This sermon emphasizes the importance of powerful and specific praying, highlighting the need for fervent, believing, and focused prayers. It shares anecdotes of answered prayers, the impact of specific requests, and the transformation that occurs when prayers are directed towards real needs and real people. The message calls for repentance from unbelief, lack of fervency, and general prayers, urging a shift towards specific, faith-filled prayers that honor God and bring glory to Him.

Powerful praying, what's it all about tonight? Let me just start out by, I heard about a little girl's idea, a version of the Lord's Prayer. I love when children speak out, so I heard about a little girl's, a little girl's version of the Lord's Prayer. I don't know what your version is, but here was hers. And she was going through and she came, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from e-mail. You like that one? And then I saw a church sign that said, God answers knee mail. Ah, amen? Knee mail. The best position is on your knees. God answers knee mail. But we're talking about powerful praying. What about this one? I just ran across this one. This is interesting. A country preacher decided to skip services one Sunday morning. I don't know who he was going to have to preach for, but he decided to skip. And he wanted to head to the hills because he wanted to go bear hunting. Got it? As he rounded the corner on a perilous twist in the trail, he and a bear collided. We're talking about powerful praying. Listen to this one. And so they collided, sending him and his rifle tumbling down the mountainside. Before he knew it, his rifle went one way, and he went the other way, landing on a rock and breaking both legs. That was the good news. The bad news was the ferocious bear charging at him from a distance. Here's this bear charging him. And he couldn't move. You know, he'd broken legs, couldn't move. So what do you do when you're in a situation like that? Oh, you know. Okay. Got it. So he said, Oh, Lord. He's praying. Here's a preacher. The preacher prayed. What's the first thing you're going to pray? I'm so sorry for skipping services today to come out here and bear hunt. Right? Got to start getting some forgiveness for that, right? But he said, Please forgive me, Lord. Now he's praying. And please, Lord, grant me one wish. Please, Lord. He's praying. Please, Lord, make a Christian out of that bear that's coming after me. Right? Please, Lord, he prayed. That very instant, the Lord answered prayer, right? The bear skidded to a halt. He fell to his knees. He clasped his paws together and he began to pray. He prayed aloud right at the preacher's feet. And what did he pray? Dear Lord, dear God, bless this food I'm about to receive. So we're talking about powerful praying, right? Maybe some of you heard that, but anyway, powerful praying. Powerful praying. You know, men and women, we need to pray God save us from poor praying and move us into powerful praying. So what are we really talking about when we talk about powerful praying? I believe we have to start out by talking about powerful praying is fervent, passionate praying. We saw that in the video last night. You're going to see it. My points tonight, you're going to see. That's the picture of what we saw last night. Turn to James chapter 5, and you know this story, but I wonder if you see it in the light I want to share with you. James chapter 5, James chapter 5 verse 16, James 5, 16, and look at it. Here's what it says, James 5, 16. And it says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Much we could say about all of these. Now, here's the statement here. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth, what? Much. Effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now, look what it says. Elijah, or Elias, was a man subject to like passions as we are. Aren't you glad for that statement in the Bible? You know what? I have an idea. That many of us when we read the Bible, you know what we think about the Bible characters? These people were super men spiritually. They had it all put together because God had to have men like that to write a wonderful book like this called the Bible. And he's got these guys all fixed up and fixed up. They're perfect. And I like it when God comes along and says, I want to talk to you about one that's just as human and just as tempted to whatever you're tempted to. He was a man subject to like passions as you, but not me. Huh? All of us. Amen? A person just like you and me, but yet he can pray. Look what it says. That kind of person, he prayed how? Earnestly. And that's the same kind of word of fervently, the context, earnestly. He prayed earnestly, what? That it might not rain and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. Tremendous. All right. He prayed earnestly. Now this word earnestly, it's the same word, context, of fervently. So we have to find out what it's all about. What's fervent praying all about? The effect of fervent prayer. What is it all about? It says about Epaphras in the book of Colossians 4. Don't turn. Paul refers to Epaphras, listen, as a bondservant who is always, listen to these words, laboring, that sounds like pain, laboring fervently for you in prayers. What? That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. You know what I like first of all about that verse? Here he is praying one for another. He's praying for his brothers and sisters, and I wonder if we ought to pray like this, one for another. Praying what? Praying fervently for them. We'll talk about that in a moment. But pray for what? That we might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. We're getting instructions how to pray one for another. Okay. Oh, that God would let us do it, teach us to do it, one for another. But that's laboring fervently. I'll tell you what I found out about it. The word comes from a Greek word that means, translated, agony. Agony. And it comes from the context of the wrestlers in the Grecian times, in the Olympics of the wrestler's day, and the wrestlers in the Grecian times, when the Greek gymnastic games were being played, when a man would strain himself to win over his opponent. And that's the word, fervently. You know what? I think that takes us back to Jeremiah 33.3. You don't need to turn. You have it memorized. You just didn't know where it was. Here's what. What does God say to Jeremiah to tell the people of God? God said, tell the people, call unto me. That sounds like praying, doesn't it? And I will answer thee. If you'll call, I'll answer thee. And I will do something. I will show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. You know what that really means, men and women? Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee what? Great, listen, here's the meaning of it, great and stupendous things the like of which thou hast never seen before. That's all wrapped up in the meaning, things that thou knowest not. What kind of praying is going to do that? What is in the meaning of the word, call unto me? So I had to look up the powerful word, call. What kind of calling is that all about? I'll tell you what it means. It has the context in the Hebrew. It has the context. It means to make an outcry as a person in distress. Got it? Fervently, the agony of winning in the wrestlers, the wrestlers winning over his opponent. Call unto me and God says he'll hear and answer and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. It's the context of an outcry like a person who is in distress. Wow. You know when I say this to you, men and women, I quote the statement of R.A. Torrey, a preacher of another generation. Listen to what he said about it. He said these words. He said, to be anything other than fervent, we just described fervent, to be anything other than fervent in prayer is to admit to Almighty God the spirit of indifference that we have in the face of crushing needs all around us. To be anything other than fervent, to be anything other than fervent in praying is to acknowledge before Almighty God, is to admit to God the indifference that's in our heart in the light of the crushing needs all around us. You know what? Isaiah reminds us of this. The Bible says in Isaiah 64, the situation was so desperate for the prophet Isaiah, he said there was no human answer in his day. There was no political answer. There was no reform of any kind. Economic answer. There was no answer. And Isaiah finally cries out, O, that thou wouldst crack the heavens open, O God, and thou wouldst come down. Somebody said the tragedy of most of our praying is we've lost the O, there's no more O. As a cry, an outcry of a person in distress. I found another translation, another version of James 5.16, A Fractional, Fervent Prayer of Righteous Men Avails Us. Listen to what it says. Here's what it says. A righteous man's begging does avail much when it is putting forth its energy, get these words, in earnest, continuous, persevering, pleading. Ah. Now we're getting it. Fervent praying. Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Listen to what he says. Praying with a burden, which we'll talk about, is probably the most neglected aspect of prayer today. As a result, we often pray burdenless prayers. Can you identify with any of this? He said we repeat the same old requests over and over again, but we have no heart or sense of urgency at all in that praying. This, he said, is the sin of America today. This spirit of intercession and travail is lacking in the church. God delights in earnest praying of His people. Fervent praying. So, did we see that in the video last night? I'd say amen. Secondly, I suggest powerful praying is more than that. Powerful praying has to be believing praying. Believing praying. Now you say, oh, I know all this, yeah. I'm not telling you anything new, but God needs to bring it to our hearts in a new and fresh way. Believing praying. What do I mean? It says in Mark 9, 23, don't turn. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things except the problem in my life are possible. Huh? All things are possible to him that believeth. Now the question of the problem is, what's the real question in this issue? Here it is. Is my God the little God of the possible, or is he the big God of the impossible? That's the issue. What's the size of my God? You know, it's interesting. There are two places in Scripture in Mark 10, 27, and Luke 1, verse 37, and it says about, With God, all things are? Ah. Now the question is, Is your God the God of the possible or the God of the impossible? The little God of the possible or the big God of the impossible? You know what? I looked up the background of those two places where it talks about, With God, all things are possible. You know what they are? It comes after an impossibility. And that's where the Scripture comes in. What's the first one? The first one is when God says about a rich man, they said, Can a rich man enter heaven? And Jesus said, Just like a camel can go through the eye of a needle, a rich man can enter into heaven. Now, can a camel go through an eye of a needle? And then it says, Seems like some human impossibility, right? But then it says, But with God, all things are possible. See? A human impossibility, and God says it's possible. And then the other one, where it says, With God, all things are possible. Luke 1, verse 37. You know what Luke 1 is all about. The birth of Jesus, and then Elizabeth. She finds out that she's pregnant, going to have a child. No way. No way. It's not possible. She's way beyond the years of having a child. And then the next thing it says, when Elizabeth found out that she was going to have the Apostle John, With God, all things are possible. Wow. What kind of God do we have today? Now, having said that, I want you to turn to Mark, chapter 11. Mark, chapter 11. And I want you to see this tremendous truth here in very real way. Mark, chapter 11. And it says, Verse 22. Mark 11, 22. And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God. Mark 11, 22. Have faith in God. Now, what do you mean by that, Lord? What do you mean by that, Lord? Listen to how He means. What kind of faith? For verily I say unto thee, that whoso shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea. Wow. And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass. He shall have whatsoever he saith. Now, these are the words of Jesus. Verse 24. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. Now, is that in your Bible? I hope the print of your Bible is just as dark as in mine. It's there, isn't it? You know, men and women, we've got to start believing what we read in the Word of God. Tremendous. You know what it says? You can pray to where you can remove mountains and cast them in the sea. Wow. Have you ever heard of any story where God has fulfilled that promise? Listen. There were some children in an orphanage off of the coast of Japan, and the orphanage was right there by the water, by the ocean, and between the orphanage and the ocean was a big mountain. And the children hated that mountain, and in the orphanage, they wished that mountain was there so they could see the sea, you know? And you know what? They kept praying, they kept reading the Scripture, and they came to this verse. Oh, there it is. There it is. And they started praying according to that verse. There it is, Lord. And the children started praying. But you know what? One day, the head missionary of the orphanage was in town buying some food, some things, and what happened? And they're buying some things, and there's a knock at the door, and the missionary's away, and the children go to the door, and there's a man at the door. And he said, where's the missionary? Not here? And they said to the man, why have you come? Oh, well, I'll tell you that I'm here. He said, I'm on the city council, and we have been thinking about something on the city council. We have been thinking that the children in this area need a park right by the sea, and we've decided, wouldn't it be wonderful to move that mountain and build a park for the children to play there? What do you children think about it? Would it be all right with you? Oh, they said, we are not surprised at all that you came. We are praying for you to be here, and so you didn't shock us at all. So now you know a story where a mountain got moved to that way. Ah, what's the mountain in your life that needs to be moved? Amazing indeed, isn't it? Wow. You know what Psalm 52, verse 2 says? Listen, verse 6 says, don't turn, listen. Here's how the psalmist starts his prayer. You talk about faith, believing, praying. How do you like this for a starting of prayer? He prays these words, O thou that hearest prayer. What's that? A statement of faith. We'll start right off the bat. Unto thee shall all flesh come. What a way to start praying. The statement of faith right to pray. What a tremendous... You know what's interesting in Acts chapter 12, when I talked about all those prayer meetings yesterday morning in the book of Acts, and one of them is Acts chapter 12. You know what it is? They were praying because Peter was in prison, and they were praying for something that Peter would get out of prison, right? And they're praying that Peter would get out of prison, and you know what? There's a knock at the gate or whatever, and they send somebody to the gate to see who's there, and the lady goes there, the maid goes there to the gate, and finds Peter standing at the gate. She goes back in and tells them, Peter is at the gate, and they said, No, no, it's a ghost. Amazing people, aren't they? They were praying for him to get out of the gate, and when they got there, they called him a ghost. Sometimes God surprises us, doesn't he? In spite of our lack of faith, He gives us serendipity, slipping in on us to show us that He's still there to meet our prayers. Oh, I heard about a community where the farmers needed some rain, and so they said, We'd better have a prayer meeting because the crops are dying on us, so we'd better have a prayer meeting to pray that God would send some rain for our crops. Like Saskatchewan needs a little extra rain, amen? I heard about what you've had up here lately. But anyway, so they're praying. They said, Let's have a prayer meeting and pray over this thing, and they're praying, and you know what? Only one man brought his umbrella. All the other guys went home wet. He went home dry. Glad that he was dry, and that they could go wet. Oh, sometimes how we pray in unbelief, huh? Joy Dawson made a powerful statement about praying, and what would happen in our churches if we would pray like this? Listen, she said, Thank God in faith for the remarkable prayer meeting you're going to have even before you get there. Hmm. Fill your cards with the spirit of faith going to a prayer meeting for the remarkable prayer meeting you're going to have even before you get there. That's exercising faith, praying in faith. Do you know what? A number of years ago, well, way back after the Saskatoon revival and Regina and Moose Jaw, and when Ralph and I finally got back to the States, we were in a little town of Rives Junction, Michigan, where God worked in Rives Junction, Michigan. And God was working in such a powerful way, and much I could say about that, and I won't tell you about that, except to say that there was a Christian radio station very close by, and they were recognizing that what God was doing and what they did is, they opened the lines of the radio, the radio lines, and they told the Christians in the crusade we were in, they said, if you Christians call in your testimony of how God is changing your life and what God's doing to you, we'll keep these lines open as long as you call in. And this radio station went out to 50, 60, 70 miles of radius covering the countryside. And some days the lines were open with Christians just like yourself being touched by God, with the power of God on your life, being changed by God. They'd call in their testimony, and some days the testimonies were going for three and four hours. And that was going out all over the countryside. We were in a little town, Rives Junction, Michigan, 250 people in town. They called it an interlude between two cornfields. Rives Junction, Michigan. No street light in town. And we were running 700 people a night in a town that only had 250 people. They had to come an hour and a half early to get a seat. We had adults in the baby room. People all over the place. What a move of God it was. And so the word was getting out all over the countryside what God was doing in this little place. And there was a lady, 50 miles away, she was so excited when she was hearing these testimonies. Her husband was a deacon in the church, but he was a backslidden deacon, quit deacon a long time ago, you know? But he was a truck driver, and she couldn't drive. He was driving the truck all day. He came home, and she told him about it. She said, Would you please take me over there? I've got what I'm hearing. I want to get in there, and I've got to see what it's all about. And feel that. Got the picture? So he comes in and he said, Oh no, I'm so tired. I'm so tired. Please, please. And it went on, and he decided the way my wife is, I'd better do it now because she'll be after me all week. You know, excuse me, you women. But he must have known his wife. He said, Oh, I'd better get this over once and for all. Then she went on and said, Do you know what I hear? I hear that they not only have meetings, but after the meetings they have what they call an afterglow. You see, the meeting was the glow, and after was the afterglow, right? And it was after the meeting, anybody wants to sit around and talk and give testimony and tell what God's doing in their life, we'll just meet. It'll be a spontaneous thing, whatever God wants to say, however God wants to speak to people, if anybody wants to be prayed for and their needs, and believe God can answer their prayer, we'll pray for them. Whatever. We'll stay as long as God wants us to stay. And she's telling her husband, I hear they have this thing called the afterglow. And she said, If we're going to drive these 50 miles, in other words, let's get our money's worth, right? And she begged him and said, and finally he said, Oh, how grumpy he was and grouchy he was. And finally he said, they came to a compromise on that issue, he said, I'll tell you what, I'll take you there and I'll stay in and listen to whatever this meeting's all about, but after you say, he figured, I don't want to be going again for this afterglow, 50 miles. So he said, I'll go out and stay in the, I'll go and sleep in the car in the parking lot while you have this thing called the afterglow. You got the picture? At the same time, men and women, so they came to a compromise like that, at the same time, the pastor of that church, where this deacon quit deacon, got it? His wife heard these same testimonies, her husband was out making calls, when he came in and said, Honey, get somebody else to take prayer meeting tonight and you go on over there and what I hear goings on, you go and come back and tell us that we can be touched by it. So, there we are in the meeting, we're on the glow, and now we're in the afterglow. And so, we had about 50 people there at this afterglow, 40, 50 people, afterglow. And they're giving testimony of what God had done in their life, that God had performed miracles, in other words, they'd seen victories just like taking, pushing that wall over with their physical hand, things that they thought would never happen, God was doing. And they started talking about all of this. And in that environment, this lady, this one who got her husband to drive over there, she said, this sounds like a kind of people that I'm going to ask them to pray for my undeaking deacon husband. Got it? And she tells him about his grumpy and grouchy and backslidden and he's quit deaking and all the rest of it, and she's pouring this out to him. Got it? And while she's giving the prayer request for her husband, somebody in the crowd said, where is he? Where is he? And she made the fatal mistake of the evening, he's out in the car in the sleeping in the parking lot. And the real fatal mistake was they said, which car? And they said, she said, a gray Buick. And two of those tigers in there that could believe God to do what he says he'll do, took out of that door as fast as they could go, in the dark of the night, they're trying to find a gray Buick with a sleeping deacon. Got it? Can you imagine what I had on my hands here with that wife before those two guys got out there before she could ever stop them? Could you imagine what she was thinking about that 50 mile drive home? I think you can, huh? So men and women, when things get that desperate, what do you do? You have a lady going up in smoke here, have a crowd of 40, 50 people. I said, folks, I think we better, oh, you know. Good. I think we better pray. On their knees and went. The whole bunch went on their knees and they were praying. And you should have heard them praying. God, you did it to John and our community. What's that deacon? You can get him. And on and on they were praying. They didn't know him, but they knew God. They knew what God could do. And they were praying and praying. And while we're on our knees praying, I'm on my knees there as well. We're praying. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder. And I looked up. Who's this? One of those two tribals that went out after. And they whispered in my ear, Lou, we've got him. And they said, Lou, listen. He wants to get right with God. Wow. He's standing right here. There he is. I look up. There he is. And the man was, we're all on our knees. And the man over there was praying. Oh, God. You heard her say how backslidden he is and how grumpy he is and how grouchy he is. Oh, God. He's standing right here. Got it. And I'm praying, Oh, God, will you tell that deacon to stop praying? Why? Because there's a verse in Isaiah 65 where it says, And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking, I will hear. I said, folks, he's here. And he wants to get right with God. We put a chair down, one chair, because his wife was here and they had a daughter there. And we put three chairs down and said one for him and one for his wife and one for his daughter. We no sooner got those three chairs down and guess what? Somebody from that side of the room comes rushing up and plops down on his knees in the chair. Who is this fellow? Where did he come from? I found out later. Remember I told you that his pastor was coming that night to the same meeting? So isn't that the right place for a pastor to be when his deacon is coming to get right with God? Oh, you're not so sure, huh? Huh? No, you're wrong. The pastor got down on his knees and he was the first one to pray. You know what he said? Listen, here's what he prayed. He said, Oh, Lord, Lord, would you please forgive me for my unbelief. When Lou said he's here and he wants to get right with God, God, I need to ask you to forgive me for my sin of unbelief. He said, Lord, I didn't think you could do anything for that deacon, even though, listen, I have prayed and prayed so long for him and I have even laid prostrate on my office floor and I have wept tears into the rug of my floor and I prayed God you would change him and when Lou said he's here and he wants to get right with God, I said, Oh, no! And the pastor was the first one to get right with God on the sin of praying in unbelief. I'll tell you men and women, he prayed and the wife prayed. We killed a fatted calf about two o'clock in the morning. What a reunion of the glory of God in that situation. You know what James says? James says in James 1.6, Pray in faith, nothing wavering for not let that man think he shall receive anything from the Lord. Oh, a lady wrote a letter to a pastor to encourage him. Isn't that nice? Have you ever written a letter to your pastor to encourage him? You should. Well, now you can call him or email or whatever. But anyway, so she wrote a letter days went before all this stuff and she wrote a letter to her pastor to encourage him. Listen to what she wrote. She wrote a letter. She said, Pastor, this is what she wrote now. Get the words. I wanted to just write and tell you that I am praying for you every day. But I'm not expecting an answer. You folks are pretty sharp here tonight. You got it, huh? A letter. I'm not expecting an answer, but trouble. You know what the problem with this thing of the spirit of unbelief when we pray? You know what the problem we have? The problem is this. Prayer without expectancy. Prayer without expectancy. And how many times we pray and we don't really expect. Prayer without expectancy is, you know what? Unbelief in disguise. Are you hearing this? Prayer without expectancy is unbelief in disguise. And the biggest problem most of us have with this scene of unbelief is this. Most of us don't believe we have it. God knows we might be filled with it. You know what Hannah Whitehall Smith said about this? Listen. Hannah Whitehall said the Christian secret of a happy life. One of the two books that most greatly influenced my life after she went through dark days in her life when her first husband passed away when she was 24 years of age. Not much I can tell you about that, but I'll leave that for another time. And Hannah Whitehall Smith says in the Christian secret of a happy life in page 106. Listen to what she says. It seems strange to me that people whose very name are believers. Call yourself believers? Implies that the one chiefest characteristic is that they believe. That's why they call themselves believers. That they should have to confess that they have doubts. And yet it is so universal a universal habit that I feel that if the name were to be given over again she said the only fitting name would be the descriptive name would be doubters. Should be given to Christians. Children of God should be called doubters. Indeed. You know we sing a song don't we? So it's a song. Prayer is the key to what? Heaven. You got the key? We've got the key? We've got the key folks. But what good is the key if you don't put it in the door? But faith unlocks the door. Oh men and women that's the believing heart. Faith that unlocks the door. God would show us one great Methodist preacher of another generation Charles Allen said listen to this can we identify with it? He said if ever we say and you're in this meeting we're talking about the impossible. If ever we say that a person or a situation is hopeless have you ever said that? If ever you say a situation is hopeless did we see even last night almost a situation that seemed hopeless? You see how you're relating to last night's message? If we ever say a situation is hopeless that is the same as slamming the door in the face of Almighty God. In those moments we are saying this is beyond anything God can do. In that very instance Christ is no longer supreme no matter what your Bible says about Him. In that moment He's no longer supreme. Oh men and women God would help us to teach us and show us about the unbelieving praying. Do you know what I believe? We become unbelieving believers. Unbelieving believers. And God in this night needs to bring us to a place and say Lord that's my heart. I'm hearing it I saw it last night but I'm here tonight to hear it for myself. I'm exactly like Lou's describing from God's truth. Praying with no expectancy I'm really an unbelieving believer. Even while I pray. You know men and women when I talk about this I'm aware of the fact that some of us think well where does praying become festering God? Or pestering God? Any way you want to say it. Where does it come? Dr. William Klein made a statement listen I admit you by God's own sovereign design we talk about where does our prayer and God's sovereignty enter in? What about God my praying and God's sovereignty how does that enter in? And by the way because that's such an issue such a question we need to have understanding when you go out tonight there's going to be a packet of material out there and one article of two side articles talking about my prayers and God's sovereignty. It will be a blessing to you it will help you and that's why I want you to have it. It's there in the packet. But listen to what this man says about the sovereignty of God in relation to our prayers. He said by God's own sovereign design we're talking about the sovereignty of God by God's own sovereign design God has ordained in His sovereignty He has ordained what? Listen that He will act to do certain things only in response to believing prayer. Although God's eternal purposes and desires are fixed prayer can affect how God acts. Now what did S. D. Gordon say? Listen prayer surely does influence God. I'm just giving quotes to brothers who are talking about it. It does not influence God's purpose but it does influence God's action. Wow E. M. Bound said prayer honors God and brings God into active aid. Hmm So don't say well if God's sovereign what do you use praying? I gave you those three quotes and I want you to get that article there. We heard that from Jim Cimbalo last night. To keep us from praying we use even theological concepts. What a tremendous truth when we think about it. Well you know what? Dr. Erwin Lutzer you ever hear that name around here? Oh oh Dr. Erwin Lutzer and I had the pleasure of seeing his mother today. What a dear one. Going on 102 years of age. But Dr. Erwin Lutzer he was one of the speakers at one of our conferences and Dr. Jim Cimbalo at the same conference. We had them both speaking. So as a result they got together and Dr. Cimbalo invited Dr. Erwin Lutzer to come to the Brooklyn Tabernacle and speak to his people. And so what kind of a question would Erwin Lutzer ask Dr. Jim Cimbalo about what's going on at the Brooklyn Tabernacle the kind of praying we talked about and saw last night? Listen to what he said. Lutzer said Erwin Lutzer said to Dr. Jim Cimbalo will you tell me what's the secret? How can you get at that time over 2,000 people on a Tuesday night to come and pray? How can you get them to come to prayer meeting? What kind of answer? What kind of theological answer do you think Cimbalo gave Dr. Erwin Lutzer? Listen to this one. This is profound. Wouldn't you come to prayer meeting too if you believed God answers prayer? Isn't that a heavy one, huh? Wouldn't you come to prayer meeting too if you believed God answers prayer? Maybe that's why we stay away because we really don't believe in a God who answers prayer. And we pray with no expectancy. And men and women I talked last night about United Prayer why God wants us to come together because there's a cumulative power in prayer. There's so many quotes I have about that. I wish I could give them all to you. Men have been saying this and saying this and saying it. The power of coming together. We need to pray together. And the devil, he gets all of his infernal army to fight the Christians from United Prayer. He doesn't want it to happen because it stings him most of anything we could do. I hope you're hearing God in these days. I hope you're hearing his voice. I hope God will give us some courage to act and make real decisions along this line that things are going to be different because there's no hope in some hopeless situations, the impossibilities that are represented in this meeting. I tell you, you've tried and tried and you've cried and you've begged and pleaded just like we heard last night. God's got to come on the scene when we become believing prayers. Now, there's a verse that came very alive to me along this line and I give it to you now. There's a verse that says, it's Romans 14, 23, and you have it memorized. You probably didn't know where it is. Listen, whatsoever is not of faith, can you folks finish the verse? Is what? Oh, I better say it again so we can do that. Whatsoever is not of faith is not sin. We're talking about unbelieving praying. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. How do you like the fact? That when we're praying in unbelief, we are sinful prayers. Hmm. Have you ever thought about that? Sinful praying when we have a spirit of unbelief in our praying. So, men and women, in the light of that, perhaps one of the greatest needs in this meeting is to repent. And what kind of repentance? We need to repent of the fact that we have become unbelieving believers, and therefore, sinning believers. Because we've been praying in unbelief, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I believe before this night's over, some of us need to pray that way and ask God to forgive us. We see now that we're sinning believers when we pray in unbelief. And let me quickly remind you of that. Let me move on to the third point that I want to share with you tonight. Did we not see that last night? Believing praying? Fervent, intercessory praying, believing praying? One more tonight. I want you to turn in your Bibles. Oh, by the way, you're going to have an article out there in the package you're going to get. It's going to say, when you pray, believe. Believe. Do you know what, men and women? Do you know the word believe in the New Testament? Do you know how many times it's in the New Testament? Hold your seat now. 247 times in the New Testament alone, believe. Believe. 247 times. Oh God, make us believing believers. Amen? Amen. And now, turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. And look at this. Verses that you know. Here it is, Matthew 7. I suggest that what kind of praying we need, not only fervent, not only intercessory, not only believing praying, we need to have specific, focused praying. Hear God on this point, men and women. Specific, focused praying. What's it all about? Where is that? Matthew chapter 7, verse 7. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. How specific can you get? Right? Well, how specific can you get? Verse 8. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, receiveth. How specific can you Find it, that's specific. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Right? Well, if you don't think that's specific, God said, I'll explain it to you. Look at the next verse. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread? How specific can you get? Will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, how specific can you get? Will you give him a serpent? If you then, being evil in our fleshly evilness, know how to give good gifts unto your children, or specific gifts to what they're asking, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give, let's say, specific things, or good things, in this context, specific things, to them that ask him? How specific can you get? Turn to Matthew 18. It's good. We're not learning anything new, but we need to grab it in a new light. Matthew 18. Look at Matthew 18, in verse 18. It says, Verily I say unto you, Matthew 18. Matthew 18. See it with your eyes. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth, how specific can you get? Shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever, how specific can you get? You shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, how specific can you get? That he shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father. How specific can you get? Now turn to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. And look at Mark chapter 10. Tremendous. Verse 47. Mark 10, 47. And when he heard the blind Bartimaeus, in verse 46, the blind man, Timotheus, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timotheus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they charged him, hold your peace. But he cried out all the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to come to him. And they called the blind man and said unto him, be of good comfort. Boy, you hit it right. He said, you've hit a home run. He called for thee. And he, casting away his garments, rose and came to Jesus. Now, look at the confrontation. And Jesus answering and said unto him, here it is, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Got it? What is the answer? The blind man said unto him, Lord, whatever you want to give me, I would be very happy to receive. Right? Lord, anything you want, I'll take whatever you want. Give me. Huh? No. Lord, that I might receive my sight. Well, you say, what do expect a blind man to say, yeah? I like my Lord's answer. Look at what my Lord said. And Jesus said unto him, go thy way. Look at this, thy faith hath made thee whole. You know what, I have an idea. I'll tell you what I think, and if you don't like it, hold it to yourself and tell me after the meeting is over, okay? And it says, I have an idea. My Lord is rewarding his specificity of request. Bang! That's what I want. Very specific in the request. Specificity of request. Does it not say in Matthew 9, 29, it says, according to your faith be it unto you, a very specific request. Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus because the applicant was so definite in his request. You know what I believe men and women? One of the greatest needs of our praying in most of our churches in our lives, we've got to get rid of this generalized half-hearted praying. And there needs to become a prayer of faith and expectation. I suggest to you, prayer without faith is dead. That's what we've been saying. If you don't believe, it's dead praying. I go a step further. Faith without specifics is dead praying. Why? It doesn't take any faith to pray the general prayers we pray. Lord bless all the missionaries. How do you know when God answered? Lord save all the lost. How do you know when God answered? Safe praying, isn't it? It doesn't take any faith to pray the generalized praying that goes on in most of our hearts and lives. No faith, that kind of praying. But I'll tell you, when you start naming names to God, that's faith praying. Oh, that God would show us in a very real way. We've got to get rid of this generalized half-hearted praying. I was telling like this in the city of Northfield, Minnesota, a number of years ago. And I was telling people when you pray, name names to God. Put God to the test. I said, when you pray, pray God save Mr. Smith. God save Mr. Smith. I would just tell them, you know, I figured Smith was, I hope Smith's not here tonight. But God save Mr. Smith. I kept on praying, God save Mr. Smith. And you know what? I could have said Jones and Williams or one or the other, but somehow I was hung up on Smith that night. And I could feel I was doing something wrong. I could feel it. Ralph, my brother was sitting over here and the pastor was sitting over here. He didn't have very many hairs on his head and I could feel the two were standing up talking to each other. And I could feel between that pastor and my brother, by mental telepathy, there was something going on behind me. And I could feel I was doing something wrong. And when I finally got finished, I turned around and I said, alright pastor, pastor over here. Pastor, tell me, please tell me, what's the matter? What did I do wrong? I could feel something wrong. He said, Brother Loon, I was wishing all the time you would have changed the name. I was wishing all the time. I said, why? He said, you could have used Jones, Williams, and one of those other common names. You kept saying, God save Mr. Smith. God save Mr. Smith. I wish you would have changed the name. I said, why? He said, because Mr. Smith is the biggest wretched sinner in this town. I said, well isn't that wonderful? He said, yeah, but this is the first night he's ever been in this church. How specific can you get? We had a series of meetings in the little town of Bryan Center, Michigan. And every morning we'd have a prayer meeting and Ralph was leading the prayer meeting. And people would come and Ralph would say, what prayer request? Who are we going to pray for? And one lady said, let's pray for Mr. Sturkin. Good Dutch name in Grand Rapids area of Michigan. Let's pray for Mr. Sturkin. Got it? Mrs. Sturkin was in the prayer meeting, but that was not the person who made the prayer request. This sister over here was asking prayer for this sister's husband, Mrs. Sturkin over here. And wasn't that something, huh? And Mrs. Sturkin sort of smiled at the sister, thank you sister, I appreciate your request for my husband, you know? And Ralph was leading the prayer meeting. And Ralph just thought, I'm telling you something and I can't even explain to you. And I don't say do this, I'm just saying what happened, like Jim Sybil said, I'm just telling you how it was. God impressed my brother to say, at that moment, let's pray, God save Mr. Sturkin this week. Wow. Mr. Sturkin. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Now you should have seen the expression on Mrs. Sturkin's face. Oh my dear brother Ralph, I thank you for your zeal, but you've just come in, you don't know my husband, you see, you have a problem of lack of knowledge. You don't know him like I know him. I appreciate your zeal anyway, brother Ralph, but right now, oh God will save him, but to say God save him this week, oh I thank you for your zeal. That expression, right? Why? Who was Mr. Sturkin? Who was her husband? Sixty year old man, never prayed a prayer in his life. He'd sit, come to church on Sunday morning, he'd sit by the side window and hope the weather was nice so the window could be up so he could watch the traffic, but at least he came to church. That's the man. And my brother said, let's pray God save him this week. Never prayed a prayer in his life. Wow, they start praying. Start praying very specifically for Mr. Sturkin. They start praying. Pray, pray, pray, pray. And you know what? Found out on Friday, getting close to the end of the week already, Friday, Ralph and I were going to have a ham dinner at Mr. Sturkin's home. Mr. Sturkin would make us dinner, and he was going to be there. Okay? We were there, we asked the Lord to bless the food, and we invited him out Friday night, getting near the end of the week already. Friday night we invited him out, we were giving our personal life story, how God saved our family out of Roman Catholicism, Italian family and so forth. And so we invited him to come. He said, okay, I'll come. So we have the meeting, and we give the invitation, and some people go to the prayer room to give their hearts to the Lord, but not Mr. Sturkin. Wow, he goes home. He goes home, men and women, and he goes to bed, and he's lying on his bed, and he could not sleep a wink. And three o'clock in the morning, he shakes his wife, he wakes her up, honey, get out of bed, I can't stand it, will you come down and pray with me, tell me how I can become a Christian. She led her husband to the Lord, three a.m. Would you have loved to have been in the prayer meeting the next morning? Saturday morning? The door swing open, and here comes Mrs. Sturkin, and here comes the answer to prayer, right behind her. Come to prayer meeting. Come into the prayer meeting. What a prayer meeting that was. And there we are, we're sitting in a circle, and one person prayed, Mr. Sturkin was in the prayer meeting. He's just now about six hours old, you know, in the Lord, six, eight hours, whatever. And he's a little baby, isn't he, huh? And he's sitting in the circle, and this one prays, and this one prays, and going around the circle, and each one prays, and he's sitting there. And nobody told him he didn't need to pray. We could skip him and go to the next one. So he never prayed a prayer in his life. And he opened his mouth to God. I can still hear him. Oh God, thank you for what you did to me at four, three o'clock in the morning. And he's thanking God for what you did to me, but God, you know, all my crony friends, all my drinking buddies around here that need what happened to me, and oh God, oh God, would you get a hold of that one over there, and he named a name, and he's going to be in this field, oh God, and I'm going to go to him this afternoon, and God, the one that lives over on that hill over there, and oh God, that street over there, I'm going to go after him, God, and that one over there, I'm going to go after him, God, I'm going to get him. Wow. I got my pencil and paper out, and I started to write. You know what? I was getting the ten most wanted list. I find in the newspapers they do it, top ten most wanted, there they are, the criminals. I was getting the list. Maybe it's time we start some ten most wanted list around here. Wow. He came to the end of his prayer, and nobody told him how to pray. Nobody said, you come, you pray in the name of Jesus, we ask it, amen. No. He didn't know how to pray. He came to the end of his prayer, he said, he said, thank you God for what you did for me. I'll say goodbye to you, God. I'm saying goodbye, God. I'll be back later, talk to you later, God, but goodbye for now. I don't like that for ending a prayer. Somebody should have shook him down. Hey, you don't do it that way. I said to him before I left, I said, Mr. Sterkin, tonight when we have a meeting, when we say, anybody have a testimony, want to tell what God did for them, why don't you just stand up and tell the people? Oh, I don't know if I could do that. I said, okay, you take this hymn book here, and take the hymn book home with you, and see if there's a song in that hymn book that would represent what you feel God did to you last night, in the middle of the night, and you can, and I say, anybody have a testimony, stand up and say, folks, this is what God did to me, and let me read the words, and then you can sit down. He said, well, maybe I could do that. Many women of all the songs, that night, let me say, that night, when I came to the church, the church was packed and running over. I mean, we had so many people, they were sitting in the baby room there, too. How come? How come? It wasn't the night before. How come? I'll tell you why. They didn't believe it. The whole town didn't believe it. They hadn't come to see it. And they packed in there, the words spread all over that little community, that Mr. Sturkin, no, can't be, can't be. They had to come and see it. And we were packed out that night. And that night, we said, anybody have a testimony? Mr. Sturkin jumps up, and he says, folks, I want to read to you, I found this song book, and I don't know how to say it, but I want to read to you what happened to me in the middle of the night, and of all the songs in the hymn book, what song do you think he would find? Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled. He read one verse, and two verses, and three verses, and instead of saying that's what happened to me in the middle of the night, and sitting down, he opened his mouth, and he turned on that congregation that Ralph and I thought we were never going to get the meeting back again. And you know when you let a Dutchman lose like that. Men and women, I'll tell you what happened. The next morning, the Holy Spirit of God spoke to his brother-in-law, 57 years old. He was out in the barn milking the cows, and the Holy Spirit of God says, while he's milking the cows, whatever you do, I'm a city slicker, whatever you do, you know, you squeeze something, and he's over there doing milking the cows, and the Holy Spirit of God says, don't you need the same thing that happened to your brother-in-law? Oh, God, yes. He gives his heart to the Lord, milking the cows, and tears are probably running in the milk bucket on us. Oh, cows, hurry up, get up, I've got to get in and tell my wife what happened to me. And his wife is in the kitchen, and she's making a good farmer's breakfast for her husband out there milking the cows, and getting ready, and the Holy Spirit of God says, don't you need, she was related to Mr. Sterkin's wife, his sister-in-law, and so, don't you need the same thing that happened to your brother-in-law last night? Don't you? Oh, yes, Lord. And over the stove, she starts to weep, and she gives her heart to Jesus, and she gets right with God over the kitchen stove, and she says, oh, I can hardly wait for my husband to come in from that barn to tell him what a collision happened when those two got together. Would you have loved to have been in the Sunday morning service when those two got up and gave testimony of what God did to them? I'll tell you what happened then. We had to extend the crusade a whole other week, and before the next week was over, we had the joy of leading 17 of Mr. Sterkin's relatives to Jesus. A little town close by heard about it, and they said, Ralph and Lou, can you come to us? We said, well, we're on here until Sunday night, but we have Monday and Tuesday off because we were single those days. Wednesday, we're going to start somewhere else, but if it's all right with you, we'll come on Monday and Tuesday. We'll come and speak to those two nights, but we can't come Sunday because we're still over here, but we'll send somebody over to give his testimony. We'll send Mr. Sterkin over to give his testimony. Men and women, he went over there and gave his testimony, and when Ralph and I got there Monday night, the people said, we're going to have meetings Monday and Tuesday night. When Ralph and I got there Monday night, the place was jam-packed because when he ended up giving his testimony, one-third of the congregation went to the prayer room as Christians to get right with God. And we preached one night to the Christians Monday night, and Tuesday night we preached one message to the unsaved, and we had the joy that night of seeing 25 people converted in one night in a church that hadn't seen a conversion in three years. I'm just telling you, men and women, you saw the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Everything I'm telling you, I'm describing to you in the Word of God, but it's happening, and it can happen in our day. Let's quit saying it's just in the book. It's just the Brooklyn Tabernacle. God wants to come back to his people, and he's waiting for his people to get in tune with him, and in line with him, and let the Holy Spirit of God come amongst us and take over in a real way. Do you know what? Here's a letter I got from a church that Ralph and I had a series of meetings, and how do you like this letter? There's a letter to Ralph and me about a month or two after we got there, and you know what it is? There's a list. The pastor's writing us, and he said, our church is going on record that we are going to pray for you. I'm talking about specific praying. They have a list of ten prayer requests for Ralph Saterra. My brother, right? For the Saterra twins. Ten specific prayer requests. I've never gotten those. You see how gray and shaded? This was in my files for years and years ago, and I just happened to go through and pick it up, and my brother said, I remind him, and I have ten prayer requests that are praying for Ralph and Luke. How specific is your praying? That's what it's all about, you know? We're in this ministry today, and the ministry that God changed in our life, and the Saskatoon revival. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why, because we were in Penticton, British Columbia. I'm going to give some background to what God did in Saskatoon. We were in Penticton before that, and we had this one, our ministry was primarily evangelistic. We played musical instruments and so forth, and we preached to the unsaved. We preached one or two messages to Christians, and we tried to shame them in the fact that they weren't bringing any unsaved there, and then whip them a little bit so they'd shame themselves, and hope they'd bring some unsaved, so we could preach to a few unsaved, you know? And we had a wonderful time and so forth, and God saved some people. But there was an elderly couple in that meeting, an elderly couple, in that meeting that God laid a burden on their hearts to pray specifically for Ralph and Lou. And we're probably, I'm probably here tonight as a result of an elderly couple that prayed in a way, sometimes I almost wish it didn't pray this way, for the hours and the sweat, and the hours that we've had to pour energy into the lives of people, but I thank God for the privilege. But wow, here's what it is. When the revival took place right here, I'm bringing it right to home, right in this church. After the revival of Saskatoon, we moved down here to Regina. You know what, a few months later, we had a revival roundup weekend, and that's in wintertime, you know? People in my country think I'm crazy coming to Canada in winter, but I said, oh no, those people can't do anything else but they can go to church, right? So let's wait. Alright, and here we were right in Regina, and we had a roundup weekend, and this church was packed, balcony and so forth, of people from all over the area who wanted to come together to give testimony as to what God had done in their lives and in their churches since the revival. And I saw, sitting right back down here, an elderly couple, and I knew where they came from, Penticton. And I knew the mountains they had to drive over. You know, you got some mountains between Penticton and here? You don't know it? Oh yeah. And I knew they had to come over those mountains, in that kind of weather, and they were way up in the airs, and they were all wrapped up because they were catching colds over there. They had been sitting in a meeting. I don't know if you had enough heat for them, whatever, but there they sat. And I saw, I called them up to this pulpit right up here, and I wanted to honor them because I knew where they were coming from at their age. What a tremendous thing. And so we were talking, and I said to them, what do you think of this? And you know, I was having a conversation with these two here, whatever the crowd out there wanted to do, I was having a conversation, what do you think of all of this? Oh, this is nothing. How do you like that for an answer? You know, I got all these people in front of me, and I asked them a question like that, and they said, this is nothing. I said, wow, isn't that something? And I kept proud of them. Oh, this is only! Finally I got some, now I got some substance in it, right? Only is better than nothing, amen? This is only! Only! We're getting a little substance in it. This is only God answering prayer, that's all! And we said, right? Amen? Yeah? But I felt they were still saying something more. You talk about, I could feel there was something more. And I kept proud of them, and it finally came out. Do you remember when you two were in our church, and you had that evangelistic ministry? Yeah? Yes. God laid you two on our hearts, and we have prayed for you every day since those meetings in Penticton. Yes, now. That God would change your ministry! That God would change your ministry! And give you a ministry to the inner life of the body of Christ! So this is nothing, only God answering prayer, that's all. Oh, my brothers and sisters, that God would help us to become very specific. I read in a Christian periodical words I thought I would never read, and it said, then good public prayers, listen, are specific. Even public! Wow! I don't know what you think of it, I'll read the article, say that. About real needs! Let's get specific, even public prayers, about real needs, and real people! The couple who's getting a divorce, the single mom who finds days left at the end of her resources, the pregnant teenager, the devastated parents, the discouraged pastor on the brink of dropping out of the ministry, and struggling, and the one struggling with homosexual temptations, let's get specific, and believe God. Oh, that God would say, many of our prayers go to God's dead letter office because of lack of address. Lack of address, dead letter office, there they go. I want to tell you that Ralph and I have the privilege of preaching in the hills of western Virginia, in two little Methodist churches. They were close to each other, and they came together for a time, one pastor for the two churches, and they didn't even have a prayer meeting in the church, and as a result of the meetings, God spoke to the people to make prayer a priority, and they said, let's schedule something on a Thursday night, anybody wants to come, and they started to come, and they had prayer meetings that started at 7 o'clock, and a year later we were back preaching in the same area, and this is the testimony they gave us. They'd have prayer meetings start at 7 o'clock, they'd go to 9 o'clock, sometimes at 10 o'clock, sometimes till 11 o'clock, praying for each other, and then praying for their lost ones, and on and on, praying, and when we got back there a year later, I'll tell you what they handed us. Listen now, they handed Ralph and Lou a list of all the answers to prayer that God gave them in that one year. You know what? One hundred and forty one specific answers to prayer, in one year, in two Methodist churches, in the hills of Virginia, who never had a prayer meeting even in the church. They gave us a list of the specific answers to prayer. Dr. Howard Hendricks said, my feeling is that where prayer focuses, power falls. John Newton says, thou art coming to a king, large petitions would thee bring, for God's love and power are such, thou canst never ask too much. Willem Booth said, God loves with a great love. The man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible. Is God going to raise up some people like that here? Hearts that are bursting for the impossible. Effectual praying relates basically to a right concept of God, whether He's the little God of the impossible, or the big God of the impossible, to whom we pray. The right concept of God, and a right commitment to the God before whom we pray. When our requests are such that they honor God, we may ask largely as we will. The more daring the request, the more glory comes and accrues to God. And the answer comes, and C.T. Studd said, Lord, he prayed, make us not nibblers, but grabbers of the impossible. Lord, we need to pray, deliver us from the ordinary. You know, my brother came to the microphone and prayed, he prayed, oh God, do something here that cannot be explained in human terms, that only God can get the credit for. Lord, make us not deliver us from the ordinary, that what we see will have no human explanation for it. That thou wouldst receive all the glory for what is being done. Fervent praying, believing praying, and for it to be believing praying, it's got to become specific praying. Are you hearing it? Did we hear that last night? I told you I was going to describe it. Oh, that God would burn in our hearts. I love the privilege, I'm thrilled for the privilege to come back to this city, to this church, in this building, where we saw God do such marvelous things, and God wants to do a new thing, but it starts with us saying, Lord, I need to confess. Oh God, I'm an unbelieving prayer, oh God, I'm a prayer that prays with no fervency, oh God, forgive me, it shows my indifference toward the shaking knees all around me, and oh God, no specifics in my praying shows that I'm not a believing prayer. Will we pray like that tonight? God, help us to do it. I want us to close this meeting again, in prayer groups all over the sanctuary, and I want you to pray like that, get in groups and pray like that, ask God for his forgiveness, that you've heard God's truth, appropriate it in prayer, and ask God, the blood of Jesus to cleanse you from that sin of unbelief, that sin of lack of fervency, no desire, no expectation, and yet pray, pray, pray, pray, we pray prayers until we're blue in the face. Will we ask God to forgive us? What shows not a faith is sin, our unbelieving prayer is sinful prayer. Will we say, God forgive me? Let this be a night of repentance in this meeting, oh God, I thank you, my dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for their attention, I thank you for what I sense in this meeting, I thank you for what I sense here yesterday, and what thou art saying, and for these, my brothers and sisters, for hearing your voice, oh God, let us not hear the voice of man, let us say, God, thank you, thank you for coming through to us, and let this be a night of repentance, and we become those believing prayers, those fervent prayers, like we've never prayed before, the specific praying, that we can believe you Lord, that you can be the God that you say you are, and that our young people, dear young people, Lord, that they will see a God who is well and alive, and Lord, they will say, I want to love that God and serve that God, and I want to get on his bandwagon as it were to serve him, with all my heart and soul and mind, for that's the only thing that's worthwhile, a God who is well and alive, he is my God, let him become the God of no generation gap in this meeting, thank you for these dear young people, that in this time of their life they can hear these truths, bless them, and bless us all, even as we get in groups now, and intercessory pray, what you say to us, and what we need to pray, thank you Father.