we’ve titled today if my people if my people and you’re thinking 2 Chronicles and that’s not what I’m thinking no no doubt if time allows we will read 2 Chronicles 7 but if my people that’s a big if if my people and I want to ask you this as we prepare our hearts um how often do you talk to your friends if they’re your friends now I understand understand there’s friends that we talk to all the time there’s friends that we work with there’s friends that live in our neighborhood

there are friends and I know you appreciate this too I have friends that we may not talk for one two three five years and when we do talk it’s like we’ve never skipped a beat there’s variations of friends but the conversations are always always trending and will go deep so the question is how often do you talk to your friend and what does often mean by the way that’s between you and your friend and what does talk mean that’s to be defined by you and your friend and the question begs who’s

your friend because in a relationship it’s different that’s the wonderful thing about friendships you don’t need many of them by the way I’ve got uh over 1 million friends on Facebook and um it says friends but I don’t think I know any of them who is your friend oh what a friend we have in Jesus and I want to challenge you today as we prepare hearts for the next 21 days the intimacy that some of you are going to experience will completely change your lives if that’s what you want I’m asking

God to cleanse this church I’m asking God to cleanse the church in America to make it real to make it a real church and Jesus says my father’s house shall be called a House of Prayer and so we want to encourage that we talk often to our friend and that when we do talk it’s a it’s a talk we hear the word prayer and it seems to intimidate us I believe that’s satanic religion will have you be intimidated by prayer oh you got to get on your knees oh you’ve got to light a candle oh you’ve got to face a certain direction

oh you’ve got to wear certain clothes oh you’ve got to be a certain way you’ve got to do certain things listen SI that’s sick it’s wrong when the Bible tells us that God is waiting to hear from us at all times and for the unbeliever he’s waiting to hear the words I repent and for the church he’s waiting to hear from us ABA Father prayer should be as Charles Spurgeon said like the lungs of the church we breathe every day don’t we and we never once think about it it comes natural and we need to change everybody

we need to change and our nation needs to change when I say Nation first I should say the church within this nation so I’m going to listen some of you have seen this before I want you to listen carefully I want you can close your eyes if you want but as we prepare for this time I want to replay for you a prayer and listen to it because it was so rejected and I want you to listen as to why it was rejected find the reason why this was a horrible prayer so put your eyes to the screens the house will be in order the prayer

will be offered by the guest chaplain Pastor Jack Hibbs Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Chino California listen please judge it judge the prayer I need you to let’s pray almighty God and father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together we come before you in humility as a people in need of your forgiveness your mercy your goodness and your grace for these 250 so years our fathers in this Congress have prayed for your guidance and protection and so we stand here in Humble petition that you today might do the same that this nation and its

unparalleled Constitution your great gift to all Freedom loving people might be renewed here in across this land as a Beacon of Hope to all who seek peace I ask you today Father to bring to us a Great Awakening of righteousness and confidence in you who alone is mighty to save here my cry in this hour of great need that we might be humbly blessed before you in the repentance of our national sins you almighty God are the source of all all wisdom and there is no wisdom but that which comes from you so please come upon those here who are the

stewards over the business of our nation with your wisdom which comes from above and with your holy fear knowing that your coming day of judgment draws near when all who have been and are now in Authority will answer to you the great judge of heaven and of Earth for the decisions that they make here in this place I offer this prayer to you father in the name of Jesus Christ your son and our crucified Savior and resurrected Lord in Jesus name amen amen so Billy Graham said that prayer is simply a two-way convers communication

between you and God that’s true simply that far too many people view prayer as an only uh break the glass moment break the glass and pull the alarm moments and I pray that from this day forward it will change in your life that it will be part of your lungs and how you breathe Ian bounds wrote prayer is the very link that connects us to almighty God Jesus said in Matthew 6:31 therefore do not worry saying what what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for after all these things do the

unbelievers the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you therefore do not worry about tomorrow notice the linkage between prayer and worry do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things sufficient for the day is its own trouble day by day we seek God In Prayer the great reformer Martin Luther wrote to be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without

breathing wow our friend aw toer wrote to desire Revival and at the same time to neglect personal prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another pray hardest when it’s hardest to Pray Again Billy Graham wrote We Are to pray in times of adversity lest we become faithless and unbelieving we are to pray in times of prosperity lest we become boastful and proud We Are to pray in times of danger lest we become fearful and doubting we are to pray in times of security lest we become self-sufficient that’s a good prayer and

that’s good advice by Billy Graham We are a nation that has somehow been doped on self-sufficiency without God we think that government is the answer we think that the next election is the answer or that someone else is going to fix the issue God has been showing the church one day after another from month to month to year to year God has been waiting for the church to wake up and to seek him in prayer and in all the trauma that our nation has gone through over these last maybe 20 years I’m wondering just how much we

really believe in prayer as a people Charles Spurgeon says true PR true prayer is neither mere mental exercise nor vocal performance it is far deeper than that it is the spiritual transaction with the creator of Heaven and Earth I pray I do not wish I have God not a genie I like that in John 15 verse 7 Jesus said if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you the key is the Bible to pray Bible in this next 21 days you are going to be linked together all of us together praying the

Bible and we’re going to grow and we’re going to cry and we’re going to rejoice and we’re going to praise and we’re going to call out to God together though we might be separated by thousands of miles who knows we’ll be on the same page together and of course if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their Wicked Ways then that’s the qualifier then and only then really will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land

there is no healing church are you listening there is no healing for our land unless God’s people pray and to that he says if we are to Rend our hearts and our minds in Repentance it is time now today to leave off the things that have plagued your walk things that you’ve come to tolerate it’s time to leave them off from this time forward we’re moving on there was a time in this campaign cycle I think it’s kind of evaporated and I’m happy to say when we were hearing some time ago vote for me vote

for us vote for whatever because The Best Is Yet To Come and I I think I think people are W I don’t hear that anymore from uh Camala or from Donald and that’s probably a good thing maybe they don’t sense it either the best is not yet to come or the best is not ahead unless you’re a Believer listen for believers Heaven is our home that’s where we’re going for America I don’t know I don’t know but keep this in mind as we prepare our hearts for prayer Genesis 3:8 says and Adam and Eve

heard the sound of the Lord think of this for a moment they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden what did that sound like we we won’t know until we see him but Adam and Eve could hear the sound of God walking in the garden and I I don’t know what it was like but I know what it it I know it wasn’t like this I don’t think God walked in the garden stomping I think they heard God walking in the garden because there was maybe some sort of rustling of the leaves there was some sort of uh

Divine effervescence some some Glory I don’t know but listen they heard him they heard his nearness when we pray we hear his nearness we can sense him far too many times you’ve gone in your life and marriage and kids and family and parents and you have felt as a Believer alone my friend can I say get to the Garden get to the Garden find that place as we spoke about a few weeks ago get to that place and carve out that place to hear him walk again to pray is to experience The Nearness of God and to not pray well to not

pray we see what happens they heard the sound of the Lord God Walking In The Garden in the cool of the day and Adam and Eve or Adam his wife I should say Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord oh my gosh they hid themselves from the presence of God the very opposite thing that you and I want Adam and Eve went and hid from them listen a lot of people hide from God they go to church on Sunday but they hide from God all week and 23 hours out of the rest of that Sunday they hide from God why because they’re afraid that God

might know what they’re involved in he already knows Adam and Eve they didn’t want God to know what they were involved in and so they hide the human response is to hide and not talk to God and I’m asking you today to trust God if you’re a believer that he has forgiven you of your sins as you’ve repented of your sins and listen Satan will whisper in your ear God doesn’t want to hear from you God doesn’t want to hear your cry God doesn’t want to speak to you I want you to know that is

a Lie from hell no matter how young you are today or how old you are today we’re going to seek God like we’ve never sought God before and it all starts with you deciding that person personally in your life and me as well and the Bible goes on to say in Genesis that verse 9 then the Lord God Called to Adam and said to him where are you now God knew where he was but remember they dressed themselves up in leaves they were covered in leaves like on the Jolly Green Giant can remember that can the Jolly Green Giant

that’s what they looked like they didn’t have listen she didn’t have little leaves right here and one right here and he didn’t have one right here like it’s so it’s so like something you see in a museum you know there’s this sculpture and they’re all naked except there’s a perfect Oak Leaf right there the Hebrew language suggests that when Adam and Eve sin they cover themselves in leaves in my cartoon mind I see there even their eyelids they’ve got leaves on their eyelids that go like this just to

be safe we’ve got to hide from God God and when you’re hiding from God you’re not praying people who do not pray listen this is an exhortation Christian you call yourself a Christian and listen do you have an attitude a mindset of pray do you do you pray God do you speak to him you don’t have to have a shrine you don’t have to have a an alone place so that’s good we are to have an attitude of prayer the Bible says to be praying always that’s an attitude of prayer and when you have that attitude nurtured

daily God will speak to you God will tell you things and he’ll show you things and Adam responds and he says we’re basically he says we’re hiding because we’re naked and God says who told you you were naked isn’t that interesting did Satan by the way if you know your Bible did Satan say to Adam and Eve whoa wow after you ate that fruit you’re sure naked did he did Satan say that they disobeyed God they were naked boom and they were aware of it shame guilt grief the last person on this planet

that should experience those things should be the believer and that only but for a moment when we are grieved and when we are shamed it’s God convicting us of our sins to repent to get back on course with him so church family before we pray and I’m not we’re going to pray I’m going to give you the bad news first I always want bad news first because I can begin to go to work on bad news I don’t care about the good news the good news I got that part are you with me yes so I’m going to take a chapter of the

Bible I’m going to reverse it God gives the good news first and then at the end he gives you the bad news Well the reason why I’m reversing it is because the order back then was a promise he was giving to Israel when they were just getting started America has lived her life and we’ve come to the end and so we reverse it because it’s more accurate now are you guys freezing I see you guys you guys brought blankets you must know are you guys visiting are you you are is this your church see you bring

blankets it’s yeah so the bad news first and allow me to make commentary God said but it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God is our nation obeying the voice of the Lord Our God I prayed that prayer in Congress it was a historic prayer I used prayers before from 1740 to about 1780 and I fashioned those prayers together and I offered up that prayer in Congress it was purely historical it was pure Bible it honored God and it even gave the gospel if you were listening and that 26 members of Congress

condemned me with an open letter that was published in rebuke of house Speaker Mike Johnson for allowing this lunatic to offer up the prayer do you understand listen I don’t take that personal you know what they you know what they did they indicted themselves they they heard a biblically based historic prayers offered up in that chamber centuries ago and because of their ignorance and departure from God our nation’s leaders couldn’t even recognize a bit of American History when it hit him right in the

face and in condemning that prayer they condemned the word of God in condemning that prayer they condemned biblical truth and condemning that prayer they condemned themselves out of their own mouth Jesus said you will either be excused or condemned to observe carefully all his Commandments and his statutes which I command you you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you this is what happens to a nation and to a people for that matter to a household who doesn’t obey God cursed shall you be in the city our cities

cursed no joke we literally drive around our cities we reprogram our maps to go around the cities no one drives through Los Angeles and not not saying this would be funny no one drives listen nobody when was the last time you drove to Oakland Airport we had to get a flight out of Oakland airport we were told get gas before you get to the city do not get out of your car Oakland’s gone San Francisco’s gone God says I will curse your sin City if you disobey me and turn away from me and cursed shall you be in the

country you can go to the middle of the desert and pitch a tent have a campfire and a murderer will show up in the night how do you explain that what’s going on cursed shall you be your basket and your kneading Bowl food supply curs shall be the fruit of your body pregnancy and the produce of your land and the increase of your cattle and of The Offspring of your flocks cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out the Lord will send on you cursing confusion is America confused America is not only biblically

confused America is willfully scientifically confused America listen when John Adams says facts are stubborn things that’s anathema to our culture today there are no facts anymore it’s what you feel and if you go by what you feel you will be confused because our feelings confuse us feelings have become a shrine and we need to repent of our feelings and so rebuke and all that you set your hand to do until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly because of the wickedness of your own doings in which you have