 So this mother, she invited guests over for a dinner and she wanted to impress the guests how much or how her daughter praised. So she asked Honey, and it was a little girl, said Honey, would you please say a blessing? And she's like, Mommy, I don't know how, I wouldn't know what to say. She's like, well, just say whatever you hear me saying. And she takes a deep breath, bows her head, and she said, Dear Lord, why the hell did I invite all these guests for this dinner? You know, Mom buried herself in that spot, right? And so today, that's not a prayer, we're gonna pray. But be careful, what you say in front of your little kids, they will repeat in prayer. And so, an exciting news, we are gonna have a new president in 2017 of January 20th, Countdown Days, but it's not only that for a new president. You guys have to all go out and vote because we always complain that, you know, like our country is corrupted or all the things are happening. But let's be honest, no president is gonna fix over 100 years of mistakes of other people. And it's not really a president that makes a difference, it's really people of God that have to get on their knees, start praying for the country, start praying for the leadership in our country. Amen. And so I just want to go back to, can I move this little way here? Sorry, I don't want to knock it down. Okay, so I want to just kind of lay down a foundation for tonight's message from my message. Let's go back to your original plan that God had for a human being. When God first created creation, when he first thought of you and me, he created a paradise for us to live in. He created a place where there was perfect peace, where there was perfect joy, where there was love, there was no sickness, there was no struggles, there was no torment, there was nothing that would hurt a human being. And so he created us in a perfect paradise. I know it's really hard for us to imagine that because we live in such corrupted world that we don't even know that have ever perfect existed in this world. Because of all the things, of all the murders, of all the shootings, and all the things that the sicknesses, the hospitals that we have in our country. And so I know it's really hard for us to sing the end that God made us for a perfect world. But there was something in that perfect world, there was a Lucifer. And one of the main characteristics of Lucifer was pride. He was kicked out of heaven because of pride. And everywhere and anytime when there is pride, there will always be slavery. Because pride always is going to try to pull people down. It's always going to diminish people's lives. It's always going to blow up someone else's candle so their candle can shine brighter. And pride entered into this world and pride created slavery. And God hates slavery just as much as he hates pride. Because slavery in this world, I'm not talking about people taking captives into slavery. I'm talking about demonic slavery. I'm talking about addictions. I'm talking about sin that creeped into the world and made people slaves to the sin. God hates pride because he never created us for slavery. He created us in a perfect paradise. He never created us in chains and bondage behind fences with bar wires. He never created us for hospital beds or jail cells. He never intended his creation to be a slave in this world. And he hates it as much as he hates the pride. And for us to see and we look at this world and it's all corrupted and it's all destroyed and it's all people are struggling, people are on drugs, people are shooting up pills. And everything you can think of we have in this world and God hates it. But there is something else that happened. God has a remedy for this destruction. God has a remedy for this world and it is the man that he created. He created a man and a woman that he touches life that we can touch other people's lives. A while back I was, a few years ago, I went to a circus. I've never been to a circus so this was a historic event for me. I went to a circus and there was a lot of little animals came out and like did little tricks and it was into your arena. And until this humongous elephant came out. They have three here but there was just one. Until this wild beast came out on a leash that is smaller than what I walk my dog with. And no longer I was entertained because there was thoughts in my head what did they do to that animal, for that animal to be so obedient. And this huge arena, not only that but this animal doesn't even belong in tri-cities. This animal belongs on the wild, free, roaming, running around with other animals. This animal might even have a family in Africa but it is tied up to a rope and performing tricks for me while I take pictures of it. And something that is sit right with me so the next day I go and I do some research and this week I did some deeper research. What did they do to an animal so that this humongous animal that belongs in the wild that is performing tricks, these animals can even paint. They get scorched and be with the nail if they don't paint correctly. So these animal they grew up in the wild and they are taking from their mothers at the age from five to six because they are being nursed from five to six years of age. So they take them away to a place where they go through, it's called spirit breaking. It's when they divorce animal spirit from the wild and that animal is being beat. That animal is being tied up and stretched their limbs so that way they can't run too far. That animal is being chained up to a pole or to a tree whatever and it tries to run off and it can't and it's being broken. It's going through a mental torment and isolation and loneliness of the mother and father. And you have to remember that these animals they live with their families for the rest of their lives. And so they go through this period up to a couple of weeks and it depends if the elephant is older than it takes longer if it's younger, the youngest the better. And so after it's being tormented and tortured it's broken. They take the chains off and now they take it to a zoo. In a zoo this is where people still come and enjoy the huge animal. They take pictures and they're entertained. And in a zoo that's where they are trained with tricks for the circus. And after a zoo they go through a circus, to a circus. And that's how we are entertained in America these days. But not knowing what will the animals going through behind the scenes to perform those tricks. And you will think to yourself this huge animal that is afraid to go off somewhere because no longer this animal is in chains, no longer this animal is being beat. But one thing that's constantly in their head, the chains are still in their head. The beating is still in the head. It's an imagery that they live on. That's why they are so obedient and they are afraid. And after they are beat and after they go through this torment and this spirit breaking, that's what it's called, they're no longer can function on the wild. They no longer can be together with their families. They're no longer animals. They are just tools entertaining people. And today I just wanted to share this story with you just to kind of see a side by side how the enemy destroys people's lives. That a lot of times that we are no longer in chains but the chains in their head still exist. And in the Bible said that we were given weapons to pull down the stronghold. What is a stronghold? A stronghold is something that has a stronghold of you and destroying images in our head. Images, it's just the pictures that we have collected of abuse, of torment, of pain, of all the things that people have treated us. And no longer that is happening in our life. No longer we have torment in our life but it is still continuing in our head. A while back again, a couple of years ago, we were encouraged to find a ministry or a place where God is going to use our lives. And so we didn't have as many ministries as we have this morning, not this morning, this evening. And so one of the ministries that I was interested in was jail ministry. It was just, I just, I don't know, there was something drawing about jails. Never want to be in one but, and so I sent up to do a jail ministry. I never remember when the first day they give us tour of jail. It was fascinating, all these people walking tied up and, and they, there was one thing that really captivated me was when I was walking, when they were giving us a tour, there was a place that we couldn't walk through because it was isolated cases. It was like on the third floor and people were locked up and like, it looked like just animals locked up. They were just banging on those doors trying to get out because they were mental. They were just heavy cases and something happened inside of me. It was just something gripped me and stabbed me for the rest of my life. How people are in torment, how people are locked up because God never created us for slavery. God never created us for chains. He never created us for zoos, for people just to come and take pictures of memories of us. He never created us behind the bars. He created us that we were roam on the freedom like a wild animal. We were never created for captivity. And so when I had my pod, I would go every once a week and I would sit, you know, with the woman and talk to them about, you know, that you don't have to be here. This is not your life. God has a greater plan for you. You know, this is not your life. Jail cell is not your purpose and all of it. It was the most discouraging thing ever that I had to quit. I couldn't go any longer because you would see constantly same people coming back and back again. They get released and they're back. Do you know why? Just because you released your freedom doesn't mean inside you're free. Just because the chains are off your feet, the chains are still in your head and you can't function unless God really breaks down the shornhold until God really removes the chains from people's heads. And they just gripped me because we were not created for torment, for slavery. And today this is where a generation is at. A generation is being enslaved with drugs, tormented by whatever you can think of. And when they try to quit, they can't because they don't even know how to live without it. They don't know how to function without alcohol, without doing drugs. But God has a remedy. He didn't send His angels to solve the world problems. He sends you and me. When God has a problem, He touches immense heart and it's the man that makes the difference. And we see such a big importance of Jesus putting on prayer in the Bible. Even to His last day, He is pleading with His disciples and He is saying, can you stay a little bit longer? Can you stay for another hour with me to pray? Until the last day He prayed and He told His disciples, when I am going away to heaven, let me tell you what I'm going to be doing there. I'm going to be an intercessor. I am not going to be a party planner. I am not going to be organizing your crowns. I am not going to be writing people's names who got saved. I am not going to do anything of that. I am going to pick the highest position in heaven that is available until this day. And He said, I am going to intercede. This is how important the prayer is. What is an intercessor? An intercessor is somebody who gets hold of God and he gets hold of a person and he connects them together. Through our prayer, we build a bridge on which Holy Spirit can travel to a person's life. And God is saying, I am looking for a man who will stand in the gap. Where is a gap? When an enemy wants to attack a city and there is a wall around the city, enemy is not going to enter through the main wall because it's going to be gated through the main gates because it's going to be gated, it's going to be protected. Enemy is going to go around and it's going to find a crack in the wall. It's going to find a gap to break through into the city. And God is saying, I am looking for a man who is going to stand in the gap. Who is going to stand in the gap in the prayer that the enemy will not enter people's lives, that the enemy will not come and destroy the city, that the enemy will not come and destroy this generation. God is in the search of a man that will not be just entertained by elephants in the circus, but it will be drawn to the torment and to the torture that this enemy is putting on these people, for these people to be so drawn by drugs, so drawn by this captivity that the enemy has in their life. And God is saying, I'm searching for someone who is willing to live their life, not on their own agenda because it's those people that will make their difference, that will surrender all to see this generation being saved. And we see a perfect man in the Bible when it comes to people, when it comes to not giving up on people, not giving up on the people that God entrusted him with. It's Moses. When it comes to prayer, Moses was in the camp, and that camp was defiled. The camp was full of curses, full of idolatry, lust, sin, anything you can think of. It was in the camp. And Moses dwell with those people and he loved those people. There were sinners and heathens. But when God wanted to speak to Moses, there's one thing he said, Moses, and the thing is God's presence left that camp because God's presence cannot be worse in. And God is saying, Moses, if you want to speak to me, if you want me to speak to you, you have to come out of that camp and speak with me. Exodus 19, 17. And Moses brought people out of the camp to meet with God. And when Moses came to pray, he took 70 elders with him as well. And this is where he had to leave the camp. What is that speaking of? When God is calling us to prayer, there's two things we have to do. We have to come out of that atmosphere we build our life. We have to come out of our business. We have to come out of our excuses. We have to come out of our laziness. We have to come out of all the things that consume our life that stop us from praying. We have to come out of this sin even in our life for us to begin, for God to begin to touch our life. And he's saying, Moses, I want you to come out of it, but don't just come out of it. I want you to go up to the mountain. Exodus 24, 12. And the Lord said to Moses, come up to the mountain and be there. You don't have to say much, just be there. And God is calling out today. He said, I want you to come out of your excuses and all the things and all the duties and all the homeworks and everything that you have in your life. But not all of that, but I want you to come up to the mountain. I don't know if you've ever hiked. It's hard to hike. And that's why we see in the Bible, those 70 elders, they only made it halfway because when your heart is truly after people, you will go all the way with God to meet with God's face to face. This is where God begins to open up his heart. This is where God begins to pour out himself to Moses. And one thing Moses began to say to God, I'm not going unless your presence are coming with me. I am not going anywhere unless you are coming with me. I know you have left the camp. I know you're no longer with these people, but I still love them. Even when God gave up on that camp, Moses did not. Moses is a man who never quit loving people. He never let go of the people that God entrusted him with. And today God is calling us to come out of our situations, to come out of our comfortable lives, to come out of our paradise that we have built for our life. And he's saying, I want you to come out of it that you can come up with me. In the New Testament, in the Acts when Jesus said to wait for the Holy Spirit in the upper room, there was actually been recorded. There was 500 people that he told it to. But we only read in the Bible there was 120 that actually waited for the 50 days of the Holy Spirit coming because a lot of people they come out but they don't take the time to get to know God. They don't get the time. They don't give themselves time for the God to test their heart. Do you really want what you're praying for? Do you really, are you really sure this is what you want? That this is the city that you want to save? Are you really sure you want the thousands locally and millions globally? And this is where our hearts are tested, is when we have to go up to the mountain and spend the extra hour when everybody goes home. God is searching for a man who is not going to give up on his people. Even though when everyone else around them give up already. When every church maybe has turned away from everybody else in our city, he is looking for a man who is going to hold on to every soul until God touches their life. But not only that, he is going to hold on to God's presence and saying, God, I'm not going anywhere. I don't care how long it's going to take me to climb this mountain. I don't care how long it's going to take me for me to stay here until you're coming down with me. I'm not leaving this place. And God is calling this church and God is calling each one of us to prayer. And this is why we have night prayers. This is why we have morning prayers and this is why we encourage each person to begin to soak yourself in God's presence because God only touches those that he wants to use. And the way we respond to God's call will determine the intensity of his presence in our life. The way we respond to God's call will determine the intensity of God's presence in our life. We can come out here on night prayers but we will never, but we never tend to go up with him when he begins to pour out his heart or begin to share himself because God can't open his heart in the camp because people have turned away from him but he is looking for a man that is still after his heart. Amen? And this church, we have a vision that we are going to reach out to millions globally. That every soul in our city and God is touching and God wants to touch our hearts that we will not give up on our city until we see our city being saved, until we see every single family member being restored. Amen? Because we have to be aware. You can't really pray for souls unless you really know what's going on with that elephant spirit that's being broken down. You can't really pray until you really know what's going on in jail cells. You can't really pray for souls until you really know the torment that the enemy is putting these people through. And this is why we have to come closer to God that God can reveal that to us. This is why we have to come out of our paradise that we've created for ourselves, for God to show his heart, to show the cry of the people. God is calling us because somebody has been calling him to send the saver, to send the deliverer, to send somebody. And he said, I have given you all the authority. I have given you all the keys and you go and you set the captives free. And this is our call and this is our duty and this is why we exist on this planet Earth. Amen? How many of you guys are going to come out? Amen? Out of your blankets and your beds. So this is why we have 24 hour prayer. I encourage every single one of you guys to send out for that hour that you can come out of your closet. You can come out of your workplace, whatever that is. For God, for God to touch your heart because our hearts have to be touched first before we can start praying for people. Our hearts have to be moved first before we start interceding for a city. Amen? Let's put our hands together for Jesus Christ.