Watch and Pray | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

You can turn with me to Acts chapter 6, Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, and I want to share with you this

morning a bit of some things that the Lord is

putting on my heart for 2026. I was going to

preach this message a couple weeks ago. You remember

when I preached on the family. And there have

been some key words that have been given already

this year that if you've missed, you need to

go back and listen to. Pastor Cammie, I already

said, preached on listening to the Lord last

Sunday. That's a message you need to hear. The

message on family. God wants to bless your family.

You need to hear that word, and so keep that

word. close to you. And I believe that 2026 is

a year where your family is going to be blessed.

Amen? And this word kind of dovetails. It's why

I wanted to give it right after last week's word

on listening to the Lord. It dovetails with that

a little bit. And it's going to be more me just

taking you on a journey that the Lord has been

showing me about what needs to take place in

the church. And the things that God has given

to the church are not always easy, but they are

usually simple. They are usually easy to understand,

although because of this struggle that we have

with our own selves. Of course, nobody else here

has struggled with their own selves. Am I the

only one with my hand up? Come on, put your hand

up if you struggle. Make me feel better. Make

me feel better. Because of the struggle we have

with our own selves, this world that we live

in that is seemingly getting crazier and crazier

by the day, can all the stuff that we deal with,

the stuff of life, the scriptures call them the

cares of life, that can choke it out. Because

of all these things, it's not easy, but it's

simple. And I want to call us as a church this

morning. to be overcomers in 2026, and to not

just yield to those things and say, oh, well,

we'll just let these things slide. We'll just

do whatever in 2026. No, we need to put our hand

to the plow and not look back and do the things

that God has called us to do. And so I was devotionally

reading in Acts chapter 6. And I came to this

Acts 6 · chapter mention

passage, and this is a significant passage. This

is when Jesus, or not Jesus, when the apostles

first create the space for deacons in the church

in Acts chapter 6. And so let's just read from

Acts 6 · chapter mention

verse 1 and down for a minute. Now in those days

when the number of the disciples was multiplying,

there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by

the Hellenists. So this is the Greeks and the

Jews. These are both Jewish groups, but one of

them is of Greek descent and the other is of

national Israeli descent in the daily distribution.

And I read this and I say, you know, I take comfort

in it. Because I'm like, there were problems

in the first church. It's kind of like when we're

at district council and they say, play the video,

and the video does not play. I go, oh, praise

God. You know, it strangely encourages me. When

I see churches that seemingly have it together

and something flops major, I go, oh, praise God.

And they had problems. And so they came to the

apostles with their problems. The apostles were

their leaders. And can I just tell you this?

It's okay to bring stuff to the leaders of the

church. Okay? People that are gossips don't go

to the leaders to gossip. People that are trying

to cause trouble, they don't come to the leadership.

But the leadership is who you're supposed to

come to, right? So when you have an issue, when

things go wrong, because they do go wrong even

in the church, come to the leadership. And that's

what they did. And so the leaders did not bat

them down. They did not tell them, well, buck

it up. They didn't tell them that. They recognized

this as a real issue. And it was in this moment

that God gave them wisdom on how to deal with

it. Verse 2, then the twelve summoned the multitude

of the disciples and said, it is not desirable

that we should leave the word of God and serve

tables. Now they weren't saying in this passage,

they weren't saying we're above this. That's

not what they were saying. We're too good to

serve food. We are so high and mighty, we can't

debase ourselves by scrubbing toilets. That's

not what they were saying. But what they did

recognize is their role. And that their role

as apostles, they were so busy. Can you even

imagine? There were, at this point in time, probably

10 ,000... believers plus. Sometimes those numbers

are only the men in those days. There could have

been 20, 25 ,000 Christians in this day and 12

apostles, and they were meeting in homes. And

the apostles every single day, every single day,

I'm sure sometimes multiple times per day, were

in homes with groups of 30, 40, 50 people teaching

the Word of God. It wasn't that they were just

preparing. for a sermon on Sunday morning. They

were discipling the people every single day and

there were only 12 of them. And the church had

not yet developed to the point where all the

gifts in the body were released. And so they

were the main disciplers. And now they have an

issue come forward, and they're saying it needs

to be met. But if we take our time to feed people,

if we take our time to organize this, to get

it all together, and to make it happen, then

the Word of God that God is using, us to deposit

into other people the Word of God will suffer.

And they realized their lane, their role. And

so here we see the distinction, the first distinction,

between what I believe the apostles acting as

elders in the church and deacons. And so here,

let's see what they say. Therefore, brethren,

seek out from among you seven men of good reputation,

full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may

appoint over this business. And so these weren't

just people that liked to... liked to do things

rather than spiritual. They were not people that

neglected the spiritual side of life. They were

people that were full of the Holy Spirit. They

understood the Lord and they had great wisdom.

And so they even said, you choose them. We're

not even going to appoint them. You choose them.

So they all got their ballots out and nominations.

Actually, we don't know how they came up with

the first seven deacons. Later on in the church,

there were deaconesses. Later on, there were

women that were deacons and women that served

in leadership positions in the church. And so

they were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

And they chose them. And it goes on. But I want

to read verse 4. And when I read this, verse

4, this is what the Lord captivated me with.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer

and to the ministry of the Word. And when I read

that, I felt the Lord just speak to me and say

that 2026, that he was speaking to me personally,

Darren, you need to come back to the place of

prayer. And I realized not that I have quit praying,

not that I have quit reading and quit studying,

but I have, and it might be because I quit doing

praying 3 ,000 five times a week. That might

have something to do with it, but I felt like

2025, I drifted away a bit from that strong place

of prayer. And that in 2026, that we as a body,

now this is speaking about apostles, about elders

as their main role, but how many of you would

say that God has been, in this first month of

the year, speaking to you about your prayer life.

Yeah. Yeah. Prayer is such an important, important

place in our lives. Prayer was important in the

life of Jesus. I have a whole sheet that I might

print and distribute concerning prayer and Jesus'

life. It's fascinating as you read the Scriptures,

especially the book of Luke. Luke seems to capture

the prayer life of Jesus more than any other

of the Gospels. But Jesus is constantly finding

a place to spend time with the Father. And one

of those verses in Matthew chapter 14, I want

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

to read. And this is right after the feeding

of the 5 ,000, Matthew 14. There's thousands

and thousands of people that Jesus is ministering

to. He gets this loaf, two loaves of bread, a

couple fish, and he breaks them and gives thanks

to God. gives them to the disciples, and in the

hands of the disciples, as they are distributing

the fish and the bread, multiplication happens,

and thousands and thousands and thousands of

people are fed. He's been teaching all day. He

sees this miracle happen, and it's pretty awesome.

And so they were all filled. They took up 12

basketfuls of fragments afterwards. And just

an incredible time together. And then verse 22

comes. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get

into the boat and go before him to the other

side while he sent the multitudes away. And when

he had sent the multitudes away, he went up by

the mountain, to the mountain by himself to pray.

He went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

And the story goes on, and there's another awesome

story that happens after that. But sandwiched

in between them, Jesus got alone with God to

pray. And then I begin to think about the different

times where we're called to pray. Jesus taught

on the Sermon on the Mount, flipping back a few

chapters in Matthew to Matthew 6. And I shared

a couple of weeks ago that I believe that this

is the single most important Scripture for Christians

in 2026. Matthew 6, verse 6. In fact, I think

Matthew 6:6

we should just all memorize it right now. Everybody

turn to Matthew chapter 6, verse 6. Turn there,

Matthew 6:6

and we're going to read it together out loud.

We're going to lift it up with one voice. Well,

if you have the New King James Version. If you

don't have the New King James Version, you can

kind of mumble along with me when the words are

a little bit different. But let's read it together.

when you pray, go into your room, and when you

have shut your door, pray to your Father who

is in the secret place, and your Father who sees

in secret will reward you openly. Now, I know

that to memorize something, you've got to read

it more than once, and so let's read it again.

But you, When you pray, go into your room. And

when you have shut your door, pray to your Father

who is in the secret place. And your Father who

sees in secret will reward you openly. This is

a powerful, powerful promise. It's one of those

promises that is dependent upon obedience. The

open reward of the Father will not come unless

you fulfill the first part. And I believe that

this call, Jesus is not here talking to elders

and apostles. He's talking to us all. And I believe

that the enemy above all, Tries to keep this

verse from being fulfilled on a day -by -day

basis. I believe that this is one of the hardest

verses for the... Church to live out. But I also

believe that it is the greatest call to any believer

is to get alone with God and pray. Now, there's

all different kinds of prayer. There are secrets

to learning prayer. Dick Eastman's prayer wheel.

The hour that changes the world. That's the book

he wrote. Dick Eastman put a prayer wheel together

and it tells you how to spend five minutes in

each. spoke of the wheel in praise, in reading

scripture, in asking for needs, in listening

to the Lord. It has 12 different spokes and it

ends with praise, starts with praise and ends

with praise. And if we spend five minutes in

each of those spokes, we'll have spent an hour

in prayer. It's a really wonderful, wonderful

tool to teach you how to pray. But more than

the formula of how you pray, is that you pray.

Is that you spend time with God. Amen? Spend

time with the Lord. And Jesus says, go into your

room. Shut the door. Shut the door. And what

He's saying is, Get alone with God. If He was

in our culture today, what might He say? Everybody's

saying the same thing. Turn off your cell phone.

Because this is the number one distraction in

my life. Is it the number one distraction in

your life? If it is, raise your hand. Okay, most

of you have your hand raised up. The number one

distraction right here. That's what he's saying.

Shut the door. Be alone with God. And friends,

when you first start, if you've never shut the

door, and if you've never spent time alone with

God, you will shut the door and you'll sit down

and you'll say, Lord, I thank you for this day.

And then after that, you'll be like, and what

do I say now? But I want to encourage you that

the journey of learning how to pray is worth

it. And the journey of learning to spend time

with God. will help you. It's there in the alone

time with God that He will bring conviction to

you when you need to repent and turn back to

God. It's there in alone time with God that He

will speak to your heart direction that you need

for your life. It is there in the alone time

with God that He will unlock the keys that you

need and give you the wisdom that you need to

solve problems. It is that alone time with God

that ultimately isn't about your own life, but

it changes and shapes nations. Alone time with

God changes the course of nations because we

spend time with the Lord. When the disciples,

when they asked Jesus to teach them how to do

something, They did not ask Jesus to teach them

how to preach. I believe that Jesus was a good

communicator. And people sat on the edge of their

seats and they even commented, they said, you

teach like one with authority. You teach like

with... Somebody that has substance behind what

they're saying, not like what we've heard our

whole lives in the synagogue. And they were captivated

by how he taught and how he preached to the multitudes,

but the disciples did not say, teach us how to

preach. Jesus did miracles, which the disciples

also did, but could not do them all. In fact,

failed on at least one of them. But the disciples,

their question in this moment was not, teach

us the supernatural. But we need to learn the

supernatural. Their question was, Jesus, teach

us how to pray. Teach us how to pray. Teach us

how to pray. In the Garden of Gethsemane, If

you'll go there in Matthew chapter 26. Matthew

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

26 and verse 40. And Jesus, he brought Peter,

James, and John, and he was in the garden of

Gethsemane. This is the night before his arrest,

the night before he went to the cross. And he

takes them in the garden so that he can pray.

And he wants to be alone with the Father, but

not totally alone. And so he brings the three,

and he puts them here. And the Bible says he

moves a stone's throw away. What is that? About

50 yards away. Carter and David and I were at

a campsite, and we found out how far a stone's

throw was. And I threw with all my might, but

I could not hit the other side. I was two feet

away, and my arm was sore. I don't know why I

told you that story. But they were a stone's

throw away, and Jesus is there praying. And in

verse 40 it says, lest you enter into temptation.

And just as a side note, we see here the single

greatest key, I believe, to overcoming temptation.

Like if you have a besetting sin and temptation

keeps coming your way, the number one way to

get strength to overcome that temptation, watch

and pray. Learn how to pray. Well, don't I need

to learn how to resist and say no? Well, there

might be some keys to that. But the first key

is to give yourself to prayer. Amen? Amen. And

so if you find yourself, you know, constantly

tripping over sin, learn how to pray. Watch and

pray so that you don't enter into temptation.

told them, couldn't you? You're my disciples.

Couldn't you even stay awake and pray with me

for one hour? And for some of us, an hour of

prayer seems very daunting. And this is not saying

that if you can't pray an hour, you're a failure.

But I do think that time with God, that we need

to be challenged in that. And so I just want

to challenge every one of you, grow in 2026 in

your prayer life. Amen? Grow in your prayer life.

The Father who sees what is done in secret will

reward you openly. Now it's right to bring your

needs to the pastors, to the elders. It's right

to have them anoint you with oil and pray over

you. James chapter 5 says if anybody's sick,

James 5 · chapter mention

let them come to the elders of the church. In

fact, it's an act of faith. The Bible says come

to the elders of the church. You can make a phone

call. You can text. Now, you couldn't do that

in Jesus' day, but you can do that now. And then

you can come down to the altar after church and

say, Pastor, pray over me. All those things are

good and all those things are important, but

may those things not be in lieu or instead of

you going to your father in the prayer closet.

Because your trust is never, even though you

come to your elders, even though you're anointed

with oil, your trust is not in people. Your trust

is in God. Amen? And so when you have a need,

where should you go? Hebrews says this. Hebrews

says that we should come boldly to the throne

of grace. That's the secret place. That's the

place where God wants to meet you so that you

can find help in your time of need. Hallelujah.

Somebody give praise to the Lord. And so you

have problems at work. Do you know what you need

to do? You need to bring them to the Father in

your prayer closet. You have problems in your

home. You know what you need to do? You need

to bring them to the Father in the prayer closet.

You have problems with your kids. Then you know

what you need to do? You need to bring it to

the Father in the prayer closet. You have problems.

Maybe you're in a blended family now and you

have problems with people that you used to be

in relationship. You know what you need to do?

You need to bring that to the Father. in your

prayer closet because the Father sees what is

done in secret. This is true for young people.

You have a problem with somebody at school. You

have a problem with your teacher. You have a

problem with other students. Do you know what

you can do? You can bring it to the Father in

your prayer closet. And the Father... who sees

what is done in secret, will reward you openly.

Now Jesus told the disciples in this passage,

watch and pray. Watch and pray. That doesn't

sound like somebody that is just sitting in a

chair. That's right. Watch and pray. There's

a vibrance to that. Watch and pray. Watch and

pray. We need to apply this to the news that

we take in. We watch. We need to pray. The world

is watching. I think sometimes, depending on

your news source, just believe whatever slant

comes from the news source. You can't do that.

But when you digest what is happening, then what

do you do? You've got to pray. We can't afford

to just be people that have opinions like the

rest of America. We can't just choose a side

and then get angry with that side. are the watchers,

and we are the intercessors. Do you know who

history belongs to? The people that pray. Do

you know why we won World War II? There were

soldiers on the front line, and there were intercessors

praying at home. World War I is documented that

where intercessors prayed, Things happened on

the battlefield. I can show you. Intercessors

own history. People that pray. And so as you

engage in America, engage in your prayer closet.

Go into the secret place. Father, I lift up Minneapolis

to you right now. Father, I'm just asking you

that you would work and move in Minneapolis.

In fact, let's all just pray right now. Let's

just engage as if you're in the prayer closet

right now in Jesus' name. Father, we ask in the

name of Jesus that your hand would be on church

leaders in Minneapolis. This morning, even as

they're worshiping you, I pray that your presence

would be made manifest amongst the believers.

I pray that there would be a distinction between

believers and people in the world. I pray your

presence, oh God, will minister right now. God,

I'm asking you that families, Lord, in Jesus'

name, that their needs will be met in the name

of the Lord. And I'm asking you that no matter

what person, God, whether they're immigrants

or whether they're being dealt with as illegal

immigrants, God, whatever person, they are all

made in the image of God. And I pray in Jesus'

name that Your hand would be on their journey

and that they would come to know Christ as their

Savior. In Jesus' mighty name. God, we bind up

demonic activity over that city that would do

what the devil does. He steals. He kills. He

destroys. And the instruments that are being

used by the enemy, whether they realize it or

not, we pray that they would come unto repentance

in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah. I believe

that it's God's will. friend, that revival break

out in Minneapolis. I believe that Minneapolis

needs to be a city that is known for the moving

of the Holy Spirit and not just a city known

for conflict like it has for the last five or

six years. We are watchers and we are prayers.

Hallelujah. Turn with me to Luke chapter 21.

Luke 21 · chapter mention

This is concerning the second coming of Christ.

This is the words of Jesus. Verse 34. But take

heed to yourselves. Everybody say that together.

But take heed to yourselves. Lest your hearts

be weighed down. With carousing, with drunkenness

in the cares of this life. There it is. And that

day, that's talking about the return of Christ.

And that day come on you unexpectedly. For it

will come as a snare on all those who dwell on

the face of the whole earth. Wow. Wow. And you

think about the world right now. Do you think

it's ready for the return of Christ? It is not.

But you take heed. You take heed. Watch, therefore,

and pray. There's that phrase. Watch and pray.

Always that you may be counted worthy to escape

all these things that will come to pass. And

to stand before the Son of Man. Wow. That if

you watch and pray, if you go into the prayer

closet, that God will count you worthy to escape

the judgments that will come upon mankind. And

to stand in that day. before the Son of Man.

This life, what is it? It's a rehearsal for that

life that is to come. You're going to stand before

God one day. I think about it every day. I am

going to stand before Jesus and give an account.

And Jesus says, if you'll be a person that will

do this, that will watch and pray, Make... Prayer,

a part of your life. Make the secret place a

part of your routine. If you will be one that

will watch and pray, He will count you worthy

to escape the judgment coming on the world. And

you, when you stand before God, won't try to

run and hide. You won't be ashamed in that day.

But you will be able somehow to stand before

the Lord in that day Receive the reward that

He has for you. Hallelujah. That's good news.

That's good news. For people that will watch

and pray. For people that will go in to the secret

place. Favor. Favor. referring to this passage.

I just feel like it's time to conclude here.

I've got a bunch of other scriptures here, but

I'm going to go to the last one. And I've been

turning to this passage quite a bit lately. And

it's in 1 Peter 4. And I've already read it publicly

a couple weeks ago. I think it's an important

passage, 1 Peter 4, 7. And it says this, But

the end of all things is at hand. Therefore,

be serious and watchful in your prayers. It goes

on to say, and above all things, have fervent

love for one another. But that first part is

what we're talking about right now. It says,

therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Be serious and watchful in your prayers. This

year is going to be a year for us as a church

to grow in prayer. I'm talking here today about

your personal prayer. Pastor Cammie preached

last week as well on your personal prayer, listening

to God. And the scriptures talk about corporate

gatherings. It's why we meet on Sunday morning.

This is the Lord's Day. Sunday is the Lord's

day because it's the day Jesus rose from the

dead. The believers gathered together. And all

through the scriptures, you see corporate prayer

meetings and we're called to corporately pray.

And what I'm telling you that in 2026, we are

going to be growing as a body in corporate prayer.

It is also essential. But corporate prayer is

fanned into flame. when the people that are a

part of it have been maintaining their secret

place. Private prayer makes corporate prayer

powerful. Sometimes when you go to pray and you

get done, And the Bible says when Jesus finished

praying, there was a time when he concluded that

moment of prayer. He was still connected to the

Father, but he finished praying. And sometimes

when we finish praying, we go, well, that wasn't

all that powerful. God didn't really say much

to me today. I didn't even understand the Scripture

I read. But I'm telling you that there is way

more happening than what you know. Sometimes

God reveals what's happening when we pray, and

we love that. But oftentimes He does not. But

your faithfulness to the secret place changes

the world in which we live. And God has his hand

upon this church to be a church that prays. The

third weekend of February, we have a gentleman

by the name of Travis Rosenthal coming. On that

Saturday night, we're going to be gathering people

that just have a heart to pray. Saturday night,

6 p .m., I believe it's the 21st or the 22nd,

21st of February. Travis Rosenthal is a young

man. He's 27. He might be 28 now. I don't know.

But he's a young man, and he's a home missionary.

He's raised support so that he can be a part

of the Assemblies of God World Prayer Center

in Springfield, Missouri. And just talking with

him, I can sense, like they said of the disciples

in Acts chapter 3, They took note that they had

Acts 3 · chapter mention

been with Jesus. And when I was talking with

Travis, I can tell this man has been in the presence

of Jesus. And I believe that God is going to

do something on that weekend in the area of helping

us to grow as a body in this area of corporate

prayer. And so we can expect that in 2026 for

that to happen. What I want to call for this

morning, those of you at home, those of you here,

is for you to come before the Lord and say, God,

this year I want to grow with intentionality,

with purpose. I want to grow. In my secret place,

time. I want 2026 to be a year where I gained

more discipline. Some people, that's what they

need. That's what I need. Gain more discipline

in how you spend the moments of your day. For

some of us, it's... turning something off. For

some of us, it's getting up earlier. Perhaps

your schedule denotes you stay up later. But

we purpose in 2026 to say, God, I want my prayer

life to grow. The greatest thing fathers can

do for their family, pray. Spend time with God.

The greatest thing mothers can do for their children,

pray. Spend time with God. Spouses, the greatest

thing you can do for each other, maintain your

personal prayer life. Everything else will grow

out of that. Give yourself to prayer. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. This is a real altar moment of us

saying, God, here I am. Perhaps you need to come

with humility and just say, Lord, I know I've

failed in my secret place time. It hasn't been

a part of my life. Perhaps you need to just make

that confession to the Lord. But will you come

before Him? He's not saying, oh, because you

have not been great at this in the past, I'm

pushing you away. No, that's not the heart of

our Father. He's saying, come on, son. Come on,

daughter. I will teach you if you will come.

Will you come? Will you come before the Lord?

I want to encourage you to just bow your head,

just close your eyes, whatever you need to do,

and just talk to the Lord right now. Just say,

God, I want you to have your way in my heart

and in my life. I want the secret place, God.

To be real in my home. To be real in my family.

To be real in my personal life. Here I am, God.

I give myself to you. Help me, God, to embrace

that which might feel a bit uncomfortable at

first. Help me embrace. Help me embrace the command

of God. Jesus, you said it, the promise. And

if I'll go into the secret place and I'll shut

the door and I'll engage with my Heavenly Father,

that my Heavenly Father will reward me openly.

God, I just say yes to you. This is a consecration

moment. That whatever else I do in my day, all

the getting that I give myself to, get to work,

get to the grocery store, get to this appointment,

get to that appointment, then in all of my getting,

I will get to this secret place. In all of my

imperfections aside, I will come before my Father

and I will say, God, Here I am. Here I am. I

want to know you. I want to know you. And the

secret in the quiet place. In the stillness you,

you are there In the secret, in the quiet hour

I wait only for you Cause I want to know, know

you more to know I want to hear your voice to

know Jesus I want to touch to see your face to

know If this is your heart, I'd like you to stand

with me as we sing verse two. I am reaching the

highest goal. And I might receive the prize.

Running after you, oh God. I sing onward, pushing

every hindrance aside. my way cuz I want to I

want to touch you. I want to see your face. I

want to know you more. that do that religious

thing and then go on with their day. But Lord,

you did not go to the cross to start a religion.

You went to the cross so that we could know you.

And I'm asking you, Lord Jesus, that you would

help us in 2026 to take on that mantle. God,

I want to know you. Jesus, some of us have people

in our families that knew you that we respect.

There's something about them, a quality about

them. And now you're knocking on the door of

my heart. And you're saying, son, you're saying,

daughter, I want to know you. God, I pray for

courage to do the practical things in the next

24 hours to make room for time alone with God.

Here we are. Just present yourself to the Lord

right now. Just say, God, here I am. Here I am.

Jesus, Jesus, I want to know you. I want to know

you. Thank you, Lord.