In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the last moments of Jesus with his disciples before his arrest. He highlights that Jesus gave seven crucial commands to his disciples, all of which revolve around prayer. The speaker emphasizes the importance of approaching prayer with a humble heart and aligning ourselves with God's word. He also emphasizes the need for united prayer in the church, as it is through prayer that God moves in a supernatural and abundant way. The speaker encourages the church to seek God's face and pray for the glorification of his name.

It's great to be here and sense his presence in this place with precious children of God. I want to pray with you. Let's just pray. Father, we need transformation in the inner man. We do not have to beg you tonight to move. You've brought us here yearning to move among your church people, your people who know you. There's no reluctance on your part. It's not what we do that will get you to move. Lord, it's the drawing of your heart to those who respond to what you've shown them of your light. And we know tonight you want to glorify your name in your church. So we pray tonight that this week, as so many people from this area come together, that you will speak to hearts at such a level that it feels like it might be the very first time you've ever spoke to them. That it'll be glorious in the hearts of those who hear. And there'll be a fear of God that brings us to spend time with you on our faces, in quietness and in confidence, and letting you be our strength. And so tonight, would you open your scripture. Lord, take it down beyond the resistance level, down to the part where no man can resist your living word. And may people who hear your voice, as it says you said, may they respond and live truly by the living word. We thank you in Jesus' name, in advance. Amen. Well, when you come to people that you don't know, and they have a hard time understanding your accent, you say, where is he from? I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. I have one wife and five children. And my wife and I were supposed to come to the UK for our 30th anniversary in June. I had it all planned out. I was going to re-propose to her in Mary's Rose Garden. I had big plans. But the day before we were to leave, her mother drew ill. And so instead of London, she went to Texas. And I stayed with the young people in our family. And she was there when her mother passed to Jesus' presence. And so she was a little upset with me coming over here without her. But then there's other things going on in her family right now as well. So I want to greet you from Atlanta, Georgia, and ask you to please pray for our nation because we're in trouble. Would you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 14? And I want to... When revival comes, how deep the Word of God goes in our lives and how long the movement of God is sustained in a given church community, in a people of God, depends on several things. You will never see revival until we have a revelation of what we're going to talk about tonight in depth in our heart. We won't have revival just because we need it desperately. We won't have revival just because we are convincing people of how needy we are. We'll only have revival when we recover the vision of God as He gives it to us, when we respond to what He says to us. Nothing else will work if we humble ourselves under His presence. I almost felt that the Lord wanted us to just make our chairs into an altar before I started and say, Lord, we want to get down before You and humble ourselves and say, we need You to speak to us afresh. But I believe that He will do His own Word to our heart, even as we read these words together. So in John chapter 14, I want to read, beginning in about verse 10, and I want to just set a background before we read from this. In John 14, 15, and 16, the Lord Jesus is spending His last moments with His disciples before He goes to be arrested. And in these three chapters, He gives them things that are crucial for walking in His Spirit and understanding the ways of the Holy Spirit in their life. And seven times, seven times, He gives seven last commands in these three chapters. You've all heard messages on the seven last words of the Savior on the cross. You know, Father, forgive them. Into Thy hands I commit my spirit. These are the seven last commands He gave to His disciples before He went and was arrested and was crucified. And they all have to do with prayer. All of them. And so you see in John chapter 14, Him saying, I'm going away. Don't let your heart be troubled. I'm going to prepare a place for you. But not just prepare a place. I'm going to prepare you for that place. And He's going to show how He does it in these chapters. Seven words about prayer. That's so significant. And so you see in verse 10, He says, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you, I'm not speaking of my own initiative or of myself, but the Father who dwells in me, He is doing the work. He's saying, I as the Son of God do nothing of my own independence, but everything I do is initiated from the Spirit of God. Believe me that I'm in the Father, and the Father in me. Or else believe me for the very work's sake, for the fruit of what's coming forth. And here's our text. Verily, verily, it's from the Hebrew amin, amin. It means steadfast truth, unbreakable truth. Verily, verily, I say to you that He that believes on me. It's a present tense. The One who is believing on me, the works that I do, shall He do also. And then he adds this part. And greater than these shall He do. So if we stop there, it might make us think that we're going to be developed to an incredible extent, greater than Jesus. But the key is the next phrase. The reason we'll do greater works is because I'm going to the Father. He's telling them that I'm about to be crucified, I'm going to be buried, I'm going to be raised from the dead, and because I'm going to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, I'm going to be the high priest of the throne room with all authority in heaven and earth. I will arbitrate to you the promise and the gift of the Father, and by Him you will be able to do the same things that I've done. I'm sending you the same way. He says because I'm with the Father, the body will do greater things. How could we ever do greater things than Jesus? It's because His life is reproduced all over the globe. It's a cosmic, global body of Christ. And then he says, but here's the key ingredient of how He'll do it. And whatsoever, notice the word, and whatsoever, you shall ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. What a definition of prayer. It's not to satisfy man or to gratify man, it's to glorify God. And it's not to get man's will done in heaven, it's to get God's will done on earth. Whatever you ask of the Father, whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, so that, not that you'll be just blessed or prosperous, but so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And then he says it again. If you ask anything in my name, then I will do it. See, when speaking of prayer, the Bible uses big words. Big words, and we've read them so much that we need to read them like we've never read them before. On our knees, with an open heaven. All prayer is supernatural. Our mistake is we think we can learn to pray by listening to other people pray. And then we say the same words and we leave ourselves short of the Spirit's teaching to us on prayer. All prayer is supernatural. And the reason we give out so quickly when we try to spend time alone with God is because we're trying to enter into that celestial, eternal realm in the strength of the old man and in what others have taught us about prayer. We need to say tonight to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray. And so he says, whatsoever you ask, I will do. But there's a phrase in there that I left out. You know what it is? It's anything you ask, I will do. Someone prayed that tonight. What's the phrase I left out? In my name. And oh, what a key there is that he gives to us here in these chapters about praying in his name. You can ask what you will and greater things than you even ask or think I will do when you ask it in my name. So the promises to prayer, especially corporate prayer, are mind-boggling. If a billionaire came in here and wrote you a blank check and left it blank to this church, it wouldn't be worth half as much or anything compared to what the Lord's promises are to this body right here to have a vision for coming together and really praying in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is to do greater works. It says it right here. And the reason we are is because he's with the Father and he's arbitrating his grace to us. So prayer is set forth in these chapters as the great way, the primary human factor in realizing God's will on earth. Prayer. That's what he says. It's through prayer that it comes. So you see, the book of Acts starts at the Ascension. It doesn't start, in fact, it's really the Acts of the Holy Spirit written about what man did as they yielded to him. And so you see in that first chapter of Acts as it goes through, God educating his church about his name. And I want to show you this for a moment because tonight what I want to do is talk about what it really means to pray in Jesus' name. Because I would submit to you, I think, that 80% of the professing church has never really gone into what it really means. You know, when I always pray with my kids, my youngest is 21, brother. And growing up we'd always get on our faces with the map of the world, we'd pray. And they got to where they learned to pray on a certain level. But kids, when they pray, sometimes they'll pray and at the end they'll say, I ask you in Jesus' name, amen. I say, what? I ask you in Jesus' name, amen. I say, what did you say? In Jesus' name, amen. I say, wait a minute, slow down. That part of what you just prayed is the most important part of your prayer. Don't just sling it on or say, we just thank you. There's an understanding with an intelligent, consecrated revelation to our heart, what it really means to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Because he says, whatever you ask, not just ask, but in my name, that will I do. It is possible that people who pray a lot may never ever really even enter in to what it really means to pray in Jesus' name. Because I'm going to the Father. Because you see, the Lord Jesus emptied himself of his eternal sonship. And he took on, as it were, the fashion of a servant before he ever became a man. Then he was found in fashion as a man. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself even unto death, even the death of the cross. And because of that humbling process, God raised him up from the dead and gave him the name, it says, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Things in heaven, that's angels. Things on the earth, that's all of mankind and everyone who's ever lived. And things under the earth, that's demons that grit their teeth when they hear the name of Jesus. It makes them tremble. So we need to learn about the power of his name. You see, you see in the Gospels, Jesus dying for our sins, mission on earth accomplished. But you see in the book of Acts, mission begun in heaven. He sends the Spirit into the hearts of his people. He says, you, the first, the only thing he left on this planet when he went to heaven was a praying church. I will build my church. But let me tell you, when he builds it, it's a pattern, like the tabernacle was for the temple. It's a pattern of heaven. He says, I will build my church, my Father's house shall be called a house of, not worship, although we do worship, hallelujah, not just preaching, thank God for preaching, but if you wanted to pick something distinctive that the world would say, that's what they do, it'd be known as, they're a house of prayer. But you see, the prayer meeting is the stepchild of the church. You want to know how much people love the Lord, you come to prayer meeting. You want to know how much they love your church, come on Sunday morning maybe. Or your pastor, come on Sunday night. If you want to know how much they love Jesus, come to prayer meeting. It's amazing, we say we love Jesus, but people don't come to prayer meeting. I guess it's because we think that we're uncomfortable in that realm. I'm believing tonight the Lord will make some of us uncomfortable enough to where we'll really enter in and dare to enter a new place on this matter. See, he sat down on the right hand, of all the things it says in Hebrews, here's the psalm, we have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of God the Father almighty. And we have a ministry of preaching the word and coming out to the world with the gospel. That's like the prophet speaking the word. But we also have a ministry of a priest, a royal priesthood, and they bring men's needs in before God and lift them, and they mediate between heaven and earth. Paul said, I want to make full proof of my ministry. I wonder tonight if we could say, I'm making full proof of my ministry as a royal priesthood. He's the high priest, and I'm in his priesthood like the sons of Aaron were in his. Anyone who has faith in me, who's believing in me, they will do greater works than I have done because I will be with the Father to arbitrate. So if you ask in my name, I will do. Throughout the whole New Testament, let's keep turning to John 15, and I want you to see there, there's seven times in these chapters he talks about prayer. In chapter 15, verse 7, he says, if you abide in me, or remain in me, and my rhemas remain in you. See, there's a word for word in the English language that's Logos. It's used a thousand times in the New Testament. It's God's unchanging, unvariable word. But only 56 times the word rhema is used. It's translated word, but that means when the Spirit takes this word and speaks it to your heart personally, and it becomes personal. He says, if my rhemas remain in you, if what I say to you intimately remains in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorifying that you bear much fruit. What kind of fruit is he talking about? Well, look at verse 16. You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you. I've ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit coming should remain, that whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Now, look over at chapter 16, and you see in verse 23, this will blow your mind. He says, in that day, he says it a couple of times in here. In that day, you shall ask me nothing. In other words, I'm not going to be here. You're not going to come to me physically and ask me. In that day, what day is he talking about? The day that he goes to be with his Father. He's with his Father. In that day, you won't ask me anything. Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. And look at this. Up till now, you have asked nothing in my name. Now, they were praying. They were praying people. They saw him praying morning, noon, and night. But up till now, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. See, joy is a fruit of answered prayer. When you ask something specific, and God answers it, joy comes. This is why we're living for happiness in the church instead of joy, because we're so prayerless. We're not seeing the manifest answers of God. Verse 26, at that day, you shall ask in my name. So, he's talking about the day that he says, there's coming a time when you won't see me. Look at verse 16 of that same chapter. In a little while, you shall not see me. He's talking about the crucifixion and burial. And again, a little while, you shall see me, because I go to the Father. He's talking about fellowship and revelation of the risen Lord, and coming and asking in his name, and being a throne room dweller. I love that song. The first song we sang tonight. The throne room songs that Robin Mark has written that just take you right into the throne room and just leave you there. It's an amazing privilege to sing like that. So, these men must have been astonished. What Jesus is saying is that the resurrection is going to change the way heaven works, the way prayer works. Because up till now, you haven't asked in my name, because the name of Jesus was given to him at the resurrection for the power of answered prayer. He ascended to the Father, and now he says, If you come by God's condition and ask the way he says, you come boldly to the throne of grace. You come by a new and living way he's made through the blood. Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, I will do it. So, this is the great key to the throne room. And it's easy in our day to mistake our togetherness or our unity as the key. It doesn't matter if you've been saved 50 years or one day. You only and always will ever enter into the presence of the throne room of God by the precious blood of Christ and through his name. You will never come to that point where you can just rush in and not come in the name of Jesus. You see, Jesus is saying there's a new beginning, a new dimension, because I'm with the Father. I'm the King of Kings. I'm the High Priest, the heir of all things. In my name, you shall ask. Now, we're not talking about a magic formula. I've heard people say, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, like a medicine man in Africa waving a stick over something. Or the louder we say it, we think that the devil will get scared. Let me tell you something. The weakest and meekest person in this room, the most impossibly untalented person, when they are lined up correctly, scripturally, with the name of Jesus, and they say to the strongest demon on this planet, in Jesus' name, be gone, that demon has to obey. They have to leave. It's not a matter of getting louder. I was praying once in a delivered situation, and I was saying, in the name of Jesus, and it's like the Lord said, I'm not hard of hearing. I'm not hard of hearing. And it was like he said, I was waiting for this manifestation of something, and he says, you're going to walk by faith, you're going to walk by sight. Paul said to that thing, in the name of Jesus, come out, and he left. And the same day, he vacated. Because he knew it was a living word, in the name of Jesus. So, you see, the early church, you see in the book of Acts, this is so awesome. The first four chapters, God is teaching the early church, like he needs to teach our corporate gatherings, the power of his name. That's those whole first chapters of Acts. He's teaching it. Before he ascends, he says, listen, you shall take the gospel, in my name, to all the earth. You preach forgiveness of sins, and you preach in my name. And he says to do this, he says, ask in my name. It's all in his name. I want you just to turn, and we're going to run some quick references in the book of Acts for a moment. And I just want you to see something. Peter and John had fished together. They had been with the Lord when he did miracles together. They'd fed 5,000 together, but the Bible never records they had prayed together, till right here. They'd done everything else in the universe together, but they hadn't prayed together. See, I submit you don't really know someone until you really pray with them. You don't really know them. You can do all the things. You can stand by them in the church, and you can worship, but you know someone's heart as you pray together. And may that call us to that. Well, they're going in to pray together, and they're going in Acts chapter 3 into that beautiful, the temple called beautiful. And there they walk by a man that's been sitting there for 42 years. Jesus had walked by him time and time again, but this was his divine moment. And it says as they went in, it says here now, Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. That's 3 p.m. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid every day at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. And Peter and John, about to go to the temple, asked for an alms. This man asked them for an alms, and Peter fastened his eyes upon him because you can do that when you have a clear conscience. And he says to them, In silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. And then he says, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And so the man received strength. Peter lifts him up, and this man is praising God for the miracle. And all these thousands of people come because they knew this man. He'd been there 42 years. And Peter and John quickly say, Do you think that this man stands here whole by some special thing about us? It's the anointing, brother. No. They said, Listen. You know that this man stands here before you perfectly saved or whole, it says, because of the name of Jesus. And he has done this. Verse 16. His name, through faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and you know him. Yes, the faith which is by him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. It's nothing in us, he's saying. We're not special. We're preaching in his name. And so right away, thousands more get saved. Now this makes 3,000 at the day of Pentecost, and now 5,000 get saved. There's 8,000 people. Up till now, in the book of Acts, the word great is not even used. Except for the world looks and is greatly wondering when they see the church just cloaked with the power of resurrection life. That's what this city is waiting to see on this church. The cloaking of the people of God with resurrection life. And that's what will get their attention. It's not the supernatural given because the Spirit's church. I've heard there's a Spiritist church in this town. It's getting people's attention, but in the wrong way. It is the resurrection life of Jesus in my heart, in your heart, that they experience coming forth. It's in reality and power. And so you see, all these people coming, the word great's not even used. So the Sanhedrin, who condemned the Lord Jesus to death, summoned these two and bring them, they arrest them, and bring them in before. In Acts chapter 4, this is stunning. This is stunning. They're brought together and put in the midst after 8,000 have been saved, and they say, look at verse 7. When they'd set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? You ever seen that before? By what power or by what name? And then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he says to them, you rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if you're examining me of the good deed done to this impotent man or by what means he's made whole, be it known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, they didn't need a dictionary to understand him, and you raised him from the dead, even by him, this man stands before you whole. And look at verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So they could say nothing against it, this Sanhedrin council, and they charged them, don't you preach anymore in that name. And so they threatened them with strong threatenings. This is awesome. They let them go, and Peter and John went back to their own company. They didn't have to put out a circular saying meet for this announcement. They found them at the prayer meeting. See, because by this time, these 8,000 were meeting three times a day, morning sacrifice, noon sacrifice, and the afternoon. And in mass, they were waiting and praying before God. It's said of James, the first pastor of Jerusalem, that when they embalmed him or put his body to rest, he had camel-like knees from spending hours on his knees on the floor of the temple praying. Cute guy. Cute guy. So he says, verse 17, It must spread no further among the people. Let us threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in his name. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus. And they went back to their own company and they find them. Look in verse 23. Being let go, Acts 4, 23, they went to their own company and they reported all the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they, the people of God, heard that, look what they did. See, prayer is not just each person saying their own individual prayer. There's a time for that. But there's a bigger dimension to it than that. There's six times in the book of Acts, seven times, I'm wrong, seven times, that it says they were in one accord and every time it was, it broke through barriers. The race barrier, the religion barrier, the region barrier, all broken by spiritual oneness in prayer, every time. Before, when they were together in one accord, God appointed deacons. It'd be nice if we prayed all night like they did before they appointed deacons or elders. So they went to their own and they heard and they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and they said this. They're quoting scripture. They're praying by the word of God. They quote Exodus 20, verse 11. They say, Oh Lord God, you've made heaven and earth and the sea and all that's in them. And they've been meditating in Psalm 2 because, you see, that's the Psalm that says ask of me and I will give you the uttermost parts of the world and the nations for an inheritance. He just told them to go to the uttermost and surely they're meditating when they hear a word like that and here's what they said. They're praying. This is, now I want to say this is the first recorded prayer of the church in the New Testament and it's a corporate prayer and it ought to be a model for us and they lifted up. They prayed scripture. Their hearts were one. You see, we don't come to prayer meetings so we'll feel better about each other so we can leave feeling one. We pay the price for forgiveness and being right of one of the hearts before we come to prayer meeting so that we can have this abundant entrance together and with one accord we lift God's word back to him and look what they said. Verse 25. Who by the mouth of your servant David, meaning in Psalm 2, has said these words. Why do the nations rage and the people imagine vain things? Quoting Psalm 2. The kings of the earth stand up. The rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Christ. Lord, what's happening here is what the word of God says and this we recognize and discern and then they apply it. For I have a truth against your holy child Jesus. Whom you have anointed. Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel gather together but they're just doing whatever. Your counsel had determined beforehand for it to be done and now Lord behold their threatenings. And they didn't pray give us the power to preach give us the freedom to preach the gospel. No. You have the freedom to preach. You do. Nobody can take that from you. They didn't pray keep us safe. When we pray give us the freedom to preach the gospel. What we mean is without consequence. What they said was behold their threatenings and give your servants with all boldness they may speak your word. Stretch forth your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be done and here they've got it. By the name of your holy child Jesus. This is awesome. And it says and when they had prayed not before prayer opened the door you see. The place was shaken where they were assembled. It breaks down what's normally not shaken in the church and they were all filled with the holy spirit. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Not just talk about being filled but really be filled? And it says they spoke the word of God with boldness and now this oneness was amplified and look at verse 33. And with great power there's that word great. Jesus said greater works and I've done same work not used in acts until after the corporate first prayer in the scripture. It brought them into a new dimension. With great power the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. In the next chapter you see and great fear came upon the church and then there was a great increase and then in the next chapter great growth great wonders great multiplication great wonders and miracles great persecution and great joy. It's like you just saying great, great, great. Jeremiah said it call upon me. The Lord said it to Jeremiah and I will answer you. And show you great. But you have not because you ask not. And sometimes I see churches and I'm not just saying this I've been in 47 countries and I've seen red and yellow black and white and big churches small churches good churches terrible churches. And sometimes we act like the priests of Baal jumping on the altar thinking the more we jump that we can get God you don't have to twist God's arm we just have to draw him by getting our heart in the right place. The place his word says to do and he will move in a way that boggles and blows your and my mind. You see, propelled into the realm of the great realm. The supernaturally abundantly above realm. And this is what the world is waiting to see. But you see, it'll never come apart from real united prayer. I think this is what the Lord is saying to the church across the globe in our day. That my church must humble herself and pray and seek my face not just for her own benefit but for world revival. To get on your face because there's a great harvest coming. And the latter rain is to fill out the harvest. It's to fill it out and make it full and rich and abundant. When Jesus built his church he said my father's house will be called a house of prayer. And prayer meeting was the heart beat in the body. And without the heart beat it's just a corpse. You see, we don't have a real life unless there's real prayer and laying hold of God. Call upon me. Put me in remembrance. Tell me what to do. Ask of me. Demand as you're due. He says let us reason together. Take his word and lift it to him praying in his name. So if I were to say to you tonight I'm going to hurry here brother but I want to talk to you about what it means to pray in Jesus' name because all these promises are to the man or woman who prays in the name of Jesus. Is it possible to tack on in the name of Jesus at the end of your prayer and not really be praying in his name but you rather take the name of the Lord in vain and not really have that as your audience. You see, listen to what Zachariah says about asking. They shall call upon my name and I will hear them. I will say it's my people and they will say he is the Lord, our God. He anticipated this. He prepared the world for 4,000 years to be given the gift of praying in his name. Every promise is yes and amen in his name. Every promise of God is open. It's amazing. There's 8,400 and something promises in the word of God and every one of them is ours. Caleb lived for 40 years on one of them and all of these are at the church's, the corporate one heartedness of the church's prayer life calling upon the Lord. What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name when he set the Lord Jesus high above every other name and gave him to be the head over all things to the church who is his body. The fullness of him who fills all in it all and he wants us to reign in life and to fill up that which remains behind of the suffering of Christ and to really be responsive to the impulses of the head. When do you hear him talking to you like that? Well the way the church really comes together is in prayer. What does it mean to pray in his name? I'd write these down if I were you if you have a piece of paper and check it out. Take inventory when you get home. Now don't worry I'm not going to think anything of you if you don't write them down. I mean I can almost hear somebody say I don't feel like taking notes and that's okay. It's okay. Maybe the Lord will write it down in your heart and mind anyway. Well first of all when you are going to pray in his name it means this. It means that you acknowledge your need of a mediator. When you say at the end of your praying I'm praying in Jesus' name. It says I have a need of a mediator. And I'm thinking of that scripture in 1 Timothy chapter 2 where it says in verse 5 there is one God and one mediator between God and man. It's the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all of us to be testified in due time. It means this that I need a mediator and I cannot come in to his presence any other way. I come in as it says in Hebrews by a new and a freshly slain way. The way of blood. I come right in to the very throne of grace. I have an advocate with the Father and he is the high priest and he is the basis of my coming. He is the ground of my standing and I don't come by works of righteousness that I've done or by my gifting or anything else. I stand by grace at the throne of grace. That's the first thing. You have to understand and you have to mean when you pray. My confidence is in him not my own sincerity not how much I've read my Bible this week not how much although that gives me an understanding of his word but we don't come and get what we deserve we're getting what he deserves. We're getting what the Lord Jesus deserves. That's what we're getting. So there's no sense in praying at all if you're not going to pray in his name. Because see, everybody's praying. I mean, here's what happens. Kids are born like this with their fists. They're grasping. We spend our whole life grasping but men die like this with an open hand. They leave it all. And you see, so we need to come with an open heart and an open hand now. So first of all, it's the grace and humility of knowing that I need a mediator. Do you know that? You have to know that there's one way and that is the Lord Jesus into the throne room. But secondly, if you're going to pray in his name it means that you believe that he is. Did you get that? You believe he is. Because Hebrews 11, 6 says without faith it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is. There's two he is's there. I must believe that he is. What do you mean he is? Well, I must believe that he is all the scriptures say about him. That there's no holes in my willingness to take at face value what the scriptures say about him. I must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who casually inquire after him. Is that what it says? Diligently seek him. Are you a casual inquirer? Are you a diligent seeker? What word would be put on my heart when the Holy Spirit would say this man is a zealot. He seeks me with all his heart. Or I seek him with the part that I think needs help and the other part Lord I'll take care of. You see, he that cometh to God must believe that he is and whatsoever is not of that it says in Romans 14 23 whatsoever is not of faith is sin. It's me doing it. It may be religious. It may be something else. But so I must believe that he is. That means that I have to believe in his atoning death. You know there's a lot of people in America and the UK today who are questioning the atonement. And they're saying oh that's cosmic child abuse. Father God would one of your own UK guys says that. He used to be a great man. Now he's a fool. Because you see I must believe that he is. You cannot pray in his name if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. You can't do it. You can't pray in his name if you don't believe in his atoning death. And that he's God and Lord of all. I believe in his divinity. No, he's God. He is Lord of all. He is God. He says he was. And when you hear someone when you hear someone's name it says something about them. For example Adolf Hitler. It suggests everything about him. It's just a name. But everything with it comes. So when you say Jesus it means that you're holding onto everything that the scriptures say. And I want to know you more Lord. I want to get to know you. He is faithful. He is unchanging. And his name represents his person. And see prayer, all prayer is a response to a revelation of who he is. See, they're like five ingredients people would say of prayer. Some people go A, C, T, S, Acts. Some people say adoration, confession. We won't go into that. But I can tell you this. That confession is the response of the human heart to a revelation of God's holiness. Intercession is a response of my heart when I see how merciful God is and how loving he is. Thanksgiving is a response to a revelation from God when I see a man can receive nothing except it's given to him. And I realize that everything cometh down from the Father of light. So there's a revelation of God. So if I am weak on confession and I can't seem to ever come to God, I need a revelation of God's holiness. Study his holiness. And soon you'll be broken in confessing before him. You must believe that he is. I believe we've staggered at the promises of God because of unbelief. First of all then, I must, first of all, I must realize I need, acknowledge my need of a mediator. When I pray in Jesus' name, that is what I'm doing. Secondly, I believe that he is and that all the Bible says about him is true. I accept it at face value. His character, his ways, and I trust him for that. Third thing that it means to pray in his name, it means that I'm standing in his light. I'm standing with as much as, I'm drawing near to God with a true heart, as it says in Hebrews 10, 22. With full assurance of faith, with my conscience sprinkled with the blood, and my body washed with pure water, and I'm coming, my heart does not condemn me, there's no contradictions in my life. It says, it's saying, I'm standing in the light of who God is and at the cross, Jesus said, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. So you see, you can't live in twilight and pray in Jesus' name. You just can't do it. In 1 John chapter 3, that's the part that says, if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows all things. But if we ask in faith, we have confidence because we know that he hears us. If we ask in real faith, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and we do those things that are pleasing. Without faith, you can't do that in his sight. So I'm asking at the cross, Lord, in fact, in Proverbs 28 verse 9, it says, whoever turns his ear away from the hearing of God's law, even his prayer is an abomination. That means you cannot pray in Jesus' name when you're on the internet watching porno. You can't do it. You cannot do it. You can come and say all the things you want, but if your heart is not in the light that he's given to you, if you're not living in the revelation of what he said to you, you have disqualified yourself. You can pray, I mean, plenty of people pray, but it won't be in the power of what we're talking about here. It won't happen. But when the church comes in a real cleansed heart and prays in his name, the place is shaken. People are filled with the Holy Spirit and the word of God goes forth in true, true power. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Psalm 69. He won't do it. He will not listen. He will wait until... You listen to the last thing I said to you about asking your wife for forgiveness. See, if you're at the altar trying to pray and you realize that there's some breach in the spirit of God, leave that altar and go to your brother and ask him to forgive you. Humble yourself before him. Not so much just to do it like a shopping list, but because you want to keep that place of unity for the purpose of prayer. We guard the prayer meeting, because the devil's after it. He suffered so much from real prayer, he has a special legion to shut down the prayer meeting of the church. He did it in the book of Acts. He tried disunity. He tried attacking the church. He tried busyness. It didn't work. They kept praying. So, that's the third thing. Holiness. Standing at the... A holy life, said one of your own right here from Dundee, Robert Murray McChain, he said, a holy life is a fearful weapon in the hand of God. It's the yielded life that will be the wielded life in the kingdom of God. Well, the fourth thing that it means when I'm praying in his name, it means this must be true, that I'm standing in his stead. You see, I am his ambassador. When I stand here, when I go to the hospital and I visit the little lady who's on her precious last hours and I take that little woman's hand in mine and I pray for her in Jesus' name, it means, Lord Jesus, if you were here in your flesh, I believe that what I just prayed for her is a prayer that you would endorse, that you would sanction, that flows out of who you are. You're in harmony with the values of what I just asked. So see, there's a lot of things you might ask. You have to go through that filter. Is this something that he would endorse? Is this in harmony with who he is and according to his word and his will? Are we standing in one heart? I remember when there was this dear friend of mine, she was a 75-year-old lady and she had a husband that was a huge businessman and their son was in the hospital and she called me and said, our son's in the hospital. We're going over to visit. So they went over to this hospital to visit and that morning, I got a phone call saying that while we were there, her husband, whose name was Mac, had had some kind of, something strike him and he went completely numb in his whole left side and he was stricken. He was having emergency treatment and they said, he'll probably never walk again. Well, I said, Nan, that was the woman's name, would you like for us to come and pray for your husband? Oh, yes, please come. It was Sunday morning. So I said to my 23-year-old son who had another young disciple with him, these guys are hot. I mean, they're hot, man. They love the Lord Jesus and they just burn and burn and burn. It's a wonderful thing and I said, and I wanted them to see this happening, this going and praying for Mac in Jesus' name. So I said, do you want to go down to the hospital after the services this morning and we're going to visit with them and we're going to pray. I took these guys. We went on down to the hospital. Mac is laying back in a recliner like this and he could hardly, one side of his face is kind of off and we're visiting and God's presence was there. You could sense. And so I said, I told the guys to give their testimony and as they gave their testimony of the grace of God and the power of the name of Jesus, you could sense just faith coming in the room and I said, Mac, would you want us to pray for you? We want to anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord. Is this your desire? Would you actually ask the Lord that we could do this? And he said, yes. And so we went over. Now, I got behind him and put my hands on his shoulders and the two boys got down there at his feet, held his feet. And I took out the oil and I anointed and you could sense the power of God when we prayed. And after we were through, we said, God bless you. We asked the Lord to touch him and raise him up and we left. And we were driving home. How many, do you text message any of the older people text message? I haven't really. My son, just like this, this language they use. I don't know how to do it. You punch letters and it means something. I mean, they can send anything. I'm sitting there going, trying to answer. And if you're over 50, it's hard to text, man, I'm telling you. But this woman, 70 some years old and on the way home, I get this text message that says, he walked. And you know what? We left and a little bit after we left, this man got up out of that bed and he got his walker and he walked down to the end of the hall back. The whole hospital staff was watching him like this as he walked back and forth. And I told my two boys about it and I said, this is awesome. And in my heart, you know what I thought? I said, Lord, thank you so much that they could go and witness you answering my prayer of faith for this precious man. And the Lord said to me, I answered their prayer. I love it. I just love it. I just love it. Because the Lord just said, it wasn't your prayer, it was their prayer. I want them to learn about the power of my name. He wants you boys to learn about the power of his name to where you can't be talked out of it, to where you have confidence in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that when you get to the end of your prayer and you say, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, It means that when I pray in his name, I am standing in his authority. I am standing in his authority. But you might remember in Matthew eight. There was a centurion there. And the same story is given a little more light in Luke's gospel. But he was saying, listen, I have a sick servant and I want you to raise him up. You don't even need to come to my house, Lord Jesus. All you have to do is speak the word and he'll be perfectly whole and it says in the scriptures that Jesus marveled at a Gentile who had faith like that I've not seen this kind of faith where it should be in the house of Israel but this man because he's come without shackles on his mind has great faith and Jesus said behold and this man that moment began to be whole but see the man said something he said Lord Jesus I also am a man under authority and I understand what did he understand that because he was under Caesar when he said in Caesar's name to a soldier beneath him that all the power of Caesar came right through him and he had to do exactly what he said and he says you're like that with your father you speak the word it'll come straight from the throne and flow right through he understood that that he had authority from on high so our Lord Jesus has authorized us it says we're ambassadors we come from the throne room with the word of the King and when we stand with all these things in alignment that that I acknowledge I have a mediator and I'm humbling myself in his presence and saying you are worthy I'm not worthy to receive this I believe all that the Bible says about you and you can't just say it it's got to be true in your life and I I know you're who you say you are and I'm standing with all of my heart with clearness of conscience at your cross there's no fudging there's no hidden part I'm not trying to play games with you or using the word of God deceitfully or walking in craftiness as Paul says and I'm standing in your place here you've put me here in this place Lord and I'm gonna gather with these other saints and we're gonna pray in your name and we're gonna voice the very heartbeat of God and the and the mind of Christ and lastly I'm in your authority here so when I stand with fear and trembling I have power of attorney and I'm trusting I'm trusting Lord that your accounts are mine you know my mother died about three years ago in November actually and before she died we moved her pop died sometime before that I moved her my wife suggested it from about 400 miles away down to our town and five years she was there she didn't want to move in with us she moved into a elderly folks home and it got old for me I'm for a while I was total power of attorney and I took her to I'm her only son so I took her to the it was a joy at first but then I started saying I can't do this anymore I take her to the doctor three times a week and and go and preach and I mean it was unbelievable the stress and then the Lord said this is a privilege for you and it became the highest privilege of my life to really care for my mom and she got to where when people get old sometime like that they have their mind to where you can't tell if they're really there or not there she would sometimes she would say something that was so on target it blow my mind other times she would say something that was so off the wall you wonder if she's even cogent anymore able to think and so I had to become her power of attorney I took durable power of attorney over all her medical choices over all her money and everything else and took care of her and it was really the honor of my in entire life well she lived in this little old folks home and I gave her a credit card where she would go with some of the other little older people in a bus to Walmart is her adventure for the week and I Walmart's of you I'm sure you never mind I don't mean to insult you you know what Walmart is you have Walmart's here yeah pray and keep them out brother no keep them out you know anyway it'll cost you if they come but they would go and she'd buy toothpaste this is her adventure for the week one day I got her credit card bill and opened up her little visa bill and it was $3,500 and I said what it was $2,000 at a department store $1,000 at another like Bloomingdale's and $500 get this at babies are us it's a big baby's department and it was to the dollar and so I said oh no what am I gonna do I called up the credit card company and I said uh you know I'm calling on behalf of my mom she couldn't possibly have done this she doesn't drive she she only goes to Walmart once a week and you've got a bill here somebody has stolen this sir we cannot talk to you I said what do you mean you can't talk to me we must talk to her I said no this will put her in her grave she's already should be so worried about it she says sir we cannot talk to you I said lady I'm just trying to save you trouble I mean you're gonna lose this money somebody's stolen from you I'm trying to sir I cannot talk to you and I said but but I'm power of attorney oh you're power of attorney well do you have papers yes send us your papers so I faxed her a copy of my power of attorney I called back and she said yes sir yes sir yes sir and see that's how it is you can stand and you can say in the name of Jesus devil get away from my child who are you Jesus we know Paul we know who are you well show them your papers these are your papers and the Lord's given you authority so if you tonight have somebody beat on your door like this and they're hammering on your door open up you won't open the door but if you look out and you see a badge open up in the name of the law you'll probably oh you'll make sure it's really who it is but you'll open the door and let him in you see see open up the throne room floor is stained not with sweat but with speckles of Jesus blood and so it's not about what we do it's praying in his name and I want to encourage you tonight to with a new heart begin to pray in his name together for true heaven-sent revival in this part of your country and beyond and to really lay hold of what the Lord wants it says in Romans 10 the same Lord is over all who's over all is rich unto all who call upon him for so whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved and will not be disappointed and so what I want us to do in the last part of this service I want us to break up into little groups of two or three that okay brother that was very impressive that you remembered everybody's names tonight brother that shows me his heart I'm serious that you can remember people's names like that I struggle with names so hard but he just went right down and he named all you girls I mean it's just awesome to me and see the name means something to us it means something to God and what I want us to do you may be sitting by somebody you don't know or that you know quite well but I want us to just turn and and in a act of submission to what we have heard and been through tonight to pray in the name of Jesus pray in the name of Jesus and when you get to the end I mean just make little groups of two or three I'm gonna pray before we break up and and dare to go through this in your mind Lord do I really acknowledge I have need of a mediator am I am I really believing all that the scriptures say about you am I am I walking in the light that you've given me or am I fudging am I praying what I think would be in harmony with your will do I realize I've been given authority and that whatsoever I ask in your name if I'm in this place you will do it not so I can be happy but so the Father will be glorified in the Son if if that happens in this place tonight lifting up our voices to him in a quiet awesome lifting up intelligent consecration I think he will do awesome things in the heart I really do and this will be an awesome week for those who come together in his name so in a moment I'm gonna ask you to break with two three four five but but the point is is not to make you don't have to do this you don't have to pray if you're uncomfortable with this and you're just visiting here tonight and and you're just kind of with somebody you can listen you can let your heart come in but I want to urge you don't do it because you think you're able to pray or you have the anointing or whatever else you would say or that I've know the script you dare to come in no strength at all but his name together and let your hearts wrap around that glorious glorious name of Jesus and together when someone prays I agree with that in my heart I agree with that Lord our hearts touch and I say bless your name and you you just sense since the the affirmation of God on another dimension in the whole realm of prayer let's bow together for a moment