Spiritual Lifeline

(upbeat music)

- Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu

from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you

and all those that you share it with.

God bless you.

(upbeat music)

♪ Feel, feel, feel, feel ♪

- I worked it this morning,

just between the two services, man.

Just filled me up.

And my wife asked me, I'm not preaching today.

Sometimes, you know, you gotta take a little break.

I love to preach.

I love to preach the word of God.

It's what I feel like.

I'm just called to preach and that's my life.

And so she asked me this morning,

are you excited to just like sit back and receive today?

I'm like, yeah.

Because I just, I love to preach the word.

I did enjoy my Friday and Saturday

not having to prepare a word.

And I just, it was nice to relax.

But this morning, Pastor Brandon

is gonna be bringing the word.

(congregation cheering)

And I wanna say, I wanted to introduce him

just because Pastor Brandon does a lot, you know,

you know, in front, in the spotlight,

as well as behind the scenes.

And Sunday after Sunday, he leads our prayer team

before the service starts.

They meet back here at 10, 15.

And I mean, between the Holy Spirit fire in here

and the Holy Spirit fire back here,

I mean, you just, the Holy Spirit is filling

every single crevice of this church.

And I wanna thank him for his leadership

and his love for prayer and just teaching us

and teaching people how to pray.

And I know that the Lord is gonna be speaking

through him today.

So if we could just get your attention this morning, amen.

I expect your attention Sunday after Sunday.

You come to church, you come to get fed, amen.

But as Pastor Brandon delivers the word,

I'm gonna ask that you would give him a PNEUMA welcome.

(congregation cheering)

Amen.

- You did a good job, bro.

- I was trying, I was trying.

- Almost there.

- Amen.

All I got out of that is he said it took him Friday

and Saturday night to prepare a message.

Bro, I've been fasting for like a month now.

(congregation laughing)

Like, Lord, tell me something.

And boy, does he sometimes like to be quiet.

I'm gonna do this for a brother of mine.

If you do not know me, hello, my name is Jeff.

(congregation laughing)

Now my name is Pastor Brandon.

I like to leave off the pastor all the time

because it's just in my blood, sorry.

Also Pastor B, I like that.

Makes me feel cool for the young people.

Amen.

Well, can you stand up for one second?

Just one second.

I wanna do something.

I felt the Lord was kinda telling me.

Who's thankful this morning?

(congregation cheering)

Who's thankful?

No, no, no, see, because I wanna know who's thankful.

Who's thankful they woke up this morning?

(congregation cheering)

Who's thankful that they opened their eyes

and they saw their loved ones this morning?

Who's thankful that they woke up

and saw their children this morning?

Who's thankful that they have transportation

to get to the house of God to worship?

Who's thankful that the house you're gonna go back to

was given to you by God?

Who's thankful for the job that allows your provision

to provide for your home?

Who's thankful that they feel pain?

Ooh, it gets silent, right?

But let me just tell you, when you feel pain,

you know that you are alive.

When you no longer feel pain, it's only one

of two things happening.

One, you're no longer here.

You're with the Lord.

Number two, and this is the dangerous one,

and this is aside from my preaching,

the Lord was just, I felt like in my spirit,

we're blocking off the spiritual pain and that's dangerous.

We're blocking off the physical pain and that's dangerous.

Amen?

Amen.

Glory to God.

So here we go, let's get it.

You can have a seat, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

If I gotta stand, you gotta stand.

Amen?

All right, so first off, I wanna say thank you,

Pastor Ryan, for allowing me and trusting me

up here behind the pulpit.

I had to make the switch, so you saw it, sophisticated.

But I wanna thank him for trusting me behind the pulpit

first and foremost and I wanna thank him

for voluntarily toldin' me that I was praying next.

No, he didn't.

No, he always offers room for growth in his team

and I'm thankful for that.

I always wanna say no, just so you know.

But there's somethin' in me that's like, just say yes.

It's gotta be Jesus 'cause I'm like, no, Jesus.

But I am thankful for the opportunity that he gives us

to get up here, to be able to share what God has

for the congregation, amen.

All right.

So I was strugglin', I'm not gonna lie to ya,

I was strugglin' this week.

Oh, sorry.

I was strugglin' this week, man.

I was really tryin' to seek the Lord

and I was like, man, just lead me to what you want.

'Cause sometimes, like I teach, I love to teach.

I talk to my wife, I say, I love to teach.

I love it, right?

But preaching is just a different spectrum, right?

It's just a different beast all together.

So I was like, you know what?

I don't wanna listen to nobody, nothing, no commentaries.

Not what people think.

I said, Lord, just me, me and you.

That's it.

And bro, I tell ya, I was like,

it was a tough five days, man, it was a tough five days.

But over this weekend, man, I was really able

to just dig in, readin' his word,

and I really felt the Holy Spirit was with me.

So sometimes, like we sing, it feels like he's not there,

it feels like, you know, nothing's goin' on,

but I promise you, your prayer life

and what you're doin' in secret, seekin' him, it shows.

Amen, all right.

So I did not know what verse to use

'cause it's gonna be more of a topical sermon.

But as I was sittin' there, a verse hit me,

and it came from when Pastor Melissa said her scriptures.

The first Thessalonians five, I think it was 17 and 18?

Or 18.

Okay, if you go one verse back, verse 17, it says this.

Pray without ceasing, right?

Not pray when you want to, not pray when it's hard,

not pray when everything's good, pray without ceasing.

And that's what I'ma talk about today.

The Lord gave me my, I was back and forth battlin'

with the title of my message, and this morning,

or last night, he gave it to me,

and that is spiritual lifeline, prayer.

Prayer is our spiritual lifeline, amen?

So, let me just be right here right now, man.

My biggest fear when it comes to the Lord

is cryin' and bein' vulnerable.

I feel like cryin' for me.

And I'ma feel like a hypocrite when I say this,

'cause I know I've told y'all before,

it's all right, bro, cry.

So just know that when I tell you

that I'm really wholeheartedly cryin', bro.

But for me, I do not like to cry.

I believe that it makes me look weak.

I believe, and I'm about to cry,

and I believe that it makes me vulnerable.

But somethin' about the Lord always seems to bring me there.

So let me tell you, your biggest fear

is gonna be the one thing

that God tends to exercise the most.

So I'ma just say that.

So if I start cryin' through my whole preachin',

don't judge me, all right?

I'ma have more go than (panting)

I'm just kidding.

That's a fear for me too, movin' on.

All right.

So I also wanna say that I always say this when I teach

and when I preach, I always say it's gonna be short.

But if you're here for my classes,

they usually aren't short.

But I believe today is gonna be short, amen?

So I got somethin' I wanna share with you guys,

transparency, right?

The question I've always been ashamed to ask Christians

is do you struggle with prayer?

Or is it just me?

I've always been ashamed to ask that question

because your implication is you're askin'

because obviously you struggle,

and we don't want people to know we struggle, right?

I mean, not at church, but outside, amen?

But some transparency, yes, I am outgoing, I am loud,

I like to talk with people,

I like to do all these type of things.

I don't know if you've ever noticed it or not,

but I'm here to tell you that I am, right?

And that's not to say that I don't like to pray, right?

I know I struggle with, did I miss a spot?

Oh no, there we go.

All right, so I enjoy prayin'.

That's not to say that.

I ask if you struggle with prayer

because I do struggle with prayer.

I did struggle with prayer.

It is a battle that I fight to spend time with God, right?

Excuse me.

But the reality is this, I don't say that

because up here, like he mentioned,

back there I'm prayin', up here I'm prayin'.

I'm prayin' over you guys,

and then when you pull me to the side,

it's like, hey brother, can you pray for me?

I say, absolutely, and we pray right there,

I pray at home, I love prayin',

but the big thing for me is the one-on-one with the big man.

That's the hard one, right?

Because when I'm talkin' to you or I'm prayin' for you

or I'm prayin' in a group, I hear.

There's people speakin', it's audible.

But when I go to the room, when I go to the closet

or when I'm drivin', wherever it is,

that one-on-one with God, it's always the hardest

for a lot of reasons which we're gonna get into, right?

But it's somethin' that I work through, all right?

So I wanna say that it was so bad at a time

that I remember when my mom first was startin'

to go to the hospital 'cause she was goin'

through her medical issues, all right?

Or I can go to my brother-in-law whenever he just,

out of the blue, he went to the emergency room.

Or my sister, when she had her issues,

she went to the hospital.

It was so bad that in my emergency moments,

I would not go to God because I felt like a hypocrite.

I would say, "Why would I go to God in prayer now

"that I need him?"

Excuse me, my mouth's dry.

I'm just gettin' started, brother.

I'm just gettin', like, oh man.

In my, excuse me, in the moments where I needed him most,

I made me suffer because I felt like I was a hypocrite

by not steakin' him always.

And that's tough.

All right?

Mom.

Let me stop right there, all right.

So like I said, I would be a hypocrite.

I would freeze, I would stop, I wouldn't pray.

I would just get stuck.

Whatever happens, happens.

And that's never a good way to look at it, right?

But I wanna put a hold on that story for right now

because we're gonna go in and we're gonna see

what God has to say about this, right?

So first off, I wanna look, address you guys.

Have you ever struggled with prayer without answering,

without raising your hand?

Have you ever struggled with prayer?

Has it ever been a problem for you?

Has it been an issue?

Whether you're praying for a loved one,

whether you're praying for healing,

whether you're praying for financial, you know, provision,

you're praying for a job, whatever you may be praying for,

have you ever struggled?

Have you ever struggled to pray?

And I wanna let you know that I asked a question.

I asked a question to leaders in this church.

And they're probably all like, whoa.

I asked the leaders in this church,

some leaders in this church, I said,

have you ever struggled with prayer?

Now that's a very vague question, right?

Because people said, what do you mean?

And I'm like, no context.

Just answer the question.

Because if I would have said, do you struggle praying,

you know, praying period?

Do you struggle with asking God?

Do you pray with, or do you struggle with,

oh, I don't know what to say and how to say it

or when to say it or what to do.

I don't know how to do these things.

See, I didn't wanna tell people that

because I wanted to hear their raw response.

And let me tell you what, every one of them said yes.

And they had answers.

And it was awesome, they were like, man, but you know what?

What changed this when I started doing this?

What changed when I started doing that?

I no longer, but I used to.

And that's why we wanna be.

That's what I wanna encourage you.

And it's important to understand as leadership,

when you see us and you think, oh man, like that.

Oh man, he's praying, he's preaching.

He must have it all together.

Let me tell you, bro, I'm not.

I do not have it all together.

We do not have it all together.

That's a facade.

I hate, or I dislike when people come to church

and the church of today has created this,

but you gotta come in good.

'Cause if you're not good, then what are you doing wrong?

You know, these altars are meant for things to be broken.

These altars are made for things to be laid down,

crying, ugly.

You see people, like, oh, look at sister over there,

and they scream, you do what you need to do,

but when you get up, you leave it right there

and you walk back.

There's power in your step.

Because sometimes we're like, oh yeah, Jesus,

woo, you're the best.

And then we stay put.

And I remember hearing a priest and they said, just move.

Doesn't matter how far, just move from where you were.

Because there's power in your movement, amen?

All right, so I had to read back on, had to track back.

But now let's move forward into what God says, right?

Today I believe God wants to draw us to Him

like he does every day.

I believe that he's always trying to speak to us.

He's always trying to tell us and lead us and guide us.

And sometimes we just miss that mark, amen?

So I'm gonna be mentioning some scriptures.

I didn't give them to Louis to put them up.

If you could just pay attention, we'll follow, amen?

All right, I want your attention.

'Cause you look at the screen and then I wanna look

at the screen and then we're lost, right?

All right, so we should be praying

because God created us in His image.

Let me elaborate there, right?

If God created us in His image, we should be like God,

characteristically, right?

We are not God, we will not be a God,

we will never be a God, but we are made in His likeness.

Excuse me, Genesis 1, 26 through 27 says,

then God said, let us make human beings

in our image to be like us.

They will reign over the fish in the sea,

the birds in the sky, the livestock,

all the wild animals on the earth

and the small animals that scurry along the ground.

So God created human beings in His own image.

In the image of God, He created them male, male and female.

All right, I just wanna make sure we're there.

All right, there's no other options,

it's male and female, right?

Praise God, that's the way He created us, not me,

I'm just giving to you what the word says.

All right, so let's look at this.

We were created by God in His image,

but if we look back at creation,

which we're gonna go through Genesis, Genesis 1,

I want you to just listen to me, follow.

When He started creation, Genesis 1, 1, verse 1, He says,

God created the heavens and the earth.

Verse 3, God said, let there be light, right?

Verse 6, God said, let the waters flow into one place.

I keep doing this on my hand, I need to stop.

All right, God said, let the land sprout vegetation,

verse 11.

God said, let the lights appear in the sky

to separate the day from the night, verse 14.

God said, let the water swarm with fish and other life,

verse 20, God said, let the earth produce every animal,

verse 24, verse 26 and verse 27, God said,

let us make human beings in our image.

Every time something was created,

while reading Genesis 1, right,

this isn't just what we think, God spoke and it happened.

Not very intimate, right?

Doesn't seem personal, just, hey,

Brandon Solis Jr., boom, you're there.

Catherine Ashley Solis, boom, you're there, right?

Nothing, you know, it was just like, just saying it.

But when it comes to us, what does he say?

He says,

it says, I'm sorry,

but when he came to create human beings,

it seems to become intimate and personal,

he says, in his own image, all right?

Nothing else was created, we just,

you can go back and read it,

nothing else was created in his image, only us, amen?

That's it, only us.

Notice that God created everything we would need

to sustain us before he created us,

the heavens, the earth, the water, the fish,

everything that he was gonna give us dominion over,

he created first.

God has good intentionality, right?

He is intentional on what he does.

If we are made like God,

we should be intentional with what we do, right?

So that's why I say, when you're made in his image,

we need to be a reflection of who he is, amen?

Not in deity, right?

We can't be a God, we would never be that,

but in characteristics, all right?

It appears in the scripture, he is speaking to someone.

I wouldn't say us and our if I was talking to myself,

would I?

And there's maybe a reference in there

that maybe it's the angels,

but we know that the angels aren't like God, right?

So we can't be talking to them,

but he says our image, so he's speaking to somebody.

The word in Genesis 1, 26, God is Elohim.

The word Elohim is grammatically plural,

rather than singular, the I am, right?

That suffix in Hebrew indicates plural form, amen.

The singular form of Elohim would probably be Eloah,

and if he was speaking of himself,

that's what he would have said,

but here was somebody else there.

It appears that in the beginning,

God was communicating with the Holy Spirit.

Wait, was he there?

Oh yeah, Genesis 1, 1.

It appears that he was also speaking to the word Jesus.

Oh, was he there?

John 1, 1.

So the Trinity was there for creation

and the part of creation.

So we see that in the beginning, God is a communicator,

and he created us in his image

so we could have fellowship with him.

How do we know that?

Adam and Eve.

Adam walked, talked with Jesus.

I mean God, I'm sorry, look at me, blasphemer.

He walked and talked with God.

He sat there, he conversed with them.

Did God need us?

No, 'cause he was, he's sovereign,

he doesn't need anything, but he enjoyed it.

He had to have, right?

'Cause he there, he walks with them, he talks with them,

he even comes in and looks for them

when they're hiding, right, after they sin.

So we know that God isn't just one who waits,

he also comes searching.

So if we're made in his image,

we should be like him, right, communicating.

And we could even further extend that to us as fellowship.

Should we just be worried about us

or should we be extending out to people around us?

Come on, you know?

So him and himself, the triune, there's three.

All right.

I like to think of it like this.

Prayer, it shouldn't be like the red phone on the movies.

When you watch a movie and the president,

they're all in a bunker and then you get the call

and then nuclear war, something horrible's happening.

That phone rings, it's horrible.

But that's what we end up doing when it comes to prayer.

That red phone's there like, oh, my wife's sick.

Hey, God, help my wife.

Oh man, I lost my job.

Hey God, hey, I need you.

I know I said before I needed you and I was gonna change.

I was gonna change and not do that no more,

but I still did it.

You know what I like to think of God as?

Who has a cell phone here?

Raise it up, hold your cell phone up in the air.

I know some of y'all 12 year olds, 10 year olds,

hold it up, I want everybody to hold it up.

I want you to look around.

Who forgot their cell phone here?

Hold your phone up, everybody.

You got a phone, I want you to hold it up.

This is how we should treat prayer when it comes to God.

What happens when we get up in the morning?

What's the first thing we grab?

Our phone.

When we leave home without it, what are we gonna do?

Boss, you turn to go back.

All right?

We're upset if we forgot to charge it

and we blame our wives or our husbands

because they didn't charge their phone last night, right?

It's real easy to start blaming people, right?

That's just a whole 'nother message.

That's too much time, right?

And here's a big one.

And this is like the biggest slap.

We need our GPS.

Pastor Ryan, I know you've said this so many times

and I'll try to call you back.

But hey, I'm the same.

I know my way to my house all the time,

but I still put my GPS on.

But what does GPS do?

It guides us.

If the Holy Spirit isn't yelling in your ear right now,

you need me to guide you.

You need me, seek me.

But we're so quick to grab everything else,

like our cell phone.

That's a tool.

And we avoid God and we say we don't have time.

Bro, you see, I get up.

I don't know if you've seen this video.

It says where the wife, she's walking with her husband

and he's like this, kinda like, ah.

And I'm like, oh man, something happened.

It's like when my husband sat on the toilet too long

looking on his phone, I'm reteaching him how to walk.

But we can sit on the toilet for 45 minutes

with our phone laughing.

But let us go to our knees and seek the Lord

for something that really edifies our spirit.

I put myself at the top of the list,

but we don't do that.

So we treat them like that red phone for emergencies.

I got it in my back pocket, get pulled over, bam.

Jesus, no.

It needs to be more like your cell phone

carrying it everywhere.

Worrying about if it's losing charge.

Worrying about if it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.

That's how we should treat prayer, amen?

- Amen.

- God gave us free will.

We see in Adam and Eve in the beginning, right?

We can choose to seek him, we can choose to pray,

but we could also choose not to.

We could also choose to ignore him.

We could also choose not to serve him.

He gave us that.

That's the big difference.

He isn't forcing you to pray.

He isn't saying, hey, you better spend time with me or else.

And for that reason and that reason alone,

I think that's why he loves it so much.

It's an aroma pleasing to him.

Praise, prayer, y'all connect.

And that's why I think he loves it so much, amen?

Think of it like this, as parents,

when our kids start growing,

I know a lot of you have your toddlers

that they don't walk no,

now they're walking and you're like,

oh, I used to carry them all the time.

Now they don't.

It just goes in this or say you're maybe breastfeeding them.

Now they have a bottle.

And you're like, oh, women, I don't know this.

I just know women, I see it, I hear.

Women are like, oh.

Like he switched me out for a bottle.

Like, man, I love him.

Or you gotta wean them off 'cause you gotta work.

There's so many things.

As parents, we see that as our kids get older,

they don't need us anymore.

And I'm just trying to drive a point, bro, I'm sorry.

My brother was like, oh man, why do you say that?

But let me tell you, no matter how old your kids get,

they will always need you.

They will always need your guidance.

Pastor Ryan always up here,

I don't know how many times he's always like,

my dad, I need him.

Something happens, especially if he gotta fix something.

Hey dad, I need you.

No matter what, we need our parents.

And God, our Father in heaven wants to feel the same thing.

So when we pray and when we go to him

for every little thing, no matter how small,

there was nothing too small,

just like there's nothing too big to go to God.

And that's the way we gotta see him.

Psalms 27, eight says it like this.

He summarizes both, David,

he summarizes both sides of prayer.

It says, my heart has heard you say,

come and talk with me.

I lost my slide.

And my heart responds, Lord, I am coming.

He's calling, we gotta answer.

He's always willing, but are we always willing?

Ooh, that better be Jesus.

Amen.

Our prayers are directed by the Holy Spirit

so that even when we do not know how to pray

or what to pray, the scripture echoes within us

the intercessions of Christ above.

Romans eight, 26 to 27.

And 28 is powerful too, read it.

So when you say, man, you know what, Pastor B,

I just don't know how to pray.

I got you, Romans eight, 26, 27.

I don't know the words to use, Romans eight, 26, 27.

I feel like it's repetitive.

Romans eight, 26, 27.

Begin to know it, begin to speak it.

Romans eight, 26, 27.

Live it, amen.

All right, moving on.

Prayer should sustain and continue to build our faith.

Whenever we go to the Lord and pray for a job,

whenever we go to the Lord for prayer,

for healing, for guidance, for wisdom,

you fill in the blank.

You know what you go to the Lord for, right?

Whenever we're asking for something,

sometimes God doesn't give us the answer we want.

Sometimes we feel like he ignores us.

Sometimes the answer's not even what you wanted.

You're like, that's not what I asked for.

God, I said Ferrari.

This is a Ford.

That's the F, but it's a Ford, not a Ferrari.

This is not what I asked for.

But praise God you have transportation,

but we're picking on what it is.

I mean, hey, just saying, bro.

Sometimes what you, that's just the Messiah,

what they thought of him to be,

wasn't what they thought, crucifixion.

But he came and was everything he was supposed to be.

So I'm just saying, sometimes you see things

and it's not what you're aligning,

or you're thinking of lines to where it's supposed to,

then you better trust God and you better seek him.

Amen.

So 1 Samuel 1 is something I wanna elaborate on.

And what it is, we see a man named Elkanah,

and we see his wife Hannah and Penina.

Yeah, back then it was like that, Old Testament.

He had more than one wife.

I don't know how he did it.

Praise the Lord.

But we see that Penina, and I may be mispronouncing that,

I know her name's kinda tough,

but she had children, two children.

Hannah did not.

That's tough, because back then,

the woman's work was based upon what she can produce.

And she was not able to, right?

So we see Penina, she taught Hannah

because she didn't have children, right?

And she did.

She waved it in front of her face every chance she could,

right, especially when they're about to come,

they go to Shiloh, and they're gonna go for the Passover

and give their sacrifice, and in these moments,

she's waving in front of Hannah's face.

How disrespectful, right?

Not the women here at Numah,

but other churches or maybe worldly women,

they could do stuff like that, but not here, man.

But I like to focus on Hannah.

What does Hannah do?

It says, Hannah prays fervently to God

to have a son and makes a vow to give him to him.

Not only does she pray, she makes a vow,

like, Lord, the son's already here,

like, when you give me my son,

no razor will touch his head.

That's faith, that's faith, right?

No razor will touch his head.

That will show everybody that he is yours.

So we're like, oh, Lord, just give me a job.

No, Lord, give me a job that does this for my family.

Lord, give me a job that allows me

to give back to you in this way.

See the big difference?

She was going above and beyond as it was going to be.

And praise God.

All right, she dedicates him to the Lord.

That's awesome.

First Samuel 1, 6 reads,

so Panina taunted Hannah and made fun of her

because the Lord had kept her from having children.

You see, it wasn't that she didn't have kids

because she was unable to.

It wasn't because she was punished.

It wasn't for no reason other than the Lord

had not allowed her to.

Can I tell you that sometimes what you want from God

you're not getting because you don't ask.

The old phrase is we have not because we ask not.

So she prayed.

But understand it wasn't because of any other reason

other than God said no.

You see sometimes when we push in prayer

or we want to force God to do something,

sometimes things don't happen the right way.

We could think of Abraham and Sarah, right?

Got a concubine, had a child,

and they call it still to this day from then.

But Hannah doesn't do that.

She fervently prays to the Lord and the priest sees her

and he thinks she's drunk.

And she's like, I'm not drunk.

I pray for the Lord, for a son.

He says, may the Lord answer you and provide.

And he does, amen.

And she dedicates him.

Who's her son?

Samuel.

She could have had another son that was a bad son.

That wasn't the son that God had for her.

It's all in God's timing.

You may think you want something but God says wait.

And I would even dare say the fact that her prayer

is what shifted and caused God to say,

okay, the time is now.

He may say, man, can we do that?

Well, let's look at Lot, right?

Abraham goes to Sodom and Gomorrah.

He prays if there's only 50 people, 10 people,

five people, all the way down, he works them down

and God's like, okay, go ahead.

If we can find 10 people, I won't destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Did he change God's mind or did God allow him

to intercede on behalf of other people?

See what I'm saying?

Let's go to Moses.

Moses, after he comes down and breaks the tablets,

he's upset, he's mad.

They done made a gold calf and God's like,

you better go get your people, Moses.

Go get your people.

It's like, God, you said let my people go, these are your people.

No, he goes down and he breaks the tablets.

What does he do?

And God wants to destroy all of them.

He says, no, no, no, don't do that.

He glorifies God.

So I'm here to tell you, your prayer can cause a shift

for when your family members addicted to drugs,

when your family members are in gangs,

when your family members are lost,

when your family members have identity issues,

your prayer, you have to ask in faith.

Start calling on what God should be doing or will be doing

even though it hasn't happened yet.

(congregation applauding)

All right, man.

Hannah could have responded like,

Panina, right, she could have responded

in a way that was wrong.

She could have been negative.

She could have been like,

"Ha ha, look, God gave me my baby.

"You can't wave it in front of me no more."

I'm here to tell you, that's a worldly mindset.

You gotta have a godly mindset.

And you know what the word Samuel means?

Asked of the Lord.

That's what you gotta do with your answered prayers.

Whenever God answers your prayer,

name is something that says,

"Ha ha, this car right here, asked of the Lord

"because I asked and he provided."

Let it be a reminder for you

and for anybody else who comes and asks,

man, how'd you get that car, man?

You know what, I asked the Lord in prayer.

I sought him for it to be what I need

and let it be a reminder of what God has done for you.

When you see these people up here

and they look like, man, what's wrong with them?

They're crazy, they're screaming and they're praying

and they're jumping around

because they don't see God the way you see God.

Let me elaborate.

What happens is you're reading about God.

I got a life that's showing me what God did in it.

I'm not reading about Hannah.

I'm reading about what God did in my life.

That's the difference between what you see and what you do.

Amen?

That's the Lord right there, bro.

That wasn't even my notes.

- Yeah, all down, all down.

- Just saying, the Lord is awesome, man.

There are times we believe the enemy is working against us

and causing things to be unfair

and believe me, a lot of the times he is.

But the reality is sometimes God has plans

and I know he has plans for each and every one of our lives.

He has things he's gonna give us.

He has provision.

He has things he's gonna allow us to have.

But we can't be like benign.

We can't take the blessing and wave it in front of people.

Like, ooh, ooh, ooh, God gave it to me.

You thought he wasn't, but he did.

That's not good.

We laugh, right?

But how many times do we do that?

It's funny, but how often do we do it?

Instead of boasting on God,

we wanna put it in people's faces.

Listen, unintentionally or intentionally,

it does not matter.

Check yourself.

Amen.

Hebrews 11, one, it should be the faith scripture.

It reads, faith shows the reality of what we hope for.

It is the evidence of things we cannot see.

So,

when you're waiting and you don't have,

that prayer hasn't been answered yet, seek the Lord.

When he does provide that, seek the Lord.

Continue seeking him, amen.

All right, what time is it?

All right, we're good, we're good.

All right, prayer requires obedience.

Woo hoo.

Come on, if you think you're praying

and you're living a lifestyle that is not worthy of the Lord

or goes against the word of God,

I'm here to tell you that your answers,

or your prayers are not going to be answered.

You say, how do you know that?

Well, we're gonna dig into it.

If we do not obey the word of God,

how do we expect God to hear us?

I would say that sin or something in your life

that you're struggling with or you haven't allowed

to have given God the control over.

Sorry about that.

All right, we'll keep us from obeying God.

I got lost.

I knew I said, do sentences, not paragraphs.

I kinda went with the bigger sentence there.

Right, let me rephrase that.

So, when we do things,

I'm all over the place.

When we sin, we keep God from hearing us.

Point blank.

We're gonna go over some scriptures.

But you gotta be able to obey God in the waiting.

You gotta be able to obey God when it comes.

You gotta be able to obey God always.

All right, repent and turn to God.

If not, your prayers will never be answered.

If you're praying over your child

and you're living a life of sin,

we talk about generational blessings.

What are you really putting on 'em?

So, pay attention to how you live.

First Peter 3, 7 says, in the same way,

"You husbands must give honor to your wives.

"Treat your wife with understanding as you live together.

"She may be weaker than you,

"but she is your equal partner

"in God's gift of new life.

"Treat her as you should,

"so your prayers will not be hindered."

Hmm, that my words?

No sir, the word of God.

So, I'm telling you, if you're a man of God,

now you're married and you're living

in a way that is not honoring your wife,

because let's say, who's a bride of Jesus?

This church?

So, if that relationship, what he sees us to be as a bride,

if that's not the way we're looking at our bride,

come on, and you may think, oh, she doesn't know.

Hmm, yeah, but somebody does.

Somebody does.

So, don't go to God and be like,

oh Lord, help me this time.

Again, honor your wife, man, honor your wife.

Even when they don't honor you,

it doesn't say, oh, if your wife honored, no, no, no.

It says honor your wife, right?

Come on.

First Peter 3:12 says, "The eyes of the Lord

1 Peter 3:12

"watch over those who do right,

"and his ears are open to their prayers,

"but the Lord turns his face against those who do evil."

Hey, that don't mean nothing, brother.

I heard you, I got something for you later, though.

Don't worry.

All right, First Peter, I think it's 4-7, I put one.

It reads, "The end of the world is coming soon.

"Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayer."

Ernest and discipline.

Are those two words you use when you think

of your prayer life?

I found this quote about obedience,

and I wanna share it with you guys.

It's not very long.

It says, "Instant obedience is the only kind

"of obedience there is.

"Delayed obedience is disobedience.

"Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience

"withdraws from grace."

The artist who wrote that is unknown,

but I saw it, and I liked it.

That's good.

Walking in obedience does not mean you will be perfect.

It means that you will strive to be the best that you can be,

'cause you know the Holy Spirit is here as our helper.

He's here to help us through sanctification.

It's not like once I come to Jesus, it's all gone, I'm good.

No, it'll never be.

Trust me, the enemy is out there,

ready to attack, ready to devour.

He's still seeking to kill, still undestroyed.

So you will still go through things.

He will not give up on you,

just like God will not give up on you.

But remember, we fight from a position of victory.

The enemy's fighting a losing battle,

and he knows his days are numbered.

(audience applauds)

When you fall, and let's just be honest, you will fall.

We will fall, when we fall, run back to the feet of Jesus.

Because you know what the enemy does?

Oh, you can't run to the feet of Jesus.

Look at you, looking at things you shouldn't be,

talking to guys and girls you shouldn't be, not holy.

What's that, like a holy, your shirt, what do you mean holy?

'Cause then we start believing that to be true,

because we know that within us it is.

But that's not what God calls,

that's not what he says about us.

So when you do fall, don't stay from Jesus,

run back to Jesus.

We do the opposite, run back to Jesus.

Whenever you sin, it leads to separation from God,

and you don't wanna pray.

But as I said in the beginning,

1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

You gotta pray, you have to.

(sniffling)

I'm gonna get back to my story,

and this is where the emotions might kick in,

but work with me, all right?

Brother Jason, can I get you up here, please, sir?

Back to the story, man, I'm already feeling it, dang.

From earlier, as I mentioned.

It doesn't end as bad as I let it to be.

Yes, I do lose my brother-in-law, Manny.

Yes, I do lose my sister, Tiffany.

Yeah, I do lose my mom.

But I pray, and I had a faith

that they were gonna enter heaven,

because I know they had a heart of repentance.

I held my sister's hand when she was unconscious,

I held my mom's hand.

I wasn't there when she passed, but I was there after her.

I wanna say this, but I don't want it to come off wrong.

(gentle music)

My family was taken, my brother-in-law, my sister, my mom.

They were taken from me, and it hurt.

But if you know my family, and I know a lot of you do,

there's a lot of times that they backslid.

(gentle music)

I should have called them up, that's worse, so much worse.

They backslid.

But you know what I could honestly say in that moment,

in those moments before their passing,

I talked to my mom, she had a repentant heart.

Even though they were taken so soon from me,

I still have the hope, and I say, you know what, God?

I'm thankful.

Thank you, baby.

I'm thankful for my sweat and all my tears.

I'm thankful that they went in the time that they did,

but you know what?

There was no more time for them to backslide.

They know in that moment, they needed him more

than needed anything else, more than another day,

more than another second.

They knew that they needed him more.

And that's why through those moments, it built my faith.

When my family thought, he's not crying, why?

Yes, it hurt.

But I had faith that my family was gonna be

in the presence of the Lord.

That's what I believe.

I can't say, none of us can say, right?

We hope, pray, we have faith.

But it's all in him.

(gentle piano music)

This is my extension to you.

Time is getting closer and closer to our Lord's return.

And the back and the forth, and the in and the out,

and you come when you want to, you go when you want to.

There's not time, there's not enough time.

I'm here to tell you, you are so right.

There is not enough time.

And what side of the line would you be left on

when that time comes?

So the game's gotta stop.

The backsliding's gotta stop.

And when I say this isn't attacking my family,

because we all have been there.

We all have fallen.

But the reality is this, get back up.

Return to the feet of Jesus,

because that's the only hope you have.

I wanna leave you with some practical advice.

When you wake up in the morning, set the tone for your day.

Not by getting your phone, by first speaking to God.

Spending time with him.

Not just get up and say, "Thank you Lord for another day."

Spend time with him.

It's not the same thing.

Throughout your day, set a time aside every day

to spend time with him, one-on-one.

You know what?

We go to work, gotta be there by eight.

We go to work, gotta be there by nine.

What time we get out?

What time we go to lunch?

It's set, we know it, it's programmed.

Why do we struggle to set time for God?

In the morning, God, I'm sleepy.

In the nighttime, man, God, I'm too tired.

You know the day I've had.

And he says, "You'll make the time for me, son.

You'll make the time for me, daughter."

How do you feel when your kids are like,

"I don't wanna spend time with you, mom.

I wanna do my own thing.

I don't wanna be with you, dad.

I wanna do my own thing."

It hurts.

You're like, "Man, do they need me?

What am I here for?"

Holy Spirit's within us.

Your place is a temple for him to be.

And I'm gonna say it like this.

When it comes to spiritual issues in the house,

you know what two things are people don't really talk about

and mention?

Homosexuality is pegged.

Drug addictions is pegged.

Alcohol is pegged.

But two things that we see in a church

that a lot of people don't deal with,

and I'm a part of it, gluttony.

If you're homosexual, you come in here,

but if you're a big person, you come in here,

like, "What's up, brother? How you doing?"

This body is a temple.

The second one is laziness.

(gentle piano music)

Some people just don't wanna do anything.

Some people can't.

But that's between you and God.

Those are two things that get overlooked.

But they're alive and present in every church.

Doing something because you believe you have to

will never be fruitful physically or spiritually.

If you're like, "Oh, babe, okay, I'll throw the trash away."

Okay, what's the point?

I'll do it myself.

Oh, I'm gonna do the dishes.

All right, fine, I'm gonna do them.

I got it, don't worry.

Oh, God, I gotta pray again.

Oh, I gotta give tithes.

Lord, I gotta give my offering.

Might as well keep it.

Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 talks about the armor of God.

We cannot fight the spiritual

with our physical strength or power.

The armor of God, prayer, and the word of God,

that's what we fight the enemy with.

This is powerful.

It's something that we did last week with you.

And it's this.

Yes, it is a spiritual weapon to protect you to fight.

But what we do in the physical,

we go down to our knees.

My legs are so sore.

We go down to our knees.

This may look like surrender, weakness.

But guess what?

It's the opposite.

I submit to my Father, to His will, to His way.

Have your way in my life.

What happens in the physical

makes things happen in the spiritual, amen?

Stand to your feet.

(sniffles)

I wanna share something with you.

As I was preparing this message, I was thankful.

I said, man, praise God.

All the men, if you're a man, young man,

come up to the front, please.

If you're up top, that's you too.

Come on.

I want all the men to come up to this front.

Get in close.

These are your brothers.

It's a lot of men.

I thought there was less.

Whoo, and you know what?

I'm gonna tell you what, God is good.

I'm gonna tell you what, God is good.

Because this message, as always for everybody,

I wanna tell you this message is directed

to each and every one of us.

Let me elaborate why.

For so long, we've placed the burden

of the leadership in our homes biblically on the women.

Oh, I don't like being emotional.

Oh, I don't wanna, I put myself at the top of the list.

Oh, I gotta hug 'em.

Oh, I gotta embrace 'em.

And praise God if you're the opposite.

If you're like, man, you know what?

I love my kids.

But as I was driving and I was worshiping,

the Spirit revealed something to me.

(sniffles)

And it was this.

We know the scripture talks about orphans and widows, right?

I'm gonna have two altar calls.

This is gonna be the first one.

He cares for the widows and the orphans.

But you know what he revealed to me as I was driving

and I started crying like a baby and I couldn't stop?

He said this, how many spiritual orphans

and widows are in the church?

We think of the physical, right?

That's one thing.

Put the spiritual.

I wanna ask, if I have any mothers

who do not have their husband,

whether they're not here because one of two reasons,

they're not serving yet

or they're just non-existent in the life.

Or if you're a father, widows aren't just females.

They're also men.

If you're a father who has kids

or if you're just a father and your wife or a husband

and your wife is not here, I wanna ask you,

if we can open up right in the middle,

if you're bold enough, if you are willing to come forth,

I wanna place you right here.

And I know we have some in this house.

So I'm asking if you can, if you're willing, come forth.

Sir.

(congregation applauding)

Okay, so I'm sorry.

Maybe I was confusing.

I was trying to work this out.

I was like, God, come on.

So I'm calling if you are a mother with children

and either you're significant or your spouse,

your husband is not serving or is not with you,

is not existing in the home,

is not doing their God-given responsibility,

I want you to come up.

I want you to come up.

Come up closer.

Men, I want you to back up.

And when they come, I want you to wrap around them.

So step forward, step forward, step forward.

And again, it's not just women.

If you're a father and your wife is not here

or if your significant other is not here,

I want you to come forward.

Men, I want you to wrap around them.

Cover them.

Once we're good, I want you to cover them.

Move in closer, man.

And the reason why I want young men here too,

because guess what?

You will become a father.

You will become a husband.

You will become something in this.

This is our responsibility right here, spiritually,

whether you are where you need to be

or you aren't where you're supposed to be,

it's still our responsibility.

As I mentioned, the women have been carrying the burden

for the church for so long.

That's not the way it was in the beginning.

That's not the way God intended it to be.

And that's not the way it should be in this house

or any house.

So I don't want music.

He playing the keys.

I don't want music.

What I want is I want to hear each and every one of us,

I want to hear the prayers over these women

or these men who are widows and orphans.

You know what a widow and orphan is?

It's the fatherless.

That's why God hurts so much for them

because there is no provision from the father.

But I'm here to tell you, your kids have a father.

Whether they're walking in it,

whether they no longer are here,

whatever the reason, they have a father.

You may be alone in your battle,

but I'm here to tell you, look at these men around you.

Maybe you're not in these situations.

Maybe you're not where they are.

And praise God.

And maybe you are living the right way

and you are leading your home the right way.

Praise God.

But it is still our responsibility.

So right now, I want us to pray over them.

Whatever God places in your heart.

Because guess what?

If you have your spouse,

you know what it feels like to not have a spouse with you.

If you have children, you know what it feels like

for the opposite to be.

So we're gonna pray.

And young man, look at this.

The decisions you make affect everybody.

Let's pray.

- Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on Pneuma Church,

visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe

or share it with your friends on social media

and tag us at My Pneuma Church.

Thanks again and God bless.

(gentle music)

[MUSIC PLAYING]