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PRAY YE THEREFORE

Luke 10:2
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers
are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth
labourers into his harvest.
(KJV)

PRAY YE THEREFORE
Matt 9:38
Jesus' first command when He pointed out the fields, ready to be harvested
was, PRAY YE THEREFORE!

Prayer is such an important part of the Christian life.

I THINK THAT IS WHY THE DEVIL MAKES IT SO HARD FOR US TO PRAY!

We will rise or fall in our Christian life based upon, more than anything else,
OUR PRAYER LIFE!  Let me show you the importance of prayer by showing
you what prayer has done in the past:

I. JOSHUA PRAYED AND THE SUN AND MOON STOOD STILL STOOD STILL.

I consider that pretty big stuff!

Josh 10:12-14

Joshua is out doing a days work.  His job is to whip the stuffin' out of the
Canaanites.  An he is having one of those days.  He is getting things done.
He just has a lot more to do than he has daylight to do it in!  SO HE
PRAYED!  Wait a minute!  When you are as busy as you can possibly be.
When you see that you have a bunch more to do than you can possibly
get done in the time you have.

DO YOU PRAY?

Usually we figure we have too much to do to spend any real time in
prayer and we skip that!  Joshua prayed and God gave him a longer
day!  I love what Martin Luther said one time.  He said that he had
so many things to do one day,  that he would have to spend at least
four hours praying! Someone else said, "When your day is hemmed
in prayer, it is less likely to become unravelled." The very best thing
you can do on those days when you are so busy you don't figure you
will get everything done:


IS TAKE THE TIME TO PRAY!

Joshua prayed and the sun and moon stood still.

II. HEZEKIAH PRAYED AND LIVED FIFTEEN YEARS LONGER.
     II Ki 20:1-7


I don't believe in divine healers, BUT I SURE DO BELIEVE IN DIVINE
HEALING!  Our God is so very powerful, there is no disease he can't
cure, if it be in His will to do so!  God had already written the obituary
for King Hezekiah.  God got the prophet to go see him and tell him to
get his house in order, cause it was time for him to check out.
But then, Hezekiah prayed.

AND BEFORE THE PROPHET COULD EVEN GET ALL THE WAY OUT
OF THE KING'S PALACE,

God told him to turn around and tell the king the He had heard his
prayer, and changed His mind.  And, God did give Hezekiah 15 more
ears.  You see, prayer is a powerful thing!

III. ISRAEL PRAYED AND A WHOLE ARMY WAS DEFEATED.
     II Ki 19:15-19; II Ki 19:34-35

Sennecherib's problem was that he thought israel's God was like all
the other gods.  phoney.

BUT ISRAEL'S GOD IS A LIVING GOD!

And He wasn't about to put up with the likes of Sennecherib.  Hezekiah
prayed to God, reminded him what Sennecherib had said, and then
went off to sleep.  That night, the Angel of the Lord went through the
camp of Sennecherib's army and killed 145,000 of them!  Senencherib
woke up the next day, found them all dead.

And decided he ought to leave Israel alone!  Israel prayed and an entire
army was defeated!

IV. THE DISCIPLES PRAYED, AND PETER WAS SET FREE FROM PRISON.
      Acts 12:5-17

This is one of the funniest stories in the Bible to me!  The believers
are all together praying for Peter.  So, it is not surprising that God
delivered him from jail.  Peter does just what you would figure he
would do when a angel has set him free from jail.  He goes to the
church house to thank the folks from praying.  He knocked on the door,
and it was a child who answered.  When she heard Peter's voice, she
got so excited, she forgot to unlock the door for him!  She ran back in
and told everybody Peter was outside, AND THEY TOLD HER SHE
WAS NUTS!  They didn't even believe God would answer their prayer,
and He did anyway!  The believers prayed and Peter was set free from prison.

V. ABRAHAM PRAYED, AND GOD AGREED  TO SAVE A CITY.
     Gen 18:20-33

God was about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorah for the
sin in them.  But before He did, He told Abraham what He was about
to do.  The reason for that, you will discover, is that God always wants
to give those who are lost in sin a chance to be rescued.  A chance to
be forgiven an to be cleansed.  God told Noah that he was going to
destroy the world in 120 years.  Why?  So there was time for some of
the folks to get saved!  God told Jonah to go and preach to Nineveh
that in 40 days he was going to destroy the city for their sin. Why?

Cause God wanted to give them a chance to get saved.  God has been
telling the world now, for nearly 2000 years that He is going to destroy
it by fire.  Utterly annihilate it. Turn it to nothing. Why did He tells us?
SO WE WOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO GET SAVED BEFORE IT
HAPPENS!  If you will will notice in the story of Abraham, Abraham
began to pray for the city.

He prayed that if there would be fifty righteous people, God would spare
it.  And then forty and then thirty and then ten.  Abraham's nephew, Lot lived
down there, and I imagine he figured that surely, Lot had led 10 people
to salvation, cause he quit there.  God promised Abraham if there was
just 10 righteous people.  10 people who believed and trusted God,
he would save the whole city!  Unfortunately, there weren't 10.  But the
lesson is still the same. We have the power in prayer to rescue lives!
Maybe lives in jeopardy of destruction on this earth.  But more importantly,
WE HAVE THE POWER IN PRAYER TO WORK TO SEE MORE SOULS
COME TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOUR!  Abraham prayed and
God agreed to save a whole city.

VI. THE FIRST CHURCH PRAYED AND THEY WERE GIVEN THE POWER
      TO WIN AND BAPTIZE 3000 PEOPLE IN ONE DAY 
      Acts 1:14

14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication,
with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. (KJV)

Acts 2:41
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the
same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (KJV)

The fields around us really are white to harvest.  There are multitudes
of souls all around us who need to be saved. And who would get saved
and baptized. If we would just do our part, AND THAT BEGINS WITH
PRAYER!  You ask "How much prayer?"  I don't know how much is
enough.  But I know if you aren't getting to see many souls saved and
baptized because of your testimony.  YOU ARE NOT PRAYING ENOUGH!

***Martin Luther prayed one day for four hours.  I do not know how long
he normally prayed.

***Jack Hyles says that he prays at least 10 hours every week.

***Edward Payson prayed so much in one particular place that he
wore groves in the floor where his knees were. 

***A Man whose nickname was "Praying John" Hyde, prayed one year
that God would let him reach one soul per week.  God allowed him to
do it so the next year he prayed that God would allow him to win one
soul to Christ per day.  God answered that prayer too.  His friends
called John Hyde "the man who never slept" because he stayed up
most of every night praying for souls to be saved!

Do you pray enough?

The answer is found in the answer to the question, "Are you satisfied
with the spiritual results of your life?"  The First church prayed, and God
allowed them to see 3000 people saved and baptized in just one day.

VII. ALMOST EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM PRAYED, AND GOD
       FORGAVE THEIR SINS AND SAVED THEM FROM HELL!

We didn't all do it at the same time.  And we weren't all in the same place
when we did it.  But if I were to go around this room, and ask those who
are saved and sure of it, how it came to be that they got saved,
THEY WOULD SAY, THAT THEY PRAYED AND ASKED CHRIST
TO SAVE THEM, AND HE DID!  Some of us prayed for salvation
when we were younger.  Some of us were older.  Some of us prayed
in a church service. Others were at home.  Some of us were by
ourselves when we asked Christ to save us.  Others of us had
someone who came and showed us how to ask to be saved.  Some
of us wept when we asked to be saved. Others shouted for joy.  But
all of us who are sure we will go to heaven when we die, REMEMBER
A TIME IN OUR LIVES WHEN WE REALIZED OUR SIN, BELIEVED
CHRIST WOULD SAVE US IF WE ASKED,  AND THEN PRAYED AND
ASKED JESUS CHRIST TO COME INTO OUR HEARTS, FORGIVE
OUR SINS, AND SAVE US!  Almost everyone here today can remember
a time like that.  But, if you can't, then right now is the time to do it!

If you haven't asked Jesus to save you.  Then you are not saved.
God looks at you and all he can see is your sin!  He can't see how
good hearted you are.  He can't see how sincere you are.  All he sees
is your sin!  It is an offense to Him.  An abomination!  He hates it!  He
loves you, but He hates your sin!  And He isn't going to hear any other
prayer you pray, UNTIL you pray and ask Him to forgive your sins and
save you!