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Praying For All- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 1:00
  Speaker 1: That'll get your foot of tapping, won't it? Good job?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Even some of you were kind of doing a little headstuff,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: kind of loosening up. Look at you, man, goodness, get
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: your groove back. We're looking for ways to be the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: ice cream truck in our world to deliver happiness to people.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: More specifically, one hundred people and many of us took
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: on one hundred Happy People challenge that we wrapped up
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: this week. Anytime you want to do the same, please
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: do it. What we're doing is looking at the verses
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament that tell us how to behave
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: around other. People are teaching times a little shorter today,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: so we're going to jump right in the passage is
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: James five and verse sixteen. Pray for each other so
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that you may be healed. Let's pray together and then
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: we'll get to work. Heavenly, Father, have mercy on the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: one who speaks. You know how many sins he commits.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: We pray Father, that you would allow us to catch
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of your heart.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Through Jesus. We pray, and all the Church said.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Soldiers were corrupt in the days of Jesus. They were abusive,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: they were oppressive, but there was never an occasion in
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: which Jesus overturned the bunks in the barracks. Politicians were
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: self serving in the days of Christ, and yet we
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: read of no occasion in which Jesus organized at political
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: rally in front of Pilate's palace.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: People got drunk. In the times of.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Christ, alcohol was abused, but there's no story in the
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: New Testament of Jesus chasing people out of a tavern.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Tax Collectors took advantage of the poor, and they patted
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: their purses with unfair terists. Yet if Christ ever raged
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: against tax collectors with a handmade whip, that moment is
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: unrecorded in scripture. Jesus lived in a day in which
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: there was evil, there was unfair treatment, there was a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: corruption on every corner, and yet he remained calm in
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the presence of it all. With one exception, and that's
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: what he saw in the Temple. I want us to
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: begin if you like to fill in blanks by looking
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: at the passion of Jesus. There's a story in Mark
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: chapter eleven, verses fifteen through eighteen that we want to read.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area, and he
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: began driving out those who were buying and selling.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: There.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: He overturned the tables of the money changers in the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: benches of those selling doves, and he would not allow
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: he taught them, he said, is it not written my
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: But you've made it a den of robbers.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: The chief priests and the teachers of the law.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Heard this, and they began looking for a way to
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: kill him, for they feared him because the whole crowd
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: was amazed at his teaching. What an outburst, And yet
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: this is not a spontaneous outburst. Just four verses prior
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to this, we read what Jesus did the night before.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: had looked at everything, since it was already late, he
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: went out to Bethany with the twelve apostles. So this
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: wasn't a random act, This wasn't a spontaneous outburst. This
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: was actually a premeditated, pre planned action on.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: The part of Jesus.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Not only were his steps premeditated and pre planned, they
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: were prevailing. Look at the words here he began driving out.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: He was driving them out. He overturned the table. So
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: much for that concept of a pasty faced, milk toast
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: whimpy Jesus, here's the lion of Judah, the carpenter of Nazareth,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and his face is red and his muscles are taught,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and he is driving people out of the temple courts.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: This is a premeditated, a prevailing, and it's also a
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: preemptive action. Jesus not only chases people out, he doesn't
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: let anyone in. Jesus refused to allow anyone to carry goods.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Through the temple courts.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: It's the only time we read of Jesus keeping people
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: out of church. Jesus stood at the doorway to the temple,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: not beckoning, but he was barricading, not urging people in,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: but keeping them out. What's the explanation for this? What's
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: going on? Well, we don't have to speculate. Jesus tells
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: us verse seventeen. And as he taught them, he said,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: my house will be called a house of prayer, but
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: you have made it a den of robbers. A house
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of worship had become come a place for profit. As
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: you know, worshippers would come from all over the world
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to worship at the temple on special feast days. And
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: yet in order to come into the Temple to worship,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: they would need to bring a sacrifice. In order to
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: buy a sacrifice, they had to have money. In order
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: to have money to buy the sacrifice, they needed to
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: have their currency changed into the local currency.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Well, some.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Crooks took advantage of the situation and they charged outrageous
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: exchange fees, and then once the money was exchanged, they
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: jacked up the prices on the sacrifices, and the result
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: was some people could not come enter the temple because
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: they couldn't afford it. When Jesus saw this and he erupted,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: he erupted, he could not stand it. And the result
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: was what is his clearest statement as to the purpose
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of a church. He said, my house will be called
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: a house of prayer for all nations. So he could
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: take the oppressive military, he could take the dishonest irs,
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  Speaker 1: he could take the inappropriate treatment by the pilot and
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the government. But when it came to the temple to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: a house of worship being taken advantage of and used
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: for profit or prestige or personal promotion, he could not
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: stand oddly by. His passion is so intense that it
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: causes us two thousand years later to ask, what would
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: he say about us? What would he say about this church?
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: What would he say about Christians? Are we a house
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: of prayer?
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Collectively?
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Are we the body of Christ that meets under the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: banner called Oakhill's Church? When people think of us, do
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: they think about prayer? When they think of us individually,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: would they describe us as a person of prayer? His
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: passion is that his people and his place be people
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: in place of prayer, a house of prayer for all nations,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: for all people groups. That word ethnos, there's the word
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: which we get the word ethnic. So he's not talking
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: necessarily about political boundaries.
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  Speaker 2: He's talking about.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Any subculture, people of all nations, all ethnic backgrounds, the rich,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: the poor, the gray flannel, the tattooed, the biker, the athletic,
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  Speaker 1: all cultures. Do they find our church to be a
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: place of prayer, a place where they can converse with God,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: where they are welcomed? Is there anything that would keep
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: them away? His desire is that this church be a
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  Speaker 1: place of prayer for all nations, all ethnic groups, and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: that it be a place of prayer. Jesus did not
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: save my house would be a place of preaching. He
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: didn't say that it be a place of Bible study.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: He didn't say that it be a place of fellowship.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Or is preaching important? And I sure hope so. His
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Bible study important absolutely as fellowship. Matter of course it does.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: But if there's one thing that forces its way to
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  Speaker 1: the top from God's perspective, it is this unspeakable privilege
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  Speaker 1: that he gives every human being to come and talk
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  Speaker 1: to him. And he wants the church to be a
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  Speaker 1: place where people are brought into the presence of God,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and where there's no barrier, no physical barrier, no cultural
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: barrier that would keep people away from the presence of God. Now,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Jesus not only talked about this as his passion, he
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: lived with this as his passion. You want to the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: best teacher on prayer is Jesus himself.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: That the next point for you to feel on your
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: outline is the prayer of Jesus. The prayer of Jesus.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: During the final week of his life, just before his crucifixion,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: he said these words to Peter. He called ing Simon.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: He said, Simon Simon, Satan has asked to have all
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: of you to sift you like wheat. What a glimpse
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: into the supernatural world that Jesus understood. He knew that
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the devil had set the cross hairs of his scope
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: on the apostles, Simon. Simon, Satan has asked to have
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  Speaker 1: all of you and sift you like wheat. He wants
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: to slam you up against the rock of persecution, like
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  Speaker 1: a person might slam a load of wheat against the
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  Speaker 1: gristmill and separate the wheat from the chaff. He wants
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: you just to be blown to the when so, knowing this, how.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Does Jesus respond.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Does he tell him to get out of town to
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  Speaker 1: go hide in Galilee. Does he tell him to move
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: to another part of the planet. Does he say you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: better stick by me. I'm going to care for you.
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  Speaker 1: The response to Jesus is none of those. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon,
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  Speaker 1: that your faith should not fail. So when you have
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  Speaker 1: repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build.
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  Speaker 2: Up your brothers.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus, who had every arsenal of heaven at his disposal,
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  Speaker 1: chose prayer.
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  Speaker 2: He could have chosen, He could have called.
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  Speaker 1: Ten thousand angels to come down and protect the apostles.
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  Speaker 1: But when he could choose anything, he chose prayer. He
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  Speaker 1: made prayer his praer. He sensed the presence of Satan,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and he responded, in the power of prayer. That's our example.
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  Speaker 1: So let's take prayer seriously. Let's embrace this the appeal
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. He said, my house shall be a house
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  Speaker 1: of prayer for all nations. Some years later, his brother,
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  Speaker 1: his earthly brother James, wrote these words, Pray for each other.
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  Speaker 1: Pray for each other that you may be healed. Let
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  Speaker 1: me be direct. Someone that you know is under Satan's attack,
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  Speaker 1: someone that you know is passing through a time of
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: great difficulty. It may be someone in your own family,
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  Speaker 1: or someone on your street, or someone at your work,
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  Speaker 1: and you're wondering, what can I do for them? How
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  Speaker 1: can I help them? If you could, you'd you'd fix
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the problem if it were in your power. And you
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: sometimes feel yourself inept, are impotent in not knowing exactly
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: how to respond. Jesus, when his followers and friends were
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  Speaker 1: under attack, chose prayer first.
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  Speaker 2: Let's do the same.
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  Speaker 1: There's always hope because there's always prayer. And do not
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  Speaker 1: let the devil tell you that your prayers are a
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  Speaker 1: last ditch resort, the last thing to do. Prayer is
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  Speaker 1: our first response. And when you pray, when you talk
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: to God on behalf of someone you love, you are
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  Speaker 1: doing what Jesus did. You are never more like Jesus
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: than when you are praying for someone, because Jesus right
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  Speaker 1: now is our high Priest interceding for us, so he
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  Speaker 1: carries on the eternal position of intercessor.
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  Speaker 2: When you pray, you are christ Like and you're doing
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  Speaker 2: the best thing you can do.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Mothers, when you walk around your house during the day
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: or at night when the kids are asleep and you're
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: just praying for the presence of the Lord, you're the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: presence of Jesus in that home. Dad's when you put
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: your arm around your children, or you hold your wife's
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: hand and you say, Lord, Jesus, come and bless this house.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: You're taking a holy posture. Christians.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: When you walk up and down your street, or through
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: your cul de sac, or in your dormitory and you say, Lord,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: please come and bless this area, you are behaving just
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: like Jesus. And you're doing the greatest thing that you
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: could do. Just remember the story of the friends of
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the paralytic. This paralytic in the days of Christ, a
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: man crippled and who had to spend his whole life
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: on a palate. His friends heard that Jesus was coming
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: to their town and they made a decision, somehow, we're
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: going to get this person into the presence of Christ. Well,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: when they got to the house where Jesus was teaching,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the place was packed. There were people sitting in the windows,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: standing at the door. There was no way they could
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: get Jesus's attention.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: They and give up. Does anybody remember what they did?
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: They climbed up on the roof and they began taking
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: the shingles off the grass out. They're agin to pull
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the thatch out of the roof. I think de roofing
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: is antisocial. But they didn't let that slow them down.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: And when they had an opening, they lowered their friend down.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: What a great story.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: They lowered their friend down into the presence of Jesus.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: They interrupted Jesus's teaching, but Jesus wasn't upset.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: He was encouraged, and he healed.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: That paralytic because of the faith of the paralytics. Friends,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not making this up. It's right here in the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: text mark chapter two. When Jesus saw the faith of
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: these people, he said to the paralyzed man, young man,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: your sins are forgiven. What prompted Jesus to act? Was
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: it the faith of the parian to men? Or was
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: it the faith of his friends? The power of praying? Friends,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: all you can do is get somebody into the presence
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. You'd love to fix your kid's problems so
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: they never have them.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: You'd love to fix it so our nation never deals
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: with dishonesty.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: You'd love that your neighborhood could be a place of
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: absolute peace and contentment.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: But you think I can't do anything. Hogwash, hogwash.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Look what you can do. You can bring people into
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the presence of Christ and let Christ then do his work.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: You can do this. Can't you pray for one another?
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I encourage us to accept the appeal of Jesus his command.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Let us be a house of prayer. You know, over
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the years, the Lord has been very good to this
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: wonderful church, very good, blessed us beyond what any of
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: us ever imagined. But we need to believe and be
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: reminded that it's not because we were smart, not because
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: we were clever, and not because somebody knows how to
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: do church, and certainly not because Randy Frasey's handsome or
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: I'm good looking.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: God has been good to us.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I believe because we've always had a quorum of people
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: who prayed. We've always had a quorum of people who prayed.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: And I think when we get to Heaven, God's gonna say, well,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: we put up with some of you leaders. But the
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: reason I blessed that church was that dear sweet lady,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: or that dear young brother, or that dear saintly man
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: who just kept praying and kept praying and kept praying.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: We've always had people who pray. We need another quorum,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: we need a fresh dose. It's time for us to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: pray again. It's time for us to bend our knees
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and to bow our heads. It's time for us to
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: step into the presence of God. It's time for us
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: to reclaim our identity as a house of prayer, to be.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: First and foremost known in our city.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: As a house of prayer. That's the will of God.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: And I have a feeling that's your will as well.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: We've got a lot of opportunities coming up as a
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: church in the future, and Randy's going to tell us
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: about those.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Let's march into.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: This new season of decisions and opportunities as people of faith?
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  Speaker 1: Shall we as people of prayer? I hereby deputize you
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: as a person of prayer. Amen, Thank you, Lord. We
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: receive your call, your call to be people of prayer.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: And Lord, we gain great comfort in knowing that what
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: you said to Peter, you say to us.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I have prayed for you.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: To think that you, o, Lord, have prayed for us,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: and that you stand up right now on our behalf.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: That brings us great comfort. Thank you Lord.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: We pray in Jesus name and all the church said.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: And I'll be all right. You don't have to stay
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: if you've already chosen. I won't stand in your way.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: I can feel it in your distance.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: And the way you barely speak, like your heart is
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: somewhere else now, somewhere I can't reach.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: I was trying to just to hold us. Why are
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: you slowly slipped away? Now I'm left with all the silence.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: You didn't want to say.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Maybe I just held long.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: To something already gone.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Now I'll be fine.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: You can't leave.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: You don't know anything?
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: If your heart is found away?
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: How do what we used to be? Hobby? Fine? Don't
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: look back? How survived this empty space? Not tonight, maybe
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: not soon, but holler to be okay. We don't need
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: to fake the feeling. I can see in your eyes.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: There's no reason left the stand when the love already died.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Through the quieting your.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: Voice, I can't hear your choice.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Hobby fine, you can't leave.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: You don't know me anything.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: If you're this, How do what we used to be?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: How be fine?
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Don't look back? How survived this empty space?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Not tonight?
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: Maybe not so much, but I'll learned to be okay.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I don't need a reason why. I can see it
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: in goodbye and it breaks me in Dutch, But I
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: won't ask you to stay.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: I'll be fine.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: You Kelly, you don't know want me anything?
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Give your a honest found oil? How do what we
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: used to be?
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: How be fine?
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Don't look back?
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: How survive this empty space?
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Not a line?
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: Maybe not soon, but hour learn to be okay.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: I'll be all right,