PRAY
by Dr. Dennis Higgins, Sr.
Dr. Dennis Higgins, Sr, who was pastor of Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport, New Jersey, served the Lord for many years as a church planter all over the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region. He was a dear friend and fellow-laborer who graduated to glory in November of 2019.
My wife and I, we got kind of a thing that we do while we are waiting. If somebody goes out to the car, or goes into the bathroom, or somebody stays out later than expected, we pray because we can’t let up. We are in a battle with Satan. Do you ever stop to think about your prayers being powerful in the battle against him?
We are in a battle with the devil, and he doesn’t let up, so we can’t let up. We have great power with God. Every child of God has great power with God, and when you say “Father” He says, “Yes My daughter.” “Yes My son.” He hears you, and goodnight, look what Daniel did. He caused trouble in the heavenlies when he prayed while he was in Babylon and he cried out as he was praying and fasting and reading his Bible.
Daniel was reading the book of Jeremiah, and he realized there was a prophecy about 70 years, and he began to pray and to fast and to confess his sins, and the sins of the people of God. God said, “Gabriel, take Him a message,” and Gabriel is coming through the air, but there is a powerful demon under Lucifer who meets Him somewhere up there. I don’t know how that Star Wars stuff works, but he stopped Gabriel. He stopped Him. That Prince of Persia! It wasn’t a human being. It was the spirit behind the man who stopped Him, but guess what! Daniel kept on praying. He didn’t get his answer that he wanted, and he went on praying for 21 days. I don’t know what the Lord is doing in Heaven. Maybe He is just sitting up there reading His Bible, and He said, “Michael, would go take care of that demon for him?”
Michael comes down and that Prince of Persia must have said, “Oh my soul, what is going to happen now?” He knocked Him down and told Gabriel, “Go ahead and take Daniel the message”, and now we have the book of Daniel. Isn’t that wonderful.
So, we are looking at Luke 11, Jesus having a conversation with one of his disciples. “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:1-13)
We are just going to go through this passage, where Jesus was asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” There is a whole lot to be said on these 13 verses. You could write volumes of books, but I want to pick out just a few thoughts about prayer.
I noticed that Jesus was in a certain place. I want to tell you something. If you are a prayer warrior, you have a place. I am not saying that you must have one to get answers to prayer, but I am saying that you have one, if you have a practice of prayer. If it is in your home, it’s a certain room, a particular chair, maybe. I am traveling right now, but I have a spot where I like to meet with my God each and every morning. I must meet with Him, and I will be there. I have a place.
I have a favorite place at home. We have moved around a bit in church planting through the years, but each house that we landed in, it didn’t take long at all before we found our place. I have a place, Beth has a place. At night, I like to meet with my King. I like to tell Him how great He is. I like to worship Him and tell Him what a great God and what a great Father He is. I like to tell Him that.
My dad died when I was a little boy, just six and a half years old, but I often tell Him, “You are greater than a thousand fathers. You have done more for me than any earthly dad could have ever done.”
Jesus had a certain place. If I took a little survey right now in Sunday School, what are some of Jesus’ favorite places to pray? Alone, in the garden, up on the mountain. So, He had a place. It wasn’t like the Father didn’t hear Him pray from any place. I’m sure He prayed without ceasing, so He prayed every where that He went. But when it came time for His special time of communion with the Father, He had a place.
I figure this. Often it says He got up a great while before day. He is the Son of God. He is eternally the Son of God. He came down to this earth from Heaven, and He lived with humanoids like us, and He lived in the houses with them, and they gave Him a little room when he was with Martha, Lazarus and Mary. They probably fixed him a little food at night before He went to bed. He got up in the morning, and He tiptoed out while they were still snoring because He, the Son of God NEEDED to meet with His Father because of the fierce battle that He was in. If He had to do it, how in the world can we not do it? If He needed time alone communing with God the Father, how much more do you and I need that time every day? We need to meet with Him. Get a place, even when you are traveling it can be hard, but get a place that is your special place to pray.
Then also, we pray in His will. Verse 2. “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” Not too many years ago, now I will probably weep a little bit on this, but I am going to say it. God’s will does not always taste good. When Jesus was in the garden, He said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” I have heard preachers preach, and I always love to hear preaching, even if sometimes they are not completely correct. I say “Amen” at the right places, and I love them even if they just get a little carried away.
Sometimes, my wife will say, “Hon, I think that was wrong.”
I say, “Hon, I was only preaching!”
Preachers sometimes say Jesus loved the cross and wanted to go to the cross. Let me tell you what he really said. He said, “I despise the shame of the cross.” The Holy One of God did not want to hang naked before the eyes of wicked men. He did that because His Father said, “Son, they are doomed, they are lost, will you go?”
Jesus said this. “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39) Of course, you know the Gospel story and the Holy Spirit came upon a virgin she conceived in her womb, One that we would know to be the Holy One of God, the Son of God. He lived the perfect life, tested, tempted in every way like us, then He died on the cross for our sins, and He rose again. If you do what I did 45 years ago, Easter week, you’ll repent and trust Christ to save you. This is my spiritual birthday.
It was hard for me to pick a message for this conference. I asked God, my wife will tell you, I prayed on through this morning, and I am very emotional about being saved. I was a partying bad guy, a Philly guy. “Hey, yo, get me some wooter”. We married and we had a little girl, now married to an Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher, hallelujah, and I got saved. She saw the change in my life over a few weeks, and she got saved. We had never been to anything but a Catholic church (Irish Catholic) 12 years of Catholic school for both of us. You know, the Lord has a sense of humor. My family is still freaked out. They are like, “He will come back. They always do. On his deathbed, he will denounce his Baptist faith and come back to the Holy Catholic Church.” My oldest daughter is the only one who was baptized Catholic, so we kid around that we covenanted together. If the Holy Roman Empire kicks in again and they kill all the Baptists again, we are going to need a seed to continue. So my daughter, Bridgette, and I will pull out our Catholic membership and get out of the persecution! Okay, enough joking,
But, His will, His will! He said, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Three times. He didn’t want to face separation from the Father. He could have called 12 legions of angels -- 72,000 angels. But He chose to face the suffering and separation of the cross and die for our sin so that we would have the opportunity to be saved and be born again into the family of God.
A few years back, we lost a granddaughter, and that was tough. We prayed what every parent and what every grandparent would pray, and begged God for healing. I want you to know something. It didn’t diminish my faith one stitch. If you understand and receive in your heart that God has a will, you can rest in knowing that God is in control. But it didn’t taste good. It was a bitter cup, but it is what God gave to us.
A few years later my granddaughter, Rowan, got a fever. Before you knew it, she was in the same hospital where Savannah, our granddaughter who went to Heaven, had spent so much time. She was dangerously ill, just two rooms removed from where Savannah had been. Now, what in the world! What is God up to here?
So, we left and went down there. They didn’t know if she was going to live or not. She was sick, septic and all that. It seemed like she was dying. So, we were there, and basically sat on the floor in that hospital room for 10 days. There were tubes coming out of everywhere. I am like, “Lord, what is this? What’s happening?”
But we are praying and begging God for our grand daughter’s life. In those prayers I found myself saying, “But Lord, what are you teaching us through this?” Well, I know that my daughter, Shannon, really had no pleasure to ever go in that hospital again. She is bringing the lunch, and her parents are there. She would come each day and bring food, and I was puzzled. What is God up to? I don’t know, but He healed one and took one to Heaven. After 10 days, it lifted, and now she is the most energetic kid in my church. God healed her. I mean, God is on the throne. Now, you can quote the verse, but can you really pray, “Thy will be done.” Do you really want His will? When it’s your child or grandchild in the hospital bed, can you say that?
Let’s move on. Verse 3. “Give us day by day our daily bread.” He could have given us our bread forever, but He wanted us to come to Him. He wanted us to depend on Him. Hey parents, don’t you like it when your little ones come to you, “Daddy/Mommy.” It is even more exciting when a teenager comes to you. Once they hit about 35, they know you were pretty smart, but they come back and talk with you, and ask for advice and opinions.
I don’t know why God has us come daily to Him, but I know He wants to talk to His children. He could just take care of everything ahead of time, and we would never have to ask, but He wants us to come and talk with Him. I love talking with Him. I love to hear Him talk, speak through His word, but I love to talk to Him. I like to meet with Him each morning, get my coffee -- and it must have caffeine in it. If it doesn’t have caffeine in it, get over it and just quit drinking coffee! I mean there is just something fake about that. It is like being saved without the Spirit or something! You know, I am just going to keep on drinking it until they say, “Do you want to live or die?”
I have had some good times, but I like to meet with my God in the morning, and it is an exciting privilege. It is a thrill to me each morning, and that doesn’t mean that I am never miserable, it doesn’t mean I am never in a bad mood, it doesn’t mean I never want to beat up somebody, but I know that I need to meet with my God. I need to meet with Him, and so do you, daily.
You heard one of the preachers mention this, and this is really important. CONFESSION. Verse 4. “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” I remember Dr. Jack Hyles preaching about Dr. John Rice. They would be on the road, and Dr. Rice would write down his sins on a piece of paper. How many of you have ever heard that? Then, at the hotel, he would go in the bathroom, after he would pray and confess those sins, and I guess he lit it on fire. He would burn it up and flush it down the toilet. I will tell you, ever since the Nixon tapes, I don’t write anything down that is too important. I mean, to me, that is like dangerous. DANGEROUS!!
Have you ever heard of these churches where they want to have revival and they get up and they all start confessing their sins? Now, I love Christians, and God is probably like, ‘They are more righteous than you.’ Yes, I know, but that stuff gets crazy! “Thelma, I am sorry, I hated your guts, but now I got that right with God.” She is like, “I never knew that. Why did you hate me?” They start confessing all their sins, and I am like, “Oh my soul, this is some really sticky business.”
You and I, we need to keep a short account. We don’t need to confess to anyone else, but we do need to confess our sin to God and get it under the blood. My position is settled, who I am as a child of God, but my condition varies through the day.
This is my biggest test of life. I am an old man, but I think I can still fight, and that is bad. When I realize I can’t, it will probably help me. So this, knucklehead, (excuse me Lord.) I am coming down the main road, and he is supposed to let me go through, as I have been there a hundred times, and this dude shoots out, swings across, comes out in front of me, and I have got to sway over into the other lane to keep from hitting him. Okay, you know what? I am a good Christian. You know what, I didn’t do anything. I handled it fine.
We pulled into Route 73 North, and he comes up slow next to me and starts saluting me with a certain finger, cursing me, and I’m growling, “Lord help me! Deliver me from Satan!” Pretty soon I said, “Never mind, I will be back Lord.” Down goes the window, and I say, “You are a punk, man. You ain’t nothing. You are the one that is the idiot.” I even found us a place to pull off -- to pray together, of course. He sailed on across the bridge -- coward! I felt really dirty and ashamed. I know. Don’t look at me. If you know whence I came, you would be more patient with me.
Nothing happened, I mean the Lord protected me, and I mean, this guy was so wicked. He was real bad. I was being loving and kind, right? But this is what I know. God sent me a test and I flunked the test. Oh my soul! Dear God forgive me. What kind of a pastor am I? If I were just a rough truck driver in the church, they may say, “Ain’t he cute?” but when you are the man of God, it ain’t cute! I grew up in Philly. If you backed down, you became somebody’s slave. I mean, you just couldn’t do it. So I don’t know how. I know I’m old, but I am thinking of getting a cane with like a .45 in it or something. I have got to have some equalizer, something to go with me into the next day. Confession is good! I had to confess it. I was horrified, and he was like, “What happened.” He didn’t even know I did that. Enough of that.
Let’s get back to holiness. Verses 5-8. “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto Him at midnight, and say unto Him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before Him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give Him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give Him as many as he needeth.” We are priests and kings before our God. We have a priestly duty to intercede and go to God on behalf of others. I like this, that it is a friend, on behalf of a friend of a friend, who is a friend.
What a Friend we have in Jesus! I can go to my Friend on behalf of my friends and pray for them, and God has given me this great ministry and opportunity. Folks, take it serious. The devil knows the power you have with God. He knows that power. Get a prayer list. I mean, write it down. I start simplified, A,B,C all the way to Z. I start Monday. It is tough on the road, but I am going to have to crash pray when I get back Friday, but I mean I have got to pray for our people. The devil is coming at our church. The devil is pulling our young adults out. This contemporary crowd is evil, it is wicked, it is a lie, and it is the same old stuff. The new Independent Baptists are just the old New Evangelicals. There is no difference. It is the same battle.
So many want to walk away from holy living and the old fashioned way that God blesses and this old King James Bible. Yet there are still those who want to live sanctified, holy, Godly, separated lives, and God gives us some of those people at Harbor Baptist. We lose some, we gain some. I am amazed, and I am like, “Are you sure you want to live this lifestyle?”
Let me tell you, I got saved out of my worldliness and my Rock n’ Roll, and I had been to all the concerts, and I don’t tell you which ones because when I begin to tell you that, I become prideful that I went to those concerts, so I don’t mention those. I will just say that one of them just died recently, and you know who he was. Boy Beth, did we get in trouble for that one. He kept us out late, that guy. He was old then. How did he live so long? Anyway, I took all of my records and stuff, and I always think that I got saved and two minutes later I got everything right. I put that stuff in a big old box and I put it out in the trash, and I watched as the guys came and took that music and threw it away. I don’t listen to it in my car when you are not there, either. I don’t listen to Country as it is even worse anymore. I don’t listen to that in my car. I will play CDs from colleges and good Christian music like we have been listening to at this meeting. I love music. I do play the guitar. But I don’t need that wicked filth, fornicating, sorcery, and wickedness. I don’t need that. My flesh loves it, but my spirit is grieved.
I got saved out of the world back then, 45 years ago, and God expected me to let Him clean up my life. Now, we have got these so-called pastors who have worse than a rock concert in every service. Here is a guy that has this big old church. There are strobe lights going, and he is rapping, and he is hating our guts, those of us who still stand for the old time way.
You think you know it all, you think you got the doctrine. You think you understand it. Let me tell you something, there is true doctrine. Old time independent Baptists have got the doctrine. Some of you have turned from pure Bible teaching, and you are no different than these heretics and false teachers. Satan is alive and well today. Intercede. Pray for your family. Pray for God’s people. Pray for your preacher. Preachers, pray for your people. Pray for them -- what an opportunity. What a blessing it is to pray.
You are going to have to be praying all the time. Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.” We are in a war. I tell our people it is rougher now than ever. My son, Dennis, pastoring a church that my wife and I, by God’s grace, started way back 37 years ago in South Philly, and doing a great work. I am truly concerned about him and his family. My kids, my grandkids, moved back into the city where I got them out of, and I am like, “Now don’t get too fanatical! Don’t be a missionary!” No, I didn’t say that to him really, but they are over there and I know I desperately need to pray for them daily, and hedge them about with prayer. They need God’s protection. They need angels encamped round about them. The city is a dangerous place, but it is dangerous anywhere if you are outside the will of God. It is dangerous out in the country or in the suburbs, too. We need the Lord’s protection.
So, put feet to our prayers, verse 9,10. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to Him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Hey, you know what? Put feet to your prayers. Sometimes, the Lord answers even before we ask. You and I have done this. You go, “Oh the Lord answered -- but I didn’t even pray about it yet. I was thinking about it. Lord, yes I needed that. Thank you Lord. He blessed me before I even asked.”
He blesses before us. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” But sometimes, I haven’t even asked yet and God moves ahead of me and does a wonderful thing because He knows what we need before we know it, and He does it for you too.
Most of all, some of you are praying for somebody’s salvation, and if they are anywhere near you, would you give them a Gospel witness? Sometimes, the Lord is like that. “Lord, this person that I work with needs to hear the Gospel. They need Jesus.”
“Yeah, that is why you work there.” I mean, you need to give them the Gospel! You know what is the most delightful thing that has happened to me? I am not really a thumb-sucking introvert, but I am not an extrovert either. I don’t come out of my house and yell across the street to the neighbor, “Hey, buddy, whatcha doing?” I kinda wish that was me. But it is not me. But every now and then, I find myself witnessing to someone, and there is nobody else around, and God just moved on me in a huge way and I am boldly giving them the Gospel, even though I am not out officially door knocking at the moment. By the way, door to door soulwinning is awesome and wonderful if your legs permit you to do it. As long as I am healthy, I am going to keep on going.
But I find myself witnessing, and I am thinking, “This is what pleases God so much.” At a wedding reception, I am sitting at this table, and there are preachers that I know over there, but we with these strangers, and I wonder what are they thinking. It ends up that one of the guys connected to them is a Mormon. And so, we started talking and giving them the Gospel, and here, he had been searching for the truth about eternity and his Mormon elders told him to hit the road, and don’t ask us any more questions. He had heard a Baptist preacher on the radio and he called him. He is a young preacher in his twenties, and this man said, “He gave me answers that I could never get from my Mormon elders,” and he has prayed and asked Christ to save him but no one ever confirmed it, and so I am talking with him and encouraging him to go on and get baptized and live for the Lord. He already has visited that church. Wow, what a joy. What a blessing.
Put feet to your prayers. We often don’t trust our God. It hurts Him. It offends Him. Check it out. You probably have read this many times, but did you ever really listen to what Jesus is saying? “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give Him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give Him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer Him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” I am like, “Hon, watch this. I have got this stone, it looks just like bread, like a big dinner roll. Watch him break his teeth on it.” She would be like, “Hon, that is a little aggressive.”
When you ask for an egg and there is a scorpion running across the table, and that is one of the funniest things. My wife actually did that one. We get our ideas from the Bible. I took my grandkids through some woods the other day, where there are snakes. They were like, “Pop, get it!”
I told them, “This represents the devil. Don’t touch it. That is evil.” My granddaughter, Riley, she had no fear whatsoever around snakes. She is probably going to be a great missionary. Her uncle is a great missionary in Africa. I am a city guy. I will fight Rocky Balboa, but I will scream like a girl when that snake comes through. Riley was chasing it.
Verse 13 says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” God wants to answer our prayers and pour out His power. Pray for his power. I tell God all the time, “I can’t do this. I’m not able. I need You, Lord.”
You say, “Oh, pastoring is so hard!” Forget pastoring, I can’t even live the Christian life on my own. I need His power. I have got to have His strength. I can’t do it. I must have His power, and so do you.
Hey, you know what, if we will pray like we should, it will change our lives. It will change our family. It will change our ministries. God loves to hear our prayers and promises He will continue to bless. It will change our churches. It will change our nation.
Something is happening right now. We have a little respite, a Josiah moment. I don’t know what is going on with President Trump, but I’m thanking God for him. When the CIA Director says we need Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour, and I am like, “What? Thank you, God!”
Just a thought. Just a reminder. Pray.
We are in a battle with the devil, and he doesn’t let up, so we can’t let up. We have great power with God. Every child of God has great power with God, and when you say “Father” He says, “Yes My daughter.” “Yes My son.” He hears you, and goodnight, look what Daniel did. He caused trouble in the heavenlies when he prayed while he was in Babylon and he cried out as he was praying and fasting and reading his Bible.
Daniel was reading the book of Jeremiah, and he realized there was a prophecy about 70 years, and he began to pray and to fast and to confess his sins, and the sins of the people of God. God said, “Gabriel, take Him a message,” and Gabriel is coming through the air, but there is a powerful demon under Lucifer who meets Him somewhere up there. I don’t know how that Star Wars stuff works, but he stopped Gabriel. He stopped Him. That Prince of Persia! It wasn’t a human being. It was the spirit behind the man who stopped Him, but guess what! Daniel kept on praying. He didn’t get his answer that he wanted, and he went on praying for 21 days. I don’t know what the Lord is doing in Heaven. Maybe He is just sitting up there reading His Bible, and He said, “Michael, would go take care of that demon for him?”
Michael comes down and that Prince of Persia must have said, “Oh my soul, what is going to happen now?” He knocked Him down and told Gabriel, “Go ahead and take Daniel the message”, and now we have the book of Daniel. Isn’t that wonderful.
So, we are looking at Luke 11, Jesus having a conversation with one of his disciples. “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:1-13)
We are just going to go through this passage, where Jesus was asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” There is a whole lot to be said on these 13 verses. You could write volumes of books, but I want to pick out just a few thoughts about prayer.
I noticed that Jesus was in a certain place. I want to tell you something. If you are a prayer warrior, you have a place. I am not saying that you must have one to get answers to prayer, but I am saying that you have one, if you have a practice of prayer. If it is in your home, it’s a certain room, a particular chair, maybe. I am traveling right now, but I have a spot where I like to meet with my God each and every morning. I must meet with Him, and I will be there. I have a place.
I have a favorite place at home. We have moved around a bit in church planting through the years, but each house that we landed in, it didn’t take long at all before we found our place. I have a place, Beth has a place. At night, I like to meet with my King. I like to tell Him how great He is. I like to worship Him and tell Him what a great God and what a great Father He is. I like to tell Him that.
My dad died when I was a little boy, just six and a half years old, but I often tell Him, “You are greater than a thousand fathers. You have done more for me than any earthly dad could have ever done.”
Jesus had a certain place. If I took a little survey right now in Sunday School, what are some of Jesus’ favorite places to pray? Alone, in the garden, up on the mountain. So, He had a place. It wasn’t like the Father didn’t hear Him pray from any place. I’m sure He prayed without ceasing, so He prayed every where that He went. But when it came time for His special time of communion with the Father, He had a place.
I figure this. Often it says He got up a great while before day. He is the Son of God. He is eternally the Son of God. He came down to this earth from Heaven, and He lived with humanoids like us, and He lived in the houses with them, and they gave Him a little room when he was with Martha, Lazarus and Mary. They probably fixed him a little food at night before He went to bed. He got up in the morning, and He tiptoed out while they were still snoring because He, the Son of God NEEDED to meet with His Father because of the fierce battle that He was in. If He had to do it, how in the world can we not do it? If He needed time alone communing with God the Father, how much more do you and I need that time every day? We need to meet with Him. Get a place, even when you are traveling it can be hard, but get a place that is your special place to pray.
Then also, we pray in His will. Verse 2. “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” Not too many years ago, now I will probably weep a little bit on this, but I am going to say it. God’s will does not always taste good. When Jesus was in the garden, He said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” I have heard preachers preach, and I always love to hear preaching, even if sometimes they are not completely correct. I say “Amen” at the right places, and I love them even if they just get a little carried away.
Sometimes, my wife will say, “Hon, I think that was wrong.”
I say, “Hon, I was only preaching!”
Preachers sometimes say Jesus loved the cross and wanted to go to the cross. Let me tell you what he really said. He said, “I despise the shame of the cross.” The Holy One of God did not want to hang naked before the eyes of wicked men. He did that because His Father said, “Son, they are doomed, they are lost, will you go?”
Jesus said this. “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39) Of course, you know the Gospel story and the Holy Spirit came upon a virgin she conceived in her womb, One that we would know to be the Holy One of God, the Son of God. He lived the perfect life, tested, tempted in every way like us, then He died on the cross for our sins, and He rose again. If you do what I did 45 years ago, Easter week, you’ll repent and trust Christ to save you. This is my spiritual birthday.
It was hard for me to pick a message for this conference. I asked God, my wife will tell you, I prayed on through this morning, and I am very emotional about being saved. I was a partying bad guy, a Philly guy. “Hey, yo, get me some wooter”. We married and we had a little girl, now married to an Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher, hallelujah, and I got saved. She saw the change in my life over a few weeks, and she got saved. We had never been to anything but a Catholic church (Irish Catholic) 12 years of Catholic school for both of us. You know, the Lord has a sense of humor. My family is still freaked out. They are like, “He will come back. They always do. On his deathbed, he will denounce his Baptist faith and come back to the Holy Catholic Church.” My oldest daughter is the only one who was baptized Catholic, so we kid around that we covenanted together. If the Holy Roman Empire kicks in again and they kill all the Baptists again, we are going to need a seed to continue. So my daughter, Bridgette, and I will pull out our Catholic membership and get out of the persecution! Okay, enough joking,
But, His will, His will! He said, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Three times. He didn’t want to face separation from the Father. He could have called 12 legions of angels -- 72,000 angels. But He chose to face the suffering and separation of the cross and die for our sin so that we would have the opportunity to be saved and be born again into the family of God.
A few years back, we lost a granddaughter, and that was tough. We prayed what every parent and what every grandparent would pray, and begged God for healing. I want you to know something. It didn’t diminish my faith one stitch. If you understand and receive in your heart that God has a will, you can rest in knowing that God is in control. But it didn’t taste good. It was a bitter cup, but it is what God gave to us.
A few years later my granddaughter, Rowan, got a fever. Before you knew it, she was in the same hospital where Savannah, our granddaughter who went to Heaven, had spent so much time. She was dangerously ill, just two rooms removed from where Savannah had been. Now, what in the world! What is God up to here?
So, we left and went down there. They didn’t know if she was going to live or not. She was sick, septic and all that. It seemed like she was dying. So, we were there, and basically sat on the floor in that hospital room for 10 days. There were tubes coming out of everywhere. I am like, “Lord, what is this? What’s happening?”
But we are praying and begging God for our grand daughter’s life. In those prayers I found myself saying, “But Lord, what are you teaching us through this?” Well, I know that my daughter, Shannon, really had no pleasure to ever go in that hospital again. She is bringing the lunch, and her parents are there. She would come each day and bring food, and I was puzzled. What is God up to? I don’t know, but He healed one and took one to Heaven. After 10 days, it lifted, and now she is the most energetic kid in my church. God healed her. I mean, God is on the throne. Now, you can quote the verse, but can you really pray, “Thy will be done.” Do you really want His will? When it’s your child or grandchild in the hospital bed, can you say that?
Let’s move on. Verse 3. “Give us day by day our daily bread.” He could have given us our bread forever, but He wanted us to come to Him. He wanted us to depend on Him. Hey parents, don’t you like it when your little ones come to you, “Daddy/Mommy.” It is even more exciting when a teenager comes to you. Once they hit about 35, they know you were pretty smart, but they come back and talk with you, and ask for advice and opinions.
I don’t know why God has us come daily to Him, but I know He wants to talk to His children. He could just take care of everything ahead of time, and we would never have to ask, but He wants us to come and talk with Him. I love talking with Him. I love to hear Him talk, speak through His word, but I love to talk to Him. I like to meet with Him each morning, get my coffee -- and it must have caffeine in it. If it doesn’t have caffeine in it, get over it and just quit drinking coffee! I mean there is just something fake about that. It is like being saved without the Spirit or something! You know, I am just going to keep on drinking it until they say, “Do you want to live or die?”
I have had some good times, but I like to meet with my God in the morning, and it is an exciting privilege. It is a thrill to me each morning, and that doesn’t mean that I am never miserable, it doesn’t mean I am never in a bad mood, it doesn’t mean I never want to beat up somebody, but I know that I need to meet with my God. I need to meet with Him, and so do you, daily.
You heard one of the preachers mention this, and this is really important. CONFESSION. Verse 4. “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” I remember Dr. Jack Hyles preaching about Dr. John Rice. They would be on the road, and Dr. Rice would write down his sins on a piece of paper. How many of you have ever heard that? Then, at the hotel, he would go in the bathroom, after he would pray and confess those sins, and I guess he lit it on fire. He would burn it up and flush it down the toilet. I will tell you, ever since the Nixon tapes, I don’t write anything down that is too important. I mean, to me, that is like dangerous. DANGEROUS!!
Have you ever heard of these churches where they want to have revival and they get up and they all start confessing their sins? Now, I love Christians, and God is probably like, ‘They are more righteous than you.’ Yes, I know, but that stuff gets crazy! “Thelma, I am sorry, I hated your guts, but now I got that right with God.” She is like, “I never knew that. Why did you hate me?” They start confessing all their sins, and I am like, “Oh my soul, this is some really sticky business.”
You and I, we need to keep a short account. We don’t need to confess to anyone else, but we do need to confess our sin to God and get it under the blood. My position is settled, who I am as a child of God, but my condition varies through the day.
This is my biggest test of life. I am an old man, but I think I can still fight, and that is bad. When I realize I can’t, it will probably help me. So this, knucklehead, (excuse me Lord.) I am coming down the main road, and he is supposed to let me go through, as I have been there a hundred times, and this dude shoots out, swings across, comes out in front of me, and I have got to sway over into the other lane to keep from hitting him. Okay, you know what? I am a good Christian. You know what, I didn’t do anything. I handled it fine.
We pulled into Route 73 North, and he comes up slow next to me and starts saluting me with a certain finger, cursing me, and I’m growling, “Lord help me! Deliver me from Satan!” Pretty soon I said, “Never mind, I will be back Lord.” Down goes the window, and I say, “You are a punk, man. You ain’t nothing. You are the one that is the idiot.” I even found us a place to pull off -- to pray together, of course. He sailed on across the bridge -- coward! I felt really dirty and ashamed. I know. Don’t look at me. If you know whence I came, you would be more patient with me.
Nothing happened, I mean the Lord protected me, and I mean, this guy was so wicked. He was real bad. I was being loving and kind, right? But this is what I know. God sent me a test and I flunked the test. Oh my soul! Dear God forgive me. What kind of a pastor am I? If I were just a rough truck driver in the church, they may say, “Ain’t he cute?” but when you are the man of God, it ain’t cute! I grew up in Philly. If you backed down, you became somebody’s slave. I mean, you just couldn’t do it. So I don’t know how. I know I’m old, but I am thinking of getting a cane with like a .45 in it or something. I have got to have some equalizer, something to go with me into the next day. Confession is good! I had to confess it. I was horrified, and he was like, “What happened.” He didn’t even know I did that. Enough of that.
Let’s get back to holiness. Verses 5-8. “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto Him at midnight, and say unto Him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before Him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give Him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give Him as many as he needeth.” We are priests and kings before our God. We have a priestly duty to intercede and go to God on behalf of others. I like this, that it is a friend, on behalf of a friend of a friend, who is a friend.
What a Friend we have in Jesus! I can go to my Friend on behalf of my friends and pray for them, and God has given me this great ministry and opportunity. Folks, take it serious. The devil knows the power you have with God. He knows that power. Get a prayer list. I mean, write it down. I start simplified, A,B,C all the way to Z. I start Monday. It is tough on the road, but I am going to have to crash pray when I get back Friday, but I mean I have got to pray for our people. The devil is coming at our church. The devil is pulling our young adults out. This contemporary crowd is evil, it is wicked, it is a lie, and it is the same old stuff. The new Independent Baptists are just the old New Evangelicals. There is no difference. It is the same battle.
So many want to walk away from holy living and the old fashioned way that God blesses and this old King James Bible. Yet there are still those who want to live sanctified, holy, Godly, separated lives, and God gives us some of those people at Harbor Baptist. We lose some, we gain some. I am amazed, and I am like, “Are you sure you want to live this lifestyle?”
Let me tell you, I got saved out of my worldliness and my Rock n’ Roll, and I had been to all the concerts, and I don’t tell you which ones because when I begin to tell you that, I become prideful that I went to those concerts, so I don’t mention those. I will just say that one of them just died recently, and you know who he was. Boy Beth, did we get in trouble for that one. He kept us out late, that guy. He was old then. How did he live so long? Anyway, I took all of my records and stuff, and I always think that I got saved and two minutes later I got everything right. I put that stuff in a big old box and I put it out in the trash, and I watched as the guys came and took that music and threw it away. I don’t listen to it in my car when you are not there, either. I don’t listen to Country as it is even worse anymore. I don’t listen to that in my car. I will play CDs from colleges and good Christian music like we have been listening to at this meeting. I love music. I do play the guitar. But I don’t need that wicked filth, fornicating, sorcery, and wickedness. I don’t need that. My flesh loves it, but my spirit is grieved.
I got saved out of the world back then, 45 years ago, and God expected me to let Him clean up my life. Now, we have got these so-called pastors who have worse than a rock concert in every service. Here is a guy that has this big old church. There are strobe lights going, and he is rapping, and he is hating our guts, those of us who still stand for the old time way.
You think you know it all, you think you got the doctrine. You think you understand it. Let me tell you something, there is true doctrine. Old time independent Baptists have got the doctrine. Some of you have turned from pure Bible teaching, and you are no different than these heretics and false teachers. Satan is alive and well today. Intercede. Pray for your family. Pray for God’s people. Pray for your preacher. Preachers, pray for your people. Pray for them -- what an opportunity. What a blessing it is to pray.
You are going to have to be praying all the time. Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.” We are in a war. I tell our people it is rougher now than ever. My son, Dennis, pastoring a church that my wife and I, by God’s grace, started way back 37 years ago in South Philly, and doing a great work. I am truly concerned about him and his family. My kids, my grandkids, moved back into the city where I got them out of, and I am like, “Now don’t get too fanatical! Don’t be a missionary!” No, I didn’t say that to him really, but they are over there and I know I desperately need to pray for them daily, and hedge them about with prayer. They need God’s protection. They need angels encamped round about them. The city is a dangerous place, but it is dangerous anywhere if you are outside the will of God. It is dangerous out in the country or in the suburbs, too. We need the Lord’s protection.
So, put feet to our prayers, verse 9,10. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to Him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Hey, you know what? Put feet to your prayers. Sometimes, the Lord answers even before we ask. You and I have done this. You go, “Oh the Lord answered -- but I didn’t even pray about it yet. I was thinking about it. Lord, yes I needed that. Thank you Lord. He blessed me before I even asked.”
He blesses before us. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” But sometimes, I haven’t even asked yet and God moves ahead of me and does a wonderful thing because He knows what we need before we know it, and He does it for you too.
Most of all, some of you are praying for somebody’s salvation, and if they are anywhere near you, would you give them a Gospel witness? Sometimes, the Lord is like that. “Lord, this person that I work with needs to hear the Gospel. They need Jesus.”
“Yeah, that is why you work there.” I mean, you need to give them the Gospel! You know what is the most delightful thing that has happened to me? I am not really a thumb-sucking introvert, but I am not an extrovert either. I don’t come out of my house and yell across the street to the neighbor, “Hey, buddy, whatcha doing?” I kinda wish that was me. But it is not me. But every now and then, I find myself witnessing to someone, and there is nobody else around, and God just moved on me in a huge way and I am boldly giving them the Gospel, even though I am not out officially door knocking at the moment. By the way, door to door soulwinning is awesome and wonderful if your legs permit you to do it. As long as I am healthy, I am going to keep on going.
But I find myself witnessing, and I am thinking, “This is what pleases God so much.” At a wedding reception, I am sitting at this table, and there are preachers that I know over there, but we with these strangers, and I wonder what are they thinking. It ends up that one of the guys connected to them is a Mormon. And so, we started talking and giving them the Gospel, and here, he had been searching for the truth about eternity and his Mormon elders told him to hit the road, and don’t ask us any more questions. He had heard a Baptist preacher on the radio and he called him. He is a young preacher in his twenties, and this man said, “He gave me answers that I could never get from my Mormon elders,” and he has prayed and asked Christ to save him but no one ever confirmed it, and so I am talking with him and encouraging him to go on and get baptized and live for the Lord. He already has visited that church. Wow, what a joy. What a blessing.
Put feet to your prayers. We often don’t trust our God. It hurts Him. It offends Him. Check it out. You probably have read this many times, but did you ever really listen to what Jesus is saying? “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give Him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give Him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer Him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” I am like, “Hon, watch this. I have got this stone, it looks just like bread, like a big dinner roll. Watch him break his teeth on it.” She would be like, “Hon, that is a little aggressive.”
When you ask for an egg and there is a scorpion running across the table, and that is one of the funniest things. My wife actually did that one. We get our ideas from the Bible. I took my grandkids through some woods the other day, where there are snakes. They were like, “Pop, get it!”
I told them, “This represents the devil. Don’t touch it. That is evil.” My granddaughter, Riley, she had no fear whatsoever around snakes. She is probably going to be a great missionary. Her uncle is a great missionary in Africa. I am a city guy. I will fight Rocky Balboa, but I will scream like a girl when that snake comes through. Riley was chasing it.
Verse 13 says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” God wants to answer our prayers and pour out His power. Pray for his power. I tell God all the time, “I can’t do this. I’m not able. I need You, Lord.”
You say, “Oh, pastoring is so hard!” Forget pastoring, I can’t even live the Christian life on my own. I need His power. I have got to have His strength. I can’t do it. I must have His power, and so do you.
Hey, you know what, if we will pray like we should, it will change our lives. It will change our family. It will change our ministries. God loves to hear our prayers and promises He will continue to bless. It will change our churches. It will change our nation.
Something is happening right now. We have a little respite, a Josiah moment. I don’t know what is going on with President Trump, but I’m thanking God for him. When the CIA Director says we need Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour, and I am like, “What? Thank you, God!”
Just a thought. Just a reminder. Pray.