1. "One of the things that's important for us to understand is that there's a difference between our corporate prayer and our private prayers. There's a difference, per se, between our private relationship with the Lord, our personal relationship with God, and the one that we have when we come together as a corporate body. When we gather together as a body of believers, we are a body of believers. We are a gathering together with the purpose of elevating God as a corporate body, worshiping him together, seeking God for vision for us as a body of believers." [06:44] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "Intercessory prayer is simply where one person prays on behalf of another person. It comes, and there's some elements to being a good intercessor. Number one, if you're going to be a good intercessor and pray on behalf of somebody else, you've got to have empathy. You've got to have the ability to seek to understand somebody else's needs and understand how they're feeling so you can pray for them." [08:03] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "The purpose of corporate prayer is for us all to be unified. In Acts chapter four and verse 24, the Bible says they raised their voices together in prayer to God. I'm going to say that again. They, not just one person, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. So in the book of Acts in the early church, we see that the church came together in unity when nobody was worried about their own households and their own thoughts. They were concerned about everybody's growth and sustainability. And they came together and prayed." [13:30] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "The more you pray together with other people, you're going to draw off of their faith. You're going to draw off of the strength that they have. You're going to be hearing people like, man, that's a strong prayer. Man, they really believe that. And that's going to strengthen your spirit. It's going to strengthen your faith. Another thing you'll understand is when you pray corporately, you're going to understand, guess what? Some of these people that I'm connected to, some of these people that God has placed in my life, they've been through some of the things that I'm going through. That's called mutual support." [13:30] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "You have the power. To change your environment through the opening of your mouth in prayer to God. But you have to make sure that you are on one accord with whomever you're praying with. And so when we come together in a corporate setting, we've got to make sure that our hearts and minds agree with why we're here. This is why it's important that you're connected to a church that you want to be at. Because when we come together, we're not coming together for self. We're coming together for God." [20:38] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




6. "You got to learn how to remind God, God, everything I have, you gave me. Everything I have, you gave me. And here comes the enemy trying to take away what you own. Watch this. What you own. Notice what he says. It's right here in the text, your Bible. If you have it open, it says to come to, cast us out of thy possession. Not this house that I have. It's not mine. It's God's. This job that I have, it's not mine. It's God's. God, if they attack me, they're coming after you." [33:02] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




7. "The reason why we come together is watch this, because you may be in service and you may be dealing with something, and you had no clue that somebody else had gone through it, and their testimony provides you the blueprint of how you came out. That's why you can't keep your mouth closed, because you don't know how what you've gone through may be the blueprint for somebody else's victory. How you being bold enough and proud enough and unashamed of your struggle and how the Lord has brought you out, you being willing and able to open up your mouth and say, listen, I am no longer what I used to be." [34:29] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




8. "We cannot demonize what God wants to happen from Kingdom because we're uncomfortable with it. You're supposed to be uncomfortable with the place you've never been. Can I say that again? You're supposed to be uncomfortable with something that comes from God you've never been there. You've never been to the kingdom so when the Holy Spirit comes it's going to be different." [48:49] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




9. "Don't devalue yourself because other people devalue you long as you are breathing your job is to let God get the glory out of your life. I'm gonna say that again don't devalue yourself because other people devalue you because here's the thing when you come into the house of the lord there is no big I's and little u's we are all working together with gifts and various talents for the edification of the saints." [55:00] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




10. "If you want your prayers answered for your home give God everything when you come to his house what I promise you if you give God everything when you come into his house when you set up in your mind listen I'm going to church I'm gonna be nice I'm gonna stand with my brothers and sisters I'm gonna make sure we feel God because I'm gonna open up my mouth I'm gonna make sure we feel God because I'm gonna clap my hands I'm gonna make sure we feel God because if don't nobody shout hallelujah I'm gonna shout hallelujah." [56:33] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Let's try that again.

Hey family, praise the Lord! Good evening to all of you. I'm going to give a little bit of time here to allow everybody to hop on and jump in. Hopefully, your hump day is going fairly well.

So, let's see who's on right now. If you guys would just talk to me, comment, and let me know that you're watching. As soon as there's enough people in, we're going to go ahead and get started with tonight's Bible study.

All right, hey Reverend Malone, how are you? God bless you, sir. We thank God for you. Hopefully, your day was well. Let's see who else is here. Y'all holla! I ain't gonna say that that's all, but y'all just comment in the chat and let me know that you guys are watching.

While everybody's getting on, there is something that I do want to say. Praise the Lord, Sister Annie, Lady Jay, God bless you. Listen, I want to say this: I want you all to know that over the last couple of days, there has been a lot going on in our community.

It is, for many families, a very tragic and troubling time. I want you to know that our hearts and prayers are not only with these families but with our community at large. For those that are affected, know that your church family stands with you. If we haven't already reached out to you, we would love to talk with you and hear from you so that we can figure out how we can best support you in this hour of need.

I want to go ahead and say that because I think it's important. Know that we're praying for the church at large.

It's really interesting, with prayer being a central theme at this particular moment, we're going to go ahead and jump into our petition of knowledge.

Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for your mercy. Father, we thank you for life today. We thank you for strength, health, and favor. Father, we thank you for opening doors and creating ways right now. Father, we pray, Lord, that you would be with us tonight. We pray, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts, speak to our minds, and open our lives. Speak to our hearts in different ways and grace our situations.

Father, we pray that we learn something tonight. We pray that we will grow in our knowledge of you. Father, we thank you so much for all that you are doing in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

All right, so we're going to jump right into our partition of knowledge. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Lord, let your word work in my mind to equip me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to live in purpose.

So the title of tonight's Bible study is "Why Pray in Public?" It's a question that throughout my years in ministry, I've been asked often, or I see people asking even online. There's quite a debate on whether or not you should pray in public.

But tonight, I really want to talk about the benefit of corporate prayer, why it's so powerful, and what's so powerful about coming together as a body of believers and praying.

I want to deal with that, and tonight we're going to try to do our very best to dive in. There are some ground rules about corporate prayer that I want to lay out real quick.

One of the things that's important for us to understand is that there's a difference between our corporate prayer and our private prayers. There's a difference, per se, between our private relationship with the Lord, our personal relationship with God, and the one that we have when we come together as a corporate body.

When we gather together as a body of believers, we are a body of believers. We are a gathering together with the purpose of elevating God as a corporate body, worshiping Him together, seeking God for vision for us as a body of believers. And then also, we stand as intercessors one to another.

Oftentimes, you will see these corporate prayers found in church settings. Now, there's an element to corporate prayer that's essential, and that's intercessory prayer. You may have heard that term before, but intercessory prayer is simply where one person prays on behalf of another person.

There are some elements to being a good intercessor. Number one, if you're going to be a good intercessor and pray on behalf of somebody else, you've got to have empathy. You've got to have the ability to seek to understand somebody else's needs and understand how they're feeling so you can pray for them.

So often, we'll say things to people like, "Oh, I'm going to pray for them." But we've never asked, "What exactly am I praying for?" So often, we say, "I'm going to stand in the gap for you," but yet our prayer is so distant from what people are struggling with.

So we have to have empathy. We have to have that concern. Number two, oftentimes in intercessory prayer, you will see persistence. Intercessory prayer is not short, okay? That's not to pray with you, "The Lord bless him in Jesus' name." No, that's a prayer where you go before the Lord, and you're laboring on behalf of that person.

You're laying aside your thoughts, which is another key to intercessory prayer, which is selflessness. When you're interceding on behalf of someone else, especially when we do it in a corporate setting, we're not praying personal prayers in a corporate setting. Our prayers in a corporate setting are corporate. They are considering the needs of everyone and how we want God to bless us all collectively, charge our minds and our hearts to do your will.

And the other thing is, listen, if you're going to pray on behalf of somebody else, can we try believing what we're actually praying about? There's an element of faith that's involved, right?

I want to make sure that if you're praying for me or for anyone else, you actually believe that God's going to answer that prayer. And not only that, you know how to get a prayer through.

I think it's important that we understand intercessory prayer. I told you all, one of the core pillars of values that I believe is prayer. A church that doesn't pray goes nowhere because we don't have a connection or communication corporately with God.

Some examples of intercessory prayer, and I'm just going to give you these so you can write them down. If you have your pens and papers, tonight is going to be a very good class to write because I'm going to be doing some very technical teaching tonight.

I want you to write these scriptures down. These are not our focus scriptures, but these are scriptures where you can go back and read these accounts or learn more about intercessory prayer.

One is when Abraham pleaded for Sodom. That's in Genesis chapter 18, verses 16 through 33. Abraham prays a prayer of intercession. We know the story of how God keeps going back and forth with God. He's interceding for them.

When Moses intercedes for the Israelites in Exodus chapter 32, verses 11 through 14. This is another example of where a leader is interceding on behalf of God.

I want you to write these scriptures down. The last one is Paul's prayers for the early churches in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 through 23. Paul is praying for the early churches.

I'm going to say those scriptures again. I know I kind of went through those fast. The first one was Genesis 18, verses 16 through 33. The second one was Exodus 32, verses 11 through 14. The last one was Ephesians 1, verses 15 through 23.

Sometimes there are some places or some gatherings where we may see corporate prayer. We may see prayer in a corporate setting. For example, one of the most known settings is our Sunday morning worship.

Our Sunday morning worship is where we pray multiple times as a corporate body. I think it's important for us to understand that those prayers are to be participatory by everyone.

Here's the problem with corporate prayer sometimes. Sometimes it's really only one person praying, but the rest of us are not praying. Even if you're not praying out loud, you have to know how to pray in the spirit. You have to know how to pray within yourself.

You have to know how to connect your spirit to the prayer that's being prayed so that you can connect with what is being given unto God in worship in that moment.

One of those settings is going to be a Sunday morning worship service. You may also have a midweek prayer meeting. A prayer meeting is something that's going to be coming to our church here soon.

I've been praying about that, and we're going to implement that because I believe the saints ought to pray other than on Sunday morning. We're going to have some opportunities where we can come together collectively and intercede and lay some things at the altar. I believe God's going to meet us.

There are other times where you may see some corporate prayer. I'm pretty sure there have been some of those moments in the last few weeks within our community where, during times of crisis and times where things are tragic, you have vigils.

Whether it's somebody being gunned down in the street, you'll see prayer vigils being made during a special gathering or even times of celebration, retirements, anniversaries, and birthdays. You see people come together in a corporate setting for prayer.

I think it's important that we understand that the practice of corporate prayer is important.

I'm going to, again, listen to these scriptures and give you these, and then we're going to jump into our lesson tonight.

One of those is what is the purpose of corporate prayer? Well, number one, the purpose of corporate prayer is for us all to be unified. In Acts chapter 4, verse 24, the Bible says they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

I'm going to say that again. They, not just one person, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. So in the book of Acts in the early church, we see that the church came together in unity when nobody was worried about their own households and their own thoughts.

They were concerned about everybody's growth and sustainability, and they came together and prayed. One of the other benefits of corporate prayer is increased faith. The more you pray together with other people, you're going to draw off of their faith.

You're going to draw off of the strength that they have. You're going to hear people like, "Man, that's a strong prayer. They really believe that." And that's going to strengthen your spirit. It's going to strengthen your faith.

Another thing you'll understand is when you pray corporately, you're going to understand, guess what? Some of these people that I'm connected to, some of these people that God has placed in my life, they've been through some of the things that I'm going through.

That's called mutual support. The Bible in Galatians chapter 6, verse 2 tells us to bear one another's burdens. So when we're in a corporate setting and we're corporately praying together, if I notice a sister, Jackie, is pretty heavy, I ought to be able to pick that up in the spirit and pray and connect with her and say, "Hey, you know what? My sister's heavy. I'm going to pray for her."

Or Reverend Malone is heavy. I'm going to pray for this brother in the spirit. I'm going to lift his name up to God as we're praying corporately so that I can make sure that they know spiritually that they are supported.

And the last thing is, what is prayer if you don't get any power? Okay? Jesus promises us that when we gather together, we're going to be able to pray together.

When we're in His name, our prayers can be effective. It's important that we understand that when we connect in a corporate setting with prayer, there's an expectation that we all have that we're going to receive power from God to overcome the struggles that we are praying about.

I wanted to lay those ground rules and that foundation for prayer tonight because we're going to be diving into a story in the Bible where corporate prayer is what brings the tides of the situation in our text.

Our text tonight is going to be coming from the book of Second Chronicles. I want to start in Second Chronicles, verses 1 and 2.

Second Chronicles, chapter 20, verses 1 and 2. And again, if you don't have your Bibles, it'd be a great time to get your Bibles because we're going to do some writing and some talking tonight.

I want you guys to pay attention. I'm actually going to be in the King James version tonight, but that's fine. I normally do use the NASB.

All right. Second Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 1. Thank you, thank you. We appreciate Brother Cato for working so diligently and quick behind the scenes.

Second Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 1. It says, "It came to pass after this also." After what? So what happens in Exodus chapter number 19, Jehu reproved Jehoshaphat. There are judges that are appointed in Judah and judges that are appointed for Jerusalem.

So you have men who are going to deal with the affairs of the people. After they get some of their affairs straight, we enter into this point.

It says that it came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

So now they've gotten their stuff straight. Kind of like our own lives. We get our stuff figured out, and as soon as we get life figured out, here comes the enemy trying to invade our peace, trying to invade our space.

The Bible says that they came against, they're marching towards them. They're coming at them in war. It says, "Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, 'There comes a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side, Syria. And behold, they be in Hazazon Tamar, which is in Getty.'"

So the Bible says, listen, they tell Jehoshaphat this news, and Jehoshaphat, the Bible says in verse 3, "And Jehoshaphat feared, and he set himself to seek the Lord."

He makes up in his mind, "I've got to seek God." But watch what he does in verse number 3. Now, Jehoshaphat's the king. He says, "Listen, I've got to seek God."

But the Bible says, "And proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." So he makes up in his mind as the leader, "Listen, I'm not just going to get an answer for me because it's not just me they're marching against. They're marching against the people that I shepherd over, the people that I'm the king of. So all of us are about to make some sacrifice unto God so that God can hear our prayer collectively."

So watch what happens in verse number 4. The Bible says, "And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord." They gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord.

Even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. So everybody came. It wasn't just in that place where Jehoshaphat was. Judah was an entire country.

Everybody that was connected to that kingdom came together. So our first focus verse that we're going to read tonight is verse number 13. I want you to jump down to verse number 13.

Verse number 13. So the situation here is that they're getting ready to be invaded. They're fasting. They're getting ready to seek God. They're seeking the Lord.

The Bible says in verse number 13, "And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children."

And all Judah. So the Bible says that out of all of the cities, we read this in verse 4, out of all of the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord's help concerning what they were dealing with.

Now notice the Bible says, who came? The little ones, their wives, and nobody stayed home.

Now notice the Bible says, who came? The little ones, their wives, and nobody stayed home.

Everybody participates. It's not just, "Well, this doesn't pertain to me." No, it does. Because watch this. You've gathered together in a public setting. All of our hearts and our minds ought to be set on seeking God.

This is how you'll know when there's true unity in a certain atmosphere. Because if everybody's on one accord, and then an off spirit comes into the atmosphere, everybody who's on the same page is going to realize somebody else isn't on the same page.

There's an off spirit in this atmosphere. Before we can ever go to God, we've got to deal with the off spirit. We've got to change the atmosphere because if the atmosphere is not changed, then it's going to cause some interruption in our ability to get to God.

You guys remember the story of Paul and Silas being locked in prison. The Bible declares that they pray out loud. They pray with their mouths open out loud in front of everyone.

The Bible says it changed the atmosphere. It literally created an atmosphere of freedom in an environment of bondage.

I'm going to say it again. Their prayers in an environment of bondage changed the atmosphere so much that the atmosphere descended and bondage came off of them.

You have the power to change your environment through the opening of your mouth in prayer to God. But you have to make sure that you are on one accord with whomever you're praying with.

When we come together in a corporate setting, we've got to make sure that our hearts and minds agree with why we're here. This is why it's important that you're connected to a church that you want to be at.

Because when we come together, we're not coming together for self. We're coming together for God. We're coming together for God. We're coming together for God.

We're coming together for the glory of God from this group of people.

All right. So the Bible in this verse, all of the people are gathered together. The place where they're gathered together is in verse 5.

Verse 5 says, "And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem." Watch this. Where? "In the house of the Lord before the new court."

So when the Bible says it's in the house of the Lord, he was in the temple. The king went into the temple. That's where they were gathered.

What it sounds like when the Bible says, "Even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord." There were representatives from every town.

That means, watch this. When we come together in worship, every family in our church ought to be represented.

You have to understand this. The devil attacks corporate entities. He has demons over regions. He has demons over the world. He has demons over the nations. He has demons over cities. He has demons over states. He has demons over households.

So somebody out of this house, if we're going through hell at home, somebody out of this house has to go and represent us in the house of God.

Somebody has to be able to leave this home and get a connection with God so that I can take this spirit and this power and this authority that has been recharged and rejuvenated in me.

I can take this spirit and this power and this authority back home. I am now equipped to wage war with an enemy, watch this, that I've been properly taught, trained, and prepared to deal with.

How can you fight an enemy that you've never actually prepared yourself to fight? If you are wrestling the devil all week long at home, home is not where you need to be when it comes to trying to learn how to overcome the wiles of the devil.

You have to put yourself in a position where you're surrounded by people who not only can give you witness that victory can be won, but you can draw off the strength of other people when you are weak so that you can learn and hear from the God of heaven.

All right. So the Bible talks about this court, right? The court refers to a courtyard. It is a place where the people of God would assemble.

During the reigns of Asa, which is Jehoshaphat's father, and Jehoshaphat himself, there were courts. In this assembly, again, there are families in this assembly. There are little ones in this assembly.

We've got to understand that our children are never too young to understand the concept of prayer. It is important that as early as we start forming their prayer language.

Here's what we fail to realize. The devil attacks kids too. We've got to understand that the devil is not just after adults. He's after children.

If we don't teach our children how to lift up the name of Jesus when they're facing something, how to say, "No, no, no, I'm going to ask God to help me."

Earlier today, my oldest daughter was taking a test. When she was taking this test, I was on the other side of the room working. I heard her praying. She said, "Lord, I want you to help me get good grades on this test."

It pleased my heart because I didn't have to prompt her to seek God for His assistance in that moment. It is a part of the culture.

I think it's important that we put our children in atmospheres where they can soak up the culture. That means we have to put them around other people who are demonstrating this example.

So watch this. They don't think it's weird. Because the world will tell your child that it's weird to be a believer. The world will make fun of your kid because they want to live right, because they want to read the Bible, and because they want to go to church.

This is why when our children are growing up, there are so many distractions drawing them away from the house of God. Because the devil's objective is to keep them from corporate prayer.

He does not want us to be a believer. He does not want us in corporate worship.

All right. Y'all with me? So Jehoshaphat, he says this prayer. Watch what he says. In verse 6, he says, "O Lord God of our fathers."

Watch how we approach this God. "Art thou not, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee?"

He's reminding God of who He is. "God, aren't you that guy? Aren't you that dude?"

He says, "Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever."

He's reminding God of the covenant God made with His people. Sometimes you've got to get in God's house to remind Him of the covenant God made with His people.

Sometimes you've got to get in God's house to remind Him of the promises He's made to you and your family. You've got to say, "Now, wait a minute, God, you told me that if I gave my life to you, you'd bless me. You told me that if I obeyed you, you'd be with me.

As a matter of fact, God, you told me that if I came in your house and I put you first and I put my hands to the plow and I work in your house, you would work in my house. God, here I am. I'm working in your house. Lord, aren't you that God?"

This is the prayer that he's praying. He says, "And they dwelt therein and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name," verse 8, "saying, if, watch this, if when evil cometh upon us..."

He doesn't say, "Now notice what he says, there's a possibility," but "I'm pretty sure it's going to happen."

"If when evil cometh upon us as the sword, watch this, watch how he describes evil as the sword, meaning an enemy, judgment, own doing. God, you judge me. If when you judge me, if when I suffer pestilence or if when I suffer famine, watch this, we stand before this house and in thy presence, watch this, for thy name is in this."

Why do we gather corporately together in the house of the Lord? Because God has a place where He's put His name.

I know we love to believe that, yes, I'm not saying it's not true. Yes, God is omnipresent, but God has a residence, and His residence is the house of God.

Even though, yes, God lives in us, you have to go to the house of God to get more of God. God dwells in a location, and that location is in His house.

The only way you're going to get more of God is you have to learn how to be in His house. That's why He said, "Listen, we're not going to stay home and pray. No, no, no, no. We're going to come into your house. We're going to come into the place where you are."

What are we going to do when we get there? "And cry." Now, this word "cry" does not mean, "No, no, no, no, we're not whispering."

I need you all to hear me. God's people were always loud. The stereotypes are true. Black people are loud. Just throwing that out there. Just in case you didn't know, people in the Bible were black.

That's not hyperbole. That's not an assumption. That's a geographical biological fact. The original people of this earth were black.

My point is, forget what the naysayers say. When you come into the house of the Lord, open up your mouth.

He says what? "And cry unto thee." When? "In our affliction," not after our affliction, not when we get out of it. You got to learn how to cry.

Cry out to God in the midst of your struggle, in the midst of your circumstance. You got to learn that while tears are flowing down your face, while your body is riddled in pain, while you have a bad attitude, while you're frustrated, while you're mad, while your check is short, while you're going through hell on your job, while you're trying to figure out life, you got to open up your mouth.

Why? Because the Bible says when you cry in your affliction, He says, "Then thou will hear and help."

I wish somebody would type that in the comments: "hear and help." God's desire is to hear you and to help you, but God does not respond to silence.

He doesn't respond to a closed mouth. He doesn't respond to closed hands. He doesn't respond to held up worship. He doesn't respond to a closed praise. He doesn't respond to a closed Bible. He doesn't respond to a closed heart.

God responds to those who cry in their affliction. So he cries out to God, cries out to Him, says, "Lord, you said you would hear and help."

He says, "And now behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade. God, you told us to let you fight our battle. You said you got this. Look at what's going on."

Have you ever felt like the same people God said that He was going to protect you from were the same people that were pursuing you, the same people that were causing hell in your life, the same people that were giving you headaches?

Jehoshaphat is saying, "Lord, you said we couldn't touch them. You said, 'Hold back our hands from them.'"

He said, "But when they came out of the land of Egypt, they turned from them and destroyed them not."

Verse number 11, "Behold, I will say how they reward us." That's what he says. "Behold, I will say how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to."

You got to learn how to remind God, "God, everything I have, you gave me. Everything I have, you gave me. And here comes the enemy trying to take away what you own."

Watch this. What you own. Notice what he says. It's right here in the text, your Bible. If you have it open, it says, "To come to cast us out of thy possession."

Not this house that I have. It's not mine. It's God's. This job that I have, it's not mine. It's God's.

God, if they attack me, they're coming after you. You got to remind God that God is the head of your life, that all of your dependence comes from Him.

Now, the saints are praying. This is all that they're reciting to God. "O our God," verse number 12, "will thou not judge them?"

Watch what he says. "For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee."

He said, "Lord, listen, I don't know about you saints, but there's been some times where I did not know what to do."

While I was facing a situation, I did not know how to handle it. But watch this. That's why we come together.

The reason why we come together is, watch this, because you may be in service and you may be dealing with something, and you had no clue that somebody else had gone through it, and their testimony provides you the blueprint of how you came out.

That's why you can't keep your mouth closed because you don't know how what you've gone through may be the blueprint for somebody else's victory.

How you being bold enough and proud enough and unashamed of your struggle and how the Lord has brought you out, you being willing and able to open up your mouth and say, "Listen, I am no longer what I used to be. I am no longer what I used to be. I am no longer what I used to be. I am no longer what I used to do. God delivered me. Let me tell you how. I gave my life over to Jesus. I started reading the Bible. I started trying to apply it. I didn't run from the church. I ran to the church. And ever since I did that, God has turned my life around."

There may be somebody who you think ain't paying attention that's paying attention saying, "Hmm, I never tried that. I done tried a lot of things, but I never tried that."

Listen, saints, I got a message just the other day from a woman who is going through a very tough marriage. She said, "Listen, I've tried all kinds of things. I've even consulted divorce lawyers, but I never considered counseling."

Think about that. People every single day are looking at other people for inspiration and instigation. What should I do? What should I do?

In a split moment, God will speak to somebody and say, "No, before you quit, before you quit, cry for help. Before you quit, put yourself in a position where you can be helped."

All right? So here's the thing. So they come together. In this, there's the inclusion of all the members of society.

Now, this is where in the New Testament in Matthew, let's go there, Matthew chapter 18, verse 20. I'm going to show you why corporate prayer works.

Matthew chapter 18, verse 20. This is the mouth of God speaking. It's not my words. This is out of the mouth of Jesus.

Notice what He says: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Now watch this. When the Bible says, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name," watch this. If you're going to be gathered in His name, here's the kicker. Where is His name? His name is in the house of God.

So when you talk about gathering, there are some things that you're going to have to go to the house of God to get God to visit you.

I'm not saying phones don't work. I'm not saying computers don't work. But what I am saying is don't allow technology to cause you to be kept from the house of God because God has placed His name in a specific place.

He says, "Listen, when you gather together in my name on one accord in the right spirit for the right reasons, not for self, not for self, not for personal gain. When you come together, then I'll show up."

Because you cannot be the biggest presence in the presence of God. That ain't going to work.

When we come together in worship, it's about nobody but Jesus. Jesus is the center of the church.

So the question we all have to ask ourselves is how can we foster a sense of community in our church?

How can we foster that? How can you? You got to ask yourself. I can't answer this for you, but what can you do to create an atmosphere where other people feel like you want to be connected with them?

I'm not here for self. I'm here because I want you to win. I recognize you winning means I got to open up my mouth. I've got to clap my hands. I've got to lift my hands.

I can't sit on a butt pillow all day. I got to sit on, I got to sit on, um, what do they call them? Spikes.

I got to sit on spikes. So the whole time I'm in service, I'm up and down, up and down. Why? Because I want to show God that I'm so into this service that, watch this, God sees my excitement and my enthusiasm about your life and about your success and about your health and about your victory and about your turnaround.

God says, "Because you pray for somebody else, because you lifted up my name on behalf of somebody else, watch this, I'm going to do it for you."

Because you were selfless, I'm going to bless you.

How can we foster a sense of community? How can we do that?

All right. So now I want to move on because this first point that we see in verse number 13 is that when the people of the Lord gathered together, it amplifies God's voice.

That's what we're going to see here next is that God will always raise up a leader in the midst of chaos.

Okay? God will always raise up a leader in the midst of chaos. Verse number 14, the Bible says, "Then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaniah, the son of Jael, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation."

Now I know that's a whole lot of names. It's a whole lot of names, but what we understand is that six of these names, when you study this, six of these names are very common in the Bible.

If you go to First Chronicles chapters 1 through 9, you'll see these names. What's interesting in verse number 14 is the chronicler goes through a lot of work to find out how these people are connected.

He wants to tell you that Jehaziel is the son of Zechariah, who's the son of Benaniah, who's the son of Jael, who's the son of Mattaniah, who's the son of Asaph.

What he's doing is proving lineage because here's the thing about ancient Jews that we suffer from today. We're quick to credit people with no lineage.

We are quick, can I say this? We are quick to credit a bastard. People who have no pedigree, who have no track record, no apostolic lineage where you can say, "Okay, this person came from this person and that person from that person and that person came from that person."

There's a legitimacy to their ministry. This not only happens in the Old Testament, but this is why when we read the book of Matthew, Matthew is specific in making sure we see, let's go there real quick.

Matthew chapter 1. I just want to show you guys something real quick. Keep your finger or pen or something in Second Chronicles. I want to show you how meticulous it is and why lineage is important.

Matthew chapter 1, right? So now let's watch this. I'm going to read through this, and I want you guys to follow along.

So this is what the first verse says: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

So what it's telling us is that before we can ever get to Jesus, we've got to go all the way back to Abraham.

It is in Matthew chapter 1. There's the establishment of the lineage. So watch this. Verse number 2: "Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren."

And Judas begat Thamar and Zara of Tamar, and Thamar begat Perez and Zara.

And Perez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon.

And Salmon begat Booz of Rechab, and Rechab begat Booz, this Booz is Boaz.

And so now what you see, there's this lineage. There's some credibility because we know who Abram is. We know who Boaz is.

Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse. We know who Jesse is because Jesse is the father of David.

And Jesse begat David, the king. Notice what he says. He doesn't just say, "Oh, I begat David." He doesn't just say, "Oh, I begat David."

He doesn't just say, "David, the cousin that was out there, you know, building benches." He says, "No, no, no, not that David, David, the king."

And David begat Solomon. David, the king, begat Solomon of her that had been with the wife of Uriah.

And Solomon begat Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begat Abijah, and Abijah begat Asa, and Asa begat Jehoshaphat.

And Jehoshaphat begat Joram, and Joram begat Osias, and Osias begat Jotham.

We're going to keep going. Watch this. And Jotham begat Ahaz, and Ahaz begat Ezekiah, and Ezekiah begat Manasseh, and Manasseh begat Ammon, and Ammon begat Josiah.

And Josiah begat Jeconiah and his brethren about the time they were carried away.

So what it's doing is connecting how Jesus is tied into this lineage. After that, they were brought to Babylon.

Watch this. The lineage continues. Jeconiah begat Salathiel, and Salathiel begat Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel begat Abiah.

And Abiah begat Elikim, and Elikim begat Azor, and Azor begat Sadok, and Sadok begat Achim, and Achim begat Eliud.

And Eliud begat Eleazar, and Eleazar begat Mathan, and Mathan begat Jacob.

Watch this. And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ.

He goes through this for a reason. He says, "Watch this. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, and from David unto the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations, 42 generations are here."

Then it tells the story of the birth of Christ. Why? Because anytime God gives a leader, there has to be an establishment of where the oil comes from.

In this case, for Jehaziel to have his pedigree traced back to Asaph during King David's era shows that for three centuries, there's been oil that's been a consistent pour.

Jehaziel, there's a reason why out of all of the people in this congregation, the spirit came on him.

We've got to stop doubting why God chose certain people. That person may be the best person to pray for, and they may be the one that God had and your faith has been established by.

But you don't know that God has been working behind you. Everything that you see happening happened because there was an oil that was going to be manifested through this person.

Oftentimes in a crisis, you need to make sure that whoever you're following is battle-tested.

God wants them to know, "Hey, hey, hey, Jehaziel doesn't come out of nowhere."

Jehaziel has some ancient oil on his life, and whenever you need to get a prayer through, you better make sure that that oil tracks back to heaven.

Because all oil isn't from the olive. You got some oil that comes from some vegetables that's been in the ground.

You got some oil that comes from things that are not holy and that are not righteous.

Before we start crediting everything, here's the thing: you can be anointed and be ungodly because to anoint it simply means to be marked.

Just because people have the oil, the glow of oil does not mean they have the authenticity of oil.

All right, let me, y'all follow? Y'all with me?

Okay, so the oil, the oil. So watch what it says in verse 14. It says, "Came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of all this."

The spirit of the Lord comes on this declaration that the Holy Spirit's coming upon him.

This phrase actually is associated mainly in the book of Judges and 1st Samuel.

Something go to the book of Judges and go to the book of 1st Samuel. You'll see this a lot.

Now in 2nd Chronicles, you'll see this going back to King Azariah during other when the Bible says the spirit of the Lord came upon him to speak a message of both encouragement and warning in 2nd Chronicles chapter 15, verses 1 through 7.

The spirit of the Lord comes upon him. Later on, there's another spirit of the Lord that came upon a different Zechariah.

Zechariah rebukes King Joash for turning away from the Lord and leading Judah and Jerusalem into idolatry in chapter 24.

Then watch this. Now here's the thing. Even in the New Testament, this is why I need you to hear me.

We cannot be afraid of the Lord. We cannot be afraid of the Lord. We cannot be afraid of the Lord of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a function of God. I know you know different people have different quote-unquote manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but there's no difference in someone being guided by the Holy Spirit in the speaking of tongues than it is for somebody being guided by the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of Scripture or being guided by the Holy Spirit when it comes to healing or being guided by the Holy Spirit when it comes to wisdom or being guided by the Holy Spirit of being able to discern or being guided by the Holy Spirit of knowing when to keep their mouth closed.

Right? There are gifts of the Spirit, and we have to make sure that we don't get into this divisive culture where we demonize things that are not necessarily a part of our overall culture, but they're necessary for the Kingdom.

Let's say that again. We cannot demonize what God wants to happen from the Kingdom because we're uncomfortable with it.

You're supposed to be uncomfortable with the place you've never been. Can I say that again? You're supposed to be uncomfortable with something that comes from God.

You've never been there. You've never been to the Kingdom. So when the Holy Spirit comes, it's going to be different.

All right, so the Bible teaches us in 1st Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19. Let's go there real quick.

1st Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19. And I'm saying all of this because I want us to understand that God, He moves as He was moving like this in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, His spirit was, I need you to open your mouth.

All right, 1st Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19. Watch this. Watch this, though. Where are they gathered again?

They are gathered in the temple. The Holy Spirit comes upon Jehaziel while they are gathered in the temple.

Now watch this. If the Holy Spirit can come upon Jehaziel while he's in the temple, why can't the Holy Spirit come on you?

How do we know this? 1st Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19. It says, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?"

So if the Holy Spirit can come in the temple that they were gathered, why do we feel as though the Holy Spirit can't come upon us today?

That same Holy Spirit that would open up the mouth of the man of God is not present in operation in our presence today.

This is why when we come together in a corporate gathering, God can reveal things that are not spoken or known by the man of God because the Holy Spirit is in that place or in that man of God and his personal prayer time.

This is why we got to be careful when we assume, "Oh, you know what? I don't know where that came from." It came from God.

If you didn't know, if you didn't tell it and nobody else told it, God told it. Get mad with God. God told him.

All right, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15. I'm just showing how the Holy Spirit works because they're in a corporate setting.

What this verse says is that Jehaziel, watch this, who is a priest. Jehaziel is not someone who's new to this. He is a priest.

In that time, it was the job of the priest to speak for God. Now watch this. Here's what is so amazing about this.

Jehoshaphat is the king. Jehoshaphat is the king, but the spirit of the Lord doesn't come upon Jehoshaphat. The spirit of the Lord comes upon the priest.

Why am I saying that? Because it was Jehoshaphat in his personal time that got a conviction that everybody needed to be in a corporate setting.

But when we got in the corporate setting, the spirit of the Lord fell upon the priest, the man of God whose job it was to speak the word of God.

I need us to understand that when we come into a corporate setting, our job is to play the role that God uses us in.

This is why I say when we come into God's presence, we don't come into God's presence with an individualistic mindset.

We come into God's presence understanding that all of us are part of the body. You may not be the head. You may be the head at home, but when you come into God's presence in a corporate setting, you might not be the head.

Y'all understand what I'm saying? We got to learn that when we come into the presence of God, we've got to learn how to play our part.

Sometimes our blessings as a body corporately are being blocked because we're too busy trying to play other people's part.

All right, let me move on. So his genealogy is carefully recorded, emphasizing how important lineage is, but it also teaches us that we must be open to the spirit of God.

What if the priest didn't feel like preaching? What if when the spirit of the Lord came, he said, "Not today. I ain't in this mood. Yeah, I know I'm at church, but I don't feel like it."

I don't feel like it. All these people are gathered here to hear from God. God shows up, but you don't want to be used.

This is why we have to have, we have to make sure that we're in the right spirit when we come together because you don't know how God wants to use your gifts and your talents for the benefit of other people.

You don't want to be used for the people.

When we lift up prayers to God, when we come together in a corporate prayer setting, we are speaking to the Lord and we're saying, "Lord, I want you to work in this place. I want you to move."

You know God's been talking to you all service, and you know you're not a part of the church, and you know you're not saved, but you hear God, and you know you need to rededicate or you know you're not doing all that you can do.

Don't get mad with everybody else. Lift your hands and say, "Yes, Lord."

Don't quench the spirit. That's right, First Lady. Let God's spirit flow through you.

Here's the thing. Don't devalue yourself because other people devalue you. As long as you are breathing, your job is to let God get the glory out of your life.

I'm going to say that again. Don't devalue yourself because other people devalue you.

Because here's the thing: when you come into the house of the Lord, there is no big I's and little u's. We are all working together with gifts and various talents for the edification of the saints.

Yes, I'm the pastor, but I'm not more important than anybody else. Yes, there is an awesome burden that is upon my shoulders, and with that burden comes a weight of responsibility.

Yes, there is an honor, but my job is not to soak in the honor. My job is to soak in a servant's posture, to make sure that I'm not a servant of the Lord and I'm not a servant of the Lord and I'm not a servant of the Lord.

I'm showing all of the saints that when we come into the house of the Lord, that's right, First Lady, all of us have to have a "yes, Lord" in our soul.

All of us have to say, "You know what? I'm not the pastor, but I'm the usher. Let me usher to the glory of God. I'm not the pastor, but I'm the deacon. Let me deacon to the glory of God."

When I come into the house of the Lord, whatever my life, whatever straw I have, I've taken, let me work in the vineyard that God has placed me.

We will begin to see that when, here's the thing about corporate prayer: there cannot be corporate prayers given without corporate worship accompanying the prayer.

Let's say that again, and we're going to go through verses 15 through 17 next week.

All right, I got to get to a stopping point because I'll be here for a while.

I want us to understand this: when we come together in a corporate setting to offer prayer unto God, we got to make sure that we understand that our prayer is a part of our corporate worship.

Worship, I need you all to hear me, it's not just a song. It's not "Hallelujah, die the glory." No, no, no, that's a part of worship, but worship is your mindset and your attitude of selflessness when you come into the house of the Lord.

If you come into the house of the Lord being selfless, you didn't come to worship.

Can I say this before? We don't come to the house of the Lord to take the day off. We come to the house of the Lord to work.

We come to worship Him. If you want your prayers answered for your home, give God everything when you come to His house.

What I promise you, if you give God everything when you come into His house, when you set up in your mind, "Listen, I'm going to church. I'm going to be nice. I'm going to stand with my brothers and sisters. I'm going to make sure we feel God because I'm going to open up my mouth. I'm going to make sure we feel God because I'm going to clap my hands. I'm going to make sure we feel God because if nobody shouts 'Hallelujah,' I'm going to shout 'Hallelujah.' I'm going to make sure we feel God because if nobody's working, they cannot..."

Let me go a little bit further. You've already messed up if when the choir or the praise team is singing and you're not worshiping with them, you're being entertained by me.

You already messed up because what that says is I didn't come to worship. I came to watch.

I didn't come to worship. I came to watch. No, no, no. You didn't come to watch. You came to be an active participant in the glory lifting of the God of your salvation.

When you come into His house, the Bible says, "Enter into His gates." When you come in, I'm coming in joyous and happy and ready to lift my hands.

I watch this. When you come into the house of the Lord, you ought to be excited when the deacons get up to pray. You ought to be excited when the praise team gets up to lift up praises unto God.

You ought to be excited when it comes time to give. I want you all to hear me. Everything we do in a worship setting should be accompanied with joy and excitement.

We can't have this attitude, "Oh, I can't wait to the church." You didn't come to church for God. You came to church for you.

Can I help you? Church ain't about you. It ain't about you. I know you're going through. I know life is hard.

But maybe, just maybe, if you set yourself at the door and you come and say, "Lord, I am your temple. Dwell in me. Fill me. Overflow through me."

If you just give yourself up to God, lay your distractions to the side, and when you pray, cry out with your brother, "Lord, you know what? Listen, I..."

This is why at church we always do an altar call. The reason we do an altar call at the end is because you may not need prayer, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that you know somebody who needs prayer.

You know somebody who needs to be, who you can stand in the gap for in your family. You know people in your family that are unsaved.

Let's not squander the opportunity to be conduits of God's grace and of God's mercy and of God's favor in the lives of someone else.

If you would just say, "You know what? Pastor said if I need prayer or if I know somebody who needs it, I'm going to go and stand in the gap for this person because they ain't been saved yet, and I've been praying for a long time, but today might be their day."

Could it be that perhaps you've given up on people who are waiting for you to intercede for them?

Could it be that perhaps you've given up on people who are waiting for you to intercede for them?

Could it be that perhaps you don't believe that God still saves to the utmost?

Could it be that perhaps you've gotten comfortable with not feeling God's presence because you don't know how to initiate it?

Asking, "What do we come to a corporate setting for?"

What we're going to see next week when we get into this is how does God respond to the prayers of the saints?

How does He respond? What benefits does He give us from this corporate prayer?

So tonight, what we've learned so far is that God will raise up a leader in the midst of chaos when we're seeking for Him.

We learned the importance of leaders having credibility. We learned about how group prayer amplifies God's voice because when we're praying and when nobody, watch this, when everybody else's voice is submitted to the voice of God, God's voice is the loudest in the room.

That's why sometimes in our worship service you'll see we move with the flow of God.

Yeah, we have a program, but God may change it. Why? Because we've got to be attentive and sensitive to the fact that God is speaking.

He wants to do something with His people. Gone are the days where we follow the program because that's what I want to follow.

God, wherever God goes, that's what I want to go. However God moves, that's why, and I'm not saying we forsake rule.

Yeah, we have things that we do and we have things that may need to be done, but there is nothing more important than when we come together in God's presence.

We follow God.

This lesson, this class tonight has been beneficial to you. Hopefully, you've learned something.

Oh, that's right. The program is subject to change. Our program is subject to the Holy Spirit.

If you came to see something, you may not see it this week. Come back next week. Join us next week.

Hopefully, this class was beneficial to you. If anybody has any questions or comments, you can go ahead and give them at this time before we close out for tonight.

I appreciate all of you being in attendance and watching tonight. Thank you so much. We love you with the love of the Lord.

This was an exciting class for me tonight. I was excited about teaching this class, and hopefully, it benefited you all in a good way.

Let me see who's on here. Praise the Lord, Minister Stafford. How are you? Reverend Malone, Sister Shannon, God bless you. That's our new member there, Sister Shannon.

We praise God for you, Sister Annie. God bless you. Sister Tina, God bless you. Sister Holden, bless you.

Who else is here? I feel like an old person. I'm scrolling. Y'all don't laugh at me. Mother Mylon, God bless you.

Sister Jackie, God bless you. God bless you. Let's see. Yeah, I'm calling everybody's name out. Yep, everybody that I see.

All right, Brother Cato, God bless you, man. Thank you so much. Cato sacrifices so much to be with us, and he does a lot, and we appreciate him.

I believe in honoring people in public. If the only time you can tell people they're doing a good job is in private, you don't love them.

I said what I said. If the only time you tell somebody that you appreciate them is in private, you don't love them.

I said what I said. All right, we're going to pray. We're going to dismiss tonight.

We're going to dismiss tonight, but listen, I love you all. We are praying. We are praying. We are praying. We are praying with the Athens community, the Limestone County community.

We're praying for our church body. Bless you, Deacon Mylon. Bless you, Sister Holden. We're praying.

I know that this is a very difficult time for a lot of people. Here's the thing that you know: there are people who are going through other crises, other things that are happening.

I want you to know we're not just praying for those who are affected this week, but we're praying with those who are dealing with those who are suffering illness, those who are suffering sickness in the mind, sickness in their spirit, a heaviness in their spirit, those who are struggling with certain levels of uncertainty.

I just want you to know we're praying with all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you tonight. We thank you for speaking to us. We thank you for opening our eyes.

We thank you for giving us wisdom and knowledge and understanding from your word. Father, we pray, Lord, that you would turn our hearts to you.

Father, that when we come into a worship place, we would be able to hear your voice, and we would be able to hear your voice in a worship setting.

Father, that we decrease so that you may get the glory, so that you may move in an atmosphere, so that you can change our hearts and our minds, mold us to become more like you.

Father, we pray, Lord, that we value the presence of each other. We value the opportunity and the privilege that you've given us to worship together.

For Father, it is truly a privilege in this country, for there are those, Father, who have to meet underground, who do not have the open privilege to do what we do so boldly today.

Father, we pray, Lord, that you would turn our hearts to you. Father, that you would inspire us and motivate us, light a fire under us that when we come into the house of the Lord, we come with joy and excitement.

We come with anticipation and expectation that the God in whom we come to worship is going to not only be edified, but we're going to see real manifestation in our lives.

Father, I pray, Lord, for this community. Father, I pray, Lord, that you would touch all of those who are suffering right now.

Father, I pray, Lord, that you collect the tears of those who are crying, hear the prayers of those who are crying out to you.

Father, I pray, Lord, that you would touch our church, touch every leader in our church, touch every auxiliary leader, every deacon, every mother, every minister, every department leader, every servant of the Lord.

Father, we pray, Lord, that not only do you touch those who are members of our church, but even those who are connected to our church.

Father, we pray, Lord, that you would do these and other blessings in the name of the Lord Jesus. We pray. Amen.

All right, well, I love you guys with the love of the Lord, and until next time, God bless you.