Okay, let's go back to Acts 4.
Acts chapter 4. Every time that we meet together,
here we are again. Every time we meet together,
we come here to hear a message from God, don't we? A message from God. And I don't
want to glorify myself in the process. I'm here to hear a message from
God, just like everybody else. I am not interested in listening
to my sermon. I'm not interested in that at
all. We all pray that the Lord God would speak to us. Speak to us. I've got some notes
here. Lord, give us the message. Give
us the message. Send your Spirit with the message
every time, every single time. It needs to become with me more
fervent every time. Lord, speak to me. Speak to me. Don't let me walk out of here
having preached my notes and not felt like my God spoke to
me. I feel deeply burdened. deeply
burdened that I have a message for us. It hit me Monday, and
as soon as it hit me, I just, ugh. My hope tonight is that I will
hear it and heed it. And here's the title of it. Oh,
may we remember to pray. Oh, may we remember to pray. I'm going to tell you who needs
this message in here more than anybody. Gabe Stoniker. I need it more than anybody.
So many times I want to get to the end and I want to write at
the top of my notes, a message for me, a message for me. Oh, may we remember to pray. Acts chapter 4, look at verse
31, and I'm not going to start reading at the beginning of the
verse, okay? After the first five words, it says, The place was shaken
where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, God's Spirit. And they spake the word of God
with boldness. Alright, now look at the first
five words. And when they had prayed. When they had prayed. Go with me over to Acts chapter
16. Acts chapter 16, look at verse
25. It says, And at midnight, and
you know where Paul and Silas were? At midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard
them, And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the
foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the
doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed when they had
prayed. Oh, may we remember to pray. We pray before the meal, don't
we, with our families. And we should. At home, we are
one family. We pray before the message when
we meet together. And we should. In Christ, we
are one body. You know that? We are one body. I am publicly praying before
you, but this is not exactly public prayer. We are one body. But how often do we really pray
when we're alone? I mean really, alone with our
God. Go with me over to Matthew chapter
6. Matthew chapter 6, look at verse
5. Our Lord said, and when thou
prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners
of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." When I was about
11 or 12 years old, there was a man who moved to the area where
I was living and he started going to the church. And he was a dear
man, he was a kind man. And he wanted to do some things
with the youth in the church. He just moved in and he wanted
to be an example to them, be an encouragement and a guide
to them. And I really appreciate him doing
that. I really do. Putting forth the effort, I appreciate
that. There is nothing wrong with that
as long as it's done with the right spirit and truth and as
long as everything is done according to Scripture. But we had a few
problems. We had just a few problems. We
used to go do different things. He would take us to do different
things. We went out to eat a lot. And He would have us hold hands
and all bow our heads, and one of the youth would each take
turns praying before the meal. And I thought that was a little
bit strange. I had never done that before. My parents didn't
do that. We had been out to dinner with
the pastor and his family. My dad wasn't a pastor at that
time. They didn't do that. I thought it was strange. But,
you know, he went to the church, and we were all there from the
church, So we did it. We did it. And we were a big
group. There was a bunch of kids there.
And I knew that as I had my head down, holding hands, I knew everybody
in the restaurant could see us. And some of them could hear us.
And I started to like it. Started to like it. It felt good. I started to feel spiritual in
front of everybody watching us pray. And almost every time,
not every time, but almost every time, I remember the very first
time it happened, we were at Shoney's. A couple, an older
couple got up and they were getting ready to leave the restaurant
and they came over to our table, it happened a bunch of times,
and they would pat us on the backs. And they would say, it is so
wonderful to see young people for Jesus. And they would tell
that man, you're doing such a good job leading these young people
to Jesus. And I kind of liked that. I remember
them walking away. I was about 12 years old and
I was smiling. Wasn't that nice? Everybody's recognizing, look
at us, this is good. You see us. Let's go somewhere else and pray
somewhere else, you know. We can just start a ministry
going around and praying. You know what? We had our reward. We had our reward. It is so easy
to remember to pray in public. It's so easy. And the reason
is because our flesh doesn't want people to think we're sinners.
Alright, now I saw their food was just set down. I haven't
seen them pray yet. We want people to know just how
spiritual we really are. Our Lord right here said, don't
do that. They have their reward. Don't
do that. The real question for us is, how often do we remember
to enter into our closet, the closet of this heart, the closet
of this mind, and shut the door? And then empty our souls to God.
Just pour it all out. Whatever it is. all the things
we think we're in control of, and all the things we think we
can handle, and how often do we remember to just shut the
door to that world and pour it out to God? Oh, may we remember to pray,
Gabe Stoniker. Lord, remind us to call on you
in prayer. I want us to look at three reasons
why. Three reasons. Go with me to Romans chapter
10. Here's the first reason, okay? May we remember to pray. Lord,
remind us to pray. Here's the first reason. It's
a sign of life. It's a sign of life. Now, I'm
not talking about the lip service that I was just mentioning to
you. The scripture calls it vain jangling that everybody does
in religion. I'm talking about gut-wrenching
from the soul, crying out to God, from the depths of a sinner's
soul for help. You that have experienced a child
being born. You know that as soon as that
child is born, if that child does not cry, it's a bad sign. You know that? If that child
does not cry, that is a bad sign. Well, look at Romans chapter
10 verse 13. It says, Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." In order for a sinner to be saved,
life has got to be given to that sinner. Life has got to be given
to that sinner. And calling upon the name of
the Lord is the sign of that life. Do you know that? Crying
out to God when that child is delivered, We're looking for
one thing. Does he have ten fingers and
toes? Let's not worry about that just yet. Is he crying? Is he
crying? It's the sign of life. Prayer. Whether it's from the heart or
whether it's from the mouth. Whether it's not heard or heard
by all. If it's true sincere prayer,
it's a sign of life. Go with me over to Acts chapter
9. Here in Acts chapter 9, the Lord
has just come to Saul of Tarsus. And He's knocked him off of his
high horse of religion, and He's given him spiritual life. That's
what's happened to him. Now look at verse 10. It says,
And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I'm here,
Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise,
and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire
in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold,
he prayeth." He's praying. Do you mean that Saul had never
prayed a day in his life before? Not like that. Not like that. Oh, may we remember to pray. We can count on it. We can just
count on it. The more dead we feel inside,
and I say it all the time, and I hear it from everybody, all
my brethren all the time. I just feel so dead sometimes.
I feel so cold sometimes. Sometimes I have it. Jared was
in my study this morning. He's not here tonight, so I'll
bring it up. He said, I just sometimes I have it, sometimes
I don't. I said, that's all of us. And we can count on it the
more dead we feel inside. That's a direct result of not
spending time talking to our God. You know that? When we get
to those times where we just feel so cold, Let's look back
over the last few days and the last few weeks and see how much
time have we spent pouring out our soul to God. And as I wrote
this, I called my dad and I said, does that sound legalistic? Does that sound like I'm telling
people, well, this is now your fault? He said, no. Salvation's already come. This
is proof of life. What this is saying is, if you
want the remedy for that cold, dead feeling, call out to your
God. James said, the Lord inspired
James to write, draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto
you. He will. Alright, here's the
second reason. True, honest, sincere in the
heart prayer to God is a submission to His will. It's a submission
to His will. Go with me over to Luke 22. Luke
22, verse 39. And as He came out, and went as he was want to the
Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. And when he
was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that you enter not
into temptation." Let's notice our Lord's word to us right there.
We would be so wise to heed that. I don't know if I pray that too
much. He told us in the Lord's Prayer and he says it here again.
Pray that you enter not into temptation. Verse 41, And he
was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down
and prayed, saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this
cup. Remove this cup of suffering
that I'm about to endure. Remove this cup of sin that's
about to be handed to me. This cup of sin that I'm about
to drink. This cup of redemption. The price that's going to have
to be paid to redeem my people. If it be possible, if Thy be
willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will,
but Thine be done. True prayer says, Lord, Thy will
be done. Thy will be done. And then it
leaves the burden in the hands of the Lord after that. It leaves
the burden right there. And when the Spirit of the Lord
truly allows that to happen in a person, great strength and
great comfort and great rest will come from God's Spirit,
confirming in our hearts that God will take care of it. God
will take care of it. I am too weak for this, but He
is not. Look at verse 43. He just finished
saying, Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done. Verse
43 says, And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening
Him. Isn't that encouraging? Take
your burden to the Lord and leave it there, and the strongest hands
in the universe are in control of the situation. Go with me
over to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7 says, Paul says, And lest I should
be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For
this thing I besought the Lord thrice. He prayed about it, that
it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, And then
am I strong." True, honest prayer is an admission of weakness.
That's what it is. Lord, I'm crying to you because
I cannot. I cannot. I tried and I tried. And thanks be to God, you reminded
me. I pray to my God, I call upon
You. When I am weak in self, praying
to my God, acknowledging all of His ability, I am, spiritually
speaking, at my strongest point. I'm at my strongest point. It
is in His hands now. It was actually always in His
hands. But the Lord has reminded me to acknowledge that and now
rest in that. It was in His hands before the
situation ever came to me in the first place. But now He has
reminded me to acknowledge He's in control of it and He's allowed
me to rest in that. Oh, may we remember to pray,
pray, pray. How often do we forget? Prayer
is a sign of life. Prayer is an acknowledgement
of our inability and it's true submission to His will. Here's
number three. It is the means that our God said He would answer. Go with me over to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36, here in this chapter
the Lord's telling every good thing that He's going to do for
His people. Every good thing. And it's good. It just keeps
going and going. Verse 36 says, Then the heathen
that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build
the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate. I the
Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. But verse 37 says, Thus
saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them. I am going to do it, but they
are going to say please. They're going to say, please.
They're going to ask in prayer. They're going to ask in prayer.
Our Lord said, ask and it shall be given to you. And what He
meant by that is, not it might be given to you. It shall. We always make all of our petitions
known with, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. He
will give you His will. Lord, would you warm my heart? I feel so cold sometimes. Would
you warm my heart? Lord, would you cause me to feel
alive in your spirit? I feel so dead sometimes. I love
that story of Daniel when he was praying to God, making supplications
for the sin of Israel. And he said, and he was just
going on, Daniel chapter 9, going on and on about all the sins
and the supplications before God. And he said, while I was
praying, he hadn't even finished yet, God's angel being caused
to fly swiftly, he said, the command came forth, go. and God's angel being caused
to fly swiftly. And I don't understand it, but
I love the margin right there. It says, with weariness of flight. He was flying as hard as he could.
He said, he touched me and he said, I'm here with your answer. Isn't that wonderful? That's
precious, isn't it? Oh, may we remember to pray. It's our sign
of life. It's true submission to and it's
rest in His will. And it's the means He said He
would answer. Now, I want to close this with three wise exhortations
from God's Word concerning prayer. Okay? Three wise exhortations
from His Word concerning prayer. Go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter
9. 2 Corinthians 9, here's the first
one. When we pray, may we give thanks
for more than we ask. You know how hard that is to
do? May we give thanks for more than we ask. Look at verse 15.
2 Corinthians 9, 15. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. May we always remember to thank
our God for the blood of His dear Son. You know that? May we always remember that.
If we have that, we don't need anything else. I mean really,
every single thing else is so small, it's nothing in need compared
to the blood of Jesus Christ. And if He has given us that,
may we never forget to thank Him for killing His own Son. That is an amazing... May I never
forget to thank Him for that. My sin is gone in the death of
His own Son. Lord, thank You for that. Thank
You for that. We would be so wise to never
stop thanking our God for that. Now go with me to 1 Thessalonians
5. Verse 17 says, pray without ceasing. May we pray that the Lord would
remind us to pray without ceasing. I want to start praying for that.
I really do. If we want to remember to pray, if we want to know how
to pray, the disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray. If we
want to know how to pray, let's pray for that. Lord, would you
teach us to pray? If we want unity and if we want
love and if we want peace here in this congregation, let's pray
for that. He said, ask and it shall be
given you. Let's pray for that. If we want
to be content and happy with our Lord's will, now listen to
this one. We know that His will is going
to be done, isn't it? It is going to be done. Nobody
can stop or alter the will of God. Nobody. And so if we want to be happy
and content with His will, let's pray for that. Let's pray for
that. Lord, please remind us to pray
without ceasing. Now go with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3. Verse 1 says, Finally, brethren,
pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course
and be glorified even as it is with you. Pray for me. As I pray for you, pray for me. May the Lord remind you to pray
for me, that the gospel might be continued to be preached here.
Pray for me that the gospel might be continued to be preached here,
very clearly, very lovingly. Pray for that. If God has called
you to sit under this poor vessel, For your own sake, I mean for
your own sake, pray for me. That God would send His Spirit,
send His message, bless His Word. Pray for that. We all need it. I need it. Pray that Acts chapter
4 verse 31 might be done here. That's our text. Okay, listen
to it. Acts chapter 4 verse 31 says, And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together. And they
were all, all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they spake the
word of God with boldness. Pray for that here. Pray for
that here. Oh, may we remember to pray. All right, let's stand together.