You can turn with me to Acts chapter 6, Acts
chapter 6, and I want to share with you this
morning a bit of some things that the Lord is
putting on my heart for 2026. I was going to
preach this message a couple weeks ago. You remember
when I preached on the family. And there have
been some key words that have been given already
this year that if you've missed, you need to
go back and listen to. Pastor Cammie, I already
said, preached on listening to the Lord last
Sunday. That's a message you need to hear. The
message on family. God wants to bless your family.
You need to hear that word, and so keep that
word. close to you. And I believe that 2026 is
a year where your family is going to be blessed.
Amen? And this word kind of dovetails. It's why
I wanted to give it right after last week's word
on listening to the Lord. It dovetails with that
a little bit. And it's going to be more me just
taking you on a journey that the Lord has been
showing me about what needs to take place in
the church. And the things that God has given
to the church are not always easy, but they are
usually simple. They are usually easy to understand,
although because of this struggle that we have
with our own selves. Of course, nobody else here
has struggled with their own selves. Am I the
only one with my hand up? Come on, put your hand
up if you struggle. Make me feel better. Make
me feel better. Because of the struggle we have
with our own selves, this world that we live
in that is seemingly getting crazier and crazier
by the day, can all the stuff that we deal with,
the stuff of life, the scriptures call them the
cares of life, that can choke it out. Because
of all these things, it's not easy, but it's
simple. And I want to call us as a church this
morning. to be overcomers in 2026, and to not
just yield to those things and say, oh, well,
we'll just let these things slide. We'll just
do whatever in 2026. No, we need to put our hand
to the plow and not look back and do the things
that God has called us to do. And so I was devotionally
reading in Acts chapter 6. And I came to this
passage, and this is a significant passage. This
is when Jesus, or not Jesus, when the apostles
first create the space for deacons in the church
in Acts chapter 6. And so let's just read from
verse 1 and down for a minute. Now in those days
when the number of the disciples was multiplying,
there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by
the Hellenists. So this is the Greeks and the
Jews. These are both Jewish groups, but one of
them is of Greek descent and the other is of
national Israeli descent in the daily distribution.
And I read this and I say, you know, I take comfort
in it. Because I'm like, there were problems
in the first church. It's kind of like when we're
at district council and they say, play the video,
and the video does not play. I go, oh, praise
God. You know, it strangely encourages me. When
I see churches that seemingly have it together
and something flops major, I go, oh, praise God.
And they had problems. And so they came to the
apostles with their problems. The apostles were
their leaders. And can I just tell you this?
It's okay to bring stuff to the leaders of the
church. Okay? People that are gossips don't go
to the leaders to gossip. People that are trying
to cause trouble, they don't come to the leadership.
But the leadership is who you're supposed to
come to, right? So when you have an issue, when
things go wrong, because they do go wrong even
in the church, come to the leadership. And that's
what they did. And so the leaders did not bat
them down. They did not tell them, well, buck
it up. They didn't tell them that. They recognized
this as a real issue. And it was in this moment
that God gave them wisdom on how to deal with
it. Verse 2, then the twelve summoned the multitude
of the disciples and said, it is not desirable
that we should leave the word of God and serve
tables. Now they weren't saying in this passage,
they weren't saying we're above this. That's
not what they were saying. We're too good to
serve food. We are so high and mighty, we can't
debase ourselves by scrubbing toilets. That's
not what they were saying. But what they did
recognize is their role. And that their role
as apostles, they were so busy. Can you even
imagine? There were, at this point in time, probably
10 ,000... believers plus. Sometimes those numbers
are only the men in those days. There could have
been 20, 25 ,000 Christians in this day and 12
apostles, and they were meeting in homes. And
the apostles every single day, every single day,
I'm sure sometimes multiple times per day, were
in homes with groups of 30, 40, 50 people teaching
the Word of God. It wasn't that they were just
preparing. for a sermon on Sunday morning. They
were discipling the people every single day and
there were only 12 of them. And the church had
not yet developed to the point where all the
gifts in the body were released. And so they
were the main disciplers. And now they have an
issue come forward, and they're saying it needs
to be met. But if we take our time to feed people,
if we take our time to organize this, to get
it all together, and to make it happen, then
the Word of God that God is using, us to deposit
into other people the Word of God will suffer.
And they realized their lane, their role. And
so here we see the distinction, the first distinction,
between what I believe the apostles acting as
elders in the church and deacons. And so here,
let's see what they say. Therefore, brethren,
seek out from among you seven men of good reputation,
full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may
appoint over this business. And so these weren't
just people that liked to... liked to do things
rather than spiritual. They were not people that
neglected the spiritual side of life. They were
people that were full of the Holy Spirit. They
understood the Lord and they had great wisdom.
And so they even said, you choose them. We're
not even going to appoint them. You choose them.
So they all got their ballots out and nominations.
Actually, we don't know how they came up with
the first seven deacons. Later on in the church,
there were deaconesses. Later on, there were
women that were deacons and women that served
in leadership positions in the church. And so
they were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.
And they chose them. And it goes on. But I want
to read verse 4. And when I read this, verse
4, this is what the Lord captivated me with.
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer
and to the ministry of the Word. And when I read
that, I felt the Lord just speak to me and say
that 2026, that he was speaking to me personally,
Darren, you need to come back to the place of
prayer. And I realized not that I have quit praying,
not that I have quit reading and quit studying,
but I have, and it might be because I quit doing
praying 3 ,000 five times a week. That might
have something to do with it, but I felt like
2025, I drifted away a bit from that strong place
of prayer. And that in 2026, that we as a body,
now this is speaking about apostles, about elders
as their main role, but how many of you would
say that God has been, in this first month of
the year, speaking to you about your prayer life.
Yeah. Yeah. Prayer is such an important, important
place in our lives. Prayer was important in the
life of Jesus. I have a whole sheet that I might
print and distribute concerning prayer and Jesus'
life. It's fascinating as you read the Scriptures,
especially the book of Luke. Luke seems to capture
the prayer life of Jesus more than any other
of the Gospels. But Jesus is constantly finding
a place to spend time with the Father. And one
of those verses in Matthew chapter 14, I want
to read. And this is right after the feeding
of the 5 ,000, Matthew 14. There's thousands
and thousands of people that Jesus is ministering
to. He gets this loaf, two loaves of bread, a
couple fish, and he breaks them and gives thanks
to God. gives them to the disciples, and in the
hands of the disciples, as they are distributing
the fish and the bread, multiplication happens,
and thousands and thousands and thousands of
people are fed. He's been teaching all day. He
sees this miracle happen, and it's pretty awesome.
And so they were all filled. They took up 12
basketfuls of fragments afterwards. And just
an incredible time together. And then verse 22
comes. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get
into the boat and go before him to the other
side while he sent the multitudes away. And when
he had sent the multitudes away, he went up by
the mountain, to the mountain by himself to pray.
He went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
And the story goes on, and there's another awesome
story that happens after that. But sandwiched
in between them, Jesus got alone with God to
pray. And then I begin to think about the different
times where we're called to pray. Jesus taught
on the Sermon on the Mount, flipping back a few
chapters in Matthew to Matthew 6. And I shared
a couple of weeks ago that I believe that this
is the single most important Scripture for Christians
in 2026. Matthew 6, verse 6. In fact, I think
we should just all memorize it right now. Everybody
turn to Matthew chapter 6, verse 6. Turn there,
and we're going to read it together out loud.
We're going to lift it up with one voice. Well,
if you have the New King James Version. If you
don't have the New King James Version, you can
kind of mumble along with me when the words are
a little bit different. But let's read it together.
when you pray, go into your room, and when you
have shut your door, pray to your Father who
is in the secret place, and your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly. Now, I know
that to memorize something, you've got to read
it more than once, and so let's read it again.
But you, When you pray, go into your room. And
when you have shut your door, pray to your Father
who is in the secret place. And your Father who
sees in secret will reward you openly. This is
a powerful, powerful promise. It's one of those
promises that is dependent upon obedience. The
open reward of the Father will not come unless
you fulfill the first part. And I believe that
this call, Jesus is not here talking to elders
and apostles. He's talking to us all. And I believe
that the enemy above all, Tries to keep this
verse from being fulfilled on a day -by -day
basis. I believe that this is one of the hardest
verses for the... Church to live out. But I also
believe that it is the greatest call to any believer
is to get alone with God and pray. Now, there's
all different kinds of prayer. There are secrets
to learning prayer. Dick Eastman's prayer wheel.
The hour that changes the world. That's the book
he wrote. Dick Eastman put a prayer wheel together
and it tells you how to spend five minutes in
each. spoke of the wheel in praise, in reading
scripture, in asking for needs, in listening
to the Lord. It has 12 different spokes and it
ends with praise, starts with praise and ends
with praise. And if we spend five minutes in
each of those spokes, we'll have spent an hour
in prayer. It's a really wonderful, wonderful
tool to teach you how to pray. But more than
the formula of how you pray, is that you pray.
Is that you spend time with God. Amen? Spend
time with the Lord. And Jesus says, go into your
room. Shut the door. Shut the door. And what
He's saying is, Get alone with God. If He was
in our culture today, what might He say? Everybody's
saying the same thing. Turn off your cell phone.
Because this is the number one distraction in
my life. Is it the number one distraction in
your life? If it is, raise your hand. Okay, most
of you have your hand raised up. The number one
distraction right here. That's what he's saying.
Shut the door. Be alone with God. And friends,
when you first start, if you've never shut the
door, and if you've never spent time alone with
God, you will shut the door and you'll sit down
and you'll say, Lord, I thank you for this day.
And then after that, you'll be like, and what
do I say now? But I want to encourage you that
the journey of learning how to pray is worth
it. And the journey of learning to spend time
with God. will help you. It's there in the alone
time with God that He will bring conviction to
you when you need to repent and turn back to
God. It's there in alone time with God that He
will speak to your heart direction that you need
for your life. It is there in the alone time
with God that He will unlock the keys that you
need and give you the wisdom that you need to
solve problems. It is that alone time with God
that ultimately isn't about your own life, but
it changes and shapes nations. Alone time with
God changes the course of nations because we
spend time with the Lord. When the disciples,
when they asked Jesus to teach them how to do
something, They did not ask Jesus to teach them
how to preach. I believe that Jesus was a good
communicator. And people sat on the edge of their
seats and they even commented, they said, you
teach like one with authority. You teach like
with... Somebody that has substance behind what
they're saying, not like what we've heard our
whole lives in the synagogue. And they were captivated
by how he taught and how he preached to the multitudes,
but the disciples did not say, teach us how to
preach. Jesus did miracles, which the disciples
also did, but could not do them all. In fact,
failed on at least one of them. But the disciples,
their question in this moment was not, teach
us the supernatural. But we need to learn the
supernatural. Their question was, Jesus, teach
us how to pray. Teach us how to pray. Teach us
how to pray. In the Garden of Gethsemane, If
you'll go there in Matthew chapter 26. Matthew
26 and verse 40. And Jesus, he brought Peter,
James, and John, and he was in the garden of
Gethsemane. This is the night before his arrest,
the night before he went to the cross. And he
takes them in the garden so that he can pray.
And he wants to be alone with the Father, but
not totally alone. And so he brings the three,
and he puts them here. And the Bible says he
moves a stone's throw away. What is that? About
50 yards away. Carter and David and I were at
a campsite, and we found out how far a stone's
throw was. And I threw with all my might, but
I could not hit the other side. I was two feet
away, and my arm was sore. I don't know why I
told you that story. But they were a stone's
throw away, and Jesus is there praying. And in
verse 40 it says, lest you enter into temptation.
And just as a side note, we see here the single
greatest key, I believe, to overcoming temptation.
Like if you have a besetting sin and temptation
keeps coming your way, the number one way to
get strength to overcome that temptation, watch
and pray. Learn how to pray. Well, don't I need
to learn how to resist and say no? Well, there
might be some keys to that. But the first key
is to give yourself to prayer. Amen? Amen. And
so if you find yourself, you know, constantly
tripping over sin, learn how to pray. Watch and
pray so that you don't enter into temptation.
told them, couldn't you? You're my disciples.
Couldn't you even stay awake and pray with me
for one hour? And for some of us, an hour of
prayer seems very daunting. And this is not saying
that if you can't pray an hour, you're a failure.
But I do think that time with God, that we need
to be challenged in that. And so I just want
to challenge every one of you, grow in 2026 in
your prayer life. Amen? Grow in your prayer life.
The Father who sees what is done in secret will
reward you openly. Now it's right to bring your
needs to the pastors, to the elders. It's right
to have them anoint you with oil and pray over
you. James chapter 5 says if anybody's sick,
let them come to the elders of the church. In
fact, it's an act of faith. The Bible says come
to the elders of the church. You can make a phone
call. You can text. Now, you couldn't do that
in Jesus' day, but you can do that now. And then
you can come down to the altar after church and
say, Pastor, pray over me. All those things are
good and all those things are important, but
may those things not be in lieu or instead of
you going to your father in the prayer closet.
Because your trust is never, even though you
come to your elders, even though you're anointed
with oil, your trust is not in people. Your trust
is in God. Amen? And so when you have a need,
where should you go? Hebrews says this. Hebrews
says that we should come boldly to the throne
of grace. That's the secret place. That's the
place where God wants to meet you so that you
can find help in your time of need. Hallelujah.
Somebody give praise to the Lord. And so you
have problems at work. Do you know what you need
to do? You need to bring them to the Father in
your prayer closet. You have problems in your
home. You know what you need to do? You need
to bring them to the Father in the prayer closet.
You have problems with your kids. Then you know
what you need to do? You need to bring it to
the Father in the prayer closet. You have problems.
Maybe you're in a blended family now and you
have problems with people that you used to be
in relationship. You know what you need to do?
You need to bring that to the Father. in your
prayer closet because the Father sees what is
done in secret. This is true for young people.
You have a problem with somebody at school. You
have a problem with your teacher. You have a
problem with other students. Do you know what
you can do? You can bring it to the Father in
your prayer closet. And the Father... who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you openly.
Now Jesus told the disciples in this passage,
watch and pray. Watch and pray. That doesn't
sound like somebody that is just sitting in a
chair. That's right. Watch and pray. There's
a vibrance to that. Watch and pray. Watch and
pray. We need to apply this to the news that
we take in. We watch. We need to pray. The world
is watching. I think sometimes, depending on
your news source, just believe whatever slant
comes from the news source. You can't do that.
But when you digest what is happening, then what
do you do? You've got to pray. We can't afford
to just be people that have opinions like the
rest of America. We can't just choose a side
and then get angry with that side. are the watchers,
and we are the intercessors. Do you know who
history belongs to? The people that pray. Do
you know why we won World War II? There were
soldiers on the front line, and there were intercessors
praying at home. World War I is documented that
where intercessors prayed, Things happened on
the battlefield. I can show you. Intercessors
own history. People that pray. And so as you
engage in America, engage in your prayer closet.
Go into the secret place. Father, I lift up Minneapolis
to you right now. Father, I'm just asking you
that you would work and move in Minneapolis.
In fact, let's all just pray right now. Let's
just engage as if you're in the prayer closet
right now in Jesus' name. Father, we ask in the
name of Jesus that your hand would be on church
leaders in Minneapolis. This morning, even as
they're worshiping you, I pray that your presence
would be made manifest amongst the believers.
I pray that there would be a distinction between
believers and people in the world. I pray your
presence, oh God, will minister right now. God,
I'm asking you that families, Lord, in Jesus'
name, that their needs will be met in the name
of the Lord. And I'm asking you that no matter
what person, God, whether they're immigrants
or whether they're being dealt with as illegal
immigrants, God, whatever person, they are all
made in the image of God. And I pray in Jesus'
name that Your hand would be on their journey
and that they would come to know Christ as their
Savior. In Jesus' mighty name. God, we bind up
demonic activity over that city that would do
what the devil does. He steals. He kills. He
destroys. And the instruments that are being
used by the enemy, whether they realize it or
not, we pray that they would come unto repentance
in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah. I believe
that it's God's will. friend, that revival break
out in Minneapolis. I believe that Minneapolis
needs to be a city that is known for the moving
of the Holy Spirit and not just a city known
for conflict like it has for the last five or
six years. We are watchers and we are prayers.
Hallelujah. Turn with me to Luke chapter 21.
This is concerning the second coming of Christ.
This is the words of Jesus. Verse 34. But take
heed to yourselves. Everybody say that together.
But take heed to yourselves. Lest your hearts
be weighed down. With carousing, with drunkenness
in the cares of this life. There it is. And that
day, that's talking about the return of Christ.
And that day come on you unexpectedly. For it
will come as a snare on all those who dwell on
the face of the whole earth. Wow. Wow. And you
think about the world right now. Do you think
it's ready for the return of Christ? It is not.
But you take heed. You take heed. Watch, therefore,
and pray. There's that phrase. Watch and pray.
Always that you may be counted worthy to escape
all these things that will come to pass. And
to stand before the Son of Man. Wow. That if
you watch and pray, if you go into the prayer
closet, that God will count you worthy to escape
the judgments that will come upon mankind. And
to stand in that day. before the Son of Man.
This life, what is it? It's a rehearsal for that
life that is to come. You're going to stand before
God one day. I think about it every day. I am
going to stand before Jesus and give an account.
And Jesus says, if you'll be a person that will
do this, that will watch and pray, Make... Prayer,
a part of your life. Make the secret place a
part of your routine. If you will be one that
will watch and pray, He will count you worthy
to escape the judgment coming on the world. And
you, when you stand before God, won't try to
run and hide. You won't be ashamed in that day.
But you will be able somehow to stand before
the Lord in that day Receive the reward that
He has for you. Hallelujah. That's good news.
That's good news. For people that will watch
and pray. For people that will go in to the secret
place. Favor. Favor. referring to this passage.
I just feel like it's time to conclude here.
I've got a bunch of other scriptures here, but
I'm going to go to the last one. And I've been
turning to this passage quite a bit lately. And
it's in 1 Peter 4. And I've already read it publicly
a couple weeks ago. I think it's an important
passage, 1 Peter 4, 7. And it says this, But
the end of all things is at hand. Therefore,
be serious and watchful in your prayers. It goes
on to say, and above all things, have fervent
love for one another. But that first part is
what we're talking about right now. It says,
therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers.
Be serious and watchful in your prayers. This
year is going to be a year for us as a church
to grow in prayer. I'm talking here today about
your personal prayer. Pastor Cammie preached
last week as well on your personal prayer, listening
to God. And the scriptures talk about corporate
gatherings. It's why we meet on Sunday morning.
This is the Lord's Day. Sunday is the Lord's
day because it's the day Jesus rose from the
dead. The believers gathered together. And all
through the scriptures, you see corporate prayer
meetings and we're called to corporately pray.
And what I'm telling you that in 2026, we are
going to be growing as a body in corporate prayer.
It is also essential. But corporate prayer is
fanned into flame. when the people that are a
part of it have been maintaining their secret
place. Private prayer makes corporate prayer
powerful. Sometimes when you go to pray and you
get done, And the Bible says when Jesus finished
praying, there was a time when he concluded that
moment of prayer. He was still connected to the
Father, but he finished praying. And sometimes
when we finish praying, we go, well, that wasn't
all that powerful. God didn't really say much
to me today. I didn't even understand the Scripture
I read. But I'm telling you that there is way
more happening than what you know. Sometimes
God reveals what's happening when we pray, and
we love that. But oftentimes He does not. But
your faithfulness to the secret place changes
the world in which we live. And God has his hand
upon this church to be a church that prays. The
third weekend of February, we have a gentleman
by the name of Travis Rosenthal coming. On that
Saturday night, we're going to be gathering people
that just have a heart to pray. Saturday night,
6 p .m., I believe it's the 21st or the 22nd,
21st of February. Travis Rosenthal is a young
man. He's 27. He might be 28 now. I don't know.
But he's a young man, and he's a home missionary.
He's raised support so that he can be a part
of the Assemblies of God World Prayer Center
in Springfield, Missouri. And just talking with
him, I can sense, like they said of the disciples
in Acts chapter 3, They took note that they had
been with Jesus. And when I was talking with
Travis, I can tell this man has been in the presence
of Jesus. And I believe that God is going to
do something on that weekend in the area of helping
us to grow as a body in this area of corporate
prayer. And so we can expect that in 2026 for
that to happen. What I want to call for this
morning, those of you at home, those of you here,
is for you to come before the Lord and say, God,
this year I want to grow with intentionality,
with purpose. I want to grow. In my secret place,
time. I want 2026 to be a year where I gained
more discipline. Some people, that's what they
need. That's what I need. Gain more discipline
in how you spend the moments of your day. For
some of us, it's... turning something off. For
some of us, it's getting up earlier. Perhaps
your schedule denotes you stay up later. But
we purpose in 2026 to say, God, I want my prayer
life to grow. The greatest thing fathers can
do for their family, pray. Spend time with God.
The greatest thing mothers can do for their children,
pray. Spend time with God. Spouses, the greatest
thing you can do for each other, maintain your
personal prayer life. Everything else will grow
out of that. Give yourself to prayer. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. This is a real altar moment of us
saying, God, here I am. Perhaps you need to come
with humility and just say, Lord, I know I've
failed in my secret place time. It hasn't been
a part of my life. Perhaps you need to just make
that confession to the Lord. But will you come
before Him? He's not saying, oh, because you
have not been great at this in the past, I'm
pushing you away. No, that's not the heart of
our Father. He's saying, come on, son. Come on,
daughter. I will teach you if you will come.
Will you come? Will you come before the Lord?
I want to encourage you to just bow your head,
just close your eyes, whatever you need to do,
and just talk to the Lord right now. Just say,
God, I want you to have your way in my heart
and in my life. I want the secret place, God.
To be real in my home. To be real in my family.
To be real in my personal life. Here I am, God.
I give myself to you. Help me, God, to embrace
that which might feel a bit uncomfortable at
first. Help me embrace. Help me embrace the command
of God. Jesus, you said it, the promise. And
if I'll go into the secret place and I'll shut
the door and I'll engage with my Heavenly Father,
that my Heavenly Father will reward me openly.
God, I just say yes to you. This is a consecration
moment. That whatever else I do in my day, all
the getting that I give myself to, get to work,
get to the grocery store, get to this appointment,
get to that appointment, then in all of my getting,
I will get to this secret place. In all of my
imperfections aside, I will come before my Father
and I will say, God, Here I am. Here I am. I
want to know you. I want to know you. And the
secret in the quiet place. In the stillness you,
you are there In the secret, in the quiet hour
I wait only for you Cause I want to know, know
you more to know I want to hear your voice to
know Jesus I want to touch to see your face to
know If this is your heart, I'd like you to stand
with me as we sing verse two. I am reaching the
highest goal. And I might receive the prize.
Running after you, oh God. I sing onward, pushing
every hindrance aside. my way cuz I want to I
want to touch you. I want to see your face. I
want to know you more. that do that religious
thing and then go on with their day. But Lord,
you did not go to the cross to start a religion.
You went to the cross so that we could know you.
And I'm asking you, Lord Jesus, that you would
help us in 2026 to take on that mantle. God,
I want to know you. Jesus, some of us have people
in our families that knew you that we respect.
There's something about them, a quality about
them. And now you're knocking on the door of
my heart. And you're saying, son, you're saying,
daughter, I want to know you. God, I pray for
courage to do the practical things in the next
24 hours to make room for time alone with God.
Here we are. Just present yourself to the Lord
right now. Just say, God, here I am. Here I am.
Jesus, Jesus, I want to know you. I want to know
you. Thank you, Lord.