Luke chapter 5, and I want to begin reading in verse number 15. Luke chapter 5 and verse number 15, the Bible says, But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. Now, in those two verses, you see a great contrast in verse 15. There is a fame. Many people come to Jesus, they occupy his time, they want to be healed, they want to be around him. But in the following verse, there's a great contrast because he withdraws himself from He removes himself from the crowd. Why? To pray. And the reason that Jesus did this was because Jesus had a practice of prayer. Practice, a lot of times when we think of the word practice, it has a negative connotation. And what I mean by that is practice is work. But the truth is prayer is work, is it not? We talk about laboring in prayer. But practice, you know, there are certain things in our lives that are good for us to practice. It's good to happen repeatedly, over and over and over again. I know in our previous session we talked about being in a spirit of prayer, but it's also good for us to have a practice of prayer, and that means regular, habitual things in our lives where we take the moments to just pray. I remember I went to college with, say college, maybe that here would be called university, but I went, when I was studying for ministry, I went to school with a gentleman who was from Wilmington, North Carolina. And Wilmington, North Carolina is the hometown of one of the most famous basketball players that has ever lived named Michael Jordan. Now we're several decades, a couple decades removed from his greatness, but I still think he's the best player that ever lived because he's from North Carolina and he was the one that I watched all the time growing up. But Michael Jordan, when he went from Wilmington, North Carolina to the University of North Carolina and then to the NBA, he revolutionized professional basketball. Nobody had ever seen a man of his size and stature dunk the way that he did, play defense the way that he did, and led his team to repeated championships over and over and over again. I think by far, I think he is the best basketball player to ever live. But my friend that I was with in Bible college went to high school with Michael Jordan. And my friend played basketball with Michael Jordan. And my friend told me, he said, I remember one day, we were out on the court, and we were playing, we were doing dunks, we were having all kinds of fun, and we went over to Michael, and we said, hey, Michael, come out here and have some fun with us. Come out here and let's horse around. And Michael, just six feet, six inches tall, just threw his hand out there, and he said, leave me alone. And what he was doing is he was on the sidelines of the court, and he was practicing his dribble. And he was just dribbling. He was not dunking the ball. He was just working on something very basic. And when the guys would come and bother him, he said, leave me alone. My dribble, it's not smooth. I need to work on it. It's not right. And at the time, they laughed at him. They were like, pfft. Oh, you're crazy. You're over there dribbling. We want to dunk the ball. But what they did not know is here was a man who was working on practicing something that was very basic, that years later would pay off for him in a way that we would have never imagined. He had his own shoes. When he made the NBA, they made Air Jordans. The man made more money than you could ever imagine. And even today, he's still very famous, but it all goes back to the side of a basketball court where he was just working on something that was very fundamental, hour upon hour upon hour of practice. And while we could say that Michael Jordan's practice of basketball paid off for him greatly in the future, that is true, but can I tell you, nothing will pay off for you any more than to develop the practice of prayer. And the older you get, you can still pray. How many 80-year-old basketball players have you ever met? Have you ever met an 80-year-old playing basketball? I don't think there'll be any of you probably that age out there playing basketball with these young fellows this afternoon. Those knees get bad and the limbs begin to just twitch and your ligaments begin to get stiff, but I'll tell you what, I've met a lot of 80-year-old prayers. So you understand the importance of the practice of prayer. Now, Jesus, is about to address a religious crowd in verse 17, but before he does, he withdrew himself to the wilderness and he prayed. And so now for the next few minutes, I want to give you five things about the practice of prayer that we draw from Jesus, not just in this passage, but just overall, as we think about, if you ask the question, how do you pray? How do you do that? Well, let's look at the life of Jesus. and let's see some things about it, all right? Number one, let's see the place and the posture of prayer. The place and the posture of prayer. If we ask the question, where do you pray? Many people say, oh, I pray in church. Where do you pray? I pray when we are at prayer meeting, or I pray in Sunday morning service. Are those things good? The answer is yes, they're good. But when you look at where Jesus prayed in the Bible, you know what you're going to find? He prayed in just common, ordinary places. For instance, he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a beautiful garden. And he just spent time praying. A place where many people would go around looking. Look at those nice plants. Look at those nice trees. But instead of observing the beauty of the garden, Jesus observed the beauty of his heavenly father. Jesus prayed on a mountain. The Bible tells us in Mark chapter six that he departed into a mountain to pray. Once the disciples got in that boat and went to the other side, Jesus departed into a mountain to pray. Now, I will tell you here in New Zealand, it's really amazing. You see water on one side and you can see a cliff on the other in some of the northern parts where pastor took me. Thankfully, he did not push me off the cliff. I'm grateful for that. But you know, it's amazing. The beauty that you have, you have two things in close proximity. Back home, at the outer banks of North Carolina, you have water that's about five hours away from me, and then you've got mountains, which are just two, but it's like seven hours to get from the mountains to the water. Here in New Zealand, you just sort of stand there, and you watch both. They're all right there. But he departed into a mountain to pray. Why? He wanted a place of isolation. A place of nature. Some of you, as I saw in this hour of prayer that we had, as you're walking around, you're walking around in a beautiful place. Do you know that you are praying very much like Jesus did? Jesus went into the desert. He went into the wilderness. You know, the entire idea was private prayer. I lived in a college dormitory for several years, and you have 28 guys in one house with two bathrooms. There's not a lot of privacy. If you wanted it, you just had to go outside. Well, listen, Jesus taught us that one of the greatest ways of places to pray is to get away from everything and just go, whether it's the wilderness, the desert, the mountain, and to pray. And do you remember in Matthew chapter six, when Jesus gives instruction about prayer, he says, and when thou enterest into thy closet, And there even Jesus tells us, OK, if it's not on a mountain, it's not in the wilderness, it's not in the desert, it's not in a garden, it may be a room within your home that is set apart. Now, I know a lot of times we think of closet and when you think of a closet, you think of a you know, room that has a rod and you just sort of have to shove yourself in there and shut it and you have all these clothes that are hanging down on you. But it's really the idea of getting into a place that's just solitary and spending it alone. Jesus had a practice of that. And so we talk about practice of prayer. That's the kind of place that Jesus utilized to pray. You know, as long as you've got the freedom to walk outside, you can go get alone and you can pray. If in your home you have a specific room where nobody else is at at a certain time of day or a place where you can go to get alone, then you just go there and that's a perfect place for you to pray. So that's the idea of place, but then let's talk about posture. Posture, you know, my mom used to get onto me all the time when I was a kid. A lot of times we think about posture, It's just how we stand. You know, I can still hear my wife telling my daughter, pull your shoulders back. You know, don't, don't walk around like dad, you know, all slumped over. But when we talk about posture, okay, well, when you pray, how do you stand? When you pray, should you kneel? Should you stand? What should you do? You know, when you look at the life of Jesus, you find that he prayed in different postures. In John chapter 11, at Lazarus come forth, you know, Jesus is praying standing. You know, and I will be honest, like if I am called on to pray and everybody else is seated, I personally choose to stand. I do that just this is a sake of just an idea of reverence and I say, well, Jesus didn't pray. You know what I can too. And of a Jesus prayed while he was standing at Lazarus when Lazarus was raised in Luke 22. It is recorded that Jesus prayed kneeling. Now I want to give you a special challenge about this. When it comes to the posture of prayer, let me say very emphatically, I believe that the greatest posture that Jesus and that God is concerned with is the posture of the heart. Okay? That is the greatest importance. If a man is on his knees but his heart is proud, he's making no progress. However, It is amazing to me to see in the Bible how many times when people talk to God that they are on their knees or even on their faces. I want to challenge you men when it comes to prayer, I do think I do think that there's something to the times when we just get down and we get on our knees or maybe when nobody else is around and we just sprawl out and we call to God. If your heart is filled with humility and it's broken, your posture can reflect that. Now, there's some of you older gentlemen here and you're like, I'll tell you, if I get on my knees, I can't get back up again. I'm not here to shame you and say, well, I'll just tell you, you've got a real problem. There was a gentleman who was a faculty member at the Bible College that I was trained at, and Brother Smith had him as well. His name was Dr. Childs. Dr. Childs was old when he taught me. And 20 years later, he was still teaching young people. And Brother Childs, he was probably 90 years old, he was at a prayer meeting in my office and he looked at me and he said, brother, I just can't get down on my knees anymore. And I didn't look at him and say, well, you're a heathen. I told him, I said, brother Childs, I said, it's okay. I said, I've watched you for years and I'm sure your heart's in the right place and the Lord knows that. But for those of you that are here, listen, if you're not limited by that, I think there's something to getting on your knees and praying. I think there's something to just sprawling yourself out before God. And you say, well, I've never tried that before. Well, why don't you? Why don't you just try, when you spend time in prayer, just getting down on your knees or falling down on your face and just saying, oh Lord, please, would you please help me in this? That's the place and the posture of prayer. So I wanna challenge you, listen, find an isolated place, whether it's in nature or it's in your home. And get on your knees or lay out before God or you can stand before the Lord. And you can pray to him and you can say, all right, Lord, but that's biblical precedent. Jesus taught us that number one, the place and the posture of prayer number two. I want you to see the persistence. And power in prayer. Persistence and power in prayer persistence. What is persistence? If you have children, you know what persistence is. If you celebrate Christmas, Christmas Eve, Dad, when are we getting up in the morning to open presents? Oh, I don't know. We'll do it in a little while. We'll do it whenever we wake up. It's five minutes later. Dad, Dad, what time are we getting up in the morning to open presents? Oh, I don't know. Probably sometime like 8 o'clock maybe. Dad? Dad, when, when, and it's like over and over and over and over again. You know what that child's illustrating you? Persistence. Remember when that infant cried all night long. Some of you are like, those are distant memories. Some of you are like, yes, I know what you're talking about. Oh, that's persistence. But you know, Jesus illustrated for us the importance of persistence in prayer. Look with me at Luke chapter 6 for a moment. In Luke chapter 6, in verse number 12, Jesus illustrates for us the persistence in prayer. In verse number 12, it says, and it came to pass, in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. When I'm talking about persistence, I'm talking about just the repeated effort. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean the repeat. I'm not talking about vain repetitions. I don't think the Lord is pleased when we just say the same thing mindlessly for hours. That's not what I'm talking about. But in prayer, just returning and coming back, I've heard of churches here in New Zealand praying for revival. And let me just tell you, when that revival, as it continues and as it builds and as it comes in full throw, throw a lot of it to America. America may have 300 million people in it, and it may be called a superpower by many people in the world, but boy, there is a great need for a great awakening and revival in my home country. And if it hatched in New Zealand and spilled over, I would thank you for it. But you're praying and you're persistent about it. You've heard of prayer chains. You're like people sign up and they pray for, you know, that's not something that I think was just a mere invention of man. I think that Jesus wrote the book on it, so to speak. As he prayed all night, he set an example for us. And I encourage you men to be a part in your churches of a sustained effort of praying where it may even take you into the night hours. There are some of you that are night owls. How many of you are night owls? Anybody night owls? Okay, I see mostly younger and then a few older ones. I'm learning my night owl is dying myself at this point in my life. But hey, I encourage you take some time, make it sustained and praying all night like Jesus did. But not only do you see this persistence in prayer, but you know, a lot of times when you see Jesus pray, do you know what immediately follows that prayer? It's power. You know, it's frustrating in life when you don't have power. Back home, people have asked me, you've heard about Hurricane Helene in America. It came up through Florida. It came up through my home state of North Carolina and devastated the entire western region. More than 100 people were killed in floodings and trees of winds, winds that blew trees on people and killed them. And for six days, the area that I was in was without power. There was no power at all. And that's frustrating when you don't have power. Even for us men, you know, we're sort of grubby and we can get by without some of the common amenities in life. But after six days, all of us are smelling quite a, you know, smelling bad. You know, we're like, I can't charge my phone or I can't do this. You know, you say it's very inconvenient. But one thing worse than living without physical power is living without spiritual power. And I'm afraid that we do that all too often. How many times we do an effort in our churches, but we really don't bathe it in prayer? How many times we undertake something and we really just do not spend time in prayer? But one thing that you'll see is that there are many times where Jesus prays and immediately what follows that is power. In John chapter 6, Jesus prayed and guess what? Then there were thousands that were fed. In John 11, Jesus prays and then Lazarus is raised. In Matthew 14, Jesus prays and later he walks on water. You know, those are miraculous things. Those were things that were done of a supernatural manner. What all those things have in common? Prayer. So if I could say it this way, as I heard a friend of mine say it, a mentor of mine say it, Evangelist Ron Comfort, here's what I propose to you. Little prayer, little power. More prayer, more power. Much prayer, much power. There is a direct connection. The life of Jesus shows that he was persistent in prayer and his prayer was powerful. You know, sometimes in our churches, we just need a good jolt of power. As a kid, I remember the first time I ever grabbed an electric fence. I don't know if you have those in New Zealand or not, but okay, you do. All right, I see. But I'll never forget the first time I grabbed an electric fence. I was at a friend's house. His dad had some livestock next door, and there was a fence, and it had the post, and it only had one wire. That was it. And I remember looking at that from a distance, and I said, that's a stupid fence. One wire. And so the basketball rolled under, rolled past the fence, and I went to grab the basketball, and I swung my leg over that fence, and I grabbed it with my hand, and it grabbed me. I will never forget stepping over, and I was like, I want to let go of this fence, but I still remember the sensation of that. But it's a good jolt. It taught me respect, and I'll tell you, after that, now, I don't mess with, if I think it's electric, I don't touch it. But you know, it's amazing sometimes, What a jolt of power when we pray in our churches and we see God do something and we see him do a supernatural thing. It is really a jolt that we desperately need. Sometimes we need to see it. We need to be reminded of it. You know, there's some of you in your areas. You have lost people that you've been praying for. Maybe that you haven't been praying for. Little prayer, little power. More prayer, more power, much prayer, much power. Some of you have things back in your churches that need to be done, and you say it's going to take God. Well, it's gonna take prayer. It's going to take prayer. So number two, persistence in power. Number three, let's talk about prayer in public. Prayer in public. Jesus prayed in public in our churches. Sometimes we are called upon to pray in public. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter number 14. Now as I talk about public prayer, and I'm gonna give you maybe some pointers, some tips. With public prayer, I think that more men ought to be involved in public prayer in our churches. Some of you are like, if I was called to pray in church... There are some of you here you've been called upon to pray in a congregation and there are others of you that have never offered to pray publicly or you'd say, I would never pray publicly in a service. All right. Here's my question to you. Why? Why would you never pray in public? You say, well, I'm I'm not, uh, I'm not good at speaking in crowds. I understand that. Here's my next question. Well, are you good at speaking to the Lord in private? I think for many of us, the reason we falter in public prayer is because we fail in private prayer. If I talk to the Lord a lot, It really shouldn't be as big a deal to let you in on a conversation that I have with him publicly. As I talk about a public prayer, let me just reiterate this. Private prayer prepares us for public prayer. Private prayer prepares us for public prayer. Now, I want you to look with me in Matthew chapter 14, verse number 19. And he, speaking of Jesus, commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes. And looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. Here he prays before they eat. He blesses it. And then he distributes. Jesus prayed publicly. Now, I want to remind you, if you're here and you're like, well, I just don't do well in front of crowds, let me ask you, when you're praying, are you praying for the crowd? Are you praying to please the Lord? And if you're praying to please the Lord and to make your petition to Him, then the rest doesn't matter. Do you know how I, one of the ways I learned to pray? I learned to pray by listening to somebody pray publicly. That's how I learned. Some of you are creatures of habit. You know, you wanna learn something and you watch a guy do it. You watch it enough, and then you're like, I got it. Well, in prayer, you could do the same thing. Everybody's different. Everybody has different personalities. They have different approaches. You know, I've met some people, when they prayed, they were very eloquent. I've met other people, they were just very blunt. I've heard people talk about the skies and the heavens and the stars and the universe and praising God and I've heard other people and they were just like, Lord, you need to kick us because we just, we need, we're bent out of shape and we just need some help. I mean, it's just that blunt. But you learn how to pray, you listen and you pray along with them. But I think when Jesus prayed in Matthew 14, I really don't, I think as a general rule for public prayer, your public prayer usually is not going to be hours, maybe even minutes. Can you imagine here you are, you're feeding thousands of people, they're hungry, and you're called to ask the blessing. Are you gonna pray for all the missionaries? Are you going to pray for everybody and their ingrown toenail at that time? You know, I think when you pray publicly, you just pray about what you need to pray about and you're done. You know, I've been in some places where somebody's prayed before a meal and they pray a long prayer, a very long prayer. And when they were done, I would just look at them and I'd say, boy, one thing's for sure, that wasn't a hungry man's prayer, that's for sure. You say, well, what am I supposed to do if they call on me to pray for a meal? You know what? Just bless the meal. Thank God for it and ask his blessing on it. There's no magical potion. Oh, let me get out my prayer book and see how do I word that? No, you can do that. You say, I'm not good at it. Yes, you're you. If you're not good at it, it's because you don't pray at all. You don't practice at all. Just say it in your own way, your own words, but you just just and just get to the point when you're called upon to open a service and prayer. For some of you that may petrify you, you're like. Now, again, remember, are you praying to impress people or are you just talking to the Lord? And when you talk to the Lord, just ask for his help in the service. You say, well, how do you do that? You just do it. Lord, thank you that we're in this service today, and Lord, we need to hear from you. Help our pastor. Lord, may his words, you use them to help us today, and when we leave this place, let it be said that we've met with you. In Jesus' name, amen. You say, that's not a conventional prayer. Was it sincere? Was it from your heart? And was it asking for something legitimate? The answer's yes. Jesus prayed publicly. For some of you men, it may be time to step out of your comfort zone and for you to pray publicly. There are some of you here that are older that you say, you know, I'm still a little bit bashful, but can I tell you, younger people in your church need to hear you pray. I can remember as a teenager gathering with this group of older men, and they would pray, and I would listen to those men while they were praying. You say, you weren't praying? No, I was listening to them, but I was learning. Jesus prayed publicly, do you? And if not, why? You say, well, it's my pride. Well, is pride a good thing or a bad thing? then maybe it's just time to swallow your pride and talk to the Lord. But don't forget this, private prayer prepares us for public prayer. You're not gonna pray in front of thousands if you're not praying in a quiet place or a secluded place or spending time with God privately. Number one, posture and place and posture of prayer. Number two, the persistence and power in prayer. Number three, the prayer in public. Number four, let's talk about prayer for people. Jesus teaches us to pray for people. Let me just ask you, when's the last time you've prayed for a specific individual? I'm not talking about general prayer. Lord, we pray for all missionaries. Lord, we pray for our entire church. When's the last time in your prayer life you've been guided to pray for a specific group or for a specific person? Jesus prayed for people. Now we do see in the life of Jesus that he prayed for several that we all take note of. One group that he prayed for was those who persecuted him. That's hard to do. It's hard to pray for somebody that picks a fight with you. When I was a kid, my cousin and I, we would fight. I remember one time we were at his grandmother's house. It was his mother's grandmother. And we were in her living room and he picked a fight with me. He just came up to me and he just started tapping me on the face. He's like, hey, hey, hey. And he could see the red rising in my head on my face. And boy, I'll never forget the last time he said, hey, and he popped me and all of a sudden my right fist came out and I was ready to throw a haymaker right at him. And for about a minute, we roughed and tumbled and we fought. His grandmother's shrieking in the room, just screaming. And finally we were done and laughing and she called his mother and his mother wore both of us out. But you know when somebody provokes you and somebody hurts you it's hard to pray for them. Let me tell you, there's some of you pastors in here that I just want to say, you know, there are times people provoke us and there's times that we're hurt. And boy, it's hard. It's hard sometimes. We preachers, we're made of flesh too. Do you know that? If you pinch me on the back of the arm, I'll squeal just like any of you. That's a real tender spot. I have flesh too. But Jesus, when he hung on the cross, what did he say? He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus prayed for people. And I want to encourage each of you here, listen, if there are people that are hard to pray for, there are people that are giving you a hard time, there are people that you just absolutely detest because they have mistreated you, let me remind you, Jesus prayed for those who mistreated Him. Jesus not only prayed for those who forsook Him and mistreated Him, but you know what the Bible tells us in John chapter 17? Turn there if you would, John chapter 17 for just a moment. You know what else we see? We see this, we see that Jesus prays for believers. In John chapter 17, you're going to see this is really the, to me this John 17 is really the Lord's prayer. A lot of times we hear the Lord's Prayer, you say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be. Listen, that is a model prayer that Jesus used to instruct his disciples. But if you want to talk about something that to me reaches the heart of intimacy, that's John 17. And in John 17 and verse 20, listen to what Jesus prays. He said, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. I find in that verse that Jesus prayed for us. Future. I don't think any of you were actually here when the disciples were alive. Some of you are old, but you're not that old. But Jesus prayed for them, which shall believe on me through their word. Jesus prayed for believers. I'm glad that I can know that Jesus is praying for me. You know, one of the most humbling things that I hear from a person is when I'm in a church and an older lady may come to me and take her arthritic hand and put it in mine. And by the way, fellas, when you shake an older lady's hand, don't come down and clamp on it. You know, some of you guys got big mitts and that older lady comes and you're just like, Boy, if just for a moment, could you just do the little fish thing? Don't crush that lady's hand. I've seen ladies crumple. But when a little old lady puts her hand in mine and she looks at me and she says, I want you to know I pray for you every day, I'm going to tell you, that's a humbling thing. when you have a believer that's praying for a believer. When somebody tells me that's an amazing thing, but then I think about the fact that the Lord prays for me. The Lord prayed for those who persecuted, and the Lord prays for believers. But you know, the Lord also prays for people by name. You say, where do you get that? Luke chapter 22, when Jesus is talking about Simon. Simon, Simon, I have prayed for thee. You know, it's one thing when you speak in generalities, it's another thing when you know somebody's name and you speak specifics. Every summer, when I preach at a summer youth camp, as long as it's under 100 kids, or thereabouts, I will seek to try to memorize the name of every camper. And I do that for primarily two reasons. Number one, I do that so when I pray for the people during the week, I can pray for them by name. I might be like, Lord, that boy named Sam, he's a mess, but I think if he'd get right with you, that other kids would follow him and just they'd fall in line. Or, Lord, I pray for Sarah, her heart just seems so heavy. But I'll tell you another reason I memorize names. It's not just to pray for them, but when they misbehave and do it repeatedly, I'll just call them down. Now, I don't believe in being unnecessarily embarrassing someone, but if I'm preaching to a group of young people and there's a young man who's misbehaving. And I might say, all right, there's a young man here, he needs to straighten up and then I'll continue preaching. And if that young man continues to misbehave, I might even say, listen, that young man sitting in the back, you need to straighten up. But if he's still misbehaving, I will resort to using the name. And I'll say, all right, Paul, that's enough. A random name. But you know, the very moment I say the name, all of a sudden, it's amazing what happens in that congregation of young people. They snap to attention. They're like, okay, he's dumb and he knows us by name. But you know, the Lord Jesus prayed for Simon Peter by name. And I think it sets a great example for us. I think we should as well. You know, I hope in the previous hour that we had that you said some names to the Lord. The names that came to my mind were Michelle, Andrew, Jared, Andrew, and then Jared and Andrew's wives, Amelia, Paige, and then I thought about other specific people. In your practice of prayer, you pray for those who persecute you, you pray for other believers, and you pray for people by name. Jesus did that, and so should we. And the last thing that I would tell you, number five, is that there are long and short prayers. Some prayers ought to be long, and some prayers ought to be short. I think as a general rule, your private prayer's going to be longer, and your public prayers would be shorter. But there's a place for both, and there's a need for both. You know, when Jesus prayed all night, the Bible doesn't give us a manuscript of that prayer. But I will tell you in the lengthier sessions of prayer that I've had in my own life, sometimes it just takes me some time just to tell the Lord everything that's there and just rehearse it. Have you ever met somebody before, you know, whenever you're gonna talk with them, it's gonna be a long conversation because they rehearse everything? There's some, you're like, yeah, I have people like that, and that's why I text them, I don't call. Because the very moment I call them, then they're gonna just go on this long explanation of everything. But you know what, there's just some times where I just need to take the time just to lay it all out before the Lord. Yes, I know the Lord knows it. He is omniscient. But there are times just maybe for my own sake, I just need to say, Lord, here's the situation and Lord, this is the best I know how and I don't know. And those are the times for long prayers. But, you know, then there are times for short prayers when Jesus was on the cross. When he says, Father, forgive them, or he says, Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit, those are like spontaneous, they're more extemporaneous, they just come out. I still remember several years ago, I cut off my left thumb. Just took it right off. Not on purpose. I was riding a dirt bike. I got it caught in the chain and sprocket. It took it right off. It was an experience. Fellas, I've learned that thumb is very valuable. Don't lose it. But I'm gonna tell you, when I did that, when I cut that thing off, it wasn't some Dear Lord in the heavens, as you have hung the stars of the moon and created Saturn's rings and made Pluto in the farthest regions of the Milky Way as we, and listen, none of that. It was like stand up, see it's gone and say, dear Lord, help me. That's it. There's a time for that and it's appropriate. You're at work and something goes wrong. I'm telling you, maybe somebody has pushed your buttons and you walk away and you say, dear Lord, I need your wisdom on how to handle this. And that may be all you say. But I know this, that if any among you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. There's a time for long prayer, there's a time for short prayer. Now I want to ask you, what is your practice of prayer? If Michael Jordan practiced basketball like you practice prayer, what kind of player would he have been? Some of you are like, you would not even want to know. He couldn't even beat the girls team if he practiced basketball like I practice prayer. Some of you are like, he wouldn't even know what a basketball is. You know, there's a lot of things that we talk about in our churches that we ought to be in the habit of doing, that we ought to be in church attendance. We ought to be in the habit of giving. But we ought to be in the habit of praying. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 6, he said, when you pray, It wasn't a matter of if. If you pray, do it this way. No, he said when, because he expected it. It is just expected of you to pray. So gentlemen, I would like to encourage you to deepen your practice of prayer. Maybe you have never gotten on your knees before to pray. Don't leave this advance without doing it. Maybe you're here and there's something ahead of you and you know that if it's going to get done, it has to be God's power. Well, it has to be preceded by prayer. There's some of you men, you have never prayed in public in your church. And the reason why is because you know that you have faltered greatly in praying in private. Jesus prayed in public, and I believe you can too. If you pray to Him privately, it may not be the most flowery prayer, but I'm gonna tell you, when a man is right with God and he's sincere with God, and he makes his requests known to God, that's welcome to God's ears. And there are some of you, you know what? You've prayed for a lot of things, but you haven't prayed for a lot of people. Jesus prayed for people, even by name. And understand there's a time for long prayer. There's a time for short prayer. Jesus did both. Andrew Bonar said this. He said, I see that unless I keep up short prayer every day throughout the whole day at intervals, I lose the spirit of prayer. Short prayer has its place and an hour of prayer has its place. And so this is what I'd like to invite us to do as we end this session. I'd like for us to enter into just a brief season of prayer for people. People that are dear on your heart. Individual people, just as Jesus prayed for Simon Peter as we close this service, I want you to think about people that are dear on your heart. Maybe there's just one specific need. Somebody that you love, maybe a neighbor, maybe it's somebody that's unsafe, maybe it's a family member. I want you to think with me for a moment. About a specific individual or individuals that you can pray for, and in a moment we're going to pray. And if you feel inclined to do so, you can get on your knees. If you're not able, I'm not your judge. And you're here and you're like, well, I'd just rather not. Listen, I'm not here to force anybody to do anything. I would appreciate sincerity more than anything else when it comes to responding, but you can get on your knees or you can bow there reverently where you're at. And let's just have just a minute or two of praying for specific needs of those individuals and pray for somebody by name like Jesus did. And we just do it in a brief fashion. and then we'll conclude our time together. So I'd like to ask you, fasten that person in your mind and let's get together and let's pray today. And let's pray for an individual. And what we'll do is we'll take just a moment. I'll have silence where you can just pray.