with jesus not what you do for god are you with me my brothers and sisters book of acts continue to tell us and help us to understand god uses everybody and anybody he chooses anyone and everyone but the gospels were not like the joy jesus only choose 12. but the book of acts was different any one and everyone but somehow the focus point of was all the apostles and the people associated with paul there were others among them they were not highlighted yet they continued doing their work but i want to encourage you when the holy spirit is at work in our lives there will be some evidence that we can see and i want to highlight those evidence as much as we can study together so that we can put our pulse like that you know very interesting when you do a ecg echogram everything is good brother but your heart is missing a bit well it's just one bit right hello have you ever worried about it's just one bit man what's wrong with that no it's one beat something is wrong well all the other means how is it it's running well just one bit why not ignore no no no no something is wrong but when it comes to the holy spirit how many bits are we missing and why nobody is worried about it if the holy spirit is working why am i so cold why am i not repenting why i'm not move when god's word is being preached why i'm not move when the worship is rising before the presence of god why i am not moved to forgive why i am not moved to change the pulse is it right and so the book of acts becomes the pulse when the holy spirit is active in the life of a child of god there must be certain pulses which must be the same regardless of our culture regardless of our geographic location that is why no matter where you go which country you go you can go to church and it's the same amen there was a documentary that was done in iceland you're talking about iceland you know the number of social problems they have number one is drinking alcoholism number two is murder number three you gotta talk about affairs and adulterers it all happens in iceland they have fishing communities and they have churches they all these men and women begin to gather and pray they don't have the best preachers they don't have the best sound system the who's who of christian world and church community have never visited them because you may or may not get any money brother but you may get fishes it is just too far to have a great meeting with thousands of people gathered there could be 50 or 70 in the church but when they gathered to pray i saw the video man i tell you even now i'm speaking oh when they gathered and prayed a rushing mighty wind out of nowhere was recorded in that video with the sound i'm going to search all these and put up so that you will get to be encouraged and a spirit of prayer came upon that town a spirit of repentance came upon that town people started repenting husbands started changing confessing and husbands and wives were healed by the presence of god alcoholism was being delivered churches were filled with knees before the presence of god so you know what he tells me people wonder people will come to church if god is there when god is not there don't force people to come don't force our children to come getting god inside the church is our first stop then our youths will come our sons and daughters will come something is there in that church you know what that something is god if we force our children without god we are just duplicating religiosity for the sake of being a christian come but when god is there he will draw our children to god so let's throw ourselves like locks into the fire because when there are enough logs when the fire is big enough hearts which are coal will come to that fire acts chapter 2 verse 38 tells us of the first effect when the holy spirit is there now i'm not talking about the the effect of speaking in tongues we'll talk about that in later sessions but the first one that i want to tackle in acts chapter 2 and verse 38. how many of you are blessed already i have not started yet first point okay all that are introduction to what the holy spirit is doing acts chapter 2 verse 38 he says and peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself so the first effect of the holy spirit when he's amongst us the first spouse when he touch is a repentant heart now repentance is not just a one-time deal it is not just to accept christ and it's gone it is there and that is why the world takes advantage of children of god because we are the first one to say sorry we are the first one to admit when something is wrong we are the first one to acknowledge yeah maybe i'm wrong because you're all the time feeling the pulse that you don't want to lose the touch of the holy spirit are you with me and that is why time to time intermittently we say god i can't feel you is there everything god i'm sorry if i've done something you're watching our conversation you're watching our attitudes the bible speaks of having a repentant heart before god a heart that welcomes the presence of god a heart that is quick to repent when it needs to a heart that is mindful of its speeches and its thoughts because god watches over the motifs of our hearts because you cannot be different outside and suddenly pretend to be so humble inside because god judges you not in who you are inside there or who you are outside that file goes inside and he judges you you realize when you are in the presence of god and you are praying the holy spirit is convicting not because you didn't pray oh last week you said you will fast and how come you didn't fast or your mind goes oh remember january you forgot to give your sights remember that chapter you said you re most of the dealings would have been with you did not forgive you did not show love you had pride you're supposed to help and he just walked away you know you're not supposed to cut off when you were driving but you just did it anyway and you pretend that you didn't and those kind of attitude changes and he wonder why is god instead of checking me out and who i am in front of me is checking me out and who i was outside most often those are the garbage that we bring along he reminds you of a secret thought and a secret word that was said and then you saw about no one was watching but he did and so the first act whenever the holy spirit is at work in our life it has to do with repentance it's to do with a repentant heart when the holy spirit is active and that is why when worship comes immediately tears streaks down and he reminds us of things there because the holy spirit doesn't want to see any form of hindrances when he's about to take you over he deals with the hindrances it could be an area of forgiveness it could be area of then forget to do something and i i'm telling you brothers and sisters and people of god the holy spirit was more of a secretary to me and i'm saying in polite sense in a very humble sense because i really don't know what else to how else to say because if he did not remind me to do things i wouldn't have done what i've done for god all my layers of life he will tell me now do this now do that now write the book now go back to your office and do this and because sometimes i can be forgetful sometimes you are overwhelmed by other things and you forget about the things you're supposed to be doing remember you said you're supposed to send a check to someone get it done let me tell you about this tithing interesting testimony those times where i would have hardly any money because i was living as nigerian for 17 years now when i say hardly any money i'm not putting any smoke on god's face he provided well but the needs were equal to his providence the children i tell you if nobody sucks your money out the children will when they drink they they drink mug oh my goodness you know the only thing i should have done is to buy a cow and put in the house and the more they drink the more pampers you must buy and that also money [Laughter] and the ministry needs the books that i was writing and in the midst of it the people will come and ask you money as well and i give them generously because i know how to pray they don't know how to pray when i was in the church the church that i was attending with my family whenever i'm not traveling out they were having a building fun and that's a million dollar church you know they were having a building project and the lord said would you commit a hundred dollars a month for that building project that is different from your thighs so i said god well i will so i committed for the whole year hundred dollars for the building project you know for six months i was able to do it for the next six months i was traveling so much and whenever the building project was coming along i was not there to give and i completely forgot about it i gave my tights but forgot about the building project and the month of uh january uh november was finishing december started and i knelt down to fast and pray just to keep my heart in checked before god because end of the year fasting was coming so i wanted to do my housekeeping early and i was checking god lord have ever is everything okay is there any outstanding account i was praising god and all that is good and then he came um do you remember for six months you have not given the building pledge that you said you would give oh what how can it be six months while i was spring i quickly run to the checkbook and i was checking oh yeah six months the holy spirit is very accurate you know that right oh man i opened my pass account book account book the balance money was six hundred dollars and the check that i'm supposed to write was six hundred dollars the problem is christmas was coming i need to buy gifts for the children buy school books for their new year school uniform and christmas is a time when itinerarians are not invited to preach because the local pastors will do their christmas deal so they basically will be home and i say god you know all this right now i'm telling you more than what i told god but these are all the concerns not that he doesn't know but the lord said you just write the check and be obedient yes sir went to the church dropped the 600 came out and we had no and then you know children are so excited about christmas i remember my daughter was still very young when she came daddy what's happening for christmas well christmas will come not to worry about it jesus said not to worry so i just told him because that's my faith two days before christmas a pastor friend of mine he said stephen i was praying and god said write your check as a good pro it must be god i say i'm going to drop it in your mailer you just take it and then you call me that you're receiving the show so that was in the first week of december and then at 24th he called me a 23rd he put it on the mailer box 24th i went down to take 25th is christmas still have no money to shop and i said this money came in open the check i couldn't go up anymore it was a check for ten thousand dollars the lord just told me to obey that six hundred but i say heaven operates in the principle of giving well the ten thousand came in the ten thousand flew off because i all the outstanding bills to pay but the promise that i made before god lord as i kneel as i cross the year i don't want to be crossing a year with depths hugging in my back i want to cross with your providence following me if i want to owe someone i want to owe you oh god oh my goodness can god trust us it's a choice that you must make repentance is an issue now it can be offering it can be forgiveness it can be saying that you will do something for someone and you forgot about it and that is why be careful with your speech don't say things that don't do don't flatter people flattery god hates it read the bible for heaven's sake please no not for heaven's sake can you say that for heaven's sake please read your bible don't flatter if you're very used to flattery you better watch out as much as you've let her do it i'll be there make sure you're there don't say it i am praying for you it don't say it like a christian cliche and you forget if you don't mean it don't say it if you say it do it gotta zip your big mouth don't act christian be one because god is watching all these are going to put us away and therefore as a church we must be what we say we would and i want to draw you to the book of acts because suddenly an anointing came when i was in the room in the office and i shared with pastor michael you know all of us have read the bible enough times to know the sequence of situations i want to leave this with point number one it's already 8 30 i can't go any further i don't know whether they had time frames in the book of acts or not but we have i'm not saying that you want to go i also want to go home okay so don't feel guilty i'm not talking about you we all want to go i'm talking about the repentant heart and the first challenge came in the book of acts in acts chapter 5 if i'm talking about the book of acts and church there are different areas we can tackle but let's talk about the church and personal life if the holy spirit is at work if i'm putting the pulse i want to know what is the first one about a man named ananias and his wife safira sapphira sold a piece of property now i know sometimes i pronounce it differently remember i can read the bible in two different languages my my tamil language my native language and i'm very fluent angeline is a teacher in that language i'm very fluent in my language and and and english okay in singapore english is our first language right but when i'm praying i'm praying with god and i'm intervening i'm praying in tamil somehow the intensity is different and so whenever i'm read the bible because i'm fluent in both languages the names and the pronunciation will interfere in my mind so safira is a tamil way of saying but sapphira is english way of saying and what is the american way of saying safi sophie so a solar piece of property with his wives what wives knowledge i mean it should be right they sold a property he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles feet now the bible doesn't say the location where it was i don't know whether it was a church or whether it was a house we are not sure about that and for the first time when i observed that yeah interesting he didn't say it's a church it didn't say it's a half fellowship how's fellowship so we assume there must be somewhere the people were there the apostles were there and the people brought now why did they bring this chapter 4 tells us barnabas also as an apostle he sold a field that belonged to him verse 37 of chapter four and brought the money and laid in the apostles feet now barnabas was an apostle he was a leader i don't know people think that when you give more money you become a leader sometimes churches can be controlled by people with the money and if you've got enough money you become the leader because you are the first one to give you are the first one to persuade you are the first one to write the check and the first one to have influence in the church because influential people bring influential people big tickets writer have big tickets friends with me ain't nothing wrong with that you know i'm just saying this is how human social life is and so when he saw the observation in chapter four if you have given the money you become apostle maybe there was kind of a conflict inside the mind okay let's sell our property they didn't say to anybody that they're going to hold back it was their wife and him they brought half of the proceed or less than half of whatever it was the tights let's take 10 percent as the discussion they brought a portion of that and gave it they didn't say out of their mouths they're going to give for example ten thousand dollars didn't say anything they brought five thousand dollars and they gave just by giving look at that and uh 3 but peter said ananias why has satan fill your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to give to keep back for yourself a part of the proceeds of the land can you accept this i didn't say i'm going to give ten thousand i just gave five i didn't lie to the holy spirit but there was some kind of a deceit that took place in the heart that the lord saw that deceit even though out of the mouth they did not say when you say something and when there is an ordinance of god assuming there's a 10 thing that is going on what you say out of your heart and your actions are taken note by god and that's scary they realize that when we are happy we want to give when we are sad we don't want when we are happy and we have a lot more we say well i am but now brother we are going through challenges and maybe we should not the bible says when you make a vow unto god fulfill it you may give 600 but your miracle 10 000 is bigger than what you are given god doesn't give dollar for a dollar that's human god given according to the measures of his glory amen they say oh you may get a hundredfold man hundredfold is a number why you stuck with the number the bible says god will give you according to the riches of his glory eh sometimes you may not want to have a hundred dollars miracle you just want to have a bottle of water and so he gives you the bottle of water because you don't need the hundred dollars are you with me and then he says why is that you have contrived this deed in your heart you have not lied to men but to god but the problem in this passage is he did not even lie to any man he didn't open his mouth but god told peter you lied to god see we're talking about the power of the holy spirit ladies and gentlemen may i ask you how much do you want the holy spirit to take you over as many times as we open our mouth and say god told me to do it god told me to do it i tell you what you better beware what you're talking before it becomes your last stop ananias and sapphira for them that day that journey to see the apostles was their last stop because people have forgotten the fear of god in the house we carry our same heart and our same attitude and we carry ourselves bigger than what god is god reminds us this house belongs to me you see and we are frightened to stand before that almighty god there was a man named benson iodelsa an apostle in africa he has already passed away they have planted more than 5 000 churches the first time when oral roberts saw this man and came to know about him he invited him to tulsa oklahoma to study under the old roberts university if you would study you'll become an a pastor who's educated but within the first few months of his study in america he could not handle himself the convenience of america the lack of prayer of the people that surrounded him in the bible school he could not even handle he cried and prayed and he prayed pray prayed for his people in fact it's very difficult even to get his book it's called fire in my bones and he within the few months he told the chancellor i want to go back i couldn't stop praying for my people i couldn't forget them i want to go back he went back but while he was sitting on the plane and he was coming back he said god what am i going to tell my wife and what am i going to tell the people who bless me and send me for the four years of bible college but i'm coming back within few months they will think i said an excuse i didn't want to study that was a cover i couldn't handle the american education he prayed and he cried when the plane landed in the airport do you remember those days where you have to actually when you get on from the plane the stack is and you got to walk towards the terminal when he was walking towards the terminal the church members and his wife rushed towards him to give him a hug and welcome him the moment they came there was kind of a radius everybody who hit that radius man they fell by the power of the holy spirit and before you know the passengers fell by the power of the holy spirit and as he walked forward the radius went in everybody came closer to him fell by the power of the holy spirit god was showing to him i am with you he began to pray and he began to pray and he began to pray and the lord said to him that i wanted to start a school for the children he went to apply and they blocked because he was a christian man he had no money but he knew how to pray and he told the minister of education god wants me to have the local the local council you know to give an approval and you know what the uh the minister said you can only do this over my dead body benson idaho said are you sure they say yes that's the only way this can be done because it cannot be done he just said let it be the next morning eight o'clock the file was approved by the new education minister because the old one died at 12 midnight over my dead body people forget who they are standing against people forget who they are speaking against people forget the fear of god in their words that they speak you know people are so afraid to speak against a witch and a warlord oh bigger whatever the fellow curse will come to pass but they are not frightened to speak against the church because that god there man he's a santa claus who shows up on christmas only and their god is dead people are not frightened to speak against the pastor against the family against the church against the things of the house of god they're not frightened anymore but speak about oh this road leads to the witch you better don't go there you go and you'll be cursed but people don't mind coming to the church kappa career and curse the church and go out because god is not there are you listening oh my goodness is it true it is time to bring back god in the land it is it is time to bring back the holy spirit in what we are doing it is time to have a heart of repentance and conviction because we love jesus not because it was a great message because god is active the bible says even though it hurts you what you say if you say it do it you will stand before the presence of the almighty god how many things we have said my brothers and sisters if you ask how to come into a position of favor before the presence of god these are one of those things that our hearts are active now having said all this but when it when ananias heard these words he just fell down and breathed his lust stopped great fear came upon all the people who heard it okay done and very quickly they disposed the body now in america in singapore you can't you got to call the police and then here comes the afternoon interval of three hours his wife came in they already planned this time not knowing what has happened and peter said to her tell me whether you sold the land for so much listen i want to give you a piece of advice when you know that is a direct question don't lie because god is at work at least husband and wife one must be telling the truth if two are liars you're done here the second one come um tell me how much and then this is what and peter said how much did you sold and then she said yes for so much but peter said to her how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the lord so the word that agreed together means they already did conspire in their home this question will come and if they do ask this question this is how you must answer how many times we lie for not coming to the praying meeting oh my child is sick and then by the time you finish and go back your child becomes sick you know why because out of your mouth you just curse your own child got to be mindful what you're saying if you can't come you can't come but don't say something wrong don't lie to the holy spirit oh my god just broke down you will have it tomorrow it will break down you know being honest before god is much more cheaper than lying and seeing the consequences of it isn't it think about that because people have forgotten and the more we enthrone jesus in the house of god the more we walk with the fear of god and i believe something has happened this afternoon when you guys were fasting and praying in this place something happened because god's presence and fire is not a result of unbelief it is always a result of prayer and repentance because you didn't know what i'm going to preach james don't know what i'm going to preach you know there are churches that the worship will be aligned together with the preaching so the pastor will say this what i'm going to preach you'll select the songs you know james and i we have been what serving together for 13 years you know i i don't think so maybe two times i would have said okay this is what can you sing that song but you won't ask what's my sermon he will never ask still today it is not our practice because the spirit of god is active in this guy you see so when he leads that is the active work of the holy spirit that takes over and then the message and the worship sounds the same because god is at work but what if the worship the message and the people's heart are equally the same and you know this is what's going to happen today because god is at work the bible says there was some kind of a conspiracy how is that you agreed together to test the holy spirit behold the feet of those who have your husband are at the door now listen if i would preach this way the police will be stationed every sunday outside every time in the power of the holy spirit fell under the church someone died on that sunday the pastor will be arrested for wudu and witchcraft kenneth hagin and oral roberts were arrested before when they were young in the healing evangelism for practicing medicine without a license they were not doctors they were praying for healing but they were arrested and our name of the church if anybody dies during a service well we publish on shelby star this church is strange people are dying because we don't expect god to show up my brothers and sisters are you with me so the first aspect is the power of repentance it doesn't matter whether you are in church over the outside because the location is not mentioned it does not mention that they were during a prayer meeting the holy spirit spoke no this man walked towards the apostle and there the holy spirit spoke that means you don't need a praying environment for the holy spirit to be at work you probably could be walking into the church office and bang the spirit of god is active now you see it's a scary moment you want more of god that's all we need now nobody says well everybody fights against tithe why must i give tithe why must it be ten it is the old covenant law it is this no that why do you draw the old covenant blessings then many of the continuation of the new testament blessings were based on the old there is a flow on of god all the abundance that you are looking for is found in the old testament every scripture so there is a flow of god's commands in the new testament your giving is not based on 10 it could be 10 and whatever your heart is graciously telling you to give why is god's favors coming upon us is because the 10 percent is your scythe then every other time you are giving us and when the holy spirit tells you to give you are responding to it amen then god's favor has fallen the god is not alone shaq but there are people who can't give god's love comes in other ways to tell them it's not a desperate plan to lie about a thief do you understand what i'm saying but the point being is having a repentant heart when you walk through the property of the church when he walked through the campus of the church when he walked through the aisles of the church when he dropped through the hallway of the church wherever you whisper the lord is watching the fear of the lord must come and grip our soul imagine when we walk with that conviction when our children are struggling through in their workplace god will speak to you when our children are struggling through in their bed and they are crying over something that happened in their school the holy spirit will wake you up your daughter is troubled because your heart becomes soft before the holy spirit something could be happening right there in their workplace or their school or their driving moment and the holy spirit will tell you pray now and intervene and the angels will be dispatched like 9-1-1 how is that because you are a praying person my brothers and sisters the spirit of prayer you will become the invisible angel standing beside the mother who is screaming to give birth or she will die you'll become the angel your prayer will assist her to give birth you'll become the invisible angel behind beside a homeless person about to die and someone is coming to give because you are interceding and god sends you on a mission you'll become the invisible angel in someone who's earthquake and they're caught and the child is there screaming and crying for help you'll become the invisible angel in your prayer and intercession when god sends you on a mission to that nation because god heard your prayer the only way we will become missionaries before we can ever travel out to another nation is that when we are on a mission on our knees and only a praying church can take that assignment i keep saying this again and i will say that again before we pray together we pray for open heavens over this county we pray open heavens over the churches who are gathered here we pray for open heavens over every church that is struggling through some churches the pastors are retiring and there's no one to take over what if we pray and god will send a man who's anointed by god it is possible when we pray and that's our assignment to become a prayer junction that god can do those things this evening i want to leave you with this thought of the eck of repentance it is not necessarily an outward manifestation that every altar call is full of repentance and crying and wallowing and weeping and tissue paper and slimy things it's not about that it's having a repentant heart if not it will become a religious experience brother forgive me brother sister forgive me forgive me it is a religious act no a repentant heart so that we will measure what we say and be careful in what we do and then god's favor will come we will not be afraid to respond to god nor to give to god because god is at work can we all stand up together

Channel: Jesus My King Church

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Length: 74min 11sec (4451 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021