June 28, 2026

Prayerlessness=Powerlessnes. How can Churches Develop a Culture of Prayer? Powerful stories of Prayer and Revival. + A Divisive Review of Wild Bill's Ring Pop Soda, a Soda Made by AI??

Prayerlessness=Powerlessnes. How can Churches Develop a Culture of Prayer? Powerful stories of Prayer and Revival. + A Divisive Review of Wild Bill's Ring Pop Soda, a Soda Made by AI??
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How does surrender work in a Christian’s life? We try to surrender, but God is the one who provides the means for us to surrender.

Being with the Lord is most important, rather than me trying and trying harder.

The comfort of God carrying us to completion in our spiritual journey.

Prayerlessness=Powerlessnes. What can be done about the powerlessness in the modern church? The same thing the South African church in the twentieth century did.

The Lord led us gradually to the sin of prayerlessness as one of the deepest roots of the problem. No one could claim to be free from this. Nothing so reveals a defective spiritual life in a minister or a congregation as the lack of believing and unceasing prayer. Prayer is the pulse of the spiritual life. It is the great means by which ministers and laypeople alike receive the blessing and power of heaven. Persevering and believing prayer PRELUDES a strong and abundant life.”

Andrew Murray, Living a Prayerful Life (Bethany House, 2002).

How can pastors seek God’s presence as the center of their life? Beginning of the answer: Stop Trying. What we need to do first is to be with God.

It’s His Kingdom, but sometimes we pastors believe we have been given the responsibility to grow the Kingdom of God.

Church works and accomplishments that are human-built, effort-powered, and talent-fueled may well be works that burn up and don’t last into eternity. Some of those things that look like the Kingdom of God are not, but rather, Christian City, Potemkin Villages - Fake!

Great prayer resources:

Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
Old Paths New Power by Daniel Henderson
The Valley of Vision - Puritan Prayers
Bill Elliff books
It Happens After Prayer - H.B. Charles

GCA NEWS. STIIR – Loving the Lost Dr. Chris Smith. Link: https://www.gcasbc.org/post/stiir-loving-the-lost

Afghan American Church (Fremont) is a church plant through GCA with the mission of reaching Afghan immigrants through the love of God with the good news of Jesus Christ. We want to continue to grow into a strong community of worshipers and proclaimers of the true God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer Request: Please pray for God's work in the hearts and minds of the Afghan community through our regular outreach programs, including a soccer camp and Kids' Camp at the end of June. Pray for God to break the spirit of fear in the community so they can have freedom to seek the truth and for the truth to set them free.

Visit afghanamericanchurch.com.

WEBVTT

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I was raised to value working hard, but when you're a pastor or a church leader

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and the goal is learning to abide in Christ, today's guest, Dr.

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C.J. Wan, says there is a danger in...

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Our effort as if to say, I could replace prayer. I could replace depending on

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God by doing a lot of good work for Him. And it's a trap.

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It's a trap that many, many pastors, including myself, have experienced burnout. Why?

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Because I am doing it. I am trying.

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Leaders and pastors find health, encouragement, practical advice,

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soul care, and resources that work together to build up your local fellowship

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and the broader kingdom of God.

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Join hosts, Pastor Chris Cole and Dr. Chase Thompson from the Great Commission

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Association, led by Dr. Mike Stewart, as they explore the frontiers of ministry

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and aim for the goal of making every church flourish.

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Hello, everybody, and welcome in to episode number 24 of the Every Church Flourishing Podcast.

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We are a podcast put on by the Great Commission Association of California.

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You can get in touch with us through our website, gcasbc.org,

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and our email, office at gcasbc.org.

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Now, why would you want to get in touch with us? It's a good question.

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Here's the thing. We are looking for partners in ministry.

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And if you're a church or you're a pastor or you're a church leader in the California

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area and you feel alone and you don't have a team, we could be your team.

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So if you are out there looking and are tired of being lonely in ministry, give us a call.

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Give us an email, office at gcasbc.org. Check out our website, which is gcasbc.org.

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So if you're a pastor, church leader, anybody serious about following Jesus,

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today's show will challenge you not to try harder, but to reorder the priorities

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of your life to spend more time with God,

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trust human effort less, and prioritize listening to God over telling him what he already knows.

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After a great discussion on prayer with Dr.

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CJ, who's going to give us some practical tips on helping a church develop a

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culture of prayer, you're going to hear a severe and serious disagreement between

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myself and Pastor Christopher of the GCA, the co-host of this podcast.

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Will we debate Calvinism versus Arminianism,

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Complementarianism versus egalitarianism, or is one of us a cessationist and

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one of us a continuationist, well, it's going to be far worse and more divisive than any of those

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Our disagreement concerns Wild Bill's Ring Pop Soda.

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Well, after that divisive soda review, we will end today's episode with a couple

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of powerful prayer stories as an encouragement to all of us to pray.

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But for right now, let's go to Dr. CJ Wan for part two of an interview where

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we are discussing prayer.

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And we are back with Dr. CJ Wan of the Great Commission Association.

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And we're still talking about prayer and abiding and how pastors and leaders

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can not only themselves cultivate a life of prayer and pursuing the Lord and

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surrender, but also how they can,

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help their churches facilitate walking in that.

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And let's talk a little bit about Andrew Murray.

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Andrew Murray was a Dutch Reformed South African pastor of the 19th century.

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He wrote a book that was very instrumental in my life called Abiding in Christ

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that I read shortly after I got into ministry.

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He was just a pastor who lived a life of prayer and urged others to do it.

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Dr. CJ, you read a different book by him, Absolute Surrender, recently.

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I'm not a good surrenderer.

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I mean, I got some strong willfulness in me.

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What does Murray teach us about surrender? How does surrender work in a Christian's life?

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I think what I got out of it as I was reading, it's really the first chapter,

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and there's many good devotional topics on there. But as he introduces the topic of surrender...

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Often I think we are trying to surrender. And if you just heard what I just

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said, we are trying to surrender.

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And I think that's where I was spinning.

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I'm trying, God, to surrender more. I'm trying, I'm trying, and I'm trying.

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And what brought the fresh air from me was that, you know, Andrew Murray happened

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to be saying, no, you know what? It's 100% God.

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God is providing means and ways for you and I to surrender. It's not up to us.

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It's not what we do. It's what he does.

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And so that was really the nutshell of how I felt, what I got out of it.

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And I'm changing my positions on how I see. What does that mean to surrender?

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So how can God help us lead a surrendered life?

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Yeah, it goes back for me a long way. It goes back where I think we have learned

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to do a lot of repetitive things trying to surrender. And that might be go to

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church, pray, read Bible, do all good things.

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And it's really us trying, but he's actually telling us a different ways.

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And it wasn't crazy ideas, but it was refreshing ideas. And he said this,

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God provides and really completely owns the surrender of our lives.

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He's the one that's providing everything we need. And he gives five points.

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And he says this, first, God expects our surrender, which is,

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that's where he starts in Proverbs 3.

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart. In all your ways, acknowledge him.

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And he does start there saying, hey, this is what the Lord wants from us.

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And that is, yes, he expects our surrender. He commands our surrender.

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But then he goes on to talk about the second, third, fourth.

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Third, second is afford. He affords our surrender.

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And he says, no one can come to the Father unless the Father who sent me draws him in John 6.

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It is him who draws us, not us trying to get there.

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And it is God who works in us to will and to act, according to Philippians 2.13. So it's God who...

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Calls and expects us, but he also affords us because he's the one doing the nudging.

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He's the one that's actually calling us, drawing us to himself.

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And then he talks about the accept. He accepts our surrender.

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And this is the passage I shared on the previous one in Mark chapter 9,

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where in a boy's father, a boy with a father who came asking Jesus, he'll heal my son.

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And the real answer was, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.

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And I think that's the surrender we do. Lord, I do.

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I want to, but I know that there's places I still need your help.

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And so he understands and accepts our feeble surrender at whatever level,

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whatever we can, he accepts it.

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And he fulfills number four, our surrender. And that is Philippians chapter

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one, verse six, famous verse, being confident of this, that he who began a good

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work in you will carry it onto completion. He's the one that's going to finish this.

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I'm so glad he did not leave that to me.

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He didn't leave that to chance. And he didn't say, well, let me see if I could

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get somebody else to do it. He said, no, I will carry it on to completion.

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And so he's the one that will fulfill our surrender. And lastly,

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as really he says, blesses.

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He blesses your surrender. And how he blesses it is really a picture in Revelations

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3, where he says, here I am at the, I stand at the door and knock.

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If anyone hears my voice and opens his door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.

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And the blessing is if we are able to just let him in, cooperate and open the

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door of our heart, he says, I will come in.

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And I will be with you. And so from the start to finish, Andrew Murray was kind

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of pointing it out that from the start to finish, complete, it's him. It's not us.

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I have bought the lie or the different ideas that part of it is me.

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I have to be the one surrendering. And I gave myself credit when I did one thing well. It didn't last.

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I would not do one thing, but next week I'll be doing it again.

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And so this cycle, I think that's where I was trapped on a treadmill,

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just trying and trying and trying. And this actually says, no,

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it's 100% God. He is in charge of it all.

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Yeah, that's fantastic. Good, powerful words.

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I want to share an anecdote from the life of Andrew Murray that also has some

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great quotes in it about prayer, surrender, and the danger of prayerlessness.

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He lived to a ripe old age. I think he died in 1917 at 88.

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This story happened in 1912 when he was 83.

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He was in South Africa, like I said, with the Dutch Reformed Church.

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And one of their theology professors, and obviously things are different today

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than they were 100 years ago.

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One of their theology professors wrote an article about the powerlessness and

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the prayerlessness in the South African church.

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And a lot of the pastors read the article and they were cut to the heart about

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it. So they got together.

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They were so moved by this thing. They got together. So they had four theological

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professors, 200 ministers, pastors, missionaries, students.

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They all got together and they kind of were like.

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What do we do?

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And so they began to kind of go through that and consider, you know,

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what do we do about the powerlessness in the church?

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And they had testimonies and they talked about what's the problem,

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you know, what kind of sins are going on?

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And they began to focus in on other pastors sinning, churches not presenting

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the right doctrine, that kind of thing.

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But they got to the point where they realized they were barking up the wrong tree, essentially.

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And this is what Andrew Murray said. I'll just read a paragraph from him.

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He said, the Lord led us gradually to the sin of prayerlessness as one of the

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deepest roots of the problem.

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Not one of us could claim to be free from this.

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Nothing so reveals a defective spiritual life in a minister or a congregation

00:10:25.401 --> 00:10:29.036
as the lack of believing in unceasing prayer.

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Prayer is the pulse of the spiritual

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life. It is the great means by which ministers and lay people alike

00:10:36.490 --> 00:10:43.151
receive the blessing and power of having persevering and believing prayer preludes

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a strong and abundant life. Yeah. That's powerful stuff.

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It is. It is. And I think because of our distractions and our attempts to do

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good work for the kingdom of God, all those are nice words.

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We miss out and we somehow commingle our effort as if to say,

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I could replace prayer. I could replace depending on God by doing a lot of good

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work for him. And it's a trap.

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It's a trap that many, many pastors, including myself, have experienced burnout. Why?

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Because I am doing it. I am trying.

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I am the fuel. And you know, pastoring, essentially at its core,

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in some ways, a leadership position.

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And therefore, it attracts people to that profession, ideally, that are called by God.

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Don't get me wrong, but it also attracts people that are not all type A personalities,

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but leaders who are used to leading and having to get things done.

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And as you say, it's a trap. It's a trap. And the high 90s percent of pastors

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probably fall into that trap all the time that I got to get this done.

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All of this rests on me. So for the pastor out there kind of feeling that,

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what are some ways that they can seek God's presence as the center of their life?

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Well, it sounds bad, but I would say stop trying. That would be the first way for you to detach.

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Start by stop trying. And sometimes we believe, whether it's directly,

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indirectly, we believe that what I do, what we do is good and it matters.

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And time and time again, we do a lot of things.

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If this year didn't work out, we'll do better next year. And if this plan doesn't

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work out, we'll go to plan, you know, 2.0. And we're very good at doing that

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as a way to solve and try to do things.

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But as Andrew Murray and others have kind of spilled into my life,

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I feel like, you know, maybe what we need to do first is just to be with God.

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And if we did that and hear his heartbeat and know who he is and how he wants

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to do and what he wants to do.

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May be very different than what we envision as success. And I think in order

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for us to reach a certain success or certain measurement that we believe is good, we do things.

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And I think that's the trap again. And I think for listeners and pastors,

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I'm not saying surrender or throw in the towel.

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That's not what I'm saying. I think what we need to do is spiritually come before

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God, broken and say, God, I'm just gonna stop trying. I just wanna spend more time with you.

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If I can't be a healthy person in front of you, What good am I on the pulpit?

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What good am I in ministry? What

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Plans can I execute that'll advance the kingdom of God.

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It's his kingdom, his work, his church, his people. And yet sometimes we believe

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we are given this amazing responsibility to grow the church of God.

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And I think that's, again, a words and word plays that we have bought into.

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Grow healthy, grow churches and other things. Yes, we would like to see that,

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but that's up to him. But will he use me to do that?

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That's also up to him. But we could definitely spend time with God and have

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him use us in ways that honors him.

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I think one of the things that sort of wages war against

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what you're talking about is we have all seen examples of churches that appear

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to thrive and explode in growth and have hundreds, thousands of people come to it with

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just pristine worship and incredible talent and people crawling all over the

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place and activities and actions.

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And it appears that I'm not speaking of every large church, obviously.

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I'm speaking of a certain subset of them that appear to be built on principles

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and business acumen and talent and things like that.

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And a pastor of a smaller or medium-sized church will look at that and say,

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well, I want to lead a church like that.

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I need to do those kinds of things.

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And Paul talks about in his letters that there will be works we do on earth

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that survive into eternity and are rewards essentially in heaven.

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And then there will be ones that burn up. And my personal thinking,

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and I'm not going to be judging any of these things, so my opinion is zero meaning.

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But I think a lot of those kind of works that are human built,

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effort powered, and talent fueled are going to be those works that burn up.

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They appear monumental and amazing. And a pastor hearing you say,

00:15:35.608 --> 00:15:38.719
stop trying and trust in God more.

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They're like, oh, I'm never going to build a megachurch by stopping trying, Dr. CJ.

00:15:43.288 --> 00:15:49.668
So I would just like to encourage the person that hears that and his flesh is reacting. I get it.

00:15:49.828 --> 00:15:54.579
I know why that sounds hard because it's against my wiring too.

00:15:54.724 --> 00:15:58.988
But some of these things that look like the kingdom of God are really Christian

00:15:58.988 --> 00:16:00.768
city and they're going to burn up.

00:16:01.532 --> 00:16:04.068
They're not the kingdom of God. They're a Potomacan village.

00:16:04.068 --> 00:16:07.709
They're a facade. They're not fruit that remains. Yeah.

00:16:08.044 --> 00:16:12.319
So let's assume we still have pastors and leaders that are tracking with us

00:16:12.319 --> 00:16:17.639
and want to build this culture of prayer in their church and not go the fleshly way.

00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:23.979
So, Dr. CJ, what are some elements that we need to see a culture of prayer in

00:16:23.979 --> 00:16:26.599
churches and in our own lives?

00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:30.259
What are the elements that kind of help produce that culture?

00:16:31.379 --> 00:16:35.879
Again, the prayer retreat has given us some insight into some of these elements.

00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:40.959
And I was blowing away my mind that why didn't I know this? Why didn't I put this together?

00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:45.049
We had other people who are smarter than us doing this. But it talks about three

00:16:45.049 --> 00:16:48.289
elements. The retreat actually talks about three elements needed for prayer

00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:52.293
culture in churches and Christian life. One is theological convictions.

00:16:52.433 --> 00:16:55.649
You certainly have to have a conviction from the Lord that this is what it is.

00:16:55.794 --> 00:17:00.779
Second, they talk about intentional preparedness, intentional preparation of

00:17:01.099 --> 00:17:04.778
in order for the conviction to become realized, there has to be work.

00:17:04.894 --> 00:17:08.409
There has to be intentionality. And then the third piece really crushed me and

00:17:08.409 --> 00:17:10.079
that is humble desperation.

00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:14.249
How much do you want this? Do you really want this or not? And I think God has

00:17:14.249 --> 00:17:17.339
a way of testing us. And I think we have fallen into the trap,

00:17:17.339 --> 00:17:22.109
again, of creating unsustainable things, mainly because we operate out of one

00:17:22.109 --> 00:17:23.824
of these circles rather than all three.

00:17:23.963 --> 00:17:28.419
And the idea was we need all three. We need all three to continue to work.

00:17:28.419 --> 00:17:33.589
Otherwise, we are gonna have a, sometimes emotional rushes, like a mountaintop experience.

00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:39.033
Can't be reproduced. It's not sustainable. And sometimes it just becomes ritualistic.

00:17:39.166 --> 00:17:43.098
We have a Bible study, we have a prayer meeting, and it becomes something that

00:17:43.098 --> 00:17:46.777
just is there, not filled with the Spirit of God.

00:17:46.899 --> 00:17:50.498
Without power, without presence, no transformation happens there,

00:17:50.498 --> 00:17:55.140
and without joy, on and on and on. So here's how they put it.

00:17:55.384 --> 00:17:58.178
And I think these are the byproducts that we have to be careful.

00:17:58.178 --> 00:18:00.980
And as you think about these three, theological convictions,

00:18:01.137 --> 00:18:05.598
intentional preparation, humble desperation, there's byproducts that happens

00:18:05.598 --> 00:18:07.331
if you have just two of these things.

00:18:07.551 --> 00:18:11.478
So this is how I understood it. I said, if you have theological conviction with

00:18:11.478 --> 00:18:15.266
humble desperation, what you have is unsustainability.

00:18:15.388 --> 00:18:18.798
Meaning you could do this crusade one time. It won't be sustained.

00:18:19.098 --> 00:18:22.578
You just can't do it over. Because what you're looking for is something that

00:18:22.578 --> 00:18:24.595
has no real preparation.

00:18:24.711 --> 00:18:27.201
It could be a mountain type experience, but that's just one time.

00:18:27.317 --> 00:18:29.918
And sometimes we sell out for that. We go on a mission trip.

00:18:29.918 --> 00:18:34.069
We go on a retreat, and this is great mountaintop, but then it's not sustained.

00:18:34.806 --> 00:18:38.818
Second part is humble desperation with intentional preparation.

00:18:38.818 --> 00:18:40.472
That leads to emotional things.

00:18:40.605 --> 00:18:44.098
If you don't have the theological conviction and a biblical conviction of what

00:18:44.098 --> 00:18:47.748
it is that you're trying to get to, you're going to have an emotional high.

00:18:47.748 --> 00:18:51.188
You're going to find yourself seeking emotional, spiritual things,

00:18:51.315 --> 00:18:57.118
and it becomes exciting. And you and I know sometimes a worship experience feels like that.

00:18:57.438 --> 00:19:03.428
It's high. It's intentional. It has hunger, but sometimes it lacks theological conviction.

00:19:03.428 --> 00:19:07.278
What is it? Who is the center of this whole thing? And that has to be God.

00:19:07.278 --> 00:19:12.467
Is God pleased with this worship? Or is it man-pleasing? Is it for drawing a crowd?

00:19:12.734 --> 00:19:16.722
So all of those becomes an emotional byproduct. And sometimes we buy into that.

00:19:17.095 --> 00:19:21.637
And that's a negative thing in my mind. And the third is, if you have intentional

00:19:21.637 --> 00:19:24.797
preparation with theological conviction, if that's all you got,

00:19:24.797 --> 00:19:29.448
what you're going to get is ritualistic events. It just becomes regiment.

00:19:29.576 --> 00:19:35.147
Dry, dry prayer meetings and Bible studies. Worship becomes a drag.

00:19:35.147 --> 00:19:39.347
Why? Because you don't have this humble desperation for the presence of God.

00:19:39.347 --> 00:19:43.403
Is God necessary in this prayer meeting? Is God the focus of this worship?

00:19:43.927 --> 00:19:46.921
Are we actually hungering after Him? Wanting more of Him?

00:19:47.147 --> 00:19:51.177
Are we humbling ourselves before Him? And so it takes those three things.

00:19:51.177 --> 00:19:55.177
And, you know, as I was thinking through it, if we are brutally honest with

00:19:55.177 --> 00:19:59.325
ourselves, oftentimes we just have the theological conviction.

00:19:59.470 --> 00:20:05.223
We lack intentional preparation, and we sometimes don't have the humble desperation.

00:20:05.467 --> 00:20:05.751
Yeah.

00:20:05.873 --> 00:20:09.623
So all we have is theological conviction. Go and make disciple.

00:20:10.203 --> 00:20:15.230
No question whatsoever, but how are you going to make that happen? The preparation part.

00:20:15.346 --> 00:20:19.253
But how are you desperately leaning on to God's power rather than ours?

00:20:19.409 --> 00:20:24.800
And so it leads to a place of just circle where we are either going to

00:20:25.260 --> 00:20:31.260
unsustainable programs or emotional programs or ritualistic programs rather

00:20:31.260 --> 00:20:35.660
than something that creates a culture where people are seeing a difference in

00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:37.364
their life, but also in the church life.

00:20:37.562 --> 00:20:39.900
And so those are stuff that I have learned.

00:20:40.320 --> 00:20:46.194
I can't speak to it as if this is mine, but those are points that we got out of the prayer retreat.

00:20:46.350 --> 00:20:50.800
Yeah. Awesome. And I think you're absolutely right. We have the conviction. We need to pray.

00:20:50.946 --> 00:20:56.150
We need to pray to make disciples. We know that, but we lack the others.

00:20:56.150 --> 00:21:00.350
It's like we're saying we believe help our unbelief. because there's a lot of

00:21:00.350 --> 00:21:05.777
unbelief there that doesn't underpin our statement that we value prayer.

00:21:05.917 --> 00:21:09.020
So is it your sense, Dr. CJ,

00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:14.130
that most of the churches in the association that you're familiar with,

00:21:14.130 --> 00:21:18.400
the Great Commission Association, and maybe the churches in the West in California

00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:21.910
specifically, I don't want to say, are we praying enough?

00:21:21.910 --> 00:21:25.310
Because that implies sort of we could pray two or three hours a week together

00:21:25.310 --> 00:21:28.028
and kind of fill the bucket. I'm not sure it's that way.

00:21:28.295 --> 00:21:34.251
Are we praying aright? Are we properly oriented towards the prayer life? Yeah.

00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:41.438
I would stand to say that I think we have missed the focus and the purpose of prayer.

00:21:41.438 --> 00:21:45.268
And because of that, we have not really reaped the benefit of prayer.

00:21:45.268 --> 00:21:51.381
And again, the goal is to be with the Lord, to spend time with Him, to hear Him, not us.

00:21:51.509 --> 00:21:56.088
But I think prayer often has become a time where we are telling God everything

00:21:56.088 --> 00:21:57.801
we need. He already knows them all.

00:21:58.051 --> 00:22:02.888
He knows how to best serve us in the perfect way. But we spend a lot of our

00:22:02.888 --> 00:22:06.748
time when we say prayer, it's really us telling God what we think we need.

00:22:06.748 --> 00:22:09.562
God, we have all the plans, but we need you to bless it.

00:22:09.690 --> 00:22:12.935
And if things don't go right, we need your help to fix our plan.

00:22:13.518 --> 00:22:17.440
You could see how that sounds bad. Theologically, however you put it,

00:22:17.707 --> 00:22:19.146
that just doesn't sound right.

00:22:19.425 --> 00:22:23.318
And so I would agree to that statement that sometimes many of us in churches

00:22:23.318 --> 00:22:28.038
and pastors and leaders have adopted the idea that prayer is really about us

00:22:28.038 --> 00:22:30.095
telling him. But I think it's the opposite.

00:22:30.234 --> 00:22:33.670
Prayer time is just we listening, us listening to Him.

00:22:34.158 --> 00:22:37.438
I have to be the first to admit I am not trained in this.

00:22:37.738 --> 00:22:43.167
I don't quite know exactly how to do this well and very uncomfortable being in quietness.

00:22:43.394 --> 00:22:47.294
As Psalm 49 would say, hey, be still and just know that He is God.

00:22:47.543 --> 00:22:51.740
Well, we don't know and want to spend that time because it just becomes awkward after five minutes.

00:22:52.538 --> 00:22:55.908
Let's just be honest. I think that's true with many of us. We just don't know

00:22:55.908 --> 00:22:58.793
what to do by just spending time with God.

00:22:58.967 --> 00:23:02.488
And if we feel like, how am I going to spend time with God is just say a lot

00:23:02.488 --> 00:23:05.446
of things. And I think that's really where the miss is.

00:23:05.597 --> 00:23:11.038
And I think our God is dying, bad word. I think God is desiring to speak to

00:23:11.038 --> 00:23:15.458
us, to be with us, to tell us he loves us, tell us that everything is going

00:23:15.458 --> 00:23:18.019
to be okay. To say, I have a better plan for you.

00:23:18.234 --> 00:23:21.351
Great plan. You can't even fathom what I'm going to try to do.

00:23:21.967 --> 00:23:24.867
We don't give him the time and we're not listening. And so, yeah,

00:23:24.867 --> 00:23:29.107
so when it comes to that topic of prayer, I think we have jumped off on the

00:23:29.107 --> 00:23:32.927
wrong end where we made it into us talking to God.

00:23:33.066 --> 00:23:35.907
It should be us listening to him. Yeah, wow.

00:23:36.487 --> 00:23:41.987
That's awesome. So I imagine people listening right now, their consciences are

00:23:41.987 --> 00:23:48.387
poked and prodded and their heart hopefully is lifted up and drawn towards this,

00:23:49.795 --> 00:23:54.527
reorientation of their lives in the direction of prayer and understanding prayer

00:23:54.527 --> 00:23:58.507
is not just talking and telling God things and asking for things.

00:23:58.507 --> 00:24:03.767
So those leaders that are listening, how should they start? Where should they

00:24:03.767 --> 00:24:07.895
start in this reorientation process on prayer?

00:24:08.104 --> 00:24:12.507
The same few words I would say, you just have to come to a place where you're

00:24:12.507 --> 00:24:15.607
saying, Lord, I'm just gonna stop and I'm just gonna be with you.

00:24:15.607 --> 00:24:19.197
And that's just creating a time and space. I don't know how many times I have

00:24:19.197 --> 00:24:21.597
said that to myself. I have to create time and space for God.

00:24:21.597 --> 00:24:25.147
And, you know, you say, well, all my life is God's. No, not necessarily,

00:24:25.147 --> 00:24:28.589
because you're not giving it to him. You're actually taking control of a lot of it.

00:24:28.734 --> 00:24:33.367
You have to be intentional of giving time and space for God to do whatever he

00:24:33.367 --> 00:24:36.227
wants to do. And you don't just say, well, you have my time,

00:24:36.227 --> 00:24:39.807
God, between 8 and 8.30. You have to be willing to say, Lord,

00:24:39.807 --> 00:24:42.294
you could have all the time you want or you need.

00:24:42.421 --> 00:24:47.077
Because we should be willing to say, Lord, this time I spend with you is the

00:24:47.077 --> 00:24:52.029
most important thing. It's the most important thing I can do or I have to do today.

00:24:52.348 --> 00:24:55.857
But again, distractions and urgencies and other things get in our way.

00:24:55.857 --> 00:24:59.747
So I think practically, if we could start just by saying, you know,

00:24:59.747 --> 00:25:04.047
Monday afternoons or Monday mornings or Tuesday nights are going to be just

00:25:04.047 --> 00:25:08.647
time with God and turn off your phone, stop the TV and just be outside or be

00:25:09.307 --> 00:25:10.453
With the scripture and just.

00:25:10.789 --> 00:25:14.886
Just spend time and stay there until the Holy Spirit sets you free.

00:25:15.486 --> 00:25:19.317
Now that sounds crazy. It sounds like, what do you mean?

00:25:19.433 --> 00:25:23.706
Well, you will know if you are willing to listen and sit in the presence of

00:25:23.706 --> 00:25:26.503
God, he will do what he wants to do.

00:25:26.805 --> 00:25:31.798
And he will tell you pretty clearly, hey, time is done and go attend to your things.

00:25:31.931 --> 00:25:36.156
And I'm learning how to do this. And I wish I would have learned this when I

00:25:36.156 --> 00:25:40.586
was in the 20s and 30s so that I would have a different way of approaching ministry

00:25:40.586 --> 00:25:45.948
in life because just being with the Lord is most important rather than me trying and trying harder.

00:25:47.382 --> 00:25:53.686
That alone, I think, carving out some time and space to be alone with God. Try it.

00:25:54.435 --> 00:25:59.540
It will be difficult at first, but I think you will be able to meet and be in

00:25:59.540 --> 00:26:01.842
the presence of God in a fresh new way.

00:26:01.970 --> 00:26:02.237
Yeah.

00:26:02.388 --> 00:26:08.180
Amen. Well, before we get to our final question, which is about prayer resources,

00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:11.840
I want to tell a quick story that happened this past Sunday at our church,

00:26:11.840 --> 00:26:13.435
Valley Baptist in Salinas.

00:26:13.591 --> 00:26:16.730
Last year, it's a good church. Good people. Love the people there.

00:26:16.730 --> 00:26:22.980
Last year, I tried to start a pre-service prayer gathering for a few weeks.

00:26:22.980 --> 00:26:28.750
I announced it. I emailed it, texted, got there early and met in one of our side rooms.

00:26:28.750 --> 00:26:33.430
And I think maybe the most people, and now we've had prayer things at night

00:26:33.430 --> 00:26:37.790
and other times that people come to, but this one, it didn't go over very well.

00:26:37.790 --> 00:26:41.550
Maybe the most we had was like three people. And just speaking frankly,

00:26:41.550 --> 00:26:46.040
finally, I just kind of gave up and we didn't do it anymore and I didn't make a big deal out of it.

00:26:46.040 --> 00:26:52.994
Well, my son, JC is a ministry student at Cal Baptist and full of zeal.

00:26:53.139 --> 00:26:56.930
And he's home for the summer. And he's like, dad, we got to get the people to

00:26:56.930 --> 00:27:00.680
pray and get them together. And he has all these fiery ideas.

00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:02.555
And I'm like, all right, bud, let's, let's do it.

00:27:02.689 --> 00:27:07.370
So he led his first prayer time this past Sunday before service.

00:27:07.370 --> 00:27:09.770
And I thought, you know, he's going to be two or three people there.

00:27:09.770 --> 00:27:11.245
He'll probably be bummed out.

00:27:11.385 --> 00:27:13.480
Well, there were like 12 people there.

00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:18.530
And I looked around. And part of my sarcastic self wanted to say to them,

00:27:18.676 --> 00:27:23.981
hey, where were you guys last year when I invited you like 10 times?

00:27:24.243 --> 00:27:28.920
My son says one thing and you show up in here. So I felt a little goofy about

00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:32.980
it. I didn't say anything. But later that afternoon, I told that to my wife,

00:27:32.980 --> 00:27:37.221
Janet, and I said, hey, it's like I almost wanted to be sarcastic with everybody.

00:27:37.575 --> 00:27:41.047
And she said, you know what JC did? And I'm like, no, what did he do?

00:27:41.175 --> 00:27:47.877
She said, he went around before it started and individually invited like 15

00:27:47.877 --> 00:27:50.625
people to come pray. And they did.

00:27:50.776 --> 00:27:54.857
And I was like, you know what? I put it in the bulletin. I announced it from the pulpit.

00:27:55.197 --> 00:27:58.357
I emailed and texted, but I didn't do that. So that was,

00:27:58.917 --> 00:28:02.914
I say all of that story to say that,

00:28:03.417 --> 00:28:10.117
some people will respond to a personal invitation into a life of prayer more

00:28:10.117 --> 00:28:14.487
than they will respond to an announcement in a bulletin or from the pulpit.

00:28:14.487 --> 00:28:15.650
So personal.

00:28:15.865 --> 00:28:20.697
Yeah, personal. So I think, Pastor, if you've heard all this and you're sparked,

00:28:20.697 --> 00:28:24.137
and I hope you are, I hope the Holy Spirit is moving in your heart.

00:28:24.137 --> 00:28:28.687
I want to encourage you to reach out to people individually and personally and

00:28:28.687 --> 00:28:33.419
invite them to join you on this journey of pursuing the Lord.

00:28:33.843 --> 00:28:38.627
You know, just an interesting fact that we learned is if you want to create

00:28:38.627 --> 00:28:43.367
a cultural prayer, at least these people that have done it at Fournier,

00:28:43.367 --> 00:28:46.445
Texas, says, you know what you need is 16% of your people.

00:28:46.584 --> 00:28:47.697
16.

00:28:47.697 --> 00:28:51.487
16% of the people. If you have that, it could do the math.

00:28:51.487 --> 00:28:55.537
If you have that, it'll start to create a culture of prayer.

00:28:55.537 --> 00:29:00.607
So you don't need 50% or you don't need 80% to show up. You just need 16% of

00:29:00.607 --> 00:29:03.802
your congregation, you know, to come and start.

00:29:03.981 --> 00:29:07.906
And I think once you do that, it becomes something that will become a culture

00:29:08.045 --> 00:29:13.595
of prayer. And so good news, you know, maybe happy news that you don't have to try to hit 70%.

00:29:13.856 --> 00:29:18.093
You don't have to try that. Just work towards, as you said, invite 15 people.

00:29:18.308 --> 00:29:24.885
That would be more than 16%. If you have that, then it becomes a culture. It becomes normal.

00:29:25.917 --> 00:29:28.664
And people are going to say, hey, something is happening over there.

00:29:28.786 --> 00:29:30.412
And so they would love to be part of that.

00:29:30.574 --> 00:29:32.078
Fantastic. Great advice.

00:29:32.513 --> 00:29:35.869
So one last question before we get to our closing quotes.

00:29:36.209 --> 00:29:40.409
We already talked about this on previous podcast episodes, but I don't think

00:29:40.409 --> 00:29:41.849
we can talk about it enough.

00:29:41.849 --> 00:29:51.133
What are some resources, writers, blogs, books, sermons, any kind of thing in your life that

00:29:51.569 --> 00:29:58.499
helps you have a healthier prayer, surrender, abiding life that you would recommend to our listeners?

00:29:58.499 --> 00:30:03.369
Oh, boy. There's obviously many that's out there, but I'm just going to list

00:30:03.369 --> 00:30:07.351
some of those that are recent. I would say Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray.

00:30:07.508 --> 00:30:11.959
I think that'd be very helpful. Just open your eyes to just devoting and being

00:30:11.959 --> 00:30:13.307
with the Lord and surrendering.

00:30:13.452 --> 00:30:15.589
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

00:30:16.512 --> 00:30:21.459
Again, what does that mean to really want to pursue God? And not to have Him

00:30:21.459 --> 00:30:24.023
do our bidding, but really wanting Him.

00:30:24.174 --> 00:30:28.169
Old Path, New Power by Daniel Henderson. I mentioned that in the last podcast as well.

00:30:28.169 --> 00:30:32.949
That has changed me to see prayer not just as an activity or program,

00:30:32.949 --> 00:30:37.285
but really for us to do this as a way of life and to experience new power,

00:30:37.436 --> 00:30:41.819
the power that God has and wants to do in and through us. And so that's important.

00:30:41.964 --> 00:30:46.479
I would say for those that may be having a hard time finding the words to talk

00:30:46.479 --> 00:30:51.479
to God or be with God, for me, I'm using this collection of Puritan prayers

00:30:51.479 --> 00:30:53.278
edited by Arthur Bennett,

00:30:53.481 --> 00:30:54.969
The Valley of Vision.

00:30:55.548 --> 00:31:00.708
Just walking through. And it's helping me to see and ask for prayers and to pray that.

00:31:01.109 --> 00:31:04.435
Words that I can't, I'm not eloquent enough to put together.

00:31:04.598 --> 00:31:08.992
Yet praying that it becomes a poem, it becomes a prayer, it becomes a meditation

00:31:09.126 --> 00:31:11.790
and a cry from my heart. So that would be another.

00:31:11.941 --> 00:31:17.180
Other devotionals and books by Bill Ellis, if you have not read any of his work, I think you should.

00:31:17.800 --> 00:31:23.680
It's very helpful. And they have changed how I view prayer, but not just prayer,

00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:26.940
but how I want to be with the Lord.

00:31:27.260 --> 00:31:31.154
And so I hope people don't just try to learn how to pray.

00:31:31.323 --> 00:31:35.926
That's one of many ways for us to try to get to the presence of God.

00:31:36.147 --> 00:31:40.520
And if we're with the presence, in the presence of God, then boy, he can do all things.

00:31:41.260 --> 00:31:41.584
Amen.

00:31:41.787 --> 00:31:42.257
Amen.

00:31:42.373 --> 00:31:49.508
I will throw out one that I have not read yet, not in full, but it's on my upcoming list.

00:31:49.641 --> 00:31:53.110
It Happens After Prayer by H.B.

00:31:53.110 --> 00:31:58.980
Charles. And here's a great quote from that book. He says that prayer is arguably

00:31:58.980 --> 00:32:04.760
the most objective measurement of our dependence upon God. Think of it this way.

00:32:05.660 --> 00:32:09.796
The things you pray about are the things you trust God to handle.

00:32:09.907 --> 00:32:15.183
The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own.

00:32:15.410 --> 00:32:15.960
Amen.

00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:21.250
Yeah. That's strong. That's strong. Well, in closing, do you have any favorite

00:32:21.250 --> 00:32:23.840
quotes on prayer like that to share with us?

00:32:24.320 --> 00:32:28.640
I would say quote on prayer. I'm not sure if this is going to qualify as a quote

00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:33.630
on prayer, but I have a, I written up a note on my desk next to my desk,

00:32:33.775 --> 00:32:38.820
a phrase that I pulled from Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzaro.

00:32:38.971 --> 00:32:43.150
And he reads this way, and I think I've paraphrased some, but quote it this way.

00:32:43.307 --> 00:32:48.740
Am I grateful for the privilege of representing Jesus and have a level of influence

00:32:48.740 --> 00:32:50.778
in the lives of other people? Am I

00:32:51.098 --> 00:32:57.659
Am I grateful or, and this is a part that cuts me, or do I resent people treating

00:32:57.659 --> 00:32:59.701
me like the servant I claim to be?

00:33:00.450 --> 00:33:03.889
And I think I'm in the middle there. I'm cut to the piece where,

00:33:03.889 --> 00:33:06.339
you know, I say I'm a servant of God.

00:33:06.999 --> 00:33:10.969
I'm serving for the kingdom of God, for the churches, people that he has placed

00:33:10.969 --> 00:33:13.262
in my life. So one, am I grateful?

00:33:13.506 --> 00:33:18.893
So that's a prayer. Lord, help me keep my heart tender so that I'm grateful that I could serve.

00:33:19.032 --> 00:33:24.913
The second part is the challenge. I do find myself getting resentful or frustrated

00:33:25.110 --> 00:33:28.801
and, you know, being critical at times of people.

00:33:29.068 --> 00:33:32.783
Why? It usually comes down to how I feel like I'm being treated.

00:33:32.887 --> 00:33:37.050
Am I being treated, recognized for what I do, or am I being appreciated?

00:33:37.270 --> 00:33:41.139
On and on. And really, the second part of that quote really hits me hard,

00:33:41.139 --> 00:33:46.589
and that is, I am a servant of God, and I am doing what I say I am.

00:33:46.589 --> 00:33:50.529
But why is it that my heart is resentful at people? And so those two things

00:33:50.529 --> 00:33:53.699
put together, I call it the power struggle indicator of my heart.

00:33:54.539 --> 00:33:57.907
Yes, Lord, I am fully grateful. And sometimes I'm not.

00:33:58.180 --> 00:34:03.973
And that's a check I got to do. The other part is sometimes I'm just resentful, frustrated, critical.

00:34:04.107 --> 00:34:08.959
Well, that's another check I got to do because I want to be a servant of the Lord.

00:34:09.279 --> 00:34:14.163
And I can't continue to have this power struggle have its way in my life.

00:34:14.888 --> 00:34:16.583
Being grateful, not being resentful.

00:34:16.728 --> 00:34:22.317
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. I will add to that a quote from Edward Payson,

00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:26.327
whose nickname was Praying Payson of Portland.

00:34:26.468 --> 00:34:27.653
But I think it's Portland,

00:34:27.653 --> 00:34:32.587
Pennsylvania, not Portland out our way. He says, prayer is the first thing,

00:34:32.738 --> 00:34:37.623
the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray.

00:34:37.983 --> 00:34:40.993
Then my dear brother, pray, pray, pray.

00:34:41.103 --> 00:34:41.858
And more, yeah.

00:34:42.142 --> 00:34:46.281
Amen. Good counsel. Well, Dr. CJ, thank you so much for your time.

00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:52.817
If somebody wants to get in touch with you, they can go to the GCASBC.org website

00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:57.439
where you will find Dr. CJ there, GCASBC.org.

00:34:57.689 --> 00:35:01.753
I think we've had a wonderful conversation on prayer. I know my heart is poked

00:35:01.753 --> 00:35:07.115
and prodded and pulled and hopeful about walking in the,

00:35:07.776 --> 00:35:18.816
In a life that recognizes the reality of abiding being crucial and not my own

00:35:18.816 --> 00:35:20.656
power being the fuel that,

00:35:21.376 --> 00:35:23.932
leads my church, my family, my life.

00:35:24.222 --> 00:35:27.256
So thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for pointing us that way.

00:35:27.256 --> 00:35:29.673
Good day and Godspeed to you.

00:35:29.824 --> 00:35:30.265
Thank you.

00:35:30.387 --> 00:35:35.566
It almost seems sad to go from that very encouraging word on prayer to a potentially

00:35:35.566 --> 00:35:40.676
explosive and very divisive soda review. But that is what we do here.

00:35:40.676 --> 00:35:44.487
We drink the wild and wacky sodas so you don't have to.

00:35:44.708 --> 00:35:49.746
Maybe, like me, you will feel compassion for Wild Bill, maker of today's soda,

00:35:49.746 --> 00:35:56.510
when you hear Pastor Christopher unfairly criticize him for his soda's description by saying,

00:35:56.817 --> 00:36:00.457
as if adding adjectives would improve its quality.

00:36:00.759 --> 00:36:04.766
Well, fortunately, this will be just a brief intermission. After a few minutes

00:36:04.766 --> 00:36:09.556
in a very short soda civil war, we will go back to the deep end and finish up

00:36:09.556 --> 00:36:11.573
with some great prayer stories.

00:36:11.858 --> 00:36:18.429
Okay, we are back for another excellent soda review. Well, I think it's going to be good...

00:36:18.754 --> 00:36:24.166
Pastor Christopher O'Ye of Little Faith, what do you expect out of this?

00:36:24.166 --> 00:36:29.596
Well, given that this soda has the words Ring Pop, Watermelon,

00:36:29.596 --> 00:36:36.976
and Craft all in its title, as if adding adjectives was going to improve its quality,

00:36:37.476 --> 00:36:41.836
I'm going to say that I have relatively low expectations from

00:36:42.276 --> 00:36:50.176
Wild Bill's craft beverage company, and it features a prominent green ring pop

00:36:50.476 --> 00:36:53.776
on there, but it also says it's naturally flavored.

00:36:54.375 --> 00:36:59.336
I'm curious, Pastor Chase, how did we come upon this particular soda?

00:36:59.336 --> 00:37:04.036
This was also chosen for us by our friend of the show, Pastor Jason,

00:37:04.036 --> 00:37:08.666
who is here live in studio with us today, and who also chose the bacon soda

00:37:08.666 --> 00:37:13.596
we recently had, and who said, it's not that bad, guys.

00:37:13.596 --> 00:37:15.026
He did. He did say that.

00:37:15.026 --> 00:37:20.526
So I don't think he's crazy he's a great neighbor but i don't know i wonder

00:37:20.526 --> 00:37:22.417
about the bacon soda take

00:37:22.626 --> 00:37:27.866
Well and it says it's a limited edition a limited edition soda probably

00:37:27.866 --> 00:37:29.900
Would be watermelon ring pop

00:37:30.051 --> 00:37:35.326
And it uses pure cane sugar it's gluten-free i think they are trying to make

00:37:35.326 --> 00:37:39.037
you really appreciate the soda

00:37:39.791 --> 00:37:46.311
And on the back, it says, ah, sweet life, which really just solidifies for me

00:37:46.731 --> 00:37:50.031
that this is going to be mediocre at best.

00:37:50.431 --> 00:37:53.931
Well, Pastor Christopher, let me ask you a question. What city were you born in?

00:37:54.231 --> 00:37:56.771
I was born in Asheville, North Carolina.

00:37:56.771 --> 00:38:00.611
Well, I thought you might have said Moscow or St. Petersburg or something.

00:38:00.611 --> 00:38:00.911
Okay.

00:38:01.351 --> 00:38:06.251
With your anti-ring pop, anti-watermelon take.

00:38:06.811 --> 00:38:09.426
You know, I was thinking maybe you're a comrade or something.

00:38:09.676 --> 00:38:15.857
I mean, this even has a Western horse guy on it. This is an all-American beverage, brother.

00:38:16.411 --> 00:38:20.391
That's sort of my point. I mean, I'm like looking at it. It's like all extra.

00:38:20.600 --> 00:38:23.531
Like everything is like extra, extra.

00:38:23.531 --> 00:38:25.531
It's a pick me, girl. It's a try hard.

00:38:25.531 --> 00:38:30.857
Yes, yes. It's like it can't rest in the sufficiency of the soda.

00:38:31.038 --> 00:38:34.491
On a recent podcast, we did all the thing about the sufficiency of scripture.

00:38:34.491 --> 00:38:35.151
Yes, yes.

00:38:35.151 --> 00:38:39.467
This is not trusting in its sufficiency of flavor. This is like,

00:38:39.641 --> 00:38:41.341
we've got to sell this somehow.

00:38:41.613 --> 00:38:47.146
We made XYZ number of thousands of gallons of it. We've got to get it out there.

00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:53.231
And so we're going to just like send it over to marketing and let an AI generate the campaign for it.

00:38:53.231 --> 00:38:56.927
Oh, buddy, it might have done that. I see some signs of this.

00:38:57.056 --> 00:39:00.681
And I will say it's ingredients, carbonated water, cane sugar.

00:39:00.681 --> 00:39:01.951
Cane sugar, that sounds good.

00:39:02.443 --> 00:39:05.665
Got 170 calories for the can

00:39:05.961 --> 00:39:06.771
It's not for

00:39:06.771 --> 00:39:11.281
Dieters no and or diabetics we're gonna have to get our blood sugar tested afterwards

00:39:11.281 --> 00:39:17.591
if we drink it all okay the bacon soda also had 170 calories and we only had

00:39:17.591 --> 00:39:20.991
a little bit pastor jason had a lot of it i hope he's gonna be okay

00:39:21.331 --> 00:39:22.651
We do hope he makes it home

00:39:22.971 --> 00:39:27.356
Yeah okay i think it's probably time to taste this okay or at least smell it

00:39:29.112 --> 00:39:29.802
It's green.

00:39:29.802 --> 00:39:30.392
What is that?

00:39:30.392 --> 00:39:32.039
It looks radioactive a little bit.

00:39:32.149 --> 00:39:36.552
Like a bright green. Bright green. Brighter than Mountain Dew.

00:39:36.572 --> 00:39:38.170
It's got a strong smell.

00:39:38.361 --> 00:39:38.930
Very.

00:39:39.087 --> 00:39:43.972
Apple? Is that apple? No, it's supposed to be watermelon. I smell apple. It smells good.

00:39:43.972 --> 00:39:46.999
Well, you had high hopes for this, brother. So let me just say,

00:39:47.109 --> 00:39:49.212
best of luck to you. Amen. Let's go.

00:39:49.212 --> 00:39:52.542
To grace and optimism. I love it.

00:39:52.542 --> 00:39:54.813
How do you talk me into these things?

00:39:55.412 --> 00:39:57.312
I love it. You don't like this?

00:39:57.912 --> 00:39:58.782
You love this?

00:39:58.782 --> 00:40:03.512
This is like candy in a can, man. I feel like a fourth grade boy, man. I would

00:40:03.512 --> 00:40:04.672
Kill this in

00:40:04.672 --> 00:40:05.638
Elementary school.

00:40:05.743 --> 00:40:07.932
It's way too sweet for adult Chase,

00:40:07.932 --> 00:40:11.403
But fourth grade Chase loves this.

00:40:11.570 --> 00:40:14.856
I'm pretty sure a second grade me would have liked this.

00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:19.952
But when I thought all things sugar, it's very, very sweet.

00:40:20.086 --> 00:40:24.192
I don't get a lot of watermelon flavor. No, I don't either. It does have kind

00:40:24.192 --> 00:40:31.212
of an Apple-esque, like an Apple Jolly Rancher, but not the Watermelon Jolly Rancher.

00:40:31.752 --> 00:40:31.963
Nope.

00:40:32.433 --> 00:40:35.891
It's not quite apple, and it's certainly not watermelon.

00:40:36.991 --> 00:40:38.881
It doesn't taste like hubba-bubba.

00:40:38.881 --> 00:40:41.971
No, no, no. It says naturally flavored. You might be right.

00:40:41.971 --> 00:40:45.951
This might be an AI, like maybe an earlier version of ChatGPT,

00:40:46.331 --> 00:40:51.841
maybe ChatGPT 3.5. They plugged in, hey, make a watermelon soda.

00:40:51.841 --> 00:40:54.261
And it was like, okay, here. Here's one.

00:40:54.261 --> 00:40:57.011
Okay, now wait a second. I did just have like my third taste.

00:40:57.591 --> 00:41:00.461
And it could be that I'm now delusional from the sugar.

00:41:00.461 --> 00:41:01.851
Your blood sugar is spiking.

00:41:02.571 --> 00:41:07.311
But it does have a little bit of a watermelon flavor as I just let it rest on

00:41:07.311 --> 00:41:11.801
my tongue here as we do the proper taste testing.

00:41:11.801 --> 00:41:16.271
Well, the flavor of watermelon in and of itself is difficult.

00:41:16.271 --> 00:41:19.171
Are we talking about artificial watermelon, like watermelon candy flavor?

00:41:19.271 --> 00:41:21.451
No, I'm talking about like the fruit watermelon.

00:41:21.451 --> 00:41:23.081
Oh, this definitely doesn't taste like a watermelon.

00:41:23.081 --> 00:41:28.101
No, no, not a fruit. Yeah, it's a difficult to describe kind of flavor.

00:41:28.101 --> 00:41:30.771
The Lord would not have made something that tasted like this.

00:41:32.111 --> 00:41:37.991
He may not have. He may not have. Whatever AI made this, I think this is pretty good.

00:41:39.031 --> 00:41:45.511
Other than the high sugar content, and I have a rule, I try not to get my sugar through drinks.

00:41:45.831 --> 00:41:47.821
Where's this mate, by the way?

00:41:47.821 --> 00:41:52.671
Let's see. Millington, New Jersey. That's part of America, isn't it?

00:41:52.671 --> 00:41:57.240
Well, is any part of New Jersey really in America? If you're listening to this show in New Jersey...

00:41:58.246 --> 00:42:03.075
We do apologize for those comments just made by our host here.

00:42:03.580 --> 00:42:07.506
Well, it's obviously got a New Jersey cowboy on the front of it. Right.

00:42:07.506 --> 00:42:09.726
How many wild bills do you know

00:42:12.106 --> 00:42:13.592
in New Jersey?

00:42:13.778 --> 00:42:16.965
And four of them live in Millington. So I guess that's where it comes from.

00:42:17.122 --> 00:42:19.676
Yeah. Man, that is a green soda.

00:42:19.676 --> 00:42:21.546
I wish we had a glass to pour this into.

00:42:21.966 --> 00:42:23.386
It is really bright.

00:42:23.386 --> 00:42:24.696
Yeah. It says...

00:42:24.786 --> 00:42:27.443
It's brighter than our background here, if you're watching the video.

00:42:27.704 --> 00:42:34.896
Yeah. It has yellow number four and blue number one in it and sodium benzoate,

00:42:34.896 --> 00:42:36.956
which probably is not good for you.

00:42:36.966 --> 00:42:38.716
That's a preservative though, I think, right?

00:42:38.716 --> 00:42:39.456
Yeah, it is.

00:42:39.456 --> 00:42:43.136
So that our insides are being preserved. It does have sort of the same color

00:42:43.136 --> 00:42:45.677
of green as, you know, like coolant.

00:42:46.546 --> 00:42:50.222
It looks a lot. That's it. It looks a lot like antifreeze. Yeah.

00:42:50.402 --> 00:42:54.326
Yeah. Like you're looking at car antifreeze, like we're drinking antifreeze.

00:42:54.326 --> 00:42:57.676
Yeah. Are we sure that we are not drinking antifreeze?

00:42:57.676 --> 00:43:01.855
Well, you know, dogs really like antifreeze. It's a deadly poison to them.

00:43:01.983 --> 00:43:05.856
Right, exactly. So maybe this is a trick. Maybe this is AI's way of getting

00:43:05.856 --> 00:43:12.431
us, is we're going to make this Ring Pop crazy flavor, and this is going to take us out.

00:43:12.715 --> 00:43:18.686
I would not give this to my friends. I wouldn't wish it on my enemies either.

00:43:18.986 --> 00:43:24.996
I'm going to have to go with on our Spurgeon scale. For me, this is going to be a pretty solid 1.

00:43:26.346 --> 00:43:31.181
Maybe a 0.5. Oh. I'm just not, yeah, I wouldn't.

00:43:31.337 --> 00:43:35.296
I mean, we've had some good sodas on here, right? Like some really drinkable

00:43:35.296 --> 00:43:41.380
things, some refreshing things that just like you go, man, that's refreshing, it's enjoyable.

00:43:41.717 --> 00:43:46.592
Yeah. So there was the 1054 East West schism and then, you know,

00:43:46.592 --> 00:43:48.622
reformation that kind of split the church.

00:43:49.102 --> 00:43:54.372
Is this, you and I agree on a lot of things. Is this going to be our separation here?

00:43:54.372 --> 00:43:56.182
Are you going to give this like a five spurge?

00:43:56.522 --> 00:44:01.312
Five is strong. I would say, how about three and three quarters?

00:44:01.312 --> 00:44:03.322
No way. I would drink this, man. This is good.

00:44:03.342 --> 00:44:07.222
Would you drink this? Would you pass this out at a party at your house?

00:44:07.222 --> 00:44:08.222
I think I would.

00:44:08.222 --> 00:44:08.796
Okay.

00:44:08.935 --> 00:44:13.492
Maybe even a four. I think my kids would like this. I almost want to take it.

00:44:13.492 --> 00:44:15.762
I'm an hour away from home, so it would be kind of flat.

00:44:16.242 --> 00:44:21.172
And JC's done some of our soda tastes. He has, yeah. Yeah. So you might want

00:44:21.172 --> 00:44:23.291
to give him some of this to try.

00:44:23.563 --> 00:44:24.222
Yeah.

00:44:24.582 --> 00:44:27.842
But I want to believe that JC has a more refined palate than this.

00:44:28.662 --> 00:44:31.542
Maybe we'll find it. This is one we'll have to have a follow-up.

00:44:31.542 --> 00:44:35.702
We're going to have to bring in some more opinions to settle this.

00:44:35.846 --> 00:44:36.902
This great debate.

00:44:36.902 --> 00:44:38.062
Yeah, this quick debate.

00:44:38.062 --> 00:44:38.822
All right, let's do it.

00:44:39.062 --> 00:44:42.882
Okay, we'll convene the church and have a church council on this.

00:44:42.882 --> 00:44:46.702
Let's do it. Like the Acts council. Like the Nicene council,

00:44:46.702 --> 00:44:50.447
council of Constantinople. This will be the fourth, the Wild Bill council.

00:44:50.730 --> 00:44:53.865
This will be the fourth major council of the church.

00:44:54.288 --> 00:44:57.709
So stay tuned for our announcement when that council is going to come up,

00:44:57.709 --> 00:45:01.411
and your church can vote to send representatives to it.

00:45:01.568 --> 00:45:02.015
That's right.

00:45:02.293 --> 00:45:03.394
Let's do it. Cheers.

00:45:03.499 --> 00:45:07.109
Well, hey, you may not be able to find this soda, but we would love to hear

00:45:07.109 --> 00:45:12.029
your opinion on Wild Bill's Craft Watermelon Ring Pop Soda.

00:45:12.349 --> 00:45:18.759
Is Chris crazy or am I? Well, let's close out with some deep prayer talk. I want to share with you

00:45:18.759 --> 00:45:20.044
A couple of.

00:45:20.201 --> 00:45:25.163
Prayer stories, one from a ministry hero of mine, George Mueller,

00:45:25.442 --> 00:45:31.249
and one about the businessman's prayer revival that happened in the late 1800s.

00:45:31.249 --> 00:45:36.919
So George Mueller was a guy who was German-born and lived in Bristol,

00:45:36.919 --> 00:45:40.349
England, and he wanted his orphan ministry

00:45:40.729 --> 00:45:47.089
to say something very specific to the world, that trusting God was not a merely

00:45:47.489 --> 00:45:49.129
empty religious talk.

00:45:49.129 --> 00:45:57.729
And he lived that out by not taking up offerings for a mission that would ultimately

00:45:57.729 --> 00:46:01.089
look after like 10,000 orphans.

00:46:01.205 --> 00:46:07.809
But even though he didn't take up offerings specifically, like he never mentioned needs.

00:46:07.809 --> 00:46:12.599
They never did like a special crusade or whatever for the orphans where George

00:46:12.599 --> 00:46:16.059
Miller would preach and then they would take up a special offering or anything like that.

00:46:16.059 --> 00:46:21.064
But he didn't want the children neglected. He made the deliberate decision to

00:46:21.191 --> 00:46:27.559
pray to God instead of solicit money personally for the needs of the orphan houses.

00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:33.709
And some days that particular strategy made things very interesting.

00:46:33.709 --> 00:46:38.653
And we know a lot about George Mueller and the day-to-day operations of the Orphan Center and

00:46:38.991 --> 00:46:43.175
And his prayer life because he was a meticulous journal keeper.

00:46:43.175 --> 00:46:48.046
In one February journal entry, Mueller wrote that there was no money in hand.

00:46:48.203 --> 00:46:54.285
We were waiting upon God. The orphan homes needed bread. More than 100 people

00:46:54.285 --> 00:46:58.985
depended on it at the time. It was smaller than it ended up being.

00:46:58.985 --> 00:47:03.080
And they had zero money. Well, I say zero.

00:47:03.330 --> 00:47:09.505
There was two shillings and nine pence that they had in their account to buy food for everybody.

00:47:09.505 --> 00:47:15.305
And by late afternoon, Mueller went to the girls' orphan house to pray with the people.

00:47:15.305 --> 00:47:19.445
And it turns out a box had arrived from a place called Barnstaple.

00:47:19.445 --> 00:47:24.375
And it contained money, shoes, socks, fabric, books to sell, and jewelry.

00:47:24.375 --> 00:47:28.675
But the most immediate story had already unfolded inside the homes.

00:47:28.675 --> 00:47:32.025
They had been waiting for dinner, waiting to eat.

00:47:32.025 --> 00:47:38.275
And a woman came in and bought one of Mueller's books and gave three extra shillings,

00:47:38.275 --> 00:47:40.035
which was not a lot of money.

00:47:40.035 --> 00:47:44.805
But five minutes later, the baker came by the boy's orphan house and the woman

00:47:44.805 --> 00:47:48.715
who had sold the book used that extra money to buy extra bread.

00:47:48.715 --> 00:47:53.525
And by the close of the day, the gifts that were in that donated box,

00:47:53.525 --> 00:48:00.975
including the jewelry, allowed Mueller to give the matrons of all the houses a fuller supply of food.

00:48:00.975 --> 00:48:09.312
The answer to the prayer for provision did not come in one big theatrical kind of movie moment.

00:48:09.620 --> 00:48:16.225
It came in lots of small gifts, ordinary people, the surprise arrival of a box

00:48:16.225 --> 00:48:19.535
from another town with things in it that could provide food.

00:48:19.818 --> 00:48:23.920
A book purchase, and several other things. And if you know the story of George

00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:28.580
Mueller a little bit, you know that there was many times in the life of him

00:48:28.580 --> 00:48:31.463
and the orphans that they took care of where

00:48:31.759 --> 00:48:35.236
they would begin the day praying and not have any food,

00:48:35.538 --> 00:48:38.740
and God would provide and take care of them.

00:48:38.740 --> 00:48:45.750
Psalm 37, 25 says, I have not seen the righteous forsaken. And George Mueller's

00:48:45.750 --> 00:48:48.019
life is an excellent example of that.

00:48:48.211 --> 00:48:51.690
And if you want to be encouraged in your prayer life, let me point you to the

00:48:51.690 --> 00:48:57.580
journals of George Mueller, which you can find on Amazon or Logos and various places like that.

00:48:57.940 --> 00:49:02.800
Fantastic reads to learn about becoming a man of prayer.

00:49:02.800 --> 00:49:07.500
Well, speaking of man in prayer, similar time frame, but in the United States

00:49:07.500 --> 00:49:09.460
of America in lower Manhattan in

00:49:10.040 --> 00:49:18.560
1857, a man named Jeremiah Lanphier felt led to begin a prayer service in the

00:49:18.560 --> 00:49:23.200
North Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan.

00:49:23.200 --> 00:49:27.780
This was on the third floor of that church. Lanphier was not a famous preacher.

00:49:27.780 --> 00:49:35.340
It was a small church. He was a former businessman who was sort of a lay missionary in that church.

00:49:36.088 --> 00:49:40.651
The church had kind of fallen off because the neighborhood was changing around it.

00:49:40.929 --> 00:49:46.795
The people who worked downtown often lived elsewhere, and the church was shrinking and shrinking.

00:49:46.795 --> 00:49:51.025
And Lanphier had been visiting the people around the church and inviting them

00:49:51.025 --> 00:49:53.985
to come to church, but very few of them did.

00:49:53.985 --> 00:50:00.735
So he tried something pretty radically different. He tried launching a noonday

00:50:00.735 --> 00:50:03.375
prayer meeting for business people

00:50:03.375 --> 00:50:08.716
who worked. And he posted a notice that invited people to come pray.

00:50:09.013 --> 00:50:13.155
It basically said prayer meeting from 12 to 1 o'clock.

00:50:13.155 --> 00:50:18.125
Stop by for 5 or 10 or 20 minutes or the whole time as your time admits.

00:50:18.125 --> 00:50:22.865
The plan was prayer and a few hymns, no preaching. I don't even think they did

00:50:22.865 --> 00:50:26.845
prayer requests or anything like that. And at noon, Lanfear was alone.

00:50:26.845 --> 00:50:30.625
Like 10 minutes passed, then 20, then 30 minutes.

00:50:30.799 --> 00:50:36.215
Nobody came for 30 minutes. that must have been discouraging, but he waited.

00:50:36.215 --> 00:50:42.375
He kept praying. Finally, he heard footsteps come up the stairs, and one man arrived.

00:50:42.375 --> 00:50:46.885
By the end of the hour, six people had come and prayed together.

00:50:46.885 --> 00:50:51.015
The next Wednesday, he tried again. Twenty people came. Then after that,

00:50:51.015 --> 00:50:55.765
there was more than 30. Soon, that little prayer meeting became daily.

00:50:56.105 --> 00:50:59.225
Then they went through an economic crash.

00:50:59.225 --> 00:51:05.675
In 1857, the panic hit. Banks failed, businesses collapsed, and all of New York

00:51:05.675 --> 00:51:10.625
City was basically just terrified. This was like one of the early Wall Street

00:51:10.625 --> 00:51:13.557
kind of crashes, and that did not

00:51:13.731 --> 00:51:16.145
Hurt the prayer. It helped the prayer.

00:51:16.145 --> 00:51:20.995
These little prayer gatherings grew from a few dozen people to hundreds,

00:51:20.995 --> 00:51:25.665
and multiple rooms were needed, and soon other churches and places opened their

00:51:25.665 --> 00:51:26.937
doors for similar things.

00:51:27.251 --> 00:51:30.196
Daytime meetings. And by the spring of that year,

00:51:30.556 --> 00:51:36.226
just like a little over a month or two later, there was 10,000 people at least

00:51:36.226 --> 00:51:43.176
gathering for prayer every day across at least 20 New York churches and YMCAs.

00:51:43.176 --> 00:51:48.340
And that pattern spread beyond the city through the United States, even into Canada.

00:51:48.671 --> 00:51:54.346
And they called it the businessman's prayer revival. Contemporary reports described

00:51:54.346 --> 00:51:58.835
crowded meetings, people coming to Jesus, and people just prayed.

00:51:59.247 --> 00:52:05.006
Acts 4 31 says when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and Fulton Street

00:52:05.006 --> 00:52:10.196
didn't begin with an earthquake that we know of. It began with one guy who was

00:52:10.196 --> 00:52:13.243
sitting by himself and didn't give up even though

00:52:13.569 --> 00:52:18.953
Nobody came for the first 30 minutes. Eventually people came and those few people

00:52:18.953 --> 00:52:24.593
praying God used to not only rock the city of New York, but to rock the entire

00:52:24.593 --> 00:52:28.493
country of the United States and Canada and beyond that as well.

00:52:28.493 --> 00:52:32.893
Let me close out with an update on Great Commission Association news.

00:52:32.893 --> 00:52:36.573
There is a great article I've linked on our website in the show notes to this

00:52:36.573 --> 00:52:41.967
episode at everychurchflourishing.com, everychurchflourishing.com.

00:52:42.205 --> 00:52:47.813
It's called Loving the Lost by Dr. Chris Smith, whom we had on the show a few episodes ago.

00:52:48.173 --> 00:52:52.303
You can get that either on our website, everychurchflourishing.com,

00:52:52.303 --> 00:52:56.123
or the GCASBC.org website.

00:52:56.274 --> 00:53:01.475
And I want to spotlight a church plant that's part of our Great Commission Association of Family.

00:53:01.610 --> 00:53:06.973
It's the Afghan-American Church, pastored by an Afghan-American named Mike Z.

00:53:07.501 --> 00:53:13.473
It's a church plant through the GCA. Its mission is to reach the Afghan immigrants

00:53:13.473 --> 00:53:18.933
that live around the Fremont area, which is one of the largest groups of Afghanistan

00:53:18.933 --> 00:53:21.603
people in the entire United States of America.

00:53:21.603 --> 00:53:26.043
That church wants to continue to grow into a strong community of worshipers

00:53:26.043 --> 00:53:30.053
and proclaimers of the one true God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

00:53:30.053 --> 00:53:34.683
So please pray for the Afghan American church in Fremont, for God's work in

00:53:34.683 --> 00:53:39.840
the hearts and minds of that community through their regular outreach programs, which include a

00:53:40.055 --> 00:53:45.563
kid's soccer camp and other things like that, and a backpack giveaway coming up.

00:53:45.563 --> 00:53:50.915
Pray for God to break through the spirit of fear in the Afghan community so that

00:53:51.211 --> 00:53:55.443
the church can be fruitful, the gospel can be heard, and those many,

00:53:55.443 --> 00:54:00.603
many Afghanis that live in the Fremont area can hear the gospel and have the

00:54:00.603 --> 00:54:04.452
freedom to seek the truth and for the truth to set them free.

00:54:04.655 --> 00:54:12.533
All right, well, thanks for listening today. Back next week with Gateway Bay Area Seminary Head, Dr.

00:54:12.533 --> 00:54:16.689
Cameron Schweitzer. We had a fantastic conversation with him,

00:54:17.003 --> 00:54:21.662
And we will see you next week. Good day to you, and Godspeed.