Focus on that. Alright, good to see you in the Lord's house tonight. Turn to Colossians chapter number 4. Colossians chapter number 4. From time to time each year, I want to work to reignite and just to keep something charged in our church, and one of those is the ministry of prayer. And when you look in Colossians chapter number 4, we're going to see that Paul pays tribute to a prayer warrior. And we're going to see that tonight there. And I'm sorry about the focus tonight, folks. We're going to try to work on some of this stuff. We don't normally have problems like this. But we want to reignite the pastor's prayer team in our ministry. I want to say thank you to everybody that serves in some form, some fashion on the pastor's prayer team. And we've got numbers of people that do that on different levels. We're going to talk to you about that tonight. Introduce it afresh and new to folk in our church so that you'll know about what's going on there and how you can be involved in it. And also we're adding a special edition, a special part to the prayer team, and we're going to talk to you about that tonight as well. So Colossians chapter number 4. And verse number 12, turn your Bibles if you would there. Let's look together. Colossians chapter 4 verse 12, "...Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you, and for them that are in Laodicea, and them in Heropolis." And so here Paul makes mention of a fellow preacher, a fellow servant, a man who served God alongside of him, a fellow minister, and that was partnering in ministry, and he talks about his prayer life. As a matter of fact, Epaphras' name means charming or lovely. He was a lovely example of a Christian, and the word, as you talk about him and his name, it speaks of a term of affection, and it reveals Paul's heart for this man as he shares of what he is and the impact that he has in the lives of others. And so Paul and Epaphras, probably at this point, are in some form, some fashion, in prison together. It may have been that Epaphras had traveled to Rome to see Paul, and while he was there, he was incarcerated with him. And during that time, he had an opportunity to observe the prayer life of Epaphras. He was so impressed with Epaphras' prayer life that he writes back to the church at Colossae about his intercession, about his prayers for them, and he was impressed, and he shares some truths about us, excuse me, about Epaphras that ought to be true in our lives as it relates to this matter of prayer, and how the Holy Spirit, if you would, elevates the ministry of prayer in the lives of His people. I want you to notice some truths in that. Number one, He was persistent in His praying. He was persistent in His praying. Look if you would at verse number 12. He said, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Now that word always reminds us that Epaphras didn't offer up an occasional prayer for his congregation or for people that he cared about. He didn't just look at it a prayer a day to keep the devil away. No, he was continually lifting up others before the throne of grace. He was praying, and it was not just something that he did once in a while, it was a habitual part of his life. And he speaks to us about the fact that prayer is essential to the spiritual life of the child of God. Listen, you will never write, and I, will never rise above our prayer life spiritually. Do you realize that tonight? We will never rise above our prayer lives. Our prayer lives is what keeps us in tune and in touch with the living God. It's what keeps our hearts stirred and fresh, and it keeps us in tune with our Heavenly Father. Because listen, you're not going to live in sin and have a prayer life, and I'm not going to live in sin and have a prayer life. Listen, a carnal man, a carnal woman doesn't spend time in prayer. Listen, it's when you and I learn to pray effectively and persistently that it begins to really impact us spiritually and brings change to our lives and moves us to another level spiritually in our lives. It puts us on higher ground. Amen? And God wants us to be on higher ground. Luke 18, verse 1, Jesus said the men ought always to pray and not to faint. And so we're to always be a people of prayer. You say, preacher, I can't walk around with my eyes closed. I don't want to drive with my eyes closed. And I don't want you walking around or driving with your eyes closed. But you know what? Nowhere in the Bible does it say you have to pray with your eyes closed. It doesn't say that. Matter of fact, you find that people prayed standing up, they prayed with their heads lifted toward heaven, they prayed in all kinds of different positions and all of that. It's not that I've got to be somewhere kneeling down, my head bowed, my eyes closed 24 hours a day. No, listen, there ought to be a closet time of prayer. I need to have private times of prayer. There are times I need to be bowing before the God of heaven, but I can pray anytime, anywhere about anything. And listen, it doesn't matter where I am. Listen, I can be in a crowd of unbelievers. I can be in a crowd of people and lift up my voice in that moment and there's a God in heaven that can hear me. Amen? And hear you tonight. And so he says, men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now here's what's true. If you're praying, you're not fainting spiritually. You know, somebody faints, they're sort of out. You know, they're out of touch with what's around them for the moment that they're fainting. And if you're not praying, you're fainting. And if you're praying, you're not fainting. And so, if you're fainting, you're not praying. And if you're praying, you're not fainting, is what I need to say. And so the Lord said, if you don't want to be fainting spiritually as a Christian, then be a person of prayer. Romans 12, 12 continuing instant in prayer. Ephesians 6, 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Paul said, listen, praying's not just about you, it's about others too. And we need to include others in our prayer life. Colossians 4.2, the Bible says just right above our text, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. And so we find that the Bible is saturated about this matter of prayer. E. M. Bounds, the great author on prayer. And I recommend that if somebody says, well, I want a primer on prayer, you need to read How to Pray by R. A. Torrey. That is a great primer on prayer. That's something every Christian should read. And then another one would be the E. M. Bounds work on prayers. You'll not exhaust Those books, I'm telling you, you can read them over and over and over again and draw spiritual nourishment and help and challenge in this matter of prayer. But E. M. Bounds, a great preacher during the 1800s, here's what he said. He said, prayer is the pulse of the spiritual life. And you know what? Your pulse is one of your vital signs. That means it reveals something about the condition of our bodies. If our pulse is healthy and strong, you know what it's saying? Boy, I'm in good shape physically. And listen, if we've got a strong pulse, and we've got a good pulse, and we're healthy, it's a sign of our health and the condition of our body. So prayer, now watch this, is a vital sign of our spiritual health. It will reveal something about the condition of our heart. I hear this a lot. Well, I wish I had more time to pray. The truth is, folks, that we have to make time to pray. The devil will insure you and insure me that we don't have time to pray because he don't want us to pray. And when you are praying, He'll make you feel like you ought to be doing something else other than pray. You ever been praying and felt like you ought to be doing something else? I mean, boy, I prayed and suddenly, a thousand and one things come to your mind. Boy, I ought to mow the grass, do this, do that, do the other. I need to call this person, write that person a note. I need to make sure I take care of that. Boy, I need to work on the message for that. I mean, all kinds of things go through my mind. Why? Because Satan wants to distract me in the place of prayer. And he wants to distract you from the place of prayer, because let me tell you something, he knows when you and I are grabbing hold of the horns of the altar, when you and I are getting a hold of the God of heaven, things change not only in our lives, but in the lives of other people. So I ask you tonight, how's your prayer life? Are you taking the time to pray? Prayer bathes the soul in an atmosphere of the divine presence, says Charles Finney. And so he was persistent in his prayer. I want you to notice, secondly, he was personal in his prayer. Notice what he says in verse number 12. He says, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Notice those two words, for you. He didn't just pray for everybody in general, he prayed for individuals in particular. That's one of the reasons why every Wednesday night we pray it, print a prayer bulletin is so that we will be able to remember the needs of people. And you know what? Hey, I'll be honest with you. I don't know a lot of the people on this print. Now, there's many I do know. There's a whole lot of folks I don't know. But that doesn't mean that they don't need me to pray for them. And that doesn't mean they don't need you to pray for them. And that doesn't mean I have to sit down and pray over the whole prayer bulletin one time. I can pray for a part of it on Monday, another part of it on Tuesday, another part on Wednesday, another part on Thursday. Divide it up, pray by name, and lift people up to the Lord in prayer. Too often our prayers are consumed with ourselves. We're always talking to God about our needs and our wants, but Epaphras had others on his heart and mine as he went to God in prayer. And folks, listen, not only should our prayers be persistent, they ought to be personal. They ought to be involving other people. Philippians 2 verse 4 says this, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Do you know why that's the heart of the pastor's prayer team? That's what it's all about. It's calling in, getting a list of the prayer requests for that day, and calling their names and their needs out to God in prayer. Sometimes it's church needs, sometimes it's college, sometimes it's all about the Christian school, sometimes it's health needs, sometimes it's... an area of maybe I'm traveling or in a meeting and desire the prayers of God's people during that time, there's different things that are on the prayer line. And while there may be some similarity day after day, there's always somebody new on there most of the time. And there's always a pertinent need in somebody to be lifted up in prayer. And listen, can I tell you, the heart of the pastor's prayer team is the work of intercession. That's what it is. It's praying for others. It's praying for our church. It's praying for our jail ministry teams on Tuesday night. Our Impact soul winning on Wednesday night. Elevate teen ministry and children's ministry. It's about bus ministry and RU ministry and the different ministries of our church, the Christian school, the college, our bus ministry, Sunday school, the different areas of our ministry as we put things on there for you to pray about and to call out to God in prayer and to lift these things up. Because folks, can I tell you, a praying church It's a powerful church, and a powerful church is a praying church. It just is. You ought to pray for your pastor and the pastoral staff and their families regularly. We ought to be praying for our missionaries. We gave you a missionary prayer guide so that you could call their names out in prayer. We ought to pray for the saints of God. Now, you know what? Not only should we pray for saints, we ought to be praying for sinners. Amen? and lifting them up to the Lord in prayer and asking God to help us and to work in the lives of others and to help our witness to be effective. And, you know, on there we'll say, pray for Love My Neighbor Sunday. Pray for Easter Sunday. Pray for this. Why? Because we're wanting people to get a hold of God and say, God, we need you to work. One of the things that's going to be on our prayer list is this upcoming vote in Charlotte on Tuesday night on the prayer line. Hey, pray for this Don't Do It Charlotte campaign. Let's pray that the city council, hey, The heart of the king is in the Lord's hands, and He turneth it withersoever He will." Folks, listen, we need God to move on people's hearts. Do you realize when this came up last year? This issue came up last year. I was in a meeting, and the pastor of First Baptist Church Charlotte was in that meeting. He had just gotten word as he was leading. And his name eludes me, we've spoken together at some Liberty rallies, and just a fine man. I'll never forget, he was talking to me about it, but he had just come to a meeting that I was attending, and he made the statement, he said, I just got word we won. This was this time last year, same issue, same vote that's getting ready to take care. Let me just tell you something, folks, the devil's crowd never gives up. And that's why we can't give up. Alright? But here's what you've got to get. There was a guy on there that was positioned to vote yes for that ordinance and it would have passed. He listened to the arguments and he said, you know what? I don't even know what I'm doing. I don't even know why I'm doing this, but tonight I vote no. You know what? We know God did that. But God worked because people were praying and they were getting a hold of God and God was moving. And folks, listen, let's never lose sight of the fact that God can intervene in the affairs of mankind. He can't. But not only was it persistent, not only was it personal, you're going to find it was purposeful. Epaphras didn't pray in generalities. He was definite and specific and particular and purposeful in his praying. Effective praying is specific, purposeful praying. It's not just praying in generalities. God bless the world. God bless America. God bless this. No, Lord, I need you to work in Jim's heart and Joe's heart and Sally's life. and God asks you to work in their marriage, and, Lord, do this in my pastor's heart, and, God, I want you to do this in our jail ministry. It's specifically praying and asking God to do something in the lives of others. Our prayers, Andrew Murray said, must not be a vague appeal to His mercy. It must not be an indefinite cry for blessing, but the distinct expression of definite need. Boy, distinct, definite need. He prayed that the people in his church would stand firm. Look at verse 12. He said, laboring fervently in prayers that you may stand. That word stand means to stand firm. It means to stand strong. It means to be immovable. There were those in the church that were fighting against the church, and they were seeking to stop the work of God and stop the move of the gospel. And he said, listen, in the midst of the persecution and the difficulty and the hardship, I just want you to know, I'm praying you'll stand strong and stand firm. You know what one of the greatest things you can pray for your pastor is? Is that I stand firm on what's right. Do I get a witness of amen there? It's just true. That we stand firm and stand strong as the people of God. Look if you would in Colossians chapter 1 and verse number 23. Paul, it's amazing how that what he's praying, Paul's writing about. He tells them in Colossians 1.23, he said, "...if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." Do you realize in the first century, every creature in some form, some fashion heard the gospel he said under heaven? The civilized world, they heard the gospel. And he said, I, Paul, made a ministry, but I want you to stand firm. I want you to be grounded. I want you to be settled. Don't be moved away. And church, let me just tell you, the devil is doing everything he can to move you and me away, to move this church away. Listen, he wants to put pressure on us to move away from that that is right and true and godly. Hey, he wants us to blend rather than to stand strong for him. And folks, we need to pray that we stand firm. He said, secondly, I want you to pray that you're fully mature. Look again, if you would, back in chapter 4 and find verse number 12. He said that you stand perfect. Now that doesn't mean sinlessly perfect. It means to bring something to completion so it has the idea of growth or growing. And he's praying, listen, Epaphras is praying for these believers for his church there in Colossae. And he says, listen, I want you to stand firm and I want you to be perfect. Now, he's talking there about being a person who is mature spiritually. Alright, look at chapter 2 verse 6. Paul talks about that, of Colossians. Look at chapter 2 verse 6. See, Paul's impressed. works these prayer requests into the very fabric of this book, this letter. Look at what he says in verse 6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. How do you receive the Lord? By faith. How are we supposed to walk? By faith. Look at verse 7. Rooted and built up in Him. You know what? Every one of us ought to be rooted. That's a great theme. Maybe one year. That'll be a theme. Rooted and grounded. Just rooted and grounded in the Lord. You know what, folks? If we've got deep roots, you don't have to worry about the strength of the plan. Isn't that right? Listen, every Christian ought to be rooted in the things of God. Rooted in their relationship with Christ. Rooted in the Word of God. Rooted in prayer. Rooted in the house of God and serving the Lord. And look, he said, rooted and built up in Him. And established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein. with Thanksgiving. Let me just tell you something. You say, Preacher, what makes a strong Christian? It's this book right here, In Time with God in Prayer. It's what makes a strong Christian. Without those two things, we're going to be anemic spiritually. Number three, he said, I want you to be fruitful. Look back at chapter 4 verse 12. He said that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. That word complete means to have the idea of being full or fully assured. He has the idea of being fruitful, complete in all the will of God. That you're bringing forth fruit and that you're accomplishing that for which God saved you. He wanted them to experience everything God had for them. He wanted them to know in the practical, everyday living of their lives what they were in Christ. And you know what, Christian? That's what the Christian life is all about. It is understanding in a very practical, everyday way life lived and who we are in Jesus Christ. If we can get a hold of who we are, it changes us. Let me just tell you something. Most of the time we refer to ourselves as sinners saved by grace. I understand what we mean by that. I do. We're trying to be humble, and I understand that, because none of us deserve to be saved, do we? You know what? God never calls you that. God will call you a saint, a son, a servant, a sheep. He calls you a soldier. He never calls you a sinner. That doesn't mean that we don't sin as believers, but what it does mean is that God has given us a lofty position, and we ought to live up to it. We ought to reflect Him in who we are and what we do and how we live. Look at chapter 2 verse 9. Paul talks about that. Chapter 2, verse 9. Notice he says in chapter 2, verse 9, for in him, talking about Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, look at verse 10, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Do you know that word complete has the idea of a ship fully equipped for the journey ahead? You know what God just said right there? I've given you everything necessary to live life successfully for me. You've already got it all. When you get saved, God gives you the total package. What we've got to do is start living it out. We're complete in Him. We have everything necessary for living life successfully in this life and the life to come. 2 Peter 1.4 talks about how that He's given us all things that pertain to life and God. Listen, there is no excuse for us not to succeed in the Christian life. God has given us His Word in our hand, His Spirit in our heart, a prayer avenue to the God of heaven. He has given us everything necessary to live life successfully for Him. No excuse. We need to pray purposefully. We need to pray persistently. We need to pray personally. And I want you to notice, we need to pray passionately. Notice again verse 12. Epaphras, who is one of you a servant of Christ, saluteth you always, laboring fervently. I like those two words. Look at verse 13. He said, For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you. Those two words, laboring fervently, come from one Greek word that means agonize. It describes an athlete competing in the games or a soldier wrestling with an enemy. It has the idea of expending large amounts of energy. There he was on his knees wrestling with God. Epaphras was for these people. His whole heart and soul were in it. His entire surrendered being was caught up in the task. I can imagine him rising from his knees utterly spent, completely exhausted, where he was wrestling with God in prayer, and he was fervently praying. When was the last time that you got off your knees tired? When was the last time I got off my knees tired? Prayer can be an exhausting exercise. That's why at times our flesh runs from it. There are times we've grown tired in praying, but have we ever grown tired through praying? James 5.16 says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Availeth. That means to have power, to be effective. It means to be capable of producing results. Somebody said, the one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray, says Samuel Chadwick. Prayer moves the arm which moves the world and brings salvation down. Somebody said God does nothing except in answer to prayer. Fervently has the idea, means to stretch, and prayer will stretch you. It's a spiritual exercise that will stretch and strengthen your faith. It will force you and me to believe God for things. And Epaphras understood what you and I need to understand. Praying makes a difference. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Do you know what's interesting? Recent blogs, and I read blogs all the time from different sources. Amazing the surveys that have come out lately about the languishing prayer ministries of churches, that people just don't take it serious anymore. Well, you know, I don't believe that's true at Calvary. I believe there's many of you that you count prayer as an important part of your spiritual life, as integral and essential to the vibrancy and the success and the blessing of God upon this ministry, upon this church. And what my desire is tonight, before I move into a new series of messages, what it was just to reignite our hearts in this matter of prayer. that we would be a praying people, that we'd be a praying church. Folks, let me tell you something, our nation needs prayer. This election needs to be bathed in prayer. It just does. Listen, hey, you say people need to vote, right? Absolutely, but you know what? We need to pray for the candidates. We pray for spiritual discernment for people. We need revival in America. We need a move of God in our land. Our children, this church, our grandchildren, they depend on you and I being people of prayer to get a hold of God. Let me just tell you something. I can't do what I do without you joining with me in prayer. Just as Moses was dependent there on the mountain as the Israelites fought the Amalekites for Aaron and Hurl to hold up his arms, so I need you to help hold up my arms and you need me to help hold up your arms. We need each other. Your family needs prayer. I would hope that my prayers for you, that you would value that just as I value your prayers for me. How important it is that we pray for each other and call each other's name out to God in prayer. How important it is that I can promise you if it's your mom or your dad laying there in the ER, not sure if they're going to live, or your child, or your family member, you'd want somebody praying for them. And you know what? We ought to, in turn, pray for somebody else. If we want somebody to pray for me, shouldn't we, out of our heart, pray for somebody else? All of us want prayer. How many of us are willing to give prayer? I just challenge us tonight. As we move to the next part, there's some information inside your bulletin tonight. I want to share it with you real quickly about the Pastor's Prayer Team ministry. This is an important ministry and about one time a year we enlist people into this ministry. We only do it about once a year. And I believe this may be one of the most important ministries that we do because it bays everything else that we do in prayer. That doesn't nullify or make insignificant prayer meetings that take place at other times, such as Sunday mornings at 745, a group of men gather right over there and pray for everything that happens here on this property on Sunday mornings. We pray for about 20 minutes every Sunday morning. Several men come and then they go back home, get their families and come back to church. Boy, I tell you what, you say, Preacher, I'd like to do something. I'd like to be involved in something. Boy, a great place to start would be 745 Sunday morning prayer time. And we have a great time of prayer, a special time of prayer. We divide up in twos or threes around the altar, different places in the auditorium to pray. There, the Friday night, seven o'clock, some men meet with Brother John at his house, Brother John Vernon, on Saturday mornings and pray. We've got a group of Bible college students and different ones that gather there and pray with Brother John. There's others that gather at different times and pray. But you know what? That in no way makes what you do personally in your home, in your car, by your bedside, or wherever you are individually when you talk to God about others in this ministry. It all goes together, folks. Romans 15.30, which is on your little handout there, says, And I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Here was the apostle Paul saying to the Christians at Rome, I need you to pray for me. Paul says in Ephesians 6, in verse 18, he talks about prayer, and then at the end, in verse 19, he says, and for me. In 1 Thessalonians 5, he says, Brethren, pray for us. Brethren, pray for us. Paul recognized that his effectiveness in ministry was commensurate to and equal to the prayer that took place for him. We have two levels of the pastor's prayer team. There's what we call an intercessor level. Alright? This is where an individual calls the Calvary Care Line on Monday through Friday, prays for the different requests that I mention, sometimes it's Brother Dale. There are times that we get so busy, honest, it's not something we mean to do, but I noticed on Monday that we didn't call in on Monday, and there are some days that we forget and we don't mean to do it, but sometimes, Just late nights and early mornings and pressures, we don't get it. That's when we need you just to, boy, they must be having a hard day praying for them. You know what I'm saying? But very seldom does that happen. Most all the time, we keep that thing up to date, and we keep pertinent prayer requests on there. And it's usually updated every day by 10 o'clock at the latest, but most of the time, like this morning, I had it updated by 20 after 8, 8.30, something like that. Other times it's at 7, 7.30, so different times. And there have been times I've done it at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. because it just needed to be done, and I knew the next day wasn't going to get done, and so I went ahead and did it. But we try to update that, and intercessor level means that you just individually, at your convenience, when you have time that day, call in and get the request, just jot them down, and you're praying over those requests at your convenience. Okay? That's what an intercessor level is. That means you're an intercessor at Calvary Baptist Church, and you're getting the most pertinent, up-to-date prayer requests, and you're praying for them on a daily basis. Okay? Monday through Friday we update that. Alright? Then there's another level, which is a partnering level. Now, the majority of people in our church are on the intercessor level, and I understand that, because the partnering level takes a little bit more time, and I recognize that a lot of folks don't have a lot of time. And I recognize that. So we're thankful for the intercessor level, and we're grateful for it. But there are those that they want a prayer partner, somebody to pray with them. And so the partnering levels, where an individual calls the care line on Monday through Friday, and they then call their prayer partner, what we do is we change prayer partners every month. Okay? Those on my prayer team that are on this level. That's what the pastor's prayer team on the partnering level meeting is usually the last Wednesday night of every month, they're changing prayer partners. Okay? And some people enjoy praying together so much, they've got two or three prayer partners. They keep them. And they'll call two or three people and pray. So maybe you're retired, maybe you're not able to get out, maybe you're not able to do some things, maybe it's something on your level that you would like to do is to have a daily prayer partner. Then what you do is each individual calls that prayer line, they write down their requests, they call their prayer partner, and then they pray together over the telephone for the different requests that I mention and pray for me, my family, the minister, our pastoral staff, and those things. And then they pray for each other. And so the partnering level will normally meet on the last Wednesday night of each month. At this meeting, you receive your new prayer partner, and we assign that for the month as well as receive. We usually give a free gift on prayer once a quarter. We'll give you a book or we'll give you a sermon or something. We try to have something for you just to keep that thing going. And then there's a third level we're going to get people involved in on, and that's the first responder level. Okay? That's brand new. What we want to do is we want to put together, and of course, anybody can be a part of this. You say, Preacher, I don't know if I want to call it every day, but I want to be on the first responder. You know what? I'm grateful. When I went home a couple of Sunday nights before Christmas, I was fine. I preached here. I had a wonderful service. I was on the mountaintop. Lori wasn't feeling real good. And she had been sick, so I was calling her to see what she wanted me to bring her home to eat after church on Sunday night. I was just about to turn on the road to go to our house, and I felt my heart just sort of jump in my chest. And next thing I know, it was running about 170. I didn't know, I was living, dying, had no idea. I just got to the house and called Bill Gunner and I said, Bill, hey, I got some issues. Let me tell you what's going on. I'd been having this for a while, didn't know what it was, but I was getting real nervous. I'd already been to the ER with it one time. This time I felt like, well, listen, if I can keep from going to the ER, I want to keep going. Well, it wouldn't stop. That thing just kept on going. It kept getting whatever, you know. Well, I said, Bill, I said, you're on your way. And I said, call the EMS. Well, you know what? The EMS pulled up in my house and I said, no, don't blare the sirens. I don't want everybody in town and the neighborhood knocked. They come in there, sirens just blasting, neighbors out the door a whole nine yards, you know. They thought they was carrying me on to the funeral home or something, you know, whatever. But anyway, they come in and blare. But you know what? That night I was thankful for a first responder. I was thankful for those that had trained, given their time, their energy, their effort to be there to rescue me and save my life if that was necessary. Matter of fact, they did get on tape what was going on in my heart, so when the doctors saw it, they immediately knew what was going on and set me up with a cardiologist that fixed me. And that was a blessing. God worked through all of that. But I'm thankful for a first responder. Well, you know what? If there's first responders of emergencies in the physical world, don't you think we ought to have first responders who respond in prayer in the spiritual realm. And we've got means to where you can get on the moment, on the spot prayer requests. And it's not something we're going to do every day. This is something where we may only do it a few times a year. It's going to be those moments when we've got an emergency in our church of a nature that we feel like we need to mobilize our church in prayer, but we need people praying right then. Okay? I remember the first time I enacted that, we used to have what was called the old prayer chain here at Calvary. Okay? And there people had prayer lists and stuff like that. Well, you know what? We've got different ways of doing that today. But I'll never forget, I was the associate pastor then. Dr. Baker was down in Paraguay with Mike and Sharon Thompson when they were there. And he got extremely sick. And Brother Thompson called me and he said, preacher, he said, I just want you to know, he said, Pastor Baker is in bad shape down here. You know what I've done? I got on the phone and started a prayer chain praying for Pastor Baker. You know why? He needs somebody to pray for him right then. We've got people at the hospital and they're in a life or death situation. They don't need us to wait until we get to church to mention it. They don't need to wait until we update the prayer line tomorrow. They need immediate prayer right then. You see what I'm saying? And so we've got three ways that we can get these requests to you. First of all would be a phone tree. That we would set up a phone tree and call everybody. But guess what? Not everybody has a primary phone that they want on the phone tree. So we can email it to you. We're going to do it in three ways. We're going to do a phone tree, email, and text. All right, just how we're texting news. All right, there's a way that we can text alerts to you for urgent prayer requests, but it's different from the text for CBC News. This is CBC Prayer. You text CBC Prayer to 41411. I can't read it back there, okay? But that's okay, it's probably my eyes. All right, we'll get these screens worked on. We'll get all this worked on, all right? But you know what? The devil, ain't it amazing? We'll have all kinds of services on Wednesday night. And we don't have these kinds of... And it's amazing, tonight we're talking about prayer and ramping up prayer in our church. We've got all kinds of technical issues, don't we? Now, I'm not saying the devil's back there. That's just some good guys back there in that sound booth, okay? So it's not the devil's back there. But the devil can get in things. Now, I'm not saying he's in them. He's in the equipment, okay? Facts stuff. Now, I don't think we need to go back there and exercise. I don't know what I mean. I'm not saying he's inhabiting that stuff, all right? But listen, no doubt, you know, some of this stuff messes up. Listen, I have never yet been in a home or anywhere leading somebody to Christ that at that moment somebody shows up, phone rings. You know why? The prince of power of the air is at work. He don't want people getting right with God. He don't want people getting serious about prayer. He don't want our church to ramp things up. He don't want us to be a praying people. All right? And so, coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. But anyway, text CBCPrayer to 41411. We're not going to blow your phone up. You know if you already get news, we don't blow your phone up with stuff, okay? We don't send you a cell item every week, okay? Now, we probably ought to use it more than we do. And we want more people on CBC News at 41411. We only have about 160 people on it. I'd love we had about 500 people on it, okay? But for the CBC prayer, we want folks that you say, preacher, at a moment's notice, I can go to God in prayer. Now, you know what? In order to be able to do that, I've got to stay right with God. They don't have time for me to say, no, Lord, I need to confess a bunch of sins, because I know you're not going to hear me, because I'm regarding iniquity in my heart, and Lord, I need to get this right so I can pray. No, they need somebody to go to God in prayer right then and get ahold of God. And you know what? You can be that kind of person. And if you're interested in being a part of the pastor's prayer team on any level, you say, Preacher, I'm not a member. You're a part of the Calvary family. If you attend this church, we welcome you as a part of the pastor's prayer team. You don't have to be a member to be a part of it. You just have to be an attender of Calvary. Okay? And I've got some people that they call in just to get the devotion off of it, and they don't even attend our church, but they pray over this. I've got people that do that. They heard about it, saw it, and they do it. As a matter of fact, I had one person, their loved one was in ICU, and every day, they didn't have any way of getting anything. They would just put the phone that had my devotion on it up to their ear so they could get something from God that day, even though they were unconscious in the ICU unit. So, it's amazing how we minister to people. But what we want you to do is to say, if God wants you a part of this ministry, and you'll be faithful to it. Now I understand things come up, you can't call every day, but we want you to call as many days as you can to pray. Just jot it down on a little scratch sheet there at your desk or wherever or whatever. You can call in, get the request. And on the intercessor level, it's just an individual praying on their own. Partnering level, we give you a prayer partner that you call in the evenings or during the daytime. As you have time, it is a set time that you make with your prayer partner, okay? We don't tell you when to pray with them. You can do it at 6 o'clock in the morning, 1 o'clock in the morning, 5 o'clock in the afternoon, 2 o'clock, 8 o'clock in the evening, whenever you want to set up a time that you both call each other to pray, and we have people that do that. Every day, Monday through Friday, they call each other and they pray on that partnering level. And then we need folk on the first responder. Now, you don't have to be a part of the other two to be a first responder, okay? But we'd like for you to if you'd like to. We want you to wherever you feel like you fit. So that's where this card comes in. That you put your name, email, home phone number and cell number, okay? And then on the back, you just check. Alright? How you want to receive the first responder, if you want that, how you want to receive it, or if you want all three of them, you check as many as you want on that, and you check on whether you want to be an intercessor or a prayer partner level. And then what I ask you to do as you leave tonight, because this is the commitment part, is to go by the prayer table in the foyer and hand this off to Brother Tom or somebody there. Just drop it at the table on your way out. And that way we can get you on our list as an intercessor or a partnering level because we want to get you into that rotation. Or we want to get you on the first responder list because we want to get that started immediately. As soon as we get these in, we're going to start building that list. And we'll be ready, you know, if they're at a moment's notice, if there's a need, an emergency, we'll begin to put that information out so you can respond instantly or immediately to that special need and call on God. I tell you what, folks, I believe this stuff's important. Don't you? And I tell you what, if I was in a tragic automobile accident, or my family member was, or whatever, I sure would want people to immediately begin praying for me. And I know there's people here that would do that. And I want you to know I'm humbled by the commitment to prayer that you have as a church. And I'm not just saying that to get you to sign up. I mean it. When I came here, that was one of the things that struck me at the very beginning was the emphasis that we placed on prayer. And as a pastor, I've realized that the growth and the blessings that God has given on this church is directly related to prayer. And I believe that that's what will continue moving us forward as a church. as we get serious about God. And so, I ask you to do that tonight and sign up. Now, you know what? Maybe tonight you need to come talk to the Lord about your prayer life. Maybe tonight you need to come commit to the Lord about your prayer life, or you haven't been praying like you ought to, or whatever it is. Or maybe tonight, for the very first time in your life, you need to call on God to save you. And you know what, that's the greatest prayer anybody can pray, is to call on Him. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm glad for the night I called on the Lord. You can do that tonight. I'll have guys here at the end of each of the aisles, and we're here to help you tonight. You have a special need, you bring it to the altar. You're not sure if you died you'd go to heaven. We'd love to show you from the Bible how you can. You come tonight, and we'll help you with that. Every head will be bowed, every eye will be closed, you can come. privately and we will help you in a private setting to come to know the Lord as your Savior. So let's bow our heads in prayer.