"Elements of Our Foundation" By Brother Parrish Lee January 15th,
2017 You may be seated. Oh, what a time of worship! Brother Malcolm, singers, sisters, musicians, everybody who comes to offer up a praise to the most high God. Ain't nothing like that. There is nothing like the Saints of God, who have the Spirit of God, who know what God has done for them, turning around, and saying, “Thank You, oh God! We bless You, oh Lord.” There ain't nothing like it! It's so special, the Bible says the Lord inhabits the praises of Israel. He inhabits, He comes there; the praises go up, and the blessing come down. Amen. And we know that You are the Savior, and we know that He is the Son, we know that the Lord God is the Savior of everyone. The only Savior, the true Savior, the real Savior, the Holy Savior, the redeeming Savior, the wonderful, loving Savior, the understanding Savior, the long-suffering Savior, the patient Savior, the kind of Savior that just kind of makes you feel good even when you don't know what to say to Him Savior, the kind of Savior that can reach across the boundary. You don't think that nothing else can make it, it just looks that kind of dismal and dark, the kind of Savior that keeps you warm when you're cold. That kind of Savior. The kind of Savior that provides food for you when you're hungry. That kind of Savior. The kind of Savior that goes to reach and give you and understanding that only He can give. That Savior. That Savior. We know that He is that Savior. Giving honor to Almighty God. Giving honor to Him who is our Redeemer, our Maker, who is the Lover of our soul, who is the One who came from Golgotha, robed Himself in flesh, hung up on the cross, shed His blood, and make sure it spread to everyone. He said, “Whosoever will, let him come and drink.” Whoever it is, no matter where, no matter how tall, how short, no matter how old, how young; He is that God. Amen. Giving honor to Him. Giving honor to those who have come and gone before us, to those who have held the Gospel, to those who were the disciples, and those who walked with them, and even in the Old Testament, to those who remained faithful, and passed it down and knew that there was a hope in God that would not ever pass away. Giving honor to them; giving honor to all those who come stand in the gap and make up the hedge, those who preach the Word of God. Giving honor to all of them who have held on to hope that His principles are forever. Giving honor to all of y'all who come and present yourselves and say, God, I showed up, and I know You will too. Feed me and bless me, Almighty God.” Giving honor to all of y'all. For those of you who don't know me, my name in Parrish Lee. Brother Andy Giebler, who was over there strumming and going on mightily on the guitar—oh, man, is that a blessing this morning? Is that a blessing? That was a blessing! He and I are the fellowship leaders, here at Christian Fellowship Great Lakes, and all that means is that we need to be more faithful. That's all that means. It doesn't mean that you have power over anybody, it just means that you have responsibility. That means that we will stand before the judgment seat of God to give account over the things that we have done in our lives. And he is that faithful citizen. And we have called it such a privilege, such a privilege to be called. We don't know how long it will be, because God is a God who is, His Spirit is, the Bible says, is like the wind. He will change things according to His perfect will and order. He is that God. But, as long as He has us here, we have already made our hearts up, made our minds up, to be faithful in everything He's given us. Amen, Brother Andy? Talking about you, brother. Everything He's given us, because as that song said that y'all were singing over there—what was it? The song that made me think about when we get there and stand before Him. 'God Reigns.' When we stand before Him, that Almighty God, when I see His face, when the angels are singing on the left and the right, when we have on that, yes, the pure white garment, washed in the blood of the Lamb, when we stand before Him, and are able to hear His voice, and it won't be a strange thing because we've been hearing that voice all along. And, when we stand before Him, and there's no sun needed, because His Glory, alone, is enough to light the way. And, when we stand before Him and hear those magnificent words, “Well done, My good and faithful servant. Enter in, to the joy of the Lord.” Ain't going to be no tears, ain't going to be no sorrows, because the Bible says He's going to wipe it all away. All there's going to be is a lot of joy. I ain't going to have to worry about how I sound. I ain't going to have to worry about if I hit the right notes. All I know is that I'm going to be with the Lord and everybody that's faithful! How many? The Bible says a number that no man can number. But I long to be there with the Lord. It might be another forty years; might be tomorrow. Who knows? But, whenever it is, I want to see His face. I want to see His Holy face in joy. I want to see His face in faithfulness. We've taken this month—that wasn't part of the message, that was just introduction. But, as we have taken it upon ourselves, in ministry, to take this particular month, the month of January, which is the first month of 2017. We have counted it a privilege, and we have a Scripture theme for the month.
1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If we could bow our heads for just a moment. Almighty God, we come before You, and , Lord, we are amazed all the time, because we get in our little minds aobut Your greatness, and Your gloriousness, and Your magnificence, and every time, You show us just a little bit more.Almighty God, we come before You, and , Lord, we are amazed all the time, because we get in our little minds about Your greatness, and Your gloriousness, and Your magnificence, and every time, You show us just a little bit more. Really, all we can handle. And, yet, it fills us up every time. So, we thank You to be able to come into Your presence. We thank You for the opportunity to worship You, Lord, in the beauty of holiness, because there are people in this world today that would be persecuted just to mention Your Name. Lord, we thank You to be able to come into Your presence and dwell amongst fellow believers that are not ashamed to name the name of Jesus Christ. And, Lord, we thank You that we could come before You this day and know that You are going to bless us accordingly. We ask, as You have blessed us in our praise and worship, that You would look upon the message, this morning, Lord, and that You would do exactly as Your Word said, that it would not return unto You void, but accomplish that to which You have sent it. We claim that, Almighty God, for You are the nourisher, You are the feeder, You are the sustainer of our souls. We thank You, and praise You, and claim all this in Jesus' name, and everyone said, amen. Amen.
1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
And we talked a few weeks ago, we talked a few weeks ago about a foundation in God. We talked of how a foundation which is to house a great building, how strong it must be. The consideration, and the planning, and the strength, and everything that has to go into it. If it's going to house a great building, then it needs to be a strong and worthy foundation. It needs to be a foundation that is able to support that building. And, here, the Gospel says there is no other foundation that is laid than Jesus Christ. No, it's not our intellect; I'm pretty sure we've got some pretty smart people here today, but that ain't our foundation. And, I'm pretty sure we've got some strong people here today, but that ain't our foundation. I guess we've got some kind of cute people, here, today; I guess we do. Anybody consider themselves cute, today? But that isn't our foundation. The foundation, and the only foundation in our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. That has got to be said. That has got to be said, because, sometimes, especially in the world, today, it's easy to trust in other things. It's easy to trust in having a good job. I'll tell you that. It's easy; you get a nice promotion, you get a better job, it's easy to say, “I've finally arrived.” It's easy to trust in your family, and that's a beau—you know, families are amazing! I love my family; sometimes they give me more gray hairs than I need, but I love my family! It's the one that God gave me, but that isn't what I trust in. That's what blesses me, but that's not where I put my trust. It's easy to put some trust in a car, and say, “Because I've got a car, a nice car, I have arrived! I am something, somebody!” But that isn't what we put our trust in, because, anybody knows—I know—a real fact: on January twenty-first, 2009, my car was taken away from me in a flash. That is not what we put our trust in. Cars can go; everything in this life is temporal except the Lord Jesus Christ. And, as we talk about our foundation, and this month we're talking about our foundation, I'd like to talk about two of the parts, two things that are part of our foundation in Christ. Two things that are part of our foundation in Christ. I'd like to talk a little bit, today, about baptism, and prayer. I'd like to talk about—I know, that's big undertaking; you might say, “You know, Brother Parrish, sometimes you don't know when to shut up.” I promise you, today, I will know when to shut up.
Part 1: The Principle of Baptism.
Hebrews 6:1-2 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” Now, this is to the Hebrews; this is Apostle Paul's letter to the Hebrews. And, when Apostle Paul was writing to the Hebrews, it wasn't like he was writing to those in Corinth, to the Corinthians. It wasn't like he was writing to those in Rome. He wasn't writing to people who were stooped heavily in idolatry, at least, they weren't supposed to. He was writing to people who were supposed to know the Law. They were supposed to know the ordinances of the Old Testament. This is who he was writing to. And, as he's writing to them, he's telling them about the foundation that they have come to, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. And, in talking about this foundation, in verse number two, he mentions two of the principles. One of the principles he says here is the doctrine of baptisms. There's an 's' on the end of it, because there's much to learn, much to learn about every principle of God. And the second one is: and of laying on of hands, laying on of hands. That has to do with prayer. There is a lot about this one, also. There's a lot to learn about all the types of prayer. But, these are the two that we are going to address today. Now, first, we are going to talk about baptism, and, specifically, Jesus' baptism. Many religions have a form of baptism. When I was Muslim—and, yes, I used to be Muslim—we had what was called Ablution. That's where you would wash your face, hands and feet three times each, before you could enter into the Mosque, or the sanctuary part of the worship. So, that was a Muslim form of cleansing. When we were in Israel a little while ago, we were there, and we found out that they had these mitzvah baths. They had steps to go down, but it was a bath, and you were to disrobe, go down in the water, get clean, and you would come up the other side and put on clean clothes—you weren't to put back on your dirty clothes. And, as you did that, you would be able to go into the Temple, go into the Temple to worship. And there's many other religions that have some form of washing. We were down—we took the young people down several years ago, we didn't know it was going to turn into a Buddhist worship, but there was a Buddhist priest who came out and he talked to us. Didn't know that was going to happen, but it was kind of neat that he did, because we learned a little bit, and they have a form of washing. We learned about the Hindus, and the Hindus actually have a time, every twelve years where the stars line up and they are to go six days in that one specific twelve-year period of time, the waters converge over there, specifically the Ganges, and they are able to go and wash, and that will take away their sins. They wait twelve years to be able to do that, to be able to wash away their sins. It's a big deal. It's a big deal, because they look to have their sins taken away and they consider that's how it's going to be done. That's in the Hindu faith, but, oh, if they only knew you ain't got to wait twelve years to really have your sins taken away. So, what about Jesus' baptism? What about the Lord's baptism? The Lord says, here:
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
How am I straitened till it be accomplished? How am I focused? How am I connected? How am I altogether joined to this part of the Gospel until it be accomplished? I have a baptism to be baptized with. So, the Lord says He has a Baptism, and He asked His disciples, “Are ye able to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” Yes, the Lord has a baptism for His people.
John 3:3-6 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
“Except a man be born again,” according to the Lord, here, “he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” You know, long before I was a Christian, I heard about this, being born again. I thought, “yeah, it sounds kind of neat, kind of nice.” I never read it. There was even a song out, somebody put a song out, talking about this guy, and Stevie Wonder's ex-wife, and, “Oh, I'm born again with you. We make each other born again.” I don't know no different; it sounds good. It doesn't sound complete, but I don't know. I didn't particularly care for that song, but, anyway, and then, once I come to people who know the truth of God, people shared that Scripture with me. No, the Lord didn't talk about a song is going to do it. The Lord said, “Except you're born again, you won't be able to enter the Kingdom of God.” I'm sorry, “...you won't be able to see the Kingdom of God.” But, then, in verse five, He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter in...” Can I tell you something? Ain't nobody putting this on TV. You don't see this all over the place. Why is this not talked about more? This is the key! This says it! It's in red! The Lord Jesus said it! Why aren't people preaching that? “Everything else is okay, as long as I'm good!” He didn't say as long as you're good; He said you've got to be born again! Thank You, God, for making it clear; I'm able to read it, and look at how beautiful it is. Lord, all I have to is obey You! Teach me Your ways. Teach me Your ways. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” “I have a baptism to be baptized with.” “I have a baptism,” the Lord said, “to be baptized with.” Verse number six, verse number six says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Now, everybody knows, from the Book of Genesis that the Lord created Adam, and then He created Eve, and we all come from Adam and Eve. And, there's a lot of speculation, there's a lot of science, “No, I don't think so; how could that be possible? An entire creation, from just two people? No, we were just a bunch of little cells that spontaneously appeared in some water somewhere, and the water was just the right temperature, and there was a whole bunch of more cells, and they just started dividing among themselves, and from those cells came more cells, and those cells turned into some kind of protoplasm, and then into some fish, and those fish grew arms,” and, not talking about what they had to eat in the first place, “and those fish grew arms, and they walked on land, they had legs, and gills to lungs, and then everything else came out, and that's how everything came.” But, we know, we who believe the Word of God, we believe that, when God created Adam and Eve, He created everything Adam and Eve needed to make everything else. So, as we come from Adam and Eve, we realize that we are born of Adam and Eve, we are born from Adam and Eve. So,this is why when people say, “Well, I'm pretty good, I'm pretty good.” We can base it on anything that we want to trust in, but, if you want to say that you're pretty good, nobody is going to be better than Adam, and even they had to turn to God to be saved. They had to turn to the Lord to be saved, Adam and Eve. That's the best that we're ever going to get, so we have to get what Adam and Eve got. This is why we have to be born of the Lord, because, when you're born of the Lord, you get what Jesus has. So, we got from Adam and Eve what Adam and Eve had to give: We've got flesh, we've got eyes, we've got arms, we've got a whole respiratory system, we've got all that stuff. And, when we're born of the Lord, we get some other stuff.
Matthew 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him [I love that part of the Scripture. “The Heavens were opened unto Him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Talking about Jesus' baptism. “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him:” “Can you be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Do you want the Heavens opened to you? To have access to those wonderful, magnificent things of God?” Yes, Lord, I want that. I want to have access to more of You. I want to have access to You when I'm lonely. I want to have access to You when I'm tired. I want to have access to You when I'm frustrated, and I don't want to have to put up with anything else. I want to have access to You twentyfour-seven, Lord. I want to have access to You when I'm asleep. I want to have access to You when I'm hungry. I want to have access to You when I'm full. Lord, I want to have access to You when I'm in a car, when I get in, or get out. I want to have access to You all the time, Almighty God. When He was baptized, the Heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove. That's what I want, God. I want Your Spirit in me. That's what I want, Lord, I want Your Spirit in me. Sometimes my own spirit tries to take over, but I want Your Spirit in here, because I know what kind of things are in Your Spirit: Peace, and understanding, and joy, and, you know what? that love that's unspeakable, full of glory. Yeah, that's what I want. I want that. I want to have the praises that go up, and to honor You, and I want to know that I'm making a connection, that You send the blessings back down. That's what I want, Lord, Your Spirit descending in my life, like a dove. Being born of the Lord Jesus Christ gives you access to the things of Heaven. And, it's the way the Holy Spirit comes down in your life, and, in verse seventeen:
Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
That's what I want: I want God to call me His boy. That's what I want. I want to be a child of God. If I'm going to be a child of God, I know, very now and then, because I know what kind of child I can be, I'm going to need to get a little spanked, sometimes. Because I know how I can be. I don't think I'm alone, here. But, every now and then, you know, God has to take me behind the woodshed and teach me a lesson, but, the chastisement of God is pure, and loving, and wholesome, and wonderful. And He's right there to receive us back. I don't care what it takes; I never want God to stop speaking to me. God, if You've got to chastise me, chastise me; just don't stop talking to me. Just don't stop being with me. Lord, if You have to take me around the rough side of the mountain, let's go! Just don't shut it out from me. God, always be in our lives. Being a son (or daughter) of God means you are entitled to the things that He has for His children. The Bible says, here:
Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
“...through the faith of the operation of God...” This is God's operation, and, no, Saints, this is not an elective surgery. You know, sometimes people make a choice on if they want to have this surgery or not, and they have many reasons. They say, “This surgery, well, this doctor ain't good enough to perform that surgery,” or, 'I think that he's just trying to do it for the money,” you know, whatever. Or, “This surgery, I don't really know, it's too risky, you may not make it out alive.” Those are choices that you have to make for surgery, but, this operation buries us—there's the word: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God,” Hallelujah! Hallelujah that you can be actually put in the operation of God; you're put there! Hallelujah, God operated on us. Amen. So, this is God's surgery we're talking about. This is God's operation we're talking about. And, you know, you get baptized once, well, most people get baptized once, but, what about it being reapplied again and again and again our lives?
Titus 3:5-7 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” the washing of regeneration. The washing of regeneration. This washing, it's a regeneration. You get regenerated, and you get regenerated again. I don't know about y'all, but I got regenerated this morning because I needed more from God. And, you know what? I'm getting regenerated right now! He's blessing me! Please, Lord, keep blessing me! And, when I'm in any straits, that regeneration comes over and over again. That's why baptism in Jesus' name is so wonderful, because it keeps getting applied to you, over and over through faith, and His operation, and by the renewing of His Holy Ghost. Hallelujah It never runs out. You never get to the end unless you straight up walk away from it, unless you straight up rebel from it. God don't cover willful sin, He covers repented sin. He covers repentance. If you've been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you have received the Spirit, God has called you a son, and He's called you a daughter. If you are still facing things where the devil gets a hold on you—and we all do—you have the power to say, “Get off me, devil.” Yeah, Brother Malcolm, you was taking part of the message, and that's okay. “Get off me, devil! Don't you know, I've been bought with a price? The blood of Jesus has washed away and loosed the bands that you used to have on me. You can come to me, but I can call on the name of Jesus, and I can be free again. No, you don't have power over the Lord Who saved me.” If you've been baptized into Jesus Christ, and you are a son or a daughter in God, you have that Spirit; you have untapped power in God. You have the ability to lay hands, and pray, in faith believing. You have the ability to pray, whenever they aren't even around you. And, you have power that all you have to do is come before God and ask Him, and the Heavens, the Bible says, are open to you. The Heavens are open to you. Amen.
Part 2: The Principle of Prayer
We talked a little about baptism, and we want to talk a little about prayer.
2 Chronicles 7:13-16 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
Hallelujah. “If I bring situations, whether it's pestilence or locusts, if I bring an occasion or a situation...” This lets us know that God is going to allow us to get into some trouble. It's not going to be a perfect walk on those nice cushy shoes on a nice golden road that never needs to be swept. No. Sometimes we're going to get into trouble specifically, specifically for verse number fourteen. If we get into trouble, the Bible says, “If My people, if My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray...” Yes, it says, “Seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then,” the Lord says, “I will hear you. I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive your sin and heal your land. I, the Lord, will do this.” You see, praise is wonderful, but, we praise God for what He's done; we praise and thank God for what He's done. And worship is wonderful, and we worship God for who He is. But we pray to God in communication, to tell Him how we feel, to tell Him where we are. In our prayers, yes, we give worship, and, yes, we also give praise, but we also give everything else. We give our supplications; we give our requests. “Lord, I come before You now, and, Lord, You know I really need You!” and God says, “I'm listening. Tell Me all about it.” When we pray—nowadays, we're in a day and age where prayer is too much work. You—prayer is just, it's so far between the occasions, and it takes so much out of you. If we've got any prayer warriors, we're taking—God always has applications for prayer warriors. Whenever you go to pray, you have to know it's a battle. Satan's like, “No, I don't want you praying. I don't want you going to God. I need to make it inconvenient, I need to make you distracted, I need to take that away from you,because, when you tap into that kind of power, I can't get the best of you. You always get he best of me when you turn to God. And prayer seems to be work. We live, today, in what they call a microwave society. “It takes to long to get to it; I need to hurry that thing up. You know what? Rather than me spending however long it takes to pray, you know what I'll do? Brother Malcolm, you look like a praying-type of man, once you get to praying, I'll join you for a little while. I only got a few minutes, I'll join you for a little while. You do my praying for me, then I'll turn and go back, and then I'll be covered.” And the whole time, the Lord God is saying, “No, I'm just waiting for you to come to Me. I think of the avenue—in my family, we're all—well, I was—but, they're all Muslim. And, they talk about praying, and it's a set prayer. I have to say, it's a set prayer. It's in Arabic and, if they say it a certain way, it sounds flowy and nice. It sounds so nice—I don't know what you're saying, but it sounds nice. But there ain't no power in praying to no God. And, when we have the opportunity, I tell my family, “No, I'm not praying to him, because he doesn't exist. If we're going to pray, we're going to call on the name of Jesus; that's the God that I serve. We're going to call on the name of Jesus. If you don't want me to call on the name of Jesus, then leave, because I'm going to call on Him, whether you like it or not. That's the way this rolls.” And, everybody in my family says, now it's the younger generation, they say, “We want to know more about that God, because it seems like you know Him personally.” Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For a God that can be known. Hallelujah! And, I just have one last thing to leave us with, and that's pray for our families. Pray for our families. We have been given so many things, and one of the things that every Christian has been given is some form of family. Pray for your family, and close to you. That's something that all Christians have been given. Pray for our families. Samuel was talking to the whole nation, the whole nation, and he was trying to show them how to turn back to God. And, as he was talking to them—we're just going to read verse twenty-three, but it actually starts at verse sixteen. The Bible says here:
1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
Nothing replaces prayer, nothing replaces prayer, nothing replaces prayer! Worship is wonderful, and study is awesome; they each have their place, but nothing replaces personal communion with the Almighty God. Nothing replaces it. Any parent can—I know they'll bear witness to this: Your child can do something: they can give you a gift, and that's wonderful; and your child can get good grades in school, that's amazing, that's wonderful, that's what you kind of expect, that's what you hope for; and your child can do many things; but, if your child doesn't talk to you, if they don't come and correspond with you, if they don't let you know how they feel, and want to know how you feel, it takes something out of you. Is that right? It has an effect on you. You know, I've just talked to so many parents that have said, “All I want—I love everything my child is doing, but I just could use a phone call, I could just use a visit.” We went to the home where the—it's in Zion—the Barton House. We went there to see Brother Kenneth, and, as we went there, some of the young people went with us, and we were just having a visit, and you could see, it was just like life coming into a dry place. And so many of the people, they just wanted to be around these young people, because there was life there. They just wanted to come around, and they said they hadn't gotten visits in weeks, and some of them said, “I haven't had a visit in years, and I've been here.” And the young people that were with us, we went by, and tried to say “Hi,” to everybody, they didn't even know it. They didn't even know it, but they were booking engagements. “When's the next time your coming? I'll make sure I have something for you. I'll cook, I'll do something. And you have a singing group? We would love for your singing group to come by, we would love it, love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.” Because they just want that kind of humanity. They were so lonely; it was so precious. And I learned so much. So, we want to have that communion with God. But, yes, we need to pray for our families. And, in closing:
Revelation 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
That's where our prayers go: before the throne. That's where our prayers go: right before the throne of Almighty God. Before the throne, that's where our prayers go. So, if you're not really a praying person, that's fixable. Get used to praying. If you haven't found a good way, a good, comfortable way to pray, that's fixable. You can find it. If you've been estranged, and it's tiresome, if it's uncomfortable, and even if you need somebody to help, all of those things are fixable, all of those things are fixable. As it was when Daniel prayed, and the angel Gabriel came, as it was, even when Cornelius prayed, and the Bible says he prayed and an angel was sent down because his prayers had come up for a memorial before God, before God. Countless times, countless times, God shows up in our prayers. Why? Because He's asked to, because He's asked. Amen. Give the Lord a praise.
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