Pray First

Awesome. Thanks for being here. Man, happy birthday, Pastor Leon. Y'all love your pastor. He's awesome, isn't he?

Oh my goodness. I love Leon Dunning. You guys have no idea. How many of you like ramen noodles in this place? By a show of hands, how many of you ate ramen noodles in college?

Like Leon and I, we consumed massive amounts of ramen noodles together every day in our dorm room. He would come over to mine or I would go over to his and we'd have it. It's a thing. And it was awesome. And we enjoyed that.

And I love that time in college. I got to meet my wife there, you know? This is Deb Cooper, who's back here. Can you guys give her a huge hit? Because she is awesome.

And after 10 years of trying to have a baby, I mean, 10 straight years, finally this guy, Isaac, my son, he came along. So he's awesome. I'm so thankful for him. And it is so great to be with you guys today. You have no idea like how how cool you are as believers and how glad I am for you.

Because you have to understand something. I did not grow up going to church. I am a PK, but I did not grow up going to church. I'm a psychologist kid. My mother's a psychologist and my stepfather's a clinical psychiatrist.

So I'm a PK. And my father, my biological father, he's a house painter. So it's like PK, PK, PK, man. Like, I'm not a preacher's kid. I'm a psychologist kid.

And I did not grow up going anywhere near churches. Like, that just wasn't a part of our life. Never did we wake up in the morning and go, where are we going to go to church this Sunday morning? Should we try one out or something like that? The thought just never crossed our mind.

So what I'm glad for you guys about is you cleared some things up for me that I was very, very confused about. Like, here's one of them. I would watch football games. See, I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. Go Seminoles, you know, like Florida State.

And so, yeah, I got a couple of hand claps here, but it's quiet up in this place, man. I see some Virginia fans that are here, so that's good. But I would see this sign come up at football games, and it confused the heck out of me. I would look at it. It said, John 316.

And I'm sitting there thinking, man, what? Who is this John guy? And what did he do with three minutes and 16 seconds left in the game, man? Like, I can't figure it out. And you church folks cleared that up for me, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Like, I know that now, but back then I was completely confused. I mean, you have no idea what it's like to get around a bunch of Christian young people, and you're singing Father Abraham had many sons. And I'm sitting there thinking, how in the world am I a son of Abraham Lincoln? I don't get it. I don't understand it.

Like, what's up? You know, so that's what it's like to grow up outside the church. Well, I got saved, radically transformed in 1994. Like, God just rocked my world. I was hanging with a friend of mine.

I grew up in Florida, used to surf around Jacksonville and Panama City when there was a storm and stuff like that. But I grew up around that area. And so Leon and I, we've had some surf talks and stuff like that. Grew up around that area and got a chance to go out to Colorado and snowboarded one time. And I loved it.

And I said, man, this is what I've been looking for. I love this stuff. And I remember sitting down with a friend of mine and I said, man, let's move to Denver. Let's just go out there. And I, during that same time, I was at the place that I became an unbeliever.

I decided I'm an atheist. I don't believe. Like, I grew up being taught a lot of spiritualism and things like that. And I just decided I don't believe. I'm a total atheist here.

And God changed that in Denver. Because let me tell you something, and I hope that this hits you, Salt Church, church plant here. Somebody invited me to church, so I went. And that's when I was saved. That's when I found out what God did.

Amen. With three minutes and 16 seconds left in the game. Like, He trades my life. And it was awesome. So, something else came along during that period.

I learned why I should pray. And that's what this message is entitled today. Why should I pray? Come on, can you say that? Why should I pray?

I mean, what's up with that? Why? There's so many other things that I could be doing. And there's three insights that I want you to hear about prayer. And I hope that they touch you.

And I hope that they help you. And I hope that they bring you to the place that God touches your heart. And I hope you become extremely passionate about prayer. And I really, really, really hope that you start praying for this area. Because some of these new agers that are out there, some of these spiritual folks who absolutely have been completely turned off by it.

And they're sick of hearing about church. And they're sick of hearing about spirituality. And they're sick of, I was that guy. But because somebody was praying for me, when I got a church invitation, I went and I got changed forever. And so, there are people that are all over this area right now.

As a matter of fact, Virginia Beach, man, is a hotbed for new age. And this is a place that could be transformed by your prayers. Your prayers matter. And I hope that you get this today. I hope that God touches you.

Because today, I'm going to give you three insights about prayer that I believe will incredibly help. Now, I'm going to go to a scripture today that many of you have heard. And you've you're familiar with. This is one that I knew before I even gave my life to Christ or understood anything. Because I played for a football team back in the 80s and junior high.

And I remember playing for that team. We won every game for two years straight. And we used to do this, man, right before the game, we'd throw all of our hands in there. And as we were getting ready to go out and play football, we would say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And we'd pray the Lord's Prayer. And then we would proceed to go out and beat other teams on down. I mean, God used us. And then I played for another team going into high school, you know, right, like those years right before high school, I played for another team for two years. We lost every game.

We didn't pray the Lord's Prayer. And I put I played with this one guy, though, on that team that won all the time. I mean, like won the game constantly won the game. I remember playing with him. And I remember we would pray and he something must have hit him because what we used to do, we were so doggone good that we would walk up to the line and we'd say, listen, we're going to run a sweep, right?

And there's nothing you guys can do about it. Like this guy we got on the team, we're going to hand him the ball and he's just going to go score. His name was Tameric Vanover that I played with. He actually played for Florida State and he played against the University of Miami, ran back two kicks like that against Miami in their heyday. Like he's awesome.

And I remember coming to the place that I came home from work one day and I turned on my TV and there was Tameric and it was sudden death overtime, Kansas City Chiefs versus the San Diego Chargers. And I watched the ball get kicked to Tameric and it looked just like when we were kids. He ran the ball into the end zone, 60 yards, and this is what he did. Watch this. Check this out.

It's awesome. As soon as he got the ball into the end zone, he went like this. I mean, like he was Tebow-ing before anybody was Tebow-ing. You understand? He went down and he went just like this, and the reporter's tapping him on the shoulders.

It's the first touchdown he ever scored in the NFL, and he goes just like this. He goes... He understood prayer, and he understood what it's like to have a relationship with God. There's just something about it. So, when you pray, it's important that you pray for the right reasons.

Before we get into these three insights, before I read you this scripture, I want to tell you a story that Jesus told. This is how he saw prayer. He talked about two men. Everybody say two men. Two men that went into the temple to pray.

Now, here's one of them. He's standing over there, and he's praying. And to him, he feels like, man, he's praying for the right reasons, but it's all wrong. How many of you have ever gotten around somebody who really knows how to pray, and like you get around them, but when you pray with them, it feels all wrong? Well, that's how this guy was.

Like he began to pray, and he said, God, listen to this prayer. This is like so self-righteous. He goes, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. It's a bunch of swindlers, unjust. I picture him kind of opening his eyes.

He goes, or even like that tax collector over there. I pay tithes of all that I receive. The Bible says the tax collector who was standing some distance away began to beat his breast and say, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. He says that's the guy who went home justified that day. That's the guy who got it right.

Not the one who had it all right in his own mind, but the one who had it all wrong and was crying out to God for relationship. And you want to see excitement in prayer? It's when you're crying out to God for you to have a relationship with God and for everyone else around you to have that same relationship with God. That's where prayer is powerful. Now, I want you to picture another scene because in just a few minutes, we're going to go to Matthew chapter 6.

We're going to go to Matthew chapter 6, and we're going to begin in verse 5. And as we go there, I want you to picture this with me. Today, where this place is in Israel, there's a big banana plantation. Like there's bananas growing all the way up this big hill. And it's where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.

And here's Jesus standing at the top of the mountain, and he's talking to thousands of people and sharing with them all these concepts and understandings about how to live a true relationship with God. And he's blowing all religion out of the water, man. And he's showing you what a true relationship with God looks like. That's what he's doing. And these are the words that he speaks.

He speaks about prayer. He says, and when you pray. He didn't say if you pray. He said when you pray. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

Now, I want you to realize something. That back in that day, there were hypocrites who would stand on the stage and wear masks because that's what they called actors back then. They were hypocrites. And he was saying, don't be like a bunch of people who are just acting like you're doing it. You need to be real in this.

There needs to be a real relationship for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues. God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, swindlers, unjust, those kind of guys. You know, they love to pray in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you that they have received their reward. Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward.

It's already happened. It's already taken place. He says, but when you pray, go into your inner room and shut the door and pray to your father who's in secret. And check this out. This is so awesome.

And your father who sees in secret will reward you. It says, and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they can be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. For your father knows your need before you even ask him.

So pray like this. He's saying, pray in this way. Now, he didn't say pray this exact prayer. When I was playing for that football team, we would pray the exact prayer. And we had some pretty good results.

But let me tell you something. This is what Jesus is saying. See, this is a model of the way you should pray. When you sit down to pray, this is how you do it. He says, I pray our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I love it how it's not. You're not like asking for it to happen. You're making a command like commanding onto the earth.

And you're talking to your father, by the way. This is relational. And it says in verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us of our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil.

There is evil that we need to be delivered from. There's evil in this city. Then there needs to be deliverance. There's evil that can come and attack our lives. And we need to be delivered from it.

And that's what he's bringing up. And it says, for if you forgive others of their trespass, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others of their trespass, neither will your father forgive your trespass. So here's the first insight. Everybody say number one.

Here's number one. Here's the first insight that we're going to get into. Prayer is not boring. That's important to realize. Prayer is not boring.

About right around a little after the time that Leon and I got a chance to meet and got to talk and all that. There was a movie that came out by a guy named Russell Crowe. And the movie was called A Beautiful Mind. And it was about the life of John Nash. And I don't know if you guys have ever seen this, but like he had an imaginary roommate, you know, who came and talked to him and would talk him into going out and doing something fun other than just sitting around and doing math all the time.

And his imaginary roommate looked at him in this movie and he says these words to him. He says, mathematics will never lead you to higher truth. And do you want to know why? It's because it's boring. And I think that there are a lot of people who are like, I'm not going to sit around and pray.

And do you want to know why? Because it's boring. I don't want to have to say, what am I going to do sitting all the day long and just try to pray? And I feel like I never hear anything and nothing's ever happening. And what's up, man?

Is prayer boring? Well, I got great news for you. Prayer is not boring. You're like, wait a minute. But when I go pray, I'm bored.

But prayer is not boring. We are. Just saying, man. We're boring. If all you're ever doing is just sitting around going, Lord, I know there's some stuff going on and help.

Jesus name. Amen. That was boring. Or you're sitting in the prayer closet and you're like, you know, I read that there's a prayer closet here. So I'll go get in the closet and pray, you know, and you're just sitting in there going, yeah, what now?

I mean, but that's boring. Okay. Now let's go. Can I do anything? But actually prayer is exciting.

Did you ever think about the fact that you are talking to the God of the universe who has been around since the beginning of everything? Did you ever stop to consider that you're actually talking to the one that created the universe? Like did you ever stop to consider that the Andromeda galaxy that's sitting out there, he can explain to you every star and every planet and everything that's going on? Did you ever stop to consider how big that is? For those of you who are crazy history people like I am, did you ever stop to consider that he can actually talk to you?

The one that was there for the entire Planned Tagenet dynasty of England can actually sit down and have a conversation with you? Did you ever think that the one who knows all of the intricate neurons of your brain will sit down and have a conversation with you? That is not boring. Now let me tell you when we don't think of prayer as boring. We don't think of prayer as boring.

Number one time that we do not think of prayer as boring is when we're in a crisis. Like that's when it's easy to pray. You know, September the 11th, 2001. There were a lot of people who were like, we got to pray. Oh my goodness.

You know, there's like planes flying into buildings and stuff like we need to pray or COVID-19. We need to pray. Crisis is an easy time to pray. Here's the problem with just being a crisis prayer person. Is you're going to have a very shallow prayer life.

That's the problem. Then there are some people who really get into prayer. Like I've been around some people. I met one guy, Leon. I went to a service once and I met this guy and he was sitting there preaching and I thought, I wonder if he talks like that when he's off the stage.

Like I got to talking to him. Like he went, he went like this is literally like he gets up there and I don't mean to be picking fun, but it was kind of neat. You know, he gets up there. He goes, Oh, sweet, precious congregation. I want to tell you what the Lord is saying today.

I was like, praise God. I couldn't help but say amen. I was like, amen. He said, let me ask you folks what you feel. He wasn't judgmental or angry.

He actually preached a really cool word, but he was preaching just like that. Let me tell you what the Lord has to say today. This is what God is saying in his word. And then I ran into him after the service. Like we shook hands.

I said, how you doing? He goes, how you doing brother? God bless you. I was like, dude, I could just hang out with you forever. Like this guy is so much fun, you know?

But you know something? I thought this guy probably does not have a boring prayer life. I bet he gets up in the morning and goes, Lord God, you know? And some of us are wondering, can we be like that and have like an exciting prayer? The problem is a lot of times when you meet somebody like that, a lot of them are praying because God needs me to pray because there's a need out there.

And that's the primary. If that becomes your absolute driving primary reason to pray. Realize for all these legalistic people you've met, there was a point when they had a relationship with God. But what kind of drove them away was they started praying just because this is what God needs. And then I realize other people aren't doing it.

And if they're not doing it, they're not meeting God's needs. So I'm mad at them. And they become religious. That's the pathway to religion. So those people aren't bored with prayer.

The problem is they're so busy looking at everybody else that they've become legalistic. So you've got to be real careful not to pray just because God needs you to pray. That can't be the driving force. The driving reason that we pray is simply because we're crazy about being with God. Like that's the best reason in the world to pray.

Just I want to spend time with God. You know, some mornings I wake up, I walk out into the living room and there's my wife and she's got the Bible out and she's got her music going and all that. And I want to spend some time with her. But you know something, man, she's spending time with God. Isn't that awesome?

That's where we need to be. There needs to be just this driving relationship that's between us and God. Do you realize he has all the answers to everything you're going through? Prayer is not boring when you have a relationship with God. The key here is to keep the relationship going.

You have to fight to have a great relationship. Those of you who are in here who are married, you know it is hard to have a great marriage. Marriage. It's tough work. My mother, who's the therapist that I was telling you about, she wrote a couple of books.

One of them was called The New Marriage, Transcending the Happily Ever After Myth. You know, because we all watch these movies where, you know, everybody, the king and the princess they ride or the king and the queen, they had ridden off into the sunset when they were prince and princess and all that. And they fell in love and everything was great and they all lived happily ever after. Everything was wonderful, but that's a total myth, isn't it? No, she said the way those stories should end is they began the hard process of having a great marriage.

Can I tell you something? Well, your relationship with God needs to begin with the process of having a great relationship and keeping a great relationship. And that means sitting down and saying, Dad, I just want to spend time with you. I love you. How do we keep this relationship fresh?

Sometimes that means putting on some music. Sometimes that means getting in your car and going for a prayer drive. Now, sometimes that means for those of you who surf in here, getting out in the ocean and going and spending time with God, saying, how do these waves work, Lord God? Because if you give me that insight, I'll know exactly where to drop in. You know, like spend time with God.

He's actually interested in every little intricate detail of your life. He loves you. He's crazy about you. And prayer is not boring. And if you remember anything from this entire message, I want you to remember that one thing.

It's not boring. All right? Prayer is not boring. Here's the second thing. And this one's a little spooky.

This one's a little scary. The occult is real. There is a real spiritual force out there that is against, that is against God and stands against God. The occult is real and people are influenced by it. Believe me, I grew up being around that, not even knowing that that was what was going on.

I thought I was just a loving person, you know, because I was born in 73 and I, you know, had tie-dyed diaper shirts and stuff, you know. I was one of those hippie babies and went to high school with people like Moonbeam and stuff like that, you know. And I just thought that I was around this loving atmosphere. And there's a lot to be said for love. Amen?

We should be loving as believers and that should be a part of our life. I mean, absolutely. Here's the problem, though. There's a back door to spirituality that's really scary and really tough. And it's out there.

And when you understand prayer, you understand how to overcome that. The occult... Salt is real. I went to school with this one lady, and she had a famous husband who was known for prayer. He's like a total prayer guy, you know, like total spiritual Christian on fire for God, all that kind of stuff.

If I said his name, you'd probably know who he was, but I'm not into name dropping, so we're not going to do that. But I went to school with this lady, and she's the one who we're going to focus on right now. He'd actually written this story in his book, and it was so good, and I thought, wow, that helps me to understand what spiritual, how to have a good balanced understanding of how to be really spiritual, really on fire for God, break through and pray prayers that break evil, and break evil things off, and yet at the same time, don't go crazy. Have you met some of these crazy people? Like, you know, there's a demon everywhere.

Have you run into some of them, you know? Like, they're just ready to cast the first demon out. There's a demon around you, you know? I mean, like, how do you understand that that's there and not become weird? Like, is that, you know, because that's a balance, isn't it, Pastor?

You know, I watched a couple of big pastors have that conversation. They pastored really big churches, and they said, you know, the Bible, it's got all these things in there about spiritual breakthroughs and all that. He said, when you open that door, you got to understand, sometimes there's going to be some weird folks that are just like attracted to it, and you got to understand. So how do you keep that balance? When I read this story, I said, that's how.

Oh my goodness, I get it. The occult's real. We can see breakthrough, and we don't have to become total weirdos to do it. When I read the story, it was so incredible, and this is what happened. The guy who wrote it about his wife and the gal that I went to school with, in their house, they had ceramic cats.

Like, that was their thing. It's just ceramic. I think they had some at the door, you know. When you come in, there were ceramic cats all over the place, and that was their theme, you know? How many of you have a theme in your house?

You got something that's going on, you know? I don't know. I don't see any hands, so I don't know how where this example is going right now, but they had one, okay? They had one. They had ceramic cats everywhere, and so that's what they were into.

By the way, there's nothing evil about having a theme in your house. I just want to point that out, and there is nothing evil about having ceramic cats in your house, all right? So I'm not going to start preaching against ceramic cats, just in case somebody's getting worried here. Uh-oh, here it comes. He said he wasn't legalistic, but here it comes.

No, we're not going there, but here's what took place. They had all these ceramic cats all over their house, and they bought this one particular ceramic cat, and they put it up in the house, and the house went crazy. Like, stuff just started happening. Problems here, and problems there, and little mishaps, and little problems, and they're trying to figure out what changed. Like, they didn't associate it with a ceramic cat, because they love ceramic cats, and it couldn't possibly be anything to do with a ceramic cat, right?

You guys are like, this is getting really weird. Where are you going with this? Just trust me. Stay on the train here, all right? We're going to get to the station, trust me.

And then they get to the place where he said, he began to pray. He said, yeah, this was Christ's prayer. It was like, God, you got to help me. What is going on? And the Lord brought this particular new ceramic cat to his mind, and he said, that ceramic cat is a doorway in your house to spiritual darkness.

He thought, how in the world? How? He said he began to remember how he bought the cat. He said he felt this almost weird drawing to it. Now, let me give you some context.

Let me give you some context. He was in New Orleans, and while they were in New Orleans, he walked by a voodoo shop. He didn't realize it was a voodoo shop, and he bought this ceramic cat in the voodoo shop, brought it home, and it was like putting a door to the spiritual darkness realm in the house. Are you with me? And all of a sudden, things started going crazy.

Well, he prayed. He said, God, what do I do? The Lord told me. He said, the Lord told me to pass it through the fire, so I started a fire in the fireplace. I took the ceramic cat, broke it into the fireplace.

Now, this is really freaky, because what he tells is, now, I wasn't there, but I believe him. He's a credible guy. I believe it. This is what took place. This was grad school, and he was a teacher for us, so, I mean, he had something going on.

You with me? All right. All of a sudden, he said there was a wind all through the house that began to blow in, went through the fireplace, and took off. Wow. So, you know what he did next?

He went after the rest of those ceramic cats. In Jesus' name, where are those cats? He started going all over the house finding ceramic cats, breaking them in the fire. No more wind going on. Just ceramic cats are getting broken, man.

You know, poor things. They didn't have nine lives. They only had one life. They're ceramic, you know, and they're just getting broken all up in the fireplace, and nothing's happening when that's taking place. All of a sudden, the wife comes home.

Now, she loves ceramic cats. Most of them were hers, and she says, where are my cats? And he says to her, well, let me tell you the story, and he told her the story, and she looked at him, and she said, you're the one that brought home that demonic cat. There's nothing wrong with my cats. It was your cat that was the problem.

Now, do you see something? We can way overdo things. There is a real occult out there. That does not mean there's demonic forces everywhere you go, but it does mean that you need to pay attention to the fact that there are some. I remember praying.

I remember having a call at my house one time, and one of the kids in our youth ministry, actually when I was at Clinton, where Leon's dad pastors now. I was a youth pastor there for about five years, and I remember one of the kids calling me up, freaking out. We just saw this thing inside the church and all this stuff, and I'm like, what is going on? Thing inside the church? You know, is the church haunted?

That's what, you know, we reached a lot of young people who were getting saved. Was the church haunted? I was like, no, the church isn't haunted. Let me go down there and pray, and I began to pray, and I remember going through that room where they described it. I opened up a drawer, and I grabbed out this marble, and the marble had a figure on it of something that's really popular among kids.

Now, I'm not going to tell you what it is, because I don't want you to demonize every single thing that that one marble was associated with. That one marble had a problem. Not every marble had a problem, but that one did. What's key here, so you go, well, how do I know? Are you ready?

Pray. Sit down. Have a conversation with God. Some of you guys are probably like, man, my house is going crazy right now. I know.

I just bought that new blender. I can't wait. I'm going to get things going. I got a fireplace too, just watch. Don't go breaking all your appliances, but pray, you know.

And here's the other thing, all over the city, there are things that are placed that are dangerous, and there are spiritual strongholds, and there's stuff, everybody say stuff, there's stuff that messes a city up, and causes a city to just have like a just absolute cloud over it. You want to see the cloud broken? Begin to pray, and begin to ask God, reveal to us what's up. Don't get weird on it, but figure out what things are in the city that need to be broken in prayer. When I started learning that stuff, we started going places and praying.

I remember knowing things and not telling people. I remember riding with a friend of mine who's a pastor now, and back then, he was just a young person. We began to pray. We're driving around in the car and all this. I said, I'm not going to tell you where the problem is.

I want to see if you can sense it spiritually. And we're driving around, we're praying, and I said, do you know where it was? And he said, yeah, you know, we took two lefts and one right, and back there, that was where the problem was. I said, yeah, exactly. I just you know, let's pray.

And we began to break things down with prayer. We began to see changes take place that were incredible. Are you willing to pray? This stuff is exciting. This stuff is powerful.

So prayer is not boring, and the occult is real. All right? So let's go on to the third thing here. And I want to dive into that understanding, and that's that our cities can be changed. Our cities, our prayers can change our cities.

Our prayers can change our cities. It starts in your house, like literally. Some of you might be saying, wow, there may be something there, because there's been some crazy stuff. There has been some freaky-deaky stuff going on in my house for the last six months, and you just might be on to something. Let me pray.

But not just your house. This city, Salt Church, because this city has all kinds of demonic strongholds that are in it. Can I tell you something, man? I planted a church in Denver, Colorado. I remember being there.

I remember that whole experience. It was really awesome. But I also remember south of there, there was Colorado Springs, and I was trying to figure out what's up with Colorado Springs. There's such a breakthrough. There's like 50 parachurch ministries.

It's like the parachurch ministry capital of the world, you know, Colorado Springs. And going there, it's like when you go, when you're in Denver, it is not the Bible Belt whatsoever. Like there aren't a bunch of Christians around there, and people are wondering, why would you go to church? I planted a church there, and I literally remember an area that was around there that had thousands and thousands of dwellings, and there wasn't one single church building in that area. You know, like just tough stuff.

And I was like, why is it that Colorado Springs is doing so well? Well, I found out that Colorado Springs used to be just like Denver. But a group of people got together and started praying over the city, and started believing God for transformation. And Colorado Springs took off, and all of a sudden, it became where Focus on the Family is, and where Wagner Leadership Institute is, and every end of the spectrum. Just great stuff coming out.

All of a sudden, there were breakthroughs in Loveland, Colorado, and like group publishing, and all of this stuff. And God is doing a work in Colorado because of the fact that people are praying. And it's serious, and it's powerful, and cities are transformed. Now listen, your home is transformed by you praying, but cities are transformed when a church gets together and prays. It's powerful.

What if we pray today? How about that? Isn't that awesome? It's not boring, is it? No, it's good.

Well, let's look at the strategy behind prayer, and let's come to understand how we can see a breakthrough. Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10, beginning in verse 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, beginning in verse 3. Can I just like history geek out on you for just a second before we go there? Is that okay?

Because I want to give you some context. This was written during the height of the Roman Empire, all right? And during the height of the Roman Empire, what the Romans would do was they had this awesome military machine. They knew how to go into an area and take over. And when they did, they would build a stronghold in that area.

They would put up like this big rectangular fortress area where they had four entrances, and they would go into those places, and they had all of their barracks and everything that they would build. And they built so strong. They built these places so strong that there are literally places that the stones are still standing today. Like that's how big they built these things. And that's what they would do.

They would build an outpost, and they would go into that place if there was danger, and they would send out messengers who would go get the rest of the Roman army, and they always could hold a place under their thumb because of the stronghold. They had a stronghold on that area. Well, it's the same way with spirituality. Realize that's in the natural, but this is what goes on in the spiritual. And this is what Paul says in chapter 10 of 2nd Corinthians, beginning in verse 3.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Do you see that? That's why I wanted to show you the stronghold that I'm talking about, to destroy strongholds. Now when they read this in the city of Corinth, they would have understood.

That's how Rome came in here and took over Greece. That's how that took place. They came in, they took over, and then they started to build these strongholds. That stuff's still there to this day. It's that powerful.

That's how strong that they would build it. One of the biggest reasons Rome was able to conquer like they were was because they had great engineers. They had great architects. They understood how to have all these really good builders. Not just a powerful army, but they understood how to build the infrastructure that they could absolutely take over.

And that's what they would do. They would build these places. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. And what Paul is saying here is that we, in prayer, have the same thing to break down the strongholds of the devil. Are you with me?

That's what's up, man. This is powerful. And he explains that, and in verse 5, he says, we're destroying arguments and every lofty opinion that rises up against the knowledge of God. Now, when he talks about that, I want you to picture we're destroying all of the architects. We're destroying all of the ones who are, all the demonic forces that are the architects of building this stuff in your cities that cause havoc to take place, that cause people to be stuck on drugs, man.

That cause people to be absolutely falling away from God. That cause people to have, listen, man. Sexual things that do not belong. All of a sudden God is able to bring a breakthrough in. Because I am, I would love to get to the place that there was never a rape again in Virginia.

Wouldn't that be awesome if God could do that? I would love to get to the place that there was never another case of child molestation. I would love to get to the place, can we just get real in here for just a minute, I would love to get to the place that nobody's ever an alcoholic again. Nobody's a drug addict anymore because demonic strongholds are broken down. And this is how he says that it's done and it's really powerful.

And he talks about these weapons coming. He says we are destroying arguments and every lofty opinion that is raised up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. When do we get to do that? Being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is complete. Let me tell you when you get to do that?

Let me tell you when you get to do that? Let me tell you when you get to do that, when you have complete obedience. You say, well, how do we, you know, how do I get there? How do I have complete obedience? I mean, is this like a long training program?

No, this is real simple. You ready for complete obedience? Lord, I surrender. Your way, not mine. I've been trying my way.

It's not working. I give up. I remember sitting down. I remember sitting down. I remember literally sitting in my house and I had a beer in my hand.

I was nine months into being a believer. And I said, God, I can't stop drinking. I can't do this. It's impossible. No matter how hard I try.

My uncle died of alcoholism. I've lost uncles to drugs and alcohol. It's been a huge part of my family. And I'm just sitting there going, God, I can't stop. What do I do?

I said, and then it hit me because I'm talking to God. Realize I'm talking, I'm praying with a beer in my hand. Are you with me? And I'm not talking about like I was having one beer or whatever. I'm not listening.

Some of you guys like, oh boy, here we go. No, don't take it there. I'm talking about I had an alcohol problem. I'm talking about I was an alcoholic and it had my wife. I didn't have a beer.

The beer had me. Are you with me? I was in prison. I was in jail to alcoholism. And I said, God, God, help me.

I can't do this. And that's when the prayer hit me. But you can do it in me. And I put the beer down and I stopped drinking that night and I never drank again. God set me free.

Now, thank God for you guys who can like whatever, you know, you can, you can handle like one beer. I wasn't one of those. Like I drank a beer and I drank 20. Just the way it was. But God set me free that day.

And you know what took place? I surrendered. I surrendered. That's how you have complete obedience. By the way, just so that you understand the genre of writing in ancient Greek here and the understanding of Koine Greek that Paul is writing in, the way that he's writing this is actually what you consider reverse truth.

And what that means is it begins with the end in mind. The end in mind is destroying the stronghold. The beginning is complete obedience. OK, so you kind of have to walk this back. Was saying when your obedience is complete, then you'll be ready to punish all disobedience.

And then you'll be at the place that you can take every thought captive under the obedience of Christ. You can put it in jail. That's when you're going to demolish all the arguments. And that's when you're going to come against every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. That's when you're able to do all those things.

And when you've done all that stuff, that's when the strongholds start coming down. You see what I'm saying? And that's what he's telling you. This is. You guys ready for this?

So cool. That's spiritual warfare 101 right there. And that's prayer. Is that boring? I'm just wondering.

Is anybody bored by that? Because I'm not bored by that. Like, I'm excited about seeing us come to the place that they say, man, I sure am glad Salt Church is in Virginia Beach. Because Salt Church, amen. Because Salt Church is in Virginia Beach.

That means that there are kids who actually are going to have a life that they wouldn't have otherwise had. I don't get it. All of a sudden, the hood changed. Because Salt Church is in Virginia Beach. That's what God can do.

That's what prayer is all about. And that's what I want to do today. I just wonder, man, would you close your eyes and have a real private moment with God for just a minute? Because let's just choose to be completely obedient, you know? And I just wonder, man, if you're at that place with every eye closed and every head bowed, I just want to ask you, this is not, if you're not saved and you don't know Jesus, this is a great way to do it.

But if you are saved and you do know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, this is about you committing and saying, I'm absolutely 100% committed. Like, I'm going to pray, Lord. I choose this day to have obedience. I choose this day that maybe I got a little lackadaisical in my prayer life or whatever. But what you're saying is right now, I'm ready to totally give in to you, God, because I'm tired of seeing my city get ransacked by the enemy.

I'm ready to see God do something. I'm tired of the enemy tearing my house apart. I'm tired of the stuff going on in my life that's been tearing things up. I am sick and tired of that stuff, and I'm ready to see you bring a breakthrough, Lord. I'm ready to see you bring love and unity and the grace and power and all of that.

So right now, I'm just ready to surrender to you. And if that's you, just like I say, this is private. This is between you and God. And then we're going to have a corporate time of prayer. But if that's you, would you just raise up your hands and surrender?

Just to hold both of your hands up and say, man, that's me. I give up today. I'm absolutely choosing to give up to you. Listen, you could absolutely have a Christian award for being a Christian and say, Lord, today I surrender, all right? Or you could be somebody who's ready to give your life to Christ.

And if you're doing that for the first time and you didn't know Jesus is your Savior, this is your opportunity to say, Lord, I surrender to you today. And I recognize that Jesus Christ died on the cross to set me free from my sins. And because of that, I'm saved. But also, for those of you who are in here who are just ready to say, I'm ready to get serious about having a prayer life. And right now, Lord, I surrender to you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And today, right now, I want us to all pray together. So just with all of us bowed heads in this place, we're going to pray together.

And we're going to believe God to do something incredible. And if you agree with me when I'm done, I'm going to say, and all the people said. And if you agree with me, say amen. That is saying that I agree. Because what that amen means is, may it be so.

May it be so. And today, we're going to pray. And if you agree with it, then I want you to say amen. And I want you to pray. Speaking to God as we're praying, we're going to see a breakthrough.

Lord, I thank you for who you are. And I thank you for the perfect plans that you have for Salt Church. There is no disease. There is no sickness. There is nothing that can stand in the way of what you have planned for this house.

Lord, I thank you that you have a perfect plan. There are people who are out there who are in desperate need of you. They're looking every which direction, just like I was. They're trying to look to every back door of spirituality to find you. But Lord God, and there are so many of them that they've even had bad experiences in churches, Lord God.

But I know that there's a real relationship with you. So today, Lord, we come before you and we choose to pray. And we ask you that, Lord, you would move in a powerful way. Lord, I ask that even today, there are people whose lives have been kind of knocked off kilter. They've been set out of order.

Their houses, they've seen things take place. And Lord God, today, I declare their houses to be put back together. That, Lord God, you will bring a blessing. That you'll bring a blessing to my house, to the Cooper household. And that you bring a blessing to the Dunning household.

And that you bring a blessing to every household in here, in the mighty name of Jesus. That every person that's in here right now will experience you at a higher and greater level than they've ever experienced you before. For Holy Spirit, come and move in our hearts and move in our minds and move in our lives to do your perfect will. Lord, make us prayer warriors, Lord, for you. That, Lord God, there's a battle to be won.

And Lord, you're going to win it through us because that's how you do it. So, Lord God, I ask you that right now you would do that. You would move in each and every one of us. Lord, I ask that you would remove everything that's been standing in the way and move powerfully here. Lord, I thank you that you have a perfect prayer plan strategy for this place, Lord God.

And I ask that you even begin to right now light up all those places of darkness to be seen. That, Lord, in the name of Jesus, even those who are flying under the radar and people don't even realize what's taking place, that, Lord, you would light it up. Not to hurt them. In Jesus' name, not to hurt them. But so that people can know you.

We're not here to make people feel bad. We're here to make the devil feel bad. And, Lord, in the name of Jesus, I ask that you would save people. There are good people out there who have fallen trap to some really bad stuff. Lord, I ask you that you would set people free.

Set people free with your love and with your grace. I ask you for restoration, even in families and in people's lives where things have been torn apart by the enemy because of the strongholds. I ask you that right now you would bring that restoration, that you would bring this church together in a powerful way as prayer warriors to pray your will and to see your will be done. Kingdom come and will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen.