"Can You Hear Me Now?” (Sermon On Prayer) (1 Of 3)

Beginning in 2002, Verizon ran a TV campaign they called "Test Man."

Their catchphrase became - "Can you hear me now?"

This became the catchphrase for Verizon for the next nine years.

It was an interesting marketing strategy. Many cell phone providers fight the competition with pricing. But Verizon chose to talk about signal quality.

The ad campaign caught on because "Can you hear me now?" was a phrase all cell phone users could relate to:

• Within 24 months, Verizon grew its customer base by 10 per cent,

• Then another 15 per cent the following year.

The reason Verizon was so successful we all want to be heard when we talk on the cell phone.

But more important than that---when we pray daily we want to know God can hear us also.

Today I want to preach on something that applies to everyone here.

• No matter where you are from,

• What level of society you feel you belong to,

This sermon will apply to you.

Everyone here needs to learn how to PRAY EFFECTIVELY.

Notice, I did not say that everyone here needs to pray.

You see, you can pray and still not pray effectively.

And if you cannot pray EFFECTIVELY why bother to pray at all!!!

The Bible teaches that only one kind of praying is worthwhile, and that is EFFECTIVE PRAYING.

For example, our text states, "...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

This verse reveals two things to us:

(1)THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PRAYER

a. Effective prayer

b. Ineffective prayer

(2)THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF RESULTS

a. Much results

b. No results

It is obvious these days that many are doing the wrong kind of praying, because their prayers are not producing much results, if anything at all.

God's Word teaches that the RIGHT KIND OF PRAYERS will get tremendous results.

• The word "effectual" comes from the Greek verb "energeo," (en-erg-eh'-o) which means: "To put forth power."

We would say today, “It produces results."

When it comes to prayer, WE ALL WANT RESULTS!

There is nothing in this life any more disappointing than to get on our knees, and pour our heart out to God, and have our prayers produce NO RESULTS!

When we do something, we want results!

Illus: For example, is there anything any more disappointing than to get into your car, put the key in the ignition, turn it on, and have nothing happen?

Several more tries bring the same results, and each time you are disappointed.

Someone may walk up and say, "Try it again," but you respond, “It is no use. I have tried it over and over, and it does not work."

That is exactly how some people feel about praying. They have tried it over and over again, and they have not gotten any results, and they are convinced prayer does not work.

Illus: At times most Christians have felt like the little boy in the cartoon who obviously was disgruntled with God because none of his prayers have been answered.

He was saying,

• Aunt Harriet isn’t married yet

• Uncle Herbert still doesn’t have a job

• My brother is still picking on me

• Mom’s back is still aching

• My sister still has an acne problem

• And daddy's hair is still falling out

• And I'm getting tired of praying for this family without getting any results!

This is the way many feel about prayer today.

They have tried it time and time again and they have gotten no results, and they are saying that it is no use to pray any more.

PRAYER STILL WORKS!!!

What we need to do is learn how to pray EFFECTIVE PRAYERS!

And God’s Word tells us exactly what to do if we want to pray EFFECTIVE PRAYERS!!!

In the next three weeks I feel led to preach from the scriptures how we can learn to pray effective prayers.

Notice from the very start, that effective praying comes from the lips of a "RIGHTEOUS MAN."

Look at James 5:16, we read, “The effectual fervent prayer of a RIGHTEOUS MAN availeth much.”

It is the righteous man’s prayers that produce results.

For us Christians to pray effectual prayers we need to do some house cleaning every now and then.

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger said the other day over a period of time I have kept putting things in my truck and it became a mess.

I kept putting it off about taking time to clean it of all the things that does not need to be in my truck.

Our Christian life is like that over a period of time we allow things in our life to build up and we need to take time to deal with it.

For example God’s Word tells us in Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us