In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of spending time talking to Jesus every day. He encourages the congregation to attend the prayer seminar and promises that God will do something great among them. The preacher shares his personal testimony of being a new Christian and how Jesus transformed his life. He also emphasizes the need to be true to oneself and preach the way God has called each individual.

This morning, let's determine, if you will, to Matthew chapter 21. Good to be with you. I ask our ushers at this time, if you will, to pass out some sermon outlines. Everyone should get a message this morning, and the sermon outline is titled, The Prayer Life of Jesus. The Prayer Life of Jesus. We've been looking forward to this time together for some time, and excited about what God's going to be doing. Amen? You know, I've talked to people that say, I can't wait to get to heaven and spend my first hundred years just talking to Jesus. You know, you ever heard anybody say that? You maybe said it yourself. Or I want to be good to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and people get real spiritual on you, and they'll say, well, man, I want to talk to Jesus. I just, you know, I've got a lot of things I want to ask the Lord about. I want to, I've heard people say it, Brother Rick, I want to spend my first hundred years, I mean, after all, we're going to be there for a long time. Hello. Amen? Spend my first hundred years just talking to Jesus. You know what? The very same people won't spend an hour talking to Him every day now. Amen? Oh, folk, I tell you what, we're missing out. We're missing out. This week, if you'd like to go to another level with the Lord, Amen? you'd be here every night. If you can't be here this morning, you'd be sure you don't miss tonight. Amen? We're praying that God will do something great and mighty among all of us. Amen? Now, I'm passing out a sermon outline right now. The reason I'm doing that is the sermon outline you have is the first message in the prayer seminar. Tonight, if you come back, you'll get a notebook like this. There's no charge for it. It's free to you. It's free to the church. There's no charge to the church or anything. It's just something I want to give to you. It's a prayer seminar notebook. And in the back half portion of it, it's a prayer journal. How you can have your own personal prayer journal. A lot of times people will say, you know, I understand, Brother Jack, after the prayer seminar that there's a need to pray, but what do you do in your prayer life? How do you have a prayer journal? How do you organize your prayer life? Well, we'll be dealing with that this week. But we're not going to pass this out this morning. Amen? I know why. Let me tell you why. A lot of people got the Scripture all mixed up, Brother Rick. They believe that the Bible said that this is the Lord's hour. Amen? This ain't the Lord's hour. This is the Lord's day. Hello? Amen? All day. Amen? Every day. The Bible says this is the day the Lord has made. We're going to be meeting with Him and one another here all week long. And we pray that you'd be back here tonight and we'll just glean from what God's Word has to say concerning this issue of prayer. Folks, I tell you, we've done it every other way. It's time we started doing it God's way. Amen? It's simply glorious and gloriously simple. I preached to 125 pastors last Thursday night in Louisiana. And I shared with them and as I preached there, I said, you know what, we don't need many more prayer seminars. The main thing we need to do is do what we know we need to be doing all along. And that's making God's house a house of prayer. If you have your Bibles open, I want you to stand with me in honor of God's Word. Matthew 21. I'm going to preach a message to you tonight or this morning, excuse me. A message entitled, The Prayer Life of Jesus. Because we talk about it and people say, Brother Jack, what's your prayer life like? Or Brother Rick, what's your prayer life like? Or ask someone else. Well, friend, I'll tell you, I think we ought to come to the master prayer warrior. Amen? Nobody ever prayed like Jesus. So let's look at His prayer life this morning. Matthew 21. And if you don't have a Bible with you, bring one back tonight. And it's a portion of the Scriptures at the top of your sermon outline there in Matthew 21. Does everyone have a sermon outline? If you don't have one, raise your hand. And everyone's going to need a pencil this morning. This is not a test, amen, but you're going to need a pencil or a pen. Amen? There should be one there in the pew because you've got some words you're going to want to fill in. Matthew 21, verse 13, Jesus said, the Bible said, He said unto them, It is written, My house, Amen? Whose house is this? Amen. My house, Jesus said, shall be called the house of prayer. Now you notice what Jesus didn't say. He didn't say it should be. Jesus is emphatic about the ministry of prayer in the church. In fact, right here, we see Jesus more visibly, physically angry than any other place in all of the Bible. He just got through turning over the tables of the money changers. I mean to tell you folks, He got righteous indignation. We focus a lot of time on the money changers, but I'm going to tell you something folks. I believe that Jesus was upset that day, Brother Rick, about what He did not see as what He did see. See, if the church had been a house of prayer, they wouldn't have been doing the wrong thing. Amen? The table of the money changers there, yeah, that was wrong, but I'm going to tell you something, the main thing, they weren't doing. He said, It is written, My house should be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. You know what? I know more churches can be called a house of problems than a house of prayer. Some of you have been there. The devil hates the church. He makes his house a house of prayer, I guarantee you. The gates of hell now prevail against that church. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, thank You, Lord Jesus, for the Word of God. Lord, I pray that You teach us to pray like the disciples ask You to teach them to pray. Lord, teach us the mighty principles from God's Word this morning about this subject of prayer. Lord, there's nothing we could do more powerful, more prevailing, Lord, more anointed than to pray. Lord, there's nothing we can do more in our lives that will help our homes. There's nothing we can do more in our lives that will help our nation, our schools, our children, the marriages that are represented here. Lord, the church, Lord, is to pray. Father, I pray in Jesus' name, Lord, that You teach us to pray this morning. Lord, I pray that we not just be hearers of Your Word, but we be doers as well. Let's all pray to Jesus from our hearts and from our lips together this morning. With every head bowed, every eye closed, let's pray to Jesus together. Dear Lord Jesus, please speak to my heart today. Help me to do what You say. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Number one, I want you to put in your sermon outline notebook there, Jesus' prayer life was powerful. Does anyone not have a pencil or pen? If you don't have one, don't be embarrassed. Just raise your hand. We'll get you one. Anybody? And don't get a sermon outline just for your wife, sir, and you sit there and not take notes. Amen? Everybody has a sermon outline. Amen. Jesus' prayer life was powerful. It was powerful. Amen? There's power in prayer. Anybody ever heard that? I'm going to promise you one thing, folks. There is power in prayer. Look at Luke 3. We're just going to be looking at the book of Luke predominantly this morning. Luke 3, verses 21 and 22. The Bible says, And when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and what? What was He doing? Praying. Amen? The heaven was open. Amen? Now, I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to tell you what's powerful. Anything that will open heaven. Are you out there? The heaven was open and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape. We're going to be talking more about that tonight. What seven things prayer will do for the church. You know what brought the Holy Spirit of God down in that first New Testament church? Prayer did. In that chapter 2, they met in an upper room and they prayed and the Holy Ghost came down. Amen? Prayer is powerful. Jesus said you shall be endued with power from on high after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Then you'll be a witness. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. You don't have the power of God in your life unless you're a prayer warrior. Amen? There's not one thing that will open up heaven and it's not preaching. And it's not singing either. And it's not tithing. I guarantee you prayer opens up heaven. Solomon prayed. Prayer went up. In 2 Chronicles 7, the glory of God came down. Amen? Elijah prayed. In 1 Kings 18, his prayer went up. The heaven opened up. And what came down? Fire came down again. Amen? Another place rain came down. Prayer is powerful. The disciples prayed. Prayer went up. Heaven opened up. Folk, I'll tell you. Heaven ought to open up two times when you pray. Number one, when your prayer goes up. Number two, when the answer comes down. Amen? Prayer is powerful. The Holy Ghost descended upon him in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, and thee I am well pleased. Let me tell you something. In his own baptism, Jesus prayed in heaven. It didn't say when he just got baptized that heaven opened up. In fact, you might notice all the rest. It didn't say heaven opened up when anybody else got baptized. It kind of makes me wonder if they were praying. And by the way, friend, it's not just heaven opened up when Jesus prayed. Heaven opened up when Elijah prayed. Heaven opened up when the disciples prayed. Heaven opens up when you pray. Prayer is powerful. Let's say you go out to start your car tomorrow morning, and all it does is just kind of grunt. You know, just kind of grunt. Gives it one of them. I'm going to tell you what you do. You take that battery out of that car. You take it down to the garage, and they put it on what they call a battery charger. And watch this. For one hour, for one hour, that battery isn't putting out one thing. All it's doing is taking in. Then put it back in your car. It'll whoop it right over, amen? You know what? I'll tell you something, my brother. We've got too many preachers in the pulpits. We've got too many people in our choir. We've got too many Sunday school teachers. We've got too many people in our churches. We've got too many mamas, too many daddies, too many young people trying to go out there and live the victorious Christian life in their own strength, in their own power. And it's a mighty sickly little deal, because every time they turn on their light, they just put kind of a little dim glow up there on the side of the wall. You know what you need to do? You get alone with Jesus every morning for an hour. I'm going to promise you one thing. It'll bring power into your life. Tomorrow, you spend an hour getting charged up with Jesus, and you see at the end of the day, you don't have power to spare. Amen? Still going! You know, some people, brother, they look like question marks instead of explanation points. Amen? It's kind of, you know, kind of making it through the Christian life. Well, I'll be glad to get the glory. You know, it always brings despair and agony on me. You know, it isn't going to have much power in your life. Would you like some power in your life today? Check in with the God of this universe. Start talking to Him. Amen? You know what the Bible says in James? We have not because we ask not. Need wisdom today? According to James 1, verse 5, the Bible says you get it by asking God for it. What's that? That's prayer. James 1, verse 5 says, If any man lack wisdom, let him what? Ask of God. We'll ask the banker. Ask the seminary. Ask the preacher. Ask this person. Why don't you ask God? Amen? Boy, I'll tell you. Prayer is powerful. Ian Bowne said, Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power. Would you like power in your life this week? Would you like power in your life? I don't know about you. I turned 53 this last week. I've been saved for 18 years this coming July 4th. The only regret I have is I don't have more life to live for Jesus. Everything I do, I want to do it all out for Jesus. You see, before I got saved, I did it all out for the devil. The devil used my name. The devil used my life for the better part of 35 years for him. And you know what? I was a powerful tool in the hands of the devil for the better part of 35 years. I was facing 20 years of federal prison when I got saved July 4th, 1982. I was a drug addict, an alcoholic, a thief. I'd done it all. But friend, I'm going to tell you something. When Jesus came into my life, He saved my soul. And now I want to be a powerful tool for the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not what I ought to be, but bless God, I'm not what I used to be. Amen? The preacher didn't tell you what I told him to tell you when he wanted to introduce me. I told him, I said, You tell him I'm a sinner saved by grace. He cleaned it up a little bit. But that's what I am. Amen? But folk, I'll tell you something. I just want to be more powerful for the Lord. You want to be powerful for Jesus? Amen? You know where you win the battle? Right here on your knees. Well, number two, Jesus' prayer life was powerful. Number two, Jesus' prayer life was private. It was private. Jesus got alone with His Heavenly Father. Luke 5 and verse 16 says, And when He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and He what? Prayed. Jesus, sometimes He went to the Mount of Olives. Sometimes He went to the wilderness. Sometimes He went to the seashore. Sometimes He went to Gethsemane. He got alone with His Heavenly Father. Wherever you can get alone with God is a holy place. Moses went to Mount Sinai. Elijah went to Mount Carmel. He went to the brook on another occasion. Daniel had his upper room. Wherever you can get alone with Jesus, you need to have a private place. We'll be talking about that more this week. Do you have a place? Do your children, do your grandchildren know the first thing you do every morning is get alone with the God of this universe? A private time? You know, listen to me. Listen to me. Everybody look up here just for a second. There are some things that you've got to do alone in life. And getting with God is one of them. Amen? Get alone with Him. A private alone time with Him. Just you and God. Nobody else. We were talking about this last night, brother. Just having some time, getting away. You know, and vacations are good. But you know what you need every day? You need a vacation from this world. You need a vacation? You can have one every day. Go to bed an hour earlier and get up an hour earlier and just you and God. You can leave this world and get alone with the God of this universe. See, I'm just Private Jack Daniels checking in for orders every morning to King Jesus. See, I didn't stop being a slave when I got saved. Amen? I just changed masters. There's nothing wrong with being a slave as long as you've got the right master. You get alone with Him every day, friend. I'll tell you, you'd be too blessed to be depressed. Amen? Number three, Jesus' prayer life had purpose. His prayer life had purpose. Look at Luke chapter 6, verse 11 through 13. His prayer life had purpose. Now, you better be writing this down. Now, you won't remember it. By the time you get to that door, you won't remember it. I believe that the weakest thing is better than the strongest memory. Amen? Luke chapter 6, verse 11 through 13. The Bible says, speaking of the Pharisees, and they were filled with madness and communed one another what they might do to Jesus. Now, Jesus has got a bunch of Pharisees trying to destroy Him. Jesus has got challenges in His life. Anybody here have any challenges in your life? Possibly, maybe, little, big? I think that's all of us. Everybody's honest. Raise your hand. The rest of you ought to. Amen? We all got challenges. Amen? I don't care who you are. In fact, right here is Scripture-proof text to the fact. The more on the front line you are for Jesus, the bigger your challenges are going to be. So if the devil ain't on you, if the devil isn't after you, it could be because you're going the same way he is. He don't bother people that don't do much, very much. Amen? You come, you sit, soak, sour, and split, you probably get by on an hour a day. The rest of us, we need a little bit more. Amen? Jesus! They were trying to destroy Jesus, and they're getting together. They've got a little committee meeting going over here, brother. Really? They met with one another. What are we going to do to Jesus? Boy, this Scripture really ministers to pastors a lot. I don't know one pastor that doesn't have a purpose to pray. They communed with one another what they might do to Jesus. And it came to pass in those days that He went out into a mountain to what? Pray. Now, in Luke 5, He was in the wilderness. Here, He's on a mountain. Amen? Amen! And He continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples. Of them, He chose 12 whom He also named apostles. Now, watch this. Behind Jesus, He's got a lost world trying to destroy Him. Ahead of Him, He's got a lost world He's trying to win through self. And tomorrow, He's going to choose 12 apostles that would be used of God to literally turn our world upside down. I would imagine sometime during the night, in that all-night prayer meeting, He was praying about those Pharisees that were trying to destroy Him. I would imagine sometime in that all-night prayer meeting with His heavenly Father, He was praying, Father, what 12 apostles do You want me to choose tomorrow that would be used of God to literally turn our world upside down for the cause of Christ? Now, make no mistake about it. There's nobody here that's going to be choosing 12 apostles tomorrow to turn our world upside down for the cause of Christ. But nonetheless, you do have some decisions to make. It's your job. It's your ministry. It's school, young people. It's about your children. It's about your future. It's your finances. It's your health. Jesus spent all night in prayer to God. Jesus needed to know the mind of God. Do you need to know answers to questions you've got? You know, brother Rick, how would it bless you if you had people that come to you just from time to time here in your church? And you may have. You may have. But let's put it this way. Doesn't it bless you when you do have people that come to you from time to time and say, Brother Rick, let me show you something, what God showed me that I'm supposed to do about a situation in my life? You know, this morning at my prayer time, I was praying, and the Lord showed me in His Word, and by the way, this is God's way of speaking to you. Prayer is your way of speaking to Him. Amen? You can't separate prayer and the Word of God. By the way, you'll never pray outside the will of God when you pray the Word of God. Amen? You find a Word and you can stand on it, because heaven and earth are going to pass away, but God's Word will never pass away. Isn't it a blessing too when people come to you and say, Brother Rick, you know, I thank God for your ministry here, but Brother Rick, you know what? I didn't need to come to you about this and ask for your wisdom, your understanding, your knowledge about this. God showed me what to do. Folks, I'm going to tell you something. You've got a reason to pray. You know what Martin Luther, the great reformer, said? Martin Luther, the great reformer, said this. He said, I have so much to do in my ministry that I must spend my first three hours of every day in prayer. Makes sense to me. I've heard people say, well, I'm a busy man. I would pray, but I'm awfully busy. Son, if you're awfully busy, you've really got a lot to pray about. Amen? Hello? The busier you are, you've got more to pray about, unless you plan on doing it on your own. And see, if you do that, then God don't get the glory for anything. We've got a reason to pray. We've got things nipping at our heels. Some of you have got health problems. You've got finances. You've got this. The devil's trying to destroy you, the same as he was trying to destroy Jesus. Jesus went up into a mountain and prayed about it. Some of you just need to get serious about prayer. Amen? We're going to be talking about it this week. You've got decisions to make tomorrow. Decisions. About your children. We're going to be doing nothing but dealing how to pray for your children and your grandchildren. One night. We're going to take all night just praying. Well, not all night. You'll think it's all night by the time we get through. But we're going to be dealing with how to pray for your children and your grandchildren. Amen? 3 John 4 is my last Scripture for my children. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 4. You need to claim that verse for your children every day. We'll spend one night talking about it. Friend, I'm going to tell you, there's a reason to pray. Amen? The reason is, we don't have all the facts and God does. The reason is, John 15, verse 5, Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branch, and without me you can do nothing. But Philippians 4, verse 13, Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The reason, the purpose we have for prayer is, without Him we can do nothing, but bless God, with Him we can do anything. Amen? Man! Prayer is good. You know what I mean? Well, Jesus' prayer life had purpose. Jesus' prayer life had purpose. We talk about WWJD. What would Jesus do? Amen? Amen? He would pray. That's what He'd do. Man! Number four, Jesus' prayer life was personal. It was personal. Now this is different from being private. You'll see what I mean in a minute. Luke chapter 9, verse 18. The Bible says, And it came to pass, as He was alone praying, Amen? His disciples were with Him. Doesn't that look funny to you? I didn't know you could be alone and still with somebody. The Bible says you can be. As He was alone praying, His disciples were with Him. And He asked them, saying, whom say people that I am. Let me show you how that's possible. Let's just say, every born again child of God here this morning, and by the way, the only way you can have an effective prayer life is to be born again. Some of you say, my prayers never get answered. I'll guarantee you one thing, the first thing you need to do is check up on your salvation. You tell me you talk to your heavenly Father, you never get any prayers answered? That'd be like saying your children talk to you and you never answer them. You wouldn't be much of a parent, and God wouldn't be much of a Father if you talked to Him and He didn't answer your prayers. Hello? Friends, the prayer you need to pray is that sinner's prayer. You don't pray in grounds with God the Father. But Jesus' prayer life was personal. You know why His prayer life was personal? Because He had a personal relationship with His Father. And watch this, He was alone praying, but His disciples were with Him. Let me show you how that can be done. If every one of us here this morning... Are we all together in a room? Yes, we are. We're all together in this room. Amen? But right now, if every one of us were to just stop, sit right where you are, and we were to bow our heads, and we were to go to the Father personally, one-on-one, would we be alone with Him praying? Would God hear each and every one of our prayers individually and personally? No wonder the Bible says He was alone praying. Amen? He was alone with the Heavenly Father. Yet, He was with a lot of other people. I do that all the time. We'll go out soul winning, telling people about Jesus. Be two or three of us. One guy telling people about Jesus. Somebody about Jesus. Be somebody over here on the side. Be praying. We're with one another. I'm alone with my Father praying for that old boy. Amen? You know, Jesus warned about people. See, some people, they pray to be heard of men. Some of you may say, well, I have a problem praying in public, preacher. You know, Jesus prayed in public here and everything, but I have a problem praying in public. Well, I can solve your problem. Next time you're called on to pray in public, you pray as if nobody is in the entire universe but you and Jesus. And He'll hear your prayer personally. Amen? See, you don't pray to be heard of men. I heard about this old boy. He's a new Christian. I love to hear new Christians pray, don't you brother? I mean, what you see is what you get. I mean, they're just honest in their prayer life. I love to hear new Christians pray. I love it. Now some of these old boys, they get up in the pulpit. Some of them pray a prayer that's an inch deep and a mile wide. I mean, it just goes on and on and on and on. And you know what they're going to pray? Because they pray the same prayer every time. Every time. And they just pray a prayer. I heard somebody else pray it, and it sounds pretty good. And you know what? They're not praying personally. Amen? And if that's you, folk, I'll tell you something. Next time you pray in public, pray to God and Him alone. Boy, he was a new Christian. He got called on to pray. Boy, I mean, I never will forgive him. My pastor called on me to pray right after I first got saved. I really thought, listen, Lord, my witness, I thought he was trying to run me off from the church. He'd call on me all the time. And I didn't know. I failed one course in school, and it was speech. Some of you understand that. But anyway, it would be just like God to call me to preach. But anyway, I was petrified to get up in front of people to say anything. I mean, you'd call on me, just say my name. My hand is going to be sweaty. He'd always call me to preach. Now, I hated praying in public, but I'd just pray. I didn't understand what he was doing then, but I do now. Amen. He saw God was doing something I couldn't see. I was clueless about it. I'll share my testimony about my calling maybe later on in the week. But anyway, this old boy, he's a new Christian, got called on to pray. He got up to pray. It was at the end of the service, and he was on dismissal prayer. He got up there. He didn't have a microphone on or anything. He just got up to pray, and he said, Well, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the message this morning. Thank you, Lord, for those that were saved. Thank you for my pickup. In Jesus' name, amen. I mean, just real. Amen. You might know it. He got back to the back door. There's an old Pharisee back there. I can't see him. Pharisee. By the way, take a good look at this suit. It's gone after the night. I wear it on Sunday morning for the Pharisees. Sunday night. The rest of the week, I'm in my jeans and my boots, and I'm going to be me. Amen. God called you to preach. You preach the way God called you to preach. Amen. You dress the way God called you to dress. I'm going to be in my jeans and boots the rest of the week. But anyway, this old boy got to the back door. This Pharisee was back there and said, Joe, son, next time you pray, you need to pray a little bit louder. He said, I couldn't hear a word you were saying. I was back here at the back. I couldn't hear a word you were saying. Joe said, I wasn't talking to you. Amen or oh me. Folks, let me tell you something. When you pray to God the Father, it's personal. Amen. Oh, man. Listen, we have a Father. See, my daddy died over 20 years ago, but you know what? I can go to my heavenly Father every day, personally, one-on-one, and I can talk to Him. Well, I don't feel like I can talk to anybody maybe about issues. You know, I found out something about God. You won't surprise me. You can be honest with God when you can't even feel the freedom to talk to maybe your own mate at that time about specific issues. The closest person to me on the face of this earth is my wife. My wife knows me like a book. I'm going to tell you something. Jesus knows me better. When I ask my wife to marry me, what do I ask her? Ask you, sweetheart. I ask her to be number two in my life for the rest of my life. My wife will never be number one in my life. My children will never be number one in my life. Jesus is number one. I can't be the right kind of daddy. I can't be the right kind of husband to my wife if Jesus is not number one. I'm going to be pitiful. We'll be talking about that later on in the week what prayer means to your family. Jesus' prayer life was personal. Number five. Jesus' prayer life altered His presence. Amen? Oh, boy. It altered His presence. Jesus' prayer life altered His presence. Luke 9, verse 28-29. And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings He took Peter and John and James and He went up into a mountain to what? Pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered. Amen? Oh, Moses. Look at Moses here in Exodus 34, verse 29. And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hands, when he came down from the mount, that Moses whisked not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with God. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. Prayer will change your face. And I know some faces that need changing. Some people come into church, brother, they look like they've been weaned on dill pickles. I've seen better advertisements on a bottle of iodine than some so-called badness I know. Sit back here. I just dare you to bless me. They sit, they soak, they sour, and they split. Friend, I promise you. One of two things is the case. Either that person has never been saved or they're terribly backslidden and out of fellowship with God. Now, I'm going to tell you where you get in fellowship with God. That's on your knees. I asked the pastor this morning to bring some Kleenex to the altar because I'm praying that that box be used up before the days are up. And it's a big box. Prayer will offer you presents. There was a lady up in Oklahoma in a prayer conference I did up there in Hartshorn, Oklahoma. Actually, it was a revival. I did many prayer conferences on Saturdays. I do many times. And then started a revival on Sunday morning and Sunday night. Well, I mean, man, this lady, she was just so pumped and fired up and everything. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday night, she was so excited about Jesus and everything. And I didn't know enough about her before the prayer conference to know what she was like, but people kept saying, you know, sister, so-and-so, something's gotten in her life. Boy, she's changed and everything. Well, Tuesday night she comes up to me. She said, Brother Jack, she said I had the most exciting thing happen today in my work. I said, what's that? She said, I work at the bank here. She said, I'm going to tell her. I work at the bank window. And she said, there's a lady that comes to our bank two or three times a week. She said, I haven't seen her for years. She said, I'll make all of her business transactions. Little, big, small town. Everybody knows everybody. She said, today she came through, made her financial transaction there. And she looked at me and said, are you a Christian? She said, well, yes, I am. She said, I've been knowing this lady for years and years. She said she'd never asked that question before. She said, so I had to ask her. She said, yes, I am. She said, how come you'd ask? She said, you look like it today. Amen? Hey, that lady's been saved for some time. The sun. She got fired up about Jesus. She got along with the Heavenly Father. Lit her fire. Oh, Jesus, you can't spend an hour alone with the God of this universe every morning and remain the same. Hear what I'm telling you. Amen? Amen? You cannot spend an hour alone with the God of this universe and remain the same. You're going to get changed. Now, I mean, He will wear you out too. Amen? I ain't telling you all bubbly and fun. Hello. But see, that's the way we are as sheep. Some of us need some skinning. Hello. Well, number six. Jesus' prayer life had priority. Look at Luke 11, verse 1. Jesus' prayer life had priority. The Bible says, And it came to pass that as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to what? Pray. Let's say those words together that are underlined. Lord, teach us to pray. Let's say them one more time. Lord, teach us to pray. If God ever answers that prayer in your life, it will change your life. Where did you go to seminary, brother? Southwestern? Did they have a course at Southwestern? Just a course? Teaching preacher boys how to pray? Your pastor said no, they did not. Do you know Luke 11, verse 1 is the only place in all of the Bible, listen to me, that the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them anything. Anything. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. Chronologically, they had just got through hearing Jesus preach the greatest message that's ever been preached. The Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 6, and 7. They never asked Jesus, they said, Lord, teach us how to preach. Nowhere in the Bible. They'd seen Jesus feed 5,000. They never asked Jesus, they said, Lord, teach us to feed 5,000. They'd seen Jesus give sight to the blind, heal the leper, raise the dead. And they never asked Jesus to teach them any of those things. Do you know why? Listen to me, look up here. Do you know why they never asked Jesus to teach them any of those things? They only asked Jesus to teach them to pray because prayer had priority in Jesus' life. His relationship with His heavenly Father had priority in His life. Daddy, do you know what's going to cause your children to want to pray? If you have a prayer life. Church, pastor, do you know what's going to cause this church to want to pray? Your prayer life. Sunday school teachers, do you know what's going to cause your class to want to pray? Your prayer life. They could have asked Jesus to teach them anything, but they said, Lord, teach us to pray. You see, they understood that everything in their ministry would either rise or fall directly in proportion to how they prayed. They never said, Lord, teach us to preach. Teach us how to sing. Teach us how to do all these other things. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. Jesus' prayer life had priority. What's the priority number one in your life? Do you know how I can tell what's the priority number one in your life? What's the first thing you do in the morning when you get up? You know, I asked that same question to 125 pastors, 125 churches, last Thursday night. Brother, not one preacher, not one staff member raised their hand. And they represented seminaries all over the nation. Not one person raised their hand. There were more degrees in that room than a thermometer. I mean, people had all kinds of education. Been taught everything in the world. Not one of them had ever been to school where they taught them how to pray. We're teaching our preacher boys how to do everything, but the main thing. Well, ain't it fun when you can talk to the Lord? Number seven. Jesus' prayer life is persistent. It is persistent. Luke 18. The Bible says, He spake a parable unto them to this end that men... Men? All the men said was what? Amen? That men ought sometimes to pray. What does it say? Always to pray and not to faint. I love it that the Lord put it on men. See, you know what God called the men to be today in every age? The spiritual priests of their home. You know what a priest did? You know what a priest did in the Old Testament? He interceded on behalf of the children of Israel. Daddy, you better be a prayer warrior. And you better always pray and not faint. See, you're either praying or you're fainting. Children, listen to me, Daddy. Children of prayerless daddies are spiritual orphans. Wives of prayerless husbands are spiritual widows. Jesus said men are always to pray and not to faint. Every man in this room ought to be back here every night this week without excuse. I mean, see, we're going to find out. It's all a matter of priority. Amen? We're going to find out what's priority number one in your life this week. Is it your relationship with your father? Is it seeing to it that your family is prayed for and protected? Is it praying for your nation? The things we're going to be praying about? The hindrances of prayer? Is prayer priority in your life? Oh, friends, if it's not, it ought to be. Because Jesus' prayer life was persistent. By the way, yours ought to be as well. Hebrews 7.25. The Bible says, Wherefore, He is able to save them to the uttermost. Amen? Why? They come unto God by Him. Here's why. Seeing He ever, ever to make intercession for them. You know, I don't know a whole lot about what's going on up in heaven today. But I do know that Jesus is praying for lost people. He is able to save them to the uttermost and come unto God by Him. By the way, that's the only way you can come to God. It's through Jesus. Seeing He ever, ever to make intercession for you. You know, why don't you be an answer to Jesus' prayer life today? Amen? Jesus is praying for you. We'll be dealing with that this week. How to pray for lost people. Prayer opens hearts. In fact, we're going to be dealing with it tonight. Prayer opens lost people's hearts. You know what? I don't know how many of you have got family members. I had a great aunt that prayed me to Jesus. After I got saved, she passed away not long after I got saved. God left her alive at 89 years old until I got saved. I believe one of the key reasons was to pray me to Jesus. She had a little book, Angels, God's Secret Agents, in the back of her prayer, her little book with her prayer list from 1982. The only thing I got that my aunt had, God taught her that I got it because I didn't even realize it until later on. A year or so later, I opened up the back of the book and the back of the book had her prayer list from 1982. It said, it's the top of the prayer list, Jack and David Daniels. My aunt prayed for me. You may have a lot of people praying for you, but I guarantee you, I know who's praying for you. He is able to save you to the uttermost, from the guttermost to the uttermost. There's nobody here too bad to be saved, but there's nobody here too good. You don't need to be saved. Everybody needs Jesus. He's able to save you to the uttermost. They're coming to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth. He ever liveth to make intercession for you. He's praying for you. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. He's praying hard for you right now. See, the devil's voted against you. Jesus has voted for you. It's up to you to decide and vote. He's praying for you right now. He's praying for you to make the right decision. You know, He told His disciples, He said, I go to prepare a place for you. He might be through preparing our place, because the Bible doesn't say He ever liveth to prepare for us a place. He might be through preparing our place. I can't wait to see my place. Amen. But I'm going to tell you something. The Bible says He never stops praying. He ever liveth to intercede on behalf of lost people. And the church ought to do the same thing. We'll be dealing with that more this week. This morning, you say, well, my prayers just don't get answered that much. Preacher, you know, I pray, and it just doesn't seem like my prayers are getting any higher in the feeling. I've heard people say that. Well, I don't know what the problem is. It could be that you're not saved. Amen. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. I know when I talk to my God, He's hearing me. You know why? Because He's my Father. We have a personal relationship. And if you don't know Him personally, this morning, just get it settled. You say, well, I'm a Sunday school teacher. I'm a deacon. I'm a this, I'm a that. I've seen two pastors get saved last year. Two pastors get saved. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. Not everybody that says they're a Christian is a Christian. But He that doeth the will of the Father, which is in heaven, that's what Matthew chapter 7 says. If you don't know that you know that you're a child of God, this prayer you need to pray is that sinner's prayer. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Seven greatest words you could, seven greatest words you could ever pray. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Friend, I'm going to tell you something. You know why that happens? Heaven will open up. Amen. And the glory of God will come down, and Jesus will save your soul and wash you white as the snow. He'll save you here this morning. Let's pray. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Our Father tonight, or this morning, Lord, we come to you begging you in Jesus' name. Lord, to save lost people here this morning. People that are here this morning, Lord, that know the language of the Bible, but they don't know the Lord of the Bible. It's my prayer in Jesus' name, Lord, that you would just bring them to a personal relationship with you as the King of kings and Lord of lords. With every head bowed, every eye closed. Every head bowed, every eye closed. You're here this morning. Say, Brother Jack, I don't know for sure if I was to die today if I'd go to heaven. Well, friend, you need to get that settled. If there's anything in this world God wants you to know, it's where you're going when you die. I'll tell you why. Because eternity is entirely too long to be wrong. There's only two places that a person goes when they die according to the Bible. One's a place called heaven, and the other's a place called hell. If you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus, if you don't know Him personally, I'm not talking about just in your head. I'm talking about in your heart. If you were going to describe your relationship, your personal relationship with Jesus right now, would it be more in your head? Or do you know Him personally as your Lord, your Savior, your Master in your heart? If you don't know for sure this morning, why don't you pray the greatest prayer that's ever been prayed from the lips of anyone? Why don't you pray that sinner's prayer? I want to lead you in that prayer right now. With every head bowed and every eye closed. With every head bowed and every eye closed. You'll hear this morning say, Preacher, I don't know. I just don't know. If I know Jesus is my Savior or not. I believe in Him. I believe He's the Son of God. I believe He died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. But I don't know if He's my Savior. My own personal Savior. Friend, get it settled this morning. Eternity is too long to be wrong. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. You just whisper this prayer to Jesus. Let me tell you something about prayer. God can hear a whisper all the way to heaven. He can hear a simple whisper. Like that old boy said, I was talking to the Lord. And the Lord heard him. You're not praying this prayer to me. You're not praying this prayer for me. Not for your mama. Not for your daddy. Not for your husband. Not for your wife. Not for your pastor. It's between you and the Lord this morning. With every head bowed and every eye closed. I'm ready to settle it right now. Just whisper this prayer to Jesus. Just whisper it to Him. Dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. Without You, I'm lost. I'm headed for hell. But today, Lord Jesus, I ask You to forgive me of all of my sins. And I ask You right now, Lord Jesus, to come into my heart. Be my Lord, my Savior, and my Master. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my lost soul. You died for me. Now I'll live for You. In Jesus' name. As the bowed and eyes are closed. God bless you, sir. God bless you, ma'am. Oh, that's the greatest decision anybody ever made. You're here this morning. You just prayed that prayer. With every head bowed and every eye closed. No one looking around. You just prayed that prayer. And you really meant it. Right now, as a testimony to Jesus. Would you lift up your hand real high. Lift it up, all over. God bless you. Hands everywhere. God bless you. God bless you, sir. God bless you, ma'am. God bless you, ma'am. God bless you. God bless you back there. Oh, thank you, Jesus. God bless you, young man. Anyone else? You just prayed that prayer and really meant it. God bless you, sweetheart. God bless you, sir. God bless you, young man.